sacred or profane, mentions the rise of this doctrine amongst them, which, from this singular silence even, we may fairly suppose was never disputed till the appearance of the Sadducees *. In fact Josephus, the Jewish historian, clearly refers it, as does the Gospel, to no less ancient revelations than those of Moses. "Every good "man (saith he in the 11th B. against Apion) has "his own conscience bearing witness to himself, "and by virtue of our LAWGIVER's prophetic spirit, "and of the firm security God himself affords to "such an one, he believes that God hath made "this grant to those who observe these laws, even "although they be obliged readily to die for them; "that they shall come into being again; and at a "certain revolution of things shall receive a better "life than they had enjoyed before; nor would I "venture to write this at this time, were it not well "known to all † by our actions, that many of our “ people have at many times bravely resolved to "endure any sufferings rather than to speak one "word against our law." While, elsewhere, he as plainly asserts, that "those who live viciously in

Sadoc, the first propagator of the impious doctrines of this sect, the Talmudists say, was forced to fly from the odium which their first promulgation excited, and took refuge in Samaria.Prid. Con' in Sadoc.

+ Dissertation III. Whiston's Josephus:-" They (the Jews) "look also on the souls of those that die in battle, or are put "to death for their crimes, as ÆTERNAL: hence comes their "love of posterity, and their contempt of death."

Tacitus's History of the Jews.

D

66

THIS life are to be detained in an EVERLASTING prison*;" and again, are to be received by the darkest place in HADES †. It might be urged, that mankind do not readily heap penalties and wrath upon themselves, but are notoriously anxious rather to free themselves from the evil consequences attendant on their sins, and even to conceal these if possible from themselves, than willingly to embrace, uncontrolled by Divine Truth, a belief in threatenings, which, besides punishment on earth, included the tremendous penalties of no less than Almighty indignation and vengeance, and that for no shorter period than an Æternity of tribulation, and anguish, and woe!

How is it, then, that it ever has been asserted that the Jews knew not always that there was a future existence of rewards and punishments? How is it, that we who live in a far distant age and country, and whom the revolution of customs and manners, and languages, and centuries, contribute to blind, pretend to know the meaning of their prophets better than the nation did even in our Saviour's age? If these their views had been utterly erroneous we might indeed have sought for arguments to overturn falsehood, and give evidence to the truth; but their views were deficient solely as to the means, and assuredly not as to the end unto which those means pointed. Eternal life was, and is, and will be, the great end to which the ↑ Jewish War,

Antiq. xviii. c. 3.

b.

3. c. viii.

descendants of Abraham have ever directed their vainly-exerted labours. When, then, they attribute the same æternal consequences which JESUS does to the Mosaic law, until it was fulfilled and annulled, shall we as Christians gainsay Christ? They looked not generally, it is true, for a spiritualMessiah, but it is indubitably proved that they waited for the kingdom of God, a spiritual existence of everlasting bliss beyond the grave. They falsely trusted, it is true, in works instead of faith, but the same faith was proposed to them in the law as is now held forth unto us in the gospel, even in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, IN WHOM ALONE is that life everlasting, which was and is equally the promise of the old and new covenants. We trust in no OTHER promise but that made unto Abraham and his seed; we believe in no OTHER Saviour but Him who is foretold by Moses and all the prophets. Yet although it cannot be denied that in this age the Jewish nation did assert that Moses preached the doctrines of æternal life, it is contended, in contradiction to evident traces scattered throughout the Old Testament, that the Israelites were not always thus well informed on this striking, this awful, this momentous truth. As if, they could have been more enlightened on the fact in this the darkest period of their history, for such it was, until the Baptist and our Saviour appeared, than they were when the light and glory of the Prophetic Spirit dwelt amongst them! It is not credi

ble! How is it, then, that we by specious reasonings would justify and support error in contradiction to truth, thus giving occasion for the sneers of infidels, and by retreating from the gap, giving place to the widely-spreading plague which deso lates the Lord's inheritance !

We are decidedly referred then by our Saviour himself to Moses and the prophets for the original revelation of a future state, but our inquiry cannot be further prosecuted at present. In conclusion, let it not be supposed that this subject is merely speculative, for the inquiry is one which is by no means alien, my brethren, to our own cases; on the contrary, it actually bears a near and intimate connection with the practice and conversation of our every day. The awful scene which we have been reviewing in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is one, in which, each individual now around me, must ere long bear his part; and the thoughts and words and actions which appear in and which guide our daily conduct, will as assuredly determine our fate as they did the separate destinies of the beings before us. Do we bear these facts in our minds?-No:-Death and the judgment are for ever repelled from our thoughts, till they are forced upon the shrinking spirit by the near and certain approach of the king of terrors. That heart of deceit, which we all inherit, whispers continually to us, there is ⚫ time enough to think of these things; let us enjoy

' ourselves for the present, and let not our happiness be perpetually damped and controlled by • such tremendous subjects.' But will they appear less terrible unto you in the hour of trial and of death; or is not he the prudent and wise soldier who warily watches his enemy; who even sleeps not but with his arms around him, when he is hourly expecting the combat, and knows that it must be fought, and that often, at a moment's warning, in which if he fails of victory he had far better never have existed? Such are each of You, my brethren, in the figurative language of sacred Scripture; YE are soldiers who must fight the good fight; who must* OVERCOME, or perish everlastingly! Knowing these things, does it become you-is it common sense-to banish the reflection of your own certain fate, which must overtake you in a few short years, for ever, systematically from your thoughts? On the contrary, ought not your daily duty to your Creator, your daily intercourse with your fellow men, to be at all times accurately examined, as affording that peculiar evidence which must in the day of judgment acquit or condemn you before Him who is your Judge, and before whom all the past and present actions of your lives are had in never-dying remembrance? Why will we thus deceive ourselves! The hour of devotion, or of utter and forgetful levity; the hour of Christian charity, or of worldly and selfish meanness; the

* See the Revelations of St. John.