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adopt with the greatest pleasure the opinion of the learned Warburton,* who with equal ingenuity and truth, as (appears to me) has proved, that when God says to Abraham, · Take now 'thy son, thine only son Isaac,' &c. "the command is merely an "information by action, instead of words, of the great sacrifice "of Christ for the redemption of mankind, given at the earnest "request of Abraham, who longed impatiently to see Christ's "day; and is that passage of sacred history referred to by our "Lord, where he says to the unbelieving Jews, Your father "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was "glad.". To this able writer I refer, for the proof of this being the true explanation of this contested passage: and I entirely agree with him in the consequences he adduces from it. "Two

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great ends," says he,t" seem to be gained by this interpreta"tion; the one to free the command from a supposed violation "of natural law; the other to support the connexion and de"pendency between the two revelations for this interpretation "makes the history of the command a direct prophecy of Christ 66 as Redeemer of the world."

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:

I have introduced this part of the sacred history for the purpose of quoting another part of this learned Writer's reasoning on this passage, which appears important on the present subject. "Of the principle reason of this command," says he, "the "words of Jesus are a convincing proof. Nay, I might go "farther, and say that this is not the only place where the true "reason of the command is plainly hinted at. The Author of "the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of this very command, says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up "Isaac, accounting that God was able to raise him up even "from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure; “EN HAPABOAH, in a parable; a mode of information either "by words or actions, which consists in putting one thing "for another. Now, in a writer who regarded this commanded "action as a representative information of the redemption of "mankind, nothing could be more fine or easy than this expres"sion. For, though Abraham did not indeed receive Isaac restored to life after a real dissolution, yet the son being in "this action to represent Christ suffering death for the sins

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* Divine Leg. Book VI. sect. vi.; the very satisfactory Dissertation on the command to sacrifice Isaac.

Divine Leg. Book VI. sect. v. Vol. v. p. 223.

Ibid. Vol. v. p. 238.

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"of the world, when the father brought him safe from Mount "Moriah after three days (during which the son was in a state "of condemnation to death) the father plainly received him, "under the character of Christ's representative, as restored "from the dead. For as his being brought to the Mount, there bound, and laid upon the altar, figured the death and sufferings of Christ, so his being taken from thence alive, as properly figured Christ's resurrection from the dead. With the highest propriety, therefore, and elegance of speech, might "Abraham be said to receive Isaac from the dead in a parable, "or in representation."

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Adopting this (as appears to me) just and ingenious explanation of this piece of sacred history, it is obvious, and indeed is confessed by this learned writer, that the doctrine of a resurrection to life, even of Christ's resurrection, must have been known to Abraham and Isaac, as well as to their families. Can we then suppose so important a truth would have been by them. suppressed? No it was assuredly communicated from them to the succeeding Patriarchs, and formed the support of their virtue and the source of their consolation, through all the sorrows and sufferings of their eventful lives. True it is, the peculiar purposes of the divine economy did not permit the Jewish Lawgiver to employ it as the sanction of his Laws, which were to be enforced by an immediate extraordinary Providence, and therefore he was not allowed to promulgate it so plainly as to make it a direct article of the popular creed; but it was intimated with sufficient clearness to be discernible to minds of a superior class, capable of reflection, and adapted to rise to greater heights of piety, exhibit bright examples of virtue, and prepare the way for the full manifestation of the counsels and the mercies of God, by that Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, whose sufferings and resurrection for the redemption and justification of man, the remarkable transaction we have been now considering so plainly represented and prefigured.

But to establish the fact, that the conduct of the Patriarchs was influenced by the prospect of a future life, I should choose to rely on an authority superior to that of any article of mere human composition, even the authority of the Apostle to the Hebrews, who has distinctly stated and clearly illustrated this position "By faith," says he, "Abraham. when he was called "to go up into a place, which he should after receive for an in

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"heritance obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he "went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a "strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, "the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a "city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."* And again, speaking of the Patriarchs: "These all (says the Apostle †) died in faith, not having received the promises, but "having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth. "For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country "from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity "to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that "is, an heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called "their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."

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In this passage the Apostle plainly refers to the remarkable declaration of Jacob to Pharaoh, when that monarch inquired from the venerable Patriarch, "How old art thou?" And he answered, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hun"dred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years "of my life been, and I have not attained to the days of the 66 years of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage."§ In truth, had there been no state of existence beyond the present life, this Patriarch would have received very inadequate proofs of that distinguished favour, with the hope of which God encouraged him, when, in the vision at Luz, he declared himself "the God of his father Abraham, and of Isaac; and that he "would give the land whereon he lay to him and to his seed; and "that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed."|| Nor was this all. To the promise of this public distinction and general blessing was added a promise of personal favour and protection. "And behold," saith God, "I am with thee, and will

On this subject, Witsius, in his Economia Foederum, Lib. III. cap. ii. Sect. v. p. 262, observes: “When God declares himself a God to any, it includes eternal life; "for when God from his free grace gives himself to man, he gives him every thing, "for in himself he is every thing: man therefore finds in him a shield against all evil, "and an exceeding great reward (according to the promise to Abraham, Gen. xv. 1.) "And what more can he desire to secure full and perfect happiness, which includes "eternity? Whence the Apostle joins these two, Hebrews xi. 16: Now God is not "ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."

