Covenant with the Lord Iosh. chap. 24. v. 25 26. but because we have no Book extant either of the Covenant of Moses or Ioshua it must necessarily be granted that the Book perished unless we will be as mad as the Chaldee Paraphrast Ionatan and wrest the Scripture as we please for he being prest with this difficulty chose rather to corrupt the Scripture then confess his Ignorance for those words in the 26. v. of the 24. chap. of Iosh. Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the the Law of God c. he render'd thus in his Chaldee Translation And Ioshua wrote these words and kept them with the Book of the Law of God there is no medling with Men who will see nothing but what they list is not this denying what is Scripture and forging new at our pleasure We then conclude that this Book of the Law of God was not the Pentateuk but quite another which the Author of the Pentateuk hath orderly interwoven with his work as appears by what hath been and shall be further said where the forecited place in Deutronomy saith that Moses wrote a Book of the Law the Historian adds that he delivered it to the Priests and commanded them at certain set times to read it before all the People which implyes that the Book must be much less then the Pentateuk seeing at one meeting it might be read all over and understood by the People nor can we here forbear to observe that of all the Books Written by Moses this only of the second Covenant and his Song which he afterwards Writ for all the People to Learn he commanded to be Religiously kept because the first Covenant obliged only those that were present and the second not only all present but their posterity also Deut. chap. 29. v. 14 15. He therefore commanded this Book of the second Covenant to be carefully and Religiously preserved to future Ages and also his Song because future Ages were chiefly concern'd in it Seeing then it is not evident that Moses ever writ any Books beside the Book of the Law and his Song which he commanded to be kept and that many things in the Pentateuk could not be Written by him I conclude that no Man can upon any good ground but must altogether against reason make Moses the Author of the Pentateuk but some body may perhaps here ask whether Moses besides these Books did not write the Laws when they were first revealed to him that is whether in the space of forty Years he did not set down in Writing any of those Laws which he prescribed beside those few contain'd in the Book of the first Covenant to this I answer that tho' I should grant it to be very agreeable to reason that Moses should commit to Writing those Laws which he Communicated to the People at the same time and place when and where they were publisht yet I deny that it is lawful upon this Ground to affirm he did for I have already shewn we ought in like Cases to determin nothing but what is manifestly proved either by Scripture it self or by consequences drawn from the Principles of it and not because a thing seems Consonant to Reason for Reason it self doth not oblige us to be possitive It may be the Senate of Seventy Elders communicated to the People Moses's Edicts in writing which were afterwards collected by him that writ the Pentateuk and were orderly inserted into the History of Moses's Life and so much for the five Books of Moses It is now time to examin the rest the Book of Ioshuah for like Reasons could not be written by Ioshua it must be some other Person that gives so good a Character of him in several places of that Book Iosh. Chap. 6. v. 27. The Lord was with Ioshua and his Fame was noised throughout all the Country that he omitted nothing but did all that Moses commanded Chap. 8. v. 35. Chap. 11. v. 15. That he waxed Old called all the People together and at last dyed Moreover some things are related which happen'd after his Death namely that the People continued to worship God as long as the Old men lived who knew Ioshua In the 16. Chap. v. 10. It is said that Ephraim and Manasseh did not drive out the Cananites that dwelt in Gezur but the Cananites dwell among the Ephramites to this day and serve under Tribute Which is the same Expression we find in the first chap. of Iudges v. 21. But the Iebuzites dwell with the Children of Benjamin in Ierusalem unto this day Which manner of speaking implies the Writer relates what was long ago past as appears Iosh. Chap. 15. Verse the last the Iebuzites dwell with the Children of Iudah unto this day The same Expression is likewise used in the History of Kaleb beginning at the 13 th Verse of the said Chapter The building of an Altar beyond Iordan by the two Tribes and a half mention'd in the 22. Iosh. v. 10. In all Probability happen'd after Ioshuah's Death because in all that story there is not so much as one word said of him but the People only deliberated to make War sent Embassadors received and approved the Answer which was returned Lastly it appears by the 14 th Verse of the 10 th Chap. That the Book of Ioshua was written many Ages after his Death for the Text saith and there was no day like that before or after it that the Lord hearkened to the Voice of a Man If then Ioshua writ any Book it must be that of Iasher mentioned in the same story v. the 13 th As for the Book of Iudges I believe no Man in his right Wits will think it written by the Iudges themselves for the end of the History in the 2 d. Chap. clearly shews it was all written by one single Person who tells us in many places that in those days there was no King in Israel which is an argument it was written in a Time when the People had Kings Concerning the Books of Samuel there needs no deliberation seeing the History is carried on so far beyond his death but however let this be observed that this Book must be written many Ages after him for the Hestorian in the 1 st Book of Sam. Chap. 9. v. 9. saith in a parenthesis Before time in Israel when a Man went to inquire of God thus he spake come let us go to the Seer for he that is now called a Prophet was before time called a Seer The two Books of the Kings as appears by the Books themselves were collected out of what was written of the Reign of Solomon see the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 11. v. 5. And out of the Chronicles both of the Kings of Iudah and Israel chap. 14. v. 19 29. The rest of the Acts of Ieroboam how he warred and how he reigned behold they are written in the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah We therefore conclude that all the Books which
those that lived in his days and therefore 't is likely this was the Book of the Law of God which he set forth and expounded and I likewise believe it the first of all those Books he wrote because it contains the Laws of his Country which the People extreamly wanted and also because this Book is with no Antecedent Connexion joyned to another but without any kind of reference begins thus These be the Words of Moses And after he finished this Book and taught the People the Laws I believe he applyed himself to compose the whole History of the Iewish Nation from the Creation of the World to the first Destruction of the City Ierusalem inserting this Book of Deutronomy in its proper Place and perhaps to the first five Books gave the Name of Moses because his Life is the Principal Subject of them for the same reason he called the Sixth Book by the Name of Ioshuah the Seventh Iudges the Eighth Ruth the Ninth and perhaps the Tenth Samuel the Eleventh and Twelfth Kings but whether Esdras perfected them as he desired with his own Hand inquire in the next Chapter CHAP. IX Whether Esdras perfected the Books which we suppose he wrote and whether the Marginal Notes which are found in the Hebrew Copies be divers readings HOW much the inquiry made in the former Chapter concerning the Pen-Man of the Books therein mentioned may conduce to the perfect understanding of them will be easily guess'd by those Places only which we have quoted to make good our Opinion in this Point which places would otherwise have seemed very obscure but beside the Writer there are other things observable in the Books themselves which Common Superstition will not suffer the vulgar to discern The cheifest of them is that Esdras whom I will suppose to be the Writer of the foresaid Books till some body shew me another more likely to pen them did not with his own Hand perfect the Relations which the Books contain but did only collect the Histories out of several writers and sometimes only copying them out left them to Posterity neither examin'd nor put into any Order but what should hinder him from compleatly finishing his Work unless it were untimely death I cannot conjecture we have indeed no Antient intire Iewish Histories but out of a few fragments left us it is evident that Esdras as I have already said gather'd his stories from several Writers and left them very confused and imperfect The History of Ezekiah as it is found written from the Relation of Isaiah the Prophet in the Second Book of Kings chap. 18. v. 17. is recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and the story in the Chronicles see Book the 2 d. Chap. 32. v. 32. We find related almost in the same words very few excepted as it is in the forenamed Chapter of the Book of Kings from whence nothing else can be concluded but that there were divers readings of Isaiah's Relation unless some will also here dream of Misteries Moreover the last Chapter of this Book of the Kings is contained in the last Chapter of the Prophet Ieremy and we find likewise the 7 th Chap. of the Second Book of Samuel in the 17 th Chap. of the first Book of Chronicles but the words in divers places so much changed that it may be easily known the two Chapters were taken out of two different Copies of the History written by the Prophet Nathan Lastly The Genealogy of the Kings of Edom which we have Gen. Chap. 36. from v. 31 th Is set down in the same words in the 1 st Chap. of the 1 st Book of Chron. Beginning at the 43 th Verse Now tho' it be evident that the Author of the Book of Chronicles took the things which he related out of other Historians yet he had them not out of the Twelve Books which we believe were written by Esdras and without doubt had we the Original Histories it would so appear but because we have them not let us examin the Histories as they now are observing their Order and Connexion their various Repetitions and their disagreement in Calculation of Time that we may judge of other things Consider first the History of Iudah and Thamar Gen. Chap. 38. The Historian begins his Narration in these words And it came to pass at that time that Iudah went down from his Brethren Which time must necessarily have reference to some other time of which he had immediately spoken before but to that time spoken of in the preceding Chapter of Genesis it could have no Relation for from the time that Ioseph was carried into Egypt until Iacob the Patriarch went down thither with all his Family there passed but twenty two Years for Ioseph when he was Sold by his Brethren was but Seventeen Years Old and when he was sent for out of Prison by Pharaoh but Thirty to which if the Seven Years of Plenty and Two of Famin be added they make up in all no more than Two and Twenty in which space of time no Man can conceive so many things should happen namely that Iudah should successively have three Sons of which the Eldest should at a fit Age marry Thamar and he dying the Second Brother should take her to Wife who also dyed and that sometime after this happen'd Iudah himself should ignorantly lye with his own Daughter in-Law Thamar and have two Children by her at one Birth whereof one likewise should within the aforesaid time of two and twenty Years become a Father Seeing then all these things cannot be referr'd to the time spoken of in Genesis but must necessarily relate to some other time spoken of in some other Book Esdras must therefore only Copy out this Story and unexamin'd add it to others but not only this Chapter but likewise the whole Story of Ioseph and Iacob must necessarily be taken out of several Historians so little congruity is there in it for the 48 th Chap. of Gen. tells us that when Ioseph brought his Father Iacob to Pharaoh Iacob was an hundred and thirty Years Old from which deduct twenty two which he passed in Mourning for the loss of Ioseph and seventeen which was Ioseph's Age when he was Sold with seven which he served for Rachel it will appear that he was fourscour and four Years Old when he Marryed Leah and that on the other side Dinah was scarce seven Years Old when she was Ravisht by Sechem and Simeon and Levi not fully eleven and twelve Years of Age when they Assaulted the City of Sechem and put all the People of it to the Sword. There is no need of particularizing all things of this kind in the Pentateuk if this only be consider'd that in the five Books all the Precepts and Historical Relations are promiscuously set down without any order without any regard had to time and that one and the same History is often and sometimes diversly repeated it must be granted that all these things were
just or unjust pious or impious And then I conclude that that Right is best maintained and the Government most safe where every Man hath free liberty to think and speak what he thinks These are the things Philosophical Reader which I offer to thy examination believing they will be acceptable to thee for the Excellency and Utility of the Subject as well of the whole Book as of every single Chapter to which many things might be added but to this Preface I do not intend the Dimensions of a Volum the chief things in it are sufficiently known to Philosophers to others I care not to commend this Treatise because I have not the least hope they will like it I know how fast those Prejudices stick which the mind of Man hath embraced under the form of Religion I known also 't is as impossible to root out Superstition as Fear out of the Minds of the common People whose constancy is but contumacy and are never to be govern'd by Reason but always rashly praise or dispraise The Vulgar therefore and all of like Affections with them I do not invite to read these things I had rather they should contemn the Book then be troublesome by making perverse Constructions of it as they use to do of all other things not profiting themselves but hindring others who would reason more like Phylosophers did they not think Reason ought to be but a Hand-maid to Divinity To Men of that Opinion I think this Work extreamly useful but because many have neither mind or leisure to read these things I am forced here as well as in the end of the Treatise to declare I have written nothing which I do not willingly submit to the Examination and Judgment of the chief Rulers of my Country For if they shall think any thing I say repugnant to the Laws or public Peace of it I willingly unsay and recant it I know my self a Man Subject to Mistake but I have taken the greatest Care I could not to Err and particularly that whatever I write may in all things be consonant to the Laws of my Country and agreeable to Piety and good Manners A TABLE Of the several CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF Prophesy CHAP. II. Of Prophets CHAP. III. Of the calling of the Jews and whether the Gift of Prophesy were peculiar only to the Jews CHAP. IV. Of the Divine Law. CHAP. V. The reason why Ceremonies were instituted of the belief of Scripture-Histories why and to whom it is necessary CHAP. VI. Of Miracles CHAP. VII Of the Interpretation of Scripture CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentatenk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XIV Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XV. How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVI No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XVIII That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XIX That in a free Commonwealth it is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentateuk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII Shews that Scripture teacheth nothing but what is very plain intending nothing but Mens Obedience neither doth it teach or declare any other thing of the divine Nature then what a Man may in a right Course of Life in some degree imitate CHAP. XIV What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XV. Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XVI How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVII No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVIII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XIX That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XX. That in a free Commonwealth it
