Love was not a temporary Love,manifeſted to a firgle Gen-ration, | but it was an everlaſting Love, therefo:e he hai diawn them with loving kindneſs, he had all along dealt graciouſly wich them, that way atrempting to oblige them to that Dury which they owed to him, this drawing with loving-kindneſs he calleth a drawing with tbe cords of men, Hoſ. 1. 4 who ordinarily ate little wrought upon .._ - by force but wen by Love. hap 4 Again * I will build thee, and thou (balt be built f,
7. Ovirgin of Iſrael g, thou ſhalt again be adorned with r, 3m thy || cabrers, and thalt go forth in the dances of them N that make merry hþ. Wi f As upon theic bing carried into Captivity, both their Civil State and Church,which either of them were as a Buildiag framed tagerher, were boken and pulled down, and they were ſcattered here and there;like che Srones ofa Building pulled down : So God's bringing them again together, and cementing them by a Political aad Eccleſiaſtical Government, is firly compared to a Building g The calling them the Yirgin Iſrael, doth not ſigaifie that the Body of that People had nor been deflowred by Idolarry, bur either fig- nifies that this Promiſe only concerned ſuch as had kept their Virginity : Or elſe ( which it may be is more probable ) Iſracl 1s here called a Yrgin with relation to the following words,they being 4 V.rgins which were wont to yo out with Tabrets, 1 Sam. 18. 6. and to Dance in the time of their mirth and jollity, Exod. 15. 20. Jud. 11.34 h The Virgins are ſaid ro b2 adorned, with their Tabrets,or Timbrels, either ( as ſome think ) becauſe they were wont to tie Scarfs, or Ribbons abour them, or becauſe th:y looked comeli'y with theſe Initruments of Muſick in thuir hands,or ſhould uſe then in a more handſome and co:pely manner than they had done b:fore, when they uſe4 them at unſeatozavle rimes. That which is here Propheſied is, a merry. joyful, plcaſant rime to this People when their Mirth ſhouli become them ; or the Rettauration of their Re. ligious Feſtivals,at which they ufed Inruments of Mulick ro ex- preſs their inward ſpiritual joy and gladneſs. The Prophets, 1 Sam. 10. 5, cam? from the High-place with a Tabret, &c. Is 65.22 5 * Thou ſhalt yer plant vines upon che mountains Heb, of Samaria z, the pianters (hal) plant, and ſhall F car rojeue them as common things &. _ i Samaria was the Mztropolis of tre Ten Tribes, called ſo from Shem:r who owned the Hill Oz»; King of Jraz! bought it, and built Samaria upon it, Mountains in many places are judzed the moſt convenient places for Vineyards, being free from ſhades and moſt expoſed ro the Sun. & God promiſcth them a Liberty ro plant, and raarthey ſhould enjoy their Plantati-ns, earing th:m as common things, which they could not do till rhe fifth Year, as appears from Lev. rg. 23. The three firft years it was t5 be ac- counted by them, as uncircum-iſed, that is unclean. In the fourth Year it was to be holy to the Lord. In the fifth Year they mig nt eat the fruit of it, as any common thing that was not unclean, nor yet devored and conſecrated to the Lord. 6 For there ſhall be a day, rbar the watchmen upon IG. 2.3. the mount Ephraim ſhall cry 7, Ariſe ye, * and let us f ch-4. 2. 80 up to Zion unto the LORD our God mx. | | That Mount Ephraim was a part of the Lot of the Ten Tribes is out of queſtion. Whether by Watchmen, be to be underſtood State Centinels ſet to give warning of cangers approaching, or Keep- ers of Vineyards, ſeemerh not much material. mIr is faid they ſhould | call upon Men to go up to Zion, that is, tothe Temple of the Lord ar Jeruſal:m to worſhip the Lord. The only queſtion is, what time this Prophecy was fulfiiled ? For © though Judah returned from ' the Captivity of Babylen, yer the Tex Tribes ( that we read of) never returned» Some think that it was fulfilled in the time of Ezra and Neh:miah, whea though the Body of the Ten Tribes returned nor, yet many particular Perſons of thoſe Tribes, did return and join themſclves with thoſe who returned out of the Captivity of B25ylon, and rebuilt both the City and Temple. Be: ſidesit appeareth from Foſephus | :3. cap. 5. 8. That rhe Demetr;: gave Samaria, Gal:lee, and Perea to the Jews, But the beſt Inter- reters judge that this Prophecy was fulfilled under the Goſpel ; hr both Galilee and Samarts received the Goſpel as appeareth from As 8.1,5.9,14. and 9. 31. : | 7 For thus ſaith the LORD, Sing with gladneſs for Jacob, and ſhout amongſt the chief of the nations, pub. liſh ye, praiſe ye, and ſay », O LORD, fave thy peo- ple, the remnant of Iſrael o. » This grave, authoritative Preface, Thw ſaith the Lord, ſeemeth to be prefixed to put the People of God out of fear of the accom- pliſhmeat of the good things he had before promiſed, and prophe-
uy
mongſt the Jews, who feared God, or to the Heathen, to ſing and
ſhew fuch mercy as they would ſig for, before they had it in their
rejoyce on the behalf of the Jews, to whom God would certainly | forrow any more at all [of
M 1 4 H. Chap. EXXI-
vith Chi'd, In re gard of their hcavineſs, arcWemen Travailiirg, n regard of thcir pain, awe Perſons more unfit 16 travel jc1 g fours neys than any others ; bur ſaith Ged, I wil! mzke ſuch proviſion, chat ſome under thoſe Circumſtances ſhall come. That theſejzhiaies muſt be Interpreted only into this generl ſenie appears, becaute ſuch J erl0Ls 1N a literal ſenſe could not come. And though ſome worthy Lnterpreters, underſtand it in a ſpiritual tenſe of ign' rant and im- porent Perſcns, and ſuch as are laden with thc turden of their tins, and of coming to Chriſt, it ſeems nor to be the primary ſenſe of
the Text. : 9 They ſhall come with weeping, and || with ſup-\ i fl
plications will-I lead them /: I will cauſe them to walk by the rivers of waters t, ina ſtraighe way wherein they {ball not ſtumble « : for I am a father to Iſrael, and
Ephraim is mv firſt born w.