without breach of Charity I may conclude them all except Socrates whom I am willing to have a good Opinion of to be a parcel of Hypocritical designing Knaves who talked a great deal of Vertue when they had not the least pretence to it St. Austin * Aug. de Civ Dei Lib. 8. C. 12. remarks Plato to practise the Idolatry of his Country though against his Conscience His Spleen and Pride were noted by all his Contemporaries which made Antisthenes †Laert. in Vit. Antist when he saw him once vomiting say I see his Gall come up but where is his Pride The same Philosopher seeing a prancing Horse with gaudy Trappings said to Plato Behold your Picture He spent a good part of his time with Aristippus as a Flatterer in Dionysius his Court. Diogenes the Cynick kept a dirty Whore called Phryne * Tertul. in Apol. and lay with her openly in the streets †Laert. in ejus Vit. The famous Speusippus was killed in an Adultery Aristippus * Tert. Apol Lactant. Lib. 3. Cap. 7. Laert. in Aristippo besides a Houseful of Boys and Whores which he kept was familiar as he acknowledges himself with the famous Strumpet Lais. The same Aristippus villainously forswore †Tertul. in Apol. the Money which was deposited in his hands Crates and the Philosophess Hipparchia * Laert. in vita Hippar used to strole about the Country and lie together publickly in the Eyes of the People Xenophon was a notorious Sodomite †Diog. Laert. in Vit. Xenop and kept a Boy called Clinias to whom in Laertius he thus expresses his scandalous Passion I would be blind to all things else so I might see Clinias thanks to the day and the Sun that reveal to me Clinias his face and his Adversary Mero Pharsalius there upbraids him not for the Vice it self but for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he making use of grown Men for his lewd purposes Menippus * Id. Vit. Menip the Cynick was a sordid Usurer and hang'd himself at last for a great loss Menedemus * Id Vit. Menedemi another Cynick as most of the Tribe despised all industry and human Sciences and one shewing him a delicate Sun-dial said only 't was a fine Invention for a Man not to lose his Supper The Philosopher Herillus †Id. in ejus Vit. was in his youth a Pathick Boy Cleanthes * Lact. Lib. 3. Cap. 7. Chrysippus and Zeno made away with themselves and so did Cato whom Lactantius calls Socraticae vanitatis imitator and Cleombrotus by reading Plato's Book of the Immortality of the Soul In short the Philosophers in general were noted for their beastly corruption of the young Scholars they had the charge of and this was one of the Articles †Laert. in Vit. Socr. though perhaps groundless which Anytus and Melitus objected against Socrates and which he was condemned for Now this imputation was so notorious against the Philosophers that Lucian makes sport with it throughout his Dialogues and the Socratici Cynaedi was grown to a Proverb to denote the worst of those infamous Wretches Nay I remember somewhere that Plutarch does in some measure Apologize for this Vice of the Philosophers because they make amends by the improving their Minds for the corruption of their Bodies These are the Fathers Philologus of your infidel Church whom you build your Religion upon but for my part let my Soul be with Christ and his Apostles and all his holy Saints and Martyrs which I am sure are in a better condition than these lewd unregenerate Wretches The Lives of the common Pagans highly vitious 5. And as for the common and illiterate People one cannot expect that their Lives should be any thing vertuous when their Philosophers who pretended to teach them Vertue were so mistaken in their Principles and for the most part debauched in their practice For they poor People for the most part blindly followed the impulse of their Senses and Passions and could propose no other end of their actions but the present gratification of their Affections and Inclinations For Everlasting Life and Eternal Glory which is the great spring of the Christian Vertue and Holiness was unknown to them and was the great promise only of our blessed Saviour who hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel They had nothing among them like it but some fanciful stories of Elysium which too was generally lookt upon as a Poetical Dream and believed by none so as to found any Religious action upon it And therefore the Philosophers who depended little or nothing upon the Rewards of a future state They and the Philosophers wanted a True End of their Actions though they might sometime talk of it devised a hundred sort of several Ends of human actions or notions wherein they fansied happiness did consist which all referred only to this World which they would never have done had they stedfastly believed a happy state or a Reward for Vertue in the next Thus Epicurus would have Man's happiness to consist in an Indolence or Freedom from all pain in not hungring or thirsting or being cold and of this he was so confident that he was wont impiously to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would contend with Jupiter for the Truth of this Opinion Dinomachus and Callipho made their end the doing any thing a man might reap pleasure by Aristotle and most of the Stoicks made their End to live according to Vertue so that Vertue according to them was its own Reward Cleanthes his end consisted in living agreeable to nature and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in understanding Logick or Reasoning well Panaetius his end was in gratifying the appetites of nature and Passidonius his in contemplating the Truth and Order of the Vniverse Herillus his end was to live according to Philosophy of Knowledge And those of the latter Academy would have it consist in a firmly abstaining from appearances or representations of senses Vid. Cic. de Fin. Diog. Laert. Plutarch in Vit. Philos Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. 