YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

SCHEME %A N D
CONDUCT' * OF
PROVIDENCE, FROM THE
C RE A :T I 0 N
TO THE
i
.Coming of ME SSI A fit
OR,
An E n o_tn r r into the; REASONS
of the Divine Dispensations
in that Period.

By Uv^ELSSED.
__  ¦' - -  «U \<c 
The Seco'nd Edition;

,,\ , L 0 \$ U 0 Ah;
Brmted for J.' W a l,t a o tt . over againft tfee. ,
Exchmgf in dofnbilii

To his GRACE the

Duke of C HA N DO S

My Lord, Here is, it is well known,
a piety and greatnefs, na
tural to your temper,
which muft needs render
all well-meant difquifitions into fa-
cred fubje&s, acceptable to you, and
the more fo, the freer they are from
anger, prejudice, or any of thofe
narrow paffions, that never had do
minion in your own bread.
A i Tms

17 DEDICATION.
This treatife, then, I am perfua-
ded, my Lord, will meet with, at
your noble hands, a reception, very
different from what might be ex
pected from thofe courtly philofo-
phers, who are too un vulgar to relifh
any divinity^ that is not Pagan^ or
to approve of any orthodoxy ', whe
ther in points of faith, or practice.
The caufe of virtue, and true re
ligion, is as much at your Grace's
heart, as that of vice and immorali
ty is the care of madmen and li
bertines ; which makes it altogether
as right, my Lord, to infcribe to
you a 'view of revelation^ as it would
have been to infcribe to Polychar-
mus a defence of Atheifm.
If I wanted any other, or farther
juflification for dedicating this Eftay
to your Grace, I would humbly men
tion the fhortnefs of it, which is either
the befl excufe for a bad book, or the

DEDICATION. v
trueft recommendation and glory
of a good one.
¦ There is an Evil, my Lord, un
der the Sun, which, of all others,
I have molt marvel I'd at, I mean
the length and voluminoufnefs of
the mortal Writings of fome men;
nor is there any thing, that a man,
who loves his country, would more
defire to fee redrefs'd.
As often therefore as I think of
this grievance, I cannot forbear
wifhing, that the laws of gravita
tion and attraction, which rule fo
irrefiflibly other great bodies, might
take place alfo with refpect to books,
and that thefe might, in like man
ner, attract, and have dominion
over one another, in proportion,
not to their outward bulk and mag
nitude, but to there f olid contents.
, If this were the cafe, your Grace
will imagine, that very new and ex
traordinary effects mufl fall out in the
A 3 world

vi DEDICATION.
world of letters. A few enliven'd,
fine-fpirited paragraphs would fet
libraries in motion ; here, might
we fee a fmall manual lording it in
the center of a Folio Syftem, and
there an army of Quartos wheeling
round an invifible Twelves : whole
(helves of morality would bend to
little EpiBetus, one page of Sy— s
draw after it the labours of fynods,
and a iingle fermon of Sh — k the
divinity of a century.
It was faid by a great wit "of
France, that nation of great wits,
that to fee and enjoy, only in ima
gination, any dejirable good, was as
true a pleafure, as the a&ual pof
feffton of it : If this were fo, my
Lord, as to the revolutions, one
might thus paint to one's felf in the
affairs of literature, and if fancy
had, in truth, fuch virtue here,
who but would indulge it to the
utmoft ! who would not take fa-
tisfaftion

DEDICATION, vii
tisfa£tion for the injuries of wit,
and the popularity of nonfenfe !
who would not rejoice in a <vifon9
that might fhew him our Sc — ts„
CI — ts, Wh — ns in their true or
bit, with ten thoufand mitred theo-
logers behind them.
There is, unqueftionably, a very
true and fublime pleafure, flowing
from many fuch virtuous exefcifes,
and plays, of the fancy : In foli-
tude, my Lord, or hours of mu-
fing, I have fometimes thrown my
felf into your great fituation and
character; and while I have been
miniftring mercy to undeferv'd mis
fortune, or fuffering merit, I have
felt, in this imaginary fcene, as
high tranfport, as arifes, perhaps,
from the real ability and habit to
do fuch things.
The difproportion is, that thefe
are the pleafures of but a few mo
ments, and can be but feldom re*
A 4 peated;

viii DEDICATION.
peated ; whereas the a£ts themfelves
of charity and bounty, and the re
membrance of them, are a fixed
and perpetual entertainment and
delight : fuch, no doubt, is to your
Grace, the recollection of all your
beneficent deeds, and fuch the dai
ly fight of thofe monuments of pie
ty, that have diftinguifh'd your
excellent life, and which, in a better
age, would have done honour to
poets and hiflorians, and rais'd the
reputation of their arts.
Thofe arts were indeed meant,
fcfid were once able, to give immor
tality to heroes', but when fuch pro-
JtUutim is made of them, as we
have feen in our days, the truly
great and good had better lie out
of their notice, and truft their
characters, as you may fafely do
-fours, my Lord, to that faithful
p-adiiim, which the memory of
gre# i*enefa&ion^ md gratitude fqr

DEDICATION. ix
for them, will keep up and extend
through fucceflive generations.
This oral chronicle, or regifter
of virtue, is, in my partial judg
ment, as good a fecurity to it, as
the pyramids of marble, and will
laft, perhaps, as long as the hiflo-
ries of Mr. H-gg-ns. Your Grace,
'tis certain, needs no unnatural aids
to convey your great name to fu
ture ages ; its own intrinfic beauty
and fplendor will carry it through
all time, as the Eagle is borne
up to the fun by his native {trength
and velocity.
The late Mafter of the Charter-
houfe, as I remember, in a preface
to one of his works, has fomething
to this effect  / did not atfirfi
expeB, fays the Doctor, that my
book would have come to fuch a
length  then adds  Sed
mfhi fcribenti fuecrevit materia —
The

x DEDICATION.
The fame thing, my Lord, feems
in fome fort to have befallen me ;
I have already ftretch'd this addrefs
to a number of pages, without de-
figning, or fo much as perceiving
it. Neverthelefs, your Grace, I
hope, will not be quite out of pa
tience ; for this defultory and care-
lefs way of fpeaking, as it deferves,
fo asks little attention ; 'tis what
one may bear with in any temper,
even when the mind is moft inac
tive, and moft defirous to be re
lieved from thought.
There is an art of converting
with great men, which fometimes
happily enough amufes them, at
the fame time that they are too
knowing to be inftructed, and too
delicate to be eafily pleafed : the
thing, that comes nearefl to this,
in written difcourfe, is what we call
Rhapfody, a fpecies of wit, con-
ceiv'd

DEDICATION; xi
ceiv'd of but by few, but which,
if I r miflake not, would yield
to no other, if it could be skil-
fully touch'd. -[/An author, my
Lord, of your own noble order,
and a lady among the MtyakerSj
have bid fair for fuccefs in this way :
for my own part, far from prefu-
ming to follow thefe bright adven
turers, I have only fhifted from
one thing to another in fuch man
ner, as might give me a chance to
be lefs tirefome, and that I might
not, like fome modern apologijls,
dream on in one uniform pro
lixity. Your Grace is now come within
fight of the treatife itfelf, for which
I have prefumed to requeft your
fafeguard and paffport through a
divided, jealous world.  The
introduction to this work, my Lord,
which is all I need fay farther of it,
..,.>:.,. Will

Kii DEDICATION.
will at once acquaint you with
what view it was written, and on
what principles it has been con
ducted ; both of which, I am very
certain, cannot fail of your Grace's
approbation.

/ am, My Lord,
Your Grace s mojl obedient
and mofl humble fervant,

Leonard Welfted.

THE

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION,

T

HE reafons for 'writing this work, and
the defign of it, Page i
CHAP. I.

T7je confequences of the Fall, with refpeSl to
man's natural reafon and capacity. The wif-
dom and goodnefs of God on this event. The
progrefs of human race, and the fate of vir
tue and religion, till the deluge, p. 6
CHAP. IL
The force and extent of human reafon, and how
far it might, probably, avail towards leading
men to virtue and happinefs in the firft ages of
the world : the various helps and improvements
it, then, wanted. Caufes of the univerfal
corruption, that produced the deluge ; objetli-
ons, relating to it, conjder'd, p. 13
CHAP. III.
The neceffity of preventing a fecond univerfal de
generacy, and the certain confequences, that
would have follwtfd from not- doing fo : the
necejjity

nv The C ON TENT $.'
necejjity- of keeping the knowledge of the One
God from being utterly loft, and the confequen
ces of not doing that, in like manner. The na
tural propensity of mankind, originally, to ido
latry, and the reafons of it. If idolatry had
become univerfal, the knowledge of Gov could
not, probably, have been recover 'd. The proofs,
brought from reafon, of the being of God, con-
Jider'd. If the philofophers had, or might
have had, the true knowledge of God, they
could not have brought the generality of the
world into their opinion, Page 20
CHAP. IV;
The means for preventing a fecond univerfal dege
neracy : the neceffity of an immediate difperjion
of mankind, and confufion of languages, for
this end : the J aid difperjion and confufion, and
the miraculous nature of it, explain' d and vin
dicated. Farther means for preventing another
corruption p. 31

CHAP. V.
The means for keeping the knowledge of God from
being loft. The necejjity, to this end, of raifing
and feparating a particular people from the reft
of the world, and the ftupendous jieps and pro
cedures preparatory to it. The reafons of the,
treatment, the Jews met with in Egypt, and
of their long continuance there. Further confe
derations on the weaknefs of human reafon in
thofe days, p. 43
CHAP. VI.
The hardning of Pharaoh' .r heart. The nature and
end of the miracles, wrought in Egypt, as well
thofe

The CONTENTS. xv
thofe of the Egyptian enchanters, as thofe of
Mofcs. Phrafes, and modes of fpeecb, in holy
'writ. The ignorance of mankind, with refpetl
to God and his attributes, further explain d. The
Lares, or houmold gods. Farther reflecJiom
en Mofes'i miracles, and other ends and ufes of
themt Page 53
CHAP. VII.
The end and ufe of the miracles wrought after the
going out of Egypt. The general grounds and
reafons of the Jewifli rites and inftitutions. The
favour, And diftinilion, fhewn by God to the
Jewifh nation, and the true intent and view of
it, explain* d, p. 6S
CHAP. VIII.
f%e true purport and defign of the denunciation is
the fecond commandment, or of God's vifiting
the fins of the fathers on /#* children: the juf-
tics isf God herein dear 'd up, and accounted for.
The whole Decalogue, and ten commandments?
reviewed and explained, with view particularly
is the fecond, p. 79
CHAP. IX.
The reafons of God's command to the Jews for
cutting off the fcven nations, and their innocence
m obeying it* Farther rebellions en the genius
and nature of the Jewilh laws. p. 95
CHAP. X.
Of the fuhfequent condutl of God for confirming
and afcertaining his ivorjhip and knowledge
among the Jews, and of their temper and beha
viour. The preparatory fteps taken for the com ing

xvl The CONTENTS-
mgof Messiah, and the fituation of the world
at that time. The- time o/Messiah'* coming,
and the reafons of his coming at that particular
time confideridi Page 10©
CHAP. XI
The conduct of Got) vindicated from beingunfitt, or
partial , or arbitrary. The fttnefs of the time of
Christ'* coming further illufirated, a»i Por
phyry'* objection, on that head, examined. God
farther vindicated from being arbitrary or capri
cious in bis proceedings, and men* s abilities for
judging and deciding, in general, of thofe pro
ceedings, conjider'd, p. 109
CHAP. XII.
Porphyry'* objection reconjider' 'd. The dotlrine of
Christ'* merits, redemption, and fatisfa&ion
for fin, examind. The notion of infpiration, as it
regards the apoftles, ftated. TJoe true view and
intent of Chriftianity, where to be looked for.
The nature o/"Christ'* commijjion, and the main
end and defign of it. The reafons of Christ's fb
frequently ftiling himfelf the Son of Man, and
of his having the- title of Son of God given him.
In what fen fe he is a Saviour, and Redeemer.
Porphyry'* objection, and the grounds of it,
farther and finally di feu fs' d, and 'confuted ,p. 118
The CONCLUSION.
The fervice done to Chriftianity by Deifts and Free
thinkers. The nature, and innocence of infide
lity. Of the different forts of Deifts. The
herd of them not properly caWdfuch, p. 130
THE

THE
Scheme and Conduct
O F
PROVIDE

INTRODUCT ion.
O one, 'tis certain, \has a right
to the attention of the public,
on any debate or enquiry, un
lefs he can purfue that enquiry
to better purpofe, in fome fenfe or other,
than has been done before ; unlefs he can
open fome field of thought, not jret difco-
vered, and lay before men truths, either not
known to them, or not known, as they
B fhould

i The Scheme and Condufl
mould be. If he can do this, it is highly
commendable, in him to write, and in fome
fituations may be his duty ; if he cannot, he
had better let it alone ; better far than write
merely for ambition, or for vanity, and to
fhew the reafons he may have to admire
himfelf. The number of books, already publifh'd
in all languages,, is fuch, that it is more than
the labour of a man's life to know the titles
and drift of but a few of them ; and it is
not, perhaps, worth a wife man's while to
read one in a thoufand of thofe few : Who
then would add to this yoke and diflrefs of
letters, if with reafon or with conference he
could decline it ? For my own part, nothing,
I am perfiiaded, could have mov'd me to
tax the public even with thefe few pages,
if the defign and argument of the difcourfe
had not been, in a great degree, new and
untouch'd, and if it did not tend through
out to account for things, which have not,
that I know of, been accounted for, or not
fully, by other writers.
Many

of PROFIDENCE. 3
Many things, no doubt, have not been fo
explain'd as to put an end to contention ;
and many have, been treated in a way, that
ferv'cj only to encourage it. The difficulty,
in particular, of the fecond commandment,
or the objection arifing from God's vifiting
the fins of the fathers on the children, has
been managed with a weaknefs or difin-
genujty, that I am concern'd to mention,
and that by almofl all authors, that ever
meddled with it : The oppofition therefore,
form'd on this bottom, againfr. Mofes and
his laws, has hitherto flood, as it was, and
'tis plain, might be carried on very trium
phantly, if no other refource were to be had
in the matter.
It was this confideration, that firft fug-
gefted to me the thoughts of this treatife :
Afterwards I enlarg'd my plan, and took in
whatever feem'd moft material to the defence,
in general, of this branch of revelation : The
volume, neverthelefs, did not not fwell to
an immoderate fize ; nor need the fight of
it diftprb the moft indolent curious man in
the world : very little time or trouble will
B 2 ferve

4 The Scheme and ConduB
ferve to perufe a piece, which is lengthened
neither by invective nor declamation, which
is not loaded with fuperfluous erudition^
nor cramm'd with quotations, to fpoil the
the eyes of learned readers, and to be flared,
at by ignorant ones.
I will only add, that I fhould be fony to
have faid any thing, which might give of
fence to pious and well-meaning perfbns : I
have endeavoured to avoid it, all I could,
and as far as was confifling with .the demands
of truth, and the obligation not to difguife
or diflemble what we think fuch.
As to the feveral particulars in the Mofaic
account of the creation, thefe of themfelves
might afford matter for a diflinct treatife :
And fuch a one, I do indeed conceive, is
wanting, to defend the literal fenfe of this
part of Scripture, and to fhew, that there is
no neceffity for recurring wholly to an alle
gorical one. 1 am fenfible, fome able and
learned men flill favour this latter way of
interpretation ; moft of the primitive wri
ters have gone into it, and the fathers, efpe-
cially, of the two firft centuries : But autho rities

of PROVIDENCE. 5
ties, alone, are not, I think, of weight enough
to bring one into opinions of this fort : the
literal expofition has in no- wife fo many
or great difficulties, as is commonly ima-
gin'd ; and the objections to the other will,
I fear, be found utterly unfurmountable. 
To leave this to a future enquiiy, it will be
fufficient at prefent to fet down the gene
ral purport of the firft: chapters of Genefis.

CHAP.

