the greatest Reafon to believe, that there was not one of thofe Patriarchs who ever caft it off.

Seth lived to fee his Defcendant Enoch, of his fixth Generation, tranflated to Heaven for his Righteoufnefs, and 55 Years afterwards, and none but Adam of that Line were dead when he was tranflated, and only 57 Years before that most remarkable Tranfaction.

And as the Earth was not worthy of him, fo he was removed from it to heavenly Manfions, which wou'd be a ftrong Confirmation to those who had happily made their Choice of Religion and Virtue to continue therein, and never to deviate therefrom..

§. 6. Now when Enoch was tranßated to Heaven, his Grandfon Lamech was 113 Years old, and of him we have a particular Account concerning a Prophecy upon the Birth of his Son Noah, 69 Years after the Translation of his Grandfather Enoch: From which we may also observe, that Religion and fpiritual Virtues, and the Exercise thereof, never departed from this Line.

For, upon the Birth of his Son Noah, the Spirit of Prophecy came upon him, by which he foretold, "This fame Son fhall comfort us "concerning the Work and Toil of our "Hands, becaufe of the Ground which the "Lord had curfed." Gen. Ch. v. Ver. 29.

Now this Prophecy of Lamech I have pretty largely confider'd in the 2d Sect. of my 2d Part of Philofophical Meditations, to which I

refer

refer you, fince it wou'd here be an unneceffary Repetition; only I fhall once more observe, that the Promise of Chrift was continued in Noah, who, as the Toil and Labour of their Hands fhou'd be fhorten'd after the Flood, by fhortening the Lives of his future Race, fo by the Promise of this Redeemer, who was to come of Noah's future Race, there is alfo included in it a Promife of a Bleffedness to those that die in the Lord, and a Reft from their Labours, &c.

§. 7. Thus we find, as before obferv'd from former Paffages, that Religion and Virtue were continued by Lamech and his (this) Son Noah, as it had been by the former Succeffion in that Line: But it is reasonable to doubt, from the Accounts of the otherwise univerfal Degeneracy, that fo foon after overfpread the Antediluvian World, that the rest of their Sons and Families became corrupted by the bold and daring Infidelity of the reft of Mankind, and that there were very few who diftinguished themselves from running into that. common Current; but those who did preserve themselves therefrom, muft the more deferve the most distinguishing and valuable CharaEters to all the future Generations of the Poftdiluvian World, and alfo then their exemplary and extraordinary Conduct drew down upon them the most indulgent Favours and Bleffings, which are always particularly referv'd for the Righteous, when the Wicked,

who

who have been their Devourers before, do come to a general Destruction.

Thus it was, that Noah was the Perfon fixed upon to escape the otherwise universal Overthrow of Mankind, with his Wife, and the three Sons he begat by her after he was five hundred Years old. * The others that Noah be gat, come not within Mofes's Account, from which too it may be naturally imagined, that they were drawn into the Current of Vice with the rest of the World. But Shem, Ham, and Japhet, who were born unto him after he was 500 Years old, we may observe, that they in their juvenile Years hearkened to their Father's Inftructions, and to what he no doubt foretold them wou'd be the End of the reft of Mankind, that embraced or continued their Degeneracy and Infidelity, and which he alfo forewarn'd the reft of the World of, as far as his Preaching might be heard, 120 Years before the Flood came upon them: But as this Fore-warning had no Influence upon any of his former Children, any more than upon the reft of the then World, or perhaps upon fome other Children he might have after them, fo no more even of his own Family, (which we may suppose were very numerous in 600 Years,) than himself, his Wife, these three Sons, and

their

This proves the Reasonableness of my former Hypothefis, Chap. i. Sect. 3. of this Difcourfe, that the Antediluvians might eafily be allow'd to have Children to the Age of 520.

their Wives, (for the Sake of their Righteoufnefs) were receiv'd into that particular Favour to escape the general Overthrow that he had foretold wou'd come upon the Irreclaimable.

§. 8. Now the religious Worship that was practifed by the Antediluvian Patriarchs, we may observe, confifted in the Sacrifices and Oblations of their Cattle and Fruits, from the Account we have of Abel's and Cain's Offerings. But the Acceptableness of these Offerings and Sacrifices, confifted in the Sincerity of their Hearts in their Purposes of offering them; for where there was not offered therewith an humble and contrite Heart, or an Heart full of Love, Mercy, and Meeknefs, with Gratitude and Submiffion to God thefe Sacrifices or Oblations became no Ways acceptable; just as our Prayers now, without thefe Qualifications, are only an Abomination, and return Bitterness inftead of Peace and Satisfaction into our own Bofoms.

And that this Practice of the Rites and Ceremonies of Sacrifices and Oblations, was the religious Worship of the Antediluvian Pa triarchs, to typify the full and fufficient Sacrifice that the Redeemer of the World fhou'd make for the Sins thereof, may be farther obferved, from the first Act of Worship performed by Noah after the Deluge, as in Ch. viii. V. 20. "And Noah builded an Altar "unto the LORD, and took of every clean "Beast, and every clean Fowl, and offered "Burnt-offerings on the Altar,

This is alfo confirmed by the Law which Mofes gave to the Children of Ifrael, after, their Deliverance from Egyptian Bondage, by which they had been deprived of this Way of Worship. Which he very often repeated to Pharaoh, Let my People go that they may ferve me; which when Pharaoh at laft confented to, but wou'd have had them left their Cattle, Mofes utterly refufes to comply with that for, fays he, Ch. x. Ver. 25, and 26." Thou "must give us alfo Sacrifices and Burntofferings, that we may facrifice unto the "LORD OUR GOD, Our Cattle alfo fhall go with us, there fhall not an Hoof there"of be left behind; for thereof muft we "take to ferve the LORD OUR GOD, and we "know not with what we muft ferve the LORD "until we come thither.

So that it appears, that the Worship of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, was the fame that Mofes reftor'd after it had been loft during the Bondage of the Children of Ifrael in Egypt.

§. 9. It is farther obfervable, that righteous Lamech, the Father of Noah, died 118 Years younger than any of the Patriarchs of this Line, as may be feen by the foregoing Table, and that his Death was only five Years before the Flood; from which we may naturally conjecture, that the Wickedness of the World might give him fuch Concern and Uneafiness of Mind, that their Obftinacy and Irreclainableness brought upon him a Decay of Nature, contrary to the then general Courie, and that

he