is translated Carthage by the Septuagint Isa xxiii 6. but is supposed to be Tartessus in Spain though St. Jerom (z) 〈◊〉 in â—â— c. 1. 〈◊〉 thought it to be in the Indies And Ophir was as many learned Men think in the Indies beyond the River Ganges in Pegu or at least Solomon's Merchants did traffick with the Indian that came from those Parts others have imagined Ophir to be Zephala or Cephala in Africa towards the Cape of Good-Hope some think it to be Ceylon or Sumatra some are of opinion that it was in America all are agreed that it must be in some very distant part of the World and where-ever it were the Traffick and Dealings which the Israelites had there was a great opportunity to the Heathen to become instructed in the True Religion The Traffick and Voyages by Sea and Expeditions by Land in Solomon's Reign rendred the People of Israel highly renowned and caused their Laws and Customs and Religion to be much observed and enquired into and even the Marriages of Solomon with Pharaoh's Daughter and other Strangers questionless through the Mercy of God might prove an happy occasion of divulging the True Religion and regaining many from Idolatry in Aegypt and other Parts of the World For all his Wives were made Proselytes (a) Maimâ—â—â—d de 〈◊〉 §. 1â— 1â— before he married them as Samson's likewise had been though afterwards they not only fell away to their former Idolatries but seduced Solomon himself into them The Gentiles were so forward to become Proselytes (b) Meimâ—â—d 〈◊〉 in the Reigns of David and Solomon that their Sincerity became suspected and the Jews tell us that the Sanhedrim would admit no Proselytes in the days of David lest they should be induced to it by Fear nor in the days of Solomon lest the Glory of his Kingdom should have been the motive to them to profess the Religion of the Israelites Nevertheless great numbers were received privately by Baptism the Sanhedrim neither rejecting nor admitting them It is the Observation of Theodoret and of St. Jerom upon Exek v. 5. that God placed Jerusalem the Seat of the Jewish Government in the midst of the Nations that it might be a Direction to the Heathen in matters of Religion from whence as from the Centre Light might be communicated to the farther Parts of the Earth But the Divisions and Calamities of the People of Israel the Destruction of their City and Dispersion of their whole Nation contributed as much to the propagation of Religion as their greatest Prosperity could do The Division of the Ten Tribes after the death of Solomon and the erection of the Kingdom of Israel distinct from that of Judah with the many Leagues and Wars which these two mighty Kingdoms had with the Kings of Aegypt and Syria and Babylon and with other Nations could not but exceedingly conduce to the divulging the True Religion in the World and give opportunity to the Prophets to declare their Prophecies and work their Miracles among the Heathen as we find they did in many Instances One of the greatest Cities of the World was converted by Jonah's Preaching Hezekiah being distressed by Sennacherib prayed to God for deliverence out of his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only and his Prayer was answer'd not only in the Deliverance but in the manner of it which was so wonderful that all must know and be astonished at it for that very night the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand 2 King xix 19. which was the fulfilling of the Prophecy of Isaiah delivered to Hezekiah in a Message to him from God in Answer to his Prayer and afterwards Embassadors came from the King of Babylon to enquire of the Wonder or Miracle that was wrought in his Recovery from his Sickness 2 Chron. xxxii 31. and at last the Captivity of the Jews for Seventy Years in Babylon made their Religion almost as well known there as in Jerusalem it self Jeremiah had foretold the Captivity of the Jews and the Conquest of all the adjacent Countries so long and so plainly before-hand that all the neighbour Nations must be sensible of it as Nebuchadnezzar himself also was for which reason he gave a strict charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the Captain of the Guard who declares the reason of their Captivity to be their sins against the Lord or Jehovah Jer. xl 3. and as the Jews say he became a Proselyte God professes that he had a regard to the Honour of his Name among the Heathen in his Mercies vouchsafed to the Children of Israel or else he had utterly consumed them Ezek. xx 9. and xxxvi 22 23 36. and the Judgments upon the several Nations prophesied against were to this end that they might know him to be the Lord Ezek. xxv 7 17. xxvi 6. xxviii 22 23 24. xxix 6. xxxv 9. xxxvi 23. xxxvii 28. I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen Mal. i. 14. The Jews in their Captivity are commanded to make an open Declaration against the Heathen Gods and because they understood not the Chaldee Tongue the Prophet Jeremiah supplies them with so much of the Language as might serve them for that purpose Thus shall ye say unto them Jer. x. 11. that is Ye shall speak to them in their own Language and in the words which I now set down to you to bid Defiance to their False Gods Thus did he fulfil his Commission and Character who was sanctified and ordained a Prophet unto the nations Jer. i. 5. And Jeremiah was put to death in Aegypt and Ezekiel in Babylon for appearing against the Idolatry of those Places During the Captivity Jehoiachin was reconciled to the King of Babylon and in great favour with him His throne was set above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon 2 King xxv 28. The Jews were in great Esteem and in Places of great Honour and Trust and their Religion was extolled and recommended by Publick Edicts to all under that vast Empire The Almighty Power of God was manifested with Miracles and by the Interpretation of Dreams and Prophecies and his Majesty and Honour was acknowledged and proclaimed in the most publick and solemn manner throughout all the Babylonian Empire at the Command of Princes who were Idolaters and were forced to it by the meer convictions of their own Consciences wrought in them by the irresistable Power of God Dan. ii iii iv v vi Daniel had acquainted Cyrus as Josephus says with the Prophecy of Isaiah in which he was so long before mention'd by Name However the Lord stirred up the Spirit of Cyrus by this or some other means to accomplish the Prophecy which he had made both by Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the Restoration of the Jews
