But there cannot be a stronger condemnation of his lordship's conduct, than his own words upon another occasion in his famous Dissertation upon Parties. "Some men there are, the pests of society I think them, who pretend a great regard to religion in general, but who take every opportunity of declaiming publicly against that system of religion, or at least against that churchestablishment, which is received in Britain. Just so the men, of whom I have been speaking, affect a great regard to liberty in general; but they dislike so much the system of liberty established in Britain, that they are incessant in their endeavours to puzzle the plainest thing in the world, and to refine and distinguish away the life and strength of our constitution, in favour of the little, present, momentary turns, which they are retained to serve. What now would be the consequence, if all these endeavours should succeed? I am persuaded that the great philosophers, divines, lawyers, and politicians, who exert them, have not yet prepared and agreed upon the plans of a new religion, and of new constitutions in church and state. We should find ourselves therefore without any form of religion, or civil government. The first set of these missionaries would take off all the restraints of religion from the governed; and the latter set would remove, or render ineffectual all the limitations and controls, which liberty hath prescribed to those that govern, and disjoint the whole frame of our constitution. Entire dissolution of manners, confusions, anarchy, or perhaps absolute monarchy, would follow; for it is possible, nay probable, that in such a state as this, and amidst such a rout of lawless savages, men would choose this government, absurd as it is, rather than have no government at all." It is to be lamented that such a genius should be so employed: but the misapplication of those excellent talents with which God had intrusted him, was his reigning fault through every stage, through every scene of life. That which Lord Digby* said of the great Lord Stafford, may with more truth and justice be affirmed of him, that the malignity of his practices was hugely aggravated by those rare abilities of his, whereof God had given him the use, but the devil the application. * Rushworth, vol. 4, p. 228. DISSERTATION II. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING ISHMAEL. ABRAHAM was the patriarch of greatest renown next after the times of Noah. He was favoured with several revelations; and from him two very extraordinary nations descended, the Ishmaelites and Israelites, concerning each of whom there are some remarkable prophecies. Ishmael, though the son of the bond-woman and not properly the child of promise, was yet distinguished by some express predictions for the comfort and satisfaction of both his parents. In the 16th chapter of Genesis, when Hagar fled from the face of her mistress, who had dealt hardly with her, the angel of the Lord found her in the wilderness, and said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael (that is, God shall hear) because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.'-ver. 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12. In the following chapter, when Isaac was promised to Abraham, God still reserved a blessing for Ishmael, Behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly: twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.'-ver. 20. Afterwards, when Hagar and Ishmael were sent forth into the wilderness, God said unto Abraham, Gen. xxi. 13, And also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.' The same is repeated to Hagar, ver. 18, 'I will make him a great nation.' And if we are curious to trace the course of events, we shall see how exactly these particulars have been fulfilled from the earliest down to the present times. 'I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude' and again, Behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.' These passages evince that the prophecy doth not so properly relate to Ishmael, as to his posterity, which is here foretold to be very numerous Ishmael married an Egyptian woman, as his mother was likewise an Egyptian, Gen. xxi. 21: and in a few years his family was increased so, that in the 37th chapter of Genesis we read of Ishmaelites trading into Egypt. Afterwards his seed was multiplied exceedingly in the Hagarenes, who probably were denominated from his mother Hagar; and in the Nabathæans, who had their name from his son Nebaioth; and in the Itureans, who were so called from his son Jetur or Itur; and in the Arabs, especially the Scenites, and the Saracens, who overran a great part of the world; and his descendants, the Arabs, are a very numerous people at this day. 'Twelve princes shall he beget.'-This circumstance is very particular, but it was punctually fulfilled; and Moses hath given us the names of these twelve princes, Gen. xxv. 16.-"These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations:' by which we are to understand, not that they were so many distinct sovereign princes, but only heads of clans or tribes. Strabo frequently mentions the Arabian 'phylarchs,' as he denominates them, or rulers of tribes and Melo, quoted by Eusebius from Alexander Polyhistor, a heathen historian, relates that "Abraham of his Egyptian wife begat twelve sons (he should have said one son, who begat twelve sons) who departing into Arabia, divided the region between them, and were the first kings of the inhabitants; whence even to our days the Arabians have twelve kings of the same names as the first." And ever since the people have been governed by phylarchs, and have lived in tribes; and still continue to do so, as Thevenott and other modern travellers testify. 