Figure of Future Time the Ark wherein God discovered himself to be present by his Oracles and in which the Tables of the Law were kept the Advancement of Aaron the Brother of Moses the High-Priest the Ceremonies of their Consecration and the Form of their mysterious Habits the Priests Functions the Sons of Aaron those of the Levites with the other Observances of Religion and that which is most beautiful and decent the Rules of good Manners the Policy and Government of his chosen People of whom he would be himself the Legislator This is what is observable in the Epocha of the Written Law Afterwards we see the Journey continued in the Wilderness the Revolts the Idolatries the Punishments and Consolations of the People of God whom this Almighty Legislator reduced by these means by degrees the Anointing of Eleazor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1452 the High-Priest and the Death of his Years of the World 2552 Father Aaron the Zeal of Phineas the Son of Eleazor and the Priesthood secured to his Posterity by a particular Promise During this time the Aegyptians continued the Establishment of their Colonies in divers Places chiefly in Greece where Danaus the Aâ—gyptian was made King of Argos and dispossess'd the Ancient Kings that came Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1451 from Inachus Towards the end of the Israelites Years of the World 2553 Journying in the Wilderness we see the Beginnings of Wars which are rendred successful through the Prayers of Moses But he dies and leaves to the Israelites their whole History which he had carefully digested from the beginning of the World even to the time of his Death This History is continued by the command of Josuah and his Successors This afterwards was divided into several Books and hence it is that we have the Book of Josuah the Book of Judges and the Four Books of Kings The History which Moses wrote and in which all the Law was included was also divided into Five Books which are called the Pentateuch and which are the Ground of Religion After the Death of that Man of God we read of the Wars of Josuah Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1445 the Conquest and Division of the Holy Land Years of the World 2559 and the Rebellions of the People punished and re-established at divers times There Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1405 are likewise the Victories of Othoniel the Son Years of the World 2599 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1325 of Kenaz the Brother of Caleb who delivered Years of the World 2679 him from the Tyranny of Chausan-Rishathaim King of Mesopotamia and Eighty years after That of Ehud the Son of Gera Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1322 over Eglon King of Moab About this Years of the World 3682 time Pelops the Phrygian the Son of Tantalus reigned in Peloponnesus and called that famous Country by his Name Bel the King of the Chaldeans received from those People Divine Honours The ungrateful Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1305 murmuring Israelites fall again into Servitude Years of the World 1699 Jabin King of Chanaan subjecteth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1285 them but Deborah the Prophetess who Years of the World 2719 judged the People and Baruc the Son of Ahinoam overcame Sisera the General of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1245 that Kings Army Thirty years after this Years of the World 2759 Gideon that mighty Man of Valour even without fighting pursues and overcomes the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1236 Medianites Abimelech his Son usurped the Years of the World 2768 Authority by the Murther of his Brethren exercised it after a Tyrannical manner and Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1187 at last loseth it and his Life together Jephtha Years of the World 2817 makes his Victory bloody by a Sacrifice that was not to be excused but by a secret Order and Dispensation from Heaven concerning which it hath not pleased him to reveal any thing to us In this Age there hapned very remarkable things among the Gentiles Herod l. 1. c. 26. For according to Herodotus his Account which seems to be the most exact Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1267 we are to reckon for that time 514. years Years of the World 2737 before Rome Gen. x. 11. and from the time of Deborah Ninus the Son of Bel and the Foundation of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Court was established at Nineveh an Ancient City and then pretty Famous but it was made more Splendid and Glorious by Ninus Those who ascribe 1300 years to the first Assyrians have their Foundation from the Ancientness of the City and Herodotus who allows them but 500 speaks only of the Empires Duration since its beginning under Ninus the Son of Bel to extend it self into the Upper Asia A little after and in that Conqueror's Reign Jos xix 20. Joseph Antiq 8.2 we are to fix the Foundation or the Renewal of the ancient City of Tyre whose Navigation and whose Colonies rendred it so Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1252 considerable At last a little after Abimelech's Years of the World 2752 time we meet with the memorable Combates of Hercules the Son of Amphitryon and those of Theseus King of Athens who made but one great City of the twelve Towns of Cecrops and instituted a better Form of Government among the Atheninians During Jephtha's time whilst Semiramis who came from Ninus and was the Governess of Ninyas inlarged the Assyrian Empire by her Victories The Famous City of Troy already taken once by the Greeks under Laomedon its third King was Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 utterly reduced again by the Greeks under Years of the World 2820 Priam the Son of Laomedon after a Siege of ten years V. Epocha The Taking of Troy The fourth Age of the World This Epocha of the Ruin of Troy which hapned about the year 308. after the Departure out of Aegypt and 1164 years after the Deluge is very considerable as well because of the Importance of so great an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 Event celebrated by two of the greatest Years of the World 2820 Poets of Greece and Italy as because that every thing may be brought to this Date which was most remarkable in those called the Fabulous or Hâ—roick Times the Fabulous by reason of the Fables in which the Histories of those Times are wrapt and Heroick by reason of those whom the Poets have called the Sons of the Gods and Heroes Their Lives were not far from this Overthrow For in the time of Laomedon the Father of Priam were all the Heroes of the Golden Fleece Jason Hercules Orpheus Castor and Pollux and all the others that are known to you and in the time of Priam likewise during the last Siege of Troy there were Achilles Agamemnon Menelaus Vlysses Hector Sarâ—edon the Son of Jupiter Aeneas the Son of Venus whom the Romans acknowledged for their Founder and several others from whom the most Illustrious Families and even
Years of the World 3116 to change Figure in the Kingdom of Judah Athaliah the Daughter of Ahab and Jezabel carried Impiety along with her into the House of Jehosaphat Jehoram the Son of so pious a Prince chose rather to imitate his Father-in-Law than his own Father Years be ∣ fore J. C. 885 The Hand of God was upon him His Years of the World 3119 Reign was short and his End dreadful In the midst of his Chastisements God wrought unheard-of Prodigies even in favour of the Israelites whom he would now recaâ—l to Repentance They saâ— without ever being converted the Wonders of Elijah and Elisha who prophesied during the Reign of Ahab Mâ—rrâ— Aâ—â—na and five of his Successors At this time Hâ—mer flourished as Hesiod had done Thirty years before The Ancient Manners aâ—d Customs which they represent to us and the Vestigia that they still keep with much Grandeur and with the ancient Simplicity does not a little serve to let us understand the Antiquities that are a great deal more remote and the Divine Simplicity Years be ∣ fore J. C. 884 of the Scripture There had been terrible Years of the World 3120 Spectacles in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Jezabâ—l was thrown down out of a Tower-window by the command of Jehu who valued not the painting her Face and tyring her Head but fulfilled the Word of the Lord in causing his Horses to tread her under their Feet He killed Jehoram King of Israel the Son of Ahab even all the House of Ahab was destroyed and it wanted but a little of drawing that of the Kings of Judah into its own Ruine King Ahazia the Son of Joram King of Judah and of Athaliah was slain in Samaria with his Brethren as an Ally and Friend to the Children of Ahab As soon as this News was brought to Jerusalem Athaliah resolved to cut off all that remained of the Seed-Royal without sparing her own Children and so to reign and govern by the loss of her own Only Jehoash the Son of Ahaziah a Child that then hung at the Breast was stole away from her Fury by Jehosheba his Aunt Jehosheba the Sister of Ahaziah and Wife of Jehoiada the High-Priest hid him in the House of the Lord and saved that only precious Remainder of the House of David Athaliah who thought him dead with the rest lived without fear Plat. de Repâ—◠〈…〉 Arist â—olit l. 2. c. 9. Lycurgus prescribed Laws to the Lacedemonians He is rebuked for having made them all Martial after the Example of Minos whose Institutions he had followed and for having but little provided for the Womens Modesty for that so he might make all his Men Soldiers he obliged them to a very laborious and temperate Life Nothing was stirring in Judah against Athaliah and therefore she thought her self established during a six years Reign But God raised her up an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 678 Avenger in the holy Sanctuary of his Temple Years of the World 3326 When he was come to be seven years old Jehoiada made him known to some of the Rulers over Hundreds with the Captains of the Guard and the Royal Army whom he had carefully managed and being assisted with the Priests he anointed the young King in the Temple Easily were the People persuaded to acknowledge the Heir of Davâ—d and of Jehosaphat At the noise whereof Athaliah ran to dissipate the Conspiracy but being forced without the Ranges of the Temple she there received the Reward of her Crimes As long as Jehoiada lived Joash reigneth well keeping to the Law of Moses After the Death of this holy Man of God corrupted by the Flatteries of his Courtiers he falls in with them to downright Idolatry The High-Priest Years be ∣ fore J. C. 840 Zacharias the Son of Jehoiada was resolved Years of the World 3164 to reprove him for it but Jehoash without ever being mindful of what he owed to his Father caused him to be stoned But Vengeance followed close at the heels of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 839 this for the next year Jehoash being beaten Years of the World 3165 by the Syrians and fallen into contempt was assassinated by his own Subjects and Amaziah his Son a better Man than himself was set upon the Throne Years be ∣ fore J. C. 825 The Kingdom of Israel being wasted and Years of the World 3179 depressed by the Victories of the Kings of Syria and by Civil Wars re-assumed its Forces under Jeroboam II. who was more pious than his Predecessors Hoziah otherwise called Azariah the Son of Amaziah also governed the Kingdom of Judah with no less Honour and Glory This is that Years be ∣ fore J. C. 810 Famous Hoziah that was smitten with Leprosie Years of the World 3194 and often reproved in Scripture for having towards his latter days presumed to take upon him the Priestly Office and against the Prohibition of the Law had himself offered up Incense upon the Altar of Perfumes He was to be set aside though he was a King according to the Law of Moses and Jotham his Son who was afterwards his Successor did wisely govern the Kingdom Under the Reign of Hoziah the Holy Prophets the Chief of whom at that time were Hosea and Isaiah began to publish their Prophecies in Writing and in particular Books the Originals of which they deposited in the Temple to serve as a Monument to Posterity The Lesser Prophecies which were given only vivâ voce were as was usual registred in the Rolls of the Temple with the History of the time The Years be ∣ fore J. C. 776 Olympic Games instituted by Hercules and Years of the World 3228 long discontinued were re-established and from that re-establishment came the Olympiades by which the Grecians counted their Years Aboâ—â— this time ended that which Varro calls thâ— Fabulous because the profane Histories then were full of confusion and falsities and the Historical times began wherein the affairs of the World were reported with more exactness and fidelity The first Olympiad is marked out by the victory of Corebus They were renewed every five years and after four years Revolution There in the Assembly of all Greece at Pisa first and afterwards at Elida those famous Combats were celebrated where the Conquerors were crowned with incredible Applauses The Exercises likewise were in great honour and Greece every day became more strong and more cultivated Italy as yet was almost all over savage The Latin Kings of Aeneas's Race reigned at Alba. Phul was King of Assyria 'T was believ'd he was the Father of Sardanapalus called according to the Eastern Custom Sardan Pul that is to say Sardan the Son of Phul. 'T was also thought that this Phul or Pul had been King Years be ∣ fore J. C. 771 of â—ineveh who joined with his People in Years of the World 3233 Repentance at the Preaching of Jonas That Prince invited by the Confusions of the Kingdom of Israel went to invade it but
