Messiah the Jewish Law was to become impracticable and impossible to be observ'd For if the City and Temple were not destroy'd the confinement of the Jewish Worship to one certain Place must necessarily imply an alteration in their Worship upon the coming of the Messiah and the calling of the Gentiles who could not all be supposed to assemble thrice every year at Jerusalem and therefore the Prophets foretold That Jerusalem should then be no longer the only place of God's Worship but that Men should Worship him in any place of the World 'T is true the Prophets often mention the resort which should be made from all Nations to Jerusalem and to the Temple or the Mountain of the Lord. But then these are Mystical Expressions for the City of Jerusalem and the Temple are used by the Prophets as Types of the Christian Church and therefore Ezekiel (m) Lightfoot 's Prospect of the Temple ch 2. describes the Temple larger than the whole City of Jerusalem and the City in greater dimensions than all the Land of Canaan to shew that we are not to understand these Expressions literally A Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedeck different from that of Aaron was Prophesied of Psal cx 4. and a New Covenant different from that which was made with the Children of Israel upon their coming out of the Land of Aegypt Jer. xxxi 31 32. And this Covenant was to extend to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts Malach. i. 11. If against all this it be alledged That the Mosaical Law was to endure for ever it ought to be considered what sense that expression bears in the Law it self And that expression is there used to denote the continuance of any thing which was not designed for some particular occasion or season only but was to last as long as the nature and general design of its Institution would admit The Servant whose Ear was bored was to serve his Master for ever Exod. xxi 6. by which is to be understood not all his Life but only till the year of Jubilee whereas he that had not his Ear bored was to be set free in the seventh year ver 2. And even before the year of Jubilee he whose Ear was bored might be freed with his Master's Consent (n) Grot. ad loc either by Manumission or Redemption and was at liberty upon the death of his Master not being bound to serve his Son Their anointing shall surely be an everlasting Priesthood throughout their Generations Exod. xl 15. which can be understood to extend no farther than as long as their Genealogies were preserved and the Tribe and Generations of the High-Priests could be distinguished I will abide in thy Tabernacle for ever Ps lxi 4. or in other words all the days of my Life Ps xxvii 4. Samuel was brought by his Mother to abide before the Lord for ever that is during his Life 1 Sam. i. 22. And by parity of Reason those Statutes and Laws are said to be Established for ever which were designed to be perpetual and standing Laws not temporary during their journeying in the Wilderness only as others were but to continue as long as the Constitution of the Government was to last and in this sense the Jews themselves (o) Id. de Veritat Lib. 5. §. 7. have taken the word and it is sufficiently explain'd Deut. xii 1. These are the Statutes and Judgments which ye shall observe to do in the Land which the Lord God of thy Fathers giveth thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the Earth or as we read ver 19. as long as thou livest upon thy earth that is their Law was obligatory to them as long as they had possession of the Land of Canaan or retained any right to possess it by God's donation But those Statutes and Judgments which were to be observed in the Land which the Lord had given them to possess can no longer be of any obligation to them when they are finally deprived of that Land The Ceremonial Law therefore by its Original Design and Institution being to continue in force but till the coming of Christ he gave the accomplishment to it and put a final period to its Obligation Instituting his Gospel in its stead which had been pre-figured by the Law and foretold both by Moses and the Prophets CHAP. XVII Of Sinful Examples Recorded in the Scriptures AS some have endeavour'd to excuse their own Sins by alledging the Sinful Examples which we find mention'd in the Scriptures so others who are no less fond of imitating them yet have from hence taken a pretence for Objections and Cavils I shall therefore shew that the bad Examples in some actions of Men whom we find in all other respects commended in the Scriptures are far from being proposed for our imitation but there is great reason why the Faults and Miscarriages of the best Men should be deliver'd down to us in the Scriptures for our Caution and Prevention as well as upon other accounts I. Several passages of the Scriptures contain only Matter of Fact and that very briefly express'd and a bare Narrative of any Action implies neither the Approbation nor the Censure of it but only declares that such a thing was done and in such a manner but the Nature of the Fact it self with the Circumstances of it or some Command or Permission or Prohibition in Scripture must discover the goodness or lawfulness or the wickedness of the Action No Historian is supposed to approve of all which he relates but he must report bad as well as good Deeds who will do the part of a faithful Historian II. The Rules of Good and Evil are plainly delivered in the Scriptures by which we are to judge of Actions and we are to conform our Actions not to the Example of Men but to the Law of God We are forewarn'd to follow no Man's Example when it is contrary to the Divine Law and therefore it could not be necessary in the relating of every evil Action to set a mark of Infamy upon it and a Caution against the imitation of it III. The Relation of the bad Actions of Good Men may be of great use and benefit tho' we are not to follow but avoid them Because 1. This shews the sincerity of the Pen-Men of the Scriptures that they spare no person whatsoever but relate the plain Matter of Fact even tho' themselves be concern'd when it is never so much to their disgrace as in the Denial of St. Peter and other instances 2. By this we learn the Frailty of Humane Nature and the necessary dependance that the best Men must have upon God for his Grace in
Christ was risen by the Omnipotent Power of God Besides St. Matthew writes that the Graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and appeared unto many Mat. xxvii 52 53. Many saw them who are appealed to as Witnesses of their Resurrection And the miraculous events at the Death of our Saviour which were so many certain presages and fore-runners of his Resurrection as the Earthquake and the darkness of the Sun for three hours together in the midst of the day contrary to the course of Nature the Moon being in the full the rending the veil of the Temple and the like these were things which must be notorious and which could not have been pretended to have happened but the whole People of the Jews must be appealed to as Witnesses of them And it being a custom for the Deputies of Provinces to certifie the Emperor of whatever happened considerable under their Government the Resurrection of our Saviour with the Miracles which accompanied it were so remarkable that Pontius Pilate gave an account both of his Miracles and his Resurrection to the Emperor Tiberius who thereupon proposed it to the Senate to have him taken into the number of their Gods and made it punishable to accuse any Man for being a Christian during his Reign And this information of Pontius Pilate was entred upon Record at Rome to which Justin Martyr appeals in his Apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and the Senate and Tertullian in his Apology which was likewise presented to the Senate of Rome or at least to the Governours of the Provinces They both lived in the next Age and were both educated in a different Religion and upon these and such like Proofs became Christians and they were Men of excellent Learning and Judgment but no Man who could write an Apology can be supposed to have so much confidence and so little understanding as to appeal to that account which Pilate sent to Tiberius concerning the Resurrection of Christ in Apologies dedicated and presented to the Roman Emperor himself and to the Senate or the chief Magistrates of the Empire if no such account had ever been sent or none had been then extant to be produced But by the special Providence of God both the Birth and the Resurrection of our Saviour were inserted into the publick Records at Rome and were to be seen there for a long time after and the Heathens in whose custody they were are desired by the Primitive Christians to consult them for they were content to put the matter upon this issue (d) Justin Apol. ii Tertul. Apol c. iii. xxi that if they were resolved not to believe what the Christians said yet they would at least credit their own Records Upon these Proofs and Reasons by the clear evidence and power of Truth the word of God mightily grew and prevailed against all that Prejudice and