Forty Years wandring in the Wilderness their Children should be brought in to possess it I the Lord have said I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there shall they die Num. xiv 35. And the Men who were sent out to search the Land and brought the evil report upon it died forthwith by the plague before the Lord ver 37. and these Men were the Heads of the Children of Israeâ— a Man of every Tribe being chosen out every one a Ruler amongst them chap. xiii 2 3. and but two of them agreed in giving the true Account of the Land so great an aversion they had to proceed any farther in their way thither And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them Would God that we had died in the land of Aegypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were is not better for us to return into Aegypt And they said one to another Let us make a cantain and let us return into Aegypt And all the Congregation were for stoning Joshua and Caleb if they had not been hindred by the glory of the Lord appearing in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel Num. xiv 1 2 3 4 10. Now upon so general a dâ—fâ—ction to pronounce peremptorily That but Two by name of so many Thousands should go in to inherit the Land of Promise and that all the rest should die in that very Wilderness which they complained so much of and that no less than Forty Years were to be spent in that wandring condition which they were already so weary of This is such a Method of quelling so general a Discontent and Mutiny as never was heard of before nor since and which could proceed from nothing less than a Wisdom and Authority which could check and controul the most combined and inveterate Perverseness of men and a Power which struck the Spreaders of this false Report with immediate death before their eyes for an Example of that Vengeance which they must all expect would fall upon them sooner or later within the space of Forty Years So that hereby was taken off all prospect of Advantage and â—ll hopes of any Reward for what they now with so much regret and impatience underwent and from henceforth they were led meerly by Conviction of the Divine Power and Presence amongst them and of the Terrours of those Judgments which in all Revolts seized upon the Disobedient And now being restless and uneasie in their present condition and past all hopes of remedying it like desperate Men they were upon every little occasion thrown into violent Commotions but were as soon controlled and appeased by visible Judgments upon the chief Authors of them For when we read soon after that a Rebellion was raised against Moses by Korah Dathan and Abiram God gave such evident Tokens of that Authority which he had invested him withal and so signally manifested that what he had done amongst them was by his Power and Commission that it was impossible for any of them to be deceived in it or to doubt of it Though the truth of it is they had never from the very first doubted of God's Power amongst them but were acted now with a Spirit of Rage and Despair like the Men described by the Prophet fretting themselves and cursing their king and their God and looking upwards Isai viii 21. Korah of the Tribe of Levi and Dathan and Abiram and On of the Tribe of Reuben being Principal and Leading Men of these two Tribes with Two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron charging them That they took too much upon them And to clear himself of this Accusation Moses implores God to vindicate his Innocency before all the People and by agreement Korah and Aaron appeared before the Lord with Censers in their Hands and Two hundred and fifty Men besides with their Censers likewise Korah at the time appointed gathered all the Congregation against Moses and Aaron unto the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation So that here was the most solemn Appearance of the whâ—lâ— People who had entertained great Jealousies against Moses and Aaron and were now met together to see whether they could give sufficient Proof of their Authority which they challenged over them The Time and Place was appointed and they came enclined and prepared to receive any farther ill impressions concerning Moses and Aaron if they could not have made out their Pretensions in the most remarkable and astonishing manner to the utter confusion of all their Enemies First the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation and then Moses at God's Command charges the Congregation to depart from the Tabernacles of Korah Dathan and Abiram and declares Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of mine own mind If these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me But if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they go down quick into the pit then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it caâ—e to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave asunder that was under them And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation And all Israel that were round about them sled at the â—ry of them for they said Lest the earth swallow us up also And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense Num. xvi Thus Moses vindâ—cated himself and proved his Divine Mission and Authority in such a manner as it was impossible but that the whole People of Israel must be convinced of it They were very suspicious and jealous of him tho' they had had so much experience of his Favour with God and of all his mighty Works done in the midst of them but when this dreadful Vengeance fell upon his Enemies before the whole Congregation who were met together on purpose to see whether God would declare himself for him when the Earth divided it sâ—lf â—o swallow some of these Men and
to himself thereby The greatest Masters of Decency have not thought it always improper for Men to commend themselves either because they supposed some occasions might require it or because it was a more usual thing in ancient Times when Mens Lives and Manners were more natural and sincere and they oftner spoke as they thought both of themselves and others yet we no where find Men speaking so freely in disparagement of themselvs as in the Holy Scriptures Which shews that Moses and the rest of the Inspired Writers little regarded their own Praise or Dispraise but wrote what God was pleased to appoint it being a thing indifferent to them so God might be honoured whether they lost or gained in their own Reputation by it But what we read of Moses Num. xii 3. that he was very meek above all the Men which were upon the face of the Earth which is the only commendable Character that Moses gives of himself may be translated that he was the most afflicted Man according to the Marginal Reading and if he mentions his own Meekness he mentions also his great Anger or heat of Anger Exod. xi 8. and his being very wroth Num. xvi 15. But if Moses had not had more respect to Truth than to his own Reputation he would never have left it upon Record That he so often declined the Message and Employment which God appointed him to undertake Exod. iii. 11 13. iv 1 10 13 14. and that God was angry with him upon other occasions and for that reason would not permit him to enter into the promised Land He would certainly have ascribed Balaam's Prophecy and Jethro's Advice to himself at least he would never have Recorded That by Jethro's Counsel he took up a new and better Method for the administration of Justice If he had been led by Ambition and Vain-glory he would have endeavoured by these things to adorn his own Character and would never have lessen'd it by telling his own Infirmities at the same time when to the diminution of himself he publishes the Excellencies of others The Wonders of the Magicians of Aegypt are not concealed by him and being to give an account of his own Genealogy from Levi he first sets down the Families of Reuben and Simeon the two elder Brothers lest he might seem to arrogate too much to himself and his own Tribe Some have observed that Moses relates his own Birth to have been by a Marriage contrary to the Laws afterwards by himself established which indeed is doubtful by reason of the latitude of signification in the word Sister in the Hebrew Language yet it is certain he was not careful to avoid the being thought to have been born from such a Marriage as he would have been if his Laws had been of his own contrivance lest his own Reputation or the Authority of his Laws or perhaps both might have suffered by it Exod. vi 14 20. He sets forth the Ingratitude Idolatry and perpetual Revolts and Murmurings of his whole Nation and relates the Failings and Faults of their Ancestors the Patriarchs and particularly of Levi from whom he was descended Gen. xxxiv 30. xlix 6. He spares neither his People nor his Ancestors nor himself in what he relates and these are all the Characters of a faithful Historian and a sincere Man that can be desired And as Moses was not ambitious of Praise so neither was he ambitious of Power and Dominion For besides that he entered upon such an Undertaking as no sober Man would have attempted without a Revelation it appearing otherwise impossible to accomplish it his whole Conduct shews that he had no design of advancing his own Interest or Dominion If he had been never so Ambitious he needed not have gone into the Wilderness to seek his Preferment amongst a wandring and stubborn People when he had been bred up to all the Honours and the Pleasures that Aegypt or Pharaoh's Court could afford but he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt