SECT I. Of the PATRIARCHAL Dispensation .

The Tradition of Elias . The three great Periods of the Church . The Patriarchal Age. The Laws then in force natural or positive . Natural Laws what ; evinced from the testimony of natural conscience . The Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah . Their respect to the Law of Nature . Positive Laws under that dispensation . Eating Bloud why prohibited . The mystery and signification of it . Circumcision when commanded and why . The Laws concerning Religion . Their publick Worship what . Sacrifices in what sence natural , and how far instituted . The manner of God's testifying his acceptance . What the place of their publick Worship . Altars , and Groves whence . Abraham's Oak , its long continuance , and destruction by Constantine . The Original of the Druids . The times of their religious Assemblies . In process of time , Genes. 4. what meant by it . The Seventh Day whether kept from the beginning . The Ministers of Religion , who . The Priesthood of the first-born . In what cases exercised by younger Sons . The state of Religion successively under the several Patriarchs . The condition of it in Adam 's Family . The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel , and their different success , whence . Seth , his great Learning and Piety . The face of the Church in the time of Enosh . What meant by , Then began Men to call upon the Name of the Lord. No Idolatry before the Floud . The Sons of God , who . The great corruption of Religion in the time of Jared . Enoch 's Piety , and walking with God . His translation , what . The incomparable sanctity of Noah , and his strictness in an evil Age. The character of the men of that time . His preservation from the Deluge . God's Covenant with him . Sem or Japhet whether the Elder Brother . The confusion of Languages when , and why . Abraham 's Idolatry and conversion . His eminency for Religion noted in the several instances of it . God's Covenant with him concerning the Messiah . The Piety of Isaac , and Jacob. Jacob 's blessing the twelve Tribes , and foretelling the Messiah . Patriarchs extraordinary under this dispensation . Melchisedeck who : wherein a type of Christ . Job , his Name , Country , Kindred , Quality , Religion , Sufferings ; when he lived . A reflection upon the religion of the old World , and its agreement with Christianity .

GOD who at sundry times , Heb. 1.1 , 2. and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son . For having created Man for the noblest purposes , to love , serve , and enjoy his Maker ; he was careful in all Ages by various Revelations of his Will to acquaint him with the notices of his duty ; and to shew him what was good , and what the Lord did require of him : till all other Methods proving weak and ineffectual for the recovery and the happiness of humane nature , God was pleased to crown all the former dispensations with the Revelation of his Son . There is among the * * Talm. Tract . Sauhedr . cap. Halec . & alibi . vid. Menass . Ben Isr. de Resurrect . lib. 3. c. 3. & Concil. Quaest. 30. in Genes . Jews an ancient Tradition of the House of Elias , that the World should last Six Thousand Years , which they thus compute , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Thousand Years empty , ( little being recorded of those first Ages of the World ) Two Thousand Years the Law , and Two Thousand the Days of the Messiah . A Tradition , which if it minister to no other purposes , does yet afford us a very convenient division of the several Ages and Periods of the Church , which may be considered under a three-fold Oeconomy , the Patriarchal , Mosaical , and Evangelical dispensation . A short view of the two former will give us great advantage to survey the later , that new and better dispensation which God has made to the World .

2. THE Patriarchal Age , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews call it , the days of emptiness , commenced from the beginning of the World , and lasted till the delivery of the Law upon Mount Sinai . And under this state the Laws which God gave for the exercise of Religion , and the Government of his Church were either Natural , or Positive . Natural Laws are those innate Notions and Principles , whether speculative or practical , with which every Man is born into the World , those common sentiments of Vertue and Religion , those Principia justi & decori , Principles of fit and right , that naturally are upon the minds of Men , and are obvious to their reason at first sight , commanding what is just and honest , and forbidding what is evil and uncomely ; and that not only in the general , that what is good is to be embraced , and what is evil to be avoided , but in the particular instances of duty according to their conformity or repugnancy to natural light , being conversant about those things , that do not derive their value and authority from any arbitrary constitutions , but from the moral and intrinsick nature of the things themselves . These Laws , as being the results and dictates of right reason , are , especially as to their first and more immediate emanations , the same in all Men in the World , and in all Times and Places , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews call them , Precepts that are evident among all Nations , indeed they are interwoven into Mens nature , inserted into the texture and constitution of their minds , and do discover themselves as soon as ever they arrive to the free use and exercise of their reason . That there are such Laws and Principles naturally planted in Mens breasts , is evident from the consent of Mankind , and the common experience of the World . Whence else comes it to pass , that all wicked Men even among the Heathens themselves , after the commission of gross sins , such as do more sensibly rouze and awaken conscience , are filled with horrors and fears of punishment ? but because they are conscious to themselves of having violated some Law and Rule of Duty . Now what Law can this be ? not the written and revealed Law , for this the Heathens never had : it must be therefore the inbred Law of Nature , that 's born with them , and fixed in their minds , antecedently to any external revelation . Rom. 2.14 , 15 : For when the Gentiles which have not the Law , do by nature ( by the light and evidence , by the force and tendency of their natural notions and dictates ) the things contained in the Law , these having not a Law , are a Law unto themselves , which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witness , and their thoughts , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the reasonings of their minds , in the mean while ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by turns ) accusing or else excusing one another ; that is , although they had not a written Law , as the Jews had of old , and we Christians have at this day , yet by the help of their natural Principles they performed the same actions , and discharged the same Duties that are contained in , and commanded by the written and external Law , shewing by their practices that they had a Law ( some common notions of good and evil ) written in their hearts . And to this their very Consciences bear witness , for according as they either observe or break these natural Laws , their Consciences do either acquit or condemn them . Hence we find God in the very infancy of the World , appealing to Cain for the truth of this , as a thing sufficiently plain and obvious , Why art thou wroth , and why is thy countenance fallen ? Gen. 4.6 , 7. if thou doest well , shalt thou not be accepted , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be lift up ? able to walk with a pleased and a chearful countenance , the great indication of a mind satisfied in the conscience of its duty : but if thou doest not well , sin lies at the door ; the punishments of sin will be ready to follow thee , and conscience as a Minister of vengeance will perpetually pursue and haunt thee . By these Laws Mankind was principally governed in the first Ages of the World , there being for near Two Thousand Years no other fixed and standing Rule of Duty , than the dictates of this Law of Nature ; those Principles of Vice and Vertue , of Justice and Honesty , that are written in the heart of every Man .

3. THE Jews very frequently tell us of some particular commands to the number of Seven , Gem. Babyl . Tit. Sanhedr . cap. 7. fol. 56. Maimon . Tr. Melak ▪ cap. 9. & alibi passim ap. Judaeos . vid. Selden . de Jur. N. & G. l. 1. c. 10. & de Synedr . Vol. 1. c. 2. p. 8. which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Precepts of the Sons of Noah , Six whereof were given to Adam and his Children , and the Seventh given to Noah , which they thus reckon up . The first was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning strange worship , that they should not give Divine honour to Idols , or the Gods of the Heathens , answerable to the two first commands of the Decalogue , Thou shalt have no other Gods but me ; thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image , nor the likeness of any thing , that is in Heaven above , or in the Earth beneath , or in the Water under the Earth ; thou shalt not bow down thy self to them , or serve them : for , &c. From the violation of this Law it was that Job , one of the Patriarchs that lived under this dispensation , solemnly purges himself , when speaking concerning the worship of the Celestial Lights , the great if not only Idolatry of those early Ages , says he , Job 31.26 , 27 , 28. If I beheld the Sun when it shined , or the Moon walking in her brightness , and my heart hath been secretly inticed , or my mouth hath kissed my hand , this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge , for I should have denied the God that is above . The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning blessing , or worshipping , that they should not blaspheme the Name of God . This Law Job also had respect to , when he was careful to sanctifie his Children , and to propitiate the Divine Majesty for them every Morning , Job 1.6 . for it may be ( said he ) that my Sons have sinned , and cursed God in their hearts . The third was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the shedding of bloud , forbidding Man-slaughter ; a Law expresly renewed to Noah after the Floud , and which possibly Job aimed at , when he vindicates himself , Job 31.29 . that he had not rejoyced at the destruction of him that hated him , or lift up himself when evil found him . Nor was all effusion of humane bloud forbidden by this Law , capital punishments being in some cases necessary for the preservation of humane Society , but only that no Man should shed the bloud of an innocent Person , or pursue a private revenge without the warrant of publick Authority . The fourth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the disclosing of uncleanness , against filthiness and adultery , unlawful marriages , Job 31.9 , 10 , 11. and incestuous mixtures : If mine heart ( says Job in his Apology ) hath been deceived by a Woman , or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door ; then let my Wife grind , &c. for this is an heinous crime , yea it is an iniquity to be punished by the Judges . The fifth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning theft and rapine , the invading another Man's right and property , the violation of bargains and compacts , the falsifying a Man's word or promise , the deceiving of another by fraud , Vers. 5.7 . lying , or any evil arts . From all which Job justifies himself , that he had not walked with vanity , nor had his foot hasted to deceit , that his step had not turned out of the way , nor his heart walked after his eyes , nor any blot cleaved to his hands . And elsewhere he bewails it as the great iniquity of the Times , Chap. 24.2 , 3 , 4. & seqq . that there were some that removed the Land-marks , that violently took away the Flocks , and fed thereof , that drove away the Asse of the Fatherless , and took the Widows Oxe for a pledge , that turned the needy out of the way , and made the poor of the Earth hide themselves together , &c. The sixth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning judgments , or the administration of Justice , that Judges and Magistrates should be appointed in every Place for the Order and Government of Civil Societies , the determination of Causes , and executing of Justice between Man and Man . And that such there then were , seems evident from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Job twice speaks of in one Chapter , Chap. 31 . 11-28 . the judged iniquity , which the Jews expound , and we truly render , an iniquity to be punished by the Judges . The seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the member of any live-creature , that is , as God expresses it in the Precept to Noah , they might not eat the bloud , or the flesh with the life thereof . Whether these Precepts were by any solemn and external promulgation particularly delivered to the Ante-deluvian Patriarchs ( as the Jews seem to contend ) I will not say : for my part I cannot but look upon them ( the last only excepted ) as a considerable part of Nature's Statute-law , as comprizing the greater strokes and lineaments of those natural dictates that are imprinted upon the souls of Men. For what more comely and reasonable , and more agreeable to the first notions of our minds , than that we should worship and adore God alone , as the Author of our beings , and the Fountain of our happiness , and not derive the lustre of his incommunicable perfections upon any Creature ; that we should entertain great and honourable thoughts of God , and such as become the Grandeur and Majesty of his being ; that we should abstain from doing any wrong or injury to another , from invading his right , violating his priviledges , and much more from making any attempt upon his life , the dearest blessing in this World ; that we should be just and fair in our transactions , and do to all men , as we would they should do to us ; that we should live chastely and temperately , and not by wild and extravagant lusts and sensualities offend against the natural modesty of our minds ; that Order and Government should be maintained in the World , Justice advanced , and every Man secured in his just possessions ? And so suitable did these Laws seem to the reason and understandings of Men , that the Jews though the most zealous People under Heaven of their Legal Institutions , received those Gentiles who observed them as Proselytes into their Church , though they did not oblige themselves to Circumcision , and the rest of the Mosaick Rites . Nay , in the first Age of Christianity , when the great controversie arose between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts about the obligation of the Law of Moses as necessary to salvation , the observation only of these Precepts , at least a great part of them , was imposed upon the Gentile-Converts as the best expedient to end the difference , by the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem .

4. BUT though the Law of Nature was the common Law by which God then principally governed the World , yet was not he wanting by Methods extraordinary to supply , as occasion was , the exigencies and necessities of his Church , communicating his mind to them by Dreams and Visions , and other ways of Revelation , which we shall more particularly remark , when we come to the Mosaical Oeconomy . Hence arose , those positive Laws which we meet with in this period of the Church , some whereof are more expresly recorded , others more obscurely intimated . Among those that are more plain and obvious two are especially considerable , the prohibition for not eating bloud , and the Precept of Circumcision , the one given to Noah , the other to Abraham . The prohibition concerning bloud is thus recorded , every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you : Gen. 9.3 , 4. but flesh with the life thereof , which is the bloud thereof , shall you not eat . The bloud is the vehiculum to carry the spirits , as the Veins are the chanels to convey the bloud , now the animal spirits give vital heat and activity to every part , and being let out , the bloud presently cools , and the Creature dies . Not flesh with the bloud , which is the life thereof , that is , not flesh while it is alive , while the bloud and the spirits are yet in it . The mystery and signification whereof was no other than this , that God would not have Men train'd up to arts of cruelty , or whatever did but carry the colour and aspect of a merciless and a savage temper , lest severity towards Beasts should degenerate into fierceness towards Men. It 's good to defend the out-guards , and to stop the remotest ways that lead towards sin , especially considering the violent propensions of humane nature to passion and revenge . Men commence bloudy and inhumane by degrees , and little approaches in time render a thing in it self abhorrent not only familiar , but delightful . The Romans who at first entertained the People in the Amphitheatre only with wild Beasts killing one another , came afterwards wantonly to sport away the Lives of the Gladiators , yea to cast Persons to be devoured by Bears and Lions , for no other end than the divertisement and pleasure of the People . He who can please himself in tearing and eating the Parts of a living Creature , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Porphyr . de Abstin . lib. 1. Sect. 47. p. 39. may in short time make no scruple to do violence to the Life of Man . Besides eating bloud naturally begets a savage temper , makes the spirits rank and fiery , and apt to be easily inflamed and blown up into choler and fierceness . And that hereby God did design to bar out ferity , and to secure mercy and gentleness , is evident from what follows after : and surely your bloud of your lives will I require : Ib. V. 5 , 6. at the hand of every beast will I require it , and at the hand of Man , at the hand of every Man's brother will I require the life of man ; whoso sheddeth Man's bloud , by Man shall his bloud be shed . The life of a Beast might not be wantonly sacrificed to Mens humours , therefore not Man 's ; the life of Man being so sacred , and dear to God , that if kill'd by a Beast , the Beast it self was to die for it ; if by man , that man's life was to go for retaliation , by man shall his bloud be shed ; where by man we must necessarily understand the ordinary Judge and Magistrate , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews call it , the lower Judicature , with respect to that Divine and Superiour Court , the immediate judgment of God himself . By which means God admirably provided for the safety and security of Man's life , and for the order and welfare of humane society : and it was no more than necessary , the remembrance of the violence and oppression of the Nephilim or Giants before the Floud being yet fresh in memory , and there was no doubt but such mighty Hunters , men of robust bodies , of barbarous and inhumane tempers would afterwards arise . This Law against eating bloud was afterwards renewed under the Mosaick Institution , Levit. 17.11 . but with this peculiar signification , for the life of the flesh is in the bloud , and I have given it to you upon the Altar , to make an atonement for your souls ; for it is the bloud that maketh an atonement for the soul : that is , the bloud might not be eaten , not only for the former reason , but because God had designed it for particular purposes , to be the great Instrument of Expiation , and an eminent type of the Bloud of the Son of God , who was to die as the great expiatory Sacrifice for the World : Nay it was re-established by the Apostles in the infancy of Christianity , and observed by the Primitive Christians for several Ages , as we have elsewhere observed .

5. THE other Precept was concerning Circumcision , given to Abraham at the time of God's entring into Covenant with him . Gen. 17.9 , 10 , 11. God said unto Abraham , Thou shalt keep my Covenant , &c. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you , and thy Seed after thee , every Man-child among you shall be circumcised : and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin , and it shall be a token of the Covenant betwixt me and you . God had now made a Covenant with Abraham to take his Posterity for his peculiar People , and that out of them should arise the promised Messiah : and as all federal compacts have some solemn and external rites of ratification , so God was pleased to add Circumcision as the sign and seal of this Covenant , partly as it had a peculiar fitness in it to denote the promised Seed , partly that it might be a discriminating badge of Abraham's Children ( that part whom God had especially chosen out of the rest of Mankind ) from all other People . On Abraham's part it was a sufficient argument of his hearty compliance with the terms of this Covenant , that he would so chearfully submit to so unpleasing and difficult a sign as was imposed upon him . For Circumcision could not but be both painful and dangerous in one of his Years , as it was afterwards to be to all new-born Infants : whence Zipporah complained of Moses , commanding her to circumcise her Son , that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an husband of blouds , a cruel and inhumane Husband . And this the * * Talm. Tract . Jebam . cap. 8. Jews tell us was the reason , why circumcision was omitted during their Forty Years Journey in the Wilderness , it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of the trouble and inconvenience of the way , God mercifully dispensing with the want of it , lest it should hinder their travelling , the soreness and weakness of the circumcised Person not comporting with hard and continual Journeys . It was to be administred the eight day , Vid. Maimon . Mor. Nevoch . part . 3. c. 49. p. 506. not sooner , the tenderness of the Infant not well till then complying with it , besides that the Mother of a Male-child was reckoned legally impure till the seventh Day ; not later , probably because the longer it was deferred , the more unwilling would Parents be to put their Children to pain , of which they would every Day become more sensible , not to say the satisfaction it would be to them , to see their Children solemnly entred into Covenant . Circumcision was afterwards incorporated into the Body of the Jewish Law , and entertained with a mighty Veneration , as their great and standing Priviledge , relied on as the main Basis and Foundation of their confidence , and hopes of acceptance with Heaven , and accounted in a manner equivalent to all the other Rites of the Mosaick Law .

6. BUT besides these two , we find other positive Precepts , which though not so clearly expressed , are yet sufficiently intimated to us . Thus there seems to have been a Law that none of the Holy Line , none of the Posterity of Seth should marry with Infidels , or those corrupt and idolatrous Nations which God had rejected , as appears in that it 's charged as a great part of the sin of the old World , Gen. 6.2 , 3. that the Sons of God matched with the Daughters of Men , as also from the great care which Abraham took that his Son Isaac should not take a Wife of the Daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt . There was also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jus Leviratus , whereby the next Brother to him who died without Issue was obliged to marry the Widow of the deceased , and to raise up seed unto his Brother , the contempt whereof cost Onan his Life : together with many more particular Laws which the story of those Times might suggest to us . But what is of most use and importance to us , is to observe what Laws God gave for the administration of his Worship , which will be best known by considering what worship generally prevailed in those early Times ; wherein we shall especially remark the nature of their publick Worship , the Places where , the Times when , and the Persons by whom it was administred .

7. IT cannot be doubted but that the Holy Patriarchs of those days were careful to instruct their Children , and all that were under their charge ( their Families being then very vast and numerous ) in the Duties of Religion , to explain and improve the natural Laws written upon their minds , and acquaint them with those Divine Traditions , and positive Revelations which they themselves had received from God : this being part of that great character which God gave of Abraham , I know him , Gen. 18.19 . that he will command his Children , and his Houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment . To this they joyned Prayer and Invocation , than which no duty is more natural and necessary ; more natural , because it fitly expresses that great reverence and veneration which we have for the Divine Majesty , and that propensity that is in Mankind to make known their wants : none more necessary , because our whole dependance being upon the continuance and constant returns of the Divine power and goodness , 't is most reasonable that we should make our Daily addresses to him , in whom we live , move , and have our being . Nor were they wanting in returns of praise , and solemn celebrations of the goodness of Heaven , both by entertaining high and venerable thoughts of God , and by actions suitable to those honourable sentiments which they had of him . In these acts of worship they were careful to use gestures of the greatest reverence and submission , which commonly was prostration . Abraham bowed himself towards the ground : Gen. 18.2 . and when God sent the Israelites the happy news of their deliverance out of Egypt , Exod. 4.31 . they bowed their Heads and worshipped . A posture which hath ever been the usual mode of adoration in those Eastern Countries unto this day . But the greatest instance of the Publick Worship of those times was Sacrifices ; a very early piece of Devotion , in all probability taking its rise from Adam's fall . They were either Eucharistical , expressions of thankfulness for blessings received , or expiatory , offered for the remission of sin . Whether these Sacrifices were first taken up at Mens arbitrary pleasure , or positively instituted and commanded by God , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chrysost. Homil. XVIII . in Genes. p. 173. Tom. 2. might admit of a very large enquiry . But to me the case seems plainly this , That as to Eucharistical Sacrifices , such as first-fruits , and the like oblations , Mens own reason might suggest and perswade them , that it was fit to present them as the most natural significations of a thankful mind . And thus far there might be Sacrifices in the state of Innocence : for Man being created under such excellent circumstances as he was in Paradise , could not but know that he owed to God all possible gratitude and subjection ; obedience he owed him as his Supreme Lord and Master , gratitude , as his great Patron and Benefactor , and was therefore obliged to pay to him some Eucharistical Sacrifices , as a testimony of his grateful acknowledgment , that he had both his being and preservation from him . But when sin had changed the scene , and Mankind was sunk under a state of guilt , he was then to seek for a way how to pacifie God's anger : and this was done by bloudy and expiatory sacrifices , which God accepted in the sinners stead . And as to these , it seems reasonable to suppose that they should be founded upon a positive Institution , because pardon of sin being a matter of pure grace and favour , whatever was a means to signifie and convey that , must be appointed by God himself , first revealed to Adam , and by him communicated to his Children . The Deity propitiated by these atonements was wont to testifie his acceptance of them by some external and visible sign ; Thus Cain sensibly perceived that God had respect to Abel's sacrifice , and not to his : though what this sign was , it is not easie to determine . Most probably it was fire from Heaven coming down upon the Oblation , and consuming it : For so it frequently was in the Sacrifices of the Mosaick dispensation , Gen. 15.17 . and so we find it was in that famous Sacrifice of Abraham , a Lamp of Fire passed between the parts of the Sacrifice . Thus when 't is said , God had respect to Abel and to his offering , Theodotion renders it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Psalm 20.3 . he burnt it ; and to this custom the Psalmist alludes in that Petition , Remember all thy offerings , and accept thy burnt Sacrifice , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let thy burnt-offering be reduced into ashes .

