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CHAS. A. INGERSOLLi Clerk of the District of Connecticut,

CONTENTS OF VOL. IX.

I. Types of the MeMiah. •--... page 9 II. Notes on the Bible. 115

TYPES OF THE MESSIAH,

That ike things of the Old Testament are Types of things apper" iaining to the Messiah and his kingdom and salvation^ made manifest from the Old Testament itself

We find by the Old Testament, that it has ever been God's manner from the beginning of the world, to exhibit and reveal future things by symbolical representations, which were no other than types of the future things revealed. Thus when fature things were made known in visions,, the things that were seen were not the future things themselves, but some other things that were made use of as shadows, symbols, or types of the things. Thus the bowing of the sheaves of Joseph's brethren, and the sun, moon, and stars doing obeisance to him, and Pharaoh's fat and lean kine, and Nebuchadnezzar's image, and Daniel's four beasts, be. were figures or types of the future things represented by them. And not only were types and figures made use of to represent future things when they were revealed by visions and dreams, but also when they were revealed by the word of the Lord coming by the mouth of the prophets, (as it is expressed.) *The prophecies that the prophets uttered concerning future things, were generally by similitudes, figures, and symbolical representations. Hence prophecies were of old c^WeA parables ; as Balaam's prophecies, and especially the prophecies of the things of the Messiah's kingdom The prophecies are given forth in allegories, and the things foretold spoken of, not under the proper names of the things themselves, but under the names of other things that are made use of in the prophecy as symbols or types of the things foretold. And it was the manner in those ancient times, to deliver divine instructions in general in symbols and emblems, and in their speeches and discourses to make use of types, and figures, and enigmatical speeches, into which holy men were led by the Spirit of Crod* This manner of delivering wisdom was originally divtoei ai mmj VOL. IX. 2

be argaed from that of Solomon. Prov. i. 6. '* To understand a proverb, (or parable,) and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings;" and from that of the psalmist, Ps. zlix. 3, 4, '* ^y mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable. I will open my dark sayings upon the harp." And Ps. Ixzviii. 1, 2. **Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old." By a parable is meant an enigmatical symbolical speech. £zek. xvii. 2, and xxiii. 3. Hence speeches of divine wisdom in general came to be called parables, as the speeches of Job and his friends. Hence of old the wise men of all nations, who derived their wisdom chiefly by tradition from the wise men of the church of God, who spoke by inspiration, fell into that method. They received instruction that way, and they imitated it. Hence it became so much the custom in the eastern nations to deal so much in enigmatical speeches and dark figures, and to make so much use of symbols and hieroglyphics, to represent divine things, or things appertaining to their gods and their religion. It seems to have been in imitation of the prophets and other holy and eminent persons in the church of God, who were inspired, that it became so universally the custom among all ancient nations, for their priests, prophets, and wise men to utter their angaries, and to deliver their knowledge and wisdom in tbeir writings and speeches in allegories and enigmas, and under symbolical representations. Every thing that the wise said must be in a kind of allegory, and vailed with types: as it was also the manner of the heathen oracles, to utter themselves under the like representations.

We find that it was God's manner throughout the ages of the Old Testament, to typify future things, not only as he signified them by symbolical and typical representations in those visions and pro« pbecies in which they were revealed, but also as he made use of those things that had an actual existence, to typify them, either by events that he brought to pass by his special providence to that end, or by things that he appointed and commanded to be done for that end.

We find future things typified by what God did himself, by things that he brought to pass by his special providence. Thus the future struggling of the two nations of the Israelites and £domite8 was typified by Jacob's and Esau's struggling together in the womb. Gen. xxv. 22, 23. '* And the children struggled together within her, and she said. If it be so, why am I thus f And «be went to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said unto her. Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger

than the other people, and the elder shall serve the yoanger." And the prevalence of Jacob over Esau, and his supplanting him, so as to get away his birthright and blessing, and his posterity's prevailing over the Edomites, was typified by Jacob's hand tak** ing hold on Esau's heeKin the birth. Gen. xxv. 26. *< And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jiscoft," or supplanter. Chap, xxvii. 36. ** Is he not rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behotd now he hath taken away my blessing." Hosea xii. 3. 6. *' He took his brother by the heel in the womb——Therefore, turn thou to thy God," dsc. And as the Israelites overcoming and supplanting their enemies in their struggling or wrestling with them, was typified by Jacob's taking hold on Esau's heel, so Jacob's and his seed's prevailing with God, in their spiritual wrestling with him, was typified by his wrestling with God and prevailing. Gen. xxxii. 28. ** Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince thou hast power with^God and with men, and hast prevailed." Hos. xii. 4. '^ Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed : he wept and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. Therefore, turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually." The prevalence of the posterity of Pharez over Zarah, who first put forth his hand, was typified by his unexpectedly breaking forth out of the womb before him. Gen. xxxfx. 29. So by Moses's being wonderfully preserved in the midst of great waters, though but a little helpless infant, and being drawn out of the water, seems apparently to be typified the preservation and deliverance of his people, that he was made the head and deliverer of, who were preserved io the midst of dangers they were in in Egypt, which were ready to overwhelm them, when the prince and people sought to their utmost to destroy them, and root them out, and they had no power to withstand them, but were like an helpless infant, and who were at last wonderfully delivered out of their great and overwhelming troubles and dangers, which in scripture language is delivering oat of great waters, or drawing out of many waters. 2 Sam. xiii. 17. '* He sent from above; he took me, he drew me out of many waters." And Psal. xviii. 16. It is the same sort of dcli-Terance^ from cruel blood and blood-thirsty enemies that the psalmist speaks of, that the Israelites were delivered from. And to he does again, Ps. cxiiv. 7. *' Send thine hand from above; rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children. And Ps. Ixix. 2. ** I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing ; 1 am come into deep waters, where the floods over-low me;" with verse 14. '^ Deliver me out of the mir^and let

not sink; let me be delivered from tbem that hate me, and ont of tbe deep waters." That the king of Israel smote three times upon the ground with his arrows, was ordered in providence to be m type of his beating the Syrians three times. 2 Kings xiii. IS, 19. The potter's working a work upon the wheels, and the vessel's being marred in the hand of the potter, so that he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to him to make it, at the time when Jeremiah went down to the potter's house, was ordered in providence to be a type of God's dealing with the Jews. Jer. xviii.

The twelve fountains of water and the threescore and ten palm-trees, that were in Elim, Exod. xv. 27, were manifestly types of the twelve patriarchs, the fathers of the tribes, and of the threescore and ten elders of the congregation. The paternity of a family, tribe, or nation, in the language of the Old Testament, is called a fountain. Deut. xxxiii. 28. *' Israel shall dwell in safety alone; tbe fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine." Ps. Ixviii. 26. '* Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel." Isai. zlviii. 1. *' Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah." And the church of God is often represented in scripture by a palm-tree or palm-trees. Ps. xcii. 12. Cant. vii. 7, 8. And therefore fitly were the elders or representatives of the church compared to palm-trees. God's people often are compared to trees. Isai. Ixi. 3, and Ix. 21, and elsewhere.

We find that God was often pleased to bring to pass extraordinary and miraculous appearances and events, to typify future things. Thus God's making Eve of A.dam's rib, was to typify tbe near relation and strict union of husband and wife, and the respect that is due, in persons in that relation, from one to the other, as is manifest from the account given of it, Gen. ii. 21, 22, 23, 24. *' And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh ; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." And when God spake to Moses from the burning bush, concerning the great affliction and oppression of the children of Israel in Egypt, and promised to preserve and deliver them, what appeared in the bush, vis. its burning with fire, and yet not being consumed, was evidently intended as a type of the same thing that God then spake to Moses about, viz. the church of Israel being in the fire of affliction in Egypt, and appearing in the utmost danger of teing utterly consumed there, and yet being marvellously

preserved and delivered. Such a low and weak state as the people were in in Egypt, and such an inability for self-defence, we find in the Old Testament represented by a bush or low tree, and a root out of a dry ground, as was that bush in Horeb, which signifies a dry place. Isai. iiii. 2. Ezek. xvii. 22, 23,24. Affliction and danger in the language of the Old Testament, are called^re. Zech. xiii. 9. "I will bring the third part through the^r<?." Isai. zlviii. 10. " I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." And God's marvellously preserving his people, when in great affliction and danger, is represented by their being preserved in the fire from being burnt* Isai. xliii. 2. *< When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee—when thou walkcst through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." And God's delivering the people of Israel from affliction, and from the destruction of which they were in danger, through bondage and oppression under the hand of their enemies, is represented by their being delivered out of the fire. Zech. iii. 2. Is uot this a brand plucked out of the fire ? Tea, that very thing of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, is often represented as their being delivered out of the fire. Psalm Ixvi. 12. *' We went through fire and through water, but thou broughtest us into a wealthy place." Deut. iv. 20. *' The Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt." So 1 Kings viii. 51, and Jcr. xi. 4.

So Moses's rod's swallowing up the magicians' rods, Exod.' vii. 12, is evidently given of God as a sign and type of the superiority of God's power above the power of their gods, and that his power should prevail and swallow up theirs. For that rod was a token of God's power, as a prince's rod or sceptre was a token of bis power. Thus we read read of the rod of the Messiah's strength. Psalm ex. So the turning of the water of the river of Egypt into blood, first by Moses's taking and pouring it out on the dry land, and its becoming blood on the dry land, and afterwards by the river itself, and all the other waters of Egypt being turned to blood, in the first plague on Egypt, was evidently a foreboding sign and type of what God threatened at the same time, viz. that if they \vould not let the people go, God would slay their first born, and of his afterward destroying Pharaoh and all the prime of Egypt in the Red sea. (See Exod. iv. 9. and chap, vii.) God's making a great destruction of the lives of a people is, in the language of the Old Testament, a giving them blood to drink. Isai. xlix. 26. " And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own "flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood." Aaron'sTod budding, blossoming, and bearing fruit, is given as a type of God's owning and blessing his ministry, and crowning it with success. His rod was the rod of

an aImond*tree, Numb. xvii. 8, which God makes ase of in Jen i. 11, 12, as a token and type of his word, that speedily lakes effect, as Moses's rod of an almond tree speedily brought forth fruit.

God caused the corn in the land of Judab to spring again, after it had been cut off with the sickle, and to bring forth another crop from the roots that seemed to be dead, and so once and again, to be a sign and type that the remnant that was escaped of the house of Judah should again take root downward, and bear fruit upward, and that his church should revive again, as it were out of its own ashes, and flourish like a plant, after it has been seeming* ly destroyed and past recovery: as 2 Kings, xix. 29, 30; and Isa. xxxvii. 30, 31.

God wrought the miracle of causing the shadow in the dial of Ahaz to go backward, contrary to the course of nature, to be a sign and type of king Hezekiah's being in a miraculous manner, and contrary to the course of nature, healed of his sickness, that was in itself mortal, and brought back from the grave whither he was descending, and the sun of the day of his life being made to return back again, when according to the course of nature it was just a setting. 2 Kings xx.

The miraculous uniting of the two sticks, that had the names of Judah and Joseph written upon them, so that they became one stick in the prophet's hand, was to typify the future entire union of Judah and Israel.

Also God miraculously caused a gourd to come up in a night, over the bead of Jonah, and to perish in a night, to typify the life of man. That gourd was a feeble, tender, dependent frail vine. It came up suddenly, and was very green and flourishing, and was pleasant and refreshing, and it made a fine show for on^ day, and then withered and dried up. Jonah iv. 6, &c.

God reproved Jonah for his so little regarding the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh, by the type of the gourd, which was manifestly intended as a type of the life of man; or of man with respect to his life, being exactly agreeable to the representations frequently made of man and his present frail life in other parts of the Old Testament. This gourd was a vine, a feeble, dependent plant, that could not stand alone. This God therefore makes use of to represent man, in Ezek. xv. This gourd was a very tender, frail plant. It sprang up suddenly, and was very short lived. Its life was but one day; as the life of man is often compared to a day. It was green and flourishing, and made a fine show one day, and was withered and dried up the next. It came up in a night and perished in a night; appeared flourishing in the morning, and the next evening was smitten, exactly agreeable to the representation made of man's life in Psalm xc. 6. <' In the morning it flourisheth and growetb

op; hi the evening it is cut down and withereth." The worm Chat smote the gourd, represents the cause of man's death. The gourd was killed by a worm, a little thing; as man is elsewhere said to be crushed before the moth. It was that, the approach of which was not discerned; it came under ground: as elsewhere roan is represented as not knowing the time of his death, as the fishes are taken in an evil net, &c. And as being smitten by an arrow that flies unseen* That this gourd was intended by God as an emblem of man's life, is evident from what God himself says of it, and the application he makes of it. God himself compares the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh with this gourd, verse x« 11. Jonah had pity on the gourd, i. e. on himself for tlie loss of it: for it was very pleasing and refreshing to him, while it lasted; and defended him from scorching heat. So life is sweet. The Minevites by its preservation were held back from the wrath of God, that had been threatened for their sins. How much more therefore should Jonah have had pity on the numerous inhabitants of Nineveh, when God had threatened them with the loss of life, which was an enjoyment so much more desirable than the gourd was to him! And if he found fault with God, that he did not spare to him the shadow of the gourd; how unreasonable was he in also finding fault with God, that he did spare the Nine-▼ites their precious lives f

God miraculously enabled David to kill the lion and the bear, and to deliver the lamb out of their mouth, plainly and evidently to be a type, sign, and encouragement unto him, that he would enable him to destroy the enemies of his people, that were much stronger than they, and deliver his people from them. David did this as a shepherd over the flock of his father; and his acting the part of a shepherd toward them, is expressly spoken of as a resemblance of his acting the part of a king and shepherd towards God's people from time to time. 1 Chron. xi. 2. Psalm Ixxviii. 70, 71, 72. Jerem. xxiii. 4, 5, 6. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. Chap, xxxvii. 24^ And God's people in places innumerable are called his flock, and his sheep, and their enemies in David's Psalms and elsewhere, ar« compared to the lion and other beasts of prey that' devour the sheep; and David himself calls his own deliverance, and the deliverance of God's people, a being saved from the lion's mouth* Psalm vii. 1,2, and xvii. 12, 13, and xxii. 20, 21, and xxxv. 17, and Ivii. 3. 4. And David himself thus understood and improved God's thus miraculously enabling him to conquer these wild* beasts^ and deliver the lamb, as a representation and sign of what God would enable him to do for hrs people against their strong enemies; as IS evident from what he said to Saul, when he oflfered to go against Goliath.

The accidental rending of Samuel's mantle, 1 Sara. xv. 27, 28, signified the rending of the kingdom from SaiiK It was a common thing for God to order and appoint things to be done by men, in order to typify future events; so Samuel poured out water in Mizpeh, 1 Sam. vii. 6, to signify tlieir repentance. See Pool's Synopsis. Ahijah's rending Jeroboam's garment in twelve pieces, and giving him ten, was to testify the rending the kingdom of Israel, and giving him ten tribes. 1 Kings xi. 30, fee. So see 1 Kings xx. 35, &c. and 2 Kings xiii. 14—20. The prophet's assisting the king of Israel, in shooting an arrow eastward, towards Syria, was appointed of God to signify that he would assist the king of Israel in fighting with the Syrians. 2 Kings xiii. 15, &c. The prophet Isaiah by God's appointment went naked and barefoot, to typify the Egyptians and Ethiopians going naked and barefoot in their captivity. Isaiah xx. Jeremiah by God's appointment typified the captivity of the Jews into Babylon, with many of its circumstances, by taking a linen girdle and putting it on his loins, and hiding it in a hole in a rock by the river £u-

Ehrates, and returning again to take it from thence. Jer. xiii* [e was commanded to typify the destruction of the people by breaking a potter's vessel. Chap, xix.- By taking a wine cup and offering it to many nations agreeably to God's appointment and direction, he typified God's causing them as it were to drink the cup of his fury. Chap. xxv. And he was commanded to make bonds and yokes, and put them upon his neck and send them to the neighbouring kings, to typify the yoke of bondage under Nebuchadnezzar that God was about to bring upon them. Chap, xxvii. Mehemiah shook his lap, Neh. v. 13, to signify the shaking of every man from his house, who should not perform the oath which they had taken. Ezekiel very often typified future events, by things that he did by God's appointment; as by his eating the roll, &c. Ezek. iii. And by lying on his side, and many other things that he was to do, that we have an account of, Ezek. iv. And by shaving his head and beard, and burning part of the hair in the fire, &c. chap. v.; and by making a chain, chap. vii. 23; and by his removing, with the many circumstances that God directed him to, chap. xii. 1, &c.; and by his eating his bread with trembling, verse 18; by filling a pot with the choice pieces of flesh on the fire, fac; and by his not mourning for his wife, chap. xxiv. The prophet Hosea typified the things he prophesied of, by taking a wife of whoredoms, Hos. i. and by marrying an adultress, with the circumstances of it, chap. iii. The prophet Zechariah was commanded to typify the things he predicted, by making silver and golden crowns on the heads of those that returned from the captivity, Zech. vi.; and by the two staves called Beauty and Bands; and by his casting moi^ey to the potter in

the house of the Lord; and his taking the instruments of a foolish shepherd. Chap. xi.

It was so common a thing for the prophets to typify things that were the subjects of their prophecies by divine appointment, that the false prophets imitated them in it, and were wont to feign directions from God to typify the subjects of their false prophecies. See 1 Kings xxii. 11, and Jer. xxviii. 10. Things in common use among the Israelites were spoken of by the Spirit of God as types. Thus the vine-tree is spoken of as a type of man, especially of God's visible people. Ezek. xv.

It being so much God's manner from the beginning of the worldy to represent divine things by types, hence it probably came to pass, that typical representations were looked upon by the ancient nations, the Egyptians in particular, as sacred things, and therefore called hieroglyphics^ which ^x^mfiessacred images or re^ presentations. And animals being very much made use of in the ancient types of the church of God, so they were very much used in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which probably led the way to their worship of all manner of living creatures.

Now since it was, as has been observed, God's manner of old, in the times of the Old Testament, from generation to generation, and even from the beginning of the world to the end of the Old Testament history, to represent divine things by outward signs, types, and symbolical representations, and especially thus to typify and prefigure future events, that he revealed by his Spirit, and foretold by the prophets; it is very unlikely, that the Messiah, and things appertaining to his kingdom and salvation, should not be tlius abundantly prefigured and typified under the Old Testament, if the following things be considered.

It is apparent from the Old Testament that these things are the main subject of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the subject about which the spirit of prophecy was chiefly conversant from the beginning of the world. It was the subject of the first proper prophecy that ever was uttered: and it is abundantly evident from the Old Testament, that it is every way the chief of all prophetical events. 'Tis spoken of abundantly as the greatest and most glorious event, beyond all that eye bad seen, ear heard, or had entered into the heart of man; at the accomplishment of which not only God's people and all nations should unspeakably rejoice; but the trees of the field, the hills and mountains, the sea and dry land, and all heaven and earth, should rejoice and shout for joy; and in comparison of which the greatest events of the Old Testament, and particularly those two most insisted on, the creation of the world and the redemption out of Egypt, were not worthy to be mentioned or to come into mind, and in comparison of which the greatest and most sacred things of the Mosaic dispeasatioD,

VOL. IX. 3

even the ark itself, the most sacred of all, was not worthy of notice. And it is also abundantly evident from the Old Testament, that it was the grand event that, above all other future events, was the object of the contemplations, hopes, and raised expectations of God's people, from the beginning of the world.

And furthermore, the introducing of the Messiah and his kingdom and salvation, is plainly spoken of in the Old Testament, as the great event which was the substance, main drift, and end of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, to reveal which chiefly it was, that the spirit of prophecy was given, in that the angel, in Dan. ix. 24, speaks of this event, as that in the accomplishment of which prophecies in general are summed up, and have their nlti-mate confirmation, in which the vision and prophecy or all pr<>-phetical revelation has its last result and consummation. ** Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city; to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy^ and to anoint the most holy." That what has been expressed is the import of the phrase of sealing up the vision and prophecy, is evident firom the drift and manner of expression of the whole verse, and alto Trom Eiek. xxviii. 12. '' Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." Mr. Basnage, in his history of the Jewv, observes, that the rabbles among the Jews still agree to this da/t that all the oracles of the prophets relate to the Messiah. Page S71, Col. 1.

And besides, it is to be considered, that this event was that Id which the people of God, from the beginning of the world, werB most nearly and greatly concerned: yea, was of infinitely the greatest concern to them of all prophetical events; for His evident from the Old Testament, that the Messiah was not only to be the Saviour of Grod's people, that should be after bis coming; but that he was the Saviour of the saints in all ages from the beginning of the world, and that through his coming, and wbat -he should do at his appearing, they all should have the only tme atonement for their sins, and restoration from the curse broagfat npon them by the fall of Adam, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal life.

'Tis much more reasonable to suppose, that many things pertaining to the sute and constitution of the nation of Israel, many things which God ordered and appointed among them shonld be typical of things appertaining to the Messiah ; because it is evident from the Old Testament, that the very being of that people as God*s people, and their being distinguished and separated firosi the rest of the world, was to prepare the way for the mtrodiietiMi of that great blessing into the world of mankind, of the Mesnaii

and bti kingdlMB^II^nk^^^^^. ^^U the days of thy

■t tlie first planting of lite ViS;->^ ' serpent that

and separating (hat people ''"■n^'it^f by 'h<^ ^''^

of Abraham, in the three fiwt 'wO^NSifcL ^ **» '''^ "^"

bad said unto Abraham, getlhnowJi"V^^S^,%« s&iah; as

kindred, and from thy father's house.oS'"•sJ-i^TS gether;

ihee; and I will make of ihce a 8***^ w^^^^T^J, ^^ '''*

thee, and make thy name great; and i\ia!^ "^t^^S '"'''

and I will bless them that bless thee, &"(icw^S\^^^ ^^^''

tbee; and in thee shall a)l families of Ifae eu^^^^'V^S, V'

here seems to be manifest, that the inirodiicina^^Viq^%«^ ^

wbicfa God had in view, to all lbs families of the ,.** ^ti* ^Vn \

God bad in view in thus calltoff and separating Abtlc ^^m!^ \

of him an happy nation. It is tberefure much (he n>ofe'y\><iJL many things belonging to them should be typical of i^'^S.Y'fc^ lure (bings appertaining to this great blessing, wli\ci,*'^V great end God designed by ibem: and especially coQiiA^^J*'^ wc find it to be God's manner under the Old Testament, ii^^*^ persons and things, to signify and vepivieiit befor*hirt.^!ft which God made or separated them for, or tba special mse «(? sign God had in view with respect to thena. It wu Ctod'a^^ ner beforehand to signify and represent these things, in what u^ pertained to tbem, or happened concerning tbein> So baoftsi did in the signification of the names that be gave tbem, u in tba names of Eve, Noab, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Judab, Joshns,

David, Solomon, &ic. and in things whirh they saw Qt did,

or which came to past concerning tbem; as Hptei's being drawa out of the water, and what God showed bim in Horeb, before b* went into Egypt from Midian, in the burning bnsb; aod io David, ia his slaying the lion and bear and delivering the limb.

Again we find that many lesser redemptions, deliverances, and victories uf God's people, which it is plain even frtim the Old Te^ lament, were as nothing in comparison wiih the salvation and victory of the Messiah, were by God's ordering represented by types ; as the redemption out uf Egypt. Tiiis was mucb typified afterwards in institutions that God appointed in commemoraiioD of it. And the reason given by God for bis thus typifying of it, was that it was so worthy to have signs and representations to fii it in the mind. Thus concerning the representations of their coming out of Egypt, in the passuver, by eating it with unleavened bread, with their staff in their hand, inc., this reason is given why they should have such representations and memorials of it. Esod. siii. 42. It is a night mucb to be remembered. This redemption out of Egypt was also much typified beforehand. It was typified in the smoking furnace and the burning lamp following it which Abraham saw. Gen. zv. 17. It was typified in Hoscs'a

being drawn out of the water, and in the burning bush that survived the flames, and by Moses's rod's swallowing up the magician's rods. David's victory over the enemies of God's people, and his saving them out of their hands, was typified by his conquering the lion and the bear, and rescuing the lamb. God's giving victory to Israel over the Syrians and delivering them from them, was typified by the prophet's helping the king of Israel shoot an arrow towards them. 2 Kings xiii. 15, &c. The salvation of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's army was typified by the springing of the corn afresh t>om the roots of the stubble. Hezekiah's being saved from death was typified by bringing back the sun, when it was going down. Since, therefore, God did so much to typify those lesser victories and salvations, is it not exceedingly likely that great victory and redemption of the Messiah, which appears by the Old Testament to be infinitely greater, and that was all along so much more insisted on, in the word of the Lord to the people, should be much more typified f

It is much more reasonably and credibly supposed, that God should through the ages of the Old Testament, be very much in typifying things pertaining to the Messiah and his salvation, not only in prophecies, but also in types; because we find in fact, that at the very beginning of God's revealing the Messiah to mankind,

Erophecies and types went together in the first prophecy of the lessiah, and the first proper prophecy that ever was in the world, God foretold and typified the redemption both together, when God said to the serpent, Gen. iii. 15^ *^ I will put enmity between thee and the woman, ai^j^t^ween thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou sHfiU bruise his heel." This is undoubtedly a prediction of the Messiah's victory over Satan, and his suffering from Satan, and of the Messiah's people's victory and deliverance through him. And none can reasonably question but that here is also some respect had to that enmity there is between mankind and serpents, and the manner of serpents wounding mankind and of men's killing them'; for God is here speaking concerning a beast of the field that was ranked with the cattle, as appears by the foregoing verse. And this state of things with respect to serpents, was plainly ordered and established in these words. But if we suppose that both these things were intended in the same words, then undoubtedly one is spoken of and ordained as a representation of the other. If God orders and speaks of the bruising of a serpent's head, and thereby signifies the Messiah's conquering the devil, that is the same thing as God's ordering and speaking of the bruising of a serpent's head as a sign, signification, or (which is the same thing) type of his conquering the devil. And in what is said to the serpent, ver. 14, " Thou art cursed 'above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy

belly shah thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life ;'* it is evident that God speaks concerning that serpent that was a beast of the field. And yet it is also evident by the Old Testament, that he has respect to something pertaining to the state of the devil, that should be brought to pass by the Messiah; as by Isat. Ixv. 25. '* The wolf and the lamb shall feed togetiier; and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat* They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy monntain;" compared with Isai. xi. 1—9, together with Isai« xxvii. 1, and Zech. iii. 1, 2, &c. Thus the very first thing that was ordered and established in this world after the fall, was a type of the Messiah, and was ordered as such: which argues that typifying of the Messiah is one principal way of God's foreshowing him. And as types and prophecies of the Messiah began together, so there is reason to think that they have kept pace one with another ever since.

It is more credible, that not only some particular events that came to pass among the Jews, or things appointed to be done among them, should be typical, but that the state or constitution of the nation, and their way of living in many things, was typical, because we have an instance of an appointment of a way of living in^ a particular family or race, to continue from generation to generation, in the chief and more important things appertaining to the outward state and way of life, requiring that which was very diverse from the manner of living of all others, and that which was very self-denying, in order to typify something spiritual The instance I mean is that of the posterity of Jonadab, the son of Re-chab, who was required by the command of Jonadab, commanding them by the spirit of prophecy to drink no wine, nor build any house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard.

It is a great argument, that the ancient state of the nation of Israel, and both things that appertained to their religious constitution, and God's providential disposal of them, were typical of the Messiah ; that the Jews themselves anciently thus understood the matter. The ancient Jewish rabbies (as Mr. Basnage, in his history of the Jews, observes, p. 36S,) judged that all things happened to their fathers as types and figures of the Messiah. See also Bp. Kidder's Dcmn. of the Messiah, part 2, p. 40, and part 1, p. 73, 74. Ibid. p. Ill, 112. Ibid. 150, and part 2, p. 67, 71. 77, 78, and 106.

As to the Historical events of the Old Testament, it is an argument that many of them were types of things appertaining to the Messiah's kingdom and salvation, that these things are often in the Old Testament expressly spoken of as represented or resembled by those historical events. And those events are sometimes not only mentioned as resemblances, but as signs and pledges of those

great things of the Messiah. In Isaiah xli. Abraham's great victory over the kings and nations of the east, is spoken of as a resemblance of the victory of the Messiah and his people over their enemies. Abraham is here called the righteous man, verse 2; as the Messiah in the same discourse: in the beginning of the next chapter, the Messiah is called God's servant^ that shall bring forlh judgment to the Gentiles, and bring forth judgment onto truth, and set judgment in the earth. God is said, xli. 2, to call Abraham to his foot* Chap. xlii. 6, it is said of the Messiah, *' I have called thee in righteousness." Of Abraham it is said chap. xlL 2, '* That God gave the nations before him, as the dust to his sword, and as the driven stubble to his bow:" And this is spoken of for the encouragement of God's people, as a resemblance and pledge of what he would do for them in the days of the Messiah, when he would cause their enemies before them to be ashamed and confounded, to be as nothing and to perish; so that they shall seek them, and should not find them, and they that war against them shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought; and they should thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff; so that the wind should carry them away, and the whirlwind should scatter them. Verses II, 12. 15,16.

The church or spouse of the Messiah is spoken of, in CanL vi. 13, as being represented by the company of Mahanaim, that we have an account of Gen. xxxii. at the beginning, made ap of Jacob's family and the heavenly host that joined them.

The redemption out of Egypt is very often in the Old Testament spoken of as a resemblance of the redemption by the Messiah. Num. xxiii. 22, 23. **God brought them out of Egypt, he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel what hath God wrought?" Mic. vii. 15.- "According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous things." Isaiah Ixiv. 1. 3, 4. Oh that thoa wouldest rend the heavens; that that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence ! When thoo didst terrible things that we look not for, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear," &c. Isaiah xi. 11. ''And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand a^ain the second time, to recover the remnant of his people which shlll be left from Assyria, and from Egypt;" together with verses 15, 16. This redemption out of Egypt, is evidently spoken of as a resemblance of the redemption of the Messiah. In Psalm Ixviii. 6. '' God bringeth out those that were bound

TYPES OF THE MESSIAH* £S

with chains." Verse 13. ^^Tboogh ye have lieo among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold ;" in which there is an evident reference to the people's hands being delivered from the pots in Egypt. Pi. Ixxxi. 6, and the context, makes this evident. And the drift and design of the psalm shows this to be a promise of the Messiah's redemption. God's dividing the Red sea and the Jordan, and leading the people through them, are often spoken of as resemblances of what God shall accomplish for his people in the days of the Messiah. Isai. xi. 11. ^^ And it shall come to pass iu that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left—from Egypt." Ver. 15,16. ** And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it io the seven streams, and cause men to go over dry shod. And there shall be an high way for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel, in the day that be came up out of the land of Egypt." Isai. xliii. 2, 3. *' When tboo passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee—for I—gave Egypt for th^ ransom;" ver. 16,17,18,19. '^Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember not former things—Behold, I will do a new thing." Chap, xxvii. 12. " And it shall come to pass at that day, that the Lord shall beat ofl" from the channel of the river under the stream of Egjrpt," (or the Lord shall strike ofl", or smite away both the channel of the river and the stream of Egypt,) ** and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." Cbap. li. 10,11. ** Art not thou It which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed of the Lord to pass overf Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing nnto Ztoo," &c. Ver.J 5. '' But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea," &c. Chap. Ixiii. 11, 12, 13. '* Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying. Where is he that brooght them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock f Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him ? That led them by the right hand of Moses, with his glorious arm, dividing the water hefore them, to make himself an everlasting name f That led them through the deep as an horse in the wilderness f" Psa. Ixviii. 22. "I frill bring my people againr from the ilepths of the sea." Zecb* z. 10, 11. ** I will bring them again also out of the land of Egjp(......*4iiid he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and

iMI smite the -waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river

shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away."

The destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, is spoken of as a resemblance of the destruction of the enemies of God's people by the Messiah. Isai. xliii. 16, 17. '^ Thus saich the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters ; which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise." And particularly Pharaoh's destruction in the Red sea, ^is spoken of as a type of the Messiah's bruising the head of the old serpent or dragon. Isai. li.9, 10. '' Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O arm of the Lord. Art not thou it tha^ hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon f Art not thou it which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over f Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion," &c« Pharaoh is called leviathan and the dragon in Psalm Ixxiv. 13, 14, as the devil is in a like destruction in the Messiah's time, Isai. xxvii. 1. That Pharaoh is intended in those foremen-tioned places by the dragon and leviathan, is very manifest from £zek. xxix. 3, and xxxii. 2.

The joy and songs of the children of Israel at their redemption out of Egypt, and their great deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red sea, are spoken of as a resemblance of the joy God's people shall have in the redemption of the Messiah. Hos. ii. 15. *' And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth; and as io the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." The Spirit of God seems to have reference to the manner of his leading and guarding the people when they went up out of Egypt, in going before them to lead them, and behind to keep the Egyptians from hurting them; and to compare wliut he would do in the Messiah's days thereto. Isai. lii. 12. '< For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you ; the God of Israel will be your rereward ;" the God of Israel, that God that thus led Israel out of Egypt, when he entered into covenant with them, and became the God of that people. Here see Pool's Synopsis on Exod. xii. 14. God's leading the people through the wilderness, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be accomplished towards God's people in the Messiah's times. Isaiah Ixiii. 13. " That led them through the deep as an horse in the wilderness." Psalm Ixviii. 8. " O God, when thou wentest before thy people; when thou didst march through the wilderness ;*' compared with the^restof the psalm. Hos. ii. 14, 15. " I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her, and she shall sing as in the days of her youth; as in th^ day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." Ezek. xx. 37. " And I will bring you out from the people, and gather yo

and wiih a stretcht ,, _„„^ .^

alluding to God's maonerof r<!d«C>ywij'«*,v, " And I will bring you into tb« »i\fc^>*^'^\r?S* W there will I plead with you face \a fw"-^'^ «^■A^'*» >i your failiers in liie wilderness of itie lani ^ v^^vaV*-**'^ 1 plead Willi yon, saitli the Lord God. \n4\H'iV.?^^i4i pass under llie rod, and will bring 3(OR.iWoHi4L^''*''t* ^ \ nam." Where we may also obwrve^Bt^od'iiy^V^ '''**'^ 1 people face to face, and entering into eM'enatiii!vai''^*^Vht mnking them his covenant people when be brouc\,^.L^^"), ^^, £g'ypt, is spoken of as a resemblance of God'g revca.V,,.'^ ,^^l of to his people in the days of the Messiah, and bringing Hwm-"'**^! covenant relation lo himself by him. God's appearing viEl'*'* children of Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire, is spokea of resembtiuice of what God would do for his people in the dj^ \ the Messiah. Isai. iv. " And the Lord will create upon tve?« dwelling-place of mount Sion, and upon lier astemhliei, «c\n^ and smoke by day, and the shining of » flame of fire by nigbL For upon all the glory shall be a defence." The quaking of the earth and of mount Sinai, at the time of the giving of the 1aw,i| spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the Meiiiah's days. Ps. Ixviii. 8. " The earth shook—even Sinai itself wu moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel." So the great effect of God's presence on (he mountains, and especially mount Sinai's being all enkindled by so great and dreadful m fire, ii plainly spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the dayi of the Messiah. Isai. Ixiv. 1—4. "Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountain* might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burnetii When thou didst terrible tilings wliich we looked notfor,

thoa comest down ; the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard," Sec. So the rain thai descended on the people, at the time of the thunder and lightning at mount Sinai, or at the time of the great hail> MDnes that God sent on the Ainorites, Psalm Ixviii. 7, 8, 9. " O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people; when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens dropped at the presence of God. Thou, O Lord, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst refresh thine inheritance when it was weary." These things do abundantly .confirm, that the redemption out of Egypt, and the circumstances and events that attended it, were intended by the great disposer of all things to be l}'pes of the redemption of God's people by the Messiah, and of things appertaining to that redemption. VOL. IX. 4

It Is an argament that the manna that God gave the children of Israel was a type of something spiritaal, because it is called the corn of heaven and angels'food. Psal. bLXvili. 24,26 ; andPsaU cv. 40. It could be angels' food no otherwise than as representing something spiritual.

Now by the way I would remark, that was before made use of as an argument, that the great redemption by the Messiah was very much typified beforehand, is very greatly strengthened by what has been now observed. I mean that argument that lesser redemptions were by God's ordering represented by types, and particularly that the redemption of the children of Israel out of * Egypt was much typified beforehand. Now if this was so, that God was much in typifying this redemption beforehand, which itself was a type of the great redemption by the Messiah ; how much more may we suppose this great redemption itself, that is the antitype of that, should be abundantly typified f Will God do much to typify that, which was itself but a shadow of the Messiah's sal vation f And shall he not be much more in prefiguring the very substance—even that great redemption by the Messiah, in comparison of which the former is oflen in the Old Testament represented as worthy of no remembrance or notice f

God's bringing his people into Canaan, to a state of rest and happiness there, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people through the Messiah. Jer. xxxi. 2. *' Thus saith the Lord, the people that were lefl of the sword, found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, whea I went to cause him to rest:" compared with the rest of the chapter and the foregoing chapter. Isai. Ixiii. 14. *' As the beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name:" together with the context. Psal. Ixviii. 10. '' Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor." Ver. 13. " Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove," &c. together with the context. The manner of God's giving Israel the possession of Canaan, viz. by a glorious conquest of the kings and nations of the land, is spoken of as a resemblance of the manner in which God would bring his people to rest and glory, by the Messiah, after his exaltation, Psa. Ixviii. 11, 12. ** The Lord gave the word ; great was the company of them that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace; and she that tarried at home divided the spoil." Ver. 14. •* When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon," taken with ver. 21, 22,23. <' But God shall wound the head of his enemies—The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan ; I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of

Ihj dogs in the same.'^ Ver. 30. *< Rebuke the company of spear*-men, the multitude of bulls," &c.—together with the rest of the psalm.

What the people of God should be brought to, in the days of the Messiah, is spoken of as represented by the children of Israel's slaying Achan in Joshua's time. Hos. ii. 15. '* And I will give ber her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."

What came to pass in the time of Joshua's battle with the five kings of the Amorites, and particularly God's sending down great bail stones upon them, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the days of the Messiah. Isai. zxviii. 21. ''For the Lord shall rise up in mount Perazim, and his wrath as in the vaU ley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and briDg to pass his act, bis strange act:" together with ver. 2. '' Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, —^ shall cast down to the earth with the band." And chap. xxx. 30. '' And the Lord shall cause bis |]^loriou8 voice to be beard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of bis anger——— with tempest and hailstones." And xxxii. 19. '' When it shall hail coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place," (or shall be utterly abased.) And Ezek. xxxviii. 22. '* I will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and great hailstones."

What God did- for Israel in the victory of Deborah and Barak over the Canaanites, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people against their enemies in the days of the Messiah; Psal. Ixxxiii. 9, 10. ** Do unto them as unto Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kison, which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth." For this psalm is prophetical, and these things have respect to the great things God would do against the future enemies of his church. For it does not appear that there, was any such confederacy of the nations mentioned against Israel in David's or Asaph's time; and particularly it does not look probable^ that there was any such enmity of the inhabitants of Tyre against Israel, as is here spoken of, ver. 7. And it is very probable, that as this psalm is prophetical, so it is prophetical of the Messiah's days; as most of the psalms are. And there is a great agreement between what is here foretold of the destruction of the enemies of the church, and what is foretold of the Messiah's days in many other places. And the last verse, which speaks of God's being made known to all mankind as the only true God, and the God of all the earth, further confirms this.

Gideon's victory over the Midianites, is spoken of as a re-lemblaDce of what should be accomplished in the Messiah's days.

Isai. ix. 4. *' For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." Psal. Ixxxiii. 9. ** Do unto them as unto the Midian-ites." Ver. 11.'' Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; yea, all their princes as Zeba and Zaimunna." As in the destruction ofthe Midinnites every man's sword was against his brother ; so it is foretold, that it should be with the enemies of God's people in the Messiah's times. Ezek. xxxviii. 14. '' Every man's sword shall be against his brother." Hag. ii. 22. *' And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the chariots of them that ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother."

God's wonderful appearance for David at Baal-Perazim, to fight for him, against his enemies, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the Messiah's times. Isai. xiviii. 21. **For the Lord shall ride up as in mount Perazim."

In Zech. ix. 15, '' The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and shall devour and subdue with sling stones." There seems a reference to David's subduing Goliath with a sling stone, as though that were a resemblance of the manner in which the enemies of God's people should be subdued in the times ofthe Messiah ; and this is an argument that David's bruising the head of this giant and grand enemy of God's church, is a type of the Messiah, the son of David, and who is often called by the name of David in scripture, bruising the head of Satan.

It is an argument that the historical events of the Old Testament in the whole series of them, from the beginning of God's great works for Israel in onler to their redemption out of Egypt, even to their full possession of the promised land in the days of David, and the building of the temple in the days of Solomon, were typical things, and that under the whole history was hid in a mystery or parable, a glorious system of divine truth concerning greater things than these, that a plain summary, rehearsal or narration, of them is called a parable and dark saying or enigma. Psalm Ixxviii. 2. It is evident that here by a parable is not meant merely a set discourse of things, appertaining to divine wisdom, as the word parable is sometimes used; but properly a mystical enigmatical speech signifying spiritual and divine things, and figurative and typical representations; because it is called both a parable and dark sayings.

It is an argument that many of the historical events of

the Old Testament are types of the great events appertain-

ing^to the Messiah's coming and kingdom, that the Spirit

"* ^ ' * vpk occasion from the former to speak of the latter.

takes occasion to speak of and foretel the Messiah,

reat events ap|)ertaining to his salvation, ui)on occa-

sion of the coming to pass of these ancient events, or on his speaking of these events, celebrating or promising them, he takes occasion to speak of these latter and greater events, joining what is declared of the one with what he reveals of the other in the same discourse; which is an argument that one has relation to the other, and is the image of the other. Thus the Spirit of God, when speaking by Balaam, took occasioni when celebrating the wonderful work of God in bringing them out of Egypt, to foretel that great salvation that God should work for his people by the Messiah. Num. xxiii. 23« So the Spirit of God in Nathan, when speaking of the glorious reign of Solomon and his building an house to God's name, and promising these things to David, 2 Samuel vii., takes occasion to foretel and promise the more glorious and everlasting kingdom of the Messiah, as it is evident that David understood the words of Nathan by what he says in chapter xxiii., and in the book of Psalms ; and as it is evident from many things in the prophets, the Spirit of God intended them. From the ark's being carried up into mount Sion, and the great joy and privileges of Israel consequent thereupon, the spirit took occasion to speak very much of the exaltation of the Messiah, and the glorious privileges of his people consequent thereupon; as in 1 Chron. xvi. 7— 36, especially from verse 22. So in Psalm Ixviii. which was penned or indited on occasion of the ascension of the ark into mount Sion, as any one may be satisfied by duly considering the matter ofthe psalm, especially verses 25—-29, and by comparing the first and seventh verses of this psalm with Num. x. 35, and by comparing many passages in this psalm with many parts of that song of David, on occasion of the carrying up the ark that is recorded in 1 Chron. xvi. Again on this occasion the Spirit of God speaks of the things ofthe Messiah in Psalm cxxxii., which was penned on that occasion, as is very plain from the matter of the psalm, and by comparing verses, 8, 9, 10, 11, with 2 CbroD. vi.41,42.

From David's great victories over the Syrians and Edomites, the Spirit of God takes occasion to speak much of the victories of the Messiah in Psalms tx. and cviii. Psalm Ixxii., which is evidently a remarkable prophecy of the Messiah, was written on occasion of the introducing of Solomon to the throne of Israel, as is evident from the title, together with the first verse of the psalm.

So the Spirit of God does abundantly take occasion to foretel and promise the redemption ofthe Messiah, and the overthrow of bis people's enemies by him; from these two events, the des-tractioD of Sennacherib's army, and the deliverance of Jerusalem

from hiuiy and likewise the destruction of Babjlon, and the le-demption of the Jews from their Babylonish captivity.

Not only does God take occasion from these historical eFenti lo speak of the great events that appertain to the Messiah's coming and salvation; but with regard to several of them, he manifestly speaks of both under one; the same words have respect to both events. One is spoken of under the other, as though one were contained in the other; or as though one were the other, which can be no other way, than by one being the type or representation of the other in that sense wherein David said the waters of the well of Bethlehem was the blood of those men that bought it in jeopardy of their lives; as the beasts Daniel saw are said to be kingdoms and the horns to be kings, and as Ezekiel's hair is said to be Jerusalem. Ezek. ▼. 5.

Thus Balaam prophesied of David who smote the four corners of Moab, and of the Messiah, under one. So it is most manifest that the peace and glory of Solomon's reign, and that of the reign of the Messiah, are spoken of under one. Psalm Izxii. And that the ascending of the ark into mount Sion and the as-■cension of the Messiah are also spoken of under one in Psalm Izviii.

Some of the historical events of the Old Testament, if they are not typical, must needs be very impertinently taken notice of in the history; as David's sacrificing when they had gone aix paces with the ark; 2 Sam. vi. 13. It must be both insignificantly done and impertinently related in the history, unless there be some signification of some important thing in it. So the relation of there being twelve fountains of water and threescore and ten palm-trees.

The remarkable similitude there is between many of the events in the Old Testament, both miraculous and others, and the prophetical descriptions of events relating to the Messiah, is an argument that the former were designed resemblances of the latter. God's causing the light to shine out of darkness, as Moses gives us an account of it in the history of the creation, has a great similitude with what is foretold to come to pass in the Messiah's times. Isaiah zlii. 16. '* I will make darkness light before them." Isaiah ix. 2. *' The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Isaiah, xxix. 18. '* The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness." So there is a great resemblance between the account Moses gives us of a river that ran through the midst of Eden to water the trees of paradise, and the descriptions which the prophets give of what should be in the Messiah's times; as Ezek. xlvii. 7. ^* Now when I had returned, be-

bold at the bank of the rirer were very many trees, on the one ride and on the other." Ver. 12. '* And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed." Isaiah xli. 18, 19. '*1 will open rivers in hi^h places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree and the myrtle and the oil tree. I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the box tree together." Compared with Isaiah li. 3. ''The Lord will comfort Sion—and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." Ezek. zxxvi. 35. *' This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden ;" and Psalm xlvi. 4. '' There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God;" taken with Num. xxiv. 5, 6. '* How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth; as the gardens by the river side; as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted^ and as cedar-trees be* tide the waters;^* and Jer. xxxi. 12. '* And their soul shall be like a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all." So between what we are told of the tree of life in Eden, (which being in the midst of the garden, we have reason to think was by the river,) and the representations made of what should be in the Messiah's times, Ezek. xlvii. 9. 12, '* Every thing that liveth, which moveth whithersoever the river shall come shall live. Every thing shall live whither the river Cometh. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months. The fruit thereof shall be for meat and the leaf thereof for medicine."

The things that we have an account of in Moses's history of the deluge, have a great resemblance of many of the Old Testa« ment representations of things that shall be brought to pass in the time of the Messiah's kingdom. That destruction of the wicked world by a flood of waters is very agreeable to the Old Testament representation of the future destruction that shall come on all God's enemies, and particularly in the Messiah's days. The wicked of the old woild were destroyed by a dreadful tempest. So it is said concerning the ungodly, Job xxvii. 20, 21. ** Terrors take hold on him as waters; a tempest steal-eth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and be departeth ; a storm hurleth him out of his place." Sor-fow and misery is very often represented by overwhelming wa* tersy and God's wrath by waves and billows. Ps. xlii. 7, and

Izzxviii. 7. The waters of the flood did not only overwhelm the wicked, but came into their bowels. God's wrath on the ungodly is compared to this very thing. Ps. cix. 18. ** As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water." In the time of the flood the waters were poured down out of heaven like spouts or cataracts of water. God's wrath is compared unto this, Ps. xlii. 7. •* Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts." The waters of the deluge were what the ungodly of the world could not escape, or hide themselves from them by resorting to caves in the ground, or digging deep in the earth, or ^ing to the tops of mountains; so likewise is the matter represented with respect to God's wrath on the ungodly, in Isaiah zxviii. 17. " The waters shall overflow the hiding-place;" and Amos ix. 1, 2. '* He that fleeth of them shall not flee away: he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them : though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence :" and so in many other places. Particularly is there a great resemblance between the destruction that was brought on the wicked world by the flood, and what is foretold of the wicked in the Messiah's times; as in Isaiah xxiv. 18, 19, 20. ** And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear, shall fall into a pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare." (So that there shall be no escaping, let them flee where they will, as it was in the time of the deluge.) ** For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down ; the earth is clean dissolved ; the earth is moved exceedingly—and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it." There is not only a resemblance between this representation of the punishment of the wicked world in the Messiah's days, and the history of the flood, but here seems to be an evident allusion to the flood, and a designed comparison of that destruction of God's enemies, and what was in the time of the flood, when we are told the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, &c. So the destruction of God's enemies in the Messiah's times is represented as being by a flood. D^n. ix. 26. '* And the end thereof, shall be with a flood ;" and to a flood occasioned by a mighty rain. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. <* I will rain upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain." There is also a remarkable agreement between what we are told in Moses's history of ^he preservation of those that were in the ark, and what is often declared in Old Testa-

TYPES OF THE MESSIAH. S3

: prophecies concerning the preserration and salvation of burch by the Messiah. Isai. xxxii., at the beginning. '* A shall be a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the test." Isa. iv. 6. ** And there shall be a place of refuge, for a covert from storm, and from rain." Isa. xxv. 4. ou hast beeii a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy itress, a refuge from the storm—when the blast of the ter-ones is as the storm against the wall." Psa. xlvi. 1, 2, 3. d is our refuge and strength, we will not fear though the \ be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst 3 sea," (as they in a sense were in the flood. They were in lidstof the sea; the sea surrounded and overwhelmed them.) ough the waters thereof roar and are troubled; though the itains shake with the swelling thereof." Isai. xliii. 2. " When passeth through the waters, I will be with thee :" compare

texts with Psalm xxxii. 6. '' Surely in the flood of great rs, they shall not come high thee," and Psalm xci. 7. " A and shall fall at thy side, and ten thouand at thy right hand,

shall not come nigh thee." We may suppose that there 1 resolving and flocking of animals from all parts of the I, such as are proper to hot countries, from the south; and ELS dwell in colder climates from the north. And as there lany countries that have their peculiar kinds of animals; J may suppose there was a resorting from every quarter, sorting of beasts and a flocking of birds, which is a lively iblance of what is often foretold of the gathering of God's e into his church from all quarters in the Messiah's days, oming to him for salvation when all the ends of the earth d look to him to be saved. Isaiah xlv. 22. When God d bring the seed of his church from the east, and gather from the west, and would say to the north. Give up, and to uth, Keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my daugh-rom the ends of the earth. Isaiah xliii. 6, 7, and many other lei places. And God would gather his people from all coun-agreeably to many prophecies, and it shall be said. Who are that fly as a cloud and as doves to their windows f The ga* ig of all kinds of creatures to the ark, clean and unclean, and wild,gentle and rapacious, innocent and venomous; f(, wolves, bears, lions, leopards, serpents, vipers, dragons ; he door of the ark standing open to them, and their all ing there peaceably together under one head, even Noah, (indly received them and took care of them, fed and saved , and to whom they tamely submitted, is a lively rcpre-tion of what is often foretold concerning the Messiah's

when it is foretold, that not only the Jews should be saved L. IX. 5

but unclean Gentile nations, when the gates of God's church should be open to all sorts of people, (Isai. Ix, 11, with the context,) when proclamation should be made to every one to come freely. Isai. Iv. 1—9. And God would abundantly pardon the wicked and unrighteous, ver. 6, 7, 8, 9, and would bring again even the captivity of Sodom and her daughters. Kzek. xvi. 53. And those nations should be gathered to God's church, to be one holy society with Israel that were wont to be their most cruel and inveterate enemies ; such as the Egyptians; Psalm Izxxvii. 4, and Ixviii. 31. Isai. xix. 18, to the end, and xlv. 14. The Philistines ; Psa. Ix. 8, and Ixxxvii. 4. Zech. ix. 6, 7. The Chaldeans; Psa. Ixxxvii. 4, and Assyrians; Isai. xix. 23,24, 25 ; and the most wild and barbarous nations. Tabor and ller-mon, that were noted haunts of wild beasts ; Psa. Ixxxvii. 12 ; Cant. iv. 8 ; Psa. xlii. 6. Hos. v. 1, and the nations of Arabia and Ethiopia, (in many places see fulfilment of prophecies of Messiah 4160,) countries that abounded with the most rapacious, venomous and terrible animals. When it is foretold that the beasts of the field should honour God, and the dragons and the owls, lsa.xliii. 19, 20; and when it is foretold ** jthat the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them; and the cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all Gud's holy mountain," Isai. xi. 6—9, and chap. Ixv. 25, events under the Messiuh^s kingdom are intended. The ark was a great while tossed to and fro on the face of the flood, ready to be overwhelmed ; but at last rested on a high mountain or rock, and the company in it had enlargement and liberty, and were brought into a new world. So the church in the Messiah's days is long in a state of affliction, tossed with tempest and not comfoitcd. Isai. liv. 11. But when she is ready to be overwhelmed, God will lead her to the rock that is higher than she, Psa. Ixi. 2, and she shall be brought out of her affliction into a new world, Isa. Ixv. 17,18,and shall dwell in God's holy mountain, as is often foretold.

Another historical event, between which and the Old Testament representations of spiritual things, and particular things appertaining to the Messiah's kingdom, there is a great resemblance in the destruction of Sodom and the neighbouring cities. There is a great resemblance between this and the future punishment of the wicked in general, as represented in the Old Testament. Fire and brimstone were poured out from God outof heaven, and rained down on these cities: so the wrath of God is often in the

Old Testamenrcompared to fire, and is represented as poured out from heaven on the ungodly, and particularly to he poured out like fire. Nahumi. 6. Isai. xlii. 25. Jer. xliv. 6. Lam. ii. 4. and iv. 11. Eiek. xxii. 21, 22. 31. So it is threatened in allusion to the manner of Sodom's destruction, Psa. xi. G, that upon the wicked God would rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible or burning tempest, (as it is in the margin,) and it is said this should be the portion of their cup. That destruction came on Sodom suddenly and unexpectedly, while the inhabitants were in the midst of their voluptuousness and wickedness, and wholly at ease and quiet, in the morning, when the sun arose pleasantly on the earth, and when the idle and unclean inhabitants were drowned in sloth, sleep, and pleasures ; which is agreeable to what is often represented in the Old Testament of the manner of God's bringing destruction on the wicked. It came on Sodom as a snare. So it is said in that xi. Psa. ''Snares, fire and brimstone, shall God rain," &c. That while the wicked is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and rain it upon him while he is eating. Job. xx. 23. That God hath set them in slippery places, and that they are cast down to destruction in a moment, and are utterly consumed with terrors. Ps. Ixxiii. 18, 19. That their destruction falls suddenly upon them, as the fishes are taken in an evil net, (when sporting securely in the water,) and as birds are caught in the snare (when they are feeding and pleasing themselves with the bait.) Eccl. ix. 12. Particularly this if represented as the manner of destruction's coming on them that harden their necks when often reproved, as the inhabitants of Sodom had been by Lot, as appears by Gen. xix. 9. Prov. xxix. 1. *' He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly b^ destroyed, anfll that without remedy." There is a special resemblance between the destruction of Sodom, and the destruction that is foretold to come on the enemies of God and the Messiah ander the Messiah's kingdom, which is often represented as being by fire. Mai. iii. 1. '* Who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth f For he is like a refiner's fire." A refiner's fire is a vehement furnace, that burns up the dross. Chap. iv. 1. ** For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts; it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Ps. xxi. 9. ** Thou shalt make them as in a fiery oven the day of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them." Dan. vii. 11. «* I beheld till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame." Tea, that destruction is represented as efiected by raining down fire and brimstone npon them. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. ** And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain

upon bim, and upon bis bands, and upon the many people that are with hinii an overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. Isai. XXX. 30. «*And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, rnd hail-stones." Ver. 33. '* For Tophet is ordained of old; for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Chap. xxix. 6. '* Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." The Messiah's enemies are represented as destroyed with everlasting fire; Isai. xxxiii. 11—14. " The people shall be as the burning of lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire.—Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?" Isai. Ixvi. 15, 16. *< For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render vengeance with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the TiOrd plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many :" with ver. 24. " And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." There was something in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to represent this. The fire that destroyed them was, as if were, everlasting fire, inasmuch as the destruction it brought upon them was everlasting and irreparable desolation, so that they never could be built again, and never any creature, either man or beast, could live there any more; which is often particularly remarked in scripture. Isai. xiii. 19, 20. Jer. xlix. 18, and chap. 1. 39, 40. Isai. i. 0. The place, land, or lake where Sodom and its neighbour cities once were, is a place that ever since abounds with that sulphurous inflammable matter, that is called bitumen and asphalium^ and in our translation of the Bible, pitchy which is a further representation of eternal burnings, and is a remarkable resemblance of what is foretold concerning the destruction of God's enemies in the Messiah's times. Isai. xxxiv. 8—^10. *' For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion ; and the streams thereof shall be turned \\\\o pitch (or bitumen or asphaliunij) and the dust thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day. The smoke thereof shall go up for ever ; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever." This destruction came on Sodom just as the SUD was up, and had enlightened the world by its beams. So it is

manifest, from many prophecies, that great destruction of the enemies of the church so often spoken of, is when God comes and appears gloriously for his people, and when the morning of that glo-rioas day of the church's light, peace, and triumph is come on, and the glory of the Lord shall be risen upon the church, and the Son of Righteousness with healing in his wings. Then will the day come that will burn as an oven, and the wicked shall be as stubble. Lot's being so wonderfully delivered and saved from the destruction, well represents that great preservation of God's church and people, so often spoken of by the prophets, in that time of God's indignation and day of his wrath and vengeance on his enemies*

The remarkable similitude there is between very many things in the history of Joseph, and the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, argue the former to be a type of the latter. Joseph is said to be the son of Jacob's old age. Gen. xxxvii. 3. So the Messiah is every where represented in the prophecies, as coming and setting up his kingdom in the latter days. He was Jacob's beloved son. Gen. xxxvii. 3. So the prophecies do represent the Messiah as the beloved Son of God. They represent him as the Son of God. (See fulfilment of the prophecies of theMessiah ^15.) They also represent him as one that should be in a very peculiar and transcendent manner the beloved of God. (See fulfilment of prophecies, be. ^ 18.) Joseph was clothed with a beautiful garment. So the prophecies represent the Messiah as clothed with beautiful and glorious garments. Zech. iii. 4,5. ''Take away the filthy garments from him. I will clothe thee with change of raiment—-so they set a fair mitre on his head and clothed him with garments." Isai. Ixi. 10. '' He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." The sheaves of Joseph's brethren in his vision all bow down to his sheaf. So it is prophecied of the Messiah, that God would make him his first bom, higher than the kings of the earth. Psa. Ixxxix. 27. Kings are said all of them to be the sons of the Most High ; but this king is represented as made the highest by God, and all the rest as being made to bow down unto him. Psa. Ixxii. 11. ''Tea, all things shall fall down before him." Isai. xlix. 7. "Kings shall see and arise; princes also shall worship; because of the Lord that is faithful and the holy one of Israel, and he shall choose thee." See also ver. 23, and Psa. xlv. " He hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." And many other places import the same thing. The saints are often in the prophecies called the children of .God. And they are represented as the Messiah's brethren. Psa. zxii. 22. " I will declare thy name unto

niy brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.** But the Messiah is every where represented as their Lord and King, whom they honour, and submit to and obey. Yea, it is promised that every knee should bow to him. Isai. xlv. 23. The fan, moon, and stars, are represented as making obeisance to Joseph. So in the prophecies the Messiah is represented as God, whom the Old Testament often speaks of as ruling-sun, moon, and stars. And the heavens are represented as declaring the Messiah's righteousness. (Psa. xcvii. 6, and 1.6.) And the heavens and earth, and sea, and the whole universe is represented as rejoicing and worshipping and praising the Messiah on occasion of his coming and kingdom. Psa. xcvi. 11—13. Ixix. 34. Isai. xliv. 23. and xlix. 13. And the sun is represented as being ashamed, and the moon confounded, and the stars withdrawing their shining, (as it were vailing their faces as the worshipping angels do) before the Messiah, at his coming to reign in the world. Isai. xxiv. 23. Joeliii. 15. And the stars as falling from heaven ; Isai. xxxiv. 4. Joseph's father and mother are represented as bowing down to him to the earth. This was never fulfilled properly with respect to Joseph. His father, when he met him in Egypt, did not, that we have any account, thus bow down to him; and his mother was dead long before ; both Rachel and Leah were dead before Jacob went down into Egypt. But the Messiah's ancestors are represented as worshipping him. The Messiah is represented as the son of David ; but David calls him Lord. Psa. ex. 1. Joseph was hated by his brethren, which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the Messiah. Psa. Ixix. 8. *' I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children." Joseph was hated by the sons of the same father, Jacob. So the prophecies do represent the Messiah as a son of Jacob, one of the seed of Isfael, but as hated by the generality of his seed, the Jews. Joseph's brethren sold him for a few pieces of silver; so the prophecies do represent the Jews as selling the Messiah for a few pieces of silver. Zech. xi. 12, 13. Joseph's brethren went about to murder him ; so the prophecies represent the Messiah as being murdered by the Jews. Joseph was the saviour of his brethren and the church of God. He saved their lives. So the Messiah is abundantly represented in the prophecies as the saviour of his brethren ; the saviour of the saints, the church of God, and of the nation of the Jews; and as one that saves them from death. Joseph was the saviour of the world, not only of the seed of Israel, but the Gentile nations, yea, of all nations. For the famine was sore in all lands, even over all the face of the earth, and all countries came into Kgypt to Joseph to boy corn. Gen. xli.56, 57. And his name Zaphnath-pauneah, in th« Egyptian language, signifies the Saviour of the world. This

ift exactly agreeable to the Old Testament representation of the Messiah. Joseph was first in a state of great humiliation, and afterwards in a state of exaltation. In his state of humiliation he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His disgrace and sufferings were very great. He suffered all unjustly from the hands of men, being innocent, and wrongfully condemned. He suffered as being guilty of horrid crimes. And had his place and lot among great criminals; and suffered all with admirable meekness, which is exactly agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah. Joseph was a servant to one of the chief rulers of Egypt, Potiphar, the captain of the guard. So the Messiah is called the servant of rulers. Isai. xlix. 7. Joseph was one of the king's prisoners, under the hand of the king's chief officer of jnstice, the captain of the guard, and as it were, high sheriff of Egypt. So the Messiah is represented as suffering from the hands of GikI, who bruized him and put him to grief, and as executing Justice npon him for man's sins, making his soul an offering for sin. Joseph^s being cast into the dungeon is a fit representation of what the prophecies do represent of the Messiah's extreme affliction and grief, and his being brought to the grave, (often called the pit in the Old Testament,) and remaining some time in the state of death. Joseph was a prophet. He had divine visions himself, and had knowledge in the vidons of God, and could interpret the visions of others. This is agreeable to Old Testament representations of the Messiah. He was a revealer of secrets, as his name ZaphmUh-paaneah signifies in the Hebrew tongue, and revealed those secrets that none other could reveal, and after the wisdom of all the wise men of Egypt had been tried and proved insufficient. Gen. xli. 8, 9, ^c. This is agreeable to what is represented of the Messiah in Isai. xli. two last verses, and xlii. 1. ** For 1 beheld, and there was no man even amongst them, and there was no counsellor, that when I asked of them, could answer a word. Behold, they are all vanity. Behold my servant whom 1 uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Joseph is spoken of as distinguished from all in that he was one io whom the Spirit of God was. How agreeable is this to the frequent representations in the Old Testament of the Messiah, as one that God puts his Spirit upon ! Joseph is spoken of as one to whom none was to be compared for wisdom, and prudence, and counsel through the Spirit of God. Gen. xli. 38, 39. This is agreeable to what is foretold of the Messiah, Isai. ix. 6. ** His Qame shall be called wonderful, counsellor." Chap. xi. 2, 3. " The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and might; the ipirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make

bim of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." Zech. iih 9* '* Upon ode stone shall be seven eyes." Isai. Hi. 13. *' Behold my servant shall deal prudently." See also that foremen-tioned, Isai. xli. and two last verses, and xlii. 1. Joseph was exalted for this his great wisdom ; which is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah, Isai. lii. 13. *' Behold, my servant shall deal prudently ; he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high." So agreeably to this, Joseph's exaltation was very great. He was exalted by the king of the country, who we may well suppose in this case represents God, seeing it is evident by the Old Testament, that kings in their kingly authority are the images of God. (Ps. Ixxxii. 1, 6.) Pharaoh exalts Joseph over all his house and people. So the prophecies do often represent God as exalting the Messiah over his people and his house, or temple, and over heaven. The king exalted Joseph to be next to himself in his kingdom, to ride in the second chariot which he had. So the prophecies represent the Messiah as the second in God's kingdom, next to God the Father, and exalted by him to this dignity. Ps. ex. 1. '* Sit thou on my right hand." Ps. Ixxxix. *' 1 will make him my first bom higher than the kings of the earth." Joseph was exalted over all the nobles and rulers of the land of Egypt, excepting Pharaoh himself. Ps. cv. 21, 22. 'Agreeable to this it is often represented in the prophecies, that all kings shall be made to bow and submit to the Messiah. And it is also implied that the angels of heaven, as well as all nations of the earth, should be subjected to him by God. Dan. vii. 9, &c. '' I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit. Thousand thousands ministered unto him—I saw one in the night visions, and beheld one like unto the Son of man come forth in the clouds of heaven, and come to the-ancient of days; and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all nations and languages should serve him." Dan. xii, 1. Michael the great prince —together with chap. x. 13. *' Michael, the first of the chief princes," with the context, that speaks of angels as princes. Pharaoh invested Joseph with his own authority and honour as his representative and vicegerent. For he took off his own ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand. So the prophecies do represent God as investing the Messiah with his authority and honour, seating him on his own throne, and causing him to bear the glory. Zech. vi. 12, 13. And there are many other prophecies that imply the same. Pharaoh arrayed Joseph with change of raiment, pure garments, and ensigns of royalty, agreeably to what is foretold of the Messiah. Zech. iii., and Isaiah Ixi. 10. Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in fine linen. Gen.

xli. 42, as the Messiah is represented as clothed in fine linen, Dan. X.5: for it may, by well considering the chapter, be gathered, that the person there spoken of is the same with Michael mentioned in verses 13 and 21, and chapter xii. 1. Pharaoh, when he exalted Joseph, committed all his treasures and stores into Joseph's hand, to bestow on otheis and feed mankind. Psalm cv. 21. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance. And particularly Joseph received those stores and treasures to bestow on his injurious brethren that had been mortal enemies to him; which is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah's exaltation. Psalm Ixviii. 18. '* Thou hast ascended on high— thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also." When Pharaoh exalted Joseph he gave him his wife. So the Messiah's marriage with his church is represented as following bis humiliation and attending his exaltation, in Isaiah liii. and lir. Joseph marries the daughter of Potipherah, which signi-6e9 destroyer of fatness, a word of the same signification with some of the names given in scripture to the devil. This Potipherah was priest of On, which signifies iniquity, or sorrow. So the prophecies do represent the Messiah as bringing his church into espousals with himself from a state of sin and wickedness. Jer. iii. 14. '* Turn, O backsliding children, unto me, for I am married unto you." Compare Hos. ii. throughout; Psalm xlv. 10, with Ezek. xvi. 3, &c. '^Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; thy father was an Amo-rite, and thy mother a Hittite.—When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy blood—behold, thy time was the time of love—and I entered into covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine." And the prophecies do every where represent the Mes* tiah as bringing his people into a blessed relation and union with himself from a state of sin. Joseph's wife's name was Asenaihf which signifies an unfortunate thing. Agreeably to this the Messiah is represented as espousing, after his exaltation, a poor, unhappy, afflicted, disconsolate creature. Isaiah liv. 4, kc ** Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded; for thou sh^lt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the re^ proach of thy widowhood any more, for thy Maker is thy husband ; for the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and giieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused.'* Verse 11. " O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted: Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours," be. Hos. ii. 9, &c. •*! will return and take away my corn—^none ihall deliver out of my hand—I will destroy her vines and her -trees—I will visit upon her the days of Baalim—I will bring

fig-trees—I will visit upon her the days

her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her—and VOL. IX. 6

at that day she shall call me Ishi/' Verses 19, 20. '* And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me,'* &c. Isaiah 1^"- 44.^ " Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land be any more termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beiilah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married—and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.'* Joseph's brethren are in great trouble and perplexity, and are brought to reflect on themselves for their sins, and deeply to humble themselves before him, before Joseph speaks comfortably to them, and makes known his love and favour to them, and receives them to the blessings and glory of his kingdom. This is agreeable to what the procheciesdo often represent of the Messiah with respect to sinners. Hos. ii. 14,15. ** I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her, and 1 will give her her vineyards from thence—and she shall sing there." See also Jer. iii. 12» 13. 21, 22. Chap. xxxi. Id—^20. Joseph's brethren, before they were comforted and made happy by him, are brought to cry with the greatest humility, and earnestness, and penitence, for their abuse of Joseph, to him for mercy. Agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah, Zech. xii. 10, ^c. ^' And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him," &.C. Hos. V. 15. *' I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face: in their affiiction, they shall seek me early." Ezek. xxxvi. 37. •• I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." Jer. xxix. 12—14. ** Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and ye shall ^eek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.'* And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your cufitivity." When once Joseph's brethren were thoroughly humbled, then his bowels yearned towards them with exceeding great compassion and tenderness of heart, though before he treated them as if he was very angry with them. See, agreeable to this, Jeremiah xxxi. 18, fcc. " I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me and I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote U|)on my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because 1 did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son.'* is he a pleasant child .^ For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are tron-

bled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." Joseph perfectly forgives all their past ill treatment, or blots it out, as though it had never been, and will have it remembered no more. Gen. xlv. 5—8, and I. 19—21. This is agreeable to what is often spoken of in the prophecies, as a great benefit God's people shall have by the Messiah. (See fulfilment of prophecies, ^ 79, and '^ 86.) The manner of Joseph's comforting his brethren in the manifestations and fruits of his special and peculiar love, his bringing them near him, making known himself to them as theirs in a near relation, his treating them with such great tenderness, his embracing them, his manifesting so great a concern for their welfare, his putting such honour upon them before the Egyptians, his entertaining them with a sumptuous joyful feast in his house and at his own table, his clothing them with change of raiment, his bringing them into his own land and there giving them a goodly inheritance, plentifully providing for them in Goshen, a land of light; all is re-inarkably agreeable to the descriptions given in the prophecies of the manner of God's comforting, blessing, exalting, and manifesting his great favour to his church, after her long continued sin and sorrows, in the days of the Messiah's kingdom, in places too many to be enumerated. Joseph's brethren at this time are like them'that dream, Gen. xlv. 3, &c.; which is agreeable to what is said of the church of God, when delivered and comforted by the Messiah. Psalm cxxvi. 1. " When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.'* There is joy in Pharaoh's court among his servants and nobles on the occasion of Joseph's receiving his brethren. Gen xlvi. 16. Answering to this is Isaiah xliv. 22, 23. " I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it." And chap. xlix. 13. " Sing, O heaven, and be joyful, O earth—for the Lord hath comforted his people." And Psalm cxiviii. 4. **Praise him, ye heaven of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens," with verses 13, 14. ** Let them praise the name of the Lord : for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the horn of

hie people."

The remarkable agreement between many things in the history of Moses, and the prophecies of the Messiah, argue the i former to be a type of the latter. Moses was God's elect. Ps. I crL 23. " Had not Moses his chosen stood before him." In I his being so wonderfully preserved and upheld by God when in I great danger, preserved in the midst of many waters, when he 1 was cast into the river. Moses was drawn out of the water 1 when a babe. Compare Ps. Ixix. and Isai. liii. 2. He was pre-jjI served in his banishment, preserved and delivered from the

wrath of the king of Egypt, when he from time to time went to him with messages that so much provoked him; preserved at the Red sea, in the wilderness and in the midst of that perverse, invidious congregation, and delivered from the strivings of the people. This is agreeable to many things said in the prophecies of the Messiah. Moses was twice delivered out of great waters, when he was designed by his enemies for death ; once in his being drawn out of the river, and another time in rising out of the Red sea. This is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah's sufferings and death, and his rising from them. Misery, and wrath, and sore affliction, are often in scripture compared to great waters, to waves and billows, and great deeps, and the like; and the Messiah's sufferings in fmrticular, as Ps. Ixix. 1—3. 14, 15, and his deliverance out of those sufferings is represented as his being delivered out of great waters. Ps. Ixix. 14, 15. The region of the dominion of death and destruction is represented as being down under the waters. Job XXV. 5, 6. These deliverances of Moses, therefore, are agreeable to the prophecies of Christ's resurrection. Moses was not only delivered from his troubles and danger, but his deliverances were followed with great exaltation, resembling the exaltation of the Messiah that the prophecies speak of. After he was drawn out of the water, he was exalted in the king's palace, as his son and heir. After his banishment he converses with God in mount Sinai, a resemblance of heaven, and is made king over God's church. In about forty days after his resurrection out of the Red sea, he ascends up to God in mount Sinai.

The things that are said of the burning bush, do wonderfully agree with the Old Testament representations of the Messiah. It was not a high tree, but a bush ; as the Messiah is called the low tree ; Ezck. xvii. 24, and elsewhere, the twig and the ten^ der plant. This bush was a root out of a dry ground ; for it was a bush that grew in mount Horeb, which was so called for the remarkable dryness of the place. The word signifies dry^ ness; there was no spring about the mountain, till Moses there fetched water of the dry rock. It was in a thirsty wilderness, where was wont to be no rain. Therefore the children of Israel in that wilderness were supplied with water only miraculously. Hos. xiii. 5. *' I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought." See Deut. viii. 15. That bush was the growth of the earth, as the human nature of Christ in the Old Testament is represented to be. Yet it had the divine nature of Christ in it; for this angel of the Lord that is said to appear in the bush, has been proved to bo the same with the Messiah from the Old Testament, in my discourse on the prophecies of the Messiah. This angel is said to dweU in this bush, Deut.

zxxiii. 16, the more to represent the divine nature of the Messiah dwelling in the human nature. This bush burnt with fire, agreeably to what the prophecies speak of the sufferings of Christ; great calamity and affliction in the Old Testament are often called fire. This was especially a resemblance of the wrath of God, that is often called fire in the Old Testament, and which the prophecies represent the Messiah as enduring. (See fulfilment of prophecies, ^70.) The bush was preserved from being consumed, though it burnt with fire, agreeably to the prophecies of the preservation and upholding of the Messiah. God's not suffering his holy one to see corruption, be. The bush emerged alive and fresh out of the fire, agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah's resurrection from the dead, and deliverance from all his sufferings. The angel that dwelt out of that bush, who was the Messiah, comes out of the fire, and appears in the bush, and delivered alive from the flames, to work redemption for his people. See Exod. iii. 8. So the prophecies represent the Messiah rising from the dead, and exalted out of his state of humiliation, to work salvation for his people.

If we consider the remarkable agreement there is between the account Moses gives of the brazen serpent, Num. xxi., and the representation the prophet makes of the Messiah, we shall see good reason to think that the former was intended to be a type of the latter. Doubtless God's appointing that way for the healing of those that were bitten with fiery serpents, by making an image of those fiery serpents, and putting it on a pole, had some significancy. It was not wholly an insignificant appointment. There was doubtless some important thing that Gcid aimed at in it. It was not an appointment without any aim or any instruction contained in it, as it seems as though it must be, unless some important spiritual thing was represented and exhibited by it. And whoever considers the remarkable agreement between this appointment and its circumstances, and the things spoken concerning the Messiah, will see reason to conclude, that these are doubtless the things signified and pointed forth by it. That sin, misery, and death that the Messiah is represented as coming to save us from, is represented in the Old Testament as bein<r from a serpent. See Gen. iii. 1—6, and XV. and xx. The Messiah is represented as saving from all hurt by the most poisonous serpents; Isai. xi. 8, 9, and Ixv. 25. Sin, our spiritual disease, is in the Old Testament compared to the poison of the serpent. Deut. xxxii. 33. Ps. Iviii. 4, and cxI. 3. The brazen serpent is called a fiery serpent. Num. xxi. 8; because it was in the image of the fiery serpents. So the prophets represent the Messiah as set forth as a sinner, tppearing in the form of sinners, and of a great sinner. Isai.

liii. 6. " All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath made the iniquities of us all to meet in him," (for so it is in the Hebrew.) Ver. 9. *' He made his grave with the wicked." Ver. 12. •* He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many." He was treated as the greatest of sinners. The Messiah being set forth in the form of a great sinner, he was, as it were, exhibited in the form of a very venomous serpent, according to the manner of representing things in the Old Testament, for there great sinners are represented as poisonous serpents. Ps. Iviii. 3, 4. " The wicked are estranged from the womb ; their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth up her ear." Ps. cxI. 3. " They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips." In order to the Israelites being saved from death through the poison of the fiery serpents, the brazen serpent was set up as an ensign to the congregation or army of Israel. For the word translated pole^ signifies ensign^ which is the much more proper Knglish of the word. This is in exact agreeableness to the prophecies of the Messiah. Isai. xi. 10. '* And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign to the people." Here the word translated ensign^ is the very same with that word translated pole in the xxi. of Numb. The brazen serpent was set up as an ensign, that it might be exhibited to public view, and the diseased are called upon to look upon it, or behold it. Thus in the prophecies men are from time to time called upon to behold the Messiah ; Isai. xl. 9. '' O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up; be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God." We may well suppose, that when the brazen serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, there was proclamation made by heralds to that vast congregation, calling upon them to look on that. Isai. Ixv. 1. '* I said. Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name." Chap. Ixii. 10, 11. *' Lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Zech. ix. 9—12. '' Rejoice greatly^ O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation—and he shall speak peace unto the heathen—by the blood of the covenant 1 will send forth thy prisoners—turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope." Isai. lii. 7, 8. '* How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth

peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salra-tioiiy that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Thy watchman shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." The way that the people were saved by the brazen • serpent, was by looking to it, beholding it, as seeking and expecting salvation from it: as an ensign saves an army by the soldiers looking on it and keeping it in their view. Agreeably to this, it is said concerning the Messiah, Isai. xi. 10, *' There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek." And Isai. xlv. 22. *' Look to me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." And faith and trust in the Messiah for salvation is often spoken of in the prophecies as the great condition of salvation through him. The Chaldee paraphrasts looked on the brazen serpent as a type of the Messiah, and gave it the name of the Word. (Bas-nage's History of the Jews, page 367.)

The great agreement there is between the history of Joshua and the things said of him in scripture, and the things said of the Messiah in the Old Testament, strongly argues Joshua to be a type of the Messiah. There is a great agreement between the names by which he is called in scripture and the names and things attributed to the Messiah in the Old Testament. His first name was Oshea^ Num. xiii. 8—16, which signifies Saviour. So the Messiah is called by the same name, a Saviour^ Isai. xix. 20. '* He shall send them a saviour and a great one." The word is of the same root with Oshea. So again the Messiah is called a saviour, Isai. xliii. 3. II. Hosea xiii. 4. 9, 10. Obad. 219 and other places. So he is called Salvation, Isai. Ixii. 11^ ** Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." And this name is agreeable to what is abundantly spoken of in the prophets, as the great work and office of the Messiah, which is to be a Saviour and Redeemer, and to work out the greatest and most eminent salvation for God's people that ever was or will be; that which is therefore often called the Salvation. This name Oshea was by Moses changed into Jehoshua. Num. xiii. 16. '' And Moses called Oshea, the •on Nun, Jehoshua, i. e. the Lord the Saviour, or Jthovah our Saviour; which makes his name still more agreeable to the name and nature of the Messiah. And it is difficult to assign any other reason why Moses thus changed his name by the direction of the Spirit of God, but that it might be so. This is agreeable to those names by which the Messiah is called in the prophets Immanutl, God with us, and Jehovah our Righteousnest. So Joshua is called the Shepherd, the stone of Israel; Gen. xlix. 24; agreeably to names by which the Messiah is often called in

the prophets. Joshua's name being the same with the Messiah's, and agreeable to his ofBce, make it the more probable that it was that he might be a type of the Messiah ; because it was frequently God's manner to presignify future things by the' signification of names; as is evident in many instances. Joshua was God's elect; he was called to his office and exalted to his high dignity by God's election and special designation, agreeably to what is said of the Messiah in the prophets. He resembled the Messiah in things spoken of him by the prophets in many things wherein Moses did so $ particularly in near access to God in mount Sinai and in the tabernacle. Exod. xxxiii. 11, and xxiv. 13, and xxxii. 17. Joshua was a man in whom was the Spirit in an eminent manner. Num. xxvii. 18. " Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit;" agreeably to what is often said of the Messiah in the prophets. It is said of Joshua that he was full of the spirit of wisdom. Deut. zxxiv. 9 ; agreeably to many prophecies of the Messiah. Joshua was both a king and a prophet. See Num. xxvii. 18, and Deut. xxxiv. 9, and Joshua the two last chapters. Herein he is like the Messiah. Joshua was the captain of the host of Israel, that fought their battles for them, and subdued their enemies, though many and mighty. He was their captain in their war with Amalek, and as we may suppose, the other enemies of Israel that they encountered in the wilderness; and he conquered the numerous and mighty enemies in Canaan ; agreeably to what is represented of the Messiah every where by the prophets. He came up out of the Jordan when it was swelled with a great flood into Canaan ; as the Messiah is spoken of by the prophets as coming up out of great affliction, terrible suflTerings and death, into heaven, a land of rest and great delight. Great suflerings are in the Old Testament represented by the swelling of the Jordan. Jer. xii. 5. Joshua brought the children of Israel out of the wilderness and out of Bashan, and out of great waters into Canaan, a land of rest flowing with milk and honey, agreeably to Psalm Ixviii. 22. *' The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:" and Isaiah xi. 10. *' There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, and his rest shall be glorious." Hosea ii. 14, 15. **I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her, and I will give her her vineyard from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt:" and agreeably to many prophecies that represent the salvation of the Messiah as a bringing of God's people into a state of liberty, rest, and joy, in Canaan, out of a state of bondage aad great aflliction in foreign lands,

Comparing it to God^s first bringing his people through the wil-derness into Canaan, which were observed before; and agreeable to many prophecies which speak of God's people, as delivered from great misery, and brought into happy circumstances by the Messiah, and as therein partaking with the Messiah in his deliverance from his sufferings and advancement to a state of rest and glory. Joshua, in going before the children of Israel as the captain of the Lord's host, and bringing them into the land of Canaan, did that which is spoken of in the books of Moses and Joshua themselves, as the office of that angel of God's presence, who (as I have shown is evident.by the Old Testament) was the same person with the Messiah, Num. xxiii. 20. *^ Behold I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." Verse 23. '* For mine angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites and the Htttites," &c. Chap, xxxiii. 14. *'My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Josh. v. 14. '' Nay but as the captain of the Lord's host am I now come." Joshua was a most glorious conqueror, as the Messiah is every where represented to be in the prophecies. Joshua entered Canaan, conquered his enemies, and brought in his people to their rest and inheritance, by his righteousness or strict obedience to God's commands. Josh. i. 2, &lc. '* Go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, into the land which I do give thee—every place that the sole of your feet shall tread apon, that have I given unto you—from the wilderness, and this Lebanon, unto the great river, the river £uphrates.—There shall not a man be able to stand before thee.—Unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which 1 sware.unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe and do according to all the law which Hoses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right band nor to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, bat tboQ shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thoa shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success." God promised that he would be with Joshua and would uphold him, and not fail him, till he had complete victory over all bis enemies, agreeably to what is said of the Messiah, Isaiah xlii. l-*-4. '* Behold my servant whom I uphold. The smoking flax •ball he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truih. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgtnent in the earth, and the isles wait for his law." Verse 6. '* 1 the Lord have called thee in righteousness: I will hold thine hand : I will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people." Cbap. xlix. 2. '^ He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in VOL. IX. 7

frO TYPES OF THE MESSIAH*

the shadow of his hand hath he held me, and made me as a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me, •" Verses 7, 8. "Kings shall see and arise; princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful.—In a day of salvation have I helped thee, and 1 will preserve thee mnd give thee for a covenant of the people.'* Psalm Ixxxix. 20, &c. " 1 have found David my servant, with my holy oil have 1 anointed him, with whom any hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him* 1 will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. Uut my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted :" and many otiier places; and agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah, (jod made his enemies his footstool. Josh. i. 3-^5. " Every place that the sole of your feet shall tread upon," &c. with chnp. x. 24. " Put your feet upon the necks of those kings," &,c. Joshua, agreeably to the prophecy of the Messiah, was an intercessor for his people. Joshua x« The high walls of God's enemies came down before Joshua agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah. Isaiah xxv. 12. *'And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low and bring to the ground, even to the dust." Chap, xxvi. 6. "For he bringeih down them that dwell on high; the lofty city he layeth it low, he layetli it low even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. Chnp. xxx. 25. "In the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.'' Joshua destroyed the giants. Josh. xi. 21.; agreeably to this see Isaiah xlv. 14. " The Bubeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee.—In chains shall fliey come over, and they shall fall down unto thee." Isaiah x. 33. "And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be bumbled." This seems to be connected with the prophecy in the beginning of the next chapter, in the next verse but one. God assisted Joshua in battle by destroying his enemies by great hailstones out of heaven. See, agreeable to this, Isaiah xxx. 30, and xxxii. 19. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. Joshua conquered among kings. Joshua made Israel to trample their haughtiest and strongest enemies under their feet. Josh. x. 24. See, agreeable to this, Isaiah xxvi. 7. Chap. xlix. 23 Zech. x. 5: Psalm Ixviii. 23. Mich. vii. 10. Psalm xlvii. 3. Isaiah Ix. 14. Psalm Iviii. 10. Joshua did as it were make the sun stand still over Israel. Agreeably to those prophecies of the times of the Messiah's kingdom. Isaiah Ix. 20. Zechariah xiv. 6, 7. Joshua houghed the horses and burnt the chariots of the enemies of God's people in the (ire. Josh. xi. 6. 9. Hag. ii. 22. " And I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down." Psalm xlvi. 9. He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow and cuttetb the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in

the fire." Joshua divided onto Israel their inheritance, as one that Ciiod had appointed to be judge, what portion belonged to every tribe.

There is also such an agreement between what is said of Israel's victory over the Canaanites under Deborah^ and what is said in the prophecies of the church's victory over her eneitiies id the Messiah's times, as argues the former to be a type of the latten The Canaanites were exceeding strong, and God's people very feeble and defenceless, having no weapons of war, and were Biightily oppressed by their enemies. So are things represented between God's people and their enemies, before their glorious victory and deliverance under the Messiah, in places too many to be enumerated. This victory was obtained by a female. So the war under the Messiah against God's enemies, is spoken of as maintained by the church, and the glorious victory obtained oVef them by her, who is spoken of almost every where by the prophe^ cies as a wom^n or female, and is represented sometimes as sucli in prophecies of her battle and victory over her enemies* HlCi iv« 13. ** Arise, thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine born iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people." Cant. vi. 13. <' What will ye sec in the Sbulamite f As it were the company of two armies." Cant, u Q. " I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots." Chap. vi. 4. " Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." Ver. 10. ^* Who is she thatlookcth forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners .^" And Deborah's being a prophetess, well agrees with the church's being endowed with such abundant measures of the Spirit of God at the time of the church's glorious victory over her enemies, and all her members becoming as it were prophets agreeably to the prophecies. The assistance given by Jael^ another woman, the wife of Hcber the Kenite, a Gentile, who slew Sisera, the captain of the host, and so is said to be blessed among women, well represents the assistance of the Gentile churdi in the victory over God's enemies in the Messiah's days. Deborah tella Barak— ** The Lord is gone out before thee.;" which is agreeable to Isai. xlii. 13. '* The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy as a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall prevail against bis enemies;" and many other places in the prophecies. The work of God in that victory of Israel i» spoken of as parallel with those things that are represented in ex" pressions very much like those used in the prophecies to represent what shall come to pass in the time of the church's victory over her enemies under the Messiah; such as going out of Seir, hi^ loarching out of the field of EHow o-' *»

heaven as it were dissolving and dropping, and mountains melting. Judges V. 45. See Isai. xxxiv. 4—6, and xxiv. 18—21, and Ixiii. 1—6, and Ixiv. 1—4. The work of God in this victory is compared to God's great work towards Israel, at their coming out of Kgypt, and hi the wilderness, just as the glorious victory of the Messiah is in the Ixviii. Psalm, almost in the same words, (compare Judges V. 4, 5, with Psalm Ixviii. 7, 8,) which is a clear evidence that this victory is a great image of that. For those things that agree in a third thing, agree among themselves. There was a plentiful shower at the time of that victory, that swelled the brook Kishon, as is manifest from Judg. v. 4, and ver. 20, 21. So at the time of the great victory of the church over her enemies under the Messiah, there will be an abundant outpouring of the Spirit, which is often represented in the prophets as a plentiful and very great shower of rain. And these spiritual showers are in the Ixviii. Psalm compared to the very same showers on Israel that this is. So the effects produced in the time of the Messiah's victories are compared to the mountains melting in Isai. Ixiv. 1—4, as the effect of this victory is, Judg. v. 5, and both compared to the same effects at mount Sinai. Barak, on this occasion, is called upon to lead captivity captive, Judg. v. 12, in the very same expressions that are used concerning the Messiah, concerning his triumph over his enemies, Ps. Ixviii. 18. It is a remnant of Israel that is spoken of as having the benefit of this salvation, Judg. V. 13, as it is a remnant that is often spoken of as having the benefit of the Messiah's salvation. Isai. iv. 3. Chap. vii. 3. X. 21,22. xi. 11— 16. Jer. xxiii. 3. Joel ii. 32. Mic. ii. 12, and iv. 7, and v. 3, vii. 8, and vii. 18. Zeph. iii. 13. Zech. viii. 12. It is said of the remnant of Israel in Deborah's time, Judg. V. 13, '*Then he made him that remaineth to have dominion over the nobles among the people : the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty," agr^bly to the honour of the saints in the Messiah's times, spoken of Ps. cxlix. 6, &c. " Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen—to bind their kings with ciiains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written. This honour have all the saints.'' And what is said, Isai. xlix. 23, of kings licking up the dust of the church's feet. The angels of heaven are represented as fight-inc^ in this battle, Judg. v. 20, as they are in the battle of God's people under the Messiah, Ps. Ixviii. ''Thechariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." Cant. vi. 13. "The company of two armies," compared with Gen. xxxii. I, 2. The enemies of Israel in Deborah's battle were swept away with a flood, Judg. V. 21. See Dan. ix. 26. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. Isai. xxviii. 17. The church, on occasion of Deborah's victory, tri-

nmphi thus: '* O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.'^ This is agreeable ;to Isai. xxvi. 7. Chap. xlix. 23, Zech. x. 5. Ps. Ixviii. 23. Mic vii- 10. Ps. xlvii. 3, and ex. 1. Isai. Ix. 14. Ps. Iviii. 10.

The great agreement there also is between the story of Gideon's victory over the Midiauites, and things spoken in the prophecies concerning the Messiah, is an argument that the former is typical of the latter. Gideon brought Israel out of the wilderness, and from the caves, rocks, and mountains, where they had had their abode. Judg. vi. 2. This agrees with Psa. Ixviii.22. "The liord said, I will bring again from Bashan V^ And Ixxxix. 12. " Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name." Hos. ii. 14. '' I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her.'^ Eiek. XX. 35, be. '* 1 will bring you into tite wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you—I will bring you into the bond of the covenant." Isai. xlii. 11. <*Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice—let the inhabitants of the rock sing: let them shout from the tops of the mountains." Cant. ii. 14. " O my dove that art in the clefts of the rock—let me see thy face." And Jer. xvi. IG. ** I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks:" taken with the two foregoing verses, and verses 19, 20, and 21, fc^lowing.

Isai. xlii. 7. " To bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, out of the prison house." Ver. 22, fee. " This is a people robbed and spoiled, they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses ; they are for a prey,

and none delivereth ; for a spoil, and none saith^ Restore. Who

gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers i He hath poured

upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle.

Bat now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, fear

not, for I have redeemed thee." Compare this with Judg. vi. 2—6. " The children of Israel made them dens which are in the moantains, and caves and strong holds.—And they destroyed the increase of the earth, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither dieep, nor ox, nor ass and Israel was greatly impoverished."

God, agreeably to some of these and other prophecies of the times of the Messiah, first pleaded with Israel concerning their sin, and brought them to cry earnestly to him, before he delivered them by Gideon. Judg. vi. 6—10. God did not send them deliverance till they were brought to extremity. Agreeably to Dent, xxxii. 36, 37, and many other prophecies.

The enemies of Israel, that sought their destruction, that Gideon overcame, were an innumerable multitude, and many nations associated and combined together ; agreeably to many prophecies of the victory and salvation of the Messiah* Gideon was appointed

to the office of a saviour and deliverer of God's people by the sovereign election and special designation of God ; agreeably to many prophecies of the Messiah. lie was endued with might, and upheld and strengthened immediately from God, and by the Spirit of God and the spirit of might resting upon him. Judg. vi. 14—16,34. Agreeably to many prophecies of the Messiah.— Gideon was as it were a root of a dry ground, of a poor family, and the least in his father's bonse; a low tree without form or comeCh ness. Judg. vi. 15. Agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah. Gideon was not only the captain of the host of Israel, but was immediately appointed of God to be a priest to build the altar of God, and to offer sacrifice to God, to make atonement for that iniquity of Israel that had brought that sore judgment upon them, that he came to deliver them from. Judg. vi. 20—28. And he of* fered a sacrifice acceptable unto God, and of which God gave special testimony of his acceptance, by Consuming his sacrifice by lire immediately enkindled from heaven. Ver. 21. And his sacri-fice procured reconciliation and peace for Israel, ver. 24. These things are exactly agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah. Gideon destroyed idols, abolished their worship, threw down their altars, and set up the worship of the true God. At this time that Gideon overthrew the idols and their worship, those idols and their worshippers were solemnly challenged to plead and make good their own cause. Judg. vi. 31—33. Agreeably to Isai. xli. 1—7, and 21—20. Gideon drank of the brook in the way, and was so prepared for the battle, and obtained a glorious conquest over the kings and the heads of many countries, and filled the place with the dead bodies, agreeably to Psa. ex. 5—7. *' The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath: lie shall judge among the heathen : he shall fill the places with the dead bodies: he shall wound the beads over many countries: he shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he Yid up the head. The company with Gideon was a small remnaiH, that was left afler most of the people departed. So is the company represented that shall obtain victory over tlieir enemies in the Messiah's times. Isai. X. 20. &c. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel shall stay upon the Lord, the holy one of Israel, in truth. For though thy people Israel be as die sand of the sea; yet a remnant shall return. Therefore thus saith the Lord, O my people, be not afraid of the Assyrian For the Lord shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian." Mic. v. 8, 9. *« And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, as a young lion among tlie flocks of sheep; who if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine band shall be lift

up opoD thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be ciU off.'* Gideon's company, with which he overcame his mighty enemies irere not only small but weak, and without weapons of war. Agreeably to this is Isai. xli. 14, &c. " Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men (or few mcn^ as it is in the margin) of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel* Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instru-mcDt having teeth; thou shah thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shah make the hills as chaff," &c. And Mic. iv. 7. " I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off, a itrong nation ;" with verse 13, "Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass; and thou shah beat in pieces many people," &£c. Zeph. iii. 12. " I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." Ver. 16, 17. '^ In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack or faint," (as it is in the margin.) '* The Lord thy God in the midst of thee ismighty, he will save." Ver. 19. '* Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee, and I will save her that halteih,'^ &c. The representation of a cake of barley bread tumbling into the host of Midian, and coming onto a tent, and smiting it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along, signifying Gideon's destroying the host of Midian, Judg. V. 13, is not unlike that in Daniel ii. of a stone cut oat of the mountains without hands smiting the image and breaking it all in pieces, that it all became as the chaff of the summer threshing floor. Gideon and his company overcame and destroyed the mighty host of their enemies, without any other weapons liian trumpets and lamps. This is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah, which show that the weapons by which he should overcome his enemies should not be carnal but spiritual, and par-ticalarly that it should be by the preaching of the word. Psa. cx.2. ''The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies;" together with Isai. xi. 4. " He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." Isai. xlix. 2. *'And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword." The word of God if in the Old Testament compared to a lamp and a light. Prov. vi. 23. " For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light." Pia. cxix. 105. ''Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light aoto my path ;" and particularly it is so represented in the prophecies of the Messiah's times. Isai. li. 4. <*Alaw shall proceed from noe, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people." So preaching the word in the Old Testament is compared lo blownig a trumpet. Isai. Iviii. 1. ^'Lift up thy voice fike a trumpet: show my people their transgression.'' Ezek.

xxxiii. 2, 3, &c. " If ihe people take a man and set him.,-:

their watchman ; if he blow the trumpet, and warn ihejiT-

ple," &c. Particularly it is so represented in the prophecie^i the Messiah's times. Isai. xxvii. 13. "And it shall come to ^. in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they i|. come that were ready to perish," fcc. Psa. Ixxxix. 15. ** Bleti, is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk^^ Lord, ID the light of thy countenance." God destroyed the fc of Midian by setting every man's sword against his fellow. Agn ably to this is Hag. ii. 22. " And the horses and their riders dif, come down, every one by the sword of his brother." Ei| xxxviii. 14, "Every man's sword shall be against his brotbek. Gideon led captivity captive agreeably to Psa. Ixviii. He \ those kings and princes in chains that before had taken them c^^ lives; agreeably to Psa. cxiix. 7—9. " To execute vengeam upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people : to bind tM kings in chains and their nobles with fetters of iron: to execij upon them the judgment written. This honour have all the saint^ There is a no less remarkable agreement between the thin|j said of Samson in his history, and the things said of the Me siah in the prophecies of him. His name Samson signifies Lf tie Snn^ well agreeing with a type of the Messiah, that Great S^ of righteousness, so often compared in the prophecies to the sal The antitype is far greater than the type, as being its end. Ther fore, w hen the type is called by the name of the antitype, it is fiti with a diminutive termination. Samson and other saviours Ui der the Old Testament, that were types of the great Saviour, wei but little saviours. The prophets, priests, kings, captains, at deliverers of the Old Testament, were indeed images of the gre light of the church and the world that was to follow. But thi were but images: they were little lights, that shone during tl night. But when Christ came, the great light arose and intr duced the day. Samson's birth was miraculous; it was a gre wonder in his case, that a woman should " compass a man," . the prophecies represent it to be in the case of the birth of tl Messiah. Samson was raised up to be a saviour to God's pa pie from their enemies, agreeably to prophetical representatioi of the Messiah. Samson was appointed to this great work I God's special election and designation, and that in an emine: and extraordinary way, agreeably to the prophecies of the Me siah. Samson was a Nazarite from the womb. The word Nt zariie signifies separated. This denotes holiness and purit The.Nazarite was, with very great and extraordinary care ar strictness indeed, to abstain from the least legal defilement; \ appears by Num. vi. 6; and the reason is given in the 8lh vers " AH the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord:" an

lib the ulmost strictness he was to abstain from wine and strong

ink, and every thing that appertained in any respect to the fruit the vine; wine being the liquor that was especially the object the carnaLappetites of men. And he was to suffer no razor to

me upon his head, any way to alter what he was by nature, be-

use that would defile it, as the lifting up a tool to hew the stones the altar would defile it. The design of those institutions con-

ming the Nazarite, about his hair and about wine is declared, Nnm. vi. 5. ^* He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair

ow." This sanctity of the Nazarite representing a perfect holiness both negative and positive, is spoken of in Lam. iv. 7. " Her Nazarites were purer than snow: they were whiter than milk: they were more ruddy in body than rubies: their polishing was of sapphire." Therefore Samson's being a Nazarite from the womb, remarkably represents that perfect innocence and pu« rity, ^nd transcendent holiness of nature, and life in the Messiah, which the prophecies often speak of. The great things that Sam-son wrought for the deliverance of Israel and the overthrow of their enemies, was not by any natural strength of his, but by the special influence and extraordinary assistance of the Spirit of God, Judg. xiii. 25, and xiv. 6. 19, andxv. 14. xvi. 20; agreeably to many prophecies I have already observed of the Messiah's being anointed and filled with God's Spirit, and being upheld, and helped, and strengthened, and succeeded by God. Samson married a Philistine, and all the women that he loved were of that people that were his great enemies. Agreeably to those prophecies that represent the Messiah as marrying an alien from the commonwealth of Israel: as Ps. xlv.: and his marrying one that was the daughter of the accursed people of Canaan, Ezek. xvi. 3. S, &c., together with the latter end of the chapter, and the many prophecies that speak of Christ's calling the Gentiles and his saving sinnei^. Samson was a person of exceeding great strength; herein he is like the Messiah, as he is represented, Ps. Ixxxix. 19. ** I have laid help on one that is mighty." Ps. xlv. 3. ** Gird on thy sword on thy thigh, O most mighty, in thy glory and in thy majesty." Isai. Ixiii. 1. ** Who is this—travelling in the greatness of hisstrength i^" When Samson was going to take his wife, a young lion roared against him. So the enemies of the Messiah and his people are compared to a lion roaring upon him, gaping with his mouth ready to devour him. Ps. xxii. 13. ^* They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.'^ Ver. 21. ** Save me from the lion*s mouth." Samson rent the lion as the lion would have rent the kid; which is agreeable to the prophecies which represent the Messiah destroying his enemies as a strong lion devouring his prey. Gen. xlix. 9, &c., and the many prophecies that speak of his punishing leviathan

VOL. IX. 8

with bis great, and 8ore, and strong sword, his mightily and dreadfully destroying his enemies, treading them down as the mire, treading them in his anger and trampling them in his fury, sprinkling his raiment with their blood, be. Samson is fed with honey out of the carcase of the lion, which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the glorious benefits of the Messiah's conquest over his enemies, to himself and his people, his own ascension, glory and kingdom, and the glory of his people. Samson made a feast on occasion of his marriage, which is agreeable to Isai. zzv. 6. *' And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things; a feast of wines on the lees of fat things, full of marrow; of wines on the Jees well refined." Isai. Ixv. 13,14. " My servants shall cat—my servants shall drink—my servants shall rejoice—my servants shall sing for joy of heart;'' and innumerable prophecies that speak of the great plenty and joy of God's people in the Messiah's times ; and this accompanying the Messiah's marriage with his spiritual spouse. See Isai. Uii. 4, 5.7—9, and Hos. ii. 19—^22, and Cant, ii. 4, and V. 1. When Samson visited his wife with a kid, he was rejected, and her younger sister, that was fairer than she, given to him; Judg. xv. 2. Which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the Messiah's coming to the Jews first, when he was offered up as a lamb or kid, and making the first offer of the glorious benefits of his sacrifice to them, and their rejecting him, and the calling of the Gentiles, and the more glorious and beautiful state of the Gentile church than of the ancient Jewish church. In Judg. xvi. 1,2, we have an account how Samson loved an harlot, and from his love to her exposed himself to be compassed round by his enemies. So the prophecies represent the Messiah as loving a sinful people, and from love seeking such a people to be his spouse, as that which occasions his suffering from his enemies. Isia. liii. taken with the following chapter. Samson, while his enemies are compassing him round, to destroy him, rises from sleep, and from midnight darkness, and takes away the strength and fortification of the city of his enemies, the gate of the city, which his enemies shut and barred fast upon him to confine him, and the two posts, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill. Judg. xvi. 3. So the prophecies represent the Messiah, when compassed round by his enemies, rising from the sleep of death, and emerging out of the thick darkness of his sorrows and sufferings, spoiling his enemies, and ascending into heaven, and leading captivity captive. Samson was betrayed and sold by Delilah, his false spouse or companion. So the prophecies do represent the Messiah as sold by his false and treacherous people. Samson was delivered up into the hands of his enemies, and was mocked and derided, and very cruelly treat-

ed by them; agreeably to what is foretold of the Messiah. Sam-SOD died partly through the cruelty and murderous malice of his enemies, and partly from his own act: agreeably to what is foretold of the Messiah. Ibid. ^ 51. 58, 59. 72. Samson at his death destroyed his enemies^ and the destruction he made of his enemies was chiefly at his death; which is agreeable to Isai. liii. 10—19, and Ps. Ixviii. 18. Samson overthrew the temple of Dagop, which is agreeable to what the prophecies say of the Messiah's overthrowing idols and idol worship in the world. Samson destroyed his enemies suddenly in the midst of their triumph over him, so that their insulting him in the prospect of his destruction, instantly issues in their own destruction; agreeably to Isai. xxix.

There is a yet a more remarkable, manifest and manifold agreement between the things said of David in his history,*and the things said of the Messiah in the prophecies. His name David signifies beloved^ as the prophecies do represent the Messiah as in a peculiar and transcendent manner the beloved of God. David was God's elect in an eminent manner. Saul was the king wbom| the people chose. 1 Sam. viii. 18, and xii. 13. But David was the king whom God chose, one whom he found and ptched upon according to his o)¥n mind, without any concern of man in the affair, and contrary to what men would have chosen. When Jesse caused all his elder sons to pass before Samuel, God said concerning one and another of them, '* The Lord hath not chosen this;'' neither hath the Lord chosen this, &c. See 1 ChroD. xxviii. 4. There David says, <VThe Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father, to be king over Israel forever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the hoose of Judah the house of my father; and among the sons of my lather he liked me to make me king over all Israel." See Psa. Ixxviii. 67—YO, and Ixxxix. 3. ** I have made a covenant with my cfiosen; I have sworn unto David my servant, agreeably to Isai. xlii. 1. " Mine elect," &c. 49. '* And he shall choose thee." He was a king of God's finding and providing, and he speaks of him as his king. 1 Sam xvi. 1. ** I will send thee to Jess e f or I have provided me a king among his sons." 2 Sam. xxii. 51. *^ He is the tower of salvation for his king." Agreeably to Psa. ii. ** 1 have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.'^ He is spoken of as a man after God's own heart, and one in whom God delighted. 2 Sam. xxii. 20. "He delivered me because he delighted in me;" agreeably to Isai. xlii. 1. *' Behold my servant whom I uphold; mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." David was in a very eminent manner God's anoiiUed^ or MesHak^ (as the word is,) and is so spoken of, Ps. xxii. 51. *' He showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David ;'' and xxiii. 1, ** David, the

CO TYPBS OF THE 1IE8BUH.

too of Jesse; the man who was raised apon high, the anointed of the God of Jacob.'* Ps. Ixxxix. 19, 20. '' I have exalted one chosen out of the people; I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him." Samuel anointed him with peculiar solemnity. 1 Sam. xvi. 13. See how this agrees with the prophecies of the Messiah. David's anointing remarkably agrees with what the prophecies say of the anointing of the Messiah, which speak of him as a being anointed with the Spirit of God. So David was anointed with the Spirit of God, at the same time tliat be was anointed with oil. 1 Sam* xvi. 13. '* And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of bis brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from tkat day forward." David is spoken of as being a poor man» of a low family, and in mean circumstances. 1 Sam. xviii. 23. ** I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed." 2 Sam. vii. 18. ** Who am I ? and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto .^' Agreeably to this, it is said of the Messiah in the prophecies, that he was a root out of a dry ground; that he was a low tree. David is spoken of as an eminently holy person, a man after God's own heart. He is spoken of in the history of the kings of Judah, as one whose heart was perfect with the Lord his God; 1 Kings xi. 4; one that went fully after the Lord; 1 Kings xi. 6 ; one that did that that was right in the eyes of the Lord. 1 Kings xv. 11. 2 Kings xviii. 3. 2 Chron. xxviii. 1, and xxix.2. Ue is spoken of as pure, upright, and righteous; one that had clean hands ; that kept the ways of the Lord, and did not wickedly depart from God; 2 Sam. xxii. 21— 21. This agrees with what is said in the prophecies of the Messiah. David was the youngest son of Jesse; as the Messiah in the prophecies is spoken of as coming in the latter days. He has frequently the appellation of God's servant. It would be endkss to mention all the places: see them in the Concordance under the word seroant DAVID. So has the Messiah often this appellation in the prophecies. Isai. xlii. 1—19, xlix. 3—6, Hi. 13, lui. 11. Zech. iii. 8. David's outward appearance was not such as would have recommended him to the esteem and choice of men, as a person fit for rule and victory, but, on the contrary, such as tended to cause men to despise him as a candidate for such things; 1 Sam. xvi. 7. ^' Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature for man looketh on tlie outward appearance; but the Lord looketh on the heart" 1 Sam.^xxii. 42. *' And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth. Ver. 56. ^' Inquire whose son this stripling is." Eliab, his elder brother, thought him fitter to be with the sheep, than to come to the army. 1 Sam. xvii. 28. Agreeably to Isai. liii. 2, ^* He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that wc

sboald desire him." David appeared unexpectedly. Samuel expected a man of great stature, and appearing outwardly like a man of valour; and therefore when he saw Eliab, David's elder brother^ that had such an appearance, he said, surely the Lord's inoiDted is before him. His appearance was astonishing to Goliath and to Saul. So the prophecies represent the Messiah's appearance as unexpected and astonishing, being so mean. Isai, xlii. 14. ^* Many were astonished at thee. His visage was so marred more than any man." But yet David was ruddy aud of a fair countenance, and goodly to look to. 1 Sam. xvi. 12, xvii. 42, agreeable to Psalm xlv. 2. << Thou art fairer than the children of men." Cant. ▼. 10. <* My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousands." He was anointed king after offering sacrifice. 1 Sam. xvi. So the prophecies represent the Messiah's exaltation to his kingdom, after he had by his sufierings offered up a sacrifice to atone for the sins of men. David says of himself, 1 Chron. xxviii. 14, ^^ The Lord God of Israel chose me to be king over Israel for ever." And God says to him, 2 Sam. vii. 16, ** And thine house and thy kingdom shall be estab-Hsbed for ever before thee. Thy throne shall be established for ever." This is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah. David, by occupation was a shepherd, and afterwards was made a shepherd to God's Israel. Ps. Ixxviii. 70—72. " He chose David , bis servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes great with young. He brought him to feed Jacob his peo-pk, and Israel his inheritance." This is agreeable to many prophecies of the Messiah, who is often spoken of in them as the shepherd of God's people, and therein is expressly compared to David. Isaiah xl. 1 i. ** He shall feed his flock like a shepherd." Isaiah xlix. 9, 10. ^' They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them'; by the springs of water shall he goide tbem.^^ Jer. xxiii. 4, 5. ^' And I will set up shepherds over

them, which shall feed them 1 will raise up unto David a

righteous branch," &c. Ezek. xxxiv. 23. '* And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them; even my servant David: he shall feed them, and shall be their shepherd." Eze-kiel zxxvii. 24. *^ And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd." Canticles i. 7. *^ Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon." David wsts of an. bumble, meek, and merciful spirit. 1 Samuel xviii. 23. 2 Samuel vi.21, 22. vii. 18. 1 Samuel xxiv. throughout, and xxvi. throughout; 2 Sam. ii. 5. 21, andiv. 9, &c. vii. 18.2Sam. xxii. 26, and many places in the Psalms show the same spirit, too

many to be mentioned. This is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah, Zech. ix. 9. ** He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." Isaiah xlii. 3. ^' A braised reed shall he not break,*' &&c. Isaiah xl. 11. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.'' Isaiah liii. 7. ^< He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so be opened not his mouth." David was a person that was eminent for wisdom and prudence. 1 Samuel, xvi. 18. '* Behold I have seen a son of Jesse—prudent in matters.*' And xviii. 5. ^* And David behaved himself wisely." Verse 14. ^* And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways*" Ver. 30. ** David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul." Ps. Ixxviii. 72. ** He guided them by the skilfulness of his hands." This is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah, Isaiah[ix.'6. Chap. xi. 2,3; xli. two last verses, with xlii. 1, lii. 13. Zech. iii. 9. David is said to be *< a mighty valiant man." 1 Sam. xvi. 18. '^Behold I have seen'a soa of Jesse, a mighty valiant man." This is agreeable to Psalm xlv. 3. ^^ Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory, and thy majesty." Isaiah Ixiii. 1. <* Who is this travelling in the greatness of his strength f 1 that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." And in this very thing the Messiah is compared to David. Psalm Ixxxix. 19, 20. ^* I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people; I have found David my servant." David was a sweet musician ; was preferred as such to all that were to be found in Israel, to relieve Saul in his melancholy. He is called ''the sweet Psalmist of Israel." 2 Sam xxiii. 1. He led the whole church of Israel io their praises. He instituted the order of singers and musicians in the house of God. He delivered to the church the book of songs they were to use in their ordinary public worship. This is most agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah, which do every where represent, that he. should introduce the most pleasant, joyful, glorious state of the church, wherein they should abound in tbe praises of God, and the world be filled with sweet and joyful songs after sorrow and weeping; wherein songs should be heard from the uttermost ends of the earth, and all nations should sing, and the mountains and trees of the field, and all creatures, sun, moon and stars, heaveaand earth should break forth into singing, and even the dead should awake and sing, and the lower parts of the earth should shout, and the tongue of the dumb should sing, and the dragons and all deeps; the barren, the prisoners, the desolate and mourners should sing; and all nations should come and sing in the height of Zion; they should sing a loud, and sing a new song, or in a new niuuner, with music and praises exalting all that had been before. The particular texts are too many to enumerate.

*lie patriarch from whom Christ descended, for this reason is call-i Judah, 1. e. Praise: and the Messiah is represented as leading le church of God in their sweet and joyful songs. Ps« xxii. 22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the ongregation will I praise thee." Ver. 25. ^' My praise shall be f ihec in the great congregation.'' Ps. Ixix. 30—32. " I will raise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with lanksgiving. The humble shall see this and be glad.'' Yen 4. '*Let the heaven and the earth praise him, the seas and every ling that moveth therein." See also Ps. cxxxviii. 1—5. We sad in Ps. Ixxxix. 15, of the joyful sound that shall be at that me; and the day of the Messiah's kingdom is compared to the priDg, the time of the singing of birds. Cant. ii. David slew a CD and a bear, and delivered a lamb out of their mouths. So the nemies of the Messiah and of his people are in the prophecies ompared to a lion, as was observed before. So the prophetical epresentations made of God's people that are delivered by the lessiab, well agree with the symbol of a lamb. The prophecies ^present them as feeble, poor, and defenceless in themselves, and 8 meek and harmless. Ps. xlv. 4, and xxii. 26, Ixix. 32, cxlvii. , and cxiix. 4* Isai. xi. 4, xxix. 19, and Ixi. 1. David comes to lie camp of Israel, to save them from Goliath and the Philistines, ist at a time when they were in special and iihmediate danger; ^ben the host were going forth to the fight, and shouted for the attle. So the Messiah in the prophecies is represented as appear-Qg to save his people at the time of their extremity^ So God ap-leared for the redemption of his people out of Kgypt. . But Ba-Aam prophecying of the redemption, of the Messiah, Nunu xxiii. !3, says, according to this time shall it be said of Jacob and of srael, what hath God wrought ? This is also agreeable to that iropbecy of the deliverance of God's people in the Messiah's iine«; Deut. xxxii. 36. ''The Lord shall judge his people, and epeDt himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is [One, and there is none shut up or left." So Ps. xiv., and liii., tod xxj. 11, 12, and xlvi., and Iviii. 7, to the end; and 1x. and xviii. 10, to the end; and xxviii. 21, 22; and xxix. 5—8, and xx. 27—30; xxxi. 4—5, xl. the latter end, and xli. throughout, ;!!!• at the beginning, Ii. 7, to the end, and many other places. [)avid was hated and envied by his brethren, and misused by hem, when became to them on a kind errand from his father, to )riog them provision. Herein he resembled the Messiah as Jo-lepb did. David kills Goliath, who, in bis huge stature, great Urength, mighty army, and exceeding pride, much resembled the devil, according.to the representations of the devil in the prophecies of the Messiah's conquest and destruction of him; who is called Leviathan, (Isaiah xxvii. l,) which in the Old Testa-

fr4 TYPES OF THE MESSIAH.

ment, is represented as an huge and terrible creature of Tast strength and impenetrable armouri disdaining the weapons and strengthpf his enemies, and the king over all the children of pride; Job zli. David went againstGoliath without carnal weapons. David prevailed against Goliath with a sling and a stone, which is agreeable to Zech. ix. 15. ^' The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour and subdue with sling stones." David, when going against Goliath, took strength out of the brook in the way, agreeable to that concerning the Messiah, Ps. ex. 6, 7. *' He shall fill the places with the dead bodies: be shall wound the heads over many countries: he shall drink of the brook in the way ; therefore shall he lift up the head.'' David cut off the head of the Philistine with his own sword. So it may be clearly gathered from what the prophecies say of the Messiah's sufferings, and that from the cruelty of his enemies, and the consequences of them with respect to his exaltation and victory over his enemies, that the Messiah shall destroy Satan with his own weapons. David carried the head of Goliath to Jerusalem : which is agreeable to what is foretold of the Messiah, Ps. Ixviii. 18. ** Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive;" together with the context. David put Goliath's armour in his tent: which is agreeable to Ps. Ixxvi. 2, 3. ** In Salem is his tabernacle, (or tent,) and his dwelling-place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle." When Saul saw David returning from his victory, he says repeatedly with great admiration concerning him, '* whose son is this youth?" 1 Sam. xvii. 55. ** Inquire whose son this stripling is;" ver. 56. *^ Whose son art thou ?" ver. 58, agreeably to Psalm xxviii. 8. '* Who is this king of glory f" Again, ver. 10, and Isai. Ixiii. 1. ''Who is this that Cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosrah? This that is glorious in his apparel," &c. The daughters of Israel went forth to meet king David, and sang praises to him when he returned from the slaughter of the Philistine; agreeably to Ps. xxiv. and Ixviii., and many other places. David obtained his wife by exposing his life in battle with the Philistines, and in destroying them: agreeably to what is propheciedof the Messiah's sufferings and death, his conflict with and victory over his enemies, and his redemption of his church by this means, and the consequent joy of his espousals with the church. David was a great saviour. He saved Israel from Goliath, and the Philistines, and from all their enemies round about. 2 Sam. iii. 18. " The Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David will I save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies; agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah. David

was greatly persecuted, and his life sought unjustly; agrecabty to prophecies of the Messiah. David's marriage with Abigail, the wife of a son of Belial, a virtuous woman, and of a beautiful countenance, is agreeable to the innumerable prophecies that represent the church of the Messiah, that the prophecies speak of as his spouse, as brought into that happy state from a state of guilt and bondage to sin. David was resorted to by every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was bitter of soul, and he became their captain; which is agreeable to innumerable prophecies that represent the Messiah as the Captain and Saviour of the poor, afflicted, distressed sinners and prisoners, &c. David's host is compared to the host of God, 1 Chron. xii. 22, which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the divinity of the Messiah, and God's people in his times, and under him becoming as an host of mighty valiant men, tliat shall thresh the mountains, and tread down their enemies, &c« David, as it were raised from the dead, was wonderfully delivered from death, when from great danger he was brooght back from the wilderness, and from banishment, and from ctves of the earth that resembled tlie grave; (Psa. xxz. 3. ^* O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave;") which is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah's restoration from his low and snflering state and resurrection from death. David was made king over the strong city Hebron, that had been taken from the Anakims, the gigantic enemies of God's people: which is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah's conquering the strong city, bringing low the lofly city, conquering the devil, and taking possession of the mightiest and strongest kingdoms of the world. David's followers that came to him to make him king, were men of understanding, mighty men of valour, and men of a perfect heart: 1 Chron. xii.: which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the followers of the Messiah. David was made king by the act and choice both of God and his people. 1 Chron. xi. 1—3, and xii. 2 Sam. ii. 4. v. 1, he. This is agreeable to Ibe prophecies of the Messiah. Hos. i. 11. '^ Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head." David was made king with great feasting and rejoicing, I Chron. xii. 39, 40, which is agreeable to what the prophecies do abundantly represent of the joy of the introduction of the Messiah's kingdom. David was the first king of Jerusalem, that city so often spoken of in the prophecies as a type of the church of the Messiah. David insnltoil the idols as lame and blind, and destroyed them. 2 Sam. T. 21. Agreeable to ^ 132—135. 153. David conquered the strongest hold of the Jobusites, and reigned there. See what was said before concerning his reigning in Hebron. He res-VOL. IX. 9

cued Zion rrom the strong possession of idols, and the cneraies of God's |>eupl(*, and reigned in mount Zion: agreeably to in-numerulilc prophecies of the Messiah. David's kingdom gra-dually increased from small beginnings till he had sulidued all his enemies. It was first in David's time, that God chose him a place to put his name there. Through him God made Jeriifea-lem his holy city, and the place of his s|iecial gracious residence: agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah. Psalm exxxii* 13, &c. Zech. i. 17, and ii. 12, and Isaiah xiv. 1. David provid'* cd a settled habitation for God, and God is represented as through his favour to Duvid taking up a settled abode with them, no more walking in a moveable tent and tabernacle that might be taken down, and giving Israel a constant abode, that they might no more be afllicted, and carried into captivity ; 2 Sam. vii. G. 10.24; according to many prophecies of the Messiah. David provided a place for God's habitation in Zion and in mount Moriah ; agreeably to Zech. vi. 12. " He shall build the temple of the Lord." David brought up the ark to abide in the midst of God's people; after it had departed into the luad of the Philistines, and had long remained in the utmost confines of the land, in Kirjath-jearim : which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the benefit which the |icopIo of God in the Messiah's days shall receive, in the return of the tokens of God's f>resence to them, after long absence, and his placing his tabernacle in the midst of them, and his souPs no more abhorring them. David ascended into the hill of the Lord with the ark, at the head of all Israel, rejoicing, and gave gifts to men. 2 Samuel vi. Itut this is agreeable to what is aaid of the ascension of the Messiah. Psalm Ixviii. David ascended with the ark wherein was the law of God ; as the Messiah ascended with that human nature that was the cabinet of the law. David after he had ascended returned to bless his household, as the Messiah especially blessed his church after his ascension. But Michal his first wife despised his abasement, and received no part in this blessing, but was as it were repudiated ; as the prophecies do represent the Jews, as despising the Messiah for his humiliation, and so as not receiving the benefits and blessing that he should bestow after his ascension ; but as being repudiated. When David came to the crown, Gotl broke forth on his enemies, as the breach of water, and in a dreadful storm of thunder, fire, and hail. 2 iSam. v. 20. 1 Chron. xiv. 9, and Psalm xviii., which is agreeable to Isaiah xxiv. 18—20. Daniel ix. 26. Eiek. xxxviii. 22. Isaiah xxx. 30, xxxii. 19. Yea, the dcslruclion of the enemies of God's people, in the days of the Mosiah, 13 ^xpic-sly cnnipared to that very breaking forth of Hud on the enemies of David ; Isaiuh xxviii.

tL "For the I.onl shnll riso up ns in Mount Pornzini." The king of Tyre (th:it was nhovc nil others in the worhl, n city noted for merchandise and scafarinir) huilt David nn house. 2 Sam. ¥• 11. 1 Chron. xiv. 1. David was not only a king,, but ft great prophet, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, and also was a priest. He officiated as such on occasion of the bringing in of tiie ark. 2 Sam. vi. 13—18. 1 Chron. xv. 27. Again he ofliciated as such, 2 Sam. xxvii. 17, to the end, and 1 Chron. xvi. 21, &c. 'And in some respects he officiated as chiof in all saccnlotal matters, ordering all things in the house of God, directing and ordering the priests in things relating to their function, disposing them into courses, &c. So the prophecies do abundantly represent the Messiah as ()rophct, priest, and king. David is spoken of as the man that was raised up on high; which is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah in Psalm Ixxxix. J9. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people;" and vcr. 27, ''I will make him my first born, higher than the kings of the earth." Psalm xlv. '* Thy throne, O God, is for ever ;" and Psalm ex. " Sit thou on my right hand;'' and innumerable other places, lie is s|>oken of as eminently a just ruler, one that fed God's people in the integrity of his heart and executed judgment and justice ; 2 Sam. viii. J5. 1 Chron. xviii. 14; which is agreeable to that which is abundantly spoken of the Messiah, as the just Kuler over men ; the King that shall reign in righteousness ; he that shall sit on the throne of his father David, to order and establish it with judgment and justice ; the righteous branch that shall grow upto David, &c. God made David a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. See also 2 Kara. vii. 9, viii. 13, agreeable to Isai. liii. 12. ** Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great." The fame of David went out into all lands ; the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. 1 Chron. xiv. 17. Agreeable to Psa. xlv. 17. '*! will make my name to be remembered." Psa. Ixxii. 11. '* All nations shall serve him." Ver. 17. 'Mlis name shall endure forever-;'* and innumerable other places." David carried up the ark, clothed with a robe of fine linen ; 1 Chron. xv. 27; ngrerable to Isai. Ixi. 10. "He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation ; he hath covered me with a robe of righteousness." Zech. iii. 4. "Take away the filthy garments from him ; and unto him he said. Behold, 1 have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." See also Dan. x. 5, compared with 13, and 21, and xii. 1. God was with Duvid whithersoever he went, and cut off all his enemies. 2 Sam. vii. 9, and viii. 6. 14. 1 Chron. xvii. 8. 10, xviii. 6.13. 2 Sam. xxii. I, &c.; agreeable to Psa. ii.,and xlv., ex., Ixxxix, and iununicrable other places. David subdued all the remainder of

the Canaanites, and the ancient inhabitantaof the land, and so perfected what Joshua had begun in giving the people the land. See what is said of Joshua as a type of the Messiah in this ic-spect. David brought it to pass that the Canaanites and enemies of Israel should no longer dwell with them, as mixed among them in the same land. Joel iii. 17. '' No stranger shall pass through thee any more." Zech. xiv. 21. '' In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord." Psa. Ixix. 35, 36. ** For God will save Zion and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love thy name shall dwell therein." Isai. Ixv. 9-—11. ** And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judab, an inheritor of my mountains ; and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there." Isai. xxxv. 8. *' An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it." Czok. xx. 38. *' And I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against me. I will bring ihem forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. David subdued the Philistines, and the MoabitcSi and Ammonites, and the Edomites, agreeably to Isai. xi. 14. JNum. xxiv. 17. Psa. Ix. 8, and cviii. 9. Isai. xxv. 10. Chap, xxxiv. and Ixiii £zek. xxxv., xxxvi. 5. David's kingdom reached from the river to the ends of the earth. 2 Sam. viii.3. 2 Chron. xviii. 3 ; agreeable to Psa. Ixxii. 8. Zech. ix. 10. David's reign was a time of the destruction of giants; he slew all the remnant of the race of giants. 1 Sam. xvii. 2 Sam. xxi. 18, to the end, andxxiii.20,21. 1 Chron. xx. 4Jto theend,aud jxi. 22, 23, agreeable to Isai. x. 33. '* And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled." This seems (as I observed before) to be connected with tJie prophecy in the beginning of the next chaprer, next verse but one. Isai. xlv. 14. ** The Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee : in chains shall they comeovei." Psa. Ixxvi. 5. " The stout-hearted are s|>oilcd ; they have slept their sleep." David destroyed the chariots and houghed the horses of the enemies of God's people. 2 Sam. viii. 4. x. 18. 1 Chron. xviii. 4, and xix. 7 ; agreeably to Psa. xlvi. 9. '* He breakcth the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burncth the chariot in the fire." Psa. Ixxvi. 3. *« There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." Ver. 6. ** At thy rebukr, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast intoii dead sleep." See also Ezek. xxxix. 9, 10. 20, and Zech. xii. 3, 4. What David says, Psa. xviii. and 2 Sam. xxii. of the manner in which God appeared for him against his enemies, to de-

stroy them in a terrible tempest with thunder, lightning, earth-qaake, devouring fire, &;c. is agreeable to many things in the prophecies of the Messiah. See what has before been observed, wlien speaking of the deluge and destruction of Sodom, and the deitruction of the Amorites in Joshua's time. Other kings broogbt presents unto David and bowed down unto him. 2 Sam. V. 11. 1 Chron. xiv. 1. 2 Sam. viii. 2. 10. 1 Chron. xviii. 10. 2 Sam. X. 19. 1 Chron. xxii. 4; agreeable to Psa. Ixxii. 10,11. xlv. 12. Ixviii. 29. Isai. xlix. 7, and Ix. 9.

The honour, dominion, and crown of David's enemies was given unto him. 2 Sam. xii. 30, and 1 Chron. xx. 2. Ezek. xxi. 26, 27. *^ Thus saith the Lord, Remove the diadem and take off the crown; this shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low, aod abase him that is high: perverted, perverted, perverted will I make it, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him." David's sons were princes. David's sons were chief rulers or princes, as it is in the margin ; agreeably to Ps. xlv. 16. '* Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou roayest make princes in all the earth." David brought the wealth of the heathen into Jerusalem and dedicated it to God, and as it were built the temple with it. 2 Sam. viii. II, 12. 1 Chron. xviii. 11, and xxvi. 26, 27, and chap. xxii. throughout, and xxix.; tigreeably to Hie. iv. 13. '^ Arise, thresh, O daughter of Zion ; for I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass; and thou slialt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." Isai. xxiii. 17, 18. •* The Lord will visit Tyre—and her merchandise and hire shall be holiness unto the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing." See also Isai. Ix. 5, 6. 9. 11. 13, Ixi. 6, and Zech. xiv. 14. David was a mediator; he stood between God and the people, both to keep off judgments and the punishment of sin, and also to pro-care God's favour towards them. For his sake God granted his gracious presence and favour with Israel. 2 Sam. vii. 10. Thus we read of favour which God showed to Israel, and withholding jndgments from time to time for his servant David's sake. 1 Kings xi. 12, 13. 32. 34, xv. 4. 2 Kings viii. 19, xix. 34, and xx. G. And he stood between God and the people of Jerusalem, when he saw the sword of justice drawn against it to. destroy it. 2 Sam. xiiv. 17, to the end. So the Messiah is spoken of as in like manner tlie Mediator; being himself peculiarly God's elect and beloved, is given for a covenant of the people, Isai. xlii. 6. xlix. 8, and the messenger of the covenant, and a prophet like unto Mo-^, who was a mediator. And the prophecies speak of the forgiveness of sin, and the greatest mercy towards God's people, and

an everlasting covenant, and Uie pure mercies of David as being tiirougli the Messiah.

David as mediator saved the people of Jerusalem from destruction, by offering liimself to suffer and die by the sword of the destroying angel, and by building an altar and offering sacrifice; 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, to the end, agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah.

David not only made a tabernacle for God in mount Zion, and so provided an habitation for the Lord, but he in effect built the temple. He bought the ground on which it was buih, built an altar upon it, and made provision for the building of the temple* It was in his heart to build an house to God's name, and he directed and ordered precisely how it should be built, and ordered all its services, 1 Chron. xxii., and xxiii., xxiv., xxv., xxvi.: agreeably to Zech. vi. 12, 13. Herein David was as the Messiah, a prophet like unto Moses, who built the tabernacle and the altar according to the pattern God gave him, (as he gave David the pattern of the tabernacle,) and gave the ordinances of the house, and ordered all things appertaining to the worship of the tabernacle. God by David gave to Israel new ordinances, a new law of worship, ap* pointed many things that were not in the law of Moses, and some things that superseded the ordinances of Moses. This is agreeable to the things said of the Messiah. David made all manner of preparation for the building of the temple, and that in vast abundance ; he laid up an immense treasure; 1 Chron. xxii. 14, xzviii. 14, A^c, xxix. 2, &c., agreeably to Isai. xxv. 6. '* And in this mountain shall the Lord make unto all people a feast of fat things/' &c. Isai. Iv. 1—9. ** Ho, every one that thirsteth," &,c. Hag. ii. 7. *' I will (ill this house with glory." Jcr. xxxiii. 6. '* I will reveal unto them the al)nndance of truth and peace.'^ Isai. Ixiv. *' Eye hath not seen, nor car heard,'' &,c. Isai. Ixvi. 12. ''I will extend peace to her as a river." Ps. Ixxii. 3. " The mountains shall bring peace." Ver. 7. ^* There shall be abundance of peace." Amos ix. 13. '* The mountains shall drop sweet wine." Joel iii. 18. '* And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall droj) down new wine, and the hills shsdl flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judnh shall flow with waten, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Chitiim." And Isai. ix. throughout; besides the things which the prophecies say of the perfect satisfaction of Gofl's justfcp, by the sacrifice of the Messiah, and the abundance of his riphteousness and excellency. David made snch great provision for the building of the temple, in his trouble by war, and by exposing his own liO, which is agreeable to what the propherirs rpprrseni of Cliris»i's procuring the immense blessings of his church, by his extreme sufferings and precious blood.

David was llic head of God's people, the prince of the congregation of Israel, not only in their civil affairs, but in ecclesiastical affairs also, and their leader in all things appertaining to religion and ihe worship of God. Herein be was as the Messiah is represented in the prophecies, which speak of him as a prophet like unto Moses, and as the head of God's people, as their great king, prophet, and priest; and indeed almost all that the prophecies say of the Messiah, implies that he shall be the great head of God's people in their religious concerns. David regulated the whole biKiy of the people, and brought them into the most exact and beaatiful order; 1 Chron. xxvii., which is agreeable to what is represented of the church in the Messiah's days, as ^^ beautiful for situation." Isai. xlviii. 2. " The perfection of beauty.'^ Ps. 1. 2. ** An eternal excellency, the joy of many generations.'* And what is represented in Ezekiel of the exact measures and order of all parts of the temple, the city, and the whole land. David built the altar in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusitc,

00 Gentile ground ; which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the church of the Messiah being erected in Gentile hndi, and being made up of those that had been sinners.

The things that are said of Solomon fall little, if any thing, ihort of those that are said of David, in their remarkable agreement with things said of the Messiah in the prophecies. His name Sokmnnj signifies peace or peaceable, and was given him by God himself, from respect to the signification, because he should enjoy feacCf and be a means of peace to God's people. 1 Chron. xxii. 9. "Behold a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and

1 will give him rest from all his enemies round about. For his mune shall be Solomon ; and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel Id his days." This is agreeable to Isai. ix.6, 7. ^'For unto OS a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government

shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called the

frinte ofpecu^Cf of the increase of his peace there shall be no

end." Psa* ex./' Thou art a priest forever after the order of Mel-chiiedec," who as the Apostle-observes, was king ofSidemj that is king of peace. Psa. Ixxii. 3. *'The mountains shall bring peace mo the people." Ver.7. 'Hn his days shall the righteous flourish and ibaodance of peace, so long as the moon cndureth." Psa. xxxv. 10. "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Isai. lii. 7.

" How beautiful are the feet of him that publisheth peace."

Jer. ixxiii. 6. *M will reveul unto them the abundance of truth ind peace:" and many other places. When Solomon was born it i« said the Lord loved him. 1 Sam. xii. 24. And the prophet Na-lliau for this reason called him by the name Jcdidiah; i. e. the />«-lotietlof the Lord. He is also spoken of as the beloved son of his failicr. Prov. iv. 3. *' Fori was my father's son, tender and only

beloved ill the sight of my mother." Solomon was the son of a woman that had been the wife of an Ilittite, a Gentile by nation ; fitly denoting the honour that the prophecies represent, that the Gentiles should have by their relation to the Messiah. God made mention of Solomon's name as one that was to be the fl^reat prince of Israel and means of their happiness from his mother's womb; agreeably tolsai. xjix. ]. '* The Lord hath called me from the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name." God promised to establish the throne of Solomon for ever, in terms considerably like those used by the prophets concerning the kingdom of the Messiah. 2 Sam. vii. 13. *' I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thine own bowels: and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever." Also 1 Chron. xxii. 10. Isai. ix. 6, 7. *^ Of the increase of his government there shall

be no end upon the throne of David and his kingdom—to

establish it from henceforth even for ever." Psa. ex. " Thou

art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec.'' Dan. vii. 14. *' His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Solomon is spoken of as God's son. 1 Chron. vii. 14. '*! will be his father and he shall bo my son." 1 Chron. xxii. 9, 10.

*'His name shall bo Solomon he shall be my son and I will

be his father." Chap, xxviii. 6. ** And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts. For 1 have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father*" Solomon was in an eminent manner OoiTs elect. 1 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6. ''And of ail my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And he said Solomon

ihy son have I chosen to be my son.*' Chap, xxxix. 1.

*' David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen." Though David had many sons, and many born before Solomon, yet Solomon was made his first born, higher than all the rest, and his father's heir and his brethren's prince; agreeably to Psa. Ixxxvii. 27. "I will make him my first liorn, higher than the kings of the earth." Psa. xlv. 7. "Thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The word which Nathan, the minister of the Lord, spake to Bathsheba, David's wife, and Solomon's mother, and the counsel he gave her, was the occasion of the introduction of the blissful and glorious reign of Solomon, 1 Kings i. 11—L3. So the prophecies represent the preaching of God's mini»tors as the means of introducing ihc glorious kingdom of the Messiah. Isui. Ixii. 6, 7. " 1 have set watch-

len apon tliy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their

eaceday nor nighi till he make Jerusalem a praise in the

irih/* Chap. Hi. 7, 8. ** How beautiful upon the mountains re the feet of him that bringeth good tidings! Thy watchmen ball lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing* 'or they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again ■ion/* This earnest incessant preaching of ministers shall be I Ibe first place to the visible church of God, that is represent-i in the Old Testament both as the wife and mother of Christ. he is represented as his mother, Mic. iv. 10. '* Be in pain, and dbourto bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in tra-ail;'' with the next chapter, ver. 2, 3. '* Thou, Bethlehem Iphratahy out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to

e ruler in Israel Therefore will he give them up, until the

ime that she which travaileth hath brought forth." Isai. ix. 6. 'Unto us a child is bom, unto us a son is given." Cant. iii. 1. ** Behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mo* ber crowned him." Solomon's father had solemnly promised, ad covenanted, and sworn to Bathsheba long beforehand, that lolomon should reign and sit on his throne. So the sending of be Messiah and introducing the blessings of his reign was the iraod promise, covenant, and oath of God to his church of old, 0 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in David's and the prophets* iuies. Ps. Ixxxix. 3,4. 35, 36. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3—5. Jer. Lxziii. 17 to the end, and many other places. The glorious eign of Solomon is introduced on the earnest petitions and ilmdings of Bathsheba with his father. 1 Kings i. 15—21. lo the prophecies often represent that the glorious peace and voeperity of the Messiah's reign shall be given in answer to the •meat and importunate prayers of the church. Ezek. xxxvi. 17. ** I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel 0 do it for them." Jer. xxix. 11—14. Cant. ii. 14. Zech. ii. 10. Bathsheba pleads the king's promise and covenant, lo the church is often represented as waiting for the fulfilment f God's promises with lespect to the benefits of the Messiah's UQgdom. Gen. xlix. 18. Isai. viii. 17, and xxx. 18, xl. 31, lud xlix. 23. Zeph. iii. 8. Isai. xxv. 9, xxvi. 8, and Ixiv. 4. Momoo came to the crown after the people had set up a false leir, one that pretended to be the heir of David's crown, and or a while seemed as though he would carry all before him. This is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah, which represent that his king shall be set up on the ruins of that of others, who should exalt themselves and assume the dominion. Excfc. xvii. 24. «« I the Lord have brought down the high tree lod exalted the low tree," &c. Ch. xxi. 26." Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, take ofl' the crown ; this shall not be VOL. IX. 10

the same. Exalt him that is low; abase him that is high." Ps. ii. ** The kings of the earth set themselves; the rulers take counsel together, saying, Let us break their bands, &c.— Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion/' Ps. cxviii. 22. ** The stone which the builders refused, the same is become the head of the corner." And particularly this is agreeable to what the prophet Daniel says of the reign of Antichrist, that shall precede the glorious day of the Messiah's reign, who shall set up himself in the room of the Most High, as law*giver in his room, shall think to change times and laws, whose reign shall continue till the Messiah comes to overthrow it, by setting up his glorious kingdom. When David understands the opposition that was made to Solomon's reign by him that had usurped the kingdom, and by the rulers and great men that were with him, he solemnly declares his firm and immutable purpose and decree of exalting Solomon that day to his throne which was in mount Zion. 1 Kings i. 20, 30; agreeable to Ps. ii. '* The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed;

saying. Let us break their bands. Yet have I set my King

on my holy hill of Zton. 1 will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." Solomon was made king by a most solemn oath of his father, that he declares ho will not repent of, but fulfil. 1 Kin. xxix. 30. '^ And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, an<l he shall sit upon my throne in my stead ; even so will i certainly do this day." Agreeable to Ps. ex. 4. *' The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchize-deck." When the time came for Solomon to be proclaimed king, all the opposition and interest of his competitors, though very great, and of great men, (and though they seemed to have made their part strong, and to have got the day,) all vanished away as it were of itself, and came to nothing at once, like a dream when one awakes; agreeably to Ps. ii. ^^ The Lord shall laugh at them.—Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion." Isai. xxix. 7, 8. *^ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty," &:c. Ps. Ixviii* 1, 2. " Let God arise; let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him, as smoke is driven away, as wax roelteth before the fire." Isai. Ixiv. 1. '< Oh that thou wouldcst

rend ibe heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the moun-taios might flow down at thy presence." Dan. ii. 34, 35. *' Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the imaffe———then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces, and- became like the chaflf of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away." The followers of Adonijah were dispersed without any battle, only by what tbey beard and saw of what David had done in exalting Solomon, and the manner in which he was introduced and instated io the kingdom; which is agreeable to Ps. xlviii. 4—6. " For lo, the kings were assembled ; they passed by together; they saw it, and so they marvelled. They were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail." After David had declared the decree, that Solomon should be king in Zion, it was dangerous for the princes and rulers not lo sabmit themselves to Solomon, and behave with suitable respect to him, leat he should be angry, and they should perish. Ps. ii. SolomoUi in his way to the throne, is made as it were to drink of the brook. He first descended from the height of mount Zion down into a low valley without the city, to the water course of Gibon* There he had a baptism to be baptized with. And then he ascended in the state and majesty of a king. Agreeable to Psalm ex. '* He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head:" and the many prophecies that speak of his humiliation, and sufierings, and glorioas exaltation consequent thereon. Solomon, after be bad descended into the valley to the waters of Gihon, ascended up into the height of Zion in a manner resembling the ascension of the Messiah, very much after the same manner that the ascension of the ark resembled it. For he went up with the sound of the trumpet, all the people following him with, songs, and instruments of music, and hosannas, rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth rent again. 1 Kings i. 39, 40. Agreeable to Psalm Ixviii., and xlvii. 5, and xxiv* That the peaceful, happy and glorious reign of Solomon should be introduced with such extraordinary joy, shouting, songs and instruments of music in Zion, is agreeable to what is often foretold concerning the introduction of the glorious day of the Messiah's reign. Zech. ix. 9. " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy king cometh unto thee." To the like purpose, chap. ii. 10, Isaiah xl. 9, and Hi. 7 —^9. Psalm xcvi. 10, &c. "Say among the heathen the Lord reigneth; the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then

shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord," and Psa. xcvii. 1. 8. 12, xcviii. 4, to the end, aiid c. 1,2. Iftaiah xlv. 23, xlix. 13. Isaiah Iv. 12, and many [other places. The great prosperity of Israel through the reign of Solomon was introdoced with the sound of the trumpet. 1 Kin. i. 34. 39. 1 Chroo* xxix. 21, 22. Agreeable to Isaiah xxvii. 13. " The great trumpet shall be blown," &tc. Solomon was the Messiah or anointed io ao eminent manner. He was anointed by the special direction both of David and of Nathan the prophet. 1 Kings i. 11. 34. 39. He was anointed with God's holy anointing oil out of the tabernacle, verse 39; not only was Solomon anointed of God, but be was anointed also by the people. They made him king over them by their own act, 1 Chron. xxix. 22; agreeable to Hos. i. IL ** Then shall the children of Judah, and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint over them one head; and they shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel." David made Solomon to ride on his own mule, and he sat on his father's throne, while David was yet living, and was king. His father solemnly invested him with his kingly authority; and himself gives him his charge. 1 King i. 30. 33. 35. 47, 48, ii. 12. 1 Chron. xxviii, xxix. Thi^ is agreeable to the account that is given of God the Father's investing the Messiah with his dominion in Dan. vii. See also Zech. vi. 12, 13, and Czek. xlvi. 1, 2, with xliv. 2. Solomon is spoken of as not only sitting on the throne of his father David ; but also as sitting on God's throne, and reigning in some respect in God's stead, as his vicegerent. 1 Chron. xxviii. 5. The Lord hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord —over Israel." Chap, xxxix. 23. ^* Then Solomon sat upon the throne of the Lord as king in stead of David his father." 2 Chron. ix. 8. ** Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to seat thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God." So the prophecies do represent the Messiah, as sitting on the throne of David his father. Isaiah ix. 7. '* On the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it," &tc. Jcr. xxxiii. 17. 21. And also as sitting on the throne of God. Zech. vi. 13. '* He shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne." Also Dan. vii. 13, 14, and Psalm ii. *• I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion." Psalm ex. " Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool." Psalm xlv. 6. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever." The beginning of Solomon's reign was a remarkable time of vengeance on the wicked, and such as had been opposers or false friends of David and Solomon. Many such were then cut off. 1 Kings ii. So that it was as it were the righteous only that delighted themselves in that abundance of peace, and partook of the glory, prosperity

and triamph of God's people, that was enjoyed in this reign, which is agreeable to Isaiah. Ixi. 2. '< To proclaim the acceptable year of the LfOrd, and the day of vengeance of our God: hv. 12, &rC. ** Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter—my servants shall eat; but ye shall be hoDgry/' be. Chap. Ixvi. 14—16. ''And the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies* For behold, the Lord will come with fire and witti iris chariots, like a whirfwind, to render his anger with fury—and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Isaiah xxxiii. 14, be. '*The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrite. He that walketh righteously—shall dwell on high —thine eye shall see the king in his beauty.'' Mai. iv. 1—3* ''All tbe^iroud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble. But auto yoa that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise iritfa healing in his wings. And ye shall tread down the wicked." Eiek. XX. 38. *' And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me." Psalm xxxvii. 9—11. "For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be: yea thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it sbfldi not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themtelves in the abundance of peace." And many other places. Solomon did not immediately cut off these rebels and transgressors ; bat gave them opportunity to enjoy the blessings of his reig^ with others, if they would turn from their evil wav, and sabmit to him, and approve themselves worthy men and faithful ntgects. But when they went on still in their transgressions he cat them off. Agreeable to what is foretold should be at the intro-doctiott of the glory of the Messiah's reign, in Psalm Ixviii. 18, &c. '^Thon hast ascended on high—thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among tbem. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his benefits. Bat God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of sach an one as goeth on still in hisjtrespasses." Solomon was a n&n of great and unparalleled wisdom. This is agreeable to Isaiah ii. 6. ** His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor." xi. 2, 3. "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make bim of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." Zech* iii. 9. "Upon one stone shall be seven eyes." See also Isaiah xli. two last verses, with xlii. 1. God was with Solomon and greatly established his throne. 1 Kings ii. 12. 2 Chron. i. 1, agreeable to Isaiah ix. 7. 0. "Upon the throne of David and upon liis kingdom, to order it and to establish it

from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

shall do this.'^ Psa. Ixxxix. 2, 3. *^ Mercy shall he build up for ever: thy faiihrulness wilt thou establish iu the very heavens. I have made a covenant with mv chosen." 20, 21. *' With my holy oil have I anointed him, wiih whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him." 36, 37. *' His throne shall endure as the sun before me: it shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Psa. ii. throughout. Psa. xlv. •* Thy throne, O God, is for ever

and ever." Psa. ex. " Sit thou at my right hand, the Lord

hath sworn," &g. Isai. xlii. 1. 4. '* Behold my servant whom { uphold ■■ he shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law." And xlix. 8. '' I have helped thee, and I will preserve thee, to establish the earth." The Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any before him in Israel. 1 Chron. xxix. 25. 2 Chron. i. 1.; agreeable to

Psa. xlv. 2, &c. " Thou art fairer than the children of men

gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty." Ver. 6. ** Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Isai. ix. 6. '* For unto us a child is born, unto as a sou is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and bis name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace." Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, a stranger; agreeably to Psa. xlv. 10. '' Hearken, O daughter, consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people," be. ^^ She was the daughter of a king;" agreeably to Psa. xlv. 13. " The King's daughter," &c. a Gentile, agreeably to Hos. ii. 16. **Thou shall call me Ishi," (i. e. my husband.) Ver. 19, 20. '^ Andl will betroth thee unto me.*' Ver. 23. '^ And 1 will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained mercy; and I will say unto them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God;" with innumerable other prophecies of the calling of the Gentiles. She was an Egyptian, and Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Agreeably to Psa. Ixxxvii. 4. '^ I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me." Psa. Ixviii. 31. ''Princes shall come out of Egypt." Isai. xix. 18, to the end. In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan——and there shall be an altar unto the

Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and the Lord shall

be known unto Egypt; and the Egyptians shall know the Lord

and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians——the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying. Blessed shall be Egypt my people." Pharaoh's daughter being an Egyptian, was of a swarthy com* plexion; agreeably to Cant. i. 5. ** I am black, but comely, O yc daughters of Jerusalem." We read of no person that ever of-

:h great sacrifices as Solomon did. 1 Kin. iii. 4, and 8, 14. 1 Kin. ix. 25. This is agreeable to what the prophe-resent of the Messiah, as the great priest of God, who by ifices he should offer, should perfectly satisfy divine justice, y procure the favour of God for his people; bis sacrifices erein of greater value than thousands of rams and ten ds of rivers of oil, and all the beasts of the field. Solomon e temple; agreeably to Zech. vi. 12, 13. He made the ; place of God, that before was only a moveable tent, to a stable building, built on a rock or everlasting mountain; ly to [sai. xxxiii. 20. '* Look upon Zion, the city of our Lies. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a :le that shall not be taken down: not one of the stakes shall ever be removed ; neither shall any of the cords be broken." Chap, xxviii. 16, 17. ^* Behold I lay in Zion indation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a

mdation juclgment also will I lay to the line, and

isness to the plummet." Ezek. xxxvii. 26. ^* Moreover I ie a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlast-?nant with them ; and I will place them and multiply them, 1 set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore," >gether with the prophetical description of that sanctuary in ieth and following chapters. Solomon's temple and bis oildiiigs in Jerusalem were exceeding stately and mag-, so that he vastly increased the beauty and glory of the [sai. I. 13. ^' The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, -tree, the pine-tree, and the box-tree together, to beautify :e of my sanctuary: and I will make the place of my feet s." Ver. 15. **1 will make thee an eternal excellency." iv. 11, 12. *' Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, thy foundations with sapphires; and 1 will make thy win-r agates and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of t scones." The temple that Solomon built was exceeding ical of fame and of glory throughout all lands. 1 Chron. ; agreeably to Isai. ii. 2. '* And it shall come to pass in the ^s, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be esta-in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the nd all nations shall flow into it." See also Mic. iv. 1, 2. .,atthel3eginning. ** Arise, shine; for thy light is come—— rd shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon ind the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the less of ihy rising." Solomon enlarged the place of sacri-so that sacrifices were not only ofiered on the altar, but all Idle part of the court was made use of for that end, by rea-the multitude of worshippers and the abundance of sacrifices, viii. 64. 2Chron. vii. 7. ; which is agreeable to Jer. iii. 16,

17. " And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no

more, the ark of the covenant of the Lord," &c. at that

time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall be gathered unto the name of the Lord unto Jerusalem." Mai. i. 10, 11. *^ From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a

pure offering:'' and many other places. Solomon was a

great intercessor for Israel, and by his intercession he obtained that God should forgive their sins, lEind hear their prayers, and pity them under their calamities, and deliver them from their enemies, and fulfil his promises, and supply all their necessities that they might find mercy and find grace to help in a time of need| and that God might dwell with Israel, and take up his abode among them, as their king, saviour, and father. (2 Kin. viii. 2 Chron. vi.) By his intercession and prayer he brought fire down from heaven, to consume their sacrifices; and obtained that God should come down in a cloud of glory to fill his temple. 2 Chron. vii. 1—3. 1 Kin. viii. 54. His intercession was as it were continual, as though he ever lived to make intercession for his people, that they might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. See those remarkable words, 1 Kin. viii. 59. Solomoo was not only an intercessor for Israel, but for the stranger that was not of Israel, but came out of a far country for God's name sake, when he should hear of his great name and great salvation. 1 Kin. viii. 41—43. 2 Chron. vi.32, 33.; which is agreeable to what the prophecies do abundantly represent of the joint interest of the Gentiles in the utmost ends of the earth, with Israel in the Messiah, through hearing his great name, and the report of his salvation. Solomon prayed for all the people of the earth that they might know the true God. 1 Kin. viii. 60. So the prophecies do abundantly show, that the Messiah should actually obtain this benefit for all nations of the world. Solomon did the part of a priest in blessing the congregation. 1 Kin. viii. 14. 2 Chron. vi. 3, with Num. vi. 23.; which is agreeable to the prophecies which do represent the Messiah as a priest, and also to Gen. xxii. 18. ** In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." To the like purpose, chap. xii. 3, xviii. 18, and xxvi. 4, and Psa. Izxii. 17. '< And men shall be blessed in him." Salomon made a covenant with the king of Tyre, and the servants of the king of Tyre were associated with the servants of Solomon in the building of the temple : which is agreeable to the prophecies of the Messiah's being a light to the Gentiles and covenant of the people; and the Gentiles being associated with the Jews and becoming one people with them; and their coming and building in

pie ofihe liord. Zcch. vi. 15^ Isai. h, 10. '' And the sons igers shall bnild up tliy walls, and their kings shall minister ee." And particularly the prophecies that represent that ion in the islands and ends of the earth and maritime pla-chief nations for arts, wealth, raerchnndise, and seafaring be brought into the kingdom of the Messiah, bringing ver and gold to the name of the J^ord, &,c. And that the s in particular should be the people of the Messiah. Solo-ought the glory of Lebanon, or the best and fairest of its , to build the temple of God; agreeably to Isai. Ix. 13. »n in an eminent manner executed Judgment and justice, ill* 11. 23. and x. 9. 18. His throne of judgment was of 1 white, pure and precious substance, used in the Old Tes-as a symbol of purity and righteousness. This is agreeable merable prophecies of the Messiah. It was in Solomon's It God first gave his people Israel fully to enjoy that rest aian, that he had promised them in the time of Moses; lAid »n's rest was glorious. 1 Kin. v. 4. ''But now the Lord d hath given me rest on every side." And ch. viii. 56. ed be the Lord God, that hath given rest unto his people according to all that be promised, there hath not failed one r all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of liis servant." This is agreeable to Isai. xi. 10. '' And in f there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek; and bis rest glorious." Jer. xxx. 10. ''So I will save thee from afar, seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall re-d be in rest and quiet, and none shall make him afraid.'' :xiii.20. "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities, eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle Ji not be taken down." And xxxii. 17, 18. "And the f righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteons-|uietness and assurance for even And my people shall n a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in ^sting places." Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man lis own vine, and under his own fig-tree, from Dan even rsheba, all the days of Solomon. 1 Kin. iv. 25 ; agreeable . iv. 4. " But they shall sit every man under his vine and lis fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid." Zech. iii. [n that day, saith the Lord of hosts, ye shall call every man ghbour under his vine, and under his fig-tree." In Solo-*eign there was neither adversary nor evil occnrrent. So ing to the prophecies in the Messiah's times there shall be ersary. Isai. xxv. 5. "Thou shalt bring down the noise of T8 as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow )ud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low." .IX. 11

Itai. liy. 14. " In righteoosoess sba]t thoo be established. Thou shall be far from oppression, for thoo shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee." And xlix. 19. " They that swallowed thee op, shall be far away." Isai. Ix. 13. ''Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor deslmction within thy borders." And xi. 13. " The adversaries of Judah shall he col off." So Eiek. zxxvi. 12,13, and many other places. So by the prophecies of the Messiah's times, there should not be evil oe-current Isai. xxt. 8. '^ He will wipe away tears from off all faces." And zxzv. 10. *' Sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isai. XXXV. 24. " And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." Isai. Ixv. 19. '< And the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Ver. 21. '* And they shall build bouses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.'* Zech. viii. 12. •' The seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit; and the ground shall give her increase; and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things;** and many other places. In Solomon^s time Israel were possessed of great riches, silver, and gold, and other precious things in vast abundance. I Kings x. 21—^23. 27; agreeable to Isai. Ix. S. *' The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. The forces (or wealth) of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." Ver. 6. '' The multitude of camels shall cover thee. The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah they shall bring gold." Ver. 9. '' The ships of Tarshisb shall bring their silver and their gold." Ver. II. *' Thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut dajf nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces (or wealth) of the Gentiles." Ver. 17. '' For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron." Ixi. 6. '^ Te shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." Ixvi. II, 12. "That ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, 1 will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck," he., and many other phices. Solomon's reign was a time of great (easting and rejoicing in Israel. 1 Kin. iv. 20—22, 23, viii. 65, and x. 5 ; agreeable to Isai. xxv. 6. " And in this monniaio shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." Isai. Ixv. 13, 14- " Behold, my servants shall eat—my servants shall drink—my servants shall rejoice—my servants shall sing for Joy of heart." Ver. 18. ** Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy." Jer. xxxi. 12. " Therefore shall ye come and sing in tlie height of Son, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for

wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and Chey shall not sorrow any more at alL" Zech. viii. 19. ^* Thus taidi the Lord of hosts. The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah joy, and gladness, and cheerful fcatts.*' Chap. ix. 15. '' They shall drink and make a noise as Chroogh wine, and they shall be filled like bowls and as the cor-aers of the altar." Also Isai. xxxv. 1,2, 10, xliv. 23, xlix. 13, and Ixi. 3, and li. II, and very many other places.

