THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION.
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION; OR, A SERIOUS WARNING TO GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES, Founded on unquestionable EXAMPLES of GOD's TEMPORAL VENGEANCE AGAINST Tyrants, Slave-holders, and Oppressors.
The Examples are selected from
Predictions
in the Old Testament, of NATIONAL JUDGEMENTS, which (being compared with their actual Accomplishment) demonstrate
"the sure Word of Prophecy,"
as well as the
immediate Interposition of
DIVINE PROVIDENCE,
to recompence impenitent
NATIONS
according to their Works.
By GRANVILLE SHARP.
The People of the Land have used
Oppression,
and exercised
Robbery,
and have
vexed the Poor and Needy:
yea, they have OPPRESSED THE STRANGER WRONGFULLY,
&c.
Therefore have I poured out mine Indignation upon them,
&c.
Their OWN WAY
have I recompensed upon their Heads,
saith the Lord God.
Ezek. xxii. 29—31.
LONDON: Printed by W. RICHARDSON, For B. WHITE, at Horace's Head, in Fleet Street; and E. and C. DILLY, in the Poultry.
MDCCLXXVI.
If thou seest the Oppression of the Poor, and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province, marvel not at the matter
(or will)
FOR HE THAT IS HIGHER THAN THE HIGHEST REGARDETH,
&c. Eccles. v. 8.—
The
Lord SAW (it) and it displeased him that there was NO JUDGEMENT, and he SAW that
there was
NO MAN, and wondered that
(there was)
NO INTERCESSOR:
&c.—
And he put on the Garments of VENGEANCE for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS, ACCORDINGLY HE WILL REPAY, fury to his Adversaries, RECOMPENCE (or
Retribution
) TO HIS ENEMIES, TO THE ISLAND'S HE WILL REPAY RECOMPENCE,
&c. Isa. lix.—
How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the Persons of the Wicked? Defend the Poor and Fatherless: do Justice to the Afflicted and Needy. DELIVER THE POOR AND NEEDY: RID THEM OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED.
Ps. lxxxii. 2—4.—
Remove Violence and Spoil, and execute Judgement and Justice, TAKE AWAY YOUR EXACTIONS FROM MY PEOPLE, SAITH THE LORD GOD!
Ezek. xlv. 9.
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE has been publicly supported and encouraged by
the Legislature of this Kingdom
for near a century last past; so that the
monstrous destruction of the Human Species,
which is
annually
occasioned thereby, may certainly be esteemed a
National Crime
of the most aggravating kind, which (according to the usual course of God's Providence in the World) will probably draw down some exemplary vengeance upon the unrepenting Inhabitants of this Island! And, with respect to the
British Colonies,
the uncharitable practice of
Slave-holding,
especially in the West-India Islands and the more Southern Colonies, is grown up into a more enormous and destructive
Oppression
(whether we view the prodigious multitudes of the
Oppressed,
or the unconscionable severity of the
Oppressors
) than perhaps ever disgraced any other Nation at any one period of time!
The several attempts that have lately been made to justify these two branches of abominable National Iniquity by the Holy Scriptures, and especially by the permission therein granted to
the Israelites
to
purchase
and
retain Slaves
among them, have induced me to collect, from the History of
the Jews
in the several Books of Holy Scripture, some plain examples of God's Vengeance upon that particular Nation, expressly for this kind of
Oppression;
which, I hope, will sufficiently prove that
Slavery
was ever detestable in the sight of God, and consequently that a speedy Reformation is absolutely necessary (as well with respect to the
African Slave-trade,
encouraged in this Kingdom, as the
Toleration of Slavery
in the British American Dominions) if we mean to entertain the least hope of escaping a severe
National Retribution,
which (if we may judge by our present Civil Dissentions and horrid
mutual
Slaughters of
National Brethren
) seem ready to burst upon us!
I am well aware, indeed, how very unfashionable it is, now-a-days, to quote
Scripture,
when matters of
Law, Politics,
or
Trade
are called in question; yet I flatter myself that the following examples, drawn from thence, are perfectly suitable to my present point, and consequently must have weight to convince all persons, who sincerely acknowledge the
Truth of the Scriptures,
that we have the greatest reason to apprehend the infliction of some heavy Judgement from Almighty God upon these Kingdoms, on account of the monstrous load of Guilt which the British Subjects,
on each side of the Atlantic,
have incurred by the
Oppressions
above-mentioned.
In some former Tracts I have already shewn that the Servitude which the Jews, by the Mosaic Law, were permitted to exact of
their Brethren
(even when the latter were
sold
to them) was very much
limited;
that they were not to be treated as
Bond Servants
If thy
Brother
(that dwelleth) by thee be waxen poor, and be
sold unto thee,
thou shalt not compel him to serve as
a Bond Servant:
but as an Hired Servant, and as a Sojourner, he shall be with thee,
&c.
Levit. xxv. 39, 40.
but as
Hired Servants;
that the
Servitude
could not lawfully be extended beyond
seven years
If thou buy an Hebrew Servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exod. xxi. 2.
unless the Servant loved
his Master
and Condition, and voluntarily demanded
And if the Servant shall
plainly
say,
I love
my Master, my Wife, and my Children;
I will not go out free:
&c.
Exod. xxi. 5. Thus it is evident that the Jews could not acquire
any right
to the perpetual Service of their
Brethren,
John or Thomas, except by virtue of
a voluntary Contract,
which is something similar to that Clause in the Habeas Corpus Act concerning a Contract, which I thought myself obliged to acknowledge in my former Tract as an exception to the idea of Universal
Freedom
in this Kingdom. But in neither case can the
Contract
for Service be
implied;
for in the latter the Contract must be
in writing,
and the signing be clearly proved to be
a voluntary act,
without the least suspicion of
Duress;
and in the former case it was necessary that the Servant should acknowledge, in
a Court of Record,
that he was
willing
to enter into such a Contract; for the Hebrew
Servant
could not be made a
Slave,
unless he would
plainly say,
I love my Master,
&c.
I WILL NOT GO OUT FREE: Then
(says the Text)
his Master shall bring him
unto the
JUDGES
(which answers to the public
Acknowledgement
necessary in the other case to be made in
a Court of Record
) for without this the Hebrew Master had no authority to bore the Servant's Ear in token of Bondage. Exod. xxi. 5, 6.
of him to continued in his Service; and that, in every other case, it was absolutely unlawful to hold a Brother Hebrew in Slavery.
I have likewise shewn, that, under the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel, we are absolutely bound to consider ourselves as
Citizens of the World;
that every Man whatever, without any
partial distinction
of Nation, Distance, or Complexion, must necessarily be esteemed
our Neighbour,
and
our Brother;
and that we are absolutely bound in Christian Duty to entertain
a Disposition
towards
all Mankind
as charitable and benevolent,
at least,
as that which was required of the Jews, under the Law, towards their
national Brethren;
and, consequently, that it is absolutely unlawful for those,
who call themselves Christians,
to exact of
their Brethren
(I mean
their Brethren of the Universe
) a more burthensome Service than that to which the Jews were limited with respect to their
Brethren
of the House of Israel; and the Slavery, or involuntary Bondage, of
a Brother Israelite
was absolutely forbid.
These premises naturally lead us to consider the severe NATIONAL JUDGEMENTS which the Jews brought upon themselves principally
by exceeding these very limitations
which I have here specified: and the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from these examples is, that we are
absolutely
in danger of THE LIKE JUDGEMENTS, if we do not immediately put a stop to all
similar Oppression
by
National Authority:
because an uncharitable extension of the
said limits,
by those who call themselves Christians, will certainly be, at least,
as heinous in the sight of God
as the OPPRESSION OF BRETHREN under the Law; and probably much more so, if we consider the purity and benevolence which is required of all Men under the Gospel Dispensation: and I have clearly proved (I trust) that the permission to the Israelites, to keep
Bondmen of the Heathen
(or more properly the
Nations,
) that were round about them,
and of
the Children of
the Strangers
that dwelt among them,
cannot be extended to
any other People
whatever except
the Israelites
themselves; and that even to them it was only
temporary,
during the Dispensation of the Mosaic Law, whilst they possessed the Land of Canaan, the former Inhabitants of which (
viz.
the seven abominable
Nations
of Palestine, expressly mentioned by name in the seventh Chapter of Deuteronomy, where the same Heb. Noun
, rendered
Heathen
in the former Text, is properly expressed by the English word
Nations
) the Israelites were expressly directed to drive out, kill, and destroy,
without pity
"Thine eye shall have
no pity
upon them." Deut. vii. 16.
, and to make
no Covenant
with them
Thou shalt make
no Covenant
with them, nor
shew Mercy
unto them,
&c.
Deut. vii. 2.
: and I hope I have also proved that
the remainder
of these particular wicked Nations, thus expressly doomed to destruction, were undoubtedly "the
Heathen
" (or
Nations
)
that dwelt round about
the Israelites, and
the Children of the Strangers,
whom (and
whom alone
) it was lawful to hold
in perpetual Bondage;
for otherwise that permission cannot be reconciled to God's positive Commands, given in the same Law, to
love
the
Stranger.
The Lord your God is God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible,
which regardeth not Persons
(so that this was apparently a general Law, or Rule of Conduct, towards
all Persons,
except the People of those
particular Nations
which were expressly,
by name,
condemned to destruction by the hands of the Israelites, in other parts of the Law, for their abominable wickedness)
nor taketh Reward: he doth execute the Judgement of the Fatherless and Widow, and
loveth the Stranger,
in giving him food and raiment. LOVE YE THEREFORE
the Stranger
(and the Almighty inculcates a sympathetic concern for the welfare and happiness of
Strangers,
by reminding the Israelites of their own unhappy situation formerly in a
strange
country) "for ye" (says the Text)
were
Strangers
in the Land of Egypt.
Deut. x. 17 to 19. See also Levit. xix. 33, 34.
"Thou shalt love him"
(that is,
the Stranger
)
as thyself;
for ye were
Strangers
in the Land of Egypt.
National
Wickedness, from the beginning of the World, has generally been visited with
National
Punishments: and surely no
National
Wickedness can be more heinous in the sight of God, than a public toleration of
Slavery and Oppression!
for Tyranny (in whatsoever shape it appears) must necessarily be esteemed a presumptuous breach of that Divine Command, in which
all Law is fulfilled
(Gal. v. 14.)
viz.
Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself.
Levit. xix. 18.
The Histories of all Nations, indeed, afford tremendous examples of
God's Vengeance
against Tyrants; but no History is so proper to illustrate this subject (which now so nearly concerns us) as that of the Jews: for as the Knowledge of the
Divine Law
was revealed in a more particular manner to
that People,
and to others
only through them,
so the effect even of their Disobedience was an exemplary demonstration, from time to time, of
God's Vengeance,
as well as of
his Mercy,
for the instruction of all other Nations, amongst whom they are now dispersed, as living monuments of the same to this very day: and we have the authority of an Apostle
1 Cor. x. 11.
to assert, that
all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written
(says he)
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
One of the first and most signal instances of Mercy which the Almighty was pleased to shew that People, after they
became a Nation,
was, the restoring them to their
Natural Freedom
from the deplorable
Slavery
in which they were detained by a tyrannical Egyptian Monarch
—
the Children of Israel sighed by reason of
the Bondage,
and
they cried;
and their cry came up unto God
by reason of the Bondage:
and God
heard their groaning,
&c.
Exod. ii. 23, 24.
And the Lord said, I have
surely seen the Affliction of my People
which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry
by reason of their
Task-masters:
for I know their Sorrows, and I am come down
to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Exod. iii. 7, 8.
: and the tremendous Judgements whereby this deliverance was effected (
viz.
the Plagues of Egypt) are so many signal examples of
God's severe Vengeance against Slave-holders,
which ought to be had in everlasting remembrance, to warn all Nations of the World against the unnatural and baneful practice of
keeping Slaves.
This deliverance from
Bondage
was frequently mentioned, even in the words of God himself, by his Prophets, from time to time (as I have before remarked) —"Thus saith the Lord" (
i. e.
Jehovah)
God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth
out of the House of Bondage;
(
, more
literally
from the House
of Slaves"
) and
I delivered you
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of
all that oppressed you,
&c.
Judges vi. 8. —
I removed his
Shoulder from the Burden;
his
Hands were delivered from the Pats
In like manner there are multitudes of poor people retained in
a deplorable Bondage,
even to this day, in
the Potteries
of China.
: thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee.
Psal. lxxxi. 6, 7.
The Israelites themselves were also particularly directed
to remember
this signal exertion of Divine Mercy and Power in the cause of
Popular Freedom: "Remember
that thou wast
a Servant" (viz. a Slave)
in the Land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God
brought thee out
thence
through a mighty hand,
and by a stretched-out arm,
&c.
Deut. v. 15.
It was surely for the moral purpose of stirring up in the Israelites a sympathetic concern for the Sufferings of the
Oppressed,
and more particularly of
Oppressed Strangers,
that they were so frequently reminded of their own former deplorable condition
in Slavery,
and of their miraculous
Deliverance
from thence; being expressly referred to their
own Feelings
and
Remembrance
of the cruel
foreign
Tyranny, which they themselves had so lately experienced in Egypt: —
thou shalt not oppress
a Stranger:
for
ye
KNOW THE HEART
(
, properly THE SOUL)
OF A STRANGER, seeing ye were
Strangers
in the Land of Egypt.
Exod. xxiii. 9.
God also gave the Israelites due warning of the Danger of
Oppression,
by declaring that he would SURELY revenge the Cause of the injured
Stranger:
Thou shalt neither
vex a Stranger,
nor
oppress him;
for ye were
Strangers
in the Land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any Widow or fatherless Child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and
they cry at all unto me, I will SURELY hear their cry
(mark this, ye African Traders
of this Island,
and ye
West-India
and
British American
Slave-holders! for ye are all guilty of the like abominable
Oppressions,
and God will SURELY avenge the Cause of
the Oppressed
)
and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your Wives shall be Widows, and your Children fatherless.
Exod. xxii. 21 to 24.
And have not the careless Inhabitants of Great Britain and her Colonies too much reason also to apprehend that
the same God
(who
professes
to
hear the cry
of oppressed
Strangers,
if they
cry at all
unto him) will, sooner or later, visit these Kingdoms with some signal mark of his Displeasure, for the notorious
Oppression
of an almost innumerable multitude of poor
African Strangers,
that are harrassed, and continually wearing out, with a most shameful involuntary Servitude in the
British Colonies!
nay, and that by a public Toleration, under the sanction of Laws to which the Monarchs of England, from time to time, by the advice of their Privy Counsellors, have given
the Royal Assent,
and thereby rendered themselves Parties in
the Oppression,
and (it is to be feared) Partakers of the Guilt!
Let us not forget, before it is too late, that the Almighty has not only declared, himself ready to "HEAR THE CRY"
of the oppressed Stranger,
but hath deigned to add to his glorious Name,
Jehovah,
a brief
Remembrance
of his merciful interposition in behalf of an
enslaved Nation:
"I am the Lord your God" (or
Jehovah
your God, said the Almighty to the Israelites)
which
brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage,
Exod. xx. 1. Thus the Almighty Deliverer from
Slavery
vouchsafed to set his own Divine Example before the eyes of his redeemed People, to excite Benevolence and Thankfulness; and the like Remembrance of that glorious Redemption from
Slavery
was very frequently repeated from time to time; which the Scriptures sufficiently testify: but alas! the Israelites profited so little by these wholesome lessons, that it became necessary, no less frequently, to remind them of
the dreadful Vengeance
which would inevitably overtake them for their notorious
Oppressions of the Poor;
for their unjust Exactions of
involuntary and unrewarded Service;
and for exceeding the
limitations
of
Bondage
(already recited) which the Law expressly enjoined!
For the
Oppression
of the Poor, for the
Sighing
of the Needy, now will I
arise,
saith the Lord; and will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him,
or
that would ensnare him.
Psal. xii. 5.
The Princely Prophet Isaiah plainly declared to them, that their public Fasts and outward Humiliations were not only vain, but even offensive to God, while
such notorious Oppressions
continued among them. "Behold" (said he)
in the day of your Fast, you find Pleasure, and
exact all your Labours.
Sunt inter quos Belgae, qui hic intelligunt
Opera Servilia,
quae a
Servis
&
Ancillis
hoc ipso di
rigide exigebantur,
ut aliis diebus.
"
," Omnes Subjectos vobis affligitis:
quae lectio (says Vitringa) absque emendatione facile subsistit. — And a little afterwards he adds, Prior interpretatio
de Operibus Servorum
aut
molestis exactionibus Subditerum,
magna se commendat specie, estque mihi in eam pronior animus.
lviii. 3. And again, —
Is it such a Fast that I have chosen? a day for a Man to afflict his Soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush?
&c.
Is not this the Fast that I have chosen?— to loose
the Bands of Wickedness,
to undo
the heavy Burthens
(or rather
the Bundles of the Yoke,
plainly referring to the severe and
unjust Bondage of the Poor
)
and TO LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, and that YE BREAK EVERY YOKE?
—
Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry, and to bring the Poor that are
cast out
(or rather to bring the Poor that are
reduced,
or
depressed, viz.
as it were by Tyrants; for so the word
seems more properly to signify in this place)
"to thy House?" &c.
Compare this with Deut. xxiii. 15, 16.
Thou shalt not deliver unto his Master the Servant which is escaped from his Master
unto thee: he shall
dwell with thee (even)
among you, in that place which he shall choose,
in one of thy gates
where it liketh him best: thou shalt not
oppress him.
Deut. xxiii. 15, 16.
And he warned them of the Divine Justice that would pursue them for their Oppression and tyrannical Treatment of the Poor.
The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the People! The Lord will enter into Judgement with the Ancients (or
Senators
) of his People, and
the Princes
thereof: for ye have eaten up the Vineyard;
the Spoil of the Poor is in your Houses!
What mean ye that ye
beat my People to pieces,
and grind the Faces of the Poor?
saith the Lord of Hosts! Isa. iii. 13 to 15.
The wicked practices whereby the Israelites reduced their poor
Brethren
to
Slavery
are described by the Prophet Amos:
Hear this, O ye that
swallow up the Needy,
even to make
the Poor of the Land to fail,
saying, When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell Corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth Wheat, making the Ephah small, and the Shekel great, and falsifying the Ballances by Deceit? That
we may buy the Poor for Silver
Ideo ut ubi solvere non poterunt, dent se nobis
in Servitutem,
ut mos erat illarum Gentium.
Grotius
in locum.
and the Needy for a Pair of Shoes
(that is, comparatively speaking, at a most contemptible price! whereby we may presume that
Slave-markets
were not so notoriously established at that time as at present; and that the
Bidders
were
few,
though the
Oppressed
were
many
)
yea, and sell the Refuse of the Wheat? The Lord hath sworn by the Excellency of Jacob,
surely I will never forget any of these works. Shall not the Land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
&c.
Amos viii. 4 to 8.
Here is a solemn Appeal from God to the
Human Understanding:
Shall not the Land tremble
for this!
that is, for this same
abominable Oppression
of the Poor
(the buying them for Slaves)
in which Great Britain and her Colonies are infinitely more guilty than the People to whom this appeal was made! and
"shall not the Land"
(therefore)
even our Land, tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
&c. Surely
God will never forget any of these Works,
my Countrymen!
The Prophet Jeremiah manifestly alluded to the like deceitful practices of the Jews (whereby they reduced the Poor to
Slavery
) when he made a solemn protest against them in the Name of God:—"Your sins" (said he)
have withholden good things from you. For among my People are found wicked (men): they lay wait as he
that setteth Snares;
THEY SET A TRAP, THEY CATCH MEN. As a Cage (or Coup) is full of Birds, so are their Houses full of Deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the Wicked; they judge not the cause, the cause of the Fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the Needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord! Shall not
my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this?
&c.
Jer. v. 26 to 29. Here again the Almighty plainly appeals to the Human. Understanding concerning the Propriety, or rather the Necessity, of exerting the Divine Vengeance against such an
Oppressive Nation!
And yet how inconsiderable was the crime of the Jewish Nation in this respect, if compared with the
numerous Bondage
and with the unbounded Oppression of the poor Negroes in the British Colonies? Have we not therefore just reason to fear that God will
visit for these things?
Does not the Word of God, which cannot change, appeal to us, my Countrymen, as well as to the Jews?—
"Shall not my Soul"
(saith the Lord!)
be avenged on such a Nation as this?
The same Prophet, in the next chapter, declares
the Divine Vengeance
to be at hand: —
For thus hath the Lord of Hosts said,—Hew ye down Trees, and cast a Mount
against Jerusalem.
This (is) the City to be visited! she is
wholly Oppression
in the midst of her. As a Fountain casteth out her Waters, so she casteth out her Wickedness:
Violence and Spoil
is heard in her; before me continually is
Grief and Wounds!
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem! lest my Soul depart from thee: lest I make thee desolate, a Land not inhabited!
Jer. vi. 6 to 8.
But in vain were the Warnings of the Prophet, till
the Judgements
themselves began to appear
in all the horrors of a hopeless War,
which began in the ninth year
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it: and they built forts against it round about.
2 Kings xxv. 1.—
In the ninth year of Zedekiah King of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it,
&c.
Jer. xxxix. 1. See also chap. lii. ver. 9.
of King Zedekiah's reign, notwithstanding that the Monarch had previously rendered himself secure (as he thought) by his military preparations (in sending for
Horses
and
Men
from Egypt, to complete his standing Army) and had also made Pharaoh (another presumptuous military Tyrant) his Ally, which encouraged him to break his Oath and Covenant with the King of Babylon.
But
when Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and
all his Army, and all the Kingdoms of the Earth, of his Dominion, and all the People, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the Cities thereof
—then God ordered his Prophet to remind Zedekiah of that dreadful Vengeance, Defeat and Captivity, which had so often before been denounced as the necessary consequences of
Oppression and Injustice!
—
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel
(
viz.
to Jeremiah):
Go, and speak to Zedekiah King of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord; behold, I will
give this City into the hand
of the King of Babylon; and he shall burn it with fire. And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and
thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the King of Babylon,
and he shall speak with thee
mouth to mouth,
and thou shalt go to Babylon,
&c.
Jer. xxxiv. 1 to 3.
The impending
Vengeance
being then become
visible,
and consequently more tremendous, by the near approach of the Babylonian Army, that irresistible instrument in the hand of God, by which the Jews had so often been subdued, the King's stubborn heart began to relent, and his
military confidence
to forsake him, which had before encouraged his
Injustice;
his firmness in
Worldly Politics
was shaken, and yielded to a sense of Guilt! It was upon this return of Conscience and right Reason that Zedekiah sent two Messengers, Passur and Zephaniah, to Jeremiah, saying,
Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be the Lord will
deal with us
according to
all his wondrous works,
that he may go up from us,
&c.
See chap. xxi. ver. 1 and 2. But a very unwelcome answer was given to the Messengers, to be returned to their Monarch; for the Prophet confirmed all the heavy Judgements
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the King of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans which besiege you without the walls; and I will bring them
into the midst
of this City. And I myself will fight against you, with an outstretched arm, and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the Inhabitants of this City, both Man and Beast: they shall die of a great Pestilence. And afterwards, saith the Lord, I will deliver
Zedekiah King of Judah,
and
his Servants,
and
the People,
and such as are left in this City, from the Pestilence, from the Sword, and from the Famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and into the hand of their Enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their Life; and he shall smite them with the Edge of the Sword; he shall not spare them, neither have Pity, nor have Mercy!
Jer. xxi. 3 to 7.
which had before been denounced, as well against the King, expressly by name, as against the City and its iniquitous Inhabitants, whose notorious
Oppressions
were now
to be
RECOMPENSED
upon their own heads,
MEASURE FOR MEASURE: —
Now is the end come upon thee, and
I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways,
and will RECOMPENSE
upon thee all thine abominations,
&c.
Ezek. vii. 3. See also the 4th, 8th, and 9th verses, to the same effect. And afterwards, in the 11th verse, one of the principal causes of GOD's
Vengeance
is mentioned:—
"Violence"
(said the Prophet)
is risen up into
a Rod of Wickedness:
none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's; neither shall there be wailing for them. The time is come, the day draweth near.
&c.
—And again, in the 23d verse:—
"Make a Chain"
(said the Prophet);
for the Land is full of
bloody Crimes,
and the City is full of
Violence.
Wherefore
I will bring the worst
of the Heathen, and they shall possess their houses,
&c.
—
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour,
&c.
—
The King shall mourn, and the Prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the Hands of the People of the Land shall be troubled:
I will do unto them after their
(own)
way,
and according to
their
deserts
(or rather
their own judgements
)
will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
—Again, in the 12th chapter, the same reason is clearly assigned for the pouring out of God's Vengeance:—
Say unto the People of the Land, Thus saith the Lord God of the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the Land of Israel; They shall eat their Bread with Carefulness; and drink their Water with Astonishment, that her Land may be desolate from all that is therein,
because of
THE VIOLENCE
of them that dwell therein.
Ezek. xii. 19. The nature of this baneful
Violence,
which occasioned their
destruction,
is more particularly described by the same Prophet, in chap. xxii. ver. 7.—
in the midst of thee
(still speaking of Jerusalem)
have they dealt by
Oppression
with
the Stranger
(mark this, ye British Slave-dealers and Slave-holders);
in thee have they vexed the Fatherless and the Widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. In thee are men that carry tales to shed Blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness,
&c.
—
One hath committed abomination with his Neighbour's Wife: and another hath lewdly defiled his Daughter-in-law,
&c.
—
In thee have they taken
gifts to shed Blood:
thou hast taken Usury and Increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy Neighbours by Extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God. Behold,
therefore,
I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy Blood which hath been in the midst of thee,
&c.
Ezek. xxii. 7,
&c.
Oh that the Subjects of the British Empire would seriously compare these crimes with their own practices! they would then, surely, be sensible of their danger; and that they have reason to expect the like, or rather much heavier, Judgements, than those denounced against the Jews! For, besides the notorious
Adulteries,
and other acts of
Lewdness,
which many amongst us (from the frequency of such crimes) commit, even without shame or remorse, we have far exceeded the guilt of the Jews, I fear, in many of the other points also which provoked the Vengeance of the Almighty against them! What
"Violence"
amongst the Jews, before their Captivity, was ever
"risen up into"
so destructive
a Rod of Wickedness
—as the AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE, now carried on chiefly by our
Liverpool
and
Bristol
Merchants? What
"bloody crime"
among the Jews was more notorious, and more wickedly premeditated, than the late
Invasion
and
Conquest
of the poor innocent CARRIBEES at ST. VINCENT's? And what Nation hath
dealt by Oppression with the Stranger
so generally, so inhumanly, and in so great a degree, as our BRITISH AMERICAN SLAVE-HOLDERS!—Have we not ample reason to expect that the same tremendous decree will, in God's Justice, be fulfilled upon these Kingdoms?—
Destruction
cometh: and they shall seek Peace, and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour upon rumour,
&c. &c. &c.
—
I will do unto them after
their
(own)
way,
and according to
their
(own)
Judgements
will I judge them!
&c.
Nevertheless, God was pleased to offer the Jews a Choice in
their Fate,
—either to forsake their wicked King (who had forfeited all right to govern, by his neglect of
Justice
and
Natural Right
) and to fall away to the King's Enemies, the Chaldeans; or else to perish miserably in the City, and partake of it's Destruction!—"And unto this People" (said God to the Prophet Jeremiah)
thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of
Life,
and the way of
Death.
He that abideth in this City shall die by the Sword, and by the Famine, and by the Pestilence: but he
that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his Life shall be unto him for a Prey,
&c.
Jer. xxi. 8, 9.
The Prophet, however, was directed to add to his message a word of advice to the
King
and
Court,
which shews that a seasonable repentance might, even then, have saved the State, and turned away the impending
Vengeance.
It was such advice, too, as every other Monarch, who tolerates any
unnatural Bondage
or
Oppression
in his Dominions, ought seriously to consider, because the event proved it to be the best means of averting God's Anger, if the King had but persevered in it.—
And touching
the House of the King of Judah
(continued the Prophet)
say,—Hear ye the Word of the Lord, O House of David—thus saith the Lord;
Execute Judgement
in the morning, and
deliver him that is spoiled
out of the hand of the
Oppressor,
lest my Fury go out like Fire, and burn that none can quench
(it),
because of the evil of your doings.
Jer. xxi. 12. This is a manifest declaration that
the Neglect of
JUSTICE
and
RIGHT, and
the Toleration of
OPPRESSION, were the principal causes of God's heavy Vengeance against
that Royal House!
The same advice was, by God's Command, repeated by the Prophet to
the King himself
IN HIS PALACE (see the next chapter):—
Thus saith the Lord; Go down to THE HOUSE of the King of Judah,
and speak
THERE
this word,
and say, Hear the word of the Lord,
O King of Judah,
that fittest
upon the Throne of David,
thou, and thy Servants, and thy People that enter in by these Gates" (that is, all Persons whatever that
enter in by
the Palace-gates,
plainly including
the whole Court,
before whom the Prophet was to deliver his message):
Thus saith the Lord;
Execute
ye JUDGEMENT and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and
deliver the Spoiled out of the hand of
THE OPPRESSOR; and do no wrong, DO NO VIOLENCE TO THE STRANGER
And what
"Wrong"
or
Violence to the Stranger
can be more
oppressive
than that of detaining him in an
involuntary Servitude,
WITHOUT WAGES, in a miserable, wretched
Bondage,
worse than that of
brute Beasts!
,
&c.
—
For if ye do this thing indeed
(that is, if ye will
execute Judgement and Righteousness, deliver the Oppressed, &c.
)
then shall there enter in
by the Gates of this House
Kings sitting upon the Throne of David
(or rather "that sit,"
i. e.
reign, "for David upon his Throne")
riding in Chariots and on Horses, he and his Servants, and his People
(that is, the Court should continue and prosper).
But if ye will not hear THESE WORDS,
I swear by myself, saith the Lord
(
i. e.
Jehovah) "that THIS HOUSE" (
i. e.
the Palace) "shall become a desolation." Jer. xxii. 1 to 5. So that
the whole Court
were as much interested to promote a speedy Reformation, as
the King himself.
Thus it is plain that
the King and Court
had also a Choice given them of
Life
and
Death,
as well as the People; and, consequently, that the Judgements denounced were only
conditional,
in case the warning was neglected; for it is manifest that God mercifully tendered to them
(even at the eve of their destruction)
a continuance of the Monarchy
(viz.
Kings sitting upon the Throne of David
)
if they would but resolve to
execute
JUDGEMENT
and
RIGHTEOUSNESS;
to
deliver the Spoiled out of the hand of the
OPPRESSOR;
and to
do no Wrong,
NO VIOLENCE,
to
THE STRANGER,
&c.
But the Prophet also added much more
advice
to
the King and his Court,
though he was not "
made of the King's Council
When a similar warning was given by a former Prophet to a wicked and inconsiderate Predecessor of
Zedekiah,
concerning
God's impending Vengeance
for his misconduct, the haughty Monarch, puffed up with vain notions of his Royal Importance, arrogantly imposed silence on the Prophet, because he had undertaken the office of
an Adviser
or
Counsellor
to the King without
the etiquette
or formality of a Court Appointment: —
"Art thou made of the King's Council?"
(said the Monarch:)
forbear; why shouldest thou
be smitten?
—Upon which the Prophet
forbore
indeed
to reason with him;
but immediately pronounced upon him the severe sentence of God's Condemnation, saying,
I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto
my Counsel:
and it is remarkable, that, after
rejecting the Counsel
of God, the
very next Counsel
which this imperious Monarch was pleased to adopt was attended with the most dangerous and humiliating consequences,
both to King and Kingdom,
that could possibly have happened! nothing less than the delivery of both into the absolute power of their Enemies! for after he had
silenced
the Prophet, "then" (says the Text)
Amaziah King of Judah TOOK ADVICE, and sent to Joash, the Son of Jehoahaz, the Son of Jehu, King of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face.
—The war was
unjust
and
unreasonable;
and, providentially, the King and his
wicked Advisers
were punished by the effects of their own
unprincipled Counsel.
See 2 Chron. xxv. 16—24.
;" for he boldly warned the Monarch by the tremendous examples of God's Judgements upon three of his immediate Predecessors in the Kingdom; two of whom were
his own Brothers,
the Sons of King Josiah; and the third
his own Nephew,
whom he immediately succeeded. They were all particularly mentioned by him in the proper order of their respective reigns, as we find by the copy of his Message or Remonstrance, preserved in the Collection of his Prophecies; and, throughout the said Remonstrance, frequent allusions are made to the principal causes of the failure and destruction of each of them, which afford a most striking and interesting Lesson to Kings and Governors
in general;
but it must have been
more particularly
affecting to Zedekiah, if we consider his critical situation at the time the Message was delivered to him, and that the Examples of
Vengeance,
to which the Prophet referred him, were
actually accomplished
in the Persons of his
nearest Relations
and
Predecessors,
who were successively
deprived of their Royal Dignity,
and carried away IN CHAINS into a
slavish Captivity;
the very fate which, the Prophet assured him, was to be his own!
But before I recite the remainder of God's Message to
the Court of Zedekiah,
it will be necessary for me to give some general account of that Monarch and of his immediate Predecessors, in order that the Remonstrance, in which they are all distinctly mentioned, may be more easily understood by the generality of Readers. It will likewise be necessary for me to prove, that the whole 22d Chapter of Jeremiah is included in that
Message,
or
Remonstrance,
which the Prophet was then to deliver in the presence of the
whole Court
of Zedekiah. And I propose to insert also some remarks, as they occur, concerning the Prophet himself, and the order of time, in which he delivered the several tremendous predictions of GOD's
Vengeance
against these wicked Princes.
Zedekiah was the Son of that excellent Prince Josiah King of Judah, on whose account, expressly,
the dreadful Vengeance,
due to that wicked Nation, was postponed for several years,
viz.
till after his death.
The Scriptures mention four Sons of King Josiah,
viz.
the first-born, Johanan (or John); the second, Jehoiakim; the third, Zedekiah; and the fourth, Shallum.
1 Chron. iii. 15.—What became of the eldest Son Johanan, or John, is not recorded
—"this
Johanan
" (says Bishop Patrick)
is thought by many to be the same with
Jehoahaz,
who succeeded
Josiah
in the Throne. But he
(meaning
Jehoahaz
)
was not his first-born, being but twenty-three years old when the People made him King; and after three months time his Brother, being put in his place, is said to be twenty-five years old. 2 Kings xxiii. 31, 36. Petavius
(continues the Bishop)
hath said a great deal about this, in his Annotations upon Epiphanius ad Haeres. Epicur. p. 18. But after all
(says the learned Bishop)
I take the truth to be, that
JOHANAN WAS HIS ELDEST SON,
but died before his Father:
and therefore is not mentioned in the Book of Kings; as
(continues he)
Jehoahaz
is not mentioned here, being made King by the People of the Land, and presently dethroned.
—In the latter part of this remark, however, the worthy Bishop is apparently mistaken; for the same King, who was sometimes called
Jehoahaz,
is certainly
mentioned
in that very Text (1 Chron. iii. 15.) on which the Bishop made this remark, though mentioned, indeed, under a different name,
viz. Shallum.
, but all the others ascended the Throne of David; and first of all, the youngest Son
Shallum,
whom, on the death of King Josiah,
the People of the Land took,
and
(as it seems, without) regard to seniority)
made him King in his Father's stead in Jerusalem.
2 Chron. xxxvi. 1.
In this Text
Shallum
is called
Jehoahaz,
which, perhaps, was his original or proper name, and the other name,
Shallum,
only a surname (signifying
Peace
), given him, probably, by the People at his Coronation, and in remembrance of
the peace
and general tranquillity during the greatest part of his Father's reign: but the great and learned Archbishop Usher just reversed this supposition; for he was of opinion, that
Shallum
—
Eum enim 23 annos natum,
senioribus Fratribus posthabitis,
Populus Regem Patris loco constituit. (2 Reg. xxiii. 30, 31.)
Shallumi
nomine, ut videtur, melioris ominis causâ in aliud mutato: quòd commune illud ei fuisset cum
Shallumo
Jabeshi filio; qui unico tantùm mense regno potitus a Manahemo est occisus,
&c.
ad A. M. 3371. p. 113.
was the
proper
name, and
Jehoahaz
only the surname.
Nevertheless, in defence of what I have ventured to mention as my own opinion, I must remark, that in the list of King
Josiah
's Sons, where
Shallum
is mentioned with the rest of his Brothers (
viz.
1 Chron. iii. 15.) no less than
two
of his Brothers out of
three
are mentioned only by THE SURNAMES
which were given them when they began to reign;
and the
third
Brother there mentioned (or rather the
first
of them, Johanan)
never reigned;
and therefore, probably, had no
surname
to distinguish him, like the rest: but the other two, who actually ascended the Throne of David, were mentioned by their
surnames only, viz.
JEHOIAKIM (
Jehov-ikim,
signifying
Jehovah will establish
) and ZEDEKIAH (
Tsadok-Jehov,
signifying
the Righteousness of Jehovah
); for their
proper names
were
Eliakim
(2 Kings xxiii. 34.) and
Mattaniah
(2 Kings xxiv. 17.): and therefore it is very natural to conclude, that the name of the
only remaining Brother, who actually reigned,
and is mentioned in the same Text (
viz. Shallum,
signifying
Peace
) is likewise
a surname,
as well as the other two mentioned before him, who received the names, by which they are distinguished in that Text, when they were first appointed to the Throne of Judah.
.
The reign of
Shallum
(alias
Jehoahaz
Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem.
And his Mother's name was Hamutal, the Daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did
(that which was) evil in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that his Fathers had done.
2 Kings xxiii. 31, 32.
was only three months; for he regarded not the
eternal Laws of God,
and thereby drew down the
Divine Vengeance
upon himself, by the hand of Pharaoh-Neco, who deposed him
at Jerusalem
And the King of Egypt
put him down at Jerusalem,
and condemned the Land in an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
2 Chron. xxxvi. 3.
(2 Chron. xxxvi. 3.) and afterwards
PUT HIM IN BANDS at
Riblah
RIBLAH was the fatal place where King
Zedekiah
was afterwards
judged
and
condemned
by the King of Babylon, and where
his Sons were slain before his eyes.
Jer. lii. 9. The Text also informs us, that "he" (the King of Babylon)
slew also all the Princes of Judah in
RIBLAH.
Jer. lii. 10. There is something very remarkable in the meaning of these names,
Riblah
and
Hamath,
when compared with the
dreadful Vengeance
executed therein.
Riblah
(
) was capable of being interpreted (though it likewise has a different meaning) as follows,
viz.
"Rixa"—
aut
jurgium
inveteratum vel conturbatum, sive
jurgium,
defluens;
(see the Interpretation of Scripture Names annexed to the London Polyglot, Vol. VI.) and HAMATH (
)
"Ira
vel
indignatio,
aut
calor," &c. (ibid.);
that is, the City of
Strife,
or
severe Chiding,
in the Land of
Wrath,
or
fiery Indignation.
Now it must appear very remarkable, I say, if we consider the interpretation of which these names are capable, that God should incline two foreign Conquerors (who had no connection with each other, but, on the contrary, were mortal Enemies) to execute his
Vengeance
upon different Kings of Judah
exactly at the same place, viz.
the City of
Strife,
in the Land of
Wrath:
insomuch that one would suppose these names to be given afterwards, in remembrance of God's
severe Vengeance
already executed therein! And yet, we find, they were the ancient names of those places, mentioned in Moses' account of the Israelitish boundary, Numb. xxxiv. 8, 11. And though the names are really capable of bearing a different and more favourable interpretation, yet, to the Jews, who were nice observers concerning the real meaning of names, the possibility of interpreting the names of these fatal places, in the awful sense which I have mentioned, must render the accomplishment of
God's Vengeance
therein much more striking and remarkable!
in the Land of
Hamath,
that he might not reign in
Jerusalem
(2 Kings xxiii. 33)
And Pharaoh-Nechoh
put him in bands
at Riblah in the Land of Hamath,
that he might not reign in Jerusalem,
&c.
2 Kings xxiii. 33.
there being, probably, some reason to apprehend, that he would attempt to supplant his elder brother
Eliakim,
whom the Egyptian Conqueror had thought proper to set up in his stead upon
the Throne of David;
and therefore, to secure the new-established Monarch, he not only put
Shallum
IN BANDS, but also carried him away with him into Captivity in Egypt,
where he died
And Pharaoh-Nechoh made
Eliakim
the Son of Josiah King in the room of Josiah his Father, and turned his name to
Jehoiakim,
and took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and he died there.
2 Kings xxiii. 34.
.
Thus Eliakim (through the Mercy of God to
"the House of David"
) was raised to the Throne and Kingdom of his Ancestors, even by
a foreign Enemy!
who also changed his Name (that the Providence of God might be more apparent in the Revolution) from
Eliakim
(
, signifying
God will establish
) to
Je-hoiakim,
signifying (as I have before remarked)
"Jehovah will establish;"
whereby it is manifest that even a Heathen Monarch took pains to remind the new King of Judah of his dependence on
Jehovah
the God of Israel, whose
Laws
and
Religion
of course, we may presume, were likewise
re-established
in Judea by the same foreign Authority; for it would have been absurd in the Egyptian Monarch to have changed the Name of his Royal Vassal to another Name more particularly testifying a Belief in
Jehovah,
the true God of Israel, if he did not mean thereby to keep the Jewish King in constant remembrance of the
National
Profession of
Law
and
Religion
by the sacred Name of the great Author of them!
The same remarkable change in the Name of a future King of Judah was made also by another foreign and Heathen Conqueror afterwards,
in honour of the eternal
JEHOVAH; so that it was manifestly
the Providence of God
which inclined these two great Enemies of the Jewish State, though they were also mortal Enemies to each other, (I mean Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar) to pursue exactly
the same method
in restoring
"the Sceptre of Judah"
to
the House of David,
and in declaring the Establishment of
the National Law
and
Religion,
by putting a respectful memorial of the sacred Name of
Jehovah
upon the new-raised Monarchs!
In the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, though Judea and all Syria were then under the Egyptian Empire, the Prophet Jeremiah, in his 27th chapter
—
In the beginning of the reign of
Jehoiakim
the Son of Josiah King of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the LORD (or the LORD said) to me; make ye Bonds and Yokes, and put them upon thy Neck, and send them to the King of Edom,
&c.
The learned Dr. Lowth (Prebendary of Winchester in 1718) in his Commentary on this place, supposes that the Name of "Jehoiakim
has crept into the Text," &c.
instead of Zedekiah. "This emendation" (says he)
is confirmed by comparing this verse with the 3d, 12th, and 20th verses of this chapter, and with the beginning of the next.
