As our translators render it, in this life, so the Chaldee Par. goes a step further, and renders it, in life eternal. The Sept. translators, who best understood their own idiom, interpret it better than either, ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν, in this life of theirs. So that the true meaning of what we turn, their portion of this life, amounts to this-they are perfectly prosperous.

And now, concerning the words in the other verse, I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness. For the sense of these I shall transcribe the following passage of an excellent critic, and, what is more, a very orthodox divine. -" The Chaldee," says Dr Hammond, (and what sort of interpreters they were we have seen just above) "apply this awaking to David; when I shall awake I shall be satisfied with the glory of thy countenance. And so it hath truth, in respect of the resurrection of the just. But all the other interpreters agree to apply it to this glory; ἐν τῷ ὀφθῆναι τὴν δόξαν σοῦ, at the appearing of thy glory, say the LXX. cum apparuerit gloria tua, says the Latin; (and so the Arabic and Æthiopic) - When thy fidelity shall awake, saith the Syriac: and so most probably it is to be understood. By [God's glory awaking] signifying his glorious and powerful interposition to David's PRESENT rescue from his enemies' hands. And thus the learned Castallio took it; tum satiandus, cum tua experrecta fuerit imago; I shall be satisfied when thy likeness shall be awaked."* Other interpreters, and those of the first class, who make the awaking to refer to David, suppose it to signify his morning adorations before the ark, the symbolic residence of the divine presence. But that David was here speaking in the language of the law, and not of the gospel, I think, all but determined bigots will confess.

9. And again: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."‡ By the house of the Lord can be meant nothing else but the tabernacle or the temple: so that, for ever, or as the Heb. says, to length of days, must mean that mature old age, which the law promised to its faithful adherents.

10. In the xxxvi psalm, the sacred writer says, "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light."§ Here, to prove the immortality of man, a text is produced, which teaches the eternity of GOD. But I know some, who think there is a necessary connexion between these two truths.

11. "Like sheep," says the psalmist, "they [the wicked] are laid in the grave, death shall feed upon them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave, from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me."|| The literal meaning of which is, as appears by the context, that "the wicked should be untimely cut off and destroyed, in the morning, that is, by the judgment of the law, which was administered in the morning hours;* but that his life, and the life of the upright, should be preserved and prolonged." Here, once for all, let me desire the objectors to consider, what it is that is ever opposed (in the many passages of this sort) to life, redemption, &c. It is not misery, torments, &c., as it must have been, did life literally signify eternal life in a future state; but it is DEATH, which shows it was a life here on earth.

12. "Thou shalt guide me," says he again, "with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory."† Or, as an excellent critic has it; Consilio tuo deduxisti me, et postea cum gloria excepisti me. "Thou wast, or shalt be, always present with me in difficulties and distresses; and shalt lead and conduct me to better fortunes." This literal sense the context requires.

13. "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." This is so far from intimating a future state, that it is the very temporal promise annexed to the second law of the decalogue-" Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."§

14. "For THERE the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."||-Where? In the habitation of brethren living together in unity. Nothing else then can be meant, but that death and dangers should not approach a house so strongly united in itself.

15. In the book of Proverbs it is said - " The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: BUT THE RIGHTEOUS HATH HOPE IN HIS DEATH." That is, "the righteous hath hope that he shall be delivered from the most imminent dangers." So the psalmist "upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine."**-And again, "Thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living ?"††

16. And again" The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."‡‡ That is, the wise man prolongs his days here on earth, and escapes that untimely death which attends vice and folly. A doctrine perpetually inculcated throughout this book; as at chap. x. ver. 2, 28, chap. xi. ver. 7, chap. xii. ver. 28, chap. xxi. ver. 16. And again, "When a wicked man dieth, his EXPECTATION shall perish; and the hope of unjust men perisheth."§§ And again, -" So shall the

* See Jer. xxi. 12. "O house of David, thus saith the Lord, execute judgment IN THE MORNING, and deliver him that is spoiled, out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury

go out like fire, because of the evil of your doings."

† Ps. Ixxiii. 24.

Ps. ciii. 17, 18.

§ Exod. xx. 6.

|| Ps. cxxxiii. 3.

