ment of Ifrael was not merely for the Punishment of Idolatry, but for the Cure of it. For God having chofen Ifrael for his peculiar People, the World was to learn from them, from their Examples, and from their Rewards and Punishments, the Knowledge and Worship of the One Supreme God. And could there be a more fenfible Confutation of Idolatry, than to. fee a Nation, which had been visibly confecrated to the Worfhip of the One Supreme God, as visibly punished, whenever they declined to Idolatry?

That New Generation, which fprung up after the Days of fofhua, who had not feen God's Wonders in Egypt, and in the Wilderness, nor known the Wars of Canaan, foon forgot the God of their Fathers, and wanted fome new Experiments of God's Power and Prefence among them; and whenever they declined to Idolatry, God took care they should not want them, tho' they paid very dear for them; for he delivered them into the Hands of their Enemies, and brought many Evils on them, till they should remember the God of their Fathers. This Account God himself gives of it, 31. Deut. 16, 17. And the Lord faid unto Mofes Behold thou shalt fleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the Gods of the ftrangers, whither they go to be amongst them and will forfake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger fhall be kindled against them in that day; and I will forfake them, and I will bide my face from them ; and they fhall be devoured, and many evils and troubles fall befal them; fo that they will fay in that day, Are not thefe evils come upon us, because the Lord our God is not amongst us? This the Pfalmist tells us, was

the

the Effect of fuch Judgments, tho' not always fo lafting as it ought to have been. When be flew them, then they fought him, and returned, and enquired early after God: And they remembred, that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer, 78. Pfal. 34, 35.

By thefe means, God made them fenfible of his Juftice and Power, and reclaim'd them from their Idolatries, and reftored his own Worship among them: For they certainly knew, by the Threatnings of their own Law, for what Reafons they were thus punifh'd. And indeed, their own Experience was fufficient to fatisfy them in this; for they no fooner forfook the God of their Fathers, and worshipped other Gods, but they were oppreffed by their Enemies; and when they repented of their Idolatries, and returned to God, he raifed up Saviours and Delishe verers, who vanquished their Enemies, and reffored them to Liberty and Peace: Efpecially, fince thofe wonderful Deliverances, which God wrought for them by the Hands of their Judges, gave that Generation of Men, which knew not the Wars of Canaan, new and vifible Proofs of God's Power and Prefence among them. And we know what Effect this Difcipline had : It did not wholly prevent their Idolatries, which they were very prone to, when the Memory of fuch Judgments were worn out, by a long Peace and Profperity: But then the Repetition of fuch Judgments, as they repeated their Provocations, joined with the Admonitions of their Prophets, whom God raised up in feveral Ages, did generally bring them to Repentance, and reftore the and reftore the Worship of God amongst them till at laft the Ten Tribes grew incurable, and were therefore utterly rejected

by

by God, and carried into a perpetual Captivity, never to return more into their own Land; and Judah, who would not take Warning by the Punishment of Ifrael, was carried Captive into Babylon for Seventy Years; which fo perfectly cured their Idolatry, that we hear no more Complaints of that, after their Return from Captivity.

And this answered God's Defign, with refpect to the rest of the World, as much as if they had never been guilty of Idolatry: For notwithftanding their feveral Relapfes into Idolatry, it was well known, that Ifrael was confecrated to the Worship of the Lord Jehovah; and when the Nations round about were Witneffes of God's Judgments againft Ifrael, when they forfook the Lord their God, and of their Happy and Profperous State while they kept his Covenant; it was a convincing Proof of the Power and Justice of the God of Ifrael; efpecially when they fhould fee the Ten Tribes utterly rooted out for their Idolatry, and Judah carried Captive into Babylon, and the City and Temple of Jerufalem deftroyed, and the Land laid wafte and defolate, without Inhabitants; the Juftice and Power of God, in driving them out of their Land would then be as much taken notice of, as his wonderful Providence in delivering them out of Egypt, and placing them in that good Land, was; as God himself tells Solomon, in Anfwer to his Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple, 2 Chron. 7. 19, 20, 21, 22. But if ye turn away, and forfake my statutes, and my commandments, which I have fet before you, and shall go and ferve other gods, and worship them: Then will I pluck them up by the roots, out of my land which I have given them; and this

boufe

boufe which I have fanctified for my Name, will I caft out of my fight, and will make it to be a proverb, and a by-word among all Nations. And this boufe which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that paffeth by it; fo that he shall fay, Why bath the Lord done thus unto this Land, and unto this boufe? And it shall be answered, Because they forfook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt, and laid bold on other gods, and worshipped them, and ferved them; therefore bath he brought all this evil upon them.

For we muft obferve, that God had as well chose the Land of Canaan to be the Seat of his Worship, as Ifrael to be his Worshippers; and the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan was beftowed on them, in Virtue of God's Covenant to be their God, and they to be his People; that is, that they fhould worship no other Gods befides him. And the Breach of Covenant on their Part, by declining to Idolatry, was a Forfeiture of their Right to the Promifed Land; and the proper Punishment of it was, either Oppreffion at Home, which made them Servants and Strangers in their own Land; or Captivity in Foreign Countries: And this was fo publickly known, that when any fuch Evils. befel Ifrael, the Nations round about were able to give the Reason of it; Because they for fook the Lord God of their fathers. So that the very Oppreffion and Captivity of Ifrael, published the Supreme Power and Glory of the God of Ifrael, who is a jealous God, and will admit of no Partners in Worship; but when his own People forfake him, and ferve ftrange Gods in the Land which he had given them, and feparated to his own Worship, he makes them ferve ftrangers, in a Land which is not theirs, 5. Jer. 19.

2dly, Thefe Captivities and Difperfions of Ifrael, efpecially the long Captivity of Judah in Babylon, ferved other Ends befides the Punishment and the Cure of their Idolatry; for into what Country foever they were carried Captive, they carried the Knowledge of the God of Ifrael along with them.

While they lived at Home in their own. Country, and had little Commerce with any other People, the very Name of Ifrael was known only to their Neighbours; and the God of Ifrael could be known no further than Ifrael was: But when they were carried Captive to Babylon, and difperfed thro' all the Provinces of that vaft Empire; this spread the Knowledge of God too, who, by many wonderful Providences, owned thefe Captives for his People, and made the Heathens fee and confess his Glory and Power.

But the better to understand this, we must confider that wife Preparation God made for it, in those great Revolutions of States and Empires, which began about this Time.

To prevent the general Corruption of Mankind, as I obferved before, God confounded their Languages, and thereby feparated_them from each other, and formed them into several diftinct Independent Societies and Kingdoms; which was an effectual means to prevent the fpreading of the Infection, and to force them to the Practice of a great many Moral and Politick Virtues. But when the whole World was corrupted by Idolatry, and God saw a proper Seafon to begin a Reformation, to make the Cure more ealy and univerfal, it was neceffary to establish a more general Communication

among