is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. I. Concerning Prophesy PRophesy or Revelation is the true Knowledge of any thing revealed to Men by God and he is a Prophet who declares and expounds those things which God hath revealed to Persons that cannot have any certain knowledge of those Revelations but must therefore only by mere Faith receive and embrace them A Prophet was by the Iews called Nabi that is an Orator or Interpreter as appears in the 7 th chap. of Exodus v. 1 st And the Lord said unto Moses see I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet as if he should have said Aron by Interpreting to Pharaoh what thou say'st shall Act the Part of a Prophet and thou the Part of God. We will speak of Prophets in the next Chapter but in this only of Prophesy It follows from the definition which hath been given of it that Natural knowledge may be called Prophesy for those things which we know by the light of nature depend only upon the knowledge of God and his Eternal decrees but because this knowledge is natural to all Mankind being founded upon Principles common to all Men 't is of no value with the vulgar who always affecting things rare and out of their Road despise the Gifts of Nature and therefore whereever mention is made of Prophetical knowledge they totally exclude Natural which may with as much right be called Divine as the other whatever it be seeing the Nature of God of which we participate and the decrees of God dictate it unto us neither doth Natural knowledge differ from that which Men call Divine but only because Divine knowledge exceedeth the Limits of Natural and because the Laws of Humane Nature considered in themselves cannot be the cause of Divine knowledge but Natural knowledge in respect of the certainty which it includes and in respect of the Fountain from whence it proceeds namely from God himself doth in no wise give place to Prophetical knowledge unless some will think or rather dream that the Prophets had Humane Bodies but not Humane Souls and therefore their perceptions and knowledge were of a quite different Nature from ours But though natural knowledge be Divine yet they that possess and propagate it cannot be called Prophtes because the things which they teach may with equal certainty and in as high a degree be Apprehended and Embraced by others as well as by themselves and that too not by Faith only Since therefore our Mind for no other reason but only because it containeth in it self the Nature of God as its Object and also participating thereof is able to Form certain Notions which explicate the Nature of things and teach us the use of Life we may with reason conclude that the Nature of Man's mind being what 't is conceived to be is the prime Cause of Divine Revelation for all those things which we clearly and distinctly understand the Idea of God as we have already shewn and Nature dictate to us not in words but in a much more excellent manner and such as best suites with the Nature of the Mind as every one finds by his own experience who hath but tasted what certain knowledge is but because my cheif purpose is to speak of those things which belong only to the Scripture that little I have said of Natural knowledge shall suffice and I now proceed to other causes and means by which God reveals to Men those things which do exceed and also those which do not exceed the bounds of Natural knowledge for nothing hinders but that those things which we know by the Light of Nature God may by other ways communicate to Men of which now I will more fully Treat But whatsoever is said upon this Subject ought to be fetcht only from Scripture for we can say no more of things that pass our understanding then that which the Prophets have deliver'd to us either by word or writing and because we have not any Prophets that I know in these our days all that we have to do is diligently to peruse the Sacred Volums which the Prophets have left us but still with this caution that we determin nothing positively of things of this Nature nor attribute any thing to the Prophets themselves which they have not plainly spoken and taught But it is in the first place to be observed that the Iews never used to make mention of mediate and particular Causes nor ever regarded them but for the promoting of Religion Piety and Devotion had always recourse to God for Example if they got Money by the Trade of Merchandizing they said God gave it if they earnestly desired to do any thing they said God disposed their Hearts to it if they seriously thought on any thing they said it was declared to them by God so that every thing which the Scripture saith God declared to any one is not to be taken for Prophesy and Supernatural knowledge but that only which the Scripture expresly declares or from the Circumstances of the narration plainly appears to be Prophesy and Revelation If then we run through all the Sacred Volums we shall find that all those things which God revealed to the Prophets were revealed to them either by words or by Figures and Signs or else by both together and that the words and Signs were either real and true without the imagination of the hearing and seeing Prophet or but imaginary that is the fancy and imagination of the Prophet even when he was awake was so disposed that he verily thought he heard words or saw and beheld some thing or sign God in a true and real voice revealed those Laws to Moses which he prescribed to the Iews as appears by the 25 th chap. of Exod. v. 22. where he saith And there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy Seat from between thee two Cherubims which plainly shews that God made use of some real voice seeing Moses where-ever he pleased found God ready to speak to him and that only this voice by which the Law was Published was a true and real voice I will presently shew One would think that the voice by which God called Samuel was real because in the first Book of Sam. the 3 d. chap. and last verse it is said The Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord as if he had said the appearance of God to Samuel was nothing else but Gods making known himself to him by word or signifyed no more then that Samuel heard God speaking but because we are forced to distinguish between the Prophesy of Moses and that of the other Prophets it must be concluded that the voice heard by Samuel was but imaginary because it was like the voice of Ely which he had so often heard and therefore the sooner
know that God was Omniscient and that Human Actions were govern'd by his Decrees for tho' God told him Exod. chap. 3. v. 8. That the Israelites would hearken to his Voice yet Moses doubted and said in the 1 st verse of the 4 th chapter What if they will not believe me nor hearken to my Voice And therefore God was revealed to him as indifferent and ignorant of Mens future Actions for he gave unto him two Signs and said Exod. chap. 4. v. 8 9. And if it shall come to pass they will not believe thee nor hearken to the Voice of the first Sign they will believe the Voice of the latter Sign but if they will not believe the latter Sign then take of the Water of the River c. And indeed if a Man will without prejudice consider the Opinions of Moses it will clearly appear that Moses thought God a Being that always was is and ever shall be and therefore called him Iehovah which in Hebrew expresseth those three times of existing but of his Nature he declared no more then that he was very merciful kind and very jealous as appears in many Places of the Pentateuch He believed and taught also that this Being was so different from all other Beings that he could not be exprest by the likeness of any other visible Thing that he was invisible not because he thought beholding him was in it self impossible but only in respect of Human Frailty he thought also that this Being was in regard of his own Power single and but one he allow'd that there were other Beings which by the Order and Command of God were God's Substitutes and Vicegerents that is Beings to whom God gave Power and Authority to govern Nations to provide for and take care of them but Moses declared the Being which the Iews were bound to worship to be the most high God that is in the Hebrew Phrase the God of all Gods therefore Moses in his Song Exod. chap. 15. v. 11. saith who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods and Iethro Exod. chap. 18. v. 11. saith Now I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods that is I must acknowledge with Moses that Iehovah is greater then all Gods and of Singular Power but whether Moses believed that the Beings which were God's Vicegerents were created by God may be doubted since he said nothing that we know of their Creation or Original Another of Moses's Doctrines was that this being out of a Chaos Gen. chap. 1 st v. 2. brought this Visible World into Form and Order furnished Nature with the Seeds of all things and therefore hath absolute Power and Authority over all things as it is Deut. chap. 10. v. 14 15. And by that absolute Power chose the Iewish Nation for himself and appointed a Particular Place of the Earth for their Habitation Deut. chap. 4. v. 19. and chap. 32. v. 8. But other Nations and Countries he left to the care of other Gods substituted by him and therefore God was called the God of Israel and the God of Ierusalem 2 d. Book of Chron. chap. 32. v. 19. And other Gods were called the Gods of the Nations For this Reason the Jews believed that the Country which God chose for them required a particular and different worship of God from that of other Countries nor would they suffer the worship of other Gods or any worship proper to other Countries to be exercised amongst them it was believed that the People whom the King of Assyria brought into the Country of the Iews were devoured by Lyons because they knew not the manner of the worship of the God of the Land 2 d. Book of Kings chap. 17. v. 24 25. It is the Opinion of Aben Ezra that Iacob upon this Ground when he was about returning into his own Country commanded his Sons to put away the Gods of the Land in which they were and prepare themselves for a new Way of Worship Gen. chap. 35. v. 23. David told Saul because he was by Persecution compell'd to forsake his Country that he was driven out from the Inheritance of the Lord and sent to serve other Gods 1 st Book of Sam. chap. 26. v. 19. Lastly Moses believed that God had his Habitation in the Heavens Deut. chap. 33. v. 26 Which was a frequent Opinion among the Heathen Now if we carefully observe the Revelations of Moses we shall find them fitted and suited to those Conceptions and Opinions which he had of God because he believed that God's Nature was Gracious Merciful Longsuffering c. Therefore according to this Opinion and these Attributes was God revealed to him Exod. chap. 34. v. 6 7. Where it is declared why God appeared to him also Exod. chap. 20. v. 4 5. In Exod. chap. 33. v. 18. We read that Moses desired to see God but because Moses as hath been already said had formed in his imagination no Likeness or Figure of God and as I have already shewed God was not revealed to the Prophets but according to the disposition of their Fancy and Imagination therefore God appeared to him under no Image or Similitude and the Reason of it was because 't was repugnant and contrary to the imagination of Moses but other Prophets Isaiah Ezekiel and Daniel testify that they saw God. Moses was answered by God in the 20 th Verse of the 33. Chap. of Exod. thou canst not see my Face and because Moses believed that God was visible that is it imply'd no contradiction in the Divine Nature to be so else he had never made such a request therefore God also answer'd no Man shall see my Face and live giving a Reason suitable to Moses's Opinion for God did not say that his Divine Nature was in it self invisible and impossible to be seen as indeed it is but that it could not be seen because of human Weakness and Frailty After the Israelites had worshipt the Golden Calf that God might reveal to Moses the Israelites should become like other Nations God tells him Exod. Chap. 33. v. 2 3. that he would send an Angel that is a Being who instead of the supreme Being should take care of the Israelites but that he himself would be no more in the midst of them and from this Moses was to conclude that the Israelites were thenceforth not to be beloved by God any more then other Nations who were committed to the care of Angels or other Beings as appears by the 16 th Verse of the Chapter Lastly because Moses believed that God dwelt in Heaven therefore was God revealed as descending from Heaven upon Mount Sinai and Moses that he might speak with God ascended the Mount which he needed not to have done had he thought God to be in all places The Israelites knew very little of God tho' he was revealed to them as was sufficiently manifested by their bestowing on a Calf the Honour and Worship due to God and by saying to that Calf these be thy Gods
fitted and proportion'd to Mens understanding and capacity as I have proved mine to be the difficulties that are in it have proceeded from Mens sloth and negligence not from the nature of the Method CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentateuk Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether the Writers of all these Books were diverse Persons or but one and who IN the former Chapter we have spoken of the Foundations and Principles of the Knowledge of the Scriptures and we have shewn them to be nothing else but a true History of the Scripture which History tho' very necessary the Antients neglected to compose or at least if they Writ or left any by Tradition it perished by the injury of time and consequently a great part of the Fundamentals and Principles of Scripture-knowledge was lost which loss however had been more tollerable if Men of succeeding Ages had kept themselves within their true bounds and had faithfully delivered to their Successors those few Principles which they received or found out and had not out of their own Brains forged new whereby the History of Scripture is not only imperfect but remains full of Errors and the Foundations of Scripture Knowledge are not only so few that a perfect History cannot be built on them but they are also very faulty and defective To rectify this and remove the common prejudices in Divinity is my purpose but I fear I go about it too late for things are now almost come to that heigth Men in this point will endure no correction but obstinately defend whatever they have embraced under the form of Religion Reason prevailing with very few so universally have these prejudices spread themselves in the Minds of Men. I will nevertheless endeavour and try what I can do because the business is not absolutely desperate that I may in order shew what these prejudices are I will begin with those which concern the Penmen of those Books that are accounted sacred and first concerning the Writer of the five Books of Moses commonly called the Pentateuk Men have generally believed that they were Written by Moses himself and the Pharisees so stifly defended this Opinion that they counted him a Heretic that thought otherwise and for this Reason Aben Ezra a Person of an ingenuous disposition and no mean Learning being the first I read of who took notice of this mistake durst not plainly declare his thoughts but only hinted his Opinion in obscure Words which I will not scruple to explain and give you their naked meaning Aben Ezra's Words in his comment upon Deutronomy are these Beyond Iordan Now thou mayest understand the Mistery of twelve and Moses also wrote the Law and the Cananite was then in the Land in the Mount of the Lord shall it be seen behold his Bedsted was a Bedsted of Iron then shalt thou know the Truth by these few Words he shews and plainly declares that it was not Moses but some other Person that lived long after him who wrote the Pentateuk and that Moses wrote some other Book to make this appear his first Observation is that the Preface of Deutronomy which begins thus These be the words of Moses which he spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan could not be Written by Moses who never passed Iordan His second Observation is that the Book which Moses wrote was fairly Copyed out in the compass of one Altar as appears Deut. chap. 27. v. 5 8. Iosh. chap. 8. v. 31 32. which Altar the Rabbins declare was made only of twelve Stones from whence it follows that the Book which Moses Writ was a Volume much less then the Pentateuk and this I think Aben Ezra meant by the mistery of twelve unless perhaps he understood those twelve Curses which are in the forementioned 27 th Chapter of Deutronomy which he might believe were not Written in the Book of the Law and therefore beside the Writing of the Law commanded the Levites to repeat those Curses that they might by Oath bind the People to observe the Written Laws or else perhaps he meant the last Chapter of Deutronomy that speaks of Moses's Death which Chapter consists only of twelve Verses but these and other things which are spoken only by guess need not a more curious Examination The third Observation is that 't is said Deut. chap. 31. v. 9. Moses wrote this Law and delivered it c. which could not be the words of Moses but of some other Person declaring what Moses did and what he wrote His fourth Observation is that place Gen. chap. 12. v. 6. where it is said speaking of Abraham passing through Canaan that the Cananite was then in the Land which words must be Written after Moses's Death when the Cananites were driven out and did not possess the Land and this must likewise be the meaning of Aben Ezra's commenting upon this place in these words And the Cananite was then in the Land it seems that Canaan Nephew to Noah took that Land from some others who possessed it if not then there is a great mistery in the thing whosoever understands it let him be silent that is if Canaan invaded those Countries then the meaning of those Words the Cananite was then in the Land must be that there was a time past when the Land was inhabited by another Nation but if Canaan were the first who lived in that Country as appears by the 10 th Chap. of Gen. he was then the words must imply that in the time of the Person who wrote the Book of Genesis the Cananites were not in the Land so that Moses could not be the Writer of it because in his time the Cananites were still in the Possession of that Country and this is that Mistery he would not have made public His Fifth Observation is that which is in the 22 th chap. Gen. v. 14 where speaking of Mount Moriah the Text saith it is said to this day in the Mountain of the Lord shall it be seen now it was not called the Mountain of the Lord till after it was dedicated to the Building of the Temple and this choice of the Mountain was not made in the time of Moses who did not speak of any place chosen by God but only foretels that God would in time to come chuse a place which should bear Gods Name His sixth Observation is what is said Deut. chap. 3. speaking of Og King of Basan these words are interposed v. 11 th for only Og King of Basan remained of the remnant of the Gyants behold his Bedsted was a Bedsted of Iron is it not in Rabbah of the Children of Ammon Nine Cubits was the length thereof which Parenthesis clearly shews that the Writer of these Books lived long after Moses for this manner of speaking argues that the Person related what past long ago and to obtain credit shewed some Antient Reliques Without question this Bedsted was first
