ON THE

COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND JUDAH,

IN THE REIGN OF JOSIAH.

2 CHRON. Xxxiv. 29-33. compared with 2 KINGS xxiii. 1-3.

THIS is the laft tranfaction which obtained while the first temple ftood, and while the line of David fwayed the fceptre. In attending to it, I fhall,-I. Explain the Character and Circumftances of the Covenanters.II. The Matter of this Covenant.-III. The Occafions of it.-IV. Improve the Subject.

FIRST, I fhall explain the CHARACTER, and attend unto the CIRCUMSTANCES of thefe Covenanters. The first perfon mentioned is King Jofiah. His agency in this matter deferves to be particularly confidered. The facred history bears teftimony unto his early, and

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most exemplary piety: He did that which was right in the fight of the Lord, and walked in the way of David his father, and turned not afide to the right hand or to the left: And when he heard the law of God read in his ears, his heart was humbled, and he rent his clothes, and wept before God, in teftimony of his genuine repentance. Jofiah was also distinguished by his diligence and zeal for repairing the houfe of God: For the book of the covenant, which was the means of awakening Jofiah and the inhabitants of Judah, was found by Hilkiah, when employed in the reparation of the temple; and this prince had contributed liberally for that reparation, both by his example and authority. As to the activity of this prince, in bringing the people into covenant, the facred hiftorian remarks, that he not only made a covenant himself, but alfo CAUSED the people to ftand to it. The queftion is, If he drew the form of this covenant himself, and administered it unto the people; or, if he only excited the Priefts and Levites to do their duty in this matter? The latter, to me at least, feems to be moft probable: For it was accompanied with the reading of the Scriptures and difpenfing the word. Now, there are none, as far as I know, who plead for magiftrates taking upon them the adminiftration of the word. The Jewish monarchs were obliged, indeed, to read it diligently for themfelves, and by them

felves;

felves; as appears from various precepts of the Mofaic Law; but they are never enjoined to read it to the people, much less to difpenfe it in fuch a folemn manner. The expreffion may be juftified, viz. "He read in their cars all the words of the book of the covenant," if he caufed it to be done; for perfons are faid to do things, in the facred ftyle, when they excite others to do them, or caufe them to be done. Thus Solomon is faid to offer two and twenty thousand oxen *; while it was only the prieft that offered them by his direction, and at his expenfe, at the dedication of his temple. And Jofiah might caufe the people TO STAND to this covenant, as well as Afa, by an act of the Sanhedrim, or fupreme council of the nation, appointing the contemners of it to be punished. But this matter has been explained already †. The rest of the covenanters were the whole congregation. The facred writer defcribes them in the following terms: "The King fent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerufalem. And the King went up into the houfe of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerufalem, and the Priests, and the Levites, and all the people great and fmallt:" And, in the parallel

I Kings viii. 63. + Differtation IX.

2 Chron. xxxiv. 29, 39.

place, the PROPHETS are added likeways. The elders were called together to fettle what was to be done; and the people readily cooperated with them, and joined in the folemn fervice.

SECONDLY, I fhall next confider the MATTER of this Covenant, or the various articles unto which they engaged: And they covenanted to "walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his teftimonies, and his ftatutes, with all his heart, and with all his fout, to perform the words of the covenant *."

The

1. THEY Covenanted to WALK AFTER THE LORD, in oppofition to thofe idols after which Manaffeh and Amon had walked. When perfons fell into idolatry, the Holy Ghost frequently ftyles their courfe, A walking AFTER other gods ; or, a feeking AFTER them. expreffion imports, the emotion of the foul in acts of esteem and defire,-of complacency and delight, according to the various objects on which it terminated :-The perfons being alfo initiated into the way of his worship, and practifing accordingly. Walking after the Lord, in fine, cannot imply less than an imitation of him in holiness and righteousness, mer

* 2 Chron. xxxiv. 31.

Deut. viii. 19. xi. 28. xiii, 2. 1 Kings. xi. 10.

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ey and truth; yea, in all his moral perfec tions.

2. THEY engaged to keep his COMMANDMENTS, and his TESTIMONIES, and his STATUTES*. The term rendered commandments is ufed to denote judicials, as I have already obferved, or fuch political precepts as God gave out for the regulation of the Jewish commonwealth: And teftimonies are, in this connection at leaft, expreffive of moral precepts. They are styled TESTIMONIES because God has given a clear and full declaration of his will: He has not left us to guefs at his mind, by dark hints; but has afforded fuch a degree of evidence, that nothing but a vailed heart and obftinate infidelity can refift. The

* 2 Chron xxxiv. 31. The word w, HIS TESTIMONIES, is derived from T, IDEM ESSE; because the teftimony of a witnefs ought to be confiftent with itself, and be always the fame. The term is fometimes ufed in a very large fenfe, for the whole doctrines and precepts in the word: But, in the prefent connection, it is evidently limited unto moral precepts; as there are other words used to denote ceremonials and judicials. Nor is this fenfe of it infrequent in the Old Testament. "Teftimonium quoque interdum fignificat ipfum Decalogum; atque adeo duas Tabulas, in quibus feriptas fuit, Exod. xl. 20. Levit. xvi. 13 Ideo autem Decalogus vocatur Teftimonium; quia Deus id dixit teftatufque eft de fe, ac fua voluntate de que juftitia et veluti debito, quod a nobis exigat." MATTHIAS FLACCIUS ILLYRICUS Clay. Script. apud vocem,

duty