probable that a Prince especially of his Temper would have submitted to such a Confinement and meekly resign'd his Crown to his Son if that punishment inflicted upon him had not fully convinced him of the Divinity of that Law which he had transgressed and violated by his Temerity and Presumption The Third Reflexion is that the greatest part of those Laws being intended by God to inspire his people with an Irreconcileable Aversion against all those Nations amongst whom they were going to settle they were so framed as not only to be opposite to the Laws and Customs of Egypt from whence they came but also to those received amongst the Hivites Amorites and other Nations of whose Countries they were going to possess themselves Thus we find in the XVIII of Leviticus Laws against all Incestuous Marriages which without doubt were ordinary amongst the Canaanites and Egyptians who therein follow'd the Examples of the Ancient Patriarchs who Married within those forbidden Degrees there we find also the Sacrifices to Moloch forbidden the practice whereof those Nations in all likelihood defended by the Example of Abraham's Sacrifice Now it cannot reasonably be thought that a whole Nation would of a suddain receive such Laws as deprived them of a Liberty and Freedom they had always hitherto enjoyed and condemn of their own accord those Sacrifices that had the fairest pretence of Religion imaginable and to use many Ceremonies contrary to those received amongst them if they had not had a strong and extraordinary Motive for so doing There is another thing besides that challenges our Consideration viz. the exact Description which God gave to Moses of the Tabernacle of the several parts of the Ceremonial Worship which was to be performed in that Sacred place and of the manner how this Tabernacle with all its Appurtenances Utensils and Ornaments was finished For as this Tabernacle was then the Centre of the whole Jewish Religion as the Temple was afterwards by succeeding to it so it was a solemn proof of the Divinity of Moses's Laws and of the Worship that was performed there Is it conceivable that a whole Nation should contribute to the building of it should see it Consecrated and taken to pieces and set together again every day and should read all the particulars relating to its Construction and not discern whether there was any truth and reality in all that was told them concerning the Religion which their Governour fixed in that place wherein he pretended many Revelations were made CHAP. VI. Some other Proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and Promulgated BUt if it is so easie to establish the Divinity of the Law of Moses by shewing the truth of the Matter of Fact according to the manner of God's Promulgation as Moses relates it we may further collect the truth of it by joyning these following Reflexions to those already made in the foregoing Chapters Certainly if Moses had been the first Founder of a Kingdom and had been succeeded in it by his own Children and Posterity for many Generations one after another we might perhaps have had some ground to suspect that his Successors consulting their own Interest and Honour would have been very glad to perswade their Subjects that the first Founder of their Kingdom had some Communication with God and that it was from him he received the Laws and Constitutions which he gave them concerning Civil and Religious Matters But it is observable that Moses was so far from investing his own Children with the Supream Authority after himself that he Translated it into another Tribe and Constituted Joshuah of the Tribe of Ephraim for his Successor in the Government as for his Posterity he took little care of it but reduced it to a Rank inferiour to that of Aaron's Family which he preferr'd to the most honourable Functions of the Priesthood leaving to his own the meanest and most inconsiderable Employments all which shews evidently that none of those who came after Moses were moved by any private Interest of their own to defend the Truth and Authority of his Laws and Writings but only by the certain knowledge they had that they were all Divine Neither ought we to omit to consider here the manner how Moses decides beforehand such Questions and determines such Controversies as could not be raised but after the Conquest of Canaan which was made by his Successor only after his Death And how those Laws were constantly observed in all the succeeding Generations of that people and submitted unto by the very Judges and Kings themselves tho there be nothing more common than for a Conqueror such as Joshua was to admit of no other Fundamental Laws in that State he is the Founder of than those which he is the Author of nothing is more usual than for Statesmen to affect the exposing the Conduct of their Predecessors especially when the form of Government is altered and from Democratical or Aristocratical is changed into Monarchical as it happened amongst the Israelites How then could Moses's Laws still keep up their Authority in all Changes and Revolutions How comes it to pass that in all the Successions of Judges and Kings there was never any of them attempted to suspend or annul Moses's Laws much less to enact and give any others contrary to them Again how came it to pass that in all the Divisions and Factions that Nation fell into there was never any Jew endeavour'd with any success to undeceive the rest of his own people so as to make them shake off the troublesom Yoke of Moses's Laws No doubt only because the generality of that Nation never disputed the Divine Origin and Authority of them It were an easie thing to demonstrate by the whole Series of the Jewish History that all those Laws which in Moses's Writings are inlay'd one within another and represented as occasion'd by several Transactions related there have all been equally received of the Jews and have all been put together in a Body by themselves before Moses's Death as it may be proved out of the XXXI of Deuteronomy It appears that those Laws were publick and in great esteem amongst that People to whom God gave them upon whom he laid an indispensable Obligation to read them every day and to consult them upon every emergent business It appears that they were known equally of all degrees of Men Sexes and Ages which were all obliged to pay Obedience to them upon pain of Death It appears that those Laws were not only publickly kept in the Tabernacle but also privately read in every Family We see that a whole Tribe viz. the Tribe of Levi was appointed by God to explain them and in order to that they were dispersed throughout the whole Land of Canaan and exempted from the Cares and Troubles that necessarily attend Husbandry by the plentiful Provision of Tithes and Offerings that was allotted to them We see that God obliged all Jews to read and meditate
get himself reputation by exciting a Curiosity in people for his Books This would not have been becoming the Gravity and Wisdom of so great a Legislator of whom all succeeding Ages have borrowed their Laws It is apparent that his end in the recording of these Matters was to inspire with a sense of Piety and Religion those who were committed to his charge This is that which in general we may observe about these Matters but more particularly it is certain that Moses his end in recording the Oracles by which God promised to Abraham the establishing his Posterity in the land of Canaan was to represent to the Jews the right they had to that Land according to the design and intent of the Divine Wisdom But without making this particular Reflexion it is clear that the Law took its beginning at the twelfth of Exodus where God prescribes to his People the manner of celebrating the Passover at least this is the first Law which God gave them through the Ministry of Moses but forasmuch as Moses his end was to justifie in the minds of his People the design he had to make them leave Egypt as well as their pretensions to the Land of Canaan whither he was to lead them it was natural for him to lay before them the ground of those Pretensions which he could not do without relating the whole Series of the History until the time of their Bondage in Egypt which we read in Genesis the greatest part of which only concerns the Ancestors of that People after that Moses had first laid down the grounds of Religion and that which was known to all Nations Let us now imagin to our selves a Man endeavouring all of a suddain to introduce into the World the belief of things so far distant from common apprehension as these two points must needs be viz. That of the Creation and the Promise of Christ in case we suppose them generally unknown Let us yet further conceive a Man not only relating those things but making them the foundation of a new sort of Laws never before heard of Is there any Wit or Judgment in such an undertaking Can we therefore suppose that Moses whose Writings testifie his great Wisdom should ever have entertain'd such unaccountable thoughts I dare aver that there was any never Legislator so stupid and inconsiderate as to pretend to engage a whole people to submit themselves to the yoke of obedience and to receive a great number of Laws respecting their Civil Government and Religion by declaring to them two Fictions of which they had never before had the least Idea It is also very considerable that these things are not recited by Moses as a Preface to the Decalogue as if then first they had been proposed to Moses or the People by God but Moses sets them down as Truths known to them all and as Principles universally admitted and such as the meer mentioning of them could not but strongly engage the Jews to render a ready obedience to the Laws which God gave to Moses in their presence of the Divine Authority of which their very Senses were convinc'd Let us also consider the nature of those things the Relation of which Moses has joined with these two General Points to make an impression on the Minds of the Jews Let us consider the account he gives them of their Ancestors nearer or farther off whom he represents as equally inform'd of these Matters as having severally delivered the knowledge of them to their Children and having join'd to these first Truths of the Creation and the Promise of a Saviour many other Notions thereon depending and which tied their hopes and expectations to the Land of Canaan And now judge whether Moses were not to be accused of great folly and senselesness if he had proceeded to make such a vast People all of the sudden to receive for Truths publickly and generally owned what indeed was nothing but the most ridiculous and ill cohering Romance that ever was broached Now since as it is visible taking in the Circumstances I have hinted that the Authority of such an Historian and Law-giver as Moses was relating such importent Matters cannot be call'd in question it follows that the Atheist can have nothing to object against his Testimony with the least shadow or pretence of reason So that we may already assert that there is nothing better attested than the Creation of the World and the Promise of Christ which are the immoveable Foundations of the Christian Religion Nevertheless for a more evident Conviction we are willing before we draw this Conclusion to make it appear how weak and inconsiderable all those Objections are which Atheists can possibly frame against what Moses relates concerning these Matters What can they with Reason object Perhaps they 'l say that Moses is not the Author of Genesis but that it was foisted in under his Name and consequently that whatsoever is built upon the Authority of Moses and his evidence is all without ground Or they may object that if Moses be indeed the Author of Genesis that he lived at such a distance of time from the things which he relates that it makes void the authority of his Writings They may moreover alledge that Moses relates things impossible and of which therefore those that mentioned them before the things themselves being so long since past and done could not be fully inform'd of and that they may well be suppos'd greatly changed and alter'd by a Tradition of so many Ages They may also alledge that according to the common Opinion Moses penn'd not these things as an Historian but as a Prophet and that the apprehension of most concerning his Books are that he wrote of things whereof the knowledge before his time was very obscure and confuse or rather were generally unknown They may object against these relations of Moses that which the most ancient People such as the Aegyptians Chaldeans and Chinese alledge for their Antiquity which far surpasseth the date of the World according to Moses These are the principal ways to assault the Truths which Moses relates either by maintaining with the Atheists on one hand that the things which Moses relates are indeed mentioned by other Authors but that they forged them themselves or that Moses being an able and refin'd Politician design'd by Creating a belief of these Matters in the Jews to make them more submissive and obedient to him In a Word it may be said that supposing the Book of Genesis to be writ by Moses it was an easie matter for him to dictate whatsoever he pleased to a People who were under a Law that made it Capital to call in question the truth of his Relations or the Authority of his Laws This certainly is the farthest to which the height of Obstinacy can carry this matter and the very last refuge of the strongest prejudice But it is an easie matter to confound the Atheists and Libertines in every one of these Articles and
little more than forty years interval betwixt the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Bondage of the Israelites under the Neighbouring Nations Had it not been a fit time then to cast off the Yoak of Moses's Laws and to publish the pretended Lies and Impostures of his History Was not the Comparison which the Israelites could easily make betwixt the Mosaick Writings and the Tradition generally received in the Countrey of their Captivity a natural and ready means to undeceive them Yet notwithstanding all this we see that they obstinately entertain the belief of the several Transactions recorded by Moses and stand firmly to all their Pretensions Nay we see them have recourse to the Remedy of Repentance which Moses prescribed them to use in those sad Misfortunes which he foretold should befal them and out of which he promis'd at the same time that God would miraculously deliver them which indeed was done accordingly even fourteen times within less than four hundred years as is manifest from the Book of Judges Can there then be a more pregnant Argument that if Moses made it Death by one of his Sanctions for any of the Israelites to contest the truth either of his Writings or of his Oracles and Miracles it was not to force the belief of them without examination but rather only to prevent the corruption of that People and their mingling and confounding themselves with the Heathens which God intended to hinder on purpose because he would have the Messiah to be born according to his Promise out of that Nation which to effect he thought fit in his infinâ—â—e Wisdom to employ the rigour of some Capital Laws to keep that people unmixt and distinguish'd from all other Nations of the World till the Messiah was born CHAP. XXII The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis THese several Observations which I have made upon the Book of Genesis are all I think very natural and easie and if I am not mistaken sufficient to prove solidly the truth of Moses's Account of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah which is the foundation of the Christian Religion The Conclusion that I draw out of the Premises is That First I assert that Moses that famous Hebrew who was design'd to be the Heir of Pharaoh's Daughter is the true and sole Author of the Book of Genesis Secondly I maintain that this being once granted he could not according to his way of Writing record those important Transactions he relates otherwise than they really came to pass Thirdly I maintain that tho he had not been an Eye Witness of the Creation of the World yet he hath made the Description of it according to such an Authentick Tradition as cannot be reasonably doubted of because it was then the Universal Tradition not only of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and of the Edomites who were all of Sem's Posterity and amongst whom he had been travelling for forty years together but also of the Egyptians of his own People and in a word of all Men then living in the World. Fourthly I maintain that he never was found fault with nor contradicted till true Reason and Sence if I may say so was lost and banish'd from amongst Mankind till the Egyptians for example they who used before to look upon the Greeks as meer Children and Ideots were fallen into so great a Stupidity and Deprivation of Sence as to believe and maintain that Men were first born in Egypt because forsooth Frogs did naturally as they thought breed out of their Muddy Fenns and Marshes Fifthly I maintain that for many Ages after Moses no body did ever publickly declare for the Eternity of the World nor yet for its Fortuitous Production These Opinions are meer Absurdities and Chimeras brought forth into the World by the Chaldeans and Greeks only about Alexander's time or perhaps an hundred years before him i. e. about eleven or twelve hundred years after Moses's Decease Sixthly I maintain that seeing there is no particular time to be found wherein the reading of the Law was interrupted and discontinued for any considerable time amongst the Jews seeing it continues still to this very hour amongst them every Sabbath day in the several places of the World wherein they are dispersed and seeing besides that it is certain that this Law which enjoyns the Observation of the Sabbath in remembrance of the Creation could never be imposed upon them without their perceiving and declaring presently the Novelty and Supposition of that Account and consequently of the Book wherein it is related Seeing all this is certain I do positively maintain that the truth of the Creation can never be better proved than it is by the Book of Genesis because in it Moses hath followed the Tradition of all the Ages that preceded him and only recorded in Writing what was then generally known of all Men in the World and that in a time when every Man was able to run his own Pedigree up to Adam Lastly I maintain that as the certainty of the Creation cannot reasonably be doubted of without rejecting at the same time all those Proofs from Facts which I have brought to strengthen my Assertion So there is all the reason in the World to entertain the belief of it as of a matter of Fact which is indisputable As being Related by the most Ancient Historian Confirmed by the most Ancient Tradition Believed by the most Ancient People of the World who did not only believe it but also had always had according to God's Command the Memory of it Celebrated amongst them and their Ancestors in all their Generations fifty two times in a Year from the very beginning of the World. REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PREFACE WHen I began at first these Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis I design'd only to demonstrate the certainty of the Creation of the first Man and so to shew by Arguments from matters of Fact that neither the Creation of the World nor yet the Promise of the Messiah which God made to Man after his sin can reasonably be disputed or doubted of I design'd after that to establish the truth of Christ's Resurrection by such another undeniable Argument viz. by shewing that the Apostles were Eye Witnesses of it and instituted a solemn Day in every Week to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of it amongst Men from their time down to the end of the World. And this I thought was sufficient to demonstrate the truth of the Christian Religion For as the Jews by the continual Celebration of the Sabbath every Week could easily run back to the Creation of the World which was the occasion of the Institution of the Sabbath so the Christians may by the Weekly Observation of the Lord's day prove Christ's Resurrection which occasioned the Institution of the Lord's day If we consider the
longer preserve the Tradition of 2000 years as they had done till Moses's time God was of necessity obliged to make use of some other means to supply that defect He had already made use of several before amongst which was that which we find prescribed Deut. XXVII where he ordered the building of an Altar with rough stones whereupon the Names of the twelve Tribes and the whole Law were to be ingraved He afterwards follow'd other Methods and thus we see that Samuel following Moses and Joshuah's Example repeats before a Solemn Assembly of the people met at Gilgal for the Consecration of Saul the things that came to pass during the Government of Bedan or Sampson of Jepthah and his own But yet the best way was to fix this people to one Tabernacle wherein we see that besides the Monuments which preserved the Memory of the great Miracles that God had wrought at the Foundation of the Jewish Common-wealth as the Pot of Manna Aaron's Rod that blossom'd the Plates of the Altar that had been made out of the Censers of Corah Dathan and their Confederates One see 's that the Law and the Books of the Covenant were deposited there by God's order and the principal Transactions and Deliverances that were wrought by God in the behalf of that people were continually Celebrated with Hymns and other Tokens of publick Thankfulness It was no doubt upon this account that he caused the Book of the Law to be laid up there with many Ceremonies and Expiations and that he enjoyned it to be read publickly in the presence of the whole Congregation every seven years One see 's that he commanded that every Family should read this Book continually and that all should entertain their Wives and Children from their tenderest years with the design of the Law Night and Day in the Countrey and in the Town at all times and in all places One see 's that God engaged them to it not only by an express command but also by an indispensible necessity because he made it death for any Man to violate any of those Ceremonial Laws from a principle of obstinacy no pardon could be obtained for the Transgressions committed through ignorance before they were expiated by certain Sacrifices the Forms whereof were scrupulously prescribed in the Law and which could be violated upon no account whatever If one considers those things he may say that the Jews had scarce one moment free in their Lives so pressing was the necessity which lay upon them to consult the Law of God the regulations of which were so very exact and particular that there no actions publick or private could happen but what were regulated and determined by those Constitutions If a Beast was born the Owner was to examine whether it was the first-born or no whither it was clean or unclean and whither it was to be Redeemed with several other things of this nature If a Woman was big with Child there were many questions to be asked When she came to Lie-in several very different Ceremonies were practis'd according as the Child was a first-born or not The Law enjoyned various Purifications according as the Woman brought forth a Son or a Daughter God had prescribed a great number of Laws for all the Accidents of Life for Marriages for Successions for Funerals for Mourning for unforeseen Accidents as the Death of a Man that was kill'd without the design of his Murtherer for the several Crimes that might be committed in their several Pollutions and Sequestrations c. It seems that this whole people from the time that they came to the use of their reason to the time of their Death was still continually obliged to keep up a Correspondence with the Priests and Levites whom God had for this purpose dispersed amongst all the Tribes of Israel and to consult the Law and the Testimony to be instructed in the manner of governing themselves But particularly they were to look upon the Temple and the Tabernacle as the Center of their whole Religion And how could they do this without carrying their Prospect at the same time to those great Promises of the Messiah of which the Israelites were Depositaries I say upon those Promises which raised up so many Jealousies betwixt their Forefathers and the Ancestors of those Neighbouring Nations with whom they had always some Controversie and were to be considered as glorious and honourable to the whole Nation CHAP. XXII That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah BUt if we find in Moses's Law a severe restriction in all that belongs to the execution of the Promise of the Messiah which shews that God intended to have that Nation distingnish'd from all others till the Blessed Seed was come if we find that he restrained that Promise to one Tribe one Town one Family one particular individual person in that Family that they might not be to seek in a confused Crowd of a whole people made up of several Millions of persons or in a whole Tribe or even in a City filled up with several Families If upon this account his Birth was restrained to one People one Tribe one little Town and one single Family which was setled there the Jews could not but observe that it was God's design to break all those Restrictions and to follow quite another Method when the Messiah was once come For in the First place the first Promise of the Messiah was express'd in very general Terms which mentioned a common benefit to all the Sons of Adam This Promise was made before God had rejected Cain's Posterity by preferring that of Seth it was made before the Restriction was made to Noah in Seth's Family and to Shem in Noah's Family Secondly God who by Circumcision had distinguished Abraham and his Posterity from the rest of the Family of Sem did expresly promise to Abraham that in his Seed all the Nations of the World should be blessed This Promise was made also before God had restrained the Promise to the person Isaac in prejudice of Ishmael and then afterwards to the person of Jacob in the prejudice of Esau Thirdly One see 's this same Truth yet more clearly explained out of Jacob's Oracle concerning Judah Gen. XLIX wherein Jacob expresly foretels that the Messiah should be the expectation of the Nations that is to say the Comfort the Glory the Hope and the Joy of all the Nations of the Universe As this was a Capital Truth so God proposed it by Balaam at the Israelites entring into Canaan that they might thus understand that all those distinctions which their separation living in Canaan from the rest of the World might keep up were not always to last But this particularly appears out of Moses's Law which allows of several sorts of Proselytes receiving some without tying them to the observance of all the Ceremonies in the Law which it would never have done
