they were not extinguished and loft the Grave; for God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living; it plainly fuppofed, that, fince he was fill their God, they were ftill exifting in their Souls; and it virtually included the Promife of a glorious Refurrection, without which they could not be properly faid to live in their intire Persons. And when our blessed Lord charged it upon the Sadducees, who denied the Refurrection and a future State, that they erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God. Matt. xxii. 29, &c. he plainly intimates, that, if they had rightly. known and confidered the Scriptures of the Old Teftament, which are the Scriptures there referred to, they would have led them to the Belief and Acknowledgment of a happy Immortality. The fame Thing he alfo fignifies in that Exhortation to the Jews, Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal Life, and they are they which testify of me. John v. 39. What was the Faith and Hope of the ancient Jewish Church we may fairly gather from the Book of Pfalms, many of which admirable Compofures were defigned to be made Use of in the public Worship: And there are several Paffages there that seem to point to a future Blessedness, as Pf. xvi. 1I. Thou wilt fhew me the Path of Life; in thy Pre

fence

fence is Fulness of Joy; at thy right Hand are Pleafures for evermore. And, P. xvii. 15, after having reprefented the Wicked as having their Portion in this Life, and that God filleth their Belly with his bid Treasures; that they are full of Children, and leave the reft of their Subftance to their Babes; the Pfalmift declareth, concerning himself, As for me, I will behold thy Face in Righteoufness; I fhall be fatisfied, when I awake, with thy Likeness. In like Manner, P. xlix. 14, 15, fpeaking of the Wicked, he faith, Like Sheep they are laid in the Grave, Death fhall feed on them, and the Upright fhall have Dominion over them in the Morning, and their Beauty fhall confume in the Grave from their Dwelling; and then he adds, But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave; for he shall receive me. The Hope of Immortality feems plainly to lie at the Foundation of those noble Strains of Triumph and Exultation in God that good Men of old fometimes expreffed; fuch as that in P. lxxiii. 24, 25, 26, Thou fhalt guide me with thy Counsel, and afterwards receive me to Glory. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? And there is none upon Earth that I defire befides thee. My Flefh and my Heart faileth; but God is the Strength of my Heart, and my Portion for ever. And that fublime Paffage, Habak. iii. 17,

VOL. IV.

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18.

18. Although the Fig-Tree shall not blossom, neither hall Fruit be in the Vine; tho though the Labour of the Olive fhall fail, and the Fields fhall yield no Meat; the Flock hall be cut aff from the Fold, and there shall be no Herd in the Stall: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation. It is declared that the Righteous bath Hope in his Death, Prov. xiv. 32. That, at Death, the Duft shall return to Earth as it was, and the Spirit fhall return to God who gave it. Ecclef. xii. 7. And, Ver. 14, That God will bring every Work into Judgment, with every fecret Thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Fit The Prophet reprefents the righteous Man as, at Death, entering into Peace. If, Ivii. 2. I add that there are several Paffages in the facred Writings of the Old Teftament, that seem to refer to the Refurrection of the Body. The most ancient Teftimony to this Purpose is that noted Paffage in the Book of Job, Chap. xix. 25, 26, 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he Shall ftand at the latter Day upon the Earth. And, though after my Skin Worms deftroy this Body, yet in my Flefh fhall I fee God: Whom I fall fee for myself, and mine Eyes fhall behold, and not another, though my Reins be confumed within me.

Iam fen

fible that there are fome Expofitors that

tranflate

tranflate this Paffage fomewhat differently, and understand it as fignifying his Hope, in a figurative Way of fpeaking, that God would reftore him to a State of Profperity here on Earth. But this Interpretation feems to put a Force upon the Words, and no Way comes up to the Force and Emphafis of the Expreffions, and the Solemnity with which this Paffage is introduced. That Paffage, Pf. xvi. 10, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, (or, as the Words might be rendered, my dead Body in the Grave; for the word Neple, there rendered Soul, alfo fometimes fignifies a dead Body, as Numb. ix. 6, 10, and xix. 11, 13.) neither wilt thou fuffer thine Holy One to fee Corruption, relates to the Refurrection of the Meffiah, our Lord Jefus Chrift. And, in If. xxvi. 19, there feems to be at least a manifeft Allufion to the general Refurredlion, and fo it has been generally underftood by the Jews: Thy dead Men fhall live, together with thy dead Body fhall they arife awake and fing, ye that dwell in Duft for thy Dew is as the Dew Herbs, and the Earth fhall caft out the Dead. But efpecially that is a remarkable Paffage to this Purpofe, which we have in Dan. xii. 2, 3. Many of them that fleep in the Duft of the Earth fhall awake, fome to everlasting Life, and fome to

E e 2

Shame

f

to

Shame and everlasting Contempt. And they that be wife fhall fine as the Brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many Righteoufnefs, as the Stars for ever and ever. The feveral Paffages that have been mentioned feem naturally to lead our Thoughts to a future State; nor can I fee any Reafon for taking them in that narrow, low, jejune Senfe, which fome, by the Help of forced Criticifms, would put upon them. And

ingly it is certain, that, at the Time

of our Saviour's Coming, both the Immortality of the Soul and the Refurrection of the Body were believed by the Jews this particularly was the Doctrine of the Pharifees, the moft applauded Sect among them, with whom in this agreed the Body of that Nation.

But yet, after all, it must be acknow ledged, that though the Belief of a future Happiness referved for good Men after Death generally prevailed among the People of God, before and at the Time of our Saviour's actual Appearance; yet the Dif coveries that were made of it were far from having fuch a Degree of Evidence and Certainty, as we now have of it by the Gospel. The Promifes of the Mofaical Covenant were, in their most obvious literal Senfe, of a temporal Nature; and a future Hapin efs is rather there fuppofed and implied,

or