the face of the whole Nation of the Jews as I have shewed in the precedent Chapter They relate them as Facts for the most part owned by the Jews from which the Malice of the Jews extorted other Consequences They give us an account of the Judgment which the Jews made concerning the Miracles that he wrought on the Sabbath day upon the Disciples gathering the Ears of Corn of the answer which the Jews made to Pilate We have no other King but Cesar The second is That the Apostles supposing a general expectation of the Messiah when Jesus Christ appeared shew that there was a very great knowledge of the Prophecies that respected the Messiah and a great impossibility of applying those Oracles to particular Facts if the truth of those Facts had not been beyond contest Now we find very few Oracles of which they did not make an application to the Life and Actions of our Saviour Wee 'l suppose the Apostles to have been Men of great Abilities and who had long studied the Books of the Prophets that they might tear out such small passages as they fancied might be applicable to Jesus Christ However it cannot be denied that it does not appear by their Writings that they had such an exact knowledge of the Prophecies whence it might follow that they judged them to be applicable to Christ by comparing them with the Facts which they relate 2. That they had this knowledge in common with the rest of the Jews who at this day apply the same Texts to the Messiah if they are not constrained by their clearness to wrest them some other way The third Reflexion is That in the Relation of these Facts they give us all the Marks of an extraordinary sincerity they represent indeed whatsoever was for their Master's Glory but they do as well relate those things which seem to be shameful to his memory They tell us of the Angels that assisted at his Birth and at his Death but tell us withal That he was tempted of the Devil and in all appearance forsaken by God at his death They tell us That the multitudes were resolved to take him by force and make him their King as acknowledging him for the Messiah and they tell us That the same multitude some time after demanded him to be crucified The fourth is That they represent very naturally all the Judgments of the Synagogue against Jesus They represent him as excommunicated and crucified by them they describe the reports that were current among the Jews That the Disciples had taken away his Body out of the Sepulchre that the Souldiers had deposed the same in the forms of Law before Pilate From all which it appears that they were faithful Historians and not at all prepossessed and that they used no Invectives against the Authors of these false Reports contenting themselves to establish the truth of the matter by specifying the places the time the witnesses and other circumstances which are proper to establish the truth of the Facts they relate These four Reflexions being once supposed I say it is impossible to dispute the truth of these Books or to call their Authority in question To be convinc'd of which one needs only consider these two things the first is That the Apostles are the Authors of the Books which pass under their Names the other is That their faithfulness is not to be suspected by us The former of these is so universally received that nothing will be certain in matters of this nature if this be questioned The four Evangelists have published their Writings in populous Cities where they have been constantly read every Lord's day in Christian Assemblies as S. Justin Martyr assures us in his Apology which was writ about the middle of the second Century The Apostles writ their Epistles to numerous Churches to whom their hand as well as the persons by whom they sent them were well known Can we instance in any Writing in the World that hath been preserved with the like carefulness Let the Jews tell us what they please concerning the care and faithfulness of their Ancestors to preserve the Books of the Old Testament they can alledge nothing but we can alledge the same in favour of the Books of the New Testament They tells us that Moses under the penalty of a Curse had forbid the adding any thing thereto and do not we read the same threatning in the last Book of the New Testament The Philosophers of each Sect have nothing of this weight to alledge as an Argument that the Books which they ascribe to their Masters are really theirs we find only a few men in every Age who made it their business to study the Books of the Philosophers Physicians and Lawyers but ever since the Apostles there have been Christians who made it their business to peruse and preserve their Writings as considering that they are the Fountains of Eternal Life One may upon this occasion take notice of two things which deserve some attention The one is That the design of some Hereticks as of Marcion for instance to corrupt the Copies of the Writings of the New Testament which were found in the hands of those of his Sect is a good Argument to prove that they could not be corrupted In short we find all the World opposed themselves against this Corruption and confuted them by the agreement of all the other Copies in the World which were exempt from this corruption The other is That if there are some Books whose Authority was doubtful for some time by those who otherwise were accounted Orthodox yet this cannot justly prejudice the truth of the New Testament the reason is because this happened only to some few Epistles which were written not to particular Churches but to whole Nations And indeed it is plain from common sense that when Writings are sent to whole Bodies as the Epistle of S. Jude without communicating the Copy to particular men that they may with more justice be suspected than those whose hand was known by many and particularly by those to whom the Epistles were sent Moreover The account which the ancient Fathers of the Church give us of the uncertainties of this nature sufficiently shew that they were very careful in examining these things and when at any time some particular men did not use care enough in examining these Books as it once happened in the Church of Ross Euseb Lib. VI. cap. 12. where a Book which was falsly attributed to S. Peter was preserved supposing it to have been his the other Churches not consenting to it that Abuse was soon remedied the Writings abolished that there is scarce a weak remembrance left of them One see 's that these Remarks are sufficient to assure us that the Apostles are the Authors of those Books which bear their Names And if this way of confirming a matter of this nature be accounted good and solid when we speak of the Books of Aristotle or Hippocrates it must be infinitely
by Moses BUt least any Body should think it strange that I should build the truth of Moses's Prophecies upon the Testimony of the Jews I will restrain its authority of it within just and certain Bounds First Although the Jews bear Witness in their Sacred Books that the greatest part of Moses's Prophecies are already fulfill'd yet they say some are not As for instance those which relate to the Messiah's coming But their obstinate blindness is not a just prejudice against such an important truth to be convinced of which we need only to compare Moses's Words with the Actions of Jesus Christ Thus for what relates to the Destruction of Jerusalem we need only compare Moses's Prophesie of it with the Description Josephus their own Historian hath made of the same in his History of the Siege and ruine of that City and of the dissipation of all the Nations of the Jews But without the Jews Testimony in what regards the accomplishment of those Prophesies whereof the execution was deferred for a very long time it is easie to convince any the most Incredulous Man of their Truth and Divinity if he please but to make this one Reflexion which is that when Moses relates amongst the Oracles of the Patriarch Jacob a particular Prophesie concerning the Messiah's coming and when he mentions that of Balaam concerning the rising of that Divine Star he subjoins also at the same time that concerning the Vocation of the Gentiles to the Faith and brings it in as a certain sign and consequence of the Messiah's being come into the World. Now if we examine the meaning of Moses's Predictions about the Vocation of the Gentiles which the Prophets that came after him did better explain and illustrate we shall be apt from thence to conclude that he in effect foretold that God in the days of the Messiah would follow quite another Method than that which he had used before until the time of Moses viz. That whereas God might seem to restrain then the Priviledge of his Covenant to one people alone which was in effect to restrain the honour of the Messiah's Birth to one sole Nation of the World to one sole Tribe of that Nation to one sole Family of that Tribe to one sole Branch of that Family and so to one sole person of that Branch He would after the Messiah's coming take a contrary Method and call all men to Salvation in him Now that being supposed the truth of all Moses's Prophesies cannot be question'd And whatever the Jews Opinion be concerning the accomplishment of some of them It is sufficient for us that they have carefully and faithfully preserved the Books wherein those Prophecies which we see so exactly fulfilled are contained For we cannot reasonably suspect Moses or any other Jew of forging the Prophesies which foretold the calling of the Gentiles not Moses seeing all his Laws do tend as I shall shew hereafter more at large to establish that restriction I was just now speaking of which was to continue to the Messiah's coming Not the Jews seeing that none of them can still endure to hear of the removal of that Restriction by the calling of the Gentiles and that they are all possest with such a Spirit of Envy and Jealousie against all other Nations that they perfectly hate and abominate them But besides we cannot desire a better nor a more authentick accomplishment of those Oracles which are so opposite to the Jewish Principles and Prejudices than that which we our selves are Witnesses of The same Reflexion belongs to the other Prophesies of Moses concerning the total Dissipation of the Jewish State as also to the dreadful accomplishment of them in our days The most resolved Obstinacy can suggest but one Objection in this matter which is that either the Christians or the Jews have falsified Moses's Writings and inserted those Prophesies which we now find there concerning the Vocation of the Gentiles and the dispersion of the Jews after those things were come to pass But First The Books of Moses which both Christians and Jews have are Written in Hebrew and penn'd in such a Stile as evidences their Antiquity and as would be inimitable now Secondly That these Books have been all Translated into Greek almost 300 years before Jesus Christ and about 350 years before the destruction of Jerusalem Neither the Jews nor yet the Christians were any longer sole Masters of them when the Heathens had them also in their hands Besides those who were Converted to Christianity from Judaism and Heathenism did not only find these Prophesies of Moses in the hands of Jews and Heathens long before the Conversion of the Gentiles and the Destruction of Jerusalem but did also make use of them to evince against the Jews that the Messiah was already come Thus I think I have sufficiently demonstrated the Truth and Divinity of all Moses's Prophesies which we find in Exodus and the following Books CHAP. IX That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis I Have shew'd in my former Reflexions upon Genesis that those who lived before Moses's time had a distinct knowledge that God would certainly raise up a Deliverer amongst them although they were not certain of the manner of his appearance And I have besides I think sufficiently proved that the various Idea's which the Ancients entertained of him upon the first Promise made by God of his coming were the occasion of several Criminal Actions committed by the Patriarchs and by those of other Nations who had the same pretensions with them I am now to prove that Moses himself had the same knowledge and lived in the same expectation with the Ancients that preceded him It is of more importance to be shewn and that henceforth no Body may wonder if I pretend that the greatest part of the Laws he gave to the Jews both in reference to Civil and Religious Matters and the greatest part of his Prophesies as also those others mentioned by Prophets that lived after him in that Jewish Common-wealth do all suppose a distinct relation to the promised Messiah And to make this evident I beg leave to offer to the Reader 's Consideration some general Reflexions upon Moses's History in Genesis First It cannot be denied that Moses was one of the greatest and wisest Historians that ever was There cannot be a greater design nor a more difficult Task than his was to write the History of 2400 years He gives an account of the Creation of the World in general and in particular of that of Man of his sin of the Promise God made him after the Fall of the Flood of the Original of all the Nations that were in his time His way and manner of Writing is also very extraordinary The Majesty of his Stile is tempered with an admirable plainness he describes all sorts of Passions to the Life he is admirable in his Characters of the Men he speaks
be very short I will confine my self to some general Reflexions upon those Books of the Old Testament which were writ since Moses but such as I hope will be sufficient to satisfie an equitable and intelligent Reader THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE First Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. THat there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages Page 1. Chap. 2. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of prophane History 8 Chap. 3. That there is an uninterrupted Series of Events foretold by the Sacred Oracles of which we may see a very great number accomplished in every Age. 15 Chap. 4. That how common soever Oracles may have been amongst the Pagans yet nothing amongst them can justly be compared with those which are found amongst the Jews 24 Chap. 5. That the Books in which we may find these Oracles were never forged 28 Chap. 6. That the manner of Writing the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament shews that those Oracles could not have been forged after their Completion 35 Chap. 7. For what reason the Oracles which relate to the Messiah were interwoven with other things which seem to be very widely distant 45 Chap. 8. General Rules for the understanding of ancient Oracles and for the Application of them to the Messiah 51 Chap. 9. Of those Oracles concerning the Messiah which are to be found in the Book of Genesis 60 Chap. 10. Of the Oracles which concern the Messiah in the Book of Psalms 71 Chap. 11. Considerations upon the Sufferings of the Messiah and upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven foretold by David in the XXII and CX Psalms 80 Chap. 12. That the Messiah was to have a Forerunner and what was to be his Character 89 Chap. 13. That the Messiah was to be born before the dissolution of the Jewish State and the destruction of the second Temple 93 Chap. 14. That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David 101 Chap. 15. That the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem of the Family of David which at that time was reduc'd to a private state 107 Chap. 16. That the Messiah was to work great Miracles for the establishing of his Mission and of the Truth of his Doctrine 111 Chap. 17. That the Messiah was to be an illustrious Prophet 114 Chap. 18. That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men 119 Chap. 19. That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah 125 Chap. 20. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death 130 Chap. 21. That the Messiah was soon after to rise again 136 Chap. 22. That the Messiah was to ascend into Heaven and send down from thence the miraculous Gifts of Prophecy Languages c. 140 Chap. 23. That the Gentiles in the time of the Messiah were to be called to the knowledge of the true God. 144 Chap. 24. That the Jews were to be rejected in the time of the Messiah 152 Chap. 25. Of the time which succeeded the publishing of these Prophecies till the Coming of the Messiah 157 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. That there appears a very just Connexion between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former Page 175 Chap. 2. That the Idea's of the Messiah continued very fresh in the Minds of the Jews at the time of the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ 183 Chap. 3. That the Commonwealth of the Jews did still subsist and follow the Model which God had formed in order to the certain knowing of the Messiah 189 Chap. 4. That all the Distinctions necessary for discovering of the Messiah still continued in the State of the Jews at the time of our Lord. 197 Chap. 5. That the time pointed out by the Prophets for the Coming of the Messiah is the very time in which Jesus Christ appeared to the World. 202 Chap. 6. That Jesus Christ had precisely such a Forerunner as the Prophets had described to precede the Messiah 207 Chap. 7. That Jesus Christ was born of the Family of David then reduced to a mean Condition as had been aforetold by the Prophets 213 Chap. 8. That Jesus Christ was conceived by the Virgin Mary without any Operation of Man. 222 Chap. 9. That Jesus Christ lived and preached after the same manner as the Prophets had foretold the Messiah should do 229 Chap. 10. That the Miracles wrought by our Saviour clearly prove that he is the Messiah 237 Chap. 11. That the Predictions of our Lord Jesus Christ clearly prove him to be the Messiah 242 Chap. 12. That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye 250 Chap. 13. That Jesus Christ was raised again the third day according to the Prophets and afterwards ascended into Heaven 258 Chap. 14. That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies 270 Chap. 15. That according to the Prophecies the Apostles of Jesus Christ have called the Gentiles to the profession of the Christian Religion 277 Chap. 16. That the Christian Religion is founded on proofs of Fact and that consequently nothing in the World is so certain as the truth of it 284 Chap. 17. That it cannot be questioned Whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles 292 Chap. 18. That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate 298 Chap. 19. More Reasons to manifest the faithfulness of the Apostles 304 Chap. 20. That the whole Model of the Religion and Commonwealth of the Jews is at this day so entirely destroyed that the Messiah could no more be known 311 Chap. 21. That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion 317 REFLEXIONS UPON THE Historical and Prophetical BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages THE first general Proof which I make use of to establish the Truth of the Historical Books of the Old Testament after Moses may be lawfully drawn from the uninterrupted Series of Events which are related by those Authors who have written the History of the State and Church of Israel We may observe several considerable Epocha's of this History which takes in about One thousand and forty years
so prophane as to deny that if in the same Author and in the same Chapter any man should read in one continued Series Predictions which should explain the miraculous Birth of the Messiah his Family his Preaching his Miracles his Sufferings his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven the Sending of the Holy Ghost the Calling of the Gentiles but that the History of the Gospel would sufficiently justifie Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah But they take it to be a very strange thing that the Apostles should apply several passages in ancient Authors to the History of Jesus Christ tho' the whole Contexture of their Books do not seem to oblige us to make any such Interpretations They therefore suppose that the Apostles made several fortunate Allusions to the more remarkable passages in those ancient Authors which may pass for Predictions of those Events which afterwards happened just as Nonnus wrote the History of the Gospel in Homer's Verses and as Eudoxia made a Cento out of Virgil's Poem which contained the same History tho' neither Homer nor Virgil had any of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion then in view That this apparent Difficulty may be solved it will be necessary to examine Three things I. The Matter of Fact it self II. The Reasons which gave occasion for the doing of it III. The Impression which this Fact has produced in the minds of men to this very time For the First Tho' it is well known that common use do's not allow men to joyn Foreign Idea's in the same Discourse yet we may easily conceive that God might and ought to do it if we will allow what may be easily collected that he resolved to send the Messiah into the World Such a practice was the more natural because the ancient Patriarchs before Moses and Moses himself who form'd the Commonwealth of the Jews had prepar'd the minds of the People to such sort of Expressions as were raised above the present Subject And certainly if one takes but the pains to consider the wisdom and beauty of the Authors who writ these Prophetical Books on the one side and the Character of the Writers of the New Testament on the other he would perceive that if these words That it might be fulfilled were of necessity to be changed into these As one may perceive a sort of Completion of such or such Passages in the Old Testament yet notwithstanding that the most part of those Quotations would evince an exact Accomplishment and the Oracles which they alledge would bear a just proportion to those Events which are related by the Evangelists in our Saviour's Life Can any thing be more singular than the Prophecy in the Seventh of Isaiah of the Messiah's being born of a Virgin of the piercing of his hands and feet Psal XXII of the mixture of Gall which was offered him to drink hinted at Psalm LX. 22. of his being sold for Thirty pieces of Silver Zechar. XI 3. or then several others of a like nature which at present I shall not stand to reckon up It must be confessed however that these Oracles are interwoven for the most part with Matters relating to Events happening in the time when each Prophet lived or which seem to be applicable personally to the Prophets Three Orders or Reasons may be conceived which will justifie the Wisdom of God in the ordering of these Oracles in a way which seems so contrary to the common practice of the World. The first Order contains Reasons drawn from the person of the Messiah himself of whom we speak The second Order contains those which arise from the consideration of the People amongst whom the Messiah was to be born The third contains those Reasons which respect other Nations amongst whom the Messiah was to be preached I shall examine these three sorts by themselves and I hope that we may gather from thence that the Eternal Wisdom presided over this mixture of these Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Idea's which seem to be wholly foreign to the Subject In short it may be urged That the belief of a Messiah form'd of so apparent Contradictions cannot easily be received of the suddain A Messiah of the Seed of David whom David calls his Lord a Messiah who complains that he is forsaken by God whom however he ought to adore A Messiah born with the weaknesses of Youth who at the same time is called a mighty God and the Father of Eternity c. However these Idea's which seem so opposite ought of necessity to have been so separated by the Prophets least they should have been looked upon as Chimerical Descriptions and incompatible in one and the same Subject A second Reflexion which may be made upon this Matter is That the Jews were bound not only to preserve their Oracles but also to execute them in part Thus for instance there was a necessity for them to reject the Messiah to deliver him up to the Gentiles to be crucified there was a necessity that their punishment should be as signal as their Crime and that they should be dispersed over the World after the Destruction of Jerusalem as the Prophets have clearly shewn Now how could all this have ever been effected if the Description of the Messiah by the Prophets had been as Historical as that of the Apostles or the Evangelists who gave us only a Narrative of Matters of Fact. In a word was it not the interest of the Gentiles to whom the Gospel was to be preached that these Oracles should be scattered up and down the Writings of these ancient Authors They were to be Called upon the Rejection of the Jews The Jews were bound to preserve the Books of the Old Testament after they were cast off by God that the Authority of these Books and these Oracles might be beyond all contest as Testimonies with which we are furnished by the adverse Party which ought to have place until the fulness of the Gentiles should profess Christianity Let any one therefore judge if it was not necessary in this state of Affairs that there should be some obscurity in the Prophetical Descriptions and by consequence that this interweaving of foreign Idea's with those which concerned the Messiah as also this dispersion of the Oracles through different places of the Sacred Writers was not necessary and so much the more as they were uttered upon several Occasions by different Authors And we may affirm it as a certainty That according to the purpose of God this obscurity did not hinder either Jews or Pagans from perceiving those ruling Idea's of a Messiah when they read the Old Testament Neither was the dispersion of these Oracles through so many different places any greater hindrance to their application since the Jews laid it down as a constant Maxime That the accomplishment of every thing which we find to be foretold as great and illustrious by the Prophets ought to be looked for in the Person of the Messiah when the
last Objection of Atheists is answered 120 Chap. 22. The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis 126 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. THat it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books Page 137 Chap. 2. That both the Character of Moses 's person and the nature of the things he relates has always made Men read his Books with attention 146 Chap. 3. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of 153 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the proofs of the truth of the Miracles wrought by Moses 158 Chap. 5. That Moses 's Description of the manner of God's giving him his Laws is evidently true 164 Chap. 6. Some other proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and promulgated 169 Chap. 7. That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books 173 Chap. 8. That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related by Moses 177 Chap. 9. That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis 180 Chap. 10. That the same perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death 185 Chap. 11. That Balaam 's prophesie which Moses relates is a further Argument of the same perswasion in him 188 Chap. 12. That one may see also in Moses 's Law plain Footsteps of God's Design in distinguishing these from whom he would have the Messiah to be Born. 194 Chap. 13. That the manner of God's promulgating his Law amongst the Israelites did much conduce to the distinguishing them from all other Nations 200 Chap. 14. That God seems to have designed to keep up a Spirit of Jealousie in the very Bosom of the Jewish Nation 206 Chap. 15. That Circumcision was a means of distinguishing the Israelites from other Nations 212 Chap. 16. That the Law of Moses engaged the Jews to the study of their Genealogies that they might certainly know that of the Messiah 219 Chap. 17. A Solution of some Difficulties in these Genealogies 223 Chap. 18. That the manner whereby the Law of Moses fixed the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan was to keep them separated from other Nations 228 Chap. 19. That the Law tied the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan and by several other means established the distinction betwixt Tribes and Families amongst them 234 Chap. 20. That the Laws which Moses made coneerning the state of Virginity did principally relate also to the Messiah which holds also as to several other Laws 241 Chap. 21. That it was the design of God by all these Ceremonies and particularly by that Veneration which he inspired the Jews with for the Tabernacle to preserve the Idea's of the Messiah whom he had promised in their minds by distinguishing them from all other Nations 249 Chap. 22. That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah 256 To the Courteous Reader THE Errata's are so small that they will not disturb the sense any where and so few that we need not trouble the Reader with a Table of them And therefore hope he will take such inconsiderable pains upon himself and excuse the Author REFLEXIONS UPON THE BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE For the Establishing of the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. Concerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion WE are to consider three things in the Christian Religion the Matters of Fact it propounds to us for true the Promises it affords us and the Worship it commands The Matters of Fact it propounds to us as true are that God created the World that he formed the first Man from whom the rest of mankind have been propagated that a while after this Man was created he violated the Law God had given him and that whereas he deserved to have perished for this his disobedience God was pleased instead thereof to comfort him with the hopes of a Saviour which was to be born of the Seed of his Wife that God hath actually sent this Saviour into the World which comprehends the whole Oeconomy of Christ viz. His Birth Life Preaching Miracles Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven c. The Promises it vouchsafes are the forgiveness of our Sins the Resurrection of our Bodies and a state absolutely happy for ever in Heaven And lastly the Worship or Divine Service it prescribes consists in Obedience to the Law of God in Prayer for the pardon of our Sins and his Protection and in a grateful Acknowledgement of what we owe him for all his Benefits towards us The first of these three parts of the Christian Religion viz. The Truth of the Matters of Fact it relates may be said to be the foundation of the other two viz. The Promises and Commands It is impossible to be perswaded that God hath created this World in which we live and made Mankind of one and the same blood that after the Fall he promised to save Men and did actually redeem them in sending Jesus Christ who suffer'd Death and being rais'd the third day Ascended into Heaven c. I say it is impossible to look upon these Facts as true without being assured that God will accomplish the Promises he hath made to us And it is as evident that we cannot be convinc'd of the truth of these Matters without being sensible of a strong obligation laid upon us to perform all the Duties of the Christian Religion As soon as a Man reflects upon his being Gods Creature he finds himself naturally oblig'd to obey God universally according to his utmost ability but when he comes further to believe that God did not destroy the first Man for his disobedience but was graciously pleased to promise him a Saviour for himself and all his Posterity and when moreover he is assured that God hath really sent this Saviour in the way and manner the Gospel relates to us we cannot conceive but that he must find himself under the highest engagements imaginable of rendring to God a religious obedience and believing his Promises But there is yet another obligation whereby Man is bound to obey God to pray to him and to offer him all manner of Religious Worship God by redeeming him hath obtained a new claim to and right over him and a more indispensable obligation is laid upon Man to submit himself to God in all religious Concerns as being not only created but also redeemed by him Reason acknowledgeth that if the truth of these things be once admitted nothing can be more just and natural than those consequences which the Christians thence infer All the difficulty
