Christ had been promised to our first Parents immediately after their Fall, and this Promise had been renewed to Abraham, with an affurance that he should defcend from Ifaac, and Circumcifion was inftituted as a perpetual mark in the Flefh of that Covenant; and all Sacrifices from the beginning of their Inftitution, were as fo many Types and Memorials of the Sacrifice of Chrift, which was promifed before any Sacrifice had been offered: And more efpecially, that of the Passover at the deliverance of the Ifraelites out of Egypt, was a lively Representation of our Redemption by the Death of Christ. They had ever this notion of their legal Worfhip: Abraham, to whom Circumcifion was appointed, faw the day of Chrift; he forefaw his Defcent from himfelf, which was thereby prefigured, and was glad, John viii. 56. The Gospel was preached unto Abraham, Gal. iii. 8. And Mofes, by whom the Ceremonial Service was ordained, had fo clear a profpect of the Meffias and his Kingdom, that he esteemed the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, Heb. xi. 26. Thofe places of Scripture which the Apoftles apply to Christ out of the Old Testament, were at that time by the Jews themselves, to whom they cite them, understood of the Meffias; they always fuppofed, that whatever was great and excellent among them, was but a faint and imperfect resemblance of that Glory and Excellency which was to be in its full Perfection and Accomplishment under the Meffias. 4. During this Ceremonial Difpenfation, there was a fufficient Revelation of the internal and fpiritual part of Religion In the Books of Mofes, the Love of God with all the Heart, and the Love of their Neighbour as of themfelves, is exprefly commanded the Children of Ifrael, Lev. xix. 18. Deut. vi. 5. The High Priest's Office was to blefs the People, Numb. vi. 23. and the Office of the Priefts and Levites, befides the Ceremonial Service, was to ftand every Morn k ing to thank and praife the Lord, and likewife at Even, I Chron. xxiii. 30. 2 Chron. xxxi. 2. and no Sacrifice was ever offered without Prayers; for Sacrifices were indeed folemn Rites of Supplication and Thankfgiving, 1 Sam. vii. 9. Prov. xv. 8. 2 Chron. xxix. 27. Ezra vi. 10. The Temple is ftyled, the House, not of Sacrifice, but of Prayer, Isa. lvi. 7. for which, principally it was built, 2 Chron. vi. 29, &c. The immortality of the Soul is implied in that Expreffion, which is often used in the Books of Mofes, that Men when they died, were gathered to their People: which must be understood of their Souls; their Bodies being bu ried at different places, and in divers Countries, not where their Ancestors had been buried. God fays to Abraham, Thon fhalt go to thy Fathers in Peace, Gen. XV. 15. which cannot be understood of the place of his Burial; and he is faid by Death, to be gathered to his People, chap. xxv. 8. And Jacob yielded up the Ghoft, and was gathered unto his People, chap. xlix. 33% his Soul was gathered. But a confiderable time was fpent in embalming his Body, and in mourning for him, before that was carried into Canaan to be buried, chap. 1. 3. From thefe Expreffions, the Jews proved the Soul to be immortal. And tho' this, and fuch like Phrafes, may fometimes fignifie no more than their leaving the World, as others had done before them, (as most Words and Expressions are often used improperly) and may in fome places be applied to ill Men; yet there could never have been any Reafon or Foundation for fuch a Phrase, but from a fuppofition of the Soul's Immortality. Balaam wish'd to die the Death of the Righteous, and that his last End might be like that of the Righteous, Numb. xxiii. 10. For what reafon, but that he might not be miferable, but happy after Death? k Vid. Outr. de Sacrific. lib. I. c. 15. § 9. A future A future State was always believ'd by the Jews, as revealed to them in the Old Teftament; and whatever Texts there may be, which feem to imply the contrary, they are either spoken only by way of Objection, as in the Book of Ecclefiaftes; for a future State and Judgment are afterwards exprefly afferted, Eccl. iii. 21. xi. 9. xii. 7, 14. or else they have no relation to the state after this Life, either to affirm, or deny it; but are to be understood to proceed from that defire, which pious Men had to honour and glorifie God in their feveral Generations, by reftoring his Worship, where it had been neglected, or in propagating his Religion, where it had not been yet known. Thus that good King Hezekiah says to God in his Thanksgiving, The Grave cannot praise thee, Death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the Pit, cannot hope for thy Truth. The living, the living, he Shall praise thee, as I do this day: The Father to the Children fhall make known thy Truth, Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19. This is fpoken