preferr'd before others used by him without any solid Reason that therefore we must reject the deposition of so many Witnesses who unanimously attest it Since Jesus Christ had raised three persons to life again which then lived in Judea since Jerusalem had continued fourty years after the death of Christ since sixty solemn Feasts were celebrated in that time where all the Jews had an occasion to examine the truth of these Facts and the truth or falsity of the Accusation charged upon the Apostles by the Council of the Jews and that multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were converted at the preaching of the Apostles who reduced all to this Question of the Fact of the Resurrection of our Saviour is not this an invincible proof against all the Accusations and Suspicions of the Synagogue Forasmuch as the Witnesses who maintain the Resurrection of Christ are the very same that attest his Ascension into Heaven and that they assert it with the same proofs and the same zeal the Reflexions here set down may serve for that also and the rather because I am next to consider the sending of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which is an undeniable proof both of the Resurrection of Christ and his Ascension and that these very Gifts of the Holy Spirit enabled the Jews to write preach and publish throughout all the World the truths of that Christianity which we now profess CHAP. XIV That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the Primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies I Have shewn that the Prophecies of the Old Testament speak very plainly of this sending of the Spirit as a Preliminary to the Calling of the Gentiles which was the great design of God. The Prophet Joel speaks of it as such and makes this wonder to precede the destruction of Jerusalem as S. Peter observes in the second of the Acts. Isaiah speaks very particularly of it as such in the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy where he sufficiently intimates that the Spirit of Prophecy should from thence forward so rest upon Jesus Christ that it would not be found any longer among the Jews whose City and Temple should be destroyed At present my business is to shew that this thing has been exactly fulfilled according to the design which God had laid down in the Prophets To be convinc'd of this we need only make some Reflexions upon the Relation which S. Luke gives us of it in the Acts. He tells us therefore that fifty days only after the death of Jesus Christ the Apostles having continued at Jerusalem and being assembled there they received the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost that is the power of speaking all sorts of Languages to make them fit to preach the Gospel to all Nations and to explain the most sublime Mysteries of our Saviour's Religion Every thing is considerable in this Relation of S. Luke 1. That he relates this Fact as happening fifty days only after the Jewish Passover when Christ was crucified the whole Nation of the Jews having been witnesses of his death 2. That he relates it as happening in the same City where Jesus Christ was condemned that the same Multitude who after fifty days were again assembled there at this Feast might be Witnesses of this miraculous Event In short it plainly appears that this new Law from Mount Sion was solemnly promulg'd in the presence of all the Jews who were assembled from all parts of the World as the old Law was when all the People assisted at the foot of Mount Sinai 3. That these Gifts were granted to all the Disciples of our Saviour Gifts which till that time had been wholly unheard of and whereof some part only had been granted to some Prophets and to some Priests and of which none had been made partakers since the time of Malachi God having so ordered it that the desires of the Jews might be the more inflamed for the Messiah's coming as also that upon his coming he might the more easily be discerned 4. That this was a Fact openly known amongst the Jews and differently interpreted by them some saying They they were full of new Wine 5. That the Apostles asserted by the mouth of S. Peter that this was an Accomplishment of the ancient Oracles as well as of the Promises of Jesus Christ 6. That they declared that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ his Ascension into Heaven and this miraculous Donative had been foretold by David and Joel 'T is certainly therefore very natural to make these following Reflexions upon the Relation of so considerable an Event The first will confirm the truth of this miraculous Fact if we consider that it is absurd to suppose that S. Luke a wise man should be so rash as to relate a matter of this nature if he had not been fully convinc'd of it and if it had not been an easie thing to have convinc'd his Readers thereof also nothing more being required for their conviction but the presence of one of those first Christians and to make a trial of this supernatural vertue bestowed on them for which there were frequent occasions 2. We must observe that this Relation of S. Luke is as it were the foundation which he lays down to make his Book of the Acts to appear just and reasonable and to justifie the Apostles conduct in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles not only contrary to the opinion of the Jews who looked upon them as wholly excluded from the Priviledges of the Covenant but also contrary to the seeming Maxim of Jesus Christ who acted only as the Minister of Circumcision and contrary to the pretensions of many Christians who after the Mission of the Holy Ghost took it very ill that S. Peter had preached to the Gentiles 3. S. Luke supposes that this Fact came to pass in such a manner that it was followed by Consequences as illustrious as they were incredible Twelve poor Fishermen undertook to go and preach to all the World that their Master who fifty days before was crucified at Jerusalem at the prosecution of the whole Synagogue and by order of one of the Magistrates of the Roman Empire was not only living not only ascended into Heaven but that he also had given them the power of speaking all sorts of Languages of curing all Diseases and even of raising the Dead 4. They go yet further they boldly maintain that Jesus Christ had given them a priviledge of communicating the same power to all those who would believe that he was the promised Messiah and this without any other mystery but the bare laying on of their hands after they had received them by Baptism into the Profession of Christianity Nothing could have been more easie than to convince them of the contrary unless they had confirmed the truth of their Assertion by the miraculous Consequences of that first Miracle The Fact was publickly acknowledged Simon Magus is convinced thereof and
last Objection of Atheists is answered 120 Chap. 22. The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis 126 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. THat it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books Page 137 Chap. 2. That both the Character of Moses 's person and the nature of the things he relates has always made Men read his Books with attention 146 Chap. 3. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of 153 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the proofs of the truth of the Miracles wrought by Moses 158 Chap. 5. That Moses 's Description of the manner of God's giving him his Laws is evidently true 164 Chap. 6. Some other proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and promulgated 169 Chap. 7. That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books 173 Chap. 8. That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related by Moses 177 Chap. 9. That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis 180 Chap. 10. That the same perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death 185 Chap. 11. That Balaam 's prophesie which Moses relates is a further Argument of the same perswasion in him 188 Chap. 12. That one may see also in Moses 's Law plain Footsteps of God's Design in distinguishing these from whom he would have the Messiah to be Born. 194 Chap. 13. That the manner of God's promulgating his Law amongst the Israelites did much conduce to the distinguishing them from all other Nations 200 Chap. 14. That God seems to have designed to keep up a Spirit of Jealousie in the very Bosom of the Jewish Nation 206 Chap. 15. That Circumcision was a means of distinguishing the Israelites from other Nations 212 Chap. 16. That the Law of Moses engaged the Jews to the study of their Genealogies that they might certainly know that of the Messiah 219 Chap. 17. A Solution of some Difficulties in these Genealogies 223 Chap. 18. That the manner whereby the Law of Moses fixed the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan was to keep them separated from other Nations 228 Chap. 19. That the Law tied the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan and by several other means established the distinction betwixt Tribes and Families amongst them 234 Chap. 20. That the Laws which Moses made coneerning the state of Virginity did principally relate also to the Messiah which holds also as to several other Laws 241 Chap. 21. That it was the design of God by all these Ceremonies and particularly by that Veneration which he inspired the Jews with for the Tabernacle to preserve the Idea's of the Messiah whom he had promised in their minds by distinguishing them from all other Nations 249 Chap. 22. That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah 256 To the Courteous Reader THE Errata's are so small that they will not disturb the sense any where and so few that we need not trouble the Reader with a Table of them And therefore hope he will take such inconsiderable pains upon himself and excuse the Author REFLEXIONS UPON THE BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE For the Establishing of the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. Concerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion WE are to consider three things in the Christian Religion the Matters of Fact it propounds to us for true the Promises it affords us and the Worship it commands The Matters of Fact it propounds to us as true are that God created the World that he formed the first Man from whom the rest of mankind have been propagated that a while after this Man was created he violated the Law God had given him and that whereas he deserved to have perished for this his disobedience God was pleased instead thereof to comfort him with the hopes of a Saviour which was to be born of the Seed of his Wife that God hath actually sent this Saviour into the World which comprehends the whole Oeconomy of Christ viz. His Birth Life Preaching Miracles Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven c. The Promises it vouchsafes are the forgiveness of our Sins the Resurrection of our Bodies and a