Argument Whereas if Chistians were but throughly acquainted with the Grounds of their Religion and sincerely disposed to believe and practise according to them they would be no more moved with these Cavils than they would be persuaded to think the worse of the Sun if some Men should take a fansie to make that the Subject of their Railery To have the more doubtful and wavering thoughts of Religion because it is exposed to the scorn and contempt of ill Men is as if we should despise the Sun for being under a Cloud or suffering an Eclipse not knowing that he retains his Light and Religion its Excellency still though we be in darkness the Light may be hid from us but can lose nothing of its own Brightness though we suffer for want of it and lie under the shadow of Death The Consideration of the Grounds and Reasons of our Religion is useful to all sorts of Men for if ever we will be seriously and truly Religious we must lay the foundation of it in our Vnderstandings that by the rational conviction of our Minds we may through the Grace of God assisting us bring our Wills to a submission and our Affections to the obedience of the Gospel of Christ and the more we think of and consider these things the more we shall be convinced of them and they will have the greater power and influence in the course of our Lives For tho' the Truth of the Christian Religion cannot without great sin and ignorance be doubted of by Christians yet it is a confirmation to our Faith and adds a new Life and Vigour to our Devotions when we recollect upon what good Reasons we are Christians and are not such by Custom and Education only but upon Principles which we have throughly considered and must abide by unless we will renounce our Reason with our Religion And what Subject can be more useful or more worthy of a rational and considering Man's Thoughts These things which are now made matter of Cavil and Dispute will be the Subject of our Contemplation and of our Joy and Happiness to all Eternity in the other World We shall then have clear and distinct apprehension of the Means and Methods of our Salvation and shall for ever admire and adore the Divine Wisdom in the Conduct and Disposal of those very Things about which we now are most perplex'd THE CONTENTS PART I. CHAP. I. That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows That there must be some Divine Revelation THE Being of a God evident to Natural Reason p. 3. That there are wicked Spirits Enemies to Mankind p. 6. The miserable Condition of Man without the Divine Direction and Assistance and that God would not leave him without all Remedy in this Condition p. 8. The Judgment of St. Athanasius in the Case p. 15. CHAP. II. The Way and Manner by which Divine Revelations may be suppos'd to be deliver'd and preserv'd in the World The Manifestations of God's ordinary Providence insufficient and therefore some extraordinary Way of Revelation necessary p. 19. The ways of extraordinary Revelation either immediate Revelation to every particular Person or to some only with a Power of Miracles and Prophecies to enable them to communicate the Divine Will to others p. 20. I. It could not be requisite that God should communicate himself by immediate Revelation to every one in particular ibid. II. Prophecies and Miracles are the most fitting and proper Means for God to discover and reveal himself to the World by p. 29. 1. Concerning Prophecies ibid. 2. Concerning Miracles p. 33. III. Divine Revelations must be suppos'd to be preserv'd in the World by Writings p. 43. IV. They must be of great Antiquity p. 44. V. They must be fully publish'd and promulg'd p. 45. PART II. CHAP. I. The Antiquity of the Scriptures THE Antiquity of the Scriptures a Circumstance very considerable to prove them to be of Divine Revelation p. 48. They give an Account of Divine Revelations made from the beginning of the World ibid. What Moses relates of things before his own time is certainly true and must have been discover'd to be false if it had been so p. 50. CHAP. II. The Promulgation of the Scriptures 1. In the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind p. 58. II. In succeeding Ages there has still been sufficient Means and frequent Opportunities for all Nations to come to the knowledge of it p. 76. 1. The Law of Moses did particularly provide for the instruction of other Nations in the Reveal'd Religion p. 77. 2. The Providence of God did so order and dispose of the Jews that other Nations had frequent Opportunities of becoming instructed in the True Religion p. 90. Testimonies of the Heathen concerning the Jews and their Religion p. 115. There have ever been divers Memorials and Remembrances of the true Religion among the Heathen p. 117. Of the Sibylline Oracles p. 121. The Gospel had been preach'd in China and America before the late Discoveries p. 129. The Confessions both of Protestants and Papists as to this Matter p. 132. Christians in all Parts of the World p. 135. A Sect call'd the Good Followers of the Messiah at Constantinople p. 136. Though great Part of the World are still Vnbelievers yet there is no Nation but has great Opportunities of being converted p. 141. The Case of particular Persons consider'd p. 142. CHAP. III. Of Moses and Aaron The Sincerity of Moses in his Writings p. 146. He was void of Ambition p. 149. Aaron and he had no Contrivance between themselves to impose upon the People p. 151. CHAP. IV. Of the Pentateuch The Pentateuch written by Moses p. 152. The great Impartiality visible in these Books p. 153. The Book of Genesis an Introduction to all the rest p. 154. The principal Points of the History of the Jews confess'd by the Heathen p. 155. CHAP. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies contain'd in the Books of Moses The Promise of the Messias p. 158. The Predictions of Noah ibid. The Promises made to Abraham p. 159. The Prophecies of Isaac c. p. 160. of Jacob p. 161. of Balaam p. 162. of Moses p. 163. CHAP. VI. Of the Miracles wrought by Moses I. The Miracles and Matters of Fact contain'd in the Books of Moses as they are there related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested p. 170. II. The Relations there set down are a true Account of the Miracles wrought by Moses and such as we may depend upon p. 188. For 1. These things could not be feign'd by Moses and Aaron and others concern'd with them in carrying on such a Design p. 189. 2. The Miracles could not be feign'd nor the Books of Moses invented or falsify'd by any particular Man nor by any Confederacy or Combination of Men after the Death of Moses p. 191. 3. The Pentateuch could not be invented nor falsify'd by the joynt Consent of the whole Nation either in
Fact to be known to any single Person 2. Having shewn That the Matters of fact and Miracles contained in the Books of Moses as they are related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested and that if we may credit that Relation all the Miracles there mention'd were certainly wrought by him since they are of that nature that the People of Israel could not be deceived in them I now proceed to shew That the Relations there set down are a true Account of those things and such as we may depend upon For if these Matters of Fact or Miracles are either feigned or falsified this must be done either in Moses's his time or afterwards and if in his time then either by Moses and Aaron with others who were concerned in carrying on the Design or by the whole People of Israâ—l together And if it were done after Moses his death then again it must be done either by some particular Man or by the contrivance of some few or more together or it must have been by the joint Knowledge and consent of the whole Nation I will therefore prove 1. That the Miracles could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any Confederacy or Combination of Men after the death of Moses 3. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books invented or falsified by the joint Consent of the whole Nation either in Moses's time or after it 1. These Things could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design It is plain that they could never invent such an Account as that of their miraculous Escape out of Aegypt and their Travelling in the Wilderness under the conduct and support of the same miraculous Power and then impose it upon the People of Israel for Truth For the People are supposed to be chiefly concerned in the whole Relation Moses appeals to their own sense and experience The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers but with us even with us who are all of us here alive this day Deut. v. 3. And know you this day for I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God his greatness his mighty hand and his stretched-out arm and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Aegypt unto Pharaoh the king of Aegypt and unto all his land and what he did unto the army of Aegypt unto their horses and to their chariots how he made the water of the Red-sea to over flow them as they pursued after you and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day and what he did unto you in the wilderness until ye came into this place and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their housholds and their tents and all their substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did Deut. xi 2 3 4 5 6 7. Here is a Recapitulation of all the Miracles that had been wrought with an Appeal to their Senses for the Truth of them And Moses would never have made such Appeals as these if they could possibly have disproved him they could never be persuaded that they â—ame out of Aegypt after so many Plagues inflicted upon the Aegyptians to procure their Deliverance if there had been no such thing or that they were so long time in the Wilderness and that so many and so great Miracles were wrought in their sight if they had never been done before them Though Men may perhaps be persuaded to believe that their Ancestors a long time ago saw and heard things which they never saw nor heard yet a whole Nation was never supposed to have been persuaded out of their Senses at once and Moses could not attempt to make so many Men believe what they must all have known to have been false as well as himself if it had been so but he would have lard the Scene at a greater distance of time and not have brought those in as chiefly concerned in the whole business who were then alive and present to convince him of falshood And therefore if the Particulars set down in the Pentateuch be false and as ancient as Moses his time they must be invented with the knowledge and received by the consent of the whole Nation For Moses and Aaron could never so far delude so many thousands as to make them believe such variety of Matter of fact in so many and so wonderful Instances set forth and with such notorious Circumstances and appeal to the Senses of those whom they deceived whether they had not seen and perceived and had the experience of what had been done for so many years if it had been all but Fiction 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any confederacy or combination of Men after the death of Moses If the Miracles were feigned after the death of Moses either the Laws must likewise be invented or altered after his death and the Miracles inserted to procure them Authority or the Laws remained as they had been delivered by him