the Law and that so many should die rather than depart from it Upon the Revolt of the Ten Tribes Jeroboam would certainly have discover'd it if he had but suspected any such thing as an Imposture or could but have hoped to make the People believe that the Laws of Moses were not of Divine Institution but of Humane Invention and Contrivance but he supposed the Truth of its Divine Original whilst he tempted the People to the transgression of it Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt 1 King xii 28. he supposes them brought out of the land of Aegypt and brought out by a Divine Power and endeavours to persuade them that the two Calves which he had set up in Dan and Bethel were the Gods who delivered them and by whose Authority the Law was given them and that therefore either of those Places was as proper to sacrifice in as Jerusalem which however absurd it were yet he did not think so absurd as to endeavour to make them believe that their Law it self was no better than an Imposture he had some hopes to succeed in this Project and the Event shews he understood the Temper and Principles of the People he had to deal with but the other was too gross for him to attempt The true Prophets of Israel were ever as zealous for the Law of Moses as the Prophets of Judah and the False Pophets of either Kingdom never durst deny its Authority these False prophets affronted and contradicted the Prophets of the Lord but they ever owned the Law and pretended to speak in the Name of that God who had deliver'd it to Moses And this Division of the Ten Tribes made it impossible afterwards for either the Kingdom of Israel or of Judah to make any Alterations in the Books of Moses because there was so great emulation and enmities betwixt the two Kingdoms that they could never have agreed to insert the same Corruptions and if either of them had attempted such a thing it would soon have been discovered by the other and therefore the agreement of the Samaritan with the Hebrew Pentateuch is a plain argument that they are but different Copies of the same Book and that it is undoubtedly genuine The Children of Israel notwithstanding their great proneness to Idolatry never cast off the Law of Moses as they would certainly have done being so often brought into bondage by their neighbour-Nations if they had not been well assured of the Authority of that Law which they transgress'd but they were reduced to the Obedience of the Law by the Oppressions of Iolatrous Nations they hoped for Deliverance upon their Repentance according to the Promises made in it and could by no Temptations or Torments be persuaded or forced to renounce it But the long Captivity in Babylon wrought a perfect cure in the Jews as to their inclination to idolatry which could never have been unless by their own experience in seeing the Prophecies fulfilled and by other Arguments they had been sully convinced of the Truth of their own Religion beyond all others If it had been of their own invention the People would have made their Law in every respect more favourable to themselves they would not have cloyed it with burthen some Ceremonies to distinguish themselves from the neighbour-Nations whose Idolatries they were so long prone to and which these Câ—remonies were designed to restrain them from They who were for a long time so fond of the Idolatries of the Heathen would never have invented Laws so uneasie to themselves and so contrary and odious to other Nations they would never have framed them themselves and then have pretended a Divine Revelation for those Laws which they were so little pleased with They would never have exposed themselves to the whole World thro' all Ages as a stubborn and rebellious People notwithstanding so many and so convincing Miracles so long wrought amongst them The Miracles which I have mention'd were most of them Judgments upon the Israelites for their Disobedience and they would never have set down these Miracles but would rather have lest them out though they were true as disgraceful to their Nation For thus Josephus has omitted some things to avoid the Scandal which he was a ware would have been given to the Heathen by a full and punctual Relation of the whole History of the Jews as it is described in the Books of Moses And they could be as little ignorant as Josephus what would prove disgraceful to them and what would make for their Honour and Renown and when the design of these supposed Forgeries and Falsifications must have been to advance the Glory of the People of Israel they would never have made such as these No if they had made any Alterations it would have been to strike out those numerous Passages which are so reproachful to their Nation and to have inserted others which might raise the Fame and Glory of Themselves and of their Ancestors and to have changed those Ceremonies that were so burthensome and so singular for those which would have been more easie to themselves and might have recommended them to the good opinion and esteem of the neighbour Nations But when so refractary a People became so zealous for such a Law so uneasie at first and so distastful to them it is an undeniable argument that they had the greatest Assurance of its Divine Original and that they would neither falsifie it themselves nor sufter others to falsifie it The People of Israel must be supposed to be unanimous to a Man in the making these Laws if they were of their own making for if any one had dissented he could not fail of Arguments to draw others after him In making Laws the Interests and Conveniencies of the Law-makers are always the Motives for the enacting them and besides the Publick Honour and Welfare of the Nation which too often are less considered the particular Interest of every single Man would have made him concerned to put a stop to such Laws No People can be supposed to consent to the making Laws by which they are forbidden to sow their Land every Seventh Year and are commanded to leave their Habitations and go up to the capital City from every part of their Country thrice in a Year no People could agree to enact such Laws of their own contrivance because none could subsist in the observation of them without a Miracle How can we conceive it possible for any People to subsist by such Laws if they had been of their own making or that any Nation should agree in the enacting such Laws as must provoke all their neighbour Nations to make War against them nay by which they actually declared an irreconcileable War against seven Nations at once For one Nation to distinguish themselves by their Laws and Constitutions from all other People to lay the very Foundations of their Government in the disgrace and infamy of all their neighbour
