proving otherwife at this time of Seth, where in this obfervation of this facred Author has. placed it, which was therefore now fo very Jeasonable.

2

§. LVIII.

have been

LXXII.

The thing hoped for, is, o ovoja nueis 8. The God here mentioned, is Febo- That seems tỏ થ હૈં ૭૪. vah in the Hebrew, which is ufually rendred by meant by their xvedeos in the LXXII. and is the fame being called by with the God of the true Peculium. 'ETIxa- the Name of Ang To ovoμa, is, not to call upon his Name, Jehovah in the but rather to be called by it. That is, to have his Name called upon them, in the idiom of the Hebrew, as the Titulus Dominicus was, in the Roman Civil Law, on the Goods of the Empe ror, to fignifie, that they were his Right and Property. The Hebrew will bear both, that is, as well the Adive as the Paffive Significations.. But the Circumftances require, that it should have been fomething incommunicable to the Cainites, who might call on the Name of Fehovab as well as the Pofterity of Seth Elfe it had not been a thing fo proper for his Hope,, and could not have given him and his fuch Pri vileges, as it appears it did. Thus Facob's Name being called on Ephraim and Manaffes, Gen. xlviii. 16. fignified, that they should thence; forward be reckoned in Law for his Sons, and not of their natural Father Jofeph. This change: intitled them to two twelfth Shares in the Land of Canaan, whereas their Father Fofeph, and confequently they, as his Heirs, could challenge. only one. So Solomon's building a Temple to God, was a putting his Name there, 1 Kings ix. 3. viii. 16, 29. 2 Chron. vi. 20. vii. 16. And God's Name is faid to be called on the Ark, 1 Chron. xiii. 6. And the Temple is faid to be called by his Name, 2 Chron. vi. 33. So Feru falem was alfo, Jer. xxv. 29. And not the City.

M

only,

only, but the People, Dan. ix. 19. And it is a Character of thofe Nations who were not of the Peculium, that they were not called by his Name, Ifa. lxiii. 19. Thus thefe Expreffions in general, imply the Divine Property in the Children of Seth, in contradiftinction to the Children of Cain, and of Adam's other Chil dren, who, at that time, comprehended all the reft of Mankind befides them. These things being fpoken concerning Jehovah the Crea tor of all Mankind, mult therefore make the Children of Seth that which we properly mean when we fpeak of a Peculium. This Property is expreffed by all the Domeftical Relations, and that according to the Hebrew idiom. The moft obvious one is that of Servants, who are usually ftiled from their Mafters, as the Servants of Abraham, and the Servants of Lot, &c. So the Members of the Peculium are commonly called the Servants of the Lord, that is, of Fehovah, in many places. It is alfo ufed concerning Wives. So the feven Women laying hold on one Man, defire to be called by his Name, to take away their Reproach, Ifa. iv. 1. Thus it may imply the mystical Matrimony between Fehovah and the Children of Seth, which I have fhewn to have been fo frequently men. tioned as the privilege of the true Peculium. But this efpecially, concerns the whole Body rather than fingle Members. But the Relation particularly taken notice of in the cafe of the Children of Seth, is that of Sons, Gen. vi. 2, 4. So I have fhewn, that Ephraim and Manaffes were made the Sons of Facob by having his Name called on them. This Title of Sons is given to both Peculia, but more frequently to the Members of the new Peculium. And perhaps, most of thofe Paffages of the Old Tefta

ment

ment which mention this Title, are rather to be understood as Prophecies of what thould be under the Gospel, than as Affertions concerning the Peculium then in being.