and the Miracles only were added For the Books of Moses may be considered either as containing the Laws delivered by him or as relating the Miracles by which these Laws were ratified and established in each of which respects there could be no Forgery or Falsification For 1. The Laws themselves could not be invented nor altered or falsified because the whole Jewish State and Policy was founded upon them and could not subsist without them and therefore they must be as ancient as the Jewish Government which is confess'd on all hands to have been first erected by Moses For not only their Religious Worship but their Civil Rights and Interests depended entirely upon the Laws of Moses their Publick Proceedings and their Private Dealings one with another were all to be regulated and governed by these Laws and when any Laws are brought into constant use and practice in any Nation it is ridiculous to imagine that they can be altered and falsified and a new System of Laws introduced instead of them without the knowledge of the People governed by them or any remembrances of it left amongst them No material Alterations can be made in Laws which are of continual use and which concern every Man's Interest but they must be taken notice of and discovered by such as shall find themselves aggrieved by such Alterations But this was less practicable amongst the Jews than amongst any other People 1. Because the Distinction of their Tribes and the Genealogies which
for the Oath which secur'd their Lives to them had forfeited that Right which otherwise they might have had to their Lives by a Peace fairly obtained and they lost all other Advantages of the League but only the securing their Lives But that the Canaanites if they had submitted and owned the God of Israel were not to have been destroyed but to have been received to mercy is evident from Josh xi 19 20. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon all other they took in battel For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battel that he might destroy them utterly and that they might have no favour but that he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses Which necessarily supposes that if God in his just Judgment upon them for their heinous Provocations had not hardned their Hearts but they had submitted themselves and sought Peace of the Children of Israel they ought to have had favour shewn them It doth therefore sufficiently appear that the Canaanites themselves after all their Provocations against both the Mercy and Justice of God were not excluded from all the Benefits of Strangers and Proselytes amongst the Jews and that all other Nations were encouraged and invited to become Partakers of the Privileges of the Law of Moses and acquaint themselves with the Service and Worship of the True God is notorious and as evident as any thing in the Law and the Prophets But after the Canaanites had fill'd up the measure of their Iniquities God manifested his Almighty Power and Justice upon them and he was pleased to do it by the Sword of the Children of Israel rather than by Pestilence or any other Judgment both to raise the greater abhorrence of Idolatry in his own People and in the neighbouring Nations and because those rude and warlike Nations could observe the Power of God no where so much as in the success of War they chiefly implored their own Gods for success in their Wars and when they were overcome by any People they concluded that the Gods of that Nation were too hard for their own Gods 1 King xx 23. 2 King viii 34. whereas if they had been destroyed by Famine or Pestilence they would have ascribed these Judgments no more to the God of Israel than to any of the Heathen Gods But God got him honour upon these Nations as he did upon Pharaoh and upon all his host when Jethro said Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them Exod. xviii 11. from whence he is so often styled the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament 2. The Providence of God did so order and dispose of the Jews in all their Affairs as to afford other Nations frequent opportunities of becoming instructed in the true Religion and multitudes of Proselytes were made out of all Nations Moses dwelt in Midian and there marry'd an Aethiopian Woman Exod. ii 15. Num. xii 1. his Wife's Father Jethro the Priest of Midian and his Family became converted And the Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt magnify'd the Power of God in all Countries where the Report of a thing so wonderful and notorious came The miraculous Victories which the Israelites gained over the Canaanites where-ever they came struck a mighty Terror into all those Nations as we see by the Fear of Balak Num. xxii and from the Speech of the Gibeonites Josh ix 9 10. who were glad to make use of any Pretence as an Expedient to save themselves Rahab with her Family and Kindred and the Gibeonites were early Accessions to the Israelites and Rahab was marry'd to a Man of Israel and the Babylonian Gemara (p) Lightfoot Hebr. and Talmud Exercitat in Mat. i. 5. reckons up Eight Prophets who were likewise Priests descended from her This is certain that our Saviour himself was pleased to derive his Genealogy from her The various Successes of the Israelites in the land of Canaan their Victories and their Overthrows and the miraculous Power of God visibly appearing either in their Defeat and Punishment or in their Conquest or Deliverance must need raise a mighty Fame and Admiration of the God of Israel in all those Countries for they proclaimed a Religious War upon these Nations they destroyed their Images and Groves and Alters where-ever they came and the People plainly perceived that their