heart, by juftice in all our dealings, by all acts of charity, goodness, and benevolence to others, particularly to the helpless and indigent; by temperance and fobriety, curbing irregular defires and appetites: that men fhould not be elated and puffed up by large poffeffions, nor put their trust in riches, chap. xxxi. 24, 25; that they fhould abhor idolatry, ver. 26, 27, 28; that they fhould not wish evil to an enemy, nor rejoice in his misfortunes, ver. 29, 30, much less think of murdering him; that they fhould abftain from adultery and fornication, ver. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11; from theft, rapine, and deceit, ver. 5, 6, 7. For the punifhment of which crimes he mentions judges in his days, (ver. 11, 28.) and was himself one of the chief, chap. xxix. 7, 9, &c. These, and fuch like principles of natural religion, are allowed both by Job and his friends, and therefore were the religion of the Patriarchs, as indeed they are the principles of true and acceptable religion in all ages and parts of the world. Further; the religious in that, and the preceding, as well as fubfequent ages, I am perfuaded, entertained the faith and hope of a future ftate. This hath been the popular belief of all nations from time immemorial; and it is fcarce credible, in the nature of the thing, that the greatest happinefs of this life, which might at any uncertain time, and at length would infallibly and totally be demolished by death, fhould ever become a folid principle of religion, confidered as the fole reward of piety and virtue. However it appears, that Job expected a future world, for he had hope with regard to his condition, but not in this world; therefore, his hope must be in a future ftate. Chap. xiii. 15. 16. brow shop Lo, or certainly, he will flay me: I will not hope, non eft quod fperem, I have no ground to hope, that I fhall furvive my fufferings, yet will I maintain the integrity of my own ways before him. And even this shall be for falvation to me; [where but in a future world?] for a hypocrite shall not come before him; shall not have confidence to prefent himself before his tribunal. Chap. xxiii. 10. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I fhall come forth as gold. As Job abfolutely defpairs of any temporal deliverance, this muft neceffarily be understood of the hope he entertained of having his innocence cleared in the day of judg ment. He had, moreover, a notion of the refurrection. Chap. xiv. 7. For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will prout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not ceafe. Ver. 8. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the flock thereof die in the ground, ver. 9. yet through the fcent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a new plant. Ver. 10. And fhall man die, and totally waste away? And fall man give up the ghoft, and where is he? Or be no more for ever? Ver. II. As the waters fail from the fea, as the fea ebbs and flows again, and the river, or brook in the dry fandy country of Arabia, decays, and drieth up, in fummer, but is made a brook again by the rains and fnows of winter; ver. 12. So man lieth down, and rifeth not, till the heavens be no more; they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their fleep, to return to the affairs and poffeffions of this world. Ver. 13. And Oh that thou, O God, God, wouldst hide me in the grave, in that state of fleep and infenfibility, that thou wouldst keep me fecret, in that filent retirement, until thy wrath be past; that thou wouldst appoint me a fet time, and remember me to reftore me to a new and better life! Ver. 14. If a man die, shall he live again? Or fhall a man live again, after he is dead? Then I will patiently wait all the days of the time thou fhall be pleafed to appoint, till my happy renovation fhall come. Ver. 15. Thou shalt call, and I will joyfully anfwer thee; thou wilt have a longing defire to reftore the work of thy hands. Ver. 16. Though now, at prefent, thou numbereft my steps, &c. Chap. xix. 23. Obferve the folemn introduction; Oh, that my words, which I am going to speak, were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! Ver. 24. That they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock [my grave-ftone, SCHULTENS], for ever! This is too grand for temporal deliverance. Why fhould that be recorded upon a rock, as a lafting monument to all mankind? But it very well fuits the noble and fublime hope of a refurrection and future judgment, worthy of univerfal attention. Ver. 25. For I know, or am well affured, that my Sa Vindicator, [the Vindicator of my innocence is] living, and that at the last over the duft, [the dead, that hath been reduced to duft,] he shall arife, [to execute judgment, Job xxxi. 13, 14, Pfal. lxxiv. 22. lxxxii. 8.1 Verfe 26. And though after my fkin they shall deftroy this, [or this body fhall be deftroyed,] yet from my restored flesh 1 fhall with pleasure fee God. [Vide R. Min] verfe 27. Whom I shall fee for myself, [to do me juftice, as chap. v. 27.