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understood to mean no more than that God acted, as Men are wont to do, when they change their Minds, and repent and grieve at what they have done, and that he would certainly destroy the World which he had made for Mofes himself inftructs the Children of Ifrael, that God is without any bodily Shape or Subftance, and therefore cannot be faid to have any Heart, or to be griev'd at his Heart, in the fame Senfe that it is faid of Men. And Numb. xxiii. 19. it is declared, that God is not a man, that be fhould lye, neither the Son of man, that he should repent. And when God fays that it repented him that he had fet up Saul to be King, 1 Sam. xv. 11. this is explain'd ver. 29. where we read, that the ftrength of Ifrael will not lye, nor repent; for he is not a man that he fhould repent: and yet again in the last verse it is faid, that the Lord repented, that he had made Saul King over Ifrael. The most careless Writer could not fo foon and so often forget himself; but what is faid of God's repenting, is to be taken in an improper and figurative Senfe, to imply that God would act in that cafe, as Men act when they repent of what they have done, tho' without any Change of Mind, or any Grief, or other Paffion in him attending it: the Effect was the fame as if God had repented; and therefore, by a Metonymy the Effect is exprefs'd by that which in Men is wont to be the Cause of fuch Effects, though in God Repentance was not the Caufe of it; but the reafon and ftate of the cafe, which he had fully known and confider'd from all Eternity, and therefore could not be furpriz❜d, or mov'd to any Alteration of Judgment by it. His foul was grieved for the misery of Ifrael, Judg. x. 16. or, it was fhortned, as the Hebrew word is literally tranflated in the Margin; that is, according to Maimonides, the Lord's Mind was fhorten'd from afflicting them, or he had no longer a mind to punish

Maimon. More Nevoch. P' i. c. 41, 47. Pt iii. C. 24.

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them. God has commanded, that our Anger fhould be without Sin, and he is himself angry without the least Passion or Commotion: but he is difpleas'd with Sinners, because he disapproves of their evil Actions, and he is most angry and displeas'd with thofe, whose Ways and Practices he most dislikes; infomuch that God often threatens to pour out his fury, upon impeni-. tent Sinners, that is, to punish them in the most terrible manner, as their Sins deferve; but just and neceffary Punishment, how great foever it may be, is not the Effect of Passion, but of the highest Reason. When God is faid to fee, the meaning is, that he knows what is done; when he is faid to hear, this fignifies, that he understands what is faid. Now I know that thou feareft God, Gen. xxii. 12. that is, now I have had the Proof of it, and have made it evident, that I know it. To prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, Deut. viii. 2. is the fame, as to make that appear, and become known, which I know to be in thine Heart, Gen. xi. 5. the Lord is faid to come down to fee the City and Tower of Babel, and Gen. xviii. 20. Becaufe the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their fin is very grievous, I will go down now and fee, whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me, and if not, I will know which implies, that God is not forward or willing to punish, but that he proceeds as Men do in things about which they ufe most Care and Deliberation. God is reprefented as a good Governor, who is unwilling to believe ill Reports, and will make a full Enquiry and Inspection into the cafe, before he punish Offenders; or in short, here is an Illustration in Fact of that adorable Chara&ter, which God proclaims of himself, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering and a

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Non enim aliquid ignorat Deus, ut examinando cognofcat, fed fciat Deus, ita dixit beatus Job, ut fcire alios faciat, fecundum illud: tentat vos Deus Dominus, ut fciat, utrum diligatis eum, id eft, ut fcire cæteros faciat. Hieron, in Job. c. 31, 6.

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bundant in goodness and truth, Exod. xxxiv. 6. God fays, that he could not destroy Sodom till Lot was efcaped out of it, Gen. xix. 22. and to Mofes he says Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may confume them, Exod. xxxii. 10. But we must not imagine, that the Reasons and Motives which Mofes there reprefents to God in his Prayer in behalf of the People of Ifrael, could prevail more with him, than his own infinite Wisdom and Goodness, or that he could not have preferv'd Lot in the midst of Sodom, as well as he deliver'd Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego, out of the Fiery Furnace. But these things are thus exprefs'd for an Encouragement in Righteousness, and to teach us Dependence upon God; for the righteous have power with God as well as with men, and fhall prevail, Gen. xxxii. 28. It was an exercise and Trial of the Faith and Charity of Mofes, and is propos'd as an Example of Faith and Charity to all, who fhould read that account of him. Befides, he was a Type of Christ, and, as fuch, was to make Interceffion and Atonement for the Sins of the People, Exod. xxxii. 30. For Chrift, before, his Coming in the Flesh, exercis'd his Mediatory Power, as to the visible Administration of it, by those who were appointed to be his Types and Reprefentatives here upon Earth, which may give a fatisfactory account of that Power, which Abraham, Jacob and Mofes, and others are faid to have had with God.

