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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42238	The truth of Christian religion in six books / written in Latine by Hugo Grotius ; and now translated into English, with the addition of a seventh book, by Symon Patrick ...; De veritate religionis Christianae. English	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1680 (1680)	Wing G2128; ESTC R7722	132,577	348

Ezekiel hath given a Testimony of exceeding great Piety neither would willingly deceive us nor was himself deceived by the Angel Gabriel Now He taught by the same Angel in the Ninth Chapter of his Prophecie hath left it recorded that before five hundred years should be expired after the promulgation of the decree touching the restoring of the City Hierusalem the Messias should come But now since that time above two thousand years have passed and yet he whom the Jews expect is not come neither can they name any other person to whom that space or time can be rightly applyed which agrees so fitly unto Jesus that Nehumias an Hebrew Doctor who lived about Fifty Years before Christ plainly said then that the time of the Messias foretold by Daniel could not be protracted beyond those Fifty Years then next ensuing And with this note of time agrees another note which we have toucht before concerning the establishing of a dominion over all Nations by a Divine authority after that the posterity of Seleucus and Ptolomy had ceased to reign the latter whereof ended in Cleopatra a little before Jesus was born The third note is set down in the foresaid ix Chapter of Daniel namely that after the coming of the Messias the City of Hierusalem should be overthrown which Prophecie of the Citie 's destruction Josephus himself referreth unto his time whence it follows that the time appointed for the coming of the Messias was then already past Hereunto likewise belongs that in the second Chapter of the Prophet Haggai where God by the Prophet comforteth Zerubbabel the Son of Shealtiel Governor of Judah and Joshuah the Son of Josedech the high Priest who were sorrowful to see the Temple which they built fall so short of the first Temple with this promise that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the former which certainly can neither be meant of the greatness of the work nor of the matter of the building nor of the fabrick and artificial structure nor of the ornaments of that Temple as may appear by the history of those times both in the Holy Scriptures and in Josephus compared with that of the Temple of Solomon Add to this that the Hebrew Doctors note this latter Temple wanted two of the greatest indowments which the former enjoyed viz. A certain conspicuous Light which was the token of the Divine Majesty there and Divine Inspiration But God himself briefly declares in that very place wherein the latter Temple should excel the former when He promises He would settle as by a sure Covenant His Peace i. e. his favour and loving kindness in that Temple Which the Prophet Malachi declares more largely in his third Chapter Behold I will send my messenger who shall prepare my ways There shall shortly come into his Temple now Malachi lived when the latter Temple was built that Lord whom ye desire even that messenger of the Covenant who is your delight Wherefore the Messias ought to come while the second Temple stood which in the account of the Hebrews comprehends all that time which was between Zerubbabel and Vespasian for in the time of Herod the Great the Temple was not re-edified out of its old ruines but by little and little it was repaired bearing still the name of the same Temple And indeed there was so firm an opinion amongst the Hebrews and the neighbouring People that the Messias was surely to come in those times that many took Herod others Judas Gaulonites and a third sort others that lived about the times of Jesus to be the Messias SECT XV. Answer to that which some conceive touching the deferring of his coming for the sins of the People SOME of the Jews perceiving themselves to be hard put to it by these Arguments concerning the coming of the Messias go about to shift them off by telling us that their sins were the cause why he did not come at the promised time But to omit that those Prophecies express a Decree determined not suspended upon any condition how is it possible that this coming should be deferred by reason of their sins when this also was foretold that because of the many and hainous transgressions of the People the great City should be laid waste a little after the times of the Messias Moreover one reason of the Messias his coming was to cure a most corrupted World and together with rules for amendment of life to bring a pardon for sins past Whence it is that Zachariah saith concerning his times Chap. xiii that there should be then a fountain opened to the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Hierusalem for to wash away sin and uncleanness And it is affirmed by the Hebrews themselves that the Messiah shall be called Ischcopher that is a Reconciler or Expiator of sins But it is against all reason to say that any thing was deferred because of that disease for which it was precisely destinated and appointed SECT XVI Also from the present state of the Jews compared with those things which the Law promiseth TOuching this which we affirm of the coming of the Messias long since into the World the Jews are convinced by very sense God made a Covenant with Moses and promised to them the happy possession of the Land of Palestine so long as they should lead their life according to the commandments of the Law But contrarily he threatned banishment and such like calamities to come upon them if they did grievously transgress the same Yet if at any time when they were oppressed with miseries they repenting of their sins returned unto obedience then would he be moved to have mercy upon the People and cause that though they were scattered to the uttermost parts of the Earth yet should they return again into their own Countrey as we may read in Deut. 30. and Nehem. 1. and elsewhere But now for the space of one thousand five hundred years and more the Jews have wanted a Countrey and a Temple And when they have attempted to build a new one they have been always hindred even by Balls of Fire breaking out in the Foundations and overthrowing the work as Ammianus Marcellinus a Writer who was not a Christian reports When this People in times past had defiled themselves with abominable wickednesses commonly sacrificing even their children unto Saturn accounting adultery to be no sin oppressing and spoiling the Fatherless and Widows and shedding the innocent bloud in great abundance all which the Prophets upbraid them with then did they suffer exile yet not longer than for the space of seventy years during which time also God did not neglect to speak unto them by his Prophets and to comfort them with the hope of a return pointing also at the very time thereof But now ever since they were expelled out of their Countrey they continue banished and contemptible No Prophet comes unto them there is no sign or token of their return Their Masters and Ring leaders as if they

