M. >,} y^ #^r*^r:^a. i/''*^y-- •#'^," '^i^' "■ 'i .i-'^ LIBRA^RY OF THE Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. Case, ^^ ^ — ^^ — Qivi-'ioti S/ielf) =^^-^ Cf J Section Book^___ JN.», .... / THE BELIEF FUTURESTATE Proved to be a FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLE OF THE Religion of the Hebrews. And the Doctrine of the ancient Philosophers Concerning a Future State, (hewn to be • confident with Reason, and their Belief of '^ it demonftrated : ' And the whole S Y S T E M of Heathen Theology Explained, WITH AN APPENDIX, Concerning the GENEALOGY and TlMEof JOS. AND SomeRE MARKS on the Fifth Volume of the fecond Part of Mr. Lardners Credibility of the Go/pel- Hi/iory. By JOHN J ACKSO N, Redor o^ RcJJingfon, in the County of iVy^, And Mailer of Wigpns Uof^itaU in Letcejhr. L O N D O N: Printed for Jphn Noon, 2iti\\QWhrte~Hart, ner.r the Psahi^y (3) THE BELIEF O F A FUTURE STATE Proved to be A Fundamental Article j^ of the Religion of the Hebrews y &c. AS the Evidence oi Natural Religion, which teaches the Worfliip of God, and the Belief of a future State, is de- duc'd from the Principles of Realbn and the or^/Wry Providence of God 3 fo the only direct Proof of revealed Reli«;ion is foundc:d on an extraordinary divine Providence manifefted in Miracles and Prophecies : nor can any other immediate or direct Evidence be given of a Re- velation. And as all Revelation prefuppofes na- tural Religion, and is an immediate divine At- teiiation given to it, fo it is defign'd to reform A 2 the (4) the Corruptions brought into it, and to add I >ight to the Evidence, and Force to the ObU- 'ga^:ons of it. I propole therefore to {hew that the Religion of tlie Hebrews or Jews was founded on the Principl'^s of natural Religion, to which Reve- lation was added ; and particularly, that the Be- lief of a future State, or Life to come, was a pri- mary fundamental Article of this Religion... iThisisVery clearand cedent to rhe/and I (hall endeavour to make it fo to the Reader, without defiring or intending to enter into Controverfy with any learned Ferfon, who is or ihall be of another Qpinio|i. \ ^'^ 'X Whoever attentively confiders and compares together the Old and New Teftament will, T think, find fuch an Agreement and Connexion between them, that they miud appear to be two Parts of the fame general Syilem of Religion, reveal'd by God firft to the Patriarchs and their Defcendants the Hebrews or Jews, and contain'd, in the Writings of Mofes and the Prophets y and afterwards both to Jews and Gentiles, or the reft of Mankind, by Chriil, and contained in the Gofpels and other Writings of his Apoftles* In the Connedionof the two divine Covenants or Lav/g, it is eafy to fee that all the main and elTential Parts of the latter or Chriftian Covenant are contain'd, and either plainly and exprellly, or elfe typically and fymbolically declar'd and reprefentcdin the firH Covenant, and in the Ex- planations of it by tl:ie Prophets. As ( 5 ) As the great Defign and End of God*s Reve- lation to Abraham and the Patriarchs, and after- Wards to Mofes, was to prelerve amongft the He^ brews the true Belief and Worfhip of him th^ gnly true God^ in oppoficion to the Idolatry and Superflitiori which then prevail'd in other Na- tions, and almoft in every Part of the World ; till he fhould by a farther and more perfe6l Re- velation by Chriji Je/us m.ake his Will known to the Gentiles, or the rell of Mankind^ in order to deftroy all Idolatry and Superfti ion, and to eftablifh trae Religion in the whole Wui Id: fo by the wife and good Providence of God, the Coming of Chrifl:, and the End of his Miffion, was from the Beginning graduuUy and in vario:.s manners reprefented and forcLold in the Rc^v-- lations made to Adam and the PaU'Iarchs/ to Mofes and the Prophets. By thefe ihtjeios^ and all who embraced their Religion, were taught as it were beforehand ilis Gofpel of Chrift ; and by Faith in God's Pro- mifes, and Obedience to the Commandnitnis of the Law, became Partakers of the BleiTings of it. Now, as the great End of the Million of Jefus Chriil was to aboliflo Death ^ and to bring Life and Immortality to Light by his Grffel (2 Tim. i. 10.) fo the ApoRle St. Paul afllires us in the foregoing Verfe. that thi Life and Immortality in or by Chrift Jcfas was purposed by God, and given or reveal'd before tb: World bc^ gan^ as it is rendered in the Rrigliffd V^erhon. Bat the Greek Words [xpo '^^^vjiv atwp/&>»'] mean before the Tifnes of the Ages^ that is, belore the A 3 Ages ( 6) Ages of the Je'wiJ}:^ Difpenfation. The Tim^ of the Gofpel-Difpenfation is in the Old Tefta- ment \IJdi, ix. 6. accoi-ding to the beft Greek Copies, with which T^heodotioOind Symmachus a- gree in their Verfions of \ht Hebrew Text] called the future jlge or Age to coine^ in contradi- jflindion to the then prefent Age or Time of the yewifi Difpenfation : and fo before the Times of the Ages is the fame as before the Ages or Time of the Mofaic Law. I thought it proper to ex- plain this Phrafe of the Apoftle *, who in like manner fays, that the Hope of eternal Lfe, thro*" Chrift, VJ2^s promised by God [rpo ^pdvoor ahmflm} before- the JVorld begaii (Tit, i. 2.) that is again, before the Time or Age of the Levitical Infti- tution. The Apoftle's Expreilion is borrow'd from or refers to the Prophecy of Chrift's com- ing, Mich, V. 2. where his Goings forth or Ma- nifefiation is faid to have been of old or from the Begin7iing (of the World) explained in the fol- lowing Words ]j^^ikifm aiooyai]fro??i the Days tf the Age 'y which may mean Qiihtv' the Age of the World, or tlie Age of the Difpenfation of the Law, but moft probably the fir ft. It is evident from the whole New Te/lament^ that Chrift the AuUior of it was the End of all the Diipenfatiohsand Revektions given in the Old Tefarnent -, and that the eternal Life made mani'- feft by the Cofpel was promis'd from the Be- ginning of the World, and Ages htiox^ ih^ J cwijh Law * The Apoftle ufes the fame Phrafe, Ro?n. xvi. 25. ancj in the fame Senfe the Words aVo tJv ccm'^v, Ephef. in. 9. Cololi: i. 26. La\V was given, tie was promised to the Pa- triarchs before the Law^ and was alio promis'd by Mojes in the Law, and was foretold by tW Prophets after the giving of the Law. Whence- it is mbft certain, that a future State of Life and Immortality was reveal'd and promised to the He/jreWs y 2ind was always believed by them: and this Faith in the Promifes of God _ was that which juftify'd them, and entitled them to the Bleffings of eternal Life, more fully and clearly ^ reveal'd in the Gofpel. And as thefe Promifes of eternal Life were to be confirmed and eftabhfli'd by the Revelation of the Gofpel, and by a new Covenant to be made and feard by the Sacrifice of Chrift's Death, as the Propitiation for Sin, and the Author and Fi" infher of our Faith^ and the great and mofl di- vine Lawgiver of this new Difpenfation ^ we may be affured, and it will ealily appear, that this our Redeemer and his Gofpel-Difpenfation, with all the Bleffings which were to attend it, v/ere pre-figiir'd and fore-exprefs'd in the other pre- ceding Difpenfations ; and the Promifes of them were the Foundation of the Faith and Hope of all the Patriarchs, and of Mofes and the Jewi under the Legal Covenant. Hence it is that Chrift fiys {Mat.y. 17.) Think 770tihat I am come to deflroy theLauo or the Pro- phets ; / a7n not come to deftro)\ hit to Juijil (them.) He was fo far from deftroying the Law or the Prophets, by teaching ai.y thing con- trary to them, that became on ourpofe cO falnl all that had been taught and foretold in the A 4 Writings ( 8 ) Writings of Mofes and the Prophets concerning' the Melfias,2sA the Gofpel-Law to be delivered by him. Hence alfo St. Paul {2.^% (G^/. iii. 23, 24.) Before Faith [of Jefus Chrift promised before and under the Law, as he argues in the preceding Vcrfes] came^ we were kept under the Law^Jhut up unto the Faith which Jljould afterwards be reveal' d^ [by the Coming of Chrift :] wherefore the Law was our Schoolmajter to bring us unto Chriji, that we might be jujiif yd by Faith [ia him.] We fee here, that the Law^ by containing the Promifes of Jujiif cation to eternal Life thro' Faith in Chrift, the promised Sttioi Abraham y did, Hke a Schoolmajier^ teach the Knowledge of that Salvation which was to be reveaPd in the Gofpel, and to be obtained thro' Faith in Chrift^ and fo did, in the Apoftle's Expreftion^ /. 8th of this Chapter, preach the Gofpel to the Jews, and lead them to the Faith of Chrift, and to receive his Gofpel, whenever he fhould come and reveal it. Hence alfo again the fame Apoftle {Heb. x. i.) ,fays, the Law had the Shadow of the goodtThings to come, [fee Cc/of, ii. 17.] that is, of the Glory •and Happinefs of the future State -, which, like the Shadow or firft Draught of a Pidure^. was imperfedly reprefented in the Law: but the full and pcrfcdl Image of the heavenly State was finifli'd in ftrcng and forid Colours, and ex- hibited, as it were, to the Life in the Gofpel- Difoenfation. So. ( 9 ) Sp that the whole Tenor of the evangeiical. Writings fuppofe^ that the. future State reveal'd.' by Chi ift was promis'd and believ'd both befor^^ and under the {^aw: and we may thencp con-! elude, that the whgle ^^7^//^ Nation did believe. in the promis'd Meffias, as hdngthe Seed of A- : braham^ in whom all the Families of the Earth - fiould be blejfedi 2inA that thro' Him, as Alofes' and the Prophets foretold, they fliou'd receive , with the temporal Bleffings of the Law, the' Remi/Jton of their. ^ Sim (Jerem. xxxi. 34.) for, which the Law had provided no exprefs or par- ticular Atonement 5 and in confequence, the fpiritual Bleffings of the Life to come, eternal in the Heavens. As a future- State may be demon ftrably de- duc'd from Principles of natural Reafon, fo it is contain'd in the Fropolition laid down by St. Paiil^ He that comcth to God (as a Woiiliipper of him) mujl believe that he is, and that he ts a Rewarder of thofe, who diligently feek him^ Heb, xi. 6. Agreeably to this Maxim, it was the uni- - verfally receiv'd Faith of all Nations at all times, and a primary Article of all Pvcligion, that pious and jufl Men wou'd be happy, and impious and . unrighteous Men miferable in a future State. This Opinion prevail'd from the Beginning wherever the Defcendantsof A^(?t7/6 were difpers'd . and fettled, from China in the Eafl as far as to the Wejicrn Ocean : nor was any People ever known that believ'd the Exiftence ^nd Providence of God, but in confequence they alio believ'd the future Exiftence of the Soul, and the Rewards ' .; and ( I'o ) and Puniiliments of another Life. There was not in the moft ancient Times of the World any Nation or any one Man (I believe) ever knov^n, who did not believe a future State : and it is cer- tain, that in later Times, none but Atheijli wholly dilbeliev'd it. This was not only the Belief of all the Nations bordering on the Country of the Jews^ as the Pkcenicians^ Syrians, Chai-'^ dceans, Arabia?2S 2iuA Egypt ia?is, but their very Superrtition and the Idolatry of * Hero- Worfoip prefuppos*d and was built upon it. It muft therefore appear a very flrange Taradcx, for any to fuppofe or affert that the Jewi/h Nation were ignorant of or did not be-' lieve this fundamental Article of Religion ; v/hich in their Cafe wou'd alfo be attended with this, farther unequall'd Abfurdity, that God deliver'^ a Revelation to a Nation of Atheifts. But on the contrary to fuch a Suppofition, it is very plain and certain, that the Hebrews had a fuller and ftrongcr Evidence of a future State than any other Nation then had ; an Evidence not only founded on the Principles of natural Reafon and Cori-^ fciencc common to them with the reft of Man- kind : but they had this Evidence llrengthened and confirmed to them by divine Revelation. From the Writings of Mcfes the Ilebrewshai abundant Evidence to conhrm their Belief of a future State, founded on the Light of Nature, and^ * Quod autem ex hominum gcncre confecratos, ficut Herculem et catteros, coli Icxjubet, indicat omnium qiii- dem animos immortales (l{^«c wd.h, „W, ,,r, +v;.*.s- h^.Jomblk.vit. Pjthogcr. S«a. 1-8. p 15^ ( 12 ) ter, which are, I faid in my hearty- Gcd will judge the Righteous and the Wicked : for there is a Time [i. e. a Time of Judgment appointed by God] for every Purpofe and for every IVork: Th^fe Words, the fame ancient Paraphraft thus interprets; God will judge both the Innocent and the Sinner in the Day of the great Judgme?2t : for a Time is appointed for every Cauje ; and they fh all be judged therefor every Work done in this Life. It follows, ^. 2ift, Who knoweth the Spirit of Man (or of the Sons of Man) if it goeth upward-, and the Spirit of the Beafl^ if it goeth down- ward to the Earth ? Which Words do not intimate that the Souls of Men perifh like thofe ofBeafts; or exprefs a Doubt whether there is any Difference between the one and the other: but they are only fpoken of thofe voluptuous and wicked Men mentioned f. i6th and i8th, who having plac'd all their Happinefs in the brutifh Pleafures of this Life, he fuppofes, neither knew or confider'd what be- came of their Souls hereafter 5 whether after Death they went upward^ where they will be judg'd by God ; or downward to the Earthy and perifh'd like the Souls of Beafts. The Queflion therefore is put to them, and is 5 Who amongft thefe foolifli Men knoweth what becomes of the Spirit or Soul of Man after this Life ? But the wife King has given his Judgement of the matter very plaii^ly and ex- preflly, that the Spirit Jl:all return to Gcd who gave. 2 ( 13 ) gave it ; a?id that both the Righteous and the IVickedjlall he judged by him for every Work, The other Parts of this Book, as alfo other Places of the Scriptures which feem to fome to be iaconfifrent with the Dodrine of a future State, do only feem to be fo 3 but really refer, lomeof them very plainly, to the common Fate of Men and Beafts in this Life, and to the com- mon Death and Diffolutioii of their Bodies: and others (hew at mod that the ancient Jews be- hev'd the State after Death to be very imperfed and a fort of Sleep or Inactivity till the coming of the Mejfias who was to abolifh Death, and tq reveal and confer a State of Life and Immortality both of Body and Soul on all who believ'd in him. Bat no Part of Scripture any where im- plies that the Jc^^; believ'd the Soul to be ^;;^;Y^/ and to die with the Body; or that they did not believe a Life and Judgment to come. Jofephiis fpeaking of the Creation of Man re- lated G^>^. ii. 7. fays,' that our mortal Bodies were allfornid out of corruptible Matter^ but that the Soul which dwells in the Body is immor- taU and a Portion of God. [De Bell. lib. ^2 . p 8 c2 edlt.Genev,l()l^^^ ^ t'- ^ • Mofes gave the Jews an Intimation of a future immortal State both of Soul and Body in the Prophecy that the Seed of the Woman flmid brutjc the Serpent's Head, who by his Temp- tation had brought Df^/y6 upon our firfl Parents, and in them upon all Mankind their Defcendants! Gen. in. 15. This Prophecy was to be to them and to their Poilcrity, a Remedy againft the Power ( H) Power of the Serpent y or of that evil Spirit who had by the Serpent as his Inflrument obtain'd the Power of Death, This Prophecy therefore fliew'd the Jews^ that Death Ihould not always or for ever pre- vail over the Sons oi Adam -, but that their Mef fuiSy the Se.