Malice and every Vice could do to oppose it in Rome and in Jerusalem it self for in this very City where our Saviour had been Crucified and where it had been impossible to have made Proselytes if his Resurrection had not been evidently proved beyond all possibility of a confutation great numbers were daily added to the Church A Church was forthwith sounded at Jerusalem and a Bishop appointed by the Apostles and both the body of the People and their (e) Euseb Hist lib. 4. c. 5. Bishops being xv in number to the final Destruction of Jerusalem by Adrian were Jews by Nation We see then that as the Testimony of the Apostles is in it self beyond all exception so it is of such a nature as to make it impossible for them to deceive if they had intended it but indeed no Men could have proceeded in that manner or would have endeavoured it who had had any intentions to deceive and the event shewed that it was the direct and plain evidence and force of Truth which supported it self notwithstanding all the prejudices and advantages which its worst Adversaries had against it CHAP. XV. Of the Apostles and Evangelists THE Principal Articles of the Christian Faith being matters of Fact as the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Christ upon which the rest depend the great thing to be enquired into is whether the Apostles had all the qualifications requisite to become Witnesses of matters of Fact This has been already shewn as to the Resurrection and if in general we examine whether we may safely rely upon that credibility wherewith they Preached the Gospel to the world the enquiry will fall under these heads I. Whether they were Men of sufficient Abilities to discern and understand what they testified II. Whether they had sufficient means and opportunities to know it III. Whether they were Men of Integrity that without Artifice or Design truly declared what they knew I. That the Apostles were Men of sufficient understanding to become Witnesses of a matter of Fact was never doubted by any one nor can it be questioned by such as peruse their Writings and indeed who is there of any common sense that is not a competent Witness of what he sees and hears and has the experience of for so long time together For II. By their conversation with our Saviour both before his Passion and after his Resurrection the Apostles had such opportunities of knowing what they attested that it was impossible for them to be deceived in any part of it It was a necessary qualification of all the twelve Apostles that they should have conversed with our Saviour before his Death and have seen him after his Resurrection For when one was to be ordained in the room of Judas to be a Witness with the rest of Christ's Resurrection he was to be one that had companied with them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them beginning from the Baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from them Act. i. 21 22. They saw his Miracles and heard his Doctrine and knew his manner of Life and had all the opportunities and used all the means to inform themselves that it was possible for Men to do they were eye-witnesses of His Majesty 2 Pet. i. 16. they had heard and seen with their eyes and had looked upon or beheld and discerned for a long time together and their hands had handled that which was the subject of their Testimony 1 Joh. i. 1 2 3. They had made all the search into it and had used all the exactness that could be and were as distrustful and as hard of belief as any Men could have been who are most suspicious and jealous of being imposed upon And of these Apostles two wrote the Life of our Saviour and all bore witness to the Truth of what these wrote and Preached the same things where ever they came Of the two other Evangelists St. Mark had his information from St. Peter whose Disciple and Companion he was and St. Luke wrote his Gospel from the account
till the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and in the Synagoges the Scriptures were read in the Greek Tongue which was the most universal Language then in the World Some have affirmed that as much of the Scriptures as was written in Solomon's time was then translated into the Syriac Tongue and there is little doubt (a) Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 1. Euseb Praepar Evang. l. 13. c. 12. but that at least part of the Bible was translated into Greek before the time of Alexander the Great but the Version of the Septuagint was soon dispersed into all hands which was made at the Command of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus to whom likewise and his Father (b) Euse b Eccl. Hist l. 7. c. ult Aristobulus dedicated an Exposition of the Law of Moses By all these means vast multitudes of Proselytes were made to the Jewish Religion in all Parts of the World What numbers there were at Rome of this Religion we know from the Roman Poets and Historians and we have as good Evidence of the spreading of it in other Places Not to repeat what has been already related nor to mention particular Persons of the greatest Note and Eminency nor particular Cities as Damascus (c) Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 25. where it more remarkably prevailed it is evident what numbers of Persons in all Nations professed this Religion from the incredible Treasures which Crassus found in the Temple of Jerusalem being Ten thousand Talents amassed there by the Summs of Gold sent from all Places by the Jews and such as became Proselytes to their Religion And for the Truth of this Josephus cites Strabo's Authority who says (c) Joseph Antiq. l. 14. c. 12. that the Jews were every where dispersed and every where gained Men over to their Religion and that in Alexandria they had their Ethnaychae or proper Magistrates by whom they were governed And another Proof of the multitudes of Proselytes made to the Jewish Religion may be had from the great numbers assembled (e) Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 7. c. 17. Act. ii 5. at their Passovers and at the Feast of Pentecost out of every Nation under Heaven Thus mightily prevailed the Religion of the Hebrews till the City and Temple by a Divine Vengeance as (f) Ibid. cap. 24. pag. 979. Josephus often confesses was destroyed and the Law it self with the Utensils of the Temple was carried among the Spoil in Titus's Triumph And when the Jewish Religion had its full Period and Accomplishment the Christian Religion which succeeded in the room of it and was prefigured by it soon spread it self into all corners of the Earth and is at this day preached among all Nations But before I proceed to consider the Propagation of the Christian Religion it may be requisite 1. To produce some Testimonies of the Heathens concerning the Jews and their Religion 2. To shew That there have been always remaining divers Memorials of the True Religion among the Heathen 3. To consider the Authority of the Sybilline Oracles I. As to the Testimony of Heathen Authors it were no more an Objection against what has been alledged though they had taken no notice of the History of the Jews than it can be supposed to be an Objection against the Truth of the Taking of Troy or the Building of Rome that the Scriptures make no mention of either of them The Greek Historians were so ignorant of Foreign Affairs as (g) Joseph contr Ap. l. 1. Josephus has observed that Ephorus one of the best of them thought Spain to be but one City and neither Herodotus nor Thucydides nor any Historian of their Times made any mention of the Romans The Roman Authors are but of a very late date in comparison and the Greeks besides their ignorance in Antiquity and in the Affairs of other Nations are known to have been a vain People who despised all besides themselves accounting them Barbarians and taking little notice of Rome it self before they fell under its Power Yet many of the Heathen Writers as Josephus shews have made famous mention of the Jews though others have given a wrong and malicious Account of them whom he proves to contradict one another and sometimes themselves Some again have omitted the mention of the Jews though they had never so much occasion for it of which he gives a remarkable Instance in one Hieronymus who though he were Governor of Syria and wrote a Book of the Successors of Alexander and lived at the same time with Hecataeus yet never vouchsafed to speak of the Jews of whom Hecataeus wrote a particular Book But the Works of him and of many other Greek Authors are now lost which were written concerning the Jews the Fragments whereof are still to be seen in Josephus Clem. Alexandrinus Eusebius and others Of those whose Works remain Herodotus relating the Victory of Pharoh Necho in the Battle at Megiddo calls Jerusalem Cadytis by a small variation as (h) Light Chorog on St. Mark c. 3. §. 6. Strab. l. 16. Diodor. Sic. l. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist l. 5. c. 14. Tacit. Hist l. 15. Dr. Lightfoot has observed for Kedosha that is the Holy City the usual denomination of that City Strabo mentions Moses and the ancient Jews with commendation Diodorus Siculus names Moses amongst the chief Law-givers of ancient Times Pliny says Jerusalem was the most famous City not only of Judaea but of the whole East Tacitus himself gives this testimony of the Jews That they worshipped the Supreme Eternal Immutable Being But above all Varro (i) S. Aug. Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 31. the learnedest of the Romans much approved their way of Worship as being free from that Idolatry which he could not but dislike in the Heathen Religion And it is generally agreed by all that the Religion of the Jews was received all over the World and as Seneca (k) Ibid. l. 6. c. 11. express'd it Victi victoribus leges dederunt II. There have been always remaining divers Memorials and Remembrances of the True Religion amongst the Heathen The Flood of Noah and the Ark (l) Joseph Antiquit. l. 1. c. 3. were generally taken notice of by Heathen Historians and the Flood of Deucalion was (m) Luciaâ—â— de Dea Syr. plainly transcribed from that of Noah Jove is a plain depravation of the word Jehovah and Diodorus Siculus said (n) Diod. Sic. l. 1. that Moses received his Laws from the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is another variation from it And this proves the Antiquity of the Heathen Tradition concerning the True God since the Jews of latter times would not speak the name themselves much less communicate it to others Appollus Clarius being consulted to know who the God Jao was answered That he is the Supreme God of all as Macrobius (o) Macrob. Saturn l. 1. c. 18. informs us from Cornelius Labeo which both shews that the Heathen had knowledge of the God Jehovah and that
the height of their Pride and Blasphemy and the People of Judah in the extremity of Danger and Despair Isai xxxvii At the Prayer of Isaiah the Sun went back ten Degrees for a Sign to King Hezekiah of his Recovery and the Princes of Babylon sent Embassadors to enquire of this Wonder 2 King xx 11. 2 Chron. xxxii 31. It was impossible there should be any mistake in Miracles of this nature which have the same Evidence that those of Moses himself had having the joint Testimony of a whole People to prove the Truth of them Isaiah prophesied of Cyrus by Name (e) Joseph An t quit l. 11 c. 1. Two hundred and ten Years before the accomplishment of his Prophecy and foretold the Re-building of the Temple an Hundred and forty Years before it was demolished The expressions are so plain and full that as St. Jerom (f) â—ieron ad 〈◊〉 c. 44. observes the History of Cyrus by Xenophon is an admirable Comment upon this Prophecy of Isaiah That saith of Cyrus He is my shâ—pherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem Thou shalt be built and to the temple Thy foundation shall be laid Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him He shall build my City and he shall let go my captives not for price nor reward saith the Lord of hosts Isai xliv 28. xlv 1 13. And this Cyrus himself tho an Heathen Prince was so sensible of that he acknowledge it in his Proclamation which he put forth for the Building the Temple Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia All the Kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord Godâ— of heaven given me and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah 2 Chron. xxxvi 23. Ezra i. 2. And the same Prophet who foretold the Empire of Cyrus the Persian foretold likewise That the Kingdom of the Chaldaeans should be destroyed by the Medes Isai xiii 17. which was prophesied of too by Jeremiah Jer. li. 11 28. And this is the more remarkable (g) See Sir W. Râ— leigh l. 3. c. 2. § 2. because tho' Darius Medus conquer'd Babylon yet he dying soon after and Cyrus succeeding him the Fame of Cyrus who was at the taking of Babylon but General of his Army so obscured the Name and Memory of Darius that Historians have taken no notice of him though he is found mention'd by the Scholiast upon Aristophanes who says that a Darius who was before him who was Father of Xerxes gave Name to the Pieces of Coin call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who must be Darius Medus So much better were Transactions known to the Prophets before-hand than to Historians afterwards The Judgments which were to befall divers other Nations were also foretold by Isaiah and described by particular Circumstances The Destruction of Nineveh (h) Joseph Antiquit l. 9. c. 11. was foretold by the Prophet Nahum an Hundred and fifteen Years before-hand The Prophet Jeremiah foretold the Conquests of Nebuchadnezzar and the Captivity of the Jews by him in so remarkable and solemn a manner that it was notorious to all the neighbouring Nations For according to the Custom of delivering Prophecies by some visible Signs as well as in Words he sent Bonds and Yokes to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Ammonites and to the king of Tyrus and to the king of Zidon by the hand of the messengers which came to Jerusalem from these several Kings unto Zedekiah king of Judah and foretold That all these nations should serve Nebuchadnezzar and his son and his sons son Jer. xxvii 3 7. And the Jews put him in Prison for this Prophecy where he was kept when Nebuchadnezzar took the City and set him at liberty And when the Chaldaeans had raised the Siege by reason of Pharaoh's Army which was coming to the Relief of Jerusalem Jeremiah told the Jews that Pharaohs Army should return into Aegypt without effecting any thing and that the Chaldaeans should came again and take the City and burn it with sire Jer. xxxvii 5. He likewise prophesied against Aegypt which the Jews made their Refuge and Sanctuary and pointed out the very Place where Nebuchadnezzar would pitch his Tent by taking great Stones and hiding them in the Clay at the entry of Pharaoh's House Tahpanhes in the sight of the Men of Judah declaring that his throne should be set upon those stones and he should spread his royal pavilion over thim Jer. xliii 9 10. And the accomplishment of his Prophecy concerning Pharaoh chap. xliv 30. is to be seen in (i) Herodot Enterp c. 169. Herodotus The Prophet Jeremiah was opposed and contradicted by several False Prophets who prophesied deceitful and flattering Delusions to the People persuading them that no evil should come upon them of whom Jeremiah foretold That Hananiah should die that same Year in which he vented his false Prophecies chap. xxviii 16 17. and That Ahab the Son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the Son of Maaseiah should be taken Captive by Nebuchadnezzar and slain in the sight of the People of Judah and roasted in the fire chap. xxix 21 22. And thus distinctly foretelling the Time and Manner of the death of those False Prophets he vindicated his own Prophecies which were at first so unwillingly believed beyond all contradiction But that which seemed most strange and was most objected against in the Prophecies of Jeremiah was his Prophecy concerning the Death of Zedeckiah for in this (k) â—â—â—â—ph 〈◊〉 l. 10. 〈…〉 Ezâ—â— 12. He and Ezekiel were thought to contradict each other Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem at the same time when Ezekiel prophesied in Babylon and concerning the same things and Jeremiah's Prophecy was sent to the Captives in Babylon and Ezekiel's to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem But Jeremiah said Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth and thou shalt go to Babylon Yet hear the word of the Lord O Zedekiah king of Judah Thus saith the Lord of thee Thou shalt not die by the sword but thou shalt die in peace and with the burnings of thy fathers the former kings which were before thee so shall they burn odours for thee and they will lament thee saying Ah Lord for I have pronounced the word saith the Lord Jer. xxxiv 3 4 5. But Ezekiel prophesied in these words I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldaeans yet shall be not see it though he shall die there Ezek. xii 13. Now these two Prophets writing of the Captivity of Zedekiah reckon up all the Circumstances of it betwen them in such a manner as that they were believ'd to contradict each other and thereby the expectation and attention of the People was the more excited to observe the Fulfilling of their Prophecies Jeremiah said That he should see the King
