this most eminent man. book of Samuel. extraordinary faith. A. M. cir. 4067. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: i k 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, * of bonds and imprisonment : xvii. 51, 52. 2 Sam. viii. 1, &c.-g1 Kings xvii. 22. 2 Acts xxii. Jer. xx. 2. See his history in the first in which they were preserved, and from which they escaped unhurt. Dan. iii. All these are said to have performed their various exploits through faith. 1. The faith of Gedeon consisted in his throwing down the altar of Baal, and cutting down his grove, in obedience to the command of God. 2. The faith of Barak consisted in his believing the revelation made to Deborah, and the command to go against Jabin's numerous army. 3. Samson's faith consisted in his obeying the various impulses produced by the Spirit of God in his own mind. 4. Jephthae's faith consisted particularly in his believing the promise made to Abraham and his posterity, that they should possess the land of Canaan; and in his resolutely fighting against the Ammonites, that they might not deprive the Israelites of the land between Arnon and Jabbok. It may be observed, here, that the apostle does not produce these in chronological order; for Barak lived before Gedeon, and Jephthae before Samson, and Samuel before David. | He was not producing facts in their chronological order, but instances of the power of God exerted in the behalf of men who had strong confidence in him. Verse 33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms] As Joshua, who subdued the seven Canaanitish nations; and David, who subdued the Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, and Edomites. 2 Sam. viii., &c. Wrought righteousness] Did a great variety of works indicative of that faith in God without which it is impossible to do any thing that is good. Obtained promises] This is supposed to refer to Joshua and Caleb, who, through their faith in God, obtained the promised land, while all the rest of the Israelites were excluded; to Phineas also, who, for his act of zealous faith in slaying Zimri and Cosbi, got the promise of an everlasting priesthood; and to David, who, for his faith and obedience, obtained the kingdom of Israel, and had the promise that from his seed the Messiah should spring. Stopped the mouths of lions] Daniel, who, though cast into a den of lions for his fidelity to God, was preserved among them unhurt, and finally came to great honour. Verse 34. Quenched the violence of fire] As in the case of the three faithful Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who, for their steady attachment to God's worship, were cast into a fiery furnace, Escaped the edge of the sword] Moses, who escaped the sword of Pharaoh, Exod. xviii. 4; Elijah, that of Jezebel; and David, that of Saul: and many others. Out of weakness were made strong] Were miraculously restored from sickness, which seemed to threaten their life; as Hezekiah, Isai. xxxviii. 21. Waxed valiant in fight] Like Gedeon, who overthrew the camp of the Midianites, and Jonathan, that of the Philistines, in such a way as must have proved that God was with them. Verse 35. Women received their dead] As did the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii. 21, and the Shungmite, 2 Kings iv. 34. What other cases under all the above heads the apostle might have in view, we know not. And Others were tortured] Ervμraviconoar. This is a word concerning the meaning of which the critics are not agreed. Tuμnavov signifies a stick, or baton, which was used in bastinadoing criminals. ruμav signifies to beat violently, and is thus explained by the best lexicographers. After considering what others have written on this subject, I am inclined to think that the bastinado on the soles of the feet is what is here designed. That this was a most torturing and dangerous punishment, we learn from the most authentic accounts; and it is practised among the Turks and other Mohammedans to the present day. Mr. Antes, of Fulnek, in Yorkshire, twenty years a resident in Egypt, furnishes the latest account I have met with; he himself was the unhappy subject of his own description. See at the end of this chapter, article 4. Not accepting deliverance] This looks very like a reference to the case of the mother and her seven sons, mentioned 2 Mac. vii. 1, &c. Verse 36. Had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings] We do not know the cases to which the apostle refers. The mockings here can never mean such as those of Ishmael against Isaac, or the youths of Beth-el against Elisha. It is more probable that it refers to public exhibitions of the people of God at idol-feasts and the like; and Samson's case before Dagon, when the Philistines had put out his eyes, is quite in point. As to scourgings, this was a common way of punishing minor culprits; and even those Cruel sufferings of the A. M. cir. 4067. A.U.C. cir. 816. 37 * They were stoned, they | and din dens and caves of the were sawn asunder, were tempt - | earth. ed, were slain with the sword : they wandered about in sheepskins and goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, e A. M. cir. 4067. 39 And these all, having A.U.C. cir. 816. obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise : 40 God having provided 6 some better thing for us, that they without us should not be h made perfect. h who were to be punished capitally were first scourged. transfixed or impaled; and even the present reading See the case of our Lord. Bonds and imprisonment] Joseph was cast into prison;. Jeremiah was cast into a dungeon full of mire, chap. xxxvii. 