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their Gon by this name, is evident, from his very plainly distinguishing them one from the other. He asserts that he had an order from Jehovah, (i. e. he meant from the supreme Gon) to destroy Jerusalem; but as to the GOD whom the Jews called Jehovabı, and whom Rabshekah styled the LORD their God,* he observes, 1. That he would not assist them if he could, for that Hezekiah had provoked him. 2. That he could not preserve them if he would; for that none of the gods of the nations had been able to deliver their favourites out of his master's hand. The gods of Hamath, of Arpad, and of Sepharvaim, had not been able to deliver Samaria; and he thought all hopes of preservation from the Gon of the Jews would be alike vain. 3. That Rabshekah really thought the GoD of the Jews was only an inferior deity, or GoD of a country, is evident from the opinion which the Assyrians had of him. They thought him the Gon of the land of the Jews; and appointed a priest to teach the people, which they had planted in Samaria, the manner of the God of the land, that he might not slay them with lions. Thus the Greeks in Homer -thought it necessary to appease Apollo, that he might not destroy them with a pestilence; or rather I might instance from Xenophon, who represents Cyrus taking particular care to render the O naтρw, or gods of the countries which he warred against, propitious to

2 Kings xviii. 22.
Ver. 33, 34, 85,

bibid.

Chap. xvii. 24-38.

him. Such a god as one of these Rabshekah thought the god of Israel. For, 4. It is plain, that he did not think him to be the deity, or the LORD, without whom he affirmed, that he was not come up against Jerusalem; for Hezekiah remonstrated, that he had reproached the living Gon,' and prayed that GoD would save them; that, says he, all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the LORD Gon, even thou only. When Rabshekah had professed, that he was not come up without the LORD, against them, and that the LORD had said unto him, go up against this land and destroy it; if by the LORD, he had here intended the GoD of the Jews, what reason could there be to accuse him of reproaching this GOD? But Hezekiah's charge against him is well grounded, and pertinent to his whole speech and behaviour, if we take him by the LORD to mean not the GOD of the Jews, but the supreme Deity in opposition to him. For herein consisted his blasphemy, that he thought the God whom Hezekiah called the LORD, was not the supreme Deity; but only a god of a nation, such a deity as the god of Hamath, or Arpad, and of Sephar vaim, who in truth were no gods; and what Hezekiah prayed for was, that the Gon of the Jews would, in opposition to these blasphemous sentiments, shew, that he was the LORD GOD, even he only; and that there could not be any divine commission to hurt those who were under his protection. The heathens even

с

Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. 3.

2 Kings xix. 4.

Ver. 19.

in the later days of their idolatry were not so gross in their notions; for they believed that there was but one supreme God. They did indeed worship a multitude of deities; but supposed that all, except one, were subordinate divinities. They had always a notion of one deity, superior to all the powers of heaven; and all the other deities were conceived to have different offices or ministrations under him; being appointed to preside over elements, over cities, over countries, and to dispense victory to armies, health, life, and other blessings to their favourites, if permitted by the Supreme power. Hesiod supposes one god to be the father of the other deities;

θεων πατερ ηδε καὶ Ανδρων. *

and Homer in many passages in the Iliad, represents one supreme deity presiding over all the rest; and

h Hesiod. Theogon.

i Vid. Iliad. 7.

ver. 202. 8, ver. 5..28, &c. See Virg. Æn. 2. ver. 777.

......

non hæc sine NUMINE Divûm

Eveniunt; non te hinc comitem asportare Créüsam

Fas: haud ille sinit superi regnator Olympi.

Jupiter is here supposed to be the Numen Divûm, and his will to be the fas, or fate, which no one might contradict. Fatum est, says Cicero, non id quod superstitiosè sed quod physicè dicitur causa æterna rerum. de Divin. lib. 1. c. 55.-Deum....interdum necessitatem áppellant, quia nihil aliter possit atque ab eo constitutum sit. Id. Academ. Quest. lib. 4. c. 44.

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the most celebrated of their philosophers always endeavoured to assert this theology; which was undoubtedly Rabshekah's opinion; and as the supreme Deity had in time different names in different languages, so Rabshekah thought that Jehovah was the proper Hebrew name for him.

II. We have no reason to suppose, that the patriarchs, who lived before the days of Abraham, knew the LORD who appeared unto Abraham, and who spoke unto Moses,' by the name Jehovah, If we consider the history of the Bible, we may find just reason to remark of the several revelations recorded in it, that they all tend, with a surprising harmony and consistency, to confirm and illustrate one uniform scheme of Providence; which was gradually opened through a long succession of ages, until in the fulness of time CHRIST was manifested in the flesh, and the will, counsel or design, hidden wisdom or purpose of GOD, which was ordained before the world," but not fully revealed to the former ages and generations, came at length to be made manifest to those who embraced the gospel. And the further we look backward, we find a lesser discovery of this intended.

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Cic. in Lib. de Nat. Deorum. in Acad. Quæst. lib. 1. c. 7. Ibid. c. 34. Plat. de Legib. lib. 10. in Phileb. in Cratyl. &c. Aristot. 1. de mundo. c. 6. Plutarch. de Placit. Philos. lib.1. Id. in lib. de Ex apud Delphos. p. 393,

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scheme; though we have plain intimations of some part of it in every age from the foundation of the world. Adam and Eve had a revelation made to them of a person to come, for the great and universal benefit of mankind; and the whole system of worship by way of sacrifice practised in the very first ages, appears most reasonably to have been founded upon the design of the true propitiation which was to be made by CHRIST for the sins of the world. But we read of no diviné appearance to any person before the days of Abraham; who was the first who built an altar to, and worshipped the Lord who appeared to him. Adam heard the voice of God many times; GOD spoke to Cain, to Noah," and probably to many others of the Antediluvians; but it is no where intimated that the LORD appeared unto any one person, until we are told that he appeared unto Abraham;* and then it is observed as what had not been before practised, that Abraham built an altar unto the Lord who appeared to him, so that Abraham seems to have been the first person who knew or worshipped this LORD. Man, before he had received fresh and further revelations than had been made to the world, worshipped Jehovah Elohim, the true and living GOD; but they worshipped God whom no man had ever seen nor could see, and whom Job therefore

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