mentality of men, had immediately interpofed, upon each and every tranfgreffion of those laws, according to Exodus xxi. 23, 24, 25. and had taken away life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, and had rendered burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe, &c. this would certainly have had it's effect, and would have been fuch a scheme of policy, as no human government could poffibly execute; and then it might have been faid, with propriety, that the Jews were under a theocracy; but, alas! this was far, very far, from being the cafe. For, tho' God, by the hand of Mofes, gave the Jews a body of laws, guarded with fanctions, as aforefaid; yet he left them to govern themselves by thofe laws, without executing the office of a civil governor among them; and tho' he, fometimes, by his fpecial providence, interposed, and advised them, and brought down his blessings and his curfes upon them; yet as those extraordinary interpofitions were very rare, and were arbitrarily difpensed; so they were not intended to, nor did they, anfwer the purposes of civil government to that people; and therefore, they must have been held together in fociety fome other way. Befides,

GA

Besides, the extraordinary difpenfations of providence to the Jews, whether, by way of advice, or in the difpenfing good and evil to them, were all relative to this prefent life, with it's enjoyments, and fo come under the denomination of temporal promifes and temporal threatnings, of temporal bleffings and temporal curfes; and, confequently, the civil government of the Jews, (if it may be fo called) even by those extraordinary difpenfations, stood upon a foot with that of other nations, as one principle of action, viz. prefent felf-good was common to them all. And tho' one was difpenfed by a divine, and the others by human hands; yet, as the Spring of action in both cafes was the fame, fo, furely, its effect, or influence, upon the human appetites and paffions, must be the fame alfo. Death is the fame kind of evil, whether it is to be inflicted by the Deity, or by the civil magistrate; and therefore, the profpect and apprehenfion of death must needs. have the fame effect, and be as great a reftraint upon the human appetites and paffions, in one cafe, as in the other. And if God's governing the Jews, by connecting their prefent happinefs with their duty, or fociableness, and by making their prefent

hap

happiness and unfociableness incompatible, (which is likewise the cafe of human government) I fay, if this fcheme of policy was fufficient, in fact, to hold the Jews together in fociety, exclufive of the belief of the doctrine of futurity, as I apprehend Mr. Warburton hath maintained; then, from hence, I think, it clearly follows, that the belief of the doctrine of futurity is not abfolutely neceffary to that end, which yet, I apprehend, Mr. Warburton hath also maintained that it is.

THE sum of the argument is this, either the belief of the doctrine of futurity is abfolutely necessary to hold men together in fociety, or it is not; if it is, then no people can be held together in fociety, where the belief of that doctrine is wanting; but the Jews were held together in fociety, exclufive of the belief of the doctrine of futurity; therefore, the belief of this doctrine is not abfolutely necessary to that end. Thus, the admitting Mr.Warburton's third propofition, deftroys his first, fuppofing this to be the ftate of his cafe, as it is your's; and which I here confider as the fame. Again, the behef of the doctrine of futurity is abfolutely necessary to hold men together in fociety, or

it

it is not; if it is, then no people can be held together in fociety where that doctrine is wanting; but the Jews were held together in fociery; therefore, that doctrine was currantly believed by them. And thus, the admitting Mr. Warburton's first proposition, deftros his third. But then, how, out of this chaos, the divine legation of Mofes appears; or how Mofes's law is proved, to be divine, is hard to conceive, or rather, to me at least, it is inconceivable.

As to Mr. Warburton's first propofition, viz. that the belief of the doctrine of futurity is abfolutely necessary to hold men together in fociety; this doctrine, I find, has many abettors; not, as it may seem, from a full conviction of it's truth, as grounded on argument and evidence, but rather in complaifance to the chriftian revelation, whofe divinity may feem to be the better fupported thereby. For, if the belief of the doctrine of futurity is abfolutely necessary to hold men together in fociety; and if affociation be necessary to human happiness; then, the abettors of this doctrine think this fhews the neceffity of a divine revelation, to exhibit that doctrine plainly and explicitly to the world,

which they fay is done by the chriftian reve

lation,

lation, and which nature has been deficient in. But then these men do not seem fufficiently to attend to the confequences of their own argument. For, if afsociation be neceffary to human happiness, and if society cannot be maintained without the belief of the doctrine of futurity; then the cafe most obviously requires, that there should have been a fufficient provifion, in nature, for the production of fuch belief, by exhibiting this doctrine plainly and explicitly to men, which yet nature has been deficient in; fo that the want of such provision, plainly bespeaks the Author of nature to have been wanting, as well in goodness, as in wisdom, by his not so conftituting the natural world, as to make it effectually anfwer his own good design, viz. the well-being of his intelligent creatures; nor was this deficiency in nature fupernaturally relieve,dor supplied, till four thouJand years were past.

As to Mr. Warburton's third propofition, viz. that the doctrine of futurity was not generally believed by the Jews, it's abettors, I apprehend, are not fo numerous; tho', it feems, there are fome who maintain, that this doctrine was not currantly believed by that people, till after the Babylonish capti

vity.