^d of the Woman "*, fliould overcome Death and be raifed up from it to a State of Im- mortality ; and fliou'd alfo raife up all who be- lieved in him and obey*d his Laws, to the fame State. Mofes and the ancient Hebrews undoubtedly underilood this Prophecy of the Coming of the MeJJias to fer up a fpiritual Kingdom over Death, and to tranllate his true Believers and Followers to a fpiritual and heavenly Paradife. As this was the Senfe of the Prophecy, and given by Mofes to the yews to be their great Support, as it was to their Forefathers, under the Calamity of ^vlortality incurred by the Fall of their firft Parents 5 they cannot, wuth any Reafon, be fup- pos'd to have been ignorant of the Meaning of it. The Royal Tfalmifl underilood it when he faid by the Spirit of Prophecy : / have fet the Lord always before me therefore my Heart is glad and my Glory rejoiceth: my FlefJj alfo Jhall refl in Hope, For T'hou wilt not leave my Soul * Chrijl is here emphatically ftyled the Seed of the Wo' man^ to denote that he was to be miraculoufly born of a Virgin. And this Prophecy fiiews that the MejJias was promifcd from the Foundation of the World, and that the Hope of eternal Life thro' Him was given from the Begin- ning of tiis Creation. ( H ) Soul in Hell (in the Grave or State of Death) neither wilt thou fuffer thy Holy one to fee Cor- ruption, T^hou wilt JJ:ew ?ne the Path of Life : in thy Prefence is Fulnefs of Joy^ at thy right hand there are Pleafures for evermore, Plalm xvi. 8 — II. Could David (iij this of the Me/}ias, and have no Hope or Belief of a future State thro' Him? What is this Path of Life ^ this Fulnefs of Joy in God's Prefence^ and thofe everlajiing Pleafures at God's right Hand, but the Enjoyment and Happinefs of the future State^ and that Life and Immortality which was to be revealed by the Gofpel of thrift and to be conferred as the Re- ward of Obedience to his Laws ? This ProiJDed: of the future heavenly Life arid Glory warm*d the Prophet's Breaft, and made it glow with feraphic Raptures of Joy in the Hope of it. And what fignified thefe Prophecies to the Jews, but to raife in them the Belief and Aflli ranee of fu- ture Happinefs thro' the Mejfias ; as they v/ere affured of prefent and temporal Felicity thro* Obedience to the Law : and their prefent earthly Happinefs was the Earneft and Type of the greater fpiritual Felicity which was future. A plain and dired: Indication of another Life after this was given to the Jews^ in the Tranf- lation of E?wch, of whom Mofes relates, Gen. v. 24. Ei:!Och walked with God, and he was noty for God took him. The evident Meaning is, that he was by a bodily Tranflation taken into Heaven. And thus St. Paul explains the Words, [Hch. xi. 5.) By Faith Enoch was tranjlated (16) tranjlated^ that heJhouU not fee Deaths mia 'was not found y bceaufe God had trdnfated him : for before his Tra?iJlqtion he had this Tejlimony^ that he pleafed' God, Jofephus * fays, that E^ioch 'we?2t unto God'y and therefore the Scriptures make no mention of his Death, The Book , of Wfdom fays of him, that he pleafed Gody and^ was beh'-oed of him : Jo that living dmongfl Sinners he was tranjlated. Chap. iy. lo. And that Enoch did not die^ but was tranflated from a mortal to an immortal Life, as Fhilo explains the Word, was the Senfe of the Greek Translators of the Son ^ Syrach, Ecclus, xliv. 14. and of the ancient y^wi in general, as well as of the Apoflle and of the primitive Chriftians : And the old PafL'cil -f* Chronicle well explains both the Senfe and Deiign of the Account of the Tranflation of Enoch. This Enoch is hCy againji ivkom the Deimnciation of Death had no power ; for he was tranfated by Gcdy that hefiould not fee Death y as the divine Scripture relates : and alfo that in him we might be before inform d^ that Dcoth fjall not (iinally) prevail over Men. ^.^This Enoch is he who was tranfated to (ano- ther) TjXsulr'y aM« ^vc('y^!'^a(poc(ri. Antiq. Jud. lib. I. c. 3. p. 14. Edit. Havercamp. la?? jufla TO<,vloc ymxTg Irig LvociJ.kr.q (J'tal^^Tiicrai 1^^ Gv>]7v^ VTToaii-sr/ P. 44. Edit. 4^ Rader. ( ^7 ) ther) L//>, to pew to future Generations that God by bis Power was able to preferve Mortals from dying ; and that they who are alive fiould wait to be changed to a better State. The Word iifed by Mofes, for God*s taking or tranflating Enoch, is the fame v/hich is ufed in the Book of the Kings, to exprefs the Tranf- lation oi Elijah, 2 Kings ii, 3. And that Mcfes meant by the Tranflation of Enochs or his being taken by God, that he was by the Power of God taken away out of this World, without dying, to a State of immortal Happinefs with God, is very evident from the Reafon given of his Tranfla- tion. For it was, becaufe he walked with Gody and pleafed him, by the Purity of his Faith and Worihip, and an extraordinary Holinefs of Life all his Days ; and was an Example of Piety and Righteoufnefs in a corrupt and finful Age, when the Wickednefs of Man was great in the Earth, and their ^itoughts and their Works were evil^ Gen. vi. 5. This is a good reafon for the Tranflation of Enoch out of a wicked World to the Happinefs of the heavenly State, before he had liv'd out half the Days of his Forefathers. But if by God's taking Enoch was meant, as fome modern Jewijh Rabbis fooliflily alledged, that God took away his Life by ^ifud-- den Death ; and fo, that he was cut off before he arrived at the Middle of the Age of Man in thofc Days : this could not be thought to be a Token o: his havinp- walked with God, and pleafed him ; or to be a Reward ofGodlincrs by thole who did no: believe a fatiu'^taie. On B the ( i8) the contrary, It muft have been thought a Mark of the divine Difpleafure, and of his not having walked with God, that his Days and the Happi- nefs of his prefent Life were fo much fhorter than the Life both of his Forefathers and De- fcendantSj when Length of Days and earthly Pro- fperity were efteem'd to be Tokens of the divine Favour. It is therefore certain that God's taking of E7toch was a bodily Tran/lation of him to a State of Immortality, as the taking of Elijah into Heaven was : and both Examples were de- figned to confirm the Jews in the Belief that all the true Worfhippers of the God of Ifraet Ihould hereafter live with God, as they did in the heavenly Paradife or Canaan ; and be made immortal both in Body and Soul, as they were. And the Hiftory of Enoch's Tranflation was aa Evidence of the Redemption of the Body from Death, agreeably to the Promife made to Adam and Evt -^ and was a divine Atteftation to Men in that and the following Ages, that the Body as well as the Soul fliould exift in a future State ; and this was probably the general Belief of Man- kind in the mod early Ages of the World, and both before and after the Flood. That the Immortality of the Soul and a Life to come, was the common received Faith in the Days of Mojes^ may appear from Balaam's V/ifli, [Numb, xxiii. lo.) that he might die the 'Death of the Righteous : that is, that his. Soul after Death miy-ht be with the Souls of the Righteous, or that righteous People the JewSy wh(\m God had commanded h:m to kiefs, z If (19) if Balaam had not believed a future State, fuch a Wilh would have been vain and infigni- ficant : and knowing that God had determined to make the Jews a profperous and powerful Nation, he would rather have willied to have enjoyed their Portion in the prefent Life, than that his Death fhould be like theirs. Therefore we may conclude that Balaam, who was a Pro- phet amongft the Moabites and Midianifes, be- lieved that the Righteous after Death v^ere blef- fed and happy; and that this Dodrine prevailed amongft his People. The frequent Appearance of Angels to the Patriarchs before the Law, and their Miniirra- tion at the Delivery of the Law and afterv/ards, was a fenfible Evidence to the Jews of another invifible State diftind from the prefent Life. And the Law itfelf plainly flieweth that the yews as well as other Nations did believe the Exiftence and Influence of the Souls of the Dead : and therefore it forbids the Ufe of Dhviat'iGn^ and confulting with familiar Spirits, and Ne^ cromancy, (Deut. xviii. lo, ii.) Which Prohi- bition evidently fuppofes that the Doctrine of Divination and Necromancy, which coniifted in i)ivoking and confulting Di^mons and the Souls of dead Perfons, prevailed amongft the J civs ; and which was a principal Part of the Supcrfti- tion of the Egyptians^ and of that of all other Nations: and is a plain Demonftration that the yews believed a future S^ate equally with other Nations. When Elijah raifed the W^idow of ZarephatlS^ Son, he prayed to God^ faying, O B a Uri (20, J Lord my God, let this Child's Soul come into' him again : and it is added , that the Soul of the Child came into him again a?id he revived, i Kings xvii. 2 1,22. This Ihevvs that the Jeivs be-^ lieved that the Soul at Death did not die with the Body^ and that it ex i (led in a feparate State, from whence by the Power and Will of God it might return to the Body agiiin. That the Faith of the Hebrew Patriarchs, and thofe alio who lived before the Flood, had re- fpcd: to a future and eternal Life, is proved at large by St. Paul in the eleventh Chapter of his Epiille to the Hebrews, This he proves from the Nature of divine Faith itfelf Faith (fiys the Apoftle) is the Subjlance of things hoped for y the Evidence of f kings not feeiz', that is, of Things future and invifible,- f. I. By this Faith Abel qferd to God a mere ex- cellent Sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained V/itnfs that he was ' right ecus, God tefifying [his Acceptance] cf his Gifts : and by it he be-- ing dead yet feaketh, y. 4. that is, declareth that God is the Re warder of tliofe who believe in him-, tho* they arc dead. By this Faith Enoch was trarfated, that he f:ould not fee Death, and was not found (on Earth) becau/e God hadtran fated him [into Hea- ven] for before his Tranfation he had this Tejli-- mony, that he pk a fed God, ver. 5. But without Faith (he adds, ver. 6.) it is inipoflble to pleofc iim : for he that comcth to God mujl believe that h^ (21) he iSy and that he is a Rewarder of them who dUi-- gently feek him. And tliis Reward he fliews, both in the foregoing and following Examples, to confift in the Life and Happinefs of a future eternal State. By this Faith Noah having obeyed God's Command in preparing an Ark to iave hin-jfelf and Family fi'om the Deluge, which God had declared he would bring upon the Earth, became Heir of the Righteoulhefs which is by Faith^ ver. 7. that is, an Heir of that eternal Life which un- der the Gofpel is promiicd to the Righteoufnsfs oi Faith. Again, by this Faith [In God's Word, that he was his exceeding great Reward^ Gen. xv. i, that is, in the World to come, fay the 'targums of Jerufalem and Jonathan] Abraham having fojourned in the Land of Promife^ as in aftrange Count 7'y with Ifaac and Jacob, the Heirs with him of the fame Promife, look d for a City which hath Foundations.^ whofe Builder and Maker is God, ver. 9, 10. That is evidently, they look'd for not an earthly but an heavenly City or State ; not in the Life that now is, but in tliat which is to come, eternal in the Heavens: and accord-- ingly, this City which they looked for is called a better Cou?2try [than the Land oi Canaan'] that is, as it is added, an heavenly, ver. 16. Where^ fore God is not afloamedto be called their God, or is not afoamed of them, in being called their God^ as the Words may be render'd ; fir he hath pre- pared for them a'City, that is again, an heavenly one juli .before mentioned. And this Reafoning J3 3 of ( 22 ) of the Apoftle fhews the true Import of the Words of iW^^j, I am the God of Ahxdhd^m, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, as Chriji alfo himfelf explained them 5 namely, that he was their God, who, tho' dead, liv'd with him in that heavenly State or City which he had pre^ pared for them, and promifed lo them and their Seed as the Reward of their Faith in him. And this St. Paul declares to be the Senfe of the Pro- mifes made to the Patriarchs, and wito ivhich the twelve Tribes infiantly ferving God day and night hoped to come^ Ads xxvi. 6, 7. namely, the RefurreBion of the Dead^ as he had faid be- fore, chap. xxiv. ver. 15. And that Mofes firmly believed the Rewards cf the future State, is evident from v>7hat St. Paul adds, faying, that by Faith Mofes chofe rather to. fiiffer Affliclion with the People of God ^ than to en- joy the Pleafures of Sin for afeafon, — Por he had refpeS unto the Recompence of the Reward, Heb. 3wi. 25, 26. It is manifefi: that this Recompence of tkeRewardcf Faith,v72i?