state absolutely happy for ever in Heaven And lastly the Worship or Divine Service it prescribes consists in Obedience to the Law of God in Prayer for the pardon of our Sins and his Protection and in a grateful Acknowledgement of what we owe him for all his Benefits towards us The first of these three parts of the Christian Religion viz. The Truth of the Matters of Fact it relates may be said to be the foundation of the other two viz. The Promises and Commands It is impossible to be perswaded that God hath created this World in which we live and made Mankind of one and the same blood that after the Fall he promised to save Men and did actually redeem them in sending Jesus Christ who suffer'd Death and being rais'd the third day Ascended into Heaven c. I say it is impossible to look upon these Facts as true without being assured that God will accomplish the Promises he hath made to us And it is as evident that we cannot be convinc'd of the truth of these Matters without being sensible of a strong obligation laid upon us to perform all the Duties of the Christian Religion As soon as a Man reflects upon his being Gods Creature he finds himself naturally oblig'd to obey God universally according to his utmost ability but when he comes further to believe that God did not destroy the first Man for his disobedience but was graciously pleased to promise him a Saviour for himself and all his Posterity and when moreover he is assured that God hath really sent this Saviour in the way and manner the Gospel relates to us we cannot conceive but that he must find himself under the highest engagements imaginable of rendring to God a religious obedience and believing his Promises But there is yet another obligation whereby Man is bound to obey God to pray to him and to offer him all manner of Religious Worship God by redeeming him hath obtained a new claim to and right over him and a more indispensable obligation is laid upon Man to submit himself to God in all religious Concerns as being not only created but also redeemed by him Reason acknowledgeth that if the truth of these things be once admitted nothing can be more just and natural than those consequences which the Christians thence infer All the difficulty
of the Tree in the midst of the Garden when he left the rest to their free use Not only for that he had given the Rainbow as a new sign of his Covenant with Mankind nor only because they had practis'd those Acts of Religion to which they had been Educated by their Parents and Ancestors before the Deluge But because the same may be inferred from that action which drew upon Cham his Father's Curse What is the meaning of Cham's deriding the Nakedness of his Father and of his Father's taking occasion from thence to Curse him so solemnly and that in the person of Canaan his First-born If it were only a piece of irreverence in the Father what reason had Noah to Curse the Son on that account Or was it as some have suppos'd that Canaan had given occasion first to his Fathers Irreverence by acquainting him with the disorder in which he had found his Grandfather Noah Without doubt there is something more than ordinary in this History Sure it is that the account given us of Cham represents him as a prophane person and deeply tinctured with the Maxims of Cain and his Posterity and seems to hint to us that he supposing the Promise of the Messiah either frustrated by the Death of Abel or altogether false he made his Father's Nakedness the subject of his Mockery who seem'd to be incapable of begetting any more Children and therefore incapable of contributing to the accomplishment of the Promise of the Messiah in hopes of which he accounted himself so happy that he had escaped the Deluge What means it also that Noah pronounceth so terrible a Curse against the Posterity of Cham by Canaan who were so far from giving an accomplishment to that Promise that they were in a manner wholly exterminated by Joshuah when God put the Posterity of Shem by Abraham in possession of the Land of Canaan It is very natural for us to conceive that Noah consider'd his Son Cham's deriding of him not only as contrary to the respect which was due to him as his Father but also as the effect of a horrid Impiety which attack'd God himself as making that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head a subject of Raillery This Reflexion upon the action of Cham and the Curse of Noah consequent to it does appear very natural if we consider that Noah could not but reflect upon the Name his Father had given him and the special favour shewed to him in being alone preserved of all the posterity of Adam and consequently the onely person in the World by whom this Promise was to be fulfill'd Herod lib. 1. Justin Hist lib. 1. Valer Max lib. 1. At least it can't be deny'd but that this Reflexion is as natural as it would have been just in reference to the Fact of cruel Astyages if when he had as he thought sufficiently cluded his Dream which presaged the glory of the Son of Mandane his Daughter he had found her indecently uncovered and had taken thence occasion deridingly to reflect with his other Children upon a Dream which seem'd to promise to the Son of Mandane the Throne of all Asia and threaten the ruine of his own 'T is a thing worth our noting that in the time of Ezra the Samaritans had so fresh a memory of Cham's sin Ezra IV. 14 which they supposed to be generally preserv'd amongst other Nations that in their Letter to King Artaxerxes against the Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem they declare they would not discover the King's Nakedness implying that they could not consent to the injury he might receive from the Jews in suffering Jerusalem to be rebuilt It is not needful to repeat those other Arguments which prove that the Children of Noah had reason to be and were actually as much convinced of the Creation and first Promise as their Ancestors were for seeing that these Arguments were the very same which their Fathers had to perswade themselves of the truth of these things we had better proceed to the Enquiry whether their Posterity that follow'd them had the same Perswasion they had which may easily be proved in making some Reflexions on the following Ages and upon those who descended from Noah and his Children CHAP. XIV That the Posterity of Noah 's Children were perswaded of the truth of the Creation and first Promise IF Noah saw Methusalem who had seen Adam and his Posterity before the Deluge Abraham saw Shem and his Children who were unquestionable Witnesses of what had passed before and since the Flood Noah dying 350 years after the Deluge it appears that his Death happened in the year of the World 2006 so that Noah died only two years before the Birth of Abraham he being born in the year 2008. Abraham lived 150 years with Shem who died in the year 2158 and 88 years with Arphaxad the Son of Shem who died in the year 2096 he lived 118 years with Selah Son of Arphaxad who died in the year 2126 and 179 years with Heber the Son of Selah who died in the year 2187. Isaac being born in the year 2108 might see Shem Selah and Heber who for some hundreds of years had conversed with Noah and his other Children I say we may suppose him to have conversed with those Patriarchs or at least with those who being their Contemporaries discoursed of Noah as a Man but of yesterday and from his Relation and his Children's were informed of the Creation of Adam his Fall the Promise of the Holy Seed the Death of Abel the Miracle of Paradise the Preaching of Noah the Deluge c. And who in obedience to the Law of God observed by their Ancestors did meet together fifty two times every year to Celebrate the Memorial of these Wonders and to teach them to their Posterity We may take notice of three things here which conduce much to the preservation of a distinct knowledge of these Matters The First is De Dea Syra p. 1060. That the Ark it self might be seen by all the World as a certain Monument of the Deluge and the saving of Noah and his Sons This Monument continued very many Ages after Abraham and was a means to preserve the Memory of the Deluge amongst the Pagans as Lucian to name no more acquaints us The Second is That it was as easie for any of Abraham's Contemporaries as for Abraham to deduce his Genealogy from Noah and his Children And this was the more easie because the first Division of the World amongst the three Sons of Noah was followed by another Partition amongst their Posterity in the year of the World 1758 a Division which gave them a just Title of possession to that part of the Earth where they were seated in defence of which it seems probable that the War of Chedorlaomer mention'd the XIII of Genesis was undertaken the Family of Cham having invaded the Land of Canaan which was part of the Inheritance of Shem as we shall
those Songs that were so much in fashion amongst those of his Nation he might easily satisfie his Curiosity by reading Moses's History If any Jew desired to know what sort of Exhortations they were which the Founder both of their Religion and Common-wealth had formerly made to their Fore-fathers Moses relates a great many of them in his Books If any Jew had a mind to receive instruction about the Original and cause of those Temporal Blessings he enjoyed in the Land of Canaan which God had possess'd his Nation of after the Expulsion of those People that had been the Inhabitants of it for many Ages Moses gives as good account of all that as can be desired If any Jew had a mind to know the Original of the several Calamities that befel his Nation on several occasions Moses acquainted them both with the Cause and Remedy of all their Afflictions Lastly If the Jews desired to be informed of the future condition of their Common-wealth in after Ages Moses foretells it in so particular and clear a manner that they might look upon his Prophesies not as certain Prophesies only but as a plain History of future Events begun and traced out before their Accomplishment All this is so much the more considerable to oblige us to read the Books of Moses with care that we may justly observe three things in his person which as they raise him above all common Authors so they cannot but strengthen the belief and increase the Esteem and Veneration which we ought to have for his History The first is That whereas all Men are careful to conceal their own Infirmities and whatever is dishonourable to their Familles Moses on the contrary seems to have affected to record all the things that could blemish the memory of his Ancestors and derogate to his own Reputation He blemishes Jacob's memory by his relating how he preferr'd Joseph the Son of his Beloved Wife to Reuben his Eldest whom he unjustly deprived of his Birthright in favour of the other which injustice is expresly forbidden by one of Moses's Laws Thus he lays an eternal blot and reproach upon the memory of Levi the Head of his own Family when he mentions his Cruelty and Violence