There was a vast increase of God's people Israel in Solomon's days, so that they were as the sand of the sea, and were so many that they could not be numbered or counted for multitude. 1 Kin. liL 8, iv. 20. The servants of Solomon and those that stood eonUnually before him, were pronounced happy, eminently and mnrkably so. 1 Kin. x. 8. *^ Happy are these thy men ; happy aie these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that bear thy wisdom." Agreeable to Ps. Ixxii. 17. " And man shall be blessed in him." Isai. xxxiii. 17. '* Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty." Isai. ii. 5. *' O house of Jacob, come ye, let us walk in the light of the Lord." In Solomon's reign the remnant of the heathen were made bondmen, but the Israelites were for noble employments. I Kings ix. 21, 22. Agreeable to Isai. Ixi. 5, 6. '* And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vine dressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God. Te shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. Solomon made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance." Agreeable to Isai. Iv. IS. " Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Chap. xli. 19. '* I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shit-tah-tree, and the myrtle and the oil-tree. I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together." Isai. xxxv. I, 2. '< The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." In Solomon's days, the house of the Lord was in a remarkable manner filled with glory. 1 Kings viii. 10, II. 2 Chron. v. 13, 14, and vii. 1, 2; agreeable to Hag. ii. 7. In Solomon's days, a great and extraordinary feast of tabernacles was kept. 1 Kings viii. 65. 2 Chron. v. 3, and vii. 8—iO. It was by far the greatest feast of tabernacles that ever was kept in Israel. This is agreeable to Zech. xiv. 16—19. The blessings

of Solorooii^s reign were the fruit of God^s everlasting love to I»- £ nel. 1 Kings x. 9. '* Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, ^ therefore made he the king to do judgment and justiGe." Jer. e zxju. 3. ** I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore ■ with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Solomon reigned from « the river JBuphrates to the ends of the earth, even the uttennost part ■ of the land next to the great sea, as it was called. 1 Kings iv. ■ 21, agreeable to Ps. Ixxii. 8, and Zech. ix. 10. Solomon had ■ muny chariots. 1 Kings iv. 26, and x. 26. This is agreeable ■ to Ps. Ixviii. 18, and Dan. vii. 10. The exceeding greatness of j^ Solomon's court, the vast number of his servants, ministers, and ^i attendants, which may be learned from 1 Kings iv. 1—19. 22, 23. i Chap. ix. 22. 2Chron. viii. 9, 10, is agreeable to Ps. Ixviii. 18, i and Dan. x. 13. 21, and xii. 1, compared with Dan. vii. J^ \ Other kings and nations brought presents unto Solomon. 1 Kin. | iv. 21, ix. 14, and x. 25. Ps. Ixviii. 29. " Because of thy Um^ \ pie at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents unto thee." Ps. Ixxti. ; 10, and xlv. 12. The queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and to be instructed by him, and brought great presents, and particularly gold and spices. 1 Kings x. 2. 10. This *s agreeable to Isai. Ix. 0. ^^ All they from Shcba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." Ps. hxii. 9, 10. <« The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifls." Ver. 15. '' To him shall be given of the gold of Sheba."

The queen of Sheba came bringing her presents on a multitude of camels. 1 Kings x. 2. ^' And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices and very much gold ;'* agreeable to Isia. Ix. 6. *^ The multitude of camels shall cover thee: the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Slie-ba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense." Solomon extended his royal bounty to the queen of Sheba, and gave her all her desire. Agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the blessings and favour of the Messiah to be extended to the Gentiles, and his granting the requests of those that look to him from the ends of the earth. Israel, in Solomon's time, was enriched and adorned with the gold of Ophir, especially they of Solomon's courts, and of his own family : agreeably to Psa. xlv. 9. ^* On thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir." All the kings and merchants of Arabia brought presents of gold mod spices unto Solomon. 1 Kings x. 14, 15. This is agreeable to Isai. xlv. 14. '< The merchandise of Ethiopia shall come over to thee." Zeph. iii. 10. " From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants." Ps. Ixviii. 31. <^ Ethiopia shall soon stretch oot her hands to God." Ps. Ixxii. 9, 10. " They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him the kings of Shcba and

11 offer gi(U/' Isai. Ix. 6. << The multilude of camels er thee. The dromedaries of Midian and Epbah, all I Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense.''

11. ^* Lei the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up e, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabit-le rock sing." Chap. Ix. 7. '< All the flocks of Kedar gathered together unto thee: the rams of Nebaioth shall into thee." The ships of Tarshish came bringing gold r, and precious stones, and other precious things to So-[ Kings viii. 26 to the end, ix. 10, 11; and Solomon im-hat they brought to adorn the temple, ver. 12, agreeable ui. 10. *^ The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall rsents." Isai. Ix. 5. '^ The abundance of the sea shall rted unto thee." Isai. Ix. 9. ^^ Surely the isles shall wait ind the ships of Tarshish first Their silver and their 1 them to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the holy irael; because he hath glorified thee.'' There came of 3 from all kings of the earth to hear tKe wisdom of Solo-I brought presents of gold, silver, spices, Slc. 1 Kings ' And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of , from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wis-2 Chron. ix. 23, 24. << And all the kings of the earth he presence of Solomon, to hear bis wisdom, that God in his heart; and they brought every man his present, f silver and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness and orses and mules, a rate year by year.'' Thus all kings were bow down unto Solomon. Solomon was a king of 2 Chron. ix. 26. '' And he reigned over all the kings

river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the r Egypt, ibour of Egypt was brought over to Israel in Solomon's

Kin. X. 28. ** And Solomon had horses brought out of nd linen yarn. The king's merchants received the linen { price;" which is agreeable to Isai. xlv. 14. ** The labour t and the merchandise of Ethiopia—^—shall come over ;e." From that, 1 Kin. x 28, it is manifest that fine s very much used for clothing in Solomon's days, at least non's court, which is a fit emblem of spiritual purity and sness, and was manifestly used as such by priests and and was abundantly used as such in the service of the y. This is agreeable to what is often spoken in the pro-the extraordinary holiness and purity of the church in the ^s days, and to Isai. Hi. 1. *^ Awake, awake, put on thy , O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,

city ; for henceforth there shall no more come unto thee rcumcised and the unclean." Solomon spake many pro-

verbs, or parables, or dark sayings. I Kin. iv. 32. *^ And he spake three thousand proverbs." This is agreeable to what the prophets represent concerning the Messiah, as an eminent teacher; and what may be learned from them of the wonderful and mj^ste-rious things he should teach in his doctrine. Solomon was, as Joseph, a revealer of secrets. 1 Kin. x. ** The queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions: and Solomon told her all her questions; there was not any thing hid from the king which he told her not.'' This is agreeable to what the prophe-* cies say of the Messiah's being a great teacher, and of the vast increase of light and knowledge that shall be by him. Solomon made a great number of songs. 1 Kin. iv. 32. ^^ His songs were t thousand and five." This is agreeable to innumerable prophecies which represent the Messiah's times as times of extraordinary singing and melody, wherein God's people and all the world should employ themselves in joyful songs of praise; yea, whereto all creatures, the mountains, rocks, trees, the sea, the heavens and the earth, should break forth into singing. Solomon had a vast multitude of wives and concubines, fitly representing the vast number of saints in the Messiah's times, who are members of the church that is so often spoken of as the Messiah's wife.

I shall mention but one thing more under this head of things that we have an account of in the history of the Old Testament, remarkably agreeing with things said in the prophecies relating to the Messiah's kingdom and redemption; and that is the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. It is manifest that the great redemption of the Messiah is abundantly represented by a redemption of Israel from captivity and bondage under the hand of their enemies in strange and far distant lands, from the north country, and their return to their own land, and rebuilding Jerusalem and the cities of Israel, and repairing the old wastes; in places too many to be enumerated. This redemption *of the Jews was accompanied with a great destruction of those mighty and proud enemies, that had carried them captive, that were stronger than they, God pleading their cause and revenging their quarrel on the greatest empire in the world, as it were causing them to tread down the loftiest city, the highest walls and towers in the world, destroying their enemies with a great slaughter, and dreadful havock of their enemies; agreeable to Hag. ii. 22. <« And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen." Isai. xxvi. 5, 6. <* For he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city he layeth it low; he layeth it low even to the ground: he bringeth it even to Uie dust: the foot treadeth it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy." Chap. xxv. 12. " And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low and bring to the ground,

even to the dust." Chap. xxxiL 19. << When it shall hail, coming dowQ on the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place," or shall be utterly abased. Chap. xxx. 25. <' And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.'' See also Isaiah xxxiv. 1—8, and Joel iii. 9—17. Isaiah ii. 10 to the end, and many other places. This redemption of the Jews was attended with the final and everlasting destruction of Babylon, that great enemy of the Jewish church, that bad oppressed her and carried her captive. This is agreeable to prophecies of the Messiah's redemption. Isai. xxxix. 10 to the end,andxli. 11, 12, and xliii. 17. Dan. ii. 35. Obad. 10. 17, 18| and many other places. The temple of Jerusalem was rebuilt by the countenance and authority of Gentile kings. Ezra i. 2, kc« Chap. vi. 6—15, and vii, 11, &c. Neh. ii. 7—9; agreeable to Isai. xlix. 23. '* And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thj nursing mothers." It seems to be intimated that the queen of Persia, as well as the king, favoured the Jews, and promoted the restoring of their state, in Neh. ii. 6. The temple and city were rebuilt very much at the charge of Gentile kings and people, who offered silver and gold. Ezra i. 4—8, and vi. 8, and vii. 15—^23. Neh. ii. 7—9. This is agreeable to many places mentioned in the preceding section concerning Solomon's reign. At the time of this restoration of the Jews, strangers or Gentiles, and their princes assisted with sacrifices for the house of God. Exra i. 4. 6, vi. 9, and vii. 17. This is agreeable to Psa. xxii. 29. '< All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship/' Isai. xlix. 7. *' Kings shall see and arise ; princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee." Isai. Ix. 6,7. ''The multitude of camels shall cover thee; the dromedaries of Midian, he. They shall bring gold, incense. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee. The rams of Nebaiotli shall minister unto thee. They shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory." Gold, and silver, and sacrifices, and incense were brought to the new temple at Jerusalem, especially from the nations on this side the river Euphrates. Ezra i. 4. 6. Chap. vi. 6—10. Chap. vii. 16—18. 21—23. Neh. ii. 7—9. Which include Tyre and Ethiopia, Midian and Ephah, Kedar, Nebaioth, and the countries of Arabia, which are spoken of in prophecies that have been already mentioned in this and the foregoing sec-lion, as bringing presents, offering gifts, gold, incense and sacrifices. The Jews at their return out of Babylon, were redeemed without money. Isai. xlv. 13. "He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward." Agreeable to Isai. Iii. 3. ** Ye have soid yourselves for nought, and ye shall

be redeemed without money/' The temple was built by Joshua, that signifies Jehovah the Saviour; agreeable to what is oAeo represented of the Messiah in the prophecies. See what has been said above, concerning Joshua the son of Nun.

We often read of praying, fasting, confessing of sin, their own sins, and the sins of their fathers, and weeping and mourning finr sin that attended this restoration of the Jews. Dan. ix. i—19. Exra viii. 21—23. Chap. ix. throughout, x. 1—17. Neb. i. 4, &c. iv. 4, 5, ix. throughout. God gave the Jews remarkable and wonderful protection in their journey as they were returning from Babylon towards Jerusalem, and also in the midst of the great dangers and manifold oppositions they passed through, io rebuilding the temple and city. Ezra viii. 21— 23. 31. v. vi. vii. ' Nch. iv. vi. This is agreeable to Jer. xxxi. 8, 9. *^ Beholdy I . will bring from the north country, and gather them from the coasli i of the earth. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them. 1 will cause them to walk by the riven | of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble. For i I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.'' Isal xliii. 2. *' When thou passest through the waters I will be with \ thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when ) thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither ' shall the dame kindle upon thee.'' There was kept an extraordinary feast of tabernacles on occasion of this restoration of the Jews, the only one that had been kept according to the law of Moses since the time of Joshua, the son of Nun. Neh. viii. 14. This is agreeable to Zech. xiv. 16—19. After this return froiD the captivity, the Jews had extraordinary means of instruction in the law of God, much greater than they had before. Esra. vii. 25. Neh. viii. After this, synagogues were set up all over the .land, in each of which was kept a copy of the law of the prophets, which were read and explained every Sabbath day. And there seems to be a great alteration as to the frequency of the solemn public worship of God. Idolatry was utterly abolished among the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity. This is agreeable to Isai. ii. 18. ** The idols shall he utterly abolish.'' Zech. xiii. 2. *' And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Jjord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols oat i of the land; and they shall no more be remembered." Hos* !!• 17. '< For 1 will take away the names of Baalim out of her moutb, and they shall no more be remembered by their name/' Exek. xxxvi. 25. <' Then will 1 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleause you." Chap. xxxv. 23. << Neither shall they defile thciB-selves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable thingi>" See further, fulfilment of prophecies, ^ 153.

The agreement between what wc are told of Daniel and Sliad-^ racb, Meshach, and Abcdnego, and what is said in the prophecy of the Messiah and his people, is such as naturally leads us to sappose the former a designed type of the latter. Compare Dan. ill. and vi. with Isai. xlviii. 10, and xliii. 2. Ps. xxii. 20, 21, XXXV. 17* Cant. iv. 8.

It is remarkable that it should be so ordered, that so many of the chief women that we read of in the history of the Old Testament, and mothers of so many of the most eminent persons, should for so long a time be barren, and that their conception afterwards of those eminent persons they were The mothers of, should be through God's special mercy and extraordinary providence; as in Sarab, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's wife, and Hannah. It is rea* sooable to suppose, that God had something special in view in thus remarkably ordering it in so many instances. Considering ibiSy and also considering the agreement of such an event with several prophetical representations made of the church of God in the Messiah's times, there appears a great deal of reason to sup* pose the one of these to be designed as a type of the other. Psa. ixviii. 6* ^' God setteth the solitary in families." Psa. cxiii. 9. ** He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.'' Isai. liv. 1. *<Sing, O barren, and thou that didst not bear; break forth into ringing and cry aloud; thou that didst not travail with child. For more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife, saith the Lqrd.''

With respect to some of the principal persons spoken of in the Old Testament, there is this evidence, that they were types of the Messiah, viz: that the Messiah in the prophecies is called by tbeir names. Thus the Messiah is called by the name of Israel. Isai. xlix. 3. *' And he said unto me. Thou art my servant, O Isradf in whom I will be glorified." And he is often called in the prophecies by the name of David. Hos. iii. 5. ''Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord and David their king." Jer. xxx. 0. ''But they shall serve the Lord their God, apd David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." Esek. xxxvi. 24. " And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them." Chap, xxxvii. 24, 25. " And David my servant shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them ; and they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children for ever, and my servant David shall be their prince for ever." Ps. Ixxxix. 20. " 1 have found David my servant; with

my holy oil have I anointed him." Ver. 27. '* I will make him

my first-born," &c. The Messiah is called by the name of So-VOL. IX. 12

lomon. Cant. iii. 7. 11, viii. 11, 12. So the Messiah's great forerunner is called by the name of Elijah^ Mai. iv.; which argues that Elijah was a type of him. The Messiah is called by the name of ZerubbabeL Ha^. ii. 23. ** In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, sailh the Lord, and I will make thee a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts."

And as the Messiah is called by the proper names of some of the more eminent persons of the Old Testament, so some of them are called by names that it is evident by the prophecies do much more eminently and prepay belong to the Messiah. So Joshua is called the shepherd, the stone of Israel; Gen. xxix. 44 ; which according to the prophecies, are appellations most properly belonging to the Messiah. So the name Isra^ly though it was the proper name of Jacob rather than of the Messiah, yet its signification, the prince of God^ most properly and eminently belongs to the Messiah, according to the prophecies. So it is with the name of Abram^ high father, and Abraham^ the father of a multitude. Davidj beloved, and Solomon^ peace or peaceable. God also calls Solomon hi$ son^ an appellation which most properly belongs to the Messiah.

There is snch a commutation of names between not only persons, but also things, that we have an account of in the histories and prophecies of the Old Testament. Thus the people of the Messiah, though it is plain by the prophecies that they should chieBy be of the Gentiles, yet are very generally called by the name of Jacob and Israel. So the church of the Messiah, ihongh it is plain by the prophecies that they shall dwell all over the world, yet are often called by the name of Jerusalem and Zion. So we read in the prophecies of the Messiah's times of all nations going up from year to year to Jerusalem, to keep the feast of tabernacles, and of their being gathered to together to the mountain of the house of the Lord, which is utterly impossible. Therefore, we must understand only things that were typified by Jerusalem and the mountain of the house of the Lord, God's holy mountain, holy hill, mountain of the height of Israel, &c., and by the feast of tabernacles, and Israel's going up from year to year to keep that feast. So something appertaining to the Messiah's kingdom is called by the name of the altar of the Lord at Jerusalem, and it is represented as though all nations should bring sacrifices and offer them there on that altar. Yet this is utterly inconsistent with what the prophecies themselves do plainly teach of the state and worship of the church of Grod at that time. So something appertaining to the Messiah's kingdom is called by the names of the temple, and the tabernacle, and of God's throne in the temple, Zech. vi. 13. But it is plain by the prophecies that there should

indeed be no material temple or tabernacle in the kingdom of the Messiah. So we read also, Ezek. xlv. xlvi., of the passover, that grand memorial of the bringing the children of Israel up out of Egypt. But it is evident that there will be no such memorial of that eveot upheld in the church in the Messiah's times, by Jer. xvi. 14f 15, and chap, xxiii. 7, 8. Certain officers in the church of the Messiah are called priests and Levites^ Isai. Ix!. 6, and Jer. xxiii. 18 ; and yet it is plain by the prophecies that the ceremonial law should be abolished in the Messiah's times. A work of f^mce that is wrought on the hearts of men is often in the Old Testament called by the name of circumcision ; and it is evident by the prophecies that this should in a very eminent and distinguishing man-D€r be wrought in the Messiah's times. Something that the Messiah was to be the subject of, is called in the xl. Psalm by the name of boring the ear; as was appointed in the laiv concerning the servant that chose his master's service. Something in the prophecies of the Messiah is called by the name of at'/ and anointings that, it is evident, is not any such outward oil or anointing as was appointed in the ceremonial law. Ps. xlv. 7. Zech. iv. 12-^14. Isai. Ixt. 1. Ps. ii.2. 6, and xx. 6, Ixxxix. 20, with cxxxiii. So we find something of a spiritual nature called in the prophecies by the name of the golden candlestick that was in the tabernacle and temple, Zech. iv. Something is called by the name of that cloud of glory that was above the mercy scat, Zech. vi. 1^ Something is called by the name of God's dwelling between the cherubims, Ps. zcix. 1; and something in the Messiah's kingdom is called bv the name of the precious stones that adorn the temple. Compare Isai. liv. 11, 12, with 1 Chron. xxix. 2, and 2 Chron. iii. 8. The name of the incense and the names of the sweet spices that were ^used in the incense and anointing oil in the sanctuary, are made use of to signify spiritual things appertaining to the Messiah and Ins kingdom, in the book of the Canticles and Ps. xlv. 8 ; and something spiritual in that prophecy, Ps. xlv., is called needlework, the name of the work of the hangings and garments of the sanctnary. Exod. xxvi. 36, xxvii. 16, xxxvi. 37, xxxviii. 18, xxviii. 39, and xxxix. 29. The garments of the church of the Messiah are spoken of under the same representation as the curtains of the tabernacle and beautiful garments of the high priest. See also Cant. i. 5. Something in the Messiah's kingdom is called by the names of the outward ornaments of the temple, Isai. hul3.

As the people of the Messiah are in the prophecies called by the name of God's people Israel, though they should be chiefly ol the Gentiles, so likewise we find the enemies of the Messiah's pebple called by the names of the enemies of Israel; such as Edom^ Moabi the children of Amnion^ the Philistines^ &c. And

the places of the abode of those enemies of the Messiah's people are called by the names of the coantries and cities of God's enemies ; as Egypty Babylon^ Bazrah^ &c. And yet it is evident that those prophecies cannot have respect to these nations literal-ly, as hereafter to be such grievous and troublesome neighboan to the Messiah's people, as thos^ nations were to Israel. For the Messiah's people are to be dispersed all over the world, and not to dwell in the neighbourhood of those countries only.

Here it may be observed that the manna is called by the name of something spiritual. Ps. Ixxviii. 25. He had given them the corn of heaven; man did eat angels' food, which is an argnroeot that it was a type of something spiritual.

It was before observed, that the things of the Messiah are in the prophecies expressly compared to many of the things of the Old Testament: and I would now observe, that many of them, where they are thus compared, are compared in such a manner as < to be at the same time called by the same names. Thus the bondage that the Messiah should redeem his people from is called a lying among the pots ; Ps. Ixviii. 13. And this redemption of the Messiah is expressly called a redeeming them from Egypt, Isai. xi. II. Zech. x. 10. And something that God would do for them, is called his destroying the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and making men go over dry shod; ver. 15, and dividing the sea and the river. Zech. x. 10, 11. "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up." In Ps. Ixviii. 22, the redemption of the Messiah is called a bringing God's people again from the depths of the sea. So something that should be in the days of the Messiah, is called by the name of a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, Isai. iv. Something appertaining to the kingdom of the Messiah is called by the name of the valley of Achor, the place where Achan was slain. Hos. ii. 15. So things appertaining to the destruction of the Messiah's enemies arc often called by the names of things made use of in the destruction of the old world, of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the Egyptians, Canaanites, &ic., as a flood of waters, rain, hail, stones, fire and brimstone, a burning tempest, &c., as has been observed before. The redemption of the Messiah is called by the names by which the redemption out of Babylon was called. Jer. xvi. 15. *< But the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north." So again xxiii. 8. That by the tiortk country^ or land of the north, was an appellative name by which Chaldea was called, is very manifest. See Jer. iv. 6, vi. 22, and i. 14, and very many other places. (See the Concordance.) Things that shall be brought to pass in the Messiah's days, are called by the name

of what literally came to pass in the wilderness after the redemption of Egjrpt; in that in the prophecies, we often read of waters in the wilderness, and streams in the desert and in dry places, and the Messiah's drinking of the brook in the way ; and living wa^^ ten mnning through the desert in the east country, which is the desert of Arabia; Ezek. xlvii. 8; waters in dry places, to give drink to God's people, when ready to fail with thirst. Isai. xxxv. 1, xli. 17, 18, xxxii. 2, xliii. 19, 20, and Iv. 1.

Sin or corruption, which it is evident by the prophecies the Messiah comes to heal, is called by the same general names that belonged to the leprosy, as wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet. Something that should be in the Messiah's times is spoken of under the name of a trumpet, an instrument much in use by God's appointment, in the observances of the ceremonial law ; Isai. xxvii. 13; and something seems to be spoken of under the name of that sound that was made with the trumpets on their joyful festivals, especially on the year of jubilee; Ps. Ixxxix. 15. Something tlmt should be fulfilled in the Messiah's times, is called by the name of that which the serpent is doomed to, Gen. iii. 14. <* Dust shah thon eat." Isai. Ixv. 25. <* Dust shall be the serpent's neat." Something that should be done by the Messiah is spoken of nnder the name of the application that was made of water in the legal purifications. Isai. Hi. 15. ** So shall he sprinkle many nations." Esek. xxxvi. 25, 26. << Then will I sprinkle clean water apon you." Zech. xiii. 1. ^^ In that day there shall be a fountain opened*——for sin and for uncleanness." Compare these with Num. viii. 7, and xix. 13.18—21.

The congregation in the wilderness were in the form of an ar-ny, smd an army with banners. So the church of the Messiah is men represented as an army. They are represented as being called forth to war, and engaged in battle, gloriously conquering and triumphing, in places innumerable, and are spoken of as being God's goodly horse in the battle, and as a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots, and being made as the sword of a mighty man, and being gathered to an ensign (Isai. xi. 10. 12,) and standard; Isai. xlix. 22, lix. 19, and Ixii. 10. And having a banner given them, Ps. Ix. 4. And setting up their banners in God's name, Ps. XX. 5. And befhg terrible as an army with banners, Cant. vi. 4. 10.

Something in the kingdom of the Messiah is spoken of in the prophecies under the name of Pomegranates, which were repre-lented in the work of the tabernacle and temple. Cant. iv. 3, 13, vi. 7, 11, vii. 12, viii. 2. Figures that were made in the tabernacle and temple were called cherubim, the same name by which angels arc called in the Old Testament: which is an evi-

dence that they were made as types or representations of angels. The church and people of the Messiah are in the prophecies of the Messiah compared to and called a palm-tree, or palm-treets Cant. vii. 7, 8. Ps. xcii. 12; which is an argument that they wcif typified by the figures of palm-trees in the tabernacle and tempfei Something that should be in the Messiah's time is represented fay what appertained to the manner of God's appearance in the holy of holies. Ps. xcvii. '< Clouds and darkness are round aboat him." Compare 2 Sam. xxii. 12.

Some of the persons that we have an account of in the bistoiy of the Old Testament, are expressly spoken of as resembling tiw Messiah. So Moses^ '* A prophet will the Lord thy God raise up unto thee, like unto me," Deut. xviii. 15. IS. So Mdchizeddc^ Ps. ex. *' Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchii^ dek." And the account we have, Isai. vii., concerning Sheat'jth shtiby the son of Isaiah the prophet, is equivalent to expressly declaring him to be a type of the Messiah. And Zerubbabd aai Joshua are evidently spoken of as types of the Messiah. Haggii ii. 23. ''In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee. 0 Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and make theeasa signet." Zech. iv. 7. '' Who art thou, O great mountain f Be> fore Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain ; and he shall briag forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings; crying, Grace, gract unto it." Ver. 10. '' For who hath despised the day of small things } For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord," &c. Zech. iii. *' And be showed me Joshua the high

priest and unto him he said 1 will clothe thee with change of

raiment. And I said. Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that^t before thee, (for they are men wondered at,) for behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch." Zech. vi. 11, 12. *' Thea take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech the high priest, and speak aalo him. Behold, the man whose name is the Branch."

It is an evidence, that some of the more eminent persona that we have an account of in the history of the Old Testament, aie types of the Messiah, that some of them and the Messiah aie plainly spoken of under one. It is plain concerning David ia the Ixxxix. Psalm, where the name of David is mentioned onoe and again, and yet the psalm evidently looks beyond David to the Messiah. It is also plain concerning Solomon in the IziiL Psalm, which the title declares to have respect to Solomon, and yet the matter of the psalm most evidently shows that it has respect to the Messiah; many things in it being true of the Messiah, and peculiar to him, and not true of Solomon.

And here, by the way, I would observe, that to the many evi-iiices that ha?e already been taken notice of, that David and ykrnion are types of the Messiah, this may be added, that the iwt tliemselves looked on them as types of the Messiah. (See asnage's History of the Jews, page 367.)

Many things occasionally appointed of God, if they signify itbing spiritual, must be wholly insignificant actions, and so bolly impertinent. Such as the setting up a brazen serpent for tn to look upon, in order to a being healed. God's appointing e priiices of the congregation to dig a well with their staves, to pply the congregations with water, and a public record's being ttde of it by divine inspiration, and its being celebrated in a Bg of the people that is also recorded by divine inspiration. oin. xxi. 17, 18. Moses's holding up his hand by divine direc-in, that Joshua and Israel might prevail over Amaiek : Elijah's "etching himself three times upon the widow of Zarephath's son, order to raise him to life. 1 Kin. xvii. 21. Elisha's ordering I staff to be laid on the face of the Shunamite's dead child, and ierwards his lying upon the child, and putting his mouth on his oath, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, id stretching himself on the child, in order to raise it to life. nd so many other like actions that God appointed might be men-)ned.

But to say something more particularly concerning the cere<* ODial law. There is abundant evidence even in the Old Testa-nit, that the things that belong to that law are typical of the itigs of the Messiah.

If the things of the ceremonial law are not typical of moral and iritual things, they are wholly insignificant and so wholly im-•rtinent and vain. For God does abundantly declare, even in eOld Testament, that he has no delight in them on their own count, and that they are in his esteem worthless and vain in eniselves, and therefore it will follow that they must be worth-is and vain to all intents and purposes, unless they are other-ise by the relation they bear to something that God delights in I its own account, i. e. unless they are some way significant things moral and spiritual. If the things of the ceremonial w were pleasing to God, and were not pleasing on their own count, or by reason of any thing that God saw in them; then it nst be on account of something else that they represent and be-luse they some way stand in stead of them. For instance, hen God went out through the land of Egypt to smite the rsC born, and saw the blood of the paschal lamb on the door ists of an house, it is represented as being something plea-g to God, for the sake of which he would spare the inhabi-nts of that bouse. But the Old Testament reveals, that

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blood was not at all pleasing on its own account. For that declares that God hath no delight in the blood of beasts; and therefore the way in which it was something pleasing to God must be its being something, which represented or stood in stead of | something that was truly in itself pleasing. So the sweet savoor that I was made in offering incense is spoken of as something sweet and pleasant to God ; and a white clean garment as something pare, and so pleasing to God. But we know that these things were not pleasant or acceptable on their own account, and therefore it must be only as related to something else that was so. But in what way b a sweet smell related to any thing really'sweet to God, except as it is a type, or has some signification of it? And which way has the purity of a garment any relation to spiritual purity, bat as it has a representation of it f

This leads me to observe, that there is an apparent and desigo* ed resemblance between those things that were instituted, that were in themselves worthless, and those moral and spiritual things that in themselves were valuable in the sight of God. Thus it is ap* parent, that outward cleanliness and purity resemble and sbadoir forth that which is in the sight of God real purity; and outward sweetness resembles real sweetness to God. So the light of the lamps in the sanctuary had a resemblance of spiritual light; and the preciousness of gold and pearls, that were used in the sanctuary and priests' garments, had a resemblance of some real preciovs- ' ness in the sight of God; and the beauty and ornaments of the ^ sanctuary and its vessels and holy garments, &c. had a resem- i blance of real beauty, and of those things that were ornaments in ' the sight of God. So that seeming atonement for sin, that was in ' the legal sacrifices, had a resemblance of that only true atonement the prophecies speak of. The seeming vicariousness there was io the sufferings of beasts for sinners had a resemblance of a true vicariousness and substitution. And it is also manifest, that God chose those things, or had respect to them in his choice and appoint-ment of them, because they did resemble or shadow forth those correspondent spiritual things, that have a real value and excellency in themselves in his sight. The very nature of the thing makes it manifest. Thus it is manifest that God chose pure gar^ ments rather than filthy ones, because outward purity did more resemble real purity. He chose a sweet smell to be offered as a pleasant savour unto him, because sweet smell has more resemblance of what is really sweet to him. It is manifest that he chose the suffering of beasts as an atonement for sin, rather than the feeding and pampering of them, because this has more of a re-semblance of a true atonement, which the prophecies speak of as being by the sufferings of a surety. It is evident that God chose the blood or life of the creature to be offered, to make atonement

lor the soul rather than the hair, because it Las a greater re-iemblance ofthe life of a surety, which is a true atonement for the ioal» as the prophecies of tlie Old Testament do represent. But if it be evident, that God in the institution of the things of the ceremonial law, iiad respect to the resemblance that was in them of spiritual things and things of the Messiah, and appointed those rather than things of .a diverse nature, for the sake of that resemblance, this is the same thing as to say, that the former are appointed as types of the latter*

All ihe people of Israel, if they exercised consideration, must iuppose and understand that these things pertaining to the ceremonial law were app'>inte(l and used as representations and symbols of something spiritual, and not for the sake of any innate goodness in them, or any value God had for them. As for instance, that God appointed white garments rather than yellow, green, or black, not for any excellency of the colour, but as a Bore proper representation of righteousness and spiritual purity; and the making a sweet odour with spices, not that God smelt that odour and so was pacified towards men as though he were recompensed by the great pleasure they thereby gave him ; but to represent something spiritual that was highly acceptable to him ; and so that God appointed them to offer the flesh of beasts and bread, as the food or bread of God, as these things are called, and the drink offering of wine, not that God eat and drank those things, and was pleased with the taste of them, and received refreshment and benefit, as a hungry and thirsty man does by meat and drink; but that these things were mystical and symbolical representations of things of a higher and more divine nature. They must know, that laying hands on the head of the sacrifice, and what was called laying sins on the scape goat, was no real hying sins on those beasts. And besides, God did expressly and abttodantly teach his people under the Old Testament the contrary of these things. They must naturally therefore suppose, that they were used as things significant of something of a nature higher than themselves. They must naturally suppose, that the eating the passover with the staff in the hand and with bitter herbs, and putting the blood of the sacrifices upon the tip of the right car, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, were mystical, and symbolical, and significant of something in itself of value and importance.

With respect to the legal sacrifices, the evidence that they were types of the Messiah is very strong; which will appear if we consider the following things.

It is evident there is some real and pn>per atonement for sin, which is in God's account requisite, and which he insists upon in order to the pardon of sin, and which he accepts at a true atone-

VOL. IX. 13

ment, and is willing to forgive sin on account of it. Otherwise, God never would designedly have taken a course by such an abundance of institutions, to bring up his people of the nation of Ii-rael in the notion of the need of some atonement for sin, and some vicariousness and substitution of suffering for the sinner, in order to satisfy divine justice, and not only to bring up the Jews in ibis nation, but his church and people from the beginning of the world, insomuch that all nations received this notion from the first progenitors and founders of the nations and families of the eanb.

It is also very manifest that the legal sacrifices of beasts and birds were no real atonement. This appears not only from the nature of the thing, but it is what God abundantly taught bia people under the Old Testament, of whom he required these sacrifices. Ps. xl. 6, 1. 5 to the end, li. 16. Isai. i. 11, be. Ixvi. 2, 3. Hos. vi. 6. Jer. vii. 21—23, and especially Mic. vi. 6—8.

It is apparent by the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the Messiah was to offer a true and real atonement for the sins of men. That the Messiah should offer up himself a sacrifice for sin, is very clearly implied in many places there mentioned. Bat this doctrine is not only implied, but it is declared, that the Messiah should atone for sin, or expiate it by sacrifice. Isai. liii. 10. '' When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.'' Dan. ix. 24. ^* Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upoa thy holy city"— to make reconciliaium for iniquity, or to expiate iniquity by sacrifice, or io make atonemeiU for iniquity; for the word in the original is the very same that is used from time Io time in the law about sacrifices for making atonement. In what follows, it is declared how this atonement was to be made, vhi., by anointing the most holy and the coming of the Messiah, and by bis being cut off, but not for himself, and making the sacrifice and oblation to cease in the last half of the seventieth week. And it is evident that the atonement for sin here spoken of is a proper atonement, that makes real satisfaction for sin, and truly pays and finishes the debt, by the other expressions that are added, *' To finish the transgression, and make an end of sin, and bring in everlasting righteousness;" and making the sacrifice and oblation to cease, i. e. by making sin to cease, making an end of sin and finishing the transgression, that there shall be no further occasion for sacrifice and oblation. And making atonement for sin is here prophecied of as that which was to be, but never yet was: it was a new thing, as the prophecy must be understood. But it could be a new thing in no other sense but that, viz., that a true and proper atonement for sin should be offered. For atonement in other senses beside this had been abundantly offered from the beginning of the world. What is translated to finish the transgression, might have been rendered to consume transgression. But

that expiation for sin that consumes transgression and makes an end of sins, and brings into a state of perpetual righteousness, so at to make all further sacrifices, or attempts, and means, and representations of atonement to cease, and should abolish them as now needless, that is undoubtedly a proper atonement for sin.

Again, it is not only manifest by the Old Testament that the sacrifice of the Messiah is a true real atonement, but that it is the only trne and real atonement for sin. For the Old Testament speaks of no other sorts of sacrifices of expiation for sin but those two, vix., the ancient legal sacrifices of beasts, and the sacrifice of the Messiah. What the prophecies sometimes say of sacrifices that should be ofiered by God's people, after the Messiah's ascension, mast be understood figuratively; because it is expressly foretold, that the Messiah by his sacrifice should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. And besides, as 1 observed before, the Messiah's making expiation for sin, is prophecied of as a new thing; and as it is foretold as a new thing, or the first thing of that natore, so it is also.prophecied of as the last thing of that nature, as is implied in those expressions of his making an end of sin, finishing the transgression, and making the sacrifice and oblation to cease. And these two things put together, imply that this is the only truly expiatory sacrifice. See also Zech. iii. 8, 9. And then, that this is the only sacrifice by which the sins of God's people are atoned, and that never any one is forgiven and accepted on account of any other atonement, is implied in Isai. liii. 6. " AU we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to bis own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of as all."

Another thing that is very manifest, is, that the legal sacrifices had a manifold resemblance and representation of that great, true, and proper sacrifice that the prophecies foretold that the Messiah sboold ofier. Thus those beasts that were ofiered were without blemish, as the prophecies represent the Messiah to be, Isai. liii., and other places. These sacrifices were not of unclean but clean beasts, therein representing that spiritual purity that the prophecies speak of in the Messiah. A very great part of those sacrifices were of lambs, as the paschal lamb, Exod. xxix. 39; and very many other of their sacrifices, which had a resemblance of what the prophecies represent of the feebleness, innocence, meekness, and gentleness of the Messiah. Most of the sacrifices were males, as the Messiah is represented as of the male sex. They were ofi'ered by a priest in white robes, representing the purity and holiness of the Messiah; who, when spoken of, Dan. ix., as the great priest that should offer that atonement that should make an end of sin, is called «' the Most Holy." " Seventy weeks are determined to make reconciliation for iniquity and to anoint

the Most Holy." The priests were anointed : herein there was a resemblance between them and the great Messiah, or anointed* The sacrifices suffered as the Messiah, the great sacrifice, is represented to suffer. The sacrifices suffered death, and a viodent death, as the Messiah suffered death—the sacrifices were burnt bjr fire from heaven ; as the prophecies represent the Messiah as suffering from the immediate hand of Gud. In most of the sacrifi* ce8« their inward parts were to be burnt on the altar, that art aliundantly made use of in the Old Testament to represent the soul; which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the Messiah's making his soal an offering for sin. The fat of ibt inwards of the sacrifices was melted, and consumed, and burnt ap in the fire ; which is agreeable to Ps. xxii. 14, 15. ** I am poured out like water—«-my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels; my strength is dried up like a potsherd ;*' and Ps. cii. 4. '* My heart is smitten and withered like grass ;*' and Isai. liii. 12. *' He hath poured out my soul unto death." There was the resemblance of the substitution of the sacrificed beast in suffering for the sinner, as the prophecies represent concerning the Messiah. There was an appearance of laying the iniquities of those for whom the sacrifices was offered, on the animal sacrificed, especially on some of the sacrifices on the head of which the hands of those for whom they were offered were laid, that they might lay their sins upon them. This is agreeable to Isai. liii. 6. ^ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." The scapegoat is represented as bearing the sins of those for whom he was offered into the wilderness; which is agreeable to Isai. liii. 4. ** Surely he hath borne our griefs, he haih carried our sorrows.*' The Messiah is expressly spoken of as being like a lamb, in bis beiiig slain, and offered as a sacrifice for sin, Isai. liii. The high priest made intercession for the people with the blood of the sacrifices, agreeably to Isai. liii. 12.

Beside all that has been already observed, this further is manifest, vis., that they are by God called an atonement, and are said to be an atonement, times without number. (See the Concordance under the word Atonement.) Seeing therefore, that the legal sacrifices are declared expressly and abundantly to be no real atonement, but have evidently a great resemblance of the true atonement, and are plainly representations of it, and are abundantly spoken of by him that instituted them, as being an atonement, and as instituted by him that they might be an atonement; it is very apparent, that they were appointed figures and representations of the true atonement. For there are but these two ways of any thing's being consistently with truth said to be such a thing, by the name of which it is called, viz., either its being that thing truly and properly, or figuratively and by representation.

£itber it most b« that thing that it is said to be id reality, dr by repreieBtatioii of the reality, or not at all. We have often in the itir of Hoses this expression used with regard to the sacrifices, The priest shall make an atonement for him. Now one of these two meanings must be put upon the words, either that he shall ■ake a real proper atonement, or that he shall make an ilonement figuratively or significantly. It is either a true stoneinent or a seeming atonement: otherwise it could not be an HoneiDent in any sense, nor would it be so called by God. If Ikere be such a thing as a real atonement for sin, and the legal merifices be not a real atonement.for sin, yet are appointed and icoepled as an atonement, then they are appointed and accepted iMtrnd of an atonement, for that is the same thing. So that it is evident, that God appointed the legal sacrifices to stand in stead 0I9 or to represent the real atonement. If a man be appointed to Hand for another that is absent, and be accepted for an absent friend, then he is his representative. When the prophet called Ihe arrow that the king of Israel shot out of his window, the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, nothing else could be meant, but that it was a sign of the arrow of the Lord's deliverance. So vhen the man that interpreted his fellow's dream, said of the barky cake, ** this is the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash ;" he eonld mean nothing else, but that this signified the sword of Gideon. So when Joseph said *' The seven lean kine are seven years of famine." And so in innumerable other instances that night be mentioned. It is evident from what has been already observed, that here are certain resemblances and shadows of sacrifices, and substitutions in suffering for sinners, and atonements for sin : and it is manifest that it was out of regard to this resem-blaoce there was in the shadow of the atonement, that the shadow was appointed. God himself has decided it by calling the shadow by the name of the substance, and by declaring that he appointed the shadow, that it might be ifor the substance,' which he has done in declaring that he appointed it, that it mi^ht be for an atonement, u e. instead of the real atonement, which is the substance.

These shadows of atonement are not merely called by the name of an atonement, but they are spoken of from time to time as being an atonement, and are said to be appointed, that they might be an atonement. Now what other way there is of being an atonement, but either being so really, or being so in figure, and significance, I know not.

The incense appointed in the law had a sweet smell, and was acceptable to the senses, and so had a shadow of that which was acceptable to God and a sweet savour to him. And seeing that it is expressly declared by God in the law, that he appoints this iuceiise for a sweet savour to him, this demonstrates that God

ID the appointment has respect to that resemblance, that it is appointed to be a standing representation' of a true sweet sayoQf to him. Sweet smell is appointed, because it resembles what is tm* \y acceptable to God. When external whiteness and parity, tiimt is a shadow of true purity in the sight of Grod, is called by the name of true purity; and is declared to be appointed that it might be for purity in the sight of God; this demonstrates that it is appointed to be a standing representation of true parity. So, likewise when the shadows of sufferings for sinners, aod atonements for sin are called by the name of real sufferings ibr sinners, and atonements for sin, and are said from time to time, to be atonements for sin, and to be appointed that they might be for atonements for sin: it demonstrates clearly, that these shadows of atonement are appointed out of respect to the resemblance they have to the real atonement, and that they might be instead of it, and standing representations of it; or which is tlie same thing that they might be types of it. God appointed the suffering of the creature, rather than the feeding or fatting of it, for the making atonement, because the suffering of the creature has a greater resemblance of that suffering that makes a real atonement for sin. God in thus calling these shadows from time to time by the name of the things resembled, and speaking of them from time to time as being the things resembled, does therein plainly put them in their stead, and does make use of them as representations of them; as if any should on design call one by another's name, that was not his own name, and ordinarily speak of him and treat him as being that other, this would be the same thing as to substitute him for the other, and to make use of him as the other's representatiye.

It is an argument that the sacrifices were types of the Messiah, that when Manoah offered sacrifice by God's appointment, he that is called the *'angel of the Lord," and who was the Lord, ascended in the flame of the sacrifice, Judg. xiii. 20. And so did, as it were, offer up himself in the flame of the sacrifice, intimating that he was the great sacrifice, that was the antitype of those sacrifices of beasts. The beasts that were sacrificed to God, ascended up in the flame befi>re God for a sweet savour. So the matter is represented in the Old Testament. But here we see, that when the sacrifice was ascending in the flame, the angel of the Lord ascends in the same, to show that that was the end of the sacrificing fire, viz., to cause him to ascend as a sweet savour unto God.

Again there is clear proof, that the legal sacrifices were types of the great sacrifice of the Messiah in Dan. ix. 24. " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the

St Holy ;^' taken together with ver. 27. *^ And he shall confirm covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the k shall he cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease." What is islated in ver. 24, *' And to make an end of^in^," might have Btranslated, '' He shall seal up the tin offerings.^' The word islated sins in the original is ChaUaoth^ the very same word t is made use of in the law of Moses, to signify sin-offerings. that the word might as well be translated sin-offerings here as ■e. And It is the more likely, that sin-offerings should be iQt here, because the word is in the plural number; whereas if It was intended was the same with iniquity in the clause pre-ing, and transgression in the clause following, thus varying expression for eloquence sake, it would be more likely this 'd would have been in the singular number as those are. And ides, it is the more likely that the word signifies sin-offerings, aose it is evident that this text is a prophecy of the sacrifice i the Messiah should offer for sin. In the next words it is said, le shall make reconciliation for iniquity/' The word rendered mdUaUan (as has been already observed) signifies expiatUm sacrifice; it being the same that is so often rendered atonement be law of Moses, when speaking of sacrifices for sin. But It argues yet more strongly that this should have been trans-^fhe shall make an end, or seal up^ sin-offerings, is, that in the h verse there seems to be a reference to what had been said >re in this verse, when it is said. In the midst of the week, or he half of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to le. In the 24th verse it had been said, that the sacrifices or offerings should be made an end of or sealed up in seventy fks;and the 25th 26th and 27th verses are evidently exegetical that 24th, to explain how the anointed Holy One or Messiah uld make atonement for iniquity, and seal up the sin-offering I sacrifices in seventy weeks, viz., from the commandment to Id Jerusalem there should be seven weeks and threescore and »'weeks, that is 69 weeks, and then in the remaining week he old establish the covenant with many, and in the half of the »k he should make the sacrifice and oblation to cease, or make end of the sin-offerings, as was said before. Now let us mind expression; the word translated make an end, in the original is AM seal up. " He shall seal up the sin-offerings." It is the y same word that is used in the following clause concerning on and prophecy. *^ He shall sralup the vision and prophecy." e same word being thus used twice in like manner, in different uses of the same sentence, once concerning the vision and phecy, and the other time concerning the sin-offering, there all reason to understand it in both places in the same se. Bat the plain meaning of that clause, to seal up the vision

and prophecy, is thig; then shall be accomplished the grand event so often exhibited by the prophecies of the prophets, and so often represented and signified by the visions which they saw, and so the vision and prophecy shall be finished and brought lo their grand accomplishment; that which they ultimately aimed at. Then shall be fulfilled the sum of what was signified in the vision and prophecy. (Ezek. zxviii. 12. *' Thou sealest up the snm full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.") So when in the same sentence it is said, to seal up the sin-ofierings, and make^atonement for iniquity, we must in a like sense understand it thus, to ofier that j grand sacrifice or atonement for iniquity, that is so mncb ezbi- I bited and represented by the sin-ofierings. So that the sin-ofler-ings shall be made to cease, their design being obtained and finished, that grand event, that great and true atonement for siD, which was aimed at in them, and which they all signified and represented, being now accomplished.

Again it is evident, that the priests of old, in their office of of- ^ fering sacrifices, were types of the Messiah in oflering his sacrifice : otherwise there is no truth iu that prophecy that God declares in so solemn a manner, and confirms with an oath, in Jer« xzxiii. 18. *^ Neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to ofiTer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat ofierings, and to do sacrifice continually." See how solemnly this is confirmed and sworn to, in the following words. Unless this befal-filled in the true sacrifice or atonement, which the Messiah offers, and in the accomplishment of that prophecy of the Messiah, Psa. ex. ** The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedeck;" it is not fulfilled at all; and is neither agreeable to fact nor to other prophecies. Unless this prophecy be fulfilled thus, it is not agreeable to fact. For the priests and Levifes have had no man literally to ofier sacrifices literally, for a much longer time than ever they had a man to offer sacrifices. And it is not agreeable to other prophecies, particularly that fore-mentioned, Dan. ix. 24. 27. That speaks of the Messiah's causing the sacrifice and oblation to cease; and sealing them op, which is directly contrary to this prophecy of Jeremiah xxxiii. if this latter be understood literally. For this very prophecy of Jeremiah is evidently a prophecy of the Messiah. See ver. 15. ** I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up to David.*' So that upon this supposition Jeremiah foretells the Messiah's abundantly confirming the priests and Levites in their business of oflering sacrifice and oblation, so as to perpetuate it for ever; and Daniel foretells his finishing the business wholly, sealing it up and making it to cease. And it is elsewhere foretold that there should be no temple made with hands, no ark, no sacrifices of beasts, iu the Messiah's times.

From what has been now observed of the prophecies foretelling that the Messiah should abolish the legal sacrifices, it is manifest dial whenever the prophecies of the Messiah's times do speak of sacrifices then to be offered, they are to be understood mystically, Le. of spiritual things typified by the sacrifices, as Isai. ziz. 21, hu 7. Eiek. xx. 40, 41. Mai. i. 11.

The blood of the legal sacrifices is called the blood of the covcDant bv Moses, Exod. zxiv. 8. << And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said. Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." But God calls the blood of the Messiah the blood of (he coyenant that he had made with his people, or the blood of their covenant. Zech. ix. 11. '< As for thee also, by the blood of iby covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water/' It is evident that the blood of the Messiah is that blood by which the church will be redeemed, when the Mes-liah comes, which is the time here spoken of. See ver. 9, forego-{oingy '^ R^oice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, tBy King cometh," be. Therefore, as both these, viz., the blood of the legal sacrifices, and the blood of the Itessiah, are called the blood of the church's covenant, it is Vianifest that one is represented by the other. The same sacrifice must be intended in that prophecy of the Messiah's times, Ps. L 5. " Gather my saints together, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Thus plain it is that the legal lacrifices were types of the Messiah, the great sacrifice and true atonement for sin, and were appointed as such. And by some Ihiaga that have been already observed, it is also manifest that (heir legal purifications were types of that spiritual purity that ihoald be by the Messiah, and the sweet incense a type of that irhicb 11 spiritual and truly sweet to God. And concerning the iooeiisei I further observe, that spiritual things are expressly compared to it in the Old Testament, Ps. cxli. 2. ** Let my prayer be let forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the iveniog sacrifice." And the Messiah is expressly compared to a doad of incense; Cant. iii. 6. White and beautiful garments wtn appointed the priests by the law of Moses. These garments M the priests are expressly spoken of as representing something in the Messiah, and particularly are there spoken of as representing' righteousness. Again, the righteousness of the Messiah is compared to beautiful garments, Isai. Ixi. 10. ^' He hath covered one with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh him-lelf with his ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jeivels." Job xxix. 14. << I put on righteousness, and it clothed me." God is represented as clothed with a garment white as

VOL. IX. 14

snow. Dan. vii. 7. And the Messiah appears to Daniel clothed in linen. Dan. x. 5, 6, and xii. 7. Spiritual purity is represented by the colour white. Isai. i. 18. ** Though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Dan. xii. 10. " Many shall be purified and made white." The high priest had broidered garments : such are spoken of as representing righteousness. £iek. xvi. 9, 10. '' Then I washed thee with water; I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee; and I anointed thee with oil. I

clothed thee also with broidered work and I girded thee about

with fine linen."

Jt is manifest that the legal uncleannesses were types of sioi they are said to be an abomination to the Lord. Yea, they are called sin in the law of the sin-ofiering. Levit- vi. 6—8, and xiv. 13, 14. 19^ 22. 24, 25« 53, xv. 30. Moral impurities seem to be represented by legal impurities, Hag. ii. 11—14. One thing that was a legal pollution, was blood. This is made use of by the prophets to represent sin. Ezek. xvi. 6. '' When I saw thee polluted in thy blood." So 9. 22. Isai. i. 18. <' Though yonr sins

be as scarlet and red like crimson." Chap. iv. 4. " l¥ben

the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the danght<ers of Zioni and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of barn-ing."

One kind of legal uncleanness was through menstruous blood. Moral or spiritual pollution is compared to this. Isai. Ixiv. 6. '^ All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," or menstruous clothes, as it might have been rendered. The leprosy was one kind of legal uncleanness. Sin seems to be compared to this, in Isai. i. 6. ** From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.*'

The legal purifications by washing the hands in the laver, and other parts of the body in water, is what a spiritual cleansing from sin is compared to. Ps. xxvi. 6. ** I will wash my hands in inno-cency, and so will I compass thine altar;" alluding to the priests washing their hands at the laver before they compassed God's altar. Zech. xiii. 1. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." Ps. li. 2. " Wash me from my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin." Isai. i. 16. " Wash ye, make yon clean; put away the evil of your doings." Jer. iv. 14. " Wash thy heart from wickedness." Prov. xxx. 12. " There is a generation that are purein their'own eyes, and yet is not cleansed from their filthiness.'' Isai. iv. 4. <' When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion." Eiek. xvi. 4. ** Neither wast thou washed in water." Ver. 9. " Then washed

I thee in water." Ezek. xxxvi. 25. <' Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthi-ness.'*

That the anointing under the law typified something spirituali is confirmed by this, that what is spiritual is called anointing. Exek. xvi.'9. *^ I anointed thee with oil." It is an argument that those officers that were anointed, were types of the Messsiah that his name is MesHahy or the anointed. The holy anointing oil represented the Spirit of God, because the Holy Spirit is represented by holy anointing oil. Zech. iv. 2—6.12, and Isai. Ixi. 1. *^ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me." By which last words it may also be confirmed, that the anointing of the officers of the Jewish church represented the spiritual anointing of the Messiah.

Something spiritual that shall be in the Messiah's times is compared to the wine of the drink-offering. Zech. ix. 15. ''They shall drink and make a noise as through wine. They shall be filled like bowls and as the corners of the altar."

We have the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testa-menty that the golden candlestick with its bowl on the top and its seven lamps, and oil for the lamps, is a representation of the church of the Messiah. Zech. iv. taken with the preceding chapter.

The sanctuary or temple was a type of heaven, as may be argued from this, that heaven is called in the Old Testament his dwelling place, his holy habitation, his sanctuary and his temple* I Kin. viii. 30. " Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place." So 39. 43. 49. 2 Chron. vi. 21. 30. 39.; and 2 Chron. xxx. 27 ; andPsa. xxxiii. 13, 14. ** The Lord looketh from heaven, he be-holdeth all the sons of men ; from the place of his habitation he looketh on all the inhabitants of the earth." Isai. Ixiii. 15. " Look down from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and thy glory." Jer. xxv. 30. '* The Lord shall roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation.'' Deut. xxvi. 16. "Look down from thy holy habitation." Psa. Ixviii. 4, 5. ** Sing unto the Lord; sing praises unto his name; extol

him that rideth on the heavens by his name Jah. A Judge of

the widows is God in his holy habitation." Psa. cii. 19. " For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth." Psa. xi. 4. " The Lord is in his holy temple; the Ijord's throne is in heaven."

That the great, costly, or precious stones that were the foundation of the temple, spoken of 1 Kin. v. J9.; and of Solomon^s boQse, chap. vii. 10, represented the Messiah, is confirmed by Isai. xxviii. 16. Psa. cxviii. 22. Zech. iii. 9, and iv. 7.

It is a confirmation that the frame of the tabernacle and temple were typical, from the agreement there is between it, and the

TisioDS under which God sometimes manifested himself. The mercy seat with the cherubims is called the chariot of the chem* bims. 1 Chron. xxviii. 18.; agreeable to the vision that Ecekid had of God riding in a chariot drawn by cherubims. Ezekiel's vision of the chariot of the cherubims was also agreeable with the frame of the chariot, in which the iavers were set, and represented as drawn by lions, oxen and cherubim; agreeable to the shapes of Exekiel's living creatures. See I Kin. vii. 27—39.

But a very great and clear evidence, that the city of Jemsa* lem, the holy city and the temple in all its parts and measures, and its various appendages and utensils, with all its officers, services, sacrifices, and ceremonies, and so all things appertaining to the ceremonial law, and indeed many things appertaining to the civil state of the people as divided into twelve tribes, were typical of things appertaining to the Messiah and his church and kingdom, is that these things are evidently made use of as such, in a very particular manner in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel; that we have an account of in the nine last chapters of his prophecy. These there mentioned, which are the same which were in Israel under the law of Moses, are mentioned as resemblances, figures, or symbolical representations of spiritual things. So that God has in these chapters determined, that these things are figures, symbols, or types representing the things of the Messiah's kingdom, because here he plainly makes use of them as such.

It is no argument, that the thinp^s that have been treated of were not designed as types of the Messiah, and things pertaining to his kingdom, that God when he instituted them, did not expressly declare them to be so. For there is no more necessity of supposing that all types signifying future events, when given should be explained, than that all visions and prophecies signifying future events should be explained. The things that were exhibited in visions, wore truly a sort of types of future events ; as Abraham's smoking furnace and burning lamp, which was not ex-plained por expressly declared to represent an^ thing future. The twelve fountains and threescore and ten palm-trees atElim, were evidently types of the twelve tribes, and threescore and ten elders; but yet it is not expressly said so. The like might be observed of Jacob's taking Esau by the heel at his birth, and God's making Eve of Adam's rib, and Moses's rod's swallowing up the magicians' rods, and many other things.

Corollary. Seeing it is thus abundantly evident by the Old Testament iuelf, that the things of the Old Testament were typical of the Messiah, and things appertaining to him, hence a great and most convincing argument may be drawn that Jesus is the Messiah; seeing there is so wonderful a correspondence, and evident, manifold, and great agreement between him and his

gospel, and those types of *the Old Testament. And as it is so plain by the Old Testament, that the ancient state of things amongst the Jews was all ^ical of the Messiah; and the Jews themselves acknowledge it. So it is a great argument, that Jesas and his kingdom were the end and antitype of these things, because pre-KOtly after he comes and sets up his kingdom, God puts a total and final end to that typical state of the Jews, and all things ap« pertaining to it, blots out all those types at once, and wipes theoi clean away, and poured the utmost contempt upon them, and co^'ered them with the roost dreadful darkness, and utterly destroyed, as by one great fatal and final blow, that whole typical world, and has now continued their abolition for so many ages, BQcb longer than he did their existence, and has followed all that refect the antitype, and will cleave to the types, with so aw-fiil and continual a curse, and all this agreeably to the prophecies of what God would do, when the Messiah, this great antitype, was come.

That typical representations were' looked upon by God, as no trifling matters, but things of great importance, as is manifest in that it is spoken of in scripture as a matter of such importance, thai Christ's body should not see corruption, before it was raised.

It was common for names to be given by a spirit of prophecy, (See Owen on Heb. vii; 2, p. 112.)

We have reason to suppose, that very many things in the Old Testament are intended as types, seeing it is manifest in some instances, that so very minute circumstances were so ordered, such as the negative circumstances of the story-of Melchizedeck, there being no mendon made of his father or mother, of his birth or death.

That all things, even to the least circumstance, pescribed by God about the tabernacle, and its services, were types of heavenly things, appears by the Apostle's manner of arguing, (Heb. viii. 6,) from those words of God to Moses, ** See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the Mount." And if they were all types, they were all for our instruction, and if they #ere for our instruction, then we must endeavour to understand them, even those of them that are no where explained in scripture.

Heb. jx. 3—5. The Apostle there mentioning the ark, mercy seat, tables of the covenant, the golden censer, pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, concludes thus, ^' Of which I cannot now speak particularly;'' i. e, I cannot now explain particularly the design of those things, and tell you particularly what evangelical and heavenly things were represented thereby; which proves evidently, that many things in the tabernacle were typical, and intended to represent to God's

people evangelical things, which signification is not explained to us in scripture.

The Jews of old seemed to look on the redemption from "Esgypt as a type of the redemption which should be accomplished by the Messiah. (See Pool's Synopsis on Exod. xii. 14.)

It is an evidence that legal uncleanness was a type of no, thmt it is in effect called sin. (See Pool's Synopsis on Lev. ui. 8.)

That the temporal things of the Old Testament were types of the spiritual things of the New. (See Pool's Synopsis od 2 Sam. ii» 10.)

An OBJECTION is raised from the abuse that will be made of this doctrine of types. Answer. I do not know that the types of scripture are more abused by people that are enthusiastic and of teeming imagination, than the visionary representations of the book of Revelation; and yet none make that an objection against all attempts to understand and interpret that book. We have as good warrant from the word of God to suppose the whole ceremonial law to be given in order to a figurative representing and signifying spiritual and evangelical things to mankind, as we have to sup* pose that prophetical representations are to represent and signify the events designed by them, and therefore have as good reason to endeavour to interpret them.

The principles of human nature render TYPES a fit method of instruction. It tends to enlighten and illustrate, and to convey instruction with impression, conviction, and pleasure, and to help the memory. These things are confirmed by man's natural delight in the imitative arts, in painting, poetry, fables, metaphorical language, and dramatic performances. This disposition appears early in children.

This may be observed concerning types in general, that not only the things of the Old Testament are typical; for this is but one part of the typical world. The system of created beings may be divided into two parts, the typical world, and the antitypical world. The inferior and carnal, i. e. the more external and transitory part of the universe, that part of it which is inchoative, imperfect, and subservient, is typical of the superior, more spiritual, perfect, and durable part of it which is the end, and as it were the substance and consummation of the other. Thus the material and natural world is typical of the moral, spiritual, and intelligent world, or the city of God. And many things in the world of mankind, as to their external and worldly state, are typical of things pertaining to the city and kingdom of God: as many things in the state of the ancient Greeks, and Romans, be. And those things belonging to the city of God, which belong to its more imperfect, carnal, inchoative, transient, and preparatory

State, are typical of those things which belong to its more spiritual, perfect,and durable state; as things belonging to the state of Uie church under the Old Testament were typical of things be-looging to the church and kingdom of God under the New Testament. The external works of Christ were typical of his spiri-toal works. The ordinances of the external worship of the Christian church are typical of things belonging to its heavenly state.

I The manner of the apostle's expressing himself in Gal. iv. 21, 22, will clearly prove that Abraham's two sons, and their mothers, and mount Sinai, and mount Sion, were intended to be types of those things he mentions; which is a great confirmation that the history of the Old Testament in general is intended to be ty-jncal of spiritual things. The apostle's manner of speaking seems to ifoply, that it might well be expected of God, that his people shoaid understand such like things as representations of divine thiogfl, and receive particular instruction exhibited in them, even before they are particularly explained to them by God by a new

I revelation.

NOTES OX THE BIBJLE.

NOTES ON THE BIBLE*

THE PENTATEUCH WBTTTEPI BY MOSES.

" AT the Pentateuch was written by Moses, is the voice of all

'quity. It has been all alon/?, even to this day, the received

Mon of both Jews and Christians, that Moses, being com •

'led and inspired by God, wrote those books, which are

A.'ed the Pentateuch, except only some particular passages,

'hirh were inserted afterwards by a divine direction, for the

eit^T understanding of the history.

V ? read, Exodus xxiv. 4. 7, 8, that Moses wrote all the oris of the Lord, which before that time bad been delivered om mount Sinai, in a book, which is there called The Book of X Covenant. Afterwards, when God had added more precepts, e again commands Moses to write them, Exodus xxxiv. 27. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words; for her the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with lee and with Israel/' Near 40 years afterwards, Moses was 'fianded to write all the commands which God had given iieople, and the revelations which he had made of himself *iem, in a book, to be laid up by the side of the ark of the iv.jnant, to be kept for a testimony against Israel. Deut. xxxi. 4—-26. *' And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end r writing the wx)rds of this law in a book, until they were finish-d, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of ie covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, nd put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." Lnd the oiiginal of this book of the law was in being, as we ead expressly, till the times of Josiah; 2 Kings xxii. and 2 yhron. xxxiv.; and so, doubtless, till the captivity into Baby-on. This book of the law, which Moses was thus commanded 0 lay up beside the ark, did not only comprehend those things, ivhich were contained in some of those preceding chapters of Deuteronomy, wherein some things of the law were repealed; but the whole system of divine law, which God gave to the children of Israel, expressing the whole of the duty which Gknl •ipeeted of them. This appears from Joshua i. 7, 8. '^Ooljr

be thou Strong, and very courageous, that thuu mayest obsenre and do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded them; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shult meditate on them day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein,*' &c. And therefore the Lcvites, whom Jehoshophat sent to teach the people their duty, did not do it in any other way than out of the book of the law. 2 Chron. xvii. 9. '^ And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with them and went about, throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people." And then it is further evident, that the book of the law which we have an account of Moses's committing to the Levites, to be laid up in the side of the ark, Deut. xxxi., did not contain merely what had then lately been delivered in some preceding chapters of Deuteronomy; because in this book of the law were contained the precepts concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and the office and business of the priesthood; which are not contained so much in Deuteronomy as in Leviticus and Numbers, as appears from 2 Chron. xxiii. 18. ** Also Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of the Lord, by the bands of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed in the bouse of the Lord to offer the burnt-offering of the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses." 2 Chron. xzxv. 12. Nefa. x. 34, 35, 36. Hag. ii. 11, &c. Josh. viii. 31. Ezra vi. 18, and Nehem. viii. 14, 15* 2 Chron. xxx. 5. and xxxi. 3. And in the book of the law were contained not merely the precepts which God delivered to Moses, but the sanctions and enforcements of those laws, the promises and threatenings; as appears from Deut. xxix. 20, 21. '' The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him; and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven ; and the Lord shall separate him unto evil, out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the -covenant, that are written in this book of the law. See also verse 27, and Deut. xxviii. 61. " Also every plague, and every aickness, which is not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed." See also 2 Kings xxii, 13. 16. 19, and parallel places in 2 Chron. xxxiv. Dan. ix. and Josh. viii. 34, 35. '* And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word, of all that Moses commanded, that Joshua read not." See Ps. ev. 8, 9,10. And not only the promises and threaten-

iDgs were contained in the book of the law, but all the revelations which God gave, which tended to enforce it, or which in any way related to it, and even the prophecies that were there contained of what should afterwards happen to the people on their sin or on their repentance. This appears from Nehem. i. 8, 9. << Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant MoseSy saying. If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me„ and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the Qtteroiost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there."

And besides, we read of Moses being expressly commanded to write histories of the acts of the Lord towards his people, as well as of the revelations which he made to them. So he was commanded to write an account of the people's war with Amalek, with its attendant circumstances, that posterity might see the reason of this perpetual war which God had declared against Amalek. Ezod. xvii. 14. *^ And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Jo-shoa; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from voder heaven*'* Now a full account could not be given of this adair without relating much of the preceding history of Israel; for an account must be given in the writing of the reason and occasion of the children of Israel's coming to the border of the Amalekites, and what was the cause of the discord and war which subsisted between them and Israel, which would take up no small part of the history of the book of Exodus.

Besides, we are expressly told that Moses wrote the journeys of the children of Israel by God's command. Num. xxxiii. 2. ** And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys, by the commandment of th^ Lord;" and is it reasonably to be supposed that he would write those for the use of the children of Israel in after generations, and not write the great and mighty acts of the Lord towards that people in Egypt and at the Red sea, at roonnt Sinai, ^nd in the wilderness, which were a thousand times more worthy of a record, and of being delivered down to posterity, than a mere journal of the people's prog'ress in the wilderness, without those mighty acts ? It is every way incredible that Moses, of whom we so often read expressly t,hat he wrote God's commands, tbreatenings, promises^ and nevelations, and the early histories of mankind, that he should not write those great acts of the Lord, and leave a record of them with the congregation of Israel ; especially when it is evident in fact that Moses was exceeding careful that they might not forget those great acts of the Lord in fotnrt generations. Deut. iv. 9, 10, 11. << Only take heed to

tbyteiC aod keep thy soul diligently, lest ihoa forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons, and thy sons* sons specially, the day when thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb," &c. Here the very same orders are given for the keeping the acts of the Lord in the memory of posterity, as are given for the keeping up the memory of the precepts, chap, vi. 7, and xi. 18, 19. Job speaks of writing words in a book, as a proper mean to keep up the memory of them, and so does God to Isaiah. Isai. xxx. 8. '' Now go write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever." Moses did not trust the precepts of God merely to oral tradition, he was sensible that that way only was notsnffi* cient, though he gave such a charge to the people to teach their children; and the memory of the war with Amalek, when God aaw it needful that it should be transmitted to posterity, was not trusted to oral tradition, but Moses was commanded to write it, that other generations might know it; and so the travels of the children of Israel, when they were thought of importance to be remembered, were not trusted to tradition, but a record was writ* ten to be transmitted. Very great care was taken that these acts should be remembered, in appointing monuments of them* Thus the passover was instituted as a perpetual monument or memorial of the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and the beginning of the year was appointed as a memorial of it, and the first born sons were consecrated to God in memory of God's slaying the first born of Egypt. Certain laws were appointed about strangers and the poor. Deut. xxiv. 17, 18. 22, and xvi. 11, IS, and XV. 15, xvi. 12. Levit. xxv. 42. 55^ and about bondmen in remembrance of their peregrination and bondage in Egypt. To suppose that such care should be taken lest the laws themselves «hould be forgotten, which were appointed for the very end of keeping up the memory of the fact, and that those laws should be written down ; and yet that no care should be taken that the facts themselves should be so far remembered as to write them down, when the memory of the fact is supposed to be of so great importance, that the very being and remembrance of those laws b by the supposition subordinate thereto, the memory of the fact being the end both of the existence and of the memory of the laws, is absurd. In Nehem. xiii. 1, 2, 3, a precept is cited, with a part of the history anneited as the reason of the law, and alto« gether is said to be read in the book of Moses. The manna was laid up as a monument of their manner of living in the wilderness, and God's miraculous sustaining of the people there. The feast of tabernacles was to keep in remembrance the manner of their sojourning in the wilderness; as in Levit. xxiii. 43. Aaron's

rod that bodded, was laid up as a memorial of the great things dooe by that rod in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, and particularly of the contest with Korah and his company, and the censers of the rebels kept and turned into broad plates for the covering of the altar, as a memorial of what happened in tha matter of Korah, and the fire from heaven, was kept without ever going out as a perpetual monument of its miraculous descent from heaven, and the occasion of it; and the brazen serpent was kept as a memorial of the plague of fiery serpents, and the mira-r calous healing of those that were bitten* The tabernacle that was built in the wilderness, was a monument of the great manifes* tatioos which God made of himself there, and the many things that came to pass relating to the building of the tabernacle. The two tables of stone kept in the ark were a monument of those great things which happened when they were given* The rest of the Jewish Sabbath was appointed as a memorial of the deliver*^ ance of the children of Israel out of bondage. The laws con* ceming the Moabites and Ammonites were appointed as monu* nents; and the gold taken in the war with the Midianites was laid op for a monument of that war. Num. xxxi. 54. A great many places were named to keep in remembrance memorable facts in the wilderness; and who can think that all this care was taken to keep those things in memory, and yet no history be written to be •anexed to these many monuments to explain them, by him by vbose hand these monuments were appointed; and he, at the •aae time, so great a writer, and so careful to keep up the memory of events by writing, in those instances of the writing of which «e have express mention f

Another instance of Moseses great care that these great acts Bight not be forgotten, is his calling together the congregation te rehearse them over to them a little before his death, as we have so ioeount in Deuteronomy. He also left some precepts wherein tbeeiuldren of Israel were required themselves from time to time to rehearse over something of the general history of their ances* tors the patriarchs, of whom we have an account in Genesis; and 10 the history of the people from that time, as in the law of him that oiered the first fruit, Deut. xxvi.

And we find that great care was taken to erect monuments of the great acts of God towards the people after Moses's death, as of their passing through Jordan, though less memorable than tone of those. And the fact that there were monuments express^ I; appointed to keep in memory so many of God's acts in Moses's tiflis, and not of some others more memorable, is an argument tint they had a history of them instead of monuments, as partictt-My of the children of Israel passing through the Red sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh and bis hosts there. No act of God

tovirards that people is more celebrated through the scriptures thi this; and yet we have no account of any monuments ofit, or ai ordinance expressly said to be appointed in memory of it, thoa( there was a monument of their passing through Jordan, an eve much like it, but less remarkable, and far less celebrated scripture. No account can be given of this, but that the bisto and song that Moses wrote and left in the book of the law, we monuments of it. Such was the care that was taken, that soi of the acts of God towards the people might be remembered, th in appointing the monuments for their remembrance, it is ezprei ed that it was for that end, that they might have it perpetually mind as a token on their hand, and as frontlets between their eye as particularly in appointing the law of consecrating the fit born, to keep up the remembrance of God's slaying the iSrst boi of Egypt, Exod. xiii. 15, 16. One of the laws or precep themselves of the book of the law was, that the people shoo take heed never by any means to forget the great acts of Go< which they had seen, and that ttiey should not be forgotten by f tare generations, Deut. iv. How unreasonable then, is it to 80| pose that no history was annexed to those laws, and that at tl same time that such a strict injunction of great care to keep o the memory of those things in future generations was given, the should yet be left without the necessary means of it! Again tec tber precept is, that they should not forget their own acts and b< haviour from time to time, Deut* ix. 7, &c. See also cbap« vii 14, 15, 16, &c., and chap. v. 15. So they are strictly require to remember their bondage in the land of Egypt, Deut. xvi. 15 and chap. xxiv. 18. 22. And also to remember what God didt Pharaoh and all Egypt, all those great signs and wonders, ao the manner of their deliverance out of Egypt, Deut vii. 18,11 So they are strictly enjoined to remember all their travel, the wa that they went, and the circumstances and events of their joumej Deut. viii. 2—5, and 14 to the end. And they are charged t know God's great acts in Egypt, and from time to time in Dea xi., at the beginning. They are commanded to remember wbi God did to Miriam, Deut. xxiv. 9. Writing of those works c God that are worthy to be remembered and celebrated by praise to God, is spoken of as a proper way of conveying the memor of them to posterity for that end, in Psalm cii. 18. ** This shal be written for the generation to come, and the people which sha! be created shall praise the Lord." The importance of remembei ing these works of God related in the Pentateuch, is mentiooe not only in the Pentateuch itself, but also in other parts of scrip ture, as in Psalm cv. 5. '* Remember his marvellous works tba he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth." B; the marvellous works which God has done, and his wonderSi i

NOT£S ON THE BIBLE. J21

«eant those marvellous works that he did to Abraham and his seed, from the calliog of Abraham to the bringing in of the people into Canaan, as appears froiff the following part of the psalm; and it is observable here that the psalmist connects the wonderful works and the laws or judgments of God's mouth together as in like manner worthy to be remembered. See also 1 Chron. xvi. 12» with the subsequent part of that song. The law, and covenants and wonderful works, are in like manner connected as not to be forgotten, in Ps. Ixxviii. 10, 11; and in the cxi. Psalm, the psalmist intimates that God has taken some special care to keep up the memory of those works; ver. 4, '* He hath caused his wonderful works to be remembered," speaking of these works, u appears from what follows in the psalm. And what other way can we suppose it to be that God hath done this, than the same with that whereby he caused his covenant and commandments spoken of in the following verses, to be remembered, viz., by causing them to be recorded f The works and commandments are joined together. Ver. 7. '* The works of his hands are verity and judgment, all his commandments are sure;" and again in the 9th verse, *' He hqth sent redemption to his people, he hath commanded his covenant for ever;" as they are doubtless connected in the record. Compare Psalm cxivii. 19, and ciii. 7. In the Ixxviii. Psalm, the psalmist, 'aAer speaking of the great care that Hoses took that the history of the great works of God towards Israel in Egypt and the wilderness should be remembered and delivered to future generations, (in ver. 4, 5, 6, 7,) then proceeds to rehearse the principal things in that history in a great many particulars, so as to give us, in short, the scheme of the whole history, with many minute circumstances, in such a manner as to show plainly that what is there rehearsed is copied out of the history of the Pentateuch.

It is the more likely that the Ai>/a^ of the Pentateuch should be a part of that which was called the law of Moses^ because it is observable that the words laWj doctrine^ statute^ ordinancesj be, as they were used of old, did not only intend precepts, but also promises, and threatenings, and prophecies, and monuments, and histories, and whatever was revealed, promulgated, and established,' to direct men in their duty to God, or to enforce that duty upon them. So the blessings and the curses that were written by Moles are included in that phrase, and the words that Moses commanded. Joshua viii. 34,35. So promises are called law, and the word which God commanded in Psa. cv. 9, and 1 Chron. xvi. 15. So promises and threatenings are called the word which God ,commanded his servant Moses. Nehem. i. 8, 9. Threatenings and

5romises are called statutes and judgments in Levit. xzvi. 46. ['bus we read, Exod. xv. 25, 26, that at Marah God made for VOL. IX. 16

the people a statate and an ordinance, but that which is to called is only a promise. So we read in Joshua zxiv. 25, that Joshoa made a covenant with the people, and set them a statate and an ordinance in Shechero, which was nothing else than only his establishing what had been there said by a record and a moniH ment, as appears from the context. So when God, in the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. calls upon heaven and earth to give ear to his doctrine, which he says shall distil as the rain, &c., therein is included both history and prophecy, as appears by what followSp and what, in Psa. Ixxviii. 1, is called a law, is only a history, and the very same with the history in the Pentateuch in epitome, those dark sayings of old, which the psalmist there rehearses, as appears from what follows in the psalm; which makes it the more easily supposable that the original and more full history, of which this is ail epitome, was also amongst them called a law. And itii probable, that when we read of the great things of God's law, Hot* viii. 12, and the wondrous things of God's law, that thereby is not only intended precepts and sanctions, but the great and wondrous works of God recorded in the law. It is evident that the history is as much of an enforcement of the precepts, (and is so made use of,) as the threatenings, promises, and prophecies; and why then should it not be included in the name of the law as well as they ? There is something of history, or a declaration of the great acts, or works of God in that, which is by way of emi-nency called the LaWy viz. the Decalogue; in that there is a de» claration of the two greatest works of which the history of the Pentateuch gives an account, viz. the creation of the world, and the redemption out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: the latter is mentioned in the preface of the Decalogue, and both in the 4th commandment in Deuteronomy. But the fact that history was included in what was called the laWj is so plain from nothing as from Moses's own records. Deut. i. 5. '< On this side Jordan in

the land of Moab, began Moses to declare that law, saying "

and then follows in this and the ensuing chapters, that which is called this law, which consists in great part of history, being a rehearsal and recapitulation of the history in the preceding books of the Pentateuch. What follows next in this and the two next chapters, is almost wholly history, which undoubtedly there is special reason to understand as intended by those words, *< Moses began to declare the law, saying." See also Deut. iv. 44, 45.; and xxxi. 9. 24,25, 26.; and v. 1.

Again tke book of the Ifiw^ and the book of the covenant j were sy-nonimous expressions; (see among other places, psalm cv. 8, 9, 10;) but the word covenant^ as it was then used, included history, as Deut. xxix. " These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses;" and what next follows is history,

inch history as was introductory, or concomitant, or confirmatory Ui the precepts, and threatenings, and promises that follow, and of this nature is all the history of the Pentateuch. It is abundantly manifest that the manner of inditing and writing laws in the wilderness delivered by Moses, was to intermix history with precept, counsels, warnings, threatenings, promises, and prophecies.

It may be noted, that it was very early the custom in Israel to keep records of the public transactions of the nation, and they regarded this as a matter of so great importance, as to have men appointed, whose business and office it was to keep these records. So we find it was in the days of Solomon and David, and in the days of the Judges, as early as the days of Deborah. Judg. v. 14. *^ Out of Zebulon, they that handle the pen of the writer." It is probable from the context, that these were their rulers, or some of the chief officers in the land that kept records of public afiUirs. Before this, also, we have express account of Joshua and Moses makingrecords of public transactions. (See Josh. xxiv. 26, and the forementioned place concerning Aloses's writing records.) And it is evident that these transactions which related to the bringing of that nation into a covenant relation with God, and redeeming them out of Egypt, be. were always by that nation chiefly celebrated, and looked upon as the greatest and most memorable events of their history. Now, therefore, is it credible, that in a nation, whose custom it was all along, even from the very times of those great transactions, to keep records of all public affairs, that they should be without any written record of these transactions ?

There is no other way that would be natural of writing a divine law, or law given by God in an extraordinary manner, with wonderful and astonishing circumstances, and great manifesta-tioni of his presence and power, except that of writing it in this manner, and recording those extraordinary circumstances under which it was given: first introducing it by giving an account that it was given by God, and then declaring when, how, on what occasion, and in what manner it was given. And this will bring in alt the history, from the beginning of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy. Who can believe that Moses wrote the law which God gave at mount Sinai, without giving an account how it was given there; when the manner of giving was so exceedingly remarkable, and so afiecied Moses's mind, as appears from many things which Moses wrote in Deuteronomy, which are there expressly called by the name of a teu?, and which we arc also expressly told that Moses wrote in the book of the law, and delivered to the priests to be laid up in the sanctuary?

There is such a dependence between many of the precepts and sanctions of the law, and other parts of the Pentateuch, that

are ezpresly called the law, and that we are expressly told were written in the book of the law, and laid up in the sanctuary; I say there is such a dependence between these and the hitstoryi that they cannot be understood without the history. Many of the precepts, as was observed before,-(p. 117.) was appointed to that end to keep up the remembrance of historical facts; and that if expressly mentioned in the words of these laws themselves. But such laws obviously cannot be understood without the history* Thus this is mentioned as the reason of the appointment of the feasts of tabernacles, viz. that the children of Israel might remember how thev dwelt in tabernacles in the wilderness. Levit. zxiii. 43. Now this required the history of their travels and sojourning there. So the law concerning the Amalekites, Moabites, and Amorites, appointed in commemoration of what passed between the congregation of Israel in the wilderness in their travels there, and those nations, cannot be understood without the history of those facts; and these require the history of the travels of the children of Israel, and of the things that led to those incidentSp and that occasioned them. So that great law of the passover that is said in the law to be in remembrance of their redemption oat of Egypt, and the many particular rites and ceremonies of that feast, are said expressly in the law to be in remembrance of these, and those circumstances of that redemption* Now it is impossible to understand all these particular precepts about the passover without an history of that affair; and this requires the history of their bondage in Egypt, and the manner how they came into that bondage; and this draws in the history of the patriarchs* The preface to the ten commandments cannot be understood with* out the history of the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and of their circumstances there, in the house of bondage ; nor can what is given as one reason of the 4th commandment in Deuteronomy be understood without an account how they were servants in the land of Egypt, and how they were delivered from their servitude. We very often find this mentioned as an enforcement of one pre* cept and another, viz. God's deliverance of the people out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and out of the iron furnace. See Levit. xviii. 3, xix. 34, xxii. 33, xxv. 42* 55, zxiii. 43, and xxvi. 13.45. Numb. xv. 41. Dent. iv. 20, vi* 12, vii. 8, viii. 14, xiii. 10, and xx. 1. Which shows how necessary the history is to understand the law. The many precepts about the poor bondman and stranger that are expressly enforced, from the circumstance of the Israelites in Egypt, absolutely reqnire a history of their circumstances there. And there are in the enforce* ment of the laws, frequent references to the plagues and diseases of £!gypt, threatening^ of inflicting those plagues, or promises of Ireedom from them, which cannot be understood without the bisto*

>f those plagroes. The law of no more returning again into Egypt, of. zvii. 16^ requires the history of their coming out from nee. The law concerning not admitting the Moabites and mooites into the congregation of the Lord/because they so ated them in their journey, could not be understood without

ftory of their treatment, and that required an account of their mey. The law concerning sins of ignorance, Numb. xv. 22, , 24, depends on the history for its being intelligible: '* and re have erred, and not observed all these commandments which

Lord hath spoken unto Moses, even all that the Lord hath Dmanded yon by the hand of Moses, from the day that the rd commanded Moses, and henceforward among your genera-ns, then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance," be. re is a reference to God's revealing himself from time to time, along series of revelations to Moses, which cannot be under-od withont the history.

The law was written as a covennnt, or as a record of a cove-it between God and the people ; and therefore the tables of the Dand the tables of the covenant^ the book of the l^w and the hook Ike covenant^ are synonimous phrases in scripture. And the ilnist, Ps. cv. 9, 10, s|)eaking of the covenant that God made ih the patriarchs, says, that God confirmed the same unto cob for a law, and unto Israel for an everlasting covenant. It to be noted that the promise to Abraham is what is there espe-* illy called the Inw^ and the word which God commanded. The emtenings of the law are called the words of the covenant ich God made by Moses in Jer. xi. 8. But if Moses wrote the ok of the law as a record of the covenant that was made be-een God and the congregation of Israel, it was necessary to ite the people's consent, or what was done on both sides, for ire was a mutual transacting in this covenant: See Deut. xxvi. , 18* '* Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, 1 to walk in his ways," iS&c.—** And the Lord hath avouched thee I day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee, and It thoushouldest keep all his commandments." Agreeable here-is the account we have, Exod. xix. 8, and xxiv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1 Deut. V. 27, and xxvi. 17.

riie discourse that we have in Dent. xxix. and xxx. is intro-:ed thus, "These are the words of the covenant which the rd commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in

land ofMoab, beside the covenant which he made with them Soreb " But the following discourse, called the words of the mamtf is made up of the following things, viz. a history of the BMCtion, Moses's rehearsal of past transactions and wonderful ilin^^s of God with them, with reproofs for their insensibility and tffectedness as introducing what he had further to say. He

then proceeds to charge them to serve the true God, and to avoU idolatry, and then to enforce this charge with awfol threateoinfl and predictions of judgments that shall come npon them if'tlici transgress, with the circumstances of these judgmeotBi and piOr mises of forgiveness on repentance ; and the whole concluded wHh various arguments, pressing instances, solemn appeals* obteslir tions, exhortations, &c. to enforce their duty. If such a miscat lany is called the words of the covenant^ wc need not wonder if thi whole book, that is called the book of the laWj should be a •imilv, miscellany.

It was necessary that a record of a covenant between God and : the nation of Israel, should contain the story of the trantacdoii \ But this, if fully related, would bring in very much of tbehistoif^ of the Pentateuch, which is extensively made up of an accoaatj of those things that were done by God, to bring the peopkn into a covenant relation to him, and the way in which tbsf j became his covenant| people. Hence the psalmist, in Psalm Cft|j having mentioned this covenant and law which God established with the people, proceeds, in the ensuing part of the psalm, to IV* hearse the series of events relating to this covenant transactkil from God's entering into covenant with the patriarchs, to tl||,i children of Israel's being brought into Canaan. *. \

It was exceedingly necessary, in particular, when Moses wM about to write a record of the covenant which God eitablishit| with the people, and to give an account of the manner in .wbicfc| he entered into covenant with them, and brought them into acoi^ venant relation to him, to show the beginning of it with thepi»i triarchs, with whom that covenant was first established, and wtk whom was laid the foundation of all that transaction, and thil great dispensation of the Lord of heaven and earth with that people, in separating them from all the rest of the world, to be bb peculiar covenant people. The beginning and ground-work d the whole affair was mainly with them, and what was done afia^ wards by the hand of Moses, was only in pursuance of what bad been promised to them, and often established with them, and ibr which God made way by his acts and revelations towards tbeM» What God said and did towards those patriarchs, is often ipokM of in the words of the law (those that are expressly called iIms lav) as the foundation of the whole, and also in other parts of the On Testament; as most expressly in Psalm cv. 8, 9, 10.; see alio Josh. xxiv. 3, be; and many other parallel places.

And there is very often in the law, strictly so called, an ezpro0 reference to the covenant that God had made with AbrahaMi Isaac, and Jacob, as in Levit. xxvi. 42. Dent. iv. 31. 37. Deat vi. 10. 18, and vii. 8. 12, and ix. 5. 27, and x. 11. 16, aad xix. 8, xxvi. 3. 15, and xxx. 20, which passages are unintelH-

I^Ue witboat the history of the patriarchs. And there are many Mher passages in the law, wherein there is an implicit reference lathe same thing; as in those in which God speaks of the land, vUcb the Lord their God had given them, or had promised them, Aeland of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Canaanites, &c., referring to ifae promise made to Abraham, Gen. xv. 18 to the end; wkm God promises to Abraham the land of those nations by

Again, the forementioned considerations, many of them mnst It least, induce us to believe that Moses wrote the history of the ivdemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, so far at least as he himself was concerned in that affair, and was made the chief kstrament of it from his being first called and sent of God on that «rand. But this as naturally leads us back further still, even to what God said and did to the patriarchs; for the beginning of ttb bistoiy directly points and leads us to those things as the fbandation of this great affair, of which God now called Moses to be the great instrument. Thus when God first appeared to Mo* aesy and spake to him in mount Sinai out of the bush, and gave bin bis commission, it was with these words, <* I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Exod. iii. 6. So again ver. 13, 14,15, 16. *' And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall lay to me, What is his name f What shall I say unto them ? And God taid onto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus ihalt thon say onto the children of Israel, 1 AM hath sent me aato you. And God said, moreover, unto Moses, Thus shalt thoQ say nnto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your frthen,' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, bath sent me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this b ny oiemorial unto all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say nnto them. The Lord God of your fcthers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared aato me, saying, I have surely visited you, for that which is done to yon in Egypt." So again, chap. iv. 5. ^* That they may befieve that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the Grod of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." And chap. vi. 2, 3, 4. '^ And God spake unto Moses, and said ante biro, 1 am the Lord, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name JEHOVAH was 1 not known to them. And I have established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers." It is unreasonable on many forementioned accounts, to believe any other than that Moses should write this history, and it is most

credible that be did it on tbis account, that those first extrmordi-nary appearances of God to him, as is natural to suppose, mide most strong impressions on bis mind, and if be wrote any bistorj it is likely he wrote this. But from these things it appears that the history of the patriarchs lays the whole foundation of the hit* tory of the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and of God's separating them and bringing them into a covenant re« lation with himself. So that it cannot be understood without the history of the patriarchs. Would it not therefore have beeoao essential defect in Moses, in writing that history, to leave the children of Israel without any record of that great foundatioD?

There is frequent mention in that part of the Pentateacb, (which is expressly styled the law) of several tribes of Israel aad their names, and of the patriarchs who were the beads of the tribes. DeuU iii. 12, 13. 15, 16, and zxvii. 11. 13, and elsewhere* And Moses was commanded to engrave the names of tb twelve patriarchs on the stones of the breastplate of the high-priest. But these things are not intelligible without the history of Jacob's family. In Deut. x. 22, there is a reference to Js-cob's going down into £gypt with threescore and ten persoai, which is not intelligible without the history.

The law for him that brings the offering of the first fruits caoMt be understood without the history of Jacob's difficulties and sot ferings in Padan-Aram, and the history of his going down into Egypt with its circumstances, and the history of the great increase of his posterity there, and the history of their oppression, and hard bondage there, and the history and circumstances of their d^ liverance from it, and the history of the great and wondroM works of God in Egypt, and the Red sea, and the wilderness, UDlii the people came to Canaan. And if Moses left no record of these things; then, in the law, he enjoined him who oflertd the first fruits, (i. e. of all the people, every individual householdefi from generation to generation) to make an explicit confessioa and declaration of those things that he did not understand.

What is said in the law, of the Edomites, as the children of Esau, and what God had ^iven to him for his possession, and the favour God had showed Esau, in Deut. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and i2; and the law concerning the Edomites, Deut. xxiii. 7, 8, how thcj should be treated, because Esau was their brother, cannot be nih derstood without the history of the family of Isaac. And the kind of mention made of Moab and Ammon, as the founders of Uie nations of the Moabites and Ammonites, and the favoar showed them on their father Lot's account, in Dent, ii., seems to sap-pose the history of Lot and his family^ and cannot be onderitood without it And the reference there is in the law to the overthrow

3odoni and Gomorrah, Deut. xxix. 23, cannot be understood lOut the history of that aflTair.

l^hese things that have been mentioned, lead us up in the his-' of the Pentateuch, within less than eleven chapters of its baling ; so that according to what has been said, all except this f small part of the Pentateuch must have been delivered by les to the children of Israel; and it is unreasonable to sup-i that this small part was not delivered by the same hand as :of the same record. The history of Abraham begins with 26th verse of the xi. chap, of Genesis ; and the beginning of history is there so connected with, and as it were grows upon, preceding history of Noah and his posterity, that to suppose other than that they were originally the same record, having same author, is most unreasonable. That Moses's history an any where between that and the beginning of Genesis, or that part of Genesis from the beginning to the 26th verse of zi. chapter, is to be divided, as having several writers, are sup-tions which, from a bare view of the history itself, any one be convinced are erroneous. But it will appear still more jasonable not to ascribe it to Moses, if we consider not only connection of the beginning of the history of Abraham with )Ut the dependence of many things in the following history Q it; and also in that part of the Pentateuch that is more nly called the Law. There is frequent mention made both in law and history of the posterity of the sons of Ham, Mizraim Canaan^ called by the names of these their ancestors,'men-ed chap. x. 6, and of those of the posterity of Mizraim, call-Haphterim, mentioned ver. 14, and in Deut. ii. 23, and of the erity of the sons of Canaan, mentioned ver. 15, he, called :heir names. And in the followidg history there is mention le of Ham, the son of Noah, Gen. xiv. 5. Mention is made Slam and Shinar, Gen. xiv. 1, &c., of whom we have an ac-nt, chap. X. Frequent mention is made of the land of Cifsh, 9ar translation, Ethiopia^) so named from Gush, the son of D, of whom we have an account. Gen. x. 6, 7, 8. So there is be following history frequent mention of the land of Aram, soil of Shem. In Balaam's prophecy, referred to in the law >eateronomy, mention is made of Ashur, Chitiim, and Eber, nb. xxiv. 22. 24. The great event of which Moses most evilly wrote the history, and which takes up all the historical part ae Pentateuch, from Gen. x. 26 to the end of Deuteronomy, is I'i separating the seed of Abraham and Israel from all nations, bringing them near to himself to be his peculiar people. But ic well understanding of this, it was requisite to be informed be origin of nations, the peopling of the world, and the Most h dividing to the nations their inheritance : and therefore tb« OL. IX. n

ix., X., and xi. chapters of Genesis are but a proper introdoctioo to the history of this great eveut* In the song of Moses, of which mention is made in the law, and which Moses in the law was required to write, and the people in the law were reqaired to keep, and learn, and often rehearse, there is an express reference to the separating the sons of Adam, and God's dividing the earth among its inhabitants; which is unintelligible without the x. and xu chapters of Genesis. In that song, also, is plainly supposed a connection between this affair, and that great affair of separat* ing the children of Israel from all nations to be his peculiar people, about which most of the history of the Pentateuch k taken up. The words are as follows, and in them the people are expressly called upon to keep in remembrance both these events that are so connected, which obviously supposes an history of both, Deut« xxxii. 7, 8, 9. '' Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee; when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance i when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.'' And by the way 1 would observe, that in the following words are also references to other historical facts of the Pentateuch that cannot be understood without the history.

In the fourth commandment, there is such a mention made of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and of God's resting the seventh day, as is a kind of epitome of the first chapter of Genesis, and the beginning of the second, and is unintelligible without that history; and there is a reference, in Deut. iv. 32, to God's creation of man, and there ii mention in the prophetical song of Moses of the name o( Adam^ as the grand progenitor of mankind, Deut. xxxii. 8. And there 19 mention made of the garden of God, or Paradise, Gen. xiii. 10. And before I leave this argument from references to historical facts, I would observe, that a very great part of the thirty-one first chapters of Deuteronomy, (which are most evidently, as I observed before, a part of the law of Moses, laid up in the holy of holies,) are made up of nothing but recapitulations, brief rehearsals, references, and hints of preceding historical fact?, and counsels, and enforcements from history, which cannot be ander-stood without the knowledge of that history.

And not only does the law of Moses depend upon the history, and bear such a relation to it, and contain such references to it that it cannot be understood without it, but the manner of writing the law •hows plainly that the law and history were written together, they are so connected, interwoven, blended, inwrought, and incorpo-

I the writing. The history is a part of the law, as its pre-from time to time being often made an introduction to laws; ere are continually such transitions from liistory to law, >m law to history, and such a connectioni and reference, pendence, that all appears as it were so grow together as eral parts of a tree. These, as they stand, are parts of the led history, and the history of the facts is only as an intro-i and preamble, or reason and enforcement of the laws, ring in a continued series, as the several parts of one unin-sd stream, all as one body. So that the bare inspection of ting, as it stands, may be enough to convince any one that the same author, and that both were written together, i the manner of writing the laws concerning the passover, f of all the ceremonial observances, in the zii. chap, of Exo-d the law concerning the first born, in the ziii. chap., and ute and ordinance mentioned in the xv. chap, of Ezod. irerses. Such also is the manner of writing that law by which ! known to the children of Israel, which particular day if ibath, Exod. xvi. 23. Such is the manner of writing the ^ue itself, which in the highest sense is called the law of in Exod. xx., that it is unreasonable to think that it was re-by Moses without any of the concomitant history, and ords in the law, Exod. xx. 22, 23. Such are the lawi or-ihe particular frame of the tabernacle, ark, anointing oil, , priests' garments, with the history of the consequent ^, &;c. The revelation made to Moses when God pro-I his name, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, which is an important part aw, together with ver. 10, 11, be, and ver. 30, 31. The laws given on occasion of Nadab and Abihu's being burnt, L, and chap, xvi., particularly ver. 1, 2, taken with what , together with the last words in the chapter. See also ixi. 1, and ver. 24, and chap. xxii. 1, 2, 3. 17, 18. The icerning blasphemy, with the story of tlie blasphemy of ith's son, Levit. xxiv. The law of the Levites' service, ? history of their being numbered and accepted instead bf t-born and consecrated. Num. iii., and iv., and viii. The putting the leper out of the camp, Num. v., at the begin-The law of polluted persons keeping the passover, with ory, that gave occasion for it. Num. ix. 6. The history ing the trumpets, with the law concerning their use, Nutii. le law constituting the seventy elders, which is only giving >ry of their first appointment, Num. xi. The law of th ptuous sinner, with the history of the sabbath->breaket LV. 30, be. The law for the prieiCs, Num. xviii., Whi^h es a foregoing history of the rebellion of Korafa, tee ver. 5 r. 27, compared with the 13th verse of the preceding chap-

ten The law of the inheritance of daughters, with the history of Zelophehad's daughters. The law of the cities of refuge on the east side of Jordan, with the history of the taking of the country.

History and law are every where so grafled one into another, so mutually inwrought, and do, as it were, so grow one out of and into another, and flow one from another in a continued carrenty that there is all appearance of their originally growing together, and not in the least of their being artificially patched and compacted together afterwards. It seems impossible impartially and carefully to view the manner of their connection, and to judge otherwise.

Another argument that the same care was taken to preserve the memory of the facts, as to preserve the precepts of the law, viz., by making a public record of them, to be preserved with the same care, and so in like manner laid up in the sanctuary, is, that it is declared in the law, that the whole law was written, and the record of all the precepts of it transmitted to posterity as a mono-ment of the historical facts, or to that end that the memory of those facts might be kept up in future generations. Deut. vi. 20 to the end. '^ And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, sayingi What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you f Then thou sbalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and the Lord showed signs and wonders great and sore upon Pharaoh and upon all his household before our eyes, and he brought usoat from thence, that he might bring us in to give us the laud which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord* commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day : and it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us."

It is a plain and demonstrative evidence, that the Jews had all along some standing public records of the facts that we have an account of in the history of the Pentateuch, that these facts are so abundantly, and in such a manner mentioned or referred to all along in other books of the Old Testament. There is scarcely any part of the history from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, but what is mentioned or referred to .in other books of the Old Testament, that were the writings of after ages, and some of them are mentioned very often, and commonly with the names of persons and places, and many particular and minute circunistances, not only that part of the history which belongs more immediately to the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and their journey through the wilderness, but the preceding introduc-

ry history, and not only that which concerns the Jewish patri-cbSy but the first part of the history of Genesis, even from the ry beginning. In these writings we have very oflen mention

God's creating the heavens and the earth; Isai. Ixv. 17, and ri. 22, and xl. 21, 22. 28, and li. 13, and xlii. 5, and xliv. 24, td xlv. 12, and xxxvii. 16, and Ixvi. 1, 2. Jer. x. 11, 12, and :xii. 17, and li. J 5, and xiv. 22. 2 Kinp:s xix. 15. Psalm xxix. 11, 12, and cii. 25. Zech. xii. 1. Psalm cxv. 15, and Lxi.2, and cxxiv. 8, and cxxxiv. 3. The manner of God's creat-f by speaking the word, Ps. xxxiii. 6. 9, and cxiviii. 5.

The world being at first without form and void, and cover-i with darkness, agreeably to Genesis i. 2, is referred to Jer. .23.

God's creating the light, is referred to, Ps. Ixxiv. 16.

God's creating the light and darkness, Isai. xliv. 7, agreeable ) Genesis i. 3, 4.

God's creating the firmament, Ps. xix. 1.

God's creating the waters that are above the heavens. Psalm ilviii. 4. 6, agreeable to Genesis i. 7.

God's gathering together the waters, Ps. xxxiii. 7. His mak-(g the sea and the dry land, Ps. xcv. 5 ; stretching out the earth bove the waters, Ps. cxxxvi. 6j appointing the sea its decreed laee, Jer. v. 22. Prov. viii. 29. Ps. civ. 9.

God's creating the sun, Ps. xix. 1. 4, and Ixxiv. 16.

God's creating the sun for a light by day, and the moon and lestars for a light by night, Jer. xxxi. 35. Ps. cxiviii. 3. 6.

God's creating great lights. The sun to rule by day, and the ooo and stars to rule by night, Ps. cxxxvi. 7,8, 9. See also Ps. ?. 19, with ver. 24.

God's creating the sea, and the many creatures that move here-I, mod the whale in particular, Ps. civ. 25,26.

God's creating the heavens, the earth, and the sea, and all that

therein, Ps. cxlvi. 6; many parts of the creation is mentioned, rov. viii. 22—^29.

God's creating man and beast, Jer. xxvii. 5.

God's creating man, Ps. viii. 5.

Mao being made of the dust of the earth, Eccles. xii. 7.

Man^s having dominion given him in his creation over the fish f the sea, and the fowls of the air, and beasts of the earth, Ps. 111. 6, 7, 8.

Man's having the herbs and plants of the earth given him for Beat, Ps. civ. 14, 15, agreeable to Gen. i. 29, and iii. 18.

The first marriage, or God's making Adam and Eve one, is re-brredto, Mai. ii. 15. Adam's name is metioned, Hos. vi. 7.

The grarden of Eden is often mentioned by name, with its pleasures and delights, Isai. li. 3. Esek. zxviii. 13, and zxzi. 8, 9. 16. 18, and xxxvi. 35, and Joel ii. 3.

Adam's violating the covenant, is referred to, Hos. vi. 7.

The cnrse denounced against Adam, that as he was dust, lo unto dust he should return, is referred to, Eccles. xii. 7.

The curse denounced on the serpent, that he should eat dait all the days of his life, is referred to, Isai. Ixv. 25, Mic. vii. 17.

Mention is made of the flood of waters that stood above the mountains, and God's rebuking and removing the flood, Psalm . civ. 6, 7.

Noah's name is mentioned, and his righteousness before God| and great acceptance with him, referred to, isai. liv. 9, and £iek. xiv. 14.20.

The waters of Noah's flood, and their going over the earth, j and God's covenant with Noah, that he would no more destroy J the earth with a flood, are mentioned, Isai. liv. 9.

Many of the names of the descendants of Noah that we iMve ^ an account of in Gen. x., are mentioned in other parts of the OU ; Testament, and some of them very often, and every where is ; an agreeableness with the account we have of them there; Pi. ] Ixxviii. 51, and cv. 23. 27, and cvi. 22, and Ixxxiii. 6. Isai.xi. ^ 11, and xxiii. 1,2. 12, 13. Jer. ii. 10, and xxv. 20—25, udxlili j 34-—39. Ezek. xxvii. 5—15, and ver. 20—25, chap. xxx. 45, and i xxxii. 24. 26, and xxxviii. 2—5, 6. 13. Micah v. 6, and inmif ny other places. I

The names of others also that we have an account of as beads of nations in the history of the Pentateuch before Moses's birth, j beside the patriarchs of the Jewish nation, are frequently men- | tinned, Ps. Ixxxiii. 6, 7. Isai. xi. 14, 15. Isai. Ix. 6,7. Jer. ii-10. Jer. xxv. 20. 25. Jer. xlix. throughout, and in many other places, all is in agreeableness to the history of the Pentateacb. The Philistines coming forth out of Caphtor, Amos ix. 7. Jer. xlvii. 4, compared with Genesis x. 14, and Deut. ii. 23.

The name Babel is often mentioned. There is particular mention of the ancestors of the Jews dwelling on the other side of the river Euphrates , and particularly Terah the father of Abraham^ and the father ofNahor^ Josh. xxiv.

Abraham being brought from thence of God, from the East, from the other side of the river, his coming at the call of God, and being led by him into the land of Canaan, Josh. xiiv. 3-Isai. xli. 2.

His being called with Sarah his wife, Is. It. 1, 2.

God's leading Abraham throughout the land of Canaan, Josh-xxiv. 3, agreeable to Gen. xii. 6, and xiii. 17.

God's blessing Abraham is mentioaed Isai. li. 1, 2. Abraham is spoken of as a righteous man, and God's servant id friendy lasi. xli. 2, and verse 8, Ps. cv. 42.

God*s entering into covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, omising them the land of Canaan, Ps. cv. S, 9, 10, 11. Ps. .42.

The church of God in the families of those patriarchs, being >ry small, and their being strangers and sojourners in the land ; Canaan, and their going from one nation to another, and from lie kingdom to another people, and God's wonderfully restrain-ig men from hurting them, and his reproving kings for their ikes, and God's calling them prophets, Ps. cv. 12—15.

God's giving Abraham an easy conquest over great kings and ulers of the principal nations of the world, as in Gen. xiv. 4, &c. is mentioned in Isai. xli. 2, 3.

Melchizedeck is mentioned by name as being a great priest of be true God, and both a king and a priest, Ps. ex. 4.

God's fixing the border of the seed of Abraham at the river ^phrates, as the history of the Pentateuch informs us that God lid in bis promise to Abraham, Gen. xv. 18. and afterwards from Ine to time to the Israelites, is referred to 2 Sam. viii 3.

The great plentifuliicss of the land of Sodom is spoken of, !sek. xvi. 49.

The great wickedness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, !iek. xvi. 46—56. Isai. i. 10.

Their being guilty of notorious uncleanness, Ezek. xvi. 50.

Kings xiv. 24, and xv. 12, and xxii. 46. 2. Kings xxiii. 7.

Their being of a very proud and haughty spirit, Ezek.xvi* 49, 0, agreeable to Gen. xv. 9.

Their being very open and barefaced, and shameless in their rickeduess, Isai. iii. 9.

Their being overthrown with a very great and terrible, and iter destruction, Isai. i. 9, and xiii. 19. Jer. xlix. 18

Their being the subjects of sudden destruction. Lam. iv. 6.

God's overthrowing them with fire, Amos, iv. 11.

Their being overthrown with perpetual and everlasting deso-stion, without ever being rebuilt, or inhabited any more, Isai. tlix. 18, and 1. 40. Ezek. xvi. 53. 55. Zeph. ii. 9.

Their being overthrown together with neighbouring cities, ler. xlix. 18, and 1. 40.

The birtii of Isaac, as a special gift of God to Abraham, Joih. xxiv. 3.

The birth of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, by a special gift of God, Josh. xxiv. 4. Esau is mentioned under the names of both Esau and Edom,

>i Jacob's brother, in the book of Obadiah, and often elsewhere.

Jacob's taking hold of Esau's heel when they were born, is mentioned, Hosea xii. 3.

Jacob's being preferred before his brother by God's electioD, Ps. cv. 6. Isai xli. 8. Mai. i. 2, 3.

God's appearing to Jacob at Bethel, Hosea xii. 4.

Jacob's fleeing into the country of Syria, and there serving for a wife, and particularly his serving there in doing the business of a shepherd, or keeping sheep, Hosea xii. 12.

The two wives of Jacob, Rachel and Leah, are mentioned as those that did build the house of Israel, Ruth iv. 11.

Jacob by his strength having power with God, and having power over the angel, Hos. xii. 3, 4.

The names of the twelve sons of Jacob are mentioned in Ezek. xlviii. and very often elsewhere.

Esau's having mount Seir given to him. Josh. xxiv. 4, agree* ably to Gen. xxvi. 8.

And the name of Ishmacl, and his posterity, and of the sons of Abraham by Keturah, and the sons of Lot, and the sons of Esao, are often mentioned, agreeably to the account we have of them in Genesis.

Joseph's being sold into Egypt, and being a servant there, Pi. cv. 17. j

Joseph's being by Providence sold into Egypt before the house j of Israel, to preserve life, Ps. cv. 16, 17, agreeable to Gen. xk J 5, and I. 20.

Tamar's bearing Pharez to Judah, Ruth iv. 12.

Joseph's being bound in prison in Egypt, Ps. cv. 18, as Gen. xxxix. 2.

Joseph's having divine revelations in prison, and his thereby foretelling future events, and those predictions coming to pass, and that being the occasion of Pharaoh's taking him out of prison and setting him at liberty, Ps. cv. 19, 20.

And Joseph being upon this exalted over all the land of Egypt, and being made Lord of Pharaoh's house, and ruler of his substance, and being next to the king himself in power and dignitVi and being Pharaoh's vicegerent, and so having power and authority over all the princes and nobles of Egypt, Ps. cv. 21, 22.

The famine that was at that time in the land of Canaan, that obliged Israel and his family to seek elsewhere for bread, is men* tioned, Ps. cv. 16.

Jacob's going down into Egypt with his family, Josh. xxiv. 7-1 Sam. xii. 8, and Ps. cv. 24.

Their multiplying exceedingly in Egypt, till they were become more and mightier than the Egyptians, and the Egyptians dealing subtilly with them to diminish them, Ps. cv. 24, 35, agreeable to Exod. i. 9, 10.

The Egyptians first loving the Israelites, and then afterwards being turned to hate them, Ps. cv. 25.

Their being slaves in Egypt, Mic. vi. 4, Jer. ii. 20, Judg. vi. 8.

The cruelty of their bondage, its being as it were an iron furnace, (as it is called Deut. iv. 20,) is mentioned 1 Kings viii. 51, Jen xi« 4, and Judg. vi. 9.

The particular kind of their service in handling pots wherein they carried their mortar, and working in furnaces, in which they burnt their brick, is referred to 1 Kings viii. 51, and Jer. xi. 4, and Ps. Ixviii. 13, and Ixxxi. 6.

God's taking notice of their cruel bondage and great affliction with compassion, and a fellow-feeling of their calamity, Isai. Ixiii. 9, agreeably to Exod. ii. 23, 24, 25, and chap. iii. 7. 9. 16.

God's making known himself to them in Egypt, Ezek. xx. 5, agreeable to Exod. iii. 1—6, and ver. 13—16. 29, 30, 311 and chap. vi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

God's making himself known to them by the name of the Jehovah your God. Ezek. xx. 5, agreeable to Exod. vi. 2, 3.6, eqiecially verse 7.

God's promising 'and securing to them in Egypt to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and boney. Esek. xx. 6, agreeable to Exod. iii. 8. 10. 12. 14. 17, and chap. vL 2—8, where we have an account of his swearing by his great name JEHOVAH, and I AM THAT I AM.

God's making use of Moses, a great prophet, as the main instrument of bringing the people outof Egppt, &c. Isai. Ixiii. 11,

12. Hos. xii. 13.

Aaron's being joined with Moses in this affair. Josh. xxiv. 5. 1 Sam. xii. 6, 7, 8. Ps. Ixxvii. 20, and cv. 26. Miriam's also being joined, Micah vi. 4.

God's working very great wonders for his people in the time of Hoses and Aaron, Ps. Ixxvii. 11, 12, 13, 14.

Hit working great wonders in Egypt, Ps. Ixxviii. 12. 43, and Ixxxi. 5, and cv. 27, and cxxxv. 9, and cvi. 9. Josh. xxiv. 5. Great tokens and wonders upon Pharaoh and all his servants, Ps. cxxxv. 9.

God's redeeming the people out of Egypt, Judg. vi. 8, 9, and xi. 16. 1 Sam. xii. 6, 7, 8. Ps. Ixxxi. 10, and Ixxiv. 2, and Ixxvii. 15, and Ixxviii. 42, and cxiv. 1, and cxi. 9. Jer. ii. 6. 20, xodxL 4. 1 Kings viii. 51. Jer. xvi. 4. Ezek. xx. 10. Hos. xii.

13. Amos ix. 7. Micah vi. 4, and many other places.

God's turning the rivers and pools of Egypt into blood, so that the Egyptians could not drink the waters, and als^ thereby killing lb«ir fish, Ps. Ixxviii. 44, and cv. 29.

The land's bringing forth frogs in abundance, to fill even the chambers of Pharaoh, Ps. Ixxviii. 45, andcv. 31.

VOL. IX. 18

\

138 NOTES ON THE BIBLE«

The plague of lice is mentioned, Ps. cv. 31.

The plague or the divers sorts of flies, Ps. cv. 31, and Ixxviii. 45.

God's sending hail, and thunder, and lightning,' and flamiog fire with hail, to the breaking of the trees of* the field, and destroying thair cattle, Ps. Ixxviii. 47, 48, and cv. 32, agreeably to £xod. ix. 22, be.

God's sending locusts to eat up all the growth of the field, Ps. Ixxviii. 46, and cv. 34, 35.

The plague of darkness, Ps. cv. 28.

God's smiting and destroying all the first born of Egypt with the pestilence, the first born, both of men and beasts, Ps. Ixxviil 50, 51, and cv. 36, and cxxxv. 8, and cxxxvi. 10.

The children of Israel's going out of Egypt upon this last plague, Ps. Ixxviii. 52, and cxxxvi. 11. Josh. xxiv. 5.

Their going out with silver and with gold, Psa. cv. 37.

The Egyptians' being glad to be rid of them, Ps. cv. 38, agreeably to Exod. xii. 33.

Their being brought out with a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, Ps. cxxxvi. 12.

Their being led by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire to give them light by night, Ps, Ixxviii. 14, and cv. 39. Isai. IV. 5.

Their being led into the wilderness, Ps. Ixviii. 7, and Ixxviii* 40. 52, and xcv. 8, and cvi. 9. 14, and cxxxvi. 16. Jer. ii. 2.6* Esek. XX. 10. Judg. ix. 16.

The people going to the Red sea, Judg. ix. 6.

The Egyptians pursuing after the people with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea, Josh. xxiv. 6.

The people crying unto the Lord at the Red sea. Josh, xxiv* 7.

The perverseness of that generation, Ps. cvi. 6, 7, xcv. 8, and Ixxviii. 8, &c. Isai. Ixiii. 10. Ps. Ixxxi. 11.

Their provoking God at the Red sea, Ps. cvi. 7, agreeable to Exod. xiv. 11, 12.

God's putting darkness between Israel and the EgyptianSy Josh. xxiv. 7.

God's dividing the Red sea, and causing the people to pass through, and causing the waters to stand as an heap ; his turning the sea into dry land, so that the people went through on foot dry shod, Ps. Ixxviii. 13, Ixvi. 6, and Ixxiv. 13, Ixxvii. 16. 19, 20, cxiv. 3, 4, cxxxvi. 13, 14, cvi. 8, 9. Isai. x. 26, li. 10, Ixiii. 11, 12, 13- Hah. iii. 8—10. 15. Ps. Ixxvii. 10—20.

God's destroying Pharaoh and his hosts, his chariots and hi» horses by the Red sea, by bringing the waters upon them to cover them, so that there was not one of them left, Ps. ixxiv. 13, 14,'lxxvi. 5, 6, Ixxviii. 53, cxxxvi. 15, cvi. 10, 11, Isai. x. 26, li. 9, 10, and Josh. xxiv. 7.

God's doing these things at the Red sea by the lifting up of Moses's rod, Isat. x. 26.

God's conquering and crushing Egypt in a forcible manner, and iritb mighty power, Ps. txxxix. 10. Isai. li. 9.

God's doing such great things for to preserve a people for the glory of his own name, and to show his mighty power, Ps. cvi. 8, agreeable to Exod. viii. 16.

The |)eople's singing praises at the Red sea, Ps. cvi. 12, Hos. ii. 15. Ps. Ixvi. 6, cv. 43. agreeable to Exod. ix. 16.

This destruction of the Egyptians being reported and famed through the earth, Isai. xxiii. 5.

The people's murmuring in. the wilderness for want of bread, Ps. Ixxviii. 17, be. and cvi. 14.

Their soon transgressing, and provoking, after singing praises at the Red sea, by lusting and tempting God, Ps. cvi. 13, 14,15.

The people's dwelling in tents in the wilderness, Ps. cvi. 25.

The people's being encamped in the wilderness, like an army, Ps. Ixxviii. 28, and cvi. 16.

God's sending the people manna, and feeding them with bread from heaven that was rained down npon them, Ps. Ixxviii. 23, 24, 25, and cv. 10.

God's revealing his holy sabbath to the people, as we have an account in the xvi. of Exod., Ezek. xx. 12. Neh. ix. 14.

God's giving the people waters plentifully to supply the whole congregation out of the rock at Meribah, by striking the rock and causing the waters to gush out, Ps. Ixwiii. 15, 16, 20. Ixxxi. 7, and cv. 4, and cxiv. 8.

Amalek's coming forth in a hostile manner against Israel in the way when he came up from Egypt, 1 Sam. xv. 2.

What Jethro the priest of Midian said and did, that we have an account of Exod. xviii., is referred to, 1 Sam. xv. 6.

God's entering into covenant with the people at mount Sinai, or Horeb, ader they came out of Egypt, and giving the law and statutes, and judgments there, 1 Kings viii. 9. Ps. Ixxvi. 8. Ijek. XX. 10, 11. Mai. iv. 4.

God's giving the law by a Very terrible and awful voice from heaven. Psalm Ixxvi. 8.

God's appearing there with extraordinary manifestations of his majesty and glory in the heavens and in the earth, with an exceeding shining brightness and beams of glory, attended with the utmost danger of being struck dead in a moment, as by a pestilence, to those that transgressed, Uab. iii. 3, 4, 5.

The earth trembling, and the mountaius quaking exceedingly iitthattime, Judg. v. 4, 5. Hab. iii. 6, 7. 10. Ps. cxiv. 4, and liviii. 8.

And particularly mount Sinai shaking, Judges v. 5. Psalm

ilviii. 8.

The people's making a molten calf at mount Sinai, and worshipping that as the representation of the God of Iftrael, Ps. cvi« 19,20. Ezek.xx. 8.

God's saying on that occasion that he would destroy the people, but Moses standing before him as an intercessor for them^ to turn away God's anger, on which God spared them, Ps. cvi. 23.

Moses's putting the two tables of stone into the ark at mount Sinai, when he made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt, 1 Kings viii. 9.

The people lusting for flesh, and tempting God by asking meat for their lust, Ps. Ixxviii. 17,18, 19.

God's wrath on that occasion, Ps. xxviii. 21, Sic.

God's giving the people quails in answer to their desire, in vast abundance, which were brought by a wind which God caused to blow, and let fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations, Ps. Ixxviii. 26, be. and cv. 4, cvi. 15. i

The wrath of God's coming upon them while the|meat wasyet [ in their mouths, and suddenly slaying them with a great plague, j Ps. Ixxviii. 30, 31, and cvi. 15. i

The people not believing, for all God's wondrous works that they had seen, despising the pleasant land, and not believing his ^ promise, that be would bring them into it, and murmuring at the report of the spies, and being for turning back again into Egyptt Ps. Ixxviii. 32; be, ver. 41, and cvi. 24, 25.

God appearing on that occasion as though he would pour out his fury and consume the whole congregation, but yet spared them ^ for his mercies' sake, lest the Egyptians and other heathen na- j tions should hear of it, and should take occasion from thence to reproach the name of God, Ezek. xx. 13, 14.17.

God's swearing in wrath on that occasion concerning that fro-ward and perverse generation, that they should not enter into his rest, but that he would destroy them in the wilderness, because they had seen God's miracles, but yet exceedingly provoked him, and often tempted him, Ps. xcv. 8— 11, and cvi. 26. Ezek. xx. 15, 16.

God's promising Caleb the land whereunto he went, Judges i. 20.

Korah and his company envying Moses and Aaron in the camp, and the earth's opening her mouth and swallowing up Dathaa and Abiram, and their company, and a fire from the Lord consuming others of them, Ps. cvi. 16, Slc.

What Moses said to the Levites about their inheritance. Num. xviii. 20, &c., referred to, Joshua xiii. 33, '* But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance; the Lord God of Israel was tlieir inheritance, as he said unto them."

3

people's angering Moses at the water of strife, provoking t, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips, so that it with Moses for their sakes, Ps* cvi. 32, 33, 's sending messengers to the king of Edoro, saying, *^ Let ay thee, pass through thy land,'' and the king of Edom's

to hearken thereto, Judg. xi. 17.

>eople's compassing, or going round the land of Edom, long through the wilderness, Judg. xi. 18, agreeable to u. 4, and Deut. ii. 1—8.

people's passing through a great and terrible wilderness, a pits, and of great drought, a waste and desolate country, L 6. Hos. xiii. 5, )eople compassing the land of Moab, and coming by the

of the land of Moab, and pitching on the other side of because Arnon was the border of Moab, Judg. xi. 18, ex-reeable to the history of the Pentateuch, Num. xxi. 11. xxii. 36.

people not being suffered to pass through the land of ^udg. xi. 17, 18.

's sending messengers from their camp in the borders of »Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ** Let as pass, we ^, through thy land," and Sihon refusing, but upon this, ig all his people together, and coming to Jahaz to fight Israel, Judg. xi. 18, 19, 20.

; delivering Sihon and all his people into the band of Is-d Israel's possessing their land from Arnon, even unto

and from the wilderness even unto Jordan, dwelling in A and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all s that belonged to Sihon, exactly agreeable to the histo-^. xi. 21—26. Josh. xxiv. 8. Ps. cxxv. 10, 11, cxxxvi.

ifterwards smiting Og, the king of Bashan, and possess* land. Josh. xxiv. 8. Psalm cxxxv. 10, 11, and cxxxvi. •

bat Balak, the king of Moab, durst not venture, after he n this, to go out against Israel, and never engaged them 3, until Israel went against them, Judg. xi. 25,26, agreea-f um. xxii. 2, and the consequent history. ii's stirring Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse the people, i's turning the curse into a blessing, while Israel abode in t Josh. xxiv. 9, 10. Micah vi. 5.

I's sinning by joining themselves to Baal Peor, and eat-sacrifices of their gods, and God's being provoked, and ig wrath on the congregation for this sin, and Phineas's ig judgment on this occasion, that was counted to him teo.usness unto all generations for evermore, Psalm cvi.

The war of Israel with Balak, and their victory, Josh. xxiv. 9, 10.

The people's long sojourning in the wilderness, Josh. xziv. 7, and Isai. Ixiii. 9.

God's speaking from time to time to Moses and Aaron froa a pillar of cloud, Ps. xcix. 6, 7.

Moses's faithfulness in his office, Ps. xcix. 7, agreeable to Norn, xii. 7. Their great perverseness, hardness of heart of that geoe* ration, and their frequent rebellions, and provoking, and veziag God's Spirit, and tempting of him in the wilderness, even for forty years, Ps. Ixxviii. throughout, especially ver. 40, 41, aid Ixxxi. 11, 12, and xcv. 8—11. Isai. Ixiii. 10. Esek. xz. 1%

God's repeated and continual judgments against them, wasting them by a great mortality that pursued and destroyed with great manifestations of divine wrath. Ps. xc. Isai. Ixiii. 10.

God's often pardoning and sparing the people, so as to forbetf to destroy the whole congregation at Moses's intercession, but jct not without giving great manifestations of his wrath towards their sins, taking vengeance of their inventions, as Moses ground their calf to powder, Ps. Ixxviii. 38, &c., and xcix.

The people's promising time after time to repent when soul* ten with terrible judgments, but yet turning again quickly tosiiy not being steadfast in God's covenant, Ps. Ixxviii. 31—37.

God's showing great favour to the young generation, Jeremiah :ixxi. 2.

God's entering into covenant a second time with that yoong generation, Jer. ii. 2, 3. Ezek. xx. 18, 19,20.

He that can observe the facts of the history of the Pentateodi after this manner mentioned and referred to in the writings of the several ages of the Israelitish nation, and not believe that they had all along a great and standing record of these things, and this very history, can swallow the greatest absurdity. If they had not had this history among them, or one that exactly agrees with it, it would have been morally impossible, but that amongst this vast number of citations and references, with so great a multitude of particularities and circumstances mentioned by so many different writers in different ages, there must have been a great many incoiH sisteucies with the history, and a great many inconsistencies one with another; and it would have puzzled and confounded the skill of any writer who should have attempted to form an history afterwards that should every where without jarring so harmonise with such various manifold citations, and rehearsals, and references so interspersed in, and dispersed through, all those writings of seve* ral ages; and unless these writers had such a record to be their common guide, it could not have been otherwise than utterly impossible.

It was impossible that this vast number of events, with so many camstanceSy with names of persons and places, and minute in-^ tents, should be so particularly and exactly known, and the know-Ige of them so fully, and distinctly, and without confusion or », kept up for so many ages, and be so often mentioned in so rticolar pi manner, without error or inconsistency through so uiy ages, without a written record. How soon does an oral iditioD committed to a multitude vary, and put on a thousand ipes, and mix, and jumble, and grow into confusion! Here (pears in fact to have been an exact consistent knowledge and smory of things kept up, and that shows that there was in fact itanding record; and the comparing of the records of the Pen-tench with these innumerable citations and references, shows that b was in fact that identical record.

The facts of this history are very often rehearsed just in the me order and manner as they are in the history of the Penta-■cb; and in many places there is a rehearsal of the facts of very *eat parts, and sometimes a kind of abridgment of the big-sr part of the history, as Josh, xxiv., Ps. Ixxviii., and cv., id cvi., and cxxxvi., Ezek. xx. 5-r23. And we sometimes id the facts of former parts of the histoi^ of Genesis joined with le story of the children of Israel's redemption out of Egypt, id travels in the wilderness, as introductory to it, and sometimes ren beginning with the story of the creation^ in like manner as is in the Pentateuch, and after the captivity, in Nehem. ix. These events are commonly mentioned after such a manner as binly supposes that a full account of them was already in be-^, and well known and established, as in those words, Though boA, Danidi and Job stood before me. It supposes the history f those men extant and well known among the people, and so in Me words, We shotdd have been like Sodom and like unto Gomo-iL It is supposed that the history of the destruction of those ties was what the people were well acquainted with. So those ords, Ps. Ixxviii. 40, How oft did they provoke him in the wilder-m^ and grieve him in the desertj plainly supposes an history ex-nt, that gives a particular account of thqse things. It is after le manner of a reference to a history. So it is very often else-here, as Ruth iv. 11. ** The Lord make this woman that is come ito thine house like Rachel, and like Leah, which two did build le hoose of Israel." So Josh. xiii. 33. *' But unto the tribe of evi Moses gave not any inheritance, the Lord God of Israel was leir inheritance, as he said unto them;^* the words are mentioned lainly after the manner of a citation. So Judg. i. 20. '* A.nd ley gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said. Ps. ex. ** Thou art a 4esC for ever after the order of Melchiiedek:" it supposes an ex-nt account of Melchizedek. See also 2 Sam. viii. 3. Isai. xiii. K Jer. xlix. 18, and 1. 40. Ezek. xvi. 46—56. Amos iv\i U

Zecb. ii. 9. Isai. xli. 1—8, and li. 1» 2. 9» 10. llicab vh and very many other places there are that show the same thia| which it would be tedious to mention.

And sometimes these historical events are mentioned so warn in the words of the history of the Pentateuch, as could not I without a'written history;to be a guide; as particularly Jephthak rehearsal, Judges xi. 15— 2B.

That the children of Israel bad a great standing record amoa ibem of those facts that they looked upon sacred and holy, is ev dent from Ps« cxi. 4« The psamlist, speaking of these work says that God had made his tocmderfiUworkiioberemeHib^ The are those works of which we have an account in the Pentateacl as is manifest from ver. 7. 9. The words in the original that ii translated, he hath made to be remembered^ are rxttp xn kehat

• ▼ ▼ vv

made a record. The word signifies memorial or record. Th word recorder J 2 Sam. viiL 16,1 Kings iv. 3, 2 King^ xviii. It Isai. xxxvi. 3. 22, and other places is "^'^td which is a word c

» ^

the same root; the words Zeker and Mazkirt are just in th same manner akin to one another, as the English words recordi and record.

So the history of these facts is called ChxPi report^ (as it is i the original,) Hab. iii. 2. ** I have heard thy report, and «i afraid." What that report was, appears from what follows: i was the report of those works there mentioned ; which works be in this verse, prays God to revive. But in the 15th and 16(1 verses the prophet more plainly tells us what that report was tb made him afraid, viz., the accountof God's marching through tb Red sea, with the other great works of God, mentioned in Ih foregoing part of the chapter.

And that this great record that the writers of the Old Testa mcnt cited so often, was contained in the book of the law, may b argued from the manner in which these facts are sometimes meo tioned. The psalmist, in the introduction which he makes to hi rehearsal of the story of the Pentateuch in the Ixxviii. Psahi calls that [story by the name of law, ven 1; aud the pre cepts and history are united in the notice he here takes of ihea and mentions the history as what God had commanded the me mory of to be carefully kept up as the proper enforcement of tb precepts, ver. 7, with the foregoing verse. And being given c God as an enforcement of the precepts of the law, is as properl; looked upon as a part of the law, as the prophecies and other ar guments made use of in Deuteronomy, aud other parts of the law So the history is introduced in such a manner in the cv. Psala speaking in the introduction of the covenant and law which Got established with the people, ver. 5. 8, 0, 10, that makes it natural ly to be supposed that the history he rehearses is taken out of th

the law. The wonderful works and precepts of the law ien of together, as in like manner to be remembered ; ver. ^member his marvellous works that he hatb done, his won-lid.the judgments of his mouth." So these wonderful ire repeatedly mentioned or referred to together, Pg. cxi. again they are in the introduction to the rehearsal we have listory in the cvi. Psalm, as in ver. 2,-3. So the law and orical facts are mentioned together, Ps. ciii. 7, as being ke of divine revelation. " He made known his ways un-?s, his acts unto the children of Israel.'^ We find the pre-id history cited together, mixed, and blended in the Ixxxi. as thev are in the Pentateuch, pears from profane history to have been the manner of the

of old to keep the ancient histories of their nation, and nealogies, and the genealogies and acts of their gods in mples, where they were committed to the care of their IS sacred things. This, in all probability, was in imita-the example of the Israelites in keeping the Mosaic his-ich Moses committed to the care of the priests, to be laid e sanctuary as a sacred thing, and the ancient records of hbouring heathens, particularly of the Phoenicians, show sts of the Jews had such a history in keeping, giving an

of the creation of the world, &lc., even so long ago as the ' the Judges. This appears from Sanchoniathon's histo-rein he mentions many of the same facts, and confesses had them from a certain priest of the god lao. The an-?athcn writers do make mention of Moses as the writer of gs contained in the former part of the book of Genesis, tances, Miscoll. No. 1012 andM014, at the place mark-(II) in the margin. See also ff. No. 429, at the same mark,

n : Another argument that will invincibly prove that the 3f the Pentateuch, as well as the precepts, was of old, from inning, contained in the book of the law, that sacred book be children of Israel had among them laid up in the sane* om the days of Moses, is this, viz. that it is certain that >k which the Jews had among them, when they first re-rom the Babylonish captivity, which they called the booh lie, and i/ie law of Moses^ and made use of as their law, as e book of the law that their nation had all along as their id standing record and rule, and as such had kept in the ry of old, was that very Pentateuch which we now have, ing both the history and the precepts. This was the book aw that Ezra made use of, and that Ezra and the Levites re with him did so publicly and solemnly read and explain people, as we have account, Nehem. viii., and whi^h was IX. 19

laid op in the secood temple in the same manner as the book of tlie law of Moses had been in the first. That this book was the same with the Pentateuch that we now have, is exceeding manifest from the genealogies and historical references in the first book of Chronicles, that was written on occasion of all Israel being reckoned bj genealogies after they came out of the captivity. See 1 Chron. ix« 1. None that read those genealogies and historical references will make himself so ridiculous as to question whether these were not taken from the very history that we have in the Pentateuch, sod an history that the Jews had among them as the ancient, great, and established records of their nation.

And again : If they had any other book of the law when they first came out of the captivity, it is impossible but that it mast be preserved, for they must have a high regard to it as being the same with that sacred book that had been regarded in all former ages as the great and holy rule of their nation, and accordingly kept as most sacred by the priests in the sanctuary of God, in tbe holy of holies, beside the ark of God. We find the writings of the prophet Jeremiah were preserved, Dan. ix. 2; how much more would they preserve the law of Moses! But tbe Jews had do books of the law preserved, they have none other now, and ban had no other in all ages since'; they had no other in Christ's time, and we have no account of any other in all the accounts we have of the nation, from Christ's time to the captivity; though in these accounts there be yery much said about the book of the law, and though there were many controversies about it from time to timei and innumerable copies of it, and many that made it their basi* ness to study, to write, and to teach it, though there were synagogues established through Palestine, and through the world wherever the Jews were dispersed. The custom of synagogues in every city began near the first return from the captivity. See Prideaux, part I. p. 534, Slc. Yet there is no mention made in any accounts we have of the Jews of any other book of the lav that was among them in any of those times, nor of any knowledge or thought that any of them had that there had ever been any other book of the law in any former times. It is evident that the book of the law that the Jews had in Ezra's time, was very publicly known among the people by the great pains that Esra and others took thoroughly to acquaint them with it, and therefore it wouU have been impossible to make so great an alteration in that sacred book to which they were taught to pay such a regard, and whicli was laid up in the holy of holies in the temple, and in their regard to which the people soon aAer the captivity became, in some n* spects, even superstitious. I say it would have been impossible to have made so great an alteration in it, that whereas formerly it bad only a body of precepts, now it was turned into a large nil*

ofy, with precepts here and there mixed and blended, withoat lome notice being taken of it, and some notable disputes, and M»ntroversies, and some remaining traces at least of the alteration, lod some remaining knowledge of the former purer volume. It irould be endless to reckon up the absurdities of such a suppo-lition.

There were many sects among the Jews in Palestine, hjaving many disputes and differences of opinion about the law of Moses; bat there was no such dispute or difference as this, whether this iras the genuine book of the law. And not only the Jews in Pa-lestine, but all the Jews through the world, which were so vastly dispersed even in Esther's time, yet without controversy or any difference of opinion, all acknowledged this same book as the only book of the law, and this was the book of the law that was read ID all the synagogues through the world, and was owned by the Samaritans also; (of which more aflerwards;) which would have been impossible, if this was so different from that book of the law that the Jews had, and was so publicly known in Ezra's time. The Saducees, many of whom were learned men, and boasted of tbeir freedom of thought, and taking liberty to differ from the Jews, and were a kind of infidels, and rejected most other writ* lags that the Jews accounted sacred, yet acknowledged without dispute the book of the Pentateuch, as we now have it, as the ge-■nine book of the law of Moses, and as the record of God. So did the Samaritans, though they hated the Jews, and exceedingly differed from them in other things, and were such enemies to them lAer the captivity, that they would rather reject a thing for being one of their customs or principles; yet they owned this Pentateuch as the genuine law of Moses, which it is exceeding absurd to suppose they would have done if the book had been new made with all the history foisted in sometime after Ezra; so that andoabtedly this was the book of the law that the Jews owned nd made use of, and regarded as the true law of Moses in Ezra's dme.

Now, as to the consequence, if the Pentateuch, as we now have It with its history, was the book that the Jews had and nsed as the book of the law soon after the captivity, then it will follow that it MS also the same book that was their book of the law before the captivity; for if such a great alteration was made in the book of the law, it was either done by Ezra, or by some of the Jews, be-bre be came up to Jerusalem. It was not done by Ezra, for the

Ets in Jerusalem had the book of the law among them before came, even when they first came out of the captivity, as ap* ptarsfrom Hag. ii. 11, 12, 13. ''Thus saith the Lordof bosU, Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch br^«

or pottage, or wioe, or oil, or any meat, shall it be boly f Aod the priests answered, aod said, No. Then said Haggai, If ont that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said. It shall be unclean/' See also Ezra ii. 62, 63, iii. 2—8, vi. 18. Hence, if Ezra had made such an alteration, the Jews would all have known it, and could not have been imposed upon, and made to believe that this book was the same with the book of the law. Neither the priests, nor the Levites, nor any of the people, make the least oppositioo to Ezra's copy of the law, but all allow it, receiving it as an on-doubted copy of the law of Moses. See Neh. viii. And then it it most apparent that the style of the history of the Pentateuch is very different from Ezra's style in the two books of Chronicles and the book of Ezra, whose style in history is very distinguishable from all the preceding histories of the Old Testament Besides, it is manifest, that at the time that Ezra went up from Babylon to teach the Jews the law, the book of the law of Mosei was not a thing of which the Jews, who were then abroad in the world, were destitute, as] of a book which was lost or secreted, of which they were in quest, but of which they had not the possei* sion, but it was a book well known by multitudes, and this fact was a thing at that time notorious and known to the heathen. It • is manifest from the copy of Artaxerxes's letter, Ezra vii. 25. ** And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people thai are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.'^ This made it impossible for Ezra to palm upon the people a book of his own contriving and writing, instead of the book of the law of Moses, the grand and ancient law of their God, which was the grand rule of their nation, and the foundation both of their civil and sacred constitution, and of all their privileges, and of their very being as a nation, separated from other nations.

It is very manifest, that soon after Ezra's coming first to Jerusalem, as it is thought about ten or a dozen years after that event, Nehemiah, the king's cup-bearer in Shushan, in Persia, was well acquainted with the book of the law of Moses, Neh. i. 7| 8,9; which clearly proves the falsity of the supposition that the nation of the Jews had at that time no other book of the law of Moses but that which was of Ezra's forging and publishing, as nothing would be more absurd than to suppose his new forged book would in so short a time be published, and well known, and received, and established, not only at Jerusalem and Judea, bat among the Jews dispersed over the world as far as Shushan, in so short a time. .

And it could not be that any of the Jews in Judea should forge this book after the captivity, and impose it on the priests and the people before Ezra came, for this would have made no less jar between Ezra and the rest of the people than the other; for then Ezra would have known that this was not the true book of the law, for he was well acquainted with the law before he came out of the land of the captivity to Jerusalem. He was a noted scribe ID the law of Moses in Babylon, Ezra vii. 6, insomuch that be was famed for it among the heathen, and was noted for it by the kiDg of Persia, who over and over gives him that as a name that be was known by, ^^ Ezra the scribe of the law of the God of heatjen.^' Ezra vii. 11, 12, 13. And Ezra went up with a design to teach the people in Jeruaslem this law of Moses; this was his main errand, as appears from Ezra vii. 6. 10. 14. 21. 23. 25. 26. and the book of ihe law that he taught the people he did not receive at Jerusalem of any of the priests, or others there, but carried it up with him in his hand, as appears from Exra vii. 14. 25, and Neh. viii. 1, 2.

This great forgery, or fraudulent substitution of such a book as the Pentateuch for the book of law of Moses could not be done and imposed on the Jews at any time soon after the return from the captivity, for from what has been said already, it appears that there was the same book of the law well known by many, and re« ceived by all at that time, both by the Jews in Judea, and also by those who still remained in the land of their captivity; which coold not possibly arise from any other cause than the tradition of this book from their forefathers who lived before the captivity. It is impossible that such a forgery should so quickly, so easily, and universally, without dispute or difference of parties, obtain through so great a nation, so disunited in the places of their abode. It could not have been so difficult to introduce and give currency to a forgery in any thing, as in the book of the law of Bloses, their grand and sacred rule, and constitution and foundation : so much so that never did any people so much, and in so many respects, depend on any body of laws, as the Jewish nation depended on this book. It was for the sake of the laws commanded them, and the privileges given them in this book, that they forsook their habitations, and all their possessions in the land of their captivity, and bore the loss and trouble of their journey to Palestine, and the great difficulties of rebuilding their city and temple, and re-settling again in the land, and re-establishing their state there. And therefore we may be sure they would he above all things, careful with regard to that book. In Haggai's and Zecbariab's time, before the temple was finished, they had this book among them, as I observed before, but then many were living that had seen the former temple, and must know what kind

of book that was that was called the law of Moses, ibmt wn amongst the people before the captivity, and was kept io tbeir fini temple. The highest ambition of the Jews that returned fromtiN captivity, was to be like their forefathers in their religions privi* leges; and therefore they were for building a temple as near is they could like the former, and those that had seen the former temple wept bitterly that this new temple was no more like itf and doubtless they would be for having the same book of thelair« The people that remembered the former temple must needs know what book that was, that was then called the book of the lav, being so much and so severely reproved and threatened from tioM to time, by the prophet Jeremiah, for not conforming themselves to it, Jer. ii. 8. '* The priests said not, Where is the Lord ? And they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also traa»* gressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, md walked afier things that do not profit." Jer. zviii. 18. *' Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law tball not perish from the priests.'^ Jer. xlii. 23, and viii. 8. ~'* How do ye say. We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with ns ? Lo, cer> tainly in vain made he it, the pen of the scribes is in vain.'' Chap. vi. 19, and zvi. 11, xliv. 10, and xxvi. 4, and xxxii«2Si See also Lam. ii. 9, Ezek. vii. 26, and xxii. 26; and indeed the whole book of Jeremiah, seems to suppose the book of the law extant, and visible among the people; the people therefore, that returned from the captivity, would not easily^ have received any other book, as the book of the law, to be their sacred rule, and to be laid up in the sanctuary, difierent* from that' which their forefathers had, and which had been laid up in the holy of holies in the former temple.

