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. 1o. xxv. 19. Pfal. xcv. 11, "Unto 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 whose God is the Lord." And in many other Places.

31. f 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 ap, propriated to God, and under his special Protection and Government, that they are fometimes 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 Houfe of Jacob, which are called by the Name of Ifrael:-For they call themselves of the Holy City, and stay themselves upon the God of Ifrael."

35. Hence the whole Community, or Church, is denoted by the City Ferufalem, 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 establifh, and till he make Jerufalem a Praise in the Earth." lxv. 18, 19, "I will rejoice in Jerufalem, and joy in my People." lxvi. 10. Ezek. xvi. 3, 13. Joel iii. 17. Zech. i. 14. viii. 3, &c. xiii. 1. Ifai. xviii. 16,"Thus faith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a Foun

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dation,"

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

36. Hence alfo they are said 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 written," Ver. 33, " 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 Reasons are they frequently reprefented as Strangers, 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. 10. 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. lxi. 5, "And Strangers fhall ftand and feed your Flocks, and the Sons of the Alien fhall be your Plewmen," And in many other Places. Deut. xxxii. 21, "I will move them to Jealoufy 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 midst of thy Congregation.” [52] lxxviii. 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 also fignified by that of a Hujband 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 Hufband unto them, faith the Lord)." iii. 20. Ezek. xvi. 31, 32. Hof. ii. 2, "Plead [ye Children of Judah, and Children of Ifrael, Chap. i. 11.]/with your Mother, plead: For fhe is not my Wife, neither am I her Husband;" that is, for her Wickedness I have diorced her. [Ifai. Ixii. 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 Efpoufals, 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. l. 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 deftroyed for Lack of Knowledge,-feeing thou haft forgotten the Law of God, I will alfo forget thy Children."

40. Hence alio, 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 faw, when for all the Causes whereby Backfliding Ifrael committed Adultery." Ver. 9, "And it came to pafs through the Lightnefs 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 gone up upon every high Mountain, and under every green Tree, and there has played the Harlot." And in many other Places.

41. XII. As God exercised a fingular Providence over them in fupplying, guiding and protecting them, he was their Shepherd, and they his Flock, his Sheep. Pfal. lxxvii. 20. Ixxviii. 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 Pasture?" 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.

Ver. 2,

42. XIII. Upon nearly the fame Account, as God eftablished them, provided proper Means for their Happinefs, and Improvement in Knowledge and Virtue, they are compared to a Vine and a Vineyard, and God to the Husbandman, 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 Holts: 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.” "And he fenced it," &c. Ver. 7, "For the Vineyard of the Lord is the Houfe of Ifrael." Exod. xv. 17. Jer. ii. 21. Pfal. lxxx. II, "She sent 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 consume the Branches thereof. When the Boughs thereof are withered, they shall 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. 17, "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 appro priated 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." Exed, xxxi. 13, "Speak unto the Children of Ifrael, faying, Verily my Sabbaths ye thall keep; for it is a Sign between me and you, throughout your Generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth fanctify you? Ezek. xx. 12. Lev. xx. 8, "And

ye fhall keep my Statutes and do them: For I am the Lord which functify you." xxi. 8. xxii. 9, 16, 32. Ezek. xxxvii. 28.

44. In the fame Senfe I conceive they are faid to be washed. Ezek. xvi. 9, "Then, [when thou waft born, 21] washed I thee with Water: Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy Blood from thee," &c.

45. And, becaufe other Nations did not enjoy the fame extraordinary Means, and were generally involved in Vice and Idolatry, therefore they are reprefented as unclean. Ifai. xxxv. 8, " And an Highway shall be there, and a Way; and it fhall be called the Way of Holiness; the Unclean fhall not pafs over it," &c. Compare Joel iii. 17. Ifai. lii. 1,— "Put on thy beautiful Garments, O Jerufalem, the Holy City: For henceforth there fhall no more come into thee the Uncircumcifed and the Unclean." Acts x. 28, "It is unlawful for a-Jew-to come unto one of another Nation: But God has fhewed me, that I fhall call nothing common, or unclean.

46. XV. Hence it is, that they are ftiled a holy Nation, or People, and Saints. Exod. xix. 6, “And ye fhall be to me--an boly Nation." Deut. vii. 6, "For thou art a holy People unto the Lord thy God.” xiv. 2. xxvi. 19. xxxiii. 3. 2 Chron. vi. 41, "Let thy Priests, Ó Lord God, be clothed with Salvation, and let thy Saints rejoice in Goodnefs." Pfal. xxxiv. 9, " O fear the Lord, ye his Saints." 1. 5, "Gather my Saints together unto me." Ver. 7, "Hear, O my People," &c. lxxix. 2. cxlviii. 14, "He alfo exalteth the Horn of his People, the Praise of his Saints; even of the Children of Ifrael," &c.

