them at all For in the First Chapter Man is generally considered according to the common nature of both Sexes and there it is affirmed That on the first Day after the other works of God were finished God Created Man Male and Female in his own Image This is common to Adam and Eve the Male and the Female that they were both Man of the same specifical humane Nature and that they were both Created by God in his own Image on the Sixth Day after the other Works of God were finished But in the Second Chapter Man is considered more particularly and distinctly according to the proper differences of Sex and the way is described how the Individuals of humane Nature were Created each in their own Sex and 1. The Spirit of God by Moses declares how Man was Created in the Male-Sex and that he was put into the Garden before Planted and that he was appointed to dress and keep it and allowed to eat of the Fruit of it excepting the Fruit of one Tree only which God forbad him to eat of under pain of Death 2. The Spirit of God by Moses relates how Man was Created in the Female-Sex out of a Rib of a Male-Sex and then that the Female being thus of the Male was Married unto him and made one Flesh with him for his help and comfort In all this appears no Disorder nor Transposition nor is there the least shadow of Falshood or Contradiction But P. Simon Objects First That after Man and Woman were Created as it is written Chap. 1. 27. the Woman is supposed not to be made Chap. 2. I Answer He might have said as well that the Man is supposed not to be made in Chap. 2. But the truth is neither the Woman nor the Man are supposed to be yet unmade after they were really made nor doth the Second Chapter at all contradict the First for what the First and Second Chapters say of the Creation of Mankind relate to the same thing and to the same time with this difference that what the First Chapter relates of Man's Creation is expressed in a few general Words which equally concern both Sexes Whereas the Second Chapter gives a full and particular account of the manner how and of the order of time in which each Sex were Created But he Objects farther That before the Woman was made it vvas forbidden the Man as he vvas her Husband vvhom she accompanied in the Garden to eat the Fruit of a certain Tree I Ansvver This is notoriously False I appeal to common Sense vvhether there be any such thing in the Text of Moses as that Adam vvas the Husband of Eve and that she accompanied him in the Garden before she vvas made of his Rib. Adam indeed vvas forbidden to eat the Fruit of a certain Tree before Eve vvas Created this is plain in the Text of Moses but that he vvas then the Husband of Eve or considered as her Husband before she had a Being there is not one Syllable of this in the Text nor any thing from vvhence it can ever be proved When Adam received that positive Command he neither vvas her Husband nor considered as such nor did she then accompany him in the Garden but he rally vvas the common Root of all Mankind of vvhom the several individuals vvere to spring he vvas moreover I believe the federal principal and head of all his Posterity excepting the Messias and as such he was considered in receiving that Law which the Lord God revealed unto Eve also after she was Created though it be not expressed in the Text for she had it revealed unto her one way or other otherwise she had not actually sinned in transgressing it and we have her own confession related by the Sacred Historian that God had revealed it unto her Chap. 3. 3. But whether God revealed it unto her immediately or by the mediation of her Husband we find not in the Text and therefore we cannot certainly say whether of the Two ways it was revealed unto her but we are sure that one of them it was and that is enough Here P. Simon has discovered himself and by this instance we may Judge what Spirit he is of an honest Heathen would have abhorred to have been guilty of such a gross Falsification that he might the better expose the Author of the History of the Creation whoever he was Sure I am that Longinus did not take the Author of that History to have been a Fool when having occasion to mention the History of the Creation he wrote thus of Moses whom he believed to be the Author of it He that gave Laws unto the Jews was a Man of no ordinary parts for he hath both conceived and spoken worthily and becomingly of the power of God In the very beginning of his Laws writing thus God said but what Let there be Light and it was Let the Earth be and it was Such an high opinion of the Sacred Historian had Longinus as is to be seen in his Book De Sublimi dicendi genere extant in several Languages unto this Day Secondly P. Simon Instances in Gen. 21. 3 4 5. and says That to understand the Books of Moses one must often join many Verses together by beginning with the last and coming up to the first That is in plain English we must read them backwards or we cannot understand them Thus Vers 5. And Abraham was One Hundred Years old when his Son Isaac was born unto him Vers 4. And Abraham Circumcised his Son Isaac being Eight Days old as God had commanded him Vers 3. And Abraham called the name of his Son that was born unto him whom Sarah bare to him Isaac And then he gives his Reason why these Three Verses should be read backwards in these numerical words This Order methinks the Historian ought to have kept for the Jews do not name their Children till after their Circumcision This is his Second Argument under the head of Transpositions to prove that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch And is it not a goodly one Sure P. Simon must have very mean thoughts of the Learned Men of this Age to believe that he can perswade them by such ridiculous Reasoning as this to be of his opinion that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch But it is no wonder that he have mean thoughts of the Men of this Age when he takes upon him to teach the Sacred Historian whom himself acknowledges to have been a Prophet how he ought to have written This Order methinks the Historian ought to have kept says P. Simon And your reason good Father why the Historian ought to have kept the Order that you fancy to be best Why that we have in the very next words For the Jews do not name their Children till after their Circumcision Now Reader I pray thee consider what a senseless Reason this is The Author of the Book of Genesis ought to have written in
