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to illustrate the identity of the subject to which they would all be understood to relate. We have endeavoured to maintain, that this connection and dependence would, by every reasonable mind, be had in view in the interpretation of their design. The field of illustration has indeed been extended beyond the limits of the Mosaic writings. But if the principle contended for shall appear applicable to the whole chain of evangelical prophecy which reaches from the beginning to the end of the Old Testament, certainly the validity of its application cannot be questioned with respect to those links of the chain which are to be found in the Pentateuch alone.

On the ground of this principle then we contend, that every successive prediction of the Messiah would justly be viewed as containing the promise of a future life. We have shewn, that the victory which was promised to the seed of the woman could in no other way have been reasonably understood, than as intended to denote a triumph over death, and a resumption of immortality We have also shewn, that the blessing of Abraham could be justly viewed only as having regard to the felicity of a future life. The consequence is manifest. If every succeeding prophecy of the Messiah would be understood with reference to these two earliest prophecies, and construed as a republication of them, then every such prophecy must have been regarded, as tacitly comprising in it the doctrine of a future state.

I will only observe in conclusion, that the evidence of a future state afforded to the Israelites, being such as we have now described, was so framed

as to obviate a gross and dangerous misconception, which would naturally have arisen from making it the appropriate sanction of the Levitical law. In the latter case, the subjects of that law could hardly fail to regard the promise of eternal life, as a benefit restricted to themselves and denied to the rest of mankind. But this error would derive no countenance from the views which the writings of Moses actually discover. The first promise of a triumph over the serpent, could have been reasonably construed only in unison with that declaration of the Apostle, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ "shall all be made alivet." The blessings of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, embraced all the families of the earth, and that of Judah was equally comprehensive. In these blessings the promise of eternal life is virtually and intelligibly conveyed. The later declarations of Scripture were of an uniform character, and the general tenor of it was calculated to regulate the expectation of a future state agreeably to the truest conceptions of God's holy and merciful attributes: "God is no respecter of per"sons: but in every nation he that feareth him, "and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him"."

t1 Cor. xv. 22.

u Acts x. 34, 35.

CHAPTER V.

VIEW OF A PARTICULAR PROVISION BY WHICH THE BELIEF IN A FUTURE STATE WAS GUARDED FROM AFFORDING COUNTENANCE TO OPINIONS INCONSISTENT WITH TRUE RELIGION.

THAT the promise of eternal life formed no part of the Mosaical covenant; and that the writings of the Israelitish lawgiver contain no explicit declarations relating to that subject: are principles, on a recognition of which the present inquiry hath all along proceeded. It has however been contended, that the subjects of that covenant were not, as to this essential point of religious doctrine, excluded from participating in the general hopes of mankind. With a view to substantiate this latter position, we have, first, taken a view of the sources from which the Israelites, in common with other nations, must have derived their knowledge of a future state; and secondly, we have exhibited a distinct foundation, on which the hopes of the former were peculiarly established.

As a measure auxiliary to the general design of this treatise, it will be proper, in the next place, to notice a provision, which was calculated at once to confirm the hope of a future life, and to obviate the perversion of that hope: so that the prospect of immortal happiness as the reward of well doing, might be guarded from all association with opinions, which derogate from the freedom of Divine grace and contradict the scheme of redemption. That the language of explicit promise and direct assertion would

naturally have been wrested to the support of these erroneous sentiments, we have endeavoured to evince. And it will not be unreasonable to suppose, that these same sentiments may have derived some degree of countenance from the bare existence and prevalence of the doctrine of a future state, even though that doctrine could not have alleged the sanction of a Divine promise. If therefore any provision shall appear to have been made, which has a manifest tendency to counteract these mistaken and dangerous views, it must necessarily be considered as having a strong claim to our attention in the consideration of this subject.

SECTION I.

Origin of Sacrifice.

IF we direct our attention to the prominent features in the religious character of the world, as they discover themselves in that long succession of ages which intervened between the fall of man and the death of Christ; we cannot fail of being struck with an endless variety in the prevailing forms of worship and systems of belief. In the patriarchal ages and under the Law, we find both the creed and the practice of mankind diversified in the process of time by fresh communications of Divine truth, distinguished at later periods by a greater fulness than those which had been granted to foregoing generations. In the tenets and observances of the heathen, we meet with a still greater diversity, characterized throughout by the wild and fantastic workings of human folly, superstition, and wickedness. But,

however glaring the general disagreement, still the eye, while surveying the multitude of dissimilar forms which are crowded in the wide expanse, recognises a few circumstances of striking uniformity. Some particulars of agreement may be discerned in the records of every age comprehended within the specified period, and, with very rare and questionable exceptions, in those of every nation under heaven. Such are the belief of a God, and the doctrine of a future state: to which also we may add, the observance of sacrifice. This observance rises in point of time to the very highest antiquity, and reaches in extent throughout the whole inhabited world, wherever any vestiges of religion have been discovered.

The prevalence of this rite having been commensurate with the belief in a future retribution, afforded therefore a suitable corrective to any errors which might have been grafted upon it. It was adapted to silence the plea of human merit, and to bring out to view (as far as man, in the early and imperfect stages of a progressive scheme, was capable of viewing it) the only real ground of justification and acceptance before God. Hence do we obtain a corroborative testimony to the validity of the reasoning we have pursued, respecting the omission of a future state as a sanction to the Mosaic law. And we discover, at the same time, a remarkable instance of the harmony which pervades the Divine dispensations in the economy of the old and new covenants.

The truth of these observations will appear, we trust, from a candid examination of this interesting subject in regard to the three following points: First, the origin of sacrifice: Secondly, its meaning: Third

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