'And I will make him a great nation.'-This is repeated twice or thrice; and it was accomplished, as soon as in the regular course of nature it could be accomplished. His seed in process of time grew up into a great nation, and such they continued for several ages, and such they remain to this day. They might indeed emphatically be styled a great nation,' when the Saracens bad made * Εκ μεν της Αίγυπτίας γεννησαι υἱως 16, ώς δη εἰς ̓Αραβίαν ἀπαλλαγέντας διέλεσθαι την χώραν και πρώτος βασίλευσαι των εγχωριων ὅθεν ἕως καθ' ἡμας δώδεκα είναι βασιλεις ̓Αραβων ὁμώνυμος ἐκεινοις. Ex Ægyptia liberos duodecim genuisse, qui in Arabiam profecti cam inter se diviserint locique hominibus principes imperarint: ex quo factum sit, ut reges Arabum duodecim primis illis cognomines ad nostra usque tempora numerentur.-Euseb. Præpar. Evang. lib. 9. c. 19, p. 421, Edit. Vigeri. [Translated in the text.] ↑ See part I, b. 2, c. 32 See likewise Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, book c cap. 9. those rapid and extensive conquests, and erected one of the largest empires that ever were in the world. And he will be a wild man.'-In the original it is a 'wild-ass man,' and the learned Bochart* translates it, tam ferus quam onager-as wild as a wild ass; so that that should be eminently true of him, which in the book of Job, xl. 12, is affirmed of mankind in general, Man is born like a wild ass's colt.' But what is the nature of the creature, to which Ishmael is so particularly compared? It cannot be described better than it is in the same book of Job, xxxix. 5, &c. Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he search eth after every green thing.' Ishmael therefore and his posterity were to be wild, fierce, savage, ranging in the deserts, and not easily softened and tamed to society: and whoever hath read or known any thing of this people, knoweth this to be their true and genuine character. It is said of Ishmael, Gen. xxi. 20, that 'he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer:' and the same is no less true of his descendants than of himself. He dwelt in the wilderness;' and his sons still inhabit the same wilderness, and many of them neither sow nor plant, according to the best accounts ancient and modern.†And he became an archer;' and such were the Itureans, whose bows and arrows are famous in all authors;‡ such were the mighty men of Keder in Isaiah's time, Isaiah xxi. 17 and such the Arabs have been from the beginning, and are at this time. It was late before they admitted the use of fire-arms among them; the greater part of them still are strangers to them, and still continue skilful archers.§ His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.'-The one is the natural, and almost necessary consequence of the other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wil * Hierozoic. pars prior, lib. 3, cap. 16, col. 878. + Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 14, cap. 4, p. 14, edit. Valesii, Paris. 1681. Harria, vol. 2, book 2, chap. 9. Receives the bending figure of a bow.-Dryden.' -Itureis cursus fuit inde sagittis.-Lucan. VII. 230. [Hence Ituræa's sons their arrows shot.] Thevenot in Ha is, vol. 2, book 2, chap 9. derness; and his posterity have all along infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and incursions. They live in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to mankind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies to them again, that several attempts have been made to extirpate them; and even now, as well as formerly, travellers are forced to go with arms and in caravans or large companies, and to march and keep watch and guard like a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of these free-booters, who run about in troops, and rob and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. These robberies they also justify, "by alleging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there. And on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also' on every body else; always supposing a sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient change the expression, and instead of 'I robbed a man of such or such a thing,' to say, I gained it. "*" ་ 'And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren;' shall 'tabernacle,' for many of the Arabs dwell in tents, and are therefore called 'Scenites.' It appears that they dwelt in tents in the wilderness so long ago as in Isaiah's and Jeremiah's time, Isaiah xiii. 20. Jer. iii. 2; and they do the same at this day. This is very extraordinary, that his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him,' and yet that he should be able to dwell in the presence of all his brethren:' but extraordinary as it was, this also hath been fulfilled both in the person of Ishmael, and in his posterity. As for Ishmael himself, the sacred historian afterwards relates, Gen. xxv. 17, 18, that the years of the life of Ishmael were an hundred and thirty and seven years, and he died in the presence of all his brethren.' As for his posterity, they dwelt likewise in the presence of all their brethren, Abraham's sons by Keturah, the Moabites and Ammonites descendants of Lot, the Israelites descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Edomites, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. And they • Sale's Prelim. Discourse to the Koran, sect. 1, p. 30, 31, where he also quota, Voyage dans la Palest. p. 220, &c. |