> neither the Glory,Riches, or the Pleafures oi Egypt ^ all which he renounced ; nor was it the Enjoyment of the Bleffings of the Land of Canaan^ which he never partook of: and therefore it was the Recompence and Hap- pinefs of the future State, and the invifible Glory and Reward of the Life to come ; for which he chofe Afflidions in the prefent State, rather than all the Greatnefs he was poffefled of in Pharaoh'^ Court. This is plain from the following Words, 'uer, 27. By Faith he (Mofes) forjool: Egypt, ?20t fearing the Wrath of the Kingy for he endured as (23 ) as feeing him who is hivijible. His Faith in the inviiible God, and of being rewarded by him hereafter, made him defpife all worldly Great- nefs and temt:oral Satisfadions, and endure with Patience Reproaches and Perfecutio^iS with the afflided People of God. So that according to the Explana tion of St. Paul and of our Saviour himfelf, the Promifes made unto Abraham and other Patriarchs, and alfo to the yewijh Nation as their Seed and Heirs of the fame Promifes, contained an AiTurance given to them of a future heavenly Life to be obtained by Faith in God, and Obedience to the Laws of cverlafting Righteoufnefs, which was to be re- vealed by the Meffias. This is \}!\dX jujlifying and failing Faith, under which the holy Patriarchs conducted their Lives, and walked with God, and pleafcd him ; and after Death obtained the bleffed Reward of it. And that this Faith in God, which at all Times and in every Nation raifed injuft and pious Men a ftedfaft Hope of future Happinels, was the grand fundamental Principle of the Patriarchal and Jewijh Religion, is at large argued by St. Paul, in the third Chapter of his Epiftle to the Galatians. The Scripture^ (fays he, <.', 8.) fore feeing that God would jujiify the Heathen [that is, call them to the Promifes of eternal Life revealed in the (Jofpel-Difpenfation] through Faith [in Chriil:] preached before the Gofpel unto Abraham, /nvV/^f, in Thee jhall all Nations be blefed. Gen. xii. 3. xviii, iB. xxii. 18. Abraham therefore was B 4 7'i/^{A^^» (24) jujlified, and entitled to eternal Life by his Faith in the Promife of God made unto him and his Seed, [Gal iii. 1 6.] The fame may be faid of Ifaac and Jacobs and their Seed who had the fame Promrkr, Gen.Tvn, 19. xxviii. 14. Now according to St. Paulas Realbning, this Juftifica- tion by Faith in God's Promifes, which he alfo confirms from the Words of the Prophet, [Ha- bac. ii. 4.] was in a Life different from that which was proirlfed to the Doers of the Law^ and was the Reward not of the IVcrh of the Law, but oi Faith, Therefore he adds, f, i r. But that no one is jufiified by the Law in the fight of God, it is evident : for the juft pall live by Faith, Habac. ii. 4. and yet he allows that the Promife of Life was made to the Doers of the Law, ^Lhe Law (fays he) is not (or con- lifteth not) of Faith : but the Man that doeth them fall live in (or by) them, f. 12, From^ which Reafoning it appears, that JuiliScation in the fight of God, or the Life which the Juft by God's Promife wer-e entitled to by Faith, wa^ a better and more valuable Life than that which was promifed to the Performance of the Works of the Law, or to the Obfervance of the Levi- tical Inftitution ; and therefore it was the Life of the future State, or that eternal Life which was revealed by Chrijl : and that Blefednefs w^hich all Nations, Heathens c.s v/ell as Jews^ were to partake of; and thereiore w^s the B/efi- /fdnr/s not of the Law^ but of the Go/pel ; not pf this Life, but of that which is to come. Henc^ (25) Hence it is plain, that St. Paid thought that both thefe Benefits were given to the Jews^ th^ firfl of yujiification to eternal Life thro' Faith, in the Promifes of God made unto Abraham and his Seed, and which is called a7t everlajiing Covenant, Gen. xvii. 7. the fecond of temporal Bleffings in the prefent Life promifed to the Doers of the Law. Therefore the Jewifi Nation in general had delivered to them as well as to Abraham him- felf that Faith in the Promifes of God which the Apoftle calls the preaching of the Gofpel, and to which yiijlifcation or eternal Life was annexed, and by V7\i\c\\ Abraham himfelf v^2& jufiifcd in the fight of God, It was on account of this Faith in God*s Pro« mifes to his Seed that Abraham is faid to have feen the Day of Chrifl, and to have rejoiced at the Foreknowledge of it, ^ohn viii. 56. He faw it firfl in the Birth of Ijaac, to whom the Promife was made ; and again in the Deliverance of him from the Altar whereon he was commanded to facrifice him 5 his miraculous Birth was a Type of the miraculous Incarnadon of C6r///; and his being ofFer'd up a Sacrifice to God, and then de- li ver'd frorn Death, was a Type of Cbri/rs Sa- crifice of himfelf and Refnrredtion from the Dead,^ who really faffer'd Death as a Sacrifice for Sin. Abraham underiiood the Meaning of the Pro- mifes made to his Seed, in whom or thro' whom all Nations were to be blejfed\ and {o he faw or fprefaw the Coming, and Death, and Refurrcc- i3' tio,i ( 26) tion of the Meffias or Chriji^ the promifed Seed who was to defcend from him. Secondly, this Faith in the Promife of God niade to Abraham's Seed was ftrengthened and more clearly fet forth in the Law itfelf, in thefe Words : The Lord thy God will raife up unto 7hee a Prophet from the mid/i of 'Thee^ of thy Brethren^ like unto me^ unto him ye fh a II hearken. ^■^And I will put my Words in his Mouthy and he Jhallfpeak unto them all that I fhall command him. And it jhall come to pafs that whcfoe^er *will not hearken unto my Words, which he fhall fpeak in my Name, I will require it of him. Deut. xviii. 15, 1 8, 19. The Knowledge of this Promife oiih^ Mejias and of a future and eternal Life to be obtained thro* him, which the Jews always believed and hoped fpr, is m unqueftionable Evidence that un- der the Law they looked farther than to tlie Carnal and temporal Promifes of it 3 and expect- ed a fpiricual and future heavenly State, which God had promifed to be revealed by the Mejjias, thro' Faith in v/hom all were to htjujiified and faved. It was evident that the Promifes made to A- braham could not be completed by the temporal Heflings of the Land of Canaan given to the fews only ; becaufe they were Promifes in which other Nations befides the ^ews were equally con^ earned ; they were Promifes by the full Com- pletion of which all the Nations or Families of the Earth were to be blejj'ed : and therefore they were not Promifes made to the Doers of the Law only, L. C 27 ) only, which was given to the Jew$^ and to no other Nation ; but they ftill fabfifted under the Law, and were to be an evcrlajiing Covenant made with that Seed of Abraham in whom all the Nations of the Earth were to be blefjed^ that is, the promifed MeJJias, who was to be the Au- thor and Difpenfer not of temporal but eternal Felicity. Therefore as the Jews did undoubtedly be- lieve the Promifes of God made unto Abraham^ and that they were to be fulfilled at the coming 'of the MeJJias who was to defcend from him 5 they muft confequently believe that the Bleflings promifed to be confer'd thro* him were not the carnal and temporal Bleflings promifed to the Doers of the Law, and which Abraham and the Patriarchs never received ; but the Participation of that fpiritual Happinefs of a future and eternal Life which Abraham^ Ijaac and Jacob enjoyed with God, as the Reward of their Faith and Righteoufnefs ; and with which all the Nations of the Earth were to beblefled by Faith in God, and Obedience to his Word and Commandments delivered in the Gofpel of Chriji. So that Faith in the promifed MeJJias always confequentially inferred the Belief of eternal Life and Happinefs. And as the Belief of a future and immortal Life was the natural Confequence of Faith in God, as the Rewarder of all his faith- ful Worfhippers, and was common to the Jews with the reft of Mankind, and drawn from the Principles of natural Reafon j fo this Faith was render'd ilronger in the Jews than in any other People ( 28 ) People who had not a divine Revelation by the Promife of the Mejfias who was to be the Author .of this Life and Immortality. All this is evident, unlefs we fuppofe that A^ braham and his Pofterity believed the Promifes of God which were to be fulfilled in the MeJJias.^ not to be of a fpiritual but of a meer carnal Na- ture, like thofe of the Law ; and that he and they were juflified in the fight of God by fuch a meer carnal Faith : which Suppofition is highly abfurd m itfelf, and alfo diredly contrary to St. Taut^ whole Rcafoning. But as the Reafoning of the Apoille is highly agreeable to the natural No- tions of God, as v/ell as to the Revelations given by Mojcs and the Prophets ; fo it throws a great and ftrong Light upon all the facred Scriptures of the Old Tefiament. It fliews how the Law was a Shadow of the future good Things more fully ^^and clearly revealed by the Gofpel% as reprefent- ing them under the Promifes of God made to Abraham and the 'Jew^ ; and alfo under the Sa- crifices and ritual Inftitutions of the Law itfelf. But on Suppofition that the Bleflings of the fu- ture State were not promifed, reprefented, or known to the ^ews under the Law, there is no ground to call the Law a Shadow or imperfedt Re- prefentation of them. A Shadow or firft Draught of a Pidture is a Similitude and faint Refemblance of the Subfiance or Body from v/hence it is taken, and to which it refers -, as the Luage is the perfed: and finilli'd Portraiture of it. And this is the Difi-erence between the Lavv' and the Go- ipcl; the firfi: is an imperfecl Delineation of thofg ( 29 ) thofe heavenly Things, of which the latter is the' exprefs Image, In the former, the x'^uthor of e- ternal Salvation is only promifed, and veil'd under Types and Ceremonies ; but in the latter, he is ex- hibited in Perfon,and manifefted to the World. The whole Hiftory of the Jewifi or Hebrew Nation from the Beginning is fufiicient to con- vince any who confider it, that as they were brought up in the Worfliip of the true God, by whofe extraordinary Providence Abraham their Father and the Founder of their Nation was brought out of an idolatrous Country into the Land of Canaan ; fo they liv'd under the con- ftant Senfe of his governing Providence, and the Hope and Belief of receiving the final Reward of their Obedience in another Life after this. As it cannot be doubted but this was the Faith of Abraham^ Ifaac and Jacob concerning the di- vine Providence, and the Meaning of the Pro- mife of Bieffednefs made to them, and which they were told not to expedt in the Land where they lived only as Strangers and Sojourners ; fo it can as litde be doubted but that it was their principal Care to teach and inculcate into their Defendants and Families the fame Faith in God as their great Protestor here, and Re warder here- after. It was therefore the grand fundamental Prin- ciple of the ^Z'/7?/j^7/2/V Religion to depend only on the divine Providence both for temporal ?s^i\ fpiritual Bleilings : for the Happinefs of this Life and alfj of tbjit Vv'hich is to come. Under' ( 30 ) Under this Faith and Truft in God the Ifr a elites were by divine Providence condudled into Egypt y and preferved there by the fame Pro- vidence till they became a great and a numerous People. During their Abode in Egypt under the Patriarchs and Heads of their Tribes and Fa- milies the Worfhip of the true God was preferved amongft them 5 and continued, at leafi, fo long as Jofeph was Governor of the Land of Egypt. So that if it can be fuppofed that the IJraelites ever loft the Knowledge of the true God, and with it the Belief of a future State received from their Forefathers, it muft have been after the Death of their Patriarch Jofeph^ when they were reduced into a State of Slavery and hard Bondage, and fell into the Egyptian Idolatry ; and, inftead of the God of Ifrael^ worfliipped the great Egyp- tian God OJiris^ whofe Symbol was a livifig Bull calPd Apis at Memphis ^ and another calFd ^Mnevis at * Thefe Bulls had been confecrated and worfhipped a^ the Symbols of Ofiris before the Days of Abraham, And it is a grofs Error in fome learned ancient, as well as mo- dern Chriftian Writers, to fancy that Jofeplj was worfhip- ped by the Egyptians under the Apis, The Scripture tells us, that the Memory of y^'^^/; was not regarded after his Death ; and fo it is not in the leaft probable that Pharaoh^ who is faid not to know him, as he really did not, (hould make him an Object of Worfhip. It may eafily be prov- ed thatQ//m reign'd in Egypt above a Century before the Birth of Abraham ; and tho' Diodorus Sicidus hath from lefs ancient and from falfe Accounts afcrib'd to Oftris the real Anions and Exploits of SefcJIris who reigned about nine Centuries after Ofiris ; yet the more ancient and cre- dible Writers Herodotus and Adarieiho,, and Strabo after them, did not confound either their Perf^ns, Times, or their Actions. But it is a flill greater Error to confound Sefnjiris (30 at HeUopolis, where the Hebrews chiefly wor- fliip*d this Egyptian Idol, But it is certain that whilft they continued in the Egypt ia?i Superfli- tion, tho* they might forget or lofe the Know- ledge Sefoflris both with Ofirts and Sefach or ShiJ})ak ; fince it is certain that S hi/ha k reign' d in Egypt above three hundred Years after 5^y^m reignM there: and there is not one A<£tion of the Reign of Shijhak^ befides his Expedition into Judea^ which agrees to Se/c/Hs, Had SefoJIris taken Je- rufalem^ and fpoilM the Temple and the King'? Palace of all theirTreafures, as is related oi Shljhak^ iKingsxW. 