6, 9, 12, 15, 19. Zeph. ii. 5. iii. 1. Zech. ii. 6, 7. iv. 17. Ho, deliver thyfelf, O Sion. That thus it is rendered in the Texts abovemention'd, I appeal to the whole learned World, and adjure them, that they no longer deceive their own and their Hearers Confciences; or to fhew plain Reasons why the fame numerical Letters Ho fhould be render'd a Call to Sinners in one Place, and a Denunciation against them in another. But, I prefume, they may as eafily pluck a Star from the Firmament, or deftroy the Stability of Nature, as fhew a Reason why the Elabim fhould thus ambiguously reveal himself to his Creatures. I am not to be talk'd off here with Jewish Quirks and Quibbles, nor with a fcholaftick Air; the grave, the learned Sneer, will in this Place be of no use. Nor will Ramus, nor Hifpan, nor Bythner, nor Buxtorff, nor any of their Difciples, be admitted to plead here; plain Truth and Common Sense will be heard with Candour.

But befides what has been faid above, there is another Word in Hebrew, which does really fignify Woe; and I think it an infallible Rule in that Language, that no two Words can fignify precifely the fame Thing. If fo, and so it is, then

,does אוי

cannot fignify Woe, becaufe does fo, Prov. xxiii. 29. who bath Woe, who bath Sorrow? Ecclef. iv. 10. Numb. xxi. 29, Woe unto thee Hefhbon. 1 Sam. iv. 7, 8, and they faid, Woe unto us, &c. Fer. iv. 13, xxxi. 6,4. Lam. v. 16. Isaiah iii. 9, 11. Numb. xxiv. 23, Alas, &c. Pfalm. Woe is me, &c. Ifaiab vi. 5. xxiv. 16. Jer. x. 19. xiii. 27. XV. 10. xlv. 3. xlviii. 46. Ezek. xvi. 23. xxiv. 6, 9. Hofea vii. 13. ix. 12. Micha ii. 1.

Thefe are all the Places in the Old Teftament

where

3

where Woe is to be found. It is a Note of Lamentation, and better render'd Alas, as in Numb. xxiv. 23. where it is fo render'd fer. xiii. 27. Woe to [Alas for] thee, Jerufalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when fhall it once be, &c.

The Woes in the New Teftament read thus, and mean no more than Alas; and till the Ground and Reason why 'Ouai, Woe in Greek, means more than " in Hebrew, be fhewn by fome learned Pen, the Man of common Senfe will continue to cleave to it.

But to return to the Confideration of Ho: I have faid it is truly rendered in Ifaiab lv. 1, 2, and cannot be Woe, nor Alas. I fhall be told it means, bebold, bearken, a Note of Attention to what follows, be that a Comfort or Curfe. This cannot be the Cafe in many, if in any, of the Texts cited above; where it must not be only, behold ye but come, come ye, come hither; and not ftand, ftand off, &c. What I mean is, 'tis not the Voice nor Language of an Enemy; for, I believe, the whole French Army in Flanders, in the late War, would have been deaf to the Ho of an English General and, if you will call the Trumpet or Flag the military Ho, there are always Terms of Peace, a Truce, Ceffation, or Mitigation propofed; and if the White Flag be always the Attendant of the military Ho, I hope it will not be refused a Place here. I fuppofe, when an Enemy is flying, 'twould be thought very extraordinary to stop him with an Ho, to bid him fly fafter; or to call after him, and stop him, in order to threaten him.

;

I find it rendered Alas, 1 Kings xiii. 30. True; but to make this found tolerable, the living Prophet must be made to fpeak to the dead one;

whereas

whereas he mourning over him "Come, fee, my brethren, the Fate of this Man for fuffering himfelf to be feduced from the Elahim. Ifaiah i. 4. Ah! finful Nation, &c. Ho to the finful Nation, the People laden with Iniquity, the Seed of Evil Doers, the Children that have caufed Corruptions; they have contemned Jehovah; they are gone backward. This is all I can find in this Text; thofe that can find Anger in it, are to fhew how. I will give them till Doomsday to find it.

