found in the time of David who Conquered this City as is declared in the 30 th Verse of the 12 Chap. of the second Book of Samuel and not only here but a little after the Historian to Moses words adds these in the 14 th Verse Jair the Son of Manasseh took all the Country of Argob unto the coasts of Jeshuri and Maachathi and called them after his own name Bashan Haveth Jair unto this day these Words I say were added by the Historian to explain Moses's Words in the 13 th Verse and the rest of Gilead and all Bashan being the Kingdom of Og gave I unto the half Tribe of Manasseh all the Region of Argob with all Bashan which is called the Land of the Gyants and therefore the Historian was forced to explain what those places were which were antiently so called and also to give a reason why in his time they were called by the name of Iair who was of the Tribe of Iudah and not of Manasseh as appears by the 2 d Chap. of the 1 st Book of the Chron. v. 21 22. We have now explained Aben Ezra's meaning and also those places in the Pentateuk quoted by him to make good his Opinion but indeed he hath not taken notice of all nor of the principal places for there are more of greater moment which I will now mention First the Writer of these Books doth not only speak of Moses in the third Person but also testifies many things of him namely God spake with Moses God spake with him face to face Moses was the meekest of all Men Numb chap. 12. v. 3. Now the Man Moses was very Meek above all Men upon the Face of the Earth Moses was wroth with the Officers of the Host Numb chap. 31. v. 14. Moses the Man of God Deut. chap. 33. v. 1. Moses the Servant of the Lord dyed Deut. chap. 34. v. 5. And there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses v. 10. but in Deutronomy where the Law which Moses wrote and declared to the People is set down Moses speaketh and tells them what he did in the first Person Deut. chap. 2. v. 1 17. The Lord spake unto me and I prayed unto the Lord but then again after the Historian had repeated Moses's words he goes on and again speaks in the third Person declaring how Moses delivered to the People in Writing that Law which he had published Lastly the Historian relates how Moses warned and admonished the People and ended his Life all which namely the manner of speaking the Testimony and Character given of Moses with the context of the whole History fully satisfy that the Books were not Written by Moses but by some other Person Secondly it is to be observed that this History doth not only relate how Moses dyed was buryed and that the Iews Mourned thirty Days for him but making likewise a Comparison between him and all the other Prophets that lived after him saith he excelled them all Deut. chap. 24. v. 10. and there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Which as it is a Testimony that Moses could not give of himself so could no other Man who immediately followed him but it must necessarily be one who lived many Ages after him because he speaketh of the time past saying there arose not a Prophet since and of his Burial he saith no Man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day Thirdly it is to be Noted that the History calls some places by Names which they had not in Moses's time but by others given them long after Gen. chap. 14. v. 14. it is said Abraham pursued his Enemies unto Dan which name was never given to that City till long after the Death of Ioshua as appears by Iudg. chap. 18. v. 29. and they called the Name of the City Dan after the Name of Dan their Father who was Born unto Israel how be it the Name of the City was Laish at the first Fifthly it is to be observed that the Histories are continued for a longer time then Moses lived for Exod. chap. 16. v. 35. it is said the Children of Israel did eat Manna forty Years until they came to the Borders of the Land of Canaan namely till the time mentioned Iosh. chap. 5. v. 12. In the Book of Gen. 36. v. 31. These are the Kings that Reigned in the Land of Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel the Historian without doubt there declareth what Kings the Edomites had before David Conquer'd them and set Governours over them as appears in the 2 d Book of Sam. chap. 6. v. 11 14. by all this it is as clear as day that the Pentateuk was not Written by Moses but by some other who lived many Ages after him But let us consider the Books which Moses wrote and are mention'd in the Pentateuk First it appears Exod. chap. 17. v. 14. God commanded Moses to write the War against Amalek but in what Book it doth not appear Numb chap. 21. v. 10. there is a Book mentioned called the Wars of the Lord wherein without question Moses gave a full Relation of the War against Amalek and also of all those Encampings or pitching their Tents which the Author of the Pentateuk saith Numb chap. 33. v. 2. were described by Moses it likewise appears Exod. 24. v. 4 7. that Moses wrote another Book called the Book of the Covenant which he read to the People when they first made a Covenant with the Lord but this Book or Epistle contained very few things the Laws only or Commands of God recited in Exod. from the 22 Verse of the 20. chap. to chap. 24. which no body will deny who without partiality and with any sound Judgment reads that Chapter it is there declared that as soon as Moses understood the Peoples readiness to enter into a Covenant with the Lord he wrote the Oracles and Laws of God in a Book and early in the Morning certain Ceremonies being performed he read to all the Congregation the Condition of the Covenant which being read and understood by all the People they with a general Consent obliged themselves to all that God Commanded so that considering the shortness of the time in which it was Written and the manner of making the Covenant the Book could contain no more then the few things I have mentioned Lastly it appears that Moses in the fortieth Year after their going out of Egypt explained all those Laws which he had prescribed as may be seen Deut. chap. 1. v. 5. and again obliged the People to the observance of them Deut. chap. 29. v. 14. and then wrote a Book which contained those Laws so explain'd and the New Covenant Chap. 31. v. 9. which was called the Book of the Law of God to which Ioshua made an Addition by registring that agreement whereby the People in his time obliged themselves and entered a third time into
Covenant with the Lord Iosh. chap. 24. v. 25 26. but because we have no Book extant either of the Covenant of Moses or Ioshua it must necessarily be granted that the Book perished unless we will be as mad as the Chaldee Paraphrast Ionatan and wrest the Scripture as we please for he being prest with this difficulty chose rather to corrupt the Scripture then confess his Ignorance for those words in the 26. v. of the 24. chap. of Iosh. Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the the Law of God c. he render'd thus in his Chaldee Translation And Ioshua wrote these words and kept them with the Book of the Law of God there is no medling with Men who will see nothing but what they list is not this denying what is Scripture and forging new at our pleasure We then conclude that this Book of the Law of God was not the Pentateuk but quite another which the Author of the Pentateuk hath orderly interwoven with his work as appears by what hath been and shall be further said where the forecited place in Deutronomy saith that Moses wrote a Book of the Law the Historian adds that he delivered it to the Priests and commanded them at certain set times to read it before all the People which implyes that the Book must be much less then the Pentateuk seeing at one meeting it might be read all over and understood by the People nor can we here forbear to observe that of all the Books Written by Moses this only of the second Covenant and his Song which he afterwards Writ for all the People to Learn he commanded to be Religiously kept because the first Covenant obliged only those that were present and the second not only all present but their posterity also Deut. chap. 29. v. 14 15. He therefore commanded this Book of the second Covenant to be carefully and Religiously preserved to future Ages and also his Song because future Ages were chiefly concern'd in it Seeing then it is not evident that Moses ever writ any Books beside the Book of the Law and his Song which he commanded to be kept and that many things in the Pentateuk could not be Written by him I conclude that no Man can upon any good ground but must altogether against reason make Moses the Author of the Pentateuk but some body may perhaps here ask whether Moses besides these Books did not write the Laws when they were first revealed to him that is whether in the space of forty Years he did not set down in Writing any of those Laws which he prescribed beside those few contain'd in the Book of the first Covenant to this I answer that tho' I should grant it to be very agreeable to reason that Moses should commit to Writing those Laws which he Communicated to the People at the same time and place when and where they were publisht yet I deny that it is lawful upon this Ground to affirm he did for I have already shewn we ought in like Cases to determin nothing but what is manifestly proved either by Scripture it self or by consequences drawn from the Principles of it and not because a thing seems Consonant to Reason for Reason it self doth not oblige us to be possitive It may be the Senate of Seventy Elders communicated to the People Moses's Edicts in writing which were afterwards collected by him that writ the Pentateuk and were orderly inserted into the History of Moses's Life and so much for the five Books of Moses It is now time to examin the rest the Book of Ioshuah for like Reasons could not be written by Ioshua it must be some other Person that gives so good a Character of him in several places of that Book Iosh. Chap. 6. v. 27. The Lord was with Ioshua and his Fame was noised throughout all the Country that he omitted nothing but did all that Moses commanded Chap. 8. v. 35. Chap. 11. v. 15. That he waxed Old called all the People together and at last dyed Moreover some things are related which happen'd after his Death namely that the People continued to worship God as long as the Old men lived who knew Ioshua In the 16. Chap. v. 10. It is said that Ephraim and Manasseh did not drive out the Cananites that dwelt in Gezur but the Cananites dwell among the Ephramites to this day and serve under Tribute Which is the same Expression we find in the first chap. of Iudges v. 21. But the Iebuzites dwell with the Children of Benjamin in Ierusalem unto this day Which manner of speaking implies the Writer relates what was long ago past as appears Iosh. Chap. 15. Verse the last the Iebuzites dwell with the Children of Iudah unto this day The same Expression is likewise used in the History of Kaleb beginning at the 13 th Verse of the said Chapter The building of an Altar beyond Iordan by the two Tribes and a half mention'd in the 22. Iosh. v. 10. In all Probability happen'd after Ioshuah's Death because in all that story there is not so much as one word said of him but the People only deliberated to make War sent Embassadors received and approved the Answer which was returned Lastly it appears by the 14 th Verse of the 10 th Chap. That the Book of Ioshua was written many Ages after his Death for the Text saith and there was no day like that before or after it that the Lord hearkened to the Voice of a Man If then Ioshua writ any Book it must be that of Iasher mentioned in the same story v. the 13 th As for the Book of Iudges I believe no Man in his right Wits will think it written by the Iudges themselves for the end of the History in the 2 d. Chap. clearly shews it was all written by one single Person who tells us in many places that in those days there was no King in Israel which is an argument it was written in a Time when the People had Kings Concerning the Books of Samuel there needs no deliberation seeing the History is carried on so far beyond his death but however let this be observed that this Book must be written many Ages after him for the Hestorian in the 1 st Book of Sam. Chap. 9. v. 9. saith in a parenthesis Before time in Israel when a Man went to inquire of God thus he spake come let us go to the Seer for he that is now called a Prophet was before time called a Seer The two Books of the Kings as appears by the Books themselves were collected out of what was written of the Reign of Solomon see the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 11. v. 5. And out of the Chronicles both of the Kings of Iudah and Israel chap. 14. v. 19 29. The rest of the Acts of Ieroboam how he warred and how he reigned behold they are written in the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah We therefore conclude that all the Books which
for divine Doctrins that Credulity was accounted Faith and Philosophical Controversies were maintaned both in Church and State with so much animosity and heat of dispute from whence I perceived that not only cruel hatred and dissention by which Men are easily stir'd up to sedition but many other mischeifs too tedious to be here mentioned took their beginning I resolved diligently to examin the Scripture a new with a free and unprejudiced mind and neither to affirm any thing positively of it or admit any thing to be it's Doctrine which was not clearly Demonstrated by it Under this caution I Composed a method of interpreting the Sacred Volums and furnisht with it I began in the first place to inquire what Prophesy was why God revealed himself to the Prophets and whether they were acceptable to God because they had sublime thoughts and notions of God and Nature or only for their Piety These things being known I could easily determin that the Authority of the Prophets was of greatest weight in things relating to real vertue and to the use and benefit of Life but in other matters their opinions did very little concern us This being likewise known I further inquired what it was for which the Iews were called Gods chosen People and when I perceived it was only because God chose out for them a particular part and climate of the World where they might live conveniently and securely I thereby also learnt that the Laws revealed by God to Moses were nothing else but the Statutes of that particular government of the Iews and that none but the Iews were bound to receive them yea that the very Jews themselves were not bound by them any longer then their Government continued That I might know whether it can be concluded from Scripture that the understanding of of Mankind is depraved by Nature I inquired whether the Catholic Religion or the Divine Law revealed to all Mankind by the Prophets and Apostles were any other then that which natural Reason teacheth and Lastly whether Miracles happen contrary to the order of Nature and whether they do more certainly and clearly prove the Being and Providence of God then those things do which we clearly and distinctly understand by their first Causes but when I could find nothing in whatever the Scripture expresly teacheth disagreable or repugnant to human understanding and when I likewise saw that the Prophets taught nothing but what was plain and might easily be understood and that they adorn'd and confirm'd their Doctrin with such a Style and such reasons as they thought would most affect the minds of the multitude with Devotion towards God I was fully perswaded that the Scripture left reason perfectly free and had nothing to do with Philosophy but that each stood on its own basis But that I might plainly demonstrate these things and put an end to the whole matter I shew which way the Scripture is to be interprepreted and that all its knowledge of things Spiritual is to be drawn from it self and not from those things which we know by the light of nature Then I pass on to shew those prejudices which spring from thence and that the common People addicted to Superstition prizing the reliques of time above eternity do rather adore the Books of the Scripture than the very word of God it self After this I shew the revealed word of God not to be any certain number of Books but a simple knowledge of Gods will revealed to the Prophets that is to obey God with the whole heart by practising Justice and Charity I shew that the Scripture teacheth this according to the capacity and opinions of those to whom the Prophets and Apostles were sent to Preach this Word which they did that Men without any reluctancy might cordially embrace it The Fundamentals of Faith being discovered I Lastly conclude the object of revealed knowledge to be nothing else but obedience and so distinct from natural knowledge as well in respect of its object as its foundations and means that it hath nothing in common with it but each maintains its own proper dominion without any mutual disagreement and that neither ought to be subservient or a hand-maid to the other Moreover because the dispositions of Men are very different one being possest with this and another with that opinion and that which moveth one Man to Devotion provokes another to Laughter every one ought to have the Liberty of his own judgment and the Power of interpreting the Principles of Faith according to his own reason and that no Mans Faith is to be justified or condemned but only by his Works so that all Men may obey God with Freedom of mind and only Righteousness and Charity be in esteem After I have by these things shewed the Liberty granted by God's revealed Law to all Men I go on to the other part of the question which is that this Liberty may be allow'd without any prejudice to the Peace of a Common-wealth or to the Rights of the Supream Powers nor can it be taken away without great detriment and danger both to peace and the whole republick To demonstrate this I begin from every Mans natural right which reacheth so far as every Mans Desire and Power can extend it self and no Man by the Law of Nature is bound to live according to another Mans Will or Inclination but every Man is the assertor of his own Liberty Further I shew that no Man departs from this right but he that transfers the Power of defending himself to another and that he must necessarily and absolutely be the keeper of that right upon whom every one hath devolved his own natural right of living as he pleaseth together with the Power of Defending himself and from hence I prove that they who are possest of the Supream Power have right to all things within their Power and that they only are the Protectors of Law and Liberty all other Men being obliged to Act according to their determinations and Decrees but because no Body can so far deprive himself of his Power of defending himself as to cease from being a Man I thence conclude that no Man can be totally deprived of his natural right but that Subjects do still retain by the Law of Nature many things which cannot be taken from them without very great danger to Government Those things being granted to be their rights either by tacit implication or by express agreement and stipulation made between them and their Governours These things being considered I passon to the Commonwealth of the Iews which I fully enough describe shewing upon what Reason and by whose Decree Religion first began to obtain the force of a Law touching upon some other things by the By which seem worthy to be known After this I shew that they who have the supreme Power are not only Protectors and Interpreters of the Civil but also of the Divine Law and that in them only is the right of Judging what is
