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A49908
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A treatise of the causes of incredulity wherein are examin'd the general motives and occasions which dispose unbelievers to reject the Christian religion : with two letters, containing a direct proof of the truth of Christianity / translated from the French of Monsieur Le Clerc.; De l'incredulité. English
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Le Clerc, Jean, 1657-1736.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing L827; ESTC R19200
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151,596
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339
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several Revelations and every where supposes that they were very frequent as all those who have read the Book of Genesis know very well But it appears that Men made not a very good Use of them The Egyptians one of the most antient and happy Nations in the World were already in his time infected with a shameful Idolatry * See Exod 8.16 32.4 which made them worship Beasts The Cananeans were also Idolaters as he says †Lev. 20. 2. Numb 25.3 c. in many Places and liv'd a very wicked Life There is no likelihood that the other neighbouring Nations made a better Use of those antient Revelations or the Light of Reason which God has given to all Men. So that there was not one Nation that could boast to have improv'd the Talents it receiv'd from Heaven as it ought to do and if God had given them up to their Darkness and Wickedness none of them could have justly complain'd of him Notwithstanding to pass by the Nations whose History is not well known to us God being mov'd with Compassion towards Men would not permit that Idolatry and corrupt Manners should as it were overflow the whole World He continu'd to reveal himself more particularly to the Family of Abraham and his Posterity and to make those Revelations more useful and hinder them from being corrupted by the Mixture of the false Opinions of other Nations he order'd the Israelites to frame a Commonwealth by it self and forbad them to converse much with their Neighbours To frame that Commonwealth and enable it to maintain it self till he should think fit to call the other Nations to the same Knowledg the Hebrews had he gave them some Laws the Observation whereof he requir'd under most severe Penalties There are several things to be observ'd in those Laws which may help us to see the Wisdom contain'd in them but it will suffice to say that some of them are grounded upon the very Constitution of Nature and humane Society so that all Nations are bound to observe them at least in some measure and that they cannot be violated without hurting the Society They are call'd Moral Laws The other do so concern the Commonwealth of the Hebrews in particular that other Men are not the worse for not observing them and they are call'd Political Laws Lastly the other concern the Ceremonies which God would have to be observ'd in his Worship They are stil'd Ceremonial Laws The first sort of Laws as those which command to acknowledg a God and to worship him to honour our Parents and to do to our Neighbour as we would be done by that sort of Laws I say was approv'd by the wisest Heathen Legislators and Philosophers and Jesus Christ has since confirm'd them The necessity of those Laws can't be doubted of seeing they can't be neglected without feeling the dismal Effects of that Neglect and seeing the Nature of humane Society necessarily requires the Observation of those Laws it can't be doubted but that they are worthy of him to whom humane Nature owes its Origin Tho this is manifest it would be an easy thing to shew that several Nations had many Laws contrary to them because the Interests and Passions of some private Men prevail'd above the publick Good Lest therefore the Light that was contrary to those ill Customs should be wholly extinguish'd among Men it was necessary that there should be at least one Nation upon Earth in which good and sound Laws should be so clearly and undeniably establish'd that no body could doubt of them This we find among the Jews God himself deliver'd part of those Laws with his own Mouth and acquainted them with the rest by a Prophet whom he authoriz'd with Miracles Those Laws are as I said equally necessary at all times and in all places in order to the Peace and Happiness of humane Society but because it was necessary that the Commonwealth of the Jews should not be mix'd with other Nations lest those Laws should be destroy'd God gave them some other Laws accommodated to the Genius of that People and to their State in the Land of Canaan which they were to possess Such are the Political and Ceremonial Laws the chief Excellency of which consists in having nothing that is contrary to the Moral Laws and in being suted to the People who receiv'd them One may easily perceive that the Political and Ceremonial Laws of Moses contain nothing that 's contrary to the Moral ones but to convince ones self that God could give no Laws more sutable to the State and Genius of the Jews one ought to have a competent Knowledg of the Manners of the Nations among which they had liv'd and with which they were then surrounded Those who have appli'd themselves to that Study have found out that a great part of those Laws were like those of the neighbouring Nations and that they were also ‖ See my Commentary upon the Pentateuch contrary to them in several things so that it may be said that God accommodating himself to the Genius of the Israelites took care so to distinguish the Form of their Commonwealth and Worship from that of their Neighbours that it was impossible they should mix themselves with them as long as they should observe those Laws I will not come to the Particulars of those Facts because I have treated of them at large in the Latin Book which I just now quoted in the Margin As God had settl'd those Laws chiefly by his Authority or that of a Prophet authoriz'd with Miracles so he still requir'd the Observation of them not only by the ordinary Magistrates who might themselves neglect them in time but also by several Prophets whom he sent to the Jews from time to time to censure them for their Vices and excite them to obey him by some Rewards and Punishments which they preach'd in his Name All the Laws that have relation to a certain State of a Nation which makes them useful and necessary do evidently suppose that they are only good as long as that State lasts and such were the Political and Ceremonial Laws of the Jews Notwithstanding the Law-giver who would give no body an occasion of breaking his Laws on pretence that they were no longer necessary and so of overthrowing the Commonwealth of the Jews before the time speaks every-where of them as of eternal Laws He kept to himself the Power of abrogating them when the time should come lest the Jews should do it unseasonably and atter a manner contrary to his Intention In the mean time the Prophets whom he sent to keep the Jews to their Duty or to bring them to it were order'd to say many things which by degrees dispos'd that People to what was to happen some time or other that is to see themselves mix'd with all the other Nations and to observe only such Laws as are of an eternal Use and grounded on the Constitution of humane Nature For example Jeremiah
