I46 he Promfed h e f iah long finse corne. Judah with all thefe acceßions that is intended in this Prophetic and Benedieiion, yet fo, as that in many things, as namely, M the prodúlrion of theMeßiab, the natural Ge- nuineOff=spring of Judah was 10 to have thepre-eminence. 4. I o. That which is foretold concerning this Judah is thatit fhouldhave watt) andppno; a Scepter, andLaw-giver, or a Writer ofLawsfor others obfervation. That Rule, Pow - er and Government are hereby intended, thall be afterwards eiieced. What time this fhould come to pats , is not limited, only after it did fo ; it was not to ceafe untillthe Sbilo came. The foundationof the execution thenof this Promife,iA theerecîion ofPolity and Government in that Tribe, was not laid untill about fix hundred and twenty years after this time. So certain is that which we before ob- ferved, -that this Patriarchal Benediction concerned notthe perfons ofhis Sous, and their then prefent condition, but that of their polterity in the latter dayes. And this was done, when the Kingdomwas givento Davidof the Tribe of Judah. Neither is the kindofGovernment orRule,which- thould be ereéted inthatTribe,expreffed in the words.; only a Rule and Polity is promifed unto it ; or that they fhould be a people having the Principle of Rule or Government in and among themfelves... Whiled they continued firth, the Scepter and Scribe departednot from them ; -and this they did aswithgreat va- riety in the outward formofGoverment, though the Law and Polity amongfi them were Hill the fame : fo not without fome intercifion of Rule untill the time fpecified was accomplithed.. And where the Law and Polity are ¡till the fame; Accidental alterations in theModes and manner ofGoverning,make noEffential Change in-the State of the people, or natureof the Government; :Thus the fir! Conflitution ofRule inthat Tribe,was in a wayofGovernment abfolutely Monarchical ; This being imprudently managedby Rehoboam, loft the ten Tribes whowould neverafterwards fub- mit unto the Regal Familyof Judah. Its retrival after an intercifion made of it in the Babylonifb Captivity was Ducal, or by an honorary Prefident, with a mixture both of Ariffocracy , and of the power of thepeople. Upon the ceafing of there Rulers extraordinarily called, theAriftocracy in the Sanhedrin prevailed ; whereunto fueceeded a mixt Monarchy in theHafmoneans into their power and place, their interelt being ruined by intefiineDivifions,HeT0dbY craft and. external forceintruded hitnfelf. Neither did hisUfürpationmake anyEtTential Change in theRule or Polity of the Nation ; Althodgh in his own perfotí he were a Forreigner : for even during the tue- bulent Government of theHerodians, with the intcrpofitionof the. RomanArms, the Nation with that which contlitutes a people, its Laws and Polity, wasBill continued though theAdminiftration ofSuperiour Rule was not alwayes in the hands of Jews. In this Hate things continuedamongft them untill the deffrus Lion of the Common- wealth byVefpaftan, andof theCity and Temple byTitus; only as a, prefage of thede- parture ofScepter andScribe, the power of Judgement as to the lives of men was force years beforetaken from theSanhedrin, John IS. 3 t. ß. us. By this fixation ofRrale in generalin Judah, we are-freed from any concernment in theDifputes of Learned men, about the precife time of the departure foretold. And indeed if any thingbe more intended in this predidtion, but only that the Tribe of Judas fhould continue in aNational PoliticalState, with Government in its felf, it will be utterly impofsible to determine exaótly and precifely upon the accomplithment of this Prophefie. Some would fix it on the conqueft of Jerufalem by Pompy, during the time ofHrrcamu, andAriffobulus theHafmoneans ; not many years after which the Shilo came ; which (mall remnant of time as they fuppofe, impeacheth not the truth of the prediótion, for io that ac%on of Pompey, Cicero declares the Nation conquered : Orat. pro Flace. villa eft, elòcata, ferrata. But if this might fuffice for the departure of Scepter and Scribe, much more might the former Conqueft by the Babylonians do fo ; which yet byallmens confent it didnot. Beides, the Nation was left free by Pompey unto its own Laws and Policy, as were many otherNations fubdued by him A' las- µérav for be, Td µdo etvzóvoua bole, layes Appianus, he left f me of the conqueredNationsfree to their own Rule andLaws ; among whom were the Jews. Some fixed theperiod in Herod an Idumean , a Hranger to Judah, Onlya Profelyte ; on which account we have manyconteHs managed byBaronius,Scal iger,Casaubon,Bulinger,Montacue,Perictes,-4 Lapide, Capellus, Scultetus, Rivettes, Spanhemius, andothers innumerable. -But grantingHerod to havebeen an Idumean, as he was undoubtedlybyExtracî, and that Nationnot tohavebeen incorporated into Judahupon the Conquel made of it by Hircants, only that he was in his own person a Preldyte, why the Scepter fhould any more depart from Judah, becaufe ofhis reign,then it did in the dayes of the Hafinns before
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