The book of the law of Moses was not lost in the time of tbo

captivity, but was well known among the Jews in Babylon, Dan.

ix. 10, 11, 12, 13; and that this was a fact very publicly and

openly known among the heathen, that they had the law of tbeir

God among them in the time of the captivity is a thing manifest

from Dan. vi. 5, and Ezra. vii. 12. 21. 25 ; yea it was extaot

among them just before their return, as appears from Dan. ix.

10, 11, 12, 13. '' Yea all Israel have transgressed thy law, even

by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the

curse is poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the

law of Moses, the servant of God." And several of the prophecies

of Daniel suppose the book of the covenant to be extent, Dan.

xi. 22. 28. 30. 32. which shows more plainly how impossible it

was for another book so different to be universally imposed on

the nation in Babylon and Jndea instead of this book.so iodn

mfter the captivity. It appears that the Jews in the capitivitf

kept the writings of the prophet Jeremiah among them, from

Dao. ix* 2. How much more would ttiey keep copies of the law if Moses, which they esteemed as the foundation of all!

Again: It is most manifest that the Jews in their first re-settlement ID Palestine, had those very records that we now have in the Pentateuch, as the records that had been constantly upheld in their nation, as the ancient, established, and undoubted sacred records of their nation, insomuch that when they on that occasion reckoned the people by their genealogies they founded their reckoning on these records, and ran up their genealogies to tie toconnts g^ven of their forefathers, and the first original of their fiunilies in them, making this record their standard, and grand ralei by which to judge who were true Israelites, and who were not, and who were true priests and who not. So that they re-fiMed so much as to admit those that could not prove themselves to be of the seed of the priests, or of the seed of Israel according to the rule of this record, as appears by the genealogies in the first book of Chronicles, and particularly chap, ix, 1, and Ezra ii. 59. 62, 63. It was necessary for any one in order to prove bimself to be of the genuine seed of the priests, that he should be able to run up his genealogy to Aaron; for his proving that he Wis of the seed of some other person that lived since did not prove it, onlesft he also proved that that person was a descendant of JUron. And so for any one to prove that he was of the seed of Iiraiel, he must be able to run up his genealogy to Israel himself. So that this very record at that time was of such established re-pntatton among them, that they all with one consent made it the very foundation of their re-establishment; they founded their nation and church in this its restoration wholly on this foundation, aod by this rule, which shows that this record was no new thing among them, just then devised with which before they had never been acquainted. It was a notorious fact, that in Esther's time, known to the heathen, that the Jews who remained dispersed all over the Persian empire, from Judea to Ethiopia, agreed in one established law, which was very diverse from those of all other nations; Esther iii. 8.

Again: The Zcndavesta, or book that Zoroastes wrote, showa that the history of the Pentateuch was extant either iu or before the time of the captivity of the Jews into Babylon, and was of great reputation then, because many things in that book of hia are taken out of the history of the Pentateuch. He speaks of Adam and Eve as the first parents of mankind, and gives in a manner the same history of the creation and deluge that Moses dotbi and speaks therein of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses in the same manner as the scriptures do, and out of a particular venera* tion for Abraham, he called his book the book of Abraham. (See Prid. parti, p. 318.) These things must have been taken from

the Jews eitiier at or before the time of the captivity. (See lb< preceding pages in Prideaux.)

Again, another argument, that the Pentateuch with its bittorji was the book that the Israelites anciently had among them as tbc book of the law of Moses, even before the captivity, is, that tk Samaritans had this Pentateuch as it is with its history, under tfaii name of the book of the law of Moses. One argument that the Samaritan Pentateuch was written before the captivity, is, that it is written in the ancient Phanician or i/(^&retr character; wbereaSi the Jewish copy is written in Chaldee letters ; those letters becoming natural to them in their captivity; and therefore if they had taken their Pentateuch from the Jews after the captivity, they wooM have doubtless taken it in the same characters in which they bad it; but in that it is found among them not in their characters, bat in the characters that the Jews used before the captivity. It is a strong argument that they took it from the Jews before the captivity, and not afterwards. Whence should the Samaritans take those old Hebrew characters, if not from the Jews before the captivity ? They were characters to which they were not used it their own country, but were much more likely to be used to tbe Chaldean characters then, from their living in the neighbourhood of Chaldea. And if they took the Pentateuch from the Jews af* ter the captivity, whence should they take those characters, which were neither natural to themselves, nor in use among the Jews at that time f

Again : It is not at all likely that the Samaritans would be fo fond of a conformity to the Jews after the captivity, as to adopt their laws and make the Jewish constitution their own, seeing there was always, even from the first return from the captivity, such a peculiar and inveterate enmity between them and the Jews.

And as such an alteration of the book of the law could not be made after the captivity without notice being taken of it, so neither could it at any time before, even in the most degenerate and ignorant times in Israel. Yet there must be so much knowledge of this book, as must render such a cheat impracticable, for the whole nation, in all its constitution, both civil and sacred, and in the title they had to their inheritance, and in all their usages, and innumerable peculiar customs, was so founded on this law, thatit must unavoidably lead at least many in the nation to such a degree of knowledge of it, as to enable ihem to distinguish between that which is supposed to be so different from it as such a book as the Pentateuch, and only the body of the Mosaic precepts. Though the law was commanded to be laid up in the sanctuaryi and kept there, yet it was not kept from the common use of the priests. The priests are called those that handle the law, Jer. ii* 8. See also Jer. xviii. 18, Ezek. vii. 26, Hag. ii. 11, MaL ii. ?•

It was required of the priests tliat they should be thoroughly acquainted with the law, for they in the law of Moses are appointed to teach it to the people. The great number of ceremonies and minute circumstances with which their business was attended, and also the multitude of observances which they were to teach the people out of the law, made it necessary in the nature of things that they should be thoroughly acquainted with the law, even to the having it as it were by heart. Hence the priests and Levites ID all their cities and dwellings through the land, must be supposed to have copies of the law in their hands. This being also the judicial or political law of their nation, the rule of the civil magistrates and judges in all civil and criminal matters, and the rule by which every man held his possessions, and was defended in his civil and common rights; this made it necessary that civil magis-U'ates, and those who sat to judge in their gates, should have copies of the law in their hands. The king was, by an express statute of the law, required to write him out a copy of the law irith his own hand, and the law was commanded to be read to the whole congregation of Israel once in seven years. And particularly pious and devout persons were wont to have by them copies of the law, for it is mentioned as the character of the godly man, Ps. i. and xxxvii. 31, " That he meditate on God's law day and night." And all were commanded in the law to be continually meditating on the law, and make it as it were their constant companion day and night, that it might be for a sign on their hand, aod as frontlets between their eyes, and that they should make it the continual subject of their conversation one with another, as they sat in the house, and as they walked by the way, &c. It wat not to be shut up only in the holy of holies, and in any respect so disposed of as to be out of the reach of any, but to be nigh to every one, in every one's heart and mouth, as appears from Deut XXX. II—14. See also Deut. vi. 6, 7, 8, 9, and chap. xi. 18, 19, 20, and chap. iv. 9. It is true the law, in times of great degeneracy, was much more neglected, and less known; and copies of it were more rare than at other times, as in the reign of Hanasseh. The original that Moses laid up in the sanctuary had been neglected and lost, being buried up in rubbish, as the temple of God itself was neglected, and the finding of it^ by the priest was a thing greatly taken notice of, and excited the observation and inquiry of the king and people into the nature of things contained in this book, and the Spirit of God set in on that occasion greatly to impress the king's mind with the things contained in that book, and the finding and reading that very book, as written by Moses's own hand, had a natural tendency greatly to engage the attention of the king, and to affect him in the reading of it. Boi we are not to suppose, that during that degenerate time, there Vol. IX. 20

was no copy of the law extant and in use among any of the people. If in the roost degenerate times in Israel, there were seven thousand devout worshippers of the true God left, though but little known, so undoubtedly in Manasseh's reign there were many of the priests and Levites, and others that were devout worship* pers of the true God, enough to keep many copies of the law (or their use to direct them in God's service.

As to the passages in the Pentateuch, wherein a later hand than that of Moses is evident, they are very few: as Witsins, in his Miscel. Sac. observes. Two of them are onlv a kind of translation of the names of places, as of the city of Hebron, and the place to which Abraham pursued the kings, where it is said he pursued them unto Dan. The history is exactly the same that Moses mast be supposed to write, and the place mentioned the same that Moiei mentioned ; but the alteration that is made by some later hand if rendering the name of the place by a word whose significatkw was known to the people, and those two are the only instance! that appear manifest to me of all that Le Clerk mentions, excefA-ing only the account of Moses's death and burial. As to tbe name IJebron, so often used in the Pentateuch, it is very probabk that there is in it no later hand than that of Moses; for, tboogh it was called Arbah at first, yet it seems to have been named &' brofif which signifies feUaicshipf from his there entering into so association or covenant-fellowship with Mamre, Eshcol, and Aoer. Compare Gen. xiii. 18 with chap. xiv. 13. It is likely that Abraham might give a name to this place from his entering into thisfel* lowship with those men here, as that he should name the place where he entered into covenant with Abimelech, Beer-sheba, from that covenant, as Gen. xxi. 31, 32; or possibly this name Hebron, or fellowship, might be given to the place from that wonderfol communion and fellowship which Abraham there had with angeU, with whom he ate, and drank, and conversed most familiarly under ap oak, and where at*the same time he familiarly conversed with God about the destruction of Sodom, which is much remarked by Abraham and God himself, Gen. xviii. ver. 17. 27. 37. Or it might have been named so first from Abraham's fellowship with Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, and afterwards confirmed from this hii communion with God and the angels, as Beer-sheba was first so named from Abraham's covenant with Abimelech, and afterwards confirmed from Isaac's covenant in the same place. Gen. xxvi* 30—33. It seems that after this when the posterity of Abraham left the land and sojourned in Egypt, this place went no more by that name of Hebron in the land of Canaan, but when the children of Israel returned, and Caleb took possession of the place, he stored the name which Abraham gave it.

Dupin, at the begiooing of the first volume of his Eccle-al History. See concerning places inserted after Moses's

^^^ Num. xxi. 14.

to the account of Moses's death and burial, it was not Ezra aade this addition; for the Samaritan Pentateuch, which ken from the Jews before Ezra, has this addition, and all passages that have been supposed to be additions. This ad»

of Moses's death in all probability was made by Joshua^ i is evident, was a divine writer, and a writer of divine re-

and was Moses's successor, who alone was in the mount lim forty days and forty nights, and who succeeded to Mo-lUthority, and to most of his divine privileges and intercourse eaven, on whom Moses laid his hand, and committed the f the whole congregation, and of the law and tabernacle is bands. He succeeded Moses as the head of the congre-, and as their judge, and as the person by whom they were isact with God, as it was with Moses. He had the care of I up the tabernacle, and therefore he took care to set it up loh, and he took the care of the settlement of the church of , and the establishment of the worship of God in Canaan, 3 was looked upon as having the care of the book of the ' Moses, even so as to have power to add words to it, as ap« from Josh, xxi v. 26.

ces in the New Testament, which suppose Moses to be the in of the Pentateuch, John v. 46, 47. Mark xii. 26, com-

with Exod. iii. 6. Acts xv. 21. 2 Cor. iii. 14,15. Heb. I.

:2] Gen. i. 2. *< The earth was without form and void.* irst state of the earth, or this lower world, shows what it was eUlerwards, viz., a world of confusion and emptiness, full of canity of vanities. So in the first state of man in his infan-an image of what man always is in himself, a poor, polluted, iss worm.

VT\ <* And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 5.'' The word translated movedf in toe original is nomd

V V • ,

I, as Buxtorf says, the Hebrew note properly signifies to as a birdf or to brood as a bird over her youngs or her eggs sitting an them ; and both Grotius and Buxtorf observe from riters of the Talmud, properly signifies the brooding of a dove her eggs. See Buxtorf on the Radix Dn*i and Grotius de

ate, B. 1, sec. 16, Notes; where Grotius also asserts more than

that the word merachepheth signifies love. Hence the ma-

bles among the heathen about the world's being formed by

love, and by tlie breeding of a dove, Slc. Macrobias retemblef the world to an egg, in the vii. book and 16 chap, of his Satama-lia. And hence the Syrian gods are called by Amobins the offspring of eggs, by which gods he means the stars. Orpheus had his opinion from the Phoenicians* one of which was this in Atfae-nagarasy that mud proceeded from water^ after which he mentions a great egg split into two parts, heaven and earth.

In the Argonauticks, ascribed to Orpheus, we have these Hoes,

" In verse he sung the origin of things—

" How Love, the cause of all thinfrs, by his power

** Creating every Uiing, gave each his place." i

And Aristophanes, in his play called the Birds, in a passage pre- | served by Lucien, in his Philopatris and Suidas, j

** First of all was Chaos and Night, dark Erebus and gloomy Tartarus. There was neither earth, nor air, nor heaven, till dusky night, by the wind's power on the wide bosom of Erebus, brought forth an egg, of which was hatched the god of love; (when time began,) who with his golden wings fixed to bis shoulders flew like a mighty whirlwind, and mixing with black Chaos in Tartarus' dark shades, produced mankind, and brought them into light. For before love joined all things, the very gods themselves had no existence. But upon this conjunction all things be- , ing mixed and blended, sether arose, and sea, and earth, and the blessed abodes of the immortal gods." Grotius* Ibid.

[448] Gen. i. 2. <* And the earth was without form and void.'* ToAtf, iBohUf which last are words signifying vanity and emptiness. Thus God was pleased in the first state of the creation to show what the creature is in itself; that in itself it is wholly empty and vain, that its fulness or goodness is not in itself, but iu him, and in the communications of his Spirit, animating, quickening, adorning, replenishing, and blessing all things. The emptiness and vanity here spoken of is set in opposition to that goodness spoken of afterwards. Through the incubation of the Spirit of God, (as the word translated movedy signifies,) the Spirit of God if here represented as giving form, and life, and perfection to this empty void and unformed mass, as a dove that sits infuses life, and brings to form and perfection the unformed mass of the egg. Thus the fulness of the creature is from God's Spirit. If God withdraws from the creature, it immediately becomes empty and void of all good. The creature as it is in itself is a vessel, and has a capacity, but is empty, but that which fills that emptiness is the Spirit of God.

As the Spirit of God here is represented as hovering or brooding as a dove, so it is probable when the Spirit of God appeared

M>dily shape, descending on Christ like a dove ; it was with vering motion on his head, signifying the manner in which nly he personally was filled with the fulness of God, but also individual member of his mystical body. So that this that ive an account of is one instance wherein the old creation was al of the new* (See note on Eph. iii. 19.)

98] Gen. i. 27, 28, 29, 30. Covenant with Adam. " So God ed man in his own image, in the image of God created he male and female created he them; and God blessed them, and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the , and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that :th upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you r herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, svery tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to y fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the 1, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for ; and it was so."

ere is described the sum of the blessedness that man had in irst estate. Here is first his inherent spiritual good, which in his being created in God's image. Here is the happiness be had in the favour of God; his blessing of him is a testi-y of it. Here is the happiness he had in his intercou rse with ; for his thus talking with him in this friendly man ner is an mceof it. Here is all his external good, which consisted in two ^: first, in having society, implied in that expression, Male female created he them, and in those words. Be fruitful and iply. Here is the sum of their outward good in the enjoyment rthly good. Here is the possession of the earth, and the enjoy* t of the produce of it, and dominion over the inferior creatures . These things were evidently given to Adam as the public [ of mankind. God in blessing them^ evidently speaks to them 16 head of mankind. The blessings he pronounces are given in the name of the whole race, and therefore the favour mani-d in blessing them is implicitly given to him as the head of race. God's making them in his own image, and then bless-them, implies bis bestowing those blessings pronounced on subject blessed, on the condition of its continuing such an ex-*nt subject as he had made it, and as it now stood forth to iv^ his blessing, or continued in such an happy capacity to y the blessings as it now was. Otherwise the blessing would 1 a great measure made void ; for in order tomen's being happy le blessing, two things were needful: first, that the enjoyments ited should be good; and secondly, that the subject should be

good, or in a good capacity to receive aod enjoy them; thereibrf both these are doubtless implied in the blessing here pronoonced on Adam, which is plainly pronounced on him in the name of the whole race. And therefore, in like manner when Adam u threatened with being deprived of all these in case of his disobedience, Adam must understand it in like manner as a calamity to come on the whole race, and consequently the implicit promise of life, as the confirmation and increase of the blessing, respects also j the whole race. Hence the covenant must be made with Adam, |

not only for himself, but all his posterity. j

I

[450] Gen. ii. 2. <' And on the seventh day God ended all bii ] works." The word translated iDork^ is irOK^D, which conies from \

X -

^Sn, angel or messenger^ and therefore most properly signifies a

T :- 4

work done in t/ie execution of some function to which the ucrkmm^ I is appointed J as the angel^ messenger^ officer, or workman of an- t other; and so is fitly used concerning the work of creation; which 1 was performed by the Son of God, who is often called the OMgd of the Lord: He being the Father's great officer, and artificer, through whom he performs all his work, and executes bis etemil counsels and purposes.

[451] Gen. ii. 5. <'And every plant of the field before itwai in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there wtp not a man to till the ground." I'his seems to be observed to teach that all the life that is in the creation is immediately from God, and not from the creature itself: that in itself is wholly lifeless and void, and empty of all perfection. The vegetable life that is ii this lower world was immediately from God. Of all the innumera' ble kinds of principles of life that now are manifest, every one was immediately from God. Though the earth, and the rain, and die cultivation, and husbandry of men be now made use of, yet tbeie living principles were not first owing to them, for they were before them. So it is as to all principles of spiritual life in the spiritual creation.

[397] Gen. ii. 9, and iii. 22, 23, 24. Concerning the Tree of Life* This tree seems manifestly to have been designed for a seal of Adam's confirmation in life, in case he had stood, for two reasons: 1st, because its distinguishing name is the tree of life; and 2d, because by what is said in the latter end of the iii. chapter, there appears to have been a connection by divine appointment, between eating of that tree and living for ever, or enjoying a continued, certuin, and everlasting life. But yet here are these dif-

leDding tach a supposition. If it was so that this fruit led as a seal of Adam's confirmation in life, and was by istitution connected with confirmed life, then it should

it was something kept in store, reserved by God to be

as a reward of his obedience and his overcoming all as, when his time of probation was ended. There seems llusion to this iti Rev. xxii. 14. *' Blessed are they that mmandments, that they may have right to the tree of d chap. ii. 7. *^ To him that overcometh will I give to tree of life.^' So that it was not to be come at until the s trial was ended, for if he had eat of the tree before his

was ended, confirmed life would doubtless have been as inected with it as after he fell, and that would have de^ d's design, which was that he should not have confirmed s obedience was tried; and if so, why was there not need im and a flaming sword before, to keep Adam from the re he fell, as well as afterwards f Whereas there seems leen nothing to keep him from this tree. The tree was Iden him; for he had leave to eat of every tree, but only f knowledge of good and evil. And as there was no iderance, so there seems to have been no natural force to

ofl': it does not seem to have been out of his reach; for, it occasion was there for placing cherubim and a flaming er he fell. The tree does not seem to be bidden from r, if it was sufliciently secured from him by this means,

fell, so it was afterwards, and so what need of the cheru-flaming sword ? From the account, which Moses gives ce of this tree, that it was in the midH of the garden^ it 3robable that it was in the most conspicuous place in the rden ; as the tree of life is said to grow in the midst of the

the lieavenly paradise. Rev. xxii. 2. The street of a e most public place in itj and that Adam might have ' to put him in mind of the glorious reward promised to ience, to engage him to the greater care and watchful-t he might not fail.

lost probable account that is to be given of this matter ihat the fruit of the tree of life was not yet produced ; but as revealed to Adam, that after a while the tree should fruit, of which whosoever eat should live for ever; that teat of it if he persisted in his obedience ; and that if he lersevere in obedience he would expose himself to death lat time, and so cut himself ofi* from ever tasting of it. ? probably made a most lovely and excellent appearance, L forth a sweet fragrance, and perhaps was gay in the

promising most excellent fruit.

This tree, as it grew in the midst of the garden, so probably it grew by the river, that ran through fhe midst of this Paradise, See Rev. xx. 2. Ezek. xlvii. 12.

[469] Gen. ii. 9. and iii. 22—24. On the Tree of Life.

There is not the least probability that every fruit-tree in the garden of Eden was then loaded with ripe fruit all at one tiffle^ If so, there would have been no provision made for Adam's subsistence through the year, according to those laws which God had establislied concerning the trees when he created them; for, according to those laws, the same fruit was not to be perpetually hanging ; but when the fruit was ripe, the fruit was to be shed, otherwise the seed would not be shed upon the earth in order to > a new production, according to Gen, i. 11, 12. *'God said, Let the earth bring forth grass ; the herb yielding seed after his kiad, and the tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so." It is much more probable that it was with the trees of paradise as is represented of the trees tbtt grew on the banks of EzekiePs river of living waters. It isrepre- t sented as though there were all sorts of fruit treeS) and some -yielding their fruit one month, and others another ; so that there were ripe fruits newly produced every month of the year, and sot perpetual summer, and also a perpetual spring: some trees were hung with ripe fruit, and others in the blossom, in each month io |v the year. St. John's vision, Rev. xxii. may be so nndentood that each single tree bore twelve manner of fruits on different branches; and yet perhaps there is no necessity of so understanding it; and so one sort bore ripe fruit in one month, and another in another; so that the same tree was always in blossom is some part, while some other part was loaded with ripe fruit. Bot in Ezekiel's vision the variety of fruits seems to be on different trees, because it is said there shall grow all tr^s for meat.

Carol. This is a confirmation of the supposition, that the an- ' gels were not confirmed till Christ had ended his humiliation, and until he ascended into glory. For Christ is the tree of life in the heavenly' paradise, in the native country of the angels; just as the tree of which we have been speaking was the tree of life on earth, the native country of men ; and the scriptures give us to understand that this person, who is the tree of life in this heavenly paradise, is '* angel's food." Hence wc may infer, that the fruit of this tree was the food, by which the angels have their eternal life, or their confirmed lifb. But as man, who was made under t like covenant of works with the angels, would not have been confirmed, if he had persevered in his obedience, till the tree had brought forth its fruit, and till the fruit of the tree was ripe ; so it is not probable that the angels were confirmed, until Christ, the

'ree of life in the heavenly paradise, had brouglit forth his fruit. tut what is the fruit that grows on this heavenly tree, the second Per-on of the Trinity, but the fruit of the Virgm Mary's womb, and that niit of the earth spoken of Isai. iv. 2, and ix. 6 f ** In that day hall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the •uit of the earth shall be excellent and comely ,-for them that are leaped <^f Israel."—" For unto us a son is born, and unto us a bild is given,'' tic. (how often are the children that are born in a ioiily, compared in scripture to the fruit that grows on a tree!) rben this holy child had gone through all his labours and suffer-igpi, and had ful61led all righteousness, and was perfected, as'tis zpressed in Luke, xiii. 32, Heb. ii. 10, and v. 9: then he was ?en of angels, and received up into glory, then the fruit was ga-lered: Chrii^t, as full ripe fruit, was gathered into the garner if God, into heaven, the country ofangels, and so became angels' »od : then the angels fed upon the full ripe fruit of the tree of ife, and received of the Father the reward of everlasting life, yhrist did not become the author of eternal Salvatiod to man, till le was thus made perfect, neither did he become the author of ionfirmed eternal life to the angels, till he was made perfect. Pbos the fruit of this tree of life did not become the food of life o either men or angels till it was ripe.

This tree of life did as it were blossom in the sight of the angels, vhen man was first created in an innocent, holy, pleasant, and lappy state, and was that creature from whence this future fruit of be tree of life was to spring, the blossom out of which the fruit rat to come. It was a fair and pleasant blossom, though weak ind feeble, and proved a fading thing like a flower. When man bll, then the blossom faded and fell off; man came forth like a lower, and was cut down, but the blossom fell in order to the acceeding fruit. The fall of man made way for the incarnation »f Christ, It gave occasion to the production and ripening of that ifuit, and to its blessed consequences.

Thus, though Christ God man be not the Saviour of the an-;cl8, as he is of men, vet he is the tree of life to the angels, and be bread of life as truly as to men.

[77] Gen. ii. 17. " In the day that thou eatest thereof, dying boo shalt die." This expression denotes hot only the ceVtainty if death, but the extremity of it. Thou shalt die, in the superla-ivO) and to the utmost degree ; and so it properly extends to the econd death, the death of the soul, for damnation is nothing' bnt xtreme death, and I am ready to think that God, by mentioning lying twice over, had respect to two deaths, the first and the se-ood, and that it is to those words the apostle John refers in Reve-itioa XX. 14, when he says, ** This is the second death." It is

VOL. IX. 21

much such a reference as he made in the 2d verse of that chapter. There he explains to us who the serpent was that begailed Eve, vn., the dragon, that old serpent who is the devil and Satan: to here he explains what the second of those deaths, that was threatened to Adam, was. See notes on Rev. xx. 14.

[325] Gen. ii. 17. <' Dying thou*shalt die." If we sometimes find such kind of doubled expressions, and also this very expression, dying thou shalt die, as in Solomon's threatening to Shimei, when do more is intended than only the certainty of the event, yet this is do argument that this does not signify more than the certainty, even the extremity as well as certainty of it. Because such a repetitiouor doubling of a word, according to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue, is as much as our speaking a word once with a very extraordinary emphasis. But such a great emphasis, as we often use, signifies variously; it sometimes signifies certainty, at other times extremity, and sometimes both.

[320] Gen. ii. 17. <'In the day that thou eatest thereof, tboa shalt surely die.'' This, in addition to notes in blank bible, and besides Adam died that day, for he was ruined and undone that day, his nature was ruined—the nature of his soul—which ruin ii called death in scripture, Eph. ii. 1. 5. Colos. ii. 13. Mattb. viii. 22. John V. 25. The nature of his body was ruined that day, and became mortal, began to die, his whole man became subJ€M:t to condemnation, to death; he was guilty of death, and yet that all was not executed; that day was a token of his deliverance; and bis not dying that day a natural death, is no more diflicult to reconcile with truth, than his never suffering at all that death that was principally intended, viz., eternal damnation; and probably there were beasts slain the same day by God's appointment in their ' stead, of which God made them coats of skins, for it is probable God's thus clothing them was not long delayed after that they saw that they were naked.

[110] Gen. ii. 21. '* Adam received Eve as he awaked out of a deep sleep;" so Christ receives his church as he rises from the dead. Dr. Goodwin speaks of this deep sleep of Adam as a type of Christ's death, 1st vol. of his works, partiii. p. 53.

[251] Gen. iii., at the beginning. " Now the serpent was mart subtle^^^ fyc. * What is an argument ex posteriori of the devil's having assumed the form of a serpent in his temptation of our first parents, is the pride he has ever since taken of being worshipped under that form, to insult as it were, and trample upon fallen man. To this purpose we may observe that the serpent has all along

•een the common symbol and representation of the heathen eities, Jul Firmic de errors Profan. Relig. p. 15. That the Babylonians worshipped a dragon, we may learn from the Apo-irypha, and that they had images of serpents in the temple of Selusy Didodorus Siculus, lib. ii. chap« 4, informs us. Grotius lut of several ancient authors, has made it appear that in the Ad Greek mysteries they used to carry about a serpent, and ;ry £i>a the devil, thereby expressing his triumph in the unhap-ly deception of our first mother. The story of Ophis among he heathen was taken from the devil's assuming the body of a lerpent in his tempting of Eve. Orig. contra Cekusy lib. vi. Lnd to name no more what Philip Melancton tells us of some NTiests in Asia, is very wonderful, viz. that they carry about a lerpent in a brazen vessel, which they attend with a great deal >f music, and many choruses in verse, while the serpent every low and then lifts up himself, opens his mouth, and thrusts out he head of a beautiful virgin,' (as having swallowed her,) 'to ihow the devil's triumph in this miscarriage among those poor leluded idolaters.' NicoPs Conference with a Theistf vol. I.

[452] Gen. iii. 14. '* Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust sbaltthou eat all the days of thy life." This doubtless has re-ipect not only to the beast that the devil made use of as his in-itniment, but to the devil, that old serpent, to whom God is ipeaking, chiefly as is evident by the words immediately follow* ing. The words. On thy belly shalt thou go, as they respect the levil, refer to the low and mean exercises and employments, that the devil shall pursue; and signify that he should be debased to the lowest and most sordid measures to compass his Bnds, so that nothing should be too mean and vile for him to io to reach his aims. The words. Dust shalt thou eat all the iays of thy life^ have respect to the mean gratifications that Satan should henceforth have for his greatest good, instead of the high and glorious enjoyments of which heretofore he was the subject in heaven; and that even in those gratifications he should find himself sorely disappointed, and so his gratifications should from time to time in all that he obtained as long as he lived, turn to his grief and vexation, agreeably to the use of a parallel phrase, Prov. xx. 17, '^ Rread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." When a man has eagerly taken into his mouth that which he accounted a sweet morsel, but finds it full of dirt, it moves him immediately to spit it out, and so to endeavour to clear his mouth of what he had taken as eagerly as he took it in. So Satan is from time to time made sick of his own morsels, and to spit them out again, and vomit up what he had swallowed

down, as the whale vomited up Jonah, and as the devil vomited up Christ, when he saw that he had swallowed down that which when within him, gave him a mortal wound at his vitals.

[456] Gen. iii. 14, 13. '* And the Lord said unto the serpent," &;c. In this first prophecy ever uttered on earth', we have a very plain instance of what is common iff divine prophecies through the scripture, viz. that one thing is more immediately respected in the words, and another that is the anti-type principally intended, and so of some of the words being applicable only to the former, and others only to the latter, and of God^s beginning to speak in language accommodated to the i former, but then ns it were presently forgetting the type, and being taken up wholly about the anlitype. Here in the 14th verse, the words that are used are properly applicable only to that serpent that was one of the beasts of the field; so here it is said, thou art cursed above all cattle; which shows that this prophecy has some respect to that beast that is a type of Satan. But, in the things s|)oken in the next verse, the beast called a serpent seems to be almost wholly forgotten, and the speech to be only about the devil; for the enmity that is there spoken of, 18 between the Seed of the man, and that Seed a particular person; for the words in the original are, *^ He shall bruise thy head, and thous halt bruise his heel;" it is K^n (Ht) in the Hebrew, and auro; in the Septuagint; as is observed in Shuckford, vol. I. p. 286.

[322] Gen. iii. 20. '* And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." What Adam in this has respect to, doubtless is that which God had signified in the 15th verse, viz. that Eve was to be the mother of that Seed that was to bruise the head of the servient, the grand enemy of mankind, that had brought death on them, and had the power of death, and so was to be the author of life to all that should live, i. e. all that should escape that death. So Eve was the mother of all living, as all that have spiritual and eternal life are Christ's, and so the woman's seed, because Christ was of the woman. Adam, when he had eaten the forbidden fruit, and his conscience smote him, had a terrible remembrance of the awful threatening, '*Dying, thou shalt die;" and therefore took great notice of those words which God spake concerning the seed of Eve bruising the Serpent's head; which seem to afford some relief from his terror, and therefore he thought it worthy to give Eve her name from it, as the most remarkable thing that he had observed concerning Eve, and the thing that bethought more worthy to be remembered, and could think of with greater delight and pleasure than any thing else concern-

iBg her, and therefore he thought it above all things worthy that her uame should be a continual memorial of it.

That the thing of which Adam took special notice in giving his wife this name, was not her being the universal mother of mankind, or the universality of her maternity, but the quality of those that she was to be the mother of, viz. living ones, is evident from the name itself, which expresses the latter, and not the former: the word nm Chavah^ which we render Evt^

T —

expresses Ldfe^ the quality of those that she was to be the mother of, and not the universality of her maternity. And it is not likely this would have been if there was nothing in this quality I of her posterity that did at all distinguish her from any other mother; which would have been if all that was intended by her being the mother of those that were living, was that she was to be the mother of such as were to live in the world; for so all other mothers might be called Chavah as well as she, or by some name that expressed that quality of life. A name is given for distinction; and therefore doubtless Adam gave her a name that expressed something that was distinguishing ; but if what was meant was only that she was the mother of all mankind, then the thing that was distinguishing of her, was merely the universality of her maternity, and not at all the quality of her posterity. Why, then, was not the universality, the distinguishing thing, expressed in the name, rather than the quality, which was not at all distinguishing?

Again: It is not likely that Adam would give her a name from that which did not at all distinguish her from him. If persons have not names that shall distinguish them from all others, yet doubtless they ought to have names to distinguish them from those with whom they always live, and from whom there is most occasion to distinguish them. But if it was not the quality of her posterity, but only the universality of her proge-niture of mankind, to which he had respect, that was what was common to her with himself.

If it had been only her being the mother of all mankind to which Adam had respect, it would have been more likely that he would have given her this name on her first creation, and on her being brought to him; which was after that benediction, '* Be fruitful and multiply;" but we find that this name was not given on that occasion, but then Adam gave her another name, Gen. ii. 23, '^ He called her Ishah^ from her being taken out of man ; but the name of Chavahy as the mother of all living, is given on another occasion, viz. just after God had promised that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent'a head, and immediately after God had pronounced the threaten-

iDg of death on Adam, as in the verse immediately foregoing, ** till thou return to the ground, for dust thou art, and unto dost thou shah return;" while Adam is under the terror of this sentence of death, he comforts himself with the promise of life couched in what God had said to the serpent. Adam gave Eve a new name on this occasion, from that new thing that appeared concerning her after the fall: as she had her first name from the manner of her creation, so she had her new name given her from Christ's redemption, and Adam gave her her name from that which comforted him, with respect to the curse that God had pronounced on him and the earth; as Lamech named Noah, Gen. v. 29. ** And he called his name Noah, saying. This same shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

It was a common thing for the progenitors of Christ to have names given them from something that had respect to him or his redemption, or some of his benefits: so were Seth, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and Israel, and Judah, and others named.

And besides, we have no parallel place in the Bible to justify our understanding this expression, aU livings of all mankind that shall hereafter live upon the earth, or including them with those that are now living.

[399] Gen. iii. 20. There are also these further arguments to confirm that Adam does not give his wife the name of JEJoe, which signifies lAfe^ because she was the mother of all mankind, but because she was the mother of Christ, and of his living seed, who are the seed of the woman of whom God had just spoken. 1st. This name is exceedingly proper and suitable to signify the latter, because, *' in Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive; by man came death, so by man also came the resurrection of the dead;" '* the second Adam is made a quickening Spirit;" *' in him was /i/e, and he is the life.^* All mankind by the first Adam are in a state of death, dead in trespasses and sins, but Christ is the bread of life, of which he that eats should live for ever; and he is thus the fountain of life to the children of men, by bruising the head of the serpent, or destroying him that has the power of death, even the devil; which God had just before promised should be by the Seed o( Isha, the name that Adam gave his wife at first.

2. It is not likely that Adam would give this name, viz. Living One^ as a distinguishing name for mankind, to distinguish them from other creatures; for the same name is, from time to time in the preceding chapters, given to other creatures, as chap. i. 21. 24. 28, and chap. ii. 19, where the word is radically the same; and so afterwards the name is often given to other animals, chap.

it. 4. 23, viii. i, and in many other passages of scripture. »ecially it is unlikely that he would give this as a distin-: name to mankind immediately upon roan's fall, whereby uined, and bad brought that threatening on himself, in that thou eatest thereof^ thou shalt surely die; and imme-fter he had been told by God that he was dead, (i. e. in ef-dust thou arty and unto dust thou shalt return. Adam »t mean by the phrase ail living, what indeed we sometimes expression to signify, viz. mankind; but yet we do not y it, all that have had, and now have, the human nature, ^h life was a distinguishing property of that nature, but we mean by it those that are now alive, to distinguish them ise that are dead, or are not yet born. And it is exceed-kely that Adam would now first find out this name to dis-mankind, even those that yet had no life or being, as life was a distinguishing property and dignity of human on the occasion of so great, awful, and afiecting an event, rst entrance of any such thing as death into the world, to nd destroy, and make fearful havock of all mankind, all Eve's f, and that originally by her means. If Adam had meant ving, all mankind that then had a being in this world, the as very improper for her; for he that was living of man-is the only person of all mankind that she was not the mo-he was rather the father of her. But in the other sense e. Eve was the mother of all living universally, of every ne, as it is in the original. There is not one that has spi-id eternal life of all mankind, who in this sense is excepted, im, nor Christ, no, nor herself, for in this sense, as she was her of Christ, she was her own mother. is remarkable that Adam had before given his wife an-ame, viz. Islui, when she was first created and brought to ut now, that on the occasion of the fall, and what God d upon it, he changes her name, and gives her a new name, fe, because she was to be the mother of every one that has hich would be exceeding strange and unaccountable if all meant was, that she was to be the mother of mankind. If s all that he intended, it would have been much more likely iven to her at first, when God gave them that blessing, viz. ruitful and multiply," by virtue of which she became the of mankind ; and when mankind was hitherto in a state of d death had not yet entered into the world. But that should not give her this name then, but call her Isha, and fter that, change her name, and call her name Life, imme-upon their losing their life and glory, and coming under a :e of death, with all their posterity, and the awful, melan-ihadow and darkness which death has brought on the whole

world, occasioned by Eve's folly, is ftltogether unaccountable, if be had only meant, that she was the mother of mankind.

4. That Adam should change her name, and call her name Liife^ after he had given her another name, doubtless was from something new that appeared, that was very remarkable concern-ing Eve ; and doubtless we have an account of what that remarkable thing was. The scriptural history is not so imperfect as to give us an account of such an event as a person's name being changed, without mentioning the occasion of that change. lYc have several times elsewhere an account of the change of persons' names in scripture, but always have an account of the reason why, but we have no account of any thing new concerning Eve, that could give Adam occasion thus to change her name, and call her Ldjcy but only what God said concerning her and her seed after her fall. We have an account of this change of her name immediately upon it, and therefore must understand that as the occasion of it. This was an exceeding proper occasion for such a name, and it is natural to suppose that Adam's mind might now be so affected by the curse of death just pronunced by God, and the promise of life by Eve, as to-induce him to change her name firom hha to LAfe.

It is most probable, that Adam would give Eve her name from that which was her greatest honour, since it is evident that he had respect to her honour in giving her this name. The name itself, Lifay is honourable ; and that which he mentions concerning her being the mother of every living onCy is doubtless something he had respect to as honourable to her. Since he changed her name from regard to her honour, it is most likely he would signify in it that which was her peculiar honour ; but that was the most honourable of any thing, that had ever happened, or that ever would happen concerning her—that God said that she should be the mother of that SEED, that should bruise the Serpent's head. This was the greatest honour that God had conferred on her; and we find persons' names changed elsewhere to signify something that is their peculiar honour, as the new names of Abraham, Sarah, and Israel.

6. All new names, of which we have an account in scripture, as given prophetically, are given with respect to some great privilege persons have by some special relation to Christ, or interest in him, and his redemption. So Abraham's and Sarah's new names were given them of God, on occasion of the promise made Co them, that in their seed all the families of the earth should be blessed; and Jacob's new name of Israel is given because as a prince he had prevailed with Christ in wrestling with him, and had obtained the confirmation of Abraham and Isaac's blessing to him and his seed, when he and bis posterity were in danger of being cut off by Esau.

[466] Geo. iii. 20.«' And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she is the mother of all living." To suppose the living here to mean those that are restored to spiritaal life, and shall be saved from death, and have everlasting life, is agreeable to the denomination the apostle gives true Christians, 2 Cor. iv. 11. •Of J^wvrt^, the livings or the liven ; and again chap. v. 15.

[82] Gen. iv. I. <' And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.'* In Eve's expressing herself thus, it is probable she had an eye to what God said, that her seed should bruise the Serpent's head: and now seeing she had a son, her faith and hope was strength* sned that the promise should be fulfilled.

[453] Gen. iv. 3, 4. CaMs and AbePs Sacrifice. Abel when be comes before God is sensible of his own unworthiness and unfulness like the publican, and so is sensible of his need of an stonement, and therefore comes with bloody sacrifices, hereby testifying his faith in the promised great Sacrifice. Cain comes with his own righteousness like the pharisce, who put God in mind that he paid tythes of all that he possessed. He comes without any propitiation, with the fruit of his ground, and produce of tiis own labours, as though he could add something to the Most High) by gifts of his own substance; and therefore he was interested in no atonement, for he was not sensible of bis need of any, Dor did he trust in any, and so being a sinner, and not having perfectly kept God's commandments, sin lay at his door nnre-moved, and so his oflfering could not be accepted, for guilt remained to hinder. This reason God intimates, why his ofiering was not accepted, in what he says to him, verse 7th, *' If thou doest well—if thou keepeist my commandments, thou and thine offerings shall be accepted, but seeing thou doest not well, as thine own conscience witnesses that in many things thou hast offended, the guilt of sin remains to hinder thy being accepted without an atonement, thy righteousness cannot be accepted, ivhatever offering thou mayest bring to me. See Bp. Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophesy, p. 74, 75, and Owen on Heb. xi. 4, p. 18.

[344] Gen. iv. 7. " If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." Cain was not accepted in his offering, because he did not well—Bf-canse, 1. He was a wicked man, led an ill life under the reigniiig power of the world and the flesh, and therefo re his sacrifice waf ao abomination to the I^ord, Prov. xv. 8, a vain oblation Isai. i. 13. God had no respect to Cain himself, and therefore no te-spect to his offering, as the manner of the expression (v. 5.) int^r

VOL. IX. 32

matei. Bat Abel was a righteous maD: he is called righleom Abel, Matt, xxiii. 35. His heart was opright, and his life was pious ; he was one of those whom God's coaoteoance beholds, Ps« xi. 7, and whose prayer is therefore his delight, Prov« xv. & God had respect to him as a holy man, and therefore to his oflbr-ing as a holy offering. The tree must be good, else tbe frait cannot be pleasing to the heart-searching God*

2. There was a difference in the offerings they brought. It is expressly said, Heb. xi. 4, AbePs was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain's: either, 1. In the nature of it. Cain's was only a sa« crifice of acknowledgment offered to the Creator; the meat ofler-inga of the first of the ground were no more, and for ought I knoa might have been offered in innocency. But Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, the blood whereof was shed in order to remission, thereby owning himself a sinner, deprecating God's wrath, and imploring his favour in a Mediator: or, 2. In the qua-Utiei of the offering. Cain brought of the fruit of the g^und, any thing that came next to hand, what he had not occasion for himself, or was not more charitable. But Abel was curious in the choice of his offering, not the lame or the lean, or the refuse, bat tbe firstling of the flock, the best he had, and the fat thereof the best of those best. 3. The great difference was this, that Abe) oflered in faith, and Cain did not—'* Abel was a penitent, Kke the publican that went away justified ; Cain was unhumbled, and his confidence was in himself, like the pharisee who glorified himself, but he was not so much justified before God." Henry on verses 3, 4, 5.

[<* If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door."] Not at CaM$ door, but at Qod^s door. His wicked doings lay, as it were, at the door of God's temple, to prevent his admittance and acceptance with God: they stood as a partition wall between God and him. Wicked men's sins are a cloud which their prayers cannot pass through, and which hinders their offerings from being brought into the holy place : they are a thick veil before the door of the holiest of all, to hinder their access to God. 1 John iii. 21, 22. ^^ Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.''

^51] Gen. iv. 14. It seems to me no way improbable that Cain's house was intended, and by him understood, not only of bim personally, but of his posterity. Such he might learn from bis father Adam, seeing the covenant that was made with him was made not only for himself, but for his posterity. If Cain uoder-^d it only of himself personally, it seems somewhat strange that be should express himself after such a manner. The iohabiud

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. t71

earth was not broad enough for such expressions. The expreS' sion, from thy face, may be in the same sense as David was shut out from the face of God when he dwelt in Ziklag, from his altar where* his people sacrificed and worshipped him, and where he especially manifested himself. Doubtless there were then such things as well as afterwards.

[323] Gen. v. 29. '< And he called his name Noah, saying. This same shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of oor hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." Noah comforted God's people concerning their labour and fatigue, that was the fruit of God's curse on the ground.

1. And chiefiy as the Redeemer was to be of him, who should deliver his people from all their labours and sorrows, and should procure them everlasting life in the heavenly Canaan, a better paradise than that which was lost, where the ground is not cursed, and shall spontaneously yield her rich fruit every month, where there remains a rest to the people of God, who shall rest from their labours, and their works shall follow them.

2. He first invented wine, which is to comfort him that is faint and weary with fatigue, and the toil of his hands, and which makes glad man's heart, a remarkable type of the blood of Christ, and bis spiritual benefits.

3. To him was given leave to eat flesh, as a relief from the fruit of the curse on the ground, which rendered the fruits of it less pleasant and wholesome. God gave Noah leave to feed on the flesh of other animals, to comfort him under his toil of his hands in tilling the ground. And this is another type of our feeding on Christ, and having spiritual life and refreshment in him: for, in feeding on the flesh of animals, our food and the nourishment of our lives is obtuned at the expense of their lives and shedding their blood, at we come to feed on Christ by his layin^^ down his life. And these things in Noah that should be matter of comfort under God's curse, are the rather taken notice of in him, because in his time the curse on the ground was to be more fully executed than ever it had been before—the good constitution of the earth was to be overthrown by a flood, and its wholesomeness and fertility greatly diminished, and so the toil of his hands would be greatly increased, were it not for this relief given that has been mentioned.

4. Before Noah, God's people did not know how far this curse would proceed; they probably foresaw that God intended to execute the curse on the ground in a much further degree than ever yet he had done. God had not comforted his people by any limits set in any promise made to them, but to Noah God made a gracious promise, setting limits to the curse, promising in some respects

m certain measure of suecess to the labour of their handsy promit-log that seed-time, and harvest, &c. should not cease.

[5] Gen. vi. 4. The monstrous births that arose from the conjunction of the sons of God with the daughters of men, typify onto us what an odious monster results from the conjoining of holy things with wicked, as of a holy profession with a wicked life in hypocrites, and what powerful enemies against religion sacb are, whether they are particular persons or churches, as the church of Rome, that monstrous beast, in whom are joined the profession of the name of Christ and many of his doctrines with the most odious devilism, who has horns as a Iamb, but speaks as a dragon: and their bulk and huge stature denotes their pride, as none are so

proud as hypocrites. Vid. 257.

•

[257] Gen. vi. 4. And their great bulk, and strength, and renown, besides the pride of such persons and churches as join the religion, doctrines, and worship, and profession of his church with the deluding glories and bewitching pleasures of this world, and of the heathenish and other human and carnal churches and societies of it, here typified by the beauty of the daughters of men. I say, besides the pride of such churches, these things seem to denote the earthly pomp and splendour, and worldly renown, sod glory, and great temporal power that such churches aflfect, and l^ are commonly in Providence suffered to arrive to, as the church of Rome and others.

[428] Gen. vi. 4. '' And there were giants in the earth in those days,'' &c. Pausanias, in his Laconics, mentions the bones of men of a more than ordinary bigness, which were shown in ibe temple of Esculapius, at the city of Asepus: and in the first of bisEliacks, he speaks of a bone taken out of the sea, which aforetime was kept at Piso, and thought to have been one of Pelops. Pbilastratus, in the beginning of his Heroicks, informs us that many bodies of giants were discovered in Pallei^e, by showers of rain and earthquakes. Pliny, b. vii. ch. 16, says, *' That upon the bursting of a mountain in Crete, there was found a body standing upright, which was reported by some to have been the body of Orion, b> others, the body of Eetion. Orestes's body, when it was commanded by the oracle to be digged up, is reported to have been seven cubits long. And almost a thousand years ago, the poet Homer continually complained, " that men's bo-^ dies were less than of old." And Solinus, chap. i. inquires,

•« Were not all that were blorn in that age less than their parents ?" And the story of Orestes's funeral testifies the bigness of the ancients ; whose bones when they were digged up in the 5Sth Oly m-

piad at Yegea, by the advice of the oracle, are related to have been seven cubits in length. Other writings, which give a credible relation of ancient matters, affirm this, that in the war of Crete, when the rivers had been so high as to overflow and break down their banks, after the flood was abated, upon the clearing of the earth, there was found a human body of three and thirty feei long: which L. Flaccus, the legate, and Metellus himself being very desirous of seeing, were much surprised to have the satisfaction of seeing what they did not believe when they heard." Gro-tias deVerit. b. i. sect. lU, Notes.

Josephus, b. v. chap. 2, of his ancient history: ** There remains to this day some of the race of the giants, who by reason of the bulk and figure of their bodies, so difierent from other men, are wonderful to see or hear of. Their bones are now shown far exceeding the belief of the vulgar.'^ Gabinius, in his history of Mauritania, said that Antseus's bones were found by Sertorius, which, joined together, were sixty cubits long. Phlegon Tral-lianns, in his 9th chap, of Wonders, mentions the digging up the bead of Ida, which was three times as big as that of an ordinary woman. And he adds also that there were many bodies found in Dalmatia, whose arms exceeded sixteen cubits. And the same man relates out of Theopompus, that there were found in the Cimmerian Bosphorus a company of human bones twenty-four cubits in length. Le Clerk's Notes on Grotius de Veritat. b. i. sect 16.

We almost every where in the Greek and Latin historians meet with the savage life of the giants mentioned by Moses. In the Greek, as Homer, Iliad 9th, and Hesiod, in his VVorks and Days. To this may be referred the Wars of the Gods mentioned by Plato io his Second Republic, and those distinct and separate govern-ffleots taken notice of by the same Plato, in his third book of Laws. And as to the Latin historians, see the first book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and the fourth book of Lucan, and Seneca's third book of Natural Questions, Quest. 30, where he says concerning the Deloge, *' that the beasts also perished, into whose nature men were degenerated." Grotius de Verit. b. i. sect. 16.

[199] Gen. vi. 14. "Make thee an ark of gopher wood.** The word in the Hebrew language seems to imply that the wood was of a bituminous or pitchy nature, and consequently more capable of resisting wet or moisture, and St. Chrysostom particularly calls it ?wXa TSTjaywva a(r^^ra, square wood not liable to rot. The learned Fuller rightly concludes it to be the cypress, from the affinity of the word for cypress in Greek, which is KunrafMfo'of; firom whence, if the termination is taken away, Cuphar, or Gopher^

consists of such letters as are often changed into each other; neither is there any wood less subject to rottenness and womM thaa this is, as all writers do allow. * Pliny saith that the cjrpress wood is not sensible of rottenness or age, that it will never split nor cleave asunder except by force, and that no worm will touch it, because it hath a peculiar bitter taste ; and therefore Plato advised that all records that are to be preserved for the benefit of future generations, should be written upon tables of cypress, liartial says that it will last for an hundred ages and never decay. Tho-cydides saith that the chests were made of cypress in which the Athenians carried away the bones of those who died in war for their country, and the Scholiast gives this reason for it, because it would never decay, and the Pythagoreans abstained from making coffins of cypress, because they certainly concluded that the scepter of Jupiter was made of this tree, and no reason can be assigned for such a fiction among the poets, but because it was the fittest resemblance of that eternal power and authority which they attribute to him. Theophrastus, speaking of those trees which are least subject to decay, adds this as a conclusion, that the cypress tree seems to be the most durable of all, and that the folding doors of the temple of Ephesus being made thereof, had lasted without damage for four generations. In this Pliny is morepai^ ticular, and saith that those doors were made of cypress, and they had lasted till his time, which he saith was near four hundred years, and still looked as if they were new. And Vitruvius speaki both of the cypress and of the pine tree, that they kept for a long time without the least defect, because the sap, which is in every part of the wood, hath a peculiar bitter taste, as is so very ofieo-sive that no worm or other consuming animal will touch it. He also tells us that such works as are made of such wood will last for ever. And therefore he advises that the beams of all churches should especially be made of cypress wood, because such as were made of fir were soon consumed by the worm and rottenness; and as it was such a lasting wood, so it was also very fit for the building of ships. Peter Martyr, as cited by the learned Fuller, saith that the inhabitants of Crete had their cypress-trees so common, that they made the beams of their houses, their rafters, their rooms, and floors, and also their ships of this wood. Plutarch saith that the shipcarpenter in the first place useth the pine from Isthmos, and the cypress from Crete; and Vegetius adds, that the galleys are built chiefly of the cypress, and of the pine-trees, or of the larch and fir; and in the epistle of Theodoricus to Abundantios, the Prefect, in which he gives him a commission to build a thousand barks for fetching provisions, or bread-corn ; he commands him to inquire throughout all Italy, for proper artists, for wood

ir f uch work; and wherever he should find the cypress or pine-rees near the shore, that he should buy them at a reasonable irice* Neither was it thus only in Crete and Italy, but Diodorus iroves that in Phoenicia there was timber sufficient to build ships, lecaase Libanus, near Tripoli, and Biblus, and Sidon were full »f cedar-trees, and larch-trees, and cypress-trees, which were very idmirable for show and greatness; and Plato, among the trees that rere fit for shipcarpenters to use, places the cypress next to the Hoe and the larch-trees. And even in latter years, we are told hat the Saracens did hasten from Alexandria to Phoenicia to cut lown the cypress-wood, and fit it for the use of the ships. And IS the cypress-tree was very fit for this use, so it grew in great ikuty in Assyria and Babylonia, and therefore Arrian and Strabo ipeak particularly of it, and that the numerous fleet which Alex-inder the Great built in those parts, was made of the cypress which le cot down, and which grew in Babylonia. For there was, as Lb^y 8ay» ^ great plenty of these trees in Assyria, and that they liad no other wood in the country which was fit for such a pur^ pose.

Bedford's Scripture Chronology, p. 111, 112, notes that the reason why they needed a sort of wood not subject to decay or rottenness, was chiefly because the ark was so long in building. Had it Bot been a kind of wood of extraordinary durableness, it would kave decayed and spoiled in much less than in 120 years, being exposed to the weather.

[259] The country where Noah built the ark, was probably in Babylonia, or the region thereabout, which abounds with cypress Mr gopher-trees. The Gordyean mountains in Armenia seem to be at a proportional distance, and since they are allowed to be the ligbest in the world, there is no reason for receding from the com-Booiy received opinion, viz. that those were the hills whereon the irk stopped. Here it is that the generality of geographers place he ark. Here it is that almost all travellers have found the re->ort of it. And lastly, here it is that the inhabitants of the county show aome relics of it, and call places after its name to this rery day. Complete Body of Divin. p. 324.

" In Armenia est altior molis quam sit in toto orbe terrarum, |ai Araih vulgariter nuncupatur; et in cacumine montis illius irca Noe post diluvium primo sedit; et licet propter abundan-iaoe nivium, quae semper in illo monte reperiuntur, nemo valet llom ascendere; semper tamen apparet in ejus cacumine quod-Imm nigrom, quod ab hominibus dicitur esse Area." Hist. Orient. . 9.

The mount Gordion, called by the Turks Ardagh^ is the high-st in the world; the Jews, the Armenians, and the Mussulmans

affirm that the ark of Noah stopped at this mountain after the deluge. La Boulaye^s Voyages, They tell us likewise that the city Nahsivan, which is about three leagues from the mountain Ararat, is the oldest in the world ; that Noah dwelt therein when be camt out of the ark; that the word Nahsivan is derived from JVoi, which signifies a ship^ and sivan^ which signifies to stop or stag; and that this name was given to it because the ark stopped at this same mountain. Tavernier's Travels, tom. iv.

[297] Gen. vii. 1—7. The company in Noah^s Ark was upon many accounts a type of the church of Christ* The ark did literally contain in it the church of God, for all flesh had co^ rupted their way before God, and true religion and piety seemed to be confined to Noah and his family. The ark was made for the salvation of the church, and for the saving the church from the destruction which the world was to undergo, and to which it was doomed, and of which all the rest of mankind were to be the subjects in an overflowing deluge of God's wrath. So Christ, God-man, mediator was made for the salvation of his church, to save it from that destruction and wo that is denounced against this wicked world, and that deluge of wrath that will overwhelm all others. The way in which persons were saved by the ark, was by taking warning from Noah the preacher of righteoosness to fly from the wrath to come, and hearkening to the call, and flying for refuge to the ark, and getting into the ark. So the way by which we are saved by Christ, is by flying from the deluge of God's wrath, and taking refuge in Christ, and being in him.

The ark was a refuge, from storm, and from wind, the rain that poured down out of heaven in a very dreadful manner, it did not hurt those that were in the ark ; so Christ is an hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest. Isai. xxxii. !• He is a place of refuge, and acovert from storm and from wind. Isai. iv. 6.'' He is to his church a refuge from the storm, when tbe blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." Isai. zxv. 4. '' He that is built in Christ, when the wind blows, the rain descends, and the floods come and beat upon his house, it will not fall.''

The company in the ark was safe in the greatest catastrophe, when the world was as it were dissolved. So they that have Christ for their refuge and strength, need not fear, though tbe earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, (as they in fact were in the flood, they were in the midst of the sea, the sea surrounded them and overwhelmed them,) though the waters thereof roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Ps. xlvi. 1, 2,3. Though the waters were so exceeding great and overwhelming,

yet those that were in ihe ark did not sink in them. Though the waters overtopped the highest mountains, yet they could not overwhelm them ; though the ark when it stood on the ground was a Idw thing, iu comparison of other things that the waters overwhelmed, yet the waters could not get above them, but let the the waters rise ne\'er so high, yet the ark kept above them, which evidently represents the safety of the church in Christ in the greatest danger, so that *• when thou passest through the waters, 1 will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee," Isai. xliii. 2. Concerning those that belong to the cbarch of Christ, it is promised in Ps. xxxii.6, ** For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come Dlgb onto him.'' And though the church often appears as a low thing, as though the mighty waters that come against it could immediately overflow it, yet the church is kept above water, let them come in ever so fiercely, and rise never so high. If it was not the Lord that is on their side, oftentimes her enemies would swallow her up quick. This also represents to us bow Christ was kept from sinking under his suflVrtngs. It was impossible that Christ should fail in the great work that he undertook, and though his suflferings were so great, though the deluge that came Qpon him was so very great, the billows of wrath so mighty, enough to overwhelm a whole world, and to overwhelm the highest mountains, to overtop the stoutest and mightiest, yet Christ did not sink and fail, but was kept above water, he kept above all, and in the issue triumphed over all, as his church also in him shall obtain the victory over all her enemies, and shall appear finally above them, let them rise never so high, and deal never so proudly, as the ark kept still above the water, when the waters were mounted up even to heaven. The ship wherein Christ was could not sink. Mat. viii. 24, 25,26. '* And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was co-vved with the waves ; but he was asleep, and his disciples came to Um, and awoke him, saying, Lord,^save us; we perish. And he said onto them. Why are ye fearful ? O'ye of little faith ! Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great caln^/' They that went into the ark were saved, when thousands and millions of others were destroyed, so they that dwell in the secret place of the Most High, that make Christ their refuge, and the Most High their habitation; thousands shall fall at their side, and ten thousands at their right hand; only with their eyes shall they behold and see the reward of the wicked, but no evil shall befal them, nor any plague come nigh their dwelling, Ps. xci.

There was but one ark that any could resort to for refuge in the whole world. So there is no other name, but the name of VOL. IX. 23

Christ given under tieaven among men whereby we must be saved. There was no other refuge but the arlc. Iftheywenl up to the tops of their houses, or to the tops of the highest mountains, it was in vain ; the waters overtopped them : so if men tmsl in their carnal confidences, in their own strength, their own works, and mount high in a towering conceit of their own righteousness, it is in vain. In vain is salvation looked for from the hills, and the multitude of the mountains, for there is no safety but in the Lord. Other refuges did they then probably look for, more likely to save them than the ark, for they could scarce conceive of such a way of safety by the floating of such a building on the waters, the art of making ships having not been discovered before that time. So men's own righteousness looks more likely to men to save (them, than Christ. They are ready of say to the Lord's Anointed, How shall this man save us ?

There were but a few saved, when all the rest of the world was destroyed; so the church of Christ is but a little flock.

The door of the ark was open to receive all sorts of creatures, tigers, wolves, bears, lions, leopards, serpents, vipers, dragons, such as men would not by any means admit into the doors of their bouses, but if they came they would soon have beat them out again. So Qhrist stands ready to receive all, even the vilest and and worst: he came to save the chief of sinners. There were all kinds of creatures in the ark, so in the Christian church are gathered together persons of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and Kople, persons of all degrees, all kinds of tempers and manners, the ark the wolf dwelt with the lamb, the leopard lay down with the kid, all were peaceable together in the ark, even those that were the greatest enemies, and were wont to devour one another before, as it is prophecied that it should be in the Christian church, Isai. xi. 6, &c., Ixv. 25.

All in the ark was subject to Noah, as the church is subject to Christ; all was saved by his righteousness. Gen. vii. 1, " And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark: for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." As the church is saved by Christ's righteousness, there is no rest any where for God's people but and in Christ, as the dove that Noah sent forth found no rest for the sole of her foot but in the ark; when she wandered from the ark, she found no rest till she returned again. The dove therein was a type of a true saint, as the raven was a type of a false professor, who separates from Christ, and returns to him no more.

The ark was taken up from the earth, and ader being long tossed to and fro in the waters, when it was not steered by the wisdom of Noah, but was only under the care of Providence, is rested on the top of an exceeding high mountain, as it were io

heaven, and was brought into a new world; so the church of Christ in this world is tossed to and fro like a bark on the water, passes through great tribulation, and appears to be overwhelmed. Isai. liv. 11. *^ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted ! behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires." At last, through God's care of it and mercy to it, it rests in heaven. The ark, in the midst of the flood, rested on a mountain strong and high; so the churcby when ready to be overwhelmed, rests on a rock higher than she.

[354] Gen. vii. 8, 9, and 14,15, 16. Concerning the resorting of afl kinds ofbinU^ and beasts^ and creeping things to the ark before the fiooj. The particular animals that were gathered together to the ark aod saved there, when all the rest of their kind were destroyed, were those that God had pitched on, and in his sovereign pleasure chosen out of the many thousands and millions that were of their kind, and yet they were of every kind, as it were of every nation of birds and beasts. So that here was a lively image of that gathering together of the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, that there was before the destruction of Jerusalem, and before the terrible judgments of God that came on the earth at and before Constantine's time, and that will be before the great destruction of God's enemies that will be about the time of the destruction of Antichrist, when the harvest of the earth shall be gathered in before the vintage, and the gathering together there will be to Christ before the great, and general, and last destruction of the wicked by the general conflagration, when the world shall be destroyed by a deluge of fire. There are elect of every nation that shall be gathered in before the final destruction of the wicked world, as is often said in scripture, especially in the book of Revelation. The doves and other birds then flocked to the windows of the ark, representing that flocking of souls to Christ which shall be as doves to their windows. They flocked together, the eagle, the vulture, and other rapacious birds, together with doves and other such birds, without preying upon them; repre-^ senting times of great ingathering of souls to Christ, wherein the wolf dwells wit^ the lamb, and the leopard lies down with the kid, be.

[346] Gen. viii. 7, 8, &ic. Concerning the raven and tlie dove^ thai Noah sent forth. The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, which, finding no rest for its foot, no solid peace or satisfaction in this world, this deluged, defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrions it finds there. But return thou to thy rest, O my soul, to thy Noah^ so the word is, Ps.

Gzvi. 7. <' O that I had wings (ike a dove to flee -Co hinh'' Ps. Iv« 6. The olive branch, which was an emblem of peace, was broughti not by a raven, a bird of prey, nor by a gay and proud peacock, but by a mild, patient, humble dove. It is a dove-like disposiiioD that brings in to the soul earnests of rest and joy.

[166] Gen. viii. 21. '' And the Lord smelt a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not," &c. It was not for the acceptableness of that sacrifice that made God promise that he would no more curse the ground, but the acceptableness of the sacrifice of Christ represented by it.

[347] Gen. ix. 5, S^c. ^* And surely your blood of your livei

will I require it whoso sheddeth man's blood„by man shall hii

blood be shed." We have an account of murders before the flood, but nothin«; that looks as though murder was wont then to be revenged with death by men, in an established course of public jas-tice. Lamech, when he had been guilty of murder, seems not to have been executed for it by men. And by the story of Cain, it should seom that God took the punishment of murder then into his own hands. In all probability, a little before the flood, wbes we read that the earth was filled with violence, the earth was filled with murders, and that those giants who then became such mighty men, and men of renown, were guilty of .many murders, and that it was in the earth as it was in corrupt times in Israel, and the had was filled with oppression and violence, in other respects tbetr bands were full of blood, Isai. i« 15, Jer. ii. 34, ** And the land was full of blood," Ezek. ix. 9. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they broke out, and blood toucheth blood: tho like in many other places. And there being no human laws for putting murderers to death, therefore God did in a remarkable manner take that work into his ovn hands in the destruction of those murderers by the waters of the deluge ; but now establishes it as a rule henceforward to be observed, that murder shall be revenged in a course of public justice.

Another reason why God now does expressly establish and pa^ ticularly insist on this rule is, that God had now first given then leave to shed the blood of beasts for food, which had not been granted till now, which liberty they would have been in danger of abusing, to make shedding of blood appear a less terrible thing to them, and so taking encouragement the more lightly to shed men*! blood, had not God set up this fence.

[238] Gen. ix. 12, 13, 14, 15. Concerning (he rainbow tkat God gave for a token of the covenant to Noah. The author of Revelation examined with Candour, supposes that the rainbow was

ten before Noab saw it, on occasioB of his revealing his It to him, and says, ^^ The tradiiioo of antiquity concern-rainbow, seems strongly to confirm this opinion; for /m, s the name of the rainbow with the Greeks, is said to be ghter of TkaunuMy i. e. Wonder, and the messenger of Ju-I carry his great oath to the other gods when they had of-Now this seems to be a fable plnihly founded upon the covenant now mentioned, which God made with men after ige, the covenant of God on this occasion plainly implies b of God, as you may learn from Isai. liv. 9, where God ig his resolution of mercy to the Gentiles, useth these ' Far this is as (he waters of Noah unto meyfor as I have hat the waters of Noah shoidd no more go over the earthy so )wom that I would not be wroth with ihee^ nor rebuke thee.^^ '

] Gen. ix. 12, &c. Concerning the rainbow^ the token of nant. This is on many accounts a token of God's cove-grace, and his special promise of no more overthrowing ih with a flood in particular.

IS a most fit token of the covenant of grace of which this lar covenant was a part, and also an image, as appears by /• 8, 9, 10. Tokens of things that appertain to the cove-God do as fitly confifm this promise, as they did the pro-entioned in the vii. chap, of Isaiah, ver. 14. It is light s the symbol of God's favour and blessed communications I that are the objects of his favour, and a symbol of hope, t and joy, excellency and glory. It is a very pleasant xcellently representing that grace and love that is manifest-be covenant of grace, and that sweet comfort and peace, It excellent grace and glory that is the fruit of that love, light manifested in all the variety of its beautiful colours, represent^ as has been elsewhere shown, the beauty and 3ss of the divine Spirit of love, and those amiable sweet and happy influences that are from that Spirit. a pleasant sweet light in a cloud, which is the symbol of rine presence, and especially of God manifest in the flesh, le human nature of Christ, and therefore fitly represents lasant grace and sweet love of God as appearing in Christ an. The light of the sun is more beautiful and pleasant to akeyes appearing thus in a cloud where the dazzling bright-it is removed, and its pleasantness retained and illustrated, hen we behold it in the sun directly. So the divine perfects appearing in Christ God man, are brought down to our r of conception, and are represented to the greatest advan-) such'weak creatures as we are, and appear not glaring and ng, but easy, sweet, and inviting. The light of the rainbow

ID a cloud, teaches the like mystery witii the light of 6re in a pillar of cloud in the wilderness, even the uuiouof the divine aatore, or God dwelling in flesh.

It is a pleasant light in the bosom of a dissolving cloud, that is wearied with watering, and is spending itself for the sake of men, and in order to shed down its fatness, its nourishing, benign, refreshing influences on the earth, and so fitly represents the beauty and love, and excellent fulness of Christ, as it is manifested in bis dying for men. The drops of rain fitly represent Christ's blood, and also his word, and the blessed communications of bis Spirit, which come by his death, and are compared to the rain in the scripture.

As the cloud fitly represents the human nature of Christ's person, so also it doth Christ mystical, or the human nature of the church. In the rainbow the light of the sun is imparted to, and sweetly reflected from a cloud, that is but a vapour that continues for a little while, and then vanishes away in an empty, on-substantial, vanishing thing, driven to and fro with the wind, that is far from having any light or beauty of its own, being io its own nature dark.

The multitude of drops from which the light of the sun is so beautifully reflected, signify the same with the multitude of the drops of dew that reflect the light of the sun in the morning, spoken of, Ps. ex. 3. (See notes in the place.) They are all 6od*s jewels, and, as they are all in heaven, each one by its reflectioo, is a little star, and so do more fitly represent the saints ihao the drops of dew. These drops are all from heaven, as the sanits are born from above ; they are all from the dissolving cloud, so the saints are the children of Christ, they receive their new nature from him, and by his death they are from the womb of the cloud, the church: Jerusalem which is above, is the mother of us all; the saints are born of the church that is in travail with them, enduring great labours, and suflering, and carnal persecutions, so those jewels of God are out of the dissolving cloud. These drops receive and reflect the light of the sun just breaking forth, and shining out of the cloud that had been till now darkened and hid, and covered with thick clouds, so the saints receive grace and comfort from Christ's rising from his state of humiliation, suflfering, and death* wherein his glory was veiled, and he that is the brightness of God's glory was as it were extinguished, as was signified in the time of it, by that eclipse of the sun. The light which iu the sun, its fountain, is one and unvaried as it is reflected from the cloud, appears with great variety, so the glory of God, that is simple, is reflected from the saints in various graces. The whole rainbow, composed of innumerable shining beautiful drops, all uaited in one, ranged in such excellent order, some parts higher

mnd others lower, the different colours, one above another in SQch exact order, beautifully represents the church of saints of different degrees, gifts, and offices, each with its proper place, and each with its peculiar beaiily: each drop may be beautiful in itself, but the whole as united together, much more beautiful. Numb* xxiv. 5, 6. " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! as the valleys are they spread forth, as the gardens by the river's side ; as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as the cedar-trees beside the waters." Ps. xlviii. 2. *^ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion." Ps. I. 2. '* Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." Ps. cxxii. 3. '^ Jerusalem is builded as a city compact together. Part of this bow is on earth, and part in heaven, so it is with the church. The bow gradually rises higher and higher from the earth towards heaven, so the saints from their first conversion are travelling in the way towards heaven, and gradually climb the hill, till they arrive at the top. So this bow in this respect is a like token of the covenant with Jacob's ladder, which represented the way to heaven by the covenant of grace, in which the saints go from step to step, and from strength to strength, till they arrive at the heavenly Zion ; so in this bow the ascent is gradual towards the top in the way to heaven ; the beginning of the ascent is sharpest and most difficult; the.higher you ascend the easier the ascent becomes. On earth this bow is divided, the parts of it that are here below are at a distance from one another, but in heaven it is united, and perfectly joined together. So different parts of the church on earth may be divided, separated as to distance of place, have no acquaintance one part with another, and separated in manner of worship and many opinions, and separted in affection, but will he perfectly united in heaven. The parts of the rainbow, the higher you ascend, the nearer and nearer do they come together, so the more eminent saints are in knowledge and holiness, the nearer they are to a anion in opinion and affection, but perfect union is not to be expected but in heaven.

This beautiful, pleasant light, appears after the heavens have been covered with blackness, and have poured out rain on the earth, seeming to threaten its destruction by a deluge ; so it is a fit sirobol of his mercy after his anger, the turning away of his anger, his mercy appearing in the forgiveness of sins. So the glorious gospel follows the law, and Christ's glory follows his sufferings, and comfort in the hearts of the saints follows sorrows of conscience ; yea this light is light in darkness, it is a beautifnl light reflected from the dark cloud, showing God's love in his anger, his love appearing in his frowns. God's love never so greatly appeared as in the sufferings of Christ, the greatest manifesta-

tion of his anger against sinners, and his love when the shower is over in past threateniogs, and convictions, and terrors of conscience, which the saints have been the subjects of.

The rainbow, if completed, would be a perfect circle, the most perfect figure in every part united, fitly representing the most excellent order and perfect union that there shall be in the church of Christ. The rainbow is sometimes in scripture represented as a circle, Rev. x. 1, << And a rainbow was upon his head.*' The reason why the circle is not now complete, is because a part of it is as it were under the earth*; but if we by standing on an high mountain, or otherwise see tt all raised above the earth, we should see it a complete circle. So the church of Christ is now incomplete, while a ]iart of the eleU church is buried under the earth, and a part has never yet received being, but after the general resurrection, when that part of the church that is now under the earth shall be raised above it, then the church of Christ would be in its complete state. If we could view the resurrection church from an high mountain, as the apostle John viewed it, and saw it in the colours of the rainbow, reflected from these precious stones, we should see the circle completed without any part wanting, all disposed Id the most perfect union and beautiful order. The order of the drops of the rainbow, supposing them to represent saints, and the sun to represent Christ, is the most apt, commodious, and beautiful, both with respect to the sun and each other. They are in the most apt order with respect to the sun, all opposite to him, and so placed in a fit posture to view the sun, and to receive and reflect his rays, all at an equal distance from the sun, and all in a sense round about him to testify their respect to him, and yet none behind him, but all before his face, and all in the most apt order to behold and reflect light on, and converse together, and assist and rejoice one another. On the whole, here is an image of the most pleasant and perfect harmony, of a great and blessed society dependent on, blessed in, and showing respect to, the fountain of all light and love.

The sun is as it were in the centre of this beautiful circle of little jewels or stars, as the sun is in the centre of the orbits of the planets, and as the ark, and mercy-seat, and the seven lamps were in the midst of the tabernacle of blue, and purple, and scarlet, those colours of the rainbow, and as Christ is in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and as the throne of the Lamb is in the midst of the saints of heaven, who are round about that throne, and also a -rainbow round about the throne, Rev. iv. 3, 4; and as the Lamb, who is the light of the new Jerusalem, has that city adorned with the colours of the rainbow round about him.

■

Each drop contains in itself a beatitifnl imasre of the sun re-.ected after its manner according to that part of the sun's glory rhich is most conspicuous in it: one contains a red image of the un, another a yellow one, another a green one, and another a ilue one, &c.: so each saint reflects the image of Christi though sach one has his particular gift, and there he some particular ;raee or spiritual beauty that is most conspicuous in him. The vrhole bow, when completed into the form of a circle, or all that multitude of shining jewels or stars to^^ether united into that excellent form and order, do together constitute one complete iiDiige of the sun. Though the image differs from the sun itself in the following things: 1. That whereas the disk of the lun is full within its own circumference, the image is empty, it is a circle not filled, but left empty to be filled with the sun, so Christ hasall fulness in himself, but the church is in itself an empty vessel, and Christ is her fulness. 2. Whereas the light n single in the sun, in the bow it is diversified, reflected in a great variety, the distinct glories of the sun as it were divided, sod separately reflected each beauty by itself, as it is in Christ and his church. 3. Though there be so many that each one reflects a little image of the sun, and the whole bow or circle be of so great extent, and be so beautiful, yet the sun infinitely exceeds the whole in light, the whole reflects but a little of the brightness of the fountain.

A drop of rain fitly represents man. It is a very small thing, of little value and significancy ; a drop of the bucket, and light dust of the balance, are mentioned together as small and worthy of DO consideration. It is very weak, very mutable, and unstable, exceeding liable to perish, soon falls and is dissipated, and cannot be made up again. The continuance of a drop of rain is bat short, it is a thing of a very posting nature, its course is iwift, and in a moment it sinks into the earth, and is no more, which fitly represents the frailty and mortality of man, whose days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, who is but a momeo* tary thing, and hastens with a swift course to the grave. Man's dying and sinking into the grave is compared to this very thing, of .water's being spilt on the ground, sinking into the earth, and BO being irrecoverably gone, 2 Sam. xiv. 14.

The drops of rain reflecting the light of the sun in the rainbow fitly represent the saints, for in them fire and water are mixed together, which fitly represents the contrary principles that are in the saints' flesh and spirit. In those drops are a brighter spark of heavenly fire in the midst of water, and yet it it Dot quenched, it is kept alive by the influence of the sun, as the heavenly seed and divine spark is kept alive in the saints in the midst of corruption and temptation, that seem often nfl if VOL. IX. 24

they would overwhelm and extinguish it. So God suffers oot the smoking flax to be quenched. The drop io itself is wbollj water, as the nature of nmn in itself is wholly corrupt; in the saints, that is, in their flesh, dwells no good thing; they hare no light or brightness in them, but only what is immediately from heaven, from the Sun of Righteousness. In the drops of the rainbow is represented both the saints descending to the grave by the flesh, and also their ascending to heaven by the spirit of holiness, for the water descends swiftly to be buried iothe earth, but by the fire a beautiful light, in them is represented an ascent as it were up an hill from the earth to heaven.

These drops fitly represent the saints on another account, as Mary's alabaster box of precious ointment represented the heart of a saint; this drop, though itself is weak and frail, yet is clear and pure as alabaster, and contains as it were a spark or show of beautiful heavenly light in it, which represents the same divine grace that Mary's precious ointment did.

[419] Gen. x. and xi. The dispersion and first setthment of the nations. By the descendents of Jophat were the isles of the Gentiles divided. Gen. x. 5. By the Isles^ the Hebrews denoted not only such countries as were on all sides encompassed by sea* but also such countries as were so divided by the sea from theni as that they could not be well come unto, or at least used not to be gone unto, but by sea: in brief, they called islands^ all beyond sea-countries^ and all people islanders, which were wont to come by the sea to them and to the Egyptians, among whom the Jews lived a long time, and so called things by the same names, at least in Moses's time, when the people were lately come out of Egypt. Now such are not only the island of Cypress, Crete, and other islands of the Mediterranean, but also the country of the Lesser Asia, and the countries of Europe ; and indeed those countries, so many of them as were then inhabited and known to the Jews, were not only beyond the sea, but peninsulas mostly encompassed by the sea, as the Lesser Asia, Greece, Italy, and Spain. And that not only Europe, but the countries of the Lesser Asia were called isles^ seems manifest by Isai. x. 10, LI, *' The Lord shall recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." Lesser Asia is either here included under the term, islands of the sea, or wholly left out: but it is not likely the countries of Asia would be mentioned so many of them to the south-east and north of Judea, far and near, and the countries of Europe beyond the Lesser Asia, and all countries of the Lesser Asia wholly passed over.

The fK>ns of Japhet were seven, Gomer, Magog, Madai, Ja-▼an. Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodenim, Gen. x. 2. 4.

To begin with Gomer and his sons, to whom we maj assign the greatest part of the northern tract of the Lesser Asia for their first plantations. Josephus tells us expressly that the Ga-latians who lived in this tract were called Gomeritesy and Herodotus tells us that a people called Cimmerii dwelt in those parts; and Pliny speaks of a town in Troas, a part of Phrygia, called Cimmeris. All the northern part of Lesser Asia was anciently called Phrygia by the Greeks, which is a word that in the Greek language signifies torrid or burnt country, as Gomer in Hebrew is from the Radix Gamar, which signifies to consume; and its derivation Griimra, or Gumro, signifies a coal, and it is certain there was a part of this country which was specially called by the Greeks, *fu7ia Ksxaufxsvr], Burnt Phrygian

Asbkenaz, who of the three sons of Gomer is first named by

Moses, was seated in the western part of the nation of Gomer,

i. e. in the north*west part of the Lesser Asia; as it is hardly to

be questioned, there being so plain footsteps of his name to be

found in those parts; for in Bythinia there is a bay formerly

called the Ascanian bay, together with a river and lake of the

tame name, and in the lesser Phrygia, or Troas, there was both

a city and province anciently known by the name of Ascania,

and there was isles lying on the coast called the Ascanian isles;

nor is it any way unlikely but that in honour of this Ashkenaz,

the king and great men of those pacts took the name of Asca-

oias, of which name besides, Ascanius, (he son of Eneas, we

Sod a king mentioned in the second book of Homer's Iliads,

which came to the aid of Priamus at the siege of Troy, arid

from hence probably came name that the Greeks gave to the

lea, the Euxine sea. From the family of Ashkenaz, upon the

eoasts along which lies the entrance into this sea, with some

variation of the sound, which length of time might naturally

introduce. And the prophet Jeremiah foretelling the taking of

Babylon by Cyrus, has this expression, chap. li. ver. 27. ^' Call

together against her the kingdom of Ararat, and Miseni, and

Ashkenaz;" where, by the kingdom of Ashkenaz, may very well

be understood the inhabitants of those parts we are speaking

of, for Xenophon, as Bochart has well observed, tells us that

Cyrus having taken Sardes, sent Hystaspes with an army into

Phrygia, that lies on the Hellespont, and that Hystaspes having

made himself master of the country, brought along with him

from thence a great many of the horse and other soldiers of the

Pbrygianty whom Cyrus took along with the rest of bis ar Babylon.

Riphath, the second son of Gonier, is probably suppo^ have seated his family in the parts adjoining eastward t plantation of his brother Ashkenaz. This opinion is conii by the testimony of Josephus, who expressly says that the] lagonians, a people inhabiting some portion of this tract, originally called Riphatenns^ from Riphat. There are also remainders of his name to be found here among the wr of the ancient Greeks and Latins. For in Appalloniues's . nauticksy there is mention made of the river called lih( which rising in this tract, empties itself into the Euxin( The same is called by Dionysius Periegetes, and others Rl Stephanus does not only acquaint us with the river, but U also of a region of the same name, and whose inhabitants called Rhebcei; and Pliny places here a people called Ri and another called Arimphcei.

The third and last son of Gomer named by Moses, is 2 mahy whose family was seated in the remaining, and consec ly in the most easterly part of the nation of Gomer, an< situation of the family of Togarmah is agreeable both to s and common writers; for as to sacred scripture, Ezekiel speaks, chap, xxzviii. ver. 6. '* Gomer, and all his band house of Togarmah, of the north quarters, and all his bai and again, chap, xxvii. ver. 14. '' They of the house o garmah traded in thy fairs, (i. e. the fairs of Tyre,) with h and horsemen, and mules." Now the situation that we f to Togarmah makes it in a manner lie true north from . and Cappadocia, by which name a considerable part of t of Togarmah was in process of time known to the Greeks very well stocked with an excellent breed of horses and n and that the inhabitants were esteemed good horsemen, well attested by several ancient heathen writers, as Solin Cappadocia, Dionysius Periegates, Claudian, and Strabo there are to be found footsteps of the very name of Tog in some of those names, whereby some of the inhabitai this tract were known to old writers. Thus Strabo tells u the Trochmi dwelt in the confines of Pontus and Cnppa< And several towns lying on the east of the river Halys, a in Cappadocia, are assigned to them by Ptolomy. They a Cicero called Trogmij and Trachmcni by Stephanus; and council of Chalccdon ihey are called Trocmadesy or Trogm there being frequent mention made in that council of Cyri Bishop of the Trogmades,

We next proceed to say something of the colonies v coming from the nation of Gomer, in process of time s

IhemselTea in several parts of Europe. Herodotus tells us that a people called Cimmerii formerly dwelt in that tract of Lesser Asia, which we assign to Gomer. So he telU uh withal that these people put out a colony to Pains Maeotis, on the north of tthe Euxine sea, and so gave the name of Bosphorus Cimmerius lothe strait betwixt the Euxine sea and the Maeolick lake, now iommonly called the strait of Caffa.

This colony of the Cimmerii increasing in process of time, •ad so spreading themselves still by new colonies further westward, came along the Danube, and settled themselves in the •country which from them has been called Germany. For as to tlie testimony of the ancients, Diodorus Siculus, (as Mr. Mede observes) affirm that the Germans had their original from the Cimmerians, and the Jews to this day (as the same learned per-[lon remarks) call them Ashkenazim of Ashkenaz. Indeed they themselves retain plain marks enough of their descent both in the name Cimbri and also in their common name Germans, or ts tbey call themselves, Germen^ which is but a small variation from Gemren, or Gomren, and this last is easily contracted from Gfamertn, that is, Gomereans; for the termination en is a plural termination of the German language, and from the singular number, Gomer, is formed Gemren by the same analogy that from hrother is formed brethren. The other name Cimbri, is easily framed from Cimmeriiy and by that name the inhabitants of the northwest peninsula of old Germany, now called Jutland, were known not only to the ancient, but latter writers, and from this name of the inhabitants, the said peninsula is called Cimbrica Chersonesusj and that frequently by modern authors.^

Out of Germany, the descendants of Gomer spread themselves into Gaul, or France. To prove this, Mr. Camden quotes the testimony of Josephus, when he says that those called by the Greeks Golatae were originally called Gomeritcs, which words may be understood either of the Asiatick Golatce, commonly called by us Galatians, or the European Galatce, commonly called by us Gauls. If it be taken in the former sense, then it is a testimony for the first seating of Gomer in the tract of the Lesser Asia we have assigned him, and on this account it is before taken notice of by us. Mr. Camden also produces the testimony of other writers to prove the Gauls to be from Gomer, as of Appian, who in his Illyricks, says expressly that the Ccltae, or Gauls, were otherwise called Cimbri, Those barbarians whom Marius defeated, Cicero plainly terms Gauls, and all historians agree that these were the Cimbri, And the coat-armour of 1)eleus, their king, digged up at Aix, in Provence, where Marius routed them, does evince the same, for the words Beleos Cimbros were engraven upon it in a strange character. Again:

Lucan calls that ruffian that was hired to' kill MariaSi a Gm-brian^ whereas Livy and others affirm him to have been a Cimd; and by Plutarch the Cimbri are called CroUo^Seytkians.

Hence we conclude that the ancient inhabitants of Britain weit descended from Gomar, for il is not to be questioned but that tbe isle was 6rst peopled from those countries of the European continent, which lie next to it, and consequently from Germany or Gaul. The name by which the offspring of those ancient Bri« tons, the Welch, call themselves to this very day, is Kumro, or CimrOf and Kumrif and in like manner they call a Welsh woman KumraeSt and their language, Humeraeg; and since the j Saxons and Angles were Germans, who as was before observed, | were descendants of Gomer, and were near neighbours to the peo- : pie that were more especially called Cimbri^ hence it follows thit 1 our ancestors, who succeeded the old Britons, were also de- i scended from Gomer ]

But now to proceed to the other sons of Japhet, as the natioi j of Gomer first seated itself in the northern tract of the Lesser Asia, | so the nation of Javan seated itself in the southern tract of the \ •ame. And this appears not only from the name of a coantfy ia this tract called Ionia, but also from the situation of the four fih milies of Javan's sons within this tract, which are mentioned ia thia order by Moses, Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodaoin^ Gren. X. 4.

Tarshish seated himself on the eastern part of this tract, u is probable, on several considerations. For Tarsus is a chief town of Cilicia, and Josephus expressly affirms that Cilicia, and the country round it, was originally known by the name of Tarsh' ish. It is scarcely to be doubted, but this was the Tarshish^ to which the prophet Jonas thought to flee from the presence of the Lord, as also that this principally was the Tarshish mentioned so often by the prophets, on account of its trading with Tyre.

To the west of Tarshish, adjoining the portion appertaining to Kiitimj or CUlinij which word having a plural termination, does, in all probability, imply the descendants of Keih^ or the Ketians. Ptolomy tells us of a country here called Cetis^ and Homer in Odys. 4, mentions a people called Cetii^ who were thought to take their name from a river, CetiuSy in the same quarter. But it is remarkable that this is agreeable to the name mentioned by Homer. Josephus will have the isle of Cyprus to have been the seat of the Cittim^ because therein was a town called Citium^ of good note, but it is not to be questioned, but the continent was peopled before the island, and consequently that the Cittim first seated themselves on the continent, from which they might, probably enough, send in process of time, some colony over into the neighbouring island of Cyprus*

The two remaining families ofJavan, viz. Elishah^ nnd Dodanim, imted themselves on the western coast of the southern tract of le Lesser Asia. Here upwards, or northwards, were anciently itnated the ^oles, who as they carry som^ marks of their pedigree in their name, so are expressly affirmed hy Josephas to have Ken descended from Elishah, and from him to have taken their lame. And since the country, peculiarly called in after ages, hmta, joined to the sonth, of what was in said ages peculiarly called JGolia, it is probable that the said Ionia, (so peculiarly called perhaps, from Javan*s living there with his son Elishah,) was possessed originally by the sons of Elishah, or else partly by them lod partly by the Dodanim —of whom next. <

On the same western coast, south of the family of Elishah, may tbe family of Dodanim be supposed to have first planted itself, ibr there we find in ancient writers a country called Doris, which may not improbably be derived from Dodanim, especially if this be plural, as the termination seems to import, and so the singular WM Dodan ; which being softened into Doran, the Greeks might eisily frame from thence Dorus, whom they assert to be the father of the Dorians. Certain it is from the Greek writers them-•elves, that the Dores or Dorians were a considerable body of the Greeks, insomuch that Dorico Casira is taken by Virgil to denote the whole Grecian camp, wherefore it is very probable that tbey bad their extraction from one of the sons of Javan, the father of the Greek nation, and distinguished themselves from the other families of Javan, by assuming to themselves the name of the father of their family, as the others did, and consequently called them-lehres Dodanim, which the Greeks in time moulded into Dores, The Greeks say of Dorus, the father of the Dorians, that he was die son of Neptune, who evidently was the same with Japhet; ((ce No. 405;) and though Dodanim was the grandson of Japhet, yet according to the usual way of speaking among the Hebrews, he was called the son of Japhet. The change of Do-Am into Dorus is the more likely, by reason of the great like-■Kis there is between the Hebrew D and R. Hence, (viz. from DeriSf) some might pass over to the isle of Rhodes, which might tke its name from those Dodanim, which by reason of the like-lest of letters is sometimes writ Rodanim, which seems to have >een the opinion of the seventy interpreters, by their rendering be Hebrew word Dodanim by Po^ioi, fihodii.

I proceed now to speak of the colonies of the posterity of Ja-ui, that in process of time were made from their first settle-leots, and I shall begin with the two last mentioned, Elishah nd Dodanim ; for those lying on the western coast of the Lesser kSia, as they increased, peopled by degrees the many isles that e on the adjoining sea, and so at length spread themselves into

tbe European continent. The family of Elishah seems to bare possessed themselves of most, or at least the roost considerable isles lying in the sea between F'urope and Asia, forasmocb as they are called by the prophet Ezekiel, xxvii. I^^he Isles of EH-shah. What the prophet there says of the blue and the purple from the isles of Elishah, is very applicable to the isles of this sea, forasmuch as they did abound in this commodity, and are on that account celebrated by common authors, and some .of them took their names from it. And the sea itself on which these isles were, seems originally to have been called the Sea of Elishah; which name, though it wore away in process of time in other parts, yet seems to have been all along preserved in that part, which to this day is frequently called the Hellespont, as if one should say Elisce Pontos, the Sea of Elishah. And this derivation of the word Hellespont will appear yet more likely, when we consider that the descendants of Elisha, passing over into Europe, came afterwards to be termed Hellenes^ and their country Hellas, a name which in process of time became common to all Greece; in which there were other footsteps of Elishah*s name to be foand formerly, as in the city and province of jE//>, in the Peloponesus, in the city of Eleusis, in Attica ; and in the river Elissus^ and /Jtf-sus, in the same province. Some think the Camjn EUsiiy so much celebrated among the Greeks, to have been so called from Elisba.

As to DMlenim^ or the Dorians, the Spartans or the Lacedemonians, looked on themselves to be of Dorick extraction, and there were formerly remainders of the name to be found in those parts of Greece. In the province of Messena, in the Peloponesus, there was a town called Dorion, and of the other tract of Greece, lying above the isthmus of the Peloponesus, there was a considerable part called Doria, Dorica, or Doris ; to say nothing of Dodona : and ail the Greek nation is sometimes called Dotes, as was before observed, out of Virgil.

As to Kittim, or the Cittim, they probably sent their first colony to the neighbouring isle of Cyprus, which seems to be called the land of Chiitim. Isai. xxiii. 1—12. But in process of time wanting more room, and therefore seeking out further, and finding the lower parts of Greece already inhabited by the descendants of Elishah and Dodanim, they still proceeded on, coasting along the western shores of Greece, until they came to the upper, and northern parts of it, which not being yet inhabited, some of theffl planted themselves there, whilst some others of them descryingtbe coast of Italy, went and settled themselves in that country. Hence it comes to pass, in probability, that both Macedonia in Greece, and also Italy, are denoted in scripture by the names of CiUim^ or Kittim. The author of the book of Maccabees plainly denote! Macedonia, by the land of ChetUm, when he says that Alexaa-

fy tlie son of Philip the Macedonian, came out of the land of keHinij I Mac. i. 1; so also chap. viii. 5, the said author calls srseus king of Macedonia, king of (he CUims. The more an-val name of this country was Maceiia^ and the Macedonians smselves are otherwise termed MacelcR.

The place of scripture where C/ntiim, by the consent of almost I expositors, denotes the Romans, is Dan. xi. 29, 30 ; for by the ips of Chiitim^ there mentioned, is understood the Roman fleet; ' the coming whereof, Antiochus was obliged to desist from his signs against Egypt. There are also several footsteps of the ime Chittim, or Cheth, to be found in Italy, among eminent 'iters ; as a city of Latium, called Cetia^ mentioned by Diony-is Melicarnasseus : another city among the Volsci, called Eche-I, mentioned by Stephanus ; also a river near Eumae, called ?tu^. Nay, there are not wanting authors who e>pressly assert e Romans and Latins, to have had their extraction from the ilii, or Cetii, as Eusebius, Cadrenus, Suidas ; whose testimonies e produced by Bochart; and this learned person observes fur* er, that the word Chetim, does, in the Arabick tongue, denote thing hid, so that the name Latins, might be originally only a anslation of the old eastern name Chetim. There remains now only the colonies of Tarshish to be spoken \ and wheresoever else they seated themselves it is highly t>bable that Tariessiis, a city and adjoining country in Spain, id much celebrated by the ancients for its wealth, was a^ colony ' Tarshish. Bochart has observed that Polybius, reciting the ^rds of a league between the Romans and Carthaginians, men->n8 a place under the name of Tarscium; and Stephanus ex-essly says, that Tarscium was a city near Hercules's Pillars: e situation whereof agrees well enough with that of Tartessus. gain, what is said by Kzekiel, chap, xxvii. ver. 12, agrees very ^11 with this Tarshish ; for the words of the prophet run thus, Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all nds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy irs ;*' i. e. in the fairs of Tyre. JMow, as has been before ob-rved, Tartessus was celebrated among tlie ancients for its multi-de of riches, and the metals mentioned by the prophet were such • SiKiin did formerly abound with. Some also are of opinion at the Eirusci of Italy, otherwise called Tyrrheni snd Tusci, &re a colony of Tarshish. 'f'he word Eirusci, without the ini-il E, (which was frequently added to derivatives) contains the dicais of Tarshish.

The descendants of Tarshish were the most expert seamen, and

insequently the chief merchants of the early ages of the world.

ence the whole Mediterranean sea seems to have been at length

►mprehended under the name of the sea of Tarshish. And be-

voi^ IX. 25

canse the descendants of Tarshish were wont to make longer voyages and to adventure farther into the open sea than othere did in those days, it is not unlikely that they had ships bailt for this purpose, and so of somewhat different make both as to sixe and shape from the vessels commonly used by others: and heoce it is probable that all vessels built for longer voyages and greater burdens came to be called ships of Tarshish^ because they were built like the ships of Tarshish properly so.called.

Having observed these things concerning the settlements and colonies of the four families of Javan, i would here add something with respect to Javan himself, the father of this whole nation; and I would observe that it is probable that the colonies that passed over in process of time into Europe, though they were distinguished in reference to their distinct families by their distinct names, yet were all at first comprehended under the name of Jo-nians. Indeed the Scholiast in Aristophanes (as Bochart hath observed) expressly says that all the Greeks were by the Barbarians called iaones, i. e. lonians. Hence the Ionian sea came to be extended anciently to the western coast of Greece, and that northwards up as far as the western coast of Macedonia. Now it is plain that the name lonians was derived from the founder of this nation, Javan. For the Hebrew word, setting aside the vowels which are of disputable authority, may be read Ion, or Jaon. But supposing the word to be all along pronounced with the same vowels it has in the Hebrew text at present, it is granted by the learned in the same language, thnt the true pronunciation of the Hebrew vowel, Kamets, carries in it a mixture of our vowel o as well as (7, so that the Hebrew Jr is very regularly turned into the Greek lawv, whence by contraction may be made*Iwv. Since therefore not only the forementioned Scholiast, but also Homer, styles those who were commonly called lones, by the name of Jaones, it is not to be doubted but the lonians were so called from Javan, the founder of their nation. Agreeably to what has been said, we find the country of Greece denoted in the book of Daniel from time to time, the country of Javan, Dan. viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2 ; and also in Joel iii. 6. And though the Athenians affirm that the Asiatic lonians were a colony of theirs, yet Hecateus in Strabo affirms, that the Athenians, or lonians of Europe, came from those of Asia.

Having spoken somewhat largely of the posterity of Gomer and Javan, because Europe appears to be chiefly peopled by them, we now proceed to take notice of the other sons of Japhet, among whom I shall speak next of Tubal and Menhech, which are so mentioned together from time to time in scripture, that it is evident that their settlements were adjoining one to the other.

Meshech joined on to the nation of Gomer eastward, and so set-ig at first in part of Cappadocia and Armenia, what according the present vowels in the Hebrew is Meshech, was by the venty Interpreters, and others, read Mosoch, and hence it it y probable that they are the same called by the Greeks Moo^oi, iMTi, who were seated in those parts, and from whom no qaes-Q but the neighbouring ridge of hills took the name of Mon" Moschiciy mentioned by the old geographers. To the north of Meshech, adjoined the first plantation of Tubal, o, by Josephus, is expressly affirmed to be the father of the iatick Iberians. The same historian asserting that when the eeks called Iberi, were originally called Thecbeli from Tvhalj Is hereunto that Ptolemy places in those parts a city called abilica. Mr. Bochart supposes the Tibareni^ a people men-ned by old authors in this tract, to -have been so called, from ibal, by the change of L into R, which is very frequent. But that fshech and Tubal seated themselves in those parts is in a man* ' put beyond dispute, by what is said of those two nations in ek. xxvii. 13, " Tubal and Meshech were thy merchants; they ded in slaves and vessels of brass in thy market." For it evident from the testimonise of heathen writers that the Pontick ;ion, especially Cappadocia, was remarkable formerly for ves, as also that in the country of the Tibareni, and Iberia, re was the best sort of brass. Mr. Bochart observes that the brew word translated in this place brass^ is sometimes rendered ;/; and hence he remarks that as a piece of iron or brass is the Arabick tongue, called Tubals probably from its coming : of the country of Tubaly so it is likely that from the excellent ^1 that was made in their country, some of the inhabitants reof were denominated by the name of Chalybes among the ^ks: the word Chalyha^ in the Greek language, signifying bI.

That the Muscovites^ or MoscoviteSf in Europe, were a colony finally of Meshech, or Mosoch, called by the Greeks, Moschi, irery probable.

tfagog is, by the testimony of Josephus, Eustathius, St. Je-le, Theodoret, and (as Mr. Mede expresses it,) by the con-t of all men, placed north of Tubal, and esteemed the father he Scythians that dwell in the east, and northeast, oftheEux-sea. This situation is confirmed by scripture itself, Ezek. Lviii. 2, ^^ Set thy face against Chg, in, or of the land of Ma-% the chief prince of Meshech and TubaV^ Bochart conjec-?s that the mountain called by the Greeks Caucasus, took name from Gog. But the name of Gog was entirely preserved the name Gogarene, whereby was formerly denoted a coun-in those parts, as we learn both from Strabo and Stephanas, d from hence perhaps in time was fashioned the name Georgia,

Gurgi^tan^ whereby at this very day is denoted a considerable tract io this quarter. That Gog, denotes the Sq^thians in Uie prophecy of Ezekiel, may be rationally inferred from £iek. xixii. 3, where God speaks of Gog thus, " I will smite thy bow oat of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand." Now it is too well known to the learned to need proof, that the Scythians were remarkably famous of old for their skill in the use of the bow and arrow, insomuch that some amongtbem for their winking with one eye when they shot, are said to have given them the name of arimaspi^ one-eyed. Nay, it is thought by some, and not without ground, that the very name of Scythians was derived from shooting, foiasmuch as in the German tongue shooters are called Scut ten.

To say something of the colonies o( Magog, In the panegyrick of Tibullus to Messala, we find mention made by the poet of a people about the river Tanais, called Maginij which probably came from Magog. Yea, it is not improbable that the Hseotick lake into which the Tanais runs, took its name from the descendants of Magog ; for Magogitis^ or Magotis, the Greeks might naturally after their manner soften into Maiotis^ which the Latins and we render Mcdotis. We read in Pliny, that the city in Syria, called , UierapoUsj was by the Syrians called Magogs which name it ii thought most likely to have taken from the Scythians, when they roade*an excursion into Syria, and took this city. On the like account it is that the city in Judea, called Bethsan, was also called in after ages, Scythopolii. Now Hierapolis being thus called Ms-gog, it is not improbable but the adjoining part of Syria might be from thence called M^igagene ; which afterwards might be moulded into Gomageney and so into Comagene ; by which the northern part of Syria was denoted among the Greeks and Latins.

The next son of Japhat is Madai^ who is almost universally looked upon to be the father of the Medes, who are all along denoted by the name of Madai in the Hebrew text. Bochart thinks the Samaritans a colony from those ; he conjectures that the name of the Samaritans was originally Senr-Madai, which in the original language denotes the remnant, or posterity of the Medes. See > objections against this and another region allotted to Madai, io Pool's Synops. vol. i. col. 117, 118.

Tirai, or Thirai, the last son of Japhet, is by universal agreement esteemed the father of the Thracians. The name whereby the country of Thrace is called in oriental writers, plainly shows that the Greek name Thrace was originally derived from Thi-ras, the founder ol* the nation. Ancient writers also tell us, that here was a river, a bay, and an haven, each called by the name o{ Aihef' raty and they mention a city in the peninsula of Thrace calledTy-ristasis, and a tract in this country called Thrasus^ and a peo» pie called TrausL We learn also from them that one of the names

ifMarSy tbegodofthe Tliraciang, wasdoufo^. Hence Homer calls Miars by an epithet eoufo^ A^^, Mars Thurus, We read also in old authors of Ter^tf, the son of Mars, and first king ofthe Thracians, and of one Teres kingof O^try^d?, a people in Thrace : aiid the Odrysae Ihemselvea are said to take their name from one Odrysus^ a great pertoa among them, insomuch that in after ages he was worshipped by the Thracians as a god. As for the colonies of Tiras, it is hardly to be doubted but some of them planted themselves in the country over against Thrace, on the north side ofthe Euxine sea, For there is a considerable river in those parts, called in both Greek and Latin writers Tiras. The very same as the name of the father of the Thracian nation, which river is now called the Niester. There was also a city of the name of Tirasj standing oo this river. The inhabitants of these parts were also formerly koowD by tlie name of TyrittB^ or Tyragette. Though probably the Tyrita might denote the true descendants of Tyras ; and the Tyragetae might denote a mixed race, that arose out of the Ty-riUt mixing with the Getm^ a bordering people, descendants of the Ceiimy who settled in Macedonia.

It is not unlikely that Tyras might first sit down with his family in the Lesser Asia, in the country of Troy^ which had nothing to part it from Thrace but the narrow strait of the Heles-poDt, and the ancient king named Tros^ whence the country is denominated, was probably no other than Tyras. It is the com-Bion opinion and tradition among Greek writers, that the inhabitants on the east side of the Hellespont and Propontis, were originally, or anciently Thracians.

We proceed next to the first plantations of the sons of Shem. There are five sons of Shem mentioned by Moses, viz. Elam, and Ashnr, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

I shall begin with the settlement of Aram, as being the first ■atioD of the branch of Shem, adjoining to the nations of the branch of Japhet, already spoken of. For the portion that fell to the nation of Aram, lay in the countries called by the Greeks Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. It is probable that Arme* ma took its present name from Aram. Mesopotamia^ as it was so called by the Greeks, from its situation between the rivers Ku-pbrates and Tygris, so it was called by the Hebrews Aram Naharaim^ \. e. Aram of^ or between, the two rivers. And whereas one part of this country, viz. that lying next to Armenia, was very fruitful, and the other to the south very barren, and so of the like sort with Arabia Deserta, to which it adjoined, hence the former is in scripture distinguished by the name of Padan-amm, which is equivalent to. Fruitful Aram.

Aram's sons are four, viz. Uz and Hul, Gether and Mash. Ai for Uzf he is by a great agreement of the ancients said to be

the builder of the city of Damascus, aod bis posterity are sap posed to have settled the country about it« Here see PooPi Synopsis on Gen. x. 23.

The family of /fir/, or as it is in the original, CAk/, may^ witk great probability be placed in Armenia, particularly the Greatn Armenia, for there we find the names of several places beginoing with the radicals of Chul, as Cholva^ Cholvaia^ Cholimna^ Coins, CcUura ; and to mention but one more, Cholcbaiatef which hut seems to have been formed from the oriental Ckolbeiky which denotes the same as the house or dweUing of Choi. Now this Ci^ lobatene being the name of a province in Armenia, from this et-' pecially we may gather with good probability that Chul with Ui family seated himself in those parts.

Between Hul to the north, and Uz to the south, their brother Mash seated himself, vix. about the mountain Mating. From this mountain issues out a river of Mesopotamia, called by Xenophoi Masca^ which probably comes from the name of this son of Arao, who otherwise is called in scripture Meshech^ the radicals whereof are plainly contained in the name Masca. The inhabitants of tbi tract adjoining to the M. Masius, are by Stephanus called Maskm^ or Masiani.

Gether probably seated himself east of his brother Hal, on thi eastern borders of Armenia; where some in Ptolemy observes city called formerly Getane^ and a river of the same country called Getras.

We now pass on to the nation of Ashur^ which is eastward of the nation of Aram, in the country called Ashur in the eastern tongues, which is Assyria, properly and originally so called, lying east of the Tigris, and wherein stood the city of Nineveh, which was sA terwards called Acetabene, and also was sometimes by a change of S into T formerly called Attyria. The most ancient king of Assyria was said to be the son of Zameg, i. e. Shem, and is styled in Suidas, and some others, Thuras, corruptly for Atthuras, i. e« Ashur; for Ashur in the Chaldee tongue is Atthur^ or Aiiker, This Thuras, the son of Zames, was worshipped by the Assyrians as their Mars, or god of wan

That Elam seated himself in the southern tract beyond the ri* ver Euphrates, is beyond dispute, not only from the authority of the scriptures, wherein the inhabitants of the said tract are plainly and frequently denoted by the name of Elam^ but also from hea* then writers, wherein we read of a country here called Elymms^ and a city of the same name.

To the lot of Arphaxad is assigned by learned men the more southern part of Mesopotamia, where the plain or vale of Shinar lay, on the river Tigris, together with the country of Eden, and the tract on the east side of the same river, called Arapachitis^ t

me plainly derived from Arpachshad, which is the name of Ar-iMxad in the Hebrew text. That the vale of Shiiinr with the antry of Eden, was part of the first plantation of Arphaxadf lopposed on these probabilities : 1. That Noah, after the flood, turned and settled himself again in these parts, as well knowing t goodness of the soil and pleasantness of the country, which is n6rmed by a town here called Zama from them. 2. That upon e dispersion of mankind and confusion of tongues, as the pri-itive Hebrew toiigue was preserved in the family of Arphaxad, agreeably hereunto this family still continued in the same parts bere they then were, together with their grandsires, Noah and hein. 3. This opinion may be confirmed from Gen. x. 30, And their dwelling was from Mesha^ as you go unto SephaVj mount of the east;'' for the Mesha here mentioned is probably (teemed to be the same mountain as is before mentioned under le name of Mashy or MesiuSy in the western parts of Mesopota-lia ; so that if the forecited text is to be understood of the de-:endants of Arphaxad, (as is thought by several learned men, od also by the historian Josephus,) it will import thus much, that le soathern part of Mesopotamia, lying on the east of the mount teshay or Mesius, was first peopled by the descendants of Ar-iaxad; (and accordingly we here find Phals^aj a town probably amed from Peleg^ or Fhuleg, settling there;) and so on eastward I fat as to Sephar^ a mount in the east. Now this mount Sephar I probably thought to be the mountain adjoining to Siphare, a ity in Aria^ and which lies directly east from Mesha; and though his be a long tract of ground, yet it will be but proportional to be numerous descendants of Arphaxad, especially by Joktan^ of rbom more by and by. 4. It is the tradition of the ancients, Sastathius, Antiochenus, and Eusebius, that Salah, the son of krphaxad, seated himself in Smiana ; and agreeably hereto, we ead in old writers of a town called Sela. But now SusianaAxA «>Dtain part of the country of Edcn^ which adjoined to, or in aH HTobability was part of, the vale of Shinar, largely taken. 5. It i farther confirmed that Arphaxad seated himself in the vale of Shinar, because we find that Terah, and Abraham his son, came »ut of those parts. Gen. xi. 31. '* And Terah took Abram his (on, and went forth with them from Vr of the Chaldees, to go into be land of Canaan." Now it is confessed, I think by all, that Ckaldea comprehended at least a great part of the vale of Shinar, lod it is certain that it comprehended as much of the country of Sdenas la^ west of the common channel of the Euphrates and Ti-p'is. On this text of scripture seems to be grounded what Jose-ihus saitb of the Chaldeans being called the Arphaxadeans.

Having thus seen the first settlements of the descendants of Ar-ibaxad, let us turn our eyes a little upon their after colonies, par-

SOO NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

ticularly those that sprung frooi Joktatij of whom Moses reckons tip no fewer than thirteen sons; and as Moses assigns their habitation from Mesha to mount Saphar, so in this tract learned meo have observed the names of several places, which by their likeneii to the names of Joktan's sons, seem to tell their respective sitoa-tions.

There is nothing certain concerning Ludj the remaining son of Shem, but that he did not seat himself in the country of Lesser Asia, called Lydia.

Ham was the youngest of the thr^e sons of Noah. He bid four sons, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. We find Egypt twice or thrice in the book of Psalms called the land of Uaon, whence it seems probable that Ham went thither himself, and there settled with his son Mizraim. And it is scarce to be doubted but the person denoted by the Greeks uuder the name of Jupiter Jtt mon (in honour to whom there was a temple erected in the parts of Lybia adjoining to Egypt, much celebrated (or its oracles) was no other than Ham.

It is well known that the nation of Canaan settled itself in the country so often called in scripture the land of Canaan. Upoi the dispersion of mankind, the country lying on the east asd south-east of the Mediterranean sea fell to the share of Canoaii, so that he was seated between the nation of Aram to the nortk and east, and the nation of Cush^ his brother, to the sooth sod southeast, and Mizraim^ another of his brothers, to the sooth-west: his western boundary was the Mediterranean sea. His descendants are thus reckoned up by Moses, Gen. x. 16. 18. " Cfl* naan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth^ and the JebuHie^ sod the Amorite^ and the Girga^itey and the Hivite^ and the Arldte^ and the Sinite, and the Arvadite^ and the Zemarite^ and the Bi-mafhite.*^

Of Sidon were the inhabitants of the city of Sidon, and the <^ountry about; which city, as is apparent both from sacred and ancient profane writers, was in the more early ages of the world much more considerable than Tyre. iSt^/ont is called Chreat Sidea^t Josh. xix. 29; but Ti/rc does not seem to have become considerable until about David's time. Homer never so much as once mentions Tyre, but often makes mention of the Sidonians^ and Tyre is expressly called fhe duvghter of Sidon, Isai. v. 12.

The second family of Canaan mentioned by Moses, is that of Heth, whose posterity placed themselves f'n the southern paru4. Canaan, about Hebron, as appears from Abraham's concern with them there, Gen. xxiii. We also read that during Isaac's dwelling at Beersheba, Esau took him wives of the daughters of HeA, Gen. xxvj.

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. SOI

iTheJebusiies were seated about Jerusalem, which was originally called Jebus^ 1 Chron. xi. 4; so that the Jebusiies joined on to the Hittites in the mountains towards the north. As the Hittites and Jebusiies^ so also the Amorites^ dwelt in tlie mountainous or kiUy part of the land of Canaan^ as appears from Josh. zi. 3. And the spies gave this account, Num. xiii. 29, '^ And the JJfY-iites^ and the Jebusites^ and the Amoriies dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and the coast of Jordan." Now as the Hittites seem to have possessed the hill country to the nest and southwest of Hebron, and the Jebusiies to the north, so the Amorites might settle themselves at first in the hill country to the east and southeast of Hebron. This seems probable, because the mountainous tract lying next to Kadesh-Barnea, is called the mauni of the Amorites^ Deut. i. 7 ; and we are told, Gen. xiv, 7, that Chedorlaomer smote the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezon-ta-mar^ which was the same place with Engedi, 2 Chron. xx. 2, and so was seated in the hilly part of the land of Canaan to the east, or towards Jordan. And their neghbourhood to the country beyond Jordan might be the occasion that the Moabites were in process of time dispossessed thereof by the Amorites; whence that tract beyond Jordan is called the land of the Amoriies ; and Si-boD, the king thereof, is always called Mng of the Amorites,

The Girgasite is the next family mentioned by Moses, who probably seated themselves at first alonf^ the upper part of the river of Jordan. Here, on the eastern side of the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, we find in our Saviour's time a city called Gergesa.

The Hivite we find was seated in the ujyper or northern parts of Canaan^ and so adjoining to his brother Sidon. For we read, Judg. iii. 3, that *' the Hivites dwelt in mount Lebanon from mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath."

In process of time, these families intermixed one with the other; whence we read of some Hivites^ Amorites^ and Hittites in some other places than those we have assigned them for their first settlements, and also the Amorites becoming the most potent nation in process of time. Hence they are put to denote, frequent-ly» Any <>BC ^^ more of the other nations of Canaan.

Many of the posterity of Canaan of difierent families, either originally or afterwards, (possibly by being dispossessed of their original settlements by the Philistines, or by other means,) appear to have settled confusedly together, and to have become so intermixed that the names of their distinct families were not kept up, but they were called by the general name of Canaanites. Hence we read in the forecited passage. Numb. xiii. 29, the Canaanites dwelt by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

As to the remaining families of Canaan mentioned by Moses, the first of them that occurs is the Arlcite; which is probably

thought to have settled himself about that part of mount Libanos, where is placed by Ptolemy and others a city called Arce. Not far from this settlement of the Arkite, did the Sifdle likewise settle himself; for in the parts adjoining, St. Jerome tells as, wu once a city called Sin. As for the Arvadite, the little isle of ^r-duSy lying up more north, on the coast of Syria, is supposed to have taken its name from the founder of this family. In tbe neighbourhood on the continent did the Zemarite probably fix, forasmuch as on the coast there we find a town called Symyra, not far from Orthosia. And Eusebius does expressly deduce tbe origin of the Orthosians from the Samareans.

The only remaining family is the Hamaihite^ or the inhabitants of the land of Hamathy often mentioned in sacred writ, and whose chief city was called Hamath. This country lay to the north of all the rest of the posterity of Canaan.

The nation of Cush had its first settlement in the country adjoining to his brother Canaan on the south, that is in Arabia. That by Cush in scripture, is denoted Arabia^ and not Ethiopia in Africa, is manifest every where in scripture, particularly from Num. xxi. 1, compared with Exod. ii. 15—21, and Hab. iii. 7, 2 Kings xix. 9, 2 Chron. xiv. 9, and Ezek. xxix. 10. *' I will make the land of Egypt desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the borders of Cush.'' Now all that have any knowledge of old geography, know that Syene was the border of Egypt towards Ethiopia in Africa. There Cush being the opposite boon-dary cannot be Ethiopia in Africa, but must be Arabia.

The sons of Cush are Seba, Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamab, and Sabtecha; to which Moses subjoins the two sons of Raamab, Sheba, and Dedan ; and then adds lastly that Cush begat Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one upon earth, Gen. x. 7, 8, &c. Now we shall find all these but the last seated in Arabia. As for Se-bay the first son of Cush, he probably seated himself in the south' west of Arahiay where we find a city called Sabe. On the southeast side we find another city called Sabanay where we may therefore place Shebay the grandson of Cush, by Raamab; and tbe reason why we choose this to be his situation, rather than tbe other side of the country is, because it is on the eastern side of Arabia that we find his father and his brother situated; and it is likely he seated himself in their neighbourhood. On this account we find him always mentioned with his father and brother, as Ezek. xxvii. 22. *' The merchants of Sheba and Raamab were thy merchants," and chap, xxxviii. " Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish," he. Now these two names, Sheba and Sebahy being so much alike, the two different families were con-fotinded by the Greeks, and called promiscuously Sabeans. Hence Pliny says that the Sabean nation inhabited those parts spread-

ng themselves to both seas, i. e. from the Red sea to the gulf of Persia. But the sacred writers exactly distinguish them, Ps. xxii. 10. '< The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts."

On the same side of Arabia with Sheba was seated, as has been nentioned, both his father Raamah and his brother Dedan. For, IS to the former, we find on this shore of the Persian gulf a city :alled Rhegma by Ptolemy; which it is not to be doubted was so railed from this reason, for the Hebrew name, which in our translation is rendered Raamah^ is in other translations, particularly the Septuagint, rendered (agreeably enough, to the radicals) Rhegma. Not far from Rhegma, mentioned by Ptolemy, we find >n the same coast eastward another city called DedaUj now-a-days Dadaefif from which the neighbouring country also takes its lame, as Bochart has observed, from Barboza, an Italian writer, in his description of the kingdom of Ormuz.

On the same shore of the Persian gulf, but higher northward, we find in Ptolemy the situation of a city called Saphtha^ Whence t is probable that Sabta^ the son of Cush, seated himself here.

Higher still to the northward was seated Havilah^ or Chavilah^ ilong the river Pison, on the western channel of the two, into vhich the common channel of the Tigris and Euphrates again is Hvided, before the waters thereof empty themselves into the Persian gulf. That Havilah was seated here, is confirmed in that ffoses tells us it was seated on a branch of that common channel >f which Euphrates and Hiddekel were a part; and in this coun-ry, where we have placed Havilah^ there was, agreeably to what kfOSes says of Havilah^ plenty of gold, and that good gold; fhich is agreeable to what ancient authors tell us of Arabia. Hoses adds, that in Havilah was Belodachy which some take to ignify pearhf others the Bdellium gum. It is much the most ikely, however, that pearls are what are intended ; for Moses, in [escribing the manna, says it was like coriander seed, and the co-9ur thereof as the colour of Belodach. Now it is evident from nother description that the colour of manna was white, Exod. iv. 31, which is apposite to pearls^ as also is the roundness of the laona, but in no wise to the Bdellium gum. Hence the Tal-ludists, mentioning this description of manna, instead of saying : is like the colour of Bdellium gum, say it is like the colour of earls ; and it is certain that there is no place in the world that roduceth so fine pearls, and in so great plenty, as the sea next to le shore of this country, where we place Havilah^ as is evident t>m the testimony of marcbus, one of Alexander's captains; of lidorus; of Chorax, who lived a little after; of Pliny; and iElian, od Origen; of Benjamin, a Navarian; of Tudela, who lived five nndred and fifty years ago; of Texcira, a Portuguese; of Balby, .inscot, Vincent, Le Blanc, Tavernier, and Thevenot. And if

we understood the Belodach of the Bdellium gwn^ this alio abounded in Arabia, and particularly near the Fersian gnlf» as appears from the testimony of many ancient writers. And as to the Schohaniy which Moses says was to be found in Havilak^ which we render the onyx-stone^ it is doubtless some precious stotie that is meant by this; and it is evident from ancient wriiers, both sacred and profane, that Arabia formerly abounded with precious stones. See Ezek. xxvii. 22, 23.

And that this very country was the country of Uamlah^ is manifest from Gen. XXV. IS, where we are told that the Ishmaelites dwelt/ro^n Havilah unto Shur^ that is before Egypt; and from 1 Sam. XV. 7, where we are told that Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou contest to Shur that is before Egypt. In both which passages, by this expression, from Havilah unto Shur^ is probably meant the whole extent of that part of Arabia from east to west; and it is evident that Shur was the western boundary of Arabia, from those passages, and also from Exod. XV. 22, where we read that Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and therefore it seems no less evident that Havilah was in the eastern extremitj of Arabia, over against it, and consequently where we have placed it. Where we find in common authors a people placed, whose name retains the visible footsteps of the name of their forefathers, Havilah^ or Chavilah, as it is in the original; thus, by Eratosthenes, are placed on these parts the Chavlothi; by Tresans, Anic-nas, the Chaulosii; by Dionysius Periegetes, the ChaUasii; and by Pliny, the Chaveleai.

There remains now Sabteca, who, we must not doubt, placed himself among the rest of his brethren, especially since there is room enough left for him in the northern part of Arabia. His descendants might from him regularly enough be styled at first by the Greeks Gabsaceui, which name might afterwards be softened into Saraceni, by which name it is well known that the people of this tract were formerly denominated; and this is the more probable, because Stephanus mentions a country in those parts called Saruca,

The reason why no mention is made in the scriptures of the Sdbtaceanst may be this, that those parts of Arabia lying next to the Koly land, ure by the sacred writers denoted by the name of the whole land of Cush^ or Arabia^ it being to them as it were instar totius ; being the only part of the land of Cush they were usually concerned with ; and they probably learnt it first in Egypt of the Egyptians; who, after their father Mizraim, called the country the land of Cush^ it being natural to him to call it from the name of his brethren, rather than from one of his children.

Moses having named the other sons and grandsons of Cush, inbjoins, Gen. x. 8, << And Cush begat Nimrod.'^ By this distinct nention o( Nimrod after the rest of his brethren, the sacred his-;oriaii is supposed to intimate that Nimrod was indeed the youngest of the sons of Cush, but however the most remarkable of :hero: and accordingly it immediately follows in the text, '* He segaD to be a mighty one upon the earth."

By what method Nimrod became thus mighty, Moses seems to intimate by these words, " He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.*' He probably applied himself to hunting, to destroy the wild beasts that began to grow very numerous, and very much to infest the parts adjoining to the nation of Cush ; and by his great art and valour in destroying wild beasts, he inured himself and his companions to undergo fatigue and hardship, and withal to manage dexterously several sorts of offensive weapons. Being thas occasionally trained up to the art of war, and perceiving at length his skill and strength sufficient, he began to act offensively against men.

The country at first assigned to Nimrod^ the youngest son of Cash, was probably the country on the east ofGihoUy the eastern branch of the common channel of Euphrates and Tigris, after its second division, before it emptied itself into the Persian gulf, next to his brother Havilah, his brethren having possessed Arabia. This part next to Arabia was assigned to him, and so being the portion of one of the sons of Cush, was called the land ofCush^ as it is by Moses when speaking of the river Gihon, ** The same is it which compasses the whole land of Cush;'' which country was formerly, by the Greeks and Latins, called by the name of Susi-0na, and is now called Chuzestan. The Nubian geographer, and some other Arabians, call it Churesfan, The inhabitants of the land call it absolutely and plainly Chus, if we will believe Marias Niger. The same region is called Cuthah, 2 Kings, xvii. 24, speaking of the people transported thence into Samaria, by Salmanezer. The word Cuthah, or CtUh, undoubtedly came from the word Cush, or CuSj the last letter of which is often changed by the Chaldeans into a T, or Th, as Dion hath observed ; so they called Theor^ for Sor, and Attyria^ for Assyria, There are yet many marks of the word Cush found in the same province. We find there the Cassians^ neighbours of the Uxians, according to the position of Pliny, Ptolemy, and Arrian. There is also a little province of Susiana, viz. Cissia, and the people CissiaWt. The poet Eschylus takes notice of a city of that name, situated in the same land, and what is remarkable, he does distinguish it by its antiquity.

This country was probably named Cush before Nimrod was born, or at least, when he was young, before he distinguished him*

self in the world, from 'Cusb bis father living here, in that par the face of the earth, that fell to the lot of him and his poster! that was nearest to the original settlement of Noah and his sc and was the pleasantest and most beautiful, like £den, on wh it bordered. While Cush sent forth his elder sons to settle A ita, it is likely that he staid here himself with his youngest » who was probably very young when the earth was divided.

But Nimrod, when he found his strength and ability for w

and being grown famous for his extraordinary valour in destroy!

wild beasts, was not contented with the lot assigned him ; but

vades first the neighbouring part of the nation of Shem, wh

upon the division of the earth fell to the lot of the family of j

phaxad, and so makes himself master of the lower part of theli

of Shinar, being a most pleasant and fruitful country, s

pitching on that very place where the city and tower of Babel 1

been, began to build the capital city of his kingdom. Moses sa

^' The beginning of his kingdom was Babels and Erechf and j

cady and Calneh, in the land or Shinar." As to Erech^ it

probably the same that occurs in Ptolemy under the name

Arecca^ and which is placed by him at the last, or most soutlx

turning of the common channel of the Tigris and Euphrates. T

fields hereof are mentioned by Tibullus, on account of its sprin

of Naphtha. The Arckevites^ mentioned Ezra iv. 9, are thoof

to be some that were removed from Erech to Samaraia. What

the Hebrew is Acchad, is by the Seventy Interpreters, writ i

chady whence some footsteps of this name are probably thoug

to be preserved in the river Argada mentioned by Ctesias, a<

river near Sittace, lying at some distance from the river Tigr

and giving name formerly to Sittacene, a country lying betwe

Babylon and Susa, and because it was very usual, particularly

those parts, to have rivers take their name from some consideral

city they run by ; hence it is not improbably conjectured, that (

city Sitioce was formerly called Argad, or Acehad, and took t

name of Stitoce from the the plenty of Psitlacias, or Pistacias

sort of nut, that grew in the country. Strabo mentions a regi

in those parts under the name of Ariacene^ which might be fi

roed from Archcul. As to the other city belonging to the begi

ning of Nimrod's kingdom, viz. CaZ/i^A, andwhich is called, Is:

X. d^CalnOf andEzek. xxvii. 23, Cauneh. It is mentioned as

considerable place, Amos vi. 2. ^' Pass ye op into Calueh ai

•ee." It is said by the Chaldee interpreters, as also by Eusebi

and Jerome, to be the same with Ctesiphon, standing upon t

Tigris, about three miles distant from Seleucia, and for some tii

the capital city of the Parthians. That this opinion conceroii

the titnation of Calneh is true, is mightily confirmed from t

country aboat Ctesiphon being by the Greeks called Chalnoiti

tid since we are expressly told by Ammianus MarceHinus, that i^acuus, a king of the Parthians, changed the name of the city I!tesiphon, when he gave it that name, we may reasonably sup-H>se that its old name was Calneh^ or Cholone^ and that from it the adjacent country took the name of Cholomtii.

And whereas it is said, Gen. x. 11, 12, in our translation, ** Out of this land went forth Ashur and built Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Colali, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, the same is a great city." It might have been rendered as agreeably to the original, and much more agreeably to the preceding verses and the driftof the historian, Out of that land he wentforth into Ashurj and built Nineveh, fyc.; for Moses in the preceding Verse having told us what was the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom in the land of Shinar, then goes on to tell us how he extended it further afterwards to other cities beyond the land of Shinar into the land of Ashur.

Nineveh was a city that lay on the river Tigris, sometwhat above the mouth of the river Lycus, where it runs into the Tigris.

Rehoboth is a word in the Hebrew tongue that signifies s/re^; and there being a city or town called Birtha by Ptolemy, and the said name denoting in the Chaldee tongue the same as Rehoboth does in the Hebrew, hence it is thought to be the same city, and it is not to be doubted but the Birtha mentioned by Ptolemy is the same which Ammianus Marcellinus calls Virta. It was seated on the river Tigris about the mouth of the river Lycus.

As for Calah, or Calach, since we find in Strabo a country about the head of the river Lycus called Calachene, it is very probable the said country took this name from Calach which was once its capital city. Ptolemy also mentions a country called Calacine in those parts ; and whereas Pliny mentions a people called C/am^a, through whose country the Lycus runs, it is likely that Classita is a corruption for Chalachita, To this city and coantry in all probability it was that Salmanezar translated some of the ten tribes 2 Kings xvii. 6. He placed them in Chalach^ as it is in the original.

Resin, the other city mentioned by Moses, is supposed to be the same with a city mentioned by Xenophon under the name of harissa, lying on the Tigris, and being as Moses says between Nineveh and Calah, and was also said by Xenophon to have been strong and great, (but then in ruins,) being two parasangs, that is, eight miles in compass, and its walls a hundred feet high and twenty five feet broad, which agrees with what Moses says of Heien, *^ The same was a great cityy Larissa was a Greek name, we find a city so called in Teessaly. There was another which the Greeks called by the same name in Syria, which the Syrians

»

themselves called Sizora. It is therefore easy to suppose thj Greeks might change Reten into Larissa. It is likely tba Greeks asking, What city those were the rains of? the Ass} might answer, Laresen, i. e. of Resen, which word Xeoopho pressed by Larusa^ like the names of several Greek cities.

We proceed now to Mizraim, who by Moses is named u among the sons of Ham. And where he at first settled bii we need not doubt, since the Hebrew text generally denotes 1 by the name of the laud of Mizraim^ or simply Mizraim. I ceed therefore to the descendants of Mizraim. The names wIm these are denoted by Moses, are plurals. They are thus enume by Moses: " Mizraim begat Ludim and Anamim, and Ijck and Naphiuhimj and Pathrusimy and Casluhim (out of whom Philutim) and Caphtorim.

To begin with Ludimj whereby are denoted the Ethiopia Africa, and who alone are commonly so called both in an and modern writers. That these Eihiopians are denoted in s ture by the name of Luditn^ and their country Ethiopia bj name of Ludf the learned Bochart has proved at large, bj fewer than ten distinct arguments. I shall mention only t that are drawn from the sacred scriptures, as from Isai. Ixvi. and Jer. xlvi. 9, where Eud^ or Ludim are said to be very sk in drawing their bow, which agrees punctually with the cban given of the Ethiopians by many ancient writers.

As to Anamim^ Bochart thinks the inhabitants of the coo about Jupiter Ammon's temple might be denoted from this j num. The same learned person thinks the Nasamones took i rise and name, as also the Amantes, and Garamantes, and L momantesy mentioned by old writers, on the adjacent parts.

The Lehabim came next both in the text and in situation; J is very probable that Lehabim and Lvhim are one, and that I hence was derived originally the name of Lybia^ which, the at length extended to the whole African continent, yet at firs longed only to the country Cyrenaica. Now this country 1 next over against Greece, hence the name of Lehab^ or Luh^ ginally belonging to this tract only, was moulded into Lybia^ given to the whole continent over against them on the other of the Mediterranean sea, just as the name of Africa^ prop pertaining only to that part of this continent which lies < against Italy, was therefore by the Latins extended to all the i tinent; or, to come to our own times, much after the same mai as we extend the name of Holland to all the Dutch provinces, the name of Flanders to all the Spanish provinces in the Net lands, whereas they properly denote only the two particular | vinces in the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands that lie next < against the island of Great Britain.

NOtES ON THE BIBLE« &O0

The Naphtuhim are probably enough placed by Bochart tn the x^untry adjoinmg to Cyrenaica^ or Lybia^ properly so Called, to* irards Egypt, vit. in Marmarica; for here we find in Ptolemy lome remainder of the name in a place called Aftuchi Fanwru knd in the heathen fables, Aptuchusy or AphtuchuSf or Autuchus^ 4 said to be the son of Cyrene^ from whom the city and country it Cyrene took its name*

The Pathrusim^ or descendants of Pathrosj are mentioned next by Moses, whereby are to be understood the inhabitants of the Upper Egypty or Thebaisy where Ptolemy places Paihyrisy an ioland town not far from Thebes; and agreeably hereto, the Sep toagint translation renders the Hebrew Pathros by the Greek Pathyrism

The Casluhim are thought to have first settled in the country on the other side of Egypt, called Casioti, where also is a mountain called Casiut; and this situation of them is confirmed by what Moses says concerning them, viz. that from them sprang the Philistines^ who in process of time made themselves masters of the adjoining tract of the land of Canaan.

That the Caphtorim were situated near to the Casluhim, it inferred not only from Moses's putting them next one to another in the forecited place of Gen. x., but also from this, that the Phi* listines, who are, in Gen. x. 13, said to be descended of the Casld-* him, are elsewhere denoted by the name of Caphtorim^ as Deut. iL 23, Jer. xlvii. 4, and Amos ix. 7; which perhaps cannot be beU ler accounted for than by supposing the Caduhim and Caphtorim to be neighbours, and so in time to have been mutually intermixed, or to be looked upon as one and the same people* Now the name Caphtor seems to be preserved in an old city of Egypt called CaptuSy from which, as the name of Captetes is still given to the Christians of Egypt, (whence the translation of the Bible used by'them is called also the Cop/t^X: translation,) so it is not anlikely that the common name of l^gypt was derived from it, it being called JEgypiuSj for JEgoptus^ as if one should say in Greek*Aia K<Mrrs, the land of Koptus. And it is a good remark of the learned Mede, that the Greek *Aia, or^a, is likely derived from the Hebrew 'k, ai, or Ei ; to which may be very pertinently subjoined this remark, that in Jer. xlvii. 4, what we render the country of Caphtor^ is in the Hebrew text termed Ai Caphtori which are the two words which we suppose the Greeks to have moulded into the name^Ai/ihrro^. Our translators observe on the forementioned place in Jeremy, that the Hebrew word translated ike country in the text denotes also an isle^ As it is rendered in tbr aargin, agreeably to which it is observable that the city of Cop-' tut stood on a small island, so that upon the whole we need not doubt thereabout to fix the first settlement of the Caphtorim, VOL. IX. 27

or the four original nations descended from Ham, there' i^ mains now only thai of Phut to be spoken of; and the first settlement of this is wkb good reason supposed to be in the parts of the Lybian or African continent, which join on next to those possessed by the descendants of Mizraim. For in Africa, properly so called, below Adrumentum, was a city named Putea^ mentioned by Pliny; and in Mauritania there is a river mentioned by Ptolemy called Phut. St. Jerome is very full to the point, telling as that there is a river in Mauritania which was until his own time called Phuty and from which the adjacent country was called Regio Phyien^iist the country of Phut, Mr. Bedford supposes rt was the river Niger that was called by this name, and that the ^posterity of Phut settled themselves chiefly on that river, (as the first inhabitants of the earth were wont to choose the neighbourhood of rivers (or their settlements,) and from iheace spread themselves into other parts^

£415] Gen. x. 1. These things are evidences that all mao* kind are originally from one head or fountain, and of one bloody viz. 1. That all agreed in the same custom of sacrifices^ which could be from nothing else than tradition from their progeiuton» 2. Their all agreeing in counting by decads^ or stopping at ieiL in their numerical computations, which Aristotle says, all men, both Barbarians and Greeks did use. 3. Their having eveiy where anciently the same number of letters^ and the same fumts (or little varied) of them. 4. The remarkable affinity of all ancient languages. 5. Their dividing time into weekSj or systems of seven days, of which practice to have been general there are many plain testimonies. 6. Their beginning the day or revola-tioD of twenty-four hours with the night. Tea, perhaps if one consider it, the whole business concerning matrimony, Thns^ Dr. Barrow, vol. ii. of his works, p.. 93»

[405] Gen. x. 1,2. Concerning Japhet^ the son of Nook. Neptune is the same with Japhetj who is called the god of the Mfl, because daountains, places, islands, and the great peninsulas of Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and Spain, were peopled by his posterity. The name Neptune is derived from the same radix that Japhet is, even from nnd, to enlarge, whence nQ\ Japhet^ and nnsi, Nephta, in niphal, according to the allusion of Noah, JaphtEh-him Japhetf Gen. ix. 27, '' God shall enlarge Japhet .-" propor-tionably whereunto Neptune was called by the Greek Ilotfsi^ which grammarians in vain attempt to deduce from the Greek tongue, seeing, as Herodotus in Euterpe asserts, the name Poseir don was at first used by none but the Lybiaus or Africans, who I always honoured this god. Poseidon is the same with the Punick ' word JO'tSTD, PesitaUj which signifies expanse^ or broadf from £N79,

atj to dilate or expand* Japhet's name, and what is said of , God shall enlarge Japhet, well suits with Neptune's charac-among the heathen, who is styled. Late imperant and Late-mSf as also one that hat a large breatt. The genealogy of vtune confirms that he is Japhet: he is the son of Saturn^ Noah, See note on Gem i. 27. Gale's Court of the Gen* , b. 2, c. 6, p. 73, 74U

400] Gen^ x. 6. Now what the heathen said of Jupiter is lently taken from Ham, the son of Noah. Noah is the Sa-1 of the heathen, as is evident hy note on Gen. i. 27. It is ed that Saturn had three sons, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, ) divided the world between them. Sanchoniathon saySj 'he son of Saturn was Zeus BeliiSj or Baal^ the chief god )ng the Phoenicians. It was a name assumed by Jehovah, God of Israel, before abused to superstition, as appears by iea ii. 16. It is elsewhere written B€s\ Beel, or BscXCafwv, ch answers to the Hebrew Banl Shamaiim, the Lord of hea^ , Zsvs is derived from^£<«J> which signifies to be hot^ and an-jreth exactly to the Hebrew Cham, from the radix Chamam^ 7ax hot. Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians called Jupi-

Aminon^ from their progenitor Ham; whence Egypt is call-•' the land of Ham," Ps. cv. 23. 27. Also Plutarch testifies t Egypt in the Sacreds of Isis, was termed Xy^iua : whence I, but from Cham? And Africa of old was colled Hammonia» e Africans were wont to worship Ham under the name of mmon. These things are more largely treated of by Cud-^th, p. 337,338, 339.

kgain: Sanchoniathon terms Jupiter, Sydyk, or, as Damas-} in Photius, SadyJc. Now this name is evidently taken from

Hebrew Saddiky the just, which is a name given to God, as > Co the first patriarchs, whence Melchizedeck, The name liter is evidently the same with la Pater, or Isu Ilaojf, that is, ther Jahf or Jeu. That God's name, Jah, was well known he Phoenicians, who communicated the same to the Gre-as, is evident by what Porphyry says of Sanchoniathon's de-mg the materials of his history from Jerombatus, the priest of

god leu^. So Diodorus tells us that Moses inscribed his law the god called Jao. So the oblique cases of Jupiter are m God's name, Jehovah, as Jovi, Jove, &c. The same name, ', in the oracle of Clarius Apollo, is given to Bacchus again. >iter was Sabasitis, from that title of God^ Jehovah, Sabaoth. his Cudworth also notices, p. 259, 260.) The fable of Just's cutting off his father's genitalia^ seems to arise from m's seeing his father's nakedness. Again, in the metamor->8is of the gods of Egypt, it is said that Jupiter was turned

into a ram ; which fable Bochart supposes to haye had its rii from the lognation between the Hebrew words bic, or £/, and Vi AiHf a ram^ the plural number of both which is the same. Elm The tradition of Bacchus being produced out of Jupiter's tbigi seems to come from that known expression to signify the natu ral proceeding of posterity from a father, their coming out of hi loins. Calebs Court of the Gen. p. 1, b. ii. I. 1, p. 10, 11 12,13.

[410] Gen. xi. 3, 4, he. Concerning the building of BaU and confusion of tongues. Bochart, in his preface to hi Phalegf about the middle, says, *' What follows concerning tb tower of Babel, its structure, and the confusion of tongues eo suing thereon, also of its builders being dispersed throughou various parts of the earth, is related in express words by Abj dehus, and Eupolemus in Cyrillus and Eusebius." Bochart, ii bit Phaleg, gives us a description of the tower of Babel, outo Herodotus, parallel to that of the scripture, and where it is said Gen. xi. 9, that it teas called Babels because the Lord confounda their language. Hence Pagan writers called those of this dii persion, and their successors, f^fov-e^, men of divided tongues So Homer, in the Iliad, &t yiveou f«p<Mr«v av^guytuxv, generations q men, having divided tongues. Abydenus affirms, that it wasi common opinion, that the men whom the earth brought fortt gathered themselves together, and builded a great tower, whici was Babel, and the gods being angry with it, threw it down.' Gfa/e'f Court of Gen,, p. 1, b. 3, c. 8, p. 83.

[430] Gen. xi. 3, 4, be. Concerning the tower of Babel Cyril, b. 1, against Julian, quotes these words out of Abydenui " Some say that the first men that sprang out of the earth grew proud upon their great strength and bulk, and boastei they could do more than the gods, and attempted to build i tower where Babylon now stands; but when it came nigh tb heavens, it was overthrown upon them by the gods with tb help of the winds; and the ruins are called Babylon. Met until then, had but one language, but the gods divided it, an then began the war between Saturn and Titan." Grotius i Yerit. b. i. sect* 16. Notes.

Dr. Winder supposes that the crime of the builders of Bi bel was an obstinate renouncing the orders before given b Noah, and agreed to b}* his sons, under the divine direction fc a general dispersion and division of the earth among the var ous families of mankind, and that the builders of Babel wer not the whole body of mankind, but that part of them whid according to the forementioned orders and regulations, were i

settled io parts that were to be westward of the original set-nent where Noah dwelt; and that, after they had dwelt in inar, ambition might inspire some of their leaders^ with the ughts of setting up a great empire. But that this supposes It there were at that time other tribes elsewhere, against ich they might direct their ambitious projects. There appears ys he) to have been something of ambition either for power fame, or both, in their design ; for they said, Let us make us laroe*

** There is" (says Dr. Winder, p. 127,) " a most noble au-snticated confirmation of the Mosaic history, by this city or mtry, retaining the name Babelj or Confusion^ by which every d and nation called this great city the supposed seat of the It empire, even according to heathen writers, which seems to

a name of infamy and reproach, which its own princes or labitants would not have given it without some such notorious deniable circumstances obliging them to it. What a signal feat (says he) was here given by providence to this ambitious in—*' l4et us make us a name;^^ for what they aimed to erect a monument of their grandeur and glory, God indeed sufier-

to stand long, but then it was as a monument of their own hmy and folly, the impotency of their rebellion, and their de-live defeat."

[240] Gen. xi. 7. Concerning the confusion of languages* he state of the world of mankind, with respect to variety of Dguage, now and in all past ages that we can learn any thing from history, does exceedingly confirm this account of the ofusion of languages. Without this, it is very unaccountable m there should be so great a variety of language in so little time, or indeed ever at all. Concerning this, the author of Revelation Examined with Candour," observes as follows: It is true that the English and all living languages are in a irpetual flux; new words are added, and others die, and grow leolete. But whence does this arise? Not at all from the leessary mutability of human things, but most evidently from e mixture of other tongues. Scholars add new words or ter-inations from the learned languages, either through afiecta;* >D of learning or desire of adorning their native tongue with me words of more elegance or significance, and others from commerce with other countries of different languageSi natu-lily adopt some of their phrases and expositions into their own. nd so our language varies; and what then f How does this Feet the question concerning the continuance of the same Ian* aage, whore no other was ever taught or heard f The Jews

spoke the same language from Moses to the Babjlonisb captivity : if their polity had continued, would they not speak the same language fo this day ?*' [And here I would insert what Bedford in his Scripture Chronology observes, viz. that ** the Arabic continued the same from the time of Job till later ages. The Arabic spoken by Christians in Asia at this day, is tbe same with that spoken by Mahomet, the impostor, which was much the same with that used in Job's time; and tbe Chaldee remained the same from the time of Jaco till the date of the Babylonish Talmud ; and the Greek continued the same from the days of Homer to St. Chrysostom." See Bedford, p. 291 and 512.] The author of Revelation Examined with Candour, goes on. *' Some of the inland inhabitants of Africa are found to speak the same language now which they spoke two thousand years ago; (and in all probability thfe same observation i?. true of our neighbours, the Welch.) Could they keep to one language for two thousand years, and could not the descendants of Noah keep to one language two hundred years? Could they keep their language amidst a variety of 80 many others about them, and when it is scarcely possible that they should be clear of all commerce with people of different tongues.; and could not these keep their language, when it was impossible that they should have any commerce but with ! one another ? Those Africans, to say nothing of the Welch, now keep their own tongue, though there are so many others in the world to taint, and by degrees to abolish it. If there were no other language in the world but theirs, does any man believe they would not continue to speak it for two thousand or ten thousand years more, if the world lasted so longf It is true, as arts increased, and customs changed, new terms and phrases might be added ; when then new words would increase and adorn the tongue; but sure no man would say it would destroy it, unless it be believed that new branches, or fruit, or flowers, do daily destroy the tree they shoot out from."

" The learned author of the letter to Dr. Waterland, seems to think that all other languages sprang as naturally from the Hebrew, as many shoots from the same root, or many branches from the same stock: but I am confident, whoever carefully considers the genius of each of the ancient languages now extant, will find as little reason to believe that they all had their original from the Hebrew, as that all the variety of forest and fruit-trees in the world were originally but so many shoots and branches from the palm-tree of Judea.

'* Besides all this, if we consider that the language of Adam (if we could suppose it imperfect in him, when it was demonstrably inspired by God, yet) had time enough to arrive at full

leifection in 1656 years; and that Noah and his sons had time isough to learn it in perfection before the flood ; the youngest of tttsons being about 100 years old at that time, and himself 600 ; ire cannot with any colour of reason imagine that there could leany necessity of adding so much as one word to it before the milding of Babel." Thus lar the author of Religion Examined vitb Candour.

And besides all this, the greater excellency and regularity of lome of the ancient languages so early, when arts were in their Srst beginning, as the Latin and Greek, the latter of which rras in great perfection in the days of Homer, seems to argue wmethiug divine in it. If the arts and learning of the nation had 10 early brought their language to such a pitch of perfection, they bad made infinitely greater progress in this than in other things that pertain to human life.

The manner in which God confounded the languages of the posterity of Noah, seems to be by confounding their memory irith respect to their former language, but not utterly destroying it; so that they still retained some notion of many of the irords and phrases of their former language; hence it is found that other languages have in many words affinity to tl>e Hebrew.

[275] Gen. xiii. 10. '* And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld ill the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, be-Ibre the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the gar-Jen of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar." Zoar here, probably is the same city which was elsewhere called Zoatif which was of old the chief city of Egypt. [See No. 254.) The Hebrew letter '^, iVtiw, seems easily convertible into J, Resch, as in Achon^ Achor. Nebuchadnezzar, NebU" JUidrezzar. Zoan was probably at this time the most famous, ind tlie royal city in Egypt. It stood in the Delta of Egypt, >r that part of it that was near the sea, through which the river Nile ran in many branches, so that it was well watered every vbere, as the land about Sodom is here said to be; for '^ it had ]Ot*on]y the river Jordan running through it, but the river Ar-non from the east, the brook Zered (Num. xxi. 12,) and the fa-inoas fountain Callirhoe (Pliny, lib. 5, c. 16.) from the south, falling into it." (Complete Body of Divinity, p. 350.) Probably this fountain is the same with the well, which the princes of [sraei digged with their staves, Num. xxi. 16, 17, 18. And probably being a low flat country, which is sometimes called a plain, sometimes a valley, Gen. xiv. 10, was in the time of the swelling >f Jordan overflowed, as Egypt was with the Nilus.

[302] Gen. xiv. 15, 16, &c. Abraham, in tbos conqueriiig the great kings and princes of the earth, and their anited hotfi, is a type of Christ and of the church. God seems to have granted this great victory to Abraham, as some earnest of ihose greit blessings he had promised to him; the belief of which promisetwu attended with so much difficulty. Here was given some tpeci* men of what Abraham's promised seed should do, which incladei Christ and his church. Abraham might well represent ChrisC« for Christ is Abraham's seed, and he might well represent the church, for he was the father of the church, the father of all thil believe, as the apostle testifies. And besides, Abraham and hb household was then as it were God's visible church ; God had i^ parted Abraham from the rest of the world* to that end that kb church might be continued in his family. And though there were ii yet some other true worshippers of God, who were not of his family, yet soon after the church was confined to his posterity. This victory of Abraham was doubtless intended as a sign and earnest of the victory that Christ and his church should obtain over their enemies, and over the nations of the world ; because God himself makes use of it to this purpose in the xli. chap« of Isaiah : ** Keep silence before me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength ; let them come near, then let them speak ; let us come near together in judgment: Who raised up the righteons mao from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings ? He gave them as the dust to hit sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet." It is not probable that this victory of Abraham would be spoken of in such lofty language, and in expressions so much like those that are elsewhere made use of to represent Christ's glorious victories over the powers of earth and hell, if the one were not s type of the other. This victory of Abraham is in this place mea-tioned to that end, that the church, the seed of Abraham, might take it as a sign and evidence that they should not be subdued, but should subdue and conquer the world, as appears from what follows, ver. 8, " But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." Ver. 10. 11, ** Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were insensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish." Ver. 15, '< Behold, I will make thee a|new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth : thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff."

Abraham conqaered the chief nations and princes of the world, which was a seal of what God promised him, that he should be the heir of the world Rom. iv. 13. **For the promise that he •faould be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." He conquered them not with an hired army, but only with the armed loldiers of his own household. So the armies that go forth with Christ unto battle to subdue the world, (Rev. xix. 14. '* And the armies which were in heaveu followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,) they are his church, which it bit household. Abraham conquers the kings of the earth and their armies united, and joining all their force together, and therein his victory was a type of Christ's victory, as in the xli. Isai* 6, 7, speaking of this victory, ^' They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good cou* rage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved." Abraham by his conquest rescued Lot bis kinsman; so Christ our near kinsman by his victory over our enemies, who had taken us captive, delivers us. Abraham redeemed Lot and the other captives freely, and would take nothing of them for his pains: so Christ freely redeems us. Abral ^nrx redeemed the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, that wicked peo pie; which is a type of Christ's redeeming sinners.