Chap. xiv. 32.

knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy EXPECTATION shall not be cut off."* In the first of these two places it appears by the context (that is, by the whole tenor of these moral precepts and aphorisms) that the expectation which should deceive is that of worldly wicked men to establish a house in their posterity: and in the second, the expectation which should not deceive is that of wise and virtuous men in the success of their honest endeavours. But there is one common fallacy which runs through all the reasoning of these anti-critics; it is this, that having taken the point in question [whether a future state be taught in the Old Testament] for granted, they confine all expressions, capable of either sense considered alone, to the sense which supports their own opinion. Whereas, while the matter is in question, fair reasoning requires, that such texts be considered as indifferent to either sense, till determined by the context, and according to the analogy of the law and the prophets.

17. We conclude with the PREACHER, who says, that "wisdom giveth life to them that have it:"† and so says the law of Moses likewise (which is here alluded to) and yet it gives nothing but the things of this life.

18. Again: "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear GOD." What is meant by this, the very following words declare: "But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God."§-That is, though the wicked be suffered to go on for some time, yet for all that, vengeance shall overtake and arrest him in the middle of his course.||

19. And again" Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for childhood and youth are vanity." That is, "in giving an innocent and lawful indulgence to thy youth, take heed lest thou transgress the bounds of virtue and piety. For know, that GOD will certainly punish thy offences, either in thy own person, or in thy posterity."

These are all the passages of moment (till we come to the PROPHETS) which I could find have been objected to the opinion, That a future state of reward and punishment is not in the Mosaic dispensation. By which it appears, that the objectors have been very inattentive to what an interpreter of the Old Testament should have his thoughts constantly attached, namely, to these three things; to the CONTEXT; to the genius of the EASTERN STYLE; and to the economy under which the early Hebrews lived, that is to say, an EXTRAORDINARY PROVIDENCE. But this last fault, though the most inexcusable of all, they all have in common with the late Jewish writers; who, considering only the dispensation under which

Prov. xxiv. 14. † Eccl. vii. 12. || See note GG, at the end of this book.

‡ Chap. viii. ver. 12. § Eccl. viii. 13. Chap. xi. ver. 9, et seq.

themselves lived, thought it harsh and unnatural to interpret these texts with reference to worldly good and evil, which they saw unequally distributed.

On the whole therefore it appears, that all these passages, in their obvious and primary sense, relate to the things of this life; and that some of them are expressed by the Holy Spirit in such a manner, as makes it now evident, they had likewise a spiritual and sublimer being, and do indeed refer to the completion of the law, by the gospel.

"The

The texts here examined are urged in common both by Jews and Christians. But, besides these, the Jews have a set of texts peculiar to themselves; which the Christians have never yet ventured to put upon duty. As they are most of them of the nature of riddles, riddles, for me, they shall remain: only, for the curious reader's satisfaction, I shall mark out what the rabbins bring from the PENTATEUCH to prove the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body, as they are collected by the learned Manasseh Ben-Israel, in his tract De Resurrectione Mortuorum. For the IMMORTALITY, 1 Kings i. 31; Psal. cxvi. 7, 8, 9; Exod. xix. 6, chap. xxxiii. ver. 20; Levit. vii. 25; Deut. xiv. 1, 2, chap. xxii. ver. 7, chap. xxxii. ver. 47. - For the RESURRECTION, Gen. iii. 19, chap. xxxvii. ver. 10; Exod. xv. 6; Levit. xxv.; Numb. xv. 30, chap. xviii. ver. 28; Deut. iv. 4, chap. xxxii. ver. 39, chap. xxxiii. ver. 6. But though the reader will find many diverting things on this head in Manasseh Ben-Israel, yet they must all give place to the curious comment of Rabbi Tanchum on the following words of 1 Sam. xxv. 29. soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy GOD: and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling." Sententia est omnium interpretum (says this profound rabbi) quod ad hunc textum, esse ipsum per modum commonitionis [quâ declaratur] quisnam futurus sit animæ status, et ad quid tandem deventura sit, postquam à corpore separata fuerit; atque ostendere duplicem esse ipsi statum, viz. quibusdam animabus esse gradum sublimem et locum stabilem, apud Dominum suum, dum vitâ immortali fruantur, nec morti nec perditioni obnoxiæ: aliis autem ludere fluctus naturæ, adeo ut requiem et consistendi locum non inveniant, verum dolores perpetuos et cruciatus continuos, cum æterna duratione, instar lapidis, qui è fundâ projectus circumrotatur in aëre pro ratione virium jacientis, dein vi sua naturali gravitate in terram decidit. Animæ vero nec inest gravitas quæ ipsam deorsum, nec levitas quæ sursum ferat; ideoque in perpetua est confusione, perturbatione, tristitia, et dolore usque in æternum. Atque hæc reverá sententia est SAPIENTUM et PHILOSOPHORUM. - How profound a doctrine! and how noble an original! But this is not the first, by a thousand, which has been raised from a metaphor, out of the hot-bed of theologic wisdom and philosophy. An abuse, that some cooler thinkers of late have fancied they could never get well rid of, till they had turned the few doctrines of true Christianity back again into metaphors. And they have succeeded to admiration.