8. WHERE it was that this Publick Worship was performed , is next to be enquired into . That they had fixed and determinate Places for the discharge of their religious Duties , those especially that were done in common , is greatly probable , Nature and the reason of things would put them upon it . And this most think is intended in that phrase , where it is said of Cain and Abel , Apud . P. Fag . in Gen. 4. that they brought their oblations , that is , ( as Aben-Ezra and others expound it ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the place set apart for divine worship . And this probably was the reason , why Cain though vexed to the heart to see his Brother preferred before him , did not presently set upon him , the solemnity and religion of the Place , and the sensible appearances of the Divine Majesty having struck an awe into him , but deferred his murderous intentions till they came into the Field , and there fell upon him . For their Sacrifices they had Altars , whereon they offered them , contemporary no doubt with Sacrifices themselves , though we read not of them till after the Floud , Gen 8.20 . when Noah built an Altar unto the Lord , and offered burnt-offerings upon it : Gen. 12.7 , 8. vid. chap. 13 . 4-18 . So Abraham immediately after his being called to the worship of the true God , in Sichem built an Altar unto the Lord , who appeared unto him , and removing thence to a Mountain Eastward , he built another Altar , and called on the Name of the Lord , as indeed he did almost in every place where he came . Thus also when he dwelt at Beersheba in the Plains of Mamre , Gen. 21.33 . he planted a Grove there , and called on the Name of the Lord the everlasting God . This no doubt was the common Chappel or Oratory , whither Abraham and his numerous Family , and probably those whom he gained to be Proselytes to his Religion were wont to retire for their publick adorations , as a Place infinitely advantageous for such Religious purposes . And indeed the Ancient devotion of the World much delighted in Groves , in Woods and Mountains , partly for the conveniency of such Places , as better composing the thoughts for divine contemplations , and resounding their joynt-praises of God to the best advantage , Judg. 6.25 . partly because the silence and retiredness of the Place was apt to beget a kind of sacred dread and horror in the mind of the Worshipper . Hence we find in Ophrah where Gideon's Father dwelt , an Altar to Baal , and a Grove that was by it ; and how common the superstitions and idolatries of the Heathen-world were in Groves and High-places , no Man can be ignorant , that is never so little conversant either in prophane or sacred stories . For this reason that they were so much abused to idolatry , God commanded the Israelites to destroy their Altars , break down their Images , and cut down their Groves : Exod. 34.13 . and that they should not plant a Grove of any Trees near unto the Altar of the Lord , Deut. 16.21 . lest he should seem to countenance what was so universally prostituted to false worship and idolatry . But to return to Abraham . He planted a Grove , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tree , which the Ancients generally make to have been a large spreading Oak ; and some foundation there is for it in the sacred Text ; Gen. 13.18 . for the place where Abraham planted it is called the Plain of Mamre , or as in the Hebrew , he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Oaks of Mamre , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . LXX . Ita Vers. Samaritana : nec . aliter Arabs in Genes. 18.1 . and so the Syriack renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The House of the Oak : The name whereof * * Antiquit. Id. l. 1. c. 11. p. 19. Josephus tells us , was Ogyges ; and it is not a conjecture to be ‖ ‖ Vid. Dick Delph . Phoenic . c. 12. p. 137. & Append . p. 38. despised , that Noah might probably inhabit in this place , and either give the name to it , or at least derive his from it , Ogyges being the Name by which he is usually described in foreign Writers . This very Oak * * De loc. Hebr. in voce Arboch . S. Hierom assures us , and ‖ ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Euseb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eusebius intimates as much , was yet standing till the time of Constantine , and worshipped with great superstition . And * * Hist. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 4. p. 447. Sozomen tells us more particularly that there was a famous Mart held there every Summer , and a Feast celebrated by a general confluence of the neighbouring Countries , and persons of all Religions , both Christians , Jews and Gentiles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , every one doing honour to this Place according to the different Principles of their Religion : but that Constantine being offended that the Place should be prophan'd with the superstitions of the Jews , and the idolatry of the Gentiles , wrote with some severity to Macarius the Bishop of Jerusalem , and the Bishops of Palestine , that they should destroy the Altars and Images , and deface all Monuments of Idolatry , and restore the Place to its ancient Sanctity . Which was accordingly done , and a Church erected in the Place , where God was purely and sincerely worshipped . From this Oak , the ordinary place of Abraham's worship and devotion , the Religion of the Gentiles doubtless derived its Oaks and Groves , and particularly the Druids , the great and almost only Masters and Directors of all Learning and Religion among the Ancient Britains , hence borrowed their Original ; who are so notoriously known to have lived wholly under Oaks and in Groves , and there to have delivered their Doctrines and Precepts , and to have exercised their Religious and mysterious Rites , that hence they fetched their denomination , either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as the Ancients generally thought ) or more probably from the old Cetlic word Deru , both signifying an Oak , and which the Welch , the Descendants of the Ancient Britains , still call Derw at this day . But of this enough .

9. FROM the place where , we proceed to the times when they usually paid their Devotions . And seeing Order is necessary in all undertakings , and much more in the actions of Religion , we cannot think that Mankind was left at a roving uncertainty in a matter of so great importance , but that they had their stated and solemn times of Worship : especially when we find among all Nations , even the most rude and unpolished Heathens , times peculiarly set apart for the honour of their gods , and the publick solemnities of Religion . And so no question it was in the more early Ages of the World , they had fix'd and appropriate Seasons , when they met together to do homage unto God , and to offer up their joynt-acknowledgments to Heaven . Gen. 4.3 . Thus we read of Cain that he brought his oblation in process of time , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of days , at one of those fixed and periodical returns , when they used to meet in the Religious Assemblies , the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoting not simply an end , but a determinate and an appointed end . I know many with great zeal and eagerness contend , that the Sabbath or Seventh Day from the Creation was set apart , and universally observed as the time of Publick Worship , and that from the beginning of the World . But alas the foundation upon which this opinion is built , is very weak and sandy , having nothing to rely on , Gen. 2.3 . but one place where it is said , that God resting on the Seventh Day from all his Works , blessed the Seventh Day and sanctified it . Which words are reasonably thought to have been set down by Moses by way of Prolepsis , as it was in his time , if they relate at all to the Sabbath , and are not rather to be understood of God's blessing and sanctifying the Seventh Day , as having then completed all his Works in the creating of Man , and in whom , as in the crown and glory of the Creation , he would sanctifie himself . For that it should be meant of a Weekly Sabbath , hath as little countenance from this Text , as it hath from the practice of those times , there being no footsteps or shadow of any such Sabbath kept through all the Patriarchal periods of the Church , till the times of Moses , which besides the evidence of the story , is universally owned by the Ancient Jews , and very many of the Fathers do expresly assert it .