[129] Gen. xv. 17. '' Behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp passes between those pieces." The smoking furnace I am ready to think, signified the same as fire from heaven to contnme the sacrifices, that is the wrath of God in the midst of JesQS Christ. The furnace passed between the pieces, that is, as it were, through the midst of them. The burning lamp which followed was a fire of another nature; it was a clear bright light; whereat the other, though exceeding hot like a furnace, was all MDokiDg. This signified the Holy Ghost, who is often compared to fire ; and the lamp signified that light, glory, and blessedness which followed Christ's enduring wrath, and was purchased by it, both for himself and for his people. And doubtless this also has respect to the church in Egypt of Abraham's seed, and signified those things that God was now telling Abraham in his deep sleep. The tmoking furnace signified their sufiering grievous persecutions and afflictions in Egypt, which is called the iron furnace; and the shining lamp signified their glorious deliverance in the fourth generation, and being brought into the land of Canaan. Isai. Ixii. 1. *' And the salvation thereof shall be as a lamp that burneth." The birds coming down, that Abraham frayed away, were €b ty-

VOL. ix. 2d

pify the devils, and their endeavours to devoar Jesus Christ tod the church ; this thing may also signify the terrors and consolations that attend the wish of conversion and deliverance cot of spiritual Egypt.

[363] Gen. xv. 17. *' And it came to pass, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces." Here were four things that were significant of the death and last sufierings of Christ, all at the same time.

1. There were the sacrifices that were slain, and lay there dead and divided. Christ feared when his last passion approached, lest Satan should utterly devour him, and swallow him up io that trial, and cried to God, and was heard in that he feared; and those fowls were frayed away that sought to devour that sacrifice, as Abraham frayed away the fowls that attempted to devour this sacrifice while it lay upon the altar.

2. The smoking furnace that passed through the midst of the sacrifices.

3. The deep sleep that fell upon Abraham, and the horror of great darkness that fell upon him.

4. The sun, that greatest of all natural types of Christ, went down, and descended under the earth, and it was dark.

*^ It is probable this furnace and lamp which passed between the pieces, burned and consumed them, and so completed the sacrifice, and testified God's acceptance of it, Judg. vi. 21, xiii. 19, 20, and 2 Chron. vii. 7. This was of old God's manner of manifesting his acceptance of sacrifices, viz. kindling a fire from heaven upon them; ' and by this we may know that he accepts our sacrifices, if we kindle in our souls a lively fire of divine affections in them.'" Henry.

[241] Gen. xvi. 10, 11, 12. " I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude And shall

call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be against every man, and every man's band against him ; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." The jfoUoioing observations are taken principally out of a book eniilkd Revelation Examined toith Candour. This prophecy is remarkably verified in the Arabs. The Arabs are the undoubted descendants of Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael was circumcised at thirteen years of age; so have all those his sons from him until thf establishment of Mahometanisro, and many of them to this day, though some of them circumcise indifferently in any year from the 8th to the 13th, but all professing to derive the practice Orom their father Ishmael. He was an

archer in the wilderness; his sons, the Arabs, have been the most remarkable archers in the world, and are so to this day, and in the wilderness too, where cultare is not known. Hagar was a concubine and an hireling, and while she dwelt with Abraham, Abra-braham dwelt in tents, and was continually moving from place to place. Ammianus Marcellinus observes of the Arabs, that they had mercenary wives hired for a time. The learned Dr. Jackson makes it exceeding evident that the Arabs and the Saracens were descended from Ishmael, and also the writers of the life of Mahomet, and the writers of travels and voyages without number. In short, it is a point universally agreed upon all over the east and south. As the Ishmaelites lived under twelve princes by Moses's account, so these principalities remained till later times bearing the names of the twelve sons of Ishmael, as Le Clerc makes very evident.

The first part of the prophecy, viz: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered, for multitude, is fulfilled in them. The Hagarenes spoken of in scripture, and the Arabs, especially the Scaenitae, were very numerous, and the Saracens were more numerous than either. But this prophecy is roost evidently fulfilled in that vast empire that the Saracens have set up in the world.

The next part of the prophecy is that he should be a wild man. The word which is translated witdj in this place, signifies a wild an: the literal construction of the phrase in Latin is erit Onager Homo: He shall be a mid ass man. The Arabs are above all nations a wild people, and have been so through all ages throughout so many hundred generations. They vary no more from their progenitors' wild and fierce qualities than the wild plants of the forest, never accustomed to human culture do, from the trees whence they are propagated. The dwelling of those Arabs and the wild ass is alike, and indeed the same. See Job xxxix. 6.

The next part of the prophecy: His hand shall be against every man, and every man*s hand against him. He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. The meaning of which words seems to be that they should be in perpetual enmity with all mankind, and yet should subsist in the face of the world. And such a sense of this prophecy seems to be agreeable to the idiom of scripture phrase. Thus when the scripture speaks of brethren with respect to nations, sometimes nothing is intended but only other nations that are round about. So when it is said concerning Canaan, Gen. ix. 25, '* A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren,'' it is not intended only, nor chiefly, and it may be not at all, that he should be a servant of servants to his literal brethren, CttsA, Mizraim^ and Phut, the other sons of Ham; but that be should be a servant to other nations; and it was fulfilled espe-

cially Iq his posterity's being subdaed by the posterity of Sliea and Japheth.—When it is said " He shall dwell," the meaniogii, that they shall remaia a natioiii and still retain their habitatioa and possession without being cut off, or carried captive from ibeir own land. In such a sense the word is ased, Ps. xxxvii. 27, *' Depart from evil and do good, and dwell for evermore*'' This expression is explained by other passages in the Psalm, as ver. 3, *< Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land." Verse 9. << Evil doers shall be cut off, but those that nait on the Lord shall inherit the earth." Ver. 10, 11. <« Yeta little while and the wicked shall not be^ yea, thou shalt diligently consider hk pUicey and it shall not be, but the meek shall inherit the earth." Ver. 18. '' The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, and their inherit ance shall be forever ;" and ver. 22. *^ For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall be cat off." Ver. 29. << The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwdl therein for ever." Ver. 34. ** And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off thou shalt seeit. It is also agreeable to the scriptural way of speaking, when it is said, ** He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren," to understand it, that they after all their opposition to it shall see him still subsisting and retainiog' his own habitation in spite of them: so the expression in thepr^ sence of, seems evidently to signify, Ps. xxiii. 5. " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine etiemies." This is also remarkably fulfilled in the Arabs, for they have ever lived in professed enmity with all mankind, and all mankind in enmity with them; they have continued in a state of perpetual hostility with the rest of their brethren, and yet have subsisted perpetually under it before their faces, and in spite of them all; they have neither been destroyed nor lost by mingling with other nations; they marry only in their own nation, disdaining alliances with all others. Their language continued so much the same through all ages (as Bedford in his Scripture Chronology observes, that it cod-tinued much the same from the days of Job until latter ages] shows that this nation has never been much mixed with other nations. They and the Jews only have subsisted from the remotest accounts of antiquity as a distinct people from all the rest of mankind, and the undoubted descendants of one man. And the Arabs never were subdued and carried captive, as the Jews have been. Alexander the Great intended an expedition against them, but was prevented by death. What Alexander intended, Antigonus, the greatest of his successors, attempted, but without success; being repulsed with disgrace, and the loss of above eight thotisand men, he made a second and greater attempt, but witliout success.

They had wars afterwards with the Romans and Parthians, but were never either subdued or tamed: resembling in this (the only

comparison in nature that suits them) the wild ass in the desert, and sent out by the same hand free, as he whose house is also the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling, alike disdainful of bondage, scorning alike the multitude of the city and the cry of the driver. Pompey made war with them, and some part of them seemingly submitted, but never remained at all in subjection to bim—after this they misled and deluded Crassus to his destruction. Anthony after this sent his horse to ravage Palmyra, but the city was defended from them by archers, who were probably Arabs* Afterwards their chief city was besieged by Trajan, one of the most warlike and powerful of all the Roman emperors. He went in person with his army against them with great resolution to subdue them, but his soldiers were strangely annoyed with lightnings, thunders, whirlwinds, and hail, and affrighted, and dazzled with the apparition of rainbows, and so were forced to give up the siege. After this, Severus, a great conqueror,after he had subdued all his enemies, marched in person against them with great resolution to subdue them with his greatest force, and warlike preparations, besieged the city twice, but it twice repulsed him with great loss, and when they had actually made a breach in the wall of the chief city, they were strangely prevented from entering by unaccountable discontents arising among the soldiers, and so they went away baffled and confounded. These Ishmaelites, when their wall was broke down, being invited to a treaty with the emperor, disdained to enter into any treaty with him. After this the Saracens set up a vast empire, and so the prophecy of their becoming a great nation that could not be numbered was most eminently fulfilled.

They also have dwelt in the presence of all their brethren, in another sense, viz. that all their brethren, the posterity of all the other sons of Abraham, and even the posterity of Isaac, have seen them remaining and unsubdued, and holding their own dwelling, when they all of them, and even the posterity of Isaac and Jacob themselves, were conquered and carried away out of their own dwellings. *

[301] Gen. xvii. 10. CircumciHan signified or represented that mortification or the denying of our lusts, that is the condition of obtaining the blessings of the Covenant. Totally denying any lust, is represented in scripture by cutting off. Thus, cutting off a right band, or right foot, is put for the denying of some very dear lost; %o cutting off the flesh of a member so prone to violent lust, iigoifiesa total denying of our lusts. A main reason why lust, or our natural corruption, is represented by the instrument of generation, is because we have all our natural corruption or lust by generation, i. e. by being the natural offspring of the corrupt parents of mankind. Therefore when God would signify that our origi-

oal or natural corruption should be mortified, be appoints tbattlie flesh of the part specified should be cut off.

Another reason why the seal of the covenant that God made with Abraham was appointed to be affixed to this part of the body, seems to be that God made this covenant not only with Abraham and for him, but him and his seed. It mainly respected bis seed, as abundantly appears by the tenor of the words, in which the covenant was revealed from time to time ; and therefore the seal was to be affixed to that part of the body whence came his seed. The covenant was made not with a man, but with a race of men ordinarily to be continued by natural generation; and therefore the sign of the covenant was a sign affixed to the instrument of' generation. The sign was a pungation of the member of the body, by which offspring was procured, and was to be a sign of the pa-rification of the offspring. God seeks a godly«eed, and children that are holy*

Carol. Hence we learn that seeing the Gentiles now in the days of the gospel are admitted to the seal of Abraham as the Jews were, and are admitted to an interest in Abraham's covenant, and to the blessing of Abraham, so that Abraham is become the father DOW, not of one nation, but of many nations in the way of that covenant, as the apostle Paul abundantly teaches; then the posterity of Christians by natural generation, are now God's people, and are a holy seed by Abraham's covenant, as the Israelites were of old. There are but two ways in which persons can become of Abraham's covenant, race, or generation: one is by generation by the natural instruments of generation to which the seal of the covenant was affixed, and so continued from the root to the branches ; the other is by ingrafting a new branch into that stock, that shall after ingrafting grow and bring forth branches, and bear fruit upon-tbai stock, as the other branches did that were cut off to make room for them. In this way now many nations or generations are of Abraham's race, instead of one nation or family.

[355] Gen. xviii. Isaac, the interpretation of whose name is Laughter, was conceived about the same time that Sodom and the other cities of the plain were destroyed, and he was born soon after their destruction. So the accomplishment of the terrible destruction of God's enemies, and the glorious prosperity of his church, usually go together, as in Isai. Ixvi. 13,14, ** As one whom his mother com-forteth, so will I comfort you ; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem—and when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servant, and his indignation toward his enemies." First the enemies of the church are destroyed and tlien Isaac is born, as that prosperous state of the church is brought

mboutt wherein their mouths are filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing. So the Egyptians were first overthrown in the Red sea, and then Moses and the children of Israel rejoiced in peace, and liberty, and sung that glorious song of triumph. So first Babylon is destroyed, and then the captivity of Israel is returned, and Jerusalem rebuilt. So when the heathen Roman empire was overthrown, then commenced that prosperous and Joyful state of the church that was in the days of Constantine. So when Antichrist is destroyed, there will follow that joyful glorious state of the church we are looking for. Isaac was the promised seed of Abraham, the father of all the faithful, the blessing he had long waited for, and when Sarah brought him forth, it represented the same thing as the woman in the xii. chap, of Rev. ''And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." The accomplishment of the prosperous state of the church is in scripture often compared to a woman's bringing forth a child with which she had been in travail. It is so in particular by our Saviour, John xvi. 19, 20, 21, 22. '' Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them. Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall see me f Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." Hereby is especially represented the accomplishment of the church's glory, joy, and laughter, after the destruction of Antichrist, or the throne of Rome, that is spiritually called Sodom.

[431] Gen. xviii. Concerning the burning of Sodom, &lc. Diodorus Siculus, b. 19. Where he describes the lake Asphal-tites, says, '* The neighbouring country burns with fire, the ill smell of which makes the bodies of the inhabitants sickly, and not very long lived." Strabo, b. 16, after the description of the lake Asphaltites, says, ** There are many signs of this country being on fire, for about Mastada they show many cragged and burnt rocks, and in many places caverns eaten in, and the ground turned into ashes, drops of pitch falling from the rocks, and running waters stinking to a great distance, and their habitations overthrown; which give credit to a report amongst the inhabit-

ants that formerly there were thirteen cities inhabited there, the chiefof which was Sodom, so large as to be sixty farlongs roond; but by earthquakes and fire breaking out, and by hot waters mixed with bitumen and brimstone, it became a lake, as we now see it. The rocks took fire, some of the cities were swallowed up, and others forsaken by those inhabitants that could flee." Tacitus, in the fifth book of his history, has these words: " Not far from thence are those fields which are reported to have been formerly very fruitful, and inhabited by a large city, but were burnt by lightning, the marks of which remain, in that the land is of a burning nature, and has lost its fruitfulness; for every thing that is planted or grows of itself, as soon as it comes to to herb or flower, or grown to its proper bigness, vanishes like dost into nothing." Solinus, in the xxxvi. chap, of Salmasias's edition, has these words: '* At a good distance from Jerusalem, a dismal lake extends itself, which was struck by lightning, as appears from the black earth burnt to ashes. There were two towns there, one called Sodom, the other Gomorrah; the apples tbtt grow there cannot be eaten, though they look as if they were ripe, for the outward skin incloses a kind of sooty ashes, which, pressed by the least touch, flies out into smoke, and vanishes into fine dust." Grotiusde Verit. b. i. sect. 16. Notes.

[359] Gen. xix. 23, 24. '' The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered in Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom

a

and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." This signified that the terrible destruction of the wicked is at the beginning of the glorious day wherein the Sun of Righteousness rises on the earth, and at the coming of Christ, Lot's antitype, and visiting his church, the little city, the antitype of the church. So it was in the days of the apostles, in the morning of the gospel day, when Judea and Jerusalem were so terribly destroyed. So it was in the days of Constantine, and so it will be at the fall of Antichrist; and so it will be at the end of the world. See Job xxxviii. 13. Note.

[336] So Dagon fell once and again before the ark early in the morning; so after the disciples had toiled all night and caught nothing, yet in the morning Christ came to them, and they had a great draught of fishes; so Christ rose from the dead early in the morning. It is said concerning God's church, that " weeping may continue for a night, but joy will come in the morning."

The children of Israel were ail night pursued by their enemies at the Red sea; in the night they were in the sea, in a great and terrible east wind, but in the morning watch the Lord looked through the pillar of cloud and fire, and troubled the hosts of the Egyptians ; and in the morning the children of Israel came op oot of

3 sea* ant] the host of the Egyptians was destroyed, and the ildren of Israel rejoiced and sang. Jacob, after wrestling tb the angel in the night, obtained the blessing in the »rning. ** Ho that rulctb over men shall be as the light of ) morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without kiidd : and as the tender grass springing out of the earth by tar shining after rain." 2 8am. xxiii. 4. Psalm xlix. 14. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, d their beauty shall con9ume in the grave from their dwell-r. In the morning, when the Sun of Righteousness shall rise th healing in his wings, the day comes that shall burn as an en, (as that day burnt in which Lot entered into Zoar,) and the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and 3 righteous shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be as hes under the soles of their feet." Mai. iv. at the beginning, lie Church in the lix. Psalm, after expressing her great trends from her enemies, and declaring how God should destroy 3m, says, verse 16, *' But 1 will sing of thy power; yea, I II sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been f defence and refuge in the day of my trouble." So likewise B church, in speaking of her troubles, in Psalm cxiiii. 8, Dause mb to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for in ee do I trust; en use me to know the way wherein I should ilk, for I lift up my soul unto thee." It is said of the Church, »lm xlvi. 5, *'God is in the midst of her, she shall not be )ved ; God shall help her, and that right early." And then the 8th verse, it is said, '* Come, behold the works of the >rd, what desolations he hath made in the earth." Hosea vi. 2, 3. '* Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath rn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind up. \er two days will he revive us ; in the third day he will raise up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know if we low on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the >rning, and ho shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter in and the former rain unto the earth."

[276] Gen. xix. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. Concerning the dettruc-m of Sodom and the parts adjacent. The very ground of that gion, great part of it, seems to have been burnt up. For it as in great measure made up of bitumen, or what the scrip-re calls slime. Gen. xiv. 10. '* And the vale of Siddim was II of slime pits ; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, id fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.*' nd because of the abundance of bitumen in the lake of Sodom, was called of old, and is still called Lacus AshpalHtes. It is II of bitumen, which at certain seasons boilsupfrom the bottom VOL. IX. 29

in bubbles like hot water. This bitumen ir a very conibustibk matter. It is in some places liquid, and in others firm; and not only lies near the surface of the earth, but lies sometimes verj deep, audit is du^^ out of the bowels of it. So that thestreamsof fire that came from heaven set the very ground on fire; aid therefore it is here, in the 28th verse, that L«>t looked towardi Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards all the land of the plain* and beheld, and In, the sinoke of the country went up as the smokecf a furnace. So that the country burning was a very lively representation of the general conflagration; and by the melting of the bituminous ground in many places was probably a burning lake, and so was a lively image of hell, which is often called the lake of fire, and the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. Note, that bitumen is a sulphurous substance, (see Bailey's Dictionary,) and therefore is fitly compared to hell fire in scripture, Jude 7ib ver. ** Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ; in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange fiesh, nre set forth for an example, sufTering the vengeance of eternal fire." There seenu to be an evident allusion to the manner of the destruction of this country in Isai. xxxiv. 9, 10. ''And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day : the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Deut. zxix. 23. ''And the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burningi that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;" where we are expressly taught that the very ground of this country was burnt. The ground burning up sunk the land, and made this valley dec[)er, so that after that the waters of Jordan perpetually overflowed it; and besides, there was probably an earthquake at the same time, by which the ground subsided, as the tradition of the heathen was. It is probable that the same time as the meteors of their air were inflamed, the bitumen and other combustible matter that was in the bowels of their earth was also enkindled, or the fire that was first kindled on the top of the ground might run down in the bituminous and sulphurous veins deep into the earth, and being there pent up, might cause earthquakes, after those cities and inhabitants were all consumed, which might make the country to sink, and turn it into a bituminous and exceeding salt lake. The ground there was doubtless very likely to sink by an earthquake, being hollow, as it is evident it is still, in that since the surface of the

earth hath been broken to let down the water at the river Jor* dan and other streams, there is no outlet out of the lake above ground, but they have a secret passage under the earth. The bitunnen there is mixed with abundance of nitre and salt, which by their repugnant quality might cause a more violent struggle in the fire that burnt down into the caverns of the earth to raase an earthquake. See many of these things in Complete Body of Divinity, p. 351, 353.

[239] Gen. xix. 26. Concerning Lot^s wife. Revelation Examined with Candour. *'The unreasonable delay of Lot's wife was without question occasioned by her solicitude for her children, which she left behind her. The story of Niobe weeping for her children, and being stiffened into stone with grief, is doubtless founded upon this history. Possibly, too, the fable of Orpheus being pcrniitted to redeem his wife from hell, and lofling her afterwards by lookiiic: niiseasonably back, contrary to the express command ^iven him, and then through grief deserting the society of mankind and dwelling in deserts, might be derived from some obscure tradition of this history. Sodom was now the liveliest eniblcm of hell that can be imagined* It was granted to Lot by a peculiar privilege to deliver his wife thence. He was expressly commanded, Gen. xix. 17, *'Look not behind thee, neither slny thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.*' By her looking back, contrary to this command, his wife was lost; after which he quits the city, and dwells alone in the mountains. Here are all the main circumstances of the fable, and the poets had nothing to do but to vary and embellish as they liked best.

[380] But his wife looked back from behind her, and she became a pillar of salt. What happened to Lot's wife when she looked back as she was flying out of Sodom, is typical of what commonly happens to men that are guilty of backsliding when they have begun to seek deliverance out of a state of sin and misery, and an escape from the wrath to come. The woman was there stiffened iVito a hard substance; which signifies the tendency that hHckslirling has to harden the heart. She became a sen^>eles8 statno; which signifies the senselessness which persons bring on them by backsliding. There she was fixed, and never got any further; which typifies the tendency that backsliding has to binder persons from ever escaping eternal wrath.

[361] Gen. xxi. 10, 11. ** Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bond woman and her son ; for the son of this

bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac" The son of the bond woman is men's own righteousness; which is the son of the first covenant, given at mount Sinai, which is Hagar; and Isaac, the son of the free woman, is Christ, as applied to the soul by faith : he is the child of promise, and the son of the free woman : at least this is |>art of the signification. It is Sarah, the mother of Isaac, that urges the casting out the son of the bond woman; so it is the church in its ministry and ordinances, which is the mother of Christ in the souls of believers, that urges the casting out our own legal righteousness. It is Christ that is the heir of the blessings of the covenant; it is by his merits only that we have a right or title to those blessings; we must cast out our own righteousness, and not have any manner of regard to that, as though that had a right, or as though a right came by that. [** And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of bis son.*'] This signifies how very hard and grievous it seems to persons wholly to cast out their own righteousness, the son of the legal covenant, from mount Sinai, because they are our own works, our own ofispring, that are dear to us, as Ishniael was to lib father Abraham.

[138] Gen. xxi. 8. ''And Abraham made a great feast ths same day that Isaac was weaned." This tj/pifies the weaning of the church from its milk of carnal ordinances, ceremonies, and shadows, and beggarly elements, ('pcm the cuui-ing of Christ, the church under the Old Testament is represented as being in its minority; and the apostle tells us that babes must be fcul with milk, and not strong meat. Chriitt therefore dealt with his disciples just as a tender mother does with her child, when she would wean it from the breast. There was a great fea^t provided, which represents the glorious gospel feast provided for souls when the legal dispensation ceased by the coming of Christ. It may also signify the weaning of souls from the enjoyments of the world at conversion, and the spiritual feast which they find instead of them.

[362] Gen. xxii. Conrermng Abraham*$ ^ff^^^g ^P *** '<^ Isaac. God's command to .Abraham to oflTer up his son Isaac, considered with all its circumstances, was an exceeding great trial. Abraham had left his own country and his father's house, and all that was denr to him, and followed God, not knowing whither he went. First, he left Vr of the Chaldeei with his father. This was a great trial, but this was not enough. After this he was required also to leave Haran and bis father's house there, after he had been there settled in

NOTES ON TUE BIBLE. S29

168 of a blessing which God encouraged him that he would e him in a jiosterity. When he came there ho found a fa-le in the land, and was forced to fly the country and go down ) Egypt for sustenance; and God appeared to him time after e, promising great things concerning his posterity. * Abra-> n waited a long time, and saw no appearunce of the fulfil-nt of the promise, foi his wife continued barren, and he de his complaint of it to God. God then renewed and very 3mn]y confirmed his promise; but did not tell him that it uld be a child bv his wife, and therefore after he bad waited 36 time longer, he went in to his maid ; but God rejected her , and he waited thirteen years longer, till he was an huu-d years old, before he obtained the sou promised; and then i gave him but one, without any hopes of his having any er. After this, at God's command, he cast out his son Ish-ei, though it was exceedingly grievous to him, on encourage-nt of great blessings in Isaac and his posterity. And now, last, God commands him to take him and offer him up for a nt offering. lie does not merely call to see him die, though t would have been a great trial under such circumstances;

he is to cut his throat with his own handp, and when he has le so, to burn his flesh on the altar, an offering to God—to t God that carnal reason would have said had dealt so ill h him, after he had lived long enough to get fast hold of his actions; after he was wenned from Ishmael, and had set all

heart on Isaac; and after there began to be a most hopeful stpcct of God's fulfilling his |H*oniises concerning him. And d gave him no reason for it. When Ishmael was to be cast , the reason assi^rned was, that in Isaac, his seed should be ^td. But now, in seeming inconsistency with that reason, ac must die, and Abraham must kill him ; and neither one ' the other must know why, nor wherefore ; and, as Mr. nry observes, how would he ever look Sarah in the face lin i with what face could he return to her and his family, h the blood of Isaac sprinkled on his garments? " Surely locMly husband hast thou been to me," would Sarah say to n, as Zipfwrah said to Moses, Kxod. iv. 25, 36.

]7] Gen* xxii. 8. *' My son, God will provide a lamb for a -nt offering." This was fulfilled in Christ.

[350] Gen. xxiii. Concerning Abraham^s buying^ in Canaan^ possession of a burying placr. Canaan is the'land that God .de over to Abraham by covenant; and yet he gave him none ^ritance in it to live up<in, as Stephen observes; no, not to ich as to set his foot on, Acts vii. 5. But the first possession

S30 NOTES Or« THE BIBLE.

he bad in it was the possession of a burying place, or a poiieatMNi for him to be in after be and his were dead; which signifiea this, that the heavenly Canaan, the land of promise, the rest that remaiM for the people of God, is a land for them to possets, and abide and rest in, after they are dead: they do nut enter opon the postessioa of it, until after they are dead, and then they are gathened to their possession in Canaan. Therefore it was so ordered that Jacob and Joseph so much insisted on it to be buried in that land.

[161] Gen. xxiv. 15. Rebekah, and Rachel, and Zipporab, Moses's wife, those types of the church, all found their hnsbandi. who were types of Christ, when coming out to fountains to draw water; which typifies this, that Christ is found by believers l§. a way of the use uf the moans of grace. The woman of Samaria found Christ ^hen coming to draw water.

[71] Gen. xxv. 22. *' And the children straggled together in the womh." 1 believe this had reference to the spiritual war that is in the soul of the believer, Christ's spouse, between the flesh and spirit: the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary one to another.

[35] Gen. xxvii. 29. '* Let the people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curteth thee, and l)lessed be he that blesseth thee." Hence we learn that the prophets themselves may not understand their prophecies, for Jacob thougiitthnt this should be accomplished of Esau.

[406] Gen. xxvii. 18, 19. *< And Jacob rose op early in tlie rooming, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called the nnme of that place Bethel,*' &lc. So, chap xxxi. 13. 45, and x\xv. 14. From hence the heathen BcUylia, mentioned by Philo Biblius out of Sancboniaihon. The god Uramii excogitated B<Jttylia^ having fashioned them into living stones. Bochart conceives that Sanchoniathon, instead of living stooet, wrote amnuted stones, D'i:^3 (from the radix DW, Skuph^ which, among the Syrians, signifies to anoint) which Philo Biblius read U^iffDi; whence he changed a/iri/zi/r//, into//n'n^ stones. SoDa-m-iScius tells ns, / saw a B(Bti/lns mm'^d in the air. The PhcBni-cians, imitating Jacob at Bethel, first worshipped the very stone which the patriarch anointed. So Scaliger, in Eiiaeb. tells os that *' the Jews relate so much, that although thai Cippys^ or stone, was at first beloved of God, in the times of the Patriarclm, yet afterwards he hated it, because the Caoaanites turned it into

aa idol.*' Neither did the Phoenicians worship only this stoue at Belhtsl; but also, io imitation of this rite, erected several other Boetyliai on the like occasion as Jacob erected his pillar of stone M a raemorial of God's apparition to him. So in like manner both the Phoenicians and the Grecians, upon some imaginary apparition of some god, (or dust, rather,) would erect their Boe-tylia, or pillars, in commemoration of snrh an apparition. So Photias, oot ofDamascius, tells us that near Holiopolis, in Syria, Asclepiades ascended the mountain Libauus, and saw many Boe-tylia, or Boetyli; concerning which he relates many miracles. He relates also that these Boetylia were consecrated, some to Sa-tarn» some to Jupiter, and some to others. So Phnvorimus says, BtBtybu is a stone which stands at Heliojwlis, near Libanus. This stone some also called S^-yiXtjv, which is the same word by a hich the Seventy render Jacob's pillar. Gale's Court of the Geo. p. I4 b. 2, c. 7, p. 89, 90.

[169] Gen. xxviii. 18—22. '* And he took the stone that he had set for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil opon the top of it—And this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house." This anointed pillar is a type of the Messiah, or Anointed, who is often called a stone or a rock, and is the house of God, wherein the Godhead dwells and tabernacles. He was signified by the tabernacle and temple, as Christ tells us, when he says, '^ Destroy this temple," &z,r. And he, we are told, is the temple of the new Jerusalem. This is the stone that was Jacob's pillow; it signified the dependence ilie saints have upon Christ, and that it is in him they have reU and repose, as Christ invites those that are weary to come to him, and they shall find rest. The Psalmist says he will lay him down and sleep, and awake, the Lord sustaining him. And as the stones of the temple rested on the foundation, so the saints, the living stones, rest upon Christ, building and resting upon that rock. This •tone ligpniiied the same with the other that he built there when he returned: chap. xxxv. 7: *' And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-eU because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother." Ver. 14, " And Jacob set up a pillar in the place wliere he talked with him, even a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink-ofTering thereon, and he poured oil thereon."

[417] Gen. xxxiii. 1—7. As Jacob's family returned to the land of Canaan, after Jacob had been long banished from thence, so it is probable will be the return of the spiritual hrael (o God, its resting place, and as it were to the promised land, to the land flowing with milk and honey, to a state of glorious rest, plenty,

prosperity, and spiritual joy, and delights, in the latter days, which is often represented by the prophets as bringing God^s people into the land of Israel, and recovering them from foreign lands, where he had driven them. Jacob, at his first entrance, meets with great opposition from those professors who are often in scripture represented by the elder brother, as Cain, and Ishmael, and Zarali, the son of Judah, who first put forth his hand, and David's eldest brother, and the ehler brother of the prodigal. Bot Jacob's meek and humble behaviour towards his opposing brother, to soften and turn his heart, teat hes the duty of Christians. Jacob's family was divided into several companies, one going before another with a space between; so the return of the chnrcb of God will be by several companies that will come in one after another in successive seasons of the pouring out of the Spirit of God, with a space between. In Jacob's family, the lowest and meanest went first, and afterwards the more honourable and most amiable, and best beloved ; so, in the spiritual return of the church of Christ, God will first bring in the inferior sort of people; he will save the tents of Jndah first, agreeable to the prophecy, Zech. xii. 7. '* The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah." And the first outpouring of the Spirit will be the least glorioas, and they that are first brought in arc not only inferior among men, but the least pure, beautiful, and amiable as Christians in their experiences and practice. In Jacob's family went first the hand-maids and their children, so this is the blemish of the first children of Christ that shall be brought in at the glorious day of the church, that thou<;h thev will be true children of Jacob, vet shall they be as it were children of the hand-maids, with much of a legal spirit, i. e. spiritual pride and self-confidence. After these comes Leah and her children, who were more honourable and better beloved than the former; she was a true wife, but yet less beautiful, and less beloved than his other wile; so after the first outpouring of the Spirit there will be a work of God that will break forth, that will be more glorious and more pure than the first. In Jacob's family came last of all the beautiful Rachel and Joseph, Jacob's best beloved and dearest child of all the family; so will it be in the church of God in days approaching. Jacob goes before them all, leads them all, and defends them all; so doth Christ go before his church as their leader and defence.

[126] Gen. xxxvii. 28. *' And they lift up Joseph out of the pit" Joseph was here a type of Christ; he was designed death by his own brethren, as Christ was ; he was cast into a pit, whereby his death and burial was signified. He was lifted out again,

is resurrection was an occasion of their salvation from famine eath.

n] Gen. xxxviii. 28, &c. <* Zarah put his hand out first, ^barez, from whom came Christ, broke forth before him.*' imports much the same thing as Isaac's casting out Ishmael, cob's taking hold of Esau's heel when they were born, and yards getting his birth-right of him, and as David's getting ingdom from Saul.

)7] Gen. xli. The history of Joseph^s advancement in 4f &fc. ** The Apis and Serapis of the Egyptians seems to y Joseph, because,* 1. It was the mode of the Egyptians to rve the memories of their noble benefactors by some signifi-! hieroglyphics, or symbols; and the great benefits which gyptians received from Joseph in supplying them with bread-is aptly represented under the form of an ox, the symbol of isbandman. Thus Suidas (in Serapis) tells us, '^ that Apis, dead, had a temple built for him, wherein was nourished a :k, the symbol of an husbandman." According to which blance also, Minutius, a Roman tribune, was in very like er honoured with the form of a golden ox, or bull. 2. Jo-is compared to a bullock in scripture, Deut. xxxiii. 17, ** His is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to ids of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, 3ey are the thousands of Manasseh." 3. The same may be *d from the names Apis and Serapis, for Apis seems evidently vativefrom ^k, Father^ as Joseph styles himself, Gen. xlv.

^o now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God; and th made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." As for Serapis^ ; the same with Apis, and also a symbol of Joseph, which IS collects from this: 1. It had a bushel on its head, as a )1 of Joseph's providing corn for the Egyptians. 2. From 'man of Serapis, which is derived either from "^iB^, an ox, or w, a prince, and Apis, both of which are applicable to Jo-

'" Gale'8 Court of Gen. p. 1, b. 2, c. 7, p. 93, 94.

8] Gen. xli. 14. " And they brought Joseph out of the on." By Joseph's being cast into the dungeon, is signified ath of Christ; by his being delivered, his resurrection ; and 5uiug great advancement of Joseph, to be next to the king, es the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of the Father. h rose from the dungeon, and was thus exalted to give salva-L. IX. 30

tion to the land of Egypt and to his brethren, at Christ to sart

his people.

[103] Gen. xliv. 32, 33. " For ihy servant became sorely for the lad unto my father, saying, If 1 bring him not onto thee, thea I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bond man to my lord ; and let the lad go up with his brethren." Jndah is herein a type of his offspring, Jesus Christ.

[382] Gen. xlviii. 21. '* And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you." So Joseph, when be was near his death, said to his brethren after the like manner* Gen. I. 24, '< And Joseph said unto his brethren. I die; and God will sorely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he | sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Thus the blessing ' of the presence of God with the children of Israel, and his favonr and salvation, is consequent on the death nf their Father, and their Brother, and SSaviour: shadowing this forth, that the favoar of God, and his presence, and salvation is by the death of Christ He, when near death, said to his disciples, John zvi. 7, ** It is expedient for you that I go away; for, if I go not away, the Coia-forter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send bin unto you." And elsewhere he promises that the Father and the Son will come to them,, and make their abode with them. Isaac's and Jacob's blessing their children before their death, and as it were making over to them their future inheritance, may probably be typical of our receiving the blessings of the cevenant of grace from Christ, as by his last will and testament. We find the covenant of grace represented as his testament. Christ, in thefxiv., XV., and xvi. chapters of John, does as it were make his will, and conveys to his people their inheritance before his death, particularly the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, which is the sum of the purchased inheritance.

[403] Gen. xlix. 10. " Until Shiloh come." " Silenus, so famous among the poets, whom they place in the order of their gods, is derived from hence. Diodorus, lib. 3, says the first that ruled at Nisa was Silenus, whose genealogy is unknown to all, by reason of his antiquity, which is afj^reeable to what the scriptures say of the Messiah, Isai. liii. *< Who shall declare his generation f" And elsewhere, ** To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the everlast-ing Father," and other passages. As for Nisa^ where Silenos reigned, it seems to be the same with Sina^ (as was showed elsewhere. See No. 401.) The Messiah dwelt there. It was be that

welt there in the bush. And there he manifested himself and pake with Moses and the children of Israel. This is represented .s bis dwelling-place several times in scripture; and therefore, when Sod redeemed the children of Israel from Egypt, and brought bem there, he is repressnted as bringins^ them to himself. Near bis mountain was the altar called Jehovah-Nissi, which is a lame Moses gave the Messiah. Of Shiloh it is said, and to him ball the nnp', the gatheringy or the obedience^ (as the word signi-

ies,) of the people be. Thus Silenus is made by the poets to be be greatest doctor of his age, and he is called Bacchus's preceptor, i. e. according to Vossins's account, Bacchus was Moses, (see Vo. 401,) and Silenus, or Shilo, or Christ, instructed Moses on Doont Sina, or Nysa, the place where Bacchus and Silenus were aid to be. Bacchus and Silenus are made by the poets to be in-leparable companions. Another attribute given to Silenus is, that he was carried for the most part on an ass, which Bochart refers to that of Genesis xlix. 11, ** Binding his foal 0nto the vine, ind bis ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments IB wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes." The mytholo-psts fable Silenus as a comrade of Bacchus, to be employed in treading out grapes; this Bochart refers to, Gen. xlix. '^ He wash-ri his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes;" ind is agreeable to what is said of the Messiah elsewhere in the icriptnre, '' I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people was none with me." They characterize Silenus as one that iras always drunk, as it is supposed from what follows, Gen. xlix. 18, *^ His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with nilk,^ which Solomon makes the character of one overcome with wine. Prov. xxiii. 29, 30, '* Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow f irho bath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds irithout cause ? who hath redness of eyes ? They that tarry long St the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine." They ascribe to Silenus for his meat cow's milk, which Bochart makes to be traduced from Gen. xlix. 12. '^And bis teeth white with milk." That Silanus is the same with Shilo, further appears from that of Pausanius Cliacon 2. Evyotf r»i''E^fou6jvXwfa 2iXt)vou |xv»ifi,a, the monument of Sitenus remains in the country of the Hebrews.^^ See Gale's Court of Gen. p. 1, b. 2, c. 6, p. 67, 68, 69.

[383] Exod. i. 6, 7. <' And Joseph, and all his brethren, and all that generation, and the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them." After the death of Christ, our Joseph, his spiritual Israel began abundantly to in* crease, and his death had an influence upon it. It was like the

sowing of a corn of wheat, which, if it die, bringeth forth nmcb frait. John xii. 24, " Verily, verily, I say nnto jroo, except a com of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abidetfa alone; hot if it die, it bringeth forth mach fruit.'* From the call of Abraham, when God first told him he would make of him a great nation^ to the deliverance of his seed out of Egypt, was 430 years, during the first 215 of which they were increased but to 70, bat in the latter half, those 70 multiplied to 600,000 fighting men; so sometimes God's providence may seem for a great while to thwart ik promises, and go counter to them, that his people's faith may be tried, and his own power the more magnified; and though the performance of God's promises is sometimes slow, yet it is alwayi sure ; at the end it shall speak, and not lie, Heb. ii. 3; ** How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed onto oi by them that heard him i^

[432] Exod. ii. Concerning Moses. Clennus AlexandrioiiSy Strom, l.y report;:, out of the books of the Egyptian priests, that ao Egyptian was slain by the words of Moses; and Strom. V., he relates some things belonging to Moses, out of Artapanus, though oot very truly. Justin, out of Tragus Pompeius, says of Moses, ** He was leader of those that were banished, and took away the sacred things of the Egyptians; which they, endeavouring to recover with arms, were forced by a tempest to return home; and Moses being entered into his own country of Damascus, he took possession of mount Sinai." And what follows is a mixture of truth and falsehood, where we find Arvas written in him, it should be read ArnaSf who is Aaron, not tlie son of Moses, as he imagines, but the brother, and a priest. The Orphic verses expressly mention his being taken out of the water, and the two tables that were given him by God. The verses are thus—

So was it said of old, so h'l commands. Who's born of waten who received of God The double Tables ofthe Law.

The great Scaliger, in these verses, instead of htdogenes^ wilb a very little variation of the shape of a letter, reads hudogenes, bom of the water.

The ancient vriterofthe Orphic verses, whoever he was, added those lines after he had said, that there was but one God to be worshipped, who was the Creator and Governor of the world.

Palemon, who seems to have lived in the time of Antiochas EpiphaneSy has these words: *'In the reign of Apis the son of Phoroneus, part of the Egyptian army, went out of Egypt and

•

dwelt in Syria, called PalestiDe, not far from Arabia." Several things are related about his coming out of Egypt, from the Egyptian writers, Monethro, Lysimachus, Choeremon. The places are in Josephus against Apion, with abundance of falsities, as coming Grom people who hated the Jews; and from hence, Tacitus took his account of them. Bnt it appears from all these compared toge* ibcr, that the Hebrews descended from the Assyrians, and possessing a great part of Egypt, led the life of shepherds, but after* Rrards being burdened with hard labour, they came out of Egypt jnder the command of Moses, some of the Egyptians accompany-ng them, and went through the country of the Arabians unto Pa-estine, Syria, and there set up rites contrary to those of the Egyptians.

Diodorus Siculus, in his first book, where he treats of those who nade the gods to be the authors of their laws, says, '' Amongst the Fews was Moses, who called God by the name lau, i. e. Jeho-krah,'' which was so pronounced by the oracles, and in the Orphic verses mentioned by the ancients, and by the Syrians.

Strabo, in his sixteenth book, speaking of Moses as an Egyptian priest, (which he had from the Egyptian writers, as appears in Josephus) says, " many who worship the Deity agreed with him, (Moses,) for he hath said that the Egyptians did not rightfully conceive of God, when they likened him to wild beasts and cattle; Dor the Lybians, nor the Greeks, in resembling him to a human shape ; for God is no other than the Universe which surrounds us, the earth and the sea, and the heaven, and the world, and the nature of things, as they are called by us. Who, says he, (i. e. Moses,) that has any understanding, would presume to form any image like to those things that are about us ? Wherefore we ought to lay aside all carved images, and worship him in the innermost part of a temple worthy of him, without any ^gure." He adds that this was the opinion of good men—He adds also that sacred rites were instituted by him, which were not burdensome for their costliness, nor hateful as proceeding from madness. He mentions circumcision, the meats that were forbidden, and the like; and after be had shown that man was naturally desirous of civil society, he tells us, it is promoted by divine and human precepts, but more effectually by divine.

Pliny, book xxx. ch. 1, says, "There is another party of magicians which sprung from Moses." Juvenal, has these lines—

They learn, and keep, and fear the Jewish laii', Which Moses in his secret volume gave.

Tacitus, Hist. V., according to the Egyptian fables, calls Moses one of them that were banished.

Dionysias Longinus, (who lived in the time of Aurelian the emperor, and favourite of Zenobia, queen of the PalmyrianSy) io his book of the Sublime, after he had said that they who speak of God, ought to take care to represent him as great and pure, and without mixture, adds, *' Thus does he, who gave laws to the Jews, who was an extraordinary man, who conceived and spake worthy of the power of God, where he writes in the beginning of his laws, Gad ipake, — fV/uit ? — £061 there be light; and there was light, hd there be earth; and it was so.^^

Chalcidius took many things out of Moses, of whom he speaks thus, ** Moses was the wisest of men ; who, as they say, was enlivened, not by human eloquence, but by divine inspiration.**

Numenius, as Eusebius quotes his words, book viii. ch. 8, says, '* Afterwards Jamnes and Maubres, Egyptian scribes, were thought to be famous for magical arts, about the time that the Jews were driven out of Egypt, for those were they that were chosen out of the multitude of the Egyptians, to contend with Musoeus the leader of the Jews, a man very powerful with God by prayers, and they seemed to be able to repel those sore calamities which were brought upon Egypt by Musoeus." Origen against Celsus refers us to the same place of Numenius.

Artapanus, in the same Eusebius, b. ix. ch. 27, calls them the priests of Memphis, who were commanded by the king to be pat to death, if they did not do things equal to Moses.

Strabo, in his xiv. book, after the history of MoseSj says, " that his followers for a considerable time kept his precepts, and were truly righteous and godly/' And a little after he says, ^Mhat those who believed in Moses, worshipped God and were lovers of equity."

These things concerning Moses are taken from Grotius, de Ve-fit. b. 1, sect. 16.

[154] Exod. ii. Moses in the ark upon the waters is a type of the church. The church of God is like a babe, in infirmity and weakness, in helplessness of itself, and dependence upon a superior help, and in that the members of it are all in a spiritual sense become as little children. And it is like a babe upon the waters floating through all manner of changes, dangers, and troubles, and yet upheld and preserved in Christ the ark. He was especially a type of the church of the Jews in their oppressed condition in Egypt. It was a wonder they were not swallowed up by their enemies, and drowned and lost in their afflictions and the multitude of their adversaries. Moses in the water and not drowned, is much sncb another type as the bush all in a flame and not burnt. He was also herein a type of every elect soul who is naturally all ove^

MOTES ON THE BIBLV. t39

Imed in sin and misery and danger, and if redeemed or deride as Moses was taken out of the water.

108] Ezod. ii. Moses is the same with the Egyptian Osiris; for, loses is the same with Bacchus, as has been shown before, No. ; and Diodorus tells us that Osiris was called by the Greeks nysus, the name of Bacchus.

Diodorus tells us that.Hercules was the chief captain of Osi-irroy, who was Joshua, as has been shown, No. 402. 3. Dio-is tells us that Osiris had in his army Anubis covered over with »g's skin, which thence was pictured .with a dog's head, and ;d the dog keeper, be.; all which seems to refer to CaleVs e, which signifies a dog. 4. Pan is said to war under Osiris, rh is the same with Christ, whom God promises should go with les when he says, OB ^^ my presence shall go with him." See 404.

. Osiris is said to have horns from the mistake of Moses's cha-er, who is thence pictured with horns, because of his beams of t—the Hord in Hebrew for horns and beams being the e.

• Moses with the princes of the tribes carried up the bones of ?ph into Canaan: hence the poets fable of Osiris^ bones, &c. Gale's Court of Gen. p. 1, b. 2, c. 7, p. 94,95.

159] Exod. ii. 5. Pharaoh's daughter became the mother of ses, which typified the calling fif the Gentile church, that is jrally the daughter of Satan, the spiritual Pharaoh, which omes the church of Christ, and so his mother; and also is to resent that all the saints of which the whole church consists, are iirally the children of the devil, that by conversion become the itual mother of Christ, as Christ says that whosoever shall do will of his Father which is in heaven, the same is his mother. The whole church, which is often represented as the mother Christ, is in her constituent parts naturally an Egyptian, and daughter of Pharaoh. She found Moses when she came rn to wash herself in the river. The river here represents the ly Ghost, and the washing is the washing of regeneration, by ich souls are brought to Christ, which is signified by baptism, which their admission into the Christian church is declared and led. Pharaoh's daughter is more than once made use of in ipture to signify the church, especially the Gentile. So was araoh's daughter that became Solomon's wife, for the church iguratively both the wife and mother of Christ.

[384] Exod. ii. 5. Pharaoh's daughter came to Moses her-r, into the same river into which Moses was cast. So, if wt

would find Christ, and be the spiritual mother of Christ, we must die with Christ, be made conformable to his death, be buried with him by baptsm; must die to sin ; must be crucified to the world, and die to the law, and be willing to suffer affliction and persecution with him. By such mortification and humiliatioo is the soul washed in the river into which Christ was cast.

[439] Exod. ii. 6. '' And behold, the babe wepL" As Moses, in the water, was a type of the chorch in afflicliony so his weeping a little before he is'taken out of the water, seems to be typical of the spirit ol .repentance, mourning and supplications | often spoken of in the prophets, given to the church a little before her deliverance from adversity.

[412] Exod. lit. 14. <'I am that I am," &c. Some of the heathen philosophers seem to have derived notions that they bad of the Deity from hence. Plato and Pythagoras make the great object of philosophy to be To^Ov, that which is; T'j ovrc^? *Ov, Mot y>hich truly is ; and also To ajVo "Ov, being itself. The Seventy render this place in Exodus thus: K/cj sifAio&jv, that the philosophers by their To'Ov, To ovrw^ "Ov, and Ti awo*0», meant God^ appears by what Jamblicus saiib of Pythagoras, '' by Twv'Ovrbiv, BeingSy he understood sole and self agents^ immaterials^ and eter- \ nals. Other beings indeed are not beings, but yet are equivocally called such by a participation with these eternals." So Plato, in his Parmenides, (who was a Pythagorean) treating of To "Ovxeu *£v, which he makes the first principle of all things, thereby understands God. So, in his Timoeus Locrus, he says To *Ov, Being is always; neither hath it beginning. So again in his Timceus, folios 37, 38, he proves nothing properly />, but God, the eternal essence, " to which," says he, •* we do very improperly attribute those distinctions of time, was, and shall 2^." Plutarch says To Ivrejf "Ov, «< The true Being, is eternal, ingenerable, and incorruptible, unto which no time ever brings mutation." Hence in the Delphic temple there was engraved "E*» Thou art. Gale's Court of Gen. p. 2, b. 2, ch. 8, p. 173, 174, 175.

That Plato by To ov-gj^ *()v, meant God, appears by his own words in his Epist. 6 fol. 323. '* Let there," says he, *^ be a law constituted and confirmed by oath, calling to witness the God of all things, the Governor of Bein<rs present, and things to come, the Father of that governing cause whom, according to our philosophy, we mnke to be the tnte Being, "Ov oWw^, &,c." This is the same with him that revealed himself to Moses by the name / am that I am, out of the bush, that was tlie Son of God. G. C. of Gen. p. 1, b. 3, c. 5, p. 64. Plato seems evidently to have

?ard of this revelation that God made of himself to Moses by e name of I am, &c. out of the burning bush in mount Sinai, id to have a»plain reference to it in his Philebus, fol. 17 ; he mfesseth, "The knowledge of the To "Ov," &c. was from the )ds, who communicated this knowledge to us, by a certain Prdmi-eus, together with a brigiit fire. G. C. of G. p. 2, b. 3, c. 2, 228.

[457] Exod. iii. 14. " And God said unto Moses, I am that I a ; and he said, Thus shah thou say to the children of Israel, AM hath sent me unto you." " We are informed that there was I ancient inscription in the temple at Delphos, over the place bere the image of Apollo was erected, consisting of these let-rs^^El; and Pluturch introduces his disputants querying what ight be the trne signification of it. At length Ammonius, to [lom he assigns the whole strength of the argumentation, con-ddes that " the word'El, was the most perfect title they could ve the Deity, that it signifies thou art, and expresses the dine essential being, importing that, though our being is precari* IS, fluctuating, dependent, subject to mutation, and temporary;

that it would be improper to say to any of us, iii the strict and »8olute sense, thou art; yet we may with great propriety give the eity this appellation, because God is independent, uncreated, imutable, eternal, always, and every where tbe same, and there-re he only can be said absolutely To Be. Plutarch would have lied this Being To ovtoj^ *Ov. Plato would have named him To 5v, lich he would have explained to signify Ou^ia, implying TO BE sentially, or self-existent." Shuckford's Connections, voU 2,

385, 386.

[5051 Exod. iii. 18. '* And you shall say unto him. The 3rd God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go, ) beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we ly sacrifice to the Lord our God." That is, inform Pharaoh at your God that hath met with you, has instructed you to ask is of him. In this Pharaoh was not treated with any falsehood unjust deceit. The utmost that can be supposed by any objec-r is, that here is an implicit promise, that if he would let them » three days* journey into the wilderness, they would return ain after they had there served their God, and received the relation of his will, which he should there make to them. But if ^re had been, not only an implicit, but an express, promise of is, it might have been consistent with God's real design, and 3 revelations of It that he had made to Moses, and by him to the ople, without any false or unjust dealing. God knew that Pha-VOL. IX. 31

raoh would not comply with the proposal, and that bis refusal would be the very occasion of their final deliverance. He knew be would order it so, and therefore might reveal this as the event that should finally be brought to pass, and promise it to his people, though he revealed not to them the exact time and particular means and way of i(s accomplishment. Conditional promises or threatenings of that which God knows will never come to pais, and which he has revealed will not come to pass, are not inconsistent with God's perfect justice and truth, as when God promised the prince and people of the Jews in Jeremiairs time, that the city should surely be preserved, and never should be destroyed by its enemies, if they would repent and turn to God, and cleave to him, though it had been often most expressly and absolutely foretold that Jerusalem should be destroyed by the Chaldeans, and as tbe apostle Paul denounced unto the mariners that were about to flee out of the ship, that if they did, the ship's crew must perish; though he had before in the name of God foretold and promised that there should be the loss of no man's life, bat only of the ship.

[443] Ezod. iv. 6, 7. ** And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom; and he put his hand into bis bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was lepcoos as snow; and he said. Put thine hand into thy bosom again; and be put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as the other flesh." This sign is much like the foregoing, of casting the rod on the ground, and its becoming a serpent; and much the same thing is signified, but only more is signified in this latter sign than in the former. By Moses's hand is represented the hand or arm of the Lord, which often in the Old Testament signifies the Messiah. By God's plucking his hand out of his bosom, is meant his appearing for the salvation of his people. While God long forbears to appear for his church's salvation, while they are longing and waiting for him, he as it were hides his hand in his bosom ; Ps. Izxiv. 11. *< Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right band? Pluck it out of thy bosom." There are remarkable appearances of God in the world for the salvation of his people, which are both by the coming of the Messiah, both of which are long wished and waited for before they are accomplished. The first is God's appearing in th^ world for the redemption of the church, by laying the foundation of her salvation in the first coming of the Messiah, after the church had long waited for him, while God bad hid his hand in his bosom. At length tbe arm of the Lord is made bare, the Messiah appears, but in such a manner that it was to the surprise and astonishment of those that saw bim—many were astonished at him, his visage was so marred more than

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. £43

ly maoy and bis form more than the sons of men. They were fended in him. He had no form nor comeliness, and when they iw him, there was no beauty that they should desire bim. He 3pears in the form of sinful flesh. He was as it were diseased itb the leprosy, because himself took our infirmities, and bore ir sicknesses. He was made sin for us, as though he had been all /er leprous or sinful. God's second remarkable appearance will ? in the Messiab^s second coming for the actual salvation of bis ?ople, when he will appear without sin unto salvation, without le leprosy of our sin, and will appear in that glory that he had ith the Father before his humiliation, which he emptied himself r at his first coming. God having answered his prayer in glori-ing him with his own self, with the glory he had with him before le world was: as Moses's hand, the second time he plucked it at of his bosom, was restored as it was at first. This type of le redemption of the Messiah was fitly given on this occasion, (id as a sign of the redemption of the children of Israel out of Igypt, and the carrying them through the Ked sea, the wilder-ess, and Jordan, into Canaan, because the redemption of the [essiah, both fundamental and actual, was variously represented dd presignified in that great work of God.

[1951 Exod. iv. 20. Moses's Rod. ''And Moses took the )d of God in his hand." This rod typified the Word, both the ersonal Word and the word of Revelation. The word of God ; called the rod of God's strength, Ps. ex. 2. It is called the rod f Christ's mouth, Isai. xi. 4. It is expressly represented by the >d of an almond-tree, Jer. i. 11. Moses's rod was the rod of n almond-tree. Jesus Christ is also called a rod. *'There lali come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall row out of his roots." He is frequently called a branch, or 3rout, a tender plant, &c.

If we consider this rod as representing the revealed word of rod, then Mosej» or Aaron, who kept and used the rod, represent !hrist. A rod is the instrument of a shepherd, by which he go-erns, directs, defends, and orders his flock, and this rod was that lat Moses kept sheep with, which he was found with when he was ^ding bis father-in-law's sheep, when God appeared to him in the ush. The same that a rod or staflf is to a shepherd and his flock, le same is the word of God to Christ and his spiritual flock. As loses used it in leading Jethro's flock of sheep, so he used it in wading God's people Israel. As the word of God is the instru-lent Christ uses to save his people, and to destroy their enemies, nd work those wonders that are wrought in bringing them to alvation, and which belong to the application of redemption, so loses used this rod in the temporal deliverance of his people. It ; the word of God that is used to remove all obstacles, and over-

come all opposition in the way of a sinnerU conversion and progress in holiness; as Moses's rod was made use of to divide the Red sea.

If the rod be considered as representing Christ, then Moses or Aaron represent God. Moses cast his rod on the gronndi and it became a serpent, and he took it up, and it became a rod again, signifying how that Christ, when he was sent down by God to the earth, and was made sin for us, became guilty for our sakes, wis accursed, and appeared in the form of sinful flesh : he appeared in our stead, having our guilt imputed to him, who are a generation of vipers. Thus, when the children of Israel were bitten with fiery serpents, Christ was represented by the brazen serpent The rod being become a serpent, swallowed the magicians* rods or serpents, so Christ, by his being made sin for us, destroyed sia and Satan. When Moses took up his rod from the ground, it was no longer a serpent, but became a rod again, so when God took up Christ from his stroke of humiliation, be was acquitted, justified, he had no longer the guilt of sin imputed to him, he no longer appeared in the form of sinful flesh. Rulers and princes are compared to rods, Ezek. xix. 11, 12. 14, and to branches, Ps» Ixxx. 15. 17; so Christ himself is often called a rod, and branch.

It is by the word of God, or by Christ, that God works all bis wonders in and for the church; and Moses wrought wonders by bis rod. It is by Christ that all obstacles and difficalties are removed in order to our salvation. As the Red sea was divided by Moses's rod, it is by Christ, and in his name only, that God's people prevail over their enemies. The children of Israel prevailed, while Moses held up his rod, and when he let it down, Amaiek prevailed ; Moses held up the rod in that battle as the banner or ensign of the armies of Israel, as is evident from Exod. xvii. 15; so Christ is lifted up a& an ensign, Isai. xi. 10.

When this rod budded, and blossomed, and bare fruit, that which it brought forth was almonds, intimating this, that the spreading of the word of God in producing its eflfectsin the world will be rapid. The almond-tree is a tree of a very sudden growth, and speedily brings its fruit to perfection. Jer. i. 11, 12. So the word of God is quick and powerful; this is the way which the powerfulness of it is shown in the suddenness of its producing its great eflects, Isai. Ixvi. 7, 8, *' Before she travailed she brought forth ; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child; who hath heard such a thing ? who hath seen such things f shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once f for as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children.''

As Moses and Aaron represent God, the rod represents Christ: as Moses and Aaron represent Christ, the rod represents the word:

18 tbey represent ministers, the rod represents two things, vh, the word of God which they preach, and their faith; and this rod was Moses's staff, and this staff represents the same as Jacob's and Elisha's staves. See note on Numb. xxi. 18.

[442] Exod. iv. 20. Moseses Rod. One tiling at least typified by this rod is faith, the same that was signified by Jacob's staff with which he passed over Jordan, and that he leaned upon in his last sickness, that the Apostle speaks of in Heb. xi.; and Elisha's staff that he bid the servant lay on tlio dead child, and the staves of die princes with which they digged the well, and David's staff he took ID his hand when he went against Goliath. The word properly signifies a staff as well as rodj such a staff as persons walk with, or lean upon : the word comes from a root, one signification of which is, to lean.

The word translated bed, Gen. xlvii. 31, (Jacob bowed himself upon the bed^s head) comes from the same root, and therefore the Apostle renders it staff, in Heb. xi. The word is not the same in the original with that used to signify Elisha's staff that was laid on the child, but it is a word of the same signification, and therefore both words are used to signify the stay of bread, the latter in Isai. ill. 1, and the former in Levit. xxvi. 23. This word is used to signify Judah's staff, that he gave to Tamar as a pledge, Gen. zxxviii. 19.

[390] Exod. v. to xiv, inclusive. Conceiving PharaoVs hard-neu of heart and obstinacy in refusing to let the children of Israel

S>, and the manner of God's dealing mth him. In Pharaoh's havioiir is very lively represented the behaviour of impenitent sinners when the subjects of reproofs and corrections for their sins, and under convictions of conscience and warnings, and fears of future wrath, with respect to parting with their sins, or letting go the objects of their lusts. Indeed it is an instance of this very conduct; for Pharaoh in refusing to let the people go, refused to let go the objects of his lusts: in keeping them in bondage, he kept bis sins. His pride was gratified in his dominion over that people. He was loth to let them go, because he was loth to part with bis pride. His covetousness was also gratified by the profits he bad by their slavery ; he would not let them go because he would not part with the object of his covetousness.

God commanded him to let the people go, he sent his commands from time to time by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and warned bim of the ill consequence if he refused : so God counsels and warns sinners by his word, by his ministers. God first made known his will to Pharaoh in a mild and gentle manner, chap. v. at the beginning; but that was so far from being effectual, that

he was only the worse for it. Instead of letting the people go, he only increased their burdens : so God is wont in the first place to use gentle means with sinners. But impenitent sinners are not the better, but the worse, for the gracious calls and counsels of the word of God; they sin with the greater contempt for it: as Pharaoh took God's command in disdain. He said, *^ Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice f" Then God proceeded to lay greater matter of conviction before Pliaraoh, and to warn hini it the mischief that would come upon him by his refusal, by tamiog the rod into a serpent; (see notes on that miracle, Exod* vii.;) and when he still hardened his heart, then God began to chastise hioBi by turning the water into blood, which was not only a chastisement but also a clear and loud warning of the future destruction he would bring upon himself by his obstinacy. (See notes on tbtt plague) So God is wont to give sinners fair warning of the misery and the danger of their sins before he destroys them. After this, when God's hand pressed Pharaoh, and he was exercised with fears ofGod'sfuture wrath, he entertained some thoughts of leitiog the people go, and promised he would do it; but from time to time he broke his promises when he saw there was respite. So sinners are often wont to do under convictions of conscience and fears of wrath; they have many thoughts of parting with their sins; but there is never a divorce actually made between them and their lusts; it is common for sinners when under affliction and threatening dispensations of providence to make promises of amendment, as in timesof sore sickness, and when in danger of death and dam* nation, but soon to forget them when God's hand is removed and future damnation more out of sight. In such cases sinners are wont to beg the prayers of ministers, that God would remove his j hand and restore them again, as Pharaoh begs the prayers of Moses and Asiron, Exod. viii, 8. ^^ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord that he may takeaway the frogs from me, and from my people, and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice unto the Lord ;" and so ver. 28 ; so ch. ix. 27, 28, and x. 16, 17. Pharaoh was brought by God's judgments and terrors to confess his sin with seeming humility, as Exod. ix. 27. ^' And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time, the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." This was when there were mighty thunderings ; and it follows in the next verse, ** Entreat the Lord that there may be no more mighty thunderings." So chap. X. 16, 17. *' And lie said, 1 have sinned against the Lord your God and against you ; now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once.*' So sinners oftentimes under affliction and danger of future wrath, and when God thunders upon their consciences, seem very penitent and humble, and are much in con-

ffrssing their sins, but yet have not their lusts divorced from them, have DO thorough disposition to forsake them. Pharaoh, in the struggle that was between his conscience and his lusts, was contriving that God might be served, and he enjoy his lusts, that were gratified by the slavery of the children of Israel. Moses kept insisting upon it that God should be served, and sacrificed to; Pharaoh was willing to consent to that, but he would have it done withoat his parting with the children of Israel. Exod. viii. 25. '* And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land." So it is oftentimes with sinners under fear of divine wrath ; they are for contriving to serve God and enjoy their lusts too; they are willing to be very devout in many duties of religion, but without parting with their beloved sins* How do some wicked men amongst the papists and elsewhere seem to abound in acts of devotion! how much pains do they take, how much trouble and loss are they at! they are like the Samaritans that worshipped the God of Israel, and served their own gods too. So did the Jews, Jer. vii. 9, 10. "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incenselinto Baal; and come and stund before me in this house?" And Eiek. xxiii. 39. " For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to

Erufane it, and lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine ouse." Moses objected against complying with Pharaoh's conscience, and proposed in this matter that serving God and continuing in the land of Kgypt among the Egyptians in slavery to them, did not agree together, and were inconsistent one with another. The Egyptians, their task masters, would abhor that service that God required, and would not tolerate it, but would kill Gods worshippers; and therefore there was a necessity of a separation to be made between Israelites and Egyptians, in order to God's being served. So the service of God and our still continuing in the service of our lusts, are inconsistent one with another, as Christ says, '*ye cannot serve God and Mammon." There is a necessity of forsaking one in order to cleave to the other. If we retain our sins, if we do not part from them, they will kill those duties wherewith God is served.

When Pharaoh saw that it would not be consented to that the people should only sacrifice to their God in the land, then he consented to let them go, provided they would not go far away. Ho was not willing to part with them finally, and therefore would not let them go clear, but would have them within reach, that he might bring them back again. So it is often with sinners, with respect to their sing; they will refrain a while from them, but will not wholly part with them, taking an everlasting leave of them, quitting all hopes or expectations

of erer having any thing more to do whh them. Afterwanb, when God^s plagues came si ill harder upon Pharaoh, he consented to let the men go, if they would leave the women and chil-dren, Exod. x. >^, 9, 10 ; and then after that, when God's hand pressed him 9tili more sorely, he consented that they should go, even women and children, provided that they would leave thof cattle hehind them ; but he was not willing to let them go ami all that thejf had, Exod. x. 24. So it oftentimes is with sinners, 'when pressed with God's judgments, or fears of future wrath; they are brought to be willing to part with some of their sins, but not all; they are brought to part with the more gross acts, but not so to part with their lusts in lesser iodulgen-cies of them; whereas we must part with all our sins, little and great, and all that belongs to them, even women and children, and cattle ; they must all be let go, with their young and wilk their old, with their sons and with their daughters, with their flocks and with their herds. There must not be an hoof left behind. At last, when it came to extremity, Pharaoh consented to let the people all go, and all that they had ; but be was not steadfastly of that mind; he soon repented and pursued after them again ; and then, when he was guilty of such backsliding, be was destroyed without remedy, which is often the case with sinners. Note, when there is only a forced parting with sin, though it be universal, yet it is not sincere, nor is it like to be persevering.

God exercised abundance of patience with Pharaoh before he destroyed him, and the warnings that were given him were louder and louder, and God's judgments upon him greater and greater, and God's hand and design in them became more and more manifest. First, God only sends a command from him, directing Moses to deliver it, and let it be accompanied with humble entreaties, paying him the honour due to a king, Exod. iii. IS, and V. 3. After that, Moses spake with more authority ; God made hirn a god to Pharaoh, and lie no more besought him as a subject, Exod. vii. 1 ; and his word was confirmed by miracles* But in the first place, the miracles were such as did not hurt them, but only warn them, as that turning the lod into a serpent; and then God proceeded to mirncles that were hurtful, whirh yet were imitated by the magicians ; but then God proceeded further, to do things that the magicians could not imitate, but themselves confessed manifested the finger of God. And then that the evidence might be still clearer, and God's meaning in those plagues plainer, God proceeded to sever between the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel dwelt, and the rest of Egypt, and then in the next plague God severed even between the cattlo of Israel and the cattle of Kgypt; and then in the

it plague, the plague of boils and blains, was not only beyond at the magicians could do, but the magicians themselves re the subjects of the plague, and were grievously tormented, that they could not stand before Moses. And this plague B brought upon them by the ashes of the furnace, wherein sy employed the children of Israel in their slavery in burning I brick they made, that Pharaoh might see wherefore God a angry, and did so chastise him. After this, Pharaoh was >re particularly and fully warned of God by his word than ever lore, and was forewarned what those plagues would at last ne to if he continued still obstinate, Exod. ix. 13, &c. And m after this God brought the plague of hail and thunder, It was more terrifying and threatening than any heretofore ; d then to complete the destruction caused by the hail, the lasts were sent to eat up what the hail had left. Then came ) plague of darkness, with frightful apparitions of evil angels, le Note) which was more terrifying still than any that had oe before, and the distinction made in it between the children Israel and the Egyptians was more remarkable, for they had ht in their dwellings where they dwelt mingled with the Qrptians. And then before that great destruction by the last igue, Pharaoh was again particularly warned of what was ming, and when, and in what manner it would come, much >re fully and particularly than ever, Exod. xi. 4, &c. And 3D came the last and greatest plague that preceded Pharaoh's nn destruction, attended with the greatest tokens of God's Bth, and a remarkable distinction between the Israelites and 9 Egyptians; and last of all, Pharaoh himself, with all the ime of Egypt, was destroyed in the Red sea.

[385] Exod. vii. 9, 10, 11, 12. Moses's rod, when cast unto B earth, became a serpent. So Christ, when sent down to 9 earth, appeared in the form of sinful flesh ; he was made I for us. So Christ was represented by the brazen serpent Bit was made in the form of the fiery serpents that bit the ople. Moses's rod, when on the ground in the form of a ser-Dt, swallowed up the serpents of the magicians. So Christ,

being made sin, he swallowed up the devils, the parents of I, when he appeared in the form of sinful flesh, and for sin

condemned sin in the flesh; by being made a curse he de-"oyed the curse ; by suffering the punishment of sin he abo-bed the punishment of sin ; and at the same time that, being Side sin, he destroyed sin and the devil, and so swallowed the rpents in that sense. So he received and embraced sinners, lat are in themselves serpents) by his love and grace, so that ej became as it were his pleasant food, and so he swallowed VOL. IX. 32

down serpents. In this sense God^s people are repr e sented n his pleasant food; they are represented as the whoift in oppon-tion to tares, and as his good grain in opposition to chaflT. See Isai. Ti. 13. '* But jet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall reton and shall be eaten; as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leayes, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.''

[385] Exod. vii. 9, 10. Moses's Rod, that had been a shepherd's staiF, to lead, protect, and comfort a flock of sheep, and by which Moses led and comforted Israel as a flock when cast upon the land of Egypt, became a serpent, a terrible, hurtfid and destructive creature. So Christ, that is a shepherd to Ui people, their protection and comfort, is destructiTe to anbe-licvers, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence: his salvation is poison to them through their rejection of it. Thef have a greater fall by the second Adam than by the first, and Christ will at last be a lion to destroy them, as that pillar of cloud of fire that gave light to the Israelites was a cloud aid darkness to the Egyptians. So the word of God (which isaoe-ther thing signified by the rod,) which is a means of the salvar tion of Israel, is a sword to destroy the Egyptians.

Christ was represented by a serpent in the wilderness, because he was made sin for believers, but he will be made sia to unbelievers; he was made a curse for Israel, a serpent for them, but he will be the greatest curse to sinners, a terrible serpent to the Egyptians. So the Saviour of Israel proved the most dreadful destroyer of the Egyptians; and the word of God by Moses, which proved the salvation of his people, was their destruction. This seems to be one thing intended by this miracle, for there seems to be something threatening to the Egyptians, for the serpent had a very terrible appearance and motion, as appears by Moses's fleeing before it, when he first tried the experiment at mount Sinai. It was something threatening of the plagues that were coming. God was pleased first to threaten the Egyptians, and give them warning of approaching judgments, before he began to execute them.

[471] Exod. xii. 2. ** This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year unto you." Because in this month God wrought out for them that great typical redemption out of Egypt, representing the redemption of Jesus Christ, and also because he intended at tbe same time of year actually to complete the work of spiritual and eternal redemption of his church by the death, resurrectioOi

and ascension of the great Redeemer. It is probable that the luraelitcsy as well as other nations, had till now begun the year in autumn, about the autumnal equinox, about which time of year there is reason to think the world was created. But as now God at the time of the redemption changed the day of tlieir sabbath, (as Mr. Bedford in his Scripture Chronology makes probable) so he changed the beginning of this year from the autumnal equinox, the time when the old creation was wrought to the spring about the vernal equinox, the time of the new creation. The old creation was wrought in the fall of the year, the time when things are just going to decay, and to a kind of ruin, and winter approaching, that shuts up the whole face of the earth as it were in a state of death; the Ordcrer of all things probably thus signifying that the old creation was not to continue, the heavens and the earth that then were should be shaken, and soon begin to decay, as it did by the Son of man; the curse which that brought, which was in efTect its ruinj as it were, brought all to its chaotic state again, and laid a foundation for its actual total destruction. But the work of redemption was wrought in the spring, signifying that as in the spring the world as it were revives from a state of death, and all things are renewed, and all nature appears in blooming beauty, and as it were in a state of joy ; so, by the redemption of Christ, a new world should be created, and the spiritual world, the elect creation, should be restored from death, and brought to a new, glorious, and happy life.

[280] Exod. xii. 15. Concerning Leaven. It was a most fit tjrpe of the corruption of the heart by reason of its sourness, and because of its infecting spreading nature, so that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, (in which respect also it is a fit type of fiilse doctrine, as Matth. xvi. 6. 11, 12,) and because of its swelling nature, for the nature of corruption is to swell self, it radically consists in inordinate self-love, and primarily is manifest in pride and self-exaltation. The swelling nature of leaven represents the nature of corruption with respect to its principle, viz. inordinate self-love; and the sourness of it represents its nature with respect to its tendency, which is enmity.

But especially is leaven a fit type of original sin, by reason of the manner of its propagation ; for as original sin is 'propagated from father to son, and so from generation to generation, so it is with leaven, one lump leavens the next, and that the next, and so leaven is propagated from lump to lump, for ever. The old lump leavens the new, and therefore is called the old leaven.

JSa;^ E&cpd. liL ^, 3{>. " Am ffej ii w i awed of the Egyp lJ4tAi» }4ri»^l( </ hijv^f ztAyrvfii of ^^Dod, aad noKiiC, and tke ty/r4 y^y^^ uk: f^</ph f-dx^iiT is tl« trf^ cf the Egrpuans, so that iij^Y >rtit oi;itx> (t;#rtt; ^^j. VLib^i » ibfT reiqnired, and tbey spoiled ii^ KvyfAi^itsn/^ Tu^ ire-^uree ih'H iLe cfaildren of Israel by tfak »^4iii tun'itd forifj o'jt of E^'pi were rerj great, even so as b t lif^stt ffl^^ttire to kave Egypt emptj oT iu wealth, and so uto tiitiut U;<^ hr^diU;^. P<»« cv. 33. ^- He brcagbt them forth also vrith ikilv<:r atod Huh ^ol'i/' Gen. xv. 14. " Thevshall come oat with ^/ttui «iil>ti2»tic«;.'' When a person is redeemed by Christ out of %\Hf\vu'n\ hitwhutfi »t the same time they are set at liberty,^they tre fiUo f-tirich';'], thfrv ha\c great substance given, as it were gold uU:t\ III iti': firCy and those riches are the spoils of their enemies, all llttit kpiiitiial wralih, qlory, and blessedness, and even heaven it-kt\f, \k ill some sort the spoils of Satan ; that which God has de-|>riv<:d him of to ^^ive to the saints, as the earthly Canaan was inUvu away from the Canaanites and giants of the land, theeoe-nunu of tin; liiractitcs, and given to them. So heaven was takea from the (iilh:n an/^ols ; they were driven out thence by the spiri-liiiil Jorkhiiii, to make room for the saints. The devils left heaven, in all prohiihiliiy, hy their opposition and envy towards the saiots, iihd rihin^ np in open hostility against Christ as their head, re-veiih*d to ho such in God's decrees, and so their hostility against iIm* fipirituul IVIosos, and Joshua, and their seed, and seeking to kiM'p iluMii down ; these spiritual Egyptians and Canaanites left thrir K|iiniunl and heavenly possessions, riches, and honours, and inluTiiuiuM*, iind God took it from them and gave it to them that they (ip|Hixrd and sou<;ht to impoverish and destroy, and impover-i^hrd thiMU to make thoic they hated rich with their riches. Yea, thrv thrmsi'lvrs, thouj^h their enemies, are made in some sense to ^ivo tluMu tlu !r own riches to enrich them and impoverish them-Ki'lxo^t tor thoy uro made by divine providence the occasions of llu'lr hrini; brought to thoir spiritual and eternal riches and glory. S;UiU> hus beon the occasion of the saints' heavenly riches and ^lory in tempting' man to fail, and so giving occasion for the work \\( rt domption, and then in procuring the death of Christ, and olWntiiues is mude the occasion of particular advantages that the church obtains at one age and another, and bis opposition to the naiiuv of particular elect $ouh« is ahva\s turned to be an occasion of lh«^tr riches and tullness; so thai all the wealth and glory that the church ha:^« is in u $en>e« and indeed iu many wavs,yrDfli SaiaXj lhv»Ui;h he seeks nothing: but her destruction.

Auoiiur ihin^ siiiiiilicd, it is ilrat the church of Christ, when redvvmcd iVom her ciioiuics umd oppressors* especially tromRome, boalhen atid auilcbri>iiait» ibai is spiriiualiy called Egypt, should ba>^ their vhv^Uh and ^lory s^iveu into their haads, as is fofetold

by the prophetB, Ps. Ixviii. 30, '* Rebuke the company of spear-men, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submits himself with pieces of silver." Zecb. xiv. 14. ^ And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel in great abundance." Isai. Ix. 5, 6. 9,10. 13.16,17, and chap. Ixi. 6, which was fulfilled in the days of Constantine the Great, and will be more gloriously fulfilled at the fall of Antichrist. Thus the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, and Christ shall have a portion divided to him with the great, and shall divide the spoil with the strong.

It is to be noted that the tabernacle in the wilderness was made of these spoils the children of Israel took from the Egyptians. It was made of those jewels of silver, and gold, and raiment; so all the utensils and holy vessels of the tabernacle, the ark, and the mercy-seat, and the cherubim, and the candlestick, and table of shew-bread, and altar of incense and laver, and his seat, and also the priests' vestments, the twelve precious stones of the breastplate, as afterwards the temple, was built chiefly of these vast treasures that David took from his enemies, whereby is signified several things.

1. That God's church, that in scripture is represented as Ohrist's house or temple, and as his raiment and ornament, and as a golden candlestick, &;c., is wholly constituted of those saints that are his jewels, that are the spoils of his enemies, that were once his enemies' possession, but that he has redeemed out of their hands. Those precious gems that are near his heart, and are as it were his breast-plate.

2. That Christ himself, that is the antitype of the tabernacle and temple, and especially of the ark and the altar, is one that has been rescued out of Satan's hands, and comes to be an ark and altar, no other ways than by his resurrection and ascension, whereby he was delivered from captivity to Satan.

3. Hereby is signified that the church of Christ, when it shall be fully redeemed from the tyranny of Rome, that is spiritnally called Egypt, shall be adorned and beautified with the wealth of her enemies; that vast wealth that has hitherto been improved to gratify the avarice and pride of the church's enemies, shall then be improved to holy purposes, to build up the church of Christ, to beautify the place of God's sanctuary, and to make the place of his feet glorious, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into the church. Thus Satan shall be spoiled oil his wealth and glory, and that which used to be improved in his service, shall be taken from him, and shall be improved in the service of Christ, so that what be hath swallowed down he shall vomit up again.

SS4 ffOTU ON THE BIBLE.

[4831 Exod. ziii. 2. Cmcendng the pillar of dostf amd JKn^ or the omul of glory. This pillar of cload and fire, and abo tht dood of glory on moant Sinai, and in the tabernacle and temple, was a type of Christ in the human natare. The cload was a ft representation of the human nature, being in itself a dark body, a vapour, a weak light thing, easily driven hither and thither by every wbid, or the least breath of air, while it continues, ii| a most mutable thing, sometimes bigger, and sometimes lets, constantly changing its form, puts on a thousand shapes, and it quickly vanishes away, is easily dispersed and brought to nought; a little change in the air destroys it, a little cold condenses it, and canses it to fall and sink into the earth. See 2 Sanu ziv. 14. A little increase of heat rarifies and causes it wholly to disappear. A cloud is a most fit representation of the human nature of Christ, because it is derived from the earth, but yet is an heavenly thing.

The bright, glorious, and inimitable fire or light that was io the midst of the cloud, represented the divine nature united to the bnman. The cloud was as it were a veil to this fire, as Christ's flesh was a vest to the glory of the divinity. When Christ took the human nature upon him he vailed his glory, the bright and strong Jight of the glory within, which otherwise would have been too strong for the feeble sight and frail eyes of men, was moderated, and as it were allayed and softened, to make it tolerable for mortals to behold. Thus the glory of God is exhibited in soch a mann^ in our incarnate Saviour, so as it were to moderate, tofien, and sweeten the rays of divine glory, to give us a greater advantage for firee access to God, and the full enjoyment of him.

[456] Another thing signified by God*s glorious appearing io a cloud, was probably the mysteriousness of the divine essence and subsistence, and of the person of Christ, and of *the divine operations. Thus it is said, Ps. xcvii. 2, ** Clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.'' 1 Kings viii. 12. *' The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness." Ps. xviii. 11. << He made darkness his secret place. His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." Prov.xsx. 4. *^ What is his name, and what is his Son's name, if thou canst tell ?" IsaL is. 6. *' His name shall be called Wonderful." Judg. xiii. 18. ** Why asketh thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?" God's nature is unsearchable, 'tis high as heaven; what can we do ? 'Tis deeper than hell; what can we know ? His judgments are a great deep, which we cannot fathom, and a cloud that we cannot see through; we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness." Job xxxvii. 19. In the cloud of glory there was an excellent

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. fSS

lustre, bat it was vailed with a cloud; there was a darting forth 3f glorious light, and an inimitable brightness. But if any over-carious eye pried into it, it would find it just lost in a cloud. God elothes himself with light as with a garment, but yet he makes darkness his pavilion. Thus the blessed and only potentate dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, and is he whom no eye hath seen nor can see, 1 Tim. vi. 16.

[130] Exod. XV. 25, 26. ** And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet,'' be. '* I am the Lord that healeth thee." This tree is the tree of life, and signified Jesus Christ; it signifies God himself, and the waters are God's people, as it is here explained in the 26th verse; the trees being cut down, represented the death of Christ, and being cast into the water, his uniting himself to his people by coming down from heaven, by taking our nature, and by his Spirit.

[172] Exod. XV. 27. '' And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they encamped there by the waters." These twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees, are a representation of the church. The twelve wells of water answer to the twelve tribes, twelve patriarchs, twelve heads of the tribes, and twelve apostles. They signify the church itself, and then they answer to the twelve tribes. The church is compared to a fountain or spring of water, Cant. iv. 12. The hearts of believers are like wells of living water, the water being the grace of the Spirit. Or they signify the ministry of the church, and so they answer to the twelve patriarchs, and twelve apostles ; the twelve patriarchs were the fathers and fountains of Israel, according to the flesh ; and the twelve apostles, and gospel ministers, are the fathers of Israel, spiritually. Through the twelve apostles, Christ delivered his pure doctrine to the world, as through so many fountains of pure water, and through gospel ministers in general, Christ communicates the living water of his Spirit to the church, as through so many springs, or pipes, or conveyancers, Zech. iv. 12. The twelve fountains signify Christ himself; he is represented by twelve fountains, as the Holy Ghost is represented by seven lamps. Rev. iv. And be is called twelve wells, according to the number of the instruments by which he communicates himself. However, in which sense soever we take it, the water represents the Holy Spirit. Christ communicates himself to his church only by his Spirit; he dwells io their hearts by his Spirit, the ministers of the gospel are instruments of the conveyance of the Spirit, the hearts of particular believers are fountains of living water, that is of the Spirit.

The seventy palm-trees signify the church, which is coropareef to a palm-tree, Cant. vii. 7,8. Deborah, the type of the chureb, dwells under the palm tree. Believers are compared to palm trees, 1 Kings, vi* 29. '* And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims, and paloH trees, and open flowers, within and without ;*' which represent* ed saints and angels; the number seventy answers to the seventy elders which were representatives of the whole congregation of Israel, and are called the congregation ; Numb, xxxii. 12, Josh. zx. 6; or church, which is a word of the same signification.

It is probable the palm-trees grew so about these twel?e fountains, that their roots were watered and received nourishment from them.

[59] Exod xvi. 19,20. ''Let no man leave of it tilt the monr-ing," &£c. Hereby perhaps we are designed to be taught our absolute dependence every day upon God, for the supplies of his grace and spiritual food. We not only depend on him for the first conversion of the soul, but daily depend on him for grace afterwards. This manna must be given us every day, or we should be without food. We are taught not to rest in and live upon past attainments, but to be continually looking to God, and by faith fetching from him fresh supplies- We must not lay up in store the grace of this day for to-morrow, to sare us the trouble of seeking and gathering more. We never have any to spare; hereby we shall make a righteousness of what we receive and do ; and when we make that use of it, it is like manna that breeds worms and stinks.

[473] Exodv xvii. 9. <' I will stand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand." Moses's rod, as has elsewhere been observed, signifies three things, each of which it signifies in this case. 1. It signifies Faith, by which God's people overcome their enemies: '* for this is the victory that over-* comes even our faith."

Mr. Henry says this rod was held up to God by way of appeal to him. Is not the battle the Lord's f Is not he able to help, and engaged to help ? Witness this rod, the voice of which thus held up was that of Isaiah li. 9, 10. Put on thy Btrength, O arm of the Lord; Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab ?

2. It represents the word of God, the rod of his strength, which is the weapon by which Christ, the antitype of Moses, overcomes his church's enemies. This is the sword which proceeds out of his mouth.

3. Christ himBelf lifted up as the banner of his militant lurch. Christ is prophecied of in Isai. xi. as a Rod^ '* a rod lit of the stem of Jessq;" and in the same place it is said, He shall stand for an ensign of the people, and their ensign 3 an army brought out of K^gypt, and fighting and conquering leir enemies; the children of £dom, in particular, are mention-d, ver. 1—10, 11, 12. 14, 15, 16. This ensign andbanneris thovah-Nissif Jehovah our banner, agreeable to the name of le altar Mo^es built on this occasion, ver. 15. Moses stood on le top of an hill, and there lift up this ensign, the wonderworking rod, which had brought such plagues on their enemies, nd such marvellous deliverance for them before, that the people t the sight of it might be animated in the battle. Christ him-3lf, when he was lifted up on the cross, that he might draw all len to him, was lifted up on an hill. He stood and cried on the ip of an hill, even the mountain of the temple at the feast of ibernacles. God hath ejcalted him to heaven, set him on his oly hill of Zion; hath caused him to ascend an high hill, as le hill of Bashan; hath set this rod in the mountain of the eight of Israel, and from thence his glory is manifested to ga-ler men to him, and to animate his church to fight his battles, 'rom thence his glory was manifested on the day of Pentecost fler his ascension, and from thence it will be manifested to his burch, when they shall go forth to their victory over Antichrist nd all their enemies. He will shine forth on that mountain of le house of the Lord, from behind the veil, from between the berubim ; and all flesh shall behold it, and so all nations shall ow together to the mountain of the Lord—shall be gathered »this ensign; and then shall time be fulfilled in Isai. xi. 10. At that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand »r an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek'*; er. 12; "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and lall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the ispcrsed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth."

[205] Cxod. xvii. 15. " And Moses built an altar, and called 16 name of it JeAorflrA-JVw«t," (i. e. The Lord my banner.) AI-irs were types of Christ, and therefore were sometimes called f the name of God, as Jacob called the altar he built in bethel, El Bethel, or the God of Bethel. The special reason of [oses's calling this altar, that he built on occasion of their ictory over Amaiek, the Lord my Banner, was that Christ in lat battle was in a s|>ecial type represented as the banner of is people, under which they fought against their enemief, to hich they should look, and by which they should be conducted

VOL. IX. 33

as an army were by their banner or ensign, vix. in Motes holding up the rod of God in his hand on the top of the hilly as verses 9, 10, 1 i, 12. That rod was a type of Christ, as has been sbowo, No. 195. Moses, while the people were fighting with Amakk, held up this rod as the banner under which the people should fight; while Moses held up this rod, Israel prevailed, and when he let it down, Amaiek prevailed*

This is agreeable to what God commanded when the children of Israel were bitten with fiery serpents. Num. xxi. 8. ** Make thee a fiery serpent* and set it upon a pole;*' in the original it is, '< set h for a banner," or ** ensign," or " upon an ensign." In all likelihood, the brazen serpent was set op on one oi the poles of the standards or ensigns of the camp, and probably on the standard of the tribe of Judah, which was a lion, and was a tjrpe of Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Jodah: so it is prophecied that Christ should stand for an ensign. Isai. xi. 10. 12, *' And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek And be shall set np an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the oot-casts of Israel."

[474] Exod. n. 24, 25, 26. *« An altar of earth thon sbak

make nolo me And if thou wilt make an altar of stone, tboo

shah not build it of hewn stone ; for if thon lift np thy tool opon it, thou hast polluted it; neither shalt ihon go op by steps onto Biioe altar." These rules have respect to what was to be done BOW immediatelv, the altars thev were to erect, and the sacrifices diat were to be oflered in the wilderness before the building of the tabernacle. God*s altar was to be very plain and very low, so that they might have no occasion to go np to it by steps. The heathen greatly adorned their altars with the curioos works of their own hands^ and worshipped in high places, and built their altars very high, thinking hereby to put great honoars on their gods, and made their services very acceptable to them. But God lets bii people know that their seeming adorning, by their own art and handy work, will he hot polluting, and their recommending them-sdves by their high altars will be dishonouring themselves, and showing their own nakedness: perhaps typitying this that wheo-ever men ascend high and exalt themselves in ther own works or righteoosoess in God^s service, they show their own nakedness, and pollute his worship, and render the services they ofer abomi-nable to God. Mr. Henry has this note on this rule for plain af-fiurs: ** This rule being prescribed before the ceremoDial law was giveo, which appointed alurs much more costly, intimates that ■Aer the period of that law, plainness should he accepted as the best oraament of the external services of religion, and that gos-

pel worship should not be performed with exteroal pomp and gayety."

[63] Exod. xxiii. 20. '* Behold, I send an angei before thee/' &€• This does not seem to be the same angel spoken of in the xixiii* chap., which was a created angel, but the Son of God; for what was spoken here before was in the name of the Father.

[112] Exod. xxiv. 18. *' And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights." Moses being so long in the mount with God when he received his mind and will to reveal to Israel, represents Christ's being in heaven with his Father to receive his mind and will to reveal to his church—his being from all eternity 10 the bosom of the Father; and it may be particularly forty days, because Christ came down from heaven, signified by this mount; it was four thousand years from the beginning of time, and from the creation and fall of man, and since the covenant of grace first took place, and Christ actually became the Mediator between God and man; which, putting ten for a thousand, and every age or century for a day, answers to forty days. That mount, when Moses was in it with God, typified heaven, as the apostle teaches, Heb. viii. 5.

[285] Exod. XXV. 10, be. ** And they shall make an ark of 8htttim-wood," be. The ark was upon many accounts a lively type of Jesus Christ. The ark was united to the Godhead, it had the cloud of glory over it and upon it, which was the symbol of God's immediate presence. The ark was the throne of God; Jer. iii. 17; i. e. it was that that was his immediate seat, and where be was present in an higher manner than he was in any other place, or to which his presence was united in a more immediate manner than to any thing else. God was present in the land of Canaan, or the holy land, more than in any other part of the face of the earth. God was present in Jerusalem, the holy city, or city of God, above all other places of the land of Canaan, and he was present in his temple above all other places in that city, as a king is more immediately present in his own house than in any other part of the royal city. But God was present with the ark, which was his throne more than in any other part of his house. So the human nature of Christ is as it were the throne of God, where God is present, more than in any other part of the whole universe. It is of all created things the highest and most immediate seat of the divine presence; that in which God resides in a higher and more eminent manner than in any other part of the highest heaven itself, that is his temple. The ark, in itself, was in some respects a mean thing for the throne of God and for the symbol of

S60 NOTES ON THK BIBLE.

God's most immediate presence. It was only a wooden cbest; it appeared without that form and pomp which the heatbeo inagei li had, on which account the heathens despised it, and the childreo of Israel were often ashamed of it, and had a mind to have imagei in the stead of it, as the heathen had. So the hnman nature of Christ is in itself a mean thing; roan is bnt a worm; the bumu nature has no glory in itself; it is but a vessel that must receive its fullness from something else. As this chest in itself was empty, its fullness was what was put into it. Christ, when he was on the earth, appeared without form or comeliness, without external pomp and glory. The Jews, when they saw him, saw no beauty wherefore they should desire him, and he was despised by the Gentiles; he was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. Though the ark was in some respect mean, yet it was exceeding precious; though it was made of wood, yet it was over-laid with gold. So the man Jesds Christ was exceeding excellent ; though he was a man, one of the mean race of mankind, yet be was an holy man, perfectly holy, endowed with excellent graces and virtues. Christ God man. Mediator, is wonderful; his name is secret, his person and offices are full of unfathomable mysteries. Hence Christ's name is called Wonderful, as the prophet Isaiah says, and the angel that wrestled with Jacob says, ^* V\'by askest tboQ after my name, seeing it is secret, or wonderful ?" and Isai. chap. liii. says, '* Who shall declare his generation?" and again, in Prov. xxx. *' What is his Son's name, if thou canst tell ?" As an ark is a thing shut up, what is in it is secret; hence secret things are called arcana. The mercy-seat was upon the ark, and never was separated from it, which shows that God's mercy is only in and through Jesus Christ. The ark was God's chest, or cabinet. Men's cabinets contain their most precious treasure, which denotes the infinite dignity and preciousness of Christ in the sigbt of God the Father, and the infinite love the Father hath to him, and delight he hath in him. The beloved Son of God is his most precious treasure, in which God's infinite riches and infinite happiness and joy, from eternity to eternity, does consist. Cabinets are made to contain a treasure, so the ark contained the precious treasure of the law of God, and the pot of manna: the one signifying divine holiness, of which the law of God is an emanation and expression; and the other signifying divine happiness, for manna was spiritual and heavenly bread, or food; but food is the common figure in scripture to represent happiness, delight, and satisfaction; or in one word, those two things that were^contained in this cabinet, signified the Holy Spirit, which is the same with the divine good or fullness'of God, his infinite 4ioliness and joy. Christ is the person in whom is tlie Spirit of God, and therefore he is called the Anointed. In him dwells this fullness of the

Godhead: he is the cabinet of God the Father, in which is cou-Uiined all bis treasure. In him the Father beholds infinite beauty, (or holiness, which is the beauty of the divine nature:) and in bim the Father has his food, or infinite delight and satisfaction.

The ark in the temple was not only God's cabinet, containing his treasure, but it was also Israel's cabinet; it contained the greatest treasure of the children of Israel. (See Note on Isai. iv. 5.) So Christ is the greatest treasure of his church ; he is their pearl of great price; he is the church's portion and chief good ; in him is contained all the church's fullness; of his fullness she receives, and grace for grace ; all her happiness, all the covenant blessings that she hath, are bound up in Christ. The church bath the Holy Spirit, which is the sum of all her good, no otherwise than through Christ and in Christ. God hath given the Spirit not by measure unto him and from him; it flows to his members as the oil on Aaron's head went down to the skirts of his garments: particularly it is only in and through Christ that the church hath holiness expressed in the law of God, and happiness expressed by the pot of manna.

The ark itself, considered separately from the things it contained, was (inly a repository and vehicle to contain other things more precious than itself. So the human nature of Christ is only a repository or vehicle to contain and convey that which is infinitely excellent and precious. In this human nature of Christ dwelt God himself. The divine Logos dwelt in it by his Spirit, signified by the law and manna. The Spirit of God never dwelt in any other creature in anywise as it dwells in the man Christ Jesus; for in him he dwells without measure, on which account also be is called Christy or Anointed. By the Spirit of God dwelling in so high and transcendent a manner, the human nature is united to the divine in the same person. And as that human nature of Christ is as it were the container or repository of the Deity, a vessel full of the divine nature, so is it as it were the vehicle of it| by which it is conveyed to us in and through which it might be as it were ours in possession ; for it is by the Godhead being unit-r ed to the nature of man, that it becomes the portion of men, as the ark of old was as it were the vehicle of the Deity to the children of Israel. It was that by which they had the Deity, whose dwelling-place is heaven, dwelling among them as their God, and by which God maintained a gracious communication with them*

The human nature of Christ had the Logos, or the Word of God, dwelling in it, as the divine eternal person of the Son is often called. This was typified by the ark's containing the word of God in it, written in tables of stone, and in the book of the law. Christ is the Light of the world, as that law contained in the ark

18 represented as the light of the congregation of Israel, Dent xxxiii. 2. From his right hand went a fiery law for them. Chriit is the bread of life that came down from heaven ; he is that tbit was signified by the manna in the wilderness, as Christ teaches in the vi. chap, of John; and he is so by the Spirit that dwelk in him, and that he communicates, which was typified by the ark'i containing manna, the bread from heaven*

The law that was put into the ark signified the righteoasnefi of Christ, including both his propitiation and obedience. Christ's preparedness for both, is signified in the xl. Psalm by that lav, Thy law is within mine heart. God's law was put within Christ's heart, as the law was put within the ark. Hence he satisfied the law by his sufierings; for it was out of regard to the honour of God's law, that when he would save them that had broken it, be had rather himself sufier the penalty of the law, than that their salvation should be inconsistent with the honour of it; and it was also because God's law was within his heart that he perfectly obeyed it.

God was wont to manifest his glory from above the ark in the holy of holies, so it is only by Christ that God manifests his glory to his church; they see the glory of God in the face of Jesos Christ; he is the efiulgence or the shining forth of his Father's glory. So God was wont to meet with the children of Israel over the ark, and there speak with them, and give forth his oracles and answers; so it is by Christ only that God reveals himself to his church. '* No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."

The ark is called the ark of the covenant; the covenant that God made with the people was contained in it. I'he covenant that God hath made with mankind, is made in Christ. The covenant was made with him from eternity; the covenant was then committed to him for us. The promises were given us in Christ; it is he that reveals the covenant, and he is the Mediator and surety of the covenant. The book of the covenant was shut op in the ark, which denotes the mysteriousuess of the things contained in this covenant, as was said before; things shut up in an ark are secret, or arcana, and especially hereby seems to be signified that the great things of the covenant were in a great measure hidden under the Old Testament, they were covered as with a veil. As Moses put a veil over his face, so he hid the covenant in an ark. The ark itself was hidden by the veil of the temple, and the book of the covenant was hid by the cover of the ark, i. e. they were as it were hidden under Christ's flesh : the carnal typical ordinances of the Old Testament are in scripture represented as Christ's flesh, Rom. ii. 1,2, 3, 4. Colos. ii. 14. The

veil signified the flesh of Christ; Heb. x. 20; and so doth the cover of the ark, or the ark considered as distinct from what was contained in it. The covenant of grace was, and the glorious things of the gospel were, contained in that book that was laid up in the ark ; but it was as it were shut up in a cabinet, hid under types and dark representations. Christ rent the veil from the top to the bottom; so he opened the cabinet of the ark. The faces of the cherubims were towards this ark, and the mercy-seat upon it, to pry into the mysteries of the person of Christ and of this covenant of grace; for '' these things," as the apostle Peter says, ** the angels desire to look into."

The ark was carried on staves, on the Levites' shoulders ; so Christ is brought to his church and people in the labours of the - ministers of the gospel.

It seems, by Jer. iii. 16, 17, as if the ark were a type of the charch as well as of Christ; but no wonder: the church hath •ach a union and communion with Christ, that almost all the same things that are predicated of Christ, are also in some sense predicated of the church. Christ is the temple of God, and so is the church; believers are said to be his temple, and they together are said to be built up a spiritual house, Slc. The law is in Christ's heart, Ps. xl. As the law was in the ark, so God promises to put his law into the hearts of his people. Christ is the pearl of great price; he is the Father's treasure, his chief delight; so the church is his cabinet, and believers are his jewels. The ark represents the human nature of Christ especially, or the body of Christ, and the church is called the body of Christ.

[475] Exod. XXV. 23, to the end. Concerning the shetD-breadf iaUe^ and the golden candlestick. These both were to stand continually in the holy place, before the veil of the holy of holies, one on the north side and the other on the south. Each of these seems to represent both a divine person and also the church. Each represents a divine person; the shew-bread represents Christ, and was set on the south side at God's right hand, as Christ is often represented as being set at God's right hand in heaven, being next to God the Father in his ofiice, and above the Holy Spirit in the economy of the persons of the Trinity. The candlestick, or at least the oil and lamp of it, represent the Holy Spirit, and is set at the left hand of God's throne. Christ is as it were the bread of God. He is so called, John vi. 33. He is the portion of God the Father, in whom is his infinite delight and happiness, « and as our Mediator and sacrifice. He is as it were the bread of God: as the ancient sacrifices, that were only typical of Christ, are often called the bread of God. This bread is called the shew-bread y in the Hebrew Lechem Plannim^ the bread of God*s face^

a

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m kl

S64 NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

or pretence. So Clirist, in Isai. Ixiii. 9, is called Malakfkammm^ At angel of God's face^ or presence. This bread had pure fraiijuo-cense set on it, which undoubtedly signifies the merits of Cbriil, and so proves the bread, that had this pure frankincense on it, io be a type of Christ. And besides this, the bread and frankioceow are called an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Levit. zxi?. 7. 9, which is another proof that this bread and incense were a type of Christ ofiered in sacrifice to God; the bread was prepared to be as it were the food of God, by being baked in the fire, and tk frankincense, when removed for new to be set on, was probaUy burnt in the fire on the altar of incense* There were twelve cakei of shew-bread, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to signify that Christ, as ofiered up in sacrifice to God, is offered n representing his people and church, and presenting himself to God in their name. This bread represents Christ not only ii presented in the presence of God as the bread of the saints, ior this bread was eaten by the priests in the temple, Levit. xu?. 9. So Christ is often spoken of as the bread of the saints. Heii the bread they will feed upon in heaven, which is the holy tempb of God, where the saints are all kings and priests*

This bread also represents the church, who are spoken of not only as partaking of Christ, the divine bread, but as being dies-selves the bread of God, 1 Cor. x. 17. GodU people are vffj often, in both the Old Testament and the New, spoken of asGotTi food, his fruit, his harvest, his good grain, his portion, be. Tbil seems to be one reason why the shew-bread was to be in twelve cakes, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, because the bread represented the church, as the twelve precious stones in the breastplate did. These loaves had frankincense set on them to repr^ sent that God's people are not acceptable food to God, any otbe^ wise than as rendered so by the incense of Christ^s merits; the loaves of shew-bread were to be set on the table anew every sabbath, representing these several things.

1. That in God's finishing the work of redemption, or in Christ's finishing of it, when he rested from it, Christ especiallj became the bread or sweet food of Gnd, wherein he was refreshed; as God is said to have rested, and to have been refreshed, when he finished the work of creation, so much more when Christ finished the work of redemption.

2. As the sabbath day especially is the day of the worship of Christ's church, so on that day especially does Christ present himself as their Mediator, and present his merits as the sweet food and incense of God to recommend them and their worship to tlie Father.

3. Christ is, on the sabbath-day, especially set forth as the bread of his church in the preaching of the word, and admiois-

KOTES ON THE BIBLE. fftS

•

ration of the sacrament. On the sabbath day, the disciples came ogether to break bread, and it is then especially that his saints lo feed upon him, in meditation, hearing his word, and partaking ftf the sacrament of the Lord's supper, as the priests ate the shew-bread on the sabbath.

4. The sabbath is that time wherein especially God's people do present themselves to God as liis portion through Christ.

5. The time wherein in a most eminent manner they shall be piresented by Christ, and will present themselves to God as his portion, is on the time of their eternal rest (tiic antitype of the sabbath) in heaven.

6. This is also the time wherein they will in the highest degree feed and feast on Christ as their bread, as the priests ate the shew-bread in the temple on the sabbath.

In the golden candlestick that stood before the throne, on the leftside was a representation both of the Holy Spirit and of the Church. The pure oil olive that fed the lamps is indisputably a type of the Holy Ghost; and it is evident, from Rev. iv. 5, com-

5ared with chap. i. 4, and v. 6, and Zech. iii. 9, and iv. 2. 6. 10. *he burning of the lamp represents that divine, infinite, pure energy and ardour wherein the Holy Spirit consists. The light of the lamps filling the tabernacle with light which had no windows, ■nd no light but of those lamps, represents the divine, blessed communication and influence of the Spirit of God, replenishing the church and filling heaven with the light of divine knowledge in opposition to the darkness of ignorance and delusion, with the Hghtof holiness in opposition to the darkness of sin, and with the light of comfort and joy in opposition to the darkness of sorrow ^nd misery. This light being communicated from a candlestick, t^presents the way in which these benefits are communicated to Ibe church, viz. the way of God's ordinances, which are called a candlestick. Rev. ii. 5.

It is evident that the candlestick represents the church from the iv. chap, of Zech. and the i. of Rev., and Mallh. v. 13, 14, 15, and 1 Tim. iii. 15. The matter was gold, as the church is constituted of saints, God's precious ones. The candlestick was like a tree of many branches, and bearing flowers and fruit, agreeable to the very frequent representations of the church by a tree, an olive-tree, a vine, a grain of mustard-seed that becomes a tree, the branch of the Lord, a tree whose substance is in it, &c. The continaance and propagation of the church is compared to the propagation of branches from a common stock and root, and of plants from the seed. In this candlestick, every flower is attended with a knop, apple, or pomegranate, representing a good profession attended with corresponding fruit in the true saints. Here were rows of knops and flowers one after another, beautifully re^ TOLt JX, 34

presenting the saints' progress in religions attainmeDts, tlieir going from strength to strength. Such is the nature of true grace and holy fruit, that it bears flowers that promise a farther degree of fruit, the flower having in it the principles of new fmit, and by this progress in holiness, the saint comes to shine as alight in the world, the fruit that succeeds the uppermost flower, is the burning and shining lamp, representing several things:

1. That the fruit of a true saint, or his good works and holy life, is as it were a light by which he shines before men, Matlh. v. 13, 14, 15.

2. That in a way of holy practice, and by progress in holinesf, the saints obtain the light of spiritual comfort.

3. That in the way of going from strength to strength, and making progress in holiness, tliey come at last to the light of glory.

The lamps were fed wholly by oil constantly supplied from the olive-tree, representing that the saints* holiness, good fruits, and comfort are wholly by the Spirit of God, constantly flowing from Christ. The oil that was burnt in the lamps bdbre God, was an oflTering to God, so God is the prime object of the grace and holiness of the saints, their divine love flows out chiefly to him, as Mary's precious ointment was poured on the head of Christ, hot ran down to the skirts of his garments. Their good works are acceptable sacrifices to God through Christ, and are not of the nature of Christian works, if not oflered to God, as if there he nothing of a gracious respect to God in them. The saints' light shines before God, their gracious and holy practices are pleasant to him, aud of great price in his sight, as the light is sweet; and the light shone around and filled the temple, as the odour of Mary's box of ointment filled the house. The inhabitants of the temple had the benefit of the light of the candlestick, as the saints of God have especially the benefit of the good works of the saints.

The propagation of the church through successive generations is sometimes represented in scripture by the gradual growing of a tree, and shooting forth its branches. And when the church is represented as bringing forth fruit as a tree, by her fruit is sometimes meant her children, or converts; and therefore one thing that may be intended by fruit and flowers succeeding one another in this candlestick, may be the continuance of the church and gradual increase, her bringing forth fruit, and that in order to the bringing forth more fruit, until she hath reached the latter day glory when God shall bring forth her righteousness as the light, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth, then shall she come to a state of glorious light of truth, knowledge, holiness, and joy.

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. £67

[143] Exod. xxviii. 30. '* And tbou shah put io the breast-ate of judgment, the Urim," &c. Called the breast-plate of idgmeut, because in matters of judgment that were too hard for le judges, they were lo come to the priest, who was to inquire of od by Urim and Thummim, in the breast-plate, for a determina-on, according to Deut. xvii. 8, 9.

[476] Exod. XXX. 7, 8. When the high priest lighted and ressed the lamp, then was he to burn incense on the golden al-r of incense; signifying that the sweet and infinitely accepta-e incense of Christ's merits was by the Holy Spirit signified Y the lamp, (see No. 475.) It was by the eternal Spirit that hrist offered up himself without spot to God. It was by the ^oly Spirit many ways. It was by the Holy Spirit that the hu-an nature of Ctirist was united to the divine Logos, from which aion arises the infinite value of his blood and righteousness. It as by the Eternal Spirit that Christ performed righteousness.

was by the Spirit of God that Christ was perfectly holy, and ^rformed perfect righteousness. It was by the Holy Spirit not ily that his obedience was perfect, but performed witli such tran-lendent love. It was by this Spirit that his sacrifice of himself as sanctified, being an offering to God in the pure and fervent ime of divine love which burnt in his heart, as well as in the ime of God's vindictive justice and wrath into which he was cast, nd it was this that his obedience and sacrifice were offered with ich a love to his people, for whom he died, as implied a perfect Dion with them, whereby it was accepted for them.

[441] Exod. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv. There are many things in le circumstances of this Second giving of the law that we have n account of in these chapters that are arguments that these two ansactions did represent the two great transactions of God with lankind in the covenant of works and covenant of grace.

It was in this last covenanting of God with the people, espe-ially, that Moses appeared as a Mediator, to which the apostle as respect. Gal. iii. 19. It was ordained by angels in the hand f a Mediator, when the people had broken the covenant given at rst with thunder and lightning, the law then was made use of as

school-master to convince tliem of sin. God threatened to leave lem, and not go up with them, and when the people were overwhelmed by it, and mourned when they heard the evil tidings, lod then further awakened them and terrified them, sending such

message as this to them, " Ye are a stiff-necked people; I will ome up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee; lerefore now put off thy ornaments from them, tiiat I may know ^bat to do unto thee.** Thus this awful threatening was given

forth with some hope and encouragement that peradventare the/ might live, given in that last clause, ihat I may know what to ^ unto thee* By thus applying the terrors of the law^ God brought the people to put o/T their ornaments, which were typical of their own righteousness. Chap, xxxiii. 5, 6.

Moses now acted as a Mediator, and not merely as an intemiei-senger, as he did in the first givuig of the law. He ofTers his life for theirs ; he offers up himself to be accursed and blotted out of God's book for them, after he had told the people that they bad sinned a great sin, and peradventure he should make atonemeit for their sin, which is to do the part of a Mediator. See cbap. ^ xxxii. 30, 31, 32.

On this occasion, the Lord speaks to Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend, when he came to speak to God io behalf of the people ; well representing the intercourse of oor Mediator with the Father, chnp. xxxiii. 11. And on this occa-sion God made all his goodness pass before Moses, and proclaimed himself '' the Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity," &c. Chap, xxxiii. 19, and xxxix. 5,6,7. The covenant the first time was written on tables that were the workmanship of God, as the soul and heart of man in innocency was; which workmanship of God was destroyed by man's apostary: so, upon the children of Israel's apo>tncy, Moses brake the tables that were the workmanship of God. The covenant now was written in tables that were the workmanship of Moses, the Mediator, as the law of God after the fall is written in the fleshly tables of the heart renewed by Christ.

God promises, that in fulfilment of the covenant he now the last time enters into with his people, ho will do wonders, sucb as have not been done in all the earth, and that all the people should see the work of the Lord. So God in the wnv of the new cove-nant that he entered into with Clirist, did those great things by Christ in the work of redemption which are so often spoken of io scripture as being so exceeding wonderful.

God made this covenant with Moses, the typical Mediator, as the head and representative of the people, and with the people in him or under him as his people, that he showed mercy to for hts sake. Chap, xxxiv. 27. *' And the Lord said unto Moses, Write these words, for after the tenour of these words I have made a covenant with Thee vlxmI with Israel;" and verse 10. ''Behold, I make a covenant before all Thy people ; I will do marvellously."

Before Moses came down from the mount in wrath with theta-bles broken, so Christ comes as God's Messenger to execute wrath for the breaking of the covenant of works. Now be comet down with the tables of the testimony in his hand, with his face

iniog. This being typical of the light of grace with which hrist's face shines in God's IsraeL See Note on Exod, xxxii. I, and xzxiii. 1.

[4041 Exod.xxxiii. 14, 15. " And he said, My presence shall 0 with thee, (in the originaPJS.) And he said, If thy presence go

ot with us, carry us not up hence/' Hence probably the heaven Pan and Faunus, the god of shepherds—the shepherds were le Israelites that were by the Egyptians called the shepherds, ecause a shepherd was a strange thing in their country. Hence ^an is supposed to be one of Bacchus's principal commanders, ecause God^s presence is here promised to be with Moses and lie people, to help them in their wars. And Pan going with {acchus to war, is said to have put astonishing fears on all their nemies, which arises from the great terrors with which the God f Israel (whose shepherd) brought up the children of Israel out f Egypt, with which he terrified the Egyptians and Israel them-elves, and all nations, by what appeared when God gave the law; nd so the great terrors sent into the hearts of their enemies in Ca-aan, so very often spoken of. See Gen. xxxv. 5, Exod. xv. 14, 5, 16. Deut. ii. 25, and xi. 25, xxxiv. 12, and Josh. ii. 9, and Ixod. xxxiv, 10, and Ps. cvi. 22. Deut. vii. 27, and x. 17. 21. xvi. 6. Exod. xxiii. 27. God never manifested himself so much > the heathen nation in his awful terrors as he did in the affair of ^ading Israel as their shepherd out of Egypt through the wilder-ess into Canaan, and settling them there. Those fears and ter-^rs are spoken of as from the presence of the Lord. Ps. Ixviii. ,8. " O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when lou didst march through the wilderness; Sclah: The earth shook, le heavens also dropped at the presence, D'Ji}, of the Lord, (the

an or Faunus of the heathen) even Sinai itself was moved at le presence of the God of Israel," (the shepherds,) and Ps. xcvii.

5. ^' His lightnings enlightened the world ;'the earth saw and ?mbled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,

the presence of the Lord of the whole earth." For terror and Hnbling is often spoken of as what properly arises from the esence of the Lord. Isai. Ixiv. 1—3. '' O that thou wouldest nt the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the moun-1118 might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire troeth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name lOWD to thine adversaries, that the nations might tremble at thy esence. When thou didst terrible things which we looked not % tbou earnest down, the mountains flowed down at thy pre-ice.'' So Isai. xix. 1. Jer. v. 22, Ezek. xxxviii. 20. Whence It proverbial expression, |Mink: fears^ Bochart says that Fan-

nus among the Latins is the same god, and of the same origiiial with Pan. Pan is said to be an Egyptian god, to come up witb Bacchus (i. e. Moses) to fight against the giants. That which God promised Noses when he said, '' My presence shall go with thee," was Aw Son ; the same with the angel of his presence, spa- j ken of Isai. Ixiii., and therefore when Christ was crucified. Hence 1 the relation of Plutarch touching the mourning of the demoniac J spirits for the death of their great god, Pan, and the ceasing of I their oracles thereupon. Bochart says, ** The Hebrew Jfi, PiUff

one that is struck, or strikes with astonishing fears.^^ See Court of Gen. p. 1, b. 2, c. 6, 7. 70, 71.

[266] Exod. xxxiii. 18—23. Moses, when be beseeches Go! to show him his glory, seems to have respect to a visible glory; something to be seen with bis bodily eyes, yet not exclusive of u inward sweet sense of those glorious perfections, of which the ex* ternal glory by which God manifests himself is a semblance, whid was wont to accompany the external discoveries of divine glory that God made to the prophets, the external glory being made by the Spirit of God accompanying being made a means of a sense of the spiritual glory, as the music of a song of praise is the means of a sense of the excellency of diving things. But by the context it is manifest that it was a visible glory that Moses bid a most immediate respect to. Moses seems to have apprehended from what he had seen of the visible manifestations which God had made of himself to him; and it may be from the apprehensions which other holy men before him bad entertained concern-ing God, from what God had revealed to them ; that there was some transcendent external majesty and beauty, some immensely sweet and ravishing brightness, the sight of which would exceedingly fill the soul with delight that was immensely above all that he had yet seen. And God, in his answer to Moses, and in what he did in compliance with his request, seems to allow Moses's apprehension to be just, which probably was because it was God's design to all eternity to appear to the bodily eyes of his saints in such an external glory in the person of Christ God roan; and Moses's acquired right from the visible manifestations of an cxter Dal glory which God had often made. These were indeed an intimation that there was such a transcendent external glory in some sort belonging to God, even to the second person of the Trinity, in that it was established in God's gracious decree and eternal agreement of the persons of the Trinity; on the foot of which establishment were all God's proceedings with the church of Israel, that Christ should everlastingly be united to an external na-turCi and in that be manifested to bis church in an external glorj.

The extenial manifestations which he had made of himself to Moses and other holy men, were presages and prelibations of this. Moses longed to see and enjoy that of which they were specimens and prelibations. Christ is the glory of God in his image, and no man hath seen God at any time, but it is he that always manifested himself by visible appearances. God granted to Moses to see something of this glorious brightness, as he passed by, so much from a view as it were of his back, but not of his face. Probably this, as he passed by in a visible form, ahone with an ineffably sweet and glorious brightness, far exceeding all the brightness that is ever seen in the world, fur £lory and delightfulness. (Vid. No. 2G5.) But God tells him that he cannot see his face, for no man should see him and live; L e. not only could they not see that spiritual glory in which he manifests himself in heaven ; but there is evidently a respect to an externa] glory: no man sliould see that external glory of 6od*s face, in which God intended to manifest himself to his saints in heaven to all eternirv, in the face of Jesus Christ*

CoroL Hence the glory of Christ at his transfiguration was Dot that glory in which the human nature of Christ appears in heaven, and especially that in which it will appear after the day of judgment; only a shadow and faint resemblance of it; for that glory, God says, is such as no man can see and live; and so, of the appearances of Christ's visible glory that Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the apostle Paul, and the apostle John had.

[267] Exod. xxxiii. 18,19. ** And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Moses, from his finding his great acceptance and favour with God in the power that his prayers and intercessions had with him, so as it were to appease God's wrath against the congregation of Israel, which was so great for their making the golden calf; and from his obtaining by prayer, the promise of so great a favour as that God's presence should go with them, which promise was made with this gracious declaration made of God's favour to him ; '* For thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name;" and from God having in all this*spoken to Moses, as a man speaks to his friend; this great mercy of God to him has two effects on Moses.

1. It gives him a sense of God's excellency and glory^ espe-* dally the excellency of his mercy and free goodness from this manifestation of it to him and his people after their great 3in^

and makes him long for a full sight of the glory of w> exeelieot and good a being.

2. It encourages him to ask for this exceeding great meref of seeing God's glory. God's mercy and favour beings sovetj I grent in past instances, encourages him to ask yet farther and more e.\ceedin<; favour; and \vc do not find that Crod rebukes Moses as being too forward and presumptuous in such a request, or as not being content with so great mercy as he had received already, hut on the contrary seems to manifest an approbation of his making such an improvement of mercy already received, for he granrs iils request so far as is consistent with his present state. Several things are observable, concerning the manner of God's showing 3Iose3 his glory, wherein, thoogfa it was extraordinarv, it is agreeable to the manner of God'i discovering himself to the souls of his people in this world.

1. It was not face to face, which is reserved for the heavenly state; 1 Cor. xiii. 12; but it was as it were a view of the bade instead of the face.

2. It was as passing by. Herein is a great difference in the manner in which the saints have the discoveries of God*s glory, and that wherein they shall sec him hereafter. Hereafter tbey shall dwell in his presence, they shall be fixed in an everlasting view of the glory of God, their eye shall be perpetually feasted with a full vision of his face: hut here, when the saints have extraordinary discoveries of the glory of God, they are transient and short; sometimes it is onlva irlance'; Christ stands behind the wall for the most part, and when he shows himself it is through the lattice as passing by a window, but hereafter they shall be in his presence-chamber with him. Here the saints see God as passing by before them, and then he is gone.

3. Hereby is properly represented how imperfect are the spiritual discoveries which the saints have of God here. They see God as it were when he is gone by, they have somewhat of a si::ht of him, Lut vet verv inincrfoct. as of the back of one that 15 just gone by, giving of them a sense that he is indeed an in-finitelv glorious beinj if iliev could but have a full siffht of him: thev can see so much as to :rirc an idea of what mii^ht be seen, if they could but come at it. They seem to be as it were on the borders of seeing it, and their appetite is excited to see it; but while thev are aJmirin:: and lon:;in?, andreachinz after it, It IS gone and passed away.

4- The discovery of Gixi's spiritual glory is not by immediate intuition, but the word of Goil is ihe medium by which it is discovered : it is by God*s proclaiming his name. So God reveals kunself to the saints in this world, by proclaiming his name in tWjoTfiil sound of the gospel.

5. It 19 by cfiusing his goodness to pass before him, which is igreeable to the way in which God discovers himself to his taints by the gospel, which in a peculiar manner is a manifesta-ion of the glory of divine grace or goodness. Divine grace la :he leading attribute in that discovery, which God makes of his ^lory by the gospel, wherein God's goodness is revealed more than any ; wherein, and wherein especially it is revealed as free ftnd sovereign; and which is another thing that is a peculiar ^loryof the gospel, it is a mutation of free and infinite grace, as consistent with strict justice in punishing the Son, and therefore both aie mentioned together in that proclamation God makes of his name to Moses, as in the 5th, 6th, and 7th verses of the following chapter.

6- While God draws nigh to Mosos, and he is in God's pre-i^ence, Moses is commanded to hide himself in the clefts of the rocks, that God may not be a consuming fire to him, and that he may be secured from destruction, while the burning blaze of God's glory passes by, (as Watts expresses himself,) which typifies the same Kedeenier who is as the munition of rocks, and as a strong rock, and the hiding place of his people, who is compared to n great rock to secure from the burning heat of the Btiii by its shadow, and was typified by the rock out of which water was fetched for the children of Israel. God's people can be secured from destruction when they are in the presence of God, and in his approaches and converse, no other way than by being in Christ, and sheltered by him from being consumed by the flames of God's pure and spotless holiness.

7. God covered him with his band while he passed by, not only that he might not see more of tbe glery of God than he could bear, but also that his deformity and pollution might not be discovered, to bring on him destruction from the presence of that infinitely^ pure and holy God, and from the glory of that power that passed by. So in Jesus, God covers our deformity and pollution, he beholds not iniquity in Jacob, nor sees pollution in Israel; he turns away his eye from beholding our transgression; therefore it is that we are not consumed in our intercourse with God.

8. Moses beholds God's glory through a crevice of the rock, as through a window at which he looked out; which represents tbe manner of God's discovering himself to his people in this world, which is as standing behind a wall and showing himself through the lattice/

Another reason why God makes all his goodness to pass before Moses, seems to be, that this was the attribute that God had wonderfully been exercising towards Moses, and tbe congregation of Israel, whereby Moses was now especially affected

VOL. IX. 35

with that attributey and especiallj longed to see the glorj of ity as was before observed. And at the same^time God tells Moses that he will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom he will show mercy, because he bad wonderfully manifested the sovereignty of his mercy in forgiv* ing as he had done, a people that had so exceedingly transgressed as the congregation of Israel had done in making the golden calf, and also that Moses might not be lifted up by God's bestowing such unspeakable favours on him as he had done, and now promised to do in answer to bis request, but might be sensible that it was not for his worthiness, but his own sovereign pleasure. And another reason is, that the glory of God's goodness is that part of God's glory > of which such a poor, feeble, corrupt creature as man is can best bear the sight, while he lives and remains such; for it is the most mild and gentle attribute, and the manifestation of it affords a cordial and support to enable him to bear it.

[88] Levit. xii. 6. ''She shall bring a young pigeon or a tnr-tledove;" which typifies repentance as well as love. Ezek. vii. 16. " They shall be as doves in the valleys, each one mourning for his iniquity." This is a proper r^crifice for original sin that the child brought in the world with it by the parents' means, a sacrifice both for the parents and children's sin.

[204] Levit. xxiii. 34, 35. 36. Matth: i. Luke ii. The Feast of Tabernacles — T/te Birth of Christ — Lor(Vs Day. Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology, makes it appear exceeding probable that Christ was born on the feast of tabernacles; as also Mather on the Types. And besides what Mr. Mather on the Types observes of this feast, and of the time of Christ's birth, there are the following things observed by Mr. Bedford.

1. He shows that in this month, about the same time of the year that Christ was born, the world was created ;thus the beginning of the new creation and the old, the creation of the first Adam and the secotid, are at the same time of year.

2. That Moses, this type of Christ, came down from mount Sinai, which was a type of heaven, on the first day of this month, and declared that God was appeased, and the people pardoned, and his face shone as if the divinity had inhabited the manhood, so that the Israelites could not look upon him, and he then gave directions that they should immediately set about building the tabernacle, (which was hitherto hindered by, and because of, the golden calf,) seeing that God would now dwell among them, and forsake them no more: upon this the people bring their offerings, which were viewed and found to be sufiicient. And then

immediately they pitch their tents, knowing that they were not to depart frdm that place before the divine tabernacle was finished. And thus they set about this great work with all their might, at this time of the year. Hence the fifteenth day of this month, and seven days after, were appointed for the feast of tabernacles, in commemoration of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, when God dwelt in the midst of them.

3. That Christ was not only born at the feast of tabernacles, and so circumcised on the last day, or eighth day of that feast, which was a great day, and probably appointed out of respect to the circumcision of Christ that was to be on that day; but also that the feast of tabernacles in which Christ was born fell out on the first day of the week, and so the eighth day of the feast on which he was circumcised, also fell on the same day of the week.

4. That the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, (which was a type of the body of Christ, as well as the tabernacle,) was not only held on the feast of tabernacles, the feast on which Christ was born ; but also that that feast happened to be on a Sunday, as the day of Christ's birth was, and so the last and great day of the feast was also held on a Sunday. Vide Scripture Chronology, book iv. chap. iv.

5. I would further observe, that on that day the Godhead did, in a sensible manner, descend in a pillar of cloud, to inherit the temple, as in the incarnation of Christ, the Godhead descended to dwell in flesh. See No. 396, Note on Zech. xiv. 16, &c.

[315] Numb. x. 10. Concerning the Festival of the New Moon. The change of the moon at her conjunction with the sun, seems to be a type of three things.

1. Of the resurrection of the church from the dead by virtue of her union with Christ, and at the coming of Christ; for the moon at her change, that lost all her light, and was extinct, and seemed to die, revives again after her conjunction with the sun.

2. Of the conversion of every believing soul, which is its spiritual resurrection. The soul in its conversion comes to Christ, and closes with Christ as the moon comes to the sun into a conjunction with him. The soul in conversion dies to sin, and to the world, crucifies the flesh with the affections and lusts, dies as to its own worthiness, or righteousness whereby it is said in scripture to be dead to the law, that it may receive new life, as the former light of the moon is extinct at its conjunction with the sun that it may receive new light. In order to our coming to Christ aright, we must not come with our owti

brightness and glory* with any of our own fullness, strengthy light| or righteousness, or happiness, but as stripped of all our glory, empty of all good, wholly dark, sinful, destitute, and miserable. As the moon is wholly divested of of all her light at her conjunction with the sun, we must oonie to Christ as wholly sinful and miserable, as the moon comes to the sun in total darkness. The moon as it comes nearer the sun grows darker and darker; so the soul the more it is fitted for Christ, is more and more emptied of itself that it maybe filled with Christ. The moon grows darker and darker in her approach to the sun; so the soul sees more and more of iu own sinfulness, and vileness, and misery* that it may be swallowed up in the rays of the Sun of Righteousness.

3. The change of the moon at her conjunction with the r sun, signifies the change of the state and administration of the church at the coming of Christ.

The sun is sometimes eclipsed in his conjunction with tin moon, which signifies two things: viz.

1. The veiling of his glory by his incarnation ; for as the sun has his light veiled by his conjunction with the moon in its darkness, so Christ had his glory veiled by his conjunction or union with our nature in its low and broken state: as the moon proves a veil to hide the glory of the sun, so the flesh of Christ was a veil that hid his divine glory.

2. It signifies his death. The sun is sometimes totally eclipsed by the moon at her change; so Christ died at the time of the change of the church, from the Old dispensation to the New. The sun is eclipsed at his conjunction with the moon in her darkness; so Christ taking our nature upon him in his low and broken state died in it. Chriat assumed his church and people, in their guilt and misery, and in their condemned, cursed, dying state, into a very close union with him, so as to become one with him ; and hereby betakes their guilt on himself, and becomes subject to their sin, their curse, their death, yea, is made a curse for them ; as the sun as it were assumes the moon in her total darkness into a close union with himself, so as to become one with her, they become concentered, and become as it were one body circumscribed by the same circumference, and thereby he takes her darkness on himself, and becomes himself dark with her darkness, and is extinct in bis union with her. The moon that receives all her light from the sun eclipses the sun, and takes away his li^ht; so Christ was put to death by those that he came to save ; he is put to ; death by the iniquities of those that he came to give life to, and ho was immediately crucified by the hands of some of them, and all of them have pierced him in the disposition and tendency of ihat sin that they have been guihy of; for all have manifested

tad expressed a mortal enmity against him. It is an argument that the eelipse of the sun is a type of Christ's death, because the sun suffered a total eclipse miraculously at that time that Christ died.

The sun can be in a total eclipse, but a very little while, much lepsthan the moon, though neither of them can always be in an eclipse; so Christ could not, by reason of his divine glory and worthiness, be long held of death, in no measure so long as the saints may be, though it is not possible that either of them should always be held of it.

The sun's coming out of his eclipse is a figure of Christ's resurrection from the dead. As the sun is restored to light, so the moon that eclipsed him begins to receive light from him, and so to partake of his restored light. So the church for ivhose sins Christ died, and who has pierced Christ, rises with Christ, is begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is made partaker of the life and power of his resurrection, and of the glory of his exaltation, is raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in him. They live; yet not they ; but Christ lives in them, and they are married to him that is r'tfen from the dead. God having raised Christ, Christ quickens them who were totally dark and dead in trespasses and sins, and they are revived by God's power, according to the exceeding greatness of his power that wrought in Christ Jesus, when he raised him from the dead.

The moon is eclipsed when at its full in its greatest glory, Vrhich may signify several things.

1. That God is wont to bring some great calamity on his visible church, when in its greatest glory and prosperity, as he did in the Old Testament church, in the height of its glory in Da-Tid and Solomon's times, by David's adultery and murder, and those sore calamities that followed in his familv, and to all Is-rael in the affairs of Amnon, and especially Absalom, and in the idolntry of Solomon, and the sore calamities that followed, and particularly the dividing the kingdom of Israel. So he did also on the church of the New Testament after Cnnstantinc, by the Arian heresy, &c. God doth thus to stain the pride of all glory, and that his people may not lift up themselves against him, that he alone may be exalted.

2. That it is often God's manner to brincr some <;rievous ca-lamity on his saints, at limes when they have received the greatest light and joys, and have been most exalted with smiles of heaven upon them ; as Jacob was made lame at the same time that he was admitted to so extraordinary a privilege as wrestling with God, and overcoming him, and so obtaining the bless-

ing. And so Paul, when he was received up to the third be received a thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted above sure, he had a messenger of Satan to buffet him; so grievoo lamity it was that he laboured under, that he besought the thrice that it might be taken from him. Sometimes extraord light and comfort is given to fit for great calamities, and i times for death, which God brings soon after such thing when God gives liis own people great temporal prosperity, wont to bring with it some calamity to eclipse it, to keep from being exalted in their prosperity, and trusting in it.

[337] Num. xi. 10, 11, 12, &c. ««Then Moses heard tlu

pie weep throughout their families, every man in the door <

tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Mose

was displeased; and Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefon

thou afflicted thy servant, and wherefore have I not found f

in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of this people upoi:

Have I conceived all this people; have I begotten them

thou shouldest say unto me. Carry them in thy bosom, as a

ing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which

swearest unto their fathers ^" Ver. 15. 'Mf thou deal thus

me, kill me out of hand, and let me not see my wretchedo

Moses, though God gives this testimony concerning him, th

was very meek above all men upon the face of the earth, yet i

not bear the perverseness of the congregation of God's pe

How much therefore docs Christ's meekness go beyond th

Moses! Moses was not willing to bear the burden of all that

pie upon him; but Christ, the angel of God's presence, is wi

to bear them all with all their frowardness and perverseness.

ses said, '' Have I conceived this people, have I begotten t

that thou shouldest say, Carry them in thy bbsom, as a nu

father beareth a sucking child, unto the land which thou s\v€

unto their fathers?" But Christ willingly thus carries his p

in his bosom unto the promised land, for they are his childrei

has begotten them, and he never casts them off for their frov

ness; he willingly obeys his Father when he commands him,

ing, Carry this people, &c. Isai. Ixiii. 8, 9. " For he

Surely they are my people, children that will not lie ; so he

their Saviour. In all their affliction, he was afflicted ; anc

angel of his presence saved them : in his love and in his pii

redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the

of old." Deut. i. 31. " And in the wilderness, where thou

seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bei

son in all the way that he went, until ye came into this ph

Isai. xl. 11. << He shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; he

gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom,

iball gently lead those that are with young/' Moses said, Where-fere hast thou afflicted thy servant? but Christ was willingly af-Bicted and tormented for the sake of a perverse people, his ene-nies. Moses desired to be killed, to be delivered from the burden of bearing the people to the land of promise, rather than bear it. But such was Christ's love to them, that he desired to be killed that he might bear them to the land of promise.

[118] Num. xii. 6, 7, 8. " If there be a prophet among you, the Lord will make known myself to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream ; my servant Moses is not so; with him will 1 speak apparently, and not in dark speeches." It is evident from this that it was God's common manner to speak to the prophets in words that they did not understand themselves. Therefore, in reading the prophets, we read not such an interpretation as would be natural for the prophets themselves to put upon the prophecy; for the Holy Ghost spake in what words he pleased to employ, and meant what he pleased, without revealing his meaning to the prophets. The prophecy of scripture is not of a private interpretation, but they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

• [307] Num. xix. The ashes of the red heifer of which was made the water of separation for the purification of those that were legally unclean. This heifer, being a female, doubtless does more directly signify the church of Christ, than Christ himself. She was an heifer without spot, having no blemish, because it was the church of saints that are pure and upright ones, those that are not defiled with any pollution, showing hypocrisy, or want of evangelical perfection ; they are Israelites indeed in whom 18 no guile, and those in whom God does not behold iniquity or see perverseness. The slaying and burning of this heifer signifies the sufferings and persecutions of the church of Christ, and the fiery trial which she was to undergo. The persecutions of the church of Christ have mainly been carried on by burning. The purifying with the ashes of this heifer, signifies that the church and people of God should be purified by her sufferings, and as it were by the ashes of the martyrs. The purifying of God's people, and taking away their sins, and refining them as silver, and making them white, is ofien declared to be the end of the suffer-ing and persecutions of God's people, and it is the way in which it pleased God to lay the foundation of the purity of his church, ra. by continuing it for many ages under extreme persecutions, first under the tyranny of Rome, heathen, and nexily under Antichrist, and so to fill up, as the apostle expresses himself, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ; for Christ does as it were ;ufler in his members, in all their affliction he is afflicted, the

charch is bis body, and in this sense tbe slaying and burning tbii heifer represents the sufferings of Christ, as they represent tbe sufferings of bis people, whereby they are made couformable to Christ's death, and partakers of his sufferings. It pleases God to lay the foundation of the spiritual purity and prosperity of hii church, in the first place, in his eldest Son, even Jesus Christ, aod secondarily in the blood of the martyrs, Christ's younger bit- f^ thren, that are as it were God's youngest Son. See Notes ob Joshua's prophecy concerning the rebuilding of Jericho.

This was not to be a cow, but an heifer, and also without spot or blemish, which is very agreeable to the description that is gives of the church of Christ in Revelation, in the time of their pe^s^ cution. Rev. xiv. 4, 5. ** These are they which were not defiled ^

with women, for they are virgins And in their mouth wii *^

found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God."

And it must be a red heifer, which signifies the militant sttte the church is in under those sufferings, conflicting with her en^ mies. The colour red. is often so used in scripture. So Christ, while he is warring with his enemies, is represented as being red in his apparel, Isai. ixiii., and as being clothed with a vestare dipped in blood, Rev. xix. 3. So God's saints are clothed in red until they have got through their sufferings, and are in atriunipb-ant state ; then they are represented as having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. vii. 14.

It was to be an heifer on which never had come yoke; which most fitly represents the Spirit and practice of God's true church in the time of persecution from her enemies which refuses to snb mit to the yoke, that they would oppose whatever cruelties they exercise them with. She will not call any man on earth master or lord—will not be subject to their impositions—will not forsake the commands of God, nor be subject to the commandments of men—will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth—will net worship the beast, nor his imacre, nor receive his mark in thctf forehead, nor in their hand. They stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, not submitting to the yoke of bondage, Gal. v. I.

This h:ifer was sacrificed to God; so are the martyrs represented as sacrificed. They offer up themselves a sacrifice to God through the I'oly Spirit, and the souls of the martyrs are repr^ sented as somIs under the altar. She was to be burnt wiihont the camp, as the martyrs, especially those suffefing under Aoti-Christ, are njecied and cast out of the communion of their persecutors as not being of the church of Christ.

Her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with the dung, were to be burnt: the suffering of the martyrs burns up their carnality and ccfrruption, and cleanses all their filihiness.

The peculiar use of the a^hes of the red heifer was to purge from pollutions by dead bodies. So the use for which God designs the suffering and persecutions of his church, is to rouse his people from coldness and doadness in religion, and from carnality, and worldly or fleshly mindedness, whereby some become as dead carcasses; for he or she that liveth in pleasure, is dead while he liveth. Carnal things are well compared to dead carcasses, for they are fleshly, and they are filthy and loathsome like stinking flesh.

[73] Numb, xxiii. 23. " According to this time shall it bo said of Jacob, and of Israel, What hath God wrought ?" That is, God shall do a very strange and wonderful thing for Jacob and for Israel. Such interrogations denote the won-derfulness of the thing about which the interrogation is, as Isai. Ixiii. ** Who is this that cometh from Edora .'^" &c. And Ps. XXV. *' Who is this King of glory ?" See notes on that Psalm. '*According to this time;" that is, what he hath done at this time, is a shadow and representation of it. He hath now redeemed out of Egypt, with the strength of an unicorn, and there is no enchantment against him, as in the words immediately foregoing ; and hereafter he shall send Jesus Christ to redeem them out of spiritual Egypt; with a greater strength shall he redeem them from the power of the devil.

[418] Numb. xxiv. 17. ** And shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth." It Would be unreasonable on many accounts to suppose that this Sheth is the same with Seth the son of Adam, and so that by the children of Sheth is meant all mankind. But the Sheth here mentioned is a founder of one of the chief families of the Moabites ; probably one of the sons of Moab. The father of the people called from him Shittim, as the posterity of Htth^ are in scripture from him called Hittim^ which we translate Hittites; whence that part of the land where those people dwelt was called Shiifim, which was the part of that land in which the people now were, where Halaam beheld them when he blessed them ; he beheld them in the inheritance of the people of Shethf or the land of the Shitti7n, or Shitdtes, as ajh-pears by the first verse of the next chapter, and Josh. ii. 1, and iii. 1, and Mic. vi. 1. All that renders this doubtful is, that the radical letters in Seth and Shittim are not the same, as in one is n, and the other c.

[468] Deut. vi. 13. " Thou shalt fear the LoYd thy God, and serve him, and swear by his name." It might have been VOL. IX. 36

282 NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

rendered swearing in the name, or into the namey tn the original Bishmo. And the thing chiefly intended here by it Beems to be, the making that public, solemn profession of faith in tiie name of God, of being the Lord's, and being dedicated to his honour and glory, and that covenanting and avowing to be the Lord's, and serve him, that is very often in scripture called bj the name of swearing. A public profession of religion has respect to two things.

It has respect to something present, viz: their belief, or faith : this is the profession God's people make of their faitb. It has respect also to something future, viz: their future behaviour in the promises or vows that are made in a public profession.

It is evident that the profession that is made in the latter, viz: in the promises and vows of the covenant, is often called swearing; but the profession that is made in the former which relates to their faith, is a no less solemn profession. la the public profession they make of religion, they profess what is present with the same solemnity as they promise what is future. They declare what their faith is with the fame solemnity with which they declare their intentions. Both are declared with an oath—one an assertory oath, and the other a promissory oath; and the whole profession is called swearing in, or into the name of the I^rd. In the former part of it, they swear their faith in the name of the Lord, and swear that they are God's; that their hearts are his, and for him. In the latter part they swear to live to his honour and glory, which is often called his name. And by the whole they appear by their profession to be God's people, which in scripture is often expressed by being called by God's name; and so by this swearing they come into the name of God, as persons when thrv make profession of religion by baptism, are said to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The former part of this profession of religion, viz : the profession of faith in God, is called saying, or swearing the Lord liveth. Jer. v. 2. "And though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely." They have sworn by them that are no God, i. e. had openly professed idol worship. Chap. iv. 2. "And thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, and the nations shall bless themselves iii him, and in him shall they glory." That this saying that the Lord liveth was in their profession of faith in the true God in the public profession thoy made of his name, is confirmed b? Jer. xliv. 26. " Behold I have sworn by my great name, sailh the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the month of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord

liveth :" i. e. they shall never any more make any profession of the trbe God, and true religion, but shall be wholly given up to heathenism* And Jer. xii. 16. *' And it shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the way of my people, to swear by tny name, The Lord liveth, as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then shall they be built in the midst of my people." Here is a promise to the heathen, that if they would forsake their heathenism and turn to the true God, and the true religion, and make an open and good profession of that, they should be received into the visible church of God. Jer. xvi. 14, 15. ^'Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said. The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but. The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north :'' i. e. God's people, in their public profession of their faith, shall not so much insist on the redemption out of Egypt, as on a much greater redemption that shall hereafter be accomplished. We have the same again, Jer. xxiii. 7. 8. Hos. iv. 15. " Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye into Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aveo, nor swear. The Lord liveth."

This has respect to that public profession of religion which the ten tribes made at Bethel, (here called Beth-aven) the place of their public worship before the calf that was set up there, by which they pretended to worship Jehovah. Amos viii. 14. ** They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say. Thy god, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Bcersheba liveth." They had also places of public worship at Dan (where was one of their calves,) and at Beersheba. See chap. v. 5.

The words, Jehovah liveth^ summarily comprehended that which they professed in their public profession of religion. They signified hereby their belief of a dependence upon that all-sufficiency and faithfulness that is implied in the name Jehovah, which will appear by the consideration of the following places, Josh. iii. 10. *• Hereby ye shall know that the living God 18 among you." 1 Sam. xvii. 26. " Who is this uncircumcis-ed Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God.''" Ver. 36. ** Seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." 2 Kings xix. 4. ** It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the' words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria hath sent to reproach the living God." Also ver. 16, and Isai. xxxvii. 4.

Jer. X. 8, 9, 10. ** The stock is a doctrine of vanities But

the Lord is the true God (Heb. the God of truth.) He is the living God." Dan. vi. 26. " He is the living God, and steadfast for ever." Ps. xviii. 46. '* The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock ; and let the God of my salvation be exalted." So

2 Sam. xxii. 47. Other places showing that by Jehorah*8 lir-ing and being the living God, is meant his being all sufficient, and immutable, and faithful. Gen. xvi. 49. Deut. f. 26. Josh. iii. 10, compared with Exod. iii. 14, and vi. 3, with the context. 1 Sam. xvii. 26. 36. 2 Kings xix. 4.16. Ps. xlii. 2, and Ixxxiv. 2. Isai. xxxvii. 4. Jer. x. 10, with the context. Jer. xxiii. 36. Hos. i. 10. 2 Sam* xxii. 47* Ps. xviii. 46. Job xix. 25. Matth. xvi. 16. John vi. 69. Acts xiv. 15. Rom. ix. 26. 2 Cor. iii. 3, and vi. 16. 1 Tim. iii* 15, andir. 10, and vi. 17. lleb. x. 31, and xii. 22.

The things professed in a public profession of religion are two, fnith and obedience. The faith that was professed, was called believing in God and believing in the name of God, (Beshem^ with the prefix Beth.) Gen. xv. 6. " And he bclier-ed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." Exod. xiv. 31. '' And the people believed the Lord," (in the original* believed in the Lord.) 2 Kings xvii. 14. ^^ Did not believe in the Lord their God." 2 Chron. xx. 20. *' Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established." Ps. Ixxviii. 22. *< They believe not in God." Dan. vi. 23. '' Because he believed in his God." The other thing is a believing obe-dience. This is called a walking in the name of God, (still with the same prefix Beth.) Mic iv. 5. '* All people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the nam (Beshcm) of the Lord our God for ever and ever." And that solemn professing or swearing wherein both these were professed by a like idiom of speech, was called a swearing in the name (Beshem) of the Lord.

Agreeably to this way of speaking, in the New Testament, when persons solemnly profess the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and are devoted to them in their baptism, they are said to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Making a public profession of religion or of faith in God, is often called making mention (Zakar) of the Lord, or of the name of the Lord ; and this in[the original commonly is making mention in the Lord, or in the name of the Lord, with the prefix Bethf as they are said to swear in the name of the Lord. Thus, Amos vi. 10. " Hold thy tongue, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord," (in the original Beshem, in the name,) i. e. we may not make profession of our God, being under the dominion of the heathen. Ps. xx. 7. •* Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God;" in the original, we will remember or make mention (for the word is the same as before) in the name of the Lord our God, with the prefix Beth^ i. e. wo will openly

profess and declare our faith, and trust in the Lord, he. Isai. xxvi. 13. ** O Lord, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee (Bcka^ in thee) only will we make mention of thy name," i. e. we will forsake all other lords, and renounce our profession of idolatry, and profess and worship thee alone. They that professed the worship of false gods, are said to make mention in their name. Hos. ii. 17. <' 1 will take aWfiy the names of BaRlim out of her mouth, and they sball no more be remembered (or mentioned, for still the word is the same) by their name," (Bishmain, in their name^) i. e. their name and worship, shall no more be professed. So Josh, xxiii. 7, neither make mention of the name (in the original, in the name) of their gods, nor swear by them.

This abundantly confirms that swearing by or in a God, signifies what was done in the public profession of his name and urorship, which is signified by making mention in his>iiame. This also may evidently appear in Isai. xlviii. 1, 2. *' Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear hy the name (Beshem, in the name) of the Lord, and make men-iion of the God (Beloheiy in the God) of Israel, but not in truth and in righteousness, for they call themselves of the holy city." By their profession they were visibly of the church of God, were called by the name of Israel, and called themselves of the church.

That profession which in the law of Moses and many other places, is called swearing by the name or in the name of the Lord, with the prefix a, is evidently the same with swearing to the Lord, with the prefix b. Isai. xix 18. " In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, eind swear to the hard of hosts.''^ (Laihovah.) In 1 Kings xviii. 32, it is said that Elijah built an altar in the name of the Lord, Beshem, that is, to the name of the Lord. Here the prefix Beth is evidently of the same force with Lamed in 1 Kings viii. 44. ^* The house that I have built/or thy name," or to thy name. Here Leshem is plainly of the same signification, in speaking ;>f building a house to God, with Beshem in the other place, that speaks of building an altar to God.

In and to, or the prefixes Beth and Lamedj are manifestly used as of the same signification in the case of swearing to a Grod, or an object of religious worship, in the same sentence in Zeph. i. 5. " That swear by the Lord, and that swear by Mal-cham." The words are thus, that swear to the Lord, (Laihovah^) and that swear in Malcam (Bemalcam.) In Gen. xxiii. 8, * Entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zoar. To Ephron, in the original, is Be Ephron^ with the prefix Beth.

What is meant by swearing to the Lord^ (Laihovah,) we learn by 2Chron. xv. 12,13,14, with the context, Fiz: pubiiclj and solemnly acknowledging God, and devoting themselyes to God by covenant. '' And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all

their soul and they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice."

Deut. xxix. 10—15. We also may learn what is meant by swearing to the Lord, by Isai. xlv. ** Unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength ;" together with the apostle's citation and explication of this place, which instead of the word swears uses confess, in Rom. xiv. 11, and Phil. ii. 10, which, in the apostle's language, signifies the same as making open and solemn profession of Christianity. Rom. x. 9, 10. *' If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe with thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In that place in the xlv. of Isaiah, ver. 23, it is said, *' Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." This is the profession of their faith in Christ, and is the same with what is called making mention of God's righteousness. Ps. Ixxi. 16. '* I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." The phrase make mention, as was observed before, is used for making a public profession ; and here in this place in Isaiah glorying in God, and blesssing themselves in him, (or in his righteousness and strength) are joined with swearing to him, as they are in Jer. iv. 2. *' And thou shalt swear. The Lord liv-eth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory;" and Isai. Ixiii. 11. '' The King shall rejoice in God, every one that sweareth by Him shall glory."

The prefix Beth is put for into as well as in. See innumerable instances of this in places referred to in the Concordance, under these words, enter ^ put, brought^ Judg. ix. 26, went overdo Shechem, in the Hebrew Beshechem* To choose other gods, is in Judg. X. 14, expressed by choosing in them, with a prefix Beth* Agreeably to the manner of speaking among the Hebrews, confessing Christ before men, Matth. x. 32, is, in the original, confessing in him. '* He that shall confess in me, of^Xo^i^a'si $v sfMi, lie-fore men, 1 will confess in him, before my Father, and before bb angels."

Judg. xvii. *< Ask counsel now of God," Belohim, with the prefix Beth.

[144] Deut. xii. 20. "When ihe Lord thy God shall enlarge

thy borders and ihou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy

soul longeth to eat flesh, thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul histeth after." That is, thou mayest so eat it at home, without carrying it to be sacrificed; as appears from the context.

