NOTES.

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AND disjoin the evangelical blessings from every former act of God's interfering providence, &c.

AM aware of the objections that will be raised against

these arguments by many, who, with a full and perfect

acquiescence in scripture authority, and allowing Christ, in his divine and human character, to have realized every promise, and to have corresponded with every prophetic signification, are yet doubtful, how far the blessings of a Redeemer's kingdom may have been made known in former ages, or whether the great Mediatorial undertaking, and the doctrines of the resurrection, were not hidden in darkness, till the day-star arose above the horizon. They do not deny the retrospective influence of Christi

anity, and are firmly persuaded, that the benefits of a Saviour's death will be extended backwards to those who never heard of his coming, and by whom he was neither foreseen nor foreknown. Thus, without weakening the efficacy of atonement, they contend, that however clear the revelation of a Redeemer's glory might have been made to Abraham, and some other favoured servants of GOD, still the expectation of such an event was not general; and that in the belief of the great bulk of mankind, the promises and threatenings of scripture all terminated in this life. The tenet, though maintained by authority, and rendered the foundation of a stupendous fabric of learning, entitled to the most profound respect, I am, nevertheless, unable to adopt; nor can I resist the evidence of the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, which presents us with a catalogue of pious expectants and sufferers, who all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them and embraced them. Hebrews xi. 13. I am constrained to accede to the testimony of the same Apostle, who, in justification of himself before Felix, and who, be it remembered, made the Roman governor tremble, as he reasoned of a judgment to come, turns the charge of his accusers against themselves, as being apostates from the received faith and religion of their ancestors. Neither can they prove the things, says he, whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God

of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets; And have hope towards GOD, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and unjust.-Acts xxiv. 14. This point of doctrine, therefore, was not a new one, nor peculiar to Christianity. The Apostle argues upon it as upon the derivative faith of their ancestors; and in another place takes advantage of this very belief, with the hopes (and in which he fully succeeds) of gaining a party in his favour. When he was brought before the council, which consisted of Pharisees and Sadducees, both of whom were equally adverse to Christianity, he appeals to the former not only as being a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee, but as one that was unjustly persecuted for opinions which they held sacred-Of the hope, says he, and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. Nay, our Saviour himself (and surely his words may be allowed to decide) tells the Jews to search the scriptures, which testified of him, and in which they What then is the in

thought they had eternal life. ference? That the scriptures did teach them to expect a resurrection from the dead, but that without Him who was to be the resurrection and the life, the promise was not compleated, nor the expectation confirmed.

Supposing, however, we had no such incontrovertible evidence, and we could heap proof upon proof, might it not fairly be asked, what consolation Adam could have received from the promise in the garden of Eden, had it

not included the assurance of an atonement and a resurrection? He was to be restored to a happiness he had forfeited, to something that would soften and console him under the dreadful sentence of death passed upon him and his posterity, for disobedience to the divine commands. The expiation of his crime, therefore, not being yet made, the moment of death, without such expectation, must have annihilated every hope of pardon as far as he was personally concerned. With the rest of his posterity who never saw Christ, he might, and would be, (if we may be pardoned the expression) surprised into a resurrection, and which is a necessary consequence of making Christianity wholly retrospective with regard to former ages; but the assurance of a restoration to immortality, and which alone could take from death its sting, and from the grave its victory, must have appeared groundless at the approach of dissolution, without faith in a Redeemer's ransom from the power of sin and death. The covenant was the plan, and the blood of Christ the means, of human redemption, and thus called the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant. The time of the fulfilment of the promise being concealed might wisely be ordained to animate faith by constant expectation; the nature and end of that promise must have been revealed, or the types and figures of it could never have been adduced in proof of a Saviour's commission, much less been made matter of accusation against the unbelieving Jews, who discredited, or disowned, their meaning.

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Should we, in the wildest digressions of heathen mythology, be able to measure back the wandering footsteps of idolatry, &c.

It is surely now in our power to trace them from the foot of the mountain, where the ark rested, through all the kingdoms of the earth; and the mysteries of oriental theology, brought forwards, with a profusion of documents, to illustrate and harmonize with the memorials of sacred and profane literature, exhibit such a body of proof in confirmation of the Mosaic records, and of one common origin of nations from the descendants of Noah, that, with the fullest allowance for the doubts and queries of sober investigation, conceding every thing to the refusal of evidence on any presumed or conjectural etymology, we defy the human mind, upon the principles of rational enquiry, to resist. Of these wonderful specimens of the greatest talents employed to the noblest purpose, the investigation of truth, we shall find ample occasion to speak hereafter. PAGE 6, LINE 1.

To pick out from the tenets and precepts of Pagan philosophy authentic vouchers of the existing hope and promise of a Redeemer mighty to save, &c.

To every classical reader these testimonies will be so abundantly obvious, that his difficulty will not be about the number, but the choice. The idea mixes with all the