therefore that occurs in this Matter consists in the proof of those Facts which the Christian Religion propounds to us that is to say in proving the Creation of the World the Fall of Man the Promise of a Redeemer his coming into the World his Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven c. which are the Foundations of the Christian Religion And indeed these are the very matters of which Atheists and Libertines require a solid proof And it doth the more concern us to satisfie their demands forasmuch as the Jews who are scatter'd throughout the whole World do oppose our assertion that the Promise of sending the Messiah is already accomplish'd tho' they agree upon the matter with us in all other Articles Moreover the performing this Task may very much contribute to the Conversion of a great number of bad Christians whose sall and continuance in vices and licentiousness is to be ascrib'd to their being so weakly perswaded of the truth of these Fundamentals and that because they have never consider'd of them with sufficient attention CHAP. II. That the Christian Religion is founded upon Proofs of Mattter of Fact. FOrasmuch as in order to establish the truth of the Christian Religion we confine our selves at present to those proofs which make out the Matters of Fact it proposes omitting all other arguments which may evidence the truth of it tho' possibly no less convincing it is obvious that the proofs we are to produce in confirmation of them must be such as are proper to evince the truth of things long since past and done If we were treating of the Events of the time we live in it might be justly required that we should produce Eye-witnesses of them but forasmuch as the question here is concerning matters long since past it is natural for us to have recourse to History which furnisheth us with the relations of those who where Eye-witnesses of the same This being the only way left us to confirm our belief of things at so great a distance from us I am beholding to History only for the knowledg I have of a Cyrus an Alexander or a Caesar and yet having read the account they give me of them I find them matters I can no way rationally doubt of I acknowledg that the certainty we have of things long since past is much inferiour to that which we have of matters confirm'd to us by Eye-witnesses Nevertheless because it is evident that the Events of ancient Times cannot be confirm'd but by proofs of this nature it has never entred into the minds of any to account the existence of such men as Cyrus and Alexander for Fables upon the pretence that none now alive did ever see them or because there are scarce any traces left of those Empires of which they were the Founders Indeed the certainty we have of these things is such as nothing can be superadded to it for tho' it be founded on the Authority of Historians who liv'd many Ages ago yet withal we are to consider that the matters related do not only carry the Idea of probability and truth along with them but that they are the very ground and foundation of all the Histories of following Ages which cannot be questioned if we consider the connexion and dependance of the things related according to the light of Sense and the equity of Reason A Matter of Fact then is accounted certain when it is attested by those who were Eye-witnesses of it when recorded by an Historian who liv'd amongst those who had perfect knowledg of it when the Matter is not gainsaid or contradicted by any if we find it pen'd at a time when the things could not be related by any otherwise than indeed they were without exposing themselves to publick derision And last of all when the matter is found to be of that nature as none could be ignorant of it either because it was the interest of every one to be inform'd of it or because the thing was so publick that it could not be hid from any or lastly because of its natural connexion with all those other Events which necessarily depend on it To speak plain it is very unjust to demand either more proofs or such as are of another nature for the confirmation of the Truth of our Religion than are required to verisie any other matters of Fact. Why should not the Testimony of Noahs Children be sufficient to conclude there was such a man as Methusalem in case they assure us that they have seen him Or why should not the testimony of Methusalem be of credit enough to prove there was such a Man as Adam if he avers that he saw him and convers'd with him Do'nt we every day give credit to the account which old men give us of their Predecessors especially when we find that what they relate hath an exact reference and connexion with those things we are Eye-witnesses of But it is an easie thing to make it appear that the proofs which evidence the Truth of the matters which our Religion proposeth are infinitely more strong and convincing All the circumstances we can imagine proper to evince the Truth of any Relation do concur to place the matters recorded in Holy Scripture beyond the Reach of doubt or uncertainty We account the single Testimony of an Historian a sufficient proof that there was once a very famous Temple at Delphos or Ephesus notwithstanding that all the Monuments remaining at this day to confirm his relation be very doubtful and defective Whereas I shall make it appear that an entire Nation yea many Nations do attest the truth of those Matters which the Christian Religion proposes and that all the Actions Discourses and whole Series of Events thereto relating do furnish us with an infinite number of characters which invincibly signalize the Truth of the Holy Scrïptures CHAP. III. Some General Remarks in order to establish the Truth of Holy Scripture FOrasmuch as I have undertaken to prove the truth of the Matters of Fact contain'd in our Religion from the testimony of the Pen-men of the Old and New Testament it will be proper in order to the executing of my design to begin with a general proof of the Truth of the said Books which will not be difficult if one makes the following remarks The First is That it appears from the Five Books of Moses that he wrote the History of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah of the Deluge the Rise and Pedigree of the several Nations of the World of the Division of Tongues and in particular the History of the Family of Abraham until the entring of the Children of Israel into Palestina 2552 years after the Creation of the World. The Second is That the following Books viz. of Joshua Judges Ruth the four Books of Kings of Chronicles with the Books of Ezrah and Nehemiah are a Continuation of the said History from the entring of the Jews into Palestina until their
re-establishment in the said Country about the year of the World 3600. Here we read the Conquest of Palestina under the Conduct of Joshua how it was divided amongst the Tribes after they had destroyed drove out or subdued the Inhabitants thereof how often they were brought into bondage by the bordering Nations whose rise and pretensions Moses sets down Here we have recorded the several Names and actions of the Judges which God from time to time raised to the Israelites to restore them to their first estate Here we have an account of the establishment of a Kingly Government amongst them which happened about the year 2909 as likewise of the division of this people into two Kingdomes which for three Ages together were most opposite in their interests and made great wars against each other as well as against their neighbouring States We find here the utter ruin of the most puissant of these two States viz. That of Israel by the Arms of the Kings of Assyria about the year of the World 3283 and after that the destruction of that of Judah by Nebuchadnezar King of the Chaldeans Anno Mundi 3283. And last of all we have an account of the Jews Restoration by Cyrus King of Persia and the State of the Jews under his Successors The Third thing observable is That in the remaining Books of the Old Testament we find several historical Relations relating to both Kingdomes with several prophecies relating to their decay and restoration as likewise many Discourses of Morality and Piety and that all these relations and prophecies appear to have been writ at such a time and with those circumstances which have a natural reference to what the other Books recite to us and an essential Relation to the Books and Laws of Moses which we find to be the foundation of all these prophesies relations and whatsoever else we find there concerning their Government or Religion The Fourth is That the Books of the New Testament contain an exact relation of the Life of Jesus Christ who appeared to the World under the Reign of Tiberius of the establishment of his Religion in the World together with some disputes with the Jews who refused to own him for the Messiah promised by the Prophets and lastly Prophesies declaring what in in process of time was to happen both to the Jews and Christians until the end of the World. These Books take the Truth of Moses's Writings every where for granted as also of all the other Sacred Writings of the Old Testament both Historical Prophetical and Moral These Four particulars do in a manner give us an intire Idea of the Holy Scripture and we shall scarcely stand in need of ought else to manifest the Truth of those Writings if we consider those undisputable matters of fact I am now to speak of and will but make some very natural reflexions upon them The First is That the Christians notwithstanding their being divided into several Sects and Parties presently after our Saviours time have and do still in all places every first day of the Week read the Books of the New Testament translated into their respective Languages so that it appears absolutely impossible that any spurious Writings should have been slipt in amongst them The Second is That as the Christians have had the Books of the Old Testament amongst them in Greek these 1600. years so the Heathens had them in that Language 300. years before being translated by order of one of the Ptolomy's Kings of Egypt whither a considerable party of the Jews were carried after that Alexander the Great had conquered the greatest part of Asia having overthrown the Empire of Persia to which the Jews were in subjection The Third is That tho' the Jews had not all the Books of the Old Testament from the beginning of their Commonwealth they that followed the Party of Jeroboam and formed the Kingdom of Israel having only had the Five Books of Moses amongst them yet notwithstanding their irreconcilable hatred against the House of David they have most religiously preserved the said Books from Anno Mundi 3030. in which the divisions of the two Kingdoms happen'd even until this day The Fourth and last is That as the Jews every where at this day read the Books of Moses and of the Prophets each Sabbath day which is also observed by the Samaritanes and the Christians read them every first day of the week so the Jews have always continued to read them for a long series of Ages as esteeming it a great part of the sanctification of the Sabbath Besides which they also solemnly read them every seventh year in obedience to a Law of Moses as being one of the principal parts of their Religion I say that the sole consideration of these matters of fact which are indisputable are sufficient to prove in general the truth of the Books of the Old and New Testament First then I affirm that it is as ridiculous to maintain that the Books of the Old and New Testament translated into so many Languages cited by an infinite number of Authors and which have been the subject of various disputes from the very times of the Apostles or soon after should be supposititious as to aver that the Books of Justinian or Mahomets Alcoran have been falsly obtruded on the World under their names I speak now only of the Books themselves not of the truth of the History they contain Secondly It is ridiculous to suppose that the Books of the Old Testament were forged since the time of Ptolomy Philadelphus forasmuch as they have been in the hands of the Heathens themselves ever since that time Thirdly It is as inconsistent to suppose them contrived since the time of the separation of the ten Tribes from Judah because we find the Books of Moses among the Samaritanes who have preserved them ever since their Revolt without any other change but what is incident to all Manuscripts that pass through many hands I grant indeed that the Samaritans have none of the other Books of the Old Testament but this being to be look'd upon only as an effect of their departure from the Kingdom of Judah it cannot in the least shake the certainty we have of those Books For first the three other Tribes had them and preserv'd them with the greatest care esteeming them of Divine Authority Secondly there were also reasons of State which made the Kings of Israel not to regard the divisions made by Joshuah of the Land of Canaan nor the authority of the Priesthood which Reasons of State hereafter mentioned where the cause why the ten Tribes would not allow the same authority to some of those Books which were written before their Revolt as those of Samuel and the writings of David and Solomon which they did to the Pentateuch of Moses Most of the others we know were pen'd since the Division of the two Kingdomes and so did more particularly respect the Kingdom of Judah and some them after the
get himself reputation by exciting a Curiosity in people for his Books This would not have been becoming the Gravity and Wisdom of so great a Legislator of whom all succeeding Ages have borrowed their Laws It is apparent that his end in the recording of these Matters was to inspire with a sense of Piety and Religion those who were committed to his charge This is that which in general we may observe about these Matters but more particularly it is certain that Moses his end in recording the Oracles by which God promised to Abraham the establishing his Posterity in the land of Canaan was to represent to the Jews the right they had to that Land according to the design and intent of the Divine Wisdom But without making this particular Reflexion it is clear that the Law took its beginning at the twelfth of Exodus where God prescribes to his People the manner of celebrating the Passover at least this is the first Law which God gave them through the Ministry of Moses but forasmuch as Moses his end was to justifie in the minds of his People the design he had to make them leave Egypt as well as their pretensions to the Land of Canaan whither he was to lead them it was natural for him to lay before them the ground of those Pretensions which he could not do without relating the whole Series of the History until the time of their Bondage in Egypt which we read in Genesis the greatest part of which only concerns the Ancestors of that People after that Moses had first laid down the grounds of Religion and that which was known to all Nations Let us now imagin to our selves a Man endeavouring all of a suddain to introduce into the World the belief of things so far distant from common apprehension as these two points must needs be viz. That of the Creation and the Promise of Christ in case we suppose them generally unknown Let us yet further conceive a Man not only relating those things but making them the foundation of a new sort of Laws never before heard of Is there any Wit or Judgment in such an undertaking Can we therefore suppose that Moses whose Writings testifie his great Wisdom should ever have entertain'd such unaccountable thoughts I dare aver that there was any never Legislator so stupid and inconsiderate as to pretend to engage a whole people to submit themselves to the yoke of obedience and to receive a great number of Laws respecting their Civil Government and Religion by declaring to them two Fictions of which they had never before had the least Idea It is also very considerable that these things are not recited by Moses as a Preface to the Decalogue as if then first they had been proposed to Moses or the People by God but Moses sets them down as Truths known to them all and as Principles universally admitted and such as the meer mentioning of them could not but strongly engage the Jews to render a ready obedience to the Laws which God gave to Moses in their presence of the Divine Authority of which their very Senses were convinc'd Let us also consider the nature of those things the Relation of which Moses has joined with these two General Points to make an impression on the Minds of the Jews Let us consider the account he gives them of their Ancestors nearer or farther off whom he represents as equally inform'd of these Matters as having severally delivered the knowledge of them to their Children and having join'd to these first Truths of the Creation and the Promise of a Saviour many other Notions thereon depending and which tied their hopes and expectations to the Land of Canaan And now judge whether Moses were not to be accused of great folly and senselesness if he had proceeded to make such a vast People all of the sudden to receive for Truths publickly and generally owned what indeed was nothing but the most ridiculous and ill cohering Romance that ever was broached Now since as it is visible taking in the Circumstances I have hinted that the Authority of such an Historian and Law-giver as Moses was relating such importent Matters cannot be call'd in question it follows that the Atheist can have nothing to object against his Testimony with the least shadow or pretence of reason So that we may already assert that there is nothing better attested than the Creation of the World and the Promise of Christ which are the immoveable Foundations of the Christian Religion Nevertheless for a more evident Conviction we are willing before we draw this Conclusion to make it appear how weak and inconsiderable all those Objections are which Atheists can possibly frame against what Moses relates concerning these Matters What can they with Reason object Perhaps they 'l say that Moses is not the Author of Genesis but that it was foisted in under his Name and consequently that whatsoever is built upon the Authority of Moses and his evidence is all without ground Or they may object that if Moses be indeed the Author of Genesis that he lived at such a distance of time from the things which he relates that it makes void the authority of his Writings They may moreover alledge that Moses relates things impossible and of which therefore those that mentioned them before the things themselves being so long since past and done could not be fully inform'd of and that they may well be suppos'd greatly changed and alter'd by a Tradition of so many Ages They may also alledge that according to the common Opinion Moses penn'd not these things as an Historian but as a Prophet and that the apprehension of most concerning his Books are that he wrote of things whereof the knowledge before his time was very obscure and confuse or rather were generally unknown They may object against these relations of Moses that which the most ancient People such as the Aegyptians Chaldeans and Chinese alledge for their Antiquity which far surpasseth the date of the World according to Moses These are the principal ways to assault the Truths which Moses relates either by maintaining with the Atheists on one hand that the things which Moses relates are indeed mentioned by other Authors but that they forged them themselves or that Moses being an able and refin'd Politician design'd by Creating a belief of these Matters in the Jews to make them more submissive and obedient to him In a Word it may be said that supposing the Book of Genesis to be writ by Moses it was an easie matter for him to dictate whatsoever he pleased to a People who were under a Law that made it Capital to call in question the truth of his Relations or the Authority of his Laws This certainly is the farthest to which the height of Obstinacy can carry this matter and the very last refuge of the strongest prejudice But it is an easie matter to confound the Atheists and Libertines in every one of these Articles and
to shew that all their Objections do in effect serve for nothing else but to make a more lively impression of this Argument taken from Matter of fact which I have undertaken to set forth in a full and clear light CHAP. V. That Moses is the Author of the Book of Genesis I Shall in the Sequel of this Discourse make it appear that we cannot with reason contest the Authority of a Tradition which hath those Characters which we find in the Relations contain'd in the Book of Genesis The only thing that can be question'd in this matter is Whether Moses the great Captain of the Israelites and Founder of their Common-wealth be the Author of it This therefore is the thing which we ought solidly to evince Tho it seems that we might dispense with this trouble forasmuch as it is easie to shew that the greatest part of the most considerable Events which are recorded in the Book of Genesis were generally believed by others as well as the Jews At least it must be granted that these Matters have given occasion to most of their Fables viz. To that of the Chaos to that of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis for the forming of Man to that of Prometheus to that of Jupiter's continued Laughter for the seven first days of his Life which they look'd upon as the Original of the Solemnity of the seventh day known amongst the Heathens to that of the Golden Age and of the Deluge to the Name of Deucalion to the Fable of Janus to that of the Division of the World amongst Saturn's Sons to the Name of Jupiter Hammon to the Fable of the Titans and of the changing of Women into Statues of Stone to the Stories of the Incest the Gods committed with their Daughters to that of the firing of the World by Phaeton and to a great number of other Fictions which cannot be otherwise explained as the learned have shewn at large Whosoever was the Author of Genesis whether Moses or another sure it is that he was exactly inform'd of the Matters he relates and that he lived soon after Joseph First then I say that it appears he was fully inform'd of those matters of which he treats he sets down the Names of the Heads or Fathers of the several Nations of the World and does it so that what he saith doth very well agree with what the most Ancient Historians have left us concerning that matter He speaks of these Nations of the Countreys they possest and their Kings as of things he was perfectly inform'd of He very carefully distinguishes the Original of these several Nations and the same being at that time commonly known no Historian could represent them otherwise than they were without exposing himself to the laughter of all by endeavouring to mix Fables with Relations of this nature In the Second place I say that this Book was writ by a Man that lived soon after Joseph He speaks very exactly of what Joseph did in his place of chief Minister to Pharaoh in particular he sets down the first Original of the fifth Penny which the Egyptians so many Ages after continued to pay to their Kings being a thing which no Egyptian could be ignorant of And Lastly It is visible that this Book serves for an Introduction to Exodus and the following Books which have no other Foundation but the truth of those things which are related to us there and do throughout allude and refer to the several passages of it and that all Matters of Religion and Worship contained in them are founded upon the truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah which we find in Genesis and upon the truth of all those other succeeding Matters of Fact until the coming of the Children of Israel into Egypt when Joseph was chief Favourite and Minister of Pharaoh But we have yet a more easie way to make out that Moses whose History is contain'd in Exodus and the following Books is the Author of Genesis For first it cannot be deny'd that the Heathens themselves have acknowledged Moses for the most antient Law-giver for this we have the Testimonies of Plato Polemus Artapanus Pythagoras Theopompus and Diodorus Siculus who places Moses in the front of Six of the most antient Law givers thus Moses Sauchnis Sesonchosis Bachoris Amasis and Darius Father of Xerxes But further if when the Lacedemonians tell us of the Laws of their Law-giver Lycurgus and the Athenians of those of their Solon we think our selves oblig'd to believe them because naturally every Nation is suppos'd to be a faithful Depositary of the Laws of him who first founded their Government yea if we do not in the least doubt of these Relations though there be no People at this day who live according to the Laws of Lycurgus or Solon can any valuable reason be imagined for us to doubt whether Moses wrote the Book of Genesis when an entire Nation have constantly averr'd that he did so I say when all the Jews who continue at this day do in all places where they are scatter'd throughout the World equally and with one consent maintain that they received this Book from him together with the Laws and Worship therein contain'd Nay when it is notorious that many of them have suffer'd Martyrdom in confirmation of this Truth I omit now to mention the consent of the Christians who tho' they be not descended of Abraham and do not observe the greatest part of the Laws of Moses yet do not cease highly to defend this truth throughout the World the Gospel in their sense being nothing else but the literal accomplishment of that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Head of the Serpent I shall shew in the Sequel of these my Reflexions with how much Justice they assent to this Truth but at present I tie my self only to the Testimonies of the Jews and that which confirms the Authority thereof CHAP. VI. That the Book of Genesis could not be forged under the Name of Moses I Should never have done should I go about to set down all the Observations which might be made incomparing this Book of Genesis with other Histories commonly known to the World and whose faithfulness is unquestionable Without entring upon this comparison we may boldly assert that there is no History in the World whose Author we can be so sure of as that Moses was the Pen-man of Genesis But I go further and assert that the Jews could not be mistaken in the Testimonies they give to this Truth which I prove by these two Remarks The First is That their Observations both Civil and Religious are at this day founded upon no other Principles than those which we find in Genesis As for instance they compute the beginning of their day from the preceding Evening they keep the Sabbath they observe Circumcision they abstain from eating the Muscle which is in the hollow of the Thigh c. The Observation of which Laws is indeed
prescrib'd to them in the other Books of Moses but the occasion and ground of them all is no where to be found but in Genesis to which all these Laws have a natural Relation The Second is That the Book of Genesis taking for granted that the Posterity of Abraham as well as his Ancestors had always observ'd the Sabbath and Circumcision and the Books of Moses ordering the same to be constantly read in every Family to which the Sabbath day was more peculiarly appropriated and the whole to be read over every seventh year as we know the Jews practice was according to the Law of Moses the first of which Injunctions they practice still in all places and have left off the other only because they cannot do it now they are out of their own Land I say supposing all this it is absolutely impossible that any other than Moses could have made this Book to be received The forgery at the beginning would have been palpable even to Children themselves As for Example let us suppose that Solomon had form'd a design of deceiving the People in publishing the Book of Genesis for a Book of Moses Is it possible he should so far impose on his People as to make them to receive the said Book all at once as that which had been constantly read in their Families every seventh day and year and that for 600 years before his time and therefore as a Book that had been so long in all their Families tho' indeed it was never heard of by them before that time If an Impostor can create a Belief in others that he hath some secret Communication with the Deity those who are thus perswaded by him will easily submit themselves to his Laws but it is absolutely impossible that a whole People should all at once forget whatsoever they have learn'd or heard of their Parents and Fore-Fathers and instead thereof admit of Tales forged at pleasure Some Nations have been so ridiculous to derive themselves from a Fabulous Original but they never fell into such Mistakes about those things which were at no great distance from the time in which they lived Besides we know that these Fabulous Originals never made so lively an impression upon the Minds of a whole Nations especially the Learned amongst them as generally to be believed but we rather find that they have endeavoured to reconcile them to truth by shewing something else was hinted thereby as we may see by the Explication the Heathens themselves have given us of all their Fables and utterly rejected those which they could not reconcile to good sense But in this case we find a whole Nation to this very day maintaining all the Matters of Fact related in Genesis and in particular that of the Creation as of Matters whose Memorial they have constantly celebrated every seventh day since the time they first happened Lastly It cannot be deny'd but that this Book was constantly used to be read amongst the Jews especially on the Sabbath day and that under the Name of Moses For instance since the time of Jesus Christ or since that of David Neither can it be denied but this constant reading was observ'd by virtue of a Law contain'd in the said Book Now if this Law has always been in this Book from the first appearing of it which cannot be question'd how was it possible to forge and foist in this Book under the Name of Moses the Founder of the Jewish Government I say this Book which besides all this contains such extraordinary Matters and is the very Foundation of all their Religion I will not repeat here what I mention'd in the third Chapter to make the Vanity of those Men appear who imagine the Book of Genesis and the four that follow it might have been forged by others under Moses his Name Yet I think I ought before I proceed further to remove a seeming difficulty which is often alledg'd by this sort of People For say they it cannot be that these Books were ever read with that care and constancy we speak of because a time can be pointed at wherein the said Book was wholly unknown in the Kingdom of Judah and indeed the History plainly informs us that the Book of the Law was found again in the Reign of Josias from whence they infer that if it were then unknown it might as well be forged But indeed they may conclude from hence that which willingly we allow them that there was a time wherein Ungodliness did prevail and Idolatry was publickly establish'd in the Kingdom of Judah it self yet can they not from this instance draw any other Consequence which might support their pretensions They must needs acknowledge first that the Books of Moses were not only amongst the three Tribes but also amongst the ten since the time of their Revolt under Rehoboam that they who were carried by Salmanassar into the Land of Assyria had the said Books amongst them as well as those of the ten Tribes who were left in their own Countrey Thus we see that when the King of Assyria sent some of the Priests of Samaria to instruct the Colony which he had setled in their Countrey in the Law of God it is not said that those Priests went to borrow the Law of Moses from them of Judah nor that the said Laws was altogether unknown in that Countrey but only that they had formerly violated the Law of God in serving strange Gods as they still did but that withal they kept the Law of God which to this day is yet found among their Posterity Secondly It is evident that tho the wickedness and violence of Manasseh caused a great change in Matters of Religion yet not so great but that his Subjects notwithstanding had still the Books of Moses amongst them the Blood which he shed in Jerusalem was an evident sign that there were some Godly men left amongst them who continued true to their Religion and observed the Laws of God. Besides if we consider his Repentance we must conclude that towards the end of his Reign he did in some degree re-establish the purity of that Religion he had before prophaned a main part of which was the expounding and reading of the Books of Moses according to those Laws before mention'd In the third place it is visible that the reason why Hilkiah having found the Book of the Law in the Temple as they were cleansing and repairing it sent the same to Josiah was not because there was no other such Book left in Judah but because the said Book being written by the hand of Moses himself there seem'd to be something very extraordinary in the finding of it at that very time when they were endeavouring a Reformation and it was this Circumstance which did in a more particular manner excite the Zeal of this good Prince And indeed if we suppose that Josiah had never before seen the Book of the Law how could he have apply'd himself to the reforming of his
