body must have written those Books and accommodated them to the Ceremonies and Laws which were already in use adding thereunto those Miracles the more to engage the People unto the observance of that Law But all this is so far void of all probability that there was never any till now that durst in earnest assert it 37. How could it be said for example that the Pentateuch was written and published long after the Death of Moses and that it caused the Establishment of the Law and Worship of the Jewish Religion which it contains Then it must be said also that the Ark and Tabernacle which are the Foundations of that Religion were not made till long after Moses and till that Book had been published but this is a thing absolutely impossible for all the Jews firmly believed that their Ark and Tabernacle were made by Moses as that Book relates and it is not conceivable why or on what account they could have taken up such an opinion if they had made them both themselves after they had seen and recived that Book which is now supposed not to have appeared in the World till a long time after Moses it would be doubtless one of the prettiest things in the World and the most unparallel'd either that this Book having been compiled all at once and beforehand with that prodigious number of Ceremonies and Laws as already in use they should afterwards have been Instituted and setled or that being compiled by degrees and according as all those things were Instituted and Established it should always have had as they say a retractive effect or influence and have wrought backwards so as to cause each of those Institutions to be Ascribed unto Moses 38. Likewise how could this People who at their first Imbracing of this Law must at least have known that it was not true that it had been in use amongst them ever since Moses his time and that there had been a continued Succession of Priests ever since Aaron how I say could this People have been able to perswade themselves Universally to believe that what was prescribed by that Book had always been practised amongst them and that the Priests whom it Ordained had received their Ministry from Aaron by an uninterrupted Succession And finally how upon the same principle could all the other Tribes and Families have suffered the Tribe of Levy and Race of Aaron to appropriate unto themselves all the priviledges belonging to the Priesthood and to the Office of the High Priest 39. There is no less absurdity in the other Supposition to wit that the Law having been given by Moses by word of Mouth was preserved for a time among the Jews by means of Tradition only and that afterwards those who committed it to writing added thereunto all those Miracles For besides that even this would be a kind of Miracle and a thing very hard to conceive that that People should have received a Law so strict and severe as that was from a Man who had done nothing extraordinary for proving that he had it from God how could it be that Moses who doubtless had the use of writing should have omitted a thing so necessary and not have committed to writing a Law that contained so many Observations so many Ceremonies and so many Rules that it was necessary to have it always before ones Eyes for fear of failing in some or other point of duty prescribed by it 40. And indeed we learn also from the Book it self that Moses did not sail to commit it to writing Moses as it is said Deut. 31. 9 10 11 12 13. wrote this Law and delivered it unto the Priests the Sons of Levy and unto all the Elders of Israel and commanded that it should be read before all Israel in their hearing at the end of every Seventh Year in the Feast of Tabernacles And it is also said in I do not know how many places of that Book That God commanded Moses to write that which he revealed to him upon the Mount if the Jews then had received that Law from him only by word of Mouth how could they have ever received a Book which should have contained a Lie so gross evident and which should have carried in it an express order from God which their Law-giver had not obeyed 41. That very Order to read the Law every Seventh Year at the Feast of Tabernacles as having been given by Moses doth further clearly show that it could not have been changed nor corrupted for it would have been impossible for such corruptions not to have been discovered or that being discovered they should have been suffered by a People devoted to that Law and whose devout Subjection to it was grounded upon their believing it to be of God and written by Moses besides that those Miracles being most visible to the Eye scattered throughout the Books repeated in divers places of them and linked with the principal transactions therein Recorded there had been a necessity of making a new Book to take them in and not meerly to alter for that purpose an old Book which had been already received 42. The Infidel then must yet once more return to that pretended vain-glorious humor of the Jewish Nation and maintain that the Jews could easily suffer this falsification and that they were even glad that all those Miracles were added to their Law and that their Chronicles were filled with them 43. This might have some probability if the Question were only about a matter of Civil or Political concernment as for example The Romans could have been content that one should have told them that they were the Off-spring of Aeneas and it may be the French would be well enough pleased that one should derive their Original from the Trojans these are things which please some Mens Fancies and may pass without contradiction it being no Bodies interest to oppose them and they do not interfer with other things that have been established and stedfastly believed time out of mind and that are looked upon as the only considerable But as touching the Jews a People so devoted to their Religion so faithful Observers of the least Traditions and to whom lying was so severely forbidden this supposition is altogether without any appearance of truth 44. For I cannot believe that the Infidels boldness to deny any thing that makes against them dare adventure so far as to dispute all the Evidence we have of the Jews Zeal for their Religion since even yet to this day they have so great a veneration for that Law that though they have been dispersed above these Sixteen Hundred Years and see no accomplishment of what was promised to them notwithstanding they observe it still as far as they can with the same strictness as they did at first and wait continually for the fulfilling of those promises how improbable is it then that they should have suffered that which they looked upon as God's own word to be mixed and blended with
Books written in former Ages at any considerable distance are the Books of those Authors whose they are said to be 32. And let none say that there are Books which after they had passed for a time under the Name of certain Authors have at last been found to be supposiâ—icious for without entring upon the Examination of that matter I say that it is absolutely Impossible that this could happen to a Book of the greatest importance to which the certainty of the Authors Name is Essential and whereof in all Ages Men have had so much cause and so great an Interest to examine the Origination and Truth for as Truth is of such a Nature that all things except falshood agree with it all things concur to Establish it and there is neither care nor labour that can find out any thing which is able to overthrow it so on the contrary it is impossible but falshood will at last be found out if we endeavour it because it cannot be but there will be an infinite number of things that are contrary unto it and how great soever be the foresight and cunning of Impostors it is not possible though the humane understanding were not so limited as it is to foresee all inconveniencies or to suit and accommodate every thing to the preventing of them when they are foreseen for in fine though there were for that purpose certain effects whereof men were Masters and had the disposal It is cettain that there is also an infinite number of things which they have no power at all to dispose of to be able to prevent all things that might discover their forgery they must be in a condition to dispose of things present and to come to change the order of all things and in a word to command the Nature the wits and wills of men at their pleasure 33. But besides this we have yet incomparably more and stronger proofs of the Books of Moses than there are of any other Books Other Books are in few peoples hands and there are not many who think themselves concerned in them those that are concerned in them do but seldom mind them or their Interest in them and even that Interest can be but comparatively of small importance But the Books we speak of are of a much different nature they have always been in the hands of a whole great Nation they have been the object of their continual meditation and since they were the foundation of their Religion and that a Religion which abhors lying and deceiving how could they have suffered themselves to be imposed upon in the matter of the Authors name and the Book it self to be corrupted by the addition of so many Fables or could it be done without their knowledg yea and who durst be so bold as ever to attempt it 34. Let men take a full view of that prodigious Series of Miracles wrought in Aegypt and in the Wilderness and then judge impartially whether these are things that could be inserted into a Book and yet that Book be made to pass for the Original This is the most that could be done to some inconsiderable Book which should fall into the hands but of a few persons and with some particular Miracle pretended to have been wrought before a few witnesses and moreover we see that such things do not spread far nor last long they are