the Ark of God was taken than at the death of both his Sons that gave him his mortal Wound and he could not out-live the Hearing it 1 Sam. iv 18. Samuel's Sons were wicked as well as Eli's and he doth not conceal their faults but plainly says That they turned aside after lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment chap. viii 3. but he appeals to the whole People for his own Integrity who solemnly declare him free from any Oppression or Injustice He resigned the Government though he had the Power in his hands to appoint two Kings successively and by Gods Commandment raised both Saul and David out of their obscurity to a Throne Samuel says plainly That when the Elders of Israel came to him to ask a King the thing displeased him 1 Sam. viii 6. and he who could make Two Kings of Two different Tribes and of no Interest in their respective Tribes might as well have made himself King if he had acted upon Humane Considerations and by Humane Power and Means The Divine Power therefore was visible in the Government of the Children of Israel from the time of Moses and Joshua to Saul for they were constantly governed by Persons of God's appointment their Government was a Theocracy being administred by God's immediate Direction the Lord their God was their King 1 Sam. xii 12. CHAP. VIII Of the People of Israel under their Kings AFter a standing Regal Government was settled among the People of Israel they were either happy or miserable at home and either a Defeat or Victory attended their Armies abroad as they proved obedient or disobedient to the Law of Moses and to the Word of the Lord delivered by his Prophets Upon the Revolt of the Ten Tribes when Two Tribes only remained in the obedience of Rehoboam and in the true way of Worship this had been the time as already has been said if there had been any Imposture hitherto carried on to discover it for they had all the Temptation and all the Opportunity to do it that could possibly be given But after the Division of the Ten Tribes Jeroboam durst not so much as attempt to draw them off from an acknowledgment of the Divine Authority of that Law by which they were obliged to go up to Jerusalem to sacrifice though he persuaded them to change the Place of their Worship and to go no longer up thither And God had his Prophets in Israel who were as zealous for the Law as the Prophets of Judah for in both Kingdoms they had still Prophets to admonish them and to direct them in all Matters of great importance Tho' the Vrim and Thummim and the Shechinah were confined to the Aaronical Priesthood and the Ark of the Testament yet the other kinds of Prophecy were vouchsafed to Israel as well as Judah and the Captivity both of Judah and Israel by the Assyrians and the Deliverance of the Jews out of it befell them according to express Prophecies and both during the Captivity and at their Return they had Daniel Zachariah Malachi and other Prophets amongst them and for so many Ages from their first coming out of Aegypt the whole People were made continually Witnesses of the manifest Power and Presence of God amongst them This will be evident by making some Observations concerning the Prophets and their Writings and concerning their Prophecies and Miracles CHAP. IX Of the Prophets and their Writings THe kinds of Prophecy among the Jews were 1. The Shechinah 2. The Vrim and Thummim 3. Revelation by Visions and Dreams or by Inspiration for I shall not here distinguish these ways of Revelation to consider them apart And when these kinds of Prophecy ceased under the Second Temple the Bath Kol or Voice from Heaven was the only way of Revelation but of this there is little or nothing certain to be relyed upon 1. The Sechina was the sitting or dwelling of God between the Cherubims on the Mercy-Seat or Cover of the Ark Psal lxxxi 1. and xcix 1. from whence he gave out his Answers by an Articulate Voice Exod. xxv 22. and xxix 42. Num. vii 89. 2. The Vrim and Thummim upon the Breast-plate of the High-Priest Exod. xxviii 30. was another standing Oracle to be consulted upon all great occasions Num. xxvii 21.1 Sam. xxviii 6. xxiii 9. xxx 7. Ezra ii 63. and the Answers were returned by a visible signification of the Divine Will and this Oracle was not only venerable amongst the Jews but was famous amongst the Heathen as Josephus assures us for its infallible Answers Mr. Mede (x) Mede's Discourse 35. thinks Vrim and Thummim to have been in use among the Patriarchs before the Law was given because the making of it is not spoken of amongst the other things of the Ephod The common opinion is that this Oracle was delivered by the shining of such Leters of the Tribes Names engraven on the Priests Breast-place as express'd the Answer but the same learned Author thinks that the Vrim and the Thummim were distinct Oracles the Thummim shewing when their Sacrifices were accepted and the Vrim answering such Questions as were proposed upon any important occasion 3. Revelations by Visions and Dreams or by Inspiration were the Revelations which properly denominated those the whom they were made Prophets For the Prophets were Persons sent by God with an extraordinary Commission to declare his Will and they were not confined to the Tribe of Levi or to any one particular Tribe but sometimes taken out of one Tribe and sometimes out of another for tho' the Jews had Colleges and Schools to prepare and qualifie Men by a vertuous and religious Education for Divine Illuminations yet divers others who had not been educated in this manner were endued with the Spirit of Prophecy and some of them were but of very mean Employments and others again of Royal Blood They reproved both their Kings and their Priests with a fearless and undaunted Freedom and Authority and this Plain-dealing such as became Men who spake and acted by a Divine Impulse without Design and without any Disguise sometimes commanded great Reverence towards them from Princes not easie to be well advised or directed Rehoboam a willful and rash Prince at the head of an Army of an Hundred and fourscore thousand chosen Men upon the Word of the Lord deliver'd to him by Shemaiah return'd home without attempting any thing to regain the Tribes that had revolted from him to Jeroboam 1 King xii 21. Ahab though an exceeding wicked King after a signal Victory bore the reproof of a Prophet who denounced a Judgment upon Him and his People for letting Ben-hadad go and was much concerned at it 1 King xx 42 43. and the same Ahab rent his Cloaths and put on Sackcloth and fasted at the reproof of Elijah 1 King xxi 27. Amaziah by the admonition of a Prophet dismiss'd an Hundred thousand mighty men of valour whom he had hired of the Israelites for an Hundred Talents being content
