“smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And "there fell of Israel 500,000 chosen men. Thus the children "of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers." This awful instance of divine vengeance must have operated as a powerful encouragement to the inhabitants of Judah to persevere in the pure worship of the true God, and to the reflecting part of Israel to reform. In truth, this national separation formed, almost from the moment it began, a broad line of distinction between those who suffered themselves, from idolatrous propensities, or worldly views, to be seduced from the observance of the divine Law, and those determined conscientiously to adhere to it. At its very commencement, not only the Levites,*" whom Jeroboam "cast out of the priests' office, left their suburbs and their pos"sessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; but after them, "out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek "the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the "Lord God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom "of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong." It is true, this strict observance of the divine Law was not permanent even in Judah. Rehoboam, corrupted by prosperity, fell into the same crimes as his father Solomon. But when chastised by the invasion of the king of Egypt, and roused to reflection by the warning of a prophet, the "princes and the king "humbled themselves; and they said, the Lord is righteous:" and on their repentance they were preserved from ruin.† The son and successor of Rehoboam gained the decisive victory above related over the revolted and idolatrous tribes-an event which appears to have made the deepest impression on the people of Judah. For immediately after, his son‡ Asa succeeding to that throne, displayed the most pious zeal in the service of Jehovah, removing his mother from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove, and entering into a solemn covenant with his whole assembled nation,§ "to seek the Lord God of Israel "with all their heart, and with all their soul; and that whosoAnd all Judah 66 sworn with ever would not do so should be put to death. "rejoiced at the oath; for they had "and sought him with their whole 2 Chron. xi. from 13 to 17. ‡ Ibid. xiv. xv. and xvi. all their heart, desire, and he was found of +2 Chron. xii. 5, 6, 7. § Ibid. xv. particularly 9 to 15. “them: and the Lord gave them rest round about." And not only had all Judah and Benjamin joined in the covenant, but "the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and "Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, "when they saw that the Lord his God was with him." Another instance, where the piety of Judah was exerted to recal the Israelites to their duty, occurred in the reign of Hezekiah, which has been already noticed.* But as it is not my intention to do more than give a general view of the providential government over the Jewish nation, in order to effect the purposes of the Mosaic economy, it is sufficient here to recollect what has before been noticed; how strongly the recognition of the Mosaic Law in these divided kingdoms establishes its authenticity and to remark, that from the solemn covenant with God formed by Asa, the majority of the kings of Judah were pious and exemplary; particularly so long as they avoided any close connexion with the monarchs of Israel. For the† affinity formed by Jehoshaphat with the depraved family of Ahab appears to be the first occasion, after this event, of introducing idolatry and vice into the royal house of Judah. In process of time, these corruptions extended, and, notwithstanding the various chastisements by which they were checked, required at length the severe discipline of seventy years captivity in Babylon, completely to subdue the idolatrous propensities of the Jews, and convince them of the guilt and danger of associating any other god with the supreme majesty of Jehovah, And to him ever since that period they have paid exclusive adoration; and have, notwithstanding a series of unexampled calamities and trials, observed the Mosaic Law, as of unquestioned authority and divine original. Another opportunity will occur for tracing out the various steps by which Divine Providence, under this and every other part of the Jewish dispensation, advanced the interests of true religion, and prepared the way for the Gospel of Christ. Enough, I trust, has now been said, to show that the idolatries and transgressions of the Jewish nation, far from proving that their religion and government were not of divine original, or conducted by any providential control, evince the contrary; and evidently appear to have proceeded from causes perfectly consistent with #2 Chron. xxx. 1 to 5. +2 Chron. xviii. 