examine their Principles and confute them which is the easiest thing in the World the Wisest Men having formerly acknowledged as they also own to this very day that there is but one God. And indeed it seems that the greatest part of Philosophers did own a plurality of Gods only in compliance with the Opinions of the people which it was dangerous to contradict And as for the Jews forasmuch as they agree with the Christians and Mahometans about the Vnity of God we are only to prove to them the truth of that which is the very Essence of the Christian Religion in opposition to their prejudices One may prove this against the Jews without any trouble because they are agreed in most of those Principles which the Christian Religion supposes So likewise it is easily established against the Mahometans who grant the truth of Christian Religion in general but pretend that it ought to give place to Mahometanism as the Law ought to give place to the Gospel preach'd by Jesus Christ My design is not to prosecute every one of these ways in particular There are Books enough in the World which solidly prove the necessity of Religion against all sorts of Atheists as well those who are so through ignorance as those who profess themselves such from Love to Libertinism and to pass for Men of a mighty reach There are also several Famous Authors who have made it evident that Reason alone is sufficient to overthrow all Pagan Religions whatsoever I am resolved to follow a more compendious and sure Method that is to demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion considered by it self In short It is impossible considering the opposition there is between the Christian Religion and all other Religions in the World that the Christian Religion should be the true but that all others must be false in those Articles wherein they essentially differ from it And on the other hand one cannot explain those Arguments which clearly evince the truth of Christianity without convicting all other Religions of falsehood because they are destitute of those proofs which are peculiar to the Christian Religion I know very well that there are several ways which lead to the end which I propose Men that think much wish that a perfect Conformity of the Christian Religion with the Conscience of Man might be demonstrated from Reflexions on the Heart of Man and the Dictates of it which to them would be a convincing and demonstrative proof Others apply themselves to a speculative examination of the Doctrines and Proofs of the Christian Religion to shew their Conformity with the Notions of Reason I will not deny but that both these employ themselves usually in this sort of study and that Truth finds a considerable support from their Meditations But how useful soever they may be I have rather chosen to follow another course as thinking it of more advantage solidly to establish the Facts which the Christian Religion proposeth which appears to me to be more proper to perswade all sorts of Readers and better levell'd to the ordinary Capacity of those who newly enter upon the examination of this Truth And as the necessity of Revelation is generally owned by Heathens and by all other Nations of the World I thought it a thing altogether unnecessary to enter upon the examination of several abstracted Questions such as these Whether there be any natural knowledge of God whether Men are naturally inclined to be Religious and the like When I shall have firmly proved that God revealed himself that he prescribed a Service to the first Men who left the Rules of it to all their Posterity from whence all the Religion that ever was or is yet in the Heathen World was derived I shall have prevented many very unprofitable Disputes and which can only perplex the mind by their obscurity I have therefore confin'd my self to certain Considerations which do so establish the truth of the Books of the Old and New Testament as by their Vnion they firmly prove the truth of the Christian Religion I hope that it will not be thought needful for me to demonstrate that the Mahometan Religion ought not to abolish the Christian as the Christians pretend that the Christian Religion abrogated the Ceremonial part of the Jewish Worship As soon as an understanding Reader shall make some Reflexions upon the nature of the Arguments which demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion he may easily perceive that God never framed the Model of that Religion which the Mahometans would obtrude upon us THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE First Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. COncerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion Page 1 Chap. 2. That the Christian Religion is founded upon Proofs of Matter of Fact 5 Chap. 3. Some General Remarks in order to establish the Truth of Holy Scripture 8 Chap. 4. That the Testimony of Moses concerning the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah is unquestionable 16 Chap. 5. That Moses is the Author of the Book of Genesis 23 Chap. 6. That the Book of Genesis could not be forged under the Name of Moses 27 Chap. 7. That it appears from Genesis that the Sabbath was constantly observed from the beginning of the World until Moses 34 Chap. 8. That Adam was convinced of his Creation by Reason and Authority 44 Chap. 9. That Adam was confirmed by his own Experience in the perswasion he had entertain'd concerning his Creation 49 Chap. 10. That the Children of Adam had reason to be convinc'd of the Creation 52 Chap. 11. That the Children of Adam were actually convinced of the Truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah 54 Chap. 12. That Noah was fully perswaded of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah 61 Chap. 13. That the Children of Noah were convinced of the truth of these Matters 64 Chap. 14. That the Posterity of Noah 's Children were perswaded of the truth of the Creation and first Promise 67 Chap. 15. That we find the Family of Abraham and his Posterity till Jacob fully perswaded of those Truths 71 Chap. 16. That this very perswasion seems to have been kept up amongst the Posterity of Jacob until Moses 's time 81 Chap. 17. That the Tradition which gives us an Account of the perswasion which the Ancients had of the truth of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah before Moses cannot be suspected 86 Chap. 18. An Explication of Moses 's way of Writing where it is shew'd that in writing the Book of Genesis he mentioned nothing but what was then generally known 89 Chap. 19. An Answer to an Objection which may be drawn from the Histories of the Egyptians and Chaldeans concerning the Antiquity of the World. 95 Chap. 20. An Answer to the Objection which may be drawn out of the History of China against the Mosaick Hypothesis concerning the newness of the World. 106 Chap. 21. Wherein the
last Objection of Atheists is answered 120 Chap. 22. The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis 126 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. THat it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books Page 137 Chap. 2. That both the Character of Moses 's person and the nature of the things he relates has always made Men read his Books with attention 146 Chap. 3. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of 153 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the proofs of the truth of the Miracles wrought by Moses 158 Chap. 5. That Moses 's Description of the manner of God's giving him his Laws is evidently true 164 Chap. 6. Some other proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and promulgated 169 Chap. 7. That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books 173 Chap. 8. That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related by Moses 177 Chap. 9. That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis 180 Chap. 10. That the same perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death 185 Chap. 11. That Balaam 's prophesie which Moses relates is a further Argument of the same perswasion in him 188 Chap. 12. That one may see also in Moses 's Law plain Footsteps of God's Design in distinguishing these from whom he would have the Messiah to be Born. 194 Chap. 13. That the manner of God's promulgating his Law amongst the Israelites did much conduce to the distinguishing them from all other Nations 200 Chap. 14. That God seems to have designed to keep up a Spirit of Jealousie in the very Bosom of the Jewish Nation 206 Chap. 15. That Circumcision was a means of distinguishing the Israelites from other Nations 212 Chap. 16. That the Law of Moses engaged the Jews to the study of their Genealogies that they might certainly know that of the Messiah 219 Chap. 17. A Solution of some Difficulties in these Genealogies 223 Chap. 18. That the manner whereby the Law of Moses fixed the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan was to keep them separated from other Nations 228 Chap. 19. That the Law tied the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan and by several other means established the distinction betwixt Tribes and Families amongst them 234 Chap. 20. That the Laws which Moses made coneerning the state of Virginity did principally relate also to the Messiah which holds also as to several other Laws 241 Chap. 21. That it was the design of God by all these Ceremonies and particularly by that Veneration which he inspired the Jews with for the Tabernacle to preserve the Idea's of the Messiah whom he had promised in their minds by distinguishing them from all other Nations 249 Chap. 22. That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah 256 To the Courteous Reader THE Errata's are so small that they will not disturb the sense any where and so few that we need not trouble the Reader with a Table of them And therefore hope he will take such inconsiderable pains upon himself and excuse the Author REFLEXIONS UPON THE BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE For the Establishing of the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. Concerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion WE are to consider three things in the Christian Religion the Matters of Fact it propounds to us for true the Promises it affords us and the Worship it commands The Matters of Fact it propounds to us as true are that God created the World that he formed the first Man from whom the rest of mankind have been propagated that a while after this Man was created he violated the Law God had given him and that whereas he deserved to have perished for this his disobedience God was pleased instead thereof to comfort him with the hopes of a Saviour which was to be born of the Seed of his Wife that God hath actually sent this Saviour into the World which comprehends the whole Oeconomy of Christ viz. His Birth Life Preaching Miracles Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven c. The Promises it vouchsafes are the forgiveness of our Sins the Resurrection of our Bodies and a state absolutely happy for ever in Heaven And lastly the Worship or Divine Service it prescribes consists in Obedience to the Law of God in Prayer for the pardon of our Sins and his Protection and in a grateful Acknowledgement of what we owe him for all his Benefits towards us The first of these three parts of the Christian Religion viz. The Truth of the Matters of Fact it relates may be said to be the foundation of the other two viz. The Promises and Commands It is impossible to be perswaded that God hath created this World in which we live and made Mankind of one and the same blood that after the Fall he promised to save Men and did actually redeem them in sending Jesus Christ who suffer'd Death and being rais'd the third day Ascended into Heaven c. I say it is impossible to look upon these Facts as true without being assured that God will accomplish the Promises he hath made to us And it is as evident that we cannot be convinc'd of the truth of these Matters without being sensible of a strong obligation laid upon us to perform all the Duties of the Christian Religion As soon as a Man reflects upon his being Gods Creature he finds himself naturally oblig'd to obey God universally according to his utmost ability but when he comes further to believe that God did not destroy the first Man for his disobedience but was graciously pleased to promise him a Saviour for himself and all his Posterity and when moreover he is assured that God hath really sent this Saviour in the way and manner the Gospel relates to us we cannot conceive but that he must find himself under the highest engagements imaginable of rendring to God a religious obedience and believing his Promises But there is yet another obligation whereby Man is bound to obey God to pray to him and to offer him all manner of Religious Worship God by redeeming him hath obtained a new claim to and right over him and a more indispensable obligation is laid upon Man to submit himself to God in all religious Concerns as being not only created but also redeemed by him Reason acknowledgeth that if the truth of these things be once admitted nothing can be more just and natural than those consequences which the Christians thence infer All the difficulty
therefore that occurs in this Matter consists in the proof of those Facts which the Christian Religion propounds to us that is to say in proving the Creation of the World the Fall of Man the Promise of a Redeemer his coming into the World his Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven c. which are the Foundations of the Christian Religion And indeed these are the very matters of which Atheists and Libertines require a solid proof And it doth the more concern us to satisfie their demands forasmuch as the Jews who are scatter'd throughout the whole World do oppose our assertion that the Promise of sending the Messiah is already accomplish'd tho' they agree upon the matter with us in all other Articles Moreover the performing this Task may very much contribute to the Conversion of a great number of bad Christians whose sall and continuance in vices and licentiousness is to be ascrib'd to their being so weakly perswaded of the truth of these Fundamentals and that because they have never consider'd of them with sufficient attention CHAP. II. That the Christian Religion is founded upon Proofs of Mattter of Fact. FOrasmuch as in order to establish the truth of the Christian Religion we confine our selves at present to those proofs which make out the Matters of Fact it proposes omitting all other arguments which may evidence the truth of it tho' possibly no less convincing it is obvious that the proofs we are to produce in confirmation of them must be such as are proper to evince the truth of things long since past and done If we were treating of the Events of the time we live in it might be justly required that we should produce Eye-witnesses of them but forasmuch as the question here is concerning matters long since past it is natural for us to have recourse to History which furnisheth us with the relations of those who where Eye-witnesses of the same This being the only way left us to confirm our belief of things at so great a distance from us I am beholding to History only for the knowledg I have of a Cyrus an Alexander or a Caesar and yet having read the account they give me of them I find them matters I can no way rationally doubt of I acknowledg that the certainty we have of things long since past is much inferiour to that which we have of matters confirm'd to us by Eye-witnesses Nevertheless because it is evident that the Events of ancient Times cannot be confirm'd but by proofs of this nature it has never entred into the minds of any to account the existence of such men as Cyrus and Alexander for Fables upon the pretence that none now alive did ever see them or because there are scarce any traces left of those Empires of which they were the Founders Indeed the certainty we have of these things is such as nothing can be superadded to it for tho' it be founded on the Authority of Historians who liv'd many Ages ago yet withal we are to consider that the matters related do not only carry the Idea of probability and truth along with them but that they are the very ground and foundation of all the Histories of following Ages which cannot be questioned if we consider the connexion and dependance of the things related according to the light of Sense and the equity of Reason A Matter of Fact then is accounted certain when it is attested by those who were Eye-witnesses of it when recorded by an Historian who liv'd amongst those who had perfect knowledg of it when the Matter is not gainsaid or contradicted by any if we find it pen'd at a time when the things could not be related by any otherwise than indeed they were without exposing themselves to publick derision And last of all when the matter is found to be of that nature as none could be ignorant of it either because it was the interest of every one to be inform'd of it or because the thing was so publick that it could not be hid from any or lastly because of its natural connexion with all those other Events which necessarily depend on it To speak plain it is very unjust to demand either more proofs or such as are of another nature for the confirmation of the Truth of our Religion than are required to verisie any other matters of Fact. Why should not the Testimony of Noahs Children be sufficient to conclude there was such a man as Methusalem in case they assure us that they have seen him Or why should not the testimony of Methusalem be of credit enough to prove there was such a Man as Adam if he avers that he saw him and convers'd with him Do'nt we every day give credit to the account which old men give us of their Predecessors especially when we find that what they relate hath an exact reference and connexion with those things we are Eye-witnesses of But it is an easie thing to make it appear that the proofs which evidence the Truth of the matters which our Religion proposeth are infinitely more strong and convincing All the circumstances we can imagine proper to evince the Truth of any Relation do concur to place the matters recorded in Holy Scripture beyond the Reach of doubt or uncertainty We account the single Testimony of an Historian a sufficient proof that there was once a very famous Temple at Delphos or Ephesus notwithstanding that all the Monuments remaining at this day to confirm his relation be very doubtful and defective Whereas I shall make it appear that an entire Nation yea many Nations do attest the truth of those Matters which the Christian Religion proposes and that all the Actions Discourses and whole Series of Events thereto relating do furnish us with an infinite number of characters which invincibly signalize the Truth of the Holy Scrïptures CHAP. III. Some General Remarks in order to establish the Truth of Holy Scripture FOrasmuch as I have undertaken to prove the truth of the Matters of Fact contain'd in our Religion from the testimony of the Pen-men of the Old and New Testament it will be proper in order to the executing of my design to begin with a general proof of the Truth of the said Books which will not be difficult if one makes the following remarks The First is That it appears from the Five Books of Moses that he wrote the History of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah of the Deluge the Rise and Pedigree of the several Nations of the World of the Division of Tongues and in particular the History of the Family of Abraham until the entring of the Children of Israel into Palestina 2552 years after the Creation of the World. The Second is That the following Books viz. of Joshua Judges Ruth the four Books of Kings of Chronicles with the Books of Ezrah and Nehemiah are a Continuation of the said History from the entring of the Jews into Palestina until their
re-establishment in the said Country about the year of the World 3600. Here we read the Conquest of Palestina under the Conduct of Joshua how it was divided amongst the Tribes after they had destroyed drove out or subdued the Inhabitants thereof how often they were brought into bondage by the bordering Nations whose rise and pretensions Moses sets down Here we have recorded the several Names and actions of the Judges which God from time to time raised to the Israelites to restore them to their first estate Here we have an account of the establishment of a Kingly Government amongst them which happened about the year 2909 as likewise of the division of this people into two Kingdomes which for three Ages together were most opposite in their interests and made great wars against each other as well as against their neighbouring States We find here the utter ruin of the most puissant of these two States viz. That of Israel by the Arms of the Kings of Assyria about the year of the World 3283 and after that the destruction of that of Judah by Nebuchadnezar King of the Chaldeans Anno Mundi 3283. And last of all we have an account of the Jews Restoration by Cyrus King of Persia and the State of the Jews under his Successors The Third thing observable is That in the remaining Books of the Old Testament we find several historical Relations relating to both Kingdomes with several prophecies relating to their decay and restoration as likewise many Discourses of Morality and Piety and that all these relations and prophecies appear to have been writ at such a time and with those circumstances which have a natural reference to what the other Books recite to us and an essential Relation to the Books and Laws of Moses which we find to be the foundation of all these prophesies relations and whatsoever else we find there concerning their Government or Religion The Fourth is That the Books of the New Testament contain an exact relation of the Life of Jesus Christ who appeared to the World under the Reign of Tiberius of the establishment of his Religion in the World together with some disputes with the Jews who refused to own him for the Messiah promised by the Prophets and lastly Prophesies declaring what in in process of time was to happen both to the Jews and Christians until the end of the World. These Books take the Truth of Moses's Writings every where for granted as also of all the other Sacred Writings of the Old Testament both Historical Prophetical and Moral These Four particulars do in a manner give us an intire Idea of the Holy Scripture and we shall scarcely stand in need of ought else to manifest the Truth of those Writings if we consider those undisputable matters of fact I am now to speak of and will but make some very natural reflexions upon them The First is That the Christians notwithstanding their being divided into several Sects and Parties presently after our Saviours time have and do still in all places every first day of the Week read the Books of the New Testament translated into their respective Languages so that it appears absolutely impossible that any spurious Writings should have been slipt in amongst them The Second is That as the Christians have had the Books of the Old Testament amongst them in Greek these 1600. years so the Heathens had them in that Language 300. years before being translated by order of one of the Ptolomy's Kings of Egypt whither a considerable party of the Jews were carried after that Alexander the Great had conquered the greatest part of Asia having overthrown the Empire of Persia to which the Jews were in subjection The Third is That tho' the Jews had not all the Books of the Old Testament from the beginning of their Commonwealth they that followed the Party of Jeroboam and formed the Kingdom of Israel having only had the Five Books of Moses amongst them yet notwithstanding their irreconcilable hatred against the House of David they have most religiously preserved the said Books from Anno Mundi 3030. in which the divisions of the two Kingdoms happen'd even until this day The Fourth and last is That as the Jews every where at this day read the Books of Moses and of the Prophets each Sabbath day which is also observed by the Samaritanes and the Christians read them every first day of the week so the Jews have always continued to read them for a long series of Ages as esteeming it a great part of the sanctification of the Sabbath Besides which they also solemnly read them every seventh year in obedience to a Law of Moses as being one of the principal parts of their Religion I say that the sole consideration of these matters of fact which are indisputable are sufficient to prove in general the truth of the Books of the Old and New Testament First then I affirm that it is as ridiculous to maintain that the Books of the Old and New Testament translated into so many Languages cited by an infinite number of Authors and which have been the subject of various disputes from the very times of the Apostles or soon after should be supposititious as to aver that the Books of Justinian or Mahomets Alcoran have been falsly obtruded on the World under their names I speak now only of the Books themselves not of the truth of the History they contain Secondly It is ridiculous to suppose that the Books of the Old Testament were forged since the time of Ptolomy Philadelphus forasmuch as they have been in the hands of the Heathens themselves ever since that time Thirdly It is as inconsistent to suppose them contrived since the time of the separation of the ten Tribes from Judah because we find the Books of Moses among the Samaritanes who have preserved them ever since their Revolt without any other change but what is incident to all Manuscripts that pass through many hands I grant indeed that the Samaritans have none of the other Books of the Old Testament but this being to be look'd upon only as an effect of their departure from the Kingdom of Judah it cannot in the least shake the certainty we have of those Books For first the three other Tribes had them and preserv'd them with the greatest care esteeming them of Divine Authority Secondly there were also reasons of State which made the Kings of Israel not to regard the divisions made by Joshuah of the Land of Canaan nor the authority of the Priesthood which Reasons of State hereafter mentioned where the cause why the ten Tribes would not allow the same authority to some of those Books which were written before their Revolt as those of Samuel and the writings of David and Solomon which they did to the Pentateuch of Moses Most of the others we know were pen'd since the Division of the two Kingdomes and so did more particularly respect the Kingdom of Judah and some them after the