Countrey his People and the Temple in the manner which is recorded in the Book of Kings How could a sufficient number of Copies of it be dispersed over all his Kingdom in an instant to inform the People about the Ceremonials of the Passover which soon after was so Solemnly celebrated by them Or how is it possible that the Levites the Priests and People could have been all of the suddain instructed in all the points to be observed in the performing of that Holy Solemnity It is apparent that the Sacred Historian did for no other reason take notice of this Circumstance that the Book found was of Moses own hand Writing but to make it appear that their devout respect for this Book was not wholly stifled as having been by them carefully hid from the fury of their Idolatrous Kings and laid up in some secret place of the Temple where now they had so happily found it again Over and above what hath been said already we are to observe that how great soever the wickedness of the Kings of Juda and Israel was as well as that of their Subjects yet the same generally consisted in nothing else but the imitation of the Worship of their Neighbour Natitions as to some particulars which tho they were forbid by the Law yet they left the far greater part of their Religion in full force This we have an instance of in the time of Ahab where we find Elijah reproaching the Israelites with the Monstrous Alliance they had made betwixt the Worship of God and that of Baal which Queen Jesabel had introduc'd All this clearly proves that the Book of Genesis which is the first of the Books of Moses was never forged under his Name since it was always owned as the Writing of that Famous Author and is still so acknowledged by the Jews at this day CHAP. VII That it appears from Genesis that the Sabbath was constantly observed from the beginning of the World until Moses THe other Objection of the Atheists supposing that Moses was the Author of Genesis as we have now proved is this that it seems absurd to give credit to the Relations of a Person who lived so many Ages distant from the things he recites To answer this Objection we must first of all declare to them by what means the Memory of the Fact which Moses relates was preserv'd so lively and entire as to give Moses so distinct a knowledge of them and that it was not in his power to forge or add any thing of his own it being a thing known to the whole World as well as himself There is no way whereby we can more solidly evince that it is impossible the Creation of the World should be forged by Moses than by making it appear that the Law of the Sabbath hath a natural Relation to the Creation of the World and that it hath been always constantly observed from that time until Moses The same also will help us clearly to conceive after what manner the Memory of the Promise of the Messiah hath been preserv'd so distinct amongst those that lived since the Creation until Moses We are no sooner inform'd that the Sabbath is a solemn day ordain'd at first to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of the Creation but we judge it impossible that so important an event commemorated every seventh day by vertue of a Divine Law should be an imposture But forasmuch as this impossibility is grounded on these two Propositions the one that God gave this Law of the Sabbath to the first Man the other that the same was observed by his Posterity ever since till the time of Moses and that God only renew'd it in the Law given from Mount Sinai these are the Truths I am now to clear and it is of more importance to be proved because tho the generality of Authors Ancient and Modern Jews as well as Christians are of this Opinion yet there are some of the Christian Fathers who seem to deny that the Sabbath was ever observ'd by the Patriarchs But it will be an easie matter to prove from Moses that the Antiquity of the Sabbath is such as I assert and at the same time to demonstrate the truth of the Creation as well as of the Promise of the Messiah which in a manner immediately follow'd it Moses in the second Chapter of Genesis Gen. II. 3. expresses himself thus And God blessed the seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had Created Which words clearly evince a Solemn Consecration of the seventh day to God's Service by its being made a Commemoration of his finishing the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth But because it may be said that the intent of Moses in this place was only to set down the reason why God set apart this day of all others to his Service by the Law at Mount Sinai we are to take notice that this appointment was made for Man's sake already placed in the Garden of Eden This we may gather from the order Moses observes For he sets down first the Formation of Man on the sixth day and his being plac'd in Paradise which he gives a more particular account of in the second Chapter and after these he relates God's resting from his Works and the Consecration of the Sabbath with the reason of that Law which he impos'd on Man and then adds These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Heaven and the Earth All that precedes these words is only a Relation of what pass'd in the seven first days and that which Moses sets down concerning Gods blessing of the seventh day and his Consecrating it ought as well to be accounted a Law appointing the seventh day for his Service as those other Blessings given to the Creatures according to their kinds are acknowledged as inviolable Laws of God by virtue whereof they subsist and are perpetuated each according to their kind by the way of Generation In the second place it is very remarkable that the Patriarchs maintain'd a Publick Worship at least since the time of Seth which it was necessary should be determined to some certain day and since we find that even at this time they distinguish'd between Beasts clean and unclean with respect to their Sacrifices which they could not do but from Revelation we have much more reason to conclude that God had set apart a time for own Worship and Service And indeed there are many evident signs that even then the 7 day was observed Kimchi Praefat in Psalmos I will not here peremptorily assert that antient Tradition of the Jews which tells us that the ninety second Psalm whose Title is a Psalm for the Sabbath was made by Adam himself who was made on the Evening of the Sabbath But this I dare assert that it is apparent Gen. VIII 10.12 that what
relyed upon in matter of Belief yet this hath such very particular Characters as keep up its own authority First it supposeth a small number of persons from Adam to Moses who put it in Writing Secondly It supposeth that those who have preserved this Tradition lived very long and for the most part for many Centuries of Years Thirdly It relates to such Facts as every one is desirous to be rightly inform'd of and which he is particularly concern'd to examine as relating to his own private Interest because they are the Principles of his Actions and the rules of his Conduct both in Civil and Religious Matters Fourthly it supposeth such real Marks as served to keep it up such as the pains of Child-bearing the Paradise before the Flood the duration of the Ark after the Flood Fifthly It supposeth a Publick Service and Worship whose Celebration is repeated fifty two times a year that the remembrance of it should be preserved by all Posterity Sixthly It was preserved entire by passing from Father to Son and we know that Fathers or Mothers do not naturally engage in a Design of deceiving their Children Seventhly It supposeth strange Controversies betwixt Brothers the Elder having almost all been excluded and the younger as Abel Seth Abraham Isaac Jacob Juda chosen to accomplish the Promise of the Messiah which bred great Jealousies and tended much to preserve those Ideas of the truth Lastly It supposeth great Contests betwixt whole Nations who all strove one with another for the advantage of being the Heirs of the Promise and Depositaries of those Verities as the Moabites for instance the Ammonites the Ishmaelites the Edomites and the Jews each of them pretending to a preference before the others by God himself and so making it a matter of Credit and Honour to themselves All these Characters contribute to the distinct preservation of the knowledge of any truth CHAP. XVIII An Explication of Moses 's way of Writing where it is shew'd that in writing the Book of Genesis he mentioned nothing but what was then generally known THis is a truth which at first I took for granted and afterwards proved it the reasons whereof I explained particularly as I went on But it ought to be fixed as solidly as the Matter will bear because it often happens that those who do not foresee the Consequences which may be drawn from the contrary Opinion do contradict it before they are aware of it and that too under pretence of exalting the Divine Authority of the Book of Genesis which gives occasion to the Atheists to look upon it no otherwise than as learned Men do on the greatest part of Legends The Prophetical Spirit acts in two manners The First is by way of Revelation in respect of those things the Prophet hath no knowledge of Thus the Evangelist St. John hath foretold those Events which we read of in the Revelations For those Events being all hidden under the shadows of Futurity it was impossible for him to have foretold them unless the Spirit of God had immediately revealed them to him The Second is by way of direction in respect of those things with which the Prophet was himself acquainted either because he was an Eye-Witness of them himself or because he learnt them from those who were so Now this direction of the Spirit consists in the guiding the Prophets so as that he may write of his Subject just as it was either spoken or done Thus the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. John drew up an Abridgment of those Sermons of our Saviour which they had heard and of those Miracles which they had seen And thus St. Luke and St. Mark have written of those things which they had heard from those that were Eye-Witnesses of them as St. Luke particularly tells us Now I affirm that when Moses wrote the Book of Genesis he had only the second sort of Prophetical Influences and not the first Although in our Disputes against Atheists to convince them by Arguments from Matters of Fact we may consider him only as an Historian who might have written his Book without any other particular direction and might have preserved in it the memory of those ancient Events which were then generally known Now what side soever Divines may take in their Disputes against the Atheists I may easily establish my Assertion First because it is not necessary to suppose an entire Revelation where Tradition being distinct enough is sufficient to preserve a clear Remembrance of all those Facts Now it cannot be denied but that the Tradition concerning the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah was of this nature especially if we consider the little Extent of it and the immediate Succession of Moses's Ancestors down to himself Secondly If Abraham's and Jacob's Travels through so many places were as I have observed already very useful to give them a further view of the common belief of all the several Nations descended from Noah and of their agreement in this Tradition it were unjust to suppose that Moses's forty years sojourning in the Country of Midian and that too when he was forty years old and consequently had that ripeness of Age and Judgment as is fittest for such Observations did not serve to acquaint him with the several Passages he records of Abraham as well as of the several Divisions of his Posterity Thirdly We may observe in the Book of Genesis a way of writing very different from that which we see in the greatest part of Exodus and in the following Books for whereas God speaks to him in those latter Books which he always did vivâ voce And the Jews have wisely observed that herein consisted Moses's advantage above the other Prophets to whom God was used to speak only in Dreams and Visions He uses commonly those words And the Lord spake unto me He marks out the place where God spoke to him as well as the time and occasion of God's speaking to him which he do's not in his Book of Genesis Fourthly The Book of Genesis is not divided into several Revelations as all Prophecies are wherein the several returns of the Holy Spirit of God are all exactly set down which was absolutely necessary not only to ease the Reader who might be tired if he was to carry a long Series of Predictions in his mind at once as if it were only one single Vision or Revelation but also to condescend to the nature of the minds of men For according to the Rules of probability we cannot suppose them to be filled with so many differing Idea's at the same time but a great confusion must necessarily follow But supposing that these Observations should be thought insufficient yet those that follow will seem capable of convincing the minds of all There are in the Book of Genesis certain Characters of its being written in that way which I spake of First one needs only just look into that Book and he will see that the ancientest Facts which are those of
which we most desire a particular account are there described in a very short and concise manner The History of 1656 years is all contained in Eight Chapters There are no Actions described therein with more Circumstances than only some few of the most important the remembrance whereof was still fresh amongst them The History of Lamech's Polygamy and the Murders of which he was guilty is there set down so compendiously that it is very obscure Secondly One sees that he speaks more copiously of all that had been transacted near his time He explains and mentions all the particulars and circumstances thereof He speaks so shortly of Melchisedeck that it is doubted to this day whether he was not the Patriarch Sem or some other faithful worshipper of the true God settled in the Land of Canaan whereas he sets down at length all the particulars of the History of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob whose last Oracles which he spoke on his Death-bed he carefully records Thirdly He describes with the same exactness all the Genealogies of the Edomites their several Tribes and the Names of their Heads and Captains c. As when he speaks of those of the people of Israel which indeed he could easily do having liv'd forty years of his life amongst those Nations as well as he had other forty years amongst the Israelites Those who maintain the contrary Opinion must of necessity suppose First That Tradition is of no use at all to preserve the Idea of any illustrious Action Secondly That in Moses's time there were none who knew any particulars of the History of the Flood c. of the Tower of Babel of the division of Tongues tho' we see plainly both by the nature of the Facts themselves in which all Nations were concern'd and by Moses his description that the generality of Mankind were sufficiently instructed in them already Thirdly It must be supposed that Moses hath set down the manner how that Tradition was infallibly preserved so carefully to no purpose tho' he took notice of all the Circumstances necessary for that effect Fourthly They must suppose that Moses whilst he sojourned in the Land of Midian heard nothing either of their Original and Pedigree nor yet of the other neighbouring Nations who were descended from Abraham altho' all these Nations valued themselves upon their being descended from that Patriarch and kept up their several Pedigrees by which they could trace their Original with the same care as the Israelites did theirs because they had the same pretensions that the Israelites had Lastly We must absolutely take away the Authority of the Oracles recorded by Moses in Genesis These Oracles promise to Abraham the possession of the Land of Canaan for his Posterity and threaten the Canaanites with several Curses Jacob by his Will bequeathed Sichem to the Tribe of Joseph He expresly marks out the Country which one of the Tribes was to possess he gives a description of the Character and Rank of every Tribe The accomplishment of those Oracles tho' never so exact and admirable is of no manner of consequence if we suppose that these particular Predictions were absolutely unknown in Abraham's Family whereas their accomplishment which he carefully describes from time to time is the most solid demonstration which can be desired to establish the Divinity of those Revelations as well as of Moses his other Books CHAP. XIX An Answer to an Objection which may be drawn from the Histories of the Egyptians and Chaldeans concerning the Antiquity of the World. WHat I have already represented is sufficient to prove that Moses writ nothing in the Book of Genesis but what was then generally known by all the World. And I know nothing that can be objected with any probability but what we read in the most ancient Authors concerning the Egyptian and Chaldean History and in the Modern ones concerning that of China We must then examin both the one and the other with attention that we may leave no Difficulties in so important a Subject All that the Atheists can object against the History of Moses concerning the Epocha of the Creation of the World as he hath fixed it is what Diodorus Siculus relates that in the time of Alexander the Great there were some Egyptians that reckon'd up Three and twenty thousand years from the Reign of the Sun to Alexander's time and that those who reckon'd least yet reckon'd somewhat more than Ten thousand years which account exceeds the Antiquity which Moses ascribes to the World in the Book of Genesis by many Ages where he represents the Creation as a Fact which happened some few years more than Two thousand five hundred before he wrote that Book How then did Moses write of things universally acknowledged by all the World And they may here further aggravate what the same Diodorus hath observed That the History of the Egyptians was not written like that of the Greeks amongst whom those who came first wrote their own Histories every man according to his own private humour which caused that great variety amongst their Historians whereas amongst the Egyptians none wrote but by publick Authority the Priests alone having that particular employment reserved for them to write their Histories in their several Generations This Objection is easily confuted in two words In short How could the Egyptians have always had men to write their Histories by publick Authority in all their succeeding Generations seeing there were as Diodorus observes such a strange and vast Divisions amongst themselves If there were but two or three Ages difference more or less no body would look upon it as a material Exception against the History of such a long Series of time But who can imagine that those men who differ no less than Thirteen thousand years in their Accounts of the Duration of the same interval of time had yet certain Histories upon which these things were grounded This shews sufficiently that as Varro the greatest Scholar the Romans ever had hath divided Antiquity into Fabulous and Historical which he begins from the first Olympiad leaving all which went before to the fabulous part so we must of necessity make the same distinction in the Matter of the Antiquities of Egypt But I intend to do some thing more and to consider this Egyptian History with a little more attention out of which I think I may draw good Arguments to confute the vanity of those Passages in it opposed to Moses and to confirm the Authority of his Book of Genesis and the truth of the chiefest Transactions recorded in it I shall not at present take notice that altho' the Egyptians about their latter times have maintain'd that the Elements were eternal yet they have sufficiently acknowledged that the World had a beginning seeing they make no mention of any thing before their thirty Dynasties which in all did at the most amount to no more then 36525 years Neither do I think necessary to mention here that they have sufficiently
of the Worship of one God and to have annexed the Priesthood to the Kingly Power and to have regulated the Calendar and to have found out the Ephemerides of the five Planets after an intire Conjunction of those five Planets before the day of the Conjunction of the Sun with the Moon and to have fixed to that day the beginning of the year which agrees with our beginning the year in January But yet it is to be observed 1. That notwithstanding this pretended Astronomical Observation there have been several Alterations made of the beginning of the year according to the fansie and pleasure of several Emperors which shews that there was no constant rule observed in that Countrey 2. That Martinius seems to have approved of the Calculation of this Conjunction of five Planets in Aquarius to accommodate the false Astrological prejudice of the Chinese with that of several Authors who looking upon the Flood as a natural event have groundlesly imagined that it was brought to pass by the virtue and influence of such a Conjunction and that it was a certain sign of a Flood 'T is this foolish and whimsical Fansie which hath made some Grecians preposterously sedulous in seeking out that dreadful year the Winter whereof was to drown the World with a Flood and the Summer to burn it with a general Conflagration as Censorinus * Cens de die nat c. 18 and †Arist L. 1. meteor c. 14. Aristotle have observed it 'T is a Judicious Remark which Origanus ‖ Tom. 1. Ephemer P. 481. hath made upon the Observations of those Astrologers who from the Conjunction of the Planets in Humid Signs use to foretel prodigious Rains for he shews that there is nothing more groundless and uncertain than such Observations And he gives a famous and remarkable Instance of that uncertainty to the eternal shame of Astrology which is this John Staffler as Cardan tells us having observed such a Conjunction of all the Planets in Pisces in the year 1524. foretold that there should come a general Flood whereof several People being afraid retired to the tops of high Mountains but without any cause for there was never seen a greater Serenity of Weather 3. Martinius was certainly mistaken when he ascribed to Chuenhious the regulating the Ephemerides of the five lesser Planets seeing there are no such Ephemerides in China according to all the Relations we have of that Countrey nor yet any of the Sun and Moon so exact as we have in Europe a pregnant Demonstration of which is that the Missionary Jesuits have been raised up to the dignity of the chiefest Mandarins in China only because their skill and learning in Astrology was found to exceed that of any the most Learned Men amongst the Chinese by many degrees These things I thought fit to observe to shew that there is nothing in the History of China which they so much cry up that can any ways invalidiate the Authority of Moses's Accounts in his Book of Genesis but what rather confirms it if it be considered with attention It was not without reason that I have supposed that the memory of those Ancient Transactions was conveyed tho' confusedly to the Chinese we have already intimated one of those probable means of conveyance of this Tradition by their Commerce which the Chaldeans who were well informed of the greatest part of those several Transactions and who had great intercourse with the remotest Nations of Asia towards the East To this we may add another Argument yet more certain and sure which is the continual Commerce that hath always been betwixt the Indies and China and the Communication which the Inhabitants of the Neighbouring Countries of the Red Sea have always had with all the Eastern Nations of the World. For it is plain that this Commerce gave a great opportunity of Communicating to those Eastern Nations the knowledge of all those Passages which were known to the Chaldeans Just as the like Commerce with the Western Nations of the World proved a means of conveying to them the knowledge of the most part of the same things which in process of time became the ground of the most Ancient Fables amongst the Greeks among whom those Fables made up the best part of their Divinity But besides all this we may mention here another very likely means of conveyance viz. the Commerce of the Chinese with the Tartars among whom the Jews of the ten Tribes were dispersed and setled within a short time after their Captivity in Assyria For as those Jews had with them the Books of Moses so they easily gave a great insight and knowledge in ancient History to those Nations that have appropriated it to themselves as may be made out by comparing their Fabulous History with those Books of Moses which contain in effect all that relates to the Original of those Nations But whatever judgment be made of those forementioned means of conveying the Ancient Tradition to the Chinese I think that I have good ground to affirm 1. That the Historians that have written the Lives of the first Emperors of China were not Contemporaries with those Emperors and that consequently they have not recorded things so well known as it was supposed 2. That the Fables intermixt in their Histories do sufficiently evidence the easie and credulous temper of those Authors which takes away from them all credit and belief 3. That the greatest care of those Authors was to perswade the World of the pretended Antiquity of their Nation and so to raise the Honour and Reputation of it by glorious Stories and Fables 4. That their affectation in giving us an Account of Astronomy and Judiciary Astrology was only to bring into Credit and Reputation those Arts the end and scope of which is to impose upon Simple Men which is a ridiculous Affectation and such as hath exposed the Chaldeans and Egyptians to the just Contempt and Derision of all other Nations 5. That there is amongst them a Diversity of Opinions contrary to one another about their Antiquity just as there were some amongst the Egyptians who reckoned up 23000 years from the Reign of the Sun to Alexander when some others reckoned b◠a little above 10000 years 6. That the Chinese according to one of their own Opinions must say that the Earth was without almost any Inhabitants for 30000 years together and above whereas we see that in the space of five or six thousand years it is become inhabited as we see it and that within a little more it will be so overstockt as that it will not be able to yield Provisions enough for all its Inhabitants as a Learned English Man hath of late proved it by a Mathematical Demonstration which shews that the Chinese wanted certain grounds to go upon in several Accounts which they give of many Transactions and in the relating of which they are besides most confident Lastly That therefore what is reported that these Chinese Authors did
all write with publick allowance after every King's Decease might indeed be so about the latter times as it was practic'd in Egypt but that it is as absolutely false that the Chinese had ever in former times such Publick Historians and as it is false that the Egyptians had formerly any such although they were as confident to say they had in Alexander's time as the Chinese are now But this I think is sufficient for the clearing of that matter We must now answer the last Objection of Atheists against the Authority of the Book of Genesis CHAP. XXI Wherein the last Objection of Atheists is answered AS I intend to clear all the Difficulties which may arise about this important Matter in the Minds of those that shall peruse these Observations I think my self obliged to prevent and resolve the only plausible Objection I know remaining after all what I have said upon this Subject Perhaps some will be apt to reply here that they indeed confess Moses to be the Author of Genesis and that if that Book had really been Supposititious it could never have gone under his Name nor be received as his in after Ages But that yet all this does not prove sufficiently the truth of those Transactions recorded in that Book Because Moses may have forced upon the People of Israel the belief of them by those Laws that he enacted amongst them by which it was Death for any Man to dare to contest the truth of any thing he had written in his Books This I think is all that the most Contentious Atheists can think of to undermine the Authority of Moses's History But this Objection is easily answered for it consutes it self For First It supposes the truth of these great Miracles by which God establish'd Moses the Head and Captain of the People of Israel which Miracles are every whit as hard to believe as the several Accounts of other things which we read of in the Book of Genesis We find accordingly amongst the Heathens themselves many Monuments of those Miracles done by the Ministry of Moses when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt As I intend to shew in my Observations upon the other four Books of Moses Secondly They must at least suppose that Moses hath given a true account of several Passages in which he could not impose upon other Nations which did not acknowledge his Authority as for example all that relates to the building of the Ark the greatest piece of Architecture that was then in the World and to the raising of the Tower of Babel the greatest Building that ever was and part of which is yet extant for all these things were as so many Witnesses of the truth of those Transactions which he related Thirdly They must likewise suppose that he hath related several other Passages as exactly as he did those as for Example That of the Division of Tongues which is an Appendix of the History of the Tower of Babel that of the Destruction of Sodom the Original of the Neighbouring Nations of Canaan that of the Jews of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and Edomites for it is ridiculous to conceive that this Law-giver should ever hope to perswade other Nations to believe any false Stories about Matters so well and so generally known as those were amongst themselves Fourthly They must suppose further that he hath given a true account of the Original of the Israelites whose Head and Governor he was How great and absolute soever the Authority of Moses might be it is ridiculous to imagine that ever he would have derived the Original of the Israelites from any other than from their true Ancestors This appears the more necessary in that we see by the accounts he gives of things and Pedigrees in Genesis that he wrote that Book especially from the History of Abraham on to the end of it only to shew the Rights and just Pretensions of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan Fifthly They must yet further acknowledge whither they will or not the truth of the accounts he gives concerning the Original of the Pretensions and Divisions which were kept up amongst the Twelve Tribes of Israel now these Pretensions having no other ground than the Oracles which are related in his History they sufficiently prove the Authority of those Oracles against all the Pretensions and Objections of the Atheists What violence soever they may pretend that Moses might use to force an Implicit Belief of his History and blind Obedience to his Laws yet no Man of common Sense and Reason can ever think that he would have fill'd the Accounts he gives of things of that nature with Lies or that if he had done it he could ever have expected that his false Accounts of them should ever have been credited by the Neighbouring Nations or even by his own Subjects But without urging here several other Absurdities which plainly shew that there is no distinction to be found betwixt the Accounts of things which Moses recites as publickly known and those which he relates of his own Head and private knowledge there being as I have already shew'd betwixt all those several Accounts such a natural Coherence and necessary Concatenation that they cannot be divided from one another without destroying the whole frame of his History I say that it is impossible that the Law by which he makes it death for any one to contest the truth of his Narration should make the sincerity of it suspected I do not urge here that there is an evident Absurdity to suppose that Moses would ever have related together all those Transactions as the grounds of Religion if they had been absolutely unknown in the World before him Neither do I mention here that suppose Moses had been so imprudent as to attempt such an undertaking yet there is no reason to believe that a whole Nation and that a very numerous one would have long persevered in a Profession forced upon them by meer Violence and Tyranny Nor do I think it necessary to observe here that the People of Israel were neither so patient nor so easily perswaded by Moses nor yet so submissive to him as these Objectors do imagine That is plain and apparent enough from all their Seditions and Conspiracies against him Nor do I judge it necessary to observe here what is plain enough of it self viz. that Moses had no Successor any ways concern'd to countenance and defend these pretended Fictions and Fables of his History Joshua his immediate Successor was of another Tribe and so were all the succeeding Governors of Israel until the Maccabees came But what I think deserves best to be observed here is that after Moses and Joshua's Decease the People of Israel was brought under the Subjection of the Canaanites and consequently freed from the Terror of that Law of Moses's making by which it was Death for any one to contest the Authority of his Laws â—nd the truth of all his Writings there is but a