just or unjust pious or impious And then I conclude that that Right is best maintained and the Government most safe where every Man hath free liberty to think and speak what he thinks These are the things Philosophical Reader which I offer to thy examination believing they will be acceptable to thee for the Excellency and Utility of the Subject as well of the whole Book as of every single Chapter to which many things might be added but to this Preface I do not intend the Dimensions of a Volum the chief things in it are sufficiently known to Philosophers to others I care not to commend this Treatise because I have not the least hope they will like it I know how fast those Prejudices stick which the mind of Man hath embraced under the form of Religion I known also 't is as impossible to root out Superstition as Fear out of the Minds of the common People whose constancy is but contumacy and are never to be govern'd by Reason but always rashly praise or dispraise The Vulgar therefore and all of like Affections with them I do not invite to read these things I had rather they should contemn the Book then be troublesome by making perverse Constructions of it as they use to do of all other things not profiting themselves but hindring others who would reason more like Phylosophers did they not think Reason ought to be but a Hand-maid to Divinity To Men of that Opinion I think this Work extreamly useful but because many have neither mind or leisure to read these things I am forced here as well as in the end of the Treatise to declare I have written nothing which I do not willingly submit to the Examination and Judgment of the chief Rulers of my Country For if they shall think any thing I say repugnant to the Laws or public Peace of it I willingly unsay and recant it I know my self a Man Subject to Mistake but I have taken the greatest Care I could not to Err and particularly that whatever I write may in all things be consonant to the Laws of my Country and agreeable to Piety and good Manners A TABLE Of the several CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF Prophesy CHAP. II. Of Prophets CHAP. III. Of the calling of the Jews and whether the Gift of Prophesy were peculiar only to the Jews CHAP. IV. Of the Divine Law. CHAP. V. The reason why Ceremonies were instituted of the belief of Scripture-Histories why and to whom it is necessary CHAP. VI. Of Miracles CHAP. VII Of the Interpretation of Scripture CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentatenk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XIV Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XV. How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVI No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XVIII That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XIX That in a free Commonwealth it is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentateuk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII Shews that Scripture teacheth nothing but what is very plain intending nothing but Mens Obedience neither doth it teach or declare any other thing of the divine Nature then what a Man may in a right Course of Life in some degree imitate CHAP. XIV What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XV. Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XVI How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVII No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVIII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XIX That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XX. That in a free Commonwealth it
those that lived in his days and therefore 't is likely this was the Book of the Law of God which he set forth and expounded and I likewise believe it the first of all those Books he wrote because it contains the Laws of his Country which the People extreamly wanted and also because this Book is with no Antecedent Connexion joyned to another but without any kind of reference begins thus These be the Words of Moses And after he finished this Book and taught the People the Laws I believe he applyed himself to compose the whole History of the Iewish Nation from the Creation of the World to the first Destruction of the City Ierusalem inserting this Book of Deutronomy in its proper Place and perhaps to the first five Books gave the Name of Moses because his Life is the Principal Subject of them for the same reason he called the Sixth Book by the Name of Ioshuah the Seventh Iudges the Eighth Ruth the Ninth and perhaps the Tenth Samuel the Eleventh and Twelfth Kings but whether Esdras perfected them as he desired with his own Hand inquire in the next Chapter CHAP. IX Whether Esdras perfected the Books which we suppose he wrote and whether the Marginal Notes which are found in the Hebrew Copies be divers readings HOW much the inquiry made in the former Chapter concerning the Pen-Man of the Books therein mentioned may conduce to the perfect understanding of them will be easily guess'd by those Places only which we have quoted to make good our Opinion in this Point which places would otherwise have seemed very obscure but beside the Writer there are other things observable in the Books themselves which Common Superstition will not suffer the vulgar to discern The cheifest of them is that Esdras whom I will suppose to be the Writer of the foresaid Books till some body shew me another more likely to pen them did not with his own Hand perfect the Relations which the Books contain but did only collect the Histories out of several writers and sometimes only copying them out left them to Posterity neither examin'd nor put into any Order but what should hinder him from compleatly finishing his Work unless it were untimely death I cannot conjecture we have indeed no Antient intire Iewish Histories but out of a few fragments left us it is evident that Esdras as I have already said gather'd his stories from several Writers and left them very confused and imperfect The History of Ezekiah as it is found written from the Relation of Isaiah the Prophet in the Second Book of Kings chap. 18. v. 17. is recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and the story in the Chronicles see Book the 2 d. Chap. 32. v. 32. We find related almost in the same words very few excepted as it is in the forenamed Chapter of the Book of Kings from whence nothing else can be concluded but that there were divers readings of Isaiah's Relation unless some will also here dream of Misteries Moreover the last Chapter of this Book of the Kings is contained in the last Chapter of the Prophet Ieremy and we find likewise the 7 th Chap. of the Second Book of Samuel in the 17 th Chap. of the first Book of Chronicles but the words in divers places so much changed that it may be easily known the two Chapters were taken out of two different Copies of the History written by the Prophet Nathan Lastly The Genealogy of the Kings of Edom which we have Gen. Chap. 36. from v. 31 th Is set down in the same words in the 1 st Chap. of the 1 st Book of Chron. Beginning at the 43 th Verse Now tho' it be evident that the Author of the Book of Chronicles took the things which he related out of other Historians yet he had them not out of the Twelve Books which we believe were written by Esdras and without doubt had we the Original Histories it would so appear but because we have them not let us examin the Histories as they now are observing their Order and Connexion their various Repetitions and their disagreement in Calculation of Time that we may judge of other things Consider first the History of Iudah and Thamar Gen. Chap. 38. The Historian begins his Narration in these words And it came to pass at that time that Iudah went down from his Brethren Which time must necessarily have reference to some other time of which he had immediately spoken before but to that time spoken of in the preceding Chapter of Genesis it could have no Relation for from the time that Ioseph was carried into Egypt until Iacob the Patriarch went down thither with all his Family there passed but twenty two Years for Ioseph when he was Sold by his Brethren was but Seventeen Years Old and when he was sent for out of Prison by Pharaoh but Thirty to which if the Seven Years of Plenty and Two of Famin be added they make up in all no more than Two and Twenty in which space of time no Man can conceive so many things should happen namely that Iudah should successively have three Sons of which the Eldest should at a fit Age marry Thamar and he dying the Second Brother should take her to Wife who also dyed and that sometime after this happen'd Iudah himself should ignorantly lye with his own Daughter in-Law Thamar and have two Children by her at one Birth whereof one likewise should within the aforesaid time of two and twenty Years become a Father Seeing then all these things cannot be referr'd to the time spoken of in Genesis but must necessarily relate to some other time spoken of in some other Book Esdras must therefore only Copy out this Story and unexamin'd add it to others but not only this Chapter but likewise the whole Story of Ioseph and Iacob must necessarily be taken out of several Historians so little congruity is there in it for the 48 th Chap. of Gen. tells us that when Ioseph brought his Father Iacob to Pharaoh Iacob was an hundred and thirty Years Old from which deduct twenty two which he passed in Mourning for the loss of Ioseph and seventeen which was Ioseph's Age when he was Sold with seven which he served for Rachel it will appear that he was fourscour and four Years Old when he Marryed Leah and that on the other side Dinah was scarce seven Years Old when she was Ravisht by Sechem and Simeon and Levi not fully eleven and twelve Years of Age when they Assaulted the City of Sechem and put all the People of it to the Sword. There is no need of particularizing all things of this kind in the Pentateuk if this only be consider'd that in the five Books all the Precepts and Historical Relations are promiscuously set down without any order without any regard had to time and that one and the same History is often and sometimes diversly repeated it must be granted that all these things were
are deep Mysteries hidden in the Scripture but because from thence hath sprung up intollerable Superstition and many other mischievous inconveniences of which I spake in the beginning of the seventh Chapter I could not possibly pass them by Religion needs not be attired with any Superstitious Ornaments but rather loseth part of its Beauty and Lustre when it is adorned with such Fopperies But some will say That tho' the Divine Law be written in Mens Hearts yet nevertheless the Scripture is the word of God and therefore 't is as unlawful to say of Scripture as of the Word of God that 't is maimed or corrupted I on the other side fear such Men pretend too much Sanctity and convert Religion into Superstition yea that they worship Pictures and Images that is Paper and Ink for the Word of God this I know that I have said nothing misbecoming the Scripture or the Word of God and that I have laid down no Position which I have not made good by clear Reason and therefore I may positively aver that I have not publish'd any thing that is impious or that savors of the least impiety I confess some prophane persons to whom Religion is a burthen may take a liberty of sinning and without any reason indulging their sensual pleasure may infer that the Scripture is every where faulty and falsify'd and consequently of no Authority to such Men nothing will be an answer for according to the common saying that which is never so well and truly spoken may be abused by an ill and sinister Interpretation they that are lovers of their Pleasure will take any occasion to do it and they who in time past had those Originals the Ark of the Covenant the Prophets and Apostles themselves were not one jot the more obedient or the better for them but all as well Iews as Gentiles were alike still the same and Vertue in all Ages was a thing very rare But to clear all Scruples I will now shew upon what ground and reason Scripture or any other mute thing may be called Sacred or Holy next what is indeed the Word of God that it is not contained in a certain number of Books And lastly that as it contains those things which are necessary to Obedience and Salvation it cannot be corrupted By these particulars every one may easily judge that I speak nothing against the Word of God or give any occasion for Men to be wicked or ungodly That is called Holy and Divine which is dedicated to Piety and the practice of Religion and a thing continues Holy so long as Men make a Religious use thereof when Men cease to be Religious that thing ceaseth to be Sacred and when the thing is used to impious purposes then that thing which was before Sacred becomes unholy and prophane For example the very place called by Iacob the Patriarch Beth-el the House of God because he there worship'd God reveal'd to him was afterwards called by the Prophets the House of Iniquity Amos chap. 5. v. 5. Hoshea chap. 10. v. 5. because the Israelites by the Command of Ieroboam did there sacrifice to Idols Another example will plainly prove the thing Words have a certain signification only by use and custom and if they be according to that use so disposed that they move Men who read them to Devotion then those words are esteemed Sacred and likewise the Book wherein they are written but if afterward it come to pass that the use of those words is lost and thereby the words become insignificant and the Book wherein such words are is quite neglected and laid aside either through malice or because Men have no need of it then the words and the Book as they are of no use so have they no Sanctity in them Lastly If those words come to be otherwise construed and Custom so far prevail as to give them a clean contrary sense and signification then the words and the Book which were before esteemed Sacred may become filthy and profane whence it follows that nothing can be absolutely either Sacred or Profane but only in respect of Mans Mind or Understanding which clearly appears by many places of Scripture I will quote only one or two Ieremy chap. 7. v. 24. saith the Iews did falsely call Solomon's Temple the Temple of God for as he further saith in that Chapter the Name of God could remain in that Temple no longer than it was frequented by Men who worship'd him and maintain'd Justice but when Murderers Robbers and Idolaters resorted to it 't was then but a Den of Thieves I have often wonder'd that the Scripture no where declares what became of the Ark of the Covenant certainly it was either lost or burnt with the Temple tho' nothing was esteemed more Sacred and Venerable among the Iews The Scripture then is Sacred and its sayings Divine so long as Men are thereby moved to Devotion but if the Scripture be quite neglected as it was heretofore by the Iews it is nothing but Paper and Ink 't is then profaned and left liable to Corruption and when it is corrupted and perisheth it cannot be truly said the Word of God is corrupted and lost as in the Prophet Ieremy's time it could not be truly said the Temple of God was burnt which Ieremy himself declareth of the Law for chap. 8. v. 8. he reproves the Wicked in these words How do ye say we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us Lo certainly in vain made he it the Pen of the Scribes is in vain that is tho' ye have the Scripture yet ye falsely say you have the Law of God since ye have made it of no effect In like manner when Moses brake the first Tables it cannot be said that in anger he cast the Law of God out of his Hands and brake it no person ought to think so he brake only the Stones which tho' before accounted Sacred because upon them was engraven the Covenant by which the Iews bound themselves to obey God yet afterward had not the least Sanctity in them because the People by worshiping the Golden Calf made that Covenant void For the same cause the second Tables with the Ark wherein they were kept might likewise perish 'T is no wonder then if none of those Originals are to be found or that the like should befal the Books we have when the very Original of Gods Law the most Sacred of all things is utterly lost Let Men then forbear to charge me with impiety seeing I have spoken nothing against the Word of God nor have any way profaned it if their anger be just let it be vented against the people of old whose wickedness prophaned and destroyed the Ark of God the Temple the Law and all things else that were Sacred If according to the 2 d Epist. to the Corinth chap. 3. v. 3. The Epistle of Christ were written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables
