8 VERs.r. .An Expojitien, with Notes Pride grew upon him by the fight of his comforts ; nor of the fpirit of thofe Jews, who,when they dwelt within feiled houfes, cryed, The time to build the Lord; Houfe i& not come, Hag. r. I,~. They were well,and at <;>a,fe,and therefore neglected God•: But of Davids fpirit, who when he weHt into his fl:ately Palace, ferious thoughts and purpofes of honouring God, arofe with his fpirit, 2 Sam. r .2, Shall I dr:rell in an houfe ofCedar, and the A;r~ofqoddweJ!With. in Curtains ? Obferve the dift~rent workings of their fpirits. Ne– buchadne:v:,ar walking in hts Palace groweth proud, Is not th~ great Babe! which I Eave 6uilt? The Jews in their feiled houfes grow cari:lefs, The time to build the Lerds Houfe ~ not come. D6lvid i.n his curious houfe ofCedar growech religious. What have I done fc)r the Ark of God,who hath done fo much for me? Well then, honour God in your houfes, Iefl: yo·u become the burdens of them, and they JPue you out. The twelve Tribes were fcattered. Hofea u . u. 2. The infallibility ofhi& trttth, .they were •punilbed, as their Congreg4tion had heflrd, (as the Prophet fpeaketh.) In judicial Difpenfa~ions:tis good to obferve,not only gods [u{fice,but Gods . Truth. No calamity befel Jfrael, but what was in the L~tter, foret~ld in the Books of Mofos. Aman might haye written their Hiflory o'.lt of the threateningsofthe law: See Levit. z6, 33• If ye walk._ contrary unt~ me, 1will j catteryou among the Heathens, andwill draw a fivord after you. The like is threatened in Deut. z8.64. And the Lord foal! jcat'ter you fr(Jm one end of the e&~rth . unto ~tnother ~mong all the people: And you fee how futable the event was to the 'J>rophecy; And therefore I conceive {ames ufeth this expreffion of the twelve Trsbes,when that difiinction was an– tiquated,and the Tribes much confounded,to thew, that they,who were ooee twelve Aourilbing Tribes, were now, by the accom– plilbmemof that Prophecy, fadly fcattere~ and mingled among the Nations. , 3· The tenderne{s ofhi& love to 'the beleevers among them, he hacha t"mes for the Chriflians of the fcattered Tribes. In the fe– verefl: ways of his Jufiice he doth not forget his own, and he hath fpecial Confolations for them when they, lie under the common Judgment; when other Jews were banithed, John, ·amongfi the rtfr,was baniilied out of Ephefm into 'PtJtmos, abarren, miferable Rock or lfland, but there he had thofe high Revelation;, Rev. I ·9· Wdl then, where ever_ you are, you are near to God, he is aGodat , ' hand,
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