of Babylon and be carried to Babylon Ezekiel That he should not see Babylon Jeremiah That he should die in peace and be buried after the manner of his Ancestors Ezekiel That he should die at Babylon and if we compare all this with the History nothing ever was more punctually fulfilled For Zedekiah saw the King of Babylon who commanded his Eyes to be put out before he was brought to Babylon and he died there but died peaceably and was suffered to have the usual Funeral Solemnities 2 King xxv 6 7. And therefore both Prophecies proved true in the Event which seemed before to be inconsistent And so critical an Exactness in every minute Circumstance in Prophecies delivered by two Persons who were before thought to contradict each other was such a conviction to the Jews after they had seen them so punctually fulfilled in their Captivity that they could no longer doubt but that both were from God Jeremiah foretold also That the Kingdom of the Chaldaeans should be destroyed and that the Jews should be restored after a Captivity of Seventy Years these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished that I will punish the King of Babylon and that nation saith the Lord for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldaeans Jer. xxv 11 12. For thus saith the Lord That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place Jer. xxix 10. And this Prophecy of Jeremiah the Jews depended upon under the Captivity Dan. ix 2. Zech. i. 12. and it was exactly fulfilled to them The Generations of Nebuchadnezzar's Posterity that should succeed him till the Destruction of that Monarchy are foretold Jer. xxvii 7. The Destruction of Babylon with the manner of Taking the City as it was foretold and described by the Prophet agrees punctually with the Account of it by (l) 〈◊〉 â—odo◠〈◊〉 c. 191. Herodotus One post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another to shew the king of Babylon that his City is taken at one end and that the passages are stopped and the reeds they have burned with sire and the men of war are affrighted And this was declared in a memorable and solemn manner by writing it down and by casting the Book into Euphrates Jer. li. 31 32 62 63. The Destruction of Tyre and Zidon and of Aegypt was foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel and the Restoration of the Aegyptians after Forty Years Ezek. xxviii 19. xxix 12 13. The Prophanation of the Temple and of the Sanctuary by Antiochus Epiphanes with the Death of Antiochus and a Description of his Temper and of his very Countenance was clearly delivered by Daniel Four hundred and eight Years (m) Joseph Antiquit. l. 11. c. 11. before the accomplishment Dan. viii Daniel likewise described the Fate of the Four Monarchies the Restoration of the Jews and the Rebuilding of their City and the Birth of the Messias with the precise Time of it And Alexander the great is said (n) Ibid. l. 11. c. 8. to have been encouraged by Daniel's Prophecy in his Expedition Indeed his Prophecy and the History of the Four Monarchies are so exactly parallel that Porphyry could find no other evasion but to say That the Book of Daniel was writen after the Events which as Grotius observes is as absurd as if a Man should maintain that the Works of Virgil were not written under Augustus but after his time For the Book of Daniel was as publick and as much dispersed and as universally received as ever any Book could be Lastly Haggai and Malachi prophesied That Christ should come before the Destruction of the Second Temple Hag. ii 7 9. Mal. iii. 1. And Hosea foretold the present state of the People of Israel in those remarkable words They shall be wanderers among the nations Hos ix 17. Not to insist therefore upon other Miracles and Prophecies which were concerning things of lesser moment or less remarkable in the eyes of the World these may suffice which were of that Publick nature that there could be no deceit or mistake in them multitudes of Men whom Prejudice or Malice had prepared to make the utmost Discoveries were Witnesses to the Miracles and both the Prophecies themselves and the Fulfilling of them were notorious to other Nations as well as to the Jews to whom they were delivered and in whose hands they have ever since been being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day The Jews had as good Evidence for Instance that Elijah wrought his Miracles as they could have that there was such a Man in the World And when the publick Transactions and Councils of Princes the Fate and Revolution of Empires with the Prefix'd Time and Place and the very Names of the Persons were so particularly foretold Two or Three hundred Years before the Things came to pass we may as well question the Truth of all History as the Certainty of these Revelations For indeed they are the History of Things that were to come set down in the very Circumstances in which they afterwards were brought to pass And yet if a Man should dispute whether there ever were such a Man as Elijah or such a Prince as Josiah or Cyrus he would but make himself ridiculous but if he deny that Elijah wrought such Miracles or that Isaiah spoke of Cyrus and another Prophet of Josiah by Inspiration perhaps he may be thought to have made some great Discovery and to know something above the rest of Mankind and shall be likely to meet with Applause instead of that Contempt which such Pretences deserve so strangely partial are Men for any thing which is but against the Authority of the Scriptures For I think it will be hard for Men to bring better Proof that there were such Men as Elijah and Josiah and Cyrus than may be brought to shew that the latter were by Name prophesied of long before their Birth and that the first wrought all the Miracles related of him or to produce clearer Evidence that there was such a City as Jerusalem before the Reign of Cyrus than we have that the Destruction of the City and Temple and the Captivity of the people with their Restoration after Seventy Years was foretold by Jeremiah The prophets did their Miracles in the most publick manner and their Prophecies were delivered not in corners but openly before all the People not in obscure and ambiguous Words but in plain Terms with a particular Account of Persons and Time and Place they were kept they were read and studied by that very People who at first as little regarded them as any Man now amongst us can do but slew the prophets themselves and rejected their Prophecies with rage and indignation but were afterwards by the Event of Things so fully convinced which was likewise foretold Ezek. xxxiii 33. of their
became so much admired and magnified by the people that they brought forth the sick into the Streets and laid them on Beds and Couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might over-shadow some of them There came also a multitude out of the Cities round about unto Jerusalem bringing sick Folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one Acts v. 15 16. And in this manner the Apostles continued several years in Jerusalem doing Miracles upon all occasions and before all people And the same miraculous power manifested it self at Ephesus where God wrought special Miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his Body were brought unto the Sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them Acts xix 11 12. So impossible was it for the Apostles to deceive those before whom their Miracles were so frequently and publickly wrought And yet it must be much more impossible if any thing more impossible can be supposed to deceive those upon whom their Miracles had the effect of restoring to them the use of their feet their sight and their health and even of raising them again from the dead And indeed none of the Adversaries of old of the Christian Religion ever denied but that Miracles were wrought by the Apostles they only disputed the Power by which they were wrought they never questioned the reality of the Miracles themselves The Books of the New Testament which gave an account of these wondrous works were written soon after the things related had been done and these Books were in the hands of Heathens and Jews as well as Christians and neither the Jews nor the Heathens could deny but that such works had been done they only cavilled at the Power and Authority by which they were wrought which how groundless and unreasonable soever it were yet was the only evasion they could have when there were so many Christians if they had denied the matter of fact who did the like Miracles every day to confute them For II. The Apostles not only wrought Miracles themselves but conveyed to others a power of working them Thus when St. Peter was sent for to Cornelius the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word and they spake with Tongues and magnified God Act. x. 44 46. And so at Ephesus the Holy Ghost came on those whom St. Paul had laid his hands upon and they spake with Tongues and Prophesied Acts xix 6. And this miraculous Power was in that evident manner received by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles that Simon Magus offered them Money to purchase it Acts viii 18. Now as the Apostles could neither be deceived themselves in the Miracles which they did nor deceive those before whom they were performed and upon whom they were wrought so certainly they could never deceive such as they conferred this Gift upon When they not only did all sorts of Miracles and spoke all Languages themselves but conveyed a Power likewise upon others of speaking and doing as themselves did this was still a further evidence that all their pretences were real beyond all possibility of Deceit Deceivers would never have done their Miracles so openly and so frequently at such a time and place they would never have pretended to a gift of Tongues at a Festival where men from all parts of the world were met together so that they could