Serm difçover'dO. ].Vaturé and dy Revelation. i3 5 nifie thofegreater and better things to them, and fo underftood by thofe who were more devout and knowing among them ; elfe the Apotfle, in his Epiffle to the He- brews, had gone upon a very ill ground, when he all along takes it for granted; that the Difpenfation of the Law, and all the Ceremonies of it, were of a farther fignifi- cation, Heb. io. r i. The Lawhaving a /hallow ofgood things to came. 5. This was in general and by good confequence, tho not obvious to ill, yet fuf- ficiently to prudent and difcerning, men, revealed in the Bodkof the Law taken pre- cifely ; I mean the five Books of Mofes. It israid of Abel, that God Was pleafed with. his Sacrifice, tho withCain's he wasnot well pleafed, Gen. 4. Upon thisCain was an- gry at his Brother, and flew him. Now if the Immortality of the Soul anda future ffate, be not fuppofed and taken for granted in this Rory, this verypaffage is enough to cut the finews, and pluck up therootsof all Religion. For if there were no Re- wards after this life, it were obvious for every Man to argue from this Flory, that it was adangerousthing topleafe God ; if this were all that Abel got by it, tobe knock'd on the Head by his. Brother, who offended God. But I (hall chiefly infift on the general Promifes, which we find in thefe Books of Mofes, of God's bleffìng good men, and declaring that he was their Gad, even after their Death. Now I (hall Phew that thefe Promifes did involve.the Happinelsofanother life, and wereintended byGod to fignifie thus much, and were founderffood.by good' menunder that Difpenfation. That thefe general promifes didcontain this fenfe under them, andwere intended by God to fignifie thus much, is evident from our .Saviours citation of that Text, to confute the Saddxces, Iam the Godof Abraham, theGadof Ifaac, and the God ofJacob ; fromwhencehe reasons thus, Now Gadh not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him : the forceof which Argument was dire&- lyand immediately leveld againtf the main Error of theSadd,eces, which was the de- nial of a future Bate. This our Saviour immediately proves from this Text, and by confequencethe Refurreftion, which the Sadducesdid not deny upon any other ac- count, but becaufe they didnot * believe a Future (fate. o See Vol. 6. Toward theexpiration ofthe Legal Difpenfation,. there was yet a clearer Re- ' ser>n: &. pub. velation of a Future {fate. TheText in Daniel teems to be muchplainer than any in /f 'dby the Old Teftament, Dan. 12. 2. And many ofthem that,fleep in the duff of the Earth the Arcb- ¡hall awake; fame to everla/ting life, andfome tofhameand everlafling contempt. And to sifbop. this Text the feven Brethren, whowere cruelly put to death under the Perfecutionof Antiochos, feem to refer, when they comfort themfelves with the hopes of another Life, 2 Mat. 7. 9. where one of them, ready to die, lays thus to Antiochos, Thou like afury takefl us out ofthisprefent life, but the Kingofthe World (hall raifeus up, who havé died for his Laws, unto everlafling Life. To the fame purpofe another of them, n. 14. when he was tormented, exprefleth his Confidence thus, It is good, being put to death by men, to look fir hopefromGod, to be raifed up againby him: bat as for thee (fpea king of Antiochoa) thou (halt have no Refurretlion to life. Where he feems to allude to the twofold Refurre&ionmention'd by Daniel. And tho thisHiflory of the. Maccabees be not Canonical, yet the Apoffle bath warranted the Truthof it to us, at leaf( in this particular, for he plainly refers to this flory, Heb. rt. 35. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better Refurreflion. 7. Notwithftanding this, I fay, that the Immortalityof theSoul, and a future State, was not exprefly and clearly revealed in the Old Teftament, at leaf( not in Mofes his Law. The fpecial and particular Promifesof that Difpenfation, wereoftemporal good things; andthe great Bleffing ofEternal Life, was but fomewhat obfcurely involved and fignified in the Types and general Promifes : For confidering that the particular Promifes were plainly of temporal things, it was veryobvious to thofe who were not fo prudent and difcerning to interpretthe general Promifes, fo as to comprehend only that kind of Bleffings, which were expreft in the fpecial and particular Pro- miles, and fo likewife to underltand the general Threatnings. And upon thisaccount the ApoCe to the Hebrews, principally advanceth the New Covenant of the Gofpel, above the OldDifpenfation 5 becaufe the Gofpel had clear, and eirprefs, and fpecial Promifesof Eternal Life, which the Lawhad not, Heb. 8. 6. But nowbath he obtained amore excellent Miniflry, by howmuch alfa he is the Mediator ofa bettir Covenant, which was eftablifht upon better Promos. For the fame reafon Chrift is laid here in the Text, byhis appearance to have abolifh'd death, andbrought life and immortality to light through theGofpel. And fo I proceed to the Second thing I propounded, which is to thew what farther Evidence and Afl'urance the
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