16, and xxxviii. 6; and the prophet Micaiah was imprisoned by Ahab, 1 Kings | xxii. 27. Verse 37. They were stoned] As Zechariah, the son of Barachiah or Jehoiada, was, between the altar and the temple; see the account, 2 Chron. xxiv. 21; and see the notes on Matt. xxiii. 35. And as Naboth the Jezreelite, who, on refusing to give up his father's inheritance to a covetous king, because it had respect to the promise of God, was falsely accused and stoned to death; 1 Kings xxi. 1–14. They were saon asunder ] There is a tradition that the prophet Isaiah was thus martyred. In Yevamoth, fol. 49, 2, it is thus written: "Manasseh slew Isaiah; for he commanded that he should be slain with a wooden saw. They then brought the saw, and cut him in two; and when the saw reached his mouth, his soul fled forth." St. Jerome and others mention the same thing; and among the Jews the tradition is indubitable. might be construed in this sense. Were slain with the sword] As in the case of the eighty-five priests slain by Doeg, see 1 Sam. xxii. 18; and the prophets, of whose slaughter by the sword Elijah complains, 1 Kings xix. 10. Probably the word means being beheaded, which was formerly done with a sword, and not with an axe; and in the East is done by the sword to the present day. They wandered about in sheep-skins] Mnλwraiç' Sheep-skins dressed with the wool on. This was probably the sort of mantle that Elijah wore, and which was afterwards used by Elisha; for the Septuagint, in 2 Kings ii. 8, 13, expressly say: Kai ɛλaßev 'Hλiaç Tnn Anwtny arou and Elijah took his SHEEP-SKIN (mantle). Kar GTE TV unwrnv 'HALOU, ETETEV Eπavшlev avtov And he (Elisha) took the SHEEP-SKIN of Elijah, which had fallen from off him. It was most probably on this account, as Dr. Macknight conjectures, that Elijah was called a hairy man, 2 Kings i. 8; and not on account of having a preposterously long beard, as those marrers of all the unities of time, place, circumstances, and common sense, the painters, represent him. And it is likely that the Were tempted] Bupar naav. I believe this word prophets themselves wore such garments, and that has vexed the critics more than any other in the New the false prophets imitated them in this, in order that Testament. How being tempted can be ranked among they might gain the greater credit. And it shall come the heavy sufferings of the primitive martyrs and con- to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed fessors is not easy to discern, because to be tempted every one of his vision—neither shall they wear a rough is the common lot of every godly man. This difficulty garment to deceive, Zech. xiii. 4; depów тpixivŋy, a has induced learned men to mend the text by con- hairy skin, SEPT., probably the goat-skins inentioned jecture: Beza proposes επvρwlŋoav, they tere | above. In general, this was an upper garment ; but, Junius, Piscator, and others, propose in the cases to which the apostle alludes, the sheeptrupar naav, they were burnt alice. Gataker thinks | skin and goat-skin seem to have been the only covering. Epnconcav, a word of the same import, should be Being destitute] 'Yortpoulevot In want of all the preferred. Tanaquil Faber gives the preference to comforts and conveniences of life, and often of its Enowlnoav, they were mutilated-had different parts necessaries. of their bodies lopped off. Sir Norton Knatchbull contends for staponcav, they were transfired or pierced | vations. through. Alberti thinks the original reading was Tormented] Kakovyovuevot Maltreated, harassed, to7pasonsav, they were strangled. About as many | variously persecuted by those to whom they brought more differences have been proposed by learned men, the message of salvation. all bearing a very near resemblance to the words now Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy] Yet found in the Greek text. By three MSS. the word is they were obliged to wander by day in deserts and ehtirely omitted; as also by the Syriac, Arabic of mountains, driven from the society of men, and often Erpen, the Ethiopic, and by Eusebius and Theo- obliged to hide by night in dens and caves of the phylact. Of all the conjectures, that of Knatchbull earth to conceal themselves from the brutal rage of appears to me to be the most probable: they were men. Perhaps he refers here principally to the case tranded. Afflicted] In consequence of enduring such pri Proofs a priori of the HEBREWS. being of a God. of Elijah, and the hundred prophets hidden in caves | arisen from total non-existence, which is absurd: by Obadiah, and fed with bread and water. See therefore it is not possible that there might have 1 Kings xviii. 