2. Anaxagoras his end was Contemplation Pythagoras his the Knowledge of the Perfection of the Vertues of the Soul Democritus his the Tranquillity of the mind which he called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or well-being Hecataeus his sufficiency Nausiphanes his Admiration Antisthenes his a vacancy from Pride and the Anicereans who were a party of the Cyrenaick Sect despised their Master Epicurus his end and neither would have pleasure nor any thing else the end of human actions but to do what one list And as for the Immortality of the Soul it was denyed and ridiculed by all the followers of Democritus and Epicurus it was doubted by the Academicks it was made only very vivacious and surviving to the Conflagration by the Stoicks and even the great Socrates the Founder of the Platonick Philosophy is brought in by Plato in his Phaedo as only having
so various had it pleased him when he gave Men Bodies and Souls alike he could have infused into them the same sentiments of the Religion they were to profess and have united all Nations under one Law But 't is obvious that Providence permits variety of Sects and Opinions because God takes as much pleasure to be adored with different Forms of Worship and Ceremonies as to be glorifyed by the wonderful diversity of his Creatures whose various Beauties set forth his Infinite Power So that in short Credentius I think it every Man's duty to comply with the Religion established in his Country whatever his private thoughts may be concerning it and that God-Almighty is satisfied with the inward worship of ones mind though for peace sake he complies with an erroneous outward one But however I hold his folly inexcusable that will expose himself to suffering and contempt rather than to comply with a few simple Niceties which particular Sects and Nations are fond of when all of them own Natural Religion for their foundation In a word as some have boasted themselves to be Citizens so I am a Church-man of the whole World and though you perhaps may be offended at me for an extravagant Latitudinarian yet I am sure I have more reason on my side than those narrow-soul'd People that are hedging in Salvation and keeping their Communion only within the bounds of a little Paultry Sect. Cred. Not indifferent to be of any Religion I thank you Sir for this great freedom for by this frankness you have laid open the very Soul of Deism but withal have given such a vile Character of it as no honest Man would be very fond of embracing it I am afraid there are too great a number of Men in the World of these sentiments and by whom Religion suffers more than by avow'd Atheists for these are open and generous Enemies whilst the other are striking at the Vitals of the Church as they lie foster'd in her Bosom But that you may understand how unreasonable and wicked this Opinion is be pleased with me a little to consider 1. What horrid Hypocrisy and Dissimulation it is 'T is Hypocrisy to communicate with a Religion that you do not believe a Tittle of the Truth of There cannot be a greater Falsity and Cheat in all the World than this is To tell a Lie or to act a shuffling Trick in bargaining or the like seldom deceives but a very few but such a wicked dissimulation in matters of Religion deceives a whole Congregation or it may be in a Man of Figure a whole Nation This is the basest act which any Man of honour or any pretence to Vertue can condescend to so perfidiously to deny the Truth to make use of such false Arts and such little creeping Tricks to pursue an Advantage But what is worst of all it is the most intolerable Affront to God Almighty that can be imagined to offer to pay a worship to him which we are conscious that neither he nor our selves do approve and to joyn in Prayers and Devations which we know must be an abomination to him Which must 2. Be more wicked when the worship you joyn with is downright Idolatrous Sometim Idolatry What excuse can you make for worshipping or falling down before a Popish Host which you believe to be only a Wafer and you pay to it the worship due to the supreme God How can you without horrour think of worshipping an Indian Idol with pretence it is but a Symbol of the Deity when 't is generally but the Representation of some horrid Figure the Devil uses to appear to them in You may talk what you please of the Extensiveness of your Communion but I protest I am scar'd at such a Religion as you pretend to and I think you had better with the Atheist openly bid farewel to all and lay claim to none Morality not the same in all Religions 3. As to what you assert that the Morality of all Religions is the same and is the principal part of them I think that is a great mistake For many Religions are so made up of Ceremonious Foppery that Morality is little taken notice of in them and some retain such Dangerous Errours and Faults in their Doctrine and Worship that there is no Communion with them without violations of moral Honesty or intrenching upon the dictates of Natural Religion As when the worship is Idolatrous when wrong and injurious Notions are entertain'd of God's nature when Dead Men Devils or Images