Moses's time or after it p. 206. Of what Consequence the Proof of the Divine Authority of the Pentateuch is towards the proving the rest of the Scriptures to be of the same Authority p. 214. CHAP. VII of Joshua and the Judges and of the Miracles and Prophecies under their Government Joshua the Author of the Book under his Name p. 215. The Book of Judges written by Samuel p. 216. The Waters of Jordan divided p. 217. The Males circumcis'd at the first coming into Canaan and thereby disabl'd for War contrary to all Humane Policy p. 219. The Walls of Jericho thrown down and the Prophecy concerning them ib. The Integrity of Joshua p. 220. of Eli p. 221. of Samuel p. 222. CHAP. VIII Of the People of Israel under their Kings From the Revolt of the Ten Tribes an Argument for the Truth of the Law of Moses Prophets in the Kingdoms both of Israel and Judah p. 223 CHAP. IX Of the Prophets and their Writings The kinds of Prophecy among the Jews p. 224. The Freedom and Courage of the Prophets and the Reverence paid to them even by bad Princes p. 226. They laid down their Lives in Confirmation of their Prophecies p. 227. Many of their Prophecies fulfill'd during their own Lives p. 228. Their Prophecies committed to writing ibid. They as well as the Law were carefully preserv'd during the Captivity in Babylon p. 229. The Books of the former and of the latter Prophets the Books of Samuel by whom written p. 231. The Books of Chronicles and of Kings by whom written ibid. Of the Psalms Moses and the Prophets comprehend the whole Old Testament p. 233. The Hebrew Tongue sufficiently understood by the Jews when they return'd from Babylon ibid. The Scriptures could not be corrupted afterwards p. 235. CHAP. X. Of the Prohecies and Miracles of the Prophets Josiah Prophesy'd of by Name long before his Birth the Circumstances of that Prophecy p. 236. The fâ—â—filling of Elijah's Prophecies p. 238. The Confession of Julian the Apostate p. 240. Divers other Prophecies and Miracles ibid. Cyrus prophesy'd of by Name long before his Birth p. 241. Jeremiah's Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem p. 243. The Contradiction which was then thought to be betwixt the Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel a manifest Proof of the Truth of the Prophecies of them both p. 245. Other plain Prophecies fulfill'd p. 247. These Prophecies and Miracles manifestly true p. 249 CHAP. XI Of the Dependance of the several Parts of the Scriptures upon each other and that the Old Testament proves the New and the New again proves the Old as the Cause and the Essect p. 252. CHAP. XII Of the Person of our Blessed Saviour Our Blessed Saviour's undeniable Innocence and Holiness of Life p. 257. Judas himself gave Testimony to it p. 259. The Prophecies concerning the Birth of the Messias fulfilled in him p. 265. The Prophecies concerning his Life fulfilled p. 277. The Prophecies concerning his Death fulfilled p. 280. And those concerning his Resurrection and Ascension p. 286 CHAP. XIII Of the Prophecies and Miracles of our Blessed Saviour Our Saviour foretold the Treachery of Judas and the manner of his own Death p. 287. The Destruction of Jerusalem with the circumstances of it and the Prodigies attending it ibid. His Miracles verified the Prophecies which had been concerning the Messias p. 290 CHAP. XIV Of the Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour The Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour prophesied of and typified p. 293. The Apostles who were Witnesses of our Saviour's Resurrection could not be deceiv'd themselves in it p. 295. They would not deceive others p. 306. They alledged such Circumstances as made it impossible for them to deceive p. 307 CHAP. XV. Of the Apostles and Evangelists The Apostles were Men of sufficient Vnderstanding to know what they testified p. 312. They had sufficient Means and Opportunities to know it p. 313. They were Men of Integrity and truly declared what they knew for they had no worldy Interest to serve by their Testimony but suffered by it and had a certain prospect of suffering p. 315. There are peculiar marks of Sincerity in all their Writings p. 319 CHAP. XVI Of the prophecies and Miracles of the Apostles c. Of their Prophecies p. 328. Of their Miracles p. 330. The Miracles wrought by the Apostles themselves p. 331. A Power of working Miracles communicated by them to others p. 336. Their supernatural Courage and Resolution p. 342. This likewise was communicated to their Followers p. 351 CHAP. XVII Of the Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists The History of our Saviour's Life and Death contains so notorious and publick circumstances that it was an Appeal to that Age whether the things related were true or not p. 354. The other Books of the New Testament are explicatory and consequential to the Gospel or History of Christ and besides these likewise contain many memorable and publick Matters of Fact p. 361. The Gospel and other Books of the New Testament cited by Authors contemporary with the Apostles and owned for genuine both by the Jews and Heathens p. 363. Many of the Eye-witnesses to the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles lived to a great Age p. 364. The chief Points of the Christian Religion were testified in Apologies written from time to time to the Heathen Emperors ibid. CHAP. XVIII Of the Doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures The Christian Religion teacheth an universal Righteousness both towards God and Man p. 368. The Scriptures propound to us the only true Principle of Holiness p. 370. The Christian Religion proposeth the most effectual Motives to Obedience and Holiness of Life p. 372. It afferdeth the greatest Helps and Assistances to an Holy Life p. 374. It expresseth the greatest Compassion and Condescension to our Infirmities p. 374. The Propagation of the Gospel has ever had great effects towards the Reformation and Happiness of Mankind p. 376. The highest Mysteries of the Christian Religion are not meerly speculative but have a necessary relation to Practice for the advancement of Piety and Vertue amongst Men p. 382 PART III. THat there is no other Divine Revelation but that contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament p. 385. CHAP. I. The Novelty of the Heathen Religions The Pretences of the Aegyptians to Antiquity examined p. 387. Of the Chaldaeans ibid. Of the Chinese p. 389. CHAP. II. Of the Defect in the Promulgation of the Heathen Religions The Heathen Religions never extant in Books to be publickly read p. 392. Every Country had its peculiar Deities They prevailed only by the Temporal Power Though the Heathens more in Number yet the Religion of Christians more promulged p. 392 CHAP. III. Of the Defect of the Prophecies and Miracles of the Heathen Religions Of the Oracles of the Heathens p. 394. That they were uncertain and ambiguous p. 396. But they could not be all counterfeit p. 398. The cessation of Oracles gradual p. 399. Their Miracles never