Heb. xi 24 25. He undertook to lead the People of Israel for Forty Years through a barren Wilderness where he could promise himself but a very uneasie and inglorious Reign if that had been his Design and by the course of Nature he could not hope to out-live that period of Time and tho' he was preserved in his Old Age in the full strength and vigour of Manhood yet upon their entrance into the promised Land he meekly resigned himself to death in the very sight and Borders of Canaan knowing before-hand that he must not be suffered to possess the Land which he had been so many years in so great dangers leading the People of Israel to enjoy though he doth not conceal how desirous he was to pass over Jordan Deut. iii. 23 c. The History of his Death is like that of his Life related with a peculiar kind of native simplicity He is not said to be taken up into Heaven as Enoch and Elijah were and as the Romans feigned of Romulus but to die and his Sepulchre was hid to prevent the Superstitious and Idolatrous Veneration which might have been paid to the Remains of so great a Person And tho' he had Sons yet they were but private Men no otherwise known to us than as they were his Sons the Government he conferred upon Joshua one of another Tribe Moses therefore was the furthest of any Man from Vain-glorious or Ambitious and Aspiring Designs and could propose no other Advantage to himself but the fulfilling the Will of God in delivering his Commandments to the People of Israel and following his Directions in his Conduct and Government Aaron was of a different Temper from Moses and was envious of him and both Aaron and Miriam murmured against him It is so notorious that there could be no Contrivance between them to deceive the People that it was the immediate and visible Power of God which kept Aaron as well as the rest in Obedience to Moses Upon Moses's Absence Aaron complied with the People in making a Golden Calf and his two eldest Sons offered strange Fire before the Lord which he had not commanded for which they were both destroyed by Fire miraculously issuing out from the Presence of the Lord And Aaron held his peace knowing that this Punishment was inflicted by God himself and having nothing to reply to Moses when he declared to him the Justice of it And both Aaron and his other two Sons are forbidden upon pain of Death to mourn for them Lev. x. 1 2 3 6. At last by the Commandment of God Aaron goes up into Mount Hor to die there not being permitted to enter into the Land of Promise Thus Moses and Aaron were sometimes at disagreement Aaron envying Moses Aaron lost two of his Sons by a
a Fire from Hâ—aâ—en devoured others there was not a Man of all the Congregation but must be an Eye-witness to this Judgment and there could be no Deceit nor Mistake in a thing of this nature For Men may as well doubt whether those whom they see live are alive as whether those whom they see taken away by so terrible and so visible a death are dead and unless they can know this there can be no Knowledge nor Proof of any thing They saw the Earth first divide it self and then close it self again upon these wicked Men they saw them go down alive into the pit they heard the Cry of them and fled away â—oâ— fear and they saw besides a Fire from the Lord consume no fewer than Two hundred and fifty Men and these the Men that offer'd Incense in opposition to Aaron Princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown whose death was very remarkable upon the account of their Persons as well as for the Manner of it So many Men of that Rank and Character being taken away at once was a thing that would have been much observed and strictly enquir'd into if they had fain by any other death but their dying in this manner was so wonderful and so plain a declaration of the Divine Justice that it could neither be unknown nor forgotten by any Man in the whole Congregation Yet their Discontents against Moses still continued for He and Aaron were charged with killing the people of the Lord ver 41. and the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron and behold the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation and the glory of the Lord appeared And God's Wrath was so hot against the People for their Stâ—bbornness and Disobedience that notwithstanding the Intercession of Moses and Aaron in their behalf a Plague from the Lord raged so much amongst them that they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred beside them that died about the matter of Korah ver 49. And there were probably many Families in every Tribe which bore the marks of God's Displeasure and of the Truth of Moses his Mission and then Aaron's Rod alone blossom'd of all the Rods of the Twelve Tribes but by this time the people were weary of their contumacy and cried out â—â—hold we die we perish we all perish Shall we be consumed with dying Num. xvii 12 13. And thus was an end put to a Sedition which was the greatest and the most dangerous as Josephus well observes that was ever known among any People and such as that so dreadful a succession of Miracles was necessary to deliver Moses out of it And I would know of the greatest Infidel whether if he had lived at that time and had been in the Wilderness with Moses and had been of Korah's Conspiracy as it is most likely he would have been I would know of him I say whether he could have done any thing more to put Moses upon the utmost tryal of his power and Authority received from God than these rebellious Israelites did And if he could not as he must needs confess he could not then he ought to be satisfied in the Authority of Moses as they themselves afterwards were unless he has an ambition to shew that some Christians can be more refractary than Jews Yet again when they wanted Water the Peopled quarell'd with Moses and said Would God that we had died when our brethren â—ied before the Lord. And Moses brought Water out of the Rock before the whole Congregation in so great plenty that the whole People and their Cattle just ready to perish with thirst was satisfied with it Num. xx 3 10. At another time after a signal Victory over the Canaanites they made the same Complaints again and for their Murmurings were stung by fiery Serpents and many died till a Brazen Serpent being erected as many as looked on it were miraculously cured Num. xxi 6. And if the delivering the Law in so conspicuous and wonderful a manner if so remarkable Judgments upon those that questioned and opposed Moses his Authority and that transgressed his Law by committing Idolatry if a continual course of Miracles for Forty Years done before the eyes and obvious to every sense of so many thousands of People be not a plain demonstration that the Matter of Fact in all the circumstances of it necessary to prove Moses to have acted by God's immediate Authority and Commission was at first sufficiently attested it is impossible that any thing can be certainly testified We see how impossible it was for Moses to impose upon the People of Israel in things of this nature it he could have been so far forsaken of all Reason and common Sense as to hope to do it But if he had designed to put any deceit upon them he would certainly have taken another course he would have done his Miracles privately and but seldom not in the midst of all the People for Forty Years together he would never have made two Nations at the first Witnesses to them and then have proceeded in such a manner as that every Man among the Israelites must have known them to be false if thy had been so he would have chosen such Instances to shew his Miracles in as should have provoked no body not such as must have enraged the whole People against him by the death of so many thousands so often put to death if they had been slain by any other means than by the Almighty Hand of God And indeed what could destroy so many so irresistibly so suddenly and visibly but the Divine Power And what could be the Design and Intent of such Miracles but to fulfil the Will of God and make his Power to be known and his authority acknowledged in the Laws which were delivered in his Name and which were so often affronted and transgressed by these Sinners against their own Souls At their going out of Aegypt by a miraculous Providence there was not one feeble person among their tribâ—s but upon their transgressions they were punished by Diseases as miraculous We have other Evidence as I have before observed that Moses had no design to delude the People of Israel from the Meekness of his Disposition from his discovering his own Faults and Infirmities in his Writings and from his not advancing his Family but leaving his Posterity in a private condition and putting the Government into the hands of Joshua one of the Tribe of Ephraim But when all the People of Israel were Witnesses to so many Miracles wrought by him and particularly to so strange a Judgment as the cleaving asunder of the Earth and the Fire and Plague by which so many thousands perished we need not insist upon any other Proof to shew that the Miraculons Power and Divine Authority by which Moses acted and wrote was as well attested and as fully known to the whole People of Israel as it is possible for any Matter of
