to a laborious Life, that in the sweat of their Brows they should eat their Bread; which was the best Preservative against the Temptations of Ease, and Sloth, and Luxury: When notwithRanding this, all flesh bad corrupted his ways, God deftroyed that wicked Generation with an univerfal Deluge, and thereby gave a fignal demonstration of his Power and Juftice to the New World: When this New Generation of Men grew corrupt, God confounded their Language, anddifperfed them over the Face of the whole Earth, and formed them into diftinct Bodies and Societies, which prevented a general corruption of Manners, taught them Civil Justice and many Moral Virtues, which were neceffary to the Support and Defence of Human Societies ; but when they all declined to Idolatry, which would endanger a new and univerfal Corruption of Manners, by thofe impure Ceremonies with which wicked Spirits would chufe to be worshipped, fome new and more effectual means were to be used to cure this evil. The Univer fal Deluge, and the Confufion of Languages, had fo abundantly convinced them of a Divine Power and Providence, that there was no fuch Creature as an Atheist known among them, till their ridiculous Idolatries in worshipping the meaneft Creatures, and viler Men, with ludicrous or abominable Rites, tempted fome Men of Wit and Thought rather to own no God, than fuch Gods as the Heathens worshipped: but tho' thefe extraordinary Events were a manifeft Proof of a Divine Power and Providence, yet it seems they were not thought fo exprefs and direct a Proof of the Unity of the Godhead, at least not a fufficient Argument against the Worship of Inferior Deities, whom they fuppofed intrufted

with the immediate Care of particular Countries. And how could God give a more fenfible Demonftration to the World, that he would not allow the paying Divine Honours to any but himfelf, than by raifing up a new People, diftinguifhed and feparated from all the reft of the World, by the fole Worship of the One Supreme God, and owned by him for his peculiar People, by as diftinguishing Providences ?- For this not only proves a Divine Power and Providence, but that there is but One God whom we ought to worship.

And this may fatisfy us, That God is not fo partial in his Favours, as to prefer one Nation before all the reft of Mankind; for they were no Nation nor People when God chose them; for God entred into Covenant with Abraham and his Seed, when there was none but himself; but when all the reft of the World were Idolaters, God promised to multiply Abraham's Seed into a great Nation, and to make them his own peculiar People; that is, he made a new People and Nation, in greatKindness toMankind,to preserve the Knowledge and Worship of the One, Supreme God, and by Degrees to extirpate Idolatry out of the World.

But befides this, it was one of the

peculiar Privileges of the Jews,That to 3. Rom. 2. them were committed the Oracles of God;

and it is certain, it was for the great Good of the World, that these Divine Oracles, a Syftem of Laws both for religious Worship, and civil Converfation, fhould be depofited fomewhere; for their Idolatry did every Day corrupt the Manners of Men, and was likely in Time to deftroy all the natural Notions of Good and Evil; which made a written Law neceffary,from

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whence Men might learn their Duty whenever they pleased; and it is evident thefe Laws could be given to no other People but the Jews, who alone acknowledged and worshipped the One Supreme God: For it is not to be conceived, that God should give Laws to Idolaters, who did not own and worship him for their God, or that they should receive Laws from him. And though thefe Laws were immediately given only to the Jews, because there was no other Nation at that Time which owned and worshipped the One Supreme God, yet as the Knowledge and Worship of God prevailed in the World, fo thefe Laws would be of more universal Use ; as we see it is even to this Day: Nay, even while Idolatry prevailed, the Writings of Mofes and the Prophets very much reformed the Pagan Philofophy, gave them better Notions of God, and of religious Worfhip, and more divine Rules of Life; as is vifible in the Philofophy of Pythagoras and Plato, who are generally thought to have learnt fome of their beft Notions from their Conversation with Jewish Priefts. But yet the Question is not, What Ufe the World did make of this? But, What Ufe they might have made of it? And whether, as the State of the World then was, any Thing could be more wifely defigned, than to preserve the Knowledge and Worfhip of the One True God, and a Syftem of Divine Laws, in a Nation raifed up on purpose to feafon the World, and to preferve it from an univerfal Apoftacy?

But God had a more glorious Design than all this, in entring into Covenant with Abraham, and chufing his Seed for his peculiar People: He had promised, That the Seed of the Woman fhould break the Serpent's Head; which contains the

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Promife of the Meffias, who in the Fulness of Time was to appear in the World, to deftroy the Works of the Devil: And this is the Covenant which God made with Abraham, That in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth fhould be blessed. It was not fitting, that the Meffias and Saviour of the World fhould defcend from Idolaters; and that when he came into the World, he fhould find no Worshippers of the One Supreme God in it; and therefore God entred into Covenant with Abraham, who feems to have been the only Man of that Age who was free from Idolatry, and promises to multiply his Seed, and to preferve his Name and Worfhip among them; and that the Meffias fhould defcend from his Loins.

And if we confider what neceffary Preparations were required for the coming of the Meffias, and for his Reception in the World when he fhould appear, it will fatisfy us how wifely this was defigned by God. The Appearance of the Son of God in the World was very furprizing, and it could not be thought that any one who made fuch Pretences, fhould find Credit, unless the World had before-hand been prepared to expect him, and had fome Infallible Marks and Characters whereby to know him when he came. And this was the principal End of all the Types and Figures, and Prophecies of theLaw, to contain the Promises and Predictions of the Meffias, and the Characters whereby to know, him.

The Temple it felf, and the whole TempleWorship, was little more than Types and Figures of Chrift, of his Incarnation, or living among Men in an earthly Tabernacle, of his Priesthood and Sacrifice, his Death, and Refurrection, and

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Afcenfion into Heaven, there to intercede for us at God's Right-Hand, as the High-Prieft entred once a Year into the Holy of Holies. Now this could not have been done, had not the One Supreme God had a Temple, and Priesthood,and Sacrifices on Earth; that is, a People peculiarly devoted to his Worship and Service; for the Temples, and Priefts, and Sacrifices of Idols, could not be Types of the Son of God, who came to confound all the Pagan Gods, and their idolatrous Worship. Thus there could have been no Prophecies of Chrift, had there been noProphets of the True God; and these Prophecies would have met with little Credit, had they been found in Idols Temples. So that God's chufing the Pofterity of Abraham for his peculiar People, was not only neceffary to preserve the Knowledge and Worfhip of the One True God in the World, but also to receive and to convey down to future Ages with an unqueftionable Authority, all the Types and Prophecies of the Meffias.

This gives us a general View of the Divine Wisdom, in that Covenant God made with Abraham and his Pofterity; and this will enable us to discover the wonderful Wifdom of all the various Difpenfations of the Divine Providence towards the Jewish Nation; which will be both fo ufeful and entertaining a Meditation,that I cannot pass it over without fome fhort Remarks.

Now God having chofen the Pofterity of Abraham to be his peculiar People, on purpose to make them a visible Confutation of Idolatry, and to establish and propagate the Knowledge and Worship of the One Supreme God in the World in order to effect this, Four Things were manifeftly neceffary.

I. That