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into general law. And therefore also in the earliest Froperty. ages, on failure of children, a man's servants born under his roof were allowed to be his heirs; being immediately on the spot when he died. For we find the old patriarch Abraham expressly declaring, that "since God had given him no seed, his steward Eliezer, one born in his house, was his heir."

Property. sion ceasing, the property, which is founded upon such possession and intention, ought also to cease of course. For, naturally speaking, the instant a man ceases to be, he ceases to have any dominion: : else, if he had a right to dispose of his acquisitions one moment beyond his life, he would also have a right to direct their disposal for a million of ages after him; which would be highly absurd and inconvenient (A). All property must therefore cease upon death, considering men as absolute individuals, and unconnected with civil society for then, by the principles before established, the next immediate occupant would acquire a right in all that the deceased possessed. But as, under civilized governments, which are calculated for the peace of mankind, such a constitution would be productive of endless disturbances, the universal law of almost every nation (which is a kind of secondary law of nature) has either given the dying person a power of continuing his property, by disposing of his possessions by will; or, in case he neglects to dispose of it, or is not permitted to make any disposition at all, the municipal law of the country then steps in, and declares who shall be the successor, representative, or heir of the deceased; that is, who alone shall have a right to enter upon this vacant possession, in order to avoid that confusion which its becoming again common would occasion. And farther, in case no testament be permitted by the law, or none be made, and no heir can be found so qualified as the law requires, still, to prevent the robust title of occupancy from again taking place, the doctrine of escheats is adopted in almost every country; whereby the sovereign of the state, and those who claim under his authority, are the ultimate heirs, and succeed to those inheritances to which no other title can be formed.

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Einheri

nce.

of the right The right of inheritance, or descent to the children and relations of the deceased, seems to have been allowed much earlier than the right of devising by testament. We are apt to conceive at the first view that it has nature on its side; yet we often mistake for nature what we find established by long and inveterate custom. It is certainly a wise and effectual, but clearly a political, establishment; since the permanent right of property, vested in the ancestor himself, was no natural, but merely a civil, right. It is true, that the transmission of one's possessions to posterity has an evident tendency to make a man a good citizen and a useful member of society: it sets the passions on the side of duty, and prompts a man to deserve well of the public, when he is sure that the reward of his services will not die with himself, but be transmitted to those with whom he is connected by the dearest and most tender affections. Yet, reasonable as this foundation of the right of inheritance may seem, it is probable that its immediate original arose not from speculations altogether so delicate and refined, and, if not from fortuitous circumstances, at least from a plainer and more simple principle. A man's children or nearest relations are usually about him on his death-bed, and are the earliest witnesses of his decease. They became therefore generally the next immediate occupants, till at length in process of time this frequent usage ripened

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While property continued only for life, testaments Last wills were useless and unknown; and when it became inhe- or testaritable, the inheritance was long indefeasible, and the ments children or heirs at law were incapable of exclusion by will. Till at length it was found, that so strict a rule of inheritance made heirs disobedient and headstrong, defrauded creditors of their just debts, and prevented many provident fathers from dividing or charging their estates as the exigence of their families required. This introduced pretty generally the right of disposing of one's property, or a part of it, by testament; that is, by written or oral instructions properly witnessed and authenticated, according to the pleasure of the deceased; which we therefore emphatically style his will. This was established in some countries much later than in others. In England, till modern times, a man could only dispose of one-third of his moveables from his wife and children; and in general, no will was permitted of lands till the reign of Henry VIII. and then only of a certain portion; for it was not till after the Restoration that the power of devising real property became so universal as at present.

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Wills, therefore, and testaments, rights of inheritance, are creaand successions, are all of them creatures of the civil or tures of the municipal laws, and accordingly are in all respects recivil or municipal gulated by them; every distinct country having differ-laws. ent ceremonies and requisites to make a testament completely valid; neither does any thing vary more than Blackst. the right of inheritance under different national establish- Comment: ments. In England particularly, this diversity is carried to such a length, as if it had been meant to point out the power of the laws in regulating the succession to property, and how futile every claim must be that has not its foundation in the positive rules of the state. In personal estates, the father may succeed to his children; in landed property, he never can be their immediate heir by any the remotest possibility: in general, only the eldest son, in some places only the youngest, in others all the sons together, have a right to succeed to the inheritance: In real estates, males are preferred to females, and the eldest male will usually exclude the rest; in the division of personal estates, the females of equal degree are admitted together with the males, and no right of primogeniture is allowed.