Evidence to us that God would have the more notice taken of it and has laid the strictest Obligation upon all to observe it But we find express mention made of the Stranger at the appointment of the Yearly Feast of Atonement Lev. xvi 29. The Stranger was obliged to bring his Sacrifice to the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and in the Prohibitions of eating Blood he is particularly forbidden it ch xvii 8 9 12 15. All the Laws relating to Marriage and concerning unlawful Lust are equally enjoin'd the Stranger and the Israelite ch xviii 26. he was to be stoned if he gave any of his Seed unto Moloch chap. xx 2. and he was obliged to all the same Laws concerning Sacrifices chap. xxii 18. and was to be stoned for Blasphemy chap. xxiv 16. The Sabbath was appointed to the Stranger within their Gates Exod. xx 10. xxiii 12. Lev. xxv 6. Deut. v. 14. The Stranger was to hear the Law read in the Solemnity of the Year of Release chap. xxxi 12. And the Covenant is expressly made with the Stranger chap. xxix 12. Josh viii 33 35. And as the Strangers or Proselytes were thus join'd in the very Design and Institution of the Law with the Native Israelites themselves as to all the Acts and Privileges of Religious Worship so God had a particular regard to them in their Civil Statutes and Ordinances to free them from Oppression and every thing that might give Strangers any discouragement from living amongst the Israelites and becoming Partakers of their Religion with them Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him for ye were strangers in the land of Aegypt Exod. xxii 21. Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger for ye know the heart of a stranger seeing ye were strangers in the land of Aegypt chap. xxiii 9. It seems one reason of their being so long detained in Aegypt was to teach them Humanity and Compassion to Strangers Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates Deut. xxiv 14. And care is taken of the Stranger that he be not brought into want or suffered to perish in his Distress for the Gleanings of the Harvest and of the Vintage were his Portion Thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger I am the Lord Lev. xix 10. xxiii 22. All manner of Kindness and Affection is in most express and ample terms commanded towards all Strangers And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land ye shall not vex him But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born amongst you and thou shalt love him as thy self for ye were strangers in the land of Aegypt I am the Lord your God Lev. xix 33 34. And Moses repeating the peculiar Favours which God had bestowed upon the Children of Israel put them in mind that God loveth the stranger in giving him food and rayment Love ye therefore the stranger for ye were strangers in the land of Aegypt Deut. x. 18 19. The Widow the Stranger and the Fatherless are usually mention'd together in Scripture as being jointly the care of God's more peculiar Providence and he recommends them to the charity of his People and to oppress the Stranger is reckoned the highest aggravation of wickedness They slay the widow and the stranger and murther the fatherless yet they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Ps xciv 6 7. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy yea they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully Ezek. xxii 29. And to the same purpose Psal cxlvi 9. Jer. vii 6. and xxii 3. Zech. vii 10. Mal. iii. 5. Though their Bond-men and Bond-women were not to be of the native Israelites but of the Heathen that were round about them and of the Strangers that dwelt amongst them Lev. xxv 44. yet an Israelite might sell himself to a Stranger and become his Servant but he might be redeemed again either by himself or by his near Kinsman and was to be released at the Year of Jubilee ver 47. The Cities of Refuge were provided for the Stranger and the Sojourner Num. xxxv 15. Josh xx 9. The Judges were particularly commanded to execute righteous and impartial Judgment to the Stranger Deut. i. 16. A caution is given that neither the Edomites nor the Aegyptians were to be abhored by them but their Children were to be received into the Congregation of the Lord in the Third Generation that is after any Edomite or Aegyptian had lived amongst them as a Proselyte of the Gates their Children of the Third Generation might be capable of Circumcision and be admitted to the Observation of the whole Law ch xxiii 7. And though the Ammonite and Moabite were excluded even to the Tenth Generation from the Congregation of the Lord by reason of their inhumanity to the Israelites at their coming out of Aegypt ver 3. yet neither were they of the preceding Generations debarr'd from becoming Proselytes of the Gates and undertaking the Observation of the Precepts of Noah A Promise is made that the Stranger shall rejoice in the good things of the Land chap. xxvi 11. and the Israelites are threatned that upon their Disobedience the Stranger should be more prosperous than they ch xxviii 43 44. King Solomon at the Dedication of the Temple makes such particular mention of the Stranger in his Prayer as shews both the design of building it and of all the Jewish Worship to be such as that other Nations might share in it and withal he foretells what the event should be Moreover concerning â— stranger that is not of thy people Israel but cometh out of a far countrey for thy names sake for they shall hear of thy great name and of thy strong hand and of thy stretched out arm when he shall come and pray towards this house Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for that all people of the earth may know thy name to fear thee as do thy people Israel and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name 1 King viii 41 42 43. 2 Chron. vi 33. This was the House of Prayer for all people Isa lvi 7. Mar. xi 17. And the Prophets in their Prophecies concerning the return of the Jews out of their Captivity in Babylon and in their Predictions of the Messias did not omit to insert peculiar Expressions of God's Love and Favour to Strangers and Proselytes to shew that the Promises did extend to them as well as to the Native Jews themselves Isa lvi 3. Ezech. xlvii 22 33. From all which it is evident that Strangers were equally capable of the Priveledges and Advantages in the Jewish Worship as the Jews themselves were and that they
for the Oath which secur'd their Lives to them had forfeited that Right which otherwise they might have had to their Lives by a Peace fairly obtained and they lost all other Advantages of the League but only the securing their Lives But that the Canaanites if they had submitted and owned the God of Israel were not to have been destroyed but to have been received to mercy is evident from Josh xi 19 20. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon all other they took in battel For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battel that he might destroy them utterly and that they might have no favour but that he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses Which necessarily supposes that if God in his just Judgment upon them for their heinous Provocations had not hardned their Hearts but they had submitted themselves and sought Peace of the Children of Israel they ought to have had favour shewn them It doth therefore sufficiently appear that the Canaanites themselves after all their Provocations against both the Mercy and Justice of God were not excluded from all the Benefits of Strangers and Proselytes amongst the Jews and that all other Nations were encouraged and invited to become Partakers of the Privileges of the Law of Moses and acquaint themselves with the Service and Worship of the True God is notorious and as evident as any thing in the Law and the Prophets But after the Canaanites had fill'd up the measure of their Iniquities God manifested his Almighty Power and Justice upon them and he was pleased to do it by the Sword of the Children of Israel rather than by Pestilence or any other Judgment both to raise the greater abhorrence of Idolatry in his own People and in the neighbouring Nations and because those rude and warlike Nations could observe the Power of God no where so much as in the success of War they chiefly implored their own Gods for success in their Wars and when they were overcome by any People they concluded that the Gods of that Nation were too hard for their own Gods 1 King xx 23. 