25, 26. and which is all we know of his Exploits ; the Egyptian Hiftory, which relat'^s fc fully the Actions oiSefoftrisy could not have fail'd to mention this To famous an Expedition. But as there js not the leaft mention of any fuch Expedi- tion in the Reign of ^^y^^m, as his going to J erufa km and plundering the Temple and King's Houfe, fo it is no wonder that no fuch mention fhould be made, becaufe there was neither any King of the Jews^ or a Temple at Jerufi/em till many Years after the Death of Sefojhis. I thought it proper to obferve this, becaufe our learned Chro- nologer Sir John Marjham fell into this Miftake ; and oc- f^fion'd, as it feems, the more learned Sir Jfaac Newton to fall into the fame Error of confounding Sefoflris with Shi- Jhak ; and others have foUow'd thefe Authors without ex- amining the Matter by the befl and moft ancient Hiflori- cal Evidence : and the Mirlake is both very grofs, and wholly ungrounded ; and tends to confound and over- throw all Hiftory and Chronology together of the moil ancient Times. Sefc/iris and the Greek Bacchus liv'd about the fame Time ; and fo the Greeks afcrib'd to their Bacchus the Alliens of the Egyptian Sefo/his : and becaufe they call'd Ofiris by the Name oi Dionyfus or Bacchus [tho' they diftinguilh'd him from the later Bacchus Son of -Sf- wele^ by calling him the Old Diojiyfus'] the Exploits of the Greek Bacchus^ and which were really the Exploits of Sefojiris^ were afcrib'd to Ofiris alfo. And thus three dif- ferent Perfons have been confounded ; and this Confufion of the Names and A6tions of thefe Heroes in Greek Wri- ters, occafion'd all the Errors of Sir Ifaac Newton about them. kdge of the God of their Fathers, they cou'J not lofe the Senfe of a future State, which was a fundamental Dodtrine of the Egyptians^ and had always beenreceiv'd amongft them. With this Dodrine therefore, along with the JSg-j^//^;2Superftition,the Ifraelites^N^XQ flrongly poffefs*d when Mofes led them out of Egypt : and then they plainly faw that the Gods of £- gypt, whom they had ferv'd, were no Gods, and that the God of Abraham^ IfaaCy and Jacobs their Fathers, who had brought them into Egypt ^ and had bleffed and fupported them there for 215 Years, w^as the only true God, who delivered them from the Power of Pharaob and all their Enemies, that they might ferve and worfhiphim alone, their Saviour and Redeemer. As foon as they came into the Wildernefs of Sinai^ Mofes delivered God's Law to them from Horeby whereby God promi^^'d, upon their O- bedience to it, to be peculiarly their Gody and that they lhou*d be a?i holy Nation^ and a pccii^ liar Treajiire to him above all People ; and that he would fulfil to them the Promifes made to their Fathers Abraham^ JJaaCy and "Jacob^ to give them the Land of Canaan as a fare Token of his Favour; and that they miglu know that he was their God, and that they were his People and Heirs of all the Promif^s made to their Fa- thers, and entitled to the lileiiings which they bad received and were pofTcfs'd of, as the Reward- of their Faich and Rightcoufneis. It v/as on tills account that Mojes wrote the Hi- flory of the Creation^ and of the I'lo^J^ and of tte ( 33 ) the Hebrew Nation down to liis own Time,' that his People might know how God in all Times had blelTed and preieiv'd holy and jull Men, who were the true Worfliippers of him, both here and after this Life: and that they might be affiired that the divine Providence ex- tended not only to this Life, which was made mortal by the Difobedience of our firft Parents, but alfo to a future and immortal Life, he fet before them the Promife made to Jldam and Eve upon their Repentance, of a Deliverance from that Mortality and Death which they and their Pofterity had incurred by Sin. By the Tranflation oi Enoch ^ he gave them an undoubted Evidence of a coeleftial State referv'd for thofe, who like him wallid mth Gody and woriliip^d him with true Faith and Holinefs of Life. He alfo related the wonderful Providence of God towards Abraham, from whom they defcended ; and (hew'd them that it was his Seed which was promised to come and to bruife the Serpenfs Head, and deliver Mankind from the Power of Death to Life and Immorlality. And farther to convince them of the Continuance of God's Favour to his faitiiful Servants after this Life, God by him declai'd that he was the Gcd of Abraham, andof\{?JkQy and i?/'Jacob, after they were dead ; and wou'd be worihipp'd by their Children under that Name thro' all their Gene- rations for ever. It was with the fame View of manifefting the eternal Providence of God, and alio at the lame tia:ie to fupport and comfort the Ifraelites under C their ( 34 ) their Aililcllcns in Egypt ^ and during their So^ journment in the Wildernefs, that Mofes, as Is moft probable, gave them written in their own Language the Hiitory of Joh^ who died but a few Years * before they came out of Egypt \ and the Account of whofe Sufferings and great De- liverance and Profperity after them, was then recent and well known. It appears from the Scope of the Book o( job^ that it was the general Senfe and Belief of Men concerning divine Providence at that Time, and in the mofl ancient Times before, that God did never grievoufly afflidt righteous Men in this Life, or fuffer them to perifh under temporal Adverfiiies, cb/iw 7, 8. and this Notion is fully afferted in the whole, Sth Chapter, and other ■ Parts of the Book : and in this, Job and his three Friends agreed. On this account it is, that they fo confcanrly accufe Job of being a Sinner and an Hypocrite, tho' he appeared to be righteous ; and therefore they prefs'd him. to confefshis Sins, and to humble hirnfclf before. God, who would certainly reflore liim to his Profperity, ^ if he vv^s poenitent and truly righteous : and the fime Opi^ nion of the Equity of the divine Proceedings made Jcb^ who knew his own Sincerity and Integrity, think that God was hard upon him, and did not deal with him as he ufed to do with his faithful Servants and true Wor'iliip- pers 5 and by the AfHidions which he laid upon him^ gave occivfion to his Friends to arraign and calumniate * See the Appendix concerning tha Genealogy and^ Age of Job. ( 35 ) ralumniate his Uprightnefs and Innocency, as feign'd and infincere. But God made him ac hil underftand that it was foolifli and impious in him to arrogate io much Righteoufnels to himfelf, who was but finful Duft an;] AOies : and that as he was not able to comprehend the Power and Works of God, and the Judg- ments of his Providence, which were unfcarch- able, he ought, notwithflanding his Afflic- tions, to have been more patient, and to have concluded that God was jufl, and to have, without repining, trufted in him for a Deliver- ance. yd, indeed, had a better and jufter Senfe of the Providence of God than his three Friends had j and as he had exprefs'd a firm TrufI: and Confidence in his Righteoufnefs and Goodnefs for receiving from him a Reward hereafter, whatever he fuffer'd in this Life : on this Ac- count he was approved by God, and his Humi- liation and Repentance was accepted. But his Friends are blam'd for their uncharitable Charge againfl his Integrity and Righteoufnefs, rr.erely becaufe he was afflidted by the Hand of Pi evi- dence. Their Fault was their Mifreprefen ra- tion of God's Dealings with Joi^, and Ipeakiiipj what was 7wt i-ight concerning the Dcfign of di- vine Providence; they had utter'd confidenilv ivhat they underjiood -not concerning i% as j''? alfo himfelf had done; but he repented oi J :s Rarhncfsand Folly, and fo was pardon'u, wheitas his Friends repented not of theiis, //; not fpeaki/-^ C z ^ if (36) of God *', (i. e. of his Providence) the Thing that was right. And therefore God's Wrath was kindled againjl them^ as it is reprefented in the laft Chapter, f, i 8. But the Event fhew'd them, that God tried Job by Afflidions, to in- ereafe his Virtue, and to make him an Example of Patience, Refignation, and Humility ; and then let both them and him fee that the Equity of his Providence had not fail'd, but that after Trial he cou'd and wou'd reftore him to Pro- fperity, and even to greater than he had bleffed him with before. Nov^ this Hiftcry v^as an extremely proper Confolatien to the Jewifh Nation to refled: on^ who had endur'd fo great Afflidions under their Bondage in Egypfy and ftill continued to fufFer in the barren and defolate Wildernefs : and therefore, was probably wrote by Mofes^ to com- fort them with an Affurance^ from the Example oijoi?^ that their prefent Sufferings were a Trial laid upon them [tho' they might alfo fee that their Sins and Idolatry had eaus'd them] and that if, like Job^ they humbled themfelves be- fore * Te have not fpoken of me the Thing that is rights a^ v:y Servant Job hath. ch. xiii. 7. where the. Hebreiu Word JU or Jlai^ fignifies either ofnie^ or before me : in the latter of which Senfes, the Greck^ Vulgate^ and Syrtas Verfions render it : and cither Interpretation makes the Senfe good. The meaning is, they had calumniated Jch before God, and had not fpoken right Things concerning his Providence : and therefore God commanded them to offer a Sacrifice byway of Atonement, and made Jobthth Intercefior to pray for their Pardon. It is obfervabJe, that theSacriiice was, o^ fcvcn Bullocks 2a\^ frjcn Rams^ vcr. 8. which is the Number cf each which tialaa?ji commanded Balak to cffer. JSumb, xxiii. i; 15, 29, 30. (37) fore God, and wor/hip'd him alone, and trufted in his Mercy, they wou'd be delivered as he was, and in due Time be rewarded with the Inheri- tance of the Land, and all the Bleffings promis'd to their Forefathers. If it be faid that in this Hiftory ofjoiy God's Providence is manifefted only in temporal Pro- sperity and Adverfity ; this will appear to be a great Miftake. For altho* the Occafion led Jci's Friends to talk only of a temporal Providence, yet as no doubt can be made of their believing a future State of Recompence both for the Righ- teous and the Wicked ; fo this feems to have been the very Ground of their thinking, that God would and alfo did make a Difference be- tween them in this Life : and that it was not fuitable to his good Providence that the Wicked ihould efcape Punifliment either here or l^ere- after ; or on the other hand, that the Righteous fliould not be happy both in this Life and that which is to come. There are, I think, feveral Paffages in this Book of Joiy which ihew his Belief of a future State, and of a Refurrcdtion to eternal Life. He declareth, that tho' God JIjgiiU fiay him^ y€t that he will truft m him *, (ch. xiii. ver. 15.) C 3 truft * Etiamfi Occident me, in ipfo fperabo. So the Jul- gnie^ and the Arabic and Syr'iac Veriions have it, agree- ably to our Tranflation. And this is the Senfeof the He- brew Text. For Hen fignifics y?, as well as ecce^ and 1.0 fignifies annoii as well as non. And fo the Hebrew Words are rightly render'd, Si occidcrit nie, annon Tpe- rabo ? (i.e. in ipfo,) Ifhetvilljlay ;;;^, or though he JJjouId f^ay me^ Jhall Inot twjl in him f Yes furely, I will. This ( 38 ) truft in faim for what ? not a temporal Delivep- ancG, furely, that is plainly abfurd ; but he will trail in him for Salvation (after Death) ;^. 16. and for this he trufled in God, who knew the Incegrity of his Heart : for he adds, an Hypo^ critefloall not come before him. In the 14th Chapter, wc have thefe remark- able Words : "Thei-e is Hope oj a Tree, if it be cut down^ that it will fpr out again, and that the tender Branch thereof will not ceafe (or fail,) tho' the Root thereof wax old in the Earth, and the Stock thereof die in the Ground ; yet thro' the Scent of Water it wiUbud^ ana bring forth Bcughs tike a Plant, Then it follows; but Man dietb . and wafcth away : yea Man givcth up the Ghojty andwhere is he? f. 7, 8, 9, ic. Thefe Words thus render'd fetm to makea- gainil a future State 5 but if render'd interroga- tively, as they may well be, they conclude tor it : asif jv/zhad faid, is there ^ Hope of a Tree that is cue down, that it will iproiit again ? But fhaU Man die and wajle away ; jl: all he give up the Glojl and be 710 fnore? No, furely: for as It is added, if. 14. If a Man die, ke flo all live (or rile) again, after the Days of his Life are friifjd: l^tll^ait till 1 fl: all be changed, (or live I take to he the true Senfc of the Words. The Particle Hen l-gnifics 6"/, in Jcb-^i. iZ, and in c>rher Plctces. The "VVords may alfo be unucrflood, tho^ he fiuyiiic, yet Iwill hofc^ i. e. lor a Recompence hereafter. * "A'A, Cpr.c-), ^"iAif irtTilofiQc, v^ lyncouiva, uv^p'joto c^\o; />' ov Ice '^u^kcc ysyoyiv,Hy. i/iio-lcci', i'o reads Cyril Bi ^.r:V) ui Je'ufalrm^ and confirms this Reading from th- l^di Vcrle, ui; 1 iiave iciiJer'J tJ:e 6';vr/". Cutvch. ib'. f 39 ) iive again.) This is agreeable to the * Greek Tranflation, as well as to the Hebrew^ Text. Then it follows, /. 1 5. T^hcu jhalt call and I ivill anfwer thee : reje6l not thou the IV'ork of thine Hands. If this is the true Senfe of the Words of Joby then it will appear from the 12th Verfe, when he expedled his Refiirrediion and Change to come to pals, namely, "when the Hea^-oem jhoii d he no more: or as it is exprefs'd in the 19th Chapter, and 25th Verfe, at the latter Day, or the End of the World. And here in this lall-mention'd Place, I cannot but think that yob's AlTurance of the Refurrecftioji of his Body to a future Life is very plainly and fully exprefs'd. I bjoiv, (lays he) that ?ny Redecjner liveth^ and that I fiall rife [fo St. Jerome renders the HebreiD Text] or, that my Body /l:all rife [fo the Greek Interpreters render it] at the latter Day upon the Earth 5 and tho after my Skin Worms defiroy this Body, yet in my Flefifiall I fee God. Ch. xix. 25, 26 J. C 4. ^ This \ If a Man die, Jhall he n:t live agaif: ? where the He^ hrew Particle He (H) fignifies nonne aiSrmatively, before the Verb, and was fo uiiderflocd by the Grak Tranfla- t-ors. :|: The prefent Hebrew Text has Jakwn, He (that h, God my KcdcerAtr)uiIi rife ; which is liardly Senfe. fe- rome reads Akimi, I ft) all rijc, wiiich is a szxy proper and good Senfe, and is very probabU' the true and origiinl Hebrczu Readins^. He renders the whole two VerfcM Scio enim quod Rcdemptor meus vivit, et in novifllnio ^ie de terra furrcwlurus fu*Ti; ctrurlus ciicumiVabor P^'^^ (40) This Declaration of his Affiirance of the Re* furredion of his Body at the laft Day, is that which in the preceding Words he wiihes might be written and printed in a Book: or, that it might' be graven with an Iron Pen a?id Lead in ihcRock for ever ^ ver. 23, 24. The mea, et in carne mea videbo Deum. The Greek Tranf- lators, 2.nATheodotio, read Jaknn dvocrwn^ which is alfo a good Senfe : and Jerome renders the Greeks Scio enim quia eternus eft qui me refoluturus eft. Super terram re- lurget cutis mea qu2e haec patitur. Tom. i. p. 1202. edit, Benedict, y^rc;/^^'' alfo read Ukapb circmndahor^ from Ja^ kaph inftead of Nikphu contriverhit^ from Nakaph. Cle^ mens the Apoftoh'cal Bifhop of Rome reads, ocvxrw£ig [t>iv] CtX^XCC fJ^ \0C'i7Y,V ^\VJ (i-JXv]Kri'jX Difcourfes the leaii: ground to think that he hoped for, and much lefs that he was affured of a Deliverance from his Sufferings and Mi- ferics in this Life. His Confidence was in his Integrity, and he knew that how much foever he fuffered at prefent from the Hand of God, he fliould be juftified at tlie Refurredion, and be bleffed in the future State. And as he was perfuadcd of the future Happinefs of righteous Men, fo he believed that wicked Men, tho* they were fometimcs profperous