& he knew the Worft of Death already;
"It could but reduce him to his Primi-
❝tive State; That as before his Birth
"he was Nothing, fo after his Death
" he should be no more
many othes places to the fame purpose.

And in

It is true there are fome Paffages in the famous Books of the Sibylls, fo full and appofite to this Purpose, that it would be great Difingenuity to flur Them off, as the Chance ftrokes of a Rambling Fancy. But the Learned Criticks that have been at the Pains Cafaub. to examine them, have generally condemn'd them as Spurious Books; im- nales. pos'd on the World, probably by fome Platonizing Chriftian in the Primitive Idol. Times, who out of a Mistaken Principle might think to serve the Cause of Christianity thereby.

And were they not Spurious, it would be altogether Unaccountable, that God fhould by Them discover This, and other Myfteries of Religion, fo much more Clearly to the Heathens, than he had ever done by Mofes, or any of the Prophets, to his own People.

* Quæ (Mors) nos in illam tranquillitatem, in qua antequam nafceremur jacuimus,reponit. Confol. ad Marciam. Cum venerit Dies ille, qui mixtum hoc Divini Humanique Secernat, Corpus hoc ubi inveni relinquam. Ep. cii. &c.

But

Exercit in

Bar. An

Voffius de

But to advance One Step farther; I think we may well conclude, that the Heathens must be far enough from the Belief of the Refurrection of the Body, when they were by no means furely fixt in the general Principle, that there was Any Future Life at all in any kind, which is the First Foundation, and was much more Discernible by the bare Eye of Reason. It is true, they often dif courfed with Confidence and Satisfaction enough of the Soul's Immortality: yet ma* Et For-ny times they appear Doubtful, * and taffe (Si modo Sa- had their Relenting Fits even as to That pientum Principle; especially in time of Trouble, vera Fa- when they most stood in need of Comcipitque fort from it: As I might give Inftances, Nos locus had I time to fpare, from the Greatest quem pu- Men, and Deepest Moralifts of them tamus pe-all.

ma eft,re

riffe, præ

miffus eft. Sen. Epift. Ixiii.

SI quis Piorum manibus Locus; SI non cum Corpore extin guuntur Magnæ AnimæTacitus in vita Agric. ἘΙ δ ̓ ὁ τε παλαιῶν 7ε ποιητῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων λόγος ἐςὶν ἀληθὴς, &c. Plut. in lib Confol. ad Apollon.

Cicero expofitis omnium Philofophorum de Immortalitate Sententiis, harum, inquit, Sententiarum quæ vera fit, Deus aliquis viderit. Lactantius lib. 7. See First Difcourfe on Pfal. cxlvii. 20.

Thus much for the First Confideration, That the Heathens had no Knowledge of the Refurrection, antecedent 2dly. to Revelation; we are now Secondly to Confider, That when it was made

Known

1

Known to them, they were fo far from
owning it for a Doctrine of their own,
a Principle of their Natural Divinity,
that they oppofed and rejected it with
the greatest Obftinacy.

We find in the Acts of the Apostles,
Chap. xvii. that when the Philosophers at
Athens, Stoicks as well as Epicureans,
heard St. Paul preach up the Refurrection,
it feemed as Incredible as it was Strange
and New to them; and they only
Mocked at it. He feemeth (fay they) to
be a Setter forth of Strange Gods, because
he Preached unto them Jefus and the Re-
furrection.

When the Heathen in Minutius comes but to name this Opinion of the Chriftians, that they fhould be Reftored out Renafci of Duft and Afbes, he thinks the bare poft cineRecital of it, without any Anfwer to villas. it, fufficient to explode it as the greateft Abfurdity that ever was held by Men. *

The Devout Father, Theophilus Antiochenus tells us, that "when He came

* And Pliny reckons the raising of Men from the Dead,
not only beyond the Power of Nature, but beyond the
Power even of God himself. Ne Deum quidem
poffe omnia; Nam nec fibi poteft confcifere Mortem,
nec Mortales æternitate donare, nec Revocare De-
functos Plin. Nat.Hist. 1. 2. c. vii,

res et fa

Ant, ad

lib. 1.

66 over to the Christian Faith, and had pretty well Conquered other Difficul"ties; yet This of the Resurrection stuck a long time with him.*

66

*Theop. And St. Auftin tells us in his DifAutolych. Course on the lxxxviii Pf. That " in making Profelytes amongst the Heathens, "they met with more Obftinate Oppofi❝tion upon This, than upon any Other "Article of the Chriftian Faith. †

Tis True, the Good Fathers did often prefs them to the Belief of this Article, upon Reasons and Principles drawn from their Own Philofophy, and from their own Obfervation; But if we confider the Management and Defign of those Arguments, we shall find them to be only Inducements ab Extra, to show the Poffibility of the Refurrection ad hominem, both from their own Avow'd Principles, and the Analogy that was to be found in fome of the Works of Nature, and that their Prejudices being abated thereby, they might incline them to a more favourable Opinion of the

+ In nullâ re, tam vehementèr, tam pertinacitèr, tam
obnixé et contentiofé contradicitur Fidei Christianæ,
ficut de Carnis Refurrectione.
Cum ventum fue-

rit ad Refurrectionem Carnis, non titubant, fed "aper-
tiffime Contradicunt; Et Contradictio eorum talis eft
ut dicant, Fieri non poffe ut Caro, &c. Enarratio in
Pf. lxxxviii.

Re

1

Refurrection, and dispose them for the
Belief of it; though the full Knowledge
and Credibility of it, was ultimately to
be Refolv'd into Divine Revelation.

Thus I have fhow'd, (more largely
than was at first defign'd,) That Natu-
ral Light was of itself too Dim and Ob-
fcure, to guide Men to the Knowledge
of this Article. Nor have we much
reason to wonder thereat; For if we
come to the

IId. Part of our Enquiry, which relates to the Jewish State, we fhall hardly find amongst Them a Full and General Perfwasion of it; though to Them ap- Rom.ix.4. pertair'd the Covenants, and the Giving of the Law and the Promifes. But Thefe were fo given, that Nothing appear'd in the Letter, but Temporal Bleffings; the Mystical Part lay cover'd under too thick a Veil of Types and Ceremonies, to be much taken notice of by a People train'd up only to worldly Promises; but were in Spiritual Matters a People of No Understanding. Though had they been a People of More Thought, and better Difpofition, yet, to fay the Truth, fuch Obfcure Shadows, fuch Hieroglyphical Inftructions and Typical Promifes were not plain enough to ground a New Doctrine upon. Noah's Preservation M 2 from