scarcely sooner forged but they begin to be questioned in so much that in time they come to be regarded by none but the simple people who believe by the Faith of the next intruder and do not so much as think of getting clear and certain notions of the least thing in the World But there is nothing upon Earth clear if this be not that such things could not happen to such a Book as we have described this to be I might as well say that it would be no hard matter to insert now into the New Testament an History as long and as considerable as that of Moses his Miracles in Aegypt and the Wilderness and how ridiculous soever this supposition appeareth to be I know not whither it was not yet more difficult to insert such fabulous stories into the Books of Moses since the Jews had at least as high an esteem for their Sacred Books of the Law as we have for ours of the Gospel and there were none among them whose most near and natural Interest it was not to know what they contained had it been only that they might learn how to save themselves from that death which they were to suffer without reprieve upon failure of the performance of some duties prescribed by their Law 35. But that which invincibly proves the falshood of this supposition is this That there are in a manner two Histories of Moses the one written in the Book that bears his name the other as it were Engraven on the Ceremonies and Laws observed by the Jews the practice whereof is a living Witness in behalf of the Book which Instituted them and even in behalf of the most wonderful things which it contains for the greatest part of those most astonishing Miracles were represented by the Ceremonies and by the other things which belonged to the Worship of the Jewish Religion the Pot of Manna kept in the Ark was a standing Monument of the Miraculous Food wherewith God fed that People in the Wilderness Aarons Rod that Budded was a Monument of the way how God confirmed unto him the Office of High-Priesthood and the Tables of the Covenant were a Memorial of that which is Recorded in Exodus concerning the establishment of the Law the Sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb the Ceremony of Unleavened-Bread the assigning of the Tribe of Levy unto the Ministry of the Temple did represent the destroying Angels passing over the Houses of the Israelites the Death of the First-born of the Aegyptians and the deliverance of those of the Israeletes The brazen Plates which were fastned to and covered the Altar were a memorial of the Death of those audacious Levites who willfully contended with Aarons Race for the Priesthood in fine the Ark the Tabernacle all the different Ministries of the Priests and Levites all the Ceremonies of the Sacrifices and Purifications all the Laws the Assignation of the Country beyond Jordan to the two Tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half Tribe of Manasse the Cities of Refuge for such as should happen to slay a Man unwittingly all these things I say which it would be as Ridiculous to deny as to pretend that there never was any Jew in the World have a necessary respect unto and connexion with the Books of Moses and Invincibly prove that they could not have been written since his time 36. For otherwise either all that we have been now discoursing of must also have been Established since Moses and after the Publishing of the Books ascribed unto him or else having been Established by Moses by word of Mouth and without any Book some other
the rest Seventhly And these by overdoing would perswade us that every word in the Bible is as much Divine as the Decalogue or Lords Prayer and hath nothing in it of humane imperfection in stile or order but is all such as God himself would have written if he had made no use of Man Eighthly And some are so afraid of Popery and the name of Tradition and the Testimony of the Church that they disable their own Faith by rejecting the necessary use of Tradition and the Churches Testimony not being able justly to distinguish Ninthly And too many distinguish not Historical Evidence from the Churches pretended Authoritative determination Tenthly And some cannot tell what Historical Evidence is also Physical and what maketh it so as differing from Moral uncertain Testimony And if Teachers of the Foundation have all these gross defects and more is it any wonder if unstudied Lay-men are here puzled in the dark § 7. I am not now to write a Treatise to tell Men the true method of Preaching Faith I have done that elsewhere especially in The Reasons of Christian Religion The unreasonableness of Infidelity The Life of Faith and a small Book called The certainty of Christianity without Popery But I shall here give the unfurnished Reader a few necessary Distinctions and Conclusions § 8. Conclusion I. Divine Faith is a sort of knowledg with Trust to the credit of God revealing and therefore must have evidence 1. That it is the word of God that is proposed 2. And that God doth not lie or deceive us Conclus II. It is the matter signified which is the prime necessary object of our Faith and the words only as the vehicle or signs of the matter Conclus III. No one particular word in the Bible or the World is of absolute necessity to be known but another may serve that hath the same signification If any word were absolutely necessary to be known if it be English none could be saved but English-men if Greek or Hebrew none could be saved but Grecians or Hebricians c. Conclus IV. The Gospel is not those same words that Christ spake but a Translation of them It s supposed that he spake in the Language then used by the Jews which was a mixture of Chaldee and Syriack but the Gospel is written in Greek so that our Original thereof is but a Divine Translation of Christs words Conclus V. Christ promised and gave his Spirit to his Apostles and Evangelists to bring all things that he had taught them to their remembrance and to lead them into all truth and teach them what to say so far as to perform their Commission To Disciple the Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things that he had Commanded them And thus far they were infallible Conclus VI. The words therefore of the several writers are so far Divine as to be the true and certain signifiers or expressions of so much of Christs Life and Doctrine as he saw needful for the use of Man to the end of the World to be made known Conclus VII But all the Gospel writers recite not the same matter just in the same words nor in the same Order nor in the same Stile And as all humane Language savoureth of humane imperfection and the faculties of Men are not all of one degree of strength and custome varyeth wise Mens Stile so the Apostles were but Men and the very Words Stile and Order of their writing had the effects of sinless humane imperfection and were not such as that God himself could not have done it better But it s all of God as suited to its proper use Conclus VIII The Gospel was God's word Preached by them before they wrote it Eight Years before St. Matthew wrote and about Sixty Seven or Sixty Eight Years before St. John wrote the Gospel And it is not to be imagined that in their Preaching they spake just all the same words which they wrote and no more Conclus IX All the Miracles that were then wrought were first to confirm the Gospel as Preached before the Books were written Conclus X. But God knowing that the Apostles must die and the Gospel must be infallibly delivered to the end of the World inspired them to write not only the Essentials but all that was necessary for the World to know in all Generations and leave it as the Sacred Record of his redeeming Work his Doctrine and his universal Law written infallibly by the Spirit of Jesus which he sent as his Agent for that work so that the same Miracles which confirmed their words are now equally a Seal of the Divine Authority of their writings Conclus XI All the words in the Gospel are not Essential to Christianity nor of equal necessity to be explicitely known the Doctrine of Baptism and the Lords Supper with the Decalogue and Lords Prayer contain all the Essentials of Christianity truly understood which Doctrine of Baptism the Church ever expounded in a few plain Articles called the Creed And they always took those Sacraments and that Creed with the Lords Prayer and the Decalogue expounded by Christ as the summaries of our Belief Desires and Practice to be the Gospel and Christian Religion The Ministry and Church Order instituted by the Spirit of Christ being an Integral part and these they diferenced from the Subsidiary and Ornamental parts of Scripture in point of Necessity and Evidence And they that believed these were saved whether it was before the rest was written or if they never heard or understood the rest Conclus XII And before Christ the Law of Moses must be greatly distinguished from the other Historical Books and Prophesies As the Law of this Land by which all men hold their Lands and Lives and must be governed greatly differ from daily verbal Mandates or written Commissions which the King may give to particular Persons so the Covenant of Grace and the Law of Moses much differ from the particular Messages of Prophets and the words of Priests about that Law or the deeds of men Universal and Common Laws are of Universal and Common Obligation and therefore all must be certain of their Authority But the Obedience and Salvation of the Land or World was not laid on e. g. the Prophets Message to Saul to Jeroboam to Hezekiah c. Therefore in these Cases the People are left sometimes to see whether Predictions come to pass and its harder for them to know who is a true Prophet the necessity being lesser Conclus XIII It is therefore greatly to be noted that 1. The Law of Nature needed no Miracles to Confirm it being legible in the Nature of Man and of all about him 2. The Law of Moses which that Nation was to be ruled by had so full evidence of Divine Authority that it was scarce possible for the Jews of that Age to doubt of it The ten Plagues of Egypt the opening of the
