his family would propagate these doctrines, together with their confequences, wherefoever they went*. But though the Deity was pleased to manifeft himself, in a more frequent and familiar manner, to Abraham; yet were not the rest of the world quite overlooked. There were, no doubt, many other shining lights, and eminent profeffors of pure religion, who, like Lot in the midst of Sodom, were as eminently preferved, and fupported in it: we fee Laban, and Bethuel acknowledging the Lord+; and the former of them, notwithstanding the mixture of Idolatry in his household favoured with a Vision §: Nor was the spirit of prophecy, or divine revelation, wholly con of information by action, inftead of words, concerning the great Sacrifice of Chrift, given to Abraham at his own earnest request. Div. Leg. Vol. II. P. ii which is well illuftrated by Mr. Gilbank, Script. Hilt. of Abr. p. 113, &c. and might perhaps receive some confirmation, by obferving that this fcene moft probably was placed upon the very spot where Chrift actually fuffered: (See Crit Notes, Genef. xxii. 1, 2. Comp. Pool, Synopf. ib. and Patrick on Gen. xxii. 9.) in which fuch another coincidence might be obferved between the type and perfon typified, in refpect of his death, as Epifcopius remarks concerning the place and circumstances of his birth. Nempe ita ego mecum fentio; Id non cafu, fed, Deo ita procurante, eveniffe, ut vel hac etiam ratione Deus teftatum faceret filium hunc, Davidis filium effe, paremque cum eo fortunam fortitum atque expertum effe. Enimvero paftor fuerat David, qui vitam fuam in ftabulo fortè, fortè, inquam, hoc ipfo in loco ubi Jefum Maria peperit, egerat, et quando ad regiam dignitatem vocabatur, gregem patris fui pafcebat, atque ita veluti a ftabulo et pabulo ovium ad regium thronum vehebatur, uti diferte ipfe fatetur, Pfal. lxxviii. 70, 71, 72. In ftabulo igitur cùm nafcitur filius ejus, annon patrem fuum refert? Epifcop. Inst. Theol. L iii. c. 12. p. 175. Gen. xviii. 19. See Burnet's Boyle's Lect. pag. 536. fol. God called Abraham out of his own country, and made him travel from place to place, to make him thereby famous in the world, and to invite men by that means to enquire after his profeffion, his hopes, and his religion.' Allix, Reflect. B. ii. c. 12. † Gen. xxiv. 31, 50. Gen. xxxi. 19, 30. Gen. xxxi, 24. confined to Abraham, or to his family. In Canaan we meet with Melchizedeck, king, and priest of the most high God*: who is acquainted with the bleffing promised to Abraham, and confirms it to him; and to whom the patriarch himself pays homage. Abimelech king of Gerar receives an admonition from the Lord, and readily pays a due regard to it; the same sense of religion and virtue defcends to his font; from whence we learn, that this country was at that time far from arriving at that great degree of corruption, which it reached in a few generations after. In Arabia we find Job, and his three friends, all of regal dignity, as fome fay ||, entering into the deepest points of divinity, and agreed about the unity, omnipotence, and spirituality of God; the Justice of his providence, and many other fundamentals of Religion; as also mentioning a divine inspiration or revelation, as no very uncommon thing§. Eliphaz had his vifions, and revelations ** as well as Job, though in a lower degree++; and the latter expreffes his faith in much stronger terms, than are elsewhere to be met with near his time; if according to the addition to the seventy, he was Perhaps the Patriarch Shem himself. Vid. Cumberland, de Leg. Patr. p. 424, &c Bedford, Scrip. Chron. p. 318. Lightfoot, Mifc. 1010. The fame opinion is maintained by many other authors mentioned by Calmet, Dict. Vol. II. p. 177. Comp. Sharpe, Rife and Fall of Jerufalem, p. 1, &c. and prolegom. in Hyde opufc. p. xxi. + Gen. xx. 1 Gen. xxvi. 10, 11. Vid. Lxx. in fin. Job, Tobit ii. 16. Vulg. Lat.