little more than forty years interval betwixt the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Bondage of the Israelites under the Neighbouring Nations Had it not been a fit time then to cast off the Yoak of Moses's Laws and to publish the pretended Lies and Impostures of his History Was not the Comparison which the Israelites could easily make betwixt the Mosaick Writings and the Tradition generally received in the Countrey of their Captivity a natural and ready means to undeceive them Yet notwithstanding all this we see that they obstinately entertain the belief of the several Transactions recorded by Moses and stand firmly to all their Pretensions Nay we see them have recourse to the Remedy of Repentance which Moses prescribed them to use in those sad Misfortunes which he foretold should befal them and out of which he promis'd at the same time that God would miraculously deliver them which indeed was done accordingly even fourteen times within less than four hundred years as is manifest from the Book of Judges Can there then be a more pregnant Argument that if Moses made it Death by one of his Sanctions for any of the Israelites to contest the truth either of his Writings or of his Oracles and Miracles it was not to force the belief of them without examination but rather only to prevent the corruption of that People and their mingling and confounding themselves with the Heathens which God intended to hinder on purpose because he would have the Messiah to be born according to his Promise out of that Nation which to effect he thought fit in his infinâ—â—e Wisdom to employ the rigour of some Capital Laws to keep that people unmixt and distinguish'd from all other Nations of the World till the Messiah was born CHAP. XXII The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis THese several Observations which I have made upon the Book of Genesis are all I think very natural and easie and if I am not mistaken sufficient to prove solidly the truth of Moses's Account of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah which is the foundation of the Christian Religion The Conclusion that I draw out of the Premises is That First I assert that Moses that famous Hebrew who was design'd to be the Heir of Pharaoh's Daughter is the true and sole Author of the Book of Genesis Secondly I maintain that this being once granted he could not according to his way of Writing record those important Transactions he relates otherwise than they really came to pass Thirdly I maintain that tho he had not been an Eye Witness of the Creation of the World yet he hath made the Description of it according to such an Authentick Tradition as cannot be reasonably doubted of because it was then the Universal Tradition not only of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and of the Edomites who were all of Sem's Posterity and amongst whom he had been travelling for forty years together but also of the Egyptians of his own People and in a word of all Men then living in the World. Fourthly I maintain that he never was found fault with nor contradicted till true Reason and Sence if I may say so was lost and banish'd from amongst Mankind till the Egyptians for example they who used before to look upon the Greeks as meer Children and Ideots were fallen into so great a Stupidity and Deprivation of Sence as to believe and maintain that Men were first born in Egypt because forsooth Frogs did naturally as they thought breed out of their Muddy Fenns and Marshes Fifthly I maintain that for many Ages after Moses no body did ever publickly declare for the Eternity of the World nor yet for its Fortuitous Production These Opinions are meer Absurdities and Chimeras brought forth into the World by the Chaldeans and Greeks only about Alexander's time or perhaps an hundred years before him i. e. about eleven or twelve hundred years after Moses's Decease Sixthly I maintain that seeing there is no particular time to be found wherein the reading of the Law was interrupted and discontinued for any considerable time amongst the Jews seeing it continues still to this very hour amongst them every Sabbath day in the several places of the World wherein they are dispersed and seeing besides that it is certain that this Law which enjoyns the Observation of the Sabbath in remembrance of the Creation could never be imposed upon them without their perceiving and declaring presently the Novelty and Supposition of that Account and consequently of the Book wherein it is related Seeing all this is certain I do positively maintain that the truth of the Creation can never be better proved than it is by the Book of Genesis because in it Moses hath followed the Tradition of all the Ages that preceded him and only recorded in Writing what was then generally known of all Men in the World and that in a time when every Man was able to run his own Pedigree up to Adam Lastly I maintain that as the certainty of the Creation cannot reasonably be doubted of without rejecting at the same time all those Proofs from Facts which I have brought to strengthen my Assertion So there is all the reason in the World to entertain the belief of it as of a matter of Fact which is indisputable As being Related by the most Ancient Historian Confirmed by the most Ancient Tradition Believed by the most Ancient People of the World who did not only believe it but also had always had according to God's Command the Memory of it Celebrated amongst them and their Ancestors in all their Generations fifty two times in a Year from the very beginning of the World. REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PREFACE WHen I began at first these Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis I design'd only to demonstrate the certainty of the Creation of the first Man and so to shew by Arguments from matters of Fact that neither the Creation of the World nor yet the Promise of the Messiah which God made to Man after his sin can reasonably be disputed or doubted of I design'd after that to establish the truth of Christ's Resurrection by such another undeniable Argument viz. by shewing that the Apostles were Eye Witnesses of it and instituted a solemn Day in every Week to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of it amongst Men from their time down to the end of the World. And this I thought was sufficient to demonstrate the truth of the Christian Religion For as the Jews by the continual Celebration of the Sabbath every Week could easily run back to the Creation of the World which was the occasion of the Institution of the Sabbath so the Christians may by the Weekly Observation of the Lord's day prove Christ's Resurrection which occasioned the Institution of the Lord's day If we consider the
thing in it self there is no less Absurdity to dispute our Saviour's Resurrection than the Creation of the first Man. Now if this Argument holds as there can be no easier so neither can there be a stronger proof of the truth of the Christian Religion for provided we be once well assured of the certainty of Christ's Resurrection we must acknowledge him to be the true Messiah and consequently embrace his Religion But it seems in the heat of Meditation I was insensibly carried further in my Observations upon the Promise of the Messiah than I thought at first to be Therefore instead of passing now as I proposed in the beginning to the proof of Christ's Resurrection which is a solid and compendious way of demonstrating the truth of his Religion I find my self engaged according to my present Method to continue to make the like Reflexions upon the other Books of Holy Scripture that I may yet more fully demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah whom God promised to Man immediately after his sin And this I intend to shew so plainly as will make it evident that God hath really accomplished his first designs and exactly performed all his Promises relating to the Messiah according to the first Idea's he gave of his coming to the Ancient Patriarchs First Then I design to trace up the Method that God was pleased to use to make the Messiah known without mistake when ever he should come into the World. Secondly I will make some Reflexions upon the several Notions he gave of him long before in his Oracles to Characterize his Person his Offices his Actions his Sufferings his Glory c. Last of all I will shew that we have all this whole Project and Design exactly accomplished in the History of the Gospel as it was written by Christ's Disciples Now as this Method which God hath particularly chosen to make the Messiah known appears also in the other Books of Moses So I think it will not be amiss for me particularly to view and examine these Books that I may have occasion to illustrate several things in them which deserve a particular attention especially when they are considered together and as it were at one view For the Prophecies being thus consider'd together in their Connexion and Progress do more plainly evidence God's Design and may better convince or confound the Jews Therefore I intend accordingly to consider those Oracles with attention and to join them together that so they may in their Conjunction cast forth the brighter Beams of Light to the Conviction of all Infidels who may happen to peruse this Book For I am perswaded that after the perusal of my Observations in it an ordinary attention in the reading of the Gospel will be sufficient to convince any Man that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah which is all I intend to prove as the Conclusion of this Treatise Now as the examination of the Patriarchs Religion according to the account Moses hath given us of it in his Book of Genesis hath taken up the first part of it so I design to examine in this second part the Israelites Religion and to follow in my search the account which Moses gives of it in his other four Books And as to effect this it is very important to establish beforehand the Authority of those four Books so I intend to shew first of all that Moses is the true Author of them and that they have Intrinsick Characters of undeniable certainty Then Secondly It will be natural for me to shew that Moses in the writing of them had the Promise of the Messiah in view as particularly promised of God to the Patriarchs of his own Nation and as being consequently the principal if not the sole Object of their hope Thirdly I intend to shew that if we seriously examine Moses's Laws we shall find in them such a Method observed as is both very agreeable to the manifestation of God s design in Genesis and very worthy of his Wisdom especially if we consider what he was pleased to reveal unto us of his Intentions by the Prophets who followed Moses REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books THis is a Truth which may be grounded upon several solid Arguments I might observe That Moses hath always been acknowledged by the very Heathens themselves not only to be the most Ancient Historian but also the most Ancient Legislator in the World. I might likewise observe That there is a particular connexion betwixt the Book of Genesis and the other Books of Moses as well in regard of the general Design of their Author as of the Matters treated of in them For Example We see that the greatest part of the Laws and Transactions which we find written and recorded there derive their Original from those Transactions and Passages that we read of in Genesis Thus we may plainly discern that the pretension of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan was grounded upon the Promise that God made to Abraham to give it to his Posterity in the fourth Generation Thus we may see That the Amalekites could have no other reason to make War against the Israelites than the old Alliance that was formerly made betwixt Amalek and the Canaanites which without doubt engaged his Posterity to be the first Opposers of the establishment of the Israelites in the Land of Canaan Thus we see that the Seditions of the Israelites against Moses under Corah Dathan and Abiram did proceed from the Order of the Birth of the Children of Israel as it is set down in Genesis because the eldest thinking themselves wrong'd of their Birthright thought they might justly Rebel against Moses in order to recover it But I haste to things more material than these And first it is here observable That those Books were not only religiously kept in every Family of Israel but that they were also once solemnly deposited in the Tabernacle as a publick Record and that by Moses himself a little before his death that they might be a Testimony against that People as we read it Deuteronomy XXXI 26. Secondly It cannot be denied that Moses did straightly charge both Joshuah and the Heads of the People to read them frequently and carefully for it is expresly said so Joshua 1.8 Nay we see about 500 years after the holy Man David who had made during his life Psal I. the supream felicity of a man to consist in the reading the Law of God day and night We see I say that holy Man give in his Death-bed the same Charge to Solomon I Kings Thirdly Moreover it is certain that there were many Laws and Sanctions contained in those Books which are the Foundation of the History of succeeding Times And this is the reason why we read nothing in the Book of
Joshua concerning the several Blessings and Curses which were to be pronounced upon the Mounts Ebal and Gerizim because the form of them was to be borrowed from the Books of Moses which were Publick and Authentick The same Reflexion may be made upon the Law of the First-fruits and upon the Prayer which was to be made upon the Tithes of the third year as likewise upon many other Laws Fourthly It is certain that those Books were read over every seventh Year according to the Injunction of that Law which we find Deuteronomy XXXI 10 11. which was commanded to be done for the instruction of Posterity as it is intimated in the Thirteenth Verse of the same Chapter Whereupon it may not be preposterous to consider here God's Methods to prevent all Forgery and Imposture in this Matter We see that it was during the Longaevity of Human Life a constant and universal Custom amongst all the Patriarch's to Moses's time to put when they lay on their Death beds their Posterity in mind of the most important Truths and of the Fundamental Articles of Religion because as all Admonitions and Exhortations made at such a time are always look'd upon as sincere so they seldom fail of being favourably construed and better entertained than they would be at any other time We have as instances of this ancient Custom the Examples of Abraham of Isaac of Jacob of Joseph c. who in that I make no doubt follow'd the Custom of their pious Ancestors who in all likelyhood derived it from Adam himself That Custom we see was of an admirable use to perpetuate the memory of illustrious Transactions What was then spoken by those pious venerable men was a kind of a publick Sermon because it was delivered before those numerous Families which met then altogether about the Bed of their common Head and Father and that upon such an Occasion as did extraordinarily excite their attention To this Custom succeeded another which was that when the greatest Captains and Judges of the People of Israel were sensible of their approaching Death then they usually called the People together to give them such Exhortations Reproofs and Admonitions as they judged most proper either for their encouragement or for their Reformation nay and that even in some occasions many of them have affected to have their Speeches made publick and deposited in the Tabernacle Thus did Moses and Joshuah and the greatest number of the Judges and Samuel and Solomon c. We know that the Books of Moses were formerly read every Sabbath day as St. James does attest it in Acts XV. And tho there be no express command about it in Moses's Writings yet we find there something equivalent to it in the strict charge given by him to all the People to be continually conversant in his Books and to instruct their Families at all times in the Laws and Doctrines delivered in them for it is plain that if the Israelites were bound by that command of Moses to read his Books every day they were more particularly obliged by the same command to read them on the Sabbath day which was made a day of rest by God particularly on purpose that all Men might the better attend on that day to the reading and meditating God's Laws and the performing all other Religious Duties We know besides that those Books were continually explained both by the Doctors of the Law and the Levites who were on purpose dispersed through the whole Land of Canaan that they might the better attend and perform the Duties of their Ministry We see that Moses in his Writings hath exactly kept a kind of Journal which cannot easily receive any alteration If we read hereupon what relates to the sojourning of the Israelites and the several removals of their Tents in the Desert we shall be easily convinc'd by the very form and stile of those Books as we have them now that they were formerly publickly received and were exactly transcribed out of the Original and that if in Process of time they suffered any alteration it was only as to some Appendices or Postscripts inserted by Esrah or some other Prophet by way of Explication We see in those Books a History written without disguise or partiality exact in relating all Circumstances of Places Times and Persons even in the Narration of things of small importance for the main drift of the Author there are besides some Passages recorded in them which any Author who lived after Moses's time would certainly have left out if for no other reason yet at least to abolish the memory of some actions dishonourable to some great Families and whole Tribes of Israel Again we read in them the Songs and other Publick Monuments which were made upon extraordinary occasions to preserve the memory of them the better I have but three Observations more to make here and then I have done with this Chapter The First is That those Books have been constantly quoted by all the Authors amongst that People who followed Moses and that their Quotations do exactly agree with the Text of those Books as we have them now which is a certain sign as well of the Sincerity as of the Antiquity of that Author They were as much esteemed in Israel as in Juda both People did observe them as their Law The Prophets that arose from time to time did always and upon all Occasions acknowledge and maintain their Authority Thus we find in the Book of Joshua quoted out of them what relates to the Curses and Blessings to the Prophecies and Divisions of the Land of Canaan amongst the Tribes of Israel The whole History of the thirteen Judges whom God raised up amongst the People is nothing in general but an account of the accomplishment of that Promise which God had made formerly by Moses to raise up from among that People such Men in the time of their Afflictions and Captivities as would be the Assertors of their Liberty We see there in particular the Execution of Moses's order concerning Caleb Judg I. 20. Judg. VII 3. Judg. XIII 3. and of that Law in Deuteronomy which prescribes the manner of dismissing from the Army those that are fearful and faint-hearted and of that other concerning the Nazarites c. Thus we see that the Rule and Laws prescribed in those Books continued in force in the time of Ruth David's Great Grand-Mother that appears plainly by their Observation of those Laws which enjoyn'd the next Kinsman to take to Wife the Widow of his Deceased Relation and to redeem his Inheritance As for David and Solomon they are continually alluding to something or other delivered in those Books Nehemiah quotes them in Chap. XIII of his Book and that was in the year of the World 3563 and so does Malachy in the IV. and V. Chapters of his Prophesie in the year 3580. The Second Observation which is very material is that the Author of those Books hath inserted in them an express prohibition of adding
any thing to them as we see it Deuteronomy IV. 2. It is then impossible seeing that the whole people of the Jews have always acknowledged the Divine Authority of those Books that they should ever have attempted the alteration of any thing in them Nay we see not without wonder that after the greatest part of the ten Tribes of Israel were transported into Assyria those that were sent from Assyria to inhabit their Countrey did receive that Law and that their Posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews altho' they continue their Mortal Enemies and have been exposed to all the Changes and Revolutions that can befal a Nation during the long interval of 2400 years The Third Observation which deserves a singular Attention is That notwithstanding the great and many Corruptions which the Common-Wealth of Israel fell into yet these Books have still been kept up in the same form that we have them now It appears out of the History of Josiah related 2 Kings XXIII 21. That after the Book of the Law of Moses own writing was found in the Temple the King commanded all the People to keep the Passover unto the Lord as it is written in the Book of this Covenant Now we have the Institution of the Passover Exod. XII which shews that Josiah by the Book of this Covenant meant the Books of Moses such as we have them now adays and such as they were when Moses deposited them into the Sanctuary It is important to consider well all that is related in the forementioned Chapter of II Kings for we may gather out of it that it was according to the Directions of this Law that they began to reform all the Superstitions and Idolatries which had been introduced in their Religion and countenanced by the Royal Authority from Solomon's time to Josiah this Chapter relates and commends the proceeding of Josiah only in opposition to the ill government of his Predecessors and to the publick Monuments of their Superstitions which he abolished in obedience to God's Laws contained in the Books of Moses However it is certain that it was no easie matter to impose herein upon Posterity For First The Transactions recorded in the Books of Moses did not only relate to the People of Israel but also to most of the Neighbouring Nations Secondly The Memory of them continued so lively and universal that almost 1500 years after Moses the Names of those Magicians spoken of Exod. VII 11. were as yet known not only amongst the Jews as we see it by an express Passage of S. Paul who speaks of them Hist Nat. l. 30. c. 1. and mentioneth their Names 2 Tim. III. 8. but also among the Heathens as both Pliny and Numenius do attest it I point only at those general Proofs at present because I have already made use of them and shew'd their force in my Observations upon Genesis and because I intend to repeat and improve some of them hereafter in this Treatise But now in order to follow my present design I must come to the more particular Consideration of the things contained in these Books which will much conduce to the Confirmation of the same Truth CHAP. II. That both the Character of Moses 's Person and the nature of the things he relates has always made men read his Books with attention The Subject of some Books is such as that alone would recommend them to the attention of any Reader tho' their Author had no reputation in the World but when besides the importance of their Subject the Author of them is famous and of great repute then to be sure they never fail to be read with serious attention and preserved with as great a care The Books of Moses have both these advantages so that they cannot reasonably be suspected of the least alteration or Forgery The first Character that we discover in these Books at the first viewing of them is the great singularity and admirable diversity of their Stile and of the Matters they treat of We do not see that other Legislators did ever affect to act the parts of Historians no they content themselves with their absolute power to make Laws without giving any reason for the Sanction of them Therefore we see that there is commonly nothing more dry and sapless than all their Regulations about both Civil and Religious Matters But Moses we see hath followed a more reasonable and more satisfactory method all his Regulations are grounded upon the great Transactions which he relates he enacts no Law of any consequence but he intimates to the Jews at the same time the Reasons which challenge their Obedience and makes them by that means reflect both upon the several Mercies of God bestowed upon them and call to mind the great Miracles they had been eye witnesses of I confess indeed that the use and scope of some of his Regulations is very abstruse especially now that we are ignorant of the several Heathen Customs which God design'd to abolish from among that People newly come out of Egypt where during their Captivity they had complied and accustomed themselves in a great measure to the Rites and Religion of their Masters the Egyptians But yet how abstruse soever the design of some of those Laws may now appear to be We have good ground to affirm that the general scope of them all was to keep that People from Idolatry in distinguishing them from all other Nations as also to quicken their Desires and Expectations of the Messiah the Promise of whose coming had been made by God in the very beginning of the World and renewed several times to the Heads of their Nation However we see in the Books of those Laws Religion and Policy so interwoven together that the latter seems to subsist only by the support and assistance of the former which is contrary to the custom of human Legislators who do not so much regard the establishment of Religion as the preservation and welfare of the State and Common-wealth If any Jew had a mind to be informed about the Tradition of his Ancestors and the transactions of old Moses hath preserved it with such care with so many marks of Fidelity and so clear and plain that there is no other History besides his that can give any satisfactory Information about the Original of things All the Fables of the Heathens which yet make up the most ancient Tradition they have being nothing else but a corruption and depravation of the several Truths that Moses relates in his History If any Jew desired to see the beginnings of that Common wealth of which he was a Member Moses gives an accurate account of them If any Jew desired to know the Original of Mankind or what was the true happiness of Man and what he ought to do in order to be a partaker of that happiness Moses teaches all that with great evidence and exactness If any Jew had a mind to know the occasion of
upon them continually especially every Sabbath day Nay and we see moreover that God every Seventh Year would have them read publickly in a more solemn manner before the whole Congregation of that people who during that Year were obliged to rest from all their ordinary Labours and Employments and so had nothing else to do all that while but to read the Law to examine it and to meditate upon it Lastly It appears that those Laws were yet the more Solemn and Authentick because they obliged the Jews to celebrate three such Feasts as were to be publickly kept by the whole Nation and consequently apt to refresh their Memories and put them in mind thrice a year not only of the surprizing Miracles that God had done for them but also of the manner how he gave and promulgated his Laws the Miracles giving rise to the Laws and those Laws being themselves a means of preserving the Memory of those Miracles because of the frequent Commemoration of them which was therein enjoyned Now these things being so let every one judge whether the truth of Moses's Account of God's giving and promulgating by his means that Body of Laws which he hath inserted in Exodus and the following Books can possibly or at least reasonably be disputed or doubted of But I come now to con-the Oracles recorded in Moses's Writings in order to demonstrate the Truth and Divinity of them CHAP. VII That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books THere are several sorts of Oracles in Exodus and the other three following Books First There are some whereof the accomplishment did soon follow the Prediction The Deliverance of the Jews out of the Egyptian Bondage is of that number Moses does promise and foretel it nay and he executed it himself And all the people to whom it was promised and foretold were themselves Witnesses of the accomplishment of that Prophesie and it was that accomplishment which established the Divinity of his Commission So is the other Prophesie concerning the Conquest of the Land of Canaan and the several Divisions that were to be made of it amongst all the Tribes of Israel Moses foretelling exactly what Lot every one should have and giving besides a Description of the Countrey that every Tribe was to inhabit Those that were Born in the Desert were Witnesses both of the Prediction and the Execusion of it altho it was by the casting of Lots that all the Tribes got their several Partitions But Secondly There are some other Oracles in Moses's Books the accomplishment whereof was not to follow the Prediction till after a long interval of time Such are the Prophesies that foretel the future Subjection of the Israelites to the Canaanites and the several Deliverances out of that Subjection which God was to effect by the hands of Judges whom he was to raise up for that purpose Such again are the Prophesies which relate to the future change of their Common wealth into a Kingly Government Thirdly and Lastly We see that Moses foretells all the Accidents Changes and Revolutions that were to befal the Jews as long as their State should stand At least we see that his Predictions are very plain concerning their several Captivities and Removals and their return into the Holy Land as also the Sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem and the irrecoverable dispersion of the whole Nation which we see at present But whatever difference there may otherwise be betwixt all these Predictions we may say that every one of them hath as pregnant Proofs of its certainty and truth as any thing of that nature is capable of For First As to the first sort of Predictions the accomplishment whereof Moses relates himself It plainly appears that his account cannot in the least be suspected of Imposture because he wrote it amongst a whole Nation which could not possibly be imposed upon in that case seeing he supposes and takes it for granted all along in his Relation that those Predictions were before-hand publickly and generally known of all the people As for the accomplishment of the second sort of Prophesies we have the Relation of it in such other Books as were written after Moses's Death as in the Books of Joshua of Judges and several others which relate the accomplishment of them as of Prophesies written many years and even some Ages before by Moses Besides to this we may add that the account which we find in those Books concerning the accomplishment of Moses's Prophesies is interwoven with such Histories as suppose without any Affectation that his Prophesies as well as his Writings were in the hands of all the World and distinctly known by every Jew And what is further observable is That the Jews have always had Moses's Books in such an Esteem because of these several Illustrious Prophesies that are contained in them that they have always lookt upon him as the most excellent of all their Prophets They assert at this very day that the other Prophets had commonly no other knowledge of future Events than that which was communicated to them by Dreams and Visions whereas Moses had it by an immediate Revelation of God himself who used to speak to him Face to Face without any Enthusiasm when he was perfectly awake Now how could ever the Jews have been so strongly prepossest of that high Opinion both of Moses and his Predictions if we suppose that they never saw the accomplishment of any of them That would certainly be as strange an Illusion as ever was For it is besides observable that those Prophesies of his were not written by themselves and kept secret from the generality of the people but that they were inserted into the several Speeches which he made to all the people some time before his Death and which are written and kept together in the same Volume to be a standing Monument both of his Prophecies and of his Ministry among the Jews Now there is a vast Difference betwixt a Book that is all made up of Prophesies and so kept secret and seldom read as the Books of the Sybils were and a Book wherein the Prophesies it contains are interwoven with a History wherein there is so great a variety of Matters as draws to it and fixes the attention of every Reader and wherein they are mingled with a whole Body of Political and Ceremonial Laws and intermixed with the accounts which Moses gives of all the great Transactions which gave the occasion to so many several Revelations and Prophesies recorded in his Books I am perswaded that it is impossible for any Man to make those Reflexions upon the Opinion which the Jews entertained of Moses's Prerogative and upon the manner that his Prophesies so much reverenced amongst them were exactly accomplished and not be convinced of their Divine Authority CHAP. VIII That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related