Levites Deut. chap. 21. v. 15. who had no administration or part in the Government with the rest but all their Honour and Fortune depended upon their truly and rightly interpreting the Law. Moreover all the people were commanded once in every seven years to assemble together in one place where the High Priest read and expounded to them the Laws and likewise every particular person was obliged constantly with great care to read over the Book of the Law See Deut. chap. 21. v 9. and chap. 6. v. 7. The Princes and Rulers therefore for their own sakes were to take good heed that they did all things according to the known Prescription and Rules of the Law if they expected any Honour from the People who would then reverence them as God's Ministers and Vicegerents otherwise they must expect the Universal Hatred of the People which was a sort of Divine Vengeance Another thing which very much bridled the Exorbitant Power and Lust of their Princes was their Militia's being formed out of their own People none from Twenty to Sixty excepted it not being in the Prince's Power to levy or keep in Pay any Forreign Forces This I say was a thing of great Consequence for Princes cannot possibly oppress their Subjects without Forces in continual Pay and Princes fear nothing so much as the Power of their own armed Subjects by whose Valour Labour and Expence of Blood the Glory and Liberty of a Kingdom is purchast and secured Therefore Alexander when he was to fight a second Battel against Darius hearing Parmenio give Advice which did not please him Quintus Curtius in his Fourth Book says Alexander would not check Parmenio again though he had upbraided Alexander more bitterly than was expedient but fell upon Polyperchon who was of Parmenio's Opinion Nor could Alexander oppress the Liberty of the Macedonians which he most feared till after he had out of the Prisoners he took formed Troops that out-numbred his own People that being done he did what he pleas'd being before restrain'd by the Liberty which the best of his own Subjects enjoy'd And if this Liberty of Armed Subjects in other Governments be a Bridle to Princes who ascribe to themselves the Glory of all Victories it was certainly a much greater Curb to the Princes of the Iewish Tribes whose Soldiers fought not for the Glory of their Prince but the Glory of God and ventur'd no Battles till they received an Answer from God. What is more to be observed is That all the Princes of the Iews were associated and linked together by a Religious Covenant so that if any one forsook the publick Religion and offer'd to violate every man's Divine Right they might justly account him a publick Enemy and destroy him Thirdly Another thing which kept the Iewish Princes within bounds was the fear of a New Prophet For if any man of an unblameable Life and Conversation could by some certain signs prove himself a Prophet that Prophet had presently Right to the supreme Power in the same manner that Moses himself had by Revelation and not as the Princes who were to consult God by the High Priest and without doubt such Prophets could easily make the Oppressed People of their Party and by some little signs perswade them to what they pleas'd But when Justice was duely administred the Prince could make such timely provision that the Prophet should so far submit to his Judgment as to be strictly examined whether his Life and Conversation were good Whether the signs of his Mission were true And lastly Whether that which he prophesied in the Name of the Lord were agreeable to the Religion and Laws of the Country If the Signs he gave failed or if his Doctrine were new he might by the Authority of the Prince be justly condemn'd or else approved and received Fourthly The Prince could not claim the Power of governing upon the account of being more Nobly descended than others but had Right to it only by Seniority of Age and Merit Lastly The Princes and all the Army had as much Reason to desire Peace as War for the Militia being composed only of Iewish Subjects the same persons that were Soldiers managed Affairs in times of Peace he that was a Commander in the Field was in the Tribunal a Judge and he that was a General in the Camp was a Prince in the City Therefore none could desire War for Wars sake but only to enjoy Peace and to defend their Subjects Liberties Perhaps the Prince abstain'd as much as was possible from Innovations that he might not attend and wait on the High Priest which he might think beneath his Dignity So much for the Reasons which kept the Princes within bounds Let us now see what kept the People to their Duty The Principles of the Government will make this clear for whosoever considers them will find they begot so much Affection in the Hearts of the People that it was impossible any man should think of betraying or deserting his Countrey but must be so much affected with it that he would suffer any Extremities rather than be subject to any other Forreign Government For after they transferr'd their Power upon God acknowledging their Kingdom to be the Kingdom of God and believed they only were the Children of God and all other Nations God's Enemies believing their mortal Hatred against them to be Piety See Psal. 139. v. 21 22. They could abhor nothing more than swearing Fidelity and promising Obedience to Strangers nor could any thing be thought so execrable and abominable as betraying their Countrey that is the Kingdom of that God they worship'd It was counted an horrible Offence to go out of their Countrey to live because they would not celebrate the Worship of God to which they were strictly obliged any where but in their own Land which was therefore called the Holy Land and every part of the Earth beside esteemed by them profane and unclean Therefore David being forced by Saul to fly his Country complains in these words 1 Sam. chap. 26. v. 19. If they be the children of men that have stirred thee up against me cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying go serve other Gods. This was the Reason which is very worthy Observation that no Iewish Subject was ever condemn'd to Banishment He that sins deserves to be punish't but his punishment oughr not to be a sin The Affection which the Iews had for their Countrey was not simply Love but Piety which with their Hatred to other Nations was so augmented by their daily Worship that it became natural to them for their daily Worship was not only different from but absolutely contrary to that of all other Nations and was the Reason they did not only live unmixt but separate from them Continual Reproach must necessarily beget perpetual Hatred and there is no Hatred so great and lasting as that which is grounded upon
A TREATISE PARTLY THEOLOGICAL And Partly POLITICAL Containing some few DISCOURSES To prove that the Liberty of PHILOSOPHIZING that is Making Use of Natural Reason may be allow'd without any prejudice to Piety or to the Peace of any Common-wealth And that the Loss of Public Peace and Religion it self must necessarily follow where such a Liberty of Reasoning is taken away John Epist. 1 st chap. 4 th v. 13 th Hereby know we that we dwell in God and God in us because he hath given us of his Spirit Translated out of Latin. LONDON Printed in the Year 1689. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Gentleman that turn'd the following Treatise Written Originally in Latin into English did it at spare Hours only to divert and please himself and therefore cares not who is displeased with his having done it There are certainly some who will pass very severe Censures upon this Treatise but that will not at all concern the Translator who is not bound to make good the Authors Opinions being only obliged to justify that the Version hath truly and faithfully tho' not every where Word for Word render'd the Authors Sense and Meaning Religion and Government being the Subject Matter of the Book 't is easy to guess what Sort of Men are like to decry it but let those who are angry and find fault with it answer it In the mean time the Crape Gown and the Long Robe are both defied to prove there are any Tenets in the whole Treatise half so dangerous or destructive to the Peace and Welfare of human Society as those Doctrins and Maxims are which have of late Years been broached by time-serving Church-men and Mercenary Lawyers for which they justly deserve the hatred and contempt of all Mankind Nothing more needs be said to any Reader than to desire he will deliberately read the Book twice over before he condemn or commend it when that is done whether he like or dislike the Treatise it self or the Translation of it shall be all one to him who never valued himself upon other Peoples Opinions nor did ever think any part of his Reputation depended upon the Iudgment of Fools or Knaves THE PREFACE WEre it in the Power of Men to govern all their Affairs by sure and infallible Councel or could Mankind always live in a constant course of Prosperity there would be no such thing in the World as Superstition but because Men many times fall into straights out of which no Councel can deliver them and by immoderately coveting the uncertain Goods of Fortune miserably Fluctuate between hope and fear those two Passions easily driving the doubtful mind of Man hither and thither render it prone to believe any thing whereas otherwise it is over Confident Proud and Vain-glorious And of this tho' few know themselves there is scarce any Body ignorant Do we not daily see many weak Men during prosperity so wise in their own conceit that they think Councel an Affront but in adversity when they know not which way to turn themselves begging every Bodies Advice and there is not any be it never so vain foolish and absurd which they will not follow upon very light grounds they will also hope the best and presently again fear the worst whatever happens during their fears which puts them in mind of any past good or evil that they think Prognosticates good or bad Fortune and tho' they be a hundred times deceived count it a lucky or unlucky Omen Whatever is strange and unwonted begets their Wonder and looking upon it as a prodigy say it portends almighty God's Anger for the pacification whereof Men given up to superstition but Enemies to true Religion think it horrible Impiety not to make Prayers and Oblations and to that end fancying a Thousand things as if nature it self were as perfectly distracted as they make strange Interpretations of her Meaning This then being the condition of Mankind we find those Persons most addicted to all kind of superstition who greedily desire those things with are uncertain and every one of them especially when they are in danger and cannot help themselves with Vows and Womanish Tears imploring Divine Assistance calling reason because it cannot shew them a certain way to the vanities they desire Blind and human Wisdom Folly but on the contrary believe dreams dotages of the Imagination and Childish Follies to be divine Oracles saying that God despiseth the Wisdom of the Wise and hath not Written his Will in the mind of Man but on the entrails of Beasts and that Ideots Lunaticks and Birds by divine inspiration and instinct can foretel his Decrees so mad hath Fear made Men. And as Superstition hath its Original from Fear so is it kept up and continued by it of which Truth if any Man desire beside what hath been said any particular Examples let him read the 5 th Book and 4 th Decade of Quintus Curtius where he will find Alexander the Great applying himself to Diviners and Prophets when he first began to doubt his Fortune at the Straights of Susa but after the Conquest of Darius never more consulting them till terrified with the revolt of the Bactrians and with the Scythians provoking him to Battle when he lay wounded he returns again to the Folly of human Superstition and commands Aristander to whom he gave much credit to inquire by Sacrifices what was like to be the event of his Affairs and to this purpose many Examples may be produced all which would clearly shew that Men are most troubled with Superstitious Fancies during their Fears and all those things which they have so vainly and religiously rever'd are nothing but the false representations and dotages of a Mellancholly and timerous Mind And Lastly that they who pretend to prediction are much in request with the common People and most feared by Kings and Princes when a Kingdom is in any great distress or calamity but because these things are so vulgarly known I pass them by Fear then being the cause of Superstition it clearly follows that all Men are naturally inclin'd and subject to it whatever others say who think it proceeds from a certain imperfect confused knowledg Men have of a Deity It follows likewise that Superstition must of necessity be very various and inconstant because all ridiculous Follies of the Mind Fits of Frenzy yea Superstition it self cannot be maintained but by Hope Hatred Anger and Deceit it proceeding not from Reason but Passion and that too very violent As therefore Men easily fall into all sorts of Superstition so on the contrary it is very difficult to make them continue in any one kind because the common People being all times alike miserable are never long quiet but still most pleased with that which is new and never yet deceived them which inconstancy hath been the cause of many Tumults and cruel Wars and as Quintus Curtius in his 4 th Book and 10 th Decad hath very well observed nothing so absolutely governs the
is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. I. Concerning Prophesy PRophesy or Revelation is the true Knowledge of any thing revealed to Men by God and he is a Prophet who declares and expounds those things which God hath revealed to Persons that cannot have any certain knowledge of those Revelations but must therefore only by mere Faith receive and embrace them A Prophet was by the Iews called Nabi that is an Orator or Interpreter as appears in the 7 th chap. of Exodus v. 1 st And the Lord said unto Moses see I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet as if he should have said Aron by Interpreting to Pharaoh what thou say'st shall Act the Part of a Prophet and thou the Part of God. We will speak of Prophets in the next Chapter but in this only of Prophesy It follows from the definition which hath been given of it that Natural knowledge may be called Prophesy for those things which we know by the light of nature depend only upon the knowledge of God and his Eternal decrees but because this knowledge is natural to all Mankind being founded upon Principles common to all Men 't is of no value with the vulgar who always affecting things rare and out of their Road despise the Gifts of Nature and therefore whereever mention is made of Prophetical knowledge they totally exclude Natural which may with as much right be called Divine as the other whatever it be seeing the Nature of God of which we participate and the decrees of God dictate it unto us neither doth Natural knowledge differ from that which Men call Divine but only because Divine knowledge exceedeth the Limits of Natural and because the Laws of Humane Nature considered in themselves cannot be the cause of Divine knowledge but Natural knowledge in respect of the certainty which it includes and in respect of the Fountain from whence it proceeds namely from God himself doth in no wise give place to Prophetical knowledge unless some will think or rather dream that the Prophets had Humane Bodies but not Humane Souls and therefore their perceptions and knowledge were of a quite different Nature from ours But though natural knowledge be Divine yet they that possess and propagate it cannot be called Prophtes because the things which they teach may with equal certainty and in as high a degree be Apprehended and Embraced by others as well as by themselves and that too not by Faith only Since therefore our Mind for no other reason but only because it containeth in it self the Nature of God as its Object and also participating thereof is able to Form certain Notions which explicate the Nature of things and teach us the use of Life we may with reason conclude that the Nature of Man's mind being what 't is conceived to be is the prime Cause of Divine Revelation for all those things which we clearly and distinctly understand the Idea of God as we have already shewn and Nature dictate to us not in words but in a much more excellent manner and such as best suites with the Nature of the Mind as every one finds by his own experience who hath but tasted what certain knowledge is but because my cheif purpose is to speak of those things which belong only to the Scripture that little I have said of Natural knowledge shall suffice and I now proceed to other causes and means by which God reveals to Men those things which do exceed and also those which do not exceed the bounds of Natural knowledge for nothing hinders but that those things which we know by the Light of Nature God may by other ways communicate to Men of which now I will more fully Treat But whatsoever is said upon this Subject ought to be fetcht only from Scripture for we can say no more of things that pass our understanding then that which the Prophets have deliver'd to us either by word or writing and because we have not any Prophets that I know in these our days all that we have to do is diligently to peruse the Sacred Volums which the Prophets have left us but still with this caution that we determin nothing positively of things of this Nature nor attribute any thing to the Prophets themselves which they have not plainly spoken and taught But it is in the first place to be observed that the Iews never used to make mention of mediate and particular Causes nor ever regarded them but for the promoting of Religion Piety and Devotion had always recourse to God for Example if they got Money by the Trade of Merchandizing they said God gave it if they earnestly desired to do any thing they said God disposed their Hearts to it if they seriously thought on any thing they said it was declared to them by God so that every thing which the Scripture saith God declared to any one is not to be taken for Prophesy and Supernatural knowledge but that only which the Scripture expresly declares or from the Circumstances of the narration plainly appears to be Prophesy and Revelation If then we run through all the Sacred Volums we shall find that all those things which God revealed to the Prophets were revealed to them either by words or by Figures and Signs or else by both together and that the words and Signs were either real and true without the imagination of the hearing and seeing Prophet or but imaginary that is the fancy and imagination of the Prophet even when he was awake was so disposed that he verily thought he heard words or saw and beheld some thing or sign God in a true and real voice revealed those Laws to Moses which he prescribed to the Iews as appears by the 25 th chap. of Exod. v. 22. where he saith And there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy Seat from between thee two Cherubims which plainly shews that God made use of some real voice seeing Moses where-ever he pleased found God ready to speak to him and that only this voice by which the Law was Published was a true and real voice I will presently shew One would think that the voice by which God called Samuel was real because in the first Book of Sam. the 3 d. chap. and last verse it is said The Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord as if he had said the appearance of God to Samuel was nothing else but Gods making known himself to him by word or signifyed no more then that Samuel heard God speaking but because we are forced to distinguish between the Prophesy of Moses and that of the other Prophets it must be concluded that the voice heard by Samuel was but imaginary because it was like the voice of Ely which he had so often heard and therefore the sooner
