wronght for the Children of Ifrael, fled into Africk, the Gibeonites making a League with them, ftaid in the Land, and the 31 Kings (Job. xii. 24.) who would neither fly, nor accept of Terms of Peace, were flain in Battel. Maimonides fays, that Embaffadors had been fent to the Gibeonites, as well as to the rest of those Nations, and that they had rejected the Propofals of Peace, and upon that account fhould have been deftroy'd; but hearing afterwards of the wonderful Succefs of the Arms of the Ifraelites, and of that Law by which they were devoted to Deftruction, because they had not accepted of a Peace upon the Terms propos'd; they contrived to fave themselves by pretending, that they liv'd at a great Distance, and were not of the Number of thofe Nations, who had had Tenders of Peace made to them. But that the Canaanites, if they had fubmitted, and own'd the God of Ifrael, were not to have been destroy'd, but to have been receiv'd to Mercy, is evident from Joh. xi. 19, 20. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Ifrael, fave the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon; allother they took in battel: For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Ifrael in battel, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might deftroy them, as the Lord commanded Mofes. Which neceffarily fuppofes, that if God, in his juft Judgment upon them, for their heinous Provocations, had not harden'd their Hearts, but they had fubmitted themselves, and fought Peace of the Children of Ifrael, they ought to have had favour fhewn them. And we read, not only that Rabab and her Father's Houfe was fpared, Job. ii. 13, 14. and a Man with his Family upon the like account, Judg. i. 25. But whoever of these Nations did escape, their Pofterity was not to be proceeded against with Severity; the Law which commanded their utter De

* Cunæas 1. 2. c, 20. Menaff. Ben. Ifr. conciliat, in Deut. Qu. 8.

F 4

ftruction

I

ftruction extending no farther, as Grotius concludes, than to that Generation. Their Children, that were left after them in the Land, whom the Children of Ifrael alfo were not able utterly to deftroy, upon thofe did Solomon levy a Tribute of Bond-fervice unto this day, 1 Kings ix. 21. It doth therefore fufficiently appear, that the Canaanites themselves, after all their Provocations against both the Mercy and Juftice of God, were not excluded from all the Benefits of Strangers and Profelytes amongst the Jews; and that Men of all other Nations were encouraged and invited to become Partakers of the Privileges of the Law of Mofes, or to acquaint themselves at leaft with the Service and Worship of the True God, is notorious, and as evident as any thing in the Law and the Prophets. But after the Canaanites had fill'd up the Measure of their Iniquities, God manifefted his Almighty Power and Juftice upon them; and he was pleas'd to do it by the Sword of the Children of Ifrael, rather than by Peftilence, or any other Judgment, both to raise the greater Abhorrence of Idolatry in his own People, and in the neighbouring Nations; and because those rude and warlike Nations could obferve the Power of God no where fo much as in the Succefs of War, they chiefly implored their own Gods for Succefs in their Wars; and when they were overcome by any People, they concluded that the Gods of that Nation were too hard for their own Gods, 1 King. xx. 23. 2 King. viii. 34. whereas if they had been destroy'd by Famine or Peftilence, they would have afcribed thefe Judgments no more to the God of Ifrael, than to any of the Heathen Gods. But God got him honour upon thefe Nations, as he did upon Pharaoh and upon all his hoft, when Jethro faid, Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods; for in the thing wherein they dealt

Grot. ad Matt. v. 43.

proud

proudly, he was above them, Exod. xviii. 11. from whence he is fo often ftyled the Lord of Hofts, in the Old Teftament.

2. The Providence of God did fo order and difpofe. of the Jews, in all their Affairs, as to afford other Nations frequent Opportunities of becoming inftru&ted in the true Religion, and Multitudes of Profelytes were made out of all Nations. Mofes dwelt in Midian forty Years, A&. vii. 30. and there marry'd an Æthiopian Woman, Exod. ii. 15. Num. xii. 1. his Wife's Father, Jethro the Prieft of Midian, and his Family, became converted; and after he had met Mofes in the Wilderness, he return'd to make Profelytes in his own Country. And the Deliverance of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt, magnify'd the Power of God in all Countries where the Report of á thing fo wonderful and notorious came. The miraculous Victories which the Ifraelites 'gain'd over the Canaanites, wherever they came, ftruck a mighty Terror into all thofe Nations; as we fee by the Fear of Balak, Num. xxii. and from the Speech of Rahab, Fofh. ii. 9. and of the Gibeonites, Joh. ix. 9, 10. who were glad to make ufe of any Pretence, as an Expedient to fave themfelves. Rabab, with her Family and Kindred, and the Gibeonites, were early Acceffions to the Ifraelites; and Rahab was marry'd to,a Man of Ifrael; and the Babylonian Gemaran reckons up Eight Prophets, who were likewife Priefts, defcended from her: This is certain, that our Saviour himself was pleas'd to derive his Genealogy from her. The various Succeffes of the Ifraelites in the Land of Canaan, their Victories and their Overthrows, and the miraculous Power of God vifibly appearing either in their Defeat and Punishment, or in their Conqueft or Deliverance, must reeds raise a mighty Fame and Ad