if it had been absolutely necessary to be a Jew before they have a share in the benefits of the Promise Secondly It supposes that God was to remove that People out of Canaan into remote Countreys and to disperse them as it were into the uttermost parts of the World which was done by Divine Providence only to publish the Promise of the Messiah to establish the Belief in the Prophets and so to facilitate the calling of the Gentiles to the Faith. Thirdly He declares expresly as St. Paul observes that he was to call his people that which was not his people that he might by that means provoke the people of Israel to Jealousie This Notion of Jealousie mentioned by St. Paul deserves to be taken notice of with very great care if we reflect upon the Spirit of Jealousie which reigned amongst the Israelites and their Neighbours I shall take notice in another place of the great number of Oracles of David upon the same Subject altho he otherwise insults upon the Moabites and Edomites upon all occasions and shews as much Aversion and Jealousie against those Nations as was possible for one that lived in a continual War with those people I shall also make some Reflexions upon Solomon's Marriage with the Princesses of Tyre of Sidon and of Egypt that is to say with the Posterity of Ham which was united to that of Judah to take a part with them in the Blessing from whence it came to pass that the Song that was written upon that Marriage was preserved as a piece divinely inspired and ought to be considered as a happy presage of the calling of the Gentiles to the Communion of the Messiah One may also joyn here the manner of Solomon's giving to Hiram's Subjects who had helped him in the building of the Temple the Countrey of Chabul which was inclosed within Judea altho those people were of the Canaanites Posterity upon whom Noah had particularly pronounced Gen. IX Cursed be Canaan One may also see that as God had permitted his people to be Transported into Chaldea and Babylon and had raised up there Prophets amongst them on purpose to acquaint the World with the glorious hopes of the Jews so he caused the Books of Scripture to be Translated into Greek about 300 years before our Saviour's Birth not only to prevent all suspicion of falshood in the minds of the Gentiles if they were produced of a suddain after the Birth of the Messiah but also to instruct the Heathens by little and little of the Right which all Nations had as well as the Jews to that Promise that they might take their share in it whenever they should be invited to it by God and especially to take away the Scandal which was to follow upon God's destroying the Form of that Commonwealth by the Romans according to Daniels Prediction All these things no doubt engaged the Jews who read the Books of Moses to make particular Remarks upon them But they ought to have observed three things especially The First was That altho God had at first chosen their whole Nation yet he was pleased to disperse afterwards almost ten parts of thirteen which plainly shew'd that this choice which he had made was only an Oeconomical choice and for a particular design The Second is That altho he was very severe and punctual in exacting obedience to the Ceremonial Service yet he had fixed the most part of their observances to certain places to certain times and to certain persons It was easie to judge that when God bounded them in this manner it was only for an Oeconomical Service prescribed only upon a particular prospect which was one day to have an end The Third is That experience convinced them that altho God seemed to have fixed his Service to the Temple yet he suffered the Chaldeans to destroy the first and did not restore to the second the first Marks of his presence when it was rebuilt by the order of Cyrus From whence it was natural to conclude that such a glory as retired by little and little from that place which God had chosen was only design'd to be there for a time till God should extend his Service by calling all the World to his Religion and so making the whole Universe his Temple as we see it done in our days by the calling of the Gentiles to the Religion of our Saviour FINIS REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION Volume II. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVIII THE PREFACE IN my Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis I have shewed the means God made use of to imprint the Idea's of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah during that long Tract of 2500 years before the Children of Israel departed out of Egypt and before the History of it was penn'd by Moses They that consider that God at first prescribed the Law of the Sabbath to fix the belief of the Creation of the World and that this Law hath been constantly observed since the beginning of the World until Moses and is still to this day observed amongst the Jews easily apprehend that this Fact of the Creation could not be more incontestably proved or more firmly grounded In like manner an attentive Reflexion upon the Oracles which I have mention'd and which alone at first were the foundation and hope of the Religion of the Patriarchs and were afterwards recorded in the Book of Genesis is sufficient to perswade any one that it was impossible but the memory of the Promise of the Messiah should be deeply engraven in the minds of the Israelites tho' we should suppose that the Spirit of Jealousie which God had raised amongst the several Pretenders to the execution of that great Promise did not much contribute to preserve the remembrance of it as I have shown very carefully that it was very useful for that purpose I have in my Reflexions afterwards proved upon the four last Books of Moses that God prosecuted the same design in the Laws which he gave to the People of Israel as well as in the peculiar Forms and Regulations of their Government and Religion the great design of which Rules was only that the Messiah at his appearance in the World might be unquestionably known Whoever shall read the Reflexions which I have made upon this matter will easily perceive that the long Life of the Patriarchs was of great efficacy to make so fresh and lively an impression of those illustrious Facts the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah that there was no need of very frequent Oracles to confirm the same as indeed we find that in the space of 2553 years only five or six principal Oracles were given which have a particular Relation to the Messiah as I shall shew afterwards Now this Reflexion being once supposed as the Life of Man was afterwards
the History down to Cyrus the Founder of the Empire of Persia who gave the Jews their Liberty again The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the History of what passed under his Successors to the time of Artaxerxes for almost Eighty two years It was in this Interval that the Deliverance happened which the Jews received under Esther Wife to one of the most powerful Kings of Persia the Memory of which the Jews celebrate every year in all places the Thirteenth and Fourteenth days of the Month Adar which answers to our February by virtue of Esther's Law. After these general Remarks with which I shall content my self at present I ought to make some Reflexions which cannot be omitted without taking away a great deal of force from those Proofs which establish the Truth of this Matter The First is That as these Histories have a necessary Relation to the Laws of Moses so they could not have been neglected by a People who in their Religious and Civil Conduct were absolutely regulated by those very Laws The Second is That all the Actions related in this History have passed altogether in the bosom of a People the Extent of whose Country is not Twenty Leagues in breadth nor Eighty in length The Third is That this People having observ'd the Law of the Seventh year and of the First year or Year of Jubilee which Law you have in the Twenty fifth of Leviticus from their first Conquest and Division of the Country Forty seven years after their coming out of Egypt This Observation has serv'd for a double Cycle to fix the remembrance of those Actions and to make it pass from one Generation to another And so the greatness of that Promise which God made to Hezekiah Esai XXXVII 30. and II Kings XIX 29. may easily be understood that altho' Sennacherib's Invasion would in all probability lay waste all Judea yet they might eat the Fruits of the Earth in quietness the Fourteenth year of Hezekiah and the next year they should eat the Fruits that would grow up of themselves without Tillage and that on the Sixteenth year they should have liberty to till the Ground as formerly which shews without any force upon the words that the Fifteenth year of Hezekiah's Reign was the Sabbathical year in which the Jews were forbidden to Cultivate the Ground The Fourth is That it appears in effect by the Series of this whole Story that things were written so as to agree with the publick Records which were extant amongst the People This is manifest if we consider how often the Sacred Penmen refer us to the Histories and Annals of those Kings of whom they speak and of whom they only quote the principal Stories in short in pursuing their Design which was intirely to bring an Account of the state of the Religion and the Government of the Jews and Israelites under one view Let us go on to other Proofs to establish this Truth CHAP. II. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of Prophane History AS there was but few very Ancient Writers of Prophane History and as we have but small Fragments of them dispersed here and there preserved for the most part by the care of Josephus the Jewish Historian and of Eusebius in his Books De Praeparatione Evangelicâ so we ought not to be surprized if but few of the more illustrious Passages and Events of the Jewish History be taken notice of by Pagan Writers The People of Israel being otherwise engaged by the Observation of the Mosaick Law to keep close to that Country where it was established this made their Neighbours have less knowledge of their History However there is enough left to shew with how great fidelity and exactness the Sacred Writers penned the History of their own Nation In short we may find amongst the Heathen Historians and Poets who were their first Historians several Relations which shew that the Matters of Fact related by the Sacred Writers were well enough known to them and in the same manner that they are related in those Historical Books which were writ after Moses The Memory of Joshua and his Conquests was famous amongst the Heathens There are ancient Monuments extant which prove that the Carthaginians were a Colony of the Tyrians who escaped from Joshua as also that the Inhabitants of Leptis in Africa came originally from the Zidonians who forsook their Country Procop. Van dalicorum lib. II. c. 10. Polybius Frag. CXIV Salust de Bello Jugurthino because of the Miseries which afflicted it The Fable of the Phoenician Hercules arose from the History of Joshua the overthrow of the Giants and the famous Typhon owe their Original to the overthrow of Og the King of Bashan and of the Anakims who were called Giants The Tempest of Hail spoken of in the Eleventh of Joshua was transformed by the Poets into a Tempest of Stones with which as they say Jupiter overwhelmed the Enemies of Hercules in Arim which is exactly the Country where Joshua fought with the Children of Anak One finds the Memorial of the Actions of Gideon preserved by Sanchoniathon a Tyrian Writer who lived soon after him and whose Antiquity is attested by Porphyry One finds in the manner of Jephtha's Sacrificing his Daughter after his Victory over the Ammonites the Original of the Sacrificing of Iphigenia Variae Historiae Lib. V. cap. 3. it being usual with the Heathens as Aelian judiciously observes to attribute to their later Hero's the Glory of the Actions of those who lived long before We have an Account of a Feast which was observed by the Heathen Romans in April the time of the Jewish Harvest Ovid. Fastorum Lib. IV. in which they let loose Foxes with Torches fastned to their Tails which certainly came from the Story of Sampson and was brought into Italy by the Phoenicians One finds in the same History of Sampson and Dalilah Ovid. Metam Lib. VIII Fab. I. the Original of the Story of Nisus and his Daughter who cut off those fatal Hairs upon which the Victory depended Nicolaus Damascenus has preserved the Account of the Victory which David obtained over the Syrians of Zoba Joseph Antie Lib. VII cap. 6. upon the Banks of the Euphrates as it is described by the Sacred Writers There are Monuments extant which describe the part which Hiram King of Tyre had in the building of the Temple of Solomon almost the same with the Account which the Sacred Authors give us of his part in the Erection of that great Work. One finds in Herodotus an Account of the taking of Jerusalem by Sesostris King of Egypt Joseph Antiq Lib. VII cap. 6. as it is described in the History of Rehoboam One finds the History of the Kings of Syria related by Nicholaus Damascenus in the same manner as it is described by the Sacred Writers when they give us an Account of the Victories which the Kings of
who should become their Kings is likewise foretold In short one see 's express Predictions of the Ruin of Jerusalem and of the whole Nation under the Roman Empire after the coming of the Messiah As the People of Israel had always great quarrels with the Neighbouring Nations so one finds that amongst the Oracles which particularly regard the state of the Jews the Prophets have interwoven a great number which concern those strange People with relation to those Differences which were kept up between the People of Israel and them So one see 's the Egyptians and the Canaanites punished in the Execution of the Oracles pronounced against the Descendants of Cham. One see 's the Prediction of the Ruin of Benhudad King of Syria and of his House foretold to the Tenth Generation One see 's the Prediction of the Ruin of Egypt and Tyre which happened under Nebuchadnezzar One see 's the Prediction of the Ruin of the Moabites which was under the same Nebuchadnezzar after that Kingdom had subsisted almost Fourteen Ages from its first Foundation One see 's frequent Oracles concerning the Ruin of Niniveh and its Empire One see 's Oracles concerning the Ruin of Babylon which happened under Cyrus One see 's Oracles of the Destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander One see 's Oracles concerning the manner of this Princes conquering the greatest part of the World and of his leaving his Empire divided into four Kingdoms One see 's frequent Oracles concerning the state of the Empire of the Seleucidae and the Ptolemees who had particular Quarrels with the Jewish Commonwealth One see 's the Alliances which were to be between the two Kingdoms foretold and the small Success which should arise thence in terminating their Differences One see 's Predictions of the Treatment which the Jews should meet with in those Kingdoms One see 's a Prediction of the Retreat which Egypt was to give to the Jews and of the Temple they were to build there One see 's an exact Prediction of the manner of the prophanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes for Three years together One see 's the Prediction of the Ruin of these two Governments by the Arms of the Roman Empire It is very natural to make some Reflexions upon such a various multitude of Oracles I. That there are no Books in the World which are formed like those which we find in the hands of the Jews One finds there a History exactly pursued and in a natural dependance from the beginning of the World for 3500 years One finds there a Series of Oracles which foretel all sorts of Events so inseparably united with the History that it is impossible to find by what means the Prophecies could have been so brought to support the History and the History to support the Authority of the Prophecies One finds Oracles so clear and so particular especially in the Book of Daniel That Porphyry a mortal Enemy to the Christians was forc'd to assert that the Book of Daniel was forged after Antiochus Epiphanes's time a ridiculous Imagination For this Prophecy was translated into Greek more than One hundred years before and was in the hands not only of the Jews but of the Egyptians also mortal Enemies to the whole Jewish Nation This also is very surprizing That since the Jews after their Dispersion preserve these Histories wherever they are as the Accomplishments of the Oracles and these Oracles as Predictions of those Events of which their History is very full they should never think of proposing to us any Books of a like Nature considering that now for One and twenty Ages they have had no paralel Authors who have both writ History and pronounced Oracles II. But as these Reflexions lead us on to others so we ought to enter upon them by considering what the most unreasonable Obstinacy can oppose to the Authority of the Historical and Prophetical Books of Scripture CHAP. IV. That how common soever Oracles may have been amongst the Pagans yet nothing amongst them can justly be compared with those which are found amongst the Jews ONe of the greatest Objections which can in all probability be made against this surprizing Series of Oracles which are found in the Books of the Old Testament is taken from that great number of Oracles which are found amongst the Pagans This Objection deserves to be considered because it will more clearly demonstrate the Authority of the Prophetical Books which are in the hands of the Jews I confess there have been false Prophets And indeed since God has given us Marks to distinguish them from true Ones which may be seen in the Books of Moses it cannot be denied but there have been some false Prophets And that moreover the History of the Prophets discovering to us Impostors frequently we may freely acknowledge that amongst the Pagans and the People bordering upon Judea there have been Men who have boasted of Predictions of things to come as well as amongst the Jews I confess also That some Heathen Writers speak of certain Oracles which in all appearance are very well circumstantiated and of which they relate a very exact Accomplishment But several things ought to be observed upon this Argument which deserve an attentive Consideration I. We see that their most celebrated things have been only an imitation of what was done amongst the Jews The Egyptians imitated the Urim and the Thummim of the Jewish High Priest And they appropriated to him the right of giving Oracles And so we see they are given by a Voice from Heaven which the Jews saw was granted to their Prophets We may see it in the History of Socrates's Life and in Apuleius p. 339. II. We see that the same Pagan Historians take notice that very many even the greatest part of their Oracles were very ambiguous and false The Philosophers and Tully particularly openly laugh'd at them Lib. I. II. de Divinatione They thought it a ridiculous thing that Apollo Delphicus the God of Poetry should give his Answers in very bad Verse and at last be reduced to Prose Eusebius quotes a Discourse of Oenomaus a Greek Philosopher who wrote against Oracles to decry them as Impostures III. We see that those Oracles which had acquired the greatest Reputation by their Accomplishment were borrowed from the Prophets of the Synagogues We have an illustrious Example in the Birth of Cyrus which the Prophet Isaiah had foretold about the Year of the World 3292. and concerning which they pretend to shew Prophecies of Nebuchadnezzar and Craesus Abydenus Herodot Lib. I. cap. 55. 91. about the Year 3492. which shows that if the thing was really known to them they could not have known it but by the Prophetical Writings which were amongst the Jews and which could not have been concealed from them because the Jews read them with care to comfort themselves under that Captivity to which they were reduced by Nebuchadnezzar IV. It is in effect proved by examining their Oracles most of which
were either false or forged This Eusebius has clearly proved de Praepar Evangelicâ Lib. IX cap. 5. The Proverb of the Sibyll's or Delphick Priestess's favouring of Philip is commonly known It was easie for these Heathen Princes to biass their People with such Predictions Lib. IV. de Praeparat Evangel Lib. IV. initiò But what Eusebius says puts the thing beyond all Question for he expresly shews That when the Priests were put to the Rack they confessed the whole contrivance of those Oracles which they pronounced to abuse the Credulity of the People V. We ought to observe That we cannot find great numbers of Oracles upon the same Subject whereas one see 's that the Prophets follow'd as it were Moses's Model of the State of the Common-wealth of the Jews and that they frequently concur in foretelling the same Facts from one Generation to another VI. We ought to remember that these Oracles were not kept within the Limits of one single State or Nation VII It may be said that they were not publickly known having been only proposed in private places before a very few and in short that they were not actually known to the most part of the Neighbouring People whereas one see 's that the Jewish Prophets gave their Oracles in the most solemn Assemblies and when they were committed to Writing they were known to all those who had any Commerce with that Nation So that Isaiah's Prophecies were questionless known to Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus who look'd upon himself as designed by God to restore their Liberty to the Jews We may make the same Judgment of the Book of Daniel which was known to Alexander without all question as one may collect from the favourable Reception the Jews found from him VIII We ought to observe That these pretended Oracles were given for the most part in favour of those Princes who could satisfie the greediness of the Priests Whereas the Prophets among the Jews lived in the most dis-interested manner in the World and usually pronounced nothing but Reproaches and Menaces of cruel Calamities to those Princes who had the Government in their Hands Their Ministry consisted in a couragious opposition to the Corruptions in their Laws and their Religion and in censuring their Princes and Governours with a singular Intrepidity and indeed we see that most of them met with the punishment of their Boldness and made trial of the most cruel Tortures IX Last of all We ought to take notice that as the Oracles which are mentioned in Heathen Authors were only of Facts of small importance to those People amongst whom it is said that they were pronounced so we do not find that they thought themselves much concerned in their preservation whereas one see 's that the Jewish Nation were so perswaded of the Truth of these Oracles with which they were entrusted that nothing to this very day could ever oblige them to discontinue the reading of them whatever Disputes they may otherwise have with the Christians who make use of them to establish their Pretentions notwithstanding all the Claims of the Synagogue When this is laid down it would seem as if I might reasonably conclude That the wonderful variety of Oracles which are to be found amongst the Jews cannot be at all weakned by those Oracles of which we find so frequent mention in Pagan Writers But we ought to go further in explaining two things which will perfectly clear this matter One is That the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament after Moses can be no Forgeries The other is That in truth those Oracles which we find inserted in those Books could not possibly have been forged after their Completion CHAP. V. That the Books in which we may find these Oracles were never forged I Have observed formerly That it is absolutely necessary that the Authority of those Books in which these Oracles are inserted be established before we can build upon the Authority of the Oracles And indeed if we cannot clearly shew that these Books were written and publickly known before the Things happened which are said to be Accomplishments of those preceding Oracles it would be natural to call in question the Authority of these Oracles But it is very easie to satisfie an equitable Reader herein and to establish in general or severally the Existence of these Prophetical Writings before the times in which those Facts happened which we propose as the Accomplishment of those Prophecies I shall make use of two sorts of Reflexions to establish my Proposition The First consists in general Considerations upon the Books themselves The Second has respect to particular Facts which are uncontested and whence the same Truth very naturally results I. We ought to observe That whereas in Genesis Moses makes use of no other Epocha to fix the time of any Event but the years of the Life of some famous Patriarch As for Instance He fixes the Flood to the 600 year of Noah's Age Exod. XIX Numb XXXIII 38. in Exodus and Numbers he uses the time of their coming out of Egypt for his Epocha in the Books of the following Authors the years from their departure out of Egypt were carefully set down 'till the Fourth year of King Solomon's Reign which was 480 years after their departure This was a Character to fix the time of all those who lived after that Epoch◠II. The Building of the Temple began a new Epocha amongst the Jews as appears from II Chron. VIII 1. tho' they began after that time to reckon by the years of the Kings of Juda and Israel as appears by the Books of the first Prophets Which is a Character sufficiently certain to distinguish those who liv'd after Solomon with the time when they liv'd III. It 's plain That the Babylonish Captivity and afterwards their subjection to the Persian Empire obliged them to fix their Events and to date their Prophecies by the years of the Governments of those Foreign Kings See Daniel Ezechiel Zechariah and Haggai So the Author of the Book of Maccabees refers to the years of the Seleucidae Now that we may the better perceive the force of this Observation we must remember three things 1. That the Authors who lived after the carrying away of the Jews into Babylon make use of some Chaldee Terms which are not to be found in the foregoing Prophets For we may see in the Books of Haggai Ezech. XL. 1. Daniel X. Zach I. Hagg. I. Zechariah and Malachi the same style with Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel 2. The Authors of these Books give names to the Months which they had not before the Captivity The Jews only called their Months Talm. Rosch Hassanah c. 1. First and Second c. and so they gave Names which were unheard of before 3. The Authors of these Prophecies take particular notice of any newly instituted Fasts thus we see that the Prophet Haggai mentioned those Fasts of which we have nothing in the Law but which were