have divine honours paid them when Indulgences are granted to Sin and Crimes are pretended to be pardoned without Repentance when a good Intention shall be allow'd to justify Evil actions and the like So that there is no communicating with such Religions without committing an Offence against the ordinary Rules even of Natural Religion and Schismatically and perfidiously deserting that true Religion we have been educated in 4. As to what you say concerning every Mans being obliged to be of the established Religion of his Country Not always to be of the Religion of our Country and to profess to speak in the usual way all the Tales which the supreme Magistrate shall think fit to allow I look upon this to be wildest of all Hobbs his silly Paradoxes For if the Magistrate be the Publick Conscience by which all Men are to be governed as he asserts why did God give every Man a Conscience of his own which Natural Religion informs us every one is to be governed and judged by There are very few Men can quiet their own Consciences after the Commission of a grievous Crime only because their Prince might allow it or believe a Ballad to be Holy Scripture though there was an Act of Parliament to call it so But if we must be of the Religion which the Magistrate enjoyns we must make the Magistrate God Almighty for no one but he has Authority to command any Religious Doctrine to be believed but God Besides this Opinion would make Religion the most trifling and inconstant thing in the World a Man might change his Religion as often as he does his Cloaths and the poor Men of the Frontiers in Flanders should be Papists Calvinists or Lutherans three difference Religions in so many Moons This would be to render contemptible the noblest thing we are capable of doing the service we owe to Almighty God and to make it the sport and May-game of Prophane and Atheistical Men. Sin outward is to comply with a false Religion 5. But whereas you assert That God Almighty will be satisfied with the inward good Intention and worship of the mind whilst you outwardly comply with the most false and erroneous worship This Opinion will open a Gate to all the Deceit and Villany in the World Upon this Principal Men may Murder and Steal for the glory of God and cut Mens Throats to save their Souls There would be no tying any Man
by Oath or Compact linguâ juravi mentem injuratam gero would always be the burden of their Song and a good pretence too if the inward sense of their mind might be allow'd to be different from their Actions 6. As to what you lay down No folly to suffer for Religion That 't is a folly to suffer for a True Religion rather than to comply with a false one I take that to be a most false and pestilent Doctrine but however it is that which your Sect is founded upon For you Theists owe your Origin here in Europe to this pusillanimous Opinion and to the want of Christian perseverance and a patient bearing of Afflictions For as calamities make good Men better so they make often very ill Men worse Not a few sufferers in our late civil Wars took up with these damnable Opinions because their Religion had exposed them to some Losses and the same I hear has been the mishap of many poor Gentlemen in their late persecution in France But are Religion and a good Conscience things of so slight a value as to be parted with for such temporal profits Must Truth be thus Sacrificed to interest If a Man believes the Holy Scripture it will make him tremble when he but thinks of such a perfidious Defection He that denies me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 10.33 'T is hardly possible that they that were once enlightened c. if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance Nay if he considers but the words of a Heathen Poet it is enough to make him much more honest than this comes to Phalaris licet imperet ut sis Falsus admoto dictet perjuria Tauro Summum crede nefas animum praeferre pudori Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas Juv. Sat. 8. Though Phalaris commands thee to deny The Truth or in his Brazen Bull to fry Tell the fierce Tyrant that his Threats are vain And Vice must not be chose to bribe off Pain That he 's the greatest Villain who will strive To lose the ends of living for to live K. of Siam's Argument answered 7. But for the King of Siam's Argument I wonder how so many Men should be dazled with such a Tinsel Reason as this Whether this be the King of Siam's Argument as is reported or no I shall not now dispute although by the sophistry of it one would guess it had more of the Jesuit in it than the Prince But I pray how he knows that God takes so much pleasure in these various forms of worship This is a thing taken for granted which no body that owns a Revealed Institution will allow For if God have revealed his Will by the command of any particular Worship as he has done to Jews and Christians then all other Religions do of course fall to the ground Well but God permits these different Religions by his not ordering all Men to be of the same Sentiments in Religion whereas he might as easily have done this as to have made their Bodies and Souls alike But is God's permission a sign of his good liking Why then by the same rule all the villanies which are committed in the World are well pleasing to him because they cannot be done but by his permission Besides 't is very true on the other side That God might have infused into all Men the same Sentiments of Vertue and Vice and have made all Men good alike but 't is plain