our graces and duty comes from the weakness of our faith And it is not the best Logick which is ever accompanied with the strongest Trust Though Reason be an excellent and necessary ingredient some trust in Christ with victorious confidence who cannot dispute best for their Faith Conclus XXIII Though Peace and holy Joy be a most desirable effect of Faith and by which the strength of it may be much tryed yet it is not this but Practical consent to the Covenant of Grace or Christs terms of Salvation in which its saving sincerity consisteth Conclus XXIV By all this it appeareth how ambiguously the Question de Resolutione fidei is too oft disputed And how fallaciously a mans faith is said to be unsound if his reasons be some unsound and none cogent to prove an undoubted absolute certainty that the Scripture is Gods word and that Faith is not so resolved into the antecedent reasonings as necessarily to be unsound if some of them are so That God cannot lie is known by Nature That the Gospel is his word is known by its proper notifying evidence forenamed where many things concur That therefore the Gospel is true is known as a rational Conclusion But these are by believers apprehanded oft with imperfection faultyness and disorder But Practical Trust in God in Christ in the Gospel Promise is Constituted by its formal object which is Gods Fidelity or Veracity grounded in his Perfection and in the apprehended Truth of his promises And this effectual faith is saving I have Prefaced this much that the Reader may the easilyer understand and profit by the two following Treatises one written and the other translated by Mr. William Lorimer my greatly valued Friend well known by me to be a man of Learning and Judgment and exemplary faithfulness to God and Conscience and of a prudent and peaceable Conversation with men If the Reader bring not a disposition of enmity against the Truth or gross neglect of it but a mind that hath necessary manly preparation and a receptive willingness and resolution for an impartial diligent search I doubt not but in these two Discourses he will find enough though not to remove every difficulty in the Bible yet to save his Faith from all such assaults as would overthrow it and make it uneffectual to his Salvation And verily a man that hath well digested the matter of such Controversies will find that Pomponatius Vaninus Hobbes Spinosa c were Ignorant men that knew not their own Ignorance nor what they wrote against and that Simon saith little but what Commentators have often Answered and though he and others truly prove the doubtfulness of some Readings and somâ— Translations which may be of man he saith nothing to shake a well-grounded belief of Moses Law the Gospel of Christ and any thing necessary to Holiness or Salvation Richard Baxter April 7. 1682. ERRATA Preface pag. 6. lin 2. read have In the Epistle to the Reader page 4. lin 11. read will page 7. lin 11. read adiaphorous page 16. lin 7. read where l. 18. r. be l. 20. r. servant l. 22. r. and First part p. 17. l. 1. 1. uncertain in so much ibid. l. 16. r. parity p. 28. l. 8. r. suppositions p. 35. l. 7. r. retro-active p. 43. l. 7. r. command ibid. l. 13. r. punishment p. 47. l. 2. for Table r. Fable p. 56. l. 14. r. proofs of Religion Second part p. 67. l. 5 6. r. Authoribus p. 80. l. 13. r. preserved p. 84. l. 24. r. floating p. 87. l. 7. r. afford p. 91. l. 7. r. sixth p. 96. l. 23. r. your p. 97. l. 10. r. named p. 104. l. 19. r. for p. 109. l. 16. r. unto p. 110. l. 4. r. may p. 132. l. 16. r. hundred p. 135. l. 8. r. sense p. 144. l. 7. 19. r. Be eber haijarden p. 150. l. 2. r. land p. 151. l. 15. r. mount p. 164. l. 7. r. say The Epistle to the READER Christian Reader IF thou weighest things in the Ballance of right Reason thou can'st not but see That Moses being the first Man by whose Ministry Almighty God thought fit to give a Body of Laws unto a whole Nation and to as many of the World besides as should join in communion with that Nation it was necessary God should enable him to make it evidently appear unto all rational Men that he was sent and authorized by God to give Laws unto that Nation and if thou read'st the Books of Moses and what thou wilt find in the following Discourse concerning him and them thou can'st not but likewise see that the infinitely Wise and Powerful God did in effect enable him evidently and certainly to prove his Mission and Commission to be from Heaven For through God's extraordinary assistance he gave the highest demonstrations of his being Authorized from above that can in reason be desired of any that speaks or writes unto Men in the name of God his works and writings hear the manifest signatures of God's Wisdom Power and Goodness his works were such as could never have been done without the assistance of an invisible Power far above any thing that falls under the perceptions of Sense and it is most evident to Reason That that invisible Power could be no other than the infinitely powerful wise and good God who made preserves and governs the World and all things therein For it could not possibly be any Evil Spirit First Because Moses in his contest with the Magicians of Aegypt did at the very first Encounter far out-do them and the Evil Spirit by whose assistance they wrought their wonders as evidently appears by Aaron's Rods swallowing up their Rods Exod. 7. 12. and by their not being able to remove the Frogs again from off the Land of Aegypt and therefore Pharaoh was forced to call for Moses and Aaron and desire them to intreat the Lord to take away the Frogs from him and his people Exod. 8. â—â—8 and at last he forced them to confess â—â—â—t they were overcome for when they â—â—â—ld not turn the Dust of Aegypt into Lice 〈◊〉 Moses and Aaron had done they then â—â—â—ved out and said unto Pharaoh This is the finger of God Exod. 8. 18 19. they â—onfessed that it was the power of God which â—nabled Moses and Aaron to turn the Dust into Lice and which hindered them from doing the like Secondly It could not possibly be any Evil Spirit because Moses's Miracles were wrought for the highest best and excellentest ends to wit for the glory of God and for the good of his People they were wrought to convince both Pharaoh and Israel That the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who made and governs the World is the only true God who is above all to be Feared and Reverenced Adored and Worshipped Loved and Obeyed Pleased and Glorified and that Moses was his Authorized Messenger to be believed and obeyed for his sake in all that he said and commanded in his
name They were wrought also both to cause Pharaoh to let go the Israelites and likewise to make the Israelites willing to leave Aegypt and to go with Moses and take possession of the Land of Canaan which the Lord God had long before promised unto their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Thirdly It could not possibly be any Evil Spirit because Moses's Miracles were wrought to the prejudice of the Devil's interest in the World and for the destroying of the Devil's Kingdom by rooting out Idolatry from among God's People and driving Idolaters out of Canaan and for the setting up of the Kingdom of God visibly upon Earth Fourthly It could not possibly be any Evil Spirit because the Evil Spirit is the great Enemy of Mankind and of all humane Society rightly constituted whereas Moses's Miracles were wrought for the confirmation of a Doctrine which is manifestly for the good of Mankind of individual Men and of all Societies of Men Deut. 4. 6 8. This wile clearly appear unto any rational Man that shall duly consider these following Laws of Moses Concerning Mens Loving their Neighbours as themselves and not Coveting any thing belonging to them Concerning the City's of Refuge appointed for such Persons as should happen to kill a Man unwittingly Concerning the Redemption of Lands Concerning Goodness Lenity and Equity to Servants Mercifulness to the Poor Kindness to Straugers Justice and Equity to the Widows and Fatherless Reverence and Obedience to Superiors And concerning the Duties of Superiors towards their Inferiors and Subjects But not to insist upon these and many other excellent Laws of Moses which are manifestly for the good of Mankind and both evidence themselves to have been given unto Moses and Israel by an infinitely good God and also Moses's Miracles wrought in confirmation of them to have been from the same cause there is one thing which I cannot but touch upon to wit That whereas other Law-givers have set up some a Monarchy some an Aristocracy and others a Democracy Moses was the first that Established a visible Theocracy over the Israelites under which form of Government all things were to be managed by the counsel and direction of the infinitely wise God the People of Israel as a Kindom of Priests and a Holy Nation were to refer all their matters unto God and to ask advice and direction of him by VRIM and THVMMIM in reference to Peace and War and all things of any considerable importance or difficulty Exod. 19. 5 6. 20. 24 the latter part Exod. 28. 30. Deut. 10. 14 15 16 17. 12. 11 12 Levit. 26. 