attempt to speak in no strange Language but some present would have discovered them if they had not been able to speak it But they would least of all have pretended to enable others in an instant to work the same wonders and speak the same Tongues only by laying their hands upon them Men that would attempt all this though they were unable to perform it must be so far from being capable of discoursing and writing as the Apostles did that they must be void even of common sense and if they could succeed in their designs and make the world believe that they did act and speak in this manner when they did not they must have a Power over the understandings and senses of all with whom they conversed which is as strange even as this Miraculous Power it self They must work Miracles either upon the objects of sence or upon the sences themselves for in this case they could never have been able so much as to deceive without a Miracle and since God would never have empowered them to work Miracles to deceive we are certain that their Miracles were all wrought for that intent and purpose which they made profession of and to confirm that Doctrine which they taught And this Power of Miracles which now descended from Heaven upon the Apostles and was conveyed by them to others continued for some Ages in the Church and approved it self to the worst Enemies of our Religion in such instances as must make them most concerned to examine it (d) Minut. Faelix Lactant. lib. ii c. 15. c. 21. Several of the Primitive Writers witness that nothing was more notorious than that the Devils were wont to cry out for very anguish and torment when they were adjured by the true God (e) Apolog c. 23. and Tertullian made publick challenges to the Heathens that if they would but admit them this Tryal the Christians would undertake to make their most famous Deities acknowledge the Power of Christ and to make their very Gods confess themselves to be wicked and seducing Spirits or else they would be contented to be slain upon the place and this he wrote under persecutions and in Apologies dedicated and presented to their Persecutors themselves And indeed the Oracles in all parts of the World soon began to fail so as they had been never known to do before for their Power began to abate and decay upon the approach of our Saviours Birth into the World till by degrees they quite ceased which the Heathens wondered at and were much perplext about it as we learn from what (f) Cicer. de Divinat Plutarch de Oracul Defecta they have left written upon that subject And though Julian the Apostate used all the ways that he could think of to bring them into credit again he was never able to elect it but the most famous of them confess'd to him when he consulted it that a miraculous and Divine Power residing in the Remains of a Christian Martyr after his Death would suffer no answer to be given And it is so remarkable that I must mention it once more that when the same Apostate Emperor in hatred and despight to the Christian Religion became a great Patron of the Jews and encouraged them to re-build their Temple great balls of fire broke forth under the foundation and destroyed both the work it self and the persons employed in it And this we have related not only by several Christian Writers that lived about that time but by an (g) Ammian
but as if that were not enough he has taken care to insert such particulars concerning himself as to suffer no man to be ignorant of the Spirit and Temper by which he was guided in penning it He blasphemously introduceth God thus speaking to him (a) Alcor c. xxxiii O Prophet we permit thee to know the Women to whom thou hast given Dowry the Women Slaves which God hath given thee the Daughters of thine Vnkles and of thine Aunts that have abandoned with thee the company of the wicked and the true believing Wife that shall be given thee if thou wilt marry her and that she be not the Wife of a true Believer It seems he gave himself the liberty to take away the Wives of any that were not of his Religion Thou shalt retain whom of thy Wives thou shalt desire to retain and shalt repudiate such as thou shalt desire to repudiate and shalt lye with them that shall please thee By this means his Family of Wives became pretty numerous some say they were fifteen others say one and twenty beside Concubines and therefore it was fit he should take some care to keep them true to him and so he bespeaks them after this manner (b) Ib. Oh! Ye Wives of the Prophet Such of you as shall be unchaste shall be punished doubly more than other Women this is a thing easy to God Such among you as shall obey God and his Prophet and shall do good works shall be rewarded more than other Women an exceeding great reward is prepared for you Oh ye Wives of the Prophet Ye are not like other Women of the World fear God and believe not in the discourse of such as have a design to seduce you speak with civility abide in your Houses go not forth to make your Beauty appear and to make a shew as did the ignorant of old This explains what was mentioned before of a Revelation Mahomet pretended to have concerning something that one of his Wives was to say to him he had a mind to make them believe that he knew whatever they did or said that so he might keep them in a we that they might not dare to prove false to him His Pride is evident in this which follows (c) Ib. Ye that believe enter not into the Houses of the Prophet without permission except at the hour of Repast and that by chance and without design if ye are invited enter with freedom when ye shall have taken your repast depart out of the house and tarry not to discourse one with another this molesteth the Prophet he is ashamed to tell you the truth But this is not all his number of Wives made him incurably jealous and therefore he adds you ought not to importune the Prophet of God neither to know his Wives this would be a most enormous sin The fierceness of Mahomet's Spirit may be seen by this one saying (d) Ib. ic xxii He that is angry that God giveth Succour and Protection to Mahomet in this World let him tye a Cord to the Beam of his House and hang himself he shall see if his choler will be allayed It is notorious that he set up his New Doctrine in oppressing his own Country-men who would not submit to his Imposture first and in Rebellion against the Emperor Heraclius then at War with the Persians afterwards and his Alcoran is fit only for a Saracen Camp Preaching Lust to his followers but blood and destruction towards all others This may satisfie any Man that there is nothing in the Author of the Mahometan Religion nor in the Religion it self which may incline him to believe it to be of Divine Revelation But whoever would know more of this vile Imposture may see it fully displayed in the Life of Mahomet lately published by the Learned Dr. Prideaux THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART IV. CHAP. I. That there is as great certainty of the Truth of the Christian Religion as there is of the Being of God FROM what has been discoursed the Truth of the Christian Religion is evident by all the arguments by which any Religion can possibly be proved to be Divine and if there be any such thing as true Religion the Christian Religion must beit and if this be made appear it is all that need be said in defence of the Christian Religion to any one but an Atheist The Scriptures are defective in nothing that is requisite in a Divine Revelation but have all that can be required in the highest degree to instance here only in Miracles and in those only of our Saviour and his Apostles Our Saviour wrought his Miracles in the midst of his Enemies and extorted a Confession from the Devils themselves of his Divine Power And if the Apostles had not been well assured and absolutely certain of his Resurrection they would never have had the confidence and the folly for it could have been no less to maintain so soon after his Death in Jerusalem the City where he was Crucify'd that he was risen from the Dead they would never have chosen that above all places to Preach this Doctrine and work their Miracles in if they had not been true at least they would never have done it at the great and solemn Feast of Pentecost to provoke the Jews to expose them to all the World for Impostors no they would have taken time to have laid their design with some better appearance and contrivance to be sure they would have avoided Jerusalem as much as they could and above all times at so solemn a Festival as that of Pentecost they would have gone rather to the remotest corners of the Earth 〈◊〉 have told their story than have run the hazard of such a discovery But when they stood the Test of all that the Jews could say or do to them when in that very City where he had been so lately Crucify'd they told the Jews to their face and before that numerous concourse of People which was then met together at Jerusalem that they were Murtherers that they murther'd their Messias but that he was risen from the Dead and that by vertue of his Resurrection they spoke those Languages and did those Works which they then saw and heard This was plain and open dealing and there could be no deceit in it if any thing of this could have been disproved they had been for ever silenced but their worst enemies were so far from being able to disprove what they said that about three thousand Converts were made on the day of Pentecost The innocent and Divine Life of our Saviour the holiness and excellency of his Doctrine the simplicity and meekness and constancy of his Disciples the continuance of Miracles for several Ages in the Church the wonderful Propagation of the Gospel by a few poor ignorant despised and persecuted Men every passage every circumstance in the whole dispensation of the Gospel is full of evidence in proof of it