2 King viii 34. whereas if they had been destroyed by Famine or Pestilence they would have ascribed these Judgments no more to the God of Israel than to any of the Heathen Gods But God got him honour upon these Nations as he did upon Pharaoh and upon all his host when Jethro said Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them Exod. xviii 11. from whence he is so often styled the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament 2. The Providence of God did so order and dispose of the Jews in all their Affairs as to afford other Nations frequent opportunities of becoming instructed in the true Religion and multitudes of Proselytes were made out of all Nations Moses dwelt in Midian and there marry'd an Aethiopian Woman Exod. ii 15. Num. xii 1. his Wife's Father Jethro the Priest of Midian and his Family became converted And the Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt magnify'd the Power of God in all Countries where the Report of a thing so wonderful and notorious came The miraculous Victories which the Israelites gained over the Canaanites where-ever they came struck a mighty Terror into all those Nations as we see by the Fear of Balak Num. xxii and from the Speech of the Gibeonites Josh ix 9 10. who were glad to make use of any Pretence as an Expedient to save themselves Rahab with her Family and Kindred and the Gibeonites were early Accessions to the Israelites and Rahab was marry'd to a Man of Israel and the Babylonian Gemara (p) Lightfoot Hebr. and Talmud Exercitat in Mat. i. 5. reckons up Eight Prophets who were likewise Priests descended from her This is certain that our Saviour himself was pleased to derive his Genealogy from her The various Successes of the Israelites in the land of Canaan their Victories and their Overthrows and the miraculous Power of God visibly appearing either in their Defeat and Punishment or in their Conquest or Deliverance must need raise a mighty Fame and Admiration of the God of Israel in all those Countries for they proclaimed a Religious War upon these Nations they destroyed their Images and Groves and Alters where-ever they came and the People plainly perceived that their Gods could not help them The Taking of Jericho not by Storm but only by the meer Sound and Alarm of War the Lengthning of the Day to favour their Conquests and the Destruction of so many Kings by Moses and Joshua were undeniable Evidences of a Divine Power and must awaken Men to make enquiry into that Religion which could inspire such Courage and work such Wonders And these Nations among whom the Patriarchs had sojourned and so many Wonders and Judgments had been wrought were dispersed in Colonies over all Parts of the World as Bochart has proved at large in a most learned and elaborate Work some them if we may believe Procopius erecting a Pillar in Africk as a Monument of Joshua's Victories with an Inscription declaring that they were driven out of their own Countrey by him And S. Augustine says (q) Aug. Exposit Epist ad Rom. that in his time the Country People about Hippo called themselves Canaanites After the Death of Joshua the Israelites were in subjection to the King of Mesopotamia eight Years to the King of Moab eighteen Years Judg. iii. 8 14. to Jabin King of Canaan chap. iv 1. to the Midianites seven Years chap. vi 1. to the Philistines forty Years chap. xiii 1. And still it was because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord that they were given up into the hand of their Enemies and upon their Repentance a Deliverance was wrought for them 1 Sam. xii 10. And when they were so often and for so long a time subdued by their Enemies round about them for their Idolatries and other Transgressions and then again upon their Repentance were rescued from their oppression by Gideon and Jeptha and Samson all raised up for that purpose this must give great occasion and opportunity to all the bordering Nations to know and consider that Religion the observation or neglect whereof had such visible Effects upon its Professors for under their Affliction and in the time of their Repentance the Israelites declared the cause of their Misery and made known the Power of their own God and the Vanity and Sinfulness of Idolatry And therefore their being so often and so long time under the Oppression of their several Enemies was a merciful Providence to the Nations who had them in subjection as well as for the Punishment and Amendment of the Israelites themselves What good use was made of these Methods of the Divine Providence doth not appear to
the word that we did tell thee in Aegypt saying Let us alone that we may serve the Aegyptians For it had been better for us to serve the Aegyptians than that we should die in the wilderness Exod. xiv 11 12. But the Israelites were purposely brought into this Distress by God's express Will and Command that he might get him honour upon Pharaoh and upon all his dost upon his chariots and upon his horse-men ver 17. And â—he Sea being divided at Moses's lifting up his Rod the Children of Israel went in the midst of it upon dry-ground and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on the lest ver 22. And could they be ignorant whether they walked in the Water or upon dry Land whether they were the Men that had escaped or whether they had been all drowned The words are express that the Waters were on both sides of them in their passage and that they were separated to make way for them which could not fall out by any ebbing of the Sea for then they would have had Water but on one side of them whereas now the Waters stood equally on both hands And nothing can be supposed more absurd than it is to imagine that neither the Aegyptians nor the Israelites should understand the nature of the Red-Sea but that the course of the Tide should be known only to Moses At the giving of the Law the whole People of Israel had warning given them three days before that they might sanctifie and prepare themselves to make their Appearance before the Lord All the people saw the thunderings and lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and beheld the mountain smoaking and the Lord spake in the audience of the whole Assembly the words of the Ten Commandments and they were struck with such a terrour that they removed and stood afar off and desired Moses that he would acquaint them with what God should be pleased to give him in command concerning them that they might no longer hear God speaking to them lest they should die Exod. xx 18. Deut. v. 22. The clond of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys Exod. xl 38. whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle remaining thereon the children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not but when it was taken up they journeyed Num. ix 22. From the time of their escape out of Aegypt the Pillar of the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by might the Manna with which they were â—fed during the whole time of their journeying in the Wilderness till the very day after they had eaten of the corn of the land of Canâ—â—n Exod. xvi 35. Jos v. 12. and their Garments lasting for so long a time without any decay Deut. xxix 5. these were constant and perpetual Miracles for forty years together and it is the most impossible thing in the world to suppose that a People consisting of so many Hundred Thousands should for so long a time be imposed upon in things of this nature their Eves and Taste and all their Senses were Witnesses that they were conducted and fed and cloathed by Miracle for Forty Years together Indeed it was impossible to lead so great a Multitude through a vast and barren Wilderness by so long and tedious Journeys without the help of Miracles If they had been under no other distress but want of Food in so barren a place it had been impossible for any number of Men and much more for so vast a multitude to subsist for any time without a Miracle but they were sed with Manna from Heaven not with such as the Manna is which is now any where to be found which is a kind of Honey-dew but with Manna which was fit for Nourishment not for physick and so hard as to be ground in Mills and beaten in Mortars and baked in Pans Num. xi 8. and yet it was melted by the Sun and bred Worms and stunk if it were kept but one night except it were on the night before the Sabbath though again when it was to be preserved for a Memorial to future Generations nothing was more lasting and it fell on every Day of the Week but the Sabbath The Manna therefore which is now of what sort soever it be is of quite a different Nature from this Miraculous Manna though it have its Name from it as a learned Physician (p) Jo Chrys Magnen de Manna c. 2. has proved Their Water was as miraculous as their Food and their Cloathing as either neither their Raiment decayed nor their Bread and Water failed till they arrived in the promised Land The March of the Greek Army out of Asia under the Conduct of Xenophon after the death of Cyrus is looked upon as a thing scarce to be equalled in all humane Story though that was but for one Year and three Months and the Difficulties they met with were nothing in comparison of those that beset the Israelites on every side in that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought Deut. viii 15. a land of desarts and of pits of drought and of the shadow â—f death a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt Jer. ii 6. Nothing but a Power of Miracles could have sustained them and nothing but the Sense of it could have kept them within any Bounds of Duty and Obedience We see how froward and rebellious they were upon all occasions notwithstanding the wonderful Power and Presence of God continually manifest amongst them they would have been content with the Aegyptian Slavery and the Aegyptian Gods too rather than endure the Hardships of the wilderness Moses complains that they were almost ready to stone him Exod. xvii 4. and out of despondency prayed that God would kill him out of hand rather than lay so great a burden upon him Num. xi 15. And whoever can believe that Moses by his own Skill and Management could lead such a Multitude through such a Wilderness so many Years Journey can it seems believe any thing rather than the Scriptures for this is one of the most incredible things that can be conceived but it is not in the least incredible that he might do it by the Divine Power and Assistance The Children of Israel tempted God ten times by their Murmurings and their distrust of his Power and Care over them Num. xiv 22. for which many of them were puniâ—h'd with death till at last the whole number of Men that were Twenty Years old and upwards had this Judgment denoâ—nced against them That for their Murmurings but two of them by name Caleb the Son of Jephunneh and Joshua the Son of Nun should be suffered to enter into the promised Land and the rest should all die in the Wilderness but that after
