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SECTION XXXI.

Solomon's Prayer for the Stranger.

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AT the dedication of the temple, when Solomon had implored a blessing on all the Israelites, he proceeds to intercede on behalf of all the proselytes who should there offer up their worship. Moreover, concerning the stranger which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake; if they come and pray in this house, then hear them from the heavens, even from thy dwelling-place; and do according to all the stranger calleth thee for; that all the people of all the earth may know thy name, and fear thee as doth thy people Israel," &c. 2 Chron. vi. 32.

in this passage is remarkable.

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The reflection which Dr. Jackson makes Solomon knew the goodness of God to be so great, that it could not be a whit lessened towards Israel, how far soever it was extended towards other people. Happy had it been

for that nation, if their charity had been like this of their Heavenly Father. But it was their seeking to engross God's promised blessings to mankind, which brought that grievous curse upon them under which they groan to this day. See Patrick in loc. and Graves on the Pentateuch, vol. ii. part iii. p. 291. I leave this reflection to be pondered on in all its extent, by those who would now confine the blessings of salvation to the members of the Christian church.

Note. "From 2 Chron. ii. 17., it appears Solomon found in Israel strangers of such a rank of life as were fit to be employed in assisting to build the temple, 153,600. These (as the commentators agree, vide Poli Synops. et Patrick, &c.) were proselytes to the worship of the true God, and the observance of the moral law, though not circumcised." Patrick observes, "These were the reliques of the Amorites, Hittites," &c.Graves, vol. ii. p. 292.

SECTION XXXII.

The Queen of Sheba.

THE queen of Sheba, and all the kings of Arabia, brought gold and silver to Solomon; and the expressions of the queen are an evidence, that the knowledge and worship of the true God extended far beyond the limits of Dan and Beersheba :

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Blessed be the Lord thy God, who delighteth in thee to set thee on his throne, because God loved Israel to establish them for ever; therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice." 2 Chron. ix, 1-12.

And now, lest any should surmise that this arose from mere curiosity, and had no connexion with religious motives and religious effects, our Saviour has placed the seal of his authority on this very anecdote : "The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it," &c. Matt. xii. 42.

When a fact of this kind is thus re

corded in the Old, and commented upon in the New Testament, it naturally suggests the inference, that many, who have been neither Jews nor Christians, shall find a favourable acceptance at the day of judgment; and that, if there be many "first who shall be last," there also are many who are "last that shall be first." "They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God."

It was not a particular fondness of affection, of which no particular ground can be assigned or imagined; but a universal goodness, mercy and pity towards this eminent part of his creation sunk in distress and lamentable wretchedness, which induced God to send his Son for the redemption of mankind." Barrow, vol. iii. p. 315.

SECTION XXXIII.

Job.

THE author and origin of this book are lost in the remotest antiquity, and nothing can with certainty be decided respecting them. But, considered with relation to our argument, this obscurity has no existence. Whether the character of Job be real or fictitious, there is little or nothing in this book which refers to the Jewish Law; and the whole is evidently built on the principles of the primitive and patriarchal religion. "The work of a man shall God render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways."

His eyes are upon the ways of man, he seeth all his goings;" "for he will not lay upon man more than is right," &c. Ch. xxxiv. et passim.

That such a fragment of Gentile theology should have been admitted into the canon of Scripture is no slight manifestation of the truth of our general argu

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