ture was unable to expel. And thefe, if we may believe his Lordfhip, arose entire, ly from the want of the knowledge of this Re-union.

If the great difficulty, at which Nature ftumbled, was not perfectly removed, the Truths of Religion would not have gained any new strength, nor the practice of it have received any improvement, by a Revelation.

It would highly difgrace and discredit this Revelation to fuppofe that it left the notion embarraffed with the principal difficulties in which it was originally involved. For in this cafe it would have revealed juft nothing; that is, it would have been equivalent to no Revelation at all.

According to his Lordship, the doctrine of this Re-union, or the Refurrection, was the fingle point wanting to perfect and complete the natural Argument for a future life; and therefore was the only circumftance, which made a Revelation on this Subject neceffary. (a) To fuppofe therefore a Revelation

(a) It has been cenfured as extravagant and abfurd in Lord Bolingbroke, to speak fo highly and honourably as he does, of natural Religion, and yet to deny it the Sanction of a future ftate. On the other hand, Dr. Law obferves, that "The

hopes of Futurity

velation of a future ftate, which faid nothing of this Re-union, or refurrection, would be fuppofing a Revelation, which faid nothing of the great point which should or ought to have been revealed.

Is it not therefore more for the credit of the Jewish Revelation, to fuppofe, that it faid nothing of a future ftate, when it did not want it; than that it faid nothing to the purpose, when it did?

His Lordship infifts upon it, that the notion of immortality and a future Judgment, which fuppofes only the Exiftence of the Soul," could never ferve the ends and pur"pofes of Religion, because it is a no"tion which the Generality of mankind can << never

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"Futurity are the Basis of all natural Religion." And yet he says, many of the Heathens contended, that "Death put a period to their whole Existence, and

none, as we have feen, had ground fufficient to con"vince them of the contrary." Confiderations, p. 240337. Natural Religion must have been very oddly conftituted, if the wifeft Heathens were not able to discover the Bafis on which it was erected, and consequently had no proper incouragement to practise the duties enjoined by it. An imperfect or infufficient promulgation of its fanctions, muft be an eternal blemish and dishonour to the natural Law. So that if the noble

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never arrive at. Go to the Villages, and "tell the Ploughmen, that, if they fin, yet "their Bodies fhall fleep in peace; no ma"terial, no fenfible Fire fhall ever reach "them; but there is fomething within "them, purely intellectual, which shall fuf"fer to eternity; you will hardly find that they have enough of the intellectual to

comprehend your meaning. Now natu"ral Religion is founded on the sense of "nature, that is, upon the common ap"prehenfions of mankind." I would ask then, what notion of a future state was preached up by Mofes and the Prophets, when they addressed themselves to the body of the Jews, who feem to have had as fcanty a fhare of the intellectual, as moft other people. If they informed the People of the Re-union of foul and body, they would have anticipated the office of our Lord, and have left nothing to be brought to light by him, even on the learned Prelate's own in

noble Lord derogates from the supposed absolute perfection of natural Religion, when he denies it the Sanction of a future ftate, the learned Doctor even derogate from its relative perfection, when he contends that its fanction was not difcoverable by its Followers.

ter

terpretation of this phrafe. If they did not inform them of this Re-union, their preaching the doctrine of immortality and a future Judgment must have been abfolutely vain, in his Lordship's opinion; fince the People would never have been influenced by them, or ever able to comprehend their meaning. They could only have uttered a heap of unintelligible words, which must have been as mere Jargon to the ancient Jews, as the Dreams and Visions of Jacob Behmen are to us.

Is it not more for the credit of Mofes and the Prophets, to fuppofe that they were to say nothing at all of a future ftate, than that they were to fay nothing of it, but what was abfolutely ineffectual and utterly unintelligible?

If no notion of future punishments, but fuch as were material and fenfible, could have any effect on the People, it will follow, that the popular Description of future punishments should have occurred in the Law, as well as in the Gospel, and that the Lake, which burneth with Fire and BrimStone, fhould have been as plainly and clearly mentioned by Mofes and the Pro

phets, as by Jefus Chrift, and by his Apostles (a).

It

(a) A late Author undertakes to explain, why the poetical Writers of the Old Teftament fay nothing of the state of good and bad men after death.

Quod fi eos locos omnes excutimus quibus facri vates Inferos ornatu poetico defcribunt. Nullam ibi animorum immortalium Defcriptionem, aut explicate admodum factam mentionem reperiemus; non eo quod permanere animos poft mortem non crederent, quod doctis quibufdam placuit; fed quod nec ullam haberent fatis claram eorum notionem, et intelligentiam, unde ubi et quales effent explicarent, neq; eam adepti effent Sermonis et Argumentationis fubtilitatem, ut de rebus abftrufis et a fenfu omnino remotis probabiliter dicere, & eruditam difputationem fuæ ignorantiæ prætendere poffent. Qualis itaq; ab animis a corpore fejunctis vita viveretur, quis eorum locus, forma conditio, Hebræi juxta cum cæteris mortalibus in fumma ignoratione verfabantur. Neq; eos hac in parte, vel minimum facri Codices adjuvere, haud quia hanc iis cognitionem INVIDERET divina Revelatio, fed quia humanæ mentis conditio eam omnino non recipiat : quæ cum res a corpore & materia remotas contemplatur, propriarum notionum inopia cogitur ad improprias confugere, & corporeis incorporea quadantenus adumbrare. Cum itaq; viderent corpora vita functa in terram cadere, eoq; modo quo dictum eft fepulchro

hdi, percrebuit apud Hebræus, ut apud cæteros etiam, opinio quædam popularis, fub terra reliquam vitam agi mortuorum; quam ut adfcifcerent vates facri etiam ne

ceffe