11 12. c. These things put together if no more could be said seem abundantly sufficient to prove that Moses was Authorized by God to give Laws unto the Israelites for no Man could have wrought such Miracles so circumstantiated except God had been with him and such is the weakness of Man's Vnderstanding that he could never of his own head have invented such a Law and such a way of Government And if Moses's Miracles and Law could not possibly be of any Evil Spirit nor of Man they must needs have been of a Good Spirit and that Good Spirit could be no other but God for though God used the Ministry of Good and Holy Angels in giving forth the Law yet they could not possibly be the Authors of it and if any of them had ever pretended unto that Honour he would by so doing have degenerated into a proud arrogant and lying Devil God himself then was the alone Author of Moses his Law and the Holy Angels with Moses were but Instruments and Ministers by whom God gave it unto Israel and indeed there is nothing in it but what well becomes God to be the Author of there is nothing in it that doth any way contradict the perfections of his Nature or destroy the natural notions of Truth and Falshood Good and Evil which he hath implanted in the mind of Man nay many of Moses's Laws are evidently agreeable unto and Representative of the transcendent excellencies of the Divine and perfective of the humane Nature and even those of them which are of a most adiapheros indifferent nature in themselves and derive all their morality from the will and pleasure of God did certainly by Gods appointment and blessing very much promote the happiness of his People Deut. 10. 12 13. 11. 12 to 16. Levit. 26. 3 to 13. Deut. 32. 16 17. As to what some Atheists Object from Exod. 12. 35 36. That Moses taught the Israelites to cheat the Aegyptians of their Jewels under pretence of borrowing them and that God himself is brought in as countenancing the Cheat which seems to be plainly contrary both to the perfections of God and right Reason of Man I Answer It is false that is Objected for there was really no borrowing and lending in the case but asking and receiving and carrying away what God had inclined the hearts of the Aegyptians freely to give and so there could be no cheat under pretence of borrowing This Answer is grounded upon the true import of the Hebrew Word Shaal which signifies to ask and accordingly the place Objected is rendred by Munster and the Tigurin in English thus The Children of Israel asked of the Aegyptians Jewels and the Lord gave the People favor in the sight of the Aegyptians so that they gave them such thiugs as they asked and they carryed them away from the Aegyptians the Aegyptians apprehended themselves to be all dead Men if the Israelites stayed in Aegypt any longer and therefore were willing to give them any thing they bad on condition that they would be presently gone Vers 33. And thus things were ordered by the wise Providence of God that the Children of Israel might be rewarded for the great Service they had done unto the Aegyptians Moreover It is very observable that some of Moses's Laws were such that it is impossible to conceive that any Men in their Wits would either have given such Laws unto others or have themselves received and submitted to them unless they had been sure that God was the Author of them and that he would take care to prevent the great inconveniences that might arise from the observance of them I Instance in Two First The Law for the Seventh Year Sabbath Exod. 23. 10 11 Levit. 25. 4 5. The Command not to Plow nor Sow every Seventh Year was of such consequence and might have produced so ill effects that Moses would never have attempted to bring the Israelites under such a Law nor would they have been such fools as to have received it and submitted to it unless he and they had been both sure that God had Authorized him to give them that Law and that God had undertaken to secure them from the great inconvenience that might arise from their Observance of it for if they had not been sure that God had by promise engaged
his Providence to Bless them with extraordinary great abundance of Cornes on the Sixth Year they could not but foresee that there would have been a Scarcity and Famine on the Seventh Year especially when the Year of Jubile which was every Fiftieth Year succeeded the Seventh Year Sabbath for in that case the Law forbade them either to Plow or Sow for Two whole Years together Levit. 25. 8 to 12. upon which they could not but foresee that a Famine would certainly follow unless God had undertaken by an extraordinary Providence to prevent it Therefore Moses must have been sure of this otherwise he would never have attempted the giving them such a Law and he must have made the People sure of it also otherwise he could not but foresee that they would never have been so simple as to receive and submit unto such a Law as would expose them to the danger of a Famine every Seventh Year and in the revolution of Fifty Years would unavoidably bring a Famine upon them We read in the 25th of Leviticus where this Law is Recorded That God foreseeing the People would certainly move this Objection against it he prevented them and both moved and answered the Objection himself Vers 20 21. If ye shall say What shall we eat the Seventh Year behold we shall not Sow nor gather in our Increase Then I will command my Blessing upon you in the Sixth Year and it shall bring forth Fruit for Three Years c. Here they had God's word of Promise Sealed with the Broad-Seal of Heaven Moses's Miracnlous Works for the ground of their assurance that God's extraordinary Providence would secure them from Famine And it was upon this so well grounded assurance that they received and submitted to that Law And God never failed them in this but always fnlfilled with his hand what he had spoken with his mouth so that they were never forced to travel into other Countries to buy Corn for the supply of their necessities in those Sabbatical Years The other Law I instance in is that which obliged all the Males of Israel Thrice a Year to appear before the Lord at the place where the Ark of God should be Exod. 23. 17. 34. 23. Deut. 16. 16. this Law was given and written by Moses for the Generations to come and he could not but foresee that the People would be ready to Object against it That if after they were possessed of the Land of Canaan all their Males should Thrice every Year leave their several Houses and Countries and meet at one place as at Jerusalem or at any other place where the Ark of God should happen to be their Land would be in danger of being frequently invaded spoiled and wasted by the malitious and covetous Heathens that lived round about them and that therefore it was most unreasonable to desire them to be Governed by such a Law This Objection I say Moses could not but foresee and therefore if he had not been certain that it was God's will and pleasure that he should give them such a Law he would never have done it of his own head and likewise if they had not been certain that Moses was really Authorized and Commissioned by God to give them such a Law they would never have received it and submitted unto the observance of it to the visible hazarding the loss of all that they had in the World This God considered to be rational and therefore for their security he gave them his promise by Moses and by Moses's Miracles confirmed his Promise That no Man should DESIRE their Land when they went up to appear before the Lord their God Thrice in the Year Exod. 34. 24 as if God had said Be not afraid least the Heathen break in upon you and Burn your Cities and lay waste your Countrie whilst all your Males are from home attending npon me at the place of my Publick Worship for when you are about my Work I will not only be with you abroad but with your Wives and Children likewise at home and I will take such care of you and yours and so secure all your Concerns that your envious and Covetous Neighbours and Enemies shall not so much as desire your Land much less shall they be able to lay it waste and desolate with Fire and Sword as you may be apt to fear It was by this promise and the Miracles wrought by Moses that both Moses and the People were assured that this Law was of God and that God's special Providence would protect his People and secure all their concerns when they were doing the will of God according to this Law and without this assurance if Moses had gone about to impose upon them in a matter of such dangerous consequence they would certainly have refused to obey him By these Two Instances it manifestly appears that Moses both knew in himself and evidently proved unto Israel that he was Commissioned by God to give Laws unto them for if it had been otherwise he would neither have attempted to give them such Laws nor would they have ever received them and submitted to them To draw to an end Let it be considered that Moses Miracles tended all to the Glory of God the Author of Nature and to the advanccment of his Kingdom in the World as he is the Author of Grace and his Writings give us most high glorious and excellent and also most lovely and desirable Idea's and Notions of God and his Perfections Witness God's name I AM THAT I AM and I AM Exod. 3. 14. which signifies that he is the first and most perfect Beeing that gives Beeing to all other things and consequently implies his eternal and necessary Existence from everlasting and to everlasting And his name THE LORD THE LORD GOD MERCIFUL and GRACIOUS c. Exod. 34. 6 7. witness also that description of him Exod. 15. 11. WHO is like unto thee O LORD GLORIOUS IN HOLINESS FEARFUL IN PRAISES DOING WONDERS and that other description of him Deut. 32. 3 4. I will publish the name of the Lord ascribe ye greatness unto our God c. And what is written of him in Deut. 4. 35 to 40. 10. 14 to 19. These most sublime and excellent Notions of God and his Perfections with which Moses's Writings do furnish us are proper and fit to raise in us a most high esteem and reverence of God to make us admire and adore him to take us off from the inordinate love of our selves and of all other Creatures as mean and vile as shadows and nothing and to draw out our hearts and affections wholly unto him to make us love him and from a principle of Love careful to please him and fearful to offend him Deut. 6. 4 5 13 14 15. 10. 12 to 21. in fine to make us hope in him expect all needful good things from him and above all things desire to be united unto him as the most glorious excellent and blessed Beeing which was