carrying away of the ten Tribes by the Assyrians Thus we see the Truth of these Books and more especially those of Moses confirmed till the time of the revolt of the ten Tribes and confirm'd beyond exception at least far beyond the certainty we can have of the truth of any other Book in the World. It remains only now to examine whether as to the Books of Moses we find not the same certainty when we look back from the departure of the ten Tribes to the time of Moses that is to say whether there be the least probability that they were forged in any part of that interval of about 580 years I say then in the Fourth place that it is no less ridiculous to suppose them forged during that period First because it is impossible that these Books should have been forged in the form we now see them but that the Forgery must have been apparent to all the World. Nothing could be more notorious than whether the Jews did read the Law of Moses every Sabbath day in all their Families or Synagogues and every Seventh year besides Nothing was of more easie observation than whether they did keep their three solemn Feasts viz. that of the Passover Pentecost and of Tabernacles Nothing could be more apparent than whether the Jews did obey the Laws contained in the Pentateuch whether relating to particular persons to Tribes or their Lands and the manner of possessing of them Indeed nothing can be imagin'd more absurd than to suppose an insensible change wrought either in in the Form of their Civil Government or the Ceremonies of their Religion Indeed it is an unsufferable peice of boldness to charge the Jews with forging these Books of Moses or adulterating of them in this period of time when it appears they have kept them without any alteration for the space of 2700 years as hath been shewed already If it be said that the Jews being divided into two Kingdomes and dispersed into distant Countreys were not in a condition to forge or adulterate any of the said Books because it might easily have been discovered it may be answered that the same reasons took place in this interval of 580 years for from the time of Moses to Rehoboam they were not only greatly divided amongst themselves but almost continually subject to neighbouring States who subdued them by turns as we see in the Book of Judges Moreover we are to take notice First that these Books of Moses are the rise and foundation of the Laws and Customes of the Heathens as well as of their Fictions which we shall have occasion to point at in the sequel of this Discourse Secondly That the History contained in the Pentateuch is evidently confirm'd by the following Books of Joshuah and Judges which have an essential reference to the same and contain a relation of the publick acts of many Nations attested and acknowledged by Heathen Authors who were the mortal Enemies of the Jews Thirdly That the said Books are so closely link'd and related to those publick and known actions that it is impossible to separate the Laws they contain from the Matters of fact attested by Pagan History or to be ignorant that the Form of the Jewish Government was nothing else but an execution of the Laws contained in the Pentateuch which equally lays down that Platform of their Policy and worship My business at present only is to hint these general Reflexions concerning the Truth of the Books of the Old and New Testament tho the sequel will oblige me to make some more particular Reflexions upon each Book when I shall come to consider the several Relations they contain I now come to the Matter in hand beginning with the Book of Genesis where we find an account of the Creation of the World the Forming of Man the Fall the Promise of the Messiah the Propagation of Mankind the Deluge with other Matters until the Death of Joseph which contains the History of the World for the space of 2369 years CHAP. IV. That the Testimony of Moses concerning the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah is unquestionable FOrasmuch as amongst those Matters which Moses relates in the Book of Genesis that of the Creation of the World in seven days and of the Promise of the Messiah are such upon which all the rest do depend as I shall shew hereafter it is evident that I must make it my business in a special manner to evince the truth of the same Towards the confirmation of which matters of fact the one of which is that God Created a first Man the other that God hath promised in due time to send the Messiah for Redemption of Mankind from the punishment of sin I shall propose these following Remarks Moses the great Law-giver of the Jews laid these two Matters of Fact as the Basis of the Laws he was to publish and he relates them to us as things which were not only known to him and some others of the Jewish Nation but to all the People of the World and particularly the whole Nation amongst whom he lived To understand the force of this Argument we must mind three things the First is the Nature of the Matters themselves the other is the Character of him that relates them and the third the use Moses makes of them For the first nothing was more needful to be known than these two things before us they were Matters which concern the whole World and of which every one ought to be informed they are Matters about which it is not easie to be deceived every one being in a condition to satisfie himself about them and of which consequently they could not but be most throughly informed I dare maintain that there are no Facts in prophane History of importance comparable to these of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah as Moses has related them 2. And as for the Author who relates these points it is as plain that his Character did wonderfully contribute to the making of his Book famous He was a Man Illustrious as well by reason of his Education as the Rank he held amongst Men a Man equally expos'd to the Judgment of Enemies and Friends and who could not vent theleast thing contrary to truth in Matters of great importance without seeing himself immediately refuted or rather without exposing himself to publick scorn Besides I aver and am ready to maintain that we find no Author of so illustrious a Character as Moses was or who is distinguish'd with so many essential marks of Faithfulness and Veracity as appears throughout the whole Tenour of his Writings 3. This will appear more evidently when we consider the use to which Moses designs these two Relations of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah In a word his design was not in furnishing his Books with the Recitals of these important Facts to engage others to read them with more attention or to
to shew that all their Objections do in effect serve for nothing else but to make a more lively impression of this Argument taken from Matter of fact which I have undertaken to set forth in a full and clear light CHAP. V. That Moses is the Author of the Book of Genesis I Shall in the Sequel of this Discourse make it appear that we cannot with reason contest the Authority of a Tradition which hath those Characters which we find in the Relations contain'd in the Book of Genesis The only thing that can be question'd in this matter is Whether Moses the great Captain of the Israelites and Founder of their Common-wealth be the Author of it This therefore is the thing which we ought solidly to evince Tho it seems that we might dispense with this trouble forasmuch as it is easie to shew that the greatest part of the most considerable Events which are recorded in the Book of Genesis were generally believed by others as well as the Jews At least it must be granted that these Matters have given occasion to most of their Fables viz. To that of the Chaos to that of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis for the forming of Man to that of Prometheus to that of Jupiter's continued Laughter for the seven first days of his Life which they look'd upon as the Original of the Solemnity of the seventh day known amongst the Heathens to that of the Golden Age and of the Deluge to the Name of Deucalion to the Fable of Janus to that of the Division of the World amongst Saturn's Sons to the Name of Jupiter Hammon to the Fable of the Titans and of the changing of Women into Statues of Stone to the Stories of the Incest the Gods committed with their Daughters to that of the firing of the World by Phaeton and to a great number of other Fictions which cannot be otherwise explained as the learned have shewn at large Whosoever was the Author of Genesis whether Moses or another sure it is that he was exactly inform'd of the Matters he relates and that he lived soon after Joseph First then I say that it appears he was fully inform'd of those matters of which he treats he sets down the Names of the Heads or Fathers of the several Nations of the World and does it so that what he saith doth very well agree with what the most Ancient Historians have left us concerning that matter He speaks of these Nations of the Countreys they possest and their Kings as of things he was perfectly inform'd of He very carefully distinguishes the Original of these several Nations and the same being at that time commonly known no Historian could represent them otherwise than they were without exposing himself to the laughter of all by endeavouring to mix Fables with Relations of this nature In the Second place I say that this Book was writ by a Man that lived soon after Joseph He speaks very exactly of what Joseph did in his place of chief Minister to Pharaoh in particular he sets down the first Original of the fifth Penny which the Egyptians so many Ages after continued to pay to their Kings being a thing which no Egyptian could be ignorant of And Lastly It is visible that this Book serves for an Introduction to Exodus and the following Books which have no other Foundation but the truth of those things which are related to us there and do throughout allude and refer to the several passages of it and that all Matters of Religion and Worship contained in them are founded upon the truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah which we find in Genesis and upon the truth of all those other succeeding Matters of Fact until the coming of the Children of Israel into Egypt when Joseph was chief Favourite and Minister of Pharaoh But we have yet a more easie way to make out that Moses whose History is contain'd in Exodus and the following Books is the Author of Genesis For first it cannot be deny'd that the Heathens themselves have acknowledged Moses for the most antient Law-giver for this we have the Testimonies of Plato Polemus Artapanus Pythagoras Theopompus and Diodorus Siculus who places Moses in the front of Six of the most antient Law givers thus Moses Sauchnis Sesonchosis Bachoris Amasis and Darius Father of Xerxes But further if when the Lacedemonians tell us of the Laws of their Law-giver Lycurgus and the Athenians of those of their Solon we think our selves oblig'd to believe them because naturally every Nation is suppos'd to be a faithful Depositary of the Laws of him who first founded their Government yea if we do not in the least doubt of these Relations though there be no People at this day who live according to the Laws of Lycurgus or Solon can any valuable reason be imagined for us to doubt whether Moses wrote the Book of Genesis when an entire Nation have constantly averr'd that he did so I say when all the Jews who continue at this day do in all places where they are scatter'd throughout the World equally and with one consent maintain that they received this Book from him together with the Laws and Worship therein contain'd Nay when it is notorious that many of them have suffer'd Martyrdom in confirmation of this Truth I omit now to mention the consent of the Christians who tho' they be not descended of Abraham and do not observe the greatest part of the Laws of Moses yet do not cease highly to defend this truth throughout the World the Gospel in their sense being nothing else but the literal accomplishment of that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Head of the Serpent I shall shew in the Sequel of these my Reflexions with how much Justice they assent to this Truth but at present I tie my self only to the Testimonies of the Jews and that which confirms the Authority thereof CHAP. VI. That the Book of Genesis could not be forged under the Name of Moses I Should never have done should I go about to set down all the Observations which might be made incomparing this Book of Genesis with other Histories commonly known to the World and whose faithfulness is unquestionable Without entring upon this comparison we may boldly assert that there is no History in the World whose Author we can be so sure of as that Moses was the Pen-man of Genesis But I go further and assert that the Jews could not be mistaken in the Testimonies they give to this Truth which I prove by these two Remarks The First is That their Observations both Civil and Religious are at this day founded upon no other Principles than those which we find in Genesis As for instance they compute the beginning of their day from the preceding Evening they keep the Sabbath they observe Circumcision they abstain from eating the Muscle which is in the hollow of the Thigh c. The Observation of which Laws is indeed
Countrey his People and the Temple in the manner which is recorded in the Book of Kings How could a sufficient number of Copies of it be dispersed over all his Kingdom in an instant to inform the People about the Ceremonials of the Passover which soon after was so Solemnly celebrated by them Or how is it possible that the Levites the Priests and People could have been all of the suddain instructed in all the points to be observed in the performing of that Holy Solemnity It is apparent that the Sacred Historian did for no other reason take notice of this Circumstance that the Book found was of Moses own hand Writing but to make it appear that their devout respect for this Book was not wholly stifled as having been by them carefully hid from the fury of their Idolatrous Kings and laid up in some secret place of the Temple where now they had so happily found it again Over and above what hath been said already we are to observe that how great soever the wickedness of the Kings of Juda and Israel was as well as that of their Subjects yet the same generally consisted in nothing else but the imitation of the Worship of their Neighbour Natitions as to some particulars which tho they were forbid by the Law yet they left the far greater part of their Religion in full force This we have an instance of in the time of Ahab where we find Elijah reproaching the Israelites with the Monstrous Alliance they had made betwixt the Worship of God and that of Baal which Queen Jesabel had introduc'd All this clearly proves that the Book of Genesis which is the first of the Books of Moses was never forged under his Name since it was always owned as the Writing of that Famous Author and is still so acknowledged by the Jews at this day CHAP. VII That it appears from Genesis that the Sabbath was constantly observed from the beginning of the World until Moses THe other Objection of the Atheists supposing that Moses was the Author of Genesis as we have now proved is this that it seems absurd to give credit to the Relations of a Person who lived so many Ages distant from the things he recites To answer this Objection we must first of all declare to them by what means the Memory of the Fact which Moses relates was preserv'd so lively and entire as to give Moses so distinct a knowledge of them and that it was not in his power to forge or add any thing of his own it being a thing known to the whole World as well as himself There is no way whereby we can more solidly evince that it is impossible the Creation of the World should be forged by Moses than by making it appear that the Law of the Sabbath hath a natural Relation to the Creation of the World and that it hath been always constantly observed from that time until Moses The same also will help us clearly to conceive after what manner the Memory of the Promise of the Messiah hath been preserv'd so distinct amongst those that lived since the Creation until Moses We are no sooner inform'd that the Sabbath is a solemn day ordain'd at first to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of the Creation but we judge it impossible that so important an event commemorated every seventh day by vertue of a Divine Law should be an imposture But forasmuch as this impossibility is grounded on these two Propositions the one that God gave this Law of the Sabbath to the first Man the other that the same was observed by his Posterity ever since till the time of Moses and that God only renew'd it in the Law given from Mount Sinai these are the Truths I am now to clear and it is of more importance to be proved because tho the generality of Authors Ancient and Modern Jews as well as Christians are of this Opinion yet there are some of the Christian Fathers who seem to deny that the Sabbath was ever observ'd by the Patriarchs But it will be an easie matter to prove from Moses that the Antiquity of the Sabbath is such as I assert and at the same time to demonstrate the truth of the Creation as well as of the Promise of the Messiah which in a manner immediately follow'd it Moses in the second Chapter of Genesis Gen. II. 3. expresses himself thus And God blessed the seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had Created Which words clearly evince a Solemn Consecration of the seventh day to God's Service by its being made a Commemoration of his finishing the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth But because it may be said that the intent of Moses in this place was only to set down the reason why God set apart this day of all others to his Service by the Law at Mount Sinai we are to take notice that this appointment was made for Man's sake already placed in the Garden of Eden This we may gather from the order Moses observes For he sets down first the Formation of Man on the sixth day and his being plac'd in Paradise which he gives a more particular account of in the second Chapter and after these he relates God's resting from his Works and the Consecration of the Sabbath with the reason of that Law which he impos'd on Man and then adds These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Heaven and the Earth All that precedes these words is only a Relation of what pass'd in the seven first days and that which Moses sets down concerning Gods blessing of the seventh day and his Consecrating it ought as well to be accounted a Law appointing the seventh day for his Service as those other Blessings given to the Creatures according to their kinds are acknowledged as inviolable Laws of God by virtue whereof they subsist and are perpetuated each according to their kind by the way of Generation In the second place it is very remarkable that the Patriarchs maintain'd a Publick Worship at least since the time of Seth which it was necessary should be determined to some certain day and since we find that even at this time they distinguish'd between Beasts clean and unclean with respect to their Sacrifices which they could not do but from Revelation we have much more reason to conclude that God had set apart a time for own Worship and Service And indeed there are many evident signs that even then the 7 day was observed Kimchi Praefat in Psalmos I will not here peremptorily assert that antient Tradition of the Jews which tells us that the ninety second Psalm whose Title is a Psalm for the Sabbath was made by Adam himself who was made on the Evening of the Sabbath But this I dare assert that it is apparent Gen. VIII 10.12 that what
to whom he wrote had no need of having the following words quoted to them which tell us that God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it that is he Consecrated the same to his worship and service forasmuch as nothing was more publickly and universally known amongst them the Observation of the Sabbath being a thing generally received even before the giving of the Law. And indeed the Philo the Jew be of opinion that the practice of Solemnizing that day had suffer'd some interruption and that for this reason the Law of the Sabbath was given to Moses yet it is well known first of all Euseb praep Evang. l. 13. c. 12. that Aristobulus the Peripatetick in a Treatise dedicated by him to Ptolemy surnamed Philadelphus cites several Passages of Homer Hesiod and Linus Heathen Poets which mention the seventh day as a Festival and Solemn day because all things were finished in the same In the next place it is notorious that if some of the Fathers as Justin Martyr and Tertullian writing against the Jews have deny'd that the Patriarchs observed the seventh day they did so rather with regard to the rigor of that Law which forbad all manner of work on that day upon pain of Death which was superadded by God to the first Law of the Sabbath than to the Observation of the Sabbath as it was a day appointed to make a Solemn Commemoration of the Creation of the World. In a word we are to take notice that the difference which God makes between the Sabbath observ'd by the Patriarchs and that which he appointed to the Jews did consist in two things First in that God did impose an absolute necessity upon the Jews to abstain from all manner of work even to the very dressing of Meat necessary for the support of Life We find this distinction clearly express'd in the Law which God gave concerning the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread for he absolutely forbids all manner of work on these two days as much as on the Sabbath even the preparing of necessary food which he permits the five other days forbidding only Servil Laborious Works Secondly In that the working on that day by the Law is made punishable with death which was not so before which Innovation and new rigour of the Law established by God was authorized by the punishing of him who had gathered Sticks on the Sabbath day whereas we find that before the Law was given upon Mount Sinai God did not command those Jews to be punished with death who went forth the seventh day to gather Manna according to their ancient Custom of dressing their Meat on that day Let me add this further that tho the Apostles had abolished the rigour of the Law concerning the Sabbath introduced by Moses yet they themselves observed it which practise of theirs in all probability gave occasion to the Christians for almost four Centuries to keep the Sabbath as well as the first day of the Week Solemnizing both those days the one as a Commemoration of the Creation of the World and the other of the Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ But what ever Judgment may be past on this last Remark it is very evident from Genesis and Exodus First that the Law of the Sabbath was observed before Moses Secondly that this Observation was by the first Patriarchs propagated among the Heathens also as well as the Idea of the Creation or as the practice of Sacrificing with the other parts of Religious Worship the Original whereof may be seen in the Book of Genesis as we shall make appear in our following Discourse After all this we must conclude against the Atheist that either Moses must imprudently have laid a Snare for himself in forging a matter of fact of which not only the Jews but all the World were able to convince him since there were none amongst them but must needs be Conscious whether they had observed the Sabbath in Commemoration of the Creation as he relates it or no or else that the Creation of the World being a matter of fact so generally known and the Memorial of it Solemnized every seventh day by all those who preceded him must needs be an uncontested and immoveable truth which I shall farther evince by those Observations which I shall raise from the dependance and connexion which the Matters related by Moses in Genesis have with the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah This is my business at present in performing of which I shall make it appear that nothing can be imagin'd more rational and coherent than the Relations of Moses in which the Atheists imagine that they discover so great Absurdities CHAP. VIII That Adam was convinced of his Creation by Reason and Authority THo' it might be thought more natural in these our Disquisitions about the History of Genesis to begin with those matters which happened near the time of Moses and from them to pass to those at a greater distance yet I have chosen rather to follow the Thread of Moses his Discourse hoping that this Method will afford more light to these our Reflexions At least it will spare me the trouble of frequent Repetitions which in the other way I should be necessarily oblig'd to I begin then with this That Adam was convinced of his Creation both by Reason and Authority The Creation of Adam being a thing of that nature that he must first be convinced of it himself before he could perswade his Posterity to entertain the belief of it it is worth our enquiry to know what ways he had to assure himself that he was indeed Created in that manner as Moses relates And forasmuch as the certainty of this Tradition depends upon the Authority of Adam whom Moses supposes to have been the first Deliverer of it It is plain that we must be assured that Adam could not deceive himself in this matter as it is evident enough that he would not deceive his Children when he took care to instruct them concerning it As to his own Existence he could not but be as strongly perswaded of it as we are of ours all the difficulty lying in the manner how he came to exist Now there were two ways by which Adam might inform himself of this viz. by Reason and the Testimony of Authority He could easily find out this Secret by a rational Reflexion Or he might also be perswaded of it by God himself who had Created him not to mention now any information which he might have from the Angels who were Witnesses of his Creation It appears that Adam whose Tradition Moses has recorded supposes that he had learnt of God himself the manner of his own Formation God speaks to Adam and Sanctifies the seventh day that is obliges Adam to keep the Memorial of his Creation he ties him by a Law to Commemorate his Creation fifty two times a Year and to render him continual thanks for the Being he had received But forasmuch as
of taking to Wife ones own Brother's Widow to raise him up Seed 2. The Sin of Onan is represented so odious only because by it he acted against the belief of the Promise 3. We see the same thing in the action of Thamar Juda's Daughter-in-Law for having been deceived by Judah she in exchange surpriz'd him into an Incest the Commission whereof according to the Observation of a Greek Commentator she sought to perpetuate Theoph. in Mat. c. I. only because she had a vehement desire to get Children out of a Family which she lookt upon as solely intrusted with the Promise of the Messiah and out of which he was accordingly to be born It is necessary to make that Observation because we ought always to remember that she was formerly a Canaanite and that consequently she left off and renounc'd the Impiety and Idolatry of her Kindred when she embrac'd the Religion and hopes of Jacob's Family Therefore we see that particular mention is made of her in our Saviour's Genealogy and of Ruth who likewise gave over all the pretensions of her own People and so forsook her Religion to enter into the Tribe of Judah as well as of Bathshebah who was Wife to a Hittite whereupon an ancient Father hath very well observed S. Hieronym in Tradit Heb ad 1. Reg. 3. according to the Jewish Opinion that Shimei's Revilings against David when he went out of Jerusalem during Absalom's Rebellion reflected upon his Birth out of the Posterity of Ruth the Moabitess as the Jews even to this very day do understand it We may make the same Reflexion upon the Consideration of that implacable jealousie which Joseph's Dreams raised in the Minds of his Brethren 1. We may reasonably conceive that he being the First-born of Rachel and the Wife which Jacob his Father had first made Love to he had been brought up with hopes of the Birth-right as well as Isaac who was but the second Son of Abraham But 2. He might besides very well suppose that the Crimes of his Brethren born of Leah whom in all likelihood he lookt upon as the sole Legitimate Heirs the others being born of Maid-Servants did rank them with Esau whom God had rejected That outragious Fury which Joseph's Brethren shew'd against him because they lookt upon him as preferred of God by those Dreams to those that were born before him is so like that of Cain of Lot of Ismael and of Esau that it had in all probability the same Cause and Original Do we not see afterwards another effect of the same jealousie in the affectation that Jacob and his Family shew'd in the Land of Egypt when they refused to live promiscuously with the Egyptians which were the Posterity of Ham and begg'd of them a Countrey where they might live by themselves as we see on the contrary the Egyptians shewing an extream aversion against Jacob and his Family which was of Sem's Posterity Certainly it cannot be denied that as this separation was an effect of the Antipathy of those Nations so it might also be in some respect the consequence of Jacob and his Childrens pretensions upon the Promise of the Messiah the execution and accomplishment whereof they stood up for as belonging to themselves To all this we may add that the Persecution of the Egyptians against the Israelites obliged them to make particular Reflexions upon the Promise which Jacob on his Death-Bed made to them from God That Persecution was chiefly intended against the Male Children Pharaoh commanding the extirpation of them because he was afraid of the Jews growing too strong for him and of their joyning with his Enemies and perhaps also because the Jews entertaining a certain expectation of the Messiah's coming and so boasting and glorying of it upon all occasions the Egyptians design'd to frustrate and cut off their hope thus by hindering the accomplishment of the Promise However there was no real difficulty to keep up the distinct remembrance of those important Facts Jacob died in the year of the World 2315. Joseph died in the year of the World 2428. There are then but 58 years between Josephs Death and Moses's Birth Moses might have seen not only Amram his own â—â—ther who had seen Levi but also Kohath his Grandfather who had seen Jacob. And it is for that reason Gen. L. 23. that Moses seems to have observ'd that Joseph saw his own Children's Children that is to say the third Generation One cannot imagine any Circumstances more conducible than these to the preserving the distinct knowledge of those important Truths which were the Foundations of Religion CHAP. XVII That the Tradition which gives us an Account of the Perswasion which the Ancients had of the truth of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah before Moses cannot be suspected I Have shew'd I think evidently enough that both the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah with all the other things depending upon them might have been known certainly by Adam and his Children and so afterwards be handed down to all his Posterity till Moses's time From Adam to Noah there is but one Man viz. Methusalah who joyned hands with both From Noah to Abraham there is but one Man viz. Sem who saw them both for a considerable time From Abraham to Joseph there is but one Man viz. Isaac Joseph's Grandfather From Joseph to Moses there is 〈◊〉 one Man viz. Amram who might have seen Joseph long enough Those Characters of time which Moses hath so carefully observed do plainly evidence that the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah might be distinctly known For if we suppose a continued succession of Adam's Offspring it was not easie to impose upon Men in that matter and that because every one of those who were Contemporaries with Moses being able to run up his own Pedigree as far as the Flood nay even up to Adam by as compendious a way as Moses could do his own they would have treated those with the utmost degree of scorn who should have attempted to forge any thing contrary to what was publickly and universally known and so it was equally impossible that the truth of things so important as the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah were should be unknown Besides I think I have plainly shew'd that many actions recorded by Moses tho' very strange in themselves and which the Atheists look upon as absurd and ridiculous have proceeded from no other principle than from the strong perswasion of the truth of those Facts according as in a long Series of Ages every one of the Ancients following his own humour and prejudices framed to himself a particular Idea differing from the true sense of the Promise of the Messiah It cannot reasonably be objected that all this is only grounded upon the uncertain authority of Tradition For tho' I grant that Tradition as to Facts of another nature be dubious and uncertain and not to be too much