28 c. But their Priest gave them only the Books of Moses which the revolted ten Tribes had retained during the time of their Schism The Scriptures composed by the Prophets who sacrificed in the Temple were by them detested and therefore the Samaritans have received no other than the Pentateuch even down to this day Whilst Esarhaddon and the Assyrians so firmly were setling themselves in greater Asia the Medes likewise began to be considerable Dejoces their first King named Arphaxad in Scripture founded the Great City Ecbatana and laid the Foundations of a great Empire They had set him on the Throne to reward his vertues and to put an end to the disorders which Anarchy had caused among them Conducted by so great a King Herod l. 1. c. 27. they supported themselves against their Neighbours but they did not enlarge their Years be ∣ fore J. C. 671 Dominions Rome daily grew but it was weakly Under Tullus Hostilius the Third Years of Rome 83 King and by the famous Battle between the Horatii and the Curatii Alba was conquered and ruined Its Citizens incorporated in that victorious Ville did mightily greaten and fortify it Romulus was the first who took that way to make it more flourishing where he received the Sabins and other vanquished People And they forgat their Overthrow and became most Faithful and Affectionate Subjects Rome in extending it's Conquests regulated it's Militia and it was under Tullus Hostilius that it began to learn that Noble Discipline which made it to be at last the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 670 Mistriss of the Universe The Kingdom Years of Rome 84 of Egyyt weakned by its long Divisions was re-established under Psammeticus That Prince who owed his Safety to the Ionians and Carians established them in Egypt then shut to Strangers About this time the Aegyptians began to commerce with the Greeks and since that time also the History of Aegypt down to the mingling of pompous Fables by the Artifice of the Priests began as Years be ∣ fore J. C. 657 Herodotus tells us Herod l. 2. c. 95. to have some certainty In the mean time the Kings of Assyria became more and more terrible to all the East Years of Rome 97 Saosduchin the Son of Esarhaddon called Nebuchadonosor in the Book of Judith in battle array defeated Arphaxad King the Medes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 656 Flushed with this Success he attempted to Years of Rome 98 conquer all the Land To compass this his design he passed the Euphrates and ravaged all as far as Judah The Jews had provoked God and given themselves up to Idolatry after the Example of Manassâ—h but they had repented with that Prince and God took them into his Protection The Conquests of Nebuchodonosor and Holofernes his General were upon a suddain stopt by the hand of a Woman Dejoces although he was beaten by the Assyrians left his Kingdom in a condition of growing greater under his Successors Whilst Phraortes his Son and Cyagorus the Son of Phraortes subdued Years be ∣ fore J. C. 643 Persia and pushed on their Conquests to lesser Years of Rome 111 Years of Rome 641 Asia even to the borders of Halys Judah Years of Rome 113 indured the detestable Reign of Amon the Son of Manasseh and Josiah the Son of Amon wise and prudent from his Childhood endeavoured to repair the Disorders that were caused by the wickedness and impiety of his Predecessor-Kings Rome when Ancus Martius was King brought some Latines under it's subjection and government and continuing to make Citizens of her Enemies she shut them up within her Walls The Veienses already weakened by Romulus Years be ∣ fore J. C. 626 suffered new Losses Ancus pushed on his Years of Rome 128 Conquests as far as to the Neighbouring Sea and built the City of Ostia at the Mouth of the River Tyber At this time the Kingdom of Babylon was invaded by Nabopolassar That Traitor whom Chinaladan otherwise called Sarac had made General of his Armies against Cyagorus King of the Medes joyned himself with Astyages the Son of Cyagorus took Chinaladan in Nineveh destroyed that great City so long a time the Mistriss of the East and set himself upon the Throne of his Master Under this ambitious Prince Babylon grew in Pride and haughtiness Judah whose Impiety waxed more Years be ∣ fore J. C. 624 and more had every thing to fear The pious Years of Rome 130 King Josiah for some small time by his great humility suspended the punishment which his people had deserved but the evil increased under his Childrens Reign Nebuchadonosor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 610 II. more terrible than his Father Years of Rome 144 Nebuchadonosor succeeded him This Years be ∣ fore J. C. 607 Prince bred up in Pride and always ingaged Years of Rome 147 in War made prodigious Conquests both in the East and West and Babylon threatned to bring all the Land into subjection and vassalage His Menaces had soon their effect upon the People of God Jerusalem was left wholely to this proud and mighty Conqueror who took it three times The first at the beginning of his Reign and in the fourth year of the Reign of Joachim from whence begins the 70 years of Babylon's Captivity taken notice of by the Prophet Jeremiah the second under Jechonias or Joachin the Son of Joachim Jer. xxv 11 12. c. xxix 10. and the last under Zeâ—ekiah when the City was utterly destroyed the Temple burnt and the King Years be ∣ fore J. C. 599 carried Captive to Babylon with Serajah the Years of Rome 155 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 598 High-Priest and the bâ—t part of the people Years of Rome 156 The most eminent of those Captives were the Prophets Ezekiel and Daniel with them also are reckoned the Three Children whom Nebuchadnezzar could not make to worship his Golden Image nor consume by his Fiery Furnace Greece was flourishing and its Seven Wise Men made themsâ—â—ves illustrious Years be ∣ fore J. C. 594 Some time before the last desolation of Jerusalem Years of Rome 160 Solon one of the Sevâ—â— prescribed Laws to the Athenians and established Liberty Years be ∣ fore J. C. 578 upon Justice The Phocians of Ionia Years of Rome 176 brought their first Colony to Marseilles Tarquin the Antient King of Rome after he had conquered a part of Tuscany and adorned the City of Rome with his Pompous and Magnificent Works finished his Reign In his time the Gauls led on by Bellovesus possessed in Italy all the Suburbs round about Years be ∣ fore J. C. 566 Po whilst that Segâ—vesus his Brother Years of Rome 188 carried far up into Germany another swarm of the Nation Servius Tullius Tarquin's successour established the Census or the List of Citizens that were distributed into certain Classes whereby that great City was regulated and ordered as a private Family Nebuchadnezzar beautifyed Babylon which was mightily inriched by the Spoils of Jerusalem and the
mighty puissant Kings as all the East stood in awe of and it was Cyrus that crushed the Empire by his taking of Babylon If therefore the generality of the Greeks and Latins that have followed them make no mention of those Babylonian Kings if they have given no place to that great Kingdom among the first Monarchies whose continuance and after-accidents they relate in a word if we can scarce find any thing in all their works of those famous Kings Tiglath-Pilesar Salmanasar Sennacherib Nebuchadnezzar and several others so renown'd in Scripture and in the Eastern Histories we may then surely attribute it either to the Ignorance of the Greeks who were more Eloquent in their Reports than studious and industrious in their Searches or else to the loss we have had of what was more exact and faithful in their Histories Indeed Herodotus had promised a particular History of the Assyrians Herod l. 1. c. 28 47. which we have not either by our sad misfortune of its being lost or of his not having had time to do it and we cannot imagine that ever so judicious and Historian would have forgotten the Kings Herod l. 2. c. 91. of the second Empire of the Assyrians especially since even Sennacherib who was one of them we find mentioned in the Books that we now have of this great Author as being King both of the Assyrians and Arabians tSrabo liâ— 15. Strabo who lived in the time of Augustus reports what Megastenes an Ancient Author near the time of Alexander had left in Writing concerning the mighty Conquests of Nebuchadnezzar King of the Chaldees whom he makes to run through Europe enter into Spain and extend his Arms as far as the Colonies of Hercules Aelian calls Tilgamus King of Assyria Aelian liâ— 12. Hist Anim. c. 21. that is to say Tilgath or Tiglath which we find in the Holy Scriptures and in Ptolomy we meet with an Enumeration of the Princes of great Empires among whom there is a long succession of the Kings of Assyria who were unknown to the Greeks and whom it is easie to reconcile to the Sacred Hystory If I would bring in the Accounts of the Syrian Annals Berosus Abydenus Nicolas of Damascus Joseph Antiq l. 9. ult 10. c. 11. l. 1. cont Ap. Euseb Prap. Ev. 9. I could be too tedious even for a long-winded Reader Josephus and Eusebius of Caesarea have preserved the pretious fragments of all those Authors and indeed of an infinite many more which they had entire and perfect in those times whose Testimony is a confirmation to us of what we read in the Holy Scripture concerning the Eastern Antiquities and especially concerning the Assyrian Histories As to the Monarchy of the Medes which has the second Preference among the great Empires by most of the prophane Historians as separated from the Empire of Persia certain it is that the Scripture ever unites them both together And your Highness sees that besides the Authority of the sacred pages the bare order of Matters of Fact shews us that it is that we are still to look at The Medes before Cyrus though they were very powerful and considerable yet were much lessened by the greatness of the Kings of Babylon But Cyrus having Conquered their Kingdom by the collected Forces both of Medes and Persians of which he afterwards became the Master by a Legitimate Succession as we have observed from Zenophon it seems most probable that the great Empire of which he was the Founder as it ought indeed did take his Name to both Nations so that That of the Medes and Persians are but one and the same thing tho' the glory of Cyrus made the name of the Persians to be the more prevailing It may be also thought that before the VVar of Babylon the Kings of the Medes having extended their Conquests to the Greek Colonies in lesser Asia were by that means famous among the Greeks who attributed the Empire of greater Asia to them because they were only acquainted with them of all the Kings of the East And yet the Kings of Nineveh and Babylon who were greater and more puissant but more unknown to the Greeks have been near quite forgotten in those Bâ—oks that are remaining to us concerning the Grecian Histories and all the time from Sardanapalus down to Cyrus have been only given to the Medes And therefore we need not to trouble our heads so much in reconciling as to this point the prophane to the sacred History For as to what respects the first Kingdom of the Assyrians the Scripture gives us but a very slight touch by the Bye and neither mentions Ninus who was the Founder of that Empire nor excepting Phul any other of its Successors because their History was no way interfering with that of the People of God As for the second Kingdom of the Assyrians most of the Greeks are either quite ignorant of them or else because they have not throughly known them as they ought they have confounded them with the former VVhen therefore those of the Greek Authors sâ—all be objected to us who according to their own Caprice and Fancy range the three first Monarchies and make the Medes Successors to the antient Empire of Assyria without speaking a word concerning what the Scripture seems to be so strong in there is only this answer to be made that they were unacquainted with this part of the History and they are no less contrary to the more curious and best informed Authors of their own Nation than they are to the Holy Scriptures And that which in one word answers all the difficulty the sacred Authors who are nearer to the times and places of the Eastern Kingdoms writing moreover the History of a People whose affairs were so intermixed with those of these great Empires though they had no other advantage besides this it were enough to put the Greeks and Latins to Silence who followed them But if notwithstanding the obstinacy should go on still to maintain this celebrated order of the three first Monarchies and that to keep entirely to the Medes the second rank which is ascribed to them any are wilfully resolved to make the Kings of Babylon subject to them in affirming still that after an hundred Years Subjection these at last should deliver themselves by a Revolt yet in some manner it doth save the Câ—ntinuance of the sacred History but it doth very little agree with the best prophane Historians to whom the sacred History is more favourable in that it ever unites the Empire of the Medes to that of the Persians There is yet remaining to be discovered one of the Causes of the obscurity and darkness of these antient Histories And it is this that as the Eastern Kings took up several names or if you please several titles which in some length of time they espoused as their own Name and which the People either translated or pronounced variously according to the several particular Idioms of each