body must have written those Books and accommodated them to the Ceremonies and Laws which were already in use adding thereunto those Miracles the more to engage the People unto the observance of that Law But all this is so far void of all probability that there was never any till now that durst in earnest assert it 37. How could it be said for example that the Pentateuch was written and published long after the Death of Moses and that it caused the Establishment of the Law and Worship of the Jewish Religion which it contains Then it must be said also that the Ark and Tabernacle which are the Foundations of that Religion were not made till long after Moses and till that Book had been published but this is a thing absolutely impossible for all the Jews firmly believed that their Ark and Tabernacle were made by Moses as that Book relates and it is not conceivable why or on what account they could have taken up such an opinion if they had made them both themselves after they had seen and recived that Book which is now supposed not to have appeared in the World till a long time after Moses it would be doubtless one of the prettiest things in the World and the most unparallel'd either that this Book having been compiled all at once and beforehand with that prodigious number of Ceremonies and Laws as already in use they should afterwards have been Instituted and setled or that being compiled by degrees and according as all those things were Instituted and Established it should always have had as they say a retractive effect or influence and have wrought backwards so as to cause each of those Institutions to be Ascribed unto Moses 38. Likewise how could this People who at their first Imbracing of this Law must at least have known that it was not true that it had been in use amongst them ever since Moses his time and that there had been a continued Succession of Priests ever since Aaron how I say could this People have been able to perswade themselves Universally to believe that what was prescribed by that Book had always been practised amongst them and that the Priests whom it Ordained had received their Ministry from Aaron by an uninterrupted Succession And finally how upon the same principle could all the other Tribes and Families have suffered the Tribe of Levy and Race of Aaron to appropriate unto themselves all the priviledges belonging to the Priesthood and to the Office of the High Priest 39. There is no less absurdity in the other Supposition to wit that the Law having been given by Moses by word of Mouth was preserved for a time among the Jews by means of Tradition only and that afterwards those who committed it to writing added thereunto all those Miracles For besides that even this would be a kind of Miracle and a thing very hard to conceive that that People should have received a Law so strict and severe as that was from a Man who had done nothing extraordinary for proving that he had it from God how could it be that Moses who doubtless had the use of writing should have omitted a thing so necessary and not have committed to writing a Law that contained so many Observations so many Ceremonies and so many Rules that it was necessary to have it always before ones Eyes for fear of failing in some or other point of duty prescribed by it 40. And indeed we learn also from the Book it self that Moses did not sail to commit it to writing Moses as it is said Deut. 31. 9 10 11 12 13. wrote this Law and delivered it unto the Priests the Sons of Levy and unto all the Elders of Israel and commanded that it should be read before all Israel in their hearing at the end of every Seventh Year in the Feast of Tabernacles And it is also said in I do not know how many places of that Book That God commanded Moses to write that which he revealed to him upon the Mount if the Jews then had received that Law from him only by word of Mouth how could they have ever received a Book which should have contained a Lie so gross evident and which should have carried in it an express order from God which their Law-giver had not obeyed 41. That very Order to read the Law every Seventh Year at the Feast of Tabernacles as having been given by Moses doth further clearly show that it could not have been changed nor corrupted for it would have been impossible for such corruptions not to have been discovered or that being discovered they should have been suffered by a People devoted to that Law and whose devout Subjection to it was grounded upon their believing it to be of God and written by Moses besides that those Miracles being most visible to the Eye scattered throughout the Books repeated in divers places of them and linked with the principal transactions therein Recorded there had been a necessity of making a new Book to take them in and not meerly to alter for that purpose an old Book which had been already received 42. The Infidel then must yet once more return to that pretended vain-glorious humor of the Jewish Nation and maintain that the Jews could easily suffer this falsification and that they were even glad that all those Miracles were added to their Law and that their Chronicles were filled with them 43. This might have some probability if the Question were only about a matter of Civil or Political concernment as for example The Romans could have been content that one should have told them that they were the Off-spring of Aeneas and it may be the French would be well enough pleased that one should derive their Original from the Trojans these are things which please some Mens Fancies and may pass without contradiction it being no Bodies interest to oppose them and they do not interfer with other things that have been established and stedfastly believed time out of mind and that are looked upon as the only considerable But as touching the Jews a People so devoted to their Religion so faithful Observers of the least Traditions and to whom lying was so severely forbidden this supposition is altogether without any appearance of truth 44. For I cannot believe that the Infidels boldness to deny any thing that makes against them dare adventure so far as to dispute all the Evidence we have of the Jews Zeal for their Religion since even yet to this day they have so great a veneration for that Law that though they have been dispersed above these Sixteen Hundred Years and see no accomplishment of what was promised to them notwithstanding they observe it still as far as they can with the same strictness as they did at first and wait continually for the fulfilling of those promises how improbable is it then that they should have suffered that which they looked upon as God's own word to be mixed and blended with
many things which would have made them deservedly enough to be admired and esteemed an Historical Narrative which covers them with perpetual Ignominy 52. So we see that Josephus who was far more tender of the interess of his Nation hath chosen rather to expose himself unto the reproach of having violated the Laws of History by suppressing this publick Crime committed by the Jews in the Wilderness than to expose them to the contempt and scorn of the World by reciting it 53. Moreover how could be added to this History the Rebellion of Corah which is a thing so injurious to all his Posterity was their not cause to fear least some one or other of his Family should have discovered the Falshood of it to wash off the stain of it from themselves why must Corahs Family bear that Mark of Infamy rather than any other did they cast Lots for it was it a thing so necessary that they could not dispense with it and is it not manifest that if it had been a Fiction the whole Race in one Body and with one consent would have opposed it and desired the Authors of that Table to look out for some other Embellishment to their History 54. But if the last words of Moses be considered where he Denounces against them so many Curses Threatens them with so many Calamities and after he had upbraided them with all their Unfaithfulness further Declares That they would do the same things anew and for the Punishment thereof should fall into remediless Misery and Distress that they should be run down by their Enemies and reduced to the utmost Extremity even to the eating of their own Children that their Cities should be destroyed their Wives and Daughters