SECT. IV.

WE come at length to the texts of the NEW TESTAMENT, which are urged to prove, against itself, that life and immortality was brought to light by the OLD.

I. The first is that famous argument of Jesus against the Sadducees: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.--But as touching the resurrection of the dead; Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."* Now this very text, had it been impartially considered, would have been sufficient to convince these answerers of the truth here contended for. At least it convinced a much wiser man, the excellent HUGO GROTIUS, whose words to his friend Ger. Vossius are as follow: "In Mosis lege (non dico in veteri Testamento: nam de prophetis, præsertim posterioribus, res longe alia est) æternæ vitæ non fieri mentionem nisi per umbras, aut rationis consequentiam, certissimum mihi videtur, Christi auctoritate, qui Sadducæos non verbis directis, sed ratiocinando refellit."† There is not, I repeat it, any plain text in the whole Bible (and this is amongst the plainest) so strangely mistaken and perverted: for, 1. The appellation of the GOD of Abraham, &c., is generally understood to be quoted by our blessed Lord, as a direct proof of the resurrection of the dead body, in the same manner that St Paul urges the case of JESUS: - "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."§ But can any thing be more irrational or absurd? The bodies of Abraham and the patriarchs were yet in dust, and reduced to their primitive earth. So that in this sense, the reasoning is so far from proving that God WAS NOT the God of the dead, that it proves, he was. For Abraham's body continued yet lifeless at the very time when God was called his

Mat. xxii. 29-32.

† Ep. 130. ed. Am. 1687. EPISCOPIUS had the very same idea of this argument "Et sane opinionum, quæ inter Judæos erat, circa vitam futuri sæculi discrepantia arguit promissiones lege factas tales esse ut ex iis certi quid de vita futuri sæculi non possit colligi. Quod et Servator noster non obscure innuit, cum resurrectionem mortuorum colligit, Mat. xxii. non ex promisso aliquo legi addito, sed ex generali tantum illo promisso Dei, quo se Deum Abrahami, Isaaci, et Jacobi futurum spoponderat: quæ tamen illa collectio magis nititur cognitione intentionis divinæ sub generalibus istis verbis occultatæ aut comprehensæ, de qua Christo certò constabat, quam necessaria consequentia sive verborum vi ac virtute manifestà qualis nunc et in verbis Novi Testamenti, ubi vita æterna et resurrectio mortuorum proram et puppim faciunt totius religionis Christianæ, et tam clare ac diserte promittuntur ut ne hiscere quidem contra quis possit."-Inst. Theol. lib. iii. sect. 1. cap. 2.

‡ M. Le Clerc, in his Defense des Sentimens sur l'Histoire Critique, has fallen into this mistake.-Nôtre Seigneur presse ces termes, en sorte qu'il suppose qu'il ne faut qu'entendre la langue dans laquelle l'Ecriture parle pour reconnoitre la resurrection, Matt. xxii. 31.i Il ne faut que lire ce raisonnement de Jesus Christ, pour sentir qu'il est tiré de cette expression, étre le Dieu de quelqu'un, que l'on ne pourroit appliquer à Dieu, si celui, dont on dit qu'il est le Dieu, étoit mort sans devoir jamais resusciter.-Pp. 102, 103.