vites sitire agros laetus esse segetes luxuriosa frumenta Nihil horum earum audacter c. Cic. Orator Forms of Speech even among the Roman Country men were so Metaphorical that they will scarce bear a literal version into our Language And the Philosophers themselves had customs which may seem very odd to us it * Joac Kuhnii observat ad Diog. Laert. was a custom among them when they propounded a question to offer with it a dryed Fig and he that accepted of the Fig thereby undertook to answer the question The Figurative expressions of the Prophets and their Types and Parables were suitable to the customs of the places and times wherein they lived and very fit to give a lively and affecting representation of the Message they had to deliver Thus for instance it was a customary thing in those Countreys to rend their Carments to pluck off their Hair to go barefoot and cover their faces in time of grief and trouble which would be looked upon as a certain sign of distraction amongst us but was commonly done by the gravest and wisest men in these parts of the world And the expressions of their Joy and other Passions were proportionble to those of their sorrow Now it was reasonable that the Prophets in delivering their Prophecies should accommodate themselves both in their words and actions to the people to whom they were to be delivered For else they would never have been regarded or would have made little or no impression upon their minds which caused the false Prophets to take the same method 1 Kings 22.2 It is * Origen contr Celf. lib. 1. Origen's observation that the Prophets sometimes had matters of small importance revealed to them as when Samuel acquainted Saul that the Asses were found 1 Sam. 9.20 that they might keep the people from going to false Prophets to be satisfy'd in such things besides that by this means they gained authority to be rely'd upon when they had affairs of the greatest consequence to foretel And there was reason that in every case they should make all necessary allowances for the infirmities of the people with whom they had to do and should use all fitting compliances with them that they might the more prevail with them for their good It is the custom of the Prophets as * Hier. in Abdiam St Jerom observes when they speak against Babylon the Ammonites the Moabites the Philistines and other Nations to use many expressions and idioms of the language of the people concerning whom they speak †Lightf Hebr. Talmud exercit on Matt. 13.3 Familiare est syris maxime Palaestinis ad omnem sermonem suum Parabolas jungere c. Hier. in Matt. 18.23 One who was as conversant in the Jewish Learning as most men have been tells us that their Books abound every where with Parables that Nation inclining by a kind of natural Genius to this sort of Rhetorick And it is to be considered that several things which are set down as Matter of Fact might not be actually done but only represented as done to make the more lively impression upon the Hearers and Readers who well enough understood that it was not necessary that these things should be actually performed but they might be only parabolical descriptions or representations of Matter of Fact the better to illustrate and convey those commands and instructions to their minds which were to be delivered Thus * Hier. in Hose Proaem comment in c. 1. Maimon More Nevoch Part. 2. c. 46. St Jerom and Maimonides understood Ezekiel's lying on his side for three hundred and ninety days and Hosea's marrying an Adulteress only as Similitudes or Parables and Figures of Speech and thus from the Ancient Rabbins they interpret both what is related of these two Prophets and that which is said of Jeremiah's hiding his Girdle in Euphrates This was the most intelligible and effectual way that could be made use of to a people among whom such figurative expressions were usual and known to mean no more than what they were intended for So Jeremiah is said to be * Sic dicuntur Historici eos occidere quorum caedém narrant Calaub comment ad Theophrast charact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant Jer. 1.10 because he was appointed to prophesie of all these things Ezekiel speaks of himself as coming to destroy the City because he prophesied that it should be destroyed Ezek. 40.3 and the same Prophet in his description of the City and the Temple has delineated the Temple larger than all the earthly Jerusalem and Jerusalem larger than the whole land of Canaan to shew the Jews the necessity of understanding him in a mystical and spiritual sense †Lightf prospect of the Temple ch 11. as one has observed who very well understood the dimensions of both And thus Ezekiel was also carried from place to place in Vision only as the Text seems to express Ezek. 11.1.40.1 2. as the Jews * Hier. Praef. in Dan. in St. Jerom's time understood it and as the Chaldee Paraphrase interprets it But Hosea might be commanded either in vision or in reality to marry a woman who had been an Adultress but †Nec culpanâ—â— Prophâ—â— interim ut sequamur historiam si meretricem converterit ad pâ—â— citiam sed potius laudandus quod ex mala bonam fecerit id Câ—â—â—ment in Hos c. 1. afterwards became chaste and vertuous thereby to set an example to the Israelites who had gone a whoring after other Gods that if they would forsake their false Gods and return to the true God the God of their Fathers he would still accept and receive them in like manner as the Prophet had took an Adultress to wife upon assurance that she would prove faithful to him However this be understood these actions and others of like nature are to be look'd upon no otherwise than as the style of Scripture or as certain ways of expressing the Divine Will to men For the mind may be exprest by * Estenim Actio quasi corporis quaedam eloquentia Cic. Orator Actions as well as by Words and whatever Actions were perform'd with this intention properly come under the notion of style or different ways and modes of expression and all objections made against them under any other notion proceed upon a mistake and can be of no force The Prophetick schemes of Speech which seem most strange to us were usual with the Eastern Nations †Comment in Apocal. Part. 1. as Mr Mede shews of the Indians Persians and Egyptians The Revelation of St John chiefly consists of allusions to the Customs and History and Notions and Language of the Jews as he and Dr Lightfoot have shewn in many places which are most contrary to our manner of speaking And some passages allude
coming of the Messiah But (g) Grot. de Verit. lib. v. S. 14. inter Sarrav Epist Rabbi Nehumias who lived fifty years before Christ declared that the coming of the Messiah according to Daniels Prophecy could not be deferred beyond the space of fifty years longer as Grotius has observed from the Talmud Divers (c) Bishop Pearson on the Creed Art iv of the Jews place the Passion of Christ sixty nine years before our common Account of the Year in which he truly suffered others pretend another different Account without the least Reason for either pretence but this shews how desperate a Cause they are engaged in which forceth them upon such Artifices for we have the express Testimony of Tacitus that he suffered under Pontius Pilate They Interpret Isai vii 14. where it is Prophesied that the Messiah was to be Born of a Virgin contrary to the Sense of their Fore-Fathers and therefore reject the Antient Translation of that Verse by the Septuagint as (d) Just Mart. Dialog Justin Martyr urged against the Jews of his time In Origen's time they expounded Isai liii of the Nation of the Jews not of any particular Person though as (e) Origen contr Cels lib. 1. Origen Argued in a Disputation with them the Tenor of the whole Chapter is a plain confutation of this way of expounding it and especially these words of the 8th Verse for the Transgression of my People was he stricken By the Person stricken cannot be understood the People for whose Transgression he is said to have been stricken (h) Grot. ib. lib. v. S. 19. Bishop Pearson ib. But they have found out another Evasion by pretending that there are to be two Messiahs one the Son of Joseph who is to be a suffering Messiah and the other the Son of David who is to enjoy all manner of Temporal Prosperity and Power So plain is it that the Prophecies which the Jews themselves of old understood of Christ are