the keepers of these Books For first of all the Ten Tribes were led away captive by the Assyrians into Media then afterward the two other Tribes And many of these also after Cyrus granted them liberty to return setled themselves in foreign Countries The Macedonians invited them with great promises to come into Alexandria The cruelty of Antiochus the civil Wars of the Maccabees together with those of Pompey and Sossius from without did disperse and scatter abroad many of them The parts of Africa about Cyrene were full of the Jews so were the Cities of Asia Macedonia Lycaonia and likewise the Isles of Cyprus Crete and others Also what a number of them there was at Rome may be learned out of Horace Juvenal and Martial Now it is not possible that such Multitudes so far distant one from another should be cozened in this kind neither could they ever accord all in the coining of an untruth Add moreover that almost Three Hundred Years before Christ at the appointment and care of the Kings of Egypt those Books of the Hebrews were translated into the Greek Tongue by those that are called the Seventy Interpreters So as then the Grecians had the sense and substance of them though in another Language whereby they were the less liable to be changed Nay more these Books were translated both into the Chaldee Tongue and into that of Jerusalem that is the half Syriac a little before and a little after the time of Christ Other Greek translations afterward there were as namely by Aquila Symmachus and Theodotion all which Origen compared with that of the Seventy Interpreters and after him others also who could find no diversity of history or of any matter worth speaking of Philo lived in the Reign of Caligula and Josephus survived the times of both the Vespasians which two Writers alledge out of the Hebrew Books the same things that we read at this day Now in these very times began Christian Religion to be more and more propagated being professed by many of the Hebrews and by sundry Persons that had learned the Hebrew Tongue who if the Jews had falsified in any notable part could have quickly discovered it by comparing more ancient Copies and so have made it publickly known But they are so far from doing this that on the other side they alledge many testimonies out of the old covenant to the same sense and meaning that they are used by the Hebrews which Hebrews may sooner be accused of any other fault than I will not say falshood but of so much as negligence about these Books which they have so religiously and exactly described and compared that they know how often any one Letter is found therein The last though not the least argument to prove that the Jews did not purposely corrupt or alter the Scripture may be because the Christians out of the very Books which are read by the Jews do evince and as they trust very strongly that their Lord and Master Jesus is that same very Messias which was anciently promised to the Jews their Forefathers Which above all things the Jews would have taken care should not have been done when the controversie arose between them and the Christians if ever it had been in their power to have changed what they listed The Fourth Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. A particular Confutation of the Religions opposite to Christianity THE Fourth Book beginning with that pleasure which many Men are wont to take in beholding the danger wherein others are while they are in none themselves shows that it ought to be the greatest pleasure of a Christian Man in this life not only to rejoyce and bless himself that he hath found out the Truth but to lend his help also to others that wander up and down in the Labyrinths of Errour and to make them partakers of so great a benefit Which we in some measure have indeavoured to do in the former Books the demonstration of that which is true containing in it self the confutation of what is false yet in regard that all kinds of Religions which oppose themselves to the Christian Viz. Paganism Judaism and Mahometism besides that which is common to all have certain errours proper to every one of them and their peculiar Arguments which they are wont to oppose us withal it will not be amiss to make a particular Disputation against every one of these First beseeching the Readers to free their judgments from leaning to a Party and from long custome and prejudice as impediments of a good mind that with the greater indifferency they may take cognizance of what shall be said SECT II. And first of Paganisme that there is but one God Created Spirits are good or bad the good not to be honoured but as the most high God directs TO begin then against Pagans If they say that there are divers eternal and coequal Gods we have confuted this Opinion before in the first Book where we taught that there is but only one God who is the cause of all things Or if they by the name of Gods do understand the created Spirits which are superior to Men they then either mean the good or the bad if they say the good first they ought to be well assured that such are so indeed otherwise they commit a dangerous error in receiving enemies in stead of friends and Traytors for Ambassadors Then it were but reason that they should in their very worship make an evident difference between the most high God and those Spirits And likewise be satisfied what order there is among them what good may be expected from each of them and what honour the most High is willing should be bestowed on every one of them All which being wanting in their Religion it is plain from thence how uncertain that Religion is and how it were a safer course for them to betake themselves to the worship of one Almighty God which even Plato confessed was the duty of every wise Man specially for that to whomsoever God is propitious and favourable to them these good Angels must needs be serviceable and gracious being the Ministers and Servants of the most High SECT III. Evil Spirits adored by Pagans and how impious a thing it is BUT it was the bad not the good Spirits which the Pagans did worship as may be proved by weighty reasons first because these adored Angels did not throw off their worshippers unto the service of the true God but as much as in them lay laboured to abolish the same or at least in every respect required equal honour with the Almighty Secondly because they procured all the mischief they could to the worshippers of the one most High God by provoking both Magistrates and People to inflict punishments upon them For when it was lawful for Poets to sing of the murders and adulteries committed by the Gods and for the Epicures to take away all divine Providence and any other Religion though never