—But these verses, however, are far from confirming the proposed emendation: all that can properly be said of them in this respect is, that they have occasioned, in some Writers, the supposition of an Error in the Text, which has been very well answered by others. But there is a better evidence in favour of the Doctor's supposition than what he has mentioned, because the latter really contains no difficulty, if the 3d and 6th verses be considered as
prophecies
"These things" (says the learned
Lightfoot
)
are to be understood to be spoken
prophetically
concerning
Zedekiah,
as well as concerning
Nebuchad-nezzar
's Sonnes; for the Lord by the Prophet foretells that
Nebuchadnezzar
should reigne, and his Sonne and Grandchilde after him; and therefore must the Prophet presently make Yokes and Bonds, and put them of his own neck in token of Judah's subjection, which indeed begun in the very next yeare. And he foretells us withall that
Zedekiah
should reigne, and that divers Kings should send Messengers to him, and by them should
Jeremy
send those Yokes to those Kings,
&c.
Harmony of the Old Testament, p. 149 and 150.
of the future reigns of
Zedekiah
and
Nebuchadnezzar:
but the evidence, which he has
not
mentioned, leaves much more room for the supposition of a various reading in the Text; for the
Syriac Version
has really the reading which that learned Gentleman supposes to be the true one,
viz.
in the beginning of the reign of
Tsedekia,
instead of
in the beginning of the reign of
Jehoiakim.
This evidence certainly proves, either that the Hebrew Copy, from which the version was made, had really the reading supposed by Dr. Lowth, or else that the Translator himself thought (like Dr. Lowth) that the word
JEHOIAKIM
had crept into the Text instead of
ZEDEKIAH,
and therefore was willing to correct the supposed error in his new version: and as the latter is neither
impossible
nor
improbable,
the evidence of the Syriac Version must by no means be admitted to invalidate the present Hebrew Reading, especially as the latter is confirmed, not only by all the ancient Hebrew Manuscripts that have hitherto been collated, but also by the Targum of Jonathan, who flourished 100 years before the destruction of the second Temple, as Bishop Walton relates
Floruit hic centum annis ante Templi secundi vastationem, ut habetur in Talm. Fract. de Sabbato, c. 1.
—In Biblia Polyglotta Prolegom. p. 84.
; so that his Translation is
older
than
the oldest
Syriac Version, which is sufficiently proved in the Prolegomena to the Polyglott Bible by the same learned Bishop. The
whole verse
is wanting in the
Greek Version,
so that no evidence can be drawn from thence.
foretold
the universal Empire of
Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon,
even before that great Warrior was King of Babylon
Which was not till the latter end of the third year of Jehoiakim, for part of the third and part of the fourth years of Jehoiakim were included in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. Compare Dan. i. 1. with Jer. xxv. 1. This was the earliest computation (there being two) of Nebuchadnezzar's reign; for Dean
Prideaux
remarks, that
Daniel
begins his computation from the time that
Nebuchadnezzar
was sent from Babylon by his Father on this expedition
(for he is speaking of Nebuchadnezzar's success in recovering
Syria
and
Palestine
from Pharaoh-Nechoh) "which" (says he)
was in the latter end of the third year of Jehoiakim,
&c.
(See Connections, part I. p. 63.)
But, according to the Babylonians, his reign is not reckoned to begin till after his Father's death, which happened two years afterwards; and both computations being found in Scripture, it is necessary to say so much here for the reconciling of them.
Ibid.
p. 60.
his Father
Nabopollasar
(who was also called
Nebuchodonosor
The learned Archbishop
Usher
shews, that
Nabuchadonosor
was a name given to
Saosduchinus,
the Successor of Esarhaddon in the Assyrian and Babylonian Empire; and that he was the
Nabuchadonosor
mentioned in the Book of Judith (See his Annals under the years of the world 3336 and 3347.) That
Chynaladan
(called also
Sarac
) succeeded this
Nabuchadonosor
in the Empire A. M. 3336: that Nabopollasar (the Father of Nebuchadnezzar), who was Commander in Chief of his Forces, rebelled against his Master
Sarac,
and jointly with
Asstyages
(called also
Assuerus
), King of the Medes, conquered Sarac, and
took Nineveh.
And it seems that Nabopollasar at that time had assumed the name of
Nabuchadonosor,
the great Ancestor of his Master; for, according to Archbishop
Usher,
Nabopollasar is mentioned under that name in the Book of Tobit (A. M. 3378),
viz.
Nabopollasarus Babylonius, à Saraco (sive Chynaladano) Assyriorum & Chaldaeorum Rege
praefectus exercitui,
(the example should warn Monarchs against the keeping of great Standing Armies)
& Astyages à Patre Cyaxare Mediae Satrapa constitutus, affinitatem ineuntes (Amyiti Astyagis Filiâ Nebucadnesari Filio Nabopollasari desponsatâ) junctis vitibus Niniven, & in eâ
Saracum
Regem, expugnant: quemadmodum ex Alexandri Polyhistoris fragmento (à Cedreno, qui illud citat, minimè intellecto) colligimus. Quomodo & in fine Graeci Tobiti legimus; coepisse Niniven NABUCHODONOSORUM (sive
Nabopollasarum
) & ASSUERUM (sive
Astyagen, Assueri
quoque nomine, Danielis ix. 1. appellatum:) Superstite adhuc Tobiâ juniore qui, capta Samariâ à
Salmanasare,
in Assyriam cum Patre deportatus, annis 127 (vel 99, ut habet Latina, ex Chaldaico expressa editio) vixisse dicitur,
&c.
—So that Tobit had the satisfaction to see
God's Vengeance
executed upon that mighty Instrument of God's Wrath the Assyrian Empire, which had enslaved and carried away his Countrymen the Israelites from their an cient Inheritance.
being still alive. The Prophet was directed to make
Bonds
and
Yokes,
and put them upon his own neck, and to send them afterwards to the Kings of several neighbouring Nations, with a most awful message from God concerning the rising power of the Babylonian Monarch: —"And now" (said the Prophet, in the Name of the Lord, or
Jehovah,
of Hosts, the God of Israel, see ver. 4.)
have I given all these Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar
the King of Babylon, my Servant;
&c.
—
and all Nations
(many of whom are expressly mentioned in the third verse)
shall serve HIM, and his SON, and his SON'S SON, until the very time of his Land come
(for the Empire continued for
three lives
or
successions,
until the Babylonian measure of iniquity and oppression was fulfilled in the reign of Belthazar
The several Histories cited by the learned Grotius, in the 16th Sect. of his 3d Book
de Veritate Religionis Christianae
concerning the Chaldean Monarchs, are by no means well chosen for the laudable purpose he intended: and he refers the Reader also to Scaliger, whose Hypothesis concerning those Monarchs is clogged with insurmountable difficulties. See Universal History, Vol. IV. p. 425. But Dean Prideaux has clearly proved, that
Nabonadius the last King of Babylon
(called Labynetus by Herodotus)
was the same with him that in Scripture is called
Belshazzar,
and that he was the Son of
Evilmerodach
by Nitocris his Queen, and so SON'S SON to Nebuchadnezzar: and that whereas he is called the Son of Nebuchadnezzar in the 5th chapter of
Daniel,
and
Nebuchadnezzar
is there called his Father, this is to be understood in the large sense, wherein any Ancestor upward is often called Father, and any Descendant down ward Son, according to the usual stile of Scripture.
Connection of the Old and New Testaments, Part I. p. 115. See also Dr-Lowth's Comment on Jeremiah.
, when the
Medes
and
Persians
were to RETALIATE upon them THE HARD SLAVERY of Israel);
and then
(continues the Prophet)
many Nations and great Kings shall SERVE
themselves
OF HIM,
&c.
Jer. xxvii. 6, 7. that is, they shall ENSLAVE his People, in the same manner that he and his two Successors
enslaved
and
oppressed
other Nations: rendering
Slavery
for
Slavery!
In the same chapter ZEDEKIAH is also mentioned by name as
King of Judah
In the beginning of the reign of JEHOIAKIM the Son of Josiah King of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord to me; make ye
Bonds and Yokes,
and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the King of Edom, and to the King of Moab,
&c.
—by the hand of the Messengers which come to Jerusalem unto ZEDEKIAH
King of Judah,
&c.
Jer. xxvii. 1 to 3. The learned Archbishop of Armagh has taken notice of this chapter as a Prophecy:—
In principio etiam regni
Jehoiakimi,
Jeremias praedixisse dicitur, SEDEKIAM Regem Judae futurum, &
Nebucadnesarem
Regem Babyloniae, eúmque Gentes finitimas dominatui suo subjecturum:
for which he refers to this 27th chapter of Jeremiah, from the 1st to the 11th verse, A. M. 3395.
several years before he received the name of ZEDEKIAH; so that neither he himself (whose proper name was Mattaniah) nor any other person could possibly know, in the beginning of
Jehoiakim
's reign, what particular person was then signified by the name of
Zedekiah;
for even
Nebuchadnezzar
himself, who afterwards gave him that name, was not
King of Babylon
when the Prophecy was delivered, as I have already remarked. But after this
foreign Conqueror
had really appointed
a King of Judah,
and given him the name of ZEDEKIAH
(the very name foretold by the Prophet),
such an extraordinary circumstance would add unquestionable authority to the truth of
Jeremiah
's mission, and would render
Zedekiah
and his Courtiers
inexcusable
(as they really were) for rejecting the earnest and repeated Remonstrances of that Prophet
If this probable confirmation of the word of Prophecy be duly considered, it will add much to the weight of the Observations which I have made in a preceding Note concerning the Truth of the Hebrew Text in the 1st verse of this chapter.
.
This timely Prediction, therefore, in the reign of Jehoiakim, with the internal Proofs which it contained, concerning the necessity of
Zedekiah
's Submission to the Babylonian Yoke, seems to have been absolutely necessary to enable the Prophet to confute the many
false Prophets, Diviners, Dreamers, &c.
(see 9th verse) who were (afterward, in
Zedekiah
's reign) publickly employed to excite the People to shake off
the Babylonian Yoke.
The Prophet was also forewarned in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign (as the same chapter testifies) that the Kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon would send Messengers to a
Zedekiah
King of Judah;
all which Kings (as Grotius remarks)
Omnes enim hi Reges subjugati a Nebuchadonosoro. Vide infra xlviii.xlix. Comment on the 3d verse. Annot. ad Vet. Test. p. 221.
were subdued by Nebuchadnezzar; and therefore it is not improbable that the said Messengers or Ambassadors were sent to
Zedekiah
for the purpose of forming a league against the Babylonian
"Nempe, ut eum sollicitarent" (says Grotius)
ad defectionem à Chaldaeo. De qua vide 2 Paral. xxxvi. 13.
Ibid.
p. 221.
"Their business" (says the learned Dr. Lowth)
was either to congratulate
Zedekiah
upon his accession to the Throne,
or else to engage him
IN A LEAGUE
against the King of Babylon.
Comment on Jerem. p. 231.
Power: the public declarations of the false Prophets above-mentioned, and the actual REBELLION soon afterwards of
Zedekiah
himself, renders the said supposition about the business of the Messengers very probable; so that, if this singular state of affairs be considered, the sending, at such a seasonable time, to the several neighbouring Kings, by the return of their Ambassadors, the Yokes which had been worn by Jeremiah, together with GOD's awful Message (that he would punish that Nation which will not
serve
Nebuchadnezzar, and put their Neck under his
Yoke,
see ver. 8.
And it shall come to pass, that the
Nation
and
Kingdom
which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and
that will not put their nick
UNDER THE YOKE
of the King of Babylon,
that Nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the Sword, with the Famine, and with the Pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Jer. xxvii. 8.
, must needs strike these Heathen Monarchs (if they were not entirely abandoned in their principles) with Fear and Reverence; especially as their Ambassadors would hear at
Jerusalem,
that the Divine Message concerning the
Yokes, then sent,
had been revealed to the Prophet long before (thirteen or fourteen years) in the beginning of
Jehoiakim
's reign, in token of which the Prophet had worn
Yokes
upon his own neck (see chap. xxviii. ver. 10, 12, 13); and that no less than three circumstances of that extraordinary Revelation were now already fulfilled: the Prophet having not only foretold the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and the reign of Zedekiah (
a name
not applicable to
Zedekiah
himself till the Babylonian Conqueror thought proper to give it him, so that no worldly prudence could foresee such an event), but had also foretold the very circumstance in which they themselves were concerned,
viz.
that
Messengers
should be sent to this
Zedekiah
by such and such Kings!
In what year these Messengers or Ambassadors really arrived at Jerusalem, or returned from thence, does not appear; but as the
Yokes
were, first of all,
to be put upon the Prophet's own neck,
before he was to send them to the Kings (compare the 2d and 3d verses), and as it appears that he really wore such a wooden
Yoke,
as a sign against them, in the Temple, so late as the 4th year of Zedekiah, when a false Prophet took it from his neck, and broke it, and thereby occasioned a further command respecting those Kings,
viz.
that the Prophet should
make for them
Yokes of Iron
"Thus saith the Lord; Thou" (Hananiah) "hast broken
the Yokes of Wood,
but thou" (Jeremiah) "shalt make for them Yokes of Iron." Jer. xxviii. 13.
,
it seems most probable that
the wooden Yokes
first ordered had not
then
been sent to them; and, consequently, that the Messengers of those Kings had not as yet arrived at Jerusalem (for, undoubtedly, the Prophet would obey the Divine Command as soon as he had the proper opportunity of doing so); and as
Zedekiah
went to Babylon
in the same year
(see Jer. li. 59.) it is likely the Messengers did not
arrive,
nor he
rebel,
till the year following. Nevertheless, in that year (the fourth of Zedekiah) the Prophet declared the Message to Zedekiah himself, which he had before been charged to send to the other Kings:—
I spake also
(says he in ch. xxvii. ver. 12.)
to
Zedekiah
King of Judah according to all these words
(that is,
according to all these words
which precede in the same chapter respecting
the Yokes,
and which had been revealed in the reign of
Jehoiakim
)
saying, Bring your necks under THE YOKE of the King of Babylon, and
serve
him, and his people, and LIVE. Why will ye
die,
thou, and thy people, by the Sword, by the Famine, and by the Pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken
against the
NATION
that will not
SERVE
the King of Babylon?
&c.
See ver. 12 and 13. The Almighty had laid upon all the other Nations of Palestine and Syria THE SAME FATAL NECESSITY, either
to submit to a foreign Yoke,
or DIE! So that we have here a very remarkable example of GOD's VENGEANCE AND RETRIBUTION upon several
wicked
and
corrupt Nations
which regarded not
the eternal Laws
of God! —They must either
serve
the King of Babylon, or
be destroyed;
— there was no alternative! — BE DESTROYED
by the Sword, by the Famine, and by the Pestilence,
as the Lord hath spoken
(compare the 13th verse with the 8th)
until I have consumed them
BY HIS HAND,
that is, by the hand of
the Babylonian Conqueror,
the appointed Instrument of God's temporal Vengeance: — and the GOD OF ARMIES
hath in all ages raised up some powerful
Scourges
of this kind to punish wicked and ungrateful Nations with
Fire and Sword,
and to reduce them to
an unnatural Bondage,
on account of
National Iniquities!
— Even the present state of Mankind affords some melancholy proofs of this. How many Nations, now subsisting in the world, have forfeited their
natural Liberty,
and are now sitting under the IRON YOKES of
unnatural, arbitrary Governments,
subjected to the WILL AND PLEASURE of their respective Sovereigns, instead of LAW! And if the particular History of any, or perhaps all, of these
Nations
be carefully examined, it will not, I believe, be found that any of them were ever reduced to such a deplorable state of
national
Misery, till by
national
Wickedness, and
public
Contempt of GOD's
eternal Laws,
they had rendered a
national
RETRIBUTION strictly necessary, according to the unerring Rules of eternal Justice! All hopes, therefore, of REDRESS to
these enslaved Nations
must be vain, without a sincere reformation of manners in each Nation respectively, and without
public
and most earnest
national
or
general
endeavours to obtain
Reconciliation and Forgiveness from
THE KING OF KINGS; as nothing but
a strict Obedience to
HIS LAWS
can render any Nation truly
FREE. Jeremiah made the same declaration also to the
Priests
and
People
that he had made to the
King:
—"Also I spake" (says he)
to
the Priests,
and to
all the People,
saying, Thus saith the LORD: Hearken not to the words of your
Prophets
that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the Vessels of the Lord's House shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they
prophesy a Lye
These lying Prophets were probably bribed to favour the proposed
league
against Babylon, as some other wicked
Prophets
had been on former occasions, according to the testimony of the Prophet Micah:— "And the Prophets thereof" (speaking of Jerusalem) "
divine sor money."
Micah iii. 11. And
Nehemiah
also mentions a Prophet (one
Shemaiah
) who was
hired
to prophesy against him;—
for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Nehem. vi. 10 to 12.
unto you. Hearken not unto them:
serve
the King of Babylon, and
live.
Wherefore should this City be laid waste?
Jer. xxvii. 16, 17.
The wicked Prophets, who thus misled the People with Lyes, presumed nevertheless to use the sacred Name of JEHOVAH
—
They prophesy a Lye unto you. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord
(JEHOVAH), "yet they prophesy
a Lye in my Name," &c.
Jer. xxvii. 14, 15.
, as if they had really declared the Will of GOD; so that the true Prophet had need (not only of all those unquestionable Proofs of his
Divine Mission,
which I have already mentioned, but even) of other Proofs also, to enable him to oppose the lying Prophets, who pretended to speak in the Name of JEHOVAH, as well as himself; for
in the same year
(that is, in the fourth of Zedekiah) one of these wicked
Prophets,
Hananiah,
the Son of Azur the Prophet, which was of
Gibeon,
Gibeon
was the place where the Tabernacle formerly stood for many years (1 Chron. xxi. 29. 1 Kings iii. 5.), and was therefore an ancient seat of the true Prophets—such as
Azur,
the Father of this
Hananiah,
probably was; so that as Hananiah and the other false Prophets also pretended to prophesy in the sacred Name of
Jehevah,
they would be very liable to gain credit with the People, especially as they told them such things as most flattered the national inclination of those times,
viz.
to be free from the Babylonian Yoke.
—
took
the Yoke
from off the Prophet
Jeremiah
's neck, and brake it. And
Hananiah
spake
(in the Temple)
in the presence of all the People, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon from the neck of all Nations within the space of two full years.
Jer. xxviii. 1, 10, 11. Upon which, it seems, the Prophet
Jeremiah
was directed by God to reprove
Hananiah
with a severe sentence; for he not only declared that
"Yokes of Iron"
should be substituted instead of the
Yokes of Wood
Then the Word of the Lord came unto
Jeremiah (the Prophet),
after that
Hananiah
the Prophet had broken the Yoke from off the neck of the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go, and tell
Hananiah,
saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast
broken the Yokes of Wood,
but thou shalt make for
them Yokes of Iron.
Jer. xxviii. 12, 13.
,
which Hananiah had broken, as I before remarked, but he also pointed out the lying Prophet himself to the public observation, as a notable and undeniable token, that the Prophecies of
Jeremiah
were of Divine Authority!—"Hear now,
Hananiah,
" (said the true Prophet): "the Lord"
(i. e. Jehovah)
hath not sent thee; but
thou makest this People to trust in a Lye.
Therefore thus saith the Lord;—Behold,
I will cast thee forth from the face of the earth: This Year thou shalt
DIE, because thou hast taught Rebellion against the Lord. So
Hananiah the Prophet
DIED
the same year, in the seventh month.
Jer. xxviii. 15—17. That is, he died exactly two months after the Prediction, which was made in
the fifth month
of the fourth year of Zedekiah. Such Evidence, added to the former clear Tokens of Authenticity which this Prophecy of
the Yokes
carried with it, must render
Zedekiah
and his Courtiers totally inexcusable for neglecting the Divine Warning, and relying upon false Prophets.
Thus the propriety of considering the former part of the 27th chapter as a Revelation in the time of
Jehoiakim
(agreeable to the testimony of the Hebrew Text) is rendered apparent by the particular advantages which such a prior Revelation would afterwards give to the true Prophet, when he had to oppose the pretended Prophecies delivered in the fourth year of
Zedekiah:
and the remaining part of the 27th chapter, from the 12th verse, wherein the Prophet mentions his personal Address to
Zedekiah,
must necessarily be attributed to a
future time
Alia est sectio (says
Grotius
upon this verse)
&
ad aliud tempus pertinens,
sed argumento conjuncta cum superiori.
Grot. Annot. ad Vet. Test.
, which in the following chapter (the 28th) is expressly declared to have been
in the fourth year of Zedekiah
Chap. xxviii.
And it came to pass THE SAME YEAR,
in the beginning of the reign of
ZEDEKIAH
King of Judah, in the
FOURTH YEAR,
(and) in the fifth month,
that Hananiah,
&c.
.
In the beginning also of Jehoiakim's reign the Prophet Jeremiah was seized by the Priests and the People in the Temple, for denouncing
God's Vengeance
against
the Nation, the Temple also
(on account of the
national
Wickedness),
and the City
In the beginning of the reign of
Jehoiakim
the Son of Josiah King of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Stand
in the Court of the
LORD's
House,
and speak unto
all the Cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's House,
all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word. If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from HIS EVIL WAY, that I may
repent me
OF THE EVIL
which I purpose to do unto them because of
THE EVIL
of their doings.
(This is God's
Law of Retribution, Evil
for
Evil, Measure
for
Measure,
which nothing but Repentance and Conformity to God's Laws could avert.)
And thou shalt say unto them, Thus faith the LORD;
if ye will not hearken to me,
TO WALK IN MY LAW, which I have set
before you,
to hearken to the words of my Servants the Prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early and sending
(them),
but ye have not hearkened. Then will I make THIS HOUSE like SHILOH
Shiloh was, probably,
desolate
from the time of Eli's death, when the Ark was taken by the Philistines; for
the old Tabernacle, made by Moses,
was afterwards pitched
on the High Place
at
Gibeon
(1 Chron. xxi. 29.), and continued there till the time of Solomon, when the Temple was built (2 Chron. i. 3.). The removal was, probably, made by
Samuel,
whose House was at
Rama,
as also
the Altat
which he built (1 Sam. vii. 17); and
Rama
was in the neighbourhood of
Gibeon, Gibeah,
or
Geba,
which, if not the same place with
Rama
(which also signifies
a high place
) was at least adjoining to it, as they are frequently mentioned together in Scripture. See 1 Sam. xxii. 6. Ezra ii. 26. Nehem. vii. 30. Isa. x. 29. Hosea v. 8.
, and will make THIS CITY
a curse to all the Nations of the Earth.
So the Priests, and the Prophets, and all the People heard Jeremiah speaking these words
in the House of the
LORD.
Jer. xxvi. 1—7. Thus it is manifest that the public exercise of the
National Religion,
agreeable to the
National Law,
was continued even in the beginning of
Jehoiakim
's reign, though he was set up, and ruled under the authority of a foreign Heathen Monarch (Pharaoh-Neco); for the 2d verse testifies, that the People out of all the Cities of Judah came to worship in the Lord's House.
, and was arraigned and tryed for it, as for a CAPITAL OFFENCE, before
the Princes and all the Congregation.
—Upon the Trial the Prophet persisted in his former declaration; but at the same time assured them of Mercy and Reconciliation, in case they would but repent and reform: so that it was absolutely in their own power (through the Mercy of God) to have averted
the impending Vengeance.
"Therefore NOW" (said the Prophet)
amend your ways and your doings,
and obey the Voice of the LORD your GOD;
(and then he adds the conditional Assurance of Peace)
and the LORD
(said the Prophet)
will repent him of
THE EVIL
that he hath pronounced against you.
To this the Prophet added a short Remonstrance respecting his own case: —
As for me
(says he)
I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain,
that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this City, and upon the Inhabitants thereof;
for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears.
Jer. xxvi. 8—15. Whereupon he was acquitted and dismissed; for some of the Elders cited clear precedents, from the history of former times, concerning the legality of declaring
God's Vengeance
against
National Wickedness:
but though this prudent judgement of the Court of Justice saved
Jeremiah
for that time, yet it did not prevent the wicked Monarch
Jehoiakim
from murdering the Prophet's Colleague,
Urijah,
who likewise prophesied
against the City, and against the Land, according to all the words of Jeremiah
This would include all that
Jeremiah
had prophesied in the reign of King
Josiah,
as well as in the times above mentioned under
Shallum
and
Jehoiakim.
The Prophecies delivered in the reign of
Josiah
(according to the learned
Lightfoot
) are contained in
the twelve first chapters:
but
the thirteenth chapter, and all that follow to the one and twentieth,
I conceive
(says the same judicious Writer)
to have been delivered in the time of
Jehoiakim,
and not in the time of Josiah,
&c.
See his Reasons at length, Harmony of the Old Testament, p. 141, 142.
:
but his blood was severely avenged, some years afterwards, in the fatal catastrophe of the Tyrant!
Thus it appears that
Jehoiakim
was as little mindful of
the Laws and Religion of
JEHOVAH (notwithstanding the memorial of that
sacred Name
which
Pharaoh
had placed upon him) as his Predecessor
Shallum;
for we read also in the 2d book of Chronicles (xxxvi. 5, 6.) that
he did that which was
evil in the sight of the Lord
(
i. e.
Jehovah)
his God.
(And the account of
God's Vengeance
immediately follows the declaration of the Monarch's Ingratitude! for) — "Against him" (continues the Text)
came up Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and
bound him in fetters
to carry him to Babylon.
In the book of Daniel we find that the siege of Jerusalem began in
the third year of Jehoiakim
In
THE THIRD YEAR
of the reign of Jehoiakim
King of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
Dan. i. 1.
; but, it seems, the Babylonians did not immediately succeed in their enterprize; for we read, in the book of Jeremiah, an account of several transactions in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim
—vel (ut noster Joseph observat), says
L'Empereur
in his Annotations on Joseph Ichiia's Paraphrase on
Daniel,
—
annum NEBUCADNEZARIS primum statuamus incidisse in annum Jehoiakimi
tertium desinentem
& imprimis
quartum incipientem;
ita ut NEBUCADNEZAR venisse dicatur JEHOJAKIMI
anno tertio desinente
vel
exacto, suo
autem
primo currente,
qui respondebat partim
anno illius tertio
(Dan. cap. i. 1.), partim vero
ejusdem quarto
(Jer. xxv. 1.), propter diversa annorum initia, cum
annus tertius
JEHOIAKIMI &
primus
NEBUCADNEZARIS idem principium non haberent,
&c.
p. 11.
; and, among the rest, that the Prophet
Jeremiah,
in
that very year,
denounced the Judgement of God upon Jerusalem and Judea, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; which proves, that the City was not, as yet, taken by him; for in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim
he acquainted all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, that —
from the thirteenth year of
Josiah
the Son of
Amon,
King of Judah,
even to this day
(said the Prophet),
that is, the three and twentieth year,
the Word
of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened,
&c.
—
Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts
(Jehovah of Hosts);
Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the Families of the North, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant, and will bring them against this Land, and against the Inhabitants thereof, and against
all these Nations
round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an Astonishment, and an Hissing, and perpetual
The word
, here construed
perpetual,
does not
necessarily
bear that signification; for it sometimes denotes a shorter period: so that Buxtorf interprets it in his Lexicon as follows:—
"Seculum,"
(says he)
tempus homini absconditum tam
infinitum & aeternum
quàm
finitum,
ut Gen. xvii. 8. Exod. xxi. 6. 1 Sam. i. 22. and xiii. 13. 2 Sam. xii. 10.
&c.
So that the words
may rather signify some limited term of
Desolations—Desolations of
(or for)
an age,
or
a certain period,
as it is rendered in the interlineary version of the London Polyglot Bible—
"In Solitudines Seculi."
Buxtorf in his Lexicon remarks, that
Raschi
and
Aben Ezra
interpret the word
to signify a space of fifty years. The
Desolations
spoken of in the above Text certainly were not
perpetual:
and though the particular duration of them is not there declared, yet the several Histories which mention the return from Captivity sufficiently prove that they were
limited
to some such term of years as
Raschi
and
Aben-Ezra
have attributed to the word
for the
Servitude
to Babylon (on which the
Desolations
depended) were expressly
limited
to seventy years (see ver. 11, 12.), and the total
Desolation
did not continue so long as the
Captivity
by about twenty years.
Desolations.
Jer. xxv. 1—9. And as
the Denunciations of
GOD's
Vengeance
were generally accompanied with Promises of future Reconciliation and Comfort, in case of Amendment, so
the Servitude to Babylon
was here expressly
limited
to the term of
serventy years
—
And these Nations shall SERVE the King of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS.
Jer. xxv. 11.
; and as a further sign of God's Providence and Care of his People, the Prophet, at the same time, denounced a heavy RETRIBUTION OF VENGEANCE against
the King of Babylon, and that Nation,
the Instruments of God's Vengeance
And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished,
(that)
I will punish
the King of Babylon and that Nation,
saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the Land of the Chaldeans; and will make it perpetual Desolations,
&c.
For many Nations and great Kings shall SERVE THEMSELVES OF THEM ALSO: and I will RECOMPENSE THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS
(mark this, ye
Slave-holders
and
Tyrants
of the Earth!)
and ACCORDING TO THE WORK OF THEIR OWN HANDS.
Jer. xxv. 12—14. Here is a just
Retaliation
for
Tyranny;—Slavery
for
Slavery!
; as also against many neighbouring
Nations,
who were made to drink of
the Wine-cup of this Fury
(
i.e.
the Sword and Captivity); which remarkable circumstance, as here foretold, should teach ALL NATIONS, to the end of the World, the Necessity which God has laid on them to take warning by the several Examples of
his Vengeance and Retribution upon the Jewish
NATION; because the Prophet was directed to assure the
other Nations,
that if God spared not
his own peculiar People,
he
surely
would not spare them
"And it shall be" (said God to the Prophet)
if they refuse to take the Cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith THE LORD OF HOSTS" (Jehovah of Hosts);
Ye shall certainly drink.
For lo! I begin to bring evil
on the City, which is called by my Name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?
—Ye shall not be unpunished: FOR I WILL CALL FOR A SWORD UPON ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS.
Jer. xxv. 28, 29. This Declaration hath been fulfilled upon all Nations of the World at different times; and
the Sword of God's Wrath is still as active as ever!
!
The 36th chapter of Jeremiah, from the beginning to the 8th verse, is next in order of date, because it relates to transactions of the same year (
viz.
the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which must be during the Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, who came up in the third year of Jehoiakim). The Prophet was then directed to write in the Roll of a Book all his former Prophecies,
from "the days of Josiah"
to that time
And it came to pass in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim
the Son of
Josiah
King of Judah, that this word came unto
Jeremiah,
from the LORD, saying, Take thee a Roll of a Book, and write therein all the Words that I have spoken unto thee against
Israel,
and against
Judah,
and against
all the Nations,
from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah,
even unto this day.
It may be that the House of Judah will hear
all the evil
which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his
evil
way;
that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Jer. xxxvi. 1—3. So that
Repentance
might still have prevented
"all the evil."
. See Jer. xxxvi. 1. The Book was wrote, however, by
Baruch
the Scribe, from the mouth of
Jeremiah,
who was then in prison (Jer. xxxvi. 5.
Then Jeremiah called
Baruch
the Son of
Neriah:
and
Baruch
wrote from the mouth of
Jeremiah
all the Words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a Roll of a Book. And
Jeremiah
commanded
Baruch,
saying,
I am shut up; I cannot go into the House of the Lord:
therefore go thou, and read in the Roll which thou hast written from my mouth, the Words of the LORD, in the ears of the People in the LORD's House, upon the
Fasting Day:
&c.
Jer. xxvii. 4—6.
This
Fasting Day,
as Archbishop
Usher
remarks, was that solemn Annual Fast ordained in the Law to be kept on the 10th day of the seventh month for ever, five days before the Feast of Tabernacles: —
Solennis videlicèt illius, mensis septimi die decimo, quotannis celebrati: (Levit. xvi. 29. xxiii. 27. Num. xxix. 7.) quinque diebus ante Festum Tabernaculorum, in quo omnes mares ex omnibus civitatibus Judae comparebant Hierosolymis.
Ad A. M. 3398. p. 119.
; and Jeremiah directed Baruch to read the Book to the People in the Temple upon a public Fast-day. See ver. 5—8.
The 45th chapter of Jeremiah seems to be the next in order of time, and contains the Prophet's Rebuke
—
And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for behold!
I will bring evil upon all Flesh,
saith the Lord.
He nevertheless added a promise of life to Baruch, by way of comfort, saying, —
but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
Jer. xlv. 5.
of Baruch, for expressing his fears for himself,
when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of
Jeremiah, in the fourth year of
JEHOIAKIM,
&c.
(see ver. 1.); which plainly refers us to the time and circumstances mentioned in the 36th chapter. Archbishop Usher informs us, that
perhaps
the 30th and 31st chapters of Jeremiah, containing comfortable Promises of future Restauration, are to be referred to the time of delivering the 45th chapter
"Jer. xlv. 1, 5. Quò
fortasse
" (says the Archbishop)
referenda fuerint & capita illa duo consolatoria, Jer. xxx. & xxxi. Promissiones de instaurandâ Ecclesiâ continentia
(ad A. M. 3398): but afterwards he seems, with more certainty, to date them in the year 3406. See p. 126. The 46th chapter of Jeremiah was fulfilled about this time (that is,
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
as the 2d verse declares), and the Prophecies against Egypt (therein contained) were probably declared about the same time with those against
Jehoiakim,
to shew that Monarch his folly in trusting to the armies of Pharaoh.
Of the same date with the 46th chapter we may well suppose the 48th and 49th chapters to be also, because the 2d verse of chap. xlvi. doth use a comprehensive expression, The Word of the LORD
against the Gentiles,
as concluding all these Sermons and Prophecies against these several Nations under one date and head; only chap. xlvii. and ver. 34. of chap. xlix. are of several specified dates.
Lightfoot's Harmony, p. 153.
: but he afterwards assigns them another date with more certainty. And to the same year (the fourth of Jehoiakim) that learned Prelate also places the 35th chapter, concerning the
Rechabites
—ingressi sunt Hierosolyma, Jer. xxxv. 11. Ubi, quum de tempore praesente dicant;
ita cousidemus Hierosolymis:
colligimus capitis hujus historiam de vino a
Rechabitis
recusato, eo tempore fuisse gestam, quo Urbs à
Nebuchadnesare
fuit obsessa.
(Dan. i. 1.)
Ibid.
ad A. M. 3398. p. 120.
; for, with good reason, he supposes that the circumstances therein related (concerning their refusal to drink the Wine which the Prophet had set before them by God's command) were transacted during the time of the Siege by
Nebuchadnezzar,
for fear of whom the
Rechabites
had taken shelter in the City.
In the ninth month
In manum Nebuchadnesaris tradidit Dominus Jehoiakimum Regem Judae, cum parte Instrumentorum Domûs Dei [Dan. i. 2.],
mense videlicèt nono sive Cisleu:
ut colligitur ex aniversario jejunio, quod in memoriam, ut videtur, hujus calamitatis (more apud Judaeos receptor; Zachar. vii. 3, 5. & viii. 19.) eo mense observatum est [Jerem. xxxvi. 9.].
Ad A. M. 3398, p. 120.
of the same year (two months after Baruch had read the Roll of Prophecy in the Temple, which was in the seventh month) Jerusalem was taken
Josephus
seems to have been desirous to conceal this fact from his
Gentile
Readers (notwithstanding that the
Jews
held a solemn Fast in the
ninth month,
in commemoration of this
National
Calamity, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim); for he mentions nothing of the Capture of Jerusalem, but only informs us, that in the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar, and the eighth of Jehoiakim (in which he makes a mistake of four years), the Babylonian made war with great power, demanding tribute of
Jehoiakim,
or threatening to fight him; and that the other, fearing the threats of the Babylonian, and purchasing peace with money, paid him the tributes which he had demanded
for three years.
Ant. Jud. Lib. x. c 7. p. 336. But it plainly appears, by the circumstances which attended that subjection of
Jehoiakim
to the
Babylonians,
that Jerusalem
was then taken;
for the Sacred Writings expressly testify that
Nebuchadnezzar
bound
JEHOIAKIM
in chains, to carry him to Babylon
(though he did not then carry him away), and that he
carried of the Vessels
(
i. e.
part of the Vessels)
of the House of the
LORD
to Babylon
(compare Dan. i. 2. with 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, 7.): so that
the Temple
(and consequently
the City
) was certainly at that time in the Conqueror's power.
And as a further token of
absolute conquest,
the King of Babylon directed the Master of his Eunuchs to
bring of the Children of Israel,
and OF THE KING'S SEED,
and
OF THE PRINCES;
Children in whom (was) no blemish, but well favoured,
Dan. i. 3. (whereby it is manifest that the Eunuch was to CHUSE
He
—gave order to Ashpenaz, the Master of his Eunuchs,
that he should
MAKE CHOICE
out of the Children of the Royal Family,
and of
the Nobility of the Land.
Prideaux's Connect. Part I. p. 62.
out the most promising Children that could be found
of the Seed Royal,
and
of the Nobility,
amongst whom were
Daniel
and his Companions), and send them to Babylon; which could not have been done, if
Jerusalem
had not then been
absolutely
in the hands of the Babylonian Conqueror.
by Nebuchadnezzar, who bound
Jehoiakim
in setters, to carry him to Babylon
2 Chron. xxxvi. 6.
(as I before remarked): but he did not then carry him away
Jehoiakimum catenis vincivit Nebuchadnesar, ut abduceret eum Babyloniam (2 Chron. xxxvi. 6.): sed pactis posteà conditionibus servitutis,
domi eum reliquit;
ubi Servus illi permansit tribus annis. (2 Reg. xxiv. 1.). A quâ primâ omnium Regis & Populi Judaici sub
Nebuchadnesare
factâ servitute,
numerandi sunt anni septuaginta
Captivitis Babylonicae, à
Jeremiâ
Prophetâ praedicti (Jer. xxv. 11. & xxix. 10.).
Ad A. M. 3398. p. 120.
; for it appears that he was afterwards continued upon
the Throne of David
as a tributary Monarch, and served the King of Babylon three years
In his days Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim
became his Servant
three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 Kings xxiv. 1.
for the Babylonian Monarch contented himself with taking away the most promising Children of
the Royal Family,
and of
the Nobility
(from whence the first commencement of the seventy years Captivity is to be dated), and also
some of the Instruments of the Temple;
God having withheld him from taking more
The reason of my speaking dubiously, whether this was the fifth or sixth time that Jerusalem was taken since the promise to David, is, because I cannot produce sufficient authorities to prove that it was taken when King
Manasseh was carried away captive by the King of Assyria,
though it is very probable that the City was then also really taken, because Manasseh, after his restoration, thought it necessary to build walls, and add new fortifications to different parts of the City. See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
or rather, perhaps, inclined him to leave the rest, that the Service of the Temple might be still continued, which it certainly was, as well as the
National Laws and Customs,
and also a
National
Prince
of the House of David
"upon
the Throne of David,
" notwithstanding that the Government was then held under the authority of a
foreign Heathen Monarch;
which was the fifth (if not the sixth) time
The reason of my speaking dubiously, whether this was the fifth or sixth time that Jerusalem was taken since the promise to David, is, because I cannot produce sufficient authorities to prove that it was taken when King
Manasseh was carried away captive by the King of Assyria,
though it is very probable that the City was then also really taken, because Manasseh, after his restoration, thought it necessary to build walls, and add new fortifications to different parts of the City. See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14.
that the like extraordinary circumstances were fulfilled since the promise was made to King David that his
House
and
Kingdom
should be
established.
See 2 Sam. vii. 11—29.
In the
fifth
year of Jehoiakim (tho' the
first
year of his Vassalage to Babylon), in the ninth month, a Fast was proclaimed, in remembrance of God's Judgements in the preceding year
—
in memoriam, ut videtur,
Urbis
eodem superioris anni mense
a caldaeis captae.
Archbishop Usher, ad A. M. 3399. Dean Prideaux says that the
Fast
was held on
the eighteenth day of the ninth month,
and is still kept by the Jews. He also supposed (as well as Archbishop Usher) that
the City was then taken by the Chaldaeans:
but see his words at length—
The great Fast of the Expiation, wherein Baruch read the Roll, as is above related, was annually kept by the Jews on the tenth day of the month
Tizri,
which answers to our
September.
Immediately after that. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea; and
having laid siege to Jerusalem, made himself master of it in the ninth month,
called
Cisleu
(which answers to our
November), on the eighteenth day of that month
(for on that day is still kept by the Jews an annual Fast in commemoration of it even to this day); and having then taken
Jehoiakim
prisoner, he put him in chains to carry him to Babylon. But he having humbled himself to King Nebuchadnezzar, and submitted to become his Tributary, and thereon sworn fealty to him, he was again restored to his Kingdom:
&c.
Connect. Part I. p. 61, 62.
upon the Jewish Nation; and on the
Fast-day
Baruch read the Words of Jeremiah
"in the ears of all the People"
who were assembled, on this solemn occasion, in the Temple: and the Roll, which contained the Prophecies, being afterwards read also in the presence of King
Jehoiakim,
was, by his order, cut to pieces and
burnt;
after which
all the former words
that were in the first Roll
were again wrote by Baruch in another Roll, with several tremendous additions against the
Nation
The King of Babylon
shall
certainly
come and destroy this Land, and shall cause to cease from thence Man and Beast.
Jer. xxxvi. 29.
, as well as, personally, against the
King himself
Therefore thus saith the
LORD
of Jehoiakim King of Judah; He shall have
NONE TO SIT UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID;
and his
DEAD BODY
shall be
CAST OUT
in the Day to the Heat, and in the Night to the Frost.
Jer. xxxvi. 30. The former part of this
Vengeance
was fulfilled in the Captivity of
Jehoiachin
the Son of
Jehoiakim,
who, with all his Family, was soon afterwards carried to Babylon, and a younger Brother (Zedekiah) was set up instead of the Descendants of
Jehoiakim:
and the latter part of this Prophecy, concerning the DEAD BODY of
Jehoiakim,
is to the same effect with that Prophecy repeated in the 22d
chapter,
where it is said,—
He shall be buried
WITH THE BURIAL OF AN ASS,
drawn and
CAST FORTH
beyond the Gates of Jerusalem:
for this also, it seems, was literally fulfilled in due time, which shall hereafter be shewn.
. The particulars of these circumstances in the fifth of Jehoiakim are related in the 36th chapter of Jeremiah, from the 9th verse to the end.
After Jehoiakim had served Nebuchadnezzar three years,
then he turned and rebelled against him
(2 Kings xxiv. 1.); which must have been in the seventh year of his reign: and from that time to the end of his reign the
Jewish Nation
was miserably harassed by Bands of Foreign Troops from several different Nations
And the Lord sent against him" (Jehoiakim) "Bands" (or Troops)
of the Chaldees, and Bands of the Syrians, and Bands of the Moabites, and Bands of the Children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah, to destroy it, according to the Word of the Lord, which he spake by his Servants the Prophets. Surely at the Commandment of the Lord came this upon
Judah,
to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed:
&c.