[121] Deut xxi. 23. "For he that is hanged is accursed by God." The instances we have of those that were hanged, are agreeable to this. Thus the heads of the people that joined themselves to Baalpeor were hung up l)efore the sun, that the fierce anger of God might cease. Numb. xxv. 3, 4. So the seven sons of Saul were hanged, to remove God's wrath from the land. Achitaphel, who was cursed by David in God's name, hanged himself. Absalom was hanged in an oak for his rebellion against bis father; " For it is written, Cursed is every one that setteth light by father or by mother." The kings of the cursed cities of Canaan were hanged. Haman was hanged, for he was a type of Antichrist. Judas hanged himself, having been declared accursed by Christ before*

[113] Deut. xxxii. 50. " And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people." God ordered that Aaron and Moses should go up to the tops of mooutains to die, to signify that the death of godly men is but an entrance into an heavenly state. It is evident that heaven is sometimes typified by the tops of the mount by Heb. viii. 5, compared with V. 23. So Christ was transfigured in the mount, and appeared in glory with both Old Testament and New Testament saints, and the glory of God in a cloud to be a type of the heavenly state. Vide Note on Exod. xxiv. 18. No. 71.

[173] Josh. vi. 26, and 1 Kings xvi. 34. " And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall be set up the gates of it." Jericho herein was a remarkable type of the church of the elect. Jericho was a devoted cursed city, it was devoted to perfect and to eternal destruction. To perfect destruction, in that every man, woman, and child, ox, rheep, and ass, were destroyed by God's command, and it was forbidden ever to be bnilt again. So the elect are naturally under the curse of the law, which devotes those that have broke it to perfect and eternal destruction. However, this city was one very capable of being redeemed from that curse; but that was only by the curse being transferred upon him that built it. So the church of ibe elect

could have the curse removed no other way but by its -beiDg laid upon Christ, who undertook to restore it. So Hiel the Bethelite represented Christ, who is from the time Bethel, or boose of God, even heaven. He was to lay the foundation of it in his first-born, and in his youngest Kt)n to set up the gates of it. So his eldest son represented Christ who is the first-born of every creature, and is our elder brother. The foundation of the redeemed and restored church is laid in the blood of the first sod only begotten Son of God. The gates of it were to be set up in his youngest son ; so after the church is redeemed by Christ, the gates ofitare tobe set up in the blood of the martyrs. It is io that way the church is to be erected and finished, and brought to its determined glory and prosperity in the world, even through the sufierings and persecutions of believers. Jericho, thougli once an accursed city of the Canaanites; yet, after it was thus redeemed from the curse, became a school of the prophets. 2 Kings ii., andiv. 38, vi. 1, 2.

[209] Josh. X. 12,13,14. Concerning the sun and mooifCsHani' ing stilL This great event was doubtless typical; and as the son was made to be a type of Christ, and is the most eminent type of him in all the inanimate creation, and is used as a type of Cbriit in scripture, for he is the '* Sun of Righteousness," and "the light of the world," &c.;—so doubtless the sun here, when it stands still to give the children of Israel light to help them against their enemies, is a type of Christ. The sun did as it were fight for the Israelites by his light; so Christ fights for his people; and the way that he docs it, is chiefly by giving them light Hereby he helps them against the powers of darkness, and ove^ throws the kingdom of darkness. Christ was at that time actually fighting for Israel as the Captain of the host; he had a little before appeared in a visible shape with a sword drawn in his hand, and told Joshua that as the Captain of the Host of the Lord he was come. Josh. v. 13, 14. And there was now a doable type of Christ's fighting for his people against their spiritual enemies ; Joshua was then fighting as the Captain of the host of Israel, who bore the name of Christ; for Joshua is the same with Jesus, and he was an eminent type of him ; and at the same time the sun stood over Joshua fighting for Israel against their enemies. While Joshua or Jesus thus fought, the sun appeared also fighting in the same battle, being a type of the true Joshua or Jesus. It was a great thing for the sun to stand still to fight for Israel, and to help them to obtain the possession of Canaan, bnt not so great a thing as for Christ, who is the brightness of God*i glory, and the express image of his person, the Creator and Upholder of the sun, to appear as he did, to deliver his people from

iheir spiritual euemies, and to make way for their obtainiui^ the heaveoly iDaiiaan. The sun, though so great and gh)rious au heavenly body, and though so high above the earth, yet did forego its natural course—was greatly put out of the way, and deprived of that which naturally belonged to it, for the sake of Israel, laid aside its glory as the king of heaven, was as it were di-irested of the glory of its dominion over heaven and earth, which it lias by its course through all heaven and round the earth. For it is by its course that nothing is hid from its light and heat, by which it has influence over all, and as it were rules over all. Ps. six. 6. The influence of the heavenly bodies is called in scripture their dominion. Job xxxviii. 32, 33. But this glory as king of heaven and earth was laid aside to serve and minister unto Israel. Sut this was not so great a thing as for the eternal Son of God, the infinite fountain of all light, who is infinitely above all creatures, che Sun of Righteousness, in comparison of whose brightness the sun is but darkness, and therefore will be turned into darkness when he appears. I say it was not so great a thing as for him to lay aside his glory as king of heaven and earth, and appear in the form of a servant to serve men, and came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and should even give his life to destroy and confound our enemies, and obtain for us the possession of the heavenly Canaan. The sun, who by his course was wont to fill heaven and earth, now confined itself to the land of Canaan, for the sake of Israel, so Christ, who, being in heaven filled all things, £ph. iv. 10, by his incarnation confined himself to the land of Canaan, and to a tabernacle of flesh. Hence it is nut any way incredible, not at all to be wondered at, that God should caus>e such a miracle for the sake of the Israelites, or that nature in so great an instance should be made to yield and give place to Israel's interest, when the God of nature did as it were deprive himself of the glory that he had from the beginning of the world, yea, before the world was, even from all eternity, (John xvii. 5,) the glory that naturally belonged to him, and as it were give up all for man, that he should become incarnate and deliver up himself to death for the spiritual Israel.

The moon, which is a type of the church, also stood still at that time to fight against the Amorites for the church ; for the church fights with Christ against the spiritual Amorites. The church miliunt is Christ's army, they go forth with Christ, and under Christ, to fight the good fight of faith, and are soldiers of Jesus Christ. Christ and the church are represented going forth together in battle. Rev. xix. 11, he. Both the sun and moon stood itillat that time, that there might there be a representation of the same thing in heaven that there was on the earth: there was Joshua and Israel fighting God's enemies on earth, and there the

VOL. IX. 37

son and moon fighting against them in heaven, and both rppre-sented Jesus and bis church fighting against their spiritual cue-

niies.

[209] Josh. X. 12, 13, 14. Concerning the sun's standing 9iiL This is supposed to give occasion to the story of Phaeton the ion of Sol and Clymenc, who, desiring his father to let him guide tbc chariot of the sun for one day, set the world on fire. So we reil that it was about the space of one day that the sun stood still, and this in all probability caused an extraordinary scorching and distressing heat in many parts of the world. And Mr. Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology, observes that mention is made of it in the Chinese history that in the reign of their seventh Empeiof Yao, the sun did not set for ten days together, and that the inhabitants of the earth were afraid that the earth would be burnt, for there were great fires at that time. This happened in the siz^-seventh year of that emperor's reign, and so the time of it Mr. Bedford observes, according to their account, exactly agrees with scripture history. Scripture Chronology, p. 489. And be obserm that it is natural for men in things of great antiquity to enlarge beyond the truth. And what the Chinese history mentionsaboot great fires in many places, agrees with the story of Phaeton's set* ting the world on fire. And indeed to have the day more thu twenty-four hours, for besides the twelve hours that the sun stood still, the time of the sun's course above the horizon was probabtj more than twelve hours, for it was probably later in the 3'ear thao the vernal equinox : I say to have the sun so long above the horizon, and twelve hours of it together, so extraordinarily near the meridian, shining down with a perpendicular ray all that tiDe, must needs cause exceeding heat in many places.

[169] Josh. x. 13. *'And the sun stood still and the moon stayed." God thereby showed that all things were for bis church, all was theirs, the whole earth, and the sun, moon, and stan were made for them.

[117] Josh. X. 13. " The sun stood still and the moon stayed.** The mwn stayed; not that the moon's staying helped them, bi( it was because the earth was stopped, and so all the heavenly bodies were stopped, that is, they kept their position with respect to the horizon.

[224] Josh. xi. 8. *<And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them even unto great Zidon." Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology, p. 195 and 493, supposes that great numbers of them made their escape

Groin tbence, and from neighbouring sea-ports, by shipping, to ail the shores which lay round the Mediterranean and Egean seas, and even to other parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, of whicli, says he, the learned Bochart hath given us a large account, in his incomparable Canaan, and particularly shown that the names of most places are of Phoenician or Hebrew extraction. About ibis time they set up their two pillars at Tangier, with this in-icription in the Phoenician language, " We are iliey who fled from ike face ofJoshva the robber^ the son of Nun.^^ About this lime they built the city of Carthage, which at first they called Cnrihada^ which in the Chaldee and Syriac languages signifies The New City. This building of Carthage, says he, p. 195, not only appears from the common consent of all historians, but also Grom the remains of the Carthaginian language, which we have in Plautus, where he brings in a youth from thence, speaking in soch a manner that many learned men have proved it to be the Hebrew, or language of Canaan, and the Carthaginians are frequently called Phoenicians and Tyrians, because they came from this country. Being thus used to sailing and merchandise, they •oon carried on a larger trade, and settled other colonies near Gibraltar, both in Europe and Africa. The learned Bochart ihns tells us, that these expeditions were computed to be in the times of the heroes. And Bedford says, p. 493, that hence the story of Dido and Eneas, as mentioned in Virgil, must be false and groundless. Neither is it probable, says he, that the widow of A priest flying the country unknown to the king, could carry with her so great a number of men to a new colony, as should undertake to build so great a city. So she brought not inhabitants there, but found them there, and did not so properly build, as repair and enlarge the town to which she came. She built the tower which was called Bozrahy or A Fort^ in Hebrew, and from thence called Syria, or A Hide^ in Greek, and so occasioned the fabulous story that Dido bought the place to build the city on with little bits of leather marked, which was anciently used instead of money. Bnt (others tell ns that when she arrived on the [coast of Africa she was forbidden to tarry there by Hiarbas, king of the country, lest she, with her company, might seize on a great part of his do-asinion, and therefore she craftily desired of him only to buy so moch ground as might be compassed with an oxhide; which, when she had obtained, she cut it into small thongs and therewith compassed two and twenty furlongs, on which she built the city afterward named Carthage^ and called the castle Byrsa^ or Hide. All this we owe to the fertile invention of the Greeks, to make every thing derived from them: whereas Dido, coming from Tyre, knew nothing of that language; and besides, the old Car-

tbagin'ian language was the Ph(rnician or Hebrew, as appears by the old remains thereof, which we have in Plaatns's Pcenalos.

It looks exceedingly probable, that when Joshua had smitten the vast army of Hazor, and the kings that were with him, and chased them into Zidon, that all that could, wouM flee by ship; for that was a great sea-port, and therefore they had opportonity to escape this way, and they had enough to terrify them to it, for they had heard how Jehovah, the God of Israel, with a strong hand had brought o/Fthe people from Egypt, and had divided the Red sea, and drowned the Egyptians there, and fear aud dread had fallen upon them, and their hearts had melted at the newi, Kxod. XV. 14, 15, IG. And thev had heard how that God was amoni< the people in the wilderness, and how be was seen face to face, and how that his cloud stood over them, and how he went before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire bj night. Numb. xiv. 14. And their dread and astonishment was renewed by hearing how they had destroyed Sihon, kinc^ of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Baslian ; they had trembled, and anguish had taken hold on them at the news. Deut. ii. 25. As Rabab told the spies that terror was fallen upon them, and all the iniiabitants of the land did faint, and even melt, neither was there any more courage left in any man because of them- Josh. ii. 9,10, 11. God did as he promised. Exod. xxiii. 27. *'Iwill send my fear before thee, and I will destroy all the people to whom thoi slialt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto ibeo." Their terror was greatly increased by God's drying np the Jordan, Josh. v. 1 ; and then causing the walls of Jericho to fall down Hat, and after that his causing the sun to stand still, and so miraculously destroying the five kings of the Amorites in a storm of thunder, and lightning, and hail, and their utterly destroying their cities in all the southern parts of Canaan, and they bad board bow that Joshua was positively commanded to smite them, and utlorly destroy them, and make no covenant with them, nor show merry unto them, and how that Joshua had given no r|nartors to their neighbours. And now when the king and people in all the northern parts of Canaan liad gathered together sMcii a vast strencrtb of people, as the sands upon the sea shore with innumerable horses and chariots, as Josh. xi. 4. And yet lb«»y were suddenly vanrjuisbcd. Joshua was still pursuing with a design utterly to destroy them according to his order, and had pursued them even to great Zidon. When they therefore came there, they must needs be in the utmost consternation, and if there were any ships there it could be no otherwise, but that all that could fled in them, and thai they would not trust to the walls of Zidon, for they did not know but they would Hill down flat, as the walls of Jericho had done; and that not only multitudes should be slain,

but many of them driven away to the ends of the earth, agrees best %ith the expression so often used of God's driving them oat before the children of Israel.

And besides there could he no room for such multitudes in Zi-don, and a few neighbouring cities; for they, with those that Jo-

; shua had slain of them, had before filled all the land of Canaan, north of the tribe of Ephraim, even to monnt Herrapn, and to Zi-don, and they were under a necessity to seek new seats abroad where thev could find them.

[360] Joshua vii. Concerning Achan^ the troubler of Israel. Achan was that to the congregation of Israel, that some lust or way of iniquity indulged and allowed, is to particular professors. Sinful enjoyments are accursed things: wherever they are entertained God's curse attends them. The cursed things that Achan

\ took were a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge fifty shekels weight, that when he saw, he

• coveted. So the objects of men's lusts, which they take and indulge themselves in the enjoyment of, are very tempting and alluring, appearing very beautiful, and seeming yery precious. Achan took those and hid them in his tent under ground, so that there was no sign or appearance of them above ground, they were concealed with the utmost secrecy. So very commonly the sins that chiefly trouble professors, and provoke God's displeasure, atid bring both spiritual and temporal calamities upon them, are secret sins, as David calls them, hidden by some lust, as Achan's, as it were under ground. Lust is exceedingly deceitful, and will hide iniquity, and cover it over with such fair pretences and excuses, that it is exceedingly difficult for persons to discover them, and to be brought fully to see and own their fault in them. The silver and gold was covered over with the goodly Babylonish garment; (as It is said the silver was under it;) so persons are wont to cover their secret wickedness with a very fair hypocritical profession : an hypocritical profession is a Babylonish or anti-christian garment. It is the robe of the false church. God charges Israel not only with stealing, but dissembling, when Israel had transgressed in the accursed thing; and God was not among them ; they were carnally secure and self-confident, they thought a few of them enough to subdue the inhabitants of Ai; which represents the frame that professors are commonly in when they indulge some secret iniquity. But they could not stand before their enemies, they were smitten down before them ; so, when professors secretly indulge some one lust, it makes them universally weak—they lie dreadfully exposed to their spiritual enemies, and easily fall before them. The congregation seem to wonder what is the matter that God hides himself from them ; so Christians oftentimes, when they are going on in some evil way that the de-

ceiifulness of sin hides from them, wonder what is the reason tbit God hides himself from them. They lay long upon their faceii crying to God without receiving any answer. So when person harbour any iniquity, it is wont to prevent any gracious answer to their prayers : their prayers are hindered, their iniquity isacioad through which their prayers cannot pass. When they woe troubled and destroyed, they took a wrong course—they betook themselves to prayer and crying to God, as though they had nothing else to do, whereas their first and principal work ought to have been diligently to have inquired whether there was not soor iniquity to be found among them, as is implied, v. 10. So Christians, when God greatly afflicts them, and hides his face from then^ and manifests his anger towards them, are commonly wont to do: they cry, and cry to God, as if they had nothing else to do, bfll still secretly entertain the troubler, and it never comes into thrif hearts to inquire, Ami not greatly guilty with respect to sock a practice or way that I allow myself in, in my covetoasness, or in my .proud, or contentious, or sensual, or peevish and frowarl behaviour.'^ God mentions it as an aggravation of the sin of the congregation in Achan that they had even put the accursed thing amongtheir own stuff; so, when professors allow themselves, it any unlawful gain, or enjoyment, they commonly put it amoog those things that are tlieirs, that they may lawfully enjoy or nsko ase of. If men continue in such evil ways, and do not depart froa them, they are ruinous to the soul, however they may plead that-tbey think there is no hurt in them. There is a way that seeoi right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. So God says to Israel, ver. 12, *' Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you.** God directed the congregation of Israel to make diligent search ii order to find out the troubler: all were to be examined, tribebj tribe, and family by family, and man by man. So when Godhidci his face from us and frowns upon us, we ought diligently and thoroughly to examine all our ways, and to take effectual care that none escape thorough examination; to examine them first ia their several kinds, as they may be classed with respect to their objects, views, and otherwise, and then to proceed to a more special examination and inquiry, and never leave until we have thoroogb-ly examined every particular way and practice; yea, to examine act by act, and to bring all before God, to be tried by him, bjr bis word and Spirit, as all Israel was brought before the Lord to be tried by him. By this means Achan was thoroughly dia* covered, and brought to confess his wickedness ; so, if we be thorough in trying our ways, and bringing all to the test of God's word, seeking the direction of his spirit also with his word, it il the way to discover the sin that troubles us, and thorougiily to

oTivince the conscience, and make it plainly to confess the iiii-iuity. The congregation ^fter they had found out the accursed hing, they brought it out of the earth and out of the tent, ind spread it before the Lord. So persons, when they have bund out the sin that has troubled them, should confess heir sins and spread them before the Lord. And we must not xmtent ourselves only with confessing the sin to God, but must leal with it as the children of Israel did with Achan ; we must treat it as a mortal, and most hateful, and pernicious enemy ; ire must turn inveterate, implacable enemies to it; must have BO mercy on it; must not spare it at all, or be afraid of being loo cruel to it; must aim at nothing short of the life of it, and iittst resolve utterly to destroy and extirpate it; we must as it irere stone it with stones, and burn it with fire. So Samuel liewed Agag in pieces before the Lord. (See Notes on 1 Sam. kf. 32, 33. See also 2 Cor. vii. 11.) And we must not only destroy that sin, but all its offspring, its whole family, and its iixen and asses, and all that belongs to it, every thing that ■prings from it, every evil that has attended or sprung from it; ire must serve them all alike, and as this was done to Achan, Hot only by a particular individual, but by all Israel, so we must fto it with all our hearts and souls ; we must be full in it; there must be nothing in our hearts that is favourable to the trou-bler, or that has not a hand in its death. Israel, after they had itius slain the tr#ubler, raised over him a great heap of stones, iii a monument of what had been. So when we have slain the iroubler, we must keep a record of the mischief we received by the sin, to be a constant, everlasting warning to us, to avoid It, and every thing of that nature, for the future. This is the way to have the Lord turn from the fierceness of his anger.

[116.] Josh. XX. 6. " And he shall dwell in that city until he Stand before the congregation." The Seventy elders are here called the congregation or church, which are words of the same signification. So the Elders of the church, they are called the Church in the New Testament.

[352] Judg. i. 12, 13, 14, 15. Concerning Othniel and Ca^ Z^&'f daughter* Othniel in this story is a type of Christ, as Othniel, Caleb's nephew, obtained Caleb's daughter, his first eousin, to wife, by war, and the victory he obtained over Car leb's enemies, and taking a city from them to be a possession for Caleb and his heirs; so Christ, who, as nearly related to both God and us, is fit to be a Mediator between God and us, has obtained the church, God's daughter, by war with God's enemiesi and. the victory be has obtained over them, and bjr

his redeeming a city, the spiriliiul Jerusalem, or Zion, out of their hands, to be a pessession for God and his heirs. Achsah, OthnipPd wife, moves her husband to ask for her father a bless* ing, and an inheritance. So it is by the intercession of Ciiri^t that the church obtains of God the blessings and the iidierit-ance she needs. She complains to her father that she iniierit-ed a south, i. e. a dry, desert land ; she asks of him spriii(;^uf water, and Caleb granted her request; he gave her freely and abundantly ; he gave her the upper spiings, and the nether springs. And if men, being evil, know how to give good gifrs to their children, how much more shall our heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him ! When Caleb's dau;!h-ter inhabited a south land, and dwelt in the quenched places of the wilderness, she asked springs of water, bot-h the up|)€r and the nether springs. So, when the souls of God's poujiie arc in a droughty, pining, languishing condition, it is not a ntw thing for them to go to their heavenly Father through the ntc-diation of Christ, for all such supplies as they need ; he will give them springs of water like the ujipcr and the neiher springs. Godliness hath the promise of the things of tbii life, and that which is to come. God will give grace aiul glory, and no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly. Achsah imjiroved that time to move her husband to intercede for her, when she came to him ; which should teach us, when we are brought especially nigh to Christ, and liare special seasons of comnmnion with him, to be careful then to improve our interest in him, and to seek his intercession fur us with the Father for such blessings as we need.

But this probably has a special respect to some particular seasons of God's blessings on the church, aild the uccomplisb-ing a glorious alteration in the state of things for her sake; and particularly two seasons.

1. That glorious change that was made at and after Chris^t's first coming. The church before that did as it were inhabit a south land, was held under weak and beggarly elements, was under the ministration of death, the letter and not the spirit But when Christ came nigh to the church, he took her nature upon him ; he came and dwelt with us, and received his church into a much greater nearness to himself; and through his nic* diation was obtained of God, a far more glorious dispensatioD, springs of water in abundance, a ministration of tho spirit, the spirit was abundantly poured out upon her, and her inheritance was greatly enlarged. Instead of being confined only to the land of Canaan, she had tho Roman empire given with all its wealth and gloryi and so had the nether springs, as well as the upper*

2* That glorious change that will be accomplished in favour f the church at the fall of Anticli«ist. Now the church of !hrist does as it were inherit a dry laud, and has so done for . long time—dry both upon spiritual and temporal accounts; loth as to the upper and nother springs, and is much straitened n her inheritance. But the days will soon come wherein /brist will come in a spiritual sense, aud the church shall for-ake worldly vanities, and her own righteousness, and shall ome to Christ, and then God will gloriously enlarge her inheritance, and will bestow both spiritual and temporal blessings ipon her, in abundance.

[211] Judg. V, 20. ** They fou«^ht from heaven, the stars I their courses fought against Sisera." The learned Bed-ird, in his Scripture Chronology, p. 510, supposes that Sisera, rith his army, had passed the river Kishon, and that when tarak came to cngai>:e hini, God H[>peared against Sisera, in a readful storm of thunder and li<^htiiiug, and the battle conti-uing all day, and Sisera and his host being at last put to ight, the Israelites pursued in the night, and that the way lat the stars fought for them was by shining with an cxtraor-inary brightness to help the Israelites in their pursuing the netny, who, when they came to the river Kishon, went in; lit the storm having swelled the river, the swift stream carried lem away, and that there was thunder and lightning. Then B argues from the 15th verse of the foregoing chapter, where

18 said that the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots^ lid all his hosts. Ho says the word in the original signifies » strike a terror by the noise of thunder and lightning, and the uth is, it is no where said that God discomfited the enemies r God's people where this word was used, but that it appears lat God fought against them with thunder and lightning.

0 1. Sam. vii. 10, and Joshua x. IO9 (vide Notes on Heb. iii. I9) and 2 Sam. xxii. 15. Ps. xviii. 4.

There are several things that make this opinion of Mr. Bed->rd probable. This was an instance wherein God had extra-'dinarily appeared against the enemies of Israel, as appears jr this song; and this verse of this sonir seems to intimate some-ling miraculous of God's appearing in it, and it was the more 'obable that there was something miraculous for a prophetess sing at the head of the army of Israel, and then God had in lis manner appealed from time to time fighting against the lemies of his people. So he fought against the Egyptians at e Red sea; so he terrified his enemies in all the neighbouring >untries with amazing thunders and lightning, when he enter-

1 into covenant with his people at Sinai. So God foagbt against VOL. IX. 38

the Amoriles before Joshua. So God fought against the Phi-listines in Sainuers tim* 1 Sam. vii. 10. So God fought for David. (See Notes on Ps. xviii. 7, &,c.) SoGikI seems to have fought against Sennacherib's army in Hezekiah'ti time, Isai. XXX. 30. '* An<l so Hezekiab prophecied that God woald appear against the enemies of his people." 1 Sam. ii. 10. And the reason why Deborah begins this song with taking notice that God appeare<i with thunder and rain for his people in the wilderness, ver. 4, 5, as he had done at the Red sea and at Mount Sinai, probably is because God never had so appeared for them in the deliverance that she celebrates in this song. God appeared so for his pco|)le when he took them first into covenant and made them his people; and now he had appeared in like manner again, and so appears to be still the same God; she therefore mentions it as celebrating his covenant, faithfulness : and then it is in no wise to be supposed that the river Kishon, that is elsewhere called a brook, Ps. Ixxxiii. 9, was by any means sufficient to sweep away and drown an army, unless extraordinarily swelled by rain. Again it is probable, because the great battle in which the enemies of the church shall be destroyed, and that shall usher in the glorious timei of the church that we read of in the xvi. chap, of Rev. is represented as being accompanied with thunder, and limning, and hail; but it is compared to this battle at Alegiddo, and therefore the place where it is fought, is said to he in the Hebrew tongue, Ar-Megeddon, i. e. the mount of Megiddo, and it is pri)l)able that the way Mr. Bedford mentions was the way in wiiich the stars fought against Siscra: it is most like!? that the stars fought against Sisera the same way that the sun fought against the Amorites, viz. by giving light to Israel, that they mi(;ht be avenged of their enemies, Josh. x. 1.3. Aslhii that God wrought now was parallel with thai in Joshua^s time, I in that God fought against the enemies of Israel in a storm of | thunder and lightning, so if we suppose the stars shone at ^ night with miraculous brightness to help Israel against their. enemies, it will in a good degree be parallel to another instance, for then the day was lengthened for them by the sun's stand-j ing still, and now the day is as it were lengthened by causing the stars in a miraculous manner to supply in a great measure the want of daylight; the sun fought then, and the stars now, and both by giving light, but only there is this difference, the sun fought standing still, but the stars fought in their courses or, paths, as it is in the original. This instance is also very paral* lei, also with that at the Red sea ; for there God fought against their enemies with thunder and lightning, and drowned them in the Red sea; and here God fought against them with thunder and lightning, and drowned them with their horses and

;hariots in the river Kishon. Hence we may possibly see a rea-4>n why the great destruction of God's enemies before the glori-ms times of the church is compared to this influence, rather than o either of those two great influences of God's wonderfully destroying bis enemies, viz. because this is parallel to both, and what s peculiar to both, is here comprised, viz. the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red sea, which is peculiar to the first, has here in eqoivalent in the drowning of the host of Sisera in Kishon; ind the sun's standing still and fighting, is here answered by the stars -fighting in their courses, and the Holy Ghost might rather dioose to compare it to this, because the sun's standing still was a representation of Christ's humiliation. (Vide Note on Josh. x.. 12, 13, 14.) But Christ will be for them fighting as in a state of humiliation at that time when introducing the glorious times of the church, and Christ will not then personally appear fighting as be did in his state of humiliation, but he will fight by his Spirit in bis saints, which are called the stars of Iieaven.

Christ will fight by increasing their light, and so their enemies ibail be destroyed, and they shall fight in their courses, and in ronning the race that God hath appointed them, and it is compar-sd to this rather than the instance at the Red sea, for the children »f Israel, and Moses, and the pillar of cloud being in the Red lea, was a type of Christ's humiliation.

That there should be such things at the battle with Sisera, and fet not mentioned particularly in the history, is not strange; for M> there was thunder and lightning at the Red sea, and in the day when the sun and moon stood still, and at Baal-Perazim, and yet 1 18 not mentioned in the history.

£364] Judg. vi. 37, 38, 39, 40. Concerning Gideon's fleece. rbere being first dew on the fleece, when it was dry upon all the mrth besides, and then dew on all the ground, but dry upon the leece, was a type of the Jews being in the first place the peculiar leople of Godf and favoured with spiritual blessings alone when ill the world besides were destitute, and then the Jews being re-ected, and remaining destitute of spiritual blessings when the SenCile nations all around them were favoured with them. Gi-leon was a typo of Christ; his overcoming that innumerable Dultitude of Gentile nations with trumpets, and lamps, and earthen ressels, typifies Christ's conquering the Gentile world by the (onnd of the trumpet of the gospel, and by carrying the light of lie gospel to them by ministers that are as earthen vessels; thii rvenC was accompanied with what was typified by the fleece. A ibeep is a creature often used to typify Christ. The Jewish na-loo was as it were Christ's clothing; they are sometimes repre-tented as such ; first they only had the word and ordinances, and

the blessing of ihe Holy Spirit. It was remarkably poored oat on them in the day of Pentecost: there was that plentiful of deir, that was a bow] full of water, when the Gentile nations were destitute ; but afterwards the Gentile nations received the gospel, and God's Spirit was poured out on them, and tlie Jews were rejected, and have now remained dry for many ages.

[223] Judg. xi. 30, to the end. Concerning JephihakUxm and his offering up his daughter. That Jephthah did not put hit daughter to death and burn her in sacrifice, the following tbinp evince.

I. The tenor of his vow, if we suppose it to be a lawful vow, did not oblige him to it ; he promised that whatsoever came forth of the doors of his house to meet him, should surely be the Lord's, and he would offer it up for a burnt offering. He was obliged no more by this vow than only to dc«i1 with whatsoever cane forth of the doors of his house to meet him, as those things thit were holy to the Lord ; and by right burnt offerings to God,were to be dealt with by God's own law, and the rules that he hid given. Supposing it had been an ass^ or some undeanbeaH thai had come forth to meet him, as Jephthah did not know but it would, his vow would not have obliged him to have offered it in sacrifice, or actually to have made a burnt offering of it, bathe must have dealt with it as the law of God directed to deal with an unclean beast that was not holy to the Lord, and that othe^ wise must have been actually a burnt offering to the Lord, had it not been for that legal incapacity of the impurity of its nature. All living things that were consecrated were to be as it were barnt offerings to God, i. e. they were actually to be offered up a burni sacrifice, if not of.a nature that rendered it incapable of this, and then in that case something else was to be done that God woold accept instead of offering it up a burnt sacrifice. The directioo we have in Levit. xxvii. 11, 12, 13. " And if it be any unclean beast of which they do not ofler a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest, and the priest shall value it whether it be good or bad; as thou valuest it who art the priest, so shall it be. But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall adda fifth part thereunto of the estimation," i. e. it should be valued hy the priest, and the man should, after it was valued, determine whether he would redeem it, or no, and if not he was to break hii neck, if an ass. Exod. xiv. 12, 13, or if other unclean beast, it must be sold according lo the priest's estimation. Levit. xrvii. 27, (as is elsewhere directed to be done to unclean beasts that were holy lo the Lord, Exod. xxxiv. 20,) but if he would redeem it, if it were an ass, he was to redeem it with a lamb. Exod. xiv. 12, 13; if other unclean beast he was to add the fifth part to the priest's estimation, that is, he was to give the value of the beast, and ^

fifth part more. And if Jephthah had done this in case an unclean beast bad met him, he would have done according to his vow. If he had in such a case gone about to have offered an unclean beast a burnt sacrifice, he would dreadfully have provoked God, his vow could be supposed to oblige him to no other than only to deal with the unclean beast that was consecrated as the law of God directed to deal with it instead of ofl*eriog it a burnt offering. And so when it was his daughter that met him, he might do to her according to bis vow without making her a burnt sacrifice, if he did that to her which the law of God directed to be done to a dedicated person, instead of actually making them a burnt sacrifice, by reason of the incapacity which, by the mercy of God, attends a human person to be a burnt sacrifice. For to offer either a man or an unclean beast in sacrifice to God, are both mentioned as a great abomination to God, and as what were universally known so to be. Isai. Ixvi. 3. ** He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut ofi* a dog's neck ; he that of-fereth an oblation, as if he ofiered swine's blood." But the more fally to clear up the difficulties that attend this matter I will particularly observe some things concerning the laws that related to persons that were consecrated, so as to become holy to the Lord.

1. Every living thing that was holy to the Lord, whether of men or beasts, was by right a burnt ofiering to God, and must be either actually made a burnt sacrifice, or something else must be done to it that God appointed to be in lien of burning it in sacrifice. Thus the first born of men and beasts, they were all holy to the Lord, and must either be offered up a burnt sacrifice, or be redeemed, the first born of men and of unclean beasts were to be redeemed.

2. Persons that were devoted to God by a singular vow, unless they were those that were devoted to be accursed, (of which Levit. zxvii. 28, 29) were to be brought and presented before the Lord, that the priest might estimate them, and they were to redeem according to the priest's estimation. But beasts that might be sacrificed were to be sacrificed. Levit. xxvii. 7—9. (See <^§§ onv. 2.) i'

3. Persons that were thus devoted to God by the vow of their parents, were yet to remain persons separate, and set apart for God after they were redeemed. This may appear from several things.

First, The redemption was only to redeem them from being slain in sacrifice ; it was not to redeem them from being holy to the Lord, or persons set apart, and sanctified to him.

Secondly. The first-born were appointed to be given or consecrated to God. Fixod. xiii. 2, and xxii. 19. And ilicy were by God's law holy to the Lord, in the very same manner as persons

devoted to him by a siDgnlar vow, as is evident, because they were to be redeemed in the same mauner, and at the same price, as is evident by comparing the beginning of the xxvii. chapter of Levit. with Numb, xviii. 15, 16. God, in giving the rule for the redemption of the first-born in the latter place, evidently refers to what he had before appointed in the former place, concerning persons devoted by a singular vow, and so likewise the firstlings of unclean beasts were to be redeemed in the same manner as unclean beasts that were devoted, as appears by comparing Levit. xxvii. 11, 12, 13. with v. 27; but yet the first-born still remained separated to God as his special possession, after they were redeemed. Hence the Levites were accepted for the first-born to a tribfe separated to God after the first-born were thus redeemed.

Thirdly. Persons that were dedicated to God by the vow of their parents, were Nazarites, as well as those that were separated by their own vows; the word Nazarite, signifies one that is sepi-rated; they might be separated by their parents' vows or their own. This is very evident in instances that we have in scripture. Thus Samuel was a Nazarite by the vow of his mother. 1 Sam. i. 11. " And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if tboa wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." And so it was with respect to Samson, Judg. xiii. 5. But the Nan-rite was to continue separated to God, as long as he remained under the vow by which he was devoted.

4. Those that were thus devoted to God to be Nazarites, were to the utmost of their power to abstain from all legal pollutions. Lam. iv. 7. With respect to defilements by dead bodies, they were required to keep themselves pure with greater strictness than the very priests, except the high priest alone, and were obliged to as great strictness as the high priest himself. Numb. vi. 6, 7. compared with Levit. xxi. 10, 11. And though only some legal impurities are expressly mentioned, as what the Nazarite was to avoid, yet it is to be understood, that he is to his utmost to separate himself from all legal defilements, agreeable to his name, a Nazarite, or a separate person. The Nazarite was to abstam froni all legal impurities in like manner as the priests, and even as the high priest; there are like directions given to one as to the pther; the high priest was on no account to defile himself with the dead, and was forbidden to drink wine, or strong drink when he went into the tabernacle of the congregation. Levit. x. 9. The priests were to abstain from all manner of legal defilement as far as in them lay. Levit. xxii., at the beginning.

If it be objected against this, that the Levites who were accepted to be the Lord's, instead of the first-born that were holy to the Lord, were not obliged to such strictness, I answer, that this may be one reason why God did not look on the first-born as being fully redeemed by the Levites being substituted in their stead, but there were still extraordinary charges required of them for the maintenance of the Levites, much more than in proportion to the bigness of the bribe; and God might accept this as an equivalent for their not being so strictly separated, as he accepted extraordinary redemption money for the odd number of the first-born, that were more than the Levites. Numb. iii. 46, 47, and xviii. 15, 16.

5. Those that were devoted to God to be Nazarites by a singular vow, were to devote themselves wholly to religious exercises, and to spend their lives in the most immediate service of God; for though this is not particularly expressed, but only some things are expressed that they should abstain from, yet this 18 implied in their being God's, his being separated to the Lord, Numb. vi. 11, his being holy to the Lord, Numb. vi. 6. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy; and ver. 8, all the days of his separation he shall be holy unto the Lord. In like manner as in the second commandment, there are only some things particularly mentioned, that we should abstain from on the sabbath, but it is only expressly said that the day should be spent in religious exercises, yet it is implied in that, that the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord our God, and that we are commanded to keep it holy. This was evidently Hannah's intention in her vow, whereby she devoted Samuel to be a Nazarite, as was explained by her own words and practice. 1 Sara. i. 28. " Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord ;" and accordingly she brought him and left him in the sanctuary, to dwell continually there, and there to spend his time in sacred business. 1 Sam. ii. 11. '* And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest." Ver. 18. **ButSamutI ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod."

6. It was necessary that a woman that was devoted to be a Nazarite (for a woman might be a Nazarite, Numb. vi. 2.) should thenceforward avoid marrying, and refrain from all carnal intercourse with men. If she was a virgin when she was devoted, it was necessary that she should continue a virgin until her vow was ended; and if she was devoted for her whole life, she must continue a virgin forever; and if she was a widow, she must continue in her widowhood, and that on two accounts.

Firgt* Marrying would be contrary to the obligation that has been taken notice of, that the Nazarite was under, with the utmost strictness to avoid all legal defilements, for marrying unavoidably exposed the great legal impurities, and of long continuance. (See Levit. xii.) There were scarcely any legal impurities to whicb the children of Israel were exposed, except the leprosy, that were so great as those that marriage brought women into. Being therefore devoted to God to be holy to the Lord, in the utmost possible legal purity, she must avoid marrying, and then these legal impurities rendered her incapable of those sacred officei and services that she was devoted to. It incapacitated her from conversing on holy things, or drawing near to God in ordinances, as much as being defiled by the dead body of a man incapacitated a priest from his work and office. Levk. xii. 4. '* And sbe shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days : she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying be. fulfilled ;" which, in all, for a son made up forty days, and for a daughter fourscore days, which must needs be very inconsistent with the circumstances of the Nazarite that was devoted wholly to attend on God, and holy exercises in the way of the Jewish ordinances. If the Nazarite were a male, his marryingdid not expose him to such legal impurities. The Nazarite was to observe as strict a l^gal purity, as the high priest himself, as has been observed; but he for the greater purity was allowed to marry none but a virgin : therefore doubtless the woman herself that was a Nazarite was obliged to continue a virgin.

Secomllt/. Marrying would utterly destroy the main design of her being dedicated in the vow of a Nazarite, which was, that she might be wholly devoted to the more immediate service of God in sacred things. If she was married, her time must unavoidably be exceedingly taken up in secular business and cares, in tending and bringing up children, and in providing for, and taking care of a family, which exceedingly fills married women's hands and hearts, and is as inconsistent as possible with the design of the vow of the Nazarite. Hence the woman that was devotid to the special service of God's house in the primitive church (though not devoted to God so solemnly, nor in so great a degree as the Nazarite) must be one that was not married, and never like to marry, and it was looked upon and spoken of by the apostles as sinful in such to many. 1 Tim. v. 1. ** But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;" and the reason that is given why they should be widows that were like ever to continue so, and free from all worldly care, was that they might be the more entirely at lil>erty for religious duties. Ver. 3, 4, 5, *' Honour widows, that are wi-

dows indeed, but if any \^do\v have children, or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents; for that^is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trustethin God, and continueth in supplications and prayers, night and day." Those widows in the primitive chUrch, seem to be in some degree in imitation of the Nazarites in the Jewish church. Anna the Prophetess was in all probability a Nazanie, or one that after her husband's death, bad devoted herself to the service of God, by such a vow as that we have been speaking of, and therefore continued in widowhood to so great an age, because her vow obliged her to it, and there-fore^she, throwing by all worldly care, devoted herself wholly to the immediate service of God. Luke ii. 36, 37. " And there w^as one Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Plianuel, of the tribe of Aser, she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." The like expression with that the apostle uses, concerning widows, 1 Tira. V. 5.

And therefore when we have an account that after Jephthath's daughter had been let alone two months, to go up and down the mountains with her companions to bewail her virginity, we are told that she retiflhned to her father, who did lo her according to Lis vow. That which Jephthah did was, that he took her up to the sanctuary before the Lord, and presented her before the priest, that he might estimate her, then paid according to her estimation* Thus the Jews that came out of the captivity vowed that they would offer the first-born of iheir sons. Neh. x. 35. Whereby she was redeemed from being made a burnt sacrifice, according to the law; and by thus presenting her in the sanctuary, and offering up that which is accepted instead of her blood, she was actually separated according to the vow ; her separation began from that time, and thenceforward, she was to begin her strict abstinence from all legal impurities, and to spend her time in sacred offices ; and it is probable that Jephthah thenceforward left her in the sanctuary, to dwell there as long as she lived, as Hannah did to her son Samuel, whom she had devoted to be a Nazarite. . 1 Sam. i. 22. " I will nfot go up till the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever, and as the other Hannah, or Anna, did with herself after she had devoted herself to perpetual widowhood as a Nazarite,'of whom we read, Luke ii. 37, " That she was a widow of fourscore years old, and departed not from the temple.*' And there^'probably Jephtliah's daughter continued in supplications and prayers, night and day, for she was eminently disposed} and

VOL. IX. ' 39

prepared for such duties by that remarkable spirit of piety that appeared in her resignation, with respect to the vow her father had made concerning her, and what time she did not spend in duties of immediate devotion, she might spend in making of priests' garments. Exod. xxxv. 25, 2G, in other business subsequent to the work of the sanctuary, as there might be enough found that a woman might do.

II. The nature of the case will not allow us to suppose thai that was done that was so horrid and so contrary to the miud and will of God, as putting of her to death, and offering her as a burnt sacrifice. God took great care that never any human sacrifice should be offered to him ; liiough he commanded Abraham to offer up his son, yet he would by no means suffer it to be actually done, but appointed something else with which he should be redeemed ; and though God challenged the first-born of all living things to be his, yet he appointed ihat the first-born of mea should be redeemed, and so in all cases wherein persons were holy to the Lord, the law makes provision that they should not he slain but redeemed. It is particularly forbidden in the law of Moses in the strictest manner, that the children of Israel should not worship God by offering up their children in sacrifice to him. Deut, xii. 30, 31. There God charges them not to worship hira in the manner that the inhabitants of Canaan had worshipped their gods, and then mentions, as the most abominable thing in their worship, that they had offered up their children for burnt offerings. And God, by the prophet Isaiah, declares such sacrifices to be abominable to him in the foremcntioncd, Isai. Ixvi. 3. See also, Jer. vii. 31, with my note on that text. It would have been symbolizing with the abominable customs of the heathen nations around, especially that offering human sacrifices to the idol, Moloch, which God ever manifested a peculiar detestation of. Here particularly observe, Deut. xii. 29, to the end ; and the nature of the case will not allow us to think that Jcphthah in tiiis instance committed such abomination. It is not likely but that he, being a pious person, as he is spoken of by the apostle, would have been restrained from it by God, and then what was done was doubtless agreeable to the mind and will of God, for God otherwise would not in so extraordinary a manner have assisted her so quickly and readily to resign herself to it; there seems most evidently an extraordinary divine influence on lier mind in the affair, for her resignation did not arise from insensibility,or indifference of spirit, as is evident, because she desired time so to bewail what was to be done to her; and upon the supposition that she was to be slain, it would be impossible, without an extraordinary influence on her mind, for her to be so resigned. He^ resignation was from pious considerations, and holy, and excellent

principles ; as is evident from what she soys to her father, when she sees him passionately lamenting tlie issue of his vow, of n'hich we have an account in the 3t3ih verse. *' And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth, for as much as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine-enemies, even of tlie children of Ammon."

If wliat ho had vowed to do was so abominable a thing as to kill Iirr in riiciifice, it would not have been her duty to say as she does, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy nouth, but she seemed to be influenced to express herself as she iid, by the Spirit of God, and her resignation is recorded of her, IS a very excellent thing in her.

ill. llcr being to be slain in sacrifice seems inconsistent with ler request; to go up and down the mountains to bewail hervir-finity: it would have been rather to bewail her untimely end,

IV. It seems evident that she was not slain, by the 39th verse, ^here it is said that it came to pass, that at the end of two months, he returned unto her father, who did with her according to his ow, which he had vowed, and the consequence of it is imme-iately added, and she knew no man. This clause seems evidently 3 be exegetical of the foregoing, viz. that he did to her accord-ig to his vow, or to explain what that was that he did, viz. de-ote her to God in a perpetual virginity.

If she had been slain it is not at all likely that it would have een mentioned that she knew no man, for that she had known no lan before this, had been already expressed in her going up and own the mountains to bewail her virginity; and nobody would ippose that she would marry and have children after she was de-oted to death, and it had been determined both by herself and er father that it should be put in execution ; and besides, there ould have been no occasion to mention her not knowing man as 3on as the two months was out wherein she bewailed her virgini-/, and she had returned from going up and down the mountainsi le vow was immediately executed.

V. It is no argument that Jephthah thought himself obliged ) put her to death, that he so lamented when his daughter met im, as in verse 35. '* And it came to pass when he saw her, that e rent his clothes, and said, Alas! my daughter, thou hast brought le very low, and thou art one of them that trouble mc, for I have pened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back ;'' for she be-ig his only child, by her being devoted to be a Nazarite, his imily was entirely extinct, he had no issue to inherit his estate r keep his name in remembrance, which in those days was (oked upon as an exceedingly great calamity. Thou has tbrought le very low, i. e. thou bast quenched my coal, and brought per**

petaal barrenness on thyself. (See Pool's Synopsis, at the end of Jadg. chap, xi.)

[139] Judj^. xiii. 20. " For it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from ofl'the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. Christ, by thus goin;^ into the flame in which the kid was sacrificed, and ascending in it, signified that he was the great sacrifice that was to be oflTered up to God, and was to ascend as a sweet savour to God from ofi'thc altar in the flame of his holy wrath. That was the substance represented bv tliese shadows, the sacrifices of kids and lambs, Sec,

[377] Judg. xiii. xiv. xv. The Ilistonj of Samson. Sam-eon was charmed with the danc:hters of the uncircunicised Philistines, and, as it were, bewitched with them. These daughters represent those lusts, or objects of their lusts, with which men are charmed and infatuated. Samson's uniting himself with these daughters of the Philistines, proved his ruin. He had warninn: enouirh to beware of them before he was utterly destroyed by them. First, he was deceived by one of them, and suffered great damage by her falseness, by the woman of Timnath ; though he loved her, she proved an enemy to hira, and treachcrou>ly deprived him of thirty sheets and thirty change of garments, and then she was taken from him; she proved false to him, and left him. i:?o she served him as the objects of mon's lusts often serve them : ihcy promise them a ffreatdcal, but never aliord them anv thiniir; thev are like a pleasing shadow at a distance, that does us a great deal of damage in the pursuit, and when we come nigh ihem and hope to embrace them, and to be paid for our damages, they afl'ord US nothing but disappointment. Samson's being thus served by a dauiriiter of the Piiilistincs, mi::ht be a warnin;? to him not to be concerned with them any more. But after this Sampsoa was ensnared again, and went in to an harlot at Gaza, wlmh suddenly brought him into eminent danger of his life, so that he very narrowly escaped, as in the beginning of chap. xvi. But yet after this he unites himseif v»ith Delilah, and had sufli-cient from her to make hiju sensible that slie was his enemy time after time, had he not been utterly infatuated and he-witched ; but yet he would not take warning, and at last she deprived him of the seven locks of his head, in which signified the consideration and sense of the mind ; and bringing a person to a stupid and senseless state. (Sec Notes on Numb. vi. 5, concerning the Nazarite's not shaving his head.) AVhen persons* sense, consideration, and watchfulness is gone, their strength will soon be gone. And then God departed from

Samson, and he became the miserable condemned captive and slave of the Philistines, who tormented him, and insulted over liim, and made themselves sport in his misery, and at last it proved his death.

[80] Judg. xvi. 25. " When the Philistines had prevailed ever Samson, and were makiiii^ sport with him, he overthrew tbem. The devils thought to have had fine sport with God's people when he had got him their captive, but this captivity to Jhim was the occasion of one of them who represented the rest of his brethren, even Christ, giving of them a most dreadful overthrow; and when they had Christ their captive, and thought to have triumphed and made themselves merry over him, for tie was for a time in a sort their captive, being the captive of fcis ministers, and being more especially delivered to his power to tempt and afflict, as the Philistines did Samson. Luke xxii. 53. " This is your time, and the power of darkness:" I say tvhile iheythought to have had sport wiih him, yea, when they bad actually brought him forth, and were making themselves sport with him as his instruments did, and doubtless the devil joined with them ; he gave them a most dreadful overthrow at bid death, as Samson did ; he destroyed Satan's kingdom, and overthrew Dagon^s temple.

[125] Ruth. The story of Ruth's forsaking her own people Tor the land and people of Israel, typifies the calling of the jlentiie church. Naomi is a type of the Jewish church, that ^ the mother of the Gentile church ; not the Jewish nation .hat was rejected, but the true church of God in Israel, to irhoon Ruth says, in the l6th verse, " Whither thou goest, I fl^ill go, and whither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." JNaomi sets before 3er daughters the case of going with her, and the advantages )f staying in her own land. So did Christ set before men the sase of being his disciples, and so do his ministers in the church. . It typifies the universal church, and the conversion of every reliever. We are all born in sin, as Ruth was born in Moab, isd was born a Moabitess ; a state of sin is, as it were, our Tatber's house, and sinners are our own people ; when we are M>nverted we forsake our own people and father's house, as the :hurch in the xlv. Psalm.

[92] 1 Sam. i. and ii. chapters. By Hannah's song after the ^irth of Samuel, I am ready to think that Peninnah and Ilan-lah were designed for types of the church of the Jews, and the shurch of the Gentiles. The expressions are much like those iiat are used in the Prophets, when speaking of the calling of the

petaal barrenness on'"'

j»d6.chap.xi.> •'•.">23i^Kl?!!;:"s

[ISO]

went lir :J-..»^.»*.j.i'I

IhcLr >fl,''::.>'':„1. >!'« ■■1'"™" any tins llii

■"'in ■^»";;;j;.'':,»,««a>«af*orwa!illino>

these exprei tb, and fiinl

aiioink'il.'

0» ''T.rj"''' "/,ffi. "asno flu^ aesign then on foot.

fi^f"^ ,/. !-(. " And the cart came into tlie field

1*4} i^^iiii'^' nnd 8loo(i there, where there was a

^» ^'^tiinf "HJjf^'tgoU down the ark' of llic Lor

^^pr^'''^MMi iImI* Tbecart seems purposely to b

ffiit^^^S,tt$tMioC Ibe name of ihc owner beiitpr ih

f^f^H'i) '''^'iVM >igBiIicd by the aik, an[l bccaufc

1^ ^g^iAlch^^ represented Christ,

gi**' .

mgi I Sam* tvil. 25. David won the kinc^'s daughter

1 orer Goliath, so Christ wins the church by viclur

J94] I Sam. zxii. 2. " And every one ihat was in d rvery one that was in debt, and every one ihnt was b' ioal| gathered themselves to him, and he became Captai tbem." Herein be was a type of Christ.

[72] 1 Sam. x\v, 41, " And she arose, tind bowed her her face to the canit, and said, ItchoM, let thine Ii!in<lijini servant to wasli the feet of the servants of my t.nril." S ■ type of the church, and herein spenks that w hitli represe disposition of a true Christian, according lu Christ's coi and example. Josh. xiii.

[198] 2 Sam. sii. It may be worth Ihe while to oli?c aualogy there was between David's sin in the mniicr of and the judgments after. He was guiliy of ^^iioildincr of and he was punished with (his in his own family, one of h chihlron shedding the blood of another. Absalom's shi Amnon''s blood, and nftcnvards he, though his o»n son. s to shed his blood, and with Ahialom the grcatciit piirt of h jccts that used to he loyal and have a good atreciiuii for hi their hearts turned against him, and bcenmc his cnoniii sought to shed liis blood, and af[er»nrds Absalom's blot shed greatly to tlie grief of llavid his father.

He was guilty of most aggravated nnclennnoss in his ar with BathshebD, and he was punisheil with nncleanne>s in h family in a most aggravated manner, by the horrid incc rape of his own son upon his own daughter, and alYerwards

r

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. 311

bis son, that was very dear lo him, going in to bis own con-

ittnes many of llicm, and that on llie top of llie house in llie

It of the sun, and in the sight of all Israel, on purpose to

ler his father as odious and contempliblo as possibly .could be.

p: [216] 2 Sam. xxiii. 1,2, 3, 4, 5. These last words of Da-fid seem to be wholly a prophecy of the Messiah ; he begins as lie prophets were wont to begin their mystical speeches about Uags to come. ** The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his VOrd was in my tongue; the God of Israel, the Rock of Israel ^ke to me." He begins much after the manner that Balaam legan his two last prophecies. Numb. xxiv. wherein he prophe-aed of Israel's future happiness, and spake particularly of Bfarist. What is here rendered, ** he that ruleth over 7ncn must iejiistj^^ might belter be translated, ** he that shall rule overmen Aall bejustJ^^ The words in the original are p'l:^ dhxd Hviu

The two first words are literally translated, the ruler over men^ or %eperson ruling over mm, reserved to time present, past, or to U)me, indifferently ; 7nust he, is supplied in our translation, the word Just only, is expressed in ihe original, and we may as well md better supply shall be Just, than must be, for the verb is, or be, s more frequently understood in either of the tenses than must He, or ought to be. That he should rule in the fear of the Lord, s agreeable to the character of the Messiah given in Isai. xi. 1, I, where he is prophccied of, as he is licre, as the branch of the lock or house of David, and that prophecy is very parallel to his, " And tliere shall come forth a rod out of t!ie stem of Jesse, nd a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the jord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understand-iig, the spirit of counsel and mif^ht, the spirit of knowledge, and f the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick under-tanding in the fear of the liord." He is called lie that is to rule ver men^ rather than He that is to rule over Israel, because when e comes, his kingdom should not be confnied to that one peopfle, •at he should reign over all nation?, and to the utmost ends of lie earth; to him the gathering of the people should be, and len should be blessed in him ; all nations should call him blessed. It is the Messiah that is intended that shall be ns the light of be morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, nd as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shin-ig* after rain. Christ is both as the rain and the sun that cans-th the grass to grow, and also as the grass itself that flourishes nder the benign influence of those. The person of Christ as ead of the church, is as the morning sun arising after a night of arkness, or as the clear sun breaking out of a thick cloud, show-ig ia the tender grass Christ mystical; or Christ in his members

is as the tender grass itself springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. This signifies both the glory and biessedness of his reign.

1. It signifies his prosperity and glf^ry as a king; the spring-in/^ and flouribhing of grass is a simile elsewhere used to express glory and prosperity. Ps. xlii. 7. " Though the wicked do grow as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity do flourish," &c. So Job V. 15. ^' Thou shalt know that thy seed shall be great, and liiinc oiiVpring as the grass of the earth." So here the same is promised of the seed, or offspring of David. Christ in his state of humiliation was a tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground, having no form nor comeiines, but when he rose from the earth God made him to spring as the grass out of the earth, and after his resurrection he was a glorious and flourishing, and mostfrait-ful branch, as is prophecied of the branch of the stock of David. Isai. iv. 2. *< In that day shall the branch oftlie Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely." Jer. xxiii. 5. " Behold, the d.ays come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper.'^ And so in many other places wherein Christ is prophecied of, under the appellation of the branch, he seems to be spoken of as a flourishing branch. David here in his lasCwords comforts himself in the respect of the glorious prosperity of his oflfspring.

2. Hereby is signified the happiness of his kingdom, not only the glory of the King, but the happiness of those that enjoy the blessings of his reign, which is still the prosperity of Christ's mystical. Ps. Ixxii. 6.7. " He shall tome down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish."

Verse 5. " Although my house be not so with God, 3'et he halb made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he made it not to grow." My house, that is my oflspring, my posterity, those of my family that are to succeed me in the throne. We often find the posterity of David called the house of David, though my successors and ofl'spring be not just, and do not rule in the fear of God (as David by the Spirit foresaw that they would not,) though they are not as the light of the morning and as the tender grass springing out of the earth, though he made it not to grow, i. e. roy house, for that he was speaking of. It is the same in other words that was expressed in the first clause of the verse, though my house be not so with God ; and there is special reference had to the last clause of the preceding verse, where it was foretold that the Messiah should be as the tender grass springing out of the earth. Though my house or oflspring be not so, be not made to

grow as the grass, the house or lineage of David seems to have to be spoken of under the figure of the root or shoot of a plant, as a family or race is often so called in scripture. Judge V. 14. " Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek." Isai. xiv. 29. " Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice," i. e. the serpent's race or offspring; and so verse 30. *' I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay the remnant.*' Dan. xi. 7. " Out of a branch of her root shall one stand up," i. e. out of her posterity ; and so Hosea ix. 16. ** Ephraim is smitten, their root is drted up ; they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of the womb." The family or lineage of Jesse, or David, is particularly in the prophecies of the Messiah compared to the root, or stem of a plant, as in the forementioned, Isai. si. 1, 2. ** There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots."

And to these last words of David, all the prophets seem to refer vhen they prophecy of Christ under the name of the Branch, for he is here prophecied of, not as the tender grass springing out of the earth, and the lineage of David seems to be spoken of under the figure of a root or stock ; and when it is said though he make it not to grow, the word signifies to grow as a branch, it might have been translated. Though he make it not to branch forth : the word here used is of the same radix as the word used when Christ is prophecied of as the Branch; the word that is translated branch is nov, and the word that signifies to grow, isHDV, which is

— V - T

the verb here used. David here foresaw that God would not make bis root or stock to grow in his successors that should reign in the kingdom of Judah, and therefore, with reference to this, the prophet Jeremiah foretelling of Christ, says, chap, xxxiii. 15, *' In those days, and at that time I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land." His being called a righteous branch, and his executing judgment and justice in the land, seems to be with reference to David's last words, where it is said, He shall be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord. So chap, xxiii. 5. ^' Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice on the earth."

[191] 2 Sam. xxiii. 4, 5. " As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain—although he make it not to grow." It is probable from this that David speaks of the Messiah, that Christ is called the branch or the sprout; he is compared in Isaiah to a tender plant.

VOL. IX. 40

[44] 2 Sam. sxiii. 16. " And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gates, and took it and brought it to David ; nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out before the Lord." No doubt but this was ordered ibr atype of something evangelical; otherwise it is wonderful how and why it should happen that he should long for the water of that particular well, and for what reason he should esteem it unlawful for him to drink it. Bethlehem being the place of Christ's birth, the waters of it may signify the same as the water of the sanctuary, the water of the New Jerusalem, or the water of life. This was the price of the blood of those three mighty men, so is the water of life of the blood of the mighty Son of God. They obtained it by conquering Israel's enemies ; so doth Christ by the conquest of the enemies of his spiritual Israel. David would not drink it, but poured it out before the Lord ; so we ought to give all the glory of our salvation unto God, as God gives it unto us by the blood of Christ, we ought to give it all back again unto God in praise.

[215] 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. Concerning the seeming difference io the account of the number of Israel when David numbered them in Samuel, and in Chronicles: See Bedford, p. 559, Scripture Chronology.

The number of all Israel in the book of Chronicles, were eleven hundred thousand men. 1 Chron. xxi. 5. And the book of Samuel saith that they were only eight hundred thousand. 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. So that here are three hundred thousand difference. On the other hand the book of Samuel saith that the men of Ju-dah were five hundred thousand. 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. And the book of Chronicles saith that they were only four hundred and seventy thousand. So that here also is thirty thousand difference. For the reconciling this great and double diversity, it is to be observed that there were four and twenty thousand soldiers and officers that attended David monthly, so many every month. 1 Chron. xxvii. 1—16. And these make in all, two hundred aud eighty-eight thousand. These were like a standing guard aboot the king every month, and ready for any sudden expedition. There were besides these, the rulers of the tribes and the officers under them, and therefore allowing a thousand officers to every twenty-four thousand, (as we cannot well allow less,) there will be the twelve thousand wanting, which added to the two hundred and eighty-eight thousand, make just three hundred thousand, and these were not put into the account in Samuel. Thus in the tribe of Judah, if twenty-four thousand legionary soldiers, and a thousand officers over them, be added to the four hundred and

>

seventy thousand, there will be but five thousand wanting in the number; and as this was David's own tribe, which was faithful to him in all difficulties and troubles, it is no wonder if so many of ihem were employed in some other extraordinary offices. These Joab put into the account, because their number and list had been long known, and because the king would not put a tax upon his own servants.

[217] 2 Sam. xxiv. 18, to the end, and 1 Chron. xxu 18, to the end, and xxii. 1. The temple and altar where those sacrifices were to be offered that were typical of (he sacrifice of Christ, were by God's orders erected on a threshing floor, a place where wheat was wont to be threshed, that it might become bread to support men's lives. The wheat that was here threshed, or the bread that was made of it, seems to be typical of Christ, that bread which came down from heaven, who is often typically represented by bread, by flour, and wheat. Vide Note on 2 Kings iv. 45. And the threshing of this wheat to prepare it for our food, seems to represent the sufllerings of Christ, by which he was prepared to be our spiritual food, and therefore this very wheat that was threshed on this floor was the first meat-offering that was cfffered to God on the altar that was built in this place. And the threshing instruments that were typical of the instruments of Christ's snflferings, in being the instruments wherewith the corn was threshed, is made use of as the fuel for the fire, in which David offers sacrifice in this place, and the fire in which that very wheat that they had threshed was burnt, and the same oxen that in that 3lace were used to labour in treading out the corn, were the Irst sacrifice that was there offered, so that before they were tacrificed on the altar, they in their labours in that place were ty-3ical of Christ, who underwent such great labours to procure iread for our souls, and they were sacrificed for men, there, in hat very place, where they were used to labour for the good of nen, as Christ was crucified in that very land where he had laboriously spent his life for the good of men, and where his good-less had been so distinguishingly manifested for so many ages, ind in that very city, Jerusalem, where he had especially laboured, and which city had been for many ages distinguished by lis goodness above all others in the world. Those oven were sa-:rificed on a fire that was made of their own instruments, their )wn yokes and other instruments that they had borne; 2 Sam. Lxiv. 22 ; as Christ carried his own cross.

[231] 1 Kings iii.l. Solomon's marrying Pharaoh's daughter leems to. be a type of two things.

1. or the calling oftlie Gentile church. The Egyptians were aliens from the nation of Israel, but now she that was an Egyptian is not only mnde an Israelite, but she is made the qneenin Israel: so the Gentile church, when she was called, was not only received to like privileges that the Jewish church were used toea-joy, but to vastly greater privileges.

2. The union of Christ with his whole church in all ages is typified ; for the church is made up altogether of those that were sinners by nature, aliens from God and Christ, and the childrenoT the devil. Pharaoh is often used in scripture as a type of the d^ vil. She that is made the church and spouse of Christ, is nata-rally the daughter of the spiritual Pharaoh.

But especially does this seem to typify what shall come to pass in the last and most glorious times of the church, for the reigo of Solomon is especially a type of those times. At that time e5p^ cially will there be a great gathering of the Gentiles unto Christ; multitudes of nations, that until then were gross heathens, will be espoused unto Christ, and then will the grace and love of Christ be in a most remarkable manner exercised towards sinners, and great sinners, and those that were distinguished as the children of the devil; then will many nations be brought to the church that before were the church's greatest enemies, as Pharaoh was a grand enemy of God's church and people, but yet now bis daughter is married to the prince of Israel. And particularly the nations that have been subject to Antichrist, who is spiritually called Pharaoh, shall then be espoused by Christ; this type is ful6lled at the same time with those prophecies, Isai. xix. 24, 25. "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.'* Egypt and Assyria were remarkable enemies of Israel, and both in their turns held them in bondage and slavery. See also other prophecies of the calling of Egypt.

[6] 1 Kings vi. It appears that the temple was a type of Christ, inasmuch as Christ is said to be the temple of the new Jerusalem, in the Revelation, and because he calls himself this temple. So the tabernacle before. Hence the reason why they were commanded to sacrifice no where else ; why they were commanded to look to it in their prayers, &ic.

[148] 1 Kings vi. 7. ** And the house, when it was in buildincr, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any too! of iron,

beard in the bouse while it was in building." This temple represents the church of God, who are called God's temple, or spiritual house ; Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone, and all the saints as so many stones. Particularly, by Solomon's temple is meant the church triumphant, as by the tabernacle, the church militant, by the exact finishing, squaring, and smoothing of these stones before they were brought thither, represents the perfection of the saints in glory ; heaven is not a place to prepare them, they are all prepared before they come there; they come perfectly sinless and holy into hea-▼en; this world is the place where God hews them, and squares them by his prophets and ministers, by the reproofs and warnings of his word, which God compares to a hammer, and by persecutions and afflictions. There shall be no noise of those tools heard in heaven, but all the lively strains of this spiritual and glorious building are exactly fitted, framed, and polished before they come there.

[273] 1 Kings vrt. 15, Stc. Concerning the brazen pillars Jachin and Boaz. These pillars were set in the porch of the temple, or at the entry into the temple, which was a type of heaven, to show how strongly the entrance of God's elect an^ covenant people into heaven, is secured by God's immutable establishment and almighty power; and also how certain their happiness, shall be, when once they are entered, and that theiF happiness, which is supported by]those pillars, shall be as perpetual and immoveable as the pillars, as Rev. iii. 12. *^ Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out." Jachin, he shall establish^ signifies both God's decree and promise, for they, by the covenant of redemption, become the same: God's decree of election is in Christ, an eternal promise and oath, and the promise made in time,-is but an expression of that for the dependence and comfort of the saints; it is as it were a temporal decree—a promise is but an expression of a purpose, it is that in words that a purpose is in heart. The chapiters were made of lilies and pomegranates—the lilies especially denoting the honour, glory, and beauty of the saints. Lilies and flowers are used for a representation of honour, glory, and beauty, in scripture. Isai. xxvii. 1. " Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys," &c. Cant. ii. 1, 2. " I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley; as the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." The pomegranates signify the sweet fruit they shall bring forth and enjoy, the fruit of holiness that they shall bring foith, and the fruits of

happiness, or that pleasure and satisfaction they shall enj These spiritual fruits are often compared to pomegranates Solomon's Song,^and more frequently than to any other sort fruit, as chapter iv. 3. 13, and vi. 7. 11, and vii. 12, viii. 2.

There was a very great number of those pomegranates those chapiters to signify the abundant happiness that is lai^ up for the saints. The fruits were hung on net work and chai work, to show how the graces of God's Spirit, and the spirit fruits of holiness and happiness ate interwoven one wiih an ther, and are connected together, and depend one on anot as it were by a concatenation.

[249] 1 Kings xi. 3. '^ And he had seven hundred wiveu princes.ses, and thine hundred concubines." Solomon couM not but know the law of Mo.«<es, in which it is prescribed con^ corning the king, Dent. xvii. 16, '* But he shall not multiplj| horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, t^ the end that he should mnltinlv horses, forasmuch as the LonC hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way, neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heai€ turn not away, neither shall he greatly multiply to himself sit* \'er and gold." But without doubt Solomon either put some wrong interpretation upon this law, or on some account or mother, thought himself exempt from the obligation of it: pof-fiibly because when God had appeared to him, and asked him what he should give him, and he requested a wise and understanding heart, and did not ask that earthly glory that other kings set their hearts upon ; God told him that he would give him riches and honour, so that there should not beany among the living like unto him nil his days, i. e. that God would give liim outward slate and "^lorv aI)ove all that other kin^fs valued themselves upon, but in thor?e days it was looked upon among the kings of the earth as great part of the state and grandeur of a king, to have a great nmnber of wives and concubines, and horses, as woll as to have a great deal of silver and gold. Solomon might look on this promise of God, to him as a dispensation from the obligation of the whole law of Moses, which was given to restrain the amiiition, and set boimds to the earthly grandeur of the king of Israel.

[154] I Kings xvii. 6. " And the ravens brought him brea<! and flesh in the morniriir," &:c.; which typified the same thing ns Samson getting honey out of the lion. ** Out of the eater came forth meat." It was also more miraculous that such a ravenous bird should biing him meal and not eat it himself.

[283] 2 Kings iL 11» 12,13. C^ncemtng^ ElyoA^s translation.

Ijafa^j ascension ioto bearen seems to be at^pe of the ascen-

of Christ. Before he ascendeilf he askt^d his disciple Eli-

what he should :;ive him ; so Christ \vhen he ascended sa\e

onto men. When £iijah ascended, his mantle felt from

which is a type of the righteousness of Christ, as righteous-

is often in scripture represented hy a garment. Christ,

'h be himself v?ent awav, vet let\ his riohteousness for his

ireh and people here below. The efficacy of what he did

suffered, still remained for the justification of sinners here

»w, though he himself was gone, and the saving fruits and

IIS of it were communicated more abundantly after his as-

(ion than before. God exalted him with his own right hand

be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel,

remission of sins. Elisha received a double portion of his

rit when he ascended; so when Christ ascended, he sent down

idant measures of his holy spirit on his disciples and foU

rers. The condition of Elisha's receiving a double |)ortion

Elijah's spirit, was his seeing him when he ascended, so it is

faith in the ascended Saviour, that we receive the holy

irit from him. We can receive no spiritual benefits from

any otherwise than as we see him in his glorious exaltation

an eye of faith.

[472] 2 Kings v. 19. *' And he said unto him. Go in peace." lese words do not ut all imply that the prophet approved of Jtbe design Naaman had just before declared of bowing in the [Aouse of Rimmon. There indeed seems here to be some dif-Cculty; at first view, it looks as if these words of the prophet idanifested an approbation of what he had expressed. But a particular consideration of the circumstances of the affair may Serve wholly to remove the difficulty, and to nmke it manifest that they implied no such approbation. For it is to be consi-liered that the Syrians were now at war with Israel. W^e have an account but a little before this, 1 Kings xxii., of a great battle of the king of Syria of his thirty-two captains with both the kings of Israel, and we have no account of any peace made after this; but, on the contrary, it appears by the 2d and 3d verses of this chapter, and by what we have an account of in the next chapter, that the war still continued, and Naaman was the chief actor in the war, and had been the chief instrument of the mischief that the Syrians had done Israel, for he was the Captain of the host of the king of Syria, or General of his army, and a very valiant, successful general, and ho by whom the chief exploits had been done, that had been accomiiiished by the Syrians in war, as is signified in the first verse of this chapter^

and was probably under the king, the chief general that led the Syrians in the battle forementioned, wherein Israel receiT-ed that great defeat, wherqin their king was slain, which seems to be the thing aimed at in the first verse of this chapter, when it is said that by him he had given deliverance in victofj (as it is in the margin) unto Syria. And those things were now fresh in memory, being but two or three years before ; so that Naaman must needs know that it would be a remarkable thing if so great and terrible an enemy to Israel as he had been, and one that Israel had sufiered so much from, and an enemy that thej had now cause to fear above all enemies on earth, (the war between the two nations yet continuing.) I say he must be sensible that it would be a remarkable thing if he came into the midst of the land of Israel, and to that great prophet that wu as it were the father of that people, and should be suffered to return again to his own country in peace; and there is reason to think that he did not come and go without a trembling fear, lest he should be troubled on this score. It was the manner aroon* the heathen nations at that day, as the Syrians knew for their augurs, diviners, magicians, and those who had immediate intercourse with theii gods, which were their prophets, to interest themselves in affairs of their respective nations, and for the nations to have great dependence upon them in time of war. And they doubtless had heard the great things the prophets of Israel had done for them against their enemies, Moses, Samuel, and others, and how the prophets had assisted the Israelites againsttheir nation, even in that generation. (See 1 Kings xi.) And the Assyrians appear apt enough to discern how this very prophet Elisha assisted the king of Israel in war. (See the neU chapter.) And doubtless Naaman now looked u|>on this prophet who had healed him of his leprosy as a man of great }>ower, and judged that he could easily destroy him, and though as yet he had received no hurt from his |>ower, but great good, yet he seems to be full of fear and jealousy, as appears by this, that although Elisha had bid him go in peace, thereby signifying that no harm should be done him on account of the war with Syria, and for his being so great an enemy to Israel, ye* when he sees Gchazi coming after him, his fears arc excited anew. He was afraid that the prophet had a reckoning to require of him, and therefore, as soon as Naaman sees biin, he immediately lighted down from his chariot to meet him, and his first question is, Is there peace 7 (for so it is in the Hebrew, \er3e 21.) 'i'he prophet was sensible what Naamaifs fears were, and probably knew that he made him the offer of a large present, partly for that end to secure his favour and friendship, that he might not hurt him, and that his fears were increased

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. S21

by his refusing his pfesent. He was afraid that this wai a sign that he would not be friends with him; for accepting of presents was looked upon as » token and seal of friend* ship and peace. And therefore Mauoah's wife says, "If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he would not have accepted an offering at our hands." And therefore Jacob urges Esau to accept his present, because he desired a seal of peace and friendship with Esau. And when after the prophet had utterly refused Naaman's present, Naaman professes a design of changing his religion. I'his probably still is one thing he has in view, thoroughly to reconcile this great prophet to him. The prophet fully knowing Naaman's circumstances and apprehensions, it is with respect to. these things that he says to him, Go in peace, signifying no more than that he bid him farewell, and that though he had refused his present, yet he need not fear his troubling him, or taking the opportunity, now he was in the land of Israel, to do him any mischief on account of the war between Israel and Syria, or for his having been so terrible and destructive an enemy to his country, designedly avoiding making any reply at all to those things he had been saying ID him, as his request that he would give him two mules' burthen of earth, that he might offer sacrifice to God, or his design which he had taken occasion to signify to him of bowing in the bouse of Rimmon. He neither answers his request by commanding that any earth should be given him, or giving him leave^to take it. He says nothing at all about it, nor does he make any observation on his intimated design, but only takes leave of him, and lets him understand that he may go in peace, without fear of any such mischief as he seemed to be guarding against. And Naaman seems to understand him. When the prophet spake of peace, there is reason to think that he understood him to mean what he himself means, when presently after he speaks of peace, saying to Gehazi, " Is there peaceT^ fearing that the prophet now intended to molest him as an enemy. And the words themselves, according to the common use of such phrases, did not carry any more in them. Thus, when Judah, after the cup had been found ii^Benjamin's sack, says to Joseph, •' Behold, we aie my lord's servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found," Joseph answers, Gen. xliv. 17, ''God forbid that I should do so; but the man in whose band the cup is found, he shall be my servant, and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father ;" as much as to say, I liave no quarrel with you for your brother's crime, but will dismiss you without doing you any harm. So Gen. xxvi. 28, 29, •« Let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no harm, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done thee VOL. IX. 41

NOTES ON TlIE BIBLE.

nothing but good, anil have sent thee away in peaee;" and rer. Sly '* And Isaac sent them away, and tliey departed in peace." So it is noted of Abner, 2 Sam. iii. 21, after he had been carrying on a war against David in favour of Ishbosheth, that he came and conversed with David, and David sent him away, and he went in peace, i. e. David did not do him any hurt for his having acted before as his enemy. So Josh. x. 20, 21, it is noted of the people of Israel, that after they had been carrying on a successful war against the Amorites, and had slaia them with a great slaughter, the people returned to the camp in peace, and that none moved his tongue against the children of Israel. Many other places might be mentioned where such phrases are used in the same manner. But I shall now mea« tion but one more in 2 Chron. xix. at the beginning. We are informed, that after Jehoshaphat had been to war with the Syrians, to assist Ahab, he returned to his house in fierce; the meaning is only, that he^was not slain, as Ahab was, and returned without receiving any hurt in the war ; not that he returned under the divine smiles, ond with his favour and approbation, for he did not so return, but, on the contrary, he in hii return met with a severe rebuke from God, and denunciation tf his wrath for the business he had been about.

Here, perhaps, it may be objected, that it is hardly credible that the prophet should make no reply to what Naaman bad said, the occasion so naturally leading him to it, and duty obliging him to manifest his disapprobation of it, if it was sinful.

As to his not replying when the occasion naturally led to it, it may be observed, that the former part of Naaman's speech seemed much more to lead to and require some reply, whercio he desires of the prophet that he would give him two mules' burthen of earth ; what he there proposes, is in the form of a request to Elisha. " Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given unto thy servant two mules' burden of earth?" &c. As to what he says concerning bowing in the house of Ilimmon, he therein indeed expresses his intention, but asks no request of the prophet. He does not ask his leave, or his opinion, or advice, nor does he ask him any question, or projiose any thin^to him for his opinion, or as though he expected any reply. But yet it is evident, in fact, that he makes no reply at all to the former part of his speech, that was evidently proposed to him for that end, that he might have a reply- He consecrates no earth for an altar for ^aaman, he gives no orders to his servant to give him his two mules' burthen of earth, nor does he say a word signifying that he consents he should take it, approving of his design of building an altar with, but bids bim

NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

fiirewell, without any reply at all. And therefore it is not incredible that he should make nu reply to that part of his speech which comes in incidentally, that did in nowise so naturally lead the prophet to answer.

As to the latter part of the forementioned objection which relates to the prophet's being bound in duty to forbid what Naaman declared to be his intention, or to have manifested his disapprobation of it, if it were unlawful, when so fair occasion was given him to express his mind concerning it: To this 1 would say,

1. The prophets spake under the immediate direction of heaven ; they were to deliver God*s messages, and were only the agents to utter his words. In this whole affair of Naaman he acted in his character of a prophet, and Naaman is now addressing him as such, and God was not pleased to put any reply into his mouth.

2. God herein dealt with Naaman, as he commonly does with such hypocrites that pretend to be his servants, but are joined to idols. Hos. iv. 17. *' Epliraim is joined to idols, let him alone." Matth. XV. 14. " Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind.'^ It was just so with Naaman as it was with the elders of Israel in Chaldea, they pretend to worship the God of Israel alone, but yet living among idolaters, and in subjection to them, they thought they might comply with the people of the land, who now were their masters, in some of their idolatrous customs, seeing they must render themselves very obnoxious by refusing, and they came to the prophet Ezekiel to inquire of him something concerning this affair ; but God replies by the prophet, Ezek. xiv. 3, '* Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face, should 1 be inquired of at all by them .^" Again, chap. xx. 1, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me. Ver. 3, '' Thus saith the Lord God, Are ye come to inquire of me? as I live, saith the Lord, I will not be inquired^of by you," with ver. 31. *' For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day ; and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel ? as I live, saith the Lord God, 1 will not be inquired of by you." That what was the especial reason of God's treating them ^ith such manifestations of abhorrence, and refusing any intercourse with them, was, that they joined idolatry with a profession of bis name under a pretence of worshipping him, or had a disposition so to do, is manifest by ver. 39, *' As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, Go ye, serve every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts and your idols." And that the thing that was in their mind about which they came to Ese-

kiel to inquire, was, whether they might not comply with the people they dwell among in some of their idolatrous customs, though they professed in heart to serve the true God only, is plain fron ver. 32. ^' And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone."

3. Though Elisha made no reply to what Naaman had said of bowing in the house of Rimmon, and so did not directly declare his dislike of it, yet his manner of treating Naaman on this occasion (though no other than friendly) if duly weighed, and rationally reflected upon by Naaman, would sufficiently show him tlie prophet's disapprobation of it, and in a manner tending more to convince and affect him than if he had dirertly forbid it. Naaman made a proposal to Elisha of taking two mules' burthen of earth of the land of Canaan (as though he highly valued the very dust of that land) to build an altar to Elisha's God, doubtless expecting that Elisha woulJ show himself much pleased with it, and desires to have this earth as given and consecrated by Elisha. But Elisha does not grant his request, he takes no notice of it, intimating that he looked on his pretences not worthy of any regard, and immediately, without saying one word to what he had said, sends him away, and lakes his leave of him, as not thinking it worth his while to enter into any conversation with him about such a mongrel worship as he proposed, nor desiring any unnecessary communion with such an idolator.

[170] 2 Kings vi. 6. " And be cut down a stick and ca>t it in thither, and the iron did swim." The iron that sunk in the water represents the soul of man that is like iron, excef*ding heavy with sin and guilt, and prone to sink down into destruction, and lie overwhelmed with misery, which is often compared to deep waters. The stick of wood that was cast in, represents Christ, that was of a contrary nature, li^ht, and tended not to sink, but to ascend in the water and swim ; ns Christ's being of a divine and perfectly holy nature, though he might be plunged into affliction and misery and death, yet he naturally tended to ascend out of it, it was impossible he should be holden of it. Christ was plunged into wo and misery, and the death that he had deserved for ourselves to bring us out of it. The stick when that rose brought up the iron with it; So Christ when he rose brings up believers with him; they are risen with Chrii't, that they may walk in newness of life. Christ is ihe first fruits, afterwards lliey that are Christ's ; he rose agnin for our justification, and hath thereby begotten us again to a lively hope.

[222] 2 Chron. xxii. 1, 2. «*So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judaii, reigned; forty and two years old was Ahasiab

'hen he began to reign." Here a great difficulty arises, for 'hereas Joram was thirty and two years old when he began to eign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and so he died rhen he was forty years old; and immediately the inhabitants of erusalem set Ahaziah upon the throne, who was his youngest on, yet this Ahaziah was furty-two years old when he began to eign, and so he will prove to be two years older than his father.

Anstcer. The book of Chronicles doth not mean in this place bat Ahaziah was so old when he began to reign, for the book of Gngs tells us plainly that he was twenty-two at that time, so that bose forty-two years have reference to another thing, particularly o the house of Omri, and not the age of Ahaziah, for if we count rum the beginning of the reign of Omri, we shall find that Aha-iah entered into his reign in the two and fortieth year from thence. The original words therefore are not to be translated as we render hero. Ahaziah was two and forty years old, but Ahaziah was the on of the two and forty years, and this was anciently observed in bat history among the Jews, called Soder Olam, or the order of he world. Now the reason why his reign is dated differently rem all the rest of the kings of Judah, is because he did according o all the wickedness of the house of Omri, for Athaliah his mo-her was Ahab's daughter, and she both perverted her husband 'oram, and brought up this her son, Ahaziah, in all the idolatry if that wicked house, and therefore Ahaziah is not thought fit to te reckoned by the line of the kings of Judah, (and of the house »f David, and the ancestors of Christ,) but by ^the house of Oin-i and Ahab. Thus a particular mark is set upon Joram by the vangelist Matthew, who leaves out the three succeeding genera-ions, viz. Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, and mentions Uzziah as he next. Here the three descents are omitted, according to what he Psalmist saith, Ps. xxxvii. 28, *' The seed of the wicked shall >e cut off." See the letter y which is the last letter of i^'^sc, the seed^ ind ofyjir^^ tlie wicked. But out of that acrostical and alphabetical i^salm, in that very place. Dr. Lightfoot, vol. 1, p. 417, saith that his omission is most divinely done from the threatening of the se-:ond commandment, *'Thou shalt not commit idolatry, for 1 will 4sit the sins of the fathers on the children unto the third and burth generation." It is the manner of scripture very often to eave out men's names from certain stories and records, to show a listaste at some evil in them. Thus all Cain's posterity is blotted lut of the book of Chronicles, as it was out of the world by the lood. So Simeon is omitted in Moses's blessings, Deut. xxxiii. or his cruelty at Shechem, and to Joseph. So Dan and Ephraim, It the sealing of the Lord's people, Rev. chap. vii. because of dolalry, which began in the tribe of Dan. Judg. xviii. (and afterwards had its principal seat in the tribe of Ephraim.) So Joab,

aS6 NOT£8 ON THE BIBLE.

firom among David's worthies, 2SaiD.xxiii. because of his blfKHfi-ness to Abner and Amasa. And such another close iuiimatioo of God's displeasure at the wickedness of Joram, is to be seeo, 2 Chron. xxii. 1, 2, where the reign of his son Ahaziah, is not dated according to the custom and-manner of the other kings of Judah, but by the style of the continuance of the house of Omri.

And Ahaziah alone, among all the kings of Israel, might be reckoned in this manner, because in his time the whole house of Ahab was cut off by Jehu, after the battle at the field of Naboth, the Jezreelite, where Joram, the last king of Israel, of the house of Ahab, or Omri, was slain, and Ahaziah was slain with him, and two and forty of his brethren perished with the house of Ahab. (This I suppose is from Bedford.) It is not unasual in scripture to mention a number of years as a certain date, without expressing the epocha. So in Ezek. i. l,and viii. 1, xx. 1, xxiv. l,xxvL 1, xxix. 1, xxxi. 1, xxxii. 1. Chnp. xxix. 17, xxx. 20. That Hebrew phrase, The son of (so fnany)yeHrt does not always signify the person's being so old. As for instance, xiii. 1, Saul retjgntd one year; in the original it is, Saul nas tlie son qf one year. It may be noted further, that the scriptures, in dating kings' reigns, do not always make the person's birth that epoch (torn whence the date is taken, as concerning Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 7. See also Notes on 2 Kings xxiv. 8.

[278] 2 Chron. xxv. 9. '< And Araaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel .'* And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." Amaziah seemed to look upon it an hard thing to part with so great a sum. But the words that the prophet spake to him were not vain word^ God plentifully rewarded Amaziah for obeying God's command in this particular, for God gave him success against his enemies, that he was going to war with, and he obtained a victory over the children of Edom, as in verses 11, 12, so that he obtained the same end without the help of the army of Israel that he aimed at, bj paying the one hundred talents to hire their help, and therefore lost nothing by not taking them with him; and probably Amaziah was much more than paid for his hundred talents by the spoils of his enemies. But yet this was not all that God did in reward for his obeying his command by the prophet, for though he carried himself very wickedly after this, so as to bring God's judgments on himself during his life, yet God seems to have remembered what he had done in his son Uzziah's days; and Amaziah's success in this very expedition against the Edomites was the occasion of vastly enriching his son LFzziah. For that which seems in times past to have been the principal source of the wealth of tlie

kings of Judah, was the trade that they had by the Red sea to Ophir for gold, which was carried on from two seaport towns opon the Red sea, viz. Elath, and Ezion-gnber, which places were in the land of Edom, as appears by 1 Kings ix. 26, 27. ** And king Solomon made a navy of ijiips in Ezion-geber, which IS beside Elalh, onjthe shore of the Red sen, in the land of Edom;" and by means of this trade, very much it was in all probability that Solomon so enriched the country in his time, so as to make silver as plenty as stones there. The principal sea-port, that was made use of until Jehoshaphat's time, was Ezion-geber ; but Je-boshaphat having there left his fleet that he had prepared to send from thence to Ophir, his ships being broken to pieces on the rocks there, as 1 Kings xxii. 48, they seem after that to have made use of Elath instead of Ezion-geber, as being a safer harbour. The kings of Judah continued in the possession of this trade to Ophir, as long as they continued in the possession of the land of £dom, where those sea-ports were, which was until the days of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat; but in his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves, m8 2 Kings viii. 20. And so the kings of Judah from that time lost Elath and their trade to Ophir, until the days of Amaziah, who conquered them, and brought them into subjection again in that expedition spoken of in the context, to assist in which he had given the one hundred talents to the army of Israel. But God gave him such success without this hired army, that he brought the country under, and so recovered Elath; and his son Uzziah rebuilt it, and so renewed the trade to Ophir from thence, as in the next chapter, verses 1,2. <* Then all the people of Judah took Uzxiah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father, Amaziah. He built Elath, and restored it to Jadah, and by this means he became an exceeding wealthy prince, and filled the land with riches; and therefore Isaiah, who in the beginning of his prophecy, prophecied in the days of Uzziah, says, Isai. ii. 7, *' The land also is full of silver, and there is no end of their treasures."

<* This king lost one hundred talents by his obedience, and we find just that sum given to his grandson, Jotham, as a present, chap, xxvii. 5. Then the principal was repaid, and for interest, ten thousand measures of wheat, and as many of barley.'' Henry.

[132] Nchem. ix. 14. *' And madest known unto them the hdly Sabbath." It seems that before they had lost the Sabbath, that is, they had lost the beginning and ending of the week, reckoning from the creation, until God made it known to them, upon occasion of their being brought out of Egypt

on tho same day of the week, and there was thereby new occasion given for this sanctifying fhat duy.

[46] Esther — The Book of Esther, It appears to me vciy probable, that this book of Esther is an history that is a shadow of gospel things and times, by the agreement of it with events, and the agrccableness to the names of other typical histories of the Old Testament. The great feast that Ahasuerus made, is the gospel feast. Christ's incarnation, life, and death, and the benefits thereof, arc frequently represented both in the Old Testament and New, by the making of a feast; the feast is made both unto great and small, chap. v. agreeing with the universality of the gospel offer. It was made in the king*s palace, as the gospel feast is made in the house of God; it was a rich and glorious feast, verses 6 and 7, answering to the excellency of gospel benefits. None was compelled, but every man ate and drank according to his pleasure; so the gospel benefits are offered to all, but every one is left to his own choice, none are compelled. Yashti, the queen, is the church, or God's people, who is called the queen in gold of Ophir. Vashti is sent for to this feast to appear before the king; so when the gospel feast was made, the call was made more especially to the Jews that had hitherto been God's people; they were a long while urged to come, and earnestly invited, before God left them and turned to the Gentiles. Vashti, though she was the king's own wife, refused to come, for she had a feast of her own ; so the Jews, though God's peculiar people, refused to come to the glorious feast he made through their pride and vanity, trusting in their own righteousness, in their own wisdom, being foolishly fond and proud of their own ceremonies, temple, and superstitions, being lifted up that they were Abraham's seed and God's peculiar peo|>le, as queen Vashti*s hij^h station made her too proud to obey the king. Upon this, Ahasuerus repudiates Vashti, and gives the royal estate to another. So we find the rejection of the Jews and calling of the Gentiles compared to God's repudiating his ancient church, and taking another better than she. Esther was exceedingly fair and beautiful, and the king delighted in her. So Christ's heart is ravished with the beauty of the church. Mordecai is the gospel ministry; he nourished and brought up Esthei, and was as a father to her; chap. ii. ver. 7; andso the church is nourished by God's ministers. He brought her to Ahasuerus; so the gospel ministers present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ, 2 Cor. xi. 2. Esther must be purified before she is married to the king, six months with oil of rayrrh, and six

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. S29

months with sweet odour^i, so God's people must be prepared, and purified, and sanctified with the sweet graces of God's Spirit before they are admitted to the full enjoyment of God's love. So the Christian church was three centuries preparing, before she had the royal crown put on her head, as in the house of Constantine the Great. When the king set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti, then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts according to the state of the king, chap. viii. So when God's people are sufficiently prepared, they shall be admitted to that glory which is compared to a feast, and shall receive gifts according to the state of the King of kings. Likewise in Constantine's time, it was a time of joy and rejoicing to Christians, as the time of a feast, and a time of glorious liberty. Mordecai used to sit in the gate of the king's palace ; the place of God's ministers is in bis house, which is the gate of heaven, which is God's palace.

AAer these things God promoted Haman the grand enemy of God's people above all others (chap, iii.) who seems to typify Antichrist (as will appear probably by the agreement in many things) whom God in his providence advanced above all, and gave him dominion over all the world. Haman was exceeding proud and haughty ; so Antichrist is the most remarkable son of pride that ever was, exalting himself above all that is called Ood, or is wor^ shipped, showing himself that he is God, having 9 mouth speaking great things. Haman, like Antichrist, loved to have every body else bow to him, and could not bear it that Mordecai did not bow, nor do him reverence, as the true ministers of God will not submit to do obeisance to the Pope and his haughty clergy, which has always filled them with the greatest rage. Haman, like Antichrist, was of a most malicious, persecuting spirit, and persecuted and sought the destruction of all the people of God. Chap. iii. verse 6. *' And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai: Wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai." The king gave him power to do as he would with this people. Chap. iii. 11. *' And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given unto thee, the people.also, to do with them as seem-eth good to thee ;'• so God gave Antichrist power over his people. Rev. xiii. 8. " And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations;" and chap. xvii. 17. "For God hath put it into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast." Deliverance is obtained for the Jews by Esther's humble prayer; so it will be by the

emroest prayer of the charch, that God's people shall be deliwrrd from Aotichrist, and God will extend the golden scepter of kn grace, as the king to Esther. At that time the good vorks of God^i people and ministers shall come into remeaibrance to he recorded, as Mordecai's were; and God will not rest until he has delivered them, as llordecai's good deeds were found by the king in the records. Haman exceedingly aiiected pcNup aid sovereignty, he desired to wear the same apparel that the kiig wore, and to ride on the king's horse, and to wear the kiag't crown, and to be honoured as the king himself; so AntichriK would be honoured and obeyed as God himself^ would assise the power that belongs to God alone, and is lor wearing the crown of Christ himself, and usurping the throne, showing kin-self that he is God. But Haman, to his great mortification, seei Hordecai exalted to this same honour, and which is more mortifying, he is forced to do it himself, and he is put in subjection to him, and made to run before him like a servant; he brought hiu-self to this by the very means by which he intended to advance himself. Thus God is wont to do, to order it with respect to the enemies of bis people: those same means by «hicb thej proadlf seek to advance themselves, God turns to their depression; and thus God has done and will do by Antichrist; God will exsilt Ui people, and make them to reign with Christ, and to sit dom with him in his throne, and to be partakers of his glory, and sbail be arrayed with holiness, which is Christ's own royal robe, and Christ's delight in them to honour them shall be publicly manifested, and his saints shall reign on earth, and Antichrist and all their enemies shall be put under their feet, and they shall gnaw their tongues for pain. Haman at last was hanged on the same gallows that he prepared for Mordecai. So God is wool to bring upon his people*s enemies the very evil they intend for them, and they fall into the pit which they have digged, so it will be with Antichrist. Rev. xiii. 10. "He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword;" and Rev. xviii. 6. •* Reward her even as she rewardeth you, and double unto her double a^ cording to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." Haman intended to hang Mordecai—a cursed death; so the Pope dispenses God's curses, but at length falls into it. So we find, chap, viii., that the house of Haman was given to queen Esther, and Mordecai is put in his place; so shall it be with the saints. Europe, which has been the house of Antichrist, shall be in the possession of protestaots, and all his power and dominioo shall be given to the saints. The Jens' glorious victory over'ail their enemies after those things, the growing greatness and honour of Mordecai, the gladness and seeking of the Jews, and dicir

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. SSI

peace and prosperity afterwards, are figures of the glorious peace and prosperity of the church after the final overthrow of Antichrist.

[145] Book of Job, It seems to have been the custom of those ihal were counted their wise men in the early ages of the world, when they discoursed upon any head of wisdom, or delivered their minds on moral, spiritual, or philosophical subjects, to address each other in long set discourses, in a style at once lofty and poetical, dark and mysterious, which was their manner of teaching and discoursing. Now Job was one of those wise men that exercised himself very much in contemplation and instruction, and it seems that those that answered him were otherwise men that were his companions, that he nr?ed to converse with upon matters of wisdom before. And therefore we have so many of this kind of discourses with Job upon this notable occasion. These discourses were called parables. So Balaam took up his parable; so we read that Job continued his parable, chap, xxvii. 1, and xxix. 1. We read of this kind of speeches oftentimes in the Old Testament, ander the name of parables, as Prov. xxvi. 7.9. "The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As a thorn goeth into the hand of the drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools." It was only they that were, or would be accounted wise men, that used to utter their minds in such parables. Ps. xlix. 3, 4. '' My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable, I will open my dark saying upon the harp." And Ps. Ixxviii. 2. " I will open my mouth in a parable, 1 will utter dark sayings of old."

[202] The hook of Job — Extract out of Bedford*$ Scripture Chronatogyt p. 365,366. " The place where Job lived is generally supposed to be Idumea, because we meet with a person called Uz, among the sons of Esau, Gen. xxxvi. 28, from whom a part of Idumea was anciently called the land of Uz. Lam. iv. 21. We meet also with Eliphaz, the sonof Esau, and Teman his son ; Gen. xxxvi. 16 ; and therefore it is probable that Eliphaz, the Tema-nite, the friend of Job, might be Johab, one of the kings that reigned in the land of Edom. Gen. xxxvi. 33.

*• But in answer to all this it may be considered that there is another Uz, the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother. Gen. xxii. 20, 21, who married Milcah, of the same family from which Isaac and Jacob took wives by the direction of their parents, and consequently most likely to be a family in which religion might be kept np in that purity as we find it to be in Job.

*« As to the land of Uz, the Septuagint calls it AusitiSj but never calls that Uz in the land of Edom by this name. Nahor lived at

S3S NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

Haran, on the sooth of the Euphrates, and no doubt his sod might live with him, and his family give a name to this country; and we find in Ptolemy a people called AUiia, which the learned Bochart supposes should be written Ausit^e^ who extended themselves froa the river Euphrates southward into Arabia Deserta, and here both he and bishop Patrick, our excellent commentator, supposes Job to have been born. Besides, Job is said to be one of the greatest of all the men of the east. Now the land of Uz, in Idumea, can in no respect be called the east. It lay almost north from Egypt, and south from Canaan, and southwest from.the country of Ui-dtan, where Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, lived. But the south part of the country oCAusitis or Uz, lay not only east from Canaan, but eastward from all the countries in which the Israelites travelled whilst they were in the wilderness. As for the name of Eliphaz, it is not impossible but two men in different countriei might have the same name, and then Eliphaz, the friend of Job, might not be the son of Esau from Teman, but the son of Ishmaei from Tema, Gen. xxv. 13. 15, whom Abraham in his life-time sent eastward to inhabit the east country. Gen. xxv. 6, and where we find them in the neighbourhood of Uz. In those parti it is probable that Bildad the Shuhiie, a son of Abraham, from Shuah byKeturah, (Gen. xxv. 1,2) might Jive, viho was seat thither with the rest of his brethren, (as in the formentioned Gen. xxv. 6.) And as Duz was the brother of Uz, Gen. xxii.20, 21, so Elihu the Buzite, being of that family, might well live io those parts, especially since he seems to be of a religious family, the son of Barachel, that is he blesseth God, or God blesseth. Besides this Elihu was of the kindred of Ram, or Aram, that is a Syrian, as Labnn was also called. Gen. xxviii. 5, who dwelt with his ancestors in Padan-aram, or the country of Aram. (But it is more probable that the Ram here mentioned is the Aram mentioned Gen. xxii. 21.) To this may be added that the Sabeans who took away Job's oxen, and the Chaldeans who took away his cattle, were near neighbours to this part of the country of Uz, the son of Nahor; but lay so remote from Uz, in Idumea, that they could not make an excursion thither. It is allowed also that Job spoke the Arabic language in perfection, whence he is called ike Divine of ike Arabians, and the book wliich goes under his name is full of Arabic words and phrases; and we may more rationally expect this language to be spoken in Arabia itself than in Idumea, and therefore there is little reason to think that Moses would call him Job in one place, and Jobah in another, where the difference of words is not only evident in every translation, but in the Hebrew language they do not begin with the same letter. The one avK, and the other 33r." Thus far Bedford. It seems likely that the land of Uz where Job lived, was the latter Uz, or the

Aasitis of the Septuagint, upon this account; it is much more probable that we should find so much of religion and piety, and of the presence of God in the country of the posterity of Nahor, who is spoken of as an holy worshipper of the true God, whose covenant God was (Gen. xxxi. 53,) the God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, than in Idumca, among the posterity of so wicked a man as Esau, who is branded in scrips ture for folly and impiety, of whom and his posterity it is recorded that God hated them, who was undutiful to his parents, and a persecutor, who began to struggle with Jacob in the womb, to signify that he and his posterity should be the enemies of the church, and whose posterity are always spoken of as the church's enemies ; so that oftentimes the children of Edom are put for all the church's enemies. In general it is much more likely to find piety among the posterity of Ishmael, than of Esau; for there is no such promise concerning Esau that he should live before God, as there is concerning Ishmael. And accordingly we find Eliphaz in this book an holy man, of Ish-mael's posterity. Esau's posterity, as they descended from a wicked father, so they chiefly descended from mothers of the accursed nations of Canaan that were Esau's wives, and were the more likely on that account to have wickedness descend to them, and God's curse entailed upon them.

Concerning the penman of the book of Job, Bedford thinks that it was written originally by some person that belonged to Arabia, the country where the things were transacted and spoken, because the style is not like the rest of the books of Moses, or indeed to any other parts of the Old I'estament, but more concise and obscure, and that there are such a vast number of Arabic words and phrases to be found in it. It has been observed by several that the book of Job abounded with Arabisms, so that Job has been called the Arabian divine. And he thinks that the substance of this book was written originally by Elihu, one of the speakers in it, first because when Job's friends who came to lament with him, and to comfort him, are mentioned, Elihu is not named among the number, because he himself was the historian and penman, who gave this account, and therefore he named not himself when he named the rest; and secondly, because he thought that he seems to speak of himself as the historian. Chap, xxxii. 15, 16, 17. •* They were amazed, they answered no more, they left ofiT speaking when I had waited, for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more. I said, I will answer also; 1 also will show mine opinion."

It looks to me probable, chiefly on the former of these reasons, and if it was written originally by an inhabitant of the

S34 N0TE8 ON THB BIBLE.

country, as the fercmentioned reason of the Arabic style a^ gues strongly that it was, no person seems to be so likely u Elihu; for as it was doubtless at first written by an inspired person, and probably, therefore, by some person in that country of eminent piety and wisdom, for such were the persooi that were wont to l)e inspired, and to be improved as the penman of holy inspired writings; and it probably also was some person that lived near the time when the things were transacted, for true religion vanished away out of Arabia not long after, and such men therefore were not there to be found; and it is not probable that there were any other persons of such eminent piety and wisdom as those mentioned in that book; but of them, bcsure, no one was so likely to be the penman as Elihu, who stood must indifferent in the affair, and was most approved of by God in what he said and acted in it, of any of them. Bedford also thinks it probable tbtkt Moses, when he kept the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian, might meet with this book, which seems the more probable, because priests, even in all nations, and in the most ancient times, used to be the keepers of books and records, especially those that were looked upon sacred; and it is very likely that a priest of Midian should have this book, for the Midianites were related to the people that dwelt in Job's country, and particularly to odo of the speakers in the affair, viz. Bildad, the Shuhite, for Shuah and Midian were brothers, being both the childrea of Abraham, by Kcturah, Gen. xxv. 1, 2. And it was so early then that the relation was more fresh in their memory, and it is more likely still that Jethro should have such a book, he being a priest of the true God, like Mclchizcdeck. And Moses might probably take the more notice of the book, for its being so adapted to his own improvement in the banished, afflicted circumstances he was then in, and also the circumstances of his brethren, the children of Israel in their great affliction in ^?yp^» ^^^ whose sake Bedford supposes he translated it into Hebrew, to teach them patience under their afflictions, and added the historical part, or he might alter the phrasing of the historical part, and add such expressions as would make it more intelligible to his own people, which were needless in the country where the things were transacted.

[Ill] Job viii. 8. "For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself for the search of ih'3 fathers." The people of God that lived before there was any written revelation, depended very much u|K)n the teaching and tradition of their fathers; those that lived near the flood were but a few removes from Adam, they might have Adam's own instruc-

tioDfl, without having them through many hands, and those that lived in Job's time they had doubtless abundance of traditions from the antediluvians, who might be instructed from Adam himself, and who, through their vast age, had abundant opportunity to acquire great knowledge and experience* It is Tery probable that much of the learning that was in the hea* then world was the corrupted remains of what wap declared to mankind by those that came out of the ark. Job lived in early days after the flood, and there is abundance of philosophy in this book, which in all probability they derived by tradition from their fathers, quoted in this book, as here in this place, and XV. chap. 10. 18, 19 verses, there is a plain referring to tradition from the beginning of the world, or from the second beginning after the flood, it is evident, by the 19th vejse, they quoted the fathers then as we do the scriptures now,

[101] Job xxvi. 7. ** He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." By stretching out the north over the empty place in the former part of the verse, seems to be meant the extending the northern parts of the wide plain of the earth, as they took it to be, ever an empty abyss of space, much the same as hanging the earth upon nothing in the latter part of the verse.

[115] Jobxxxiii. 14, 15, 16. 'Tor God speaketh once, yea, twice In a dream, in a vision of the night." Also, chap* ir. 12, 13, &c. It was a common thing, before there was any written revelation, for God to reveal himself to holy men in Tiaions and dreams. See Numb. xii. 6, Gen. xv. 1, and ver. 12 to the end. Gen. xlvi. 2. 16. '* Then he opencth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." By affliction, that is, when men will not hearken to God's instructions and warnings ID bis word, (that in those days was wont to be given after this manner, and delivered from father to son,) then he chastens them in his providence to make them hear.

[149] Job xxxvi. 30. *< Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea." In the original, the roots of the sea, by which he means the extreme parts of the sea, where the clouds and the sea meet in the horizon, and those parts of the sea that are below the horizon, which they conceived to be drawn down, which is agreeable to the meta-* phor used in the foregoing, wherein the clouds that overspread the skies are represented by the curtains of a tabernacle ; he spreadeth his light upon it, that is, upon his tabernacle, upon

those curtains, the clouds, which are like a bright covering on the inside of it.

[434] Concerning the Book of Psalms. That the pennio of the Psalms did pretend to speak and write by the inspiration of the Spirit of God as much as the prophets when tliej wrote their prophecies, the following things do confirm :

1. Singing divine songs was of old one noted effect of the inspiration of the Spirit of God in the prophets, insomuch that such singing was called by the name of prophesying. 1 San. X. 5, 6. '' Thou shalt meet a company of prophets comiag down from the high place, with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they shall prophesyi and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them." See also 1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2, 3.\ TUi seems to have been the most ancient way of prophesying, la; spired persons of old used to utter themselves in a paiable, at sometimes it is called, or a kind of song. Tj^iia it was that Miriam uttered herself when she did the part of a proplieten, Exod. XV. 20, 21, '' And Miriam, the prophetessi the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances, and Miriam answered them. Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed glo* riously, the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." She in the xii. chap, of Numb. ver. 2, boasts that God had spoken by her as well as by Moses. She seems to havie reference to this time, for it does not appear that God ever had spoken by her at any other time, and it is probable that it was from her being inspired at that time, (or at least chiefly,) that she was called a prophetess. And this was the way that Moses delivered his chief and fullest prophecy concerning the future state of Israel, and the church of God, and the world of mankind, in that song in the xxxii. of Deut.; the words were all indited by God, as appears by Deut. xxxi. 19, 20, 21. And Moses's blessing of the children of Israel, and his prophecy of their future state, in Deut. iii., is delivered song-wisCf which especially appears in the beginning and ending. And so are Balaam's prophecies, or parables. Jacob's blessing and prophecies concerning the future state of the posterity of his twelve sons, Gen. xlix., is delivered in a like style, as maybe plain to any one that observes. Zechariah is said to prophesy in uttering a song, Luke i. 67.

2. Singing those very psalms in the sanctuary by the musicians that David appointed, is called prophesying, 1 Chron* xxv. 1, 2, 3. And Asaph is called a seer, or propheti and re-

*

(Presented as speaking as such in uttering those psalms that he penned, 2 Cbron. xxix. 30.

3. We are expressly informed of David in an eminent instance wherein he uttered himself in a remarkable manner as the sweet psalmist of Israel, that he did profess himself to speak by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God. 2 Sam. xxiii. 1,2, be* '*Now these be the last words of David." (And then in what next follows David^s words begin, as may be confirmed by comparing them with Num. xxiv. 3,4. 15,16.) *^ David, the son of Jesse, hath said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said : The Sprit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me." In its Jbeiog said that these are the last words of David, it is implied that there had been many other words; that he, as the sweet psalmist of Israel, had uttered many things before ; and when David, in these bis last words, says, ** The Spirit of the Lord spake by me»" it must be understood of all these words spoken of in this place, whether mentioned or referred to, all the words that he had uttered as the sweet psalmist of Israel. And there can, perhaps, no other good reason be given why he should be mentioned under that character of the sweet psalmist of Israel here in the introduction of these his last words, rather than all other places of his history, but only because these were the last words that David had uttered as the sweet psalmist of Israel, and as it were the sum of all those preceding records referred to, expressing the main drift and substance of those holy songs he had sung by the inspiration of the Spirit of God all his life time, and the tdtimumf the chief thing he had in view in those psalms.

4. It is evident that the penman of the Psalms did pretend to speak by a spirit of prophecy, because the Psalms are full of prophecies of future events, as Ps. xi. 6. Ps. zxii. 27, to the end. Ps. xxzvii. 9, 10, 11. Ps. Ix. 6, 7, 8. Ps. Ixiv. 7, to the end. Ps. lxviii.31. Ps. Ixix. 34, 35, 36. Ps. Ixxii. Ps. hxxvi. 9. Ps. xcvi. 13. Ps. cii. 13—22. Ps. cviii. Ps. cxxxviii. 4, 5. Ps. cxlix. 7, 8, 9. And many other things in the Psalms are uttered in a prophetical manner and style.

5. It is also most manifest that the penman of the Psalms did pretend to speak by the Spirit, and in the name of the Lord, as the prophets did. By this, that God in the Psalms is very often represented as speaking, and the words are evidently represented as his words, in like manner as in the prophets, as Ps. xiv. 4. Ps. 1.

7 14. Ps. Ixxxi. 6—16. Ps. Ixxxii. Ps. liii. 4. Ps.lxxxi. Ps.

Ixxxvii. Ps. xci. 14,15,16. Ps. xcv. 8, 9,10,11. Ps. cxxxii. 14, to the end. Ps. xlv. 16, to the end. Ps. li. 6, to the end. Ps. xxxii.8,

VOL. IX. 43

to the end. Ps. Ix, 6, 7, 8, Ps. Ixviii. 13. Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4. 19— 37. Ps. cviii. 7, 8, 9. Ps. ex. 1. 4.

[440.] The Book of Psalms. It is a farther confirmatioD of these things that we find that David very early was endowed with iDe spirit of prophecy and miracles; he wrought a miracle when he slew the lion and the bear, and acted and spake by that spirit of prophecy when he went forth against Goliath, as is very apparent by the story.

[506] The Book of Psalms, That this is divinely inspired may be further argued from this, tliat it is every way probable that what are called the songs of Zion, and the Lord's song in Ps. cxxxvii. 3, 4, are songs contained in this book. It appears that Zion, or God's church, had sacred songs fancied as such in the world, and that they were properly called the Lord's songs, which argues that they had God for their author, and were consecrated by his authority, as a word being called the trord of the Lordt argues it to be a word that came from God, and as a bouse being called the house of the Lord, signifies its being an house consecrated to God by divine authority. So of the Lard's day^ ike city of God, the altar of God, fyc. tfc.

When all the utensils of the temple were exactly, and even in the most minute circumstances, formed by divine direction, it would be strange if the songs of the temple, which are vastly more im-

Eortantand material in the worship of God, should not be formed y divine direction. These were not merely external circnm-Btances of divine worship as the other, but the very matter of the worship. As David was divinely instructed in all the place, and form, and instruments of the temple, and all the new ordinances relating to the attendance and orders of the priests, and the Le-vites, and the circumstances of their ministration, and particularly of the singers, it would be strange if the songs that they were to sing, the most material and effectual thing of all, should not be of divine appointment, but should be left wholly to human wisdom and invention. (See 1 Chron. vi. 31, and xvi/4—7. xxiii. 6.25, to the end, and chap. xzv. and xxvlii. 11, to the end, especially ver. 19 and 21.

We have an account that David and Samuel the seer acted jointly in appointing the orders of the porters of the Levitcs, i Chron. ix. 22, and much more the orders of the Levites that were to be singers. It is noted that some of those Levites themselves that were appointed by David as chief musicians, or singers, were seers, or prophets. So of Heman, 1 Chron. xxv. 5. And the expressions there lead us in this verse and the context, to suppose that he acted as a prophet in that matter in assisting David in composing psalms, and appointing the order of singers. Yea,

it is expressly said that the order of the singers was appointed by David with the assistance of the prophets, by the coromaDdmeDt of the Lord. 2 Chron. xxix. 25. *« And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets." And Asaph, another of the chief musicians, and penman of many of the psalms, is spoken of as acting as a seer, or prophet, in this matter. Ver. 30. ** Hezekiah the king commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord, with the words of David and of Asaph the seer." (See the like of Jedu-tbuDy chap. XXXV. 15.)

[95] Psalmviii. 2. <*Outof the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies, that thou noightest still the enemy and the avenger." It seems to me that mankind are principally intended here by babes and sucklings ; it is of God's loving kindness to men that the psalmist is speaking, to the end of the psalm; by the enemy and the avenger is meant the devil. Men are as babes and sucklings in comparison of the angelic nature. By so advancing the human nature, the devils are disappointed and triumphed over.

[298] Psalm xvii. 4. " Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths o( the detlroyerJ^ By the destroyer here is doubtless meant the devil, the same with him that is called Abaddon and Apollyon in the Revelations. God's people under the Old Testament were sensible that there was an evil and malignant spirit, or invisible agent, that sought the ruin of man, as even the heathen nations had a notion of evil daemons. This evil spirit the Hebrews were wont to call by several names; one was Satan, or the adversary. So it is said Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number the people. So in several other places in the Old Testament. Another name was the destroyer; so devils are called destroyers in Job xxxiii. 22. *« Yea, his soul draweth nigh unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers."

[328] Psalm xix. 4, 5, 6. " In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun ; which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rcjoiceth as a strong man to run a race: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and nothing is hid from the heat of it." It appears to me very likely that the Holy Ghost in these expressions which he most immediately uses about the rising of the sun, has an eye to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness from the grave, and that

the expressions that the Holy Ghost here ases are conformed to such a view. The times of the Old Testament, are tiroes of night in comparison of the gospel day, and are so represented in scripture, and therefore the approach of the day of the New Testament dispensation in the birth of Christ, is called the day spring from on high visiting the earth. Luke i. 73. " Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us," and the commencing of the gospel dispensation as it was introduced by Christ, is called the Sun of Righteoot-oess rising. Mai. iv. 2. But this gospel dispensation commences with the resurrection of Christ. Therein the Sun of Righteousness rises from under the earth, as the sun appears to do in the morning, and comes forth as a bridegroom. He rose as the joyful, glorious bridegroom of his church ; for Christ, especially as risen again, is the proper bridegroom, or husband of his church, as the apostle teaches. Rom. vii. 4. *' Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God."

He that was covered with contempt, and overwhelmed in a deluge of sorrow, hath purchased and won his spouse; (for be loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might perfect it to himself;) now he comes forth as a bridegroom to bring home bis purchased spouse to him in spiritual marriage, as he soon after did in the conversion of such multitudes, making his people willing in the day of his power, and hath also done many times since, and will do in a yet more glorious degree. And as the sun when it rises comes forth like a bridegroom gloriously adorned, so Christ in his resurrection entered on his state of glory. After his state of sufferings, he rose to shine forth in ineffable glory as the King of Heaven and earth, that he might be a glorious bridegroom in whom his church might be unspeakably happy.

Here the psalmist says that God has placed a tabernacle for the sun in the heavens, so God the Father had prepared an abode in heaven for Jesus Christ; he had set a throne for him there, to which he ascended after he rose. The sun after it is risen ascends up to the midst of heaven, and then at that end of its race, des^-cends again to the earth; so Christ when he rose from the grave ascended up to the height of heaven and far above all heavens, but at the end of the gospel-day will descend again to the earth.

It is here said that the risen sun rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race. So Christ when he rose, rose as a man of war, as the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; he rose to conquer his enemies, and to show forth his glorious power in subduing all things to himself, during that race which he had to

ron, which is from his resurrectioD to the end of the world, when lie will retnrn to the earth again.

Here the going forth of the sun is from the end of heaven and bis circuit to the end of it, and that nothing is hid from the heat thereof; so Christ rose from the grave to send forth his light and troth to the utmost ends of the earth, that had hitherto been con* fined to one nation, and to rule over all nations in the kingdom of his grace. Thus his line goes out through all the earth, and his words to the end of the world, so that there is no speech or Imnguage where his voice is not heard, as is here said of the line and voice of the sun and heavenly bodies in the two foregoing yersesy which are by the apostle interpreted of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rom. x. 16, 17. 18. '^ But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Esaias saith. Lord who hath believed our report.^ so then faith comcth by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Bat I say, Have they not heard f Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.'*

That the Holy Ghost here has a mystical meaning, and has respect to the light of the Sun of Righteousness, and not merely the light of the natural sun, is confirmed by the verses that follow, in which the psalmist himself seems to apply them to the word of God, which is the light of that sun, even of Jesus Christ, who himself revealed the word of God : See the very next words, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

[17i] Psalm xl. 6, 7, 8. ** Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened, (or bored:) burnt-oflering and sin-oflering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy willy O my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart." God often declared that willing obedience was better than sacrifice: thr psalmist is here declaring his giving of it the preference in his practice according to God's mind : he did not rest in sacrifices, or look upon his duty as consisting mainly in them, but was willingly obedient ; he delighted to do God's will; he loved his service; God had bored his ear, alluding to the law, Exod. xxi. 5, by Hhich it was appointed that if the servant loved his master's service, and freely chose it, his master should bore his ear with an awl. Bumi-of" fering and sin-offering hast thou not required; then said /, Lo, I dome, as a willing servant says to bis master when he is called : Jn the volume of the book it is written ofme, that is, it is written in the public records, that I voluntarily chose my master's service, and that my ears were bored, alluding still to that law and custom. If the servant loved his master and chose his service, he was to be brought unto the judges, and was to declare his choice.

and his enr was to be bored before tbem, and because the end of briri^in^ of him to them, was that they might take notice ofily and bcMvitnesses of it, that the servant might afterwards beoblig* ed by iiis act. We may conclude that there was a record written of it, it was not merely trusted to their memories; for then if tlie judges should forget it, or siiould die, the servant might go free; or if it was not the custom at first to record it, yet very probaUj it was in David's time. It seeems they used to convey lands at first without writings ; Ruth iv. 7 ; but not afterwards. Jer. xiu 10. I subscribed ike evidence^ or as it is in the Hebrew, / unrotem ike book. But the psalmist also speaks here prophetically, and as representing Christ. Christ freely and willingly became God'i servant by becoming incarnate, and therefore, instead of the words, '' Mine ear hast thou bored," has these, ** A body hast thou prepared me;" and as the servant that had his ear bored, learned obedience by what he suffered ; it was a testimony of his real desire to serve him, that he was willing to suffer this io order to it. So did Christ learn obedience by the things that he suffered by the sacrifice of his body; so that when it is said, ** Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, but a body hast thou prepared for me ;*' it is as much as if he had said these sacrifices of beasfi, &CC. are insignificant in themselves, but my crucifixion is thetme sacrifice that God delights in.

[507] Psalm xlv. The great agreement between the Book of So!o?non''s Sons^, and the xlvth Psalm, and the express and foil testimonies of the New Testament for the authority and divine inspiration of that Psalm in particular, and titat that bridegroom there spoken of is Christ, whose bride the New Testament aban-dantly teaches us is the church: I say this agreement with these full testimonies are a great confirmation of the constant traditioa of the Jewish church, and the universal and continual suffrage of the Christian church for the divine authority, and spiritual signification of this song, as representing the union and mutual love of Christ and his church, and enervates the main objection against it. They agree in all particulars that are considerable, so that there is no more reason to object against one than the other.

They are both songs of love.

In both the lovers spoken of are compared to a man and a woman, and their love to that which arises between the sexes among mankind.

Both these songs treat of these lovers with relation to Iheir espousals one to another, representing their union to that of a bridegroom and bride.

In both the bridegroom is represented as a king, and in both the bride is spoken of as a king's daughter. Ps. xliii. 13. " The

kiog's daaghter is all gloriousJ' &c. Cant. vii. 1. <' How beau-

tifal are thy feel O prince's daughter!"

Id both the bridegroom and bride are represented as very fair or beautiful. The bridegroom, Ps. xlv. 2. ** Thou art fairer ihan the sons of men." Cant. v. 10. '* My beloved is while and toddy, the chiefest among ten thousands."

In both the bridegroom is represented as greatly delighted with .the beauty of the bride. Ps. xlv. 11. *^ So shall the king greatly ^4<nire thy beauty." Cant. iv. 0. *' Thou hast ravished my heart, : ay sister, my spouse : Thou hast ravished my heart with one oif L tbineeyes, wiih one chain of thy neck."

In both the speech of the bridegroom is represented as exceed-^iog excellent and pleasant. Ps. xlv. 2. *'Grace is poured into ;thy lips.'' Cant. v. IG. ''His mouth is most sweet." ^ In both the ornaments of the bride are signified by costly, beau-:llfo1, and , splendid attire; and in both she is represented as adorned with gold. Ps. xlv. 9. '' Upon tiiy right-hand did stand .tbe queen in gold of Ophir. And 13, 14, ''Her clothes are of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the Idng in raiment of needlework." Cant. i. 10. "Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, and thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver." And vii. 1,^" How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!"

The excellencies, und amiable, and honourable endowments of the bridegroom in both arc represented by perfumed ointment. Ps. xlv. 7. "Hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above tby fellows." Cant. i. 3. "Because of the savour of thy good 0|ntmeiitSythy]name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the virgins love thee."

In both the excellent gifts or qualifications of these lovers,'by which they are recommended to each other, and delighted in one - aQOifaer, are compared to such spices as myrrh, aloes, &ic. And . in both the sense those lovers have of this amiableness, and that ~ sense where they have comfort and joy, is represented by the ' sense of smelling. Ps. xlv. 8. " All thy garments smell of myrrh,

and aloes, and cassia whereby they have made thee glad."

Cant. i. 13,14. "A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto . me. My beloved is unto me is as a cluster of camphire." And ver. 12. " While the king siiteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth ~ forth the smell thereof." Cant. ii. 13. "Let us see whether the vines give a good smell." Chap. iii. G. " Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?" Cant iv. 14. " Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices.'*

Indeed in some parts of Ps. xlv. the psalmist makes use ot more magnificent representations of the bridegroom's excellency, Yer. 3. *'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously." So we find it also with respect to the bride. Cant. vi. 10. ''Who 18 it that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners ?" And in both these representations the excellencies of these lovers are represented as martial excellency, or the glorious endowments of valiant warriors.

In both these songs the bride is represented as with a number of virgins that are her companions in her majestical honours. Ps.

xlv. 14, 15. ** She shall be brought in unto the king ^The

virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.'* So in many places of Solomon's Song. The spouse is represented as conversing with a number of the daughters of Jerusalem that sought the bridegroom with her, and therefore she speaks in the plural number. Cant i. 4. *' Draw me, we will run after thee, w^will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine."

The representation in both of the manner of the bride's being brought into the king with her companions, with great joy, is exactly alike. Ps. xlv. 14, 15. *< She shall be brought in unto the king in raiment of needlework. The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee, with gladness, and with rejoicing shall they be brought unto thee; they shall enter into the king's palace." Compare this with Cant. i. 4. '' The king hath brought me into his chambers, we will be glad and rejoice in thee."

Those who are the friends of the bridegroom that are united to him, and partake of his dear love, are in both these songs represented as gracious and holy persons. Ps. xlv. 4. <' In thy majesty ride prosfjerously, because of truth, meekness, and righteousness." Cant. i. 4. <' We will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love thee."

To represent the excellency of the bridegroom's place of abode, in Ps. xlv. 6, the excellent materials that his palace is made of are mentioned. It is represented as made of ivory. In like manner as the excellent materials of his palace is spoken of Cant. i. 17. " The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir." As elsewhere, the materials of his chariot are mentioned, vix. the wood of Lebanon, gold, silver, and purple. Cant. iii. 9, 10.

It is objected by some against Solomon's Song that some expressions seem to have reference to the conjugal embraces of the bridegroom. But perhaps there is nothmg more directly suggesting this than the 14^ 15, and 16 verses of the xlv. Pialm,

where seems to be n plain reference to the manner in Tsrael in which the bride at night used to be led into the bridegroom's bed chamber, her bridemaids attending her : in the 14 and 15 verses, and then immediately in the next verse, we are told of the happy fruits of this intercourse in the offspring which they have: Instead of thy father's shall be thy children.

It is supposed by many to be very liable to a bad construction, that the beauty of the various parts of the body of the spouse is mentioned, and described, in Solomon's Song. But perhaps these are no more liable to a bad construction than the 13th verse of the xlv. Psalm, where there is mention of the beauty of the bride's clothes, and her being glorious within, where setting aside the allegory or mystical meaning of the song, what is most naturally understood as the most direct meaning, would seem to be that she had not only glorious clothing, but was yet more glorious in the parts of her body within her clothing, that were hid by her clothing.

[163] Psalm xlv. 7. ** Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee,'' &c. The manifestation of Christ's loving righteousness, and hating wickedness, here spoken of, that was thus rewarded, was his humiliation and death, whereby he exceedingly manifested his regard to God's holiness and law. That when he had a mind that sinners should be saved he was freely willing "to suffer so much rather than it should be done with any injury unto that holiness and law.

[16] Psalm xlviii. 7. " Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish With an east wind." It was by the gospel, which was as the light that Cometh out of the east and shineth to the west, whereby Satan's pagan l^ingdom in Europe was overthrown.

[17] Psalm xlix. 3, 4. ** My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable. I will open my dark sayings npon the harp." Being about to speak of a future stale and the resurrection, which were great mysteries in Old Testament times, and perhaps a future state is here more plainly spoken of than any where else in the Old Testament, the psalmist really speaks right down plain about it, to the 14lh verse, where he speaks how impossible it is by strength, riches, or wisdom, to avoid death ; Good and bad, and all, die ; and takes notice of the folly of men to fix their hearts on riches; for, says he, like sheep they are laid in the grave, &c., and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, fee. But he says, notwithstanding this certainty

VOL. IX. 44

and nnaToIdableness of death, ver. 15, '*God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me ;'' and goes on to the end of the psalm to show the misery of the wicked in comparison of the godly.

[54] Psalm Ixv. 8. <'Thou makestthe outgoings of the moriH ing and the evening to rejoice." By the outgoings of the morning and evening may be meant the east and the west, and so signily the same as the ends of the earth in the fotmer part of the verse.

[319] Psalm Ixviii. The bringing up of the ark of God cat of the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, into the city of David, on the top of Mount Zion, on which occasion this psalm was penned, was the most remarkable type of the ascension of Christ that we have in the Old Testament. Then Christ rode upon ihe heavens by his name J AH. Before, his divinity was veiled ; he appeared as a mere man, and as a worm and no man ; he had as it were laid aside his glory as a divine person, emptied himself of the name and form of God, but now he appears in his ascension as God, in the glory of his divinity, in the name and glory of the great JAH or JEHOVAH. Ver. 4. " Then he rode upon the heaven of heavens, which were of old." Ver. 33. As the aposde says, he ascended up far above all heavens. As the inhabitantsof the land of Canaan were gathered together to attend the ark in this its ascension into Mount Zion ; 2 Sam. vi. 15. 1 Chron. xv. 3, 25 and 28. 2 Sam. vi. 19. 1 Chron. xvi. 2 ; so without doubt the inhabitants of the heavenly Canaan were gathered together on occasion of Christ's ascension to attend him into heaven. For he ascended into heaven in like manner as lie shall descend at the last day, Acts i. 11, with like glory and magnificence, and with a like attendance. He shall come at the last day in the glory of his Father. So he, without doubt, ascended in that glory after his human nature was transformed as it was, as it passed out of our atmosphere. That Christ entered heaven with divine glory, is manifest by Psalm xxiv. 7, 8, 9, 10. "Lift up your heads, bye gates, that the King of glory may come in," &c. Christ will descend at the last day with the clouds of heaven, and so he ascended into heaven, (Acts i. 9, and Dan. vii. 13, with Notes.) Christ will descend to judgment, and so he ascended to judge and confirm^ the angels, to give repentence unto Israel, and remission of sin, and by his knowledge lojustify many, and to judge the prince of this world, and to execute judgment on the wicked; and as he will descend with all the heavenly hosts of both saints and angels, so he ascended. They came forth out of heaven to meet the King of glory as he ascended. As the Roman generals after a signal battle and victory over their enemies abroad, far distant from Rome, when they returned in triumph (which is a

freat type of Christ's ascension,) had mtiltitudes to attend heiiiy so had Christ in his ascension into heaven. See in how nany respects the Roman triumphs were like Christ's ascen-lion, Mostricht, p. 597, vol. 2. See also the description of a Koman triumph, Chambers' Dictionary. As Christ's descent n^ill be attended with the general resurrection, so was his ascension with the risen bodies of many of the saints, and was *ollowed with a great spiritual resurrection of the world.

As the ark in its ascension into mount Zion, was attended writh the princes of the people; Ps. Ixviii. 27, xlvii. 9, and with ;lie captains of their hosts, 1 Chron. xv. 25, and with the mt-listers of the sanctuary, 1 Chron. xv. 4, &c.; so Christ, in iiis ascension, was attended with the angels, who are called the principalities and powers of heaven, and are the mighty champions in God's armies, and the ministers of the heavenly sano-uary, as they arc represented in Revelations. Shall adepart-ji^ soul of a saint ascend to heaven with a convoy of angels, 3eing carried by angels into Abraham's bosom? and shall not :he King of saints and angels in his ascension into heaven, be Utcnded with myriads of angels ? That Christ was attended ovith multitudes of angels in his ascension into heaven, is manifest by the 17rh and 18th verses of the Ixviii. Psalm. " The :;hariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels ; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." These are the chariots in which Christ ascended, as Elijah, in his ascension into heaven, did not ascend without chariots and horses of fire to convey him. These were a symbol of the convoy of an-jels by which he was conducted into heaven; as those chariots and horses of fire were that defended the city where Elijah was Trom the Syrians, as appears by 2 Kings vi. 16, 17. Those in Christ's triumphant entrance into heaven answer to the triumphant chariot in which the victor entered the city of Rome, and also was attended with the princes,*and rulers, and captains of the people, and ministers of his sanctuary, as he was attended with the patriarchs, and prophets, and holy princes, and martyrs, more eminent first of the Old Testament, as that church which was in being before Christ's ascension, and with many of them with their prison bodies.

Though many of the angels attended Christ from the top of mount Olivet, yet it appears to me probable that the place where he was met by the whole multitude of the heavenly hosts, saints and angels, was in the upper parts of the earth's atmosphere, beyond the region of the clouds, at the place where it

e

S43 NOT£S ON THE BIBLE.

is said a cloud received Christ out of the sight of the disciples, as they stood beholding him as he went up, and that that cloud that received him was a symbol of that glorious host of sainli and angels: an heavenly multitude is called a cloud. See Hdk xii. 1, with Notes. An host of angels seems to bejbore represented by that cloud of glory in which God appeared in mount Sinai, spoken of in this Ixviii. Psalm, in the 17ih verse, where the psalmist speaks of the thousands of angels that convoy Christ to heaven, it is added, •• The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, his holy place." (See the places there cited in the margin.) When Christ passed out of sight of earthly inhabitants, then he joined the heavenly inhabitants. The atmosphere belongs to the earthly world : so fur Satan's power extends, who is god of this earthly world, and prince of the power of the air. When Christ had gotten out of this world, then heaven met him and received him, and it is probable that Christ's human nature there had its transformation into, its glorious state; it was not transformed at his first resurrection, for he appeared as he used to, and conversed, and ate, and drank with his disciples; nor was it transformed at his first ascent from the surface of the earth, for the disciples beheld him, and knew him as he went up, because he appeared as he used to do, but the disciples beheld him so long until he was transformed, for so long they might behold him; but when he was transformed into his heavenly glory, it was not meet that they should behold him any longer while in this mortal state, for this state is not the state appointed for us to behold Christ in his glory; nor indeed could ihcy sec him so and live, and therefore when he was transformed, a cloud hid him from them. As long as Christ was within the limits of this earthly worhl, it was meet that he should remain in his earthlv state; hut when he passed out of this world and met heaven, it was meet that he should be transformed into his heavenly state; an earthly body might subsist as far as the region of the clouds, but it could not subsist farther, i'hrist ascended from thence to heaven in his glorified state with all his holy angels ; and at the last day he will descend from heaven in the same glorified state, with all the holy angels, and no farther; for there the saints on earth shall meet him, being caught up in the clouds, or to the region of the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and from thence shall Christ be seen in his glory by all that shall remain on this earth. When Christ came to meet the heavenly hosts in their glory, and to be in the midst of them, it was not meet that he should remain any longer ia his earthly state, for flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; so far Christ ascended slowly and gradually, as earthly bodies are

wont to move, so (hat the disciples could see biin as he went vp, but from thence, without doubt, he mounted with incon-^vahle swiftness, answerable to the activity of an heavenly |!glurious body.

'' As they attended the ark in ils ascension with groat joy and with shouts, and the sound of the trumpet, and all kinds of - music, singing God's praises, 2 Sam. vi. 15. 2 Chron. xv. =Sd, with the context in that and the following chapters; this represents the glorious joy and praise with which the heavenly hosts attended (/hrist in his ascension. Ps. xlvii. 5. *' God is irone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet:'' Ps. xlvii. 5 : the very same as is said concerning the ascension of the ark in 2 Sam. vi. 15. That was an exceeding joyful day in Israel; it is said they brought up the ark with joy. 2 Chron. XV. 2 Sam. vi. 12. ^* David danced before the liord Writh all his might." So Christ's ascension is represented as sn exceeding joyful occasion. Ps. xlvii. 6, &c. "On that occasion sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King, sing praises," &.c. And in this Ixviii. Psalm ver. 3. '* Let the righteous be glad ; let them rejoice before the Lord; ^ea, let them exceedingly rejoice;" and ver. 25, "The singers went before, and the players on instruments followed after, imong them were the damsels playing with timbrels."

When the ark was ascended and placed on the throne of SofPs mercy-seat, David dealt among all the people, even iinong the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as nen, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, md a flagon of wine, 2 Sam. vi. 19, and 1 Chron. xvi. 3. So i|>CRking of Christ in this psalm, ver. 18, the psalmist says, * Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, md received gifts for men, yea, for the lebellious also."

]>avid brought the ark into the tabernacle in Zion with sacrifices ofl^ered to God, and when he had ofl*ered the sacriflces, le blessed the people in the name of the Lord, and gave men tifts, 1 Chron. xvi. 1, 2, 3, and 2 Sam. vi. 17, 18, 19. So Jbrist, when he ascended, entered into heaven with his own >lood, the blood of that sacrifice that he had oflered, and so ibtained the blessing for men which he then gave to them, by lending down the Holy Spirit upon them.

David, when the ark was ascended, returned to bless his lousehold; so Christ, when he was ascended, returned by his Spirit to bless his church, which is the household of God, ind ia Christ's house, as the apostle calls it in the iii. chap. >f Hebrews.

When David thus returned to bless his household, Michal, hat had been bia wife before, despised him, because he trou-

SoO NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

bled himself 00 much, and made himself so vile, and th< was Michal rejected; but of the maid-servants whom '. contemned, was he had in honour; so the Jewish churc had been Christ's church before his ascension, yet b Christ humbled himself so much, and made himself s they dcapised and rejected him, and called him king Jews in contempt, as Michal calls David king of Israel i tempt. .Therefore, when Christ returned by his Spiiit t< his household after his ascension, the church of the Jev rejected and became barren; but the Gentile nations, the Jewish church used to contemn as poor slaves, whil called themselves the children of God and free, of the Christ had in honour. Michal was SauPs daughter, I persecutor, that was at the head of affairs in Israel befo vid; but David tells Michal that God chose him before I ther ; so the priests, and elders, and scribes were the fa the Jewish church, were at the head of affairs in God's < before Christ, and were Christ's persecutors, but God him before them.

The glorious attendants and consequents of Christ's: sion are in a very lively manner represented in this psair other divine songs, that seem to be penned on occasion removing the ark, as particularly Christ's glorious victor his enemies, verses 1, 2. 18. The destruction of Satan't dom and bis church's enemies that followed, ver. 12. 1 23—30. A terrible manifestation of wrath against obs sinners, ver. 6. 21. The publishing the gospel in the y ver 11. 33. A remarkable pouring out of the Spirit,' A great increase of the privileges of the church, and a abundant measure of spiritual blessings, ver. 3, 10. 13.1 24. 28. 34, 35. The calling of the Gentiles, ver. 6. 2 32. A glorious salvation from slavery and misery to who are sinners and enslaved, ver. 6. 13. 20. 22. Tl might be observed of other songs penned on this occ as Ps. xlvii. and that which is given us in 1 Chror.. xvi.

[210] Psalm Ixviii. 8, 9. " The earth shook, the h( also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itse moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Th Lord, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst c thine inheritance when it was weary." By this place, ther with Judg. v. 4, it is manifest that there was a great er of rain upon the camp of Israel at mount Sinai, at th of the giving the law there. The case seems to have thus: on the day when the law was given, which was th of Pentecosti there appeared a thick cloud upon mount

ich was the same cloud that had gone before them and con-ted them, now settled upon the mount, but only increased I gathered to a great thickness, and there were great thun-s and lightnings seen and heard out of that cloud, and the ce of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that re in the camp trembled. When God descended on the unt, the mount quaked greatly, and this earthquake was of at extent, so as to reach to distant countries, Hag. ii. 6, 7, I was so great as to move mountains, and throw down rocks, I great part of the mountains ; hence we have those expres-(18 of the mountains skipping like rams, and the little hills I lambs, he. And then mount Sinai appeared altogether fire, which burnt to the midst of heaven; and then the nipet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder; and then Ten Commandments were given with a voice of awful ma-y out of the midst of the fire; and when this was finished, ras followed with the most amazing thunders and lightnings n the thick cloud of glory, which was on the mount, which id spread wider and wider until it covered the whole hea-18, and there was a great shower of rain, with thunder and lining out of it; and the storm spread abroad, so as to ch far countries, which, with exceeding thunder and light-g, terrified distant nations. Hence the apostle speaks of unpest that was at this time, from this place, in Ueb. xii. 18. us, when the Lord gave the word, great was the company them that published it, ver. 11. When God gave forth bis ceat mount Sinai, and thundered there by the ministration angels, the report was as it were carried into all nations nd about, and there were thunders that uttered their voices ill parts of the world, (or at least the adjacent countries,) inswer it. Thus the prophet Habakkuk, speaking of this, b. iii. 3, says, '* His glory covered the heavens," (i. e. the id, that was called the cloud ofglory,^*) and the glory of the d ajipeared in the cloud, and covered the heavens in the se of lightnings that then streamed forth almost continually ; in the next verse, ver. 4, '* And his brightness was as the 1." And thus it was expressed in the 6th and 7th verses, 6'stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove asun-the nations; the everlasting mountains were scattered, the

petual hills did bow 1 saw the tents of Cushan in afHic-

9 and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble;" and I in Heb. xii. 18, there is said to be at that time not only fire, blackness, and darkness, but also tempest. ■oroL I. Hereby we may the more fully see how lively a re-lentation what was done' on this day was of what was done rwards on the same Day of Pentecost io the days of th«

gospel. Now God descended from heaven on mount Sinai, then God descended from heaven on mount Zion, or on hi church met together in Jerusalem. Now God revealed the law, then God did in an extraordinary manner by hi« Spirit make known the niy^^terios of the gospel. Now God's voica was uttered from mount Sinai in thuu<icr, and great was the com))auy of them that published it, and the voice of his thuo-. der went forth into all the woild, and the world was enlightco-l ed with lightnings ; then was God's voice in his word and in bii glorious gospel uttered in the spiritual mount Zion, and the light of the glorious gospel then began to shine forth in Jerusalem, of which voice and light, thunder and lightning is a type, for the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is as the fire, and as the hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces. This thunder and lightning was out of the cloud of glory, the symbol of God's presence; so the voice of the gospel is the voice of Christ, ft divine person, and.the light is the light of Christ's glory. And then, or after that time, was first fulfilled what was typified bj God^s voice and light going forth from mount Sinai, and spreading abroad into all nations round about; for then first did the powerful voice of God's word, and the powerful and glorious light of truth, go forth and spread abroad into Gentile nations; then was the coming of Christ in the gospel, as the lightning that cometh out of the east, and shiucth even to the west. Tlie trumpet of mount Sinai was a type of the trumpet of the gospel. As in the day of Sinai there was a great earthquake ; so consequent on the pouring out of the Spirit in the day of Zion, was there the greatest change and overturning of things on the face of the earth, that ever had been. Earthquakes often denote great revolutions, in Revelations and elsewhere in scripture. God's voice, in the day of Sinai, shook the heavens and earth, and shook all nations; see Heb. xii« 26, 27, compared with the foregoing verses, and Haggai ii. 6, 7. *' As the earthquake then shook down towers, and palaces, and other buildings of the heathen, yea, and threw down rocks and mountains ;" so God's voice in the goi^pel, after the gospel Pentecost, overturned the heathenish kingdom of Satan, and shook down all its magnificence, the mighty fabric that Satan had been building up for many ages; and those things were overthrown that had been established in the heathen world time out of mind, and had remained until now, immoveable, like the everlasting hills and mountains. God's enemies abroad in the heathen world on the day of Sinai, were greatly terrified and scattered, and many of them destroyed; which is a type

of the amaxement that Satan and the powers of darkness were put ioio, by the sudden and wonderful spreadini;^ of the gospel, and hoiv the enemies of God were scattered and destroyed thereby, and God's pouring down a great and plentiful rain on the camp of Israel, on the day when the law was given. The refreshing shower that fell on Israel, did well represent those divine instructions God was then giving to them. Deut. xxxii. 1. " My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, or the showers upon the grass," was a lively type of the great and abundant pouring out of the Spirit on the Christian church, on the day of Pentecost, and on the world, in consequence of that. The pouring out of the Spirit is often compared to showers of rain : this rain was the more lively type of the eflusion of the Holy Spirit, because it was a very refreshing rain to the congregation of Israel, as it is said in the 9th verse of this Psalm, " Thou didst send a plentiful rain, w^hereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary ;" that was a weary land wherein they then were, being an exceeding dry and parched wilderness, where there is scarcely ever any rain. Horeb, one name of mount Sinai, signifies dryness, as it is called a land of drought, and it lay far south, and it was now an hot time of the year, wherein the sun was just at the summer >olstice, being about the end of May, so that the shower by its :ooling and sweetening the air was very refreshing to them, and therefore was the more lively type of the sweet influences of the Spirit of God on their souls ; and this shower was the more lively type of the pouring out of the Spirit slill, because it was a shower lot of the cloud of glory, or that cloud that was the symbol of Bod's presence, so that it was a refreshment from God, as the 6re from heaven on the altar proceeded out of a pillar cloud and fire. Levit. ix. 24. (Note, manna out of the pillar of cloud and fire.) Manna, their daily bread, came down on the camp, out of the pillar of cloud and fire, and so did more livelily represent the true bread from heaven, even Jesus Christ, who is a divine person, and dwells in the bosom of the Father, and as their meat, so their irater; the refreshing rain, which signified also a divine person, viz. the Holy Ghost, was out of the cloud of glory.

Note, that when mention is here made of God's sending a plentiful rain, whereby he did confirm, or strengthen his inheritance when it was weary, respect is also probably had to the children of Israel's being refreshed by a shower of rain that descended on them, at the the same time that a destructive hail fell on their enemies, on the day that the sun and moon stood still; for as has been observed in Notes on Hab. iii. 11, No. 208, that storm of hail did not arise until the end of the twelve hours of the sun's standing still; and the sun probably stood still near the

VOL. IX. 45

meridiaD, and Joshaa began the battle very early in the momiogf after their travelling all the night before; so that after that night's watching and travelling, they had continued in battle and pursuit about eighteen hours, and great part of the time under a very great and extreme heat of the sun, wliich must necessarily arise from its standing still so long at a meridian height, and shining down on their heads with a perpendicular ray. So that by that time without doubt the army of Israel were exceeding weary and faint, and the clouds that covered the heavens, sent forth no hail on them, but probably it was rain where they were, and a very great shower, which cooled and sweetened the air, and was a great refreshment to them after such toil and extreme heat. If the rain was frozen in some places, doubtless it was a very cool xTain where they were, which was needed to cool the air, after such extreme heat. So that it was now with this cloud that arose, as it was with the pillar of cloud and fire at the Red sea, as that was a cloud and darkness to their enemies, and sent forth thunder and lightning to confound them. Psalm Ixxvii. 16, 17, 18, 19, but gave light to the Israelites ; so now the cloud that arose, sent forth destructive hail and thunder on the Amorites, but sent a most refreshing rain on Israel, whereby they were strengthened, after they had been made faint with the heat of the sun, and the toil of battle.

CoroL II. Hence we may learn what the apostle Paul meant by 1 Cor. x. 2, where he says that ** their fathers were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea," he means tliat they were baptized in the cloud, by the cloud's showering down water abundantly upon them, as it seems to have done at two times, especially; one was while they were passing through the Red sea, for there seems to have been a remarkable storm of rain, and thunder and lightning, out of the cloud of glory, while il:t children of Israel were passing through the Red" sea, Fsuhn Ixxvii. IG, 17, 18, 19: And thus God looked through the pillar of cloud and fire about the morning watch, and troubled all their Iiosts; he confounded them with perpetual flashes of thunder and lightning, which greatly affrighted the horses, and made them run wild, and jostle one against another, so as to overturn and break the chariots that they drew, and many of them lost their wheels; but it was only a plentiful shower on the Israelites. And .so they were baptized by the water that came out of the pillar of cloiid, representing the blood that came out of Christ, and the spirit that comes forth from him; and so God now at the time when they were coming out of Egypt (for the Red sea was the bounds of Egypt) baptized them, to wash and cleanse them from the pollutions of Egypt, and to consecrate them to himself.

Another time was at moitnt Sinai, when God had brought them to himself there, when he first entered into covenant with them there, whereby iliey became his people, and he their God; he consecrated them to him, and sealed that covenant by baptizing them by water out of llie cloud.

Hence we prove an argument for baptism by sprinkling or affusion, for the apostle calls this a/Tusion or sprinkling, baptism, comparing it to Christian baptism; and when God himself, immediately baptized his people by a baptism, by which he intended to signify the same thing that Christian baptism signifies, he baptized by adusion and sprinkling.

[254] Psalm Ixxviii. 43. " How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan." Wells, in his Sacred Geography, from hence very probably supposes that Zoan^ in the lime when Moses wrought these miracles in Kgypt, was the royal city, or the city where the Pharaohs had their seat; for we know that Moses wrought those miracles in the presence of Pharaoh, and therefore doubtless near the city where he dwelt, or in the fields about that city. Zoan was probably from the beginning, the seat of tiieir kings, and that it is because it was so noted a city, and especially so known to the children of Israel, who had been bond-slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh, who dwelt in Zoan, that such particular notice is taken of it in Numb. xiii. 22. *'Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt." And Dr. Wells observes, that this seems to have been the royal seat lon^' after, even until Isaiah's time, though Noph and llancs were two other cities where the kings of Egypt did then sometimes reside. Isai. xix. 11. *-*• Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?" Ver. 13. '* The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof." Isai. xxx. 4. *' For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.^' Zoan is the same with Tunis. By the Seventy interpreters, Noph is the same with Memphis^ Ilanes is the same with Tahapanes ; Jer. ii. IG; and Tahapanes, where we read that Pharaoh had an bouse, Jer. xliii. 9, called in Ezekiel xxx. 18, Tekapknehes, the same that was called Daphne by the Greeks. Soon after IsaiahU time, Noph, or Memphis, became the capital city. Ezek. xxx. 13. Wells' Sacred Geography, p. 8, 9, and p. 49, 50.

[349] Psalm Ixxxiv. 3. " Yea, the sparrow hath found an bouse, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars." The expletive even, which is not in

tR original, hurts the sense. ** Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my king, and my God," seems to be a distinct sentence from the ; foregoing, and comes in as an ardent exclamation, expressing the .' longing of David's soul after God's altars, as is rather to be added to the foregoing verse, where the psalmist had said, " My soal long-eth, yea, even faiutetii for the courts of the Lord; my heart, and my flesh cricth out for the living God ;" and then lys thoughts of the birds having a nest, and so living distinguished from him, a poor exile, that was cast out of house and home, and had not where to lay his head, and was banished from God's house, which is the worst part of his banishment: this comes in, as it were, in a parenthesis, and then follows the exclamation, '* Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God!" Such an interpretation is exceedingly agreeable with the context, and the frame the psalmist was in.

[203] Psalm xc. 10. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, p. 395. When God had positively declared that the Israelites should wander forty years in the wilderness, and that all of them except Joshua and Caleb should die there; and when he did thus cat short the age of man, to what it is at this time, then Moses penned a melancholy psalm, in which he tells us how they were consumed by God's anger for their impieties, and how man's age ii come to seventy or eighty years, after which there is only labour and sorrow, instead of those hundreds that they lived before.

Here we may observe, that as sin at first brought death into the world, so sin did afterwards shorten the age of man, before the flood : the patriarchs lived almost to- a thousand years. But the sin which brought the flood, took away one half of man's age, so that they who were born afiei wards never attained to the age of five hundred. At the confusion of Babylon it was shortened again in the same manner, so that none born after that time lived up to two hundred and fifty, as it is easy to observe by computing their ages. After the death of the patriarchs, when the true worship of God was very much declined in their families, and the rest of mankind were overrun with superstition and idolatry, the life of man was shortened again, so that we read of none bom since, who exceeded an hundred and five and twenty ; neither did the ages of men stand at that measure, but at the frequent murmur-ings and provokings of God in the wilderness, a third part more, or thereabouts, were cut off from the age of man, and the common limit of man's life was brought to seventy or eighty years, or thereabouts, or more particularly to eighty-three, or eighty-four years, which very few exceeded, and which Moses speaks of in the before-mentioned psalm, composed upon that occasion. And though the sins of mankind have been very great and universal since that

, yet the age of roan's life has not been sliortened any DQore, use a shorter space would hardly have been sufficient for the ng out, and Improvement of arts and sciences, as well as for r reasons.

68] Psalm xci. 11. "He will give his angels charge coning thee, and they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest at .ime thou dash thy foot against a stone." As a father gives the • children charge concerning the younger, to lead thera and them up, and keep them from falling.