Gods could not help them The Taking of Jericho not by Storm but only by the meer Sound and Alarm of War the Lengthning of the Day to favour their Conquests and the Destruction of so many Kings by Moses and Joshua were undeniable Evidences of a Divine Power and must awaken Men to make enquiry into that Religion which could inspire such Courage and work such Wonders And these Nations among whom the Patriarchs had sojourned and so many Wonders and Judgments had been wrought were dispersed in Colonies over all Parts of the World as Bochart has proved at large in a most learned and elaborate Work some them if we may believe Procopius erecting a Pillar in Africk as a Monument of Joshua's Victories with an Inscription declaring that they were driven out of their own Countrey by him And S. Augustine says (q) Aug. Exposit Epist ad Rom. that in his time the Country People about Hippo called themselves Canaanites After the Death of Joshua the Israelites were in subjection to the King of Mesopotamia eight Years to the King of Moab eighteen Years Judg. iii. 8 14. to Jabin King of Canaan chap. iv 1. to the Midianites seven Years chap. vi 1. to the Philistines forty Years chap. xiii 1. And still it was because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord that they were given up into the hand of their Enemies and upon their Repentance a Deliverance was wrought for them 1 Sam. xii 10. And when they were so often and for so long a time subdued by their Enemies round about them for their Idolatries and other Transgressions and then again upon their Repentance were rescued from their oppression by Gideon and Jeptha and Samson all raised up for that purpose this must give great occasion and opportunity to all the bordering Nations to know and consider that Religion the observation or neglect whereof had such visible Effects upon its Professors for under their Affliction and in the time of their Repentance the Israelites declared the cause of their Misery and made known the Power of their own God and the Vanity and Sinfulness of Idolatry And therefore their being so often and so long time under the Oppression of their several Enemies was a merciful Providence to the Nations who had them in subjection as well as for the Punishment and Amendment of the Israelites themselves What good use was made of these Methods of the Divine Providence doth not appear to
is translated Carthage by the Septuagint Isa xxiii 6. but is supposed to be Tartessus in Spain though St. Jerom (z) 〈◊〉 in â—â— c. 1. 〈◊〉 thought it to be in the Indies And Ophir was as many learned Men think in the Indies beyond the River Ganges in Pegu or at least Solomon's Merchants did traffick with the Indian that came from those Parts others have imagined Ophir to be Zephala or Cephala in Africa towards the Cape of Good-Hope some think it to be Ceylon or Sumatra some are of opinion that it was in America all are agreed that it must be in some very distant part of the World and where-ever it were the Traffick and Dealings which the Israelites had there was a great opportunity to the Heathen to become instructed in the True Religion The Traffick and Voyages by Sea and Expeditions by Land in Solomon's Reign rendred the People of Israel highly renowned and caused their Laws and Customs and Religion to be much observed and enquired into and even the Marriages of Solomon with Pharaoh's Daughter and other Strangers questionless through the Mercy of God might prove an happy occasion of divulging the True Religion and regaining many from Idolatry in Aegypt and other Parts of the World For all his Wives were made Proselytes (a) Maimâ—â—â—d de 〈◊〉 §. 1â— 1â— before he married them as Samson's likewise had been though afterwards they not only fell away to their former Idolatries but seduced Solomon himself into them The Gentiles were so forward to become Proselytes (b) Meimâ—â—d 〈◊〉 in the Reigns of David and Solomon that their Sincerity became suspected and the Jews tell us that the Sanhedrim would admit no Proselytes in the days of David lest they should be induced to it by Fear nor in the days of Solomon lest the Glory of his Kingdom should have been the motive to them to profess the Religion of the Israelites Nevertheless great numbers were received privately by Baptism the Sanhedrim neither rejecting nor admitting them It is the Observation of Theodoret and of St. Jerom upon Exek v. 5. that God placed Jerusalem the Seat of the Jewish Government in the midst of the Nations that it might be a Direction to the Heathen in matters of Religion from whence as from the Centre Light might be communicated to the farther Parts of the Earth But the Divisions and Calamities of the People of Israel the Destruction of their City and Dispersion of their whole Nation contributed as much to the propagation of Religion as their greatest Prosperity could do The Division of the Ten Tribes after the death of Solomon and the erection of the Kingdom of Israel distinct from that of Judah with the many Leagues and Wars which these two mighty Kingdoms had with the Kings of Aegypt and Syria and Babylon and with other Nations could not but exceedingly conduce to the divulging the True Religion in the World and give opportunity to the Prophets to declare their Prophecies and work their Miracles among the Heathen as we find they did in many Instances One of the greatest Cities of the World was converted by Jonah's Preaching Hezekiah being distressed by Sennacherib prayed to God for deliverence out of his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only and his Prayer was answer'd not only in the Deliverance but in the manner of it which was so wonderful that all must know and be astonished