tion; therefore there must have been fome other Method than by Writing, to communicate Ideas to Man, and tranfmit them to Pofterity before that Time. This appears to be by Emblems, Hieroglyphics, &c. The Garden of Eden had many before Man fell, fuch as Rivers, Trees, &c. He was put here to keep God's Laws, and to obferve the inftituted Emblems, the Inftincts of the Creatures, &c. for his Ufe [not to drefs and prune, it needed none, besides he had no Inftruments to prune with.] Immediately after his Fall, fuitable to the new and hopeless Circumstances he had brought himself into, he had the hieroglyphical Emblem of the Cherubim instituted; this was a fupernatural Exhibition, exhibited by Jehovah Elahim, and with the Flame and Sword, pointed out to him (Adam) and fince to us, Ideas of all that we have any Concern to know of what was really tranfacted by the Elabim, and exhibited in Idea above; and of what was to be compleated below, upon which all our Religion depends; not Birds, nor winged Boys, nor Angels; the Traces of it are in all Nations to this Day; yea, before our Eyes, if we did not shut them, and wink hard too. It confifted of the Face of an Ox, the Face of an Eagle, the Face of a Lyon and a Man conjunct, Ezek. i. and 10. The Heathens made these the Emblems of their Trinity, (for they always had one) the Ox, of Fire; the Lion of Light, the Eagle of Spirit, and call'd them Rubbim, and had a Temple under that Name, Amos iii. 15. mentioned alfo Cant. vii. 4, &c. whereas they were Only Sicut Rubbim, the Similitudes of the Great Ones; they were Emblems of the Chiefs, tho Heathen, for they were Emblems of the material Heavens, which were the Heathens Chiefs, of the but Sicut Rubbim, miftook indeed by the Heathens for true Rubbim, and worshipped as fuch; fometimes under true, fometimes under falfe Em

blems

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blems of their own Invention; fometimes fetting up one, fometimes more, fometimes other Heads, (Faces) than were in the Cherubim, as their own Imagination and Superftition led them; hence the Apis of the Egyptians, the Calves of Jeroboam § hence the Dove trembling in the Land of Affyria, Hof. xi. 11. where fhe was not a facred Bird, fo was in danger; hence Hawks, Owls, Cats, Dogs, Apes, Serpents, &c. were by the Superftition of Men made Emblems of the Objects of Worship, and afterwards worshipped indeed. This I believe to be the Origin of all the Heathen Worship in the World, and that the Mahometans are no Objection to this; for neither their Language, nor Religion, is more than 1200 Years old, and the latter founded abfolutely on a perverse Misconstruction of the Law of Moles. By what is faid above, it will appear to any impartial Perfon, that Mofes picked not up his Learning and Wifdom in Egypt, nor Midian, but had it by Revelation originally divine, the Heathens their's from the fame Spring, but abufed by Tradition: If our Free-Thinkers and Rabbinical Men cannot fee this, 'tis not for want of Evidence.

THAT the Revelation by Mofes was not an arbitrary Injunction of the Elabim on the People of Ifrael, to affert and maintain their Divine Sovereignty. It was given for no other End and Ufe, than to direct them (the Jews) in the Way of Salvation by Chrift; every Inftitution belonging to that Service, fuch as, to inftance in fome of them, the Oracle, Prophets, Booth, Tabernacle, Priests of the First Born, Habits, Veffels, Inftruments, Anointing with Oyl, Washing, Purification, appointed Times, Reprefentations by Urim and Thummim, Cherubim, Teraphim, convoking by Sound of Trumpets, Horns, &c. Jubilees, &c. Altars, Burnt

and

and Sin Offerings, Meat and Drink Offerings, Feafts, Dances, Creatures appointed, Firstlings, Gifts, Pairs of clean Creatures, a Ram, the Lamb the ufual Sacrifice, with many other Ceremonies; and doubtless Kings, Crowns, Scepters, Kingdoms, which were term'd facred, as they were Types of him who was to be Juft, Holy, &c. All referring to our Redemption by Chrift; and being fome way typical of his Perfon, Offices, Mediatorship, Interceffion, &c. in fome Inftance or Refpect or other.

