[12]. See Search’s Light of Nature, passim.
[13]. The theory of a nervous fluid, or animal spirits, is generally abandoned.
[14]. See this doubtful doctrine discussed post Quest. 60.
[15]. He who has created all things, with all their relations, and who is the universal Sovereign, has a right to the allegiance of his rational creatures, and they are under obligation to obey his laws, because it is his will that they should do so. He has connected our interest with our duty, as a motive to obedience, and because he is good; but if we should substitute utility for his authority, and conform to his laws, merely because they are advantageous, we rebel against our Sovereign, and renounce his authority, that we may pursue our own advantage. Virtue is amiable for its intrinsic rectitude. If we choose to practice it merely because beautiful, we please ourselves; and though the excellency of virtue is intended as a motive, and it is well for the man who is charmed by it, yet, if this be the only inducement, he has lost sight of the Divine authority, and his virtue is no obedience to the laws of God. If the obligation of virtue be founded solely on its utility, or beauty, we are at liberty to forego our advantage, or pleasure without guilt, and remorse of conscience will be unaccountable. It is also fit and proper, that we should practice virtue, but this is no more to be substituted for the Divine authority, than the other motives of advantage or pleasure. If it be objected, that the fitness of moral good is eternal, and a rule even to Deity, and so may be deemed a foundation of the obligation of human virtue. It is conceded that the fitness of virtue is eternal, for God is eternal, and has been always holy, and just; in the same manner also the beauty of virtue is eternal; but to suppose these to have existed anterior to thought and action, and to be independent of an eternally and immutably holy God is to indulge the mind in speculations, which, to say the least of them, are groundless. We may as well assign a cause to eternal existence, as to eternal holiness. When the Creator formed the Universe of intelligent creatures, he gave them, with their existence, the various relations and circumstances which sprang up with them: and their obligations with respect to him and his works originated at the same time, and from the same source; which could be no other than the Divine pleasure; and the positive express appointments, which have been since super-added, rest upon the same basis, the will of God.
That we might discern his will and conform to it, he has set before us his own character, which in all things is good. He has given us reason, or active intellectual powers capable of pursuing the truth, and discovering his character, as a rule of our conduct. And because reason is matured by slow degrees, and the advantages for its improvement are unequal, he has given us a sense susceptible of the impressions of good and evil, by which we can distinguish between moral good and evil almost as easily, as by our natural senses we discern the differences between light and darkness, sweetness and bitterness; and thus has he rendered the judgment upon our own actions almost always unavoidable. The light of nature has been confirmed by express revelation; and because the law of nature identifies itself with the written law of God, the obligation of both rests upon the same foundation, the Sovereign will.
[16]. Where a covenant is, there should be the death of the devoted victim.
[17]. PROPHETS BEFORE THE CAPTIVITY.
With the order and times of their Prophecies.
