LECT. to thofe who are out of it. This life, con fidered in itself, is no better than death; (veftra hæc, quæ dicitur vita, mors eft ;) so that if God, when he called himself the God of the Hebrews, was the God of those who had hope only in this life (as a modern divine afferted for a project) then he was the God of the dead; and fo the name God of the Hebrews would have been a dishonourable title, of which, as the apostle obferves, Heb. xi. 16. God would have been afhamed, as a title no better than that of a mortal king, whose power and promises extend to this life only. 6. All this is further evident, in that the law promised a Reft or Sabbath which it never gave; and therefore, the promise looked forward to that other glorious Sabbath which is to be fulfilled in another life. The apostle, in explaining the scripture on this fubject, shews us how the fulfilling of this promife was fufpended. That the faithful had a Sabbath of Rest in profpect after the course of their labours, appears from that threatening fentence. II. in the law, which denied it to those who LECT. did not believe. For, faith the apostle, we which have believed do enter into Reft, as he faid, as I have fworn in my wrath if they Shall enter into my Reft: although the works w.re finished from the foundation of the world*. Now the question is, what the Rest here fpoken of can mean? It cannot mean that Reft which immediately followed the fix days of the creation, when God did reft on the Seventh day from all his works; for that Reft of God hed been past and gone from the foundation of the world, when the works of God were finished. We must therefore look for another: and in this enquiry, it may occur, that the Reft to be expected was in the land of Canaan; because those who were precluded from it fell in the wilderness; according to what is faid- with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had finned, whofe carcafes fell in the wilderness? And to whom fware he that they should not enter into his Reft, but to them that believed not? * Chap. iv, 3. + Chap. iii, 17, 18. See Numb. xiv, 30, and Deut. xii, 9. Hence II. LECT. Hence, I fay, it might be imagined, that the settlement of the people in Canaan was the Reft with which God was to reward them. But neither can this be the cafe ; because in the prophet David, many ages afterwards, he limiteth the promise of this reft to a certain day; faying, to day, after Jo long a time; to day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts*. For if fefus, as the apostle argues, (that is, if Josbua, who is also called Jefus) had given them Reft, (in Canaan) then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a Reft to the people of God: that is, in other words, according to the drift of the argument, the Rest propofed to the people of God always meant what it means now; and that which remains to us at this day, after fo long a time, is the fame that was promised to the faithful of old. Confider the application of the term, and you will fee that the apostles reafoning must be true: for it is called the Reft of God-if they shall enter into Mr REST and what was that? It was un * Ch. iii. 7, 8. doubtedly II doubtedly a Reft in Heaven, after the works LECT. of the creation were finished upon earth: be that is entered into his reft, he also hath ceafed from his own works as God did from his: therefore it is a Reft, into which no man can enter, till his works upon the earth are finished. To those who understand the language of the law, and the apostles reafoning upon it, this is a demonstration, that the law did not reft in temporal promifes. They who lived in faith under the patriarchal difpenfation, died in the fame faith; death could make no change in their creed, because they expected of God what they could never receive, till their works upon earth were finished. Therefore, it is truly faid of them; thefe all died in faith, not having received the promifes; but having feen them afar off, and were perfuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were firangers and pilgrims on the earth*. The land of Canaan was not the object of their hope it was only a fign and a pledge of the goodness of God, an earnest of what they were to expect after this life; there* Ch.xi, I3, & fore LECT. fore they defired a better country, that is an II. heavenly, and their mortal life was a pilgrimage in queft of it. There never was an age, in which it was not required of the children of God, that they should renounce the world, and prepare themselves by that discipline which fhould fit them for a better ftate. Such is the language of the fcripture to them all, under the feveral names of Patriarchs, Jews, or Chriftians-My son despise not thou the chaf tening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chafteneth, and Scourgeth every fon whom be receiveth *. 7. What I propofed to confider in this lecture hath been fufficiently proved; namely, that the religion of the people of God was the fame for fubftance under the Old as under the New Teftament; fo that, in fact, we find but one true religion from the beginning of the world to the end of it; a religion of faith and dependence upon * Ch. xii, 3. God, |