on Earth, would receive the Recompence of their evil Deeds at the (45) the future Day of Judgment. I'he ivicked {kp he) is referved to the Day of DeJiruBion : ^hey jJmll be brought forth to the Day of PVrath. ch. xxi. 30. Upon the whole then, the Hiftory of Job in- forms us what were the moft ancient Opinions of Men concerning the Providence of God j and the Hope and Expedation which they infer'd from it, both of prefent and future Happinefs. They never doubted but that righteous and good Men would be blefled with Immortality in another Life after this ; and that the Bleffings of this Life alfo would not fail to attend their Virtue and Piety. They alfo thought, that as this. Life was a State of Pilgrimage and Trial, and Death the common Lot of all, both of the righteous and the wicked ; the great and final Recompence of both was referv'd in the Hands of God, to be difpens*d hereafter ; when the wicked fhould rife to be condemned and p'lnifh'd according to their evil Deeds-, and the Righteous be raifed to receive the Reward of their Piety and good Works. This Opinion was agreeable to the genuine Principles of natural Reafon form'd concerning the divine Providence, and the State and Condi- tion of Man ; and was flrengthened and con- firmed by various Revelations made in the moft early Ages of the World, By this Hiilory alfo the Jfraelites were taught to truft in God under all Adverfities, and that righteous and pious Men might be, and were afllided here for a Trial cf their Faith and Patience : and at the lame time ( 46 ) it let them fee that God had detef mined thdt fuch, tho' they fufFered a while, fliould receive .a Reward of their Faith and Humiliation in this Life, as well as in the next at the Refurrediion of the juft. And this was more efpecially to be the cafe of the Ifraelites, v^ho after all the Affliaions of their Forefathers, and of their whole Nation in the Land of Egypt and in the Wildernefs, had a Promife from God that if they obeyed the Law which he had given them by Mofes, they and their Pofterity {hould be rewarded with tempo- ral Blemnes and Profperity in the Land of &- naany which v^ere to be a perpetual Earneft to them of the divine Favour, and of the greater Bleffings which they v/ith Abraham, Ifaac and Ja- cob fhould be Partakers of in the Lite to come. It was a peculiar Privilege and Advantage to the Jewip Nation to be affured by Promife from God himfclf, that their Obedience to the Law of Mofes {hould be rewarded with tem- poral Happinefs ; as on the other hand, their Dlfobedience to it was threatned to be punifhed with the greateft worldly Adverfity, Thefe were powerful Motives to engage their Obfer- vance of the divine Laws; but they were not in- tended to fupply the more powerful Sandions of Religion founded on Faith in the prior Promlfes of God and the Btlief of a future State ; but on the contrary, thefe Promifes of temporal good Things were defign'd to conlirm and in- vigorate their Aflurance of the better Things to come, of which thefe were only Types and Shadows, and as it VvCic a ForetaftC and Ear- ned.- The (47) • The Law of Mofcs, as that of other Nations with regard to Religion, regulated only the pub^ lie Worlhip and Ceremonies belonging to it ; all which in the Je^vifld Law were appropriated to the one true God, as thofe of other Nat'ons with the Egyptians were appropriated to Idols and falfe Gods. The Profeffion of the Unity of God and of his Worfhip alone, made the difference between Judaifm and Heathejiifmi The Notion and Dodlrine of the one fupreme God was in a manner kept fecret amongll the 'Egyptiam and other Heathens 3 and was never taught at all amongft them, but with a Mixcure of imaginary Deities : and God was never wor- fl:iipped publickly by the People, whofe Devo- tion and Temple-Service was all paid to Idols, But under the Levitical Inftitution the Unity of God was the publickly known and received Doc- trine ; and the v/hole Devotion and Worfhip of the People was dircd:ed to him alone in the Place dedicated for that purpofe. The Jews were taught to depend entirely upon the Providence of God, and to pay an unreferv'd and undivided Obedience to his Laws alone in all Things •, and even to die in the defence of them, or rather than be compelled to renounce or forfake them ; the extrjiordinary Providence of God v/as to be their Security and Support, and on him alone they were to trult and icly for all their Hap- pincfs. Now for any one to fuppofe, that the yeivs did believe that the Providence of God, by vvnolc immediate and extraordinary Power their whok Natioa (48) Kation was conSudled and governed, extehdec! only to the prefent Life, without their having any Knowledge of a future State ; or to fuppofe that they were not taught nor did believe that God would be their God not only in this Life, but in that which is to come ; either of thefe Suppofitions makes the ^ew^ more ignorant of the Foundation of all Religion, than any Hea- thens then were ; and their Law and whole Oeconomy of Religion to be a mere worldly Po- licy, and utterly unworthy of God to be either the Author or Condufter of it. Such a Law could give no comfort to diC* treffed poenifent Sinners when they came to die j nor to the many thoufands of innocent Perfons who in this Life were miferable and unhappy, and punifh'd for the Crimes of their Parents. The Law was inexorable ; tlie Children tho* in- nocent muft beg their Bread, and live under Opprefllon, and in Difgrace and Slavery for the Tranfgreffions of their Fathers : and others fuf- fered unjuftly under the Tyranny of powerful and idolatrous Rulers of their ov/n Nation. The Law made no Provifion in thefe Cafes. But as an extraordinary or miraculous Provi-^ dence attended the Jewijh Nation to preferve them from Idolatry ; fo the unequal Difpenfa- tions of it with rcfped: to priviUe and particular Perfons could not be reconcil'd but by the Know- ledge and Belief of a future State. There was no occafivon for the Law io make exprefs mention of a future State, the Belief of which v/as the fundamental Principle of the Patriarchal : : . (49 ) Patriarchal Religion under which the "JcVjS were educated : but yet in the Difpcnfation of the Law itfelf, this was a primary Anicle of Faith, and Ground of the Worfhip of God. This is evident, becaufe though the yV7<:;i had a Promife of temporal Blcllings in the Land of Canaan given theoi, to reward their Obedience to the Law ; yet they were told at the fame time that they Ihould look on themfclves to be only Strangers and Sojourners in it, as their Forefathers had been. This was an indicaiioii to them, that their earthly Profperity, liow great foever it fliould be, was not the End of their Fi^ith, and hnal Reward of their Obedience, but that future heavenly Felicity which v/as pro- mifed to Abraham and bis Seed. David, who well underftood the Nature and Defign of the legal Covenant, in his Prayer to God fays, that he was a Stranger with him (i:i the Land) and a Sojourner^ as all his Fathers were. Pf. xxxix, 12. And he made the f^me ConfeiTion a little before his Death, i Chrcn. xxix. 15, Li this he was miindful of what God himfelf told the Jews^ Lev.xxv. 23. that they ivere Strangers and Sojourners with him (or be- fore him) in the hand which he gave them^ f z t ''The La?id (fays God) is mine^ and "je are Stran- gers and Sojourners with me. It is called the Land of their Father's fojourninp;, Cien. xvii. 8. yibrakani was a S:ranger and Sojourner i:^. it, though God gave it to him, as well as to iiis Seed after him. And though the Land of Ca-* naan was given to Abraham^ Ifaac^ and Jacob D for ( so ) for an Heritage, yet they looked uptin tliem-* felves as Pilgrims, Strangers, and Sojourners in it ; knowing they had there no abiding Habita- tion, and looking for a better which was to come, that is, an heavenly one, as the Apoftle argues Heb.xx. 13, 14,16. And in the fame Chapter he fhews, that neither Abraham and the other Patriarchs before the Law, nor Mofes and all the other Jewifi Worthies and Pro- phets under the Law, received in this Life the Accomplifhment of the Divine Fromijes, f, 39.. which proves beyond all Doubt, that the Pro- 7111 jes made to the true Believers and Worfhip- pers of God, were not defigned to be completed by the Bleffings of the Law, or a temporal State erf Happinefs, but by the better things to come^^ as the Apollle calls them i. 40. and the BlefTings of eternal Life. This is the Key to open the true Defign of the Patriarchal and yewijh Difpenfation 5 and to explain the full Meaning of the Promifes of God made under them : and fliews that the pri- mary Article and Objed: of Faith on which the Patriarchs and Jewi/Jj Nation refted, was not the Inheritance of the promifed Land of C^- naan 5 but an AiTurance that their God had pro- vided a future and heavenly State, as the rinal Reward of their Faith and Obedience. This was the grand Principle of the Abraha-^ mic Religion, and propagated to all his Pofte- rity ; and this was tlic Faith of Mofes and the Prophets, The being Heirs of a future and heavenly State^ was a i'undaaien al Article of tlie. j[ewij[Jj jfewifi Religion, and contained in the Promifes rriade to Abraham and his Se^-d : the Law \\'as added to keep up their Obedience to God, and Dependence upon him, and to prevent their fal- h'ng away from their Faith to Idolatry, and en- forced with the Promifes of temporal Bleffings to the Doers of it ; beiides the Spiritual Happi- nefs promifed before the Law as the Reward of Faith. And therefore as the Law wa- to be enforc'd with the Sandion of temporal Rewards and Puniiliments, Mojes fpeaks of no other as Parts of his Law ; nor was it proper that he fhould : the Bleffings of the future State being properly the Rewards to which they were en- titled, not by doing the Works of the Law, bat by Faith in the Piomifes of God made to their Forefathers, and to them their Seed. It was for his Faith that God promifed AbraDam to be his exceeding great Reward^ Gen, xv. i . and declared that he would be his God, and the God of his Seedyir ever^ Gen, xvii. 7. Exid. jii, 15. Under the Influence of this Faith they were to walk before him with a perfedl Heart, Gen, xvii. I. and worfliip him alone for their God, according to the Law of everlaffing Righ- teoufnefs. This was the Covenant which the Children of Tfrael entered into with God, in the Land of Moab, bcfide the Covenant which he ?nade with them in Horeb, Dent. xxi. i. By this Covenant they were ejlablijhed to be his People, and he to be their God, as he had fworn unto them, and to their Father s^ to Abraham, to IfaaCy and to D 2 Jacob, ( 52 ) Jacobs iJ^'-^S' And this Covenant on their Part was, toferve the Lord their God with all their Heart , and not to turn away from him to other. Gods^ and to the Worfhip of Idols, as it is ex- preffed in the following Verfes. On this Con- dition, and not by the ritual Works of the Law, they were entitled to the Bleffings promifed to Abraham : and this was the Condition, that in all their Difperfions amongft the feveral Nations of the Earth which Mojh foretold } if they re- turned unto the Lord their God^ ajid obeyed all his Commandments with all their -Hearty and with all their Soul ; then the Lord their God would turn their Captivity^ and have Compafion on them and gather them from all the Nations^ whither the Lord their God had fcatter d them. After which Return into their own Land from a general Difperfion, and Captivity amongft all Nations, even unto the outmojl Parts ofHeaveny God promifeth that He will circumcife their Heart and the Heart cf their Seed, to love the Lord their God with all their Hearty and with all their Soul^ that they may Live, Ch, xxx. I — 6, and following. It is mod probable that thefe laft Declarations of Mofes to the People of the "Jeivs refer to the Gofpel-State, and to their miferable Difperfions and Captivity, and the Defolation of their Country by the Romans plainly predided from the 49th Verfe of the 28 th Chapter of Deuteronomy to the End of that Chapter, and continued in the 29th and 30th Chapters. I fliall tranfcribe fome Part cf them': T^he LcrdJJjall bring againfi thee a ( 53 ) a Nation from far ^ from the "End of the Earthy [this could not be faid of the Ajjyriam or Baby- lomam'] as fioift as the Eagle fieth, a Nation whofe Tongue thou /halt not under ftand : a Na-- tioh of a fierce Countenance^ [under which lafl Charader the Romans are defcribed by Daniei, Cb. viii. 23. and it is known that the Eagle wa3 placed upon the Standards of the Roman Legi- ons ; ] lohich (Nation) //i^// not regard the Per- fon of the old^ nor Jloew Favours to the young — and he fhall befiege thee in all thy Gates^ until thy high and fenced Walls come down^ wherein though truflefl^ throughout all the Land and thou Jhalt eat the Fruit of thine oivn Body, the Fkfl'j of thy Sons and thy Daughters in the Siege, a?7d in the Straitnejs wherewith thine Enemies foall dijirefs thee : So that the Man that is ten- der among you, and very delicate, his Eye foall be evil towards his Brother, and towards the Wife of his Bofojn, and towards the Remnant of his Children which he foall leave : fo that he will not give to any of them of the Fhfo of his Chil- dren whom he fall eat, hecaife he hath nothing left him in the Siege T^he tender and delicate Woman among you, who would not adventure to fet the Sole of her Foot upon the Ground for De- licatenefs and Tefiderjiefs, her Eye fall he evil towards the Rufband of her Bojom, and towards her Son, and towards her Daughter; and to- wards her young one that cometh out from be- tween her Feet ; and towards her Children which fhe flmll bear : Jorfejhall eat them for want of all thingr.