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and to die Childlefs, a Curfe; and a numerous Offfpring, a Bleffing, fo often promised, that it is evident that many Difpenfations of the Divine Providence depended upon it.

And the better to revive and keep up a Senfe of Religion amongst Men, those who were most eminent for Piety were employed to be God's Heralds and Embassadors to the rest of the World, as the whole People of Ifrael are appealed to as his Witneffes, Ifai. xliii. 12. and xliv. 8. The Jews have a Tradition, That Abraham refusing to worship the Fire, the God of the Chaldeans, was thrown by them into it, and was delivered out of it by Miracle: And therefore they understand it, not that he went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, as it fignifies a Place, but from the Fire of the Chaldees; Ur in the Hebrew Tongue fignifying Fire, But we have no need of recourfe to fuch Tradi tions: This is certain, Abraham was fent, by God's Command, out of Chaldea into Canaan; and there he had no fix'd or fettled Habitation, but journeyed, going on ftill towards the South, Gen. xii. 9. till a Famine happening in that Country, the Providence of God fo difpofed of Things, that He and Lot went into Egypt. And when he was there, he was by a very remarkable Accident taken great notice of by Pharaoh himfelf. For Pharaoh admiring the Beauty of Sarah, Abraham's Wife, takes her into his Houfe: for which great Plagues were inflicted on him and his Houfhold; and Pharaoh perceiving the reafon of it, fends him away, with his Wife, and all that he had. By this it became notorious to Pharaoh and his Princes, that Abraham was under God's peculiar Care and Providence, and that therefore it concerned them to regard what he profeffed concerning Religion, and the Worfhip of God. Abimelech likewife, King of Gerar, sent and took Sarah: Upon which God appeared to him

• S. Hierom. Quaft. in Genef. S.Auguft. Quaft, in Genef. 1. v. qu.25.

in a Dream, and declared to him that Abraham was a Prophet, and that he should pray for him; and this Abimelech told to all his fervants; Gen. 20. 7, 8. and he calls upón God, by his Name Jehovah, ver. 4. which fhews that he had Knowledge of the True God.

After Abraham and Lot were returned into Canaan from Egypt, upon fome difagreement between their Herds-men, they parted from each other, Lot going towards Sodom, and Abraham to the Plain of Mamre, in Hebron. And it came to pass, that there was War between Nine Kings of that Country, four being Confederate on the one fide, and five on the other. But the King of Sodom and his Confederates being defeated in Battel, Lot, who dwelt in Sodom, was, with all his Goods, carried away by the Enemy: Of which when Abraham was informed, he armed his Servants, and with no more than Three hundred and eighteen Men, gained a fignal Victory, retook Lot, and brought him back, with all his Family and Goods. And at his return he is met by the King of Sodom, and by Melchizedeck King of Salem, who being the Prieft of the most high God, in a moft folemn manner blefleth Abraham, who gives him the Tenth of all his Spoil : Which whole Action muft needs render Abraham mightily renowned in all that Country. So inuch Mercy did God extend to the Canaanites, who, after they had filled up the measure of their Iniquities, were to be rooted out, to make way for the Ifraelites to poffefs their Land; that Abraham, and Lot, and Melchizedeck, and their Families, were appointed as Monitors and Inftructors to them in the ways of Righte oufnefs and Piety: And when all this was ineffetual to their Amendment, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a moft miraculous and visible Judgment, with Fire from Heaven, after God had declared, at Abraham's Interceffion, that, if there had been but Ten Righteous Perfons in thofe Cities, he would have faved the reft for their fakes. Lot, with his Family only,

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only, efcaped this dreadful Judgment, and his Wife looking back, out of fondness for the Place fhe had left, was turned into a Pillar of Salt; which were fo ftrange and fo remarkable Judgments, that it must be a prodigious obftinacy in Sin, not to be reclaimed and brought to an acknowledgment of God's Power and Authority by them.

The Moabites and the Ammonites were defcended from Lot, and therefore it must be through their great Sin and Negligence, if they did not retain a true Notion of Religion: They had Poffeffion given them of the Land they dwelt in, by God himself, by whom the former Inhabitants, a wicked and formidable Race of Giants, were destroyed before them, as the Canaanites afterwards were before the Children of Ifrael, Deut. ii. 9, 19. Our Saviour was defcended from Ruth the Moabitefs. And the Ammonites are distinguished from the Heathen, Ezek. xxv. 7.