recourse to the History of the Bible since it is acknowledged by all learned Men to be so much the ancientest Book which can give us an Account of Religion in the World For unless we will reject all History and believe nothing related of Ancient Times we must take our Accounts from such Books as treat of them And till by the Method proposed I have proved the Bible to be of Divine Authority I shall alledge it only as an Historical Relation of Things past in which respect it would be unreasonable to deny it that credit which is allowed to other Books of that nature And this is all that is now desired in order to the clearing of what I am at present upon which is to shew That nothing requisite to a true Revelation is wanting to the Scriptures and therefore that they have been sufficiently promulged and made known to the World In the Beginning of the World God was pleased to create but one Man and one Woman and to People the Earth from them which must exceedingly tend both to the preservation of Order and Obedience amongst Men and to the retaining of the Knowledge of God and of his Ways and Dealings with the first Parents of Mankind But if Multitudes had been created and the Earth had been peopled at once the natural effect of this had been Ambition and Strife Confusion and Ignorance For as the Inhabitants of the World multiplied so did all Sin and Wickedness encrease though all descended from the same Parents and these Parents lived to see many Generations of their Off-spring and to instruct and admonish them which if any thing could have done it must have kept up a sense of God and Religion amongst Men. Adam himself performed the Office of a Father a Priest and a King to his Children and the Office and Authority of these three descended upon the Heads of Families in the several Generations and Successions of Kingdoms amongst his Posterity For that the same Person was both King and Priest in the earlier Ages of the World we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations and it was so likewise amongst the Jews till God had appointed an Order and Succession of the Priesthood in one Tribe and therefore Esau is stiled a profane Person for selling his Birth-right Omnesque primogenitos Noe donec sacerdotio fungeretur Aaron fuisse Pontifices Hebraei tradunt Hieronym Quaestion seu Tradit Hebraic in Genes because the Priesthood went along with it Heb. xii 16. By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood we are assured that God was pleased at first to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind and even to the Wicked as to Cain whose Punishment it afterwards was to be hid from the face of the Lord and driven out from his presence Gen. iv 14 16. And when the Wickedness of Men had provoked God to drown the World he revealed this to Noah and respited the execution of this Judgment an Hundred Years and Noah in the mean time both by his Preaching and by preparing an Ark warned them of it and exhorted them to Repentance by preparing of an ark to the saving of his house he condemned the world Heb. xi 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world 2 Pet. ii 5. He made it his business for above an Hundred Years together to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine which he did by all the Ways and Means that a Wise and Great Man could contrive proper for that End Noah lived after the Flood Three hundred and fifty Years Gen. ix 28. and it was between One and Two hundred Years before the Division of Tongues and the Dispersion of the Sons of Noah And when all the Inhabitants of the Earth were of one Language and lived not far asunder Noah himself living amongst them the Judgment of God upon the wicked World in overwhelming them with the Flood his Mercies to Noah and his Family in their preservation when all the rest of the World perished and the Commandments which God gave to Noah at his coming out of the Ark with his Promises and Threatnings respectively to the performance or trangression of them must be well known and the sin in building the Tower of Babel for which the Universal Language was confounded and the Race of Mankind dispersed could proceed from nothing but the heigth of Presumption and Perverseness After the Confusion of Languages and the Dispersion of Mankind they could not on the sudden remove to very distant and remote Places by reason of the unpassable Woods and Desarts and Marshes which after so vast an Inundation must be every where to be met with to obstruct their passage in those hot and fruitful Countreys when they had lain uninhabited for so many Years This we may the better understand from the slow progress which was made in the Discoveries of the West-Indies For the Spaniards in those places where they found neither Guide nor Path did not enter the Country ten Miles (f) See Sir W. Rauleigh l. 1. c. 8. §. 3. in ten Years And in those Ages they could not but be ill provided either by their own Skill or by convenient Tools and Instruments with fit means to clear the Countrey which they were to pass and they were likewise unprovided of Vessels to transport any great numbers of Men with their Families and Herds of Cattle which were for many Ages their only Riches and absolutely necessary for their Sustenance for Navigation had never had so slow an Improvement in the World if it had so soon been in that Perfection as to enable them for such Transportation And as for these Reasons the Dispersion of Noah's Posterity over the Earth must be gradual and many Generations must pass before the remoter Parts of it could be inhabited so the several Plantations must be supposed to hold Correspondence with those to whom they were nearest allyed and from whom they went out they must be supposed to own some sort of Dependance upon them and pay them such Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their Mother-Cities It is natural to suppose that they first spread themselves into the neighbouring Countries and as Sir Walter Rauleigh has observed the first Plantations were generally by the Banks of Rivers whereby they might hold Intelligence one with another which they could not do by Land that being overspread with Woods and altogether unfit for travelling And the great affinity which is observable between the Eastern Languages proves that there was a continual Correspondence and Commerce maintained between the several Nations after the Dispersion All which considering the great Age that Men lived in those times must without a very gross Neglect and Contempt of God preserve a true Notion of Religion in the several Parts of the World For Noah himself lived Three hundred and Fifty Years after the Flood his Sons were not soon dispersed their Dispersion was gradual and
