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
make appear elsewhere The Third and last thing is That it was not easie to impose a forgery upon those times because their Lives were yet of a great extent tho' inferiour to those who lived before the Flood To these we may add this further Consideration that as the Jealousie which was between the Family of Seth and of Cain was a great means to preserve inviolably the important Truths of the Creation and first Promise a like Jealousie now being risen amongst the Sons of Noah Cham being Accursed of his own Father in the person of Canaan and the same being propagated to their Posterity it could not but effectually contribute to rescue these important Truths from Oblivion and particularly the Promise of the Messiah conceived in these words The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's head In a word Judg. VIII 23. IX 8. Talm. Hier. fol. 11 col 4 gloss in h. l. Avodazara c. III. fol. 43. col 1. De Dea Syr. p. 1069. we may not only in reference to the matter in hand take notice of what Lucian relates concerning the Religion of the Assyrians which did so lively preserve the memory of the Deluge and of what was done to Noah by his Son Cham when he scoffed at the Nakedness of his Father but also that the God of the Sichemites was called Baalberith whose Symbol was the figure of the Privy parts of a Man which seems a manifest allusion to their descent from the Family of Cham the Sichemites being some of the Posterity of Canaan It is also very natural to conceive First of all that it was from those old Pretensions that the Canaanites took occasion to prophane the most â—oly things with such shameful Idea's Secondly That it was in detestation of these Idea's that God ordered the killing of the Priests of Baal And Thirdly That it was for the same reason that the Jews were commanded to destroy them utterly Fourthly This was also the reason why the Israelites were so often desirous of imitating their Crimes In the Fifth place As we see that upon the like account the Moabites and Ammonites took Chemosh for their God and that the Women of those Nations were very zealous to propagate their Religion of which we have an Instance in Jezabel the Wife of Ahab so God was also willing to inspire his People with Horrour and Detestation for their Religion or any Alliance with them Lastly As there does appear a very great Conformity and resemblance between the first Birth of the World from the first Chaos and its being born again after the Deluge between Adam the first Man and Noah the second and between the Jealousies sprung up in both their Families upon the account of the Promise of the Messiah So this conformity could not but very naturally contribute to preserve the Memory of those Ancient Events which Noah and his Children had delivered to their Posterity with all the care which is taken to preserve the Tradition of the fundamentals of Religion CHAP. XV. That we find the Family of Abraham and his Posterity till Jacob fully perswaded of those Truths IT is no less easie to conceive how the distinct knowledge of these Truths was in process of time handed down to Jacob and his Posterity This I shall briefly explain I need not take notice here that the Religion practis'd by Abraham and his Posterity suppose these Matters as constantly owned and known It cannot be deny'd but that Lot having followed Terah and Abraham when God called the latter out of Chaldea might thence suppose that this Heavenly Call did separate and distinguish him from the rest of the Posterity of Shem and gave him a right as well as Abraham to pretend to the priviledge of fulfilling the Promise of the Messiah or at least to see it fulfill'd in his Posterity This we may infer from the Incest of Lot's Daughters their Crime which in another view appears very monstrous doth clearly prove that they were strongly possess'd with this hope which their Father had raised in them I know that some Interpreters suppose Lyra in Genes XIX that they were moved to commit this Incest from a pious intention of preserving Mankind as imagining to themselves that as the Deluge had drowned all Men besides Noah and his Family so the Flames which destroy'd Sodom had consumed all Mankind which they were the more ready to believe because they might have heard from their Father that the World one day was to perish by Fire Beres Rab. part 23. But indeed it may be consider'd as proceeding from a very different Motive the Jewish Doctors plainly averring that this was done by them in hopes of bringing forth the promised Redeemer And if we look upon this action of theirs in this view with reference to the Promise of the Messiah which was the grand object of the hopes of all those that fear'd God it is natural to conceive that considering their Father as one whom God had peculiarly chosen from amongst the Posterity of Shem to execute the Promise of the Messiah and seeing that their Mother was changed into a Statue of Salt they conceived themselves in some sort authoriz'd to surprize their Father in that manner and the rather because they conceived on the one hand that none of the Canaanites upon whom God had now begun to pour forth so hideous a Vengeance as a beginning of the Execution of the Curse against Cham having any part in this chiefest of Blessings could ever Marry them after that God had so manifestly separated and call'd forth their Father from amongst them and on the other hand supposing that God would dispence with the irregularity of this action by reason of their being reduced to an extremity There be three Circumstances which greatly confirm this my remark upon the Motive of their Incest The First is That they are represented to us as those who had behaved themselves very chastly in the midst of the Impurities of Sodom and that besides we find they design'd no such thing till after the Death of their Mother The other is That we see them contriving the thing together and that in a Matter which naturally is apt to separate the greatest Friends where the Motive proceeds from a Spirit of uncleanness Nor indeed do we find that they continued in this Incest The Third is That they were so far from being asham'd of an action in it self so criminal or concealing the knowledge of it from Posterity that they gave those Names to the Children born of this their Incest that might perpetuate and divulge the memory of this their action the one calling her Son Moab as much as to say Born of my Father and the other hers Benammi a Name of a like signification with the former This Observation is very necessary because these two Sons became the heads of two great People the Moabites and the Ammonites whose Kingdoms lasted above 1300 years and lived on
