BOOK II.
THEOLOGY FROM ADAM TO NOAH.
The revival of theology after the fall and the entrance of sin, together with its subse quent corruption, is narrated in this book.
After the fall and the extinction of natural religion, religious knowledge was com- VOL. XVII. 1
6 ANALYSIS OF THE FOLLOWING WORK.
mimicated anew, by a supernatural revelation, in the first promise; in which four essential truths are contained, — the origin of salvation in divine grace, the incarnation of the Redeemer, the necessity and nature of his sufferings, and the operation of faith in embracing his finished righteousness. The admission of the earlier, with the denial of the later Jews, that this promise relates to the Messiah, is considered. The Soci- nians concur with the later Jews. The reading of the Vulgate, "Ipsa conteret," is disproved. In consequence of this revelation, the old precepts of natural law came under new sanctions ; but instead of the positive precept forbidding man to eat of the tree of knowledge, a new precept, more adapted to the new covenant established on the promise, was given, — the rite of sacrifice. The notion of some Papists, that sacri fice was practised by Adam in a state of innocence, is denounced ; together with the error of the Socinians, and some Arminians, according to which it was not a divine institution. The views of Porphyry on the subject of sacrifices afford singular confir- • mation of the principles of revealed truth. The sum of Adamic theology posterior to the fall consists in these leading elements : — its foundation in the first promise, its rule of obedience in the moral law, and the peculiar feature of its external worship, in the institution of sacrifice. — Chap. I. The new church, constituted on the principles just mentioned, existed primarily in the family of Adam. Cain was the first to apostatize ; and the apostasy was in open contravention of these principles. There was in it un belief in regard to the promise, disobedience in regard to the law, and contempt of the divinely appointed worship. The expulsion of the fratricide was the first refor mation of the church. — Chap. II. Its second reformation must be ascribed to the period of Enoch, when " men began to call upon the name of the LORD." The interpretations of the expositors who understand these words in an evil sense, as denoting a lapse into idolatry, are briefly refuted. At this period the first open separation of the church from the world, in the assumption by the Sethites of the name "Sons of God," was made. In opposition to those who understand " the sons of God," mentioned in Gen. vi. 1-4, to be angels, and to those also who conceive them to have been men of the higher ranks in society, it is proved that that passage of holy writ simply intimates the progress of defection, when the Sethites, separated from the ungodly since the time of Enoch, joined in unholy alliances with females of the apostate races. This defec tion continued till the knowledge of true religion came to be restricted to the family of Noah, and the deluge was inflicted on a guilty world. — Chap. III.
BOOK III.
THEOLOGY FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM.
The restoration of theology and the church took place in the family of Noah ; in con nection with whom there is the first express mention of a covenant, Gen. ix. 9. As the promise includes the requisition of obedience, and obedience is simply the due obser vance of the means appointed in order to obtain the promised life, and as obedience becomes acceptable on the footing of a covenant, though the promise be matter of pure revelation, the name of a covenant is bestowed on it. Various etymologies are assigned to the Hebrew word for " covenant." A visible sign of this covenant was established in the rainbow. Precepts against murder, equivalent to the institution of magistracy, were now issued. Permission for the first time is granted to make use of animal food. There is no interdict on the use of blood, the prohibition, Gen. ix. 4, hav ing reference only to the duty of abstaining from eating any animal before its life is ex tinguished. The origin and history of what are termed the "seven Noachic precepts " are involved in considerable obscurity. The sin of Ham, and the woe pronounced on him, form the apostasy and reformation <Sf the church of Noah; — a reformation, how ever, which resulted in new forms of greater declension, when the impiety of men led them to build a tower in defiance of God, and judgment came in the shape of the con fusion of tongues. Chap. I. The analogies which some trace between the history of
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Noah and various mythological fables about Saturn and Janus having been set aside, the true reason is assigned for the erection of the tower of Babel ; — not that the sons of men might ascend to heaven, — not that they might escape another deluge, but the vain-glorious desire to establish their name upon the earth. The attempt was baffled by the confusion of tongues. As the " sons of God " had no connection with the tower, the primeval language lingered amongst them. This was the Hebrew language ; the name of which is derived, not from those who arrived in Canaan from beyond the river, Joshua xxiv. 3, but from the Eber mentioned Gen. x. 21. Eber gave name to the language from his distinguished piety. Various authorities among the Jews, the ancient fathers, and modern authors, are referred to in support of these views. Cap- pellus holds that Abraham learned the Hebrew language from the Canaanites. That the language of those tribes had affinity with the Hebrew cannot be questioned, and it is proved by Bochart, through means of an appeal to the names of towns and men. There is no reason, however, that the primeval language should have been lost in the line of Abraham, — of those who had not shared in the guilt of attempting to erect the tower. The Philistines, it is certain, did not use the Hebrew. In regard to the time in which the division of tongues took place, the reader is referred to Buxtorf s disserta tion on the subject, — Chap. II.