2 Kings xxiv. 2.
, then subject to the Dominion of
Nebuchadnezzar,
which, under the Providence of God, were to execute
the Divine Vengeance
upon the Jewish Nation (agreeable to the express terms of God's Covenant) for having neglected
the Divine Law
(the People being at that time notoriously
corrupt and wicked
), but more particularly for having neglected those parts of
the Law
which are
eternal, viz. the eternal Laws of
JUDGEMENT (or Justice)
and
RIGHTEOUSNESS, of which the Prophets were continually reminding them!—We have no further information from the sacred Text concerning the four remaining years of
Jehoiakim
's reign
For
"he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem."
2 Kings xxiii. 36.
; only that he
slept with his Fathers
"It appears by this" (says the learned Bishop Patrick)
that
to sleep with one's Fathers
signifies no more than
to
DIE,
as they did.
For
Jehoiachim
was NOT
buried with them,
NOR
died in his bed:
but being taken by the
Chaldaeans,
he died
as they led him out of
JERUSALEM; and, according to the Prophecy of Jeremiah (xxii. 18, 19.), they cast him out of the Gates, and he had burial of an Ass; that is, lay upon the ground unburied. Abarbinel thinks
(continues the Bishop)
he
died in the way to Babylon;
and his Body was left in the Highway, without any care taken to inter it: but it lay exposed to the Sun by day, and to the Frost by Night. xxxvi. Jerem. 30.
See on 2 Kings xxiv. 6.
The worthy Prelate is certainly right concerning the expression
"to sleep with one's Fathers;"
for that is always mentioned as a distinct thing from
the burial
of any one: as for instance—
AHAZ SLEPT WITH HIS FATHERS,
and they
BURIED
him in the City,
(even)
in Jerusalem; but they
BROUGHT HIM NOT
into the Sepulchres of
THE KINGS OF ISRAEL:
&c.
(2 Chron. xxviii. 27.) whereby the distinction abovementioned is rendered manifest. It was the common method, it seems, of expressing the
death
(not the
burial
) of Princes among the Eastern Nations; and even in
Morocco,
where many Eastern Customs prevail, it is necessary, even to this day, to use some circumlocution in expressing the
death
of any one, as it would be esteemed a capital offence to say in the Emperor's presence,
in direct terms,
that any man was
dead.
This I have been informed by a worthy friend of mine, who has frequently conversed with the present Emperor of Morocco.
But with respect to the
manner
of JEHOIAKIM'S
death
I must remark, that neither the opinion of the learned Bishop
Patrick,
quoted above, nor what he has cited from
Abarbinel
(
viz.
that
"he died in the way"
) seem to agree with the most probable account of
God's Vengeance
upon that wicked Monarch.
, and that JEHOIACHIN
his Son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings xxiv. 6. But Josephus
In the eighth chapter of the tenth book of Jewish Antiquities, speaking of
Jehoiakim,
he says,
P. 337. Orleans Edition, 1611.
relates that Jehoiakim RECEIVED the King of the Babylonians, who fought against him: for, being terrified by the predictions of the Prophet, he neither shut him out, nor fought against him: so that the Babylonian Conqueror, entering the City, slew all the flower of the Youth of Jerusalem, together with King Jehoiakim, whom he commanded
to be cast unburied without the walls
(
); and that he also appointed
Jehoachim
his Son (
i. e.
the Son of
Jehoiakim
) King of the Country and of the City.
This is certainly the most probable account of Jehoiakim's death; for Dean Prideaux's account, that
they took him prisoner in some sally
Connections. Part I. p. 67.
(besides that it is
a mere supposition
), does not afford so literal an accomplishment of Jeremiah's Prophecy as the account of Josephus, because the words
drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem
seem to imply that
Jehoiakim
's death should be
in Jerusalem
(as Josephus has represented it); otherwise it could not well be said that he was
drawn and cast forth
BEYOND THE GATES,
if he did not die WITHIN THE GATES.
This second conquest of Jehoiakim by Nebuchadnezzar was the sixth (if not the seventh) time that
Jerusalem
was taken by
foreign Enemies
since the conditional promise was made to David concerning
the Establishment of his Throne;
and the Exaltation of
Jehoiachin,
by the Authority of the Babylonian Conqueror, was the
seventh Restoration
of
the House of David
to the
"Throne of David,"
after being
as often
delivered into the hands of their Enemies for neglecting God's
Laws;
whereby the immediate interposition of DIVINE PROVIDENCE in the direction of Human Affairs is unquestionably demonstrated. But notwithstanding these examples both of
God's Vengeance
and of his
Mercy
towards
"the House of David,"
the young King
Jehoiachin
is a name compounded of two words,
Jehoi-achin,
or
,
signifying
Jehovah will prepare;
or, according to some,
Domini Praeparatio,
five
Domini Firmitas.
(See the Interpretation of Names in the end of the sixth Volume of Bishop Walton's Polyglot Bible, p. 30.) A transposition of these two words (placing the last first) forms a name of the same import, though of a very different sound—
,
Ichin-Jehov,
or
JeXin-Jehov:
and that such a transposition of the name was frequently used is apparent, because from thence is derived,
by abbreviation,
another name of this Monarch, by which he is sometimes mentioned,
viz.
(1 Chron. iii. 16.)
"Jeconiah"
(or
Icon-Jah
), having the same meaning with both the forementioned names, though the learned Pasor, in his Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, renders it
"praeparatus a Domino,"
which is more properly the meaning of
Coniah
(
) or
Con-Jehov
(the name by which the Prophet Jeremiah has distinguished the same Monarch, in his 22d and 37th chapters), as, the characteristical letter of the future tense, is omitted in the last-mentioned name.
(alias
Jeconiah,
or
Coniah
) very soon afterwards fell into all the wickedness of his Fathers, and, consequently, was rejected by the GOD
of Israel;
for the Monarch was speedily informed by the Prophet
Jeremiah,
that God had determined to deliver him up into the hands of his Enemies, and into the hands of
Bebuchadnezzar, whose face he feared
As I live, faith the Lord, though Coniah the Son of
Jehoiakim
King of Judah were the Signet upon my Right Hand, yet would I pluck thee thence: and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand
(of them) whose face thou fearest,
even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans:
&c.
Jer. xxii. 24—28. This chapter contains also several other Prophecies against the Sons and Successors of King Josiah, in the exact order of their respective reigns, just as the Prophet repeated them (after they were fulfilled) in his Remonstrance to King
Zedekiah
and his wicked Court; though, undoubtedly, the Prophet had before declared them in due time, whilst each of the said Monarchs remained upon
"the Throne of David:"
but no other account remains of these particular Prophecies, except in this 22d chapter, which shall hereafter be proved (I hope) to be only an occasional
repetition
of them in the presence of
Zedekiah.
, though, it seems,
he feared not
GOD! for the Text informs us that
he did
EVIL
in the sight of the
LORD,
according to all that his Father had done.
(2 Kings xxiv. 9.) And then immediately follows the account of
God's Vengeance
against him!—
At that time
(says the Text)
the Servants of
Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon came up against
Jerusalem,
and the City was besieged,
The Siege, here mentioned, is erroneously cited by Dean Prideaux in his Connections, Part I. p. 67. as a transaction during the life of
Jehoiakim;
whereas nothing can be more plain than the narrative of the Sacred Text, wherein, after the Historian has mentioned the commencement of
Jehoiachin
's (alias
Coniah
's) reign, and his evil conduct, he proceeds next in course to this account of the
Divine Vengeance
in the 10th verse (which Dr. Prideaux has applied to the reign of Jehoiakim); and the Sacred Historian, still continuing the account of that Siege in the following verses, informs us, in the 12th verse, that JEHOIACHIN (expressly by name)
King of Judah went out to the King of Babylon,
he and his Mother,
&c.
so that there is not the least ground for placing the Siege in the reign of Jehoiakim.
.
2 Kings xxiv. 10.
This
Vengeance
must have followed very close upon the footsteps of this King's
Iniquity;
for, it seems,
he reigned in Jerusalem
(only)
three months
—
"and ten days."
Compare 2 Kings xxiv. 8. with 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.
And when the year was expired King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon.
2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. That is, Nebuchadnezzar, first of all, sent
his Servants (viz.
his Army) against Jerusalem, who besieged the City (as I have already related from
the second book of Kings
)
Dean Prideaux hoped to have solved the difficulty occasioned by his
own error
(mentioned in the preceding Note) by asserting that the Siege in the reign of
Jehoiachin
was only
a continuation
of the former Siege in the reign of
Jehoiakim:
for he says—
After
Jehoiakim
's death the Servants of
Nebuchadnezzar
(that is
(says he),
his Lieutenants and Governors of the Provinces that were under his subjection in those parts)
still continued
(says he)
to block up
Jerusalem,
&c.
Connect. Part I. p. 68. And he once more cites for his Authority
the very same Text
which he had before applied to the reign of
Jehoiakim;
and though he adds, also, the verse which follows it as a further Authority (
viz.
2 Kings xxiv. 10, 11.), yet neither of these verses mention a word about
the supposed continuance of the Siege
from the reign of
Jehoiakim
to the end of
Jehoiachin
's reign; neither can any
such continuance
be reasonably implied therein, to authorize such an assertion: in short, the whole error seems to have been occasioned by his adhering to his own
supposition
before-mentioned,
viz.
that Jehoiakim was "
taken Prisoner in some Sally
(IT MAY BE SUPPOSED)," says he, "
which he made upon them," &c.
(Connect. Part I. p. 67.) for which he has
not the least Authority,
the
supposition
being, on the contrary, directly opposite to the testimony of
Josephus
before recited; and contrary also to the necessary accomplishment of Jeremiah's Prophecy against Jehoiakim; which, I hope, has already been sufficiently demonstrated. The Dean nevertheless persists in the same hypothesis also in page 69 of the first part.
: but he did not bring
Jehoiachin
to
Babylon
until he himself went also "against the City" (see 2 Kings xxiv. 11.); and then, the Text informs us,
Jehoiachin the King of Judah went out to the King of Babylon, he, and his Mother, and his Servants, and his Princes, and his Officers: and the King of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign
"That is" (says Bishop Patrick),
in the
eighth year
of Nebuchadnezzar's reign; for he began to reign in the fourth year of Jehoiakim:
(he should rather have said
in the latter end of the third year of Jehoiakim,
though the first year of Nebuchadnezzar includes also the greatest part of the fourth year of Jehoiakim)
who reigned seven more after that, which was
(or until)
"the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar."
. And he carried out thence all the Treasures of the House of the Lord, and the Treasures of the King's House, and cut in pieces all the Vessels of Gold which Solomon King of Israel had made in the Temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all
Jerasalem,
and all the Princes, and all the mighty Men of Valour, even ten thousand Captives, and all the Craftsmen and Smiths: none remained save
the poorest sort
of
the People
of the Land:
&c.
2 Kings xxiv. 12—14,
&c.
All these circumstances sufficiently prove, that Nebuchadnezzar was now
a
THIRD
time Master of Jerusalem,
this being
the seventh
(if not the eighth)
time
that the City of
Jerusalem
fell into the hands of
foreign Enemies,
since the conditional promise was made to King
David
of
an established Throne:
but as JEHOIACHIN
forsook
the ways of GOD, he was, of course,
forsaken
of GOD in his temporal Government; and was given up to his Enemies, with his
Mother,
his
Wives,
his
Officers,
and
the Mighty of the Land,
who were all carried away together
INTO CAPTIVITY
from Jerusalem to Babylon
2 Kings xxiv. 15,
&c.
,
and thereby afforded to all future
Administrations
of
national Government
an awful example of the
Divine Vengeance
against
Kings
and
Rulers
that neglect
the eternal Laws of
GOD! But though Nebuchadnezzar thought it necessary to depose
Jehoiachin,
as well as his Father
Jehoiakim
before him, yet he still persisted in maintaining "
the House of David
Ezek. xvii. 13.
" upon
"the Throne of David,"
and accordingly
made
Mattaniah
his Father's Brother King in his stead, and changed his name to
Zedekiah
2 Kings xxiv. 17.
.
This Monarch was the third of King
Josiah
's Sons
By
Hamutal the Daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 Kings xxiv. 18. She was also the Mother of Jehoahaz (or Shallum, as he is called in 1 Chron. iii. 15. and in Jer. xxii. 11.) the immediate Successor of Josiah, who was deposed and carried away by Pharaoh-Nechoh.
Ibid.
xxiii. 31.
that succeeded him upon
the Throne of David,
notwithstanding that the
Nation
had been
four times
conquered by foreign Enemies since Josiah's death! But it is still more remarkable, that both these foreign Conquerors, Pharaoh-Neco and Nebuchadnezzar, should not only persist in setting up the Princes of
"the House of David"
upon
the Throne of David,
but should also remind them of their indispensible obligation to maintain the
Laws
and
Religion
of the GOD
of Israel
by putting upon them, respectively, a Memorial of the Sacred Name of JEHOVAH; for I have already shewn, that
Pharaoh-Neco
gave the name of
Jehoi-akim
(signifying "JEHOVAH
will establish
") when he set up a Monarch over the peculiar People of JEHOVAH; and now again Nebuchadnezzar not only obliged his new Vassal to "
swear by
GOD
Compare 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13. (
viz.
—
Nebuchadnezzar, who had
made him swear
by God
) with Ezek. xvii. 12, 13. (
viz.
—
and made a
Covenant with him,
and hath
taken an Oath of him.
)
that he would observe the Covenant which was then made between them, but he also put upon him a signal Memorial of the
Name
and peculiar
Principle
of the
only true
GOD, JEHOVAH, by giving him the Surname of
Zedekiah
2 Kings xxiv. 17.
(
Tsadok-Jehov) signifying
the Righteousness of
JEHOVAH,
or JEHOVAH
is "righteous;"
whereby it is manifest (as I have before remarked) that the
Laws
and
Religion
of JEHOVAH were tolerated or continued among the Jews, even by the Authority and avowed Consent of the Heathen Conqueror himself, which surely denotes, that
he was guided, in this matter, by a very particular
PROVIDENCE; for, at the same time that he afforded the Jews an opportunity of retrieving their past conduct by observing more strictly
the Laws of God,
and the forms of their own
National Religion,
he set before them
(in the Surname of their new Monarch)
the
Sum, Essence,
and
ultimate Purpose
of all true Religion,
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JEHOVAH!
This was a Name, therefore, of such actual importance to the
Jewish State
(though, perhaps, a common name, even before that time, among the
Jews
) that it could not have occurred, by the mere light of Nature, to the
Babylonian Stranger
on the solemn occasion of
confirming and establishing a King of Judah,
to which it was most particularly adapted! for it was really the name (as shall be more particularly shewn hereafter) of that future "KING OF THE JEWS" in whom alone
the Throne of David
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Brauch,
and a KING
shall reign and prosper,
and
shall execute
JUDGEMENT AND JUSTICE
in the Earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and
this is his name
whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
(Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.)
i. e.
Jehovah-Tsadecns,
which is the same name (only transposed) with
Zedekiah
, or
Tsadek-Jehov,
except that the former has the small addition of the possessive particle
, signifying OUR,
viz.
JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, instead of THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JEHOVAH.
could be
truly
and effectually "
established for ever!
" This, surely, was far above the knowledge and comprehension of a
Heathen Stranger,
unacquainted with the revealed Laws of God!
It was also the name which, of all others, could best point out
to the Jews
the only certain method of
establishing the Throne of David,
then newly restored (and, indeed, of
establishing every other Throne
to the end of the World); I mean a strict conformity to
the eternal Law of Righteousness,
—
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JEHOVAH.
There was no other method of averting the dreadful
Retribution
at that time fully due to the
Jewish Nation!
— that impending
Vengeance
and
Desolation,
of which the Conqueror and present Restorer of the Kingdom was, himself,
the appointed Executioner
in case of
Disobedience!
See how the
same means
of averting
God's Vengeance
has been since set before us, even by THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD HIMSELF, as the
first principle
of sound policy:—
Seek ye
FIRST
the Kingdom of Gód and
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and all these things
(temporal necessaries) "shall be added unto you." Mat. vi. 33. But
Zedekiah
paid so little regard to
"the Righteousness of Jehovah,"
and proved so notoriously unworthy to bear
that glorious name,
that the Prophet
Jeremiah,
was very soon afterwards, commanded to denounce
God's Vengeance
against him, even in the beginning, as it seems, of his reign, that is (as the Text informs us)
after that
NEBUCHADREZZAR
King of Babylon had carried away captive
JECONIAH
the Son of
JEHOIAKIM
King of Judah, and
THE PRINCES
of Judah,
&c.
The Revelation was made under the Type of a Basket of Evil Figs (see the 24th chapter): but as the Judgements, therein contained, are denounced not only against THE KING, but also against
HIS PRINCES
and the Residue of Jerusalem
(chap. xxiv. 8.) we may presume, that this 24th chapter was not revealed till
Zedekiah
had so far settled himself in the Kingdom as to have
appointed
PRINCES
And as the
evil Figs
which cannot be eaten, they are
so evil; surely
thus saith the LORD; So will I give
Zedekiah
the King of Judah, and HIS PRINCES, and the Residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this Land, and them that
dwell in the Land of Egypt
(for many of the Jews had fled to Egypt for an Assylum):
and I will deliver them to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the Earth for
(their)
hurt,
(to be)
a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them,
&c.
Chap. xxiv. 8, 9.
and
other Officers under him;
because "ALL THE PRINCES," and
all Persons of any Distinction
"And he" (Nebuchadnezzar)
carried away
all Jerusalem,
and ALL THE PRINCES, and
all
the mighty Men of Valour, even ten thousand Captives, and
all
the Craftsmen and Smiths:
none remained
save the poorest sort of the People of the Land.
2 King xxiv. 14.
in the former reign, were carried into Captivity with their King
Jehoiachin
(2 Kings xxiv. 14.): and therefore, though the severe sentence in the 24th chapter was denounced in the beginning of
Zedekiah
's reign, yet, undoubtedly, he had already given sufficient proofs that his trust was
in Man,
and not in GOD; so that his condemnation was just! About this time likewise the Prophecies contained in the 29th chapter of
Jeremiah
were sent in a letter from the Prophet to the Captives at
Babylon,
by the hands of the Ambassadors whom
Zedekiah
sent to the King of Babylon. In the 17th verse of this chapter the Prophet repeats a part of the 24th chapter, relating to the Type of
Evil Figs;
which (as well as the preamble of each) proves that these two chapters were delivered about the same time. The two next chapters (
viz.
xxx. and xxxi.) seem also to follow very properly
I have before quoted the opinion of Archbishop
Usher,
where he supposes these two chapters might
perhaps
be referred to the date of the 45th chapter; but he afterwards, with more certainty, refers them to the time of the 29th chapter (ad A. M. 3406), which is agreeable also to the opinion of Dr.
Lightfoot
(Harmony of the Old Test. p. 159.)
.
In the beginning
In principio regni Sedekiae, Prophetia de Elamitis tùm subigendis tùm restaurandis à Jeremiâ prolata est (Jer. xlix. 34, 39.)
&c.
Ad A. M. 3405, p. 125.
also of Zedekiah's reign the Prophet
Jeremiah
denounced God's
Vengeance
against
Elam
(or Persia); but promised, at the same time, a future Restoration. See the 49th chapter of Jeremiah, from the 34th verse
The Word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah
the Prophet against ELAM
in the beginning of the reign of
ZEDEKIAH
King of Judah,
saying, Thus saith the LORD of Hosts
Jehovah of Armiss
); "Behold, I will break
the Bow of Elam," &c.
The Persians were always famous
Archers,
as well as excellent Horsemen.
. Whether the
Judgements
against Ammon, Edom, Damascus,
&c.
contained in the former part of this chapter were delivered also at the same time does not appear: it is rather more probable that they were delivered about the same time with the 46th and 48th chapters,
viz.
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; for which opinion I have already quoted the authority of the learned
Lightfoot.
Some of these Nations were doomed to
temporal Vengeance
in the beginning of
Jehoiakim
's reign. The Prophecy of this
Vengeance
(contained in the 27th chapter of Jeremiah) was to be afterwards communicated to them, by their own Ambassadors, in the reign of
Zedekiah,
which could not be done till the latter end, at least, of his fourth year; though the learned Archbishop of Armagh places that Revelation in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign. See ad A. M. 3405, p. 126.
Regum Edomaeorum, Moabitarum, Ammonitarum, Tyri, & Sidonis Legatis Hierosolyma ad visitandum novum Regem Sedekiam venientibus, DEUS Jeremiam Vincula & Lora tradere
jubet,
ad Dominos fuos perferenda,
&c.
But the
Hebrew Text
declares, that God gave
this charge
to
Jeremiah
in the beginning of
Jehoiakim
's reign, which (I hope) I have already proved where I speak of that reign. See also Dr. Lightfoot on the 27th chapter of Jeremiah, in his Harmony of the Old Testament, p. 158.
The 50th and 51st chapters of Jeremiah seem to come next in order of time. They contain dreadful denunciations of
God's Vengeance and Retribution
against
Babylon,
the mighty Instrument of
God's Vengeance
(of which I shall have occasion to say more hereafter). In the 51st chapter (ver. 60.) we read, that
JEREMIAH
wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon
BABYLON,
even all these words that are written against Babylon;
which, of course, must include
both chapters:
and we are enabled to ascertain the date of them by the preceding verse; which (together with the following verses) informs us, that the Prince Seraiah was directed to read the said Prophecies at Babylon, when he went there with ZEDEKIAH
in the fourth year of his reign,
and was afterwards to cast the Book into the midst of the River
Euphrates.
Jer. li. 59—64.
There is no particular mention in Scripture of any transactions of
Zedekiah
between the fourth and ninth years of his reign; only that
he rebelled against the King of Babylon in sending Ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him Horses and much People;
so that he seems to have entertained a foolish and wicked desire to render himself
absolute
and
independent
by means of a Standing Army of foreign Mercenaries; for he not only endeavoured to procure Horses from Egypt, but also
much People
Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doth such
(things)?
Ezek. xvii. 15.
.
Ezek. xvii. 15. And as he vainly put his whole trust in a
military Force,
the
solemn Oath,
which he had so lately taken, was made to yield to his
political views,
though he had called GOD
to witness!
So that the perjured Monarch's WILL AND PLEASURE was preferred to that RIGHTEOUSNESS in the execution of
Covenants
and
Laws
which
alone can establish the Thrones of Kings
Take away the
WICKED
from before the King, and his Throne shall be
ESTABLISHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Prov. xxv. 5. —
For the Throne is established by
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Chap. xvi. 12.
"IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
shalt thou be
ESTABLISHED." Isaiah liv. 14.
And IN MERCY SHALL THE THRONE BE ESTABLISHED,
and he shall sit upon it
IN TRUTH,
in the Tabernacle of David, judging and seeking Judgement
(or Justice), "
and hasting
RIGHTEOUSNESS." Isaiah xvi. 5. The constant lesson of the Prophet Jeremiah to Zedekiah and the House of David was—
Execute ye JUDGEMENT and RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and deliver the Spoiled out of the hand of the Oppressor—Do
NO WRONG,
do
NO VIOLENCE TO THE STRANGER,
&c.
, and of which his new name (Zedekiah, or
Righteousness of Jehovah
) was certainly intended to remind him. This wicked policy was censured in the severest terms by the Prophet Ezekiel: —
Shall he prosper?
(said the Prophet)
shall he escape that doth such (things)? or shall he break the Covenant, and be delivered? As I live, saith the LORD GOD, surely in the place
(where)
the King
(dwelleth)
that made him King, whose Oath he despised, and whose Covenant he brake,
(even)
with him, in the midst of Babylon, he shall die. Neither shall Pharaoh
For Pharaoh was also one of those mistaken Monarchs who placed his whole trust in Military Power, and was censured also by the same Prophet for his folly and presumption.
Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I
(am)
against thee, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his Rivers, which hath said, my River
(is)
mine own, and I have made
(it)
for myself.
But I will put my Hooks in thy Jaws,
&c.
Ezek. xxix. 3, 4.
, with
(his)
mighty Army and great Company, make for him in the War, by casting up Mounts, and building Forts, to cut off many persons. Seeing he despised THE OATH, by
breaking the Covenant
(when lo, he had given his hand), and hath done all these
(things),
he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine Oath that he hath despised, and my Covenant that he hath broken, even it I will
recompense
upon his own head. And I will spread my Net upon him, and he shall be taken in my Snare: and I will
bring him to Babylon,
and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me. And all
his Fugitives, with all his Bands
(
viz.
his Regiments or Military Forces, in which he trusted),
shall fall by the Sword; and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and
ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.
Ezek. xvii. 15—21. Thus Zedekiah's Fate was appointed to be one of the many proofs which God vouchsafed to the Jews, to demonstrate the Truth of his Revelation by the Prophets.
In the ninth year of Zedekiah the impending Vengeance became visible by the near approach of the Babylonian Army, as I have before remarked in page 28: for then began to be fulfilled what had been foretold not only in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim,
but, probably, also in the reign of Josiah. Compare Jer. i. 15. with xxv. 9. In the former, God declares,—
I will call all the Families of the Kingdoms of the North,
&c.
and in the latter,
Behold,
I will send and take all the Families of the North,
saith the Lord
(thereby marking his absolute direction of them),
and Nebuchadrezzar the King of Babylon MY SERVANT, and will bring them
against this Land,
&c.
And accordingly, after Nebuchadnezzar had strengthened his Empire, by reducing to his obedience all the Kingdoms of the
Assyrian
as well as the
Syrian
Dominion (which latter lay to
the North
of Judaea, and extended quite up to
Armenia,
the
Armenians
themselves being no other than
Syrians;
for
Aram
is the proper name in Scripture for
Syria
), he compelled the conquered Nations to assist him in reducing others to a like servile subjection under his own arbitrary
Will,
without perceiving that he and they,
collectively,
were but a mere instrument of
Vengeance
And thus was
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
raised up by God, to be a
SCOURGE
(compare this with what I have already remarked concerning that Monarch in pages 67, 68, 83, and 84)
TO ALL THE NATIONS ABOUT HIM,
for the Punishment of their Sins.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR had, indeed, OTHER THINGS IN HIS HEAD. That which he designed, was the gratifying his own Ambition, and enlarging his Dominions: but these were not the ends which God had to serve by him. God made use of him as HIS INSTRUMENT, as HIS SERVANT
(for so he calls him), for the rendering to the
NATIONS
that just
RECOMPENCE OF VENGEANCE
which their Sins called for. I mention th
se things the rather because they are instances of God's dealing with Heathen Nations, who were under no particular Covenant with God.
Archbishop Sharp's Sermons, Vol. I. Serm. 8. intituled,
Virtue and Religion the ONLY means to make a NATION prosperous,
p. 209, 9th Edition.
in the hands of
the Lord of Hosts,
or
God of Armies!
for we read in the 34th chapter of Jeremiah, that Nebuchadnezzar literally fulfilled the former Prophecies by coming to fight against Jerusalem,
with
all his Army, and all the Kingdoms of the Earth of his Dominion,
&c.
I have already related the Message which
Zedekiah
sent to the Prophet Jeremiah on this occasion, with the Prophet's Answer, which is the subject of the 21st chapter; and that the Prophet was directed also to repeat the Subject of that Answer in the presence of
Zedekiah
and
his whole Court;
which leads me once more to the consideration of the 22d chapter, the difficulty of which had obliged me to go back, and investigate the Histories of the preceding Princes of Judah, and of the Times when the several Prophecies against them by
Jeremiah
were revealed: and though this necessary digression has, I fear, been extended to a much greater length than is consistent with due order and method, yet, I trust, my candid Readers will excuse this defect in mere matter of form, if they should find any thing in my digression that may tend to illustrate, and render more familiar to the generality of Readers, that excellent Book, the Collection of
Jeremiah
's Prophecies, in which all Mankind are materially concerned and interested: for the Certainty of
God's Vengeance
upon
wicked Nations
is unquestionably demonstrated in the Prophecies of
Jeremiah;
so that the Tenour of
that whole Book,
indeed, relates, in some degree, to my present subject, though I had at first intended to confine myself, in this Tract, to the examination only of the 21st, 22d, and 34th chapters, as being more particularly levelled against
Oppressors, Tyrants,
and
Slave-holders!
Commentators have generally conceived, that the Divine Message, recorded in the 22d chapter (from the beginning to the 19th verse at least), was not delivered to
Zedekiah,
but to
Jehoiakim,
because a Prophecy against the latter is recorded in the 18th verse,
viz.
"Therefore" (said the Prophet, referring back to the Offences before-mentioned)
thus saith the Lord,
CONCERNING JEHOIAKIM,
the Son of Josiah, King of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my Brother!
&c.
He shall be buried with the burial of an Ass,
&c.
But if we carefully examine the whole chapter, with reference to the chapter which precedes, as well as that which follows, it will be found much more intelligible, coherent, and striking, when the whole is considered as one continued Address to
Zedekiah,
reminding him of the Judgements denounced (and then, indeed, fulfilled) against his immediate Predecessors, exactly according to the order of their reigns, and expressly for the same Offences (
viz.
OPPRESSION, and
the Neglect of
JUSTICE
and
RIGHT) for which he himself,
by name,
is condemned in the 21st chapter. The only difficulty which attends this construction is occasioned by the English Translators having used the
present tense,
in the 11th, 18th, and 24th verses (where the
praeter tense
would certainly have been much more proper);
viz.
"Thus
saith
the Lord," instead of
Thus
said
the Lord to, or concerning,
Jehoiakim,
&c.
which latter is the literal construction of the original, and is always so expressed in the interlineary Latin Version of the London Polyglot,
viz. "Sic dixit Dominus:"
for though in many other places it is indifferent to the sense, whether the
present
or
praeter tense
is used, yet in these above-mentioned it makes a very material difference; because the Prophet is only reminding Zedekiah of the Prophecies which he had before denounced (or, at least, to the same effect) against his disobedient Predecessors; as that, for instance, against
Jehoiakim
was first delivered by Baruch the Scribe (though not exactly in the same words, yet surely to the same purport) in the presence of
Jehoiakim
himself, after he had burnt the Roll of
Jeremiah
's Prophecies,
viz.
His dead Body shall be cast out in the Day to the Heat, and in the Night to the Frost;
(Jer. xxxvi. 30.) which is the same thing, in effect, as to
be buried with the burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth
Jehoiakimus,
à Chaldaeis captus, abjectus fuit
insepultus:
nempè
sepulturâ Asini sepultus,
tractus & projectus ultra portas Hierosolymorum; juxta Prophetiam Jerem. xxii. 18, 19. & xxxvi. 30. licèt, ad communem Naturae Legem respectu habito, dormivisse dicatur ille cum Patribus suis. 2 Reg. xxiv. 6.
Ad A. M. 3405. Though the learned Archbishop, in the above sentence, supposes, indeed, that the quotation he there makes from
the 22d chapter
is really
a Prophecy,
and not merely (as I suppose) the
Repetition of a Prophecy,
yet it is plain that he esteemed it of the same import with the original Prophecy in the 36th chapter, by his quoting them together, in order to explain the one by the other.
,
&c.
according to the
repetition
of the Prophecy before Zedekiah, as related in chap. xxii. 18, 19.
The Prophet, in the beginning of the chapter, is directed to
go down to the House of the King of Judah, and speak
THERE
this Word, and say, Hear the Word of the Lord, O King of Judah,
THAT SITTEST UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID,
&c.
Now the question is, who was the Prince who then
sat upon the Throne of David,
to whom the Divine Message was directed? whether
Shallum, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin,
or
Zedekiah?
It could not be
Shallum
(tho' he is the first mentioned therein), because the Text describes him expressly as one
which
went sorth out of this place,
being already carried into captivity by
Pharaoh-Necho;
and the
Burthen
of the Prophecy against him was, that "
he shall return no more," &c.
See the endings of all the three verses wherein he is mentioned,
viz.
10, 11, and 12, which all
end with that Burthen.
Again, it is not likely that
Jehoiakim
(who is mentioned next in order) was
then the reigning Prince,
because his Son and Successor
Jehoiachin
(alias
Coniah,
or
Jeconiah
) is mentioned in the continuance of the fame Declaration, in a much more conspicuous light than
Jehoiakim
himself, being addressed in the second person, as if present at the time of the Denunciation,
viz.
I will give
THEE
into the hand of them that seek
THY
Life,
&c.
And I will cast
THEE
out,
&c.
And though
Jehoiachin,
probably, was the reigning
Prince
upon the Throne, when this severe Prophecy against him was
first of all
denounced; and also though he is expressly spoken of, in the 28th verse, as present,
viz. "This Man
CONIAH;" yet he was not the Prince that
sat
upon the Throne of David,
when Jeremiah repeated (as I conceive)
these several Prophecies,
mentioned in the 22d chapter; because the Prophet, after a most solemn and alarming exclamation (
O EARTH, EARTH, EARTH,
hear the Word of the Lord!
) concludes his Message with a dreadful Sentence against a Prince whom he also calls
"this Man,"
as if present (
viz. "Write ye
THIS MAN
childless
"), which by no means agrees with the case either of
Jehoiakim
or
Coniah.
The former certainly
was not childless;
for, besides his Son
Jehoiachin,
or
Coniah,
it is not improbable but that
Daniel and his fellows
(or, at least, some of them) were also
the Children of
JEHOIAKIM; for they were
OF THE KING'S SEED, AND OF THE PRINCES
(Dan. i. 3.) that were carried to Babylon in the third year (or rather the fourth year) of
Jehoiakim,
when that Monarch was twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age. And it is as certain that
Coniah,
or
Jehoiachin,
was not
childless,
because express mention is made of his
Seed
(or Children) in the 28th verse of this 22d chapter,
viz.
that
he and his
SEED
are cast into a Land that they know not;
and no less than eight Sons of his are expressly mentioned in 1 Chron. iii. 17, 18.
"
The Sons of
JECONIAH" (the same with Coniah)
Assir, Salathiel his Son, Malchiram
also, and
Pedaiah,
and
Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama,
and
Nedabiah.
1 Chron. iii. 17, 18.
. Neither did Coniah LOSE his Children during the Captivity (as the learned Mr.
Goadby,
in hopes of removing the difficulty, has ventured to assert
"Write ye this Man childless."
]
That he had Children
(says Mr.
Goadby
)
appears from the 28th verse; and therefore
this is a Prophecy
that he should
lose them during his Captivity.
for he was so far from LOSING his Children
during his Captivity,
that it is probable
they were most of them born during the Captivity;
for he was but
eighteen years of age when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem
(ONLY)
"three months"
(2 Kings xxiv. 8.)
"and ten days"
(2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.): so that it is not easy to conceive, that he could have so many as eight Children
before he was carried to Babylon.
But the matter is put out of dispute by the Apostle MATTHEW, who informs us
expressly,
that
AFTER
they were brought to Babylon,
JECHONIAS BEGAT
Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
&c.
Mat. i. 12. from whence a regular succession is continued for more than five hundred years, down to
Joseph
the
Hushand
of the Blessed Virgin. The Prophecy, therefore, of Jeremiah,
Write ye this Man childless,
could not relate to
Coniah,
nor to any other Prince of the House of David, cotemporary with
Jeremiah, except
ZEDEKIAH ALONE, and
in him
it was, indeed,
literally fulfilled;
for
the King of Babylon slew the
SONS
of
ZEDEKIAH
in
RIBLAH
before his Eyes
(Jer. xxxix. 6.): which clearly answers to the Prophecy,
Write ye this Man
CHILDLESS
I have taken the more pains to explain this necessary application of the Prophecy, because, amongst the Commentators that have erroneously applied it to
Coniah,
I have to oppose the weighty authority of the very learned and worthy Archbishop of Armagh, for whose testimony, in general, I have the highest esteem, though here I am obliged to dissent from him, on account of the superior authority of the Text. He says.—
"Contra hunc"
(speaking of JEHOIACHIN)
severissimum Dei Judicium denunciatum extat in fine capitis
xxii.
Jeremiae, sententiâ hac, quasi in acta referendâ, domum conclusum.
SCRIBITE VIRUM HUNC LIBERIS CARENTEM, VIRUM NON PROSPERATURUM IN DIEBUS SUIS: NAM NON PROSPERABITUR DE SEMINE EJUS QUISQUAM SESSURUS IN SOLIO DAVIDIS, ET DOMINATURUS AMPLIUS IN JUDA. Jer. xxii. 30.
Vide ad A. M. 3405, p. 123. This by no means agrees with the case of
Jehoiachin,
but is perfectly answerable to that of
Zedeliah,
who was not only rendered
childless
by the Sword, but was also
"a man that" did
not prosper in his days;
for he afterwards lingered out a miserable life, BLIND and IN CHAINS,
at Babylon
"Moreover"
(says the Text)
"be"
(the King of Babylon)
PUT OUT ZEDEKIAH'S EYES,
and bound him with
CHAINS,
to carry him to
BABYLON.
Jer. xxxix. 7.
! whereas
Jehoiachin,
who was carried into Captivity before him, did, after that time, really
PROSPER IN HIS DAYS;
for though he had done
evil in the sight of the Lord,
for which he was removed, as I have before remarked, yet the great Searcher of Hearts perceived something in him worthy of the Divine Mercy, as also in several others that were carried into Captivity at the same time, which was declared very soon
after
the commencement of their punishment, and a mitigation was then promised by the Prophet Jeremiah, under the type of
"a Basket of Good Figs"
(see the 24th chapter): whereas Zedekiah and those who remained with him were likened to
a Basket of Evil Figs,
to which a heavy curse was annexed,
perfectly
agreeable to the severe sentence in chap. xxii. 30. which I have applied to
Zedekiah,
and
as perfectly
unapplicable to
Jehoiachin.
The latter, and those that were carried away with him, had an absolute promise of
Grace, Peace,
and
Prosperity
Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel;
Like these GOOD FIGS, so will I
acknowledge them that are carrted away Captive of Judah
(
viz. Jeconiah
and the Princes of Judah, with the Carpenters and Smiths that were carried with them; see the first verse),
whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Chaldaeans
FOR
(their)
GOOD.
For I will set mine eyes upon them
FOR. GOOD, and I will bring them again to this Land; and I will build them, and not pull
(them)
down; and I will plant them, and not pluck
(them)
up.
And I will
GIVE
them
AN HEART TO KNOW ME
that
I
(am)
THE LORD:
and they shall be my People, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jer. xxiv. 5—7.
; that, like the GOOD FIGS, God would acknowledge them, and set his eyes upon them FOR GOOD, and would bring them again to their own Land (that is, some of them, and their Descendants); that he would build them, and not pull them down,
&c.
that he would
give them an heart to know him; &c.
upon the whole, that they were in the Land of the Chaldaeans FOR THEIR GOOD. And accordingly the Scriptures hear a remarkable testimony concerning
THE GOOD
which God reserved for
Jehoiachin
IN THE LAND OF THE CHALDAEANS.
So that he must necessarily be said to have
"prospered in his days;"
for we read expressly, that
EVIL-MERODACH
King of Babylon, in the
(first)
year of his reign, lifted up the head of
JEHOIACHIN
King of Judah, and brought him out of prison, and spake kindly unto him, and
SET HIS THRONE ABOVE THE THRONE OF THE KINGS THAT
(were)
WITH HIM IN BABYLON
(so that of him, who was thus set up, as in the highest place of favour, upon a Throne, in the presence of the most powerful King at that time upon earth, it could not he said, that
"he did not prosper in his days,"
especially as this extraordinary favour and
prosperity
lasted
all his days;
for we read in the Text, that)
he did
CONTINUALLY
eat bread before him
(the Babylonian Monarch)
ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE.
And
(for)
his diet, there was a
CONTINUAL DIET
given him of the King of Babylon, every day a portion,
UNTIL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH, ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE.
Jer. lii. 31—34.
Surely, therefore, it would be as improper to say of
this Man
JEHOIACHIN (who had so great a share of PROSPERITY), that
he did not prosper in his days,
as to "
write him
CHILDLESS," who had so many CHILDREN, and so long and compleat a succession of Descendants, some of whom, as
Salathiel
and
Zorobabel,
were RULERS IN JUDAH, though they
did not
"SIT UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID!" The Prophecy, therefore, of these unhappy circumstances,
the Deprivation of Children,
and
Want of Prosperity,
in the 22d chapter, could not by any means relate to
Jehoiachin
or
his Descendants;
and there was no other Monarch after him
"upon the Throne of David"
to whom it could be applied,
except
ZEDEKIAH
alone.
.
Now, as it is manifest, that the last verse of the 22d chapter of Jeremiah was addressed to
Zedekiah,
it is equally manifest that the beginning of it was also to him
I have had the satisfaction to find (since I wrote the above) that the learned
Grotius
was also of the same opinion, and that he also comfirms what I have suggested above, concerning the
Repetition
of former Prophecies in the presence of King
Zedekiah;
for in his Commentary on the beginning of the 22d chapter —
"Haec dicit Dominus"
— he thus expresses himself: — "
Haec
DIXIT" (says he preferring the
praeter
to the
present
tense)
JEREMIAS
enim Sedeciae loquens
SIMUL REPETIT QUAE REGIBUS ANTECEDETIBUS,
fratriscilicet ipsius
SEDECUAEM,
fratrisque filio
PRAEDIXERAT,
ne quid haberent quod de tam gravi Dei ultione conquererentur.
Annotata ad Vet. Test. Tom. II. p. 207 See also
Crituci Sacri,
Tom. IV. P. 5579. I find also, that the Learned and Reverend Authors of the Commentary, commonly called
Assembly's Annotation,
have objected to this interpretation of
Grotius
(for I suppose, by their recital of
his Hypothesis,
that they mean him, though they' have not mentioned his name); but yet they have not advanced any sufficient arguments to confute his doctrine; neither have they removed the obvious difficulties which (if I may judge of
Grotius
by myself) occasioned
that Hypothesis;
and therefore I conclude, that these difficulties cannot, in any other way, be so easily explained.
; for the first part of the Divine Message, in the 22d chapter, is nearly a Repetition of the Answer which the Prophet had before returned by
Pashur
and
Zephaniah,
the Messengers sent to him by King
Zedekiah,
as mentioned in the preceding chapter, which will clearly appear by the following collation:
Part of the Answer of the Prophet Jeremiah, sent to King
Zedekiah
by
Passur
and
Zephaniah,
as recorded in the
21st
chapter.
And touching
THE HOUSE OF THE KING OF JUDAH,
(say)
HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD; O HOUSE OF DAVID
(the Address to
(the whole Gourt,
inserted in the Remonstrance, is here omitted, because this was a Message only to
the House of David
),
thus saith the Lord; EXECUTE JUDGEMENT
in the Morning, and
DELIVER
(him that is)
SPOILED OUT OF THE HAND OF THE OPPRESSOR
(this general term,
the hand of the Oppressor,
necessarily includes
Violence to the Stranger, the Fatherless,
&c.
)
lest my Fury go out like Fire, and burn that none can quench
(it), because of the evil of your doings.