relyed upon in matter of Belief yet this hath such very particular Characters as keep up its own authority First it supposeth a small number of persons from Adam to Moses who put it in Writing Secondly It supposeth that those who have preserved this Tradition lived very long and for the most part for many Centuries of Years Thirdly It relates to such Facts as every one is desirous to be rightly inform'd of and which he is particularly concern'd to examine as relating to his own private Interest because they are the Principles of his Actions and the rules of his Conduct both in Civil and Religious Matters Fourthly it supposeth such real Marks as served to keep it up such as the pains of Child-bearing the Paradise before the Flood the duration of the Ark after the Flood Fifthly It supposeth a Publick Service and Worship whose Celebration is repeated fifty two times a year that the remembrance of it should be preserved by all Posterity Sixthly It was preserved entire by passing from Father to Son and we know that Fathers or Mothers do not naturally engage in a Design of deceiving their Children Seventhly It supposeth strange Controversies betwixt Brothers the Elder having almost all been excluded and the younger as Abel Seth Abraham Isaac Jacob Juda chosen to accomplish the Promise of the Messiah which bred great Jealousies and tended much to preserve those Ideas of the truth Lastly It supposeth great Contests betwixt whole Nations who all strove one with another for the advantage of being the Heirs of the Promise and Depositaries of those Verities as the Moabites for instance the Ammonites the Ishmaelites the Edomites and the Jews each of them pretending to a preference before the others by God himself and so making it a matter of Credit and Honour to themselves All these Characters contribute to the distinct preservation of the knowledge of any truth CHAP. XVIII An Explication of Moses 's way of Writing where it is shew'd that in writing the Book of Genesis he mentioned nothing but what was then generally known THis is a truth which at first I took for granted and afterwards proved it the reasons whereof I explained particularly as I went on But it ought to be fixed as solidly as the Matter will bear because it often happens that those who do not foresee the Consequences which may be drawn from the contrary Opinion do contradict it before they are aware of it and that too under pretence of exalting the Divine Authority of the Book of Genesis which gives occasion to the Atheists to look upon it no otherwise than as learned Men do on the greatest part of Legends The Prophetical Spirit acts in two manners The First is by way of Revelation in respect of those things the Prophet hath no knowledge of Thus the Evangelist St. John hath foretold those Events which we read of in the Revelations For those Events being all hidden under the shadows of Futurity it was impossible for him to have foretold them unless the Spirit of God had immediately revealed them to him The Second is by way of direction in respect of those things with which the Prophet was himself acquainted either because he was an Eye-Witness of them himself or because he learnt them from those who were so Now this direction of the Spirit consists in the guiding the Prophets so as that he may write of his Subject just as it was either spoken or done Thus the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. John drew up an Abridgment of those Sermons of our Saviour which they had heard and of those Miracles which they had seen And thus St. Luke and St. Mark have written of those things which they had heard from those that were Eye-Witnesses of them as St. Luke particularly tells us Now I affirm that when Moses wrote the Book of Genesis he had only the second sort of Prophetical Influences and not the first Although in our Disputes against Atheists to convince them by Arguments from Matters of Fact we may consider him only as an Historian who might have written his Book without any other particular direction and might have preserved in it the memory of those ancient Events which were then generally known Now what side soever Divines may take in their Disputes against the Atheists I may easily establish my Assertion First because it is not necessary to suppose an entire Revelation where Tradition being distinct enough is sufficient to preserve a clear Remembrance of all those Facts Now it cannot be denied but that the Tradition concerning the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah was of this nature especially if we consider the little Extent of it and the immediate Succession of Moses's Ancestors down to himself Secondly If Abraham's and Jacob's Travels through so many places were as I have observed already very useful to give them a further view of the common belief of all the several Nations descended from Noah and of their agreement in this Tradition it were unjust to suppose that Moses's forty years sojourning in the Country of Midian and that too when he was forty years old and consequently had that ripeness of Age and Judgment as is fittest for such Observations did not serve to acquaint him with the several Passages he records of Abraham as well as of the several Divisions of his Posterity Thirdly We may observe in the Book of Genesis a way of writing very different from that which we see in the greatest part of Exodus and in the following Books for whereas God speaks to him in those latter Books which he always did vivâ voce And the Jews have wisely observed that herein consisted Moses's advantage above the other Prophets to whom God was used to speak only in Dreams and Visions He uses commonly those words And the Lord spake unto me He marks out the place where God spoke to him as well as the time and occasion of God's speaking to him which he do's not in his Book of Genesis Fourthly The Book of Genesis is not divided into several Revelations as all Prophecies are wherein the several returns of the Holy Spirit of God are all exactly set down which was absolutely necessary not only to ease the Reader who might be tired if he was to carry a long Series of Predictions in his mind at once as if it were only one single Vision or Revelation but also to condescend to the nature of the minds of men For according to the Rules of probability we cannot suppose them to be filled with so many differing Idea's at the same time but a great confusion must necessarily follow But supposing that these Observations should be thought insufficient yet those that follow will seem capable of convincing the minds of all There are in the Book of Genesis certain Characters of its being written in that way which I spake of First one needs only just look into that Book and he will see that the ancientest Facts which are those of
decease as Gods. The third thing we are here to take notice of contains a Demonstration of the Truth of the Book Genesis if that which is recorded in it concerning the time of the Flood be compared with the Dynasties of the Egyptian Kings I will not say that those Egyptians who had any knowledge of the Flood did exactly mark out the time of it as Moses doth But I believe I may be able to shew out of their common opinion's somthing very near equivalent They are all agreed that Menes was the first King of Egypt and lived about Fourteen hundred years before the famous Sesostris as Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus do both relate it Now who should this King of Egypt be whom some call Sesonchosis unless he is the same with Shishak whom the Scripture speaks of in the History of Rehoboam 1 Kings XIV 26. even the same famous Conquerer who took Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's Reign If one calculates the time from the Flood to the fifth year of Rehoboam he will find that this Menes the first King of Egypt is no other than the Ham of Moses and on the other side that there is very little difference in respect of that interval of time betwixt the Chronology of the Egyptians and that of the Scriptures Thus the Egyptian Account confirms Moses's Narrative and the Authority of the Holy Writers who are very particular in stating the times of every thing whereas the Egyptians taking all in great could never arrive at that exactness This Observation is of very great use to shew the certainty of Moses's Chronology according to the Hebrew Text For that of the Septuagint reckons up above two thousand years from the Flood to Sesostris whereas the Egyptians did reckon up but a little above fourteen hundred years from Menes the first King of Egypt to Sesostris There is yet less difficulty to answer the Objection which may be made against the Book of Genesis from the pretended Antiquity of the Chaldeans The same Diodorus Siculus who saith Diodor. l. 2. Sect. 30 31. that the Egyptians proposed so great an Antiquity of the World tells us also that the Chaldeans believed it eternal and that they boasted in Alexander's time that they had learnt Astronomy by Tradition from their Ancestors who had all successively made it their study for four hundred seventy two thousand years together But there is nothing vainer than these Pretences I shall not stand to shew here the folly of their Opinions about the Eternity of the World If Aristotle seems to have authoriz'd it yet it is enough to confute that Opinion to consider that it is repugnant to the common notion of all the Nations of the World So that Democritus himself who pretended that the World was made by chance yet durst not oppose the common and general Opinion of the Worlds being new tho' he had the boldness to reject the Author of it and that action by which it was Created Neither do I intend to be prolix here in confuting the supposition of the Chaldeans about their Ancestors following the Study of Astrology for 472000 year successively The impossibility of the thing in it self is apparent by the certainty of the Flood which was acknowledged by all those Nations of whom we have any Antiquities tho' never so little considerable in Pagan Authors But I shall make two Observations whereof one shews the folly of the Chaldean Hypothesis and the other doth invincibly establish the Authority of the Book of Genesis if it be compared with what we know for certain and in the Chaldean History The First is That the most Ancient Authors are of Opinion that the Chaldeans are descended from the Egyptians who lookt upon them as a Colony of their own Diodorus Siculus saith that the Egyptians maintained that they had sent out several Colonies into several parts of the World that Belus the Son of Neptune and Lybia had conducted one into Babylon and that having fixed it near Euphrates he establish'd some Priests among them according to the Egyptian Custom who were free from all publick Charges and Offices whom the Babylonians do call Chaldeans and who according to the Example of the Egyptian Priests Ap. Joseph Antiq. l. 1. c. 5. Pausan Messen P. 261. Philosophers and Astrologers did apply themselves to the observation of the Stars Hestiaeus and Pausanias say the same with Diodorus Now one needs only examine here what the Egyptians do say about the invention of Astrology which they ascribe to Menes that is to say to Ham or to Mizraim who lived after the Flood thereby to discover the Foolish Vanity of the Chaldeans It is plain that the Chaldeans grew so vain by the growth of so considerable an Empire as theirs was that they would be no longer beholding to the Egyptian Astrologers whom all other Nations have lookt upon as the first Inventors of that Science to the inventing and perfecting of which all Men know that the Egyptian Climate where the Skie is always free from Clouds did very much contribute And it is very considerable that both the Chaldeans and the Egyptians began their Year with the same Month according to Censorinus's Observation c. XXI de die Nat. I know very well the Ancient Heathens were mistaken when they pretended that the Chaldeans went out of Egypt as a Plantation There is no doubt a kind of Illusion in this their Opinion but yet the ground and Origine of it is uncontroulable because the Chaldeans are descended from Cush Ham's Eldest Son as Moses tells Gen. X. Therefore tho' we should grant that the Chaldeans were the first Inventors of Astrology yet this would be always certain that it was found out only since Ham's time whom the Egyptians did look upon as the last of their Heroes or as the first of their Kings The other Observation which ought to be well minded here is taken out of the true and genuine Chaldean Antiquities One may prove by the Astronomical Demonstrations of the Chaldeans which the People of Israel was altogether unacquainted with that Moses followed a Calculation which was then generally known Aristotle the first Grecian that ever taught the Eternity of the World contrary to Moses's History is the Man who furnishes us with it He took care to send over into Greece the Astronomical Observations of the Chaldeans by which it appeared Simplic in l. 2. de coelo that Babylon was taken by Alexander about 1903 years after its Foundation Now that Calculation agrees exactly with that of Moses Gen. XI who gives us the Description of the Tower of Babel and explains the Original of the Name of that City which was built some Ages after by the Confusion of Tongues which then happened And truly it would be very admirable that the Heavens in their Motions should have entered into a Confederacy with Moses to justifie a Chronology invented by him in sport without keeping to any Rules but writing
by chance and without any certain Principle CHAP. XX. An Answer to the Objection which may be drawn out of the History of China against the Mosaick Hypothesis concerning the newness of the World. I Come now to the other Objection which may be made against Moses's Calculation according to the Hebrew Text as we have it now It is drawn from the History of China whose uninterrupted Series runs up the Succession of their Emperors to Fobius who Reign'd about four hundred years before the Flood Some Learned Men have already made use of that Argument to discredit the Mosaick Chronology according to the Hebrew Text and to cry up the Calculation of the Septuagint which exceeds that of the Hebrew Text in the History before the Flood by 800 years and above 700 in the History from the Flood to Moses This Objection appears very strong to those who read in the History of Martinius that there is not the least interruption in the Catalogue of the Kings of China from Fobius that the History of their actions is so certain having always been written by a Publick Authority that no Man can reasonably entertain any doubt about it And the Missionaries in China have thought that there was no other way to reconcile the Mosaick Chronology with the Chinese but in making use of the Septuagint's Account and wherein they agree with all the Asiatick Christians and even those in Europe who follow the Septuagint in their reckoning up the years of the World for the most part Though St. Hierome's Translation which follows the Hebrew Text exactly is received in the West But after all there is little difficulty in answering this Objection and we may hereupon easily satisfie those who do not dispute only for disputing sake but are ready to examine this Question with that equity which is requisite in the examination of all Questions of that nature I confess ingeniously that this History which is one of the most ancient in the World hath many Illustrious Characters of certainty especially if we give credit to all that Martinius relates of it First It marks out exactly the Series and Succession of all the Kings of China from the very beginning and original of that Nation Secondly It records in what Year of each Cycle of threescore years every King began his Reign and did such or such an action Thirdly It relates some Astronomical Observations older than any that have been made by the most Ancient Astronomers in other Nations Fourthly It was written by a Publick Authority and by such Authors as lived in the time when the things which they record were transacted the immediate Successor to the Empire taking always care that the History of his Predecessor should be written Nay to all this we must add that the Chinese's way of writing making no use of Letters but of Hieroglyphicks may have prevented these alterations which might otherwise have been made in their History the whole Life of a Man being hardly sufficient to attain to the perfect knowledge of a Tongue which hath above Threescore Thousand Figures which must be all learnt before a Man can be able only to Read and Write But besides that all this depends upon the sole Authority of Martinius no body else beside him having given us as yet any opportunities of examining those ancient Monuments of China we may find out of this very History some strong Proofs to confirm that of Moses and so easily resolve the Difficulties which may be raised out of it against the Book of Genesis First F. Martinius observes that the common Opinion of the Chinese is that the World had a beginning And tho' there be some of them of Epicurus's Opinion yet there was never any amongst them that was for the Eternity of the World but since the Incarnation of Christ and the Introduction of Idolatry amongst them Secondly He tells us that they commonly acknowledge a God whom they call Xangti which is not the Name but the Epithet of God this word signifying Supream Governour of Heaven and Earth Thirdly He saith that they acknowledge a first Man brought forth out of the Chaos in one Night in the Spring which opinion some amongst them have made intricate by the addition of their own Fables Fourthly He shews that Sacrifices have been in use amongst them Fifthly That they believe a certainty of Punishments and Rewards after this Life for Vice and Vertue Sixthly That they believe the existence of good and bad Angels Seventhly That they assign to some of them the protection of Cities and Provinces and pay them great Veneration at the Instalment of their Magistrates Eighthly That they acknowledge them to be Incorporeal Beings and that it is but of late that they have Erected and Consecrated Statues to them And Lastly That they have a very great knowledge of the Flood which in their account happened about 3500 years before Jesus Christ Here are we see many truths which are the grounds of Religion and which were known to them from whence we may easily judge in comparing those Truths with the History of Moses that the ancient Chinese did agree with all other Nations in the believing the first Principles of Religion laid down by Moses We may likewise observe that those Antiquities of China for the most part are as like those recorded by Moses as a Tradition which cannot but have received many alterations during such a long interval of time can be like to an exact Narrative of Matters of Fact drawn up by an Author who knew very well what he writ First It appears that what they say concerning the Thirteen Successors of the first man named Puoncuus all descended from him is agreeable enough to the History of Genesis which sets down the successive Patriarchs from Father to Son. All the difference is that the Chinese by a foolish Ambition of appropriating all to themselves maintain that those Thirteen Kings were all in China Secondly What they tell us of the World being civiliz'd under the second of those Kings call'd Thienhoang after the death of the great Dragon that had disturbed Heaven and Earth agrees very well with the History of Seth who began to form Mankind to a right notion of the worship of God when he separated them from Cain's Family Thirdly It is very probable that when the Chinese have reckoned up thirteen Kings lineally descended from the first man and his Successors they have included in that number Cain and Abel who tho' they were both the Sons of the first man yet were not reckon'd up by Moses because his Scope was only to give an Account of the Lineal Descent of Adam's Posterity by Seth. They believe that under Ginhohang there was a kind of Golden Age the Earth being then fruitful to admiration and that under his Successor Men being extreamly simple and altogether ignorant of the several Arts necessary to Human Life as of Characters and Letters one Sujus to supply the want of them
all write with publick allowance after every King's Decease might indeed be so about the latter times as it was practic'd in Egypt but that it is as absolutely false that the Chinese had ever in former times such Publick Historians and as it is false that the Egyptians had formerly any such although they were as confident to say they had in Alexander's time as the Chinese are now But this I think is sufficient for the clearing of that matter We must now answer the last Objection of Atheists against the Authority of the Book of Genesis CHAP. XXI Wherein the last Objection of Atheists is answered AS I intend to clear all the Difficulties which may arise about this important Matter in the Minds of those that shall peruse these Observations I think my self obliged to prevent and resolve the only plausible Objection I know remaining after all what I have said upon this Subject Perhaps some will be apt to reply here that they indeed confess Moses to be the Author of Genesis and that if that Book had really been Supposititious it could never have gone under his Name nor be received as his in after Ages But that yet all this does not prove sufficiently the truth of those Transactions recorded in that Book Because Moses may have forced upon the People of Israel the belief of them by those Laws that he enacted amongst them by which it was Death for any Man to dare to contest the truth of any thing he had written in his Books This I think is all that the most Contentious Atheists can think of to undermine the Authority of Moses's History But this Objection is easily answered for it consutes it self For First It supposes the truth of these great Miracles by which God establish'd Moses the Head and Captain of the People of Israel which Miracles are every whit as hard to believe as the several Accounts of other things which we read of in the Book of Genesis We find accordingly amongst the Heathens themselves many Monuments of those Miracles done by the Ministry of Moses when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt As I intend to shew in my Observations upon the other four Books of Moses Secondly They must at least suppose that Moses hath given a true account of several Passages in which he could not impose upon other Nations which did not acknowledge his Authority as for example all that relates to the building of the Ark the greatest piece of Architecture that was then in the World and to the raising of the Tower of Babel the greatest Building that ever was and part of which is yet extant for all these things were as so many Witnesses of the truth of those Transactions which he related Thirdly They must likewise suppose that he hath related several other Passages as exactly as he did those as for Example That of the Division of Tongues which is an Appendix of the History of the Tower of Babel that of the Destruction of Sodom the Original of the Neighbouring Nations of Canaan that of the Jews of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and Edomites for it is ridiculous to conceive that this Law-giver should ever hope to perswade other Nations to believe any false Stories about Matters so well and so generally known as those were amongst themselves Fourthly They must suppose further that he hath given a true account of the Original of the Israelites whose Head and Governor he was How great and absolute soever the Authority of Moses might be it is ridiculous to imagine that ever he would have derived the Original of the Israelites from any other than from their true Ancestors This appears the more necessary in that we see by the accounts he gives of things and Pedigrees in Genesis that he wrote that Book especially from the History of Abraham on to the end of it only to shew the Rights and just Pretensions of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan Fifthly They must yet further acknowledge whither they will or not the truth of the accounts he gives concerning the Original of the Pretensions and Divisions which were kept up amongst the Twelve Tribes of Israel now these Pretensions having no other ground than the Oracles which are related in his History they sufficiently prove the Authority of those Oracles against all the Pretensions and Objections of the Atheists What violence soever they may pretend that Moses might use to force an Implicit Belief of his History and blind Obedience to his Laws yet no Man of common Sense and Reason can ever think that he would have fill'd the Accounts he gives of things of that nature with Lies or that if he had done it he could ever have expected that his false Accounts of them should ever have been credited by the Neighbouring Nations or even by his own Subjects But without urging here several other Absurdities which plainly shew that there is no distinction to be found betwixt the Accounts of things which Moses recites as publickly known and those which he relates of his own Head and private knowledge there being as I have already shew'd betwixt all those several Accounts such a natural Coherence and necessary Concatenation that they cannot be divided from one another without destroying the whole frame of his History I say that it is impossible that the Law by which he makes it death for any one to contest the truth of his Narration should make the sincerity of it suspected I do not urge here that there is an evident Absurdity to suppose that Moses would ever have related together all those Transactions as the grounds of Religion if they had been absolutely unknown in the World before him Neither do I mention here that suppose Moses had been so imprudent as to attempt such an undertaking yet there is no reason to believe that a whole Nation and that a very numerous one would have long persevered in a Profession forced upon them by meer Violence and Tyranny Nor do I think it necessary to observe here that the People of Israel were neither so patient nor so easily perswaded by Moses nor yet so submissive to him as these Objectors do imagine That is plain and apparent enough from all their Seditions and Conspiracies against him Nor do I judge it necessary to observe here what is plain enough of it self viz. that Moses had no Successor any ways concern'd to countenance and defend these pretended Fictions and Fables of his History Joshua his immediate Successor was of another Tribe and so were all the succeeding Governors of Israel until the Maccabees came But what I think deserves best to be observed here is that after Moses and Joshua's Decease the People of Israel was brought under the Subjection of the Canaanites and consequently freed from the Terror of that Law of Moses's making by which it was Death for any one to contest the Authority of his Laws â—nd the truth of all his Writings there is but a