against the Sichemites and the dispersion of his Posterity amongst the other Tribes of Israel Nay what is more he vilifies his own Birth by forbidding any Marriage betwixt an Aunt and her Nephew seeing he relates that he himself was born of Jocabed both Aunt and Wife to his Father Amram he describes his own Incredulity with all the Ingenuity imaginable when he represents the several Miracles which God wrought by him he seems to speak of himself only to lay open his own failings and sins such a sincerity and Impartiality we know confirms and increases mightily the Authority of any Author The Second thing is That Moses not regarding the advantage and honour of his own Family left the Government of Israel to Joshuah one of the Tribe of Ephraim and so reduced his own Children and their Posterity to the low condition of the rest of the Levites who were of an inferiour Rank to that of Priests for we do not see that they ever after renew'd the pretensions which they might otherwise have had to succeed Moses now such neglect of his Family shews that Moses's Principles were raised much above the ordinary pitch of the generality of Law givers who were absolute and supream over their People The Third thing observable here is that Moses had no share in the Conquest of the Land of Canaan it all was subdued after his Death Nay it was that Conquest that fixed and setled the Common-wealth of Israel which was before unsetled and as it were ambulatory in the Desart Now how could such a singular design as Moses describes in his Law be put in execution by any other than by him that formed it It was Joshua that made this Conquest of the Land of Canaan and possest the Jews of it now to be sure if that People had not been then fully perswaded of the Divine Authority of Moses's Law they would never have failed after so great an alteration to make use of their Power and Liberty in throwing off the troublesom yoak of his Laws nor yet would Joshua and all his Successors in the Government ever have maintain'd the Authority of those Laws if they had not lookt upon Moses not only as an extraordinary Man but also as one particularly Commissionated by God to make that Body of Laws for the regulating of his People We read in those Books of Moses's dying in the Mountains of Moab now that being supposed how is it possible that if the People of Israel had not been fully convinced that God himself gave their Law to Moses with all the Circumstances mentioned by him they would have continued to keep up such a ridiculous and ill grounded Conceit If he had really by his Tyrannical Authority forced the Israelites into a compliance to his Laws during his Life why did they not assoon as he was dead with the fear of his Authority shake off the yoak of his Laws and all respect for his memory One thing we may remark as very surprizing in the Relation of that Legislator's Death which is that his Body was not found after his Death For we do not see that that People which otherwise kept up and carried about with so much care the Bones of Joseph and his Brethren in order to Bury and Deposite them in the Sepulchres of their Ancestors for both Joseph and his Brethren were interred in Judaea did ever build a Tomb to their Law-giver or so much as pretend to shew his Sepulchre Josephus was of Opinion that Moses wrote himself the account of his own Death for fear the Jews should ever imagine and so give out that God had taken him up into Heaven I see I confess no solidity in that Conjecture of his but yet it may give us occasion to make a Reflection hereupon I think more natural and easie which is that God had a mind as Joshua intimates it to confirm the many Characters of Divinity that appeared in the Law of Moses by taking away from before the eyes of the Jews his Corps which they would certainly if they had not been so prevented have kept with more care than those of all their Patriarchs and Kings The Description of the manner of Moses's Death shews evidently that he was not only in great esteem during his Life but that even his Death did much conduce to the increase of it and to make Men look upon him as one gloriously raised up above the common condition of Men and in a manner not obnoxious to the Infirmities and Miseries incident to human nature But after these general Reflexions I must come to those that are more particular CHAP. III. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of WHoever will examine with attention the four last Books of
probable that a Prince especially of his Temper would have submitted to such a Confinement and meekly resign'd his Crown to his Son if that punishment inflicted upon him had not fully convinced him of the Divinity of that Law which he had transgressed and violated by his Temerity and Presumption The Third Reflexion is that the greatest part of those Laws being intended by God to inspire his people with an Irreconcileable Aversion against all those Nations amongst whom they were going to settle they were so framed as not only to be opposite to the Laws and Customs of Egypt from whence they came but also to those received amongst the Hivites Amorites and other Nations of whose Countries they were going to possess themselves Thus we find in the XVIII of Leviticus Laws against all Incestuous Marriages which without doubt were ordinary amongst the Canaanites and Egyptians who therein follow'd the Examples of the Ancient Patriarchs who Married within those forbidden Degrees there we find also the Sacrifices to Moloch forbidden the practice whereof those Nations in all likelihood defended by the Example of Abraham's Sacrifice Now it cannot reasonably be thought that a whole Nation would of a suddain receive such Laws as deprived them of a Liberty and Freedom they had always hitherto enjoyed and condemn of their own accord those Sacrifices that had the fairest pretence of Religion imaginable and to use many Ceremonies contrary to those received amongst them if they had not had a strong and extraordinary Motive for so doing There is another thing besides that challenges our Consideration viz. the exact Description which God gave to Moses of the Tabernacle of the several parts of the Ceremonial Worship which was to be performed in that Sacred place and of the manner how this Tabernacle with all its Appurtenances Utensils and Ornaments was finished For as this Tabernacle was then the Centre of the whole Jewish Religion as the Temple was afterwards by succeeding to it so it was a solemn proof of the Divinity of Moses's Laws and of the Worship that was performed there Is it conceivable that a whole Nation should contribute to the building of it should see it Consecrated and taken to pieces and set together again every day and should read all the particulars relating to its Construction and not discern whether there was any truth and reality in all that was told them concerning the Religion which their Governour fixed in that place wherein he pretended many Revelations were made CHAP. VI. Some other Proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and Promulgated BUt if it is so easie to establish the Divinity of the Law of Moses by shewing the truth of the Matter of Fact according to the manner of God's Promulgation as Moses relates it we may further collect the truth of it by joyning these following Reflexions to those already made in the foregoing Chapters Certainly if Moses had been the first Founder of a Kingdom and had been succeeded in it by his own Children and Posterity for many Generations one after another we might perhaps have had some ground to suspect that his Successors consulting their own Interest and Honour would have been very glad to perswade their Subjects that the first Founder of their Kingdom had some Communication with God and that it was from him he received the Laws and Constitutions which he gave them concerning Civil and Religious Matters But it is observable that Moses was so far from investing his own Children with the Supream Authority after himself that he Translated it into another Tribe and Constituted Joshuah of the Tribe of Ephraim for his Successor in the Government as for his Posterity he took little care of it but reduced it to a Rank inferiour to that of Aaron's Family which he preferr'd to the most honourable Functions of the Priesthood leaving to his own the meanest and most inconsiderable Employments all which shews evidently that none of those who came after Moses were moved by any private Interest of their own to defend the Truth and Authority of his Laws and Writings but only by the certain knowledge they had that they were all Divine Neither ought we to omit to consider here the manner how Moses decides beforehand such Questions and determines such Controversies as could not be raised but after the Conquest of Canaan which was made by his Successor only after his Death And how those Laws were constantly observed in all the succeeding Generations of that people and submitted unto by the very Judges and Kings themselves tho there be nothing more common than for a Conqueror such as Joshua was to admit of no other Fundamental Laws in that State he is the Founder of than those which he is the Author of nothing is more usual than for Statesmen to affect the exposing the Conduct of their Predecessors especially when the form of Government is altered and from Democratical or Aristocratical is changed into Monarchical as it happened amongst the Israelites How then could Moses's Laws still keep up their Authority in all Changes and Revolutions How comes it to pass that in all the Successions of Judges and Kings there was never any of them attempted to suspend or annul Moses's Laws much less to enact and give any others contrary to them Again how came it to pass that in all the Divisions and Factions that Nation fell into there was never any Jew endeavour'd with any success to undeceive the rest of his own people so as to make them shake off the troublesom Yoke of Moses's Laws No doubt only because the generality of that Nation never disputed the Divine Origin and Authority of them It were an easie thing to demonstrate by the whole Series of the Jewish History that all those Laws which in Moses's Writings are inlay'd one within another and represented as occasion'd by several Transactions related there have all been equally received of the Jews and have all been put together in a Body by themselves before Moses's Death as it may be proved out of the XXXI of Deuteronomy It appears that those Laws were publick and in great esteem amongst that People to whom God gave them upon whom he laid an indispensable Obligation to read them every day and to consult them upon every emergent business It appears that they were known equally of all degrees of Men Sexes and Ages which were all obliged to pay Obedience to them upon pain of Death It appears that those Laws were not only publickly kept in the Tabernacle but also privately read in every Family We see that a whole Tribe viz. the Tribe of Levi was appointed by God to explain them and in order to that they were dispersed throughout the whole Land of Canaan and exempted from the Cares and Troubles that necessarily attend Husbandry by the plentiful Provision of Tithes and Offerings that was allotted to them We see that God obliged all Jews to read and meditate
