cient and learned nations, there are none but the PROP. books of the Jews, which (agreeably to the above de- XIV. monstrated truths concerning the God of nature, and the foundations of natural religion,) have, exclusive of chance and of necessity, ascribed either the original of the universe in general (an universe full of infinite variety and choice,) to the will and operation of an intelligent and free cause, or given any tolerable account, in particular, of the formation of this our earth into its present habitable state, 5. But in these books there is not only (in order to prevent idolatry) a full account (agreeable to the principles of natural reason,) how the heavens, and the earth, and all things therein contained, are the creatures of God, but, moreover, an uniform series of history from the infancy of mankind, consistent with itself, and with the state of the Jewish and Christian church at this day, and with the possibilities of the predicted series for the future, for several thousands of years. Which consistency with the possibilities of such predicted future events could not be by chance (as I shall show presently,) but is itself a great and standing miracle. 6. In these books, agreeably to the hopes and expectations naturally founded on the divine perfections, God did from the beginning make, and has all along continued to his church or true worshippers, a promise that truth and virtue shall finally prevail; should prevail over the spirit of error and wickedness, of delusion and disobedience: That the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head: (Gen. iii. 15.) That among her posterity should arise a deliverance from the delusion and power of sin, by which Satan should be bruised under their feet: (Rom. xvi. 20.) That, in particular, from the seed of Abra ham, and from the family of Isaac, and from the posterity of Jacob, and from the house of David, should arise the accomplishment of all God's promises to his church, and all the blessings included in God's covenant with his true worshippers. That at length the earth should be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the XIV. waters cover the sea, (Is. xi. 9.) that the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of the Lord: (Rev. xi. 15. Dan. vii. 27.) That in the last days, unto the mountain of the Lord's house, the seat of his true worship, should all nations flow; (Is. ii. 2.) That God would create new heavens and a new earth; (Is. lxv. 17.) wherein dwelleth righteousness; (2 Pet. iii. 13.) wherein the people should be all righteous, and inherit the land for ever: (Is. lx. 21. Ixv. 25. xi. 9. 1. 26.) Should be all holy; (Is. iv. 8.) even every one that is written among the living.* That God would set up a kingdom, which should never be destroyed, but stand for ever; (Dan. ii. 44.) and that the saints of the Most High should take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever, (Dan. vii. 18, 22, 27. Is. chap. lx.) 7. All the great promises, therefore, which God has ever made to his church, to his people, to the families or nations of his true worshippers, are evidently to be all along so understood as that wicked and unworthy persons, of whatever family, or nation, or profession of religion they be, shall be excluded from the benefit of those promises, shall be cut off from God's people; and worthy persons of all nations, from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, shall be accepted in their stead. That is to say; in like manner as the promise was made originally, not to all the children of Abraham, but to Isaac only, and not to both the sons of Isaac, but to Jacob only; and among the posterity of Jacob, all were not Israel which were of Israel, but in Elijah's days, seven thousand only were the true Israel ; and in the time of Isaiah, though the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, (Is. x. 22.) yet a remnant only was to be saved, (Rom. ix. 27.); and in Hosea God says, I will call them my people which werenot my people, and her beloved * Or written unto life, aan n So Dan. xii. 1. every one that shall be found written in the book. which was not beloved, (Hos. ii. 23. Rom. ix. 25.) PROP. So it is all along evidently to be understood, that the XIV. children of the promise, in the literal sense, according to the flesh, the visible church, or professed worshippers of the true God, are but the type or representative of the real invisible church of God, the (Rom. ii. 28. iii. 7 and 9. iv. 12.) true children of Abraham, in the spiritual and religious sense, the saints of the Most High, who shall possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever, (Dan. vii. 18.) even every one that is written among the living, (Is. iv. 3.) 