-for thy good [for thyfelf] and mine eyes fhall bebold; but a stranger to good nefs and juftice fhall not behold him in the fame manner. My reins are confumed in my bofom [in ardent expectation of this glorious event. N. B. fequente y, WD vel defiderium, ingens, flagrans et confumens fignificat; videfis Pfalms lxxxiv. 2. cxix. 82, 123. cxliii. 7. Sic quoque de renes, ftatuendum.] Obferve-if after his fkin, his body alfo was deftroyed, how could he outlive this deftruction, fo as to be a man profperous and happy again in this world? Had this been his fixed belief, his frequent withing for death would be utterly unaccountable, and his tragical complaints ridiculous, and his defpair of health and happiness in this world a contra diction. If wicked men, though fometimes in great wretchednefs, (chap. xxi. 16, &c.] are alfo fometimes profperous and powerful, verfe 7, &c. the proper inference is, verfe 30. That the wicked are referved unto the day of deftruction, and that they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath; not in this world, for that would have cut the neck of Job's argument at once, and have fallen in directly with that of his friends. Chap. xxxi. 2, 3. Chap. xxvii. 8. For what is the hope of an hypocrite, in the future ftate, though he hath gained much in this world; when God takes away his fou! at death? This fuppofeth a hope after death.-Again, chap. xxxi. 13, 14. What then shall I do when God rifeth up to judgment? Not in this world, where his fufferings were as great as could be, and where he did not expect they would be abated.-Laftly, his friends had not spoken of God the thing that was right, as Job had done, chap. xlii. 7, 8. But fetting G 3 afide afide a future ftate, the friends would have fpoke mare worthily of God, by vindicating his Providence in the exact diftribution of good and evil in this life; and Job, who afferted the contrary, would have mifreprefented his dealings with mankind. The Patriarchs before and after Job, and the Ifraelites before Chrift came, had a notion of a future ftate.-By facrifices was plainly fhewn, that a way was open to the Divine Favour and Acceptance; and the ́favour of God imports happiness, which to Abel, who was for that very reafon, because he was accepted of God, unjustly flain, could be only in a future ftate. Heb. xi. 4. Kai di' aurns aπobarwn and dying on account of that his faith he yet fpeaketh an invifible future ftate of reward -The tranflation of Enoch and Elijah, in two diftant ages, were well-known demonftrations of a future ftate of reward and glory. They were certainly acquainted with God and Angels, and heaven where both refided, Gen. xxii. 11. And the connexion between this world and heaven, by the miniftry of Angels, was clearly reprefented to Jacob Genefis xxviii, 12. They muft, therefore, have a notion of another and better world. The promise to Abraham, Genefis xvii. 7. I will be a God unto thee, we fhall find, is the fame with the gofpel promife, and therefore must include the gift of eternal life. And as that promife was fure to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, when they were deac, (Exodus iii. 6.) our Lord rightly infers, that they would rife again. Luke xx. 37, 38.) For God is not a God of the dead, who cannot, as fuch, be benefited by him, but of the living; for though they are dead, they all live unto him, or with refpect of him, as he will raife them all to life again.-And the Patriarchs thus underflood this promife; for when they confidered and reprefented their life in this world as a pilgrimage, Genefis xlvii. 9. or a ftate of fojourning or travelling, they plainly intimated that they were feeking argida, their Father's country, i. e. the heavenly country or city. Heb. xi. 13-16. Had the profpects of Mofes been confined to this world, doubtless he would have preferred the pleatures and honours of Pharaoh's court; but by refufing them, and choosing rather to fuffer with the people of God, he plainly indicated, that he had refpect to the future recompenfe of reward. Heb. xi. 24, 25, 26. It is certain the Jews, even during their peculiarity, were under the Abrahamic, or Gospel covenant, promifing the pardon of fin, and eternal life, as well as under the law, or Sinai covenant. Deut. xxix. 12, 13. And furely, if they were admitted to a covenant of life and immortality, they could not be ignorant of a future ftate. Nor can it be judged at all improbable, that Mofes propounds eternal life to them in fuch paffages as this, Deut. xxx. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcife thy heart, and the heart of thy feed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy foul, that thou mayft live. This our Lord understood of eternal life. Luke x. 25, &c. When one afked him, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? he fent him to the law of Mofes; and when the enquirer readily quoted the rule of life given by Mofes, our Lord replied, Thou haft anfwered well, this do, and thou shalt live, meaning eternally. Which leads us to underftand Mofes in the fame fenfe, when he propofes life as the reward of their fincere religion, virtue, and goodness. Deut. xxx. 152 19, 20. 