many things which would have made them deservedly enough to be admired and esteemed an Historical Narrative which covers them with perpetual Ignominy 52. So we see that Josephus who was far more tender of the interess of his Nation hath chosen rather to expose himself unto the reproach of having violated the Laws of History by suppressing this publick Crime committed by the Jews in the Wilderness than to expose them to the contempt and scorn of the World by reciting it 53. Moreover how could be added to this History the Rebellion of Corah which is a thing so injurious to all his Posterity was their not cause to fear least some one or other of his Family should have discovered the Falshood of it to wash off the stain of it from themselves why must Corahs Family bear that Mark of Infamy rather than any other did they cast Lots for it was it a thing so necessary that they could not dispense with it and is it not manifest that if it had been a Fiction the whole Race in one Body and with one consent would have opposed it and desired the Authors of that Table to look out for some other Embellishment to their History 54. But if the last words of Moses be considered where he Denounces against them so many Curses Threatens them with so many Calamities and after he had upbraided them with all their Unfaithfulness further Declares That they would do the same things anew and for the Punishment thereof should fall into remediless Misery and Distress that they should be run down by their Enemies and reduced to the utmost Extremity even to the eating of their own Children that their Cities should be destroyed their Wives and Daughters should be Ravished their Sacrifices should be Abolished and finally that they should be led Captives and dispersed through all the Earth to be despised and abhorred by other Nations if all this I say be considered I know not what a Man he must be who imagins that this People could have Conspired with any Man be who he will that should have so grievously displeased them 55. But it is above all to be observed that these are not the Discourses only of a Man that would frighten his followers and bare Threatnings of Miseries which were to befall the Jews only in case they should grosly transgress their Law for if they seem conditional in some places they are in others positive and absolute Prophesies foretelling that they should really transgress their Law as they have grosly done and that all those Miseries should light upon them as in effect it is come to pass how improbable then is it that the Jews should have been so simple or rather so senseless as to suffer Prophesies of that Nature to be added to their History and that for the advancement of the Glory of their Nation they should have consented to a thing which could never but turn to their shame and disgrace for could not they clearly see that if those Prophesies were found to be false their Religion would be accounted an Imposture and they would inevitably lose the Reputation which they might otherwise have acquired by all the rest of the wonderful Events mentioned in their History or that if they chanced to fall really into those Miseries foretold they would be accounted the worst of Men and instead of comfort could expect nothing but blame from all the World for having fallen into those Calamities which they were warned of and for having fallen into them for no other cause but for breaking the Law and Covenant of their God whereby they drew down his Wrath and Indignation upon themselves and their Posterity 56. Thus then it appears that when Men have given the greatest liberty to their Fancy it can produce nothing but Chymerical and groundless Suppositions Moses did not deceive the Jews he could have no such design and though he had had such a design yet it was impossible for him to have compassed it by the ways and measures he took neither did the Jews combine with him to deceive their Posterity and all the other Nations of the World nor was it any new Upstart who to make them believe what he pleased made use of such things as he found established and practised amongst them either by Tradition or by Writing and it was as impossible that the Jews should have Conspired in this Imposture with any other as it was that they should have done it with Moses 57. Here you have some small part of what may be said on this great Subject for it is not to be thought that the proofs which the Pentateuch affords of its truth can be fully drawn forth the more we meditate on it the more Evidence we still find of its Divine Original for it is an inexhaustible Spring of Light and without being at the pains to unfold and set them forth if we read the Book it self we cannot but feel or sensibly perceive that the Language it speaketh is not the Language of Men nor the product of their Wit That nothing is further removed from the Methods not only of Impostors and Deceivers but also of the Prudent and Wise Men of the World That it is of a most peculiar character and altogether different from that of Men acting by their own Spirit and that therein are not to be seen either the common passions or the ordinary interests of Men or the drifts of prudence and forecast which may easily be seen in other Books that are of humane composure and in fine it may be sensibly perceived that it is impossible for any to put off the Man so far as were necessary for the production of such a work wherein so little of Man appears 58. Nevertheless this Book is in being we have it in our hands and it was not made by chance It hath been and yet is the greatest and most considerable object that ever was in the World during the space of above Two Thousand Years the most singular and famous People in the World have been so devoted to it and enamoured of it that they have never suffered it to be out of their sight from this People it is come into the hands of Christians that is to say it is spread abroad through the whole Universe and after Sixteen Hundred Years these Two sort of People irreconcileable Enemies to one another do yet look upon it with the same Veneration dispute the one against the other for the true meaning of it and both of them find in it the original Title of that Right which they pretend to have unto the Heavenly Inheritance in which both of them believe that the rest of Mankind have no part or portion 59. Who then dare be bold to say that it is free for him to stand Neuter and not to concern himself in a matter of this Importance nay who that rightly considers it can hinder himself from being concerned who is there that can let this Book pass as it
ea quae non comprehenduntur ita neque scripturae divinitati per eam totam diffusae quidquam detrahitur ex eo quòd ad singulas dictiones imbecillitas nostra non possit adesse arcano splendori doctrinae qui in tenui contemptâ locutione delitescit Orig. Philoc. cap. 1. pag. 5. Edit Cantabrig 1658. London Printed for Tho. Parkhurst 1682. The Second Part. WHat is contained in these following Sheets was first intended for a Preface unto the foregoing Discourse Translated out of French into English but when I had finished it I found it would be too long a Preface unto such a short Discourse and therefore upon Second thoughts I concluded it would be better to subjoin◠it thereunto by way of Appendix or Second Part. Who was the Author of the Discourse I do not certainly know but it is probable that Monsieur du Bois de la Cour who wrote the Discourse on Paschal his Thoughts or Meditations on Religion c. was likewise the Author of this Discourse for they are frequently bound together and were both Published the one in 1671 and the other in 1672 with the approbation of the same Doctors of the Sorbon excepting one whose name is not subscribed with the other Six unto the approbation of this Discourse But who ever be the Author he is a Man of Parts and has done worthily in this Discourse in which he hath shewed his high Veneration of the Holy Scriptures and hath irrefragably proved the truth of the most Signal and Miraculous matters of Fact contained in the Books of Moses and by that means he hath proved the Divine Original and Authority of all the Laws and Ordinances given by Moses unto the Israelites and Recorded in his Books So that the Translation of it cannot but be of good use unto English Readers for confirming them in the Faith and strengthening them against Tentations unto Infidelity in these Backsliding Times The Discourse is so well Penned by the Author that it needs no Recommendation from any it s own great Excellency and Usefulness will abundantly suffice to commend it unto any ingenious Man that shall be at the pains of spending half an Hour in Reading of it It would therefore have been altogether needless for me to have added unto it what follows here in this Second Part if there had not been lately Published in English a Book of P. Simon 's Intituled A Critical History of the Old Testament where Book 1. Chap. 5. Pag. 36. in the Contents of that Chapter he hath these very Words Moses cannot be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him I had no sooner Read this in the contents of the Chapter but I was desirous to know what Arguments he used to prove such an uncouth Assertion as had seldom been heard of from any before but such as Hobs in his Leviathan Pereyre in his Systema Praeadamiticum and Spinosa in his Tractatus Theologico-politicus all Atheists or Infidels And thereupon having Read and Examined all he says to prove his Assertion I thought it would be necessary together with the Precedent Discourse to Publish a few short Animadversions on what he has written in his Critical History against the Pentateuchs being written by Moses And that what I have to say may be the better understood and the more convincing and satisfactory unto the Reader I shall proceed in this Method First I shall shew what is the Truth to be believed and what is the Belief of the Christian Church Secondly What is the opinion of P. Simon and wherein he agrees with or differs from the common Faith of the Church in this matter Thirdly Answer his Arguments whereby he endeavors to prove his Opinion That Moses could not be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him Now for the First The Truth to be believed is 1. That the whole Scripture of the Old Testament and consequently the Pentateuch or first Five Books of the Bible were written by Divine Inspiration and that God is the primary Author thereof this is proved from Luke 16. 