THAT the Law given, as above by Mofes, and the Doctrine of Salvation by a Redeemer, was the fame Thing. That this was given, or revealed to Adam, after his Forfeiture in Eden, to guide him and his Pofterity. To this was added the Moral Law, as 'tis call'd, to keep the People from Defection from the true Elahim, and prevent theit being infnared by the abominable Rites and Cuftoms of the Heathen Worship: And because fome of the People had been infnared, and others in danger; fome of their execrable Rites had been introduced, and others like to be, the Decalogue was given as a Barrier between the true and falfe Worshippers. Those Innovations were the Tranfgreffions; to prevent which, and because of which, Law was added.

THAT no innate Conceptions, no rational Faculties in the Soul, no Light of Nature without Revelation, was, or ever will be, fufficient to find out what the Method of Salvation is, or what the focial Law ought to be.

THAT the Law of Nature is the Law of the D-1, fet up by him; and the Philofophers his Tools, against Revelation. That to talk of that,

the Light of Nature, and of natural Confcience, is natural Nonfenfe, and a Fiction of the Schools. That no pofitive Law ever came from God.

THAT this is not removing the Boundaries of focial Obligation, it has a furer Foundation to ftand on; for that whofoever loves Jehovah Elabim, with all his Heart and Mind, and Soul and Might, and his Neighbour as himself; and makes it a Rule to do by all Men, as he would that they should do to him, will never err, but by Mistake; and as Fenelon, the Archbishop of Cambray, fays, Shew me a Man that loves God with all his Heart, he fhall do what he will. The particular Commands in the Decalogue will come in their Place hereafter.

THAT the fingular Noun [God] fubftituted in the Tranflation for one Elabim is unmeaning, and not a Translation of it. Elahim is a Noun plural, derived from, Alab. Thus it was when there was no Language in the World but Hebrew; therefore an Arabic Derivation must be Apocryphal : nor is there any Root in Hebrew, but 8, Alab, from whence Elabim can be derived, then in the middle prevents its being derived from 8 El: And fince there is no Word in the Bible relating to Christianity of greater Importance than this, it behoves every Man of Learning to be at a Point here. As a Verb, Alab fignifies to comfirm by Oath, to bind a Perfon to fulfil certain Terms under the Penalty of a conditional Malediction: As a Name or Appellation, when applied to a Perfon, a Swearer to a Covenant; as a Noun when applied to an Ation, an Oath: It is never ufed in Scripture but in this Senfe (except when 'tis a Pronoun) and the Context will always fhew that. Elakim muft therefore fignify Perfons fworn to a Covenant.

Covenant, as we find this Term applied to the Perfons who created this World, Gen. i. 1, 3, 4° From hence it appears, that the Perfons (fomewhats) who created this Syftem and Man, had before that Time performed fome Act which denominated them Elabim, or Covenanters. The Substance of this Covenant appears, by the whole Tenour of Scripture, to relate to the Redemption of Mankind by the Incarnation and Death' of mba Eloab, the execrated one, mis Eloah is a Participle paffive from the fame Root as Elahim, declined as, Gabab. The Tranflators always render Eloah, God. That thefe Elahim are, one Jebovah, or that their Exiftence is a Trinity in Unity; and by what we are led to the Conception of this fublime Truth, is declared above.

THAT the Word n Berith, rendered Cove nant in the Translation, has no where that Idea belonging to it. The Words found with it, won't allow it, being always joined with establish, place, give, raife up, hay, cut off, purify, but never with make. Now what was to be given, raised up, cut off, &c.? Not a Covenant, but a Purifier. That to purify is the Idea of the Word, appears from the Root 2, from whence it is derived. It is ufed in its native Senfe, Mal. iii. 2. Jer. ii. 22. and truly render'd Soap, which is a Purifier. Carry this Idea to the many Places where the Word is used, and they will read with Senfe and Beauty. Thus, Ifa.xlii, 6. I will give thee for a Purifier of the People, Exod. xxiv. 8. Behold the Blood of the Purifier (the typical Purifier). The more this is examined, the more its Truth will appear, and in Proportion as it does, the Doctrine of a Multiplicity of Covenants between God and Man will fall; nor will any Criticisms on the Old or New Testament, or the Language of either, fupport it. C 2

THAT