19, 20. Lev. xviii. 5. compared with Romans x. 5. Gal. iii. 10, 11, 12. Indeed life and profperity in the land of Canaan, is intermixed with fuch promifes. This is to be confidered as addreffed to them in a national capacity, and with refpect to the covenant of peculiarity. [NoteLife is put for eternal life, John vi. 47, 48, 52, 53, 58.] N is the beginning, or former part; properly denotes, what comes after, the after part, time, or ftate. Thus Job's time, after his afflictions were over, is called his abharith, chap. xlii. 12. So is a man's pofterity, or those that come after him in being. Amos iv. 2. Sometimes it fignifies the happy confequence, or fequel of a course of action, Proverbs xxiv. 14, 20; frequently after-days, or times in this world; but is never used more properly than to denote a future state after death. Num. xxiii. 10. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my ahharith, my after or future ftate, be like his. Pfalm ixxiii. 3-18. The wicked lived in profperity, and died an eafy death. There are no bands in their death, verfe 4. I envied them, faith David, verfe 17, until I went into the fanctuary of God; then underflood I their ahharith, future ftate, after death. Surely thou haft fet them in flippery places; thou hast caft them down into eternal deftruction, &c. Verfe 20. As a dream after one is awake; fo, O Lord, when thou awakeft [y in awaking them, or when they are awakened] thou wilt defpife, [debafe, pour contempt upon, Da niel xii. 2.] their image [ns their vain, fhadowy, unfubftantial condition.] Verfe 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee, [the object of thy fpecial care.] Verse 24-27. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory, &c. Proverbs xxiii. 17, 18. Surely there is an end, ahharith, an after-ftate. Jer. xvii. 11. As the bird Kore hatcheth eggs, which she did not lay, fo he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end [ in his after-or future-ftate,] fhall be as a fool, vile, contemptible. Verfe 13.They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, not registered in heaven, in the book of life. Deut. xxxii. 29.—their latter end, their after or future-ftate. Pjalm xxxvii. 37, 38.-the end, ahharith, of that man is peace, happiness. But the tranfgreffors fhall be utterly deftroyed, [where but in the future world?] the end, abharith, of the wicked shall be cut off. Deut. xiv. 1, 2. Ye are the children of the Lord your God; (of an immortal Father) ye shall not cut your felves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. They must not mourn as thofe that had no hope, 1 Thef. iv. 13. Adoption includes the redemption of the body. Romans viii. 23.—Ifaiah xxvi. 19. Thy dead men fhall live, with my dead body fhail they arife: awake, and fing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the deu of herbs, which makes herbs to fpring and grow up. But the earth fhall caft out the wicked dead, the rephaim, as abortives. See Pfalms xv. xvi. 9, &c. xvii. 15.—when I awake out of death. Daniel xii. 2. Pfalms xxiii. 6. xxiv. 3, 4, 5. Eccl. iii. 16, 17. xii. 13. Ifaiah xxv. 8. li. 6. Thefe inftances may fatisfy, that, although life and immortality are brought into the fulleft light by the Gospel, a future ftate was not unknown from the beginning to the coming of Chrift. We may therefore take it for a good rule, that the words life and falvation, in the Old G4 Teftament, Teftament, may be underfood of a future life and falvation, when the context will admit of fuch an interpretation. We have found, that in the Patriarchal Age, among the nations, before the Jewish peculiarity, there were perfons eminent for religion and virtue, who worshipped the living God, and enjoyed extraordinary communications from him; but that many were of a different character, wicked and ungodly men; and that idolatry, captivating the minds of the ignorant, weak, and vicious, fpread fo fast, that it threatened the total extinction of good morals, and of the knowledge and pure worship of God. How the Father of mankind counteracted this new inftance of degeneracy we fhall fee, when we have fettled the Scripture-Chronology, and confidered the judgment of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah. CHA P. XXV. The SCRIPTURE-CHRONOLOGY from the DELUGE to the EXODUS. The Wickedness and Ruin of SODOM, &c. 857 Years. * GE YEN. xi. 26. it is faid, Nahor, and Haran. But Terah was 205 years old when he died in Haran, Gen. xi. 32. After Terah's death, Abram left Haran; and then was he 75 years old, Gen. xii. 4. which being fubtracted from 205, Terah's age, gives 130, the year of Terah when Abram was born, Terah lived 70 years, and begat Abram, + Add |