The Resurrection Revealed, Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Section 7
SECT. VII.
Wherein is produced and explained, Deut. 30. verſ. 1. to the 10. as another proof of our generall Poſition.
Deut. 30. (verſe 1.)
And it ſhall come to paſſe when all theſe things are come upon thee, the bleſsing and the curſe which I have ſet before thee, and thou ſhalt call them to minde among all the Nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee. (V. 2.) And thou ſhalt returne unto the Lord thy God, and ſhalt obey his voyce, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy ſoule. (Verſe 3.) That then the Lord thy God will turne thy captivity, and have compaſsion upon thee, and will returne, and gather thee FROM ALL THE NATIONS WHITHER THE LORD THY GOD HATH SCATTERED THEE. (Verſe 4.) IF ANY OF THINE be driven out unto the OUTMOST PARTS OF HEAVEN, from THENCE will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from THENCE will he fetch thee. (Verſe 5.) And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers poſſeſſed, and thou ſhalt poſſeſſe it; and he will doe thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. (Verſe 6.) And 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 ſoule, that thou mayeſt live. (Verſe 7.) And the Lord thy God wil put all theſe curſes upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which perſecuted thee. (Verſe 8.) And thou ſhalt returne, and obey the voice of the Lord, and doe all his Commandements which I command thee this day. (Verſe 9.) And the Lord thy God wil make thee plenteous in all the worke of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good; for the Lord wil againe rejoyce over thee for good, &c.
§. 1 THeſe words may ſeem to ſome of a curſory eye, to ſay little to our purpoſe; but being weighed, they are very ponderous, and wil ſoon turn the ſcales. The ſumme of obeying Gods voyce, and keeping his Commandements, ſo often here inculcated, is their keeping the Covenant they made with God, chap. 29. viz. As God to be their God, ſo they to be his people, and (as it is expreſt) after the tenour of the covenant God made with their Father Abraham, &c. (Gen 17.) which was the Covenant of grace, as the Apoſtle expounds Rom. 4. even as here is mention of Gods bringing them out of Egypt, as a pledge on his part, and an engagement on their part, relating to their redemption by Chriſt, Hoſ. 11.1. Matth. 2.15. And here amplified by loving the Lord their God with all their hearts, ſo that it is upon Goſpel termes the Lord treates with them; even as Moſes application of them to the Iſraelites, ver. 11, 12, 13, 14. That the commandement that was given them was not hid from them, nor farre off, neither in the Heavens, to ſay, who ſhall goe up, to take it for them, nor beyond the ſea, to ſay, who ſhall goe over, &c. to take it for them, but it is night… even in their mouth, and in their heart; I ſay, Moſes application in thoſe very termes is by the Apoſtle, Rom. 10.8. called the word of faith.
§. 2 Now when thus the Jewes ſhall obey Gods voyce, and doe his Commandements, viz. beleeve the Goſpel, being brought unto repentance, (hinted in the words call to minde, and returning, ſo expounded, 1 King. 8.46, 47. Iſa. 46.8. Lam. 3.21. Luke 15.17) partly by afflictions, partly by proſperity called bleſsings, and curſes, then the Lord ſhall deliver them from all their captivities, when and whereſoever they be.
§. 3 For Moſes aimes not at this or that particular captivity, among Philiſtims, Aegyptians, Babylonians, or, &c. that had been to little advantage, to deliver them from one captivity, to let them fall into another; and there to ſtick for ever. The words of the Promiſe are of a very comprehenſive latitude, viz. if they be driven among all the Nations, ver. 1. or any of them be driven out to the utmoſt parts of Heaven, ver. 4. The Lord will gather them from all Nations, ver. 3. and will fetch them from the utmoſt parts of Heaven, ver. 4.
§. 4 And as the Promiſe is of a great latitude, ſo of a great length; for this gathering of them is promiſed after the Babylonian captivity, Ier. 29.1. Jer. 31.10. and after Chriſt was come in the fleſh, it is delivered as a Propheſie by Saint Johns Expoſition, Job. 11.51, 52. That Chriſt ſhould gather together in one the children of God that were ſcattered abroad; Of a thing to be done in after times, in the fulneſſe thereof, compare Rom. 11.
