to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, fhall all Flesh come to worship before me, faith the Lord, Ifai. Ixvi. 23. For from the rifing of the Sun, even unto the going down of the fame, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles: and in every place Incenfe fhall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering for my Name fhall be great among the Heathen, faith the Lord of Hofts, Malach. i. 11. If against all this it be alledg'd, That the Mofaical Law was to endure for ever, it ought to be confider'd, what Sense that Expreffion bears in the Law it self. And that Expreffion is there used to denote the Continuance of any thing which was not defign'd for fome particular occasion or season only, but was to last as long as the Nature and general Design of its Inftitution would admit. . The Servant whofe Ear was bored, was to serve his Master for ever, Exod. xxi. 6. by which is to be understood, not all his Life, but only till the year of Jubilee; whereas he that had not his Ear bored, was to be fet free in the feventh year, ver. 2. And even before the year of Jubilee, he whose Ear was bored, might be freed with his Master's Confent; either by Manumiffion, or Redemption, was at liberty upon the Death of his Mafter, not being bound to ferve his Son. Their anointing fhall furely be an everlasting Priesthood throughout their Generations, Exod. xl. 15. which can be understood to extend no farther, than as long as their Genealogies were preferv'd, and the Tribe and Generations of the HighPriests could be diftinguished. I will abide in thy Tabernacle for ever, Pfal. Ixi. 4. or, in other Words, all the days of my life, Pfal. xxvii. 4. Samuel was brought by his Mother to abide before the Lord for ever; that is, during his Life, 1 Sam. i. 22. And by parity of Reason thofe Statutes and Laws are faid to be established for ever, which were deliga'd to be perpetual r Grot. ad loc, U 4 and and f and standing Laws; not temporary, during their journeying in the Wilderness only, as others were; but to continue as long as the Constitution of the Government was to laft; and in this Sense the Jews themfelves have taken the Word, and it is fufficiently explain'd Deut. xii. 1. These are the Statutes and Judg ments which ye shall obferve to do in the Land, which the Lord God of thy Fathers giveth thee to poffefs it all the days that ye Live upon the Earth; or, as we read ver. 19. as long as thou liveft upon thy Earth; that is, their Law was obligatory to them as long as they had possession of the Land of Canaan, or retain'd any Right to poffefs it by God's Donation: But those Statutes and Judgments which were to be obferv'd in the Land which the Lord had given them to poffefs, can no longer be of any Obligation to them, when they are finally depriv'd of that Land. Rabbi Joseph Albo, from the Texts now cited, acknowledg'd, that the Perpetuity of the Law of Mofes could not be prov'd from the Signification of the Word Olam; which' Menaffeh Ben Ifrael cannot deny, but pretends, that there is fomething particular in this cafe, as it is apply'd to the Law because it is not only faid, that their Law fhould be in force for ever, but that it should continue to their Seed for all Generations. The Texts, which he produces, are thefe. And God faid unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy feed after thee, in their generations, Gen. xvii. 9. And ye fhall obferve the feast of unleavened Bread. For in this felf-fame day, have I brought your Armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye obferve this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever, Exod. xii. 17. Where`fore the children of Ifrael fhall keep the Sabbath, to obferve the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant, Exod. xxxi. 16. But if we compare the Id. de Veritat. lib. v. §. 7. * Menaff. Ben Ifr. Conciliat. in Levit. Qu. 7. Texts following, we fhall find, that by this Argument the Jews must have been in poffeffion of the promis'd Land to the end of the World, as well as under perpetual Obligations to obferve the Law of Moses. For all the land, which thou feeft, to thee will I give, and to thy feed for ever, Gen. xiii. 15. And I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting poffeffion, and I will be their God, Gen. xvii. 8. Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy feed after thee, for an everlasting poffeffion, Genef. xlviii. 4. This was God's folemn and repeated Promife to Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, which Mofes befeech'd God to remember, when he interceded for the Children of Ifrael, after their making the molten Calf. Remember Abraham, Ifaac, and Ifrael thy fervants: to whom thou fwareft, I will multiply your feed, as the stars of heaven, and all this land, that I have spoken of, will I give unto your feed, and they shall inherit it for ever, Exod. xxxii. 