thing in it self there is no less Absurdity to dispute our Saviour's Resurrection than the Creation of the first Man. Now if this Argument holds as there can be no easier so neither can there be a stronger proof of the truth of the Christian Religion for provided we be once well assured of the certainty of Christ's Resurrection we must acknowledge him to be the true Messiah and consequently embrace his Religion But it seems in the heat of Meditation I was insensibly carried further in my Observations upon the Promise of the Messiah than I thought at first to be Therefore instead of passing now as I proposed in the beginning to the proof of Christ's Resurrection which is a solid and compendious way of demonstrating the truth of his Religion I find my self engaged according to my present Method to continue to make the like Reflexions upon the other Books of Holy Scripture that I may yet more fully demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah whom God promised to Man immediately after his sin And this I intend to shew so plainly as will make it evident that God hath really accomplished his first designs and exactly performed all his Promises relating to the Messiah according to the first Idea's he gave of his coming to the Ancient Patriarchs First Then I design to trace up the Method that God was pleased to use to make the Messiah known without mistake when ever he should come into the World. Secondly I will make some Reflexions upon the several Notions he gave of him long before in his Oracles to Characterize his Person his Offices his Actions his Sufferings his Glory c. Last of all I will shew that we have all this whole Project and Design exactly accomplished in the History of the Gospel as it was written by Christ's Disciples Now as this Method which God hath particularly chosen to make the Messiah known appears also in the other Books of Moses So I think it will not be amiss for me particularly to view and examine these Books that I may have occasion to illustrate several things in them which deserve a particular attention especially when they are considered together and as it were at one view For the Prophecies being thus consider'd together in their Connexion and Progress do more plainly evidence God's Design and may better convince or confound the Jews Therefore I intend accordingly to consider those Oracles with attention and to join them together that so they may in their Conjunction cast forth the brighter Beams of Light to the Conviction of all Infidels who may happen to peruse this Book For I am perswaded that after the perusal of my Observations in it an ordinary attention in the reading of the Gospel will be sufficient to convince any Man that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah which is all I intend to prove as the Conclusion of this Treatise Now as the examination of the Patriarchs Religion according to the account Moses hath given us of it in his Book of Genesis hath taken up the first part of it so I design to examine in this second part the Israelites Religion and to follow in my search the account which Moses gives of it in his other four Books And as to effect this it is very important to establish beforehand the Authority of those four Books so I intend to shew first of all that Moses is the true Author of them and that they have Intrinsick Characters of undeniable certainty Then Secondly It will be natural for me to shew that Moses in the writing of them had the Promise of the Messiah in view as particularly promised of God to the Patriarchs of his own Nation and as being consequently the principal if not the sole Object of their hope Thirdly I intend to shew that if we seriously examine Moses's Laws we shall find in them such a Method observed as is both very agreeable to the manifestation of God s design in Genesis and very worthy of his Wisdom especially if we consider what he was pleased to reveal unto us of his Intentions by the Prophets who followed Moses REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books THis is a Truth which may be grounded upon several solid Arguments I might observe That Moses hath always been acknowledged by the very Heathens themselves not only to be the most Ancient Historian but also the most Ancient Legislator in the World. I might likewise observe That there is a particular connexion betwixt the Book of Genesis and the other Books of Moses as well in regard of the general Design of their Author as of the Matters treated of in them For Example We see that the greatest part of the Laws and Transactions which we find written and recorded there derive their Original from those Transactions and Passages that we read of in Genesis Thus we may plainly discern that the pretension of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan was grounded upon the Promise that God made to Abraham to give it to his Posterity in the fourth Generation Thus we may see That the Amalekites could have no other reason to make War against the Israelites than the old Alliance that was formerly made betwixt Amalek and the Canaanites which without doubt engaged his Posterity to be the first Opposers of the establishment of the Israelites in the Land of Canaan Thus we see that the Seditions of the Israelites against Moses under Corah Dathan and Abiram did proceed from the Order of the Birth of the Children of Israel as it is set down in Genesis because the eldest thinking themselves wrong'd of their Birthright thought they might justly Rebel against Moses in order to recover it But I haste to things more material than these And first it is here observable That those Books were not only religiously kept in every Family of Israel but that they were also once solemnly deposited in the Tabernacle as a publick Record and that by Moses himself a little before his death that they might be a Testimony against that People as we read it Deuteronomy XXXI 26. Secondly It cannot be denied that Moses did straightly charge both Joshuah and the Heads of the People to read them frequently and carefully for it is expresly said so Joshua 1.8 Nay we see about 500 years after the holy Man David who had made during his life Psal I. the supream felicity of a man to consist in the reading the Law of God day and night We see I say that holy Man give in his Death-bed the same Charge to Solomon I Kings Thirdly Moreover it is certain that there were many Laws and Sanctions contained in those Books which are the Foundation of the History of succeeding Times And this is the reason why we read nothing in the Book of
any thing to them as we see it Deuteronomy IV. 2. It is then impossible seeing that the whole people of the Jews have always acknowledged the Divine Authority of those Books that they should ever have attempted the alteration of any thing in them Nay we see not without wonder that after the greatest part of the ten Tribes of Israel were transported into Assyria those that were sent from Assyria to inhabit their Countrey did receive that Law and that their Posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews altho' they continue their Mortal Enemies and have been exposed to all the Changes and Revolutions that can befal a Nation during the long interval of 2400 years The Third Observation which deserves a singular Attention is That notwithstanding the great and many Corruptions which the Common-Wealth of Israel fell into yet these Books have still been kept up in the same form that we have them now It appears out of the History of Josiah related 2 Kings XXIII 21. That after the Book of the Law of Moses own writing was found in the Temple the King commanded all the People to keep the Passover unto the Lord as it is written in the Book of this Covenant Now we have the Institution of the Passover Exod. XII which shews that Josiah by the Book of this Covenant meant the Books of Moses such as we have them now adays and such as they were when Moses deposited them into the Sanctuary It is important to consider well all that is related in the forementioned Chapter of II Kings for we may gather out of it that it was according to the Directions of this Law that they began to reform all the Superstitions and Idolatries which had been introduced in their Religion and countenanced by the Royal Authority from Solomon's time to Josiah this Chapter relates and commends the proceeding of Josiah only in opposition to the ill government of his Predecessors and to the publick Monuments of their Superstitions which he abolished in obedience to God's Laws contained in the Books of Moses However it is certain that it was no easie matter to impose herein upon Posterity For First The Transactions recorded in the Books of Moses did not only relate to the People of Israel but also to most of the Neighbouring Nations Secondly The Memory of them continued so lively and universal that almost 1500 years after Moses the Names of those Magicians spoken of Exod. VII 11. were as yet known not only amongst the Jews as we see it by an express Passage of S. Paul who speaks of them Hist Nat. l. 30. c. 1. and mentioneth their Names 2 Tim. III. 8. but also among the Heathens as both Pliny and Numenius do attest it I point only at those general Proofs at present because I have already made use of them and shew'd their force in my Observations upon Genesis and because I intend to repeat and improve some of them hereafter in this Treatise But now in order to follow my present design I must come to the more particular Consideration of the things contained in these Books which will much conduce to the Confirmation of the same Truth CHAP. II. That both the Character of Moses 's Person and the nature of the things he relates has always made men read his Books with attention The Subject of some Books is such as that alone would recommend them to the attention of any Reader tho' their Author had no reputation in the World but when besides the importance of their Subject the Author of them is famous and of great repute then to be sure they never fail to be read with serious attention and preserved with as great a care The Books of Moses have both these advantages so that they cannot reasonably be suspected of the least alteration or Forgery The first Character that we discover in these Books at the first viewing of them is the great singularity and admirable diversity of their Stile and of the Matters they treat of We do not see that other Legislators did ever affect to act the parts of Historians no they content themselves with their absolute power to make Laws without giving any reason for the Sanction of them Therefore we see that there is commonly nothing more dry and sapless than all their Regulations about both Civil and Religious Matters But Moses we see hath followed a more reasonable and more satisfactory method all his Regulations are grounded upon the great Transactions which he relates he enacts no Law of any consequence but he intimates to the Jews at the same time the Reasons which challenge their Obedience and makes them by that means reflect both upon the several Mercies of God bestowed upon them and call to mind the great Miracles they had been eye witnesses of I confess indeed that the use and scope of some of his Regulations is very abstruse especially now that we are ignorant of the several Heathen Customs which God design'd to abolish from among that People newly come out of Egypt where during their Captivity they had complied and accustomed themselves in a great measure to the Rites and Religion of their Masters the Egyptians But yet how abstruse soever the design of some of those Laws may now appear to be We have good ground to affirm that the general scope of them all was to keep that People from Idolatry in distinguishing them from all other Nations as also to quicken their Desires and Expectations of the Messiah the Promise of whose coming had been made by God in the very beginning of the World and renewed several times to the Heads of their Nation However we see in the Books of those Laws Religion and Policy so interwoven together that the latter seems to subsist only by the support and assistance of the former which is contrary to the custom of human Legislators who do not so much regard the establishment of Religion as the preservation and welfare of the State and Common-wealth If any Jew had a mind to be informed about the Tradition of his Ancestors and the transactions of old Moses hath preserved it with such care with so many marks of Fidelity and so clear and plain that there is no other History besides his that can give any satisfactory Information about the Original of things All the Fables of the Heathens which yet make up the most ancient Tradition they have being nothing else but a corruption and depravation of the several Truths that Moses relates in his History If any Jew desired to see the beginnings of that Common wealth of which he was a Member Moses gives an accurate account of them If any Jew desired to know the Original of Mankind or what was the true happiness of Man and what he ought to do in order to be a partaker of that happiness Moses teaches all that with great evidence and exactness If any Jew had a mind to know the occasion of
those Songs that were so much in fashion amongst those of his Nation he might easily satisfie his Curiosity by reading Moses's History If any Jew desired to know what sort of Exhortations they were which the Founder both of their Religion and Common-wealth had formerly made to their Fore-fathers Moses relates a great many of them in his Books If any Jew had a mind to receive instruction about the Original and cause of those Temporal Blessings he enjoyed in the Land of Canaan which God had possess'd his Nation of after the Expulsion of those People that had been the Inhabitants of it for many Ages Moses gives as good account of all that as can be desired If any Jew had a mind to know the Original of the several Calamities that befel his Nation on several occasions Moses acquainted them both with the Cause and Remedy of all their Afflictions Lastly If the Jews desired to be informed of the future condition of their Common-wealth in after Ages Moses foretells it in so particular and clear a manner that they might look upon his Prophesies not as certain Prophesies only but as a plain History of future Events begun and traced out before their Accomplishment All this is so much the more considerable to oblige us to read the Books of Moses with care that we may justly observe three things in his person which as they raise him above all common Authors so they cannot but strengthen the belief and increase the Esteem and Veneration which we ought to have for his History The first is That whereas all Men are careful to conceal their own Infirmities and whatever is dishonourable to their Familles Moses on the contrary seems to have affected to record all the things that could blemish the memory of his Ancestors and derogate to his own Reputation He blemishes Jacob's memory by his relating how he preferr'd Joseph the Son of his Beloved Wife to Reuben his Eldest whom he unjustly deprived of his Birthright in favour of the other which injustice is expresly forbidden by one of Moses's Laws Thus he lays an eternal blot and reproach upon the memory of Levi the Head of his own Family when he mentions his Cruelty and Violence against the Sichemites and the dispersion of his Posterity amongst the other Tribes of Israel Nay what is more he vilifies his own Birth by forbidding any Marriage betwixt an Aunt and her Nephew seeing he relates that he himself was born of Jocabed both Aunt and Wife to his Father Amram he describes his own Incredulity with all the Ingenuity imaginable when he represents the several Miracles which God wrought by him he seems to speak of himself only to lay open his own failings and sins such a sincerity and Impartiality we know confirms and increases mightily the Authority of any Author The Second thing is That Moses not regarding the advantage and honour of his own Family left the Government of Israel to Joshuah one of the Tribe of Ephraim and so reduced his own Children and their Posterity to the low condition of the rest of the Levites who were of an inferiour Rank to that of Priests for we do not see that they ever after renew'd the pretensions which they might otherwise have had to succeed Moses now such neglect of his Family shews that Moses's Principles were raised much above the ordinary pitch of the generality of Law givers who were absolute and supream over their People The Third thing observable here is that Moses had no share in the Conquest of the Land of Canaan it all was subdued after his Death Nay it was that Conquest that fixed and setled the Common-wealth of Israel which was before unsetled and as it were ambulatory in the Desart Now how could such a singular design as Moses describes in his Law be put in execution by any other than by him that formed it It was Joshua that made this Conquest of the Land of Canaan and possest the Jews of it now to be sure if that People had not been then fully perswaded of the Divine Authority of Moses's Law they would never have failed after so great an alteration to make use of their Power and Liberty in throwing off the troublesom yoak of his Laws nor yet would Joshua and all his Successors in the Government ever have maintain'd the Authority of those Laws if they had not lookt upon Moses not only as an extraordinary Man but also as one particularly Commissionated by God to make that Body of Laws for the regulating of his People We read in those Books of Moses's dying in the Mountains of Moab now that being supposed how is it possible that if the People of Israel had not been fully convinced that God himself gave their Law to Moses with all the Circumstances mentioned by him they would have continued to keep up such a ridiculous and ill grounded Conceit If he had really by his Tyrannical Authority forced the Israelites into a compliance to his Laws during his Life why did they not assoon as he was dead with the fear of his Authority shake off the yoak of his Laws and all respect for his memory One thing we may remark as very surprizing in the Relation of that Legislator's Death which is that his Body was not found after his Death For we do not see that that People which otherwise kept up and carried about with so much care the Bones of Joseph and his Brethren in order to Bury and Deposite them in the Sepulchres of their Ancestors for both Joseph and his Brethren were interred in Judaea did ever build a Tomb to their Law-giver or so much as pretend to shew his Sepulchre Josephus was of Opinion that Moses wrote himself the account of his own Death for fear the Jews should ever imagine and so give out that God had taken him up into Heaven I see I confess no solidity in that Conjecture of his but yet it may give us occasion to make a Reflection hereupon I think more natural and easie which is that God had a mind as Joshua intimates it to confirm the many Characters of Divinity that appeared in the Law of Moses by taking away from before the eyes of the Jews his Corps which they would certainly if they had not been so prevented have kept with more care than those of all their Patriarchs and Kings The Description of the manner of Moses's Death shews evidently that he was not only in great esteem during his Life but that even his Death did much conduce to the increase of it and to make Men look upon him as one gloriously raised up above the common condition of Men and in a manner not obnoxious to the Infirmities and Miseries incident to human nature But after these general Reflexions I must come to those that are more particular CHAP. III. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of WHoever will examine with attention the four last Books of
Moses shall find in them several Passages recorded which deserve a particular Consideration As First of all the Miraculous Birth the extraordinary Education the Heroical Courage and the Divine Call and Commission of Moses and the several Miracles which he wrought in Egypt to bring the Israelites out of it and lead them to the Borders of Canaan Then Secondly All the Moral Ceremonial and Political Laws which Moses gave to that People from God. And Lastly Moses his Prophecies concerning their future Condition their Victories their Captivities their Transportations concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem the coming of the Messiah and the dispersion of their whole Nation All which Passages have as evident and authentick proofs of their certainty as things of that nature are capable of Let us first begin with the Narration of the Miracles recorded in the beginning of Exodus Wherein we see that after Moses had represented the Death of Joseph and of all the generation that came down with Jacob into Egypt he writes his own History and represents himself as another Noah saved out of the Waters to save and deliver that Holy Family The whole Relation which he makes of all those particulars is very strange and extraordinary but yet his Circumcision and the instruction of his Mother to whom he was given by the Daughter of Pharaoh to be nurst up and the Conversation of that Princess who had adopted him and made her self a Proselyte as the Jews endeavour to prove Jalk in h. l. ex Vaiikra Rab. from 1 Chron. IV. 18. And his Education in the Court of Egypt and his acquaintance with all the Grandees of that Court did concur together to acquaint him with that remarkable preservation of his person and perswade him of the certainty of it For how could either Moses impose or be imposed upon in that matter Was not that Barbarous cruelty of the Egyptians by which they compell'd the Jews about the time of Moses's Birth to throw their Children into the River Nilus notoriously known of all Men Were not the Publick Buildings and strong Cities viz. Pythom and Rameses so call'd from the Name of King Rameses Miamum standing in the sight of all Men And was it not publickly known by all the World that the poor Israelites were the Slaves and Drudges who were made use of to erect those Buildings Neither could the manner of his Education be unknown to him nor yet to any of the Hebrews for we do not join here to Moses's Narration what Josephus relates of his Person of his Feats in Meroe and of his Marrying an Aethiopian Princess c. As Moses's Miracles were done in the presence of the Egyptians and Jews so they testifie that he had really received his Calling and Commission from God in the Desert and that just in the manner as he describes it himself Now no Man can dispute the truth of those Miracles if he but minds the following Considerations First It cannot be denied that the People of Israel was brought out of Egypt by Moses Their Law which the present Jews do still observe speaks every where of that famous Action of his there was never any Man disputed the certainty of that Atchievement All ancient Authors make mention of it Joseph contra App. l. 1. Manethon gives an account of the time of the manner and of many other principal Circumstances of that Exploit Trogus Pompeius Justinus and Tacitus do also speak of it only Tacitus does groundlesly I suppose of his own head relate that the Jews were expell'd out of Egypt because of their Leprosie I say groundlesly for it is known that on the contrary Leprosie was a common Distemper amongst the Egyptians and that they infected the Israelites with it so that there is no likelihood they should be expelled by the Egyptians for a Distemper that they got from them We know besides that the Law of Moses which calls the Leprosie the Distemper of Egypt did banish the Lepers out of the Congregation of the People and then the nature of David's Curses against Joab because of his murdering Abner shews sufficiently that the Leprosie was lookt upon by the Jews as a Distemper most commonly sent immediately from God. Nay Trogus Pompeius himself Justin l. 36. observes that the Magicians caused Moses with the People of Israel to be expell'd because they themselves were struck with a kind of Scab and Itch and that they were afraid least the contagion of it should infect the whole Kingdom of Egypt Euseb praep Evang. l. 9. c. 8. And here I must not forget the mentioning the Testimony of Numenius a Pythagorean Philosopher who relates that both Jannes and Jambres were chosen by the Egyptians to oppose Moses and hinder the effects of his Miracles and Prayers which had brought down many grievous Plagues upon Egypt just about the time of the Jews Banishment out of that Country But Secondly If the Leprosie which the Israelites brought from Egypt be a indisputable proof of their sojourning there it is as certain that the going out of that mixed multitude of Egyptians who so far espous'd the Israelites Interest as to leave and forsake Egypt their own Countrey to accompany them could have no other cause or pretence than the Miracles of Moses whereof they had been Eye-witnesses so that the Posterity of those Egyptians that were thus incorporated into the Body of the People of Israel were in after Ages as so many Witnesses of the truth of those Miracles which formerly perswaded their Fathers to joyn with Moses and so to share Fortune with the Hebrews Thirdly It is certain that the Jews could not so much as mention any of the Miracles which they pretended were done formerly for the deliverance of their Fathers without exposing themselves to the scorn of all the World if all those Miracles and their Deliverance had not been certainly and generally known to the Egyptians and to all the Neighbouring Nations by whom they were often subdued and brought into subjection after the Decease of Moses and Joshuah To all these Reflexions we may add that the Commemoration of the Israelites going out of Egypt with all the Miracles wrought by Moses was renew'd yearly not only by the solemnizing the Feast of the Passover which the Israelites did constantly keep to the time of their dispersion and which they do still keep in all parts of the World but also by two other very sensible ways The first whereof was the Separation which God made of the Tribe of Levi in order to Consecrate it to his Service instead of the first-born of the People of Israel whom he had spared and preserved in Egypt with great Solemnity in regard both of Men and Beasts as we read Numb III. so that every Levite was as a living Memorial of that great Miracle wrought at the Israelites going forth out of Egypt And the Second was the Law concerning the Redemption of every First-born both of Men Numb XVIII 16.