that he permits the greatest number of Men to be vicious which is therefore an evident sign that he does not concern himself about Vertue and Vice and therefore 't is a wonder that Men should shew such a concern about Morality which God himself by this permission does seem to have little regard to Now you see this same Argument if there be any thing in it will make as much against Natural Religion as it does against Revealed and therefore you Theists ought to have a care how you make use of it for you thereby put a Weapon into the Atheist's hands and plainly give up your cause to him But on the other side you ought to consider that as God's permission of Vice is no sign of his liking it he having otherways declared his will by giving to all Men a Law of Vertue so his tolerating so many false Religions does not evince his Approbation of them when he has manifestly declared his will how he will be worshiped viz. in the Christian Religion This is that way which he himself has set out for us to walk in and to go in any other road is but wandering Simplicis ipse Viae dux est Deus ille per unam Ire jubet mortale genus quam dirigit ipse Sublimem dextro célsa ad fastigia clivo Prud. cont Sym. God is our Guide in one plain simple way He would not have Mankind in others stray That one steep Road which to the right does tend Is the sole way that does to Heaven ascend Of Revealed Religion and the Doctrine of the Mediator Phil. I think Sir we have talked enough about Natural Religion and therefore Sir if you will oblige me with your Thoughts concerning that Revealed one which is owned by Christians and will give me satisfaction as to some scruples I have conceived concerning it it will be a very agreeable favour I confess I am not very averse to think that there is a great defect generally in Man's reasoning concerning religious matters and Men's Thoughts do very much vary therein so that it is not a difficult supposition to suppose that the gracious Deity who had compassion upon all our infirmities has contrived a way more certainly to guide fluctuating Nature in such momentous concerns and may have been pleased sometimes to have enlightened Men with a Ray or two of his Wisdom from above by revelation of some divine Truths But then how shall we come to know to whom he has particularly vouchsafed this favour What marks of Grace shall we go by to distinguish who are Heavens darling Favourites that are blessed with such obliging manifestations The Jews and Christians indeed pretend to it but why not the Turks and Tartars as well as they But if a bold pretence to Revelation be an Argument for it every little Hedge-Sect of Idolaters in India shall bid as fair for Inspiration as e'er a Jew or Christian of you all And in truth if there be any such thing as inspiration for ought as I know all the different Religions in the World may be to use the Apostle's phrase but diversity of gifts of the same spirit The Chinese may have the same Divine Revelation to worship their Tanquam and Teiquam as we have to worship Jesus Christ The Banians and Bramins the Priests in India may have the same plea for all the Devotions they claim for their Deities there and so may the Japonese for their famous Gods
Fotoques and Games as the Mexicans for the rites paid to their Virachoca Nor does my conjecture stand singly alone but I have your own sacred Writings to back me in it For there are many Texts of Scripture which seem plainly to affirm that God-Almighty has revealed his Will by a Positive Institution to the Gentile World whom you look down with so much contempt upon under pretence of your superabundant privileges For Gen. 14.18 c. it is said that Melchisedeck was King of Jerusalem and Priest of the most high God and that he blessed Abraham which was a principal Office of the Mosaical Priesthood Numb 6.23 and that Abraham pay'd Tithes to him of his Spoils From whence it is plain That God had a revealed Institution before the Jews or their Forefather Abraham's time and that when Abraham is commended for keeping God's commandments and statutes and Laws Gen. 26.5 it is only these positive injunctions in the Land of Canaan which Melchisedeck was the Priest or Prophet or Dispenser of So Malachi 1.10 Who is there among you that would shut the doors of my Temple that fire should not be kindled upon mine Altar For from the rising of the Sun unto the going down thereof my name shall be great among the gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen saith the Lord of Hosts By which words it is plain That at that time the Prophet did not think the Jews dearer to God than other People and that the Heathens worship was as acceptable to him as theirs So Psal 145.18 The Lord is nigh to all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in Truth And in the same Psalm v. 9. it is said God is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works So God himself gives a Testimony of Job a Gentile that there was none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man Job 1.8 So Jonas said he determined to flee to Tarsus because he knew God to be a gracious and merciful God Jon. 4.2 and who would therefore pardon even the Gentile Ninevites Besides we read in Scripture that several uncircumcised Gentiles had the gift even of Prophecy as Enoch Noah Abimelech and Balaam Nay several of the Jewish Prophets prophesy for the use of the Gentiles Ezechiel prophesies to all the Nations then known Obadiah prophesies only for the Children of Edom and Jonas principally