which we most desire a particular account are there described in a very short and concise manner The History of 1656 years is all contained in Eight Chapters There are no Actions described therein with more Circumstances than only some few of the most important the remembrance whereof was still fresh amongst them The History of Lamech's Polygamy and the Murders of which he was guilty is there set down so compendiously that it is very obscure Secondly One sees that he speaks more copiously of all that had been transacted near his time He explains and mentions all the particulars and circumstances thereof He speaks so shortly of Melchisedeck that it is doubted to this day whether he was not the Patriarch Sem or some other faithful worshipper of the true God settled in the Land of Canaan whereas he sets down at length all the particulars of the History of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob whose last Oracles which he spoke on his Death-bed he carefully records Thirdly He describes with the same exactness all the Genealogies of the Edomites their several Tribes and the Names of their Heads and Captains c. As when he speaks of those of the people of Israel which indeed he could easily do having liv'd forty years of his life amongst those Nations as well as he had other forty years amongst the Israelites Those who maintain the contrary Opinion must of necessity suppose First That Tradition is of no use at all to preserve the Idea of any illustrious Action Secondly That in Moses's time there were none who knew any particulars of the History of the Flood c. of the Tower of Babel of the division of Tongues tho' we see plainly both by the nature of the Facts themselves in which all Nations were concern'd and by Moses his description that the generality of Mankind were sufficiently instructed in them already Thirdly It must be supposed that Moses hath set down the manner how that Tradition was infallibly preserved so carefully to no purpose tho' he took notice of all the Circumstances necessary for that effect Fourthly They must suppose that Moses whilst he sojourned in the Land of Midian heard nothing either of their Original and Pedigree nor yet of the other neighbouring Nations who were descended from Abraham altho' all these Nations valued themselves upon their being descended from that Patriarch and kept up their several Pedigrees by which they could trace their Original with the same care as the Israelites did theirs because they had the same pretensions that the Israelites had Lastly We must absolutely take away the Authority of the Oracles recorded by Moses in Genesis These Oracles promise to Abraham the possession of the Land of Canaan for his Posterity and threaten the Canaanites with several Curses Jacob by his Will bequeathed Sichem to the Tribe of Joseph He expresly marks out the Country which one of the Tribes was to possess he gives a description of the Character and Rank of every Tribe The accomplishment of those Oracles tho' never so exact and admirable is of no manner of consequence if we suppose that these particular Predictions were absolutely unknown in Abraham's Family whereas their accomplishment which he carefully describes from time to time is the most solid demonstration which can be desired to establish the Divinity of those Revelations as well as of Moses his other Books CHAP. XIX An Answer to an Objection which may be drawn from the Histories of the Egyptians and Chaldeans concerning the Antiquity of the World. WHat I have already represented is sufficient to prove that Moses writ nothing in the Book of Genesis but what was then generally known by all the World. And I know nothing that can be objected with any probability but what we read in the most ancient Authors concerning the Egyptian and Chaldean History and in the Modern ones concerning that of China We must then examin both the one and the other with attention that we may leave no Difficulties in so important a Subject All that the Atheists can object against the History of Moses concerning the Epocha of the Creation of the World as he hath fixed it is what Diodorus Siculus relates that in the time of Alexander the Great there were some Egyptians that reckon'd up Three and twenty thousand years from the Reign of the Sun to Alexander's time and that those who reckon'd least yet reckon'd somewhat more than Ten thousand years which account exceeds the Antiquity which Moses ascribes to the World in the Book of Genesis by many Ages where he represents the Creation as a Fact which happened some few years more than Two thousand five hundred before he wrote that Book How then did Moses write of things universally acknowledged by all the World And they may here further aggravate what the same Diodorus hath observed That the History of the Egyptians was not written like that of the Greeks amongst whom those who came first wrote their own Histories every man according to his own private humour which caused that great variety amongst their Historians whereas amongst the Egyptians none wrote but by publick Authority the Priests alone having that particular employment reserved for them to write their Histories in their several Generations This Objection is easily confuted in two words In short How could the Egyptians have always had men to write their Histories by publick Authority in all their succeeding Generations seeing there were as Diodorus observes such a strange and vast Divisions amongst themselves If there were but two or three Ages difference more or less no body would look upon it as a material Exception against the History of such a long Series of time But who can imagine that those men who differ no less than Thirteen thousand years in their Accounts of the Duration of the same