these Five Books of Moses must be Genuine and of Divine Authority being written by him who had so many ways given Evidence of his Divine Commission CHAP. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies Contain'd in the Books of Moses IT was foretold by God himself upon the Fall of our First Parents That the seed of the woman should bruise the serpem's head Gen. iii. 15. Maimonides is observ'd to take particular Notice That it was the Seed of the Woman and not of the Man and the Jews in their Targum's are observ'd to apply this Text to the Messias which was fulfill'd in our Saviour Christ who was born of a Woman that was a Virgin and had no Man to his Father And therefore this Prediction express'd thus precisely concerning the Seed of the Woman could be fulfill'd in no other Person and no other Person ever gain'd such Victories over the Enemy of Mankind who had so long tyranniz'd over the Sons of Men. God reveal'd the precise Time of the Flood to Noah who thereupon built an Ark and foretold the Destruction of the World to that wicked Generation and was a Preacher of Righteousness and Repentance to them Gen. vi 3. After the Flood Noah by a Prophetick Spirit foretold the Fate and Condition of the Posterity of his three Sons Gen. ix 25. That Canaan should be Servant to Shem which was accomplished when the Children of Israel the Posterity of Shem subdued the Canaanites and possessed their Land about Eight hundred Years after this Prophecy That Japhet should dwell in the Tents of Shem which was fulfilled in the Greeks and Romans descended from Japhet when they conquer'd Asia That Canaan should likewise be the Servant of Japhet as well as of Shem. Upon which Mr. Mede observes (n) Mede Book 1. Disc 28. that the Posterity Cham never subdued the Children either of Japhet or of Shem though Shem hath subdued Japhet and Japhet hath conquer'd Shem which made (o) Liv. l. 27. Hannibal descended from Canaan cry out with amazement of Soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis God promiseth Abraham a Son in his old Age by Sarah his Wife who was likewise of a great Age and declares that his Posterity by this Son should be exceeding numerous that they should inherit the Land of Canaan after they had been afflicted in a strange Land Four hundred Years Gen. XV. 13. and that then they should come out of that Land with great substance but that God would judge the Nation that had oppressed them or that he would procure their Deliverance by signal Judgments upon their Oppressors and that in the fourth generation they should be brought back again to the Land of Promise ver 16. which agrees exactly with the Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt computing the Years from the time that the Promise was made to Abraham Exod. xii 40. Gal. iii. 17. and reckoning the Four Generations to be betwixt Isaac the Son promised to Abraham and Moses in whom the Prediction was fulfilled This Promise made to Abraham and his Seed was renewed several times and repeated again to Him and to Isaac and Jacob Gen. xxvi 3. xxviii 14. and was all along depended upon by the Israelites God foretold of Abraham That all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him Gen. xviii 18. which was fulfilled in that God made Abraham ' Posterity his Messengers to communicate his Will to the rest of Mankind and more especially in that Blessing which all Nations received in the Birth of Christ This is a remarkable Prophecy concerning the greatest of Blessings and is often repeated The Prophecy of Isaac concerning Esau and Jacob Gen. xxvii 40. first That the Posterity of Esau should serve Jacob's Posterity was fulfilled in David's Victories over the Edomites 2 Sam. viii 14. 1 King xi 15. 1 Chron. xviii 13. and by Amaziah 2 King xiv 7. and then that part of it That the Edomites should break the yoke from off their neck was accomplish'd 2 King viii 20. 2 Chron. xxi 8. Joseph's own Dream and his Interpretation of the Dream of Pharaoh when none of the Magicians or Wise-men of Aegypt were able to interpret it had remarkable and publick Circumstances that could neither be mistaken nor forgotten in the accomplishment Jacob describes the Borders of their several Possessions in the Land of Canaan though it were so many years after divided among the Tribes by Lot Gen. xlix 13. He foretold the different state and condition of the rest of his Sons and particularly prophesied That the scepter should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came And upon the fulfilling of this and other Prophecies in the Pentateuch not only the Jews but the Samaritans who received no other Prophecies as they did these expected the Messias at the time in which our Saviour appeared in the world and believed on him because they saw the Prophecies fulfilled in Him Joh. iv 25 29 39 42. Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence Gen. l. 25. which they did accordingly Exod. xiii 19. Jacob had desired to be buried in the Land of Canaan insomuch that he caused Joseph to swear to him that he would bury him there and not in Aegypt and Joseph and his Brethren went into Canaan to bury their Father because that was the Land where Abraham and Isaac had been buried and the Land which their Posterity was afterwards to Possess but Joseph as a further token of Assurance to the Israelites that they should inherit that Land would not have his own Corps carried thither at his death but ordered his Bones to be kept and carried up by their Posterity at their leaving Aegypt and in the mean time they were a perpetual Monument and Representation to them of the Promise made to their Fore-fathers and a Ground and Motive for their Trust and Confidence in God for the Accomplishment of it The Remembrance of Balaam's Prophecy was preserved in the East and the Wisemen upon the appearance of the Star knowing it to be fulfilled came to Jerusalem to enquire where they might find the King of the Jews then newly born Num. xxiv 15. Mat. ii 2. He prophesied likewise of Agag by Name saying of Israel And his king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted Num. xxiv 7. thereby foretelling the Destruction of Agag by Saul who being the first King that ever Israel had overcame Agag King of the Amalekites 1 Sam. xv 8. The same Balaam foretold the Conquests of Alexander in these words And ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur Num. xxiv 24. By the Coasts of Chittim are to be understood the Coasts of Greece from whence Alexander's Army was transported into Asia for Alexander came out of the Land of Chettim or Chittim 1 Mac. i. 1. and Perseus was King of the Citims or Macedonians chap. viii 5. These