for the Ninevites Isaias foretells the calamities and deliverance of the Aegyptians Is 19.19 and the Prophet Jeremy is call'd expresly a Prophet of the Nations or Gentiles Before thou camest out of the Womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations Jer. 1.5 and Chap. 48.31 he says he will howl for Moab he will cry out for Moab and v. 36. My heart shall sound for Moab like Pipes c. which pathetick expressions shew that he was sent by God a Prophet as well for the Gentile Moabites as the Jews But as for the Prophecy of Balaam that is so express that all the major and minor Prophets cannot pretend more to the Spirit of Prophecy than this one Gentile Seer So that Credentius you may make what brags you please of the Jewish and Christian Revelations but if you do not own old Balaam as much a Heathen as he was to be a very good Prophet you will want one of the most considerable proofs of Christianity Nay the Scripture gives this Man all the Characters of a Prophetick spirit He hath said who heard the words of God who saw the Vision of the Almighty falling into a Trance but having his Eyes open Numb 24.4 Now methinks it is a little unfair for you to make such an outcry about God's particular Favour to you by Revelation when those very revealed Scriptures themselves which you make such brags of allow it to the Heathen as well as you Cred. One can hardly think you Theists are in earnest when you object against the Scriptures and our Religion that God has revealed himself to other Nations as well as us No Revelation to the Gentiles for their Religions I always take you to have a mind only to be pleasant and to put a banter upon us Christians rather than to defend your own Tenents which do not seem much to be furthered by it And when Spinosa contends so mightily for it I fancy it must be only an humorsom Paradox of that odd Man and not his setled Opinion or at least the effect of a Pique he had conceived against the Jews and so was resolved to set them upon the same foot with other Mortals But that the rest of the World have no Revelation for the diverse Religions they profess will appear by considering Because Idolatrous 1. That most of the Religions in the World are Idolatrous Now it is impossible to suppose that God by a Revelation should command Men to do that which all wise Men would be ashamed to do to fall down before Stocks and stones to worship the Sun and the Moon senseless inanimate Creatures and to adore dead Men and Tyrannical Princes or even Herbs or Beasts Now though we should suppose that God was in no ways jealous of his honour and that it was indifferent to him whatsoever Thing we worshipped yet as he is the God of Truth 't is impossible he should command a false worship or instruct People in paying devotion to things as Gods which are only mean and perhaps wicked Creatures Now the far greatest part of the Unchristian World are and have been such Idolaters and therefore to make God to have revealed to them their superstitions is to make God to represent himself such as it is impossible for him to be to be delighted in a worship which is false and wicked and to be himself the Chief Author of the Imposture which is so horrid as no body will contend for 2. Other Unchristian Nations that are not Idolaters as chiefly the Mahometans profess a Religion which allows Immorality Immoral the Founder whereof was rather possessed by the Devil than inspired by God A Lewd debauched Fanatical Wretch that lived by Rapine and Murder and spent his days in Whoredom Adulteries and Sodomies Now his Religion allows its followers to propagate it by the blood of the opposers and by all manner of cruelty and barbarity against Men of other perswasions It allows Concubinacy and Whoredom and even Sodomy it self and the very rewards it proposes in another World are such infamous Lust as a good Man would be ashamed to think of in this 3. As for your Instances out of Scripture Melchisedeck because you should not too much insult over us as having wounded us with our own Weapons will you be pleased to accept this answer to the first That Melchisedeck is no proof of a Revelation among the Gentiles more than of that Universal
Generation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is agreeable to what the Scripture says of Noah his being a Preacher of Righteousness to the ungodly Antediluvians upon account of his good Counsel and Piety Now he was saved after this manner He had a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an Ark or Chest into which he came with the Children and Women of his House and then entered Hogs and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other Animals which live upon the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of them with their Mates And he received them all and they did him no harm for by assistance from Heaven there was a great amity between them So all sailed in this one Chest as long as the Water did predominate But these things are told in the Greek Histories of Deucalion But of those things which happened after one thing worthy of great admiration is told by the Inhabitants of Hierapolis That in their Country there was a great Gap into which all this Water sunk Vpon which Deucalion built Altars and a Temple over the Gap and consecrated it to Juno I my self saw the Gap It is very little at the bottom of the Temple as I told you Whether it was formerly bigger or no and grown narrower by Age I cannot tell but this I can tell that That which I saw was but little Now they make