should be Ravished their Sacrifices should be Abolished and finally that they should be led Captives and dispersed through all the Earth to be despised and abhorred by other Nations if all this I say be considered I know not what a Man he must be who imagins that this People could have Conspired with any Man be who he will that should have so grievously displeased them 55. But it is above all to be observed that these are not the Discourses only of a Man that would frighten his followers and bare Threatnings of Miseries which were to befall the Jews only in case they should grosly transgress their Law for if they seem conditional in some places they are in others positive and absolute Prophesies foretelling that they should really transgress their Law as they have grosly done and that all those Miseries should light upon them as in effect it is come to pass how improbable then is it that the Jews should have been so simple or rather so senseless as to suffer Prophesies of that Nature to be added to their History and that for the advancement of the Glory of their Nation they should have consented to a thing which could never but turn to their shame and disgrace for could not they clearly see that if those Prophesies were found to be false their Religion would be accounted an Imposture and they would inevitably lose the Reputation which they might otherwise have acquired by all the rest of the wonderful Events mentioned in their History or that if they chanced to fall really into those Miseries foretold they would be accounted the worst of Men and instead of comfort could expect nothing but blame from all the World for having fallen into those Calamities which they were warned of and for having fallen into them for no other cause but for breaking the Law and Covenant of their God whereby they drew down his Wrath and Indignation upon themselves and their Posterity 56. Thus then it appears that when Men have given the greatest liberty to their Fancy it can produce nothing but Chymerical and groundless Suppositions Moses did not deceive the Jews he could have no such design and though he had had such a design yet it was impossible for him to have compassed it by the ways and measures he took neither did the Jews combine with him to deceive their Posterity and all the other Nations of the World nor was it any new Upstart who to make them believe what he pleased made use of such things as he found established and practised amongst them either by Tradition or by Writing and it was as impossible that the Jews should have Conspired in this Imposture with any other as it was that they should have done it with Moses 57. Here you have some small part of what may be said on this great Subject for it is not to be thought that the proofs which the Pentateuch affords of its truth can be fully drawn forth the more we meditate on it the more Evidence we still find of its Divine Original for it is an inexhaustible Spring of Light and without being at the pains to unfold and set them forth if we read the Book it self we cannot but feel or sensibly perceive that the Language it speaketh is not the Language of Men nor the product of their Wit That nothing is further removed from the Methods not only of Impostors and Deceivers but also of the Prudent and Wise Men of the World That it is of a most peculiar character and altogether different from that of Men acting by their own Spirit and that therein are not to be seen either the common passions or the ordinary interests of Men or the drifts of prudence and forecast which may easily be seen in other Books that are of humane composure and in fine it may be sensibly perceived that it is impossible for any to put off the Man so far as were necessary for the production of such a work wherein so little of Man appears 58. Nevertheless this Book is in being we have it in our hands and it was not made by chance It hath been and yet is the greatest and most considerable object that ever was in the World during the space of above Two Thousand Years the most singular and famous People in the World have been so devoted to it and enamoured of it that they have never suffered it to be out of their sight from this People it is come into the hands of Christians that is to say it is spread abroad through the whole Universe and after Sixteen Hundred Years these Two sort of People irreconcileable Enemies to one another do yet look upon it with the same Veneration dispute the one against the other for the true meaning of it and both of them find in it the original Title of that Right which they pretend to have unto the Heavenly Inheritance in which both of them believe that the rest of Mankind have no part or portion 59. Who then dare be bold to say that it is free for him to stand Neuter and not to concern himself in a matter of this Importance nay who that rightly considers it can hinder himself from being concerned who is there that can let this Book pass as it
ea quae non comprehenduntur ita neque scripturae divinitati per eam totam diffusae quidquam detrahitur ex eo quòd ad singulas dictiones imbecillitas nostra non possit adesse arcano splendori doctrinae qui in tenui contemptâ locutione delitescit Orig. Philoc. cap. 1. pag. 5. Edit Cantabrig 1658. London Printed for Tho. Parkhurst 1682. The Second Part. WHat is contained in these following Sheets was first intended for a Preface unto the foregoing Discourse Translated out of French into English but when I had finished it I found it would be too long a Preface unto such a short Discourse and therefore upon Second thoughts I concluded it would be better to subjoin◠it thereunto by way of Appendix or Second Part. Who was the Author of the Discourse I do not certainly know but it is probable that Monsieur du Bois de la Cour who wrote the Discourse on Paschal his Thoughts or Meditations on Religion c. was likewise the Author of this Discourse for they are frequently bound together and were both Published the one in 1671 and the other in 1672 with the approbation of the same Doctors of the Sorbon excepting one whose name is not subscribed with the other Six unto the approbation of this Discourse But who ever be the Author he is a Man of Parts and has done worthily in this Discourse in which he hath shewed his high Veneration of the Holy Scriptures and hath irrefragably proved the truth of the most Signal and Miraculous matters of Fact contained in the Books of Moses and by that means he hath proved the Divine Original and Authority of all the Laws and Ordinances given by Moses unto the Israelites and Recorded in his Books So that the Translation of it cannot but be of good use unto English Readers for confirming them in the Faith and strengthening them against Tentations unto Infidelity in these Backsliding Times The Discourse is so well Penned by the Author that it needs no Recommendation from any it s own great Excellency and Usefulness will abundantly suffice to commend it unto any ingenious Man that shall be at the pains of spending half an Hour in Reading of it It would therefore have been altogether needless for me to have added unto it what follows here in this Second Part if there had not been lately Published in English a Book of P. Simon 's Intituled A Critical History of the Old Testament where Book 1. Chap. 5. Pag. 36. in the Contents of that Chapter he hath these very Words Moses cannot