I fhall omit the further Confideration of it in this Place; but muft Quære on the 24th Verfe of this Chapter, whether the Translators have not been a little too free, and given us their own, inftead of the Senfe of the Text? And whether the Gloom they have drawn over it ought not to be difpelled? The Connection of the 5th Chapter of this Book is totally spoil'd by changing Ho into Woe, as well as the Connection of every other Place, where they have done fo; nor can, nor will, the true Connection appear till these Things are further attended to.

That there are admonitory Checks, Declarations of what the Confequence of Things will be, upon a Course of Rebellion and Obftinacy against God, his Revelation, and Method of Salvation perfifted in, I deny not: But that they carry in them the Nature of Threatnings, as that Word is generally understood; or that there is Vengeance at the Root; or, that they are defign'd to affright the Sinner, or, for any other purpose than to effect his Happiness, I do deny, because the Word of God must have its Effect, and if the Threats in God's Word were defign'd to affright the Sinner, they muft drive him from the Source

of

of his Happiness; and if there be Vengeance at the Bottom, and they are only defigned to give the Sinner Prelibations of his Damnation, and fo to torment him before his Time, who fhall prevent their Effect? And how is this confiftent with the Wooings, and Befeechings, of God to Sinners to be reconcil'd? 2. Cor. v., 18, 19, 20. And all Things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himfelf by Jefus Chrift, and hath given to us the Miniftry of Reconciliation, &c. Col. i. 21. And you that were fome time alienated, and Enemies in your Mind by wicked Works, yet now hath he reconciled.

It is notwithstanding, confeffed; and, I own, there was a Crime, and a fort of Sinners, who were threatened and punished, and frequently cut off too, by the Appointment of the Elabim: But why were they punished and cut off? As a merciful King executes obftinate Rebels, not with Vengeance, and Spite against them; but to prevent their alienating the Hearts of the reft of his good Subjects, by drawing them from their Allegiance into Slavery, and Ways that would prove their Ruin. What that Crime was, and who those Sinners were, have been hinted already; and I cannot conceive the Reader fo dull, as not to understand it. It is called the great Tranfgreffion, the abominable Thing, the accurfed Thing, &c. It was in a Branch of this Idolatry, that Manaffeb exceeded all the Abominations of the Heathen. It was for this, the Queen Maacah was deprived of her Royal Dignity; and when the Reader has informed himself, what that precife, particular Crime was, of which Manaffeb and Queen Maacab were guilty, and the Branches and Design of it; he will have a better Clue to understand his Bible, h an the Commentators had. The Commiffion of this

P

this Crime, made Jehovah forfake his own Temple; and he never did it for any other. This was the tip-top Piece of Heathenifim, the greatest Crime that ever was committed in that Worship, and, in that Manaffeh introduced it (the Symbol of it) into the Temple of Jehovah, he exceeded all the Abominations of the Heathen. The admo

nitory Threatenings are concerning this Crime, and fuch Worshipers as rebelliously and obftinately adhered to it, and its Confequences; and even these will be found to be but fo many Warnings to forfake thofe Ways of Death, to return to God, to his Revelation, and be faved. I the rather fay this, because those very Warnings are mixed and tempered with the most endearing and falutary Expoftulations and Forbearance, Jer. iii. I. xii. 22. Amos i. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13. The Tranflators have put Punishments into thefe Texts in Amos; but there are none in the Original.

IN One Word for a Clofe; (for I am got beyond my intended Limits) there is no Morality worthy the Name, but what is founded on the Gofpel, arifing from the grateful Senfe of what the Elabim has done for us. Hence we are inclined to love him and our Neighbour, and to think this, and all we can do, infinitely too little. This grateful Senfe of the Love of the Elahim, and this Benevolence to our Fellow Creature, ingraven on the Heart by the Power and Grace of God, and not by Nature, is all the Law the Chriftian needs; for to love the Lord our God with all our Heart, Soul, Strength, and Might, and our Neighbour as ourselves, includes, and involves all the real Morality, or good Manners, we can be poffeffed. of. On this hangs all the Law, and the Prophets; and, by fair Confequence, this hangs not on the

Law