4. David was often obliged thus to been no existence at all. Consequently, an imhide himself from Saul; 1 Sam. xxiv. 3, &c. possibility of not existing must be found someVerse 39. Having obtained a good report (having | where; there must have been a being whose nonbeen witnessed to; see ver. 2) through faith] It existence is impossible. was faith in God which supported all those eminent men who, in different parts of the world, and in different ages, were persecuted for righteousness' sake. Received not the promise] They all heard of the promises made to Abraham of a heavenly rest, and of the promise of the Messiah, for this was a constant tradition; but they died without having seen this Anointed of the Lord. Christ was not in any of their times manifested in the flesh; and of him who was the expectation of all nations they heard only by the hearing of the ear. This must be the promise, without receiving of which the apostle says they died. Verse 40. God having provided some better thing for us] This is the dispensation of the gospel, with all the privileges and advantages it confers. II. The whole nature of an unoriginated being, or aggregate of his attributes, must be unoriginated, and necessarily what it is. A being cannot produce its own attributes; for this would suppose it acted before it existed. There is nothing in the nature of this being that is contingent, or could have been otherwise than it is; for whatever is contingent must have a cause to determine its mode of existence. III. The attributes of an unoriginated being must be possessed by it unlimitedly; for to possess an attribute imperfectly, or only in a certain degree, must suppose some cause to have modified this being so as to make him incapable of having that attribute in any other than an imperfect degree. But no cause can be admitted in this case, because this is the First of all beings, and the Cause of all things. That they without us should not be made perfect.] Further, an imperfect attribute, or any one that is Believers before the flood, after the flood, under the not in its highest degree, must be capable of improvelaw, and since the law, make but one church. The | ment by exercise and experience; which would gospel dispensation is the last, and the church cannot imply that the unoriginated being must be originally be considered as complete till the believers under all imperfect, and that he was deriving farther degrees dispensations are gathered together. As the gospel of perfection from the exercise of his own powers, is the last dispensation, the preceding believers and acquaintance with his own works. cannot be consummated even in glory till the gospel church arrive in the heaven of heavens. There are a great variety of meanings put on this place, but the above seems the most simple and consistent. See Rev. vi. 11: "White robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their follow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." This time, and its blessings, are now upon the wing. OBSERVATIONS ON THE BEING OF A GOD, DEDUCED FROM A CONSIDERATION OF HEB. XI. 6: He that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them who diligently seek him. I. Metaphysicians and philosophers, in order to prove the existence of God, have used two modes of argumentation : 1. A priori, proofs drawn from the necessity that such a being as God is must exist: arguments of this kind do not produce any thing in evidence which is derived from his works. | IV. The unoriginated being must exist every where, in the same manner he does any where; for if he did not, it would suppose some cause by which his presence was limited; but there can be no cause to limit that presence. See above. V. This unoriginated being must be a simple uncompounded substance, identically the same every where ; not consisting of parts, for these must be distinct and independent; nor of whole, for this is the aggregate of parts; nor of magnitude or quantity, for these signify a composition of parts. This being must be as truly one and omnipresent as the present moment of time is indivisibly one in all places at once; and can no more be limited or measured by time, than the present moment can by duration. to these belong extension, divisibility, figurability, and Hence this being cannot be matter or body, because mobility, which imply limitation. God and matter have essentially contrary properties. God is not material. It has already been shown that there necessarily must exist one infinite, unoriginated, and eternal being. Now this being must be a thinking being; for it is as impossible to conceive that unthinking matter could produce a thinking in 2. A posteriori, proofs of the being and perfections telligent being, as it is to conceive that nothing could of God, drawn from his own works. PROPOSITIONS A PRIORI. PROP. I. If there be no one being in the universe but such as might possibly not have existed, it would follow that there might possibly have been no existence at all; and if that could be so, it would be also possible that the present existence might have produce matter. Let us suppose any parcel of matter to be eternal, we shall find it, in itself, unable to produce any thing. Let us suppose its parts firmly at rest t gether; if there were no other being in the world, must it not eternally remain so, a dead, inactive lump? Is it possible to conceive that it can add motion to itself, or produce it in other portions of matter? Proofs a posteriori of the CHAP. XI. being of a God. Matter, therefore, by its own strength, cannot pro- | he can do; but is not necessitated to know as cerduce in itself so much as motion. The motion it has must also be from eternity, or else added to matter by some other being more powerful than itself. But let us suppose motion eternal too; yet matter, unthinking matter, and motion, could never produce thought. Knowledge will still be as far beyond the power of motion and matter to produce, as matter is beyond the power of nothing to produce. Divide matter into as minute parts as you will, vary the figure and motion of it as much as you please, it will operate no other ways upon other bodies of proportionate bulk than it did before this division. The minutest particles of matter strike, impel, and resist one another, just as the greater do; and that is