be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him I had no sooner Read this in the contents of the Chapter but I was desirous to know what Arguments he used to prove such an uncouth Assertion as had seldom been heard of from any before but such as Hobs in his Leviathan Pereyre in his Systema Praeadamiticum and Spinosa in his Tractatus Theologico-politicus all Atheists or Infidels And thereupon having Read and Examined all he says to prove his Assertion I thought it would be necessary together with the Precedent Discourse to Publish a few short Animadversions on what he has written in his Critical History against the Pentateuchs being written by Moses And that what I have to say may be the better understood and the more convincing and satisfactory unto the Reader I shall proceed in this Method First I shall shew what is the Truth to be believed and what is the Belief of the Christian Church Secondly What is the opinion of P. Simon and wherein he agrees with or differs from the common Faith of the Church in this matter Thirdly Answer his Arguments whereby he endeavors to prove his Opinion That Moses could not be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him Now for the First The Truth to be believed is 1. That the whole Scripture of the Old Testament and consequently the Pentateuch or first Five Books of the Bible were written by Divine Inspiration and that God is the primary Author thereof this is proved from Luke 16. 29 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them c. And Luke 24. 25 27 44 45 46. And from 2 Tim. 3. 16. where it is expresly said That all Scripture or the whole Scripture is given by Inspiration of God And 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. where it is expresly affirmed that the first thing to be known concerning the Scriptures is this That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation that is of any Man 's own Inventing for the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of Man but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost The same Truth is clearly proved from Psalm 147. 19. compared with Rom. 3. 2. 9. 4. 2. That this being first known and believed and so the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures secured it matters not very much whether we ever certainly know the names of all the Holy Men whom God used as his Instruments in writing the several Books of Sacred Scripture for there are some Books of Scripture that bear the names of no Man as Author of them under God and yet they are as much of Divine Authority as those Books that have the name of some Prophet or Apostle expressed in their Title and the names which Books of Scripture bear do not always import that the Man whose name the Book bears was the Writer of the Book but that the Book was written of and concerning him and his Acts. Thus the Book of Joshua is so called because it was written of and concerning Joshua though it is probable it was not written by him but by some other Holy Man of God after his Death see for this Bishop Richardsons Observations on the Old Testament pag. 45. the like may be said of some other Books of Holy Scripture That then which concerns us most is to know whether God be the Author of the several Books in the Canon of Scripture and if we be once sure of this we need not trouble our selves much about the knowing of the names of the several Men by whom it pleased the Lord God to consign them to Writing Gregory the Great in his Preface to his Exposition on Job has this Remarkable saying Si Magni cujusdam viri susceptis Epistolis c. If having received the Letters of some great Man we should read the Words and enquire by what Pen they had been written truly it would be ridiculous if we should endeavor not to know the Author of the Letters nor to understand the sense but to find out by what Pen the several words of them had been written since then we know the thing and that the Holy Spirit is the Author of it what else do we in enquiring after the Writer but in reading the Letters stand asking by what Pen they were written Yet 3. when a Book of Holy Scripture bears the name of its
be called by that name among the Hebrews for we see that God called it by that name and the signification of the name agreeing so admirably well with what followed thereupon it is not likely that ever it was wholly forgotten amongst the Posterity of Abraham If any should say that it may seem the name Moriah was given to that Land rather after than before the Lord had manifested himself to Abraham on the Mount I Answer First That can never be proved why might not the Lord God give it that name before-hand which should signifie what he was there to do on the behalf of Abraham The Text says That God bid Abraham get him into the Land of Moriah and their offer c. I Answer Secondly Granting that it was given to that Land after the Lord had manifested himself to Abraham on the Mount yet it does not follow that therefore it must be after Moses also and in Solomon's time when the Temple was Built upon Mount Moriah 2 Chron. 3. 1. Certainly it might have that name long before Moses and yet not have it till after Abraham had done offering the Ram instead of his Son for as Abraham immediately after called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh the Lord will provide with respect to the Answer which he had given his Son Vers 8. My Son God will provide himself a Lamb for a Burnt-Offering So he might at the same time call that part of the Countrey the Land of Moriah or the Land of Vision as the Vulgar Interpreter and Symmachus render it because there he had seen God in a most signal manner there God had given him a sensible and most convincing demonstration of his special Providence and of his peculiar discriminating Grace and Love to him and his Seed Thirteenthly and Lastly P. Simon Objects Deut. 3. 11. and thereupon says If we diligently read what is writ concerning the Bed of Og King of Bashan we shall find that those who have collected these Books have added some words to illustrate the words of the Text by conforming them to the practice and custome of their own times Answer I have diligently read what is there written concerning the Bed-stead of Og King of Bashan both in the Original and in several Translations and yet I do not find by what I read there either that any Body besides Moses collected those Books or that he who collected them hath added some words to illustrate the words of the Text by conforming them to the practice and custome of his own time I suppose P. Simon would have us believe that the last words Beammath Ish after the Cubit of a Man have been added to the Text after the time of Moses but he must first prove that there was no such distinction of Cubits known in the World in the time of Moses and so that Moses could not write these words which express one Member of the distinction methinks it is very easily conceivable that Moses himself might be moved to add this explication of his own words if we consider that there might be diverse sorts of Cubits than in use of which some might be longer than others now if it had been only said that Nine Cubits was the length and Four Cubits the breadth of the Giants Bed-stead the Reader would not have known what Cubits he meant and consequently would have still remained ignorant of the exact measure of the Bed-stead therefore Moses to