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heritable

This one consideration may help to remove the Scruples scruples of many well-meaning persons, who set up a respecting mistaken conscience in opposition to the rules of law. property If a man disinherits his son, by a will duly executed, removed> and leaves his estate to a stranger, there are many who consider this proceeding as contrary to natural justice; while others so scrupulously adhere to the supposed intention of the deed, that if a will of lands be attested by only two witnesses instead of three, which the law requires,

(A) This right, inconvenient as it certainly is, the law of Scotland gives to every man over his real estate, by authorising him to entail it on his heirs for ever. See Law, clxxx. 9, 10, 11. and Tailzie.

Property. requires, they are apt to imagine that the heir is bound in conscience to relinquish his title to the devisee. But both of them certainly proceed upon very erroneous principles: as if, on the one hand, this son had by nature a right to succeed to his father's lands; or as if, on the other hand, the owner was by nature entitled to direct the succession of his property after his own decease. Whereas the law of nature suggests, that on the death of the possessor, the estate should again become common, and be open to the next occupant, unless otherwise ordered, for the sake of civil peace, by the positive law of society. The positive Jaw of society, which is with us the municipal laws of England and Scotland, directs it to vest in such person as the last proprietor shall by will, attended with certain requisites, appoint; and, in defect of such appointment, to go to some particular person, who from the result of certain local constitutions, appears to be the heir at law. Hence it follows, that, where the appointment is regularly made, there cannot be a shadow of right in any one but the person appointed; and, where the necessary requisites are omitted, the right of the heir is equally strong, and built upon as solid a foundation, as the right of the devisee would have been, supposing such requisites were observed.

16 Of things that are still in common.

17

:

But, after all, there are some few things, which notwithstanding the general introduction and continuance of property, must still unavoidably remain in common; being such wherein nothing but an usufructuary property is capable of being had and therefore they still belong to the first occupant, during the time he holds possession of them, and no longer. Such (among others) are the elements of light, air, and water; which a man may occupy by means of his windows, his gardens, his mills, and other conveniences; such also are the generality of those animals which are said to be fere naturæ, or of a wild and untameable disposition; which any man may seize upon and keep for his own use or pleasure. All these things, so long as they remain in possession, every man has a right to enjoy without disturbance; but if once they escape from his custody, or he voluntarily abandons the use of them, they return to the common stock, and any other man has an equal right to seize and enjoy them afterwards.

Of similar Again, there are other things in which a permanent things which have property may subsist not only as to the temporary use, but also the solid substance; and which yet would be propriated. frequently found without a proprietor, had not the wis

been ap

dom of the law provided a remedy to obviate this inconvenience. Such are forests and other waste grounds, which were omitted to be appropriated in the general distribution of lands: such also are wrecks, estrays, and that species of wild animals, which the arbitrary constitutions of positive law have distinguished from the rest by the well-known appellation of game. With regard to these and some others, as disturbances and quarrels would frequently arise among individuals contending about the acquisition of this species of property by first occupancy, the law has therefore wisely cut up the root of dissension, by vesting the things themselves in the sovereign of the state; or else in his representatives appointed and authorised by him, being usually the lords of manors. And thus our legislature has universally promoted the grand ends of civil society, the peace and security of individuals, by steadily pursuing

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that wise and orderly maxim, of assigning to every Proper's thing capable of ownership a legal and determinate Prophery

owner.

13

an equa

In this age of paradox and innovation, much has The ra been said of liberty and equality; and some few have soning of contended for an equalization of property. One of those who the wildest declaimers on this subject, who is for abo-contend is lishing property altogether, has (inadvertently we sup-lization of pose) given a complete confutation, not only of his property. own arguments, but also of the arguments of all who have written, or, we think, can write, on the same side of the question. After labouring to prove that it is gross injustice in any man to retain more than is absolutely necessary to supply him with food, clothes, and shelter, this zealous reformer states an objection to his theory, arising from the well-known allurements of sloth, which, if the accumulation of property were not permitted, would banish industry from the whole world. The objection he urges fairly, and answers it thus: " It may be observed, that the equality for which we are pleading is an equality that would succeed to a state of great intellectual improvement. So bold a revolution cannot take place in human affairs, till the general mind has been highly cultivated. The present age of mankind is greatly enlightened; but it is to be feared is not yet enlightened enough. Hasty and undigested tumults may take place, under the idea of an equalization of property; but it is only a calm and clear conviction of justice, of justice mutually to be rendered and received, of happiness to be produced by the desertion of our most rooted habits, that can introduce an invariable system of this sort. Attempts without this preparation will be productive only of confusion. Their effect will be momentary, and a new and more barbarous inequa lity will succeed. Each man with unaltered appetite will watch his opportunity to gratify his love of power, or his love of distinction, by usurping on his inattentive neighbours."

