solemn enforcement and impressive description by the last prophets. And we are thus, I trust, fully prepared to receive and admit the clear truth and full force of our divine Lord's declaration, that the Jews derived the knowledge of this truth from the Scriptures of the Old Testament; when appealing to them for the prophetic attestation of his own divine mission, he was left unfinished, and not published until after his death. It is however not unfair to conclude, that hints of a future state which were unintelligible to him, while he saw only through the medium of his own system, became intelligible (as they must, I think, be to all others) when that mist was gradually removed. But while I make this remark, Í am fully conscious of the possibility that variations and inconsistencies may be found in my own pages; though I sincerely hope truth is the great object of my pursuit. I therefore impute not to Warburton any deliberate neglect of that sacred principle; I would rather claim for him, as well as for myself, the old privilege of authors 'Opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum.” I have not judged it necessary in this argument to notice particularly the different texts which Warburton brings to shew, "That his conclusion may "be proved, not only from the silence of the sacred writers, but from their positive declarations; in which they plainly discover, that there was no "popular expectation of a future state or a resurrection."* If the numerous passages alleged in this work to prove the contrary, are fairly interpreted, these positive declarations shewing the expectation of a future state, cannot be done away by any texts from the same authors, which speak of death as the period of existence, or the grave as the land of forgetfulness, &c. &c.; for these all may be obviously and easily interpreted as meaning no more than that death closes our present state of existence, puts an end to our present projects, prevents us from declaring in the present world the faithfulness of God, &c. &c.; or at the utmost, that so long as the state of death continues, until men are raised from the dead and called to judgment, they remain insensible, † an opinion held by many Christians. And in some instances these texts seem to be opinions which the sacred writers suppose pronounced by irreligious or atheistical objectors, and which they after wards expressly refute; or vehement exclamations of recent sorrow reduc ing the mind almost to despair. It is worthy of remark, that the Sadducees alleged the same texts to prove the same conclusion, yet our Lord charges them with not knowing the Scriptures; an assertion which surely should warn us against arguing from the Scriptures in the same manner which they did. Nor is the declaration of St. Paul less express, as to what he conceived to be the real tenor of the Law and the Prophets on this subject; "This," says he to Felix, "I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, worship I the God of my fathers; believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets: and have hope "towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a "resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I "exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence both toward "God and toward men.' Acts xxiv. 14-16. *Vide Div. Leg. Book v. Sect. v. Vol. iv. p. 553. + Vide the Appendix to Bishop Law's Theory of Religion. + Vide Menasse Ben Israel, as quoted by the learned David Humphreys, in his Essay on the Notions of the Jews concerning the Resurrection, p. 89; in which the texts adduced by the Sadducees are quoted and considered. calls on his hearers, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think "ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."* And though the disquisition which this inquiry has produced, has swelled to an unexpected length, I trust this will be excused, from its obvious tendency to vindicate the truth and illustrate the connexion of both revelations. * John, v. 39. SECT. I.-Objection to Judaism, first from its being confined to a single nation-Secondly, from its implying mutability in God, as being opposed to Christianity—Answer to the first—Judaism not confined in its effects to one nation—but intended, through the instrumentality of the Jews, to enlighten mankind-This effect foreseen and attended to in the Jewish scheme-Various instances to shew this-Solomon's prayer at the consecration of the temple establishes the same inference—The miracles wrought for the Jews made a strong impression on the Egyptians— On the Canaanites-On the Philistines- On the Heathens in the reign of Solomon— But counteracted by the principles of Idolatry—Instanced in the history of the Samaritans-Who were however prepared by Judaism for Christianity-Effects produced by Judaism on the Heathens during the Captivity-Instanced in the history of Jeremiah-Of Daniel-Of his three friends-Of Belshazzar-Of Cyrus-These facts publicly attestedImportance of such attestations—Traces of these effects in the EastTraces of the same effects in the religion of Zoroaster-Of Mahomet— Recapitulation-Universal reformation not to be expected at that period of the world-Objection derived from partial effects of Judaism, erroneous in its statement of facts-Inconclusive in reasoning—A revelation not being universal, implies no injustice in God. EXODUS ix. 16. "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my "name may be declared throughout all the earth." IT yet remains to observe, that the Jewish system has been objected to, on grounds distinct from its immediate doctrines, or its direct effects upon the Jews themselves. First, as being partial; wholly confined to one obscure and insignificant nation, and therefore unworthy of a divine interposition, and inadequate to that stupendous apparatus of miracles by which it is supposed to have been introduced: Secondly, as indicating a capricious mutability on the part of God, who (as those objectors affirm) first promulgated the Mosaic Law as of eternal