5] Prov. iv, 23. " Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out are the issues of life." It is probable here is an allusion to ilood's issuing from the heart. The heart is the fountain of »Iood, which is called the life. G^n. ix. 4, and other places* men was so great a philosopher, that doubtless he understood ihe heart was the fountain of the blood.

62] Prov. XXX. 27. ** The locusts have no king, yet go they all of them by bands." The following is taken from the ling Post of January 4lh, 1748. Extract of a letter from isylvania, Aug. 23, concerning the locusts that had lately a red there.

These dreadful creatures with which we are afflicted, move in rolumns; the first places they invaded were the territories of sgisch, and Banoize, where they passed the night; the next ling they directed their flight towards Peekska, Maradick, And the day following towards Irriga, where they have eat eaves, the grass, the cabbages, the melons and cucumbers, to ery roots. Yesterday they were in motion towards Schuliom, ling their flight manifestly towards Zealmo and the parts ^abouts. They continue in the air, or if one may use the ession, they march generally two hours and an half at a time, y form a close compact column about fifleen yards deep, in dth about four musket shot, and in length near four leagues. y move with such force, or rather precipitation, that the air bles to such a degree as to shake the leaves upon the trees, y darken the sky in such a manner, that when they passed ' ns, I could not see my people at twenty feet distance. p. S. At this instant we have notice that two swarms more approaching, which after having settled in the neighbourhood /^arasch, have returned back by Nerraden and lasack, making odigious buzz, or humming noise as they passed." The same »unt is also in the Boston Gazette of January 26th, 1748.

)0] Eccles. i. 6. ** The wind goeth towards the south, and letb about unto the north, it wbirleth about continually, and

the wind returnelh again according to his circoil." Wh the wind blows from one quarter for a long time there mus be a circulation in the atmosphere. When the wind blow the north, there must at the same time be another wind fn south, or in some other place, otiierwise h)ng and 8troD| would leave some regions empty of air, and it would o heap up in otlicrs. Thi:i I take to be what is noieant in tbii

[91] Eccles. ii. IG. "There is no remembrance of tl more than of the fool." Man's reason naturally expectsi reward, and that all the good, that good and wise men I their labour, should not be confined to this short life.

[316] Eccles. vi. 3. " So that the days of his j-earsh and his soul be not fdlcd with good, and also that he , bun'al, I say tiiat an untimely birth is better than he." J burial^ i. e. is one that God takes no care of in his deal him no honour, takes no care of either soul or body, as bav value for, or care of, either, or any respect for their meosoi it is the wicked that the wise man is here speaking of, tl that is spoken of chap. viii. 12, 13, which is a place very with this. And it will be further evident by comparing the following verse with chap. v. 13—17. Burial is the which friends show to the memory and remains of those' dead. God will show no regard to any thing that remains ol men after death. God treats their souls when they die, i treat their bodies at the resurrection, with contempt, as m the dead bodies of those creatures they have no honour oi for, and are abominable to them, as are the carcasses of beasts. Jer. xxii. 10. " Ho shall be buried with the buri ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.' Isai. xiv. 19, 20. **But thou art cast out of thy grave abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that ai thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stone pit and as a carcass ; trodden under feet, thou shah be joii them in burial, because thou hast destroyed th^' land." Gi careof the righteous when they die, he linrls a repository for their souls, and their dust is precious to him. As Got Moses in the mount, tliey arc paihered to their fathers ceived into Abraham's bosom, but God treats the soul wicked when they die as men treat the dead, putrid carcji ass or a dog : they are cast forth out of the city of God's lem, and shall be for ever shut out thence.

[147] SolomorC$ Song. The name bj* which Soloro this song, confirms me in it that it is more than an ordin

f, and that it was designed for a divine song, and of divine

pity; for we read, 1 Kings iv. 32, that Solomon's songs

i thousand and dye ; this he calls the Song of songs, that is,

lost excellent of all his songs, which it seems very probable

to be upon that account, because it was a song of the most

Bent subject, treating of the love, union, and communion be-

Christ and his church; of which, marriage and conjugal

ras but a shadow. These are the most excellent lovers, and

love the most excellent love.

p. Henry, in the introduction to his Exp. of this book, says, ippears that this book was taken in a spiritual sense by the lb church, for whose use it was first composed, as appears by Ibaldee paraphrase, and the most ancient Jewish expositors.*' same place he says, ** In our belief both of the divine ex-ion and spiritual exposition of this book, we are confirmed by iDcient, constant, and convincing testimony, both of the eh of the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, [who never made any doubt of the authority of this book, and Christian church, which happily succeeded them in that trust tliofiour."

d] The Book of Solomon's Song. The divinity of this its confirmed from the allusions there seem to be in the New-iroent to things iierein contained; and particularly Christ, m iv. 10. 14, speaking of a well of living water, seems to alto the 15th verse of the iv. chapter of this song, *' a foun-Fdf gardens, a well of living water." So in Eph. v. IB, there to be an eye to chap. v. 1, of this song. See Notes on that kge in Ephesiaus.

I] It is one argument that the Book of Confides is no com-love song, that the bridegroom or lover there spoken of so calls his beloved, ** My sister, ray spouse." This well with Christ's relation to believers, who is become our *T and near kinsman by taking upon him our nature, and is *otber, and the son of our mother by his incarnation, as ly he became a son of the church, and used the ordinances Anted in it, and so has sucked the'breasts of our mother, and became his brothers also by the adoption of his Father. this appellatron would not well suit a common spouse among fews, who were so strictly forbidden to marry any that were of kio to them, and particularly to marry a sister. Levit. [. 9. *' The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, ittie daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home or io abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover." It is llfcer likely that the Jews would marry such in Solomon's time.

«•

nor that it would be the custom to comps^re their spouses t especially that they would insist so much on such an app as though it was an amiable thing, and a thing to be tho and mentioned with delight and pleasure, to have a spou was a sister, when God's law*taught them to dread and ab thought of it.

[436] The Book of Caniicles. The following place* Psalms are a confirmation that by her, whom the bridegr this book calls, " My love," " My dove," '* My sister,' spouse," and the like, is meant the church, viz. Ps. xxii. 2( 17. Ix. 4, 5. cviii. 6. cxxvii. 2. Ixxiv. 19.

[460] The Book of Solomon^s Song, no common lot but a divine song, respecting the union heiiccen the Me9$\ the church. It is an argument of it that such figures of are made use of from time time in this song, as are elsewbe concerning tJMi Messiah and the church. Chap. i. 3. C elsewhere cocinlf)ared to ointment. That, chap. i. 3, 4, Dr is parallel with Jer. xxxi. 3. There the Lord, speaking church of Israel, under the name of the virgin of Israel, sa have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with kindness have I drawn thee." Ver. 4. "The King hath I me into his chambers ;" and elsewhere the saints are repr as dwelling in the secret plaice of the Most High. Hos. xi draw them—with the bands of love." Representing the groom as a shepherd, and the spouse's children as kids and chap. i. 7, 8, is agreeable to frequent representations of tl siah, and the church in the Old Testament. The ornan the spouse are here represented as jewels and chains of sil gold, chap. i. 10, 11, and iv. 1—9. Compare these wit! xvi. 11, 12r 13. The excellencies both of bridegroom an are compared to spices, chap. i. 12, 13,14. iv. 6. 10.13, V. 5. 13. viii. 2. And ointment perfumed with spices, c 3. iv. 10. The same spices were made use of to reprcst ritual excellencies in the incense, and anointing oil in th< naclc and temple, and also in the oil for the light. £x( 28. Chap. i. 10; ** Our bed is green." This is agrei figures of speech often used concerning the church. Tl fort the spouse enjoyed in her bridegroom is compared to a and the fruit of a tree. Chap. ii. 2, is agreeable to Isai. 3 2, and Iv. 13, and Hos. xiv. 5. Chap. ii. 3. 5, is agre< Prov. iii. 18. ** She is a tree of life to them that lay hoi her, and happy is every one that retaineth her;" and v "My fruit is better than gold." So the Messiah, in the ] cjcs, is often compared to a tree and branch. The comi

bridegroom and bride have in each other, are in this book often compared to wine. Chap. i. 2. ii. 5. v. 1. So wine was made use of in the tabernacle and temple service to represent both the comforts the church has in Christ, and also the gracious exercises and good works of the saints offered to God. See also Proverbs ix. 2, Isai. xxvii. 2, Ilosea xiv. 7, Zech. ix. 15, and x. 7. The comforts the bridegroom and bride here enjoy mutually in each other are in the song compared to wine and milk, agreeable to Isai. Iv. 1 ; and also to the honey and honeycomb, agreeable to the frequent representations made of spiritual comforts in the scripture. The spouse here is represented feasting with the bridegroom. Chap. ii. 4. and v. 1. So the church of God is represented as feasting with him in the sacrifices and feasts appointed by Moses, and in the prophecies, Isai. xxv. 6, Iv. at the beginning. God's saints are all spoken of as the priests of the Lord, Isai. Ixi. 6 ; but the priests eat the bread of God. What the spouse entertains her lover with is called fruits, chap. iv. IG, vii. 13, viii. 2 ; as the good works of the saints abundantly are represented elsewhere as fruit which the church brings and offers to God. The spouse is here compared to fruitful trees, chap. iv. 13, &^c., vii. 7, 8. The saints are compared to the same, Ps. i. 3, and Jer. xvii. 8, and Isai. xxvii. 6, and other places innumerable. The spouse is compared to a flourishing fruitful vine, chap. ii. 13, ▼ii. 8. So is the church of God often compared to a vine. The spouse's excellency is compared to the smell of Lebanon, chap. iv. 11. So is the excellency of the church, Hos. xiv. 6, 7. " His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his gtnell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return, they shall revive as the corn, ami grow as the vine^ the gceni thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.^^ The fruits of the spouse are often compared to pomegranates in this song. Chap. iv. 3. 13. vi. 7. viii. 2. So the spiritual fruits of the church of God are reprerented by pomegranates in the tabernacle and temple. The spouse is in this song said to be like the palm-tree. Chap. vii. 7, 8. So was the church of Israel, whose rcpresenta-. tion were the seventy elders, typified by seventy palm-trees. Exod. XV. 27. So the temple was every where covered with cherubims and palm-trees, representing saints and angels. 1 Kings vi. 29. 32. 35, vii. 3G, 2 Chron. iii. 5. So in EAekiel's temple, Ezek. xl. 16. The spouse in this song is compared to a garden and orchard, to a garden of spices, and of aloes, in particular, ch. iv. 12, to the end, and v. 1, and vi. 2, which is agreeable to the representations made of the church. Num. xxiv. 5, G. " How goodly are thy teots, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. As the valleys are they spread forth, as the j;;irdens by the rivers side, as the trees offign aloes which the Lv/rd haih plaifted, as the cedar-trees be-VOL. IX. 40

side the waters." The spouse is compared to a fountain, cliap. iv. 12,13; so is tlio cluircli, Deyt. xxxiii. 28, Ps. Ixviii. 26. The twelve tribes of Israel are represented by twelve fountains of water. Exod. XV. 27. The spouse is called a fountain of gardens, chap, iv. 15. So the church of God is represented as a fountain io ihe midst of a laud of corn and wine. Deut. xxxiii. 28. And a strean among all trees of unfading leaves, and living fruit. And asi watered gardeu, Isai. Iviii. ] 1, Jer. xxxi. 12. The spouse iscalkd a well of living waters, chap. iv. 15. The blessings granted to |k the church, and by the church are repiesented by the same ihiog Zech. xiv. 8. '^ iJving waters shall go out of Jerusalem/' So |^i Ezck. xlvii., where we read of waters goingout of the temple and city of Jerusaleui that gave life to every thing, and flowed io ifac midst of the trees of life. Another thing that is a very great evidence that this song is mystical, and that the spouse signifies not a person but a society, and the church of God in particular, istlut she is compared to a city, and the city of Jerusalem in pa^ ticular. Chap. vi. 4. *' Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Ti^ zah, comely as Jerusalem ;^' and (hat particular parts of the sponsc are compared to buildings, and strong buildings, as towers and walls. Chap. iv. 4. " Thy neck is like the tower of Davidi builded for an armory whereon they hang a thousand buckleiii all shields of mighty men." Chap. vii. 4. *' Thy neck is like a

tower of ivory Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, whicfc

looketh towards Damascus. Chap. viii. 10. ** I am a wall, and ^ my breasts like towers." We find elsewhere people and societiei of men represented by buildings, houses, and cities, but never particular persons. And the church of God is a society or people often represented in scripture by such similitudes, and particularly is often compared to a city with strong towers and bulwarks, and to the city Jerusalem especially, and that on the account of her many fortifications and strong bulwarks.

Again, it greatly confirms that the spouse is a people, and (he church of God in particular, that she is compared to an army, u army terrible with banners. Chap. vi. 4. 10. <* And as a company of two armies, or the company of Mahanaim." So die church of God when brought out of Egypt through the wilde^ ness to Canaan, was by God's direction in the form of an army with banners. So the psalms and prophecies often represent ibe church of God as going forth to battle, fighting under an ensign, and gloriously conquering iheir enemies, and conquering the nations of the world. And the compauy of Jacob, that was as it were the church of Israel, with the host of angels that met them and joined them, to assist them against Esau's host, was the conipatiy of Mahanaim, or company of two armies, so called by Jacob on that account. Gen. xxxii. at the beginning.

So it is a great evidence of the same tiling that tiie spouse is compared to war-horses, chap. i. 9, &r. which it is not in the least likely would ever be a comparison used to represent the beauty of a bride in a common Epithal.imium or love song. But this is exactly agreeable to a representation elsewhere made of the church of Clod. Zech. X. 3. ** The Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle." And vcr. ^. "And they shall be as mii^hty men which tread down their enemies, as the mire of the streets in the battle. And they shall fight because the Fjord is with them.'' And ver. 7. •• And they of Ephraim shall be like mighty men."

These expressions show this song to be mystical. Chap. i. •• My mother's children were angry with me," &c. If it is supposed to be used of the church, they are easily accounted for ; they are agreeable to accounts in scripture history of Cain's enmity aj^ainst Abel, and Esau's against Jacob; nnd their posterities enmity against Israel ; and the prophecies that represent the future persecutions of the church, by false brethren.

Another thing that shows this to be no common love song, is that the spouse seeks company in her love to the bridegroom, endeavours to draw other women to join with her in loving him, and rejoices in their communion with her in the love and enjoyment of her beloved. Chap. i. 3,4. "Therefore the VIRGINS love thee." "Draw me; WE will run after thee." " The king hath brought me into his chambers; WE will be glad and rejoice in tliee." " WE will remember thy love more than wine." " THK UPRIGHT love thee." Chap. vi. 1, 2. "Whither is thy be-h>ved gone, O thou fairest among women ; whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee.'^ My beloved is gone down into his garden," &.c. Chap. viii. 13.

** Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice."

The bridegroom in this song speaks of his.willing people, chap. vi. 12, which is agreeable to the language used concerning the people of the Messiah. Ps. ex. 2. (See Psalm xlv. No. 507.)

[86] Cant. i. 5. "As the t^nts of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." Kedar was a place where shepherds used to seat their tents and feed their (locks, a noted place for shepherds, as you may see, Isai. Ix. 7. " All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee.'* And Jer. xlix. 28, 29. Concerning Kedar. " Their tents and their flocks—they shall take to themselves their curtains." The people of Kedar it seems used to dwell in tents, in moveable habitations, and lived by feeding of sheep; and therefore the church is very likely represented by these, and it is agreeable to many other representations in scrip-

lure, where (jrod^s people are called liis sheep, his flock, and Christ and his ministers shepherds, and the churrh is also coib-parcd to a tabernacle or tents: it is fitly compared to moveabie tents, for here we are pilgrims and strangers, and have no abiding place ; these are the shepherds tents referred lu in the 8lh verse.

[458] Cant. i. 5. ** As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." That the spouse in this song is compared to a tent, and to the curtains of the tabernacle and temple, is an evidence that this song is no ordinary love song, and that by the spoose ii not meant any particular woman, but a society, even that holy society, the church of God. It is common in the writings of the Old Testament to represent the church of God by a tent, or tents, and an house and temple, but never a particular person. See IsaL liv. 2; Zech. xii. 7 ; Isai. xxxiii. 20 ; Lam. ii. 4. 6 ; Isai. i.8. And the tabernacle and temple were known types of the church, and the curtains of both had palm-trees embroidered on tbem, which are abundantly made use of to represent the church. The church of God is called an house, in places too many to be mentioned. The church used to be called the temple of the Lord, ai appears by Jer. vii. 4. 'I'he church is represented by the tempki as is evident by Zech. iv- 2—9.

[461] Eccles. i. 9. '' The thing that hath been is that whidi shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun," &^c. It appears by the connection of these words uith what went before, that the design of the wise man is here to signify that the world, though it be so full nfl^ bour, mankind, from generation to generation, so constantly, laboriously, unweariedly, pursuing after happiness and satisfaction, on some perfect good wherein they may rest; yet they never obtain it, normnkeany progress towards it. Particular persons \% bile llNfjf live, though they spend their whole lives in pursuit, do but go round and round, and never obtain thnt satistying good they seek after. '*Tlie eye is not satisfied with ^eei^g, nor the ear with hea^ ing," ver. 8. And as one generation passeth away, and anotlHT comes, (v. 4.) the successive generations constantly labouring, and pursuing alter stnne good whertMu satisfaction and rest may be obtaini'd, not being discouraged by the disappointment «f former grnrrations, yet ihry mnko no progress, they attain to nothing new beyond their forefathers, they only go round in tk same circle, as the ^ull restlessly repeats the same course that il used to do in fr)nner ages, nnd as the wind and wati*r after tlwir running and flowing have got no further liian they were fornieri); for to the place from whence they came, they constantly return again ; and as the sea is no fuller now than it used to be in fornat

Iges, thouirh the rivers Imvo all the. while with constant and ndefatifrahlc labour and ccmtimial expense of their waters, »een striving to fill it up. That which goes round in a link, iet it continue moving never so swiftly, and never so long, makes no progrc^^^s, conies to nothing new.

[395] Cant. ii. 7. ** 1 charg(j you, O ye daughters of Jcru-lalcm, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till lie pleas<;." In the 2d verse of this chapter is represented the church in her state of persecution ; in the 3d, 4th, 5th, and Gth verses is represented the comforts and supports Christ gives her in this stale of hers ; in this rerse is represented her duty in patience, meekness, and love lo her enemies, and humble and patient wailing for Christ's deliverance, in Christ's trial while she is in this state of suflTer-ing. In tho five following verses is represented Christ's coming to ber deliverance, to put an end to the suffering state of the church, and introduce its properous and glorious day. In this 7th verse, it is strictly charged upon all professing Christians, that they should not stir up nor awake Christ till he please, i. e. that they should not take any indirect courses for their own deliverance while the church is in her afllicted state, ind Christ seems to neglect her, as though he were asleep, but that they should patiently wait on him till his time should come, when he would awake for the deliverance of his church. He that believeth, shall not make haste. They that lake indirect courses to hasten their own deliverance, by rising up Against authority, and resisting their persecutors, are guilty of tempting Christ, and not waiting till his time comes, but going etlK)ut to stir him up, and force deliverance before his own time. They arc charged by the roes and hinds of the field, who are of a gentle and harmless nature, and not beasts of prey, do not devour one another—do not fight with their enemies, but fly from them, and are of a pleasant loving nature, Prov. v. 19. So Christians should flee when persecuted, and should not be of a fierce nature, to resist and fight, but should be of a gentle and loving nature, and wait for Christ's awaking.

The same thing is represented in the iii. chaj). ver. 5. There as that chap, in tlie 1st verse, is represented the fruitless seeking of the church in her slothful, slumbering, dark state that precedes the glorious day of the Christian church, and then is rcpresenttjd her seeking him more earnestly when more awakened, ver. 2, and then the; introduction of her state of light und comfort by that extraordinary preach'mg of the word of God, which will be by the ministers of the gospel, and then, in the 5lh verse, is the church to wait patiently for Christ's ap-

pea ranee, without usinp: undue indirect moans to obtain con-fort before his time roincs. And then in the following versa is more fully represented the happy state of the church after Christ has awaked and come out of the n-iidcrness where he had hid himself. The like change we hare again, chap. fill. 4, which in a like sense rilso agrees well with the context.

[444] Cant. ii. 14. " O my dove, that art in the clefts of tlic rock, in the secret places of the j^tairs, let nic sec thy couiite-nance, let me hear thy voice." There is prohably respect here to the rock of mount Zion, on which Solomon^s house was liuih, or of the mountain of the temple, and to the stairs liy whick they ascended that high rock, to go up to Solomon's ptdarei' See Nehem. iii. 15, and xii. 37; or the stairs by which tbef ascended through the narrow courts into the temple; it comei much to the same thing, whether we suppose the rocks airf stairs referred to, to be of the mountain of Solomon^ pnlaee or temple, for both were typical of the same thing, and boik mountains seemed to have been called by the same naner mount Zion. The church, in her low estate, before thatgloti*' ous spring sfioken of in the foregoing verses, is not admitted to such high privileges, and such nearness to God, and intimtict: with him, as she shall be afterwards, is kept at a greater du^ tance not only by God's providence, but through her own darkness and unbelief, and remams of a legal spirit, whereby she falls more under the terrors of God's majesty manifested at mount Sinai under that legal dis))ensation throui^li which Moses, when God passed by, hid himself in the clefts of the rock. Her love to the spiritual Solomon causes her to remain near his house, about the mountain on which his palace standiii watching at his gates, and waiting at the posts of his doorV and by the stairs by which he ascends to his house, but yet hides herself as if ashamed, and afraid, and unworthy to appear before him, like the woman that came behind Christ to touch the hem of his garment. She has not yet obtained that glorious privilege spoken of, Ps. xlv. 14, 15, and Uev. xix. 7, 8, which she shall be admitted to in the glorious day approndn ing, when she shall enter into the king's palace. She rcinairt now waiting at the foot of the stairs that go up to the liousc^as Jacob lay at the foot of the Ia<ldor, at the place of which be said, this is the house of God, thiT) is the gate of heaven, niiil there she hides herself in the secret placets of the stairs, liol then she shall be made joyfully to ascend, and with boKlncst^ and o|)en face to go to the king in his palace.

[486] Cant. iv. 3. '' Thy lips arc like a thread of scarlet." There is probably a special lespcct to the speech of the saints u prayer, which is dyed in the blood of Christ, and by this means becomes pleasant and acceptable, and of an attractive lufluence, like a scarlet cord to draw down blessings. The [iruycrs of saints are lovely and prevalent only through the in-i^eusc of Christ's merits.

[487] Cant. iv. 3. " Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." This probably represents faitli, for it is that by which the church is united to her head. For Christ is her head ; or if we look at ministers as a subordinate head, yet they are so no otherwise than as they repro-seiit Christ, and act as his ministers, and the same that is the union of believers to Christ in their union to ministers, and in receiving them, they receive him. It is by the same faith whereby they receive Christ, and obey his word, that they receive and obey the instructions of ministers, for their instructions are no other than the word of Christ by them. Faith is the church's life, and strength, and constant support, and supply, as the neck is to the body. Faith is the church's shield; £ph. vi. 16; it is the church's armory furnishing her with shields, because it provides them out of Christ's fullness which is contained in the promises.

[488] Cant. iv. 5. ** Thy two breasts arc like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies." Like two yonng roes, i. e. fair, loving, and pleasant. See Prov. v. 19. Roes which feed among the lilies, not in a wilderness, but in a good pasture, or a pleasant garden, fair and flourishing. And by their being the white unspotted lilies for their nourishment, may also represenc her chastity and purity, that her breasts are not defiled by an impure love. By the church's breasts arc meant means of grace; see Cant. viii. 1. 8, Isai. Ixvi. 11, 1 Peter il. 2. These two breasts may signify the same with the two olive-trees, with the two golden pipes emptying the golden oil out of themselves, and the two anointed ones, Zcch. iv. 3. 11, 12. 14, and the two witnesses in Revelation, the two testaments, and two sacraments ; another thing meant is love, the two breasts are love to God and love to men.

[428] Solomoii^s Song, iv. 8. *' Come with nic from liCba-non, my spouse, come with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Auiana, from the top of Shenir and llerniun, from the Jious' dens, from the mountains of the leopards." This cull

and invitation of Jesus Christ may be looked upon as directoi cither to her that is already actually the spouse of Christ, or her th.at is called and invited to he his spouse, that is, airead; his spouse no otherwise than in liLs gracious election. Sotk Gentiles are called a sister in the laH chapter of this soi^, even hefore they were in a church estate, before ^he hadaoj, breasts. So in the xliii. of Isaiah, where respect is badtotJKJ calling of the Gentiles, God calls those his sons and daughters, that were so as yet, only in his decree of election. Ver. 6. "I will say to the north, Give up ; and to the south. Keep not badi: bring my sous from far, and my daughters from the endsef the eartli.^'

Lebanon, Amana, Shenir, and Hermon, were certain no(d mountains in the wilderness, in the confines of the land of Gi-naan, that were wild and uninhabited. Hence the wonderfil work of God in turning barbarous and heathenish countrieil^l Christianity, is compared to the turning such a wild forest ■ Lebanon into a fruitful field. Isai. xiii. 17. '* Is it not yeti very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitCil field, and the fruitfid field shall be esteemed as a forest ?" Thf were mountains that were haunts of wild beasts, and prob«% some of them at least very much frequented by lions aodle^ pards, those most fierce and terrible of wild beasts; they win places where lions had their dens, and either these orsoM other noted mountains in the wilderness, were so frequentedlf leopards, that they were called the mountains of the leopinlii It is from such places as these that the spouse, or she tbatii invited to be the spouse, is invited to look to Jesus Cbriitt where she was without the limits of the pleasant land of C^ naan, wandering and lost in a howling wilderness, where sk was in continual dnngcr of being devoured and falling a pr? to those terrible creatures. Christ graciously calls andiuTitfl her to look to him from the tops of these desolate mountain towards the land of Canaan, and towards the holy city Jen* lem, where he dwelt, though far ofli'; yea, to come withhi*i for Christ is come into this wilderness to seek and to saveitf that is lost, to come and leave those horrid places, and cooi and dwell with him in the pleasant land, yea, in the city Jemtf* lem, that is the perfection of beauty, the joy of the wholecartt' Yea, though the lions had actually seized her, and carried h^ into their dens, there to be a feast for them, yet Chrisic** and encourages her to look to him from the lions' dens.

David represents his praying to God in a state of exile*" ill distressing cir(!uni>taiices, by his renienibering Gud \^^ the land of the Htrntonites. Ps. xlii. C '* Christ saves*"* out i)( the dens of lions, as he did Dairul, and out uHh*=

IT

ItoOQths of wild beasts, as David did the lamb from the mouth of the lion and the bear. He invites sinners that are naturally under the dominion of Satan, that roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour; and invites saints under the greatest darkness and distresses, and temptations, and bufletings of Satan, Do look to him.

[435] Cant. iv. 9. *^ Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.'' ^^ hat that one chain of the spouse's neck is, that does so peculiarly ravish the heart of Christ, we may learn by Ps. xlv. 10,11, "Forget thine own people, and thy Father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty." The thing here recommended to the spouse, in order to the king's greatly desiring, or being ravished with her heauty, is poverty of spirit. That this peculiarly delights and attracts the heart of Christ, is agreeable to many scriptures. 1 Peter iii. 2, 3. " Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, and putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." This is in a peculiar manner a sweet savour to God. Ps. li. 17. This in a peculiar manner draws the eye of God, Isai. Ix. 2, and 'attracts his presence. Tsai. Ivii. 15. Ps. xxxiv. 18. Or perhaps it may be the eye of faith that includes poverty of spirit and love. These grraces being exercised in faith, are peculiarly acceptable; faith derives beauty from Christ's righteousness, by which all mixture of deformity is hid.

[489] Cant. v. 14. "His belly is as bright ivory, overlaid with sapphires." The word is the same in the original, which in ver. 4, is rendered bowels, and wherever it is attributed to God, it denotes affection, and is rendered bowels, as Isai. Ixiii. 15. Jer. zzxi. 20, his affection is said to be like bright ivory overlaid with sapphires, representing the justice and mercy which are both so perfectly exercised, and manifested in him, in the work of redemption. The bright, or pure white ivory, represents his perfect justice. Solomon's throne of justice was ivory, which substance was chosen to be the mother of his throne in all probability, because it fitly represented justice; as the throne of Christ at the day of judgment, Rev. xx., is represented as a great white throne. His belly was overlaid with sapphires, being a precious stone of a beautiful azure or sky blue, the softest of all the colours, to represent mercy. Thus the throne of God had the appearance of sapphire, Ezek. i. 26, to signiry that he sat on a throne of grace.

VOL. IX. 47

[85] Cant. vi. 13. " What will ye see in the Shulamite? Ai it were the company of two armies," or, " the company of Maba-Daim." The two armies that are the company of Mahanaim are the church of God in earth and in heaven; the company of Ja« cob and the company of the angels, see Gen. xxxii. 2; or the church militant, and the church triumphant, for both these armiei make one spouse of Jesus Christ.

[490] Cant. vii. 1. " How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O princess daughter T' This is to signify the amiableness ofbtr conversation, and that her conversation is not naturally amiable, but that this beauty of conversation is put upon her. Andao* other thinp^ implied is, that she was prepared for travel, as the people in Egypt were, to have their shoes on their feet. Exod. xii. !!• So the apostle directs that Christians should have their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Eph. vi. 15, i.e. a preparation for travel according to the gospel, and by the gospel of peace.

To the same scope is what follows—** The joints of tliy thigbs are like jewels, the work of the hand of a cunning workman.^' The joints, the knees, and hips, are especially the seat and means of motion in walking. When it is said, The joints of thy thia;lii are the work of a cunning workmnn, this may be explained by that of the apostle, Eph. i. 10; *' We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good worlds, which God hath fore-ordained that they should walk in them." The whole body oflhc church is fitly joined together, by joints and bands; the joints are kept firm, and fit for their proper motion and operation by mutual charity, holy love and union, and communioD of saints.

[491] Cant. vii. 2. '* Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor." The navel, according to the ancient notions they had of things, was the seat of health. Prov. iii. 8. "It shall be health to thy navel." Job xl. IG. ** His force is in the navel of his belly." So that the thing which is here most probably represented is the spiritual health of the church: her navel i$ compared to a goblet which wanteth not liquor, i. e. full of wine, that enlivening, invigorating liquor. The word signifies mixture or temperament, or wine mixed or tempered; that is, wiuc that is so prepared as to make it the most agreeable and wholc-iome; (see Prov. xxiii. 30. and ix. 2;) probably the same may be meant that is called spiced wine, in ciiap. viii. 2.

[492] Cant. vii. 4. " Thine eyes are like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Btith-rabbim." It seems there were tuo or more noted fishpools near to the city of Heshbon, the chief

5ily in the country of Moab, by one of the gates of that city, railed the gate of Bath-rabbim, i. e- the gate of the house of the Dultitude, probably so called because at that gate was an lou^e for the resort of the muliiludcs that resorted to these ^ools for the sake of the water of that pool, and fish which were caught there, and to wash themselves there, and perhaps •lese pools might be remarkable for the clearness of the water, i.nd their fitness to exhibit a true and distinct image of the multi-:midcs that resorted thither, wherein men might see themselves as Aey were, and might see the spots and filth which they would ^ash off, and wherein was a true representation of other things. So that the thing signified by the eyes of the spouse may be the Spiritual knowledge and understanding of the church, by which the has a true knowledge of herself and her own pollutions, and ^so a true representation or idea of other things. And also tiereby may be signified the benevolence and bountifulness of the S^yes of a true saint, so that they as it were yield meat and drink Lo a multitude, as it is probable these fishpools did. Proverbs ii. 9.

[493] Cant. vii. 4. " Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, ferbich looketh towards Damascus.'^ The tower of Lebanon, looking towards Damascus, was probably some tower built in Lebanon, on the frontier next to the kingdom of Damascus, to •ratch over that country, and for the defence of Israel from its inhabitants. By the account which history gives of Damascus, it was a magnificent city, and an exceeding pleasant, delightful place, like a mere garden of pleasure, and, therefore, it is called Kbe city of praise and joy, Jer. xl. 25 ; and in Amos, i. 2, is called Beth-Eden, or the house of Eden. Men of carnal minds •rould prefer the land to the land of Israel, that God calls the pleasant land, and the glory of all lands. Naaman, the Syrian, contemned the waters of Israel in comparison of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus. And it seems their religion and ipirorsbip was exceedingly pompous, tending much to please a vain carnal mind that favours the things of men more than the things «f God. King Ahaz was greatly taken up with the curious fashion and workmanship of the altar he saw there, and he sent to "Urijah the priest, a pattern of it, that he might make one like it in the courts of God's house, and chose rather to offer his sacrifice on this new altar than on the altar of the Lord. 2 Kings xvi. 10, &c.

The nose is the organ of smelling; therefore here the church is commended for her spiritual scent, which was a good defence to berfrom corrupt doctrines, and false ways of worship of men's invention, however specious and fair, and tending much more to please a carnal taste than the true religion of Jesus Christ

Pomp and magnificencey and the corioos inventions of do^ and the things which men's wisdom teaches^ please men of c» rapt minds, but a true saint, through a spiritnal taste or scn^ nauseates those things, and is defended from them. This spiritnl scent is the best defence from those things that would corrapt hr mind from the simplicity that is in Christ.

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[494] Cant. vii. 5. ** Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, (or crimson, as it is in the margin,) and the hair of thine head like purple.'^ If by head here be understood the eldership of tbe church ; then her head is compared to Carmel, probably becaiNC Carmel was n very fruitful hill, and an high hill, whose fruits wen seen at a distance, as Christ compares his disciples to acitytdl^ on an hill whose works could not be hid. (See Note on chaptl -^^ iv. 1.) The hair is the fruit of the head, and may represent tx^l^' the doctrine and conversation of faithful ministers, who know no-|<^ thing, and favour of nothing either in their doctrine or life, bat Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and so their preaching and walk is, as it were, coloured with his blood. And this also may be sig* |^ nified by it that the holy doctrine and conversation of ministen arc a princely ornament to them purple, being tbe colour of the robes of princes.

But, perhaps, by the head of the spouse, here may be meant tht doctrine which she holds, the doctrine of the gospel, which is represented as a glorious crown on her head in Rev. xii. 1. Tbii may be compared to Carmel, that fruitful hill, because it is the doctrine that is according to godliness or to crimson, because Jesus Christ and him crucified, or Christ's shedding his blood, is tbe sum and substance of it.

[495] Cant. vii. 7. ** And thy breasts to clusters of grapes." By her breasts here, most probably is intended, the grace of love, or spiritual complacency ; affection to her husband and his children. The bosom is put for love; so Christ is said to be in tbe bosom of the Father. This agrees with that in Prov. v. 19. *< Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravi&hed always with her love." Christ's love is compared to wine, cbap. i. And so in the love of the spouse, chap. iv. 10. '* How much better is thy love than wine!" And here her breasts are compared to clusters of grapes. See No. 488.

[496] Cant vii. 8. "And the smell of thy nose like apples." As by the roof of the mouth in the next verse, is not intended simply the roof of the mouth itself, as though that were exceedingly pleasant to the bridegroom, this being a part of the body that is hidden ; but thereby is probably meant the speech which comet from the mouth: so here, by the nose, is not meant the nose itself, but the breath; so the bridegroom would hereby signify that tbe

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K0TE8 ON THE BIBLE. S73

smell of her breath was sweet, her vitals being sound and pure, and sweet, being made so by the food she eat, viz. apples, the food sbe from time to time desires to be refreshed with, it being the fruit that he yields, who is as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, whose fruit was sweet to her taste. Person's breath commonly smells of the food which they eat; thus the breath of the spouse is represented as smelling like apples.

[497] Cant. vii. 9. "And the roof of thy month like the best wine for my beloved, that goeih down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." By the roof of the mouth is here probably meant his discourse, which is like excellent wine that goes sweetly down, and so refreshes and enlivens other saints whom here Christ calls his beloved, that it causes those of them that are asleep, and in the dullest frame, to speak; it enlivens their hearts and tongues in divine things.

[8] Cant. viii. 1. " O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother ! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee, yea, 1 should not be despised." Which wish of the church is now accomplished, by Christ's incarnation ; the Son of God, who is infinitely higher than we, is come down unto us in our nature, and has familiarized himself to us.

[242] Isai. vii. 17. <<The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria." This seems not to be spoken of the king of Israel mentioned in the foregoing verse, but of Ahaz the king oi Judah, to whom the prophet was then speaking. It could not bemeantofPekah, the king of Israel, because it speaks of bringing the king of Assyria in his father's house, but the family of Pe« kah was not cut off by the king of Assyria, but by Hoshea the son of £lah, who conspired against him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 2 Kings xv. 30. God by the prophet had offered great encouragement to Ahaz under his present distress and fear of Pekah and Rezin, and gave him a glorious sign, which he would not give heed to, as appears by ver. 12. His confidence was not in God for help, but in the king of Assyria, whom he had faired by the treasures of both church and sta^te, and by basely promising to be his servant. 2 Kings xvi. 7, 8. Seeing he would not believe God's promises, nor take encouragement from his signs, therefore he should not be established ; and though God would do great things for his people by the Immanuel that should be born in his family, yet he should have no benefit of it; and though il was true as the prophet had told him, that be should not be

hurl by the kingdom of SjTia, and kingdom ofEphraim, that was now plotting his ruin ; yet seeing he would not believe he should not be the belter for it, for there should come a greater calamity upon him, than ever the kingdom of Judah suffered from the kingdom of Israel, and indeed greater than ever they suffered since the kingdoms were divided from them, and became unfriendly to ihem; and that from the king of Assyria himself, whom he trusted so much in for help, against the kingdom of Israel. The calamity came upon him in his lifetime in a measure, as it is said in this verse [upon THEE ;] for when the king of Assyria came up, he distressed him, and strengthened him not. 2 Chron. xxviii. 20, 21 ; and afterwards it came upon his father's house, and on his people.

[293] Isai. viii. 7, 8. ** Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon ihem the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks; and he shall pass through Judah; ho shall overflow, and go over." The river Euphrates was the ancient boundary that God had set to the possession of the children of Israel, and to the dominion of their princes. This is from time to time mentioned as their eastern limits in the book of Moses, and over all on this side the river. The kings of Judah and Israel had formerly reigned, and their territories were overrun by the people that dwelt about that river, it is well represented as though the river Euphrates, their ancient boundary, broke its banks, and not only encroached upon them to the straitening their limits, but even overflowed all their possessions. They have no more their own by God's grant, than is left them on this side the river Euphrates ; and therefore, when those waters came to overflow all, they have none left. See Note on Isai. xxviii. 17.

[243] Isai. ix. 9, 10, &c. *' And all the people shall know, even Ephraim, and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in their pride and stoutness of heart, tiie bricks arc hewn down, but we will build with hewn stones ; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." Tiiey disregarded those awful and repeated judgments God had lately exercised upon thera, whereby he had already greatly diminished their numbers and their wealth, and the extent of their dominions, when Pul, the king pf Assyria, came up against the land, and took a thousand talents of silver out of the land, as 2 Kings xv. 19, and when afterwards Tiglath pileser, in the days of Pekah, he that was now king, came and destroyed so great a part of the land beyond Jordan, and in the northern parts, as 2 Kings xv. 19, and TChron. v.

. Thry were insensible .and utihumbled under these awful re-kes of heaven, as ver. 13, "For the people turneth not hira timt tileth them.'' But when the hand of heaven was so evidently ainst them to diminish them, yet they were full of contrivances, d big with expectations of conquests, and enlarging their do-nions, as appears in Pokah's conspiring with Kezin, king of ^ria, to go and conquer the kingdom of Judah, of which in the o foregoing chapters. Thus even in the midst of God's awful igments they were full of haughty, ambitious designs, and big ih expectations of aggrandizing them, and making themselves jger than they were before ; though they had lost their western id northern countries, yet they hoped to obtain the kingdom of idah that should more than make up their loss, and so said, hough the bricks are fallen down, v.e will build with hewn stone, c.

[24G] Isai. x.2G. " And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge r him, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock Ortb." he prophet is speaking here of tlie destruction of Sennacherib's my, and of himself afterwards. There was a remarkable ngrec-ent between this destruction of his arn)V, and that of the vast my of the Midianites, wliicji was without the children of Israel's

iking a blow. Judges vii. 20, he. And as Oreb, one of

eir princes was taken afiervvards, and slain after the battle was er, as he was returning to his own land; so Sennacherib, after bad fled, was slain in the temple of his god, Nisroch. Isai. ;xvii. 38. So was that prayer against the enemies of the church, u Ixxxiii. 11, " Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb/' •w fulfilled in Sennacherib.

[503] Isai. xi. 10. " And in that day there sh:»ll be a root of !sse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to, it shall B Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious :" or as theorigi-J is, " His rest shall be glory." There is an evident allusion in ese words to the things which came to pass pertaining to the af-ir of God's redeeming the children of Israel out of Egypt, and iding them through the wilderness, and bringing them into Ca-lan. This is very manifest by the words Immediately following, id by all the succeedingcontext to the end of the chapter. This a prophecy of a second work, greater work of salvation, lerein not only the Jews, but the Gentiles, and all nations, shall irtake. When God redeemed his people out of Egypt to lead eiu to Canaan, which was God's rest, they were gathered to-^lhe^ under ensigns, they were the standards or ensigns of the ur quarters of the army. That of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, id Dan, and then the ensign for the whole army placed in the

NOTES ON THE BIBLE*

i

middle of the congregation, was the tabernacle and ark wbere waf Moses, the captain and leader of the whole hosti with his rod which was used from time to time as the banner or ensign of ibe congregation, as it was especially at the time when it was held op over Israel while they were fighting with Amalek, and obtained a signal victory under that ensign, on which occasion Moses built in altar and called it Jehovah-Nissi^ The Lard my Banner^ or £»• sign^ (the word is the same in the original as here in this place, in Isaiah,) and both the rod and altar were types of Christ, whoii Jehovah, who then was the ensign of his church, and would mort especially and gloriously be exhibited as such in the days of the gospel, as is here foretold in Isaiah ; and then it was a rod that wti held up as an ensign of the people; so here, in this xu of Isaiit, h Christ is spoken of as a rod, as in the first verse; ** And there li shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch sbiH grow out of his roots;" so in this x. verse. " And in thatdaj there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensigo;" i. e. plainly, a Rod or plant from a root of Jesse, (though %om» thing further may be aimed at in using the phrase, Root of Jem,)

As the rod of Moses was occasionally used as an ensign of tbi people, so more constantly the Tabernacle and Ark. These were placed in the midst of the congregation, and the whole was to pilril in exact order round about it, at due distance from it, all having equal respect to it. And the ark is represented as going befoie h the people in their marches ; Numb. x. 33; because that, bow* |^ ever it was in the middle of the army, yet they had respect to& as their Guide^ their Banner, that all whose motions they were to attend ; and when they went through the Jordan into Canaan, tbeir Resty the ark was remarkably made use of as the ensign of the people; it was to be carried before them at such a distance tbat it might be well seen by all the leaders of the people, and tbcj were to take heed to its motions, with the greatest care and exact- T ness, and to follow where that went Josh. iii. 3, 4.

But more especially was the Pillar of cloud andfire^ the ensign of that congregation in their marches from Egypt to Canaan, their Rest. A banner or ensign was lifted up on high that it niighl be seen by the whole company. The ark and tabernacle cooU not be seen by the whole congregation, but the pillar of ckwd and fire which abode on the tabernacle, and departed not fromiti were lifted up to open sight, and displayed to the view of eveij individual person. That was the banner the people were listed under, that they were always to cleave to most strictly, and diS* gently to observe, steadfastly to follow, and never to depart froia, and were to be directed by it in every step they took. Wbei

was ike

that moved, they were to move; when that rested, they must i?ee Numb. ix. 15, to the end. This pillar of cloud and fire wi

ipecial symbol of Christ's presence, and in that standing as an e.D»ign, Christ stood as an ensign of the people. And it is moi cover manifest that that pillur of cloud and fire was a remarkable type of Christ incarnate, or the Son of God in the human nature, concerning whom it is here prophesied that he ■bould stand a^ an Ensign of the people.

When it is said, '^ his rest shall be glory,^^ there is doubtless an allusion to Canaan, the promised Rest to which the ark and pillar of cloud and fire led the children of Israel, and the tbing ultimately intended is heaven. It is said, Numb. x. 33| that the ark of the covenant of the Lord (over which was the pillar of cloud, as in the following verse) went before the people to search out a resting-place for them. Thai was the use of these ensigns under which that people were gathered together. They were to lead them to their Rest. The rest spoken of in the text under consideration, is called Christ's rest, which is agreeable to the style used concerning the rest to which God was leading the congregation in the wilderness ; Ps. xcv. 11; '* To whom he swear in his wratli that they should Dever enter into my RestJ**

Here the rest to which Jesus Christ, God man, should bring the Gentiles, as well as Jews, after his incarnation, is spoken of as another rest, a different rest from that which God brought the Jews to of old, agreeably to the observation of the apostle, Heb. iv. 8, 9, 10, <' For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day: there remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." Here it is remarkable, that take these words of the apostle with the foregoing context, he seems to signify that what is called God's rest, or Christ's rest in the promises of the Old Testament, is so called, not only because it was a rest of God's providing and promising, but because it v^an hisf personally. So here the rest which remains for the people of God, which Christ gives his people, is spoken of as Christ's own rest and happiness that he has entered into : and so the land of Canaan of old was represented as God's own dwelling-place, his inheritance, &c. his mountain in the fields J&e. And therefore, when God brought the people out of Egypt to Canaan, he is represented as having brought them to liim-self. But e.«ipecially was that particular part of Canaan which God chose to place his name there, represented as God's or Christ's rest, namely, Jerusalem, mount Zion, and the temple. Ps. cxxxii. 8. " Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength." Ver. 13, 14. •* The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest

VOL. IX. 48

for ever; here will I dwell, fur I have desired it." 1 Cfaroo. zxviii. 2. '* It was in my heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord." The temple that Solomoo built was the rest of the ark, and the rest of the cloud of glory that abode over the ark ; which had before that wandered lon^^ in the wilderness, and had walked in a tent and in a tabernacle, 2 Sam. vii. G. Uut when the temple was built in the place which God chose, then the ^lory of the Lord had rest, and took up its settled abode there as the place it delighted in; and mount Zion and the temple are in scripture often represented as the dwelling-place and quiet and delightful abode which they long <aftcr, and never can be at rest until they come to dwell in, and which shall be their settled dwelling-place. How often does the psalmist, speaking not only in his own name, but the name of the church, express his longings and pantings after God's courts, his amiable tabernacles, bis altars, &&C., and desire to make this place his rest, as the swallow and sparrow their nest! And how often do the prophets foretell a future redem|)tion of God's people, and their coming from places of captivity and bondage, and from under the haad of their enemies, to dwell in mount Zion, and in God's holy mountain! &^c.

But yet sometimes the prophets spoak of no temple built by men as God^s true rest, but represent heaven as God's true rest. Isai. Ixvi. 1. '* Thus suith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that ye build unto me, and wliero is the place of my rest?" And chap. Ivii. 15. '* For thus sailh tlio high and lofty one that in-habiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place," &:c.

The Rest of that Uootof Jn?sc, that should stand for an Ensign, is said to be Glory ; so the land of Canaan, Zion, and the temple are said to be the re.<t of him, who, as an ensign to the people, is represented in the pillar of rloud and fire. The land of Canaan is called the glory of all lands, Ezek. xx. 5. 16, and the glorious land, Dan. \i. 16, and the glorious holy mountain ; ver. 45, mount Zion is said to be heanfiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth; and in another place, to be the perfection of beauty. So concerning the temple, it is spoken of as exceedingly magnificent of fame and of glory throughout all lands, 1 Chron. xxii. 5. So in Psalm xxix. 2, as the words might have been (and probably better) translated, it is 8aid, *» Worship the Lord in his glorious sanctuary." Ps. xcvi. 6. *' Honour and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." Jer. xvii. 12. " A glorious high tbrona from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." The

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. S79

temple was truly gloriotis in Solomon'^ time, when the people first began fully to enjoy the promised rest in Canaan ; David having fully subdued the inhabitants of the land and their enemies round about; and then indeed the land was happy and glorious.

All these things show plainly that here is an allusion to God's salration of Israel of old, when they were brought out of Egypt, and led throu|;h the wilderness to Canaan under Christ as their Knsign, manifested by these types and symbols of his presence, Moses's rod, the tabernacle, the ark, and especially the cloud of glory above them; and thnt the Rod of Jesse here spoken of is that person there exhibited in these types and symbols. And they also manifestly show that the Messiah was to work out another redemption far greater than that of Egypt, of both Jews and Gentiles, and gather them both into one great congregation, and lead them to another and far more glorious rest than that of Canaan, Jeiusalom, and the temple, even in their greatest glory in Solomon's time, and a rest which should be his own land, and his own dwelling-place, and temple, where his people should partake with him in his rest, happiness, and glory. And so that, as the apostle says, there remaineth a rest to the people of God, besides that which Joshua brought Israel into ; and that heaven is that rest. Some deiscription is given of the comfort and happiness of the rest Co which this Ensign guides God's people, in No. 504, on Eph. u. 7.

[175] Isai. xiii. 20, 21, 22. **It shall never be inhabited. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces." Vide chap, xxxiv. 11, 12,13, 14, 15. Babylon represents the whole church or congregation of the wicked ; by her being to be destroyed, never to be built or inhabited again, is represented the eternal destruction of the congregation of the wicked; by those doleful creatures here mentioned, as possessing of Babylon, are represented devils which the church of the wicked shall be left to the possession of for ever. Babylon, after its destruction, full of these creatures, represents the church of the wicked in its state of punishment; therefore the apostle John, when speaking of the destruction of mystical Babylon, and alluding to this that is said of old Babylon, says expressly, *' She is become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. xviii. 2.

[87] Isai. XXV. II. *'And he shall spread forth his hoinh in the midst of them, as he that swimmetb spreadetb forth hii hands to swim ;" which was the posture in which Christ was cra-

sified in.

[218] Isni. XXX. 27, to the end, and xxxi. 9. Mr. Bedford supposes (Scripture Chronology, p. 671,) that what is here sti4 respects the time when Rabsh:ikeh came against Jerusalem, and Go<i did so wonderfully appear for the defence of the cily, and miraculously slew such a multitude of their enemies in one nigbL Chap. XXX. 28. It is said that his breath as an overflowing streaa should reach to the midst of the neck, i. e. should reduce them to the utmost extremity. This is very agreeable to the manner in which Dr. Prideaux very probably supposes that Rabshakeh^i army was destroyed, viz. by God's bringing on them an hot pestilential wind ; vide Connect, p. 34,35; and where it is said here that there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err, this is agreeable to what is said Concerning Rab-shakeh and his army. chap, xxxvii. 29. It is here said, verse 29, that they should have a song, as in the night, when an holy assembly is kept, and gladness of heart; as when onegoeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord; to the Mighty One of Israel; and God wrought this great deliverance by slayinjf Sennacherib's army in the night, as before he had done in Egypt, by slaying the first born in the night, and thereby gave occaskra to keep the night of the passover with joy, in a joyful maooer, and with songs of praise, which probably was the holy solemnity that the prophot had a special respect to, as Bedford supposes what is said in the 30th verse, together with the 32d, of battles, of shaking, renders it probable that there was an earthquake acconi« panying that judgment, and also thunder, and lightning, and hail, as was common when God miraculously fought against the enemies o( his people, as it was when he fought against Pharaoh aud]the Egyptians at the Red sea. Ps. Ixxvii., at the latter end. '* So God fought against the Amorites in Joshua's time, not only with hail, but thunder and lightning." Ilab. iii. II. So God seeroi to have fought against Sisera and his host. (See Notes on Judges v. 20.) So God fought against the Philistines in Samuel's time. S:> God seems to have fought sometimes for David, against bis enemies, and particularly at Baal-Perazim. Vide Note on Psala x\iii. 7, &.C. So Hannah prophesied that God would appear ap^ainst the enemies of his people. 1 Sam. ii. 10. Thunder, lightning, hail and r:)in, is God's artillery, that he was wont to m ike use of when he appeared in battle. Job xxvviii. 22,23. "Ha$f thou entered into the treasures of the snow ; or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of

trouble, against the d.ny of battle and war ?'* It is probable that the greater part of them might he slain by such a sudden and extraordinary pestilence while asleep; and God might pursue the rest that awoke and escaped the pestilence with a tempest of thunder, lightning*, and hail, until the greater part of them were destroyed. And what is said, ver. 32, seems to be mnch better translated in the margin, viz. : ** In every passing of the rod founded which the Lord shall cause to rest upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps;" this translation is word for word, as it is in the original, meaning the rod of God's anger on the Assyrian. In the foregoing verse with this, it is foreiuld that the Assyrian, that beat down others with his rod, should be beaten down in his turn with God's rod ; and thus to speak of the rod of God's anger is agreeable to the phraseology of scripture : particularly, to call ajudg^ ment that God had appointed, a rod that God had founded or e»-iutdished, and fo express his mbjccting them to the judgment^ by God*% causing the rod to rest upon them, and to call the smiting with the rod at each stripe, the passings of the rod. We read of these passings of the rod, chap, xxviii. 18, 19. And when it is said it shall be with tabret<t and harps, the meaning is, that when God's people shall behold the punishment which be shall bring upon them, it shall cause joy and songs in them, agreeable to verse 29. They shall, as it were, lift up the voice of music and joy, at every time, as they hear the voice or sound of God's avenging rod on their enemies, which is agreeable to what is said with respect to this very judgment on Rabshakeh's army, chap, xxxvii. 22. And what is said, ver. 33, seems well to agree with the place where this great destruction was, viz. : Tophet, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, which was near Jerusalem, on the south side, whither Rabshakeh came from Lachish, Libnah, and Gush, and where he encamped before he could form the siege of the place, as Bedford observes.

The time when they were thus threatened by Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, was a time when they relied on Egypt for help, as appears by the words of Rabshakeh, chap. xxwi. 6—9, which agrees with the beginning of the xxxi. chap.; and what is said in the 4th, 5th, and Sth verses of that chapter, exceedingly agrees with the way in which God did by himself, immediately, without making use of the sword of man, defend and fight for Jerusalem, and what is said in the 9th verse, of the Assyrian's passing over to bis strong hold for fear, agrees witti what is said, chap, xxxvii. 7. 29. 34.37.

[378] Isai. xxxi. 9. " Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, ana his furnace in Jerusalem:" i. e. There he has his throne of Judgment where he sits to judge the nations of the world, to try

.men as in a refiner's fire, to prove tlie righteous and Justify them, and to consume the wicked. God in judging is represented io scripture as doing llie part of a refiner of metals. Mai. ii. 2,3. ^* But who may abide the day of his coming:, and mho shall stand when he appeareth ; for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller'i soap, and he sliall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The place where the refiner fines metals, is where he has his furnace; and so the place w hence God judges the nations of the world, and executes judgment and justice on the earth, is where be has ei-tablished his throne, which is in Zion. There God is represented as having his throne, and from thence all his judgments that are executed in the earth are represented as proceeding* So in the 1st chap, of Amos, God's judgments upon Syria, and upon the Philistines, Tyrus and Edom, and upon the Ammorites, are represented as proceeding from God in Zion, and from Jerusalem, ai ver. 2. '* The Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem;" together with what follows in that chapter. So God is represented asjudging all nations from thence in the last chapter of Joel, as ver. IG, 17. ^* The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake."—'^ So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain." And ver. 21. *^ For the Lord dwelleth in Zion ;" together with the rest of the chapter. So it is said, Ps. Ixxvi. 2, 3, *' In Salem also is his Or bernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." So God is represented as judging the nations of the world out of Zion. Ps. 1. at the beginning. /'The mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence : a Jire shall devour before him. He shall call to tbe

heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people." So Isai. ii. 3, 4. *' For out of Zion shall go fortli the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people." So here God is represented as judging the Assyrians from mount Zion. He that sits in Zion as a refiner, is represented as bringing their young valiant men to the furnace there, and melting them in the fire, as in the foregoing verse, his young men shall be for melting, as it is in the Hebrew. So in thexxxiii. chap, he is represented as destroying the enemies of Israel, as one that dwelleth on IwK and fills Zion with judgment and righteousness. And as God's judgments on his enemies are represented as coming out of Zioo, so is the salvation of his people, as Ps. xiv. 7 ; liii. 6 ; xx. 2; ex. 2; cxxviii. 5; cxxxiv. 3. The Assyrians that besieged Jerusalem

are represented as consumed by fire. Chap. ix. 5. '^ Every ba't-tle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be wiih burning and fuel of fire."

[213] Isai. xxxii. 2. '^ As rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." There is an allu* sion here to the deserts of Arabia, which was an exceeding hot and dry place, one might travel many days going, and see no sign of a river, brook, or spring, nothing but a dry and parched wilderness, so that travellers there were ready to be consumed with thirst, as the childi'en of Israel were when they were in this wilderness, when they were faint because there was no water. Now when a man finds Jesus Christ, he is like a man that has been travelling in these deserts, until he is ready to perish with thirst, and at last finds a river of cool and clear water, it is exceeding refreshing. Christ was one actually typified by a river of water thai was miraculously caused to flow in the dry deserts of Arabia, for the refreshing and satisfying God's people when they were almost consumed with thirst, even by that stream of water out of the rock, for as the apostle says, that rock was Christ. This stream of water issued out of the rock that was in Horeb, which word signifies a dry place. This was a river in a dry place. Ps. cv, 41. He opened the rock and the waters gushed out, they ran in the dry places like a river. This is called aland of great drought. Hoseaxiii. 5. See also Deut. viii. 15. Christ is as a river of water, because there is such a fullness in him for the satisfaction of the needy, thirsty soul, and enough not only for one, but for all the multitude of God's people, as the stream out of the rock was sufficient for the whole congregation, which was doubtless more tbon two million souls and their cattle.

And when Christ is said to be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, the allusion is still to the deserts of Arabia. It is not said as the shadow of a tree, because in those vast deserts there are no trees; nothing for shade to protect travellers, but here and there a great rock. Christ is to the weary soul, as the cool shadow of a great rock, or a steep rocky mountain in the scorched deserts of Arabia.

[261] Isai. xxxii. 2. " And a man shall be an hiding place,** &c. Here Christ is compared to three things that correspond with several things in the congregation in the wilderness, that were typical of Christ.

Fir$t. Christ is called " An hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest," which corresponds with the Tabernacle. Tabernacles are made to shelter travellers iu a strange

lauS, where they have no abiding place from llie injuries of the wt^ather; and a tabernacle is aUo an hiding place; ihe secret «f God's tabernacle is especially spoken of as such. Ps* izvii.S, '* In the time of trouble he shall hide nie in bis pavilion; io the secret of his tabernacle;" and so in other places, there cited ii the margin, and in the iv. chap, of Isaiah at the end. Chriitii expressly compared to a tabernacle in both these respecU, fix. ai a shelter, and as a hiding place, er refuge*

Secondly, Christ is compared to a river of water in a drj place, which answers to those rivers of water out of a rocki io that land of great drought. Vide No. 213. And

Thirdly, Christ is compared to the shadow of a great rock ii a weary land, which answers to the pillar of cloud, which shadird the children of Israel in that parched wilderness, to which CbriK is compared, chap. iv. 5. Ps. cxxi. 5. Isai. ixv.- 4, 5. And though it was not the shade of a rock, yet it was a rock tliat refreshed them otherwise, viz. with its cooling refreshing waters.

[214] Isai. xxxiii. 17. '* Thine eyes shall see the king io bif beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far olT.'* Thii verse speaks of two different sorts of people that dwell in Zioo, viz. 1. The true citizens of Zion described here in the two preceding verses, much as the true citizens of Zion are described io the XV. Psalm, and Ps. xxiv. 4, 5 ; and, 2. Sinners in Zion, spoken of in the 14th verse. Of the former it is said, ** Thine eves shall see the King in his beauty," i. e. those thRt are spoken of in the immediately foregoing words. They shall see the land tliat is very far off, i. e. they that were spoken of before. There is an evident antithesis in the words : as they are opposite kinds of persons that are spoken of, so they are opposite things that are predicated of them. The one should ''see the land that is very far off," i. e. should be led away captive thither; as it was threatened to the children of Israel if they were not obedient, that tbe; should be driven out of their own land, and carried captive into a very far country. Dent, xxviii. 49. '' Tbe Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth ;" and 64ib verse, ''And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth, even unto the other;'' and this is a judgment often threatened by the prophets to the wicked Israelites, and is threatened by this prophet in particular. Isai. v. 26. xiii* 5. " They came from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land." But the other should " see the King in his beauty;'' this is here spoken of as the opposite to a being carried away into a far country. The literal and next meaning seenf

lo be this, that while the sinners in Zion are cast out of Zion, ftod oat of their own land to the ends of the earth, and made ilaves to a foreign prince, thou shalt dwell peaceably and quietly in the land of Israel, and in Zion (the true citizens of Zion shall ftbide in Zion, Ps. xv. 1.) under the peaceable and happy go-rernment of thine own prince, the King of Zion, the King that sits in the throne of David, who had his palace in Zion. Thou shalt iee the king that reigns in Zion in his beauty, reigning and go-ferning his people in great glory and prosperity, and thou shalt enjoy the blessing of his prosperous and glorious reign. Beauty if often put for glory and prosperity, as chap, xxviii. 1, and Ezek. Kxvii. 3, 4. 11, and chap, xxviii. 12. 17, as verse 20 of this context, thou shalt see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, i. e. thou shalt enjoy the blessings of its safe and quiet state, as Ps. cxxviii. 5, 6.

thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem and thou shalt see peace

upon Israel. The blessing here promised to the righteous in Israel, seems to be the same with that which the queen of Sheba observed in Solomon's servants. 2 Chron. ix. 7. '' Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee.''

But although what the prophet here alludes to in the punishment threatened to the sinners in Zion, be the captivity into Babylon, and what he alludes to in the reward promised to the right-sous, be the dwelling under the safe, and quiet, and prosperous government of their own king that sat on the throne of David, irhich was in Zion; yet the things chiefly meant, are spiritual things that are typified by these temporal things, for there never iras literally any such distinction made between the wicked and righteous Israelites, as is here spoken of; for when the Jews irere carried away into Babylon, there was no king left reigning in Zion in peace and prosperity, but it was a time of universal calamity throughout the whole land. Therefore, by being carried captive into a land very far ofl*, seems to be intended chiefly the eternal rejection and banishment of hypocrites, who though they for the present dwell in Zion in God's church amongst bis people, yet the time will come when they shall be removed at the Utmost distance from it, and shall be sent into internal banishment; and by the king that is here spoken of, that the true citizens of Zion shall see in his beauty, is meant Jesus Christ, even David their king, as he is called, Jer. xxx. 9. and Hos. iii. 5. The king spoken of in the beginning of the foregoing chapter, and every where throughout this book. They shall behold him in his beauty, and shall enjoy the blessings of his kingdom of grace here; and hereafter shall for ever dwell in his presence, and see his face, and rejoice in his kingdom of glory.

VOL. IX. 49

[317] Isai. xl. 1,2-** Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God ; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem ; and crj unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity ii pardoned ; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Gud often executes very severe judgments on bis visible church for their sins, and though her punishment lie never double to her deserts, or more than her deserts, yet she oftentimes suffers double in two respects.

1. Double to the sufferings which their sins, their violatiooi of duties of the second table of the law have brought on others, in which sense the false church is commanded to be punished. Rev. xviii. 6. *' Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double; in the cup which she bath filled, fill to her double."

2. Double to all the pleasure or benefit, the wealth or worldly advancement which she hath obtained or aimed at by her sins, as in the place in Revelations, it follows in the next verse, ** How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her." By double, is not meant precisely twice so much, but vastly more. Thus God does not only punish Babylon, or the false church, but his own visible church, when they corrupt themselves, and make themselves in a great measure a false church, like as Jerusalem and Israel of old did. God punished them with great severity ; he pun-bhed them doubly, Jer. xvi. 18. ** I will recompense their iniquity, and their .sin double, because they have defiled my land.'* God caused all the idolatrous nations to drink the wine cup of his fury, and especially Sheshack, or Babylon, but he in the first place gave it to Jerusalem. Jer. xxv. God takes notice of the great severity with which he had punished Jerusalem; for this is manifestly the lan<;uage of cum passion. A father, while in wrath he is correcting his child, makes light of its suflTerings; but when his heart begins to relent, and bowels of compassion to yearn, his sufferings begin to look great in his eyes. God is often represented as thus exercising the bowels of a nieiciful father towards his people after severe correction. See Judg. X. 6, Jer. xxxi. 20, Isai. xv. 16, Nahum ix. 32.

[485] Isai. xl. 15. ** He takcth up the isles as a very little thing." A very fine remark, and a solid correction of the common translation is here made by that learned, sagaci6us, and devout expositor, Vitringa. He ol)ser\ es that the common translation is neither answerable to the import of the original, nor consonant to the structure of the discourse. The prophet had no intention to inform mankind what the Almighty could do with regard to the islands, if he pleased to exert his |]ower.

but his design was to show how insignificant, or rather what mere nothings they are in his esteem, and before his Majesty. The islands, says he, though so spacious as to afford room for the erection of kingdoms and the abode of nations, though so strong as to withstand for many thousands of years the raging and reiterated assaults of the whole watery world, are yet before the adored Jehovah small as the minutest grain which the eye can scarce discern, light as the feathered mote, which th# least breath hurries away like a tempest, ^lO' p'^D C'k, Insulae mntf ut levi quid, quod avolat. " The deep-rooted islands are as the volatile atom, which, by the gentlest undulations of the air, is wafted to and fro in perpetual agitations." Hervey's Meditations, vol. 2, p. 130.

[437] Isai. xli. 18, 19,20. '< I will make the wilderness

pools of water 1 will plant in the wilderness the cedar-—

That ye may see, and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." God will cause waters to flow in the dry desert, and turn the barren wilderness into a pleasant garden, and bring forth these glorious things in such places that were most likely and most distant from any thing of this nature, and where was the least of any previous disposition, preparation, or foundation for any thing of this, that his hand might be the more visible, and his power and efficacy the more apparent and undeniable; as of old, when God furnished a table in the wilderness, and brought foith water out of the flinty rock. Therefore here it is said, ** The Holy One of Israel hath created ilJ^^ To create^ as the woid is in scripture, is either to make out of nothings or, which is equivalent, to make out of that which has in itself no natural fitness^ disposition^ or proportion^ or foundation for such an effect.

[438] Isai. xli. 22. " Let them bring forth and show us what fthall happen: let them show us former things, what they be^ that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them ; or declare us things for to come." See also verse 4, and verses23. 26, chap. xlii. 9, xliii.9, 10, 11, 12, xliv. 6, 7,8, xlv. 21, 22, xlvi. 9, 10, xlviii. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8. 14, 15, 16.

Hy former things in these passages of the prophet, is meant former predictions of future events, or former and ancient dispensations, or works that pointed at things future, either by representing and typifying them, or by preparing for them, and ordering things with an evident respect to future events; or more briefly, by former things is meant such words or works

0O pointed at things future, as to show plainly that they,

I'

988 NOTES ON THE BIBLE-

whose words or works they were, had the foreknowledge and ordination of those future events. It is evident that by fbroMr things are meant former signs of future events, by what is ssid here in chap. xli. 22. *' Let them show us former things whst they be, that we may consider th<5m what they be, and know the latter end of them ;" i. e. let them bring forth their aodeot redictions or dispensations pointing at future events, that ws ay consider them, and compare them with the event, and ses how they prove in the latter end, see how they come out inths event of things. This is confirmed by ver. 26. *'Whohatli declared from the beginning, thnt we may know? and before time, that we may say. He is righteous f" i. e. that we may ae» knowledge that his cause is good, and that he is to be justified in his pretences ; for here God is calling of them to come near together with him to judgment, that it may be tried who can best make out their pretences to divinity and claims of divine honours: see ver. 1 and 21. This is further manifest by chap, xlii. 9. *' Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare before they spring forth, I tell you of them." And zliii. 9, 10. '' Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled, who ^mong them can declare thii and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses;'' i. e. let them bring forth their witnesses, that such and such things they foretold, or by some di8|>enHation of theirs showed their foreknowledge of such and such events; and that the events exactly agreed with the prediction. Producing witnesses, that they may be justified, is a form of speech still alluding to a coming together in judgment. See also ver. 10,11, 12, and chap. xliv. 6,7, 8, xlv. 21, 22, xlvi. 9,10, xlviiL 3, 4, &c.

[331] Isai. xli. 25. '* I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he callupoa my name; and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadcth clay." Probably some respect may be here had to Cyrus,'who came from the northeast, being seot by the king of Media to destroy Babylon; and so this place seems parallel with chap. xliv. 28, xlv. 1 and 13. But yet the Holy Ghost seems principally to have an eye here to some other prince, an antitype of Cyrus, that shell come from the northeast to destroy the spiritual Kubylon, or antichristian church, which shall be raised up at the time when that glory shall be accomplished for the church that is here proj)hesied of in this chapter, and the foregoing and following chapters. The chief of them that are called the kings of the ea$t^ that arc represented as coming to destroy the spiritual Babylon on the dry-

mg up of the river Euphrates, in Rev. xvi. 13 ; as Cyrus and other princes of tbeeaf^t had their way prepared to destroy the literal Babylon on the drying up of the literal river Euphrates, and probably the emperor of Muscovy. This better agrees with the context, which evidently speaks of the glorious times of the church of God, and it better agrees with the words themselves, that speak of ilie person that shall be raised up as one that shall call on God's name, which was not fully accomplished in Cyrus, though he showed great respect to the true God; yet never properly became a worshipper of the true God, but lived and died an idolator; and it better agrees with the following words which speak of the glory of God in fore* telling this thing so long aforehand.

The princes that the emperors of Muscovy shall probably come upon as mortar, are those two great princes that the devil has set up in opposition to Christ, viz. the emperor of the Turks and the Pope. The emperor of the Turks first, so drying up the river Euphrates, and (hen the Pope, when his way^ is thus prepared. The princes of these very countries, whose former princes overthrew the literal Babylon, will be joined with the princes of Muscovy, as they have of late been in war with the Turks.

[79] Isai. xlii. 3. *'A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth." The thijg most directly intended in this verse seems to be the perseverance of the Christian church, aird of particular saints; the church shall not be extinct, though it shall be greatly oppressed and persecuted, and shall be as a hruised reed, but it shall not be wholly broken ; when once the fire is kindled it shall never be quenched ; but though it do but just smoke at first, afterwards it shall flume out; ii shall be as a grain of mustard-seed that by degrees shall become a great tree, or as the little leaven that was hidden in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened, or as the stone out of the mountain. Though the church sometimes be so oppressed that it is hardly visible, we can hardly see whether there be any fire or no, but only the smoke; yet it shall never be wholly destroyed. The same may be applied to particular saints, for he that has begun a good work in them shall carry it on to the day of Christ.

[479] Isai. xlii. 8. '' I am the Lord Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Concerning this text, these things may be remarked confirming the divinity of Christ.

1. The name Jehovah, is a peculiar name of ihe true God. See also Psalm Ixxxiii. 18. *' That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth."

2. That the name Jehovah here spoken of, is often undeniably given to Christ, as is not denied by Ariaiis themselves. It ii given in this very book; see chap. vi. 1. dc^c. coni|)ared with John xii. 41.

3. God says expressly concerning Christ, who is called tiic Angel ofthe Lord, *' My Name is in him,'' and therefore he requires the children of Israel to obey his voice.

4. He is often called " the Name ofGoiL^^

5. The glory of the Lord was given to him; so that glorj with which the angel of the Lord was wont to ap|>ear, was io a peculiar manner called the glory ofthe Lord.

6. He is himself often called the glory of the Lord. The apostle expressly says, he is *^ the brightness of God's glory."

[255] Isai. li. 9. '' Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab,. and wounded the dragon." The word Rahab here is not the same with Rahab the harlot in Joshua: that is Rachab withn; this is with n. The word signifies pride, probably so culled from the exceeding pride that the Egyptians manifested in the time here spoken, viz. when God cut, or broke that land, and wounded (he dragon, the task-masters of the Israelites and Pharaoh the dragon here spoken, manifested an exceeding haughtiness of spirit, in so standing it out with God, whoa[h peared in such awful judgments against them. On this account Egypt is the more fit type of the antichristian church, that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt; and Pharaoh the dragon here spoken of, the fitter type of the great red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and the Pope his image.

[108] Isai. lii. 7. ''How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringcth good tidings!" Jerusalem was compassed round with mountains, and therefore he that brought tidings to Zion must come over the mountains, and as he was coming over might therefore be seen in the city. The like expression is in iNalium i. 15.

[78] Isai. liii. 1, 2. '<To whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealedf for he shall grow u() bcfoie him as a tender plant," &c. That //e, that the Pro|)het speaks of, as it is mojit uaturalto understand, is the arm ofthe Lord, spoken of in the first verse, and in the two foregoing chapters, as in the 5th and 9th verses of the li. chap, and io the 10th verse ofthe lii* who

in the same as his servant spoken of in the three last verses of that chapter. Hereby two things are evident:

1. That He, that is the subject of this chapter, is no mere man, as the Jews suppose: this is evident by the 9th and lOib rerses of the li. chapter; and

2. By the same verse it is evident that it was Christ the second person of the Trinity that went before Israel when they came [Mit of Egypt. God calls his son his arm, as Jacob calls his son his right hand. Genesis xixv. 18.

[15] Isai. liii. 12. " Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong." Intending at least partly that Christ's portion should be the most perfect and glorious kingdom of the earth, the most wise, opulent and learned nations of the world. Ps. xlv. 12. "And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift, even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour." Isaiah Ix. 13. *'The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." Ps. Ixxii. 10, '^ The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts."

[13] Jcr. i. 5. '' Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee; and 1 ordained thee a Prophet unto the nations." In the same manner as God is said to sanctify Jeremiah as a Prophet before he was, whom he had elected to be such, for he said be foreknew the elect or saints, and children and heirs of life. Exod. xxiii. 12. 17.

[282] Jer. li. 2, 3. "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou weptest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown." Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase. See ▼•21. *'Yetlhad|)lantedthec anoblevine, wholly a right seed," Ps. Ixviii. 14. This has not respect to that generation that went out of Egypt, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, that were a very corrupt generation, but the generation of their children spoken of JNumb. xiv. 31. *^But your little ones which j^ said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised." So Deut. i. 39. It has respect to those spoken of Jer. xxxi. 2. The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness. The same generation that entered into the land of Canaan with Joshua, and took possession of the good land, it was the genera-

tion that God planted in Canaan as is evident by verse 21. And the going after God in the wilderness that is here spoken of, is not the going of the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wiide^ ness of Sinai, but their following God through that dreadful wilde^ ness in which the congregation long wandered after ibey wnt back from Kadesh-barnea, which is spoken of, Deal. viii. IL *^ Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness,;wberdi were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where there wti DO water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint" Although this generation had a much greater trial than the generation of their fathers had before they came to Kadesb-bamea, jd they never murmured against God in anywise as their fatheis had done. But their trials had a contrary effect upon them, vis. to humble them, and fit them for great mercy. Deut. viii. 2,3. *' And thou shalt remember the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thoo wouldest keep his commandments or no, and he humbled thee," &c. And ver. 16. '' Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, be. that he might humble thee, and that be might prove thee to do thee good in thy latter end." And therefore it is said, Hosea xiii. 5, *' I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought."

This generation were eminent for p'tety, as appears by manj things said of them in the book of Numbers, asespecially, Joshua. See Josh, xxiii. 8 ; xxii. 1, ?. Deut. iv. 3, 4. See also Note on Hos. xi. 1. Jer. xxxl. 2, 3. Hos. ix. 10. Jer. ii.21. Ps. Ixviii. 14. Josh. i. and three last verses. Judg. li. 7. 17. 22. And though there were some wicked men amongst them, they were not like their fathers, an unbelieving generation ; but believed God, aod followed him, and by faith overcame Sihon and Og, and the giants and mighty nations of Canaan. They showed a laudable aod fervent zeal for God on several occasions, on occasion of Acbao'i sin, but especially when they suspected the two tribes and half had set up an altar in opposition to the altar of burnt-ofifering before the tabernacle. Israel fenred and served the Lord all the days that the men of that generation lived. See Notes on Judg. ii. 7.

[296] Jer. ii. 2, 3. ** I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth," &LC. It is probable that all those open rebellions, which were in the congregation of Israel during the whole forty years that the congregation was in the wilderness, were what the men of that perverse generation, who were adults when they came out o^^gypt, were principally active and leading in, as the rebellion of Korah and his company that we have an account of, Numb.

MOTES ON THC BIBLE. S9S

xvi. evidently was, for it was managed by tome of the principal teen in the congregation, which were wont to be their elders, or Blderly men, see ver. 2. Their contesting with Moses and Aaron, •neb aged persons as those that ought to be esteemed equal with ^ena, and other circumstances of the story, show it. And so it is probable was the rebellion at the place where they set up the fiery Serpent; Numb, xxi.; and the rebellion and wickedness in the iBiatter of Peor; Numb. xxv. Those that remained of that wicked -generation seem to have led in it; for the heads or chief of the people, which doubtless were some of their elders, had a chief iiaod in it, and consequently were hung up before the sun. Numb* ''jixv. 4. That wicked generation continued their rebellions after -that God for their rebelling had sworn in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest, as is implied in Ps. Ixxxi. 12. '* So 'I gave them up to their own heart's lust, and they walked in their <iwn counsels." This seems to refer to something in their history •s delivered by Moses, as all other passages in the Psalms, con* ceruing the church of Israel in Egypt, and the wilderness, do; but there is nothing else in that history they can refer to but those rebellions that have been spoken of. We may argue in like manner from Acts vii. 41, 42, 43. *'And they made a calf in those 4^ys and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and r^oiced in the work of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts aod sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness.^ Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch," &c.

Wherein God was grieved by the congregation during the whole forty years in the wilderness, it seems to have been chiefly by that generation, by Ps. xcv. 10, 11. ** Forty years long was I

grieved with this generation unto whom I swear in my wrath,"

Ac. It was their carcasses chiefly, that fell in the matter of Corah, and by the fiery serpents, and the destruction that was of tbem in the matter of Peor, seems to have accomplished the threatening, and to have purged the congregation of the remains of that wicked generation. Jcr. xxxi. 2.

[478] That there was a time of remarkable influence of God's Holy Spirit in the younger generation during the forty years travel, is confirmed by comparing Nehemiah ix« 20, 21, and Dent, xxxii. 10, and also Dent. viii. 2—5, and v. 15. See also Numb. xxxi. 46, to the end, and Deut. xxxiv. 9. A considerable instance of the faith and obedience of that generation was their readily complying with God's command by Joshua in submitting to that painful rite of circumcision, which had been disused for above thirty-eight years; and that, just as they were entering into

vou IX. BO

(he land of Canaan full of their strong enemies, being now shit r in by the Jordan. It was not only a considerable thing for the "' whole congregation under forty years at once to submit to what WHS so painful and disagreeable, but so to expose themselves to their enemies ; for, excepting the divine protection, they must io those circumstances have been an easy prey to their enemies, if they had immediately fallen upon them, as the Shecliemitcs were to Simeon and Levi. Their having just entered the country of their gigantic and numerous enemies, of whom they had heard such fo^ midable accounts, and their not knowing what preparation iheirene-mies had made, nor how soon they would fall upon them, tended to make them the more fearful and cautious; but they obeyed God, and trusted in his protection without murmuring against God or Joshua, as Zipporah did against Moses, saying, ^* Surely a bloody husband art thou to me."

[500] Concerning what the congregation of Israel tcere to do in order to the taking of Jericho. It was to try the faith, and obedience, and patience of the people: to try whether thej would obey, and believe a promise, which in human probability seemed impossible to be performed. They were also proved whether they could patiently bear the reproaches of their enemies, and patiently wait for the salvation of the Lord. Thus by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. (Heb. xi. 30.) They were commanded to be silent, not to speak a word nor make any noise, ver. 10, which intitnates their reverent expectation of the event. Zech. ii. 13. '^Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord." Exod. xiv. 14. " God shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." They were to go round the city blowing the trumpet for six days together; and tliey did so, and seven times the seventh day, ver. 14. God could have caused the walls of Jericho to fall upon the first surrounding them; but they must go round them thirteen times before they fall, that they may be kept waiting patiently for the Lord. Though tliey were newly come into Canaan, and their time was very precious, for they had a great deal of work before them, yet they must linger so many days about Jericho, seeming to do nothing, nor to make any progress in their business. He that believes does not make haste. (Jo yet seven times before any tWng appears. 1 Kings xviii. 43. Henry.

Their faith was Airtlier tried in this, that one of the seven days must needs be the sabbath, on which they were commanded to rest. An unbelieving mind would have objected on this account, as the unbelieving Jews objected against Christ's healing, and commanding the man to carry his bed on the sabbath day. It is to be noted that it was the same person, even Jesus Christ, who now commanded the people to go round Jericho, and the priesU

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. S95

ftll the while to blow the trumpets oh the sabbath, which commanded the impotent man to carry his bed on the sabbath. John ▼• 11. Compare chap. v. 13, 14, 15, and vi. 2, Slc.

A further trial of ihe people's failh was that all the men of war

- in going round the city were obliged to leave their camp and all their goods, and their wives and children, everyday defencelessy as to any other guard but the divine protection.

This last observed is agreeable to God's proceedings in the

- course of his providence, in the revolutions of the natural world, and in the revolutions of the world of mankind. Things only

■ seem to go round and round, and return wiiere they were before, as though no progress was made, until God's time comes. But this is through the narrowness of our views. He that looks only [ on a wheel of a charriot, and sees nothing beyond it, will not see \ that it does any thing but go round, tiie same spoke rising and ', failling alternately to the same place. But he that looks beyond 1 the wheel to the world around, may see the progress that is made :. continually to an appointed journey's end.

- This generation failed not of their duty under such temptations, ^ as Saul failed under when he was sent to destroy A gag. They . destroyed all the inhabitants, cattle, and goods of Jericho, the ^rst

city they took: when they were under the greatest temptations, greedily to lake them to themselves, being lately come out of the wilderness where they had been destitute of all such things for so long a time. None transgressed but Achan, and when he was found out, none stood in his defence, but all Israel stoned bim with stones. See how Joshua commands the soldiers of the two tribes and a half. Josh. xxii. 1,2, 3.

[14] Jer. ii. 32. ** Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire f yet my people have forgotten me days without nnmber." For our holiness is all the righteousness of God, all the beauty of the soul is wholly and only divine light reflected; all grace is nothing but the Holy Spirit dwelling in us ; and all these graces and spiritual beauties which are to the mind as attire and ornament are to the bodv, are Christ in the soul, and no-

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thing else ; wherefore we are commanded to put on Christ.

[294] Jer. v. 22. ** Fear ye not me, saith the Lord ? will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.^" The unreasonableness and folly of their not fearing God appears from the consideration of the greatness and majesty of God's appearing in bit works. And this work of hit ruling and restraining the rag-

I

log wmres of ihe fea, ii roemioned in particular, bccaofa wickednesfl of theirs, described in the foregoing part of the d ter, night fitly be compared to the raging waves of the sea ia a storm. Wearetold, Isai. Ivii«20y that the wicked areKke troubled sea when it connot rest, whose waters cast up mire dirt. God puts a stop to the waves of the tempestuooi sea; them toss themselves never so proudly* and rage never so vio" ly, as though they wonld carry all before theui» and scoroed ai f restraint. So the mighty God was able to put a stop to that and violence of theirs in wickedness, spoken of in verses 3. S* 7, 8. 12. However headstrong, obstinate, and violent they wrra in it, God could curb and tame them by his almighty hand. He that looks on every one that is proud, and abases him, could briag down their pride, whereby they toss themselves up against ihs heavens like the waves of the sea. He could break their power, and subdue their spirits; he could bring them down with a stroag. hand, however set they were in their way. He could do it veij easily by weak and despicable means; he could crush them before the moth; he could show them that his weakness was stronger] than they, and could say concerning their wickedness* " HitlH erto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proad^ waves be stayed," as the highest and most raging waves of tha; sea were brought down and broken, and brought to nothing by such contemptible means as the sand. Thus God often pours contempt on wicked men, even on the greatest princes.

Such was the obstinacy and violence of the men of Judah and Jerusalem, that men and means could do nothing with them; no human power could stop them ; the prophets bad tried, and used their utmost endeavours to counsel them; it was like preachiog to the raging waves of the sea, as verse 3, 4, 5. 12, 13. Therefore, God would take the work in hand himself. God's subduing the rage of the sea, and the rage of men's spirits, and the wickedness of his enemies, are spoken of as parallel works of God: Ps. Ixv. 7. ** Who stiileth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people;" and Ps. lixxiz. 9, 10. ** Thou ruiest the raging of the sea; when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain ; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm." However for a while, and sometimes wicked men nsy seem to carry all before them, and their wickedness rages without restraint; yet there are certain limits set to it, that are udsI-terable as the sands on the sea shore, which here are said to be placed for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree.

[174] Jer. vii. 33. ** And the carcasses of this people shall be SMat for the fowls of heaven^ and for the beasu of iba oartb» aad

k Jione shall fray tbem away." Astthis Tophet here spoken of re-

- presents hell, so those fowls and wild beasts that feed upon the -' carcasses of those men, represent the devils who shall feed upon -'. the souls of the wicked. The devils, we kno\!', are compared to E. fowls of the air, in the parable of the Sower and the Seed, as ^ Christ himself explains it. These fowls of the air that devoured

these carcasses, Here ravens and eagles, and other unclean and ra-

- venous birds that do fitly represent the impure spirits of the air, ' and those ravenous beasts do well represent him who is a roaring

lion, going about seeking whom he may devour.

[176] Jer. x. 16. ••Israel is the rod of his inheritance." Deut. jT jTXxii. 9, called the cord of inheritance, which in our trnnsiatioa is rendered the lot of his inheritance, that is, he is the inheritance as it were measured by a cord, or by a rod. Sometimes*they were wont to lay out, and measure land by a cord, sometimes by a rod or pole.

[3S] Jer. xi. 20. •• Let me see thy vengeance on them, for unto

• thee have i revealed my cause." Also Jer. xviii. 21. ••There-

r fore deliver up their children to the famine," &c. We hence learn

' -that these imprecations that are to be found in scripture, are not

' to be understood as expressions of a private desire of ill to their

enemies contrary to the precepts of the gospel, for it is evident

that Jeremiah did not hate his country, or desire, or rejoice in its

overthrow.

[177] Jer. xii. 3. ** But thou, O Lord, knowest me; thou bast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee; pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter." The prophets pray for evil to their enemies. When we find passages of this kind in the Psalms, or the prophets, we are to look upon them as prophetical curses; they curse them in the name of the Lord, as Elisha did the children that mocked bim, as Noah cursed Canaan. We have instances of this kind, even in the apostles, and the disciples of the Lamb of God: as Paul curses Alexander the copper-smith, 2 Tim. iv. 14, and Peter says to Simon Magus, •* Thy money perish with thee;" as also they wish them ill, not as personal, but as public enemies, enemies to the church. Sometimes what they say is in the name of the church. Jer. li. 34, 35.

[19] Jer. xiii. 11. ••For as a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the wliol^ house of Judah." As the body of a man is incomplete and defective without his garment, so does Christ look CO bimtelf as iDcompleta without bis charch.

V.

u

398 NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

[178] Jer. xiii. 12. ** Therefore thou shaU speak onto tbm this word, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, every bottle shal be filled with wine; and they shall say onto thee, Do we not ce^ taiiily know that every bottle shall be filled with wioe?" whick denotes, bottles were made, prepared to be filled with wine; thej are fitted for it; you tell us no news in saying so: bnt so are wicked men vessels fitted to be filled with the wine of God*s wrath, is bottles are fitted to be filled with wine: they are vessels of wratk fitted to destruction.

[37] Jer. xvi. 15. ** But, the Lord liveth that brought op the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all thelaDds whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again ioM their land that I gave unto their fathers.'^ This has not nierflj nor principally a respect unto the return of the captivity of the Israelites from Babylon, but unto the gathering of the gospel church, the gathering together the elect (the spiritual Israel) froa the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, into the church their own land, from whence they were captivated by Satan. Math. xxiv. 31. This is one sense of all those prophesi€so( the Old Testament, that speak of the recalling of the Jews.

[236] Jer. xxx. 21. «* Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me; I for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me?" This, as Dr. Ridglcy, in his Body of Divinity, vol. i. p. 366, 367, observes, seems to be a prophecy of Christ. The chapter is evidently a prophecy of the gospel times of the church, the times when the spiritual David was to be their Noble and Governor, as appears by verse 9, ** They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." And what is in this verse translated noblcsy is in the Hebrew in the singular number, their noble; it is the more probable that this is to be understood of Christ, and not of Ze-rubbabel, or any other governor after the Babylonish captivity, because the Supreme Governor of Israel was very rarely of themselves after the captivity, even till after their destiuction by the Romans." They scarcely ever had this privilege in this sense to so great a degree as before their captivity. But when we look on this chapter, we cannot think it is a prophecy of less prosperity to God's people than what they now enjoyed; and then what is said here of this governor or noble, agrees pecirliarly with Christ, and particularly that clause, " For who is this that bath engaged his heart to approach unto me T* Tii« wd translated engaged is to become^ or ad, the surely fif

any one; to mingle himself tcith anotherj or unite himself to an-othert as a surety; and so the word is commonly used in scripture, as Gen. xliii. 9, and xliv. 32. Prov. xi. 15. Job xvii. 3* 2 Kings xviii. 23, and elsewhere. See Buxtorf. So that the words might well have been translated, ** \\ ho is this that hath mingled or united his heart as a surety to approach unto me!" It is here in(]uired with a note of admiration, Who is this that hath engaged his heart in suretyship to approach unto me ! p'robably for two reasons, viz. because of the wonderful-ness of his person, and because of the greatness of the undertaking; and whether we understand by the Israel, whose pros* perity is here prophesied of, the Israelitish nation, or God's spiritual Israel, yet Christ, their Governor, is of themselves; he has taken on him the human nature ; he is of the human race^ and is our brother, and he is a child of the church; he has sucked the breasts of our mother; he is one of the holy nation, the spiritual seed of Abraham, and he is also of the Israelitish nation, and he took on him the seed of Abraham in a literal sense. In the following verse is mentioned the consequence of Christ's approaching to God as his people's surety, ▼iz. their covenant interest in God, '^ And ye shall be my peo« flCf and I will be your God."

[179] Jer. xxxi. 33. " But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people." I think the ditTerence here pointed out between these two covenants, lies plainly here, that in the old covenant God promised to be their God upon condition of hearty obedience; obedience was stipulated as a condition, but not promised. But in the new covenant, this hearty obedience is pro* mised if a man be but of the house of Israel, as by faith ho becomes so. God promises expressly in this new dispensation that he shall perform a heaity obedience, and so have God for his God. That old covenant they broke, as it is said in the foregoing verse. The house of Israel, these were called so uoder the Old Testament, could break that; but the new co-viMiant is such as cannot be broken by the spiritual house of Israel, because obedience is one thing that God engages and promises; and therefore this is called an everlasting covenant upon this account, as is plain from chap, xxxii. 40. It is true the true saints, in the Old Testament, could not fall away any more than they can now, but they were not the Old Testament Israel ; and, though God had engaged in his covenant with Christ that they should not fall away, yet he had no.t expresdy

p

revealed that to them. God had not in those days so phislf m revealed the primary and fundamental condition of the cor» li iiant uf grace, \\z, faith ; but insisted more upon tbesecoadaij li condition, universal and perstvering obtdience^ the genuineasd |^ certain fruit of faiih.

[389] Ezekiel, chapter i. Concerning EzcJciePs WnEEiS. Divine Piovidence is most nptly represented by the refoh-tion and course of these wheels: things in their series ad course in providence do as it were ^o round like a wheel in in motion on the earth. That which goes roUnd like awheel, goes from a certain point or direction, until it gradually returv to it a^uiii; so is the course of things in Providence.

God's Providence over the world consists partly in his gor* « erning the natural world according to the course and laws if

r nature. This consists wholly as it were in the revolution if

wheels. So the annuni changes that appear in the nhtuni world arc a» it were by the revolution of a wheel, or the courw of the sun through that great circle the Ecliptic, or the riog of that great wheel the Zodiac. And so the monthly changH are by the revolution of another lesser wheel within thatgreit> er annual wheel ; which, being a lesser wheel, must go rouwi oftener, to make the same progre.^s. EzekieFs vision was of wheels within wheolst, of lesser wheels within greater, whick all went round, as though running upon several parallel plaiiHi each touching the circuniference of its respective wheel, tnd all making the same progress, keeping pace one with another; and therefore the lesser wheels must go round so much oftenefi according as their circumference was less.

So again the diurnal changes in the natural world are by tbi revolution of a wheel still within the monthly wheel, and ^ ing round about thirty times in one revolution of the other. The system of fhe universe may exactly answer what is here said of these wheels, and livelily represents God's providence in the government of the moral world. There is ns it were I wheel within a wheel; the whole system is nothing else bat wheels within wheels, lesser wheels within greater, revolvio; oftener. There is the sphere of the fixed stars, which istke greatest wheel, includes all the others, and is many thousssJ years in performing its revolution. This includes the circleof Snturh*s course, which is a lesser wheel within the other, finisli* ing its revolution in about thirty years. That includes the ci^ cle of Jupitery a lesser wheel, revolving in about twelve ycareJ that includes the circle of Mars^ that the circle of the Earthy that of Venus, that of Mercuryj that of Me Sun, which revolw» ■bout its own axis. And some of the greater wheels inciiidl

'lesfler ami of various kinds, as the great wheel of Saturn, be-«ifie those of the inferior planets, has annexed to it those lesser wheels of his sateiliies ode within another, and then its riwo-, and then its own body about its axis. So of Jupiter, and so of the earth and moon. So some of the grand revolutions of Providence that are but parts of the grand system of Providence, have a particular systcMii as it were belonging to tbem« selves, wherein the great revolution includes lesser revoluliong that are not |)arallcl with any like them, continued from the beginning to the end of time, but begin their various revolutions with that particular great wheel that they are fixed to, and end with it. So it is with that great w heel, the continuance of the Jewish state; so it is with the continuance of the ChristiaQ church; so it is with the state of some particular kingdoms And emjiires; so it is with the motion of the air in the winds, it goes and returns according to its circuits; and so it is with the motion of the water in the tides, and in their course out of the sea, and into the clouds, springs, and rivers, and into the sea again. So it is with the circulation of the blood in a man's body, and the bodies of other animals, so it is with the life of man ; it is likethe'revolution of a wiieel; he is from the earth «nd gradually rises, and then gradually falls and returns to the earth again. Dust we are, and unto dust we return ; we came naked out of our mother^s womb, and naked must we go and return. The dust returns to earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. So it is with the world of mankind; it is the whole of it like a wheel; it as it were sinks and l^es down to the earth in one generation, and rises in another, as it is with a wheel, at the same time that one side is failing to the earth, another part of the wheel is rising from the earth. Solomon takes notice of these things. Eccles. i. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. *' One generation passcth away, and another cometh, but the earth abidcth forever. The sun also ariscth, and the sun go-ethdown, and hasteth to the place where he arose. The wind Ifoeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full, unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again; all things are full of labour; man eannot utter it."

So it is in the course of things in God's providence over the intelligent and moral world, all is the motion of wheels; they go round and come to the same again ; and the whole series of Divine Providence, from the beginning to the end, is nothiujf else but the revolution of certain wheels, greater and lessor, the lesser being contained within the greater; what comes to

VOL. IX. ^l

pass In the natural world, is in ibis respect typical of what cona to pass in the moral and intelligent worlds and seems to be spoken of by the wise man in that forementioned place in Ecclesitt-tes, as the words that follow next after those that were mentioMd respecting the natural world, do respect the intelligent worll Ver. 9. 10, '' The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is thnt which shall be done | and there ii DO new thing under the sun," &c.

Things in their series and course in Providence, do as it wm return to the same point or place whence they began, as in ibc turning of a wheel, but yet not so, but that a further end is obtained Uian was at first, or the same end is obtained in a muck further degree; so that in the general there is a progress towanh a certain and final issue of things, and every revolntion bringi nearer to that issue, as it is in the motion of a wheel upon the earth, as in the motion of the wheels of a chariot, and not like the motion of a wheel by its axis, for if so, its motion would be in vain.

Tlie entire series of events in the course of things through tbe age of the Visible Universe, may fitly be represented by one greit wheel, exceeding high and terrible, performing one great revols-tion. In the beginning of this revolution all things come froa God, and are formed out of a chaos; and in tbe end, all thingi shall return into n chaos again, and shall return to God, so that he that is the Alpha^ will be the Omega. This great wheel cofr tains a lesser wheel that performs two revolutions, while that pe^ forms one. The first begins at the beginning of the world, and ends at the coming of Christ, and at the ending of the Old Tes* tament dispensation, which is often represented as the end of the world in scripture. The first revolution began with the creatioo of the world, so the second revolution began with the creation of new heavens and a new earth.

The course of things from the beginning of the world to tbe coming of Christ, may be represented as one great wheel pe^ forming one revolution ; all things in the beginning of this revoli-tion were from Christ the Creator of man, and the whole motion henceforward until Christ came was to bring things about to Christ again, and to so prepare the way for his coming, and to introduce him as the Redeemer of man. This wheel contains i lesser wheel, thai performs two revolutions, while the great one does one; the first revolution ending at the calling of Abrabao, at which time God did as it were plant the tree of his church anew, which he had planted at first iu his revealing the covenant of grace to Adam ; tiie second ending at the coming of Christ, the promised seed of Abraham and his antitype, in whom all the

I

I

ikmilies of the earth are blessed, and in whom the church was planted anew, and in a far more glorious manner.

The course of things from the beginning of the world to the AdckI may be looked upon as the revolution of a wheel; at the be« gfinning of it, God created the world, and the face of the earth was covered with waters, and the world was all of one man and |lis posterity. At the end of it, the world was destroyed and reduced to the same state again; the world was covered with wa^ lera, and the world of mankind was began anew with one man mod bis posterity. The course of things from the flood to Abra-liaro, was as it were the revolution of another wheel, or another revolution of the same wheel, as at the beginning of it. The world was corrupt, and therefore one man and his fkmily separate «d Co be the father of the church; so it was again at the end of «U The space Horn Abraham to Moses was as it were another revolution of the same wheel; for, as God established his cove-jiant with Abraham, and then separated his church from the heathen, in calling Abraham out of Chaldea and Syria, so in the end of it he again renewed his covenant, and again separated his xborch from the heathen world, by bringing them up out of £gypt. From Moses and Joshua, to Samuel, David, and Solo-jBoiiy was another revolution of the same wheel, as in the begin-iiing of it: God gave the spirit of prophecy to Moses, so he renewed it in Samuel, as in the beginning of it God gloriously conquered the enemies of Israel, and settled them in Canaan in peace, by the hand of Moses and Joshua: so in the end of it God gloriously subdued the enemies of Israel, and subdued the remains of the inhabitants of Canaan, and the nations round about, and gave them the full and peaceable possession of the land of promise, in the full extent of it, from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt. The space from David and Solomon, to the return out of the Captivity, is another revolution of the same wheel; io the beginning of it, the temple was built, in the end it was built again, and the temple of worship, and the courses of the priests aod Levites again restored, which David and Solomon had established, and the church state of the Jews as it had been settled by JDavid and Solomon, was again renewed. From the return out of the Captivity, until Christ came and established the Christian ' dispensation, is another revolution of the same wheel; at the beginning of it, God redeemed the church out of Babylon, at the end of it he redeemed his church from Sin and Satan, and accomplished that great redemption, of which the redemption from the Babylonish captivity was a great type.

The course of things during the Jewish state, was, as it were, the revolution of a great wheel. Thi;^ course, as it respects the national state of that people, began with Abraham, liaaci aod

Jftcob, the fathers ofthnt nation. The nntionn] state oftbat pfopk l.*^ was then in its infancy ; the wheel then began to ri$e frooilk p>'. ground, and it rose to the height in Solomon's time, when ik bih^'

flfri'!

• rfV;

rT ti

re?'

temple was built, and Solomon's kingdom in its greatest prosprrH ty, which was about the middle of the space between the biilk and calling of Abraham and Christ, and the destruction of Jen-lalem ; thenceforward they declined in numbers, and weahb,iil strength, until they came to the ground again, when Christ caw, |ind Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Their state, vilh respect to their ecclesiastical constitution, began in Moses,thefali prophet, and came to the height in Isaiah's time, that most enih gelical prophet, who lived about the middle of the space betwcci Moses and Christ, and came to the ground again in Christ's fiM* t"^ It was with the Jewish state, in this respect, as it is with thelifc l^^ri of man, which I before showed was as the revolution of a whNiK ^ that began at the ground, and gradually rose to the height, nl Ip^** then gradually came to the ground again. So it is with kinp |-^ doms and empires ; their state and course are very mach liketk V ' revolution of a wheel, beginning at the ground, and rising totk IJ^ height, and coming to the ground again. So it was with the (rat y great monarchies of the world, and so it is with the reign of An^li^ christ, and the continuance of the Mahometan empire, andothrli^' states and kingdoms ; and when one nation or kingdom comes to y* the ground, another comes to the greatest height, that before im at the ground, as it is with the diflerent parts of a wheel in motioa. The space^of time from Christ to the end of the world, is as the revolution of a great wheel. In the heginnini^ of it Christ cones into the world, and the wicked Jews were judged at the destrll^ tion of Jerusalem, and after them the w icked heathen world, n Constantine's time, and the old world comes to an end, and ih church's glory follows, and then things in the Christian chordi gradually stnk, until they come to the ground in the darkest timo of Antichrist, and then gradually rise again until Christ coroa again and judges the world, and destroys the church's enemief, and destroys the old heavens and earth, and then the church's glory follows.

The w hole series of things through the age of the world mij be represented as a wheel of various rings one within another, and some less than others: each one going round but once, lb* lesser ones finishing their revolution soonest, and each beginning at the creation of the old heavens and earth, which, in some l^ spects had diflerent beginnings ; one when Adam was created; another in Noah's time; the seilling of the world after the building of Babel, and another at the establishment of the Jewisli state. And the revolution of each wheel ends in an end <»f lh« world, and a day of judgment, and a creation of new heavens lod

I

M new earth ; the last wheel finishes Us rrvohition at the coming of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem, and overthrow of the heathen empires thatfolloived, when the world, in a sense, came to an end, and there was a day of judgment. This began at the creation of the Jewish state in ihe time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Aloses, and Joshua, and the total apostacy of the Gentile world to heatlienism. The next wheel, which is larger, began itf revolution at Noah's coming out of the ark, and the building of Babel, and the dispersing of the nations, and the settling the world from thence ; which is, as it were, another beginning of the world, and ends at the destruction of Antichrist, or the spiritual Babylon, and Satan's visible kingdom on earth, (which began in the building of Babel,) and the commencing of the glorious times of the charch. This is another end of the world, and* day of judgment, and building of the new heavens and new earth. The third and greatest wheel begins its revolution at the creation, and 6nishes it at Christ's second coming to judge the world, and destroy heaven and earth, in a literal sense.

jJEvery wheel, or every revolution, begins and proceeds from God, and returns to God; as in Ezekiel's vision God is represented as appearing above the wheels, so that to him they continually returned. God remarkably appears both in the beginning and ending of each of these wheels that have been mentioned, especially in those that respect the state of the church of God. As to human things, however, such as human kingdoms, and empires, they rise from the earth, and return to the ground again ; but spiritual things begin their revolution from God on high, and thither they return again.

The changes that are in the world with respect to the profession of the truth, and rise and fall of heresies, is very much like the motion of wheels, they rise and fall, and rise and fall again.

These wheels, in this vision, are represented as God's chariot wheels. The world is the chariot of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in which he makes his progress to that glory; that glorious marriage with his spouse, that eternal feast, that everlasting kingdom of rest, and love, and joy, which the Father hath designed him.

. What Ezekiel there saw was designed to represent God's chariot, in which God rode, and those wheels are the wheels of his chariot, and God, who sat on his throne above the firmament, over these wheels and cherubim, is represented as on the seat in which he rides, and makes progress with the wheels and cherubim. God came to Ezekiel to speak to him, and gave him his mission on this chariot, and is so represented in the first chapter. In the second Sind third chapters we have an account of what he said to him from this seat. In the 12th and 13th verses of the iii. chapter, we

have an account of his departure when he had done speaL!ogn| hiui, which was with a great rustling and noise of llie vingi^j the cherubim, and the noise of the wheels. God rode oo cherubim as thuse that drew his chariot, as it is said, Pi. 10, '' He rode on a cherub, and did fly." And Ps. I«viiLll; *' The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thoQsaDdil angels." And therefore God, iu being iu that chariot dnini|l these cherubim, is said to be upon the cherub. £zek. ix. 3. ''Jblj th« glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cben^j whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house ;*' and God peared about to leave the temple, and his glory departed froa the threshold into this same chariot. Chap. x« 18, with the ' going verses; and then it is said (he cherubim lift up their irii and mounted up from the earth in his sight; and the «beek went beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel wu off] them above; and after this, chap. xi. 22, 23, God is represeatidll departing in this manner up out of the midst of the city, ascol; ing up to the top of mount Olivet, being about from thence ip ascend into heaven, from whence this same person afterwanbii* cended after his resurrection. (See Note on that verse.) when it was represented in vision to Ciekiel how God wouldafa^i wards return to (he city and temple in those happy days thatfci to come, he is represented as returning iu the same mauit chip, \liii. 2, 3, 4.

This chariot represents the worlds which is confirmed by dJ^ that one part of it is called the firmament^ which was the Dppr part, but yet the pavement of it, above which was the seat rf God, who sat and rode in that chariot, agreeably to Dent, xuub 26, ** Who rideih upon the heaven iu thine help, and in liiscf-cellency on the sky;" and to Ps. Ixviii. 4, •• Extol him tW rideth upon the heaven of heavens, which were of old." Gd appeared here on the same pavement as he appeared to tbesevet^ elders on mount Sinai. (Sec Notes on Exod. xxiv. 10.) ^Ml>t' signified by the wheels which were under the firmament, butaboff as upon the earth, is, God's providence in this visible world,ei^ pecially representing mankind that dwell on the earth.

Christ was the person that appeared riding in this cbario(|>l is confirmed from (hat, that he appeared in the likeness ofaoi^ ver. 26 ; and also from the description that is given of bis ip* pearance. (See Note on ver. 27 )

This chariot is drawn on those wheels by the four auinih which denote God's power, wisdom, justice, and mercy, ao'' '■ proceed on feet like a calPs foot, because the great work « providence, that is as it were the sum of all providences, i**W work of mercy, the work of redemption.

If

CortA. Hence I would argrue, that the aflnirs of heaven have 4oabtles8 great respect to the affairs of this h)wer world, and 6od*8 providence here; and that the church in heaven, as to the progress it makes in its state of glory and blessedness, keeps pace -with the church on earth ; that the glory of both is advanced together. These great dispensations of providence, by which glo-vious things are brought to pass for the church on earth, are ac* Companied with like advances made at the same time in the church ia heaven. And also that the affairs of the church in heaven, have some way or other a dependence on God's providence towards his church on earth, and that their progress is dopenden^ on the progress of things in God's providence towards his church here. For heaven and earth are both framed together. It is the same chariot, one part has relation to another, and is connected with •DOther, and is all moved together; the motion of one part depends on the motion of the other; the upper part moves on the wheels of the lower part, for heaven is the room and seat of the chariot that is above the firmament that moves on the wheels that are under the firmament, and that go upon the earth; when these wheels are noved by the cherubim, then the upper part moves; lihen they Itop that stops, and wherever the wheels go thai goes. It is on these wheels that Christ, the King of heaven, in his throne in heaven, makes progress to the final issue of all things. It is in the wheels of his providence that move on earth, that he in his throne ID heaven makes progress towards the ultimate end of the creation of both heaven and earth, and the ultimate end of all the affairs of both ; for this is the end of the journey of the whole chariot, both wheels and throne, for both are moving towards the same jour* ney's end. And the motion of all is by the wheels on earth; and if so, doubtless it is on these wheels that all the inhabitants of beaven, both saints and angels, are carried towards their ultimate «Dd ; for all are Christ's family, they are either his servants and at» fondants in the affair of redemption, which is the grand movement of the wheels, and are the ministers that draw the wheels, or are bis members and parts of his body.

This therefore confirms that the saints and angels in heaven do make progress in knowledge and happiness, by what they see of (Grod's works on earth. We know that all the happiness of the saints in heaven is entirely dependent on those great things that Christ did on earth, in the work of redemption, as it was purchased by it; and there is reason to think that their knowledge and glory IS in other respects, by what they see of these great works of providence which God carries on in the world in the prosecution of the grand design of redemption.

[393] Ezek. i. 4. '' And I looked, and behold, a wbirlwind come out of the north, and a great cloud and a fire, infolding it--

self, and a brightness was about it, and oul of the midst iherfof, as the colour of aml)er, out of the midst of the fire." This that was here seen by Ezekiel was the Shechlnah, or the symbol and representation of the Deity.

Here is a cloud and fire as God appeared in the wilderness, u in a pillar of cloud and fire. Ps. xviii. 11. •' His pavilion rouud about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." And Ps. xcvii. 2. "Clouds and darkness are round aboat him." Aud there was a whirlwind, which was an usual symbol of the divine presence, as Job xwviii. 1. "Then the Lord answered Job out of the wliirlwind ;" so again Job xl. 6, and Nahum i. 3, "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and the storm."

The fire that appeared, which did in a special manner represent the divine Essence, is said to be a fire infolding: itself, or catching itself, as it is in the margin, or receiving, or taking itself into its own bosom ; which represents the action of the Deity towards itself, in the action of the persons of the Trinity towards each other. The Godhead is perceived only by perceiving the Son and the Spirit, for no man hath seen God at any time; he is seen by his image, the Son, and is felt by the Holy Spirit, as fire is perceived only by its light and heat, seen by one, and felt by the other. Fire, by its light represents the Son of God, and by its heat the Holy Spirit. God is light, and he is love. This light, in the manner of the subsisting of the Father and the Son, shines on itself: it receives its own brightness into its own bosom. The Deity, in the generation of the Son, shines forth with infinite brigl)tness towards itself, and in the manner of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost, it receives all its own heat into its own bosom, and burns with infinite heat towards itself. The flames of divine love are received and infolded into the bosom of the Deity.

it is the nature of all other fire to go out of itself, as it were to fly from itself, and hastily to dissipate. The flames are continually going forth from the midst of the fire towards the exterior air, hut this fire receives itself into its own bosom. Ezekiel saw this cloud of glory and fire infolding, or taking in itself, before he saw the chariot of God, the cherubim and wheels, and firmament and throne, and the appearance of a man above upon it, which came out of that cloud and fire ; and therefore this fire, infolding itself, does especially represent the Deity before the creation of the world, or before the beginning of the being of this chariot with its wheels when all God's acts were onlv towards himself, for then there was no other being but He.

This appeared coming out of the north, from whence usually came whirlwinds in that country, and possibly because in the north is the empty place. The chariot of the world came forth out of nothing.

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. 409

• f256] Eiek. xxxvi. 5. "It shall be a place for the spreading

: of nets ill the midst of the sea;" and verse 14th, " And I will make

^ lliee like the top of a rock, and thou shalt be a place to spread'

^ nets upon." Mr. Mnundrel, a minister of ihe church of England,

■ who went there A. D. 1G97, irives.lhis account of New Tyre,

I that which was built on the Island, as Dr. Wells, in his Sac. Geog.

i vol. iv. p. 9G, 97, relates. *'()n the north side it has an old

I' Turkish unpcarrisoned caslle, besides which you see nothing here

jk but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &:c., there being

[ not so much as one entire house left. lis present inhabitants are

J only a fi:\v poor wretches harbouring themselves in vaults, and

t subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this

[ plsice by divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has

I fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz: that it shall be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nelson." Ezek. xxvi. 14.

[433] Ezek. xxxvili. and xxxix. Concerning Gog and Magog, This prophecy concerning (iog and'Magog, seems manifestly to liave respect to two things foretold in the book of Revelations:

FinfL To that great company or multitude of the enemies of Christ and the church, that shall be gathered together to fight a«|^atnst them, after religion has begun wonderfully to revive and prevail in the world, just before the utter destruction of Antichrist, and of the visii)Ie kingdom of ^atnn upon earth, that we read of Jlev. xvi. 16, 13, to the end, and Rev. xix. ^7, to the end.

Secondly. Tothat vast multitude that ^hnll be gathered against the church after the Millennium, a little before the end of the world, that we read of in the xx. chapter of Revelations, who are expressly called Gog and Alagofj.

That there is some respect to the former of these, though they are not expressly called Gog and Magog, is evident by the many thinprs wherein there is an agreement. In Revelations xvi. 14, the kings of the earth and of the whole world, are represented as p^ailiered together to war against the church of God ; so here the kings and nations of the world are represented as gathering together against God's Israel from the four quarters of the world, or the four winds of heaven : Magogs and Meshecky and Tubals Comer^iiA Togarmah of the North quarters ; chap, xxxviii. 2. 6,; Pemia from the Kast, v. 5 ; Ethiopia or Cvsh, and Lyhiaov Phut, Sheba and Dedan from the Souih-East, South and South-West, V. 5. 13; and the merchants and young lions, (i. e. the princes) of Tarshishy and they that dwell in the hies from the West, v. 13, and chap, xxxix. 6.

The great occasion of gathering that innumerable host, spoken of in the xvi. and xix. chapters of Revelations, to war against the church, is evidently her late great prosperity in a great revival and

VOL. fX. 52

restoration from her long continued captivated, desolate state onder Antichrist. So Jiere Gog and his multitude are represented u excited to come and war against Israel, on occasion of her being brought back from a long continued, and as it were perpetaal, capiivity and desolation, v. 8. 12.

This long desolation and captivity of Israel in the latter days, which is expressed by her having been always waste, can agree to nothing but the lying waste either of Israel according to the flesh, or the Christian church, the spiritual Israel, which has been waste for many ages in these latter days, and both of them through the devastations of Rome, or the mystical Babylon.

Rev. xvi. 18, 19, 20. It is said there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty ao earthquake and so great; and the cities of the nations fell, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And in Ezek. xxxviii. 19, 20, it is said, '' Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that arc upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground." There seems to be a reference to this very place, in the passage from Revelations.

Rev. xix. 21. <^ And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse;" and Ezek. xxxviii. 21, ''I will call for a sword against him, throughout all my mountains."

Rev. xviii. "And there were thunders and lightnings;" and V. 21, " And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about tlie weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great," And here, Ezek. xxxviii. 22, it is said, " I will rain, upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone." There seems to be reference to this in the passage from Revchuions xviii.

Rev, xix. 17, 13. " And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fouls that fly in the midst of heaven," <fcc.; ver. 2vS, '* And all the fowls were filled with their flesh ;" and here, Ezek. xxxix. 4, 5, *• Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; I will give ihce unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the fuld to be devoured, thou shalt fall upon the open fichi, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God ;" and verses 17, 18, 19, 20, «*And thon, son ot man, thus sailb the Lord, Speak unto every feathered fowl," &;c., very much in the same manner as there in the Revelation; so that there is a most plain reference in one place to the other.

i

[ NOTES ON THE BIBLE* 411

In Rev. xvi. 14, the day of that battle there spoken of, is called ^*ihe Qreat Day of God Almighty;" and in verse 17 it is said, •• there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, 7/i^ doncf* so here, chap, xxxix. S, it is said, "Behold! It is come; It is donc^ saith the Lord God: this is the Day whereof I have spoken.'* Here also seems to be a ;- like reference.

Secondly. This prophecy has also respect to that innumerable

multitude that should be gathered against the church after the

millennium, a little before the end of the world, spoken of in the

XX. chapter of Revelations; which is evident, not only because

; they are expressly called Gog and Magog in Revelations, but

' there are many other things that argue it.

\ The church of God is represented as being in a state of peace

\ and quietness, and great visible prosperity, at the time that they are

thus invaded, as verses 8, 11, 12, 13. This better agrees with

that invasion of the church of Christ in the 20th of Revelations,

than that in the 16th and 19th chapters.

The multitude of Gog is represented as being gathered from the four quarters of the earth ; so it is said expressly in Rev. xx. 8, " That the devil should go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog.

As it is said. Rev. xx. concerning the multitude there spoken of, that "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them;*^ so here, chap, xxxix. 6, it is said, "I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the Isles."

InEzek. xxxviii. 16, ** Thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land." This agrees with Rev. XX. 9, " and they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city."

In Ezek. v. 8, ** In the latter days thou shalt come into the land ;" and v. 16, ** and thou shalt come up against my people as a cloud to cover the land, and it shall be in the latter days." This more eminently agrees with that in Rev. xx. which is just before the end of the world.

That invasion, Rev. xx. is spoken of as following the first resurrection ; wherein the martyrs, or God's people that had been opposed and persecuted by their enemies, should live and reign with Christ, which is undoubtedly the same resurrection with that spoken of in the xxxvii. chap, of Ezekiel; where we have an account how that God's Israel, that had been captivated and killed by their oppressing enemies, are brought out of their graves, and God's servant David should be king over them, which is represented as preceding this invasion of Gog and hismuUitudc.

In Revelations, the vision of the new Jerusalem follows, in chap.

:i. and xx., the account of the destruction of Gog and Magog ;

•nd it was represented to John from a great and high raonntno, chap. xi. 10, " And he carried me away in the spirit to a great aid high mountain, and he showed me that great city, the holy Jcr» salem, descending out of heaven from God." So a vision of ik city Jerusalem in its renewed state, after its glorious resloraiiim, follows the prophecy of Gog in EifUii*!, and is represented lo ibe prophet in like maimer, chjij). xl. 1, 2. **Tlic liancl cjf the Lord was upon me, and lie brought mctliiilHT. In llie vi:>ionsof Gud brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a vrry lii^ili mountain, bv which was as the frame of a city on the snotli." There is doubtless a reference in that in Revelations, to tliisii Ezekiel; and that in Rev. xxi. 3, "And 1 heard a great vciia out of heaven, saying, Uehold, the tabernacle of God is%iithimi| and he will dwell with them, and be their God," is from EitL chap, xxxvii. 23, 27, " Moreover I will make a covenantorpeaa with them, it shall he an everlasting covenant; and 1 uill placf them and multiply them, and 1 will set my sanctuary in the iiiidft of them for ever more. My tabernacle also shall be uiih tlicDj yea, 1 will be their God, and they shall be my people.''

[TOO] Dan. iil. 25. " And the form of the fourth is like ih Son of God." Christ redeems from the furnace, by coming iotoil himself; so he redeems from wrath by endaring it himself.j

[279] Dan. vii. 13. "I saw in the night visions, and helidd, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and canie to the Ancient of days; and they brought him near before him." Here both Christ's Humanity and Divinity are signified : his Humanity, in that it is said '* One like the Son of man ;" and his Divinity, in that he came with the clouds of heaven. Appearing wiik bright clouds, or with the Shechinah, is a token of Divinity, fof this is often in scripture called the Glory of the Lord, and sometimes f/ie cloud of pylori/.

Another thing that may be observed of these words is, thai itb not said that he descended wifh the clouds of heaven, or that be asccndedj but he came with the clouds of heaven, and came to ilie Ancient of days, which is equally applicable both to his Ascensiofl into heaven, when he went to receive his kingdom, and to be in-Vf^sted with his royal dominion and glory ; and to his Last coraiDg at the day of jugmcnt, which is called his coming in his kingdom; and doubtless includes both, for one was like the other, and both might very well be spoken of under one ; for as the angel told ihe disciples at Christ's ascension, ** This same Jesus shall corociD like manner as he was seen to go into heaven ;" he shall descead in the same manner as he ascended; in both he comes ttitk A £louds ojheaven; Acts i. 9 ; in both he comes attended with boftf of angels, and probably in both with the whole multitude of tie

keavcnly hosts; in both he is attended with risen saints, for it it probable that those saints that came out of their graves with him, mUo ascended with him. In both he comes to the Ancient of days, and is brought near before isim. lie is so in his ascension, fur he ascended lo his Father, to appear before him ; and when he comes at the last dny, he will come to the Ancient of dn^s in a more mystical sense, for all the glory thai he will be invested with oil that day will be by his Father, and all that he will do in the diiy of jiuigmcnt, will be as acting from his Father, and rn his litiino ; he shall then in the most glorious manner of all receive a kiii<^floni from his Father; he shuil then be brought near to the Fnilier, and sit down on the Father's throne in the most eminent manner of all; he shall then most fully receive his church, the kingdom of his grace, that is made up of all peoples, nations, and 1an;;uages, as in the next verse.

Both these arc remarkable Periods or Epochs cf the commencement of the kingdom of heaven, of which the Messiah is the kiiiiT, and are so spoken of in thelSew Testament.

This prophecy doubtless has respect to Christ's ascent into beaven, for to that it is much the most obviously and directly applicable. That is most plainly spoken of in the New Testament, as the time when he went to God, the Ancient of days, to receive his kingdom. It also doubtless has respect to his coming to jndg* ment, for that coniing to judgment seems often in the New Testament spoken of with reference to this very prophecy. With reference to this it is called his coming in his kingdom. The ilews seem to have taken that phrase of the Messiah's coming in liis kingdom from this prophecy; and with reference to that it seems often to be spoken of in the New Testament, as the Son of man's coming in the clouds of heaven.

[SI] Dan. ix. 7. ** O Lord, righteousnessbelongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day." By confusion of ^tii:eM, he does not mean so much shame and repentance^-^z piaush" fnsnt. It is an acknowledgment that they were justly punished, mid brought to such sorrow and ruin, as they were then the subjects of; that is often represented by being ashamed and con-jbunded; therefore he says, ** As it is this day :" he did not mean tliat they then were ashamed with the shame of repentance, but that they then were in a ruined condition.

[413] Dan. ix. 27. " And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." It ought to have been trani»la-ted, ^^by or with, the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate;" so the particle hi% sometimes is used. (See Buztorf.) It is manifest that the Abomination here raeutionedp U

spoken of as the efficient, or instrument of the desolation, froo other scriptures that have a manifest reference to this, as Dao. xt. 31. '* And arms sliall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall takeaway the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolateJ* Dan. xii. 11. '* And from the time that the daily sacrifice shaD be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate sctuf^ there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

And the expression is very much like those concerning that which is spoken of, Dan. viii. 11,12, 13, *' Yea, he raagaifid himself even to the prince of the host, and by hinn the dailf sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary wai cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, audit cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered. Then 1 heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certaia saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning tiw daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot r" And Math. xxiv. 15, 16. ''When ye therefore shall see the abowr nation of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand ia the holy place, (whoso readcthlct him understand,) iheo let them which be in Judca, flee to the mountains." And the same words in Mark xiii. 14. The great difficulty of understanding these places seems to lie in these two things :

I. That the abomination of desobition spoken of in all those places seems to be the same. There are these followioj thin<cs that ar<:^ue them to be the same:

1. The manner of speaking of the abominations that mak-ethdesolatein Dan. xi.31, and xii. 11, seems to imply a reference to some such thing of which there had been a revelation made to Daniel, and which Daniel had already in his mind. And the passage in Dan. ix. 27, seems to have a reference to that transgression of desolation in chap. viii. 11, 12. It seems evidently to be the same thing spoken of several times : here 18 something spoken of over and over, called by the same, or a like name, called by way of eminency the abomination, or the transgression described by the like property that that maketh desolate.

All are spoken of with a special reference to the holy city and sanctuary; as appears by comparing the several places and contexts ; all are spoken of, in each place in Daniel, as attended with the ceasing of the sacrifice.

2. Christ, when he refers to the abomination of desolatioa spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, seems to suppose but one abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

3. Some things that Christ says of this abomination of de-lolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seem to be especially taken from one place, others from another. He speaks of it AS the abomination that makes denolate, that accompanies the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and this seems to be taken from Dan. ix. 27. He speaks of it as standing, or set up, in the holy place. This seems rather to be taken from Dan. xi. 31, where it is said they shall pollute the sanctuary, or holy ptace, and place the abomination that maketh desolate. And Dan. xii. 11. *'And the abomination that maketh desolate ■hall be set up,*^ And that manner of expression— of desola" Han —seems to be taken from Dan. viii. 13. And yet,

II. The prophecies of the abomination that maketh desolate, in different places in Daniel, seems evidently to have respect to different seasons and events ; as those in Dan. viii. 11, 12, 13, and xi. 31, have an evident reference to what came to pass in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes; and what is spoken of, Dan. ix. 27, has an evident reference to what came to pass at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and that in Dan. xii. has a reference to what comes to pass in the days of Antichrist, as is manifest from the preceding part of the chapter.

But the reconciliation of the difficulty is in this, that they are all, mystically, one and the same ; for they are lively types one of another. What is ultimately respected, is that spoken of in the xii. of Daniel, which is accomplished in the days of Antichrist, of which the preceding are lively images. That setting np of the abomination that makes desolate in the sanctuary, by Antiochus Epiphanes, is typical of what wasdone by Antichrist; for he was a great type of Antichrist. And so was that, which came to pass at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, spoken of Dan. ix. 27, and spoken of by Christ, Matth. xxiv. 15. Luke explains ** the abomination of desolation, standing in the holy place," by Jerusalem being compassed with the Roman armies, Luke xxi. 20,21. Jerusalem was the holy city, and so many furlongs about it were accounted holy. Now when the Roman army approached within the limits of the holy ground, then the abomination of desolation might be said to stand in the holy place. But the word abomination seems particularly to refer to the Roman ensigns, upon which were the images of their emperors, which the Romans worshipped, as Suetonius expressly tells us, and Tacitus calls them their ** Bellorum Dci,^' their gods of war. Now it was an abomination to the Jews, to see those idols set up withm the limits of the holy city; to which may be added what Jose-pbus tells us afterwards, that the Romans, after they had

spoken of as the efficient, or instrument of the desolation* froa other scriptures that have a manifest reference to this, asDu. xi. 31. *' And arms sh:ill stand on his part, and they shall pollofa the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the dailj» crifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh dttolatt? Dan. xii. 11. '' And from the time that the daily sacrifice ditl be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate sttftf, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

And the expression is very much like those concerning thic which is spoken of, Dun. viii. 11, 12, 13, '' Yen, he roagDiM himself even to the prince of the host, and by hinn thedai^ sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary w« cast down. And an host was given him against the daily st crifice by reason of transgression, audit cast down the trutfalf the ground, and it practised and prospered. Then I hearf one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that ccrtu. saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerninf th daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, togiveliolk the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot .^" Ati Math. xxiv. 15, 16. " When ye therefore shall see the abowir nation of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand ii the holy place, (whoso rcadeth let him understand,) then kl them which be in Judca, flee to the mountains." And th same words in Mark xiii. 14. The great difficulty of uodo^ standing these places seems to lie in these two things: |

I. That the abomination of desolation spoken of in allthoR places seems to be the same. There arc these followiii| things that argue them to be the same:

1. The manner of speaking of the abominations that mak* eth desolate in Dan. xi. 31, and xii. 11, seems to implyare^e^ ence to some such thing of which there had been a revelatioi made to Daniel, and which Daniel had already in bis roio^ And the passage in Dan. ix. 27, seems to have a referenceB that transgression of desolation in chap. viii. 11, 12. Itseeai evidently to be the same thing spoken of several times: here is something spoken of over and over, called by the same,« a like name, called by way of eminency the abomination,or the transgression described by the like property that that mA' eth desolate.

All are spoken of with a special reference to the holydJf and sanctuary; as appears by comparing the several plactf and contexts ; all are spoken of, in each place in Daniel, asai-tended with the ceasing of the sacrifice.

2. Christ, when he refers to the abomination of desojali* spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, seems to suppose but one abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the propbel.

t. Some things that Christ says of this abomination of de-sition, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seem to be especial-;aken from one place, others from another. He speaks of it the abomination that makes desolate, that accompanies the (truction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and this seems to be en from Dan. ix. 27. He speaks of it as standing, or set up^ the holy place. This seems rather to be taken from Dan. 31, where it is said they shall pollute the sanctuary^ or holy €6, and place the abomination that maketh desolate. And in. xii. 11. ''And the abomination that maketh desolate lU be set up.*^ And that manner of expression— of dtsola" n —seems to be taken from Dan. viii. 13. And yet, II. The prophecies of the abomination that maketh deso-e, in different places in Daniel, seems evidently to have re-ect to different seasons and events; as those in Dan. viii. 11, ) 13, and xi. 31, have an evident reference to what came to is in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes; and what is spoken Dan. ix. 27, has an evident reference to what came to pass the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and that in in. xii. has a reference to what comes to pass in the days Antichrist, as is manifest from the preceding part of the inter.

But the reconciliation of the difficulty is in this, that they J all, mystically, one and the same ; for they are lively types d of another. What is ultimately respected, is that spoken in the xii. of Daniel, which is accomplished in the days of ttichrist, of which the preceding are lively images. That ting up of the abomination that makes desolate in the sanc-iry, by Antiochus Epiphanes, is typical of what was done by itichrist; for he was a great type of Antichrist. And so was it, which came to pass at the time of the destruetion of Je-»alem by the Romans, spoken of Dan. ix. 27, and spoken of Christ, Matth. xxiv. 15. Luke explains *< the abomination desolation, standing in the holy place," by Jerusalem being tKipassed with the Roman armies, Luke xxi. 20,21. Jerusalem is the holy city, and so many furlongs about it were account-holy. Now when the Roman army approached within the nits of the holy ground, then the abomination of desolation ight be said to stand in the holy place. But the word abomi-^ion seems particularly to refer to the Roman ensigns, upon ^ich were the images of their emperors, which the Romans :^rshipped, as Suetonius expressly tells us, and Tacitus calls C5m their " Bellorum Dci,^^ their gods of war. Now it wa» I abomination to the Jews, to see those idols set up withia ^ limits of the holy city; to which may be added what Jose-^us tells us afterwards, that the Romans, after they bad

conquered the city, set up these ensigns in the ruins of the temple, and sacrificed to them." (Thus, Abp. Tillotsbn, vol. iL of his works, Scrm. 185, p. 533.) This setting up the iinagtt of the emperor within the limits of the holy city, and afterwards in the ruins of the temple, and thoie sacrificing to if, ii a lively representation of setting up the Pope in the church of God, the spiritual Jerusalem, who is the Bmpcror of the aiili-christian lloman empire, and the image of the Iteast, an image of the heathen Roman emperors, who is set up as a god in the temple of God, where he exalts himself above all that if called God, or is worshipped, although it be in the temple ia ruins. He first in effect destroys the temple of God, and then sets himself up there as God, to be worshipped and sacrificed to. Here see I3p. Kidder's Dem. part ii. p. 11, 12, 13.

[247] Hosea i. 4. ** For yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Israel upon the house of Jehu.*' This prophecy WAS given in the days of Jeroboam, a king of the house of Jehu, not long before the destruction of that house; for Ze-chariah, Jeroboam's son and successor, was the last that reigned of that family, and he reigned but six months. Jehu's kill-if^ all that were of the house of Ahab, was both rewarded and punished ; it was rewarded, because as to the matter of it, it was agreeable to God^s command; (see 2 Kings x. 3D ;) but it was done in a wicked manner. He did not do it so much from a spirit of obedience as from an aim at his own advancement; for he little regarded God's honour in it, as afterwards plainly appeared by his idolatry, the very sin for which he was bid to kill Ahab and destroy his family. God saw that he did it with a murderous heart, and so punishes it by the overthrow of his family. As Jehu with a murderous heart slew Ahab and all bis family, so shall the posterity of Jehu be slain, and his family be overthrown in their turn. So the house of Daasha waj rooted out, because he did the like to Jeroboam, 1 Kings xvi. 7, because Jehu performed the matter of God's command, he was rewarded by continuing the crown of Isiael in iiis family unto the fourth generation, but because he did it in a wicked manner, as his after behaviour manifested, therefore it was continued no longer, but then taken away. His doing the matter of his duty was rewarded, but his doing it in a murderous manner was punished : which two things are not at all inconsistent.

[250] Hosea vii. 14. ** And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds." In their calamities which they suffered, they are compared to sick and wctuoded men, as chap. v. Ifi; and many of them were doubt*

less literally sick, wounded men, in grievous pain on their beds, by reason of the continual wars that they had of late been embroiled in. They howled in pain and distress on their beds, and cried that God would help then]. When he slew them, then they sought him, but it was all in hypocrisy, and probably they cried in their prayers under distress with a loud voice, as they used to cry to Uaal and other idols, as if they must be awakened, or could be prevailed upon by the loudness of the noise they made; but God, to show hiis abhorrence of it, calls it howling. ** They assembled themselves for corn and wine, and they rebelled against me." They assemble themselves to fast and pray for these blessings, when they were by divine judgments cut short in them, but they sought in such a manner that God looked upon it as rebellion, as the prophet Isaiah says, Isai. i. 17, '* The calling of assemblies I cannot away with, it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting."

[252] Hosea x. 9, 10. *' O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah; there they stood, the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is my desire that I should chastise them," &^c. When the Ben-jamites committed such wickedness in Gibeah, they stood and defended themselves, and were victors in the first and second battle that was fought against them, and at last the battle did not overtake them all, but six hundred made their escape; that wicked tribe was not extirpated, and they have stood and remained in their successors in their wickedness to this very day, until the generation of such wicked men in Israel has now at length so increased, that they have overspread not only one tribe, but all the tribes of Israel. That wicked tribe of Benjamin was not overtaken or rooted out by the battle in Gibeah. '* But I have a design now that the battle shall overtake them, my desire is that I should chastise them," as it follows in the next verse. When the Benjamites committed such wickedness in Gibeah, the other tribes had a desire to chastise them, by wholly rooting out that tribe; they seemed to be greatly engaged about it, but failed of it; there they stood and remained notwithstanding. '* Now I have a desire to chastise them, I myself will take it in hand, and 1 will make more thorough work; I will root out all of them; none shall be able to stand against me."

'* And the people shall be gathered against them when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows." That is when they shall fortify themselves in their two furrows, where they have ploughed wickedness and sowed iniquity, ver. 13, i. e. in Dan and Bethel, the places of their two calves, or in the service of their two gods. In this field they bind t^iemselves;

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they are resolute not to depart from these two furrows tint they have ploughed ; they remain there as if they were booad there; they are obstinate in their wicked works, in their two furrows. Their two ways of wickedness, or two wicked works, viz. their worshipping the two calves, are here compa^ ed to two furrows that they have ploughed, in analogy to the rest of the allegory in the following verses. In these wicked works they persist, and think to stand it out as the Benjamita did, but they shall not be able to defend themselves as the; did, but the people shall be gathered against them as the tribes of Israel were gathered against the wicked Benjamites, and to more effect.

[253] Hosea x. 11. *' I will make Ephraim to ride, Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods." In the preceding words, God hath threatened that he would put a yoke on Ephraim's fair neck, that she might be made to do harder work than treading out the corn, to wit, plough the field. Herethe comparison is in part continued, and in part altered from the labour of the cattle in ploughing to that of the men that plough, wherein one man was wont to ride to sruide the beast that drew the plough, another to hold the plough, and another tu break the clods. God here says that he would cause Ephraim to ride, i. e. he should go foremost in this labour God had to call them to, and Judah should plough, i. e. Judah should follow ia it as he that held the plough did him that rode, and then Jacob, i. e. the whole nation of Israel in all the tribes, should be in the same calamity, and reduced to the same slavery. As he that broke the clods in ploughing came last. See chap, xii. 1, 2.

[260] Hosea xii. 12,13. " And Jacob fled into the countrv of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep, and by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a ])rophet was he preserved."

1. Israel arc here put in mind of their former meanness in the same two instances that they were commanded every year to remember and confess anew, when they offered the basket of first fruits. Deut. xxvi. 5. *• And thou shalt speak, and say, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few." God puts thera in mind from what small beginnings he raised them. Their father served and kept sheep for their mothers. He came to Syria a poor fugitive, and lived there a servant. He came to Syria with nothing; he had nothing to endow a wife with, and

iherefore was forced to serve for a wife; and again they were poor slaves in a strange land in Egypt.

[2] They are put in mind of God's great mercies of old to their forefathers in twice bringing them out of banishment, and out of servitude, vid. ver. 9. And he brought them out of Egypt, and led and preserved them in the wilderness ; it was by a prophet, which shows their ingratitude in their despising and rejecting the prophets, the successors of Moses. Ver. 10.

[221] Amos i. 6 to 13. The injuriousness and cruelty of the Philistines, Tyrians, and Edomites, towards the children of Israel, that is here spoken of, and for which God's judgments are, by the prophet, denounced against them, seem to have been acted at the time that those things were done that we read of in 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 9, 10. 16, 17 ; and xxii. 1. The judgments spoken of concerning the Philistines, seem in part to have been fulfilled before the prophecy of Amos, in what we have an account of, 2 Chron. zxvi. 6, 7, when Uzziah, king of Judah, went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath, and the walls of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ash-dod, and among the Philistines, his God helped him, so that he was successful. Accordingly the words of the prophecy may be interpreted, '* And I have sent afire upon the wall of Gaza, and have cut ofifthe inhabitants from Ashdod." And as the prophets frequently speak of things to come in the same manner as if they were past or present; so it was furlherfulfilIedinthetimeofilezekiah,who smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof; from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced cities, 2 Kings xviii. 8 ; or both in town and country, where they built little cottages; where they watched their flocks by night; and therefore the prophet Isaiah bids the Philistines not to rejoice, because the rod that smote them was- broken, or Uzziah was dead, who had sorely alHicted them. Isai. xiv. 29, to the end. For Hezekiah should come out of his root, or be descended from him, who should more greviously gall them. And it was more fully completed when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, marched against Epypt; and the better to open his way into that country, he sent Tartan, one of his generals, before him, who fought against Ashdod, and took it.

Secondly. Tiie prophet Amos prophesieth also against Tyre, for this reason, that God would send a fire upon the walls of Ty-rus, which should devour the palaces thereof. This was also fulfilled when Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, made war upon Tyre, in the reign of Elulspus, their king, and having sent an army invaded the whole country of Phoenicia; and taking it very heinously to see the Tyrians to be the only people who disputed bis

authority, he sent a large fleet against them, which being beateOy the king of Assyria returns and sets guards along the river, and upon all springs and aqueducts, to keep the Tyrians from water, which distress continued for Cve years, when they were forced to relieve themselves by pits of their own digging. After this Ne-buchadhazzer, continuing a long and terrible siege of thirteen years, made himself master of it, who, Cnding but little spoil therein to reward his soldiers for their great pains, was so inflamed with anger, that he rased the whole town to the ground, and slew all that be found therein, from which time it never more recovered its glory ; but the city on the island became the Tyre, which was afterwards so famous, and thi^ was ever after a village called by the name of Old Tyre.

Lasiltf. The prophet, for the same reasons, foretells the destruction of Edom, that God would send a fire upon Teman, their capital city, which should devour the palaces of Bozrah, a city in the confines of Moab. This seems first to have been fulfilled j when Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, came against Samaria; and having conquered the country of Moab, ravaged and destroyed the country of Edom, the neighbouring kingdom, the better to secure himself from any disturbance on that side. And also when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went with his forces into Egypt; for the same reason that induced him to send Tartan into Ashdod, would induce him to overrun all Idu-mea, which lay directly in his way, and would open a freer communication with his own country. And after this the army of Nebuchadnezzar ransacked tlie country when Tyre was taken, and when he marched into Egypt, and his soldiers were hungry for want of plunder, as it had been foretold by the prophets Oba-diah, (throughout his prophecy,) and Jeremiah, (chap. xlix. 7 to 23,) when the accomplishment thereof was near at hand. (Bedford's Scripture Chronology, p. 633, 634.)

[97] Jonah i. and ii. As the ship and company were saved by Jonah's being cast into the waters, and his intended and supposed death, so was the church, which is several times typified by a ship saved by Christ, being cast into and overwhelmed by sorrows and troubles, which arc represented hy water, and by his death. Jonah being swallowed of a whale, or leviathan, represents Christ being as it were swallowed by him that hath the power of death, the devil, the spiritual leviathan ; but however, it was but a means of Christ's being under better advantages to come at liis heart, and to give him the more mortal wound. The whale thoutrhi to have made a sweet feast of Jonuh, but he found him a dreadful medicine, he was sick of him at the heart ami vomited him up again. Vide Jer. Ii. 44. So the devil thought Christ was his food, but he proved not his meat, but his poison. The devil has deeply re-

greeted putting Christ to death, since he has seen what the effect of it is. As Jonah was three days and three nights buried in the sea, so was Christ in his grave three days and three nights.

It is said, when Jonah was cast into the sea, the sea ceased from her raging ; so, when once Christ was swallowed up in God's wrath, his wrath ceased from raging towards the church. The words of Jonah's song, chap. ii. make the thing more apparent. He calls the belly of the fTsh, the belly of heU, or the oeUy of the grave^ 2d and 4th verses. '' I cried by reason of mine affliction, then said I, I am cast out of thy sight." So Christ said, *' My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me f* Ver. 3. '* The floods compassed me about, all thy waves and thy billows passed over me," (the words of the psalmist. Psalm xlii. 7 ; also Lam. iii. 4, 5,) to signify the great sorrow and distress that God brought upon him. Ver. 5. '* The waters compassed me about, even to the soul," (the words of the psalmist, for great trouble and anguish, Ps. hix. 1.) Ver. 6. *' Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption," agreeable to what is said of Christ, **Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor sufler thine Holy One to corruption."

[274] Jonah ii. 6. '' The earth with her bars was about me for ever." It alludes to the bars of a prison, he speaks of him-ielf as having as it were been in hell. Ver. 2. ** Out of the belly of bell cried I;" which in scripture is often spoken of as being ia the bowels of the earth, and under the bottoms, or foundations of the mountains. Deut. xxxii. 22. ** A Arc is kindled in mine aoger, and shall burn to the lowest helU and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mmntains,^^ So here, ** I went down to the bottom of the moun-lliins." So hell is spoken of as being under the bottom of the tea. Jobxxvi. 5. ** Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering." (See Notes on this place.) IJcU ind destruction here seem to be synonymous terms. Ilell is by a ^Betononiy called Destruction. So Psalm hxxviii. 11, "Shall :thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction .?" So Prov. xv. 11, *' Hell and destruction are before the Lord ;" and xxvii. 20. " Hell and destruction are never loll;" and in other places. This prayer of Jonah was indited by f|he Spirit of God, and so is mystical; and the Holy Ghost in it 'has an eye to Christ, who, as it were, went into hell in our stead. Hell is here represented as a prison in the heart of the Earth, that hath the Earth with its rocks and other strong and immoveable parts for its walls and bars; and therefore it is such a prison as cannot be broken through, but eflectually for ever confines those

E

that are prisoners there, and therefore it is said <* The earth with her bars were ^about^me for ever;" i. e. it would hare been so, were it not for the wonderful power of God*8 delivering me, which was stronger than the wails and bars of this prison.

[501] Micah V. 2. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratafa, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings furth have been from of old, from everlasting." Here it may be noted concerning these two expressions in the verse, shall he come forth unto m«, and that other, whose goingi forth have been from of old ^ &c., that the verb comeforthj in the former, and goings forth, in the latter, are words of the same root in the Hebrew.

Now in order to an understanding of this text, and a clear discovering of the great doctrines taught in it, it may be worth the while to observe particularly how these words, and words of that root, are used in the Hebrew bible.

These words are often u.^ed to signify the Proceeding or Flowing forth of Watery as from a fountain. Gen. ii. 10. "A river went out of Eden ;" Deut. viii. 7. " Fountains that spring out of valleys ;" Ezek xlvii.l. '* Waters issued out front under the threshold ;" ver. 8, *' Waters issue ;" so, ver. 12 ; Zecli. xiv. 8. ** Living waters shall go out of Jerusalem ;" Numb. XX. II. "And tlie waters cflfmc om^ abundantly;" Judg. xv. ]9. "And there came water thcrcout,^^ i. e. out of the jaw-bone, or out of Lelii; Isai. Iviii. II. ** liike a sj)ring of water," in the Hebrew, ** A going forth of waters ;" so Psalm cvii. 33. •* IVa-ter springs,^^ in the Hebrew, ^^ Going forth of water;" so ver. 35. ** Water springs \'^ Isai. xli. 18. "The dry land, spring* of water."

They are often used to si<rnify the Rising of the Sun or the rising of the Light of the morning, or the Proceeding of beams of light from a shining bodi/, or luminary. Gen. xix. 24. " The sun was riscji on the oaith ;" Kzek. vii. 10. " 'i'he morning is ^onc forth; Isai. xiii. 10. "The sun shall be darkened, in his ^o-ing forth ;^^ Isai. Ixii. 1. " Go forth, as bright iiess ;" Hos. vi. 5. "Thy judgments are as that light that guelh forth;" Isai. xix. 6. " Ills going forth is from llie end of heaven ;" Ps. Ixv. 8. " The ou/^02/7^r:; of the morning."

They are often used to denote the Springing, or sprouting of Plants, or of something that grows like a plant, Jobxiv. 2. " He cometh forth like a flower ;" Isai. xi. 1. "And iheve came forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse ;" 1 Kings iv. 33. " The hyssop that springeth out of the wall;" Deut. xiv. 22. " All that ihc

Beld bringeth forth ;'* Heb. "All thai goeth forth out of the Geld;'' Job viii. 16. " His branch shooteth forth in his garden ;" Dan. viii, 8. ** There camt forth four notable horns;" £xocl. XXV. 32. " Six branches shall come out of the sides of it;" so vcr. 33. 35, and chap, xxxvii. 18. 21; Isai. xlii. 5. '* He that sjpreadeth forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it."

They are often used to express the Proceeding of a word, or voicei from him^ whose word, or voice it is: Gen. xxiv. 50. ** The wprd proceedeth from the Lord ;" Judg. xi. 36. ** According to that which proceedeth out of iliy mouth ;" Esth. vii. 8. ** As the word went out of the king's mouth;" Jer. xliv. 17. ** Whatso- ' ever thing goeth forth from my mouth ;" Dan. ix. 23. ** Came forth the word;" Isai. xlviii. 3. ** They went forth out of my raouth;'' Exod. xxx. 2. "Do according to all that proceedeth out ofh'xs mouth ;" Ezek. xxxiii. 30. " What is the word that eometh forth from the Lord ;^^ Numb, xxxii. 24. ** Do that which proceedeth out of your mouth ;" Josh. vi. 10. •* Neither shall my word proceed out of your mouth ;" 1 Sam. ii. 3. " Let not arrogancy, or hard speech, cofne out of your mouth;" Job xxxvii. 2. " The sound that goeth out of his mouth ;" Isai. Iv. 11. "My word that goeth out of my mouth ;" Lam. iii. 38. ** Out of the mouth of the Most High, proceedeth not evil and good ;" Ps. Ixxxix. 34. " Nor alter the thing which is gone out of my lips." Heb. Alter the going forth of my lips.

They are very often used for proceeding by generation both from the father, and the mother.

They are very often used for proceeding from a father by generation : 2 Sam. xvi. 11. " My son, my son which came forth out of my bowels ;" Gen. xii. 14. " Out of whom came Philistim ;" BO 1 Chron. i. 12. I Chron. iii. 53. " Of thein came the Zare-thites;" Isai. xlviii. 1. "Are come forth out of the waters of Judah;" 1 Kings, viii. 19. "Thy son that cometh forth out of thy loins;" so. 2. 6. 9. the same words; Gen. xlvi. 26. " That came out of his loins;" so Exod. i. 5. " That came out of the loins of Jacob;" Judg. viii. 30. V Threescore and ten sons;" so in the Hebrew ; Gen. xv. 4. " He that shall come forth out of thy bowels;" 2 Sam. vii. 12. " Thy seed which shall j?ro-ceedout of thy bowels;" 2 Kings xx. 18. "And of thy sons which shall issue from thee;" Isai. xxxix. 7. "Thy sons which shall issue from thee ;" Gen. xvii. 6. " Kings shall come out of thee;" Gen xxxv. 11. " Kings shall come out of thy loins;" 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. " They that come forth out of his bowels;" Jer. xxx. 21. " Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them ; so commonly tike word, Offsprings in our translation, is in the Hebrew a word

of this root, that signifies as much ^s goings forth; Isai. zzii. 24, " all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue; Isai. xlviii. 19, "the offspring of thy bowels;'* Isai. xliv. 3, " my blessing upon iWine offspring ;** so Isai. Ixi. 9; Isai. Ixv.23; Job xxi. 8; Job xxvii. 14; and Job xxxi. 6.

They are often used for that proceeding which there Is in tbe birth, from the mother: Gen. xxiv. 25, 26, "his brother came out;^^ Gen. xxxviii. 28, " this came out first;" so ver. 29, and ver. 30; Job xxxviii. 29, '* out of whose womb came the ice ?*• Eccles. V. 15, " as he came forth out of his mother's womb;" and Job iii. 11; Job XX. 18; Job i. 21 ; Exod. xxi. 22, "so that her fmit depart from her;" Deut. xxviii. 57, " her young one that cometk out from between her feet;" Deut. xii. 12, " when he comefhfo^th out of his mother's womb;" Job xxxviii. 8, " as if it bad issiml out of the womb."

Now concerning these things, I would make the following observations :

I. The generation of mankind, their proceeding from their fathers or ancestors, or of a particular stock and family, is often compared in the Old Testament to the issue of waters from a fountain: so Isai. xlviii. 1; Ps. Ixviii. 26 ; Gen. xxxiii. 28, and other places.

