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and him. These Letters are cited by * St. JEROM and St. AuSTIN as genuine; and the former was fo charm'd with SENECA, as to put him in his | Lift of Saints.

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(II.) SOLOMON is declar'd by the Word of God to be the wifeft of Men, and fome of his Writings are part of God's Word to us; in which I find fuch Inftances of Free-Thinking, that had he liv'd in our days, and wrote in the fame manner, he would have been calumniated as an Atheist, unless he had recommended himself to the Prieft by building of Churches.

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Eccl.1.4 HE fays, One Generation paffes away, and 5,6,7,9, another Generation cometh: but the Earth a. bideth for ever. The Sun also arifeth, and the Sun goeth down, and hafteth to its place where he arofe. The Wind goeth toward the South, and turneth about towards the North it whirleth about continually, and the Wind returneth again according to its circuits. All the Rivers run into the Sea, yet the Sea is not full: unto the place from whence the Rivers come, thither they return again. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is 'done, is that which shall be done: and there is

In Catal, Script. Eccl.

+ Epift. 54. ad Macedonium.

In Catalogo Sanctorum. In Cat. Script. Eccl.

no new thing under the Sun. All which is an
elegant Description of the Eternity of the
World, not much unlike that of the Poet
MANILIUS:,

Omnia mortali mutantur lege creata.
Nec fe cognofcunt terra vertentibus annis.
Exute variant faciem per facula gentes.
At manet incolumis mundus, fuaque omnia
Servat,

Que nec longa dies auget, minuitque fenectus.
Nec motus puncto currit, curfufque fatigat:
Idem femper erit, quoniam femper fuit idem.
Non alium videre patres, aliumve nepotes
Afpicient. Deus est, qui non mutatur in

avo.

my

Lib. I.

AGAIN, SOLOMON fays, I faid in heart concerning the Estate of the Sons of Men, that God might manifeft them, and that they might fee that they themselves are Beafts. For that which befalleth Beafts, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, fo dieth the other; yea, they have all one Breath, so that a Man hath no pre-eminence above a Beaft: for all is Vanity. All go to one place, all are of the Duft, and all turn to Duft again. * Who knoweth that the Spirit of a Man goeth up. wards, and that the Spirit of a Beast goeth downwards to the earth? Wherefore I perceive

So this Verfe is render'd in the Vulg. and by Caftalio, And indeed the Context shows it ought to be render'd so. that

K 4

Eccl. 3.

18-22.

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152

that there is nothing better than that a Man rejoice in his own Works, for that is his Portion: for who shall bring him to fee what shall be after him? In another place he argues against a future State, and obviates the common Argument for it, drawn from Cur bonis malè, & malis benè, in these words: In the Eccl. 7. day of Profperity be joyful, but in the day of Adverfity confider: God alfo hath fet one over against the other, to the end that Man fhould find nothing after him. Laftly, he fays, The 9.5, 10. dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a Reward; and that there is no Work, nor Device, nor Knowledg, nor Wisdom in the Grave.*

14:

(12.) THE

*It is poffible the Reader who is fully perfuaded, as he has reason to be, of the Immortality of the Soul, upon the Authority of Jefus Chrift, who has brought Immortality to light, may be furpriz'd that fo wife a Man as Solomon should deny fo important a Truth. Wherefore, for the Vindication of Solomon's want of Knowledg in this Point, I obferve,

ift. That the Immortality of the Soul was no where plain in the Old Teftament, was deny'd by the Sadducees, the most Philofophical part of the Jewish Nation, and of whom their Magiftrates principally confifted; was thought doubtful by most Sects of the Grecian Philofophers, and deny'd by the Stoicks, the most Religious Set of them all; had never, according to Cicero, been afferted in writing by any Greek Author extant in his time before Pherecydes of the Island Syrus; and was first taught * by the Egyptians; or, according to our Learned Sir John Marfham, was † their moft noble Invention. No won

Pherecydes Syrius (quod literis exftet) primùm dixit animos hominum effe fempiternos. Tufc. Quaft. Edit. Davifii. p. 33.

*Herodotus, Edit. Geneva, p. 123.

+ Chron. Canon, p. 217.

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(12.) THE Prophets (who had the most learned Education among the Jews, and were bred up in Univerfitys call'd Schools of the Prophets, where they learnt to prophesy, and among other means to obtain the Prophetick Spirit, play'd upon Mufick and drank Wine) were great Free-Thinkers, and have

der therefore, if Solomon reason'd like the Learned Men of his own Country, and the more Learned Philofophers of the neighbouring Nations.

2dly. I obferve, That the true Principles upon which the Immortality of the Soul depends, are only to be fetch'd from the New Teftament. We learn in the Old Teftament, That Adam by eating the forbidden Fruit fubje&ted himself and all his Pofterity to Death: But the New Teftament teaches us to understand by Death, eternal Life in Mifery; and from thence we know, that God had but one way to put Mankind in a capacity of enjoying immortal Happiness, viz. by fending Jefus Chrift into the World, who (as God and Man, and God's Son, and the fame numerical Being with that God whofe Son he was, and yet perfonally diftin&t from him) only could by his Sufferings and Death give an infinite Satisfaction to an infinitely offended God, appease bis Wrath, and thereby fave the Elect. Now I would ask, how any Man without Revelation could know that Death fignify'd eternal Life in Mifery; or that Adam's Pofterity/ Should be liable to eternal Damnation for his Tranfgreffion; or bow without Revelation fo wonderful a Scheme as this GospelScheme (which alone lays the foundation of a happy Immorta lity) could enter into the wifeft Man's Imagination ?

In Judæorum facrificiis incipiebant hymni & chorea in laudem numinis, propterea ut videtur, quod poft hilaritatem illam quam è vini hauftu conceperant, aptiores viderentur facro illi enthufiafmo percipiendo quo facra illa effent peragenda. Multis hæc probari poterant, ni vidiffem orationem potiùs effe contrahendam. Et vero corporeis id genus auxiliis Judæos ufos effe conftat ad concipiendum Spiritum Propheticum. Sic Muficam adhibuit Elifæus, cibum filii Esayi, & vinum fenior Ifaacus. Dadwell de Jure Laic. P. 359.

written

written with as great liberty against the eftablifb'd Religion of the Jews (which the People look'd on as the Inftitution of God himfelf) as if they believ'd it was all Impofture; and with as great liberty againft their Priefts and Prophets, as the Author of the Rights of the Chriftian Church has done against the Priefts and Prophets of our Ifrael.

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1. AS to the establish'd Religion of the Ifaiah 1. Jews, they fay, To what purpose is the multi11-14. tude of your Sacrifices unto me, faith the Lord? I am full of Burnt-Offerings of Rams, and the Fat of fed Beafts; and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks, or of Lambs, or of He Goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath requir'd this at your hands, to tread my Courts? Bring no more vain Oblations, Incenfe is an abomination to me, the new Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of Affemblys I cannot away with, it is Iniquity, even the folemn Meeting. Your new Moons, and your appointed Feafts, my Soul hateth: they are a trouble to Ezek. 6. me, I am weary to bear them. To what purpofe cometh Incense from Sheba? And the Sweet Cane from a far Country? Your BurntOfferings are not acceptable, nor your Sacrifices Sweet unto me. Nay, God fays plainly, I 7.22. Spake not unto your Fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt, concerning Burnt-Offerings gave them Statutes, faith the Lord, that were not good, and Judgments

20.

20.25. and Sacrifices.

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whereby

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