The Scheme andCdndufl

CHAP. I.
IT pleafed the Maker of the world,
according to the hiflory here mention 'd,
to form the firft: man and inhabitant
of it, in a flate of innocence and hap-
pinefs, and to provide, for his refidence,
a place full of all delights, laying only one
command upon him, the keeping of which
was to be attended with the continuance of
that blifsful fituatibti, and the breach with
the lofs of it : ¦> — He dlfbbey'd, and it was
loft. Now let it be obferved, before I proceed,
that it does not appear in the account, we
have of this matter, nor can be inferr'd from
it, that men are born with any pravity or
corruption, or any weaknefs in their naturei
but what Adam had, as well and alike be
fore, as after his fall : He was, 'tis true,
through difbbedience, made fubject to death, and

of PROVIDENCE. 7
and the various ailments and infirmities that
lead to it ; fo, could not tranfmit to his po-
fterity other faculties or conflitutions, than
were in himfelf ; could not give them the
good, he wanted : but notwithflanding, the
frame of his mind was, to all intents, the
fame ftill ; his liberty, or natural power to
will and act, to judge and determine, was
not alter'd ; nor did he acquire new defires
and affections : In other words, his reafon
and underftanding, in the effence of them,
remain 'd, as they were, while his children
had of courfe deriv'd to them the fame pow
er and freedom, which he had, and the fame
ability, whatever that was, to pleafe or dif-
pleafe God, to follow or to depart from the
dictates of nature : the difference, in regard
both of him and them, was purely, that
their flate, and circumftances here on earth
was changed ; inftead of immortal, they
were become temporary beings; inftead of
an eafy and undifturb'd condition, were
doem'd to a laborious and afflicted one :
but human nature itfelf was not renverfed .
only its duration, and the terms of its en
joyments, were different : the foul, and its
feveral properties, were alike; the manner
B 4 of

8 The Scheme and Conduct
of life, and the fpace and period of it, were
on another foot : In effect, the fault, which
our grand parents committed, in no-wife
darken'd, or took from their knowledge,
but, in a few refpects, unfortunately added
to it : at firft their nakednefs was hid from
them ; they found after, what it was to be
naked, and wherein fhame confifted, or ra
ther, this new fenfe and inftinct was fuper-
added to their original perceptions : before
their tranfgreffion, they tafted and conceiv'd,
only, of happinefs ; now, they diftinguifh'd
between happinefs and mifery, that is, they
knew good from evil ; before, they experien
ced, alone, pleafure and contentment ; now,
they were fenfible of pain and anxiety : and
in refpect of the woman, her affections
were enlarged, or varied in another inftance,
as her dejire <xas to be to her hufband, and
he to ride over her.
To return ; Adam and Eve, having bro
ken the command laid upon them, are
driven out of Eden. But neverthelefs, the
goodnefs and juftice of God could not per
mit, either that the ends of his providence
ihould be defeated by their fin, or that their
defcen-

of PROVIDENCE. 9
defendants, who had no fhare in this par
ticular guilt, fhould finally fuffer, or be the
worfe for it : Man therefore is no fo'oner fal
len, than his redemption and the means of
it are appointed and promis'd ; * " And I
" will put enmity between thje and the
" woman, and between thy {efi and her
" feed ; it fhall bruife thy head, and thou
" fhalt bruife his heel : " This text has been
commonly thus interpreted : however, to
Abraham God fays, -f " I will make of thee
" a great nation  And in thee fhall all the
" families of the earth be blefl  \ And
" all nations of the earth fhall be blefl in
" him.  ' All which did imply, that
God would in time raife up a man, of the
pofterity of Adam by Abraham, who fhould
repair all the mifchiefs, which the firft man
and woman had brought on their nature and
fpecies, and fhould prefer them to another
paradife in the room of that, which was
forfeited. Thus, the__ firft fcheme being fet
afide by the tranfgreffion of our anceftor,
God in his wifdom prepares a fecond, where-
* Gen, iii. 15. f Gen. xii. 23. J Gen. xviii. 18.
by

I o The Scheme ~andConduc~t
by the pofterity of Adam fhould be fully re-
compens'd in another world, for what they
were made liable to in this through his crime.
Thus much for the Fall. As to what
Follow'd, from Adam down to Noah, the
Mofaic accounts are extreme' ihort : yet I
"think, it may be collected from them, that
the pofterity of Gain, or led by his exam
ple, or rather from the natural imbecillity of
their minds, trod in his fteps, and went
m6ftly into evil courfes, and that the firft:
fhort-liv'd traces or revivings of gobdnefs
afterwards were feen among the defendants
of Seth: * " Arid to Seth, to him alfo there
" was born a fon.  then began men to
,e call upon the name of the Lord,  —
fofephus, fpeaking of this fecdhd braiich,
declares, that they liv'd in innocence and
virtue for feven generations ; he declares this,
but on whit grounds, I cannot conceive, if
from conjecture merely, or fome fuppos'H
tradition : Very often one may guefs at his
intentions, when he endeavours, frequently
as he does, to fupply either the deficiency
* Gen. iv. 26. Of

of Providence, u
of Mofe's's hifiory, of fh make amends in
his own way for the cdnbifenefe of it ; but
why he fuppofes whafc 1 have now meh-
tidri'd, or whether hiS Feputation and
abilities will warrant every thing of this
kind, I am uncertain. Enoch, 'tis true,
is faid to have walk'd with God, and for
that reafon, one may judge, this was not
the cafe of many more ; for had others done
fo as eminently, it would, 'tis likely, have
been recorded of them ; the mentioning of
one man's virtues fo particularly, feems to
imply, that virtue, in the fame degree at
leaft, was not very common. At the fame
time, from LamecFs prophecy of Noah,
that he fhould comfort them becaufe of the
curfe, we way fuppofe, that there was in his
days, among a few men, a fenfe of that
misfortune, and confidence in God's mer
cies. But whatever degree of goodnefs there
might then have been, whatever refpect to
religion among particulars, it lafted not
long: Asfoon as the world thickned and
grew populous, even the pofterity, the
whole poAerity of Seth, except Noah and hit

1 i The Scheme andConduEl
his family, as well as that of Cain, plung'd
themfelves in fin, and virtue and the fear of
God were quickly and totally abandon'd.
The earth wasfilfd with violence, and all
fiejh had corrupted his way.

CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 15

CHAP. II.
rT~ H E experience of two thoufand years
-•*- had now made known the frailty and
infufficiency of human nature. Man's na
tural capacity, or underftanding, did not in
fact, through that time, lead him to virtue
and happinefs ; wherefore, it mufl be fup-
pos'd, either that he had not made fb good a
ufe of his reafon, as he might, or elfe that
reafon was not then a due counterpoife to
the force, that weigh'd againft it, and that
the paffions were too ftrong for it, and
quench'd its influence ; which is not unlike
ly ; for thefe were at firft at their full
growth, and could be urged to no higher
pitch, while reafon was feeble and in its
childhood, and unfit therefore for a conteft,
which it is fcarce equal to in its matureft
ftate : The weaker reafon is, this is alwavs
true, the more wilful and irregular are the
paffions, and the lefs refiftance they meet
with, the greater is their perverfenefs and
propen-

1 4. The ffchem.e and Conduct
propenfity to what is wrong; fo that, whe
ther reafon, in h§ firft feeble exertions, and
in this morning of human nature, had
flrength enough to check the inclination to
evil, may be very difficult to be determin'd.
It is not indeed poffible, after all our
thought, to come at a full view of our-
felves : this knowledge is wejl faid to be too
excellent for us : we cannot penetrate into
the foul, and infpe£l it in all its powers,
and fee by what laws they a£r. reciprocally
upon each other : fuch refearches we mgy
fometimes make in the feveral fyftems of
^matter, but cannot apply and carry them to
our own fpiritual frame and exiftence.
Neverthelefs, here is my hold, fince man'$
natural abilities and powers did not in fact,
through the period fpoken of, guide him to
virtue and happinefs, one may fofpect, that
thofe powers may not be, in all poffible fi
liations and circumftances, quite adequate
to that end, and particularly that they were
not then fo : Inftruction, ftudy, and leifure
and materials for it, with many other ad
vantages, are requifite to give reafon ilrengtfy
and luftre ; nor under thefe or any advanta
ges, nor with the help even of divine illu
minations,

of PROVIDENCE. 15
jnjflatiQns, does it always acquire the liabili
ty and perfection, needful to bring men to
holineis, and thereby to make them happy.
I take it then, that much was not to be
hop'd for from it, in its primitive rudenefs
and debility, with no aid of any kind.
The true nature and unity of God, his
qmniprefence, and eternal exiftence, his con
usant providential care over his creation, an4
our continual dependance on him, are theories,
not only fublime and great in themfelves, but
efiential to the very being of virtue, which,
without an acquaintance with them, has a
very unfafe bottom : but ufeful and neceffary
as thefe truths are, they could not, certain
ly, have been known in the ages we are
(peaking of, neidier through any faint glim
merings of tradition, if there were fuch,
nor thcough any force, that reafon could
then exert ; for if they are difcoverable at
all 'by reafon, which is not quite clear, yet
are they not fo, without a vail ft-retdh
of mind in *ery long deductions, or in
very -metaphyfical -arguments, which few
even now are capable of entring into. And
as 4o that capital grand point, the doctrine
of a future ftate, of all -osiers moft produc tive

1 6 The Scheme and ConduB
tive of true goodnefs, there mufl have been
alio in thefe times an utter ignorance of it :
The wifeft and moft learned of the ethnic
philofophers, we know for certain, thought
and reafon 'd very darkly and dubioufly on
this fiibject ; whatever they hinted about it,
was plainly conjectural and imaginary, and
what they rather hop'd for, than could prove,
or were convinc'd of : a great number of
ages, befides, were laps'd, before any of them
attain'd, however obfcurely, to this notion,
if they did indeed attain to it of themfelves
and without any divine impulfe or infpi-
ration. The feveral knowledges therefore, now
fpecified, which are fuch incitements to vir
tue, and fo great fupports of it, mufl have
been hidden from the firft race of men : they
were neceffarily deftitute of thefe aids in
particular, befides the other difadvantages
that attended them : I do not then wonder,
that they ran into fo great and extenfive a
degeneracy ; I wonder much more, that even
one family remained free from it, and un
der the influences of religion and goodnefs :
It was long after their days, and that thro'
many fucceffive lights and affiftances, ere
human

of PROVIDENCE. i7
human reafon came to be in any mea-
fure an uniform guide, and a monitor to be
relied on : It is not fo at this time, but to
a very fmall number ; confequently, in its
origin and infancy, mufl have been far from
being a competent rule, and fuch a one, as
was equal to men's wants, and perfective of
their felicity.
To this caufe, chiefly, ought we to impute
the miferies of mankind in thofe times ; to
his, the corruption, that reign'd fo univerfally
in them : or, if this is not admitted, and it
be ftill faid, that it was in man's power to
have lived up to the dictates of religion and
morality, yet mufl it be own'd, that it could
not but be extreme difficult for him to do
fo : In fact, he did not : It pleafed God,
therefore, to make ufe of various methods,
and provifions, to affift him in the exer-
cife of virtue, and to enable him to attain all
the happinefs* deftin'd for him in this ftate ;
all which methods and provifions were, with
infinite wifdom, fuited to this greatand good
end. This is what I propofe to explain ful
ly, and hope to make appear in the fubfe-
quent chapters.

In

1 8 The Scheme and Conduct
In the mean time, it may be objected,
that if it was not in men's power, or not
without great and almoft infiiperable diffi
culty, to live well and virtuoufly, that then
they could not juftly have been punifhed, nor
ought God to have been angry with them.
They were not, in effect, punifhed, if I may
give it that name, otherwife than neceffity
and their own good required ; neither was
God, that I can fee, angry with them : 'tis
true, he faw fit to cut off that generation, in
the circumftances they were, by a deluge ;
but his declarations hereon by no means
imply anger ; on the contrary, they are full of
regret and forrow, and fhew the deepeft con
cern for fuch an extremity. -j~ " And the Lord
" faid, my Spirit fhall not always flrive with
<c man, for that he alfb is fiefh — and it repen-
" ted the Lord, that he had made man on
'< the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.—
" And the Lord faid, I will deftroy man,
«c whom I have created — for it repenteth
« me, that I have made them. Again, * And
<c Noah builded an altar unto the Lord,
" and the Lord fmell'd a fweet favour, and
t Gen. vi. 3, 6, 7. * Gen. viii. 20, 21. " the

of PROVIDENCE. 19
" the Lord faid in his heart, I will not
" curfe the ground any more for man's fake,
" for the imagination of man's heart is evil
" from his youth ; neither will I again fmite
" any more every thing living, as I have
" done." And more to the fame effect. Thefe
are the words of love and pity, not expref-
fions of vengeance and wrath.
Secondly, God did not punifh men, or
deal with them, otherwife than neceffity and
their own good required : For, after their
degeneracy was grown to fuch an height and
univerfality, that no means of reformation
were left, an all-good Creator could not
fiiffer things to go on in that courfe, and it
was more merciful far to exterminate that
race at once, than to let them live any lon
ger, overwhelm'd with fin and mifery ; the
confequence of which would only have been
their perpetrating yet greater crimes, and
leaving behind them a pofterity wretcheder
than themfelves.

C 2 CHAP.

•jo The Scheme and 'Conduct

CHAP. III.
r~|~-v H E deluge is pourM down.— And now
JL the great plan, for man's redemption
andhappinefs,is going into execution ;the point
ftill in the eye of Providence, and which all
his difpenfations are uniformly directed to.—
For the accomplifhing of this, and to the end
that God's promife, to drown the world no
more, might ftand inviolable, two things
were, chiefly, and indifpenfably, of impor
tance. It was requifite to prevent the fame de
generacy from prevailing at any time after
the flood, that had prevailed before it.
It was alfo requifite to keep the know
ledge of One God, Maker of heaven and
earth, from being quite loft and funk in
i,dolatry. Firft, It was neceffary to provide againft
a total lofs of virtue and goodnefs a fecond
time : for, if that had happened again, the
feme remedy would have been required again :
ano-

of PROVIDENCE. 21
another univerfal corruption mufl have pro
duced another univerfal deluge ; no refor
mation, in that flate, being to be hoped for,
or effected : in fuch a degeneracy, thofe me
thods of reforming, which, in other circum
ftances, might take place, either ceafe, or are
made ufelefs : the encouragements of praife
and reward are wholly at an end ; perfiiafion
and inftruction, and the force and effects of
example, fubfift no longer ; neither would di
vine judgments themfelves, probably, be of
any efficacy in this ftate : When men are
throughly hardned and confirm'd in fin, thefe
do but harden them the more ; partially in
flicted, they are not minded ; if more gene
ral, provoke only defpair and defiance : wic-
kednefs, then, is made education ; fleel'd by
habit and countenance, it will not bend, nor
alter ; the paffions and tempers of men are
crooked, and turn'd the wrong way; while
no good any more incites their hope, nor
evil their fear : there is not room, in fuch a
fituation, even for the influences of God's
grace andfpirit, which are fuppofed to come
only in aid of men's own endeavours : thefe
may rekindle the fparks of dying religion,
C 3 but

22

The Scheme and Conduct

but never create virtue and goodnefs, where
they are not, and where the feeds of them
are quite perifh'd, and vice and wickednefs
have taken root in their ftead ; as the beams
of the fun and moon, and the dews and
zephyrs, call lillies up in gardens, but cannot
raife them in the defart, nor fpread them
upon barren rocks.
If things, then, had come again to the fame
rate of iniquity, as men could not have been
reform'd, nothing could have been done ef
fectually for their welfare ; for, if men cannot
be made good and virtuous, they cannot be
made happy : God's promife, to drown the
world no morey had better not have beea
made ; for it would have been better, in that
fuppofition, for mankind to be cut off, than
not, Secondly, It was ^neceffary to keep the
knowledge of the one God, Maker of hea
ven and earth, from being loft ; as inftantly
loft it would have been, without the divine
care and interpofition : for, in thofe days of
ignorance, men ran haftily and headlong in
to idolatry ; they ran into it, as it were, by
inftinct ; all they could conceive, or rather
furmife, was, that there was fomething fome^
where,

of PROVIDENCE. 23
where, exiftences of fome kind or other,
more powerful and perfect than they, and
that they were dependent on, and fubject to
fome fiich beings, invifible to them ; their
impotent and helplefs eftate, the many dan
gers and wants they were involv'd in, their
inability to relieve the one, or guard fuffi-
ciently againft the other, eafily led them to
imagine this ; to hope, that fome of thefe
beings were inclin'd to do them good, and
to fear, that others would hurt them ; thofe
they fought to for protection ; thefe they
endeavoured to appeafe with facrifices : and
this priftin timidity, and feeblenefs in men's
fpirits it was, that gave rife to the feveral
religions, that obtained, in all times, through
the heathen world : their original impreffions,
and traditions concerning God and his Unity
whatever they were, were foon eras'd out
of their minds, and they foon forgot, as it
was natural, what they did not underftand :
then, the more gods they had, the fafer- they
fondly imagin'd, they fhould be, and that,
by preferring one fet of gods to another, they
fhould engage them the more ftrongly in their
favour : this error grew up out of their fim-
plicity, as plants grow put of the earth; fear,
C 4 ignorance.

i\ The Scheme and Conduct
ignorance, and example, drove them almoft
irrefiftibly into it, and it became fecond nature.
Idolatry, then, mufl of courfe, without
the Divine interpofition, foon have be
come univerfal ; which had it once been,
it mufl always have continued fo : if no one
nation had had the knowledge of God, all
others would have remain'd without it. It
was (for I may be allowed to fuppofe the
fewijh records, in this refpect at Jeaft, true)
amazingly difficult to preferve this knowledge
among one nation only, and being preferved
among them, 'twas a bufinefs of long time
and preparation to convey it, by their hands,
to the reft of the world : if then it was fo
hard a matter to bring and to keep mankind
to the true worfhip and belief of One God,
even this way, how could they have been
brought to it by any other ? how could all
men have come by the knowledge of God,
which it was almoft impoffible to preferve
among a few, and which the reft came fo
hardly by, while partially preferved, if it had
been once univerfally loft ? Could human
reafon have recovered it ? very probably, not :
the true knowledge of God could not have
been had but from God himfelf.
We

of PROVIDENCE. 25
We are apt to think, we clearly fee thefe
truths, and that we can as clearly prove them,
now that they have been revealed to us : but
how, let me ask, do we prove them ? — All
metaphyfical reafonings, or arguments, as we
term them, a priori^ are of fiich a nature, that
many, even wife men, have thought them
not much to be relied on ; they are, in fact,
often precarious and deceitful,and,at befl, with
in the apprehenfion of but a few men. As to
reafonings a pofteriori, fuch as are taken from
the frame and order of the univerfe ; thefe
are indeed thought to rife to a real certainty,
or very near it, of the being of a God, the
caufe of all things : but even here our under-
ftanding is foon loft and bewilder'd. Whence
is that caufe, and how is he the Firft Caufe ?
What is eternity, what neceffity of exif
tence! exiftence uncaus'd, and without be
ginning, and without end ! What is crea
tion, or caufing to be that which was not !
Say, notwithftanding, that we do prove by
thefe laft mentioned reafonings the being of
God ; yet do we not certainly prove, by them
alone, all his attributes : we may perhaps con
clude from fiich arguments the exiftence of
a Creator, but can go very little further ; can
neither

1 6 ' The Scheme andCondutt
neither deduce thence his Unity, nor his pro
vidence and government of his creation : there
may be other Creators, other eternal intel
ligent Agents, or this fyftem, to which we
belong, may have been fo contrived, as not
to need * God's care and fuperintendency.
The proofs then of this fort, prove what
they can, are only very fair prefumptions or
probabilities, within a fmall matter indeed
of certainty, but not ftrictly and abfolutely
demonftrative : Atheifm has no regular fix'd
fcheme to reft on ; nohypothefis, that is not ex-
pos'd to endlefs inconveniencies ; on the con
trary, the fuppofition of a GoD,or Firft Caufe,
is a more fpecious and confiftent philofo-
phy, with much jufter pretenfions to truth,
and accompanied with lefs and fewer diffi
culties. However, to avoid debate, we will fop-
pofe, that reafon, without revelation, could
in time have attain' d to the knowledge of
the true God : be it fo ; yet the world
might have grown old, and unnumber'd ages
have paffed, e'er one great genius had climb'd
*his fummit of truth, and many more, e'er
 * Divum natura, necefle eft,
Immortali asvo fumrna cum pace fruatur. he

of PROVIDENCE. 27
he could have carried others thither. 'Tis
certain, that only the greateft of the ethnic
philofophers, either before the Chrijlian
asra, or long after, had any tolerably juft
conceptions, if even they had fiich, of the
* Unity of the fupreme Being ; the bulk of
the world had them not : Be it then ad
mitted, that the philofophers had, or might
have had, fuch conceptions ; yet how could
they have brought mankind into their fen-
timents ? could their JefTons, with no au
thority, but their own, have grappled with,
and got the better of reigning bigottry and
luperftition ? was a probable notion enough
to overturn eftablifh'd, and deep-rooted falf-
hood ? or could a refin'd fpeculative truth,
far above common underftandings, incapable
perhaps of ftrict proof, atleaft of fiich as the
generality could apprehend, have made its
way through all oppofition, and bore down
pride, felf-interefl, folly, and the moft ftub-
born prejudices ? it will npt be faid, it could.
Well then ; admit even further, that thefe
philofophers had, like the apoftles, been in-
vefted with the power of working wonders,