of and of God himself To be convinced of this let any Man read his Description of Abraham's Sacrifice and of the several Passions Joseph and his Brethren were moved and affected with when he made himself known to them Besides all that we may observe two very surprizing things in the Book of Genesis The First is That Moses recites there such things as seem to be unworthy to be taken notice of by so Grave and Wise a Historian as he was He gives for instance an exact and particular account of all the Circumstances of Ahraham's Purchase of the Cave of Machpela for a Burying place for his Wife He sets down all the particulars of the Incest of Judah with Thamar and he relates the manner how Leah with her Sons Mandrakes obtained leave of Rachel to enjoy her Husband for one Night with a surprizing exactness The other is that Moses records a whole Series of horrible Crimes which seem to be as so many blemishes and odious Reflexions upon the Memory of those whose History he writes Now it is not reasonable to suppose that Moses being so prudent as he is confessed to be could have been so injudicious as to chuse and pick out such Passages and Actions as are in themselves either trivial and of no moment or horrible and odious to fill up with them a Book wherein he gives a Description of the Creation of the World where he sets down the Oracles of God at every turn It is natural therefore to judge that he had some particular prospect in his Eyes which could be no other than that of the Promise which alone justifies his recital of trivial things and of Crimes in such a serious History as his is I shall not repeat here what I have already observed upon the Crimes which he relates in Genesis I add only that he had the same design and prospect in his Narration of such small and inconsiderable Transactions Thus by his account of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah his intention was to shew how God intended by this Sepulchre to affix Abraham and his Posterity after him to the Land of Cannaan his Scope and Prospect was the same when he records the Burial of Rachel at Ephrathah As for the Crimes Moses relates I have before proved that he design'd thereby to shew how all the Faithful before his time had their minds altogether taken up with the thoughts and hopes of the accomplishment of the Promise And herein we may say the Wisdom of Moses is very conspicuous and discernable in the choice he made of those Actions to perpetuate the Memory of the excessive desire which the Ancients had to accomplish the Promise And let no Man object here that it is very strange to see that during so many Ages the Promise of the Messiah occasioned no other than wicked actions For as it appears by all Circumstances that those Crimes related by Moses were committed in different times and long after one another so it is plain that he hath recorded those Actions on purpose to shew what impression the true knowledge of the Promise of the Messiah made upon the mind of those that had it in its perfection and integrity If Moses had inserted in this Book of Genesis any long Discourse as made by Adam about that matter upon a Sabbath day or if he had given us a Relation of what such an one as Seth or Enoch or Sem used to teach concerning that Promise in their Religious Assemblies It is certain That besides the inconvenience of a tedious Repetition which he must have made of the same things in every particular account he gives of the several Generations that preceded him he could never have perswaded his Readers so well as he may do now First Men would have been apt to suspect that those Speeches upon the Promise of the Messiah were of his own making and like those Set Harangues we find in Xenophon or Livy Secondly The Crimes that were committed to get thereby some advantage As for Instance The Murder of a King committed by his Heir and Successor to the Crown shews in the Murder a much greater Ambition and Affectation of the Throne and supposes in him a distinct and clear knowledge of his Rights and Pretensions to the Empire CHAP. X. That the same Perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death BUt it is not only by those and the like Reflexions which may be made upon the choice Moses hath made of the things which he recites that we may gather that he had always the Promise of the Messiah in view for he being descended from Abraham there is no doubt but that from his Youth up he was brought up in the Religion and consequently in the hopes of that Patriarch But moreover we have reason to think that the Idea of this Promise of the Messiah was much more lively and strong in that Family ever since Jacob on his Death-Bed had foretold and promised to Judah that it was out of his Tribe he was to be Born. As for Joseph to whom that Promise might have been applied by the Children of Israel because of his Power and Glory in Egypt the Egyptian Persecution that followed sometime after his Decease resolved all Scruples and Mistakes that might otherwise have been entertained in that matter and so convinced all those poor Sufferers that their Messiah was as yet to come To all these strong Presumptions whereby we may guess what the thoughts of Moses might be concerning the Promise of the Messiah we may add the Consideration both of his Words and Actions which do very plainly establish the same Truth St. Heb. XI Paul in his Epistle to the hebrews mentions two particular Actions of Moses which as they challenge our Admiration so they deserve our serious Consideration because they clearly I think evidence That Moses was fully perswaded of the future accomplishment of that Promise The First is That 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 in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the Reward From whence could a Resolution so opposite to the ordinary prudence and natural inclinations of other Men proceed in him if it was not as St. Paul observes it from a very extraordinary Source viz. from that strong Perswasion which he had that how calamitous soever the then present condition of the people of God might be yet God had chosen it therein to accomplish that great promise which was the Joy of all their Ancestors from Adam down to them the remembrance whereof he renewed by illustrating those Oracles which Jacob pronounced upon his Death-Bed The other is That Moses always adhered to that Miserable people and stood by them in all their Calamities and Pressures 'T is true he left them
can no way agree with the Prophet that uttered them Thus we find that in the XXII Psalm there are many Expressions which cannot be applyed to David 3. That most of these Prophecies are avowedly attributed to the Messiah by the most ancient Authors of the Synagogue And the modern Jews themselves refer them to some that suffer'd a violent Death as to Rabbi Akiba who died in the second Century 4. That the Apostles unanimously applyed them to Jesus Christ the true Messiah following therein the general consent of their Nation CHAP. XXI That the Messiah was soon after to rise again FOrasmuch as Death entred into the World by Sin and that the Messiah was to take it away we may easily conceive That if the Messiah were according to the Divine disposal to submit to Death that he could not long continue subject to it He who was to restore life to those who were dead could never be confin'd and imprison'd in a Grave and he who was superiour to Enoch and Elias who ascended into Heaven because he alone was exalted to the right hand of God to reign there for ever as the Prophecies concerning him assure us ought certainly to leave his Sepulchre by a glorious Resurrection And this we are positively assured of by the ancient Oracles Psalm XVI vers 10 11. Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore And to assure us that these and the like passages are applicable to none but the Messiah we find in the same Psalms expressions too high to be applyed to the Authors themselves As for example Psalm XXX vers 1 2 3. I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoyce over me O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the Grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit And Psalm XLI vers 8 9 10. An evil disease say they cleaveth fast unto him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more Yea mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me But thou O Lord be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them And Psalm XLIX verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the Grave for he shall receive me Psalm LVI vers 11 12 13. In God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render praise unto thee For thou hast delivered my soul from death c. Psalm LXXII verse 20. Thou who hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shall bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Psalm CXLIII vers 11 12. Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble and of thy mercy cut off mine Enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy Servant Hosea speaks to the same purpose Chap. XIII vers 14. I will ransom them from the power of the Grave I will redeem them from death O Death I will be thy plagues O Grave I will be thy destruction Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes Isaiah expresses the very same thing Chap. XXV vers 8. He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take from off all the Earth for the Lord hath spoken it And yet more expresly Chap. LIII vers 10 and 11. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his Seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities For the better understanding of which passages we are to observe 1. That the Messiah in many or most of them compriseth all Believers with himself according to that Maxim of the Jews who attribute to the Messiah the greatest of all the Prophets whatsoever God vouchsafed to any one of the Prophets and according to this Principle Jesus Christ speaks Matth. XII vers 39 40. An evil and adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonah For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth 2. That upon this account the Messiah is represented to us not as rising again alone but as making all his Brethren partakers of the same glory which makes the Prophets speak of him not as a single person but in common with others who by him are made possessors of the same advantages 3. That most of these Texts were quoted by the Apostles who in so doing followed the sense of the whole Nation as appears from Acts II. vers 24 25 26 27 28 and 29. Whom God hath raised having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that I should not be moved Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see Corruption Thou hast made known to me the ways of life thou shalt make me full of joy with thy Countenance Men and Brethren let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us unto this day And Acts XIII vers 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 and 37. But God raised him from the dead And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses unto the people And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm Thou shalt not suffer thine holy One to see corruption For David after
Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis That the Facts of the Creation and the Promises of the Messiah are Truths not to be questioned and that the Idea's of this Messiah continued vigorously all the time that preceded the Children of Israel's going out of Egypt We have seen afterwards in the Remarks which I have made upon the Laws which God gave to Moses that it was the great design of God to keep men in the expectation of this Messiah and to take care that they might certainly know him whenever he should appear in the World. I have taken notice in the third part of these Reflexions of the care which God took to give a great number of Oracles to explain particularly all the Characters of this Messiah the Place and Manner of his Birth the principal Circumstances of his Life Death and Resurrection and to foretel the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles their Call to the Religion of the Messiah and lastly the overthrow of the whole Model of the Jewish Religion and Common-wealth which was no longer of any use after the Coming of the Messiah and the Calling of the Gentiles My present business is now to shew That in the Books of the New Testament we may find an exact accomplishment of this whole Design wherein God had with so much care instructed the World so long before and there is nothing more easie if we will but take a little pains to read these Books attentively and to compare them with the Model which God himself made as we have hitherto described it To make this Truth yet more evident I think it will be necessary to do two or three things which seem to be very important for my present Design And first I am to observe that there appears a most perfect Coherence between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New which is absolutely necessary to shew that there is in these Books a perfect unity of Design notwithstanding the vast difference there is between the Jews who preserve the Old Testament and the Christians who preserve the New. Secondly I am to demonstrate that the Idea's of the Messiah were very strong in the minds of the Jews at the very time that Jesus Christ appeared in the World. This was absolutely necessary that they might not have wherewith to accuse those who received Christ for the Messiah of being deceived in their choice for not having had the exact Idea's of the Messiah which God had promised I shall upon this account shew in the third place That when Jesus Christ did appear in the World the Model which God had framed in the Law of Moses whereby the Messiah might be plainly known did then subsist in the manner wherein God had framed it After this I shall endeavour to shew by prooss which are indeed unquestionable That in examining all the Characters which the Prophets gave by which the Messiah might be known we cannot conceive a more exact execution of God's Design as to the Messiah than that which we find in the Person of Jesus Christ whereof the Books of the New Testament have given us the History Lastly I shall shew clearly that this Model which God had framed in giving the Law and in forming the Common-wealth and Religion of the Jews in so proper a manner to make the Messiah certainly known is not in being at this day but that it was so destroyed by the total Dispersion of that People that we should not be able to know the Messiah if he should now appear again in the World. And that indeed the principal Events which according to the Oracles were to follow the Coming of the Messiah are already come to pass in part and do still come to pass every day I hope to evince these Truths beyond all contest Indeed the bare reading of the Books of the New Testament plainly discovers the Coherence which they have with the Books of the Old. It shews clearly that the Idea's of the Messiah were at that time very strong in the minds of the Jews and it supposeth without any affectation that that Model which God had made so necessary to distinguish the Messiah stood at that time intire In particular It is certain that the four Evangelists by the Relation of unquestionable matters of Fact have proved that Jesus the Son of Mary is the Messiah which God had promised Saint Luke shews in the Acts of the Apostles that after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Gospel was preached to the Heathens The Epistles are a natural Consequence of this Vocation of the Heathens and of the abolishing of the Law of Moses which the Apostles had undertaken They unanimously conspire to shew that God had resolved to call the Heathens to partake of Salvation that the Jews for the greatest part should be justly deprived thereof because they obstinately rejected the Messiah Several Questions are examined which arose either from the Calling of the Gentiles or from the abolishing of the Ceremonial Worship The Succession of the History of the Christian Church justifies That after the Destruction of Jerusalem all People imbraced the Religion of Jesus Christ in receiving him for the Messiah whom God had promised to the Patriarchs and to the Jews I shall resume all these Articles one by one in that Natural Order in which I have proposed them REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there appears a very just Connexion bètween the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former AS it is not much the Character of Romances even then when they are most tyed up to the Rules of Probability to borrow either the Stile or Idea's of those Authors from whom they take their-Subject so I suppose that in this my Undertaking to shew that the New Testament is an exact accomplishment of the Old it is very important to make out that at the first reading of the Gospels and Apostolical Writings one finds in them a perfect conformity of Idea's with the Writings of the Old Testament One may to this purpose observe in general That the Gospel supposeth the Divine Authority of the Book of the Old Testament as an unquestionable Truth The Gospels and Epistles have the same coherence with the Books of the Law and Prophets which the Writings of the latter Prophets have with those of the former and which the Books of all the Prophets together have with the Books of Moses and with the Prophecies Laws and Histories which are contained therein One may take notice afterwards That all the Books of the New Testament have an essential relation to those of the Old in their most principal Designs I have shewed that their design was no other than to raise men to expectations of the Messiah and to paint him to the life whom God
and clearly describe the things which were to happen to the Messiah which was to be so because of the nature of these Events which were so strange and at such a distance from the common Idea's which men have for the most part of such things Our business therefore only is to consider at present whether indeed Jesus Christ died in the same manner as the Prophets had foretold that the Messiah should This Character is a very illustrious one to confirm that Jesus Christ is the Messiah For it is well known that a Prisoner is no longer Master of the things that happen to him neither of the kind of his Death nor of the manner of his Burial In short nothing can be imagin'd more foolish than to suppose that the Disciples of Jesus Christ should apply to their Master that he might pass for the Messiah such Oracles as had not usually been applyed to the Messiah by the Jews amongst whom they lived and whom they endeavoured to dispose for the receiving of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah Now we cannot conceive any thing more exact than the Agreement which we find between the Prophecies and the Event 1. When Jesus Christ by his triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding on an Ass had put his Disciples in mind of one passage in Zachary he obliged them also to cast their eyes upon another when he foretold his death and their flight as the accomplishment of this Oracle Matth. XXVI 31. I will smite the Shepherd and the flock shall be scattered Zach. XIII 7. 2. He was beset with a Band of Roman Souldiers and the Servants of the principal men amongst the Jews who apprehended him under the conduct of Judas which exactly answers 1. To the Description which we find Psal XXII Dogs that is Heathens whom the Jews treated as such and strong Bulls that is Jews represented by clean Beasts have beset me round And secondly to that other Prophecy He that eats bread with me hath lift up his heel against me 3. He offers himself freely to death according to that of Isaiah That he gave his Soul an offering for sin This appears not only by his going into the Garden where he knew that he should be taken but also by his telling the Souldiers that he was the man they looked for he opposed S. Peter's attempts towards his Rescue and declares that he did not fly from death but was willing to satisfie the intent of the Prophecies 4. He is forsaken by his Disciples as he himself had testified of it as foretold by the Prophets Zach. XIII 7. 5. He is struck on the face before Annas as Jeremiah had foretold Lament III. 30. He giveth his Cheek to him that smiteth him 6. He appears before Caiaphas surrounded by every thing that was great amongst the Jews whether Lawyers or Church-men according to Psalm II. 7. He is silent before his unjust Judges and neglects to answer the Accusations which the false Witnesses deposed against him according to the Prophecy of Isaiah As a Sheep before his shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth Isaiah LIII 7. and the description which David gives of him Ps XXXI and XXXIX 8. They opened their mouths against him in accusing him of Blasphemy as David had figuratively expressed it Psal XXII 13. 9. They spit in his face they buffetted and abused him the whole night according to that Oracle of Isaiah XLIX 6. 10. When Judas saw that Jesus Christ was delivered to Pilate by the Jews who demanded his Crucifixion he returned the thirty pieces of Silver wherewith they purchased the Potters field afterwards called the Field of Blood and set apart by the Jews for the burial of Strangers as was foretold by Zachariah XI 12. and by Jeremiah XXXII 25. 11. He is accused before Pilate and brought before Herod without justifying himself of the Crimes laid to his charge as it is Psalm XXXVIII and XXVII 12. 