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rom the indigena of αυτόχθονες. This is the eafon why Heaven is faid to be our abiding ity, and God our Founder. Expreffions fo naurally alluding to these Notions. But then this νανέωσις and ἀνακαίνωσις, as it is the beginning of the μéλnav aiav of which our Bleffed Lord is he "Asxar, fo it fhould reduce Mankind to the ame perfection in which he was at the beginning of the former air, whofe degeneracy he came to reform. I therefore rather take this Peculium of Seth to have been the Original to which he was to reduce Mankind, than that of Abraham. Seth being an immediate defcendent from Adam, did therefore only continue the benefit of the Patriarchal Covenant made with Adam for himself and his Pofterity, which had been forfeited by Adam's other Children. This feems to have been the reason why the Scripture calls the Spirit in Seth, the likeness and image of Adam. And this I take to be the true account, why our Bleffed Lord, in this Matter, is rather compared with Adam than with any degenerating Patriarch after the Flood that might have been near the time of Abraham : Why, those who died in Adam as the living Soul, are faid to be revived by Christ as the quickning Spirit: And why he is called a fecond Adam, as being the Original of the unnar aiav as the former Adam had been in the forIt is therefore much more likely, that this Peculium of Seth was reftored by our Bleffed Saviour than that of Abraham. For Mankind degenerated afterwards, fo that they who were looked on as excellent in their respective Generations, and in comparison with their more degenerate Succeffors, fell notwithstanding short of their Predeceffors who lived nearer Adam. This the Heathen Mythologies represented by

mer.

the

the Metals. The brazen Age was exemply if compared with the iron; but degenera in comparison of the filver Age, which w faid to have gone before it. The fame diffe rence there was fuppofed to be in the fier Age in regard of their Predeceffors of the gol den, and their Pofterity of the brazen Age. Ac cordingly, he who would have been extraordina ry in a later Age, would have been reckoned a mong the meaneft of the foregoing Age. This fome take to have been meant by the facred Writers, when they obferve concerning fome, that they were righteous in their Generations a As therefore the Zeal and Piety of Mankind decayed, fo it was but reafonable to expe that the Divine Favours by which they wer to be rewarded, thould proportionably decrea as Mex grew lefs difpofed to receive them. The Office therefore of the A6 being believed to be to restore the Piety of Mankind, and the Divine Rewards to their most perfect ftate; it was therefore accordingly molt agreeable to be lieve, that his defign was to reftore them both to what they were originally. Himfelf has figmified, that it was indeed his defign to do fo in regard of Humane Duties, when he reforms the indulged liberty of Divorces by an Appeal to the original Inftitution of Marriage. It is there §. LXXIII. fore fuitable hereunto to understand his defign, The having or wanting this to have been the fame in relation to the Divine Divine Spirit, Favours by which thofe Duties were to be refeems to have warded.

been a reafon why Men fhould

I do not know but that this Hypothefis may be governed by indeed give the beft account à priori of a Pe the fupreme Be- culium, and of feveral other Paradoxes in our ing, imme- Chriftian Religion, which have not in our later diately as the times been fo thoroughly understood. The Di mediately as vine Spirit, the Second Adam, the Man from

Peculium, or

other Nations,

1

Heaven,

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Heaven, though it tend to the perfection of Humane Nature, yet is not, as I have fhewn, ef fential to Mankind, as derived from their firft Anceftor the earthly Adam. This makes it an arbitrary Favour that may be granted where God pleafes, without partiality, and denied without injuftice. Yet where he is pleafed to grant it, it may farther intitle fuch Nations or Perfons to peculiar favours and a fingular care of Providence, as it enables them, and makes them more nearly related to the fupreme Being, the original of the Divine Spirit. Thus it advanced them above the Government of Beings of an inferiour Nature to themselves, or even of an equal Nature, unless particularly authorized by the fupreme Being. And from thefe, as I have fhewn, God did require worship from the Angels as they are filed by St. Paul from the Greek Deuteronomy; from thefe Deut. xxxii. Gods, as they are ftiled in the Pfalmift. And 43. having required duty from them, he withal in titled them to Rewards from himself, on performance of that duty. And thefe Divine Spirits being derived from Chrift the Archetypal Man, who had the fulness of that Spirit from whence they were derived; this confideration did oblige them to a dependence on him, and deference to him, as their common Head and Original. Withal this Diviner Nature which thus obliged them to fubjection to God and Chrift, yet having a relation to the nature of Mankind as the utmolt perfection and accomplishment of which it was capable, it qualified them for the government of the lefs noble part of Mankind under the Aéy, the common governour of all Mankind, according to the Mythological Traditions of the Poets and Philofophers as well as the Scriptures. The rather fo,