47. XVI. Further; by his Prefence among them, and their being confecrated to him, they were made his Houfe, or Building, the Sanctuary, which he built. And this is implied by his dwelling, and walking amongst them. Pfal. cxiv. 2, "Judah was his Sanctuary, and Ifrael his Dominion." Ifai. Ivi. 3, "Neither let the Son of the Stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, faying, The Lord hath utterly feparated me from his People :" Ver. 4, "For thus faith the Lord," Ver. 5, "Even unto them will I give in my Houfe, and within my Walls, a Place and a Name." Jer. xxxiii. 7, " And I will cause the Captivity of Judah, and—of Ifrael to return, and will build them as at the first." Amos ix. 11, "I will raise up the Tabernacle of David,-I will raise up his Ruins, and I will build it as in the Days of Old." Exod. xxv. 8, “And let them, the Children of Ifrael, make me a Sanctuary; that I dwell among them." xxix. 45, 46, “And I will dwell among the Children of Ifrael, and will be their God." &c. Lev. xxvi. 11, 12, " And I will fet my Tabernacle among you :—And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye fhall be my People." Num. xxxv. 34. 2 Sam. vii. 7. Ezek. xliii. 7, 9, "And he faid unto me,-the Place of my Throne, and the Place of the Soles of my Feet, where I dwell in the Midft of the Children of Ifrael," &c. Hence we may gather, that dwell, in fuch Places, imports to reign; and may be applied figuratively to whatever governs in our Hearts. Rom. vii. 17, 20. viii. 9, 11.

48. XVII. And not only did God, as their King, dwell among them as in his Houfe, Temple or Palace; but he alfo conferred upon them the Honour of Kings, as he redeemed them from Servitude, made them

Lords

Lords of themselves, and raised them above other Nations to reign over them: And of Priests too, as they were to attend upon God, from Time to Time continually, in the folemn Offices of Religion, which he had appointed. Exod. xix. 6, " And ye fhall be unto me a Kingdom of Priefs or a Kingly Priesthood." Deut. xxvi. 19, " And to make thee high above all Nationsin Praife, and in Name, and in Honour, and that thou mayeft be an Holy People unto the Lord thy God." xxviii. I. xv. 6, "For the Lord thy God bleffeth thee,——and thou fhalt reign over many nations. Ifai. Ixi. 6. "But ye [the Seed of Jacob] fhall be named the Priests of the Lord; Men fhall call you the Minifters of our God.”.

49. XVIII. Thus the whole body of the Jewish Nation were feparated unto God. And, as they were more nearly related to him than any other People, as they were joined to him in Covenant, had free Accefs to him in the Ordinances of Worship, and in Virtue of his Pro◄ mife, had a particular Title to his Regards and Blefling, he is faid to be near unto them, and they unto him. Exod. xxxiii. 16. Lev. xx. 24, "I am the Lord your God who have feparated you from other People." Ver. 26. I Kings viii. 52, 53. Deut. iv. 7, " For what Nation is there fo great that hath God fo near unto them, as the Lord our God is in all Things that we call upon him for ?" Pfal. cxlviii. 14,-" The Children of Ifracl, a People near unto him."

50. And here I may obferve, that, as the Gentiles were not then taken into the fame peculiar Covenant with the Jews, nor ftood in the fame fpecial Relation to God, nor enjoyed their extraordinary religious Privileges; but lay out of the Commonwealth of Ifracl, they are on the other Hand, said to be far off. Ifai. ivii. 19, "I create the Fruit of the Lips: Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, faith the Lord, and I will heal him." Zech. vi. 15, "And they that are far off fhall come and build in the Temple." Eph. . 17, "And came and preached to you [Gentiles] which were afar off, and to them that were nigh," [the Jews.]

51. XIX. And, as God had, in all these Respects, diftinguished them from all other Nations, and fequeftred them unto himself, they are stiled his peculiar people. Deut. vii. 6, "The Lord has chofen thee to be a fpecial, [or peculiar] People unto himself." xiv. 2, "The Lord hath chofen thee to be a peculiar People unto himself, above all the Nations that are upon the Earth." xxvi. 18.

52. XX. As they were a Body of Men particularly related to God, inftructed by him in the Rules of Wifdom, devoted to his Service, and employed in his true Worship, they are called his Congregation, or Church. Num. xvi. 3. xxvii. 17. Jofh. xxii. 17. 1 Chron. xxviii. 8, "Now therefore, in the Sight of all Ifracl, the Congregation, the Church, of the Lord." Pfal. lxxiv. 2.

53. XXI. For the fame Reafon, they are confidered as God's Poffellion, Inheritance or Heritage. Deut. ix. 26, "O Lord, deftroy not thy People, and thine Inheritance. Ver. 29. Pfal. xxxiii. 12. cxvi. 40. Jer. x. 16. xii. 7, "I have forfaken my Houfe, I have left my Heritage. I have given the dearly Beloved of my Soul into the Hands of her Enemies." And in many other Places.

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