II. The generation of mankind is often compared to the springing and shooting forth of plants: Isai. xliv. 3, 4. " I will poor my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the water courses. Psalm Ixxii. 15, "they of the city shall flourish as the grass of the earth ;" so Job xiv. 2, " he cometh forth as a flower," and many other places; and particularly is the birth of the Messiah oflen compared to the springing of a plant or branch ; as in Isai. xi. 1, " there came forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse," and many other places.

III. The birth of a prince is compared to the rising of a luminary ; the birth of Christ in particular, in that prophecy of Balaam, "a Star shall rise out of Jacob."

IV. It being thus, and the words used in this passage of Micab, V. 2, which express the Messiah's corning forth oui of Bethlehem, and also his going forth from Everlasting, being the same or from the same root with those that are so often used to signify the issu« ing of waters from a fountain, and the sprouting forth of plants, and the going forth of a luminary ; and not only so, but also abundantly used expressly to signify generation, or a being born: hence it is most reasonable and natural to understand the comins^ forth, z\\A going forth of the Messiah, here spoken of, concerning

his GENERATION.

y. Considering these things, and the word used when it is said that the Messiah shall come forth out of Bethlehem, is so often used to signify a person's being born of his mother, and that to be

bom unto such a one, is a plirase used in the scripture to signify that the person, fo whom he is said to be born, is his father: hence when God says, "out of Bethlehem shall the Messiah come forth nniome^^^ it is most natural to interpret it thus: '*ln Bethlehem shall the Messiah be born of a woman, who shall be his n^o.her, but not as begotten of a man, or having any man for his fathtr; but I only will be his Father; she shall not bear this child to any earthly father, but to me only."

VI. And when these words are subjoined, ** Whofieg-o/w^* Jorih were of old, from everhisting," and the wovA^ goings forth are so very frequently used fur generation of a father: Hence it is most natural to interpret the text thus: ^'In Bethlehem shall the Messiah be born of his mother, uho is begotten not by any man, but by me only ns his Father; and this generation of him, by which I nm his Father, will not be then a new thing; it is an Eternal Generation^ it has been already of old, from Everlasting."

Vir. It greatly confirms the supposition, that the Goings fbrthf which arc said to be of old, from Everlasting, intend his Eternal Generation, or Proceeding from the Father, that Christ, with respect to his proceeding from the Father, is represented as the Father^8 Glory and Itrightness, as though ho proceeded from him, as brightness from a luminary; and as the Father's JVord, and that the original word used here, is so from time to time used to signify the going forth of light, or brightness, and abundantly for the proceeding of a word from biin whose word it is.

[483] Habak. iii. 2. '' Revive the work in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make known, and in wrath remember mercy." There was a certain number of years that were as it were the appointed day of the church's trouble and calamity, and the day of God's wrath, or anger. The prophet prays that though God's anger were not wholly removed till the number of years was finished, and the day of wrath passed, yet that God would remember mercy in wrath, and giant »ome revival in-the midst of the years, and not hide hTinself wholly from his people for so long a time, but uiake himself known to them, in some measure, before the expiring of the dark season. The prophet here in his prayer, speaking of the appointed years, has respect to the same appointed time that he speaks of ill the foregoing chapter, ver. 2, 3. *• And the Lord answerrd ine and said, Write the vision and make it plain," Slc. '* for the vision is yet for an ap|K>inted time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie," &c. What he has u more immediate respect to, is the appointed time of deliverance from the Babylonish ca|>-

VOL. IX. 54

tivity. TIlis whole book seems to relate to that cojitirUjaiid the (leliveranco from it; that was a time of sore trouble to the church, from the captivity, until the restoration of Jenisa-lem. The appointed time was seventy years; but God remembered mcicy, and gave some revival in the midst of the years, by Daniel's advancement, which was doubtless greatlj for the ease and relief of the Jews, and then the destruction it Babylon and Cyrus' Decree were before the end of seventy years, from the destruction of Jerusalem ; though the temple was not rebuilt until the seventy years was ended; and leli-gion revived among the people in the younger generation io the midst of those years. So is God wont to remember mercy in the midst of the years, in the times of the church's oppression, as in the times of its sore distress by Antiochus' tyranny and cruelty. They were helped with a little help by the Maccabees before the appointed time expired. Dan. xi. 32, 33, 31 So God remembered mercy to his church during the reign of Antichrist, and granted a revival of his church before the time of his reign, and of the church's captivity was expired, aud made himself known in the midst of the years, in the timeof the reformation.

[208] Habak. iii. II. ''The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, at the shining of thy glittering spear." By this it is evident that there was oot only a dreadful storm of hail, but thunder and lightning with it, on the day that the sun and moon stood still, as we commonly have thunder and lightning in storms of hail, in the summer time. That by the light of God's arrows, is meant fhc light of his lightning, if evident by Ps. cxiiv. 6: <' Cast forth lightning and scatter them, shoot out thine arrows and destroy them;" and especially P<. xviii. 13, 14, '' The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire : Yea, he seat forth his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them." These lightnings are called God's ar-rons; and the instance that David has reference to was parallel with this, for it was an instance wherein God fought against David's enemies in a storm of hail, as he did against the enemies of Israel, when the sun and moon stood still; and it was probablj when God came forth upon David's enemies, before him, like the breach of waters at Baal-Perazim, that we read of, 2 Sam. v. 20. And that, which God did for David there, is particularly mentioned as parallel with what God did for Israel at Gibeon, when the sun and moon stood still, Isai. xxviii. 21. If this needed any further confirmation it might be further confirmed by the last expression in that verse, *' At the shining of thy glittering spear." The radix of the word, that is translated glittering^ which is p^,

signifies to lighten; and the word itself, which is p*i3, properly

signifies lightning; so that the literal translation of the words is, '* At the shining of the lightning of thy spear." And besides, we read, Josh. x. JO, that the [jord discomfited them before Israel; and Mr. Bedford observes that the word u^ed in the original signifies to strike a terror hy the noise of thunder. (Scripture Chronology, p. 510, margin.) Wherever the same word in the original is used, and it is said that God discomfited these or those ; this seems to have been the case that God fought against ihem tciih thunder and lightning. So when Sisera and his host were discomfited, Judg. iv. 15; (see Notes on Judges v. 20 ;) and so 1 Sam. vil. 10 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 15 ; Ps. xviii. 14.

It is here said that the sun and moon stood still, but went or walked at the light of God's arrows, and at the shining of the lightnings of his spear; by which it seems that when the lightning began, the sun and moon began to move again, after they bad stood still. The case seems to have been thus : As long as the sun and moon stood still, there was a serene air, that the children of Israel and their enemies might behold that great and wondrous miracle by which God then manifested his power, and glory, and wonderful mercy to his people. But then the storm began to arise, and appeared first at a distance with thunders and lightning, but approaching, and when the lightnings appeared, the sun and moon began to move, and then came the dreadful storm and destroyed the Amorites. The lightnings appearing and playing at a distance before the storm came, seems here to be conDpared to a man of war's brandishing his weapons when coming to battle. The sun and moon, God's creatures, had stood still to help Israel against their enemies ; but when God himself appeared with brandished weapons coming to the battle, they withdrew, as conscious that now there was no further need of their help, seeing that God himself was coming, who needed not the help of his creatures, and did not need to have the sun and moon stand still to give him time: he could do his work in a short time. And though God's fighting against the Amorites by hail, is mentioned before the sun and moon's standing still, yet doubtless it was after: when the sun stood still, it was to give them opporta-nity to fight for themselves, but there would have been no need of that, if God was fighting for them. God did not appear thus to take the burden of the battle immediately on himself until they were weary. It is not God's manner to appear, until after others have done their part. And then it must be either before or afteV" wards^ that God fought by the storm of hail, and not in the time of the sun and moon's standing still; for if so, the storm would have hid the miracle, and it is unreasonable to suppose that it was afterwards, or that there was any need of the sun's standing suU

twelve hours together, to give opportanity for the children of Israel arter God had taken the work into his own hands, and bad so terribly destroyed them with hailstones. God does not need men to finish the work after he has taken it in hand, when he logins he will also make an end.

In all probability when God began with thunder, lighcniDg, and hail, the children of Israel stood still, and rested while God fought for them: seeExod. xiv. 13, 14; andaIso2Cbron.xx. 17. It could be no otherwise than that by that time the children of Israel needed rest, having been in battle and pursuit for above eighteen hours, and having travelled all the night before, Joilu z. 9. And the latter part of the time in the scorching heat of the sun, (Vide No. 209, on Josh. x. 12—14,) it having stood still over their heads for twelve hours together. And besides, this destruction by hail was doubtless afler the children of Israel had done, and not when they were mixed with their enemies fighting with them ; for, if so, they themselves would be exposed to the hail, and thunder, and lightning, as well as their enemies. (Vide Notes on Ps. Ixviii. 8, 9.)

It is signified iu the margin of our bibtes, that the words maybe translated, *^ Thine arrows walked in the light, and thy glitteriog spear on the shining,^' i. e. in the shining of the sun while it stood; but this is not so natural a translation, for by this way of render* ing the words are thus, in the light thine arrows walked, and in the shining the glittering of thy spear. But this is not so natural a translation; for 1. There seems to be nn evident antithesis in the words between standing still and icalking ; and therefore they are to be attached to the same subject, viz. the sun and raoon. 1 It is not a natural metaphor, to say, that a spear walked in the light; for a spear is not a weapon that is to do its execution flying through the air, though arrows are ; and it is less natural speaking to say, that the glittering of the spear walks. 3. The shining spoken of seems evidently lo relate to the word that next follow}, viz. the glittering or lightning of the spear. 4. The prefix, that is translated at, is iMmed, and not Beth, and therefore is more properly rendered a^ than in. And besides this translation confutes itself, because without doubt the thing that respect is had to here, when mention is made of God's appearing in battle himself, with his own weapons, on that day when the sun and moon stood still, is God's fighting, as he did against the Amorites, and destroying them by the storm of hail. But then God's arrows could not be said to walk in the light and shining of the sun, because the storm hid the shining of the sun ; and besides that it is not probable that they did this execution, wliile the sun continued to stand sill, because the storm would have hid the miracle.

f

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. 429

[269] Zech. i. 8. " I saw in ihe nighf, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled aod white." The grove of myrtle-trees signifies the church. It was a grove of myrtle-trees, down in a bottom, hid by the adjacent hills, so that you were not aware of it, until you were just upon it. This represents the low, dark, solitary, melancholy condition of the Jewish church at this time. They were overtopped by all their neighbours, buried in obscurity, as the woman in the wilderness. Rev. xii. 6. Being in a valley, is evidently used to signify being in mean, depressed, afflicted circumstances: Isai. xxxii. 19, *^ And the city shall be low in a low place." And being set on high, on a mountain, denotes a state of great honour and prosperity : Isai. ii. 2. <* The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains.'* Hence Babylon, though built on a plain, is called a mouniain. Jer. Ii. 25. The man upon the red horse, in the midst of this myrtle grove, is no other than Jesus Christ, the same that appeared to Joshua with his sword drawn in his hand, as Captain of the hosts of the Lord. Josh. v. 13, 14; and to John, as Captain of the armies of heaven, sitting on a white horse, clothed with a vesture dipped in bIood« out of whose mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, who should rule them with a rod of iron, and who treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, having the armies of heaven following on while horses. Rev. xix.

Though the church was in a low condition, yet Christ was present in the midst of it. Ho was riding as a man of war, as a man vx haste, riding on the heavens for the help of his people, Deut. xxxtii. 26. He rode on a red horse, either naturally so, or dyed red with the blood of war, as this some victorious prince appears red in his apparel, by treading on his enemies, and besmearing his raiment with their blood, as in the forementioned place of Rev. and Isai. Ixiii.<3. Red is a fiery colour, denoting what is said, ver. 14, 15, that he was jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with great jealousy, and that he was very sore displeased with their enemies. Christ under the law appeared on a red horse, denoting the terror of that dispensation, and that he had y^t his conflict before him, when he was to resist unto blood. Bu| under the gospel he appears on a white horse, Rev. xix., denoting that he has now gained the victory, and rides in triumph^ and hangs out the white, not the bloody flag. Here also follows. him an army on horseback, as in the xix. chap, of Rev. Behind him were some on red horses, some speckled, some while, angels attending on the Lord Jesus Christ, ready to be employed by bini» some in acts of judgment, others of mercy, others in mixed

he

430 NOTES on THE BIOL&

e?eot8. And probably they appeared in the order io which they 1^ are mcDtioned ; the red first, and the speckled next, and the white l^^ last. The red that appeared first, noting God's indignation, ind just judgments against the church of Israel in their captivity, mentioned, ver. 12. '< Jerusalem and the cities of Judab, igaimt which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years.** The speckled, that were partly red, partly white, noting God's present dealings with them since their captivity, that were mixed. God had exercised great mercy towards them, in restoring them out of captivity to their own Jand, as it was far otherwise widi them than it had been. But yet it Has a time of great adversity with them, which is signified by the myrtle-trees being in a lov place, and which was the occasion of the earnest intercession nf him that stood among the myrtle-trees for them. Ver. 12. The white horses that were last, denote that glorious prosperity which God now promises to his church, that shall be the conclusion aod issue of all those troubles. Ver. 13. 16, 17. The colour, wAtfe, sometimes is made use of to signify holiness, or purity, and sometimes mercy and prosperity ; sometimes freedom or purity from the evil of sin, and sometimes freedom from the evil of affliction. So it is evidently used, Rev. vii. 14. " These are they which came oit of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made tkem white in the blood of the Lamb.''

[102] Zech. xiv. 6, 7. *< And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, fior dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass that, at evening tide, it shall be light.'* Thit is, there shall no more be the successions of light and darkness, day and night, but it shall be one continued day, and it shall be light in the time of the night, or evening.

[396] Zech. xiv. 16, 17, 18, 19. *« And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came agaiiist Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come nor, that have no rain : there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the Heathen, that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations, that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." The feast of tabernacles here spoken of, is the glorious spiriiuil feast that God shall provide for all nations in the last ages of the world, and in the ex-

pected glorious state of the Christian church, which is spoken of, Isai* XXV. 6. This feast was on the seventh month of the year, which was a kind of an holy sabbatical month, as the seventh day of the week was an holy day, and the seventh year an holy year, and also the year of Jubilee, at the end of seven times seven years : so this glorious state of the church is to be in the seventh age of the world, or seventh thousand years. The feast of tabernacles was the greatest feast in the month, it was to be kept on that month, after Israel were prepared for it Iiy the feast of trumpets and the Day of Atonement, both in the same month. So way shall be made for the joy of the church of God in its glorious state on earth, by the preaching of the gospel, and deep repentance, and humiliation for its great sins and long continued dcadncss and carnality.

The feast of tabernacles was the last feast they had in th« whole year, before the face of the earth was destroyed by the winter. Presently, after the feast of tabernacles was over, a tempestuous season began ; see Acts xxvii. 9. '* Sailing was now dangerous, because the feast was now already past." So ihtfi feast of the church will be the last feast she shall have on earth ; the last pouring out of the Spirit, before the lower world is destroyed. The feast of tabernacles was kept when they had gathered in the fruit of their land ; Levit. xxiii. 39; and is called the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year. So this great spiritual feast of the church shall occur after God's ingathering of both his harvest and vintage spoken of Rev* %ir. It will be the time of his gathering in all his good fruits before winter, as it were ; that is, before the destruction of the nrorld, a time wherein the saints of the earth will come to their full lipeness.

The feai»t of tabernacles was kept in commemoration of God's setting up his tabernacle among the children of Israel in the wilderness, but in that glorious time God will above all other times set up his tabernacle amon<r men, in the midst of bis spiritual Israel, as is prophesied, Ezek. xxxvii. 27, and proclaimed in Rev. xxi. 3. The woild was created about the time of the feast of tabernacles. See No. 204, on Levit. 23. 34—36. So this is the creation of the new heavens, and new earth. The temple of Solomon was dedicated at the time of the feast of tabernacles ; then God descended in a pillar of cloud, and dwelt in the temph^; so this is the time wherein the temple of God uliould he erected, and beautified, and dedicated, and God •ball come down from heaven to dwell in his church. The cbfirch of God shall as it were go up to the mountain of the

hill of the Lord, as they did on that great occasion of Solo* inons's dedicating the temple.

Christ was born, and came to tabernacle in flesh on the feast of tabernacles ; so then shall Christ be born. The woman is travail shall then bring forth her son that is to rule all nations, and then mankind above all other times shall enjoy the benefit of the birth of Christ; Christ shall theh be born in the souk of men.

There seems to be greater tokens of rejoicing in this feait thnn any other. The people dwelt in booths of green boughs, which represent the flourishing, beautiful, pleasant state the church shall be in, rejoicing in God's grace and love (represented by the colour green.) She shall yet dwell in tabernacles on this side heaven, her land of rest. Their branches of palm-trees represent the church's flourishing, as the palm-tree, and the glorious victory the church shall then have obtained. The willows of the brook they shall make use of, represent the flourishing state of the souls of God's people, as a tree planted by the rivers of waters. Levit. xxiii. 40. Neb. viii. 15. The olive branches represent the church's fullness of the Spirit, the antitype of the oil of the olive. At the feast of tabernacles God's people left their houses to dwell in booths, which represented two things that should be in the glorious timeSy viz. their great weannedncss from the world, and their joy in God.

Thus the two great feasts of the Jews that followed the pass-over, represent the two great seasons consequent on the death of Christ, wiiicli was at the passover of the communication of the benefits of Christ's redempiion to his church on earth ; one that which was in primitive ages of the Christian church, which began in the day of Pentecost, on which the Holy Ghost was not only given in the ordinary sanctifying, saving influences, but also given in extraordinary gifts of inspiration for the revealing the mind and will of God, and establishing the standing rule of the faith, worship, and manners of the Cnristian church, which answered to the giving of the law at mount Sinai, which was on the feast of Pentecost: the other is that which shall follow the destruction of Antichrist, which answers to the setting up the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the gifts, sacrifirings, and rejoicings that were on that occasion, which was on the same day of the year that the feast of tabernacles was. These three great feasts do prefigure those three grand events that are brought to pass for the church of God in the progress of the work of redemption, and the death of Christ to purchase salvation for the church, and those two great outpourings of the Spirit to apply it. See Note on Kzek. xlv. 25.

[106] Mai. 11. 15. "And did he not make one? Tet had he the residue of the Spirit." He made ihera one flesh, their bodies are each other's; but the rest, (or residue,) which k the Spirit, God reserves for himself. A man is one body with his wife, but DDC Spirit with Christ. I Cor. vi. 16, 17. The phrase in this lense is not difterent from what is common, as Dout. xxi. S, thy people of Israel; the city of London ; the city of Jerusalem ; and besides it does not appear by the original but that the words are in opposition and not in regimen. It might have been translated the residue, the Spirit; or if we interpret it as in the margin, (he excellency of the Spirit, then the meaning is that though God Deeded them, and therefore they ought to be most nearly united in affection, yet he reserved to himself the soul's best love, the best of the heart.

[321] Mai. iv. 1, 2. " For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickediy, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto yon that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." The day here spoken of is ibe day of the coming of Christ; the day spoken of in the first, second, and third verses of the foregoing chapter; ** Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his lemple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts ; but who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth ? for he is like a refiner's fire," &,c. This day shall burn as an oven, with respect to the wicked. Christ, who will then come, the Sun of Righteousness, whose coming or rising will usher iu that day, and who then will be as a refiner's fire, will search and burn up the wicked as stubble, and dry and dead plants, so thai it shall leave them neither root nor branch ; but with respect to those that fear God's name, his beams shall not be scorching, but healing, of a benign, healthful nature, as the warm, pleasant sunbeams are to living plants, and animals, which make them to grow and flourish, so that they grow up as calves of the stall. He will be as a refiner's fire; will then only refine the sons of Levi, and others that fear God's name; they are as gold and silver that are not consumed, but refined in the fire; but he will consume the wicked that are as dross. Christ shall then prune and purge the faithful branches ; but as for those that are dead, barren, dry branches, they shall be cut ofl; and cast into the fire and burnt.

VOL, IX. 55

The Sun or Righteousness that siiall come in that day. when he is risen, shall be as the pillar of cloud and 6re was of old, which gave light to the Israelites, and was a defence unto them, was their sun and shield, but consumed and destroyed the Egyptians.

Thus it will be at Christ's last coming, the light and glory of his appearance will be intolerable to the wicked, it shall be like the tire of a furnace to their souls^ and shall make the day like an oven to them, and his coming shall actually be attended with a dreadful conflagration of the fiercest glowing heat id which they shall be burnt. But the appearance of his glory shall be exceeding pleasant, and joyful, and healthful to the saints. The sight of this glory shall perfectly heal them; shall drive away all remains of sin, and make them perfectly holy; shall drive away all corruptibility and ill qualities of their bodies, and they shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye into a state of glorious health, strength, perfection, activity, and incorruptibility; it shall perfectly heal all trouble and sorrow, and shall for ever banish all such thinc^s, however the church of God shall tfaea be found in a very distressed state. So it was at Christ's first coming, that coming was infinitely for the benefit of the elect, but to the unspeakable misery of the wicked many ways, as might be shown. It brought on a glorious state of the church but a most fearful destruction of unbelievers, as in the destructioa of Jerusalem, and the whole land. So it was at Christ's comiog in Constantine's time, and so it will be at his coming at the destruction of Amiclirist,

[133] Mai. iv. 2. ** But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings:" that is, in his beams; it is very much like other metaphors that were common amongst those eastern people. The sun rises to fly through the heavens, and the bright beams by which it is encompassed are the wings.

[G8] Mill. iv. G. "Turn the heart of the fathers to the chil-dren, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smile the earili with a curse.'' By fathers, are meant all sorts of fathers, parents, rulers, and teachers, the hearts of these shall be furnecl to the children, that is, they shall faithfully rule and guide, and teach them, take care of them, and consult their true good ; and the hearts of the children shall be turned to their fathers, that is, they shall be obedient, shall hearken to their teachers, Sec.; so it is applicable Luke i. 17, *« the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.''

[11] Matth. i. 3. '< And Judas begnt PImrcz and Zara of Thamar." So it is remarked, in the 5tli verse, that Salmon begat Booz of Rachab, and that Booz be«^at Obed of Ruth, and in the 6th verse, that David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. All the mothers are not noted, but only those which were either harlots or Gentiles, except the Wife of Uriah the Ilittite, who was a wife of a Gentile. These are taken notice of, because Christ's descending from se-Teral harlots and Gentiles intimates unto us that all that are flared by Christ were sinners. That the church of Christ is inade up wholly of such as were once sinners, that is, spiritual -barlots, or adulterers and idolaters, thereby also typifying the calling of the Gentiles.

[124] Matth. i. 16. '^ And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." This ^nealogy proves that the kingdom of Israel was Christ's by right of inheritance. Christ, though he was not the real son of Joseph, yet was the legal son; with greater reason than, #hen a man took a wife, and died, and left no seed, his brother's seed by her were to be looked upon as his, and had the right of inheritance.

[832] Matth. iii. 2. ** Repent ye, for the Jcingdom of heaven M at hand." The following are the places of the Old Testament from whence probably the Jews piincipally took their notion of the kingdom of heaven.

Dan. ii. 44, 45, vii. 9 to 15, xxvi. 27; Ps. xcvi. especially the

ir4 last verses; Ps. I. 1 to 7, compared with Dan. vii. 9 to 15;

■JPs. xcvii. and xcviii., especially the last verse; Isai. ii. 1 to 6,

and 15 to the end, ix. C, 7, xi., xii., xxiv. 23, and especially

-▼crses 9, 10, 11, xxv., xxvi., xxvii., xxxii. 1 to 9, xxxv., xl. 3,

f 4, 5. 10, 11, xli., xlii. 1 to 22, xlix., Ix., Ixi., Ixii., Ixiii. 1 to 7,

Ixiv. 1, 2, Ixv. 17 to the end, Ixvi; Jer. xxiii. 5 to 9, xxx. 9,

xxxi., xxxiii., especially ver. 15, 16; Ezck. xxi. 27, xxxiv. 20

E^'tothe end, xxxvii. 20 to the end ; Ilosea ii. 16 to the end ; Joel

>fi. 28 to the end, iii. 9 to the end ; Amos ix. 11 to the end ; Mi-

i*ab iv. 1 to 9, v., vii. 8 to the end; Obadiah, ver. 17 to the

imdj especially ver. 15, 16; Nahum i. 15; Ze|)h. iii. 8 to the

lend; Haggai ii. 1 to 10, and 21 to tlie end ; Zech. ii. 11,12,13,

iin. 8, 9, 10, vi. 9 to the end, viii. 20 to the end, ix. 9 to the

^ond, X., xii., xiii., xiv.; Mai. iii. 1 to 7, and 16 to the end, and

chap* iv.

[9] Matth. iii. 7. " Who hath warned you to flee from the ^rathto come?" Having respect principally to that wrath

that should come upon those of the Jews who should rejc Messiah and continue in impenitence, both in their rej from being the people of God, and judicial hardening,.and many great calamities that nation suffered after Christ^s i sion, especially their dreadful overthrow by the Romans.

[36] Math, vi, 13. ** And lead us not into temptation/' includes trials brought upon us by God's providential ha well as the tcmj)(afion of lust. God often leads his cl into these, and always for their good ; but yet we are t against it, with submission to God's will, because, simpi sidered, it is an evil.

[12] Matth. viii. 25. '* And his disciples came to hii awoke him, saying. Lord, save us, we perish." This sh dows to us the Christian church, which indeed it conlai it, with its head. God commonly suffers his people to 1 upon very the brink of destruction before he delivers the here the tempest arose so much, that the ship was coverc waves. God seems to be asleep, and so lets them ah Christ was, and must be awaked by the earnest prayei cries of his people, before he will deliver them; and st in Ps. xliv, 23, ** Awake ! why sicepest thou, O Lord ? cast us not off for ever!" Ps. vii. 6, xxiii., Ixxviii. 65. * will the Lord awake as one out of sleep, and Uke a might that shouteth by reason of wine."

[10] Mntth. ix. 10. '* And it came to pass as Jesus meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners and sat down with him and his disciples." Jesus ordei preferring it to be thus, intimating the nature of the and the design of his kingdom ; the gospel grace, the f fat things, being offered freely to all nations and kinds o having respect to the calling of the Gentiles.

[61] Matth. ix. 24. When Christ said. She is not de£ fileepeth, thereby is meant that her soul was not finallj rated from her body, so as to enter into thespiiitual and c wortd; nor had there that transformation passed upc soul from a middle state to perfect holiness, or misery, a soul was kept in a state of insensibility, as in a sound that her resurrection might not be inconvenient; the Christ also said, ** Our tViend Lazarus sleepeth." Hii was not changed, his soul not purified from sin, nor an altered so as to prepare it for glory, but his state was oi iermitted.

[355] Mntth. xi. 25, 26. ** At that time, Jesus answered, nd said, I thank thee, O Father, liord of heaven and earth, hat thou hast hid these thino^s from the wise and prudent, and last revealed them unto bahes. Even so, Father, for so it eemed good in tliy sight." Christ does not merely jprat^c }od, as God might be praised or glorified for his majesty and frcatness, sovereignty, or justice, or any perfection or glorious rorkof his, but he thanks him as one interested, as though it rere a work of God, whereby he had received a benefit. And 0 it was, these persons to whom his Father had revealed these hings were his before God had revealed them to them, for they irere given him from eternity, and he had set his love upon them lefore the foundation of the world, and for their sakes he came nto the world, and he knew them all by name, their names irere written on his heart, and he looked upon them as him-elf; and therefore he thanks the Father for revealing those bings to those who were his, whom he so loved, and for Fhom he was so greatly concerned, though they were but poor, reak, helpless, and despicable creatures, when he had passed »j others more noble, more wise, and prudent; as a loving fa* ber, if he had a number of poor children, in themselves very nean and contemptible, rnight well be the more affected with the goodness of God, and justly have his heart more enlarged with hankfulness, if God should look on his poor children, bestowing nfinitc blessings upon them, when he saw that the rich and loble, potent and learned, were generally passed by. Persons hemselvcs, that see themselves very weak, and distinguishing-y contemptible, have the most cause to thank God for saving nercy to them, when they consider how they are distinguished Tom many far greater and more considerable than they, and ID Christ looked upon it that he had like cause of thankfulness in this account, because they being from eternity given tohini» le looked on them as himself, and on himself as they. Christ, be head of the elect church, here thanks the Father, with 'ejoicing in spirit, as Luke tells us, for that which will be the natter of the most exalted thankgivings of the church itself :o all eternity.

Christ thankfully acknowledges God's kindness herein, bemuse he did it of his own will: '^ Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight;" that is, without regard to their meanness, or others' greatness^ Compare this text with Rom. n. 17.

[22] Matth. xii. 32. ** It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come." Some sins may not be rorgiven in this worlds that yet are forgiven in the world that

is to come. God does not manifest his forgiveness in thii world, but is provoked sometimes by the grievous fall of the godly, in a great measure to hide his face as long as they lire. So that ever after they shall go hanging down their heads, e?« to their graves. God sometimes inflicts judgments that hst as long as life, and their former joy and comfort is no raorer^ stored to its wonted degree until they die.

[2] Matth. xiii. 38. Luke xiii. 21. <' The kingdom of hei-ven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.'* By three measures is meant the whole world : the progeny of the three sons of Noah, who settled the three parts of the world, Sbem Asia, and Ham Africa, and Japhet £urope.

[136] Matth. xiv. 13, 14, 15. '< But when thou makest t feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thoi shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thoa •halt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat heard these things, he said unto him. Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Christ had told his host that he should not invite bii rich friends and neighbours, expecting to be invited to a feait again by them, but should invite those that could not invite him again, and he tells him he shall be blessed, and should be recompensed at the resurrection of the just, intimating that he should be rewarded bv feastin": them. Now the Jews thourrht that the resurrection would be when the Messiah came. By the kingdom of Gody they understood the kingdom of the Mtf-tiah ; and that is the reason that when Christ told the Pharisee he should be blessed, for he should feast at the resurrection^ that he makes this reply consenting to it, ** They shall be blessed indeed, that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God"

[39] Matth. XV. 21, 22. *< Then Jesus went thence, and departed irito the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out,'* &c. The casting out of the devil out of the daughter of this woman, in my opinion, figures forth the casting the devil out of the Gentile and antichristian world; Tyre frequently representing in the scripture Sodom's idolatrous kingdom*

[197] Matth. xvi. 28. ** Verily T say unto you^ There be some Mtanding here, which shall not taste of deaths till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.^^ The disciples saw sufficient to answer this promise. Some of them immediately after, as we

ire an account in the beginning of the following chapter, saw rist in his glory, in bis Transfiguration, in the like glory with it in which he will come to judgment, as far as it could well seen by them in their frail state, and by their feeble eyes. A.gain: they saw him coming in a glorious manner in the icent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, for that 3 a coming of Christ, wherein they saw him, agreeably to lin xiv. Id, 19, '•*' [ will not leave you comfortless; I will ne unto you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no ire, but ye see me." And this was a coming in his kingdom, he came then to set up the Christian church, to introduce \ gospel dispensation, which seems to be called the kingdom heaven. And respect is doubtless had to this by John the iptist, and by Christ after him, when they preached, The igdom of heaven is at hand.

\gain: Some of them saw him coming in his kingdom at \ destruction of Jerusalem, and an eye seems chiefly to be d to this event; for then was there a total end put to the wish church, and the Jewish dispensation, which is compared the end of the world. The world that then was, the old state things in the world with respect to religion that had subsist-so long a time, was then utterly and finally done away, and 3 kingdom of heaven succeeded the gospel dispensation, or 3 kingdom was then fully established, the state of things snceforward in the church was really evangelical. Christ 1 then in a very awful manner, and with a signal manifesta-n of his hand, destroy the enemies of his kingdom, and re-irkably deliver his people; he then came to judgment; he Iged his adversaries, and delivered his chosen people ; there 18 a remarkable rewarding of men according to their works 3n. It is most apparent that Christ did call his appearing in It great event of the destruction of Jerusalem, and other ents that attended it, hii Coming, Matth. xxiv. 2, 3. There irist tells his disciples, when showing him the building of the mple, that not one stone shall be left on another ; whereupon e disciples ask him, When these things shall be, and what ould be the sign of his coming, and of the end of the world^? nd in his answer, he has respect still to the destruction of Je-^alem, as is evident by the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and hh verses. It is expressly said to be the desolation of Jeru-lem. Compare these texts in Matth. with Luke xxi. 20. ** And hen shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know at the desolation thereof is nigh." And vcr. 23. ** There lall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon that people ;*' idy in the 27th and 28th verses, he particularly gives his die* pies a sign, whereby they might know the time and place of

his coming; for Christ is there expressly gpeaking of hiftcon' ing: he says, ** So shall the coming of the Son of man be, fof wheresoever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together;" denoting it to be at Jerusalem, and at the time of its destruction by the Romans. See my notes on these venes. There is no need of supposing that Christ here meant his coming in any other than a spiritual sense; for so Christ was wont to speak of things to come, when it is plain that be intended a spiritual fulfilment. So he speaks of the resurrection. "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live-" Here he speab of the resurrection of bodies at the end of the world, and the spiritual resurrection of souls together, including both in one and the same words, viz: " the dead shall hear the voice," &c. He speaks as if it were but one event that he had respect to; but yet when he says, '* it is coming," he means one thing, even the resurrection of bodies, especially at the end of the world. When he says, " It now is," he means another thing, viz: the resurrection of souls, by the preaching of the gospel; and the manner of speaking there, is very parallel to that in this and the foregoing verse. In the foregoing verse Christ says, " For the Son ofmsD shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his works.*' There be has a respect principally to his coming at the end of the world; but then in this verse, says he, " Verily I say unto yon, There he some standing here, that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom; and now he has chiefly a respect to another event, viz. his appearing in the work that he will do at the destruction of Jerusalem, and therefore it can be no just objection against tiiis explication, that Christ evidently meaut the same coming in this as he did in the foregoing verse, for we ought not to dispute against plain Tacts. 1 cannot see that, if we explain the words as 1 have done, the case is any more than exactly parallel to th.U in those other words, John. v. 25 ; and it is plain and evident that it is a cominun thing in scripture that things are said to be fuKillcd that have been spoken of in the same context, when they are only fulfilled /;/ lltcir fi/pe, and not in that which is uliiuiately intended. So Christ, speaking of his coming and the end of the world, says, *' This generation shall not pass till all those things shall be fulfdlcd." So the apostle John, speaking of the predictions there had been of the coming of Antichrist, mentions the prophecies as being fulfilled in the false teachers there were then, " Even now," says he, *• there are many Antichrists." 1 John ii. IS.

But perhaps we are not sufficiently accurate, when we distiit* guish several events, as so many distinct accomplishments of the

!tion to often given of Christ^s coming in his kingdom, to be stood in different senses; and so to look upon Christ's com-the effusion of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, as one coming irist in his kingdom ; and his appearing in the events that at the destruction of Jernsalrm, as another coming of Christ » kingdom; and his appearing in Constantine's time as er, and at the destruction of Antichrist as another, and at id of the world as another. They seem rather to be spoken scripture as several/?//r/«, or rather as several degrees of the lent of one event. That great event spoken of in Dan. vii. I, *' And I saw in the night vision, and beheld one like the f man come with the clouds of heaven, and came to the An-)f days, and they brought him near before him; and there was to him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peo-nations, and languages should serve bim : his dominion is .'Hasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his king-ihat which shall not be destroyed: which was what the Jews tedy and called the kingdom of heaven ; and which John the St and Christ had reference to, when they said ** The king-)( heaven is at hand,'' and which Christ has respect to in lace ; also in the xxiv. Matth ; I say, this great event is ally accomplished : it is accomplished by several steps and es, and the great events that were at the descent of the Holy at Pentecost, and at the destruction of Jerusalem, and in antine's time, and the destruction of Antichrist, and the end > world, are all so many steps of the fulfilment of the same event. When the Holy Ghost descended at Pentecost, it ilfilled in a degree: then the Son of man came, and then s kingdom set up in the world in a glorious manner. When ilem was destroyed, it was fulfilled in another greater step: jid he remarkably exercise his royal authority in judging emies, and putting an end to the old state of things in the b, and beginning a new world, establishing the Gentile \\. When Constantine was destroyed it was fulfilled in a gher degree; and in a still far more glorious manner at struction of Antichrist; but it is fulfilled in its most com-ind perfect degree at the end of the world, that Christ has indeed respect to the same great events here ;pake of in the foregoing verse, and promises that some there i see the accomplishment of that event before they tasted of ; i. e. they should see that, which indeed should be an ac-ishment of it in the beginning of it, in a glorious degree, h not in its most glorious degree.

ice, also, it cannot be said, that Christ referred to the De-Ion of Jerusalem only, when he speaks of his coming in hit om, or merely to that and what went before it; or to the poar-L. IX. 56

ing out of the Holy CThost at Pentecost: but it was this gretS event in general which was to be accomplished in several degrees; though when he said they should see it, before they tasted ofdeaih, he did not mean that they should see it in a//its degrees.

The foreinentioned prophecy of Daniel, without doubt, bad i respect not only to Christ's coining at the end of the world, bat also an important respect to his coming, as he did, in those events thatoccurnd before some oflheni tasted of death : vid. No. 279. Tliis prophecy of Daniel, Christ doubtless had in his eye, when he spake this ; and doubtless the disciples understood him as meaning that ; for the event foretolrl in this was what they and the Jews were big with expectation of, and had their eye upoD, and always understood one another as referring to, when they spake of the coming of Christ in his kingdom ; and thert-foreall that they would understand Christ as referring to, was, that some of them should see that prophecy accomplished before they died.

It need be no difficulty that Christ's manner of ex pressing himself would lead them to expect that it should be accomplished in another manner ; for the disciples knew that Christ was wont to speak to them in mystical language; and besides Christ, iu expressing himself thus, does it but as referring to the prophecy or vision of Daniel. The expressions are taken out of that prophecy, and no wonder that events in visions and prophecies are represented mystically. And the disciples were not cheated in it; for there was as much accomplished as answered their expectation, while some of them lived, though not in the same manner; for they had poor mistaken notions what the kingdom of Christ was, yet they saw it accomplished in a more glorious sense than they expected.

[414] There is this that argnes that Christ did not suppose that the end of the world would be in that generation, that when he is discoursing of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, Mallh. xxiv. and Luke xxi. and says to his disciples, Lukexxi.32, ** Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled ;" yet lie says in the same disconrse, ver. 24, speaking of the terrible destruction of that land, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;" from whence it seems evident, that Christ did not expect that the end of the world would be before many ages, for first all these things must be accomplished that had been spoken of by Christ as forerunners of the destruction of Jerusalem ; wars, and rumours of wars, and earthquakes, and famines; and yet the destruction of Jerusalem not very near, and the gospel must be preached to all natioDf,

liich must be a work of time. And many other things are men-)ned, as the risinpf of false Christs, and false prophets, and per-cutions, &c. ; all which denote that considerable lime was to iss before the destruction of Jerusalem ; and then the whole land as to be destroyed by war and great distress, and the people pre to be dispersed into all nations, which also must be a work 'time ; and then Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gen-les, till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled, which at ast intimates that Jerusalem was to lie a long time in ruins* hrist refers to the "time, times, and half a lime," in the xii. of aniel, which]) is there exceeding plainly spoken of as a long ne; and then it is supposed, in the words, that Jerusalem is to ; again rebuilt after this, and rebuilt to some purpose, (not just built, apd then immediately and eternally destroyed again,) ;fore the end of so great a work as the rebuilding could be an-irered, so as to answer the designs of the restoration of the state, e peace, and prosperity of the people in their own land. For e words imply a restoration of the people from their miserable ate, as trodden down ; and the times of the Gentiles in Daniel, which Christ refers, are spoken of by that prophet, very plainly id abundantly, as ending in a comfortable restoration of God's *ople from a miserable ruined state. But to be rebuilt in a few ^ars, in order to be eternally destroyed, is not worth the name of restoration or end to their long continued ruin. Besides, the ere rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the state of the land, ter such a total and long continued destruction, must be the ork of a great deal of time : ii was a work of considerable time hen the people returned from their Babylonish captivity.

[464] Christ's kingdom comes by various steps and degrees, id so the end of the world is brought to pass in like manner by irious steps ; one step was the abolishing the Jewish state and leir ecclesiastical economy, the peculiarities of which the apos-e calls the rudiments of the world. Again, Christ's kingdom as set up, and the world came to an end, in another step or de-ree, by the conversion of the Roman empire; and so again at 16 destruction of Antichrist. In each of these is a degree of the ccomplishment of Christ's kingdom, the resurrection, the judg-lent of the righteous and the wicked, and the end of the world. See Note on Rev. xxi. 22. No. 73.)

[75] Matlh. xvii. 21. " Howbeit this kind goeth not out but y prayer and fasting:" This kind as to the manner of possesion and influence. There were dumb devils, and unclean devils, od a spirit of infirmity. Some only took the advantage of bodily istemper and disorder of the brain; others possessed them in a

more extraordinary manner, so as to have their bodies more al lately under their influence, using of them as they pleased, times casting them into the fire, and sometimes into the water, that spoken of in this place, and sometimes using their ton| as if ibey were their own, as did the man possessed with the gion.

[326] Matth. xvii. 27. <* Nothwithstanding, lest we shouldi fend thefn, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take opi fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his m< thou shah find a piece of money: that take, and give unto for me and thee.'' Which signifies that ministers of the gi should receive of the temporal things of those that they preach gospel to, whose souls they catch for Christ, for they are the of which gospel ministers are the fishers. Peter was a fishei by trade, and Christ had commanded him to leave his net, audi follow him, and he would make him a fisher of men.

[45] Matth. xviii. 16. ** And if he will not hear thee, then with thee one or two more; that, in the mouth of two or tl witnesses, every word may be established." It is evident the next verse, that the end of bringing these others, is that may hear them and be convinced of the evil of what he has and not to entrap him in his words. They are come indeed witnesses, that is, as witnesses of the evil of what he has done, witnesses in scripture phrase are not only of facts.) It is only that is wanted ; they are come because he will not bear first, that he may hear when the voice of two or three concur i the matter; it is (his that wants to be established, it is the mail and the joint voice of several, has the same tendency to estabU such wishing, when they jointly bear testimony of the evil oft thing, as in bearing testimony to a fact; the end of their joiniif together therefore is, that every word of their admonition may bl heard ; this is evidently the meaning of the place.

[324] Matth. xxi. *'And when he drew nigh unto Jerusalem, ifli was come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jestf two disciples, saying unto them. Go into the village over agaiMi

?^ou, and straitway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with bera oose them, and bring them unto me; and if any man say ought^ unto you, ye shall say. The Lord hath need of them ; and strait-' way he will send them."

Christ's solemn entry into Jerusalem, that we have an accooot ef in this place, seems to represent his ascension into heaven: that which had before been very remarkably represented by the carrying of the ark into Jerusalem, and its ascending into mooat

on, into the sanctuary. This is here again represented by the tering of Christ himself, the antitype of the ark, into the same y Jerusalem, and his ascending up into the mountain of the Dpie, into the sanctuary there. As in the Roman triumph, the bmphing general entered Rome, and went first to the capitol, I chief temple in all the city. So that there was a literal ascen-»D of Christ at this time into the mountain of the temple, the eatest type of heaven upon earth. And Jerusalem itself, the y he then entered into, was the next greatest type of heaven to I temple, for heaven is called *' the Jerusalem which is above.'' In this his solemn entry into Jerusalem, he passed from the Hint of Olives, the same mount from which he ascended into I heavenly Jerusalem. He ascended from the mount of Olives, I mount of peace; olive-branches were used as a symbol of Bce among the Gentiles, and so was the olive-branch brought Noab^s dove. Christ ascended after he had made peace, or jshed the work of reconciliation ; without his reconciliation he old not have ascended. He entered into the holiest of all by I own blood. God was as it were reconciled to him by his x>d, who was before as it were the object and mark of God's lath for our sins, which he had taken upon him. It was the >antain where he had his agony, and sweat, that blood by lich he obtained peace, and where he was betrayed to endure across. The ascension and glory of Christ, and the glory of the ints is consequent on, and procured by, Christ's sufferings, by lich he wrought out reconciliation. The place on mount Oli-i that he ascended from, was Bethany, (Luke xxiv. 50.) the Ute of affliction, signifying that his exaltation was consequent his sufferings. So he ascended into Jerusalem from Betha-'and Bethphage; (Mark xi. 1. Math. xxi. ]. Luke xix. 29;) lich latter signifies the house of first ripe figs, signifying that lirist entered into heaven as the first fruits: Christ the first fruits, d afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. He entered Jerusalem, as a king sitting on an ass, for kings rmerly were wont to ride on asses. So he ascended into hea-n as the King of glory* His riding an ass, betokened two ings, viz. kingly glory, and great humility and meekness, agreea-y to the passage in Zechariah, chap. ix. 0, cited on this occa->n. Christ ascended in great glory, so he also ascended in un-;ralleled humility and meekness; a most admirable conjunction diverse qualifications appearing in him, which may perhaps be pified by the colt's being found at a place where two ways Bet, denoting that two things that seem very diverse, and seem have a very diverse relation and tendency, meet here; as two en thai go diverse ways, meet together at the meeting of two iths. The path of humility seems to lead him that walks in it,

a diverse way from the path of honour; one seems to downward, and the other upwards ; yet indeed they both and l)ecome the same, both carry a man to the same place the ass was a token both of kingly honour and great hon The ass, thesymhol of humility, carries a King on his bad on an ass does the King of glory ascend into the city and pie of the Great King, as by humiliation Christ asccndei heaven.

The ass on which Christ rode, was a colt, on which man sat. So Christ's humiliation was now such as there had been a parallel of, nor any thing like it, and it carrie into.glory as unparalleled.

Zion is called upon to rejoice on this oceasion ; so b rejoiced on occasion of Christ's ascension. They cut branches of palm-trees, the symbol of victory, and spread in the way ; so Christ's ascension to heaven was a triuin ascension, he having obtained the victory in his sore c with his enemies. A great multitude attended Christ vast multitude attended him in his ascension into heai multitude of saints and angels. They spread their gai under his feet; which is like the angels and elders casting thoir crowns at his feet: they consecrate all their hone Christ's honour. He sat on their garments, and went on He is attended with great and joyful acclamations and p all the way as he went up into the mountain of the temp children crying hosanna there in the temple. As the mu attended the ark in all its ascent into Jerusalem and Zion, (which was then the mount of the house of the Loi the way with most joyful acclamations and songs : so the and angels attended Christ all the way as he went fri uppermost regions of our air, with most joyful praises s clamations, to heave!*..

As he came into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, < "Who is this!" so on occasion of Christ's ascension, habitants of heaven say once and again, ** Who is this t Glory!" Ps. xxiv. See Notes on the place.

It is very remarkable that one tiling that the multitu in their acclamations, is, ** Peace in heaven, and glory highest!" (Luke xix. 38,) being wonderfully directed! express the joy and glory there would be in heaven, th( est heaven, at the ascension of Cbrist.

God was pleased thus to give Christ such a represei and earnest of the ascension and glory that should be i ward of his sufferings, a little before those sufferings, courage him to go through them, as he had before done a way in his transfiguration.

[ [330] Matih. xxi. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. Concerning making \ t/hrist^8 house a den of thieves^ S^c. The apostate Jewish church [ibat was in Christ's time, wns in many things an image of the j. ftpostate Christian church, or rather the anti-christian church ; [ and among other things the Jews making Christ's Father's ; bouse an house of merchandise, and a den of thieves, was typi-I cal of what the clergy of the church of Rome do. And Christ's I orerthrowing them, and driving them out ofthe temple, is typi-; cal of what Christ hath done, and will further do, with respect ^ to that church. It shows how displeasing and provoking to I Christ their so doing is, how Christ abominates such practices* I They sold doves in the temple, so the merchants ofthe church i of Rome pretend to sell those things that are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly dove. These gifts are called spirits in Paul's epistles, and so in the Revelations. The Spirit of God, with respect to his various gifts and operations, is called, •• Seven spirits,^* They do as Simon the sorcerer, who desired to buy a power to confer the gifts of the Holy Ghost on whomsoever he would, to that end that he might make merchandise of them. So the clergy ofthe church of Rome, sell baptism, rsgeneration, and salvation ; they sell forgiveness of sins, the eucharist and ordination, consecration and extreme unction, &,c. The Holy Spirit is the great commodity that their merchandise consists in.

Christ cast the Jewish merchants out of his temple ; so Christ cast such merchants out of his church. When Christ came into bis temple at Jerusalem, this was the effect; so when Christ returns into his church, after its great apostacy, this is the consequence. At the same time, the blind and the lame come to Christ, and he heals them ; so when Christ comes to drive out the anti-christian merchants out of his house, there will be a great flocking of jioor miscTable souls to Christ to be healed. At the same lime also the children cry hosanna in the temple, and the priests and scribes arc sore displeased, which are all typical of what will be when Christ comes to revive religion, and execute judgment on the Homish church. Then will the mouths of God's people be filled with praises to Christ, and there will be a remarkable fulfilment of that saying, "Out ofthe mouths of babes and sucklings thou hdst perfected praise;" which will greatly displease and provoke the chief priests and scribes ofthe church of Uome.

Because this was ty|)ical of something very remarkable that should surely come to pass in the church, therefore it was repeated, as Pharaoh's dream was, concerning the years of famine and plenty, for Christ drave out the merchants out of his temple once before. John ii. 13.

i

[4] Matth. XXI. 40, 41. '«When the lord, therefore, of Ai vineyard cometh." It is manifest here that the destroctioa tf Jerusalem is called the coming of the Lord. This is called tb end of the world: it is the end of the old world, and from tlw time began the new heavens, and new earth, spoken of ii Isaiah ; and ihe time when the heavens and the earth are shakea| this was the end put to the Jewish church, and polity, and natim and law, country, city, sanctuary, and all the Jewish world: aad from this lime began the Gentile church to be the chosen peopb of God; for as soon as these husbandmen were destroyed, ibei the vineyard was let out to others, according to this place, sad this coming of Christ. It was that which was spoken of as being very near by the apostles; and said by Christ to be within the life time of some there present. This city was begun anew and finished in Constantine's time, when the heathen wurld was ove^ thrown, as now the Jewish. The calling of the Gentiles is what is called, (Matth. xxiv. 3,) '* The gathering together the ekcl from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

[379] Matth. xxii. 31, 32. <'But as touching the resurrectioi of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto yonbj God, saying, *' I am the God of Abraham, and the Godof Isair, and the God of Jacob.^' God is not the God of the dead, botajf the living. The argument is very strong for the immortality of the soul, considering how often God manifested his great favoan to those patriarchs in their life-time, time after time entering into covenant ^ith them, and professing himself to be their God, declaring to them that he was God, all-sufficient, and that he wii their shield and their exceeding great reward, promising that he would be with ttiem and would bless them, and considering whit great and manifold aillictions they met with while they lived, especially Abraham and Jacob, and how little good they eversav of those promises that God had made in this life. God promised them the land of Canaan, but they were pilgrims and strangen in it; they had no settled habitation in it, but dwelt in tents, removing to and fro. Other people had the possession of the land, and oftentimes molested them, as Abimelech did in particular. Tbev were driven out of the land by famines: all three of them were so. Abraham came from a far country; left his own kindred and his father's house, and went out, not knowing whither lie went, for the sake of this land ; but yet *' God gave him nont inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on." Jacob had the promise of this land; but yet he was still driven out of the land by Esau, that had no promise of it, and lived an exile from it twenty years, for fear of him, in a state nf servitude, and in abundance of trouble; and in the latter part of his life be was forced to leave it to go down into Egypt with all his family,

r

Jind posterity, and flocks and herds, and there he died. Though ':^Canaan was the promised land, yet the principal quietness Jacob

their being blessed in their posterity, that should be numerous |«Dd happy ; but how little did they see of this while they lived ! ■ How long did Abraham wait before he had any child, and after lie had one, he was obliged to cast out his first child, greatly to his ^ief; and he was an hundred years old before he saw one child I in whom his seed should be called; and then God gave him but onei so that he saw nothing like a numerous posterity while he 'lived. And Isaac never had but two sons, and concerning his eldest and best beloved, it was revealed that his seed was not to be called in him, and he was obliged to disinherit him; and he bad a great deal of grief in him and his wives: and his other son, that was to be his heir, he was obliged to part with into a strange land, and saw him not for twenty years together. And Jacob, (hoagh he had a numerous family, yet he had abundance of sorrow and trouble in them. His eldest son committed incest with bis own concubine ; his two next sons were guilty of barbarous ' murders. Judah, in whose posterity chiefly it was that Jacobus posterity were to be blessed, behaved himself very sinfully, and so, fkM doubtless was greatly to his father's grief. Joseph, his best beloved son, he went long mourning for as lost, and having come tb an untimely and sorrowful end. The sons of the handmaid iMem to be none of the best beloved.

£sau's posterity seems to have come to greater prosperity than Jacob's, as Esau himself seems to have been vastly richer, and more potent than his brother. Considering these things, how can it be that God's so often speaking of it as so great, inestimable, and distinguishing aii happiness that he had admitted them to, that he was their God, and insisting on these covenant promises that he made to them, as so exceeding great and precious i^ I say how can it be imagined but that God, in thus saying and promising, had respect to something that they should see and en-Joy further than they ever enjoyed in this life i

[381] The same may be argued, and in some respects were itrongly from God's still revealing himself as **the God of ABra-liaro, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, after they were dead." It was respt'ct to the promises that had been made to them while living, of which it was known that they never saw the fulfilment, and never had received the promises, but had received a great deal of the contrary affliction ; and therefore if their being was now finally extinct, and they no more capable of

VOL. IX. 57

seeing and enjoying the fulfilment of any promise, why shosU God mention and insist on his friendship and love, and promiM to them, as what still moved him to do great things for iMr sakes ? and why should God still delight to characterise hioMdr by his being their covenant, God, and friend, when there appear* ed so little foundation for it in any benefit that ever they baid l^ caived by it, or were ever like to receive ? It was becaase thqf were still capable of receiving the benefits of his favours wd friendship, that he was not ashamed to be called their God. Hek zi. 16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he brth prepared for them a city. If it had not been for this, God's being their God, spoken of so much, and as so great a thing, wooU come to a very small matter, hardly worth the mentioning.

From these things we may not only argue that the patriarcbs continued to be^ and did enjoy something aAer they were dead, but also that they lived to see and enjoy the fulfilment of those promises that were made to them, with respect to which, it is tbat God calls himself their God, both before and after their death; and that their happiness in great part, consisted in seeing the fulfilment of these promises in the course of his providence to their seed, and in the dispensation of providence towards the church. And so I would argue that the happiness of departed souls in heaven, in a most important degree, consists in beholding and contemplating God's glorious dispensations towards the church b this world, and in seeing his wonderful wisdom, and infinite grace, and other perfections therein manifested. The principal employment of one great part of the heavenly world, vix. the holy angels, is about these things ; that in which the angels do chiefly behold the manifold wisdom and other perfections of God, is in these things, and the same is that wherein chiefly the souls of departed saints do chiefly behold God's glory.

The fulfilment of the promises God made to him concerning what should be accomplished in and for his seed, and for the church of God after his death, he said was " all his salvation and all his desire ;" and therefore doubtless great part of the happiness he enjoyed after his death, consisted in fulfilling that desire of his.

[219] Math, xxiii. 34,35. " Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zachariah son of Baracbiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

learned Bedford, in hts Scripture Chronologj, speaking of

:bariah son of Jeboiada, whose marder in the court of the

^(^ple we have account of, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21, 22, says,

pVbere are some of good authority who look upon this Zechariafa

::.t6 be the person of whom our Saviour spake in this place; bat

, MiySi as our Saviour begins with Abel the first instance, so we

[■:99^y suppose that he concluded .with the last; and as he here

Jlpeaks of future things, so this may be one instance among tbe

•eat, and the naming the name of both father and son is such ao

instance of his knowledge, the like whereof was never given by any

Mber; we may therefore conclude, that the Zadiariah^ whom

our Saviour speaks of, was one whom Josephus mentions in the

time of the Jewish wars, and of whom he gives us this account,

that he was the son of Baruch^ a man of the first rank, a friend

. to all good men, and an enemy to the wicked. This Zachariah,

Ike lealots looked upon as a man so very popular, that they

tfiemselves could not be safe without taking away his life* For

this purpose they bring him before a court of their own setting

0p» and falsely accuse him of a conspiracy to betray Jerusalem to

the Romans, and treating with Vespasian about it. When tbe

Mort, contrary to their own expectation, had declared him inno*

eeni, two of the greatest ruffians of the company fell outrageously

vpoD Zachariah, and murdered him in the middle of the temple,

with this insolent raillery in their mouths, *' Now we have given

yon your discharge too, and you are much surer of this than you

were of the other;" and so they cast his body down the precipice

of the mountain.

[292;| Matih. xxiv. 21, 22, 23, 24, &c. " For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall My unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they •hall deceive the very elect," kc. By these days of great tribulation that Christ here speaks of, is not to be understood only tbe tribulation that accompanied the taking and destroying the city of Jerusalem by Titus, but it is a day of tribulation to the spiritual Jerusalem, as well as the literal. It is a day of tribula-tion wherein the elect, or true Christians should be concerned, as seems to appear from verses 22 and 23. For it seems to be partly for this reason that Christ warns his church to beware, that under such a day of extraordinary temptation they should not he overforward to believe any that appeared in his name, pretending to be Christ, appearing in his second coming to deliver them

from their sufferings; for that was all the primitive Christim ezpectedi that when Christ came the second time he would deliver his church from its sufferings and tribulations. And Christ speaks of his second coming at this time as the day of their redemption out of their tribulation. Luke xxi. 2& <* Tlicn lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh;" tlierefore knowing thut through their great tribulation they would be earnestly waiting for his coming, and so under temptation to listen to any that pretend in his name to set up for thor deliverers, and appear to lead them to war against their enemies, Christ warns them not to listen or follow such imposton. The Christian church was especially under this temptatioct under the persecutions of heathen Uome, for in those days espe* cially there prevailed an opinion in the church that Christ would soon appear for their deliverance.

<§ 2. When Christ says, *' Except those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved ; but for the elect's sake, these days shall be shortened,'' Christ seems to have respect to those days of tribulation that he had been speaking of in ihe former part of the chapter, not only in the 21st verse, but ia the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses. That those earthquakes, famines, &c., Mark xiii. 8, are said to bo the beginning of what were not only sorrows to the Jews, but Christians, as is evident by what immediately follows: '* Then shall they deliver you up to be afllicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, and then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.*'

§ 3. Therefore, the time of tribulation here spoken of is as the prophet Jeremy expresses it, the time of Jacob's tribulation. Jer. XXX. 7. ** Alas, for that day is great, so that none is hke it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it." It is the time of the trouble both of the literal and spiritual Jacob; the literal Jacob shall be saved out of it, when the time comes that the apostle speaks of .in the xi. of Romans, when all Israel shall be saved. And the spirhual Jacob shall be saved out of it, as appears by the words of Daniel, chap, xii., where there seenjs to be reference to these words of Jeremiah ; ** And at that time shall Michael stand up, that great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall he a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to tliat same uiuc. And at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that are found written in the book." And that the spiritual Jacob, or the elect shall be delivered out of it, appears by the words of Christ in this place, where Christ seems to have reference to what had been before said by both these other prophets.

• The prophecies of the Old Testament that speak of Israel, Jacob, Jerusalem, Zioni commonly have respect both to the Ciiristian church and also the nation of the Jews, in things that Are to be fulfilled to both in the latter days; and so it is here in the xxiv. of Matih. See Note on Numb. xxiv. 23, 24.

^ 4. More imrticularly by the time of tribulation here spoken of, is meant the whole time of the tribulation and suffering liotb of the literal and s|>iritunl Israel from the Roman empire, or the whole time wherein both the literal and spiritual Jeru-aalem shall be trodden down under foot by Rome, or the spiritual Babylon. I{e<;inning with the troubles that both Jews and Christians suffered under Nero, about which time was that beginning of sorrows spoken of in the 7th, dth, and9th verses, and ending with the time and times and half a time of the reign of Antichrist. That this tribulation should be suffered from Borne, or in the 8|)iritual Babylon, is signified by Christ, in ver. 28, ** Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together:" the tribulation is by the eagles, i. e. the Roman powers preying on the carcasses of Israel.

^ 5. The tribulation of the literal and spiritual Jews from Rome both began about the same time, and therefore both the sufferings of the Jews, and the persecution of Christians from the Romans, are mentioned together in the preceding part of this chapter, and called the beginning of sorrows, about the same time that the troubles of the Jews from the Romans began under Nero, who persecuted both Jews and Christians together, and both will end together: viz. when the power of Borne, the city that has brought this tribulation upon them, ends; much as of old the captivity of the Jews ceased, when Babylon, that carried them captive, was destroyed. So when the spiritual Babylon falls, the Christian church shall be deli-Tered, and the Jews shall be called.

^ 6. The tribulation of the literal Jerusalem and the Jewish nation spoken of by Christ, at the time that we have an account of in this chapter, was not any short tribulation, or loniething that should soon be over, but is expressly spoken of by Christ as that which shall be continued for many ages, and even till the commencement of the glorious times of the Christian church, in the latter ages of the world. Luke xxi. 23, 24. " There shall be groat distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.'^ The calamity or judgment upon the Jews here spoken of, is manifestly the same with the tribulation spoken of in Matthew, so far as that nation were the subjects of it; but this

calamity or judgment here ipoken of is the great and tore jndg-ment of God on the Jewish nation, that has now coDtinued far many ages, begun in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans : their state of captivity and dispersion into all nations, ui being trodden down of all nations. But this calamity yet continues, and is spoken of in these words as what shall be contioa* ed till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. This tribulation wm but begun when Jerusalem was destroyed, the calamity was not ended when the destruction was finished; it is not ended till thty are delivered from that destruction, or till the state of destractkm they were then brought into ceases. The calamity of being kilM, or brought into a slate of death, is not ended as soon as a man ii killed; it is then but brought to perfection; it is not ended till the resurrection comes. The tribulation on the Jews cannot k said to be ended as long as the ruin of the city and dispersion rf the nation brought by it remains; these are the great judgmeatt spoken of as included in this tribulation, and as long as tbejodf roents remain the tribulation is not ended.

^ 7. And as the calamity brought on the Jewish nation by Rome continues all this time, so is the Christian church throughout this time kept in a state of tribulation and oppressioa. There was indeed a short intermission of their trouble after Constantine came to the throne, but this was no proper end is their day of tribulation, but only a short breathing spell; it4s represented by J ohuy as silence for half an hour; but soon after this the church of Christ began again to be persecuted by the power of the Roman empire, first by the emperors and after-wards by the power of Rome, antichristian, and is to be persecuted to the end of Antichrist's reign, or that timCy timet and an half that the holy city is to be trodden under foot, and that forty and two months, or one thousand two hundred and siity days wherein the woman is to remain in the wilderness, and the witnesses are to prophesy in sackcloth. This whole space of time may be called the time of Jacobus trouble^ or the time of the tribulation of the church of God; a time of far greater outward affliction than ever the church of God saw from the beginning of the world till that time, and greater than ever it should see again. This long period of suflering of his church Christ had respect to, when he said he did not come to send peace on the earth, but a sword. This whole time is what is called (lie time of the mystery of God, as it is called, Rev. x. 7; and the time of these wonders^ as it is called, Dan. xii. 6, i. e. the time of God*s mysterious and wonderful dealings with his own people in their great soflerings. See Note on Rev. x. 7. This is properly the time of the church's travail; for from Nero's time till now, the church has been in travail to bring forth the glory of the approaching millennium, or

the establishment of Christ's kingdom through the earth. When the millennium begins, then will the church, which God has redeemed from being an accursed Jericho by the blood of his first-bom, have gates set up ; but from the time of the laying of the foandation in the blood of the first-born till this time, even all the while this Jericho is in building, it has been by the shedding the blood of God's younger children. This long space of time ia the lime of the slaying of those children, being the time of the building of the city, until it is finished in setting up the gates of it. And all this tribulation has been from one enemy, viz. the apiritual Babylon, or the idolatrous empire of Rome.

The church in all ages in this world, may be said to be in a degree in a militant state, and the triumphant state to be reserved for heaven. But of the diflerent states of the church in this world, compared one with another, one may be called the militant^ and another the triumphant state of the church ; and the state of the church from Christ's time, till the downfall of the spiritual Babylon, may be called its militant state, and after that, during the millennium, it is in its triumphant state. This is properly the time of Jacob'* 9 trouble^ beyond all that went before it, or shall follow it. The church's sufferings properly follow Christ's sufifer-ingSf as the church's glory follows his; the church bears the cross after Christ, and so follows him to the crown : it is made confor-nable to his death that it may be conformable to his resurrection. The travails of the church come after Christ's, to fill up, as the apostle expresses it, what ii behind of the sufferings of Christ. The sufferings of the Head are in some respects a forerunner of the sufferings of the members, as the glory of the Head is of the glory of the members.

This whole time is the time of the captivity of God's people in the spiritual Babylon.

^ 8. Christ in these words, probably has an eye to what is said by tlie prophet Jeremiah, in the place forementioned, chap. xxx. of his prophecy, 6 and 7 verses, where he speaks of the church's travail, and says, '* Ask ye nou% and see whether a man doth travail with child ? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas! for the day is great, so that none is like it. It 18 even the time of Jacobus traublcy but he shall be delivered out of it.'' Here the prophet seems indeed to have some respect to Jacob's trouble from the literal Babylon, and the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity, into that Babylon : but it is manifest that it is something else he has a main respect to under that time, viz: the time of Jacob's trouble under Rome, the spiritual Babylon, and that deliverance out of this trouble that he speaks of, is not what the Jews had on their return from the Babylonish

captivity, nor at any time before the calling of that nation at the beginning of the glorious times of the church; for it is said, verse 8, that at that day strangers shall no more serve themselves of them, and that Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest and in quiet, and none shall make him afraid ; and their nobles shall be of themselves, and their government shall proceed from the midst of them, as v. 8. 10. 21. But these things have never yet been accomplished to that nation ; and there it is mentioned as the peculiar glory that shall attend their deliverance, that they should serve David, their king, whom the Lord would raise up unto them, which was not accomplished on the Jews' return out of Babylon ; for this king did not appear until many hundred years after, and when he did appear, they did not serve him, but crucified him, and his rising again was followed with the destruction of that land, and of Jerusalem, instead of building it on her ovd heap, as V. IS; so that this has never yet been accomplished.

^ 9. But that this great tribulation that Christ speaks of, is no short tribulation, finished when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, but that which is not ended till the reign of Antichrist is ended, and respects not only the sufferings of the outward, hot also the spiritual, Jerusalem, is more fully manifest from wbattlie prophet Daniel says of it, Dan. xii. 1. ''And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time : and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that is found written in the book." Concerning ihese words in Daniel, several things are manifest.

1. It is manifest that that is a time of trouble and great trial to the church and people of God, and that it is the same people that is first in this trouble, that though Michael's standing up for and appearing for them in iheir distress, shall be delivered out of trouble ; as it is often spoken of in scripture as God's manner of dealing with his people ; first to bring them into great distress, and then to appear or stand up for them in their extremity, and deliver them. Probably, here is an eye to the forementioned prophecy of Jerr^miali, where this time of trouble is said to be the time of Jacob's trouble, and the same Jacob shall be delivered out of it. Daniel made use of those prophecies of Jeremiah, at the time that he had these revelations, as appears by chap. ix. 2. And it is further manifest by the Seventy, where speaking of the time when this lime of trouble should be ended, it is said to be ** when he should have accomplished to scatter the power of the holv people."

2. It is manifest this is a time of trouble that was to be in the Christian church, after the Mesbiah had appeared in the world:

for after the prophet in the foregoing chapter had been giving an account of many successive events that lie between the time that then was, and the coming of the Messiah, he now in the beginning of this chapter proceeds to give an account of the Messiah^s coming, and what should befal God's church after that. ** And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people," &c.

3. It is manifest that this time of trouble here spoken of is not to be ended until the time, and times, and half a time of Antichrist is ended; for when the angels, being tenderly and greatly concerned for the church under such great trouble, say to Jesus Christ, ** How long shall it be to the end of those wonders?" Christ for the comfort of them and his church, lest his people should faint under such tribulation, holds up his right hand and his left to heaven, and swears by him that liveth forever and ever, that it shall continue no longer than for a tim€y and timeSf and an half, V. 6, 7.

4. It is manifest that the time of great tribulation, spoken of by Christ in the ?xiv. of Matthew, is the same with that spoken of by Daniel in this place. It can scarcely be doubted whether Christ has reference to these words of Daniel, in what he says here, his words being so much like them, and he having just before expressly cited Daniel's prophecy, v. 15; and refers to it from time to time in the chapters, and particularly has reference to Daniel's words in this chapter, in what he says of the continuance of those days of tribulation. But this may be more particularly considered under the next head.

^ 10. All this he more abundnntly manifests, and it will be put beyond dispute by comparing three scriptures together, viz. what Christ says of the continuance of those days of tribulation in that forementioned place, Luke xxi. 24,.'< And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, with what Daniel says in this xii. chapter of his prophecy, of the continuance of this time of great troulile, till atime, times, and an half and what is said in Revelation xi. 2, " But the coart which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." Concerning these three scriptures I would observe,

1. That nobody doubts whether these forty-two months of which John speaks, in which the holy city should be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, be the same with the time, times, and an half, that Daniel speaks of, till the end of which the time of great tribulation was to last.

2. Both Christ in the xxi. of Luke, and John in the Revelations, speak of treading down Jerusalem; for by the hdy city, is

VOL. IX. 58

I

458 NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

meant Jerusalem, that was commonly called the holy city; and both speak of treading down Jerusalem hy the Geniiles; and probably in that place in Revelation, reference is had to those

l¥ords of Christ.

3. Hence we may infer, that when Christ says, " Jenisalem shall be trodden down of the Geniiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," by the times of the Gentiles, he means the same with that forty-two months of the prevailing of the Gentiles against Jerusalem, or the Jews of which John speaks; and the same with (he time, times, and half that Daniel speaks of; and

robably in the phrase he uses, viz. " times of the Gentiles," he _jas reference to the " time, times,'' &c- of Daniel, whose prophecy he had reference to. The times of the Gentiles Christ here speaks of, are the same with that time that the angel swears sAufi be no longer. Rev. x. 6, compared with Dan. xii. ?•

4. That the Jerusalem that Christ speaks of, is especially the literal Jerusalem, and that by the Jerusalem or holy city that John speaks of, is that spiritual Jerusalem ; from all which it is greatly confirmed that the time of tribulation that Christ speaks of is the same that Daniel speaks of, and that it respects the continuance of the tribulation, or treading down both of the literal and spiritual Jerusalem, and that it shall last till the fall of Antichrist.

^ 11. It seems to be intimated that the time in itself was very long, by the 22d verse, '* And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." The days are shortened by taking out many days out of the long period of time, for times of respite and rest. Then the proper time appointed for Jacob's trouble, is from Nero's time till the fall of Antichrist, which is a great many ages, but for the elect's sake, the tribulation is not constantly continued through this whole time, for if it should be so it would wear out the saints, and would wholly root out and destroy the church; therefore for the elect's sake God will take out many of those days for respite; so that the days of actual tribulation shall be much fewer than this whole period. Thus there was respite between the ten heathen persecutions; and there was a remarkable time of rest after the tenth and hottest of them upon Constanline's coming to the throne. And towards the end of the antirhristian persecutions, many of the days should be taken out, and many parts of the church should have rest, after the reformation, being out of the reach of the persecuting power of Rome ; which is possibly what is signified by the witnesses rising and standing on their feet, and being caught up to heaven, out of the reach of their enemies.

It is further evident that the tribulation Christ speaks of, is not merely a calamity that was brought on Judea and Jerusalem, or

fioiited to that people or land, from those things that Christ says are the beginning of this tribulation, 7th and 8lh verses, •< For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places; all these are the beginning of sorrows." Now it cannot be supposed that wars between other nations, and earthquakes and pestilences in other countries, can be signs and forerunners merely of a calamity upon the nation of the Jews, and troubles in their land.

§ 12. What has been said, is further confirmed by the 29eh verse of the xxiv. of Matth. ** Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened^ and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken;" i« e. immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall those great events bt accomplished which are signified by those places in the prophets, that speak of the sun's being darkened, &o.; which you have often read and heard discourses of. It is observable that, almost throughout this whole discourse of Christ with his disciples, he refers to things that had been said by ancient prophets; and what Christ says, does not imply that what the prophets have said in those things, is to be understood literally, but he seems to intimate the contrary, viz. that their meaning is mysterious, in that expression, verse 15, ''Whoso readeth, let him understand." The places in the prophets that speak of those things, have reference to the great events, and the wonderful changes in the face of things, that shall be brought to pass at the beginning of the glorious times of the church ; and particularly the utter overthrow of the kingdom of Satan, and casting down all powers and authorities by which false religion has been maintained, and the putting out all their glory, as in Joel iii. 15. *' The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the sfars shall withdraw their shining;" and then the prophet goes on to speak of the glorious times of the church in the following verses, '< Jerusalem shall be holy, and the mountains shall drop down new wine," &c.; and chap. ii. 30, 31, speaking of the time when God shall pour out his Spirit on all flesh, it is said, " The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come;" and Isai. xiii. 10, 11, " For the stars of heaven, and the constellations ihereofshall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened in his froing forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrognncy of the proud to cease, end will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible ; and verse 13, '* Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place;" agreeably to what Christ says, <* The powers of the

heavens shall be shaken.*' This had its first rulfilment in the des-traction of Babylon, but has a further and more full accomplisli-ment in the destruction of the spiritual Babylon, of which that was a type. Again, in Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8, it is said of Pharaoh and Egypt, ** And when 1 shall put thee out, I will cover the heavens, aud make the stars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun with a cload, and the moon shall not give her light; all the bright lighu of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord." This will have a further accomplishment in the destruction of the city, of which it is said, in Rev. that it is spiritually called Egypt ; and again, Isai. xxiv. 23, " Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, before his ancients gloriously." Possibly there may also appear some strange phenomena in the heavens, just before that time; by which there may be something of a literal accomplishment, as in the events signified by the pouring out of the fourth vial on the sun, there was both a figurative and literal accomplishment of it. See Lowman on the Revelations.

^13. Now if we understand these days of tribulation, in the sense in which I have explained them, these great events do immediately follow them. If we understand them in a more limited and restrained sense, for the days of the church's suffering on-der Rome heathen, which was much the greatest under the last of the ten persecutions; then immediately after the tribulation of those days, there was a remarkable accomplishment of this, then was the sun and moon darkened, and the stars fell from heaven, and the powers of heaven were shaken in the sense of scripture prophecy, as appears by Rev. vi. 12, 13, 14, which speaks of these times, ** And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their place.*' But if we understand it in its greatest and full extent, it is to be understood for the whole time of Jerusalem's lying waste, and the church's suffering under the idolatrous persecuting Roman power. Then also those great events shall immediately follow, which are a yei much greater accomplishment of these things. These evenu seem plainly to be here spoken of.

^ 14. Thus the sun is darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and the stars fall, and the heavens are shaken, immediately after the captivity of God's people in the spiritual Babylon, just as these things came to pass with respect to the Babylonish em-

ire, that the prophet Isaiah signifies by the very same expres-ions, Isai. xiii. 11, 12, 13, as soon as ever the seventy years of le Jewish captivity were ended.

§ 15. But if we understand Christ, by this time of tribulatianj ) mean only the time of the besieging and taking of the city of erusalem by the Romans, those things did not come to pass in ny sense, so far as we have any account, immediately after those ays. The overthrow of the heathen empire, the nearest event fter this, signified by those expressions, was about two hundred nd fifty years after this.

§ 16. When Christ had said that "immediately after the tri-ulation of those days the sun shall be darkened," &c., he then dds in the next verse, (v. 30,) " And then shall appear the sign f the Son of man in heaven ; and then shall all the tribes of the arth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the lends of heaven, with power and great glory." *♦ Then shall ppear^^^ i. e. after these things are accomplished, not signifying iiat it should be immediately at*ter, but that it should not be till II those things are first accomplished, as the apostle says, 2 rbes. ii. 2, "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that lay shall not come except there come a falling away first," &lc. \o Christ is here telling his disciples what great events are to be ccomplished before his last coming, how that there should be a ime of great tribulation, and then after that, there should be great igns in the heavens, in the sun, and in the moon and stars, and n the earth distress of nations: that is, there should be very ^at, extraordinary and wonderful things brought to pass, such 18 never were before, causing great and universal changes in the tate of things in the world, such as never were seen before, and his; and then the next sign or wonder that shall be seen to this, hall be the sign of the Son of man, i. e. this shall be the last great ■evolution, or.change of the state of things in the world before be last judgment. This darkening of the sun and moon, foe. ihall be the last great step of providence towards finishing the tate of things in this world, and setting up Christ's heavenly iingdom, excepting the personal appearing of the Son of God to udgment. The manner of expression, then shall such^ or suchy tn event be, does not, in the manner in which the prophets use it, (ignify that it shall be immediately upon it. The prophets often •xpress themselves after that manner, when the event is to be many ages after. Thus, when the prophets are foretelling the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, they often speak of the coming of Christ, as what shall be, (as they express themselves,) at that timey or in that day. So here, when Christ is speaking of the return of his people, from their captivity in the spiritual Babylon, he speaks of the second coming of the Mes-

siah as what shall be at that time. For it shall be at the conch* gion of the state of things that he introduced by that dtspensatioi of providence, though much degenerated by an apostacy at the latter end of the period ; as the first coming of Christ was at the conclusion of that stale of the Jewish church into which it wu brought after the return from the literal Babylon.

Corol. 1. Hence, when Christ, ver. 24, speaks of false propbeti and false christs, that shall arise in this time of tribulation, tbiC should show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect, it is probable tbit Christ has respect not only to those false christs, and false prophets, that arose at, or near, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but that he has especial respect to the Great Antichrist; to the Pope and his clergy, that are from time to time stigmatised in the Revelations, by the name of Ihefidse prophet; and by the character of the false prophet ^ that works minicles; Rev. ivL

13, 14; '^ And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the faJse prophet; for they are the spirits of devils, working miracles ;" and by that of thefal^ prophet^ that works miracles^ by which he deceives the worlds as in chap. xix. 20, " And the beast was taken, and with him the false proplietj that wrouglU miracles before him, with which he deceived themj which had received the mark of the beast," &c.; and in chap. xiii. 13,

14, '^ And he doeth great wonders^ so that he maketh fire come down from heaven, on the earth in the sight of men, and deceivttk them that dwell on the earth by the m:ans oj those miraclrSy which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;" and so, 2 Tlies. ii. 0, 10, 11. *' Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all dcceivableness of unrighteousness—for this cause God shall send ihem strong delusions." And again this great false prophet is a false christ; for the false christs here spoken of, arc those that personate Jesns, the true Christ, that was crucified. This false prophet pretends to be Christ's Vicar; and therein is Antichrist. He claims that he is vested with all the power, and authority of Christ, as if he were Christ, or God on earth, and challenges the glory and worship due to Christ alone. Thus he has horns like a lamb. Rev. xiii. H, " And he sitleth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." In that, he sliow-eth himself that he is Christ, and therein cxalleth himself above Christ. 2 Thes. ii. 4. Christ no where fDrt^tels the cominsr of Antichrist, if not here. Ii is not probable that Christ would omit so great an event as the < omin- ol Anticllli^t, which is the principal subject ofthc N<;w Testament prophecv, next to those evtnls signified by the coming of Christ him.self. 'i say it is not proba-

|rfe that Christ would omit so great an event in those predictions, which he is giving his disciples, of the great events that should come to pass in his church till his second comincr, when he was ^bout to leave the world after his first coining. Indeed all that Christ has respect to, in this prediction, of false prophets, and false christs is, either the great Antichrist and false prophet, or those lesser false prophets and antichrists that were his types and -ibrerunners; compare 1 John iv. 1. Many false prophets are gone €Hit into the world ;" with chap. ii. 18, •* As ye have heard that Antichrist should come, even so now are there many antichrists." CoroL 2. This leads ns to interpret those things in the Old Testament that speak of the glory of the Christian church, of the state of the church in the Millennium; for that is the time of her glory on earth. The time preceding, excepting some intermissions by which God has graciously shortened those days, is the time, not of her prosperity, but of her great tribulation.

[p5i] Matth. xxiv. 22. *' But for the elect's sake, those days shall be $horiened.^^ Enquiry—What is meant here by being shortened ? We in the scriptures read of God's hastening the deliverance of his people; avenging them speedily; helping his church right early, and the like; though God suffers them for mauy ages to be persecuted. By it is intended that he will manifest his wisdom in swiftly turning the wheel of his providence, and with wondrous expedition, bringing things about that were necessary to be done before they could be delivered.

[105] Matth. xxvii. 14. '' And he answered him to never a word." The reason why he did not speak, or answer his accusers and those that sought his life from falsehood, malice, unreasonableness and cruelly, was his wonderful meekness in the midst of all the affronts and injuries, aflliciions and vexations that he vas surrounded with. He chose that there should not be the least appearance of a disquieted ruflled temper; and he did not ipeak as vindicating himself, because he knew it would signify oothing, and that there might be no appearance as if he flinched and gave back, and was not willing to sulFer, or endeavoured to avoid that which was his errand into the world, or repented when it came to that, that he had undertaken so great a task for his people.

[21] Matth. xxvi. These things seem to be intended to be ih;idowed by what is related in this chapter: 1. That Christ is jetraved by pretended disciples These are those that deliver biiii up to his open enemies. So it has been all along ; Antichrist IS another Judas, who pretending to be the follower of Christ, is

his worst enemy in the world, as Judas more incensed Gofi anger than his murderers. So hypocrites in all ages arc the !»• trayers of Christ; who, by a seeming embracing of religion, expose Christ to shame and mocliery, as Judas with a kiss. And 2. What should afterwards come to pass, that the clergy wodU be the chief persecutors of Christ, as the priests of the Jews were.

[339] Matth. xxvii. 45. " Now from the sixth honr there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." Tbisdark^ ness seems to be a presage of the approaching destractioo of that land, for that sin of crucifying Christ. This darkness begins eU nooTiy whereby the sun, as it were, went down at noon. The prophet Amos, in the viii. chapter of his prophecy, foretelling the destruction of the land, when the end shall come npoo the people of Israel, and God will not pass by them any more, and the songs of the temple shall be turned into bowlings, and there shall be many dead bodies in every place, says in the 9th verse, '' And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

This also seems to be a fulfilment of Jer« ii. 12, 13, "Be ye astonished, Oye heavens, at this, and be ye horribly afraid ; be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters."

[340] Matth. xxvii, 51. And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." This was the veil that hindered our access to the throne of grace, or the mercy seat in the Holy of holies.

That hiding of the mercy-seat, and hindering of onr access to the mercy-seat, figured a two-fold hinderance of access to God.

1. The hinderance by which all men are kept oflF while they remain under the first covenant of works, they are hindered by their guilt, God's law and justice.

2. That hinderance of free access that was under the first testament while the clinrch was in a legal state, and in its minority, and under carnal ordinances, so that access was rare and difBcult, only allowed to the high priest, and that but once a year, so that the veil signifies two things, viz. 1. The sin of man, both guilt and corruption of heart; which both in diverse respects are a veil to hide the mercy-scat, and hinder our access. Both these were typified by the llesh of Christ The sin of God's people, or elect church, was typified by Christ's flesh; for sin is called flesli in scripture, and the elect church is Christ mystical ; so that Christ, in taking flesh upon him, took their sin upon him : he became sin for us, and when his flesh was crucified, when his human nature died, then this veil was removed, for that abolished the sin of the

*«lect charch. So likewise Christ,in the flesh, in his infirm, week •Ute, signified the Church, or Christ mystical, in its old Testament minority, when it was in its weak, Infirm, and carnal state, "• under carnal ordinances ; under the elements of the world ; and , those carnal ordinances, and carnal dispensations, that Chri?t nystical was under, was as it were the flesh of Christ. When Christ

• died, then there was an end to those types and shadows, because Cbey were then all fulfilled.

Christ's human nature was a temple; it was the antitype of the temple; and his flesh, or the infirmity of his human nature, was the veil that hid the glory of God, or the divinity that dwells : ia him, and was in his person. «So that the veil of the temple in the 3d place, typified the literal flesh of Christ, that had veiled his glory; which it ceased to do when his state of humiliation was at an end. Christ himself, our great High Priest, entered into the Holy of holies through the veil of his own flesh. That day that Christ died, was the Great day of atonement, typified by the day of atonement of old, when the high priest entered into the Holy of holies. Christ, as God man, could enter into heaven no other way than by rending this veil. Christ oflered his sacrifice in the outward court, in this world, and then in the conclusion of it rent the veil, that his blood might be sprinkled within the veil.

[98] Matth. xxvii. 60. " And laid it in his own new tomb." Christ was laid in a disciple's grave ; he suflfered that death which belonged to us, and he was laid in our grave. He entered into the shade of death in our stead ; he went down into that deep pit where we were to have gone. He had so sin of his own, so he bad no death of his own : it was our sin, and our grave: it was a tomb hewed out of a rork. Our state of death and misery was such, that it would have been impossible for us to escape; for ^ oar prison that we are going to is strong as a solid rock.

[220] Matth. xxviii.' The accounts of the four evangelisU, concerning the resurrection of ('hrist, reconciled.

In the first place, there was a great earthquake ; an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled'back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. Matth. xxviii. 2,

• 3, 4. And presently, as soon as their extraordinary surprise would allow them, they ran away into the city; and then soon after they were gone, Mary Magdalene, from her extraordinary aflection, comes to the sepulchre before the other woman, while it was yet dark, and seeing the stone taken away from the sepulchre, and finds not the body there, nnd then runneth, and cometh to

VOL. IX. 59

Simon Peter, and the other disciples whom Jesus loved, andsaith unto them, " They have taken away the Lord out of the «• pulchre, and we know not where they have laid Inm; thea Peter and John came runnin*,' to the sepulchre ; and Mary returns with them or comos after them as fust as she could. Peter and John went into the sepulchre, and see the linen clothefl lying, but found not the body of Christ, and not knowing what to make of things, went away again. Mr. Prince supposed that Luke speaks of this coming of Peter to the sepulchre in tbe xxiv- chapter of his Gospel, 12th verse, and supposes the word should have been rendered thus, " Now Peter also had risen, and ran to the sepulchre, and stooping down, saw the linen clothes lying by themselves, and departed, wondering io himself at what was done ;" but when they were gone, Mary staid behind, and would not go away. She probably staid waiting for the company of women that she expected would presently come with spices to anoint the body, but as she stood there weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and saw two angels in white, silting one at the head, and the other at the foot where the body of Jesus had lain ; they speak to her, and ask her why she wept; she answers, " Because they have taken away my Lord, and 1 know not where they hafc laid him ; and when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standini;, and knew nut fthat it was Jesus.*' (Probably because the twilight was yet dim.) Jesus asked her why she wept. She, supposing him to be the gardener, says to him, " Sir, if iliou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith to her, Mary;" and she then knew him, and worships him. Christ bids her go and inform his disciples, &c. On which Mary went away in basic to tell his disciples, and did not wait till tbo woiuon came with the spices as she intended; Mark xvi.9, 10, II ; John xx. 1—19.

The other .women, that were concerned in the design of anointing the body of Jesus, went together in order to go to the sepulchre about break of day, and came to the sepulchre about sunrise. After Mary Magdalene was gone, whom they had not seen, nor she them, and llicy said among themselves, Wlio shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepidchrc ? and when they came, they found that the stone was rolled awuy. Mark. xvi. 2, 3, l, and Luke xxiv. 1,2, '* And they entered in, (the angel now not appearing on the stone) and found not the body of Jesus there, and while tlicy were much perplcxe<l thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments,'* and one of them of a distinguished brightness and glorious appearance, being the same, the glory and majesty of whoso appearance had so terrified the keepers. He sat on the right side,

« clothed in a long white gnrment. Mnlth. xxviii. 4, 5; Luke xxiv. 3, 4; Murk xvi. 5. This annrcl on the right side is he Ihat Bpoaks to them, saying, '* Foar ye not; I know that ye I seek Jesus of Nnzareth, who was crncified ; Why seek ye the . living among the dead ? lie is not here, for lie is risen as he ■aid; come see the place where the Lord lay ; nnd remember ; bow he spake unto you while he was yet in Galilee, saying, ^ The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. But go your ^ way quickly ; tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into GaHlee, there shall ye see him as he said unto you. . Lo, I have told you." Matth; xxviii. 5, 6, 7 ; Mark xvi. 6, 7; Luke xxiv. 5, G, 7, "And they remembered his words, and . they came out quickly, and fled fiora the sepulchre, for . they trembled and were amazed, nor said they any thing to , any one, for they wereaffiiglited, they came out with fear and great joy, as they ran to brin:^ his disciples word. Matth. xxviii. 8; Mark xvi. 8; Luke xxiv/8. And as they went to bring his disciples word, lo, Jesus met them, saying, All hail; and they . came to him, and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Jle not afraid ; go tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Matth. xxviii. 9, 10. And they returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to ail the rest.*'

[76] Mark i. 24. " Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth f art thou come to destroy us f I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God." The devils were exceedingly jealous, of Christ; they understood of old that the Son of God waste come into the world to destroy them, and they dreaded that destruction. It is probable that Christ came in a manner very unexpected to ihem, as well as to the Jews; but yet thoy were sensible who he was, they seemed to think that Christ appeared in so low and obscure a manner, out of some secret design against tlicm ; that he came in dis« guise that they might not know of it, that he might some way or other be under better advantage to overthrow them ; they therefore are willing to let him know that they knew who he was.

[23] Mark iv. 5. <'And immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth." The weakest minds, and persons of the least solidity soonest receive a thing that is new and e.Yter-nally plausible, and at first receive it with most lively emotions of their spirits, being guided by fancy only ; but the more solid and substantial mind is more slow and deliberate, and weighs

matters in an even balance, and comes to ii by degrees; but when once it is fixed, it is lasting and immovable, and growi stronger and stronger, and brings forth Rubstantial fruit.

[24] Markiv. 25. *' For he that hath, to him shall be given; and he that huih nut, tVum hini shall be taken away eves that which he hath." Spiritual and heavenly gifts are not gives uioreiy in proportion to a person's iaiprovcineftt of what he has, in such a manner that he tliat has but little, if he improves it as well in proportion to what he has, shall receive as great a reward as he that has a great deal; for then the additionil talent should with equal reason be given to him who at firit receiived the two talents, as to him who received five; Mattb. XXV. 28; but it was not; and the reason is given in the 29th verse, '* For to every one that hath shall be given, and be shall have abundance ; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath." It is so with res|>ect to advantages and privileges: he that improves great advantages well shall receive a greater reward than he that improvei small ones; otherwise they could be no advantages, therefore glory, honour, and peace is given to every man that worketh good, but '' to the Jew first." Kom. ii. 10.

[25] iMaik. iv. 26, 27, 28. "And he said. So iRthe kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and tho seed should spring up and giow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringcth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." So the kingdom of Gud comes without observation, without noise and tumult, but goes silently and calmly, but irresistibly, on. So it increased gradually from Chrir^i's disciples, till, in about three hundred years, it filled the world, and yet grew nobody knew how, being promoted by an invisible hand, without war, noise, and clamour; by operating on men's understandings and wills. So the kingdom of (jlod often in the same manner grows in meu^a hearts, being at first ouly as an invisible seed, but afterwards as the blade, then Hie ear, then ihe full corn.

[-26] Mark vi. 44. ** And ihey that did eat of the loaves wiT« aboi:t live thousand mtjn ;" ni»t that the multitude ihat was about him in>w was more numerous than very frequently at other times; whereby we know how publicly Christ's miracles were wrou^'ht.

[27] Mark vi. 52. " For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their hearts were hardened." By hardness of

lieart here, and in other places, ib intended so largely as to lake in blindness of mind, and the depiavation of the faculties jf the mind in general, and the prevention of their exercises.

[29] Mark. ix. 29. '• This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting." Wherefore/a^an^, that which is liere so called, is acceptable to God, now, under the JNew Testament*

[30] Mark ix. 38, 39. "And John answered him, saying, Blaster we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and ho followed not us, and we forbad him, because he followeth not 111. But Jesus said, Forbid him not." Hereby is the justice rf many in these days condemned, who will not suffer others to do good, and use their endeavours to save men's souls and dis«» possess Satan, because they follow not them.

[31] Mark ix. 42. " Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believeth in me," &^c. Christians are but babes and infants in this world, especially were Christ's disciples, so Bt that time; and the primitive church was an infant, they are called by the apostle John liith children. Christians must bo-eome as little children in humility, innocency, tender-heartedness, &c. By offendj in scripture, is intended to cause to offend. We hereby learn how dangerous and dreadful a sin it is to endeavour to make weak Christians go against their consciences.

[148] Mark x. 29, 30. ''There is no man that hath left

house or brethren, d&c. but he shall receive an hundred

fold now in this time, houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, with persecutions, and in the world to come, eternal life." We may be helped to understand this place by Matthew's account of the same thing, Matth. xix. 27, &c. where we have an account that Christ told his disciples upon John's asking this question at the same time, that they should sit upon twelve tinones, judging the twelve tribes of Is* rael, i. e. they should be the means of the conversion of the world, the world should he given into their hands, should be brought to embrace ihcir doctrine, and their word should be the standard of their faith and rule of their worship and practice, and thus they had houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, an hundredfold. They had the houses of all the Christians to receive them, and at their service, they had brethren and sisters, for all Christians were such in Christ, they bad mothers, for so were the churches of Christ. We may

obiirrve in the foregoing verse, their forsaking fatheri ii motioned, the fiithei-s are not put in here as being restored as hundred fold, but only mothers, but one Father, even their heavenly Father, they were to have children, fi>r so were thoM they converted, and lands, for most regions of the earth were to be given to them. The ineok shall then inherit the earth. TWiii is especially fniiillcd in the glorious times of thecburdi, after the fall of Anticlirist.

[226] Mark xi. 13. *' And seeing a fig-tree afar off, harinj^ leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon; and when liocnme to it he found nothing but leaves^ybr the limt of Jigs was not yety By the time of figs here, seems to be meaol tiie fig-harvest, or the time of the ingathering of figs; as the author of the lleply to Woolston with great probability supposes, agreeably to the manner of expression in Matth. xxi. 34. " When the time of the fruit drew nigh," xaifoc «•«» wfSMt and Ps. i. 4, " Yields its fruit in its season." This is given u a reason why Christ came seeking and expecting figs on the tree. The time of ingathering of them was not yet come,tiMi therefore ho might well expect to find them hanging. The particle (for) has reference not separately to the last words, viz. and when he came to it^ he found nothing but leaves^ bat it has reference to the whole sentence taken together, signifying that he came seeking and expecting fruit, and was disappointed. Those words,/or the time of figs was not yet^ contains reason both why he came, and why it was a disappointment to him to find none, both which are understood and necessarily implied in the words preceding.

if we suppose the particle (for) here has no reference at all to the last words, viz. when he came to if, he found nothing but Irrfvcs, hut look on the words as a parenthesis, this is no difficulty ; for we hove an instance fully parallel in Luke xix.34, 25, 2G, " And he said unto them that stood by. Take from bim the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And the? said unto him. Lord, he hath ten pouinls: for I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given, and from him tliat hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from biin.'^ Whence it is most eviilent that ihe consecutive particle/or han no reference to the words immediately preceding, viz. '*And they said unto him, I.ord he hath ten pounds ;" but to those lie-fore. See also a parallel instance, Mark xvi. 3, 4.

And though the fig-harvest was not yet come, or the time of general ingathering of figs, yet it was a lime of year, as the fore-mentioned author observes, wherein Christ might exfiect to find some ripe tigs fit for eating on the tree; foti as he ol^crret,

•

the more common sort of fif^-trees in ihosc parts brings two crops in a year; (see Hosea ix. 10;) and that the first ripe fruits of the first crop might be expected then; and that Jesephus ■ajs, that at the time of the passovcr some Jewish robbers made an excuision from the castle of Mastada, and cairied ofiT the ripe fruits bclon2?in<r to the town of Engnddi; and that he, describing the fruitfuhiess of the country of Gennesarcth, says, " It aflTords figs and grapes for ten months without in-termissioB ;" and that Pliny says, these two crops of figs kept pace with the harvest and vintage; and that, if so, the first crop will be ripe at about the time of the passovcr; and that the end of the winter and beginning of spring in Judca was, at latest, about the middle of February, and then the fig-tree be-f^n to put forth green figs, agreeably to Cant. ii. 13; and therefore, that in the words, ^' the time of fruit is not yet,'' is sig-iHfied, that the barrenness of the tree, and not merely that the fact that the proper time wherein figs used to be ripe was not yet come, was the reason why Christ did not find eatable figs on the tree, since, in the latter case, it never would have been expressed, as it is here, that he found nothing but haves, but rather that he found nothing but green figs ; for, undoubtedly, by what has been observed, there must be green figs on ail fig-trees that were not barren long before this time.

[32] Mark xii. 7. " But those husbandmen said among themselves. This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and (he inheritance shall be ours.'' This was really the case with the Pharisees; they were the teachers of this people, and they saw, if Christ was followed, they should be neglected ; this greatly startled them; they feared losing their credit, so that they should be unable to rule that nation any longer; but if they could any way prevail to kill him, they doubted not but they should have quiet possession still.

[33] Mark xii. 29. " And Jesus answering, said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scripture, neither the power of God; for when they shnll rise from the dead they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven." We may conclude, therefore, that these doctrines of a future state and tl)c resurrection are taught, and may be heard in the Old Testament, yea, and in general the manner of it may be known by it.

[34] Mark xiii. 22. " For false christs, and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." Let us explain election, which

way we will, and one of these two doctrines is established. I the election spoken of precedes tlieir eallintr, the doctrine o predestination is establi5?hed; if it follows, and thoy arechosn for their Christianity, then the doctrine of perseverance is cs tahlished ; for it is inipossihle to seduce such as is implied. Mark xvi. See No. 2'20, Mattli. xxviii.

[314] Luke i. 35. "And the angel answered, and said unti her, The Holy Ghost shall conie upon thee, and the power c the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, that hoi; thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son n

God,"

The Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, was a type of tin things : she was a type of the church, that is often in scripture re presented as Christ's mother that travails in pain with him, am brings him forth ; she brings him forth in the hearts of believen and especially those that are ministers in the church, who (astb apostle said he did) do travail in birth with souls; and he, bein{ brought forth, appears and lives in their lives. The church isab represented as a chaste, pure virgin, and she is often called his node filed in the Canticles. She nourishes Christ, or grace, in the heart of the saints by the ordinances of religion, and those means of ^ran that are maintained in the church. She affords the sincere mill of the word, by which believers, as new-born babes, are nourish ed, and do grow. And the blessed Virgin, in conceiving aro bringing forth Christ, is an eminent type of every belic»ving soal who is Christ's brother, and sister, and mother. As Christ wa formed in her, so is he in every true convert; he was formod u her by the Holy (xhosi's coming upon, and the power of ihchigh^ est overshadowing her; which is a lively representation of (hi manner in which the new creature is formed in the saints. TIn mother of Christ was a pure Virgin; so are believers represented ir scripture; they are presented as chaste vir«:ins to Christ, thej are those that are not defiled wiih women, for they are viririn* as is said in Revelations. The blessed Virgin brought Ibrtl Christ with pain; so is Christ commonly brought forih in ibi hearts of believers with that contrition, and repentance and sor row for sin, that self-denial and mortification, that may fitly b< compared to the pains of a woman in travail. As the blessct Virgin nourished her babe, with nourishment from her breast, « Christ in the heart is refreshed with the exercises of graces inthi saints and their good works, which are often represented in scrip ture as food to Christ in the heart, or the principle of grace there which is as a new-born child, and causes it to grow ; and the exer cises and fruits of grace that come from the hearts of the saints do as it were nourish Christ's interest in the world, aud caiisi

Christ's mystical body, which is small as in infancy, to be strengthened and increased. The mother of Christ, was very careful of Christ when he was an infant, tended him with great care, watched over him lest he should be hurt, and was careful to feed and nourish him, when he was wounded to heal him, to please and gratify him, and by all means to promote his health and growth, as tender mothers are wont to do their little children. So should the believer do with respect to Christ in the heart. The care chat a tender mother has of her infant, is a very lively image of the love that a Christian ought to have of grace in the heart. It is a very constant care; the child must be continually looKied after; it must be taken care of both day and night. When the mo Iher wakes up in the night she has her child to look after and nourish at her breast, and it sleeps in her bosom, and it must be continually in the mother's bosom, or arms, there to be upheld and cherished; it needs its food and nourishment much oftener than adult persons; ii must be fed both day and night; it must in every thing be gratified and pleased; the mother must bear the burden of it as she goes to and fro. This is also a lively image of the care that the church, especially the ministers of the gospel, •hould have of the interests of Christ, committed to their care; 1 Thes. ii. G, 7, 8, 9. <* We might have been burdensome as the tipostles of Christ; but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cberisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail; for labouring Jiight and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God." That when the .church is spoken of under the character of a mother, the ministers are especially meant, see Note on Cautic. ii. 11, at the latter end.

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[137] Luke viii. 28. 30. The legion of devils besought Christ that he would not torment them, and that he would command them to go out into tlie deep. This shows that the devils had a -very trembling expectation of having their punishment completed, and of being dreadfully destroyed some time or other by tlie .Alessiah.

[28] Luke xi. 44. " Woe unto you, scribes aiid Pharisees, hypocrites," &c. The Jewish church was no^ in its apostatized state, being become an hypocritical, superstitious, corrupt, haughty, persecuting church, very much as the apostatized Christian €hurch under Antichrist, only in a far less degree, but their crimes were exactly of the same nature. It is chilled a generalioa

VOL. IX. 60

of vipers; like as the church of Rome is called the dragon, the beast. Here it was that our Lord was crucified; and the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world, was required of this generation, verse 50. So the church of Rome is said to be the city where our Lord was crucified. Rev. xi. 8. ''And that in her was found the blood of prophets, of saints, and of ail that were slain upon the earth ;" and in innumerable things did this apostatized church agree with the church of Rome, ^ow the Scribes and Pharisees were the teachers of the nation, and as their clergy, and were the haughtiest, most hypocritical, most covetous, deceitful, and malicious, persecuting sort of men in the wliole nation; their enormities that are mentioned here and elsewhere, exactly to a wonder corresponding with those of the Romish clergy, and the high church; their temper and behaviour was just as tliis is.

[295] Luke x. 38, to the end. Concerning Mary^s and Mar-tha^s different ways of shotving iheir respect to Christ. Martha and Mary seem to be typos of different churches, or rather different parts of the Christian church : the one showing their respect to Christ b)r much external service and ceremony, as Martha was cumbered about much serving; the other that part of the church that is more pure and spiritual in their worship, as Miiry sat at bis feet, and heard his word. Particularly Martha represents the Jewish Christian church in the apostles' days, made up of Jews and Jiidaizing Christians, who were fond of the ceremonies of the Jewish worship. Mary represents the Gentile church ; they were more spiritual in their worship. \\ hat is si«^niiicd in tiiis type is also exemplified in the church of England, that is cnmbcred about much serving. Their worshi|> consisting much in external form and ceremony, and the churcii of Scotland, and the dissenters in England are like Mary, who worshij) Christ according to his own inslilntions, without the pomp and cumbrance of outward forms. Marrh.i was the elder sister, so the Jewish church was the elder sister with respect to the Gentiles ; so the church of England is the elder sister, and has the ascendant over the other, and has the chief government of the house, as the house that Christ was in is called Martha's house, ver. 38. Martha complains of Miry that she did not join with her in her external service, and would havo Christ oblige her to help her ; so those chnrcliiis that are cereinonicms in their worship, are commonly impatient of others, who dissent from them, and are of an imposing sjiirit, and are desirous of having others being oldiged to conformity. So was it with the Jewish-Christian church in the prima ivc times with respect to the Gentile

church, and so it is with the church of England. Christ declares that Mary's way of showing respect to him was far the most necessary, and most acceptable; so is that worship that is pure and spiritual.

[3] Luke xiv. 22, 23. In litis parable is represented, Ist, The rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, 22d verse. But in the 23d there is manifestly another general calling of the Gentiles spoken of; the first is that which is called the calling tf ike Gentiles; the next, that which is called in scripture, the bring' ingin of the fullness of the Gentiles. It is manifest, therefore, by this text, that there remains yet another calling of the Gentiles than hath yet been.

[40] Luke XV. 21, 22. " And the father said to the servant, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf," &c. As Christ's eating with the publicans and sinners, was figurative of the calling of the Gentiles, so are the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, and the prodigal son, especially the last, agreeing in all circumstances.

[41] Luke xvii. 20. " And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered and laid, The kingdom of God cometh with observation." This clears up any difficulties that might be raised from any speeches of Christ, or the apostles, that seem to speak of a bodily descent of Christ from heaven to receive his kingdom in a very short time.

[42] Luke xvii. 30, to the end. '^ Even thus shall it be in the day when the Sou of man is revealed," and the following verses, especially the last, may convince us that the coming ov pevealiog Df Christ, so often spoken of by Christ and his apostles that was to be so suddenly, was at the destruction of Jerusalem.

[233] Luke xviii. 35. " And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging.'* Here this is said to be as lie came nigh unto the city, n the original it is said, sv tw fiT/i^siv, in his approaching to the city. And we have an account afterwards in the first verse of the next chapter, of Jesus' entering and passing through Jericho. And yet it is said in Matthew xx. 29, that it was as they departed from Jericho, or as it is in the original, sxirtffiuofwvwv aumv, they going out o/Jericho; and in Mark, the same is said, and there we have an account before of his coming to Jericho, Mark X. 46, '' and they came to Jericho,"—^* And as be went out of

Jericlio, with his disciples and a great number of people, bliiri Bartimeus," he. It seems to me the difficulty and seeming inconsistency is thus to be solved, viz. That Jesus passed near the Jordan the day before from the other side, where he bad been, John X. 40, 41, 42; Matth. xix. 1, 2; Mark x. 1 ; and cameio the suburbs of Jericho that night, and that this is what is meant by Mark, when it is said they came to Jericho, in the first words of chap. X. 46, now mentioned; and that Christ did not go into tke main city that night, but lodged in the suburbs for the comfort of lodging, and to avoid the crowd and throng of people, for it ii evident that the people were now in a great disposition to flock after him and throng him, by the whole context of these places. If he had gone into the midst of so populous a city as Jericho that evening, the multitude would necessarily have greatly distressed him that night; and that Christ did lodge somewhere after he cane over the Jordan into Judea, before he entered the main city of Jericho, seems evident by this, that otherwise we shall not find room for the four days that Lazarus had been dead before he caM to Bethany, if we suppose the day that he was raised to be the fourth day; for we are told that, when Christ heard he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was, even beyond the Jordan, John xi. 6, compared with the next verse, and the 40th verse of the foregoing chapter. Lazarus died before Christ heard this news, as is evident by what Christ said, verse 11. It was when Christ was going out of that place into Judea, that he said to his disciples, ^'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but 1 go that I may awake him out of sleep;" by this we cannot rationally suppose that he died sooner than the day before he went over the Jordan, which may be reckoned one day of his being dead, and when be came over the Jordan and lodged in the suburbs of it, there was two days, and the next day he passed through Jericho and lodged at the house of Zaccheus, Luke xix. 5, 8tc. and the next day he came to Bethany, which is four days. There is a necessity of supposing that Christ lodged somewhere on this side of the Jordan before he came to the house of Zaccheus; but it seems evident that he did not lodge at all in the old city of Jericho, but passed directly through it, and came to Zaccheus' house the same day that he entered and passed through the city, by Luke xix. 1, 2. " And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zaccheus," &c.

Another thing further strengthens the probability that Christ bad lodged a night on this side of the Jordan before that day that he passed through the city and came to the house of Zac^ cbeus, viz. that if he went through the city to his house, the same day that ho came near the Jordan, it is not at all hkclj there would have been gathered such a multitude to him. there

would not have been time for it. The multitude was exceedingly great, as appears from the blind man's taking so much notice of the noise they made as they passed, Luke xviii. 30, and by Zaccheus' being forced to climb a sycamore-tree to see him ; and therefore thus the seeming inconsistency between the evangelists is solved.

Jesus' coming from beyond the Jordan to the suburbs of Jericho and lodging there, Alark calls his coming to Jericho, chap. z» 46; and when Christ set out on his journey the next morning to go from Jericho further towards Jerusalem, Mark calls his setting out from Jericho as his going forth from that city, though the main city was in his way, and he passed through it in bis journey, which is not disagreeable to our customary way of speaking. If a man that belongs to a certain town, suppose the town of Northampton, then Iiving>in the outskirts of it on the north side, sets out to go a journey to another town south of Northampton, supposing Hartford, and anyone ut his journey's end should ask him at what time it was that he set out from Northampton, such a question would be understood to mean at what time he began his journey from his own home at Northampton, though ho after that passed through the main body of the town ; or if he was on a journey before, and lodged at Northampton for anight, at a house in the utmost northern skirts of it, and so went forward on his journey to IJartford the next morni.ig, this does not alter the case. The case seems to have been thus, that Jesus lodging in the eastern suburhs of Jericho, the people flocked to him in the morning before he set out on his jouiney, and when he set forth on his journey forwards to leave that town, on the borders of which he then was, Mark and Matthew speaking of him as then going out of Jericho, but between the place where he lodged and the walls of the main city, which he must pass through in his way ; the blind man cried for mercy, and therefore Luke says it was as he was entering into the city.

Note, that the supposition of his coming over the Jordan is not agreeable to Doddridge's Harmony.

[338] Luke xxii. 31. " And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." The true meaning of these words seenjs to he this. It is ordered in providence that Satan should at this time extraordinarily seek and hope to have you, and it is so ordered to that end, that by his temptations he might sift you as wheat; that is, that there might be a separation made between you and your corruptions, your pride and self-confidence, as wheat is separated from chaff by sifting, which proved to be the effect of those trials that I'eter and the rest of the disciples had at

that tiino, they were sifted and purified^ and came forth aba-III dantly brighter than before, as ^ohl that is tried in the fire, k i is not Satan's cud in dcsirin*^ to have them that is herespokn of, but (lud's end in so orderin<i^ it that Satan should desire ll have them. Satan's end in desiring to have the saints is not to sift them and purify the wheat from the chaff, but todestro; them.

[225] Luke xxii. 44. '' And being in on agony, he prayd more earnestly." This was in his second prayer. He prayd more earnestly than in his first; but we cannot justly euppM that it is meant that he prayed more than before that this of mig^ht pass from him, for this was after the angel appeared li him from heaven, strengthening him, as in the foregoing vertti This angel came from jieaven on that errand to strengthci him with the more cheerfulness to take the cup and drink, and to go through with the suflTerings that were before hia^ that were so dreadful to him; and therefore we must suppon^ that in consequence of i(, Christ was more strengthened ioiL And though Christ seems to have had a greater sight of bii sufferings given him after this strengthening than before, thil caused such an agony, yet he was strengthened in order to it him for a greater f:i^ht of them, and he had greater strength and courage to conilict and grapple with those awful apprehensions than before; his strength to bear sufferings is increased with his suifering. And then, seeing this angel came te strengthen hitn with courage to go through his sufferings, and Christ knew it, we must suppose that Christ now, in answer tf what he said to God in iiis former prayer, herein had it signified that it was the will of God ihat he should drink that cnp; and so it is not to be supposed that, immediately upon it, be prayed nioreeuiiiesily than before that the cup might pass from him; that he should so do is utterly inconsistent with Matthew's account of this second prayer. The account wo hare of this second prayer of Christ in the other evangelists, togfr ther with John xii. 27, 28, and Fleb. v. 7, serve well to lead ui into an understanding of the matter of this prayer. Indeed, when the evangelist Mark gives us an account of this second prayer, he says that *' he spake the same words that he did before." Mork xiv. 39. But, by what the evangelist Matthew says of it, we are not to understand this, as though he spake all the same words, bur the same words with the last part of his former, viz. " Not what I will, but what thou wilt." The account Matthew gives of it, is this; Matth. xxvi. 42, "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father! if this cup may not pa»s^ away from me, except I

i

i

diink it, thy will te done." By Matthew's account, he prays tbe second time, as if he had received a signification from God, since he prayed before, that it was his will thai tbe cup ihould not pass from him; and the evan'reliht Luke tells us how, viz. by the angel that came from God to strengthen him, -and therefore, though he prays now more earnestly than before, yet he only prays that God's will mny be done, i. e. not only in his sufferings, but in the effects and fruits of them, that Crod would so order it, that his end and will may be obtained by them, in that glory to his name, particularly the glory of his grace and mercy in the salvation and happiness of his chosen opes, which he intended by them. Christ's second request after it was signified and determined that it was the will of God that he should drink the cup, corresponds with his second re-i|ue8t that was made on the same account that we have in John xii. 27, 28. The first request was the same as here, and in like trouble; " Now is my soul troubled^ and what shall I say? JPather, save me from this hour^ And then after this he was determined within himself as now, that the will of God must he done, otherwise that he should not be saved from that hour. " JButjfor this cause^ came I to this hour f^ and then his second request after this is, " Father ^glorify thy namey 8o this was the purport of this second request, as Matthew gives us an account of it, saying the same also the third time, ver. 44, wherein the evangelist Luke says, '* He being in an agony, prayed more earnestly," which seems to be the strong crying and tears that the apostle has respect to, Heb. v. 7, 8, *' As he saith also in another place. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck: who in the ^days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him who was able to save him from death, and was heard in tha't he feared. Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered." The thing that he feared, and the thing that he prayed to be delivered from, in those prayers and supplications, that he offered up with such earnestness and agonies, to him that was able to save him from death, that so the Father's will might be done, and his glory attained in his sufferings vvas, that he might he saved from death —that though he must drink the cup and pass through death, yet that he might not be swallowed up; that he might 7101 fail and sink in so great a trials but might overcame. As Christ is represented praying, Ps. Ixix. 14, 15. He prayed that his heart might not utterly fail in his last passion, and that it might be effectual for the obtaining of God's will and the glorious ends proposed. If he had failed, all would have f^iiled, and the whole affair would have been entirely frus-

trated. The man Christ Jesus, in sacb an eztraordinai; tri terrible sight of the cup he had to drink, did not trust in his on feeble human nature to support him, but looked to God forsi^ port. If he had not overcome in that sore trial and dreadM connict, he would never livivebeens aved from death ; (for hii Jfe surrection was our Release from the grave; was our token thatb had vanquished, and fulfilled and satisfied God's will,) and tin all would have failed, and we should never have been redeenni Our faith would have been vain, and we shoold have remaini yet in our sins. The things which Christ prayed for, andtk things in which he was heard, were those two things mentioiri in Isaiah xlix. 8. When Christ prayed to be delivered from deatl^ it was not as a private person, but as a common Head. His iit liverance from death is virtually the deliverance of all the £1ni Thus this High Priest (for he is spoken of as such in that platt in Hebrews, see verse foregoing) offered up prayers and supplio-tions with his sacrifice, as the Jews were wont to do. He mild strong cryings and tears with his blood that was shed oat, ml fell down to the ground in his agony, praying that the effect ml end of that blood might be obtained. Such earnest agODiiiii| prayers were offered with his blood, and his infinitely preciM and meritorious blood was offered with his prayers. How efe-tual must such prayers be! And how sure may those be of nt vation that have an interest in those supplications!

[311] Christ, in these strong cries and tears, wherein he wrestled with God in a bloody sweat for the success of his suffe^ ings in the salvation of the elect, hath given us example how we should seek our own salvation, and the salvation of others, whoie souls are committed to our care; viz. as striving, wrestling, aad agonizing with God. See Prov. ii. at the beginning. Wheo Christ says, Luke xiii.24, '* Strive to enter in at the strait gate, the word in the original for strive is oLyi^n^zg^B^ agonize.

[122] John i. 16. ** And of his fullness have all we received, aod grace for grace; that is, he has a fullness of grace," and we receive grace from him, answerable to his grace grace fn

grace, that is grace amwerable to grace. The word avn, translated for^ signifies so. Christ has many gifts from the Father, and we have gift for gift.

[446] John i. 31. ** And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel," &c. This may seem strange that Jobn did not know Jesus, seeing the families were so related ; Elixa-beth, his mother, being cousin to the Virgin Mary, and they were intimately acquainted one with another, and at the very

ime oflheir preprnancy, when the child of each had been already onceived, and both were thoroughly acquainted with the nii-aculous circumstances of each oiIut's conception, and what the •hildren were that ihey had conceived, and to what end ihey irere to come into the world; and conversed together of these hings. Soon nfier Christ's birth, he was conveyed away pri-'otely by his parents into Egypt, for fear of Herod, and probacy nobody knew where they were gone, or what was become of hem. There it is supposed that he remained in Egypt until the leath of Herod ; and Archclaus his son, reigning in his stead iri he province of Jurlea, and manifesting by some bloody acts in he beginning of his reign, the like tyrannical disposition with lis father; Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt, we may suppose as privately as they could, into Nazareth, an obscure city in jialilee; the province of Ilerod Antipns. And as to John the laptist, when Herod massacred the infants at Bethlehem, his nalicc proceeded as far as the hill country; for having heard freat tilings of John, the son of Zechariah, he sent one of his oessengers ofde;itlito dispatch him. The care of his mother ircvented the design, by Hying with him into the wilderness, or infrequented parts of the country, on the south side of the river Fordan. It is recorded by Nicephorus, lib. i. cap. 14, that he vas about eighteen months old when he was conveyed into this ianctuary, that forty days after his mother died, and near the >ame time his father Zrchariah, was killed in the court of the lemple. [There is an account of these things in Reading^s Evan-elical History of Christ, chap. vii. viii. ix. x.] However, thus nuch seems manifest from the scripture, that John's parents were uolb old when he was born, and therefore we may well suppose that they did not live long after, so that he could not be led by them into personal acquaintance with Jesus, and it is also manifest that John was from his infancy in the desert, in a bidden secret state of life, even unto the day when he began his public ministry ; (Luke i. 80.) and that there he lived so much separated from the rest of the Jews, and from the society of mankind, that he lived on the spontaneous productions of the uncultivated desert, his meat being locusts and wild honey, and his garment nothing but camels' hair, girt about him with a girdle of skin, Matth. iii. 4; Mark i. 0. And so when he began to preach it was ill the borders of the wilderness, where he had lived all his days. Matth. iii. 1.3; Mark i. 4; Luke iii. 2. 4; Therefore Christ says to the multitudes concerning John, " What went ye out into the wildeniiss for to see r" Matth. xi. 7 ; Luke vii. 24.

Things being thus, it is not to be wondered at that John had never been Jesus, who lived obscurely so remote from him, and

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T 5

that he knew not where he was, or how to find him till God showed him to him.

[368] John ii. 1, 2. Concrrning the marriage at Cana of Galilee. The company here at this wedding may represent the church of Christ, wiio are often represented as the -ruests called together to a marriage feast. Jesus, and his mother, and his disciples were there ; thus it is in the church. The former circumstances of the marriage, wherein they wanted wine, represent the state of the church before Christ came, or rather before the eFangelical dispensation was established. The latter state of the wedding, wherein they had plenty of wine, represents the latter state of the church after the glorious pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and especially after the fall of Antichrist. The wine represents the spiritual supplies of his . church, the grace and comforts of the Holy Spirit, which are often represented by wine in scripture. Their wine ran low and was just out; so formerly the Old Testament church had a supply of wine ; but when Christ came into the world it was just out, they had in a manner no wine. But when Christ came and ascended up to heaven, he soon gave his church plenty of wine, and much better wine than ever the Jeivish church had enjoyed, as it is said,'' Thou hast kept the best wine until now." So again, before the glorious times of the church commence, the church's wine runs very low, and is almost out; what they allay with is water: human learning, sapless speculations and disputations, and dead morality. Formerly the Christian church had wine, as in the times of the primitive church, and in the times of the Ilcformation, but now their wine ia just gone. But after the beginning of these glorious times their water shall be turned into wine, and much better wine than ever ther had before. The mother of Jesus may represent the more eminent ministers of the gospel, or the public ecclesiastical authority as exercised in synods, pul)lic schools, &c. They in a dark and dead time of the church complain to Christ of their unsac-ccssfulness, of the want of wine in the church, and look to him for a supply, but must not expect an answer till Christ's time is come; their prayers are not answered till then, and then they shall be fully answered; their prayers are not rejected, they arc offered up with incense, the cries of the souls under the alter that cry "How long, Lord, Holy and true!" are not rejected; but yet it is said to them that they should wait till God's time comes. The servants represent gospel ministers, they have a command from Jesus' rnolficr, i. e. from the church in her public authority, to do whatsoever Jesus commands. Whence we may note that the way to have a plentiful effusion

«f the Spirit with his word and ordinances, is to be faithful in Iheir work. They are to fill up the water-pots of purification with water ; that is all that they can do. They can in the use -«»f the ordinances of God's house, and the appointed means of :|fraceand purification, be instnnt in season and out of season; Ihey can fill the water-pots up to the brim ; they can be abundant in preaching the word, which as it comes only from tliem is but water, a dead letter, a sapless, tasteless, spiritless thing, but this is what Christ will bless for the supplying of his church with wine.

[47] John ii. 21. " But he spake of the temple of his body." And it seems to me here that he should speak of his body in two senses: in one sense of the church which is called his body, and is also called the temple of God, of which the temple of Jerusalem was a type. The temple of Jerusalem may signify the Jewish church Christ put an end to by his coming, and in sthree ages after erected his spiritual temple, the Christian church.

[26] John V. 45. viii. 15. xii. 47. ** I judge him not, for I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world." Men are not properly judged and condemned by the covenant of grace, but by the law, a. covenant of works, that is the eternal rule of judgment. The covenant of grace is a deliverance from this judgment: those who arc Christ's are delivered from the law and escape the condemnation of it; the law bus its force upon Christ, andean go no further; but the law has its full force open unbelievers.

[263] John vii. 38, 39. '' Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spnko he of the Spiriu" The Spirit of God in th« saints is called living water upon three accounts.

1. And chiefly it is meant that the water had life in it, common water is mere passive dead matter. But this water is alive, it is a living divine person. So Christ is called a living stone, 1 Peter, ii. 4. This water is not only something livings but it is life itself; it is that spirit that is the very life of God, and so is divine and infinitely perfect life, and act, and energy ; for which cause partly the Spirit of God is called water of life, Rev. xxii. at the beginning. Because divine life is the very matter of this water.

2. lie is living water, as he is life-giving water, as Christ is called the living bread, John vi. and as the Spirit of God is call-eA living bread theie in that chap. ver. 63, vid. No. 2G2. lie is living bieud, as he is life-giving broad; for so Christ explains

himself in that chap. ii.i. It is living water in those in whom it is, as it is like a spring that never fails; as it gives lifot so it will infallibly maintain life for over. So it Heems to be explained by Christ, John iv. 10, 11, 13, an J especially the 14ih. So Christ is called bread of life, because the)- that eat of him shall never die, but live fur over, John vi. So the hope of Christians to which they artj bepotten by the resurrecticjii of Christ from the dead, is said to be, 1 Peter i. 3, a living hope, i. c. a never-dying, never-failing hope ; vid. Notes in loc. But yet it is not probable that this water would on account of its perpetuity lie called living water, if there was no life in the water, and life was not the thing that was perpetual; for it does not appear that springs of water that were never dry wore, on that account, called Ztving*springs then, as now, but it seems to be a metaphor invented since.

[234] John z. 34, 35, 36. "Jesus answered them, It is written in your law, I said ye are gods. If he culled them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him,*' &c. The rulers of God's people were called gods, because unto them the word of God came, i. e. his law was come tothem, was committed tothem, and trusted with them for them to enforce and execute : they were herein instead of God to the people. Because they held forth the law, or word of God, the law of God was in a seuHO their law. They were judges or executors of the law for God, for the judgment was God's, Dcuf. i. 17, 2 Chron. xix. 6. Herein ihey were types of Christ, to whom the Falher halli coniniitted all judgment. Thus it \yas a ceremony in Israeit in inauifiirating a king, to bring the law end coininit it to hiiii ; as 2 Kings xi. 12, "And he brougiit forth the king's son, tuid put the crown upon him, and gave him the ttstimony, and xhvy niatle him kinif, and anointed him, an<l they clapi their hands, and said, God save the king." Thus thi; word of God came I*) him. This interpretation of this exposilioii of Christ is confirmed by what God says to Moses, Exod. iv. IG, ** And he shall be thy'spokesnmii unto the people, and he shiill be, even he shall be unto thee instead ofa month, and thou shall bc(o WuuiiLsUadof UoJ;" i.e. by speaking the word of God to him, he was instead of Goil, because the word of God came lo hit/i, and was contniitted to him to sf)eak in God's nanu', and so in the vii. clia|.. versr J. "And the Lord said unto Mdses, Sec^ I Iiavo made thee a t»odlo Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brt.lher shall be ihy prophet:" he i*:|v resented God before Pharaoh, by the word id'God in his niunlli. as he spake in hi^ name, and b) his word wrought miracles he-fore him*

These earthly rulers wore railed f^ods, brcniise the exttrnal word of God came thus to ihcm; whereby they were rendered types and images of the Son of God, liie internnl irord of God ; heoce ihey are not only railed .£,W«, but the sons of GotL Ps. Izxxii. G. **I have said ye are \s;i^i\s, and all of ytiii children of the Most High;" and if they were called p:tMls, only f<)r thus re-lembling God's Son, how much is Christ to he justified, who was himself the Son of God, when he called himself God !

[482] John x. 34, 35, 36. "Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law, I have said ye are prods," &c. In the Ixxxii. Psalm, to which this refers, we see, ver. 6, those who are called sons of the Highest by the word of God that came to them, are by that lame word called gmls. So that in that passage, tion of the Hi^h" esi^ is the same with God. Jesus takes notice that th^y are called gotU, and he says the scripture cannot be broken, i. e. it must be verified; but verified it could not be in them who died like men, aod fell thereby like other princes," (whovTerenot called gods,) " firpro that eminent station wherein they were called gods." It is not every prince or potentate amonu^ men that is called god in this psalm. Those called gods, are plainly the princes of Israel, that judges in God's land, who stood and judged among them in that Theocracy; and they are manifestly distinguished from other princes on the very same account on which they are called gods. For in their office as rulers and judges of Israel, they prefigured Him who was to rule the house of Jacob forever, and they stood in that office as his types, even as the priests prefigured Ilim in bis priesthood ; therefore they are called gods; and the scripture calling them so is not broken, because wh;it is said of these types holds fully true in their Antitype ; who is plainly enough pointed at in that same psalm, verse 8, *'Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." They shall die like men, and fall like one of the firinces: but He arises from the dead to Judge and inherit the church of all nations. His resurrection manifests Him to be truly God; the same God that stood in the congregation of these mighty, and judged among them, to whom the word of God came, *' Ye are go<ls, and sons of the Highest." Vid. Glass' Notes on Scripture Texts, No. 1, pp. II, 12.

They are called gods, as the manna is iaile<l tlie bread from heaven, and angels' ibod, and as Cyrus is called GiuVs Christ and his beloved, Isai. xlv. 1; xlviii. 14; and as Said (whom the psalmist has a special respect to in Psalm IxNxii.) is called the Lord's Christ, (he fell like one of the other princes who were not called gods,) and as the rock in the wilderness is said to be Christ, and as many tilings are said of Solomon in the Ixxii. Psalm, that arc verified only in Christ, That passage, 1 Kings xviii. 31, may

servQ to oxplairi these words, To whom the itord of Oodeam; " Acconling lo the number of the tribes of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel (i- e. the Prince of God) |{, shall he thy name. The word of God carae to Jacob in his pit-vailing with (iod, two ways.

1. God said to him, 1 have called you ISRAEL, Prince 9^ God; as here, Ps. Ixxxii. he says to the princes of Israel, " 1 haw called 3'ou gods:;*' and that word of God came to them in Exod.

xxii. 28.

2. God, by a special designation, made Jacob in what he m-dered concerning him, to be a Type. Now, types arc a sort d words: they are a language, or signs of things which God would reveal, point forth, and teach, as well as vocal or written words, and they are called the word of the Lord^ in Zech. iv. 6, andiL 11. '* And thus also the word of the Lord came to the princesof Israel," i. e. that state and those circumstances came to them, and were ordered to them that were typical of the Son of God, and were as it were God's word, signilying the dignity and office of the Messiah. Such divine significations, when persons were made the inherent subjects of them, were generally of the Son of God, the Eternal Personal Word; and therefore when such a typifica-tion happened, or was ordered to a person, or any person becaivie the inherent subject of such a divine signification, the word nf God was said to come to him. It was the signification or typifi-cation (if I may so speak) of the word of God, both as it wai God's signification, and also as the thing signified was the Pe^ sonal Word of God.

[33] John xi. 51. <* And this spake he not of himself, butbe-ing high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.'' By this it appears that things are ordered by God to bo nrtrd niul spok{?n, after such a particular manner, wiih ad*:-sif^n to indicate and represent heavenly things, without the least thought of the actors or speakers. See Note on Gen. xxii. B-

[134] John xvi. 8, &tc And when the Comforter is come he will convince the worhl of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment Ilr shiill convinrc the world of sin as men must be convinced of llicir guilt, in order of llh ir rcctivini^ of ('lirisf. That is, lluf reason tf^at sin and guilt lies upon tiiem, is, because they believe noi in CInis!; nnd their njccting Christ above all things enli.'inces their guilt. Of his righteousness, that is, he will cnii-vince them of the siifiiciency of (Christ's righteousness, of the way of removing iruilt by him. Christ fini>lied lii> work as Priest, «>f what he did for the removal of guilt, by bin ascending into lua-ven, his entering into the holiest of all viiih his own blood to make

Intercession for us, and thereby gave evidence to the world, that what he had done was enough. Verse 10. Of righteousness, because ** I fro to my Father, and ye see me no more;" that is, he fehall convince the world of Christ's sufficiency and excellency as « king and head of influence and government, as the sanctifier and deliverer of his people from their enemies, and he that brings them to eternal life. He delivers from the influence and power of thexlevil, redeems his captives, and in spile of him sanctifies and glorifies. In thus redeeming men by power, Satan is judged. John xii. 31, 32. Verse 11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. The conviction here spoken of righteousness and judgment is to the same purpose with that, Isai. xlv. 24. ** In the Lord Jehovah have I righteousness and strength," anil in the next verse, '*In the Lord shall ali the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."

[498] John xvi. 8, 9, 10, 11. "An<l when he is come he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." In these words of our Saviour is a great manifestation of his divine knowledge and wisdom.

The greatest SIN.that is in the world, is sin against the gospel, contempt of, and opposition to, Jesus Christ; and the greatest evidence of the sin and wickediiess of man, is the world's ill treatment of Christ, and the gospel, and the followers of Christ. In this does most clearly appear the malignant nature of sin, and the true nature of it is fully manifest; and particularly that violent opposition that appears on occasion of the pouring out of the Spirit of God. As the coming of the Spirit is the occasion of this; so his coming eventually holds forth matter oC conviciiou to the world of its wickedness. And those that are savingly taught by the Spirit, are in the first place convinced of sin, especially as appearing in their sinning against Christ, or against God, as revealing himself in the gospel Thus we find that immediately after the pouring out of the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, the Jews that were awakened, were reproved for this sin, of rejecting and crucifying Christ, and for this they were pricked in their hearts, and said, " Men and brethren, what shall we do," Acts ii. ; see also chap. iii. 13, 14, Slc; iv. 11, &c. ;• V. 30, &c.; vii. 51, &c.; And when Saul was converted, this especially was the sin which he was reproved for, and convinced of. Acts ix. 4, 5. In most places where the apostles preached, there first arose great opposition, and the gospel finally prevailed against their opposition, and opposers were converted, and iu

this case we \m\y suppose the tiling wherein chiefly they were convinreil of tiieir slnfuhiess, wus tlicir opposition to Chrisi. This seeiDs to have bt.'ori the case with the p^aolcr ; and so in all uges, ihoy that urv. ivwly hurnhlcd by the Spirit of God, wA brought to ri'pcMitance, are wout to be convinced of their sins against the gospil.

The greatest, and most gh»rious rii^hieousncfs that ever was in the world, is the righteousness of Christ. Indeed it was infnlit^ \y the most excvlleiit righteousness thntever was wrought out by any servant of God in heaven or earth. It was the only ricrbt-eousness propeily so called, ^i. e. agreeable to that grand and eternal rule of righteousness, the law of God,) that ever was among mankind, and the only righteousness by which any of mankind arc acceptcii as righteous. And the greatest, slrongeil, and most convincing evidence of the reality, excellency', sufficiency, and completeness of this righteousness, was Christ's going to the Father, and his being seen here no more in such a state as be was in when the disciples saw him here. God's raising Christ from the dead, uas a threat testimony of God to the sulncieDcy and completeness of Christ's righteousness; but his bestowing upon him so glorious a reward in heaven; (rod's CAalting bim at his own right hand, far above.all principalities, &c., and there admitting this high priest into that Holy of holies, witii his own blood, not merely to how down before the throne in humble p(»-ture as the high prie.sts of old, but to sit down on the throne, at the right hand of tlic majesty on hi^Mi, and so to be a priest on the throne, was a far more striking evidence of it. And it was a greater evidence of the transcendent excellency of this righteousness, its acceplableness to the Father, and his exceeding delight in it. And it greatly hei<;hten5 the strength and brightness o( the evidence that Christ did not only go to the Father, but thni he went thither to reliuii no more, to be seen on earth in a state of humiliation. He needed to suiler no more, to go through do more labours and self-denials, in order to complete his righteousness ; he oflered up himself; by one ofFeritig, he perfected for evtr them that are sanciilied. Having by his righteousness completed our redemption, he sat down for ever on the right hand of God. He entered into the holiest of all, not as the high priest of old, to be there a little while, and then to return and go there atjaiu once a year, but he there enters to abide there. He is set down for ever on the right hand of God. He ever lives there to make continual intercession for us. See lleb. x. 12, 13; and ix. ii, 12. 24, 25, 2(5.

Christ's a^Len^iun into heaven, evorlustingly to live and rt^Lai there, was the greatest evidence of righteousness in all senses aud respects. It was the greaicat evidence of Christ's iniioccncv, auii

Ibit he suffered wrongfully. It was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and veracity in the words which he spake, the doctrine that he taught concerning God and himself, and his design in coming into the world, and concerning life and immortality, and a future state, and the greatest evidence and confirmation of the truth of his promises made to his disciples of eternal life, and heavenly glory, and indeed of all his promises, especially taken with that consequence of his ascension, the coming of the Spirit, whereby his people are sealed to the day of redemption. The C^reat promise of Christ, the sum of all his promises, fulfilled in the earnest of it in their hearts. And this ascension taken as the completing and crowning of the grand affair of redemption, and •o taken with its antecedents and the things manifested by it, particularly the divinity and infinite dignity of the person of Christ* 1 say taken with these, shows it was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and holiness of God in saving sinners, of his faith-fatness in fulfilling the promises of the Old Testament, and in general by far the greatest manifestation, and the brightest effulgence of the moral perfection and glory of the divine Being, that ever was.

The greatest instance o(judgment that ever was, or ever will be in the world, is in Christ's judging Satan, the prince of this world. God hath set Christ as King on his holy hill of Zion, having put all things under his feet, made him the Head of all authority and power, and has committed all judgment to the Son, and this is the greatest instance of Christ's power of ruling and judging. Satan is the greatest and highest of all the enemies of God, and Christ and his people; he probably originally was the highest and strongest of all creatures. He has usurped the throne; as he is called the prince of this world, he has set up himself as god of this world. It is the greatest evidence of Chrij?t's kingly power and his might, as the Captain of the salvation of his people^ to overcome this enemy, dispossess him of his throne, cast him like lightning from heaven, and make him his footstool, and bruise his head under his feet; and it is the greatest manifestation of his high judicial authority to judge and condemn this great rebel, and head, and leader of all the rebellion in the universe, and to execute-vengeance upon him.

By judgmenty as the word is used in the New Testament, as appears by the Greek concordance, is most commonly meant the exercise of judicial auihoritv, or the mamfeslniion and effect of it; sometimes tlie exercise of rule and authr/rity in general, because judging is a chief exercise of it; and sometimes particularly a righteous exercise of such authority, and when the fruit or effect . of judgment is meant, in sentence or execution, commonly a sen-tence of Gondemnation, or the execution of such a sentence if

VOL. IX. 62

meant. Sometimes, though rarely, the word is used to signify a judgment passed in the mind concerning moral matters, or the expression of it in words, and sometimes it means oue's right in judgment. So that the use of the word in the New Testaipeut will clearly justify the iuterpretaiiow that has been given of it iu

this place.

Gospel light and knowledge consist in these three things and

the things implied in them.

A conviction of these three things, is the sum of that conviction which is implied in saving faith. By the knowledge uf tliese things, God's people say, '* In the Lord have 1 righteousness and strength."

In the knowledge of these things consists the true knowledge of ourselves, and the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, or ilie light of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of these things is the foundation of all true compliance wiih the gospel in the heart, of repentence, faith, hope, charity, obedience, and joy.

God permitted the fall, that his elect people might know good and evil. The saving knowledge of good and evil consists iu the spirit's conviction of these three things.

These three tilings are the most important objects of knowledge in the world, in order to santi&catiou and comfort, holiness and happiness.

[66] John xvi. 16. '* A little while and ye shall not see me, and again, a little while and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." A little while and ye shall not see me, i. e. when I ascend into heaven ; and a little while and ye shall see see me, that is, spiritually, when I shall send the Holy Ghost, who would not come if I did not go to the Father. Seeing of Christ is so understood, chap. xiv. 19.

[445] John xix. 14. ** And it was the preparation of the pass-over, and about the sixth hour." Mark says (Mark xv. 23,) it was the third hour, and they crucified him, which seems by the context, to be manifestly the time of his being nailed to the cross at Golgotha, with which this place in John is reconciled, thus. John is here as it were beginning a new paragraph conidining an account of that grand event of the last passion of our Saviour, V'hich he proceeds to do from hence to the 38th verse. John had before been giving a large account of those things that went before this his last passion, and made way fur it; but now, he being •bout to proceed directly to this event itself, the greatest and most astonishing of all events, he as it were makes a pause, «nnd begins the account of it as a distinct story, worthy tu be peculiar-

ly taken notice of. Those words in the 14th verse are the intro-ducKJon to the story of this event, giving an account at what time ic came to pass, vii. on the day of the preparation of the passover, and aboui the sixth hour, that is, in the middle of the day, so that the words it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour^ do not relate especially to the words immediately following, And he mid unto the Jews, Behold your King, but rather to the whole story, beginning with these words and ending with the 37ih verse, or the grand event related in the story, viz. Christ's last passion ; for the words are an introduction to the story of this event, and not to that particular fact of Pilate's saying, •' Behold your King;" and this is very manifest by John's interrupting the thread of his narrative, and standing to tell us that it was the preparation of the passover; if he only meant it was the preparation of the passover, when Pilate said, ^' Behold your King;" for, if so, why should he stand in this place to tell as it was the preparation of the passover, and to tell us that this fact happened on this day, any more than any of the other many facts as important as this, that he had been giving an account of before, from the 28th verse of the preceding chapter, which all were on the same day i so that John's design is not to give us ao account of the precise time when Pilate said those words, but of the time in general of that great event of Christ's last passion, the story of which he immediately introduces in this verse, and goes on with to the end of the 37th verse. He says it was about the sixth hour, i. e. at the middle part of the day, it beginning at the third hour, or middle of the forenoon, and ending at the ninth hour, or middle of the afternoon; and if the time of this grand event be signified by mentioning any hour about which it was, it is most properly said to be about the sixth hour, for that was the very centre or middle of the time about which it was, it beginning three hours before it, and continuing three hours after U* The three preceding evangelists ail agree that the darkness by the sun's withdrawing his light, began at the sixth hour, and as they all relate the story of the crucifixion, it seems manifest that some considerable time passed after he was nailed to the cross before this darkness began. So that it seems on the whole beyond doubt that Christ was nailed to the cross about the third hour, and hung about six hours on the cross before he expired.

[313] John xxi. 25. '' And there are many other things Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." If here, by the things that Jesus did, be not only meant the actions of Christ, but the things done or accomplished by those actions, we may suppose^ it to h€ literally tmtf

tlimt if they were written every one, the world itself it nolhryt enough to contain the books that should be written. There art other things that belong to what Christ did, besides merely the external action, that was immediately visible to the eye, or the words that might be heard by the car, which we must suppose are included in what the evangelist means by the things that be did. There was the internal manner of doing, the design with wbicb it was done, what moved and influenced Christ in doing, the ends and events brought to pass by doing, the evangelist does not mention; some of Christ's ends, and motives, &c. in acting. The apostle John in this history mentions some of them, bat to men-ttoo all, would be to write a declaration of all the glorious, wise purposes and designs of God's wisdom and grace, and the lovs of Christ, and ail that belongs to that manifold wisdom of God, and those unsearchable riches of wisdom and kuowledge in the work of redemption that we read of in the scripture, wbicb, if they should be all written, it is probable the universe woold not contain the books; for here are the multitudes of God's mercies that we read of in Ps. v. 7, and li. 1, and Ixix. 13.16, and cvL 7, and cxix. 156. These works that the evangelist speaks of that Christ wrought, are the same with those spoken of, Ps. xl. 5,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, '< Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful worb which thou hast done, and thy thoughts, which are to us ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order onto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Then said I, Lo,

I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me. 1 delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation : lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation;" and Ps. Jxii. 15, " My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day: fori know notthe numbers thereof;" and Ps. cxxxix. 17, " How precious are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God! how great is the sum of them ! If I should count them, they arc more in number than the sand ; when I awake, I am stiH with thee." The wonderful things designed and virtually accomplished in what Christ did when on the earth, are so manifold as to be sufficient to employ the contemplation of saints and angels to all eternity, who will discover more and more of the manifold wisdom of God therein, and yet never will discover all.

[70] Acts i. IS. " The number of the names together were about one hundred and twenty." Great respect seems lo be

■hown to the number twelve in things pertaining to the church, ai maj be seen in the account of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, Bod the number ofthe sealed of every tribe were twelve thousandi and here the number ofthe church, when the Holy Ghost wai poured out upon it is one hundred and twenty; there were twenty-ibur elders round about the throne.

[333] Acts iv. 32, &c. The reasons why the primitive Chris* tinns of the church of Jerusalem had all things common^ seem to be these:

1. Great part ofthe members of this church were strangers or Hellenists, or Grecians, as here called. The first Christian church was set up in Jerusalem, the centre of the resort of the JFewi from all nations, when they came up to their three great ieasts ; and therefore the Christian church of Jerusalem, as it was she only Christian church then in the world, was, as it were, the house for the reception and entertainment of the people of Christi Shatcame from all parts ofthe world, as we read that this church vras constituted of Jews from every nation nnder heaven. But Sbese strangers did not bring their estates with them, and yet it ^pras very needful that they should mostly keep together in their and infant state, and not disperse by returning into their seve* 1 countries; it was fit therefore that the Hebrew Christians should entertain them, and give them of what they had ; they all lived upon the estates ofthe Christians that properly belonged to Judea, and therefore it came to pass that there soon arose a com-gilaint that the Grecians were neglected in the daily ministration; 4br the estates being originally the Hebrews', they some of them |>egan to grudge to bestow so freely of it on them as on themselves. The circumstances of this church being such, it was thought meet that the church of Jerusalem, which was the first church, and then the only Christian church, and a long time after as a mother to all other churches, should be as a common father's house, where all the children from the utmost ends of the «arth might be freely entertained, without money and without price: representing their manner of their spiritual entertainment in their Father's house.

2. Many of them were to be continually employed as teachers, as the apostles, and the whole number of that first one hundred tind twenty, on every one of whom the Holy Ghost was poured out in his extraordinary gifts, sitting on each of them in the appearance of cloven tongues of fire, to fit them and mark them out for teachers; and accordingly they all began to exercise their gifts in teaching, as appears by the beginning of the second chapter of Acts. And after this the same miraculous gifts were given to great numbers of others among them,* to fit them also to be

teachers, for it was agreeable to the circumstances the chord was then in, a little flork in the midst of a dark, blind world, and agreeable to that desi|j;n of God, of a swift propagation and dii-p4>rsion of the gospel over great part of the world, that greil numbers of the first Christians should be teachers, but those be-in'^ constantly employed in this work, it was necessary that tbqr should be mainlaiiied by the substance of others; and there being so many of them was another thing that made it needful tfail they should have all things common.

3. The state that this church was in, in the midst of an enemy's country, liable to be sorely persecuted, and driven to and fro, made this requisite, on several accounts:

First. It was needful that their possessions should be turned into that which was portable, so that when persecuted in one city they might fly to another.

Secondly. Their being subject to such great and continaal persecutions, made it needful that they should not be entangled in the world, or encumbered with worldly cares about their estates. This made it needful that they should do as a man that is going a journey, about to remove to some other country, sell what he has, and carry the effects with him. A man in his Jodi^ ney has no care but only to use what he carries with him, to lay out his money to support him from hand to mouth; or ai a maa that goes into the wars, he has no care about any thing but fighting, and receiving his food daily from a common stock.

Thirdly. This made them less liable to the rage of their perse> cutors. A people that are supported one by another, by what they have among them in common, are not so liable to be deprived of all support, as he that has nothing but a possession of his own to depend on; for when things are in common, if they took one, and took from him what he had about him, yet there remained others to help him. A portable estate, consisting in money, if also more easily concealed, and kept out of the way of persecutor!, than a real estate.

[387] Acts xvii. 26, 27. '< And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath d^ termined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him:" i. e. God hath so ordered the state of the world of mankind, though scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, that provision should be made in providence at all times, that the nations of the world, if their heart had been well disposed to seek after the truth, might have had some means to have led them in their sincere and diligent inquiries to the knowledge of the true God, and his ways; partly by making them all of one

dood, and partly by an adjustment of the particular places and ifbiu of the habitation or the people that had the knowledge of be trae religion, and might hold forth light to others, and to the Srntiles that had it not; and the difTerent times, changes, and ircumstances of the world of mankind, that the bounds of their mbilations, and the state of the times might be so adapted one rith the other, that the Gentile world might always be under a apacity of receiving light from the Jews. The world had great idvantuge to obtain the knowledge of the true God, by their be-ng all made of one blood; by this means the knowledge of the me religion was for some time kept up in the world by tradition, iid there were soon great corruptions and apostacies crept in, and such darkness overwhelmed great part of the world, yet there rasso much light remained till Moses' time, that tradition aod the ineinory of things past, would have afforded means sufficient to an KHiest, sincere, and faithful inquirer to have come to the know-jfedge of the true religion; at least that, together with what there ras here and there of revelation among those that still hold the rue religion ; the bounds and limits of whose habitation was ap-ipinied and fixed to that end. And afterwards, even till Christ's ime, there remained by tradition many scraps of truth among the leathen, that would greatly have served with well-disposed inqui* brSf as a cltie in their search after truth.

About Moses' time, when truth, that had been upheld by tra-Bcion, was very much lost, and former things became much out »r sight by being far off, and the professors of the true religion, titcept in the posterity of Jacob, very much ceased in the world, jjfod took care that there might be something new, which should be rery public, and of great fame, and much taken notice of abroad 9 the world, that might be sufficient to lead sincere inquirers to he true God, and those were the f^reat things God wrought in Bgypt, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, for the childreir if Israel.

These things were very publicly wrought. Egypt, where bany of them were wrought, was one of the most noted heathen lations in the world; and we often read how that those great mi-•acles that God wrought were actually taken notice of by the leatben nations round about; and probably most, if not all the leathen nations heard of them. See Exod. ix. 16. ** And in rery deed, for this cause have 1 raised thee up, for to show in thee py power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the iarlli/' For then ihe*^ bounds of their habitations were so appointed that they did not live near so much dispersed abroad at ifterwards they did; see Gen. xli. 56, 57. They were probably ijmost all within hearing of these great things, which it is likely l^came yet more public, and were carried further abroad in the

world, together with other great things that God did in CantiB when the sun stood still, (which was a miracle done in the presence of the whole world,) and Joshua had conquered that land, and multitudes of the inhabitants were driven out, and went some to Africa, to Carthage, and other parts of Africa, and to the islei of the sea, to many parts of Europe as well as Asia, to carry the tidings of those things, and to interpret ihe miracle of tbe sun's standing still. So that, in a manner, the whole world heard of these great things. See Deut. ii. 25. " This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee." And the memory of these things was kept up a great while among the nations, as appears by the accounts wc have of the occasiooal mention which the neighbouring nations from time to lime make of them, till about David's time, when the memory of those things began to be lost among them. And then God did new things to make his people Israel, who had the true religion, taken notice of among the heathen, viz. his subduing all the nations from tbe Euphrates to Egypt under David, and setting Israel at the head of the greatest empire in the world, in his days and the days of his son Solomon. This there is respect to in many such passages in the Psalms, as that Ps. xcviii. 2, though there be also a prophetic respect to what should be in gospel days : and the great wisdom and prosperity of Solomon, and the great things that were done by him, the fame of which filled the world to the utmost bounds of it, though by that time God had enlarged the bounds of their habitation. That one design of Providence in these things was, that the heathen nations might hear the fame of the God of Israel, and so lijive opportunity to come to the knowledge of him, is confirmed by 1 Kings viii. 41, 42, 43. The I memory of these things ke|)t up the fame of that nation and of their God for several hundred years. They were remembered until the Jews were carried captive into Babylon, as appears by the mention that the enemies of the Jews make of them in ihtir letter to Artaxcrxes, and by Artaxerxes' answer in the iv. chapt of Ezra. But then when the memory of these things was decaj* ing, and the bounds of the habitation of the heathen nations was \ enlarged, God altered the place of the habitation of his people, and carried them tj> Hah\lon, the mistress of the world, where •ome of them, especially Daniel and his three companions, raised the fame of the true God, and caused it to go from thence throuch the world by the great thinirs he wrought by and for them, and also by wliat he wrought for Drniiel in Persia. After this, the appointed bounds of the Jews' habitation were not the limits of any one land, but they were dispersed all over the world, as tbey

were very much in Esther's time, when they were a people very

. famous through the world by what was done respecting them ia

. her time, and aAerwards were miirh more dispersed abroad in the

: world, and so remained till Christ's time; so that the heathen

world had opportunity by ilieui to have come to the knowledge

of the true God.