found in the time of David who Conquered this City as is declared in the 30 th Verse of the 12 Chap. of the second Book of Samuel and not only here but a little after the Historian to Moses words adds these in the 14 th Verse Jair the Son of Manasseh took all the Country of Argob unto the coasts of Jeshuri and Maachathi and called them after his own name Bashan Haveth Jair unto this day these Words I say were added by the Historian to explain Moses's Words in the 13 th Verse and the rest of Gilead and all Bashan being the Kingdom of Og gave I unto the half Tribe of Manasseh all the Region of Argob with all Bashan which is called the Land of the Gyants and therefore the Historian was forced to explain what those places were which were antiently so called and also to give a reason why in his time they were called by the name of Iair who was of the Tribe of Iudah and not of Manasseh as appears by the 2 d Chap. of the 1 st Book of the Chron. v. 21 22. We have now explained Aben Ezra's meaning and also those places in the Pentateuk quoted by him to make good his Opinion but indeed he hath not taken notice of all nor of the principal places for there are more of greater moment which I will now mention First the Writer of these Books doth not only speak of Moses in the third Person but also testifies many things of him namely God spake with Moses God spake with him face to face Moses was the meekest of all Men Numb chap. 12. v. 3. Now the Man Moses was very Meek above all Men upon the Face of the Earth Moses was wroth with the Officers of the Host Numb chap. 31. v. 14. Moses the Man of God Deut. chap. 33. v. 1. Moses the Servant of the Lord dyed Deut. chap. 34. v. 5. And there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses v. 10. but in Deutronomy where the Law which Moses wrote and declared to the People is set down Moses speaketh and tells them what he did in the first Person Deut. chap. 2. v. 1 17. The Lord spake unto me and I prayed unto the Lord but then again after the Historian had repeated Moses's words he goes on and again speaks in the third Person declaring how Moses delivered to the People in Writing that Law which he had published Lastly the Historian relates how Moses warned and admonished the People and ended his Life all which namely the manner of speaking the Testimony and Character given of Moses with the context of the whole History fully satisfy that the Books were not Written by Moses but by some other Person Secondly it is to be observed that this History doth not only relate how Moses dyed was buryed and that the Iews Mourned thirty Days for him but making likewise a Comparison between him and all the other Prophets that lived after him saith he excelled them all Deut. chap. 24. v. 10. and there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Which as it is a Testimony that Moses could not give of himself so could no other Man who immediately followed him but it must necessarily be one who lived many Ages after him because he speaketh of the time past saying there arose not a Prophet since and of his Burial he saith no Man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day Thirdly it is to be Noted that the History calls some places by Names which they had not in Moses's time but by others given them long after Gen. chap. 14. v. 14. it is said Abraham pursued his Enemies unto Dan which name was never given to that City till long after the Death of Ioshua as appears by Iudg. chap. 18. v. 29. and they called the Name of the City Dan after the Name of Dan their Father who was Born unto Israel how be it the Name of the City was Laish at the first Fifthly it is to be observed that the Histories are continued for a longer time then Moses lived for Exod. chap. 16. v. 35. it is said the Children of Israel did eat Manna forty Years until they came to the Borders of the Land of Canaan namely till the time mentioned Iosh. chap. 5. v. 12. In the Book of Gen. 36. v. 31. These are the Kings that Reigned in the Land of Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel the Historian without doubt there declareth what Kings the Edomites had before David Conquer'd them and set Governours over them as appears in the 2 d Book of Sam. chap. 6. v. 11 14. by all this it is as clear as day that the Pentateuk was not Written by Moses but by some other who lived many Ages after him But let us consider the Books which Moses wrote and are mention'd in the Pentateuk First it appears Exod. chap. 17. v. 14. God commanded Moses to write the War against Amalek but in what Book it doth not appear Numb chap. 21. v. 10. there is a Book mentioned called the Wars of the Lord wherein without question Moses gave a full Relation of the War against Amalek and also of all those Encampings or pitching their Tents which the Author of the Pentateuk saith Numb chap. 33. v. 2. were described by Moses it likewise appears Exod. 24. v. 4 7. that Moses wrote another Book called the Book of the Covenant which he read to the People when they first made a Covenant with the Lord but this Book or Epistle contained very few things the Laws only or Commands of God recited in Exod. from the 22 Verse of the 20. chap. to chap. 24. which no body will deny who without partiality and with any sound Judgment reads that Chapter it is there declared that as soon as Moses understood the Peoples readiness to enter into a Covenant with the Lord he wrote the Oracles and Laws of God in a Book and early in the Morning certain Ceremonies being performed he read to all the Congregation the Condition of the Covenant which being read and understood by all the People they with a general Consent obliged themselves to all that God Commanded so that considering the shortness of the time in which it was Written and the manner of making the Covenant the Book could contain no more then the few things I have mentioned Lastly it appears that Moses in the fortieth Year after their going out of Egypt explained all those Laws which he had prescribed as may be seen Deut. chap. 1. v. 5. and again obliged the People to the observance of them Deut. chap. 29. v. 14. and then wrote a Book which contained those Laws so explain'd and the New Covenant Chap. 31. v. 9. which was called the Book of the Law of God to which Ioshua made an Addition by registring that agreement whereby the People in his time obliged themselves and entered a third time into
we have named were written long after the Matters of Fact happen'd which they relate If we consider the Connexion and Subject of these Books we shall quickly find that they were all written by one and the same Historian who designed to write the Antiquities of the Iews from their first Original to the first destruction of Ierusalem for the Books are by connexion so linked together that they seem to be but the single Narration of one Historian for as soon as he hath done with the Life of Moses he begins the next Book with these words Now after the Death of Moses the Servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Ioshuah And ending the story of Ioshuah with his Death he doth with the very same Transition and Conjunction begin the Book of Iudges in these words Now after the Death of Ioshuah it came to pass that the Children of Israel asked the Lord And to this Book of Iudges as an Appendix he joyneth the Book of Ruth in these words Now it came to pass in the days when the Iudges ruled that there was a Famin in the Land. To which Book of Ruth he doth in the same manner joyn the first Book of Samuel that ended with his wonted Transition he goes on to the Second Book and to this the History of David not being fully endded he joyns the first Book of Kings then going on with David's History addeth with his usual Connexion the Second Book The context and Order of the Histories likewise declare the Historian to be but one Person who propounded to himself one certain end for he begins with the Original of the Iewish Nation then in order shews upon what occasion and at what time Moses prescribed Laws and Prophesyed many things to them afterward he relates how they invaded the Land of Promise according to Moses's predictions Deut. Chap. 7. And when they had possest it how they would forsake God's Laws Deut. Chap. 31. v. 16. And what evils should thereupon follow verse 17. Next he declares how they would chuse Kings Deut. Chap. 17. v. 14. Whose Affairs should succeed well or ill according to the care they took in observing the Laws Deut. Chap. 28. v. 36 68. And Lastly concludes with the ruin of their Government as Moses foretold Of things which served litle to the Establishment of the Law he said nothing or else refers the Reader to other Authors so that all these Books conspire in this one thing namely the publishing the Prophesies and Edicts of Moses and making them good by what after happen'd The simplicity and plainness of the Subject of all the Books the connexion of them and their being written many Ages after the things done is argument enough to perswade any Man that they were all written by one Historian but who he was I cannot evidently prove I have some Reasons and those of some weight to think it was Esdras seeing the Historian whom we now know to be one Person carries on the History as far as Iehoiachim's deliverance out of Prison and moreover adds that he sate at the King's Table all his Life which must be either the Table of King Iehoiachim or of the Son of Nebuchadnezzar for the Sense is very dubious It follows that it could not be any one before Esdras the Scripture saith of Esdras without mentioning any other Person Ezra Chap. 7. v. 10. That he had prepared his Heart to seek the Law of the Lord to do it and Verse 6 th That he was a ready Scribe in the Law of Moses So that I cannot conjecture any body but Esdras should write those Books in the Testimony given of him we find that he did not only seek the Law of God but that he likewise explain'd it Nehem. Chap. 8. v. 8. Where it is said that they read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly and gave the Sense thereof and caused them to understand the Reading Now because in the Book of Deutronomy not only the Book of the Law of Moses at least a great part of it is contained but also many things are inserted for the better explication thereof I conjecture The Book of Deutronomy to be that Book of the Law of God written set forth and expounded by Esdras which they then read and that many things are put in by Way of Parenthesis more clearly to explain it We gave you several instances when I unfolded Aben-Ezras meaning there are more of the like kind as appears Deut. Chap. 2. v. 12. The Horites also dwelt in Seir before time but the Children of Esau succeeded them when they had destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their stead as Israel did unto the Land of his Possession which the Lord gave unto them This explains the 3 d. and 4 th Verses of the same Chapter namely that Mount Seir which was the Inheritance of the Sons of Esau was not found by them uninhabited but that they invaded the Horites who first dwelt there and having subdued destroyed them as the Children of Israel did the Cananites after the Death of Moses likewise in the 10 th Chapter it is evident that the 6 7 8 and 9. verses are interposed by Way of Parenthesis with the Words of Moses for the 8 th Verse which begins in these words at that time the Lord separated the Tribe of Levi must necessarily have reference to the 5 th Verse which speaks of Moses coming down from the Mount and putting the Tables into the Ark and not to the death of Aron mentioned in the 6 th Verse Of which Esdras spake here for no other Reason but because Moses in the story of the Golden Calf which the People worshipt said in the 9 th Chap. v. 20. That he prayed for Aron The Historian goes on and declares that God at that time of which Moses speaks chose for himself the Tribe of Levi that he might shew the Cause of their Election and also why the Levites had no Part or Inheritance with their Brethren this done in the words of Moses he follows the thred of the History If we consider the Preface of the Book and all the Places which speak of Moses in the Third Person and many other things which cannot now be known which he added or exprest in other words that they might be the better understood by those that lived in his time without doubt had we the very Book of the Law which Moses wrote we should find that all the Commandments very much differ not only in words but in Order Matter and Sense Compare the Decalogue of this Book with that in Exodus where it is expresly set down we shall find this to vary from that for the Fourth Commandment in Deutronomy is not only commanded in another Form but is enlarged and the Reason of it likewise differs much from that in Exodus so that this as in other Places was done by Esdras because he explained the Law of God to
st verse and Isaiah did not Prophesy only in that King's Reign but also wrote a History of all that King did as appears in the 2 d Book of Chron. chap. 26. v. 22. The rest of the Acts of Uzziah first and last did Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amos write which Book 't is pity we have not those things which we have as hath been already said were copied out of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and Israel The Rabbins likewise declare That Isaiah also prophesy'd in the time of Manasseh by whom he was put to death and tho' in that they seem fabulous yet they did not believe all his Prophesies were extant The Prophesies of Ieremy which are Historically related were pick'd up and collected out of divers Chronologers for they are not only confusedly put together without any regard had to time but the same History is also repeated in divers manners for the 21 th chap. contains the Prophesy wherein Ieremy foretold King Zedekiah who sent to consult him That the City of Ierusalem should be destroy'd and for which Prophesy he was apprehended Then after an abrupt breaking off from this History the 22 th chap. sets forth Ieremy's Declamation and Prophesy against King Iehoiachim who reigned before Zedekiah declaring Iehoiachim's Captivity After this the 25 th chap. declares those things which were before reveal'd to the Prophet in the fourth year of King Iehoiachim and without observing any order of time goes on to heap together many Prophesies till at length the 38 th chapter as if the fifteen intermediate chapters had been but a Parenthesis returns again to that spoken of in the 21 th chap. for the conjunction Then wherewith the 38 th chapter begins relates to the 8,9 and 10 verses of the 21 th chap. and the relation given in this 38 th chap. of Ieremy's last apprehension and being long kept in a Dungeon is very different from that we have of it in the 37 th chap. So that it clearly appears all these things were taken out of divers Historians and no other excuse can be made for them The rest of Ieremy's Prophesies contain'd in other Chapters where he speaks in his own person seem to be copied out of the Book which Baruch writ from Ieremy's own Mouth which Book as appears by the 2 d. verse of the 36 th chap. contain'd only those things which were reveal'd to the Prophet from the time of Iosiah unto the fourth year of Iehoiachim from which year the Book begins out of which Book also all those things seem to be copy'd which are related from the 2 d verse of the 45 th chap. to the 49 th verse of the 51 th chap. That the Book of Ezekiel is likewise but a fragment is manisest by the first verses thereof for who doth not take notice that the Conjunction Now wherewith the Book begins relates to somewhat that had been already said and joins that to what he had further to say not only the Conjunction but the whole Contexture of what he spoke implies and supposeth other things which had been before written for the Writer himself saith by way of Parenthesis in the 3 d verse of the 1 st chap. The word of the Lord came often to Ezekiel the Priest the Son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans as if he should say That the words of Ezekiel which hitherto he had copied out related to other things which were revealed to him before the present thirtieth year Iosephus in his 10 th Book of Antiquities chap. 9. declares Ezekiel prophesy'd that Zedechiah would not see Babylon which Prophesy doth not appear in the Book we have of Ezekiel but the 17 th chap. foretels the contrary that he was to be carry'd Captive thither Whether Hoseah wrote any thing more than is in the Book which bears his name I am not certain but I much wonder that we should have nothing more of his seeing by the persons testimony who wrote the Book called Hosea that Prophet Prophesy'd no less than eighty four years as appears by the 1 st verse of the 1 st chap. where the several Kings are named in whose times he lived in general we know that the writers of the Books which we call the Prophets did neither collect the Prophesies of all that were Prophets nor all the Prophesies of those Prophets whose names we have for we have not any of the Prophesies of those Prophets who prophesy'd in the time of Manasseh of which Prophets mention is made tho' not by name in the 2 d Book of Chron. chap. 33. v. 10 18 19. nor have we all the Prophesies of the twelve Prophets We have none of Ionah's Prophesies but those that concerned the Ninevites tho' he also prophesy'd to Israel as appears by the 25 th verse of the 14 th chap. of the 2 d. Book of Kings Of the Book of Iob and of Iob himself there hath been among Writers much dispute some think Moses wrote the Book of Iob and that the whole story is nothing but a Parable which is likewise a Tradition of the Rabbins in their Talmud and favour'd by Maimonides in his Book still'd More Nebuchim Others believe the History to be real and true and that Iob lived in the time of Iacob and married his Daughter Dinah but Aben Ezra as I have already said in his Commentaries on the Book of Iob saith It was translated out of some other Language into the Hebrew which I could wish he had more clearly prov'd for then we might conclude the Gentiles also had Books which were Sacred I leave the thing still doubtful and conjecture that Iob was some Gentile of great constancy of Mind who at first was very prosperous afterward very unfortunate and in the end very happy for in Ezechiel chap. 14 v. 14. he is named with Noah and Daniel for a righteous man. The various Fortune and constant Mind of Iob gave many an occasion of disputing God's Providence and to the Author of the Book of composing a Dialogue whereof the Subject and Stile seem to be a Man 's rather at ease meditating in his Study than sick on a Dunghill and I might with Aben Ezra believe the Book to be translated out of another Language because it seems to affect the Heathen Poesy the Father of the Gods being in the first Chapter brought in twice calling a Council and Momus who is called Satan answering God with great liberty but these are meer frivolous conjectures The Book of Daniel without doubt from the 8 th Chapter thereof contains the Writings of Daniel but from whence the first seven Chapters were copy'd I know not we may suspect that seeing all of them but the first were written in the Chaldee Language they were taken out of that Nation 's Chronologies of which could we be certain it were a clear proof that the Scripture is to be accounted Sacred only in respect of the things contain'd in it and not in respect of