29 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them c. And Luke 24. 25 27 44 45 46. And from 2 Tim. 3. 16. where it is expresly said That all Scripture or the whole Scripture is given by Inspiration of God And 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. where it is expresly affirmed that the first thing to be known concerning the Scriptures is this That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation that is of any Man 's own Inventing for the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of Man but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost The same Truth is clearly proved from Psalm 147. 19. compared with Rom. 3. 2. 9. 4. 2. That this being first known and believed and so the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures secured it matters not very much whether we ever certainly know the names of all the Holy Men whom God used as his Instruments in writing the several Books of Sacred Scripture for there are some Books of Scripture that bear the names of no Man as Author of them under God and yet they are as much of Divine Authority as those Books that have the name of some Prophet or Apostle expressed in their Title and the names which Books of Scripture bear do not always import that the Man whose name the Book bears was the Writer of the Book but that the Book was written of and concerning him and his Acts. Thus the Book of Joshua is so called because it was written of and concerning Joshua though it is probable it was not written by him but by some other Holy Man of God after his Death see for this Bishop Richardsons Observations on the Old Testament pag. 45. the like may be said of some other Books of Holy Scripture That then which concerns us most is to know whether God be the Author of the several Books in the Canon of Scripture and if we be once sure of this we need not trouble our selves much about the knowing of the names of the several Men by whom it pleased the Lord God to consign them to Writing Gregory the Great in his Preface to his Exposition on Job has this Remarkable saying Si Magni cujusdam viri susceptis Epistolis c. If having received the Letters of some great Man we should read the Words and enquire by what Pen they had been written truly it would be ridiculous if we should endeavor not to know the Author of the Letters nor to understand the sense but to find out by what Pen the several words of them had been written since then we know the thing and that the Holy Spirit is the Author of it what else do we in enquiring after the Writer but in reading the Letters stand asking by what Pen they were written Yet 3. when a Book of Holy Scripture bears the name of its
Books as well as of all others and in their first Originals having been lost it was in some sort impossible but that there must needs happen some changes as well by reason of the length of time as the carelesness of Transcribers as it is impossible it may be to find one English Bible in all England without some Letter Sillable or Word Misprinted yet God by his special Providence hath taken such care of the Sacred Scripture as that it is preserved to this Day perfect intire and uncorrupt in all things relating to Faith and Manners and necessary to be believed or practised in order to Salvation This is proved also from his own words pag. 7. The Fathers were perswaded that these Errors that were crept into the Bible by the means of these Transcribers had no relation to Faith or good Manners or carried any weight to the framing of the Judgment which we ought to make of the Scriptures in general This does not hinder us but that we should acknowledg the Divine Providence in the preservation of this Book which has past through so many hands and so many Ages a great many of these Errors of Transcribers relate to the Chronology and Genealogies in the Books of the Old Testament but we may say with S. Augustin that these difficulties are in the number of those of which we may speak freely and we may be ignorant of Salva fide qua Christiani sumus This same Providence has likewise not permitted the Jews malitiously to corrupt the Holy Scriptures as many Fathers seem to reproach them Origen S. Jerome and S. Augustin have done them more Justice and those who at this day reproach the Jews with the same thing have not throughly examined the matter And pag. 9. This Author Mariana shews very plainly that the intention of the Council of Trent in declaring the Vulgar Translation Authentick was not to exempt it from all sorts of Faults but only from Errors which might introduce a change either in Faith or Manners which he confirms by several Authorities and principally by the Testimonies of Andrew de Vega and Jacob Lanis at that time superior of the Order of Jesuits who assisted at that Council Thirdly He agrees with us in this That being sure that God is the primary Author of the several Books of Scripture it is no great matter whether we certainly know or not the names of the Men by whom God was pleased to commit them to writing this is proved from his own words in his Preface pag. 2. Having Established in the Hebrew Common-wealth the Prophets or Publick Writers who took care of collecting faithfully the Acts of what past of most importance in the State we need not too curiously inquire as usually Men do who were the Authors of each particular Book of the Bible because it is certain that they were all writ by Prophets c. And in Book 1. Chap. 1. Pag. 3. We ought not to search with too much curiosity who have been the particular Authors of every Book of the Bible it sufficeth according to the Maxime of Gregory the Great praefat in lib. Job that these Books were written by Prophets Quis haec scripserit valde supervacue quaeritur cum tamen Author libri Spiritus Sanctus fideliter credatur Fourthly yet farther He agrees with us so far as to hold That in a true and good sense Moses may be the Author of the whole Peutateuch This is clearly proved from his own express words in Book 1. Chap. 1. Pag. 3. If these Publick Writers were in the Hebrew Common-wealth from the time of Moses as is extreamly probable it will be very easie to satisfie all difficulties that may be brought to shew that the Pentateuch was not wholy written by Moses which is ordinarily proved by the manner of its writing which seems to insinuate that some other than Moses collected the Acts and put them down in writing supposing these Publick Writers to them we may attribute what relates to the Historical part of these Books and to Moses all that which belongs to the Laws and Ordinances and it is this which the Scripture calls the Law of Moses thus one may say in this sense that the whole Pentateuch is truly Moses's because those who made the collection lived in his time and did not do it but by his Order And Pag. 20. According to this principle we ought to expound that passage where it is said that Moses wrote what God commanded him for there is nothing more ordinary in the Scripture than to ascribe unto one person what he Orders another to do chiefly when the thing is done in his name Thus we see wherein Pere Simon agrees with us in the common belief of all Christians He agrees with us so far as to acknowledg not only that the whole Scripture of the Old Testament is of Divine Inspiration and that it is uncorrupt in all things that relate to Faith and Life and are necessary to be believed or done in order to Salvation but also that the whole Pentateuch is truly Moses's because if it was not all written by himself immediately yet it was written by others in his time and in his name and by his order and then sure what was so written was reviewed and approved by himself If P. Simon were sincere in all this and did not deny it again by his self-contradiction we needed not much to oppose him in this matter for we are under no necessary obligation to believe that Moses wrote down with his own hand all the occurrences of every Day during the whole space of the Churches being in the Wilderness he might possibly appoint some other person or persons of known Integrity to do that for him and in his name and being so done and then reviewed and approved by himself it was all one as if he had done it with his own hand But notwithstanding this agreement we shall find that there remains yet a difference between P. Simon and other Christians as to this matter and that is it we are next to take into consideration And First He differs from the whole Church of God and from himself too by self-contradiction in this That he thinks Moses may have written the Pentateuch by an humane and fallible Spirit I prove this by consequence from his own words Pag. 40. It is true says he that the best Authors sometimes fall into little mistakes so likewise do we not pretend to draw from thence an infallible consequence to prove that Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch in the Order that it is Here he manifestly supposes that Moses in writing the Pentateuch might fall into little mistakes and so he might be the Author of it notwithstanding the disorder that is in it and is not this to suppose that Moses might write it by an humane and fallible Spirit for none I think will say that a Man writing by Divine Inspiration can fall into any mistakes little