10. THE last circumstance concerns the Persons by whom the Publick Worship was administred . Impossible it is that any Society should be regularly managed , where there are not some peculiar Persons to superintend , direct , and govern the affairs of it . And God who in all other things is a God of Order , is much more so in matters of Religion : and therefore no doubt from the beginning appointed those , whose care and business it should be to discharge the publick parts of Piety and Devotion in the name of the rest . Now the Priesthood in those times was vested in the Heads of Tribes , and in the first-born of every Family . To the Patriarch or Head of every Tribe it belonged to bless the Family , to offer Sacrifice , to interceed for them by Prayer , and to minister in other solemn acts of Religion . And this Office hereditarily descended to the first-born , who had power to discharge it during the life of his Father ; for it was not necessary , that he who was Priest by vertue of his primogeniture , should be also the eldest of the House . Jacob , who succeeded in his Brother 's right , offered Sacrifices in the life of his Father Isaac , and Abraham was a Priest , though Sem the Head of the Family , and ten degrees removed from him in a direct line , was then alive , yea survived Abraham ( as some learned men think ) near Forty Years . Every first-born had three great Prerogatives , a double portion of the Paternal inheritance , a Lordship and Principality over his Brethren , and a right to the Priesthood , to instruct them in the knowledge of Divine things , and to manage the common Offices of Religion . So that in those times there was a particular Priesthood in every Family , the administration whereof was usually appropriate to the first-born . Thus Noah , Abraham , and Isaac offered Sacrifices , and Job ( who lived about that time , or not long after ) both for his Children and his Friends . Thus Esau was a Priest by his primogeniture , and that goodly Raiment of her son Esau which Rebeccah put upon Jacob , when he went in to his Father , is by many not improbably understood of the Sacerdotal Vestments , wherein as first-born he was wont to execute his Office . Of these Priests we are to understand that Place , Exod. 19.22 . Let the Priests which come near to the Lord , sanctifie themselves . This could not be meant of the Levitical Priests , ( the Aaronical Order not being yet instituted ) and therefore must be understood of the Priesthood of the first-born , and so Solomon Jarchi's gloss expounds it . Thus when Moses had built an Altar at the foot of the Mountain , he sent young men of the children of Israel , Exod. 24.5 . which offered burnt-offerings , and sacrificed peace-offerings unto the Lord . Where for young men , the Chaldee Paraphrase and the Hierusalem Targum have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first-born of the children of Israel ; so has that of Jonathan , who expresly adds this reason , for unto that very Hour the worship remained among the first-born , the Tabernacle of the Covenant not being yet made , nor the Aaronical Priesthood set up . So when Jacob bequeathed his blessing to Reuben , Gen. 49.3 . Reuben thou art my first-born , my might , and the beginning of my strength , the excellency of dignity , and the excellency of power , the same Jewish Paraphrasts tell us , that there were three things in this blessing conveyed and confirmed to Reuben , the Birth-right , the Kingdom and the Priesthood , but that for his enormous and unnatural sin they were transferred to others , the primogeniture to Joseph , the Kingdom to Judah , and the Priesthood to Levi. But though the Sacerdotal function ordinarily belonged to the first-born , yet was it not so wholly invested in them , but that it might in some cases be exercised by younger Brothers , especially when passing into other Families , and themselves becoming Heads of Tribes and Families . Abraham we know was not a first-born , and it 's highly probable that Sem himself was not Noah's eldest Son , Moses was a Priest , yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews call him , the Priest of Priests , and yet was but Amram's second Son , and Aaron's younger Brother . So that the case in short seemed to lie thus : The Patriarch or surviving Head of every Tribe was a kind of High-Priest over all the Families that were descended from him , the first-born in every Family was the ordinary Priest , who might officiate in his Father's stead , and who after his decease succeeded in his room , the younger Brethren , when leaving their Father's house , and themselves becoming heads of Families , and their seats removed too far distant to make use of the ordinary Priesthood , did themselves take the office upon them , and exercise it over all those that were under them , and sprung from them , though the main honour and dignity was reserved for the Priesthood of the first-born . Thus Abraham , though but a second Son , yet when become the head of a great Family , and removed into another Country , became a Priest , and that not only during the life of his Father , but of Sem himself , the grand surviving Patriarch of that time . I observe no more concerning this , than that this right of the first-born was a prime honour and priviledge , and therefore the reason ( say the * * Beres . Rabba fol. 71. col. 1. ap. Selden de success . ad leg . Ebr. c. 5. p. 45. Heb. 12.16 . Jews ) why Jacob was so greatly desirous of the birth-right , was because in those days the Priesthood was entail'd upon it . And for this chiefly no doubt it was that Esau is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a prophane person , for selling his birth-right for a mess of Pottage , because thereby he made so light of the sacred honour of the Priesthood , the Venerable office of ministring before God .

11. HAVING thus seen what were the Laws , what the Worship of those times , it remains briefly to consider what was the face of the Church , and the state of Religion under the several Patriarchs of this Oeconomy . Not to meddle with the story either of the Creation or Apostasie of Adam , no sooner was he fallen from that innocent and happy state wherein God had placed him , but Conscience began to stir , and he was sensible that God was angry , and saw it necessary to propitiate the offended Deity by Prayer and Invocation , by Sorrow and Repentance , and probably by offering Sacrifice ; Gen. 3.21 . a conjecture that hath at least some countenance from those Coats of Skins wherewith God clothed our first Parents , which seem likely to have been the Skins of Beasts slain for Sacrifice ; for that they were not killed for food is evident , because flesh was not the ordinary diet ( if it was at all ) of those first Ages of the World . And God might purposely make choice of this sort of covering , to put our first Parents in mind of their great degeneracy , how deep they were sunk into the animal life , and by gratifying brutish and sensual appetites at so dear a rate , how like they were become to the Beasts that perish . And if this were so , it possibly might give birth to that Law of Moses , Levit. 7.8 . that every Priest that offered any man's burnt-offering , should have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering which he had offered . But however this was , 't is certain that Adam was careful to instruct his Children in the knowledge of Divine things , and to maintain Religion and the worship of God in his Family . For we find Cain and Abel bringing their oblations , and that at a certain time , though they had a different success . I omit the Traditions of the East , that the cause of the difference between Cain and Abel was about a Wife , and that they sought to decide the case by Sacrifice , and that when Abel's sacrifice was accepted , Cain out of envy and indignation fell upon his brother , struck his head with a stone , and slew him . The present they brought was according to their different ways and institutions of life : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chrysost. Homil . XVIII . in Genes. p. 174. Cain as an Husbandman brought of the fruit of the ground , Abel as a Shepherd brought of the firstlings of his Flock , and of the fat thereof : But the one was accepted , and the other rejected . The cause whereof certainly was not that the one was little and inconsiderable , the other large and noble ; the one only a dry oblation , the other a burnt-offering ; or that Cain had entertained a conceived prejudice against his Brother ; the true cause lay in the different temper and disposition of their minds ; Abel had great and honourable thoughts of God , and therefore brought of the best that he had , Cain mean and unworthy apprehensions , and accordingly took what came first to hand ; Abel came with a grateful sense of the goodness of Heaven , with a mind piously and heartily devoted to the Divine Majesty , and an humble reliance upon the Divine acceptance ; Cain brought his oblation indeed , but looked no further , was not careful to offer up himself a living sacrifice , holy and acceptable to God , as being the most reasonable service , too confidently bearing up himself , as we may suppose , upon the prerogative of his primogeniture . By which means Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain , by which he obtained witness , Heb. 11.4 . that he was righteous , God testifying of his gifts . For he had respect unto Abel , Gen. 4.4 , 5. and to his offering : But unto Cain , and to his offering he had not respect . And if in that fire , by which God testified his respect by consuming one oblation , and not the other , there was ( as the Jews say ) seen the face of a Lion , it doubtless prefigured the late promised Messiah , The Lion of the Tribe of Judah , our great expiatory sacrifice , of whom all other sacrifices were but types and shadows , and in whom all our oblations are rendred grateful unto God , The odour of a sweet smell , a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing unto God .

12. ABEL being taken away by his envious and enraged Brother , God was pleased to repair the loss by giving his Parents another Son , whom they called Seth , and he accordingly proved a very Vertuous and Religious man . He was ( if we may believe the Ancients ) a great Scholar ; the first inventor of Letters , and Writing , an accurate Astronomer , and taught his Children the knowledge of the Stars , who having heard from their Grandfather Adam , that the World was to be twice destroyed , once by Fire , Antiquit. Jud. lib. 1. c. 3. p. 8. and again by Water ( if the story be true which Josephus without any great warrant reports ) wrote their Experiments and the principles of their Art upon two Pillars , one of Brick , the other of Stone , that if the one perished , the other might remain , and convey their notions to posterity , one of which Pillars Josephus adds , was said to be standing in Syria in his time . But that which rendred Seth most renowned , was his piety and devotion ; a good man he was , one who asserted and propagated Religion and the true worship of God , as he had received it from his Father Adam , notwithstanding the declensions and degeneracy , and possibly oppositions of his Brother Cain and his party . The Eastern Writers , both Jews and * * Vid. testimonia eorum citat . ap. Hotting . Smeg . Orient . cap. 8. p. 226. & seqq . Arabians , confidently assure us , that Seth and his retinue withdrew from Cain , who dwelt in the Valley , where he had killed his brother Abel , into a very high mountain ( on the top whereof their Father Adam was buried ) so high , if we could believe them , that they could hear the Angels singing Anthems , and did daily joyn in with that Heavenly Quire . Here they wholly devoted themselves to the daily worship of God , and obtained a mighty name and veneration for the holiness and purity of their lives . When Seth came to lie upon his death-bed , he summoned his Children , their Wives and Families together , blessed them , and as his last Will commanded them to worship God , adjuring them by the bloud of Abel ( their usual and solemn oath ) that they should not descend from the holy Mount , to hold any correspondence or commerce with Cain or his wicked faction . And then breathed his last . A command , say my Authors , which they observed for seven generations , and then came in the promiscuous mixtures .

13. TO Seth succeeded his Son Enos , who kept up the glory and purity of Religion , and the honour of the holy Line . Of his time it is particularly recorded , then began men to call upon the name of the Lord . Gen. 4.26 . The ambiguity of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying sometimes to prophane , sometimes to begin , hath begotten various apprehensions among learned men concerning this place , and led them not only into different , but quite contrary sences . The words are by some rendred thus , Then men prophaned in calling upon the name of the Lord ; which they thus explain , that at that time when Enos was born the true worship and service of God began to sink and fail , corruption and idolatry mightily prevailing by reason of Cains wicked and apostate Family ; and that as a sad memorial of this corrupt and degenerate Age , holy Seth called his son's name Enosh , which not only simply signifies a man , but a poor , calamitous , miserable man . And this way go many of the Jews , and some Christian writers of great name and note . Nay Maimonides , one of the wisest and soberest of all the Jewish writers , begins his Tract about * * De Idol cap. 1. Sect. 1. Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the times of Enosh , referring to this very passage ; he tells us , that men did then grievously erre , and that the minds of the wise men of those days were grown gross and stupid ; yea , that Enos himself was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among those that erred , and that their Idolatry consisted in this , That they worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven . ‖ ‖ Vid. ap. Hotting . loc. cit . p. 230. Others there are who expresly assert , that Enosh was the first that invented Images , to excite the Spirit of the Creatures , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by their mediation men might invocate and call upon God . But how infirm a foundation this Text is to build all this upon , is evident . For besides , what * * Dionys. Voss. not . in Maimon . p. 4. Heideg . de Hist. Par● . exerc . 6. p. 223. some have observed , that the Hebrew phrase is not tolerably reconcileable with such a sence , if it were , yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one of the ‖ ‖ R. Eliez . Maas . Beres . c 22. ibid. Rabbins has well noted , that there wants a foundation for any such exposition , no mention being made in Moses his story of any such false Gods as were then worshipped , no footsteps of Idolatry appearing in the World till after the Floud . Nor indeed is it reasonable to suppose , that the Creation of the World being yet fresh in memory , and Divine Traditions so lately received from Adam , and God frequently communicating himself to men , that the case being thus , men could in so short a time be fallen under so great an apostasie , as wholly to forget and renounce the true God , and give Divine honours to senseless and inanimate creatures ; I can hardly think that the Cainites themselves should be guilty of this , much less Enosh and his Children . The meaning of the words then is plainly this , That in Enosh his time the holy Line being greatly multiplied , they applied themselves to the worship of God in a more publick and remarkable manner , either by framing themselves into more distinct societies for the exercise of publick worship , or by meeting at more fixed and stated times , or by invocating God under more solemn and peculiar rites than they had done before . And this probably they did the rather , to obviate that torrent of prophaneness and impiety , which by means of the sons of Cain they saw flowing in upon the World . This will be further confirmed , if we take the words as by some they are rendred , then men began to be called by the name of the Lord , that is , the difference and separation that was between the children of Seth and Cain every day ripening into a wider distance , the posterity of Seth began to take to themselves a distinctive title , that the World might the better distinguish between those who kept to the service of God , and those who threw off Religion , and let loose the reins to disorder and impiety . And hereof we meet with clear intimation in the story of those times when we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of God ( who doubtless were the pious and devout posterity of Seth , Gen. 6.2 . calling themselves after the name of the Lord , whom they constantly and sincerely worshipped , notwithstanding the fancy of Josephus , and the Fathers , that they were Angels , or that of the Jewish Paraphrasts , that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of great men and Princes ) in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of men , the impure and debauched posterity of Cain , who made light of Religion , and were wholly governed by earthly and sensual inclinations . And the matching of these sons of God with the daughters of men , that is , those of the Family of Cain , and the fatal consequences of those unhappy marriages , was that which provoked God to destroy the World . I have no more to add concerning Enosh , than that we are told , that dying he gave the same commands to his Children , which he had received of his Father , that they should make Religion their great care and business , and keep themselves pure from society and converse with the Line of Cain .

14. AFTER Enosh was his son Kenan , who , as the Arabian * * Elmacin . ap. Hotting . p. 233. Historian informs us , ruled the people committed to him by a wise and excellent government , and gave the same charge at his death that had been given to him . Id. ibid. p. 234. Next Kenan comes Mahaleleel , who carries devotion and piety in his very name , signifying , one that praises God , of whom they say , that he trained up the people in ways of justice and piety , blessed his Children at his death , and having charged them to separate from the Cainites , appointed his son Jared to be his successor ; whose name denotes a descent , probably either because of the notable decrease and declension of piety in his time , or because in his days some of the Sethites descended from the holy Mountain to mix with the posterity of Cain . For so the * * Elmac. & Patric . apud Hotting . ubi . supr. p. 235. Oriental writers inform us , that a great noise and shout coming up from the Valley , an hundred of the holy Mountaineers agreed to go down to the sons of Cain , whom Jared endeavoured to hinder by all the arts of counsel and perswasion . But what can stop a mind bent upon an evil course ? down they went , and being ravished with the beauty of the Cainité-women , promiscuously committed folly and lewdness with them ; from whence sprang a race of Giants , men of vast and robust bodies , but of more vicious and ungovernable tempers , who made their Will their Law , and Might the standard and rule of Equity . Attempting to return back to the holy Mount , Heaven had shut up their way , the stones of the Mountain burning like fire when they came upon them ; which whether the Reader will have faith enough to believe , I know not . Jared being near his death , advised his Children to be wise by the folly of their Brethren , and to have nothing to do with that prophane generation . His son Enoch followed in his steps , a man of admirable strictness and piety , and peculiarly exemplary for his innocent and holy conversation , it being particularly noted of him , that he walked with God : Gen. 5.24 . He set the Divine Majesty before him , as the guide and pattern , the spectator and rewarder of his actions , in all his ways endeavoured to approve himself to his All-seeing eye , by doing nothing but what was grateful and acceptable to him ; he was the great instance of vertue and goodness in an evil Age , and by the even tenor and constancy of a holy and a religious life shewed his firm belief and expectation of a future state , and his hearty dependence upon the Divine goodness for the rewards of a better life . And God , who is never behind-hand with his servants , crowned his extraordinary obedience with an uncommon reward . Heb. 11.5 , 6. By faith Enoch was translated , that he should not see death , and was not found , because God had translated him : For before his translation he had this testimony , that he pleased God . And what that faith was , is plain by what follows after , a belief of God's Being and his Bounty , Without faith it is impossible to please him : For he that cometh to God , must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him . What this translation was , and whither it was made , whether into that Terrestrial Paradise out of which Adam was expelled and banished , and whereunto Enoch had desired of God he might be translated , as some fancy , or whether placed among the Stars , as others , or carried into the highest Heavens , as others will have it , were nice and useless speculations . 'T is certain he was taken out of these mutable Regions , and set beyond the reach of those miseries and misfortunes , to which a present state of sin and mortality does betray us ; translated , probably , both Soul and Body , that he might be a type and specimen of a future Resurrection , and a sensible demonstration to the World that there is a reward for the righteous , and another state after this , wherein good Men shall be happy for ever . I pass by the fancy of the Jews as vain and frivolous , that though Enoch was a good Man , yet was he very mutable and inconstant , and apt to be led aside , and that this was the reason , why God translated him so soon , lest he should have been debauched by the charms and allurements of a wicked World . He was an eminent Prophet , and a fragment of his Prophecy is yet extant in S. Jude's Epistle , by which it appears , that wickedness was then grown rampant , and the manners of men very corrupt and vicious , and that he as plainly told them of their faults , and that Divine vengeance that would certainly overtake them . Of Methuselah his Son nothing considerable is upon Record , but his great Age , living full DCCCCLXIX . Years ( the longest proportion which any of the Patriarchs arrived to ) and died in that very Year wherein the Floud came upon the World .

15. FROM his Son Lamech , concerning whom we find nothing memorable , we proceed to his Grandchild Noah , by the very imposition of whose Name his Parents presaged that he would be a refreshment and comfort to the World , and highly instrumental to remove that curse which God by an Universal Deluge was bringing upon the Earth , He called his Name Noah , Gen. 5.29 . saying , This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands , because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed ; he was one in whom his Parents did acquiesce and rest satisfied , that he would be eminently useful and serviceable to the World . Indeed he proved a person of incomparable sanctity and integrity , a Preacher of righteousness to others , and who as carefully practised it himself . Gen. 6.9 . He was a just man , and perfect in his generation , and he walked with God . He did not warp and decline with the humour of the Age he lived in , but maintained his station , and kept his Line . He was upright in his Generation . 'T is no thanks to be religious , when it is the humour and fashion of the Times : the great trial is , when we live in the midst of a corrupt generation . It is the crown of vertue to be good , when there are all manner of temptations to the contrary , when the greatest part of Men go the other way , when vertue and honesty are laughed and drolled on , and censured as an over-wise and affected singularity ; when lust and debauchery are accounted the modes of Gallantry , and pride and oppression suffered to ride in prosperous triumphs without controll . Thus it was with Noah , he contended with the Vices of the Age , and dared to own God and Religion , when almost all Mankind besides himself had rejected and thrown them off . For in his time wickedness openly appeared with a brazen Forehead , and violence had covered the face of the Earth , the promiscuous mixtures of the Children of Seth and Cain had produced Giants and mighty Men , men strong to do evil , and who had as much will as power , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Antiquit. Jud. lib. 1. c. 4. p. 8. as Josephus describes them , a race of men insolent and ungovernable , scornful and injurious , and who bearing up themselves in the confidence of their own strength , despised all justice and equity , and made every thing truckle under their extravagant lusts and appetites . De Dea Syria . p. 882. Tom. 2. The very same character does Lucian give of the Men of this Age , speaking of the times of Deucalion ( their Noah ) and the Floud , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( says he ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Men exceedingly scornful and contumelious , and guilty of the most unrighteous and enormous actions , violating all Oaths and Covenants , throwing off kindness and hospitality , and rejecting all addresses and supplications made to them . For which cause great miseries overtook them : for Heaven and Earth , Seas and Rivers conspired together to pour out mighty Flouds upon the World ; which swept all away , but Deucalion only , who for his prudence and piety was left to repair Mankind . And so he goes on with the relation consonant to the accounts of the Sacred story . This infection had spread it self over all parts , and was become so general and Epidemical , that all Flesh had corrupted their ways , and scarce any besides Noah lest to keep up the face of a Church , and the profession of Religion . Things being come to this pass quickly alarm'd the Divine Justice , and made the World ripe for vengeance ; the patience of God was now tired out , and he resolved to make Mankind feel the just effects of his incensed severity . But yet in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy : he tells them , that though he would not suffer his patience to be eternally prostituted to the wanton humours of wicked men , yet that he would bear with them CXX . Years longer in order to their reformation . So loth is God to take advantage of the sins of men , not willing that any should perish , but that all should come unto Repentance . In the mean time righteous Noah found favour with Heaven ( a good man hath a peculiar guardianship and protection in the worst of times ) and God orders him to prepare an Ark for the saving of his House . An Hundred Years was this Ark in building , not but that it might have been finished in a far less time , but that God was willing to give them so long a space for wise and sober considerations , Noah preaching all the while both by his doctrine and his practice , that they would break off their sins by repentance , and prevent their ruine . But they that are filthy , will be filthy still ; the hardned World persisted in their impieties , till the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost ; and destroyed the World of the ungodly . God shut up Noah , his Wife , his three Sons and their Wives into the Ark , together with provisions , and so many Creatures of every sort as were sufficient not only for food , but for reparation of the kind ( Miracles must not be expected , where ordinary means may be had ) and then opened the Windows of Heaven , and broke up the Fountains of the Deep , and brought in the Floud that swept all away . Twelve months Noah and his Family continued in this floating habitation ▪ when the Waters being gone , and the Earth dried , he came forth , and the first thing he did , was to erect an Altar , and offer up an Eucharistical Sacrifice to God for so remarkable a deliverance ( some of the Jews tell us , that coming out of the Ark he was bitten by a Lion , and rendred unfit for Sacrifice , and that therefore Sem did it in his room ) he did not concern himself for food , or a present habitation , but immediately betook himself to his devotion . God was infinitely pleased with the pious and grateful sense of the good man , and openly declared that his displeasure was over , and that he would no more bring upon the World such effects of his severity as he had lately done , and that the Ordinances of Nature should duly perform their constant motions , and regularly observe their periodical revolutions . And because Man was the principal Creature in this lower World , he restored to him his Charter of Dominion and Soveraignty over the Creatures , and by enacting some Laws against Murder and Cruelty secured the peace and happiness of his life : and then established a Covenant with Noah and all Mankind , that he would no more drown the World , for the ratification and ensurance whereof he placed the Rain-bow in the Clouds , as a perpetual sign and memorial of his Promise . Noah after this betook himself to Husbandry , and planting Vineyards , and being unwarily overtaken with the fruit of the Vine , became a scorn to C ham one of his own Sons , while the two others piously covered their Fathers shame . Awaking out of his sleep , and knowing what had been done , he prophetically cursed Cham and his Posterity ; blessed Sem , and in Japhet foretold the calling of the Gentiles to the worship of God , and the knowledge of the Messiah , that God should enlarge Japhet , and that he should dwell in the Tents of Shem. He died in the DCCCCL . Year of his Age , having seen both Worlds , that before the Floud , and that which came after it .

16. SEM and Japhet were the two good Sons of Noah , in the assigning whose primogeniture , though the Scripture be not positive and decretory , yet do the most probable reasons appear for Japhet , especially if we compute their Age. Gen. 11.10 . Sem was an Hundred Years old two Years after the Floud ( for then he begat Arphaxad ) now the Floud happened just in the DC . Year of Noah's Age ; whence it follows that Sem was born , 7.11 . when his Father was Five Hundred and Two Years old . But Noah being expresly said to have begotten Sons in the Five Hundreth Year of his Age , 5.32 . plain it is that there must be one Son at least two Years Elder than Sem , which could be no other than Japhet , Cham being acknowledged by all the Younger Brother . 10.21 . And hence it is that Sem is called , the Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Japhet the Greater , or as we render it , the Elder . They were both pious and devout Men , having been brought up under the religious Institutions , not only of their Father Noah , but their Grand-father Lamech , and their Great-grand-father Methuselah , who had for some Hundreds of Years conversed with Adam . The holy story records nothing concerning the state of Religion in their days , and little heed is to be given to the Eastern Writers , when they tell us of Sem , that according to the command of his Father he took the Body of Adam , which Noah had secretly hidden in the Ark , and joyning himself to Melchisedeck , they went and buried it in the heart of the Earth , an Angel going before , and conducting them to the place , with a great deal more , with little truth , and to as little purpose . As for the Patriarchs born after the Floud , little notice is taken of them besides the bare mention of their names , Arphaxad , Salah , Eber. Of this last they say , that he was a great Prophet , that he instituted Schools and Seminaries for the advancement and propagation of Religion : Élmac . & Patricid . ubi supr. p. 265. and there was great reason for him to bestir himself , if it be true , what the Arabian Historians tell us , that now Idolatry began mightily to prevail , and men generally carved to themselves the Images of their Ancestors , to which upon all occasions they addressed themselves with the most solemn veneration , the Daemons giving answers through the Images which they worshipped . Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 7. p. 15. Heber was the Father of the Jewish Nation , who from him are said to have derived the title of Hebrews , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Josephus tells us , ( though there want not those who assign other reasons of the name ) and that the Hebrew Language was preserved in his family , which till his time had been the mother-tongue , and the common Language of the World . To Eber succeeded his son Peleg , a name given him out of a Prophetical foresight of that memorable division that hapned in his time . For now it was that a company of bold daring persons combining themselves under the conduct and command of Nimrod , resolved to erect a vast and stupendous Fabrick , partly to raise themselves a mighty reputation in the World , partly to secure themselves from the Invasion of an after-deluge , and probably as a place of retreat and defence , the better to enable them to put in practice that oppression and tyranny which they designed to exercise over the World . But whatever it was , God was displeased with the attempt , and to shew how easily he can baffle the subtillest Councils , and in a moment subvert the firmest projects , on a sudden he confounded the Language of these foolish Builders , so that they were forced to desist from their vain and ambitious design , as not being able to understand and converse with one another . To Peleg succeeded his son Rehu , to Rehu Serug , to him Nachor , to Nachor Terah , who dwelt in Ur of the Chaldaeans , where conversing with those Idolatrous Nations , he laps'd himself into the most gross Idolatry . So apt are men to follow a multitude to do evil , so fatally mischievous is ill company , and a bad example . But the best way to avoid the plague , is to remove out of the house of infection . Away goes Terah to Haran , where by repentance he is said to have recovered himself out of the snare of the Devil .

17. ABRAHAM the second son of Terah succeeds in the Patriarchal Line . In his minority he was educated in the Idolatries of his Father's house , who , they say , was a maker of Statues and Images : And the * * Schalch . Hakk. p. 8. citante Hotting . Smeg . Orient . c. 8 p. 291. confer Maimon . Mor. Nevoch . part . 3. c. 29. p. 421. Jews tell us many pleasant stories of Abraham's going into the shop in the absence of his Father , his breaking the Images , and jeering those that came to buy , or worship them ; of his Father's carrying him to Nimrod to be punished , his witty answers , and miraculous escapes . But God who had designed him for higher and nobler purposes , called him at length out of his Father's house , fully discovered himself to him , and by many solemn promises and federal compacts peculiarly engaged him to himself . He was a man intirely devoted to the honour of God , and had consecrated all his services to the interests of Religion , scarce any duty either towards God or men for which he is not eminent upon record . Towards God , how great was his zeal and care to promote his worship ? erecting Altars almost in every place , whereon he publickly offered his prayers and sacrifice . His love to God wholly swallowed up the love and regard that he had to his dearest interests , witness his intire resignation of himself , his chearful renouncing all the concernments of his Estate and Family , and especially his readiness to sacrifice his only son , the son of his old age , and which is above all , the son of the promise , when God by way of trial required it of him . How vigorous and triumphant was his faith , especially in the great promise of a son , which he firmly embraced against all humane probabilities to the contrary ? Against hope he believed in hope , and being strong in faith , gave glory to God . How hearty was his dependence upon the Divine Providence , when called to leave his Father's house , and to go into a strange Country , how chearfully did he obey and go out , though he knew not whither he went ? How unconquerable was his patience , how even the composure of his mind in all conditions ? in fifteen several journeys that he undertook , and ten difficult temptations which he underwent , he never betrayed the least murmuring or hard thought of God . Towards others he shewed the greatest tenderness and respect , the most meek and unpassionate temper , a mind inflamed with a desire of peace and concord : Admirable his justice and equity in all his dealings , his great hospitality and bounty towards strangers , and for that end ( say the Jews ) he got him an house near the entring into Haran , that he might entertain strangers as they went in , or came out of the City , at his own table ; as indeed he seems to have had that most excellent and Divine temper of mind , an universal love and charity towards all men . But his greatest charity appeared in the care that he took of the Souls of men . Maimonides tells us , Mor. Nevoch . part. 2. cap. 39. p. 301. that he kept a publick School of institution , whither he gathered men together , and instructed them in that truth , which he himself had embraced , and he gives us an account by what methods of reasoning and information he used to convince and perswade them . But whatever he did towards others , we are sure he did it towards those that were under his own charge . He had a numerous family , and a vast retinue , and he was as careful to inform them in the knowledge of the true God , and to instruct them in all the duties of Religion . 'T is the character which God himself gave of him , I know Abraham , that he will command his children , and his houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment . And so he did , his house being a School of piety , wherein Religion was both taught and practised , many reclaimed from the errors and idolatries of the times , and all his domesticks and dependants solemnly dedicated to God by Circumcision . Therefore when 't is said , that he brought with him all the Souls which they had gotten in Haran , Gen. 12.5 . the Paraphrase of Onkelos renders it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Souls which they had subjected to the Law in Haran ; Jonathans Targum , and much at the same rate that of Jerusalem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Souls which they had made proselytes in Haran , or as Solomon Jarchi expresses it , a little more after the Hebrew mode , the Souls which they had gathered , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the wings of the Divine Majesty ; Gen. 14.14 . and he further adds , that Abraham proselyted the men , and Sarah the women . So when elsewhere we read of his trained servants , some of the Jewish Masters expound it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that were initiated and trained up in the knowledge of the Law . Such being the temper of this holy man , God was pleased frequently to converse with him , and to impart his mind to him , acquainting him with the secret counsels and purposes of his Providence , whence he is stiled the friend of God . But that which shewed him to be most dear to Heaven , was the Covenant which God solemnly made with him , wherein binding Abraham and his seed to a sincere and universal obedience , he obliged himself to become their God , to be his shield and his exceeding great reward , to take his posterity for his peculiar people , to encrease their number , and to inlarge their power , to settle them in a rich and a pleasant Country ( a type of that Heavenly and better Country that is above ) and which was the crown of all , that in his seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed , that is , the promised Messiah should proceed out of his loins , who should be a common blessing to mankind , in whom both Jew and Gentile should be justified and saved , and he by that means become ( spiritually ) the Father of many Nations . This Covenant was ratified and ensured on God's part by a solemn oath , Heb. 6.13 , 14. For when God made promise to Abraham , because he could swear by no greater , he sware by himself , saying , Surely blessing I will bless thee , and multiplying I will multiply thee . On Abraham's part it was sealed with the Sacrament of Circumcision , which God instituted as a peculiar federal rite , to distinguish Abraham's posterity from all other people . Abraham died in the CLXXV . year of his Age , and was buried in the Sepulchre which himself had purchased of the sons of Heth. Contemporary with Abraham was his Nephew Lot , 2 Pet. 2.7 , 8. a just man , but vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked ; for dwelling in the midst of an impure and debauched generation , In seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds . This endeared him to Heaven , who took a particular care of him , and sent an Angel on purpose to conduct him and his family out of Sodom , before he let loose that fatal vengeance that overturned it .