the Language Words or Stile wherein they are express'd and that all Books which declare and teach what is excellently good in what Tongue or by what Nation soever written are equally Sacred Let this at least be observ'd that the Chapters which are written in Chaldee are no less Sacred than any of the rest in the whole Bible To this Book of Daniel the first Book of Ezra is so annex'd that it appears they were both written by one person who relates what successively past amongst the Iews from the first Captivity And to this Book of Esdras without doubt is joyn'd the Book of Hester for the Conjunction wherewith the Book begins can relate to no other Book nor can it be thought the same Book which Mordecai wrote for he that writ the Book of Hester saith in the 9 th chap. v. 20. that Mordecai wrote Letters and declares what were their Contents Moreover the 31 th of the same Chapter tells us That Queen Hester confirm'd by a Decree all things concerning the Feast of Purim or Lots and in the 32 th verse 't is said it was written in the Book that is according to the Hebrew manner of speaking in a Book which every one at that time knew which Book with others Aben Ezra says was lost what else concerned Mordecai the Historian in the 10 th chap. v. 2. saith was written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia and therefore without question this Book of Daniel was written by the same person who wrote the Affairs of Daniel and Ezra and so also was the Book of Nehemiah called the Second Book of Ezra so that we conclude these four Books namely Daniel Ezra Hester and Nehemiah to be written by one Historian but who he was I cannot so much as guess but that we may know whoever he were from whence he had the knowledge of the things he relates and from whence he copy'd them out we are to take notice that the Governours and Princes of the Iews in the time of the Second Temple as did their Kings in the time of the First kept Scribes or Historiographers who writ Annals and recorded what past which Annals or Chronologies are every where cited in the Book of Kings but those of the Princes and Priests of the Second Temple are quoted first in Nehemiah chap. 12. v. 23. and also in the first Book of Machabes chap. 16. v. 24. and no question this Book of Annals was that Book mention'd in the 32 th verse of the 9 th chap. of Hester in which the Decree of Queen Hester and those things that concern'd Mordecai were written which Book we agree with Aben Ezra was lost and out of this Book of Annals all things contain'd in the four Books we have last mention'd were in all probability taken and copy'd for there is no other Book quoted by the writer of these four nor do we know any other of publick Authority That these four Books were not written either by Ezra or Nehemiah appears by what is said in the 9 th and 10 th verses of the 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Genealogy of the High-Priest Iesuah is deriv'd down to Iaduah the sixth High-priest who went to meet Alexander the Great when he had almost conquer'd the Kingdom of Persia as appears in the 2 d. Book and 8 th chap. of Iosephus's Antiquities or as Philo Iudaeus saith in Libro temporum the sixth and last High-priest under the Persian Monarchy which is likewise plainly declar'd in the 22 th verse of the aforesaid 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Historian saith The Levites in the days of Eliashib Ioiada Iohanan and Iaduah were recorded Priests to the Reign of Darius the Persian that is in the Annals of that Government And sure no Man will believe that Hezra or Nehemiah were so long liv'd to survive fourteen Persian Kings for Cyrus the first King of Persia was he that gave the Iews liberty to rebuild their Temple and from him to Darius the fourteenth and last King of the Persians are reckoned 230 years therefore without all doubt these four Books I have mention'd were written long after Iudas Maccabeus restor'd the worship of the Temple and also because at that time were spurious counterfeit Books of Daniel Hesdras and Hester publish'd by some malicious persons who were of the Sect of the Zadduces for the Pharisees would never own them and tho' in the Book which we call the 4 th of Esdras there are some fabulous stories which we also find in the Talmud yet they ought not to be fathered on the Pharisees for there is no Man of sense but believes those Tales were added by some trifling fellow perhaps to render the Pharisaical Traditions ridiculous or to make the people of that time believe that the Prophesies of Daniel were fulfill'd thereby to confirm them in their Religion and in the midst of so many and great Calamities to keep them from despair But tho' these Books be of no great Antiquity yet many faults I suppose through haste in those who copy'd them out have crept into them for in these as in the rest are many Marginal Notes of which we spake in the former Chapter and also some places for which no excuse can be made but if it be granted that the Marginal Readings of these Books be as the Pharisees would have it as ancient as the Writers themselves then it must necessarily follow that the Scribes if they were more than one put these Notes into the Margent because they did not find the Annals from whence they copy'd out the Books perfectly written and tho' some faults be very plain and obvious yet the Scribes would not be so bold to alter or mend the Writings of their Ancestors Of this particular I have said enough and I now pass on to shew those errors whereof no notice is taken in the Margent I cannot tell how many I meet with in the 2 d chap of Ezra for in the 64 th verse it is said that the whole Congregation together of those that went up out of Captivity to Ierusalem was forty two thousand three hundred and threescore and yet if the particular numbers throughout the whole Chapter be exactly summ'd up and added together they make the total to be no more than twenty nine thousand eight hundred and eighteen so that there is an error in the total or particular numbers Now 't is most likely the total number was not mistaken but set down right because every one might keep that in memory tho' he could not remember the particular numbers had there been any error or mistake in the total every body would have known it and it might have been easily mended which is confirm'd by the 7 th chap. of Nehemiah which tells us that the whole number of them that came up from the Captivity was the very same mention'd in the 2 d chap of Ezra but the particular numbers very much differ for
O Israel that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Nor is it to be believed that Men accustomed to the Superstitions of Egypt Ignorant and broken to the Yoke of a tedious Bondage should have any right Understanding of God or that Moses should teach them any thing more then a peculiar manner and way of living not instructing them as a Philosopher to make living well their free and voluntary choice but as a Legislator compelling them by the Commands and Power of Law So that a good Life the Love and Service of God was to them rather Servitude then true Liberty or the Grace and Gift of God for Moses Commanded them to love God and keep his Law that they might acknowledge their deliverance out of Egypt to be by God he terrifyed them with threatnings in case they Transgrest the Law and promis'd them many Blessings if they carefully observed it So that he dealt with the Israelites as Parents use to do with Children void of Reason which is an Evidence that they were ignorant how Excellent a thing Vertue is and what was true happiness Ionas thought he could fly from the presence of God which imply'd that he also believed God had substituted other Powers to take care of those Countries and Nations which were not within the Territories of Iudea in all the Old Testament we read of no Person who spoke so rationally of God as Solomon who for natural Knowledge excell'd all the Men of his time and therefore thought himself above the Law which was only given to those who wanted the dictates of Reason and natural Understanding and slighted the observance of those Laws which particularly concern'd him as he was King and consisted in three Particulars as may be seen Deut. Chap. 17. v. 16 17. he was indeed to blame in breaking those Laws and did not do like a Philosopher when he deliver'd himself up to pleasure and sensuality yet we read in Ecclesiastes he declared all the Goods of Fortune to be Vanity and that nothing is to be so highly prized as Wisdom and Understanding and no punishment equal to a Mans being a Fool Prov. Chap. 17. But let us return to the Prophets of whose differing Opinions we have taken notice the Rabbines who have left us the Books of the Prophets now extant found the Opinions of Ezekiel so contrary to those of Moses as may be seen in the Treatise of the Sabbath Chap. 1 st fol. 13. page 2 d. that they were near resolving not to receive the Book of Ezekiel for Canonical and had conceal'd it if a certain Person called Hananiah had not undertaken to expound it which some report he did with great Labour and Study so that 't is not certain whether it were a Commentary he wrote and was perhaps lost or that he changed and glossed upon Ezekiels words and discourses according to his own fancy however it was the 18 th Chapter of Ezekiel doth not seem to agree with the 34 Chap. of Exod. v. 7 nor with the 32 Chap. of Ieremy v. 18. Samuel believed that when God had decreed any thing he never repented or changed that decree 1 st Book of Sam. Chap. 14. v. 29 Saul when he repented of his Sin and desired to worship God Samuel told him God would not change his Decree but the contrary was revealed to Ieremy for when ever God decreed good or evil to any Nation if Men became either better or worse before the Execution of the Sentence God did accordingly alter his decrees Ierem. Chap. 18. v. 8 10. the Prophet Ioel beleived that God repented of the Evil which he at any time decreed Io. Chap. 2. v. 13. in the 4 th Chap. of Gen. v. 7. it clearly appears that it is in Mans Power to overcome Evil Temptations and to live well by what God said to Cain who notwithstanding as we find in Scripture and in Iosephus never subdued his Passions by the forecited Text in Ieremy we may conclude that God changeth his purposes either of doing good or evil according to Mens living well or wickedly yet on the contrary St. Paul teacheth nothing more plainly then that Men have no Power over themselves against the Temptations and Lusts of the Flesh but by the particular Mercy and Election of God as may be seen in the 9 th Chapter to the Romans from the 10 th Verse onward in the 3 d Chap. v. 3 d where he asketh whether God be unrighteous in taking vengeance he Corrects himself in speaking after that manner like a Man. From what hath been alledged we have sufficiently proved what we proposed namely that God fitted and suted his Revelations according to the Capacity and Opinions of the Prophets and that they might be and indeed were ignorant of things meerly speculative which did not pertain to Charity and a godly Life that the Prophets were also of very different Opinions and consequently in the Knowledge of Natural and Spiritual things we are not to rely and ground our selves upon them We conclude then that we are not bound to believe any thing more from the Prophets then the end and substance of what they revealed and that in other things it is free for a Man to believe as he thinks best for example Cains Revelation teacheth us that God did admonish him to live well which was the intent end and substance of the Revelation but it doth not declare to us the freedom of Mans Will or any other Philosophical Matter therefore tho' in the Words and Reasons of that Admonition freedom of Will seem to be clearly asserted yet 't is lawful to be of a contrary Opinion since those Words and Reasons were only applyed and suited to the Capacity of Cain The Prophet Michaiahs Revelation only declared what should be the Event of the Battle between Ahaband Aram and therefore we are only bound to believe that but whatever else was contain'd in that Revelation concerning the true and lying Spirit of God or concerning the Host of Heaven standing on each side of God with other Circumstances in that Revelation they do not at all concern us but every one may believe of them as he thinks most agreeable to Reason the same may be said of the Reasons declared to Iob for God's having absolute Power over all things if it be true that they were a Revelation and that he Writ as an Historian and not as some believe like a Poet they were revealed according to Iobs Capacity for his particular Conviction but they were not intended as Universal Reasons to convince all Men nor are we to determin otherwise of the Reasons used by Christ to convince the Pharisees of their Ignorance and Obstinacy and to perswade his Disciples to live righteously all those Reasons were accommodated to the Opinions and Principles of the Persons to whom they were urged for example when Christ said to the Pharisees Mat. Chap. 12 v. 26. If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then
vertuous but concerned only the Election of the Iews that is by what we have proved in the third Chapter the temporal happiness of the Body and peace of their Government and consequently could be of no longer use than while their Government lasted If those Ceremonies in the Old Testament had any relation to God's Law it was only because they were instituted by revelation or upon revealed Principles but because the most solid reason prevails little with ordinary Church-men I will make use of Scripture to shew upon what account and in what manner Ceremonies were useful to the Establishment and Preservation of the Iewish Common-wealth The Prophet Isaiah very plainly declares that by the Divine Law is meant that Universal Law which consists in living uprightly not in Ceremonies Chap. 1 st v. 10. He calleth upon the People to hear the Law of God but tells them in the following Verses that God hated their Sacrifices and Oblations their New Moons their Feasts and their Sabbaths and in the 16. and 17. Verses declares the Law it self to be comprehended in a few Particulars namely in cleansing the Heart in constantly doing well in relieving the Oppressed and no less clear is that Place in the 40 th Psal. v. 7 8. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine Ears hast thou opened burnt Offering and Sin Offering hast thou not required Idelight to do thy Will O God for thy Law is within my Heart here David calls that the Law of God which is written in his Heart or inward Parts separated from Ceremonies which not being in their own Nature good are not written in our minds beside these two Places others may be found in Scripture which testify the same thing but there is no need of more Quotations That Ceremonies conduce not to our true Happiness but respect only the temporary Prosperity of Government appears likewise by the Scripture which for the Observation of Ceremonies promised only bodily Benefits but for keeping the Universal Divine Law true Felicity In the Books commonly called the five Books of Moses nothing is promised but temporal Prosperity namely Honour Fame Victory Riches Pleasures and Health and altho' in those five Books are contained beside Ceremonies many things that are Moral yet they are not there contained as Moral Doctrines and Universal instructions common to all but as Commands and Precepts fitted to the particular Capacity and Genius of the Iewish Nation and such as concern'd the prosperous State of that Government for Example Moses did not teach the Iews as a Doctor and Prophet but commanded them as a Lawgiver and Prince that they should not kill or steal nor doth he prove this as Doctrine by Reason but to his Commands adds Punishment which according to the disposition of every Nation as we find by Experience may and ought to vary the Commandment of not committing Adultery respected only the Prosperity of the Commonwealth and its Government for had it been a Moral Doctrine which concern'd the Peace of the mind as well as of the Commonwealth and every particular Man's true felicity it would have as much condemn'd the inward concupiscence of the Heart as the outward act of Lust as Christ did Math. Chap. 5. v. 28. Whose Doctrines were Universal and therefore the reward which Christ promised were Spiritual and not Corporal for Christ was sent not to ordain Laws and Establish Government but only to Preach and Teach the Universal Divine Law and hereby we understand Christ did not Abrogate the Law of Moses seeing he introduced no new Laws into the Iewish Commonwealth but Preached only Moral Doctrines which he distinguisht from the Laws of the Common-wealth because the Pharisees were so Ignorant that they thought every one lived Righteously who kept Moses Law which as we have already said concern'd only that Commonwealth and served rather to compel then instruct the Iews But let us now return to other places of Scripture which for the observing of Ceremonies promise nothing but bodily benefits and for the keeping of the Universal Divine Law true beat tude In this point none of all the Prophets speaks so plainly as Isaiah Chap. 58. for after Condemning Hypocrisy and commending Liberty and Charity towards themselves and their Neighbours which are Vertues dictated to us by the Universal Divine Law he saith Verse the 8 th Then shall thy Light break out as the Morning and thy Health shall spring forth speedily thy Righteousness shall go before thee the Glory of the Lord shall be thy reward Afterwards he commends to them the keeping of the Sabbath and for their care in observing that he promiseth Verse the 24 th Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy Father for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it by which we plainly see that the Prophet promised to the Practice of the Divine Natural Law a spiritual Reward a sound Mind in a healthful Body and the Glory of God after Death but to the Observation of Ceremonies nothing but the prosperous continuance of their Government and bodily Happiness in the 24 th and 25 th Psalms no mention is made of Ceremonies but only of moral Duties because those Psalms treat of nothing but true Happiness and Beatitude tho' Parabolically propounded for 't is certain that Gods Holy Hill his Tabernacles and dwelling in them with other Blessings mentioned in those Psalms could not litterally signify the Mountain of Ierusalem or the Tabernacle of Moses for they were inhabited by none but the Tribe of Levi who Ministred in the Tabernacle and Temple Moreover all those Sayings of Solomon cited in the preceding Chapter concerning the Excellency of Wisdom and Knowledge promise true Felicity because they teach us to know and fear God that the Iews after the destruction of their Government were not bound to the Observation and Practice of Ceremonies is evident by the Prophet Ieremy who foretelling the approaching destruction of the City of Ierusalem Chap. 9. v. 23 24. declares that none are acceptable to God but they that know him and understand that he exerciseth loving Kindness Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth and that he will delight in none but those that know these things as if the Prophet had said that after the destruction of the City God would for the future require nothing else of the Iews but the Observation of the Natural Law Obligatory to all Mankind The New Testament likewise proves the same thing for it teacheth only Moral Doctrines and promiseth to the Practice of them the Kingdom of Heaven the Apostles after the Gospel began to be Preached to Nations that were not obliged to the Laws of the Iewish Commonwealth quite left off Ceremonies and if the Pharisees after the destruction of their Government retained any or the greatest part of them it was more to oppose the Christians then to please God for after