-Job infultabant ++ See Patrick, App, to par. on Job. p. 59. ་ was the fifth from Abraham*, or according to others, contemporary either with him, or Isaac+. Though in truth, it is not very easy to fettle either the date of that piece, or the import of several expreffions in it. Some place it in the days of David or Solomon ‡, others bring it down as low as the captivity: nor are they without their reasons (m.) However, all feem to agree that, whoever *See Calmet, Dict. or Coftard's Obfervations, p. 13. or Heath, p. 24. or Findlay against Voltaire, P'. 3. §. 3. Jurieu, Crit. Hift. Vol. I. p. 18. Shuckford. B. vii. p. 136, &c. Selden de Jur. Nat. &c. L. vii. c. 11. Goguet, Vol. I. Dissert. ii. IV. Vitringa in Jef. Proleg. p. 9. (m) See fome of them in the Five Letters on Infpir. p. 99. and Le Clerc on Job i. 6, 8, 11, 22. — ii. 9. —vi. 10. xi. 10, 22.-xxiii.12. -xxvi. 12.-xxxi.27.-xxxviii.3.-xlii.7. Id. Sentim. de Theolog. L. ix. p. 177, &c. et Biblioth. Choif. Tom. I. a. 1. Add Chaldaismi in indice ad Cler. Comment. Tom. IV. with Findlay, P. 433, 434. n. The mixture of Chaldee in the composition which Le Clerc makes out in many inftances, befide the in pro im, (fee Mr. Peters's Crit. Diff. p. 133.) feems of fome moment towards determining it to be more modern than is ufually imagined, and is, I apprehend, rather too flightly paffed over both by the ingenious author of Crit. Diff. and thofe other eminent writers he produces; though Le Clerc, with his ufual modefty, leaves the confequence from thence to the date of the book wholly undecided; nay, himself affigns a reafon why the latter is no neceffary confequence from the former: Jobus, nimirum, ad Euphratem in Hufitide habitavit, ubi lingua Chaldaica, aut Chaldaicæ adfinis obtinebat. Id. in c. xv. 13. As to the famous paffage in c. xix. 25. on which he gives his judgment with more freedom, I muft produce the conclufion, though fomewhat of the longeft, in his own words. Jam ex ipfis totius hujus loci verbis fatis liquere poteft, Jobum de refurrectione fua non agere; quam nunquam veteres hic quæfiviffent, nifi pravis interpretationibus tranfverfi acti fuiffent; ut conjicere efl ex Judæis, qui verba Hebraica fequuti, dogma, quod alioqui credunt, hinc exfculpi poffe non putarunt. Sed id ipfum, cum ex multis aliis locis, in quibus fatis aperte Jobus oftendit ftatum animorum, poft mortem, tunc ignotum fuiffe, tum ex totius libri argumento facile colligitur. Quæritur in eo, cur qui non funt deteriores aliis qui boni habentur et revera funt, interdum inufitatis calamitatibus premantur; quod quomodo confentire queat cum juftitia divina, nec Jobus, nec amici poffunt comminifci; imo nec Deus ipfe, ubi Jobum poftea adloquitur, docet. Nimirum folutio problematis, et una confolatio, qua Jobi animus pacari poterat, peti debuit ex alterius vitæ cognitione ; quam whoever was the author of it, it is built upon a real character; and that decorum kept up, as to fuit the notions in it to the patriarchal times *: and what religious notices might be gathered from this dramatick history, fuppofing it known in those times, may be feen at large in a judicious writer +. To proceed: In Chaldea we meet with Balaam, a true prophet‡; yet one who, from his own perfonal merit, had no particular pretenfions to the word of God; fince he fo notoriously loved, and followed the wages of unrighteousness; and at length justly perished among the idolatrous Midianites ||; having quam fi noviffent Jobi amici, vetuiffent eum ufque adeo perturbari et lamentari: effe enim dixiffent aliud tempus præmiorum virtutis, idque expectari ab eo debere, poft hanc vitam mortalem; et eo majora præmia relaturum, quo graviores calamitates conftantius tuliffet: quibus præmiis mala hujus vitæ Deus abunde effet penfaturus. Jobus ipfe hoc ad animum revocaffet, nec ufquè adeo æstuaffet. Quod fi talia eorum mentem non fubiiffent, Deus certe, fi res jam revelata erat, dixiffet, monuiffetque Jobum, fibi vifum fuiffe tot malis ejus virtutem explorare; ut magis in ea ipfe firmaretur, aliique eam imitarentur, quibus fimilia contingerent; nec effe cur fibi duritiem & propemodum injuftitiam exprobraret; fe enim non propter fingularia