began to appear among the Greeks Those People being civilly treated by the Kings of Syria lived in tranquillity and Peace according to their Laws Antiochus the God Grandson of Seleucus sent them up and down into the lesser Asia Joseph Ant. 12.3 from whence they got themselves into Greece and every where enjoyed the same Rights Priviledges and Liberty as the other Citizens Ptolomee the Son of Lagus had already setled them in Egypt Years be ∣ fore J. C. 277 Under his Son Ptolomee Philadelphus their Years of Rome 477 Scriptures were turned into Greek and then came out that excellent Version called the Septuagint Version This was done by those Learned old Men whom Eleazer the High-Priest sent to the King who desired them Some would have only had the five Books of Moses translated Joseph l. 1. Antiq. c. 1. l. 12. c. 2. and the rest of the sacred Books might afterwards be turned into Greek for the use of the Jews that were scattered all over Egypt and Greece and who had forgot not only their own ancient Language which was the Hebrew but also the Chaldee which the Captivity had taught them They made themselves a Greek Mixture which they called the Hellenistick Tongue The Septuagint and all the New-Testament is written in this Tongue And during this dispersion of the Jews their Temple was made famous over all the Land and all the Kings of the East presented there their offerings The West was intent on the War Years be ∣ fore J. C. 275 of Rome and Pyrrhus In short this King Years of Rome 479 was defeated by the Consul Curius and so went back to Epirus But he was not there long at quiet but he resolved to make Macedonia recompence him for the ill successes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 274 he met with from Italy Antigonus Gonatus Years of Rome 480 was blocked up in Thessalonica and forced to leave to Pyrrhus all the rest of the Kingdom Years be ∣ fore J. C. 272 But he took heart again whilst that Years of Rome 482 the restless and ambitious Pyrrhus was making War upon the Lacedemonians and those of Argos The two hostile Kings were brought into Argos at one and the same time by two contrary Caballs and at two several Gates There was a mighty Combat in that City and a certain Mother who saw her Son pursued by Pyrrhus whom he had wounded knocked that Prince on the Head with a Stone Antigonus thus being defeated of his Enemy re-enters Macedonia who after some changes and Revolutions was at Peace with his Family The Confederacy of the Achaians kept him from growing Great It was the last Rampier of the Grecian Liberty and it was that which produced the last Heroes of it with Aratus and Philopoemen The Tarentines whom Pyrrhus fed with hopes called in the Carthaginians after his Death But that succour did them very little good for they were beaten with the Brutians and the Samnites their Allies These after seventy and two years continual Wars were forced to submit to the Roman Yoak Tarentum followed at the heels and the Neighbouring People could not hold out and so all the antient People of Italy were subjugated The Gauls often beaten durst not stir Polyb. lib. 1 2.1 And after 480 Years Warring the Romans saw themselves Masters of Italy and began to consider the affairs abroad They were not a little jealous of the Carthaginians who were grown very powerful in their Neighbourhood by the Conquests they had made in Sicily from whence they were coming to fall upon them and Italy in the Relief of the Tarentines The Republic of Carthage had two sides of the Mediteranean Sea Besides that of Africa which she almost entirely possessed she extended her self towards Spain by the Straights Being thus Mistress of the Sea and of Commerce she had invaded the Isles of Corsa and Sardinia Sicily could scarce defend it self and Italy was too nearly threatned not to be concerned with some apprehension From thence proceeded the Punic Wars notwithstanding the Treaties Years be ∣ fore J. C. 264 which were ill observ'd on both sides Years be ∣ fore J. C. 490 The first taught the Romans to fight at Sea and they were presently Masters of an Art which before they knew little or nothing Years be ∣ fore J. C. 260 of and the Consul Duilius who was the Years of Rome 494 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 259 first that gave Battle at Sea gained it Regulus Years of Rome 495 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 256 got the like Reputation and landed in Years of Rome 498 Africa where he was forced to fight with that Prodigious Serpent which obliged him to employ all his Army against it But every thing yielded and Carthage being reduced Years be ∣ fore J. C. 255 to her last Extremity did just make a shift Years of Rome 499 to save herself by the assistance and seasonable Relief of Xantippus the Lacedâ—monian The Roman General is beaten and taken but his Prison renders him more great and illustrious than his Victories For being upon his Parole sent back to treat about the exchange of Prisoners he told the Senate the conditions which was all hopes and Grace to them that would voluntarily surrender themselves and so returned to a most certain Death Two dreadful Shipwracks forced the Romans to leave their new Empire of the Sea to the Carthaginians And the Victory hung a long while in dubious suspence between the two People and the Romans were just upon the point of yielding Years be ∣ fore J. C. 241 but they repaired their Fleet and one single Years of Rome 513 Battle decided the Business and the Consul Lutatius concluded the War Carthage was obliged to pay Tribute and to quit with Sicily all the Isles that were between Sicily and Italy The Romans got that Island entirely saving only what Hieron King of Syracusa their Ally kept of it After the War was ended the Carthaginians thought now only of Destruction by the rising of their Army They had according to their Custom made it up of Strangers who revolted to them for their pay Polyb. lib i. c. 62.63 lib. ii â— 1. Their cruel and severe Government forced them to join to those mutinous Troops almost all the Cities of the Empire and Carthage being closely besieged had utterly been lost if it had not been for Hamilcar sirnamed Barcas He alone maintain'd the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 238 last War And the Citizens are indebted Years of Rome 516 to him for the Victory Poly. lib. i. 79. â—3 â—3 which they got over the Rebels But it cost them Sarainia which the Revolt of their Garrison opened to the Romans And for fear of engaging with them in a new War Carthage was forced to surrender up that Island which was of such importance and also to inlarge her Tribute she designed in Spain to re-establish her Empire which had been so much shaken by this Revolt Hamilcar went
St. John Baptist Years of J. C. 28 appeared Jesus Christ made himself to be Years of J. C. 30 Baptised by that divine Fore-runner The Eternal Father acknowledged his well-beloved Son by a voice that came from Heaven The Holy Ghost descended upon our Saviour under the pacifick Figure of a Dove all the Trinity manifested themselves There began with the seventy weeks of Daniel the Preaching of Jesus Christ This last Week was the most important and the most observable Daniel had divided it from the rest as the Week or Alliance was to be confirmed Daniel iv 37. and in the midst of which the ancient Sacrifices were to lose their efficacy and virtue It may be called the week of Mysteries Jesus Christ established his Mission and his Doctrine then by innumerable Miracles and at last by his Death It Years of J. C. 33 happened in the fourth year of his Ministry which was also the fourth Year of Daniel's last Week and this great Week was in this manner justly cut in the midst by his Death Thus it is easy to make up the Computation of the VVeeks or rather it is already made up There remains nothing now but to add to the 453 Years which we shall find from the 300th year of Rome and the twentieth of Artaxerxes down to the beginning of the common Aera the thirty Years of that Aera which we see comes down to the fifteenth year of Tiberius and to the Baptism of our Lord These two Summs will make up 483 years the seven Years still remain to compleat the 490. The fourth which makes the middle is that in which Jesus Christ died and all that Daniel hath prophesied is visibly shut up within the prescribed term There is no extraordinary necessity for such an exact punctilio of Justness and nothing obliges us to take in this extream rigour the Middle observed by Daniel The most difficult will content themselves in finding it in what point soever it be between the two Extremities what I say is that so those who shall think they have good reason to place either a little higher or a little lower the beginning of Artaxerxes or the death of our Lord might not rack and torment themselves in their calculation and that those who would endeavour to embarass and perplex a thing that is clear with tricks of Chronology might be delivered from their unprofitable and impertinent subtilties Matth. 25.45 Phleg. 13. Olymp Thal. Hist. 3. Tertullian Apol 21. Orig. 2. cont Cels Tr. 35. in Matth. Euseb Hieron in Chron. Jul. Afric Ibid. The Darkness which covered the whole face of the earth at noon-day and at the instant when Jesus Christ was crucifyed is taken for an ordinary Eclipse by the Pagan Authors who have made their remarks upon that memorable Event But the first Christians that spake of it to the Romans as of a Prodigy taken notice of not only by their Authors but also by the public Registers have shewn that neither at the time of the full Moon when Jesus Christ dyed nor in all the year when this Eclipse was observed was it possible for any to fall out but what must be supernatural We have the very words of Phlegon Adrian's Freed-man cited at a time when his Book was every where public and extant as well as the Syriac Histories of Thallus who followed him and the fourth year of the 202. Olympiad observed in the Annals of Phlegon is that of the death of our Lord. To accomplish the Mysteries Jesus Christ arose from his Grave on the Third day he appeared to his Disciples he ascended up into to heaven in their presence he sent them down the Holy Spirit the Church is formed Persecution begins St. Stephen is stoned St. Paul is converted A little after Tiberius dies Caligâ—la his Grand-son and Son by adoption Years of J. C. 37 and his Successor astonishes the whole world by his cruel and brutish Folly he causes himself to be adored and commands Years of J. C. 40 his Statue to be placed in the Temple of Jerusalem Cherâ—as frees the world from this Monster Claudius reigns notwithstanding his Stupidity He is dishonoured by Messalina Years of J. C. 41 his Wife whom he re-demands after he has Years of J. C. 48 caused her to be killed He is married to Agrippina Years of J. C. 49 the Daughter of Germanicus Acts 15.50 The Apostles keep the Council of Jerusalem where St. Peter speaks first as he does every where else The converted Gentiles are there freed from the Ceremonies of the Law The Sentence of it is pronounced in the name of the Holy Ghost and the Church of St. Paul Acts â—6 4 and St. Barnabas carry the Decree of the Council to the Churches and teach the faithful to submit to them Such was the way of the first Council The stupid Emperor disinherits his Son Britannicus and adopts Nero the Son of Agrippina In requital she poisons this too Years of J. C. 54 easie and credulous Husband But the Empire of her Son was no less fatal to her self than to all the rest of the Commonwealth Years of J. C. 58 Corbulo got all the Honour of that Reign by Years of J. C. 60 the Victories he gained over the Parthians Years of J. C. 62 and Armenians Nero at the same time began Years of J. C. 63 his War against the Jews and the Persecution against the Christians c. This was the first Years of J. C. 66 Emperor that had persecuted the Church He caused St. Peter and St. Paul to dye at Rome But as at the same time he persecuted Years of J. C. 67 all Mankind so he found all sides to revolt Years of J. C. 68 against him he understood that the Senate had condemned him and so he killed himself Years of J. C. 69 Every Army made an Emperor The Quarrel was decided near Rome and in Rome it self by dreadful and terrible combats Galba Otho and Vitellius perished in them The afflicted Empire came a little to it self under Years of J. C. 70 Vespasian and enjoyed some rest But the Jews were put to extremities Jerusalem was taken and burnt Titus the Son and Successor of Vespasian gave to the world but a Years of J. C. 79 short satisfaction And his days which he thought lost when they were not signalized by some kindness and benefit came upon the heels of each other with a too swift Succession Nero was seen to be revived in the Person of Domitian The Years of J. C. 93 Persecution was renewed St. John coming out of hot boyling Oyl was banished into the Isle of Patmos where he wrote his Revelations A little after he wrote his Gospel at about 90 years of Age and joyned the Quality of an Evangelist to that of being both Years of J. C. 95 an Apostle and a Prophet From that time the Christians were continually persecuted as well under the good as under the evil Emperors These Persecutions