take away all ambiguity adds for explication of his own words that it was the Cubit of a Man i. e. the common ordinary Cubit which was then so well known amongst the Israelites that there remained no more ground of doubting of what measure the Giants Bed-stead was and if any were so incredulous as not to believe Moses relation of the length and breadth of the Giant Bed-stead they might go themselves to Rabbath and there see it and measure it by the Cubit of a Man But some may say How came King Og's Bed-stead to be at that time in Rabbath amongst the Ammonites I Answer it might come to be there any of these Three ways 1. In time of War the Ammonites might have plundered the Countrey of Og King of Bashan and might have carried his Iron Bed-stead with other spoil into their own Countrey or 2. King Og being to fight with Moses and the Israelites at Edrei and fearing the event of the Battel as he had good reason might send his own Iron Bead-stead with many other necessary things to Rabbath to be secured for him amongst the Ammonites whither he might intend to flee in case he should be vanquished in the Battel at Edrei and be able to make his escape or 3. the Israelites having Conquered the whole Kingdom of Bashan and utterly destroyed all the Inhabitants King Og and all his Subjects taken all his Cities to the number of Sixty and possessed themselves of all that belonged to him or his People if this Bed-stead was in the whole Kingdom at that time it must of necessity fall into the hands of the Israelites and Israel being at Peace with the Ammonites they might come and Trade with the Israelites and especially at such a time they might come to buy part of the Spoil and amongst other things their curiosity might prompt them to buy the Iron Bed-stead of the Giant Og and to carry it into their own Countrey which in former times had been a Land of Giants as appears from Deut. 2. 19 20 21. and no doubt they might have ancient Monuments of those Giants whom they called Zamzummims remaining amongst them and those that wanted might be desirous to have by them some such Monuments of Giants to show as well as their Neighbours and this might be done before Moses either spoke or wrote the words of that Verse Objected by P. Simon Thus you see that any of these Three ways the Iron Bed-stead of Og might come to be in Rabbath of the Children of Ammon when Moses wrote the Book of Deuteronomy There are yet Two Objections against Moses his being the Author of the Pentateuch which I remember I have read in Spinosa his Tractatus Theologico Politicus and because I would omit nothing of any Moment that the Adversaries have written against the Truth which the Church of God believes and I defend I shall here set them down and Answer them as I have done with P. Simon 's Fourteenthly Then Spinosa Objects Deut. 2. 12. where it is said That the Children of Esau destroyed the Horims and dwelt in their stead as Israel did unto the Land of his Possession which the Lord gave unto them now he pretends that this could not be written by Moses because Israel did not destroy the Canaanites and take possession of Canaan till after his Death I Answer At this rate of arguing a Man might prove that our Lord Christ when he instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist did not speak these words This is my Blood which is shed
in whose name he spake and as having God's Power in his own hands to punish those that should resist him 14. The greatest efforts and endeavors of humane Wit to disprove the truth of Moses his Books may be reduced to such imaginations as these and yet nothing less rational could be invented for if men would in this matter make use but of proofs taken from meer sense how difficult is it to reconcile the Wisdom and Vertue which clearly appear in this Moses with so black an Imposture how difficult is it to comprehend that this man in an Age so remote so dark and so rude and without any help from the Inventions of those that had gone before could have been able to contrive of his own head not only a Law from which all other Laws have been obliged to borrow something or other but moreover that he could have been able to have framed the Idea or Notion of a God and that an Idea so great and so worthy that excepting those who have trodden in his steps there were never any who have had an Idea of God but what was infinitely below it whereas all other humane Inventions grow up to perfection successively and by degrees in fine how strange a thing would it be that this first born of all Impostors should have hit so right in a matter so far elevated above the thoughts of men and should have known so well what should be due to a God and what a God should be that really Men are sensibly convinced that he must be such a God if he be at all and that honest hearts should be grievously troubled at it if such a God were not 15. But to pass from this unto such things as bear a greater proportion unto all sorts of Capacities let us see whether it be possible that all the Miracles mentioned in those Books should be but so many Fables invented by Moses if this be possible then either he must have hoped to make the Jews believe him or at least he must have hoped to perswade them to Authorize them by their consent without believing them and to conspire with him to conceal the knowledg of this Cheat from posterity for undoubtedly none will say that he invented them upon design to pass for an Impostor without expecting any advantage thereby and withal it must be supposed either that the Jews believed them to be true though they were false or that allowing them to be false they all with one consent agreed in a design to make them pass for true to their Posterity 16. But what can be imagined more groundless and undefensible than all this could Moses promise himself that he should be able to perswade the Jews to believe the turning of Rivers into Blood the thick palpable Darkness which covered all Aegypt for the space of Three Days the Israelites only being free from it the Death of all the first Born of the Aegyptians in one Night whilest the Jews in the mean time felt not the least hurt the division of the Red-Sea which opened and on each side stood up in an heap like two Walls to make way for the passage of the Israelites and then fell down again and returned to its ordinary course to swallow up and Drown the Army of the Aegyptians with all the rest of those Miracles which visibly succeeded one another before that people went out of the Land of Aegypt could he hope that none of the Jews would doubt of the truth of all these things if they were false nor have at least the curiosity to enquire concerning them of the Aegyptians who in all probability were not combined in the Plot with him 17. Moreover could he believe that he should be able easily to perswade them to give credit unto what he writes of the Forty Years which they spent in the Wilderness which is no less than another Series of Miracles that he should be able to make them believe though there was no such thing that he had drawn out of a Rock Water enough to quench the Thirst of Five or Six Hundred Thousand Men that before their eyes the Earth had swallowed up quick Corah Dathan and Abiram after he had advertised the people that they should die of a strange and extraordinary kind of Death that they themselves had lived for the space of Forty