instituted during the Captivity We must blind our selves of purpose to conceive that any Impostor could forge Books which have so exact a Relation and such certain Characteristicks to fix them to the time in which every Author lived and to the Circumstances wherein he wrote We must of necessity grant That before such an Impostor could bring about such a Design he must have made himself Master of the whole Prophane History to fix so exactly the History of the Jewish Nation and of those Oracles which have been given in Circumstances which are unintelligible without the help of Prophane Histories of different Nations I come now to Facts which cannot be contested It is sufficient that those Facts be acknowledged as true to establish in general the Truth of those Books whereof we teach I. It cannot be denied that the Jews preserve these Oracles to this day with great fidelity II. It cannot be denied that they are in the hands of Christians who preserve them as well as the Jews since they have been separated from them that is for almost Seventeen Ages III. It cannot be denied that these Prophecies have been exactly read by the Jews because of those Oracles upon which they believe to this day that the whole happiness of their Nation is founded IV. It cannot be denied that the Jews have read these Books exactly to refute the Disciples of Jesus Christ who have pretended from the first Age of their appearing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah mark'd out by these Oracles In short whereas the Christians pretend to prove by the accomplishment of the ancient Oracles that Jesus Christ was the Messiah It is known that the Jews endeavour to this day to wrest the sense of these Oracles and to shew that there are many things which are not literally accomplished and which by consequence cannot be apply'd to Jesus Christ V. It cannot be deny'd that most of the Controversies of the Jews with the Christians only regard the Application of the Text of the Prophetical Authors The Christians explain them in a Mystical Sense the Jews maintain that they ought to be explained Literally VI. It cannot be deny'd that about 300 years before the Birth of our Saviour the Prophetical Books were translated and put into the Hands of the Egyptians having been carried to and translated at Alexandria by a publick Order of the whole Nation for the satisfaction of a King of Egypt The History of that Version which put those Sacred Books into the Hands of the Greeks and the Jews who dwelt in Egypt is the most famous thing in the World and which made those Books perfectly known Here we have now these Books in Hebrew and in Greek that is to say in the Primitive Language of the Jews and the Vulgar Language of the Empire which Alexander founded It is known that from that time the Christians took care to make great numbers of Translations into all the Vulgar Tongues after the preaching of the Gospel and that they preserved those ancient Books as the first Elements of their Religion Now it will be sufficient to acknowledge those Truths to consider That those Oracles were true which foretold things which happened almost four Ages after their Prediction Thus for Instance the Destruction of Jerusalem the Overthrow of the Jewish State the calling of the Gentiles to the Service of the God of Israel the Destruction of the Syrian and Egyptian Monarchies are all contained in the Books of Daniel Haggai Zachariah and Malachi Now there is not more difficulty to conceive that such Authors as Isaiah Amos Joel should have foretold the same thing Eight or Nine hundred years before than there is to believe that they were foretold by those who liv'd but little above Four Ages before they actually came to pass There is therefore no difficulty in conceiving that these ancient Oracles were proposed as we see them and in those times to which we find them fixed But we ought to go further into this matter and to establish the same thing by the consideration of the things themselves I confess that we might have a suspicion of those Oracles which are not related upon the Faith of a publick Volume As for Instance those of Elijah Elisha and Uriah the Son of Shemaiah who seem never to have published any thing But here we are to observe 1. That usually the Authors who publish the Oracles are not the same with those who tell us of their accomplishment 2. That the Oracles of which we now speak were upon Subjects perfectly known and upon very illustrious Exigencies What more illustrious than the Destruction of Ahab's Family foretold by Elijah What more extraordinary than the manner of Jezebel's Death foretold by the same Prophet In short we ought to take notice I. That these Oracles were written for the most part in compleat Volumes We have Sixteen Prophets sufficiently distinguish'd by their proper Volumes II. Each of these Authors has a very different Character from the rest so that some as Daniel for instance write in a peculiar Language one part of his Book being in Chaldee III. Every one has some relation to the rest So those who liv'd together often treat of the same things So Isaiah for instance Joel Amos Hosea But they had separate Idea's and particular Oracles and a turn which perfectly distinguishes them one from another IV. One needs only read their Works to find that they wrote in different places Amos was of Juda and went to prohecy in Israel that appears plainly Ezechiel and Daniel prophesied in Chaldea that 's seen by reading their Works V. There is a natural dependance between the Books of Moses and those of the Prophets in general For the Prophets were continually reproaching the Kings and People with the Crimes which they committed against the Law of God proposed by Moses VI. There is a natural dependance between the Writings of the former and of the latter Prophets Dan. IX 2. So Jeremiah is quoted by Daniel as foretelling the time when the Desolations of Jerusalem were to have an end this he proposes not as if he had learnt it by a Revelation but as a thing which he had found out by an attentive examination of the Prophecy of Jeremiah VII There is an exact Connexion of these Oracles with the History of the time which is often interwoven with the Prophecies One see 's it in the Books of Isaiah Jeremiah and Daniel the other Historical Books not being altogether so particular as these Prophetical Books are VIII In short one see 's that these Books are interwoven with Oracles concerning ancient Events and People which have now no Existence so thaâ— that hinders us from suspecting any Forgery I shall not repeat here the common Arguments which establish the Credit of these Books I brought in most of them when I established the Authority of the Books of Moses I shall only make some Reflexions here to establish the same Truth CHAP. VI. That the
manner of writing the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament shews that those Oracles could not have been forged after their Completion I Have several things to taken notice of to make this Truth more sensible The first is taken from the necessary connexion of all the parts of the History of the Old Testament the truth of which I have proved by several Characters This History is exactly written by several Authors Now the History of the Prophets and of their Oracles is so exactly framed into the History that it is impossible to take it out without confounding the whole The Books of Samuel which were written by Samuel by Nathan and by Gad as appears by I Chron. XXIX 29. contain the History from the Year of the World 2888 to the Year 2987. The Books of the Kings contain the History of the Kings and of the Prophets from the Year 2989. to the Year 3442. The Books of the Chronicles recapitulate the History from the beginning of the World to the Year 3468. Ezra writ his History from the Year 3468. to the Year 3538. Nehemiah continued it from 3550. to 3563. Here is therefore on the one side an uninterrupted Series of History and on the other side a continued Succession of Prophecies David who began to Reign in the Year 2950. with several other Prophets of that time writ the most part of the Psalms which are full of Oracles and which were sung by the People as a part of the Divine Service Isaiah began his Prophecy in 3246. and dy'd in the Year 3306. Hosea Micah and Nahum were contemporary with him Jeremiah begun his Prophecy in the Year 3375. and liv'd at the same time with Zephaniah Daniel was carry'd into Babylon in 3401. and prophesied until 3470. Ezechiel prophecy'd at Babylon in 3509. Haggai and Zachariah prophecy'd in 3590. soon after Ezra in the time of Nehemiah Malachy seems to have lived until the Year 3589. Can we therefore in the least imagine that a History should be so intermixed with Prophesies and Oracles without conceiving at the same time the Truth of both by an invincible necessity But we may make a second Reflexion hereupon There are three general Characters which distinguish Prophets very sensibly from the generality of Authors I. They were publick Censors Let us but read the History of Isaiah's conduct who called all the Heads of the People Rulers of Sodom or that of Jeremiah Chap. XXXVI or of any other of the Prophets in general II. They were Comforters of the People when they had brought them to Repentance by their preaching There are as many Instances of this as there are Prophets III. They foretold remarkable Occurrences happy or unfortunate long before there was any probability that they should happen It is impossible to consider these Characters without seeing that the state of Affairs was that which gave a foundation for their Sermons So that one must of necessity have framed their History of new to give ground for a Forgery This change in the style of the Prophets follows the Circumstances of the Jewish State exactly All that Isaiah or Jeremiah say will hold no longer than whilst you suppose the State of the Jews to be as corrupt as the History of that time represents it But if you suppose it to be as the History do's distinctly explain it nothing can be imagined more forcible than their Sermons For as they joyned Oracles with Promises in their thundring Sermons so one see 's that they cannot be parted One may make another Reflexion upon this matter by shewing that these Oracles and these Books were so famous amongst the Jews that no Forgery can be supposed The times in which they were writ are a great proof for they appeared upon very remarkable Occasions One may rank the Prophets into four Orders according to the several times in which they appeared David and the Prophets of his time Those who lived before the Babylonish Captivity as Jonah Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Isaiah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Jeremiah Those who prophesied during the Captivity Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel Those who lived after their Return from Babybylon Haggai Zechariah and Malachy Now we have an equal Assurance of all these Prophets that they were famous Who can deny the Oracles of David to have been famous when they were preserv'd amongst their publick Hymns One see 's that Micah's prediction sav'd Jeremiah whom they would have condemned for prophecying the Ruin of the Temple under Jehoiakim when Micah had prophesied the same thing under Hezekiah that is to say about One hundred and twenty years before this Prediction of Jeremiah Here 's an Event which assures us without affectation That this Prophecy was very well known were not therefore the other Prophecies which were in the hands of the Jews very well known by the whole Nation The other Prophets lived in very remarkable times Isaiah under Jotham Ahaz and Manasseh impious Princes the last of which put him to a cruel Death for the freedom of his Censures and Predictions There was in the time of every Prophet a great number of Circumstances which may be enlarged upon and which will further prove That their Works must of necessity have been very publick and very famous amongst the Jews We must not here neglect what do's more particularly regard the persons of the Prophets I. Some of them were Priests that is to say publick Ministers of their Religion Jeremiah and Ezechiel were of that number This may be observed in reading of their Works and in observing the nature of their Revelations which were for the most part accommodated by God to those Idea's about which the Prophets were most employ'd II. Some were very illustrious by their Birth Thus David for instance was King of Israel Isaiah was a Prince of the Blood and Daniel was one of the Princes of Judah which may be easily found out by considering the Majesty of their Style and greatness of their Expressions III. Some were very contemptible by their Employment and by their Birth So Amos for instance and those other Prophets whose Father is barely named without joyning to it any honourable Title if the Jews observation has any strength Now it is well known that tho' the gift of Prophecy made him who had it sufficiently famous yet the Character of the Person often made the Prophecy famous Sometimes indeed the meanness of the Person as in Amos made the Work to be more regarded every Body taking occasion from the ancient Profession or the Prophet to consider the Prophecies which he published with more attention One ought to observe with care That those Prophets whose Writings are preserv'd as well as those who did not write were continually struck at by false Prophets who opposed them with great heat Since then we have no Prophecies preserved but of those whose Predictions were accomplished the Event justifying the Truth of their Predictions with regard to particular Facts near the time which they had foretold
to establish their Authority whereas the Predictions of others wanting this Character were neglected and at last absolutely lost It appears plainly That those which remain were things of the greatest Reputation among the Jews Besides I may add That one needs only read their Books to see that they not only foretold obscure things or what particularly concerned their State but also things of a more splendid Nature the overthrow of Kingdoms of Cities the Destruction of whole Nations the Destruction of their own City with its re-establishment Matters which would render their Books very illustrious and which would cause them to be read not only by the Jews but also by the Neighbour Nations the Ammonites Moabites Assyrians Persians Egyptians c. Is not this therefore a very particular thing and that which made the Prophets very illustrious That the great lustre of the Prophets continued but for a certain time There have been none since the Year 3553. their Glory appeared in the History of Eight Ages but it do's not extend it self any farther Now why I pray should there be no Impostors after Malachy as well as there were Impostors before him One may imagine perhaps That the Prophecies were immediately disperst some being uttered in one place and some in another Some in the Kingdom of Judah and others in the Kingdom of Israel Some in Babylon others in Egypt which might give Opportunites for Impostors But I. This Objection may be strongly retorted back For how can we conceive that in the Division which separated the Israelites from the Jews those of Judah would charge themselves with the Writings published in a Kingdom so much an Enemy to them without examination when every thing which comes from thence ought to appear suspected II. They were all collected into particular Volumes But the Prophecies of Hosea Isaiah and Jeremy and the most considerable of the rest are preserved in Books which contain many other things III. They are all exactly joyned with the History of the same Nation each one in a place where there was an equal concern to preserve and to gather them together But besides they were all collected into one Body In short the LXXII Interpreters translated them into Greek in the Year of the World 3727. and so submitted them to the Examination of the Egyptians and this also keeps us from doubting of their Truth This Translation was made but One hundred thirty and eight years after Malachy the last of the Prophets But what Judgment soever may be made of these Reflexions the Design whereof is only to establish the Reputation of these Prophecies and of the Books wherein they are written that so no room may be left for any suspicions of Forgery I shall add two Considerations to what I have said already which ought to appear convincing to every attentive man. I. One can suspect none but the Jews as Forgers of these Oracles Now not to say any any thing of the Absurdity of supposing that a whole Nation should have subscribed to such an Imposture all the Jews throughout the World were after their return from the Captivity strongly prepossessed with an opinion of the Messiah's being a great Temporal King and they have the same belief to this very hour in all places of the World wherever they are disperst This being once laid down I affirm it to be impossible that the Jews should forge Oracles which assert expresly That the Messiah should be put to death in so very odious a manner For as I shall afterwards shew the oldest Doctors attributed to the Messiah all those Oracles which speak of the Death of the Messiah according to the Christians and which they themselves in process of time were forced to interpret of two Messiah's one exposed to a world of Miseries and the other only glorious Or at least I may say it is impossible that the Jews should consent to a Forgery which thwarted their common Idea's and Pretensions in so very sensible a manner II. The second Consideration establishes the same Truth with no less firmness which is that the Call of the Gentiles to have a share in the Blessings of the Covenant which God made with the People of Israel was the thing in the World from which the Jews had the greatest aversation they looked upon the Blessings which the Messiah was to communicate as advantages entirely reserved for those of their own Nation How then can we conceive that the Jews should forge so many Oracles which should thwart their Prejudices so sensibly or how can we imagine that a whole People would authorize with their approbation an Imposture so contrary and so very opposite to their own Opinions But it is no hard thing to imagine That when the Jews were once perswaded of the Authority of their Prophets either by their Miracles or by the ready Accomplishment of every Oracle which they had publickly pronounced that they should receive their Books with a profound submission and preserve them with the utmost care But it appears to be an incomprehensible thing for a People to receive Impostures contrary to their Prejudices and Impostures reiterated so often without any ground but what a vast number of Records never before heard of would produce But I suppose these Reflexions will suffice to establish the Truth of the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament So that there will be no need of alledging particular proofs which might demonstrate the Truth of each Book in particular which would carry me out to too great a length I shall now consider the Oracles themselves and I shall shew the progress of the Light of this Revelation with respect to the Promise of the Messiah That this progress may be the better observed I shall do three things as I have formerly observed without which the mind of a wise Reader will not receive satisfaction I. I shall explain in a few words the Reason why these Oracles are interwoven with several Histories or Prophecies which seem to have no Relation to the Promise of the Messiah II. I shall give such Rules as will serve to justifie the Application which both Jews and Christians have equally made of several Oracles only to the Messiah III. I shall set the Oracles according to the Order of Time which will manifest the Advancement and Progress of that Light which is to be found in the Revelation it self As indeed it is natural to conceive that God should explain himself more clearly in this matter in proportion as the things themselves were nearer to their Completion CHAP. VII For what Reason the Oracles which relate to the Messiah were interwoven with other things which seem to be very widely distant ONe of the greatest Difficulties which may be raised against the Oracles of the Old Testament which concern the Messiah is that surprizing mixture which one see 's of those Oracles and of other Subjects which seem to be widely distant from any Idea of the Messiah There are none
IV. That we ought to pay a much greater deference to the Opinion of the ancient Jews than of those who have been sowred by their Miseries and Disputes to such a degree that they have lost that principle of Equity which keeps Men from denying the most evident Truths and which have been the most universally acknowledged by a whole Nation that was not prepossessed with so great a degree of Obstinacy But we ought to observe besides That this seeming Confusion of those Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Subjects treated of by the Prophets arose from several Causes I. From the Prophet's often joyning the Idea's of the principal Promise the sending of the Messiah with the promise of those means which were absolutely necessary for the accomplishment of that promise as the preservation of the Jews for instance So the Captivity of the Israelites in Egypt and their departure from thence with their settling in the Land of Canaan which he had promised them before were foretold as necessary means in the order of Providence to the Execution of the great Design of God. For so the Babylonish Captivity and their Deliverance there from which are both foretold are foretold as steps towards the execution of the promise of sending the Messiah And so likewise when they foretold the Persecutions by Antiochus and the other Neighbouring Nations they also foretell the deliverance which God would grant to the Jews and their re-establishment until the Birth of the Messiah which was the accomplishment of that great Promise II. This seeming Confusion arose from the writing of these Books piece by piece which afterwards were put into this order without having always a regard to the time in which they were writ and without taking notice of all the occasions which engaged the Prophets to write And thus we see the Prophecies which relate to the Messiah joyned to several other Transactions and to several other Predictions whose connexion is not always so very evident III. It arises from the writing of the Prophecies each by themselves so that all those of the same Prophet were put together as they came out making only a new Chapter in the Work whereas they ought to be considered rather with relation to the Matter than to the Order in which they lye in the Book as we have it at the present For the Prophets often borrow their Light from what they themselves had said some time before or from what some other Prophet had foretold which ought to be observed particularly of those who lived about the same time But besides those Rules which I proposed in the beginning of this Chapter and besides those Observations of the joyning the Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Subjects I must add two Rules more which may be useful in determining the sense of great numbers of Oracles which are expressed in figurative terms The first is That it is natural to conceive that when the Prophets were to speak of the Messiah and when they were intent upon the Description of his Kingdom they should make use of Expressions which seem'd to foretell a sort of overturning of nature which should happen at that time But then these Expressions ought to be understood in a figurative sense in the same Spiritual sense in which the Christians understood them as the famous Maimonides allows in that passage of Isaiah Lib. de Regibus cap. XII where the Wolf and the Lamb are said to feed together Secondly Since the Messiah is described as one who should unite in his own Person the Glory of the Divinity and the meanness of the Human Nature together we ought to understand those Oracles in such a manner that what is great in those Prophetical Descriptions should not contradict the more contemptible part when we consider the Messiah as cloathed with all the meannesses of the Human Nature These Idea's which are often joyned in one and the same Oracles ought to be exactly applyed to the different consideration which the Prophets had of the Messiah or to those various States through which they themselves assures us that the Messiah was to pass An intelligent Reader will easily judge that I might have added a third Rule to the two former which is That when a person who has all the Characters of a Prophet applys an old Oracle to any Subject one cannot reasonably dispute his application This the Christians assure us was done by the Apostles in a very great number of Oracles But because this supposes a Prophetick Character in the Apostles before it has been established by solid proofs I shall wave the proposal of it at present After these general Remarks I shall gather together those Oracles in the Old Testament which relate to the Messiah I might here follow the order of the Matters by bringing under each Article those Oracles which relate to it which would give a great Light to the Subject as Eusebius has rightly observed and as he has practised himself in his Books de Demonstratione Evangelicâ However I rather chose to follow the Order of Time in which these Oracles were uttered which did not seem improper to explain those Truths which are contained in those Oracles In short this is of great importance I. Because it is very natural to consider the Series of God's design and the connexion which may be found in those Idea's which are made use of to express it II. Because of the necessity of the encrease of the Light in the Revelations proportionably as the time drew near so that it is of use to observe how the Divine Wisdom follow'd this natural Order in making the later Oracles clearer than the former and in hinting by little and little a greater number of Circumstances by which it was necessary to explain them III. Because this serves to give us a very strong proof That God intended to furnish us from the Scriptures themselves with that which should fix us in a Belief of this Capital Truth in our Religion In short when the Truth of each of the Books in the Old Testament is once approved and their Age set down it appears that several Prophets did agree wonderfully without any concert in the explication of the same Truths at several Times and in several Places and Circumstances which hinder men for the most part from agreeing in the most common Matters which are the Subjects of their Reflexions I have already considered that the Wisdom of God follow'd Rules very conformable to the Condition and Inclinations of the Patriarchs when it spoke of the Messiah We may see the same Conduct in the following times So since God had promised Children to Adam in Abel's stead one may see that he also promised David a Son who should set upon his Throne He explains almost all the Circumstances of his Coming his Humiliation his Exaltation the Oppositions he should meet with the Victories he should obtain and his Offices Prophetical Priestly and Royal. One see
of the Messiah whereas hitherto God had only described him under the Figure of a bare man tho' the other was made sufficiently intelligible when the Destruction of the Empire of the Tempter and the right of procuring a Blessing unto all the Nations of the Earth which he was personally to enjoy were attributed to him things infinitely beyond the power and condition of Mankind to perform were attributed to him II. He observes That this Person of whom he speaks such magnificent things ought however to be descended from Jacob which ratifies Jacob's Prophecy in favour of Judah III. Tho' he hints very clearly at the effects of those Blessings and Temporal Victories which Jacob's Posterity was to obtain over their Neighbours yet at the same time he infinuates plainly enough that the bestowing of the Blessing which all the Nations of the World should obtain was to be reserved to Jacob's Seed when he refused to retract those Promises of Blessing which God had made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to which Oracles he made a sensible Allusion And it is very important to consider that the Jews always applyed this Oracle to the Messiah as may be seen by their Chaldee Paraphrast and it was acknowledged so generally that the famous Achiba who lived under the Emperour Hadrian pretended that Barchocheba was the Messiah because his name was Chochab which is a Star in Hebrew as if God intended to mark that Impostor for the true Messiah by foretelling what name he should be called by The Oracle which Moses uttered a little before his Death is very considerable The People being terrified with the manner of God's speaking to them upon Mount Sinai desired that God would no longer speak as he had done before but that Moses should give them an Account of whatever God should command Hereupon God consents to their Request and promised them by Moses that he would raise them up a Prophet like unto Moses to whom they ought to hearken upon pain of being cut off He that made the Addition to the last Book of Moses wherein his Death is described takes notice that there never rose up afterwards a Prophet in Israel like to Moses If it was Ezra who made that Addition then here is a plain and clear decision against the Jews some of whom assert that Joshua or Jeremiah was the Prophet whom Moses promised If it was Eleazar who liv'd in Joshua's time then here Joshua at least is excluded from this priviledge of being designed by Moses But it is to no purpose to stop at such frivolous Objections One needs only observe Moses's Character to take notice of four certain Marks of Moses's Prophecies which advance him infinitely above all the other Prophets I. He had all the sorts of Revelations which are generally found amongst all the Prophets II. He was illustrious for great numbers of Miracles III. He not only reform'd the Errors and false ways of Worship then prevailing amongst the Jews but he set up a new Worship and a new Form of Religion IV. He introduced this Law and this way of worshipping God by such a conversation with God as one see 's amongst two intimate Friends In which of the Prophets may these four Characters be found The Galileans themselves testified plainly that these Characters ought only to be found in the person of the Messiah when they saw the Miracles of Jesus Christ John VI. 14. and the Jews acknowledged the same in our Saviours time when they applyed that Oracle to the Messiah John I. 45. But if these Oracles were obscurely hinted at in this Oracle one may see them clearly apply'd to the Messiah in the following Oracles proportionably as the Revelation encreased and as God unravelled the Idea's of these ancient Oracles by explaining them more particularly by those Prophets whom he afterwards raised up This may clearly be seen if we pass on to those Oracles which were uttered by David and the other Prophets who lived about his time CHAP. X. Of the Oracles which concern the Messiah in the Book of Psalms THese were the Oracles which were the subjects of the Meditations of the Faithful from the Year of the World 2553 in which Moses dyed until David's time who was particularly chosen by God to be the only man of his Family which was also separated from all the other Families of Judah who came from Pharez from whom the Messiah was to be descended I have observed in another place that in all probability God raised David to the Throne only to make the Genealogy of that Family better known from which the Messiah was to spring As this double advancement of David one to the Throne of Israel the other to be the Father to the Messiah ought to have inspired him with lively Resentments of Gratitude and as his Oracles would be much more famous being uttered by a Royal Prophet and the rather because God employ'd him in the making a just Regulation of the Service of the Sanctuary so we see that David employ'd his Pen in giving more distinct Idea's of that Messiah which he promised them The Name Messiah properly signifies a person consecrated by anointing to be King Priest or Prophet This Name was particularly applyed by David and the Prophets who lived after him to that holy Seed which God had promised to Abraham's Family by Isaac by Jacob by Judah and by David and one may observe in David's Psalms and in the Prophets of his time that they gave the Name of Messiah to the promised Seed under one or other of these three Senses The Characters both of a Prophet and a Priest tho' each of them are august enough yet yield to that of a King. These are the different Idea's which David and the Prophets of that time follow'd in all the variety of their Descriptions But it is not my Design to give a particular Account of all those Oracles which describe these different Characters for fear of being excessively long So I shall content my self with observing two things I. That David alone uttered more Oracles than all the Prophets who came before him II. That these Oracles of David concerning the Messiah are clearer than all the precedent ones Now I say that David alone uttered more Oracles than any one Prophet who came before him Thus in the XL Psalm he explains the Decree by which the Messiah became the Servant of God and clothed himself with the form of a Servant to offer unto God a more perfect Obedience than that which had formerly been offered by Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices He describes the measure and the Nature of his Ministry which was to consist in the instruction of the People in Righteousness Truth and the Salvation of God. Psalm XL. 7. 11. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine Ears hast thou opened Burnt-offering and Sin offering hast thou not required Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will
Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows This exactly sets forth the august Character of the Messiah and his Anointing to be the King of all Nations their Prophet and their Priest Psalm XLV 1. My heart is inditing a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King my tongue is the pen of a ready writer Verse 7 8. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows Verse 16. Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy Children whom thou maist make Princes in all the Earth One see 's the same Prophets inviting all Nations in the XLVII Psalm to acknowledge the Kingdom of God which Daniel afterwards describes as that which the Jews already knew was to be governed by the Messiah One see 's Asaph describing in the L Psalm the manner of the Messiah's assembling all People and of his rejecting the ancient and Legal Service and prescribing a Spiritual one even Sacrifices of Vows and of Praise Verse 6 7 8 9 10. And the Heavens shall declare his Righteousness for God is Judge himself Hear O my people and I will speak O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy Burnt-offerings to have been continually before me I will take no Bullock out of thy House nor He-goat out of thy Folds For every Beast of the Forest is mine and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills One sees the Author of the LXXII Psalm describing the glory and happiness of Solomon's Kingdom in such a manner that he carries his views as high as the Messiah at the same time He foretels the continuance of his Kingdom as long as the Sun and Moon endures that all the Kings of the World should bring Presents to him and that all the Nations of the Earth should worship before him Verse 5. They shall fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endure throughout all Generations Verse 8. He shall have Dominion also from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth Verse 11. All Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him Verse 17 18 19. His Name shall endure for ever his Name shall be continued as long as the Sun and Men shall be blessed in him all Nations shall call him blessed Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with all his Glory Amen and Amen One sees that Ethan the Ezrahite who is represented to us as the wisest Man in that Age after Solomon explains the promise made to David of a Son who should reign for ever and whose Throne should be immoveable in the LXXXIX Psalm This agrees to none but the Messiah whom he describes as the First-born of the Princes of the Earth and as the Son of God in a manner which is not applicable to any of David's Posterity except only to the Messiah Verse 19 20. Then thou spakest in Visions to the holy one and say'st I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my servant with my holy Oyl have I anointed him Verse 24 25 26 27 28 29. My Faithfulness and my Mercy shall be with him and in my Name shall his Horn be exalted I will set his Hand also in the Sea and his right hand in the Rivers He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my Salvation Also I will make him my First-born higher than the Kings of the Earth My Mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His Seed also will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven Verse 33.34 35 36 37. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my Holiness that I will not lye unto David His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful Witness in Heaven One needs only read over the Psalms which I have now taken notice of and which are almost all applyed by the Jews to the Messiah to see the great Number of Oracles which God gave in David's time concerning this matter not to speak of those which describe the Calling of the Gentiles which fill up the Book of the Psalms almost entirely I come now to the proof of the second Article which is to shew That the Oracles which David uttered are much clearer and much more particular than those which were given before This I hope to prove beyond all contradiction by considering two Psalms the one whereof describes the prodigious Humiliation of the Messiah and the other describes his Advancement at the right hand of God two of the greatest Truths declared by the Prophets and two the most singular of all the Characters which belong to the promised Messiah CHAP. XI Considerations upon the Sufferings of the Messiah and upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven foretold by David in the XXII and CX Psalms IT cannot be deny'd when one reads the XXII Psalm but that the person there spoken of is described figuratively as one exposed to the severest Sufferings from which he is afterwards delivered by the Divine assistance and advanced to rule an Empire which extends it self over all the Nations of the World and afterwards universally adored I. He that speaks cries out as if God had forsaken him and had stopped his Ears unto his Cry. II. He describes himself as a Worm and no Man as the reproach of Men and one despised by the people III. He takes notice that those who were witnesses of his Sufferings made a mock at them bidding him trust in God that he might deliver him IV. He ranks his Enemies amongst the Bulls of Bashan and raging Lions who according to the Prophetical way of speaking are the chief Men in the Nation Amos IV. 1. Ezech. XXII 25. V. He joyns the Dogs with them that is prophane persons or the Gentiles VI. He represents his Hands and his Feet as pierced with Nails VII He shews that he was stretched out before in such a manner that they might count all his Bones this expresses the Idea of a Man fastned to a Cross and exposed to the view of all the World as he afterwards describes himself to be quite dry'd up from the loss of Blood when he was crucify'd VIII He takes notice of their parting his Garments and IX Of their casting Lots upon his Vesture In short one see 's throughout all the
of the shadow of Death upon them hath the light shined Thou hast multiplyed the Nation thou hast encreased the joy they joy before thee according to the joy in Harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil I shall afterwards take notice That the time of the Messiah was to be distinguished by an incredible abundance of Spiritual Gifts and so this shall suffice at present to prove that the Messiah was to be a very great Prophet CHAP. XVIII That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men THis is a Truth which is easily gathered 1. Because all Nations before they could be made partakers of the Blessing of God by the Messiah according to the promise made to Abraham were first to be received into the Covenant 2. From the nature of that Covenant it self of which Moses was the Mediator the end of which was to separate the Jews from other Nations some of which were not capable of being received amongst them till after several Generations whereas they were to be made partakers of this Blessing by the Messiah 3. Because in effect all the Ceremonial Law was only added to the Moral as it were contrary to God's principal intention and only upon occasion of the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf as St. Gal. 3.19 Paul observes in the Third Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians Besides it appears that God at divers times had given sufficient hints concerning this 1. He had proposed a new Priesthood of the Messiah which was to abolish the Levitical Priesthood and this is the more remarkable forasmuch as David who pronounced that Oracle Psalm CX was he who first form'd the design of building the Temple to which all the Levitical Service was annexed 2. We find him rejecting in some sort the Levitical Ministry after he had despised it in comparison of the Spiritual Worship Psalm XL. vers 6. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not required And Psalm L. vers 8 9 10. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy Burnt-offerings which have been continually before me I will take no Bullocks out of thine House nor He-goats out of thy Folds for every Beast of the Forest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills And Psalm LI. verse 17. he tells us that the Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit in opposition to the Sacrifices which the Law prescribed and to signifie their imperfection the Law having appointed none for the expiation of Murther or Adultery Isaiah follows David Chap. 1. vers 11 12 13 14 and 15. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats When you come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood And Jeremiah speaks much to the same purpose Chap. VII v. 21 22 23. But besides God directly promiseth this new Covenant by Isaiah Chap. XLII vers 6 7. I the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentiles To open the blind eyes to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness from the Prison house It is natural to observe That in this place where God speaks of the Messiah as the Jews themselves confess he expresly declares two things 1. That the Messiah should be a Covenant of the People that is that he should mediate a Covenant between God and the People 2. That the fruit of this Covenant was to extend to the Gentiles which plainly implyes that it was not the old Covenant forasmuch as from it several were excluded The same Covenant is also mention'd Chap. XLIX vers 8 9. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People to establish the Earth to cause to inherit the desolate Heritages That thou maist say to the Prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves they shall feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in all High-places He pursues the same Notion Chap. LV. vers 3 4. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you the sure mercies of David Behold I have given him for a Witness to the People a Leader and Commander to the People Than which nothing can be more particular And to the same purpose he speaks Chap. LXI vers 8 9. For I the Lord love Judgment I hate robbery for Burnt-offering and I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them And their Seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their Off-spring among the people all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the Seed which the Lord hath blessed It is as clear as the day That God in these Oracles promiseth an irrevocable Covenant because he calls it an Everlasting Covenant in opposition to the former He takes notice also in the same Book That the said Covenant was to be propounded in the midst of the Nations and that then that Blessing of God should be known according to the ancient Oracles which was promised universally to all Nations This is that which God more particularly explains afterwards by the voice and pen of a Prophet who was of the order of Priests thereby to prevent all sorts of Exceptions Jeremiah in effect speaks to the same purpose Chap. XXXI vers 31 32 33 34 35 and 36. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake altho' I were a husband to them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their heart and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall
teach no more every man his Neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their Sin no more Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his name If those Ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the Seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever Nothing can be desired more particular than this Oracle 1. It tells us that God would make a new Covenant with his People which supposes an abolishing of the former 2. That this Covenant was not to be like the foregoing 3. That the old Covenant had been made vain and had been broken by those with whom it was made 4. That this Covenant was to be made after those days that is in the time of the Messiah 5. That this new Covenant was not to be engraven in Tables of Stone but in their Hearts 6. That in the same Covenant full Remission of Sin is promised The same thing is also expressed Chap. XXXII vers 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me And Chap. L. vers 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten To this purpose also Ezechiel who himself was a Priest speaks of a Religious Worship extended to all Nations and of a new Covenant which God was to make with them Chap. XVI vers 60 61 62. Nevertheless I will remember my Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth and I will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy Sisters thy elder and thy younger and I will give them unto thee for Daughters but not by thy Covenant And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Here is first a Covenant differing from the former 2. A Covenant wherein other Nations were to be included clearly intimated by the elder and younger Sisters of the Synagogue 3. A Covenant whereby the Gentiles were to enjoy the same Priviledges with the Jews and be incorporated with them Malachy follows the steps of these Prophets when he calls the Messiah the Angel of the Covenant Chap. III. vers 1. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Messenger Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts I know very well that the Jews apply these words to Elias whose Ministry as they pretend was to consist in leading the Jews to Repentance But if we read the Text with attention we shall find two Messengers mentioned the first who prepare the way of the Messiah and the other is the Messiah himself who is called the Angel of the Covenant as being sent of God to make a new Covenant with men CHAP. XIX That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah THis is a very peculiar Mark which will guide us surely to the knowledge of the Messiah We find the Jews at this day very ready to follow every one that usurps that August Title and to take him for the only true Messiah that was promised them which is no other than what was infallibly to come to pass Neither will this much surprize us if we consider 1. That this People on divers occasions have given very strange instances of a prodigious blindness We see them reject Moses notwithstanding God had authoriz'd his Call by great and avowed Miracles Yea we find them rejecting David also whom God had so signally appointed to be their King and the Father of the Messiah of whom we hear these Prophecies 2. That God upbraids them with this blindness by his Prophets as a sin to which they were peculiarly inclin'd as appears from Psalm LXIX vers 23 24 25 26 27 and 28. Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their Loins continually to shake Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their Tents for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come into thy Righteousness Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living and not be written with the Righteous One see 's the same thing in Isaiah Chap. VI. vers 9 10 11 and 12. where the Spirit of God foretells that the Jews should shut their eyes against the most evident and convincing proofs imaginable Go saith the Lord to the Prophet and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long And he answered untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate and the Lord have removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the Land. Nothing can be imagined more particular than this Oracle concerning the Jews resisting the Prophet which God expresses in terms very usual amongst the Prophets as if Isaiah who was only the foreteller of their being hardned should himself be the cause of it The Prophet Hoseah describes the very same Complaints of God against the Jews for their blindness and ignorance for which he denounces their destruction Hos IV. vers 1 2 3 4 5 and 6. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord has a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the Beasts of the Field and with the Fowls of Heaven yea the Fishes of the Sea also shall be taken away Yet let no man strive or reprove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Therefore shalt thou fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy thy Mother
Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis That the Facts of the Creation and the Promises of the Messiah are Truths not to be questioned and that the Idea's of this Messiah continued vigorously all the time that preceded the Children of Israel's going out of Egypt We have seen afterwards in the Remarks which I have made upon the Laws which God gave to Moses that it was the great design of God to keep men in the expectation of this Messiah and to take care that they might certainly know him whenever he should appear in the World. I have taken notice in the third part of these Reflexions of the care which God took to give a great number of Oracles to explain particularly all the Characters of this Messiah the Place and Manner of his Birth the principal Circumstances of his Life Death and Resurrection and to foretel the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles their Call to the Religion of the Messiah and lastly the overthrow of the whole Model of the Jewish Religion and Common-wealth which was no longer of any use after the Coming of the Messiah and the Calling of the Gentiles My present business is now to shew That in the Books of the New Testament we may find an exact accomplishment of this whole Design wherein God had with so much care instructed the World so long before and there is nothing more easie if we will but take a little pains to read these Books attentively and to compare them with the Model which God himself made as we have hitherto described it To make this Truth yet more evident I think it will be necessary to do two or three things which seem to be very important for my present Design And first I am to observe that there appears a most perfect Coherence between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New which is absolutely necessary to shew that there is in these Books a perfect unity of Design notwithstanding the vast difference there is between the Jews who preserve the Old Testament and the Christians who preserve the New. Secondly I am to demonstrate that the Idea's of the Messiah were very strong in the minds of the Jews at the very time that Jesus Christ appeared in the World. This was absolutely necessary that they might not have wherewith to accuse those who received Christ for the Messiah of being deceived in their choice for not having had the exact Idea's of the Messiah which God had promised I shall upon this account shew in the third place That when Jesus Christ did appear in the World the Model which God had framed in the Law of Moses whereby the Messiah might be plainly known did then subsist in the manner wherein God had framed it After this I shall endeavour to shew by prooss which are indeed unquestionable That in examining all the Characters which the Prophets gave by which the Messiah might be known we cannot conceive a more exact execution of God's Design as to the Messiah than that which we find in the Person of Jesus Christ whereof the Books of the New Testament have given us the History Lastly I shall shew clearly that this Model which God had framed in giving the Law and in forming the Common-wealth and Religion of the Jews in so proper a manner to make the Messiah certainly known is not in being at this day but that it was so destroyed by the total Dispersion of that People that we should not be able to know the Messiah if he should now appear again in the World. And that indeed the principal Events which according to the Oracles were to follow the Coming of the Messiah are already come to pass in part and do still come to pass every day I hope to evince these Truths beyond all contest Indeed the bare reading of the Books of the New Testament plainly discovers the Coherence which they have with the Books of the Old. It shews clearly that the Idea's of the Messiah were at that time very strong in the minds of the Jews and it supposeth without any affectation that that Model which God had made so necessary to distinguish the Messiah stood at that time intire In particular It is certain that the four Evangelists by the Relation of unquestionable matters of Fact have proved that Jesus the Son of Mary is the Messiah which God had promised Saint Luke shews in the Acts of the Apostles that after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Gospel was preached to the Heathens The Epistles are a natural Consequence of this Vocation of the Heathens and of the abolishing of the Law of Moses which the Apostles had undertaken They unanimously conspire to shew that God had resolved to call the Heathens to partake of Salvation that the Jews for the greatest part should be justly deprived thereof because they obstinately rejected the Messiah Several Questions are examined which arose either from the Calling of the Gentiles or from the abolishing of the Ceremonial Worship The Succession of the History of the Christian Church justifies That after the Destruction of Jerusalem all People imbraced the Religion of Jesus Christ in receiving him for the Messiah whom God had promised to the Patriarchs and to the Jews I shall resume all these Articles one by one in that Natural Order in which I have proposed them REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there appears a very just Connexion bètween the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former AS it is not much the Character of Romances even then when they are most tyed up to the Rules of Probability to borrow either the Stile or Idea's of those Authors from whom they take their-Subject so I suppose that in this my Undertaking to shew that the New Testament is an exact accomplishment of the Old it is very important to make out that at the first reading of the Gospels and Apostolical Writings one finds in them a perfect conformity of Idea's with the Writings of the Old Testament One may to this purpose observe in general That the Gospel supposeth the Divine Authority of the Book of the Old Testament as an unquestionable Truth The Gospels and Epistles have the same coherence with the Books of the Law and Prophets which the Writings of the latter Prophets have with those of the former and which the Books of all the Prophets together have with the Books of Moses and with the Prophecies Laws and Histories which are contained therein One may take notice afterwards That all the Books of the New Testament have an essential relation to those of the Old in their most principal Designs I have shewed that their design was no other than to raise men to expectations of the Messiah and to paint him to the life whom God
Messiah by in which case the Apostles would have contented themselves to have hinted that Jesus Christ always past for the Son of David as they have done in several places of their Writings without giving us the whole Series of his Pedigree or else they were at that time distinctly known in which case it was the easiest thing in the world to have confuted them The 2d is That the differences which are found between the Genealogy of Jesus Christ set down by S. Matthew and that by S. Luke is so far from giving us an occasion to doubt of the Apostles faithfulness in this matter that indeed it is a new proof of their exactness in a matter of so great importance For it can scarcely be imagined but that in so long a Series of Ages there must have been some of the Ancestors of our Saviour in whom that Law took place which obliged the younger Brother to marry the Widow of his elder Brother deceased without Issue and so to raise up Seed to him which gave occasion to a Genealogy not natural but legal the Children bearing the name of the deceased elder Brother and possessing his Estate Now the Evangeliste have set down both these Genealogies exactly which is an invincible Argument of their care and fidelity The third is That it was so much the more necessary to make this remark in the Genealogy of the Messiah because as we have observed elsewhere it was with relation of the desire of giving Birth to the Messiah or of having Children which might live under his Empire that God at first permitted this kind of Incest with the Widow of a deceased Brother which otherwise was so severely prohibited by the Law. As to the low Estate to which the Family of David was then reduced it is visible that David and Solomon reigned with great glory but Rehoboam succeeding them Ten Tribes fell from him to Jeroboam in the Year of the World 3029. and the Posterity of Rehoboam was afterwards dethroned by Nebuchadnezzar who carried Zedechiah the King into Captivity in the Year 3416. After their return from Captivity they were entirely thrust from the Throne the Priests at first governing that Nation the Maccabees who were of the Family of Levi reigning in Judea from the return of the Captivity of Babylon until Herod the Edomite who was made Master of Judea by the favour of the Romans 2. The Family of David was at that time removed from their ancient Seat and was now sixed at Nazareth where Providence seems to have removed them from Bethlehem to take away that object of Herod's jealousie which would have offended him as we see it did when the Wise men acquainted him with the Birth of Jesus which obliged him to make a diligent enquiry after the place where the Messiah was to be born that Messiah whom he conceived to be a Prince who would rob him of the Soveraignty to which he was raised In the third place the Blessed Virgin was betrothed to a Carpenter Justin Martyr tells us that Jesus Christ made Ploughs See what the Heirs of the Kings of Judah were reduced to Fourthly When she came to Bethlehem she lodged in an Inn her Kindred being not in a condition to afford her better Accommodation It appears that the Divine Providence was very careful in executing this Design There were some Decays of the Family of David which the Blessed Virgin expresses in her Song She was descended from the younger Brothers of deposed Princes and reduced to private state she speaks of nothing but of lowness and meanness not only in a way of Humility but to demonstrate the fulfilling of the Prophecy concerning the Throne of Jesse But that this might appear more evidently and confirm'd by the Law as it was her Duty to present her Son in the Temple after the Seventh day with an Offering so she does not offer what is prescribed to the Rich and Wealthy but an Offering which is appropriated by God in the Law to poor people as appears Lev. XII One see 's by the Marriage Feast at Cana in Galilee that the Kindred of Jesus Christ were not very Rich their wanting of Wine on such an Occasion was no great Mark of Plenty One see 's also That Jesus Christ frequently represents himself as not having where to rest his Head On the Cross he recommends his Mother to one of his Disciples and was himself maintained by those who followed him CHAP. VIII That Jesus Christ was conceived by the Virgin Mary without any Operation of Man. AS this Article is one of the most important of our Religion so it is well worth our attentive consideration We may take notice here that according to the Observation of Justin Martyr Dial. cum Tryph p. 297. Isai 5. that the Fable of Perseus took its rise from the Prophecy of Isaiah However that Prophecy being very express according to the Translation of the LXX we are to consider how it was accomplished It will not be enough here to say That ordinarily extream Poverty is a sufficient bar against the suspicion of Adultery and therefore we desire the Reader only to call to mind the Observations set down in the Second Chapter of the second Part of these Reflexions on the Books of the Law of Moses For 1. Polygamy and Divorces were very frequent in the time of Jesus Christ as appears from several passages of the Gospel where God was pleased to give us Examples thereof 2. God was willing to give us Instances of his Severity against Adulteresses amongst which those were reckoned who suffered themselves to be defiled after they were betrothed We have an Example hereof in the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel according to S. John which I have illustrated in the Fourth Chapter of this Fourth Part. 3. It appears that the same Laws which engaged Parents to preserve the Virginity of their Daughters did continue and were still observed by the Jews as well as those other Laws which constituted the Body of their Religion When Jesus Christ upbraids the Jews for having changed the true sense of the Law yet he never reproaches them upon this account 4. The Relation set down in the Eighth Chapter of S. John makes it appear that the Waters of Jealousie still retained their virtue that which Jesus Christ writ on the Ground being probably nothing else but the Curses which the Law denounced against the Woman that should violate her Honour I have made it very evident in the Twentieth Chapter of my Second Part what was the use of those Laws concerning the Marks of Virginity to prevent any Doubts that might arise concerning the same It remains now to consider the several passages of the Evangelists and to see what proofs we can find there to confirm this Point That Mary was indeed a Virgin when she conceived Jesus Christ and how we may answer the Objections which the Enemies of Christianity make against this Truth The Evangelists tell us that this
Fact which they have asserted in the midst of the most cruel Torments and even until Death That Jesus Christ sent down upon his Apostles the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit is a Fact of which all Jerusalem was a witness fifty days after the Feast of the Passover when Jesus Christ was crucified it is as remarkable a Fact as ever happened twelve Fishermen of Galilee maintain in the face of the whole Jewish Nation that the same Jesus whom the whole Nation had demanded to be crucified but fifty days before and who did actually suffer upon an infamous Cross is risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven after he had eaten and drunk with them and had appeared several times to them after his Resurrection and that he had given them the power of speaking all sorts of Languages and of healing all manner of Diseases That they spoke divers Languages is a Fact most notorious the truth whereof appears from the Conversion of the World which was found to be fill'd with their Disciples but a few years after this Fact was done That they had the power of healing all Diseases as well as their Master is a Fact the truth whereof is establish'd upon indisputable testimonies insomuch as their Successors received the same Gift by the laying on of their Hands Two hundred years after Tertullian mentions this Gift as being at that time well known amongst Christians That the Apostles after they were rejected by the Jews preached the Gospel to the Gentiles who also received it is a Fact of which there are so many proofs in the World that it cannot be called in question That the converted Jews strongly opposed themselves against the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles pretending as the Jews now do that the Messiah with his Gifts and Graces was confin'd to their Nation is a Fact so well attested that it cannot be called in question if we consider the first dispute which gave occasion to the first Council of the Apostles and to the contests of S. Paul with those of his own Nation That since that time the Apostles and their Disciples have maintained by their Writings and Disputes and finally by their Martyrdom that Jesus was the Messiah that they have constantly stood to this claim alledging the Facts which the Gospel proposes and maintaining that the matters there related were exact Accomplishments of the Promises of God and of the ancient Prophecies That all this is unquestionable one needs only read their Sermons and Speeches set down by S. Luke and their Epistles one needs only peruse the Heathen History and the Works of those that succeeded the Apostles who followed their footsteps in establishing the truth of the Christian Religion That the Apostles discharged their followers from the Ceremonies which Moses prescribed obliging them only to the Essentials of Morality That they annul'd the Law which permitted Divorces without sufficient cause and Polygamy these are things which none who have read their Writings or those of their first Disciples can in the least question Lastly That they foretold many things as well as their Master that they published their Predictions which they have extended to the end of the World and the return of Jesus from Heaven to judge the World and that they have recorded the particulars of many considerable Events observed by the Christians which have happened from time to time these are Facts as well known and as incontestable as any thing can be in the World of such a nature Whole Nations are Witnesses of it differing Sects Interpreters who have several Opinions concerning these Prophecies the Contests of the Jews the Opposition of Atheists the Cavils of Hereticks the Cruelty of Tyrants all these concur to prove clearly that the Christians received these Prophecies from the Apostles as well as the truth of them since even these Oppositions were foretold as well as the Persecutions Thus I have given you a view of the greatest part of the most important Articles which are contained in the Christian Religion and I think that they are so solidly grounded upon proofs of Fact that I can assert with reason That no Facts in the World can be produced so well established as these are which are the Fundamentals of our Religion What Facts are there which are attested by whole Nations as the Miracles of Jesus Christ were What Facts are there about which men were so careful to inform themselves as when a Man pretends to the Title of the Messiah What thing can we suppose that requires a stronger conviction because of the difficulties it involves than that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for those who were Eye-witnesses of his Crucifixion that is who had seen him punished by the Magistrate the horrour of all his own People and in all appearance forsaken of Heaven To speak the truth as there cannot be a greater instance of fanatical folly than to attribute to twelve poor Fishermen whose Master was crucified at Jerusalem by publick order and by an effect of the hatred of the whole Nation I say to attribute to them the design of perswading that People and the Gentiles also that this man was raised again from the dead that he rules in Heaven that he has bestowed upon them the miraculous Gifts of speaking all sorts of Languages and healing all manner of Diseases if this Jesus had been never raised from the dead nor had bestowed such Gifts upon them the mind of Man not being capable of so great folly So we have all the reason in the World to conclude That since they have attested this Fact and confirmed it by all the proofs which might convince those who tho' they were not prejudic'd yet were astonish'd at the difficulty of the things themselves so that nothing can be more certain than Facts so confirmed as we pretend that these actually were CHAP. XVII That it cannot be questioned whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles BEfore we alledge those Arguments which will invincibly confirm the truth of the Books of the New Testament I desire the Reader to make these three or four Reflexions which seem to be very important to our present design The first is That we can scarcely conceive a more simple and strong way of proving a Fact than what we find in the Books here mention'd The design of the four Evangelists for instance is to prove that Jesus the Son of Mary is the promised Messiah and that in his Birth his Life his Doctrine his Death and Resurrection we meet with all the Characters which the Prophets attributed to the Messiah How do the Evangelists execute this their design In the most proper way imaginable to convince others and most proportionable to their design They simply relate the Facts and Facts so clear that if we do not question the truth of them we cannot doubt that Jesus is the Messiah They relate the most important of these Facts as things that happened in