Fact to be known to any single Person 2. Having shewn That the Matters of fact and Miracles contained in the Books of Moses as they are related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested and that if we may credit that Relation all the Miracles there mention'd were certainly wrought by him since they are of that nature that the People of Israel could not be deceived in them I now proceed to shew That the Relations there set down are a true Account of those things and such as we may depend upon For if these Matters of Fact or Miracles are either feigned or falsified this must be done either in Moses's his time or afterwards and if in his time then either by Moses and Aaron with others who were concerned in carrying on the Design or by the whole People of Israâ—l together And if it were done after Moses his death then again it must be done either by some particular Man or by the contrivance of some few or more together or it must have been by the joint Knowledge and consent of the whole Nation I will therefore prove 1. That the Miracles could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any Confederacy or Combination of Men after the death of Moses 3. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books invented or falsified by the joint Consent of the whole Nation either in Moses's time or after it 1. These Things could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design It is plain that they could never invent such an Account as that of their miraculous Escape out of Aegypt and their Travelling in the Wilderness under the conduct and support of the same miraculous Power and then impose it upon the People of Israel for Truth For the People are supposed to be chiefly concerned in the whole Relation Moses appeals to their own sense and experience The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers but with us even with us who are all of us here alive this day Deut. v. 3. And know you this day for I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God his greatness his mighty hand and his stretched-out arm and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Aegypt unto Pharaoh the king of Aegypt and unto all his land and what he did unto the army of Aegypt unto their horses and to their chariots how he made the water of the Red-sea to over flow them as they pursued after you and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day and what he did unto you in the wilderness until ye came into this place and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their housholds and their tents and all their substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did Deut. xi 2 3 4 5 6 7. Here is a Recapitulation of all the Miracles that had been wrought with an Appeal to their Senses for the Truth of them And Moses would never have made such Appeals as these if they could possibly have disproved him they could never be persuaded that they â—ame out of Aegypt after so many Plagues inflicted upon the Aegyptians to procure their Deliverance if there had been no such thing or that they were so long time in the Wilderness and that so many and so great Miracles were wrought in their sight if they had never been done before them Though Men may perhaps be persuaded to believe that their Ancestors a long time ago saw and heard things which they never saw nor heard yet a whole Nation was never supposed to have been persuaded out of their Senses at once and Moses could not attempt to make so many Men believe what they must all have known to have been false as well as himself if it had been so but he would have lard the Scene at a greater distance of time and not have brought those in as chiefly concerned in the whole business who were then alive and present to convince him of falshood And therefore if the Particulars set down in the Pentateuch be false and as ancient as Moses his time they must be invented with the knowledge and received by the consent of the whole Nation For Moses and Aaron could never so far delude so many thousands as to make them believe such variety of Matter of fact in so many and so wonderful Instances set forth and with such notorious Circumstances and appeal to the Senses of those whom they deceived whether they had not seen and perceived and had the experience of what had been done for so many years if it had been all but Fiction 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any confederacy or combination of Men after the death of Moses If the Miracles were feigned after the death of Moses either the Laws must likewise be invented or altered after his death and the Miracles inserted to procure them Authority or the Laws remained as they had been delivered by him and the Miracles only were added For the Books of Moses may be considered either as containing the Laws delivered by him or as relating the Miracles by which these Laws were ratified and established in each of which respects there could be no Forgery or Falsification For 1. The Laws themselves could not be invented nor altered or falsified because the whole Jewish State and Policy was founded upon them and could not subsist without them and therefore they must be as ancient as the Jewish Government which is confess'd on all hands to have been first erected by Moses For not only their Religious Worship but their Civil Rights and Interests depended entirely upon the Laws of Moses their Publick Proceedings and their Private Dealings one with another were all to be regulated and governed by these Laws and when any Laws are brought into constant use and practice in any Nation it is ridiculous to imagine that they can be altered and falsified and a new System of Laws introduced instead of them without the knowledge of the People governed by them or any remembrances of it left amongst them No material Alterations can be made in Laws which are of continual use and which concern every Man's Interest but they must be taken notice of and discovered by such as shall find themselves aggrieved by such Alterations But this was less practicable amongst the Jews than amongst any other People 1. Because the Distinction of their Tribes and the Genealogies which
hearing Gather the people together Men and woman and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the words of this law And that their children which have not known any thing may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it Deut. xxxi 10 11 12 13. How is it possible that any more effectual care could have been taken to secure a Law from being depraved and altered by Impostures Every seventh Day at least was set apart for the reading and learning it in their seveval Tribes throughout all the Land and then once in seven years it was read at a publick and solemn Feast when they were all obliged to go up to Jerusalem And for this purpose Moses wrot a Book of the Law which was put in the side of the Ark that it might be there for a Testimony against them if they should trangress it much more if they should make any Alterations in it And out of this Book the King was to write him a Copy of the Law Deut. xvii 1â— and this Book of the Law was found by Hilâ—iah the High-Priest in the House of the Lord 2 Cron. xxxiv 14.2 King xxii 8. For after all that the wicked and idolatrous Kings could do to suppress the Law of Moses and draw aside the People to Idolatry the Authentick Book of the Law writen by Moses himself was still preserved in Josiah's time besides the several Copies which must be dispersed throughout the Land for the use of their Synagogues and those which must be remaining in the hands of the Prophets and other pious Men. And there is little reason to doubt but that this very Book written by Moses was preserved during the Captivity and was that Book which Ezra read to the People It is by no means credible that the Prophets would suffer that Book to be lost much less that they would suffer all the Copies generally to be lost or corrupted which indeed considering the number was hardly possible Is it probable that Jeremiah would use that favour which he had with Nebuchadnezzar to any other purpose rather than for the preservation of the Book of the Law The Jews say the Ark was secured in the burning of the Temple at the time of their Captivity but it is much more probable that the Book of their Law was secured it being both more easily conveyed away and not so tempting a Prey to the Enemy We find the Law cited in the time of the Captivity by Daniel Den. ix 11. by Nehemiah Nehem. i. 8 9. and in Tobit who belong'd â—o the Ten Tribes Tob. vi 12. vii 13. And it is not to be doubted but that these and other pious Men had Copies of it by them and were very careful to preserve them Maimonides (r) Huet 〈◊〉 Prop. 41. says that Mises himself wrote out Twelve Books of the Law one for each Tripe besides that which was laid up in the side of the Ark and the Rabbins teach that every one is obliged to have a Copy of the Pentateuch by him And Ezra and Nehemiah (s) Dros dâ—â—â—â—th Sect. l. 3. c. 11. are said to have brought Three hundred Books of the Law into the Congregation assembled at their return from Captivity It is certain there were Scribes of the Law before the Captivity and in the time of it Jer. viii 8. Ezra is stiled a ready Scribe in the law of Moses and the Scribe even a Scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel And by Artaxerxes in his Letter he is called a Scribe of the law of the God of heaven Ezra vii 6 11 12. By which it appears that there were Scribes of