down to the grave come up no more, know not any thing, have no reward, and therefore prayed for long life here, to praise the God of their salvation: St. Paul, on the contrary, devoutly wished for his dissolution, in order to receive elsewhere the reward of his faith and spiritual warfare. Herc, therefore, let me admonish certain dealers in systems, for once to suspend their trade, and attend a moment to the arguments they write against. For it will not be thought enough that they prove, on the principles of their systems, that the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments OUGHT to be in the religion of Moses, and therefore is there. The public will now expect, that they directly apply themselves to the refutation of these arguments; which, being founded on no system, proceed in a different manner; and, from the proof of what is not there, conclude, what ought not to be there. But it is much easier to tell us, what should be in a book, than to account for what is in it.

From the Old Testament, we proceed to the New; by which it appears, from the inspired writers of this likewise, that the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments did NOT make part of the Mosaic dispensation. Their evidence we have divided into two parts, the first proving that temporal rewards and punishments were the sanction of the Jewish dispensation; the second, that it had no other. And thus, with the directest and most unexceptionable proof of the two MINOR propositions, the fifth book concludes.

VI. But to remove, as far as I was able, all grounds of prejudice to this momentous truth, I employed the sixth and last book of this volume in examining those texts of the Old and New Testament, which had been commonly urged to prove that the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments did make part of the Mosaic dispensation.

Amongst those of the Old Testament, the famous passage in the xixth chapter of the book of Job holding the principal place, I judged it of importance, for the reasons there assigned, to examine this matter to the bottom; which necessarily engaged me in an inquiry into the nature and genius of that book; when written, and to what purpose; whereby not only a fair account is given of

the

the sense of that passage, consistent with my proposition; but a strong support is provided for what will be further said in the third and last volume, concerning the graduat decay of the extraordinary providence, from the time of Saul to the return from the great Captivity, and resettlement in the land of Judæa.

But this dissertation has still a further, and very important use, regarding Revelation in general. For shewing therein, how the principles of the Gospel doctrine opened by degrees, fully obviates the calumnies of Tindal and Collins who pretend that the priests and leaders of the Jews refined their old doctrines concerning the Deity, and invented new ones, just as they advanced in knowledge or the people in curiosity; or as both were better instructed in the country to which they were led captive.

In examining the texts of the New Testament, the famous eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews was not forgotten; the sense of which is cleared up from the strongest and most inveterate mistakes of systematical divines. In this place is occasionally explained and illustrated a matter of the highest moment for the understanding St. Paul's epistles, namely, the nature of the Apostolic reasoning against the errors of the Jewish converts; and this likewise contributes still further to support the truth of our two MINOR propositions.

As in all this I taught nothing contrary to the doctrine of our excellent Church, my profession, in common decency, not to say justice both to myself and others, required I should vindicate the reality of my conformity. Having therefore declared it as my unfeigned opinion that, "though a future state of rewards and punishments "made no part of the Mosaic dispensation, yet that the "Law had a spiritual meaning, to be understood when "the fulness of time should come, and hence received “the nature, and afforded the efficacy of prophecy: and "that in the interim, the mystery of the Gospel was “occasionally revealed by God to his chosen servants, the "leaders and fathers of the Jewish nation; and the dawning of it gradually opened by the prophets to the people:" Having, I say, declared this to be my unfeigned opinion, I shew, from the words of the Seventh Article of Religion, that it is the opinion of our excellent