*

/ owe, faid even Socrates, when he was dying, a
cock to j^fculapius ; fee you pay it. for

1 8 The Scheme and Conduct
for the confirmation of what they taught :
yet ftill, the conviction, to have been wrought
on men's minds, would have relied only on
certain temporary occafional miracles, whofe
impreffion would foon have been over : the
evidence of former miracles, and of prophe
cies, and their completion, the teftimony
of a nation, that had known God from the
beginning, the chain of his dealings and re
tributions with that nation, and the charac
ter of a Meffiah, with the feveral aftonifhing
and glorious circumftances belonging to it,
and that great living wonder and prediction
in one, the difperfion and prefent eftate of
the Jews, all this further evidence, which
it pleafed God to give mankind of his being
and providence, would ftill have been want
ing : all this, put together, was but barely
fufficient to lead them into this belief and
fenfe of things ; lefs therefore, or the leaft
part of it, probably, would not have been fo.
Far be it from me, confidently to affert,
that God could have found no other method
for accompliihing his defigns, than that one,
he made ufe of. — Yet, when, in our befl
judgment, we cannot fee, how thofe defigns
could have been brought about by any other, and

of PROVIDENCE. 29
and, when the one, made ufe of, obtain'd its
end in the ampleft and moft perfect man
ner, we may reafonably believe, and take
for granted, that no other was to be found,
or, which is the fame thing, none fo wife,
and well fuited to all the purpofes intended.
Since, then, the knowledge of God, with
out his efpecial care, would, 'tis likely, have
been early loft ; and, if it had been once loft,
could not, as far as we can fee, have been
recovered again, it was moft neceffary to
make the fureft provifions in this cafe, as it
was alike neceffary to prevent a fecond
univerfal corruption.
Had not both thefe particulars been ta
ken care of, and enfiired, there would have.
been no room or poffibility, in appearance,
for bringing men finally to happinefs : happi
nefs, prefent or future, can flow only from
virtue, and the knowledge of God ; had vir
tue been once utterly extinguifhed, men would
have been incapable of the knowledge of God,
or any other to any good purpofe, as without
that knowledge they would have been inca
pable of pure and perfect virtue, which
confifts in the love of, and in truft in God,
and an endeavour to be like him. In

5 o The Scheme and Conduct
In order to prevent a fecond univerfal cor
ruption, God faw it requifite, among other
things, to operate powerfully by his holy
Grace and Spirit, ascertain times, and in dis
tinction of certain men, for the benefit and
inftruction of others.
And, in order to keep the knowledge of
himfelf from being loft, he faw it alike re
quifite to appropriate, and feparate from the
reft of the world, a particular people; to reign
over them perfonally, if I may fo fay, and
by grace and terror, and by all motives of
omnipotence, even violence and compulfion,
to bind upon them the belief and worfhip of
the true God, and keep them from falling
into the worfhip of falfe gods ; that through
their means, and by this channel, he might
communicate to all mankind the knowledge
of his Being and Attributes, affoon as they
fhould be fit for it, and in a condition to
make the right ufe of it.

CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 31

CHAP. IV-
LET us confider the firft of thefe bran
ches, viz. the preventing a fecond to
tal lofs of virtue and goodnefs.
While Noah and his immediate pofterity
remained, the memory of God's judgments,
and the fenfe of their own deliverance and
prefervation, with his example and authority,
with-held them a while from fin : but thefe
inducements to virtue waxing weaker, as
mankind multiplied, and daily lofing force,
it was not long, e'er impiety and prefum-
ptiori got to a head again. They began, it
is faid, to build a city and a tower, that
fhould reach unto heaven ; a very unaccount
able project, and which, if not manifeft
impiety, nor intended by them as fiich,
was yet an act of madnefs and folly, ap
proaching very near it, and which expreffed
that violent and wilful fpirit, as fhew'd a
tendency to every thing inordinate, and that
they

J 2 The Scheme and Conduct
they would, thenceforth, be reftrained from
nothing, their imaginations led them to.
It was now, therefore, needful for God to
interpofe : and accordingly it pleafed him, as
the fitteft means for remedying the mifchiefs
at hand, and in order to make way for far
ther applications of his wifdom, to fcatter
mankind abroad upon the face of the earth,
and to divide them into feveral people and
languages, who were before but one lan
guage and one people.
I own, it may be urged, and not with
out colour of truth, that the fame thing
would, in procefs, have happened of itfelf,
* through the nature and neceffity of human
* There was publifhed, a few years ago, a pofthu-
mous work of fome learned man, I think, of Dr.
TVottcn ; in which it was fhewn, with reference to the
fubjecT: before us, that there are fuch fpeciflc innate
charafleriftics in fome languages, diftinguifhing them
from all others, that they could not poflibly have been
derived from any other : If this is fo, as I judge it
may, what is the inference ? Why, juft nothing at
all : This obfervation alone, if there be nothing elfe
to be faid, will not prove, nor even make it probable,
that there was fuch a miraculous confufion of tongues,
as Mofes gives an account of ; for languages, 'tis very
poffible, might have come by chance ; people might"
have made them themfelves, by confenting to call
things by this or that name or found, as new or ori
ginal names and founds are daily made for things new
ly invented. affairs.

of PROVIDENCE. 59
affairs. It may be fo : but then this would
have been a refult of length of time, rifing
from caufes, that mufl have ripen'd imper
fectly and dilatorily into their effects, and
mankind, long before it had come to pafs,
would have laps'd again into their former
liceritioufnefs, which would have obliged
again to the fame extremities : fo that here
was a plain and peremptory neceffity for
God to do that directly, and by the inftan-
taneous act of his will, which might poflibly
have produced itfelf in ages ; nor was the
miracle the Iefs on that account, any more
than the reafon for it was to have been dif-
penfed with : the benefit to accrue to man
kind, by an immediate difperfion and con
fufion of tongues, could not have been ac-
complifhed by a flow and gradual one :
fuch a one would have come too late, nor
could the corruption, to be guarded againft,
have been prevented by it.
Nor is this argument at all fuppofititious
or imaginary : the words themfelves of fcrip-
ture, in which this matter is related, do
plainly imply as much.
P And

3 4. The Scheme and Conduct
And the Lord faid, behold, the people is
one ; — and this they begin to do, and now
nothing will be reflrained from them, — let
us go down, and there confound their Ian-.
guage. — The meaning of which is, the peo
ple are now united and live together, and
from what they are already a-doing, 'tis
evident, they are prepar'd to run into all
manner of enormities : therefore, that they
may not do fo, I will this moment fcatter
them abroad.  The reafon, you fee, that
induced to the miracle, is given, before the
miracle itfelf is mention'd, fignifying clear
ly, that it pleafed God inftantly to difperfe
men, and confound their tongues, as the befl
and fitteft means to prevent the wickednefs^
which they were going haftily into, in con
fluence of their keeping together in one
body. And that this was, in reality, the befl
and moft effectual, if not the only method,
.his v/ifdom could have made ufe of for this
end, will, I think, appear on a little con
federation. — Firft then, by this expedient
wickednefs and wicked projects were no
longer to be contriv'd or carried on unani-,
moufly and univerfally • for men, being thus
thrown

of PROVIDENCE. 35
thrown into thoufands of little colonies, and
divided by mountains, rivers, and feas, could
no longer affociate and act together : at the
fame time, the irregularities, which might
have their birth from a few of them, could
not now be propagated to great numbers;
for, every nation being unacquainted with the
languages of the reft, vice was not to b«
transferred from one to another, nor could that,
which was the growth of fome lands, take
root in more : by this means, the contagion
©f wickednefs had bounds fet to it, and evil
example was confin'd, and could not ftretch
its influence beyond one country.
Add to this, that tokens of Divine wrath,
levelled on one people for their fins, might
thenceforth be a warning to others to avoid
the like fins : and as contefts for dominion,
extent of territory, and the like, muft of
cpurfe, in this ftate of things, arife between
different countries, fo bleffings being be
llowed on one, and denied to another, and
fuccefs and victory being given to the good,
and with-held from the bad, this, one may
judge, might very naturally lead men in
time to think of their true intereft,
D 2 and

5 6 The Scheme and Conduct
and create an emulation for virtue among
them. In effect, men were fo circumftanced now
by being parcelled out into feveral nations,
that they might, whenever God pleafed,
be made checks reciprocally upon each other,
and be, in his hands, according to their re^
fpective virtues or demerits, the inflruments
of their own reward or chaftifement : a wic
ked ftate, or community, being brought
low, one more worthy could be exalted in
the room of it ; this people growing diffo-
lute and abandoned, another, lefs debauch
ed, may be made lords and mafters over
them. On this footing, 'twas morally impof-
fible, that an univerfal degeneracy fhould
ever take place again, or that wickednefs,
let it prevail, as it could, in fome parts,
fhould prevail alike in all. — And as to par
tial immorality, whatever there might be of
it in particular nations or focieties, it could
be of no very ill confequence, there being
always room in this circumftance, to check
and reftrain it in fuch manner or degree, as
might be required. Thus things were
brought to a fecurity, and men's welfare placed^

of PROVIDENCE. 37
placed on a true bafis for the future, thro'
God's wifdom in timely difperfing them,
and changing their one language into many.
There is nothing in all the facred writings,
that has been fo much the mark of ridicule,
or lain more open to vulgar exception, than
the affair now fpoken of; wherefore I was
the more defirous to refcue it, as well from
irrational conftructions, as from cenfiires of
levity : but ftill I will be fo candid, as not
to fiipprefs any thing, I know of, that can
be faid fairly againft it : It may be faid, I
guefs, that the difperfion of men at this junc
ture, and the quafhing of their mad coun-
fels, might have been brought about, not on
ly naturally and without a miracle, but di
rectly and at once : I own it : A florm, for
example, a very high and furious ftorm
might have fcattered and driven them abroad
immediately : this is poffible ; but then,
whatever this ftorm was, fiippofing it only
to be natural, it could not have difperfed
them to fo great a diftance, nor kept them
afunder fo long, but that they might eafily
have come together again, after it was over.
The confounding therefore of their fpeech,
'tis highly credible, was the only meafiire,
P 3 that

3 8 The Scheme and Conduct
that could have difperfed and divided theni
effectually, as well as inftantly, and fo as to
anfwer fully the views of Providence.
This ftory of Babel then is not, after all,
fo ftrange a one, as fome grave perfons have
feemed to think ; is not likely to have been
the invention of Mofes, being at a Iofs to ac
count for the variety of languages and na
tions ; but, moft: probably, was fet down by
him under the impulfe and conduct of that
infpiring power, which made him a man fo
mighty in thought and in ac~l.
To difmifs this topic, it was with man
kind originally, while remaining in one
body, as it is with a great popular tumult
or infurrection : the multitude, in this bad
collective capacity, run headily into mifchief ;
but when once means are found to difunite
and difperfe them, their tempers and incli
nations foon change ; they then keep clofe
to their feparate diftricts, and follow their
callings in quiet.
This difperfion of men Was one proper
and adequate means to keep them from fal
ling again into an irremediable ftate of vice
and iniquity. Over

of PROVIDENCE. 39
Over and above this, it pleafed God, at
different times, to fend into the world divers
excellent perfons, for the edification of human
nature, and remarkably to illuminate and
pour his grace and favour upon them for
this end : thefe were the heroes, -f whom
the great writers of antiquity, in their fables
and allegories, make mention of; who broke
the barriers of the prince of darknefs, and
weakned his empire, and therefore were de
clared to be defcended from gods : that is,
they were enlightned by the God of gods,
and through his efpecial favour cleared the
mifts from men's eyes, and fhewed them
the paths to truth and virtue.
It will, I forefee, be objected here, that
this is merely an affertion, a thing not to
be proved, that there is no need to fuppofe,
that thefe great men had any light or guide,
but nature and reafon : I own, we have no
records, facred or other, or any pofitive proof
for fupport of this notion with refpect to
fome of thofe great men ; let it, then, be
allowed to be only a fuppofition ; yet it is
-|-  Pauci, quos aaquus amavit
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad xthera virtus,
Diis geniti, potuere.
D 4 3

4*0 The Scheme and Conduct
a rational one, and has probability on its
fide : for is it to be conceived, unlefs we ad
mit fupernatural affiftance, that perfons fhould
rife in the moft barbarous and illiterate times,
equal for wifdom and abilities to any, that
have been known in the moft learned ?
that, in this or that country, fhould ftand
forth, of a fudden, a great moralifl or phi-
lofopher, while all around him was darknefs
and favagenefs ! Can one conceive, that,
once in an age, fuch a one fhould fhoot up,
like an aloe among weeds and briars, and
that he fhould thus get the ftart of his fpe-
eies, and tower fo prodigioufly above them,
on his own ftrength only ! Could nature, or
accident, create fo vaft a difparity ? Could
it come merely from different organizations
of fenfe and feature ? or was it the producf
of education, while as yet the arts of edur
cation were fcarce thought of: this is not
over-likely. That thefe favour'd perfons, therefore, were
blefl with heavenly illuminations, in fome
mode or meafure or other, is a notion very
reafonable in itfelf, and perfectly agreeable
likewife to our jufteft ideas of an all-good
Being, provident to bring his creation re
gularly

of PROVIDENCE. 4,1
gularly and gradually to^ all the excellence,
it could rife to.
There are, I know, who have ftrong pre
judices to opinions of this fort ; yet certain
ly fuch opinions are of very natural origin,
and what plain and common minds can
fcarce help falling into : the befl and wifeft,
moreover, of the moderns have efpoufed this
way of reafoning, as numbers of the an
cients did before them, fome of whom, I be
lieve indeed unjuftifiably, yet carried it fo
far, as even to think, there never was a
truly great man, or perfbn endued with a
furprizing genius in any way, but who owed
it to fome divine infpiration, and was rais'd
up by God for fome extraordinary purpofe
of good to mankind.
Early, and at the head of thofe, who ap
peared in this high and facred character,
were Abraham, Lot, Melchizedec, Job, at
leaft the writer of the book of Job, and
others probably, whofe names we have not
heard of : Abraham and his fon Ifaac, tra
velled and fojourned in many lands, where
kings were reproved for their fakes, and, by
their fortunes, and the bleffings attending
them, wrought up to the fear of God :
After

42 The Scheme and Conduct
After them rofe Hermes, Zoroafler, OrpheuSj
Pythagoras, Numa, Cyrus, and the feveral
great poets, law-givers, and philofophers
among the Greeks and Romans.
Thus no poffibility, it feems, was left of
another univerfal corruption : mean time,
virtue and moral knowledge imperceptibly
advanc'd and gain'd ftrength, till, one na
tion copying from another, and fiicceeding
times improving on thofe paft, men became
at length capable of apprehending the holy
truths of God and his religion.

CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 43

CHAP. V.
THE fecond thing, eflential in the
fcheme of Providence, was the keep
ing the knowledge of the only true God from
being wholly loft. This could not probably
have been fo well done, as by feparating from
the reft of the world a particular people, and
training them gradually in that knowledge :
for men's propenfity to pluralities of gods
was fo natural, and predominant, that they
ran into it at once and alike ; 'twas the fole
habit, or characteriftic, in which one nation
did not differ from another : fo that if fome
one had not been felected from the reft, and
kept from mingling with them, and imi
tating their fuperftitions and follies, which
they would have done,had they mingled with
them, the knowledge of God could not
have been preferved : contagions cannot be
'fcaped but by flying from the infected.