Years only upon Food sent down from Heaven and last of all that he should be able to make them believe that great and dreadful sight of Mount Sinai while it appeared all in a Flame with such a noise of Lightning and Thunder that the people who stood by and heard and saw all that passed desired to treat and converse no more but by Ambassadors with that God whose glorious presence they thought they could not bear and live 18. If Moses had been so senseless and mad as to flatter himself with this hope how unable would he have been even for that very reason alone to succeed and bring to pass any great design and instead of carrying matters so far and bringing them to that Issue as he did such a mad head would not have failed to imbroil and confound all its own projects where is there an example in all Histories of any cheat of this nature these are not the ways and methods which Deceivers take they do not lay open their Lies to so great a light and they are too wary to chuse Judges so hard to be deceived as the Eyes and Ears of Six Hundred Thousand Men and a whole Nation of Enemies they feign some obscure blind Mitacle whereof there have been but few Witnesses and cause the Fame of it to be spread abroad by their Partisans above all they avoid with great care the provoking of humane Nature to rise up in contradictory opposition to them which they would surely do if they should boldly take folks to witness of such things as wherein they should have so great cause to fear to be belied and there is nothing which they shun so much as the giving occasion unto Mens minds to think often upon their Falshoods and the inducing them to make frequent reflections upon their Lies they account themselves happy that they were once suffered to scape without being punished for their cheating Tricks and they cannot possibly so far root out of their natures all sense of Fear and Shame as to dare set gross Impostures continually before the eyes of a whole Nation taking them to witness and exciting them by such an unsufferable boldness to enquire into and consider of them with the greater care and wariness 19. Let Moses be tryed by these Rules to see whether he observes any of these precautions and takes any of these measures which Nature and Interest would teach the most desperate yea and even the most Foolish inconsiderate Impostors He speaks upon every occasion both of the Plagues of Aegypt and of the Miracles in the Wilderness and that with a confidence sufficient to provoke the
such a fearful multitude of Lies rendering themselves thereby unworthy of Divine Protection and liable to be convicted of Imposture by the Neighbouring Nations would not this have been a venturing to lose all for to gain nothing 45. This might suffice to convince all understanding and sober Men but if some would yet insist upon the Jews love for their Nation and pretend that the desire of being admired might have induced them to permit and promote this Imposture let us see whether it be not quite contrary and whether there be the least probability that they believed they could advance their own Reputation by the things contained in that Book which seem so shameful to the Nation in general and though all had been for the publick good let us see whether it be credible that particular Persons and whole Families would have willingly Sacrificed themselves and their Interests unto it especially considering that nothing did constrain them and that having nothing to do but to invent it was in their choice to take what way they pleased and to secure the Interests of all without provoking so many people to discover their Frauds 46. Had they only mentioned such things as might have contributed to their Honour as those great Miracles which are an Evidence of Gods most special Protection it had been abundantly sufficient for their design without inventing some things which it was so many Peoples Interest to oppose and other things which do expose that Nation to so great contempt 47. For instance what is there more miserably base than the Fears and Murmurings of this People occasioned by the bitter Waters of Marah by the want of Food and by the Thirst they suffered in Rephidim they are hardly sooner come out of Aegypt but they forget all those great things which they would make the World believe that their God had there done for them they think they are forsaken and betrayed and complain that they are treacherously brought out of a Countrey where they lived at ease though they were Captives and Slaves in it to destroy them in the Wilderness they Question the Power and Protection of that God who had so eminently appeared for them and are ready to Rebel against that very Man who they believed was chosen by God to deliver them now is not this the shamefullest and greatest weakness imaginable is not this the highest Ingratitude both to their God and to Moses their Guide and Captain what could their cruellest Enemies have invented more dishonourable to them and who could imagine that to make themselves renowned all the World over and to cause Men to believe they were the beloved People of God it should ever have entered into their thoughts to paint out and represent themselves so light and unconstant so unfaithful and so absured that during the space of Forty Years wherein they Fed as themselves say upon meat sent down from Heaven there passed hardly a Day on which they were not heard to cry like little Children and to wish with Tears they were yet Slaves in Aegypt that they might fill their Bellies with Onions and Leeks 48. The whole Five Books of Moses must be almost copied out to recount all the Unfaithfulnesses and all the Faults of this People for therein is hardly any other thing to be seen one would think they had been resolved to make their Wickedness keep even pace with the Grace and Favors of their God almost upon all occasions they Rebelled against their Leader and were scarce delivered from one Judgment when they brought upon themselves another nothing could hinder this ungovernable People from falling continually into the same Crimes not the example of the Three Thousand Men whom the Sons of Levy slew by the commond of Moses to punish them for their Idolatry nor the Fire and Plague from the Lord which in Two Days time destroyed near Fifteen Thousand Men for their Sedition nor the dreadful Judgment of the Fiery-Serpents nor the Tremendous Punishment inflicted upon them for their mixing with the Daughters of the Midianites on which account Moses caused to hang up all the Heads of them against the Sun and Twenty Four Thousand of the People died by the Plague 49. But to say all in one word what can be imagined more strange and more disgraceful to their Memory than that general Apostacy which happened when Moses was upon Mount Sinai and when those Mad People forced Aaron to make them a Golden-Calf and to offer Sacrifice unto it as if it had been unto their God Let all the circumstances of this Action be well weighed and it will undoubtedly appear that a People which have declared themselves capable of falling into such a Crime have by so doing Convicted themselves of all Vices at once and chiefly of Sottishness and Extravagancy They tell us that they were brought out of an Enemies Countrey by the greatest and most unconceivable wonders that can be imagined insomuch that there is hardly a moment of time mentioned in all