Gen. xlvii. 8, 9.

Ibid. xxviii. 13, 14.

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keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have "done that which I have spoken to thee of."* This promise was certainly fulfilled to a certain degree, in the preservation of the Patriarch and his family during his eventful history. Yet the life of Jacob was undoubtedly embittered from the very beginning with disappointment and sorrow:†-from his twenty years of exile and laborious servitude under Laban; the terror of his brother's vengeance; the violent passions and great misconduct of his children; the premature death of his beloved wife Rachel; the early loss of his favourite child Joseph, which so afflicted him, that "he refused to be comforted, saying, I will go "down into the grave unto my son, mourning;" the anxiety which the apprehension of famine must have excited, and his still greater terror at the apprehended loss of Benjamin, which wrung from him his pathetic complaint unto his remaining sons, "Me "have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon " is not, and ye will take Benjamin away all these things are "against me." And when Reuben undertook for his security, how melancholy the perseverance of his refusal ! "My son "shall not go down with you: for his brother is dead, and he is “left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, "then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the "grave." And when at length the pressure of famine compelled his assent, how strongly does the solemnity of his parting benediction bespeak the anguish of his heart; "Take your brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And God Almighty

give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your "other brother and Benjamin: if I be bereaved of my children, "I am bereaved." I mention these circumstances, to show that then as well as now (until God undertook, by an immediate and extraordinary Providence, to support the interests of virtue**)

+ Vide from ch. xxviii. to ch. 1. || Gen. xlii. 38.

Gen. xxxvii. 35.
Ch. xliii. 13, 14.

*Gen. xxviii. 15. Gen. xlii. 36. ** The learned Witsius expresses this argument in the following strong terms: "Extra controversiam est Deum præstantissimum aliquid, et in quo, supra cæteros "minus Numinis reverentes, eximii essent, clarissimis illis Patriarchis promississe, "quando se Deum ipsorum nuncupabat. Nihil autem supra cæteros homines eximium "adeo in hac terra obtinuerent, quod promissi hujus magnitudinem æquarat; multi "improbi in terra Canaan alibique vixerunt, restat ergo ut altius hæc spectarent, et ad "æternam cœlestemque vitam pertinerent."

human nature required the prospect of another life to sustain piety and obedience, under the trials to which they were exposed; and this increases the probability that such a prospect was afforded, when such trials were imposed by the immediate agency of God.

The life of the Jewish Lawgiver affords a remarkable instance in confirmation of the truth of this position. In his youth, grieved and wearied at beholding the cruel oppression of his countrymen, he is led to attempt their deliverance, and sacrifice for this purpose all prospects of regal grandeur and present enjoyment. But he is totally and lamentably disappointed: rejected and despised by those who were the objects of his generous patriotism, he is compelled, in order to preserve his life, to fly into exile, where he remains for forty years. Then at the age of fourscore he is compelled to quit his retirement, place himself at the head of his nation, expose himself to the resentment of the Egyptian monarch; and after having escaped this, is constantly harassed with the murmurs, the terrors, the idolatries, the rebellions of this wayward race ;—even his own brother and sister join in opposing his authority. This scene of severe trials lasts for forty years, in a dreary desert, surrounded by a discontented multitude. And at the end of this long period, he is not permitted to enjoy the glory of conquering the promised land, or witnessing the happiness of his nation's settlement there, but is barely allowed to see a distant prospect of this long wished-for resting place, and then hurried away by the sudden stroke of death. Yet this is the fate of a man of exemplary piety, who, though sometimes in the heaviness of his spirit he is driven to entreat of God, "If thou deal thus with me, kill me, "I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; " and let me not see my wretchedness;" yet still preserves to God constant resignation, and to his ungrateful countrymen unabated affection.

Now we may ask, is it not natural to suppose that God, who employed this distinguished character as the chosen instrument. for communicating his Law to the whole Jewish nation, should have sustained him in so severe a trial, by the clear prospect of a future recompense? And though the peculiar purposes of the divine economy would not permit him to employ a future recom+ Exod. vii. 7. Numb. xi. 15.

* Vide Exod. ii. 11, et seq.