with the comforts which he himself should enjoy in the next; he prays to be delivered from the wicked, "who have their portion in this life; whose bellies, thou, O thy hid treasure: they have Lord, fillest with children at their desire, and leave the rest of their substance for their babes. But as for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousness, and when I awake up after thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it (e).” The raising of the Shunamite woman's son to life (f), and the ascension of Elijah into heaven (g), must also be allowed as proofs vouchsafed to the Jews of the resurrection, and of a state of happiness in heaven. The following passages. in Ecclesiastes refer to the future judgment: "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth; and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment (h);" -"for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil (i)." In Isaiah we read, "Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise; awake and sing, ye that dwell (e) Ps. 17. v. 14. (f) 2 Kings, c. 4. v. 12, &c. (g) 2 Kings, c. 2. v. 1, &c. (h) Eccl. c. 11. v. 9. (i) Eccl. e. 12. v. 14. dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead (k).” Daniel says, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt (1).” It has appeared from various authorities, that the Jews in general believed in a future state in the time of our Saviour; and if they believed that they were to exist in another life, they would of course consider themselves capable of happiness or misery in that existence, and would place their hopes and confidence in the Supreme Disposer of all events, whose interposition and mercy they had so often experienced, and who had given them such strong and repeated intimations of still greater favours and blessings. And though the Jews in general, at the time of our Saviour's appearance upon earth, had very erroneous notions of the kingdom which the Messiah was to establish, yet we have no reason to think that those notions always prevailed, or that even then they looked for worldly grandeur and temporal benefits only; on the contrary, it appears from an expression of our Saviour just now quoted, that they had some expectation of happiness in another world: "Search the Scriptures," said he to the unbelieving Jews," for in them ye think (k) Is. c. 26. v. 19. (1) Dan. c. 12. V. 2. think ye have eternal life (m)."—" But," says bishop Burnet, "though the old Fathers had a conveyance of the hope of eternal life made to them with a resurrection of their bodies, and a confidence in the mercy of God for pardoning the most heinous sins, yet it cannot be denied, that it was as a light that shined in a dark place, till the day-star did arise, and that Christ brought life and immortality to light (n),' by his Gospel, giving us fuller and clearer discoveries of it, both with relation to our souls and bodies; and that by him also God has declared his righteousness for the remission of sins throughthe forbearance of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and through faith in his blood (0)." ALTHOUGH THE LAW GIVEN FROM GOD TO MOSES, AS TOUCHING CEREMONIES AND RITES, DO NOT BIND CHRISTIAN MEN, NOR THE CIVIL PRECEPTS THEREOF OUGHT OF NECESSITY TO BE RECEIVED IN ANY COMMON WEALTH, YET NOTWITHSTANDING, NO. CHRISTIAN MAN WHATSOEVER IS FREE FROM THE OBEDIENCE OF THE COMMANDMENTS WHICH ARE CALLED MORAL. The Mosaic dispensation was preparatory to the Christian, and its principal objects were to separate the (m) John, c. 5. v. 39. (n) 2 Tim. c. 1. v. 10. the Jews from other nations, and to preserve in the world a knowledge of the one true God, which would otherwise have been utterly lost before the coming of the Messiah. It consisted of three parts, the worship of God, the civil polity of the Jews, and precepts for the regulation of their moral conduct. The religious ceremonies and political regulations were blended together, and were calculated to keep the Jews united among themselves, and to prevent all intercourse with the rest of the world. The coming of the Messiah, by completing the use of these institutions, put an end to their obligation. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt (p)." Agreeably to which St. Paul says, "The law was our Schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith: but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (q)."-" For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before (r)."-" There are also many v.31 hints (p) Jer.c.31. v. 31 & 32. (q) Gal. c. 3. v. 24, 25. (r) Heb. c. 7. v. 18. hints in the Old Testament, which shew that the precepts in the Mosaical law were to be altered; many plain intimations are given of a time and state, in which the knowledge of God was to be spread over all the earth, and that God was every where to be worshipped. Now this was impossible to be done without a change in their law and rituals, it being impossible that all the world should go up thrice a year to worship at Jerusalem, or could be served by priests of the Aaronical family. Circumcision was a distinction of one particular race, which needed not to be continued after all were brought under one denomination, and within the same common privileges (s)." The Apostles decreed that the ceremonial law was not binding upon those Gentiles who embraced the Gospel; and that doctrine is fully explained and enforced in the Epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews; but the Apostles and other Jewish Christians, although it was by no means required by the Gospel, seem to have continued in the observance of several injunctions of the Mosaical ritual, till the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed since that time, the Jews, although very numerous in different parts of the world, have no where existed as a nation; and the performance (8) Burnet. |