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all to obferve it. But we find exprefs mention made of the Stranger, at the Appointment of the Yearly Feast of Atonement, Lev. xvi. 29. The Stranger was obliged to bring his Sacrifice to the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation; and in the Prohibitions of eating Blood, he is particularly forbidden it, chap. xvii. 8, 9, 12, 15. All the Laws relating to Marriage, and concerning unlawful Luft, are equally enjoin'd the Stranger and the Ifraelite, chap. xviii. 26. he was to be stoned, if he gave any of his Seed unto Moloch, chap. xx. 2. and he was obliged to all the fame Laws concerning Sacrifices, chap. xxii. 18. and was to be ftoned for Blafphemy; and for Murther, Hurt, or Damage, the Law made no difference between Strangers, and Native Ifraelites. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the Stranger, as for one of your own country; for I am the Lord your God, chap. xxiv. 16, 22. The Sabbath was appointed to the Stranger within their Gates, Exod. xx. 10. and xxiii. 12. Lev. xxv. 6. Deut. v. 14. And the Feasts of Pentecost, of Tabernacles, and of Atonement, as well as the Paffover, were enjoin'd him, Deut. xvi, 11, 14. Lev. xvi. 29. The Feast of Tabernacles is restrain'd to the Ifraelites born, Lev. xxiii. 42. only as to their dwelling in booths feven days. The Stranger was to hear the Law read in the Solemnity of the Year of Release, chap. xxxi. 12. And the Covenant is exprefly made with the Stranger, chap. xxix. 12. Joh. viii. 33, 35.

And as the Strangers or Profelytes were thus join'd, in the very Design and Inftitution of the Law, with the Native Ifraelites themselves, as to all the Acts and Privileges of Religious Worfhip, when once they had receiv'd Circumcifion, though they were not oblig'd to be Circumcifed, but were left to their Liberty, under no Obligation, but to worship the True God, and obferve the Precepts of Noah; fo God had a particular regard to them in their Civil Statutes and Ordinances,

dinances, to free them from Oppreffion, and every thing that might give Strangers any difcouragement from living amongst the Ifraelites, and becoming Partakers of their Religion with them: Thou shalt neither vex a ftranger, nor opprefs him; for ye were firangers in the land of Egypt, Exod. xxii. 21. Alfo thou fhalt not opprefs a stranger; for ye know the heart of a franger, feeing ye were ftrangers in the land of Egypt, chap. xxiii. 9. It seems, one reafon of their being fo long detained in Egypt, was to teach them Humanity and Compaffion to Strangers: Thou shalt not oppress an hired fervant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy ftrangers that are in thy land within thy gates, Deut. xxiv. 14. And care is taken of the Stranger, that he be not brought into Want, or fuffered to perifh in his Diftrefs; for the Gleanings of the Harvest and of the Vintage were his portion: Thou fbalt leave them for the poor and the ftranger: I am the Lord, Lev. xix. 10. and xxiii. 22. All manner of Kindness and Affection is in most exprefs and ample terms commanded towards all Strangers: And if a ftrager fojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not ver bim: But the firanger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thy felf; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt I am the Lord your God, Lev. xix. 33, 34. And Mofes, repeating the peculiar Favours which God had beftowed upon the Children of Ifrael, put them in mind, that God loveth the ftranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the franger; for ye were firangers in the land of Egypt, Deut. x. 18, 19. The Widow, the Stranger, and the Father lefs, are ufually mention'd together in Scripture, as being jointly the Care of God's more peculiar Providence, and he recommends them to the Charity of his People. And to opprefs the Stranger is reckon'd the higheft Aggravation of Wickednels They Jay the widow and the ftranger, and murther the fatherless; yet they fay, The Lord fhall not

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Tee, neither fhall the God of Jacob regard it, Pfal. xciv 6,7. The people of the land have used oppreffion, and exercifed robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppreffed the stranger wrongfully, Ezek. xxii. 29. And to the fame purpofe, Pfal. cxlvi. 9. fer. vii. 6. and xxii. 3. Zech. vii. 10. Mal. iii. 5. Particular Provifion was made in the Law, for the Dwellings of Profelytes, Lev. xxv. 29. And if a man fell a dwelling-boufe in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year, after it is fold, within a full year may be redeem it. And, if it be not redeemed within the fpace of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city fhall be eftablished for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generations, it fhall not go out in the jubilee. For which Law, Philo Judeus affigns this Reafon, That the Profelytes might not be deftitute of Houfes: For the Cities (fays he) when the Land was divided by Lot, were not divided among the Tribes, but were built afterwards: the first Ha bitations being in Villages; and therefore, by this Law, Houfes in Cities were fecured to the Profelytes dwelling in the Land. What he fays of the Cities, must be understood only of the greatest part of them; for it is certain, that the Ifraelites entred upon the Poffeffion of Cities and Houfes already built, Deut. vi. 1o. Joh. xxiv. 13..