know that God was Omniscient and that Human Actions were govern'd by his Decrees for tho' God told him Exod. chap. 3. v. 8. That the Israelites would hearken to his Voice yet Moses doubted and said in the 1 st verse of the 4 th chapter What if they will not believe me nor hearken to my Voice And therefore God was revealed to him as indifferent and ignorant of Mens future Actions for he gave unto him two Signs and said Exod. chap. 4. v. 8 9. And if it shall come to pass they will not believe thee nor hearken to the Voice of the first Sign they will believe the Voice of the latter Sign but if they will not believe the latter Sign then take of the Water of the River c. And indeed if a Man will without prejudice consider the Opinions of Moses it will clearly appear that Moses thought God a Being that always was is and ever shall be and therefore called him Iehovah which in Hebrew expresseth those three times of existing but of his Nature he declared no more then that he was very merciful kind and very jealous as appears in many Places of the Pentateuch He believed and taught also that this Being was so different from all other Beings that he could not be exprest by the likeness of any other visible Thing that he was invisible not because he thought beholding him was in it self impossible but only in respect of Human Frailty he thought also that this Being was in regard of his own Power single and but one he allow'd that there were other Beings which by the Order and Command of God were God's Substitutes and Vicegerents that is Beings to whom God gave Power and Authority to govern Nations to provide for and take care of them but Moses declared the Being which the Iews were bound to worship to be the most high God that is in the Hebrew Phrase the God of all Gods therefore Moses in his Song Exod. chap. 15. v. 11. saith who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods and Iethro Exod. chap. 18. v. 11. saith Now I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods that is I must acknowledge with Moses that Iehovah is greater then all Gods and of Singular Power but whether Moses believed that the Beings which were God's Vicegerents were created by God may be doubted since he said nothing that we know of their Creation or Original Another of Moses's Doctrines was that this being out of a Chaos Gen. chap. 1 st v. 2. brought this Visible World into Form and Order furnished Nature with the Seeds of all things and therefore hath absolute Power and Authority over all things as it is Deut. chap. 10. v. 14 15. And by that absolute Power chose the Iewish Nation for himself and appointed a Particular Place of the Earth for their Habitation Deut. chap. 4. v. 19. and chap. 32. v. 8. But other Nations and Countries he left to the care of other Gods substituted by him and therefore God was called the God of Israel and the God of Ierusalem 2 d. Book of Chron. chap. 32. v. 19. And other Gods were called the Gods of the Nations For this Reason the Jews believed that the Country which God chose for them required a particular and different worship of God from that of other Countries nor would they suffer the worship of other Gods or any worship proper to other Countries to be exercised amongst them it was believed that the People whom the King of Assyria brought into the Country of the Iews were devoured by Lyons because they knew not the manner of the worship of the God of the Land 2 d. Book of Kings chap. 17. v. 24 25. It is the Opinion of Aben Ezra that Iacob upon this Ground when he was about returning into his own Country commanded his Sons to put away the Gods of the Land in which they were and prepare themselves for a new Way of Worship Gen. chap. 35. v. 23. David told Saul because he was by Persecution compell'd to forsake his Country that he was driven out from the Inheritance of the Lord and sent to serve other Gods 1 st Book of Sam. chap. 26. v. 19. Lastly Moses believed that God had his Habitation in the Heavens Deut. chap. 33. v. 26 Which was a frequent Opinion among the Heathen Now if we carefully observe the Revelations of Moses we shall find them fitted and suited to those Conceptions and Opinions which he had of God because he believed that God's Nature was Gracious Merciful Longsuffering c. Therefore according to this Opinion and these Attributes was God revealed to him Exod. chap. 34. v. 6 7. Where it is declared why God appeared to him also Exod. chap. 20. v. 4 5. In Exod. chap. 33. v. 18. We read that Moses desired to see God but because Moses as hath been already said had formed in his imagination no Likeness or Figure of God and as I have already shewed God was not revealed to the Prophets but according to the disposition of their Fancy and Imagination therefore God appeared to him under no Image or Similitude and the Reason of it was because 't was repugnant and contrary to the imagination of Moses but other Prophets Isaiah Ezekiel and Daniel testify that they saw God. Moses was answered by God in the 20 th Verse of the 33. Chap. of Exod. thou canst not see my Face and because Moses believed that God was visible that is it imply'd no contradiction in the Divine Nature to be so else he had never made such a request therefore God also answer'd no Man shall see my Face and live giving a Reason suitable to Moses's Opinion for God did not say that his Divine Nature was in it self invisible and impossible to be seen as indeed it is but that it could not be seen because of human Weakness and Frailty After the Israelites had worshipt the Golden Calf that God might reveal to Moses the Israelites should become like other Nations God tells him Exod. Chap. 33. v. 2 3. that he would send an Angel that is a Being who instead of the supreme Being should take care of the Israelites but that he himself would be no more in the midst of them and from this Moses was to conclude that the Israelites were thenceforth not to be beloved by God any more then other Nations who were committed to the care of Angels or other Beings as appears by the 16 th Verse of the Chapter Lastly because Moses believed that God dwelt in Heaven therefore was God revealed as descending from Heaven upon Mount Sinai and Moses that he might speak with God ascended the Mount which he needed not to have done had he thought God to be in all places The Israelites knew very little of God tho' he was revealed to them as was sufficiently manifested by their bestowing on a Calf the Honour and Worship due to God and by saying to that Calf these be thy Gods
shall his Kingdom stand here Christ convinceth the Pharisees from their own Principles and Opinions who said he cast out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of Devils but we ought not to conclude that Christs Words are an absolute proof that there are Devils and a Kingdom of Devils So also when he said to his Disciples Matth. Chap. 18. v. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven by these Words Christ taught nothing more then that they ought not to be proud or despise any one whatever else was faid was only the better to perswade his Disciples the same may be said of the Signs and Discourses of the Apostles nor need we say more of this Subject because it would be extreamly tedious to Quote all those places of Scripture which are Writen only Ad hominem or according to Mens Capacity and with a great prejudice to Philosophy are maintain'd to be Divine Doctrines 'T is sufficient to have mention'd these few general ones the Curious Reader may himself examine the rest but seeing all those things which I have spoken concerning Prophets and Prophesy do directly concern the thing I aimed at which was to divide Philosophy from Theology yet because I have only touched upon the question generally I will now in the following Chapter inquire whether the Gift of Prophesy were peculiar only to the Iews or common to all Nations And also what is to be understood by the calling of the Iews CHAP. III. Of the calling of the Jews and whether the Gift of Prophesy were peculiar only to the Jews EVery Mans prosperity and true happiness consists only in the fruition of good but not in the glory that he alone and no other Person enjoys that good for whoever thinks himself the more happy because it is well with him when it is not so with other Men or because he is more fortunate and prosperous then others is ignorant what is true felicity and beatitude and the joy which ariseth from such a conceit is Childish and savors of an envious Evil Mind for example Mans true beatitude and felicity consists only in Wisdom and the knowledge of Truth but not in his being wiser then other Men or that other Men want true knowledge for that adds not at all to his Wisdom which is his true happiness he therefore that rejoyceth in being happyer then other Men takes Pleasure in their misfortune and is an envious Evil Man and he that is so never knew true Wisdom or the Peace of a good Life seeing therefore that the Scripture for the better perswading the Iews to obey the Law saith Deut. chap. 10 v. 19. that God chose them above all People and was nigher to them then to all other Nations Deut. chap. 4. v. 7. that he gave them Statutes and Laws more righteous and just then he did to other Nations as it is in the 8 th Verse of the same chap. and lastly that God made himself more known to them then to other People as it is in the 32 th verse of the 4 th chap. All this was spoken according to the capacity and understanding of those that did not know what was true blessedness as we have shewn in the foregoing Chapter and as Moses himself testifies in Deut. chap. 9. v. 6 7. for the Iews had not been less blessed tho' God had equally called all Men to Salvation nor had God been less gracious to them tho' he had been as nigh to other Nations their Laws had not been less righteous nor they less wise tho' the same had been prescribed to all other People and the Miracles done among them had not less declared Gods Power tho' the like had been wrought for other Nations nor had the Iews been the less obliged to serve and Worship God tho' God had equally given to all other Men the same Gifts which he bestow'd on them God's saying to Solomon in the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 3. v. 12. that none after him should be ever like him for understanding seems to be only a manner of speaking to declare the excellency of Solomons Wisdom what ever the words mean yet we ought not to believe that to increase Solomons happiness God promis'd never to make any Man so wise as he for that would not at all have made Solomons Wisdom greater neither would a wise King have given God the less thanks tho' God had said he would bestow as much Wisdom upon all other Men. But tho' we say that Moses in the forecited places of the Pentateuch spake according to the Capacity of the Iews yet we cannot deny but that God prescribed those Laws of the Pentateuch to the Iews only that he spoke only to them and that no other Nation ever saw such miracles as were wrought amongst them all that I intend is that Moses spake after such a manner and made use of such arguments the better to convince their Childish understandings and bind them the faster to the service and worship of God. Lastly we will shew that the Iews did not excel other Nations in knowledge or Piety but in some other thing or that I may with Scripture speak to their Capacity God did not make choise of the Iews above other Nations that their knowledge might be more sublime or their Lives more righteous then other Peopl's but for another end and purpose and what that was we will in order declare But before I begin I will in few words explain what I mean in that which follows by Gods disposing and direction what by Gods external and internal assistance what by Gods calling or Election And Lastly what I intend by fortune I take Gods disposing or direction to be the fixed order and immutable course of Nature or the Concatenation of Natural things and causes for we have already shewn that the universal Laws of Nature whereby all things are done and determin'd are nothing else but Gods eternal decrees which imply eternal verity and necessity therefore whether we say that all things are done and brought to pass according to the Laws of Nature or by the ordination and decree of God we say but one and the same thing because the Power of all Natural beings is nothing else but the Power of God by which all things were ordered and done it therefore follows that whatever Man who is a part of Nature doth for the preservation of his being or whatever Nature without any indeavour of his offers him for that end it is offered by the divine Power operating either by human Nature or by things without it so that whatever human Nature can perform by its own Power for self preservation that may be truly called Gods internal assistance and that benefit and advantage which Man receives from the Power of external causes may be justly termed Gods external help which fully explains what is
is most likely to incline him most religiously and heartily to serve God and of this mind was Iosephus for he concludes his Second Book of Antiquities with these words Neither ought any Man to marvel at this so wonderful discourse that thorow the Red Sea a passage should be found to save so many Persons in times past and they rude and simple whether it were done by the Will of God or that it chanced of it self since not long time ago God so thinking it good the Sea of Pamphilia divided it self to give way to Alexander King of Macedons Souldiers having no other passage to destroy the Empire of the Persians and this all acknowledge who have Written the Acts of Alexander and therefore of these things let every one think as he pleaseth Chap. VII Of the Interpretation of Scripture MOst Men acknowledge the Holy Scripture to be the Word of God which teacheth Mankind the way to true Happiness and Salvation but this Opinion hath so little influence upon Mens Lives that the common People take no care to regulate theirs according to the Doctrines of Scripture and every Man believing himself divinely inspired would under pretence of Religion compel all others to be of his Opinion We often see those whom we call Divines very solicitous to father their own Fancies upon Scripture and the Divine Authority thereof making no scruple with great boldness to interpret it and tell us what is the mind of the Holy Ghost When they meet with any difficulties they do not so much fear mistaking the Holy Spirits meaning and the right way to Salvation as to be found guilty of Error and by loosing their Authority to fall into contempt but if Men did heartily believe that which they profess concerning the Scriptures they would lead other kind of Lives there would not be half so much contention and hatred in the World as now there is nor would Men with so much Blind Zeal and boldness venture upon expounding Scripture and introduce so many novelties into Religion but on the contrary would be very cautious of maintaining any thing for Scripture Doctrine which is not manifestly contained in it and the Men who have not been affraid to adulterate Scripture in so many places would never have commited such impious Sacriledge But ambition and wickedness have so far prevailed that Religion doth now consist not so much in obeying the dictates of the Holy Spirit as in defending Mens own fantastical opinions Charity is now no part of Religion but discord and implacable hatred pass under the masque of Godly Zeal To these evils superstition hath joyned it self teaching Men to despise reason and nature and to admire and reverence that only which is repugnant to both 't is no wonder that Men to be thought the greater admirers of Scripture should Study so to expound it that it may seem contradictory both to nature and reason and therefore dream of profound misteries hidden in it which misteries that is their own obsurdities they labour and weary themselves to find out and neglecting things which are of most use ascribe to the Holy Spirit all the Dotages of their own imagination and with much heat and passion endeavor to defend their own idle conceits Whatever is the result of Mens understanding that Men endeavor to maintain by clear and pure reason but all opinions derived from their passions and affections must be defended by them to avoid these troubles and to free our minds from all Theological prejudices that we may not rashly receive the Foolish inventions of Men for the Doctrins of God I will now treat of a right method of interpreting Scripture of which method whoever is ignorant he can never certainly know the true Sense and meaning either of the Scripture or the Holy Ghost I say in few Words that the method of interpreting Scripture doth not differ from the method of interpreting nature for as the method of explaining nature cheifly consists in framing a History thereof from whence as from undeniable concessions shall follow the definitions of natural things so likewise to expound Scripture it is absolutely necessary to compose a true History thereof that thence as from sure Principles we may by rational consequences collect the meaning of those who were Authors of the Scripture that every one who admits of no other Principles or concessions in expounding Scripture or in reasoning of the things therein contain'd but such as are fetcht from the Scripture it self or the History of it may proceed without danger of Erring and be able to discourse and reason as securely of things which exceed human capacity as of any thing we know by natural light Now that it may evidently appear that this is the only sure way and agrees with the method of explaining nature we are to observe that the Scripture very often treats of things that cannot be deduced from Principles known to us by natural light because Revelations make up the greatest part of Scripture History which Principaly contains Miracles that is as we have already shew'd in the foregoing Chapter narrations of things not common or usual in nature suted and fitted to the judgment and opinions of the Historians that wrote them Revelations also as we have shew'd in the Second Chapter were accomodated to the opinions of the Prophets and exceed human capacity wherefore the knowledge of all these things that is of almost every thing contained in Scripture ought to be derived only from Scripture as the knowledge of natural things ought to be from nature as for moral Doctrins contained in the Bible tho' they may be demonstrated from common and general Notions yet it doth not appear by those Notions that the Scripture teacheth those Doctrins nothing but the Scripture it self makes out that and to give a clear demonstration of the Scripture's Divinity we must from the Scripture it self prove the Truth of the Moral Doctrins which it teacheth because in that Truth only the Divine Authority of Scripture appears for as we have already shewn the certainty of the Prophets consisted in their being just and vertuous which to make us believe them ought likewise appear to us We have already shewn that Miracles cannot prove the Divine Nature of God and that they might be wrought by false Prophets the Divine Authority of Scripture appears then in its teaching us what is true and real Vertue and that can be proved only by Scripture it self if not we could not without a great deal of prejudice believe the Scriptures and think them to be of divine inspiration the Scripture indeed doth not give us any definition of the things whereof it treats so neither doth Nature and therefore as from several Actions of Nature we make definitions of natural things in the same manner from several narrations of all things contained in Scripture are conclusions to be drawn The general rule then of interpreting Scripture is that we conclude nothing to be Doctrine which doth not manifestly
