Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	aaron_n	succession_n	tribe_n	26	3	11.2472	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70111	An excellent discourse proving the divine original and authority of the five books of Moses written originally in French by Monsieur Du Bois de la Cour, and approved by six doctors of the Sorbon ; to which is added a second part, or an examination of a considerable part of Pere Simon's critical history of the Old Testament ... by W.L.	Filleau de la Chaise, Jean, 1631-1688.; Lorimer, William, d. 1721.	1682 (1682)	Wing F904; ESTC R28418	86,453	212

body must have written those Books and accommodated them to the Ceremonies and Laws which were already in use adding thereunto those Miracles the more to engage the People unto the observance of that Law But all this is so far void of all probability that there was never any till now that durst in earnest assert it 37. How could it be said for example that the Pentateuch was written and published long after the Death of Moses and that it caused the Establishment of the Law and Worship of the Jewish Religion which it contains Then it must be said also that the Ark and Tabernacle which are the Foundations of that Religion were not made till long after Moses and till that Book had been published but this is a thing absolutely impossible for all the Jews firmly believed that their Ark and Tabernacle were made by Moses as that Book relates and it is not conceivable why or on what account they could have taken up such an opinion if they had made them both themselves after they had seen and recived that Book which is now supposed not to have appeared in the World till a long time after Moses it would be doubtless one of the prettiest things in the World and the most unparallel'd either that this Book having been compiled all at once and beforehand with that prodigious number of Ceremonies and Laws as already in use they should afterwards have been Instituted and setled or that being compiled by degrees and according as all those things were Instituted and Established it should always have had as they say a retractive effect or influence and have wrought backwards so as to cause each of those Institutions to be Ascribed unto Moses 38. Likewise how could this People who at their first Imbracing of this Law must at least have known that it was not true that it had been in use amongst them ever since Moses his time and that there had been a continued Succession of Priests ever since Aaron how I say could this People have been able to perswade themselves Universally to believe that what was prescribed by that Book had always been practised amongst them and that the Priests whom it Ordained had received their Ministry from Aaron by an uninterrupted Succession And finally how upon the same principle could all the other Tribes and Families have suffered the Tribe of Levy and Race of Aaron to appropriate unto themselves all the priviledges belonging to the Priesthood and to the Office of the High Priest 39. There is no less absurdity in the other Supposition to wit that the Law having been given by Moses by word of Mouth was preserved for a time among the Jews by means of Tradition only and that afterwards those who committed it to writing added thereunto all those Miracles For besides that even this would be a kind of Miracle and a thing very hard to conceive that that People should have received a Law so strict and severe as that was from a Man who had done nothing extraordinary for proving that he had it from God how could it be that Moses who doubtless had the use of writing should have omitted a thing so necessary and not have committed to writing a Law that contained so many Observations so many Ceremonies and so many Rules that it was necessary to have it always before ones Eyes for fear of failing in some or other point of duty prescribed by it 40. And indeed we learn also from the Book it self that Moses did not sail to commit it to writing Moses as it is said Deut. 31. 9 10 11 12 13. wrote this Law and delivered it unto the Priests the Sons of Levy and unto all the Elders of Israel and commanded that it should be read before all Israel in their hearing at the end of every Seventh Year in the Feast of Tabernacles And it is also said in I do not know how many places of that Book That God commanded Moses to write that which he revealed to him upon the Mount if the Jews then had received that Law from him only by word of Mouth how could they have ever received a Book which should have contained a Lie so gross evident and which should have carried in it an express order from God which their Law-giver had not obeyed 41. That very Order to read the Law every Seventh Year at the Feast of Tabernacles as having been given by Moses doth further clearly show that it could not have been changed nor corrupted for it would have been impossible for such corruptions not to have been discovered or that being discovered they should have been suffered by a People devoted to that Law and whose devout Subjection to it was grounded upon their believing it to be of God and written by Moses besides that those Miracles being most visible to the Eye scattered throughout the Books repeated in divers places of them and linked with the principal transactions therein Recorded there had been a necessity of making a new Book to take them in and not meerly to alter for that purpose an old Book which had been already received 42. The Infidel then must yet once more return to that pretended vain-glorious humor of the Jewish Nation and maintain that the Jews could easily suffer this falsification and that they were even glad that all those Miracles were added to their Law and that their Chronicles were filled with them 43. This might have some probability if the Question were only about a matter of Civil or Political concernment as for example The Romans could have been content that one should have told them that they were the Off-spring of Aeneas and it may be the French would be well enough pleased that one should derive their Original from the Trojans these are things which please some Mens Fancies and may pass without contradiction it being no Bodies interest to oppose them and they do not interfer with other things that have been established and stedfastly believed time out of mind and that are looked upon as the only considerable But as touching the Jews a People so devoted to their Religion so faithful Observers of the least Traditions and to whom lying was so severely forbidden this supposition is altogether without any appearance of truth 44. For I cannot believe that the Infidels boldness to deny any thing that makes against them dare adventure so far as to dispute all the Evidence we have of the Jews Zeal for their Religion since even yet to this day they have so great a veneration for that Law that though they have been dispersed above these Sixteen Hundred Years and see no accomplishment of what was promised to them notwithstanding they observe it still as far as they can with the same strictness as they did at first and wait continually for the fulfilling of those promises how improbable is it then that they should have suffered that which they looked upon as God's own word to be mixed and blended with

