found. a And they (or men) gather them, that is, they are gathered.

b

с

23. When one is faid to know any person or thing, thereby is often meant not only a bare knowledge, but also fome motions or effects, which are the confequences thereof; as to confider, approve, or have regard to what is faid to be known. As what is in the Hebrew, and God knew them, is in our tranflation, and God had refpect unto them. So the verb to know, is frequently used after fuch manner in our tranflation, Who knoweth, or layeth to heart the power of thine anger? d Ifrael doth not know, nor duly weigh the benefits received of God; as follows, My people doth not confider. There arose up a new king, which knew not, had no regard or refpect for Jofeph. f We beseech you, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, duly to regard, and be conducted by them. * The Lord knoweth, approveth the way of the righteous. If any man love God, the fame is known, or approved and accepted of him. And fo probably, I fay unto you, I know you not, I do not own or regard you k.

1

24. To remember, often fignifies to attend with affection and defire. On the contrary, to forget, is to difregard and contemn: Thus remember thefe, O Jacob, thou shalt not be forgotten of me; that is, attend to, and delight in my commandments, and thou fhalt not be rejected by me.

25. Fire and Smoke import the high difpleasure and anger of God against finners, as " O Lord God,

a

John xv. vi.

d Ifa. i. 3.

b Exod. ii. 25.

Pfal. xc. II.

e Exod. i. 8. f 1 Thef. v. 12. & Pfal. 1 Cor. viii. 3. i Rom. viii. 29. Matt. xxv. 12. alfo 2 Tim. ii. 19, &c. 1 Ifa. xliv. 21.

i. 6.

m Pfal. lxxx.

n

God, how long wilt thou be angry? Hebrew, how long wilt thou smoke? Hence, The Lord will come with fire, to render his anger with fury, &c. And the anger of the Lord fhall smoke against the man.

t

26. The loins, (wherein is faid to confift the ftrength of the body,) and the girding the loins, fignifies ftrength itself, as ", there is no more ftrength, Hebrew, no more girdle. Hence, Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle. Girded with power. I will loose the loins of kings, weaken their ftrength ". And hence alfo the phrafe is ufed in the fpiritual fenfe, for zeal and perfeverance, in promoting the kingdom of God, both in Chrift, and the members of his church: Thus, Righteoufnefs fhall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. "Let our loins be girded about. * Gird up the loins of your minds, be always ready for the Lord's coming, by perfevering in religious behaviour ".

27. The eastern people were accuftomed to exprefs themselves by actions ", as well as by words fo it was cuftomary with the Jews, in time of grief and trouble, to rend their garments, to pluck off their hair, to go barefoot, and cover their faces, and to fprinkle afhes of duft on their heads d, which would be looked upon as

Ifa. lxvi. 15, 16. 2 Sam. xxii. 1x v. 6. • Ifa. xlv. I.

10.

27. Prov. iii. 17. X 1 Pet. i. 3.

• Deut. xxix. 20.

40.

1

t

certain

P Ifa. xxxiii.
Pfal.

r Pfal. xviii. 39.

u Chap. v. w Luke xii. 352 Cafaubon Exercit. addit, Quem morem exemplis illuftramus C 2 Sam. xix. 146

* Ifchun in the 70. ▾ Ifa. xi. v. Eph. vi. 14. x. Anni 34. Num. lxxxix. p. 536. ubi nos in Commentariis Polybianis multis a Ezra ix. 3. b Jer. xxxviii. 24. 2 Sam. xiii. 19. Lam. ii. 10.

e

& Go,

certain figns of distraction with us, but was commonly done by the greatelt and wifeft men of thofe parts of the world: and therefore the expreffions of the penmen of the holy fcripture, which allude to fuch ufages, were luitable to the cuftom of the places and times wherein they lived; fuch as, Rend your heart, and not your garments. Cut off thine hair, O Jerufalem, and caft it away, and take up a lamentation. and put off thy fhoes. Shame hath covered my face. From what has been faid concerning the firft rule of interpreting the holy fcripture, viz. as it complies with the language and manner of expreffions among men, we may not only the better understand it, but alfo by the way obferve, that feveral cavils which have been made against the ftyle thereof, and against the customs therein mentioned, proceed from ignorance of antiquity, and judging of ancient times and foreign countries by our own; not confidering the genius of the eastern people, with whom thefe forms of fpeaking and cuftoms, which feem moft ftrange to us, were very ufual. At this day, the putting off the hat, as with us, would feem very odd and ridiculous among the Eaflerus, who never uncover the head, but bow the fame in their falutations. We fhould read the fcriptures, at least, with that candour and refpect, as we do the writings of human authors, and confider the country, the times, and perfons, and the occafions upon which they were written.

The fecond general rule, for interpreting the holy fcriptures, is that of Dr. Lightfoot,

e Joel. ii. 13. Pfal. lxix. 7.

and chap. xxii. 23.

For

"the

the interpretation of the phrafes, and many "hiftories of the New Teftament, it is not fo "much what we think of them, agreeably to no"tions derived from certain principles of ours, "as in what fenfe they could be understood by the "perfons who lived in thofe times, according to "their own ufual cuftom and manner of fpeak"ing". The use of this rule appears partly

from what hath been laft obferved; but we fhall have more use of it, when we confider the Jewish cuftoms and expreffions for the better understanding of divers paflages in the New Teftament.

The third general rule, is, To inquire into the chief defign and fcope of each book; and, as Bishop Stillingfleet directs', especially for the ́understanding of the New Teftament, "To fix "in our minds a true ftate of the controversies of "that time, which will give us more light in the "knowledge of the fcriptures, than large volumes "of commentators, or the beft fyftem of mo"dren controverfies." This rule will be of good ufe for the right understanding of the epiftles.

SECTION X.

Synopfis: Or, a general View of the History of the Jeros, and of the State of the Church, in feven Periods.

Period I.THEN God had made the world, and alfo formed our firft parents, Adam and Eve, he placed them in Paradife; but they foon forfeited life, and God's favour, by the inftigation of the old ferpent the devil: Yet VOL. I.

k

Lightfoot Hor. in Mat. vi. 9. obferv. 3. In his Ec clefiaftical Cafes, vifitat. 1696. at the end.

at

at the fame time, it pleafed God to promise the Meffiah, (or Saviour,) called the feed of the woman, because, after the nature of man, he was in the fulness of time to proceed from her offspring.. Those people who kept clofe to the worship and fervice of God, were the pofterity of Seth; but in process of time they became infected by the ungodly pofterity of Cain, infomuch, that at length, fuch was the wickednefs of mankind, as to occafion God to fend a flood of water upon the old world; Noah and his family being preferved therein, and the creatures which he carried with him into the ark; fomewhat above a thousand fix hundred years from the creation m.

Period II. The new world was peopled by Noah's fons, and their pofterity, which was the fooner effected by their language being divided: But, of all Noah's offspring, God was pleased to make a peculiar covenant with Abraham and his pofterity, both in refpect to their inheritance in the land of Canaan, and the promife of the Meffiah to come from his feed, according to the flesh; which Meffiah, when come, fhould be their Saviour, and alfo of all other nations of the earth. Thofe of Abraham's iffue, whom God ordained to be the heirs of the promife, and the members of his church on earth, were his fon Ifaac, and grandfon Jacob, called alfo Ifrael, with Jacob's twelve fons and their pofterity; who made up the people called the children of ifrael. Jofeph, one of them, being envied by the reft, (when fojourning together with their father in Canaan,) was fold by them into Egypt; where at length he became the fecond man in the kingdom, next to king Pharaoh, which was occafioned by his advifing to lay

Gen. i. to ix.

up