SER M. tabernacled; the Temple, in which the Fulnefs of the Godhead dwelt fubftantially.

III.

If we will not be at the Pains to confider the Nature and End of the Mofaic Difpenfation, feveral Laws muft appear unworthy of God, which are yet really fuitable to his unerring Wisdom, as being neceffary Prefervatives against Idolatry (the Parent of Immorality) by the Prohibition of idolatrous Rites, which might mislead them into it. Thus, however trifling this Law might feem, viz. The Woman shall not wear that which appertaineth to the Man, neither shall a Man put on a Woman's Garment: for all that do fo are an Abomination unto the Lord thy God; it appears, in this Light, perfectly reasonable; it being a Custom among the Heathen, as we learn from Macrobius*, for the Men to worship Venus in Women's Habits, and Women in thofe of Men. Befides those Ceremonies which are Emblematical, and have an inward and spiritual Meaning, according to the early Method of conveying Inftruation under the Veil of Types and Symbols; other Laws might be highly requifite, at that Juncture, to make it impracticable for the Jews even to eat with the Gentiles,

* Philocorus quoque in Atthide eandem (Venerem) affirmat effe Lunam, & ei Sacrificium facere Viros cum vefte Muliebri, Mulieres cum virili; quod eadem. & Mas æftimatur & Foemina, Macrob. Saturn. L. III, c. VIII,

whofe

SERM.

whose idolatrous Ways they were too apt to learn: Laws forbidding them several Kinds of Food, which were allowed to the reft of the World, that fo any Intercourse, which might expose them to Contagion, fhould be cut off. Folly, ductile as Water, flows in no unalterable Channel; but changes it's Courfe, and runs in new Maanders, as the Humour and Fancy of Leading Men, in feveral Ages, turn and direct it. Hence feveral Prohibitions, intended to guard against fome Abfurdity, then predominant in the neighbouring Nations, seem not a little ridiculous now, when the Memorial of thofe Follies is perished with them. Some of the Jewish Laws are, in some Measure, unaccountable to us, for the fame Reason that Satire is more hard to be understood. by After-ages, than any other kind of Writing: Because other kinds of Writing are upon Subjects of a more fixed and unchanging Nature. But Satire dwells upon the Modes, Humours, vicious and ridiculous Customs, which prevailed when the Author wrote; Things very variable and changeable; in which Folly is ever shifting the Scene, and taking new Determinations. Unless the Follies of the present Age should be, fome Way or other, conveyed to future Times, fome of the moft admired Writers at prefent, will.appear to Pofterity in a very odd Lighs, as to

thofe

III.

SER M. thofe Paffages in which they expofe the Fashions of Drefs and Diverfions. Nor can any Thing fcreen them from Cenfure, but what ought, for the fame Reason, to exempt the facred Writers, that a Vein of good Senfe runs through every other Part; and the fame Hands, which compofed fome Parts, being equally concerned in all, it ought to be prefumed, that it extends likewife to those Paffages, which lye under the Difadvantage of referring to Things now no longer known. We are thoroughly reconciled to Folly, as at prefent modified, which we fee and hear of every Day; but can have no Notion of it, as it fubfifts under quite different Modifications, unless the Memory of it be preferved. And when we can have no Notion of the Folly, we can have none of those Laws which fenced against it; but are apt to cenfure them as arbitrary, capricious, and whimfical. Let a Man confider what exalted Ideas Mofes every where inculcates of the Deity, and of the Worship due to Him: Let him read Jofeph's Interview with his Brethren; and the Book of Deuteronomy, where the Spirit of the Law-giver, and the Father of his People, breathes in every Page; and then let him confider, whether it be not very poffible, that Mofes may have faid many Things, which, through Length of Time, may be unintelligible; but utterly impof

fible, that fo great a Writer could fay any SERA Thing grofsly and palpably abfurd.

The Misfortune is, People fit down to read fuch ancient Books as the Scriptures, with Heads full of modern Cuftoms and Ideas: And whatever they cannot adjust to them, they, through a Narrowness of Soul, reject with Scorn, as highly improper. And thus it comes to pafs, (agreeable to an Obfervation that has been made) that often, when the Objectors to Revelation think that the facred Writers nod, it is only they themselves that dream. Difficulties, like Shadows, lengthen in Propcrtion as we are farther removed from the Light of Antiquity; which, if it fhone directly and immediately upon us, would vanish. Suppofing a Revelation originally given to Perfons of a different Age, Genius, and Language, it must be expected of Course, that there fhould be in it feveral Idioms and Peculiarities of Style, as remote, as the Time and Country, from ours; feveral Allufions to Ufages, then well known, but now forgotten. And what must be, upon the Suppofal of a Revelation then given, can certainly be no Objection, or Proof, that it was not then given. It would have been as much Enthusiasm for the Prophets, to have declined the ufual Methods of conveying their Meaning, whether by fignificant Actions, Parables, or any other Way fuited

F

to

III.

SERM. to the Genius of thofe early Ages; as it would be now to revive them, when they are quite out of Date. Cuftom is always the Standard of Language: And that alone is proper, which is authorised by it, and the general Confent; that alone improper, which deviates from it. No Doubt, feveral Forms of Expreffion may feem uncouth and abfurd, merely because they are not familiarized to us; as, on the other Hand, fcarce any Thing feems fo, which has been made familiar to us from our Infancy. No Doubt, there may be in the Scriptures fome Images, in Appearance to us, too bold and daring; they are Plants of a hotter Soil, which will not bear to be transplanted into a Climate fo unkindly as ours. But fuch was the Habit of Writing, which then prevailed. Our Manner of Compofition, however correct and accurate, would have feemed to them flat and unanimated; like Marble, very smooth and polished, but very cold; and which, inftead of begetting a kindly Warmth in the Breast, would ftrike a chilly Damp into it. It is the Illbreeding of the Vulgar among Criticks, to laugh at any Thing Out-landifh in the Drefs of foreign, but facred Writers: Efpecially when there are plain Proofs, that the Body of Revelation, whatever the Cloathing of it may be, is fearfully and wonderfully made by the wife Author of

all