"fhall I fee God; whom I fhall fee for myfelf, and mine eyes fhall behold, and not "another; though my reins be confumed "within me."

In the book of Daniel there is ftill a more exprefs mention of a refurrection, and of the condition of the righteous and of the wicked after it. Dan. xii. 2. <6 Many of "them that fleep in the duft of the earth "fhall awake, fome to everlaftihg life, and "fome to fhame and everlafting contempt." There seems alfo to be a particular promise to Daniel of his own refurrection in the concluding words of the book, v. 13. “But

go thou thy way till the end be: for thou “shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end "of the days." He was then too old to have any more preferment in this life, and he had all the power that a fubject could have.

In the hiftory of the Maccabees, who bravely fuffered death rather than abandon their religion, we fee the fulleft confidence in their expectation of a happy refurrection, especially in what was faid by the mother

and

and her feven fons*, at their martyrdom, the particulars of which, being very striking, I fhall here quote. 2 Mac. vii. 9. &c. "And when he," viz. the fecond fon, "was at the laft gafp, he said, Thou, like "a fury, takeft us out of this prefent life, "but the King of the world fhall raise us up, who have died for his laws, unto ever

lafting life." The third, fpeaking of his tongue and hands, which they were going to mangle, faid, ver. 11. "Thefe I had "from heaven; and for his laws I defpife

them, and from him I hope to receive "them again." The fourth, when he was ready to die, faid, ver. 14. "It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by "him: as for thee, thou fhalt have no re"furrection to life." Laftly, the mother exhorted them in her own language, ver. 21. faying, "I cannot tell how ye came "into my womb, for I neither gave you “breath, nor life, neither was it I that

Though this particular story should be fabulous, it is no less an evidence of the opinion that prevailed among the Jews before the time of our Saviour.

formed

"formed the members of

every one of

you;

"but doubtlefs the Creator of the world, "who formed the generation of man, and "found out the beginning of all things, "will alfo, of his own mercy, give you "breath and life again, as ye now regard not your own felves."

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The manner in which the belief of a refurrection is here expreffed, clearly shows, that it was no novel doctrine among the Jews of thofe times, but that they confidered themfelves as fpeaking agreeably to the faith of all their ancestors; and it is hard to conceive how they could have been miftaken in this. The doctrine of a refurrection from the dead never occurred to any of the heathens, even thofe who fuppofed that there might be a future life. It does not feem, therefore, that this general and firm expectation of the Jews, which was peculiar to themselves, and contrary to all prefent appearances, could have had any other origin than divine revelation, though we have no account when, or to whom, this revelation was made.

This argument, a pofteriori, makes it probable, that David, and other writers of the Old Testament, did really refer to the doctrine of a refurrection, and a future life, in thofe paffages to which, without the knowledge of what were the fentiments of the Jews afterwards, we might naturally enough have been led to give a different interpretation. Had there been any new revelation of fo important a doctrine between the time of David and the Maccabees (as it was a period in which many eminent Jewish prophets flourished) we might naturally expect to have found fome particular account of it. But, fuppofing it to have been the univerfal opinion of the patriarchs, founded upon fome well-known, though very antient revelation, and never to have been forgotten, or loft fight of, by the pious Ifraelites (though it was quite loft with the reft of the world) we may much better fatisfy ourfelves with finding fo little exprefs mention of it.

With the Pharifees, among the Jews, in our Saviour's time, the expectation of a refurrection was univerfal; though it appears

that,

that, in fome refpects, they had a very imperfect idea of it, and the Sadducees altogether denied it. Thus Martha, the fifter of Lazarus, fays to our Saviour, when he told her that her brother should rife again, John xi. 24. "I know that he fhall rife "again in the refurrection at the last day;" which evidently fhows, that fhe took the doctrine for granted, without feeming to have learned it from Christ,

In all the New Teftament, we find the greatest poffible ftrefs laid upon this doctrine. Christians having no expectations, as the Jews had, from temporal confiderations, expected all their reward in a future life. All the recompenfe they looked for, on account of their fufferings in the cause of truth and righteousness, was at the refurrection of the juft. This, therefore, is the great fanction of virtue in christianity, which inculcates upon the profeffors of it, that they are to confider themselves as not of this world, but as citizens of heaven, and only firangers and pilgrims upon earth, in full afsurance that, by patient continuance in well doing,

they