dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they might seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and men's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance (or offered faith,) unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked and others said we will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him and believed -among the which was Dyonisius the Areopagite;" and some others. The certain strange things which Paul brought to the ears of the Athenians, and which they thought was the setting forth of strange Gods, and which they called this new doctrine whereof thou speakest was, amongst other things, the resurrection from the dead, which, when they heard of, they mocked him. Another part of the new doctrine which Paul taught was "the unknown God" in whom they who were ignorant of him lived, and moved, and had their being. This disciple of Gamaliel, and Apostle to the Gentiles, adopted the very plan of instruction, in unfolding his new doctrine to the Athenians before the Areopagus, by which Dyonisius, one of that body, was converted, which has been so often repeated, as constituting the one by which alone the ideas, and knowledge taught by revelation can be communicated. First, he pointed them to the altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. He availed himself of this inscription, which, on account of their ignorance, communicated no appropriate idea, the city being wholly given to

idolatry, and told them, that HE, whom they ignorantly worshipped, him declared he unto them. God (said he) that made the world, and the things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with man's hands as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, &c. that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, for in him we live, and move, and have our being. From the preceding statement, both the name of God, and the delineation of character which he so minutely drew by description, he deduces the following conclusion, which flows necessarily from the premises: "For as much, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art, and man's device." By way of extenuation for this their idolatrous conduct, the necessary consequence of their then benighted state of mind, in regard to divine truth, and to avoid a censure which might rouse their indignation, and excite them to violence upon his person, as well as to preserve access to their minds; in short, using the subtlety of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove, he observes, "And the times of this ignorance God (to you the unknown God, and whom I declare unto you,) winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent, (and the most weighty reason, and powerful incentive to which is,) because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, (or offered them faith, in the margin) in that he hath raised him from the dead;" a proof entirely supernatural, and consisted in a matter of fact, and by which the same Apostle, in another place, says this same Jesus Christ our Lord was declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the spirit of holiness.

I will conclude this Section by subjoining the critical remarks, and observations of the learned Macknight, in proof of the traditional preservation of early revelations; of many, too, which are not recorded in the scriptures, only as having

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been handed down by tradition, through oral communications, from one generation to another: And also to prove that the Jewish nation (or a part of them,) anticipated the resurrection of the dead, under the covenant made by God with Abraham.

His observations are as follow: "Abraham and his descendents understood the promise of God in the covenant which he made with him to give to him (Abraham) and his seed the everlasting possession of Canaan, to mean not only the giving them the earthly Canaan, but also the everlasting possession of an heavenly country-and that they understood the promise in no otherwise, is evident from this, that the Israelites, from the earliest times, entertained a strong hope of the resurrection of the dead, founded on the covenant with Abraham. This the Psalmist, speaking of the wicked, saith, Psal. 49. 14. "Like sheep they are laid in the grave and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me." Wisdom of Solomon, 3. 4. "Though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality." What a strong belief of the resurrection of the just, and of the retributions of an after life, founded on the covenant with Abraham, the later Jews entertained, we may learn from the history of the seven brethren, with their mother, who were put to death by Antiochus, for refusing to taste swine's flesh? 2 Mac. 7.. 9. The second, when he was at the last gasp, said, thou, like a fury, takest us out of this present life; but the king of the world shall raise us up, who have died for his laws, to everlasting life. And that they expected this resurrection to everlasting life, by virtue of the covenant with Abraham, and not in consequence of any natural principle, or necessity of nature, appears from the words of the youngest of of these brethren, verse 36. For our brethren who now have suffered a short pain, are dead under God's covenant of everlasting life. I ask, what covenant of everlasting life did God ever make with the Jews, under which they could die, unless it be the covenant with Abraham, in which he promised, with an oath, to give to him, and his seed the land of

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Canaan, for an everlastiug possession? Farther, that the Jews derived their hope of the resurrection from the covenant with Abraham, may be gathered from their expecting the resurrection of the just only. This our Lord, speaking of the resurrection, according to the opinion which the Jews entertained of it, calls it, Luke xiv. 14. The resurrection of the just. In like manner, the fourth of the seven brethren mentioned above, said to the persecutor, 2. Mac. 7. 14. As for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection of life. So also Josephus, speaking of the opinion of the Pharisees, says, Atiq. xv. 17. 2. "They believe that there are retributions under the earth to such as have attached themselves to vir'tue or vice in this life; and that the one are condemned to 'perpetual imprisonment, and that the other have an easy "return to life." To this notion of the resurrection, the Jews were naturally led, by the covenant with Abraham, in which the everlasting possession of Canaan, in its second, and highest meaning, was promised to the spiritual seed only; that is, to believers of all nations, who, in the covenant, are counted to Abraham, for seed by faith. That the Jews, from the earliest times, expected the resurrection of the dead, and derived their hope of that resurrection from the covenant with Abraham, is attested in the most express manner by the Apostle Paul, who scrupled not to say to Festus, and king Agrippa, in the hearing of the chiefs of the Jews, Acts 26. verse 6. And now I stand, and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Fathers-7. unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. But to what promise, made to the Fathers, did the twelve tribes hope to come, which they were not in the possession of, at the time the Apostle said this, unless it was the promise in the cove nant, that God would raise Abraham's seed by faith from the dead, to possess the heavenly country of which Canaan was the emblem. Accordingly, to shew that that was the promise which the Apostle had in his eye, he immediately added, for which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? The same Apostle openly affirmed, in the hearing of Felix, and of the

Jewish council, that the resurrection of the dead is a thing written in the Law, and the Prophets. Acts xxiv. 14. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my Fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law, and the Prophets. 15. And have hope towards God, which they also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just, and of the unjust. But the resurrection of the dead is no where written in the Law of Moses, except in the covenant with Abraham, where God promised to count Abraham's faith for righteousness, and to give to him and his seed the everlasting possession of Canaan. And, with respect to the Prophets, the resurrection of the dead is not written by them in any otherwise than as they have foretold the accomplishment of the promises in the covenant, according to their second, and highest meanings, by speaking of them as the accomplishments of those promises, according to their first, and literal meaning. For example, Isaiah hath foretold the multiplication of Abraham's spiritual seed, by the great increase of his natural progeny. Chapt. 49. 18-26. Chapt. 54. 1-3. Chapt. 60. 1-5. And the conversion of the natural seed to the faith of the Gospel, and their salvation by their resurrection to the land of Canaan. Chapt. 51. 916. Chapt. 52. 9-12. And their happiness in their converted state, by the building and adorning its cities. Chapt. 61. 4, 5, 6. And the excellency of the heavenly country, by the creation of a new heaven, and a new earth, for the habitation of the natural seed; in which new earth there is to be neither pain nor sorrow. Chapt. 65. 17-20. The prevalence of the hope of the resurrection of the dead, among the Israelites, in the earliest times, may be understood from this well known fact, that the nations who sprang from Abraham by Hagar, and Keturah, entertained the same hope, and communicated it to their neighbours; so that the resurrection of the dead, in one shape or other, was believed by the greatest part of the inhabitants of the East. Hence Job, who was an Arabian, expressed his hope of the resurrection in the strongest terms. Chapt. xix. 25. "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter. day upon the earth; 26. and though, after my skin, worms