the apportioning of the walls of Jerusalem, in the rebuilding, or rather repair of them, under Nehemiah, (ch. iii. 20, 21.) in these words: Baruch, the fon of Zabbai, earnestly repaired one piece of it, from the turning unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high-prieft: and after him, repaired Meremonth the fon of Urijah, the son of Koz, the other piece (of the wall), from the door of the houfe of Eliashab, even to the end of the boufe of Eliafhab. I A M unwilling to give all the offence that fome of my readers may be too much inclined to take, by making the inferences which would obviously follow from this account: And therefore I fhall only observe, that outward diftinctions of state and dignity were not then deemed any way inconsistent with the characters of the true minifters of GOD. Rich and blameless * were not then deemed epithets incompatible with the facred name of priest; nor did David imagine, that they who were more immediately set apart * 'Aqveròs àμúμ.wv iegsús. Homer. Iliad. 5. And again fpeaking of Hypfanor, he calls him son of the valiant Dolopion priest of Scamander, who was honoured as a god by the people, Prieft of the ftream, and honour'd as a god. for for the service of GOD, fhould be precluded from fuch a portion of those bleffings which he pours out upon the earth, as would beft enable them to imitate his beneficence. THIS is a fhort account of old Jerufalem under David: But when the temple was afterwards erected upon mount Moriah, an eminence then perhaps equal to Sion; when Millo was added, and the houfe of the foreft of Lebanon*, and the palace of Pharaoh's daughter, and Solomon's own palace, which was thirteen years in building; then might the facred writer well cry out, in tranfport, Let mount Sion, rejoice: let the daughters of Judah be glad. Walk about Sion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, confider her palaces, that ye may tell it to them that come after. THE next thing remarkable of Jerufalem is its fituation upon more than one eminence, furrounded by an amphitheatre of hills; a fituation as falutary, and as delightful, as can well be imagined, in the centre of Judea, *Suppofing that (as fome criticks do) a palace built in Jerufalem, which I believe it was not. + Pi. xlviii. and,what is very remarkable, and well worthy our most serious confideration, in the centre of the whole known world. THIS is a circumftance which the facred writers were well acquainted with, as appears fufficiently from the 5th chap. of Ezekiel, ver. 5. Thus faith the Lord God, This is Jerufalem; I have fet it in the midst of the nations and countries round about her. And for what purpose he did this, is clearly illuftrated from many other texts; thus in the 50th Pf. ver. 1, 2. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rifing of the fun unto the going down thereof: out of Sion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Here the Almighty kept his court; and from hence he sent out his embaffadors the prophets, to publish his decrees to the whole world around him, with more eafe, and speedier conveyance, than could poffibly have been done from any other region of the habitable world. And that this was the feat and fountain-head of true religion from the beginning, is evidenced beyond all doubt, from the history of the Jewish nation. This was the feat of Melchifedec the king and high-priest of the living GOD, in the days of Abraham; and how great his dignity was, and how eminently distinguished by that office, evidently appears from Abraham's acknowledging him his fuperior, and bending to him for a bleffing, even when he was eminently the favourite of heaven, and in the height of his glory, just returned from the conquest of kings. How long he continued in this most glorious of all earthly employments,a teacher and an example of true religion, (a shining light to the furrounding regions of the earth) is no-where faid, or even fuggefted; but eyidently long enough to make the fin of Sodom unpardonable, and, poffibly, the fins of fome succeeding generations in Canaan. WHAT the state of Jerufalem was, from this time to the days of David, no-where appears; but this is certain, that from David to JESUS CHRIST, God was known in her palaces as a fure refuge. Jerufalem was (although with some interruptions) the chief, if not the fole fource of true religion, to the whole habitable world around it. From hence, as from a central point, the light of the law first, and the gospel afterwards, shone out to the surrounding nations; and to this end, end, this city was chofen, was eminently and emphatically the chofen city of God, beautiful for fituation, and the joy of the whole earth; more especially, when the Sun of righteousness rofe up in it, with healing in his wings, the glory of his people Ifrael, and a light to lighten the Gentiles, till all the ends of the earth have seen the Salvation of our God. CHAP. IX. The Philistines and neighbouring Nations invade Ifrael, and are defeated in two Battles. WH HILST civil war fubfifted in Ifrael, between the partizans of David and Ifbbofbeth, the Philistines contented themfelves with being calm fpectators of their mutual ravages and conflicts, which naturally tended to their mutual deftruction: but when all these were ended, in their unanimous election of David to the throne, and that election fucceeded by all the happy be ginnings |