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piad, are only four hundred and twenty-eight years, sixty-two short of the whole. Now, these sixty-two years added to the beginning of the account, from the seventh of Memor, fall in exactly on the seventh of Longimanus; from the seventh of Longimanus, then, to the seventh of Memor, are sixty-two years, and from the seventh of Memor, to the eighteenth of Tiberius, are four hundred and twenty-eight; in the whole four hundred and ninety, the number inquired after.*

And there wants not reason to induce me to fix on this decree, rather than any other, being, indeed, the most famous, and most useful to the people of all the rest. By what means it was obtained, is not recorded. Evident it is, however, that Ezra had great favor with the king, and that he had convinced him of the greatness and power of that God, whom he served, Ezra viii, 22. Besides it was not a mere proclamation of liberty, like that of Cyrus, which was renewed by Darius; but a decree, a law made by the king and his seven counsellors, Ezra vii, 14; the highest and most irrefragable legislative power amongst the Medes and Persians. Moreover, together with the decree Ezra had a formal commission; he is said not only to have leave to go, but to be "sent" by the king and his council. Besides, the former decrees barely respected the temple; and it seems, that in the execution of them the people had done little more than building the bare fabric; all things, as to the true order of the

* From the seventh of Longimanus, to the seventh of Memor

From the seventh of Memor, to the eighteenth of Tiberius

From the going forth of the decree, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, to the death of Christ

62 years.

428

490

worship of God, remaining in great confusion, and the civil state utterly neglected. But now, in this commission, Ezra is not only directed to set the whole worship of God in order, at the charge of the king, Ezra vii, 16-23; but also that he should appoint a civil government and magistracy, with supreme power, to be exercised as occasion required, ver. 25, 26. This alone, and no other, was the building of the city, mentioned by Gabriel; for it is not walls and houses, but policy, rule, and government, that makes a city.

And it is very considerable what a conviction of the necessity of this work was then put upon the spirits of the governors of the Persian empire; for the king himself calls Ezra "The scribe of the law of the God "of Heaven," and declares that he was persuaded, that if this work was not done, "there would be wrath "from heaven upon himself, his kingdom, and his son," ver. 23. The seven counsellors also join in that law, ver. 28. So that no command that concerned that people, before or after, was accompanied with that solemnity, or gave such glory to God as this did. Besides, the whole work of reforming the church, the restitution of Divine worship, and the recognition of the sacred oracles, by Ezra, make it manifest, that this decree, and no other, was intended by the angel Gabriel.

EXERCITATION VI.

THE EVASIONS OF THE MODERN JEWS ANSWERED.

§1. That the Messiah's coming is delayed, and their dispersion continued, because of the sins of their forefathers, answered. §2. Because of their own sins, answered. §3. That the deliverance from Babylon was nothing but a trial, whereby God would make an experiment, answered. §4. That the Messiah was born the same day that the second temple was destroyed, considered. §5. That the promise of the Messiah's coming at the season we plead for, was not absolute, but conditional, answered. 1. This militates against the promise to the Gentiles. §6. 2. Against Divine fore-knowledge. §7. 3. Against its own pretensions. §8. 4. Against the nature of the promised covenant. §9. 5. Against the Messiah's ever coming. $1. BUT the Jews endeavor to evade the force of all this evidence, by various pleas; and particularly by pleading, that it is for their sins the coming of the Messiah is prolonged, whereby they are left in their present long dispersion. We readily grant, in a sense, it is on account of their sins, that they have no Messiah. But we must inquire, what they intend thereby? I ask, therefore, whether it be for the sins of their forefathers, who lived before the last final dispersion, or for their sins, who have since lived in their several generations, that they are thus utterly forsaken? If they shall say, it is for the sins of their forefathers; then I desire to know, whether they think God to be changed from what he was of old; or, whether he be not still every way the same, as to all the promises of the covenant? Supposing they will say, that he is still the same, I desire to know, whether he did not, in former times, in the days of their judges and kings, especially in the Babylonish captivity, punish them for their sins, with

that contemperation of justice and mercy, which was agreeable to the tenor of the covenant? This, I suppose, they will not deny, the scripture speaking fully to it, and the righteousness of God requiring it. I desire, then, to know, what were the sins of their forefathers, before the destruction of the second temple, and their final dispersion, which, according to the rules of the covenant, so much exceeded the sins of them who lived before the desolation of the first temple, and the captivity that ensued? For we know that the sins of these former were punished only with a dispersion, which continued to more than seventy years; after which they returned again to their own land; whereas their present captivity and dispersion have now continued above twenty times seventy years. Now, of all the sins, which on the general account of the law of God, the sons of men can make themselves guilty of, idolatry is doubtless the greatest; the choosing of other gods is a complete renunciation of the true God, and therefore is this sin forbidden at the very front of the law, as intimating, that if the command of owning the true God, and him alone, be not adhered to, it is to no purpose to apply ourselves to those that follow. Now, it is known to all, that this sin of idolatry abounded amongst them under the first temple, and that also for a long continuance, attended with violence, adulteries, persecution, and oppression; but that those under the second temple had contracted the guilt of this sin, the present Jews do not pretend; and we know that they hated all appearance of it. Nor are they able to assign any other sins whatever, wherein they went higher in their provocations, than their progenitors under the first temple. What then is the cause of the different events and success between them? It cannot be, but that either they have contracted the guilt of

some sin, wherewith God was more displeased, than with the idolatry of their forefathers, or that the covenant made with them is expired, or that there hath been a coincidence of both these; and that indeed, is the fact. The Messiah came, in whom the carnal covenant was to expire, and they rejected and slew him; which has deserved their rejection from it, and their present disinheritance.

§2. Sometimes they will plead, that it is for their own sins, and the sins of the generations that succeeded the destruction of the second temple, that they are kept thus long in captivity. But we know, that they use this plea only as a covering for their obstinate blindness and infidelity. Take them from this dispute, and they are continually boasting of their righteousness and holiness; for they do not only assure us, that they are better than all the world besides, but also much better than their forefathers; and that on the day of expiation, that is, once a year, they are as holy as the angels in heaven! Then I would fain know: whereas it is a principle of their faith, that all Jews, excepting apostates, are so holy and righteous, that they shall all be saved, shall all have a portion in the blessed world to come; whence is it, that none of them are so righteous as to be restored to the land of Canaan? Is it not strange, that the righteousness which serves the turn to bring them all to heaven, will not serve to bring any one of them to Jerusalem? this latter being more openly and frequently promised to them, than the former.

Again, repentance from their sins is a thing wholly in their own power, or it is not; if they shall say, it is in their own power, as generally they do, I desire to know, why they defer it? The glorious imaginations they have of the levelling of mountains, the dividing

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