Jews have not made any tolerable Answer to it. Thus in St. Matt. xxii. ver. 23. The Same Day came to Him (our bleffed Saviour) the Sadducees, which fay there is no Refurre&ion, and asked Him, faying, Mafter, Mofes faid, if á Man die, having no Children, his Brother fball marry his Wife, and raife up Seed unto his Brother. Now there were with us feven Brethren, and the first, when he had married a Wife, de-' ceafed, and having no Ifue, left his Wife unto his Brother: Likewife the fecond alfo, and the third, unto the feventh And last of all the Woman died also. Therefore, in the Refurrection, Whofe Wife fhall fhe be, of the feven? For they all had her. And this Ojection is of more force than generally conceived, because it was the popular Notion of the Jews, that they fhould rife from the Dead, to take Poffeffion of an earthly Canaan, and confequently to a full Enjoyment of carnal Pleasures in which State, as hath been obferved before, they should marry and beget Children: And upon admitting this as a true Principle, which was generally admitted by the Pharifees, it was utterly impoffible to adjust the Marriages in another Life. The Rabbins have labour'd indeed to reconcile thefe two Notions, but were not able. Our bleffed Saviour hath given a full Solution. Jefus answered and said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the Power of GOD: For in the Refurrection they neither marry, nor are given in H 4 Mar

Marriage; but are as the Angels of GOD in Heaven. And when the Multitude heard this, they were aftonished at His Doctrine.

I HAVE now gone through what I propos'd to fay concerning the Jewish Notion of the Refurrection, proved their Belief of it from their most ancient and authentick Rabbinical Books, their Mifna and Zohar, from the concurrent Testimony of their Do&tors of the greatest Note: I have given their final Causes of the Refurrection, and fhewed that they believed, that the fame Body and all Mankind would be raised. I have stated the Objections of the Sadducees, and colle &ted the Answers of the Jewish Doctors only. to them, which will be a Taste of Rabbinical Reafoning. I have omitted feveral curious Points of Jewish Learning concerning this Doctrine, and noble Hints of our great Pocock, and other famous Doctors of the Jews, as conceiving they would be improper for fuch an English Treatife, I have been wholly filent concerning fome very. confiderable Topicks, which are an immediate Sequel of the prefent Subject; as, the Millenium, or temporal Reign of the Messiah upon Earth, the second Resurrection, or Translation to Heaven, and Confummation of all Things; because I would not deviate from my Subjec,

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DISSERTATION

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ATHENAGORAS,

And his REMAINS.

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HAT was the Subject of S. Paul's famous Sermon in the Areopagus at Athens, Jefus and a Refurrection, are

the two Points here difcourfed on by the great Athenian Philofopher, and Chriftian, Athenagoras. The Honour of the First he defends in his Apology, and the Truth and Certainty of the Second he proves in his Difcourfe on that Head. The Importance of the Matter, and great CharaЄter of the Author, are fuch as will deferved-. ly engage our deepest Attention: Each of them feem mutually to advance and set off

the

the other: The Philofopher's extensive Genius, and large Compafs of Learning, enable him to speak of his Subject with a due Luftre and Magnificence of Thought; and fuch great and elevated Topicks called for the whole Philofopher to exert himself. Antiquity hath been guilty of the Ingratitude of leaving us no Account of this Champion of our Faith, infomuch that his very Name had been loft, were it not fecured by his own Writings.

*

OUR Author, as appears from his Works, by which alone we can form any Character of him, was of a magnificent and enterprizing Spirit, difcuffing the highest Points of Philofophy, and defending the capital Articles of Religion. A rich Vein of Thought flows through all his Compofitions, and he is plainly very far from endeavouring to fay all that can be faid on the Subject he handles. He feems to have had a warm and clear Imagination, which made him conceive Things fully and a great Sagacity and Judgment, which enabled him to make a fine Arrangement of his Notions, and determine with great Accuracy and Exactness. His Style is ftrong and manly, and his Ex

* Athenagoras, nobilis Philofophus Athenienfis, non minus Chriftiana, quàm Gentilium Theologia, ac Scientiâ celebris, claruit circa An. CLXXVII Altum de eo filentium eft apud Eusebium & Hieronymum, nec ex veteribus quifquam ejus meminit, præter Methodiunr Patarenfem. Cav. Hift. Literar. p.49.

preffions

preffions bold and raised. The Style, indeed, and Expreffion, of all the Greek Philofophers, differs very much from that of their other Authors, and Athenagoras feems above most others to have chiefly affected the Sublime in his Expreffion, but to have been abrupt in his Style or Manner.

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THE learned Peter Nannius juftly observes a Difficulty in tranflating him, upon this Account: And farther likewife, becaufe he ' reasons not only in Philofophical Matters and Questions, but alfo in the highest Myfteries of Christianity; fo that whoever engages with him, will not have only to do with a most able Philofopher, but also with a most learned and skilful Divine; and that too in a very arduous Point, the Doctrine of the Refurrection of the Dead, on which Point, as on a Hinge, the Whole of Chriftianity turns. His Difcourfe on the Refurre&tion he calls alfo, a Golden Treatife, and ⚫ valuable above all Jewels; in which all the

† Nobis præter ea incommoda, id quoque moleftia fuit, quod hic nofter Athenagoras non in Philofophicis Rebus fed in altiffimis. Chriftianitatis Myfteriis philofophetur: Ut qui eum aggrediatur, non minus cum peritiffimo Theologo, quam prudentiffimo Philofopho negotium habeat, idque in re graviffimâ, nimirum defunctorum Corporum Refurrectione, de quâ cardo ac fumma totius Chriftiane Religionis pendet.

In Libello vere Aureo, & fuper omnia gemmarum pretia æftimando refutantur omnia quæ Returrectionem ambiguam faciunt, afferuntur ea quæ incredulis hominibus, velint nolint, Refurrectionis fidem infigunt. Non enim hic Athenagoras nofter verifimilibus agit, que pronitatem credendi, non neceffitatem habeant: Sed omnia demonftrationibus communit,

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