Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

but because, by fo timing his Goodness, he best fhews his Care and Concern for Mankind, throughout the whole Duration of humane Things, from the beginning to the end of the World.

:

Now if, by the particular Time and Manner of any Revelation, the whole Race of Mankind receive more benefit from it; if more are raised to Happinefs by it, and fewer are made miferable by a blameable ufe or refufal of it, than could have happened by any other time, or manner of giving it to the World, confiftent with the natural Freedom of Men; then is God, by being particular in the Time, and Place of giving it, not merciful to a few, and cruel to many, but is moft merciful to all: becaufe he only chofe fuch Time, and Place, and Perfons, as, in his eternal Wisdom, he knew would be beneficial Tho' to the whole Race of Mankind, more time is than any other.

ofno confiderati

in all

'Tis a long Space of Time, we may on with think, for the World to lie in fuch a God, yet, State of Darkness, as we have repre- Ages, he fented, without any Divine Interpofiti- made on; but then we are to confider, that Some kind the Succeffion and Continuance of time veries is not, to an infinite and eternal Mind, of himwhat we compute it. 8 One Day with the Genthe tile World.

I i3

2 Per. iii. 8.

of difco

felf to

the Lord is as a thousand Years, and a thousand Years as one Day, is a Pofition, which the Apostle defires fome People not to be Ignorant of, when they feem'd uncafy at Chrift's delaying his coming to Judgment: and, in like manner, tho' the Compafs of 4000 Years and upwards, from the fall of Adam to the coming of Chrift, be a prodigious Space, in our Imagination; yet, to him, who has all Eternity in his view, 8 a thousand Years are but as Tefterday, when it is past, and as a Watch in the Night.

Had there indeed been no Provifion made for Man's Information during this Interval, but the bare Light of Nature, which foon became obfcur'd, fome Imputations might then fall upon God's providential Care, which would not fo cafily be removed but fince he all along made fuch Difcoveries of himfelf to the Patriarchs, both before and after the Flood, as they were concerned to tranfmit to their Pofterity, there cannot any want of a fufficient Supply of Knowledge be chargeable upon God; nor was there that Neceffity for a standing Revelation then, when the Longevity of Mankind (h for Adam himfelf lived 930 Years, with whom Methuselah was con

temporary

* Pfal. xciv. 4 Waterland's Scripture vindicated, Part 2d, in the Poftfcript.

temporary 243, and with him Noah 600, and Shem 100 Years) gave a better Sanction and Authority to Tradition. After the Flood, Noah, who lived till within two Years of the Birth of Abraham; and Shem, who lived till Ifaac was fifty Years old, had frefh Revelations given them; and the Religion of those Times was a Mixture of natural and revealed Precepts, and their Sanctions. Upon his Call, Abraham became the great Reviver and Reftorer both of natural and revealed Religion, by himself and his Iffue, and by his Nephew Lot, and his Iffue, which, in Procefs of Time, grew up to many and great Nations. During this Period, the holy Penman records two Perfons of the Gentile World, Job and Melchifedeck (and perhaps his Father-in-Law Jethro may be reckoned a third) Men of Renown ⚫ for their Knowledge and Worship of the true God. Upon giving of the Law, the Jews became, as it were, a burning and Shining Light to the reft of the World; and, by the Providence of God in all his Difpenfations to that People, effectual Care was taken, that all the neceffary Points of Religion, which concerned Mankind in general, fhould by them be communicated to the rest of

i

I i4

Jenkin's Reasonableness, Vol. 2.

the

the World. In the Time of Joshuah, and fometime after, the Wars of Canaan carried in them fuch visible marks of a Divine Power on the fide of Ifrael, as ferv'd to spread the Fame of the true God in all the Nations round about. In the time of David, the Jews grew a powerful People, and the Exploits of their King were crown'd with an uncommon Success, with an intent (as himself tells us) to declare the Glory of God among the Heathen, his Wonders among all People. In the Time of Solomon, the Fame of the true God was fo diffus'd all around, that we find not only 1the Queen *of Sheba, who came from the Eaft to hear the Wisdom of Solomon, but Hiram King of Tyre likewife m blessing the Lord God of Ifrael, who made Heaven and Earth. Upon the Divifion of the ten Tribes, and the Erection of the Kingdom of Ifrael, diftinct from that of Judah, the many Leagues and Wars, which these two Kingdoms had with the Kings of Egypt, Syria, Babylon, and other Nations, cou'd not but exceedingly conduce to the Propagation of the true Religion, and gave the Prophets an Opportunity of working their Miracles among the Heathen, n The Captivity of the Jews, for

* Pfal. xciv. 3. 1 Kings ii. 9. 12. Fenkin's Reasonableness,

Chron. ii.

for feventy Years, in Babylon made their Religion almoft as well known there as in Jerufalem itself; and for this Reafon we find it recommended by feveral publick Edicts, and all the People, under that large Empire, commanded to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the only living God, and fredfaft for ever. The Restoration of the Jews by Cyrus, who had been so long before appointed, and named by God himself for that Work, and his peculiar Favour to them, which raised their repute among other Nations, was ordained for this very end, that they might know, from the rifing of the Sun, and from the Weft, that there is no God befides him, who created all Things.

Lower than this I might defcend, and obferve, how the Jews were disperfed all the World over; how the Scriptures were tranflated into a Language generally understood; how Profelytes flow'd into them in prodigious Numbers every where; and how they, and their God, and their Religion, came to be known to the Grecian, and Roman, tho' not in fo confpicuous a manner, as before to the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Perfian Empires. What I have faid is fufficient to fatisfy every fober Enquirer, that, in every Age, from the beginning

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »