be kept up no longer than till the times of the Messiah, when the Gentiles should be admitted to work under the same yoke with the Jews, in sowing the seed of the word, and converts should receive baptism at all waters indifferently, as well as at those of the river Jordan. How exceptionable soever the feet of the Ass might be (for the term is emphatic) according to the received rules of the Levitical law, they should at length be sanctified by the Grace of God, and recommended both by the importance and novelty of their commission; as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things".

a Rom. x. 15. I cannot help setting down the Comment of Castalio, as cited by Pole in his Collection upon the text of Isa. xxxii. 20. " Idque facitis (i. e. prædicatis} « immittentes bovis asinique pedem, i. e. nullo Judæorum aut "exterorum discrimine. Alludit enim ad Mosis præ. ❝ceptum, quo vetat arari bove et asino; hoc est, si præ"cepti vim penitùs consideres, vetat Judæis commercium 66 esse cum reliquis nationibus, tanquam cum dispari

genere quemadmodum Paulus præceptum illud de non ❝ obturando bovis ore triturantis refert ad rem diviniorem,

videlicet ad ministrorum alimoniam. Igitur illud dis"crimen Evangelio sublatum est; felicesque sunt Evan "gelii Ministri, qui omnes, nullo neque docentium neque "docendorum gentis discrimine, docent," Vide Poli Synops. vol, iii. p. 339, lin, 56, &c,

VII. Among other articles of the Scripture, which come properly under this subject, is the Prophet Daniel's vision of the four great monarchies, under the image of the four beasts, the first a Lion, the second a Bear, the third a Leopard, and a fourth in which all the offensive properties of the other three were united. These monarchies, being heathen, are therefore represented by unclean beasts. There is a strict propriety in their arising out of the Sea, the waters of which signify the multitude of the Gentiles: and the four winds of the heaven striving upon this Sea, and troubling its waves with contrary forces, present us with a grand and striking idea of all that disorder, contention, opposition and tumult, out of which the kingdoms of the earth, and particularly the four great Empires, were generated. Compact is a phantom raised by Theorists, who copy from their own brain instead of real life: of whose airy schemes the natural tendency is to infuse those high notions of Liberty, which flatter the pride and encourage the discontent of turbulent Spirits, who have nothing to lose, till they throw all things into confusion, and bring men about again once more to the Sword.

In the Revelation of St. John, the fourth beast of Daniel, which is the Roman Empire, is revealed in a more particular manner. It is described as a composition of the Leopard, the Bear, and the Lion; and is said to receive its power, seat, and authority from the dragon, that is, from the Devil, the Patron and Sovereign of the four Idolatrous Empires; who interferes to disturb the world by the instrumentality of human Passions, so far as the Providence of God permits, for the trial of the good, and the punishment of the wicked, who are made a scourge to one another.

After this, another beast is said to arise out of the earth: of which it is to be observed, that as the sea means the Gentile world, the proper source of the heathen kingdoms, the earth, as contradistinguished, must denote some Power rising up in Christendom. Then again, this beast is not of the unclean sort, but with two horns like a Lamb; which is another Character of some Christian Power: and as the context shews this beast to be a member and successor of the Roman State, nothing but the Papal Power can be understood by it. I forbear to prosecute this matter, because it has been treated of late years with great skill and learning by the Bishop of Bristol, in his Dis

I

Courses

courses on the Prophecies: and I wish these

However, it

hints may awaken the Reader to examine and consider them as they deserve. may not be amiss to inform him, if he is not already aware of it, that Mr. Dryden, in his Hind and Panther, hath compared the Church of Rome to the Hind, the Church of England to the spotted Panther (or she leopard) and the other classes of Protestants to other beasts, equally unclean and more disagreeable. Which shews us how cheaply a cause may be carried, when its merits are committed to the arbitration of a poetical fancy. The piece is very pleasing as a Composition; but the two following lines will shew the Spirit of it

Survey'd her part by part, and sought to find The ten-horn'd monster in the harmless hind.

VIII. There may be other passages, which have either a manifest or a latent reference to this Law: but the foregoing may be sufficient to exemplify its application. I shall therefore proceed to rectify a mistake or two which hath been introduced into this subject.

It may well be conjectured, that a precept so curious and extensive must have exercised the wits of learned Divines: some of whom suppose this Law to have terminated merely

in physical considerations, such as the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of particularsorts of food. And certainly God, who created the body, is not unmindful of its welfare;: whence it will generally be found, that the vehicles of grace to the Soul of man are salutary likewise to the body. That Washing with water, which is the pledge of a new lifeto the Spirit in baptism, is of excellent use to strengthen the limbs and perfect the animal functions and surely it is not without reason that Sir John Floyer, in his excellent treatise of Cold Baths, laments the disuse of immersion; affirming that the children of these latter ages are become degenerate and more sickly under the effeminate practice of sprinkling. In the other Sacrament, bread and wine are assumed to signify an inward and spiritual grace; because in their daily acceptation they are of principal use for the sustaining of animal life. And even the divine institution of fasting is not less effectual for the disorders of the body than for those of the mind. By parity of reason, it may be supposed, that the same food, which was preferred for moral purposes, is in its nature the

* See p. 82, and 93, 94,

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