the Law during the Captivity who were known by this solemn Stile and Character and whose care and employment it was to study and write over the Law of whom Ezra was the principal at the time of their Return It is most probable then that the Book of the Law was preserved in Moses's own Hand till the coming of the Jews from Babylon besides the Copies that were preserved in the hands of Daniel Nehemiah Ezra Zechariah and the other Prophets who were not only of unquestionable Integrity but wrote themselves by Divine Inspiration 3. Nothing is more expressly forbidden in the Books of Moses than all Fraud and Deceit and it cannot reasonably be suspected that any Man would be guilty of a Fraud of the highest nature imaginable to introduce or establish a Law that forbids it Moses had forewarned them against all such practices both in his Laws in general and by an express Prohibition Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it Deut. iv 2. And all who had any regard to the Observation of his Laws would observe this as well as other parts of it for this preserved the Authority of all the rest inviolable And if they had had no regard to the Law but had altered it as they pleased they would certainly have made such Alterations as would have gratified the People and would have taken great care to leave nothing which might give offence but the Laws of Moses are such as that without a Divine Authority to enforce them they would never have been complied with but would have been grievous to a less suspicious and impatient People than the Jews were If it be said That the Prohibition against Alterations might be added amongst other things there is no ground of probability for it but so much odds against it that a Man might as well suspect that the whole Five Books had been forged as to pitch upon that particular Verse and say that it is not genuine Besides why should Impostors insert such a Clause as would hinder them from changing any thing in the Law ever after why should they not rather reserve to themselves a liberty of changing and adding as often as they thought fit 2. As the Laws themselves could not be invented nor altered after Moses's time so neither could the Account of the Miracles wrought by him be inserted after his death by any particular Man nor by any Confederacy or Combination of Men whatsoever For if the Miracles by which the Law is supposed to be confirmed were afterwards inserted they must be intended as a Sanction to give Authority to it and keep the People in awe when they were become uneasie and disobedient under the Government of those Laws But it must needs be much more difficult to introduce Laws at first than to govern a People by them after they have been once introduced and are setled and received amongst them Indeed it is incredible how Laws so little favourable to the ease or advantage of a People which were so expensive and burthensome in there
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
afterwards attended him Deut. i. 38. and at his first entrance upon the Government God gave to him the same Divine Attestation that had before been given to Moses in their Passage through the Red-Sea And the Lord said unto Joshua This day will I begin to magnifie thee in the sight of all Israel that they may know that as I was with Moses so I will be with thee Jos iii. 7. And for a certain Demonstration that the living God was among them and would give them Victory over the Seven Nations and Possession of their Land the Priests did by God's Appointment bear the Ark before the People and as soon as their Feet were dipt in the brim of the water in the time of Harvest when the River Jordan is at the highest and overflows all its Banks the Waters divided themselves those above stood on one side in heaps and those below were cut off and sailed the Priests standing with the Ark in the midst of the River upon dry-ground till all the People were passed over and until every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua Josh iv 10. Now it is an undoubted Tradition among the Jews (u) Lightsâ— Chorograph Centur. c. 48. p. 46. That the Tents of the Israelites in the Wilderness contained a Square of Twelve Miles and that the Host took up the same space whilst they passed Jordan However this is certain that they kept at the distance of about Two thousand Cubits from the Ark when it stood in the midst of Jordan Josh iii. 4. so that the Waters must be withdrawn for many Miles in the passage of the whole Army over the River if they passed it in a Regular March and in such Order of Battle as to be able to oppose the Enemy or if they marched in a narrower Body they must be so much the longer in their passage which way soever it were it was a very great and manifest Miracle The People being all gone over and every thing performed which God had commanded the Priests with the Ark came out of the channel of the River where they had all this while stood and as soon as their feet were lift up unto the dry land beyond the Waters which stood then on an heap and did not flow down as at other times they resumed their course and returned to their place and flowed over all the banks as they did before Josh iv 8. And as a Memorial of this Miracle to all Posterity Twelve Stones were set up in the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood ver 8 9. and Twelve Stones more were taken out of Jordan whilst it was dry by Twelve Men chosen out of the People one out of every Tribe and were pitched in Gilgal ver 20. Thus did the Lord magnifie Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life v. 14. Here was a Miracle wrought in the most remarkable manner which the whole People were Witnesses to and effectual care was taken to keep up the Remembrance of it The Waters of Jordan were cut off for the passage of the Children of Israel into Canaan as the Waters of the Red-Sea had been divided to procure their escape out of Aegypt and such an Experiment was not to have been made twice if it had not been a true Miracle They were no sooner come into the promised Land but all the Males were Circumcised that Rite having been omitted in the Wilderness and were thereby disabled for War which had been a strange Policy for the Invaders of a Country to wound themselves and render themselves unfit for fight as soon as they arrived in the Coasts of the Enemy if the Canaanites had not been restrained by a miraculous Awe and Power from setting upon them as the Sons of Jacob did upon the Shechemites Gen. xxxiv before they were recovered of their soreness after Circumcision The Walls of Jericho were thrown down only by marching round it seven Days and blowing with Trumpets and this was accompanied with a Prophecy That whosoever should attempt to re-build Jericho should lay the foundation thereof in his first-born and in his youngest son should he set up the gates of it Josh vi 26. which was fulfilled in the Reign of Ahab when Hiel the Beth-elite lost his eldest Son Abiram upon his laying the Foundation of it and his youngest Son Segub upon his setting up the Gates 1 King xvi 34. These Miracles and the standing still of the Sun and Moon whilst the Israelites pursued and vanquished their Enemies and the prodigious Hail-stones cast down from Heaven which slew more of them than the Sword could do and a continued course of Victories never interrupted but for Achan's Offence struck such a mighty terror into the Canaanites that some of them sought out ways to make their peace with the Israelites by submission and others fled into foreign Countries And to shew that they conquered by a Miraculous and Divine Power not by any carnal Force or Strength Joshua by God's Command destroyed the Horses and the Chariots that he took from the Enemy Josh xi 9. which had been a strange Action in Humane Policy but by such unlikely means he subdued one and thirty Kings of the Canaanites chap. xii and then divided the Land not yet conquered amongst the Tribes of Israel being as certain of it as if they had it already in possession chap. xiii 2 7. Joshua after so many Victories and so many Miracles when the Land of Canaan came to be divided among the Children of Israel took no more for his own Inheritance than they were willing to spare him after the Land had been divided among the Tribes ch xix 49. and at last as Moses had done he appeals to their own Experience and to their very Senses for the Truth of all the Wonders and Deliverances and the mighty Works which God had wrought amongst them chap. xxiv After the Death of Joshua God raised up Judges out of several Families and Tribes with an immediate and extraordintry Commission to govern and protect his People so that there could be no private Ends or politick Designs carry'd on under the pretence of a Divine Commission But upon their Disobedience and Idolatries they were from time to time punished with Slaughter and Captivity and upon their Repentance were as constantly delivered Judges being purposely raised up to be Conquerors and Deliverers and never failing of success But besides these who were impowered by God upon extraordinary Occasions they had other Judges or Chief Magistrates to administer Justice and to preside over the Publick Affairs for the welfare of the People such were Eli and Samuel Eli was a great Example how much Fondness and Natural Affection may prevail over good and wise Men but he was more afflicted to hear that