Disciples of the Apostles said in all Places that not only Jesus of Nazareth whom the Jews had crucify'd did work numberless Miracles whilst he dwelt among Men but that he also left the same Power to his Apostles and that in effect they wrought Miracles every Day What could be said more to excite the Curiosity of the Jews They were not in the Judgment of the Epicureans who thought no Miracles were to be wrought nor did they believe that God would send them no more Prophets to work any on the contrary they expected the Messias the greatest of all the Prophets And notwithstanding they gave so little heed to what the Apostles said that the Chief of their Nation never took notice of 'em unless it was to use 'em ill without examining in the least the Ground of their Doctrine We have two Jewish Authors who liv'd in the time of the Apostles namely Philo and Joseph but nevertheless they did not vouchsafe to inform themselves about these Matters as may be seen by their Writings Philo wrote a great many Books whereof the most part are allegorical Discourses upon the Old Testament now in some of these he had a thousand Occasions to mention the Gospel if he had any Idea of it If he disbeliev'd the Truth of it he should at least have endeavour'd to confute it somewhere but he says not a word for or against it which is sign enough that he knew not what it was I know very well how Eusebius * Hist Ecclesiast l. 2. c. 17. See Jos Scaliger l. 7. de Emendat Temp. Valesius upon Eusebius and Thomas Brown in his Dissertation concerning the Therapeutes and some learned Men after him pretended that the Therapeutes of Alexandria whose Encomium is written by Philo in one of his Pieces were Christians But nothing except a desire of confounding the Jews by their own Authors could discover Christians to Eusebius and those that followed him in the Description of the Therapeutes where one Syllable is not spoken of Jesus Christ nor of his Doctrine and where all that Philo says does perfectly quadrate to some of the Esseans who form'd as 't is well known a particular Sect among the Jews The Desire of convincing Infidels should not induce us to make use of weak Proofs against them for certainly such Methods must needs render 'em more averse to Christianity What I have now said will be easily granted me by Men of any tolerable Reading or Judgment But it may be disputed with respect to †Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 4 8. Joseph by reason of a Passage or two produc'd out of him wherein he speaks of Jesus Christ This is not the Place to examine these Passages which learned Men ‖ See Le Fevre in his Critical Letters believe were inserted by some Christian into the Text of Joseph But be this as it will 't is manifest that Joseph says nothing of the Slaughter of the Children whereof St. Matthew speaks nor of most part of the Circumstances of the Life of Christ nor of his Doctrine nor can he be suppos'd by any to have been acquainted with Christianity except by such as never read his Works Had he known a part of the Discourses and Miracles of Jesus Christ he would not have been content to mention him only en passant and in so few Words he would be large upon that Subject no doubt as it well deserv'd It may be therefore positively affirm'd that Joseph how exact soever reputed to be in other Matters did shamefully neglect informing himself about the Christian Religion altho nothing could have been more easy for him Nor can any Excuse be pleaded on the behalf of the Heathens who liv'd at that time or a little after and that notwithstanding their Acquaintance with some Christians yet never desir'd to know what Christianity it self was * Annak l. 15. c. 44. Tacitus †Ep. l. 10. Plinius and ‖ In Claud. c. 25. Suetonius have spoken of it and wanted not Opportunities to understand it tho it appears they did not They were polite and learned Men and had spent according to the Custom of those Ages a great deal of time in the Study of the Greek Philosophy Now this Philosophy was not upon any account comparable to the Doctrine or Morals of the Gospel nor could the Learned of Rome neglect these things only because Barbarians as the Grecians spoke had declar'd them for they well knew that the most famous Sages of Greece had undertaken long Voyages to the Barbarians to learn their Opinions What made them contemn the Christians then We need not seek for any other Reason but a scandalous Neglect proceeding from the predominant Passion of most People for ordinarily they apply themselves only to what is esteem'd in the World and that may contribute to have them taken notice of in the Places of their Abode The Literature and Philosophy of the * See the Preface of Diogen Laertius Greeks were for a long time in great Repute at Rome and Persons of the first Quality did value themselves upon these sorts of Knowledg but the Gospel was unknown there because it contain'd not any Doctrine proper to add more Lustre to such as did aspire to the greatest Dignities Something of this Nature made the Athenians neglect the Opportunity they had in their Hands of understanding the Gospel when St. Paul was in their City to preach it if they would hear him and questionless they would have heard him had they as much good Sense as they had Vanity At the very first they call'd him a Babler Acts 17.18 22. and after listening a while to him about the Resurrection of the Dead some of 'em laugh'd at him others put him off till some other time and there were but a small Number of them that receiv'd the Doctrine which he preach'd to them This proceeded in part from a blameable Neglect that would not let them inform themselves throughly about what St. Paul declar'd altho on the other side the Athenians and the Strangers who follow'd their Studies there were Men of much Leisure and great Lovers of News Ver. 21. But the Apostle not teaching his Doctrine after the manner of the Philosophers they were wont to hear whether in regard of the Method or the Elocution they were out of Conceit with his Discourses Let us suppose with them that the outward Appearance of S. Paul was not so taking as that of their Philosophers but should this extinguish their Curiosity Is Truth always necessarily accompanied with Eloquence None of them durst maintain such a thing Notwithstanding S. Paul's being there did 'em no good and they neglected acquainting themselves with his Doctrine which was infinitely more reasonable than that of their Philosophers They lost a world of time in the Study of very ridiculous Doctrines as were the Physicks of all their Philosophers without excepting any and the Morals of the greatest part