Here ends the fecond part of the prophe

cy.

of the

We now proceed to the third part prophecy; viz, the union of the kingdoms. of Ifrael and Judah; for as he had before spoken of them feperately, he now fpeaks of them conjointly; ver. 27th. "Behold the days come, faith the LORD, that I will fow the house of Ifrael, and the house of Judah, with the feed of man, and with the feed of beaft." The Prophet here fhews, that they will multiply exceedingly; as is the case of a fingle grain of corn, which when sown produces a great number; fo will the bleffing of increase be with them; and not only with them, but with their cattle also; agreeable to what Mofes fays*, "Bleffed fhall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle" &c. For as the punishments that had been denounced against them for their disobedience, had by God's fpecial providence been brought on them to the full; fo will they at the time of the redemption, enjoy the bleffings to excess: and therefore, he says,

Deut. xxviii. 4.

verse 28th. "And it shall be, (that) as have watched over them, to pluck up, a to break down, and to overthrow, and deftroy, and to afflict; fo will I watch ver them, to build, and to plant faith th LORD."

In verfe 29th, the Prophet takes noti of the parable made ufe of by the nation du ring the captivity. "In those days the fhall no more fay, the fathers have eaten four grape, and the children's teeth fhall b fet on edge. But every man fhall die in hi own iniquity; every man that hath eate the four grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. The generality of Commentators have beer of opinion, that this proverbial expreffion denotes, that in thofe future times, of which the Prophet was fpeaking, the children fhould not be punished for the fins of their fathers, as they were heretofore. To this opinion, I can by no means affent; for that part of Scripture, on which it is founded, Exod. xx. 5. & Deut. v. 9. where it is faid, that, "God vifiteth the fins of the fathers upon the children;" is meant of the fin of idolatry only and when the children are alfo guilty of the faid crime; then are the fins

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of the fathers and those of the children joined together, and they are punished accordingly *. But this, it is manifeft cannot apply to the times of the Meffiah; for then, the fin of idolatry will be unknown: but the true fenfe of the expreffion'is, that the

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nation now in captivity exclaims, "Our fa thers have finned, but they (are) no more; and we have borne (the punishment of) their iniquities." For on account of the fin of idolatry, which our fathers were guilty of during the continuance of the first temple, they were carried captive; and the children which they have begotten, have remained in it; and therefore, they made use of that proverbial expreffion; (Ezek. xviii. 2) "The fathers have eaten four grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But at the future redemption, it will not be fo; for then,

The fin of idolatry was most heinous; it was nothing less than high treafon against the majesty of God; efpecially while the theocracy fubfifted; it therefore was guarded against by the feverest penalties, under a difpenfation exprefsly appointed to preferve the Ifraelites from the general taint of idolatry, and to maintain and propogate the know ledge of the One true God.

† Lament. v. 7.

VOL. II.

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the earth will be full of the knowledge the LORD; as he will circumcife their heart fo that in lieu of their fathers being carri into captivity, they will enjoy the redem tion and falvation of the LORD; they ther fore, will not fay any more, that they ha borne the iniquities of their fathers; becau they will have been redeemed from that ca tivity wherein their fathers iniquity ha brought them and they will then fay, " very man shall die for his own iniquity; whence it is clear, that the Prophet fpoke their past condition; not of their future: fo after their redemption, they will no mor fall into fin; as the Prophet fays immediatel after, ver. 31ft. &c. "Behold, the days come faith the LORD, that I will make with th house of Ifrael, and with the house of Judah a new covenant: Not according to the co venant that I made with their fathers, in th day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which co venant of mine they violated, although I was an husband unto them, faith the LORD. Bu this (fhall be) the covenant which I will make with the house of Ifrael; after those days. faith the LORD. I will put my law in

to their inward parts, and upon their heart
will I write it ;" This properly denotes the
Law which he had aforetime given to Mofes:
but by no means does it imply a new law,
as fome have, erroneously imagined; but only
a new covenant: and the immediate confe-
quence of that covenant will be, that the law
which he had given them of old, will be fix-
ed in their inward parts, and written upon
their hearts and which is the reason, that
the Prophet made ufe of the verb 'n in the
preter tenfe, (which if Dr. Blaney had been
able to have comprehended; he would not
have had the trouble to have written, nor
his readers that of reading a long note, about
the fixteen or feventeen MSS. that have
fix converfive.—and his conjecture about
nna inftead of 'n) I have given; because
the law had been given of old; but by the
new covenant, that law would be in their
hearts; fo that they fhould not fwerve from
the due performance thereof, as they did
heretofore then will that union take place,
which the Prophet fpeaks of in the latter
member of the verfe. "And I will be

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