After a long War Childebert and Clothaire the Sons of Clovis conquered the Kingdom of Burgâ—ndy and at the same time sacrificed to their Ambition the younger Sons of their Brother Clodomir whose Kingdom they divided between themselves Some time after and whilest Belisarius was so vigorously attacking the Ostrogoths what they had in the Country of the Gaules was left to the French France extended it self then a good way beyond the Rhine but the Partages of Princes which made up so many Kingdoms kept it from being re-united under one and the same Dominion It s chief parts were Neustria that is to say Western France and Austrasia Years of J. C. 553 that is to say Eastern France The same year that Rome was re-taken by Narses Justinian caused the fifth general Council to be held at Constantinople which confirmed those that went before it and condemned some Writings that seemed favourable to Nestorius That is what we call the three Chapters because of the three Authors long since dead whereof they then treated It condemn the Memory and the Writings of Theodorus Bishop of Mopsueste a Letter of Ibas Bishop of Edessa and among Theodoret his Writings those he had drawn up against St. Cyrill The Books of Origen which pestered all the East for one whole Age were also reprobated This Council which began with but ill designs yet had a happy Conclusion and was received by the Holy See which at first had opposed it Years of J. C. 555 Two years after the Council Narses who had taken Italy from the Goths defended it against the French and obtained an absolute Victory over Bucelin General of the Troops of Austrasia Yet notwithstanding all these Advantages Italy did not long remain under the Government of Emperors Under Justin II. Nephew of Justinian and Years of J. C. 568 after the Death of Narses the Kingdom of Lombardy was founded by Alboün He took Milan and Pavia Rome and Ravenna were scarce safe from his Hands and the Lombards put the Romans to extream sufferings Years of J. C. 570. 571. and calamities Rome was but poorly assisted Years of J. C. 574 by her Emperors whom the Covetous Nations Scythia the Saracens a People of Arabia and the Persians more than all the other grievously tormented on all sides in the East Justin who only believed himself and his Passions was always beaten by the Persians and by their King Chosroes His resentment of so many Losses put him into a Years of J. C. 579 Phrensie so that his Wife Sophia governed the Empire This unhappy Prince too late recovered into his good Senses and confessed as he was dying the Malice of his Flatterers After him Tiberius II. whom he had named Emperor repressed the Enemies comforted the People and enriched Years of J. C. 580 himself by their Alms. The Victories of Years of J. C. 581 Mauritius the Cappadocian General of his Armies broke the heart of the proud Years of J. C. 583 Chosroes Those were recompenced by the Empire which Tiberius gave him at his death with his Daughter Constantina At that time the Ambitious Fredegunda Wife to King Chilperick the first put all France into a Combustion and engaged all the French King in most bloudy and cruel Wars In the midst of the Miseries of Italy and whilst Rome was visited with a most Years of J. C. 590 dreadful Pestilence St. Gregory the Great was advanced maugre all his resistance to the See of St. Peter That great Pope stayed the Plague by his devout Prayers instructed Emperors and did absolutely make a just Obedience to be paid to them comforted Africa and fortified it confirmed in Spain the Visigoths converted from Arianisme and Ricardes the Catholic who was just got in again into the Bosom of the Church converted England reformed the Discipline in France whose Kings being always Orthodox he exalted above all Kings in the World He overcame the Lombards saved Rome and Italy which the Emperors could give no assistance to suppressed the growing Pride of the Patriarchs of Constantinople illuminated the Church by his Doctrin governed both the East and the West with as much resolution as humility and gave unto the World a perfect Model of Ecclesiastical Government The History of the Church hath nothing more glorious than the Monk St. Austin's Years of J. C. 597 Entrance into the Kingdom of Kent with forty of his Companions Beda l. 1. who going before the Holy Cross and the Image of the Great King our Lord Jesus Christ made solemn Vows for the conversion of England S. Gregory who had sent them instructed them by Letters truly Apostolical Greg. lib. 9. Ep. 58. ind 4. and taught S. Austin to tremble amidst the continual Miracles which God wrought by his Ministry Bertha a Princess of France brought King Edhilbert her Husband over to Christianity The Kings of France and Queen Brunehault protected the new Mission The Bishops of France did also engage in this Work and it was they who by the Order of Du Paga consecrated St. Austin The Supply which St. Gregory sent to the new Bishop was productive of new Years of J. C. 601 Fruits and the English Church assumed its Years of J. C. 604 Form The Emperor Mauritius having tryed the fidelity of the Holy Pontiff was corrected by his advice and received from him that commendation so worthy of a Christian Prince as the Heretics durst not open their mouths in his time However that pious Emperor was guilty of a great Fault A Years of J. C. 601 vast number of Romans were destroyed by the hands of the Barbarians for want of being ransomed by a Crown per head Immediately afterwards the good Emperor testifyed his remorse and he poured out a Prayer to God to punish him in this World rather than in the other and then was the revolt Years of J. C. 602 of Phocas who before his eyes cut the throats of all his Family Mauritius being the last that was killed amidst all this sad Scene of calamities was heard to say nothing but only that verse of the Psalmist Psal 119. I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Phocas being advanced to the Empire by so horrid and Years of J. C. 606 detestable a crime endeavoured to gain the Years of J. C. 610 People in honouring the Holy See whose priviledges he confirmed But his Sentence was pronounced Heraclius proclaimed Emperor by the African Army marched against him Then Phocas found that oft-times debauches do more ruin Princes than Cruelties and Photin whose Wife he had vitiated betrayed him to Heraclius who caused him to be killed France a while after beheld a much Years of J. C. 614 stranger Tragedy Queen Brunchault being delivered up to Clothaire II. was sacrificed to the ambition of that Prince her Memory was quite effaced and her virtue so much extolled by Pope S. Gregory was scarce able to be defended The Empire in the mean time was
Authentique Precedents which being carefully reviewed and kept by the Priests and Levites were esteemed as Originals and Records The Kings for Moses had wisely foreseen that these People would at last have Kings as well as other Nations The Kings I say were obliged by an express law in Deuteronomy to receive from the hands of the Priests and Levites one of these Precedents which were so religiously corrected Deut. 17.18 that they might transcribe and read it all their lives The Precedents thus reviewed by publick Authority were held by all People in singular Veneration they looked on them as being immediately derived from the hands of Moses as pure and entire as God had dictated them to him An ancient Volume of this severe and religious Correction having been found in the House of the Lord 2 Kings 22.8 c. 2 Chron. 34.14 c. in the Reign of Josiah and peradventure was that very Original which Moses had caused to be put in the side of the Ark of the Covenant stirred up the Piety of that holy King and thereby was the occasion of bringing that People to Repentance The great effects which all along the publick reading of that Law wrought are innumerable In a word it was a perfect Book which being joyned by Moses to the History of the People of God it taught them their Origine their Religion Polity Manners Philosophy and whatsoever conduced to the regulation of Life whatsoever united and formed Society the good and the bad Examples The Reward of the one and the rigorous Punishments which had attended the other By that admirable Discipline a People brought out of Slavery and Bondage and kept forty years in the Wilderness came all fitted to the Land which they were to possess Moses brings them to the Entrance and being informed of his approaching end he commits the remains of what was yet to be done to Joshua Deut. 31.14 c. But before he dyed he composed that long and most excellent Song which begins with these words Give ear O ye Heavens Deut. 32.1 and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth In that Silence of all nature he speaks first to the People with a sorce that was inimitable and foreseeing their Infidelities he discovers to them the dreadfulness of it All of a sudden he goes out of himself as if he found all Humane Discourse below so great a Subject he reporteth what God saith and it makes him speak with so much elevation and so much sweetness that we know not which inspired him most whether Fear and Confusion or Love and Confidence All the People learnt by heart that Divine Song by the order of God Deut. 31.19 22. and of Moses That great Man after that died content as a Man that had forgot nothing which might preserve in the Memory of his People the Benefits and Precepts of God He leaves his Children in the midst of their Citizens without any distinction and without any extraordinary establishment He hath been admired not only by his People but by all the People of the World and never had any Legislator so great a name as He among all Mankind 'T is believed that he writ the Book of Job The Sublimity of the Thoughts and the Majesty of the Style make that History worthy of Moses For fear lest the Hebrews should be puffed up by attributing the Grace of God to themselves alone it was necessary to make them to understand that that great God had his chosen ones even in the Race of Esau And what Doctrine was more important and what more profitable Consolation could Moses give to the People afflicted in the Wilderness than that of the Patience of Job who being delivered into the hands of Satan to be exercised by all manner of Miseries saw himself deprived of his Wealth his Children and all the Comforts of this World presently after struck with a horrible Disease and moved within by the Temptation of Blasphemy and Despair yet he remaining firm and resolute in his Integrity made it evident that a faithful devout Soul supported by the Divine Relief in the midst of the fiercest and most frightful Trials and in spight of all the blackest thoughts which the Evil Spirit could suggest to it knew not only how to maintain an invincible Trust and Confidence Job 13.15.14.14.15.16.21.19.25 c. but also to raise up it self by his own greatest Afflictions to the highest Contemplation and to acknowledge in the Sufferings it endures with the Vanity and Nothingness of Man the Supreme Empire of God and his Infinite Wisdom This is what the Book of Job instructs us in To keep up the Character of Time here is seen the Faith of the holy Man crowned by Temporal Prosperities but yet the People of God are hereby taught to know what is the virtue of Sufferings and to have a fore-taste of the Grace which was one day to be fastened to the Cross Moses had tasted it when he preferred the Sufferings and Ignominy which he was to undergo with the People of God to the Delicacies and Abundance in the House of the King of Egypt From that time God made him to taste of the Reproaches of Jesus Christ He tasted them also again in his precipitated Flight and in his Exile of forty years Heb. 11.24 25 26. But he drunk even to the bottom of Christ his Cup when being chosen to save that People Numb 14.10 c. he was forced to undergo their continual Revoltings wherein he ran the hazard of his life He learnt what it would cost him to save the People of God and shewed at a distance what a higher deliverance 't was one day to cost the Saviour of the World That great Man had not so much as the consolation of entering into the promised Land he only saw it from the top of a Mountain Numb 20.12 13.27.14 Deut. 32.50 51. and was not ashamed to confess that he was excluded from it by a sin which tho' it seemed but little yet deserved to be punished so severely in a man whose Grace was so particularly eminent Moses served for an example to the severe Jealousie of God and to the Judgments which he executed with so terrible an exactness on those whom his Bounty and Kindness obliged to a more perfect Fidelity But still a higher Mystery is shewn us in this Exclusion of Moses That wise Legislator who by so many Miracles did only lead the Children of God in the Neighbourhood of their Land serves himself to us for an Evidence Heb. 7.19 that his Law made nothing perfect and that without being able to give us the accomplishment of the Promises it makes us only as it were to salute them at a distance or leads us at most but to the gate of our Inheritance It was a Joshua a Jesus for it was the true name of Joshua who by that name and by his office represented the Saviour of