But as Abraham has the peculiar Character given him of, the Friend of God, and the Father of the Faithful; fo his Power and Influence was very great. He is faid, both by Justin, and Nicolaus Damafcenus, to have been King of Damafeus; and the latter farther adds, that in his own time the Name of Abraham was famous in that Gity, and that a Village was nominated from him, being called Abraham's House or Palace. He was a mighty Prince among the children. of Heth, and was refpected as fuch by them, Gen.xxiii. 6, 10. The. Oak of Mamre was had in great devotion by the Heathens. The Religion of the ancient Perfians is ftyled in the Eaft, the Religion of Abraham, and the Book, which contains it, the Book of Abraham; and the Indian Brahman, or Brahaman, are fuppofed to derive their Name from him. h Areus, King of the Lacedemonians, in his Letter to Onias the

* Juftin. 1. 36. c. 2. Nic. Damaf. apud Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 1. c. 8. Hieron. de Loc. Hebr. "Hyde Hift. Relig. vet. Perf. c. 2. Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 12. 5. i.

1 Mac. xii. 20, 21.

High-Prieft, fays that it was found in Writing, that the Lacedemonians and the Jews were Brethren, and that they were of the Stock of Abraham. The Saracens, and other Arabians, were defcended from Abraham; and Circumcifion, which was practis'd by fo many Nations, being a Seal of the Covenant, and a Rite of Initiation, must be suppos'd to have fome Notion of the Covenant it self communicated together with it. For there is no probability that Circumcifion, used as a Religious and Myfterious Rite, could have any other Original among Heathen Nations, than from Abraham; and the only Reafon brought to prove that it had another beginning amongst them, is, because it was used upon a Natural Caufe, and vary'd in the Time of Administration: but the Time might hap-. pen to be changed by fome unknown Accident; and it was always, I think, ufed upon a Religious account, whatever Natural or Moral Causes might be likewise affign'd; and fuch the Jews themselves were wont to affign, as well as that of their Religion; and it is poffible, that in fome places, the Religious Cause of its Obfervation might be forgot, and the Natural or Moral only retain❜d.

Besides the other Sons of Abraham, which were many, Ifaac and Ishmael must have been very inftrumental in propagating the true Religion; and we can fuppofe none educated under Abraham, or belonging to him, but they must have been well qualified for that purpose, and must more or lefs retain the Impreffions they had receiv'd from him: this being the Character which God himself gives of Abraham, I know him, that he will command his children and his boufhold after him, and they fhall keep the way of the Lord, Gen. xviii. 19. The Jews make particular mention of the care which both Abraham and Sarah

Philo de circumcif. Maimon. More Nevoch. Par. 3. c. 49.

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took in inftructing Profelytes; and Maimonides writes, that Abraham left a Book behind him upon that Subject. Ishmael was the Son of an Egyptian Mother, Gen. xvi. 1. and his Wife was an Egyptian: his Sons were Twelve in number, and of great Power, being ftyled Princes, and their Dominions were of a large extent, Gen. xxv. 16, 18. Ifaac was to marry none of the Daughters of Canaan, but one of his own Kindred; and a Meffenger is fent into Mefopotamia, to bring Rebekah from thence, God directing and profpering him in his Journey: Which Alliance and Affinity renew'd with the Chaldeans, could not fail of a good effect, for the prefervation and advancement of Religion in thofe Countries. But a Famine being again in the Land, Ifaac removes to Abimelech King of the Philistines, unto Gerar, and by him the Beauty of Rebekah was admired, as Sarah's had been by Pharash in Egypt, and here by Abimelech but tho' he had faid fhe was his Sifter (as Abraham faid likewise of Sarah) meaning in that latitude of the word ufual in thofe Countries, whereby Women were call'd the Sifters of all to whom they were nearly related; yet the Providence of God fo order'd it, that no Attempts fhould be made to her Difhonour, but the King of the Philistines had a great Regard and Reverence for Ifaac and his Wife: the Bleffing of God was visible in all his Undertakings; he became much mightier than the Philistines, and therefore they envy'd him; which occafion'd his Remove to Beersheba, whither Abimelech, with his Friends and Attendance, came to enter into a ftrict League and Covenant with him, profeffing that they fam certainly that the Lard (that is, Jehovah, the True God) was with him, and declaring him to be the bleffed of the Lord, Gen. xxvi. 1, 14, 16, 26. And for the fame reafon, the Phili

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* De Idololatr. c. I. §. 9.