It

44- The Scheme and Conduct
It being neceffary, therefore, that a par->
ticular people fhould be fet apart, and di
vided from all others, let us go fuccinctly
over, and juft mark, the feveral fteps, which
it pleafed God to take in order to it, in or
der both to fet one nation thus apart from
the reft, as his peculiar people, and when
that was done, to confirm and maintain his
true worfhip and belief among them.
It was not long after the deluge, ere men's
minds were clouded and darkned, and their
original apprehenfions and ideas of God al
moft quite extinguifhed : idolatry, like a
fecond deluge, had pour'd itfelf through the
lands ; it had got footing even among the
elder branch of Shem, and that, while Noah
himfelf was ftill living, and they had his
example and authority before their eyes. —
In this conjuncture, the time precifely, that
fiich a ftep was required, Abraham is called;
a man of virtuous and good difpofitionsj
and of the tenth generation, or thereabouts,
from Noah : he is fent forth, with all his
fubftance, from his own country to another :
God promifes him an offspring, by his wife
Sarah, in their old age, and to make a great
nation of him ; promifes alfo the land of
Canaan

of PROVIDENCE. 45
Canaan to his pofterity ; and declares, that
in his feed all the families of the earth fhould
be blefl, and goes along with him, and is
every where his rock and tower of defence :
What could be more engaging and endear
ing, than thefe feveral circumftances ? What
more proper to excite in a man affection,
duty, and confidence towards God ? More
over, the going down of his defcendants in
to Egypt, their fufferings and bondage there,
and their deliverance from it, and return to
Canaan, after four hundred years, are feve-
rally predicted; in confequence of which
promifes and predictions, Ifaac, firft, is
born ; Abrahams faith and obedience, foon
after, are exemplarily proved, and ftrength-
ned, and rewarded ; the fame promifes are
then repeated to Ifaac ; after him, to Ja
cob, and the heavenly correfpondence is
kept open with all three, during their re-
fpective lives : God converfes with them
face to face, and as friend with friend : fo
much was required to eftablifh even them
in the knowledge and fear of their Maker.
In the decline of Jacob's life his darling
fon, Jofeph, is fold by his brethren to the
Egyptians; a famine enfues in Canaan, and

4 6 The Scheme and Conduct
and thofe brethren are forced to go after him
to buy food ; by this means they come, as
was foretold, to refide in Gofhen, and grow
into a numerous and great people.
Thus, from a man and woman, childlefs,
and far ftricken in years, a nation is raifed ;
that nation, as it was begun, is propagated,
and preferved by miracles ; the main things
to befal them, from their beginning to the
days of Mofes, are foretold, before they be
gan ; they are ftill kept apart, and diftinct
from all other nations, in which view a
particular rite had been, early, inftituted
and fignal mercies and marks of divine fa
vour inceffantly accompany them : Even
when they are fallen into flavery, God is
ftill with them ; the more they are oppreffed,
the more they encreafe and flourifh ; their
ftrength, beauty, and numbers rife with the
cruelty of their oppreffors, and all the while
they have this comfort and fupport, the
promife of heaven, in his fet time, to
vifit and deliver them : all which vifible to-i
kens, and demonftrations, continued through
ages, of the care and love of God towards
them, could not but awake in them awful
fentiments,

of PROVIDENCE. 47
fentiments of that God, and belief and truft
in him, as a Being, fuperior to all others.
Let us review this matter once more :
Sarah kept barren to old age, for the pur-
pofes of Providence, in her old age, as was
promifed, brings forth a fon ; this confirms
Abrahams faith in God : that fon, on the
point of bleeding, is refcued at the altar ;
this confirms his faith yet more : the lives
of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, are divert
fified, and mixt with diflrefs and danger, by
which the power 'and goodnefs of God do
more abundantly appear, and they have more
and more reafon to own him, arid to rely on
his favour and protection : on the fame ac
count, and with the fame fcope, is Jofeph
fold into Egypt ; hence his brethren and fa
mily fettle there, and after his death become
oppreft and afflicted : their fettlement in this
country was one great deliverance; their
affliction in it was in order to a greater ;
the one tending to infpire gratitude to God,
the other to keep up a dependence on him ;
for had they enjoyed an unaltered profpe-
rity, they would foon have forgot him :
afflicted therefore became they, and oppref-
fed, that |hey might look up to the God of

48 The Scheme and Conduct
of their fathers for their deliverer : their fo-
journing in Egypt was of fo long continu
ance, that they might be numerous enough
to poffefs and fill the land, that was defti-
ned to them : their bondage and oppreffion
was fo heavy and lafting, to the end, their
deliverance, when wrought, might ftrike
keener and more durable impreffions on them;
likewife, that the deep and affecting remem
brance of their having been bondmen them
felves, and tafted fo much of its bitternefs,
might make them ever after merciful and
kind to others in that circumftance : befides
this, the iniquity of the Canaanites, as is
faid, was not yet full, and had thofe nati
ons been extirpated, before it was fo, their
punifhment would not have been proportion
ed to their guilt ; God in that cafe muft
have departed from the reafon and meafure
of his juftice : the fame may be faid with
refpect to the Egyptians, and the judgments
at laft brought upon them : neither was
their iniquity yet full. So much depended
on the treatment of the Ifraelites in Egypt,
and on their continuance there fo long.
In the mean time, all poffible provifions
Iiad been made by Go d, tp keep them from
mingling

of PROVIDENCE. 49
mingling with that nation, and to guard
them from the idolatry of it : they lived in
a particular province, or diftrict, by them
felves ; their very occupation, that of fhep-
herds, was an abomination to the Egyptians,
who thought it unlawful even to eat or
drink with an Hebrew ; fo that the Hebrews
could have very little opportunity of fbcie-
ty or commerce with them : then, the grea
ter the tyranny they endured, and the more
they were bufied in the work of it, the lefs it
was in their power to look into the cufloms
and manners of their tyrants ; befides that,
their very refentment, and hatred of fuch
task-mafters, could not but give them the
ftrongeft averfion to all their ways, fo far as
they might, haply, be acquainted with
them. Here, we fee, is a feries of wonders,
which verify the predictions, that went be
fore them; a chain of great events, fprinoing
from one another, and drawn out through
four or more centuries ; all tending, fepa-
rately and together , to attach the feed of
Abraham to God, and to prepare their
way for being his chofen people, and which
open to us in one view whatever there can
E be

5 o The Scheme and Conduct
be of beauty, harmony, and grandeur in
moral diftributions.
In truth, the more a thinking man re-
volves in his mind this train of affairs, and
fees, how one nation are led, ftep by ftep,
to a fenfe of the pre-eminence and fove-
raignty of the true God, in order to be fet
apart for his fervice, and to be, as it were,
the repofitory of his facred laws and religion,
till all mankind were fit for the reception
of them, the more he will confefs and ad
mire the fignatures of wifdom and goodnefs,
that appear through the whole ceconomy,
and in every part of it.
Now, as nothing more could, in appear
ance, have been done for this end ; fo no
thing lefs, 'tis probable, would have been
fiifficient : the rudenefs of human reafon, in
thofe days, was fiich, that to conceive right
ly of the fupreme Being, was as much
beyond its reach, as it was to explain or
amend his works; the greateft force of mind,
under the fublimeft improvements, feems not
at that time, or much later, to have been
able to carry men fiich a length : the fur-
theft they could go, the moft they could be
brought to, in numberlefs ages, was to con
ceive

of PkdVlDkNCE. 51
ceive of fome particular God> as greater than
all others : cdnfequently, it became the pe
culiar care of Providence to bring fome part
of men, even into this imperfect notion ;
they feem not to have been able to reafon
themfelves into it ; they could not fee it by
their own reflection ; therefore the only way
to convince them of it was by fupernatural
effects, and extraordinary interpofitions of
almighty Power; which interpofitions could
not be too frequent, or too often repeated,
to counter- ballance their ignorance, and
pfo'nenefs to idolatry, and to induce them to
Worfhip one God alone : fuch manifefta-
tions were the only lights, by which they
could fee God, and if thofe lights had dis
appeared, they would have been in the dark
again ; they but half faw him through this
telefcope, fo could not have feen him at all,
had it been withdrawn : if God, fays Ja
cob, that Jacob, who, like his grandfather
Abraham, and his father Ifaac, had con
verted with his Maker, and beheld him in
vifion, If God will be with me, and will
keep me in this way that I go, and will,
give me food to eat, and raiment to put on,
fo that I come again to my father's houfe in
E 2 peace,

5 1 The Scheme and ConduB
peace, then fhall the Lord be my God ;
that is, in , this cafe, he would ferve the
Lord, rather than any other God.
All this preparation, then, it feems plain,
was required only to bring one people in any
degree to the knowledge and worfhip of God :
much more was required to keep them to,
and confirm them in that worfhip: what
has been recited, ferv'd no further, than to
lead to this point, and make, as it were, the
openings of it ; ftill greater things were
needful for fecuring it.
It is exceeding difficult to carry rude na
ture contrary to its humour and propenfity,
and to give it a happier bent, than what it
took from its firft fears, ignorance, or mif-
apprehenfions : let what can, be done, it will
ftill be apt to Aide back into its proper er
ror ; like a bowl, which, while the force,
firft given it, continues, rolls even to the
goal, but when that is fpent, curves and
declines again with its own biafs.
And thus it was with the unhappy If
raelites, whofe deliverance from their Egyp
tian thraldom, with all, that attended, and
followed from it, we now come to confi-
der.
CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE- 53

CHAP. VI.

REmarkable and furprizing have been the
fortunes and ftory of many countries,
and kingdoms of the earth ; but none have had
their chronicles fo filled with wonder, or could
boaft fiich marks and defignations of God's
care and providence, as the Jews : begun,
and raifed up by Divine Power ; feparated
from all mankind, to be one day the blef-
fing of all mankind ; driven from their
country, when defolate and unfruitful, to
come back to it, when flowing with milk
and honey ; preferv'd from famine, while
only a family, to be refcued from flavery,
when a nation ; from a fingle family and
a fmall number, in a furprizing fhort time,
encreafedto a great people, and after being an
afflicted, perfecu ted people, delivered with a
high hand, and made victorious over their
enemies.
E 3 They

5 4 The Scheme andConduB
They had lived happily in Egypt for one
generation, and through the lives of the
founders of their tribes : at length, a prince
fiicceeding, who was a ftranger to their fa
thers, their fufferings and oppreflion began,
encreafing gradually, as they encreafed, and
growing forer and more grievous, as they
grew more potent and populous : at laft,
their cry cometh up tp heaven, and their
deliverer is font them : and, as Jofeph, had
been greatly refcued and exalted, in order
to the bringing them into this country j fo
Mofes was no lefs eminently preferv'd, and
diftinguifhed, for the carrying them out
of it ; that, thus, this whole difpenfation
might vifibly be the finger of God, and that
the tokens and footfteps of his providence
might be feen more deeply engraved through?
out it.
And now the viol of wrath is poured
forth. — Mofes flretcheth forth his wand. —
The heart of Pharaoh is hardned. — Not.
hardned, that he might be punifhed for what
was wrought upon him by divine impreffion,
and which he could not help : herein was,
no crime: the guilt of Egypt, both prince
and people, was their inexorable cruelty to
the

of PROVIDENCE. 55
the Hebrews, who had in nothing deferved
fuch treatment from them, and to whofe
anceftors they had been abundantly indebt
ed : this was a guilt, needed no aggravation :
Pharaoh's heart, then, was hardned not to
add to his crime, but that there might be
the more fcope for the hand of God to
move in, and that his punifhment, as well
as God's power, might be the more con
spicuous, by being feen in greater diverfity -.
had he not been hardned, he could not pof-
fibly have continued fo obftinate in refufing
to let the Ifraelites go ; and if he had not
ftood in that obftinacy, there would not;
have been the opportunity and the reafons
for multiplying God's wonders in Egypt ;
thofe wonders, which were to convince the
Jews in particular, that the Lord, Jehovah,
was high above all gods, and which were
to be declared by them to their children's
children, and to be the ground- work and.
fupport of the great fyftem, that followed..
With this intent Pharaoh's heart was
hardned : and to this, intent alfo the magi
cians were permitted to do fome of the fame
things which Mofes did : I fay, permitted :
for, however there will always be in ignorant
E 4 times.

k 6 The Scheme and ConduB
times and nations, forcerers, or perfons at
fuming that name and character, yet 'tis
certain, there is not, nor can be a real art-
magic ; there can be no natural power in man
to do fupernatural things, none by himfelf,
none in concert With other agents : all fup-
pofitions of this kind are fenfelefs.
The truth is, God at this time, fuffered
enchantments, let me call them fuch, whe
ther by the miniftry of fpirits commiffioned
to this end, or by powers immediate
ly communicated to the enchanters them
felves, to take place in a certain degree, as
the fitteft means, the more throughly to
harden Pharaoh, and that it might be feen
finally, that the imaginM arts of forcerers,
and invifible fpirits, were uncertain, and con-
fin'd, and no ftrefs to be laid on them ; that
thofe forcerers, and thofe fpirits, good or
evil, no matter which way you underftand
it, had no power, in effect, but from God •
jione, but what he gave them leave to exert,
and which he could limit and reftrain at
pleafure; and that all impoftors of this kind
were, in his hands, alike with the reft of his
creation, whenever he faw good, inflruments for

of PROVIDENCE. 57
for executing his will, and fulfilling the
ends of his government.
In other words, the power, given to the
magicians, was given, partly, to expofe the
vanity and impiety of all, who placed con
fidence in any help, or had any dependence,
except in God only ; to fhew, that fuch
hopes and dependencies would always de
ceive and forfake thofe, who trufted to them ;
that there was no intrinfic power or efficacy
in magicj and that whatever was done
under that name and pretence, was wholly
through God's permiffion, and fubject to
his controul.
Thus it is faid in Deuteronomy, that, if
afalfe prophet foretold any thing, and the
thing foretold fhould come to pafs, with de
fign to tempt them to go after other gods, they
were yet not to believe him, nor to wor
fhip other gods, for God permitted this on
ly to prove them. —
Had the magicians had any ability, in
dependently of God, whether inherent in
themfelves, or in virtue of infernal, or other
affiftance, to do fupernatural things, they
might as well have followed Mofes through
all his miracles, as through a few of them ;
might

5 8 The Scheme and ConduB
might as well have called up lice, as frogs ;
as well have chang'd day to night, as water
to blood : but they had not, nor poflibly
could have, any fuch power : it is contrary
to all fenfe, contrary to all our ideas of Gods
to fuppofe, that any being, except himfelf,
can create and give life ; (this were fuppo-
fing other gods ;) or, that any fpirits, good
or evil, can do acts contrary to nature, and
alter the flable and eternal laws of it ; or,
which is more abfurd, that they can im-
power men to do fuch acts : the miracles of
the magicians, then, were as truly miracles,
and vertually as much the work of God, as
thofe of Mofes ; they were as truly done
through his almighty will and power, and
could be done by no other : the giving life
and being to a fly, or worm, or any infect,
is as great an act, as to give it to an ele
phant or a lion ; the making a lefler fer-
pent, as much a miracle, as to make a greater,
of to tell the tempeft, where it fhall ravage,
and where not : all fuch acts imply equal
power, and can come, directly or in
directly, from him alpne, in whom is all
power : the forcerers did fome of thefe acts,
and could not do the reft y this was demonftra- tion,

pf PROVIDENCE. 59
tion, that it was not by their own power, they
did them : fo that, by this procedure, while
the heart of Pharaoh, as I have faid, was
more throughly hardned, and occafion thence
given -for multiplying of God's wonders,
the fiXacy and prefumption alfo of all fup
pofed conjurations and magical arts was, in
great meafiire, detected and difarmed.
Upon the whole, thefe methods, which it
pleafed God to take for viadicating his name
and pre-eminence, were the fitteft and righteft,
in all refpects, that could be taken in thofe
ages and circumftances of the world : men
then, feemingly, were quite incapable of un-
derftanding the Unity of the Divine Nature,
or of being reafoned even into the fainteft
notions concerning it ; their fears and weak-
nefs, on the contrary, led them into all
manner of follies and fiiperftitions, as witch
craft, auguries, incantation^ idol- worfhip,
and the like : the permitting, therefore, cer
tain wonders, fuppofed. to be done by dif
ferent agents, than God, and the doing
others, feemingly greater and more mar
vellous and which fjjch agents were not
permitted, to dp, thefe were the only proper
ffs to. men,, at that time, pf God's fu-
preme

60 The Scheme andConduB
preme authority and omnipotence : nor do
we fee his wifdom perhaps more clearly in
ought, than in the perfect fuiting and ad
apting, in this wife, his feveral operations
to the nature and temper of the re/pcctive
times and occafions, wherein they were ma-
nifefted. And hence it is, we fo frequently meet
with in holy writ exprefiions of this
kind. — Who is like unto our God? which
of all the gods can be compared unto him ?
He is high above all gods  the God, that
alone doth wondrous things — the God of
Abraham and Ifaac — with many others
of the like import, and which were model
led to the unripen'd apprehenfions of men
in thofe days, when fpeculative truth and
reafoning were out of their reach, and they
were to be kept fledfaft with God, as
by fuch applications, which might moft
eafily affect them, fo by thofe forms of
fpeech, that lay moft naturally to their un-
derftandings. The God of Abraham ! And was he not
as truly the God of his whole creation,
and of all lands and people, as of Abra
ham and his feed 1—Wbo isfo great a Godas our

of PROVIDENCE. 61
4>ur God I Was there really, then, any other
god ? No j but thefe phrafes, as I faid,
were ufed in compliance with their weak-
nefs, and fignified to them, what only
they could be yet made to comprehend, that
the Lord was fupreme over all, and had
no rival, or competitor, for power and do
minion, and confequently, that it was in
vain to put truft in any befide.
In this fenfe and conftruction then, in.
which I have explained it, and I am apt to
think, in no other, is to be underftood the
affair of the Egyptian forcerers : in the fame
fenfe I underftand that other fact of the
witch of Endor ; fhe had no ability of her
own, or, through intercourfe with any fpirits,
to call up the ghoft of Samuel ; but it plea
fed God to fuffer it to be done then in
views of his providence: no being could
have enabled her to do that, or any other fuch
thing, except God : no demon, or familiar,
neither good or evil fpirit, has, 'tis probable,
any power to impede or affift men in their
actions, to do them good, or do them hurt,
unlefs God directly enables and commiflions
them to do fo : and in this way, likewife, I
take it, we ought to interpret what is related, in

6 1 The Scheme and ConduB
in the gofpels, of perfons poffefs'd and tor
mented by devils ; which perfons, if I am
in the right in this notion, were really pof-
feffed by devils^ and were not madmen on
ly, or lunatics, as is more Commonly be-
liev'd. Thus much for thofe particulars, which
preceded the Ifraelites going out of Egypt ^
and which, by various appeals to their fen-
fes, and by the evidence of their eyes, were
to convince them, that their God was greater
than all other gods ; for they could not then
(which is what I have more than once ob-
ferved, yet will it be ufeful to explain it a
little further) enter into the abftract idea of
one God, or Being, Author of all beingsy
nor deduce his Exiftence and Unity from his
regular creation ; but with the reft of man
kind ignorantly believ'd, that there were great
numbers of celeftial exiftences, like him,
and that, as to private perfons and families
were given their Lares, or houjhold divinities,
fo every country and people had their re-
fpedtive national god or gods.
It is recorded of thofe nations, who, after
the captivity, were planted in the cities of
Samaria, that they knew not the manner of
the

of PROVIDENCE. 6]
the god of the country, and that afterwards
being taught his worfhip, they worfhipped
him, yet ferv'd their own country-gods at
the fame time ; fo univerfally fixed in men's
minds was this belief, till the days of chrif
tianity : it feems, indeed, to have been of
the proper and genuine growth of human na
ture, and fo much fo, that it could never yet
be wholly extinguifhed, nor is even to this
day, many Chriflidns themfelves having in
effect revived, or rather fubftituted in its
room fomething very like it, by allotting to
different kingdoms guardian faints, or pa
trons, and paying homage and worfhip to
them, as fuch.
It is moft true, and would have been
very probable, though there had been no
grounds for it in fcripture, that God has,
through all ages, deftin'd angels, or immor
tal fpirits,, to prefide not only over ftates
and empires, but to be protectors of parti
cular men and houfes : this were a probable
opinion, tho' not warranted by holy writ ;
for what with more reafon can we fuppofe,
than that it makes great part of the happi
nefs of angels to perform the duties and
functions, aflign'd them by God ? and what more