and clearly appear from the History of Scripture what kind of History it ought to be and what are the Principal things it ought to contain comes now to be declared First it ought to contain the Nature and Proprieties of that Language in which the Books of Scripture were Originally Written and which the Authors of those Books were wont to speak that so all the Senses which every Speech according to the ordinary use of speaking will bear and admit may be found out and because the Pen-Men both of the Old and New Testament were Iews the knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue is above all things necessary to understand not only the Books of the Old Testament which were Written in Hebrew but also of the new for tho' some of the Books of the New Testament were Published in other Languages yet they are full of Hebrewisms Secondly The Sentences of every Book ought to be Collected and reduced to Heads that so all that concern one and the same Subject may be easily found and all those which seem doubtful and obscure or repugnant to one another ought to be noted I call those Speeches clear or obscure whose Sense is easily or difficultly made out by the context and not in respect of the Truth of those Speeches easily or difficultly perceived by reason for only the Sense of what the Scripture saith and not the verity is our business we are therefore to take special heed that in searching out the Sense of Scripture we do not suffer our reason as it is founded upon the Principles of natural knowledge to be prepossest with prejudice and likewise that we do not confound the true Sense of the words with the verity of the matter for the true Sense is to be found out only by the use of the Language or by such a way of reasoning as is grounded only upon Scripture That all these things may be perfectly understood Take this example for illustration These sayings of Moses God is Fire and God is jealous how plain and clear are they so long as we regard only the signification of the words but in respect of reason and truth how dark and obscure yea tho' the litteral Sense of the words be contrary to natural reason yet unless it contradict any fundamental Principles derived from Scripture their litteral Sense is still to be retained so on the contrary if these sayings in their litteral construction should be found repugnant to Principles deduced from Scripture tho' they should be most agreeable to reason yet they ought to be Metaphorically not litteraly understood To know then whether Moses did or did not believe God to be Fire we ought not to conclude the one or the other because the Opinion is either contrary or consonant to reason but it must be gathered from some other of Moses own sayings for example because Moses in very many places hath plainly declared that God is not like any visible thing either in Heaven Earth or the Waters we must conclude that either this saying God is Fire or else all his other sayings are to be Metaphorically interpreted but because we ought as seldom as 't is possible to depart from the litteral Sense we must therefore inquire whether this saying God is Fire will admit of any other Sense beside the litteral that is whether the word Fire signify any other thing beside natural Fire and if in the Hebrew Tongue it can never be found to signify any thing else then this saying of Moses is no other way to be interpreted tho' it be repugnant to reason but on the other side all those other sayings of Moses tho' consentaneous to reason are to be conformable and accomodate to this but if the common use of the Language will not suffer this to be done then those several sayings are Irreconcileable and we are to suspend our judgment of them But now because the Word Fire is also taken for anger and jealousy Iob. chap. 31. v. 12. these sayings of Moses are easily reconcileable and we may lawfully conclude that these two Sentences God is Fire and God is jealous signify both the same thing Moreover because Moses plainly saith God is jealous and doth no where declare that God is free from all manner of passion and affections of the mind we may conclude that Moses did think or at least taught other Men to think God was jealous tho' we believe the opinion contrary to reason for as we have already shewn it is not lawful for us to wrest the Sense and meaning of Scripture according to the dictates of our reason or preconceived Opinions because all our knowledge both of the Old and New Testament must be derived only from themselves Thirdly This History of Scripture ought to give such an account of the Books of the Prophets remaining with us as may inform us of the Lives Manners and Studies of the Authors of every Book who the Person was upon what occasion he wrote in what time to whom and in what Language and Lastly it ought to tell us what was the Fortune of every Book how it was first received into whose hands it fell how many various readings it had how it came to be received for sacred and Canonical And Lastly how all the several Books came together into one Volume I say all these things this History of Scripture ought to contain To know what Sentences of Scripture are to be taken for Laws and precepts and what only for moral Doctrins it is very expedient to know the Life Manners and Study of the Author beside we can with more ease know the meaning of any Mans Words when we know his genius disposition and ingenuity Moreover that we may not confound Doctrins whose morality and Obligation is perpetual with those that were but temporary and of use only to some particular People it behoveth us to know upon what occasion at what time to what Nation in what Age all these instructions were Written Lastly it is fit we should know beside the Authority of every Book whether the Books have been adulterated or at least whether any Errors have crept into them and whether they have been corrected by Learned and Faithful Men all which things are absolutely necessary to be known that we may not with Blind Zeal receive every thing obtruded upon us but believe that only which is certain plain and past all doubt After we have such a History of Scripture and have firmly resolved to conclude nothing to be the Doctrine of the Prophets which doth not naturally follow or may be clearly drawn from this History then it will be time to prepare our selves to search out the meaning of the Prophets and of the Holy Ghost which to do the like method and order is required that is to be used in interpreting nature by its own History for as in searching out natural things we first endeavour to inquire concerning that which is Universal and common to all nature as Motion and
which the Pharisees affirm they have or such as have a high Priest who cannot err in expounding Scripture and that the Roman Catholics boast of their Popes but seeing we cannot be sure of such a Tradition or the Authority of such a Priest or Pope we cannot build upon either because the Primitive Christians deny the one and the most Antient Sects of the Iews the other And if we consider the Series and Succession of Years which the Pharisees received from their Rabbies by which they carry their Tradition as high as Moses himself we shall find it false as I have proved in another place such a Tradition therefore ought to be much suspected and tho' in our method we are forced to suppose some kind of Iewish Tradition to be sincere and uncorrupt namely the Signification of words in the Hebrew Tongue which we have received from the Iews yet we need not much doubt this tho' we very well may the other for it can be of no Advantage or Use to any Man to change the Signification of any Word tho' it often may be to alter the Sense of a Speech It is also very difficult to be done for he that should endeavor to change the Sense of any Word must necessarily construe all those Authors who have written in that Tongue and used that Word in its common acceptation according to the Genuine Sense of every Author or else must falsify them with a great deal of Caution The ignorant multitude as well as Learned Men are the keepers of a Language but the Learned only preserve the Sense of Speeches and Books and consequently tho' Learned men may change or corrupt the Sense of some scarce Book yet they cannot the Signification of Words beside if any man had a mind to alter the Signification of a Word to which he is accustomed he cannot without a great deal of difficulty do it either in speaking or writing For these and other Reasons I am perswaded it never yet came into any man's head to corrupt a Language tho' many have perverted the Sense of a writer either by changing or misinterpreting his sayings If our method which layeth this for a ground that the knowledge of Scripture is to be drawn only from the Scripture be plain and true then where it is not able to give us the true Sense and Knowledge of Scripture we may well despair of it what difficulty there is of arriving by this method to the true Meaning and Knowledge of the Sacred Volumes or what is further to be desired in it I will now declare The chiefest difficulty in this method is that is requireth a perfect Knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue but how is that to be had the Antient and most skilful Masters in the Hebrew Language have left little to posterity of the Elements and Learning of it we have from them neither Dictionary Grammar or Rhetoric The Iewish Nation hath lost all its Ornaments and Beauty which is no wonder having suffer'd so many Calamities and Persecutions and retains nothing but a few Fragments of their Language and of a few Books for all the names of Fruits Birds Fishes and many other things by the Injury of time are lost So that the Signification of many Names and Words in the Old and New Testament is unknown or very disputable Seeing then all these things and likewise a Dictionary of the Hebrew Phrases and manners of speaking in the Hebrew Language are very necessary to be had because all the Forms of Speech peculiar to the Iewish Nation are forgotten and lost we cannot as we would find out all the Senses of every Sentence in Scripture which according to the customary use of the Language it comprehends and there are many Sayings in Scripture tho' exprest in known words whose Sense nevertheless is obscure and inscrutable and as we have no perfect History of the Hebrew Tongue so the Nature and Constitution of the Language is such and so many Ambiguities spring from it that 't is impossible to frame such a method as shall direct a Man to find out the true Sense of all that is said in Scripture for beside the Causes of Doubt common to all other Languages there are some others in this from whence proceed many uncertainties which causes here to specify I think worth a Man's pains First Obscurity and ambiguity in Scripture is caused sometimes by using the Letters of the same Organ one for another The Iews divided all the Letters of their Alphabet into five Classes or Forms because there are five particular Parts or Instruments of the Mouth used in pronunciation the Lips the Tongue the Teeth the Palate and the Throat for Example Alpha Ghet Hgain He are called Guttural Letters and are without any difference known to us taken one for another El which signifies To is often taken for Hgal which signifies upon and so interchangebly whence it cometh to pass that all the Parts of a Speech are rendred doubtful or are like words which have no Signification The Second cause of ambiguity is the divers and manifold Signification of conjunctions and Adverbs for example Vau promiscuously serves to joyn and disjoyn signifying And but because indeed otherwise then Ki hath seven or eight Significations because although if when even as that burning and so almost all Particles The Third cause of many Ambiguities is because Verbs in the Indicative Mood want the Present the Preterimperfect the Preterpluperfect and the Future tense and others much used in other Languages In the Imparative and Infinitive Mood they want all the Tenses except the Present and in the Subjunctive have none at all and tho' all these defects of Moods and Tenses may with great Elegancy be supplyed by Rules and Principles deduced from the Language yet they have been wholly neglected by the Antient Writers who promiscuously used the Present and Preterperfect tenses for the Future and sometimes the Indicative Mood for the Imperative and Subjunctive which caused great Ambiguity in their Writings beside these three great Causes of uncertainty in the Hebrew Language there remain two other very observable and both of very great moment The first is that the Iews made no use those Letters we call Vowels The Second that they never used in their Writings to distinguish their Words or express their quantity by any Marks or Signs and tho' both Vowels and Marks use to be supplyed by Points and Accents yet we cannot trust to them seeing they were invented and brought into use by modern Men whose Authority is of no great Value The Antients wrote without Points that is without Vowels or Accents as appears by many Testimonies but some of later times brought in both to interpret the Bible as they thought fit so that the Points and Accents which we now have are only Expositions of Men of the present Age whom we ought not to reverence and believe above other Expositors they that are Ignorant of this know not the Reason why the
fitted and proportion'd to Mens understanding and capacity as I have proved mine to be the difficulties that are in it have proceeded from Mens sloth and negligence not from the nature of the Method CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentateuk Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether the Writers of all these Books were diverse Persons or but one and who IN the former Chapter we have spoken of the Foundations and Principles of the Knowledge of the Scriptures and we have shewn them to be nothing else but a true History of the Scripture which History tho' very necessary the Antients neglected to compose or at least if they Writ or left any by Tradition it perished by the injury of time and consequently a great part of the Fundamentals and Principles of Scripture-knowledge was lost which loss however had been more tollerable if Men of succeeding Ages had kept themselves within their true bounds and had faithfully delivered to their Successors those few Principles which they received or found out and had not out of their own Brains forged new whereby the History of Scripture is not only imperfect but remains full of Errors and the Foundations of Scripture Knowledge are not only so few that a perfect History cannot be built on them but they are also very faulty and defective To rectify this and remove the common prejudices in Divinity is my purpose but I fear I go about it too late for things are now almost come to that heigth Men in this point will endure no correction but obstinately defend whatever they have embraced under the form of Religion Reason prevailing with very few so universally have these prejudices spread themselves in the Minds of Men. I will nevertheless endeavour and try what I can do because the business is not absolutely desperate that I may in order shew what these prejudices are I will begin with those which concern the Penmen of those Books that are accounted sacred and first concerning the Writer of the five Books of Moses commonly called the Pentateuk Men have generally believed that they were Written by Moses himself and the Pharisees so stifly defended this Opinion that they counted him a Heretic that thought otherwise and for this Reason Aben Ezra a Person of an ingenuous disposition and no mean Learning being the first I read of who took notice of this mistake durst not plainly declare his thoughts but only hinted his Opinion in obscure Words which I will not scruple to explain and give you their naked meaning Aben Ezra's Words in his comment upon Deutronomy are these Beyond Iordan Now thou mayest understand the Mistery of twelve and Moses also wrote the Law and the Cananite was then in the Land in the Mount of the Lord shall it be seen behold his Bedsted was a Bedsted of Iron then shalt thou know the Truth by these few Words he shews and plainly declares that it was not Moses but some other Person that lived long after him who wrote the Pentateuk and that Moses wrote some other Book to make this appear his first Observation is that the Preface of Deutronomy which begins thus These be the words of Moses which he spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan could not be Written by Moses who never passed Iordan His second Observation is that the Book which Moses wrote was fairly Copyed out in the compass of one Altar as appears Deut. chap. 27. v. 5 8. Iosh. chap. 8. v. 31 32. which Altar the Rabbins declare was made only of