fulfilled in our Saviour and so unavoidably do they contradict all their own Antient Interpretations of Scripture when they will not allow them to be fulfilled in him For that they are fulfilled it is evident and they can assign no other Person in whom they have been fulfilled II. It was fore-told by the Prophets that the Law should cease upon the coming of the Messiah It is evident from the Prophets that in some years after Christ Jerusalem was to be no longer the seat of the Jewish Power and Government nor the place of Worship And their Prophecies suppose the Cessation of the Jewish Law upon a Two-fold Account 1. From the Destruction of the Temple 2. From the Dispersion of the People of the Jews and the Destruction of their City 1. From the Destruction of the Temple The Prophet Daniel fore-told that after the Messiah was cut off the Sanctuary should be destroyed and the Sacrifice and the Oblation should Cease and that there should be Desolation even until the Consummation Dan. ix 26 27. Since the Sanctuary is laid waste and desolate and by this Prophecy is never to be Rebuilt the Temple being the Place of all their Worship and Solemnities that failing their whole Worship must fail with it And whenever the Jews have attempted to Rebuild their Temple they have been hindred from doing it and particularly as I have several times already observed in the time of Julian the Apostate by Miraculous and dreadful Judgments related by Ammianus Marcellinus an Heathen Historian who lived at that time and by a (x) Wagenseil Annot. ad excerpta Gemarae â—ap 1. p. 236. Jewish Writer And when they have been permitted to Build them Synagogues and Places of Worship in all other Parts of the World that Place alone has been denied them in which by their Law they were indispensably bound to Worship All the Males were obliged to resort to Jerusalem to Worship thrice every year and the Place of their Worship was more strictly enjoyned than the time For if any Man were upon a Journey or Unclean a second Passover was appointed for him but it could be observed at no other Place but Jerusalem upon any occasion whatsoever Num. ix 10. Deutr. xvi 5. And therefore during the Captivity at Babylon they did not Celebrate these Feasts of the Passover of Pentecost and of Tabernacles how could they Sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land Psal Cxxxvii 4. And the Destruction of the City and Temple by the Romans at the time of the Passover was a sign that they were no longer God's Peculiar People nor under the Protection of those Promises which by the Law were made to them and had ever been fulfilled till the time of the Promise was expired St. (i) Chrys adv Judeos lib. 1. Tom. 6. Sav. Edit Chrysostom blames the Jews of his time for observing the Law in the Countries whither they were disperst which he proves to be contrary to God's Commandment and to the Practice of their Ancestors And the Modern Jews confess that their Worship is impracticable in their present Condition they acknowledge that they ought to offer Sacrifice no where else but at the Temple of Jerusalem the Observation of the Passover among them now is without Sacrificing the Paschal Lamb and they observe tâ—e day of Attonement without the Sacrifice of Expiation 2. The Destruction of the City of Jerusalem and the final Dispersion of the People of the whole Nation of the Jews proves that their Law is at an end Jacob plainly foretold both the coming of the Messiah and the end of the Power and Authority of the Nation of the Jews upon His coming The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a Law giver from between His feet until Shiloh come and unto Him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. xlix 10. This Prophecy was by the antient Jews always understood of the Messiah as is evident by the Targums and it appears to be fulfill'd in our Saviour both because the Jewish Government in His time was drawing towards its final Period and because the People of all Nations have been gathered to Him and have been made Proselytes to his Religion The Sceptre and the Law-giver that is the Power of their Arms and the Authority of their Laws was not so to depart as to become extinct till the Messiah came which implies that soon after his coming they were both to cease as we see they have long since actually done The Accomplishment of Jacob's Prophecy was gradual Herod was of another Nation but a Proselyte and upon that account he might be stil'd a Jew as (x) Exerâ—â—itat 1. â—um 5. Is Casaubon has prov'd against Baronius And when he was made King of the Jews this was as a Warning to awaken them to expect the full Accomplishment of this Prophecy which was brought to pass in the final Destruction of their Government The Jewish Government all along under all Changes was still denominated from Judah tho'
that Tribe was not always in Chief Power and even under Herod who was an Idumean it had its Title from Judah as the Roman Empire retain'd its old Denomination when divers of the Emperours were not Romans by Birth But when the Messiah was come the Sceptre was to depart from Judah and there were no more to be any Law in force amongst that People who had been so long known under that Denomination which they receiv'd from him And this Prophecy of Jacob in which he foretels the Condition of the several Tribes has a plain Reference to the Promised Land and is to be understood of the Jewish Government in the Land of Canaan for he there describes the Borders of it From the time that they were in Possession of that Land the People of the Jews never had lost all their Right and Title to it before the coming of Christ but still retain'd their Right during their Abode in Babylon and were assur'd that they should again be put in Possession after a Captivity of seventy Years and in Token of this Jeremiah purchased a Field of Hanameel his Uncle's Son and subscribed and sealed the Wriings and took Witnesses and paid down the Money publickly before all the Jews that sat in the Court of the Prison and the Evidences were to be kept in an Earthen Vessel For thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Houses and Fields and Vineyards shall be possest again in this Land Jer. xxxii 14. But when the time of Jacob's Prophecy was expir'd and Shiloh was come they were driven out never to be restor'd again The Romans the most Generous of any People dealt so hardly with no other Nation as with the Jews who yet had to do with one of the most merciful Princes that stands upon Record in History If Tiberius or Caligula or Nero had destroyed them it might have been ascrib'd to the Cruelty of their Temper but when Titus who endeavour'd to save them was by their own Obstinacy forc'd upon their Destruction after they had by their Dissentions made themselves a Prey to him there was the visible Hand of God in it as Josephus often confesses and as Titus himself declar'd when he beheld the Towers and Fortifications after the City was taken If they could have agreed either in their own Defence or in any Terms of Submission to him they would have been far from suffering in that Extremity When Pompey and Crassus entred Jerusalem the time of its Destruction was not yet come but it was reserv'd to Titus whose peculiar Character it was that he oblig'd all Men and who was stil'd the Love and Delight of Mankind unwillingly to do that which neither Pompey nor Crassus would do It is well urg'd by a (k) Secundum scriptum Judaei apud Limbroch Learned Jew tho' he makes a wrong Inference from it Did the same thing says he befall any other People Did the Romans drive the Germans the Britains the Gauls the Spaniards the Greeks or the Asiatick Nations into Captivity and disperse them thro'-out all Parts of the World They rather endeavour'd to preserve them that their several Countries might not want Inhabitants And tho' the Jews have been generally observ'd to have great Riches in the Nations where they live they have never been able by any power or interest to get themselves Re-establish'd in their Country and Government but have been disappointed as often as they have attempted it tho' with never so much probability of success So evident it is by the experience of so many Ages that however it fares with particular persons of that Nation yet they never are to be united again as a Community or Body of People to live under their ancient Laws according to the Mosaical Constitution They have no City no Government nor ever are to have any and therefore those Laws can now no longer be in force which suppose the continuance of their Government Their Genealogies are lost upon which the distinction of their Tribes and Families and the Succession of their Priesthood did depend So that they are without an Altar without a Priest without a Sacrifice and without any possibility of knowing the Descent and Lineage of their Messiah whom they expect to come and by consequence cannot know him if he should come having no way to distinguish that Tribe and Family of which the Prophecies declare the Messiah was to be In the Babylonian Captivity