^ fcretly in the Siege and Straitnefs, D 3 whcre^ ( 54 ) wherewith thine Enemy Jhall dijirefs thee in thy^ . Gates, If thou wilt not obferve to do all the Words of this Law that are written in this Book^ that thou mayjt fear this glorious and fearful Name The Lord thyGo d. — ^ And the Lord fall fcatter thee among all Feople^ from the one End of the Earth even unto thd other ; and there thou fait ferve other Gods^ which neither thou nor thy Fathers have knowuy even Wood and Stone, — And the Lord fall bring thee into Egypt again with Ships — and there ye Jhall be fold unto your Enemies for Bondmen and for Bondwomen^ and no Man fall buy you. ii, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, x,^, 56, ^^, 58, 64, 68, This Prophetic Defcription of the Mileries, Cap- tivity, and Difperfion of the Jewif Nation, agrees not at all, either to the Affyrian cr Ba- hyknian Captivity, or with any Miferits and Difperfions which fell on them before the Time of the Gofpel : But it is fo lively a Defcription oftheunparallerd Miferies of that People, when after a long War and Siege their City and Temple were deftroyed, and their whole Country laid wafte by the Romans^ that there can in Reafon be no doubt of its being a Prophecy oi it. During this Siege their Diftrefs was fo great through Peliilence and Famine, that thoulands died in one Day: and both Men and Women killed their own Children and eat them for Want of Food. And after the City w^as taken, of thofe miferable Captives who were faved from the general Slaughter, fome were fold for Slaves in all Parts of the Roman Empire, and great Numbers (55) Numbers were fent m S/jips, as Mo/cs foretold, into Egypt, and there forced to work in tbe Mines ; and the reft were kept to be flauehtei'd like Beafts in their Theatres at their "public Games and Feftivals. Thefe Miferies fell upon the Jews, not for their Difobedience to the ritual Law of Mojes^ or for forfaking the Worfhip of the God of I/rael 3 but for their rejedling the Meffias, the Seed of JbrabafU, promifed both before and under the Law : for their i^fufing to hearken to the Words of God fpoken to their Fore- fathers concerning this promifed Seed ; and r&- fuling alfo to hearken to the Voice of that Pro- phet whom God promifed by Mofes to fend to them. Dent, xviii. 15, 18, 19. Their Rejedion of the Mefjia^ was a Breach of the Covenant, on the obferving of which, God promifed to be their God, and by virtue of which all the Blcflings of the Land of Ca- naa7i were given them : for it was the Rejedlioa of that Seed of Ahrahcvn in wljom all the Na- tions of the Earth were to be ble[Jed-y and who was the Prophet by whom God promifed to deliver his Commandments to them, and to whofe Words they were commanded to hearken, with the thrcatning, that it fiould come to pafs, that wbojoe'ver JJjould not hearken to God's Words, which that Prophet Jlmild [peak in his Name, he would require it of him, or "would take vengeance cfhim ; as the Greek, Vul- gate, and Syriac Tranflations render the laft Words. And therefore, as their Return u?2to God J Ch. XXX. 2. v/as to be a returning from D 4 their ( 56 ) their Infidelity to the Acknowledgment of j^^- Jus to be the MeJJtas promifed to Abraham^ and to their Fathers under the Law ; and to whom as God's Prophet they were under Covenant to hearken and to obey his IFcrds, whenever he {hould be fent to them : fo the Life promifed to them /. 6. muft mean, the Life and Immor- tality brought to Light by the Gojpel : or the eternal Liie^ which was to be the Reward of Faiih in the Me[fias, and of Obedience to the Commandments of God delivered by him.' The Pr lefts were commanded to read all the Words of the Law, at the End of every feventh Year, to the Body of the People alTembled to- gether at the Feafl .of Tabernables.' Lev.\\\, ^^-i^. And it was alfo the Bafinefs of the Piielts and Levites, to inftrud: them at all times in the Precepts and Promifes of the Law, fo that they could not be ignorant of v/hat was taught in them. The Promifes of the MrJJias and eternal Life to be obtained through him, w^as the Spirit of the Law, of which the Levittcal Inftitutions were the Letter: and therefore the Law Was intended to prefigure the Gofpel, and to lead the Je^LVS to the Knowledge and Reception of the MeJJias^ who was the End of the Law, and accomplillicd the Prophecies of it ; and by his Death aboliihed .he legal Sin- Offerings and Sa- ciifices, which v/cre Types of it. This St. Paul very elegantly fets fordi in the third Chapter of the fecond EpiiHe to ihe Corinthians : and this Jl'iritual^ as well as literal Senfe of the Law was ( S7 ) was reprcfented in tlie Service and Ordinances of it. And for this End there were two forta of Sacrifices appointed. The ordinary Sacrifices were chiefly appointed for Breaches of the ceremonial part of the Law, ar.d not for Immoralities, efpecially the moil heinous, for which no particular Sacrifices were inftituted. Thefe Sacrifices, which were daily offered, could not take away Sin, or purge and fatisfy the Confcience, or juftify the Sinner before God. But there was alib an annual Sacrifice appointed to be a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole Nation ; when a general Confeffion was made of all the Sins? both of the Priefts and People'; and an Atonement made for them by Blood fprinkled upon the Mercy-Seat within the fecond Veil of the Tabernacle by the High-Prieft himfelf, which was not done in any other Sa- crifices. And as this was a Type of the Propi- tiation to be made by the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Chrifl for the Sins of the whole World ; fo the 'Jews always, as is highly pro- bable, look'd upon the Atonement made by the Blood of this annual Sacrifice to be a Token of the divine Favour, and a Propitiation for all their Sins ; whereby an Entrance was m>ade for them v?xo the Happinefs of the future State, or Heaven iifclf reprefented by \htHoly of Ho- lies. Thus much appears from this Ordinance of the Law of Mofes, compared with the Ex- planation of it by the Author of the Epiille to the Hebmvs. On that Day^ [fpeaking of the annual ( 5S ) annual Expiation] 7?;^///^^ Priejl make an Atone^ pient for yoUy to cleanje yoii^ that ye may be clean from all your Sins before the Lord. jlnd he Jl:all make an Atonement for thePrieJls^ cindfor allthe People of the Co?igregation : And this [hall be an everlafting Statute unto you^ to make an Atonement for the Children of Ifrael, for all their SinSy once a Tear. Lev, xvi. 30, 33' 34- That this v/as a typical Reprefentation of the Atonement made by the Blood of Chrifl^ and of the future heavenly Kingdom purchafed for us by it, we are affured by St. Paul^ who having fpoke of the Service of the Tabernacle, which confided of two Parts, one called the SanBii- ary^ and the other the Holiejt of all, or moji kolyy adds 3 Now isjhen theje Thhigs were or- darned, the, Priejis went always into the fir fl tabernacle ^ accomplijhing the Service of God. Put into the fecond went the High-Prieji alone once every Tear ; not without Blood, which he offered for Imnfelf and for the Errors of the People, The Holy Ghojl this fignifying^ that the Way into the Holiefi of all was not yet made ma-- viffi, while the firjt Tabernacle was yet fland-- ing, which was a Figure for th^ Time theiipre- f'?it,> It was therefore neceffary, that the Patterns ofTloings in the Pie av ens jhould be pu- rified with thefe [legal Sacrifices] but the heaveiily Things themjehes with better Sacrifices than thefe. For Chril-t is not entered into the holy. Places 77iade with Hands, which are the Figures of the true^ but into Fleaven itfelf now to ap- pear ( S9 ) pear in the Prejhice of God form. }leb. ix. 6, 7, 8,9,23,24. Hence It appears, that the t^oly of Holies m the Jewifj Tabernacle, was in the divine Ap- pointment of it intended to prefigure the futuve heavenly State ^ and the Atonement made there for the Sins of all the People by the High-Priefl''s fprinkling the Blood oi the Sacrifices upon the Mercy-Seat^ was a Type and Figure of the Pro- pitiation for the Sins of all the World made by the Blood of Chrif^ who as our High-Prieft en- tered into Heaven itfelf to appear there in the Prefence of God, as our Mediator 5 and to open an Entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven for all true Believers, If God defigned the Inftitution ofiht Jew- iJJj Tabernacle, and the Service of it to be, as St. Paul tells us, a Pattern, Figure, and Shadow of the Gofpel Difpenfation, and of the future heavenly State revealed by Chrif-, what need we doubt but that the Jews under the Law had a Knowledge of it, though imperfedt in compa- rifon of what we have received by the Light of the Gofpel? I have fully ihewn that the Patriarchs^ Mo- fes and the Prophets, worfliipped God under a iledfaft Belief and Expedation of a Reward in another Life after this. The Appearance and Minifiration oi Angels before and under the Law; the bodily Tranllations of Enoch and Elijah ; and the Refurredion and eternal heavenly King- dom of the Mejfias foretold by David, were plain and dcmonilrative Evidences of a future invifible ( 6o ) invifible and immortal State : and the whole Oeconomy of the Law itfelf was a typical Re- prefentation of it ; and the Profpe6l and Hope of it w^as kept up and tranfmitted through all • the Generations of the People of the yews in the Promifes of the McJJias : and befides all this, the Prophets have in their Writings given exprefs i)eclarations of a Refurredlion to eternal Life. I/alab lays 5 He (God) will /wallow up Death in Victory^ and the Lord God will wipe away ^Tearsjroni off all Faces: and the Rebuke of his People Jldall he take away from all the 'Earthy for the Lord hath fpoken it. And it jhall be faid in that Day^ Loy this is cur Gody we have waited for him, and he will fave us : This ts the Lordy we have waited jor him^ we will be glad and rejoice in his Salvation, Ch.xxv. 8, 9. Again ', Thy dead Men jhall live^ together with my dead Body fha II they arife : Awake and fing^ ye that dwell in the Duji; for thy Dew is as the Dew of Herbs y and the Earth flmll cajl out the Dead, For behold the Lord cometb out of his Place to punijlo the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquity \ the Earth alfo foall dijclcje her Bloody and jloall no more cover her Slain, Ch, xxvi. 19,21. Thcfe Prophecies cannot v/ith any Propriety be applied to any State or Deliverances of the fswijh Nation, and to the Deftrudlion of their Enemies. It is in vain to attempt or offer fuch an Explanation. They are in their plain natural Senfe Prophecies of the Gofpel-State, and of the final Happincfs and Salvation of the fews m that ( 6i ) that State, after they fhall be converted to the Faith of Cbrijl. The Refurrcdion of the Dead and the Day of Judgement are very clearly i^x.^ forth, and undoubtedly meant in thefe Prophe- ^ cies, and they are fo underftood and applied by St. FauU i C^or, xv. 54. and by St. "Jchny -Rfc^u. vii. 17. C/6. xxi. 4. The Prophet Daniel alfo, fpeaking of tlie End of the Gofpel-Stare and of the World, fiiys; Many [that is, all^ by a well-known Synecdoche frequent in Scripture] of them that Jleep in the Duft of the Earth Jhall aivake ; Jo^ne to ei:er- lafling Lifc^ andfome to Shame and e^ccrlajliiig Contempt, C/?. xii. 2. This Text is too plain to need any Explana- tion, or to leave Room for any Evafionofthe ^z\\{q of it : and the Expoiition oiGrotius^ who knew nothing at all of Scripture-Proohecies, is too abfard to be even mentioned. I fliall confirm and conclude all that has been faid with the infallible Teftimony of our Saviour himfelf, Luke xvi. 31. whofe Words are, If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets^ Jieither will they he perfuaded though one rofe from the Dead. This is faid to fhew, that under the Law Men needed no other Evidence to perfuade them to Repentance, in order to avoid the Mi- feries of the future State, tlura that which was given by Mofes and the Prophets. Mofes there- fore and the Prophets muft have given fuflicient Evidence of a future Stare, to perfijade Men 10 repent of their Sins, for f^ar of fufimng the Tor-- ments which v^^ere to be infiided in it on all im- penitent ( 62 ) penitent Sinners. But if Mofes faid nothing of a future State ; if he never taught it to the Jews, or they had no Reafon to believe it under the Mofaic Inftitution, how did the hearkning to the Law oi Mofes [and to the Prophets] convince Men as effedlually of a future State, where Men were to fuffer for their Sins unrepented of, as one fent from the Dead to preach this Do6lrine to them was capable of doing ? Moles could only fet before them, on the fore- going Suppolition, the Danger of fuffering here, which we fee had no Eftedt on the wicked rich Man, who abounded all his Life in worldly Profperity; and had put away from hirn the Thoughts of fuffering in the Life to come : and the Law would naturally have as little Eifedt on other profperous wicked Men, if they believed nothing of a future State to be taught there and in the Writings of the Prophets ^ or that the Law and the Prophets taught them not to ex- pe6l fuch a State. But if the Dodlrine and Belief of a future State was in itfelf, as no doubt it always was, the moft powerful and only Motive to bring profperous wicked Men to repsnt of their Sins ; this Repentance could only be wrought in them under the Law, by fuppofing the Belief of a future State to be a Principle and Do6lrine taught in the Law and the Prophets. And in truth, it was a primary and fundamental Article of the Religion taught by Mofes, and was fet forth in God's Declaration at the Head of it, -j/r,, that he was the God of Abraham, and ^^Ifciac, and .