twelve Stones from whence it follows that the Book which Moses Writ was a Volume much less then the Pentateuk and this I think Aben Ezra meant by the mistery of twelve unless perhaps he understood those twelve Curses which are in the forementioned 27 th Chapter of Deutronomy which he might believe were not Written in the Book of the Law and therefore beside the Writing of the Law commanded the Levites to repeat those Curses that they might by Oath bind the People to observe the Written Laws or else perhaps he meant the last Chapter of Deutronomy that speaks of Moses's Death which Chapter consists only of twelve Verses but these and other things which are spoken only by guess need not a more curious Examination The third Observation is that 't is said Deut. chap. 31. v. 9. Moses wrote this Law and delivered it c. which could not be the words of Moses but of some other Person declaring what Moses did and what he wrote His fourth Observation is that place Gen. chap. 12. v. 6. where it is said speaking of Abraham passing through Canaan that the Cananite was then in the Land which words must be Written after Moses's Death when the Cananites were driven out and did not possess the Land and this must likewise be the meaning of Aben Ezra's commenting upon this place in these words And the Cananite was then in the Land it seems that Canaan Nephew to Noah took that Land from some others who possessed it if not then there is a great mistery in the thing whosoever understands it let him be silent that is if Canaan invaded those Countries then the meaning of those Words the Cananite was then in the Land must be that there was a time past when the Land was inhabited by another Nation but if Canaan were the first who lived in that Country as appears by the 10 th Chap. of Gen. he was then the words must imply that in the time of the Person who wrote the Book of Genesis the Cananites were not in the Land so that Moses could not be the Writer of it because in his time the Cananites were still in the Possession of that Country and this is that Mistery he would not have made public His Fifth Observation is that which is in the 22 th chap. Gen. v. 14 where speaking of Mount Moriah the Text saith it is said to this day in the Mountain of the Lord shall it be seen now it was not called the Mountain of the Lord till after it was dedicated to the Building of the Temple and this choice of the Mountain was not made in the time of Moses who did not speak of any place chosen by God but only foretels that God would in time to come chuse a place which should bear Gods Name His sixth Observation is what is said Deut. chap. 3. speaking of Og King of Basan these words are interposed v. 11 th for only Og King of Basan remained of the remnant of the Gyants behold his Bedsted was a Bedsted of Iron is it not in Rabbah of the Children of Ammon Nine Cubits was the length thereof which Parenthesis clearly shews that the Writer of these Books lived long after Moses for this manner of speaking argues that the Person related what past long ago and to obtain credit shewed some Antient Reliques Without question this Bedsted was first
we have named were written long after the Matters of Fact happen'd which they relate If we consider the Connexion and Subject of these Books we shall quickly find that they were all written by one and the same Historian who designed to write the Antiquities of the Iews from their first Original to the first destruction of Ierusalem for the Books are by connexion so linked together that they seem to be but the single Narration of one Historian for as soon as he hath done with the Life of Moses he begins the next Book with these words Now after the Death of Moses the Servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Ioshuah And ending the story of Ioshuah with his Death he doth with the very same Transition and Conjunction begin the Book of Iudges in these words Now after the Death of Ioshuah it came to pass that the Children of Israel asked the Lord And to this Book of Iudges as an Appendix he joyneth the Book of Ruth in these words Now it came to pass in the days when the Iudges ruled that there was a Famin in the Land. To which Book of Ruth he doth in the same manner joyn the first Book of Samuel that ended with his wonted Transition he goes on to the Second Book and to this the History of David not being fully endded he joyns the first Book of Kings then going on with David's History addeth with his usual Connexion the Second Book The context and Order of the Histories likewise declare the Historian to be but one Person who propounded to himself one certain end for he begins with the Original of the Iewish Nation then in order shews upon what occasion and at what time Moses prescribed Laws and Prophesyed many things to them afterward he relates how they invaded the Land of Promise according to Moses's predictions Deut. Chap. 7. And when they had possest it how they would forsake God's Laws Deut. Chap. 31. v. 16. And what evils should thereupon follow verse 17. Next he declares how they would chuse Kings Deut. Chap. 17. v. 14. Whose Affairs should succeed well or ill according to the care they took in observing the Laws Deut. Chap. 28. v. 36 68. And Lastly concludes with the ruin of their Government as Moses foretold Of things which served litle to the Establishment of the Law he said nothing or else refers the Reader to other Authors so that all these Books conspire in this one thing namely the publishing the Prophesies and Edicts of Moses and making them good by what after happen'd The simplicity and plainness of the Subject of all the Books the connexion of them and their being written many Ages after the things done is argument enough to perswade any Man that they were all written by one Historian but who he was I cannot evidently prove I have some Reasons and those of some weight to think it was Esdras seeing the Historian whom we now know to be one Person carries on the History as far as Iehoiachim's deliverance out of Prison and moreover adds that he sate at the King's Table all his Life which must be either the Table of King Iehoiachim or of the Son of Nebuchadnezzar for the Sense is very dubious It follows that it could not be any one before Esdras the Scripture saith of Esdras without mentioning any other Person Ezra Chap. 7. v. 10. That he had prepared his Heart to seek the Law of the Lord to do it and Verse 6 th That he was a ready Scribe in the Law of Moses So that I cannot conjecture any body but Esdras should write those Books in the Testimony given of him we find that he did not only seek the Law of God but that he likewise explain'd it Nehem. Chap. 8. v. 8. Where it is said that they read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly and gave the Sense thereof and caused them to understand the Reading Now because in the Book of Deutronomy not only the Book of the Law of Moses at least a great part of it is contained but also many things are inserted for the better explication thereof I conjecture The Book of Deutronomy to be that Book of the Law of God written set forth and expounded by Esdras which they then read and that many things are put in by Way of Parenthesis more clearly to explain it We gave you several instances when I unfolded Aben-Ezras meaning there are more of the like kind as appears Deut. Chap. 2. v. 12. The Horites also dwelt in Seir before time but the Children of Esau succeeded them when they had destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their stead as Israel did unto the Land of his Possession which the Lord gave unto them This explains the 3 d. and 4 th Verses of the same Chapter namely that Mount Seir which was the Inheritance of the Sons of Esau was not found by them uninhabited but that they invaded the Horites who first dwelt there and having subdued destroyed them as the Children of Israel did the Cananites after the Death of Moses likewise in the 10 th Chapter it is evident that the 6 7 8 and 9. verses are interposed by Way of Parenthesis with the Words of Moses for the 8 th Verse which begins in these words at that time the Lord separated the Tribe of Levi must necessarily have reference to the 5 th Verse which speaks of Moses coming down from the Mount and putting the Tables into the Ark and not to the death of Aron mentioned in the 6 th Verse Of which Esdras spake here for no other Reason but because Moses in the story of the Golden Calf which the People worshipt said in the 9 th Chap. v. 20. That he prayed for Aron The Historian goes on and declares that God at that time of which Moses speaks chose for himself the Tribe of Levi that he might shew the Cause of their Election and also why the Levites had no Part or Inheritance with their Brethren this done in the words of Moses he follows the thred of the History If we consider the Preface of the Book and all the Places which speak of Moses in the Third Person and many other things which cannot now be known which he added or exprest in other words that they might be the better understood by those that lived in his time without doubt had we the very Book of the Law which Moses wrote we should find that all the Commandments very much differ not only in words but in Order Matter and Sense Compare the Decalogue of this Book with that in Exodus where it is expresly set down we shall find this to vary from that for the Fourth Commandment in Deutronomy is not only commanded in another Form but is enlarged and the Reason of it likewise differs much from that in Exodus so that this as in other Places was done by Esdras because he explained the Law of God to
confusedly gathered and laid together that they might afterwards be examin'd and put into order and not only those things which we find in the first five Books but the rest of the Histories contain'd in the other seven were also Collected in the same manner Who doth not plainly see that in the 2 d Chapter of Iudges from the sixth Verse a new Historian brought in who had Written the Acts of Ioshua and his very Words used For after our Historian in the last Chapter of Ioshua had spoken of his Death and Burial and promis'd in the beginning of the Book of Iudges to declare what happen'd after Ioshua's Death if he intended regularly to prosecute his own History why doth he again in the 2 d Chapter of Iudges tell us what Joshua did and speak again of his Death and Burial as he had before the 17 and 18 chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. are in all probability taken out of another Historian who made the cause of David's frequenting Saul's Court to be quite different from that spoken of in the 16. chap. of the same Book for he did not understand that David by the Advice of Saul's Servants was called to Court as is declared in the said 16 th chap. but that his Father sending him to visit his Brethren in Saul's Camp David by his Victory over Goliah became known to Saul and afterward lived in his Court. I suspect the same thing of the 26 th chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. and that the History of that Chapter and what is related in the 24 th chap. are one and the same but taken out of several Writers but of this enough I come now to examine the Computation of time It is said in the 6 th chap. of the 1 st Book of Kings that Solomon four hundred and fourscore Years after the Children of Israel came out of the Land of Egypt and in the fourth Year of his own Reign began to Build the House of the Lord but from the Histories themselves we can make it appear it was a much longer time till the Temple was Built Years For first Moses govern'd the People in the desert 40 Joshua who lived a hundred and twenty by the Opinion of Josephus and others govern'd not above 26 Kusan Risgataim kept the People in Bondage 08 Othonyel the Son of Kenaz Judged 40 Eglon the King of Moab kept the People in Bondage 18 Ehud and Samger Judged 80 Jachin King of Canaan kept the People under 20 The People afterward had rest 40 Were again in Subjection to Midian 07 Were again at Liberty under Gideon 40 Were under the Power of Abimelech 03 Tola the Son of Puah Judged 23 Jair Judged 22 The People were again in Bondage to the Philistines and Ammonites 18 Iephtah Judged 06 Absan the Bethlemite Judged 07 Elon the Zebulonite 10 Abdon the Pirathonite 08 The People again in Bondage to the Philistins 40 Samson Judged 20 Ely Judged 40 The People in Bondage again to the Philistines till delivered by Samuel 20 David Reigned 40 Solomon before he began to Build Reigned 04 All these Years added together make up the Number of 580. To which number are to be added the Years of that Age wherein the Common-wealth of the Iews flourished after the Death of Ioshua until it was subdued by Kusan Risgataim which I believe were many for I cannot be perswaded that all the People who had seen the wonders of Joshua's time should presently after his Death perish altogether neither that they who succeeded them should at once bid farewel to all their Laws and from a great deal of Vertue fall in an instant into the depth of Wickedness and Folly neither that Kusan Risgataim Conquer'd them at a blow but seeing all these things require almost an Age to bring them to pass it is not to be doubted but the Scripture in the 2 d. 7 th 9 th and 10 th Chapters of the Book of Judges doth comprize the Histories of many Years which it hath passed over in silence We are moreover to add the Years which Samuel Judged whose number we find not in Scripture and the Years also of Saul's Reign which are left out in the former Computation because by his History 't is not evident how many he Reigned indeed it is said in the 1 st Verse of the 13 th Chap. of the 1 st Book of Sam. that Saul Reigned two Years but that Text is maimed and we may from the History it self conclude his Reign was longer that the Text is defective no Man who hath but the least Knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue can doubt for it begins thus in the Latin Translation Annum natus erat Saul cum regnavit duos annos regnavit supra Israelem Which in our English Bible is thus render'd Saul Reigned one Year and when he had Reigned two Years c. but who sees not that the number of Years of Saul's Age when he began to Reign was omitted and that the time of his Reign was more then two Years any Man may gather from the History it self for in the 27 th Chap. of the same Book Verse the 7 th it is said that the time David dwelt in the Country of the Philistines was a full Year and four Months so that by this Calculation all things else which passed in Sauls Reign must happen in the space of eight Months which no Man can believe Iosephus in the end of his 6 th Book of Antiquities hath thus corrected the Text. Saul while Samuel lived Reigned eighteen Years and after Samuels Death two but the Story in the 13 th chap. doth in no wise agree with what went before for towards the end of the 7 th chap. v. 13. we are told that the Philistines were so subdued by the Israelites that they came no more into the Coasts of Israel and the Hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel and yet in the foresaid 13 th Chapter 't is said that in Samuels Life time the Philistins invaded the Israelites and reduced them to so great Misery and Poverty that they wanted not only Arms to defend themselves but also Smiths to make so much as a Sword or a Spear that Man must take pains enough who made it his business so to reconcile all the Histories of the first Book of Samuel that they should not appear to be Written and put in order by one Historian but I return to what I proposed the Years of Sauls Reign ought to be added to the foregoing Computation now how many were the Years of the Israelites Anarchy the Scripture doth not mention my meaning is that the space of time is not certain wherein those things happened which are related from the 17 th Chapter of Iudges to the end of that Book so that no exact calculation can be made from the Histories themselves neither do they agree in any but differ very much so that it must be granted they were
