0 holinefs, on the one hand; and the danger of ferving ftrange gods on the other: "Ye cannot ferve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your tranfgreffions, nor your fins. If ye forfake the Lord, and ferve ftrange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and confume you, after that he hath done you good *." Should any alk, How this warning confifts with the former propofal to ferve God? It may be anfwered, That the meaning of the warning is, Ye cannot ferve the Most High God, and, at the fame time, ferve ftrange gods: Such is the unspotted purity of Jehovah,-fuch his flaming jealousy, that he cannot admit a rival in his honour and worship. If any of you forfake the true God, and ferve ftrange gods, he fhall not do it with impunity Should the whole congregation do it, their correction fhall be as public as their tranfgreffion. In one word, Joshua fet them a good pattern of fervice: " As for me, and my houfe, we will ferve the Lord." He was paft all peradventure, that this was, by much, the beft courfe. * Josh. xxiv. 19. 20. There is a fignal beauty in the infpired original, efpecially when fpeaking of the name of God. It is to this purpofe, "Ye cannot ferve Jehovah; for Elohim, the Holies, is he," &c. The terms The הוא are joined in conftruction with אלהים קדשים former are in the plural number, importing a plurality of perfons; the latter in the fingular number, denoting an unity of effence. II. As often as thefe duties were proposed to the congregation, fo often did they accept of the proposal, and refolve to abide by it. 1. THEY rejected, with abhorrence, the fervice of the gods which their fathers ferved on the other fide of the flood, and that of the gods of the Amorites: "And the people anfwered and faid, God forbid that we should forfake the Lord, to ferve other gods." This cannot imply lefs than an engagement unto a moft fteady adherence unto him,-unto his truth, as the matter of their profession; and his precepts, as the rule of their obedience. 2. WHEN Joshua pointed out the danger of mixing the fervice of the true God with that of his rivals, they readily vowed their refolution of obedience unto God only: "And the people faid unto Jofhua, Nay; but we will ferve the Lord:" We will ferve him only; we will ferve him wholly, and for ever. We will ferve him at the expenfe of cafting away every abomination-What have we any more to do with idols? 3. THEY pledged the obedience of faith, yea faith, in the most unreferved manner, unto the whole of God's teftimony. The Lord OUR God will we ferve, and his voice will we obey." Thus, the measure of their obedience, the principle of it, and the reafon it, correfponded with God's gracious intention towards them, and the pains he had bestowed on them. FOURTHLY, The next confideration is, The OCCASIONS of this Covenant. And many most interesting events obtained between this tranfaction and that on the Plains of Moab, which prepared the way for it. We shall mention a few of them. 1. THE waters of Jordan had been most miraculously divided, and the Hebrew general had conducted the congregation of Ifrael over, as on dry ground, into the promised land. This miracle was, at once, an accomplishment of the promise made unto Abraham, and a type of the believer's deliverance from the fting of death, by the BREAKER'S going up before them. 2. THIS Covenant-renovation took place after the notable celebration of the Jewish facraments. Thefe ordinances had not been obferved for the last thirty-eight years of Ifrael's peregrinations in the wilderness. The reafons of this non-obfervance are not eafily afcertained. Setting afide the vain imaginations of the Jews, there are two opinions which divide the greatest part of authors on this fubject. One clafs of writers imagine thefe were foreborn, because of the danger to which infants would have been expofed by their wounds, wounds, had they been circumcifed, while continually travelling from place to place in the wilderness *. Another clafs of authors † afcribe the non-obfervance of this ordinance unto the apoftacy of Ifrael, on the one hand; and the righteous judgment of God on the other. The neglect of circumcifion being neceffarily followed with the difufe of the paffover, and other facrifices; for uncircumcifed perfons could not be admitted to thefe ordinances: And the neglect of facrifice was matter of reproof to their pofterity as late as the days of the prophet Amos: "Have ye offered unto me facrifices and offerings in the wildernefs, O house of Ifrael." And the reproof is also repeated by Stephen §. The only difficulty is, to know whether this reproof must be taken abfolutely or comparatively. Some authors, of good note, infinuate, that the laft is the truth in this cafe; as it is not to be fuppofed that fuch a person as Mofes would fuffer them to live fo long in the total neglect of thefe duties. But no one thing can be more certain, than that Mofes permitted them to *To this clafs belong Toftatus and Lyranus, among the Papifts; Hackfpanus, Schmidius, and J. A. Ofiander, among the Lutherans; as well as Pool and Stackhoufe, among our own countrymen. Such as Auguftin, Calvin, Mafius, Diodati, Cloppenburg, the question is fully difcufled by the latter, Tom. I. p. 25. Amos v. 25. § Acts vii. 42. neglect neglect circumcifion, and uncircumcifed perfons could not offer facrifice. And, as to those perfons who murmured, they were materially, if not formally, excommunicated; therefore, Mofes could not admit them unto folemn ordinances upon any other footing than evange lical repentance. 3. THIS Covenant obtained after God had fubdued the Canaanites before his people, and put Ifrael into poffeffion of their lands. This conquest had been promised unto the covenanted-feed, from the very call of Abraham to this time. Now, if the making of fuch a promife was an incitement unto covenant-renovation, much more might the fulfilment of it in like manner. The place on which the covenanters ftood was the fame, or very near the fame place, where the patriarch ftood when the promife was made to him*. *Gen. xii 6. Jofh. xxiv. 1. Thus, God glori fied The ark feems to have been carried from Shiloh to Shechem at this time, that the covenanters might stand before God; that is, before the SANCTUARY OF THE LORD, when they covenanted with him. Vide Calvin in Josh. xxiv. This obfervation is fufficient to remove the feeming contradiction between verfe 1. and verfe 26. In the former of which, the tribes of lfrael are faid to be gathered together at Shechem: In the latter of which, Jofhua is faid to set up a great stone under an oak, by the SANCTUARY OF THE LORD; and to declare unto the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us." Again, It may be enquired, If the Sanctuary of the Lord was at Shechem, How |