"Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy Seed from the East, and gather thee from the Weft." Ver. 7, "Even every one that is called by my Name: For I have created him for my Glory: I have formed him, yea, I have made him." Ver. 15, "I am the Lord, your holy One, the Creator of Ifrael, your King." Deut. xxxii. 6, "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish People?Hath he not made thee and established thee?" Ver. 15. Pfal. cxlix. 2. Ifai. xxvii. 11,—“ It is a People of no Understanding: Therefore he that made them will have no Mercy on them, and he that formed them will fhew them no favour." xliii. 21. xliv. 1, 2, "Yet hear now, O Jacob, my Servant, and Ifrael whom I have chofen, thus faith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the Womb." Ver. 21, 24, "Thus faith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the Womb," &c.

18. Ezek. xvi. 3, "Thus faith the Lord unto Jerufalem, Thy Birth and thy Nativity is of the Land of Canaan." Ver. 6, " And when I paffed by thee, and faw thee polluted in thy own Blood, I faid unto thee, live; yea, I faid unto thee, when thou waft in thy Blood, live." See Ezek. xxxvii. I to 15. Zech. x. 9

19. Deut. xxxii. 18. "Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindfal, and haft forgotten God that formed thee." Num. xi. 12, "Have I [Mofes] conceived all this People? Have I begotten them?" Meaning, not I, but thou, O Lord, haft begotten them. Jer. ii. 26, 27, "As the Thief is afhamed when he is found: So is the House of Ifrael afhamed, faying to a Stock, Thou art my Father; and to a Stone, Thou hast brought me forth," or begotten me; afcribing to Idols the National Advantages, which they received from God.

20. Thus, as God created the whole Body of the Jews, and made them to live, they received a Being or Exiftence. Ifai. lxiii. 19, "We are; thou haft never ruled over them, [the Heathen ;] they are not called by thy Name. "Or rather thus: "We are of old; Thou haft not ruled over them; thy Name hath not been called upon them." It is in the

and are therefore called by the היינו מעולם לא משלת בם ,Hebrew

Apoftle Things that are, in Oppofition to the Gentiles, who, as they formerly were not created in the fame Manner, were "the Things which are not." 1 Cor. i. 28, "God has chofen Things which are not, to bring to nought Things that are." Further,

21. V. As He made them live, and begat them, (1.) He fuftains the Character of a Father, and (2.) They are his Children, his Sons and Daughters, which were born to him. Deut. xxxii. 6, "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish People?Is he not thy Father, that hath brought thee?" Ifai. Ixiii. 16, "Doubtlefs thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Ifrael acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer," &c. Jer. xxxi. 9,-" For I am a Father to Ifrael, and Ephraim is my Firft-born." Mal. ii. 10, "Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?" [17.]

22. Deut. xiv. I, "Ye are the Children of the Lord your God. Ifai. i. 2, "Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear, O Earth; for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up Children, and they have rebelled against

me."

23. Exod. iv. 22, 23, "Thou shalt fay unto Pharaoh, Thus faith the Lord, Ifrael is my Son, even my Firft-born. And I fay unto thee, Let my Son

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go,

go," &c. Hof. xi. 1. Deut. i. 31. viii. 5. xxxii. 19, " And when the Lord faw it he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his Sons, and of his Daughters." Ifai. xliii. 6.

2,

24. Ezek. xvi. 3, 4, 5, 6, " Thus faith the Lord God unto Jerufalem, Thy Birth and thy Nativity is of the Land of Canaan,-as for thy Nativity, in the Day thou waft born, thy Navel was not cut, &c. none Eye pitied thee, -but thou waft caft out in the open Field,-in the Day that thou waft born." Hof. ii. 2, 3, "Plead with your Mother, (the House of Ifrael, Chap. i. 6, 10, 11,) plead,-Left I ftrip her naked, and fet her as in the Day that he was born, and make her as a Wilderness," &c (*). Hence their Original is represented under the Notion of a Womb. Ifai. xliv. "The Lord-that formed thee from the Womb." Ver. 24. xlvi. 3. 25. VI. And, as the whole Body of the Jews were the Children of one Father, even of God, this naturally established among themselves the mutual and endearing Relation of Brethren (including that of Sifters;) and they were obliged to confider, and to deal with each other accordingly. Lev. xxv. 46. Deut. i. 16. iii. 18. xv. 7, "If there be among you a poor Man of one of thy Brethren,-thou shalt not harden thy Heart, nor fhut thy Hand against thy poor Brother," xvii. 15. xviii. 15. xix. 19. xxii. 1. xxiv. 14. Judg. xx. 13. 1 Kings xii. 24. [Acts xxiii. 1.] And in many other Places.