interval of time had yet certain Histories upon which these things were grounded This shews sufficiently that as Varro the greatest Scholar the Romans ever had hath divided Antiquity into Fabulous and Historical which he begins from the first Olympiad leaving all which went before to the fabulous part so we must of necessity make the same distinction in the Matter of the Antiquities of Egypt But I intend to do some thing more and to consider this Egyptian History with a little more attention out of which I think I may draw good Arguments to confute the vanity of those Passages in it opposed to Moses and to confirm the Authority of his Book of Genesis and the truth of the chiefest Transactions recorded in it I shall not at present take notice that altho' the Egyptians about their latter times have maintain'd that the Elements were eternal yet they have sufficiently acknowledged that the World had a beginning seeing they make no mention of any thing before their thirty Dynasties which in all did at the most amount to no more then 36525 years Neither do I think necessary to mention here that they have sufficiently
expressions of this Psalm the Image of a Death which was equally shameful and cruel The other part of the Psalm gives us an Account of the deliverance of that person who is mentioned in this holy Hymn I. He obliges himself to praise the Name of the Lord in the most numerous Assembly II. He observes it as an effect of this deliverance that all the ends of the World should remember and turn unto the Lord and that all the Kindreds of the Nations should worship before him III. At last he takes notice that the Kingdom of God should spread it self over all the Nations of the World. One may judge by the History of David whe-this Psalm is applicable to him therein we may see all the Crosses which he underwent particularly represented during all the former years of his Reign But there we have no Account that David ever suffered any thing like that which is so exactly described in this Psalm And this may be said further that when David took any Occasion to paint out his Sufferings to us he has put in several stroaks which only relate to the Messiah and which shew us in a very lively manner that he was to pass through much greater Tryals than any of those from which David had been delivered The later Jews who endeavour to verifie this Prophecy in Esther or Mordecai agree with us at the bottom that David carried his views further than barely his own Sufferings And those also who apply it to the poople of Israel must acknowledge the same Truth even against their wills But the more ancient Jews were more equitable in their applications of the XXII Psalm to the Messiah They applyed it to him in earnest even after the time of Jesus Christ when the comparison of these Characters of the Messiah which may be found so exactly in the Death of Jesus Christ led them to an opposition of this Truth And certainly there needs very little equity to acknowledge that this Oracle or rather this heap of Oracles belong'd to the Messiah by the confession and agreement of the Jews in our Saviour's time I. They had not then resolved to make their advantages of the Writer's fault who writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a Lion instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have pierced my feet as they have done since In short Aquila who lived 100 years after Jesus Christ and the other Jewish Interpreters Symmachus and Theodotion translated that passage as we now read it II. The Notion which the Synagogue always had of the Sufferings of the Messiah obliged them to suppose two Messiahs one suffering and the other glorious rather than to contradict that Truth openly which is expressed by these Oracles in soparticular a manner III. Nothing can be imagined to be more ridiculous than to suppose that Jesus Christ should quote the first words of this Psalm upon the Cross thereby to engage all Mankind to take notice of the accomplishment of this ancient Oracle in all his Sufferings if we suppose that this Psalm even by the confession of the Jews had no relation to the Messiah The same Reflexion may be made concerning the Apostles who have quoted so many passages of this Psalm to prove that Jesus Christ was the Messiah because one may find in his Death and in the Circumstances of it such a litteral and exact accomplishment of this ancient Prophecy But if it should be objected That after all this agreement of the Synagogue can make no more than a strong prejudice this may be easily answered by considering that when the Psalmist speaks of the extent of his Kingdom over the whole Earth it was that Circumstance which determined the Synagogue in their application of this whole Psalm to the Messiah because as the Jews themselves acknowledge this extent of Empire is one of those Characters which according to the ancient Oracles is applicable to none but the Messiah In short because it is of great importance I shall repeat it here again common sense led those who considered these ancient Oracles to compare them as naturally they ought with those that went before and to determine the scope and intent of the later ones by the relation which they had to the precedent ones and there was only need of one considerable Clause to make a certain determination after they had made such a comparison This the Jews were certainly convinced of when they acknowledged that the last words of David II Sam. XXIII 1-8 were to be applyed to the Messiah by comparing them with Balaam's Oracle of the Messiah Numb XXIV We may therefore take it for granted That David did not absolutely speak of himself in the XXII Psalm and that he carried his views as far as the Messiah that he gave a great number of Characters to his Posterity whereby they might distinguish notwithstanding the greatness of his Sufferings and even the better by his very Sufferings than which no clearer marks can possibly be given because there is nothing more involuntary than enduring of Miseries nor nothing which depends less upon the choice of the person who is to undergo them than the particular kind of punishment or than the Circumstances which must accompany his Death when it is once left to the unjust power of violent