460 / 504
C.XVII.
EMeb.18.
24,
25.
404
this fhould
be the
ftandard and Rule
of
Gods proceeding with
his
people,
in
the Covenant
of
mercy,
no
man
that
feemes
to
haveeither underftanding,
judgement or
confcience can reafonahly imagine.
3.
That
it
is
not the nature and tenour
of the
Covenant
of
Grace, and
Gods dealingwith
his
chofen
fecret ones,
his
Saints,
true
Believers,
as
to their
eternal'
condition,which
in
thefe words
is
intended, but the
manifeftation
of
the
Righteoufnefife
of
God irídealing with
that
people
of
the
Jewes, in
a
pe-
culiar difpenfation
of
his
providence, towards
the
body
of
that
people,
and
the
Nation
in
generali, appeares
farther
from
the
occafion
of
the
words,
and
the
provocation
given
the Lord
to
make ufe
of
thefe
expreffions
unto them.
The
proverbe
that
God
cuts out
of
their
lips
and mouthes, by the
(word
of
his Righteoufnefie in thefe words;
was concerning the
Land
of
Ifrael: Ufed
perhaps moftly by
them
in
captivity
:
but it
was concerning
the
Lakd
ofif-
rael,
not
concerning
the Eternall fiate and condition
of
the
Saints
of
God,
but
concerning
the
Land
of
ifrael, v.
2.
God had
of
old given
that
Land
to
that
people by Promife
,
and continued them
in
it
for many Generations ;
untill at length
for their
wickedneffe-,
Idolatry,
,Abomination and oblti-
nacy
in
their
evill wayes, he caufed
them
to
becarryed captive
unto
Babylon.
In that
Captivity the Lord revenged
upon
them not only the
finnes
of
the
prefent Generation,
but
as
he
told
them
alfo
thofe
of
their
fore-
Fathers,
efpecially the Abomination,Cruelty,
Idolatry
exercifed
in
the
dayes
of
Ma-
naffeh,
taking
this
feafon for
his
worke
of
vengeance in
the
Generations fol-
lowing, who allo
fofarre
walked
in
the ftepsof their
fore-
Fathers,
as
to
Juttify
all Gods proceedings againft
them
;
Being
wafted and
removed
from their owne Land, by the RighteousJudgement
of
God,
they confidered
the
Land
of
Ifrael,
that
was
Promifed
to
them
(though
upon their good be-
haviour
therein)
and how inftead
ofa plentiful
enjoyment
of
all thingsin
peace and quietnefie
therein, there
were now a fmail
remnant
in
captivity,
the
refs,
the farre
greateft
part,
being deflroyed by
the
(word
and
famine
in
that
Land. In this
fiate and condition,
being
as
all
other
of
th
dr
frame
and
principle, prone
to
juflify themfelves, they
had hatched
a
proverb among
themfelves
concerning the
Land
of
ifrael promrfed
to
them,
excedingly
oppro-
brious and
reproachfull
to
the Juftice
of
God,
in
his
dealings with
them;
The
fumme
of
the intendment
of
this laying
that
was
growne
rife
amongft
them,
was, that
for the
finne
of
their fore-
Fathers, many,
yea
the
greateft
part
of
them
was (lain in
the
Land
of
Ifrael,
and
the ,eft car-
ried
from
it into
bondage and captivity.
To
vindicate the Righteoufnefle
and equity
of
his
wayes,
the
impartiallity
of
his
Judgements,
the
Lord
re-
counts
to them
by
his
Prophet
many
of
their
finnes,
whereof
themfelves
with
their
Fathers were guilty,
in
the
Land
of
their nativity, and for
which he
had
brought
all
that
calamity and defolation upon them,
whereof
they did
complaine
:
confirming
under
many fuppofalls
of
riling
and falling,
that
principle
of
rifing
and falling,that principle
helavddowne
in
the
entrance
of
his
dealings with them,
that
every one
ofthem
fuffered for
his
own iniquity,
whatever they fuffered,whetherdeath or
other
banifhment, and not for the
finnes
oftheir
fore
Fathers:
Whatever
influence
they might have
upon
the
procuring
of
the generalivengeance
,that
overtooke the
whole Nation
in
the
midft
of
their
iniquity.
This
being-the aime, fcope,and tendency
of
the
place,
the import of the
words and tenour
of
Gods intendment
in
them,
I
cannot
but
nder
how any man
of
underftanding and
Confcience, can once
ima-
gitxéh'
at
God bath
given
any Teftimony
to
the
poffibilty
of
falling
out
of
Covenant with
him,ofthofe
whom he
hath taken
nigh
to
himfelfe
through
the
Blond
of
his
Sonne, in
the
Everlafting bond thereof. As though it were
any