I

26. VII. And the Relation of God, as a Father, to the Jewish Nation, as his Children, will lead our Thoughts to á clear Idea of their Being, as they are frequently called the Houfe, or Family of God. Num. xii. 7," My Servant Mofes is not fo, who is faithful in all my House." 1 Chron. xvii. 14, "I will fettle him in my Houfe, and in my Kingdom for ever." Jer. xii. 7, "I have forfaken my House, I have left my Heritage." Hof.ix. 15, "For the Wickednefs of their [Ephraim's] Doings, I will drive them out of my Houfe, I will love them no more: All their Princes are Revolters." Zech. ix. 8. Pfal. xciii. 5. And in other Places, and, per haps, frequently in the Pfalms, as the xxiii. 6. xxvii. 4, &c.

27. VIII. Further; the Scripture directs us to confider the Land of Canaan as the Estate, or Inheritance, belonging to this House, or Family. Num. xxvi. 53, " Unto thefe [namely, all the Children of Ifrael] the Land fhall be divided for an Inheritance." Deut. xxi. 23,-" That thy Land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an Inheri tance." And in many other Places.

28. Here it may not be improper to take Notice; that the Land of

Canaan,

(*) In thefe Texts the whole Body of Ifraclites are manifeftly spoken of; and God's forming them into a Nation or Society of People, invefted in peculiar Privileges, and taken into a fpecial Relation to himfelf, is evidently denoted by his begetting them, being their Father, and they his Children, born, by his Goodnefs and Power, out of Servitude and Mifery, to a new State of Honour and Enjoyment. For, obferve well; The Scriptural Notion of a Father, in a figurative Senfe, is one that confers a happy State, or an ex alted State of Existence, in Oppofition to one low or wretched; begetting is conferring that State; being born is being raised to it; and a Son, Daughter, Children, is the Perfon or Perfons, put into that State. These Terms have Relation to any Change of State for the better; but are commonly applied to the Jewish Nation, or Christian World, as taken into the Covenant and Kingdom of God.

Unto

Canaan, in reference to their Trials, Wandrings, and Fatigues in the Wilderness, is reprefented as their Reft. Exod. xxxiii. 14, "My Prefence fhall go with thee, and I will give thee Reft." Deut. iii. 20. xii. 9, "For ye are not yet come to the Reft, and to the Inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you." Ver. 10. xxv. 19. Pfal. xcv. 11, whom I fware in my Wrath, that they should not enter into my Reft." 29. IX. Thus the Ifraelites were the Houfe, or Family, of God. Or, we may conceive them formed into a Nation, having the LORD, Jehovah, the true God, at their head; who, on this Account is ftiled their God, Governor, Protector, or King; and they his People, Subjects or Servants. Exod. xix. 6, "Ye fhall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests, and an Holy Nation." Deut. iv. 34, "Hath God affayed to go and take him a Nation from the Midft of another Nation?" Ifai. li. 4, "Hearken unto me, my People, and give Ear unto me, my Nation." 30. Exod. vi. 7, "And I will take you to me for a People, and I will be to you a God." Lev. xxii. 33, "I am the Lord that brought you out of the Land of Egypt, to be your God." Pfal. xxxiii. 12, "Bleffed is the Nation whofe God is the Lord." And in many other Places.

31. 1 Sam. xii. 12, " And ye [Ifraelites] faid unto me, Nay, but a King fhall reign over us; when the Lord your God was your King." Pfal. lxxxix. 18. cxlix. 2, "Let Ifrael rejoice in him that made him, let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King." Ifai. xxxiii. 22. lxi. 21. xliii. 15, "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Ifrael, your King." 32. Exod. v. 1," Thus faith the Lord God of Ifrael, Let my People go." Deut. xxxii. 36, 43. 2 Sam. vii. 24, "For thou haft confirmed. unto thyself thy People Ifrael, to be a People unto thee for ever, and thou, Lord, art become their God," &c.