quædam peccata paffum effe eum tantis & tot fubitis malis opprimi, fed ut ejus virtus magis eniteret, exemploque aliis effet; caterum effecturum fe ne hominem conftantiæ fuæ pœniteret, æternis & eximiis in eum collatis præmiis. Quae oratio, (fi rem tum patefeciffet Deus) multo ejus fummæ fapientiæ convenientior erat, quam creatio Crocodili & Hippotami, aliaque id genus; quæ Jobum quidem terrere potuerunt divinæ potentiæ metu, fed folari vix potuerunt. Hæc qui ad animum revocabunt, facile intelligent, nihil effe cur, veluti per fidiculas, conemur refurrectionem & vitam æternam hinc extorquere. Le Clerc's opinion is confirmed by Mr. Heath in loc. Add Durell, ib. p. 67, &c. But compare Taylor, ib. c. 24. who has made it probable that Job profeffes his belief of both thefe articles, and on that very account is faid to have spoken the thing that is right of God, which his friends did not. c. xlii. 7, 8. - * See the Theological Repofitory, p. 70, &c. + Taylor, Scheme of Script. Div. c. 24. See Patrick. App. to Par. on Job, p. 60. Numb. xxxi, 8. having taught them to feduce and corrupt thofe, whom he knew to be the chofen people of God ‡. Confidering, I fay, the character of this person, he feems to have had no particular title to the gift of prophecy (2); and therefore we may suppofe Numb. xxiv. 9. and xxxi. 16. Mich. vi. 5. Rev. ii. 14. (2) Whatever might have been his behaviour before, it was certainly very bad in the whole of this affair; during which, he had the fulleft revelations, and yet was always either directly disobeying, or endeavouring to defeat the intent of them; as may be seen in Bp. Butler's Sermon on that fubject, and Shuckford's Connection, B. xii. P. 314, &c. As to the particular manner of thefe revelations, we may, I think, fuppofe them to have been all alike made in vifion, dream, or trance, [as our tranflators have interpreted one hereafter mentioned, and which fome circumftances render very probable] though from the narration it is equally difficult here, as in fome other parts of scripture, to diftinguish between real fact in the most literal fenfe, and vifionary, fymbolical representations, fuch as occur in Gen. xv. 5, &c. 1 Kings xxii. 19. Job i. 6. ii. 1, &c. xxxviii. I. vi. 1. xx. 2,3. Jer.xiii.1-7. xviii.3,4. xix. 1,2. xxv.15,17. xxvii. 2,3. Ezek.iii. 1, 2. iv. 6,&c. v. 1-4. xii. 3, &c. Hof. i. 2, 3. iii. 1-3. [v. Pocock in loc.] Zech. i. 8. iii. 1. and perhaps Gen. ii. 21-24. and xxxii. 2, 24. vid. Theodoret. (though Dr. Clarke gives another interpretation of this laft paffage, Serm. xix. p. 126. Dubl. Ed.) and Smith's Sel. Difc. c. 6. To which we may add thofe appearances to St. Stephen and St. Paul, Acts viii. 55, 56. xxii. 6, &c. [fee Elfner, Comm. in Matt. v. 1. p. 38.] with that account of a ftar being feen by the wife men. Matt. ii. 9, 10. [Elsner, ib. p. 34, &c.] and perhaps the whole ftory of Chrift's temptation in the wilderness, as is made very probable in Farmer's judicious Enquiry into its nature and defign, printed A. D. 1761. Comp. Mafon on Matt. iv. 11. and Jenning's Lectures, B. I. c. vi. p. 365. or Harwood, Introd. to the N. Telt. c. v. §. p. 178. That of the Angel meeting Balaam in the way, feems to be thus explained by himself, Numb. xxiv. 3, 4. (when rightly rendered) where he alludes to the very circumftance of his eyes being but for fome time, c. xxii. 31. Nor is it a quite eafy fuppofition that inftead of betraying the least token of furprise at hearing the afs fpeak, (though not much to the purpose, as has been objected by the infidel) which was fo natural to any perfon awake and in his perfect fenfes, he fhould perfift in his fury, and make the following reply, more like one under the diforder of a dream: I would there were a fword in my hand, for now would I kill thee. c. xxii. 29. Nor is the Angel's being thrice prevented from flaying Balaam, merely by the afs's turning away thus often, v. 33. lefs unaccountable, if we are refolved to take the whole ftory literally. Nor does it seem very probable that he, who was |