1. and xxi. 6. the divine promulgation of the Mosaic Law: causes whose influence must have produced a total and irremediable apostasy from true religion in the whole Jewish race, if it had not been perpetually counteracted by that Providence, which, without violating the analogy of nature, or infringing on the freedom and moral accountableness of man, yet directs the whole series of events so as to accomplish its own all-gracious purposes, out of evil bringing forth good, and perpetually advancing the cause of truth and righteousness. I shall conclude this Lecture with some observations suggested by the subjects we have been now discussing. Let me then warn my readers against adopting a preconception, very injurious to the cause of religion with unthinking minds;-even that all the individuals whom God made use of as instruments for the deliverance of his people, are brought forward to our notice in Scripture as worthy of divine favour, and fit models for our imitation in the entire tenor of their lives. They generally indeed possessed the important and praiseworthy qualities of zeal and intrepidity in defence of their national religion and constitution, and were active and effective instruments in restoring the worship of Jehovah, and thus in the main forwarding the interests of virtue and religion. Hence, God frequently assisted their efforts with miraculous aid, or is said to have raised them up,* or been with them as judges or kings of Israel. But we must by no means conceive that this implies, that the divine approbation attended all their conduct. The * Most of the difficulties and objections which appear to discredit the divine original of the Jewish revelation, are derived from the misconduct of the nation in general, or from the errors and crimes of some distinguished individuals, who were employed as instruments to forward the progress of the divine economy. In addition to such circumstances as have been advanced in this and the preceding Lectures, to obviate such difficulties and objections, the following remarks may perhaps not be useless. It is said to be utterly incredible, that persons raised up, aided, inspired, directed, or assisted by God, should have been guilty of such crimes as David; such idolatries as Solomon; such weaknesses as Samson; such apostasies and cruelties as the Jews. To this it may be answered, that it is perfectly credible they should be raised up for particular purposes; aided in effecting a particular object; inspired with a certain degree of knowledge; assisted at particular periods, and in a special manner; and yet, that beyond this, their natural character, their external temptations, their acquired habits, may have produced all the irregularities and crimes which gave so much offence. To ask, why God did not prevent this? is to ask, why he did not exercise a greater degree of supernatural control than the peculiar VOL. II. R excesses of Samson, the rash vow of Jephthah, the ephod of Gideon, which proved a snare unto him and all his house, involving them in the guilt of idolatry; the excessive indulgence of Eli to his profligate sons; the manner in which the 66 66 purposes of Providence required? A question as absurd as it is presumptuous. On this subject, I transcribe the observations of Butler, Analogy, p. 260, which appear to me decisive. Having illustrated, by a variety of examples, that the system of nature is liable to objections, "a priori," analogous to those advanced against the scheme of revelation; and that as the former are admitted to be inconclusive objections to natural religion, the latter are equally so with regard to revelation; he proceeds, 66 By applying these general observations to a particular objection, it will "be more distinctly seen, how they are applicable to others of the like kind: and "indeed to almost all objections against Christianity, as distinguished from ob“jections against its evidence. It appears from Scripture, that as it was not un"usual in the apostolic age, for persons, upon their conversion to Christianity, to "be endued with miraculous gifts; so, some of those persons exercised these gifts "in a strangely irregular and disorderly manner; and this is made an objection "against their being really miraculous. Now the foregoing observations quite "remove this objection, how considerable soever it may appear at first sight. For, "consider a person endued with any of these gifts; for instance, that of tongues: "it is to be supposed, that he had the same power over this miraculous gift, as he would have had over it, had it been the effect of habit, of study and use, as it ordinarily is; or the same power over it, as he had over any other natural "endowment. Consequently, he would use it in the same manner he did any "other; either regularly and upon proper occasions only, or irregularly and im"proper ones: according to his sense of decency, and his character of prudence. "Where then is the objection? Why, if this miraculous power was indeed given "to the world, to propagate Christianity and attest the truth of it we might, it seems, have expected, that other sort of persons should have been chosen to be "invested with it; or that these should, at the same time have been endued with "prudence; or that they should have been continually