rance of

These are just observations, and such as we have of. The effect ten made to ourselves on the various proposed reforma- of intions of government. The illumination which the au-human na thor requires before he would introduce bis abolition of ture, property, would constitute men more than angels; for to be under the influence of no passion or appetite, and to be guided in every action by unmixed benevolence and pure intellect, is a degree of perfection which we can attribute to no being inferior to God. But it is the object of the greater part of this writer's book to prove that all men must arrive at such perfection before his ideal republic can contribute to their happiness; and therefore every one who is conscious of being at any time swayed by passion, and who feels that he is more attached to his wife or children than to strangers, will look without envy to the present inequa lities of property and power, if he be an intelligent disciple of Mr Godwin.

Literary PROPERTY. See COPY-Right,.

I

PROPHECY is a word derived from we‡nlux, and Definition,

in its original import signifies the prediction of future

events.

Prophecy

ral com

As God alone can perceive with certainty the future proves a actions of free agents, and the remote consequences of supernatu those laws of nature which he himself established, pro-1 phecy, when clearly fulfilled, affords the most convincing with the evidence of an intimate and supernatural communion

between

'Deity.

3

Prophecy. between God and the person who uttered the prediction. Together with the power of working miracles, it is indeed the only evidence which can be given of such a communion. Hence among the professors of every religious system, except that which is called the religion of nature, there have been numberless pretenders to the gift of prophecy. The Pagan nations of antiquity had their oracles, augurs, and soothsayers. Modern idolaters have their necromancers and diviners; and the Jews, Christians, and Mahometans, have their seers and prophets.

The pro fessors of all religions have pretended to

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The word

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The ill-founded pretensions of paganism, ancient and modern, have been exposed under various articles of this work. (See DIVINATION, MAGIC, NECROMANCY, and MYTHOLOGY). And the claims of the Arabian impostor are examined under the articles ALCORAN and MAHOMETANISM; so that at present we have only to consider the use, intent, and truth, of the Jewish and Christian prophecies.

Previous to our entering on this investigation, it may n Scrip- be proper to observe, that in the Scriptures of the Old ure has va and New Testaments, the signification of the word prophecy is not always confined to the foretelling of future events. In several instances it is of the same import with preaching, and denotes the faculty of illustrating and applying to present practical purposes the doctrines of prior revelation. Thus in Nehemiah it is Ch. vi. said," Thou hast appointed prophets to preach *;" and whoever speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort, is by St Paul called a prophet +. Hence it was that there were schools of prophets in Israel, where young men were instructed in the truths of religion, and fitted to exhort and comfort the people.

er. 7. 1 Cor. h. xiv.

er. 3.

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cienco id reli

ally ac

uired.

In this article, however, it is chiefly of importance to confine ourselves to that kind of prophecy which, in declaring truths either past, present, or future, required the immediate inspiration of God.

Every one who looks into the history of the world must observe, that the minds of men have from the beon gra- ginning been gradually opened by a train of events still improving upon, and adding light to each other; as that of each individual is, by proceeding from the first elements and seeds of science, to more enlarged views, and a still higher growth. Mankind neither are nor ever have been capable of entering into the depths of knowledge at once; of receiving a whole system of natural or moral truths together; but must be let into them by degrees, and have them communicated by little and little, as they are able to bear it. That this is the case with respect to human science, is a fact which cannot be questioned; and there is as little room to question it with respect to the progress of religious knowledge among men, either taken collectively or in each individual. Why the case is thus in both, why all are not adult at once in body and mind, is a question which the religion of nature is equally called upon with revelation to answer. The fact may not be easily accounted for, but the reality of it is incontrovertible.