Enemies We come now to the CX Psalm which in a very few words contains several very important Characters of the Messiah which are very distinctly expressed If one considers it exactly it seems to have been composed after that Nathan had acquainted David with the Glory of his Son which God had promised him such a Son who should build a House wherein God should dwell for ever and who should sit upon a Throne which should never be overturned whereas David had only form'd a Design of Building a Temple to the Lord. In short one see 's that the Spirit of Prophecy had given him a view of the Glory of this august King who should be born of his Seed and of the Glory of his Kingdom which should never be destroy'd David advances this King not only above all MEN by calling him his Lord who was himself a King but also above the Angels by making him sit at the right hand of God in the Kingdom of Heaven This is personal He also describes the Glory of his Office by considering him as a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron from whom Melchisedech received Tithes in the person of Abraham And in a word he acquaints us with the progress of his Kingdom and the greatness of his Victories Let us examine all these Characters by themselves I. He brings in God speaking to the Messiah whom he calls his Lord Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy Enemies thy footstool This points out to us 1. That the Messiah ought to be advanced to Glory 2. That God intended to subdue his Enemies by little and little whilst the Messiah should be in his Glory as it was
who apply these very Passages to the Ministry of John the Baptist Thus we find that St. Matthew and St. Matth. III. 1 Mark I. 2 Mark make a manifest Allusion to these two Prophecies Zachary also the Father of John the Baptist applyes that of Isaiah to his Son and his Authority is the more considerable because he was a Priest 2. By an attentive considering the Passages themselves 3. By the common consent of the Jewish Church who by a generally received and undoubted Tradition that Elijah the Tishbite the Septuagint in their Translation of that place of Malachy telling us as much was to be the Forerunner of the Messiah and we find that in the time of our Saviour the Multitude and his Disciples supposed the same thing And the Jews at this day have the same perswasion viz. That Elias is to come before the Appearance of the Messiah from which Tradition of the Jews the Christians of old did and many at this day do believe That Elias shall resume the Functions of his Ministry before the last coming of Jesus Christ to Judge the Quick and the Dead 2. We may observe That the Character of the Forerunner of the Messiah being that which the Jews had much in their eye it was needful for it to be as notable and extraordinary as was that of the Prophet Elias whose Ministry was without dispute the most remarkable and illustrious of all the Prophets since Moses which gave the Prophet Malachy occasion to call him Elias much upon a like account as the Prophet Ezekiel calls the Messiah Ezek. XXXIV 23 24. David But above all things we must carefully observe the several Marks the Prophets give us of this Forerunner The Prophet Isaiah gives us these following particulars 1. That his Ministry was to be very signal and attended with general Respect and Veneration 2. That he was to preach in the Wilderness 3. That he was to call Sinners to Repentance 4. That he was to confound those who were most eminent in Authority and to comfort the Poor and Humble 5. That he was immediately to precede the Messiah 6. That his Ministry was to usher in that grand Revelation of the Glory of God in the presence of all Flesh i. e. before all Nations of the Earth who were to be called by the Messiah to his Religion according to the express Declaration of the Prophets The Prophet Malachy doth most distinctly represent to us 1. That the Mission of this Forerunner was not far off Behold saith he I send my Messenger He speaks of it as of a thing at the Door Now it is evident and the Jews themselves own it That from the Time of Malachy there was never a Prophet till the Appearance of John the Baptist. 2. It tells us that this Elias was to call Sinners to Repentance and to prepare the way before the face of the Lord. 3. That he was immediately to precede the Messias this he expresses by saying And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in It is evident that he speaks here of the Messiah whom he calls Psalm II. not only the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant but also the Lord The Lord forasmuch as God had promised him as a King to the House of David and the Angel of the Covenant because God by him was to make a new Covenant with the Nations of the Earth as Jeremy declares Chap. XXXI CHAP. XIII That the Messiah was to be born before the dissolution of the Jewish State and the Destruction of the Second Temple THE preceding Mark of the Messiah leads us to this we are now to speak of and affords it considerable Light. I will not repeat here what I have already set down concerning that Prophecy Gen. XLIX verse 10. concerning the Time when our Saviour was to appear in the World It is evident at first sight That that Prophecy evidences Three things 1. That the Scepter was to be in the House of Judah before ever the Shiloh was to come 2. That the Scepter was to give way to an inferiour Dignity which the Prophet sets forth by the word Lawgiver and which did take place till the time of Zerubbabel and his Successors 3. There was a necessity that this last Dignity also was to come to an end which happened not till the Advancement of Herod the Great to the Throne of Judea And it is easie to confirm this Truth by other Oracles which give a further Light to this our Explication We have several that are very remarkable upon this account The first is that of Daniel Chap. II. verse 40 41 42 to 46. where he first takes notice of the Succession of several Monarchies until that of the Messiah 2. The Time in which the Messiah was to appear I confess he do's not determine the Time very precisely mentioning only the Monarchy during which he was to be manifested but to make amends for this when he comes to explain the particulars of