12. Pilate and Herod agree in conspiring the death of Jesus Christ according to the description of Psalm II. 13. Pilate desiring to save Jesus the Jews demand Barabbas might be released and Jesus punished as David had foretold Psalm XXII 14. 14. Jesus Christ was scourged by Pilate's order which was foretold Psalm XXXVIII and LXIX Isaiah LIII vers 5. and Chap. LXIII 15. He is brought forth by Pilate to the People with an Ecce Homo Behold the Man which was foretold by Isaiah When we shall see him there is no Beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected of men we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted 16. He is afterwards delivered to the Souldiers who before they crucified him insulted over him with a thousand Indignities and scourged him again according to the Prophecies so often before alledged 17. They Crucifie him with two Robbers which answers to that Prophecy Isaiah LIII 12. He was numbred with Transgressors 18. They give him Gall and Vinegar to drink as was foretold Psalm LXIX 19. They pierce his hands and feet in nailing him to the Cross which answers to Psalm XXII 17 18. 20. They part his Garments which is represented in the same Psalm verse 19. and cast Lots on his Vesture according to the same Psalm in the very same place 21. He suffers a thousand Reproaches upon the Cross according to what we find Psalm XXII verse 8. and Psalm LXIX ver 8 10. 22. And in particular the Jews and Scribes reproach him in the very words of Psalm XXII verse 8. 23. Jesus Christ cries out applying to himself the beginning of Psalm XXII My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me as he had before applied to himself the Prophecy concerning the Messiah in the third of Daniel 24. He commends his Soul into the hands of God in the very words which we read Psalm XVI These are the principal Circumstances of the Death of Jesus Christ which one see 's to be exactly agreeable to the Prophecies going before concerning them let us now consider those which followed his death which we shall not find to be less particular 1. The Bones of Jesus Christ were not broken as those of the two Thieves which one may see foretold Psalm XXXIV verse 21. 2. They open'd his side with a Spear according to the Idea of Zechariah Chap. X. verse 12. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced 3. His Body is buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a new Sepulchre which answers to the Prophecy of Isaiah Chap. LIII These Remarks do in my judgment clearly prove that in the death of Christ all the Characters by which the Prophets have distinguished the death of the Messiah are actually found But that we may yet be more sensible how justly these Oracles are applyed to Jesus Christ here are some Reflexions upon the application which the Apostles make of these particular Facts which happened to Christ to those Oracles which I have now mentioned The first is That the relation of these
that it was Jesus Christ himself The Angels repeat to the Women the command which Jesus Christ before his death had given to his Disciples to go into Galilee Jesus Christ appearing to Mary Magdelen repeats the same to her and gives her a particular Commission for S. Peter to comfort him in his Affliction for having denied his Master Appearing to his Disciples as they went to Emmaus he refers them to the Prophecies which spoke of his Death and Resurrection and moreover when he broke Bread with them they hear the same Prayers which he ordinarily used at the blessing of it He appears to them the same day the fifth time and shews them his feet and his hands he repeats the Grant of the Authority which the Father had given him he breathes upon them saying Receive the Holy Ghost a week after he lets Thomas touch him he appears afterward to seven of his Apostles upon the Lake of Tiberias where he confirms S. Peter in his charge from which his denying of Christ might seem to have excluded him after he had wrought a Miracle in the draught of the Fishes which was like some Miracles which he had wrought before his death Afterwards he appears upon the same Mountain in Galilee where in all probability he had been transfigured before and is there seen of Five hundred of his Disciples at once And last of all he appears to them at Jerusalem after their return from Galilee and from thence goes with them to Bethany where after he had told them of the absolute power which God had given them he commands them to go and Baptize in his Name he foretels the Miracles which they should work and the Gifts which they should receive at Jerusalem All these so very different Circumstances were only design'd to assure their Eyes their Hands their Minds their Consciences that it was the same Jesus whom they had always followed It is worth our taking notice of the diversity of these Circumstances for the certainty of this Fact which absolutely prevent all pretences of doubtfulness Jesus Christ appears ten several times after his death he appears five times on the very day of his Resurrection he appears at several hours to different persons in several places but always to persons to whom he was familiarly known to those who were not at all credulous the first news they had of his Resurrection seem'd only to raise their Scruples if the testimony of their Senses which saw him and touched him had not removed all suspicions Jesus Christ appears to them in places where he had wrought many Miracles and where he had often before conversed with them But one may make another more important Reflexion upon the time and the day wherein our Saviour rose again Of the ten several times in which he appeared to his Disciples he appeared five times on the day of his Resurrection he appeared to them eight days after and after that the eighth day which he signalized by his frequent appearing to his Disciples was consecrated to celebrate the memory of this Event every week One finds certain tokens hereof in the Writings of the Apostles and it is known that all Christians after them did inviolably observe this Law. Now let any one consider whether it would have been possible to introduce this Custom in the time of the Apostles if the Resurrection of Christ had not been a Fact confessed of all hands Can any one conceive that the Apostles and their Disciples who were witnesses of the death of Jesus Christ and who celebrated the memory thereof by a Sacrament could have been so stupid to establish a Custom which would put People upon examining the Fact and have convinced them in a little time since none of those that followed them would have submitted to this practise if they had not been convinced by their Eyes and their other Senses and by a thousand other proofs of the truth of so capital a Fact which was so much disputed by the Jews of which they were obliged to make a solemn commemoration two and fifty times every year as long as they liv'd Let us add to this Remark which we have elsewhere urged with reference to the Creation another Reflexion upon a Fact which the Evangelists tell us They tell us that tho' the Resurrection of Christ was accompanied with very peculiar Circumstances sufficient to convince both Jews and Gentiles of the truth of it being usher'd in with an Earthquake with Apparitions of Angels to the Souldiers that guarded the Sepulchre of Jesus and were frighted thereby yet the Council of the Jews contrived with the Souldiers a most impudent lye to out-face it and accordingly the Souldiers coming before Pilate tell him that the Disciples had stoln away the Body of Jesus whilst they slept and his Disciples tell us that since this hath been the common Opinion of the Jews I will not so much as take notice here of the palpable falsity of this Deposition for if the Souldiers were asleep how could they depose concerning a Fact which was done at that time If they were not asleep why did not they hinder the Disciples from taking the Body of their Master away How could they affirm that Thieves had taken him away when the Linnen Clothes wherein his Body was shrouded being left in the Grave and the Napkin that was about his head being folded up in a place by it self do absolutely evince that he was not taken away by persons that were in fear of a surprize What probability is there in short to suspect that his Disciples who forsook Jesus Christ whilst he was yet alive who fled from him at that time should undertake such a hazardous Attempt to have his Body only Neither will I insist upon a Representation of the Apostles sincerity which made them give us in their Histories a plain account of the report which was spread against the belief of the Resurrection of Jesus before ever that the Disciples had attested the same But I observe another very particular Character in their Relation which is that it was impossible for them to establish this Fact of the Resurrection without accusing thereby the whole Council of the Jews of the most shameful and crying imposture that ever was to write a thing of this nature against the Heads of that Religion was to sacrifice themselves to the hatred of the Publick and to expose themselves to inevitable ruin In short let us imagine whether after a charge of this nature it was easie for the Apostles to publish their Books and preach publickly that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead And yet this was what they did with a surprizing diligence when they inserted this terrible Accusation into their Books and Sermons which alone is sufficient to demonstrate that they were infinitely convinced of the Resurrection and also in a condition to convince all Gainsayers as we shall shew hereafter One may add to this proof the Conversion of S. Paul and the