The reve

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lation in which they stood to him, were probably very Prophecy.
gross; and we see them gradually refined by a series of
revelations or prophecies, each in succession more ex-
plicit than that by which it was preceded, till the ad-
vent of him who was the way, the truth, and the life,
and who brought to light life and immortality.
When a revelation was made of any important truth, Prophecy
the grounds of which the mind of man has not facul- always ac-
ties to comprehend, that revelation, though undoubt-companied
edly a prophecy, must have been so far from confirm- by mira
cles,
ing the truth of revealed religion in general, that it
could not gain credit itself, but by some extrinsic evi-
dence that it came indeed from God. Hence we find
Moses, after it was revealed to him from the burning
bush that he should deliver his countrymen from Egyp-
tian bondage, replying, "Behold, they will not believe
me, nor hearken to my voice; for they will say, the
Lord hath not appeared unto thee." This revelation
certainly constituted him a prophet to Israel; and there
cannot be a doubt but that he perfectly knew the divine
source from which he received it: but he very naturally
and reasonably concluded, that the children of Israel
would not believe that the Lord had appeared to him,
unless he could give them some other proof of this pre-
ternatural appearance than his own simple affirmation of
its reality. This proof he was immediately enabled to
give, by having conferred upon him the power of work-
ing miracles in confirmation of his prophecy. Again,
when Gideon was called to the deliverance of Israel,
the angel of the Lord came and said unto him, "The
Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour: go in this
thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of
the Midianites. Have not I sent thee?" Here was a
prophecy delivered by the angel of the Lord to en-
courage Gideon's undertaking: but he, being probably
afraid of some illusion of sense or imagination, demand-
ed a sign that he was really an angel who talked with
him. A sign is accordingly given him, a miraculous
sign, with which he is satisfied, and undertakes the work
appointed him.

8

of a reve

From these and many similar transactions recorded and of itin the Old Testament, it appears that prophecy was never self can be intended as evidence of an original revelation. It is no proof indeed, by its very nature, totally unfit for such a pur-lation. pose; because it is impossible, without some extrinsic proof of its divine origin, to know whether any prophecy be true or false, till the era arrive at which it ought to be fulfilled. When it is fulfilled, it affords complete evidence that he who uttered it spake by the spirit of God, and that the doctrines which he taught of a religious nature, were all either dictated by the same spirit, or at least are true, and calculated to direct mankind in the way of their duty.

mong men.

The prophecies vouchsafed to the patriarchs in the It was in. most early periods of the world, were all intended to tended to keep alive in their minds a sense of religion, and to di- preserve a rect their views to the future completion of that first sense of reand greatest prophecy which was made to Adam im- ligion aAccordingly, the great object of the several revela- mediately on his fall: but in order to secure credit to tions of tions recorded in the Old Testament was evidently to those prophecies themselves, they were always accom keep alive a sense of religion in the minds of men, and panied by some miraculous sign that they were indeed to train them by degrees for the reception of those given by the God of truth, and not the delusions of simple but sublime truths by which they were to be sa- fanaticism or hypocrisy. Prophecy, in the proper sense ved. The notions which the early descendants of A- of the word, commenced with the fall; and the first dam entertained of the Supreme Being, and of the re-instance of it is implied in the sentence denounced upon VOL. XVII. Part II. 3 L

e Old estament adual.

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Probable effects of the first prophecy

parents.

This prophecy, though one of the most important that ever was delivered, when considered by itself, is exceedingly obscure. That Adam should have underon our first stood it, as some of his degenerate sons have pretended to do, in a literal sense, is absolutely impossible. He knew well that it was the great God of heaven and earth who was speaking, and that such a Being was incapable of trifling with the wretchedness of his fallen creature. The sentence denounced upon himself and his wife was awful and severe. The woman was doomed to sorrow in conception; the man to sorrow and travel all the days of his life. The ground was cursed for his sake; and the end of the judgment was, "Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return." Had our first parents been thus left, they must have looked upon themselves as rejected by their Maker, delivered up to trouble and sorrow in the world, and as having no hope in any other. With such impressions on their minds they could have retained no sense of religion; for religion, when unaccompanied by hope, is a state of frenzy and distraction: yet it is certain that they could have no hope from any thing expressly recorded by Moses, except what they might draw from this sentence passed on their deceiver. Let us then endeavour to ascertain what consolation it could afford them.