collected from divers Writers and were never examin'd or put into any order There is no less disagreement in computation of time between the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel for in the 2 d Book of Kings chap. 1 st v. 17. it is said Jehoram the Son of Ahab King of Israel began to Reign in the Second Year of the Reign of Jehoram the Son of Iehosaphat King of Judah but in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah see the 2 d Book of Kings chap. 8. v. 16. it is said that Jehoram the Son of Iehosaphat King of Judah began to Reign in the fifth Year of Jehoram the Son of Ahab King of Israel he that will compare the Histories of the Books of Chronicles with those in the Book of Kings shall find many of the like differences which I will not here particularly mention nor trouble you with the shifts some Authors have used to reconcile them the Rabbines perfectly doat and some Commentators that I have read imposing upon us their own dreams and inventions plainly corrupt the very Language it self for example in the 2 d Book of the Chronicles c. 22. v. 2. it is said Ahaziah waâ— Forty and two Years Old when he began to Reign Some would have these Years to commence not from Ahaziah's Nativity but from the Reign of Omri if they can prove this to be the meaning of the Author of the Book of Chronicles I may in plain Terms say of him that he knew not how to speak Sense Commentators are full of the like conceits wherein were there any Truth a Man might pofitively aver that the Ancient Hebrews did not understand their own Language but were ignorant of all order in History and that there is no rule or any reason to be observed in expounding Scripture but every Man may phancy and forge what he pleases If any think I speak too generally and without ground I intreat that Man to shew me any such certain order in these Histories as Chronologers may without any gross mistakes follow and that while he is endeavoring to explain and reconcile the Histories he will so strictly observe the Pharses and Manners of speaking the disposing and contexture of the Narrations that another according to his explications may in Writing imitate them which if he can do I will throw away my Pen and take him for an Oracle I have been endeavoring but could never do any thing like it I have Written nothing which I did not often and long meditate and tho' from my Childhood I have been Seasoned with the common and general opinions concerning Scripture yet I could not possibly avoid confessing the things I have mentioned but I will no longer detain the Reader concerning this particular nor will I further provoke him to undertake that which I think is not feasible I only made the proposal the better to explain my own meaning and I now proceed to consider those things which concern the Fate or Fortune of the Books for we are to observe that they have not been so carefully kept by posterity as that no faults have crept into them the Ancient Scribes have taken notice of many dubious readings and many maimed Texts and yet not of all but whether the faults which have crept into those Books be of so great importance as to give the Reader much trouble I will not dispute I believe they are not considerable to those that Read the Scripture with any Freedom of judgment and I can positively affirm that I never observed any Error or variety of Readings concerning mere precepts or instructions which could render them doubtful or obscure but many will not allow of any faults at all in any thing throughout the whole Scripture but peremptorily maintain that God by a singular and special Providence hath kept the Bible free from all corruptions or adulteration and that the various Readings of it comprehend profound misteries and will have great Secrets lye hid even in Asterisms Spaces Points and Accents but whether this opinion proceed from folly and the dotage of Devotion or from their arrogance and malice allowing none but themselves to know Gods Secrets I cannot tell of this I am sure I never read any thing which came from such Men that seem'd mysterious but rather savor'd of Schoool-boy conceits I have met with some trifling Cabbalists whose Freaks and Folly a Man cannot chuse but admire That faults have crept into the Scripture no ingenuous Person can deny who reads that Text I have already mention'd concerning Saul in the 13 th chap. v. 1 st of the 1 st Book of Samuel and also that in the 2 d verse of the 6 th chap. of the 2 d Book of Sam. where it is said that David arose and went with all the People that were with him from Judah to bring from thence the Ark of God. Who doth not see that the name of the place to which they went to fetch the Ark is lest our viz. Kiriathjearim nor can any Man deny but that the Text in the 37 th verse of the 13 th chap. of the 2 d Book of Sam. is defective But Absolon fled and went to Talmai the Son of Ammihud and mourn'd for his Son every day It should have been and David mourned for his Son every day and therefore in our English Translation the Word David is put in but is not in the Latin. There are other such faults which do not at present occur to my memory That the marginal Notes found every where in the Hebrew Copies were dubious readings no Man will doubt who considers that many of them proceeded from the great likness which some of the Hebrew Letters have one to another namely from the similitude which is between the Letter Kaf and Bet the Letter Iod and Van the Letter Dalet and Res for example in the 2 d Book of Sam. chap. 5. v. 24. it is said in the Latin Translation in co tempore quo audies the margent hath it Cum audies and Iudges chap. 21. v. 22. the Latin Text is quando earum patres vel fratres in multitudine hoc est saepe ad nos venerint into the margent is put ad litigandum many different readings likewise come from the use of those Letters whose sound or pronunciation is in reading scarcely perceived and one is sometimes taken for another for example Levit. chap. 25. v. 29. it is Written in the Text that if a House were sold which was in a City that had a Wall the margent says that had not a Wall. But tho' these things are evident yet we will make answer to some arguments of the Pharises who endeavor to perswade the World that marginal Notes were by those that Copied out the Books of Scripture purposely placed there to signify some great mystery they ground their first argument which I think very slight upon the common use of reading the Scripture
for say they if these marginal Notes were used purposely to shew various readings and such as could not be decided why then hath custom prevailed still to retain the marginal Sense as always the best and that it was fit the most genuine and approved Sense should be exprest in the Text rather then in the margent Their Second Argument which carries some countenance is this errors and mistakes in Books say they are not purposely put in but happen by chance now how comes it to pass that in all the first five Books the Hebrew Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nagnad which signifies in Latin Puella and in English a Girl or Young Maid should contrary to the Rules of Grammar be Written in all places but one as a defective Word without the Letter He and yet in the margent be Written always right did this happen by mistake and was the Writer always so much in haste that when he came to this word he constantly left out that Letter this defect might without any scruple have been easily mended and supplyed if then these various Readings did not happen by chance and yet those evident Errors were left uncorrected the first Writers must designedly do it thereby to signify somewhat But these Arguments are easily answer'd that which is urged concerning Use and Custom is not much to be minded I know not how far Superstition might prevail but sometimes both Readings or Senses might seem equally good and tollerable and therefore that neither might be neglected or undervalued they would have one written and the other read they were afraid in a Matter of such consequence to pass any positive Determination least they might through uncertainty mistake and take the wrong Reading for the true and therefore resolved not to prefer one before the other which they must have done if they had commanded that one only should be written and read the Reason why the Marginal Notes are not written in the Text is because some things tho' they be rightly written yet they would have them read as they were noted in the Margent and therefore they appointed the Bible to be generally read according to the Marginal Notes Old Obsolete words out of use which the good Manners of the present time would not permit to be publickly read caused the Scribes to put things into the Margent which they would have publickly read Marginal Notes not being always dubious Readings but contain'd sometimes Words and Expressions not in Use the Antient Scribes being Men free from evil Meaning exprest things in plain downright words without Courtly Epithites but after Naughtiness and Luxury began to Reign those words which the Antients thought had no immodesty in them began to be accounted Obscene yet there was no necessity upon this account to change the Text and Scripture it self but for Decency's sake they ordained that those words which signify'd Coition and the Excrements should be publickly read to the People with greater Modesty as they were noted in the Margent Lastly whatever the reason be why they read and interpreted the Text according to the Marginal Notes yet it is not because those Marginal readings are always the truest interpretation for the Rabbines do not only differ in the Talmud from the Masorites and have other Readings which they approve but some Notes are found in the Margent which the common Use of the Language will not allow for example in the 2 d. Book of Sam. Chap. 14. v. 22. The Text saith in that the King hath fulfilled the request of his Servant Which the Latin Translation renders quia effecit Rex secundum Sententiam servi sui which construction is very regular and agrees with that in the 16 th Verse of the same Chapter but the reading in the Margent which is servi tui of thy servant doth not agree with the Person of the Verb. So also in the last Verse of the 16 th Chapter of that Book the written Text in the Latin Translation is ut cum consultat id est consultatur verbum Dei. But in the Margent is added the Pronoun quis for the Nomnative case to the Verb which was not learnedly done for the common Custom of that Language was to use Verbs Impersonals for the Third Person singular of Verbs Active as is well known to Grammarians In like manner we meet with many Marginal Notes which ought to be preferr'd before the written reading of the Text. Now for the Pharisees Second Argument it is easily answer'd by what hath been said namely that the Scribes beside dubious Readings noted obsolete words for without doubt as in other Languages so in the Hebrew later times antiquated and made useless many words which were found in the Bible by later Writers who as we have said noted them in the Margent that they might be read before the People in the Sense and Signification that was then in use for this Reason the word Naghar is every where found noted in the Margent because antiently it was of the common Gender and signifyed the same that did the word Iuvenis amongst the Latins so also the Metropolis of the Jews was wont to be called Jerusalem and not Jerusalaim I think the same of the Pronoun ipse and ipsa he and she because the later Writers have changed Vau into Iod which change in the Hebrew Tongue is frequent when they would signify the Feminine Gender but the antients never used to distinguish the Feminine from the Masculine Gender of this Pronoun but only by the Vowels Moreover the Anomaly or Irregularity of Verbs in former and later times was not the same and Lastly The Antients made use of Paragogical that is additional Letters as an Elegancy particular to their times all which I can prove by many examples with which I will not at this time trouble the Reader If any Man ask how I came to the Knowledge of these things I answer because I have found them in very Antient Copies of the Bible tho' later Writers would not follow those Copies which is the only cause that in other Languages almost lost Obsolete words are still understood but perhaps some will still object and since I have declared that the greatest Part of those Notes are not doubtful readings will ask me first why of one Place there are never found more then two readings why not sometimes three or more Secondly seeing there are somethings in the written Text so manifestly repugnant to the Rules of Grammar which yet are rightly noted in the margent it may be asked how it is possible to believe that the Writers could make any doubt which was the true Reading To this I answer First that there were more Readings then we find noted in our Copies for in the Talmud there are many noted which are neglected by the Masorites and in many places so much misliked by them that the Superstitious Corrector of the Bombergian Bibles was forced to confess in his Preface that he knew not how to reconcile
the Language Words or Stile wherein they are express'd and that all Books which declare and teach what is excellently good in what Tongue or by what Nation soever written are equally Sacred Let this at least be observ'd that the Chapters which are written in Chaldee are no less Sacred than any of the rest in the whole Bible To this Book of Daniel the first Book of Ezra is so annex'd that it appears they were both written by one person who relates what successively past amongst the Iews from the first Captivity And to this Book of Esdras without doubt is joyn'd the Book of Hester for the Conjunction wherewith the Book begins can relate to no other Book nor can it be thought the same Book which Mordecai wrote for he that writ the Book of Hester saith in the 9 th chap. v. 20. that Mordecai wrote Letters and declares what were their Contents Moreover the 31 th of the same Chapter tells us That Queen Hester confirm'd by a Decree all things concerning the Feast of Purim or Lots and in the 32 th verse 't is said it was written in the Book that is according to the Hebrew manner of speaking in a Book which every one at that time knew which Book with others Aben Ezra says was lost what else concerned Mordecai the Historian in the 10 th chap. v. 2. saith was written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia and therefore without question this Book of Daniel was written by the same person who wrote the Affairs of Daniel and Ezra and so also was the Book of Nehemiah called the Second Book of Ezra so that we conclude these four Books namely Daniel Ezra Hester and Nehemiah to be written by one Historian but who he was I cannot so much as guess but that we may know whoever he were from whence he had the knowledge of the things he relates and from whence he copy'd them out we are to take notice that the Governours and Princes of the Iews in the time of the Second Temple as did their Kings in the time of the First kept Scribes or Historiographers who writ Annals and recorded what past which Annals or Chronologies are every where cited in the Book of Kings but those of the Princes and Priests of the Second Temple are quoted first in Nehemiah chap. 12. v. 23. and also in the first Book of Machabes chap. 16. v. 24. and no question this Book of Annals was that Book mention'd in the 32 th verse of the 9 th chap. of Hester in which the Decree of Queen Hester and those things that concern'd Mordecai were written which Book we agree with Aben Ezra was lost and out of this Book of Annals all things contain'd in the four Books we have last mention'd were in all probability taken and copy'd for there is no other Book quoted by the writer of these four nor do we know any other of publick Authority That these four Books were not written either by Ezra or Nehemiah appears by what is said in the 9 th and 10 th verses of the 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Genealogy of the High-Priest Iesuah is deriv'd down to Iaduah the sixth High-priest who went to meet Alexander the Great when he had almost conquer'd the Kingdom of Persia as appears in the 2 d. Book and 8 th chap. of Iosephus's Antiquities or as Philo Iudaeus saith in Libro temporum the sixth and last High-priest under the Persian Monarchy which is likewise plainly declar'd in the 22 th verse of the aforesaid 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Historian saith The Levites in the days of Eliashib Ioiada Iohanan and Iaduah were recorded Priests to the Reign of Darius the Persian that is in the Annals of that Government And sure no Man will believe that Hezra or Nehemiah were so long liv'd to survive fourteen Persian Kings for Cyrus the first King of Persia was he that gave the Iews liberty to rebuild their Temple and from him to Darius the fourteenth and last King of the Persians are reckoned 230 years therefore without all doubt these four Books I have mention'd were written long after Iudas Maccabeus restor'd the worship of the Temple and also because at that time were spurious counterfeit Books of Daniel Hesdras and Hester publish'd by some malicious persons who were of the Sect of the Zadduces for the Pharisees would never own them and tho' in the Book which we call the 4 th of Esdras there are some fabulous stories which we also find in the Talmud yet they ought not to be fathered on the Pharisees for there is no Man of sense but believes those Tales were added by some trifling fellow perhaps to render the Pharisaical Traditions ridiculous or to make the people of that time believe that the Prophesies of Daniel were fulfill'd thereby to confirm them in their Religion and in the midst of so many and great Calamities to keep them from despair But tho' these Books be of no great Antiquity yet many faults I suppose through haste in those who copy'd them out have crept into them for in these as in the rest are many Marginal Notes of which we spake in the former Chapter and also some places for which no excuse can be made but if it be granted that the Marginal Readings of these Books be as the Pharisees would have it as ancient as the Writers themselves then it must necessarily follow that the Scribes if they were more than one put these Notes into the Margent because they did not find the Annals from whence they copy'd out the Books perfectly written and tho' some faults be very plain and obvious yet the Scribes would not be so bold to alter or mend the Writings of their Ancestors Of this particular I have said enough and I now pass on to shew those errors whereof no notice is taken in the Margent I cannot tell how many I meet with in the 2 d chap of Ezra for in the 64 th verse it is said that the whole Congregation together of those that went up out of Captivity to Ierusalem was forty two thousand three hundred and threescore and yet if the particular numbers throughout the whole Chapter be exactly summ'd up and added together they make the total to be no more than twenty nine thousand eight hundred and eighteen so that there is an error in the total or particular numbers Now 't is most likely the total number was not mistaken but set down right because every one might keep that in memory tho' he could not remember the particular numbers had there been any error or mistake in the total every body would have known it and it might have been easily mended which is confirm'd by the 7 th chap. of Nehemiah which tells us that the whole number of them that came up from the Captivity was the very same mention'd in the 2 d chap of Ezra but the particular numbers very much differ for