obligation; and yet afterwards is supposed to have abrogated it, and introduced the different and even opposite system of Christianity. To these objections it is answered, first, that the Jewish scheme was never intended merely for the benefit of the Jews alone, but by their instrumentality for the benefit of all mankind, whose instruction and reformation it had the clearest tendency to promote, by exhibiting the most striking proofs of the existence and power of the true God, not only to the Jews themselves, but to all the nations placed in their vicinity or affected by their fortunes; amongst whom were the Egyptians the wisest, the Canaanites the most warlike, and the Phonicians the most commercial nations of remote antiquity; and afterwards the four great empires of Assyria and Persia, Greece and Rome, which successively swayed the sceptre of the civilized world. So that whatever knowledge of true religion was preserved amongst mankind, was in all probability principally derived from this source, or at least was from thence materially extended and improved.* ་་ " A still more decided proof, that the Jewish scheme was de *That the Jewish Constitution was adapted to attract the attention and improve the religious knowledge of mankind, from the particular time at which it was introduced, has been satisfactorily evinced by a late ingenious writer. * He observes, “ had it been erected at a period nearer to the Deluge, whether during the time while the light from the old world, shed upon the survivors of that catastrophe, remained inextinguished, or during "the darkness and barbarism that succeeded it, it does not seem that the "period would have been (at least to human judgment) so wisely chosen. It would have been superfluous while men remained under the deep and recent impressions of the Deluge; and to the uninformed and inobservant 'minds of their successors, who were sinking into barbarism, it would have been lost, like a spectacle exhibited to the blind or the careless: and even "had its benefits been extended to all mankind, the number would have been then (comparatively at least) but few. But not being erected until men were multiplied and divided into separate communities, some of them grown up into some considerable magnitude, and to some good degree of improvement in powers and knowledge, it had, for the effectual exhibition of God's moral government, the advantage of being presented before many and qualified observers capable of apprehending such a truth, of "being gratified, or at least struck, with an easy proof and a conspicuous display of it. Beginning after the commencement of such nations as Babylon, Syria, Persia, and Egypt; continuing during the progress of these “nations through various conditions and vicissitudes, and unavoidably having some connexion with them, because settled in the midst of them, and some share in the changes which took place amongst them, the circum“ tances of the Jewish nation, and their correspondence with its character, and its observance and neglect of its peculiar constitution, could not but be well known to those nations; it must have exhibited an experimental, 66 " ་་ ،، " obvious, and clear proof of the moral government of God, a spectacle attracting their attention through all the stages of civil society, and all "the different conditions incident to such combinations of men." * Mr. Cappe, Vol. ii p. 208. Y signed for and subservient to the general benefit of mankind, is derived from that great feature of it which supplies the answer to the second objection; even this: That there has been no change in the divine purposes, and no inconsistency between the Jewish and Christian dispensations; but that the Mosaic Law was from the first intended not to be of eternal obligation, but declared to be subservient to and introductory of the Gospel. In order to establish the tendency of the Jewish economy to promote amongst other nations the knowledge of the true God, it is important to remark, that to produce such a tendency is expressly pointed out as part of the divine plan, and as a motive frequently influencing the measures of the divine dispensations. Thus the Jewish Legislator represents God as declaring concerning Pharaoh, "In very deed for this cause have I raised "thee up, to show in thee my power; and that my name may "be declared throughout all the earth."* And when on the impious rebellion of the Jews, after the return of the twelve spies, God proposes to destroy this ungovernable race, and raise from his faithful servant Moses a nation greater and mightier than they, the patriotic Legislator, in deprecating the execution of the divine menace, employs this topic as the most powerful dissuasive: "Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, "then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people "unto the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath "slain them in the wilderness." He then proceeds to entreat, that the long suffering mercy of God may now be exercised: "And the Lord said, Behold I have pardoned according to thy "word; but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with "the glory of the Lord." The awful sentence is then pro nounced, that the nation shall continue forty years in that wil derness, until "all the men of that evil generation should 66 * Exod. ix. 16. + Numb. xiv. 15. The same motive is represented as constantly operating to prevail upon Jehovah to withhold the full punishment in justice due to the crimes of this wayward people. Thus in his last solemn hymn, in which the Lawgiver exhibits a prophetic sketch of the entire dealing of God with his people; after enumerating the signal punishments which would follow their aposta cies, he adds, Deut. xxxii. 26, 27, "I would scatter them into corners, "would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men. Were "it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should "behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, "and the Lord hath not done all this." ‡ Numb. xiv. 20, 21. |