m Targ. Jonath, Exod. xviii. 27.

n Lightfoot Hebr. and Talmud Exercitat. in Mat. i. 5.

miration

miration of the God of Ifrael in all thofe Countries; for they proclaim'd a Religious War upon thefe Nations; they destroy'd their Images and Groves and Altars wherever they came; and the People plainly perceiv'd that their Gods could not help them. The Taking of Jericho, not by Storm, but only by the meer Sound and Alarm of War, the Lengthening of the Day to favour their Conquefts, and the Destruction of so many Kings by Mojes and Joshua, were undeniable Evidences of a Divine Power, and must awaken Men to make enquiry into that Religion which could infpire fuch Courage, and work fuch Wonders. And thefe Nations among whom the Patriarchs had fojourn'd, and fo many Wonders and Judgments had been wrought, were difpers'd in Colonies over all Parts of the World, (as Bochart has prov'd at large, in a most learned and elaborate Work;) fome of them (if we may believe Procopius) erecting a Pillar in Africk, as a Monument of Joshua's Victories, with an Infcription declaring that they were driven out of their own Country by him: And St. Auguftin fays, • that in his time, the Country-People about Hippo call'd themselves Canaanites; and they retain'd their ancient Language, which was little different from the Hebrew, not only till the Days of Plautus, but even to P St. Auguftin's time, as Salmafius with a Wonder obferv'd. And it is probably fuppos'd, that the Tyndaride and others ftyled Anaces by the Lacedemonians and Athenians, were defcended from the Anakims, who escaped out of Palestine from Joshua.

After the Death of Joshua, the Ifraelites were in fubjection to the King of Mefopotamia eight Years; to the King of Moab eighteen Years, Judg. iii. 8, 14. to Jabin King of Canaan twenty Years, chap. iv.3. to the Midianites feven Years, chap. vi. 1. to the Phili

• Aug. Expofit. Epift. ad Rom. P Aug. contra. Liber. Petil. 1. 2. c. 104. In Evang. Joh. Tract. 15. a Walt. Proleg. 3,

- Voff. de Idol, 1. 1. c. 13.

ftines forty Years, chap. xiii. 1. And still it was becaufe they had done evil in the fight of the Lord, that they were given up into the Hand of their Enemies: and upon their Repentance, a Deliverance was wrought for them, I Sam. xii. 10. And when they were fo often and for fo long a time fubdued by their Enemies round about them, for their Idolatries, and other Tranfgreffions; and then again, upon their Repentance, were rescued from their Oppreffion by Gideon, and feptha, and Sampfon, all rais'd up for that purpose; this must give great occafion and opportu nity to all the bordering Nations to know and confider that Religion, the Obfervation or Neglect whereof had fuch vifible Effects upon its Profeffors: for under their Affliction, and in the time of their Repentance, the Ifraelites declared the Caufe of their Misery, and made known the Power of their own God and the Vanity and Sinfulness of Idolatry. And therefore their being so often and fo long time under the Oppreffion of their several Enemies, was a merciful Providence to the Nations who had them in Subjeation, as well as for the Punishment and Amendment of the Ifraelites themselves. What good ufe was made of these Methods of the Divine Providence doth not appear to us, but in all probability it had a good effect upon very many; as we find it had in one remarkable Instance of a little Maid, who being taken Captive, was the occafion of the Cure of Naaman's Leprofie, and of his Converfion to the Worfhip of the True God, who before was known to him by his Name Jehovah, 2 Kings v. 11. The Prophet Elifba was well known by the Syrians to be a Prophet, and Ben-badad fent to enquire of the Lord by him, chap. viii. 8. Rabshakeh speaks in the Jews Language, and pretends a Commiffion from the Lord, that is, from Jehovah, the God of the Jews, when he came against Jerufalem, Ifa. xxxvi. 10, II. God himself appeals to the Knowledge of Sennacherib King of Affyria;

Haft