those of their ancient Law. Scarcely any thing can be more in unison with the belief (to which they so tenaciously adhere) in the perfect nature and eternal duration of the Mosaic institutions. It has been justly observed, that the violence they have offered to the meaning of the sacred text, and the distorted interpretations of it which they have adopted in the vain attempt to establish this position, have originated in their unwillingness to acknowledge the imperfect character and temporary design of the Lawd; for these seem to follow as an inevitable consequence, from admitting the absence, in that Law, of any promise respecting a future state. But it is matter of just regret, that an opinion so derogatory to the honour of the Gospel and to the value of the Christian sacrifice, should gain reception with those who believe, that man cannot be justified by the deeds of the Law, and that the blood of bulls and of goats cannot take away sin. If the Law could not give justification, and without justification eternal life cannot be obtained, we see not how a promise of life and immortality could be annexed to the Law. The doctrine of a future state, we are to observe, contains both a promise and a denunciation, it embraces both reward and punishment. The promise, as we have seen, could not, without violating the consistency of revealed doctrine, have been directly d "Nunc Judæi multum de futuro sæculo, de resurrectione mortuorum, de vita æterna loquuntur et ex legis verbis ea ertorquere potius quam ostendere conantur, ne legem Mosis imper“fectam esse cogantur agnoscere." Episcopii Inst. Theol. lib. iii. sect. 1. cap. 2. See the Supplementary Remarks. inserted. How then could the whole have been introduced where a part was plainly inadmissible? In this case, the burden of proof rests with our opponents. There can be no necessity for establishing the negative of the position, till a previous view has been exhibited of the grounds on which its validity is maintained. But if the writings of Moses are admitted as the only competent authority for the decision of this question, it is plain and indisputable that no such authority can be adduced: since there is not a single passage in the Pentateuch, which can, upon any fair principles of interpretation, be construed into a direct and explicit assertion of a future state of reward and punishment, 66 66 66 e “Primo quæritur an in V. Testamento nullum omnino exstet "vitæ æternæ promissum? De eo enim a nonnullis dubitatur. Resp. Huic quæstioni optime mihi videtur respondere Augustinus, distinguens nomen Veteris Testamenti: nam eo intelligi "ait, aut pactum illud, quod in monte Sinai factum est, aut omnia quæ in Mose, hagiographis, ac prophetis continentur. Si Vetus "Testamentum posteriori sensu accipiatur, concedi forsitan possit, esse in eo nonnulla futuræ vitæ non obscura indicia; præser"tim in libro Psalmorum, Daniele, et Ezekiele; quanquam et in "his libris clarum ac disertum æternæ vitæ promissum vix ac ne "vix quidem reperias. Sed hæc qualiacunque erant, non erant "nisi præludia et anticipationes gratiæ evangelicæ; ad legem non pertinebant. Lex enim quatenus ab apostolo in suis cum “Judæis disputationibus consideratur, proprie designat pactum "in Sinai factum. Vide Gal. iv. ver. 24. Illud autem habuit promissa terrena et terrena tantum, ut videre est Exod. xxiii. 25, "26. Lev. xxvi. 3. et Deut. vii. 12, 13. et xviii. 2. &c. 66 Si quis contra sentiat ejus est locum dare, ubi æternæ vitæ promissio "extat: quod certe impossibile est." Bulli Harmonia Apostolica, Diss. II. x. 8. A contrary view of the subject has, however, been maintained. It has been contended, that, so far was the Law from affording to the subjects of its government any countenance for the belief of a future retribution, that that doctrine was not even entertained among the Jews till a short time previous to the period which terminates the sacred history of the Old Testament. This position comes to us recommended by the sanction of a name, which may justly command whatever veneration is due to genius and learning, subsisting together in a splendid and almost unrivalled combinations. The authority of an illustrious name cannot, however, invalidate the right of investigating truth, nor exonerate from the sacred obligation of vindicating it. It is fit, therefore, that the opinion we have now stated should be subjected to a fair examination, for the purpose of ascertaining its agreement with, or its repugnance to, the dictates of reason and the f Bishop Warburton. See Div. Leg. b. v. §. 4. vol. v. p. 146. The Israelitish polity is designated as one " which had not the sanction of a future "state of rewards and punishments." B. v. §. 5. p. 158. I go 66 64 66 on to shew that future rewards and punishments, which COULD 64 NOT BE THE SANCTION of the Mosaic dispensation, WERE NOT TAUGHT in it at all: and that, in consequence of this omission, the PEOPLE had not the doctrine of a future state for many ages." Ibid. p. 174. "I shall shew from a circumstance the clearest and most incontestible, that the Israelites "from the time of Moses to the time of their captivity, had not the doctrine of a future state of reward and punishment." B. iii. Appen. vol. iii. p. 321. 'It is very true, God's own chosen people were shut out from the knowledge of a future state." standard of revealed truth. To this examination we will proceed. With respect, then, to the degree and extent of religious knowledge in general, which were possessed by the chosen people of God, we are taught to believe, that they stood on a high ground of superiority to the rest of mankind. The points of distinction between them and the Gentile world consisted in exclusive advantages belonging to themselves. That they were favoured only in some particulars of the revelation which they enjoyed, while in other points of doctrine this favour was counterbalanced by a comparative ignorance and deficiency, is a groundless supposition. The language of holy writ affords the most unequivocal testimony, that the difference between them and the Gentiles, as to all points of religious faith, was in every respect advantageous to the Israelite; that it had arisen out of a more abundant measure of the divine favour, and a greater degree of clearness and certainty in the discoveries of the divine will. The following citations cannot, without harshness, be reconciled to any other view of the subject. "Now therefore, if 66 ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my cove"nant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto 66 me above all people: for all the earth is mine. "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, "and an holy nation"." "What nation is there so 66 great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the "Lord our God is in all things that we call upon "him for? And what nation is there so great, that h Exodus xix. 5, 6. "hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all “this law which I set before you this dayi?" "Ye "stand this day all of you before the Lord your "God,that thou shouldest enter into covenant " with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which "the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day: that "he may establish thee to-day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he "hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto 66 66 thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacobk." "What one nation in the earth is like thy people, ❝even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a 'people to himself, and to make him a name, and "to do for you great things and terrible, for thy 66 66 66 land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to "thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? "For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Is"rael to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, "Lord, art become their God1." Happy art "thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people "saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and "who is the sword of thy excellency m!" These declarations are indeed general: but they are wholly inconsistent with the existence of such a signal disadvantage as that which is involved in the supposition of Warburton. The following passage has however a closer relation to the subject: "This is your "wisdom and your understanding in the sight of "the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, "and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and i Deut. iv. 7, 8. * Deut. xxix. 10, 12, 13. |