And indeed, I am apt to think, that in this S. LIX. regard, the Peculium of the Children of Serb The Children of was more noble than that which was defcended Seth, called Sons of God, from the Poft-Diluvian Patriarchs, and the ve- and Angels. ry fame which was afterwards reftored by the Gospel. This appellation of Sons of God, Gen. vi. 2. anfwers the Hebrew oppofed to the N. And in all likelihood, it muft here be meant of Jehovah, which is frequently joined with Elohim, and by the LXXII. rendred, when it is fo, ver o deos. It is no harth Ellipfis to understand Elohim here for Jehovah Elohim. And the context feems to require it. Otherwife thefe Sons of Elohim, Gen. vi. 2, 4. would not be the fame who had the Name of Jehovah called on them, Gen. iv. 26. Thefe Sons of Elohim muft certainly have been more than ordinary Men. The differences between them are expreffed in the Hebrew idiom, by the Appellations of ON and WIN, Pfal. xlix. 2. So that the higher rank there anfwers the lower here. the Sons of Elohim in Fob, who are reprefented as affembled before God when Satan appears among them, Fob i. 6. ii. 1. in all likelihood were Angels, when that fallen Angel intrudes himself into their company. This exactly an fwers the like reprefentation of a Prophetick Vifion to Micaiah, in the cafe of Abab, 1 Kings xxii. 19, 21, 22. 2 Chron. xviii. 18, 20,21. There alfo a lying, and therefore a diabolical Spirit, appears before the Hoft of Heaven, ftanding on the right and left Hand of God, who could be no other than the Hoft of Angels. They are

M 2

And

God's

God's Hofts, Gen. xxxii. 2. from whom he has that common Title of being the Lord of Hofts. They were the Hoft of Heaven worshipped by the Gentiles, Deut. iv. 19. xvii. 3. 2 Kings xvii. 16. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 3, 5. Not only the visible Workmanship of the Heavens, Gen.ii.1. but also the Archetypal living Inhabitants of the Heavens, S. Luke ii. 13. Indeed, no other but thefe living Hofts were proper for thefe prophe tick Vifions. So the Sons of God, Job xxxviii. 7. which congratulated the Creation, diftin&t from the Morning Stars, the Archetypal living Intelligences which managed the heavenly Bo dies, could be no other but another fort of Angels, which might afterwards be put into buman Bodies. These feem to have been the Gods in an inferior fenfe, the Children of the moft High, alluded to Pfal. lxxxii. 6. opposed to Men in that place alfo, in this very particu lar of dying. The Allufion is like that of the Woman of Tekoah, who compares the Wildom of David to that of an Angel, 2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20. and of Mephibofheth, 2 Sam. xix. 27. and of Achifh, 1 Sam. xxix. 9. And the comparative Allufion in the Pfalm, fuppofes thofe Chil dren of the moft High to excel Men in this pri vilege of Immortality. And their being called Gods, is very true in Fact. For most of the firft Heathen Gods for whom the popular Wor ship of other Nations was defigned, were the Souls of their firft Founders, and their most celebrated Patriarchs. Thefe Gods were alfo Angels. It was the honour of the God of the true Peculium, that even the Gods of other Na tions were obliged themselves to worship him. This is Worship him, all ye Gods, Pfal. xcvi. 7. But, Let all the Angels of God worship him, Deut. xxxii. 42. not in the Hebrew, but the

LXXII. from whence it is quoted by the Apoftle, Heb. i. 6. From both places compared together, it appears, that the Gods in one place are Angels in the other. Fob, who taught us who these Sons of God were, feems to allude to this very Story of Genefis, and to have underftood it, as I have faid. He calls them the Morning Stars, Job xxxviii. 7. As the Devil is called, Lucifer, Son of the Morning, Isa. xiv. 12. He tells us of their Fall: Behold, he put no truft in his Servants: and his Angels he charged with Folly, Job iv. 18. Again, Behold, he putteth no truft in bis Saints: Tea, the Heavens are not clean in his fight, Job xv. 15. This uncleanness in the Inhabitants of Heaven, feems rather to allude to this Fall of the Angels by Incontinency, than that of Pride and Ambition. And I do not know, why it may not intimate their polluting of the Holy Seed. He feems to allude to their Pofterity's being deftroyed in the Deluge. So, at least, the LXXII. feem to have understood him: M rifarles pauwonoor) iwonárwbev ü♪ar, Job xxvi. 5. What can thefe Giants under the Waters be, but those Sons of these Sons of God, by the Daughters of Men, which are alfo called yi Javles by the LXXII, Gen. vi. 4. who perished in the Deluge? Thus therefore it appears, that thefe Sons of God were Angels, by the Doctrine of this Author. He oppofes them to thofe that dwell in Houfes of Clay, whofe Foundation is in the Duft, Job iv. 19. That is, to those who had nothing of a heavenly Original, as thefe Angels were fuppofed to have in Heaven, before their being fent into human Bodies. The fame notion of the Sons of God being Angels, in the fenfe of thofe Times, appears from the words of Nebuchadnezzar, concerning the Deliverer

M 3