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Church

Church likewise. And that I may not be suspected of tergiversation, when I subscribe to this article, that They are not to be heard which feign, that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises, I attempt to illustrate the words of Jesus, where he says that Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day, and saw it, and was glad, by the noblest instance that ever was given of the harmony between the Old and New Testament, on the principles before laid down in the discourse on the hieroglyphics; and shew that the command to Abraham to offer Isaac was merely an information (given at Abraham's earnest request) in a representative action, instead of words, of the redemption of mankind by the great sacrifice of Christ. From whence we gain two other advantages, besides that more immediate, of justifying the doctrine of our national Church. The first of which is the supporting a real and essential connexion between Judaism and Christianity. The other is, disposing the Deists to think more favourably of their Bible: for our interpretation overthrows all objections to this part of Abraham's history. The matter therefore being of this high importance, it was proper to fix it on such principles as would leave no room for doubt or objection. And this could be done only by explaining the nature of those various modes of information in use amongst the Ancients; for which explanation likewise a proper foundation had been laid in the discourse on the hieroglyphics. But this is not all; we get a yet further and much more considerable benefit by it, and that is the clearing up and vindicating the logical truth and propriety of types in action, and secondary senses in speech: whereon the divinity of the ancient prophecies concerning Christ are to be supported; and which, at this time, most needed a support. For though the greater part of these prophecies relate to Jesus only in a secondary sense, yet had some men of name and in the interests of religion, through ignorance of the true original and nature of secondary senses, rashly concurred with modern Judaism and infidelity, to give up all such as illogical and enthusiastic, to the imminent hazard of overturning the very foundation of our faith. In the course of this inquiry, I had an opportunity of examining and confuting one of the most able and plausible books

ever written against Revelation, the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, which goes entirely upon the illogical fanaticism of a secondary sense of prophecies.

1

The intelligent reader will, I presume, allow these reasons sufficient to justify the length of this dissertation: but there were two other more immediately relative to my question, that engaged me in the inquiry. The one was to shew, that those, who contend for the Christian doctrine of a future state's being revealed to the early Jews, destroy all reason of a secondary sense of prophecies; (a matter, as we have shewn, of the utmost importance to Revelation :) for how can it be certainly known, from the prophecies themselves, that they contain double senses, but from hence, that the old Law was preparatory to, and the rudiments of, the New? How shall this relation be certainly known, but from hence, that no future state of rewards and punishments is to be found in the Mosaic dispensation? So close a dependence have all these momentous principles on one another. The other more immediate reason for this dissertation, on types and · secondary senses, was this: As I had shewn that a future state of rewards and punishments was revealed under no part of the Jewish economy any otherwise than by those modes of information, it was necessary, in order to shew the real connexion between Judaism and Christianity (the truth of the latter religion depending on that real connexion) to prove those modes logical and rational. For as on the one hand, had the doctrine of life and immortality been revealed under the Mosaic economy, Judaism had been more than a rudiment and preparation of Christianity; so had no covert intimations at all been given of the doctrine, it had been less: That is, the dependency and connexion between the two religions had not been sufficiently marked out and ascertained. With this necessary dissertation, therefore, the sixth and last book of the second volume concludes.

Thus the reader sees at length, how regularly and intently these two volumes have been carried on: the first in proving the MAJOR, and the second, the MINOR propositions of the two syllogisms. In which, though the Author (whose passion is not so much a fondness for his own argument as for the honour and support of

religion

religion itself) has neglected no fair occasion of inforcing every circumstance, that might serve to illustrate the truth of Revelation in general; yet he never loses sight of his end; but, as the rule for conducting the most regular works prescribes,

Semper ad eventum festinat.

This volume too I thought fit to publish alone, as I did the first; though not merely for the same reason, its being a perfect and entire whole of itself, explaining the nature and genius of the Jewish constitution; but for a much better that it fairly finished the argument. For my logic teaches me, that, when the MAJOR and the MINOR are once proved, the coNCLUSION follows of course. And this is, that THE JEWISH RELIGION AND SOCIETY WERE SUPPORTED BY AN EXTRAORDINARY PROVIDENCE: For be this never so furious a PARADOX, it may be rendered as tame and harmless as any other truth by the common advantages of argument; unless a raiser of paradores, like a raiser of rebellion, is to be ipso facto, outlawed; and the one denied all benefit of the logic, as the other is, of the law, of his country.

III.

VII. It may be asked then, what I mean by a third volume, if the argument be ended in the second? To this I answer, That it is one thing to satisfy truth; and another, her pretended followers. He who engages for Revelation, has many prejudices to encounter; but he who engages for it, under reason only, has many more. I cannot then make too sure of my reader. And, luckily, the plan of my work obliging me to continue the history of the religious doctrines of the Jews, from the time of the first Prophets, to that of the Maccabees, when the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments first became national; this history will afford abundant proofs for the further illustration of the MAJOR propositions of the two syllogisms. And this will make the subject of the seventh book of The Divine Legation, or the first part of the third volume.

VIII. Having in this manner gone through my general argument, what remains is an examination of the princi pal objections that may be urged against it: and these