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Though their Bond-men and Bond-women were not to be of the Native Ifraelites, but of the Heathen that were round about them, and of the Strangers that dwelt amongst them, Lev. xxv. 44. yet an Ifraelite might fell himself to a Stranger, and become his Servant: but he might be redeemed again, either by himfelf, or by his near Kinfman, and was to be releafed at the Year of Jubilee, ver. 47. The Cities of Refuge were provided for the Stranger and the Sojourner, Num. xxxv. 15. Josh. xx. 9. The Judges were particularly commanded to execute righteous and impartial Judgment to the Stranger, Deut. i 16.

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Caution

Caution is given, that neither the Edomites nor the Ægyptians were to be abhorred by them, but their Children were to be received into the Congregation of the Lord, in the Third Generation; that is, after any Edomite or Egyptian had lived amongst them as a Profelyte of the Gates, their Children of the Third Generation might be capable of Circumcifion, and be admitted to the Obfervation of the whole Law, chap. xxiii. 7. Ruth was a Moabites: And though the Ammonite and Moabite were for ever, that is, by a perpetual Decree, excluded, even to the Tenth Gene→ ration, from the Congregation of the Lord, by reafon of their Inhumanity to the Ifraelites, at their coming out of Egypt, ver. 3. yet neither were they of the preceding Generations debarr'd from becoming Profelytes of the Gates, and undertaking the Obfervation of the Precepts of Noah.

A Promise is made, that the Sranger fhall rejoyce in the good things of the Land, chap. xxvi. 11. And the Ifraelites are threaten'd, that upon their Difobedience, the Stranger fhould be more profperous than they, chap. xxviii. 43, 44. King Solomon, at the Dedication of the Temple, makes fuch particular mention of the Stranger, in his Prayer, as fhews both the defign of building it, and of all the Jewish Worship, to be fuch as that other Nations might share in it, and withal, he foretels what the Event fhould be: Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Ifrael, but cometh out of a far country, for thy name's fake (for they fhall bear of thy great name, and of thy ftrong band, and of thy stretched out arm) when he shall come and pray towards this houfe: Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the ftranger calleth to thee for that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Ifrael, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name, 1 Kings viii. 41, 42, 43. 2 Chron. vi. 33. This was the house of prayer for all people,

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Ifa. Ivi. 7. Mar. xi. 17. And the Prophets, in their Prophecies concerning the return of the Jews out of their Captivity in Babylon, and in their Predictions of the Meffias, did not omit to infert peculiar Expreffions of God's Love and Favour to Strangers and Profelytes, to fhew that the Promises did extend to them, as well as to the Native Jews themfelves, Ifa. lvi. 3. Ezek. xlvii. 22, 23.

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From all which, it is evident, that Strangers were equally capable of the Privileges and Advantages in the Jewith Worfhip, as the Jews themselves were; and that they were debarr'd of very little in their Civil Rights; and all Encouragement imaginable was given to Strangers to come and dwell amongst the Jews: The Law joins them together with the Natural Ifra elite, both in the Curfes it denounces, and in the Bleffings it promifes; it feverely threatens all that fhould opprefs or defraud them; it commands the fame Charity towards them, as towards the Fatherless and Widow, the greatest Objects of Human Compaffion, and of the merciful Care and Providence of God: And the Prophets, with the utmost severity, rebuke the Jews, for any Oppreffion or Abuse of them. The Profelytes were not excluded from their Sacrifices, their Prayers and Sacraments; and if they refused to take upon them the Obfervation of the whole Law, yet they had free leave and great encouragement to live amongst them, believing only in the True God, and obeying thofe Precepts which were given to all the Race of Mankind after the Flood: They might fhare in all the Rites of their Religious Worfhip, and were invited to do it; but if they would not fubmit to this, yet they were not therefore rejected, but might partake of their Civil Privileges, and live under the Protection of their Government: And it is obfervable, that where the fame Laws are repeated in several places of Scripture, the Stranger is no where omitted; but what relates to him, is conftantly repeated with

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