at it for that very night the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand 2 King xix 19. which was the fulfilling of the Prophecy of Isaiah delivered to Hezekiah in a Message to him from God in Answer to his Prayer and afterwards Embassadors came from the King of Babylon to enquire of the Wonder or Miracle that was wrought in his Recovery from his Sickness 2 Chron. xxxii 31. and at last the Captivity of the Jews for Seventy Years in Babylon made their Religion almost as well known there as in Jerusalem it self Jeremiah had foretold the Captivity of the Jews and the Conquest of all the adjacent Countries so long and so plainly before-hand that all the neighbour Nations must be sensible of it as Nebuchadnezzar himself also was for which reason he gave a strict charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard who declares the reason of their Captivity to be their sins against the Lord or Jehovah Jer. xl 3. and as the Jews say he became a Proselyte God professes that he had a regard to the Honour of his Name among the Heathen in his Mercies vouchsafed to the Children of Israel or else he had utterly consumed them Ezek. xx 9. and xxxvi 22 23 36. and the Judgments upon the several Nations prophesied against were to this end that they might know him to be the Lord Ezek. xxv 7 17. xxvi 6. xxviii 22 23 24. xxix 6. xxxv 9. xxxvi 23. xxxvii 28. I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen Mal. i. 14. The Jews in their Captivity are commanded to make an open Declaration against the Heathen Gods and because they understood not the Chaldee Tongue the Prophet Jeremiah supplies them with so much of the Language as might serve them for that purpose Thus shall ye say unto them Jer. x. 11. that is Ye shall speak to them in their own Language and in the words which I now set down to you to bid Defiance to their False Gods Thus did he fulfil his Commission and Character who was sanctified and ordained a Prophet unto the nations Jer. i. 5. And Jeremiah was put to death in Aegypt and Ezekiel in Babylon for appearing against the Idolatry of those Places During the Captivity Jehoiachin was reconciled to the King of Babylon and in great favour with him His throne was set above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon 2 King xxv 28. The Jews were in great Esteem and in Places of great Honour and Trust and their Religion was extolled and recommended by Publick Edicts to all under that vast Empire The Almighty Power of God was manifested with Miracles and by the Interpretation of Dreams and Prophecies and his Majesty and Honour was acknowledged and proclaimed in the most publick and solemn manner throughout all the Babylonian Empire at the Command of Princes who were Idolaters and were forced to it by the meer convictions of their own Consciences wrought in them by the irresistable Power of God Dan. ii iii iv v vi Daniel had acquainted Cyrus as Josephus says with the Prophecy of Isaiah in which he was so long before mention'd by Name However the Lord stirred up the Spirit of Cyrus by this or some other means to accomplish the Prophecy which he had made both by Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the Restoration of the Jews
to himself thereby The greatest Masters of Decency have not thought it always improper for Men to commend themselves either because they supposed some occasions might require it or because it was a more usual thing in ancient Times when Mens Lives and Manners were more natural and sincere and they oftner spoke as they thought both of themselves and others yet we no where find Men speaking so freely in disparagement of themselvs as in the Holy Scriptures Which shews that Moses and the rest of the Inspired Writers little regarded their own Praise or Dispraise but wrote what God was pleased to appoint it being a thing indifferent to them so God might be honoured whether they lost or gained in their own Reputation by it But what we read of Moses Num. xii 3. that he was very meek above all the Men which were upon the face of the Earth which is the only commendable Character that Moses gives of himself may be translated that he was the most afflicted Man according to the Marginal Reading and if he mentions his own Meekness he mentions also his great Anger or heat of Anger Exod. xi 8. and his being very wroth Num. xvi 15. But if Moses had not had more respect to Truth than to his own Reputation he would never have left it upon Record That he so often declined the Message and Employment which God appointed him to undertake Exod. iii. 11 13. iv 1 10 13 14. and that God was angry with him upon other occasions and for that reason would not permit him to enter into the promised Land He would certainly have ascribed Balaam's Prophecy and Jethro's Advice to himself at least he would never have Recorded That by Jethro's Counsel he took up a new and better Method for the administration of Justice If he had been led by Ambition and Vain-glory he would have endeavoured by these things to adorn his own Character and would never have lessen'd it by telling his own Infirmities at the same time when to the diminution of himself he publishes the Excellencies of others The Wonders of the Magicians of Aegypt are not concealed by him and being to give an account of his own Genealogy from Levi he first sets down the Families of Reuben and Simeon the two elder Brothers lest he might seem to arrogate too much to himself and his own Tribe Some have observed that Moses relates his own Birth to have been by a Marriage contrary to the Laws afterwards by himself established which indeed is doubtful by reason of the latitude of signification in the word Sister in the Hebrew Language yet