§. 5 Adde to all the fulneſſe of the Promiſe; they ſhould be ſo delivered from all captivities, that all the curſes ſhould be on their enemies, and all bleſsings temporall and ſpirituall ſhould be on them; for ſo it followes, that upon their deliverance out of captivity, If any of them be driven out (ver. 4.) unto the utmoſt part of Heaven, from THENCE will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from THENCE will he take thee. And (ver. 5.) the Lord thy God will bring thee into the Lana WHICH THY FATHERS POSSESSED, and he will DOE THEE GOOD, and MVLTIPLY thee above thy fathers; and (ver. 6.) The Lord thy God will CIRCVMCISE THINE heart, and the HEART OF THY SEED, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy ſoule, &c. And (ver. 7.) The Lord thy God will put all theſe CVRSES ON THINE ENEMIES. And (ver. 8.) thou SHALT RETVRN and HEARKEN TO THE VOYCE OF THE LORD, AND DOE ALL HIS COMMANDEMENTS. And (ver. 9.) The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous, or fruitfull IN ALL THE WORKES OF THY HANDS, IN THE FRVIT OF THY BODY, in the fruit of thy CATTELL, in the fruit of thy LAND: (and marke) FOR THY GOOD. And the Lord will REJOYCE over thee for good.
§. 6 Now let the ingenuous Reader confeſſe, whether ever theſe promiſes were thus fulfilled! For we know not either by Scripture, or Hiſtory, that ever the Ten Tribes returned from their captivity. And we doe know by the Scriptures, that many of the two Triles returned not with the reſt, 1 Chron. 4.21, 22, 23. (read the place exactly)*Joſephus in his Antiq. aſſerteth thus much. And we are ſure by experience to this day, that thouſands of them are in Captivity (as we may ſay) under the Turkiſh and Romane Empire, and ten thouſands of them diſperſed among the Indians, and Proteſtant Chriſtians in Poland, Holland, &c. as Rab. Ben Iſrael hath given us an account in his Book Spes Iſraelis, ſo that the Jewes themſelves, not only the unconverted, but ſome that are converted to Chriſtianity, confeſſe theſe things never yet to have been fulfilled, as I my ſelfe have been an eare witneſſe from M. Melos, a Jew of Portugal, converted to the faith.
§. 7 Much leſſe are the Jewes ſo delivered, as to have their hearts circumciſed, to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and to obey his voyce in the Goſpel, as the Apoſtle before expounded; or to be bleſſed with all temporall bleſsings, or to have all the curſes put upon their enemies.
§. 8 Therefore theſe things are yet to be fulfilled; for God muſt be true, (as the Apoſtle ſaith) though all men (that deny it) be lyars. The Jewes muſt be called, and the fulneſſes of them, and the Gentiles muſt be brought in (Rom. 11.26.) by a deliverer that comes out of Sion, turning away ungodlineſſe from Jacob, to the performance of Gods Covenant with them, which the Targum (called Jonathans) ſaith, muſt be performed by the hand of ELIAS, and by the hand of KING CHRIST; And indeed a few were converted by John Baptiſt, and Chriſt, but the generality of the Jews were in blindneſſe after that, in Pauls time, Rom. 21. Beſides, what was the converſion of a few, to the fulfilling of the all of theſe promiſes in their ſeverall particulars to the all of the Jewes? As it is ſaid afore, If ANY of thine be driven out unto the utmoſt part of the heavens, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee; and the Lord will make thee fruitfull in ALL THINGS, and for thy good.
§. 9 And theſe things muſt be fulfilled before the ultimate generall Judgement, or elſe there will be nor time nor place for theſe things, as to circumciſe hearts, to keep Commandements, to inherite Canaan, to be bleſſed with outward bleſsings, &c. as is before expreſſed.