132 The Favour of God obtained By Wiliam. S E R M. I fee no reafon why this may not be com- e prehended in the meaning of the text ; for though the Old Teftament writers fpeak but darkly of the future felicity in compari- fon of what the gofpel doth, the covenant God made with Ifrael being founded on other and inferior promifes, yet in thofe ancient authors we have fome ftrong inti- mations concerning it, betides what the principles of natural religion fuggefted ; you know our Saviour argueth convincingly againft the Sadduces, who denied that there are any fpirits, and, confequently, that men are capable of fubfifting in a future ftate, from thefe words of God to Mofes, I am the God of Abraham, of Ifaac, and of ,7acob. Since God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, it is a juft inference, that thefe eminent patriarchs did not altogether perifh when their natural lives ended, but that they fubfifted in another fiate, and therein enjoyed the moft perfect acccmplifhment of that glorious promife, that God would be their God. Some of the later prophets fpeak yet more clearly of the future glory, and even of the refurredion of the dead ; and lince fo ancient a believer as yob exprefhed his hope in thefe ftrong terms, I know that my
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