their History in which the Almighty Arm of their God doth not visibly appear this their God Pardons them all their Murmurings and all their Unfaithfulnesses and instead of Punishing their Distrust he Provides for them Meat and Drink in places where there had never been any before and satisfies even the lowest and grossest of their desires 50. Nevertheless in the time when they knew that their Deliverer and Guide is on the Mount with that same God to receive his Orders about the Government of them a panick and a ridiculous Fear seases upon them they cannot patiently bear Moses his so long absence and without knowing well wherefore they demand of Aaron a visible God to go before them they force him to make a Golden-Calf which they set up upon an Altar they call it the God which brought them out of Aegypt and give to this pretty Deity made of Ear-rings the same Honors and the same Thanksgivings which they owed and had before so often given unto the true God Creator of Heaven and Earth who had chosen them out of all Mankind for his special Favorites 51. Truly they must have lost the use of their Reason who can think that this People have suffered this Narrative of the Golden-Calf to be added to their History and that they have done it to make themselves to be admired and esteemed by other Nations could they imagine that their Glory and Renown was imperfect without this to make up the defects of it and is it not on the contrary a disgrace which can never be rubbed off and for which their Posterity will blame them for ever And is it not rather one of the greatest Miracles in the World that this Action of theirs could ever come to our knowledg and that the whole Jewish Nation have not done their utmost utterly to abolish the Memory of it so far must we suppose the Jews to have been from inventing it against themselves or from suffering to be added unto so
is sutably expressed Verse 19. Fourthly The Waters increased yet so wonderfully upwards above the highest Mountains that they were Fifteen Cubits under Water and this is expressed as in Verse 20. And then Fifthly and Lastly Since the space of time in which the Waters prevailed upon the Earth was One Hundred and Fifty Days this is appositly expressed as in Verse 24 and last of the Chapter What now doth this Man deserve who quarrels with the Spirit of God for these repeated expressions which carry such a Grace in them being so well fitted to the nature of the thing spoken of Next he finds fault with the Repetitions in Vers 21 22 23. I Answer Here indeed is a Repetition of the same thing but it is in somewhat different words and who knows but it might be to assure us of the Truth of the thing which God foresaw some Men would not believe to wit That the Flood was so Universal as to destroy utterly every Living thing from off the Face of the whole Earth except Noah and them that were with him in the Ark and whatever be said of that yet it cannot be denyed but it is free for God to express his mind as he pleases if there be nothing in the expressions but what is true as certainly there is not in this place And it may be that in expressing himself thus he condescended to accomodate himself to the genius of the Hebrew Tongue and to speak with his People in their own way of speaking P. Simon himself confesses that there are some Repetitions which have their Grace in the Books of Moses as well as in the Poems of Homer And says he Pag. 40. it may be that good part of these Repetitions belong to the genius of the Hebrew Tongue which is a very plain Language and repeats often the same thing by different terms which appears in almost all the Books of Scripture and which we find even in the Ordinances of our Kings and in the Stile of the Chancery of Rome as well as in the Stile of our Courts for Civil Affairs where several words are placed after one another which signifie but the same thing Thus he And this Answer may serve to his other Instances from Exod. 31. 14 15 16. and Exod. 32. 15. But why Exod. 16. 33. compared with Verse 36. Levit. 6. 9. should be objected I can see no colour of reason Is it possible that ever a reasonable Man should think that these passages can afford so much as a probable Argument that Moses cannot be the Author of the Books attributed to him And if Pere Simon did not think that they could do him any Service in this matter why did he alledg them And moreover why any Man should find fault with the expressions there used I do not understand unless it be a fault for Almighty God so clearly and fully to express his mind as that his People cannot but understand his meaning might not P. Simon have been affraid least God should say to him as it is written Matth. 20. 15. Is thine Eye Evil because I am Good Lastly Under this head of Repetitions is alledged Levit. 3. 3. and here he finds fault with these expressions The Fat that covereth the Inwards and all the Fat that is upon the Inwards pretending that there is no difference between these two the Fat that covereth the Inwards and all the Fat that is upon the Inwards but this critical Objection ariseth from his own inadvertency for if he had weighed and considered the words he would have seen a manifest difference between these two the Fat that covereth the Inwards and all the Fat that is upon the Inwards and would have perceived that the words are very significant and give us plainly to understand that not only some of the Fat but all the Fat on the Inwards of the Sacrifice must be taken away not only the outward covering of Fat that is upon the Inwards but every bit and crum of Fat that adheres most closely to the Inwards here is an inadequat distinction between these two the Fat c. and all the Fat c. as there is an inadequat distinction between the part and the whole the thing included and the thing including I proceed to his Second Head of Arguments Secondly He Argues from the Disorder and Transpositions that are in the Pentateuch To which I Answer in general That no solid Argument can be drawn from this pretended Disorder to prove that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch for if any other Man writeing by Divine Inspiration might be the Author of such passages as are pretended to be out of their proper places there can no reason be given why Moses might not as well be the Author of them surely it was as free for the Spirit of God to transpose things by the Pen of Moses as by the Pen of any other Man But as we have shewed P. Simon confesses that the whole Pentateuch except any little mistakes of Transcribers that may be in it was written by Men Divinely Inspired Secondly I Answer That in all such passages God may be supposed to have accommodated himself to the genius of the Hebrew Tongue and to have condescended to write unto his People in their own usual way of writing if it be true that P. Simon says Pag. 40 41. in these words following It seems to me that the Jews themselves did not much regard writing in Method as it would be easie to prove by the Stile of the Epistles of Paul and Haron a Caraite Jew who has made literal Commentaries on the whole Pentateuch observes often this confusion of Order which he calls Haphuck and says That it is usual enough in Scripture to begin with one thing then to pass unto another and afterwards to resume again the first If this be true no reason can be given why God might not make choice of writeing to them by the Pen of Moses in this very way and method which was usual amongst them there being nothing of Falshood in it So much in general Now let us come to a particular Examination of the several Instances he gives of this pretended disorder and First He begins with the History of the Creation and finds fault with its Order As that after the Man and Woman were Created Gen. 1. 27. The Woman is supposed not to be made and in the following Chapter the manner how she was taken from Adams side is described nevertheless in the same Chapter it was before forbidden him as he was her Husband whom she accompanied in the Garden to eat the Fruit of a certain Tree This is his first Argument in which there are several Falshoods shuffled in as if it were to make the History of the Creation seem ridiculous But if any Man will impartially and in the fear of God consider the words of Moses in the Two first Chapters of Genesis he will find no such disorder or falshood in