Jer. xxi. 11, 12.
The first part of the Prophet Jeremiah's personal Address to King
Zedekiah,
recorded in the
22d
chapter.
HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, O KING OF JUDAH, THAT SITTEST UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID,
thou, and thy Servants, and thy People that enter in by these gates; Thus saith the Lord;
EXECUTE
ye
JUDGEMENT
and Righteousness,
AND DELIVER THE SPOILED OUT OF THE HAND OF THE OPPRESSOR;
and do no Wrong, do no Violence to the Stranger, the Fatherless, and the Widow,
&c.
—
But if ye will not hear these Words, I swear by myself, saith the
LORD
(Jehovah), "that this House"
(the Palace)
shall become a Desolation,
&c.
Jer. xxii. 1, 2, 3, 5.
The Prophet afterwards proceeds (in the 5th, 6th, and 7th verses of his Remonstrance to the King and Court) to declare the certainty of Desolation and
Vengeance,
if they would not hear his words; and in the 8th and 9th verses he assigns a general Reason
And many Nations shall pass by this City, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the
LORD
done thus unto this great City? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the
LORD
their
GOD,
and worshipped other Gods, and served them.
Jer. xxii. 8, 9. Now, probably,
the British Slave-dealer and British American Slave-holder
will be apt to argue from thence, that the several examples of God's Vengeance upon the Jews, which I have cited in this Tract, have no relation to the subject of difference between them and me. We have not
"worshipped other Gods, and served them"
(perhaps they will say); so that the account of
God's Vengeance
against
Jerusalem,
which Granville Sharp has cited as a warning against
Slave-dealing
and
Slave-holding,
is not at all applicable to us!—But let me (as a Friend and Countryman) warn all such persons, that they have really
worshipped other Gods, and served them,
and have
broken the Christian Covenant
in as notorious and impious a manner as ever the ancient
Jews
did the Covenant of Sinai! Respecting
the Breach of Covenant
I have wrote at large in another Tract now in the Press; and shall therefore only offer, at present, a few hints respecting the horrid crime of
serving other Gods.
Christ himself has taught us, that
NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other:
and then he immediately adds,
"Ye cannot serve
GOD
and Mammon."
Mat. vi. 24. and Luke xvi. 13. Here the
Service of Mammon
is placed in as direct opposition to the
Service of
GOD, as ever was the Service of
Baal, Moloch,
or
Chemosh;
though the first means not any particular
Idol,
but only the baneful influence of
Riches,
or the undue prevalence of
private interest
over all sense of Religion, Justice, and Virtue! In like manner
Covetousness
(which includes all that I have said of
Mammon
) is frequently mentioned in Scripture as downright
Idolatry:
For this ye know
(said the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, chap. v. 5.),
that no Whoremonger,
nor
unclean person,
nor COVETOUS MAN, WHO IS AN IDOLATER,
hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
And in the Epistle to the Colossians the same Apostle warns us against some of the common Vices which draw down the Wrath of God,
viz.
Fornication, Uncleanness, inordinate Affection, evil Concupiscence,
and COVETOUSNESS,
which is
IDOLATRY.
Col. iii. 5.
Neither is
Covetousness
the only Vice that is deemed
Idolatry
—all the other Lusts and carnal Indulgences are equally ranked with
Idolatry:
so that those inconsiderate persons, who yield to any of them, may as aptly be said to
"serve other Gods,"
as those backsliding Professors of Christianity at
Philippi,
whom the Apostle Paul expressly charged with this kind of
Idolatry, viz. "whose God is their Belly:"
—
For many walk
(says he)
of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping,
(that they are)
the
ENEMIES
of the Cross of
CHRIST:
whose end
(is)
Destruction,
WHOSE GOD (is their) BELLY,
and
(whose)
Glory
(is)
in their Shame, who mind earthly things.
Philip. iii. 18, 19. And the
Service of the Belly
Even the Schismatical Teachers of Novel Doctrines are ranked with those
Idolaters
who
serve their own Belly,
and serve not God.
—
For they that are such
SERVE NOT
our Lord
JESUS CHRIST,
but
THEIR OWN BELLY;
and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Rom. xvi. 18.
, is placed in as direct opposition to
the Service of Christ,
as the
Service of the Pantheon,
or
all the Heathen Deities
could be, for it is as effectually
the Service of Devils,
as the latter!—"
Whosoever commiteth
SIN
is the
SERVANT
of
SIN;" (John viii. 34.) and if
"the Servant of Sin,"
then also the
Servant of the Devil;
for—"
He that committeth
SIN (said the same Apostle) IS OF THE DEVIL." (1 John iii.8.)—And though Men are not so lost to Common Sense in these more enlightened Days of
Christianity,
as personally to worship at the Shrines of
Demons
or
Devils,
yet they serve the
Devil
as
effectually as ever
to the Destruction of their own Souls, by yielding to his temptations, whether through
Mammon
or
Carnal Lust!
—For—
Know ye not that the
UNRIGHTEOUS
shall
NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
be not deceived; neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor Effeminate, nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind, nor Thieves, nor Covetous, nor Drunkards, nor Revilers, nor Extortioners, shall
INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD
I Cor. vi. 9 and 10.
Thus it is clearly demonstrable (I trust) that Mankind may be guilty of
Idolatry,
and of
serving Devils,
without paying any personal Adoration to their
Idols;
and on this I found my warning not only to
Slave-dealers
and
Slave-holders,
but also to my Countrymen in general. The dangerous prevalency of the
Devil
's Empire in these kingdoms, through the
service
of
Mammon
and of
Carnal Lust,
may be known by the following general Marks. 1st. By the shameful Spirit of
Time-serving, Venality,
and
Private Interest,
which is every where predominant, to the destruction of
true Loyalty
and National Independence. 2dly, By the increased number of notorious
Gaming Houses,
which are frequented by the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom for Days and Nights together! 3dly, By the multitudes of poor female
Prostitutes
which swarm in the publick Streets; and also by the frequency of Masquerades and Midnight Balls, which apparently afford, to the idle and vicious part of Mankind, the most dangerous opportunities of triumphing over unwary virtue, and of spreading the baneful taint of
Prostitution
amongst females of superior Rank, whereby many persons of Rank and figure in the gay World are become almost as notoriously
dedicated
(as it were) to
Venus,
or the Assyrian Goddess
Mylitta
(See Herodotus, Lib. i. p. 83.) as ever the Heathens were of old! But the greatest mark of
National Infamy,
and of Satan's Empire amongst us, (and that, indeed, which at present I am engaged more particularly to oppose) is the shameful public encouragement given to the
African Slave Trade;
wherein the Service of
Mammon
and of the
Devil
is rendered apparent by the
horrible destruction of the human Species
which it annually occasions! A particular State of that Trade lies now before me, whereby it appears, that the
number of Negro Slaves bartered for in one year,
(viz. 1768.) on the Coast of AFRICA
from Cape
BLANCO
to
RIO CONGO,
amounted to 104,100 Souls; whereof more than half (viz. 53,100) were shipped on the account of British Merchants, and 6,300 on the account of British Americans.
By another State of this Trade in 1771, it appears that ships were sent from
Liverpool for
29,250
Bristol for
8,810
London for
8,136
Lancaster for
950
 
In all for
47,146 Souls
exclusive of those imported by British American and West Indian Traders
In some former years the Subjects of Great Britain seem to have had still a much greater proportion of this cursed Trade to answer for! My worthy friend Mr. Anthony Benezet, in his
Historical Account of Guinea,
(c. xiii. p. 130.) cites Anderson's History of Trade and Commerce, to the following Effect, viz.
That England supplies her American Colonies with Negro Slaves, amounting in Number to above
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND EVERY YEAR.
, which in that year were probably very considerable, because in the following year (1772) several of the North American Provinces began to be alarmed for the
dangerous consequences
of tolerating such an
unchristian like practice,
which Sentiment was fully expressed in some of their public Assemblies, especially in those of
Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and the
Jersies,
which shall be shewn hereafter; and I hope they have put a stop to this detestable practice time enough to avert
God's Vengeance
from those Regions, though they must take notice that their reformation is but half compleat, and consequently that they are still in danger, whilst they permit individuals to hold in perpetual
Bondage
See
the Vengeance of God
denounced by the Prophets
Isaiah
and
Jeremiah
against the mighty Babylonian Empire and it's Monarch,
"which opened not the House of his Prisoners"
(Isa. xiv. 17.) but
oppressed
the Captives they had taken, and
held them fast;
THEY REFUSED TO LET THEM GO.
Jer. l. 33.
the poor African Captives already imported. Now if we consider what
multitudes of men
must have been
killed
merely in the attempt to take so many wretched Captives for sale; and again
what multitudes,
out of so large a number, would
die,
as usual, in their passage to the West Indies and America either of Grief and Despair, or by being inhumanly stifled in the Holds of Ships; besides the large proportion (nearly one half) that would
die
of the seasoning, (as it is called) after their arrival in the plantations; and lastly that all the remainder of
this vast multitude of
104,100
miserable human beings
will probably be
worn out
by hard service and oppression in the space of about 16 years, or less, according to the average rate of some calculations that have been published. These considerations, I say, must needs inspire us with indignation and horror even though the evil, at present, is at a considerable distance from us.
See the Appendix to my
Representation of the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of
Tolerating Slavery,
&c.
Add to this Destruction the number of brave Seamen that are annually cut off, either by the Rising of the Negroes
—
A French Slaving Ship
having been surprized by an
insurrection of the Negroes,
who MURDERED MOST PART OF THE CREW, the Mate, finding no possibility to escape the like fate, had set fire to the Powder-room, and blew up the Vessel, with upwards of two hundred Slaves on board.
Gazetteer, April 16, 1773. I have heard of many instances of the like disasters happening to Crews of
English Slaving Ships:
and even one of my own Relations perished in the same unlawful Trade, with the whole Ship's Crew.
in the Slave Ships, or by pestilential distempers caught from the poor Negroes confined in the holds of the said ships; add also the number of free Negroes occasionally blown up
—
The Polly, Captain Walsh, a Ship belonging to Mr. Adams, struck on the Bar of Bonny this last year
(the Book was printed in 1772),
and was soon after attacked by the Negroes. The Captain, finding he could not save his Ship, sent his Boat's Crew off, shut himself up in his Cabin, and when the King of Bonny and all his People were got on board, to the amount of
fifteen hundred and upwards,
set fire to the Powder; and, Sampson like, at his death punished the treachery of his Assailants.
Treatise upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by an African Merchant, Appendix F, p. 34. A deplorable
Hardness of Heart
seems to have possessed this African Merchant; for it appears, by his manner of relating the above Story, that he approved of Captain Walsh's
diabolical
deed, and esteemed it rather as an act of
Heroism!
, and otherwise murdered and destroyed by the inhuman Commanders of these
Slave-Ships,
as well as by the arbitrary Governors on the
Slave-Coasts
In the year 1767, Mr. Grosile
burned the Town of Annamaboe, and killed three or four of the Townspeople.
Ibid.
p. 100.
; and likewise the number of poor wretches annually sent out by the African Company as
Soldiers,
who miserably perish in their settlements
—
The POOR WRETCHES sent out by the Committee have nothing on earth to support or comfort them, in sickness or health, but a rasher of salt beef, stinking New-England rum, and Portuguese Tobacco; by which means FORTY SOLDIERS have perished at Cape Coast, out of FORTY-EIGHT, from March the 1st to the 28th of May, all of whom came out in the Jamaica Storeship, about the middle of last February.
African Merchant, Appendix, p. 78.
; and to compleat this list of
Diabolical
Admitting the
AFRICAN TRADE
to be ever so
DIABOLICAL
says a Writer under the Signature of
"A Planter,"
quoted by the said
African Merchant,
Appendix C, p. 27.),
or the means by which the Negro's Body was first obtained ever so
UNFAIR, no blame can deservedly rest on the Planter, who is
ignorant of the means,
and
innocent
(says he)
of the Guilt.
—But now, even supposing the Body of the Negro to have been obtained in whatever manner the Planter may esteem the
most fair;
which the
Planter
will probably alledge to be, that the Negro was
a convicted Criminal
in his native country; yet this Criminal never offended the Planter, nor the Laws of the Planter's Nation,
nor the "King, Lords, and Commons,"
who
"have shared"
(as he says)
"in the Profits"
of the Slave Trade: so that neither the Planter nor any of his Abettors can have any just right to continue the punishment of an offence committed in another country, especially as neither he nor they can possibly know whether or not the Negro was really guilty: and therefore,
admitting the African Trade to be ever so
DIABOLICAL,
or the means by which the Negro's Body was first obtained ever so
UNFAIR,
the Planter, though he only buys and retains the Slave, must share the heavy load of Guilt with the
diabolical Kidnnapper,
because he has
encouraged
the Oppression by
his Purchase,
and
continues it
by his
Slave-holding!
Wickedness add the horrid carnage and bloodshed that has frequently been occasioned by the Insurrections of Slaves, and the more horrible punishments that have been inflicted on the poor wretched Slaves to deter them from such attempt
From the Wokingham Journal of the 29th of April, 1771.
The following is an extract of a letter of the 30th of November, from one of the Hon.
Council Board of Tobago.
A conspiracy of 40 Coromantees has kept us in continual alarm these 17 days past. Thank God, it is now quite over, as most of them are either KILLED, HANGED, BURNT, or TAKEN. I had four out, who lay down near Rockley-bay, CUT ONE ANOTHER'S THROATS, and DIED MUTUALLY IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS.
The following paragraph was also taken from one of the public news-papers about the same time.
Extract of a letter from Jamaica, Jan. 14.
The only thing that has occurred liere worth writing to you, since my last, is a plot that has been for some time formed among the Negroes, to poison every white person in the country: this hellish plot was luckily discovered, before put into execution; and for which we ought to be thankful to God. We are now daily taking up the principal negroes of the different gangs; some of the are HANGED, some BURNT, and others BEHEADED, after being first STRANGLED. Their HEADS ARE FIXED ON POLES ALONG THE HIGH ROADS, as a warning to the rest.
A Friend of mine assured me that he was present some years ago at one of these horrid executions; when a poor negro man was absolutely BURNT ALIVE! The unfortunate man was fastened down to the ground with forked sticks drove into the earth, and sire was placed at his feet, and was gradually removed nearer to the vital parts as the limbs were consumed! The poor fellow bore the exquisite Torture without the least complaint, looking great part of the time on those who stood near him with a sullen contempt.
In short, if the destruction of the Human Species which is annually occasioned by this Cursed Trade was to be fully and fairly estimated, it would appear enormous and shocking! it would appear that many more unfortunate
human beings
are annually SACRIFICED to MAMMON, in the consequences of that iniquitous trade, than were ever offered up by the
Philistines
and other deluded votaries of
Baal, Moloch, Hercules,
&c.! So that the HUMAN SACRIFICES
offered up to
MAMMON
by the
BRITISH NATION are undoubtedly more grateful to SATAN than those of the ancient Heathens, because they are more numerous—more banefully destructive to the Human Species! How then (if all these points be considered) shall our wretched
Slave-dealers
and
Slave-holders
persuade the world and themselves, that
they have not broken the Covenant and served other Gods!
for the promised Desolation of Jerusalem.
In the 10th verse the Prophet begins to recite several Predictions with which he had formerly been charged against Zedekiah's Brothers and Predecessors, who had been successively deprived of their
Royal Dignity,
and were carried away
in chains
before him into a slayish Captivity, as I have before remarked. But the hopeless SLAVERY of his Brother SHALLUM
SHALLUM, alias JEHOAHAZ, (See 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1.) who was
deposed, put in bonds, and carried away Captive
by PHARAOH NECHO into Egypt. (Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 31, &c.)
in particular, as well as the principal cause of it, the Prophet represented to him in very striking terms: —
Weep ye not for the Dead
(says he, meaning JOSIAH),
neither bemoan him
The Prophet here refers to the long mourning and lamentations which were continued for many years in remembrance of the death of the great and good King JOSIAH, the Father of SHALLUM as well as of ZEDEKIAH himself.—See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25.
And all Judah and Jerusalem
MOURNED
for Josiah, and Jeremiah
LAMENTED
for
JOSIAH:
and all the singing-men and the singing-women
(the minstrells of those ancient days)
spake of
JOSIAH
in their
LAMENTATIONS TO THIS DAY,
and made them
AN ORDINANCE IN ISRAEL:
and behold they are written in the
LAMENTATIONS.
: (but)
weep sore for him that
GOETH AWAY;
for
HE SHALL RETURN NO MORE, NOR SEE HIS NATIVE COUNTRY.
For thus saith the Lord touching
SHALLUM
the Son of
JOSIAH
King of Judah, which reigned instead of
JOSIAH
his Father, which went forth out of this place;
HE SHALL NOT RETURN THITHER
any more: but he shall
DIE
in the place whither they have
LED HIM CAPTIVE,
and shall see this Land no more!
And then the Prophet immediately refers us to the principal Causes of God's Severity against the Royal House:
"Wo unto him"
(says he)
that buildeth his House by
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS,
and his Chambers by
WRONG; (that) USETH HIS NEIGHBOUR'S SERVICE WITHOUT WAGES, AND GIVETH HIM NOT FOR HIS WORK
(a clear description of the abominable wickedness of Slavery);
that saith, I will build me a wide House and large Chambers, and cutteth him out Windows; and
(it is)
cieled with Cedar, and painted with Vermilion.
For the Monarch [but
whether
SHALLUM or JEHOIAKIM
is not clearly declared
Commentators in general have supposed that the Oppression and Injustice of JEHOIAKIM is here referred to by the Prophet; but as SHALLUM, also,
"did Evil in the fight of the Lord,"
(2 Kings xxiii. 32.) it is not improbable that
both
these monarchs might have been guilty of
similar Oppression,
and that the Crime of
Shallum
might have been thus represented to
Jehoiakim,
as a warning to
himself,
when this prophecy was
first of all
delivered, soon after
Shallum
was carried into captivity: nevertheless it is only introduced in this 22d Chapter
as a reproach
made in the presence of
Zedekiah,
which, I hope, I have already proved.
] was more careful, it seems, to display all the Elegances and Ornaments of
Architecture and the other polite Arts
in sumptuous Buildings,
&c.
than he was to maintain the Laws of Equity and
Natural Right!
but the Prophet adds
—SHALT THOU REIGN,
because thou closest
(thyself)
in Cedar? Did not thy Father eat and drink, and
DO JUDGEMENT
and
JUSTICE, (and) THEN (it was)
well with him
But
no longer!
for as soon as
Josiah
had undertaken an
unjust war
against Pharaoh Necho (who previously warned him of the folly and injustice of it) God gave
him and his people
(who were wicked enough to concur with him in his unlawful enterprize) into the hands of their enemies upon the very first encounter. —See the text at large,
Necho, King of Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates
(then, probably, belonging to the Assyrian empire): "and Josiah went out against him. But he" (Necho)
sent Ambassadors to him, saying, What have I
to do with thee,
thou King of Judah?—
I come not against thee this day, but against
the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from (meddling with) God, who (is) with me,
that he destroy thee not.
Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at King Josiah: and the King said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him into the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and
he died,
and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers.
2 Chron. xxxv. 20 to 24. See also Esdras i. 25, &c. This judgement against Josiah for
undertaking an unjust war
is the more remarkable, because God had promised him (by Huldah the Prophetess) that he
should be gathered to his grave in peace,
&c. (2 Chron. xxxiv. 28.) but the promise was plainly conditional— God does not deprive men of their
free will
—Josiah had it absolutely in his own power, to have availed himself of the promise by persisting
in Righteousness;
God did not bring the evil upon him; nothing but his own
Royal will and pleasure
in commencing an
unjust war,
against which he was even expressly warned! The promise, however, through the mercy of God, may nevertheless be said to have been fulfilled. For when Josiah was worsted before Necho, the conqueror did not pursue his advantage over the wounded monarch to prevent his escape from the field of battle, as might
naturally
have been expected on such an occasion, nor continued the war till more than three months afterwards; which circumstance may certainly be esteemed providential; so that Josiah was carried to Jerusalem, and may truly be said to have died in peace, surrounded by his friends, and was buried with the most solemn Royal Pomp in the sepulchre of his fathers.
?
He judged the Cause of the Poor and Needy: then
(it was)
well
(with him: was)
not this to know me? saith the Lord, But thine Eyes and thine Heart are not but for Covetousness, and for to shed innocent Blood, and for
OPPRESSION,
and for
VIOLENCE
to do
(it).
Therefore
(that is, for all these aggravating circumstances of Tyranny)
thus
SAID
the
LORD
concerning Jehoiakim the Son of Josiah King of Judah
(and not
thus saith;
for the present tense is not proper in this place);
they shall
NOT LAMENT
for him, saying, Ah, my Brother? or Ah, Sister! they shall not lament for him,
(saying,)
Ah, Lord! or Ah,
HIS
Glory!
(according to the general Lamentations that had been made for his Father JOSIAH; but, on the contrary,)
he shall be buried with the burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem
Concerning the completion of this prophecy, see pages 95, 97—100.
,
&c.
Next in order (after a short personal Address to the Nation, concerning the
Certainty of God's Vengeance,
and the Destruction of her
Pastors
and
Lovers
) the Prophet repeats the Judgement that had before been denounced against CONIAH the Son of JEHOIAKIM, and Nephew, as well as
Predecessor,
to ZEDEKIAH, the reigning Monarch, when this Remonstrance was made:—"
As I live,
SAID" (and not
saith
)
the Lord, though
CONIAH
the Son of
JEHOIAKIM
King of Judah were the Signet upon my Right Hand, yet would I pluck thee thence: and I will give thee into the hand of them that seck thy life, and into the hand
(of them)
whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of
NEBUCHADREZZAR
King of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldaeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy Mother that bare thee, into another Country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But the Land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
The Prophet then, probably, appealed to ZEDEKIAH, concerning the unhappy fate of the person whose Sentence of Condemnation he had just been repeating: —"
Is this Man
CONIAH" (says he)
a despised broken Idol?
(Is he)
a Vessel wherein
(is)
no Pleasure?
WHEREFORE ARE THEY CAST OUT, HE
and
HIS SEED,
and
ARE CAST
The Prophet speaks of CONIAH as already
"cast out—wherefore are they cast out"
—so that, it is manifest, he could not be upon
the Throne of David
when this remonstrance was made, and consequently none but
Zedekiah
could then be the reigning monarch.
into a Land which they know not?
(for he plainly speaks of their being
cast out
as
an event already past;
wherefore are they cast out?
&c.)
And if we consider the question as being put to ZEDEKIAH, the then reigning Monarch, it contains great severity: for if ZEDEKIAH had consideration enough left to reflect
wherefore
CONIAH
and his Seed were cast out,
he must necessarily be struck with the Justice of his own Condemnation, which the Prophet was about to pronounce, with a most awful and alarming introduction: —
O Earth! Earth! Earth! Hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord;
WRITE YE THIS MAN CHILDLESS,
a Man
(that)
shall not prosper in his days: for no Man of his Seed shall prosper,
SITTING UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID,
and ruling any more in
JUDAH.
Had Zedekiah been much more abandoned than he really was, yet these dreadful Judgements, so solemnly pronounced in his own House, or
Palace,
and even before the
whole Court,
could not well have failed to affect him for the present. The following chapter seems likewise to have been delivered at the same time, in the presence of ZEDEKIAH
and his whole Court,
and was, probably, a part of the
Remonstrance
Though the learned Archbishop Usher attributes to the 22d Chapter a different date from that which I suppose to be the true one, and applies the severe sentence at the latter end of it (viz.
Write ye this Man childish
) to JEHOIACHIN (which I hope I have already proved to be applicable to none but ZEDEKIAH), yet he was convinced that the following Chapter was delivered at the same time with the 22d.
Hoc
tempore sequentis quoque capitis xxiii. JEREMIAE prophetia edita fuisse videtur. Ad A. M. 3045. p. 123.
: for after declaring "Wo" to the wicked "PASTORS
Wo
be unto the
PASTORS
that destroy and scatter the sheep of my Pasture, saith the
LORD.
Therefore thus saith the
LORD GOD OF ISRAEL
against the Pastors that feed my people; ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will
VISIT
upon you
THE EVIL OF YOUR DOINGS,
saith the Lord.
&c. Jer. xxiii. 1, 2. This should teach Princes the extreme danger of arbitrary modes of Government; and that when they presume to rule by the indirect means of
Bribery and Corruption,
or by open
Military Force
and
Standing armies,
instead of LAW and NATIONAL RIGHT, or, (agreeable to the scripture phrase) instead of JUDGEMENT and RIGHTEOUSNESS, they may too truly be said to
destroy and scatter the sheep of God's pasture;
and consequently may expect the same condemnation, viz. that the LORD
will
VISIT
upon them
THE EVIL
of
THEIR DOINGS.
" (probably meaning the WRETCHED KINGS
"PASTORS" (says the learned Dr. Lowth, in his commentary on this text)
comprehend both
CIVIL and ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNORS:—
Aut potius
(says the learned Michaelis)
set. Sehm. (qui priorem hujus cap. partem a
v. 1—9.
praecedenti vaticinio contra Reges Judae advectit)
REGIBUS, Coll. c. xxii. 22.
Ita quoque
KIMCHI
aliique. Et boc pacto evidentior fit oppositio de Christo
REGE,
&c. and in his preface to the Book of Jeremiah, after speaking of the 22d Chapter (to which, indeed, he attributes a different date to that which I suppose to be the true one) he adds —
Ei vero connexum est sequens,
c. xxiii.
quippe quod itidem directum est contra malos pastores
SEU REGES, V. 1.
contra quos
c. xxii.
beforementioned of
the House of David,
who had neglected to EXECUTE JUDGEMENT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, and to RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED) Jeremiah takes occasion prophetically to draw the character of the GOOD PASTOR
ECO SUM PASTOR BONUS, &c.
I am the
GOOD SHEPHERD.
The
GOOD SHEPHERD
giveth his life for the sheep.
&c. John x. 11.
, the true SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
"He
shall feed his flock like a
SHEPHERD." &c. (Isaiah xl. 11.) The Shepherd here mentioned is THE LORD GOD, or the LORD JEHOVAH (
) spoken of in the preceding verse, whose
reward was with him and his work before him,
that is, when he came into the world in a
visible
form.
, whom God would afterwards raise up, even from the same Stock
(the House of David),
to
EXECUTE JUDGEMENT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
in the Land
(compare Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16. with ch. xxiii.): and this is expressed in such opposite terms to the character of the reigning Prince ZEDEKIAH, then doomed to destruction, that a contrasted allusion seems very clearly to have been intended.
Behold, the days come, saith the
LORD
(JEHOVAH)
that I will raise unto David
A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH
(whereas the Royal Branch, that had just been condemned in the preceding chapter, was most UNRIGHTEOUS);
and a
KING
shall
REIGN
and
PROSPER;
(whereas the former wretched
Kings
were pulled down from their Thrones, and carried into Captivity, for the Neglect of
Justice
and
Right;
but the promised King)
shall
EXECUTE JUDGEMENT AND JUSTICE
in the Earth
(which was the
constant
Lesson
The necessity of maintaining JUSTICE and RICHTEOUSNESS
in political Government,
as well as in
private life,
is so clearly laid down in the Holy Scriptures, that one would think it impossible that so many people, who profess to believe the revealed word of God, should nevertheless suffer themselves to be deluded by the sophistical arguments of those unbelievers, who assert, that
Vices
are
necessary to render a state great and flourishing;
and that
political Government cannot well be carried on without sometimes doing
EVIL
that
GOOD
may come.
But these notions are so far from being true, that the contrary is clearly demonstrable —
"Name any nation"
(says an accurate and careful observer of the several histories of mankind)
that was ever remarkable for
JUSTICE;
for
TEMPERANCE,
and
SEVERITY
of
MANNERS;
for
PIETY
and
RELIGION
(though it was in a wrang way) that did not always thrive and grow great in the world; and that did not always enjoy a plentiful portion of all those things, which are accounted to make a nation happy and flourishing. And, on the other side, when that nation has declined from its former virtue, and grown impious and dissolute in manners, we appeal to experience whether it has not likewise
ALWAYS
proportionably sunk in its success and good fortunes.
Archbishop Sharp's Sermons, 1 Vol. 8th Serm. (intitled—
Virtue and Religion the only Means to make a Nation prosperous,
which was preached before the House of Commons, 21 May, 1690.) p. 209:—9th Ed.
, indeed, to ZEDEKIAH and his Brothers,
&c.
and was as
constantly
by them neglected).
In his days"
(continues the Prophet)
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely
(whereas under Zedekiah their Desolation was compleated);
and this is his Name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness,
i. e.
Jehovah Tsadek-nȣ ,
which is the Name of
Zedekiah,
or
Tsadek-Jehov
transposed, with the small addition of the Pronominal Termination
nȣ
for OUR,
viz. Jehovah-Tsadeknȣ ,
instead of
Tsadek-Jehov;
the latter signifying
Jehovah is righteous;
for this name was put upon
Zedekiah
by the Babylonian Conqueror, to remind him of the solemn Oath he had taken
in the Name of God.
This manifest contrasted allusion to
Zedekiah
makes it seem very probable, that the Prophecies of this 23d chapter were also pronounced in the presence of ZEDEKIAH
and his Court,
at the same time that Jeremiah went
down to the House
of the King of Judah,
to declare the solemn
Message,
or
Remonstrance,
contained in the 22d chapter
The learned Grotius, indeed, conceived that the message may be extended,
even to the 28th Chapter
"Haec Omnia"
(says he, speaking of the Prophecies of Jeremiah, from the words VAE PASTORIBUS in the 23d Chapter to the 28th Chapter inclusive)
USQUE AD CAPUT 28
commemorationem continent ab Jeremia factam apud Sedeciam de sermonil us
ANTE SEDECIAE
tempora diversis locis ac temporibus a se habitis, ac congruentibus cum iis qua nunc
SEDECIAE
dicere coeperal; ut Dei in decretis suis et
AEQUITAS
et Constantia magis apparent ut jam aliquoties diximus.
Crit. Sacr. Tom. 4, p. 5588.
; but I am thoroughly convinced that it cannot with propriety be extended beyond this 23d Chapter, because the prophecies in the following Chapter (the 24th) under the type of two Baskets of Figs, were delivered, as the Prophet himself informs us,
AFTER
that
NEBUCHADREZZAR
King of Babylon, had carried away Captive
JECONIAH
the son of
JEHOIAKIM
King of Judah, with the Carpenters,
&c.—
and had brought them to Babylon,
that is—SOON AFTER the said remarkable period, or else the mentioning that public calamity as a chronological circumstance, to mark the time, (for that is the apparent purpose of it) would have been nugatory; and consequently we may be assured that the prophecies in the 24th Chapter were declared in the very
beginning
of ZEDEKIAH'S
Reign;
whereas the 21st and 22d Chapters, and probably the 23d also were not revealed 'till the siege was begun, (as I have already shewn) that is— not 'till the 9th year of that Monarch. The dates likewise of the Prophecies in several of the following Chapters are also exactly noted in the text to be different from the time supposed by
Gratius:
as for instance —A
prior date
is expressly assigned to the 25th Chapter—it being intituled.
The word that came to Jenemiah concerning all the people of Judah in the 4th
YEAR
of
JEHOIAKIM
the son of Josiah King of Judah, that was
THE FIRST YEAR OF NEBUCHADREZZAR
King of Babylon.
And again, the two next Chapters (viz.
the 26th and part of the 27th
) though
posterior
with refpect to the order of the Book, have exact dates assigned them, which are
prior
even to the 24th and 25th Chapters, for they are expressly declared to have been revealed
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim,
&c. The remainder of the 27th Chapter from the 12th Verse, which the Prophet addressed to
Zedekiah,
is as clearly to be attributed to the
beginning of
ZEDEKIAH
's reign,
—because the circumstances related in the following Chapter (the 28th) are expressly said to have come
to pass
THE SAME YEAR
in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah:
and the Letter of Jeremiah to the Captives at Babylon contained
in the 29th Chapter
is as clearly declared to have been wrote
after that
JECONIAH
the King,
&c.
were departed from Jerusalem,
which was also "
the beginning of the reign of
ZEDEKIAH;" for the Letters were sent by ZEDEKIAH's Messengers: See the 3d Verse. So that the last mentioned supposition of the learned Grotius cannot be true.
. It was, probably, on the first approach of the Babylonian Army (
viz.
in the ninth year of Zedekiah) that the Monarch sent Messengers to consult the Prophet, and thereby occasioned this public Remonstrance.
The War was immediately carried on with Vigour, it seems, in every part of the Kingdom (see the 34th chapter
The word which came unto
JEREMIAH
from the
LORD,
when
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
King of Babylon,
and ALL
his army,
and ALL
the Kingdoms of the Earth of his Dominion,
and ALL
the people
FOUGHT
against Ferusalem,
and
against
ALL
the Cities thereof.
(Jer. xxiv. i.)—So that a general Attack seems to have been made at once in every part!
and after some considerable progress had been made in it, ALL THE FENCED CITIES BEING TAKEN except THREE (see the 7th verse), the Prophet received a further Command from God relating to King ZEDEKIAH,
saying, Thus saith the LORD
(
i. e.
JEHOVAH)
THE GOD OF ISRAEL;
Go, and speak to
ZEDEKIAH
King of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the
LORD;
Behold, I will give this City into the hand of the
KING OF BABYLON;
and he shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt
SURELY BE TAKEN
and delivered into his hand; and
THINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD THE EYES OF THE KING OF BABYLON,
and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth
(that is, when the King of Babylon was to sit in Judgement upon him),
and thou shalt go to Babylon,
&c.
The Prophet however added a few words of comfort
—
yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah King of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of thee; thou shalt not die by the sword:
(but)
thou shalt die in peace:
(that is a natural death)
and with the burnings of thy Fathers, the former Kings which were before thee, so shall they burn
(odours)
for thee; and they will lament thee,
i. e. (the Jewish nation in Captivity will lament thee)
saying. Ah Lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the
LORD.
Then
JEREMIAH
the Prophet spake all these words unto
ZEDEKIAH
King of Judah in Ferusalem, when the King of Babylon's Army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the Cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azokah: for these defenced Cities remained of the Cities of Judah.
Verses 4 to 7.
These repeated Denunciations of Vengeance, with the HORRORS of the growing dangers from the successful Enemy before their eyes every way round Jerusalem, at length so far shook the firmness of that stubborn Monarch, that he began to shew some signs of Remorse; and as I have already shewn, that THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR was one of the principal causes (though there were many others also) assigned by the ALMIGHTY for casting off his People, and sending them into CAPTIVITY (
punishing
TYRANNY
with
SLAVERY), so even this wicked Monarch ZEDEKIAH, who never thought of LAW or JUSTICE
in his Prosperity,
was now, it seems, become sensible, that a public act of JUSTICE and MERCY towards the oppressed Poor, that were then detained, by his opulent Subjects, in a miserable INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE, would be the most grateful act of Reformation, and the most acceptable Sacrifice in the sight of a merciful God, and, consequently, the most effectual means to avert the NATIONAL DESTRUCTION, which was then advancing with dreadful strides! And accordingly we find, that he actually prevailed
The Text informs us,
that the King
ZEDEKIAH
had made a covenant with all the People which were at Jerusalem to
PROCLAIM LIBERTY
unto them; that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, being an Hebrew or Hebrewess,
GO FREE;
that none should
SERVE
himself of them,
(to wit)
"of a Jew his Brother."
And it is probable that this was the
King's own proposal,
(though perhaps at the suggestion of the PROPHET, to
fulfil the Law
), because in the following verse it is said, that ALL THE PRINCES
and
ALL THE PEOPLE HEARD
that they should let their man-servant, &c.
GO FREE—
they
OBEYED—and these terms
hearing and obeying
seem to imply that neither the
Princes nor the People
were the proposers of the equitable mensure,—
"Now"
(says the Text)
when
ALL
the Princes and
ALL
the People which had entered into the Covenant
HEARD
that every one should let his man-servant and every one his maid-servant
GO FREE,
that none should serve themselves of them any more, then
THEY OBEYED,
and
LET THEM GO.
Chap. xxxiv. 8 to 10.
upon his Princes and People to PROCLAIM LIBERTY
to their
POOR BRETHREN IN BONDAGE; and this Proclamation of LIBERTY was a public Act of the State
"COMMUNI DECRETO" (says Grotius upon the place)
statuerat impleri quod lex jubebat, sed Judaei, non observaverant.
Vide Exod. xxi. 2. Deut. xv. 12.
; for not only the King, but
all the Princes,
and
all the People,
bound themselves, in a most solemn covenant, to comply with the terms of the Proclamation
Viz.
That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maid-servant, being an Hebrew or Hebrewess,
go free,
&c. 9th verse.
, which was also agreeable to an ancient Ordinance of their Law
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and
PROCLAIM LIBERTY
throughout
(all)
the Land unto
ALL THE INHABITANTS
thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you,
&c. Levit. xxv. 10.
. Now, to confirm all that I have hitherto asserted concerning the principal causes of God's Anger against the Jews, my Readers are earnestly requested to remark, that this
material Reformation
was ACCEPTED BY THE ALMIGHTY, who even condescended to signify by his Prophet, that the People
HAD DONE RIGHT IN HIS SIGHT IN PROCLAIMING LIBERTY EVERY MAN TO HIS NEIGHBOUR
(ver. 15.). And had the Jewish Government at that time persevered in this NECESSARY ACT OF JUSTICE AND BROTHERLY LOVE, they might probably (as
Charity covers a multitude of Sins
) have received Grace for a further Amendment, and might have obtained a mitigation, or at least a respite or postponing, of those dreadful Judgements which had long been denounced by the Prophets against that devoted Nation: but alas! the just Decrees were confirmed, on account of the want of sincerity and the deplorable impenitence on their part; for no sooner was
the appearance of God's approaching Vengeance
withdrawn (by the sudden retreat of the
Chaldaeans
from the Siege on the approach of Pharaoh's Army
Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard Tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Chap. xxxvii. 5. See also 11th verse, at which time (says Grotius)
the King and the Princes
repealed the Popular Decree concerning
Liberty,
mentioned in the 34th chap.—Quo tempore (says he) Rex et Principes resciderunt decretum de popularium libertate ut habuimus, c. 34.—
When the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army.
, see chap. xxxvii.) than the wretched tyrannical Masters (who
could not repent
of their enormous
Oppressions,
yet) speedily
repented
of their temporary
Benevolence;
and being themselves entangled in a much more dangerous
Bondage
(through their abominable Avarice) under that old
Slave-holder
and hard
Task-master
the Devil, they wickedly renewed their former iniquitous claims of
private Property
in the Persons of their poor Brethren, and
caused the Servants and the Handmaids, whom they had
LET GO FREE,
to return: and brought them
INTO SUBJECTION
for Servants and for Handmaids.
Jer. xxxiv. 11. Perhaps they thought to excuse themselves, like our
modern African Merchants
and
American Planters,
by pleading THE NECESSITY of
tolerating Slavery,
and the
exaction of involuntary Service; viz.
that the Profit arising therefrom was
necessary
for their support; and that Husbandry and other laborious business could not be performed at so cheap a rate by free hired Servants as by Slaves: but whether such reasons as these, or others of greater weight, were then alledged, is not material; it is sufficient for the present argument to be certain, that, whatever were their Pretences or Excuses for enslaving their Brethren, they did only
deceive themselves,
and hasten the Vengeance of Almighty God upon their own heads; for they were, very soon afterwards, delivered up into the hands of their Enemies, the Babylonian Tyrants, under whom their Countrymen, that had been carried away in the former Captivities,
experienced,
IN THEIR OWN PROPER PERSONS,
the deplorable condition of
SLAVES, being a most just punishment for that TYRANNY and
unreasonable
VASSALAGE with which they so unlawfully
oppressed their
POOR BRETHREN! Such was their
Crime
(I mean their
principal Crime,
or at least one of those
Crimes
which was
most abominable
in the sight of a
merciful
GOD; for they were, indeed, notoriously guilty of Idolatry, and many other detestable Crimes besides this) and such their
retaliated Punishment,
which was inflicted expressly on that account.—"THEREFORE" (says the Text; so that
the reason
of God's interposition is manifest)
the Word of the
LORD
came to Jeremiah from the
LORD,
saying, Thus saith the
LORD (JEHOVAH),
the
GOD
of Israel; I made a Covenant with your Fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt,
OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDMEN
(a circumstance which they were frequently commanded
never to forget,
as I have before remarked, but sympathetically to learn MERCY thereby
But thou shalt remember that thou wast a
Bondman
in Egypt, and the LORD thy GOD
redeemed thee thence:
THEREFORE I command thee to do this Thing.
Deut. xxiv. 18, 22. also c. xv. 15. and xvi. 12, &c. &c.
,
saying; At the end of seven years let ye go every man his Brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt
LET HIM GO FREE
from thee: but your Fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had
DONE RIGHT IN MY SIGHT, IN PROCLAIMING LIBERTY EVERY MAN TO HIS NEIGHBOUR
Mark this ye sordid Tyrants of the Earth! the ALMIGHTY LORD OF THE UNIVERSE hath condescended to inform you, that the PROCLAIMING LIBERTY
every man to his neighbour,
(and
all Men
without distinction are at this day to be esteemed
your Neighbours and Brethren,
) IS RIGHT IN HIS SIGHT!
;
and ye had made a Covenant before me in the House which is called by my Name: But ye turned and polluted my Name, and caused every man his Servant, and every man his Handmaid, whom he had
SET AT LIBERTY AT THEIR PLEASURE
(or to their mind or will),
to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for Servants, and for Handmaids.
THEREFORE
(now mark the Punishment, ye wretched Slave-holders and Advocates for
private Property in the Persons of Men)
thus saith the
LORD
(JEHOVAH);
Ye have not hearkened unto me
IN PROCLAIMING LIBERTY
every one to his Brother, and every man to his Neighbour: behold,
I PROCLAIM A LIBERTY
for you, saith the
LORD
(significantly marking his detestation of
Slave-holding
by an ironical repetition of that opposite measure (the
proclaiming
of LIBERTY) which they had neglected; and therefore God himself PROCLAIMED a different kind of LIBERTY—LIBERTY)
to the Sword, to the Pestilence, and to the Famine:
(here is a PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY
with a vengeance!
But alas! the hardened Jewish
Slave-holders,
like
Englishmen
now-a-days, were
too wicked
to take warning.)
And I will make you
(saith the Lord)
to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the Earth
(that is, to be led away
into Captivity
by their Enemies: SLAVERY being a very just as well as common punishment for TYRANTS).
And I will give the men that have transgressed my Covenant, which have not performed the Words of the Covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the Calf in twain, and passed between the Parts thereof
For in making the Covenant before God in the Temple to
proclaim Liberty,
as mentioned in the 15th verse, they divided the victim in two parts, and passed between the parts in imitation of the solemn Covenant which God made with
Abraham,
when a smoaking furnace, and a lamp of fire, passed between the pieces of the divided Heifer, She Goat, &c. as mentioned in Gen. xv. 9 to 17, signifying, says Vatablus, —
that they wish to be put to death as this Calf was cut asunder, if they break the Covenant.