and Unclean Beasts which is observed to this hour amongst the Jews It is clear and evident that there is in all those Laws a deep impression of those several great Miracles which compell'd Pharaoh to let the Israelites go Lastly It is very observable here that the Memory of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt wrought as by many Miracles so especially by the death of all the First-born of Egypt which was the occasion of the Institution of the Passover continued amongst the Egyptians till after Jesus Christ For till then they used to mark with red their Sheep their Trees their Houses and Lands the day before the Passover as one may see in Epiphanius which Custom could proceed from no other cause than from the Egyptians fear of the like Plague and Mortality that was once inflicted upon their Forefathers and from their hope of preventing it by such a kind of Talisman whereby they thought Moses had formerly saved the Israelites harmless from that great Plague only by sprinkling the Blood of the Lamb of the Passover on the upper Door post of their Houses CHAP. IV. A Continuation of the Proofs of the truth of the Miracles wrought by Moses THese Arguments might be thought sufficient for the evincing the truth of these Miracles which Moses relates but yet something more may be added As those Stupendious Miracles by which the famous deliverance of the Israelites was effected could not be doubted of by those who had been eye-witnesses of them so they were afterwards confirmed by several other Miracles which being as great and almost of the same kind continued for many years in the sight of the whole People of Israel God made a Pillar of Fire and of a Cloud attend upon the Israelites to guide them the one by Day and the other by Night He divided the Red Sea to open a passage through it for his People L. 9. praep Ev. cap. ult the Memory whereof saith Eusebius was preserved to his time by those of Memphis The Israelites took the Spoils of the Egyptians drown'd in the Red Sea as they were pursuing them They made a Song upon the occasion of that wonderful Deliverance they were fed with Manna a kind of heavenly and miraculous Food they drunk of that Brook of Water that was following them wherever they went All those Miracles with many others continued for forty years together without any Interruption and do therefore firmly establish the truth of those other Miracles which Moses relates because there were none of them wherein the people could be imposed upon by any trick or illusion and of the truth whereof every one could not satisfie himself by his own experience I do not speak now of several publick Monuments of those Miracles as for Example the Rod of Aaron which blossom'd in a Night the Manna which was kept in the Tabernacle The Brazen Serpent which having continued to Hezekiah's time was broken down by him only because the People offered Incense to it From all which it must be acknowledged that there was in the whole Series of the Jewish History both many pregnant Evidences of the truth of the first Miracles and a constant Series of Miracles which having been foretold by Moses did the better confirm the truth of those which he relates as done by him on purpose to vindicate and defend the Liberty and Honour of the people of Israel Because I did just now intimate that the Memory of the Jewish Deliverance did continue for many Ages after amongst the Egyptians I think my self obliged to add here some Arguments to prove that neither such a Transaction as that was nor yet any of the like nature and importance could ever be forgotten in the Land of Canaan There is nothing that in outward appearance seems more ridiculous than what is related concerning the Gibeonites coming to Joshuah's Camp their Equipage shew'd that they had a mind to perswade the Israelites that they came from a far Countrey The Treaty which they extorted from Joshuah by fraud is very singular And there can be nothing more remarkable than their subsistence amongst the people of Israel notwithstanding that they were of the number of those Nations which God had commanded to be destroy'd and their being destined by Joshuah's appointment to carry the Wood and the Water necessary for the service of the Tabernacle from whence they were denominated Nethinims and thereby for ever after distinguish'd from the Israelites But after all there could be nothing more agreeable to God's Wisdom than the preservation of that people amongst the Israelites Their Fathers were the Witnesses of Moses and Joshuah's Miracles Those Miracles obliged them to seek the alliance of the Hebrews and to cheat them into it by a fraudulent Treaty because they despaired of compassing their design by any other means Therefore their subsisting amongst the Jews and their Servile Office which exposed them to the eyes of the whole Nation could not chuse but be of an extraordinary use to make that people preserve and cherish up the Memory of those Glorious Actions which every Gibeonite had perpetually before his Eyes The same Remark may be made upon the continuing of Rahab's Family amongst the Israelites after the Destruction of Jericho It is certain that the Jews have always believed that besides those first Miracles related by Moses many others have been done since for their sakes both to possess them of the Land of Canaan and to keep or restore them to the possession of it nay of those latter Miracles many are very like unto the former As for Example the Death of 185000 Men in the Army of Sennacherib the returning of the Shadow backwards ten degrees upon the Sundial of Ahaz the wonderful preservation of the whole Nation by the means of Esther which was the occasion of the Institution of the Feast of Purim amongst them and several other Miraculous Transactions related in the Jewish Authors of which I will only name three which did preserve the Memory of the greatest and most important Miracles related by Moses The first is the continual Miracle of the Urim and Thummim of the High-Priest which by its frequency did confirm the truth of Moses's Relation concerning the several Apparitions of God in order to lead his people and to give them Laws The Second is the Miracle of every seventh year Levit. XXV during which though the People of Israel did neither Sow nor Reap God according to his Promise did supply them with plenty of Provisions by making every sixth year extraordinarily plentiful Now this Miracle was a kind of a Memorial of that other great Miracle whereby God did feed his People with Manna for forty years together in the Desart still doubling the proportion of Manna every sixth day In effect as that Law which commanded a Sabbath of rest unto the Land every seventh year was constantly observed which would never have been done long if that people had not always been fully convinced
by their own experience of its Divinity And again as that Miracle was so publickly known that God by his Prophets did often threaten the Jews to deprive them of the fertility of the sixth year because of their transgressing the Sabbath So it is plain that no Man can reasonably doubt or dispute the truth of that continual Miracle which that Law both supposeth and promiseth The Third is the Miracle of a continual protection during the time of those three great solemn Feasts in which the people were obliged by God's Command to attend his Service in the Tabernacle or at Jerusalem For this Law requiring attendance from all the Jews of the Age of Twenty and upwards it engaged them to leave the Frontiers of their Countrey naked and destitute of Men and so exposed to the Inroads of their Enemies but at the same time it gave them occasion to experience the same Divine Protection which as they read in Moses's Writings their Fathers had formerly so often experienced against all their Enemies It is certain that there was never any Common-wealth in the World which had any such Fundamental Law the danger to which a Countrey is exposed by the Observation of it is too visible not to be avoided Therefore the Jews to be sure would never have acknowledged that Law to be Divine nor yet submitted to it if they had not been secure of God's Protection to prevent all the Mischiefs and Inconveniences that might arise from their Observation of that Law so that suppose they had been at first so stupid and unwary as to receive it from Moses yet they would never have observed it so constantly and so long if they had not had a constant Trial of God's Protection on all occasions and if they had not lookt upon it as a necessary Consequence and Accomplishment of those Promises which he had made both to them and their Fathers However it is certain that it was the Will of God that the Jews should altogether rely upon that Miraculous Protection of his Nay the distrusting of it was so offensive to him that he inflicted an Exemplary Punishment upon David for an Action which though innocent of it self in a Prince did yet directly contradict that Trust which the Israelites were bound to set upon God's Protection For when David caused the People to be numbred God sent a Pestilence amongst his people which abated his pride and thus taught him effectually to rely more upon God for the future than upon the Multitude of his people CHAP. V. That Moses 's Description of the manner of God's giving him his Laws is evidently true IT is also equally easie to shew the truth of Moses's Description of the manner of the promulgation of God's Law in the Desert and of the several parts of it Moral Political Ceremonial I shall not stand to consider here the Admirable Equity and most absolute perfection of the Moral Law and shew that it could have no other Author but God alone Neither will I urge in this place the extraordinary care God had to regulate the most Minute Ceremonies that there might be nothing left undetermined in all the Acts of Religion as also the great and Divine Wisdom that is discernible in all those Ceremonial Laws which besides their useful opposition to the then Pagan Customs do most of them either mind Men of their Duty or represent and typisie the things that were to come to pass under the Gospel In short I will not aggravate any farther the Consideration of the Admirable Wisdom that appears every where in the whole Body of the Political Laws which God gave to the Jews to settle them into a firm and solid Form of Government that Wisdom is such and so visible that it plainly demonstrates the Divinity of them to any Man that will but compare the whole Body of them and their absolute perfection with the Defects of all Human Laws and the several Changes and Alterations they have received from time to time But I shall lay aside these Remarks and chuse to come to those that do not require so much Learning nor so great an intention of thought The First of which is That the Moral Law was given in the sight and hearing of all the people of Israel and that the promulgation of it upon Mount Sinai was accompanied with extraordinary marks of Glory and made only after many previous Purifications prescribed to the whole Congregation in order to receive it It is true indeed the Ceremonial Laws which were annexed to it were not delivered to the people with so much Pomp and Majesty but as they were also given in the same Desert and in the presence of the Elders of the people assembled together near the Tabernacle after they had earnestly intreated Moses that God would no more speak to them himself it is evident that they are no less authentick than the Moral Law therefore we see that they were accordingly received by that people notwithstanding the Troubles Expences Avocations Straights and Hardships which they might meet with by it Now is it in the least probable that if this people had not been convinced that Moses did really familiarly converse with God for forty days and forty Nights upon Mount Sinai they would foolishly without any cause of a suddain have submitted to such a troublesom yoke of Laws many whereof were opposite both to their Opinions and Ancient Customs It is well known for Example what Jealousie there was all along amongst the Tribes of Israel even from the time of their Ancestors yet we do not see that in those Laws there is any notice taken of it or regard had to it but that on the contrary they seem to foment that Spirit of Division when they deprive Reuben of his Birthright in favour of Joseph's Posterity and of the Priesthood in favour of Levi and of the Kingdom in favour of Juda. Nay we see that even after Moses had composed the difference that was once betwixt the Tribe of Levi and the followers of Corah Dathan and Abiram they were hardly brought to acquiesce to his Decision and how could he then possibly have raised his own Tribe the Tribe of Levi to such prerogatives and to such a plentiful Condition above all the other Tribes as he did by assigning the first Fruits and Offerings to the Levites and Priests How could he I say have done that without meeting with some opposition from the rest of the People except they had all been convinced by the Miracle that God wrought to decide that Question when it was disputed that he himself was the Author of that Constitution Thus we read that long after when King Uzziah boldly presumed to act against Moses's Law Numb XXV and to assume to himself the Dignity of Priesthood and to do the Functions of it he presently received the punishment due to his presumption So that being struck with a suddain Leprosie he was confined to his Dying Day Is it any ways
upon them continually especially every Sabbath day Nay and we see moreover that God every Seventh Year would have them read publickly in a more solemn manner before the whole Congregation of that people who during that Year were obliged to rest from all their ordinary Labours and Employments and so had nothing else to do all that while but to read the Law to examine it and to meditate upon it Lastly It appears that those Laws were yet the more Solemn and Authentick because they obliged the Jews to celebrate three such Feasts as were to be publickly kept by the whole Nation and consequently apt to refresh their Memories and put them in mind thrice a year not only of the surprizing Miracles that God had done for them but also of the manner how he gave and promulgated his Laws the Miracles giving rise to the Laws and those Laws being themselves a means of preserving the Memory of those Miracles because of the frequent Commemoration of them which was therein enjoyned Now these things being so let every one judge whether the truth of Moses's Account of God's giving and promulgating by his means that Body of Laws which he hath inserted in Exodus and the following Books can possibly or at least reasonably be disputed or doubted of But I come now to con-the Oracles recorded in Moses's Writings in order to demonstrate the Truth and Divinity of them CHAP. VII That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books THere are several sorts of Oracles in Exodus and the other three following Books First There are some whereof the accomplishment did soon follow the Prediction The Deliverance of the Jews out of the Egyptian Bondage is of that number Moses does promise and foretel it nay and he executed it himself And all the people to whom it was promised and foretold were themselves Witnesses of the accomplishment of that Prophesie and it was that accomplishment which established the Divinity of his Commission So is the other Prophesie concerning the Conquest of the Land of Canaan and the several Divisions that were to be made of it amongst all the Tribes of Israel Moses foretelling exactly what Lot every one should have and giving besides a Description of the Countrey that every Tribe was to inhabit Those that were Born in the Desert were Witnesses both of the Prediction and the Execusion of it altho it was by the casting of Lots that all the Tribes got their several Partitions But Secondly There are some other Oracles in Moses's Books the accomplishment whereof was not to follow the Prediction till after a long interval of time Such are the Prophesies that foretel the future Subjection of the Israelites to the Canaanites and the several Deliverances out of that Subjection which God was to effect by the hands of Judges whom he was to raise up for that purpose Such again are the Prophesies which relate to the future change of their Common wealth into a Kingly Government Thirdly and Lastly We see that Moses foretells all the Accidents Changes and Revolutions that were to befal the Jews as long as their State should stand At least we see that his Predictions are very plain concerning their several Captivities and Removals and their return into the Holy Land as also the Sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem and the irrecoverable dispersion of the whole Nation which we see at present But whatever difference there may otherwise be betwixt all these Predictions we may say that every one of them hath as pregnant Proofs of its certainty and truth as any thing of that nature is capable of For First As to the first sort of Predictions the accomplishment whereof Moses relates himself It plainly appears that his account cannot in the least be suspected of Imposture because he wrote it amongst a whole Nation which could not possibly be imposed upon in that case seeing he supposes and takes it for granted all along in his Relation that those Predictions were before-hand publickly and generally known of all the people As for the accomplishment of the second sort of Prophesies we have the Relation of it in such other Books as were written after Moses's Death as in the Books of Joshua of Judges and several others which relate the accomplishment of them as of Prophesies written many years and even some Ages before by Moses Besides to this we may add that the account which we find in those Books concerning the accomplishment of Moses's Prophesies is interwoven with such Histories as suppose without any Affectation that his Prophesies as well as his Writings were in the hands of all the World and distinctly known by every Jew And what is further observable is That the Jews have always had Moses's Books in such an Esteem because of these several Illustrious Prophesies that are contained in them that they have always lookt upon him as the most excellent of all their Prophets They assert at this very day that the other Prophets had commonly no other knowledge of future Events than that which was communicated to them by Dreams and Visions whereas Moses had it by an immediate Revelation of God himself who used to speak to him Face to Face without any Enthusiasm when he was perfectly awake Now how could ever the Jews have been so strongly prepossest of that high Opinion both of Moses and his Predictions if we suppose that they never saw the accomplishment of any of them That would certainly be as strange an Illusion as ever was For it is besides observable that those Prophesies of his were not written by themselves and kept secret from the generality of the people but that they were inserted into the several Speeches which he made to all the people some time before his Death and which are written and kept together in the same Volume to be a standing Monument both of his Prophecies and of his Ministry among the Jews Now there is a vast Difference betwixt a Book that is all made up of Prophesies and so kept secret and seldom read as the Books of the Sybils were and a Book wherein the Prophesies it contains are interwoven with a History wherein there is so great a variety of Matters as draws to it and fixes the attention of every Reader and wherein they are mingled with a whole Body of Political and Ceremonial Laws and intermixed with the accounts which Moses gives of all the great Transactions which gave the occasion to so many several Revelations and Prophesies recorded in his Books I am perswaded that it is impossible for any Man to make those Reflexions upon the Opinion which the Jews entertained of Moses's Prerogative and upon the manner that his Prophesies so much reverenced amongst them were exactly accomplished and not be convinced of their Divine Authority CHAP. VIII That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related
by Moses BUt least any Body should think it strange that I should build the truth of Moses's Prophecies upon the Testimony of the Jews I will restrain its authority of it within just and certain Bounds First Although the Jews bear Witness in their Sacred Books that the greatest part of Moses's Prophecies are already fulfill'd yet they say some are not As for instance those which relate to the Messiah's coming But their obstinate blindness is not a just prejudice against such an important truth to be convinced of which we need only to compare Moses's Words with the Actions of Jesus Christ Thus for what relates to the Destruction of Jerusalem we need only compare Moses's Prophesie of it with the Description Josephus their own Historian hath made of the same in his History of the Siege and ruine of that City and of the dissipation of all the Nations of the Jews But without the Jews Testimony in what regards the accomplishment of those Prophesies whereof the execution was deferred for a very long time it is easie to convince any the most Incredulous Man of their Truth and Divinity if he please but to make this one Reflexion which is that when Moses relates amongst the Oracles of the Patriarch Jacob a particular Prophesie concerning the Messiah's coming and when he mentions that of Balaam concerning the rising of that Divine Star he subjoins also at the same time that concerning the Vocation of the Gentiles to the Faith and brings it in as a certain sign and consequence of the Messiah's being come into the World. Now if we examine the meaning of Moses's Predictions about the Vocation of the Gentiles which the Prophets that came after him did better explain and illustrate we shall be apt from thence to conclude that he in effect foretold that God in the days of the Messiah would follow quite another Method than that which he had used before until the time of Moses viz. That whereas God might seem to restrain then the Priviledge of his Covenant to one people alone which was in effect to restrain the honour of the Messiah's Birth to one sole Nation of the World to one sole Tribe of that Nation to one sole Family of that Tribe to one sole Branch of that Family and so to one sole person of that Branch He would after the Messiah's coming take a contrary Method and call all men to Salvation in him Now that being supposed the truth of all Moses's Prophesies cannot be question'd And whatever the Jews Opinion be concerning the accomplishment of some of them It is sufficient for us that they have carefully and faithfully preserved the Books wherein those Prophecies which we see so exactly fulfilled are contained For we cannot reasonably suspect Moses or any other Jew of forging the Prophesies which foretold the calling of the Gentiles not Moses seeing all his Laws do tend as I shall shew hereafter more at large to establish that restriction I was just now speaking of which was to continue to the Messiah's coming Not the Jews seeing that none of them can still endure to hear of the removal of that Restriction by the calling of the Gentiles and that they are all possest with such a Spirit of Envy and Jealousie against all other Nations that they perfectly hate and abominate them But besides we cannot desire a better nor a more authentick accomplishment of those Oracles which are so opposite to the Jewish Principles and Prejudices than that which we our selves are Witnesses of The same Reflexion belongs to the other Prophesies of Moses concerning the total Dissipation of the Jewish State as also to the dreadful accomplishment of them in our days The most resolved Obstinacy can suggest but one Objection in this matter which is that either the Christians or the Jews have falsified Moses's Writings and inserted those Prophesies which we now find there concerning the Vocation of the Gentiles and the dispersion of the Jews after those things were come to pass But First The Books of Moses which both Christians and Jews have are Written in Hebrew and penn'd in such a Stile as evidences their Antiquity and as would be inimitable now Secondly That these Books have been all Translated into Greek almost 300 years before Jesus Christ and about 350 years before the destruction of Jerusalem Neither the Jews nor yet the Christians were any longer sole Masters of them when the Heathens had them also in their hands Besides those who were Converted to Christianity from Judaism and Heathenism did not only find these Prophesies of Moses in the hands of Jews and Heathens long before the Conversion of the Gentiles and the Destruction of Jerusalem but did also make use of them to evince against the Jews that the Messiah was already come Thus I think I have sufficiently demonstrated the Truth and Divinity of all Moses's Prophesies which we find in Exodus and the following Books CHAP. IX That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis I Have shew'd in my former Reflexions upon Genesis that those who lived before Moses's time had a distinct knowledge that God would certainly raise up a Deliverer amongst them although they were not certain of the manner of his appearance And I have besides I think sufficiently proved that the various Idea's which the Ancients entertained of him upon the first Promise made by God of his coming were the occasion of several Criminal Actions committed by the Patriarchs and by those of other Nations who had the same pretensions with them I am now to prove that Moses himself had the same knowledge and lived in the same expectation with the Ancients that preceded him It is of more importance to be shewn and that henceforth no Body may wonder if I pretend that the greatest part of the Laws he gave to the Jews both in reference to Civil and Religious Matters and the greatest part of his Prophesies as also those others mentioned by Prophets that lived after him in that Jewish Common-wealth do all suppose a distinct relation to the promised Messiah And to make this evident I beg leave to offer to the Reader 's Consideration some general Reflexions upon Moses's History in Genesis First It cannot be denied that Moses was one of the greatest and wisest Historians that ever was There cannot be a greater design nor a more difficult Task than his was to write the History of 2400 years He gives an account of the Creation of the World in general and in particular of that of Man of his sin of the Promise God made him after the Fall of the Flood of the Original of all the Nations that were in his time His way and manner of Writing is also very extraordinary The Majesty of his Stile is tempered with an admirable plainness he describes all sorts of Passions to the Life he is admirable in his Characters of the Men he speaks
of and of God himself To be convinced of this let any Man read his Description of Abraham's Sacrifice and of the several Passions Joseph and his Brethren were moved and affected with when he made himself known to them Besides all that we may observe two very surprizing things in the Book of Genesis The First is That Moses recites there such things as seem to be unworthy to be taken notice of by so Grave and Wise a Historian as he was He gives for instance an exact and particular account of all the Circumstances of Ahraham's Purchase of the Cave of Machpela for a Burying place for his Wife He sets down all the particulars of the Incest of Judah with Thamar and he relates the manner how Leah with her Sons Mandrakes obtained leave of Rachel to enjoy her Husband for one Night with a surprizing exactness The other is that Moses records a whole Series of horrible Crimes which seem to be as so many blemishes and odious Reflexions upon the Memory of those whose History he writes Now it is not reasonable to suppose that Moses being so prudent as he is confessed to be could have been so injudicious as to chuse and pick out such Passages and Actions as are in themselves either trivial and of no moment or horrible and odious to fill up with them a Book wherein he gives a Description of the Creation of the World where he sets down the Oracles of God at every turn It is natural therefore to judge that he had some particular prospect in his Eyes which could be no other than that of the Promise which alone justifies his recital of trivial things and of Crimes in such a serious History as his is I shall not repeat here what I have already observed upon the Crimes which he relates in Genesis I add only that he had the same design and prospect in his Narration of such small and inconsiderable Transactions Thus by his account of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah his intention was to shew how God intended by this Sepulchre to affix Abraham and his Posterity after him to the Land of Cannaan his Scope and Prospect was the same when he records the Burial of Rachel at Ephrathah As for the Crimes Moses relates I have before proved that he design'd thereby to shew how all the Faithful before his time had their minds altogether taken up with the thoughts and hopes of the accomplishment of the Promise And herein we may say the Wisdom of Moses is very conspicuous and discernable in the choice he made of those Actions to perpetuate the Memory of the excessive desire which the Ancients had to accomplish the Promise And let no Man object here that it is very strange to see that during so many Ages the Promise of the Messiah occasioned no other than wicked actions For as it appears by all Circumstances that those Crimes related by Moses were committed in different times and long after one another so it is plain that he hath recorded those Actions on purpose to shew what impression the true knowledge of the Promise of the Messiah made upon the mind of those that had it in its perfection and integrity If Moses had inserted in this Book of Genesis any long Discourse as made by Adam about that matter upon a Sabbath day or if he had given us a Relation of what such an one as Seth or Enoch or Sem used to teach concerning that Promise in their Religious Assemblies It is certain That besides the inconvenience of a tedious Repetition which he must have made of the same things in every particular account he gives of the several Generations that preceded him he could never have perswaded his Readers so well as he may do now First Men would have been apt to suspect that those Speeches upon the Promise of the Messiah were of his own making and like those Set Harangues we find in Xenophon or Livy Secondly The Crimes that were committed to get thereby some advantage As for Instance The Murder of a King committed by his Heir and Successor to the Crown shews in the Murder a much greater Ambition and Affectation of the Throne and supposes in him a distinct and clear knowledge of his Rights and Pretensions to the Empire CHAP. X. That the same Perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death BUt it is not only by those and the like Reflexions which may be made upon the choice Moses hath made of the things which he recites that we may gather that he had always the Promise of the Messiah in view for he being descended from Abraham there is no doubt but that from his Youth up he was brought up in the Religion and consequently in the hopes of that Patriarch But moreover we have reason to think that the Idea of this Promise of the Messiah was much more lively and strong in that Family ever since Jacob on his Death-Bed had foretold and promised to Judah that it was out of his Tribe he was to be Born. As for Joseph to whom that Promise might have been applied by the Children of Israel because of his Power and Glory in Egypt the Egyptian Persecution that followed sometime after his Decease resolved all Scruples and Mistakes that might otherwise have been entertained in that matter and so convinced all those poor Sufferers that their Messiah was as yet to come To all these strong Presumptions whereby we may guess what the thoughts of Moses might be concerning the Promise of the Messiah we may add the Consideration both of his Words and Actions which do very plainly establish the same Truth St. Heb. XI Paul in his Epistle to the hebrews mentions two particular Actions of Moses which as they challenge our Admiration so they deserve our serious Consideration because they clearly I think evidence That Moses was fully perswaded of the future accomplishment of that Promise The First is That 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 in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the Reward From whence could a Resolution so opposite to the ordinary prudence and natural inclinations of other Men proceed in him if it was not as St. Paul observes it from a very extraordinary Source viz. from that strong Perswasion which he had that how calamitous soever the then present condition of the people of God might be yet God had chosen it therein to accomplish that great promise which was the Joy of all their Ancestors from Adam down to them the remembrance whereof he renewed by illustrating those Oracles which Jacob pronounced upon his Death-Bed The other is That Moses always adhered to that Miserable people and stood by them in all their Calamities and Pressures 'T is true he left them
