Jews and no doubt his name had been Recorded to Posterity among the Writers both of Jewâ— and Gentiles that were professed Enemies of Christianity But they are all wonderfully silent in this matter and instead oâ— saying enough to overthrow the truth of Christianity as you seem to suggest I do assure you I am mightily confirmed in the belief of the Truth of it by carefully observing the slightness of the Objections that were made against it by its most professed Enemies But you seem to imply That all this Story concerning Christ was invented long after the pretended time of his being in the World Why may not you as well suspect that Julius Caesar lived before Romulus or that Augustus lived at the Seige of Troy For you might as well reject all History upon such grounds as those you assign and think Mahomet as right in his Chronology as the Bible It is time for us to burn all our Books if we have lived in such a Cheat all this while Methinks you might as well ask whether Lucretia were not Pope Joan Or Alexander the sixth one of the Roman Emperours Or whether Luther were not the Emperour of Turky For there is no greater evidence of any History in the World than there is that all the things reported in the New Testament were done at that time when they are pretended to be 4. Therefore we offer this Story of the New Testament to be compared with all the Circumstances of that Age delivered by any other Historians to try if any inconsistencies can be found therein Which is the most reasonable way can be taken to disprove any History If it could be proved that there could be no such Taxation of the Empire as is mention'd in the time of Augustus that Herod did not live in that Age or that the Jews were not under the Roman Government or that there were no High Priests at that time nor the Sects of Pharisees and Saducees or that there were any other remarkable characters of time set down in the History of the New Testament which could be manifestly disproved there were some pretence to call in Question the Truth of the Story but there is not the least Foundation for any scruple on this account All things agreeing so well with the truest accounts we have of that Age both from Josephus and the Roman Historie I shall not insist on the particular Testimony of Josephus concerning Christ because we need it not and if those who question it would proceed with the same severity against many other particular passages in good Authors they might as well call them in question as they do that since it is confessed that all the Ancient Manuscripts have it in them and supposing that it doth not come in well must we suppose it impossible for Josephus to Write incoherently Yet this is the main Argument that ever I have seen urged against this Testimony of Josephus But I say we need it not all other things concurring in so high a degree to prove the Truth of the History of Christ. Yet since you seem to express so much doubtfulness concerning it as though it were framed when there was no one living capable of disproving it give me leave to shew you the great absurdity of such a Supposition 1. Because we have the plain Testimonies of the greatest Enemies of Christianity that there was such a Person as Christ was who suffered according to the Scripture Story For Tacitus not only mentions the Christians as suffering at Rome for their Religion in the time of Nero Annal. 15. but saith That the Author of this Religion was one Christ who suffered under Pontius Pilate Procurator of Judea in the time of Tiberius which is an irrefragable Testimony of the Truth of the Story concerning Christ in an Age when if it had been false nothing could have been more easily detected than such a Fiction by the number of Jews which were continually at Rome And neither Julian nor Celsus nor Porphyrie nor Lucian did ever question the truth of the Story it self but only upbraided the Christians for attributing too much to Christ. 2. If there were really such a Person as Christ was who suffered as Tacitus saith then the whole Story could not be a Fiction but only some part of it and these additional parts must either be contrived by the Apostles or after their time Not after their time for then they must be added after Christianity was received in the World for that as appears by Tacitus was spread in the Apostles times as far as Rome and if these parts were not received with it the Cheat would presently have been discover'd as soon as broached by those who had embraced Christianity before And besides Tertullian in his time appeals to the Authentick Writings of the Apostles themselves which were then extant wherein the same things were contained that we now believe If these things then were forged it must be by the Apostles themselves and I dare now appeal to you whether ever any Story was better capable of being disproved than this was if it had not been true since it was published in that very time and place where the Persons were living who were most concerned to disprove it As appears by the hatred of the Jews to the Christians both then and ever since which is a very observable circumstance for proving the truth of Christian Religion for the Jews and Christians agreed in the Divine Revelations of old the Christians believed moreover that Christ was the Messias promised this Christ lived and dyed among the Jews his Enemies his Apostles Preached and wrought Miracles among their most inveterate Enemies which Men that go about to deceive never care to do And to this Day the Jews do not deny the Matters of Fact but look on them as insufficient to prove Jesus of Nazareth to have been the Messias Nay Mahomet himself who in all probability would have overthrown the whole Story of the New Testament if he could have done it with any colour yet speaks very honourably of Christ and of the great things which were said and done by him 5. That there is nothing in the Christian Religion unbecoming the Majesty or Holiness or Truth of a Divine Revelation As to the precepts you acknowledge their excellency and the Promises chiefly refer either to Divine Grace or future Glory And what is there herein unbecoming God And as to what concerns the Truth of it we have as great Characters of that throughout as it is possible for us to expect there appearing so much simplicity sincerity candour and agreement in all the parts of it Some Men would have been better pleased it may be if it had been all written by one Person and digested into a more exact method and set forth with all the Lights and Ornaments of Speech This would have better become an Invention of Men but not a Revelation of God Plainness and simplicity have a natural greatness above