—In federe pangendo dividebant vitulum, et per medium transibant, significantes se optare emori ut ille vitulus erat caesus si fedus frangerent. Crit. Sac. Tom. 4.5640. —"Nam significabat" (says Munster)
ritus ille ut, si quis dolo malo discessisset a pollicitis, illum quoque secaret Dominus et occideret horrendé.
Crit. Sac. 5639.—And Clarius gives a part of the words used on those occasions, "Ordo orationis" (says he)
est,
Dabo viros qui praevaricantur fedus meum, sicut vitulum quem conciderunt,
&c. In Templo enim immolarant ritu celeberrimo diviso vitulo per cujus partes utrinque oppositas incedebant, simulque jurabant et se devovabant ut eveniret ipsis sicut vitulo si fedus rumperent. Dicit ergo—Dabo vos sicut vitulum illum, &c.
,
the Princes of Judah, and the Prince of Jerusalem, the Eunuchs, and the Priests, and all the People of the Land, which passed between the parts of the Calf; I will even
GIVE THEM INTO THE HAND OF THEIR ENEMIES,
and into the hand of them that
SEEK THEIR LIFE:
and their dead Bodies shall be for Meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven, and to the Beasts of the Earth
Manifestly alluding to the heavy curse to which, with their own consent, they had rendered themselves liable by their breach of the Solemn Covenant, viz. that they should be slain, as the Calf was when they made the Covenant, and their dead bodies be left like the
divided parts of the Calf,
to the
fowls of the air,
&c. for in the description of that solemn rite in Genesis we read that—"the Fowls came down upon the Carcases," and—"Abram drove them away." Gen. xv. 11.
.
And
ZEDEKIAH KING OF JUDAH,
and the
PRINCES,
will I give into the hand of their Enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their Life
Here is a distinct repetition of a part of
the same Judgment
against the
King
and
Princes,
though it does not appear that the
King
himself was actually guilty of slave-holding: however, it seems, he neglected to enforce the Laws of the Land in behalf of the injured poor, and by suffering others with impunity to hold
their Brethren
in an
unnatural Bondage,
he become a party in the oppression, and of course a sharer of the punishment. O that modern Kings, who in any degree consent to the toleration of slavery in their dominions, would think of this tremendous example, and exert every Royal Prerogative (that they are legally invested with) in restraining their Princes and People from oppressing their
poor Brethren;
in maintaining the
natural Rights
of
Mankind;
and in defending the Poor from the Rich, the Weak from the Strong, by ballancing the
Power
of the Nobles (or rich Landholders) by the Official
Power
of the Crown in behalf of the just Rights of the Common People. These are the most essential purposes of Regal Government and Royal Prerogative, which, surely, can never be exerted either so profitably, or so
safely,
on any other occasions whatsoever, for it is by strict Justice or
Righteousness alone
that a King's Throne can be truly and
safely established,
and not by refined sophistical Politicks, Mercenary Armies, or Parliamentary Corruption!
,
and into the hand
(continued the Prophet)
of the King of Babylon's Army, which are gone up from you
(for the withdrawing of the Babylonian Army was a very
recent instance
of God's
Mercy,
which rendered more notorious the ingratitude of those who so immediately broke the solemn Covenant of PROCLAIMING LIBERTY; but GOD's VENGEANCE kept pace with
the Oppression
of the unrepenting Tyrants!).
Behold,
I WILL COMMAND, SAITH THE LORD,
and
CAUSE THEM TO RETURN TO THIS CITY
(a remarkable instance of God's over-ruling Providence in the World! The haughty, self-willed, Babylonian Monarch and his Men of War perceived not that they were mere instruments in the hands of God!),
and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I
WILL MAKE
the Cities of Judah a Desolation without an Inhabitant.
Jer. xxxiv.
There is no order of time preserved in the Collection of Jeremiah's Prophecies, as I have already remarked; for the two next chapters (
viz.
the 35th and 36th) contain Prophecies which were delivered several years before, in the reign of Jehoiakim; but the 37th chapter relates to the same time exactly as the 34th chapter last quoted,
viz.
the times when
Pharaoh's Army was come forth out of Egypt
(xxxvii. 5.), which occasioned the departure (for the present) of the Chaldeans. And it was, probably, in the interval between these two circumstances (
viz. after
Pharaoh was
come forth
from Egypt, and was advancing, but
before
the Chaldeans left the Siege on that account) that Zedekiah sent two Messengers to the Prophet (who was then at liberty, as the 4th verse expressly declares) to desire
his Prayers:—
Pray now unto the Lord our God for us;
but the Prophet's Answer on that occasion was not returned till the Chaldeans
departed from
Jerusalem, as mentioned in the 5th verse (and probably also not till after the Covenant about
Liberty
was broken):—
Then came the Wor
of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the
LORD,
the
GOD OF ISRAEL;
Thus shall ye say to the King of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold,
PHARAOH's
Army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own Land. And the
CHALDEANS SHALL COME AGAIN,
and fight against this City, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the Lord;
DECEIVE NOT YOURSELVES,
saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole Army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but
WOUNDED MEN
among them,
(now mark how impossible it is for Slave-holders to stand before their Enemies!)
"yet should they"
(that is, the wounded men)
rise up every Man in his Tent, and burn this City with Fire.
Ch. xxxvii. to ver. 10.
It was also during this recess of the Babylonian Army, that the Prophet was put into prison by the Princes, for taking that opportunity to attempt his escape from Jerusalem. See ch. xxxvii. 11—16.
Afterwards
For he remained in Prison
many days,
as we read in the 16th verse.
Zedekiah the King sent and took him out: and the King asked him secretly in his House, and said, Is there
(any)
Word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the King of Babylon,
&c.
Ch. xxxvii. 17.
The Prophet also took this opportunity of remonstrating to the King concerning his own case:—"
Moreover Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah,
WHAT
HAVE I OFFENDED AGAINST THEE,
or against thy Servants, or against this People, that ye have put me in Prison
This shews that
speaking Truth,
be it ever so severe, (provided it is not spoken for the sake of mere abuse, but for the purposes of warning and amendment) ought not to be esteemed
an Offence,
for surely no
truths
can ever be more harsh or severe than those uttered by Jeremiah against the Court of Zedekiah!
? Where
(are)
now your Prophets, which prophesied unto you, saying, The King of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this Land
For these Evil Counsellors, it seems, like true implements of the Devil, attempted by their false intelligence from time to time to make the King firm in his bad measures and wicked policy.
?
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my Lord the King: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the House of Jonathan the Scribe, lest I die there.
And it appears that Zedekiah (notwithstanding his general wickedness) yet had no personal pique against the Prophet, but was well inclined to grant his Petition, as also a daily allowance of Bread, as long as any could be procured
"
Then
" (says the Text)
Zedekiah
the King commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into
the Court
of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the Bakers Street,
until all the Bread in the City were spent.
.
And when the Princes advised Zedekiah to put Jeremiah to death, because he publicly exhorted
all the People
to go over to the Enemy
Which would have been
treason to the state,
and a high crime, had not the Kingdom been actually condemned by the word of God, viz.
Thus saith the Lord;
He that remaineth in this City shall die by the Sword, by the Famine, and by the Pestilence: but he that
goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live;
for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord; This City shall
surely be given into
the hand of the King of Babylon's army, which shall take it. Therefore the Princes said unto the King, We beseech thee let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this City, and the hands of
all the people,
in speaking
such words
unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt,
&c. Chap. xxxviii. 2 to 4.
, it appears, that though the King thought he had not sufficient authority to oppose their Council, yet he would not concern himself against the Prophet to condemn him, but only left him in their hands
Then Zedekiah the King said, Behold, he
(is)
in your hand;
for the King
(is)
not
(he that)
can do
(any)
thing against you.
Chap. xxxviii. ver. 5.
; and no sooner was the King informed of the dangerous situation of Jeremiah from the malice and injustice of the Princes
My Lord the King, these men have
done evil
in all that they have done to Jeremiah the Prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for (
there is
) no more bread in the City.
Chap. xxxviii. ver. 9.
, than he gave express orders to the generous and conscientious
Ethiopian
(who had represented the case) to take a Guard of thirty Men, and draw him up from the Dungeon, and he was placed in the Court of the Prison
Chap. xxxviii. 10—13.
. The King afterwards sent for the Prophet, and had a private conference with him; he also bound himself under a solemn Oath, that he would neither kill him nor give him up to his Enemies; and as he kept his promise, notwithstanding that Jeremiah still persevered in denouncing the most tremendous Judgements against him and the whole Kingdom, it is manifest, that the king had no personal resentment against the Prophet; being sensible, probably by that time, of Jeremiah's sincerity and innocence, as well as of the truth of his Warnings, tho' he had not grace and humility enough to submit himself to the only alternative from destruction, which God was now pleased to offer him, (perhaps in consideration of his favour to Jeremiah) and which the Prophet as affectionately pressed him to accept, but in vain.
These circumstances, and several others, will be found in the 38th chapter
—
If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the King of Babylon's Princes, then thy soul shall live, and this City shall be burned with fire; and thou shalt live and thine house. But if thou wilt not go forth to the King of Babylon's Princes, then shall this City be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the King said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, left they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. But Jeremiah said. They shall not deliver (thee).
Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the
LORD which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live,
&c.
Chap. xxxviii. ver. 17 to 20. The remainder of the chapter contains a further description of the judgements that were to take place in case ho refused to accept of the alternative above mentioned; as also an account of Zedekiah's expedient for concealing what had passed between him and Jeremiah from the Princes.
; but we must go back to the 32d chapter for the continuation of the History, which we there find advanced to the
tenth
year of Zedekiah's reign, the Siege being still carried on, and Jeremiah still shut up in the Court of the Prison. In the 3d, 4th, and 5th verses we find a repetition of some circumstances of the dreadful Vengeance
before
denounced against Zedekiah; but they are not mentioned in that place as being then repeated by the Prophet, but only as having been the cause of his Confinement. From the 6th to the 16th verse is related—the remarkable Prophecy concerning the Repossession of
Houses, Fields, and Vineyards
after the Captivity; in token of which the Prophet's Kinsman, Hanameel, was providentially sent to tender to him the purchase of a Field in Anathoth, to which he was next Heir. From the 17th to the 25th verse of this chapter is contained—the Prophet's Prayer on that occasion, wherein he most solemnly describes the
Mercy,
as well as the
Vengeance,
of GOD, then dreadfully approaching! —
Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the Heaven and the Earth by thy great Power and stretchedout Arm,
(and)
there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest loving kindness unto thousands, and
RECOMPENSEST THE INIQUITY
of the Fathers into the bosom of their Children after them:
THE GREAT, THE MIGHTY GOD! THE LORD (or Jehovah) OF HOSTS
(is)
HIS NAME! GREAT IN COUNCIL, and MIGHTY IN WORK?
For thine Eyes
(are)
open upon all the ways of Men, to
GIVE EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS,
(mark this, ye Slave-holders and African Merchants!)
AND ACCORDING TO THE FRUIT OF HIS DOINGS!
Which hast set
Pofuisti
Ponere pro facere,
more Hebreorum.
Vatablus. Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 5628.
Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt
(even) "
unto this day
"Usque ad diem hunc."—
Celebrata scilicet,
says Grotius. Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 5632.
" (amongst which the most remarkable were God's severe Judgements against the great
Egyptian
SLAVE-HOLDER and his
Kingdom,
who refused to
PROCLAIM LIBERTY
to his Bond Servants) "
and in Israel
—In
Israel also,
even in
that very nation
which the Almighty (by the abovementioned Signs and Wonders) delivered from the HOUSE OF BONDAGE, and restored to their
natural Rights;
which, nevertheless, was since become
notorious,
for the
same kind of oppression
that God had punished in
Egypt,
— for a Crime, which of all others, must be most intolerable in the Sight of the GREAT REDEEMER FROM SLAVERY; it being not only a proof of the most shameful ingratitude, but also a notorious breach of God's express Command, viz. to
remember
that they themselves had been BONDMEN IN EGYPT! See Deut. xv. 15. xvi. 12. xxiv. 18 and 22.
,
and among
" (other)
Men
Amongst
other Nations
also GOD's VENGEANCE against
Tyrants
and
Oppressors
hath been manifested, some examples of which shall hereafter be inserted.
;
and hast made thee a Name as at this day
(viz. the
day
or
time
that GOD
recompensed
the Jews
"according to their ways;"
the dreadful Storm of GOD's VENGEANCE against Jerusalem being then begun, which was not to cease till the whole was laid desolate!),
and hast brought thy People Israel out of the Land of Egypt with Signs and with Wonders, and with a strong Hand, and with a stretched-out Arm, and with great Terror
For that wonderful example of GOD's VENGEANCE against TYRANNY, and of his MERCY IN REDEEMING
a Nation from
SLAVERY, was of all others the most eminent, and, confequently, the oftenest repeated in Scripture (as in this place), 'till the accomplishment of the much more
glorious redemption
from SPIRITUAL SLAVERY, the BONDAGE
of the Devil
Forasmuch then as the Children are Partakers of flesh and blood, he,
(that is, Christ)
also himself, likewise took part of the same; that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
(that is, the Devil,)
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
Bondage.
Heb. ii. 14, 15.—
I beheld
Satan
as Lightning fall from Heaven.
Luke x. 18.
, (of which the former was only a Type;) when the Son of God invited all mankind to the FREEDOM
of the
GOSPEL,—to the True Knowledge of the LAW of LIBERTY for the regulation of their behaviour towards each other; giving them power
to become the sons of God
John i. 1
.
;
and to partake even of the
Divine Nature
—
Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be PARTAKERS
of the
DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the Corruption that is in the world through Lust.
2 Peter i. 3, 4.
by the Gift of the Holy Ghost
For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God,
they are
the Sons of God.
For ye have not received the Spirit of
Bondage
again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry—Abba—Father,
&c. Rom. viii. 14, 15.
Know ye not that ye are the
Temple of God,
and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the Temple of God is Holy, which
(Temple)
"ye are." 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.
, which is absolutely promised to all that sincerely ask
"
Ask
and it shall be given you," &c. Matt. vii. 7. Mark xi. 24. Luke xi. 9. John xv. 7.
it in Christ's name
Whatsoever ye shall ask IN MY NAME
(said our Lord JESUS)
in my Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing IN MY NAME, I will do it,
&c. John xiv. 13, &c.—
How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit
to them that ask him.
Luke xi. 13.
.
and hast given them this Land, which thou didst swear to their Fathers to give them, a Land flowing with Milk and Honey; and they came in and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy Voice, neither
WALKED IN THY LAW:
they have done nothing of all that thou commandest them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.
The Prophet then proceeds to describe the Terrors of the Siege, which were at that time present before his eyes:— "BEHOLD THE MOUNTS!" (said he) "
They are come unto the City to take it," &c.
And after reciting some other Causes of God's Anger against his People (as
Disobedience, Idolatry, &c.
), and declaring the certainty of the Desolation that would follow, he once more promises a happy Return to their own Land; which is also again repeated in the following chapter (xxxiii), with the additional Promise of the BRANCH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
to grow up unto David, that
should
execute
JUDGEMENT
and
RIGHTEOUSNESS
—which Zedekiah had so notoriously neglected; for
on these Terms alone
could the Jews be permitted to remain in possession of their own Land!—
If ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings: if ye thoroughly
EXEOUTE JUDGEMENT
between a
MAN
and his
NEIGHBOUR;
(if)
YE OPPRESS NOT THE STRANGER,
(mark this ye transporters of the poor AFRICAN!)
the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk
AFTER OTHER GODS
(see note in pages 142 to 152)
to your hurt; then will I
CAUSE YOU TO DWELL IN THIS PLACE,
in
THE LAND THAT
I
GAVE TO YOUR FATHERS, FOR EVER AND EVER.
Jer. vii. 5, 1. A plain declaration this that they might for ever have enjoyed that
National Establishment
which God had given them! no
foreign armaments
could have had power to DEPRIVE them of
God's Gift,
had not their own
iniquities
deprived them of
God's protection!
It was the NEGLECT OF JUSTICE and NATURAL RIGHT, or (according to the scripture phrase) of JUDGEMENT and RIGHTEOUSNESS, which drew down GOD'S VENGEANCE upon them! This was apparently THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE (let
Britain
therefore tremble for her notorious national
corruption
and
oppressions
) OF THAT HORRID MISERY WHICH REIGNED IN JERUSALEM DURING THE BABYLONIAN SIEGE.
—
They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets! they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills!
Lam. iv. 5. and again,
They that be slain with the sword are better than
(they that be)
SLAIN WITH HUNGER;
for these pine away
STRICKEN THROUGH
for
(want of)
the fruits of the field. The hands of the pitiful
(or rather of the affectionate or tender hearted)
women have
SODDEN
(that is, BOILED, for want of other food)
their own Children,
THEY WERE THEIR MEAT
in the Destruction of the Daughter of my People.
Ibid.
ver. 9, 10.
A more deplorable state of wretchedness cannot be described! These miseries increased till the 11th year of Zedekiah, when (as we read in the 39th chapter) "
the City was broken up
And it came to pass, that when
Zedekiah
the "King of Judah saw them" (that is,
Princes of Babylon,
who sat in the Middle Gate, after the CITY WAS BROKEN UP. See ch. xxxix. 2, 3.)
and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the King's Garden, by the gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain. But the Chaldeans army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him they brought him up to
Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon
to RIBLAH in the Land of HAMATH, where he gave Judgement upon him.
Ch. xxxix. 4, 5. Compare this with the Note in page 48.
; and then was the DREADFUL VENGEANCE, so repeatedly denounced by the Prophet against
Zedekiah,
ready to burst on the Head of that
wicked Prince,
who, in addition to all his other Crimes, had so lately violated the solemn Covenant of PROCLAIMING LIBERTY TO THE BOND SERVANTS, by neglecting to enforce the Laws of God, and of his Country, in behalf of the poor OPPRESSED PEOPLE, that had been compelled by their petty Tyrants to return into BONDAGE!
This was so notorious a contempt of JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS (like the
Toleration of
SLAVERY
in the
BRITISH EMPIRE), that GOD'S VENGEANCE, before denounced, was inevitably confirmed, and the KING was, soon afterwards,
delivered up,
with ALL HIS NOBLES AND MEN OF WAR that remained, into the hands of their enraged Enemies, agreeable to the just decree of GOD (before recited from the 34th chapter);
his Sons were slain
BEFORE HIS EYES
Then the
King of Babylon
flew the Sons of
Zedekiah
in RIBLAH
before his eyes:
also the
King of Babylon slew
ALL THE NOBLES
of
JUDAH.
Chap. xxxix. 6. See also Chap. lii. 10.
!
and
HIS EYES
beheld
THE EYES
of the stern Tyrant of Babylon,
as the Prophet Jeremiah had very circumstantially foretold
Thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and THINE EYES shall behold the EYES of
the King of Babylon,
and he shall speak
with thee
MOUTH
to
MOUTH, and thou shalt go to Babylon,
&c. Chap. xxxiv. 3.
: but he
never
SAW
more;
for HIS EYES were PUT OUT by the order of the implacable CONQUEROR
Moreover he
put out Zedekiah's Eyes,
and
bound him with Chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Chap. xxxix. 7. And in the 52d chapter, where these circumstances are repeated, we find the following addition,
viz.
that
the King of
BABYLON
carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison to the day of his death.
Chap. lii. 11.
, who thereby fulfilled another not less remarkable Prophecy of Ezekiel to the Captives at Babylon, telling them from God,
I will
BRING HIM TO BABYLON,
the Land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he
NOT SEE IT,
though be shall die there!
Ezek. xii. 13. Now to complete this tremendous Example of God's Judgement against
the Toleration of Slavery,
I must add, that the King of Babylon SLEW ALL THE NOBLES OF JUDAH, that is, ALL that were taken at that time; and having put out Zedekiah's Eyes, as before-mentioned, he bound him (
Slave-like
) with Chains, to carry him to Babylon, where he and the remainder of the Jewish Captives (the former SLAVE-HOLDERS, whose OPPRESSION he had unjustly tolerated) became (according to the phrase of our modern
Slave-holders
) the PRIVATE PROPERTY of the Babylonian Tyrant and his Soldiers!
They took the young Men to grind, and the Children fell under the Wood
Lam. v. 13. In the same chapter the miseries of a foreign Jurisdiction are strongly delineated, —
Our Inheritance is turned
TO STRANGERS,
our Houses to Aliens. We are Orphans and Fatherless, our Mothers are as Widows. We have drunken our Water for Money; our Wood is sold unto us.
OUR NECKS ARE UNDER PERSECUTION; WE LABOUR AND HAVE NO REST,
&c. A just recompence for SLAVEHOLDERS! and again,—"SERVANTS" (or Slaves)
"have ruled over us,"
&c.mdash;
They ravished the Women in Sion, and the Maids in the cities of Judah!
PRINCES
are hanged by their hand: the faces of Elders were not honoured.
THEY TOOK THE YOUNG MEN TO GRIND, AND THE CHILDREN FELL UNDER THE WOOD,
&c. Such a
Retaliation
of
Tyranny
must every nation expect that promotes and tolerates
Slavery and Oppression!
Nothing but severe Repentance and Amendment can prevent it! O that my countrymen would consider this!
—under the heavy burthens of their BABYLONIAN SLAVE-HOLDERS. But, what is still more remarkable, the
Poor of the People
(who were, probably, the
Bondmen
and
Bondwomen,
whose Cause God had avenged by these heavy Judgements) were left at home to possess the Lands and Vineyards of their former
tyrannical Masters;
for
NEBUZARADAN
the Captain of the Guard lest of the
POOR OF THE PEOPLE, WHICH HAD NOTHING
in the Land of Judah, and gave them Vineyards and Fields
AT THE SAME TIME.
Jer. xxxix. 10.
Now if
the African Traders, West India Merchants,
and
American Planters
could make it appear, that their imaginary PROPERTY in
Negro Slaves,
for which they so strenuously contend, is as justly acquired, as the PROPERTY in
Hebrew Captives,
which the Babylonians acquired by their providential success in the Jewish War: yet this would not afford them any just excuse, or comfort, for their wounded Consciences, if they should ever have grace to feel remorse; because it appears, that
this
VERY BONDAGE
of the
JEWS (though apparently according to their deserts) brought upon the CHALDEANS,
in their turn,
the same deplorable
slavish
condition, which they (like our modern
Slave-holders
) thought they had an undoubted right to impose on their imaginary
Property,
the Jewish Captives!
And yet Nebuehadnezzar did not
burn and depopulate
the Cities of
Judaea
merely for the sake of
procuring Slaves,
like the black Accomplices of the
Royal African Company.
His War was just and honourable: he came to punish a rebellious and wicked tributary Nation, which had,
without any just reason (and contrary to the express Commands of
GOD
by the Prophets),
attempted to shake off their Allegiance to the Babylonian Empire, to which they had long been subject; for the wicked Jewish King Manasseh, the Son of King Hezekiah, had, long before, been conquered, and carried into Captivity to Babylon
And the Lord spake to
Mauasseh
and
to his people:
but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the Thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
2 Chron. xxxiii. 10, 11.
, by the King of Assyria
According to Bishop Usher this King of Assyria was
Esarhaddon,
who (as he relates) annexed the dominion of Judaea to the Imperial Crown of Assyria, and carried King Manasseh to Babylon; but, upon his repentance, mercifully restored him to his Royal Dignity, though he was still to remain subject to the Imperial Jurisdiction of Assyria: and afterwards, when the whole Assyrian Power devolved to Nebuchadnezzar, in the commencement of the Babylonian Empire, Jehoiakim King of Judah, became his servant three years, and then turned and rebelled against him
2 Kings xxiv. 1.
; but the kingdom being again conquered a few years after, in the reign of his Son Jehoiachin, the King of Babylon carried the latter into captivity, and made Zedekiah King in his room, who also rebelled both against God and the King of Babylon, and thereby wilfully drew down those heavy judgements upon himself and the kingdom!
; and the Assyrian Power afterwards devolved to
Nebuchadnezzar
in the Commencement of the Babylonian Empire, who had also himself, thrice before this last War, conquered
Judea;
and
Zedekiah,
the last Monarch before the Captivity,
reigned expressly by his
APPOINTMENT, so that his wilful rebellion clearly justified the Babylonian Invasion; and add to this, that the Assyrians
O Assyria! the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical Nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but
(it is)
in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few,
&c. Isaiah x. 6, 7.
and Babylonians
And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, my servant, &c.—and ALL NATIONS shall SERVE him, and his Son's Son, until the very time of his Land come: and then many nations and great kings shall SERVE THEMSELVES of him,
&c. Jer. xxvii. 6, 7.—Here is a manifest instance of
National Retribution
in kind!
were, in a very extraordinary manner, preordained and authorized by Almighty God to punish the crying wickedness of the Israelites and Jews; which surely may be alledged as a further justification of the conquest, and subsequent
Right of Service,
(if it may be esteemed a
Right
) which both
Assyrians
and
Babylonians
seemed to have acquired thereby.
But notwithstanding all these remarkable circumstances (which rendered the claims of these
Eastern Nations
to the
Jewish Captives,
infinitely more equitable than any claims that our
modern slave-holders
can produce in favour of their unnatural oppression of the poor wretched Captives of Africa) yet both
Assyrians
and
Babylonians,
as well as ALL the other
neighbouring nations
that were guilty of the like oppressions, drew down upon themselves a severe
national
RETRIBUTION of Vengeance for presumptuously
enslaving
and
oppressing
each other; for, though they were
instruments in God's hand
for the mutual punishment of each other, and acted expressly by his permission for that purpose, yet
the Causes of Action,
which they themselves were capable of perceiving, and by which they were apparently moved, were very different:—
Avarice, Pride, Lust of Power, the unjust Dictates of Wicked and Corrupt Hearts
were the only
personal Motives!
but the Almighty can turn even these
Evils
to his own Glory, for the execution of his
eternal Justice;
and in due time will excute VENGEANCE even on
the Instruments of his
VENGEANCE; —
Wherefore it shall come to pass,
(says Isaiah in the 10th chapter)
that when the Lord hath performed his whole Work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the Fruit of the stout heart of the
KING OF ASSYRIA,
and the Glory of his high looks. For he saith,—By the strength of
MY HAND I
have
DONE (it),
and by
MY WISDOM;
for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their Treasures, and have
PUT DOWN
(or enslaved)
THE INHABITANTS
like a valiant
(man).
And my hand hath found as a nest the
RICHES OF THE PEOPLE:
and as one gathereth Eggs
(that are)
left, have I gathered all the Earth, and there was none that
MOVED THE WING,
or opened the mouth, or peeped.—Shall the Ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
(or)
shall the
SAW
magnify itself against him that shaketh it?
(Thus God asserts the actual guidance of his Providence in human Transactions, by representing the haughty unbelieving Monarchs of
Assyria
as mere WORK TOOLS in his hands),
as if the rod should shake
(itself)
against them that lift it up,
(or)
as if the staff should lift up
(itself as if it were)
no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the
LORD OF HOSTS
(or ARMIES, Jehovah Tsabaouth)
send among his sat ones leanness, and under his Glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire,
Chap. x. 12—16.
And after encouraging the remnant of Israel to
stay upon the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, in truth,
by a promise
THAT THE CONSUMPTION DECREED
That is—DECREED on account of the
National Injustice and Tyranny
described in the 1st verse of the same chapter, viz.
Wo unto them that
DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES,
(i. e. make Laws that are contrary to
Natural Right and Justice
)
Laws like those whereby the AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE is
promoted
and
encouraged,
or like those whereby MARRIAGE is
restrained;
like those also which
tolerate the Oppression
of the poor
Colliers, Salters,
and
Miners
in
Scotland;
or like those
diabolical
DECREES of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS and GRIEVOUSNESS, which some of our
American assemblies
have wickedly PRESCRIBED against their poor
Negro Slaves,
many of which I have particularly pointed out in my Representation against Slavery. pages 49 to 73.
and THAT WRITE GRIEVOUSNESS, WHICH THEY HAVE PRESCRIBED:
to turn aside the needy from Judgement, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that Widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do
IN THE DAY OF VISITATION, AND IN THE DESOLATION (which) SHALL
come
FROM far?
&c.—which was manifestly,
THE CONSUMPTION DECREED.
&c.
shall
OVERFLOW
with
RIGHTEOUSNES;
(for the promises of blessings and forgiveness are generally blended with the denunciations of God's Judgements, in order to encourage Repentance and Reliance on God) the Prophet comforts the Sufferers under the present Affliction with an assurance that it shall not be of long continuance.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, O my People, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a Rod, and shall lift up his Staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt
(that is, by holding them in A SEVERE BONDAGE, as the Egyptians had formerly done
In via
Aegypti
Hebraismus, pro more, ritu Aegyptiorum. Eo modo quo afflixerunt te Aegyptii, sic te affligent Assyrii.
—Vatablus. [
Caedet ille quidem te baculo, suâque virgâ petet Aegyptiaco more]—ut olim Pharao.
Castalio.—
Sicut olim in Aegypto
servierunt,
et abea tandem
servitute
liberati.
Clarius. Crit. Sac.
:
"for yet a very little while"
(said the Prophet)
and
THE INDIGNATION
shall cease, and
MINE ANGER IN THEIR DESTRUCTION.
And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up
A SCOURGE
for him
(
viz.
the Assyrian)
according to the Slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Oreb
(
viz.
by the Militia of Israel under Gideon):
and
(as)
his Rod
(was)
upon the Sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt
Sicut, inquit, olim aquis Rubri Maris Aegyptios prostravi sola baculi elevatione per Mosen, &c. Clarius. Crit. Sac.
.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
(that)
his
BURDEN
shall be taken away
FROM OFF THY SHOULDER,
and his
YOKE
from off thy Neck, and the
YOKE
shall be
DESTROYED
because of the anointing.
&c.
Again, in the 14th chapter, a similar Prophecy is delivered against Assyria: —
I will break the Assyrian in my Land, and upon my Mountains tread him under foot.
And then he immediately alludes to the cruel
Bondage
and
Oppression
which drew down the VENGEANCE OF GOD upon the Assyrian: —
"Then,"
said the Prophet,
shall his
YOKE
depart from off them, and his
BURTHEN
depart from off their Shoulders
This VENGEANCE came upon the
Assyrians,
not all at once, but at several different periods, that they might have warning and opportunity to repent! One remarkable instance of it is fully recorded in scripture, I mean that supernatural destruction of the greatest part of their army in one night after
Sennacherib
had blasphemed God by his Captains, and presumptuously proposed to
carry away
the Inhabitants of jerusalem INTO CAPTIVITY: for that was expressly his purpose as signified by Rabshakah—
MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME BY A PRESENT,
and come out to me and eat,
&c.
until I come and
TAKE YOU AWAY
to a Land like your own Land,
&c. at another time Pharaoh Necho was charged with the execution of GOD's VENGEANCE against them. (Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 29. with 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, &c.) After which time we hear no more of the ASSYRIAN OPPRESSOR, (that Monarchy being soon after swallowed up in the BABYLONIAN TYRANNY) so that his YOKE of course
departed
FROM OFF
the Nations he had
ENSLAVED,
and his
BURTHEN
from off their shoulders,
agreeable to the prophesy above
This
(is)
the purpose
(that is)
purposed upon the whole Earth; and this
(is)
the hand
(that is)
stretched out upon all the Nations.
&c.
Chap. xiv. 25, 26.
This seems to be a declaration, that GOD'S VENGEANCE against ASSYRIA for TYRANNY and OPPRESSION
We to thee that
spoilest,
and thou wast not
spoiled;
and dealest
treacherously,
and they dealt not
treacherously
with thee: when thou shalt cease to
spoil,
thou shalt be
spoiled;
(and) when thou shalt make an end to deal
treacherously,
they shall deal
treacherously
with thee!
Isaiah xxxiii. 1. Here the Law of
Retribution
is clearly laid down. Commentators have generally understood this to be denounced against Assyria.
should be a standing Example and Precedent for the Judgement of all other Nations, but more especially of
the Nations bordering on Judea,
because there are several other Prophecies concerning the neighbouring Nations, which sufficiently correspond with this example of VENGEANCE against
Assyria
(both as to the mode, and principal, cause), sufficiently, I say, to prove, that a similar fate to that of
Assyria
was the
PURPOSE
that was
PURPOSED UPON THE WHOLE EARTH.
—
"For behold"
(says the Prophet Joel, chap. iii.)
in those days and in that time when I shall bring again
THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM,
I will also gather
ALL NATIONS,
and will bring them down into the Valley of
JEHOSHAPHAT
(signifying JEHOVAH IS JUDGE, or HATH JUDGED),
and will plead with them there for
MY PEOPLE,
and
(for) MY HERITAGE ISRAEL,
whom they have
SCATTERED AMONG THE NATIONS,
and parted my Land.
(And now the Prophet proceeds to mark the Scandal of Trading in Slaves in strong
ironical
terms)
And they have
CAST LOTS
A poor Negroe whom I was so happy as to assist in procuring his freedom, was won (I am informed) by his last master in Virginia, at a Game of Cards, or some other such mode of
casting
LOTS.
(says he)
for my People; and have given a
BOY
for a
HARLOT,
and sold a
GIRL
for
WINE,
that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O
TYRE
and
ZIDON?
(the
Liverpool
and
Bristol
The
Slave-Trade
carried on at these two places so far exceeds that which is chargeable to the Great Metropolis, (I mean more especially
in proportion to the immense general commerce of the latter
) that the guilt of London, in that particular at least, is very inconsiderable when compared with the accumulated
iniguity
and
bloodshed,
for which the inhabitants of the other two places must inevitably be accountable if they do not repent! See the comparative state of the Slave-Trade in page 147.
of Palestine, that were then become infamous by harbouring the most eminent Merchants in the SLAVE-TRADE of those days)—"
Will ye render me a
RECOMPENCE?" (mark this, ye opulent
African Merchants
—What RECOMPENCE can ye make for such an abominable affront to the Creator of Mankind as your detestable Traffic
in Slaves!
Cannot you be content with a
lawful
and
fair
Trade in
Gold-dust, Ivory, Gums, Wax, &c. &c.
which the African Coast will afford in abundance, but you must
traffic in the
BODIES
of the poor wretched Inhabitants,
to support your Luxuries, like those who gave a BOY for a HARLOT, and a GIRL for WINE! Are you a jot
more righteous,
who barter MEN, WOMEN, and CHILDREN, by hundreds together, for SUGAR and RUM! Is this your RECOMPENCE to God for all his Mercies? Repent in time, lest God should return your RECOMPENCE upon your own heads; for he has declared in this same Text)—"
If ye
RECOMPENSE
me
" (that is, in such an
unmerciful
manner),
swistly
(and)
speedily will I return
YOUR RECOMPENCE UPON YOUR OWN HEAD;
&c.
And in the next verse but one, the Prophet marks the SLAVETRADE of
Tyre
and
Zidon
as one of the principal causes of his VENGEANCE:—
The Children also of Judah and the Children of Jerusalem have
YE SOLD
unto the
GRECIANS,
that ye might remove them
FAR FROM THEIR BORDER:
(but how much
farther
do the ENGLISH REMOVE THE POOR AFRICANS FROM THEIR BORDER!)
Behold, I will raise them out of the place wither ye have
SOLD THEM,
and will
RETURN YOUR RECOMPENCE UPON YOUR OWN HEAD:
(Observe how clearly THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION is here laid down),
and I
WILL SELL
your
SONS
and your
DAUGHTERS
into the hands of the children of
JUDAH,
and they shall sell them
This is not to be considered as a permission to the Jews to
deal in Slaves,
but only as a
prophecy
of GOD'S
retaliation
upon
Tyre
and
Zidon,
which Grotius says was fulfilled when
Gaza, Sidon,
and
Tyre
were afterwards taken by Alexander,
Nempe cum Gaza, Sidon, et Tyrus captae ab Alexandro.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 645 z. for the Jews were undoubtedly guilty of sin when they fulfilled the prophecy, and probably added thereby to their succeeding
national
affictions under
Antiochus,
and other succeeding Tyrants; for the same may be said of the
Jews
in this Case, that the learned
Ferrerius
observed on the case of the
Assyrians,
who were pre-ordained by God to punish the
Israelitos
and many other neighbouring
Nations
for their
Oppressions
and other wickedness, For though the
Assyrians
executed GOD'S
wrath
expressly by GOD'S
permission,
or even as it were by
the Divine Command,
in prophecy, yet the
Assyrians
themselves (as also the Jews after them) did not consider their actions in any such light; for the only motives they were sensible of, were the dictates of their own wicked hearts, and the love of unlawful gain! Ferrerius in speaking of Isaiah's prophecy concerning the
Assyrians,
chap. x. 26. remarks—
Versus
24 (says he)
dixerat quod Assyrius percussurus sit Israelitas, sicutAegyptius; hic
(viz. in the 26th verse)
autem quod Dominus parcussurus sit Assyrios, sicut Aegyptum. Justum cnim est, ut inquit Paulus,
QUOD REDDAT DOMINUS VICEM IMPIIS QUI FILIOS DEI DIVEXANT,
sive Aegyptii sive Assyrii sint,
ETIAMSI
MIT
ENTE VEL ETIAM JUBENTE DOMINO
illud faciant: nam et quod
INIQUO ANIMO ID FACIANT, et propter alia quoque scelera, IRA DEI DIGNI
sunt,
&c.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 4780. See also note, in page 125, concerning Nebuchadnezzar quoted from Abp. Sharp.
to the
SABEANS,
to a people
FAR OFF;
(an exact retaliation)
for the Lord hath spoken
(it).
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles:
(or more properly, according to the strict sense of the original word
,
among the
NATIONS, for the example ought indeed to instruct ALL NATIONS)
prepare
WAR,
wake up the mighty men, let
ALL THE MEN OF WAR DRAW NEAR,
let them come up. Beat your
PLOW SHARES
into
SWORDS,
(thus the blessings of the Gospel of peace are manifestly reversed to these nations which TRADE IN SLAVES; and indeed it has long been a proverb with the poor
Africians,
that wherever the
Christian Faith
is spread, there goes with it a SWORD and a GUN!)
and your pruning hooks
(continues the Prophet)
into spears: let the
WEAK
say I am
STRONG!
(Here again is another mark of GOD'S VENGEAVANCE against oppressive Nations, viz. THE INFATUATION OF THEIR COUNCILS.)
Assemble yourselves!
(says the Prophet)
and come all ye
NATIONS
In the common Translation it is rendered,
"Come all ye Heathens;"
but the original word
more properly signifies
the Nations,
than
the Heathens.
and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause
THY MIGHTY ONES
to come down, O Lord. Let the Nations be wakened, and come up to the valley of
JEHOSHAPHAT,
(i. e. the valley of JEHOVAH THE JUDGE)
for there will I sit to
JUDGE ALL THE NATIONS
round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the Harvest is ripe: come, get ye down, for the press is full, the fats overflow;
FOR THEIR WICKEDNESS IS GREAT! MULTITUDES, MULTITUDES IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION!
&c. After which the Prophet denounces Judgement against two of these
oppressive Nations
expressly by name —
EGYPT
shall be a desolation, and
EDOM
shall be a desolate wilderness;
(and the principal reason of these judgments is also as expressly assigned)
for their
VIOLENCE
And the Egyptians "
for their
VIOLENCE," received from God A RETRIBUTION IN KIND, which is still more awfully expressed by the prophet Isaiah,—
So shall the King of Assyria lead away the
EGYPTIANS
Prisoners, and the
ETHIOPIANS
Captives, young and old, naked and bare-foot, even with
(their)
buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt!
Isaiah xx. 4.—A lively description this, of the extreme misery and contempt with which the poor wretched Ethiopian Captives, even to this day, are oppressed and vilified!—But by whom?—Not now, surely, by their old enemies, the Assyrians, for they, long ago, received a just recompence for their
Tyranny
and
uncharitableness,
and are wiped off from the face of the earth! and may we not expect that the Almighty will also visit the
modern Oppressors
of the Ethiopians, whose
barbarous
and
unfeeling
behaviour towards the poor naked
Ethiopian Captives
is equally notorious?—May we not expect that the Assyrians, or
men of Nineveh. shall rise in Judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it!
Matt. xii. 41. for they were previously engaged in a
just war
against the Egyptians and Ethiopians: they were
proveked
to
revenge
by
real Injuries
—by the lawless incursions of those unhappy Sons of of Ham, and therefore they may seen to have some excuse for their severities. But the Europeans (and more notoriously the British Nation) are now guilty of the same
horrid barbarity
and
uncharitableness
towards
the Ethiopians,
WITHOUT ANY PROVOCATION WHATSOEVER,
except the most detestable Lust for unlawful Gain and Power!
— Let my deluded countrymen receive from me AN UNDENIABLE TOKEN
of the apporaching
DESTRUCTION AND MISERY which must inevitably overtake them if they do not repent! —
The Token,
alas! is already upon them.—Let them compare our present
national
condition, with the several alarming circumstances, which preceded the horrible debasement of the
Egyptioans
and
Ethiopians
above mentioned! even the best Histories of those
nations
cannot furnish a more exact and lively description of those Symptoms of approaching
nations
destruction, than that which was declared by Isaiah in the spirit of prophecy!—
"I"
(the Lord, or
Jehovah
)
will set
THE EGYPTIANS
against
THE EGYPTIANS:
and they shall fight every one against his Brother, and every one against his Neighbour; City against City,
(and)
Kingdom against Kingdom.
And the Spirit of Egypty shall fail in the midst thereof; and
I will destroy
the council thereof!
Isaiah xix. 2, 3.
against the Children of
JUDAH,
because they have
SHED INNOCENT BLOOD
in their Land. But
JUDAH
shall dwell for ever, and
JERUSALEM
from generation to generation, for I will cleanse their Blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.
Joel iii. "
The
PURPOSE" (before-mentioned)
that is
PURPOSED
upon the whole earth,
—was manifested also in the Judgements denounced against THE EDOMITES by the Prophet OBEDIAH,—
Thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed; to the end that every one of the mount of
ESAU
may be cut off by slaughter,
(and then the Prophet assigns the usual causes of such VENGEANCE.)
For
(thy) VIOLENCE
against thy Brother
JACOB,
shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers
CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE
his forces, and Foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem,
EVEN THOU (wast) AS ONE OF THEM:
(that is one that assisted to ENSLAVE them.)