At that awful juncture, they must have been sensible that their fall was the victory of the serpent, whom by experience they had found to be an enemy to God and to man. It could not therefore but be some comfort to them to hear this enemy first condemned, and to see that, however he had prevailed against them, he had gained no victory over their Maker. By this condemnation they were secured from thinking that there was any malignant being equal to the Creator in power and dominion; an opinion which, through the prevalency of evil, gained ground in after times, and was destructive of all true religion. The belief of God's supreme dominion being thus preserved, it was still necessary to give them such hopes as might induce them to love as well as to fear him; and these they could not but conceive when they heard from the mouth of their Creator and Judge, that the serpent's victory was not complete even over themselves; that they and their posterity should be enabled to contest his empire; and that though they were to suffer much in the struggle, they should yet finally prevail, bruise the serpent's head, and deliver themselves from his power and dominion.

This prophecy therefore was to our first parents a light shining in a dark place. All that they could certainly conclude from it was, that their case was not desperate; that some remedy, some deliverance from the evil they were under, would in time appear; but when or where, or by what means they were to be delivered, they could not possibly understand, unless the matter was further revealed to them, as probably it was at the institution of sacrifice (see SACRIFICE). Obscure, how ever, as this promise or prophecy was, it served after the fall as a foundation for religion, and trust and confidence towards God in hopes of deliverance in time from the evils of disobedience: and this appears to have been the sole purpose for which it was giver, and not,

as some well-meaning though weak advocates for Chris Prophecy, tianity have imagined, as a prediction pointing directly to the cross of Christ.

As this prophecy was the first, so is it the only considerable one in which we have any concern from the creation to the days of Noah. It was proportioned to the then wants and necessities of the world, and was the grand charter of God's mercy after the fall. Nature had no certain help for sinners; her rights were lost with her innocence. It was therefore necessary either to destroy the offenders, or to raise them to a capacity of salvation, by giving them such hopes as might enable them to exercise a reasonable religion. So far the light of this prophecy extended. By what means God intended to work their salvation, he did not expressly declare and who has a right to complain that he did not, or to prescribe to him rules in dispensing his mercy

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ground.

Upon the hopes of mercy which this prophecy gives The curse in very general terms, mankind rested till the birth of removed Noah. At that period a new prophecy was delivered from the by Lamech, who foretels that his son should comfort them concerning the work and toil of their bands, "because of the earth which the Lord had cursed." We are to remember that the curse pronounced upon the earth was part of the sentence passed upon our first parents; and when that part was remitted, if it ever was remitted, mankind would acquire new and more lively hopes that in God's good time they should be freed from the whole. But it has been shown by Bishop Sherlock*, * Use and that this declaration of Lamech's was a prediction, that Intent of during the life of his son the curse should be taken off Prophecy. from the earth and the same prelate has proved with great perspicuity, and in the most satisfactory manner, that this happy revolution actually took place after the flood. The limits prescribed to an article of this kind will not permit us even to abridge his arguments. We shall only observe, that the truth of his conclusion is manifest from the very words of scripture; for whea God informs Noah of his design to destroy the world, he adds, "But with thee will I establish my covenant:" and as soon as the deluge was over, he declared that he "would not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; but that while the earth should remain, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, should not cease.” From this last declaration it is apparent that a curse had been on the earth, and that seed-time and harvest had often failed; that the curse was now taken off; and that in consequence of this covenant, as it is called, with Noah and his seed and with every living creature, mankind should not henceforth be subjected to toil so severe and so generally fruitless.

vealed.

12

It may seem surprising perhaps to some, that after so A future great a revolution in the world as the deluge made, life not God should say nothing to the remnant of mankind of then expli the punishments and rewards of another life, but should city re make a new covenant with them relating merely to fruitful seasons and the blessings of the earth. But in the scriptures we see plainly a gradual working of providence towards the redemption of the world from the curse of the fall; that the temporal blessings were first restored as an earnest and pledge of better things to follow; and that the covenant given to Noah had, strictly speaking, nothing to do with the hopes of futuri

Prophecy. ty, which were reserved to be the matter of anothe covenant, in another age, and to be revealed by him, whose province it was to " bring life and immortality to light through the gospel." But if Noah and his forefathers expected deliverance from the whole curse of the fall, the actual deliverance from one part of it was a very good pledge of a further deliverance to be expected in time. Man himself was cursed as well as the ground; he was doomed to dust and fruitful seasons are but a small relief compared to the greatness of his loss. But when fruitful seasons came, and one part of the curse was evidently abated, it gave great assurance that the other should not last for ever, but that hy some means, still unknown to them, they should be freed from the whole, and finally bruise the serpent's head, who, at the deluge, had so severely bruised man's heel.