the glory which Jacob found in Egypt when he was invited thither by Joseph did not make him forget the Right which he claimed upon that Land by virtue of the Sepulchre both of his Father and Grandfather that was there For Moses informs us that he desired to be carried thither after his Death and that he did expresly require this Duty from Joseph and his other Children who paid it in sovery solemn a manner and with a Mourning so very great and famous that the Name of Abel-Mizraim continued to that very place where the Canaanites saw the Solemnization of that Funeral by the Sons of Jacob who were attended by great numbers of Egyptians One see 's that Jacob's Children still entertained the same hope Joseph solemnly engaged his Children to carry his Bones into the Land of Canaan And one may judge that the other Patriarchs were not less solicitous to require the same Office at the hands of their Children Jalkut ex Siphre fol. 311. col 2. as St. Stephen supposes it Acts VII agreably to the common opinion of the Jews All which shews that Abraham's Posterity had their Hearts set upon his Sepulchre as upon the Pledge and security of God's Promise that they should be once possest of that Land where he was Buried And as the carrying the Body of Jacob into Canaan sufficiently shew'd what were the claims of the Israelites so the same was very evident by their care in keeping themselves unmixt with the Egyptians all the time they sojourn'd in Egypt The Splendor of Joseph was a natural engagement for them to settle themselves there for ever besides their vast encrease forced them in a manner to it For a long time the Miseries which they endured invited them to seek the Alliances of the Egyptians by Marriages and to mix themselves with a people who were their Masters and so to renounce hopes which appeared to be so very groundless They seemed to have been warranted by Joseph's Example who had Married an Egyptian However one never finds that they tried that method One see 's on the contrary that there was little correspondence between the Hebrews and Egyptians in their Sacred things For the Hebrews sacrificed to God the abomination of the Egyptians that is those very things which the Egyptians worshipped One see 's afterwards by the great number of Flocks which they drove along with them at their going out of Egypt that they had continued to follow the profession of their Ancestors who were Shepherds a very odious Employment to the Egyptians One see 's at last that after the many Miracles which Moses wrought in the Egyptian Court that this people followed God's Conduct and went out of that Countrey to possess the Land of Canaan which none of them had ever seen and yet they lookt upon the obtaining it as a Blessing they could not miss of There are several things very remarkable upon that Subject The First is That some Egyptians went out with the Israelites to dwell with them in the Land of Canaan which was done not only that there might be some indisputable Witnesses from among the Enemies of God of the truth and greatness of the Miracles which Moses had wrought amongst them which also was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles to the Faith by their insertion into the Body of the Jews but also that there might be some Witnesses of the extraordinary affection which the people of Israel had for the Land of Canaan and of their claims to it by virtue of God's promise that he would put them into possession of it For otherwise it is not a common thing that a Colony of Slaves should be suffer'd to run away much less that they should perswade their Masters to forsake their own Countrey and their settlements at home to go and conquer another for them The Second Remark is That God made the Jews travel for forty years in the Deserts of Arabia not only to make them forget any Tyes they might have had to return again into Egypt and to accustom them to depend wholly upon Divine Providence but also to redouble their desires after the possession of this Land of Promise It was for the same reason that God forbad them so straitly either the mingling with or the setling themselves amongst the Midianites tho Moses had given an Example by Marrying Sephora or the Edomites or the Ismaelites or the Moabites or the Ammonites tho all those Nations were descended from Therah their common Father or from the Patriarchs In execution of which severe prohibition God commanded the Jews to put all those to the Sword who should make any alliance with those Nations as we have instance of it Numb XXIII after the description of Balaam's Prophesies And it could be for no other end that he so straitly charged the Israelites to cut off the Hivites Ammorites and other Nations of Canaan even to the Women and little Children but in pursuance of his first design to prevent all mixture of his People with those Nations which without that extream rigour would infallibly and insensibly have come to pass I know very well that God preserved the Gibeonites by ratifying that Alliance which gave leave to those People tho of the Posterity of Ham to continue amongst his own people in the Land of Canaan but tho God did in effect preserve the Gibeonites amongst the Jews yet he forced them to undergo the Drudgery and Servile Offices of the Tabernacle and that they might be kept as unquestionable Witnesses of the Hebrews pretensions and of their miraculous Conquest of the Land of Canaan for the continuance of that Nation in the heart of the Countrey and their submitting to the drudgery of carrying Wood and Water for the use of the Tabernacle tho they were at first of another Religion was as I have observed already a continual Subject of admiration to the Posterity both of the Jews and of the Gibeonites themselves CHAP. XIX That the Law tied the People of Israel to the Land of Canaan and by several other means established the distinction betwixt Tribes and Families amongst them ONe may say that one of the most effectual means which God used to fix his people to the Land of Canaan was the Law which he gave them to meer thrice a year and Celebrate three Solemn Feasts together which hardly gave them leave to travel far into other Countreys and engaged them every time they met to renewin the publick Acts of their Religion the memory and the Idea's of their hopes And they conduced to this Design of God in this manner Those Feasts were Celebrated at three times which were the most commodious Seasons of the year for Travelling betwixt the Months of March and October The Celebration of the Passover was upon the fourteenth day after the appearance of the Moon in March The Pentecost was fifty days after and the Feast of the Tabernacles lasted from the first to the tenth day of September
considerably shortned at the time of Moses so one may judge that this Promise ought to be more frequently proposed and more clearly explained And we ought to suppose that in proportion to the delaying of the Promise and the shortness of Mens Lives which discouraged their hopes of ever seeing a Promise fulfilled which their Ancestors whose Lives were much longer could never attain to the more distinct knowledge which God gave of this great object was in order to stir up strong desires in the minds of the Israelites as well as of the Gentiles to whom God was afterwards to renew the Ideas of it and consequently we find that a greater number of Oracles and Prophesies were required from time to time to entertain and strengthen the belief of a Promise the accomplishment whereof was so considerably deferred And indeed this was exactly the Method which God followed the Spirit of Prophesie having in a most illustrious manner been employ'd to preserve the Idea's of the Promise of the Messiah and to increase them in the minds of the Jews until the time of the accomplishment it self and God hath so exactly set down by the Prophets the several parts of his design as there needs not be afterwards any difficulty in discerning the prosecution of that design which he had formed at first I intend in this Third part of my Reflexions on the Writings of the Old Testament to explain this Method which God hath followed in shewing how he hath accommodated himself to the state of the Jews whom he had made the Depositaries of his Oracles and proportioned them to their understanding and desires For the more happy execution of this Design and a clearer discovery of this Conduct of God which seems somewhat obscured by intermixing these Predictions concerning the Messiah with a great number of Events during that Series of Ages whereof we have the History written by his own order I think my self obliged first of all to explain the Reasons why God was pleased to interweave the Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Matters that seem to be of a very different nature and then shall lay down the Rules which one ought to follow in applying the ancient Prophesies to the Messiah After these Preliminary Reflexions I suppose that in order to a fuller discovery of the Series of God's design and a more distinct knowledge of the Progress of the Revelation of this Matter that I ought again to resume and to set before the Eyes of the Reader the five or six principal Oracles which God hath given concerning the Messiah from the beginning of the World to Moses together with that Oracle which he uttered by the mouth of that illustrious Legislator One will easily judge without my undertaking to prove it that the Idea's of these Oracles were familiar to the Jews until David during the space of 400 years after which God began to discover the same more particularly in choosing David to be the Person in whose Family that Prophecy should be accomplished because the Messiah was to be born of his Seed And so I shall immediately pass on to the consideration of those Oracles which David himself uttered on this Subject which deserve so much the more attention because God who at that time changed the Government of the Jews did considerably augment the Idea's which the Ancients had concerning the Promise of the Messiah Lastly I shall collect under certain Heads those Oracles which were uttered by the Prophets concerning the Messiah some hundred of years before the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon and soon after and forasmuch as the Light concerning this matter was at that time much encreased and the Oracles themselves are much more clear and distinct as giving many more particular Characters of the Messiah so I shall content my self briefly to touch upon them in following the principal Characters which they give concerning the Messiah After which I shall have nothing else to do but to make some Reflexions upon the state of the Jews from the time of the last of the Prophets until that wherein the Christians pretend that this Promise and these Oracles were accomplished in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tho' the multiplicity of the things which I am to handle and which I intend to do with the greatness briefness that is possible might seem to oblige me to omit the examining the succession of the History of the Jews yet God having been pleased to intermix the History of the Jews and many other Transactions with these Prophecies it obligeth me in this third part to make also some Reflexions upon the Historical Books of the Old Testament And indeed this will be of great use to prove the truth of these Oracles and the manner how God hath constantly followed that Draught which he at first form'd to himself as also to make it appear that notwithstanding the different Revolutions of the Jewish Common-wealth he hath always continued those Means which he chose at first to facilitate the distinct knowledge of the Messiah whenever he should appear It is very necessary to explain this Series of the Design of God to make the Authority of these Prophecies more firm and unmoveable those Laws the observation of which served to distinguish the Family of Judah and that of the Messiah being so many Boundaries and Limits within which God was pleased to confine himself that his Conduct in this matter might be the more easily observable and known And forasmuch as in my Reflexions upon the Books of Moses I have begun by the firm establishment of the Truth of those Books on which I made my Reflexions without which that Work would have wanted all its strength so I intend also in this part to follow the same Rule and accordingly I shall at first establish the Truth of the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament for if one ought to prove that these Prophecies were well known and very famous then it will be expected from me that I should solidly demonstrate the Truth of those Books in which those Oracles are recorded before I can of right conclude that the Facts which are related by other Authors are the accomplishment of these Prophecies This design would naturally engage me to prove the Truth of every one of these Books in order particularly but as I have not only proved the Truth of the Books of Moses already but that moreover I intend in my reflexions on the Books of the New Testament to demonstrate the Truth of them beyond all contest and besides that the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament are so essentially linked with those of Moses and the Disciples of Jesus Christ that it is impossible to acknowledge the Truth of the one without owning at the same time the Truth of the others I believe I may be dispensed with as to the proving the Truth of every Book of the Old Testament in particular And therefore because I intend to
be very short I will confine my self to some general Reflexions upon those Books of the Old Testament which were writ since Moses but such as I hope will be sufficient to satisfie an equitable and intelligent Reader THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE First Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. THat there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages Page 1. Chap. 2. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of prophane History 8 Chap. 3. That there is an uninterrupted Series of Events foretold by the Sacred Oracles of which we may see a very great number accomplished in every Age. 15 Chap. 4. That how common soever Oracles may have been amongst the Pagans yet nothing amongst them can justly be compared with those which are found amongst the Jews 24 Chap. 5. That the Books in which we may find these Oracles were never forged 28 Chap. 6. That the manner of Writing the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament shews that those Oracles could not have been forged after their Completion 35 Chap. 7. For what reason the Oracles which relate to the Messiah were interwoven with other things which seem to be very widely distant 45 Chap. 8. General Rules for the understanding of ancient Oracles and for the Application of them to the Messiah 51 Chap. 9. Of those Oracles concerning the Messiah which are to be found in the Book of Genesis 60 Chap. 10. Of the Oracles which concern the Messiah in the Book of Psalms 71 Chap. 11. Considerations upon the Sufferings of the Messiah and upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven foretold by David in the XXII and CX Psalms 80 Chap. 12. That the Messiah was to have a Forerunner and what was to be his Character 89 Chap. 13. That the Messiah was to be born before the dissolution of the Jewish State and the destruction of the second Temple 93 Chap. 14. That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David 101 Chap. 15. That the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem of the Family of David which at that time was reduc'd to a private state 107 Chap. 16. That the Messiah was to work great Miracles for the establishing of his Mission and of the Truth of his Doctrine 111 Chap. 17. That the Messiah was to be an illustrious Prophet 114 Chap. 18. That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men 119 Chap. 19. That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah 125 Chap. 20. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death 130 Chap. 21. That the Messiah was soon after to rise again 136 Chap. 22. That the Messiah was to ascend into Heaven and send down from thence the miraculous Gifts of Prophecy Languages c. 140 Chap. 23. That the Gentiles in the time of the Messiah were to be called to the knowledge of the true God. 144 Chap. 24. That the Jews were to be rejected in the time of the Messiah 152 Chap. 25. Of the time which succeeded the publishing of these Prophecies till the Coming of the Messiah 157 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. That there appears a very just Connexion between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former Page 175 Chap. 2. That the Idea's of the Messiah continued very fresh in the Minds of the Jews at the time of the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ 183 Chap. 3. That the Commonwealth of the Jews did still subsist and follow the Model which God had formed in order to the certain knowing of the Messiah 189 Chap. 4. That all the Distinctions necessary for discovering of the Messiah still continued in the State of the Jews at the time of our Lord. 197 Chap. 5. That the time pointed out by the Prophets for the Coming of the Messiah is the very time in which Jesus Christ appeared to the World. 202 Chap. 6. That Jesus Christ had precisely such a Forerunner as the Prophets had described to precede the Messiah 207 Chap. 7. That Jesus Christ was born of the Family of David then reduced to a mean Condition as had been aforetold by the Prophets 213 Chap. 8. That Jesus Christ was conceived by the Virgin Mary without any Operation of Man. 222 Chap. 9. That Jesus Christ lived and preached after the same manner as the Prophets had foretold the Messiah should do 229 Chap. 10. That the Miracles wrought by our Saviour clearly prove that he is the Messiah 237 Chap. 11. That the Predictions of our Lord Jesus Christ clearly prove him to be the Messiah 242 Chap. 12. That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye 250 Chap. 13. That Jesus Christ was raised again the third day according to the Prophets and afterwards ascended into Heaven 258 Chap. 14. That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies 270 Chap. 15. That according to the Prophecies the Apostles of Jesus Christ have called the Gentiles to the profession of the Christian Religion 277 Chap. 16. That the Christian Religion is founded on proofs of Fact and that consequently nothing in the World is so certain as the truth of it 284 Chap. 17. That it cannot be questioned Whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles 292 Chap. 18. That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate 298 Chap. 19. More Reasons to manifest the faithfulness of the Apostles 304 Chap. 20. That the whole Model of the Religion and Commonwealth of the Jews is at this day so entirely destroyed that the Messiah could no more be known 311 Chap. 21. That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion 317 REFLEXIONS UPON THE Historical and Prophetical BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages THE first general Proof which I make use of to establish the Truth of the Historical Books of the Old Testament after Moses may be lawfully drawn from the uninterrupted Series of Events which are related by those Authors who have written the History of the State and Church of Israel We may observe several considerable Epocha's of this History which takes in about One thousand and forty years
the History down to Cyrus the Founder of the Empire of Persia who gave the Jews their Liberty again The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the History of what passed under his Successors to the time of Artaxerxes for almost Eighty two years It was in this Interval that the Deliverance happened which the Jews received under Esther Wife to one of the most powerful Kings of Persia the Memory of which the Jews celebrate every year in all places the Thirteenth and Fourteenth days of the Month Adar which answers to our February by virtue of Esther's Law. After these general Remarks with which I shall content my self at present I ought to make some Reflexions which cannot be omitted without taking away a great deal of force from those Proofs which establish the Truth of this Matter The First is That as these Histories have a necessary Relation to the Laws of Moses so they could not have been neglected by a People who in their Religious and Civil Conduct were absolutely regulated by those very Laws The Second is That all the Actions related in this History have passed altogether in the bosom of a People the Extent of whose Country is not Twenty Leagues in breadth nor Eighty in length The Third is That this People having observ'd the Law of the Seventh year and of the First year or Year of Jubilee which Law you have in the Twenty fifth of Leviticus from their first Conquest and Division of the Country Forty seven years after their coming out of Egypt This Observation has serv'd for a double Cycle to fix the remembrance of those Actions and to make it pass from one Generation to another And so the greatness of that Promise which God made to Hezekiah Esai XXXVII 30. and II Kings XIX 29. may easily be understood that altho' Sennacherib's Invasion would in all probability lay waste all Judea yet they might eat the Fruits of the Earth in quietness the Fourteenth year of Hezekiah and the next year they should eat the Fruits that would grow up of themselves without Tillage and that on the Sixteenth year they should have liberty to till the Ground as formerly which shews without any force upon the words that the Fifteenth year of Hezekiah's Reign was the Sabbathical year in which the Jews were forbidden to Cultivate the Ground The Fourth is That it appears in effect by the Series of this whole Story that things were written so as to agree with the publick Records which were extant amongst the People This is manifest if we consider how often the Sacred Penmen refer us to the Histories and Annals of those Kings of whom they speak and of whom they only quote the principal Stories in short in pursuing their Design which was intirely to bring an Account of the state of the Religion and the Government of the Jews and Israelites under one view Let us go on to other Proofs to establish this Truth CHAP. II. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of Prophane History AS there was but few very Ancient Writers of Prophane History and as we have but small Fragments of them dispersed here and there preserved for the most part by the care of Josephus the Jewish Historian and of Eusebius in his Books De Praeparatione Evangelicâ so we ought not to be surprized if but few of the more illustrious Passages and Events of the Jewish History be taken notice of by Pagan Writers The People of Israel being otherwise engaged by the Observation of the Mosaick Law to keep close to that Country where it was established this made their Neighbours have less knowledge of their History However there is enough left to shew with how great fidelity and exactness the Sacred Writers penned the History of their own Nation In short we may find amongst the Heathen Historians and Poets who were their first Historians several Relations which shew that the Matters of Fact related by the Sacred Writers were well enough known to them and in the same manner that they are related in those Historical Books which were writ after Moses The Memory of Joshua and his Conquests was famous amongst the Heathens There are ancient Monuments extant which prove that the Carthaginians were a Colony of the Tyrians who escaped from Joshua as also that the Inhabitants of Leptis in Africa came originally from the Zidonians who forsook their Country Procop. Van dalicorum lib. II. c. 10. Polybius Frag. CXIV Salust de Bello Jugurthino because of the Miseries which afflicted it The Fable of the Phoenician Hercules arose from the History of Joshua the overthrow of the Giants and the famous Typhon owe their Original to the overthrow of Og the King of Bashan and of the Anakims who were called Giants The Tempest of Hail spoken of in the Eleventh of Joshua was transformed by the Poets into a Tempest of Stones with which as they say Jupiter overwhelmed the Enemies of Hercules in Arim which is exactly the Country where Joshua fought with the Children of Anak One finds the Memorial of the Actions of Gideon preserved by Sanchoniathon a Tyrian Writer who lived soon after him and whose Antiquity is attested by Porphyry One finds in the manner of Jephtha's Sacrificing his Daughter after his Victory over the Ammonites the Original of the Sacrificing of Iphigenia Variae Historiae Lib. V. cap. 3. it being usual with the Heathens as Aelian judiciously observes to attribute to their later Hero's the Glory of the Actions of those who lived long before We have an Account of a Feast which was observed by the Heathen Romans in April the time of the Jewish Harvest Ovid. Fastorum Lib. IV. in which they let loose Foxes with Torches fastned to their Tails which certainly came from the Story of Sampson and was brought into Italy by the Phoenicians One finds in the same History of Sampson and Dalilah Ovid. Metam Lib. VIII Fab. I. the Original of the Story of Nisus and his Daughter who cut off those fatal Hairs upon which the Victory depended Nicolaus Damascenus has preserved the Account of the Victory which David obtained over the Syrians of Zoba Joseph Antie Lib. VII cap. 6. upon the Banks of the Euphrates as it is described by the Sacred Writers There are Monuments extant which describe the part which Hiram King of Tyre had in the building of the Temple of Solomon almost the same with the Account which the Sacred Authors give us of his part in the Erection of that great Work. One finds in Herodotus an Account of the taking of Jerusalem by Sesostris King of Egypt Joseph Antiq Lib. VII cap. 6. as it is described in the History of Rehoboam One finds the History of the Kings of Syria related by Nicholaus Damascenus in the same manner as it is described by the Sacred Writers when they give us an Account of the Victories which the Kings of
were either false or forged This Eusebius has clearly proved de Praepar Evangelicâ Lib. IX cap. 5. The Proverb of the Sibyll's or Delphick Priestess's favouring of Philip is commonly known It was easie for these Heathen Princes to biass their People with such Predictions Lib. IV. de Praeparat Evangel Lib. IV. initiò But what Eusebius says puts the thing beyond all Question for he expresly shews That when the Priests were put to the Rack they confessed the whole contrivance of those Oracles which they pronounced to abuse the Credulity of the People V. We ought to observe That we cannot find great numbers of Oracles upon the same Subject whereas one see 's that the Prophets follow'd as it were Moses's Model of the State of the Common-wealth of the Jews and that they frequently concur in foretelling the same Facts from one Generation to another VI. We ought to remember that these Oracles were not kept within the Limits of one single State or Nation VII It may be said that they were not publickly known having been only proposed in private places before a very few and in short that they were not actually known to the most part of the Neighbouring People whereas one see 's that the Jewish Prophets gave their Oracles in the most solemn Assemblies and when they were committed to Writing they were known to all those who had any Commerce with that Nation So that Isaiah's Prophecies were questionless known to Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus who look'd upon himself as designed by God to restore their Liberty to the Jews We may make the same Judgment of the Book of Daniel which was known to Alexander without all question as one may collect from the favourable Reception the Jews found from him VIII We ought to observe That these pretended Oracles were given for the most part in favour of those Princes who could satisfie the greediness of the Priests Whereas the Prophets among the Jews lived in the most dis-interested manner in the World and usually pronounced nothing but Reproaches and Menaces of cruel Calamities to those Princes who had the Government in their Hands Their Ministry consisted in a couragious opposition to the Corruptions in their Laws and their Religion and in censuring their Princes and Governours with a singular Intrepidity and indeed we see that most of them met with the punishment of their Boldness and made trial of the most cruel Tortures IX Last of all We ought to take notice that as the Oracles which are mentioned in Heathen Authors were only of Facts of small importance to those People amongst whom it is said that they were pronounced so we do not find that they thought themselves much concerned in their preservation whereas one see 's that the Jewish Nation were so perswaded of the Truth of these Oracles with which they were entrusted that nothing to this very day could ever oblige them to discontinue the reading of them whatever Disputes they may otherwise have with the Christians who make use of them to establish their Pretentions notwithstanding all the Claims of the Synagogue When this is laid down it would seem as if I might reasonably conclude That the wonderful variety of Oracles which are to be found amongst the Jews cannot be at all weakned by those Oracles of which we find so frequent mention in Pagan Writers But we ought to go further in explaining two things which will perfectly clear this matter One is That the Historical and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament after Moses can be no Forgeries The other is That in truth those Oracles which we find inserted in those Books could not possibly have been forged after their Completion CHAP. V. That the Books in which we may find these Oracles were never forged I Have observed formerly That it is absolutely necessary that the Authority of those Books in which these Oracles are inserted be established before we can build upon the Authority of the Oracles And indeed if we cannot clearly shew that these Books were written and publickly known before the Things happened which are said to be Accomplishments of those preceding Oracles it would be natural to call in question the Authority of these Oracles But it is very easie to satisfie an equitable Reader herein and to establish in general or severally the Existence of these Prophetical Writings before the times in which those Facts happened which we propose as the Accomplishment of those Prophecies I shall make use of two sorts of Reflexions to establish my Proposition The First consists in general Considerations upon the Books themselves The Second has respect to particular Facts which are uncontested and whence the same Truth very naturally results I. We ought to observe That whereas in Genesis Moses makes use of no other Epocha to fix the time of any Event but the years of the Life of some famous Patriarch As for Instance He fixes the Flood to the 600 year of Noah's Age Exod. XIX Numb XXXIII 38. in Exodus and Numbers he uses the time of their coming out of Egypt for his Epocha in the Books of the following Authors the years from their departure out of Egypt were carefully set down 'till the Fourth year of King Solomon's Reign which was 480 years after their departure This was a Character to fix the time of all those who lived after that Epoch◠II. The Building of the Temple began a new Epocha amongst the Jews as appears from II Chron. VIII 1. tho' they began after that time to reckon by the years of the Kings of Juda and Israel as appears by the Books of the first Prophets Which is a Character sufficiently certain to distinguish those who liv'd after Solomon with the time when they liv'd III. It 's plain That the Babylonish Captivity and afterwards their subjection to the Persian Empire obliged them to fix their Events and to date their Prophecies by the years of the Governments of those Foreign Kings See Daniel Ezechiel Zechariah and Haggai So the Author of the Book of Maccabees refers to the years of the Seleucidae Now that we may the better perceive the force of this Observation we must remember three things 1. That the Authors who lived after the carrying away of the Jews into Babylon make use of some Chaldee Terms which are not to be found in the foregoing Prophets For we may see in the Books of Haggai Ezech. XL. 1. Daniel X. Zach I. Hagg. I. Zechariah and Malachi the same style with Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel 2. The Authors of these Books give names to the Months which they had not before the Captivity The Jews only called their Months Talm. Rosch Hassanah c. 1. First and Second c. and so they gave Names which were unheard of before 3. The Authors of these Prophecies take particular notice of any newly instituted Fasts thus we see that the Prophet Haggai mentioned those Fasts of which we have nothing in the Law but which were