to lose so many Talents and to want their help in the War and to venture the ravage that such an Army who looked upon themselves as affronted made in his Country upon the Prophets assuring him that God would give him the Victory if he would dismiss them but not otherwise and telling him The Lord is able to give thee much more than this and the Event proved the Truth of the Prediction 2 Chron. xxv The Children of Israel likewise at the word of Oded the Prophet sent back Two hundred thousand Persons of the Kingdom of Judah with great spoil which they had taken 2 Chron. xxviii So ready and so general a Compliance in such cases could arise from nothing but a certain Belief and Experience of the Truth of what the Prophets delivered but at other times they were despised and persecuted And the Truth of their Prophecies was not only attested by Miracles and justified by the Event and confessed by the Deference and Respect both of the Kings and People but it was asserted by their Sufferings and sealed by the Blood of the Prophets and was at last acknowledged by the Posterity of those who had slain them they being most forward and zealous to adorn the Tombs of the Prophets whom their Fore-fathers had killed and to die in vindication of those Prophecies for which they had been slain There was a constant succession of Prophets from the time of Moses till the return of the Jews from their Captivity in Babylon some prophesied for many Years Jeremiah for above One and forty Years Ezekâ—el about Twenty Years the least time assigned to Hosea's Prophesying is Forty three Years Amos prophesied about Six and twenty Years Micah about Fifty Isaiah Jonah and Daniel a much longer time so that they lived to see divers of their own Prophecies fulfilled and to have suffered as False Prophets if they had not come to pass And though many Prophecies were not to be fulfilled till long after the death of the Prophets who deliver'd them yet they wrought Miracles or they foretold some things which came to pass soon after according to their Predictions to give evidence to their Authority and confirm their Divine Miâ—â—ion The Prophets committed their Prophecies to writing and left them to Posterity Isa xxx 8. Per. xxx 2. xxxvi 32. Hab. ii 1 2. And the writing of the Histories of the Jews belong'd to the Prophets 1 Chron. xxix 29. 2 Chron. xii 15. xiii 22. xx 34. xxvi 22. xxxii 32. And both in their Prophetical and Historical Books they deal with the greatest plainness and sincerity they record the Idolatries of the Nation and foretell the Judgments of God which were to befall it upon that account and they leave to Posterity a Relation of the Miscarriages and Crimes of their best Princes David Solomon and others who were Types of the Messias and from whose Race they expected Him and looked upon the Glories of their several Reigns to be presages of His are yet described not only without flattery but without any reserve or extenuation They write as Men who had no regard to any thing but Truth and the Glory of God in telling it The Prophets were sometimes commanded to seal and shut up their Prophecies that the Originals might be preserved till the fulfilling of them and then compared with the Event Isai viii 16. Jer. xxxii 14. Dan. viii 26. xii 4. For when the Prophecies were not to be fulfill'd till many Years and in some cases not till several Ages afterwards it was requisite that the Original Writings should be kept with all care but when the time was so near at hand that the Prophecies must be in every one's memory or that the Originals could not be suspected or supposed to be lost there was not the same care required Rev. xxii 10. It seems to have been customary (y) 〈◊〉 Anâ—â—quit l. 11. c. 1. 〈◊〉 l. 6. c. 5 for the Prophers to put their Writings into the Tabernacle or lay them up before the Lord 1 Sam. x. 25. And there is a Tradition (z) Epiphan de Ponderib Measâ—â— c. 4. That all the Canonical Books as well as the Law were put into the side of the Ark. It is certain that the Books of the Law and the Writings of the ancient Prophets were carefully preserved during the Captivity and are frequently referr'd to and cited by the latter Prophets The Pentateuch has been already spoken of and this is as evident of the Books of the Prophets The Prophecy of Micah is quoted Jer. xxvi 18. a little before the Captivity and under it the Prophecy of Jeremiah is cited Dan. ix 2. and all the Prophets v. 6. and so the Prophets in general are mention'd Neh. ix 26 30. And Zechariah not only cites the former Prophets Zech. i. 4. but supposes their Writings well known to the People Should you not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity chap. vii 7. The Prophet Amos is likewise cited Tob. ii 6. and Jonas and the Prophets in general chap. xiv 4 5 8. There can then be no reason to question but that Ezra Nehemiah Daniel Zechariah and the other Prophets in the time of the Captivity were very careful to keep the Books of the former Prophets for they frequently cite them and appeal to them and expected Deliverance out of their Captivity by the accomplishment of them And perhaps from the Originals themselves or however from Copies taken by Ezra the Scribe or by some of the latter Prophets or at least acknowledged for genuine and approved of by them the ancient Prophecies and other Inspired Writings were preserved and those of the latter Prophets were added to them and all together make up the Book of the Prophets mention'd Act. vii 42. which was read as well as the Law every Sabbath-day Act. xiii 27. The Books of Joshua Judges Samuel and Kings have the Title of the former Prophets in the Hebrew Bibles to distinguish them from the Books which they set out under the Title of the latter Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah c. The Books of Joshua and Judges have been already spoken of The Books of Samuel were written by Samuel Nathan and Gad 1 Chron. xxix 29. from whence we may conclude that the first Book of Samuel to the 25th Chapter was written by Samuel himself and the rest of that and the whole Second Book by Nathan and Gad but Samuel being a Person so much concerned in the former part of the History and having written so much of it out of respect to him the whole Two Books go under his Name though indeed the Jews anciently reckon'd both the Books of Samuel as one Book and Aquila as Theodorit has observed made no distinction between the First and Second Books of Samuel following the Hebrew Copies of his time and in our Hebrew Bibles though they are distinguished yet they are
