the sight of the Lord," &c. xxxi. 29. In chap. xxviii. xxix. he tells the people that they will be "scattered among all nations ;" that they will have no king, no land, no temple; and in that condition they will" abide for many days."-Further, he gave them advice how to proceed, and by what means they might recover their land, their temple, and their king. From the beginning of the first verse to the eleventh, we may learn, 1. that there is a promise that in the latter days Israel will return to the Lord their God: 2. He will restore them to their own land again: 3. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul that thou mayest live :" 4. " And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies; if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law." Deut. xxx. 10. * Let every one observe these ten verses, and then he will acknowledge that the law of Moses is in full power at this day, just as it was in the time of Moses. Now, if the law of Moses is in full force this day, it will prove that there is no other law; and, if there is no other law, then the boasting of all the gentile world is put away, and it will remain that among Israel only are to be found the. oracles of God. * The law of Moses is perfect. The gentiles say, it is imperfect: on this account the law is abolished, and a better one established. But we ought never to speak at random to establish any thing: sufficient proof ought to be given, in particular where it concerns the honour and

glory of the great Creator of heaven and earth. If the law is imperfect, then you must say also that God is imperfect; because this law is called the law of God, and who will dare to say that a perfect God established an imperfect law.

This law tells us that God is perfect: "He is the Rock, his work is perfect." Deut. xxxii. 4. "As for God, his way is perfect, the word of the Lord is tried." Psalm xviii. 30. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure." Psalm xix. 7.

What will you say here? I have produced two witnesses; the one, Moses the man of God; the other, king David the man of God; both of them tell you that the law is perfect, and whatever is perfect is finished and complete now it is your duty to bring forward two witnesses, of equal character, and let them prove that the above witnesses' testimony is false. But the question will be, who are your two witnesses? Can you pro

duce two men able to stand, and to

contend with

Moses and David? No you cannot. They both say, a perfect God has given a perfect law; but look here, stand in awe : " And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." Exod. xxxii. 16. *These two tables contained the whole law; for * in the Ten Commandments there are six hundred and thirteen letters, and each letter stands for one command, and in the whole law of Moses there are six hundred and thirteen commandments: and such was the power of these two tables that it contained the complete law of Moses. Thus far it is proved, that a perfect God gave a perfect law :

and, if so, it contains every thing, and sufficient to make happy all the sons of Adam.

But here the gentile world will say that this statement is not true, because this law was given only to Israel, but not to the gentiles; and therefore this law cannot make happy all the sons of Adam. To this I answer, that it is true, the law was given only to Israel, and that this law is called the inheritance of Israel. Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." Deut. xxxiii. 4. Why did God give the law for an inheritance to Israel, and not to any other nation, nor to all nations? forasmuch as all nations are his creatures, * he ought to have given the law to all of them. We find that the sons of Japhet, Ham, and Shem, *were in number seventy: they multiplied greatly, “And they said one to another, Let us build a city and a tower, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth." Gen. xi. 14. The whole proceeding of this second world was to rebel against God. The Lord said, their punishment should be that which they were afraid of; they said, Lest we be scattered; and God said, They shall be scattered. Then the Lord said to his heavenly Sanhedrin, or the seventy angels that minister unto him, "Let us go down and there confound their language." v. 7. Here lots were cast, and that family which fell in the lot of Gabriel, he became the guardian angel of that family; and in this manner the seventy families were divided among the seventy angels. These seventy families became afterward seventy nations; so every nation had a prince in heaven,

when all these things were finished. Then the Lord" scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the whole earth." v. 8. And every family was directed by his guardian angel to that land which was given to them: Tarshish went and settled in that land; Cush, the son of Ham, went to Ethiopia; Ophir, the son of Shem, went to that part which was afterwards known by his name, the land of Ophir; and so did all the rest. * At that time Abraham was forty-eight years old; he saw the wickedness of the new little world; he told them the Lord certainly would punish them for their rebellion; but they despised his good advice: *he cursed them, and said, "Destroy, O Lord! and divide their tongues." Psalm lv. 9. At that time Abraham was the only man upon the face of the earth who worshipped the true God. We just mentioned that the lot was cast among the heavenly Sanhedrin ; the lot which fell to the portion of God was Abraham and his family; as it is written, "For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." Deut. xxxii. 9. The fathers who went down into Egypt were seventy; for so it is written, "And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy." Exod. i. 5. According to this number the gentile world was established ; that is, each of these seventy persons represented one nation; and so we are informed by the word of God." When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Deut. xxxii. 8.

Here we may learn that the * lot of God was in

1

number as much as that of all the seventy angels. The division of tongues was a punishment to the sons of Adam, on account of their rebellion, for which reason they were scattered abroad; only one good family was found among them all, and that family fell to the lot of God. What was here to be done? Should God cast away a godly portion, and instead of it take a wicked one? Certainly not, for wickedness is an abomination unto the Lord. God is good, and his delight is in good; he therefore gloried in his godly portion. Now God had a holy law: to whom was it proper to give it, to a wicked family, or to his own family? Every one will say, that no family had a right to his oracles except his own, and this was no more than justice; and therefore he gave the law for an inheritance to Israel. "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." Deut. xxxiii. 4. Here you see,* as an act of justice, and lawfully, the oracles of God belonged to no nation except to Israel. It must be acknowledged, that those to whom the oracles of God aré committed must alone be the ministers of God.

Question.-We know that God is good and merciful to all his creatures: did God glory only in his own lot? Has he cast away the seventy lots which he gave to the seventy angels? Are they not also his? Is he not the Lord of heaven and earth? Are the oracles of God to make happy only one family, and must all the rest perish?

Answer-Although the oracles of God are the inheritance of Israel alone, yet the nations are not deprived of its benefit. The one is bound to take care of it, because it was given into their charge;