spoken of in the Gospel and whom the Heathen confessed Matth. 22.16 Mark 3.6.12.13 Pers Vet. Schol. Sat. v. 11. 180. Joseph de bell Jud. 3.14 for Persius and his Schoâ—iast informs us that even in the time of Nero the Birth of King Herod was celebraâ—ed by his Followers with the same Solemnity as the Sabbath Josephus stumbles into the like Error That Man being instructed as he says himself in the holy Books of the Prophets and himself a Priest as his Parents â—ere acknowledged that indeed the coming of that King so much promâ—sed by Jacob exactly agreed with the time of Herod where he shews us himself with that industrious care a manifest beginning of the ruine of the Jews but as he saw nothing in his own Nation which filled up those ambitious Ideas that it had conceived of its Christ he went on somewhat further before the time of the Prophecy Lib. 3. de bell Jud. 14.7.12 and applying himself to Vespasian he assured that the Oracle of the Scripture signified that Prince the delared Emperour in Judea Thus did he wrest the holy Scriptures to authorize his Flattery and being miserably blind he bestowed upon Strangers the hopes of Jacob and Judah he sought in Vespasian the Son of Abraham and of David and to an Idolatrous Prince attributed the Title of him whose light was to draw off the Gentiles from Idolatry That conjuncture of time favoured it much But whilst he was attributing to Vespasian what Jacob had spoken of Christ the Zealots who defended Jerusalem attributed it to themselves And it was upon that only Foundation that they promised themselves the Empire of the World Joseph de bell Jud. lib. 7. as Josephus relates it more reasonable than himself in that aâ— least they went not out of the Nation 〈◊〉 seek for the accomplishment of the Promisâ—â— made to their Forefathers How blind were they to that great advantage which the preaching of the Gospel thâ—â— made among the Gentiles and to that nâ—â— Empire which Jesus Christ was setting up over all the Earth What was more glorious and beautiful than an Empire in which Piety was to reign the true God to triumph over Idolatry Eternal Life to be published and declared to Infidel Nations and was not even the Empire of the Caesars a piece of pompous vanity in comparison with this But however that Empire seemed not illustrious enough to charm the Eyes of the World How ought we to be disabused from these earthly Grandeurs before we can come to any true knowledge of Jesus Christ the Jews understood the time the Jews saw the People called to the God of Abraham according to Jacob's Prophecy by Jesus Christ and his Disciples and yet for all that they mistook even that Jesus who was signalized to them by so many signs And altho' throughout the whole course of his life and after his death he confirm'd his Mission by so many extraordinary Miracles yet those besotted and infatuated Wretches rejected him because they could see nothing in him but a solid Grandeur which was void of all that splendid Decoration which strikes the Senses and because he seemed rather come to condemn than to reward their vain Ambition And yet however forced by the Conjunctures and Circumstances of time in spight of their blindness and obduracy they sometimes seemed to vail to their Prepossessions Every thing at the time of our Lord was so exactly fitted to the Manifestation of the Messiah that they were in great suspicion lest St. John the Baptist might be he Luke 3.15 1 John 19.20 His manner of life which was austere extraordinary and very surprizing touched them sensibly and tho' the Grandeurs of the World was wanting yet they appeared at first as if they were willing to be satisfied with the lustre of so amazing and prodigious a life The simple and common life of our Jesus Christ was offensive to those gross as well as proud Spirits who were only capable of being taken by their Senses and who otherwise being far enough from a sincere Conversion would admire nothing but what they looked on as inimitable So that St. John the Baptist who they thought deserved to be the Christ was not believed when he declared to them the true Christ and Jesus Christ whom they must have imitated as soon as they had believed on him appeared to the Jews too humble and meek for them to follow him But yet the Impression that was made upon them that Christ must appear about that time was so strong and powerful that they could not wear it off for almost a whole Age. They thought the fulfilling of the Prophecies might have a certain extent and was not still wholly determined to a precise particular point of time so that for almost an hundred years they talked of nothing but of false Christs that got themselves to be followed and of false Prophets who declared them The foregoing had never seen any thing like it and the Jews made no such brags of the Name of Christ neither when Judas Maccabeus gained so many Victories over their Tyrant nor when his Brother Simon freed them from the Yoke oâ— the Gentiles nor yet when the first Hyrâ—â— got so many Conquests The time and the other signs did not then agree to it and it was only in that Age of Jesus Christ that they began to speak of all those Messiahs The Samaritans who read the Prophecy of Jacob in the Pentateuch made themselves Christs as well as the Jews and a little after Jesus Christ they called to mind their Dositheâ— Orig. Tract 27. in Matt. Tom. 14. in Joh. 1. cant Cels Iren. 1. 20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4.25 Simon the Magician of the same Country boasted also that he was the Son of God and Menander his Disciple called himself the Saviour of the World Whilst Christ was living and amongst them the Samaritans believed the Messias was near coming so generally was it expected in the Nation and among all those who read the ancient Oracle of Jacob that Christ was to appear in those days When the time was so past that there was no further expectation of him and that the Jews had seen by Experience that all the Messiahs whom they had follow'd were so far from delivering them from their Evils that they had but the more emerged them in 'em it was then a good while e're was seen among them any more new Messiahs and Barchochebas was the last whom they owned as such in those first and early times of Christianity But the old Impression could not yet utterly be done away In stead of believing that Christ had appeared as they had done in the time of Adrian under the Antonines his Successors they thought upon â—his to say that Christ was in the World â—ho ' he did not then make himself visible because he tarried for the Prophet Elias who was to come to consecrate him This was a common Discourse amongst
them in the â—ime of St. Justin Just in adv Tryph. and we also find in their Talmud the Doctrine of one of their ancientest Masters who said that Christ was come according as he was declared in the Prophets R. Juda filius Levi. Gem. San. 11. but he kept himself secret somewhere at Rome among the poor Mendicants But such an Opinion as this so wild and extravagant could not sink into their minds therefore the Jews being at last forced to confess that the Messiah was not come in the time they had reason to expect him according to their ancient Prophecies fell into another extream as bad as the former But a little more and they had renounced their Messiah who failed them in time and several of them followed a famous Rabbi R. Hillel Ibid. Is Abran de C. fidei whose words are likewise found preserved in the Talmud He seeing how far the time of his coming was gone and past concluded That the Israelites were to look for their Messiah no longer because he had been given to them in the Person of Ezekiah Indeed this Opinion too was so far from obtaining amongst them that they did quite detest it But as they could not tell what further to make of the times pointed out to them by the Prophecies and knew not which way in the world to extricate themselves from this Labyrinth they then made an Article of Faith of this which we read in the Talmud Gem. San. c. 11. Moses Maimon in Epit. Talm. Is Abran de cap. fidei All the times which were designated for the coming of the Messiah were past and with an universal consent they cried out Cursed be those who reckon the times of the Messiah Just as we see in a Tempest that has driven the Vessel far off from the way it was steering the Pilot is mad and desperate when forced to forsake his Compass and submit himself to the pleasure of the outragious winds and waves that carry him where they list From that time all their indeavours have been to elude the Prophecies in which the time of Christ was set out to them they mattered not how they o'rethrew all the Traditions of their Forefathers provided they could but deprive the Christians of those admirable Prophecies and they went at last so far as to say that that of Jacob did not respect Christ But their ancient Books betray them That Prophecy is understood of the Messiah in the Talmud Gem. Tr. Saned c. 11. Paraph. Onkelos Johanan Jero ol v. Polyg Ang. and the manner as we explain it is found in their Paraphrases that is to say in those Commentaries that are the most Authentick and the most valued among them We find in them in express words that the House and Kingdom of Judah to which all the Posterity of Jacob and all the People of Israel were one day to be reduced would continually bring forth Judges and Magistrates until the coming of the Messiah under whom a Kingdom should be formed made up of all People This was the Testimony that their most famous and most received Doctors gave also to the Jews the first times of Christianity The ancient Tradition which was so firmly established could not be abolished all at once and though the Jews had not applyed the Prophecy of Jacob unto Jesus Christ yet they durst not deny that it did belong to the Messiah They arrived not to that height and excess till a long while after and when they have been pressed by the Christians at any time they hive still found their own Tradition to be against them As for Daniel's Prophecy wherein the coming of Christ was confined within the term of 490 years counting from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus As that term came down to the end of the fourth Millenary of the World so was it a most ancient Opinion among the Jews that the Messiah should appear toward the end of that fourth Millenary and about two thousand years after Abraham One Elias whose name was great among the Jews although it be not the Prophet had so declared before the Birth of Jesus Christ and the Tradition of it is preserved in the Book of the Talmud Gen. Tr. San. c. 11. You have seen this term accomplished in the coming of our Lord for he did indeed appear about two thousand years after Abraham and towards the four thousand of the World However the Jews did not know him and being frustrated of their expectation they said that their Sins had kept off the Messiah who was to come But yet our Dates are ascertained by their own confession and it is a very great blindness to make a term which God hath so particularly set forh iâ— Daniâ—l to depend on Men. And this is likewise 〈◊〉 great Perplexity to them to consider that that Prophet should make the time of Christ to go before that of the Ruine of Jerusalem so that that latter Period being accomplished that which preceded it must needs be so to Antiq. 1â— c. ult de Bell. Jud. 7. 4. Josephus is here most mightily deceived He justly reckoned the Weeks which were to be followed with the Desolation of the Jewish People and seeing them accomplished in the time when Titus laid Siege before Jerusalem he questioned not but the very moment of the Destruction of that City was then come But he never considered that that Desolation was to be preceded by the Coming of Christ and of his Death so that he understood but half the Prophecy The Jews that came after him would fain have supplied this Defect They have forged to us an Agrippa descended from Herod whom the Romans they said did put to death a little before the Destruction of Jerusalem And they would needs have that Agrippa Christ by his Title of King to be the Christ which is spoken of in Daniel a new Proof of their Blindness indeed For besides that that Agrippa could neither be the Just nor the Saint of Saints nor the end of the Prophecies so as the Christ whom Daniel describes in that place was to be besides that the Murther of that Agrippa whereof the Jews were innocent could not be the cause of their Desolation as the Death of Daniel's Death was to be which here the Jews say was a Fable Agrippa descended from Herod was ever a Party of the Romans ever civilly treated by their Emperors Joseph l. 7. de bell Jud Jus Tiber. Biblioth Phot. cod 33. and reigned in a Canton of Judea long after the taking of Jerusalem as Josephus and oter Contemporaries do testifie Thus every thing which they Jews invented to elude die Prophecies served only to confound them They themselves did not believe those Fictions they were so gross and their best Defence was in that Law they enacted not to reckon any longer the days of the Messiah By that means they willfully shut their Eys against the Truth and renounced those Prophecies in which the