if

if it had præexifted in the Patriarchs, and the firft builders of Cities and Colonies. This wa thought to give them a right to govern thei Pofterity, whom they had a right to govern whilst themselves were in Bodies, and on whom they had a right to lay obligations for fucceeding Generations after their own deceafe. It was therefore not incongruous for them rather than any other Spirits, who were not fo related to the Subjects of their Diftricts, to take care that even those obligations alfo fhould be punEtually performed. There was then a popular Opinion very much received, that the fame af fections and defires continued in the furviving Spirits after their feparation from their Bodies, with which they had been delighted whilft they were incorporated. This fuppofed them ftill delighted in Government, who had formerly been exercised in Government; and still to retain a love for embodied Souls with whom they had formerly converfed; and still to have the fame Parental care for their Defcendents which nature had inured them to, whilst they confifted of the fame frail Materials with them. These things qualified them the fame way for governing their Pofterity, as our Bleffed Saviour himself was by his having a fellow feeling of our Infirmities, and being like us alfo in all things, fin only excepted. Thus, if their own Nations were to be governed by fubordinate Governours under the Aóy, thefe Patriarchal Souls were the fairest and most likely Candidates for the Office. Accordingly, there is a ftrange confent, that the Tutelars were of these firft Souls. So Hefiod concerning his 30000 φύλακες ἀνθρώπων in all likelihood the fame with the 30000 Gods mentioned by Varro. So in all thofe who derived the Genealogies of

their firft Kings from Gods and Heroes. So Tully in his Somnium Scipionis from the Notions of the Platonists, and from him Macrobius. But it is more to our purpose, and adds Autho rity to these confentient Traditions of the Hea thens, that the Sacred Text feems to countenance it, as it was read in the time of the Greek Interpreters, Deut. xxxii. 8. "OTE SIEμÉLCEV O ὕψις& ἔθνη, ὡς διέσπειρεν ὑὸς Ἀδὰμ, ἔζησεν ὅεια εθε νῶν καὶ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων Θεῖ. For the Angels of God our prefent Hebrew reads, the Sons of Ifrael. But the LXXII. feem to have found in the Hebrew Copies of their time, N, the Sons of God. Exactly, as it should feem the fame with those whom themfelves had called αγέλες s, and whom the prefent Greek Text calls 4's Gen. vi. where the Children of Seth are spoken of. Accordingly, where God is faid to make Mofes a God to Pharaoh, Exod.

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iv. 16. vii. 1. Philo makes this Obfervation: Quod. det. pot: Τί εν δὴ τέτων σωνάζει· ὅτι ὁ σοφὸς λέ[ε) μὲ θεὸς τὸ infid. fol. ἄφρονΘ, πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἢ ἐκ ἔσι θεός. He fpeaks of p. 184. the λyou doì, I Cor. viii. 5. in oppofition to ther, Exod. iii. 14. Plainly allowing his Wife Man to be a God in regard of the deers, who had Souls deftitute of this highest degree of the Spirits in as high a fenfe as any of the Gods of the Nations were, who were not of the true Peculium. Thus thefe Angels of God will be beft oppofed to the God of the true Peculium in the forementioned place of Deut. . xxxii. 9. For fo the fenfe will be, that as the other Nations were the anges of Angels, fo Ifrael was the angis of the true Jehovah. So alfo the Demons that poffefs Humane Bodies, men tioned in the Fragments of the Book of Enoch, may be accounted for, that their inclinations to enter into new Humane Bodies may be derived Q from

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