would not only exceed the capacity of the vulgar but the understanding of all Mankind for who could possibly retain and comprehend so great a Number of Histories and so many circumstances and parts of Doctrine as might be collected from so many and different Histories truly I cannot be perswaded that those Men who left us the Scripture as we now have it abounded with so much Wit as to be able to find out such a demonstration of its Doctrine much less do I believe that the Doctrine of the Scripture could not have been understood unless we had been told of Isaacs strivings about the digging of Wells of Achitophels Council to Absalon and the Civil Wars between the Children of Iudah and Israel with other Chronicles of like kind or that the Iews who lived in the time of Moses were not so capable of understanding the Doctrine of Scripture by Histories as were the Iews who lived in the time of Esdras of which more hereafter the common People are therefore obliged to know only those Histories which stir up their minds to Devotion Piety and Obedience but they are not competent Judges of those Histories because they are more pleased with the narrations and the unexpected events of things then with the Doctrine it self and for this reason beside the reading of Histories they need Pastors and Ministers in the Church to instruct their weak understanding But not to digress from what we principally design'd to prove we conclude that the belief of Histories whatever they be doth not belong to the Divine Law nor doth of it self make Men happy or blessed nor are Histories profitable except it be in point of Doctrine which is the only thing that makes some Histories therefore contain'd in the Old and New Testament excel those that are profane and common and Scripture Histories mutually compared are more excellent one then another for sound and wholsom Doctrine He then that reads Scripture Histories and in all things gives intire credit to them yet if he follow not their Doctrine and amend his Life it is all one with him as if he read the Alchoran a Comedy or any vulgar History but as we have already said he that never heard of Scripture if his Opinions be true and his Life righteous he is truly blessed and the Spirit of Christ is in him but the Iews are of a contrary Opinion for they say let a Mans Opinions be never so Orthodox and his Life never so vertuous yet if he be guided only by natural Light and not by the Doctrins which are Prophetically revealed to Moses he can never be blessed and happy which Rabbi Maimonides boldly affirms in his Eighth Chapter and Second Law concerning Kings He that receiveth the Seven Commandments and diligently performeth them is one of the Pious among the Nations and Heir of the World to come that is if he receive and Practise them because God in his Law commanded and revealed them by Moses and because those precepts were also given to the Sons of Noah but if he Practise them by the guidance and dictates of natural reason he is none of us nor is he to be thought one of the Pious and Learned of the Nations It was an opinion among the Iews that God gave to Noah seven Commandments and that all Nations were obliged to observe only those seven but that God gave many more Commandments to the Iews that he might make them much happier then other Nations Rabbi Ioseph the Son of Shem Tob in his Book called Kbod Elohim or the Glory of God likewise saith that tho' Aristotle whose Book of Ethicks was in his opinion the best that ever was written had omitted nothing which belonged to that Subject and he himself had diligently Practised all he Writ yet he could not be saved because he embraced those Doctrins he taught as the dictates of reason and not as divine and Prophetical Revelations But these conceits are meer Fopperys grounded neither upon reason or Scripture and need no more confutation then doth the opinion of some Men who maintain that by natural light and reason we cannot know any thing belonging to Salvation a Tenet that cannot be rationally prov'd by Men who do not allow themselves any reason but what is corrupted and depraved and if they boast of any thing above reason 't is meer Folly and far beneath reason as sufficiently appears by their manner of living so that of this we need say no more I will only add this that no Man can be known but by his works and therefore they that abound in the Fruits of Love joy peace long suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. against whom saith Paul Galat. chap. 5. v. 22. there is no Law whether they be taught by reason or Scripture they are certainly taught of God and are truly blessed CHAP. VI. Of Miracles AS Men use to call that knowledge Divine which exceeds human capacity and understanding so when any thing is done in nature of which the common People know not the cause that they call the Work of God for the vulgar believe Gods Power and Providence do most plainly appear when they see any thing strange and unusual happen in nature contrary to the customary opinion they have of Nature especially when that which happens is for their benefit and advantage and they think the being of a God never more clearly proved then when nature seems not to keep its constant course and therefore conclude that those Men deny the Being and Providence of God who endeavour to explain and understand what they call Miracles by their natural causes They indeed think that while Nature goes on in her wonted course God doth nothing and on the contrary when God Acts the Power of Nature and Natural Causes are idle and at a stand so that they imagin two numerical distinct Powers namely the Power of God and the Power of Nature appointed and directed or as most Men now believe Created by God but what they mean by either or what they understand by God and Nature they know not but fancy Gods Power to be like that of a great King. And the Power of Nature nothing but blind force and violence the Common People therefore call the extraordinary Works of Nature Miracles or the Works of God and partly out of Devotion partly out of a desire to contradict those that love the Study of Natural Sciences they affect being ignorant of Natural Causes desiring to hear of things they do not know and those things which they least know they most admire by taking away Natural Causes and by imagining things out of the order of Nature they think God is most adored when all things are immediately referr'd to his Power and Will neither do they think the Power of God at any time so wonderful as when according to their fancy it conquers and subdues the Power of Nature Which Opinion was first brought into the World by the Iews who to
very Prophets themselves knew not how to reconcile the Course of Nature and Human Eevents with the Notions they had of God's Providence but to Wisemen whose Knowledge is not built on miracles but upon clear and distinct conceptions the thing is very evident especially to those who place true Happiness in Vertue and Tranquility of Mind and study more to submit to Nature then to make Nature obedient to them knowing certainly that God directeth Nature as its own Universal Laws and not as the particular Laws of Human Nature require and that God hath a care not only of Mankind but of the whole Frame of Nature in general and it appears by Scripture that miracles cannot teach us to know God or his Providence tho' we find in Scripture that God wrought miracles to be known to Men. Exod. Chap. 10. v. 2. The wonders which he did in Egypt were to convince the Israelites that there was a God yet it doth not follow that the miracles themselves taught them to know God but only that the Iews were prepossest with such Opinions that they would easily be perswaded by those Signs for as I have already shewed in the Second Chapter that the conceptions which the Prophets had by Revelation were not drawn from Universal and common Notions but from concessions sometimes absurd and from the Opinions of those to whom the Revelations were made and from theirs whom the Holy Spirit would convince as we have proved by many Examples and the Testimony of Paul who was to the Iews a Iew and with the Grecians a Greek But tho' those Miracles were sufficient to convince the Israelites and the Egyptians from their own Principles that there was a God yet they were not able to give them a right understanding and Idea of God they understood nothing more by them then that there was a Power greater then all other known Beings and that that Power took a particular care of the Iews whose Affairs were at that time so prosperous above all other Nations but did not teach them that God hath an equal care of all Mankind which we know only by Philosophy or true Wisdom and therefore the Iews and all that knew nothing of God's Providence but from the different State of Human Affairs and from the disparity of men's Fortunes perswaded themselves that the Iews were better beloved by God then all other Nations tho' they did not excel any other People in Human perfection as we have already declared in our Third Chapter We now proceed to the Third Particular that is to prove by Scripture that the Commands and Decrees of God and consequently his Providence are indeed nothing else but the regular Course of Nature that is when the Scripture saith any thing was done by God or the Will of God nothing more is to be understood then that it was done according to the Order and Rules of Nature and not as the Vulgar imagine that Nature was idle and ceased from Action or that the Order of Nature was for sometime interrupted The Scripture doth not give us the true Knowledge of things which do not concern its Doctrine because as we have already declared it needless it meddles not with demonstrating things by their natural Causes nor with things that are meerly Speculative and therefore to prove by consequence what we intend we will quote some Scripture Histories whose Relations are fullest of Circumstances In the first Book of Sam. Chap. 9. v. 15 16. It is said that God told Samuel in his Ear that he would send Saul to him and yet God did not send him as Men use to send Messenger one to another but this mission of God was nothing but the Order and Course of Nature for Saul sought his Father's lost Asses and thinking he should not find them by Advice of his Father's Servant he went to the Prophet Samuel to know if he could tell him where they were nor doth it appear any where in the whole Relation that Saul had any particular Command from God beside this natural Course to go to Samuel Psal. 105. v. 24. 'T is said that God turned the Heart of the Egyptians to hate the Israelites which turning was Natural as appears by the first Chap. of Exodus where very good Reasons are given for the Egyptians keeping the Israelites in subjection In the 9 th Chap. of Gen. v. 13. God saith to Noah that he would set his Bow in the Cloud which Action of God was nothing but the Reflection and Refraction of the Sun-Beams in the minute drops of Rain Water Psal. 147. v. 18. The natural Operation and warmth of the Wind by which Frost and Snow are melted is called the Word of God and v. 15. the Wind is called the Commandment of God Psal. 104. v. 4. The Wind and the Fire are called the Messengers and Ministers of God and many other like places in Scripture clearly shew that the Decree the Command the Saying and Word of God are nothing else but the Operation and Order of Nature and without doubt many things which are related in Scripture and attributed to God naturally come to pass because it was not the intent of Scripture to give us an account of things by their natural Causes but only to relate those things which strongly possess the imagination and in such manner and stile as was most likely to cause admiration and fill Mens minds with Devotion If then we find in Scripture some things of whose natural causes we are ignorant or that seem to have happen'd against the order of nature we are not presently to doubt but believe that what did really happen came to pass by the course of nature which is confirm'd by the many Circumstances that accompany'd miracles tho' the Circumstances were not particularly related or were at least poetically related I say the Circumstances clearly prove that the miracles required and had natural causes When the Egyptians were to be smitten with the Plague of boiles Moses was to cast up and sprinkle Ashes into the Air Exod. chap. 9. v. 10. The Locusts also by Gods natural command namely by an East Wind blowing a whole Day and Night covered the Land of Egypt and left it again with a strong West Wind Exod chap. 10. v. 13. 19. By the command of God was a way made through the Sea for the Iews by an East Wind that blew a whole Night Exod. chap. 14. v. 21. when the Prophet Elisha was to raise the Child thought to be dead he several times stretched himself upon the Body till he grew warm and opened his Eyes in the 2 d. Book of Kings chap. 4. v. 34,35 so also in the 9 th chap of St. Iohns Gospel some Circumstances are mentioned which Christ used when he Cured the blind Man many other things are related in Scripture which all declare that miracles require somewhat more then the absolute command of God and therefore tho' all the Circumstances of miracles and their natural causes be not
Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to be excused that in the 21 th Verse of the 11 th Chap. of that Epistle he explains the Text in the 31 th Verse of the 47 th Chap. of Genesis quite otherwise then it is in the pointed Hebrew Text as if the Apostle had been to learn the Sense of Scripture from the Punctists in my Opinion the Punctists are mistaken that it may appear they are and that the difference of the two interpretations ariseth from the want of Vowels I will give you both The Punctists by their Points render the Text in Genesis thus and Israel bowed himself Vppon or by changing hgain into Aleph a Letter of the same Organ towards the Beds Head but the Author of the Epistle saith Israel bowed himself leaning Vppon the top of his Staff by reading Mateh instead of the Word Mitah which difference cometh only from the Vowels Now seeing the forecited Chapter of Genesis speaketh only of Iacob's Age and not of his Sickness as doth the following Chapter it is much more probable the Historian meant that Iacob leaned Vppon the top of his Staff wherewith Men of very great Age use to support themselves and not that he did bow himself uppon or towards his Beds Head because in so rendring the Text there is no need to suppose any interchange of Letters By this Example I have not only reconciled that Place in the Epistle to the Hebrews with the Text in Genesis but have also shewn how little credit is to be given to our new Points and Accents so that he who will interpret Scripture without prejudice must with a great deal of doubting narrowly examin them To return to our purpose every one may easily conjecture that from such a Nature and Constitution of the Hebrew Tongue must proceed so many Ambiguities that 't is impossible for any method to resolve them all and there is little hope it can be done by the mutual comparing of one saying with another which we have declared to be a singular way of finding out the true of many Senses which every Sentence according to the common use of the Language will bear and admit Seeing this comparing of Places cannot explain one another but by meer chance because no Prophet wrote with express Intention to explain the Words of another Prophet or his own and also because we cannot know one Prophet's or Apostle's meaning by anothers unless it be in things that concern the use of Life but not when they speak of things Speculative and when they relate Miracles or Histories moreover I can give you many Instances of Speeches in Scripture that are inexplicable but at present I pass them by and proceed to observe what other difficulties yet remain in this method of interpreting Scripture and what is further to be wisht for in it Another difficulty attends this method because we have not such a History of all the Books of Scripture as is necessary for we know not the Authors or rather the Pen-men of many of the Books at least we doubt of them as I shall at large shew in the following Chapter neither do we know upon what Occasion or when those Books of whose Pen-men we doubt were written we are ignorant into what Hands all the Books fell nor know we in whose Copies so many various Readings are found and whether there be not some which have more various Readings what advantage it is to know all these things I have briefly declared in its proper place but I have there purposely omitted some things which come now to be considered if we read any Book that contains things incredible unintelligible or written in very obscure Terms and know not who was its Author or at what time or upon what occasion it was