( 63 ) and of Jacob. This the Jeivs very well knew imply'd his being ffill their God, and, as he had promised, their great Reward, who lived with him in the Joys of the heavenly Canaan. It is indeed aimoft impoliible to conceive, that any Nation (hould be called by a Revelation to the Worfhip of the true God without the Belief of a future State of Happinefs to be given them as the final Reward of their Faith in him, and Obedience to his Laws : and efpecially that the ^ews could think that Abraham^ &c. who were fo highly honoured by God after their Death, that he was pleafed to be called by their Name, and to be worfhipped as their God, did not, as our Saviour infers, ftill live with him. Thus I have proved, that the Belief of a fu- ture State was, next after the Belief of the one God, the great fundamental Article of the Re- ligion of the Hebrews ; which was taught by the Patriarchs, and exemplify'd in the Hiftory of MofeSy and in the Declarations, Promifes and Inflitutions of the Law ; and more fully and exprelly declared by the Prophets, So that the Jews had better and Wronger Reafons to believe a future State, than any other Nation ever had before the Revelation of the Goffrel. It is therefore very abfard to imagine, either that the Jews had not the Knowledge of a fu- ture Scate before the Babylonian Captivity, or that they received it from the idolatrous ChaL daans. The Writings of Mc/es and the Pro- phets, by exprefs Declarations, and alfo as ex- plained by our Saviour and his great Apoflle Sr. St. Paul^ plainly, as I have fcewn, confatd both theie ungrounded and vain Pretences. Having proved die Belief of a future State to have been a fundamental Part of the Religion. of the Hebrews^ (as indeed it was of the Reli- gion oi all Nations) it is vain to alledge, as fome learned Writers have done, that the Dodtrine of a future State is not expreJJy taught in the- Law of Mojes 'y and vainer Itill to make this an. Argument that the Law of Mcjes is of divine Authority. This Dodrine of a future State was not ex- prefly taught in the ancient Laws of Egypt, Athens, Lacedcemon, or Rome : but will this prove the divine Million or Authority of Tboth, Lycurgus, So hi and Numa, and fo of other Legiflators ? Nor is there any Reafon at all to infer the divine Miffion of MoJes more than of the other Legiflators, from the O miffion of a future State, becaufe his Laws had the Sanation of an extraordinary or miraculous Providence attending them : for this extraordinary Povidence might as well have fubfifted with the Doctrine of a future State 5 and without it could not be a fufficient Sanction of Religio??, though it might be of meerly civil or political Laws : and on the other hand, the Law might be given from God and be of divine Authoritv, though no extra- ordinary Providence afterwards attended it. So that there is not the leaft Connexion between the two Propoiitions, an extraordinary Pro^ 'Didcnce and Omijjion of a jutiire State, that the former, or a divine Authority, may be inferred 2 from ( 65 ) from the latter. The extraordinary, or mira- culous Providence did alone without any more to do diredlly prove the divine Authority of the Law of Mofes^ whether the Dodrine of a fu- ture State was delivered in that Law or not : but the Omillion of that Dodrine cannot pof- fibly infer or prove an extraordinary Providence, or the divine Authority of the Law of Mojes ; nor can it be with any Reafon concluded, that the Dodlrine of a future State was omitted in that Law, becaufe it was to be fiipplied by an ex- traordinary Providence : this cannot be the Rea- fon, becaufe it would not be fufficient for the Purpofe of that Law, which is both of a religious and civil Nature. Religion cannot be fupported, nor ever was, without the Belief of a future State, though civil Society might fubliil without it ; the Obli- gations of human Laws are fufficient for the Ends of civil Society, which are to preferve Peace and Property. But Religion, which coiififls in the Worfoip of God with a pure Heart, and un- feign'd Obedience to the Laws of right Reafon, teaches Men to believe the Rewards and Punifh- ments of a future State naturally to attend thi::ir good or evil Works. The Light of Nature fhew*d them at all Times that tliey were ac- countable and liable to be judged for all their Adtions j and it was evident to them that V'irtue is not always rewarded in this Life, nor Vice punidxcd ; but that the contrary frequendy hap- pens: nor was there ever any Ground to think, that God by an extraordinary Providence did E or ( 66 ) or would provide fo far for every particular Cafe, that temporal Good or Evil fliould im- mediately attend every one's particular Adtions and Defires ; this would be laying a Force upon human Thoughts and Adlions not confiflent with true Religion, and a voluntary Worfhip and Obedience. And as it is certain there never was fuch a Providence any where manifefted, fo an extraordinary Providence attending a Society or Nation as fuch, and made the Sandtion of a po- Ktical Inftitution, could not be fufficient to fup- port Religion in the particular Cafes of thofe who might either be Partakers of the Bleffin^ or of the Miferies brought upon that Nation for their good or evil Behaviour, for their Obe- dience or Difobedience to the Laws of God. In the Execution of fuch an extraordinary Providence, the People would fuffer for the Sins of their Rulers, and the Children for the Sins of their Parents $ and the mod innocent and truly religious would be made miferable for the public Impieties and Irreligion of a Nation which brought down divine Vengeance upon it ; as well as by the Oppreflion, Tyranny, and Iii- juftice of thofe who had Power to exercife them. Add to this, the natural Evils and Calamities of Life which promifcuoufly fall upon the Virtuous and Vicious, thofe who are Worfliippers of God, as well as thofe who worfhip him not. Hence it is evident, that Religion cannot be fupported without the Belief of a future State, to fccure the Obedience of the Heart to the Laws of (6? ) of God, and to afccrtain a Reward to well- doing. The Reafon therefore, why the Doftrine of a future State was not exprefly taught in the Law of M'.jes, was the lame Reafon, and no other, than that for which it was not taught in the Laws of other Nations ; and this Reafon was the natural and general prevailing Belief of a future State every where amongft Man- kind. It was therefore fufficient for all Laws to command divine WorJJnpy and to diredt the Modes of this Worfhip ; and alfo to command the moral Duties neceffary to preferve and fccure the Peace, natural Rights, and Well-being of So- ciety. This was the only proper Bafmefs of Leglflation ; and this is all the Alliance that na- turally joins Religion with Politics, or the Church with the State. Religion or divine Worfliip, whether true or falfe, was fet at the Head of the Laws: and this was enough^ becaufe the very Notion of Religion or divine Worfhip implied the Belief of the Providence of God, and of a future State of Happinefs or Miiery for Adrions good or evil. And this was as much the Dodrine of Siiper- ftition as of true Religion, [but it woe Id be ftrange to fuppofe it more fo j] and none buC Atheifh denied a future State and the Obliga- tion of divine Worlliip, and difbjlicved a Pro- vidence. It was the Duty and Wifdom of Legiflators, to take care that the Belief of divine Providence: E z and ( 68 ) _ and a future State fhould, by their Eneouraige- ment to Philofophers and public Teachers, be ftrongly inculcated and imprefs'd upon the Minds of the People ; as it was both reafonable in it- felf, and alfo a great means of fecuring Obe- dience to the Laws, out of Confcience and Re- gard to the divine Being, or the Gods they wor- Thipped ; and thereby ftrengthening the Sanc- tions, annexed to the Laws themfelves. Heads of Families inftrudcd their Children and Servants in the moft ancient Times in this Belief; and when Places of public Worfhip were appointed, and Religion was under the Diredion of national Laws, Priefts were inftitu- ted to prefide in religious Services, and to in- ftrud the People ; and Poets made Religion the Subjedl of their Poems. • When Religion became corrupted with Super- flition and the Worfliip of falfe Gods, who were no other than the Souls of dead Men, fuppofed to be rewarded with ImmortaUty for their Vir- tues and Benefits done to Mankind, and to be inverted with a Power of prefiding over Coun- tries and Cities : and to do eood or evil unto Men according to their Behaviour -, as this Sup- pofition was founded on the general prevailing * Belief of the Immortality of the Soul and a fu- ture State, fo this State v^as by the Priefts and Poets reprefented under Allegories and Fables to render it more fenfible and aircding to the com- mon * Quod autem ex hominum generc confecratos, ficut Hcrculem et catteros, coli lex jubet, indicat omnium qui- dtm animos immortahs eiTe, fed fortium bonorumqu:? divinos. GV. ^> Leg. lib, 2. p. 412. Edit, Gryph, ( 69 ) mon People, Future Happinefs and Mifery were defcribed under bodily Images, and worldly Scenes of Pain and Pleafure. This, it was thought, would make greater impreffion on the Minds of the Vulgar, than telling them of a merely Ipiri- tual State : and they were taught that the Gods they worfhipped had once lived amongft Men ; and as they had been great Benefactors when they lived on Earth, fo they would after their Refidence in the coelcflial Manfions not fail to beftow great Favours and Bleffings on their Worihippers ; or elfe punifh thofe who were impious, and neglected to adore them with Sa- crifices and Oblations. This was the original Superftition of Hero- Woriliip, to corredt the Errors and Abfurdity of which, religious My fteries were inftitu ted, where- in the Priefts intruded the initiated in the Knowledge of the one fupreme God and other fpiritual Beings, and made a metaphyfical Syflem cut of the vulgar and political Superflition, and refolv'd the Multiplicity of Hero-Gods into na- tural Principles and phyfical Elements. Thefe Myfteries were firft inftituted in Pha^nicia^ and Egypt ; and from thence were propagated into Syria^ Chaldaay and other Countries. The an- cient Poets and Philofophers of Greece carried out of E^v/>^ the Theology taught in the £^j/>- tian Mylleries, .which confifted of the Theory of one fupreme God or univerfil Soul, and Ic- veral Orders of fubordinate fpiritual B;:ings, cce- lejlialy aerial and terrene^ reprefented as Mi- nifters of the divine Providence in the fcvcral E L P.;rts (7°) Parts of the Univerfe, and operating every where by the Will and Command of the fupreme Soul or God. This Theology was receiv'd a- mongft the Pythagoreans and Stoicks ; and Plato refin'd and fubtiliz'd it wiih other Theories. In the Egyptian vulgar and political Theology alio, the human Soul was taught to be immortal^ and to fubfiil: after Death 5 and thofe w^hich were pure and religious were believed to refide amongll the Gods ; and wicked and irreligious Souls were believed to pals thro' various States and Degrees of Punifliment by means of a Tranfmigration into all Kinds of Animals, till they became reform'd and qualified to return to the human State. This Dodlrine of the Tranf- migration of Soals after Death was in early Times propagated from Egypt into Arabia and India ; and many Ages afi^^r was carried by Py-^ tbagoras out of Egypt ^ and fpread amiOngfi the Greeks and hatim i and was taught to the Vul- gar in the grofTeft fcnfe. But the Philofophers themfelves believed nothins: either of the cor- poreal ^ Tranfmigration ; or of a future State of ienfitive Pains and Plcafi^rcs in Tartarus or E/r- fum^ tho* they taught them in their public Difcourfes and political Writings, to keep up the * The Egyptian Notion of Tranfmigration of human Souis feems to have been derived from Necromancy^ and the Dclufion of Daemons or evil Spirits, which perfonated the Forms of dead Men and Women^ and fometimes alfo of Bcafts and Birds, c?V. vv^hereby they were led to believe, that thefe daemoniacal Appearances in the Forms of va- rious Animals, were the Souls of dead Men and Women which had after Death palfed into thofe Bodies, as th? Daemons who inform'd them, related to then;. (7' ) the Belief of a future State in the Minds of the common People, who were not, as they allcdg'd, capable of receiving it under any other than a material Reprefentation, and fenfitive and cor- poreal Images But, as they themfelves had more rational Notions concerning a future State, they taught their Difciples a different Dodtrine about the Soul, and the Happinefs and Mifery of the State after Death. This was called the Efofcric or fecret Do and being left to affociate with evil Daemons. Some diftinguifhed between the Soul and Spirit ; but all agreed, that as Happinefs confiikd in the Improvement of the intelligent or rational Soul in divine Knowledge and Virtue, fo in the fu- ture State the Soul, they conftantly bcliev'd, was rendered more perfect in Knowledge and Virtue by its Union and Communion with the divine Subftance, or Deity. This was a rational and exalted Notion of a future State, and very agreeable to the Dodrine of it taught by Re- velation. This was the Efoteric Dodlrine of the Philofophers concerning a future State, which they E 4 thought (70 thought tlie Vulgar not capable of receiving ; and fo they taught it only to their Difciples, and cxplain'd it in their Writings in a metaphyfical manner, not underftood by the common People ; and let the political Notions remain as they were received. But now it cannot with any reafon be in- ferr'd from the Philofophers Dodrine of the Re- turn of the Soul to God, and its Reunion with the Deity or divine Subftance, that they did not believe a future State at all, nor could be- lieve it. This [sTravcJ'o?] Return and Union was in their opinion fo far from deftroying the per- fonal Subiiftence of the Soul, that they thought it tlie Completion of its perfonal Happinefs. And this Notion of future Happinefs was net only firmly believed by the Philofophers in ge- neral, but is alfo highly rational in itfelf : And to fuppofe that any Union of the Soul with God, by which it became more knowing and happy, n:ioald deflroy its perfonal Exiflence, or be in- con fluent with the Belief of it^ is contrary to all P.eafon and true Philolophy. For as no Union with the divine Subftance can make any other Thing or Being have identical or famenefs of Sabfillence with the divine Subftance; fo per- fonal Subiiftence is evidently coniiftent with any conceivable Union : and any one may with as much reafon fuppofe that the Philofophers could not believe the perfonal Exiftence ot the Soul m the prefent Srate, becaule rhey belie v'd it to be deriv'd from die divine Subftance, as that they did not believe the future perfonal Exiftence of it ( 73 ) It in his Return to and Union with the Deity And that which fhews farther that they neither did or could difbelieve the future perfonal State of Exiftence of the Soul in its moft intimate Union with the Deity is, that the Pythagoreans and Platonics both of them believ'd the Soul in this Union to fubfift in a material Body, tho' different from and more refined than the'crrofs Body which it had on Earth : and this is utterly mconfiflent with their believing the Soul in its Union with the divine Subftance to have the fame perfonal Subfiftence with it ; for they never believ^ either that the fupreme Soul or God, or