it is certain he was not careful to avoid the being thought to have been born from such a Marriage as he would have been if his Laws had been of his own contrivance lest his own Reputation or the Authority of his Laws or perhaps both might have suffered by it Exod. vi 14 20. He sets forth the Ingratitude Idolatry and perpetual Revolts and Murmurings of his whole Nation and relates the Failings and Faults of their Ancestors the Patriarchs and particularly of Levi from whom he was descended Gen. xxxiv 30. xlix 6. He spares neither his People nor his Ancestors nor himself in what he relates and these are all the Characters of a faithful Historian and a sincere Man that can be desired And as Moses was not ambitious of Praise so neither was he ambitious of Power and Dominion For besides that he entered upon such an Undertaking as no sober Man would have attempted without a Revelation it appearing otherwise impossible to accomplish it his whole Conduct shews that he had no design of advancing his own Interest or Dominion If he had been never so Ambitious he needed not have gone into the Wilderness to seek his Preferment amongst a wandring and stubborn People when he had been bred up to all the Honours and the Pleasures that Aegypt or Pharaoh's Court could afford but he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt Heb. xi 24 25. He undertook to lead the People of Israel for Forty Years through a barren Wilderness where he could promise himself but a very uneasie and inglorious Reign if that had been his Design and by the course of Nature he could not hope to out-live that period of Time and tho' he was preserved in his Old Age in the full strength and vigour of Manhood yet upon their entrance into the promised Land he meekly resigned himself to death in the very sight and Borders of Canaan knowing before-hand that he must not be suffered to possess the Land which he had been so many years in so great dangers leading the People of Israel to enjoy though he doth not conceal how desirous he was to pass over Jordan Deut. iii. 23 c. The History of his Death is like that of his Life related with a peculiar kind of native simplicity He is not said to be taken up into Heaven as Enoch and Elijah were and as the Romans feigned of Romulus but to die and his Sepulchre was hid to prevent the Superstitious and Idolatrous Veneration which might have been paid to the Remains of so great a Person And tho' he had Sons yet they were but private Men no otherwise known to us than as they were his Sons the Government he conferred upon Joshua one of another Tribe Moses therefore was the furthest of any Man from Vain-glorious or Ambitious and Aspiring Designs and could propose no other Advantage to himself but the fulfilling the Will of God in delivering his Commandments to the People of Israel and following his Directions in his Conduct and Government Aaron was of a different Temper from Moses and was envious of him and both Aaron and Miriam murmured against him It is so notorious that there could be no Contrivance between them to deceive the People that it was the immediate and visible Power of God which kept Aaron as well as the rest in Obedience to Moses Upon Moses's Absence Aaron complied with the People in making a Golden Calf and his two eldest Sons offered strange Fire before the Lord which he had not commanded for which they were both destroyed by Fire miraculously issuing out from the Presence of the Lord And Aaron held his peace knowing that this Punishment was inflicted by God himself and having nothing to reply to Moses when he declared to him the Justice of it And both Aaron and his other two Sons are forbidden upon pain of Death to mourn for them Lev. x. 1 2 3 6. At last by the Commandment of God Aaron goes up into Mount Hor to die there not being permitted to enter into the Land of Promise Thus Moses and Aaron were sometimes at disagreement Aaron envying Moses Aaron lost two of his Sons by a
a Fire from Hâ—aâ—en devoured others there was not a Man of all the Congregation but must be an Eye-witness to this Judgment and there could be no Deceit nor Mistake in a thing of this nature For Men may as well doubt whether those whom they see live are alive as whether those whom they see taken away by so terrible and so visible a death are dead and unless they can know this there can be no Knowledge nor Proof of any thing They saw the Earth first divide it self and then close it self again upon these wicked Men they saw them go down alive into the pit they heard the Cry of them and fled away â—oâ— fear and they saw besides a Fire from the Lord consume no fewer than Two hundred and fifty Men and these the Men that offer'd Incense in opposition to Aaron Princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown whose death was very remarkable upon the account of their Persons as well as for the Manner of it So many Men of that Rank and Character being taken away at once was a thing that would have been much observed and strictly enquir'd into if they had fain by any other death but their dying in this manner was so wonderful and so plain a declaration of the Divine Justice that it could neither be unknown nor forgotten by any Man in the whole Congregation Yet their Discontents against Moses still continued for He and Aaron were charged with killing the people of the Lord ver 41. and the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron and behold the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation and the glory of the Lord appeared And God's Wrath was so hot against the People for their Stâ—bbornness and Disobedience that notwithstanding the Intercession of Moses and Aaron in their behalf a Plague from