God appointed the particular place of the habitation of the Jews to be as it were in the midst of the earth, between Asia, Afri-■ ca, and Europe; and in the great contests there were between the great empires of the world, they were always in the way; and before the days of the gospel, the bounds of the world of mankind seem not to have been near so extensive as since; and particularly it is probable that America has been wholly peopled since. Seelsai. xlv. 19. Ezek. v. 5.

[318] Romans i. 16, 17, 18. Justification—Chrisfs right-eomness. ** For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,"

^ &c» ** For herein is the righteousness of God revealed from

faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness

j Rnd unrighteousness of men." In these verses I would note two

p things:

First. That here, in the bet^inning of this discourse of his of the wickedness of the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles,

. which is continued from this place to the 19ih 20th, and 2l8t verses of chap, iii., as well as in the conclusion in that part of the iii. chapter, he manifests his design in it all to be to show that all are guilty, and in a state of condemnation, and therefore cannot be saved by th^ir own righteousness ; that it must be by the righteousness of God through Christ received by faith alone. He bere in the ITtli verse asserts that it is thus only that men have Justification, and then in the 18th verse enters on the reason why, '* For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth io unrighteousness;" and so goes on setting forth the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men through most of those three first chapters, and then at the end concludes his argument as he began it; that, seeing all are under sin, '* Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified in his sight;" but that it is by the ripfhteousness of God which is by the faith of Christ.

Secondly. I observe that, by the ris^hteousness of God, in this place, cannot be meant merely God's wat/ of jmlifying sin-' ner$, but that hereby is meant the moral, legal righteousness which God had provided for sinners, is evident by two things :

1. It is the righteousness or justice which those that are justified have, by which they are righteous or just; as is evident from VOL. IX. 63

the apostle's seleciinp that passage of the Old Testament tocke on this occasion, " the Just shall live by faith."^

2. It is evident from the antithesis; for here it is most mam- p fest that ihe righteousness of God, by whi*-li God's people an just in one verse, is opposed to the unrighteousness of me*, by which ihey in themselves are unjust, as is evident from theargi-ment of the apostle in those verses. It is a righteousness lint believers are vested with, as is evident from chnp. lii. 22, 2^ The same is also manifest from the antithesis in that place. Tie game is manifest both those ways from Philip- iii. 9. Thestoi is very manifest from Rom. x. 3, 4. ** For they being igporaat of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their owi righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousnefi of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness lo every one that believeth." The antithesis here makes it evident that by GotTs righteousness, is meant a righteousness, in having which we are righteous. And the 4th verse shows that this righteousness was procured for every believer by Christ, as he was subject to the law ; *• Christ is the end of the law for righteousness;** the natural meaning of which is, that as to what concerns the elect, or them that believe, the Lawgiver, in making the law and establishing it as a rule for them, had respect to Christ only for iti being answered. The law that requires righteousness looks to Christ only to produce that righteousness that it requires; ** who, of God, is made to be righteousness," and who is *' the Lord, our righteousness." I can find no instance in the New Testament where the word Te-Xo?, here translated tm/, is any where used in scripture for final cause, but it seems properly to signify xhe finalterm,finishing, or accomplishing; so that the words might be rendered, Christ is the finishing and completing of the law, as to the righteousness it requires, as it respects all them thai believe.

There is one place where the same word in the original is used as here, and also speaking of the end of the law, or commandment, that exceedingly confirms this interpretation, viz. 1 Tim. i. 5. " Now the end of the commandments is love;" i. e- the accomplishment or fulfillment of the law; as the same apostle says, " Love is the fulfilling of the law," in this epistle of Romans xiii. 8. 10. So that it is manifest from this place that that righteousness, which this apostle calls the righteousness of God, consists in Christ's fulfilling or answering the law; and therefore that it is the same thing with what we call the righteousness of Christ.

This righteousness of God, which the apostle so often sneaks of in the matter of our justification is in Christ. 2 Cor. v. 21. " He was made sin for us, tiiat we might be the righteousness of God in At//i." "He was made sin," i. e. sin was imputed to

UiD ; aDd what sin was ii ? Why that sin that was in vs. So we •re Blade the righteousness of (irod. But what righteousness of God is It that we are made ? Why ihat which was in Christ our Mediator.

It IS not called hy the apostle CkrisVs righteousness ; because the righteousness, by which a believer stands just before God, does but in part consist in that which can properly be called Christ's righteousness, for it is only the obedience of Christ that it properly his righteousness. But this is not all that, by which we stand just before God; for, beside ihis, his sufl'erings as our atonement were necessary. Without this we are not righteous, bat must appear sinful before God, because our old sins would remain. Those suflbring*?, abating the obedience that was in them, were not in themselves Christ's righteousness^ and therefore the scripture does not ordinarily call iheni so ; but calls the whole of the provision made of God as in Christ, fur our appearing just, consisting both in his obedience and atonement, GoiTs riglitef/ug-nea and the righteousness of God, wliicli is by the faith of Christ. Chap. iii. 22. 2^ee Note on chap. x. 3.

[365] Rom. ii. 29, 30. « But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, tclu)se praise is not of men, hut of God " That by this last expression, *^ Whose praise is not of men, but of God," the apostle has respect to the insufficiency of man, to judge concerning him, whether he be inwardly a Jew or no, and would signify that it belongs to God alone to give a voice in that matter ; ie confirmed by the same apostle's use of the like phrase, in 1 Cor. iv. 5, '* Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and t/ten shall every man have praise of God. The apostle in the two foregoing verses says, '^ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, 1 judge not mine own self, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord." And again, it is further confirmed, because the apostle in this ii. chapter to the Romans, directs himself especially to those that had a high conceit of their own holiness, that made their boast of God, and were confident of their own discerning, and that they knew God's will, and approved the things that were more excellent, or tried the things tluU differ, as it is in the margin, verse 18, and were confident that they were guides of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes; and so took upon them to judge others. See verse 1, and 17, 18, 19, 20. These things show that for any to take upon themselves, by only a little occasional con*

versation with others, that are professors of godlineis, to jodge them as hypocrites, unexperienced and unconverted men, ii i great error. The same is confirmed by 1 Cor. ii. 15, "Buthi that is spiritual judgeth [Jitfccrncfh] all things, but be himselfii judged of no man," or (as it is in the margin) is discerned of no

man."

b

Every thing in the Christian, that belongs to the spiritual tii divine life, is spoken of in scripture as being hidden^ known oslf to God and to himself. His lile is said to be hid with Christ ii God, but to appear, and to be made manifest at the day of judgment, when Christ shall appear. Col. iii. 3, 4. Their joy iisaki to be what others intermeddle not with. Their spiritual food if said to be hidden. Kev. ii. 17. ** To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the hidden manna." So Christ told his discipki that he had meat to eat, that they knew not of. And their nev name, which is the name they have as new creatures, as bora again, is said to be what no man knows but he that receives it. Kev. ii. 17. The heart, which is the thing that God looks at, and in which are those spiritual ornaments and graces, by which persons are sincere Christians, is called the hidden man. 1 Peter ii'u 4. ''But let it be the bidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible," &c.

Again : The same is confirmed from that in the parable of the good seed, and the tares, in the xiii. chap, of Matthew, 26, 29, 30th verses. '' The servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and gather them upf But, he said. Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. JiCt both grov together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will ssiy to the reapers, Gather ye together, fn-st the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gatluT the wheat into my barn.*' The servants of the householder can be interpreted of nothing better than ministers, who were rep.esented by Abraham's servant; and by the servants of the lioustholder in the parable of the king, that made n wediling for his son, and sent forth his servants to call guests; and by the servant of the man that made a great supper in the xiv. of Luke; and by the servants of the householder, to nhom he committed the care of his family when travelling in:o a far country ; and by the servants of the householder that waited lor the coming vi their Lord in the xii. chapter of Luke; and by the servant or steward in the Siiuie chapter, that gives to every one his portion of meat in due season; and by the servant that heat his fellou-servant; and bv the servants of the hoMseholiier, that dressed and adorned, and fed the returning prodigal, and hy the servants that were sent to re-reive the fruit of the vine\Hr(l, Ijuke xx. The same that were there to take care of the fruit of the nne^ard, are those that in

this parable have the care of the fruit of the field. The servants of the householder are oftentimes very apt to conceit themselves SD£Bcient to separate between ihe wheat and the tares; but the householder says, Stop. He is aware of more danger of their rooting up the wheat with the tures, tlinn they are, and therefore, commands that they should let both grow together until the harvest, and signifies that that is the proper time of doing it. This parable shows plainly, that the proper time of judgment in this respect, vii. of judging w ho of professors are sincere, and who not, is the day of judgment; and, that iherefore, if any take it upon them to do this now, they do it out of its proper season. And therefore, judging men in this sense, comes under that prohibition forementioiied, 1 Cor. iv. 5, *< Therefore judge nothing before the time."

When we are so ofien forbidden to judge, that we be not judged ; without doubt it refers to a judging of men's state, of their Bincerity and hypocrisy, of their good and evil principles, of their hearts in general as well as of particular actions. For what is meant by that prohibition is doubtless, that men should not take God's work out of his hands, and anticipate the proper business of the day of judgment. In the place just now mentioned, we are forbidden to judge; in 1 Cor. we are forbidden to judge others upon that account, because it is before the time; and in the xiv. of Rom. at the 4th verse, we are forbidden to judge others upon the other account, because we therein go out of our place, and take God's work into our hands. Rom. liv. 4, '* Who art thou, that judgest another man's servant i to his own master he standeth or falleth;" and James iv. 12, '* There is one lawgiver, that is able to save, and to destroy ; who art thou that judgest another f" These two reasons are given as good reasons in scripture against judging others, but they are as strong against judging the state of men's hearts in genera], as against judging the state of their hearts with regard to particular actions :

For, I. It is as much the proper work of God, and his prerogative to judge the state of men's hearts in general^ to determine what hearts are good, and what not, what hearts are sincere, and what not, as to judge the state of the heart fcif/i regard to particu* iar actions. When knowing the hearts of men i8 so often ascribed to God as his great prerogative, one thine principally intended is his knowing the state of their hearts, whether they are sincerely godly or no, as is evident by what Peter says concerning the conversion of the Gentiles bef«>re the council of Jerusalem, Acts xv. 7, 8. *' God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gosp* I and believe : and God which knoweth the hearts bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us." It is often challenged by

God as one of the most glorious prerogatives to search the heart and try the reins of the children of men. And this is challenged as God's prerogative, especially as it relates to the trial of the general state of the hearts of professors, in Rev. ii. 22, 23. There Christ threatens to destroy, and finally condemn certain prnfesson, except they repent, and adds, *< And all the churches shall knov, that 1 am he which searcheth the reins, and the hearts; and 1 will give unto every one cif you according to your works." And again, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, this divine prerogative is asserted, with respect lo the judging of the slate of the heart in geneni, and in order lo that salvation, or destruction and casting off (ot ever, that depends on it, '' And thou, Solomon my son, know tbon the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a wiirui<; mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and nn-derstandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him he will csit thee off for ever." So, Ps. vii. 9, 10, 11, "O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but do thou establish the just. For the righteous God trieih the hearts and reins. My defence is of God which savcih the upright in heart. God judgeili the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." So, trying the hearts is spoken of as God's prerogative, as the fll^ nace tries what is gold, and what is dross or base metal. Prov. xvii. 3. ''The fming-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts." So the psalmist prays in the xxvi. Psalm, that God would judge him with respect to his intec;rity and trust-ing in God, and that he would examine him, atid prove him, :ind try his reins and his heart, and not gather his soul with sinners nor his life with bloody men, verse 9. So it was part of Christ's prerogative to know which of his followers, and professed believers on him were to be depended on, and which not, John ii. 23, 24, 25, " Many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should te.^tifv of men, for he knew what was in man." It is God's prerogative to weigh the spirits and ponder the hearts of men, Prov. xvi. 2; and xxi. 2. It belongs to him to weigh men in the balance, and sar who is found wanting, Dan. v. 27. This certainly is as mii«h and much more claimed in scripture, as (iod*s prenigaiive, than taking vengeance Is; and therefore for any one to take upon him lo decide what professors are sincere, and what insincere, and to draw a dividing line between thi'in, is a< nuirh and much more invading the Divine prerogative than private revent^e is.

2. If that reason whv we should not judge men be n orood on^ that m so doing we shall judge men before the time, because the proper time for this is the day of Judgment; then there is a good

eason why we should not fnkc upon us to judge professors rich respect to their state ; for this is one ^reat and principal Aft of the work of the last jiidgrriont, and one special end of he day of judgment to tnake an open distinction between the incere and hypocrites, to separate bit ween sheep and goats, Nettveen whciit and tares, hetween good grain and chaff, be-Ween gold and dross, as is manifest by Mai. iii. 2, '* But who nay abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he ippeareth f for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;" ind Matth. iii. 12, *' Whose fan is in his hand, and he will boroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gar-ler; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." ITea^ in most of the descriptions we have in scripture, this is ill the work that is mentioned. This is all that is mentioned n the description we have of the day of judgment, in the e;c-ilication of the parable of the good seed and tares in the xiii* ;hap. of Matthew; and this is all the business that is mention-Mi in that famous description that Christ gives of the day of ifdgment in the xxv. chap, of Matthew, and this is all the busi-less mentioned in that description we have in the xx. chap, of Revelations, which is the most famous of any we have in the liblo, excepting that in the xxv. of Matthew.

Yea, judging of persons' state, and sentencing or damning hem, is chiefly intended by Christ when he forbids us to judge hem ; for this is most properly judging them, or judging and sondcmning their persons. \\ e may blame a man for many hings he docs, yet not condemn or sentence the fth^i in doing be part of the Great Judge of men that is chiefly forbidden, vhich is either to justify them or condemn them as wicked or 'ighteous.

As to that text. Judges xii. 6, *' Then said they unto him. Say now Shibbohth ; and he said Sibbolet/rt^i^^e could not rame to pronounce it right; then they took him and slew him It the passages of Jordan;" though that be an undoubted :ruth, that want of experience has a tendency to cause men to isp, and greatly to fail and blunder in talking of expcrimen-:al religion, which may very fitly be compared to the failing of tbe Ephraimhe in pronouncing Shibboleth, yet we cannot in« Ter from it that we are warranted to go as far in juding men's state by what we think of their rightly expressing themselves in spiritual and experimental language, any more than we can infer that it is committed to us to proceed upon it as far as they did in the wrong pronunciation of Shibboleth. We cannot carry the inference so far, because the thing here principially typified is not the language of false professors, us it sounds in the ears of fellow-professors in this world, but in the ears of

their Judgo, niid of the saints or nsscsaors with him at sage of the Jordan, i. e. in their passage out of this ivi the next, or when they are attempting to pass out of tl intntiKi heavenly Canaan. In Christ's ears, no man c the hinguage of ihe Cniiaanites hut those that are ind naanites, even an no mRn can learn the song of the i dred and forty-four thousand, hut only those that arc n fiom the earth. What is wanting, is the heart and tl ticCy which are the essential part of the song; and language of the herart and practice that are the essen of the language of a Christian. And these are the tl which we are oHen told professors of religion shall I be judged, .hy him that searcheth the heart, and ti reins, and renders to every rnan according to his work

When Christ and his apostles so much warned agaii ing others, they douhtless had esiiecially respect to their hearts. And Christians in those days undcrstoo be the thing so strictly piohibited, and a practice ma an 80 presumptuous; as is confirmed by the manne, apostle James, intro«iucing what he says in the ii. cha £pi8tle, at the 4th verse; speaking of their preferr man of gny appearance to the man in mean apparel, '* Are ye not then partial in yourselvcsi and are beconi of evil thoughts ?"

The eleven disciples, though they were all true conv not know but that Judas was also converted, and alw posed him to he so, though th(^y had such abundant op) of conversation with him, and Christ all alon:r treatot if he had been u true disciple, and even sent him forth t* the gospel, because he therein nctod as minister of th church. He did not take it upon him to act as an On Judge at that time, but as setting an example for his and ministers how to behave themselves in ihe visible The psalmist, though so wise a man, and a man so gn quaintcd with the word of God, and a man of .*uch gre rience, did not (ind out that Achitophel was not a though he had so long been so intimately acquainted w but always looked upon him as a saint, and an emine. and delighted in him as such. Ps. Iv. 13, 14. '' Bi thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquai we took sweet counsel together; we went to the house in company."

And besides, we are nowhere directed to judge chiefly by the account they give of their experiences, bii by their works; and it is evident it was not the uiannc apostles to judge of Christians' kincerity chiefly by the

KOT£S OiN THE BIBLE. SOS

they gave of the manner of the work in their hearts, but bj . their behaviour.

And the si/2:uification of the word Shibboleth seems to inti-

r mate the same thing, which is an ear of corn. This seems to

intimate that it h the fruity or ear, that »s ti>e grand character-

. 'Stic by which the true friends of Jephthah may be known from

. ^fypocrites, or the wheat known from tares. It is the fruit that

we shall be judged by at last; our fruits shall be weighed in

the balance, and, if they are found wanting, we shall be slaia

f' in this Jordan, and never suffered to go over into Canaan. It

is probable that, according to the dialect of Ephraim, an ear of

corn was called Sibboleth, and so that was the name of the

fruit of Jephthah's enemies; but Shibboleth was the name of

- the fruit of Jephthah's friends, according to the dialect of Gi-

i lead. This, therefore, signifies that if at last our fruit be

found to be not the fruit of the friends of Christ, but that of

[ his enemies, we shall be slain.

It seems very probable that the devil, though he sees and I' hears a great deal more what men do and say then we, and [ has incomparably more experience, yet does not know who arc \- converted^ and who not. Thus he did not know that Peter wai converted, and therefore hoped to overthrow him. So he did not know that Job was, as God told him, a perfect and an upright man ; he questioned it, though he was so eminent asaint, he doubted whether he would not fail in the trial, (unless we may suppose that the devil seeks to overthrow particular Christians, ohiv as he seeks to overthrow the church of God, which he does what he can to destroy, though God has promised that ii shall never be destroyed.)

[141] Rom. iv. 3,4. ** What saith the scripture.'^ Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him fur righteousness." The apostle lays stress upon the word counted^ pr tm-puted. If he hud had a ri£>hteousness, that is, of his own, upon the account of which the reward was of pro|)er debt, it would not have been expressed in this manner, as he evidently argues in the following verses. Abraham's believing God» was not righteousness, but was only imputed for it* It was of God's mere grace looked upon as supplying the room of right-* eousness.

[426] Rom. iv. 12. ''And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcipion only, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham," &&c. In the foregoing verse it is set forth how Abraham is the father of those *that are uncircumcisedf if they have the faith of Abraham. In this

verse the apostle declares that he also is the father of the or-eumcised^ who have not only or Imrely circuincision« but airo walk in the steps of the faith of their father Abraham. So that, put both verses together, this is what the apostle declares, that Abraham received circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had being yet uncircumcised ; whereby God scaled to him the promise he made to him, that he should be the father of all such as should believe as he had done, and only to such, whether they wore circumcised or not, that he should be the father of the uncircumcised Gentiles, that should believe as he had done, and the father of no more of the circumcised Jews than should believe as he had done.

[83] Rom. V. 18. '* Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life." Seeing the wordu judgment^ and the free giftt are not in the original, I do not see why it would not have been better construing to have translated it thus, ^* Therefore as by the offence of one, the offence came upon all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one, righteousness came upon all men to justification of life;" and so the word that is understood would have been the same with that that is expressed. The placing of the same word in the 16th versei gives considerable colour for this translation.

[99] Rom. vi. 8, 9. ** Now if we be dead with Christ," &c. These two verses, with the context, seem irrcfragably to prove perseverance.

[244] Rom. vi. 14. ** For sin shall not have dominion orer you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." The law, or covenant of works, is not a proper means to bring the fallen creature to the service of God. It was a very proper means to be used with men in a state of innocency, but it has no tendency to answer this end in our present weak and sinful state; on the contrary, to have been kept under the law would have had a tendency to hinder it, and would have been a bar in the way of it, and that upon two accounts.

1. It would have tended to discourage persons from any attempts to serve God, because under such a constitution it must necessarily have been looked upon as impossible to please him and serve him to his acceptance; and one in despair of this would have been in no capacity to yield a cheerful service to God» but would rather have been far from any manner of endeavours to serve him at all. But to have abandoned himself

to wickedness hy such a despair, the dominion of sin would have been dreadfully established, and all yielded up to it as in the damned in hell.

2- God must necessarily have been looked on as an enemy; which would have tended to drive from him and stir up enmity against him. A fallen creature held under the covenant of works cannot look on God as a father and friend, but must necessarily look on him as an enemy; for the least failure of obedience by that constitution, whether past or future, renders him BO. But this would greatly establish the dominion of sin or enmity a<^ainst God in the heart, and indeed it is the law only that makes wicked men hate God. They hate him no otherwise than as they look upon him as acting, cither as the giver or judge of the law, and so by the law opposing their sins, and the law tending to establish the hatred of God. Hence it is necessary to be brought from under the dominion of it, in order to a willing serving of God.

CoroL Hence men, when they are convinced of the law, under awakenings, and have God represented to them as a strict lawgiver and judge, before they are convinced of the gospel, have sometimes sticb sensible exercises of enmity of heart stii-red up against God.

But those that are redeemed from the bondage of the law^ they have,

1. Great encourngennent to serve God, in that their poor and imperfect obedience may be accepted.

2. They have a great deal to incline them to an ingenuoui obedience; for God now represents himself us a merciful Gml, a God ready to pardon past transgressions and future infirmities, and he promises that if we will yield ourselves willingly to serve him as we are able, he will be our friend, and will treat us as a merciful and gracious father.

If a man does perform an external service while under the bondage of the law, it is no real service, it is mer<'ly forced by threats and terrors, it is not performed freely and heartily, but is a dead, lifeless obedience. But a being delivered fiom the law and brought under grace, tends to win men to serve God from love, and with the whole heart; Kom. vii. 6, ** But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

[84] Rom. viii. 15. ** For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Fathei." That is, ye have not the fipiiit of slaves and bond servants, that work by slavish fear, but the spirit of children, so that you are not afraid, but dare

crjTf Abba, Father; dare as children approach God, with a holy boldness. The spirits are different; one is the spirit of God, the other is not.

[268] 1 Cor. i. 1. ''Paul, called to be an fipostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God,^^ St. Paul, when he calls himself an apostle, does commonly add some such clause as thii, •• through the will of God ;" so 2 Cor. i. 1, " Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God;^* and the very same words, Eph. i. 1; and Colos. i. 1; and 2 Timothy i. 1; and 1 Tim. i. 1, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour^ and Lord Jesus Christ;" and Rom.'i. 1, " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." Ver. 5, "By whom we have received grace and apostleship;" which was because he continually carried a dec^p sense of his uiiwortbi-ness to be an apostle, who before was so great a sinner. And how it was not owing to any thing in him that he was promoted to such dignity, but only to the sovereign will and pleasure and free grace of God, which, of a persecutor of the church, made him an apostle in the church. Therefore, when he takes the honour of the name of an apostle, he ascribes it to God's sovereign pleasure and grace. The cause of it is a sense of what he expresses in 1 Cor. xv. 9,10, " For I am the least of the apostles, and am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But, by the grace of God, I am what I am ;" and Eph. iii. 8, " Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is the grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

[155] 1 Cor. i. 24. " But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." The power of God answers to a sign or miracle, which the Jews sought after; and the wisdom of God, to the wisdom which the Greeks sought after, mentioned in the last verse but one preceding.

[156] 1 Cor. ii. 15, 16. '* For he that is spiritual judgcth all things; but he himself is judged of no man." He that has the Spirit of God to teach him truth, he is not in those things subject to the judgment or correction of any of the wise men of this world. The instruction and judgment, and correction of a human master, of what he understands, or believes by the Spirit of God, is what he needs not. In this case it does not take place, it will not alter him, for says the apostle, ** Who bath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him .^ for we have the mind of Christ." A man that has the mind of Christ,

18 taught by his Spirit, if ho should be subject to the judgment and correction of men, that wouhl argue that the mind of the Lord itself was subject to human correction.

[157] 1 Cor. iv. 6. "And th<»sc things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos, for your sakes, that ye might learn not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puiled up for one against another." It seems that it was not Paul and Apollos particularly that the Corinthians were divided about; but what the apostle means, when he says, ** some say they are of Paul, and others of Apollos," is, that some were for one teacher, others for another; they overvalued their teachers, and built their faith upon them. He mentions his own name, and that of Apollos, personating any human teachers whatsoever; he transferred it in a figure to himself and Apollos, that they might not be apt to suspect that he reproved them for being for this and that man, out of respect to himself; he would not have them set too much by men, though it were himself.

[152] 1 Cor. ix. 16. " For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of." That is, In case I had a dependence upon preaching the gospel for a livelihood, then might it be said thai necessity is laid upon tue. Yea, rro is unto tne if I preach not the gospel. That this is what the apostle means, I think is evident by the context.

[49] 1 Corinth, xi. 14. "Doth not even nature itself teach-you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him f" Having the head covered by long custom, had been used to denote subjection ; and as 4Nnark of subjection in man, it was plainly against nature itself. The plain light of nature had taught all nations the superiority of man to woman, and his rights to rule over her. The apostle had been pleading against man's wearing long hair, or his covering the head only on this score, that it was a debasing of man below the place that God had put him in, that it was unnatural and a shame, a debasing of man, and confusion of the order of nature, and in this sense against nature. In this nature teaches the contrary, it is a disgrace to him, aci^ia, to appear below the woman, a debasing of him below his nature, and therefore nature teaches the contrary; not but that, if having the bead uncovered were a sign of subjection, it would have been ai much against nature for the man to have his head uncovered. And that which is against nature in this sense, is against it in a proper sense. It is against nature in a proper sense, to bow down before an idol, because it is against nature to adore an idol; and bowing down, by universal custom, is used to denote

adoration; but if bowing down by universal costom were used to denote contempt, it would not be against nature.

[305] 1 Coriiiih. xiil. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. " Charity never fail-

eth : but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; For we

know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, Now we see through a glass darkly,"

&c. There is a twofold failing or ceasing of those miraculous and other common gifts of the Spirit, both of which the aposile has doubtless respect to: one is their failing at the end of the present state of probation, or the present imperfect state of God's people in time, with respect to particular persons that have common gifts, at death, and with respect to the church of God collectively considered, at the end of the world; and the other is the failing of miraculous gifts in the church of Christ, even while yet remaining in its temporary and militant state, as they failed at or about the end of the apostolic age, that first and more imperfect, and less settled and established state of the Christiao church, before it was wholly brought out from under the Mosaic dispensation, wherein it was under tutors and governors, and before the canon of the scripture was fully completed, and all parts of it thoroughly collected and established. Miraculous, and other common gifts of the Spirit, cease at the end of the imperfect state of the church ; wherein the church knows in part, and is in a state a( childhood in comparison of the more perfect state that follows. So there is a twofold perfect state of the .church to answer them, wherein the church may be said to be in a state of manhood, with respect to that more imperfect state that they succeed. The first stale of the church, in its first age on earth, before the canon of the scripture yas completed, &c. is its imperfect stale, wherein the church knows in part, and is as a child, and speaks, and understands, and thinks as a child, and sees through a glass darkly, in comparison of the state of the church in its latter ages, wherein it will be in a state of manhood, in a perfect stale, and will see face to face in comparison ol what it did in its first infant stale; and so the gift of prophecy and tongues, fcc, ceased at the end of "the church's age of childhood, but charily remains when the elder age of the church comes, and when it shall put away childish things. That age shall be an age of love, but there shall be no miraculous gifts of the J^^pirit, as being needless and more proper helps for the church in a slate of infancy, than in that state of manhood.

Again, the church, all the while it remains in a militant statC) is in an imperfect state, a slate of childhood, sees through a glass darkly, thinks, speaks, and understands as a child in coin-

parisoii of what it will be in its lienvoiily and eternal state, when it shall be come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; when it shall see face to face, and know as it is known, then it shall put away such childish things, as the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but love sh;ill gloriously prevail. The world shall be a world of love. If we thus understand the apostle, it fully proves that the gifts of tongues, and miracles, be, are not to be upheld in the church in the Millennium.

[304] 1 Corinth, xiii. 13. ''And now abideth faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greatest of these is charity.^' The npostle in this place is not comparing these together as three distinct graces, but gifts of the Spirit of God. They cannot be properly three distributively distinct graces, or saving virtues, because charity or love is the sum of all saving virtue, as abundantly appears from the foregoing part of the chapter, and from innumerable other places of scripture. Love is an ingredient in saving faith, and is the most essential thing in it, is its life and soul, and so it is in hope. The apostle is here compariag gifts of the Spirit, and not graces^ as is manifest from the last verse of the foregoing chapter, and the former verses of this and the beginning of the next; what is in faith and hope, which is distinct from love, which are principles or exercises of mind that are called also by those names of faith and hope, though they are not Christian, and saving faith and hope, yet they are principles that are gifts of God. And in those three gifts of the mind, Paith, Hope, and Love, are the three gifts into which all Christianity, as a principle in the mind, is to be resolved.

The fiiKt, viz. Faith, as distinct from love, hath its seat purely in the understanding, and consists in an understanding of divine things, and an apprehension of their reality. Hope, if we mean that hopo that is distinct from love, has its seat both in the understanding and natural will, or inclination, and apprehends not only the reality of divine things, but our interest

in them.

Love has its seat in the spiritual will, and apprehends divine tilings as amiable; and in those three consists the whole of that respect that the mind of man has to divine things wherein the Christianity of the mind consists; and those three, when joined together and united in one, constitute saving Faith, or the soul's savingly embracing Christ, and Christianity. But of these three constituents of justifying Faith, Love is the greatest : the other two aie the body, that is, the soul.

[158] 1 Corinth, xv. 28. " And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject

unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all m all." Christ as Mediator has now the kingdom and government of the world so committed to him, that be is to all iiitenti and purposes in the room of his Father. He is to be res|)ected as God himself is, as supreme, and absolute, and sovereign Ruler. God has loft the government ia his hands wholly, now since bis exaltation, that he may himself have the accomplishment, and finishing of those great things for which he died. He is made hesid over all things to the church until the Consummation ; and be is now king of the church, and of the world, in his present state of exaltation. He is not properly a subordinate ruler, because God hath entirely left the government with him, to his wisdom, and to his [lower. But after Christ has obtained all the ends of his labours and death, there will be no farther occasion for the government's being after that manner in his hands. He will have obtained by his government, all the ends he desired ; and so then God tlic Father will resume the government, and Christ and his church will spend eternity in mutual enjoyment, and in the Joint enjoyment of God; not but that Christ will still be the king and head of his church, he will be as much their head of influence and source of good and hap|)iness as ever. But with respect to government, God will bo respected as supreme orderer, and Christ with his church united to him, and dependent on him, shall together receive of the benefit of his government.

[120] 1 Corinlh. xvi. 21, 22, 23, &c. *'The salutation of me, Paul, A:c. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Clirist, let him be Anathema Maran-alliu. The grace of the Lord Jcsu3 Christ be with you." Tlie apostle concludes his epistle with a curse and a blessing; he curses all that do not love the Lord Jesus Chrisr, but yet he blesses all that are of the church of Corinth ; by which it is evident that those that are regularly of the communion of the Christian church are visible lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, they ure so looked upon in public charity, and treated as if they were really such.

[67] 2 Corinth, i. 24. ** Not for that we have dominion oier your faith," &c.; this verse is to be joined to the 14ih verse.

[3G3] 2 Corinth, ii. 14, 15, 16. " Maketh manifest the

favour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unio God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in ihem that perish. To the one we are the savour of death, unto death, and to the other we are the savour of life unto life.'* This last verse might more literally, and more properly have

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. SIS

been translated thus: '* To those indeed we are a savour of death unto death, but to these a savour oflife unto life»" which makes the ^ense iiuieh less perplexed. Ministers are, as it were, the vessels that carry the sweet ointment of the name of Chri^i, whose name is said to be as ointment poured forth. Christ is the frafj^rnnt rose. That knowledge of Christ thai is diffused bj his ministers is the savour of this rose, and this ie the savour that the aputle speaks of, which iu the 14th werwe be calls the savour of his knowledge. This is always a sweet savour to God. The name of Christ is ever delightful to God, and the preaching of Christ in the world, whether to elect or reprobates, is acceptable to God, as he delights in having the name of his Son glorified; for Christ's being made known to those that perish, shall be greatly to the glory 6f Christ. iSod loves to hav^ the name of his Son made known to nil men for his Son's glory, so that the knowledge that reprobates receive •of Christ, by the preaching of the gospel, is a sweet savour to Ood; for wherever the name of Christ is foumi, it is acceptable to God. But yet it is ni»t always a sweet savour to them to wham the gospel is preached, though it be to Goil* Indeed to the elect, to those that are saved, it is a sweet savoar as well as to God; it is a savour oflife; we are to them a savour of a living Redeemer; they believe him to He a risen and glorified liedeemer. He is a savour of life unto life, i. e. not only a «weet savour as of a living Redeemer, bat a refre«hing, renewing, life-giving savour.

But to them that perish he is a savour of death unto ileach; the preaching of Christ crucified is nut a sweet savour unto them, but an odiouH savour, as of a slain dead carcass; they do not believe his resurrection ; they look npon him dead still; flnd the doctrine of Christ crucified is nauseous to them; it is a tsavoiir of death pnto death.

[96] 2 Corinth, iii. 17. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, 4here is liberty.*' It seems to refer to that place, li. Psalm, 12th verse, where the Spirit of God is called the free spirit.

[89] 2 Corinth, iii. 17, 18. " Wkere the SjrirU of the Lard if, there is liberty ;^* that is, freedom of looking; and behold oar sight is not hindered as the children of Israel's was, but we have Iiberty to see. * ' Bnt we all icith open fate beholding asm a zlass the glory of the Lord;** with open face, not covered with a veil, as Mdses' face was, as in the 7th and 13th verses; [are changed into the same image ;^ as Moses was by beholding Go(rs brightness^ his own face shone ; [from glory to glory;'] that is, changed frpio

JII4 NOTES OH THE BIBLE.

the glory of €od, rrotn a sight of U$ glory^ io a glory ia^ and gbh ff M, our$elve8 Uke it.

[335] 2 Corinth, iii. 18. *' But we all with open face behold-ing as m a glass the glory of the Lord." The word in the origi-nal, xarwrrji^tfAfivoi, signifies beholding, oi in a reflecUng gUm, or looking-glass. Had the meaning been, bAoldmg ihromgk a irammitUng glois^ the word 6»<Hrrfi^ofAfvoi, would rather ba?e been used, which signifies to see ihrougkj or io look ikrei^h.

We behold the glory of God, as in a glass, in two respects, both which seem to be intended in these words.

1. We behold the glory of God, as in the face of Jesus Christ,

. who is the brightness of God^s light or glory, as it were reflected,

and is the express image of the Deity; the perfect image of God,

- as the image in a pl»in and clear looking*glass is the express iia-

age of the person that looks in it; and this is the only way that

I the glory of God is seen by his church, he is seen no other way

. but iu.this perfect, and as it were reflected image; for no one bath

seen God immediaidyi at any time; the only begotten Son of

God that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared bin.

He is '* the image of the invisible God;" and " he that hath seen

tlie Son hath seen the Father;" and tlie Father is seen no other

way but by tlie Son; and it is only by this image in Christ, that

God is seen in heaven by the saints and angels there; yea, it it

by this image only that God sees himself, for be sees himself in

his own perfect substantial idea. And that one thing here meant

by the image in the glas^s, is the image of Christ, that is to be

seen in Christ's face, may be argued from two thin^s.

(t.) The apostle u here comparing the glory of God that we see in Christ to the reflected glory of God which the children of Israel beheld in Moses, where Moses' face was instead of a glass to them, in which they beheld the glory ol^God reflected to their view; though with this diflerence that a veil was put over the glass then, or there was a veil between their eyes and Moses' face, which was the glass that reflected God's glory, because the children of Israel could not bear to look upon the glass immediately; but now we all with open face behold the image in the glass.

(2.) Another thing that argues this, is what follows here in the continuance of the apostle's discourse on this subject, in the 4tb verse of the next chapter ; where the apostle, speaking of the same glory, mentions it as the light of God's glory, which we see in Christ as the image of God; (i. e. as the image In the glass is the image of the man it represents;) and in the 6th verse he speaks of this same glory as that which is seen in the face of Christ; alluding to the children of Israel seeing the reflected light of God's glory in the face of Moses.

NOTB8 ON TUB BitfLfi. %16

2 We behold the glory of God as in a looking-gUs^ in aitotberr respect, and that is as we behold it by the intermediation of tlie> outwrard means of our iilimunation and knowledge of God, vii*^ Christ's minister!, and the gospel which they preach, and hii' ordinances which they administer; which serve instead of a look* iog-glass, to reflect the glory of the Lord. When men read Iho^ holy scriptures, they there may see Christ's glory as men see images of things by looking in a glass, so we see Christ's glory in ordinances. Ministers are burning and shining lights; but then they do not shiue by tlieir own light, but only reflect the • light of Christ. They are called *lars^ that are held in the right hand of Christ, and shine by reflecting Christ's light, as the stars shine by reflecting the light of the sun, and so they are as mirrors that bring the light of Christ's glory to the view of the church*' They are lights set tap in goklen candlesticks; by looking on these lights, they see light, they see the light of Christ re--fleeted. It is evident the apostle is here speaking of the light of. Christ's glory as ministered and communicated by ministers of' the gospel, and ministers of tlie Spirit, which is that light and glory, as we shall show presently. Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. - So in the words next following in the beginning of the next chapter,, ver. 1,2, 5, and which is strongly to the purpose in tbe 6th verse, he expressly speaks of the light of this glory fK% communicated to men by ministers in this way, vix. by first shining upon them of into their hearts, and then being communicated, or given froiji them to others, which is just as light is communicated from a reflecting glass. '' For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of-the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ*** And in the next verse they are spoken of as the vessel that conveyi the treasure: now a vessel is to the treasure that it conveys, at a. glass is to the light that that conveys. And, it further arguei that the apostle has respect to ministers and to the means of grace, as a glass in which we see the glory of the Lord, by that to which bo-here alluiles, vix. the children of Israel's seeing the glory of the Lord in Moses' face ; but Moses is here by the apostle spoken of, as in this representing both Christ and gof pel miniiUers* That he speaks of him as in this thing representing Christ, is most evi* dent by tbe 6th verse of the next chapter; and that be also speaks of him a9 herein like gospel ministers—the apostles and others—« is also evident, because the apostle does expressly compare M<h ses' holding forth .the glory of God in his face to ministers' holding forth the glory of Christ, as in the 12ih and 13th verses.

And herein the sight, that the saints. Iiav^ of the glory of Christ in this world, diflers from that sight that the saints have in liea* ven, for there they see immediately face to face, but bert bj a

filfP NOTJMMON tlM WBUC.

aMlittm,bjf in faHirveoiDg loobibg |>M| In whiditliieigliky it hnftobiOMin eompnrifOU'.ftf-Uie Mmedhtte glofy seen in btn-* VMk 1 Gbrintb.<«il« 19,'MNoir we iw liiroogfa»ghmdnrbly^ tlMli fi«e to fiice.^ But it it n. very frfninaMl clear* tigk* intiroaipiuritm of that which wat'Ondtr the law; it it beholdiiig nkk openfitoein compnriidn efnbat^ thongb the Aim (hnt it^ tatBbvina glut;- tlie tight we^hav^now-it4ijr<» m^dinmnai nwUlat^tfanii thongh the mdinm niadaoia nf.aow ettab'tkafti Made: ntau-of nndUr tba Imw^ at oioch at^ an open giana^ fcr diaii^ oamiagt^oicaedtaiglatt eovaradwitha veiL '*( ' • • *

i'.*f.Arwchatogad'«ot6tbe anm^imaga.)^ « In thia thfi%tia»an. ngroamant'beltmfcn >oar KiokingJn tbit^glnaa, 'EihI n por aon^' Mcing in a materiaA glaea, tbtti there it an iazacf reaemblance * betweao the image in the glast^ and tbe peraon that beholdait^ ^ i»bu|beaaaa. -Bat^intbia diena ia a difference, tliac, wherein' wbeaapeMm loobt in a glattytbe image in the glaw ie ooii«' fbfttedto bimr aa being derived from biin at Itit imager'heii iiltpremtaibit yiaage o|iea tlie glaat; but, when a peraon iooln> id ibiaapiritaai glatt, tlie image that be beboldt there eeafinrmif htal taiit«i It ia nothia image,bMttbe image of Ood^ amd re^ flaola and > impramat ita Itkeoeta- te * iba bebolder*

^ J

it - i ■

4 ^

[Ml] « Corinth, in. 1«. *< BebeU at in n glaat.^' Whaii tnia eafiaeiallj to bo meant %y the iookitig^iatt here spekMi oC ia the figurariv» r tp r et e n tation of gotpel tbingt in tIM OM< Tettainent, etpecially ttie Law of Motes? whvdiy to the Jewvy' wlm'did not know the meaning of them, nor tee the image of Ohritf, or gotpel thingt in them, wat at a veil; but to ut, to whom the image phiinly appeart at unveiled by the gospel; those typet and other figurative repretentationa are at aglaat/ ia which we tee the image of Chriti's fuce.

[57] 2 Corinth, v. beginning. The hoitte from^ heaven meunx the body of Christ's resurrection; as ap|)ear8 by the last cIduM of the 4tb verse.

•

[60] 2 Corinth, v. I. It is a confirmation that the apostle meant the body of the resurrection by an house not made with bands eternal in thb heavens, that Christ said, Destroy this temple made with bands, and in three days 1 will raise ano« ,ther, nmde without hands; as the false witnesses testified, pro-' bably, so far truly.

[162] 2 Corinth, viii. 10. ••Who have be^m before not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago." It may seem strange that the a)Ki8tle tayt, not only to dOy but also*ro be in/**

f* Doing is more than merely being wilRiig> but it it, as if bad saiil, Ye have not only begun to do before nowv but you 'e been ready to do for a \oi\^ t'line^ even a year ago: to be ivard so long ago, was something timt migiit well be mealed, in addition to their having now begun to do.

164] 2 Corinth, xi* 4. It ought to have been translated^

have well borne, or ye might well have borne with me. In

beginning of the chapter he desires them to bear with him

au.se he was jealous over them, having betrothed them to

-ist, that they might present them a chaste virgin to Christ.

WHS jealous leist they should yield their supreme affections

»ther objects, and be defiled; and he tells them in this verse

:, seeing they were solicited to forsake Christ, seeing that

that Cometh preachelh another Jesus^ he tnighl Well be jea*

s, and they might well bear with him in his boasting to set-

Mielf off, or rather to set off Christ, Appearing, S|)eaking and

king in him, to their affections, that so they might not like^

rivals belter.

^erse 5. ^* Fur I suppose I triKs not a wirit behind the very ^," &e.; and so accordingly now he begins to boast.

165] 2 Corinth, xii. 13. '' Whether in tliebody or ant of the jr, 1 caiuiot tell.*' When the apostle said, abseni Jram the body

present mfh the Lord^ he doubtless meant by absent fromthe /, the same that lie here means by out of the body^ which is a per separation of the soil I from the body.

425] 2 Corinth, xiii. 1. *' In t!ie mouth of two or three witnec-Bhall every word be established." These words seem to be led from the law of our Saviour, Malth. xviii. 16, and not n the law of Moses in Deuteronomy; not only because the tis are the same with those in Matthew, but from the likeness tie case. lu Deuteronomy, the law given concerns only ju-al trials; in Matthew, it is a rule given for the management persuasion used to reclaim offenders by fair means, before ling to the utmost extremity; which is the case of Paul here.' s witnesses, which he means that he made use of to persuade n, being his two epistles. That, by wimesses, he means his

epistles, is plain from his way of expressing himself here, »re he carefully sets down his telling them twice, vix. before hi former episile, chap. iv. 19; and now a second time, in hit >nd epistle, and also by these words, as if I were present with

a second time. By our Saviou/s rule, the offended person ; to go twice to the offender; which the apostle refers to. . Locke's expositiou.

which Mfgra «poillM bcfarr bm^ bublvWMC ioM ArdUs turned agttia JotDaiwMcttf. ^' It it pffobatik' ihmt Ab wm DemrUh which tvutlbal purl of Arabia chat lay aearw mascas, lyingeaat of |i^ laud of Canaaai andi.Kacbed a; very neighbourhood of Damatcui. By the apoetle'f goii OaiMi0tt#tioio^ Arabtai aad naumiiiig froan.ihea ce bto ow agfUot H la#iisa« if the Arabia.thai be. went ialOf/i vhicb irat iiieigbboHriog to this city« > A»Chriai after hk vttbdniir «Ha thct ariWerneis, befi^re be aciaaUy begaq to «a'il.UAKii»probabk,.GODJecuira that Paal, after bia oa Wib«pti#«m,vUMcitW iotothe daiert^ of Arabia, thereli l|btkkli«irJb)4g«ol^tbe,gQS|ieU by imniediiie reveUtioafroai ifli4itb«(|bii b^iflgdonet beretorwdlo-Danafcae,Mdi hi^ temra^ibai way preactied Chrift io.lbetf eyoagogaeii 19. ;iOw See WelUVSacretl Geogrff»lv«<P«^ w. p. 32,81 ^mf ffdi •gmpl ^J^ Uiifi context, in ydiicb the scope of 1 4lil> M •IwWct^ftJhs.bltd bi« go»pel sot from iBeii« batbj eioflofJeftQt Cbnit, as verse 12, **Fori aetiber receti ^H#f MMW JHW?Ai(«lUftt|l>i^bfC byi^«l«iion^J«s«i< and ver^Kft l/S« '«J3|)t.,wMii Uf^^M God who sepm from my motber^s womb, and called me by his grace 1 l^«;8|aa jiL «ief,tbfit 1 migbi prcBch b'm W>ong .the bc9i i(N{dj^lX.lfoofei^r«<l not with flesh and blood.*' ;,.^baa Mlow (he words of this verse that we are apoai ItPIT ^i^^ Mt confer with flesh and blood, but was tac mediately of Christ; *'neither went \ up to Jerusalem which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, tiirj^od,, again onto Dama^^us." Tins is a desert, unii CQMOtry; an(| therefore it is tlie more probable that Um if;ent tbUher for this end, and npt to preach the gospel iJtiai dwelt there. And the jnhabiunts that were in Arab 4inc^r whose lf;ing« Aretes, Damascus then was, they wen b^thf 1)1^ \. hi^t preacliing to. tlie heathens was not yet iboogh M^ere w.ere then some Jews,, thai were then inhab 4fabia, jof whom we read in the ii. chapter pf Acts; / and Arabianf."

GaK iii. 16^ '* 'How to Abraham and his aeed proii^isii made. He aaith not. And to seeds, as of mi ufi 9t: one. And to thy Seed, which is Christ.*' T tioc^^ paraphrases tluiii: ** God doth not any, ^' And V nfk'it ^|B aiMike of moie aeedH than one that were ep t|i^ promiaepu diflferent ptccouata, but only of one aorl ^ho Mpof qo0 sole.9tc(^^t| wore (hat seed of Abraha was aJone meaiit and concerned in the promiae^ ao t

t/| designed Chritli md bis mystical body, i. 0. those that e meifibers of him by fititb.'' And Mr. Locke adds in 68, ** By teeds, Paul here visibly means the ht hc^kriuCf if faith; and the ki^^^ujy, those of the worki of the loken of abo?c, rer. 9, lU, as two distinct Meds or de-Jits claiming from Abraham. Paul's argument to cbn-:he Galafians that they ought not to be circumviped, or : to the law from their having received the Spirit froHi |ion their hoving received the gospel which he preached m, ver. 2 and 5, stands thus, The blessing promtfied to am and to his seed, was wholly upon the account of fiiithy There were not different seeds who should inherit the ic, the one by the works of the law, and the other by

for there was but one seed, which was Christ, ver. 16, ose who should claim in and under him by faith. Among there was no distinction of Jew and Gentile; Tbey, ley only who believed, were all one and the same true r Abraham, and heirs according to the promise, ver. 26, id therefore the promise made to the people of Crod of

tbem the Spirit under the gospel, was performed only le who believed in Christ; a clear evidence that it was

putting themselves under tlie law, but by faith in JesM :, that they were the people of God, and h^irs of the Be."

2] Gal. iii. 17,18. *' And this 1 say, that the covenant 'as confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was lundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it 1 make the promise of none effect; for if the inheritance the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to lam by promise." Mr. Locke paraphrases it thos, 8 therefore, I say, that the law, which was not till fbar ed and thirty years after, cannot disannul the covenant ras long before made and ratified to Christ by God, so as aside the promise. For if the right to the inheritance m the works of the law, it is plain it is not founded in tlie se to Abraham, as certainly it is. For the inheritance donation and free gift of God settled on Abraham and ed by promise."

I3] Gal. iii. 19, 20. ** It was added because of transgres* till the seed should come to whom the promise was made* t was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator. Now iiator is not a Mediator of one, but God is one." The e*s design in mentioning the law's being ordained in the of a Medmtor, is to show the contrary of what the Jewa

MD JHOVH

mni>i^mnis ilMtfharr MMMM'MntirAiiilr mt^mwM 8iMn-lietw«en GM end theipedfilm •. W lw a ti n wai ordBioedf tbej wiipbMd itioibe a rilQrdjr hgk\t tWt God acted .tbareio meiely m • Mifflfaifii rigklMw l^ffef ill ihet efbir, pnofcribieg to tbepwi^le >le|nklfl(Ml»^ Tifflk and idwtb § ^Uiis: W ilnplkid &». Ibeir* doctmne of - j •litf the wprka af ittieJaw^ :TheaiMtie,l*iawluiilia Aioaa fof ihe iranaadioaf baing; hgr« JliNftktar,fwoMd iooatfarjr* i!iab>Lbat it waa ael » marat legal itranailctMMiii Ir^aaaeiuNi <»f grace i^flbr a.'raeireile^ Inuiaaetien wilb' men doeaaee adipit tff ae7>dHed£aa»iv>^biit a t «€• gfaee does. Jedeed* in a eiefti legal trmaatttMl, a ^r^om^mwf l>e imprevedfo aet iathe aiine bf QoAinni fiir Qod Ie4benif bet aueb a mddhi perioadoeaiMt anenar 4imk>a af « iMfrfia^OTi at tih^aptialW would aigaify^v JkM

,tor'acts far boib parlieft he netenljrappearalbr God and la. act for Godybet healao appeara for aiaii>en€Ud/ aet9 foi: aiani foe a Mediator 4a net of eaa, Jw«ie net a M tpeiraea.ta act. only for oee ^ the jiarties. Bmi €M* dr taM» iM. jQod ubwtoneof ihe partk$. tmnm^ing* . If' be aeta jia %Mk 4I0 peraeo only on one ride^ he doet aet actaa JMerffaiar^ hC jm Mediator appears for bach phrliea, he aeta for each to tl^ Diher* -A J^altraniaciionJfN>u|d have admiued of a peraon to act for one tide, viz. for God to man« but nbfrJbr to God to intercede and plead for him. So waa Moaea. Ma •aea wan the Mediator hfere *p6k«liD of, an b'^oafirniM hf BM-¥• 5. God condescended, hecaune the people oould aet bear the terrors of the law, to admit Moses as a Mediator for thai to stand before him, and hear and bear those terrors for IbsOi as well as to act his messenger to them. This shows piai that it was a traoaaetion of grace, wherein God was willing M adtnit a method to screen and save the poor fearful-people^ tl screen them from the dreadful thioga apprehended^ ae weVtf from the terrible apprehension they had by hearing the drasA-ful voice, and seeing the raging fire. Therefore thia is anet^ dunce of what the apostle is arguing for, viz. that God intkii transaction was not disannulling the transaction of grase^ if that gracious covenant that had before been estabKahed wilh Abraham ; he was now only building on that fbondation thtf was then laid, and not setting it aside by this transaction tbit seemed to have an appearance of a legal transaation. This inference is made very muchaf^er the same manner with masf others from transactions and passages of the Old Teataaiest in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and here and there in other epistles. And this reasoning is^^nut so far fetched, and the ar* guincuts so much out of sight as some may imagine. The

words might be paraphrased thus: " In that transaction of moant Sinai, when the law was given, a Mediator was made use of, Und the notion of a Mediator is, One that appears and pleads for both parties, one with the other. This Mediator therefore that was admitted, did not only transact for God, who in the transaction was but one party, but also appeared and pleaded for the other party also with God, which shows that k was not a merely author!* tativeand legal, but a gracious, transaction.'* The 20tb verse comes in as a kind of parenthesis, or a short exegetical digres-iion, just to explain the meaning of the word Mediator^ which the apostle' had used, because the argument he intended his readers shdi|ld -conceive from it, depended on their understanding what a Mediator was; and therefore he was willing to let ihem know that, by a Mediator, he did not only mean a middle person to act for God towai'ds the people, but also one to act and plead for the people towards God. The apostle's words therefore may be otherwise paraphrased thus: ^'The law was ordained by angels in the hands of a Mediator, i. e. in the hands of a middle person who appeared and pleaded for each party with the other, and not merely for God, who was but one parly.'*

[196] Gal. V. 18. " But if ye he led by the Spirit, ye arc not under the law." Here enquire 1. In what sense they are not under the law; and 2, Why it is said, Ye are riot under the law, if ye are led by the Spirit; or wherein is the connection between being led by the Spirit, and not being under the law.

Enq. 1. In what sense Christians are not under the law ? - Answ. Ill one word, They are not under the law 09 ierwmU; for this is what the apostle insisted on, in the iv. chapter, and latter end of the iii. that Christians are not under a schoolmaster, but a father, chap..iii. 25, 26, and iv, 2; that they are not servants but children, chap. iv. the seven first verses, espe* cially the.7th ver.; that they are not the children of the bond woman, but of the free,*and so are not in a state of bondage, but in a state of liberty, as chap. iv. from the 0th verse to the end; and it is the argument the apostle is still upon in this chapter, at verse 1, &c.

AnifAi is evident, that, by being under the law in this verse, Ihe apostle means, being under the law as a servant; or as being under the law, is opposite to a state of liberty; by {he immediate context, and by the manner in which this and the intermediate verses are introduced, by ver. 13, " Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh," tic. which may be seen. So the apostle opposes hdng uMd&r ihe law to Uber^, in the beginning of this chapter, and so in tha lat-* ter part of the. foregoing chapter: See the 21 tt veiae, compartd

VOL. IX. 66

#22 K0TE8 ON TH£ BIBLE.

'with the allegory that follows; also the aposile's explanation of that allegory, ver. 25. He tells us that Agar the bond-womaoi represents mount Sinai, the mount where the law was given. So being under the laWn is called beinjg under a schoolmatier, aod under tutors and governors; which is opposed to being childra, chap. ill. 24, 25, 26, and chap. iv. 2, wiih context. Yea, a being under the law is expressly opposed to being children, chap, iv. 5, and is called being servants, ver. 7.

By these things it is most evident that the apostle here, whea he says Christians are not under the law, means only that ibej were not under the law at servants or bondmen^ or in any sensa wherein a being under the law is opposite to liberty, or the siitt of children*

I. They were not under the Ceremonial law at all; which was a yoke of bondage, a law adapted to a servilo state of the church, or the state of the church's minority, wherein it diffvn nothing from a servant, as chap. iv. 1, 2, 3; where it is evident the ceremonial law is especially intended, by the expressionof the elements of the world there used. It is evident that, b; being under the law, the apostle has a special respect to the ceremonial law, from chap. iv. 9, 10, 11, and chap. v. 3. 6. 11, and from the occasion and drift of the whole epistle*

II* They are not under the moral law, as servants. Not ooly the ceremonial but the moral |aw is intended in the words; ai is evident from the context, as particularly the 14th and 23d verses. Children in a family, where things are in their regular order, i. e. where the father has the proper qualifications aod spirit of a father, and the children, of children, are not so properly under law, as the servants. The commands of a father io such a family to his children, especially if the children be not in their minority, is not called law^ .in the same sense, as the edicts of an absolute monarch to his subjects. Laws are not made for children, and for intimate and dear friends, but for servants. A being under the law, in the more ordfnary use of the expression among the apostles, was inconsistent wiih liberty; a being under the law, and enjoying liberty, were opposites; and therefore the phrasQ, the law of liberty^ is usad by the apostle James as paradoxical. To be under la^lr* is to be under the declaration of the will of another* not only as aa instruction or doctrine for our direction in acting, but to be under it as a rule of judgment, or a being under the justifying or eondemning power of it. A being under the law iu this seust is the apostle's meaning; as is evident by the 4th verse of this ehapter, and by chapter iii. per totum: vid. Rom* viii. 1. For what is said in that 3d chapter, introduces what follows in tbeafi two succeedkig chapters. They cannot bo aatd to be uoder

NOTCS on THE BlfiLK. ^S

the law where the breaches of the law are not imputed to them; sin is not imputed where there is no law; and, vire versa, (in a sense,) there is no law, or persons are not under the law whore sin is not imputed.

The doctrine of the holy will of God, as revealed, and directed to those that are in Christ, is improperly called Giving Law: where we find it so called, that word is used out of its strictly proper sense. The giviujL^ law to another is the exacting conformity to the declared will of the lawgiver. There may be a command without a law : a declaration of another's will, without an exaction, is not a giving law: a being under the law, is being under such an exaction. God may be said to exact obedience of men to the commands of the law, when he signifies, or makes known to them that they are by his power held bound either to obedience or the penalty of the Law. And they th^t receive a declaration of another's will, but at the same time have it not exacted of them, have it not as a law, but only as an instruction or doctrine. A declaration of a superior's will without its being signified or supposed tliat it will be exacted by power, may be called a doctrinej a rule^ a precept^ or command^ but not alauPf unless improperly, as God's declaration of his\%ill to his saints is called the law of Uberljf: the expression shows that the word is not designed to be used in this strictly proper sense.

Object. But is not sincere obedience exacted of believers, though perfect obedience be not? The scripture often gives us to understand that no man can be saved, and that every one shall perish without sincere obedience.

An$. I. If sincere obedience be exacted of them, yet it is not by the law by which it is exacted of them.

The thing that the law exacts is perfect^ and not sincere^ obedience. It is a contradiction to suppose that any law requires imd exacts any other than conformity to itself, or which is the same thing, perfectly as much, or full as much, as it requires or exacts. Sincere obedience, or sincerely aiming at ob»'dience, is not required or exacted by the law, in any other way than as we consider it as a part of perfect obedienr**, or a part of that conformity to the law, and so it is uo more < xncted b^ the law than the perfect obedience is. If the whole is not exacted, a part is no more exacted than the whole; a part of the conformity to the law cannot be exacted by the law any more than conformity, because it is noft exacted at all only because-it is a part of conformity and included in it; and therefore if conformity is not exacted of believers by the law, or which is the same thing, perfect obedience no more is a part of conformity. So that no obedience at til is exacted of believers of the law. They arc not under the law in whole nor in part, for conformity is by the law exacted of all that are under it; Christ has freed them from the whole law,

by falfiUing the law Tor them. So that if any obedience at all be exacted of believers, it is not by the law, but it must be by soow other constitution, or superadded law. But,

II. It is not properly by any other constitution made since the law. There is indeed nothing properly exacted of any man whatsoever by any other constitution than the law. Indeed Faith, and so Sincere Obedience, which is virtually implied in it, are by a new constitution made the conditions of salvation. Salvation is promised to them, and they are declared to be the ooly conditions of salvation, so that without them we still lie under condemnation, and must perish. Yet it will not hence follow that ' any new constittition or law does exact faiih and sincere obedience, or require them upon pain of perishing, or suffering any punishment at all of any man whatsoever; because it is not by virtue of the new constitution, which was only an offer or promise, that he perishes or suffers in unbelief, but by virtue of the law only that he was under before. If a cripiinal is to be put to death 6^ his breach of the law, and his prince offers him a pardon if he vill accept of it at his hands acknowledging his grace in it; if he refuses the king's offer, he is not pardoned but suffers, and the lav is executed upon him. But the prince cannot be properly said by a new law or edict to exact it of him, that he should thankfully accept of pardon ; for his execution is by virtue of a law made b^ fore that he had broke, and not by any new law, nor by that new act of his prince, his offering him pardon. It is not by virtue of any threatening contained in that new act, but the threatening of the law that he had before broke, that he suffers. Yea, though besides his suffering for all that breach of law, the pardon of which he refused, he mny also suffer for his refusal, he may receive an additional punishment from his affronting the king in his contemptuous rejecting his gracious offer. Yet it will not follow that acceptance of pardon was properly exacted of him as by law, for that additional suffering for his affront may also be by virtue of the law that he was under before, and the threatening of that, and not any threatening implied in the king*s offer that may be contained in the law: that whoever by his beha* viour affronts or casts contempt upon the king, shall be punislied according to the degree of the affront: and he may be punished for his rejecting of the king's offer, by virtue of this, and not by virtue of any threatening contained in that new act of the king in offering pardon. Accepting the offer, indeed, is exacted of him; but it is exacted by the law and not by the offer.

So faith and repentance, and sincere obedience are indeed exacted of sinners, upon pain of eternal damnation, but not by the gospel. Eternal life is offered upon these terms by the gospel, mnd eternal damnation is threatened for the want of them by Uit

Unbelief in the present state of things is a great immorality, md as such forbidden by the law, and faith is strictly -commended^ and as a duty of the law is exacted of all that are under the law« It is not by the gospel, but by the law, that unbelief is a sin that ejr|Mises to eternal damnation, as is evident, because we have the pnrdon of the sin of unbelief by the death of Christ, which shpws that Christ died to satisfy for the sin of unbelief, as well as other sins, but Christ was to answer the law, and satisfy that: he in bis death endured the curse of the law. Gal. iii. 10, 11, 12, 13. Rom. viii. 3, 4. It is absurd to say that Christ died to satisfy tbe gospel, or to bear the punishment of that.

Enq. II. Why is it said, ** If ye are led by the Spirit, ye arc not under the law ?" or what is the connection between being led by theSpirit, and not being under the law f

Ans* The connection consists in two things: 1. As this evi* dences their not being under the law. 2. It renders them not the proper subjects of law.

L Their being led by the Spirit, is an evidence of their beinff in Christ, who has fulfilled the law, and delivered them from it. The Spirit is given in scripture as the proper evidence of being in Christ, 1 Cor. i. 22; v. 5. Eph. i. 13, 14, and iv. 30; Rom« viii. 9. 1 John iii. 24, and iv. 13. It is the proper evidence of their being children, for it is the Spirit of the Son, Gal. iv. 6; *• As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, because it is the spirit of adoption.^' Rom. viii. 14. '* But children are not under the law as servants."

* II. A being led by the Spirit is a thing that causes that alteration with respect to them, that renders them unapt to be the sub* Jects of law.

1. By their havisg the Spirit given them, they are advanced to that'state that does not agree with a state of subjection to the law. 2 Corinth, iii. 17, '* Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there if liberty;" see Note on that verse. For hereby they are regenerated, are born of God, and do become the sons of God; they are hereby assimilated to the Son of God in nature and state. Being sons, it is suitable that they should be dealt with after another manner: to hold them under the law, is to treat them as servants, as in the 6th and 7th verses of the preceding chapter, ** And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father4 wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son." ' '£• The Spirit of Christ in Christians, or spirit of adoption ae-tnatihg and leading, is a principle that supersedes the law, anil sets them above law, upon two accounts: (1.) By their having ibit principle, so far as it prevails, they are above the need of tk% eiaction of the law, and therefore are such at the la;w was not

CSS 1V9TBS Otl THE BIBLE.

given for, and are not aimed at in the law. Tbey have m spirit of love and truth that fulfills the law, 1 Tim. i. 9, the thing tiai if aimed at by the law, as in the 14th and 16th verses of the ooa-text. They do not need the exaction of the law to drive thai 4o their duty ; for, so far as they are led by the Spirit, they aifflf themselves naturally inclined to the same things that the law it-quires, and derive strength from God according to his proaiM <o fulfill them. The fruits of the Spirit are such, as tb^ by fki Spirit without the law are inclined and enabled to, such as lofii joy, peace, &c.; are such as the law is not against, as ia Ai 22d and 23d verses of the context, '* Against such thereisai kw."

Theifilial spirit, or spirit of love and truth, fulfills tfaa kv; that is, the law obliges to no other things but what this spirit iih clines to, and is sufficient for. The law was not made for thois that are already sufficiently disposed to all things contaioedin k. 1 Tim. i. 9. ** The law is not made for a righteoos man, batfir ihe lawless and disobedient,*' 8ic.-~-A filial spirit in lawenoniglu It is a superior sort of law, the law of the spirit of lite is the kit kw, and makes free from any other law. The spirit is beltir than the letter. They, that have the Spirit of Christ in tlmiH have the law written in their hearts, according to God's proiM •by his prophets.

The Spirit of Christ is superior to the law, and setsafiefSM above a subjection to the law, because it is a principle that is se* periorto a legal principle, or that principle which is the proper subject of the force and influence of the exaction of a law, vl fear; so far as the Spirit of the Son, or the spirit of adopiioa, prevails, so far he is above the need of that principle, and cons^ 'quently above the need of being under the law.

II. The filial spirit, or spirit of the son, or spirit of adoptioi^ is a principle that, so far as it prevails', excludes and renders the saints incapable of fear, or a legal principle, or spirit of boa-dage. 1 John iv. 18. *< Perfect love casteth out fear." It casts it out as Sarah and Isaac cast out the bond-woman and her soi| that we read of in the chapter preceding the text that we are upon. It is in Christians a principle of love, of childlike coofi* dence and hope, as in the 6th verse of the foregoing chapter it cries, ''Abba, Father." It evidences to them their being the children of God, and begets that trust and assurance that reoderf them incapable of a legal principle. Rom. viii. 15, 16. "Forye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, botje .have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, AUmr Father. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, tbit we are the children of God." If a person has not that legal prifr cifk, or principle of fear, he has not that principle which thelsfi

•r ibat constitution which exacts obedience, was made lo inila*^ •nee and work upon; and therefore is not a proper subject of bw, because, being destitute of that principle, Uie law takes no bold of him, for it finds no principle in him to take hold by. . A being led by the spirit of the Son of God, as a spirit of Ihdoption, is inconsistent with a state of bondage, as sonship isio^ COQsislent with servitude* 2 Corinth, iii. 17. ^^Wbera. th« Spiritof the Lord is, there is liberty."

[235] Eph. i. 22, 23. << And gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Byfullness^ according to the apostle's use of the phrase, is signified the good of any being ; ali Ikat by which any being u excellent and happy ; including h$ perfediotif beoMtjf^ riche$^ joy^ tind pleasure. Rom. xi. 12. ^< Now if the fall of tbem be the riches of the world, and the diminbhing of ihem ba the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their/ti^iteM.'" < Tha moxA fuUnesSj in the former part of this verse, is doubtless to bo Boderstood in like manner as the word filleth in the latter part. By Christ's filling all in all, seems evidently to be intended that he supplies all the creatures in heaven and on earth, angels, and bleiBsed spirits, and men, with all good ; as in chap. iv. 10, ^ He that descended, is the same also that ascended far above all hcn^ rens, that be might^U/ all things, viz. that he might Mf^y all !»* telligent creatures in heaven and earth with goodk So when it ia said, chap« ii« 19, *' That ye might be filled with all the fullness o( God," the meaning seems to be, that ye might have your souls satisfied with a participation of God's own good, his bounty aiod |oy; *' (or our communion is with the. Father and with bis Scia Jeius Christ." 1 John i. 3. So when the apostle says Christ tba btsvcs laurov, ^' emptied himself," as. Philip, ii. 7, he means AftI be appeared in the world wUhoui hit farmer ^tory amd j^ f\wkm John xvii. 5. So that here tliQ apostle teaches that Christ, #lio fills all things, all elect creatures in heaven and earth, is himself filled by the church; he^ who supplies angels, and men wjth att that good in which they are perfect and happy, receives the church «i that in which he himself is happy; he, from whom and, in whom.all angels and saints are adorned and made perfcsct iii^bea»i ty^ himself receives the church as his glorious and. beautiful .0i«« namenty as the virtuous wife is a crown to her husband.. Tha charch is the garment of Christ, and was typified by th^t coatW his that was without seam, which signified the unioaof .jrtia var^ out: members x>f the church, and was typified by those ganneuUi #f the high priest that were made for. glory and for beauty, EkeH doi. xsviiL 2, ai. seems evident by the 2d verse of the cdxjtiii. Pidm, and bj the precious stones of bis breastiplatCi* {n a pfTli^

eular manner, on which were engraven the names of the children of Israel. Isai. hii. 3. '^ Thou shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of ih? Gfod," t. e. in the possession of God. So Zech. ix. 16, 17, '* And the Lord their God sliall save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown lifird op, as an ensign upon his land.'' As it is from, and in, Christ that all are supplied with joy and happiness, so Christ receives the church as that in which he has exceeding and satisfying delight and joy. Isai. Ixii. 5. '^ As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." This seems to be the good that Christ sought in the creation of the world, who is the beginning of the creation of God ; when all things were created by him and for him, viz. that he might obtain the church, who ii ** the bride, the Lamb's wife," to whom, and for whom, he might give himself, on whom he might pour forth his love, and inwhoin bis soul might eternally be delighted. Until he had attained this, he was pleased not to. look on himself as'coraplete, but as wanting something, as the first Adam was not complete before the creation of Eve. Gen. ii. 20.

[481] Eph. i. 23. '« The fullness of him that filleth all in ail." The church is not only represented as Christ's ornament^ but God's people are often spoken of in the Old Testament as God'i portion and inheritance^ his treasure^ his jewels, his garden of pleasant fruits, his pleasant plant, Isai. v. 7, i\\eplant of hisfteor sures, his pleasant food, as the first ripe figs. Jer. xxiv. 2 ; Hosea iz. 10, ihe first fruits of all his increase, Jer. ii. 3. A ganlen and orchard of spices, and his bed, or field, of lilies, amomg which kefecdSf Im fountain of gardens, or refreshing streams from Lebanon, a garden where he gathers his myrrh and his spice, and where he eats his honey-comb with his honey, and drinks his uine with his milk.

So the saints in the New Testament are spoken of as God*s wheat, find good grain, that he gathereth into his garner.

[300] Eph. ii. 7. " That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." Intimating that this was not made known in/ages past, but in a great measure kept hid, as it is said in the next chapter, at the 5th verse, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The riches of God's grace to his kindness through Christ Jesus here spoken of, is the same with those unsearchable riches of Christ spoken of in the next chapter, 8th and 9th verses, which the apostle there says was a

NOTES ON THE BIBLI^. SkS

mystery, which from the beginning of the world had beienhid iii God. So Horn. xvi. 25, ** According to the revelation of iho mystery which was kept secret since the world began ;** and. Colos. i. 26, 27, ** Even the mystery, which hath been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known'what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." The apostle, in this text we are upon, speaks of it a^ being now made known for the present and all future ages; brought to light for the last ages of the world, which were new begun.

Upon second thought, I am inclined to doubt whether by ritsdiudt Tots inrBgxofuvoiSi may not be meant the world to come; Awiv is almost every where put for worlds and Jauv sff^x^fisvo^i or fjtfXXtjv, is always put for the world to come^ though here it be in the plural number. See chap. i. 21, and this chap, ver; 2, in the original.

[504] Eph. ii. 7. '* That in the ages to come he might shoiw the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesns." In Dr. Goodwin's works, vol. i. part ii. p. 237, there are two interpretations of this. ^ *' I. Some say that what is intended, is God's holding forth ii^ that kindness which he had shown to the primitive Christian;}^ (whom he had converted out of so desperate and damnable acon-f dition,) an assurance of the communication of the like riches of ' his grace in all ages to come, to the end of the world, whereof ^ they were the patterns and examples. I find most of the Pro-if test ant writers run this way, and the most judicious among the I Papists.

i* 'MI. Others say, that this showing forth the riches of his gnic6

^ in ages to come is to eternity, after the resurrection which he

I had spoken, of in the words immediately before; and that these

words do contain the utmost accomplishment, the manifestation'

and breaking up of the hidden treasure, which shall be expended

in the world to come, and requires an eternity to be spending in.

And I find this latter to be the sense that all the ancient intel'pre-

[ lers run upon, not one exempted, and some of our Protestant

; writers and most of the Papists."

Ibid. p. 238. "That of the apostle, 1 Tim. i. 16, iaalledged as parallel with these words in the former interpretation. * For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suflfuring, for a pattern to them which should' hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." P. 240, 241, 242,

243, 244. *• Uut to go on to the second interpretation, which I

think to be as much the scope of the apostle here, if not more than VOL. IX. 67

{130 NOTES ON THE BIBLE.

the Other; and ir both cannot stand together, I bad rather cast k to exclude the other and take this. To confirm this interpretation to you, I shall lead you along through these several reasoof.

I will begin with the phrase, In ike ages to came^ in opposition to thi8 present world, as the apostle calleth this in Gal. u 4 You have the very phrase in the first chap, of this Epistle [tothe Ephesians,] ver. 21, "Far above all principalities, &,€., not oaly in this world but that which is to come," h c&> cbcjvi; tbe wofd translated there world io come^ is the word which is used here bf ages. And in Heb. vi. 5, they are said to have tasted of tbe powers of the world to come. It is the word that is here used for ago.

But it will be objected, are ages in the plural, taken for die times afler the day of judgment to eternity, where there is no flax of time i —For that, my brethren, the scripture often expresseth it in the plural. Also, you read of the phrase ^cir rtx?r and every you have it in Revelations again and again: ^' We shall reiga with Christ y^n* ever and ever, it hfor ages and ages. Yon hi?e the same in Romans, xvi. 27; and in the iii. chap, of this Epistle [to the Ephesians,] ver. 22, you sha^ find it in the plural as well as here. '*Uuto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout aU ages, world without end." He means not only this worlds but the world that is to come too; and why f beciass that to come is the age of ages^ it is the secula seculoruni.

And then it is to be considered that in these words, **Thatii the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace," is held forth God's ultimate and highest end that he hath in tbe salvation of man. He mentions it as the close of all, in the language of a final event. But this is accomplished in heaven, and nowhere else. The gospel revealelh infinite grace to us, but the exceeding riches of grace shall be broken up in the world to cooie. There is a reserve of it for eternity, such as we cannot now comprehend. Therefore here is now intended the actual enjoyroeot that those saints which God hath now quickened, and set in heaveo in Christ, shall have in ages to come of these exceeding riches of grace, which Christ hath taken possession of for them in heaveo.

And then is to be observed the apostle's order in discoursing of our salvation in this place. He sets out salvation in all die gradual accomplishments of it, until it is made fully perfect and complete. First he shows what is begun in our own persons in quickening of us. He tells us, secondly, how heaven and the resurrection is made sure to us, though we do not enjoy it; ver. 6, «* He hath raised us uj}- together, and made us sit together io heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Now then, here, in the 7lh verse, as the close of all, he shows how that God will spend to eternity the exceeding, the utmost riches of that grace ; there be will show it, and then he will bring it forth. In the world to come

he will bring forth nil his rich treasure, and then shall salvation ^ be complete, and there shall be the utmost demonstration of it.

It answers the parallel that the apostle did intend to makct be-

^ tween Christ and us. He tells us in the first chapter, that the

same power works in us that believe, that wrought in Christ when

^ God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand

in heavenly places; and here you see in the 6th verse of this \u

chapter, the verse next before the text, he brings in the parallel.

** He hath quickened us, saith he, and raised us up, and made us

. tit in heaven in him." There it is said of Christ, that in heaven

he sits far above all principality, &,c:, not only in this world, but

that which is to come. To make up the parallel now on our

parts, he tells us in this chapter. You have worlds to come, (for

it is the same word only in the plural number,) in which to sit

! with Christ, and you shall have all the riches of God's free grace,

! bringing in jov and happiness to you to feast you with unto eter-

■ Dhy.

Then again the phrase showforUij will exceedingly fit this in-' terpretation. For we do not see now otherwise than by faith the ' riches of the glory that Christ hath taken possession of for us in ' heaven. But, saith he, After the resurrection in the world, or ' ages to come, he will show them forth; and so it is a parallel place with that Col. iii. 3, 4, where he had said, ver. 2, '* Ye

* are risen with Christ." as here he addeth, *' Your life is.hid with '. Christ in God, but when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, ^ then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

* That in Rom. ix. 23, is a clear parallel to this in the text. ^ The apostle there, in ver. 22, says, '* What if God willing to ^ show his wrath, (it is the same word,) and to make his power ' known, and that he might make known the riches of his grace,

which he there calls the riches of his glory, on the vessels of mercy before prepared unto glory."

The word likewise exceeding riches, agrees well with this sense. The apostle uses the phrase, the exceeding riches of his grace, nowhere that 1 know of but here, and why f Because he speaks of the utmost manifestation, and accomplishment of the height of the riches of grace, which shall not be till then.

And here is another confirmation also of this interpretation. We have here a continued discourse of the apostle, which agrees with the 18th verse of the foregoing chapter, which ends with this verse of the second chapter. There he begins this^ discourse by praying that they might know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and then concludes his discourse in this verse, by signifying that there is a world to come wherein God wirll show forth the exceeding riches of his grace towards them. The apostle begins and ends his discourse with these

^K^ NOTEd ON THe BIBLE.

of grace and glory ; in this glorious circle ioTolving iD things concerning our salvation.

[502] Eph. ii. 19, 20, 21, 22. ''And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward, &ic.—-—According to ik working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ Jeso^ when he raised him from the dead, and set liim at bis own rigbt hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power, &C.-''—And hath put all things under his feet," &c. In ihi work that was wrought, and the alteration made in exaltiaf Christ from the depth of his humiliation to his beight of gloij, two things are to be considered, viz. the Relative change, or change of Christ's circumstances ; and the Real change made is the human nature, which was not only greatly exalting it froa that low state of sorrow, weakness of body and mind, and cobi-parative meanness of nature, and narrow capacity, to that h\^ and as it were, infinite, degree of knowledge, power, holiness joy, and real inherent glory; (here is to be considered dw change made both in body and In soul. Christ, in his exaltation, .not only received power, riches, honour, and blessing, whereto the change of circumstances consisted, but also wisdom and strength, as in Rev. v. 12;) but exalting it to this from tJbr lower state, from a state of death under which he descended iato the lower parts of the earth, and as it were into hell; in raising bim from which, we may conceive greater difficulty than in raiir ing another from the dead, as we may suppose all the powers of hell euf^aged to their utmost to hinder his resurrection. This real change made in Christ in his resurrection and exaltation, ii an unspeakably greater power than the work of creation, ooi only considering, the ^m/ro//i, which was a state of death, and so a creation as it were from nothing; but as overcoming the greatest created power; but especially if we consider the tern to whiehj or the thing finally extant as the fruit of this work, which is as it were infinitely higher, greater, and more excellent tbao any thing accomplished in the old creation.

But then Christ in this adfair is not to be considered by the apostle singly and personally ; but all his church are considered as thus raised and exalted with him, and in him : he as the head, and they as partaking members. This power is manifested in raising them, in raising their dead souls from an infinite depth, infinitely lower than a state of nonentity, and from under as it were infinitely strong chains, to hold them in that state, and the most mighty opposition to their restoration ; and also raisiof their bodies from the dead, and from a state of corruption, and | cialtingthem with Christ, making their bodies like his glorioos body, and their souls like'his glorious soul; giving ihem a partici-

ItOTfiS Off THE BIBLE. f 33

* DAlioD of tiis elevation of nature, his exalted knowledge, -tirength, boliuess, beauty, glory, and joy, according to their capabicy and statiou.

-I Herein, in this whole vio: k ufthe restoration and exaltation of

y -Christ oiysticali is above all things manifested the power of 6od|

^ wd the new creation.

V [169} Epb. iii. 10. *<That now unto the principalities aod a powers mi^ht be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of 1! God; that is, by tlie things done in the church, by what they ffee ii eoncerning the church."

i

f [50]Eph. iv. 13* ^'Till we all come in the unity of the faith, aod

3B of the knowledge of God to the measure of the stature of the full*

M pess of Christ;" that is, till we all come to agree in the same &itb|

It vhich* is fully conformed to Christ, and therein are come to hit

at rule and measure in faith, and perhaps in other graces, the body

sk of Christ becomes complete, being conpletely conformed to

s Christ. The church is ihe completeness of Christ, the fuUnett

V of him that filleth all in all. But this body is not complete, and 1$ pierfeet, till it is perfectly conformed lo his mind in faith, and to is bi« image in other graces. Christ and his church, as here, so -0 elsewhere, being as body and soul, are called one man, it is as if 1' be had said till Christ's body is complete in stature. The cborcK 81 ihe body of Christ, is called a man. Ephes. ii. 15.

if

^ [232] Ephes. v. 30, 31, 32. "For we are members of his

^ body, of his flesh, and of his bones.. For this cause shall a irian

^ leave his father and mother, and shall be joined nnto hii wife^

^ and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I

^ fpeak concerning Christ, and the church.'* Christ did ds it

|i were leave his Father in order to obtain and be joined Co the

4 church; he came down from heaven, and did as It were leave the

I bosom of his Father, he left the sweet and joyful manifestation^

of his Father's love, and became subject to the hidings of bis Fa«*

g. ther's face, and even to the exprl'ssions of his wrath, and gave

I himself to his church that he might be juitied to his churchi and

! that he might present it to himself a glurious.church, &c. as ver.

I $^» 26, 27. Sohe aUo left hi& mother, which was Ae church of

the Jews, to cleave to the New Testament church. Christ wae

born of the Jews, and the ordiiiHUces, and legal observencesflf

tbe Jewish chun h. Chilst was bid as the infant is hid in its onm

titer's womb. All God'a dispensations towards that churchy hie

calliug of them by Moi>os, his gi\iu^ them such ordinances, and

his so orderiug their state from ugc to age, was in order to bring

fMrib Chrisi into the woild. This Old Testament church is le*

presented by Sarah, Isaac's mother, and the New Testamem church by Rebeckah, whom I«aac loved, and in whom he was comforted after his mother's death. (Vide Gen. xxiv. 67. Notes.) The Old Testament church was as Christ's mother, bat the New Testament church is as his wife, whom he treats with far greater afiection and intimacy. He forsook his nnother also is this respect, viz. as he made a sacrifice of that flesh and blood, and laid down that mortal life which he had from his mother, tbe Virgin Mary; that which is born of the flesh is flesh; thougk be did not derive flesh from his mother in the sense in which it ii spoken of, John lii. 6, viz. corrupt, sinful nature; and, therefoR^ did not forsake his rootlier, for the church in the same seme wherein the church is advised to forsake her father's house for Christ's sake, viz. to forsake sin, and lusts derived from parestf, by crucifying the flesh, with the afiections and lusts. YetCbriK derived flesh from his mother, viz. the animal nature, and huans nature, with that frailty and mortality that is the fruit of sio,tlm Christ forsook, and vielded to be crucified for the sake of tk church.

[1461 Philip, ii. 11. And every tongue should confess. To tk place of the Old Testament that is here quoted, it is every toogoe shall swear, which confirms, that by swearing by God's name, so often spoken of in the Old Testament, as a great duty of GoiTi people, is meant publicly professing the true God, and enteriag into covenant with him.

[69] Colos. ii. 11. ** In putting ofl'ihe body of the sinsofibe flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." If this means the outward circumcision, with which Christ was circumcised, our sins are pot ofl* by Christ's circumcision, after the same manner as by oor own baptism; that is, Christ's circumcision signified the putting oflf our sins, as much as our own baptism, for our body of sin was imputed to him, he bore it, and put it off in outward sign bf his circumcision. Christ represented us; he came into the world without any original sin, and he was circumcised to signify tbe putting ofl* our corruption of nature.

•

[329] 2 Thes. ii. 7. «* For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.'* As Christianity^ or the scheme for setting up the king^ dom of God, and advancing his glory, and the salvation of meo, by Christy is called the mystery of gtMiness; so antichrisfiamm^ or the scheme for setting up the kingdom of the devil, and accomplishing the destruction of men by Antichrist, is called the mysterj of iniquity. The Christian scheme is called the mystery of godliness very much on that account that all the ancient mysterieit

NOTES ON TUB BIBLE. SSS

pes, shadows, and prophecies, relating to the kingdom and invest of godliness, have their fulfillment in it. So antichristian-n is called the mystery of iniquity, because in this the types and ophecies that relate to the kingdom and interest of iniquity ve their principal fulfillment. Here is fulfilled what was sba* wed forth of old, by the murder of Cain, and his city in the id of Nod, and by the building of the tower of Babel, and by i city of Babylon, and by the mighty Nimrod, and Belus, or ^1, and by the city of Sodom, by Egypt, and Pharaoh; and the eat things that were done in Egypt, in the time of Moses and iron, are types of what is done by and to the church of Rome* rre is the antitype of Jabez and Sisera, Oreb and Zeeb, Zeba, d Zulmenna, the Moabites and the Ammonites, the Philistines, d especially the Edomites. Here is the antitype of proud Neba-adnezzar, and Belshazzar, and Hamon. Here is the antitype the city and king of Tyrus, and of Antiochus Epiphenes, and re is the chief fulfillment of the ancient prophecies of Daniel d other prophets that relate to the kingdom of iniquity, and o of most of such prophecies in the New Testament. On the ne account the antichristian church is called ** MYSTERY, VBYLON THE GREAT."

[137] 2 Timothy ii. 18. '< Who concerning the truth have ed, saying, that the resurrection is past already; and over-^ 'ow the faith of some.'* The Jews before Christ, had a gene-belief that there would be a resurrection, and they thought it uld be when the Messiah came. When he comes, they thought i saints that were of old, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and tvid, &c. would rise again, and there was a number of them did d when Christ rose, as Matthew informs us, and therefore there re some that the apostle here speaks of that thought we were expect no other resurrection.

[.309] Heb. iii. (>, 7, 8, to chap. iv. 11. '* Whose house are we, we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith. To-day if ye II hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provoca-n,'' &c. The apostle here supposes that when the psalmist re says, *' Tthday^ if ye will hear his voice, harden not your arts;" it is as much as if he had said, '* Although that was a ig time ago, and though tlieir day was long since past, yet hear ; voice, and not harden your hearts now in this your day, and \ that you never harden your hearts while your day lasts; ibr ye do not harden your hearts, there is a rest of God, that you ly enter into as well as they; but if you continue to harden ur hearts, your day in a little time will be past as well as

Ml iio988'eir turn biblc

Uiieiri.'* Tiicf Arntr part of tbbvM^^ vis..tint bgrAe €vpm^ rioiiy **To-dag/* the ptalmisitiiMim, b tkil ^sjr that yon hm iMMTt w tong iAer their day wpiiti'heMBt^hy chaptcn ff.t) «od the liMOT pari of icv vn. that he oteans, Tirlce hc<ed that jfot liearlr be at no tiroe faardeaetf during your day, is evident, b» eauaeihi that 6th verse thd-werds^ arebroogfatlin as astotiren peraeveranoe. 11 is still mote evi&ut by' the ihimer -oi^the wf» l)e*jsbriiighig id tbe wordssit the Ittbanlal!l2th, naalcDiotha 14A a^i l&th verssa, and by the apostle's parapbraieof the «Mofds,# glass he pnts>upoii them there, while it is called. To-day, v^ne H| aadp'Miile it is said To-day^ ver. 16; wbieb Utbesaine tbiagil dnrihg.tfaelQDntiDiianee ofthe^ay^

,r litreiattlie psalmtat asbbrtitogin to btoadGodfa^voiee t»dag^ aai -loOg^ m time after the* tareasseiB of the cUHlrea At larad M io the wilderness, andao ibey failed* of ent^ring^ into GiMh Met^aodao long a time Itfter others tbiit believed entered iaii that:temporal rest that Joabua brougbtitbem into.; the aportU ■louId argue tliattbere remains atiK another feat for tbe peo|ii of<3od, to be entered into^ as 6od spake^obiieermng tbiscw dretk^fleraei in the wilder nesa, as if there was a rest of God atillM be entered into, though there bad been a.re8torGbdtai^ ages before that, viz. that rest, or sabbatism of God, wUdl QqA enjoyed:bn the^seventh day of iHe erealioni; seating IWn rherwbrksof creation,*wbieb had been distiagvished aa Qotf resteer bis sabbatism; ibut yet there tbeo' iemaineii aeeriaf vesi of God to. those that beliercil, ris. Cbrist^s rest in Ganasv after'tbo i'l^yptian bonda^o, ami bis rodemption of his peopb out of Bgypt, AS is implied in his swearing in his wrath thil tbose thnt did not believe should not enter into rest; SatbM 'still remains another rest also besides God's restfrotn that w dcmption, aa is implied in the P^^nlmist, when speaking n long after of the unbelievers in the wiidcrness:faili^giofeolS^ ing into that rest, he still exhorts and says, ^'TonJay if yos will hear b» voice harden not your hearts as they did ;" im|ily« ing that it will not be in vain for us oven now to hearken, but wosliall enter in God's rest still if we hearken, even that reit that Christ entered into in heaven, after his great boadai^ hero'on earth, and his finishing the work of redemption. Bf which may be understood the force of the apostli^'s reasenis^ in V. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 of the next chapter.

[142] Heh. V. 9. *' And being made perfV^ct, ho became the aoihor of oternal italvation unto all them that obey htm." Hy obeyina, here is not nieant behoving, but ol>6dtoocv lo the h^ and commands of God, us it u understood in tho foregoky verse.

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. f ST

[74] Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6. " For it is impossible for ihose that were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift/' &c. What is meant by those things here mentioned, may be gathered from the foregoing verses. The apostle exhorts IkSf when we have begun in Christianity, to go on, and make progress to higher attainments, and not to have all to begin again ; that whenever we had laid the foundation, we should go on and build the superstructure, and not to keep always laying the foundation, or have occasion to lay it the second time, which foundation, or. beginning, or first setting out in Christianity, consists in these things, in rcficntance from dead works, and in faith towards God ; which foundation was laid whep they first turned from their erroneous and wicked ways, and embraced Christianity, and believed the gospel. And nextly, in the doctrine ofbaptUmSf and o(laying on ofhand$^ because when they first entered upon a profession of the gospel, they were baptized, and had hands laid on them, that they might. re« ccive the Holy Ghost. By the doctrine of baptisms and laying on ofhandi^ the apostle means those plain instructions that were given them, to prepare them for baptism, and laying on bands; and lastly, as to the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment, the doctrines of the resurrection and the future state, or world to come, were the first principles of religion, that they first began with.

Now, by those who were once enlightened, the apostle means those that were once indoctrinated in Christianity, and brought so far to understand and believe it, as to make them forsake their former errors and vicious courses in their unbelief, as is evidently understood, chap. X. 32. Tasting of the heavenly gifts, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, are the same, and mean their receiving the Holy Ghost, as they did by the laying on of hands; and lastly, in tasting of the good word of God, and the powers of,the world to come, though it is probable those were everywhere made partakers of the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, that were true saints; yet I believe that when it was not accompanied with gracious exercises, it was always accompanied with great common illuminations, and aflbctions. It is not probable that they should have the Holy Ghost dfNfeliing in them with respect to his miraculous influences, and not feel anything of the power of it in their souls. When the Holy Ghost was given th^m, they felt his influence, not only outwardly, but inwardly; not only in their understandings, but aflfections. I believe never any had the Holy Ghost, with respect to his extraordinary operations, (see Numb, xxiii. 10, zxiv. 5, 6. 1 Sam. x. 6.) more than Balaam and Saul. They were ahconvert^d mm^

VSB Horn 09 voB mnui.

%itf JH tfaey fiik lih inflnenee id this Hmf. Thus thejr tend of the good word of God, and tho power of the world to ooMp Tbey tasted of the good fiford of God as tho stony, pfroond bes^ ers, who anon with joy receive tho word, and as the Galih»ai|i :did who'thought it such a hlessednoss to hoar the word of God, smd wouM hairo pkicked out their eyes, and given then to thi •apostle. They experieoced in themselfos tho power of the world to come, that is, of tho ioTisiMe work!; aoe Ephes. L 21, and Heb. ii. 5; and felt the powers of the invisible ageel of that world upon their minds. It is eortaio.BOBO oiermsi miraculous gifts without eztrsordioary itaflaence of the Spirit of God to oonrinoe the Judgment. 1 Coir. ziii. 8. ««Thougii I have all (aithi so that I could nmovo mountains^ nod hsvs not charity, I am nothing ;'* and donhtloss there was eooimss-ly an answerable or proportional efieci on the afibetaoos, si thero.was on the judgment* As that iaith there mentioned n there distinguished from true grace or charity, and tharefcra different in kind from saving (kitht so do these things hsre mentioned from saving grace. *

, [299] Heb. vi. '4, 5, 0. If any think that the iipoitle km .wd expf^Mions too high to denote aiqr gifts of the Spirit eoniMS to good and bad nmh though miracolpoi gifts, 1 answer that ik drift of the apostle, and bis argument in those words, led him lo

. set forth the greatness of the privilege that such persons had received; tliat he might the better show the exceeding aggravatiosf of their apostasy, whence what the apostle says might. be tk more easily believed, vit. that it was impossible to renew thea again to repentance. For it is certain that he intends the ag^

. gravatedness of their crime, as a reason of it, because he himseif gives it as a reason of it, ver. 6, in those words, ** Seeing they

, crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and pat liim to so open jihame."

".' [107] Heb. xi. 1. '* Faith is the eyidence of things not sees:" ,. that is, it is their being evident. This verse is as much as if be . bad said. Faith 1$ the being pretent of tilings that are to cmse, , and the being clearly seen of things that are not seen. The nih \eiance of things hoped fort Mi|j(it have been translated thesMst-encct that is, meir now subsisting.

. [227] Heb. vi. 4» 5, 6. <' For it is impouible," be. Those .^ that the apostle here has respect to, must be such* as were gviltj ^; of the ubpardonable sin. The falling away that beapeafcs of s ^ an apostasy from Christianity. It could not be otherwise b«t jtb^ those who in those days had been Christiansi and ibeaspah

n \y renounced Cliri«tlnn!ty, must openly reproach tbat apirit that t Christians were then so generally endued with in hif miracnlpus I gifts wliich was so notorious, and was so great a thing and the I principal thing in them that drew the eyes of the world upon I them, and was the greatest seal that God gave them to evidence in the sight of the world, that they were his people, and which was the argument that was principally effectual for-the gaining I others to them. When they openly renounced Christianity, that they once had appeared to embrace, their renunciation contained a great and open reproach, for it was an avowed casting away and rejecting a thing that has been received, as having found it nought and vile. He that admits and receives another in the capacity of a wife, or husband, or lord, or other relation, and then afterwards on trial rejects them and turns them out of doors, casts a vastly greater reproach on them than those that never received them: much more those that received* any one for their God. 80 these apostates here spoken of, in renouncing Christianity, did openly cast the greatest reproach on Christianity; and therefore the apostle says, ver. 6, they put him to an opea shame. And indeed an open, declared renunciation of Chri^ tianity, aAer it had been embraced, is itself an open reproaching, and blaspheming of it in words; and they that apostatized and openly renounced Christianity in those days and the church, being in those circumstances that have already been mentioned, must openly renounce and reproach tbat Spirit that the Christians were endued with, and confirmed by; for that Spirit was the principal and moM obvious thing in that Christianity tbat they renounced and reproached. And especially must it be so, when those openly renounced Christianity that had themselves been endued with the Holy Ghost, as those here spoken of hafd been. In renouncing Christianity, they must renounce the Spirit, that great seal of Christianity that they had had* And those that had such experience of the evidences of the truth of Chrif<» tianity that those had, as has been explained, No. 165, must do it against light and the conviction of their own consciences, and so what they did amounts to the sin against \he Holy Ghost. And those that apostatized from Christianity under these circumstaDceff would naturally be abundant in their reproaches of the religion they had renounced, and the Spirit that confirmed it, that they might justify themselves, and that they might not appear inconsistent with themselves in tlie eye of the .world. The same apot* tales are evidently spoken of in chap. x. 25, kc«, where the apos* tie speaks of their forsaking the assemblies of Christians, and sinning willfully after tbey had received the knowledge of the truth, and treading under foot the Son of God, and renouncing

<h9 Uood of the covieDanC wherewith they had b#eo u»etified^ luid doing deipite to the Spirit of Grace.''

rSOl] H^. Vi. 4, 5j<« Cmuermug tktme wha were anee ah U^Uenedf fcc; It hi air argametit, that thoie here spoken of ait each at were aever regeaeratedi that thej are compared te die thxuray groiAidy whichj howe^r, it may feen to receive thetrcd and to ooorisb it, to that, it may spring up, and appear Aouriiih ing awhile^ yet never brings forth any good fmit, but the fiait finally produced always is briars and thorns,, because the gfoand is thorny,L lall of seeds and roots of thorns, which were oetrcr purged out to prepare the groand for the good seed; so tbat wbatsoeftr showers descend upon it, liow benign soever they are, yetdiey only go to nourish the thorns, and-make themgrcnr the faster, ven 8, which representation certainly implies that the ground is nought,' it waa never so changed as to prepare it to bring forth good fruit. It is a good role in our €fodeavours to aoMderstand the mind of tfa^ Spirit of God, to compare apiritasi things with spiritual,, and to interpret scripture by scripuirs» Now it is mnlifiMt that Christ represents the thorny ground m diArent fiidta the' good ground. The ground itself is nought-and Misfitted so to receive and nourish the seed, as to bring good fruit to Infection; and they that are represented by the tboraj ground ifire, in-Ghrist's explanationof UiIb parable, distinguishirf from thos^ that have good and«honest hearts. The fault of the way-side, of the stony ground, and of the thorny ground, was, io each, the nature of the ground; and the good fruit in the good ground is ascribed to the better nature of the ground; and therefore, they that are here represented as ground, which, though of-ten receiving refreshing benign showers; always brings forth brisn and thorns, are ground that never has been purged, and changed, and made good, but is inveterately evil, and therefore fit for nothing but to be burnt. It is not impossible that thorny ground may be brought to bring forth good fruit, but then it must be changed, the very roots of the thorns must be killed or rooted op. If this is not done, let goo<l seed be sown in it, and good aod kindly showers of rain descend upon it never so often, it will bring forth briars and thorns. This killing or rooting up of the hists of the heart, compared to thorns, is done by a work of regeneration, or circumcising the heart, as is represented, Jer. iv. 4,5, *'Break up your fallow ground, sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskias of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that noae can quench it." Therie the end of the ground that bears briars aod thorns^ \$ represented as being to be burned, as here in the

yi. chap, of Hebrews. This is- the end of those whose hearts do as it were bring forth briars and thorns, and that because their hearts were never circumcised, i. e. never regenerated.

In Luke viii. 18, when Christ had ended the parable of the sower, he concludes, Take heed how you hear; (i. e. that you in bearing the word are not like the way side, or the stony or thorny ground, on which the good seed fell;) for says Christ, *' Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have;" referring still to the parable, and the taking away, or the withering and perishing of ihe seed from the evil sorts of ground ; implying that such have DO true spiritual life, no real goodness, and that the seeming good they have, they shall lose.

[284] Heb. vi. 19. '* Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within theyeil.'' That, which is here called hope^ is the same with the grace of faith, but only with respect to one kind of its exercises, vis. those that respect God^s profnises, or our oijDH future pronnted goad. It is no other than trust in God, (or rather/at/A in God,) through Christ, for salvation. This agrees with the context, beginning with the 12th verse, and with the description given of hope in the words themselves^ for it is faith in Christ that is the stability of the soul, faith is that by which we are built on that strong rock, so that we cannot be overthrown, and the same is the anchor by which we are held fast, and cannot be driven to and fro of winds and storms, and shipwrecked and lost. That which is here called hope is the very same that is elsewhere called faith; and saving and justifying faith is often in the New Testament called by the name of hope; as in Rom. viii. 24, 25, '* For fre are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for f But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." How are we saved by hope, but as we are saved or justified by faith ? It further appears that by hope here is meant faith, by the following words, ** But hope that is seen is not hope," &lc., compared with the words of the same apostle, Heb. xL 1, ''Faith is the evidence ofthings not seen;" and by the next verse, " But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it," compared with the 12th verse of the context in this vi. of Hebrews, ** That ye be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." And it oofty be further confirmed by comparing this last place with the foregoing-verse, *' And we desire every one of you to show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end;" and also comparing both with the 19th verse, the text we are upon. That faith with the apostle sometimes signifies the same with hope, is

j;4t NOTES 0!f THE BfBLflt^

•innifest Trpm bis description of it in tbie 1st wtrit ofiK of Heh^ «*FAith is tlie sabslance of things hoped for;" and Gal. ▼• 5,<* Wt through the Spirit wnit for the hope of rigfateoBsnesSt thHMgli Aitbr "fid Colos. i. 23, ** If ye continue in fakh grooodcd mi settled, and be not moved away from the hope of tbe^ gospel:" €ominoinggroanded and settled in faith, and omnoved mthe hope of the gospel, are expressions evidently used as exegetical oaea( another; and Heb. iii. 6, ^^ If we hold fast oor cofifideoce, aad ^joicing of hope firm unto the end:" our confidence and om hope seem to be aynonymons; so, Rom. hr* t8, -^' Who agaiait kt^ Mieved \n hope.^* 1 Tim. i. 1, *'Jesos Christ srhidi is •or Hope." So the apostle Peter seems to use the term bope» 1 Petc*r i. 21, ** Who by him do believe in'Grod, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, thatyonr faith in hope might be in God." So chap. iii. IS, ** Be ready to give a m-son of the hope that is in yon with meekness and fear ;'V tiMt is, to give a reason, or declare the gronnds of yonr faith. So hope seems to be used for faith by the apostle John. 1 Jolm iii.S. ^* Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself^ ena as be is pure."

Hope, in the New Testament, is often spobeir of as a greet Christian grace and virtue, and one of the msnn tbinga tbatdis-Ungaishes a true Christian, which woold be difficult to ooderiHaJ •r account for, if by hope is meant no more than wfaatwt eoai-monly underst^ind by the word, vie. his thinking well of his one State, or hoping well of his future state. That is not hard to do; ft is what nature is prone to; but by hope they doubtless meaat something more, viz. an embracing the promises of God end fiducial relying on them through Christ for salvation. This is thiK great Christain grace that the apostle speaks of in the xiit. chap, of 1 Corinth., where he spenks of faith, hope, charity; end by faith there, and also where it is distinguished from hope, is meant faith in a larger sense, viz. acquiescing in the truth in whatever he testifies or reveals without any special regard to oorowB concern and future interest in what he reveals. Hope is our ee-quiesciog and relying on God's truth and sufficiency as to wint concerns our own future happiness.

• [310] Heb. V4i{. 1. *'We have such an high priest wboie set on the right hand of the throne of the Mnjesty in the heavens.'' This is often taken notice o(in this epistle, as chap. i. 3; a. 12; xii. 2. This high priest, when he enters into the Holy of holies with his own blood, does not only appear there standing btfeif the throne, or mercy-seat, as the high priests of old were woatts do when they entered into the Holy of holies onca a year wiik the Uoadof others, bat iHs down on ibe thromia-tbe fioiy of

holies, on the right hand of God, which shows the exceedinp^ dignity of the priest, his nearness, and dearness to God, and the absolute sufficiency of the sacrifice that he had offered, the blood of which he entered in there with, and the dignity and honourable-tiess of the manner of his interceding there; which was not merely by supplicating, as one in humble posture before the throne, but by representing his will to the Father, as one silting in glory with him on the throne, as John xvii. 24, '* Father, I will that they that thou hast given mc, be with me," Slc. His thus being admitted and invited of God to sit with him on the throne, denotes God's full, and perfect, and great satisfaction, and well-pleasedness in, and rest on, this high priest when he had offered his sacrifice, and rntered into the Holy of holies with the 'blood of it to obtain of God that for which he shed his blood. God immediately receives him, and accepts him and his plea, and says to him, " Sit thou on my right hand till I gifike thine eoemies thy footstool." And it is a note of Christ's perfect assurance of the Father's acceptance of him as priest, and his rest in him, as having virtually obtained what he intercedes for, having all things put into his hands, being made head over all things to the church, that he does not merely stand before the throne suppficating, hoping, and waiting, as the legal high priests did, but sits down in perfect rest, as being satisfied in bis lull acceptan<^e and virtual possession of all he seeks. He sits OQ the throne as a royal priest, as a priest on the throne agreeably to the prophecy in Zech. vi. 13: Being made to reign to accomplish the ends of the priesthood, according to his own will; for God has given all power in heaven "and on earth, that Christ may give eternal life to as many as God bath given him.

[312] Heb. ix. 28. <* So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto those that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." The first time tha^ Christ appeared, be in one sense did not appear without sin f for he bare the sins of many, he appeared in that form, in those cir-camstances, and with those labours and sufferings that were to-keas of imputed sin, or guilt, that lay upon him; but thf n he perfectly freed himself from this imputed sin,, be perfectly abolished this guilt, by those sufferings he underwent, as the apostle is here arguing in the preceding part of the chapter; and therefore when he appears the second time, it shall be without sin, without any of those tokens of imputed guilt which he had in his state of humiliation. He shall be exceedingly far from them, the state in which he will appear, will be immensely different from the state of oat under the tokens and fruits of guilt and wraths for he will apptur in the glory of his Father, with all the holy angels, a§ the

Sflpreme head mod judge of tk ooiTone, wiih ine&Uo nl » conceivftble glory ud nftgoificeoce. Hod not Cbrin porfodf 8ftti«fied for the tini of men, eod to done evay all bbrnpoiii goilt, he coald not have appeared a second time witlMot lUv hal •Hist aWrays have remained nnder the tokens of Crod'e oorw (or fin. But at the day of jadgment he will appear ioinilely fm from that* The glory he will appear io at the day of jodgmnli will be the greatest aqd brightest evidence of all, 4if hk Adly satisfied for sin. His resarrection is a glorioiia it, and therefore is called bis jastification. His heaveoi and sitting on the right hand of God, is a still •videnee, as it is a higher degree of his exaltation ^ but <lm gisqf that he will appear in at the day of jadgment, will be Hw bnghh est evidence of all| as herein appears the glory of bis eialtAa in* its highest degree of all, and is the highest rewmrd wUdblk Father J^stows on him for it, and so is the higfaost tokcw of •!■ acceptance of it as sofficient and perfect. Be^e the gloiy;aflk special afiair of that day which Christ shall bear, then will hedn beginning of the consummate glory and reward of boib Chrii and hiscborch, to last throagbont eternity. And notooljrthi glory that Christ will then appear in, bat the nature of tbe ness that he will come upon, will show him perfectly to done away all the sins of his elect, of which he will be tbe jnigi^ and will save those that Imve believed in him*. Qad woaldatt have committed this affair to one that had andertakon for ihsa^ unless he had satisfied for them.

He will appear without sin to salvation. The first time he a^ peered, it was with sin to^procure salvation; the secood be vw appear to bestow salvation, which will in the event show tbatsii-vatioo is fully procured.

[288] Heb. x. 1. '<Tbe law having a shadow of good thiogslo

come, and not tbe very image of the things.'* Here a shadow ii

^distinguished from images, or t)ictures, as having a more isspcr

feet representation of the things represented by it. Tbe types sf

the Old Testament are compared to this kind ofrepresentalioaef

things, not only here, but chap. viii. 5,andColos.ii. 17,whickfill;

' resemble them on several accounts. Tbe shadow of a thing is

' an exceedingly imperfect representation of it, and yet has sadis

resemblance, that it has a most evident relation to tbe thtag of

which it is the shadow. Again, shadows are a kind of dark r^

semblances. Though there be a resemblance, yet the issage is

accompanied with darkness, or hiding of the light; the li^t if

beyond the substance, so that it is hid. So was it with the tm$

of the Old Testament; they were obscure and dark; the ugiit

fas beyond the substance. The light that was plain^ loiew

_ _ ■ • r

gospel tilings came after Chrifit, the tnbstanee of nil the nnrient types. Ttie shadow was accoinpanied wiili darkness and obfcu-rity ; gospel things were then hid under a veil.

[330] Hcb. X. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, That the ain agaimlfthe Holy Ghost is here intended, is confirmed from the place iif the Old Testam^t, that aecms to be referred to in the 28th and 29th verses: fur the pince that seems especially to be referred to is that in Numb, xv* 30, 31, be.; where God haTin^jT been speaking of the sins of ignorance, that should \m ntoned for with sacrifice, tells what sins should not be atoned for with sacrifice in these words, ** But the soul that flocth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the (and or A stranger, the same roproachcrh the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people; because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his ebmmahdment'; r-liRt soul shall be utterly cut off:" And then ih the words next following, there is an iiijstnnce given of such a man so sinning' presumptfiousfy, viz, the sabbnth-breaker, that gnthered sficki on the sabbath, and how no sacrifice was accepted for him,1iut he perished without mercy by ail the congregation's stoning him with stones. See margin of the Hebrew Bible. That the apostle here refers to this passage, seems evident by these things. The apostle is here speaking of a sin, for which there remairiv no more sacrifice, and in that in Numbers shows what sins were' not to be atoned fur by legal sacrifice. lie speaks here of hiiti that defpiied Moses* 7atr, which agrees with those words in that place in Numbers, *^ Becavse he hath despised the iion word of the Lord^ and hath broken the commandinivf :^* the rea-^iven in that place why no sacrifice was to be accept<Sd for him; so here the reason given why rio more sacrifice remains, is that he sins wilfully. In that place another reason why he siniuld, perish without accepting a sacrifice was, that he repro/irAecf the Lord: so here the reason given why there remained no i^i^-erifice for this was, that he had insolently and ihaliciously, reproached the Spirit of Grace, for so the words In the original signify which are translated hath done despite to the Spirit of Orace. (Vide Van Maestrict, p. 363, col. L) Another reason there given is, that be had despised the word of the Lord f a reason here given is, that he had trampled on the Son of God, who is the Word of God. 'J^he man gathering sticks perished by the hand of all the congregation ; the whole congregatioii were, commanded to stone him with stones, to bear testimony that none had mei'cy on him, agreeal)ly to God's direction in such 4 case, Deut. xiii. 8, 9, 10. **l\eiiher shall thine eye' pity hiijnj neither shnit thou spare him, but thou shah surely kill hiin';

VOL. IX. 69

tUne.hand •bail be first upon hiui to put him to deaiht and afterwards the hand of all the people, and thou ahalt atone huo with stones that he die/' Thus the sabbath-breaker perished mthout mercy. And he died under the hand of ttco or thru vitt^^tSf as the apostle concluded from the law in such a

Hence we may gather the meaning of thOifWord tcilfuUy io Ihat place, That the apostle means liy it in- the same sense as the man in Numbers is said to sin presumptuously; the phrase in the original is with an high hand^ or rather, a lifted «p hand^ as of one that is going to strike another. The same word is used of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xii. 26, *' Ue lift his basd against the king."

[135] Heb. xii. 21. **^ And so terrible was the sight, that He-ses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." The place referred to Sf«ai8 to me to be, Deut. ix. 18, 19, <* I fell down, for I wss sifraid of the ansrer and hot displeasure," &c« God at that time qiianifested his displeasure by the exuaordinary burning in the mount See verse 11.

[239] Heb. xiii. 13, 13, 14. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his leproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Christ suffered as one that was not fit to live among men, nor to die in a phice uhere men dwelt; and therefore was carried forth as execrable without the gate to suffer there: Such reproach did Christ suffer, and &uch were the circunh stances of the Christian church in those days, that those liiai would be the faithful followers of Christ must suffer like re-

f»roach: they were cast off by the generality of men ; they were ooked upon as not fit for human society, worthy to be shut out from dwelling with men. Alatth. x. 22. '' And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." If they would cleave to Christ, they must even go forth with him without the camp, and be reputed as unclean as he was: they must be shut without the gates of the city as execrable too, and must bear his reproach, or the same reproach that he bore. So the apostle advises them to be willing to go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

But by going forth to Christ without the camp, or the gate of ihe city, the apostle here seems especially to mean exposing ihem^elves to be shut out as unclean, from the Congregation ni the Jews, and from the temple and city of Jerusalem, and from the religiAus society of the Jews iu their synagogues, by their lur-

NOTES ON TUE BIBLE. tH

snkinjQ^ the ancient legal sacrifices and other legal o]^rvai|ces for Christ, ver. 9.

[52] James ii. 19. ''The devils also believe and tremble.** They believe that Jesiis is the Christ, Sec. Aud tremble a( tbii thoughts ofthe.overthrow he will give them.

[264] 1 Pet. i. 3, with the context. The apostle directing bii epistle to the Christians in Pontus, &cc., takes notice, in the.fo^e* going verse^ of the hand that each of the persons of the.Trioily had in their being so distinguished from the rest of the worldf ai to be Christians, or saints, '' elect according to the foreknopr* ledge of God the Father^ through sanctificaiion of the SpirUt unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood.of Jisii/^ C/irist.^^ And having mentioned, the. blood of Christ, and refer red. to his<Ieati|f which'is, in itself considered,-without wbatfollowff||| s^ roelfinch^ly snbject, as Christ says, Aiatth. ix. 15, ''The days corne!i»b9n the bridegroom shall be taken from themi and tlien shall (hey fast; he therefore in this ver$e leads their thoughts to the resurreuippf a more joyful subject. The death of Christ, without a.reuprt rection following, might justly have damped and killed th.c hope ol all hia disciples; but his resurrection revives their hearts, ^fvd renews and everlastingly establishes their hopes, no more to be thus damped. It is probable that the apostle, when he wrote ib^f^ fpinembered how it was with him and the rest of the aposll^S| when Christ was dead. Before they were full ofUopf: of being advanced with Christ in his kingdom; but when be was deadi their hopes seemed .U> be quashed, and dead as it were with iii{f)| but when Christ was raised to life again, so were their hopes renewed, and abundantly established, and their hearts were filled with joy. Christ, by his resurrection, is said to be begoifm^ Acts xiii. 33. " God hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." When t(ie Father raised Christ from the dead, he was, as it were, begotten again of the Father ; and so iiis disciples were with him beffof* ten again to a lively hopCj or as it probably might have been htV^ lev rendered, a living hope. The expression, a living hope^'%ttm$ to denote three things:

1. That, as Christ since his death is alive again, so their hope was alive, and not dead as the hope of the disciples was, whilt* Christ was dead, though Cliristiaus suffered persecution, versei 6, 7. •

2. That their hope by Christ's resurrection is exccedinfflf established, and made 8t,rong and lively; t»o that they great]?-rejoiced, (verse 6,) yea» rejoiced with joy unspeakablei %ndfuO of glory.

S48 NOTKS ON THE BIBLE.

' 8* Which ieeint more eftpecialiy lo be iiiteodady ibetr hopf that 18 begotten and eiitablislied by ChriKt'ii resurrectauo, m aa immortal and never dying hope, hh the Spirit of Grace in tbe Saints is called living water, becHUtie it springs up into ever-hwting life. John iv. And Chris? is called the bread of life, because he that eutefh thereof shall tiot die, but live for ever. John vi. The hope that the disciples had before Christ's death, wasin a great measure dead when he was dead. But now Christ is risen, and is alive for evermore; Rev. i. 18; aothehops Ibat is begotten and established by the resurrection of Cbriit, is a living, never dying hope. It is now too much established by that glorious resurrection of Christ, ever to die again, lo iHat de;?ree, that the ho|M of the disciples di^, when Christ ilied. God the Father, raised Christ incorruptible, never to diis'more, and thereby begot theni to an inheritance incornipti-btto. A rich fiither begets a child to an inheritance; so God, thcf Father of their Lord Jesas Christ, and their Father here spoken of, has begotten them to an inheritance, and this inheri-tknoe is incorruptible, and that fadeth not away. And as their lAheritance that they are begotten to, is immortal and nnfiid-ihg, so is their hope a living and unfading hope. Verse 4 4rhe iame power of God, that raised Christ immortal, will keep their fbith alive, that it shall never die; as verse 5, ^* Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." So that their fViith and hope fives still, though they be subject to great trials; even as retined pure gold will bear the fire, i*er«es 6, 7; and therefore the apostle exhorts them to hope to the etid, verse 13, or-to hope with a living and never*dying hope

[480] 1 Peter ii. 7, 8. ** Unto you therefore which beliefOt he is precious : but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which tbe builders disallowed, the same is become the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence," &,c. There are several ways and respects, that stones or rocks are valuable and of benefit to men, in each of which Christ in scripture is compared to a stone or rock with regard to believers.

1. Some stones are highly valued for the preciousness of their nature aud substance, and beauty of their form, ainl so are valued as a great treasure, and that which is prized because it enriches and adorns. So Christ is said to be a stone that is precious to believers. He is spoken of as a pearl of great price. So he was typified by the precious or costly stones that were brought for the foundation of the temple.

2. Stones or rocks are a great benefit to mankind, as a sure foundatiou of a building, so is Christ to believers.

3. Rocks were eointnonly made use of for defence from ene-lilies; tbeir fortresses were ordinarily built on high rocks, or rocky mountains; so is Christ often spoken of in scripture as the strong rock, high tower, refuge* and sure defence of be-lievers^

4. Rocks were of great bene6t to travellers in the hot parch-ed deserts of Arabia, near to Canaan, by their cool shadows. The benefit belief ers have by Christ, is compared to this, Isai., axxii. at the beginning.

5. lo a time of inundation, mountains or rocks would be the places 10 resort to for safety, to keep from being overwhelmed. The benefit believers have by Christ is compared to this, Ps. Izi. 2, ** When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

On the contrary, there are several ways that stones, or rocks, are disesteemed among men, and hurtful to them; wherein Christ is compared to a stone or lock with regard to unbelievers :

1. Nothing is ordinarily looked upon aid treated by Bseo as more worthless than common stones; so is Christ disesteemed and rejected by unbelievers: as builders throw away uiis-ahapen stones as not for their pur|iose, and of no value. .

fL Stones are offensive to travellers, and an occasioa of their stumbling and falling; so is Christ to uubelieveril, **a tfloiie of stumbling."

3. Rocks are very often fatal to sailors, and the occasion of their suffering shipwreck; so those that enjoy the gospel,.and have the means of grace, but fail through unbelief, are in scripture compared to them who suffer shipwreck at sea; 1 Tim. u 19, *^ Concerning faith have made shipwreck.''

4. Those high rocks that were most fit for places of defence, bad dreadful precipices, which if men fell over, they would be broken in pieces: Isai. viii. 14, " And he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, &c* And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and taken."

[150] 1 Peter i v. 6. '' For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the Spirit; that is, that they might be judged according to what they did when they were alive amongst men in the flesh, as other mortal men, and live according to God in the Spirit; that is, that their spirit might live, might continue to exist before God, and as God doth separate from fleshly bodies, and according as God pleases, to fix their state.

S50 NOTSS ON THE BIBLE.

[140] 2 Peter i. 10. '«Wherefore I he rather, brethren, gire diliflrence to nitike your calling niid election sure, for he thit doeth these things sh.-iil never fall." The apostle had exhorted to ^gfive (lili|rence to add to our iaith, virtue, dto.; and tclh lis that if we do these thingsi \vc shall not he barren and on-IVuitful in the knowledge, <Stc. Novr he offers anoilicr argument ; he tolls us that lo nefiflect those things, is the way to . doubtfulness about onr condition, ^^He that lacketh thoiu> things has forgotten that he was purged from liis old sins;" Ifherefore the meaning of this verse is, the rather give diligence in those things^ that you may make your calling and eieeiioii sure; as is evident by the folloiving clause, ** for he chat doeili ttiese things shall never fall;" ** Wherefore tlie rather," isii much as to say, the rather for this, vii. *' ttial you may makt your," &c.

[265] 2 Peter i. 11, to the end. Verse 11. •* So an cntrmm shall be ministered to you abundantly in the kingdom of our Lsfi and Satiour Jtsus Christ.^' By the kingdom se^ms to have fceen intended by the apostle, and to lie underBtoDd by the Christians in those days, the kingdom that Christ would set «p ' and establish at his second eomingj rpoken of iii the 16ih veru. That was the principal accomplishment of that prophecy of the kingdom of the Son of God in the ii. and vii. chapters ef Daniel, and was the greatest thing intended by Christ when ke spake of his coming in his kingdom.

Verse 12. " Wherefore I will not Jbe negligent to put you si-ways in remembrance of these things, though ye know them^ ani be established in the prestnt truth,^^ By the ptesent truth seems to he intended the doctrine o( Christ's second coming, because there were some apostates and false teachers among them lately risen up, spoken of, chapter ii. 3, thnt denied it, and opposed it. They denied the Lord that bought them, chapter ii' 1; and of consequctioe denied the second coming of Christ, zs appears by chapter iii. They were scotTers walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of his coming, fortbe apostle in thut chapter does not only speak of such a sort of men as future, but as what was then present, as having beco foretoM tiy the apostles of ihe Lord Jesus, verse 2. The a|06-tles had foretold of scoffers that should come befure the conuDj of Christ, as they knew, and the apostle speaks of that sort of men he had described in the second chapter as being in ymrt a fullillment of their prediction, as the apostie^John suys, 1 John ii. 18, '' Little children, it is the last time; and as yo have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there mw^j antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last tune.'' So here,

chafifer ii. 3, the apostia Peter puts them in mind, bow the apostles of the Lord Jesus bad told them, sud they knew by their word, that in the last days scoffers should come. There* fore the aposUe would not have them shocked by them, now they were come. It is evident that the apostle speaks of them ^s present, and not merely future, by the followiof part of that chapter, particularly verses 5. 8, 9, 10. 15, 16, 17. So that it isihe doctrine of the second coming of Christ that was the doctrioe that was especialjy opposed by apostates among thism at that day, and therefore that doctrine is what the apos* tie calls the present truth. The apostle, in this verse, signifies to them that he writes this epistle to establish them, and pvt them io remembrance ia what he calls the present truth; but it is that truth of Christ's second coming that he writes this epistle to establish them in, as appears by the beginning of the 3d chapter, where he uses the same expression of putting them in remembrance. This second epistle I how write unto you, in both wiiich I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words spoken before of by the holy^ prophet, and the commandment of us the apoetles of the Lord' and Saviour, and that word and commandment was what they told them of Christ's second coming, as appears by what there follows*

Verse 16. '* For we have not followed cunningly deviaed /glik9 uken Vfe made Tcnownunio you t.he power and coming of our Lord Jesus Chrisu'*^ We^ i. e. the apostles have not followed cun-^ ningly devised fables, when we taught you this present truth of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he speaks of this as a c^oc^rine that the apostles had taught them before, chap. lit. 2. These apostates gave out that what Jesus had said flboyt his second coming, whs only a fable ounniugly devised by liim, perhaps to maintain the credit of his for men pretences of being the Messiah prophesied of, thnt was to-set up the king* dora of heaven, when otherwise he would liave lost it all by his sufferings and disgrace that he met with while he lived, and to keep up the zeal of his followers, and so his numc and honour^ after his death.

Verses 16,17,18, " But were eye-wirnesses of his majesty," &c. Th^y, the apostles, had not only heard hini say, that.ha would come in his kingdom in power and great glory, but tbey were in a sort eye-witnef*ses of it, in that they weie eye-wit* nesses of something in Christ that was a remarkable and wonderful earnest and prelihation of it, viz. the glory of bis tr^ns-lignration. The glory of the transfiguration was manifested to Peter, thnt wrote this epistle, and two other iliKciplea, to that very end, that it might bq an earnest of what he had beea tell*

ing them of hit toming in hit kingdom, and a specimen of tk glorj of hit tecond coming. For in each of the three efBng^ iitct tlie account of Christ't trantfigiiration follows next lAer Christ'fl foretelling them of his coming in hit kingdom. ^'I»c they taw of the glory of Chritt't transfiguration was an eri-dence of two things that were dependent one on anotheri both which these apnstales denied.

Firtt^ It wat an evidence that he wat the Son of Grod, tlie tame that wat declared by the voice which taid« ** This is mr beloved Son." This, these apostates denied, chap. ii. ver. I, *' denying the Lord that bought them." This wat evident b? tiiat glory that they saw, as,

1. The glory that Christ there appeared in was so divine tsd admirably excellent, and had snch a bright and evident appearance of divinity, such an admirable and inefiable tembhiBceflf the infinitely glorious perfection of God, hi» awful majeaty, hii purity, and infinitely tweet grace and love, at evidently denoted him to be a Divine person. The apostle says, ** He received from the Father, honour niid glory:'* the term it dot-bled and varied thus to signify the exceeding excellency of ibo glory.

There wim doubtless an inward sight, or lively sense of beirt of Christ's spiritual glory that accompanied Peter's tight of the visible glory of Christ. There was an ineflfable beauty, majesty, and brightness in his countenance, that held forth and naturally represented the excellencies of his mind, bit holine^^. hit heavenly meekness and grace, and love, and that muje^y that spake his union with the Deity, and by the influence of the Spirit of God accompanying, excited in Peter, and the other two that were with him, a great sense of those perfections, and their immense excellency, ndonibleness, and sweetness. And the Spirit of God doubtless accompanied the word of God, that Peter and the other then heard, so that that word wasi spiritually understood, and believed, so that Christ's glory then was manifested to the disciplcM three ways: hy the rnys of light, ii wat exhibited to their eyes; by the voire, it wiis declared to their ears; and hy the Spirit, to their souls. The Inst was the most convincing and certain evidence to them of Christ's divinity.

This glory of Christ, that the apostles then tnw, both the outward glory and the spiritual glory, that the outward glonr had a semblance of, did most remarkably appenr to be such os exceedingly became the only begotten, dearly beloved, and infinitely lovely Son of God. Therefore, the apostle John, a ho was another eye-witness of it, speaking f»robubly with specinl referenct to this, John i. 14, says, '* We beheld hit glory, the

NOTES ON THE BiBLE. ^ 553

glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and .truth." It exhibited not only the divine greatness in the ma-. jesty of which the apostle Peter in this place especially speaks, but the divine grace and love in the sweetness of it.

2. Thisglpry that appeared in the person of Christ, did exactly resemble that exr^llent glory that the apostle speaks of, out of which the voice came, ver. 17. For there was there in the mount an external glory, as a visible symbol of the presence of God the Father, and by which he was represented; as well ma an external glory in God the Son, viz. that bright cloud that overshadowed them. There was a glory in that cloud that the apostle calls an excellent glory. When it is said in the evangelists that a bright cloud overshadowed them, it is not meant such a light or white cloud as shines by a cast of light upon it from some shining body, such as are some clouds by the bright reflection of the sun's light; but a cloud bright by an internal light shining out of it, which light the apostle calls an excellent glory. It probably, was an ineffably sweet, excellent sort-of light, perfectly,differing from, and far exceeding the light of . the sun. All light is sweet, but this seems to have been immensely more sweet than any other that ever th^y had; impressing, sonie idea which we cannot conceive, having never seen it, as we can conceive of nothing of light more than we have seen; we could have conceived of no such light as the light of the sun, had not we seen it, nor of any colour, blue, red, green, purple, nor auy other. God doubtless can excite other ideas of light in 6ur minds besides any of those that we have had, and far exceeding them; a light affording sweetness and pleasure to the sight, far exceeding all pleasure of the grosser and inferior senses. Therefore, Peter the apostle, that writes this epistle, was exceedingly delighted with it in the time of it, which made him say, ** It is good for us to be here;*' and made him talk of building tabernacles, and tbinking of spending the rest of his days there ; and he still (ihough now old and near bis end, verses 13, 14,) retains a lively sense of the exquisite gloriousness and pleasantness of that light, when he expresses himself as he does here, calling \i the excellent glory. And there probably was an ^xact resemblance between the glory that the disciples saw in Christ's face, and that which they saw in this cloud, which declared him to be the Son of God; for they saw him to be his Express Image.

The apostle John, who saw this, probably afterwards in his ▼isious, saw the very same sort of light and glory as an emanation of the glory of God, filling the New Jerusalem, which he now saw filling the mount of transfiguration, the type of that which he give$ an account of in Rev. xxi. 11, ** Having the VOL. IX. 70

.M4 tfOTBS ON TH& BIBLE.

•gloiy of God I B^d her ligbl was like irato a stone mosi prcrioM,

oveo KktBJBsper-stODe,.clear as crysul.** Tlie light ImiInb

lair seems to l>e perfectly differing io aatore fron^ any. that bis

be seeo io this worldt *i><l iimnenseiy more sweet and eicelkai.

lie ovideotly wants words and similitadjes to convey bis own ia-

priesJDO of il to oar minds; be wants something excelleDt, aad

sweet, and precious enough to set it forth. He says, ** It wu

•Kka a stone most precious ;^ he knew none precions, or hrigk,

OT'eicelient enough to the sight; but be says it was •* like ajis-

per-^toueyV more resembling that itian any other; hot tbat bast

•enfficiant, and tlierefore be adds, ** clear as crystal |^' and frosi

ska whole we may gather, it was somelhing he conid not ojtprew,

smd'tliat there was nothing like it* (Vide Note on the vent.)

fia it was theaame kind of light that this beloved disciple bad the

gloi7 of God represented by, Rev. iv. a. *^ He that sat on il was Ukc

a JBsper and a sardine stone ;*' a jasper and a ftardiaa atnnc were

of diflerent colours, one green and the other red. How. tbes

cooU the fight appear like botb.^ .IBfytbis it is plain, that ia-

deed it wta like ueithee, and tliat the apostle could find aothuv

m drapresent it byi there waa all that was escelleni in bdkk.

This4SSomeibing like, his seeing that the street of tlw new Jfese-

salam waa Uke jNirs^4, and yet like tratuformt glm$$9 Bar.

IBI* 16.

Jl. This glory that ibay aaw in Cbcist,. appeared io tbem ai •oominutticated from that glory .in. the cloud, for the apoaila»ajf he received from the Father, honour and glory. The li^btio Christ's person appeared to iheni to be as it were lighted upi or begotten, as it were, by that* iu the cloud; or the glory io the cloud appeared shining on Christ, and so communicating the same excellent brightness. This again declared hioi to be the Son of God, for it showed him to be tbe express image of ■ tbe Father, and to be .froni the Father, us begotten of hia. Thus the glory of Christ's transfiguration was an evidence that be was the Son of God.

Secandly. Il was alsi^ a s|)ecial and direct evidence that what lie had said a little before of his second coming, was true* Bj it, was given a specimen of that glory thut he should then ap-

B»r io, and showed that this was the person that tbe propbst aniel foretold, would come in so glorious a kingdom, that tbe Jews called it the kingdom of heaven, by tbe agreement there was between this glory they saw in Christ, aad that whicfa Daniel describes to be in that person that should set up that kingdom, whose garment is said to be white as anow. Daa* rii. 9. As Christ's garments were said to be white as the light, and so as BO fuller on eorth can \yhite tbem.

Andnextly^ besides the visible glory, the apostle mentions the voice that issued from the excellent glory in the cloiidi ** This is my beloved Son, in whoru I am well pleased ; hear him," (though the last clause, *< Hear him," is not here men* tioned.) It is observable that it is the very same, which tb^ Glory that was in the cloud declared to the eyes of the apostles, which the Voice in the cloud declared to their ears. The visible commniiication from this glory to (Christ, one glory.as it were, begetting another, and the exact resemblance of the glory begotten, declared him to be God's Son; and the sweet and exact agreement between ouv. and the other, and the union that appeared by coinniunicati<m, denoted the love between the Father and Son, as that he was well pleased in him. And this glory, being given as a specimen of the glory of his se« cond coming, declared the truth of what he had so lately told them of his second coming: the same that the voice implicitly declared, when it bid them hear him^ or believe what he said, which the disciples that heard it, must especially apply <o the , things he had most lately told them, and ins^Micted them in*

Verse 19. ** fVe have ako a more sure word of prophecy^ where^ unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark placc^ until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your htarts.^^ By the word of prophecy is here meant, the standing written revelation that God had given to his church, as appears by the two next verses. Thi:^ is spoken of as surer than ^. voice from heaven, liut the apostle has a special respect to the prophetical |mit of this written revelation, and most of all* those parts that speak of the glory of Christ's kingdom, which is the principal subject of scripture prophecy, particularly that prophecy in the vii. chap, of J>aniel, that speaks of the king« doni of heaven. This word of prophecy is as a light that shines in a dark place. The time of Christ's coming is here spokeii of as the morning, when Christ, who is the Sun, shall arise and: appear ; and his happy kingdom that he shall then sot up, i||i. represented as the day time. But the time that g>e8 before that, is here, represented as night time, or a time 4>f darknesi^ and we that live in that time, as being in a dark place. The word of prophecy is a^ a light shining in a dark placet or as the light of a bright star in this night, a light preceding the day of Christ's coming, like the morning star that is a foreriin-. ner of thedajr. The prophecies of that day, Yoretcll it as the day-star foretells the approaching day. The prophets were, barliing^rs.of that blesited season, as the nmrning star is the. harbinger of the day. By the piophecies of that day that go. before it, something of the light of that day is manifested be* forehand, and so is reflected.to it, so that mauc of the light of

the fire is anticipated, as by the dav-star while it is yet ni^ht. If we give heed to those prophecies, we shiili enjoy this foregoing light in our hearts, and so this day-star will arise; then our faith in these prophecies-will be the evidence of that glorious Sun that is now not seen, and will render his lisfht chaf is hoped for in some measure present in this dark world, and in our dark hearts. We shall in a ineasni e have the joy of the morning of Christ's corning beforehand; we shall have a light in our hearts that will be an earnest, and forerunner of the glorious light of that day, as the dawning of the day before suo rise.

This world is a dark pictce without Christ, and therefore is dark till he comes, and trntil his kingdom of glory is set up. It appeared to be so now, especially in the circumstances of the Christians that the apustle now writc6 to, a world of heresies, grand delusions, and dreadful wickediiBss. I'hey were in a dark place;-they were not only surrounded with heathens, and subject* to persecution, as appcnrs by Peter's' first Epistle, that was written to the same Christians, as is evident by *. chap* iii. 1; but were in the midst of vile heretics and apostasies, as has been said already, and Christ delayed his coming, and they had many temptations to deny the present truth, and lose their hopes of the sun's rising. When a man is in a dark place, and is in danger of stumblincr and falling and being lost, and has a light held forth to him, to guide him in, it behooves him to take heed to it, and keep his eye upon it, lest he get out of the w»y and fall into mischief.

[484] 1 John ii. 18. ** Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we "know it is the IftsX time." It is not reasonable to thirdi that the apostle supposed, that this time was the latter part of the space that should be from Christ's ascension to his second cominsr to the general judgment. For it is evident by what he here says, that he knew that the Great Antichrist should come before that. And if he supposed that this great Antichrist now appeared, it is not Hkely that he would have expressed himself as he does, even now art there many AntichristB. He would rather have said, *• Even now Antichrist is come;" and would have decyphered him, and pointed him forth. We must therefore understand the apostle thus: ** It is now long since the apostles foretold the coming of Antichrist, of which they told you in the first age of the Christian church, which reached from Christ's ascension to the destruction of Jerusa-

NOTES ON THE BIBLE. S'W

lem ; and now, since Jerusalem's destruction^ has commenced the last state of thin;;s, the last age of the world, which is to continue from the destruction of Jerusalem, and the perfect abolishing of the Old Testament Dispensation to the end of the world, which the apostles had been wont to call the latter days, and last times ; during which last age they foretold that Antichrist should a|}pear, 2 Thess. ii. 3,'&ic. 1 Tim. iv. 1, &ic. 2 Tim. iii. 1, &ic.; and now the spirit of Antichrist doth very visibly appear; and there are many apostates and corrupterif that we may look upon as the forerunners of Antichrist, and are therefore an evidence that we are now come to that last age in whicn it has been foretold tli^t Antichrist should arise; which should make you behave yourselves more circumspectly, for the apostles often told yo6 that those lust times wheirein Ariti-christ should appear would be perilous times."

[287] John iii. 9. •* Whosoever is born of God, doth not conh tnit ««," i. e. he does not relapse, or ftM away from righteoumeu into sin again ; ['* for his seed remaineth in him,"] i. e. the seed of which he is born of God, the same seed by which he is begotten of God remaineth in him, and therefore he does not fall away to a state and trade of sin again, out of which he was begotten^ and bom by that seed.

[104]^ Jude, verse 9. *^ He disputed about the body of Mo^ ses." The thing referred to is that mentioned Zechariah iii. 2. The church of the Jews is called the body of Moses, as the Christian church is called the body of Christ. Moses was herein a type of Christ.

[188] Jude, 14, 15 verses. <* Enoch also, the seventh fronr Adam, prophesied of these, saying. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment,'' &c. It is probable that this prophecy of Enoch had the more direct respect to the destruction of the ungodly of the old world by the flood. Those sinners of whom Jude speaks were like them, and tbtir destruction should be like theirs. 2 Peter ii. 5. It looks very probable that God would reveal his designs to Enoch, of overthrowing the world, seeing that he was so intimately conversant with him, and the world was so much corrupted in his days; which was probably one reason why God took him ont of the world, he would not suflfer one so dear to him to live in the midst of such a wicked, abominable crew, to have his soul continaaliy vexed by them. En'och*8 son Methuselah lived till the very year that the flood came; and, if so, it is exceedingly probable thai God would reveal something to him of his iutended destmction of tbeoi.

Tbii prophecy 10 applied U> those heretics and their destrnctioii, iptry ronch after the same manner as many prophecies of the Old Testament are applied in the New to other things, than .what tbey most directly signified. Many ofthe prophecies of scripture are applicable to many tilings ; as Christ's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, is applicable to the destruction of heathenbo in the Roman empire, and to the end of the world : the AU-kmrn-img Spirit hcu an eye to many things in what he saith. Where the apostle says, ** Enoch prophesied of those," be may be understood to mean of those that were of this sort, i. ^ of this lascivious kind of persons.

•

[200] That Enoch prophesied of the flood, is yet more probsr ble from the name that he gave his son, Methuselah^ for the first part of it Melkuy signifies ke is dead^ and shelah signifies stTiding; 80 that what is implied in the name seems to be when ke is dead, Qod shall send; and probably there is a prophecy coocfaed in it, that when Methuselah was dead God should send that greit catastrophe that Enoch had foretold which came to pass accordingly, for die flood came that very year that Methuselah 4ied«

[357] ''And Enoch also, the seventh year from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his suints," It is observable that Enoch, thtfint (^ all the prophets, prophesied of the last event that is the subject of prophecy; and that event which is the greatest subject of iho prophecies of 8cri[>tMrc, and in which the most of the prophecies of scripture terminate. Though this is not the most wonderful event thut i.s the subject of prophecy, for that was the death of Christ; yet this is the greatest event that is the fruit of that event. In this is completed tho end of Christ^s death; and this last coming of Christ, together with what is accomplished by it, is in niany respects the greatest of all events; and it is so in this respect, that it is what all that God ba9 made, and all thiU Christ has done and suffered, and ail the events uf ])rovidencc from the beginning ofthe world, and all that he bus foretold, niriniacelv terniinato in. Therefore, with this<ioes scripture |)rophecy lK)th begin and end ; it begins in Enoch's prophecy, which is tlie first propbec}' we have an account of in Hcripture; and it ends with this in the last words of the last ofthe prophets, even John, in the conclusion ofthe Revelations.

[270] Revelations iv. 3. '' And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.^' The rainboMr

NOTES ON TH£ BIBLE. BS9

we know was appointed of God as a token of his gracious got^ nant with mankind. God is encompassed with a rainbow, which signifies that as he sits and reigns, and manifests himself in hh choreh, he appears as encompassed with mcrrv. As of old, the throne of God in the Holy of holies, where God manifested himself in the church of Israel, was called the merey'teat^ so here there is a rainbow, the «tgn of-God's gracious covenknt, round about the throne that he sits on. This rainbow was in sight like unto an emerald, which is a precious stone of an exceedingly, lovely green colour; so green, that this colour appears in nothing olse so lively and lovely. This colour it ia most fit emblem of divine grace; it is a very lively colour; not so dull as blue or purple, and yet most easy to the si^ht, mote easy than the more fiery colours of yellow and red. It is the colour of the grass, herbs, and trees, and all the growth of the eartft, and therefore fitly denotes life, flourishing} prosperity, and happiness, which are oflen in scripture compared to the green, flourishing growth of the earth. As the benign influence of tKe sun on the face of the earth is shown by this colour above iill others, so is the grace And benign influence, and communication of God fitly represented by this colour. This colour is ti^e colour of joy and gladness. The fields are said to shout for joy, and also to sing, by their appearing in a cheerful greent as the colour red rs made use of to signify God's revenging justice, in Zech. i. 8, and elsewhere; so is green the emblem of divinte grace, as Dr. Doddridge observes, this does not imply that the rainbow had no other colour, biit that the proportion of green was greater than ordinary.

[109] Rev. iii. 4. "They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy:*^ that is, they dLreJil^ as we often use the worif*

[271] The Moon is a type of the Revelation God made, and of the Ordinances he instituted under the Old Testament, or the Old Testament constitution, and administration, and is so used. Rev. xii. 1; vid. Notes in loc.; and it is made use of in scripture also as a type of the Church; it is so in the festival of the new moon ; vid. Notes on Nirnib. x. 10. The Church, under the Old Testament, in the institution of that festival, miist be supposed to be represented under the type of the Moon before its conjunction with the Sun, i. e. Christ, the Sun from wliom the Church borrows her light. The gospel light granted to the Old Testament church hi its difTcrent successive ages, was vefy much like the light of the moon in the several parts of the revolution it performs, which ends in its conjunction with ttie sun. The first calling of Abraham, the father of the nation and foniidl^r

fOO ilOTea ON TUE 9IfiLE.

frf.llieir chttjrcbf ai leparaled trom the rest of.tlie world byGofi pm/jeelingi mnd etteblishiDg, aod lealmg hit coveoiml to hioiyaiid

J|iM leadr and bestowing the privileges of it upon theoi; and tko the first institution of the administration of the old chorch tf

ilsrael by Moses; may each-of them be looked upon as the bi-

(ginniog of the moon's course in this revolution, wherein it sets fMiC.Mi Uie beginning of iu month for a coajnnction arhh Christ,

,Us ^nn, at .|he conclusion of it- Christ's comiog, and ao nwid-m}\y and femarkably appearing to Abraham from time to due, M hi^fi^i^Q^it *°d sometimes in the form of a man, aa if inci^ natet eating.and drinking with biflii and doing snob {preat.thiogi

.for hiiPt and by him; and particularly his entering into coveasat .with bimt as the father and founder of this cbareh; may be Ipoked npon as this moon's first coojuncdoa with the sai|,w with Christy from whence in her revolution the aet oat for tbe

.other conjunction at Chriat's coming by his incarnation aad it« iinffectipo. Abraham was not only the natural, hot in soae mae ttfe spiritual ijoher jo( the churcht (aa he li cdUed in ihe few Testament the father of believerh) and therein ia a type of

.^hrist,.and was in some respect a father instead of Christ, til .Christ came. After this, that nation and church at first wn

..Vf ry small and weak, but they gradipally grew greater, and nore wd more flourishing, tUI Solomon's time, whicb waa mbotUtk madjk of ike ipaee betufeem Abraham omU . Christ or tbe middle of the revolution from one conjunction to another; and.theoit was full moon. Then both the nation and church were in their

,^eatest glory; but from that time they were gradually dimiDbb-ed and dwindled, first by the nation's dividing into two kingdoms, and then by the captivity of the ten tribes, and then by the captivity of the kingdom of Judah, and then after that by varioos calamities they suffered after the captivity, under the PersijiOt Grecian, and Roman monarchies; until at last the sceptre de

.parted from Judah, and they were put under a Roman governor, and their light was as it were put out; as the moon, when she is

just come to her conjunction with the sun.

But a^ the calling of Abraham, the father of the cbtircb and nation, may be looked upon as the beginning of the revolotioo with respect to the being and. prosperity of the nation or church itself, so Christ*s revealing himself to that people by Moses, the teacher of the church, .and the father of the prophets, by whon the administration they were under was first instituted, and wlio gave the first written revelation to it, may be looked upon as tbe beginning of the revolution with res^pect to the light that church had by prophecy and revelation by God's word, as written iu the Old Testament; which Old Testament revelation is, as has been dready observed, compared in scripture to the reflected light ^

the moon in the night, to serve in the absence of the ton. CbriM*8 coming as he did to the children of Israel in Moses' time, his appearing iirst.to him in the burning bush, and in such a wonderfal • way redeeming them out of Egypt, (which was, if I may so say, the Old Testament redemption,) redeeming ihem, and revealing himself to them by Moses, and entering into covenant with them by Moses; (their great prophet, and king, and intercessor like to Christ, and that was instead of God to Pharaoh, and instead of Christ to the people, and was as it were the Old Testament ChrUt, and therefore that church is called hii hody^ by Jade, v. 9 of his epistle;) his coming down out of heaven to dwell among the people, whereby he as it were bowed the heavens and came down, and the mountains flowed down at his presence; bis speaking to the people with an audible voice; his speaking to Mosei face to face, as a man speaks with his friend ; his appearing in the form of a man to the seventy elders, (when they saw the God of Israel, and did eat and drink, which is spoken of as a new thing,) and afterwards lendini? them into Canaan, and working such wonders for them by Joshua, who bears the name of Jesus, and was called the shepherd and stone of Israel in Jacob's blessing of Ephraim, and was to the people in Christ's stead, as their leader and captain of salvation : I say those things were, as it were, the first conjimction of the moon with the sun, whence she set out in her revolution, when the gospel light, or the revelation of Christ, and the great truths respecting him, was but y^ry small and dim, being almost wholly hid under types and shadows. Af^ ter this, it gradually increased; the prophets that were afterwards in Israel were more clear than Moses was in what they taught of gospel truth. The succession of prophets hogan in Samuel, and David had much of the spirit of prophecy. Gospel light was much more full and clear in the revelations made by him than it had been in any reflation the church enjoyed before. But in the revelations that were given by the prophet Isaiah, gospel light is fullest and clearest of all beyond what we have in any other Old Testament revelation. This was at about the middle of the space between Moses and Christ. In Isaiah, the Old Testament church enjoyed gospel light as it were reflected from a full moon; there was no prophet afterwards that spake so fully of Christ, and afterwards the spirit of prophecy diminished. It continued in a smaller degree, till some time after the captivity, and then wholly ceased in Malabhi, or a little uftcr his time; and the minds ofthepeo-pie became more and more darkened, as to their notions of Christ, and his kingdom, till Christ's time; when they were exceeding corrupt and carnal, expecting a temporal Messiah. They were under blind guides that led them into the ditch, and had in a great measure made void the commandment of God by their tradition, VOL. IX. 71

at the light of the moon ceases as she approaches her conjunctioo with the sun.

[306] Rev, xxi. 22. " And the street of the city was pure gold, like unto transparent glass." This does most livelily represent the perfect purity of that city and its inliabitants. In the oiosi stately and magnificent cities in the world, however beautiful ibe buildings are, yet the streets are dirty and defiled, being made to be trodden under foot; but the very streets of this heavenly cil5 are so pure, that their being like pure gold does not sufficienllj represent the purity of them, but they appear also like clear glass, or crystal. If there be the least dirt or defilement, it discovers itself in that which is transparent; but those golden streets appeared perfectly clear, without the least speck to lessen the transparency. Christ represents as though the saints thai he bs washed, though they are clean, yet while in this world have defiled feet, they need to be often washing their feet, but in tlint world their feet shall be perfectly pure, so as not at all to detiie the streets. This is an evidence iliat what is treated of in ilio>e two last chapters of Revelations is the heavenly state of the church.

[470] Rev. xxii. 11. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still," &c. That the thing which is intended by these words was. That now, the revelation of the mind and will of-God was finished, the great standing rule of faith and practice sealed, no further means of grace were to be expt-cied, and no additions to the word of God, and no other revelations, should be given tiil his last coming; and that therefore they that would not well improve those means and this revelation, and were not made righteous and holy thereby, should continue in a state of sin for ever. God would never provide any further means than this word, tiui>e Holy Scriptures which were now completed and sealed. I sin. that this is Christ's meaning, is much confirmed by the words of the same glorious person, with which are ended and sealed the visions of Daniel, Dan. xii. 9, 10. "Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shnji do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Daniel desired a further revelation to bf given to him concerning those matters that had been represented to him, as in the precedin^^c verses ; but Christ here signified to him that the vision and revelation, that was to be given concerning those matters unto the church of Israel, was now finished, completed and sealed, and all the rest that he curiously de^irt'd to pry into was concealed, and should be so to the time of the cud.

And moreover signifies that this revelation of tbcm, that already had been given, was sufficient for the ends that God designed it, to give wisdom, and be a means of the sanctification of his own* people: but, as for the rest, they will not understand nor will be reclaimed from their wickedness. If they would not make a good improvement of the revelation that is now given, neither would they if a further revelation should be given. Therefore they that will not be made wise and holy by what is revealed, shall have no further revelation, thev shall have no further means to make them wise, or bring them to repentance. They that are wise and holy shall increase in wisdom, and be built up in holi* ness by this revelation ; but they that are unwise, let them continue without understanding, and they that are unholy and unright* eous, let them continue still to do wickedly.

END UF VOL. IX.

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