written in vain do we labour to find out the true Sense thereof for none of these things being known 't is impossible to understand what the Author did or could mean but when we are once satisfyed in these things our Thoughts demine without prejudice and give to the Author or to him in whose Favour the Author writ neither more or less then is his due nor do we think of any other things then were or might be in the Author's mind and such as the time and occasion requir'd and this is apparent for it often happens when in divers Books we read stories one like another we pass different Judgments on them according to the different Opinions we have of the Writers I remember I have read in a certain Book of a Man called Orlando furioso who rid upon a winged Monster through the Air into what Countries he pleas'd and slew a great Number of Men and Giants with abundance of other Fancies beyond all Reason and Sense A story like this I have read in Ovid of Perseus and another in the Book of Iudges and Kings of Sampson who single and unarmed slew Thousands of Men and of Eliah who with a Chariot and Horses of Fire mounted up to Heaven these stories I say are like one another yet we make different judgments of every one of them The first Author wrote nothing but Fables the Second matters Political and the Third Sacred and this for no other reason but the different opinions we have of the writers It is therefore evident that the knowledge of those Authors who have written things obscure and very difficult to be understood is absolutely necessary to interpret their writings and among several readings of obscure Histories that we may chuse the true 't is necessary to know in whose Copies those diverse readings are found and whether many other readings have not been met with amongst Men of greater Authority Lastly we meet with another difficulty in expounding some Books of Scripture by not having those Books in the same Language wherein they were first written for 't is the common opinion that the Gospel according to St. Mathew and the Epistle to the Hebrews were written in the Hebrew Tongue which Copies are no where extant In what Language the Book of Iob was written is a doubt Abenezra in his Commentaries affirms it was Translated out of some other Language into Hebrew which is the cause of its obscurity Of the Apocryphal Books I say nothing because they are of little or no Authority These are all the difficulties in this method of interpreting Scripture by such a History as might be had of it of which I promised to give an account and I think them so great that I may boldly say we cannot know the true sense of Scripture in many places or at most we can without any certainty but guess at it however this is to be observed that all those difficulties can only hinder us from knowing the mind of the Prophets in things imperceptible which we can only imagin but not in things intelligible of which we may form clear conceptions for things which in their own nature are easily conceived can never be spoken so
confusedly gathered and laid together that they might afterwards be examin'd and put into order and not only those things which we find in the first five Books but the rest of the Histories contain'd in the other seven were also Collected in the same manner Who doth not plainly see that in the 2 d Chapter of Iudges from the sixth Verse a new Historian brought in who had Written the Acts of Ioshua and his very Words used For after our Historian in the last Chapter of Ioshua had spoken of his Death and Burial and promis'd in the beginning of the Book of Iudges to declare what happen'd after Ioshua's Death if he intended regularly to prosecute his own History why doth he again in the 2 d Chapter of Iudges tell us what Joshua did and speak again of his Death and Burial as he had before the 17 and 18 chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. are in all probability taken out of another Historian who made the cause of David's frequenting Saul's Court to be quite different from that spoken of in the 16. chap. of the same Book for he did not understand that David by the Advice of Saul's Servants was called to Court as is declared in the said 16 th chap. but that his Father sending him to visit his Brethren in Saul's Camp David by his Victory over Goliah became known to Saul and afterward lived in his Court. I suspect the same thing of the 26 th chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. and that the History of that Chapter and what is related in the 24 th chap. are one and the same but taken out of several Writers but of this enough I come now to examine the Computation of time It is said in the 6 th chap. of the 1 st Book of Kings that Solomon four hundred and fourscore Years after the Children of Israel came out of the Land of Egypt and in the fourth Year of his own Reign began to Build the House of the Lord but from the Histories themselves we can make it appear it was a much longer time till the Temple was Built Years For first Moses govern'd the People in the desert 40 Joshua who lived a hundred and twenty by the Opinion of Josephus and others govern'd not above 26 Kusan Risgataim kept the People in Bondage 08 Othonyel the Son of Kenaz Judged 40 Eglon the King of Moab kept the People in Bondage 18 Ehud and Samger Judged 80 Jachin King of Canaan kept the People under 20 The People afterward had rest 40 Were again in Subjection to Midian 07 Were again at Liberty under Gideon 40 Were under the Power of Abimelech 03 Tola the Son of Puah Judged 23 Jair Judged 22 The People were again in Bondage to the Philistines and Ammonites 18 Iephtah Judged 06 Absan the Bethlemite Judged 07 Elon the Zebulonite 10 Abdon the Pirathonite 08 The People again in Bondage to the Philistins 40 Samson Judged 20 Ely Judged 40 The People in Bondage again to the Philistines till delivered by Samuel 20 David Reigned 40 Solomon before he began to Build Reigned 04 All these Years added together make up the Number of 580. To which number are to be added the Years of that Age wherein the Common-wealth of the Iews flourished after the Death of Ioshua until it was subdued by Kusan Risgataim which I believe were many for I cannot be perswaded that all the People who had seen the wonders of Joshua's time should presently after his Death perish altogether neither that they who succeeded them should at once bid farewel to all their Laws and from a great deal of Vertue fall in an instant into the depth of Wickedness and Folly neither that Kusan Risgataim Conquer'd them at a blow but seeing all these things require almost an Age to bring them to pass it is not to be doubted but the Scripture in the 2 d. 7 th 9 th and 10 th Chapters of the Book of Judges doth comprize the Histories of many Years which it hath passed over in silence We are moreover to add the Years which Samuel Judged whose number we find not in Scripture and the Years also of Saul's Reign which are left out in the former Computation because by his History 't is not evident how many he Reigned indeed it is said in the 1 st Verse of the 13 th Chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. that Saul Reigned two Years but that Text is maimed and we may from the History it self conclude his Reign was longer that the Text is defective no Man who hath but the least Knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue can doubt for it begins thus in the Latin Translation Annum natus erat Saul cum regnavit duos annos regnavit supra Israelem Which in our English Bible is thus render'd Saul Reigned one Year and when he had Reigned two Years c. but who sees not that the number of Years of Saul's Age when he began to Reign was omitted and that the time of his Reign was more then two Years any Man may gather from the History it self for in the 27 th Chap. of the same Book Verse the 7 th it is said that the time David dwelt in the Country of the Philistines was a full Year and four Months so that by this Calculation all things else which passed in Sauls Reign must happen in the space of eight Months which no Man can believe Iosephus in the end of his 6 th Book of Antiquities hath thus corrected the Text. Saul while Samuel lived Reigned eighteen Years and after Samuels Death two but the Story in the 13 th chap. doth in no wise agree with what went before for towards the end of the 7 th chap. v. 13. we are told that the Philistines were so subdued by the Israelites that they came no more into the Coasts of Israel and the Hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel and yet in the foresaid 13 th Chapter 't is said that in Samuels Life time the Philistins invaded the Israelites and reduced them to so great Misery and Poverty that they wanted not only Arms to defend themselves but also Smiths to make so much as a Sword or a Spear that Man must take pains enough who made it his business so to reconcile all the Histories of the first Book of Samuel that they should not appear to be Written and put in order by one Historian but I return to what I proposed the Years of Sauls Reign ought to be added to the foregoing Computation now how many were the Years of the Israelites Anarchy the Scripture doth not mention my meaning is that the space of time is not certain wherein those things happened which are related from the 17 th Chapter of Iudges to the end of that Book so that no exact calculation can be made from the Histories themselves neither do they agree in any but differ very much so that it must be granted they were
collected from divers Writers and were never examin'd or put into any order There is no less disagreement in computation of time between the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel for in the 2 d Book of Kings chap. 1 st v. 17. it is said Jehoram the Son of Ahab King of Israel began to Reign in the Second Year of the Reign of Jehoram the Son of Iehosaphat King of Judah but in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah see the 2 d Book of Kings chap. 8. v. 16. it is said that Jehoram the Son of Iehosaphat King of Judah began to Reign in the fifth Year of Jehoram the Son of Ahab King of Israel he that will compare the Histories of the Books of Chronicles with those in the Book of Kings shall find many of the like differences which I will not here particularly mention nor trouble you with the shifts some Authors have used to reconcile them the Rabbines perfectly doat and some Commentators that I have read imposing upon us their own dreams and inventions plainly corrupt the very Language it self for example in the 2 d Book of the Chronicles c. 22. v. 2. it is said Ahaziah waâ— Forty and two Years Old when he began to Reign Some would have these Years to commence not from Ahaziah's Nativity but from the Reign of Omri if they can prove this to be the meaning of the Author of the Book of Chronicles I may in plain Terms say of him that he knew not how to speak Sense Commentators are full of the like conceits wherein were there any Truth a Man might pofitively aver that the Ancient Hebrews did not understand their own Language but were ignorant of all order in History and that there is no rule or any reason to be observed in expounding Scripture but every Man may phancy and forge what he pleases If any think I speak too generally and without ground I intreat that Man to shew me any such certain order in these Histories as Chronologers may without any gross mistakes follow and that while he is endeavoring to explain and reconcile the Histories he will so strictly observe the Pharses and Manners of speaking the disposing and contexture of the Narrations that another according to his explications may in Writing imitate them which if he can do I will throw away my Pen and take him for an Oracle I have been endeavoring but could never do any thing like it I have Written nothing which I did not often and long meditate and tho' from my Childhood I have been Seasoned with the common and general opinions concerning Scripture yet I could not possibly avoid confessing the things I have mentioned but I will no longer detain the Reader concerning this particular nor will I further provoke him to undertake that which I think is not feasible I only made the proposal the better to explain my own meaning and I now proceed to consider those things which concern the Fate or Fortune of the Books for we are to observe that they have not been so carefully kept by posterity as that no faults have crept into them the Ancient Scribes have taken notice of many dubious readings and many maimed Texts and yet not of all but whether the faults which have crept into those Books be of so great importance as to give the Reader much trouble I will not dispute I believe they are not considerable to those that Read the Scripture with any Freedom of judgment and I can positively affirm that I never observed any Error or variety of Readings concerning mere precepts or instructions which could render them doubtful or obscure but many will not allow of any faults at all in any thing throughout the whole Scripture but peremptorily maintain that God by a singular and special Providence hath kept the Bible free from all corruptions or adulteration and that the various Readings of it comprehend profound misteries and will have great Secrets lye hid even in Asterisms Spaces Points and Accents but whether this opinion proceed from folly and the dotage of Devotion or from their arrogance and malice allowing none but themselves to know Gods Secrets I cannot tell of this I am sure I never read any thing which came from such Men that seem'd mysterious but rather savor'd of Schoool-boy conceits I have met with some trifling Cabbalists whose Freaks and Folly a Man cannot chuse but admire That faults have crept into the Scripture no ingenuous Person can deny who reads that Text I have already mention'd concerning Saul in the 13 th chap. v. 1 st of the 1 st Book of Samuel and also that in the 2 d verse of the 6 th chap. of the 2 d Book of Sam. where it is said that David arose and went with all the People that were with him from Judah to bring from thence the Ark of God. Who doth not see that the name of the place to which they went to fetch the Ark is lest our viz. Kiriathjearim nor can any Man deny but that the Text in the 37 th verse of the 13 th chap. of the 2 d Book of Sam. is defective But Absolon fled and went to Talmai the Son of Ammihud and mourn'd for his Son every day It should have been and David mourned for his Son every day and therefore in our English Translation the Word David is put in but is not in the Latin. There are other such faults which do not at present occur to my memory That the marginal Notes found every where in the Hebrew Copies were dubious readings no Man will doubt who considers that many of them proceeded from the great likness which some of the Hebrew Letters have one to another namely from the similitude which is between the Letter Kaf and Bet the Letter Iod and Van the Letter Dalet and Res for example in the 2 d Book of Sam. chap. 5. v. 24. it is said in the Latin Translation in co tempore quo audies the margent hath it Cum audies and Iudges chap. 21. v. 22. the Latin Text is quando earum patres vel fratres in multitudine hoc est saepe ad nos venerint into the margent is put ad litigandum many different readings likewise come from the use of those Letters whose sound or pronunciation is in reading scarcely perceived and one is sometimes taken for another for example Levit. chap. 25. v. 29. it is Written in the Text that if a House were sold which was in a City that had a Wall the margent says that had not a Wall. But tho' these things are evident yet we will make answer to some arguments of the Pharises who endeavor to perswade the World that marginal Notes were by those that Copied out the Books of Scripture purposely placed there to signify some great mystery they ground their first argument which I think very slight upon the common use of reading the Scripture