all that they can do. So that if we will suppose nothing eternal, matter can never begin to be. If we suppose bare matter, without motion, eternal, then motion can never begin to be. If we suppose only matter and motion eternal, then thought can never begin to be. For it is impossible to conceive that matter, either with or without motion, could have originally, in and from itself, sense, perception, and knowledge; as is evident from hence, that sense, perception, and knowledge, must be properties eternally separate from matter, and every particle of it. Since, therefore, whatsoever is the first eternal being must necessarily be a thinking being, and whatsoever is first of all things must necessarily contain in it and actually have, at least, all the perfections that can ever after exist, it necessarily follows that the first eternal being cannot be matter. VI. This being must possess intelligence and power unlimited, and all other attributes that are in themselves absolute perfections. Attributes are divided into natural and moral, or primary and secondary. The first are those which essentially belong to the nature of a being considered in itself; the second in its manner of acting toward others. All the attributes of God, being uncontingent, must be unlimited; and therefore his knowledge must extend to every thing that can be known, and his power to every thing that can be done. VII. There cannot be in the universe more than one unoriginated being; for as this being is possessed of infinite attributes, let us suppose a second unoriginated being. He must possess the same; for both these beings are eternal, and necessarily the same, every where alike present, without any possible difference or distinction, and therefore one and the same. Two such cannot subsist; and the supposition of a second such being is only a mental repetition of the being and attributes of the first. VIII. All things owe their existence to their first cause, operating according to its own free will. Absolute power does not act of necessity, but freely: the power may exist without exertion; if it did not, then it acts by necessity; and if so, necessity is the agent, and not the free power, of the independent God. He can do what he will, but he will do only what is right, &c. The like may be said of his omniscience. tain what himself has made contingent. If God must continually act because he is omnipotent, and know because he is omniscient, then he must be constantly employed in doing or undoing whatever is possible to be done or undone, and knowing all that is, and all that can be, and what cannot be; which is absurd. IX. God is a being of infinite goodness, wisdom, mercy, justice, and truth, and all other perfections which become the Framer and Governor of the universe. GOODNESS consists in being pleased with communicating happiness to others. WISDOM, in making a right or beneficent use of knowledge or power; for no being, howsoever intelligent or powerful, is said to act wisely, but that which makes a good or beneficent use of knowledge and power. Hence wisdom and goodness must be ever conjoined to make any act of power perfect. As he is wise, he knows what is best to be done; powerful, he can do it; good, he will do it. Justice, mercy, truth, or faithfulness, are not distinct attributes, but denominations given to his power and wisdom, in their various operations on different occasions, in reference to his creatures. God's liberty of acting. His power and wisdom being infinite, he cannot be prevented by any outward cause; his nature being essentially good, he can have no opposition from within. His power and all his other attributes, being infinite, eternal, and consequently unlimited, can have no opposition from without. And his liberty consists in his being free to act or not act, or infinitely or limitedly to vary his operations according to his own wisdom, goodness, and truth. See also the late Bishop of Ossory, Chevalier Ramsay, Dr. S. Clarke, and others, on this subject. SKETCHES OF PROOFS A POSTERIORI. Recapitulation of the preceding Propositions. II. In the argument a priori, in order to demonstrate the being of a GOD, it was attempted to prove that there must have been a being whose non-existence is impossible. In arguing on this subject it has been shown, 1. That this being was unoriginated. 2. That all his attributes must also be unoriginated. 3. That these attributes must be unlimited and absolutely perfect. 4. That this being must exist every where in the same manner he does any where. 5. That he is simple and uncompounded, not consisting of parts, nor of whole, nor of magnitude, nor of quantity. 6. That he must possess intelligence and power unlimited, and all other attributes that are in themselves absolute perfections. 7. That there cannot be in the universe any more than one such unoriginated, simple, and infinite being. 