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A46761
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The reasonableness and certainty of the Christian religion by Robert Jenkin ...
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Jenkin, Robert, 1656-1727.
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1700
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Wing J571; ESTC R8976
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581,258
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1,291
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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
Forty Years wandring in the Wilderness their Children should be brought in to possess it I the Lord have said I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there shall they die Num. xiv 35. And the Men who were sent out to search the Land and brought the evil report upon it died forthwith by the plague before the Lord ver 37. and these Men were the Heads of the Children of Israeâ— a Man of every Tribe being chosen out every one a Ruler amongst them chap. xiii 2 3. and but two of them agreed in giving the true Account of the Land so great an aversion they had to proceed any farther in their way thither And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them Would God that we had died in the land of Aegypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were is not better for us to return into Aegypt And they said one to another Let us make a cantain and let us return into Aegypt And all the Congregation were for stoning Joshua and Caleb if they had not been hindred by the glory of the Lord appearing in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel Num. xiv 1 2 3 4 10. Now upon so general a dâ—fâ—ction to pronounce peremptorily That but Two by name of so many Thousands should go in to inherit the Land of Promise and that all the rest should die in that very Wilderness which they complained so much of and that no less than Forty Years were to be spent in that wandring condition which they were already so weary of This is such a Method of quelling so general a Discontent and Mutiny as never was heard of before nor since and which could proceed from nothing less than a Wisdom and Authority which could check and controul the most combined and inveterate Perverseness of men and a Power which struck the Spreaders of this false Report with immediate death before their eyes for an Example of that Vengeance which they must all expect would fall upon them sooner or later within the space of Forty Years So that hereby was taken off all prospect of Advantage and â—ll hopes of any Reward for what they now with so much regret and impatience underwent and from henceforth they were led meerly by Conviction of the Divine Power and Presence amongst them and of the Terrours of those Judgments which in all Revolts seized upon the Disobedient And now being restless and uneasie in their present condition and past all hopes of remedying it like desperate Men they were upon every little occasion thrown into violent Commotions but were as soon controlled and appeased by visible Judgments upon the chief Authors of them For when we read soon after that a Rebellion was raised against Moses by Korah Dathan and Abiram God gave such evident Tokens of that Authority which he had invested him withal and so signally manifested that what he had done amongst them was by his Power and Commission that it was impossible for any of them to be deceived in it or to doubt of it Though the truth of it is they had never from the very first doubted of God's Power amongst them but were acted now with a Spirit of Rage and Despair like the Men described by the Prophet fretting themselves and cursing their king and their God and looking upwards Isai viii 21. Korah of the Tribe of Levi and Dathan and Abiram and On of the Tribe of Reuben being Principal and Leading Men of these two Tribes with Two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron charging them That they took too much upon them And to clear himself of this Accusation Moses implores God to vindicate his Innocency before all the People and by agreement Korah and Aaron appeared before the Lord with Censers in their Hands and Two hundred and fifty Men besides with their Censers likewise Korah at the time appointed gathered all the Congregation against Moses and Aaron unto the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation So that here was the most solemn Appearance of the whâ—lâ— People who had entertained great Jealousies against Moses and Aaron and were now met together to see whether they could give sufficient Proof of their Authority which they challenged over them The Time and Place was appointed and they came enclined and prepared to receive any farther ill impressions concerning Moses and Aaron if they could not have made out their Pretensions in the most remarkable and astonishing manner to the utter confusion of all their Enemies First the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation and then Moses at God's Command charges the Congregation to depart from the Tabernacles of Korah Dathan and Abiram and declares Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of mine own mind If these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me But if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they go down quick into the pit then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it caâ—e to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave asunder that was under them And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation And all Israel that were round about them sled at the â—ry of them for they said Lest the earth swallow us up also And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense Num. xvi Thus Moses vindâ—cated himself and proved his Divine Mission and Authority in such a manner as it was impossible but that the whole People of Israel must be convinced of it They were very suspicious and jealous of him tho' they had had so much experience of his Favour with God and of all his mighty Works done in the midst of them but when this dreadful Vengeance fell upon his Enemies before the whole Congregation who were met together on purpose to see whether God would declare himself for him when the Earth divided it sâ—lf â—o swallow some of these Men and