13. From hence it is manifeft, that this Argument concludes as much for their being kept in conftant Poffeffion of Canaan, as for the Duration of their Law: And their having been fo long difpofsest of that Land, is a Confutation in Fact of all that can be argued to that purpose, either from the Word Olam, or from any other Expreffion. The Land of Canaan was given to the Children of Ifrael for an everlafting poffeffion; but this must be understood in a limited Senfe: For they have been long out of the Poffeffion of that Land. It is in vain therefore for them to contend, that their Law is of perpetual Obligation, unless they could maintain the perpetual Poffeffion of that Land, in which it was to be obferv'd. But it is apparent, that by everlasting is to be understood fuch a Continuance of Time, as was to last as long as the Covenant of Circumcifion, upon the Inftitution whereof the Land of Canaan was promised, to Abraham and his feed after him, for an everlasting poffeffion, Genef. xvii. 8. The Covenant of Circumcifion being fo long fince at an end, God has fulfill'd his Promife to Abrabam and his Pofterity, tho' they have been for fo many Ages out of Poffeffion of the promis'd Land; because their Poffeffion of that Land was to be but of equal Duration with that Covenant. So that God has at once both acquitted himself of his Promife, and difcover'd that that Covenant is no longer of any Obligation. But Jeremiah speaking of a New Covenant prophefy'd, that the feed of Ifrael fhould never ceafe from being a Nation, and that God would never caft off all the feed of Ifrael, which is fet forth in fuch ample manner, and with fuch particular Emphafis, that we must conclude it to extend to all Ages of the World. Thus Jaith the Lord, which giveth the fun for a light by day, and the Ordinances of the moon and of the ftars for a light by night, which divideth the fea, when the waves thereof roar: the Lord of Hofts is his name. If thofe ordinances depart from before me, faith the Lord, then the feed of Ifrael also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever. Thus faith the Lord, if Heaven above can be meaJured, and the foundations of the earth fearched out beneath; I will alfo cast off all the feed of Ifrael, for all that they have done, faith the Lord, Jer. xxxi. 35, 36, 37. This Prophecy, we know, has been fulfill'd hitherto, partly by the Converfion of many of the Seed of Ifrael, both at the first Propagation of the Gospel, and in latter Ages; and partly by their continuing a diftinct People from all the Nations, wherever they live difpers'd; which is a thing never known, of any other captive and difpers'd People. It is the receiv'd and ancient Doctrine of the "Rabbins, that God by the Meffiah would give them a New Law, and make a New Covenant with them, and that under him God Abravanel. de cap. Fidei, c. xiii. cum Not. Vorftii. would would allow them to eat Swine's Flesh; and that all their Feasts were to cease, but the Feast of Purim, and the Day of Atonement. But Abravanel pretends, that this Cessation is not a Subverfion of the Feasts themselves, but a Ceffation of the Memory of them, because all thofe Feasts were in Remembrance of their coming out of Egypt. The meaning therefore, fays he, is this, that the Children of Ifrael at the time of their Deliverance, fhall not apply their Minds to the Remembrance of the Wonders and Miracles, which God wrought for them, when he brought them out of Egypt, because when they fhall fee the exceeding great Miracles, which God will do before them in the days of the Meffiah, they fhall forget the former, as the Scripture alfo affirms, they fhall not fay the Lord liveth, who brought you out of Agypt, &c. But the true Reason, why, according to this Tradition of the Jews, the Feast of Purim and the Day of Atonement only were not to cease under the Meffiah, feems to be, becaufe by affigning these Two as the only Times which were to be obferv'd, is fignify'd, that Days of Repentance and Thanksgiving only would then be of Religious Observation: for to this purpose, say the Rabbins, that all Offerings fhall ceafe in the World to come (fo they term the Kingdom of the Meffiah) but Confeffion and Thanksgiving fhall not ceafe. And what Abravanel argues, that the Feasts themselves were not to cease, but only the Remembrance of those things, whereof they were appointed to be Memorials, is a palpable Evafion. For how fhould the Remembrance cease of a thing, of which conftant Memorials were continued, which were inftituted for this very end, to be a ftatute for ever throughout their generations in all their dwellings, Lev. xxiii. 14. Which Words are repeated and apply'd to all their Annual Solemn Festivals, and of the Passover in particular it * Ibid. X was |