thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy feed after thee for an everlasting poffeffion. And now thy two fons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ver.

3, 4, 5.

Jacob prefaces his grant to Jofeph's family with a recital only of God's promise to make him fruitful, and to give the land of Canaan to him and his feed; for his gift to Jofeph's family went not beyond the terms of this grant.

But the bleffing of Abraham, derived to his chosen feed, confifted of two parts; the promise of the land of Canaan, and the promise of that fon, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. These two promises went infeparably together from the beginning, and we fhall find they continued in fome degree to do fo to the end.

Let us fee now in what terms these two promises are conveyed.

If the words which I have here placed as the conveyance of the promife of the bleffed feed to the tribe of Judah, be not admitted in that fenfe, there are no others, relating to this or any of the other

tribes, which make any mention, much less any fettlement, of this part of Jacob's bleffing. And yet there never was any doubt, either in the ancient Jewish church before Chrift, or among the Jews fince the time of Chrift, but that the promise of the Meffiah was limited to the tribe of Judah in this bleffing; nor is it reasonable to imagine, that Jacob, in dividing his bleffing among his pofterity, should forget the chief and principal part, which had been with so much folemnity conveyed from Abraham, through Ifaac, to himself. Befides, the expreffion here used, Thou art he whom thy brethren fhall praise, is equivalent to what was faid to Abraham, Thou fhalt be a bleffing; and to what was faid to Jacob, Blessed be he that bleffeth thee; and must confequently mean the fame thing. But of this part have already treated in the foregoing Discourses, and will not burden the reader and myfelf with repetitions.

I

The promise of the bleffed feed could not be divided, for a man can defcend but from one tribe; a fon can be born but of one father; and therefore this part of Jacob's bleffing went entire to the tribe of Judah. All the other tribes have their special bleffing affigned them out of the promised land; and interpreters need not be concerned, as fome of them are, to find wherein the peculiar bleffing of fome of the fons of Jacob, to whom, or of whom, very little is faid, does confift; for the making them heads of tribes conveyed to them a right to a fhare in the land of Canaan, and in that their blefling confifted, and by that they received a portion of the bleffing of their father.

The promise to Abraham, of multiplying his feed, and giving them the land of Canaan for a poffeffion, implied neceffarily a promise of temporal power and dominion. For a people cannot poffefs a land without fome form, or rule of government among them. All the promises therefore of a numerous iffue, of strength and courage in fubduing enemies, and the like, are incident to the promise of the land of Canaan, and must be referred to it. Thus when we hear the character of Judah; Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my fon, thou art gone up: he flooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall roufe him up? to what else can we apply thefe images of courage and bravery, but to the martial difpofition of the tribe of Judah, and to their victories obtained over the ancient poffeffors of the land of Canaan? In like manner all the promises of plenty are part of the promise which God gave to Abraham and his pofterity, of a land flowing with milk and honey. Of Judah it is faid, Binding his foal unto the vine, and his afs's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: his eyes fhall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. This is a portion of Jacob's bleffing; and can it naturally be deduced from any part of the bleffing beftowed on him by his father, but this only? God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine h

There remains ftill to be accounted for the paffage relating to the fceptre of Judah. The words are these ;

h Gen. xxvii. 28.