64 The Scheme and ConduB
more glorious, or ufeful function, can the
moft exalted creature have, than to watch
for the fafety and welfare of his fellow-crea
tures, and to be bufied in procuring their
good, and in averting evil from them ?
Such probably always was, and will be,
in part, the employment of beatified fpirits:
but fince men in their priftine ignorance,
miftook them for, and ador'd them as in
dependent deities, not fubfervient to, or act
ing by the ordinances of their common Fa
ther and Maker, it was moft fitting for
God, when he felected a particular nation,
in order to be their God in a more emi
nent manner, to let them fee, what only
they were capable of feeing, that he was far
above all fuch fuppofed gods in power, and
that no other could do the things, which he
did. Thefe were the arguments, befl fuited to
their humble capacity, and the wifeft way,
in which their Maker could treat them, un
til fuch time, as they fhould be able to
know and recognize him by truer mediums.
Let it be obferved further, in regard to
the miracles, which God wrought in Egypt,
that, to the end, the views of his providence, here

of PROVIDENCE. 65
here mentioned, might be, fully anfwered
by them, they were of fuch a fort, as mufl
be known to come from God only, and as
muft be neceffarily feen, and own'd, for his
immediate real work, the work of a Being
fuperior to all poffible powers of man, and
could not be miftaken for fuchj nor could
be in any manner deceptions, nor the re-«
folt pf any poffible human caufes, or mere
ly natural accidents. — Swarms, for ex
ample, of noxious infects might, from na
tural caufes, happen to cover a country j
but would be of their ordinary kind and
quality, and would not deftroy one field,
while they fpared another.  Tempefts of
hail, fire, and thunder, might lay wafle a
fruitful land; but could not make diftinc-
tion between this, and that part of it, nor
between the flocks and herds of different
perfons. — From diforders in the elements,
as might then have been imagined, or from
irregular motions of planets, a darkness
might have prevailed ; but then that darknefs
would have been like common night, not
grofs and denfe, fo as to be felt, and would
Jiave been but of fhort duration. — Pefti-
Jence, or the arrow, that flieth unfeen, may
F fweep

6 6 The Scheme andConduB
fweep away great multitudes ; but when it
does fo, it always does it promifcuoufly, and
indifferently ; it cannot fingle out one, and
no more, from every houfe and family, and
that the firfl-born ; it cannot, in the defo-
lation it makes, ftrike only the original in
habitants, while it pafles, over the ftranger
nation, that fojourns with them.
And as thofe miracles were fiiited to the
general purpofe of God's Providence, in
afferting his fupreme power, and foveraignry *
fo his wifdom order'd it, in refpect to fome
of them, that they were, in particular, ex-
preflive of the meafures of divine juftice and
retribution, while they were fitted alfo for
further ends and ufes : thus, the Egyptians
having cruelly endeavour'd to deftroy all
the male Hebrew children, their own firfl-
born, by juft retaliation, were cut off, and
this great event was, befides, the nobleft
bafis imaginable for a ritual religion, fuch
being then neceffary, and the moft facred
and -folemn thing, a commemorative feftival,
or day of thank/giving, could be grounded
on. Again, the Egyptians had defpoil'd the
poor Ifraelites of the fruits of their labour
and induftry, bowing them down to every- yoke

of PROVIDENCE. 67
yoke and fervitude ; the riches, therefore,
and fpoil of Egypt, were given them, in re-
compence for their long hardfhips, and thofe
riches ferv'd^ afterwards, for materials to build
the ark of the teftimony with.

F 2

CHAP.

68 The Scheme a?id ConduB

CHAP. VII.
I HAVE fhewn the neceffity there was
of keeping the knowledge of the true
God from being wholly loft and funk in
idolatry; and that there was no way fo
probable of doing this, as by feparating a
particular people from the reft of the world:
the feveral fteps alfo, which it pleas'd God
to take thus far (that is, from the calling of
Abraham to the going of the Jews out of
Egypt) for fiipporting, and making good, this
branch of his fyftem, have been produced
and explain'd ; and it muft, I think, ap
pear to an impartial reader, that the whole
procedure was wife, regular, and perfect,
fuch in every part and circumftance of it, as
the nature and reafon of things demanded,
and what only could have been adequate to
the end propofed.
Let us now proceed to confider the fequel,
and what was further required for preferving God's

of PROVIDENCE. 69
God's true worfhip and belief among the
Jewijh nation ; for much more was ftill re
quired, as to this great point ; fo very feeble
were their underftandings : whatever was
paft, would have loft its force, but for what
came after ; and former miracles have foon
been forgot by them, if they had not been
fucceeded by new ones : — nor ought we to
think, which has been frequently done, of
foch aforgetfulnefs, as an infirmity peculiar
to this people only ; any other people, as far
as I can fee, the ftate of human nature then
being confidered, muft have fhar'd, more or
lefs, of the fame frailty, and very probably
would have acted, in fome degree, as they
did. God, therefore, forefeeing, what their
weaknefs would ftill lead them to, notwith-
ftanding the mighty things he had done in
Egypt, continues to work his wonders among
them. For this, he leads them, in that
memorable march, with pillars of cloud and
fire ; divides the great deep, and they take
their way through it, under convoy of
angels : for mis, the fountains of bitternefs
are made fweet. — They eat alfo of the
bread of heaven, and drink of rivers, gufhing
F 3 from

yo The Scheme and ConduB
from adamant : thus, he bore them on eagle's
wings, and brought them unto himfelf, even
to his holy mount, Horeb, at what time he
came down to them in the cloud, and they
faw the glory of God, and heard his
voice. * .
And" here it pleafed him to eitablifh his
covenant with them, and to give them a
fyftem of laws andflatutes, fiich as no other
nation had, and which were, not only moft
excellent in themfelves, but were in all re
flects likewife fitted to the temper, and wants,
of that people, in that age, as wefl as to the
future intents and purpofes of Providence.---,
The moral part of thefe laws contain'd what^
ever was juft and righteous ; the ceremonial
part had every thing, that was pompous,
and refulgent; the former infpired probity,
and goodnefs ; the latter, awful and grand
conceptions of God : the one purified the
heart ; the other entertained the fenfes : this
was the eflence of their religion ; that the.
* The Jewijh hiflorian calls it — his immortal
voice — which, in my judgment, is a poor and low
way of fpeaking: DH immortalcs. was language rght
enough'for the mouth of a pagan, but that epithet,
applied to the one only true God, feems very con
temptible. pride,

of PROVIDENCE. 71
pride, and nobility of it : however, the latter
was inftituted, not for its own fake fo much,
as for the fake of the former ; the ritual law
was chiefly for an itiducement to beget obe
dience to the moral, and as the means to
guide them to virtue and holinefs, and unite
them to God.
Nor could fiich inducements, and fiich means,
poffibly have been difpenfed with at that
time : the path of virtue would have look'd
too rugged and thorny, had it not been che
quered with fuch rofes, and if there had not
been enamel'd on it, wherewith to pleafe
the eye, or amufe the paffions ; the way, at
firft, to make religion appear lovely to them,
was to give it a face of gaiety and pleafure,
and the way to make the true God more
defirable in their eyes, than falfe gods, was
to cloath his worfhip with luftre and mag
nificence, and to add to it >all the fpirit and
delight, that could be fuperinduced from ex
ternal things : Hence the inexpreffible riches,
and glory, of the tabernacle ! the refplendent
prieflhood ! the trumpets in the new-moon !
the coftly unguents, and the like ! all thefe
things, interwoven with, and being, as it were, .
the garment of moral goodnefs, ferv'd, at the
F 4 beginning,

7 1 The Scheme and ConduB
beginning, to recommend it to them, and
to remind them continually of it.
And further, that religion and virtue
might be yet more effentially their care, and
that they might not be diffracted by atten
tion to different things at once, their civil
and religious polity, their government and
worfhip, judicial and facred affairs, were
made one, and blended each in the other :
what was an act of religion, was at the
fame time an act of ftate.
Thus the fervice of God became, in effect,
their whole and only concern and occupa-.
tion, at the fame time that it was fo mo
delled, as to be a kind of perpetual feftival,
or holy-day, making that their conftan^
recreation, which was their duty.
They could not be brought to the efteem,
and practice, of what they did not under-,
ftand, without being allured to it by fome
thing, which they did underftand: exter
nal, and fenfible things, lay within their reach
and eomprehenfion ; but to perceive the rea-
fonablenefs of moral action, and the natural
Sanctions of virtue, was above it : and on
this account it was, that their law was,
japt only, a mixture of morafity and cereT.
monys

ef PROVIDENCE. 75
mony, but that the moral, as well as the cere
monial part of it, was enjoin'd merely in
virtue of the divine authority, and made
binding only, as it was the command of
God : the reafon to excite them to virtue,
which they could, then, befl underftand,
was its being commanded by God; as its be
ing mix'd with fiich rites, as were pleafing
to fenfe, was what would make them befl
relifti it. The lures, which fail not to catch
human nature, are outward fhew and often-
tation; and we fee, in fact, at this day, that
people, every-where, purfiie thefe gauds of
religion, and are always moft fond of the
tire and drapery of it ; whence even wife
and good men have fometimes thought, that
'tis expedient ftill to indulge thefe things, in
fome degree, to the vulgar, in order to keep
up a fenfe of God and duty in their mind.
It need not then be faid, of what abfolute
neceffity fiich matters were, in the early times,
we have been fpeaking of.
In this manner were the ritual and moral
oeconomy directed to their refpective fepa-
rate ends and ufes, while both the one and
the other had the fame final view, which
w?s to attach and unite this nation (the
Jews

74 The Scheme and ConduB
Jews) to God, by giving them juft ideas, of
his adorable Being and Attributes : his
Power and Greatnefs they faw in the Regale
of his worfhip and habitation ; his Wifdom
and Moral Perfections they would, in time,-
learn from the perfect reafonablenefs and
goodnefs of his moral laws : the parade and
brilliancy of their religion, which fhew'd
the Creator in fuch augufl lights, made his
commands refpectable ; as the wifdom and'
goodnefs, of thofe commands would, by de
grees, make them amiable : fo that the whole
tended, and confpired together, to make
good, as far as could be done by this par
ticular means, the fecond general branch of
the divine Syftem, which was the prefer-
ving the knowledge and worfhip of the true
God among men.
What I have here obferv'd, in refoect of
the Mofaic rites, relates chiefly to fuch of
them, as were form'd for grandeur and de
coration. — As to the reft, fome of thefe
might, probably, regard purity and clean-
linefs, or the particular habits and complec- >
tions of the Jews, or the nature of the
climate, and country, they were to fettle in.

To

of PROVIDENCE. 75
To proceed then, it pleafed God, at
mount Horeb, to divide the Hebrew nation
from all others, and to fign and feal, if I"
may fo fay, his covenant with them : Here,
he adopted, and fanctified them ; here chofe
them for his peculiar people : he chofe them,
'tis true, with eminent diftinction ; but that
diftinction was not fiich as implied lefs love
for, or regard to, the reft of his creation :
this, I know, has been frequently objected,
and this is what they themfelves were fome-
times fo weak as to imagine ; but nothing
ever was more without grounds : the choice,
it pleafed God to make of them, was with
view to the general good, no lefs than theirs :
inftead of being partial favour to one nation,
it was, in reality, grace and mercy to ajl man
kind: in other words, the diftinction and
honour, fhewn the Hebrews, was at the fame
time kindnefs and compaffion to the whole
world. The all-wife and good Being, whofe eye
penetrates that nature he is the fountain of,
faw, how hard it would be to keep in a
true fenfe of his foveraignty, and of the unity
of his God-head, this, or any nation : he
faw, that the utmoft exertions of power, even. the

j6 The Scheme and ConduB
the whole artillery of his wrath and terrors,
would be fcarce enough to prevent their fal
ling wholly into idolatry : he, therefore, fe-
lected one people, to the end thofe judg
ments and feverities, without which idolatry
could not be prevented, ' might be confin'ol
to one people : all other nations ; all the
ethnic world, were fore at laft to reap the
benefit of this difpenfation, unconcer&'d in
the fate of thofe, to whom it was given, and
without fharing in any of its poffible mife
ries and misfortunes : the fruit and glory of
it was to the Gentiles ; the danger to the
Jews : Jews, and Gentiles, were alike to be
blefs'd in the feed of Abraham, while the for
mer only were liable to the extremities, en
tailed on them, if theyforfook God,
The favour then, fhewn them, fo far from
being partial, or unjuil, in regard to other
nations, was more properly, in this one re-
foect, favour to thofe nations, than to them
felves : if mercy embraced them on every fide,
or if judgments were inflicted on them, 'twas
ftill for the fake, and good, of the common
creation : the whole world, in the fulnefs of
time, that world, as has been faid, that could
|n no wife be involved in their particular
calamities,

of PROVIDENCE. .77
calamities and diftreffes, were yet certain to
enjoy the advantage, accruing from them,
the advantage of being brought quietly arid
fafely, as foon as it could, be, to the know
ledge of the true God, and of the way to
eternal life.
The truth therefore is, this one people were
no other than inflruments in the hands of
God, for procuring finally the happinefs of
all the reft : all the families of the earth
were to be called through them, and it did
not affect mankind in general, whether by
walking duly in God's ordinances, they
were crown'd with the moft fignal bkffings,
or whether by departing from them, as it
happened, they drew on themfelves as fignal
curfes : in either cafe, the Gentile eftates
were fafe, and alike afiur'd of God's de-
termin'd favour towards them; in either
cafe likewife, the Jews were to be the
means for bringing this about, if diftin-
guifhed with rewards, or if devoted to
•wrath. In the mean time, it was the moft ar
dent defire of their heavenly Father, that
they fhould deferve the one, and avoid the
pther ; and to the eqd they might do

7 ^ The Scheme and ConduB
fo, no methods were left untried, no mo*
lives unoffered: forgivenefs, long-fuffering,
and perfoafion were all exercifed in this gra
cious view, alternate mercies alfo and ri
gours, the fevereft threatnings, and the moft
tender endearments. But, in all events, what
ever they fuffer'd for it, how keen and fore
foever their afflictions might be, 'twas abfo-
lutely neceffary, that the knowledge and
worfhip of the one God, Maker of heaven
and earth, fhould be preferv'd among them :
the fuccefs of all, the fom and completion of
things, depended on this ; it was to be ef
fected at all expence, and through all diffi
culties : and this alone was the true reafon,
this and no other, as I hope, will fully ap
pear, that the fecond commandment was
conceived -and exprefled in the terms, in
which we read it.

CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 79

CHAP. VIII;

^F" HOU Jhalt not make unto thee any
-*- graven image — thou Jhalt not bow
down thy felf to them, nor ferve them: for I,
the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, vi-
fiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the
children, unto the third and fourth genera*
tion of them, that hate me, andfhewing mer
cy unto thoufands of them that love me — ¦
There is, perhaps, nothing, in all the facred
writings, that has, with fo much reafon,
perplex'd and diflurb'd the-thoughts of learn'd
and good men, as the commandment here
recited ; nothing, which the affertors of re
ligion could more hardly defend, or the op-
pofers of it more fpecioufly object ; and it
muft be own'd, if other exceptions, that
have been made tp revelation, had as fair
a colour, it would be no wonder, if the horn
of infidelity was exalted. — This matter then
deferves a very ferious confideration,
To

80 The Scheme andConduB
To punifh the innocent for the faults o*
the guilty, and to reward the guilty for the
good deeds of the innocent ; to love mefl
for merits, and hate them for demerits, not
theirs ; to fhew them favour for virtues
they did not practife, and afflict them for
rcimes, they did not commit : this is what
at firft: fight, flies in the face of reafon; it
thwarts, and confounds, all our ideas of juftice
and goodnefs, and is contrary to our clearefl
conceptions of the nature, and attributes, of
God : we fhould call any man moft: unjufl
and cruel, that acted on thefe principles :
and fhall we affirm of an all- wife and good
God, that he does fo ? Far be it from us
to aflert this : God can no more depart from
the rectitude, or moral neceffity of his na
ture, than he can ceafe to be ; can no more
do what is unequitable, than the doing of
it would make it equitable : the word, God>
is only a name for infinite wifdom, and
goodnefs ; and to fay, that infinite wifdom,
and goodnefs, is governed by principles, not
wife, nor good, is infinite contradiction : fc>
that, tho' the goodnefs of a maxim, or ac
tion, will not prove alone, that it comes from
God, yet its badnef$ will always prove, that it

of PROVIDENCE. 81
it does not come from him, and tho' a prin
ciple, or action, is not made juft, becaufe
it is from him, yet its being unjuft abfo-
lutely fhews it is not from him.
It is then undeniably certain, that the
fecond commandment is not to be underftood,
as it commonly has been, in a general and
indefinite fenfe, and as the uniform law and
meafiire by which God acts : under this
interpretation, we cannot poffibly make it
confift with his juftice and goodnefs : it is
therefore to be underftood in a limited fenfe,
and as con fin 'd to one particular cafe, that
is, as regarding alone the fin of idolatry,
and this only with refpect to the Jews,
and not as a rule, which God invariably, and
univerfally, prefcribes himfelf : and that it
was originally intended to be underftood fo,
is plain from hence, that thefe words, for I
the Lord thy God am a jealous God, vifit-
ing the iniquities, &c. are annexed to this
commandment only, and not to any of the
reft : it is not faid, Thou Jhalt not kill, for.
I the Lord thy God — It is not faid, Thou
Jhalt not fieal, thou Jhalt not commit adul
tery, for I the Lord thy God — No ; this
threatning is limited to this one circum-
G ftance,

8 1 The Scheme and ConduB
fiance, and can be extended to no other : the
reafon given, that the Lord is a jealous God,
fpecifically applies it to the fingle crime of
idolatry, and would be no reafon at all in
refpect of any other crime : Thou Jhalt not
worfhip graven images, for I am a GO D
jealous of my glory, who will not fufifer it
to be given to another, and in this cafe I
will vifit the fins of the fathers on the chil
dren. Nor does it appear, that God did ever
make this vifitation in other cafes ; the con
trary is evident in many inftances; thus,
after having declared, as we find Deuteronomy
the i ft, that not one of that evil generation,
that is, of the wicked and rebellious Ifrae
lites then living, fhould go over to Canaan
except Caleb and Jojhua, 'tis added, more
over, your little ones, which, ye faid, fhould
be a prey, and your children, which in that
day had no knowledge between good and evil,
they Jhall go in thither ; and unto them will
I give it, and they pall poffefs it. The
threatning then in this commandment, 'tis
plain, was far from being a conftant law
and meafure of action to the divine Wif
dom. Let

of PROVIDENCE. 83
Let it be fo, it will be faid, this does not
mend the matter : it is alike unjuft to punifh
the innocent on account of the guilty, whe
ther it be for the fin of idolatry, or any
other ; whether for one or more fins, the
injuftice is ftill the fame : that which is un
juft or unreafonable in general, is fo in par
ticular. But this affertion is not true : cir
cumftances give things another nature, and
eflence : particular times and occafions, ex
pediency or neceffity, alter the reafon of ac
tion, and the ftandard of right and wrong :
it is unreafonable to take another man's fword
or weapon from him, but not, if I am
fore he intends to kill himfelf with it ; it is
unreafonable to aflault or hurt other men,
but not when we do it in our own defence,
or that of our country : thus the fame ac
tion, which would be ordinarily unjuft, may
not be fo in every circumftance and fitua-
tion, and moft of all, if public good re
quires it, and cannot be otherwife fecured.
Of this nature is the cafe before us : God
faw the abfolute neceffity there was of pre-
ferving his true worfhip and belief among
one people : he faw alfo, how difficult
it would be to put this point out of
G 2 danger.