but to my apprehension very plain and easie if we attend to the main scope and design of them which was to acquaint Abraham how long it would be before the prophecy were accomplished and what the condition of his Seed should be the mean time viz. That they should have no Land which they should call their own by Inheritance all that time but they should be exposed to great hardships yea even to Servitude but that Nation whom they should serve should at last suffer for their ill usage of them and they should come out of that Captivity with great substance and all this to be done in the fourth Generation of the Amorites when their Iniquities should be arrived at the full height All which particulars were so remarkably accomplished at such a distance of time and under such improbable circumstances that that this very prophecy were enough to convince an unprejudiced mind that it came from Divine Inspiration For where do we meet with any thing like this in the Histories of other Nations viz. A Prophecy to be accomplished 400 Years after and the very manner foretold which no humane conjecture could reach to since the manner of deliverance of the People of Israel out of their Captivity in Egypt was to all humane appearance so impossible a thing especially at such a time when the Spirits of the People were sunk and broken by so long a slavery And not only the manner foretold but the accomplishment happened to a day according to Exodus 12. 41. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 Years even the selfe-same day it came to pass that all the Hosts of the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt But against this you object That the sojourning is spoken of the Children of Israel in Egypt for 430 Years which cannot hold good any ways since to make it up the times of Abraham Isaac and Jacob must be taken in who could not be called the Children of Israel Answ. For the 430 Years I grant that according to St. Paul they did commence from the Covenant made to Abraham Gal. 3. 17. and that the 400 Years began from Isaac's being owned for the Promised Seed between which time the 30 Years were passed and all appearance of difficulty is avoided if we admit the reading of the best Copies of the LXX which is in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the sojourning of the Children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt and Canaan they and their Fathers was 430 Years This is the reading of our Alexandrian Copy and the Complutensian and that of Aldus and of Eusebius in his Chronicon and of St. Hierome in his Translation of it and of the Church in St. Augustins time and afterwards and lest any should reject this as a late Interpolation or gloss received into the Text besides these Testimonies of the Antiquity of it we find the very same in the Samaritan Copy which the Enemies of it do allow to be as ancient as our Saviours time And that which very much confirms the Truth of this reading is that the Jews themselves follow the sense of it who are the most eager contenders for the Authority of the Hebrew Copy who all agree that the beginning of the Computation of the 430 Years is to be taken before the Children of Israels going into Egypt and Menasseh Ben Israel contends with many others that the 430 Years did begin from the Promise made to Abraham and the 400 from the time of Isaac to which their most ancient Books of Chronology do agree and to the same purpose speak both Philo Judaeus and Josephus who although in one place he seems to make the Israelites affliction in Egypt to have been 400 Years yet when he speaks more particularly of it he makes the time of their abode in Egypt to have been only 215 and the 430 to begin from Abrahams entrance into Canaan The Targum of Jonathan begins the 430 from the Vision of Abraham and the 400 from the Birth of Isaac all which I mention to let you see that the Jews themselves do in sense concur with the Samaritan and Greek Copy and therefore we have more reason to suspect something left out in the present Hebrew than any thing added in those Copies But doth not this take off from the Authority of the Scripture Not at all For the only Question is about the True Reading And having the consent of the Samaritan Alexandrian and other Copies of the LXX and of the Ancient Church and of the Jews themselves as to the sense of it we have reason to look on this as the truer Reading Which is making no addition to the scripture either as to Persons or Places but only producing the more Authentick Copy much less is this Adding or Changing as we please for if we did this without so much Authority as we have for it you might as easily reject it as we produce it 3. After all this I do not see the mighty force of your Reason to charge the Scripture with Contradiction supposing the 400 Years were to be spent in the servitude of the Children of Israel in Egypt I confess when I found the Scripture so boldly so frequently charged with no less than Contradiction I expected something like Demonstration in the Case especially in this place which you chose to put in the Front of all but I do not find any thing like such a proof of a Contradiction supposing we should allow the 400 Years to be spent in Egypt Yes say you Coath was 5 Years Old when he came down into Egypt and When he had lived there 65 Years he begat Amram and Amram being 70 Years Old begat Moses to which Moses his 80 Years being added we have only 215 Years But since the Scripture doth not assign the particular Age of any of these when they begat their Children I see no impossibility or repugnancy in the supposition that 400 Years should pass from Levi's going into Egypt to the Eightieth of Moses any more than from Salmons entrance into Canaan to the time of David for no more are reckoned in scripture than Boaz the Son of Salmon by Raab and Obed and Jesse So that by the same way this latter may be explained the former may be so too If it be said That either they begat their Children at a great Age or that the scripture in Genealogies doth not set down all the intermediate Parents but only the most eminent as Caleb is called the Son of Esron 1 Chron. 2. 9 18. although there was at least one between them the very same Answer will serve to clear this part of the Chronology of Scripture from any appearance of Contradiction These things you might have found more largely deduced and fully handled by those Learned Persons who have undertaken to clear the Chronology of Scripture Who were men of more Judgment than from any difficulty of this nature to call in question the Truth and