18. Abraham being dead , Isaac stood up in his stead , the son of his Parents old age , and the fruit of an extraordinary promise . Being delivered from being a sacrifice , he frequented ( say the Jews ) the School of Sem , wherein he was educated in the knowledge of Divine things till his marriage with Rebeccah . But however that was , he was a good man , we read of his going out to meditate or pray in the field at even-tide , Gen. 24.63 . and elsewhere we find him publickly sacrificing and calling upon God . In all his distresses God still appeared to him , animated him against his fears , and encouraged him to go on in the steps of his Father , renewing the same promises to him which he had made to Abraham . Nay , so visible and remarkable was the interest which he had in Heaven , that Abimelech King of the Philistines and his Courtiers thought it their wisest course to confederate with him for this very reason , Gen. 26.28 , 29. because they saw certainly that the Lord was with him , and that he was the blessed of the Lord . Religion is the truest interest , and the wisest portion , 't is the surest protection , and the safest refuge . When a man's ways please the Lord , he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him . Isaac dying in the CLXXX . year of his life , the Patriarchate devolved upon his son Jacob , by vertue of the primogeniture which he had purchased of his brother Esau , and which had been confirmed to him by the grant and blessing of his Father ( though subtilly procured by the artifice and policy of his Mother ) who also told him , that God Almighty would bless and multiply him and his seed after him , and that the blessing of Abraham should come upon them . He intirely devoted himself to the fear and service of God , kept up his Worship , and vindicated it from the incroachments of Idolatry , he erected Altars at every turn , and zealously purged his house from those Teraphim or Idols which Rachel had brought along with her out of Laban's house , either to prevent her Father's enquiring at them which way Jacob had made his escape , or to take away from him the instruments of his Idolatry , or possibly that she might have wherewith to propitiate and pacifie her Father in case he should pursue and overtake them , as Josephus thinks , Antiq. Jud. lib. 1. c. 19. p. 31. though surely then she would have produced them , when she saw her Father so zealous to retrieve them . He had frequent Visions and Divine condescensions , God appearing to him , and ratifying the Covenant that he had made with Abraham , and changing his name from Jacob to Israel , as a memorial of the mighty prevalency which he had with Heaven . In his later time he removed his family into Egypt , where God had prepared his way by the preferment of his son Joseph to be Vice-Roy and Lord of that vast and fertile Country , advanced to that place of state and grandeur by many strange and unsearchable methods of the Divine Providence . By his two Wives , the Daughters of his Uncle Laban , and his two Handmaids he had twelve Sons , who afterwards became founders of the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish Nation ; to whom upon his deathbed he bequeathed his blessings , consigning their several portions , and the particular fates of every Tribe , among whom that of Judah is most remarkable , to whom it was foretold , Gen. 49.10 . that the Messiah should arise out of that Tribe , that the Regal Power and Political Soveraignty should be annexed to it , and remain in it till the Messiah came , at whose coming the Scepter should depart , and the Law-giver from between his knees : And thus all their own Paraphrasts , both Onkelos , Jonathan , and he of Jerusalem do expound it , that there should not want Kings or Rulers of the house of Judah , nor Scribes to teach the Law of that race , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time that Messiah the King shall come , whose the Kingdom is . And so it accordingly came to pass , for at the time of Christ's Birth , Herod , who was a stranger , had usurped the Throne , debased the authority of their great Sanhedrim , murdered their Senators , devested them of all Judiciary power , and kept them so low , that they had not power left to put a man to death . And unto him shall the gathering of the people be . A prophecy exactly accomplished , when in the first Ages of Christianity the Nations of the World flocked to the standard of Christ at the publication of the Gospel . Jacob died CXLVII . years old , and was buried in Canaan , in the Sepulchre of his Fathers : After whose decease his posterity for some hundreds of years were afflicted under the Egyptian yoke . Till God remembring the Covenant he had made with their Fathers , powerfully rescued them from the Iron Furnace , and conducted them through the wilderness into the Land of Promise , where he framed and ordered their Commonwealth , appointed Laws for the government of their Church , and setled them under a more fixed and certain dispensation .

19. HITHERTO we have surveyed the state of the Church in the constant succession of the Patriarchal Line . But if we step a little further into the History of those times , we shall find that there were some extraordinary persons without the Pale of that holy Tribe , renowned for the worship of God , and the profession of Religion ; among whom two are most considerable , Melchisedeck and Job . Melchisedeck was King of Salem in the land of Canaan , and Priest of the most high God . The short account which the Scripture gives of him hath left room for various fancies and conjectures . The opinion that has most generally obtained is , that Melchisedeck was Sem , one of the sons of Noah , who was of a great Age , and lived above LXX . years after Abraham's coming into Canaan , and might therefore well enough meet him in his triumphant return from his conquest over the Kings of the Plain . But notwithstanding the universal authority which this opinion assumes to it self , it appears not to me with any tolerable probability , partly because Canaan , where Melchisedeck lived , was none of those Countries which were allotted to Sem and to his posterity , and unlikely it is that he should be Prince in a foreign Country : partly , because those things which the Scripture reports concerning Melchisedeck , do no ways agree to Sem , as that he was without Father and Mother , without genealogie , &c. whenas Moses does most exactly describe and record Sem and his Family , both as to his Ancestors , and as to his posterity . That therefore which seems most probable in the case , is , that he was one of the Reguli , or petty Kings ( whereof there were many ) in the land of Canaan , but a pious and devout man , and a worshipper of the true God , as there were many others in those days among the Idolatrous Nations ; he being extraordinarily raised up by God from among the Canaanites , and brought in without mention of Parents , original or end , without any Predecessor or Successor in his office , that he might be a fitter type of the Royal and Eternal Priesthood of Christ . And for any more particular account concerning his person , it were folly and rashness over-curiously to enquire after what God seems industriously to have concealed from us . The great character under which the Scripture takes notice of him , is his relation to our blessed Saviour , who is more than once said to be a Priest , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , after the order , in the same way and manner that Melchisedeck was , or ( as the Apostle explains himself ) after the similitude of Melchisedeck . Heb. 7.15 . Our Lord was such a Priest as Melchisedeck was , there being a nearer similitude and conformity between them , than ever was between any other Priests whatsoever . A subject which S. Paul largely and particularly treats of . Passing by the minuter instances of the parallel , taken from the name of his person , Melchisedeck , that is , King of righteousness , and his title to his Kingdom , King of Salem , that is , of Peace ; we shall observe three things especially wherein he was a type of Christ . First , in the peculiar qualification of his person , something being recorded of him uncommon to the rest of men , and that is , that he was without Father , Heb. 7.3 . without Mother , and without descent . Not that Melchisedeck like Adam was immediately created , or in an instant dropt down from Heaven , but that he hath no kindred recorded in the story , which brings him in without any mention of Father or Mother , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Homil. 12. in Hebr. p. 1838. as Chrysostom glosses , we know not what Father or Mother he had : He was ( says S. Paul ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without genealogie , without having any pedigree extant upon record , whence the ancient Syriack Version truly expresses the sence of the whole passage thus , Whose neither Father nor Mother are written , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the generations , that is , the genealogies of the ancient Patriarchs . And thus he eminently typified Christ , of whom this is really true : He is without Father in respect of his humane nature , begotten only of a pure Virgin ; without Mother , in respect of his Divinity , being begotten of his Father before all Worlds , by an eternal and ineffable generation . Secondly , Melchisedeck typified our Saviour in the duration and continuance of his office ; for so 't is said of him , that he was without descent , having neither beginning of days , nor end of life , but made like unto the Son of God , abideth a Priest continually . By which we are not to understand that Melchisedeck never died , for being a man he was subject to the same common Law of mortality with other men : But the meaning is , that as he is said to be without Father and Mother , because the Scripture speaking of him makes no mention of his Parents , his Genealogy and descent : So he is said to abide a Priest for ever , without any beginning of days , or end of life , because we have no account of any that either preceeded , or succeeded him in his office , no mention of the time either when he took it up , or laid it down . And herein how lively and eminent a type of Christ , the true Melchisedeck , who as to his Divine nature was without beginning of days from Eternal Ages , and who either in the execution or vertue of his office abides for ever . There is no abolition , no translation of his office , no expectation of any to arise that shall succeed him in it : He was made a Priest not after the Law of a carnal Commandment , a transient and mutable dispensation , but after the power of an endless life . Thirdly , Melchisedeck was a type of Christ in his excellency above all other Priests . S. Paul's great design is to evince the preheminence and precedency of Melchisedeck above all the Priests of the Mosaick ministration , yea , above Abraham himself , the Founder and Father of the Jewish Nation , from whom they reckoned it so great an honour to derive themselves . And this the Apostle proves by a double instance . First , that Abraham , in whose loins the Levitical Priests then were , paid tithes to Melchisedeck , when he gave him the tenth of all his spoils , as due to God and his Ministers , thereby confessing himself and his posterity inferiour to him . Heb. 7.4 , 5 , 6. &c. Now consider how great this man was , unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils . Secondly , that Melchisedeck conferred upon Abraham a solemn benediction , it being a standing part of the Priests office to bless the people . And this was an undeniable argument of his superiority . Ibid. Ver. 6 , 7. He whose descent is not counted from them ( the legal Priests ) received tithes of Abraham , and blessed him that had the promises : And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better . Whereby it evidently appears , that Melchisedeck was greater than Abraham , and consequently than all the Levitical Priests that descended from him . Now herein he admirably prefigured and shadowed out our blessed Saviour , a person peculiarly chosen out by God , sent into the World upon a nobler and a more important errand , owned by more solemn and mighty attestations from Heaven , than ever was any other person ; his office incomparably beyond that of the legal Oeconomy , his person greater , his undertaking weightier , his design more sublime and excellent , his oblation more valuable and meritorious , his prayers more prevalent and successful , his office more durable and lasting , than ever any whose business it was to intercede and mediate between God and man .