they never thought they did so Constance who persecuted St. Athanasius the Defender of the Ancient Faith ardently desired says Ammianus Marcellinus Id. lib. 15. to get him condemned by the Authority which the Bishop of Rome had over the others By seeking to support himself with that Authority he made the Heathens themselves sensible of what was wanting to his Sect and honoured the Church from which the Arrians had departed thus the Gentiles themselves acknowledged the Catholick Church If any one asked them where they kept their Assemblies and who were their Bishops they never deceived them As for Heresies whatsoever they made they could never get rid of the name of then Authors The Sabellians the Paulianists the Arrians the Pelagians and the rest were scandalized in vain at the title of the Faction which was given to them The World whatsoever they could do would speak naturally and designed every Sect by him from whom it first sprung As for the great Church the Catholick and Apostolick Church it was always impossible to affix any other Author to it than Jesus Christ himself nor to assign to it the first of its Pastors without going up as high as to the very Apostles nor to give it any other name than what it had before taken So that what Hereticks soever were made they could not conceal it from the Heathens She opened to them her Bosom all â—he World over and they ran to her in troops Some of them were possibly lost in the by-Paths but the Catholick Church was the great way wherein entred always most of those who sought after Jesus Christ and Experience has sufficiently discovered that to her it was given to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles Her also it was whom the unbelieving Emperours attacked with all their power and force Orig. cont Cels 7. Just. Apol. 2. Origen tells us that few of the Hereticks were sufferers for the Faith St. Justin more ancient than he hath observed that the Persecution spared the Marcionites and the other Hereticks The Heathens only persecuted that Church which they saw spread her self over the face of the whole Earth and only acknowledged her self for the Church of Jesus Christ What matters it to pull off some of the Branches her good Sap was not lost for all that she went into other places and the cutting down the superfluous Wood served but to make the Fruit come better In fine if we consider the History of the Church we shall always find that when ever one Heresie impaired it she recovered her losses both by enlarging outwardly and increasing inwardly light and piety whilst she beheld in some distant Corners the cut off Branches to dry and wither The work of man was perished notwithstanding the power of Hell to support it the work of God has continued and the Church hath triumphed over Idolatry and all Errours whatsoever THIS Church so always attacked XIII General Reflections on the Progress of Religion and the relation there is between the Books of the Scripture yet never overcome is a perpetual Miracle and a clear and shining Testimony of the Immutability of the Divine Councils In the midst of the agitation of Humane Affairs she still supported her self with an invincible force so that by an uninterrupted course for near these seventeen hundred years do we see her come up even to Jesus Christ in whom she hath collected the Succession of the ancient People and was found reunited to the Prophets and Patriarchs And so many astonishing Miracles which the Hebrews of old saw with their eyes do still serve at this day to confirm our Faith That great God who wrought them for a Testimony of his Unity and his Almightiness what could he do more authentick to preserve the memory of them than to leave in the hands of so great a People the Acts which punctually attest them in order of time this is what we now have in the Books of the Old Testament that is to say in the most ancient Books that are in the World in those Books which are the only ones of Antiquity where the knowledge of the true God is taught and his service ordained in those Books which the Jews have always so religiously kept 'T is certain that they were the only People who originally knew God the Creator of Heaven and Earth and consequently the only People to whom the Divine Secrets were to be committed They also kept them with a most religious care Those Books which the Egyptians and the other People called Divine are lost long since and there scarce remains so much as any confused Remembrance of them in ancient Histories The sacred Books of the Romans wherein Numa the Author of their Religion had written the Mysteries of them are perished even by the hands of the Romans themselves and the Senate commanded them to be burnt as tending to the overthrow of Religion And those same Romans at last suffered likewise the Books of the Sibyls Tit. Liv. li. 40. c. 29. Varr. l. de Cult Deor ap Aug. de Civ 12. 34. to be destroyed which were for so long time reverenced by them as Prophetical and wherein they would make the World believe that they found the Decrees of the Immortal Gods concerning their Empire and yet notwithstanding they never published I do not say one single Volume but so much as one single Oracle It has been only the Jews who have had the Sacred Scriptures in so much the greater Veneration as they were the more known Of all the ancient People these alone preserved the Primitive Monuments of their Religion albeit they so fully gave testimony of their Infidelity with that of their Ancestors And at this very day do this People still remain upon the Earth to carry into all Nations where they are dispersed together with the course and progress of their Religion the Miracles and Predictions which render it immoveable When Jesus Christ was come and sent by his Father to accomplish the Promises of the Law he confirmed his Mission and that of his Disciples by new Miracles which have been also written with the same exactness The Acts of them have been published all the World over the Circumstances of Time Persons and Places have made the Examen easie to all that have been careful of their Salvation The World was informed the World has believed and if we have but ever so little considered the ancient Monuments of the Church we must avow that never has any thing been determined with more of reflection and knowledge But as to the Relation which the Books of the two Testaments have to one another there is one difference to be considered that is that the Books of the ancient People were composed at divers times Some are the times of Moses others those of Joshua and the Judges and others of the Kings some are those when the People were brought out of Egypt and received the Law others those when they obtained the
perswade a whole Nation even the old Men who had seen that Prophet and had always looked for that miraculous Deliverance which he had foretold them of Esdras and Nehemiah could not have written the History of their Time some other must have done it in their Name and those who have made all the other Books of the old Testament would have been so esteemed by Posterity that the other Falsifyers would have gained little Credit to their Imposture No doubt but they would have been ashamed of so many Extravagancies and instead of saying that Esdras had of a sudden brought to light so many Books so different one from the other by the Characters both of Stile and Time one must affirm that he might have inserted into them the Miracles and Predictions which made them to pass for Divine An Error more gross still than the former since that those Miracles and those Predictions are so interspersed in all those Books so often inculcated and repeated with such different turns and so great a variety of powerful Figures in a word they have so constituted the whole Body of them that if we have ever but so much as opened those holy Books we must see that it was a great deal more easy perfectly to make a new Model of them than to insert in them those things which the Incredulous are so much puzled to find there And tho' it should be granted them whatsoever they ask yet the miraculous and divine Parts are so much the Foundation of those Books that they must be yet acknowledged whatsoever Aversion any may have to them And admit that Esdras might have added afterwards the Predictions of those things that had already happened in his time yet those which were fulfilled since which you have seen in so great a number who should superadd them God it is possible might have bestowed on Esdras the gift of Prophecy that so the Imposture of Esdras might seem the more probable and they might rather have a false one to be a Prophet than Isaiah or Jeremiah or Daniel Or else every Age might have had a prosperous Counterfeit who might impose upon the Faith of a whole Nation and that new Impostors thro' an admirable Zeal of Religion might have continually been adding to the divine Books after that the Canon might have been closed that they might be spread abroad with the Jews over all the Earth and translated into so many strange Languages Would not this have been out of eagerness of Desire to establish the Religion the way utterly to destroy it Would a whole Nation so easily suffer a Change of what they verily believed to be Divine whether thro' Conviction of Reason or thro' the power of Error Could any one hope to persuade Christians nay or Turks to add but one single Chapter either to the Gospel or to the Alcoran But perhaps the Jews might be more docile than other People or not so Religious as to preserve their holy Books What Monsters of Opinions must come into their Minds to make then willing to shake off the Yoke of divine Authority and not to regulate their Sentiments no more than their Manners but by their distorted Reason Let none say that the discussion of these Matters is perplexing and troublesom For if it should be so they must either lay the Charge of it on the Authority of the Church and the Tradition of so many Ages or else push on the Examination to the utmost Extremity and never believe they can be rid of it but say they require still more time than will be given to their Salvation But certainly not to turn over the Books of both the Testaments with an endless Labour we need only read the Book of Psalms where are collected so many antient Songs of Gods People to see there in the most divine Poetry that ever was the immortal Monuments of the History of Moses of that of the Judges and Kings imprinted by Song and Measure in Men's Minds And for the new Testament The bare Epistles of St. Paul so Lively and Original so strong as to time both of the Affairs and Motions which then were and in short of so pointing a Character those Epistles I say received by the Churches to which they were addressed and from thence communicated to other Churches will be sufficient to convince all honest Minds that every thing in the Scriptures which the Apostles have left us is according to the Original So likewise do they support one another with an invincible Force The Acts of the Apostles are but a continuation of the Gospel their Epistles suppose it necessary but that all may agree together both the Acts and the Epistles and Gospels do every where own the antient Books of the Jews St. Paul and the other Apostles are continually alledging what Moses hath said Act. 3.22.7.31 32 c. Rom. 10.5.19 what the Prophets have said and writ after Moses Jesus Christ calls to witness the Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms as Witnesses who all depose the same Truth When he hath a mind to explain his Mysteries Ibid. 27. John 5.46 47. he begins at Moses and all the Prophets and when he tells the Jews that Moses wrote of him he lays down for a Foundation what was most certainly believed among them and brings them back to the very Spring Head of their own Traditions But however we will see what can be opposed to this so acknowledged an Authority and to the Consent of so many Ages For since in our days Men have been so presumptuous and daring as to print in all sort of Languages Books against the Scriptures we ought not to dissemble or conceal what they alledge for the decrying its Antiquities Therefore what say they to justify the Pentateuch's being supposititious and what can be objected to a Tradition of three thousand Years standing upheld by its own Power and by the course of things Nothing of Consequence nothing that is positive nothing that is of weight and substance Some little Chicaneries and Quarrels they have at Numbers Places and Names and such Observations that in all other matters are reckoned at most but as vain Curiosities uncapable of reaching the stress of the Case are here alledge to us by way of Decision of an Affair the most serious that ever was There are say they Difficulties in the History of the Scripture No Question to be made on 't which yet there would not be weâ—e the Books less antient or had they been supposititious and made as they are so bold to say by a cunning and industrious Man If they had not been so Religious as to give it us as they found it but had taken the liberty to correct it where it did not please them There are Difficulties which arise by length of time when places have changed their Name or Condition when Dates are forgot when Genealogies are no further known when there is no remedy for the Faults which a Copy