that Order as P. Simon would have it and we ought to read the Three Verses aforesaid backwards because the Jews in this Age do not name their Children till after their Circumcision But can P. Simon prove that in Abrahams time Children were not named till after their Circumcision might they not be numbred at their Circumcision yea or before their Circumcision in Abrahams time God left it free unto Abraham and his Posterity to name their Children at vvhat time they pleased before at or after their Circumcision and no Man living can prove that in Abrahams time People vvere bound to name their Children after their Circumcision or that they generally used so to do such Arguments as this of P. Simons deserves no Ansvver but to be hissed at and his Immodesty in saying That the Sacred Historian ought to have kept the Order he speaks of is to be lamented by all that desire to fear God Thirdly He Objects Gen. 31. 46. This Verse says he is methinks likewise out of its Order as well as all the Discourse which treats of the Covenant between Jacob and Laban because they did not eat till the Alliance was made Answer Here is an Argument little better than the former only it is more modestly proposed They did not eat till the Alliance was made ergo all the Discourse which treats of the Covenant between Jacob and Laban is out of its order Any Man that attentively reads the Text of Moses would conclude the quite contrary that seeing they did not eat till the Alliance was made therefore all the Discouse that treats of the Covenant c. is in its Order because it is all set down before the offering of Sacrifice or killing of Beasts and eating of Bread mentioned Vers 54. As for Vers 46. there is nothing affirmed in it but what is most true It is most true that Jacob's Brethren gathered Stones it is most true that they made an heap and it is as true that they did eat there upon the heap But says P. Simon They did not eat till the Alliance was made I Answer Nor does the Historian say in Vers 46. that they did eat before the Covenant was made there he only says That they did eat upon the heap but does not say when and a little after in Vers 54. he tells us when it was they eat upon the heap to wit after the Covenant was made So that here is nothing to cavil at and find fault with only the same thing is twice expressed in somewhat different words First The matter of Fact is related in general without telling what was meant by it Vers 46. They took stones and made an heap and they did eat there upon the heap Secondly The meaning of the heap of stones and of their eating upon the heap is cleared up and the time mentioned when they eat upon the heap there it is shewed that the heap of stones was by agreement between Jacob and Laban ordained to be a Witness or Token of the Covenant between them Two and their eating upon the heap is clearly implyed to have been a federal Feast signifying and sealing up a lasting Friendship between the Parties Covenanted and last of all it is expresly declared when this Feast upon the heap of stones was to wit after the Covenant between Jacob and Laban was made and confirmed by the Oaths of both Parties Vers 53 54. To conclude this Answer Let it be considered that Vers 46 speaks only of the place where they eat without mentioning the time when But Vers 54 speaks only of the time when they eat without mentioning the place where that is without mentioning that it was upon the heap of stones and now why Moses yea why Gods Holy Spirit might not be the Author of both these 46 and 54 Verses and of all that comes between them it is above my capacity to understand I dare challenge any Man to bring an Argument from this place to prove that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch an Argument I say that any Man of Judgment would not be ashamed of Fourthly He Objects Gen. 35. 28 29. The Death of Isaac there related seems to be out of its place says P. Simon because Isaac died not at that time and that Joseph was sold Twelve Years before the Death of Isaac yet nevertheless the History of Joseph begins but at the 37th Chapter of the same Book I Answer The Death of Isaac hath that place in the History which the wisdome of God thought fit to assign unto it and that we should account to be its place which Gods Wisdome by his Prophet hath put it in But says P. Simon Isaac died not at that time I Answer There is no other time of his Death mentioned there but that after he was One Hundred and Eighty Years Old he Died and was Buried which is most true but it is not at all said by the Sacred Historian that Isaac Died at that time when his Son Jacob came unto him unto Mamre for that had been false and I desire this may be taken notice of But says P. Simon Joseph was Sold Twelve Years before the Death of Isaac and yet the History of Joseph begins but at the 37th Chapter of the same Book I Answer This is indeed true for Isaac was Sixty Years Old when Jacob was Born Gen. 25. 26. And Jacob was One Hundred and Thirty Years Old when he stood before Pharaoh Gen. 47. 9. Now 60 and 130. make One Hundred and Ninety which is but Ten Years more than the Years of the Age of Isaac who Died when he was One Hundred and Eighty Years Old that is Ten Years before Jacob stood before Pharaoh so that Isaac must have Died about the time of Joseph's advancement in Aegypt as appears from Gen. 41. 53 54. compared with Gen. 45. 6. where we see that Seven Years of Plenty and Two Years of Famine had passed from the time of Joseph's advancement until the time of Jacob's coming into Aegypt Isaac then Living One Hundred and Eighty Years could not Die till about the time of Joseph's advancement either the Year of his advancement or the Year before his advancement and if it was the Year before his Advancement that Isaac Died then it was about Twelve Years after Joseph was Sold that Isaac Died for Joseph was Seventeen Years Old when he was Sold Gen. 37. 2. and Thirty Years Old when he was advanced in Aegypt Gen. 41. 46. and consequently he was not advanced till the Thirteenth Year after he had been Sold so that Isaac Dying the Year before his advancement he must have Died Twelve Years after he was Sold. But what is all this to the purpose this doth not prove that the Relation of the Death of Isaac is out of its place for as I have said that is its place which the Wisdome of God thought fit to assign unto it and there we find it in the end of the 35th Chapter