84 The Scheme a?id ConduB
danger, and that all, that could be done to
wards it, would be but barely enough: to
the feveral methods, therefore, already men
tioned, which his wifdom made ufe of to
keep the Jews from falling into idolatry, he
added this feemingly fevere declaration, that
if they did do fo, they fhould not only be
punifhed for it in their own perfons, but in
the perfons of their defcendants for four ge
nerations. And this was one of the moft forcible and
powerful motives to engage them to their
Maker, that could have been propounded :
for, of all the inftincts and affections, born
with us, none is fo ftrong, as that of love
to our offspring ; which love grows ftill
ftronger, the lower it defcends : men will
fometimes fear for their pofterity, who will
not fear for themfelves ; they will avoid
crimes for their fakes, which they would not
avoid for their own, as they will likewife
exert acls of valour, and meet dangers, on
this account, which they would not do, if
their perfonal proper good were only in-
terefted : the bowels, that are hardned
for themfelves, will often yearn for their
babes ; and, in truth, it muft be an uncom mon

of PROVIDENCE. 85
nion damp and draw-back on the fpirit of a
wicked man, meditating guilt, when he fees,
and is confcious, that that guilt will entail
mifeiy on his children's children.
Let it be obferv'd likewife here, that the
denunciation, now fpoken of, is not given
at large, and indefinitely ; not extended to
the whole pofterity of the guilty, but limi
ted to the third and fourth generation :
there it flops : and the reafon is, that this
inftinct of love for our offspring keeps its
warmth and vigour till about that time ; af
ter which it dies away, and quite ceafes to
operate ; as in the animal world alfo, the faid
inftinct has its term prefcrib'd it to work in,
and never goes beyond it. Suppofe, it were
certain, that England, a thoufand years
hence, fhould be conquered, and all the inha
bitants cut off ; who would give himfelf any
concern about this ? Or, if any one did, what
languour, how little pathos, would that con
cern have ? Men would confider it, juft as
they do the day of judgment : but if this
fate were to befal them in their children's
or grandchildren's days, faintings and trem
blings, would be in every heart ; their fouls
would confume within them for forrow.
G 3 Thus

86 The Scheme and ConduB
Thus wifely and perfectly does God alway9
adapt the means of things to their end ; it
being needful to denounce a judgment, that
was to act upon a natural paffion, or inftinct,
the judgment is made to be in force, as long
as the paffion it related to fubfifted, and to
expire with it. A longer continuance would
have been of no ufe, and to no purpofe.
The threatning, therefore, to punifh the
Jews thus far in their pofterity, if they
forfook God, was one of the moft likely
ways to keep them faithful to him : it was
an argument to human nature ; an applica
tion, that touches it to the quick, and as
foch, could not fure be omitted, by hea
venly wifdom, in a concernment, on which
fo much depended: all other methods for
weaning, and keeping this people from ido
latry, fcarce, but fcarce, and in a long time,
had their effect, tho' ftrengthned by this,
and fo very probably would have failed with
out it.
Here, then, feems to have been a reafon,
by no means to be difpenfed with, for God,
in one particular inftance, to take, or to
threaten to take, meafures^ which would not, in

of PROVIDENCE. 87
in general, confift with juftice, according to
our befl ideas of it.
We even find, that human law-givers,
and human laws, do the fame thing, tho'
not through the fame or an equal neceffity ;
as in cafes of high treafon, and fome others,
where the penalties, adjudg'd to the traytor,
devolve to his innocent pofterity ; and this,
not only to the third and fourth, but to all
generations ; and the reafon is, that it is
judged, the peace of fociety, and fafety of
government, could not ftand without fiich
feverity : nor was this ever thought unjuft
by any one : and if this way of acting is
not unjuft, when exercifed for the fake of
one community ; much lefs could it be fo,
when exercifed for the fake of the whole
world : if it is not unjuft in man, where
the reafons of it are confin'd ; mucb lefs was
it fo in God, where the reafons were fo
much larger and more extenfive, and in con-
fequence the neceffity fo much ftronger.
But further, there is a great and wide
difference between this proceeding in man,
and in God : when man involves the guilt-
Jefs in the fate of the guilty, he can make
them no amends for it hereafter ; thofe for-
G 4 tunes

8 8 The Scheme and ConduB
tunes and privileges, the lofs of which they
lament, while living, cannot be reftored to
them after their death : it is otherwife with
God : he, who has the care of our being
through all eternity, can recompenfe the in
nocent, in what manner, and in what worlds,
and as bounteoufly, as he pleafes, for any
temporary hardfhips, which the reafons of
his government may have obliged him to
lay upon them. ¦
Moreover, the rigour of this fentence, of
vifiting the fins of the fathers on the chil
dren, will appear ftill lefs, if it be conflder'd,
that the vifitation, denounced, was national :
let national calamities be ever fo fevere, and
however every one muft fhare more or lefs in
them, yet virtuous and innocent men, while
they are afflicted, as members of the whole,
may be regarded and protected, as indivi
duals : God ftill has it in his power to do
them good in their feparate capacities, and
the bleffings of life, and health, and con
tentment, are ftill open, and in his hands ;
amidft the greateft public diftreffes, he may
difpenfe thefe private favours.
Laftly, let it not be forgot, that as this
fentence was not of a general purport, but
par-

of PROVIDENCE. 89
particular to one crime ; fo neither was it to
be permanent, or to laft any longer than
the neceffity lafted, which occafioned it. Ac
cordingly, when the danger the Jews were
in, of lapfing into idolatry, was become lefs,
and when there was no further likelihood
of the knowledge and worfhip of God be
ing wholly loft among them, we then find,
it pleas'd God to abrogate and repeal this
decree of the fecond commandment, and to
declare by his prophets, with reJpeSi to the
fin of idolatry, that the fon fhould no lon
ger bear the iniquities of the father, but
that every man fhould be rewarded for his
own virtue, and punifh'd for his own tranf-
greffion. Let us now take a fhort view of the
whole decalogue : for this will yet more evi
dently fhew, with what precifion and accu
racy this threatning, of vifiting the fins of
the fathers on the children, is confin'd to the
cafe alone of idolatry.
The five lafi of the commandments,
Thou Jhalt not kill, &c. have rio particular
condition, no promife or threatning, at-*
tach'd to them : being altogether of a moral
nature, they did not need any : perjury, rob
bery,

90 The Scheme and ConduB
bery, murder, and the like, are felf-evident
crimes, which fly in the face, and ftare in
the confcience of all, who commit them j
men, in their rudeft eftate, could not but
fee the heinoufnefs of them : the prohibi
tion of thefe, confequently, wanted no dif-
tinct confederation to enforce it. — God's
bare injunction, here, was enough.
The firft commandment, Thou Jhalt have
no other God before me, is of a different
fort, and may be faid to be" a pofitive law
thus far, as it does not exprefly and imme
diately imply, that there is but one God,
but only, that the Lord was the God,
whom they ought to ferve : to give this
commandment weight, and urge it home,
a motive was added to it, moft fit at that
time to influence them, i" am the Lord
thy God, which have brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, out of the houfe of bondage :
therefore, thou Jhalt have no other God be
fore me.
The third, Thou Jhalt not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain, has no relation,
I think, any more to ordinary, than judi
cial fwearing : only, it having pleafed God
to reveal to this people his great adorable name,

of PROVIDENCE. 91
name, he here forbad the making ufe of
that name, rafhly, and in common, left by
familiarizing themfelves to it, they mjght
lofe of the refpect and veneration, due to
him : this too is, partly, a pofitive law J
what, no doubt, a Creator mjght reafon^bly
require of his creature ; in regard alfo of the
fupreme majefty of heaven, in fome fenfe, a
moral duty ; yet the reafonabfenefs, and mo
rality of it, being foch, as would not in-*
ftantly, and of it felf, appear to them, God
thought fit to prefs obedience {o it, by de
claring, he would not hold him. guiklefs, that
Jhould take his name in vain. This Gprrv-
mandment likewjfe ha,d a view remotely,
tho' not fo direct as the fecond, to guard
them from idolatry ; in as much as nothing
could more tend to give them high ajid gw-
ful fentiments of God, than the makjng
his name fo facred and inviolable, that it
fhould not be even lawful to pronounce it.
As to the fifth, Honour thy father a-nd thy
mother, it is certain, that obedience to our
parents, and the fhewing them all manner
of refpect and kindnefs, is a chity no lefs
plain, than amiable : however, as the pracr
rice of it? when it is pra^is'd, d/pe& riPt fo
much

yi The Scheme and ConduB
much refult from affection of nature, as
from reafon, intereft, fhame, and other caufes ;
fince too the wickednefs, and immorality
of the contrary, is not fo fhocking at firft
fight, as fome other wickedneffes, or is fiich
at leaft, as may more eafily be diffembled or
excufed ; and as God knew, how apt men
would be, tho' plaufibly honeft in other
things, ta offend againft, and evade this du
ty, his wifdom faw good eminently to en
courage the obfervance of it, by promifing
to reward fuch obfervance with the moft:
defired of all bleflings — That thy days may
be long in the land. —
The fourth Commandment, Remember
the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, being a po
fitive ordinance, has alfo its particular reafon
affigned for it. For in fix days the Lord
made heaven and earth ¦  and re/led the
feventh day, wherefore the Lord blefied the
feventh day, andfa?tt~lified it. The example
of God himfelf, is, here, urged to recom
mend, and to endear his law ; a law fo gra
cious, that, in virtue of it, we not only enjoy
a refoite from toil, and care, once in feven
days, but mingle with that enjoyment, gra
titude to our Maker, while we act in ho
nour

of PROVIDENCE. 93
nour and imitation of him. This, forely,
was the wifeft, and moft indulgent, inftitu-
tion, that could be contrived for man, and
has all the marks of love and goodnefs on
it, that can flow from God.
Thus thefe feveral commandments, whe
ther abfolutely pofitive, or otherwife, have,
each of them, their refpecfive conditions, or
motives, to enforce them, as the nature and
reafon of the thing required, and agreeable
to the neceffity there was for it.
In view to the ficond, this neceffity was
greater, and it was more important to pro
vide for the obfervance of it, than of any
other ; accordingly, the motive to it was
ftronger, than to any other : here, the chief
danger lay ; here, the guard ought chiefly
to be : idolatry was the fin, which human
nature, at that time, was moft prone to,
and which it moft behov'd God to fecure
his people againft ; wherefore, in this cafe,
he calls up all their fears, awakes all their
paffions, declares, he is a God, jealous of his
glory, and that, if they robb'd him of it, by
worfhipping idols, and falfe gods, he would
vifit that their iniquity from father to
fon.
Now,

9 4 2^£ Scheme and ConduB
Now, the motive or reafon, annexed tc*
one command, can no more be extended
and applied to all, than the motives or rea
fons annexed refpectively to all, can be alike
applied to one : the reafon, for inftituting
the Sabbath, can poflibly affect nothing,
but the Sabbath, and God's punifhing men,
through a jealoufy of his glory, can relate
to nothing, but crimes that deprive him of
his glory : to fteal, to kill, to forfwear one's
felf, does not, ftrictly, invade God's rights,
or take his honour from him : this only is
to be done by the adoration of images, or
any created beings.
What has been faid, is fiifficient to fhew,
that the threatning of the fecond command
ment concerned only the crime, forbid by
that commandment : for the reft, the gene
ral tenor of God's proceedings with the
Jewijh nation, does, I think, put this quite
out of doubt; there being no inftance, as
I remember, of any great and durable judg
ment befalling them, or of any public ca
lamity, that lafted through generations, but
what was brought on them, purely on ac
count of their idolatry.
CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 95

CHAP. IX.

WE have now confidered and vindi
cated the juftice and goodnefs of
God in that particular, wherein they feem
moft liable to be impeached : the ftrefs of
his care, and wifdom, lay to guard the
Jews from idolatry, and in that fenfe and
view only, 'tis now plain, is to be under
ftood the denunciation in the command
ment we have been fpeaking of.
In the fame view, it pleafed God to con
tinue his wonders long after among this
people : hence, the miracle of the Red-fea,
repeated at Jordan ! the walls of Jericho
thrown down ! the courfes of the planets
alter'd ! In this intent, likewife, he order'd
them to cut off the feven nations, inhabi
tants of the promis'd land ; a conduct, which,
however dreadful it may at firft feem, or in
what moving colours foever one might paint it,

9 6 The Scheme and ConduB
it, yet had it not been held, that is, had the
Jews mingled with thofe nations, it was
more than probable, that they muft have
gone after their ways, and ferved their gods,
whether one confiders the inftable ftate of
men's underftandings then, or the fnares and
bewitching perfoafions of women, or the
power and prevalency of cuftom and ex
ample. But tho' the Jews would not pro
bably have been kept from idolatry, if the
Canaanites had not been deftroyed, and they
had been planted promifcuoufly among
them ; yet this, I truft, would not alone
have been a reafon with a good God for ex
terminating fo many nations, if it had not
coincided with a much better and ftronger
reafon ; if thofe nations had not, in all
things, acted in violation of the light of na
ture and confcience; if they had notenflam'd
the fin of idolatry, by adding to it barbarous
and impious rites, dreadful to mention; if
they had not divefted themfelves wholly of
humanity, giving their children to the flames,
and committing all thofe brutifh, inceftuous,
and unnatural crimes, for which the land is
faid to have vomited them forth ; if, in a
word, the mcafure pf their iniquity had not
been

of PROVIDENCE. 97
been full, till which time it pleas'd God to de
fer bringing the Ifraelites into their country.
Not only the confideration, therefore, firft
mention'd, but juftice might feem to re
quire their extirpation ; and not only juftice
in regard to them, but mercy, in regard to
ftates and kingdoms around them, liable to
be corrupted by their ways, and to be led
after their example.
It was right then, in eveiy view and re
fpect, that thefe nations fhould be cut off:
and as to the Ifraelites being made the in
flruments of it, this could have no tendency,
that I fee, but to give them the greater hor
ror of thofe crimes, which were thus chaftis'd,
and aveng'd by their arm : they knew, they
had the command of God, for what they
did ; they knew, that thefe people had been
arraign'd and condemn'd, at a tribunal, which
cannot err, nor pafs an unjuft verdict ; and,
as it was not unjuft in God to command their
deftraction ; neither was it cruel in his fer-
vants to execute that command, any more
than it would be to root out out-laws, and
robbers, by legal authority.
So far, in reality, was God from enjoin
ing any thing to his people, which might
infpire them with furious and fanguinary ha-
H ' bits

9 8 The Scheme andConduB
bits and defires, that their whole inftitution
breath'd a quite different foirit : the genius
of their laws was good-natur'd throughout ;
of which flamp more particularly, were
thofe, relating to hir'dfervants, to bondmen*
to fir angers, to tributary cities and people,
to the poor, to their cattle : in all thefe
inftances, is feen an abundant goodnefs and
humanity, which, in fome others, is carried
to a yet delicater, and more refin'd pitch :
they were not allow'd even to take the dam
with the young bird, or to feeth the kid in
its mother's milk.
Thus was their polity, in many parts of
it, calculated, purely, to excite in them kind,
and benevolent, defires and affections.
That great traditionary law alfo, deriv'd
down from Noah, of abftaining from blood,
was, in part, reviv'd and enforc'd for the
fame good end, that is, in order to milden
their fpirits, and to make them humane,
and tender of life : naturally, men recoil,
and are fhock'd at the mere fight of blood,
which tendernefs, of courfe, would abate and
wear off, if they were accuftomed to eat it ;
the eating that in animals, which is our own
proper life, and the effence of it, looks like
eating our felves ; there is a particular fort of

of PROVIDENCE. 99
of barbarity in it, and therefore it muft tend
to promote barbarous difpofitions ; as it has
been known, in fact, to do among fome la
vage nations, who have practis'd it : we find
too, that all fierce, and noxious, animals
live on blood, while the harmlefs and inno
cent refrain wholly from it : fo that there
is, in truth, a connection, in nature, between
not eating, and not fhedding blood ; between
not eating the blood of animals, becaufe 'tis
their life, and not fhedding the blood of
man, which is his life.
And accordingly, thefe two command
ments, in the law given to Noah, are, as it
-were, grafted into, and made a part of each
other. Butfiejh, with the life thereof, which
is the blood thereof, Jhall you not eat, and
furely, your blood of your lives will I re
quire, &c. viz. Ye are not to eat that,
which is the life in animals, that thereby
ye may have the greater veneration for life
it felf, and for the life of man, which I
have guarranteed, and made inviolate.
So careful was God, in forming his in
fant people, to tincture their minds early
with mercy and gentlenefs, and to give them
an averfion to every thing, that had an ap
pearance of cruelty. H 2 CHAP.