restrained and directed "in the exercise of it: i. e. that God should have miraculously interposed, if at "all, in a different manner or higher degree. But from the observations made "above, it is undeniably evident, that we are not judges, in what degrees and 66 manners, it were to have been expected, he should miraculously interpose; upon "supposition of his doing it in some degree and manner. Nor, in the natural course of Providence, are superior gifts of memory, eloquence, knowledge, and "other talents of great influence, conferred only on persons of prudence and de66 cency, or such as are disposed to make the properest use of them. Nor is the "instruction and admonition naturally afforded us for the conduct of life particu"larly in our education, commonly given in a manner the most suited to recom"mend it; but often with circumstances apt to prejudice us against such instruc"tion." 66 66 Such are the observations of Butler; and they seem to show most clearly, the unreasonableness of disbelieving the reality of the divine interpositions in the Jewish scheme, merely from the crimes and idolatries of the nation at large, or of the most remarkable persons employed in those interpositions. God raised up various judges, and kings and prophets, to deliver, to instruct, and to govern his people; sons of Samuel himself abused their pious parent's authority; the crimes even of David and Solomon; all these facts supply abundant proofs, that as in the people, so in the chiefs, there was a mixture of weakness and unsteadiness, an immaturity of and he gave them such aids of valour, prudence, knowledge, and such a degree of success, as were sufficient for the purposes they were necessary to answer. But he did not make them, or the nation at large, infallible or impeccable. The judges often fell into errors and crimes: Samson abused his supernatural strength; David's piety and virtue were overpowered by criminal desire acquiring an undue ascendancy; Solomon, notwithstanding his extraordinary wisdom, was corrupted by sensuality, and fell into idolatry: and thus of the rest. But does this render it incredible that they were at all employed by God to effect his purposes, or on particular occasions assisted with extraordinary aid? Assuredly not. This would be to affirm that God could not interpose at all in human affairs, without interposing to such a degree, as would totally subvert the laws of man's moral nature, and the principles of his own moral government, by forcibly controlling human agency, and subverting all free will. The unreasonableness of supposing or expecting that the Deity should interpose to such a degree as this, is strongly and beautifully illustrated by archbishop King in his celebrated Treatise on the Origin of Evil; and his observations are applied to the subject before us, by his learned and ingenious annotator, bishop Law. I shall insert a short extract from each; vide King's Origin of Evil, translated by Law, chap. v. sect. v. Subsect. III. p. 359. "Such an interruption as this," (viz. God's restraining all exercises of free will, when they tend to vice and absurdity; vide the two preceding paragraphs, particularly p. 356.) "would not only do violence to nature, "but quite invert the method of treating free agents. This method is to hinder "or excite elections by rewards or punishments, to divert them from unreason"able or absurd things, and draw them to better by the persuasion of reason. "But it is doubtful whether the nature of the thing will permit an election to be “determined by impulse, or as it were by immediate contact, for it seems equally "absurd to attempt a change of election by any other means than those above "mentioned, as to desire to stop the motion of matter by entreaty or offering re"wards. May we not with the same reason expect that matter should be moved "by rewards and punishments, as the will influenced by physical impulse, as they call "it? for it is by these meaus they would have God to stop or alter the choice. So "preposterous an interposal would confound every thing, and leave nothing certain "in nature. How fatal such an experiment would be, and how it would affect "the minds of the observers; or what suspicious concerning God and their own se“curity, it might suggest to the whole system of thinking beings, God only knows. "We see that human laws cannot be dispensed with, without very many inconve"niencies, which yet, as they are made upon an imperfect foresight and can provide "for few cases, seem naturally to require some interposition. How much greater "evils may we apprehend from a dispensation with the divine, the natural laws, on "the observance of which the good of the whole depends. This seems to be the reason why God makes use of so much labour and pains, so great an apparatus of means, so many precepts, persuasions, and even entreaties for the amendment of "mankind, which nevertheless he could effect in a moment if he were pleased to "apply force; and he would undoubtedly do it, if he had not foreseen more incon 66 |