Zadok continued faithful. Ezek. xliv. 10. 13. 15. and xliii. 19. and xl. 46.

The general plan of Providence, by which we are so linked together, that one cannot suffer or rejoice without the participation of others in some degree, was not however deranged even in his government of the Jews. For among them, if individual cases were examined, the wise and prosperous king himself declared, that "no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked." Eccles. ix. 1, 2. But this, it must be observed, was said, after a great inroad had been made upon the original constitution of that people, by the appointment of a king; and when, by the settled and firm establishment of the nation, the regular exertions of the magistrate in maintaining the true worship of God, might perhaps in part have superseded the necessity of such marked interferences of Providence in the lives and fortunes of individuals, as did at first take place. And it must at all times be remembered, that if the signs of the divine favour or displeasure are not palpable, the effects of it are not for that reason the less real.

It is desirable to attain clear conceptions, where the Scriptures furnish them, of the methods of God's government of the Israelites; both that we may be able to answer the objections brought

against Scripture for representing that government as inconsistent 30 with itself, or contrary to justice in its procedure: and also that we may duly appreciate the arguments in favour of the divine origin of the Mosaic dispensation, which may be derived from the maintenance or interruption of their temporal prosperity according to their doings. An argument perhaps not enough insisted upon, nor sufficiently illustrated. The learned author of the Divine Legation seems to have failed of producing the conviction at which he aimed, by confounding the fact, that Moses had not insisted upon a future state as the sanction of his laws, with the supposition that he had said nothing which could intimate his belief of one: and by wasting his strength in shewing, that all other ancient legislators had introduced that sanction; instead of maintaining that Moses had positively denounced temporal calamity and prosperity as certainly attendant upon the behaviour of his people, and proving by the private history of individuals and the public one of the nation, that, what had been denounced, actually came to pass.

God's government of the Israelites was no doubt analogous to his government of the world at large, although he has not in other cases so particularly revealed his purposes. Under the Christian dispensation the same superintending

30 Lettres de quelques Juifs. Vol. i. L. 7. §. 6. p. 313.

and effective Providence, even in the affairs of this life, is still an article of faith; but our hopes and fears are carried so entirely beyond this world, that we view present good or present evil not so much in the light of immediate reward or punishment, as consider it to be the trial of our faith and the means of preparing us for heaven. Even under the former economy, the hope that hereafter all would be set right" was the comfort of pious men, when there appeared any thing in the distribution of prosperity unsuitable to the character of those on whom it fell. While we possess a full vindication of every apparent inequality in the assurance that the Most High does not finish his work in one world, but reserves his full display of retributive justice to that awful termination; in which every one, however he may have been benefited or disturbed by being involved with others in the present scene of things, will then find his happiness or misery has not been produced by the doings of any other mere fellow creature, but is the unmixed event of his own. Always excepting the protection, which we humbly hope to receive, from the shield of mercy thrown over us by the meritorious sufferings of our Great Deliverer, "In the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds." Rom. ii. 5, 6.

31 Psalm lxxiii.

ON THE

NEW TESTAMENT.

DISSERTATION VII.

ON FAITH.

CHAP. I.-Faith as a Principle of Religion.

AFTER a few cursory remarks in reply to the general assertions, that Scripture contained things unreasonable and absurd, the five former dissertations have been employed in laying down general principles, and applying them in the examination of particular passages of the Old Testament, which are accused of conveying notions derogatory from the moral attributes of the Deity, and in vindicating those passages from the charge of having that tendency. The same sort of rash and vague declamation is uttered against the New Testament. In these general assertions the assailant has always this advantage, that he is sure in the present day to find ears ready to hear and minds eager to imbibe, whatever he can say against every thing estab

lished in religion as well as government, and can multiply objections with a facility proportioned to his ignorance. But to examine these things to the bottom and disprove the assertions rashly made, requires more soundness of mind, more learning and patient attention, than either the accuser or his hearers are willing or able to bring to the discussion. But as the objections made against the New Testament are levelled at the general scheme of doctrine, rather than at particular passages, it will perhaps be more convenient to comprise the points, meant to be defended, under a few general heads; such as these three: First, the principle of faith itself, upon which the Gospel is founded; secondly, the several objects of that faith in the propositions to be believed; and thirdly, the duties required to be fulfilled by those, by whom the revelation is received.

With respect to the first point, the principle of faith upon which the Gospel is founded; we know that it was an old reproach echoed from the philosopher to the sophist, that the religion was not founded on argument, but on credulity: a reproach triumphantly refuted by the apologists turning the tables upon their antagonists; when they compared the solid ground of evidence, on which the Christian's faith rested, with the unauthorized traditions which upheld the fables of polytheism; when they contrasted the sublime notions of the Deity and the purity of