33. Lev. xxv. 55, "For unto me the Children of Ifrael are Servants, they are my Servants, whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." Pfal. lxxix. 1, 2. cv. 25, "He turned their Heart to hate his People, to deal fubtilly with his Servants." And in many other Places.

34. X. And it is in reference to their being a Society peculiarly appropriated to God, and under his fpecial Protection and Government, that they are sometimes called The City, the Holy City, the City of the Lord, of God. Pfal. xlvi. 4, " There is a River, the Streams whereof fhall make glad the City of our God: The Holy Place of the Tabernacles of the moft High." ci. 8, "I will early deftroy all the Wicked of the Land, that I may cut off all wicked Doers from the City of the Lord." Ifai. xlviii. 1, 2, "Hear ye this, O House of Jacob, which are called by the Name of Ifrael:-For they call themfelves of the Holy City, and ftay themselves upon the God of Ifrael."

35. Hence the whole Community, or Church, is denoted by the City Jerufalem, and fometimes by Zion, Mount Zion, the City of David. Ifai. lxii. 1, 6, 7, “ I have fet Watchmen upon thy Walls, O Jerufalem, which fhall never hold their Peace, and give him no Reft, till he establish, and till he make Jerufalem a Praise in the Earth." lxv. 18, 19, "I will rejoice in Jerufalem, and joy in my People." Ixvi. 10. Ezek. xvi. 3, 13. Joel iii. 17. Zech. i. 14. viii. 3, &c. xiii. 1. Ifai. xxviii. 16,-"Thus faith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a Foun

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A

dation,"

dation," &c. lxi. 3. Joel, ii. 32. Obad. 17, "But upon Mount Zion fhall be Deliverance," &c. Ver, 21.

36. Hence alfo they are faid to be written, or inrolled in the Book of God, as being Citizens invested in the Privileges and Immunities of his Kingdom. Exod. xxxii. 32, "Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their Sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the Book thou haft writ ten." Ver, 331 "And the Lord faid,-whofoever hath finned against me, him will I blot out of my Book." Ezek. xiii,

9.

37. And it deferves our Notice; that as the other Nations of the World did not belong to this City, Commonwealth or Kingdom of God, and fo were not his Subjects and People, in the fame peculiar Sense as the Jews, for thefe Reafons are they frequently reprefented as Stran gers, Aliens, and as being not a People. And as they ferved other Gods, and were generally corrupt in their Morals, they have the Character of Enemies, Exod. xx. ΤΟ. Lev. xxv. 47, "And if a Sojourner, or a Stranger wax rich by thee, and thy Brother fell himself to the Stranger." -Deut. xiv. 21, Mayeft fell it to an Alien." Ifai. Ixi. 5, "And Strangers fhall ftand and feed your Flocks, and the Sons of the Alien fhall be your Plowmen." And in many other Places. Deut. xxxii. 21, "I will move them to Jealousy with thofe which are not a People." Ifai. vii. 8. Hof. i. 10. ii. 23,-"I will fay to them which were not my People, Thou art my People: And they fhall fay, Thou art my God." Pfal. lxxiv. 4, "Thine Enemies roar in the midft of thy Congregation.". [52] Ixxviii. 66. lxxxiii. 2. lxxxix. 10. Ifai. xlii. 13. lix. 18. Rom. v. 10,-" When we were Enemies, we were reconciled to God." Col. i,

21.

38. XI. The kind and particular Regards of God for the Ifraelites, and their special Relation to him, is alfo fignified by that of a Hufband and Wife; and his making a Covenant with them, to be their God, is called Efpoufals. Jer. xxxi. 32, "Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers, in the Day that I took them by the Hand, to bring them out of the Land of Egypt (which my Covenant they broke, although I was an Husband unto them, faith the Lord)." iii. 20. Ezek. xvi. 31, 32. Hof. ii. 2, "Plead [ye Children of Judah, and Chil dren of Ifrael, Chap. i. 11.] with your Mother, plead: For she is not my Wife, neither am I her Husband;" that is, for her Wickednefs I have di vorced her. [Ifai. lxii, 4. 5.] Jer. ii. 2, "Go and cry in the Ear of Jerufalem, faying, Thus faith the Lord, I remember thee, the Kindnefs of thy Youth, the Love of thine Efponfals, when thou wenteft after me in the Wilderness, in the Land that was not fown." iii. 14, "Turn, O Backfliding Children, faith the Lord, for I am married unto you.” Ifai. xlii. 4, 5•

