be, not to fuggeft to the Jews that Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices were originally no Part of their Religion, but to remonftrate to them, that Sacrifice and Offering was but one Part, and that a Regularity of their Lives and Manners was another; and that a due Care not of one or either, but of both these Parts of their Duty, was injoined them, in the general Command given to them, to obey God's Voice in order to be his People. There remains to be confidered, 3. A Paffage in Ezekiel (t). Ezekiel represents that God gave the Jews, firft his Statutes and his Judgments, which if a Man do, be fhall even live in them (w), and afterwards, because they had not executed thefe Judg ments, but defpifed his Statutes, that therefore, he gave them Statutes, that were not good, and Judgments, whereby they should not live (x). The former of thefe Statutes and Judgments are faid to be the moral Law, and the Commands of the ritual Law are supposed to be the latter (y). But I would obferve, 1. That whatever the Statutes were, which are thus faid to have been not good, whatever were the Judgments, whereby they should not live, it appears evidently from the Prophet, that they were not given to that Generation of Men, who received the ritual Law, and confequently the ritual Law could not be any Part of thefe Statutes. The Prophet remarks, that the Ifraelites after receiving the Law, rebelled (t) Ezek. xx. 10. (w) xx. II. (x) Ver. 24, 25. (y) Spencer. de legib. Heb. 1. 1. c. 1, § 2. c. 14. § 3. against against God in the Wilderness (2); that God had faid, he would pour out his Fury upon them to deftroy them (a); but that for his Name's fake he had not executed this Vengeance (b); yet, that he did determine not to bring TH E M into the Land of Canaan (c), tho' his Eye had fpared them from deftroying and making an end of them (d): And thus in five Verfes he fums up what had happened in God's Difpenfations to the Ifraelites, from the giving the Law, unto the Punishment of their Misbehaviour at the Return of their Spies out of Canaan (e), during which Interval, how oft did they provoke God (f)? Yet many a Time turned he his Anger away, and did not stir up all bis Wrath (g), until at length, tho' his Eye fpared them (b), and he would not kill all the People as one Man (i), which had indeed been to deftroy and make an end of them in the Wildernes (k), yet he lifted up his Hand, that he would not bring them into the Land, which he had given them (1), but denounced against them, that all thofe that had feen his Glory and his Miracles, and had tempted him now ten Times, and not bearkned to his Voice, fhould furely not fee the Land, but fall in the Wilderness; but that their little ones fhould be brought into it (m): After this the Prophet proceeds to relate what happened to their Children; that God faid unto them, Walk ye not in the Statutes of your Fa thers but walk in my Statutes, and keep my Judgments, and do them (n): But the Children rebelled against God (0), and because they had not executed his Judgments, but had defpifed his Statutes, therefore he gave them Statutes that were not good, and Judgments whereby they fhould not live (p). And thus it must be undeniably plain, that the Prophet could not, by the Statutes not good, mean any Part of the ritual Law; for the whole Law was given to the Fathers of those, whom the Prophet now speaks of; but thefe Statutes were not given to the Fathers, but to their Defcendants. 2. If we go on, and compare the Narrative of the Prophet with the Hiftory of the Ifraelites, we thall fee further, that the Statutes and Judgments not good are fo far from being any Part of Mofes's Law, that they were not given earlier than the Times of the Judges. On the first Day of the eleventh Month of the fortieth Year after the Exit from Egypt, (q) Mofes, after he had numbred the People in the Plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho (r), and found that there was not left a Man of thofe, whom he had almost forty Years before numbered in the Wilderness of Sinai, fave Caleb and Joshua (s), by the Command of God made a Covenant with the Ifraelites in the Land of Moab, befides the Covenant which he made with them (n) Ezek. xx. 18, 19. 25. (9) Deut. i. 3. 64, 65.. (0) Ver. 21. () Ver. 24, (s) Ver. in Horeb (t). The Fathers who had so often provoked God, were now all dead, and here it was, that God faid unto their Children, Walk ye not in the Statutes of your Fathers, neither obJerve their Judgments, nor defile your felves with their Idols-but walk in my Statutes, and keep my Judgments and do them (u); here it was that God commanded them, not to be, as their Fathers, a ftubborn and rebellious Generation, but to fet their Hearts aright, and to have their Spirits ftedfaft with God (w); for this was the Purport of what Mofes gave in Charge to them, that they might teach their Children the fame, that it might be well with them, and that they and their Children might bear, and learn to fear the Lord their God, as long as they lived in the Land, whither they were going over Jordan to poffefs it (x): We do not find, but that from this Time to the Death of Mofes, the Ifraelites were punctual in obferving what he commanded, and after Mofes was dead, they ferved the Lord all the Days of Jofhua, and all the Days of the Elders, that over-lived Joshua (y); but when all that Generation were gathered unto their Fathers, then the Children of Ifrael did evil in the fight of the Lord, and followed other Gods of the Gods of the People, that were round about them, and provoked the Lord to Anger, and ferved Baal and Afhteroth (z); fo that here the Scene opens, which Mofes had forewarned them of (a), and which (u) Ezek. xx. 18, (t) Deut. xxix. 1. Ixxviii. 8. Judges ii. 7. 19. Ezekiel alludes to (b), and accordingly what Ezekiel mentions as the Punishments of these Wickedneffes (c), began now to come upon them. The Prophet remarks, that God faid, he would pour out his Fury upon them, and accomplish his Anger against them (d), and agreeably hereto we find, that the Anger of the Lord was hot against Ifrael, and he delivered them into the Hands of Spoilers, that spoiled them, and be fold them into the Hands of their Enemies round about; fo that they could not any longer ftand before their Enemies. Whitherfoever they went out, the Hand of the Lord was against them for Evil, as the Lord had faid, and as the Lord had fworn unto them (e). The Prophet obferves, that nevertheless God withdrew his Hand (f): He did not proceed intirely to extirpate them; and thus the Hiftorian: Nevertheless the Lord raised up Judges which delivered them (g): Many Times indeed did be deliver them, but they went on to provoke him with their Behaviour; fo that he determined, for their tranfgreffing his Covenant, and not hearkning unto his Voice, that he would not henceforth drive out any from before them, of the Nations which Joshua left when he died (b); and hereby the Ifraelites became mingled with the Heathen (i), or as the Prophet expreffes it, they were fcattered among the Heathen, and difperfed through the Countries (k); they had not a contiguous and united Pof (b) Ezek. xx. 21. ii. 14, 15. ii. 20, 21. (c) Ibid. (f) Ezek, xx. 22. Pfalm cvi. 35. (e) Judges (d) Ibid. (g) Judges ii. 16. • (b) (k) Ezek. xx. 23 feffion |