consists in an exact refraining from all kinds of other labour The former was given from the beginning which doubtless those godly men before the Law did obey to wit Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob. The last of which though they travelled much as we read yet there is no where the least sign or remembrance of their intermitting their journey for the Sabbath which after they came out of Egypt you shall always meet with For after that the People were brought out of Aegypt and had happily passed over the red Sea the next day they celebrated a Sabbath of rest and safety wherein they sang a Song of triumph and rejoicing from which time that exact rest upon the Sabbath was commanded which is first mentioned upon occasion of gathering the Manna Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 35. 2. Levit. 23. 3. And in this sense the deliverance from Aegypt is made the reason for the Law of the Sabbath Deut. 5. 15. By which Law provision also was made for servants against the severity of those masters that would not grant them any rest or relaxation from daily labour as may be seen in the places aforesaid It is true indeed strangers were bound to observe this Law because it was meet there should be one form of rest among all the People but this Law of so exact resting upon the Sabbath was not given to other People as may appear by this that in many places it is called a sign and a special covenant also between God and the Israelites as in Exod. 31. 13. 16. Now we have proved before by the promise of far greater benefits that the ordinances which were instituted for a memorial of the coming out from Aegypt were not such as ought never to cease Add moreover if the Law concerning the rest upon the Sabbath had been given from the beginning and in that sense that it never might be abolished then surely that Law had prevailed over other laws when there was a clashing between them which we find was quite contrary by its yielding to them For it is evident that Infants were rightly circumcised upon the Sabbath like as during the time that the Temple stood there were Beasts killed for sacrifice as well upon the Sabbath as upon other days Yea the Hebrew Masters themselves shew the mutability of this law when they say that by a Prophet's appointment and command a work may be rightly done upon the Sabbath-day And this they prove by the taking of Jerico upon the Sabbath according to the commandment of Joshuah And some of them not unfitly shew that the distinction of days shall be taken away in the time of the Messias from that place in Isaiah lxvi 23. where it is prophesied It shall come to pass that the worship of God shall be perpetual from one new Moon to another from one Sabbath to another SECT XI Also of outward Circumcision IN the next place let us come to Circumcision which certainly is Elder than Moses For it was given in command to Abraham and his Posterity Howbeit the commandment thereof was the introduction or beginning of the covenant published by Moses For thus we read that God spake unto Abraham Gen. 17. saying I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a stranger all the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God And God said unto Abraham Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee every man-child among you shall be circumcised But now we know by what hath been already said that in the place of this covenant a new covenant was to succeed which should be common to all People For which cause the necessity of that note of distinction ought to cease Besides in the precept of circumcision there was a mystical and more excellent signification contained which the Prophets do plainly shew in that they command the circumcision of the heart which all the commandments of Jesus aim at Wherefore the promises also annexed to circumcision are in like manner to be referred to some greater thing As that of earthly possessions to the revelation of a possession truly eternal which was never made more manifest than by Jesus So that promise of making Abraham a Father of many Nations hath reference to that time when not a few but an infinite number of People dispersed thorowout the whole World should imitate Abraham's Faith and confidence in God which is so often mentioned in Scripture and this never came to pass but in the time of the Gospel Now it is no marvel if the shadows of an intended work be taken away when the matter it self is accomplisht Lastly that the grace of God was not tied to this sign we may easily discern because not only the more ancient but Abraham himself having not as yet received circumcision pleased God The Hebrews also during all the time of their journey through the Desarts of Arabia omitted circumcision and yet God found no fault with them for it SECT XII And yet the Apostles of Jesus were gentle in the toleration of these things NO doubt but the Hebrews had cause to yield many thanks to Jesus and his Ambassadors for that by Christ they might be freed from that heavy yoke of ceremonies and be assured of this their freedom both by gifts and miracles such as were not inferiour to those that were wrought by Moses And yet the first Publishers of our Christian doctrine did not exact so much of them as to acknowledge this their happiness But if they would admit of the Commandments of Christ which were full of all honesty they easily suffered them to follow what course of life they pleased in matters of indifferency Yet so that upon strangers to whom this law of rites was never given they should not impose a necessity of observing them Which one thing is sufficient to make it plainly appear that the Jews do unjustly reject the doctrine of Christ under that pretence of the ceremonial Law Having then answered this Objection which chiefly is alledged against the miracles of Jesus we will now come to other arguments which may fitly serve for the conviction of the Jews SECT XIII A Proof against the Jews from the promised Messias IT is agreed upon between us and the Jews that in the predictions of the Prophets above many other authors and donors of great good things to the Hebrews there was one man promised far more excellent than the rest whom they call by a Name common to others but in the highest sense of it belonging to him alone the MESSIAS This Messias we say is come long ago but they expect him as yet for to come It remains then that we seek for a decision of this controversie out of those Books the authority whereof we both do joyntly acknowledge SECT XIV Who is proved to be already come by the limited time of his coming which was foretold THE Prophet Daniel to whom