or great I am sure not into such disorderly mistakes as he pretends to find in the History of the Creation of Man Secondly He differs from the whole Christian Church in affirming that for so much of the Historical part of the Pentateuch as Moses wrote or might write he copied it out of other ancient Books or else committed to writing what he had learned from Oral Tradition This difference is the same upon the matter with the former and I prove it also from his own express words Book 1. Chap. 3. Pag. 27. A Book of the Wars of the Lord of which mention is made in the Numbers Numb 21. 14. is an evident proof that the Stories which are related in the Five Books of Moses have likewise been taken out of several collections which have been lost And Pag. 54. most clearly We may likewise apply says he to the Book of Genesis what we have already said touching the manner of the inregistering the publick Acts in the time of Moses this Book contains the Creation of the World and many things which happened many Ages before him and in all Genesis there is no observation of Gods dictating to Moses what is there related it is not likewise said that he writ it by the Spirit of Prophecy but all these Histories and Genealogies are simply related as if Moses had taken them from some Authentick Books or else had had a constant Tradition And in the same place Moses without doubt has had other Records than the fabulous Books of Adam Seth Sem Abraham c. were they writ or were they preserve viva voce down to him in the Families which God had chosen to be faithful to him in the Worship of true Religion Doth not this look too like unto what I mentioned before that Moses might write the Book of Genesis by an humane fallible Spirit which is contrary unto Gal. 3. 8. 4. 21 22 30. Rom. 4. 17. 23 24. 1 Cor. 15. 45. James 2. 23. for these Scriptures do plainly assert the Divine Original and Authority of the Book of Genesis Thirdly He differs from the generality of Jews and Christians in that he not only says there may be some few things in the Books of Moses as we now have them which were not written by Moses but he positively and peremptorily affirms that there are de facto a great many things now in the Books of Moses which could not be written by Moses This is proved from his own words Pag. 4 5. The publick Writers which were in his time and writ out the ancient Acts have spoke of Moses in the Third Person and have used several other such like expressions which could not be Moses's but they for all that have never the less Authority because they can be ascribed only to persons which Moses had commanded to put into writing the most important Actions of his time And Chap. 2. Pag. 19. We shall distinguish in the Five Books of the Law what has been writ by Moses from what has been writ by these Prophets or publick Writers We may attribute to Moses the Commandments and Ordinances which he gave to the People and allow these same publick Writers to be the Authors of the greatest part of the History Moses in quality of Legislator writ all which relates to the Statutes and left to the Scribes or Prophets the care of collecting the Acts of the most material Transactions which past that they might be preserved to Posterity And Pag. 20. But if we consider with never so little attention the whole Body of the Pentateuch we may observe this diversity of Writers which I speak of which will more appear in the sequel of this Discourse where I evidently make the falsity of the reasons appear which the Jews use to prove that Moses is the Author of the whole Law And as was observed in the beginning in Pag. 36. Contents of Chap. 5. Moses cannot be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him Thus I have given a faithful account of the Judgment of P. Simon and shewed wherein he both agrees with and differs from the common Faith of Gods Church And since he hath the generality of Jews and Christians yea Christ himself and his Apostles against him he had need of very clear and strong irrefragable Arguments to support his singular opinion to wit that in his sense Moses could not be the Author of the Books which are attributed to him And now we come in the Third place to consider the grounds of his Opinion and to answer the Arguments by which he endeavors to prove it His Arguments may be reduced to Three Heads First He argues from the Repetitions that are in the Pentateuch Secondly From the Transpositions that are in it Thirdly From several passages in it where there are such expressions as seem to intimate that Moses could not be the Author of them I begin with the First His Argument from Repetitions There are says he Pag. 37. many Repetitions of the same thing in the Pentateuch which are apparently not Moses's but rather theirs who have made a collection of the Holy Scriptures and have joined together several Readings or Explanations of the same words not thinking it convenient to leave out of their Copies what might illustrate the Text. And then he gives Instances of these Repetitions But before I come to examine his Instances in particular I answer to all in general Since P. Simon acknowledges that those who made the collection of the Holy Scriptures were Men of a Prophetical Spirit and Divinely Inspired as Moses was what greater absurdity is there in Moses his being the Author of these Repetitions than in any other Prophets their being the Authors of them Was not God as free to repeat the same thing over and over again for illustrating the Text by the Ministry of one Prophet as by the Ministry of another P. Simon seems to be better acquainted with the Rules of Grammar than with the Rules of Reasoning now I come to his particular Instances First He begins with Gen. 7. v. 17 18 19 20 24. v. 21 22 23. and first finds fault with its being said Five times over in Five Verses That the Waters prevailed But I Answer If his Self-conceit had not blinded him he might have seen that there was good reason for and great Grace in this Repetition for as the Waters of the Flood prevailed gradually and still rose higher and higher so it was fit that the words should be adapted to the thing First The Waters increased so far on the Earth that they bore up the Ark and set it a floating and this is expressed as we have it in Verse 17. Secondly The Waters increased to that degree that they set the Ark a going or moving progressively from one place to another and this is expressed as in Verse 18. Thirdly The Waters increased so exceedingly that the highest Mountains in the World were covered with them and this
esteem of the Sacred Writings in the minds of Christians Sixthly He Objects Exod. 18. and says The History of Jethro related in the beginning of that Chapter seems not to be placed in the time wherein it was forasmuch as Jethro seems not to have come till the Second Year after the finishing of the Tabernacle as may be proved out of Duteronomy I Answer First That in stead of solid Reasoning which a thing of this nature requires here is nothing but guessing and conjecturing and one conjecture may be very well Answered with another opposite conjecture he says it may be proved out of Deuteronomy that Jethro came not nnto Moses till the Second Year after the finishing of the Tabernacle and I say again that his possible proof may possibly be Answered and when he has actually proved it which he hath not yet attempted to do he shall be actually Answered that is his proof of it shall be refuted if it be false or yielded unto and acknowledged if it appear to be true and I am sure this is very fair and in reason no more can be required I confess it is written Numb 11. 16 17. that the Lord said unto Moses Gather unto me Seventy men of the Elders of Israel whom thou knowest to be the Elders of the People and Officers over them and bring them unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation that they moy stand there with thee And I will come down c. Now this must have been after the Building of the Tabernacle But it is not yet proved that God gave this Commandment unto Moses at the same time that Jethro his Father in Law gave him the Councel Recorded in Exod. 18. 19 20 21 22 23. Nay the Judges that Moses appointed over Israel according to the advice of Jethro Exod. 18. 24 25 26. seem to have been many more than Seventy and it is not improbable that the Seventy Elders and Officers mentioned Numb 11. 16. were afterwards chosen out of those many Judges formerly by Jethro's advice set over Israel and presented unto the Lord at the Tabernacle of the Congregation there to receive from the Lord the Spirit of Government to fit them for the due Execution of the Office they were called unto But foreseeing what may be said for a transposition here I Answer Secondly That suppose it were granted unto P. Simon That Jethro did not come unto Moes till the Second Year after the finishing of the Tabernacle what then will it follow that therefore Moses could not be the Author of the Pentateuch I deny that consequence take that relation of Jethro's coming unto Moses which way you will and suppose it to be before the giving of the Law or after the making of the Tabernacle as you please yet it is still true there is not the least shadow of falshood in it for Moses neither says that it was before nor that it was after the Building of the Tabernacle all that he writes of the time wherein it was is that when Jethro heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel c. then he came unto Moses c. Exod. 18. 