this Prophecy which before he had propos'd in general terms he doth not only point at the time of his Appearance but the very Year of his Death and he do's it with that exactness that it is impossible to be mistaken about it See what he saith in the IX Chapter of his Revelations Verse 24 25 26 27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy People and upon thy Holy City to finish the Transgression and to make an end of Sins and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness and to Seal up the Vision and Prophecy and to Anoint the most Holy. Verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks the Streets shall be built again and the Wall even in troublous times Verse 26. And after the Threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH be cut off but not for himself And the People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a Flood and unto the end of the War desolations are determined Verse 27. And he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease and for the over-spreading of Abomination he shall make it desolate even until the Consummation and that determined shall be poured on the desolate For the understanding of this Prophecy which is so exact and all the Events it refers to so particularized it is to be observed 1. That by the Weeks Daniel here speaks of Seven Years are designed according to the Stile of the Law Levit. XXV 8. when it speaks of the Year of Jubilee so that Seventy Weeks make out 490 Years which is acknowledged by the most Learned amongst the Jews Jachiades Abarbanel and Manasseh
who declared himself to be the Messiah were so indeed so it is absolutely impossible to examine it or know it since the destruction of that Model if we suppose that God at first framed it for the determining of this question as we have no reason to doubt it The second is That the Christians exactly followed this Divine Model and being convinced of the truth of the Facts which exactly corresponded with it and which answered it in all its parts they had all the Reason imaginable to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah In short if we consider it well we shall find that the whole Christian Religion is nothing but a question of Fact between the Jews and Christians But such a question as the Jews at present are not in a condition to maintain against the Christians Both Jews and Christians agree in the Characters of the Messiah or at least about the most of them According to these Characters the Messiah ought to be come The Christians maintain that they may be found in Jesus Christ and they prove it by matter of Fact wherefore we must conclude That either these Characters attributed to the Messiah are not proper Characters to know him by and so the Wisdom of God will be eluded and both Jews and Christians equally deceived in taking that for a Character of the Messiah which is not or else that both the Messiah is certainly come and and that He is no other than that Jesus whom we worship CHAP. XXI 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 I Come now to examine the double stumbling Block which the Jews pretend against the Christian Religion This Religion say they propounds Doctrines that are inconceivable and contrary to Reason For instance that of the Trinity that of the Incarnation and the Divinity of the Messiah These are the Doctrines which the Jews reject as absolutely incompatible with the Books of the Old Testament which we have received from their hands But it is an easie matter to answer this Objection 1. It is founded upon a total forgetfulness of the solidity of those proofs of Fact which I have alledged Jesus Christ is risen from the dead this is a Fact confirmed by several Witnesses It appears from Tacitus that Jesus Christ suffered death under Tiberius Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judea It is known that Claudius banished the Christians from Rome in the Year of our Lord 54. It is evident from Tacitus in his Life of Nero that he accused the Christians of burning the City of Rome which himself was the Author of the Christians therefore made a considerable Body in the Capital City of the Empire and this happened in the year of our Lord 64. Suetonius says the same thing 2. It appears that Pliny in Trajan's time takes notice of the manner of their Meetings 3. Dion Cassius sets down the Accusation brought in against Flavius and Domitilla as against Atheists which is the Title Julian the Apostate gives to Constantine because the Christians rejected the worship of the Heathen Gods. 4. It appears by the latter end of the Acts of the Apostles that this Book was writ in the Year of our Lord 63 and yet this Book supposes the Gospel of S. Luke to have been written before it and S. Luke's Gospel takes it for granted that some of the other Gospels were already published 5. It appears from the Writings of Clemens Romanus that the Epistle to the Hebrews was then written and the same may be gathered from the Books of S. Ignatius Polycarp and S. Justin. These Facts which are certain are sufficient to prove that immediately after the death of Jesus Christ his Apostles and their Disciples as Eye witnesses maintained the truth of his Resurrection After this it may indeed be disputed by what Power he was raised whether by a Divine Power or by his own but it is ridiculous to dispute the Fact by reasonings drawn from pretened Absurdities which one may think to find in the Doctrines of the Gospel Secondly These Mysteries as for instance that of the Trinity relates to the Divine Nature which is incomprehensible so that it is no strange thing if an Idea of it be proposed to us which not being distinctly known by us may raise Difficulties and Perplexities in our Minds If I would discourse with one born blind of the Sun of its Light and Heat and should attribute to the Sun the Production of Light and afterwards of Heat he would find an infinite trouble not to imagine three Suns It is known how the Philosophers who agreed about the Unity of the Soul have notwithstanding been obliged to attribute several Faculties to it which the common People look upon as very different things and which seem to oppose the Idea's of its Unity and Simplicity In the third place The Christians prove