the Lord raged so much amongst them that they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred beside them that died about the matter of Korah ver 49. And there were probably many Families in every Tribe which bore the marks of God's Displeasure and of the Truth of Moses his Mission and then Aaron's Rod alone blossom'd of all the Rods of the Twelve Tribes but by this time the people were weary of their contumacy and cried out â—â—hold we die we perish we all perish Shall we be consumed with dying Num. xvii 12 13. And thus was an end put to a Sedition which was the greatest and the most dangerous as Josephus well observes that was ever known among any People and such as that so dreadful a succession of Miracles was necessary to deliver Moses out of it And I would know of the greatest Infidel whether if he had lived at that time and had been in the Wilderness with Moses and had been of Korah's Conspiracy as it is most likely he would have been I would know of him I say whether he could have done any thing more to put Moses upon the utmost tryal of his power and Authority received from God than these rebellious Israelites did And if he could not as he must needs confess he could not then he ought to be satisfied in the Authority of Moses as they themselves afterwards were unless he has an ambition to shew that some Christians can be more refractary than Jews Yet again when they wanted Water the Peopled quarell'd with Moses and said Would God that we had died when our brethren â—ied before the Lord. And Moses brought Water out of the Rock before the whole Congregation in so great plenty that the whole People and their Cattle just ready to perish with thirst was satisfied with it Num. xx 3 10. At another time after a signal Victory over the Canaanites they made the same Complaints again and for their Murmurings were stung by fiery Serpents and many died till a Brazen Serpent being erected as many as looked on it were miraculously cured Num. xxi 6. And if the delivering the Law in so conspicuous and wonderful a manner if so remarkable Judgments upon those that questioned and opposed Moses his Authority and that transgressed his Law by committing Idolatry if a continual course of Miracles for Forty Years done before the eyes and obvious to every sense of so many thousands of People be not a plain demonstration that the Matter of Fact in all the circumstances of it necessary to prove Moses to have acted by God's immediate Authority and Commission was at first sufficiently attested it is impossible that any thing can be certainly testified We see how impossible it was for Moses to impose upon the People of Israel in things of this nature it he could have been so far forsaken of all Reason and common Sense as to hope to do it But if he had designed to put any deceit upon them he would certainly have taken another course he would have done his Miracles privately and but seldom not in the midst of all the People for Forty Years together he would never have made two Nations at the first Witnesses to them and then have proceeded in such a manner as that every Man among the Israelites must have known them to be false if thy had been so he would have chosen such Instances to shew his Miracles in as should have provoked no body not such as must have enraged the whole People against him by the death of so many thousands so often put to death if they had been slain by any other means than by the Almighty Hand of God And indeed what could destroy so many so irresistibly so suddenly and visibly but the Divine Power And what could be the Design and Intent of such Miracles but to fulfil the Will of God and make his Power to be known and his authority acknowledged in the Laws which were delivered in his Name and which were so often affronted and transgressed by these Sinners against their own Souls At their going out of Aegypt by a miraculous Providence there was not one feeble person among their tribâ—s but upon their transgressions they were punished by Diseases as miraculous We have other Evidence as I have before observed that Moses had no design to delude the People of Israel from the Meekness of his Disposition from his discovering his own Faults and Infirmities in his Writings and from his not advancing his Family but leaving his Posterity in a private condition and putting the Government into the hands of Joshua one of the Tribe of Ephraim But when all the People of Israel were Witnesses to so many Miracles wrought by him and particularly to so strange a Judgment as the cleaving asunder of the Earth and the Fire and Plague by which so many thousands perished we need not insist upon any other Proof to shew that the Miraculons Power and Divine Authority by which Moses acted and wrote was as well attested and as fully known to the whole People of Israel as it is possible for any Matter of