the inferior divine [N«0 Mind, was perfonally united to Matter, or had a material Vehicle or Body. A Soul or Spirit united to Body or Mat- ter, and having the fame perfonal Subfilience with a pure immaterial or incorporeal Soul or Spirit, was an abfurdity which never enter^ into the Heads of the ancient Philofophers to believe or fuppofe fo much as pofllble -, and is altoge- ther an unphilofophical Fidion. And furely it is very unreafonable to charge Men with Infi- delity in a point v/hich they conftantly and in- variably profefs to believe, only becaufs we ima- gine (whether right or wrong) that they held iomething inconfiftent with it : Tiiis is a way of i^afoning that will deftroy all the Faith and Religion of many who think themfelves very knowing Chriftians and true Believers. But the Philofophers had even without Reve- lation very rational Notions of the future State of Happinefs and Mifery as the Lot of righteous and (74) and wicked Men : and they founded their Be- lief of it on the beft Principles of Reafon, viz. upon the Nature of Virtue and Vice, the Fitnefs of Things, and the Rectitude and Purity of the divine Nature or God, who was not actuated by or capable of any human Paffions. It was there- fore their fixed Principle [p yiot^xcog y.yi xxGa^w « ixri (ityvvlcn'] that a pure or holy God had 7io commu" nton "With mi impure or unholy Perfofi : That he was of purer Eyes [according to the Scripture- Phrafe] fhan to behold Iniquity ^Yi^^^iZ, i. 13. and that no Evil could dwell with him. They thought the Virtue of good Men would bring them to a Communion with God, by which their Happincfs would be made perfed and un- changeable, from the very Nature and Confli- tution of Things, to which the divine Anions and Will were for ever conformable, and di- refted by them : and that the W^ickednefs of evil IV! en would feparate them from this Com- munion and Felicity from the fame immutable Caufe > and fabjed: them to unavoidable Mi- fery. And this Foundation of Happinefs and Mifery they thought (as it truly was) more fure and invariable, than the fuppofing it to proceed, as the Vulgar thought, from the Pajjiom either of Love or Hatred^ which were variable and very unworthy to be conceiv'd as belonging to the divine Nature : tho' the afcribing fuch Paf- fions to the vulgar Hero-Gods was not fo un- fuitable to their Charadlers, who had been Men, and was thought would fooner raife Impreffions of Fear and Obedience in the Minds of the com- mon (75) mon People, than the philofophical Notions were likely to do. Therefore it is by no means true, either that the Philofophers did not believe a future State^ or that they taught it to the People in order only to fupport the Authority of human Laws, and more effedually to fccure Obedience to them, and for no other end. On the contrary, the Philofophers undoubtedly did believe^ as well as conftantly projefs a future State of Happineft and Mifery ; and it is alfo certain that they did not teach this Doftrine merely to promote Obe- dience to human * Laws, but chiefly to promote the final H^ippinefs of human Nature, which they beiiev'd to be completed only in a future State : And this is plain, becaufe the Ep'icuream and Sceptics^ who did not believe this Dodtrine themfelves, did not teach it to the People. The ancient Heathen Theology having been much mifreprefented and mifunderftood, I fliall give a {hort account of it. The Phcenician, Egyptian and Cha!da:a?t Priefts were the firfl; Theologers : and the Theo- logy of their Nations was very anciently mix*d and * Cicero well obferves ; Qin'd li qui dixerunt totam de Diis immortalibus opinionem ficlam efle ab hominibus fapientibus Reipublica caufa^ ut quos ratio non pofFet eos ad officium religio duceret, nonne oipnem religionem funditus fuftulerunt? De Nat. Deor. lib. i. ad fin. Do nor they who alledge that the whole Syftein of Opinions concerning the immortal Gods is a Fidion of wife Men taught for the Benefit of the Public, that fuch as could not by Reafon be brought to do their Duty, might be en- gaged by Religion to do it ; do not they, wijo alledge mis, fundamentally fubvert all Religion ? (76) and joined with their natural Philofophy. But as the Ckaldaan and Phcenician Theology agreed very much with ihc Egyptian, and are lels known than the latter ; and as the Greeks had their old- eft Theology and Philofophy from Egypt, it will be fufficient to give an account principally of the Egyptian Theology. The Egyptian Theology was contained in their Hieroglyphics engrav'd on Columns of Stone, which were laid up in the inner and more fa- cred Parts of their 1 emples, and alfo on their Obelifks ; and could be explained by none but the Priefts; and the'Knowledge of it was com- municated to none but thofe who were initiated into their Myileries. The Hieroglyphics were fymhclical, in which the SyPcem of the Univerfe was reprefented un- der the Figures and various Attitudes oi Men and Women, Beajts, Birds and Fi/Jjes^ and a Mixture of thefe together ; of Plants alfo and Flowers and Utenjils, v/ith fome Geometrical Lines and Inftrumcvits, and Aftronomical Schemes, and an Interfperfion of Jacrcd Cha-* raiders, Thefe were applied to nothing but Philofophy and Theology. The Figures did not fignify what the Forms expreffed ; as an Hawk, Dog; Beetle, &c. did not iignify merely thofe Animals ; but they reprefented and de- noted ^myfterious Notions of Theology. So * JamUicus, the bcfl Explainer of the Egyptian Theo- Icgy, fays, tt^qIecov ^-/i tret |3aAoaat 1m AiyvTr] loov lov 1-^inoo ;'/-,; ^io'A'jyiQ'.^ ^ncy.i-jiZ^yA' arci J/J'^o 7iiv (puo-ii/, t« ( V ) ^ So that the Egyptian Hieroglyphics were Very difFerent from the Chinefe Charadhrs, in their Ufe and Signification, as well as Form : and it was impoffible to ufe them for Letters to exprefi common Language, for which the Egyptians had alphabetical Elements, or Letters which were older than their Hieroglyphics, Nor were the Hieroglyphics of any ufe ia Oneirocritics^ or the Interpretation of Dreams ; thefe were always, as is well known, explained by Divination^ The f^vriyMV xon a7roxfx^u//^£i/coy xal d(pccvu]) vcr]- tiau Prieffs inftruded Pythagoras and Plato in that mV- ilerious Tiieoloav. ' , (78 ) The original Ufe of the Egyptian Hierogly- phics was to reprefent the Properties, Powers, and Operations of the feverd Orders of divine Beings 5 of the Empyrean, Aitral, and Planetary Deities ; of the Aerial, Terreilria), Aqueous and Subterraneous Gods. Therefore Hieroglyphics were noc known till Syftems or phyfical Theo- logy were forni'd on Aftronomical and Aftrolo- gicalObfervations, and Improvements were made in natural Philofophy : the moft ancient Egyp-- tian fiaiple Theology of deify *d Heroes was con- tain d in dieir ficred Books, wherein their Ac- tions were recorded : and their philofophic Theology was afterwards formed upon the prior and original Idolatry and Worfhip of dead Men and Women, w^ho were the firft Kings and Queens 5 and of others eminent for the Inven- tion of Arts and Sciences : w^hofe Souls after Death were deify *d, and placed in the Stars, Planets and other Parts of the World, which ^ere called after their Names, and were believed to prefide in them, and to have a power and influence over the Affairs of Mankind. Thefe made up the firft political and popular Superfti- tion. But as thefe Hero-Gods were abfent and invifible, the Priefts thought proper that the People fhould have lame fenfible and vifible Re- prefentations of them ; this gave rife to Images, into which the Priefts by Magic and Invocations pretended to bring down the Deities, and make them refide in them, when and as oft as they pleafed : and this was the Foundation oi Oracles. But (79) But inftead of Images of Wood and Stone, by which the Phceiikiam, Cbaldceans^ and other Nations reprefented their Deities ; the Egyptians very anciendy, and even before the Time of y/- brahaniy confecrated Animals to be living Sym- bols of their Gods ; by the feveral Ufes and Pro- perties of which Animals, their Characters were better reprefented and underflood than by ina- nimate Statues : and then as the Gods were thought to delight in the fymbolic Animals which were confecrated to them, and to impart their Divinity to them ; thefe living Symbols became Objeds of Worlhip, and had Images made and confecrated to them alfo, which were worfhipped by the fuperftidous People. Thefe Symbols were the Foundation of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, of which they made a confiderable Part 5 and the original, political and popular Ufe and Signification of them was re- lin'd into a philofophical Theory of Theology. The Priefts, to put a better Glofs on the plaiii and fimple Idolatry of worfhipping dead Men and Women, did in very ancient Times fet up Myfteries, and allegoriz'd the popular Theology into a philofophical Syftem. The Symbols and hiftorical Adions of their Gods were refolv'd into natural Caufes and Effeds, and into ccele- ftial and mundane Elements ; and the Powers, Attributes and Operations of feveral Orders of Gods coeleflial, aethereal, and terreftrial, &c, all which were dependent on and fubordinate to one fupreme Deity 5 and were fuppos'd to be the Minifters of his Providence in the feveral Parts of (8o) of the Univerfe, which He as the univerflil Soul filled and fuftaiiied j and this fupreme Deity the Egyptians fymbolically reprefented by a winged Giobe. "Jamhlicua^^ the beft Interpreter of themy- ftical Ih^ioJogy of the Egyptians, tells us, that their various Symbols were Reprefentations of the Power and Operations of the one fupreme Deity. Sanchoniatho -f*, the oldeft Pagan Hiftorlan that we have any Remains of, and who lived, as the learned Porphyry aflures us, about 1230 Years before the Chriftian iEra, related that the hiftorical Adions of the Hero-Gods oi Phce- mcia had been allegorized by the firfl: Hiero- phants, who prefided in the mofl ancient My- fleries. He alio mentions fome fymbolical Sta- tues of Saturn and other Gods of Phoenicia made by Taaut iho, firft Hcrines : and thefe might give the firft Occafion of allegorizing the Hillory of the firft Hero-Gods, which allegorical Theology was begun to be taught in the Phce- nician Myfteries, which were inflituted before all others ; and afterwards was taught in thofe of J Egypt and Chaldcea, The * B^Xeloci fxh w c^v[^poX^y.yi ^ix^o^x}. [forte, ^i^a'xj^'^ ^^oi % TrArjOs? luv ^oQivluv lov hoc ^sov iy.(pa,K£iv' xa; ^icc lojv De Myjler. Se£f. 7. <:. 3. f Eufeb. Praep. Evang. lib. i. c. 9. p. 30, &c. X The Time of the firft Inftitution of Myfteries can- not be certainly known ; but thofe of Plxenicia and E- gypt were long before thel^innt of Cecrops^ and (q btfarc the Greek Theo2;onv. ( 8i ) The Notion of one fupreme God, andoffe- Veral Orders of Divine or Angelic B^'ings by him fet over the feveral Parts oF the Univerfe, was every where received by Tradition from the moft * early Ages 5 and this was the Founda- tion of the phyfical Theology taught in the My- fteries of Phcenicia, Syria^ ^gyp^y and Chaldcea^ which fucceeded the Inftitution of Hero- Wor- ship -f , and reformed it into a more rational Syllem : * This is evident from the mod ancient Klflorics of all Nations ; and may be infer r'd from the Words of Mofes^ Dent, xxxii. 7, 8. Remember the Days of old^ con^ Jider the Years of many Generations when the Alojt High divided to the Nations their Inheritance^ vjhen he Jeparuted the Sons of Adam, he fet the Bounds of the People according to the Number oi the Angels of God. This is the true Heading preferv'd in the Greek Tranflation, inftead of the Children of If r a el, which has no fenfe, and fecms plainly a Corruption of the original Text, which had Sons of God, meaning, Angels. t The Worfnip of Hero-Gods was firfl inditutcd in Phcenicia j and as appears from Sanchoniatho, not long after the Difperfion of the Defcendants of Noc^h. Eliun or Hypfiftus reignM in Phoenicia about Byblus foon after the Difperfion, and after his Death was deify'd by Uranus and his other Sons. This was the firft deify'd King or Hero- God, that we read of. Uranus, who fucceeded Eliun with his Son Saturn, and many of his Family both Men and Women, were alfo deify'd after their Deaths. Sa- turn was the moft potent of all the firft Heroes, and was worfhip'd as the principal God of the Phosnicians and Syrians. The Priefts who promoted Hero-Worfhip out of Fear and Flattery of their Kings, and to imprefs a religious Reverence of them amongil: the People ; apprehending that the Notion of the one fupreme God and of Angelic Coeleftial Spirits, the Miniftcrs of his Providence, would by degrees be loft and forgotten after all external reli- gious Services and Devotion were paid to Hero-Gods, in- F ftitutcd ( 82) Syftem : and in this Theology the whole Oeco^ nomy of the Univerfe was refolved into, and referred to one fupreme Caufe and Agent. This Dodrine was fo oppofite to the vulgar Idolatry, that it was always kept fecret, and communi- cated to none but fuch as were qualified to be admitted into the Myfteries. This was the Dodrine of the [to ^-gur] Deity mentioned by Plutarch^ where he fays, t\i2X the End of the Ifiac Myjl cries is the Know- ledge of the firjl intelligent Beings and Lord of all things \ whom the Goddefs exhorts all to enquire after ^ as refding with her. Wherefore, he adds, that the Temple of Mi?ierva [who' is the fame as Ifis'] had this Infcription upon it ; I am all that was, and is, a7id will be-, and no Mortal ever laid open my Veil "*. And that God was unfearchable in his Na- ture, the Egyptians fignified by his Name A- mun flltuted Myjieries In order to preferve amongft the wife and learned Part of Men the true Dodtrine and Belief of the fupreme Deity. So Myfteries were at iirft a pious Inftitution, and defign'd to prevent the Knowledge of the one fupreme God from being loft amongft a Multitude of deify'd Men and Women : tho* in time they were cor- rupted with Superrtition, Lewdnefs and Impiety, efpecial- ]y amongft the Greeks and Romans. See Clem. Alex. Ad- monit. ad Gent. P. 8 — 14. Edit. Parif. Ei^feb. Prap. E- vang. Lib 2. c. 3. X'J^ia X.OH vorija Q/ywii? * ov y\ Gfo? Tra^axaAf/ ^rilfH; ttckd au1»j • Ha» jw-fT aulyi; oula y.x\ (r'jvoylot. De If, et Ojir. P« 35^' ^y(^ ^'/■^* TTiXV to' ysyoVOg XXi ov -aXi t