them to inhabit their land, and would heap his favours upon them; and above all, that he would sanctify them, and fill them with the knowledge and fear of his holy name: and that he would do all this for his own glory, and to convince the idolatrous nations that there was no other God but he.

Reflections.

THE reading of this chapter engages us to consider, I. That if God formerly suffered his people to be oppressed by their enemies for awhile, it was not that he designed to cast them off utterly, but because he was willing to purify them by affliction, and at length to manifest his power and justice in delivering them, and in punishing those that had afflicted them. We should pass the same judgment on the persecutions to which the church is exposed, as well as on the afflictions which God dispenses to particular men in this life. II. The promise God here makes of restoring, protecting, and sanctifying his people, is not confined to the deliverance of the Jews, and to the temporal blessings vouchsafed them in their land, after their return from Babylon; it agrees more especially to the spiritual blessings that God was to bestow first on the Jews, and afterwards on all men, in the times of the Messiah, and was accomplished by the coming of Jesus Christ, the sending of the Holy Ghost, and by the preaching of the Gospel. III. What we are chiefly to consider in these promises is, that the design of God in granting us these blessings was to withdraw men from sin, to sanctify them, and to give them a new heart and a new spirit, that they might walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments. This then is what we ought chiefly to labour after; this is the end to which we should apply the mercies which God vouchsafes us by the new covenant, which we have the happiness to live under.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THIS chapter consists of two parts. In the first, Ezekiel relates the vision he had seen of a field covered with the bones of dead bodies that were brought to life again; by which God was pleased to assure the Jews, that he was able to bring them back from the captivity of Babylon, though there seemed to be no appearance of their restoration. In the second, the prophets shows, by the emblem of two pieces of wood joined together, that the Lord would reunite the Jews of Ephraim, that is, of the ten tribes, and those of the kingdom of Judah, that they should make but one people, and live under one king; and that God would make an everlasting covenant with them.

Reflections.

I. This vision of Ezekiel, in which God showed him dead bodies raised to life, tended to instruct the Jews, that though they were in a very deplorable condition, and there seemed to be no hopes of their recovery, yet God, by his infinité power, would infallibly deliver them. From whence we may gather, that nothing is impossible with God, and that he never wants means to accomplish his promises. This vision is likewise to be considered as a most express type of the general resurrection. Though our bodies are reduced to dust, God is able to give them life again, and reunite them to our souls; which he will infallibly do at the last day, as we are most clearly taught in the Gospel. Ezekiel's prophecy of the two nations of Israel, and of Judah, being one day gathered together, and united under one king, to serve God with one accord, can be but imperfectly applied to the state of the Jews after the captivity: since a considerable part of them, especially those of the ten tribes, never returned into their own country, and those who did return, remained there but a short time, and were almost always under the dominion of

foreign princes. This prophecy therefore must relate to the calling of the Jews under the Gospel, their union in the church of Christ, and particularly their conversion, when that people shall embrace the Christian religion.

CHAPTERS XXXVIII. XXXIX.

IN these two chapters the prophet foretells, that the church should be assaulted by Gog: by which the Holy Spirit is supposed to describe the miseries which the neighbouring kings, and in particular Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, would bring upon the Jews, after their return from Babylon; the destruction of that cruel prince, and the glorious deliverance which God would vouchsafe his people by the Maccabees.

Reflections on chapters xxxviii. and xxxix.

As the Jews were exposed, some time after their return from the Babylonish captivity, to cruel persecutions, particularly under the reign of Antiochus, king of Syria; God forewarned them of it by this prophecy of Ezekiel, and by another of Daniel, who likewise foretold the same event; that when these evils came upon them they might not be surprised. In truth, they were attacked and oppressed by Antiochus, who made war upon them, put a great number of them to death, profaned the temple at Jerusalem, and for some time prevented the performance of divine service. But in their distress they experienced divine assistance; that prince was vanquished, by the divine blessing upon the arms of the Maccabees; he became an example of divine vengeance; and the Jews recovered their liberty. Thus God was pleased to try and purify his people; giving them, in the sight of the idolatrous nations, signal proofs of his protection; and disposing them for the reception of the Messiah, who was soon to be sent unto them.

CHAPTER XL.

In this and the following chapter to the end of the Book, Ezekiel relates a vision which he saw fourteen years after the taking of Jerusalem; wherein are described the temple, and the service that was to be performed in it, the division of the land of Canaan to the twelve tribes of Israel, together with a plan of a new city. Some apply this prophecy to the temple that was rebuilt after the captivity, and to the state of the Jews at that time. But, considering that the second temple was not built as Ezekiel here represents; that the twelve tribes did not return into their own country; that the land of Canaan was not divided unto them; that Jerusalem was not rebuilt according to the plan laid down by Ezekiel; considering, farther, that there are laws mentioned in these chapters which were never observed by the Jews since their return, and promises which have not been fulfilled; others are of opinion, this vision should be explained in a spiritual sense, and understand it of the Christian Church. Some think it represents what would have happened, if the twelve tribes had been converted and turned unto God. Lastly, There are others of opinion, that these predictions relate to the restoration of the Jewish nation in the later times, when they shall be converted. As all these explanations are attended with several difficulties, it would be hard to determine the sense of these chapters with certainty, and to make any particular reflections on them.

The end of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.

THE

BOOK OF THE PROPHET

DANIEL.

ARGUMENT.

Daniel was very remarkable for his holiness, his great zeal, and the revelations he received. The testimony given of him by God, in the fourteenth and twentyeighth chapters of Ezekiel; and what Jesus Christ says of him in the Gospel, proves that he was a very holy man, and a great prophet. He lived at Babylon, six hundred years before the coming of our Lord, and was there known as a prophet all the time of the captivity, and beyond it, that is, upwards of seventy years; so that he lived to a very advanced age. This book is made up of histories and remarkable prophecies. We have here the history of several considerable events, which happened at Babylon, both to the prophet Daniel, and to the kings of that country; and several prophecies, which describe the revolutions that were to happen in the kingdoms of the world, and particularly in the state of the Jews; as also the coming of the Messiah.

CHAPTER I.

In this chapter we see how Daniel was brought to Babylon, and educated at the court of king Nebuchadnezzar.