1 2 3 4 5. But as for the Year in which Jethro heard of all that God had done for his People Moses is silent and makes no mention of it That whole narration then being true without any mixture of falshood why might not Moses be the Author of it where it is as well as any other Prophet could be But is it not in that place of the Book of Exodus where P. Simon would have had it to have been I Answer Moses might have good reason not to place it there but just where it is He had other things to write of in the following Chapters of Exodus all which things were to be linked together and not to be separated by the interposition of the narrative of that visit which his Father in Law gave him in the Wilderness As Scaliger says and P. Simon himself out of him Quo ordine quid referatur modo constet veritas aut nihili aut parum interest it signifies nothing or very little in what Order things be related provided that we find them to be truly related Seventhly He Objects Gen. 46. and says he Where the Children of Israel are numbered who went into Aegypt with him these are counted among them Joseph Manasseh and Ephraim who could not go with him into Aegypt because they were there before him and as that place mentions the Children of Israel and his Childrens Children who came with him into Aegypt it is probable for brevity's sake these Two things have been joined together as if they had all been Jacob's Children I Answer This Objection comes from P. Simons heedlesness and inadvertency in reading the Holy Scripture but hath no ground in the Text of Moses For as Joseph Manasseh and Ephraim could not go with Jacob into Aegypt because they were there before him so for certain they are not there said to have gone with him into Aegypt on the contrary it is clearly enough said that they did not go with him into Aegypt for First It is said Vers 20. And unto Joseph in the Land of Aegypt were Born Manasseh and Ephraim And again Vers 27. And the Sons of Joseph which were Born him in Aegypt were Two Souls where it is manifestly implyed that Joseph and his Two Sons were not then to go into Aegypt but that they were there already Secondly To make the thing yet clearer it is expresly said Vers 26. That all the Souls that came with Jacob into Aegypt which came out of his Loins were Threescore and Six here Jacob himself is not reckoned as one of those Sixty Six because he could not go with himself into Aegypt nor could he come out of his own Loins Joseph also and his Two Sons are not reckoned as any of the Sixty Six because though they came out of Jacob's Loins yet they could not go with him into Aegypt since they were already in Aegypt before him But it may be Objected That Vers 27. it is expresly said All the Souls of the House of Jacob which came into Aegypt were Threescore and Ten. In which number Joseph and his Two Sons must be included I Answer True they are included in the number Seventy though they were not included in the Number Sixty Six yea and Jacob himself is included in the number Seventy and these Four Jacob Joseph Manasseh Ephraim being added to Sixty Six make up the number of Seventy Souls all which came into Aegypt the 66 came into Aegypt with Jacob and Jacob came with them for if all the Souls of the House of Jacob came then Jacob himself came being head of his own House Joseph also he came into Aegypt before when he was sold to the Ishmaelites and his Two Sons they came into Aegypt in the Loins of their Father Joseph even as Levi paid Tithes unto Melchizedeck in the Loins of his Father Abraham
Heb. 7. 9. Thus all the 70 Souls came into Aegypt but the Text of Moses doth not at all say that all the 70 came into Aegypt at the same time and in the same way and manner Eighthly He Objects Gen. 35. 26. where Benjamin is counted amongst the Children that Jacob had in Mesopotamia and nevertheless Benjamin was not Born there but in the Land of Canaan I Answer I do not understand by what Rules of Reasoning P. Simon puts this passage amongst the disorderly Transpositions which he pretends to be in the Pentateuch for surely this seems rather to be a contradiction it being said in the same Chapter Vers 16 17 18. that Benjamin was Born at Ephrath And yet here is no real but only a seeming contradiction for to make a real contradiction it must have been said Benjamin was Born at Ephrath All these are the Sons of Jacob which were Born to him in Padan-Aram but now it is not said all these are the Sons of Jacob which were Born to him in Padam-aram but only These are the Sons of Jacob which were Born to him in Padan-Aram and this is most true without including Benjamin in the number of Jacob's Sons Born to him in Padan-Aram for the other Eleven were Born in Padan-Aram and there was no need here to except Benjamin by name because it was so clearly said but a little before in the same Chapter That Benjamin was Born at Ephrath in the Land of Canaan that no Reader could mistake so grosly as to think he was Born with the rest of Jacob's Children in Padan-Aram or Mesopotamia I pray mark the expression it is not said in v. 26. All these are c. but These are c. P. Simon pretends that there are Transpositions not only in the History but likewise in the Laws of Moses and therefore Ninthly and Lastly He Objects Exod. 22. 1 3 4. where says he to make a reasonable construction what is said of the Thief in the Third Verse must be joined with the First because there is a Transposition and then one ought to join the Fourth Verse with the First and moreover the words of the Fourth Verse if the Theft be certainly found in his hand alive ought only to relate to the Ox and Sheep which this Verse makes mention of and not to the Ass although that is spoke of in the same place with the Two other Animals I Answer All this is gratis dictum without one word of proof The words of the Law may be reasonably enough construed and well enough understood without the help of Pere Simons imaginary Transposition In the First Verse the Lord God determins in what proportion a Thief should make restitution for an Ox or a Sheep in case he have killed or sold them In Vers 2. The Lord God declares that if the Thief be found in the Act of breaking up and be killed the killing of him shall not be accounted Murther nor shall the killers Blood be shed for him provided it were in the Night and before Sun-Rising But in the Third Verse the Lord declares That the killing of a Thief in the Day time after Sun-Rising should be accounted Murther and that the Blood of the slayer should be shed for the Blood of the slain Thief and that for this reason given in the same Third Verse because he should not have been killed for the Theft but compelled to make full Restitution if he was able but if he was not able he should be sold for his Theft And in Vers 4. the Lord shews in what proportion he should be obliged to make Restitution in case the Theft were found alive in his hand not in a Five-fold nor Four-fold but in a double proportion for Ox or Ass or Sheep and thus all is clear enough in the Order wherein the Wisdom of God has placed things and there is no need to have recourse unto a Transposition as to what he Objects concerning the Ass in the Fourth Verse that though it be joined with the Ox and Sheep yet what is said of the Theft its being found alive in the hand of the Thief and of his making double Restitution in that Case ought not to relate unto the Ass but only to the Ox and Sheep I Answer This is a bold Assertion without any proof at all and there is reason to conclude the contrary that because the Ass is joined with the Ox and Sheep therefore what here relates to the Ox and Sheep ought also to be referred unto the Ass the Ass was a very useful Creature in those Eastern Countries and that may be the reason why it is joined with the Ox both here and elsewhere as in the Tenth Commandment I know not what use P. Simon may have for this Ass but it seems by what he writes that he would play the Thief and steal it out of this Fourth Verse of Exod. 22. which if he should do he would be guilty not only of Theft but of Sacrilege for this Ass stands upon Holy Ground Thus I have Answered all his Arguments that fall under the Second Head of Disorderly Transpositions I pass to the Third and last head of Arguments taken from several passages of the Pentateuch where he pretends there are such expressions as seem to intimate that Moses could not be the Author of them First He Objects Numb 21. 14. A Book says he of the Wars of the Lord of which mention is made Numb 21. 14. is an evident proof that the Histories which are related in the Five Books of Moses have been taken out of several Collections which have been lost I Answer It is denyed that the citing of the Book of the Wars of the Lord in Numb 21. 14. is an evident proof or indeed any proof at all of any such thing For First It is not so evident that it was a Book at all some think it was but a Song the Hebrew word Sepher does not always signifie a Book but Secondly Granting that it was a Book and not meerly a Triumphal Song it is not evident that it was a Book then already written it might be a Book to be afterwards written which Moses foreseeing by the Spirit of Prophecy refers unto this agrees with the Original words in the Text which are Al-ken Jeamar wherefore it shall be said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord c. yet Thirdly Granting it to have been a Book already written Moses his once citing a Testimony out of it doth no more prove that he collected his History out of such Books then Paul's citing a Testimony out of Heathen Poets Acts 17. 28. Tit. 1. 12. doth prove that he Transcribed his Sermons and Epistles out of the writings of Heathen Poets Secondly He Objects That the names of Hebron and Dan which are in the Pentateuch were not in beeing in the time of Moses Answer It is said but not proved that the names of Hebron and Dan were not in beeing in Moses his