their God, and they fhall be my † p ple." The Prophet in verfe 34th, informs that there will then be no neceffity to inftru mankind in the knowledge of their duty God; as this knowledge will be as natur to them, as the first principles inherent man. He alfo informs us, that this will no be on account of the fear of punishment fo what they had done; for that he would par don their iniquity, and not remember thei fin; but that the real caufe of the fear an knowledge of God, being fo firmly fixed in the hearts of men, would be on account o the great and stupendous miracles which wil then be wrought in their fight: and of which, no one will be able to entertain the leaft doubt. "And they shall not teach any more, every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, faying, Know ye the LORD; for they shall all know me, from the leaft of them, unto the greatest of them, faith the LORD; for I will pardon their iniquity, and their fin will I remember no more." Heb. And I will be unto them for a God. The The Prophet then proceeds to fhew that notwithstanding all the fufferings of the nation, yet fhould they never ceafe to be a nation they never should be mingled with, and loft, or swallowed up among the nations; but shall continue to exift as a diftinct nation; ver. 35. 36. & 37. "Thus faith the LORD, who hath appointed the fun for a light by day, the ftated order of the moon and stars for a light by night; who quieteth the fea, when the waves thereof roar; the LORD of hosts (is) his name: If these ordinances shall depart from before me, faith the LORD; (then) fhall the feed of Ifrael also cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus faith the LORD, if the heavens above can be measured, or the foundations of the earth beneath be traced out; then will I alfo reject the whole feed of Ifracl, because of all that they have done faith the LORD." This prediction, which hath been fo fully, and fo completely accomplished, is a ftanding miracle to this very day, of the truth and verity of the word of God, delivered by the mouth of his Prophet; for although it is upwards of seventeen hundred years fince they have been driven out of their own country, and scatter ed ed in all parts, where they have suffered i numerable massacres and perfecutions; (as ready mentioned in the courfe of this work fuch as no nation ever fuffered; yet are th not extinct, but ftill fubfift as a diftin&t n tion. And now, I fain would afk the deif or modern philofophers, how it was poffib for Jeremiah, who prophefied upwards two and twenty hundred years ago +, thus express himself in fuch clear and unequivoc terms, concerning the ftate of the nation, this very day, as he has done; unless he ha received it from God: from him to whom all things are known, bleffed be his name Amen. I muft alfo take the liberty to obferve, tha it is demonftrable from this prophecy, tha 17. * Vol. Ift. Introd. p. 16. &c. and Ibid. Differt. p 18. &c. Jeremiah was called to the prophetic office, in the thirteenth year of King Jofiah; forty years before the deftruction of the first temple; which according to the Jewish chronology, is the year of the world 3298. (See Gans in Temach David, fol. 15. 2.) and as the prefent year 1796 is according to the fame chronology 5556. it is plain that upwards of two thoufand two hundred years have clapfed fince the delivery of this prophecy; allowing that he did not deliver it, till the latter part of his life. God God never yet did, nor ever will, reject the houfe of Ifrael, as a nation, and take the Gentiles in their ftead, as the generality of Chriftian writers pretend; (and which I fuppofe they found on those expreffions, pút into the mouth of Jesus, Math. xxi. 42. Mark. xii. 10. & Luke xx. 17.) No: no fuch thing ever will take place; For the LORD's portion (is) his people; Jacob (is) the lot of his inheritance *." And this prophecy, as well as that in chap. xxxiii. 25.-26. are the cleareft evidence, that the Jews are never to be rejected by God, but to continue his people for ever. In ver. 38th. the Prophet gives a description of the circumference of the new city that is to be built on the fite of Jerufalem. "Behold, the days come, faith the LORD, that the city shall be built unto the LORD, from the tower of Hananeel unto the corner gate: And the measuring line fhall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and fhall encompass Goath; And the whole valley of the dead bodies †, and of the afhes, and * Deut. xxxii. 9. This certainly was the valley of Hinnom; or the and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, far as to the angle of the horse gate eaf ward, shall be holy to the LORD: it shall n be plucked up, neither fhall it be throw down any more for ever." From the precedin explanation of this prophecy, the five fo lowing fundamental principles are deducibl First, that the ten tribes, called the kingdor of Ifrael, the principal of whom was E phraim, fhould also be restored at the futur redemption, as well as Judah; and which agrees with the fourth principle contained in the prophecies of Isaiah. Second, that immediately preceding the redemption, the nations will go up to the land of promise, in order to conquer Jerusalem; when God will there take vengeance on them as mentioned ver. 6th. "For there is yet a day unto the LORD our God, that the deftroyers upon mount Ephraim fhall cry, Arife, and let us go up to Zion." And which agrees with the fecond principle of Ifaiah. Third, that the vifible fymbol of the She the valley of Jehoshaphat, where all the afles and filth was carried to, after Jofiah had defiled it. chinah |