8. That all things owe their existence to this first cause, operating, not according to any kind of neHecessity, but according to its own free will. knows himself, and what he has formed, and what 9. That as, in all his operations, all his attributes Proofs a posteriori of the HEBREWS. being of a God. must concur and combine, so all the works of his minute! The quantity of blood in a human body is, hands must bear the impress of wisdom and good-on an average, about thirty pounds, and passes through ness; of that wisdom which consists in making a the heart about twenty-three times in the space of one right use of knowledge and power, i. e. using both hour! beneficially; of that goodness which consists in being pleased with communicating happiness to others. Hence may be deduced CREATION, the plan of which proceeded from his wisdom, the execution from his power, and the result a proof of his goodness. From these data we might proceed to prove the being of a God, and his beneficence and moral government of the world, a posteriori, i. e. arguing from the effects to the cause. And first, a being of infinite wisdom must be expected to form his works so as to evidence that wisdom in their multiplicity, variety, internal structure, arrangement, connexions, and dependancies; and, consequently that these works must be in many respects inscrutable to man. And this, as they are his works, must be one of their characteristics. Whether there be any other kind of beings than spiritual and material, and such as are of a mixed nature, we cannot tell; but we have no ideas of any other kinds, nor can we conceive the possibility of the existence of any other; as we have no ideas of any figure that is not formed of straight or curved lines, or a mixture of both. God, the uncreated Spirit, manifests himself by material substances. Created spirits must be manifested in the same way; and though matter may exist without spirit, and spirit without matter, yet without the latter, spirit cannot become manifest. Hence matter appears to have been created for the use of spirit or intellectual beings. Creation in general demonstrates the being of a God. The SOLAR SYSTEM and plurality of worlds, magnitude, distances, velocity and gravity, of the celestial bodies, projectile and centripetal forces, centre of gravity, ellipsis, double and treble motion, attraction, all demonstrate the wisdom, power, and goodness of God. VEGETATION. Plants, trees, circulation of nutritious juices, composition of ligneous fibres, dissolution and regeneration of terrestrial productions. PRESERVATION of genera and species, demonstrations of infinite skill, and of the wisest and most beneficent providence. MAN. Life, nutrition, sleep, the senses, particularly vision and muscular motion; each furnishes a series of irresistible arguments. The HEART and the circulation of the blood afford the most striking proofs; and on this point let the reader particularly fix his attention. In a healthy state the heart makes eighty pulsations in a minute, and it is calculated that from two ounces to two ounces and a half of blood are expelled into the aorta at each pulsation; consequently at least nine thousand six hundred ounces will be thrown into the aorta in an hour, which would amount to one thousand four hundred and forty pounds in one day! At each pulsation this quantum of blood is propelled eight inches, which amounts to fifty feet in a A weight of fifty pounds hung to the foot, the leg laid across the opposite knee, was raised by the action of the popliteal artery. Allowing for the distance from the centre of motion, this proves that the heart must possess a power of at least four hundred pounds! The blood circulates by pressure from behind, occasioned by the action of the heart, which pressure having propelled it, according to the laws of gravity, to the extremities, reconducts it, contrary to those laws, back to the heart. How is this effected? It has been supposed that the ARTERIES contribute much to the circulation of the blood; were it even so it would be comparatively useless, as they cease where such an auxiliary power is most wanting, at the extremities, where their anastomosis with the veins takes place, and the veins are not supposed to possess any such propelling power. But that the arteries possess no such power Bichat has proved by the following experiment: he took the arm of a dead man, placed it in warm water, inserted one end of a tube in the brachial artery, and the other end in the carotid artery of a living dog; the blood circulated in the dead arm, the pulse of which beat regularly by the action of the heart of the living animal. Is there not a wondrous and especial providence of God by which this is effected? Others have attributed the pulsation of the heart itself to the stimulating nature of the blood. Bichat has disproved this by the following experiments: 1. Expose the heart of an animal and empty it. apply a stimulus to its muscles, and it will dilate, and contract, as if it were full. 2. Puncture all the large vessels connected with the heart, so as to empty it entirely, and the alternate contractions and dilations will continue for some time, notwithstanding the total absence of the blood. 3. Remove two hearts of equal bulk from two living animals, place the fingers in the ventricles of the one, and grasp the other in the opposite hand, and it will be found that the effort of the latter in its dilation is as forcible as the other in its contraction. Incessant action of the heart. Its unweariedness. What exhausts all other muscles appears to increase its action and its force! Can any person conceive how it is possible that a muscle can be in incessant action for threescore, fourscore, or a hundred years, without any kind of weariness? There is nothing in nature that can well explain this. Over its motion the mind has no power. This is wisely ordered, as many, in momentary fits of caprice, despair, and passion, would suspend the circulation, and thus put an end to their lives. Providence, or the economical government of Goa in the provision for men and animals. Never too much, never too little; the produce of the carth being |