own thoughts in a way much more free and unconfin'd than in this Life as they have more knowledge in a separate state so they must have fitter means to communicate it And since the happiness of Heaven consists in the Vision of God that is in the communications of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness God certainly can as well act upon the minds of Men in this mortal state tho we be less capable of receiving or observing the influences of his Spirit Since finite Spirits can act one upon another it is reasonable to believe that the Spirit of God the God of the Spirits of all flesh doth move and work upon the Spirits of Men that he enlightens their understandings and inclines their Wills by a secret Power and Influence in the methods of his ordinary Grace And he can likewise act upon the Wills and the understandings of some men with a clearer and more powerful Light and Force than he is pleased to do upon others in such a manner as to render them infallible in receiving and delivering his Pleasure and Commandments to the World He can so reveal himself to them by the Operations of his Holy Spirit as that they shall be infallibly assur'd of what is revealed to them and as infallibly assure others of it Which kind of Revelation is styl'd Inspiration because God doth not only move and actuate the minds of such men but vouchsafes to 'em the extraordinary Communications of his Spirit the Spirit then more especially may be liken'd to the Winds to which it is compared in Scripture for by strong convictions and forcible but gracious Impressious he breaths upon their Souls and infuses his Divine Truths into them But upon those to whom God did thus reveal himself by inward light and knowledge he did moreover bestow a power of giving external evidence by miraculous works that their pretences were real and that what they spoke was not of them but was reveal'd to them from God This inspiration the Apostles profest to have both in their Preaching and Writings and this evidence they gave of it In speaking of the Inspiration by which the Scriptures were written I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended II. I shall from thence make such inferences as may afford a sufficient answer to the objections alledged upon this subject I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended And here we must consider both the Matter and the Words of Scripture The Matter is either concerning things reveal'd and which could not be known but by Revelation or it is something which was the object of Sense and Matter of Fact as when the Apostles testify that our Saviour was crucify'd and rose again or lastly it is matter of Reason as discourses upon Moral subjects and inferences made from things reveal'd or from matter of Fact God who is a Spirit can speak as intelligibly to the spirits and minds of Men as Men can speak to the ear and in things which could not be known but by Revelation the notions were suggested and infused into the minds of the Apostles and Prophets by the Holy Ghost but they might be left to put them into their ow 〈◊〉 * Praeterea scito unumquemque Prophetam pecuâ—iare quid habere ea lingua eaque loquendi ratione quae ipsi est familiaris consueta ipsum impelli à Prophetia sua ad loquendum ei qui intelligit ipsum Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 29. Words being so directed in the use of them as to give infallibly the sense and full importance of the Revelation In matters of Fact their Memories were according to our Saviours promise assisted and confirm'd In matters of Discourse or Reasoning either from their own natural Notions or from things Reveal'd or from matters of Fact their understandings were enlightned and their Judgments strengthned And still in all cases their natural Faculties were so supported and guided both in their Notions and Words as that nothing should come into their Writings but what is infallibly true They had always the use of their Faculties tho under the infallible Direction and Conduct of the Holy Ghost and in things that were the proper objects of their faculties the Holy Ghost might only support and guide them as in matters of sense and natural Reason and Memory and in their Words and Style to express all these But in things of an higher Nature which were above their faculties and which they could have no knowledge of but from Revelation the things themselves were infused tho the words in most cases might be their own but they were preserv'd from error in the use of them by that Spirit who was to guide them into all Truth For tho the several Writers of the Scriptures might be allowed to use their own Words and Style yet it was under the infallible guidance and influence of the Spirit as when a man is left to the use of his own Hand or manner of Writing but is directed in the Sense and Orthography by one who dictates to him or assists him with his help where it is needful 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 2 Pet. 1.21 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 The Holy Ghost saith by the Psalmist to day if ye will hear his Voice Hebr. 3.7 David saith of himself the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my Tongue 2 Sam. 23.2 And God is said to speak by the hand of Moses his servant and by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Prophet 1 Kings 8.53.14.18 By which it appears that he used the Prophets as his Instruments in revealing his Will For as Miracles were by the immediate power of God though wrought by the hands of men so the Revelations were of God though spoken or written by the Prophets and Apostles But though God used them as his Instruments yet not as mechanical but as rational Instruments and as in working their Miracles they were not always necessarily determined to the place or to the persons on whom they were wrought but in general were guided to work them when they were proper and seasonable and the Actions by which they wrought them were their own though the power that accompanied them was of God so in their Doctrines they might be permitted to use their own Words and Phrases and to be guided by prudential Motives as to time and place and persons with a directive power only over them to speak and write nothing but infallible truth upon such occasions and in such circumstances as might answer the end of their Mission with which they were entrusted God promised Moses when he sent him to Pharaoh that he would be with his mouth and with Aaron's mouth and would
moved to any alteration of Judgment by it His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel Judg. 10.16 or it was shortned as the Hebrew word is literally translated in the Margin that is according to * Maimon More Nevoch Part 1. c. 41 47. Part. 3. c. 24. Maimonides the Lords mind was shortened from afflicting them or he had no longer a mind to punish them When God is said to see the meaning is that he knows what is done when he is said to hear this signifies that he understands what is said †Non enim aliquid ignorat Deus ut examinando cognosâ—â—â— â—ed sciat Deus ita dixit beatus Job ut scire alios faciat secundum illud tentat vos Deus Dominus ut sciat uâ—rum diligatis eum id est ut scire caeteros faciat Hieron in Job c. 31 6. Now I know that thou fearest God Gen. 22.12 that is now I have had the proof of it and have made it evident that I know it To prove thee to know what was in thine heart Deut. 8.2 is the same as to make that appear and become known which I know to be in thine heart Gen. 11.5 the Lord is said to come down to see the City and Tower of Babel and Gen. 18.20 Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know which implies that God is not forward or willing to punish but that he proceeds as men do in things about which they use most care and deliberation God is represented as a good Governour who is unwilling to believe ill Reports and will make a full enquiry and inspection into the case before he punish offenders or in short here is an illustration in Fact of that adorable character which God proclaims of himself the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. 34.6 God says that he could not destroy Sodom till Lot was escaped out of it Gen. 19.22 and to Moses he says Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them Exod. 32.10 But we must not imagin that the Reasons and Motives which Moses there represents to God in his prayer in behalf of the people of Israel could prevail more with him than his own infinite Wisdom and Goodness or that he could not have preserved Lot in the midst of Sodom as well as he delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego out of the Fiery Furnace But these things are thus exprest for an encouragement in Righteousness and to teach us dependance upon God for the righteous have power with God as well as with men and shall prevail Gen. 32.28 It was an exercise and trial of the Faith and Charity of Moses and is proposed as an example of Faith and Charity to all who should read that account of him Besides he was a Type of Christ and as such was to make intercession and attonement for the sins of the People Exod. 32.30 For Christ before his coming in the Flesh exercis'd his Mediatory power as to the visible administration of it by those who were appointed to be his Types and Representatives here upon Earth which may give a satisfactory account of that power which Abraham Jacob and Moses and others are said to have had with God The summ of all is that to give the more Force and Life to the Discourses of the Prophets and to render them the more effectual to the ends for which they were designed God who is by the infinite excellency of his Nature uncapable