the fulfilling of the ancient Oracles appear therein with so much lustre The former of these shall be the Subject of this and the latter of the next Chapter As the pulling down of the Scaffolds which were only set up to build a Palace is an infallible sign that the Building is finished so one may say that the total defacing of the Model which God had formed in the Law that the Messiah at his coming might be certainly known is an unanswerable proof that he is already come It is worth our pains to make some Reflexions on this overthrow that we may conclude against the Jews that if the Messiah was yet to appear in the World it would be impossible to know him according to the Characters which God had given of him before his appearing In the first place therefore whereas God had confined the Jews to the Land of Canaan that they might be visible to all the Posterity of Noah of whom one part that is the Off-spring of Cham possessed Egypt and Africa the Posterity of Japhet Europe and the lesser Asia and those of Shem the rest of Asia the Jews at present are driven from that Country and far from being restored to it after Seventy years as they were by Cyrus they have been for ever banished thence by a Decree of the Emperour Adrian who forbad them so much as to turn their eyes towards Judea which was in the Year of Christ 135. The Heathen Celsus insults over them in these remarkable words They have no more saith he either Land or House remaining to them Secondly So far were they from having any Remainders of a Temporal Power Dispersâ— palabun◠〈◊〉 coeli 〈…〉 sui ext◠〈◊〉 vagantâ—â— per orbeâ— fine homine fine Deo Rege quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltem vestigio sâ—lutare comeditur Apolog cap. 21. that they were then wholly deprived of it See what Tertullian saith of them in the Year of our Saviour 204. They wander up and down the World like despersed Vagabonds banished from their Climate and Country without Man without God for their King and are not permitted as Strangers to set foot on their Native Soil We read a Decree of Honorus the Emperour which deprives them of the Right of nominating their Patriarchs or of paying them any Tribute which shews that their Authority whas wholly extinct Thirdly Their Temple at Jerusalem being destroyed in the Seventieth Year of our Lord as that in Egypt called Onion was the year following it could never be built again notwithstanding that Julian the Apostate out of his hatred to the Christians favoured that Enterprise in the year of our Saviour 363. There is a Letter still extant which Julian writ to the Jews to assure them of his Protection and to encourage them to that work but it was not so much his death which dashed that undertaking as a very memorable opposition from Heaven Marcelinus a Heathen gives us this account of it Lib. 23. Imperiique sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam Templum quod post multa interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano posteaque Tito aegre est expugnatum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis Negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi qui olim Britannias cur averat pro-Praefectis Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius juvaretque provinciae Rector metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties operatibus inaccessum hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente cessavit inceptum And being desirous to propagate the Memory of his Government by the Greatness of his Works he with vast expence designed to rebuild the splendid Temple which was formerly at Jerusalem which after many and bloody Battels being besieged by Vespasian and afterwards by Titus was at last taken with difficulty he committed the care of hastning the Business to Alypius of Antioch who had formerly been Pro-praefect of Britain As therefore this Alypius was vigorously prosecuting the Work being assisted by the Lieutenant of the Province terrible Balls of Fire frequently breaking forth near the foundations sometimes burnt the Workmen and made the place inaccessible Thus the design was laid aside The Element it self beating them back on purpose Julian easily apprehended that their Religion would perish and that it could never be restored without the Temple In the fourth place The observation of some of their Laws was absolutely forbidden as being contrary to those of the Roman Empire Thus they were not suffered to have many Wives Upon this overthrow many inconveniences followed which it will be convenient to represent at one view 1. They no longer know those persons who at the first Division of the Land by Joshua were Owners of the different parts of the Land of Canaan 2. Their Families and Tribes are confounded their Jubilee which could not be kept but in the Land of Canaan and which obliged them to study their Genealogies having ceased long since 3. The Family of David is at this day utterly unknown 4. They have no more lawful Priests to observe the Primogeniture to examine the Tokens of Virginity tho' it appears that according to God's design these Laws were given on purpose to ascertain the knowledge of the Messiah and to be like Inclosures about this important Truth in the compass of which it might be the better examined Certainly if the Jews were still in possession of Judea if they had their Kings of the Tribe of Judah if they had their Priests if they were assured of their Genealogies if they still enjoyed all the other necessary means for establishing the certainty of their Descents if their Temple had still subsisted in its former lustre and that the Sacrifices appointed by the Laws were still offered there The Jews might boldly answer that the Shiloh was not yet come that is they ought not to despair of seeing the Messiah born at Bethlehem of the Seed of David and entring the Temple of Jerusalem Then the Prophecy of Daniel which determins 490 years for the term in which the Messiah was to appear and be cut off by a violent Death and Punishment would seem to be eluded But the term of the Messiah's coming is past the Commonwealth of the Jews is overturned the Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed 1600 years since there are no more Genealogies among the Jews they do not know their Tribes much less their Families How then can it be supposed that God should be true in his Oracles as we must acknowledge him to be if they were never answered by the Event To speak the truth it is impossible to consider the Arguments we have alledged to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and especially those Demonstrations which the Apostles have given us without acknowledging these two things The first is That it was very easie at the time of Jesus Christ's appearing to examine whether he
who declared himself to be the Messiah were so indeed so it is absolutely impossible to examine it or know it since the destruction of that Model if we suppose that God at first framed it for the determining of this question as we have no reason to doubt it The second is That the Christians exactly followed this Divine Model and being convinced of the truth of the Facts which exactly corresponded with it and which answered it in all its parts they had all the Reason imaginable to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah In short if we consider it well we shall find that the whole Christian Religion is nothing but a question of Fact between the Jews and Christians But such a question as the Jews at present are not in a condition to maintain against the Christians Both Jews and Christians agree in the Characters of the Messiah or at least about the most of them According to these Characters the Messiah ought to be come The Christians maintain that they may be found in Jesus Christ and they prove it by matter of Fact wherefore we must conclude That either these Characters attributed to the Messiah are not proper Characters to know him by and so the Wisdom of God will be eluded and both Jews and Christians equally deceived in taking that for a Character of the Messiah which is not or else that both the Messiah is certainly come and and that He is no other than that Jesus whom we worship CHAP. XXI That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion I Come now to examine the double stumbling Block which the Jews pretend against the Christian Religion This Religion say they propounds Doctrines that are inconceivable and contrary to Reason For instance that of the Trinity that of the Incarnation and the Divinity of the Messiah These are the Doctrines which the Jews reject as absolutely incompatible with the Books of the Old Testament which we have received from their hands But it is an easie matter to answer this Objection 1. It is founded upon a total forgetfulness of the solidity of those proofs of Fact which I have alledged Jesus Christ is risen from the dead this is a Fact confirmed by several Witnesses It appears from Tacitus that Jesus Christ suffered death under Tiberius Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judea It is known that Claudius banished the Christians from Rome in the Year of our Lord 54. It is evident from Tacitus in his Life of Nero that he accused the Christians of burning the City of Rome which himself was the Author of the Christians therefore made a considerable Body in the Capital City of the Empire and this happened in the year of our Lord 64. Suetonius says the same thing 2. It appears that Pliny in Trajan's time takes notice of the manner of their Meetings 3. Dion Cassius sets down the Accusation brought in against Flavius and Domitilla as against Atheists which is the Title Julian the Apostate gives to Constantine because the Christians rejected the worship of the Heathen Gods. 4. It appears by the latter end of the Acts of the Apostles that this Book was writ in the Year of our Lord 63 and yet this Book supposes the Gospel of S. Luke to have been written before it and S. Luke's Gospel takes it for granted that some of the other Gospels were already published 5. It appears from the Writings of Clemens Romanus that the Epistle to the Hebrews was then written and the same may be gathered from the Books of S. Ignatius Polycarp and S. Justin. These Facts which are certain are sufficient to prove that immediately after the death of Jesus Christ his Apostles and their Disciples as Eye witnesses maintained the truth of his Resurrection After this it may indeed be disputed by what Power he was raised whether by a Divine Power or by his own but it is ridiculous to dispute the Fact by reasonings drawn from pretened Absurdities which one may think to find in the Doctrines of the Gospel Secondly These Mysteries as for instance that of the Trinity relates to the Divine Nature which is incomprehensible so that it is no strange thing if an Idea of it be proposed to us which not being distinctly known by us may raise Difficulties and Perplexities in our Minds If I would discourse with one born blind of the Sun of its Light and Heat and should attribute to the Sun the Production of Light and afterwards of Heat he would find an infinite trouble not to imagine three Suns It is known how the Philosophers who agreed about the Unity of the Soul have notwithstanding been obliged to attribute several Faculties to it which the common People look upon as very different things and which seem to oppose the Idea's of its Unity and Simplicity In the third place The Christians prove very solidly that these Mysteries have been clearly proposed by the Apostles who received their light from Heaven as to these Truths and so might necessarily be believed upon their word for the same reason that the Prophets of the Old Testament were formerly believed Moreover they assert that these Doctrines were first expressed tho' not so clearly in the Old Testament which is in the hands of the Jews the mortal Enemies of Christians I add to these Remarks that most of those Facts whose truth is so invincibly established suppose these Doctrines and that the whole frame of the Religion doth so necessarily require them that we rob it of a considerable part of its Glory in questioning or contesting any of them These Reflexions may suffice in general to resolve this difficulty of the Jews and for a more particular