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy Brother, in the Day that he became a Stranger;
(viz. in the day that their Brethren the Israelites were carried away Captives into a strange land; for it seems, that even to
be neuter,
or merely
look on,"
like idle spectators, when the LIBERTY
of their Brethren was at stake,
would have been criminal; but the EDOMITES added to this Crime, by REJOICING at the Calamity, and joining the triumphant Tyrants;)
neither shouldest thou have
REJOICED OVER
the Children of
JUDAH
in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken
PROUDLY
in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have
LOOKED ON
their
AFFLICTION
in the day of their calamity; nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of calamity. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the Cross-way, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have
DELIVERED UP
(or rather SHUT UP
or CONFINED as in
Slavery
or Foreign
Captivity,
which by the Restoration promised to the
Captives,
in the 20th and 21st verses, seems to have been the case)
those of his that
DID REMAIN
in the day of distress. For the Day of the
LORD
is near upon all the Heathen
(that is
ALL THE NATIONS;
and then follows
THE PURPOSE
of RETRIBUTION
that is
PURPOSED
upon the whole earth
)
As THOU HAST DONE,
it shall be
DONE
unto thee: thy
REWARD
shall return
UPON THINE OWN HEAD,
&c.
The like PURPOSE of RETRIBUTION was denounced against several Nations by the Prophet AMOS, and first against the SYRIANS—
Thus saith
THE LORD
for three Transgressions of
DAMASCUS
and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof:
(nevertheless their unmerciful Tyranny over the Inhabitants of GILEAD, is the only Transgression mentioned,—
"because"
(said the Prophet)
they have threshed
GILEAD
with Threshing Instruments of Iron. But I will send
FIRE
into the House of
HAZAEL,
(the King of Syria anointed by Elijah)
which shall devour the Palaces of
BENHADAD:
I will break also the Bar of Damascus,
&c. And then at last he denounces the ordinary punishment for Tyrants and Oppressors—
And the people of
SYRIA
shall
GO INTO CAPTIVITY
unto
KIR,
saith the
LORD.
(Amos i. 1 to 5.) This Prophecy was punctually fulfilled when AHAZ
King of Judah
hired TIGLATH-PILESER
King of Assyria
to help him against the SYRIANS, for we read in the 2 Kings xvi. 9.—That
the King of Assyria hearkened unto him
(viz. AHAZ):
for the King of Assyria went up against
DAMASCUS,
and took it, and
CARRIED
(the people of)
it
CAPTIVE
to
KIR,
and slew
REZIN.
REZIN was that turbubulent and oppressive King of SYRIA, who, in another prophecy, is compared to
"a sinoaking Firebrand."
Isaiah vii. 4. The same "PURPOSE" of RETRIBUTION was also declared by AMOS against the PHILISTINES—
For three Transgressions of
GAZA,
and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
"thereof:"
—and yet only
one
of the
four
Transgressions is mentioned, which we may, therefore, reasonably conclude to be the
principal
Transgression, viz.—
"because"
(says the Text)
they
CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE THE WHOLE CAPTIVITY
to diliver
(them)
up to
EDOM:
Grotius thinks that this Transgression was committed when Sennacherib invaded Judaea, and that many Jews upon his first approach fled to the neighbouring Regions, and that the Philistines, instead of protecting the poor fugitives, who had done them no injury, SOLD THEM
to the
EDUMAEANS, as if they had been taken in open war.
Cum Sennacheribus Judaeam invasit, multi ad primum ejus adventum in vieinas regiones se recepere, ut apparuit. Esa. xvi. 4. Philistini hos Judaeos, qui nihil ipfis nocuerant, non ut supplices protexerunt, sed quasi bello captos VENDIDERUNT Idumaeis.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 6473. Many other commentators besides Grotius have supposed this
Transgression
to have been committed during the troubles occasioned by
Sennacherib
's Expediton; but it is not probable
(though indeed it is possible)
that this was the time to which the prophecy referred; because, if it really was, the Prophecy
foretold
the Transgression
itself.
as well as the punishment of it; for we find that the Prophecy was delivered
"in the days of Uzziah,"
whereas the Event to which they refer, did not happen till many years afterwards in the reign of
Ahaz:
there are some instances indeed of God's vengeance being really denounced against particular crimes even before the crimes themselves were committed, which I shall shew when I come to speak of Babylon; but in the case before us there is no necessity for supposing any such anticipation, it being much more probable that the offence, referred to by the Prophecy, was previously committed by the Inhabitants of GAZA after the combined army of the Philistines and Arabians had, by God's permission, subdued and plundered the inhabitants of Judea in the reign of Jehoram, as related in the 2d Chron. xxi. 16, 17, &c. to which it is referred in Clarke's Annotations. The cruelty of delivering up the CAPTIVES
to
EDOM at the time abovementioned, would be much aggravated in the circumstances of these times; for then the
Edomites
were become inveterate enemies to the Jews, having lately revolted from Judah, and during that very reign had been beaten, and many of them slain, in a pitched battle with the Jews, which rendered them the more implacable; and therefore the unnatural cruelty OF DELIVERING UP the Jewish Captives to
Edom
at such a time, must necessarily be esteemed a most heinous offence in the sight of a merciful God!
or rather (as the word
more properly signifies]
to cause
(them)
to be shut up
(that is, in Bondage)
to Edom:
in short, it appears from thence, that they carried on the SLAVE-TRADE with EDOM, as our
Liverpool
and
Bristol
Merchants, and some at
London
(but few in proportion to the size of the place), do at present with America! But they were allowed but a short space for the enjoyment of their
unlawful gains!
The denunciations of VENGEANCE follows closely upon the very mention of that UNNATURAL OPPRESSION!
But I will send a
FIRE
(said the ALMIGHTY)
on the Wall of
GAZA
This Prophecy was probably fulfilled in the reign of
Hezekiah;
for we read in the 2 Kings xviii. 8. that
he smote the
PHILISTINES,
even unto
GAZA,
and the Borders thereof, from the tower of the Watchmen to the fenced City.
But the Philistines of
Ashdod,
&c. (if not Gaza also) began to feel the weight of GOD's VENGEANCE much sooner, even by the hands of the King in whose reign the Prophecy was delivered;—for
"as long as he"
(viz. UZZIAH)
sought
THE LORD, GOD
made him to prosper. And he went forth, and warred against the
PHILISTINES, and BRAKE DOWN THE WALL OF GATH, and
the wall
of JABNEH, and
the wall of
ASHDOD,
and built Cities about
ASHDOD,
and among the
PHILISTINES.
And
GOD
helped him against the
PHILISTINES
and against the
ARABIANS
that dwelt in
GURBAAL,
and the
MEHURIMS,
&c. 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, 6, 7. And ASHDOD was afterwards taken by the troops of SARGON King of Assyria (Isaiah xx. 1.), under TARTAN, one of his Generals, who is mentioned likewise in 2 Kings xviii. 17. so that this was probably when the
Assyrians
went up against
Jerusalem
in the Reign of
Hezekiah.
A very severe VENGEANCE against the PHILIPSTINES was afterwards executed by the
Chaldeans;
and, long after that, again by the
Macedonians
under Alexander.
,
which shall devour the Palaces thereof; and I will cut off the Inhabitants from
ASHDOD,
and him that holdeth the Sceptre from
ASHKELON;
and I will turn mine hand against
EKRON,
and the Remnant of the
PHILISTINES SHALL PERISH,
saith the
LORD GOD!
Amos i. 6, 7, 8.
The Prophet then proceeds with a Denunciation of the like "PURPOSE" of GOD'S VENGEANCE against the opulent City of TYRE, and expressly
for the same offence;
for the
Tyrians
were, probably, Confederates with the
Philistines
of
Gaza,
and other Cities of the
Phoenician
Coast, when they assisted the
Arabians
to OPPRESS and ENSLAVE the Inhabitants of JUDEA. —
Thus saith the
LORD;
for three Transgressions of
TYRUS,
and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof;
(now be pleased to remark, that though the
Tyrians
were notorious
Idolaters,
and very wicked in many other respects, yet, here again, the OPPRESSION of ENSLAVING THEIR BRETHREN (even of a different Nation) was the only Crime that God was pleased, more particularly, to impute and point out to them, as being most heinous in his sight)
"because"
(said the Prophet)
they delivered up the
WHOLE CAPTIVITY TO EDOM
(for TYRE was the
Philistine
LIVERPOOL, it seems, which supplied
Edom
with SLAVES),
and remembered not the
BROTHERLY COVENANT
Probably alluding to the league that was made between SOLOMON and HIRAM King of TYRE, (mentioned in the first book of Kings v. 12.)
and there was
PEACE BETWEEN HIRAM
and
SOLOMON;
and they two
MADE A LEAGUE
together.
:
but I will send a
FIRE
on the Wall of
TYRUS,
which shall devour the Palaces thereof.
Amos i. 9, 10.
By another cotemporary Prophet (Isaiah) a RETRIBUTION IN KIND was denounced against TYRE—
Is this your joyous City, whose antiquity was of antient days?
HER OWN FEET SHALL CARRY HER AFAR OFF
to sojourn.
—
(Ire pedibus suis in Captivitatem,
says Clarius, Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p 4905. that is, just as the poor slaves are now-a-days brought down on foot from the inland parts of Africa to the slave markets on the coasts!)
who hath taken
THIS COUNCIL
against
TYRE
the crowning
(City),
whose Merchants are Princes, whose Traffickers are the Honourable of the Earth?
THE LORD OF HOSTS HATH PURPOSED IT,
(plainly referring to the PURPOSE which he had before declared in the xiv. chap. 26. to be
PURPOSED UPON THE WHOLE EARTH,
—which I have shewn to be for the most part a RETRIBUTION IN KIND)
to strain
(or pollute)
the pride of all Glory, and to bring into contempt all the Honourable of the Earth.
Isai. xxiii. 7, 8, 9.
The like
purpose
of God's Vengeance is next denounced against Edom, on account of her notorious violations also of
Brotherly Love;
for the Almighty Father of Mankind will not see his creature Man oppressed and vilified without revenging the affront!—
Thus saith the Lord; for three Transgressions of
EDOM,
and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof; because he did pursue his Brother with the Sword, and did
CAST OFF ALL PITY
(as our modern American Slave-holders CAST OFF ALL PITY towards their poor RUNAWAY SLAVES! for I have seen rewards publicly offered for the
Heads
of those poor oppressed People
From the
Carolina
Gazette (by Robert Wells) dated 30 Dec. 1774.
A HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
Run away upwards of twelve months ago, a Negro Man, named
SALISBURY,
a squat, well-set fellow, about five feet five inches high, branded on the right breast
—S," (N. B. Branded like a beast)
"He formerly belonged to Richard Beresford,
Esq
and is supposed to be harboured about the plantation of Mr. John Wigfall, in St. Thomas's Parish, where he has a brother. I will give a reward of Twenty Pounds currency to whoever will apprehend the said Negro, and deliver him at the Work-House in Charles-Town, or any of the Gaols in this province, or to me at my Plantation in St. Bartholomew's Parish.
I WILL GIVE THE SAME REWARD FOR HIS HEAD" (N. B. The subscriber is absolutely guilty of Felony for offering a price for blood.)
And a further reward of One Hundred Pounds currency for the discovery of his being harboured by a white person, and Fifty Pounds currency if by a Negro,
(though it is a
moral Law
of the Old Testament, a Command
even
FROM GOD HIMSELF, not to deliver up to his Master the Servant that is escaped from his Master. Deut. xxiii. 15.)
to be paid on conviction of the Offender or Offenders.
October 7, 1774.
Signed, THOMAS SMITH.
and the shooting of run-away Negroes has even been encouraged by some of the Plantation Laws! which is wilful premeditated Murder, such as God will never leave unpunished);
and his Anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his Wrath for ever. But I
(said Jehovah)
WILL SEND A FIRE UPON TEMAN
(the Carolina of those times),
which shall devour the Palaces of Bozrah.
Amos, chap. i. II, 12.
The Prophet in the next verse denounces GOD'S VENGEANCE against the bloody-minded Ammonites, for their horrid barbarity in
murdering the Wives and Children of their Enemies,
MURDER being a crime still more heinous in the sight of GOD than SLAVERY; because
the robbing a man of his Life
is a higher Act of
Oppression
and unnatural
Violence
than
Bondage,
it being, indeed, the
last degree of Oppression
that a Tyrant has in his power!—
Thus saith the Lord; for three Transgressions of the Children of
AMMON,
and for four, will I not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof; because they have
RIPPED UP THE WOMEN WITH CHILD OF GILEAD,
This example shews that God will severely avenge himself of all such abandoned soldiers as those who
kill Women and Children,
for we may be assured that no pretended Rules of War can justify such detestable outrages in his sight, unless they can produce an express Commission from the Almighty for that purpose, like that which was given to the Israelites against the wicked Canaanites, &c.
that they might enlarge their border
Probably the
Ammonites
(like some of our
Settlers and Planters at St. Vincents
) coveted—
that fine
CREAM PART
of the Country
—about Gilead, then in the possession of their neighbours; and might perhaps stir up their public Financiers to
settle an arrangement for the disposal of the said Lands,
without the knowledge and
consent of the antient and lawful possessors,
as if the
supposed
political necessity to
enlarge their border
could justify ROBBERY and MURDER, by authority of Government!—Against similar crimes in Israel, the Prophet thus denounced God's vengeance!
Wo to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet Fields, and take
(them)
by viclence: and Houses, and take
(them)
away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus saith the
LORD
(JEHOVAH);—
Behold, against this family
(apparently meaning the
Family
or stock of that whole nation)
do I devise
AN EVIL
from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily:
FOR THIS TIME IS EVIL.
Mic. ii. 1 to 3.
For your hands are defiled with
BLOOD, and your
fingers with
INIQUITY:—
none calleth for
JUSTICE,
nor
(any)
pleadeth for
TRUTH:
they trust in vanity and speak lies;
THEY CONCEIVE MISCHIEF, and BRING FORTH INIQUITY!
&c.
—
and the act of Violence
(is)
in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction
or
breaking
(are)
in their paths.
THE WAY OF PEACE THEY KNOW NOT;
and
(there is) NO JUDGEMENT
i. e. right or justice)
in their goings! they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
THEREFORE IS JUDGEMENT
(i. e. right or equity)
far from us, neither doth
JUSTICE
properly RIGHTEOUSNESS)
"overtake us:"
&c.— "
According to
(their)
deeds,
" (or more properly)
according to
RECOMPENCES
(i. e. God's eternal laws of RETRIBUTION)
"accordingly he"
(i. e. Jehovah)
will
REPAY,
fury to his Adversaries,
RECOMPENCE
to his Enemies, to the
ISLANDS
he will
REPAY RECOMPENCE!
Isaiah lix. to the 18th verse.
:
but I will kindle a Fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the Palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a Tempest in the day of the Whirlwind: and their King shall
GO INTO CAPTIVITY,
(mark the proper punishment of Tyrants)
HE AND HIS PRINCES TOGETHER,
saith the
LORD.
Amos i. 13—15.
Next in order the Prophet declares God's
Purpose
of Vengeance against Moab (see the following chapter):—
Thus saith the Lord: for three transgressions of
MOAB,
and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof; because he burned the bones of the King of
EDOM
into lime,
(the Chaldee Interpreter adds,
,
and plastered them like Chalk
(or lime)
in the House.
This seems to have been done in extreme contempt, to vilify the Edomites; and does not agree with the account of the particular human Sacrifice made by the King of Moab upon the Wall, mentioned in 2 Kings iii. 27. to which the margin of our English Bibles commonly refers us; for that seems to have been a Sacrifice by the King of Moab of
his own Son
"Suum" (viz. Filium) "inquam" (says Grotius)
non Idumaeae Praefecti, ut quidam colligunt ex Amoso ii. 1. ubi alia respicitur Historia.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 2579.
, rather than a burning of the bones of the
King of Edom.
We may, however, learn from this example, that God is offended with any contemptuous vilifying of the
Human Body,
even
when dead;
and how much more then will he be offended with those who vilify their
living Brethren,
by contemptously holding them in a despicable Bondage!)—
But I will send a Fire upon Moab
MOAB was condemned also by another Prophet (Isaiah) for her want of Charity to the poor fugitives of
Israel and Judah
in a time that God had delivered them into the hands of their enemies,—
"Hide the Outcasts"
(said Isaiah in his denunciation of Judgement against MOAB)
bewray not him that wandereth; Let mine
OUT-CASTS
dwell with thee
MOAB;
Be thou a Covert to them from the face of the
SPOILER:
for the
EXTORTIONER
is at an end, the
SPOILER
ceaseth, the
OPPRESSORS
are consumed out of the Land.
Isaiah xvi. 4.
,
and it shall devour the Palaces of Kirioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting,
(and)
with the sound of the trumpet: and I will cut off
THE JUDGE FROM THE MIDST THEREOF,
and will slay
ALL THE PRINCES THEREOF WITH HIM,
saith the
LORD.
Amos ii. 1—3.
To these Judgements of the several Nations the Prophet now adds the Condemnation of
Judah,
left the Jews should imagine that GOD'S VENGEANCE was only to be denounced against
the Heathen Nations.
—
Thus saith the Lord; for three Transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof; because they have
DESPISED THE LAW OF THE LORD,
[now the Apostle Paul informs us, that
all the Law is fulfilled in one word,
(even)
in this; Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself.
Galat. v. 14. and, consequently, the OPPRESSION OF THE POOR (of which the Jews were notoriously guilty, as I have shewn) was (next to Idolatry) one of the most heinous Transgressions of the Law, which principally drew down God's Vengeance upon them, though it is not particularly mentioned in this place]—
and have not kept his Commandments; and their lyes caused them to err, after the which their Fathers have walked. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem.
Amos ii. 4, 5.
And last of all is declared the PURPOSE of
Retribution
and
Vengeance,
that was PURPOSED upon the People of
Israel,
to whom the Prophet Amos was more particularly sent, to warn them of their approaching CAPTIVITY, on account of their notorious
oppressions,
and for the SLAVE-TRADE in particular.—
Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away
(the punishment)
thereof; because they
SOLD THE RIGHTEOUS FOR SILVER,
and the
POOR FOR A PAIR OF SHOES.
Amos ii. 6. And in the next chapter the prophet is directed to call upon their old enemies the Philistines and Egyptians to bear witness to the cause of God's vengeance on his own people:
Publish in the Palaces of
ASHDOD,
and in the Palaces of the Land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of
SAMARIA,
and behold the great
TUMULTS
in the midst thereof, and the
OPPRESSED IN THE MIDST THEREOF.
For they
KNOW NOT TO DO RIGHT
The Prophet Amos charges them still further with their shameful perversion of JUSTICE and NATURAL RIGHT, in the 5 th chapter and 7th verse, —
Ye who
TURN JUDGEMENT TO WORMWOOD, and LEAVE OFF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE EARTH.
And a little afterwards he charges them with notorious corruption—
For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they
AFFLICT THE JUST,
they
TAKE A BRIBE,
and they
TURN ASIDE THE POOR IN THE GATE (
from their
RIGHT).
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time: for it is an evil time.
He then warns them to make use of that
Natural Knowledge
of
Good and Evil,
which all mankind inherit from our first parents—
Seek
GOOD,
and not
EVIL
(says the Prophet):
that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the
EVIL,
and love the
GOOD,
and establish
JUDGEMENT
in the Gate, it may that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious unto the Remnant of Joseph.
—Thus the ISRAELITES might have saved themselves from God's Vengeance by a timely repentance, but they were too corrupt and wicked, it seems, to take warning: for the Judgement is, immediately after, denounced on account of the said NATIONAL CORRUPTION AND INJUSTICE. —
Therefore, the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord saith thus;
WAILING
shall be in all thy streets; and they shall say in all the highways,
ALAS! ALAS!
and they shall call the Husbandman to mourning; and such as are skilful of lamentation, to wailing. And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for
I WILL PASS THROUGH THEE, SAITH THE LORD!
Now let the inhabitants of Great Britain examine themselves, and enquire, whether there are not CORRUPTIONS and INJUSTICE among them also, which may be equally liable to draw down
God's
VENGEANCE? Whether their Representatives in the great National Assembly, or
"Congregation of the People,"
do not annually encourage and promote the AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE, which includes infinitely more OPPRESSION and INJUSTICE
than the Israelites
were ever guilty of! and whether the poor
Miners, Colliers,
and
Saliers
of Scotland, who lately applied to them for relief from the monstrous OPPRESSION and INJUSTICE of the unreasonable Landholders (an oppression at least equal to, if not far exceeding the Israelitish Bondage of the Poor) have yet received
redress
for the Injuries done them? or whether, on the contrary, the
Injustice
(which never had any other foundation but that of
unjust Force
and
Usurpation
) is not now confirmed for a certain number of years longer by act of Parliament! But, O my countrymen! let us call to mind (before it is too late) the dreadful consequences of turning
JUDGEMENT INTO WORMWOOD,
and of
leaving off Righteousness in the Earth!
Let us remember the heavy Judgements that are denounced against the
Oppressions of the poor,
and that there is ONE who will surely avenge their cause,—
THE LORD (JEHOVAH)
is
HIS NAME
that strengtheneth the
SPOILED
against the
STRONG,
so that the
SPOILED
shall come
AGAINST THE FORTRESS. THEY HATE HIM THAT REBUKETH IN THE GATE, AND THEY ABHOR HIM THAT SPEAKETH UPRIGHTLY.
Forasmuch therefore
(continues the Prophet)
as your
TREADING IS UPON THE POOR,
and ye take from him burthens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant Vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I
KNOW YOUR MANIFOLD TRANSGRESSIONS,
and your mighty sins: they afflict the Just, they
TAKE A BRIBE,
and they turn aside
THE POOR
in the Gate from their right,
&c. Amos v. 8 to 12.
saith the Lord; who store up Violence and Robbery in their Palaces. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; and Adversary
(there shall be)
even round about the Land: and he shall bring down they Strength from thee, and thy Palaces shall be spoiled.
&c.
Amos iii. 9, 10, 11.
Thus it appears, that God was not less severe against his, own peculiar People, when guilty of Oppression and Injustice, than he was against the neighbouring Nations for the like Offences! And I hope the many examples which I have given of
God's Vengeance
against these Crimes, and more especially against the Crime of
enslaving and vilifying Mankind,
will awaken the attention of my Countrymen in general, that they may seriously consider whether we have not just reason to fear the effects of GOD'S VENGEANCE
also upon
GREAT BRITAIN
and
HER COLONIES
for similar Offences!
Long before the present unhappy CIVIL WAR broke out
between the Mother Country and her Colonies,
I thought it my duty to give fair warning to his Majesty's Ministers
Extract of a Letter from the Author to Lord —, dated the 18th of February, 1772.
—
His Majesty has been pleased, lately, to recommend to Parliament the providing new Laws,
for
supplying Defects or
REMEDYING ABUSES
in such instances where it shall be requisite;
and, I apprehend, my Lord, that there is no instance whatever, which requires more
immediate
redress than the present
miserable and deplorable
SLAVERY
of Negroes and Indians, as well as of white English servants in our Colonies.
I say
immediate
redress, because to be
in power,
and to
neglect
(as life is very uncertain) even a day, in endeavouring to put a stop to such monstrous injustice and abandoned wickedness, must necessarily endanger a man's
eternal
welfare, be he ever so great in
temporal
dignity or office,
&c.
that some heavy VENGEANCE, must inevitably overtake us (according to the usual course of GOD'S Providence) if the iniquitous SLAVE-TRADE, and the
Toleration of involuntary Bondage,
were continued; and that such
monstrous
OPPRESSION and NATIONAL WICKEDNESS
Extract of a letter from the Author to Lord —, dated the 4th of December, 1774.
— If the seasonable warning against
the crying national wickedness of promoting the
AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE, and
tolerating
SLAVERY in America, which I seht about three years ago, in a private letter to Lord —, had been duly regarded, I sincerely believe that the present misunderstanding, &c. and the alarming consequences which now threaten us, would not have happened!—
Great Britain and her Colonies
seem to be preparing themselves for MUTUAL
For all the Law is fulfilled in
ONE WORD (even)
in this; Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself. But if we bite and devour one another, take heed that
YE BE NOT CONSUMED ONE OF ANOTHER.
Gal. v. 14, 15. See my Tract on "The Law of Liberty,
or
Royal Law."
DESTRUCTION, which, alas! is too apparently merited on both sides: for such monstrous OPPRESSION and NATIONAL WICKEDNESS
cannot escape a
NATIONAL PUNISHMENT
according
to the usual course of God's providence in the World, unless a hearty repentance and amendment should avert the impending vengeance!
&c.
cannot escape a
NATIONAL PUNISHMENT,
according to the usual course of
GOD's PROVIDENCE
in the World, unless a hearty Repentance and Amendment should avert the impending Vengeance.
This Doctrine is unquestionably demonstrated (I trust) by the several Extracts from the Holy Scriptures, which I have inserted in the preceding pages: and the proof of it (I thank God) affords me a double recompence for my labours in collecting them; for it not only vindicates my previous assertions to the Ministers of his present Majesty, but it confirms the
similar assertions
of my own Grandfather, declared,
near a Century ago,
to the great National Assembly of this Kingdom
— "Wicked men" (said he)
may be happy and prosperous here, and good men may suffer many afflictions and tribulations, without any the least reflection on the justice or goodness of the great Governor of the World: because there is a farther day reserved for the adjusting all men's rewards, according to their works. But now the consideration of PUBLIC SOCIETIES and NATIONS is QUITE DIFFERENT. NATIONS
are not made to be
IMMORTAL,
but end with the world.
No SOCIETY, AS A SOCIETY, SHALL BE CALLED TO A FUTURE ACCOUNT;
but all the rewards and punishments they are capable of
AS SOCIETIES, MUST BE ADJUDGED AND DISTRIBUTED TO THEM IN THIS PRESENT LIFE. And therefore if we suppose GOD to be the Judge and Governor of the World, and of all the Nations in it; as well as he is the Judge and Governor of particular persons; we must likewise suppose, that he administers all affairs so, that
righteous
and
religious
NATIONS
have
IN THIS WORLD
the reward of their virtue in the blessings of peace and plenty, and all manner of temporal prosperity:
and on the other side,
impious and incorrigible
NATIONS
are likewise punished
IN THIS WORLD
for their wickedness; either by severe
JUDGEMENTS, OR BY A TOTAL DESTRUCTION;
as
GOD
in his infinite wisdom sees cause.
—
The word of God doth all along bear testimony to the truth of this.
—
There is no Judgement threatened to any nation in the Holy Scripture (and abundance of nations are there threatened) but it is upon the account of the
Sins
and
Wickedness
they were guilty of. Which Sins if they repented of, so repented as to forsake them, they might find mercy. And accordingly we find in fact, that GOD ALWAYS DEALT WITH PEOPLE AND NATIONS ACCORDING TO THESE MEASURES,
&c.—And after citing the examples of the Ninevites, Canaanites, and Babylonians, and after referring us to the Greek, Roman, and even to the Turkish history for more examples, he remarks concerning the Jews in particular, that—
every degree of PUBLIC VICE, and departure from GOD's
Laws,
was always
punished
with PUBLIC
Judgement.
And on the other side, every degree of PUBLIC
Repentance
and
Reformation
was always rewarded with PUBLIC
Happiness
and prosperity: so that any one that could make a right estimate of that
nation,
and how it stood as to VIRTUE
and
VICE, might constantly make a Judgement likewise
how it would fare with them,
as to their
outward temporal affairs.
I must confess
(says he)
that generally speaking, there is little force in those arguments that are drawn from examples; but in the case I am now upon, I think there is great weight in them. For though we can not angue from GOD's dealing with
one person,
that he will just deal in the same manner with another; yet
as to
NATIONS and KINGDOMS THE CASE IS OTHERWISE, as I before said. For GOD's
Dispensations and Providences to them, seem all to proceed upon
ONE IMMUTABLE FOUNDATION (
which will be
THE SAME IN ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES) namely, the expression and vindication of
his justice and goodness
in this world.
Archb. Sharp's Sermons, vol. 1. serm. 8. intitled,
Virtue and Religion the only Means to make a Nation prosperous.
The whole sermon is indeed a compleat and unanswerable argument against those sophists who contend for the necessity of Political Evil, and of permitting and encouraging Vice in certain degrees (as they shall think fit) for state occasions.
.
Can we claim a
better
RIGHT to the enslaved Negroes in the British Colonies than the several antient Nations, abovementioned, had to their Captive Enemies, whom God had delivered into their hands? And yet, we find, they were made mutual Instruments of Destruction to each other, on that very account!
Israel
(I mean the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes) was the Scourge of
Judah, Judah
of
Israel: Syria
was the Scourge of both; as also were
Edom, Moab,
and
Ammon:
and
Assyria
was the Scourge of them all.
Egypt,
again, was the Scourge of
Assyria;
and
Assyria
(under a Babylonish King) became afterwards the severe Scourge and Retaliator of Evils upon
Egypt!
The opulent
Tyre,
with her princely Merchants, suffered among the rest for her iniquitous Traffic in Slaves
These enterprising Traders, the first great Navigators of the World
says the sensible and benevolent Author of
Britannia Libera
),
having, in the course of their success and their grandeur, imported for their own use a great number of
SLAVES,
they conspired, slew their Masters, and all the Free-men
(two only excepted, old STRATO and his Son, who were saved through the GENEROSITY OF THEIR OWN SLAVE)
took to themselves their wives and daughters, with the whole city, and raised a new commonwealth;
A DREADFUL EXAMPLE,
saith Justin, to all the world,
CELEBRE HOC SERVORUM FACINUS, METUENDUMQUE EXEMPLUM TOTO ORBE TERRARUM FUIT.
Just. Hist. lib. xviii.
who nevertheless went on in their former course of
ENSLAVING
one another.
Britannia Libera, or a Defence of the Free State of Man in England against the Claim of any Man there as a slave." p. 3.
; and the lesser Philistine States, Ashdod, Gath, Gaza,
&c.
did not partake of the uncharitable
Crime,
without an equal share of
Retribution!
These examples clearly demonstrate the necessity of observing the Apostle's Advice:—
If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye are not consumed one of another
(Gal. v. 15.): which is a striking representation of the EXTREME DANGER of
Oppression
and
the Want of Brotherly Lover;
for surely no
Oppression
can be more notorious and
biting
than that of
enslaving
others; nor can the DANGER of being
"consumed one of another"
(according to the Apostle's express words) be more apparent, than in the FREQUENT INSURRECTIONS which have ever been the unavoidable consequences of Slavery!
See an Extract from Mr. Morgan's Book, intitled,
"A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery,"
&c. printed at the end of this Tract.
Can we reasonably expect, that the only exception to God's general rule of
National Vengeance
and
Retribution
upon the Authors of
Slavery and Oppression
shall be in favour of GREAT BRITAIN, which hath so notoriously exceeded all other Nations in the multiplicity and largeness of her dealings in the MAN-TRADE
Long before this additional load of
national
guilt had arrived at any considerable height, the nation was supposed to be under a very dangerous burthen of Sin, which my Grandfather testified before the House of Commons,
we are not that innocent, virtuous, pious people
(said he)
that may certainly reckon upon God's favour, and think ourselves in all cases sure of his protection. For if the Doctrine I have now been insisting on to you, be true Doctrine; then we of this nation can but entertain very small
hopes of being
HAPPY
and
PROSPEROUS.
Nay we cannot but apprchend
MISERY
and
RUIN,
and desolation to ourselves; unless God be abundantly more merciful to us than we deserve. And there can be no way to prevail with him to be so, but an
UNIVERSAL HUMILIATION
and
REPENTANCE!
and this is the application I desire to make of the point I have been now treating of.
—(With the same view and desire exactly is the present address laid before the public, though the author was not aware when the tract was sent to the press, that his ancestor had borne (such ample public testimony to the truth of the same doctrine concerning the
Law of National Retribution,
as he has since cited from his works,)—
If the measure of God's dealing with
NATIONS
be always according to the moral state of them; if their good fortunes be dealt out to them according to their virtues; and Judgements be inflicted upon them, according to their provoking God by their Sins; as we have said; good Lord! what a lamentable prospect have
WE OF THIS KINGDOM
of what may come upon us? and what infinite reason have we thereupon, immediately to try all the ways that are possible of making our peace with God, that so
INIQUITY MAY NOT BE OUR RUIN!
Archbp. Sharp's Sermons, Vol. 1. Serm. 8. p. 215, 216. 9th edit. But the horrible abomination of the Slave-Trade was only in its infancy when my Grandfather made this declaration, and the baneful tendency of it perhaps was hardly known to him, or he would certainly have entered a zealous and particular protest against it! With such an
accumulated load of national Guilt,
the necessity of a public humiliation and repentance is become more and more obvious, especially as the long foreseen
Vengeance of the Almighty
seems now ready to burst upon our heads! let us therefore earnestly join in the necessary reformation
"that so iniquity may not be our Ruin."
; that iniquitous and oppressive business of purchasing our poor unhappy
African
Brothers, and Sisters
(
Men, Women, and Children
),
and then forcibly transporting them
"far from their border,"
even to the opposite side (almost) of this terrestrial Globe!
What is this, my Countrymen, but a notorious aggravation of that very crime for which the
Vengeance
and
Retribution
of the ALMIGHTY was poured on the heads of the ancient Tyrian Merchants, above-mentioned. They SOLD the Captive Jews to the Grecians,
a neighbouring People;
but YE HAVE SOLD the poor
Africans
(who never offended you) to
the very distant Inhabitants of America and the West Indies,
THAT YE MIGHT REMOVE THEM FAR
(far indeed!) "FROM THEIR BORDER." Have we not reason to expect the same awful Decree of the Divine Justice which immediately follows these words—
"Behold, I will raise them"
(i. e. the Slaves)
out of the place
WHITHER YE HAVE SOLD THEM,
and will return your Recompence upon your own head.
AND I WILL SELL YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS,
&c.
Joel iii. 7, 8. Have we not ample reason to fear, that God will make of this Nation (in proportion to the magnitude of our guilt in
Slave-dealing)
a tremendous Example of RETRIBUTION, to deter other Nations from offending his
Eternal
JUSTICE, if a sincere and speedy
national
Repentance does not avert the Evil?—"THE LORD" (JEHOVAH)
IS HIS NAME:
that strengthened the
SPOILED
against the
STRONG:
so that the
SPOILED
shall come against the
FORTRESS.
(Amos v. 8, 9.) That saith —
They shall
SPOIL
those that
SPOILED
them.
(Ezek. xxxix. 10.) This latter Sentence of RETRIBUTION (as well as the first) was denounced, indeed, against the
Oppressors
of the ISRAELITES; but yet the
Justice
of it is equally applicable to the unprovoked
Oppressors of the poor Africans!
—We know not how soon a just
national Retribution
may overtake us! how soon the Almighty may think fit to recompense the British Nation
according to the work of their own hands!
or how soon he may withdraw his light from us, and leave us involved in the same deplorable ignorance that the
Africans
themselves unhappily fell into very soon, after they perverted (the Truth and Intention of the Gospel, which was once planted (and that very early) even in the internal parts of their vast Continent, as I have elsewhere shewn! (See my Tract on the just Limitation of Slavery, pages 21 to 26.) This lamentable Fall of
Africa
'That AFRICA' (said he)
which is not now more fruitful of Monsters than it was once of excellently wise and learned men; that AFRICA, which formerly afforded us our
Clemens,
our
Origen,
our
Tertullian,
our
Cyprian,
our
Augustine,
and many other extraordinary lights in the Church of God; that FAMOUS AFRICA, in whose soil CHRISTIANITY did thrive so prodigiously, and could boast of so many flourishing Churches, alas! ISNOW A WILDERNESS.
The wild Boars have broken into the Vineyard and eaten it up, and it brings forth nothing but Bryars and Thorns:
to use the words of the Prophet. And who knows but GOD MAY SUDDENLY MAKE THIS CHURCH AND NATION, THIS OUR ENGLAND; which, Jeshurun like, is
waxed fat and grown proud, and has kicked against God,
SUCH ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE VENGEANCE OF THIS KIND.
Archbp. Sharp's Sermons, Vol. 2. Serm. 1. intitled, Repentance the Means for averting God's Judgement, 5th edit. p. 22. Preached before the House of Commons, April 11, 1679.
was the very example by which my own Grandfather,
near a Century ago
(wanting only three years), warned the
House of Commons
concerning our
national Danger.
But there is still one more great example against Tyranny and Oppression, which must not be omitted: I mean the example of God's Vengeance against Babylon, that great and terrible Scourge of all the other ancient Nations, already mentioned in this Tract; for as her OPPRESSIONS were more general and extensive, so her Punishment is more frequently and more fully declared in Scripture.
The Prophet Jeremiah denounced
the Law of Retribution
against the Babylonians in the strongest terms, as well in return for the cruel Slaughters they were guilty of, as for the heavy
Yoke of Bondage
with which they oppressed the Captive Israelites. See chap. L.—
Declare ye among the Nations
(said the Prophet),
and publish, and set up a standard; publish,
(and)
conceal not: say,
BABYLON
is taken,
BEL
is confounded,
&c.
For out of the North there cometh up a Nation against her, which shall
MAKE HER LAND DESOLATE;
(manifestly in return for the cruel DESOLATION of Judea;)
and none shall dwell therein
(that is, in Babylon):
they shall remove, they shall depart, both Man and Beast,
(Jer. L. 2, 3.) And to mark the
Indignation,
as well as
the Cause
of it, in the strongest terms by the severity of Contrast, the Promise of a happy Restauration to the Captives, whom they oppressed, is blended with the Sentence of their own Condemnation:—
In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the Children of Israel shall come, they and the Children of Judah, together, going and weeping: they shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward,
(saying,)
Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant
(that)
shall not be forgotten. My People have been lost Sheep: their Shepherds
(that is, their wicked Kings, see Jer. xxiii.)
have caused them to go astray,
&c.
All that found them
HAVE DEVOURED THEM:
and their
ADVERSARIES
said, We offend not, because they have
SINNED AGAINST THE LORD
In like manner, an Advocate for the African Trade, who distinguished himself by the signature of
Mercator,
hoped to remove the odium of
oppressing
the poor Africans, by falsely asserting, that they were descended from Canaan, who was cursed by his Father Noah:—
Cursed be Canaan; a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren.
Treatise upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by an African Merchant, Appendix 5. See also my Tract on the
Just Limitation of Slavery, &c.
p. 46—49. wherein this Assertion of
Mercator
is answered.
,
the Habitation of Justice; even the Lord, the Hope of their Fathers.
The Prophet then immediately refumes the Burthen of Babylon:—
Remove out of the midst of Babylon,
&c.
—
Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her Foundations are fallen, her Walls are thrown down: for it
(is) THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD:
take
VENGEANCE
upon her;
AS SHE HATH DONE, DO UNTO HER.
(Jer. L. 4—15.) Here the Law of Retribution is strongly marked! And again in the 17th verse:
—
Israel
(is)
a scattered Sheep; the Lions have driven
(him)
away: first the
KING OF ASSYRIA
hath devoured him; and last this
NEBUCHADREZZAR KING OF BABYLON
hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the
KING OF BABYLON
and his Land, as I have punished the
KING OF ASSYRIA.
(See the example before quoted.)
And I will
BRING ISRAEL AGAIN TO HIS HABITATION,
&c.
—
Call together the Archers against
BABYLON:
all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape:
RECOMPENSE HER ACCORDING TO HER WORK; ACCORDING TO ALL THAT SHE HATH DONE, DO UNTO HER;
for she hath been
PROUD
against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore shall her young men fall, in the streets.
&c.
And a little further the principal cause of God's (Anger is more particularly expressed: —
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah
(were) OPPRESSED TOGETHER:
and all that
TOOK THEM CAPTIVES HELD THEM FAST;
they
REFUSED TO LET THEM GO.
But mark, ye
Slave-holders,
what immediately follows! —
Their
REDEEMER
(is)
STRONG; THE LORD OF HOSTS
(Jehovah of Armies) (is)
his Name;
he shall
THOROUGHLY PLEAD THEIR CAUSE,
that he may give rest to the Land, and disquiet
THE INHABITANTS OF BABYLON — A SWORD IS UPON THE CHALDEANS,
&c.
See the whole 50th chapter.
The
Law of Retribution
is also strongly marked in the 30th chapter, where the Prophet promises that Jehovah
will
BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL AND JUDAH;
(ver. 2.) and
that
JACOB
shall be saved
OUT OF HIS TROUBLE, (ver. 7.) and more especially
from
SLAVERY, declaring, as the Word of the Lord of Hosts,
I will break his
YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK, AND WILL BURST THY BONDS;
and
STRANGERS
shall no more
SERVE THEMSELVES OF HIM.
But they
SHALL SERVE THE LORD THEIR GOD
Compare this with Levit. xxv. 42.
For they are
MY SERVANTS
(said the Almighty),
which I brought out of the Land of Egypt; they shall not be
SOLD
as
BONDMEN.
,
and
DAVID
their King, whom I will raise up unto them
This is allowed, even by the Jews, to be a Prophecy of the
Messiah;
for in the Targum of Jonathan it is rendered
,
& obedient Meschiae filie David Regi suo.
The Messiah is reprented under the name of
David
(signifying
a Friend
) in three other places—twice in Ezekiel, and once in Hosea—being the
true Friend of Mankind,
whose principal Doctrine was universal
Love
and
Good-will towards Men.
And Christ himself, after explaining the necessary Doctrine of
Love
(John xv. 9 to 13.), condescended to honour his followers with the reciprocal appellation of FRIENDS:—"
Ye are my
FRIENDS," (said he)
if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not
SERVANTS;
for the
SERVANT
knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you
FRIENDS;
for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made know unto you.
&c.
Here is a clear ENFRANCHISEMENT of Christ's Household: whereby we learn, that TRUE CHRISTIAN LIBERTY is acquired by the
Knowledge of
GOD'S WILL, revealed to us by Christ; if we sincerely ask the assistance of the HOLY SPIRIT, that we may act accordingly, then shall we be
Friends indeed!
.
(See verses 8 and 9.) And he represents God as speaking to the whole Nation under the personal figure of their Ancestor, the Patriarch JACOB, saying,
I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make
A FULL END OF ALL NATIONS
whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not
MAKE A FULL END OF THEE
(shewing that Israel was still the peculiar People of God):
but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
(ver 11.) And also after some further expostulation concerning the grievous affliction of that peculiar People, and the cause of it, the Prophet proceeds, in the 16th verse, to declare the Divine Judgement of a severe RETRIBUTION against the Enemies of JACOB: —
Therefore all they that
DEVOUR THEE
shall be
DEVOURED;
and all thine Adversaries, every one of them, shall
GO INTO CAPTIVITY;
and they that
SPOIL THEE
shall be
A SPOIL,
and all that
PREY UPON THEE
will I give
FOR A PREY:
for I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee
AN OUTCAST
As it was manifestly an offence in the sight of God to call Israel an OUT-CAST
during the former
DESOLATION; it, certanily,
is not less so now,
tho' that devoted People is at present
dispersed over the face of all the Earth,
without a single Acre of
National
Territory in any one place! for the scriptures gives us ample assurance of a much more glorious
Return of the Jews,
than that from
Babylon;
and the Apostle to the Gentiles has expressly declared, that
God hath not
CAST AWAY
his people which he fore knew.