of one that was Blind and another that was Lame at Alexandria He that would know the Particulars may consult Tacitus his History And last of all we ought to observe That the Jews do not only agree that this Oracle of Isaiah refers to the Messiah but they also still propose the Power of working Miracles as a Character which would render the Messiah very illustrious and certainly known CHAP. XVII That the Messiah was to be an illustrious Prophet THis Truth I have already asserted in the Reflexions I made on the Prophecy of Moses Deut. XVIII But one ought to explain this Character of the Messiah more particularly God having been pleased further to illustrate this Oracle of Moses First then We say that the word Messiah implies Anointing which was common to Kings Prophets and Priests and since David's time we find nothing more common than this Title in the Books of the Old Testament where we may observe that Moses was dignified with this Gift of Prophecy and that Samuel communicated the same to Saul and David when he anointed them to be Kings Yea the Jews to this day are of opinion that Elias the Prophet shall anoint the Messiah that is initiate him in his Prophetical as well as his Royal Function Secondly God more precisely signifies this Isai XI Vers 1 2 3. where he declares he would communicate all the necessary Gifts of the Prophetical Function to the Messiah There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his Roots And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord. So that he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears These words need no Commentary For the Jews refer them constantly to the Messiah and they plainly import that he was to be a great Prophet forasmuch as all the Characters which are there given to the Spirit which was to rest on the Messiah are the same which in the Old Testament we find attributed to the Prophets and may easily be taken notice of in the History of the Prophets especially of David and Solomon And much to the same purpose is that passage Isai XLII vers 1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7. Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street A bruised Reed shall he not break and the smoking Flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth Judgment unto Truth He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set Judgment in the Earth and the Isles shall wait for his Law. Thus saith God the Lord he that created the Heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the Earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath to the People upon it and spirit to them that walk therein I the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and will hold thine and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people for a Light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house In which Oracle one ought to take notice particularly of those things which the Jews apply to the Messiah 1. That God proposes the Gifts of the Spirit which he bestowed upon him as an Effect of his Love and the choice he had made of him 2. That the Messiah was to make use of the same as Rules for reforming the Country and propounding Gods Covenant to the Gentiles which clearly suppose the necessity of the Gift of Prophecy to qualifie him for such great Undertakings 3. That contrary to the thundring Character which distinguished the rest of the Prophets who were as so many publick Censors the Messiah was to speak with all meekness and sweetness to the Nations which should receive his Preaching One see 's that Isaiah repeats the same Idea's Chap. LXI vers 1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind-up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of Vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness that they might be called Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified And they shall build the old Wasts they shall raise up the former Desolations and they shall repair the waste Cities the Desolations of many Generations And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the Alien shall be your Plowmen and your Vine dressers But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the Ministers of our God ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall ye boast your selves For your shame ye shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possess the double everlasting joy shall be upon them In short he represents in this and the former Oracle the Gentiles as a People being in darkness and in the misery of a Prison from whence we may easily infer First That the Messiah was to be a Prophet how vile and abject soever that Character might appear in the eyes of the World as I have shewed that it was where I spake of the Prophets in general Secondly That he was to discharge these Functions during the whole course of his Life and that it was to be his chief Employment here upon Earth David had before signified Psalm XXII verse 22. that the Messiah was to declare the Name of God unto his Brethren viz. the Jews by exercising his Prophetical Function in Judea but the Holy Spirit did something more when he seem'd to point out Galilee as the place where this Sacred Doctor was chiefly to fix his abode This is in effect insinuated when God tells us that he was to begin his Ministerial Functions in the Tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon Isai IX vers 1 2 and 3. Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation when at the first he lightly afflicted the Land of Zebulon and the Land of Naphtali and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the Sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the Nations The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land
of the shadow of Death upon them hath the light shined Thou hast multiplyed the Nation thou hast encreased the joy they joy before thee according to the joy in Harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil I shall afterwards take notice That the time of the Messiah was to be distinguished by an incredible abundance of Spiritual Gifts and so this shall suffice at present to prove that the Messiah was to be a very great Prophet CHAP. XVIII That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men THis is a Truth which is easily gathered 1. Because all Nations before they could be made partakers of the Blessing of God by the Messiah according to the promise made to Abraham were first to be received into the Covenant 2. From the nature of that Covenant it self of which Moses was the Mediator the end of which was to separate the Jews from other Nations some of which were not capable of being received amongst them till after several Generations whereas they were to be made partakers of this Blessing by the Messiah 3. Because in effect all the Ceremonial Law was only added to the Moral as it were contrary to God's principal intention and only upon occasion of the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf as St. Gal. 3.19 Paul observes in the Third Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians Besides it appears that God at divers times had given sufficient hints concerning this 1. He had proposed a new Priesthood of the Messiah which was to abolish the Levitical Priesthood and this is the more remarkable forasmuch as David who pronounced that Oracle Psalm CX was he who first form'd the design of building the Temple to which all the Levitical Service was annexed 2. We find him rejecting in some sort the Levitical Ministry after he had despised it in comparison of the Spiritual Worship Psalm XL. vers 6. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not required And Psalm L. vers 8 9 10. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy Burnt-offerings which have been continually before me I will take no Bullocks out of thine House nor He-goats out of thy Folds for every Beast of the Forest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills And Psalm LI. verse 17. he tells us that the Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit in opposition to the Sacrifices which the Law prescribed and to signifie their imperfection the Law having appointed none for the expiation of Murther or Adultery Isaiah follows David Chap. 1. vers 11 12 13 14 and 15. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats When you come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood And Jeremiah speaks much to the same purpose Chap. VII v. 21 22 23. But besides God directly promiseth this new Covenant by Isaiah Chap. XLII vers 6 7. I the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentiles To open the blind eyes to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness from the Prison house It is natural to observe That in this place where God speaks of the Messiah as the Jews themselves confess he expresly declares two things 1. That the Messiah should be a Covenant of the People that is that he should mediate a Covenant between God and the People 2. That the fruit of this Covenant was to extend to the Gentiles which plainly implyes that it was not the old Covenant forasmuch as from it several were excluded The same Covenant is also mention'd Chap. XLIX vers 8 9. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People to establish the Earth to cause to inherit the desolate Heritages That thou maist say to the Prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves they shall feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in all High-places He pursues the same Notion Chap. LV. vers 3 4. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you the sure mercies of David Behold I have given him for a Witness to the People a Leader and Commander to the People Than which nothing can be more particular And to the same purpose he speaks Chap. LXI vers 8 9. For I the Lord love Judgment I hate robbery for Burnt-offering and I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them And their Seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their Off-spring among the people all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the Seed which the Lord hath blessed It is as clear as the day That God in these Oracles promiseth an irrevocable Covenant because he calls it an Everlasting Covenant in opposition to the former He takes notice also in the same Book That the said Covenant was to be propounded in the midst of the Nations and that then that Blessing of God should be known according to the ancient Oracles which was promised universally to all Nations This is that which God more particularly explains afterwards by the voice and pen of a Prophet who was of the order of Priests thereby to prevent all sorts of Exceptions Jeremiah in effect speaks to the same purpose Chap. XXXI vers 31 32 33 34 35 and 36. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake altho' I were a husband to them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their heart and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall
Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis That the Facts of the Creation and the Promises of the Messiah are Truths not to be questioned and that the Idea's of this Messiah continued vigorously all the time that preceded the Children of Israel's going out of Egypt We have seen afterwards in the Remarks which I have made upon the Laws which God gave to Moses that it was the great design of God to keep men in the expectation of this Messiah and to take care that they might certainly know him whenever he should appear in the World. I have taken notice in the third part of these Reflexions of the care which God took to give a great number of Oracles to explain particularly all the Characters of this Messiah the Place and Manner of his Birth the principal Circumstances of his Life Death and Resurrection and to foretel the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles their Call to the Religion of the Messiah and lastly the overthrow of the whole Model of the Jewish Religion and Common-wealth which was no longer of any use after the Coming of the Messiah and the Calling of the Gentiles My present business is now to shew That in the Books of the New Testament we may find an exact accomplishment of this whole Design wherein God had with so much care instructed the World so long before and there is nothing more easie if we will but take a little pains to read these Books attentively and to compare them with the Model which God himself made as we have hitherto described it To make this Truth yet more evident I think it will be necessary to do two or three things which seem to be very important for my present Design And first I am to observe that there appears a most perfect Coherence between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New which is absolutely necessary to shew that there is in these Books a perfect unity of Design notwithstanding the vast difference there is between the Jews who preserve the Old Testament and the Christians who preserve the New. Secondly I am to demonstrate that the Idea's of the Messiah were very strong in the minds of the Jews at the very time that Jesus Christ appeared in the World. This was absolutely necessary that they might not have wherewith to accuse those who received Christ for the Messiah of being deceived in their choice for not having had the exact Idea's of the Messiah which God had promised I shall upon this account shew in the third place That when Jesus Christ did appear in the World the Model which God had framed in the Law of Moses whereby the Messiah might be plainly known did then subsist in the manner wherein God had framed it After this I shall endeavour to shew by prooss which are indeed unquestionable That in examining all the Characters which the Prophets gave by which the Messiah might be known we cannot conceive a more exact execution of God's Design as to the Messiah than that which we find in the Person of Jesus Christ whereof the Books of the New Testament have given us the History Lastly I shall shew clearly that this Model which God had framed in giving the Law and in forming the Common-wealth and Religion of the Jews in so proper a manner to make the Messiah certainly known is not in being at this day but that it was so destroyed by the total Dispersion of that People that we should not be able to know the Messiah if he should now appear again in the World. And that indeed the principal Events which according to the Oracles were to follow the Coming of the Messiah are already come to pass in part and do still come to pass every day I hope to evince these Truths beyond all contest Indeed the bare reading of the Books of the New Testament plainly discovers the Coherence which they have with the Books of the Old. It shews clearly that the Idea's of the Messiah were at that time very strong in the minds of the Jews and it supposeth without any affectation that that Model which God had made so necessary to distinguish the Messiah stood at that time intire In particular It is certain that the four Evangelists by the Relation of unquestionable matters of Fact have proved that Jesus the Son of Mary is the Messiah which God had promised Saint Luke shews in the Acts of the Apostles that after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Gospel was preached to the Heathens The Epistles are a natural Consequence of this Vocation of the Heathens and of the abolishing of the Law of Moses which the Apostles had undertaken They unanimously conspire to shew that God had resolved to call the Heathens to partake of Salvation that the Jews for the greatest part should be justly deprived thereof because they obstinately rejected the Messiah Several Questions are examined which arose either from the Calling of the Gentiles or from the abolishing of the Ceremonial Worship The Succession of the History of the Christian Church justifies That after the Destruction of Jerusalem all People imbraced the Religion of Jesus Christ in receiving him for the Messiah whom God had promised to the Patriarchs and to the Jews I shall resume all these Articles one by one in that Natural Order in which I have proposed them REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there appears a very just Connexion bètween the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former AS it is not much the Character of Romances even then when they are most tyed up to the Rules of Probability to borrow either the Stile or Idea's of those Authors from whom they take their-Subject so I suppose that in this my Undertaking to shew that the New Testament is an exact accomplishment of the Old it is very important to make out that at the first reading of the Gospels and Apostolical Writings one finds in them a perfect conformity of Idea's with the Writings of the Old Testament One may to this purpose observe in general That the Gospel supposeth the Divine Authority of the Book of the Old Testament as an unquestionable Truth The Gospels and Epistles have the same coherence with the Books of the Law and Prophets which the Writings of the latter Prophets have with those of the former and which the Books of all the Prophets together have with the Books of Moses and with the Prophecies Laws and Histories which are contained therein One may take notice afterwards That all the Books of the New Testament have an essential relation to those of the Old in their most principal Designs I have shewed that their design was no other than to raise men to expectations of the Messiah and to paint him to the life whom God
would have taken by force to make him their King What likelyhood was there that the Apostles a company of poor miserable Jews should bring over the Gentiles to the Religion of a man who was accursed by the Synagogue of the Jews and crucified like a Slave by the Authority of the Roman Magistrate What probability was there of the destruction of Jerusalem whilst the Jews accustom'd to the Roman yoke made it their business to avoid all manner of occasions that might stir up the indignation of their Masters against them It is expedient say they rather that one man perish meaning Jesus than to hazard the welfare of the whole Nation The third is That these Oracles were written by the Apostles not only amongst Discourses of another nature but also linked together in such a Chain that their connexion will not permit us to believe that they were contrived after the matters which they relate to were past and also that they are constantly related by three Evangelists long time before the things came to pass S. John being the only Witness of the Destruction of Jerusalem The fourth is That these Oracles gave the Apostles as much grounds to expect Calamities and violent Deaths as to Jesus Christ himself so that there is no pretence of doubting that they were not faithfully recorded by the Evangelists and that therefore seeing the Accomplishment has exactly answered to the Oracle we ought to look upon them as Divine Oracles I confess that these Oracles no more than the Books of the New Testament were ever committed to the publick custody of the Jews as formerly the Oracles of the Prophets of old were but this cannot really diminish their Authority I will not observe at present that because the Temple was to be burnt it was not proper to depose them there and 't was for this reason God thought fit to cause the Oracles of the Old Testament to be translated long before Nor yet that it was very proper that these Predictions as well as the Books of the New Testament should be put into the hands of the Gentiles who thence-forward were to be the People of God and his Temple But this I observe that nothing can be imagined more solemn than these Prophecies of our Saviour and his Disciples as well as never any thing was more exactly fulfilled Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem according to the Oracles Now as no man is Master of the place of his Birth so it is plain that here is no room left for imposture neither is a man any more the Master of his Death wherefore to give a certain Character to his Prophecy he foretells his dying at Jerusalem which accordingly was accomplished in all its Circumstances can any thing be more exact But one may say That it was easie for the Disciples to forge Predictions suitable to the Event in like manner as Virgil hath done in the sixth of his Aeneids of Marcellus One may indeed contrive an imposture which shall be possible and which may answer to some few Oracles but I shall hereafter shew the folly of that thought when I come to prove the faithfulness of the Apostles and Evangelists But can we conceive such a suspicion concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles the ruin of Paganism the Victory of Christianity after Ten Persecutions 'T is now above 1600 years that the Christian Religion subsists whereas who could have assured the Disciples of Jesus Christ that their Doctrine would have had so much as one or two followers after their Death The greatest Empires that of the Chaldeans of the Persians of the Grecians and that of the Romans have been overturned and none of them singly have been of so long continuance as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which nevertheless was attack'd by all that was great and powerful in the World. Who see 's not that this is the Empire whereof Daniel speaks in the seventh of his Revelations which was never to have end Jesus Christ foretold as it is set down by his Disciples according to the Prophecy of Daniel that the Temple of Jerusalem should be destroyed and never built again who could tell the Apostles if they had forged this Oracle themselves that the endeavours of Julian to confound this Prophecy when he began to rebuild the Temple would be in vain as indeed they proved by an effect of the Divine vengeance against the Jews who were engaged in the rebuilding of it Ammian Marcellin Lib. 23. under the Authority of that Emperour Indeed if one reflects on the Oracles of Jesus Christ one shall find them a thousand times more known than those of the Jews 1. The greatest part of them were penn'd at one and the same time 2. They were writ by several Authors who lived in different places 3. They were read over the whole Earth every Lord's day they have been explained and commented upon soon after every one endeavouring to take notice of their Accomplishment 4. They have been alledged in Disputes against Jews and Gentiles and have served for a Foundation to the Faith of the Christian Church whose Teachers have made it their business to shew their uniformity with the Oracles of the Old Testament which are in the hands of the Jews tho' the Jews have always considered the Christians as their most mortal Enemies But one may also find that these Oracles being for the most part much more clear and express their Accomplishment also hath been so much the more easily discernible from whence it evidently follows That Jesus Christ ought to be acknowledged as the Prophet that was like unto Moses as is mentioned in the Eighteenth of Deuteronomy that is indeed the true Messiah CHAP. XII That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye I Have shewed in my third part that God had given to his Church several Oracles to explain distinctly this great Truth concerning the Messiah 1. He had set this up for a Rule by Moses Cursed is he that hangeth on a Tree 2. He had proposed by David the Idea of the Messiah as having his hands and feet pierced the Gentiles and Jews uniting themselves against him 3. He had foretold by Isaiah that the Messiah was to be accounted a Malefactor and put to death 4. He had repeated the same Idea's by the Prophet Zechariah who describes the manner of his being pierced which has a natural reference to the notion of Crucifixion I have also set down the Reasons for which God separated the several parts of those Prophetical Descriptions of so surprizing an Event the difficulty there was on the one hand to make these Idea's to be received which seem full of Contradictions the Messiah having been at first set forth as the Fountain of Blessing and on the other hand their seeming incompatibility with the Glory which God had promised to the Messiah and by him to the Israelites And at last I have shewed that these Oracles do exactly
Fact which they have asserted in the midst of the most cruel Torments and even until Death That Jesus Christ sent down upon his Apostles the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit is a Fact of which all Jerusalem was a witness fifty days after the Feast of the Passover when Jesus Christ was crucified it is as remarkable a Fact as ever happened twelve Fishermen of Galilee maintain in the face of the whole Jewish Nation that the same Jesus whom the whole Nation had demanded to be crucified but fifty days before and who did actually suffer upon an infamous Cross is risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven after he had eaten and drunk with them and had appeared several times to them after his Resurrection and that he had given them the power of speaking all sorts of Languages and of healing all manner of Diseases That they spoke divers Languages is a Fact most notorious the truth whereof appears from the Conversion of the World which was found to be fill'd with their Disciples but a few years after this Fact was done That they had the power of healing all Diseases as well as their Master is a Fact the truth whereof is establish'd upon indisputable testimonies insomuch as their Successors received the same Gift by the laying on of their Hands Two hundred years after Tertullian mentions this Gift as being at that time well known amongst Christians That the Apostles after they were rejected by the Jews preached the Gospel to the Gentiles who also received it is a Fact of which there are so many proofs in the World that it cannot be called in question That the converted Jews strongly opposed themselves against the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles pretending as the Jews now do that the Messiah with his Gifts and Graces was confin'd to their Nation is a Fact so well attested that it cannot be called in question if we consider the first dispute which gave occasion to the first Council of the Apostles and to the contests of S. Paul with those of his own Nation That since that time the Apostles and their Disciples have maintained by their Writings and Disputes and finally by their Martyrdom that Jesus was the Messiah that they have constantly stood to this claim alledging the Facts which the Gospel proposes and maintaining that the matters there related were exact Accomplishments of the Promises of God and of the ancient Prophecies That all this is unquestionable one needs only read their Sermons and Speeches set down by S. Luke and their Epistles one needs only peruse the Heathen History and the Works of those that succeeded the Apostles who followed their footsteps in establishing the truth of the Christian Religion That the Apostles discharged their followers from the Ceremonies which Moses prescribed obliging them only to the Essentials of Morality That they annul'd the Law which permitted Divorces without sufficient cause and Polygamy these are things which none who have read their Writings or those of their first Disciples can in the least question Lastly That they foretold many things as well as their Master that they published their Predictions which they have extended to the end of the World and the return of Jesus from Heaven to judge the World and that they have recorded the particulars of many considerable Events observed by the Christians which have happened from time to time these are Facts as well known and as incontestable as any thing can be in the World of such a nature Whole Nations are Witnesses of it differing Sects Interpreters who have several Opinions concerning these Prophecies the Contests of the Jews the Opposition of Atheists the Cavils of Hereticks the Cruelty of Tyrants all these concur to prove clearly that the Christians received these Prophecies from the Apostles as well as the truth of them since even these Oppositions were foretold as well as the Persecutions Thus I have given you a view of the greatest part of the most important Articles which are contained in the Christian Religion and I think that they are so solidly grounded upon proofs of Fact that I can assert with reason That no Facts in the World can be produced so well established as these are which are the Fundamentals of our Religion What Facts are there which are attested by whole Nations as the Miracles of Jesus Christ were What Facts are there about which men were so careful to inform themselves as when a Man pretends to the Title of the Messiah What thing can we suppose that requires a stronger conviction because of the difficulties it involves than that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for those who were Eye-witnesses of his Crucifixion that is who had seen him punished by the Magistrate the horrour of all his own People and in all appearance forsaken of Heaven To speak the truth as there cannot be a greater instance of fanatical folly than to attribute to twelve poor Fishermen whose Master was crucified at Jerusalem by publick order and by an effect of the hatred of the whole Nation I say to attribute to them the design of perswading that People and the Gentiles also that this man was raised again from the dead that he rules in Heaven that he has bestowed upon them the miraculous Gifts of speaking all sorts of Languages and healing all manner of Diseases if this Jesus had been never raised from the dead nor had bestowed such Gifts upon them the mind of Man not being capable of so great folly So we have all the reason in the World to conclude That since they have attested this Fact and confirmed it by all the proofs which might convince those who tho' they were not prejudic'd yet were astonish'd at the difficulty of the things themselves so that nothing can be more certain than Facts so confirmed as we pretend that these actually were CHAP. XVII That it cannot be questioned whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles BEfore we alledge those Arguments which will invincibly confirm the truth of the Books of the New Testament I desire the Reader to make these three or four Reflexions which seem to be very important to our present design The first is That we can scarcely conceive a more simple and strong way of proving a Fact than what we find in the Books here mention'd The design of the four Evangelists for instance is to prove that Jesus the Son of Mary is the promised Messiah and that in his Birth his Life his Doctrine his Death and Resurrection we meet with all the Characters which the Prophets attributed to the Messiah How do the Evangelists execute this their design In the most proper way imaginable to convince others and most proportionable to their design They simply relate the Facts and Facts so clear that if we do not question the truth of them we cannot doubt that Jesus is the Messiah They relate the most important of these Facts as things that happened in