: oo The Scheme and ConduB

CHAP. X.
HAVING, firft, fet forth and explain
ed the neceffity there was of prevent
ing univerfal idolatry, and that this could
not fo well be done, as by feparating a par
ticular people from the reft of mankind,
which was the Jecond branch in the Provi
dential fyfiem ; we then proceeded to con-
fider and vindicate the feveral fteps, it pleafed
God to take, {from the calling of Abraham
to the going out of JEgyptJ) for thus bring
ing one people to himfelf, and keeping them
from being idolatrous, like the other na
tions. We have now alfo reviewed all the fob-
fequent meafures and precautions, it pleas'd
him to ufe to the fame end, and have fhewn,
in like manner, the perfect wifdom, good
nefs, and neceffity of his various conduSi
herein, to the time of the extirpation of the
Canaanitesl

of PROVIDENCE. 101
Canaanites, and the fettling of Ifrael in that
country.
Let us, therefore, briefly, examine what
remains : thefe methods, and this conducl,
had a due and proper effect, however not
fuch, as render 'd further interpofitions of the
divine power needlefs; the danger of ido
latry was not yet over, nor were the Jews
yet brought to that thorough and unalter'd
faith and dependency on God, which was
requifite to keep the knowledge of him from
being loft : no fooner was the promife to
Abraham fulfilled, than they ftart afidej
poffefs'd of the land of milk and honey, they
forget him, that brought them to it : in a
word, they ceafe not to frovoh GOD to
jealoujy, adminiftring, continually, frefh oc-
cafions to his wrath, while they thence
become frefh objects of his love and pity :
they rebel, and are punifhed ; repent, and
are forgiven ; again rebelling, are again af
flicted ; again repenting, arc reftor'd anev?
to favour ; their city and temple are laid in
rains ; the fame city and temple are rebuilt ;
the voice of gladnefs and triumph now, and
now complaining and lamentation, are heard
in their ftreets j one age fees them in capti-
H 3 wVy;

I o i The Scheme andConduB
vity ; in another, they worfhip on the Holy
Hill : and this was the train and procefs of
heaven's dealings with them for divers gene
rations, and till, at length, time and afflic
tion, their own and their father's fad ex
perience, repeated calamities, repeated de
liverances, had wrought them to fuch a fenfe
of their paft folly and perverfenefs, and fo
throughly convinced them of God's fopreme
power, as well as of his truth and faithful-
nefs, that they were now in no future like
lihood of departing from him, and of going
after other gods,
But here another evil enfiied : tho' they
remained faithful to God, they yet per
verted his wife and holy intentions in
his law, being moft diligent and punctual
in, and laying all ftrefs on the Jhowy and
lefs momentous parts of it, while they ne
glected the weighty andjubfiantial : in vain
were the adponitions of David, and the
prophets, And this, I fear, will be more
or lefs the misfortune of mankind, as long
as the world lafts ; for by what genius and
bent in nature, I know not, or by what
cafl in its original mold, yet fo it is, that
men are always glad, if they can, to fob-
fritute

of PROVIDENCE. 103
ftitute fomething for virtue, which is not
virtue, to call that religion, which is not of
its kindred, and to fink the regards to real
goodnefs, in the purfoit of its fhadows and
mimics : excufe them the exercife of humble,
meek, and beneficent duties, difturb them
not in the gratification of their pride and ava
rice, and they will be as full of zeal, as you
defire, about forms, or about foolifh, or ufe-
lefs queftions and opinions, whatever cofts
them nothing, and does not jar with their
worldly and hypocritical views and difpofi-
tions. This was too much the temper of the
Jews, after they were wean'd from idola
try : but this evil, in itfelf to be lamented,
did not yet interfere with the main fyftem
of Providence, or lead to the defeating of
it ; it was enough, in refpect of that, that
they continued ftedfafl in the worfhip of the
true God, without danger of warping from
it : and in fuch a fpirit they were, and this
was the afoedt of things among them, for
fome ages before Chriftianity' every year and
day giving them jufter notions of God and
his attributes, and ftrengthning them in their
devotion and adherence to him.
H 4 Ift

1 04 The Scheme and ConduB
In the mean time, the Pagan nations had
made great openings in wifdom and virtue :
thofe arts, that began in Greece, were tra
velled into other lands : learning had got
footing among the illiterate, and humanity
and focial affections among the barbarous ;
and many good and ufeful books were writ
ten in Ethics, and for the conduct of life :
the light of nature was carried high, or ra
ther the darknefs of it was much enlight-
en'd : fuch was, at length, the ftate of the
Gentiles, God having ftill been pleas'd, from
time to time, to fend among them perfons,
uncommonly endowed, for their inftruction,
and to fit them for the day, when he fhould
more explicitely reveal himfelf and his fa
cred will to them. In a word, what with
time, and the tranfmigrating of knowledge
from region to region, and the labours of
Poets and Philofophers, men, at or about
the Clafiic cera, were come, in general, to
have tolerably juft ideas of virtue and mo
ral truth, and fo were in a condition to ap
prehended embrace the higher and more
important truths of God, and his Providence,
and a future ftate, Befides

of PROVIDENCE. 105
Befides this, the world, after divers chan
ges and revolutions, was, through God's all-
ruling wifdom, thrown into that form and
complection, that fuited with the great alte
ration defign'd : the thoufand petty ftates
and tyrannies, whofe paffions, and whofe
bigotry, might have run counter to the
fchemes of Providence, were all fwallow'd
up in one great Power, to whom all appeals
lay; and hence no material bar, or obftruc-
tion, to the intended fettlement of things,
could arife but from that one quarter : many
parts alfo of Europe, deftin'd hereafter to be
the chief feat, or emporium of Chriftiani
ty, and that had, till near this age, lain in
utter favagenefs, were, in fome meafore, ci-
viliz'd ; the arts and virtues of their conque
rors were known to them, and they were
growing to a capacity of receiving, at the
flared time, the knowledge, ordain'd for them
from the beginning : fo that all things, and
circumftances, confpir'd now with the views
of heaven, and made this the fit juncture for
God to reveal himfelf to the Gentiles, and to
put an end to Idolatry through the earth.
At the fame time, the Jewshzd had a juft
and fufficient period allow'd them, not only to

i o 6 The Scheme a?id ConduB
to take firm rooting in God's faith and
worfhip, but to prepare themfelves alfo for
the hour of falvation, and to know, when
he fhould arrive, the facred mefienger, that
was promis'd them, by the defcriptions given
of him, and the various warnings they had
to expect him.
Now comes the grand catafirophe of the
ftate of our world : the Jewifh ceremonial
law having been inftituted merely, as a means
to keep them from falling into idolatry, all
danger and apprehenfion whereof was now
over, it was right and fitting, on all ac
counts, to fet it afide ; and, as the Pagans,
on the other hand, were about the fame time
capable, almoft univerfally, of knowing God,
it was alike fitting to communicate that
knowledge to them, that is, to foch a part
of them, and by foch degrees, as fhould feem
meet to divine wifdom ; and this, as I have
faid, was the fituation, the moft aufpicious
for it, both from the extent of the Roman
Empire, and that profound peace and tran
quillity, that then reign'd through the earth :
here, then, was the fullnefs of time ! the fea-
fon for God to fulfil his love to his crea
tion : in other words, this was the precifely fit,

of PROVIDENCE. 107
fit, and alone proper juncture for Meffiab
to come, when the Gentiles were in a con
dition to receive, by the Jews, the know
ledge of God, and when the Jews were no
longer liable to be corrupted to the idolatry
of the Gentiles, when the ritual law was
no further neceffary, and when men's minds
were ripe for a purer and better dijpenfation,
and the circumftances of the world were
fuch, as to favour the foccefs and progrefs
of it.
In this very time Meffiah came; nor could
he have come fo opportunely at any other :
It would have been utterly inexpedient for
him to have come fooner, for the reafons
already laid down ; and, if he had come later,
thoufands, who might have heard that in-*
eftimable tiding, would have died without
the confolation of it : in the former fop-
pofition, his coming would have been in
effectual ; in the latter, it had heen equally
well for all ages, and periods to come, but
not fo for fome, that would have been paft :
I do not mention here the accomplifhment
of the prophecies, that pointed to the time
of MeJ/iah's appearing, and which caufed fo

I o 8 The Scheme and ConduB
fo general an expectation of him at that
time, becaufe, if any other had been more
proper, they might as well have been ac
commodated to it ; but this being eminently
the fitteft and beft time, for that reafon they
were calculated for it.

CHAP.

of PROVIDENCE. 109

CHAP. XI.
IT is now manifeft, that God did not
act arbitrarily in his revelations, any
more than he was partial 'and unjufi in them :
as to partiality and injufiice, thefe, we have
prov'd, cannot be imputed to his conduct,
without grofly departing from the true pur
port and intent of it ; particular diftinc-
tions were never difpens'd by God, but for
general good; and if he fhewed love and
favour to this man, or this nation, it was
ftill for the fake of all men, and all nations :
he always was, and neceffarily is, the guar
dian and benefactor, alike, of his whole cre
ation : having created all for happinefs, he
muft be equally foUicitous to procure it for
all ; and fhould a religion, claiming to come
from heaven, imply the contrary, it could
not, I think, be receiv'd as fuch, by any
reafonable man. If

no The Scheme and ConduB
If I am ask'd, why it did not pleafe God,
to deal with all nations, as he did with the
Jews, it has been fhewn already, that in
fome refpects it would not have been for
their good to be fo dealt, with : then fay,
all nations being treated like them, and MeJ-
fiah promis'd as particularly to all, that fome,
or more, of them had, like the Jews, re
jected him, and been parties to the ufage,
he met with; would ^>z*have been a defirable
iffiue ? Is it to be wifh'd, that any one na
tion fhould be in the circumftances and con
dition, which they (the Jews) have been in
fince Chrifi, and in which, for ought we
can fee, they are like to continue ? Laftly,
fuppofing the world to laft many thoufand
years longer, let me ask, what force will then
remain to this queftion, why it pleas'd God
for a punSlum, or moment of time, (for
foch it may be comparatively to the whole)
to treat one nation differently from others,
efpecially fince they were thus treated, not
merely for their own fakes, nor out of par
tial favour to them, but in order to bring
about the welfare of all the reft, which pro
bably could not fo well have been done by
any other method.
Now,

of PROVIDENCE, in
Now, as God was not unjuft and par
tial in his revelations, fo neither did he act
arbitrarily in them, or give them at one
time, rather than at another, by virtue mere
ly of his foveraign will and pleafore : as often
as he rcveal'd himfelf, he did fo, ftrictly and
abfolutely, for reafons of wifdom and good
nefs, and at foch times only, when it could
be done with due effect for men's welfare,
and by foch means only, as were beft foit-
ed to procure that effect : the revelation to
the Jews, was begun to be given, when the
world begun to be enough re-peopled ; that
to the Gentiles, when the Gentiles were in
a right temper and condition to embrace it :
the former could not have been difpenfed
more early, nor the latter more feafonably :
Affoon as the old difpenfation could be foper-
feded with fafety, the new one took place,
that new one, for whofe fake alone the old
was made, and which it was to prepare and
make way for : the one could be fafely re-
peal'd, and the other became practicable at
one and the fame time : nor this was con
tinued, nor that deferr'd, any longer, than
it was right and fitting, they fhould be : the
fame time, and preparation, which was re
quired

112 The Scheme andConduB
quired to fit the Gentiles for the knowledge
of God, was requir'd to preferve and fix that
knowledge effectively among the Jews,
through whom it was to be imparted to
them. That known and boafted objection, then,
infifted on by Porphyry, fo often reviv'd
by others, falls at length to the ground : It
was right on all accounts, that Meffiah fhould
come fo late, that is, that he fhould come
at the time he did, and no other : And as
to whole nations perijhing, and innumerable
multitudes of men being loft, through igno
rance of GOD' s will, before his coming, it
might as well be faid, that all have been
loft and perifhed, fince his coming : what
nations, what multitudes have been thus loft ?
and who have perifh'd ? God, 'tis certain,
provided, according to his great goodnefs,
and as far as it could be done, for the wel
fare of men in all ages before Chriftianity :
his eye was ftill upon his creation, to blefs
the good, and profper their labour : he train
ed mankind gradually, and by various means,
to virtue and knowledge, fo to qualify them,
at laft, for the higheft and beft knowledge,
that of himfelf \ and in the mean time, he
pour'd

of PROVIDENCE. 115
pour'd his love and mercy on them in all
fhapes : in refpect of a future ftate and
being, if this be the thing, they, who were
before Chriftianity, were in the fame cir
cumftance very near with our felves ; 'tis
true, they did not know clearly that ftate,
and what related to it, as we do ; this was
not, and could not be reveal'd to them, as it
has been to us ; neverthelefs, there being
this future exiftence, and man's foul b^ing
naturally immortal, that exiftence, and that
immortality, muft belong as much to thofe,
who lived before Meffiah, as to thofe, who
came after him ; confequently, the bleffings
and rewards of foch a ftate, are open alike
to the one, as to the other : Chrift did not
make life and immortality ; he only brought
them to light : he did not conftitute, but on
ly revealed thefe great and glorious truths to
men; truths, which he was commiffion'd
to reveal to them, and which render'd their
being, here, fo much more happy and com
fortable, than it could have been without
fuch lights and difcoveries. In a word, the
condition of mankind was better'd, and made
more perfect, ftep by ftep, and as the rea
fon and nature of things directed, and if
I they,

1 1 4 The Scheme andConduB
they, that were before Chrifi, wanted the*
advantages, they were not capable of, and
that are deriv'd to us, if they had not the
fame incentives to virtue and piety, nor the
fame hopes and promifes to fopport and ani
mate them, if they had lefs of happinefs^
as of knowledge, in this life, than we have,
all juft allowances, no doubt, are made them
for it in the next, and all fuch retributions,
as are due to their ftate and fituation.
There is, indeed, no nonfenfe in fcripture
it felf; but blockheads and enthufiafts, this
truth cannot be diffembled, have grafted fo
plentifully of this ftock upon it, that 'tis
not always eafy to feparate what is fuch,
from what is not.*
The fcope and intendment of the whole
fcheme of Providence, was to bring human

* There are a fet of writers, of great and long fland-
ing, who impute the infidelity of thefe times to plura
lities in cl'urch-prefermentf, non-refidence, fupinenefs
and ill lives of clergymen, and many things of that fort :
I cannot come, all at once, into fuch opinions ; but this,
I think, may be affirmed with good probability, that if
revelation were ftript of all its abufes, from firft to laft,
and were propounded fairly, and in its original plainnefs
and bonejly, it would have much fewer oppofers, and
ftand fair for being receiv'd by reafonable and virtuous
men. nature,

of PROVIDENCE. 115
nature, by degrees, to all the beauty, ho-
linefs, and perfection, it could, in thisfiate,
admit of, and all the parts of this fcheme,
as, I hope, I have made appear, were wifely
form'd, and purfoed, depending regularly on
each other, and leading to the fame great
and good end : every meafore was rightly
tim'd, and neceffary in it felf, and adapted
to occafions, and the refpective circumftances,
and condition, of mankind.
If it could be prov'd, as has been before
hinted, that God had acted arbitrarily, and
capricioufly, in his dealings, with men, and
by no rule, but pleafure, this were proving,
that he acts without wifdom, or defign, or
goodnefs, and were, in effect, to cancel his
attributes, and diveft him of his nature :
'tis the feme thing to deny God's exiftence,
as to fay, he does this, or that, merely be
caufe he wills it : he can do, nor will no
thing, but becaufe , 'tis wife and good ; and
when you fuppofe him to do otherwife,
you foppofe him to ceafe to be what he is,
that is, to be an infinitely wife and good
being. 'Tis true, we may not be able, abfolutely
and in all cafes, to trace the reafons of the
I 2 divine

1 1 6 The Scheme and ConduB
divine" conduct, and to demonftrate the
wifdom of it; but when, in- its general pro
cefs, and tenor, we find alipoffible marks of
excellency and perfection, we may reafonably
conclude, that every particular is wife alfo,
whether we immediately fee the fimefs of
it, or no.
If you fuppofe any particular, or cir
cumftance, as reveal'd from heaven, to be
defective in wifdom, or goodnefs, this,, in
truth, is foppofing it not to be reveal'd ; 'tis
denying the revelation, becaufe no fuch de
fects can poflibly be in God : all the hifio-
rical evidence in the world, and the ftrong-
eft proofs of facts, from tefiimony, will prove
nothing, if thofe facts are not worthy of the
Being, they prefume to come from, and if
they are not agreeable to his known, im
mutable nature and attributes : we find, in
his vifible material world, the higheft cha
racteristics of wifdom and goodnefs ; much
more may we expect to find them in his
moral difoenfations ; if the former are infi
nitely expreffive of the perfections of their
great Author, the latter, certainly, cannot
fall fhort ofr them in that regard. Secondly,

of PROVIDENCE. n7
Secondly, it is no lefs weak and abford to
affirm, that we cannot decide, as not having
competent talents for it, concerning the mea-
fores, and proceedings, of God : if fo, we
cannot be fore, what are his proceedings,
nor know, if things really come from him,
or not. It is indeed finely and juftly faid
in fcripture, that his paths are unfearchable,
and the like ; that is, we cannot difcover
throughly all the fecrets, and properties, of
nature, nor inveftigate fuccefsfully ail caufes
in their effects ; yet do we clearly appre
hend the eternal differences of good and evil,
and the grounds of moral truth and recti
tude ; we are fully acquainted with the high
attributes of the Creator, and can diftinguifh
what is, or is not confentaneous thereto : it
is again faid, that his thoughts are not, as our
thoughts, that is, the wifdom of God is as
much greater than ours, as infinite is more
than finite ; yet have we capacity to adore
and praife that wifdom, and to judge, whe
ther a revelation be worthy of it ; if we had
not, we fhould hot be worthy of a revela
tion, nor fit fubjects for one.
I 3 CHAP,

1 1 8 The Scheme andConduB

CHAP. XII.
Think it proper to confider a little fur
ther the aforementioned objection of
Porphyry : I fhould be glad, if I could,
to lay the ax to the root of this evil, which,
I imagine, is built on a foppofition, not on
ly groundlefs in it felf, but moft unworthy
of God ; the foppofition, that all, who liv'd
before Chrifi, whether Jews or Gentiles, are
perifh'd, or in a ftate of damnation, by their
being incapable, on that account, of any be
nefit from his merits.
In refpect of Chrifi's merits, redemption,
and fatisfaBion for fin, thefe are, in reality,
a fet of phrafes, or notion^ which have
ufurp'd a meaning, that, I hope, does not
belong to them, or which, at leaft, are
not to be met with, that I know of,
in the gofpel hiftories, and which our Savi
our himfelf does not any where make ufe
of,

of PROVIDENCE. 119
of, nor allude to : 'tis true, the Apofiles,
fometimes, make mention of attornment and
expiation ; but thefe expreffions, when ufed
by them, are either a typical way of fpeak-
ing and defcription, and in allufion to the
rites of the Mofaic inftitution, or elfe are
urged by them in their reafonings and de
bates, with Jews, as fit arguments to them,
and refer often to certain dark queftions and
opinions, which we cannot, perhaps, come
to a very exact knowledge of.
The Apofiles, no doubt, were perfons high
ly favour'd of God, and fo far under the
guidance of his divine Spirit, as was necef
fary to enable them to execute their great
truft, which was, to inform mankind of the
truth of thofe wondrous facts, the refur-
reclion and afcenfion -, in other words, to
preach Chrifi, and him crucified : notwith-
ftanding, they do not feem to infift on all
they fay, as abfolutely infpir'd, and on fome
occafions, they actually difclaim infpiration :
their feveral difcourfes, and epiftles, ought,
certainly, to be held in the higheft re
fpect and veneration, and deferve men's '
moft ferious fludy and attention, but when
we are defirous to know the true intent and
I 4 view