20. THE other extraordinary person under this Oeconomy is Job , concerning whom two things are to be enquired into , Who he was , and when he lived . For the first , we find him described by his Name , his Country , his Kindred , his Quality , his Religion , and his Sufferings , though in many of them we are left under great uncertainties , and to the satisfaction only of probable conjectures . For his name , among many conjectures two are especially considerable , though founded upon very different reasons , one that it is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying one that grieves or groans , mystically pre saging those grievous miseries and sufferings that afterwards came upon him ; the other , more probably , from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love ; or to desire , noting him the desire and delight of his Parents , earnestly prayed for , and affectionately embraced with the tenderest endearments . His Country was the land of Uz , though where that was , is almost as much disputed , as about the source of Nilus : Some will have it Armenia , others Palestine , or the land of Canaan , and some of the Jewish Masters assure us , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his School , or place of institution was at Tiberias , and nothing more commonly shewed to Travellers than Job's Well in the way between Ramah and Jerusalem ; others place it in Syria near Damascus , so called from Uz , the supposed Founder of that City ; others a little more Northward at Apamea , now called Hama , where his house is said to be shewed at this day : Most make it to be part of Idumaea near mount Seir , or else Arabia the Desart ( probably it was in the confines of both ) this part of Arabia being nearest to the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans , who invaded him , and most applicable to his dwelling among the Sons of the East , to the situation of his friends who came to visit him , and best corresponding with those frequent Arabisms discernable both in the Language and Discourses of Job and his Friends ; not to say that this Country produced persons exceedingly addicted to Learning and Contemplation , and the studies of natural Philosophy , whence the wise men who came out of the East to worship Christ are thought by many to have been Arabians . For his kindred and his friends , we find four taken notice of , who came to visit him in his distress ; Eliphaz the Temanite , the son probably of Teman , and grandchild of Esau by his eldest son Eliphaz , the Country deriving its name Teman from his Father , and was situate in Idumaea in the borders of the Desart Arabia : Bildad the Shuhite , a descendant in all likelihood of Shuah , one of the sons of Abraham by his wife Keturah , whose seat was in this part of Arabia : Zophar the Naamathite , a Country lying near those parts : And Elihu the Buzite , of the off-spring of Buz the son of Nahor , and so nearly related to Job himself . He was the son of Barachel , of the kindred of Ram , who was the head of the Family , and his habitation was in the parts of Arabia the Desart near Euphrates , or at least in the Southern part of Mesopotamia bordering upon it . As for Job himself , he is made by some a Canaanite , of the posterity of Cham ; by others to descend from Sem by his son Amram , whose eldest sons name was Uz ; by most from Esau , the Father of the Idumaean Nations ; but most probably either from Nahor , Abraham's brother , whose sons were Huz , Buz , Chesed , &c. or from Abraham himself by some of the sons which he had by his wife Keturah , whereby an account is most probably given , how Job came to be imbued with those seeds of Piety and true Religion , for which he was so eminently remarkable , as deriving them from those Religious principles and instructions which Abraham and Nahor had bequeathed to their posterity . His quality and the circumstances of his External state were very considerable , a man rich and honourable ; His substance was seven thousand Sheep , and three thousand Camels , and five hundred yoke of Oxen , and five hundred she-Asses , and a very great houshold , so that he was the greatest of all the men of the East ; himself largely describes the great honour and prosperity of his fortunes , that he washed his steps in Butter , and the rock poured out rivers of Oil ; when he went out to the gate through the City , and prepared his seat in the street , the young men saw him , and hid themselves , the aged arose and stood up , the Princes refrained talking , and laid their hand on their mouth , &c. He delivered the poor that cried , and the fatherless and him that had none to help him , the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him , &c. He brake the jaws of the wicked , and pluckt the spoil out of their teeth , &c. Indeed so great his state and dignity , that it has led many into a perswasion , that he was King of Idumaea , a powerful and mighty Prince ; a fancy that has received no small encouragement from the common but groundless confounding of Job with Jobah King of Edom , of the race of Esau. For the story gives no intimation of any such royal dignity , to which Job was advanced , but always speaks of him as a private person , though exceeding wealthy and prosperous , and thereby probably of extraordinary power and estimation in his Country . Nay , that he might not want fit Companions in his Regal capacity , three of his friends are made Kings as well as he , the LXX . Translators themselves stiling Eliphaz King of the Temanites , Bildad of the Suchites , and Zophar King of the Minaeans , though with as little , probably less reason than the former .

21. BUT whatever his condition was , we are sure he was no less eminent for Piety and Religion , he was a man perfect and upright , one that feared God , and eschewed evil . Though living among the Idolatrous Gentiles , he kept up the true and sincere worship of God , daily offered up Sacrifices and Prayers to Heaven , piously instructed his Children and Family , lived in an intire dependence upon the Divine Providence , in all his discourses expressed the highest and most honourable sentiments and thoughts of God , and such as best became the Majesty of an Infinite Being ; in all transactions he was just and righteous , compassionate and charitable , modest and humble , indeed by the character of God himself , who knew him best , There was none like him in the Earth , a perfect and an upright man , fearing God , and eschewing evil : his mind was submissive and compliant , his patience generous and unshaken , great even to a Proverb , You have heard of the Patience of Job . And enough he had to try it to the utmost , if we consider what sufferings he underwent ; those evils which are wont but singly to seise upon other men , all centred and met in him . Plundered in his Estate by the Sabaean and Chaldaean Free-booters ( whose standing livelihood were spoils and robberies ) and not an Oxe or Asse left of all the Herd , not a Sheep or a Lamb either for Food or Sacrifice : Undone in his Posterity , his Seven Sons , and Three Daughters being all slain at once by the fall of one House : blasted in his credit and good name , and that by his nearest friends , who traduced and challenged him for a dissembler and an hypocrite . Ruined in his health , being smitten with sore boils from the crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot , till his Body became a very Hospital of Diseases : tormented in his mind with sad and uncomfortable reflections , The arrows of the Almighty being shot within him , the poison whereof drank up his spirit , the terrors of God setting themselves in array against him . All which were aggravated and set home by Satan , the grand Engineer of all those torments , and all this continuing for at least Twelve Months ( say the Jews ) probably for a much longer time ; and yet endured with great courage and fortitude of mind , till God put a period to this tedious Trial , and crowned his sufferings with an ample restitution . We have seen who this excellent Person was , we are next to enquire when he lived . Vid. Maimon . Mor. Nevoch . part . 3. cap. 22. p. 395. And here we meet with almost an infinite variety of Opinions , some making him contemporary with Abraham , others with Jacob , which had he been , we should doubtless have found some mention of him in their story , as well as we do of Melchisedeck : others again refer him to the time of the Law given at Mount Sinai , and the Israelites travels in the Wilderness ; others to the times of the Judges after the settlement of the Israelites in the Land of Promise , nay , some to the reign of David and Solomon ; and I know not whether the Reader will not smile at the fancy of the Turkish Chronologists , who make Job Major-domo to Solomon , Ang. Busbequ . de Legat. Turcic . Epist. 1. p. 94. as they make Alexander the Great , the General of his Army . Others go further , and place him among those that were carried away in the Babylonish Captivity , yea in the time of Ahasuerus , and make his fair Daughters to be of the number of those beautiful young Virgins that were sought-for for the King . Follies that need no confutation . 'T is certain that he was elder than Moses , his Kindred and Family , his way of sacrificing , the Idolatry rise in his time , evidently placing him before that Age ; besides that there are not the least foot-steps in all his Book of any of the great things done for the Israelites deliverance , which we can hardly suppose should have been omitted , being examples so fresh in memory , and so apposite to the design of that Book . Most probable therefore it is , that he lived about the time of the Israelitish Captivity in Egypt , though whether , as some Jews will have it , born that very Year that Jacob came down into Egypt , and dying that Year that they went out of Egypt , I dare not peremptorily affirm . And this no question is the reason why we find nothing concerning him in the Writings of Moses , the History of those Times being crowded up into a very little room , little being recorded even of the Israelites themselves for near Two Hundred Years , more than in general that they were heavily oppressed under the Egyptian Yoke . More concerning this great and good Man , and the things relating to him , if the Reader desire to know , he may among others consult the elaborate exercitations of the younger Spanhemius in his Historia Jobi , where the largest curiosity may find enough to satisfie it .

22. AND now for a Conclusion to this Oeconomy , if we reflect a little upon the state of things under this period of the World , we shall find that the Religion of those early Ages was plain and simple , unforced and natural , and highly agreeable to the common dictates and notions of Mens minds . They were not educated under any foreign Institutions , nor conducted by a Body of numerous Laws and written Constitutions , Phil. lib. de Abrah . pag. 350. but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as Philo says of them ) tutor'd and instructed by the dictates of their own minds , and the Principles of that Law that was written in their hearts , following the order of Nature and right Reason , as the safest , and most ancient Rule . Euseb. Praeparat . Evangel. lib. 7. c. 6. pag. 304. By which means ( as one of the Ancients observes ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they maintained a free and uninterrupted course of Religion , conducting their lives according to the rules of Nature , so that having purged their minds from lust and passion , and attained to the true knowledge of God , they had no need of external and written Laws . Their Creed was short and perspicuous , their notions of God great and venerable , their devotion and piety real and substantial , their worship grave and serious , and such as became the grandeur and majesty of the Divine being , their Rites and Ceremonies few and proper , their obedience prompt and sincere , and indeed the whole conduct of their conversation discovering it self in the most essential and important duties of the humane life . According to this standard it was that our blessed Saviour mainly designed to reform Religion in his most excellent Institutions , to retrieve the piety and purity , the innocency and simplicity of those first and more uncorrupted Ages of the World , to improve the Laws of Nature , and to reduce Mankind from ritual observances to natural and moral duties , as the most vital and essential parts of Religion , and was therefore pleased to charge Christianity with no more than two positive Institutions , Baptism , and the Lord's Supper , that Men might learn , Demonstrat . Evangel. lib. 1. cap. 5. & 6. p. 9 , 10. &c. & loc. supr. cit . that the main of Religion lies not in such things as these . Hence Eusebius undertakes at large to prove the faith and manners of the Holy Patriarchs , who lived before the times of Moses , and the belief and practice of Christians to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one and the same . Which he does not only assert and make good in general , but deduce from particular instances , the examples of Enoch , Noah , Abraham , Melchisedeck , Job , &c. whom he expresly proves to have believed and lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , altogether after the manner of Christians : Nay , that they had the name also as well as the thing , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as he shews from that place ( which he proves to be meant of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Touch not my Christians , mine Anointed , and do my Prophets no harm . And in short , that as they had the same common Religion , so they had the common blessing and reward .