122 / 504
CAr.I1I.4:xf.
iSam:t.;o,fpokenas relatingto
1+1am:45.Ii.Exod:28.43.
66
free
the
Lord from
a
charge
of
Changeableneffe
upon
his
fuppofalls,needs
little
paines
to
demonftrate.
The
Conceptions
of
the
minds
of
the
Sonnes
ofmen
& their
Purpofes,as fuch,are
as
abfolutely
free &
inconditionall,as the nature
of
a
Creature
will
admit:
only
the
Execution
of
our
Purpofes
and
refolves
is
fufpended upon
the Intervention
ofother
things,
which
render
them
all
Conditionall;And
this
it
feemes
is
the ltate
with
God
himfelfe; although
in
the
Scripture he moftfrequently diftinguifheth
himfelfe from
the
Sonnes
of
men,
on
this
acompt,
that
they purpofe
at
the greateft rate
of
uncertainty
imaginable ,
as
to
the
accomplithment
of
their
thoughts,
andtherefore
are
frequently difappointed ;
but
his
Purpofes
and
his
Counfells
(land
for
ever.
foPfa.33.10,
I
I. The
exprefiìon
then here
(I
faid) relates plainly
to
the
in-
veftiture
of
Aaron
and
his
feed
in
the Priefthood.There
was a
twofold
ingage-
ment
made
to
theHoule
of
Aaron
about
that
office:
one
in Generali
to
hint
and
his Sonnes:
the other
in
Particular,
to
Phinchas
and
his
Pofterity. The
latter to
Phinehas
is
farre
more
expreffrve
and
fignificant,
then the other;
you
haveit
Numb.
25.II,I2,13.Phinehas
the
Sonne
of
Eleavar,
the
Sonneof
Aaron the
Prie.11,
bathturned
my
Wrath
away
from
theChildren
of
Ifrael
while
he
was
Zealot's
for
my
fake
among
them,
that
I
confirmed
not the Children
of
Ifrael in
my
lealoufy
:
wherefore
fay
I,Behold,Igive
unto him
my
Covenant ofpeace,
and
he
(hall
have
it
and
his
feed after
him,
even
the Covenant
of
an
everlafizng
Prief
-
hood,
becaufe
he
was zealot",
for
God,'
and
made
an Attonement
for
the
Children
of
Ifrael.
Here.
is
a
Promife indeed, and no Condition
in
termes expreffed:
But
yet
being made and
granted
upon
the Condition
of
Obedience,
which
is
clearely expreffed once & againe,
that
the Continuance
of
it
was
allo fufpen-
ded
on
that
Condition, (as
to the
Glory and beauty
of
that
office,
the thing
principally-
intended)
cannot be
doubted
;
yea
it
is
luffrciently
expreffed
in
the
Occafion
ofthe Promife,
and fountaine
thereof.
But
this
was
not that
promife, wherein
Eli's was
particularly concerned. Indeed
his
Pofterity
was
rejected
in
order to the
accomplifhment
of
this
Promife, the
feed
of
Phinehas
returning
to
their
dignity from
whence
they fell, by
thé
interpolation
.
ofthe
Houle
of
ithamar.
4,
5,
That
which this Expreffion
here peculiarly relates
unto,
is
the Declaration
of
the
mind
of
God
,
concerning the Priefthood
of
Aaron
and
his
pofterity,
which you have
Exodus
28.43.
Exodus
29.91. where
the
confirming
them
in
their
Office
is
called
a
perpetualiStatute,
or
a
Law
forever; The
fignification
of
the
terme
for
ever,
in
the
Hebrew
efpecially, relating
to
%:egall
Infiitutions,is
known.
Their
Eternity
is
long
fine
expired;
that
then
which
God here
Em-
phatically expreffes,as an
Mt
of
Grace and Favour
to the
Houle
of
Aaron,
which
Eli
and
his
had intereft
in, was
that
Statute
or
Law
of
the
Prielihood:
and
his
purpofe and intention
(not
concerning the Event
of
things,
not
that
it
fhould continue
in
any one
branch
of
that
Family,
but)
of
his
connexing it
with
their
Obedience and
Faithfulneffe in
that
Office.
It
is
very frequent with
God to
expreffe
his
Approbation
of
our
duty,
under termesholding out the
Event,
that
would be the Iffue
of
the
duty
, though
it
never come
to
paffe:
and
his
difapprobation
or
rejedtion
of
the
Sonnes
of
Men,
under
termes
that
hold out the
end
of that
difobedience, though it
be
prevented, or removed.
In
this
latter
cafe, he commands
Jonas
to
cry,yet forty
claies
and
Niniveh
(hall
perifh;
not that
he purpofed
the
deftru
&ion
of
Niniveh
at that
time, but
on-
ly
effectually
to hold out the
end
of
their
f
nne,
that
it
might be
a
meanes
to
turne them
from
it,
and
to
prevent
that
end,which
it
would otherwife pro-
cure.
His
purpofe
was
to prevent, at
leaft
prorogue
the
ruine
of
Niniveh,
and
thereforemade ufe
of
threatning them with
ruine
that
they might
not be
ruined.
Tti'lay
that
God
purpofed
not the
execution;
f
his
purpofe,
but
in
fuck
and