those that looked for him and there was not between them one moments Interruption that People were dispersed over all the Earth the Gentiles ceased not to gather together and that Church which Jesus Christ hath built upon a Rock not all the Powers of Hell have ever been able to overthrow O what Consolation is this to the Children of God! But what Conviction is here of the Truth when they see that Pope Innocent the Eleventh who now most deservedly fills the first See of the Church we are continually ascending without any interruption even to St. Peter made by Jesus Christ the Chief of the Apostles from whence by running back to the Priests that served under the Law we go up even to Aaron and Moses from them to the Patriarchs and so to the beginning of the World what Course what Tradition what marvellous Connexion and Chain is here If our Minds which are naturally uncertain and by their doubtfulness become the Shittlecock of their own Reasonings have need in the Questions which concern our Salvation to be fixed and determined by some certain Authority what greater Authority is there than this of the Catholick Church which reunites in her self all the Authority of passed Ages and the ancient Traditions of Mankind to its first Original Thus the Society which Jesus Christ looked for during all past Ages at last founded upon the Rock and where St. Peter and his Successors were to preside by his Orders justified it self by its own Course and bore in its eternal duration the Character of the Hand of God 'T is also this Succession that no Heresie no Sect no other Society than only the Church of God was able to give to it self The false Religions could imitate the Church in many things and especially in saying as she did that God founded them but that Discourse in their Mouth was only a Discourse in the Air. For if God hath created Mankind and if in creating him after his own Image he hath never disdained to instruct him how to serve and please him Every Sect that doth not shew its Succession from the beginning of the World is not of God Here fall prostrate at the feet of the Church all the Societies and all the Sects that men have set up both within and without Christianity As for Example The false Prophet of the Arabians had the cunning to say that he was sent from God and after he had deceived the People most grosly ignorant he knew how to make his advantage of the Divisions of his Neighbourhood to extend into it by force of Arms a Religion that was wholly Sensual but neither has he dared to suppose that he was the Saviour expected nor could he in short give either to his Person or to his Religion any real or apparent Unity with past Ages The expedient he found to free himself from that was new For fear lest they should search into the Scriptures of the Christians for Testimonies of his Mission like to those which Jesus Christ found in the Scriptures of the Jews he pretended that both the Christians and the Jews had falsified all their Books His ignorant Followers believed him on his own word six hundred years after Jesus Christ and he declared himself not only without any precedent witness but also without any attempt either of supposing or of promising any one sensible Miracle which might authorize his Mission either by himself or any of his Followers So likewise the Heresiarchs who have founded new Sects among the Christians have had the Art to make the Faith more easy by denying the Mysteries which passed our Senses They were able to dazle men by their Eloquence and by a seeming shew of Piety to move them by their Passions to ingage them by their Interests to gain 'em over by Novelty and Libertinism either by that of the Mind or else by that of their Senses In a word they could easily either deceive themselves or deceive others for there is nothing more Humane but besides that they could never boast they had done any Miracle in Publick nor reduce their Religion to positive Facts whereof their Followers were Witnesses there was always a most unhappy mischief attended them which they could never conceal and that was their Novelty It will always be visible to the eyes of the whole World that they and their Sect which they have established will be detached from that great Body and from that ancient Church which Jesus Christ has founded where St. Peter and his Successors have kept the Primacy in which all Sects have found themselves established The moment of the Separation will be always so apparent that the Hereticks themselves can never be able to deny it and they will never dare so much as to attempt to make themselves to come from the Source by an uninterrupted Succession This is the inevitable weakness of all the Sects which Mankind has set up None can change the Ages past nor give themselves Predecessors nor ever make them to be found in possession The only Catholick Church fills up all precedent Ages by a Course of Succession that can never be disputed with her The Law came before the Gospel the Succession of Moses and the Patriarchs makes but one and the same with that of Jesus Christ to be looked for to come to be acknowledged by a Posterity which is to last as long as the World this is the Character of the Messiah in whom we believe Jesus Christ the same yesterday Heb. 13.8 and to day and for ever Thus besides the advantage which the Church of Jesus Christ hath of being alone founded on miraculous and divine Facts which they have written for all to see without any fear of being falsified as to the time in which they happened there is likewise in favour of those who lived not in those Times one Miracle that always is subsisting which confirms the truth of all the rest that is the Course of Religion which hath been always victorious over the Errors that have crept in which indeavour to destroy it You may add to this also another Chain and that is the visible uninterruptedness of a continual Punishment upon the Jews who have not yet received Christ so long ago promised to their Fathers They nevertheless expect him still and this their expectation which is always frustrated is one part of their Punishment They expect him and discover in their Expectation that he hath always been expected Condemned therefore by their own Books they confirm the truth of Religion they as I may say do carry all the Course of it written on their Foreheads and at one view we see what they have been why they are as we see them and for what they are reserved Thus four or five Authentick Facts and those more clear than the light of the Sun do discover our Religion to be as old as the World And consequently they discover that it hath no other Author than He who made the World
end of Polity which is to render Life commodious and the People happy The temperature of the Country being always uniform made their Judgments more solid and constant As Vertue is the Foundation of all Society so they carefully cultivated and improved it Their chief Vertue was Gratitude The Honour that was given to them for being the most generous and grateful Diod. lib. 1. Sect. 2. shews they were likewise the most sociable Kindnesses are the Bond both of publick and private Concord He that acknowledges Favours loves to Bestow them and in banishing Ingratitude the pleasure of doing Good remains so pure that there is no way for one to be insensible of it Their Laws were Simple full of Equity and proper to unite Citizens to one another He who being able to rescue a man assaulted did not do it was punished with as severe a Death as the Assassin himself Ibid. If we could not help the unfortunate at least we ought to impeach the Author of the Violence and there were punishments established on purpose for those that were failing in this duty Thus were the Citizens a Guard each to other and all the Body of the State was joyned against the wicked doer It was not permitted for any one to be unprofitable to the State The Law assigned to every one their Business which was perpetuated from Father to Son Ibid. They were not to have two nor could they change their Profession but then all Professions were honoured But it was necessary there should be some both Employments and Persons more considerable than others as it is but fit that Eyes should be in the Body Their Luster will not make the Feet and lower Parts to be ever the less despised So among the Egyptians the Priests and the Soldiers had their particular Marks of Honour but all the Traders even to the least were had in esteem and it was believed a Criminal Matter to despise and scorn the Citizens whose Labours whatsoever they were contributed to the weal Publick By this means all Arts came to their Perfection the Honour which cherished them was in every thing concerned they made greater Improvements in what they had always seen done and to what in particular they had been brought up from their very Infancy But there was one Occupation which all men were to be concerned in and that was the study of Laws and Wisdom Ignorance of the Religion and Polity of ones Country was no where excusable in any Government Now every Profession had its Canton to which it was particularly assigned There fell out no Inconvenience by it in a Country whose Extent was not very great and in so curious and exact an order Those that had a mind to be Idle knew not where to hide themselves Amidst these many good Laws that which was the best of 'em was that all People were brought up to observe them Hierod l. 2. Diod. l. 1. §. 2. Plat. delegib 2. A new Custom was a Prodigy in Egypt Every one did there always the same and the punctual Care they had to observe small things maintained the great So that never was there any People that had longer preserved their Customs and Laws The order of the Judgments contributed to the upholding of that Genius Thirty judges were chosen out of the principal Cities to make up that Commission to Judge the whole Kingdom They were accustomed to see in those high places only the most grave men of their Country and such as were of the clearest Integrity The Prince gave them certain Salaries that so they being freed from Domestick Entanglements might bestow the gross of their time in making the Laws to be the better observed They received no Advantage by Suits of Law for as yet they had never thought of making a Trade of Justice To avoid surprizes the matters were debated in those Assembly by Arguments in writing They were afraid there of false Eloquence which might dazle the Understanding and stir up the Passions Truth could not be told there in too plain a manner The President of the Senate wore a Collar of Gold and precious Stones from whence hung a Figure without any Eyes which they called Truth When he took it that was the Signal to begin the Court. He bowed it to the Party that was to gain his Cause and that was the form of pronouncing the Sentences One of the bravest Artifices of the Egyptians to make their ancient Maxims be preserved was to invest them with certain Ceremonies that imprinted them in their Minds These Ceremonies were observed with reflection and the serious Humour of the Egyptians did not suffer that they should be turned into simple Formula's Those who had no Affairs but their Lives were Innocent might avoid the Examen of that severe Tribunal But they had in Egypt one kind of Judgment which was very extraordinary which none escaped It was a Consolation at the time of Death of leaving their Names in esteem among all men and of all humane goods it is the only one that Death cannot ravish from us But it was not suffered in Egypt to commend all the Dead indifferently That was an Honour to be had by a Publick Judgment As soon as a man was dead they brought him unto Judgment The publick Accuser was heard If he proved that the Conduct of the Deceased had been bad then the Memory of him was condemned and he was deprived of Sepulture The People admired the power of their Laws which reached them even after death and every one being touched by the Example was afraid to dishonour his Memory and his Family But if the Defunct was not convicted of any Crime then he had an honourable Interment they made his Panegyrick but they medled not at all with his Birth All Egypt was noble and beside they received no further Commendations than what they had got by their own Merit Every one knows how curious the Egyptians were in preserving dead Bodies Their Mummies are to be seen at this day Thus their Gratitude to their Kindred was Immortal Children by seeing the Bodies of their Ancestors called to mind their Vertues which the Publick had paid such Acknowledgments to and they were incited to love those Laws which had so recommended them to them To prevent Borrowing which was the Parent of Idleness Frauds and Branglings the Decree of King Asychis did not suffer any to borrow Herod lib. 2. Diod. 1. Sect. but upon condition that he pledged the Body of his Father to him of whom he borrowed And it was both an Impiety and an Infamy together not to redeem as soon as ever one could so precious a Pledge and he that dyed before he had acquitted himself of that duty was denied Burial The Kingdom was Hereditary but the Kings were obliged more than all others to live according to these Laws Ibid. Some there were more particular that a King had digested and which made one part of the Sacred Books