1 King xiii 2. and this was foretold by a Prophet who came out of Judah purposely to denounce the Judgments of God upon the Priests of the Altar and upon the Altar it self which Jeroboam had newly set up at Bethel when Jeroboam stood by the Altar to burn Incense and his Prediction at the same time was confirmed by Two Miracles one wrought upon Jeroboam himself by drying up his hand which he stretched forth against the Prophet and which by the Prophet's Prayer was restored again whole to him as it was before the other Miracle was wrought upon the Altar by rending it and pouring out the Ashes from it And a Prophecy delivered in the presence and to the face of an enraged Prince against the Religion of his own setting up to secure to himself the Kingdom he so lately became possessed of at the very time when he was offering Incense upon his New Altar And this Prophecy confirmed by an immediate Judgment both upon the King himself and his Altar in the sight of so numerous an Appearance as must be present on so solemn an occasion and these Enemies to the Prophet who came from Judah and to his Religion a Prophecy thus delivered had all the Circumstances to make it remarkable and notorious in all the Tribes both of Israel and Judah then at hostility with each other that can almost be conceived And yet the strange Death of the Prophet of Judah for transgressing by his own confession the Word of the Lord to him and his Sepulchre with its Title or Inscription still remaining at Bethel when Josiah demolished the Altar there gave a further confirmation to it The fulfilling of this Prophecy by Josiah was no less remarkable 2 King xxiii 15. Josiah was the Son of a very wicked King and born at a time when the People were exceedingly corrupted by the Idolatry of his Grandfather Manasses and his Sons likewise proved wicked so that he was so singular in his Piety and so wonderful an Example of it that no Man of his own Age could have imagin'd that of him which had been fo retold so many hundred years ago In all humane appearance this was a very unlikely time to see that Prophecy fulfilled and that which had been wonderful in any Age was much more wonderful in this and in so wicked an Age this good King set about the Work of Reformation very young to shew that it was not of Men but of God The Deliverance of Judah at Jehoshaphat's Prayer was foretold by Jahaziel in the midst of the Congregation and was accomplished accordingly by their Enemies destroying one another 2 Chron. xx Elijah foretold that the Dogs should lick Ahab's Blood in Jezreel where they had licked the Blood of Naboth which as (b) Joseph Antiquit. l. 8. c. 10. Josephus says was objected by Zedekiah one of the False Prophets against Micaiah who foretold that Ahab should be slain at Ramoth-gilead but he was brought home in his Chariot from Ramoth-gilead to Samaria and there the Dogs licked his Blood in Jezreel 1 King xxii 38. so that both the Prophecy of Elijah and Michaiah was fulfilled And when one Prophet seems contrary to another one foretelling the principal thing and another some accidental circumstance which those that were present and most concerned in the Action could not imagine till it happened and False Prophets in the mean time watch the Events to take all Advantages from it against the True Prophets and can find none nothing more can be desired to assure us of the Truth of any Prophecy The same Prophet foretold the like Judgment upon Jezabel and that the House of Ahab should be like the House of Jereboam and like the House of Baasha the Destruction of both which had been foretold by other Prophets and their Prophecies fulfilled as this of Elijah's also was Elijah by a Writing sent to Jehoram King of Judah foretold his Death and the strange manner of it viz. That after the loss of his Children and his Wives and all his Goods he should be afflicted in his Bowels and that his Bowels should fall out by degrees 2 Chron. xxi 12. The same Prophet not only foretold the Death of Ahaziah but caused Fire twice to come down from Heaven upon those who were sent to Apprehend him 2 King i. And at his Prayer Fire descended from Heaven and consumed the Sacrifice in the sight of Baal's Prophets being Four hundred and fifty to whom Elijah who was the only Prophet of the Lord there present had made this Proposal The God that answereth by fire let him be God And when Baal notwithstanding all their hideous Cries and the cutting themselves did not hear them then upon Elijah's Prayer the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench 1 King xviii 38. which was the same Miracle repeated in the midst of Idolaters who were so enraged and provoked against the Prophet Elijah that had been before wrought in the sight of the People of Israel in the time of Moses Lev. ix 24. and of David 1 Chron. xxi 26. and at the Dedication of Solomon's Temple 2 Chron. vii 1. (c) Cyril contra Julian l. 10. And this Miracle of Elijah in bringing down Fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifice and that of Moses in like manner were both confessed to be true by Julian the Apostate himself The miraculous Cure of Naaman's Leprosie must be notorious throughout the Kingdoms both of Syria and Israel 2 King v. The wonderful Deliverance of the Israelites when the Syrians heard a noise of Horses and Chariots and therefore raised the Siege of Samaria and the Plenty which followed was foretold by Elisha with a Judgment upon that Lord who doubted of the Truth of his Prediction The same Prophet foretold the Death of Benhadad King of Syria and that he should neither recover of his Sickness nor die a Natural Death And the Reign of Hazael who succeeded him is describ'd in such true and dreadful Characters that Hazael thought it impossible for him to be guilty of so much cruelty 2 King vii viii The Leprosie inflicted upon Vzziah for presuming to burn Incense unto the Lord which it was lawful for the Priests only to do was a permanent Miracle for his Leprosie continued till his death and for that reason he lived separately and his Son from that time had the administration of Affairs 2 King xv 5. and this Miracle of the Leprosie was accompanied with a terrible Earthquake mention'd Zech. xiv 5. Amos i. 1. and the (c) Joseph Antiquit. l. 9. c. 11. Ruines which were caused by the Earthquake remained as a perpetual Memorial of the Judgment An Hundred fourscore and five thousand of the Assyrians were slain by an Angel of the Lord in one Night 2 King xix 35. and this Deliverance was foretold by Isaiah when the Assyrians were in