Rom. xi. 2. And in the 11th verse he says,
through
THEIR FALL
Salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to Jealousy. Now
(says he)
if the
FALL OF THEM
be the
RICHES OF THE WORLD,
and
THE DIMINISHING
of
THEM
the
RICHES OF THE GENTILES; HOW MUCH MORE THEIR FULNESS?
&c. and again in the 15th verse—
IF THE CASTING AWAY
of them be the reconciling of the World, what shall the
RECEIVING OF THEM BE, BUT LIFE FROM THE DEAD?
And the apostle also warns us NOT
to boast against the Branches of that Mystical Olive Tree
on which the Wild Olive Tree of the Gentiles is grafted,
"for"
(says he)
if God spared not the
NATURAL BRANCHES
(the Israelites)
take heed lest he
ALSO "SPARE NOT THEE."—(and indeed we have the greatest reason to acknowledge the great mercy of God in sparing this nation hitherto, if we consider the many bloody persecutions of the Jews in this Kingdom during the dark days of POPISH IGNORANCE, (many particulars of which may be seen in Tovey's
Anglia Judaica
) or perhaps we may say, that many of the bloody Civil Wars and other
National Calamities,
that have already distressed
this Nation,
may have been inflicted on our ancestors for their
unmerciful Treatment
of these wandering STRANGERS in
persecuting, banishing, and even
MURDERING
them
in multitudes for the sake of plundering and robbing them of their wealth! Let us remember the confident hope of the Apostle, that the Israelites shall be again grafted into their own Olive Tree—
"for"
(says he)
God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the
OLIVE-TREE
which is
WILD BY NATURE,
and wert
GRAFFED
contrary to nature into a
GOOD OLIVE TREE;
how much more shall these, which be
THE NATURAL BRANCHES,
be
GRAFFED INTO THEIR OWN OLIVE TREE?
and he adds,
for I wou'd not, Brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
BLINDNESS IN PART
is happened to
ISRAEL
until the
FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN.
And so shall
ALL ISRAEL
be saved: as it is written—There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
JACOB.
For this is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their Sins,
&c. See the whole chapter.
, (saying,)
This
(is)
Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
&c.
In the 25th chapter also a severe
Retribution
is denounced expressly against
"the King of Babylon"
and
the Land of the Chaldeans,
to confirm all. that had been foretold by
Jeremiah:
—
I will make it
(viz. Babylon, or the Land of the Chaldeans)
perpetual Desolations. And I will bring upon that Land all my Words which I have pronounced against it,
(even)
all
(that is)
written in this Book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the Nations. For many Nations and great Kings shall serve themselves of them also
(that is, by reducing
them also
to Slavery and Bondage):
and I will recompense them
(now mark God's Law of Retribution)
according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
Jer. xxv. 12—14.
And even the Prophet Isaiah, who lived long before Jeremiah, also denounced a RETRIBUTION IN KIND against BABYLON, in as plain and intelligible a stile, as if he had been relating the history of things past, though the time of delivering the Prophecy was
long before
the CAPTIVITY of JUDAH, and, consequently,
long before
even the OFFENCE
was committed,
for which the RETRIBUTION
was denounced.
See chap. 14.
"For the Lord"
(said Isaiah)
will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet
CHOOSE ISRAEL,
and set them in their own Land;
(this, observe, was foretold long before they were removed from it;)
and the Strangers shall be joined with them;
(this was the case, particularly, of the
Edomites,
after the return from the Babylonish Captivity;)
and they shall cleave to the House of
JACOB.
&c.
—
And they shall take them
CAPTIVES WHOSE CAPTIVES THEY WERE;
and they shall rule over
THEIR OPPRESSORS.
(This is a manifest RETRIBUTION IN KIND.)
And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee
(Israel)
rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the
HARD BONDAGE
wherein thou wast made to
SERVE,
that thou shalt take up this proverb against the
KING OF BABYLON,
and say, How hath
THE OPPRESSOR CEASED!
The Lord hath broken the Staff of the Wicked,
(and)
the Sceptre of the Rulers. He who
SMOTE THE PEOPLE
in wrath with
A CONTINUAL STROKE;
he that
RULED THE NATIONS IN ANGER,
is persecuted, and none hindereth.
&c.
Isaiah xiv. 1—6. —
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
(and)
consider thee,
(saying, is)
this the Man that made the Earth to tremble, that did shake Kingdoms?
(that)
made the World as a Wilderness, and destroyed the Cities thereof?
(that) OPENED NOT THE HOUSE OF HIS PRISONERS?
&c.
Ver. 16, 17. Mark this, ye hardened
Slave-holders,
who are so
tenacious
of that usurped and pretended property which ye claim in the Persons of your Fellow Men! Will ye also refuse to OPEN THE HOUSE OF YOUR PRISONERS? Remember that the same God still reigns, and never changes. If he spared not the first and most glorious Monarchy upon Earth, he surely will not spare you, unless ye sincerely repent and reform! God's Vengeance against Babylon was executed expressly on account of the
heavy Yoke of Bondage
with which they oppressed their Captives. The Judgement, and the Denunciation of it, was the more exemplary, as it was a JUDGEMENT IN KIND—a manifest RETRIBUTION OF SLAVERY? The Language is
awful
and
majestic,
as well as truly
poetical;
for the condemned
Nation
is figuratively represented under the similitude of a delicate young Woman, or Virgin, whereby the
national
Judgement is rendered (as it were)
personal;
and, consequently, much more striking and affecting than it could have been in any other way.
"Come down"
(said the Prophet Isaiah, chap. xlvii.),
and sit in the dust,
O VIRGIN DAUGHTER OF BABYLON! SIT ON THE GROUND:
(that is, to denote her future abject state, when deprived of
Royalty:
)
(there is)
no Throne,
O DAUGHTER OF THE CHALDEANS:
for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate!
The Prophet then proceeds to describe the deplorable state of the most ABJECT SLAVES, which was now to be transferred from the
Sufferers
to the
Slave-holders
themselves! He still addresses himself to the Imperial City under the simile of a Woman, and gives that
"Lady of Kingdoms"
See ver. 5.
—
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness,
O DAUGHTER
of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called
THE LADY OF KINGDOMS!
a humiliating information of her future employment and condition in SLAVERY: —
Take the mill-stones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh,
PASS OVER THE RIVERS.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; yea, thy shame shall be seen:
I WILL TAKE VENGEANCE,
I will not meet
(thee as)
a man.
&c.
The Prophet, after giving assurance to Israel, that Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, would be their REDEEMER (that is, a REDEEMER from SLAVERY, both
temporal
and
spiritual
), proceeds to declare the reason of God's
severe Vengeance
against BABYLON in the 6th verse:—
I was wroth with my People, I have polluted mine Inheritance, and given them into
THINE HAND:
thou didst shew them
NO MERCY:
upon the Ancient hast thou
VERY HEAVILY LAID THY YOKE.
And thou saidst, I shall be a Lady for ever:
(so)
that thou didst not lay these
(things)
to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou
(that art)
given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly,
&c.
—
These two things shall come to thee,
IN A MOMENT, IN ONE DAY;
the loss of Children and Widowhood; they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitude of thy Sorceries,
(and)
for the great abundance of thine Enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy Wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy Wisdom and thy Knowledge it hath perverted thee.
(Mark this, ye little Philosophers and sophistical Deists, who even make it a question whether there be such a thing as Providence in the World.)
And thou hast said in thine heart, I
(am),
and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and
DESOLATION
shall come upon thee
SUDDENLY
Compare this with the above-recited passage in the 9th verse: —
These two things shall come to thee,
IN A MOMENT, IN ONE DAY,
&c.
The same SUDDEN and UNEXPECTED VENGEANCE is also strongly described by Jeremiah: —
"Babylon"
(said he, in the spirit of Prophecy)
is
SUDDENLY FALLEN AND DESTROYED: HOWL FOR HER,
&c.
Chap. li. 8. This exemplary VENGEANCE was denounced expressly on account of the
Babylonian
TYRANNY
over the Jewish
CAPTIVES; for in a preceding verse the latter are comforted, and informed of the RETRIBUTION determined against
babylon:— "For Israel hath not been forsaken"
(said the Prophet)
nor Judah, of his God, of the Lord of Hosts, though their Land was filled with Sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is
THE TIME
of the
LORD'S VENGEANCE;
he will render unto her
A RECOMPENCE.
Also in the 24th verse of the same chapter the RETRIBUTION is clearly declared:—
I will render unto Babylon, and to all the Inhabitants of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.
&c.
And in the 49th verse also: —
As Babylon
(hath caused)
the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the Earth.
&c.
, (which)
thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine Inchantments, and with the multitude of thy Sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied with the multitude of thy Councils. Let now the Astrologers, the Star-gazers
(for Babylon was famous for her very ancient Royal Observatory),
the monthly Prognosticators stand up, and save thee from
(these things)
that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the
FIRE
shall
BURN THEM;
they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the
FLAME:
&c.
Isaiah xlvii. 1—14.
The Babylonians were Worshippers of
Fire;
so that the above-mentioned Denunciation of
Fiery Vengeance
seems to be peculiarly applicable: and it is remarkable, that the King of Babylon had recourse to his Astrologers
The King cried aloud to bring in the Astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the Soothsayers,
&c. viz.
to interpret the hand-writing on the wall, mentioned in the Book of Daniel, chap. v. But they were ignorant of their approaching destruction!
(agreeable to this Prophecy) in the dreadful night when the
Medes and Persians
were to enter his Capital City; for these Nations were expressly called upon by name as the appointed Instruments of GOD'S VENGEANCE
"
Make bright the
ARROWS" (for the Medes and Persians were famous Archers);
gather the shields; the Lord hath raised up the Spirit of the Kings
OF THE MEDES:
for his device
(is)
against
BABYLON
to destroy it; because it
(is)
the
VENGEANCE OF THE LORD, THE VENGEANCE OF HIS TEMPLE.
Jer. li. 11. And in the 27th verse the Prophet expressly names the Kingdoms from whence the several Armies that came with the MEDES and PERSIANS were raised: —
Set ye up a standard in the Land, blow the trumpet among the Nations, prepare the Nations against her, call together against her the Kingdoms of
ARARAT.
(
viz.
in the neighbourhood of Armenia), "MINNI" (or Aram-Minni, the
Armenians
themselves), "
and
ASHKENAZ" (
viz.
the Nations descended from the eldest Son of
Gomer;
who were nearly allied in blood to the
Medes, Madai
their Ancestor being a Brother of
Gomer,
as also of
Magog,
from whom the Turks have since descended, and all of them from the same neighbourhood).
"Appoint a Captain against her"
(who is afterwards declared to be CYRUS);
cause the
HORSES
to come up as the rough Caterpillars
(the Persians, as also the Parthians, and after them the Turks, likewise were ever famous for their Cavalry);
prepare against her the Nations, with the Kings of the
MEDES,
the Captains thereof, and all the Rulers thereof, and all the Land of his Dominion.
&c.
And in ver. 48 he says,
For the Spoilers,
SHALL COME UNTO HER FROM THE NORTH.
The Prophet Isaiah also distinctly pointed out the same Instruments of GOD'S VENGEANCE against
Babylon:
—
Lift ye up the Banner upon
THE HIGH MOUNTAIN;
exalt the voice unto them:
&c.
describing the first mustering of the confederate Nations against the overgrown tyrannical power of
Babylon:
—
The noise of a multitude
IN THE MOUNTAINS
(probably meaning the Mountains of Ararat,
&c.
mentioned by Jeremiah)
like as of a great People; a tumultuous noise of the Kingdoms of Nations gathered together:
THE LORD OF HOSTS
(
viz.
Jehovah of Armies)
mustereth the Host of the Battle.
(Here we see the proper meaning of the Lord of Hosts.)
They come from a far Country, from the end of Heaven,
(even)
the Lord and the Weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land, &c. Behold I will stir up the
MEDES
against them, which shall not regard Silver; and
(as for)
Gold they shall not delight in it
(Their)
Bows also
(for the Medes were eminent Archers)
shall dash the young men to pieces: and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their Eye shall not spare the Children. And
BABYLON
the Glory of Kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
&c. Chap. xiii. 2—19. Again in 21st chapter the same Prophet distinctly names the
Medes
and
Persians
to be the instruments of
God's retribution
against BABYLON.
A grievous Vision is declared unto me. The Treacherous Dealer dealeth treacherously, and the Spoiler spoileth. Go up,
O ELAM!
(for the
Persians
were descended from the Patriarch
Elam,
the Son of Shem, mentioned in Genesis x. 22. as Josephus observes in his Antiq. Lib. i. c. 7.
.
Besiege
O MEDIA:
all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. Therefore are my loins filled with pain:
(the Prophet seems to describe the consternation of the King of Babylon just before his destruction)
Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the Pangs of a Woman that travaileth:
I WAS BOWED DOWN AT THE HEARING (of it),
viz. of Daniel's interpretation of the hand-writing upon the wall of the Banquetting House. "
I was dismayed at the seeing
(of it)" (probably meaning the miraculous appearance of the hand which wrote)
My heart
PANTED,
fearfulness affrighted me!
Isaiah xxi. 2—4. The extreme fear which really possessed the King of Babylon in that dreadful time of retribution, is strongly described by Daniel who was an eye-witness of it. (Chap. v. 6.) viz.
That the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
The
Medes
and
Persians
and their associates are also described by
Jeremiah,
as well as the extreme fear and anguish of the King of Babylon, on hearing the report of them—
"Behold"
(said the Prophet)
a people shall come
FROM THE NORTH
(Armenia, Media, &c. being to the north of Mesopotamia or Babylonia)
and a great nation, and many Kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea,
AND THEY SHALL RIDE UPON HORSES.
(See the remark above concerning the
Pensian
Cavalry, the Persians having obtained that very name on account of their character as horsemen, for
Perse,
or
Pheresh,
signifies a Horseman, as well as
Parth
or
Phereth
)
every one put in array like a man to the battle, against thee, O Daughter of Babylon. The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: Anguish took hold of him, and Pangs as of a Woman in Travail,
&c. Chap. l. 41—43.
; and the horrors of that fatal night were plainly foretold: —
The night of my pleasure
(says the Prophet, manifestly referring to the impious midnight carousal mentioned by Daniel, by Herodotus, and Xenophon)
hath he turned into
FEAR
unto me
(the excess of which is described in the former verses, quoted in the preceding Note).
PREPARE THE TABLE,
watch in the
WATCH-TOWER
For the Babylonians trusted in their
Walls
and
Towers,
as appears also by
Jeremiah
's prophecy on the same occasion,
Set up the Standard upon the Walls of Babylon—make the watch strong, set up the Watchmen, prepare the ambushes,
&c. Jer. li. 12.
, EAT, DRINK. ARISE, YE PRINCES
It appears by the account of Xenophon, that when
Gobryas
and his men first entered
the Palace
in that
fatal night,
they found the King and his Princes assembled, and the King standing with a drawn scymitar in his hand, ready to oppose them (notwithstanding his extreme consternation just before, on hearing the miraculous prediction of his fate), that he might endeavour to persuade his
Princes
to stand by him, and resist the Enemy; though, indeed, the learned Vitringa supposes. that the words
arise, ye Princes, and anoint the shield
refer to the Speech of Cyrus just before the assault, recorded likewise by Xenophon—A
,
&c.
and anoint the shield,
&c.
Isaiah xxi. 4, 5.
The Prophet Jeremiah also alludes to the same fatal Babylonian supper, which seems to have been intended as a
Festivity
to the honour of their False Deities
We read in Daniel v. 4. that
they
DRANK WINE,
and
PRAISED THE GODS OF GOLD,
and
OF SILVER,
of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
, in order to insure success against the Besiegers: —
In their heat
(or in their anger, that is, against their Enemies in the War)
I will make their
FEASTS,
and I will make them
DRUNKEN,
that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord. I will bring them down
LIKE LAMBS
to the slaughter
(that is, without opposition or resistance on their part
Which is described also in the 40th verse of "the same chapter:—
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds;
THEIR MIGHT HATH FAILED,
they
BECAME AS WOMEN:
they
(that is, the Enemy)
have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken. One post shall run to meet another,
TO SHEW THE KING OF BABYLON
that his City is taken at one end, and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with
FIRE,
and the men of war are affrighted.
&c.
,
like Rams with He-goats. How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole Earth surprized!
(alluding to the unexpected entry of the Enemy;)
How is Babylon become an astonishment among the Nations!
&c.
Jer. li. to ver. 42. And the
manner of bringing about
this VENGEANCE, as well as the REASON of it, is further described in the same chapter: —
For the Lord God of
RECOMPENCES
(said the Prophet, ver. 56.)
shall surely
REQUITE.
And I will
MAKE DRUNK
her
PRINCES
and her
WISE MEN,
her
CAPTAINS
and her
RULERS,
and her mighty men: and they shall
SLEEP A PERPETUAL SLEEP,
and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts
(
viz.
Jehovah of Armies).
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire, and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
Jer. li. 56—58.
The Armies of God's Wrath upon Babylon were led by
Cyrus,
who was expressly called upon
by name,
and appointed to this service
about two hundred years before he was born
Clank's Annotations.
;
and Deliverance also by his hand from Bondage was promised, at the same time, to the Jews, even many years before they were carried into Captivity:—
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou
(art)
my Servant: I have formed thee; thou
(art)
my Servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto me; for I have redeemed thee
(that is, from the Babylonish Slavery, as the remainder of the chapter will shew).
Sing, O ye Heavens; for the Lord hath done
(it):
shout, ye lower parts of the Earth: break forth into singing, ye Mountains, O Forest, and every Tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
If the Redemption of the Jews even from Temporal Slavery was esteemed a subject of Joy and Triumph to the Universe (Heaven and Earth), how much more will the world have cause to rejoice when the Lord shall redeem them also from that
spiritual Slavery
and
hardness of heart,
in which they remain at present; how much more interesting to all the world will be their last
great and glorious return to their Redeemer!
"If the fall of them" (said the Apostle Paul)
be the
riches of the world,
and the diminishing of them the Riches of the Gentiles;
how much more their fulness?
Romans xi. 12. and he tells us again in the 25th verse,
That Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so shall
ALL ISRAEL
be saved;
&c. and again in the 32d verse—that
God hath included them
ALL IN UNBELIEF
that he might have mercy upon
ALL.
,
and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord
THY REDEEMER,
and he that formed thee from the Womb; I
(am)
the
LORD
(Jehovah),
that maketh all
(things);
that stretcheth forth the Heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the Earth by myself: that frustrateth the Tokens of the Lyars, and maketh Diviners mad; that turneth Wise
(Men)
backward, and maketh their Knowledge foolish;
(referring, probably, to the unprofitable Sciences and vain Politics of the Chaldeans;)
that confirmeth the Word of his Servant, and performeth the Counsel of his Messengers; that saith to
JERUSALEM, THOU SHALT BE INHABITED
(that is, after the appointed
Desolation
),
and to the Cities of
JUDAH,
Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: that saith to the Deep
(whereby, according to the Targum, BABEL is meant),
Be
DRY;
and I will
DRY UP
thy Rivers:
(most probably alluding to the successful stratagem of Cyrus to
dry up the Rivers
by altering their Course, whereby he gained an unsuspected passage into the City through the emptied Channels
"In the language of the Prophets" (says Mr. Cruden in his Concordance)
Waters
often denote a great multitude of
people;
—and this prophecy perhaps might allude to the vast
conflux
of people at Babylon; that God would
dry them
up by making the place desolate; but yet the literal sense is certainly to be preferred, because it seems to have had a literal accomplishment in the successful stratagem of Cyrus abovementioned.—
Certè de Babylone est sermo,
(says the learned Forerius)
per quam fluebant flumina Tigris & Euphrates; quorum cursum avertit Cyrus, ut exsiccato alveo subintrarent Milites Civitatem,
&c.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 5186. And Grotius upon the same Text says,
Hoc pertinet ad id quod Cyrus fecit ut Babylonem caperet: amnem cnim Euphratem diffidit & parte ejus in lacus abducta per alveum veterem in urbem ingressus est. Historia est apud Jeremiam li. 32. & apud Herodotum.
that saith of
CYRUS, (he is)
my
SHEPHERD,
and shall
PERFORM ALL MY PLEASURE;
even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the Temple, Thy Foundation shall be laid.
Isaiah xliv. 21—28. And in the 45th chapter the great Restorer of temporal Liberty is further revealed: —
Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed, to
CYRUS,
whose right hand I have holden, to subdue Nations before him; and I will loose the loins of Kings;
(see the former account concerning the extreme fear of the King of Babylon and his Princes;)
to
OPEN
before him
THE TWO-LEAVED GATES;
and
THE GATES SHALL NOT BE SHUT.
(Compare this with Zenophon's Account of the Palace Gates being OPENED on the first Alarm.)
I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the Gates of Brass, and cut in sunder the Bars of Iron: and I will give thee the Treasures of Darkness, and hidden riches of Secret places,
(alluding probably to the immense quantities of Gold in the secret Chapels of the Babylonish Idols within the great ancient
Herodotus, who was at Babylon before the Persian Conquest, gives some account of this, according to the intelligence he had received from the Babylonish Priests (for strangers were not permitted to see them), whereby they might with great propriety be called—
The "hidden riches of secret places;"
and they were also very properly called
Treasures of Darkness,
being dedicated to
Demons;
for the greatest part of the gold was worked up into the various imaginary forms of the false Deities. There was one Golden Idol of Jupiter of an immense size.
Tower.)
that thou mayest know that I the Lord, which call
(thee) BY THY NAME, (am)
the God of Israel.
And in the next verse the Prophet assigns the reason why the Almighty thus called upon CYRUS, viz.—
for Jacob my Servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee
BY THY NAME:
I have
SURNAMED THEE,
though thou hast not known me. I
(am)
the Lord,
(or rather
I
(am) JEHOVAH)
and
(there is)
none else,
(there is)
no God beside me: I girded thee,
(or strengthened thee)
though thou hast not known me,
&c. and God's PURPOSE in raising up CYRUS is still more clearly declared in the 13th verse,—
I have raised him up in
RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and I will
DIRECT ALL HIS WAYS:
he shall
BUILD MY CITY,
and
HE SHALL LET GO MY CAPTIVES,
(mark this ye wretched Slave-holders)
NOT FOR PRICE, NOR REWARD,
saith the Lord of Hosts;
and accordingly
the Proclamation of Freedom
to the Jews and the Decree for rebuilding the Temple were made in the first year of Cyrus. See Ezra i. 1.
Now let my Readers seriously compare these accounts of God's peculiar favour to CYRUS, THE RESTORER OF LIBERTY, with the accounts (which I have already recited) of GOD'S opposite treatment of that man who
OPENED NOT THE HOUSE OF HIS PRISONERS.
Isaiah xiv. 17.
Cyrus by the Almighty was expressly called, in the 45th chapter of Isaiah, "HIS ANOINTED:"—
Thus saith the Lord to
HIS ANOINTED,
to
CYRUS;
and
, literally
to his Messiah
In the Septuagint the passage is rendered
, and literally from thence in the Latin Vulgate
"Christo meo Cyro," to Cyrus my Christ.
By Munster it is rendered
MESCHIAE SUO;
hoc est
(says he)
Regi suo. Vocatur autem
CORESCH
seu
CYRUS MESCHIAS
& Rex Domini, quod ille ordinaverit eum in Regem per quem disposuerat devastare Regnum Babylonicum, quodque
CHRISTI: VERI MESCHIAE
Typum gereret.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 5190. And the learned
Forerius,
upon the same Text, remarks as follows:
Nomine
Reges propter
UNCTIONEM
dicebantur.
CYRUM
autem
SUUM REGEM
vocat Dominus quòd ab eo electus fuisset, & quòd ad implendam voluntatem suam eum destinasset. Illi etenim Reges qui servis Dei favent, qui eos
IN LIBERTATEM ASSERUNT,
qui hostes eorum oppugnant, digni sunt qui
DEI REGES
dicantur. Verùm enimvero quia de reductione captivitatis instituebat sermonem, de Cyro, per quem eos reducturus erat, plura dicendi cepit occasionem, quòd is esset
CHRISTI DOMINI
Typus & Figura.
Crit. Sac. Tom. 4. p. 5194.
,
to Cyrus,
&c.
for Cyrus, by
freely
restoring a great Nation to their
natural liberty
from a heavy Bondage under the Babylonian Tyrant, might justly be esteemed a Type of that future
great Restorer to universal Liberty,
foretold by the same Prophet, who was afterwards to
enfranchise
all Mankind from a
much worse Bondage under the Empire of Satan
The Spirit of the Lord God
(is)
upon me; because the Lord
(
viz.
Jehovah)
HATH ANOINTED ME
to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to
PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES,
and the
OPENING OF THE PRISON TO (them that are) BOUND;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD,
&c.
Isaiah lxi. 1, 2. And also in a former chapter:—
To open the blind eyes, to
BRING OUT THE PRISONERS FROM THE PRISON, (and)
them that sit in darkness out of the
PRISON-HOUSE.
&c.
Chap. xlii. 7. This Prophecy of Isaiah, that Christ should PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES, was acknowledged and read,
even by
CHRIST
himself,
in the Synagogue of Nazareth on the Sabbathday
The Evangelist Luke gives an account of this remarkable event chap. iv. and seems to have blended together the two Prophecies which I have recited above, as neither of them singly will answer exactly the quotation he has given from Isaiah, though, taken together, they amount very nearly to the same thing.
, and declared to be then
fulfilled:
—
This day
(said our Lord)
is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.
But alas! the greatest part of the Nation obstinately and wickedly rejected that GLORIOUS FREEDOM which was then
proclaimed;
whereby they drew down God's severe Vengeance upon themselves, being soon after deprived even of that
temporal Inheritance,
(which they seemed to value above all other things) after suffering the most extraordinary slaughters and calamities of an unsuccessful and destructive war in defence of it, and of their TEMPORAL LIBERTIES! And they
remain in exile
to this day, a living Testimony to the Truth of Prophecy
"And when he"
(Jesus)
"was come near"
(that is, to Jerusalem)
he beheld the City, and
WEPT OVER IT,
saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things
(which belong)
unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee that thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
(
and it is very remarkable, that the Romans, after trying all the usual means in vain, should at length be obliged to have recourse to
this method
before they could succeed,
)
and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy Children within thee: and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Luke xix. 41—44. Thus Christ
proclaimed
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD,
—
agrecable to Isaiah's prophecy, already recited in this note, p. 299.
, and an Example to all the Nations, wherever they are difpersed, of GOD'S VENGEANCE against the Rejecters of his divine Revelation!
This spiritual
Freedom
is, indeed, clearly tendered to
all men:
but how many are they who, for the sake of a little worldly profit, are again entangled in the snares and temptations of their
spiritual Enemy,
and submit themselves to his
Bondage!
How can we suppose, that those men are FREE from THE MAMMON OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, who are led by the temptations of private interest to infringe the NATURAL RIGHTS OF MANKIND, by uncharitably retaining their
Fellow Men
in an
involuntary
SERVITUDE!
Can any injury, except that of
taking away a man's
LIFE, exceed that of
taking away a man's
LIBERTY, who has never offended us! Can any
robbery
or
injustice
whatsoever be more atrocious than that of wearing out our
poor Brethren
in a hard
involuntary service, without
WAGES
or
REWARD! thereby continually
robbing them of the Fruit of their Labours!
Have I not shewn, by unquestionable examples from Scripture, that this is
a crying sin,
and that the Almighty hath denounced Wo
Wo unto him that buildeth his House by Unrighteousness, and his Chambers by Wrong;
(that) USETH HIS NEIGHBOUR'S SERVICE WITHOUT WAGES, AND GIVETH HIM NOT FOR HIS WORK;
&c.
Jer. xxii. 13.
against all such Offenders? Do we not profess to serve THE SAME GOD who so severely punished the Jews for
this very crime?
And is there any just ground to hope, that GOD, who spared not his own peculiar People, will, nevertheless, excuse the Inhabitants of
Great Britain and her Colonies,
when they are
wilfully guilty
of the same offence!
The whole tenour of the Scriptures teaches us, that SLAVERY was ever
detestable in the sight of God,
insomuch that it has generally been denounced (and, of course, inflicted) as the punishment of the most abandoned Sinners; of which I have already given a great variety of instances.
Let us therefore, before it is too late, take warning by these tremendous examples of GOD'S VENGEANCE against this kind of
Oppression,
which the Scriptures hold forth, not only to
this Nation,
but to all the World besides! The examples which I have quoted of
God's Vengeance,
denounced against the
Israelites
and
Jews
for TYRANNY, are not more striking than the examples of VENGEANCE denounced against the very
Instruments of that
VENGEANCE (the Assyrians and Babylonians) expressly on
the same account;
for though the latter were mere
Instruments in God's hand,
to punish the Jews
in kind,
yet they were themselves subjected to the like RETRIBUTION!
Nay, THE VENGEANCE was denounced particularly against the Chaldeans (and the cause of it, also, was declared)
long before they were guilty of the offence,
as I have before remarked, even while the Jews, the Nation vindicated by this punishment, were exercising that
Tyranny
at home for which they were then doomed to the
Babylonian Yoke,
and thereby laid the foundation for the future retaliated CAPTIVITY
of their haughty
CONQUERORS
the Chaldeans!
And have not we just reason to dread the severe VENGEANCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD, when it is notorious, that the
Tyranny
exercised in the British Colonies is infinitely more unmerciful than that which was formerly exercised by the
Chaldeans,
insomuch that the state of the Jews in their
Captivity
might be esteemed rather as
Freedom
than
Bondage,
when compared with the
deplorable Servitude
of the wretched NEGRO SLAVES, as well as of the white Servants, in our Colonies?
What must be the consequence of such abominable wickedness?
By as much as we exceed the Assyrians and Babylonians in religious knowledge, by so much more severely may we expect the hand of God upon us for our monstrous abuse of such advantages!
The Inhabitants of
Great Britain
and the Inhabitants of
the Colonies
seem to be almost equally guilty of
Oppression!
THE COLONIES
protest
against the Iniquity of the SLAVE-TRADE; but, nevertheless, continue to hold the poor wretched
Slaves
in a most
detestable Bondage!
GREAT BRITAIN, indeed, keeps
no Slaves,
but publicly encourages the
Slave-trade,
and contemptuously neglects or rejects every petition or attempt of the
Colonists
against that notorious wickedness!
The House of Burgesses in
Virginia,
transmitted a very sensible and respectful Petition to the King
Extracts from the minutes of the House of Burgesses in Virginia.
Wednesday, April 1st, 1772.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
WE your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects the Burgesses of Virginia, now met in general assembly, beg leave with all humility to approach your Royal Presence.
The many instances of your Majesty's benevolent intentions and most gracious disposition to promote the prosperity and happiness of your subjects in the colonies, encouraged us to look up to the Throne, and implore your Majesty's paternal assistance, in averting
a Calamity of a most alarming nature.
The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast of Africa hath long been considered as a trade of
great Inhumanity,
and under its present encouragement, we have too much reason to fear
will endanger the very existence of your Majesty's American dominions.
We are sensible that some of your Majesty's subjects in Great Britain may reap emolument from this sort of Traffic; but when we consider that it greatly retards the settlement of the colonies with
more white inhabitants,
and may
in time have the most destructive influence,
we presume to hope, that the interest of a few will be disregarded, when placed in competition with the security and happiness of such numbers of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects.
Deeply imprest with these sentiments, we most hum
ly beseech your Majesty to remove all those restraints on your Majesty's Governors of this colony, which inhibit their assenting to such laws as might check so very pernicious a commerce.
Your Majesty's antient colony and dominion of Virginia hath at all times, and upon every occasion, been entirely devoted to your Majesty's facred person and government; and we cannot forego this opportunity of renewing those assurances of the truest loyalty and warmest affection, which we have so often, with the greatest sineerity, given to the best of Kings, whose wisdom and goodness we esteem the surest pledge of the happiness of all his people.
Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the House doth agree with the Committee in the said address to be presented to his Majesty.
Resolved, That an address be presented to his Excellency the Governor, to desire that he will be pleased to transmit the address to his Majesty, and to support it in such manner as he shall think most likely to promote the desirable end proposed.
(COPY.)
, dated the 1st of April, concerning the
Iniquity, Inhumanity,
and
destructive Influence
of the AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE, to which not the least Answer hath yet been returned!
The Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of
Somerset,
in
New Jersey,
also, through their
regard to the civil and
RELIGIOUS
Interest of the Country, and the established Rights of Mankind,
presented to the Governor, Council, and Representatives of that Province a very seasonable Testimony against that
wicked
Traffic which has Slavery for it's object,
praying them to
provide against the future Importation of Slaves into that Colony
and
to enable such persons as shall chuse it to manumit their
SLAVES
upon equitable Principles to the Owners and the Public,
&c.
To the Governor, Council, and Representatives of the Province of New Jersey, in General Assembly met.
The Petition of sundry Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Somerset,
Respectfully sheweth,
THAT your Petitioners, influenced with an equal regard to the civil and religious interests of this Province and the established Rights of Mankind, have with concern often viewed that Traffic, which has
Slavery
for it's object, in a light very
unfriendly
to both; and it has afforded pleasure to observe the liberal advances which of late have been made among all ranks of people towards the discountenance of that Trade, and promotion of Justice to those who have thereby been deprived of their
Liberty.
Hence your Petitioners are induced to address the Legislature, and to request, that a subject so important may receive that attention which it deserves. Your Petitioners also beg, that you will not only provide against the future importation of Slaves into this Colony, by such ways as you may think best, but to enable such persons as shall chuse it to manumit them by making them useful and happy upon equitable principles to the Owners and the Public, as in your wisdom may appear most conducive to those good ends. And your Petitioners shall pray,
&c.
. Another Petition upon the like benevolent principles was presented to the same Assembly by
divers Inhabitants of the County of
ESSEX
in the said Province,
wherein they also signified their dissatisfaction concerning
an Act of Assembly in force for preventing the manumitting and setting free any Negro Slave,
&c. whereby many
are obliged to keep their Fellow Men in a Slavery to them unlawful, and contrary to their Christian Principles,
&c.
And they exhort the Assembly
to obtain an alteration of his Majesty's Instruction to the Governor relating to the African Trade,
&c.
To the Honourable House of Representatives, now sitting at Burlington in the Province of New Jersey.
The humble Petition of divers Inhabitants of the County of Essex in the said Province, sheweth,
THAT many of his Majesty's loyal subjects in this Province observe, with uneasiness, the great increase of negro slaves from the coast of Africa, which is considered, not only as preventative of the importation and increase of white servants and labourers, by which the present extravagant price of labour would be proportionably lessened, but also as laying a foundation of that which may hereafter prove dangerous to Government, and subversive of the liberties of the people, it being justly observed,
That slaves are the natural enemies of society, and their numbers must always be dangerous.
It is also with dissatisfaction that some of the inhabitants of this province observe an Act of Assembly in force, for preventing the manumitting and setting free any negro slave, however healthy and able to earn his or her living, without such terms as many are wholly unable to, and others cannot without great difficulty comply with, whereby they are obliged to keep their fellow men in a slavery (to them unlawful and contrary to their Christian principles). In order therefore to remedy these growing evils, your petitioners humbly pray this Honourable House, that they would take such measures as to them in their wisdom may seem meet, to obtain an alteration of his Majesty's Instruction to his Excellency the Governor, relating to the African trade, so that his Excellency may be at liberty to consent to such laws for the preventing the future importation of negro slaves into this province, as to the Legislature may appear just and reasonable. And also that the Act of Assembly relating to the manumitting of negro slaves may be repealed, and the inhabitants of this province allowed by law to set free any of their negro slaves, who shall appear to some proper judicature to be able of body and sound in mind, and under a certain age to be fixed by this Honourable House, or under such other reasonable restrictions, as to the Legislature may seem just and reasonable.—And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.
A number also of the Inhabitants of the City and County of
Philadelphia
bore the like testimony against the African Trade in a pathetic and earnest Petition to their Provincial Assembly; wherein they take notice of the example set them by the Province of
Virginia
in petitioning the King,
from a deep sensibility of the danger and pernicious consequences which will be attendant on a Continuation of this most iniquitous Traffic
To the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania in Assembly met.
The Petition of a number of the Inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia,
Respectfully sheweth,
THAT the importation of the natives of Guinea, to be sold and used as slaves in the provinces and islands of the British dominions in America, has long been an occasion of deep concern to a great number of the Inhabitants of this province, as well on account of its inconsistency with the whole tenor of the Christian religion, as because of the evil influence it has on the religious and moral conduct of the people, and the dreadful consequence which, it is to be feared, will one day attend in those parts where it prevails.
We are the more encouraged to lay this important object before you, as we understand some of the colonies have been led into serious consideration, as well of the iniquity of the practice, as of the dangerous situation some of them are in, particularly the province of
Virginia,
whose House of Burgesses has lately
petitioned the King,
from a deep sensibility of the danger, and pernicious consequences which will be attendant on a continuation of this MOST INIQUITOUS TRAFFICK.
We your petitioners, therefore, most earnestly beseech you, to take this matter, which we apprehend to be of the utmost consequence to the welfare and safety of the British colonies, under your most serious consideration, and to use your utmost endeavours with the other colonies, in making such representations to the King as to you may appear most effectual towards putting a stop to this mighty evil."
Signed by about two hundred persons, amongst whom were, the provost of the academy, and three other clergymen of the church of England, being all that are in this city, sive Presbyterian Clergymen, and four other Ministers, the rest respectable Inhabitants.
. But the Assembly, being desirous first to know what reception the abovementioned neglected
Virginian
Petition had met with at Court, postponed their address to the Throne; and instead of it transmitted an Act of Assembly for the King's
Assent,
whereby they laid a heavy duty on the head of every Slave that should be
imported,
amounting almost to a prohibition of the
iniquitous Traffic;
but this seasonable attempt to discourage
the crying national sin,
met with a very cold reception it seems on this side of the Atlantic, and the Bill was absolutely
rejected;
so that the
horrid
Guilt of persisting in that
monstrous Wickedness
must rest on this side of the Atlantic! Is this—to
execute Judgement and righteousness?
Is this to
deliver the
SPOILED
out of the hand of the
OPPRESSOR?
Is this to
"do no wrong,"
to
do no violence to the
STRANGER?
Does not the same God, who warned the
impolitic Zedekiah
by the mouth of his Prophet, also equally warn us by
the written word
which he hath given to us
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness?
2 Tim. iii. 16.
Does he not equally warn us by these everlasting Records of his tremendous Judgements and dreadful VENGEANCE even against his own
peculiar people?
FOR—
all these Things happened unto them for ensamples:
(as I have before observed)
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the Ends of the World are come.
1 Cor. x. 11.
And yet with all these spiritual advantages, I fear we far exceed the Jews in the enormity and multitude of our
National Oppressions:
how then shall we escape the just Vengeance of God, if we persevere in these inhuman practices? Is this the return we make to God for the Blessing of a Christian Education! Surely
he hath expected better thing of us!
Have we not just reason to fear that he will condemn this nation as he did the Jews of old? saying—
he looked for
JUDGEMENT,
but behold
OPPRESSION;
for
RIGHTEOUSNESS,
but behold a
CRY!
Isaiah v. 7.
As God never changes, it is impossible that this nation should escape his
just retribution,
and still persist in violating
the natural Rights
of mankind!
Reflect, my Countrymen, for a moment, upon the present state of those enormous national Transgressions, the
African Slave Trade
encouraged
in
GREAT BRITAIN, and the
toleration of Slavery
in THE BRITISH COLONIES, and you will readily perceive that we must stand
condemned
even if we
judge ourselves!
and how then shall we appear before that Righteous
Judge,
who is no respecter of persons? How can we hope to escape the DIVINE VENGEANCE when we know that the Almighty hath even
bound himself
with a most solemn oath never to forget
any such, acts of
OPPRESSION?
The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob,
SURELY
I will never forget any of their works,
or rather
"all their works,"
; amongst which the SLAVE-TRADE, in particular, is expressly mentioned in the preceding verse,
viz.
buying the Poor for Silver,
&c.
And then he condescends
to appeal,
as I before remarked, to
human Judgement
concerning the propriety, or rather the necessity and certainty, of the Divine Vengeance for such National Wickedness! —
Shall not the Land tremble for this? and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
Amos viii. 6—8. And in like manner by the Prophet Jermiah:—
Shall I not visit for these things? Shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this?
Chap. v. 9. These Judgements, indeed, were denounced against the
Jews;
but surely common sense must teach us that they are equally applicable at home, that is,
on such a Nation
AS THIS,
my Countrymen!
But there is still a way to escape, if my Countrymen have but grace to take warning! And therefore to the unquestionable Examples of GOD's
Retribution
and
Vengeance
which I have already given, let me add, before I conclude, on very remarkable Example of GOD's
Vengeance
for
National Oppression
being actually
averted
by the seasonable interposition of
a few individuals,
who procured the
dismission
and
enfranchisement
of a large body of poor
enslaved people,
and thereby appeased the
denounced
Wrath of our merciful God!
In the beginning of the 28th chapter of the second Book of Chronicles, an account is given of the abominable
Idolatry
and Wickedness of Ahaz King of Judah,
who
(even)
burned his Children in the Fire,
and by that superlative degree of
Uncharitableness
and
Inhumanity
demonstrated a voluntary submission to that
heavy Yoke of Bondage
under the
Grand Spiritual Enemy of Mankind,
from which the
Almighty Protector
of the Creation had so gloriously delivered his Ancestors,
after the abominations
(says the Text)
of the Heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the Children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of
SYRIA;
and they smote him, and
CARRIED AWAY A GREAT MULTITUDE OF THEM CAPTIVES,
and brought
(them)
to
DAMASCUS.
And he was also delivered into the hand of the King of
ISRAEL,
who smote him with a great slaughter: for
PEKAH
(the King of Israel)
the Son of
REMALIAH
slew in Judah
AN HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND IN ONE DAY,
all valiant men; because
THEY HAD FORSAKEN THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS.
And
ZICHRI,
a mighty man of Ephraim, slew
MAASEIAH THE KING'S SON,
and
AZRIKAM THE GOVERNOR OF THE HOUSE,
and
ELKANAH (that was) NEXT TO THE KING.
And the Children of
ISRAEL
carried away captive of their Brethren
TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND WOMEN, SONS AND DAUGHTERS,
and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a Prophet of the Lord was there whose name
(was) ODED:
and he went out before the Host that came to Samaria,
(tha tis, as they returned from the War to Samaria with their Captives and Booty,)
and said unto them, "Behold, because the
LORD GOD
of your Fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have
SLAIN THEM IN A RAGE (that) REACHETH UP UNTO HEAVEN.
And now
(said the Prophet)
ye purpose to
KEEP UNDER
the Children of Judah and Jerusalem for
BOND-MEN
and
BOND-WOMEN
unto you:
(but are there) NOT WITH YOU, EVEN WITH YOU, SINS
against the
LORD
your
GOD?