Satisfaction we refer the Reader to those Books which purposely treat of these Mysteries desiring him to observe carefully that commonly the most difficult Objections of Hereticks against these matters do rather oppose the terms which are made use of or the notions which men follow in speaking of these truths than the Propositions contained in the Writings of the New Testament At least one may be assured that the Jews are constrained to resolve several parallel Objections to which one can scarcely give a satisfactory Answer without borrowing some Distinctions and Notions from the Christians Neither can the second Objection of the Jews give us any more disturbance It is true that there have been Divisions amongst Christians and are still to this day What can we conclude thence Can we reasonably conclude that therefore the first Founders of Christianity were doubtful concerning the truth of those Facts which are the support and foundation of it On the contrary upon an attentive Observation one may find 1. That Heresies have only served to render the truth of these Facts more incontestable by obliging those that had consider'd of them to examine their certainty with more care and application This is the Judgment one ought to make upon all those Heresies in the second Age about the truth of the Flesh of Jesus Christ or about the truth of his Death From thence men took occasion to take notice of and collect with great care all the Circumstances that prove the truth of both these Facts 2. We find that the greatest part of these Contests do not concern the truth of the Facts but the several Consequences drawn from them the truth of those Matters continuing still beyond dispute This we find in the Dispute raised about the Millennium the truth of the Promises of Jesus Christ being equally believed by both the disputing Parties but differently understood according to the temper of those that consider'd of them some forming gross and sensual Conceptions concerning them others having a more spiritual relish which they had acquired by studying the Prophecies and their true sense 3. We find that this Division which hath sprung up amongst Christians is one of the most solid proofs of the truth of the Books of the New Testament If some Fools have endeavoured to decry some of them or to falsifie some particular places we see that both Parties unite to repel that violence by producing their Copies and beating back the Impostors with their united strength One see 's that Tertullian tho' a Montanist writ Prescriptions against Hereticks and Epiphanius takes notice without any respect to some that were Orthodox of their Crime in blotting out of their Copies that Christ had wept It is known that the Division of the Jews into Karaites and Thalmudists the Jealousie between the Jews and Samaritans and the Division between the Jews and Christians is a means of preserving the Scripture and hindering its Corruption each Party being very vigilant to hinder their Adversaries from attempting any thing to its prejudice in corrupting a Book which they consider as common to them all I might observe many other advantages which accrew to the Truth from these Human Failings but I will only instance in one which has always seem'd to me very considerable and that is That these Hereticks distinctly prove the truth of the Predictions of our Saviour An impious person would have reason to accuse our Oracles as false if there had never been any Heresies But Truth triumphs in seeing so great a multitude of them who the more they encrease the more she see 's her self confirm'd and established This is the Reason induced God to permit so great an increase in the first Ages when the Truth meeting with the greatest Opposition by Persecutions stood in the greatest need of sensible Characters by which it might be known I conclude this Work with desiring my Reader to consider these Reflexions upon the Holy Scripture here propounded with a serious attention and to examine the Coherence and Indissoluble Connexion of them and with prayer to God that it may please him to make them serviceable to advance the Glory of his Name which is the only end I have proposed to my self in the writing of them FINIS
Facts is joyned with an account of the weakness whereinto they all fell They relate their own flight and forsaking their Master with S. Peter's denying of him whilst they set down the courage of those women and that entire love which they shewed to the person of Jesus The second is That the account of the Accomplishment of these ancient Oracles is interwoven with the Accomplishment of those which were uttered by Jesus Christ which alone are sufficient to make good his claim The third is That our Saviour did never on any occasion more openly stand to his pretension of being the Messiah than when he applyed to himself those Oracles which by their publick consent were referred to the Messiah which the Jews at that time more obstinately contested than ever The fourth is That there never was a more exact description of all Circumstances which might assure us of the truth of any Relation than that which the Evangelists have given us of the death of Jesus Christ in which we find the places the time the persons their discourses and other things of that nature set down with extream care The fifth is That as this Fact with all its Circumstances is the most exactly described of any thing that ever was so it was a matter concerning which it was scarce possible to impose upon any one All was done in the face of the whole Nation who were met together at their most solemn Festival All was done in the presence of the Soveraign Heathen Magistrate of the Council of the Jews of Herod and of those who followed him to Jerusalem The sixth is That we find an account of some Miracles interwoven with this Relation of the Evangelists concerning the death of Christ and those Miracles as publick and as little subject to suspicion as the death it self of Jesus Christ if we take the pains to examine them They who come to take Jesus fall down backward to the ground Jesus Christ restores the ear of the High Priest's Servant which was cut off there was darkness over all the Land from Nine a Clock in the Morning till Noon the vail of the Temple is rent These are miraculous actions and such as the Jews might easily have refuted wheresoever they had been proposed if the truth of them had not been beyond all question From all these Remarks it evidently follows That it is impossible to dispute the Application which the Apostles make of these Oracles which are so particular to the person of Jesus Christ as the true Messiah We find every part of their Relation exactly answering to the Prophesies how then can any one doubt of their being fulfilled in him especially seeing it is evident by so many other proofs that he was indeed the Messiah and that God has been pleased so many other ways to confirm the same truth CHAP. XIII That Jesus Christ was raised again the third day according to the Prophets and afterwards ascended into Heaven HAving shewed in the foregoing Chapter that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate for maintaining that he was the promised Messiah I am now to shew that according to the Prophecies set down in my third part he rose again the third day and afterwards ascended into Heaven As these two Facts are the most important of all that are contained in the Gospel because if they be denied all the Divine Worship given to Jesus Christ by the Apostles and a great number of Jews and Gentiles who received him for their Master in matters of Religion is absolutely unlawful so we ought solidly to prove that they are indisputably true Of which we shall be fully convinced by making some Observations upon the Relation which the Evangelists give us concerning them and we shall easily find therein all the Characters of Truth There is no necessity of observing that a Resurrection from the dead is a Fact which can hardly be believed and that tho the Jews did not all of them look upon it as an impossible thing yet there were Sadduces amongst them whose Doctrine was publickly taught It is certain that tho the Disciples had seen Jesus Christ raising three persons from the dead and amongst others Lazarus a little before his death yet we find that they were not thereby more disposed to believe that Christ was to rise from the dead In short tho the Evangelists tells us that Jesus Christ himself had foretold that he was to rise again the third day which was a thing so commonly known that the Priests to elude the Prophesie desired of Pilate that a Guard might be set on Jesus his Grave yet they expresly tell us that the Disciples none excepted were in such a Consternation at the death of Jesus Christ that they had entirely lost the hopes of seeing the accomplishment of that Prophesie Some pious Women who had accompanied him to the Cross and were desirous to shew some Marks of their Veneration after his death came indeed to his Sepulchre but with Spices to embalm his dead Body so far were they from expecting to find him risen from the dead Tho these Holy Women were convinced of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Apparition of an Angel by the Discourse of our Saviour himself and by the repetition of his order that they should go to Galilee where they should see him yet the Relation which they give of these things is accounted fabulous so that two only of all the Apostles had the curiosity to go to the Grave and inform themselves Here is a great unbelief amongst the Apostles which was to be cured This was a condition wholly inconsistent if we suppose them Impostors and that they intended to impose upon the World. A Second thing we may observe is That as the Incredulity of our Saviour's own Disciples was extraordinary so we cannot imagine any more efficacious means than were employed to overcome this their doubtfulness If one joyns the Relations of the Evangelists together one may find several degrees of evidence in those proofs which confirm the truth of the Resurrection of our Saviour The First is the manner of their being informed of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Angels at first declare his Resurrection to some Women Jesus Christ afterwards appears to Mary Magdalen all alone afterwards he appears only to two of his Disciples then to St. Peter afterwards he appears to seven of them at once then to all his Disciples except Thomas and soon after to the eleven Thomas being one of them After all this he appears to a greater number of his Followers till at last having been several times seen of them all he appears to them all assembled together and is taken up into Heaven in their sight It is evident that as they were informed of this truth one after another so they were more obliged to examine the Fact more attentively when Jesus Christ appeared to them The second degree has relation to those Marks and Characters by which they were assured