there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who kept up Order and Government amongst them and that besides was at the most but a suspension of their Power it was no utter extirpation of all Rule and Authority their Genealogies were preserved and the distinction of their Tribes and Families known their deliverance out of that Captivity with the time and manner of it and the very Name of their Deliverer was foretold Isa xliv 28. Jer. xxv 12. Dan. ix 2. And in that Captivity they had Prophets to direct and support them under their affliction and give them assurance of a Restoration but now they do not so much as pretend to have any The Deliverance of the Israelites out of the Aegyptian Bondage was likewise foretold with the punctual time of it Gen. xv 13 14. And in general God declares that when at any time for their Sins they were led into Captivity and dispersed among the Heathens tho' they were driven unto the utmost part of Heaven yet upon their Repentance he would turn their Captivity and have compassion upon them and would return and gather them from all the Nations whither he had scattered them Deut. xxx 2 3. Neh. i. 8 9. And this Promise must have been in force as long as their Law and Constitution lasted and could have no limitation but the final and determined period of it The time for the duration of the Jewish Law and Government being expired all promises made to them as a distinct People and Nation must be expired with it whereas if their Law were still in force the promise of their being restored to their Land and Government would undoubtedly before this time have been fulfilled to them For besides that their Sins at their return from their Captivity in Babylon were very great it cannot be supposed that for so many Ages their Sins should hinder that a Remnant at least should not be restored if the Jewish Oeconomy had not received its final period in the destruction of their City and Nation (l) Tertul. adv Judaeos c. 13. Redde statum Judaeae quem Christus inve niat alium contende venire This which was a good Argument in Tertullian's time is improved still in every Age since For if the State of the Jewish Nation was not such then as their Messiah was to find at his coming there is the less cause for them after so long time to hope that they shall ever be restored to such a Condition as to have any reason to expect him III. After the coming of the
the Nation of the Jews for (m) Id lib. IV. c. 5. Sulp. Sever lib. II. c. 45. Fifteen Successions even to the final destruction of it by Hadrian Many of the Rulers being converted the Scribes and Pharisees made their Complaints that the whole City of Jerusalem would turn Christians as (n) Euseb ib. lib. II. c. 23. Hegesippus informs us and the Pharisees said of our Saviour when he was upon Earth Behold the World is gone after him John xii 19. The Epistles of St. Peter and St. James and that of St. Paul to the Hebrews purposely directed to the Jews and Israelites shew that their Conversions were very numerous both in Judea and in other Countries (o) Euseb Hist lib. HI c. 35. Eusebius takes particular notice of the Multitudes of Believing Jews in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem when Justus the Third Bishop succeeded to that See And (p) See Mr. Thornd of the Primit Government of Churches c. 5. and Dr. Hammond on St. John Epist 2. and Rev. xi 3. at Antioch and Rome and Ephesus there was one Bishop of the converted Jews and another of the Gentiles and as Dr. Hammond supposes at Jerusalem likewise but there is little Proof of it And some of the most Learned Jews have been converted not only in these Times but in latter Ages Epiphanius was brought up in the Jewish Religion as the Greek Menology testifies and he acquaints us that (q) Epiphan Haer. 30. n. 4. Ellel the Jewish Patriarch sent for a Bishop to Baptize him upon his Death-Bed Samuel Morochianus Petrus Alphonsus Paulus Burgensis Nicolas de Lyra Petrus Galatinus Tremellius and other Learned Men educated in the Jewish Worship upon their Conversion have been eminent Defenders of the Christian Religion Hieronymus a S. Fide after his Conversion is said to have brought over many Thousands to Christianity And the Samaritans as well as the Jews believed and were baptized both men and women even Simon Magus himself Acts viii 12 13. 2. Many even among the Chief Rulers were convinced that Jesus is the Christ who durst not own him Joh. xii 42.43 But the Love of Riches and the Praise of Men made them dissemble their Convictions and Act against their Consciences as we see too many amongst us Act against their own Knowledge and avowed Principles every day 3. Many had Blasphemed the Holy Ghost and thereby rendred themselves uncapable of the Mercies of the Gospel and others by their other great Impieties had brought them to such an Impenitent state that their Eyes were blinded and their hearts hardned that they should not see with their Eyes nor understand with their Heart and be converted Joh. xii 40. Act. xxviii 25. Rom. xi 8. And this seems to have been one Reason why Christ commanded his Disciples to conceal his Person and to say nothing of his Transfiguration till his Resurrection Matt. xvi 20. xvii 9. that he might discover himself by degrees and that the Jews might gradually be prepared to Acknowledge him and not Sin beyond all possibility of Conversion before his Resurrection and the manifestation of the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles which was the last means of Salvation and those who rejected this were Self-condemned and judged themselves unworthy of everlasting Life Act. xiii 46. or in effect they denounced the Sentence of Damnation against them 4. The Jews had violent Prejudices agaâ—â—â— the Gospel out of Zeal to their Law and 〈◊〉 their Traditions which were in so much Esteem and Veneration amongst them they feared that their Believing in Christ might prove an occasion to the Romans to come and destroy them If we let him thus alone all Men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our Place and Nation Jo. xi 48. And to prevent this the Chief Priests and the Pharisees in Council agreed to the Expedient proposed by Caiaphas of putting Christ to death imagining that would effectually put a stop to the spreading of his Doctrin among the People who above all things could not endure to hear of Christ Crucified for they had general and earnest Expectations of a temporal Messias whom not only their own carnal Hearts inclined them to hope for but their Religion as they imagined commanded them to expect And the Family of the famous Hillel being in so much Power and Authority at that time might be a great inducement to them to confirm them in their hopes and to harden them against the Belief of a Crucified Messias For (f) Lightf Hebr. Talmud Exercit. in Matt. 11.1 Hillel himself held the Government or Presidentship of the Sanhedrim Forty Years and his Son and Grandsons after him in a continual Succession for an Hundred Years before the Destruction of Jerusalem So that the Splendor and Pomp of this Family of Hillel says Dr. Lightfoot had so obscured the rest of the Families of David's Stock that perhaps they believed or expected the less that the Messias should spring from any of them and one of their Rabbins in the Babylonian Gemara was almost persuaded that Rabbi Judah of the Family of Hillel was indeed the Messias They were all very unwilling to find him in so low and afflicted a Condition when the Lustre of this Family had for so long a time attracted their Sight and Expectation insomuch that Rabban Simeon the Son of Hillel is but slightly mentioned and not with that Encomium with which the rest of that Family are wont to be Celebrated by the Jewish Writers for this Reason (g) De Abbrev Hebr. if Buxtorf be not mistaken because he was the same Simeon who declared our Saviour to be the Christ Tho' the Jews must have been convinced if they would have attended to them by all manner of other Means and Evidence that Jesus was the Messias yet they esteemed Temporal Pomp and Grandeur so essential to the Person and Character of the Messias that they thought the meanness of our Saviour's Condition and the Ignominy of his Death was sufficient to overthrow all the Arguments which they could possible have of his being the Christ indeed their Minds were so fixt upon this mistaken Indication that they little regarded any other This bred in them that Ignorance which was truly very culpable but which yet was taken notice of in their Favour as some mitigation of so heinous a Crime as the Crucifying of the Son of God Luke 23.34 Act 3.17 13.27 1. Cor. 11.8 But withall it made them exceeding obstinate and Deaf to all the Arguments that could be offered to convince them When St. Stephen had answered their Accusations and fully argued the case with them they gnashed on him with their Teeth and cried out with a loud Voice and stopt their Ears and ran upon him and stoned him Act. 7.54 57. And when St. Paul had declared in all Particulars how he was converted and appealed to the High Priest and to the Estate of the Elders for the Truth