some are more and others less in Nehemiah than they are in Ezra and amount in all to thirty one thousand eighty nine so that there is no doubt but that the errors as well in the Book of Ezra as of Nehemiah were in the particular numbers Commentators rack their Wits and Inventions to reconcile these apparent contradictions and while they adore the very Words and Letters of Scripture do nothing as we have already said but expose the Writers of the Bible to Contempt as if they knew not how to speak or put that which was spoken by them into any order yea they do nothing but make that part of Scripture which is plain obscure For if every Man should take a liberty of explaining Scripture as they do we could not be sure of the true sense of any part thereof I am perswaded those Commentators themselves tho' they with so much zeal excuse the Writers of the Old Testament would count any other Man a ridiculous Historian who should write as they have done and if they think him a Blasphemer who says the Scripture is in some places faulty what shall I say of those Men who bely the Scripture and so expose the holy Pen-men thereof as if they knew not how to speak and deny the plain and clear sense of Scripture What in it can be plainer than that Esdras and his fellow Priests in the second Chapter of that Book which is said to be his took a particular account of all that went up to Ierusalem seeing the number of them is set down who could not derive their Pedigree as well as theirs that could And what is more clear than that Nehemiah as appears by the 7 th chap. and 5 th verse of that Book only copy'd out the Register which Esdras had made Who ever makes any other Exposition thereof denies the true sense of Scripture and consequently the Scripture it self 'T is ridiculous Piety to pretend to rectify one place of Scripture by another when plain places are darkened by obscure and those that are right and true corrected and corrupted by those that are false and erroneous but God forbid I should call them Blasphemers who have no malicious intentions because there is no Man free from Error Beside the Errors which are in the particular numbers both of Esdras and Nehemiah's Genealogy there are divers in the names of the Families more in the very Pedigrees in the Histories and I fear likewise in the very Prophesies themselves for the Prophesie of Ieremy in the 22 th chap. against Iehoiachim which says He should be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Ierusalem doth not at all agree with the History of him in the last Chapter of the 2 d. Book of Kings no nor with what is related of him in the last Chapter of Ieremy especially in the last Verse neither do I see any reason why Ieremy should tell King Zedechiah that he should die in peace Ierem. chap. 34. v. 5. who was taken Captive and after he had seen his Children slain before his Face had his own Eyes put out If Prophesies may be interpreted according to events the names of those two Kings seem to be mistaken one for the other but that is too paridoxical to be maintain'd and I had rather leave the point under an impossibility of being determin'd seeing if there be any error in it it must be the fault of the Historian and not in the Original Copies from whence he wrote Of any other Errors I will take no particular notice seeing I cannot without troubling the Reader because they have been already noted by others Rabbi Solomon finding the manifest contradictions which are in the erroneous Genealogies doth in his Commentaries on the 8 th chap. of the first Book of Chronicles break out into these words Esdras whom he supposeth to have written the Chronicles called the Sons of Benjamin by wrong names and deriv'd his Pedigree otherwise than we find it in the Book of Genesis and describes the greatest part of the Cities of the Levites otherwise than Joshua did because he met with different Originals And a little after saith The Genealogy of Gibeon and others is twice and diversly repeated because Esdras found different Registers of each Genealogy and in copying them out follow'd those whereof the greater number did agree but when the number of differing Genealogies was equal he wrote after the Original of both So that it appears by Rabbi Solomon's own confession these Books were copied from uncertain and imperfect Originals The Commentators themselves many times do nothing more than shew the causes of the errors and I believe that no person of any sound Judgment can think that the Sacred Historians did write purposely to contradict themselves Perhaps it will be said I go about to overthrow the Scripture and give occasion to suspect that it is every where faulty but I have prov'd the contrary for I hereby vindicate the Scripture and provide against the adulterating and corrupting thereof in those places which are clear and true It doth not follow that because some places are faulty therefore all must be so because every Book is in some places false 't is no good ground to conclude it is no where true especially when the Stile of it is perspicuous and the meaning of the Author perfectly known So much for the Books of the Old Testament Now by what hath been said we may easily conclude that before the time of Iudas Macchâ—bâ—us no Books were esteemed Canonical but those which we now have from the Pharisees of the Second Temple who likewise instituted set forms of Prayer these Books being selected from many others and only by their Decree receiv'd into the Canon he therefore that will demonstrate the Authority of Holy Scripture is bound to prove the Authority of every particular Book the proving any one to be Divine is not enough to prove the Divinity of all unless it be granted that the Council of the Pharisees could not err which is impossible for any Man to make good the reason which inclines me to believe that none but the Pharisees chose the Books of the Old Testament and made them Sacred by Canon is because the last Chapter of Daniel declares That there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead which the Zadduces utterly deny'd Moreover in the Treatise of the Sabbath chap. 2. fol. 30. parag the 2 d Rabbi Iehuda says The learned in the Law endeavour'd to suppress the Book of Ecclesiastes because many expressions in it were contrary which observe to the Books of the Law of Moses but the reason why it was not suppress'd was because it begun and ended according to the Law A little after he saith They would also have conceal'd the Book of Proverbs and lastly in the first Chapter of the same Treatise fol. 13 th these are his words Truly I name the Man for kindness sake had it not been for
are deep Mysteries hidden in the Scripture but because from thence hath sprung up intollerable Superstition and many other mischievous inconveniences of which I spake in the beginning of the seventh Chapter I could not possibly pass them by Religion needs not be attired with any Superstitious Ornaments but rather loseth part of its Beauty and Lustre when it is adorned with such Fopperies But some will say That tho' the Divine Law be written in Mens Hearts yet nevertheless the Scripture is the word of God and therefore 't is as unlawful to say of Scripture as of the Word of God that 't is maimed or corrupted I on the other side fear such Men pretend too much Sanctity and convert Religion into Superstition yea that they worship Pictures and Images that is Paper and Ink for the Word of God this I know that I have said nothing misbecoming the Scripture or the Word of God and that I have laid down no Position which I have not made good by clear Reason and therefore I may positively aver that I have not publish'd any thing that is impious or that savors of the least impiety I confess some prophane persons to whom Religion is a burthen may take a liberty of sinning and without any reason indulging their sensual pleasure may infer that the Scripture is every where faulty and falsify'd and consequently of no Authority to such Men nothing will be an answer for according to the common saying that which is never so well and truly spoken may be abused by an ill and sinister Interpretation they that are lovers of their Pleasure will take any occasion to do it and they who in time past had those Originals the Ark of the Covenant the Prophets and Apostles themselves were not one jot the more obedient or the better for them but all as well Iews as Gentiles were alike still the same and Vertue in all Ages was a thing very rare But to clear all Scruples I will now shew upon what ground and reason Scripture or any other mute thing may be called Sacred or Holy next what is indeed the Word of God that it is not contained in a certain number of Books And lastly that as it contains those things which are necessary to Obedience and Salvation it cannot be corrupted By these particulars every one may easily judge that I speak nothing against the Word of God or give any occasion for Men to be wicked or ungodly That is called Holy and Divine which is dedicated to Piety and the practice of Religion and a thing continues Holy so long as Men make a Religious use thereof when Men cease to be Religious that thing ceaseth to be Sacred and when the thing is used to impious purposes then that thing which was before Sacred becomes unholy and prophane For example the very place called by Iacob the Patriarch Beth-el the House of God because he there worship'd God reveal'd to him was afterwards called by the Prophets the House of Iniquity Amos chap. 5. v. 5. Hoshea chap. 10. v. 5. because the Israelites by the Command of Ieroboam did there sacrifice to Idols Another example will plainly prove the thing Words have a certain signification only by use and custom and if they be according to that use so disposed that they move Men who read them to Devotion then those words are esteemed Sacred and likewise the Book wherein they are written but if afterward it come to pass that the use of those words is lost and thereby the words become insignificant and the Book wherein such words are is quite neglected and laid aside either through malice or because Men have no need of it then the words and the Book as they are of no use so have they no Sanctity in them Lastly If those words come to be otherwise construed and Custom so far prevail as to give them a clean contrary sense and signification then the words and the Book which were before esteemed Sacred may become filthy and profane whence it follows that nothing can be absolutely either Sacred or Profane but only in respect of Mans Mind or Understanding which clearly appears by many places of Scripture I will quote only one or two Ieremy chap. 7. v. 24. saith the Iews did falsely call Solomon's Temple the Temple of God for as he further saith in that Chapter the Name of God could remain in that Temple no longer than it was frequented by Men who worship'd him and maintain'd Justice but when Murderers Robbers and Idolaters resorted to it 't was then but a Den of Thieves I have often wonder'd that the Scripture no where declares what became of the Ark of the Covenant certainly it was either lost or burnt with the Temple tho' nothing was esteemed more Sacred and Venerable among the Iews The Scripture then is Sacred and its sayings Divine so long as Men are thereby moved to Devotion but if the Scripture be quite neglected as it was heretofore by the Iews it is nothing but Paper and Ink 't is then profaned and left liable to Corruption and when it is corrupted and perisheth it cannot be truly said the Word of God is corrupted and lost as in the Prophet Ieremy's time it could not be truly said the Temple of God was burnt which Ieremy himself declareth of the Law for chap. 8. v. 8. he reproves the Wicked in these words How do ye say we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us Lo certainly in vain made he it the Pen of the Scribes is in vain that is tho' ye have the Scripture yet ye falsely say you have the Law of God since ye have made it of no effect In like manner when Moses brake the first Tables it cannot be said that in anger he cast the Law of God out of his Hands and brake it no person ought to think so he brake only the Stones which tho' before accounted Sacred because upon them was engraven the Covenant by which the Iews bound themselves to obey God yet afterward had not the least Sanctity in them because the People by worshiping the Golden Calf made that Covenant void For the same cause the second Tables with the Ark wherein they were kept might likewise perish 'T is no wonder then if none of those Originals are to be found or that the like should befal the Books we have when the very Original of Gods Law the most Sacred of all things is utterly lost Let Men then forbear to charge me with impiety seeing I have spoken nothing against the Word of God nor have any way profaned it if their anger be just let it be vented against the people of old whose wickedness prophaned and destroyed the Ark of God the Temple the Law and all things else that were Sacred If according to the 2 d Epist. to the Corinth chap. 3. v. 3. The Epistle of Christ were written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables
of Stone but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart Let Men cease to adore the Letter and not be so much concern'd for it Having sufficiently explain'd the Holiness and Divinity of Scripture let us now see what is properly meant by Debar Iehovah the word of God. Debar signifies Word Speech Decree Thing now upon what grounds any thing in the Hebrew Language may be said to be God's or have relation to God I have shew'd in the first Chapter so that I need not repeat what I have there said or in the sixth Chapter what I have said of Miracles 't is evident what the Scripture means by the Word of God To make the thing very clear I need only declare that when the Word of God is predicated of any Subject which is not God himself it properly signifies that Divine Law of which we treated in the fourth Chapter namely That Religion which is universal and common to all mankind mention'd in Isaiah chap. 1. v. 10. where the Prophet declares That the right way of living consisted in Charity and in a sincere and pure Heart which he calls the Law and Word of God The Word of God is also taken Metaphorically for the order or course of Nature and Fate because it follows and depends upon the Eternal Decree of the Divine Nature particularly for whatever the Prophets foresaw in this course of Nature because the Prophets understood future events not by natural Causes but thought them to be the Will and Decrees of God. Moreover it is taken for that which any Prophet commanded or declared because he knew it not by Natural Light but by the singular Vertue and gift of Prophesie and more especially because the Prophets as we have shewed in the fourth Chapter apprehended God under the notion of a Lawgiver for these three reasons then the Scripture is called the Word of God namely because it teacheth us true Religion whereof God from all Eternity is the Author Secondly because it makes Prophesies to be God's Decrees And lastly because the Authors of those Prophesies taught for the most part that which they did not know by Natural Reason but by a faculty and gift peculiar only to them and introduced God speaking as it were in them Now tho' the Scripture contain many things which are meerly Historical and may be unnderstood by Natural Knowledge yet the Scripture is called the Word of God in respect of those other particulars I have last mention'd so that now we plainly see why God is called the Author of the Bible namely upon the account of teaching us what is true Religion and not because it contains and hath communicated to us such a certain number of Books And hence we may also learn that the Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament because before the coming of Christ the Prophets Preached Religion as the Law of their Country and by force of the Covenant made in Moses's time but after Christ's coming because the Apostles preached Religion upon Christ's account as a Law universal to all mankind not that the Prophets and Apostles differ'd in Doctrine or that the Books of either Testament are the Deeds and Indentures of the Written Covenant nor lastly because Natural Religion which is universal is new unless it be in respect of those that knew it not according to that saying of Iohn the Evangelist chap. 1. v. 10. He was in the world and the world knew him not If then we had not some of those Books which the Old and New Testament contain yet we should not want God's Word as it properly signifies true Religion for we do not think any part thereof is wanting tho' we lack many of those other excellent Writings namely the Book of the Law which was so Religiously kept in the Temple as the Original wherein the Covenant was first written with many other Books of the Wars and Records of time from whence the Books of the Old and New Testament which we now have were transcribed and collected And this is made good by many reasons first because the Books of both Testaments were not written at one and the same time for the use of all Ages but by chance for some particular people and that as the Time and their particular Disposition requir'd which plainly appears by the calling of the Prophets who are called to warn and reprove the ungodly of their own time and also by the Writings of the Apostles Secondly Because understanding the Scripture and the meaning of the Prophets is one thing but to understand the Mind of God that is the real truth of things is another as appears by what hath been said in the second Chapter of Prophets which distinction likewise holds in Histories and Miracles as we have shewed in the sixth Chapter But in understanding places which treat of true Religion and real Vertue no such distinction ought to be made Thirdly Because the Books of the Old Testament were chosen out of many others and were approved and joyned together by a Council of the Pharisees as we have declared in the tenth Chapter and for the Books of the New Testament they were receiv'd into the Canon by the Decrees of certain Councils when several other Books by many accounted Sacred were rejected as Spurious These Councils both of Pharisees and Christians were made up of Men who were no Prophets but only learned Doctors yet it must necessarily be granted that in this choice they made the Word of God their Rule so that before they gave their Approbation to the Books they ought to know what was the Word of God. Fourthly Because as we have shewed in the preceding Chapter the Apostles did not write as Prophets but only as Teachers and chose that way of instructing which every one judged most easie for his Disciples from whence it follows as we have concluded in the end of the said Chapter that their Writings contain many things whereof in Respect to Religion we have no absolute need Fifthly and lastly Because in the New Testament there are four whom we call Evangelists but who believes it was God's express Will that the History of Christ should be four times told and deliver'd to Men in Writing Tho' things may be contain'd in one which are not in another and that one helps to understand another we must not therefore conclude that all things which the four declare are absolutely necessary to be known and that God made choice of them to write purposely that the History of Christ might be the better understood for every one preach'd his own Gospel in several places and every one wrote what he preach'd plainly that he might the more faithfully relate the History of Iesus Christ and not for any explanation to the rest If by mutually comparing them together they are sometâ—mes more easily and better understood that happens by chance and only in very few places of which tho' we were ignorant the History notwithstanding would be very perspicuous and