Now hear me therefore, and
DELIVER THE CAPTIVES AGAIN,
which ye have
TAKEN CAPTIVE OF YOUR BRETHREN: FOR THE FIERCE WRATH OF THE LORD (is) UPON YOU.
2 Chron. xxviii. 9—11. And may it not be said in these latter days, with
equal Truth,
to the Inhabitants of GREAT BRITAIN and HER COLONIES,
Are there not with you, even with you, Sins against the
LORD
your
GOD?
that is,
are there not with you
already a sufficient number of SINS (for which, unless you repent, you will certainly be accountable) but that you must presumptuously
add to your Sins and to your Trespass
the horrid guilt of SLAVERY and OPPRESSION, to hasten GOD'S VENGEANCE upon you? but that you must suddenly heap up the measure of your iniquity by tolerating in your Colonies a much more grievous
Slavery,
a much more numerous
Bondage,
than the Israelites were ever guilty of? Yet in Israel, there were found four Chiefs or Noblemen—
Heads of the Children of Ephraim,
who were zealous to avert God's Wrath, and save their Country by a speedy restoration of the JEWISH CAPTIVES to their
natural freedom.
They valiantly
STOOD UP
against them that came from the War,
—(which were, probably, not only PEKAH,
their King, and his Princes,
but also the principal Warriours of their Country; see the 6th, 7th, and 14th verses)—
and said unto them, Ye shall not bring in
THE CAPTIVES
hither.
—These were peremptory Terms, which shewed, that they were ready to risk their Lives in so good a cause; and, at the same time, they assigned the reason of their opposition in a SOLEMN PROTEST—
"for whereas"
(said they)
we have offended against the Lord
(already),
ye
INTEND TO ADD (more) TO OUR SINS
and to
OUR TRESPASS:—
for our Trespass is great, and
(thereis)
fierce wrath against Israel.
Ver. 12, 13.
This reason, as well as the undaunted Resolution of those who gave it, had the proper effect upon the Israelitish Soldiers, who, notwithstanding the general depravity of their countrymen,
still deserved the name of
MEN, by demonstrating, that they were not insensible to REASON, and that they thought themselves entitled (though SOLDIERS) to that
common Right of
HUMAN NATURE,
the Right of judging for themselves in matters of conscience,
without which no man can be truely
honourable:
for as soon as they heard the just remonstrance of the four Noblemen, they quitted
the Prey
and
the Plunder
(a hard thing for Soldiers to submit to) without waiting, it seems, for the word of command from the King or his Princes!—
"So the armed men"
(says the Text)
lest the Captives and the Spoil before
THE PRINCES
and
ALL THE CONGREGATION.
Ver. 14.
Here (be pleased to observe) is a
National Council
at once assembled in the field;
the whole Power of the People
—
THE PRINCES AND ALL THE CONGREGATION.
What were their Deliberations on this occasion does not appear, nor their RESOLUTIONS, or rather, they seem to have been totally IRRESOLUTE, wavering between what was a RIGHT TO BE DONE and PRIVATE INTEREST; as if each man was unwilling to give up his
share of the booty,
and yet ashamed openly to resist the active Resolution of the four Chiefs on so charitable a cause; for these four Noblemen, it seems, at last boldly took upon themselves the whole business;—
"and the men"
(says the Text)
"which were expressed by name,"
(viz. the four Noblemen mentioned in the 12th verse)
ROSE UP,
and
TOOK THE CAPTIVES,
and
WITH THE SPOIL CLOTHED
all that were naked among them, and arrayed them and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho the City of Palm-Trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
Thus an immediate Judgement from God upon Israel was averted by the spirited opposition of FOUR individuals against a
whole Nation!
But Great Britain and her Colonies, which forcibly detain more than FOUR times the number
By
an account of the European settlements in America, printed in
1770, we are informed that
there are allowed to be in
OUR WEST INDIES
at least two hundred and thirty thousand
NEGRO SLAVES.
Vol. 2, p. 117. "
In
VIRGINIA" (says the same author)
much the larger part of the inhabitants are the NEGRO SLAVES, who cannot be much fewer
than
AN HUNDRED THOUSAND SOULS;
they annually import
(says he)
into the two tobacco colonies between
THREE AND FOUR THOUSAND OF THESE SLAVES:
p. 216, 217; and in Maryland, (as the same author informs us in p. 233.)
the Negroes
(are) upwards of SIXTY THOUSAND.
The number of slaves-already mentioned (without reckoning the multitudes since transported to the new increasing settlements in the Grenada Islands, and in the islands of Tobago, Dominica, and St. Vincents; as also exclusive of the multitudes in the two Carolinas, the two Floridas, Georgia, the two Jerseys, New York, &c.) amount to THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY THOUSAND SOULS, at the least computation: so that if the multitudes actually omitted in this account, were truely added, the
oppression
would appear enormous! The total amount of the
oppressed
multitude, perhaps would not fall far short of the numerous Bondage of
oppressed Israelites
which first drew down the exemplary and ever memorable VENGEANCE
of the
ALMIGHTY, upon the hardened
Egyptian
Tyrant and his kingdom!
of wretched Captives in an involuntary servitude, much more intolerable than any that the
Israelites
were ever guilty of exacting!—GREAT BRITAIN which recruits the ravages of her Cruelty, Oppression, and Injustice, by an
annual
supply of more than
fifty thousand poor
See note in page 147.
African
STRANGERS (against whom they have not the least pretence of war or quarrel)—
MEN AND WOMEN, SONS AND DAUGHTERS
—
FOR BONDMEN AND FOR BONDWOMEN
to be worn out with unremitted labour; like those poor injured creatures whose places they supplied!—
Great Britain,
I say, with all this accumulated load of guilt has not yet produced
four Chiefs or Noblemen
to PROTEST against this most abominable Tyranny, and
to
stand in the Gap,
with reverential fear of God, to avert the DIVINE VENGEANCE, though
Religion, Humanity,
and even
Common Sense
ought to have prompted them to it!—May we not too aptly compare the principal crimes of the
Jews,
(for which
they lost their liberty
), to the present crying Sins of GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES!—
"In the midst of thee"
(said a Prophet from God)
have they
DEALT BY OPPRESSION WITH THE STRANGER:
in thee have they vexed the Fatherless and the Widow.
Ezek. xxii. 7. And again,
The People of the Land have used
OPPRESSION
and exercised
ROBBERY,
and have vexed the Poor and Needy: yea, they have
OPPRESSED THE STRANGER WRONGFULLY.
And I sought for
A MAN
among them that should make up the hedge, and
STAND IN THE GAP
before me for the Land, that I should not destroy it: but I sound none!
THEREFORE
have I poured out mine indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath:
THEIR OWN WAY
have I
RECOMPENSED UPON THEIR HEADS,
saith the Lord God.
Ezek. xxii. 29—31. And have not the Inhabitants of
Great Britain
and
her Colonies,
therefore, just reason to expect a
similar
VENGEANCE for
the like
OPPRESSIONS? Do they flatter themselves, that the
same God
will permit them to go on without
recompensing
their
OWN WAY
upon their
HEADS!
Slavery
for
Slavery?
Or have they forgot, that the God of Israel, who thus reproved his peculiar People for holding their
Brethren
in BONDAGE, is the SAME "LORD GOD"
with whom we have to do?
and that he is UNCHANGEABLE? How would our Rulers and Chief Men bear a
repetition
of this unchangeable
word
in the presence of God, when the Books are opened for Judgement:—
I sought for a Man among them that should make up the hedge, and
STAND IN THE GAP
before me for the Land, that I should not destroy it; but I
FOUND NONE!
May I not say, that even
backsliding Israel
shall
rise up in Judgement with this Generation, and shall condemn it?
As
the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah,
(Jer. iii. 11.) so she hath surely "justified herself more than" BRITAIN! for when the measure of her iniquity seemed to be filled by that notorious act of
Oppression
in the reign of Pekah before-mentioned, there were yet found in her FOUR
worthy Advocates
to
STAND IN THE GAP
before
GOD
for the Land;
even four
"Chiefs"
(or Nobles)
"of the Children of Ephraim,"
who boldly
protested
against the horrid crime of domestic
Slavery.
But
Great Britain,
though staggering under a much heavier load of the same kind of Guilt, has not produced, out of her numerous
Peerage,
ONE SINGLE CHIEF to stand up
"for the Land,"
and remove her burthen! Mark this, ye Right Reverend Fathers of our Church, who sit with the PRINCES
of the Realm
to consult the welfare of the State! Think not that I am inclined, through any misguided prejudice
If I am prejudiced at all, I am sure it is in favour of
Episcopacy,
for I not only entertain a most sincere personal respect and esteem for several truly worthy and learned Individuals of that order, now living, but I am even descended from one of the same holy function, who in his correspondence with foreign Protestant churches, very ably defended and promoted the
Establishment of Episcopacy;
and, above all, I am thoroughly convinced by the Holy Scriptures that the institution of THAT ORDER in the Christian Church IS OF GOD; and that the only defect in the
English Establishment
of it, is the want of a FREE ELECTION
The learned Judge Blackstone, in his Commentaries, book I. c. 11. p. 377. informs us, that
ELECTION
was, in
VERY EARLY TIMES,
the usual mode of Elevation to the
EPISCOPAL CHAIR
throughout all Christendom; and this
(says he)
was promiscuously performed by the
LAITY,
as well as by the
CLERGY,
("
per
CLERUM
&
POPULUM:") for which he cites very ample authorities. But afterwards a complaint of
tumultuous Elections,
together with the supposed Royal Prerogative of granting the Investiture of
Temporalities
(though the
Temporalities,
being originally granted to support the
Dignity
of the Office, cannot reasonably be so far drawn from the first intention, as to deprive the Office of that real
Dignity
which arises from a free Election) served the designs of Emperors and Kings as
a pretence
to invade
the Freedom of Election;
and the same
pretence
of TUMULT proved equally favourable to the opposite designs of Popes; so that these jarring interests seemed united, however, in their endeavours (as it were by one Spirit of
Antichrist
) to deprive the Church of her
ancient Right,
which (had it been maintained) would probably have prevented most of the future usurpations of the
Papal Antichrist;
and therefore
the Policy of the Court of Rome at the same time began by degrees to
EXCLUDE THE LAITY
from any share in these
ELECTIONS,
(says the learned Judge Blackstone,)
and to confine them wholly to the
CLERGY,
which at length was completely effected.
1 Blackstone, c. 11. p. 378. The original ground for the complaint of
tumult
in these
Elections
was probably occasioned by the neglect of that unexceptionable Apostolic mode of Election described in Acts i. 15 to 26; for when Christianity began to be corrupted by Vows of
Celibacy,
and other Popish and Diabolical Doctrines, the
Clergy
and
Laity
began to have opposite interests to serve (which ought never to be) in the Choice of their Bishop, and, of course, the two contending parties would reciprocally depend upon their own activity, zeal, or address for success in the
Election;
so that
Tumult
(the old complaint) must be the necessary consequence; whereas had it been an indispensible form to nominate TWO qualified persons (viz. either
two
by the promiscuous suffrages of both parties, or
one
by each party), and afterwards,
in solemn prayer,
to submit the final decision to the Providence of God by a Lot (as in the
Apostolic Election
), there could be no room for contention: the undue influence and partiality of
Individuals
would be effectually checked; and, above all, the joint prayers of
both parties,
in an appeal to God's decision, would certainly add
Solemnity
(instead of
Tumult
) to the
Election,
if not also much additional Dignity to the
Elected.
Dum secum habebant
APOSTOLI
Dominum, non usi sunt
SORTE:
neque post adventum Paracloti ea sunt usi,
c. x. 19. xvi. 6 ss.
sed in uno hoc intermedio tempore, & in uno hoc negotio usi sunt,
CONVENIENTISSIME.
Bengelii Gnomon Nov. Test. p. 460. This remark opens to us a very satisfactory reason why the Apostles discontinued the primitive mode of
Election,
and took upon themselves the appointment of
Bishops:
for while they were endowed with manifest
supernatural power
in working Miracles, their authority to
appoint Bishops,
without the formulary precautions of the first precedent, could not be questioned, because their appointment of Bishops was clearly the appointment of the
Holy Ghost:
but when these
extraordinary
gifts ceased in the Church, the primitive mode of Election became once more desirable, as being best suited to the
ordinary
state of the Church in all succeeding ages. This is not a singular opinion of my own: the learned Bengelius (p. 459) refers us not only to those who have thought as I do, but also to examples of it's having been really practised in Episcopal Elections:—
Hodie quoque in
ELEGEND IS EPISCOPIS SORTI LOCUM ESSE POSSE
censet justus Jonas ad hunc locum, & memorabile exemplum resert Comenius in Hist-Ecoles. Slav.
§. 60.
habet etiam b. Riegerus Böhm. Br. vol.
iii.
p.
36.
The primitive
Election,
mentioned in the Acts, was the Election of a
Bishop,
as well as of an
Apostle,
the Office or Charge of a Bishop being apparently included in the
Apostolic
Dignity; for though
Matthias,
on whom the lot fell, was immediately
numbered among the eleven
APOSTLES,
yet the vacant
Charge
to which he was elected was un questionably an
Episcopal Charge.
The expression of the Holy Ghost, in the Prophecy of the Psalmist (Psalm cix. 8. "
let another take
HIS OFFICE"), proves that the said Office was of that nature; for the Hebrew word
, commonly rendered
"his office,"
properly signifies
a
VISITATORIAL
office,
which expression, by the ancient Authors of the Septuagint Version, as well as the
Apostle Peter,
was conceived to be of the same general import as an Office of SUPERINTENDENCY; and therefore they all called it
an Episcopate,
, literally,
let another take his Episcopate,
or
"Bishoprick."
Matthias, therefore, and the other Apostles were properly
, or
Bishops;
and the Right of Nomination to the vacant Charge was not then confined to the Apostles alone (as Dr. Hammond, without authority of Scripture, has asserted), but an appeal was made to the sense of the whole Congregation, the
, or Crowd of 120 Persons then present, by the Apostle Peter, and
they
accordingly
appointed two,
, and afterwards joining in solemn prayer, submitted the decision or final
Election
by lot to the Providence of God!—
"Thou, Lord,"
(said they,
)
which knowest the hearts of all men, shew of these
TWO
the
ONE
whom thou hast chosen.
—
.
The person on whom the lot fell might from the 10T (
) be truly denominated CLERICUS, as he was thereby authorized to take upon himself
the
LOT
of service,
TON KAHPON
. The very learned and judicious Erasmus was of the same opinion respecting the appointment of
two
persons by the
Congregation
or
:—
Haec oratio
(says he, speaking of Peter's Address to the People) "
quum placuisset
MULTITUDINI
statuerunt
DUOS,"
&c.
And a little afterwards he gives the following commendation of that primitive example:—
Tametsi
SORTES
periculosae non sunt, quae utricunque faverint, probum & idoneum designant. Nec torum negotium creditum est
SORTIBUS. SUFFRAGIIS
sunt electi
DUO
probatissimi. Inter hos ambiguitatem Electionis finiit
SORS,
quae nec ipsa temeritatem habere potuit, cujus eventum moderatur precatio.
SORS
igitur haec, quae nihil aliud-suit quàm
DECLARATIO DIVINAE VOLUNTATIS,
designavit
MATTHIAM,
quanquam
JOSEPH
praeter cognominis
(viz. Justus)
commendationem, etiam
JESU
propinquitate commendebatur. Et tamen huic praelatus est Matthias, quo nos doceremur
IN DELIGENDIS EPIS COPIS,
quibus credenda sit Evangelicae Doctrinae dispensatio, adeo nihil esse tribuendum humanis affectibus,
&c.
to the Office. For as it may clearly be proved that the
Churches of Britain and Ireland
have a just and ancient
Right
to
elect
their own Bishops, and did actually exercise that right for many ages, till the antichristian Usurpations of
Monks
and
Popes
over the secular (or parochial) Clergy occasioned the interference of Kings, so it may as clearly be demonstrated, that the present mode of
Election
by Writ of
Congé D' Eslire,
sent to the several Cathedral Chapters, together
with a Letter Missive, containing the name of the person which they shall Elect and Chase?
(agreeable to the Act of 25 Hen. VIII. cli. xx. sec. 4.) is a total perversion of that just and ancient
Right
In a little Tract (by
John Barnes,
an English Benedictine) intituled,
Sententia de Ecclesiae Britannicae Privilegiis,
which was printed together with some little Tracts of Archbishop Usher in 1687, we find still a more ample testimony of the
ancient Right
of chusing
Bishops:
—
Cùm
ANTIQUI MORES
Ecclesiae suae
(speaking of the ancient BRITISH, SCOTCH, and IRISH)
postularènt ut
OMMIA
inter se
SYNODICE
agerent, tum pro
EPISCOPORUM ORDINATIONIBUS,
tum pro aliis negotiis Ecclesiasticis.
Verba corum ex
BEDA,
lib.
ii. 6.2.
Eceles. Hist. sunt,
QUOD NON POSSUNT ABSQUE SUORUM CONSENSU ET LICENTIA PRISCIS ABDICARE MORIBUS." P. 154. And after citing an example from
Bede,
concerning
the Election of a Bishop
(viz. Aidan) by a Scotch Synod, at the request of the Saxon King
Oswald,
to instruct and preside over the Ministry of the newly converted Saxon or English Church (see p. 154. and 155), he further remarks:—
Et ex
HUNGTING-DONIENSI
(says he)
lib.
iii.
Hist. &
BED.
lib.
ii.
constat
ET SCOTOS ET BRITANNOS OMNIA SUA COMMUNI CONSENSU EGISSE.
It appears also, that the
Saxon
or
English
Church, though much less ancient than the
British, Irish,
and
Scotch
Churches, did yet enjoy the same inestimable privilege of
electing Bishops.
The Monk
Matthew Paris
has transmitted to us a memorable example of this, in his Account of the Election, A. D. 1095, of the celebrated
Ulstan
to be Bishop of Worcester:—
Processu autemtemporis
ULSTANUS (ELECTO
ad Archiepiscopatum Eboracensem
ALDREDO)
unanimi consensu, tam
CLERI
quam
TOTIUS PLEBIS,
Rege insuper ut quem vellent sibi eligerent praesulem & animarum Pastorem annuente,
IN EPISCOPUM
ejusdem loci
ELIGITUR.
P. 20. And even in later times, when
the Romish Corruptions
had so far prevailed as to exclude the LAITY from Elections, yet the Clergy still enjoyed
the free right of electing their Prelates, whether Abbots or Bishops;
for the learned Judge Blackstone informs us, that
this right
was granted in a charter
to all the Monasteries and Cathedrals in the Kingdom
by King John, see vol. i. p. 379; and also that
this grant was expressly recognized and confirmed in King John's
MAGNA CARTA,
and was again established by
STATUTE 25
Edward
III.
St.
6. § 3.
Ibid.
This Statute first gave
parliamentary authority,
indeed, to the King's
Congé D' Eslire
(though it was in use long before), and acknowledges the King's Right of
Assent
or Approbation
"after the Election;"
yet it contains nothing which can remove the prudent and reasonable limitation to which that
Assent
or
Approbation
was formerly subject,
viz.
that it
WAS NOT TO BE DENIED WITHOUT A REASONABLE AND LAWFUL CAUSE.
Judge Blackstone, b. i. c. 11. p. 379. And this very Act (which was manifestly ordained to restrain the simoniacal practices and shameful usurpations of the Bishops of Rome) expressly acknowledges the Right of FREE ELECTIONS in the Church,
viz.
that the FREE ELECTIONS of the Archbishops, Bishops, and all other Dignities and Benefices ELECTIVE
in England,
shall hold,
&c.
The
Right
was also fully established by preceding Statutes, still
in force,
though (unhappily for this Kingdom) not
in use;
as —"
There shall be
FREE ELECTION
of Dignities of the Church.
" 9 Edward II. c. 14. Title. And again,
ELECTIONS OUGHT TO BE FREE.
3 Edward I. c. 5. Mr. Ruffhead, in his useful Index to the Statutes, very properly refers us, under the head of "ELECTION of BISHOPS," to this last-mentioned Statute; for
Episcopal Elections
ought certainly to be included in the meaning of the said Statute, as well as
all other Elections;
for an ELECTION without a CHOICE is a manifest contradiction in term
, and NO ELECTION.
abovementioned, and is entirely destructive of all the desirable purposes of a free
Election.
This practice, however, cannot be censured in stronger terms than those in which it is expressly condemned by a
subsequent Act of Parliament,
(1 Edw. VI. chap. ii.) though the former Act is supposed to be still in force, viz.
The said
ELECTIONS
be in very deed
NO ELECTIONS
but only by a Writ of
CONGE D'ESLIRE,
have colours, shadows, and pretences of Elections, serving nevertheless to no purpose,
&c.
If it had not been for this notorious defect in point of
Election,
and the general idea of its
consequences,
I am persuaded that the late worthy Primate of England, would not have found such opposition in hi
endeavours some few years ago to promote
the establishment of
EPISCOPACY
in America!
, to charge
your Order,
in particular, with the omission. The
crying Sin
has hitherto been far distant from your
sight,
and perhaps was never fully represented to you, or, like
faithful Watchmen of Israel,
you would long ago have warned our Nation of the Danger: but I now call upon you, IN THE NAME OF GOD, for assistance!
Ye know the Scriptures,
and therefore to you, my Lords, in particular I appeal! If I have misrepresented
the Word of God,
on which my
Opposition to
SLAVERY is founded, point out my errors, and I submit: but if, on the other hand, you should perceive that the Texts here quoted are really applicable to the question before us, that my conclusions from thence are fairly drawn, and that the Examples of GOD'S VENGEANCE against TYRANTS and SLAVE-HOLDERS ought strictly to warn us against
similar Oppressions
and
similar Vengeance,
you will not then, I trust, be backward
in this Cause of
GOD
and
MAN.
Stand up
(let me intreat you)
for the Land;
MAKE UP THE HEDGE,
to save your Country; perhaps it is not yet too late! Enter a solemn protest, my Lords, against those who
have oppressed the Stranger wrongfully.
Ye know that the Testimonies I have quoted are of God! Warn therefore the Nobles and Senators of these Kingdoms, that they incur not a double load of Guilt! as the burthen, not only of the
much-injured African Strangers,
but also of
our Country's Ruin,
must rest on the heads of those who withhold their Testimony against the CRYING SIN Of TOLERATED SLAVERY! For
I KNOW
that the
LORD
will maintain the
CAUSE
of the Afflicted, and the
RIGHT
of the Poor.
Psa. cxl. 12.
GRANVILLE SHARP.
SOLI DEO GLORIA ET GRATIA.
TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED OR ILLUSTRATED IN THE FOREGOING TRACT.
GENESIS.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
XV.
11.
182
XVII.
8.
81
EXODUS.
II.
23, 24.
12
III.
7, 8.
13
XXI.
2, 5, 6.
4, 5, 81, 173
XXII.
21—24.
16
XXIII.
9.
15
LEVITICUS.
XIX.
18, 33, 34.
10, 11
XXV.
10, 39, 40.
4, 173
DEUTERONOMY.
V.
15.
14
VII.
2, 16.
8, 9
X.
17—19.
10
XV.
12, 15.
173, 178, 195
XVI.
12.
178, 195
XXIII.
15, 16.
21
XXIV.
18, 22.
178—195
JUDGES.
VI.
8.
14
I SAMUEL.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
I.
22.
81
VII.
17.
75
XIII.
13.
81
XXII.
6.
75
II SAMUEL.
VII.
11—29.
93
XII.
10.
81
I KINGS.
III.
5.
70
V.
12.
236
II KINGS.
XVI.
9.
231
XVIII.
17.
234
XXIII.
29, 31—34, 36.
45, 47—50, 97, 216
XXIV.
1, 2, 6, 8, 11—15, 17, 18.
91, 95—98, 104, 106, 107, 108, 115, 135
XXV.
1.
26
I CHRONICLES.
III.
15—18.
44, 108, 134
XXI.
29.
70, 75
II CHRONICLES.
I.
3.
75
XXV.
16—24.
42
XXVI.
5—7.
234
XXVIII.
9—11, 27.
98, 322
XXXIII.
14.
92
XXXV.
21.
216
XXXVI.
1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13.
46, 48, 90, 104, 109, 135
EZRA.
I.
1.
297
II.
26.
75
NEHEMIAH.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
VI.
10—12.
69
VII.
30.
75
PSALMS.
XII.
5.
19
LXXXI.
6, 7.
14
CXL.
12.
340
PROVERBS.
XVI.
12.
120
XXV.
5.
ibid.
ISAIAH.
III.
13—15.
21
V.
7.
316
VII.
4.
231
X.
6, 7, 12—16, 29.
75, 209, 213
XIII.
2—19.
285
XIV.
17, 25, 26.
217—297
XVI.
4.
244
XIX.
2, 3.
226
XXI.
2—5.
286, 287
XXIII.
7—9.
237
XXXIII.
1.
217
XL.
11.
163
XLII.
7.
299
XLIV.
21—28.
294
XLV.
1—5, 13.
294—296
XLVII.
1—14.
283
L.
41—43.
287
LIV.
14.
121
LVIII.
3.
19
LXL.
1, 2.
299
JEREMIAH.
I.
15.
124
III.
11.
330
V.
26—29.
24
VI.
6—8.
26.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
VII.
5—7
199
XXI.
1, 2, 3—9, 11, 12.
29, 30, 36, 142
XXII.
1—3, 5—9, 13, 18, 19, 24—28, 30.
97, 103, 137, 142, 301.
XXIII.
1, 2, 5, 6.
112, 162
XXIV.
1, 5, 7—9.
114, 138, 169
XXV.
1—9, 11—14.
81, 82, 124, 275
XXVI.
1—15.
76, 77
XXVII.
4—7.
85, 209.
XXX.
2, 7—9, 11, 16.
269—272.
XXXIII.
15, 16.
163
XXXIV.
1—3, 11.
28, 176
XXXV.
11.
88
XXXVI.
1—3, 5, 9, 29, 30.
85, 89, 94, 95, 97
XXXVII.
4—17.
185—187
XXXVIII.
2—5, 9—13.
189, 190
XXXIX.
1—7, 10.
27, 136, 137, 201, 206
XLV.
1, 5.
87
XLIX.
34, 39.
116, 117
L.
2—15, 33, 41—43.
148, 265—269, 287
LI.
1—42, 59—64.
119, 287—290
LII.
9—11, 31—34.
27, 48, 139, 203
LAMENTATIONS.
IV.
5, 9, 10.
200, 201
V.
13.
205
EZEKIEL.
VII.
3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 23.
31
XII.
19.
32
XVII.
15—21.
120—123
XXII.
7.
33, 34
XXIX.
3, 4.
122
XXXIX.
10.
262
DANIEL.
I.
1—3.
79, 90, 134
V.
4, 6.
286, 288
HOSEA.
V.
8.
75
JOEL.
III.
7, 8.
227, 261
AMOS.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
I.
1—15.
230—242
II.
1—6.
242, 246
III.
9—11.
246—250
V.
7—12.
247—249
VIII.
4—8.
23
OBADIAH.
I.
9—15.
227—229
MICAH.
III.
11.
69
ZECHARIAH.
VII.
3, 5.
89
VIII.
19.
Ibid.
MATTHEW.
I.
12.
135
VI.
24, 33.
113, 143
VII.
7.
197
MARK.
XI.
24.
197.
LUKE.
IV.
17—21.
299
X.
18.
196
XI.
9, 13.
197
XVI.
13.
197—143
JOHN.
I.
12.
196
X.
11.
163
VIII.
34.
145
XIV.
13.
197
XV.
7.
197
ROMANS.
VIII.
14, 15.
197
XI.
12, 25, 32.
292
XVI.
18.
145
I CORINTHIANS.
Chapter.
Verse.
Page.
III.
16, 17.
197
VI.
9, 10.
145
X.
11.
12
GALATIANS.
V.
14, 15.
11, 257
EPHESIANS.
V.
5.
144
PHILIPPIANS.
III.
18, 19.
144
COLOSSIANS.
III.
5.
144
HEBREWS.
II.
14, 15.
196
II PETER.
I.
3, 4.
197
I JOHN.
III.
8.
145
INDEX.
A.
AFRICA, number of slaves annually bartered for on the coast of, page 147,
note.
Abp. Sharp's reflections on the decline of, to the present barbarous state, 263,
note.
African Company, the property they acquire in negroslaves unjust, 206. The means of procuring them detestable, 207.
— Merchants of Liverpool and Bristol, remonstrance to them, on their traffic for men's bodies, 219. See
Slave-trade.
Ahaz king of Judah, the judgements inflicted on him for his inhuman idolatry, 319.
Amaziah king of Judah, his haughty rejection of prophetical advice, and subsequent humiliation, 41,
note.
America, the cause of the opposition to the establishment of episcopacy there, assigned, 339,
note.
Ammonites, denunciation of God's vengeance against them for their barbarities, 240.
Amos, his description of the practices by which the Jews reduced their poor brethren to slavery, 21. The Retribution denounced by him against the Syrians for their oppressions, 229. Against the Philistines, 231. Against Tyre, 235. Against Edom, 237. Against the bloody-minded Ammonites, 240. Against Moab, 242. Against Judah, 245. And, lastly, against Israel, 246.
Armies, standing, a warning example against the keeping of, 56,
note.
Assyrians and Babylonians, instruments in the hand of God for the mutual punishment of each other, 210. Remarkable instance of divine vengeance against the former, 216,
note.
B.
Babylon, the Prophet Jeremiah's denunciation of retribution against, 264. A prior denunciation against, by Isaiah, 275. The bondage with which her captives were oppressed, the cause of God's vengeance against, 277. The stratagem by which Cyrus entered the City, 293. Great treasures found in the chapels of the idols, 295.
Barnes, his account of the ancient mode of choosing Bishops, 334,
note.
Bengelius, his account of the primitive mode of electing Bishops, 334,
note.
Bishops, appeal to, and call upon them to exert their influence against negro-slavery, 331. The order of, a divine institution, 332,
note.
Defect in the English establishment of,
ibid.
The present mode of electing, a total perversion of the primitive one, 334,
note.
This present mode expressly condemned by Act of Parliament, 337,
note.
Blackstone, Judge, his account of the ancient mode of electing Bishops, 332,
note.
This right how usurped from the Laity, 333,
note.
Britain, warnings to the inhabitants of, for tolerating, by
National Authority,
the oppression of African
Strangers
in the Colonies, 16, 34. Indications of the Devil's empire over, 146,
note.
Unjust laws pointed out, 213,
note.
Symptoms of national destruction, 226,
note.
Inquiry whether the corruptions and injustice which have destroyed other nations, may not draw down God's vengeance on them, 248,
note.
Cannot expect to be the only exception to God's general rule of national retribution, 258, 302.
C.
Christian Dispensation, Charity and Benevolence duties of indispensable obligation under, 6. Will not justify holding men in slavish bondage,
ibid.
Churches of Britain and Ireland, how deprived of the just and ancient right of electing their own Bishops, 333,
note.
Colonies, British, the oppressive treatment of negroes in, far exceeding those practices for which the Jews were reproached by their Prophets, 25. Number of negro slaves annually purchased there, 147. More tyranny exercised over the negroes there than formerly by the Chaldcans over the Jews, 304. And have reason therefore to expect more severe punishment, 305. Protest against the slave trade, yet at the same time continue to hold slaves in bondage,
ibid.
Covetousness, a species of idolatry, 144,
note.
Cyrus, the instrument of God's wrath against Babylon, and of deliverance to the Jews, predicted to this service two hundred years before his birth, 290. Called by Isaiah the Anointed of God, 297. In what respect a type of the Messiah, 298.
D.
Dispensations of Providence to public societies, extract from Abp. Sharp's sermon on, 253,
note.
E.
Edomites, the judgements denounced against them by the Prophet Obadiah, with the reason, 227.
Eliakim. See Jehoiakim.
Episcopacy, how prevented from being established in America, 339,
note.
Ezekiel, his severe prophetical censure of King Zedekiah's breach of faith, 121.
F.
Father, a term often used in a loose sense in holy scripture for any direct ancestor, 58,
note.
Ferrerius, his remarks on Isaiah's prophecy concerning the Assyrians, 222,
note.
Freedom, spiritual, clearly tendered to all mankind by Jesus Christ, 299. The rejection of this offer by the Jews the cause of the loss of their temporal inheritance,
ibid. note.
G.
Government, political, the necessity of administering it on just and righteous principles to produce national prosperity, 164,
note.
The woes denounced against national injustice and tyranny, 213,
note.
Grotius, his commentary on Jeremiah, ch. xxii. defended, 140,
note.
A mistake of his, respecting the extent of the prophet's message to king Zedekiah, rectified, 167,
note.
His opinion of the transgression for which the Philistines incurred the censure of the Prophet Amos, examined, 232,
note.
H.
Hananiah, a false prophet, rebuked by Jeremiah, 72.
Heathen, who are to be understood as comprehended under this term in the Mosaic law, 8.
Herodotus, his authority quoted for the great treasures in Babylon, when taken by Cyrus, 295,
note.
I.
Idolatry, a specification of vices that participate in the guilt of, 143,
note.
Je-hoiakim, how he attained the crown of Judah, 49, 50. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made the instrument of God's vengeance against him for his evil deeds, 79, 90. Rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, 95.
Jeremiah, his account of the practices by which the Jews reduced the poor to slavery, 23. His prediction of the future empire of Nebuchadnezzar, 52, 57. His prophetical message to Zedekiah particularly considered, 131. Collation of passages in ch. xxi. and ch. xxii. 141. Sec Zedekiah.
Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah's denunciations against that city for oppression, 26. Is taken by Nebuchadnezzar, 89. Is taken a second time, 99. Is taken a third time, 106.
Jewish servitude, the nature of under the Mosaic law, explained, 4.
Jews, the permission granted them of keeping bondsmen, cannot be claimed by any other nation, 8. The strongest instances of God's vengeance against tyrants, to be found in their history, 11. Their restoration to
natural freedom
from Egyptian
slavery,
the first
national mercy
they experienced, 12. This deliverance frequently mentioned by the prophets, 13. And particularly recommended to their remembrance, 14. That they might be moved to sympathize with
oppressed
strangers, 15. Warnings given them of the danger of
oppression,
16. Their
oppressions
trivial in comparison with the treatment of negroes in the British Colonies, 25. The judgements of God executed against king Zedekiah, his family, and the nobles of Judah, 202. Under their present dispersion, have scriptural assurances of a glorious re-establishment, 272,
note.
Their final conversion will be a true object of general joy, 291,
note.
Josephus, his disingenuous attempt to conceal the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 89,
note.
His account of the death of Jehoiakim, 98.
Josiah king of Judah, account of his sons, 44. The judgement he drew on himself by undertaking an unjust war against Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, 155,
note.
Isaiah, his reproof to the Jews for the inconsistency of their outward humiliations with their
oppressive
conduct to the poor, 19. His denunciation against the city of Tyre, 237,
note.
Judah, remarkable deliverance of, from the bondage of Pekah king of Israel, by four chiefs of the children of Ephraim, 322.
L.
Liberty, the deprivation of, the greatest of all injuries, except the loss of life, 301.
Lives, a general view of the melancholy destruction of, in the prosecution of the slave trade, 148,
note.
Lowth, Dr. examination of his opinion concerning the successor of Josiah king of Judah, as mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah, 52,
note.
His interpretation of the word
pastor,
162,
note.
M.
Masquerades, the baneful tendency of, 146,
note.
Micah, his denunciation of God's vengeance against the Ammonites for their covetous violence, 241,
note.
N.
Nations, not like individuals, to be called to a future account for their crimes, but receive their punishments in their collective capacity in this world, 253,
note.
Are, by divine wisdom, made mutual scourges to each other, 256.
National
wickedness, has generally been visited by
national
punishments, 10, 253,
note,
259,
note.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the nations commanded to submit to his yoke, 63,
note,
66. Kills Jeholakim, 99. His extensive conquests, 124. Executes the decree of God against king Zedekiah, 202. His conduct considered, 207.
Negroes, inhuman treatment of them for resistance to tyranny, 151,
note.
One played for and won, at cards, 219,
note.
Advertisement for the head of one, 238,
note.
Computation of the number of, in our American islands and settlements, 326,
note.
New Jersey, proceedings of the inhabitants and freeholders, in disapprobation of the importation of negro slaves, 308.
P.
Paris, Matthew, the ancient mode of electing bishops, collected from his account of the election of Ulstan to the see of Worcester, 337.
Pastor, a term used both in a civil and ecclesiastical sense, 162,
note.
Patrick, Bishop, his mistake concerning the eldest son of Josiah king of Judah, corrected, 45,
note.
His account of the death of Je-hoiakim, 97,
note.
Philadelphia, petition of the inhabitants of, to the provincial Assembly, against the importation of negro slaves, 312. A provincial act imposing a heavy duty on them, rejected by the crown, 314.
Philistines, the retribution prophecied against them by Amos, 231. For carrying on a
slave trade
with Edom, 233. When probably fulfilled, 234,
note.
Plagues of Egypt, signal instances of God's vengeance against
slave-holder,
13.
Planters, not to be exculpated from sharing the load of guilt with the kidnappers in the
slave-trade,
150,
note.
Prideaux, Dean, determines who Belshazzar was in prophane history, 58,
note.
His account of the great fast of expiation, 93,
note.
His account of the death of Jehoiakim king of Judah corrected by Josephus, 99.
Prophets, lying, hired for money, 69,
note.
R.
Retribution, the divine law of, explained, 75,
note,
253,
note,
259,
note.
Riblah in the land of Hamath, critical exposition of the names of those places, 48,
note.
The judgements of God against king Zedekiah, his Family, and the nobles of Judah, executed there, 201.
S.
Seamen, the great hazard they run in the African slave trade, 149,
note.
Secker, Abp. the cause of the opposition to his endeavours at promoting episcopacy in America, traced, 339,
note.
Shallum king of Judah, critical opinions concerning his proper name, 46,
note.
His fate, 47.
Sharp, Abp. his account of the use God made of king Nebuchadnezzar, 125,
note.
Extract from his sermon on the means of
national
prosperity, 253,
note.
His sentiments on
national
retribution, 259,
note.
His reflections on the present barbarous state of Africa, 263,
note.
Slave trade to Africa, rendered a
national
crime by its legislative support, 1. Indications of a
national
retribution for the guilt of it, 3. The judgements of God against the Jews, brought home to the reflection of African traders and American planters, 206. We have reason to fear the
like
divine vengeance for the guilt of this criminal traffic, 260.
Slavery and oppression, the
public
toleration of, a most heinous
national
crime in the sight of God, 10. Strong prophetical description of, 154 Warning hints for the stopping of, communicated by the Author to the British Ministry, 251, 252,
notes.
Soldiers, African, their deplorable situation in the company's settlements, 150,
note.
Syrians, the denunciations of the prophet Amos against them for their oppressions, how fulfilled, 230.
T.
Tyrants, tremendous examples of God's vengeance against, to be found in all histories, particularly that of the Jews, 11.
Tyre and Zidon, the ports for the ancient slave trade, of Palestine, 219. How this wicked traffic was retaliated upon them, 222,
note.
The government of Tyre subverted by the slaves, 256,
note.
V.
Vices, destructive of national prosperity, 165,
note.
Public, how punished, 253,
note.
Virginia, petition of the house of burgesses to the king on the inhumanity and dangerous tendency of the African
slave-trade,
306.
Urijah the prophet murdered by Jehoiakim king of Judah, 77.
Usher, Abp. his account of Nabuchadonosor king of Babylon, 55,
note.
His opinion as to the king addressed by the prophet Jeremiah, ch.xxii. corrected, 136,
note.
W.
War, barbarity in, will incur the vengeance of God, 240,
note.
X.
Xenophon, his account of the destruction of Babylon, 287, 288, 295.
Y.
Yokes, prophetically used as emblems of
slavery,
52,
note,
56, 64.
Z.
Zedekiah king of Judah, prophetic denunciations against him for injustice and oppression, 26. Exhortations to him, 37. Historical account of that prince, 44, 59. Is raised to the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, 108. Exposition of his regal name, 110, 166. Rebels against the king of Babylon, 119. The prophet Jeremiah's message to him particularly considered, 131. Proclaims
liberty
to bondsmen, 172. Denunciations upon his relapse, 177. Judgement executed on him, by the hand of his conqueror Nebuchadnezzar, 202.
This Tract having been unavoidably extended to a much greater length than was at first intended, the Extract from Mr. Morgan's Book, mentioned in p. 258, is inserted in the Appendix of another Tract, intituled,
The just Limitation of Slavery in the Laws of God compared with the unbounded Claims of the African Traders and British American Slave-holders.
FINIS.
By the same
AUTHOR.
I. A Short Treatise on the English Tongue. Being an Attempt to render the Reading and Pronunciation of the same more easy to Foreigners. 1767.
II. Remarks on several very important Prophecies. 1768.
III. A Representation of the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery; or of admitting the least Claim of Private Property in the Persons of Men
in England.
Being in Answer to an Opinion given in the Year 1729, by the (then) Attorney General and Solicitor General concerning the Case of Slaves in
Great Britain.
1769.
IV. Remarks concerning the Encroachments on the River Thames near
Durham Yard.
1771.
V. Remarks on the Opinions of some of the most celebrated Writers on CROWN LAW, respecting the due Distinction between
Manslaughter
and
Murder.
1773.
VI. In two Parts. 1. A Declaration of the Peoples
Natural Right
to a Share in the Legislature; which is the fundamental Principle of
the British Constitution of State.
2. A Declaration, or Defence of
the same Doctrine,
when applied
particularly to
THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. 1774.
Printed ser B. WHITE, at Horace's Head, in Fleet-Street.
TRACTS,
by the same
AUTHOR, Now in the Press for Publication, by B. WHITE in Fleet-Street, and E. and C. DILLY in the Poultry.
I. A Tract
on the Law of Nature,
and Principles of Action in Man.
II. THE CASE OF SAUL; being an Appendage to the former Tract, wherein the
compound Nature
and various
Principles of Action in
MAN (with the Reality of
supernatural, spiritual Influence,
both
good
and
bad
) are proved by unquestionable Examples from the History of that unfortunate Monarch, and also from many other parts of Scripture.
III. The just Limitation of
Slavery
in the
Laws of God
compared with the unbounded Claims of the African Traders and British American
Slave-holders.
IV.
The Law of passive Obedience:
or, Christian Submission to personal Injuries.—Wherein is shewn that the several Texts of Scripture which command the entire Submission of
Servants
or
Slaves
to their
Masters,
cannot authorize the latter to exact an
involuntary Servitude,
nor in the least degree justify the unbounded Claims of modern
Slave-holders.
V.
"The Law of Liberty;"
or (as it is called in Scripture
by way of eminence
) "the
Royal Law,,
" by which
all Mankind
will certainly
be judged!