very solidly that these Mysteries have been clearly proposed by the Apostles who received their light from Heaven as to these Truths and so might necessarily be believed upon their word for the same reason that the Prophets of the Old Testament were formerly believed Moreover they assert that these Doctrines were first expressed tho' not so clearly in the Old Testament which is in the hands of the Jews the mortal Enemies of Christians I add to these Remarks that most of those Facts whose truth is so invincibly established suppose these Doctrines and that the whole frame of the Religion doth so necessarily require them that we rob it of a considerable part of its Glory in questioning or contesting any of them These Reflexions may suffice in general to resolve this difficulty of the Jews and for a more particular Satisfaction we refer the Reader to those Books which purposely treat of these Mysteries desiring him to observe carefully that commonly the most difficult Objections of Hereticks against these matters do rather oppose the terms which are made use of or the notions which men follow in speaking of these truths than the Propositions contained in the Writings of the New Testament At least one may be assured that the Jews are constrained to resolve several parallel Objections to which one can scarcely give a satisfactory Answer without borrowing some Distinctions and Notions from the Christians Neither can the second Objection of the Jews give us any more disturbance It is true that there have been Divisions amongst Christians and are still to this day What can we conclude thence Can we reasonably conclude that therefore the first Founders of Christianity were doubtful concerning the truth of those Facts which are the support and foundation of it On the contrary upon an attentive Observation one may find 1. That Heresies have only served to render the truth of these Facts more incontestable by obliging those that had consider'd of them to examine their certainty with more care and application This is the Judgment one ought to make upon all those Heresies in the second Age about the truth of the Flesh of Jesus Christ or about the truth of his Death From thence men took occasion to take notice of and collect with great care all the Circumstances that prove the truth of both these Facts 2. We find that the greatest part of these Contests do not concern the truth of the Facts but the several Consequences drawn from them the truth of those Matters continuing still beyond dispute This we find in the Dispute raised about the Millennium the truth of the Promises of Jesus Christ being equally believed by both the disputing Parties but differently understood according to the temper of those that consider'd of them some forming gross and sensual Conceptions concerning them others having a more spiritual relish which they had acquired by studying the Prophecies and their true sense 3. We find that this Division which hath sprung up amongst Christians is one of the most solid proofs of the truth of the Books of the New Testament If some Fools have endeavoured to decry some of them or to falsifie some particular places we see that both Parties unite to repel that violence by producing their Copies and beating back the Impostors with their united strength One see 's that Tertullian tho' a Montanist writ Prescriptions against Hereticks and Epiphanius takes notice without any respect to some that were Orthodox of their Crime in blotting out of their Copies that Christ had wept It is known that the Division of the Jews into Karaites and Thalmudists the Jealousie between the Jews and Samaritans and the Division between the Jews and Christians is a means of preserving the Scripture and hindering its Corruption each Party being very vigilant to hinder their Adversaries from attempting any thing to its prejudice in corrupting a Book which they consider as common to them all I might observe many other advantages which accrew to the Truth from these Human Failings but I will only instance in one which has always seem'd to me very considerable and that is That these Hereticks distinctly prove the truth of the Predictions of our Saviour An impious person would have reason to accuse our Oracles as false if there had never been any Heresies But Truth triumphs in seeing so great a multitude of them who the more they encrease the more she see 's her self confirm'd and established This is the Reason induced God to permit so great an increase in the first Ages when the Truth meeting with the greatest Opposition by Persecutions stood in the greatest need of sensible Characters by which it might be known I conclude this Work with desiring my Reader to consider these Reflexions upon the Holy Scripture here propounded with a serious attention and to examine the Coherence and Indissoluble Connexion of them and with prayer to God that it may please him to make them serviceable to advance the Glory of his Name which is the only end I have proposed to my self in the writing of them FINIS
instituted during the Captivity We must blind our selves of purpose to conceive that any Impostor could forge Books which have so exact a Relation and such certain Characteristicks to fix them to the time in which every Author lived and to the Circumstances wherein he wrote We must of necessity grant That before such an Impostor could bring about such a Design he must have made himself Master of the whole Prophane History to fix so exactly the History of the Jewish Nation and of those Oracles which have been given in Circumstances which are unintelligible without the help of Prophane Histories of different Nations I come now to Facts which cannot be contested It is sufficient that those Facts be acknowledged as true to establish in general the Truth of those Books whereof we teach I. It cannot be denied that the Jews preserve these Oracles to this day with great fidelity II. It cannot be denied that they are in the hands of Christians who preserve them as well as the Jews since they have been separated from them that is for almost Seventeen Ages III. It cannot be denied that these Prophecies have been exactly read by the Jews because of those Oracles upon which they believe to this day that the whole