I 7 o The Scheme and ConduB
view of Chriftianity, and the real will-^and
declarations of God, we ought, forely, to
xefort to the leffons of Chrifi himfelf: and
yet the contrary method is almoft always
taken ; men ftill feem to value more the dic
tates of his difciples, than thofe of our Sa
viour, and for orie quotation, or proof, they
fetch from thefe, we have a great many from
St. Paul, and the reft : this is, in appear
ance, laying greater ftrefs on thofe writings,
which are often exceeding obfcure, and intri
cate, for the reafons juft mention'd, than on
the clear diftinct inftructions of the Author
of our faith : a great part of Chriftians even
carry this miflake (for foch, I think, I may
call it) yet further, preferring, firft, the dif-«
courfes of the Apofiles to thofe of their Ma™
fier; then, the writings and opinions of the
Fathers to thofe pf the Apofiles ; and laftly,
the judgment and decifipns of the modern
Church, to the deoifions of both the other;
thus, the lower they go, and the more diftant
from infpiration, the greater with them is:
the authority ; which certainly cannot be a
very right way of proceeding.
To return then, thefe notions of Chriff&.
merits, fatisfacliqnfarfin, and the like, are
- npt,

of PROVIDENCE, m
not, as I faid, to be found in the Evange-
lifis ; our Saviour no where defcribes him
felf in the lights and views, which foch
phrafes import : the commiffton, in truth,
given by God to our glorious Lord, Mef
fiah, was of a quite different nature : the
intent of it, was not, I humbly apprehend,
to expiate paft tranfgreffions fo much, as
to provide againft future ones ; was not to
fatisfy for imaginary guilt, but to conduct
men to real virtues ; nor to cleanfe them from
the fins of others, but to affure them of par
don, on repentance for their own.
But, principally, and above all things, the
drift of Chrift's miffion was, to bring man
kind to a perfect knowledge of the true God,
and of the abfolute unity of his nature; this
was his main fcope j accordingly, 'tis al
ways his care to guard againft errors and
mifapprehenfions in this grand point, and to
prevent, if poffibly it could be done, all con
fufion and perplexity qf ideas about it ; and
hence it is, that we always find him fpeak-
ing of himfelf in the meekefl and moft
humble terms : he will not even permit them
to call him good, for that none, • except God,
cqiilcj be (aid, properly and perfectly, to be
fo;

ill The Scheme and ConduB
fo : at taking leave of his difciples, he tells
them, I go to my Father and your Father,
to my GOD and your GOD, and when
he is queftion'd concerning the day of judg
ment, his anfwer is, that of that day and
hour no man knoweth, not even the angels,
that are in heaven, no, not the Son himfelf,
but his Father only.
For this reafon likewife, I conceive it is,
that our Lordfo frequently ftiles himfelf the
Son of man : at the fame, time, he is, moft
properly, and in a fuperlative manner, the
Son of GOD. This is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleafed ; this day I have begot
ten him, that is, this is the facred Perfon, fo
eminently favour'd and belov'd by me, and this
day he enters on his fublime illuftrious office
of Chrifi Meffiah, Lord and Judge of this
world ; this, I believe, is the true meaning
of the words, and that any other will be
found inconfiftent : if we fuppofe them to
relate to eternity, or to the time of the Vir
gin's conceiving by the Holy Ghoft, both the.
one, and the other, implies a contradiction ;
but, if the paffage be underftood, as I have
explained it, it is, I will dare to fay, the
fineft inftance of figurative fpeech, that can be

of PROVIDENCE. 123
be conceiv'd, and the moft admirably ex-
preffive of, and fuited to the majefty of the
thing, it represents.
Thus is Chrifi, the Son of GOD, in a
fenfe more excellent far, than any other of
the angels of GOD, who are alfo often
call'd in Scripture the fins of GOD ; but
for fear, left men, from this great title, or
through mifguided zeal or gratitude, fhould
afcribe too much to him, and fo injure God,
he choofes, on almoft all occafions, to call
himfelf the Son of man, as fome of the Pro
nto* had done before. And they floallfee
the Son of man coming in the clouds with
great power and glory. Here, you obferve,
he affumes this title, in the moft folemn, and
moft auguft exertion of his character ; and
'tis in truth, of all his ftiles, or appellations,
the moft folendid, as it fignifies, and deli
neates, to us, the nature and high quality of
his amiable office and perfon.
All, or many of the angels of heaven,
have, it mayt>e, in their proper degrees and
fubordinations, vice-royalties, or the care of
particular empires, or worlds, committed to
them ; that of this globe was affign'd to the
Chrifi : wherefore, he is called emphatically the

124 ^e Scheme andConduB
the Son of man ; call'd fo, not merely be
caufe he took human nature upon him, but
as a peculiar diftinction and honour, and
to point him out, and exalt him, among
the reft of the fans of GOD, who, pro
bably, had particular titles alfo, taken from
their refpective charges, or governments : thus
the angel, charged with the affairs of Per-
fia, if I remember, is ftil'd the Prince of
the kingdom of Perfia.
This moft bleffed of all perfons, the holy
Jefus, may, I do acknowledge, be very juftly
faid to have taken away the fins of the world;
he was the light of the world, and God's in-
ilrument in bringing men to the practice of
true religion and holinefs : he may, in a
very worthy acceptation, be termed a Sa
viour and Redeemer, as having put men into
the way of being reconciled to God, and
not to have their fins imputed to them, and
having fo much bettered the condition of
human life, by adding the higheft privileges
and comforts to it : fo that thefe things may,
under caution, be conftrued into fome very
good and pious meaning, tho' they cannot, I
fear, be admitted, wholly and abfolutely, in

of PROVIDENCE. 125
in that meaning, in which they have been
commonly taken and underftood.
However, that I may attack the objection
before us, in all its quarters, it fhall be fup
pofed for once, that there are grounds in
fcripture, for this doctrine of merits and
fatisfaSlion, in the vulgar apprehenfion of
it : admitting this, yet how is it to be in
ferred from it, that all are perifh'd that
were before Meffiah f Whoever believeth in
me, it is faid, Jhall he faved, and whoever be
lieveth not, fhall be damned. This declaration,
lam inclined to think, concerns chiefly, or on
ly, thbfe, who were eye-witneffes of the works
of Jefus and his Apofiles ; not all thofe, I
hope, who came to the knowledge of them
only by tradition, and who cannot be in
duced to think the relations, we have of
them, authentic, but moft certainly not
thofe who never heard, and have never
had opportunity of hearing of the name of
Chrifi. But 'be this as it will ; yet how, I fay,
is it to be inferred from hence, that all be
fore our ¦ Saviour are loft ? Why thus, I
prefume: believing in Chrifi being the only
thing that entitles men to falvation, theywho

1 2 6 The Scheme and ConduB
who lived before him, as they could riot pof
fibly believe on him, whom they knew not,
fo could not be fharers in his merits : now,
the contrary to all this, I think moft evi
dent ; for, as no one can believe, what he has
never heard any mention of, the not belie
ving in the text cannot be extended to any,
to whom Chrifi was never preached : it is
not therefore fair to make fuch an inference,
as in the objection, from thefe words, fince
they are capable of a different meaning, and
are only an abftract of Chrifs difcourfe to
his Apoftles, and, like all other pafiages in
the gofpel, ought to be interpreted from the
whole tenor of it. As the former part of
the verfe foppofes Chrifi to be preach'd, and
believ'd and obey'd, and tells the confequence
of fuch belief and obedience ; fo the latter
part foppofes Chrifi to be preach'd, and not
believ'd, or rejected, and the confequence of
that in like manner : What relation has this
to nations, or people, that liv'd before Chrifi
was born ? Or why muft an abford fenfe
be put upon words, that are capable of a good
one, unlefs it be to make the fcriptures ap
pear ridiculous ? What

of PROVIDENCE. 127
What would a fenfible Chinefe, or other
Pagan, fey, if he were told, that God, the
all-good and righteous God, had damn'd^
had confign'd to eternal mifery, unnumber'd
nations and empires, millions on millions of
men, for the tranfgreffion of another, and
for crimes, which, through the neceffary cor
ruption of their nature, they could not avoid ;
that he had damn'd the whole race of man
kind, for the firft four thoufand years of the
world, only becaufe they were fo unfortu
nate, as to be born within that period ! It
is not, I prefume, the determin'd opinion
of thinking Chrifiians, that all, who liv'd
before Chrifi, are perifh'd ; but 'tis a moot
or doubtful point with fome of the weaker
part of them, who feem only to wifh kind
ly, and to fpeak good-natur'dly in the affair;
their real judgment, their fears at leaft, are
on the fide of damnation : if it were not fo,
how came it, that a true anfwer has not
been, commonly, given to this objection,
this demand of Porphyry, For what reajon
a merciful GOD could for fo many ages,
from Adam to Mofes, and from Mofes to
Chrifi, fufifer whole nations to perijh, through
ignorance of his will and law ; and why it
was

128 The Scheme andConduB
was' neceffary for Chrifi to come Jo late, and
not before an innumerable multitude of men
had been iofi? I am forprifed, that it has
not been conftantly, throughout fo many
centuries, replied to him, that the fact, or
notion, on which his objection is grounded,
has no foundation in our religion.
The fufferings, and Paffion of Chrifi, and
his propitiation for fin, and his being afia-
crifice, acceptable to God, are plainly allu-
fions to the effetls, which facrifices had in
the Jewijh law ; not to every effecl, but to
fome particular and eminent ones : and, as
thofe, who did eat at God's table, that is,
partook of his facrifices, were deem'd friends
of God ; fo becaufe we are reconcil'd to
God, or made friends to him, by the death
of Chrifi, he is look'd upon as a facrifice :
but whatever is intended by foch figurative
expreffions, one thing is certain, that 'tis no
where foggefted, that the good and faithful
endeavours of thofe, who liv'd before Chrifi,
were unacceptable to God, becaufe they
knew nothing of Chrifi.
To conclude, I hope, I fhall not be
thought to have had any defign, in what
has been faid, to derogate from the character or

of PROVIDENCE. 129
or perfon of our blefied Saviour : all I con
tend for, and thus much, furely, fhould be
granted, is, that foch notions, as mani-
feftly impugn the juftice and goodnefs of
God, however they may have got admit
tance into fome weak men's heads, or may
be countenanc'd from miftaken and mif-
underftood paffages of the facred writings,
yet if they are not plainly found there, and
this agreeably to the whole tenor of the
fcriptures, they ought to be difown'd and
difcarded. Deifm, I am fatisfied, will not
fare the better for this, nor Chriftianity the
worfe.

K CON-

CONCLUSION.
SO far as I have gone, ; namely, to die
:.bj£thtpf Mefiiah, the wifdom and good
nefs of Go^>. appear, as I conceive, "unex-
ceptipjaabk:OT the main of things : and I am
willing, to '^hope, that fome of thofe, who
intereft thfemfelves againft reveal'd religion,
will be. induc'd to confider, candidly, what
has been advanced: I need not fey, I mean
here only the rational and virtuous part of
deifts ; thofe of them, that are known for
learning, ability, and moderation : for fuch,
it is certain, there have been, and are, let
little witC compliment them ever fo much
with their own title, or great cafuifis dif-
pofe of them ever fo unfortunately.
I take this opportunitg^alfo, to congratu
late thefe gentlemen, on- 'the good effects of
their endeavours, no doubt undefign'd by
them, and to return them my moft humble
thanks for the fervice which, I think, they
have done to the caufe of God, and Chrifii-
enityi jhere is notjfing, I am perfuaded, which

of PROVIDENCE. 131
which fo much aids, and promotes, the in-
terefts of true religion, as a free and unre-
ferv'd enquiiy into it ; 'tis this, which opens
the foundations of truth, and fhews their.
depth and ftrength : when men of learning
diftruft, and difpute, the grounds of religion,
men of. learning likewife aflert, and vindi
cate it : thus, wit, and genius, are put to
a ftretch, and have a new edge given them ;
and hence labours are produced, that, with
out this fpur, would not have feen the light ;
monuments of antiquity , alfo, that had been
loft, and traffs of curious knowledge, that
were worn out, are by this means recover'd ;
new veins- of reafoning are often ftruck out,
and folutions found for difficulties, that
would not elfe have been found, and divers
matters clear'd up and explain'd, that, proba
bly, otherwife would have remain'd in the dark.
Such fervice has, and, I hope, always will
be done to revelation- by a fair and candid
oppofition to it, for no other isjuftified by
me ; nor will any defences of it, I will dare
fay, avail much, but what axe fair and candid
alfo : men of fenfe, and knowledge, will not
be blufter'd, and ill-treated, into a belief of
what (tho' miftaken) they judge, there is not
K 2 fufficient

12 2 The Scheme and ConduB
f jfficient evidence for ; they will not be intimi
dated' into conviction, nor yield aflent to any
fyllogifms of that kind: to tell them of the
great danger infidelity, and the criminal, or
damnable, nature of it, ; is only to furnifh1
them with a new and better argument in its
vindication j than they had, perhapSj before:
for how^ I would fain know, can infidelity
be criminal? it may be unreafonable : it is
fo in my judgment, and in yours : but does
it follow, that it muft be fo in the judg
ment of all men? muft that, which appears
unreafonable to me, neceffarily appear fo to
every other perfon ? are not the wifeft men,
in fome things, liable to error? or will you
pronounce a man guilty, for ftanding in a
miftaken notion, when he "thinks, it is not
a" miftaken one? is it wicked to think, and
examine, and to profefs thofe opinions, that
are the true rsfult of foch thinking ? is it
criminal to reft upon, and to be determin'd
by our beft reafon, and underftanding ? by
this rule, it may be criminal to fee, or hear,
or tafle, or any thing: 'tis fuch fooKfh and
abfurd pretences as thefe, that fometimes
make men infidels, and vfterier confirm them
in' being fo : all, that a wife and good God can

CONCLUSION 133
can demand, and expect, from rational crea
tures, is to make the beft and fincereft en
quires, they are able, after truth, and to
maintain and adhere to it, when they think
they have found it ; to defire, and to fludy,
to know his will, and to obey what, after
due fearch, they conclude to be foch. _-»
It is indeed ridiculous and flupid, in all
views, to go about to frighten people into
our own opinion : if they are wife men,
they can only be reafon'd into it ; if they are
fools, that trouble is not neceffary : let things
be propos'd, and debated, with the temper
and decency, they ought to be, let no one
aflert what he does not truly think, nor
urge for argument, what does not appear
conclufive to himfelf, and one may reafon-
ably hope, that the controverfy will iffue
well; it cannot be otherwife; for, if the
deniers of revelation are in the right, they
ought to prevail ; if they are in the wrong,
they cannot : it has been always underftood, I
take it, as promis'd to the church, that the
gates of hell Jhall never prevail againft it ;
what need then of the fecular arm ? what
occafion for terrors of any fort ? what even
for the leaft degree of anger, or refentment ?
To return to what I was firft faying, the
knowing

*?4 COMCLU SI ON.
knowing and ferious part of unbelievers will,
I am in hopes, regard with ingenuoufoefs,
and good nature, what has been faid by me
in thefe pages, or what fhall be faid, alike
inoftenfively, by any other: foch men, I
prefume, are above taking unjuft, and un-
handfome, advantages ; they will not defire
to evade truth by fophifiry ; nor will they
except to, and cavil at little overfights and
tnifiakes. — From thefe, therefore, one may
juftly expect to have a fair hearing.
As to the reft, the rabble of freethinkers,
I pafs them by with all the charity, and con
tempt, that can be in man's heart : if is, in
deed, only for civility fake, that I have men
tion'd them at all ; for, ftrictly fpeaking,
they are not of this number, or party: they
are libertines, fanatics, pedlars, any thing
you pleafe ; but not, in propriety, deifis :
they pafs, I acknowledge, for fuch, and are
greatly admir'd on that account; their want
of faith, or feeming to want it, is their pro
per praife and recommendation ; nor is there
any kind of accomplijhment, perhaps, in
greater requeft at prefent, than this: 'tis
made the mode, and breeding, of refin'd
life, and is got even among fhatfex, whom one

CONCLUSION. i3'5
one can neither convince by reafon, nor re
prove without ill-manners : all ranks go in
to this affectation : a fine gentleman, to A?
thought fuch, muft have a tincture of fcepti-
cifm ; fops are fond of it, as if it were a
part of drefs, and courtiers miflake it for the
Belles Lett res : nowithftanding, this fpecies
of wits cannot, I think, with juftice be
marfhall'd among infidels : there goes fenfe,
and pains, and learning to the making, what
we truly call a freethinker : what right have
people to that name, who have neither fenfe,
nor learning ! foch perfons, certainly, ought
to keep to the track, and to the tommunity,
they were brought up in ; if their fathers
were churchmen, they ought to be church
men ; if their fathers were Muggletonians, it
behoves them alfo to be Muggletonians.
Believing, I will allow, is, very generally,
an infirmity ; 'tis the property of weak and
ignorant minds, and what they take vaft
pleaiurb in : yet this is not irregular, not
out of char after ; it is not unnatural, as it
is to fet up to be deifts without deifim, and
freethinkers without thought : a perfon may
be excufed, who has no reafon of his faith,
but 'tis utterly unfair in men to have no rea
fon for their infidelity. This

i36 CONCLUSION
This is not, as I faid, being, in reality, inr
fidels; 'tis only feeming to be what they are
not, and priding in imaginary wickednefe*
made real in them, becaufe they have no pre-
tenfions to it.
Let thefe perfons glory in their crike, and
folly, for foch it truly is in them ; let thein
enjoy the vanity of infidelity, and the dear-
bought applaufes, they may meet with from
weak and wicked men : as I do not envy
fuch philofophers, I have no intentions to dis
turb them : it is to men of virtue and knowr
ledge' only, that I direct myfelf, and Ffhali
be glad of the approbation of anyV foch,
whether they are found among the believing
or infidel part of mankind : in the mean
time, 'twill always be a fatisfaction to me to
reflect, that I have contributed, what was in
my humble power, to the fopport, or ex
planation, of truths, (efteem'd fuch by me)
the right underftanding of which I judge
eflential to men's welfare, and what it moft
of all things concerns them to be truly in-
form'd about.

F I N- I &