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Abraham.

:

Upon this assurance mankind rested for some generations, and practised, as we have every reason to believe, a rational worship to the one God of the universe. At last, however, idolatry was by some means or other introduced (see POLYTHEISM), and spread so universally through the world, that true religion would in all probability have entirely failed, had not God visibly interposed to preserve such a sense of it as was necessary for the accomplishment of his great design to restore manPromise to kind. This he did by calling Abraham from amidst his idolatrous kindred, and renewing to him the word of prophecy: "Get thee out of thy country (said he), and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." These magnificent promises are several times. repeated to the father of the faithful, with additional circumstances of great importance, such as, " that he should be multiplied exceedingly; that he should be a father of many nations; that kings should come out of him ;" and above all, that God would establish an everlasting covenant with him and his seed, to give him and them all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and to be their God."

Upon such of these promises, as relate to temporal blessings we need not dwell. They are much of the same nature with those which had been given before to Lamech, Noah, Shem, and Japheth; and all the world knows how amply and literally they have been fulfilled. There was, however, so little probability in nature of their accomplishment at the time when they were made, that we find the patriarch asking, “Where+ Genesis by he should know that he should inherit such an extent of country?" And as the promises that he should

IY. 8. &c.

This

inherit it were found to be a foundation for religion Prophecy. and confidence in God, a miraculous sign was given him that they came indeed from the spirit of truth. removed from his mind every doubt, and made him give the fullest credit, not only to them, but also to that other promise," that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed."

What distinct notion he had of this blessing, or in what manner he hoped it should be effected, we cannot pretend to say. "But that he understood it to be a promise of restoring mankind, and delivering them from the remaining curse of the fall, there can be no doubt. He knew that death had entered by sin; he knew that God had promised victory and redemption to the seed of the woman. Upon the hopes of this restoration the religion of his ancestors was founded; and when God, from whom this blessing on all men was expected, did expressly promise a blessing on all men, and in this promise founded his everlasting covenant-what could Abraham else expect but the completion in his seed of that ancient promise and prophecy concerning the victory to be obtained by the woman's seed? The curse of the ground was expiated in the flood, and the earth restored with a blessing, which was the foundation of the temporal covenant with Noah; a large share of which God expressly grants to Abraham and his posterity particularly, together with a promise to bring, by their means, a new and further blessing upon the whole race of men. If we lay these things to heart, we cannot suppose that less could be expected from the new promise or prophecy given to Abraham than a deliverance from that part of the curse still remaining on men: Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. In virtue of this covenant Abraham and his posterity had reason to expect that the time would come when man should be called from his dust again. For this expectation they had his assurance who gave the covenant, that he would be their God for ever. Well might our Saviour then Shertell the sons of Abraham, that even Moses at the bush lock's Use showed the resurrection of the dead, when he called the and Intent Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and of Prophe

the God of Jacob *."

cy.

14

These promises made to Abraham were renewed to To Isaac Isaac and Jacob; to the last of whom it was revealed, and Jacob. not only that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in his seed, but that the blessing should spring from his son Judah. It is, however, by no means evident that any one of those patriarchs knew precisely by what means (A) the curse of the fall was to be entirely removed, and all men called from their dust again. It was enough that they were convinced of the fact in general terms, since such conviction was a sufficient foundation of a rational religion; and the descendants of Abraham had no other fourdation upon which to rest their

(A) This they certainly could not know from the promises expressed in the very general terms in which they are recorded in the book of Genesis. It is, however, not improbable that those promises, as they immediately received them, were conceived in terms more precise and particular; and, at all events, Dr Warburton has proved to the full conviction of every man who is not a determined unbeliever, that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac, not only as a trial of his obedience, but also that God might give him what he earnestly de sired, a scenical representation of the means by which mankind were to be redeemed from death. The learned writer thinks, and his reasoning compels us to think with him, that to this transaction our Saviour alludes when Le says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”

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