old age, which the Law promised to its faithful adherents. 10. In the xxxvi Psalm, the sacred Writer says: For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light*. Here, to prove the immortality of Man, a text is produced, which teaches the eternity of GOD. But I know Some, who think there is a necessary connexion between these two truths. 11. "Like sheep (says the Psalmist) they [the wicked] are laid in the grave, death shall feed upon "them; and the upright shall have dominion over "them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume "in the grave, from their dwelling. But God will "redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for " he shall receive me t." The literal meaning of which is, as appears by the context, that "the wicked should be untimely cut off and destroyed,—in the morning, that is, by the judgment of the Law, which was administered in the morning hours; but that his life, and the life of the upright, should be preserved and prolonged." Here, once for all, let me desire the Objectors to consider, What it is that is ever opposed (in the many passages of this sort) to Life, Redemption, &c. It is not Misery, Torments, &c. as it must have been, did life literally signify eternal life in a future state; but it is DEATH, which shews it was a life here on earth. 12. Thou shalt guide me (says he again) with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory §. Or, as an excellent Critic has it, Consilio tuo deduxisti me, & postea cum gloria excepisti me. "Thou wast, * Ver. 9. † Ps. xlix. 14, 15. or See Jerem. xxi. 12. "O house of David, thus saith the "Lord, Execute judgment IN THE MORNING, and deliver him that "is spoiled, out of the hand of the oppressor, let my fury go out "like fire, because of the evil of your doings." § Ps. lxxiii. 24. or shalt be, always present with me in difficulties and distresses; and shalt lead and conduct me to better fortunes." This literal sense the context requires. 13. "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlast"ing to everlasting upon them that fear him, and "his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember "his commandments to do them *." This is so far from intimating a future state, that it is the very temporal promise annexed to the second Law of the Decalogue-Shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments ↑. 14.—For THERE the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore-Where? In the habitation of brethren living together in unity. Nothing else then can be meant, but that death and dangers should not approach a house so strongly united in itself. 15. In the book of Proverbs it is said-" The "wicked is driven away in his wickedness: BUT THE RIGHTEOUS HATH HOPE IN HIS DEATH §. That is, "the righteous hath hope that he shall be delivered from the most imminent dangers." So the Psalmist— upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine ||-And again, Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living¶? 16. And again—The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from Hell beneath**. That is, The wise man prolongs his days here on earth, and escapes that untimely death which attends vice and folly. A Doctrine perpetually inculcated throughout Ps. cxxxiii. 3. * Ps. cii. 17, 18. § Ch. xiv. 32. ** Prov. xv. 24. + Exod. xx. 6. this this book; as at chap. x. ver. 2. 28. chap. xi. ver. 7. chap. xii. ver. 28. chap. xxi. ver. 16. 66 And again, "When a wicked man dieth, his EXPECTATION shall perish; and the hope of unjust "men perisheth And again," So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: .when thou "hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy EXPECTATION shall not be cut off t." In the first of these two places it appears by the context (that is, by the whole tenor of these moral precepts and aphorisms) that the expectation which should deceive is that of worldly wicked men to establish a house in their posterity: And in the second, the expectation which should not deceive is that of wise and virtuous men in the success of their honest endeavours. But there is one common fallacy which runs through all the reasoning of these Anti-critics: it is this, that having taken the point in question [whether a future state be taught in the Old Testament] for granted, they confine all expressions, capable of either sense considered alone, to the sense which supports their own opinion. Whereas, while the matter is in question, fair reasoning requires, that such Texts be considered as indifferent to either sense, till determined by the Context, and according to the Analogy of the Law and the Prophets. 17. We conclude with the PREACHER, who says, that Wisdom giveth life to them that have it : And so says the Law of Moses likewise (which is here alluded to) and yet it gives nothing but the things of this life. 18. Again: "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know "that it shall be well with them that fear GOD §." * Prov. xi. 7. + Prov. xxiv. 14. § Ch. viii. ver. 12. What What is meant by this, the very following words declare: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God*.-That is, though the wicked be suffered to go on for some time, yet for all that, Vengeance shall overtake and arrest him in the middle of his course †. 66 19. And again" Rejoice, O young man, in thy "youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and "in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for "all these things God will bring thee into judgment. "Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for childhood and youth. "are vanity." That is, " in giving an innocent and lawful indulgence to thy Youth, take heed lest thou transgress the bounds of virtue and piety. For know, that God will certainly punish thy offences, either in thy own Person, or in thy Posterity.' These are all the passages of moment (till we come to the PROPHETS) which I could find have been objected to the Opinion, That a future state of reward and punishment is not in the Mosaic Dispensation. By which it appears, that the Objectors have been very inattentive to what an Interpreter of the Old Testament should have his thoughts constantly attached, namely to these three things; to the CONTEXT ; to the genius of the EASTERN STYLE; and to the economy under which the early Hebrews lived, that is to say, an EXTRAORDINARY PROVIDENCE. But this last fault, though the most inexcusable of all, they all have in common with the late Jewish Writers; who, considering only the Dispensation under which them Eccl. viii. 13. + See note [GG] at the end of this volume. selves lived, thought it harsh and unnatural to interpret these Texts with reference to worldly good and evil, which they saw unequally distributed. On the whole therefore it appears, that all these passages, in their obvious and primary sense, relate to the things of this life; and that some of them are expressed by the Holy Spirit in such a manner, as makes it now evident, they had likewise a spiritual and sublimer meaning, and do indeed refer to the completion of the Law, by the Gospel. The Texts here examined are urged in common both by Jews and Christians. But, besides these, the Jews have a set of Texts peculiar to themselves; which the Christians have never yet ventured to put upon Duty. As they are most of them of the nature of Riddles, Riddles, for me, they shall remain: only, for the curious Reader's satisfaction, I shall mark out what the Rabbins bring from the PENTATEUCH to prove the immortality of the soul, and the Resurrection of the body, as they are collected by the learned Manasseh Ben-Israel, in his tract De Resurrectione Mortuorum. For the IMMORTALITY, 1 Kings i. 31. Psal. cxvi. 7, 8, 9. Exod. xix. 6. chap. xxxiii. ver. 20. Levit. vii. 25. Deut. xiv. 1, 2. chap. xxii. ver. 7. chap. xxxii. ver. 47. - For the RESURRECTION, Gen. iii. 19. chap. xxxvii. ver. 10. Exod. xv. 6. Levit. xxv. Numb. xv. 30. chap. xviii. ver. 28. Deut. iv. 4. chap. xxxii. ver. 39. chap. xxxiii. ver. 6. But though the reader will find many diverting things on this head in Manasseh Ben-Israel, yet they must all give place to the curious comment of Rabbi Tanchum on the following words of 1 Sam. xxv. 29. The soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy GOD: and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a 1 sling, |