39. Hence it is, that the Jewish Church, or Community, is reprefented as a Mother; and particular Members as her Children. Ifai. I. 1, "Thus faith the Lord, Where is the Bill of your Mother's Divorcement," &c? Hof. ii, 2. 5, "For their Mother hath played the Harlot," &c. Ifai. xlix. 17, "Thy Children, (O Zion,) fhall make hafte," &c, Ver. 22, 25. Jer. 5. 7. Ezek. xvi. 35, 36. Hof. iv. 6, "My People are dellroyed for Lack of Knowledge,-feeing thou haft forgotten the Law of God, I will alfo forget thy Children."

40. Hence alfo, from the Notion of the Jewish Church being a Wife.

to God, her Husband, her Idolatry, or worshipping of ftrange Gods, comes under the Name of Adultery, and Whoredom, and fhe takes the Character of an Harlot. Jer. iii. 8, " And I saw, when for all the Caufes whereby Backfliding Ifrael committed Adultery." Ver. 9, "And it came to pafs through the Lightness of her Whoredom, that the defiled the Land and committed Adultery with Stones and with Stocks." xiii. 27. Ezek. xvi. 15. xxiii. 43. Jer. iii. 6, "Backfliding Ifrael is goneup upon every high Mountain, and under every green Tree, and there has played the Harlot." And in many other Places.

41. XII. As God exercifed a fingular Providence over them in fupplying, guiding and protecting them, he was their Shepherd, and they his Flock, his Sheep. Pfal. lxxvii. 20. lxxviii. 52. lxxx. 1, "Give Ear, O Shepherd of Ifrael." Ifai. xl. 11, "He fhall feed his Flock like a Shepherd." Pfal. lxxiv. 1, “O God, why haft thou caft us off for ever? Why doth thine Anger smoke against the Sheep of thy Pafture?" lxxix, 13. xcv. 7. Jer. xiii. 17, "Mine Eye fhall weep fore-because the Lord's Flock is carried Captive." Ezek. xxxiv. throughout. And in many other Places.

42. XIII. Upon nearly the fame Account, as God established them, provided proper Means for their Happiness, and Improvement in Knowledge and Virtue, they are compared to a Vine and a Vineyard, and God to the Hufbandman, who planted and dreffed it; and particular Members of the Community are compared to Branches. Pfal. lxxx. 8, "Thou haft brought a Vine out of Egypt; Thou haft caft out the Heathen, and planted it." Ver. 14, " Return, we beseech thee, O Lord of Hofts: Look down from Heaven, behold and vifit thy Vine; and the Vineyard which thy Right Hand has planted." Ifai. v. 1, "Now will I' fing to my Well-beloved, a Song-touching his Vineyard: My Wellbeloved has a Vineyard in a very fruitful Hill." Ver. 2, "And he fenced it," &c. Ver. 7, "For the Vineyard of the Lord-is the House of Ifrael." Exod. xv. 17. Jer. ii. 21. Pfal. lxxx. 11, She fent out her Boughs unto the Sea, and her Branches unto the River." Ifai. xxvii. 9, 10, 11, "By this fhall the Iniquity of Jacob be purged; -yet the defenced City fhall be defolate,--there fhall the Calf feed,and confume the Branches thereof. When the Boughs thereof are withered, they fhall be broken off: The Women come and fet them on Fire For it is a People of no Understanding; therefore he that made them will have no Mercy on them." Jer. xi. 16. "The Lord hath called thy Name, A green Olive-tree, fair and of goodly Fruit," &c. Ezek. xvii. 6. Hof. xiv. 5, 6. Nahum ii. 2. And in other Places. [Rom. xi. 1, "And if fome of the Branches were broken off," &c. Ver. 18, 19, "Thou wilt fay then, the Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in."]

43. XIV. As they were, by the Will of God, fet apart, and appropriated in a fpecial Manner to his Honour and Obedience, and furnifhed with extraordinary Means and Motives to Holinefs, fo God is faid to fanctify, or hallow them." Exod. xxxi. 13, Speak unto the Children of Ifrael, faying, Verily my Sabbaths ye fhall keep; for it is a Sign between me and you, throughout your Generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth fancify you." Ezek. xx. 12. Lcv. xx. 8, "And