1

voch. Part 1. c. 41, 47. Part. 3. c. 24.

Non enim aliquid ignorat Deus, ut exa

is wont to be the caule of fuch effects, tho repentance was not the cause of it; but the reafon and state of the cafe, which he had fully known and confidered from all eternity, and therefore could not be furprized, or moved to any alteration of Judgment by it. His foul was grieved for the mifery of Ifrael, Judg. 10. 16. or, it was fhortned, as the Hebrew word is literally tranflated in the Margin, that is, according to Maimonides, the *Maimon. More Ne- Lords mind was fhortened from afflicting them, or he had no longer a mind to punish them. When God is faid to see, 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 fearest God, Gen. 22. 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. 8. 2.. is the fame, as to make that appear, and become known, which I know to be in thine heart, Gen. 11. 5. the Lord is faid to come down to fee the City and Tower of Babel, and Gen. 18. 20. Because 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

:

minando 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. Hiéron. in Job. c. 3', 6.

which is come unto me, and if not, I will know which implies, that God is not for

ward

ward 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 Governour, who is unwilling to believe ill Reports, and will make a full enquiry and infpection into the case, before he punish offenders; or in short, here is an illustration in Fact of that adorable character, which God proclaims of himself, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, Exod. 34. 6. God fays, that he could not destroy Sodom till Lot was efcaped out of it, Gen. 19. 22. and to Mofes he fays, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may Wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, Exod. 32. 10. But we must not imagin 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 preserved Lot in the midft of Sodom, as well as he delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego out of the Fiery Furnace. But these things are thus expreft for an encouragement in Righteouf nefs, and to teach us dependance upon God; for the righteous have power with God as well as with men, and fhall prevail, Gen. 32. 28. It was an exercife and trial of the Faith and Charity of Mofes, and is propofed as an example of Faith and Charity to all, who fhould

7

should read that account of him. Besides, he was a Type of Chrift, and as fuch, was to make interceffion and attonement for the fins of the People, Exod. 32. 30. For Christ before his coming in the Flesh exercis'd his Mediatory power, as to the visible administration of it, by thofe 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 Moses, and others are faid to have had with God.

The fumm 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 defigned, God, who is by the infinité excellency of his Nature, uncapable of any Paffion, is pleas'd to be reprefented 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 seem sometimes to doubt of the effects of his defigns and proposals, and of the events of humane Actions ; * to fhew, as Origen, St. Jerom and Theodoret * Origen Philocal. have obferv'd, the freedom of Men, and to c.23.Hie- declare, that their deftruction is from them. Theodo- felves. He fpeaks to us in the Language of ret. Men, and affumes to himself all the Paffions of ad Ezek. humane nature, that by any means finners may be perfwaded to turn to him; he is described as angry, and grieved at the fins of Men, and as one, who rejoyceth at their Repentance:

ron. &

11. 5.

not

J

not that the Divine Nature can be capable of Anger, or Grief, or Rejoycing, which imply change and imperfection, and therefore muft 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 moft 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 dif appointment by the obftinacy 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 addi-. tion 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 stile 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. * Maimonides has * More obferv'd, that the Holy Tongue has no words to exprefs things obfcene: and 'tis very re

markable

Nevoch.

Par.3. c.8.

*Hermog. de Invent. lib. 4. c. 11. † Vid. Athenæ lib. 1. c. 4. cum Cafaub. Animad. De Antiquis illu ftriffimus quifq; Paftor erat,ut oftendit Greca & Latina Lingua & veteres Poetæ. Varro de Re

markable, that in those ruder Ages (as they
are commonly reckon'd) the Hebrews had pe-
culiar forms of Decency in their Expreffions,
upon
all occafions which required them. And
to know in that fignification, which it hath
Gen. 4. 1. and in many other places of Scrip-
ture, was likewife ufed by the Greeks, and is
particularly taken notice of by *
Hermogenes for the modefty 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 themfelves, or had no other
help but that of their Children 3
and 'tis reasonable, that their manner of fpeech
fhould be fuitable to their way of living, and
that the one fhould 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 innocence and purity, and of a native
fimplicity of manners, void of Pride, and of
fhame arifing from Guilt.

Ruftic .lib. 2. c. I.

Herodot. 6. c. 137.

In matters of Hiftory, 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 Wildernefs, (for the original word is capable of

a