of any Passion is pleas'd to be represented as subject to Love and Anger and Hatred and all the Passions of Humanity and He who knows perfectly all events from Eternity is contented even to seem sometimes to doubt of the effects of his designs and proposals and of the events of humane Actions to shew as * Origen Philocal c. 23. Hieron Theodoret ad Ezek. 11.5 Origen St. Jerom and Theodoret have observ'd the freedom of Men and to declare that their destruction is from themselves He speaks to us in the Language of Men and assumes to himself all the Passions of humane nature that by any means sinners may be perswaded to turn to him he is described as angry and grieved at the sins of Men and as one who rejoyceth at their Repentance not that the Divine Nature can be capable of Anger or Grief or Rejoycing which imply change and imperfection and therefore must be impossible in the most absolutely perfect Being but because Men are wont to be angry when they punish and to be grieved when those do amiss whom they would have do well and are wont to rejoice when they begin to reform therefore to set forth that God will certainly punish unrepenting Sinners and receive the returning Penitent and reward the Righteous both the Goodness and Justice of God are explain'd in such terms as may most move and affect Men to shew that the punishments he inflicts will in the end be as grievous as if he receiv'd some loss and disappointment by the obstinacy of the Wicked and that he will as bountifully reward the Good as if they had done him some great benefit and kindness and had made some addition to his own Joy and Happiness which is infinite and eternal and therefore uncapable of any 3. The Decorum or suitableness of the matter in the stile of Scripture This is to be considered with respect to the Persons the Occasion and Time and Country the Rules of Decency being variable according to Circumstances not fix'd and immutable as the Precepts of Morality are * More Nevoch Par. 3. c. 8. Maimonides has observ'd that the Holy Tongue has no words to express things obscene and 't is very remarkable that in those ruder Ages as they are commonly reckon'd the Hebrews had peculiar forms of Decency in their Expressions upon all occasions which required them And to know in that signification which it hath Gen. 4.1 and in many other places of Scripture was likewise used by the Greeks and is particularly taken notice of by * Hermog de Invent. lib. 4. c. 11. Hermogenes for the modesty of it We find the Heroes of †Vid. Athenae lib. 1. c. 4. cum Casaub Animad De Antiquis illustrissimus quisque Pastor erat ut ostend it Greca Latina Lingua veteres Poetae Varro de Re Rustic lib. 2. c. 1. Homer employ'd in as mean Offices as the Patriarchs and * Herodot 6. c. 137. Herodotus declares that in Ancient Times the Greeks had no Servants but did their own work themselves or had no other help but that of their Children and 't is reasonable that their manner of speech should be suitable to their way of living
first the whole Design and Contrivance and Method and Stile of it not to criticize upon some difficult Parts of it without any regard had to the rest This is the Method used by all who would criticize with Judgment upon any Author And some Passages of Scripture are explained to our hands to be a Key as it were and a Direction to us in the Explication of others Thus whereas in one place it is said that Jesus baptized in another it is said that he baptized not and the former place is expalined to be meant not of Baptism performed by Himself but by his Disciples who baptized in his Name Joh. iii. 22. iv 1 2. III. It is reasonable to observe whether the Objections be not such as do suppose Mistakes which a Man who could write such a Discourse as they are imagined to be found in could not run into For if they be of this Nature this very Consideration is enough to take off the force of the Objection against the Authority of any Book and we must conclude that the Objections are capable of being answered and that the Mistake lies not in the Book it self but in the Readers who without sufficient Skill or Attention pass a rash Judgment upon it For by all the Rules of Reasoning an Objection may imply too much as well as prove too little to be of any force And the common Rules of Candor and Equity would prevent many Objections which are wont to be made against the Scriptures For if we will but suppose the writers of the Scriptures to have been Men of any tolerable Sense even without Inspiration they could never have committed such mistakes as some would fasten upon them We read Exod. xxxiii 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a Man speaketh unto his Friend yet Vers 20. the Lord answers Moses who had besought God to shew him his Glory Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live Would it not be impudent Trifling to pretend any Contradiction in these two Verses when they are easily understood in a consistent Sense and no Man of any Judgment can be supposed to write Contradictions and lay them so near together When it is said Act. ix 7. that the Men who journeyed with St. Paul heard a Voice but saw no man and Act. xxii 9. that they heard not the Voice of him that spake to St. Paul besides the Explications which are known and obvious to reconcile these Texts those who who will not be at the Pains to consult Expositors or to consider the Importance of the Words may be pleased to observe that St. Luke was a Man bred to Learning and this History of the Acts of the Apostles shews him to have been at least a prudent and wise Man and therefore he could never have written so palpable a Contradiction as the Objection must suppose in so small a Compass concerning one of the most remarkable Things in his whole History relating to a Person with whom he constantly travelled and convers'd I appeal to any Man whether if he had met with two such Passages which seem to contradict each other in Thucidides or Xenophon or even in the very worst Historian he would not be enclined rather to seek out for some way of reconciling them than to suspect that he could so soon forget what he had written so little a while before in an Account of a Thing of that Nature Of the same kind is that Difference which is between the Genealogy of Christ in St. Matthew and that in St. Luke For there is no doubt but the Genealogies of the Jews were then and long after extant in the Publick Registers (x) Ab exordio Adam usque ad extremum Zorobabel omnium generationes ita memoriter velociterque precur runt ut eos suum putes referre nomen Hieron in Tit. iii. 9. they could repeat them by heart with as much readiness as they could their own Names and to insert a wrong Genealogy had been to give up all the Arguments that could be alledg'd for our Saviour's being the Christ Nothing could be more destructive to their Cause than for the Evangelists to produce a false Pedigree when the True one might be so easily produced by any who had a mind to disprove them The Merits of their Cause wholly depended upon the Proof of Christ's Descent from Abraham and David and therefore whatever Difficulties there may now be thought to be in this Twofold Genealogy it was certainly acknowledged by those of that Age and beyond all Dispute or else it would never have been produced by the Evangelists or had for ever ruined their Cause if they had produced it Some Crimes are too great to charge upon Men of any Credit or Reputation and some Errors are so notorious that no Man of common Prudence can be supposed to commit them And therefore when we find an Author rational and consistent in other parts of a Discourse the ordinary Ingenuity and Condor of Mankind will hinder us from supposing him to commit gross and palpable mistakes and it is great disingenuity and folly to shew the less Respect to any Author because he is at least believed to have written by Inspiration or to deny him the Respect due to a Man because God has enabled him to write Infallible Truth IV. If any Contradictions be framed or forced from the various Readings the difficulties in Chronology or whatever elsé of this Nature is to be found in the Disputes of Criticks they prove no more against the Authority of the Scriptures than they do against the Authority of all other Books in the World unless it could be shewn that these Difficulties could not happen in a Book written by Divine Inspiration but that it must be first written in such a manner as to afford no occasion for Disputes and that it must be ever after so preserved by a constant Miracle that it may be subject to none of the Accidents and Casualties to which all other Books are liable On the contrary it can never be proved that God might not permit Books written by Inspiration to be obnoxious to any such Casualties as are not prejudicial to the End and Design of a Revelation But if the necessary points of Doctrine be preserved entire and the Evidence of Matters of Fact be sufficient to prove the Truth of the Miracles and Prophecies in Confirmation of that Doctrine all lesser Matters may be lest to the same contingencies which befall all other Books in the World That the Evidence is very clear and full in Proof both of the Prophecies and Miracles which demonstrate to us the Divine Authority of the Scriptures has been already shewn and if no more could be produced than has by me been brought to prove their Authority yet unless this can be proved to be insufficient from some mistakes or defects in it no such Objections can invalidate it Because no Man can prove that God