stronger when it is applyed to the Writings of the Apostles In short These Books were written to be read by persons of the meanest Capacities by Women by Children as well as by Doctors And they treat of matters of which the whole World hath reason to be informed If some Jews suffer'd Martyrdom under Antiochus to preserve the Books of the Old Testament we have like examples and as numerous of those who have done as much for the preservation of the Books of the New Testameat Lastly If the Jews have looked upon those as Traitors and Apostates who gave up those Books to the fury of their Persecutors the Christians have testified no less aversion for those who delivered the Books of the Apostles to the fury of Heathens even to the subjecting of them to the utmost rigour of Ecclesiastical Discipline in the third Century and before CHAP. XVIII That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate NEither is it more difficult to establish this second Truth That the faithfulness of the Apostles cannot be reasonably questioned To be convinc'd of this one needs only consider the Character of the Apostles the Character of their Writings of their Sermons of their Sufferings and of their Martyrdom and last of all the Character of those amongst whom they wrote these things and preached them to their death As to their Sermons The Apostles were contemporaries with Jesus Christ they spoke of things which they had seen and distinguished them carefully from those which they had learnt another way They were honest men simple and without Learning very fit to bear witness in matters of Fact. They were Persons that preached nothing but Love and the study of Truth they protested in the midst of their Sufferings that they could not conceal the things which they had seen and heard they are men without covetousness or ambition they forsake all that they possess in the World S. Matthew leaves his House and Goods to follow Jesus Christ Their Epistles speak nothing more than instances of Christian Poverty of the loss of their Goods and of mighty instances of their Charity These witnesses are sufficiently numerous they preach and write in several places and yet they agree admirably in their relations of the same Facts it appears they had such lively and distinct impressions that they frequently make use of the very same words The difference which is found in some part of their Books is a manifest argument that nothing but the force of the matter made them agree in their Relations And indeed how is it otherwise conceivable that four such Authors as the Evangelists should agree about so many Opinions so many Miracles so many Prophecies so many Disputes and in a word about so many matters of Fact shall we say that the second took his Copy from the first the third from the second c. This appears to be evidently false by perusing of their works and by the difference of their stile And certainly there appears so great ingenuity in their writings that we cannot accuse them of having had a design to deceive the world they tell you plainly of the meanness of their condition and original they sincerely discover their own weaknesses their ambition their vanity their disputes their heats their murmurings S. Matthew tells us that he was a Publican that is a Servant of the Roman Power whom the Jews look'd upon as an excommunicated person and as an Enemy of their own Nation He relates the ridiculous pretension of the Sons of Zebedee founded on the carnal Notion of their Mother concerning the Temporal Kingdom of the Messiah They set down S. Peter's denying of his Master they do not dissemble their common ignorance which made them expect a Temporal King in Jesus Christ they frankly publish their own incredulity when Mary Magdalen brought them the news of our Saviour's Resurrection and they describe the obstinate resistance of S. Thomas about this matter against the unanimous testimony of all his Companions They do not content themselves with saying in general that some illustrious Facts have happened but they punctually set down all the Circumstances so that it clearly appears their design was to have their writings examined and that after an exact search men might acquiesce in the conclusions which they draw from thence For instance they do not tell us that Jesus Christ raised a great many from the dead they only tell us of three describing the Circumstances of their Resurrection the time the place the age the persons the assistants and all these with other particulars which Impostors care not to enter upon lest they should contradict themselves or be easily confuted I have already shewn That the nature of the things themselves which the Disciples of Jesus Christ have written is such as will not permit us to accuse them of having had a design to impose upon the world they are Facts and not Discourses which are left upon Record and Facts relating to the most important matter in the world than which none was ever more throughly examined they are Facts which are linked so closely and which have so strict a dependance one upon the other and so interwoven with the most publick Transactions either in Civil or Religious Affairs that it was impossible for them to form the design of such an imposture In short it is very remarkable that these Facts were publickly known to the Kings of Judea to the Roman Magistrate to the principal Ministers of State and of their Religion and to the whole Nation of the Jews assembled ten several times at their solemn Feasts to the several Sects of the Jewish Religion the Pharisees Sadduces and Essens who are attack'd censured and confuted in these Books One ought to consider after all that the Apostles at first preached and wrote in Judea where were the witnesses of those Miracles which they related the Impotent the Blind the Deaf which Jesus Christ had restored the Dead whom he raised the Scribes and Pharisees whom he censured the Sadduces whom he confuted the Auditors who had heard him preach the Towns wherein he had conversed most familiarly the same People that followed him the same Enemies that conspired his death the same Judges and the same Authority which condemned him to death S. Luke in the relation he gives us of the Speeches and Apologies which the Apostles made before Kings before the great Council of the Jews and in the midst of their Synagogues brings them in speaking of the Facts contained in the Gospel as of matters publickly known and attested by a vast number of witnesses Thus S. Peter speaks of them in the Tenth of the Acts and the other Sacred Writers spake of them in the same manner in their Epistles Here is a new Character which we ought carefully to observe we find no Temporal Interest which obliged the Disciples to adhere to Jesus Christ and we find yet less reason to
become Christians 'T is also of great importance to observe further as I have already done that the Books of the New Testament were penn'd before the overthrow of the Commonwealth of the Jews There are only some of the works of S. John which were writ after the Destruction of Jerusalem I have before observed that the Divine Providence order'd it so that all the Jews for five and thirty years together repairing thrice a year to Jerusalem at their three solemn Festivals might have greater opportunities to inform themselves of the truth of the Facts contained in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles To this Remark I shall now add two weighty Considerations The one is That the Christians for some years submitted themselves to the Ceremonial Law and repaired with the Jews to Jerusalem and by this means were engaged to examine the Facts contained in the Gospel The other is That after the Council of Jerusalem they were dispensed with as to that Custom as well as the observing of all the other parts of the Ceremonial Law which set the Christians in a greater opposition to the Jews and so encreased the necessity of examining very scrupulously on both sides whatsoever was for or against them in those matters of Religion This Observation leads us naturally to another That it is absolutely impossible that an imposture of this nature should not be discovered when there ariseth a Difference between those who may be looked upon as the Authors of the Forgery and those who after them endeavoured to gain credit to it Now if we find that one Disciple of Jesus Christ betrays him without accusing him of the least Crime or Imposture if we have seen the Christians at first united in the same Assemblies with the Jews and that there were several Contests and Disputes between the Apostles and those first Christians yet without calling those Facts which are continued in the Gospel in question by either side S. Paul takes notice of the Contests which happened betwixt him and S. Peter S. Luke relates the heats between S. Paul and Barnabas upon very slight occasions he sets down also the Dispute which arose about the distribution of Alms to the Greek and Jewish Widows One see 's that there arose a Dispute amongst the Apostles themselves about the Calling of the Gentiles to the Gospel one see 's afterwards the obstinacy of some of the Jews of the Sect of the Pharisees who maintained the absolute necessity of submitting to Circumcision and S. Paul's opposition set down in his Epistle to the Galatians We need no more to make it evident that there could be no concert nor collusion between them to deceive or impose upon those to whom they preached the Gospel Let us go a little further a Dispute happens about a Capital Point of Christian Religion about the Resurrection insomuch that S. Paul thinks himself obliged to write concerning it to the Corinthians so that there was a necessity of examining the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ again Now we find that S. Paul to confirm this Doctrine in general chiefly makes use of the instance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which he proves by Arguments taken from the Fact it self that is by witnesses whom he produceth Whereupon I make this considerable Reflexion That in comparing this Dispute of S. Paul with the Writings of the Evangelists it clearly appears that they did not alledge all the proofs they might have done None of them relates in particular the number of those who saw Jesus Christ in Galilee upon the holy Mountain but S. Paul who had examined the faithfulness of their Relations and knew the witnesses specifies the number and observes that many of them were yet alive if perhaps any of them were already dead I shall add only two Considerations more which prove that it was even impossible for the Apostles to impose upon the World on this occasion The first is taken from their State and Condition They are no great Lords whose Power might terrifie any one from examining their Writings or whose Reputation could not have been called in question without danger On the contrary they were men of mean condition employ'd in base Professions often cast into Prisons and from time to time oblig'd to appear before Magistrates for the same Doctrine and the same Facts which they published to the World. Let us consider then whether it were an easie matter for S. Paul for instance I say for this S. Paul a maker of Tents this S. Paul without Reputation without Riches this S. Paul who was seized at Jerusalem after divers Persecutions this S. Paul who was sent a Prisoner to Rome and imprisoned there under the power of the Roman Magistrate and who at last lost his life by Nero's order to make those blindly believe all he said who were at liberty to examine whether all that Luke related as happening to him at Jerusalem at Maltha at Philippi at Athens were indeed true or only a framed Story The second thing we ought to observe is That not only the Books of the Apostles were publickly read every Lord's day by a constant Law of which we have most authentick witnesses in the Writings of the Apostles themselves and in other ancient Books which are still extant but also that they were all of them written not in Hebrew which at that time was a dead Tongue nor in Syriack a Language spoken in a very few places but in Greek which at that time was the Language commonly received throughout all the Roman Empire and besides was the Language into which the Divine Providence had caused the Old Testament to be translated about three Ages before that men might compare the ancient Oracles and their accomplishment together CHAP. XX. That the whole Model of the Religion and Commonwealth of the Jews is at this day so entirely destroyed that the Messiah could no more be known WHat I have before set down to establish the truth of those Facts which serve for a Foundation to the Christian Religion is certainly sufficient to answer the design which I formed in writing these Reflexions upon the Books of the Holy Scripture and I believe I may with justice conclude That as nothing is more uncontestable than the truth of those Books and of the Facts in them related so there is nothing more certain than the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion So that now I have only two things to do with which I conceive it will be necessary to conclude these Reflexions The one is to shew the absolute impossibility of conceiving any other accomplishment of the ancient Oracles than what is set down in the Gospel The other is that concerning the Divisions amongst Christians which are a scandal to the Jews and especially concerning the difficulty of the Mysteries which the Gospel proposes which are as so many stumbling Blocks to them which hinder them from discerning those Characters of Truth in the Gospel which by
who declared himself to be the Messiah were so indeed so it is absolutely impossible to examine it or know it since the destruction of that Model if we suppose that God at first framed it for the determining of this question as we have no reason to doubt it The second is That the Christians exactly followed this Divine Model and being convinced of the truth of the Facts which exactly corresponded with it and which answered it in all its parts they had all the Reason imaginable to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah In short if we consider it well we shall find that the whole Christian Religion is nothing but a question of Fact between the Jews and Christians But such a question as the Jews at present are not in a condition to maintain against the Christians Both Jews and Christians agree in the Characters of the Messiah or at least about the most of them According to these Characters the Messiah ought to be come The Christians maintain that they may be found in Jesus Christ and they prove it by matter of Fact wherefore we must conclude That either these Characters attributed to the Messiah are not proper Characters to know him by and so the Wisdom of God will be eluded and both Jews and Christians equally deceived in taking that for a Character of the Messiah which is not or else that both the Messiah is certainly come and and that He is no other than that Jesus whom we worship CHAP. XXI That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion I Come now to examine the double stumbling Block which the Jews pretend against the Christian Religion This Religion say they propounds Doctrines that are inconceivable and contrary to Reason For instance that of the Trinity that of the Incarnation and the Divinity of the Messiah These are the Doctrines which the Jews reject as absolutely incompatible with the Books of the Old Testament which we have received from their hands But it is an easie matter to answer this Objection 1. It is founded upon a total forgetfulness of the solidity of those proofs of Fact which I have alledged Jesus Christ is risen from the dead this is a Fact confirmed by several Witnesses It appears from Tacitus that Jesus Christ suffered death under Tiberius Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judea It is known that Claudius banished the Christians from Rome in the Year of our Lord 54. It is evident from Tacitus in his Life of Nero that he accused the Christians of burning the City of Rome which himself was the Author of the Christians therefore made a considerable Body in the Capital City of the Empire and this happened in the year of our Lord 64. Suetonius says the same thing 2. It appears that Pliny in Trajan's time takes notice of the manner of their Meetings 3. Dion Cassius sets down the Accusation brought in against Flavius and Domitilla as against Atheists which is the Title Julian the Apostate gives to Constantine because the Christians rejected the worship of the Heathen Gods. 4. It appears by the latter end of the Acts of the Apostles that this Book was writ in the Year of our Lord 63 and yet this Book supposes the Gospel of S. Luke to have been written before it and S. Luke's Gospel takes it for granted that some of the other Gospels were already published 5. It appears from the Writings of Clemens Romanus that the Epistle to the Hebrews was then written and the same may be gathered from the Books of S. Ignatius Polycarp and S. Justin. These Facts which are certain are sufficient to prove that immediately after the death of Jesus Christ his Apostles and their Disciples as Eye witnesses maintained the truth of his Resurrection After this it may indeed be disputed by what Power he was raised whether by a Divine Power or by his own but it is ridiculous to dispute the Fact by reasonings drawn from pretened Absurdities which one may think to find in the Doctrines of the Gospel Secondly These Mysteries as for instance that of the Trinity relates to the Divine Nature which is incomprehensible so that it is no strange thing if an Idea of it be proposed to us which not being distinctly known by us may raise Difficulties and Perplexities in our Minds If I would discourse with one born blind of the Sun of its Light and Heat and should attribute to the Sun the Production of Light and afterwards of Heat he would find an infinite trouble not to imagine three Suns It is known how the Philosophers who agreed about the Unity of the Soul have notwithstanding been obliged to attribute several Faculties to it which the common People look upon as very different things and which seem to oppose the Idea's of its Unity and Simplicity In the third place The Christians prove very solidly that these Mysteries have been clearly proposed by the Apostles who received their light from Heaven as to these Truths and so might necessarily be believed upon their word for the same reason that the Prophets of the Old Testament were formerly believed Moreover they assert that these Doctrines were first expressed tho' not so clearly in the Old Testament which is in the hands of the Jews the mortal Enemies of Christians I add to these Remarks that most of those Facts whose truth is so invincibly established suppose these Doctrines and that the whole frame of the Religion doth so necessarily require them that we rob it of a considerable part of its Glory in questioning or contesting any of them These Reflexions may suffice in general to resolve this difficulty of the Jews and for a more particular Satisfaction we refer the Reader to those Books which purposely treat of these Mysteries desiring him to observe carefully that commonly the most difficult Objections of Hereticks against these matters do rather oppose the terms which are made use of or the notions which men follow in speaking of these truths than the Propositions contained in the Writings of the New Testament At least one may be assured that the Jews are constrained to resolve several parallel Objections to which one can scarcely give a satisfactory Answer without borrowing some Distinctions and Notions from the Christians Neither can the second Objection of the Jews give us any more disturbance It is true that there have been Divisions amongst Christians and are still to this day What can we conclude thence Can we reasonably conclude that therefore the first Founders of Christianity were doubtful concerning the truth of those Facts which are the support and foundation of it On the contrary upon an attentive Observation one may find 1. That Heresies have only served to render the truth of these Facts more incontestable by obliging those that had consider'd of them to examine their certainty with more care and application This is the Judgment one ought to make upon all those Heresies in the second Age about the truth of the Flesh of Jesus Christ or about the truth of his Death From thence men took occasion to take notice of and collect with great care all the Circumstances that prove the truth of both these Facts 2. We find that the greatest part of these Contests do not concern the truth of the Facts but the several Consequences drawn from them the truth of those Matters continuing still beyond dispute This we find in the Dispute raised about the Millennium the truth of the Promises of Jesus Christ being equally believed by both the disputing Parties but differently understood according to the temper of those that consider'd of them some forming gross and sensual Conceptions concerning them others having a more spiritual relish which they had acquired by studying the Prophecies and their true sense 3. We find that this Division which hath sprung up amongst Christians is one of the most solid proofs of the truth of the Books of the New Testament If some Fools have endeavoured to decry some of them or to falsifie some particular places we see that both Parties unite to repel that violence by producing their Copies and beating back the Impostors with their united strength One see 's that Tertullian tho' a Montanist writ Prescriptions against Hereticks and Epiphanius takes notice without any respect to some that were Orthodox of their Crime in blotting out of their Copies that Christ had wept It is known that the Division of the Jews into Karaites and Thalmudists the Jealousie between the Jews and Samaritans and the Division between the Jews and Christians is a means of preserving the Scripture and hindering its Corruption each Party being very vigilant to hinder their Adversaries from attempting any thing to its prejudice in corrupting a Book which they consider as common to them all I might observe many other advantages which accrew to the Truth from these Human Failings but I will only instance in one which has always seem'd to me very considerable and that is That these Hereticks distinctly prove the truth of the Predictions of our Saviour An impious person would have reason to accuse our Oracles as false if there had never been any Heresies But Truth triumphs in seeing so great a multitude of them who the more they encrease the more she see 's her self confirm'd and established This is the Reason induced God to permit so great an increase in the first Ages when the Truth meeting with the greatest Opposition by Persecutions stood in the greatest need of sensible Characters by which it might be known I conclude this Work with desiring my Reader to consider these Reflexions upon the Holy Scripture here propounded with a serious attention and to examine the Coherence and Indissoluble Connexion of them and with prayer to God that it may please him to make them serviceable to advance the Glory of his Name which is the only end I have proposed to my self in the writing of them FINIS
considerably shortned at the time of Moses so one may judge that this Promise ought to be more frequently proposed and more clearly explained And we ought to suppose that in proportion to the delaying of the Promise and the shortness of Mens Lives which discouraged their hopes of ever seeing a Promise fulfilled which their Ancestors whose Lives were much longer could never attain to the more distinct knowledge which God gave of this great object was in order to stir up strong desires in the minds of the Israelites as well as of the Gentiles to whom God was afterwards to renew the Ideas of it and consequently we find that a greater number of Oracles and Prophesies were required from time to time to entertain and strengthen the belief of a Promise the accomplishment whereof was so considerably deferred And indeed this was exactly the Method which God followed the Spirit of Prophesie having in a most illustrious manner been employ'd to preserve the Idea's of the Promise of the Messiah and to increase them in the minds of the Jews until the time of the accomplishment it self and God hath so exactly set down by the Prophets the several parts of his design as there needs not be afterwards any difficulty in discerning the prosecution of that design which he had formed at first I intend in this Third part of my Reflexions on the Writings of the Old Testament to explain this Method which God hath followed in shewing how he hath accommodated himself to the state of the Jews whom he had made the Depositaries of his Oracles and proportioned them to their understanding and desires For the more happy execution of this Design and a clearer discovery of this Conduct of God which seems somewhat obscured by intermixing these Predictions concerning the Messiah with a great number of Events during that Series of Ages whereof we have the History written by his own order I think my self obliged first of all to explain the Reasons why God was pleased to interweave the Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Matters that seem to be of a very different nature and then shall lay down the Rules which one ought to follow in applying the ancient Prophesies to the Messiah After these Preliminary Reflexions I suppose that in order to a fuller discovery of the Series of God's design and a more distinct knowledge of the Progress of the Revelation of this Matter that I ought again to resume and to set before the Eyes of the Reader the five or six principal Oracles which God hath given concerning the Messiah from the beginning of the World to Moses together with that Oracle which he uttered by the mouth of that illustrious Legislator One will easily judge without my undertaking to prove it that the Idea's of these Oracles were familiar to the Jews until David during the space of 400 years after which God began to discover the same more particularly in choosing David to be the Person in whose Family that Prophecy should be accomplished because the Messiah was to be born of his Seed And so I shall immediately pass on to the consideration of those Oracles which David himself uttered on this Subject which deserve so much the more attention because God who at that time changed the Government of the Jews did considerably augment the Idea's which the Ancients had concerning the Promise of the Messiah Lastly I shall collect under certain Heads those Oracles which were uttered by the Prophets concerning the Messiah some hundred of years before the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon and soon after and forasmuch as the Light concerning this matter was at that time much encreased and the Oracles themselves are much more clear and distinct as giving many more particular Characters of the Messiah so I shall content my self briefly to touch upon them in following the principal Characters which they give concerning the Messiah After which I shall have nothing else to do but to make some Reflexions upon the state of the Jews from the time of the last of the Prophets until that wherein the Christians pretend that this Promise and these Oracles were accomplished in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tho' the multiplicity of the things which I am to handle and which I intend to do with the greatness briefness that is possible might seem to oblige me to omit the examining the succession of the History of the Jews yet God having been pleased to intermix the History of the Jews and many other Transactions with these Prophecies it obligeth me in this third part to make also some Reflexions upon the Historical Books of the Old Testament And indeed this will be of great use to prove the truth of these Oracles and the manner how God hath constantly followed that Draught which he at first form'd to himself as also to make it appear that notwithstanding the different Revolutions of the Jewish Common-wealth he hath always continued those Means which he chose at first to facilitate the distinct knowledge of the Messiah whenever he should appear It is very necessary to explain this Series of the Design of God to make the Authority of these Prophecies more firm and unmoveable those Laws the observation of which served to distinguish the Family of Judah and that of the Messiah being so many Boundaries and Limits within which God was pleased to confine himself that his Conduct in this matter might be the more easily observable and known And forasmuch as in my Reflexions upon the Books of Moses I have begun by the firm establishment of the Truth of those Books on which I made my Reflexions without which that Work would have wanted all its strength so I intend also in this part to follow the same Rule and accordingly I shall at first establish the Truth of the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament for if one ought to prove that these Prophecies were well known and very famous then it will be expected from me that I should solidly demonstrate the Truth of those Books in which those Oracles are recorded before I can of right conclude that the Facts which are related by other Authors are the accomplishment of these Prophecies This design would naturally engage me to prove the Truth of every one of these Books in order particularly but as I have not only proved the Truth of the Books of Moses already but that moreover I intend in my reflexions on the Books of the New Testament to demonstrate the Truth of them beyond all contest and besides that the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament are so essentially linked with those of Moses and the Disciples of Jesus Christ that it is impossible to acknowledge the Truth of the one without owning at the same time the Truth of the others I believe I may be dispensed with as to the proving the Truth of every Book of the Old Testament in particular And therefore because I intend to