with the fame Zeal and Spirit, by which he was acted in his Reformation. And when David faid, In Death, there is no remembrance of thee; in the Grave, who fhall give thee Thanks? Pfal. vi. 5. He cannot be fuppofed to have any doubtfulness concerning a future State; for in other Pfalms he plainly afferts it, Pfal. xvi. 11. xvii. 15. But his meaning is explain'd, Pfal. xxx. y. where he fays, What profit is there in my Blood, when I go down into the Pit? Shall the Duft praise thee? Shall it declare thy Truth? In our other Tranflation it is, Shall the Duft give Thanks to thee? To give Thanks then to God, is in grateful acknowledgment for his Mercies; to praise and magnifie his Name, and manifeft his Truth among Men, which is not to be done in the Grave. Difpenfations to the People of Ifrael, being with this defign: Pious Men defir'd that their Lives might be prolong'd for this purpose, that they might declare his Truth, and vindicate and promote his Honour God's in this World, before they were call'd to the next; where there can be no opportunity for this fervice to God and benefit to Mankind. O God, forfake me not, until I have fhewed thy ftrength unto this Generation, and thy Power to every one that is to come, Pfal. lxxi. 18. I fhall not die, but live, and declare the Works of the Lord, Pfal. cxviii. 17. Good Men are fometimes faid no longer to be, when they are taken out of this World; Enoch walked with God, and was not, i. e. he was no longer in this World; for God took him, Gen. v. 24. And when David prays, O fpare me, that I may recover Strength before I go hence, and be no more, Pfal. xxxix. it is well explained in our other Tranflation, Before I go hence, and be no more feen. In the fame manner, Jacob fpeaks not only of Jofeph, whom he thought to be dead, but of Simeon, who was left for a Pledge in Ægypt. Jofeph is not, and Simeon is not, Gen. xlii. 36. He looked upon both as loft and dead to him, and made no more account of them, as to any comfort he could expect from them, than if they had had nơ Being. Enoch was taken up alive into Heaven, to be an Example of that Happiness which God has prepar'd for those who walk with him, and please him, Gen. v. 24; And the Soul of the Widow's Son, who was restored to Life by Elijah, is faid to come again into him ช่ 1 Kings xvii. 21, 22. which implies, that the Sout does not perish at the time of Death, but only departs out of the Body. And our Saviour, Mark xii. 26. proves the Refurrection of the Dead from Exod.iii. 6. Thofe for whom God has that peculiar Favour, aš tơ ftile himself their God, and to declare this to be his Name or Title for ever, and this to be his Memorial unto all Generations, ver. 15. we may be affured are not fo dead, as utterly to have perifh'd and if their Souls have furviv'd their Bodies, their Bodies like wife must be raifed again; forafmuch as the Soul of Abraham, without his Body, is not Abraham, but on : ly one part of him and his Soul could not be stil'd Abraham, but with respect not only to its past, but to its future Union with his Body: For tho' a part be often put for the whole, yet it always fuppofes either the present or future Existence of the Whole; but is never put for the Whole, when it remains alone, and the reft is utterly and finally extinct. Abraham confifts of Soul and Body; and therefore God being the God of Abraham, is God both of the Soul and Body of Abraham; which is an argument that the Soul of Abraham now lives, and that his Body shall live again; for all live to God. And he would not have given himself a folemn Title and Denomination from a Man who had no longer any Being; nor from that part of him, which had utterly perish'd. I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob. Abraham had his Name in token that he fhould be a Father of many Nations, Gen. xvii. 5. and Ifaac and Jacob were Heirs of the fame Promife; and therefore the God of Abraham is the God of that Father of Nations, and has a particular regard to the Bodies (from which thofe Nations were defcended) as well as to the Souls of Abraham and his Pofterity. I am the God of Abraham, not I was, but I am, which fuppofes Abraham yet to be. I am the fame God still to him, that I was during his Life upon Earth; he is ftill the Object of the Divine Care and Goodnefs, and therefore fhall be rewarded both in Body and Soul. God is not ashamed to be call'd their God: for he hath prepared for them a City, Heb. xi. 16. that is, an Habitation in Heaven. The Children of Ifrael, before the giving of the Law, were inftructed in the Rewards and Punishments of the Life to come; and temporal Rewards and Punishments were appointed by Mofes, as Pledges and Types to represent and prefigure to them those of a future state. For that Abraham, and the Patriarchs before him, had a true and full notion of a Life after |