some are more and others less in Nehemiah than they are in Ezra and amount in all to thirty one thousand eighty nine so that there is no doubt but that the errors as well in the Book of Ezra as of Nehemiah were in the particular numbers Commentators rack their Wits and Inventions to reconcile these apparent contradictions and while they adore the very Words and Letters of Scripture do nothing as we have already said but expose the Writers of the Bible to Contempt as if they knew not how to speak or put that which was spoken by them into any order yea they do nothing but make that part of Scripture which is plain obscure For if every Man should take a liberty of explaining Scripture as they do we could not be sure of the true sense of any part thereof I am perswaded those Commentators themselves tho' they with so much zeal excuse the Writers of the Old Testament would count any other Man a ridiculous Historian who should write as they have done and if they think him a Blasphemer who says the Scripture is in some places faulty what shall I say of those Men who bely the Scripture and so expose the holy Pen-men thereof as if they knew not how to speak and deny the plain and clear sense of Scripture What in it can be plainer than that Esdras and his fellow Priests in the second Chapter of that Book which is said to be his took a particular account of all that went up to Ierusalem seeing the number of them is set down who could not derive their Pedigree as well as theirs that could And what is more clear than that Nehemiah as appears by the 7 th chap. and 5 th verse of that Book only copy'd out the Register which Esdras had made Who ever makes any other Exposition thereof denies the true sense of Scripture and consequently the Scripture it self 'T is ridiculous Piety to pretend to rectify one place of Scripture by another when plain places are darkened by obscure and those that are right and true corrected and corrupted by those that are false and erroneous but God forbid I should call them Blasphemers who have no malicious intentions because there is no Man free from Error Beside the Errors which are in the particular numbers both of Esdras and Nehemiah's Genealogy there are divers in the names of the Families more in the very Pedigrees in the Histories and I fear likewise in the very Prophesies themselves for the Prophesie of Ieremy in the 22 th chap. against Iehoiachim which says He should be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Ierusalem doth not at all agree with the History of him in the last Chapter of the 2 d. Book of Kings no nor with what is related of him in the last Chapter of Ieremy especially in the last Verse neither do I see any reason why Ieremy should tell King Zedechiah that he should die in peace Ierem. chap. 34. v. 5. who was taken Captive and after he had seen his Children slain before his Face had his own Eyes put out If Prophesies may be interpreted according to events the names of those two Kings seem to be mistaken one for the other but that is too paridoxical to be maintain'd and I had rather leave the point under an impossibility of being determin'd seeing if there be any error in it it must be the fault of the Historian and not in the Original Copies from whence he wrote Of any other Errors I will take no particular notice seeing I cannot without troubling the Reader because they have been already noted by others Rabbi Solomon finding the manifest contradictions which are in the erroneous Genealogies doth in his Commentaries on the 8 th chap. of the first Book of Chronicles break out into these words Esdras whom he supposeth to have written the Chronicles called the Sons of Benjamin by wrong names and deriv'd his Pedigree otherwise than we find it in the Book of Genesis and describes the greatest part of the Cities of the Levites otherwise than Joshua did because he met with different Originals And a little after saith The Genealogy of Gibeon and others is twice and diversly repeated because Esdras found different Registers of each Genealogy and in copying them out follow'd those whereof the greater number did agree but when the number of differing Genealogies was equal he wrote after the Original of both So that it appears by Rabbi Solomon's own confession these Books were copied from uncertain and imperfect Originals The Commentators themselves many times do nothing more than shew the causes of the errors and I believe that no person of any sound Judgment can think that the Sacred Historians did write purposely to contradict themselves Perhaps it will be said I go about to overthrow the Scripture and give occasion to suspect that it is every where faulty but I have prov'd the contrary for I hereby vindicate the Scripture and provide against the adulterating and corrupting thereof in those places which are clear and true It doth not follow that because some places are faulty therefore all must be so because every Book is in some places false 't is no good ground to conclude it is no where true especially when the Stile of it is perspicuous and the meaning of the Author perfectly known So much for the Books of the Old Testament Now by what hath been said we may easily conclude that before the time of Iudas Macchâ—bâ—us no Books were esteemed Canonical but those which we now have from the Pharisees of the Second Temple who likewise instituted set forms of Prayer these Books being selected from many others and only by their Decree receiv'd into the Canon he therefore that will demonstrate the Authority of Holy Scripture is bound to prove the Authority of every particular Book the proving any one to be Divine is not enough to prove the Divinity of all unless it be granted that the Council of the Pharisees could not err which is impossible for any Man to make good the reason which inclines me to believe that none but the Pharisees chose the Books of the Old Testament and made them Sacred by Canon is because the last Chapter of Daniel declares That there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead which the Zadduces utterly deny'd Moreover in the Treatise of the Sabbath chap. 2. fol. 30. parag the 2 d Rabbi Iehuda says The learned in the Law endeavour'd to suppress the Book of Ecclesiastes because many expressions in it were contrary which observe to the Books of the Law of Moses but the reason why it was not suppress'd was because it begun and ended according to the Law A little after he saith They would also have conceal'd the Book of Proverbs and lastly in the first Chapter of the same Treatise fol. 13 th these are his words Truly I name the Man for kindness sake had it not been for
Neguniah the Son of Hiskiah the Book of Ezechiel had been absconded because there are expressions in it repugnant to the words of the Law By all which it is manifest that the learned in the Law held a Council to determin what Books should be receiv'd for Sacred and what should be rejected so that whoever will be sure of the Authority of all must search into the Council and know upon what ground and reason every Book was receiv'd I should now examin the Books of the New Testament but I hear it hath been already done by Men learned in the Sciences and skilful in Tongues I am not Grecian good enough to undertake it beside we want Original Copies of those Books which were written in Hebrew and therefore I will not ingage my self in the business but only observe some things which make to my main purpose and that shall be the work of my next Chapter CHAP. XI Enquires whether the Apostles wrote their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Teachers and sheweth what is the Office of an Apostle WHoever reads the New Testament must be convinc'd that the Apostles were Prophets but because the Prophets as I have shew'd in the end of the first Chapter did but seldom and not always speak by Revelation it may very well be a Question Whether the Apostles like Moses Ieremy and others did by express Command and Revelation write their Epislles as Prophets or else only as private Men and Teachers especially because in the 1 st Epist. to the Corinthians chap. 14. v. 6. Paul in express terms declares there are two sorts of speaking the one by Revelation the other by Knowledge I say therefore it may be doubted whether the Apostles in their Writings did Prophesie or instruct Their Stile if we mark it is very far different from that us'd in Prophesie it was alway the custom of the Prophets to declare That they spake by the Command of God still beginning with expressions like these So faith the Lord The Lord of Hosts saith The Word and Decree of the Lord which they did use not only in their publick Speeches but also in their Letters or Writings which contain'd Revelations as appears in the Letter written by Elijah the Prophet to King Iehoram 2 d Book of Chron. chap 21. v 12. and there came a Writing to him from Elijah the Prophet saying Thus saith the Lord God but in the Apostles Writings we meet with no such expressions but the clean contrary 1 st Epist Corinth chap. 7. v. 40. Paul says he speaks after his own Judgment Yea in many places we find expressions which argue a doubtful and uncertain mind as in the Epist. to the Rom. chap. 3. v. 28. Therefore we conclude And Rom. chap. 8 v. 18. for I reckon and many of the like kind Beside these there are other manners of speaking which do not at all savor of Prophetical Authority as in the 1 st Epist. Corinth chap. 7. v. 6. But I speak this by permission not of commandment and in the 25. verse of the same chap. I give my Iudgment as a Man who hath obtain'd mercy of the Lord to be faithful and it is to be observ'd That when Paul in this Chapter speaks as if he did not know whether he had or had not a command from the Lord for what he said it is not to be understood of a Command from God by Revelation but only that he preach'd that Doctrine which Christ the Lord taught his Disciples in the Mount. Moreover if we observe in what manner the Apostles deliver the Doctrine of the Gospel in their Writings we shall find it much different from the Prophets way of instructing for the Apostles are always found reasoning insomuch that they seem rather to dispute than Prophesie Prophesies contain nothing but positive Opinions and Decrees therefore God is always introduced not arguing with Reason but peremptorily commanding by the Power and Soveraignty of his Nature and Essence Prophetieal Authority allows of no rational disputing for whoever will by reasoning confirm his Opinions doth in so doing submit them to the Arbitrary Judgment of another as doth Paul reasoning in his 1 st Epist to the Corinth chap. 10. v. 15. I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say And lastly because the Prophets did not understand the things that were reveal'd to them by Reason and Natural Knowledge as we have shewed in the first Chapter tho' some things in the Pentateuch seem to be concluded and confirmed by Inference and Illation yet if we consider them they cannot be taken for peremptory and decisive Arguments For example when Moses said to the Israelites Deut. chap. 21. v. 27. Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death We are not here to think that this was an Argument used to convince the Israelites by Reason that they would certainly after Moses death depart from the worship of God because the Argument had been false as may be prov'd by Scripture for the people persevered constantly in it during the life of Ioshua and the Elders and afterwards also in the life time of Samuel David and Solomon these words therefore of Moses were but a moral manner of speaking which he Rhetorically us'd the more strongly to imagin and foretel that peoples future defection the reason why I do not say that Moses to make his Prediction true spake these words of himself and not by Revelation as a Prophet is because in the 21 verse of the same Chapter God reveals to Moses in other words what the people would do so that there was no need of reasoning to make Moses surer of this Prediction and Decree but it was only necessary to give him a livelier representation thereof in his imagination as I have shewed in the first Chapter which could be done no better way than by imagining that the peoples present rebellious Humor which he had so often try'd would be the very same for the future so that we are not to think Moses's Arguments which we meet with in the Petanteuch to be drawn from the Repositories of Reason but to be taken only for manners of speaking whereby he did more lively imagin and more effectually express God's Decrees I will not deny but that the Prophets might reason and argue by Revelation but that which I maintain is That the Prophets by how much more rational the Arguments were which they used so much more natural did their Knowledge appear which they had of things revealed and that the Prophets knowledge was supernatural chiefly appear'd in their speaking Dogmatically Imperiously and Sententiously so that Moses the chief Prophet never made use of any Logical Argument and I therefore conclude Paul's long Deductions and Reasonings which we find in his Epistle to the Romans were never written by Supernatural Revelation and the manner of speaking and arguing in the Writings of the Apostles doth
of Stone but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart Let Men cease to adore the Letter and not be so much concern'd for it Having sufficiently explain'd the Holiness and Divinity of Scripture let us now see what is properly meant by Debar Iehovah the word of God. Debar signifies Word Speech Decree Thing now upon what grounds any thing in the Hebrew Language may be said to be God's or have relation to God I have shew'd in the first Chapter so that I need not repeat what I have there said or in the sixth Chapter what I have said of Miracles 't is evident what the Scripture means by the Word of God To make the thing very clear I need only declare that when the Word of God is predicated of any Subject which is not God himself it properly signifies that Divine Law of which we treated in the fourth Chapter namely That Religion which is universal and common to all mankind mention'd in Isaiah chap. 1. v. 10. where the Prophet declares That the right way of living consisted in Charity and in a sincere and pure Heart which he calls the Law and Word of God The Word of God is also taken Metaphorically for the order or course of Nature and Fate because it follows and depends upon the Eternal Decree of the Divine Nature particularly for whatever the Prophets foresaw in this course of Nature because the Prophets understood future events not by natural Causes but thought them to be the Will and Decrees of God. Moreover it is taken for that which any Prophet commanded or declared because he knew it not by Natural Light but by the singular Vertue and gift of Prophesie and more especially because the Prophets as we have shewed in the fourth Chapter apprehended God under the notion of a Lawgiver for these three reasons then the Scripture is called the Word of God namely because it teacheth us true Religion whereof God from all Eternity is the Author Secondly because it makes Prophesies to be God's Decrees And lastly because the Authors of those Prophesies taught for the most part that which they did not know by Natural Reason but by a faculty and gift peculiar only to them and introduced God speaking as it were in them Now tho' the Scripture contain many things which are meerly Historical and may be unnderstood by Natural Knowledge yet the Scripture is called the Word of God in respect of those other particulars I have last mention'd so that now we plainly see why God is called the Author of the Bible namely upon the account of teaching us what is true Religion and not because it contains and hath communicated to us such a certain number of Books And hence we may also learn that the Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament because before the coming of Christ the Prophets Preached Religion as the Law of their Country and by force of the Covenant made in Moses's time but after Christ's coming because the Apostles preached Religion upon Christ's account as a Law universal to all mankind not that the Prophets and Apostles differ'd in Doctrine or that the Books of either Testament are the Deeds and Indentures of the Written Covenant nor lastly because Natural Religion which is universal is new unless it be in respect of those that knew it not according to that saying of Iohn the Evangelist chap. 1. v. 10. He was in the world and the world knew him not If then we had not some of those Books which the Old and New Testament contain yet we should not want God's Word as it properly signifies true Religion for we do not think any part thereof is wanting tho' we lack many of those other excellent Writings namely the Book of the Law which was so Religiously kept in the Temple as the Original wherein the Covenant was first written with many other Books of the Wars and Records of time from whence the Books of the Old and New Testament which we now have were transcribed and collected And this is made good by many reasons first because the Books of both Testaments were not written at one and the same time for the use of all Ages but by chance for some particular people and that as the Time and their particular Disposition requir'd which plainly appears by the calling of the Prophets who are called to warn and reprove the ungodly of their own time and also by the Writings of the Apostles Secondly Because understanding the Scripture and the meaning of the Prophets is one thing but to understand the Mind of God that is the real truth of things is another as appears by what hath been said in the second Chapter of Prophets which distinction likewise holds in Histories and Miracles as we have shewed in the sixth Chapter But in understanding places which treat of true Religion and real Vertue no such distinction ought to be made Thirdly Because the Books of the Old Testament were chosen out of many others and were approved and joyned together by a Council of the Pharisees as we have declared in the tenth Chapter and for the Books of the New Testament they were receiv'd into the Canon by the Decrees of certain Councils when several other Books by many accounted Sacred were rejected as Spurious These Councils both of Pharisees and Christians were made up of Men who were no Prophets but only learned Doctors yet it must necessarily be granted that in this choice they made the Word of God their Rule so that before they gave their Approbation to the Books they ought to know what was the Word of God. Fourthly Because as we have shewed in the preceding Chapter the Apostles did not write as Prophets but only as Teachers and chose that way of instructing which every one judged most easie for his Disciples from whence it follows as we have concluded in the end of the said Chapter that their Writings contain many things whereof in Respect to Religion we have no absolute need Fifthly and lastly Because in the New Testament there are four whom we call Evangelists but who believes it was God's express Will that the History of Christ should be four times told and deliver'd to Men in Writing Tho' things may be contain'd in one which are not in another and that one helps to understand another we must not therefore conclude that all things which the four declare are absolutely necessary to be known and that God made choice of them to write purposely that the History of Christ might be the better understood for every one preach'd his own Gospel in several places and every one wrote what he preach'd plainly that he might the more faithfully relate the History of Iesus Christ and not for any explanation to the rest If by mutually comparing them together they are sometâ—mes more easily and better understood that happens by chance and only in very few places of which tho' we were ignorant the History notwithstanding would be very perspicuous and