8. It being evident that God cannot be the God of the dead, but of the living; and that all promises made to such worshippers of the true God as at any time forsook all that they had, and even life itself, for the sake of that worship, could be nothing but mere mockery if there was no life to come and God had no power to restore them from the dead: This (1 say) being self-evident, it follows necessarily, that when the time comes that the promised kingdom shall take place, the dead must be raised, and the saints, which have died in the intermediate time, must live again, and stand in their lot at the end of the days, (Dan. xii. 13.) When God styles himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; (Exod. iii. 6, 16.) and said to Abraham, I am thy exceeding great reward, (Gen. xv. 1.) and I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, (Gen. xvii. 7.) and I will give the land unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, (Gen. xvii. 8, 13, 15, 17.) and repeated the very same promises to Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 3.) and to Jacob personally, (Gen. xxviii. 13.) as well as to their posterity after them; (Deut. i. 8.) and yet gave Abraham none inheritance in the land, though he promised that he would give it to him and to his seed after him, (Acts vii. 5.) but Abraham himself sojourned only in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, (Heb. xi. 9.) who all confessed that they were strangers and pil. PROP. grims on the earth, (Heb. xi. 13.) and Jacob particuXIV. Tarly complained that the days of the years of his pilgrimage had been few and evil; (Gen. xlvii. 9.) and, in blessing Isaac and Ishmael, God promised to make Ishmael fruitful, and to multiply him exceedingly, (Gen. xvii. 20. xxi. 18.) so that he should beget twelve princes, and God would make him a great nation, and multiply his seed exceedingly, that it should not be numbered for multitude; (Gen. xvi. 10.) and yet in the very same sentence expressly, by way of opposition, and of high and eminent distinction, declares that, notwithstanding all this, yet his covenant, his everlasting covenant, he would establish with Isaac: (Gen. xvii. 19, 21.) When all this (I say) is considered, the inference of the apostle to the Hebrews cannot but appear unanswerably just, that these patriarchs looked for a city somewhat more than temporal, even a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God; (Heb. xi. 10.) and that they who said such things declared plainly that they sought a country, a better country, that is, an heavenly; (Heb. xi. 14, 16.) and that for this reason God was not ashamed to be called their God, because he had prepared for them a city. And if this inference was necessarily true concerning the patriarchs, who confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; (Heb. xi. 13.) much more concerning those who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, (Heb. xi. 35.) must it needs be true that the only possible reason of this their choice was that they might obtain a better resurrection. Other notices in the Old Testament, that the worshippers of the true God, in every age of the world, should at the end have their lot in the kingdom promised to the saints of the Most High, are, the translation of Enoch, (Gen. v. 24.) that he should not see death; (Heb. xi. 5. Wisd. iv. 10. Eccles. xliv. 16. xlix. 14.) and the taking up of Elijah into Heaven, (2 Kings ii. 11, Eccles. xlviii. 9. 1 Macc. ii. 58.) Allusions to it at least, if perhaps not direct assertions, XIV. are the words of Job, (Job xix. 25.) I know that my PROP. Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.* And those of Isaiah: Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. (Is. xxvi. 19.) And your bones shall flourish like an herb. (Is. lxvi. 14.) And that passage in Hosea: I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. (Hos.xiii. 14.) O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction. And that in Ezekiel: Behold,the bones came together, bone to his bone; and the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet;- Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. (Ezek. xxxvii. 7, 8, 10, 12.) Again: The words of Isaiah; The righteous perisheth, and is taken away from the evil to come; He shall enter into peace: (Is. lvii. 1,2.) What more natural signification have they than that which the Book of Wisdom expresses, ch. iii. 1. 3. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God; -They are in peace. And what but the future state can the conclusion of Isaiah's prophecy reasonably be referred to? Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;--As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. * The introduction to these words is very solemn: Oh! that my words were now- graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever. And how they were anciently understood, appears from that addition to the end of the book of Job in the LXX, γέγραπται δὲ, αυτὸν πάλιν ἀναστήσεσθαι, μεθ' ὧν ὁ κύριος ἀνίστησιν. So Job died, being old and full of days. "But it is written that he shall rise again with those whom the Lord raises up." |