The Sum of all is, that to give the more Force and Life to the Difcourfes of the Prophets, and to render them the more effectual to the ends, for which they were defign'd, God, who is by the infinite Excellency of his Nature, uncapable of any Paffion, is pleas'd to be represented as fubject to Love, and Anger, and Hatred, and all the Paffions of Humanity; and He, who knows perfectly all Events from Eternity, is contented even to feem fometimes to doubt of the Effects of his Designs and Propofals, and of the Events of

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humane Actions; to fhew, as P Origen, St. Ferom and Theodoret have obferv'd, the Freedom of Men, and to declare, that their Destruction is from themselves. He speaks to us in the Language of Men, and affumes to himself all the Paffions of humane Nature, that by any means Sinners may be perfuaded to turn to him; he is described as angry, and grieved at the Sins of Men, and as one, who rejoiceth at their Repentance: not that the Divine Nature can be capable of Anger, or Grief, or Rejoycing, which imply Change and Imperfection, and therefore must be impoffible in the most abfolutely perfect Being: but because Men are wont to be angry, when they punish, and to be grieved when those do amifs whom they would have do well, and are wont to rejoice when they begin to reform; therefore to fet forth, that God will certainly punish unrepenting Sinners, and receive the returning Penitent, and reward the Righteous, both the Goodness and Juftice of God are explain'd in fuch terms, as may most move and affect Men, to fhew that the Punishments he inflicts, will in the end be as grievous, as if he receiv'd fome lofs and disappointment by the obstinacy of the Wicked; and that he will as bountifully reward the Good, as if they had done him fome great benefit and kindness, and had made fome addition to his own Joy and Happiness, which is infinite and eternal, and therefore uncapable of any.

3. The Decorum, or fuitablenefs of the Matter in the style of Scripture. This is to be confidered with respect to the Perfons, the Occafion, and Time and Country; the Rules of Decency being variable according to Circumftances, not fix'd and immutable, as the Precepts of Morality are. 9 Maimonides has obferv'd, that the Holy Tongue has no words to exprefs things obfcene: and 'tis very remarkable, that

Origen Philocal. c. 23. Hieron. & Theodoret. ad Ezek. xi, s.
More Nevoch. Par. 3. c, 8.

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in those ruder Ages (as they are commonly reckon'd) the Hebrews had peculiar Forms of Decency in their Expreffions, upon all occafions which required them. And to know in that fignification, which it hath, Gen. iv. I. and in many other places of Scripture, was likewife used by the Greeks, and is particularly taken notice of by Hermogenes for the modesty of it. We find the Heroes of Homer employ'd in as mean Offices as the Patriarchs; and Herodotus declares, that in ancient Times, the Greeks had no Servants, but did their own work themselves, or had no other help but that of their Children; and 'tis reasonable, that their manner of Speech fhould be fuitable to their way of living, and that the one should have no more of delicacy in it than the other; and if there be any thing in their Writings, which is not fo agreeable to the nicenefs of latter Times, it is an argument of their Innocency and Purity, and of a native fimplicity of Manners, void of Pride, and of Shame arifing from Guilt.

In matters of History, feveral things may be mentioned, not fo much for their own fake, as because they were memorable in those Times, and might help to keep up the Remembrance of other things more confiderable. If Mofes has related, who found the Mules in the Wilderness, (for the original word is capable of a different fignification.) " Homer has made the fame Obfervation; thereby intending, as it is supposed, to intimate the wickedness of the Eneti, by

Hermog. de Invent. lib. 4. c. 11.

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Vid. Athenæ, lib. 1. c. 4. cum Cafaub. Animad. De Antiquis illuftriffimus quifque Paftor erat, ut oftendit Græca & Latina Lingua & veteres Poeta. Varro de Re Ruftic. lib. 2. c. I.

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Herodot. 6. c. 137.

Ἔξ Ἐνειν, ὅθεν ἡμιόνων Θ ἀεοεράων. Iliad. 2. V. 852. * Διὸ καὶ τὸ 7 Ἡμιόνων γε ἐκεῖθεν πρῶτον ἐκφωίαι λέγε τεκμήριον τότο σε αυτήν πονηρίας και μοχθηρίας δικνύς. Conftantin. Porphyr. de Them. 1. 1. c. 7.

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