Not that they had disputed any thing against Kings or that any one had a right to constrain them but on the contrary they were looked upon as Gods but an ancient Custom had regulated them all and they resolved to live no otherwise than their Ancestors So that they patiently suffered themselves not only to be regulated in their manner of Victuals and Drink for it was an ordinary thing in Egypt where all People were sober and where the Air of the Country was a friend to Frugality but they were content that their very hours should be set them In waking at break of day Herod 2. Diod. §. 2. when their Minds were most refined and their Thoughts most clear they read their Instructions that they might have a more exact and true Idea of the Matters they were to decide As soon as they were drest they went to Sacrifice in the Temple There being incompassed by all their Court and the Victimes at the Altar they assisted at a Prayer full of Instructions where the Chief Priest prayed to the Gods to confer on the Prince all Royal Vertues so that he might be religious to the Gods placid towards Men moderate just magnanimous sincere and far from falshood liberal a Master of himself punishing below but rewarding above desert The Chief Priest afterwards spake of the faults that Kings might commit but he always supposed they fell into them by surprize or ignorance charging with Imprecations the Ministers that gave them evil Counsels and concealed the Truth from them This was the manner of instructing Kings Ibid. They thought Reproaches did only sower their Spirits and that the most effectual way of inspiring Vertue into them was to point out to them their Duty in Praises conformable to the Laws and gravely delivered before their Gods After Prayer and Sacrifice they read to the King in the Sacred Books the Counsels and the Actions of great Men that so he might govern his Kingdom by their Maxims and maintain the Laws which had made his Predecessors happy as well as their Subjects That which shews that these Remonstrances were made and hearkened to seriously was that they had their effect Among the Thebans that is to say in the chief Dynasty that where the Laws were in force and which came at last to be the Mistress of all the rest the greatest men were Kings The two Mercurys Authors of Sciences and of all the Institutions of the Egyptians the one near the time of the Deluge and the other whom they called Trismegistus or Teâ— maximus a Contemporary of Moses were both Kings of Thebâ—s All Egypt profited by their light Herod l. 2. and Thebes owes to their Instructions their having had very few bad Princes Those were spared during their lives the Publick Repose would have it so Diog. 1. §. 2. but they were not exempt from the Judgment they were to undergo after death Ibid. Some have been denied Burial but there are few Examples of them but on the contrary most of the Kings have been so much made of by the People that every one have bewailed their Death as much as that of their Parents or Children This Custom of judging Kings after their Death seemed so holy to the People of God that they have always practised it We read in the Scriptures that wicked Kings have been deprived of the Burial of their Ancestors Ant. 13.23 and we learn from Josephus that that Custom lasted even to the time of the Asmonâ—ans That gave Kings to understand that if their Majesty put them above Humane Judgments in this Life they were not above them when Death equalled them with other men The Egyptians had an inventive Geninâ— and they turned it to things that were profitable Their Mercuries have filled Egypt with wonderful Inventions and scarce have left it ignorant of any thing that might make Life tranquil and commodious I cannot give to the Egyptians the honour they have conferred on their Osyris Diod. l. 1. § 1. Plut. de Isid Osir for having invented Tillage because it was found at all times in the neighbouring Countries of the World where Mankind was spread and questionless it was known ever since the World began The Egyptians themselves likewise give so great an Antiquity to Osiris that it is plainly seen they have confounded his time with that of the beginning of the World and they would fain attribute some things to him whose Original was long before all times known in their History But if the Egyptians were not the first Inventors of Agriculture nor of the other Arts which we see before the Deluge they have yet brought them to such perfection and have taken so great a Care to establish them among the People where Barbarism had made them forget that their Honour comes very little short of those that were the first Inventors Indeed there are some things of great usefulness the Invention whereof cannot be disputed with them Plat. Epin Diod. 1. § 2. Herod l. 2. For as their Country was united and their Heaven always clear and uncloudy they were the first that observed the Course of the Stars and they were the first also that regulated the year Those Observations threw them naturally into Arithmetick and if it be true what Plato says Plat. in Tim. That the Sun and the Moon taught men the knowledge of Numbers that is to say that they began the Accounts regulated by that of Days Mouths and Years then the Egyptians werethe first who hearken'd to those marvellous Instructers The Planets and other Stars were no less known to them and they found out that great Year which brings back all the Heaven to its first point To know their own Lands every year covered over by the over-flowing of Nile they were forced to betake themselves to Surveying which quickly taught them Geometry They were great Observers of Nature which in an Air so serene and under a Sun so burning was very strong in its Products amongst them 'T was that which made them find out or perfect Physick Thus all Sciences were in great esteem with them The first Inventors of usefull things received Diod. 1. §. 2. Herod 3. init both whilst they lived and after their deaths rewards worthy of their labour 'T was that consecrated the Books of their two Mercuries and made them to be looked on as Divine Books Diod. l. 1. § 2. The first People of all that had Libraries were those of Egypt The title that was given them made them very desirous to peruse them and to search into the Secrets of them they were called The Treasure of the Remedies of the Soul Thereby it was cured of the most dangerous Ignorance of its Maladies and the Source of all the others One thing which made the greatest impression on the Minds of the Egyptians was the esteem and love of their Country It was they said the Mansion-House of the Gods they had reigned there
being come to an Agreement with Manahem he established him in the Throne that he went to Usurp by Violence and received by way of acknowledgment the Tribute of a thousand Talents Under his Son Sardanapalus and after Alcmaeon the last perpetual Archon of the Athenians that People whom his humour led insensibly to affect a popular Estate lessened the Power of their Magistrates and in ten years wholly overthrew the Archontick Administration The first of this way was Charops Romulus and Remus sprung from the antient Kings of Alba by their Mother Ilia re-established in the Kingdom of Alba their Grandfather Numitor of which his Brother Amilius had dispossest him and presently after they founded Rome whilst Jotham Reigned in Judah VII Epocha Romulus or Rome founded That City which was to be the Mistress of the World and in futurity the chief Seat of the Romish Religion was founded toward the end of the third year of the sixth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 754 Olympiad 430 years after the taking Years of the World 3250 of Troy from whence the Romans believed their Ancestors to be sprung and 753 years before Jesus Christ Romulus being bred up hardly with Shepherds and always Years of Rome 1 engaged in Warlike Exercises consecrated this City to the God of War who he Years be ∣ fore J. C. 748 said was his Father About the time of Years of Rome 6 Rome's Birth through the effeminate Luxury of Sardanapalus happened the Fall of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Medes a warlike People animated by the Discourses of Arbaces their Governour set an Example to all his Subjects of contemning and scorning him All were up in a general revolt against him and at length he perished in his chief City where he saw himself constrained to fling himself into the Fire with his Concubines his Eunuchs and his Riches Out of the Ruins of this Empire were seen to come three great Kingdoms Arbaces or Orbaces whom some call Pharnaces freed the Medes who after a very long Anarchy had three most puissant Kings Moreover presently after Sardanapalus there appeared a second Kingdom of the Assyrians Years be ∣ fore J. C. 747 of which Nineveh was the chief City Years of Rome 7 and a Kingdom of Babylon These two last Kingdoms are not unknown to prophane Authors and are much celebrated in the sacred History The second Kingdom of Nineveh is founded by Tilgath of Tiglath the Son of Phalaser called for this reason Tiglathphalesar to whom was also given the name of Ninus the younger Baladan whom the Greeks called Belasis established the Kingdom of Babylon which is known by the name of Nabonassar From thence the Aera of Nabonassar famous with Ptolomy and the antient Astronomers who reckoned their years by the Reign of that Prince It is fit to explain here the signification of this word Aera which is a number of Years began at a certain point of Time which some extraordinary Accident makes remarkable Wicked Years be ∣ fore J. C. 740 and Sinful Ahaz King of Judah oppressed Years of Rome 14 by Rezin King of Syria and by Pekah the Son of Remaliah King of Israel instead of having recourse to God who stirred him up those Enemies to punish him called Tiglathphalesar the first King of Assyria or Nineveh who brought the Kingdom of Israel to its last extremity and utterly destroyed that of Syria and at the same time he ravaged that of Judah which had desired his Assistance Thus the Kings of Assyria took Years be ∣ fore J. C. 721 the way to the Holy Land and resolved Years of Rome 33 upon the Conquest of it They began with the Kingdom of Israel which Salmanasser the Son and Successor of Tilgath Pilneser utterly destroyed Osee King of Israel relied upon the succour of Sabacon otherwise called Sua or Soü◠King of Aethiopia who had invaded Aegypt But that mighty Conqueror could not get it out of the hands of Salmanassar The ten Tribes with whom the Worship of God was quite worn off were transported to Nineveh and being dispersed among the Gentiles they so lost themselves there that no farther tracing of them can be discovered There remained some of them who were mixed among the Jews and made a small part of the Kingdom Years be ∣ fore J. C. 715 of Judah At this time happened the Years of Rome 39 Death of Romulus He was always fighting and always victorious but in the midst of his Wars he notwithstanding laid the Foundation of Religion and Laws A Years be ∣ fore J. C. 714 long Peace gave Numa his Successor a good opportunity to finish that Work He formed Years of Rome 40 Religion and qualified the wild and extravagant Manners of the Romans In his time the Colonies that came from Corinth and several other Towns of Greece founded Syracuse in Sicily Crotona Tarentum and perhaps some other Towns in that part of Italy to which the most antient Greek Colonies which were spread over all the Country had already given the name of Great Greece In the mean time Hezekiah the most Pious and the justest of all the Kings Years be ∣ fore J. C. 710 ever since David reigned in Judah Sennacherib the Son and Successor of Salmanassar Years of Rome 44 besieged him in Jerusalem with a vast and prodigious Army which was in one night destroyed by the Hand of an Angel which went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five Thousand Hezekiah being delivered in so wonderful a manner served God with all his People more faithfully than ever But Years be ∣ fore J. C. 698 after that Prince his Death under his Son Years of Rome 56 Manasseh the ungrateful forgat their God and so disorders and calamities were multiplied Years be ∣ fore J. C. 687 upon them A popular State or commonwealth Years of Rome 67 was then formed among the Athenians and they began to elect annual Archontes or Governours the first of whom was Creon Whilst wickedness increased in the Kingdom of Judah the Power of the Kings of Assyria which were to be their avengers grew daily stronger under Esarhaddon Years be ∣ fore J. C. 681 the Son of Sennacherib He re-united the Years of Rome 73 Kingdom of Babylon to that of Nineveh and equalled in Great Asia the Power of the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 677 first Assyrians 2 Kings xvii 24. 1 Esd iv 2. In his Reign the Cuthians Years of Rome 77 People of Assyria since called Samaritans were placed in the City of Samaria instead of the Children of Israel These joined to that of Idolatry the Worship of God and obtained of Esarhaddon an Israelitish Priest who taught them the manner of the God of the Land that is to observe the Law of Moses God resolving not to have his Name utterly abolished in a Land that he had given to his People he left there his Law as an earnest and testimony 2 Kings xvii 27