Authority of the sacred Scriptures and although the Opinions of Chronologers are like the City Clocks which seldom agree yet some come nearer the time of the day than others do and therefore you ought to examine and compare them before you pronounce so peremptorily about Contradictions in scripture which you have no reason to do till you find that no one hypothesis among them will serve to free the scripture from Contradiction For otherwise you do but blame the Sun because you cannot make the Clocks agree This is all I can find in your Papers under the head of Contradictions and I leave you now soberly to consider whether this place did afford you sufficient ground for so heavy a Charge but if you say you have a great many more by you but you sent me this only for a Tryal of my skill before you send any more I beseech you Sir to consider 1. How easily things do appear to be Contradictions to weak or unstudied or prejudiced minds which after due consideration appear to be no such things A deep prejudice finds a Contradiction in every thing whereas in Truth nothing but ill will and impatience of considering made any thing it may be which they Quarrel at appear to be so If I had been of such a quarrelsome humour I would have undertaken to have found out more Contradictions in your Papers than you imagin and yet you might have been confident you had been guilty of none at all When I consider the great pains and Learning and Judgement which hath been shewn by the Christian Writers in the Explication of the Scriptures and the raw indigested Objections which some love to make against them if I were to judge of things barely by the fitness of persons to judge of them the disproportion between these would appear out of all comparison A modest Man would in any thing of this nature say with himself methinks if there were such Contradictions in the Bible as now seem to me so many persons of incomparable Abilities in the First and latter Ages of the Christian Church who have made it their business to enquire into these things would have discerned them before me And yet they retained a mighty veneration for the scriptures as coming from God himself and therefore it may be only weakness of Judgement want of Learning or some secret prejudice may make me suspect these things or else I must suspect the honesty of all those persons who have pretended such a Devotion to the Scriptures and yet have believed them full of Contradictions 2. Wherein the Contradiction appears Is it in the main and weighty parts of the Religion revealed herein or is it only in some smaller Circumstances as to time and place The great thing you are to look after are the Matters those Scriptures tell you your Salvation depends upon and if there be a full consent and agreement therein you find enough for you to believe and practice And if some Contradictions should still appear to you in smaller Matters what follows from thence but only that the same care was not taken about little as about great things And you ought to set that appearance of Contradiction in small Matters together with the real consent in the things of the highest importance and from thence rather to infer that this was no combination or design to deceive others for such persons take the greatest care to prevent suspicion by their exactness in every minute Circumstance and sometimes the over-much care to prevent suspicion doth raise it the more 3. What ways have been used by Men of judgement and learning to clear those places from the charge of Contradiction For not one of the Objections you can start now but hath been considered over and over and all the difficulties that belong to it examined If you will not take the pains to do this it is plain you do not desire satisfaction but only seek for a pretence to cavil especially if you only search the weakest or most injudicious Writers on the Scriptures and endeavour to expose their opinions without taking notice of what others have said with more clear and evident Reason This shews either want of Judgment in choosing such Expositors or want of Candor and fair dealing and a desire of taking any advantage against the Scriptures 4. How hard a Matter it is for us at this distance to understand exactly the grounds of Chronology or the manner of computation of Times used so long ago and therefore in all difficulties of this nature we ought to make the fairest allowances that may be considering withall that escapes and errours are no where more easily committed by Transcribers than in numbers and that it is a very unreasonable thing that a Book otherwise deserving to be thought the best Book in the World should be scorned and rejected because there appears some difference in the computation of times We do not so exactly know the manner of the Hebrew Chronology nor the nature of their Year or Intercalations nor the customs of their Genealogies nor the allowance to be made for interregnums so as to be able to define peremptorily in these things but it is sufficient to shew that there is no improbability in the accounts that are given and no sufficient reason can be drawn from thence to reject the Authority of the Scriptures 2. I come to consider the places you object as containing things inconsistent with the Wisdom or Goodness of God according to a rational perswasion and those are either 1. From the Laws of Moses 2. From the express story of the Bible or actions of the Prophets 1. From the Laws of Moses Your first Objection is from Exod. 21. 7. Where a Man is supposed to sell his Daughter which you say it is incredible to believe that God should permit because it implies unnatural affection and covetousness in the Father But Sir 1. You do not consider that this is barely a provisional Law and is not the permission of the thing so much as the regulation of it supposing it to be done i. e. in case a Man should part with his interest in his Daughter to another Person upon an extraordinary case of necessity as the Jews understand it yet then she was not to be in the condition of a Servant but to be either Betrothed to the Person who receiv'd her or to his Son which was intended for the restraint of promiscuous Buying and Selling Daughters meerly for the satisfaction of Lust. The Jews who certainly best understood their own Judicial Laws do say that this was never to be done but where there was a presumption of such a betrothing for no Man could Sell his Daughter to those to whom it was unlawful for her to Marry by their Law so that this was looked on as a kind of Espousals of a young Girle taken into Wardship by another but so that if she were not Betrothed she was to remain her 6 Years during her Minority