difference in Religion and is believed to be pious There was no Reason why their Hatred should decrease for all other Nations did as mortally hate them Let Reason and Experience judge then whether the Liberty of the Subject Devotion towards their Countrey Absolute Power over all Nations against whom their Hatred was not only counted lawful but pious Singularity of Religious Rites and manner of living were not powerful Arguments to perswade the Iews with great Courage and Constancy of Mind to suffer any thing for their Countrey For while Ierusalem stood they would never endure any other Government therefore was it called the Rebellious City Ezra chap. 4. v. 12 15. The second Government which was scarce a shadow of the first after the Priests had usurped the Power of the Princes was with great difficulty destroyed by the Romans as Tacitus tells us in the second Book of his History Vespasian saith he put an end to the Iewish War by the taking of the City Jerusalem an hard and difficult work because of the Peoples Disposition and Obstinacy in their Superstition and because the besieged had Courage and Strength enough to suffer all Extremities Beside all these things which only Opinion made dear and valuable there was another thing in this Government which was a fingular and solid Argument to continue the People in their Obedience and take from them all thoughts of deserting their Countrey and that was Profit which is the Strength and Life of all Humane Actions In this Particular their Advantages were very considerable for Subjects had no where greater Right to any thing they possest The Iewish Subjects had an equal portion of Land and Fields with the Prince and every one was an eternal Lord of his part for if any man forced by poverty sold his Land when the Year of Iubilee came it was to be intirely restored There were likewise other Institutions of this kind so that a fixed Estate could never be perpetually alienated Where could poverty be more tolerable than in a Country where every man 's mutual Charity was that part of his Religion whereby he hoped to purchase the Favour of God who was his King so that the Iews could never live well in any Country but their own and out of it were sure to meet with Injury and Reproach To keep them in their own Country from Civil War and to take away the Causes of Contention their being subject to no Equal but only to God himself contributed very much so likewise did their mutual Love and Charity which was not a little increased by the general Hatred all other Nations had against them Another thing which beyond all that I have mentioned much contributed to keeping the people within the Limits of their Duty was that strict Discipline of Obedience under which they were educated for they were to do nothing but according to positive prescriptions of Law they could not when they pleas'd but only at certain times and in certain Years plow and that but with one sort of Cattel they had likewise prescribed Rules for sowing and reaping and indeed as we have shewn in the Fifth Chapter concerning the Use of Ceremonies their whole course of Life was but a continual practice of Obedience so that being accustomed to it it seemed rather Liberty than Servitude This was the Reason they desired not what was forbidden but that which was commanded At certain times of the Year they were to give themselves up to Mirth Pleasure and Ease not to indulge their own Appetites but to serve God the more chearfully Thrice in a Year they were God's Guests see Deut. chap. 16. v. 16. Every Seventh day of the Week they were to cease from all kind of Labour and take their rest at other set times rejoicing honest Recreations and Feasting were not only allow'd but commanded which above all things prevail upon mens Minds especially that Joy which ariseth from Devotion that is from Love and admiration together Their Worship prescribed on Festival Days being short and various kept them from loathing and weariness To all this add the high Reverence and Veneration they had for the Temple which was still preserved by the particular Worship they were to perform in it and by many things they were to observe and do before it was lawful for any one to enter into it So that even now we cannot without great horror read that abominable wicked act of Manasseh who caused an Idol to be set up in the Temple Nor was the Reverence much less which the People had for the Law which was religiously kept in the Sanctuary so that no Rumors or Discontents among the People were here to be feared for no body could meddle or pass any Judgment in matters of Religion but every man without consulting Reason was to do all things which God by his Answers in the Temple or by the Laws already given commanded them It now then appears under what manner of Government the Iews lived of which I hope I have given a very clear though but brief Account It now remains that we enquire Why the Iews did so often forsake the Law why they were so often conquer'd and why at last their Government was totally destroyed Perhaps some will tell me Their stubborn and rebellious Humour was the Cause That 's but a childish and frivolous Answer Why was this Nation more rebellious than any other was it their Natures Nature doth not make Nations but only individual Persons who are distinguish't and divided into Nations by diversity of Language Laws and Customs From Laws and Customs every Nation acquires a particular Disposition a particular Condition and peculiar Prejudices and Opinions If it must be granted That the Iews were more stiff-necked and rebellious than any other Nation it must be because they had Bad Laws and Evil Customs and it is a certain Truth That if God had decreed their Government should have had a longer continuance he would have given them other Laws and Statutes and another Administration of Government Therefore what can we say more than that God was offended and angry with them not only as Ieremy saith from the building of their City Ierem. chap. 32. v. 31. but from the very time he gave them their Laws which Ezekiel testifies chap. 20. v. 25. saying I gave them statutes which were not good and judgments whereby they should not live and I polluted them in their own gifts in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb that is the first-born that I might make them desolate to the end that they might know I am the Lord. That these Words and the Cause of their Destruction may be rightly understood we are to take notice That God's first Intention was to commit the Administration of all things pertaining to Religion to the First-born not to the Levites as appears Numb chap. 8. v. 17. where God says all the first-born of the children of Israel are mine I
see God's Face Beside these ways and means I have mentioned I find no other in Sacred Sripture whereby God hath communicated himself to Men and therefore as I have already said no other are to be supposed or admitted and though we may clearly understand that God may immediately communicate himself to Men for he without using any Corporeal Means doth communicate his Essence to our Minds yet that any man by the mind alone should comprehend those things which are not contained in the Principles of Natural Knowledge nor can be deduced from them must necessarily argue that that mans mind is far more Noble and Excellent then any Human Understanding Wherefore I believe never any Man arrived to so great a degree of Perfection above others beside Christ to whom the purposes of God for the Salvation of mankind were immediately revealed So that God did manifest himself to the Apostles by the Mind of Christ as he did before to Moses by an Aereal Voice and therefore the Voice of Christ like that which Moses heard may be called the Voice of God. And in this Sense also we may say the Wisdom of God viz. Wisdom more then Human assumed Human Nature in Christ and Christ was the Way to Salvation But I think it necessary for me here to declare that some things which some Churches determine and maintain concerning Christ I do neither assert nor deny for I ingenuously confess I do not understand them those things which I have affirmed I have collected out of the Scripture it self I have no where read that God appeared or spoke to Christ but that God was revealed to the Apostles by Christ who was the Way to Salvation And lastly that the Old Law was not delivered immediately by God but by an Angel. Wherefore if Moses spake to God Face to Face as a Man useth to do with his Friend that is by the mediation of two Bodies Christ communed with God mentally or Mind to Mind I do therefore maintain that beside Christ no Man ever reeived any Revelation from God but by the help of the Imagination or by the help of Words or Signs and therefore to Prophesy there is not so much need of a perfect Understanding as of a Lively Imagination as shall be shown in the following Chapter we are now to inquire what the Scripture means by the Spirit of God infused into the Prophets or the Prophets speaking by the Spirit of God to find out the meaning of these Phrases and Expressions it is first necessary to search what the Hebrew word Ruagh signifies which the Vulgar interprets Spirit The word Ruagh in its Proper and Genuine Sense signifies Wind but is very frequently used to signifie many other things which nevertheless are derived from Wind For sometimes it signifies Breath Psal. 135. v. 17 th Neither is there any Breath in their Mouths Secondly it signifies Life or Respiration 1 st Book of Sam. chap. 30. v. 12. His Spirit came again to him that is he breathed Thirdly it is taken for Courage and Strength Iosu. chap. 11 th v. 11 th There was not a Man left to breath Ezek. chap. 2. v. 2. And the Spirit that is Strength entered into me and set me upon my Feet Fourthly it is taken for Vertue and fitness Iob. chap. 32. v. 8. There is a Spirit in Man that is as appears in the following Verse Wisdom and Understanding but is not always to be found in the Aged for I now find it depends upon the particular Qualification aud Capacity of a Man. So in the 27. chap. of Numb v. 8. Take thee Iosua the Son of Nun a Man in whom is the Spirit Fifthly It is taken for a Man's Opinion Numb chap. 14 v. 24. Because he had another Spirit with him Proverbs chap. 1 st v. 23. I will pour out my Spirit that is my Mind unto you And in this Sense It is used to signifie the Will Purpose or Resolution the Appetite the Desire and the Anger or Passion of the Mind Ezek. chap. 1. v. 12. They went every one straight forward whether the Spirit or their Will was to go they went. Isaiah chap. 30. v. 1. That take Councel but not of me that cover with a Covering but not of my Spirit Isai. chap. 29. v. 10. The Lord hath poured out upon you the Spirit that is the desire of deep Sleep Iudges chap. 8. v. 3. Then their Spirit that is Anger was abated towards him Prov. chap. 16. v. 32. He that ruleth his Spirit that is his Appetite is better then he that taketh a City Prov. chap. 25. v. 28. He that hath no rule over his own Spirit is like a City broken down Isai. chap. 33. v. 11. Your Spirit in the English Translation Breath as Fire shall devour you Moreover this Word Ruagh as it fignifies the Mind so doth it serve to express the Passions and sometimes the gifts of the mind A high Spirit signifies Pride a lowly Spirit humilitly an evil Spirit hatred and melancholly a good Spirit kindness and benignity the Spirit of jealousie the Spirit of fornication the Spirit of wisdom council fortitude which because in Hebrew Substantives are oftner used than Adjectives signify a wise prudent valiant Mind Sixthly it signifies the life or soul Eccles. chap. 3. v. ii Spiritus idem est omnibus The same breath is to all and the Spirit returns to God that gave it Lastly it signisies the quarters of the World from whence the wind blows and likewise the sides of any thing which stands towards those quarters as appears Ezek. chap 37. v. 9 and chap. 42. v. 16,17,18,19 c. Now it is to be noted that a thing is attributed to God and said to be God's First because it pertaineth to the Nature of God and is as it were a part of God as when we say the Power of God the Eyes of God. Secondly when a thing is in the Power of God and Acts according to his Will and Pleasure so in Scripture the Heavens are called the Heavens of God because they are his Chariot and place of Abode Assyria is called the Scourge of God and Nebuchadnezzer the Servant of God. Thirdly when a thing is dedicated to God as the Temple of God the Nazarite of God the Bread of God. Fourthly that which hath been deliver'd by the Prophets and not revealed by the Light of Nature therefore the Law of Moses is called the Law of God. Fifthly when any thing is superlatively exprest as the Mountains of God that is the highest Hills the sleep of God that is deep sleep in this sence is to be understood the 11 th Verse of the 4 th Chap. of Amos where God says I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah that is like that memorable overthrow for seeing God himself speaks it cannot otherwise be properly exprest the Natural Knowledge of Solomon is called Divine and the Knowledge of God because it was so much above that which is
common The Psalms speak of the Cedars of God to express their extraordinary height in the First Book of Sam. Chap. 10. v. 7. it is said The fear of the Lord fell on the People which signifies a very great fear and in this sense all things which exceeded the Capacity of the Iews and whose natural Causes where not known to them were always referr'd and attributed to God. Tempests were called Gods Chiding and Threatnings Thunder and Lightning his Darts and Arrows they thought God kept the Winds shut up in the Caverns of the Earth which they called his Treasuries in which Opinion they differ'd from the Heathen only by believing God and not AEolus to be their Ruler upon this ground Miracles are also called the Works of God that is stupendious wonderful works tho' indeed all things in Nature are the Works of God and only by Divine Power act and subsist in the same Sence the Psalmist calls the Miracles done in Egypt the Powers of God because in the Iews greatest danger they open'd a way to their safety and deliverance when they least expected it and were therefore so much admir'd by them Seeing then the Works of Nature which are strange and unusual are called the Works of God and Trees of extraordinary height and magnitude the Trees of God it is no wonder that in Genesis Men very Valiant and of great Stature tho' impious Robbers and Fornicators were called the Sons of God the Ancient Heathen as well as the Iews used to attribute to God every thing in which any one excell'd other Men Pharaoh when he heard the Interpretation of his Dream said that the Spirit of the Gods was in Ioseph and Nebuchadnezzar said the Spirit of the Holy Gods was in Daniel nothing was more frequent among the Latines then to say things very curiously wrought were done by a Divine Hand which Expression if a Man would turn into Hebrew he must say done by the Hand of God. By these places I have quoted many other in Scripture where mention is made of the Spirit of God may be easily understood and explained the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Iehovah in some places signifie nothing but a vehement dry and destroying Wind as Isa. Chap. 40. v. 7. The Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Also Gen. Chap. 1st v. 2. and the Spirit of God that is a strong Wind moved upon the Waters It also signifies a great Mind or Courage the Courage of Gideon and Sampson are stiled in Scripture the Spirit of God that is a bold daring Mind ready to undertake and attempt any thing So also any particular vertue or skill more then ordinary is in Scripture called the Spirit of God Exod. Chap. 31. v. 3. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and Workmanship speaking of Bezaleel so Isa. Chap. 11. v. 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him that is as the Prophet more fully explains himself the Vertue of Wisdom Councel and Might in like manner Sauls Melancholy is called an Evil Spirit of God or from God that is deep Melancholy for Sauls Servants who called his Melancholy the Melancholy of God were they that sent for Musick to recreate him which shew'd that they did not think his Melancholy to be any more than Natural sometimes by the Spirit of God is signified the Life of Man Iob Chap. 27. v. 3. The Spirit of God is in my Nostrils alluding to what is said Gen. Chap. 2. v. 7. God breathed into Mans Nostrils the Breath of Life so Ezek. Chap. 37. v. 14. saith Prophesying to the Dead and I will put my Spirit in you and ye shall live that is I will restore Life to you in the same Sense speaks Iob Ch. 34. v. 14. If he gather unto himself his Spirit and his Breath so likewise is to be understood the 3 Verse of the 6 th Chap. of Gen. My Spirit also shall not always strive with Manfor that he also is flesh that is Man hereafter shall do according to the dictates of his Flesh and not of his Mind which I gave him to discern Good from Evil Psal. 51. v. 10 11. David says Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me cast me not away out of thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me because it was believed that Sins came only from the Flesh and that the Soul or Mind did incline Men only to good therefore the Psalmist implores Gods Assistance against his carnal Affections and prays that his Mind or Soul which God gave him may be preserved and kept by God now because the Scripture describes God like a Man and because the Common Peoples Capacity is weak doth attribute to God a Mind affections of Mind and likewise a Body and Breath therefore the Spirit of God is many times in Scripture taken for the Will the Mind the Power and the Breath of Gods Mouth Isa. Chap. 40. v. 13. the Prophet saith who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord that is who hath disposed the mind of God to will any thing which he himself hath not determin'd Likewise Chap. 63. v. 10. They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit Hence it is that sometimes 't is taken for the Law of Moses because it doth as it were explain and unfold Gods Mind for Isa. in the 11 th V. of the 63. Ch. saith where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him that is the Law as is clearly Collected from the Context Nehemiah Ch. 9. v. 20. saith thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them speaking of the time of the Law Deut. Ch. 4. v. 6. Moses speaking of the Law saith This is your wisdom and understanding so David Psal. 43. v. 11. saith Thy good Spirit leadeth me into the Land of Vprightness that is thy mind revealed to us leadeth us into the right way the Spirit of God also signifies the Breath of God which is as improperly attributed to God as is Body or Mind Psal. 33. v. 6. And all the Host of them by the breath of his Mouth it signifies the power and might of God Iob Chap. 33. v. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me that is the Power of God or rather his decree for the Psalmist speaking poetically saith by the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Breath of his Mouth Also Psal. 139. v. 7. It is said whether shall I go from thy Spirit where Spirit signifies Gods Power and presence Lastly the Spirit of God is used in Scripture to express the affections of Gods Mind namely his Benignity Mercy c. Michah Chap. 2. v. 7. Is the Spirit of the Lord straightned are these his doings so Zachary Chap. 4. v. 6. not by might not by power but by my Spirit that is only by my Mercy and in this Sense I think ought to be understood