happiness of their Nation is founded IV. It cannot be denied that the Jews have read these Books exactly to refute the Disciples of Jesus Christ who have pretended from the first Age of their appearing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah mark'd out by these Oracles In short whereas the Christians pretend to prove by the accomplishment of the ancient Oracles that Jesus Christ was the Messiah It is known that the Jews endeavour to this day to wrest the sense of these Oracles and to shew that there are many things which are not literally accomplished and which by consequence cannot be apply'd to Jesus Christ V. It cannot be deny'd that most of the Controversies of the Jews with the Christians only regard the Application of the Text of the Prophetical Authors The Christians explain them in a Mystical Sense the Jews maintain that they ought to be explained Literally VI. It cannot be deny'd that about 300 years before the Birth of our Saviour the Prophetical Books were translated and put into the Hands of the Egyptians having been carried to and translated at Alexandria by a publick Order of the whole Nation for the satisfaction of a King of Egypt The History of that Version which put those Sacred Books into the Hands of the Greeks and the Jews who dwelt in Egypt is the most famous thing in the World and which made those Books perfectly known Here we have now these Books in Hebrew and in Greek that is to say in the Primitive Language of the Jews and the Vulgar Language of the Empire which Alexander founded It is known that from that time the Christians took care to make great numbers of Translations into all the Vulgar Tongues after the preaching of the Gospel and that they preserved those ancient Books as the first Elements of their Religion Now it will be sufficient to acknowledge those Truths to consider That those Oracles were true which foretold things which happened almost four Ages after their Prediction Thus for Instance the Destruction of Jerusalem the Overthrow of the Jewish State the calling of the Gentiles to the Service of the God of Israel the Destruction of the Syrian and Egyptian Monarchies are all contained in the Books of Daniel Haggai Zachariah and Malachi Now there is not more difficulty to conceive that such Authors as Isaiah Amos Joel should have foretold the same thing Eight or Nine hundred years before than there is to believe that they were foretold by those who liv'd but little above Four Ages before they actually came to pass There is therefore no difficulty in conceiving that these ancient Oracles were proposed as we see them and in those times to which we find them fixed But we ought to go further into this matter and to establish the same thing by the consideration of the things themselves I confess that we might have a suspicion of those Oracles which are not related upon the Faith of a publick Volume As for Instance those of Elijah Elisha and Uriah the Son of Shemaiah who seem never to have published any thing But here we are to observe 1. That usually the Authors who publish the Oracles are not the same with those who tell us of their accomplishment 2. That the Oracles of which we now speak were upon Subjects perfectly known and upon very illustrious Exigencies What more illustrious than the Destruction of Ahab's Family foretold by Elijah What more extraordinary than the manner of Jezebel's Death foretold by the same Prophet In short we ought to take notice I. That these Oracles were written for the most part in compleat Volumes We have Sixteen Prophets sufficiently distinguish'd by their proper Volumes II. Each of these Authors has a very different Character from the rest so that some as Daniel for instance write in a peculiar Language one part of his Book being in Chaldee III. Every one has some relation to the rest So those who liv'd together often treat of the same things So Isaiah for instance Joel Amos Hosea But they had separate Idea's and particular Oracles and a turn which perfectly distinguishes them one from another IV. One needs only read their Works to find that they wrote in different places Amos was of Juda and went to prohecy in Israel that appears plainly Ezechiel and Daniel prophesied in Chaldea that 's seen by reading their Works V. There is a natural dependance between the Books of Moses and those of the Prophets in general For the Prophets were continually reproaching the Kings and People with the Crimes which they committed against the Law of God proposed by Moses VI. There is a natural dependance between the Writings of the former and of the latter Prophets Dan. IX 2. So Jeremiah is quoted by Daniel as foretelling the time when the Desolations of Jerusalem were to have an end this he proposes not as if he had learnt it by a Revelation but as a thing which he had found out by an attentive examination of the Prophecy of Jeremiah VII There is an exact Connexion of these Oracles with the History of the time which is often interwoven with the Prophecies One see 's it in the Books of Isaiah Jeremiah and Daniel the other Historical Books not being altogether so particular as these Prophetical Books are VIII In short one see 's that these Books are interwoven with Oracles concerning ancient Events and People which have now no Existence so thaâ— that hinders us from suspecting any Forgery I shall not repeat here the common Arguments which establish the Credit of these Books I brought in most of them when I established the Authority of the Books of Moses I shall only make some Reflexions here to establish the same Truth CHAP. VI. That the