negligentia presertim tot jam seculis intercedentibus veritatem fuisse corruptam quam ut Propheta erraverit Sicut in hoc ipso nostro opusculo futurum credimus ut describentium incuria quae non incuriose a nobis sunt digesta vitientur Sulpic. Sever Hist Sacr. lib. 1. c. 70. common in all Greek and Latin Authors and to prevent this inconveniency Mr Greaves acquaints us that the Emp erour Vlug Beg Nephew to Tamerlane the Great †Greaves Pyramidogr in his Astronomical Tables the most accurate of any in the East has exprest the numbers of the principal Epocha's first in Words at length and again in Figures and then a third time in particular Tables whose example this excellent Author alledgeth for his own exactness in describing the dimensions of the Pyramids after the same manner supposing it very improbable if any one of these Accounts should happen to be altered that two of them should not agree and that those two which agree shall not express the true number 5. In some places the Alterations which cause the differences in the Chronology of the Septuagint from that of the Hebrew Text are so uniform that they could not be made but by design of some Transcribers or of the Translators themselves For instance in the Lives of the five first Patriarchs and of Enoch the * Vid. Ludovic Capell Chron. Sacr. seventh they add an hundred years before their having children and deduct the same number of years from the time they lived after wards which is conjectured to have been done because they supposed that by years there are to be understood Lunar years or months and so they altered the Chronological account of their Lives For if those be the years meant by the Hebrew account they must have been Fathers of children at 5 6 7 or 8 years of Age. Another conjecture is that it might be supposed that as Mens lives were longer then so the Age at which they were capable of Marriage must not be the same that it is now but must bear proportion to the length of their Lives and therefore they altered the Chronology to make the Patriarchs fathers of children at such an Age as might answer to the Age at which men are capable of having children in these latter times The mention of Cainan the son of Arphaxad both in the Version of the Septuagint and in the Gospel of St Luke tho it be not in in the Hebrew is a matter of greater Difficulty But Bishop * Prolegom ix s 64. c. Walton notwithstanding saw sufficient Reason to conclude however with such caution and candor as became so great a Judgment that the Septuagint followed the Hebrew Copies of those times and the Answers to the Arguments brought to prove the contrary have since been considerably enforced by the Learned †Castigat ad Script Georg. Horn. c. 4. Isaac Vossius There is reason to believe that the Hebrew and the Samaritan Account were the same * Siquidem in Hebraeis Samaritanorum libris ita scriptum reperi Et vixit Mathusala c. Hieron Quaest in Gen. vid. Capell Chron. Sacr. in St Jerom's time and that the difference between them has happened since 6. The Son often reigning with the Father his Reign is sometimes put down as commencing from his Partnership with his Father in the Kingdom and in other places from his Reigning alone after his Fathers decease Thus the difficulties are explained concerning the beginning of the Reigns of Jehoram King of Israel Son of Ahab and Jehoram King of Judah Son of Jehosaphat 2 Kings i. 17. iii. 1. For it is said expressly that Jehosaphat being then King of Judah Jehoram the Son Jehosaphat King of Judah began to Reign 2 Kings viii 16. It is likewise manifest that Jehoash the Son of Jehoahaz King of Israel must reign with his Father 3 years 2 Kings xiii 1 10. This is also applyed in the explication of other Questions by St * Hieron ad vital Jerom. The Reign of Azariah is computed from his taking the Government upon himself at sixteen years of Age in the 27th year of Jeroboam King of Israel for then he is said to begin to reign 2 Kings xv i. whereas his Father Amaziah lived but to the 15th year of Jeroboam's Reign 2. King xiv 17. In the Kingdom of Israel there was a long Interregnum between Jeraboam the second and Zachariah 2 Kings xiv 23. xv 8. Some assign a threefold computation of the years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign the first from his laying Siege to Jerusalem the second from his taking it and the beginning of the captivity the third from his entire Monarchy after the conquest of Egypt Others assign two beginings of Nebuchadnezzar's Reign the one from his coming with his Army into Syria during the Life of his Father the other from his Father's death 7. The Terms of Time in Computation are sometimes taken inclusively and at other times exclusively Matt. xvii 1. we read After six days Jesus taketh Peter James and John his Brother and bringeth them up into an high Mountain apart and in like manner Mark ix 2. But this is said Luke ix 28. to come to pass about an eight days after which is very consistent with what the other Evangelists write For St Matthew and St Mark speak exclusively reckoning the six days between the time of our Saviours discourse which they there relate and his Transfiguration but St Luke includes the day in which he had that discourse with his Disciples and the day of his Transfiguration and reckons them with the six intermediate days The Rabbins * Lightf Harm of the N. T. S. ix also observe that the very first day of a year may stand in computation for that year and by this way of reckoning mistakes of years current for years compleat or years compleat for years current in the successions of so many Kings and the Transactions of affairs for so long a time may amount to a considerable number of years For this reason †Thucyd lib. v. c. 20. Thucydides says he computes the years of the Peloponnesian War not by the Magistrates yearly chosen during that time but by so many Summers and Winters These and several other ways by which Disputes in Chronology may be occasioned are a sufficient Argument to us that they do not imply that there were originally Chronological Mistakes in the Books themselves And if they might so many ways arise without any error in the Original Writings if the same difficulties occur upon so very nice and intricate a subject in all Books in the World and it could be by no means necessary that Books of Divine Authority should be either at first so penned as to be liable to no wrong Interpretations or be ever after preserved by Miracle from all corruption it is great rashness to deny the Divine Authority of the Scriptures upon the account of any difficulties in Chronology CHAP.