them; and therefore thefe troublesome Books were writ and preserved, and the Worship of the true God, after many Struggles, kept up, till a Remedy came: And this will open many other Scenes.

Ever fince the Creation of Man, it has been he conftant Employment of the Devil, to fet up the Works of God in Oppofition to God, and to perfuade Man that there were Properties in them independent of God, or incommunicable, or that they were for other Ends than he created and appointed them, and Men are drawn in to gratify fome Inclination, for want of obferving, or understanding, the Ufe of those Inclinations, or God's Difpenfations of the Knowledge of the Ufes for which his Creatures were made; who he has generally employed you will fee hereafter.

I fhall take the English Tranflation of the Bible, with the Words in the Margin, though under great Difadvantage (for this Sketch) as it ftands, to fhorten the Work, and avoid Disputes: For tho' much is buried in tranflating it, there is enough remains, which as it is will fhew the Scope of the reft.

It appears, foon after the Fall of Man, that Offering was, if not by divine IuftiB 4 tution,

tution, at least by divine Approbation, to that of Abel. an Act of religious Worship to the true God. Whether that of the First-fruits was an Acknowledgement that they received the Whole from God, and the Act of Offering a Sacrament or Memorial of the Forfeiture, and of the Sufpen-fion, till Satisfaction fhould be made; or what Types or Views particular Offerings had, is not my prefent Purpose: But I fufpect that by the Expreffions, Gen. vi. 4, 5. There were Giants in the Earth in thofe Days; and alfo after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the Daughters of Men, and they bare CHILDREN unto them, the fame BECAME mighty Men, which WERE of old, Men of Renown. And God faw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and THAT every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually (d). This Act of Worship

was

(d) tranflated Giants, is, fallen ones, Apoftates, [the Word is often ufed to revolt, fall away,] fo called by Believers; but they afterwards called themfelves D Numb. xiii. 33. which with the Addition of the Jod, is Destroyers. Thefe being defcended from the Sons of God, [as Believers throughout the S. S. are called] by the Daughters of Unbelievers, [who are called Sons of Adam, unregenerate Perfons, became inveterate Oppofers, as is

ufual

upon

was mifapply'd, and that was the chief Caufe of the Deftruction of Man, and the Earth because God's Acceptance of Noah's Sacrifice, and upon God's promifing not to drown the Earth any more, I find the fame Expreffion, Gen. viii. For the Imagination of Man's Heart is evil from his Youth; and, Deut. xxix. 19. Though I walk in the Imagination my Heart; and xxxi. 21. For I know. their Imagination which they go about; and, Pfal. lxxxi. 12. So I gave them up unto, their own Hearts Luft, (cr IMAGINATION;) and in many other Places, upon the fame Occafion. "And fo are thofe or the great Names, 1 Chron, v. 24. -mighty Men of Valour, famous Men, (Heb. MEN OF NAMES) AND Heads of the House of their Fathers; 25. And they tranfgressed against the God of their Fathers, and went a whoring after the Gods of the People of the Land 26. And he carried them away captive. Judith xvi. 17. Neither did the Sons of the Titans fmite him, nor high Giants fet upon him. Wifd. xiv. 6. For in the old Time alfo, when the proud Giants perished. Baruk iii. 26. There were the

Giants

ufual with fuch; they became mighty Men, got the upper Hand, and fet up D, the Light for God, which brought on the Flood.

1

Giants famous from the Beginning: but they were deftroy'd because they had no Wisdom, and perished through their own Foolishness. And I fufpect there had been fome Abuse about Blood, and perhaps about Man's Blood, by the Prohibition, Gen. ix. 4, &.c. And I fufpect, while the People of all Nations were together, that fome of them had imagined fome bad Defign of that kind in building the Tower of Babel; I think for the fame Purpose as they had others Towers and high Places afterwards; and as is faid, 2 Efdr. iii. 12. And it happened, that when they that dwelt upon the Earth began to multiply, and had gotten them many Chil dren, and were a great People, they began again to be more ungodly than the first.

Our Imaginers have made themselves very merry upon the Foundation of a Slip in the Tranflation; which implies, that Languages were produced by a Miracle at Babel; though indeed the Divifion of the People there was in time the Occafion of dif ferent Languages, Mofes mentions no fuch thing; but only gives us an Account of the Rife of the firft of the Imaginers, or at leaft of the firft after the Flood: For at Gen. xi. 5. what they render Speech, is not a Repetition of what they had render'd. Language, (Heb. LIP:) That render'd

Language,

Language, has no Relation to Language, other than as God is acknowledg'd or prais'd by the Lip Or that the People all confefs'd, pray'd to, prais'd or worship'd one God, with one common Confent, and, what they render one Speech, with the fame Words. And this Mistake in the Tranflation runs quite through the Bible, Exod. vi. 12. Uncircumcifed Lips. Ifai. xxix, 13. And with their Lips do honour me. Hofea xiv. 12. The Calves of our Lips. And when the Prophets foretel the End of the Confufion in Worship, which these Imaginers made, as Prov. xii. 19. The Lip of Truth fhall be established for ever. Ifai. xix. 18. In that Day fhall five Cities in the Land of Egypt Speak the Language (Heb. LIP) of Canaan, and fwear to the Lord of Hofts; one fhall be called the City of Destruction, (or OF HERES, or OF THE SUN.) Ver. 16. In that Day fhall there be an Altar to the Lord in the midst of the Land of Egypt, &c. Jeremiah fays, Chap. xxxii. 39. And I will give them one Heart and one Way. Zephaniah fays, Chap. iii. 9. Then will I turn to the People a pure Language (Heb. LIP) that they may all call on the Name of the Lord with one Confent (Heb. SHOULDER.) Heb. xiii. 14. By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of Praife continually,

that