manner of writing the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament shews that those Oracles could not have been forged after their Completion I Have several things to taken notice of to make this Truth more sensible The first is taken from the necessary connexion of all the parts of the History of the Old Testament the truth of which I have proved by several Characters This History is exactly written by several Authors Now the History of the Prophets and of their Oracles is so exactly framed into the History that it is impossible to take it out without confounding the whole The Books of Samuel which were written by Samuel by Nathan and by Gad as appears by I Chron. XXIX 29. contain the History from the Year of the World 2888 to the Year 2987. The Books of the Kings contain the History of the Kings and of the Prophets from the Year 2989. to the Year 3442. The Books of the Chronicles recapitulate the History from the beginning of the World to the Year 3468. Ezra writ his History from the Year 3468. to the Year 3538. Nehemiah continued it from 3550. to 3563. Here is therefore on the one side an uninterrupted Series of History and on the other side a continued Succession of Prophecies David who began to Reign in the Year 2950. with several other Prophets of that time writ the most part of the Psalms which are full of Oracles and which were sung by the People as a part of the Divine Service Isaiah began his Prophecy in 3246. and dy'd in the Year 3306. Hosea Micah and Nahum were contemporary with him Jeremiah begun his Prophecy in the Year 3375. and liv'd at the same time with Zephaniah Daniel was carry'd into Babylon in 3401. and prophesied until 3470. Ezechiel prophecy'd at Babylon in 3509. Haggai and Zachariah prophecy'd in 3590. soon after Ezra in the time of Nehemiah Malachy seems to have lived until the Year 3589. Can we therefore in the least imagine that a History should be so intermixed with Prophesies and Oracles without conceiving at the same time the Truth of both by an invincible necessity But we may make a second Reflexion hereupon There are three general Characters which distinguish Prophets very sensibly from the generality of Authors I. They were publick Censors Let us but read the History of Isaiah's conduct who called all the Heads of the People Rulers of Sodom or that of Jeremiah Chap. XXXVI or of any other of the Prophets in general II. They were Comforters of the People when they had brought them to Repentance by their preaching There are as many Instances of this as there are Prophets III. They foretold remarkable Occurrences happy or unfortunate long before there was any probability that they should happen It is impossible to consider these Characters without seeing that the state of Affairs was that which gave a foundation for their Sermons So that one must of necessity have framed their History of new to give ground for a Forgery This change in the style of the Prophets follows the Circumstances of the Jewish State exactly All that Isaiah or Jeremiah say will hold no longer than whilst you suppose the State of the Jews to be as corrupt as the History of that time represents it But if you suppose it to be as the History do's distinctly explain it nothing can be imagined more forcible than their Sermons For as they joyned Oracles with Promises in their thundring Sermons so one see 's that they cannot be parted One may make another Reflexion upon this matter by shewing that these Oracles and these Books were so famous amongst the Jews that no Forgery can be supposed The times in which they were writ are a great proof for they appeared upon very remarkable Occasions One may rank the Prophets into four Orders according to the several times in which they appeared David and the Prophets of his time Those who lived before the Babylonish Captivity as Jonah Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Isaiah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Jeremiah Those who prophesied during the Captivity Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel Those who lived after their Return from Babybylon Haggai Zechariah and Malachy Now we have an equal Assurance of all these Prophets that they were famous Who can deny the Oracles of David to have been famous when they were preserv'd amongst their publick Hymns One see 's that Micah's prediction sav'd Jeremiah whom they would have condemned for prophecying the Ruin of the Temple under Jehoiakim when Micah had prophesied the same thing under Hezekiah that is to say about One hundred and twenty years before this Prediction of Jeremiah Here 's an Event which assures us without affectation That this Prophecy was very well known were not therefore the other Prophecies which were in the hands of the Jews very well known by the whole Nation The other Prophets lived in very remarkable times Isaiah under Jotham Ahaz and Manasseh impious Princes the last of which put him to a cruel Death for the freedom of his Censures and Predictions There was in the time of every Prophet a great number of Circumstances which may be enlarged upon and which will further prove That their Works must of necessity have been very publick and very famous amongst the Jews We must not here neglect what do's more particularly regard the persons of the Prophets I. Some of them were Priests that is to say publick Ministers of their Religion Jeremiah and Ezechiel were of that number This may be observed in reading of their Works and in observing the nature of their Revelations which were for the most part accommodated by God to those Idea's about which the Prophets were most employ'd II. Some were very illustrious by their Birth Thus David for instance was King of Israel Isaiah was a Prince of the Blood and Daniel was one of the Princes of Judah which may be easily found out by considering the Majesty of their Style and greatness of their Expressions III. Some were very contemptible by their Employment and by their Birth So Amos for instance and those other Prophets whose Father is barely named without joyning to it any honourable Title if the Jews observation has any strength Now it is well known that tho' the gift of Prophecy made him who had it sufficiently famous yet the Character of the Person often made the Prophecy famous Sometimes indeed the meanness of the Person as in Amos made the Work to be more regarded every Body taking occasion from the ancient Profession or the Prophet to consider the Prophecies which he published with more attention One ought to observe with care That those Prophets whose Writings are preserv'd as well as those who did not write were continually struck at by false Prophets who opposed them with great heat Since then we have no Prophecies preserved but of those whose Predictions were accomplished the Event justifying the Truth of their Predictions with regard to particular Facts near the time which they had foretold