general Sum of the Males of the whole Tribe as appears Vers 39 Answer They were numbered because God would have it a known truth upon Record that there were at that time so many Males of the whole Tribe of Levi and no more they were put into the particular Sums because the particular Sums were to contain all the Males of the several Families whether they were First-born or not but they were left out of the general Sum because it was to ballance the general Sum of the First-born of the other Tribes and so no First-born Levites were to be taken into it Secondly I Answer That it becomes not us to call God to an account and to ask why he doth such a thing when we know certainly that he hath done it he giveth not account of any of his matters Job 33. 13. Even an Heathen King when his Understanding returned unto him had so much Reason and Religion as to confess unto God's praise That he doth according to his Will c. and none can say unto him what doest thou Dan. 4. 35. This is as true of God's way of Writeing his Word as it is of his way of Governing the World But notwithstanding of some things that may be secret and to us unaccountable in both yet we are sure in general that God doth all things well and wisely in the one and the other Seventhly He Objects Exod. 16. 35. where it is said That the Children of Israel did eat Manna Forty Years until they came unto the Borders of the Land of Canaan It is pretended that Moses could not write this Verse because he died before the Children of Israel left off eating of Manna which was not before they came to Gilgal in the Plains of Jericho beyond Jordan as appears from Josh 5. 10 11 12. Answer I deny the consequence of this Argument that because the Children of Israel continued to eat Manna after the death of Moses therefore Moses could not write this Verse any strength that this Argument may seem to have depends upon a false supposition that Moses was no Prophet and knew no more than other ordinary Men or that he did not write by the Spirit of Prophecy for if Moses was a great Prophet as certalnly he was Numb 12. 6 7 8. Deut. 34. 10. and if he knew more than other ordinary Men as certainly he did Dent. 31. from Vers 1 to 8 and from Vers 27 inclusively unto Vers 30. then he might easily know by the Spirit of Prophecy how long the Children of Israel should eat Manna and when and where the Manna should cease and it is most certain that long before his death the Lord God revealed unto him That the Children of Israel should wander or feed as it is rendered on the Margine of our Bible in the Wilderness Forty Years as is evident from Numb 14. 26 33. 34 35. and he knew well enough without having it immediately revealed to him that they had nothing else but Manna to live upon in the Wilderness yet God might tell him that they should not be starved but the Manna should be continued to them and their Children till their Children were entered within the Borders of the Land of Canaan and sufficiently provided for in an ordinary way without Manna Now Moses believing this and knowing infallibly that it would be so as the Lord had spoken he might write of it before his death in the same manner as he would have done in case he had lived to see it all fulfilled he might write of it in the Preterit Tense because the whole Forty Years were almost expired before his death and they had already eaten Manna for many Years and as for the short time that remained in which they were to have the Manna continued to them he was so sure of it that the Manna should be continued to them and that they should eat of it till they passed over Jordan and entered into Canaan that he needed not to alter the Tense but might very well express it altogether in one and the same Preterit Tense for the use of that and succeeding Generations to whom it would certainly be a thing past After all the vain attempts made hitherto by P. Simon to prove that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch at last out come the Arguments that Spinosa had formerly borrowed as he says from Aben Ezra to prove his position that Moses could not be the Author of the Books attributed to him Eighthly Then P. Simon Objects Deut. 1. 1. And to put some colour upon the business and to make the Objection seem to have some weight in it he thus renders the First Verse of Deut. These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan in the Wilderness and then he Argues that the Book of Deuteronomy could not be written by Moses because he never went over Jordan but lived and died on this side Jordan in the Wilderness he that wrote thus must have been in the Land of Canaan which therefore could not be Moses but some Body after his death that wrote thus of him that he spoke such words unto all Israel beyond Jordan Answer It seems strange to me that P. Simon who is such a Learned Hebrician was not ashamed of this Argument whereof the whole strength lies on the signification of the Hebrew word Beeber indeed if Beeber signifie only Trans beyond then the Argument is good but if Beebers signifie also Cis on this side as it is rendered in our English Bibles then the Argument is stark nought we must therefore for clearing of this matter inquire what Beeber signifies And First I grant that Beeber doth some times signifie trans beyond I grant also that the Vulgar Latine the Seventy and that Edition of Munsters Translation which I have render it beyond but that is no proof that Beeber signifies always beyond and that it should be so rendered in this place for P. Simon himself finds fault with all these Three Translations and acknowledges that they may be mended in several places why then may not this be one of the places that ought to be mended in these Translations For Secondly It is not to be granted because it is false that Beeber always signifies beyond I demonstrate as clearly as any thing of this nature can be demonstrated that Beeber signifies also Cis on this side and that in some places it must do so and cannot do otherwise as for instance in Josh 1. 14 15. where the same words Beeber Haijarden are twice repeated and of necessity must be Translated on this side Jordan and cannot be otherwise Translated For whosoever he was that wrote the Book of Joshua and when or wheresoever it was written yet still this is true That before any of the Israelites had passed over Jordan here Joshua is brought in making a Speech to the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh in which Speech he tells them That Moses had