| Years before Christ. | ||
|---|---|---|
| 812 | Amaziah king of Judah, Jeroboam II. king of Israel | Jonah sent with a message. 2 Kings xiii. 20. xiv. 25. |
| 800 | Uzziah king of Judah. Jeroboam II. | Joel i. ii. iii. |
| 800 | Jeroboam II. king of Israel. Uzziah king of Judah | Amos i.——ix. |
| 800 | Jeroboam II. Uzziah | Hosea i. ii. iii. |
| 772 | Menahem I. | Hosea iv. |
| 770 | Menahem II. | Jonah i. ii. iii. iv. |
| 759 | Uzziah 52. Pekah 1. | Isaiah vi. ii. iii. iv. v. |
| 753 | Jotham 5. Pekah 7. | Micah i. ii. |
| 742 | Ahaz 1. Pekah 18. | Isaiah vii. |
| In the same year | Isaiah viii. ix. x. | |
| In the same year | Isaiah xvii. | |
| 740 | Ahaz 3. Pekah 20. | Isaiah i. |
| In the same year | Isaiah xxviii. | |
| 739 | Aphaz 4. | Hosea v. vi. |
| 726 | Hezekiah 2. | Isaiah xiv. ver. 28, &c. |
| In the same year | Isaiah xv. xvi. | |
| 725 | Hezekiah 3. Hoshea 6. | Hosea vii.-xiv. Micah iii. iv. v. vi. vii. |
| 720 | Hezekiah 7. | Nahum i. ii. iii. |
| 715 | Hezekiah 13. | Isaiah xxiii.-xxvii. |
| 714 | Hezekiah 14. | Isaiah xxxviii. xxxix. |
| 714 | Hezekiah 14. | Isaiah xxix. xxx.-xxxv. |
| In the same year | Isaiah xxii. ver. 1-15. | |
| In the same year | Isaiah xxi. | |
| 713 | Hezekiah 15. | Isaiah xx. |
| In the same year | Isaiah xviii. xix. | |
| 710 | Hezekiah 18. | Isaiah x. ver. 5, &c. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. ver. 28, &c. |
| In the same year | Isaiah xxxvi. xxxvii. | |
| In the same year | Isaiah xl.-xliii. &c. | |
| 698 | Manasseh 1. | Isaiah xxii. ver. 15. |
| 628 | Josiah 13. | Jeremiah i. ii. |
| 623 | Josiah 18. | Jeremiah xi. ver. 1-18. Jeremiah iii.-x. xii.-xxi. Jeremiah xi. ver. 18, &c. |
| 611 | Josiah 31. | Habbakkuk i. ii. iii. Zephaniah i. ii. iii. |
| 610 | Jehoiakim 1. | Jeremiah xii. ver. 1-24. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxvi. | |
| 606 | Jehoiakim 4. | Jeremiah xxv. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxv. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xlvi. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxvi. ver. 1-9. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xlv. | |
| In the same year | Daniel i. | |
| 605 | Jehoiakim 5. | Jeremiah xxxvi. ver. 9, &c. |
| 603 | Jehoiakim 7. | Daniel ii. |
| 599 | Zedekiah 1. | Jeremiah xxii. ver. 24, &c. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxiii | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xiii. ver. 13, &c. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxiv. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xlix. ver. 34, &c. | |
| 598 | Zedekiah 2. | Jeremiah xxix. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxx. xxxi. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxvii. | |
| 596 | Zedekiah 4. | Jeremiah xxviii. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah l. li. | |
| 595 | Zedekiah 5. Jehoiachin’s capt. 5 | Ezekiel i.-vii. |
| 594 | Zedekiah 6. Jehoiachin’s capt. 6 | Ezekiel viii.-xi. |
| 593 | Zedekiah 7. Jehoiachin’s capt. 7 | Ezekiel xii.-xix. |
| In the same year, fifth month | Ezekiel xx.-xxiii. | |
| 591 | Zedekiah 9. Jehoiachin’s capt. 9 | Jeremiah xxi. xxxiv ver. 1-8. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xlvii. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xlviii. xlix. ver. 1-34. | |
| In the same year | Ezekiel xxiv. xxv. | |
| 590 | Zedekiah 10. Jehoiachin’s capt. 10 | Jeremiah xxxvii. ver. 1-11. |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxiv. ver. 8, &c. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxvii. ver. 11-16 | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxii. xxiii. | |
| In the same year | Ezekiel xxix. ver. 1-17. xxx. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxvii. ver. 17, &c. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxviii. ver. 1-14. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxix. ver. 15, &c. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xxxviii. ver. 14, &c. | |
| 589 | Zedekiah 11. Jehoiachin’s capt 11. first month | Ezekiel xxxvi. xxxvii. xxxviii. |
| In the same year, third month | Ezekiel xxxi. | |
| In the same year, fourth month | Jeremiah xxxix. ver. 1-11. lii. ver. 1-30. | |
| In the same year, fifth or sixth month | Jeremiah xxxix. ver. 11-15. xl. ver. 1-7. | |
| In the same year | Jeremiah xl. ver. 7. xli. xlii. xliii. xliv. ver. 1-8. |
PROPHETS AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE, DURING THE CAPTIVITY.