"courfes of philofophers, compared with "this fentence! How jejune and unsatisfactory are all the discoveries they had "of God and his goodnefs, in comparison "of what we have by the Gospel of Christ! "Well might Paul then fay, that he was "determined to know nothing but Christ, "and him crucified. Chrift crucified is "the library which' triumphant fouls will "be studying in, to all. eternity. This is "the only library, which is the true faτρειον ψυχης, that which cures the foul "of all its maladies and diftempers. Other knowledge makes men's minds giddy and "flatulent; this fettles and composes them. "Other knowledge is apt to fwell men "into high conceits and opinions of them"felves; this brings them to the trueft "view of themselves, and thereby to hu

66

mility and fobriety. Other knowledge "leaves men's hearts as it found them; "this alters them, and makes them better. "So transcendent an excellency is there in "the knowledge of Chrift crucified, above "the fublimeft fpeculations in this worldd."

5. The genius of the Oriental languages,

Orig. Sacræ, b. i. c. 6.

as

as it has been already obferved, delights to CHAP. represent abstract ideas, by fenfible images. · 11. Hence, the ancient prophets continually defcribe moral turpitude, by natural evil; and diforders of the foul, by diforders of the body. Upon this principle, the various kinds of legal impurity, whether arifing from particular diseases, or from other accidental caufes, are to be confidered as a fort of practical allegory. Metaphorical actions occupy the place of metaphorical words; and that poetical language, which defcribes the baleful malady of fin by the faintness of the heart, becomes, as it were, embodied in the Mofaical ordinances refpecting legal impurity. The fame images, however, are still retained; but they are conveyed to the understanding through a different medium. The organs of fight are employed, instead of the organs of hearing; and actions, not words, are used as the vehicle of ideas. This fupposition is confirmed, by what we find to be the ordinary practice of the infpired writers. Ifaiah is commanded to loofe the fackcloth from off his loins, and to put his fhoe from off his foot, and to walk naked and barefoot.

e Isaiah i 5, 6.

SECT. This action was intended as a fign upon 11. Egypt and Ethiopia, declarative of the miferable manner in which the inhabitants of thofe countries fhould be led away captive by the King of Affyria'. The fame end might have been answered by a prophetic vifion of a man walking naked and, barefoot; which, when publicly declared to the people, would evidently have been an allegory but it pleafed the Almighty to predict this calamity, rather by metaphorical actions, than by metaphorical words.

In a fimilar manner Jeremiah is ordered to take a linen girdle, and to hide it in a hole of the rock. After a confiderable period of time he is directed to dig it up again; and the girdle is found to be corroded and decayed. This image is pronounced to be, typical of the mode, in which God would mar the pride of Judah and Jerufalem. As a found girdle remains firmly attached to the loins of the wearer; fo the house of Ifrael might have been to God" for a people, and for a name, and "for a praise, and for a glory." But quitting their hold they became corrupted; and were no more fit to be God's peculiar

Ifaiah xx

people,

people, than a decayed girdle is to con- CHAP. stitute part of the dress®.

But, above all the other books of Scripture, that of the Prophecies of Ezekiel abounds with allegories of this nature. No lefs than eight occur, in which future events are predicted, by certain actions of the Prophet himself; and, in addition to them, many more are to be found, in which he is introduced only as a spectator, inftead of a principal actor. These inftances may fuffice to prove, that practical and written allegories are indifferently used by the Spirit of God, throughout the holy Scriptures.

Corporeal diforders, then, being typical of fpiritual maladies, as appears from the conftant ufage of the facred Oriental writers; the fignification of the practical metaphor of legal feparation and uncleanness, on account of particular disorders or vàrious other caufes, will at once be fufficiently evident. As the Jews were commanded to feparate themselves from per

II.

II.

SECT. fons labouring under the uncleannefs of the Law, till their impurity was expiated; so are Chriftians enjoined to abftain from the fociety of the wicked, who still remain under the pollution of fin: but as foon as that pollution is removed, the prohibition ceafes; and the offender is restored to the privileges of the covenant. In the pure and primitive ages of Chriftianity, excommunication, when neceffary, was folemnly pronounced, and was productive of the happieft effects. The church of Chrift was in a great measure preferved undefiled, when notorious examples of profligacy were removed from within its facred inclosure. The right indeed was afterwards abused to fecular purposes, by a corrupt and tyrannical priesthood; but in these days of fickly tenderness, and vicious delicacy, it seems to have become almost entirely obfolete. At prefent, the clean and the unclean are obliged to fojourn together in the camp of the church militant; and it is much to be feared, that almoft the only fault, now deemed excommunicable, is an ardent zeal in the cause of religion. The real impurity of adultery, fornication, gaming, duelling, and profane blafphemy, is not judged of fufficient moment to exclude a man

from