this the sign of the History Twice in a year Water is brought into the Temple and not only the Priests bring it but all Syria and Arabia Nay Men come even from Euphrates to the Sea all carrying Water which they first pour into the Temple Then the Water descends into the Gap and though the Gap be small yet it receives a prodigious quantity of Water And when they do this they tell that Deucalion first instituted this Custom to be a Memorial of the Calamity and his Deliverance from it This is the ancient Tradition which those about the Temple tell From which Relation it is remarkable that it was the Opinion of the People of Syria that there had been an universal Deluge that a certain Man and his Family were saved in an Ark and a Male and Female of every kind of Animals to restore again the drowned Creation and that all this vast quantity of water sunk into an Hiatus of the Earth and made the World habitable again Now I hope that Moses his Relation is not so incredible when it has the joynt Testimony of so many Nations and particularly the Heathen Syrians so exactly corresponding with it Indeed this story in Lucian is told after his way drollingly as if he did not believe it but yet there is no question to be made but that it was the relation of those People though he has a mind to expose it But I need not trouble my self to prove the Being of a Deluge by Tradition of Nations when late observations have given Demonstration of it The Beds of Shells which are often found on the Tops of the highest Mountains and petrified Bones and Teeth of Fishes which are dug up hundreds of Miles from the Sea Trees and Shrubs buried many fathoms under ground are the clearest Evidence in the World that the Waters have some time or other overflow'd the highest parts of the Earth which was the Deluge which we contend for The truth of these matters is not to be contested now by any that have but the least Insight in Experimental Philosophy Nor can it be with any degree of probability said that all these subterraneous Bodies are but only the Mimical and mock Productions of Nature for that these are real Shells the nicest Examination both of the Eye and the Microscope do attest and that they are true Bones may be experimented by burning them and then they will first turn into a Cole and afterwards into a Calx as other Bones do How far Nature may sport her self in the subterraneous World in the impression of the Images of Terrestrial Plants upon Slate and Coles I will not dispute but that it should produce True Bones and Shells which answer in all respects to those of the Genuine Animals is incredible and next to the boldness of an Epicurean Concourse for the Frame of the World 2. That the Deluge was possible I shall therefore only set my self to prove that there is Water enough in or about the Earth to drown it and to rise up to that height which Moses did report it did I confess I do no think that the Waters of the Sea are one quarter enough for such a Deluge and therefore it must be sought for elsewhere That there is a vast quantity of Waters under ground Vid. Dr. Burnet's Theor. p. 1. and an Abyss within the outward Crust of the Earth is I think evident to any who considers that in many places the Sea disgorges it self into the bowels of the Earth and does not pass off by any Out-Current The single Mediterranean Sea is a sufficient Instance of this for considering how many and some vast Rivers run into it and it having no visible outlet what should become of the Waters Nay considering that there are two Currents of the Sea set into it one at the Straits of Gibralter and another vastly strong one of the Pontus which the Ships do with difficulty bear up against it must necessarily be allowed that this Sea does empty it self by subterraneous passages into some great receptacle of Waters underneath For otherways many Ages ago the Mediterranean had over-flow'd and drowned several Countries on the adjacent Shores Nay the fathomless bottoms there which some have tried in vain with so much Cordage to reach Vid. Dr. Smith's Account to the Royal Society in the Philosophical Transactions is the most evident proof which can be of the Truth of this Assertion And the same holds likewise in the Caspian-Sea And I think there is little doubt to be made but those dangerous Gulfs and Eddies which the Sailors shun in many parts of the Ocean are but only great Holes or subterraneous Passages through which the upper Sea is gulping down into the Abyss beneath Now if there be such a great Receptacle of Waters beneath the Earth as there is no question to be made of it so many mighty Seas continually running into it then the Earth must be hollow and only a superiour Crust concluding within it an Abyss of Waters as is represented Fig. I. and Fig. II. If there be the same Quantity of Water remaining as there was at the Creation then the total Hollow of the Earth will be filled up with Water but if any part of it be lost or consolidated upon the outward superficies of the Earths Crust then by the Laws of Attraction if the Water does not exceed in Gravity the Circumambient Earth it will lye round it in the Ring P S R Q and there will be a Hollow in the Central Part u w x z. But if the Body
to pass by any natural Wind but by a miraculous one which the Scripture says was sent immediately by God for that purpose For no Histories give account that ever since that time the Waters were so blown out which must have often come to pass if the cause had been natural nay more frequently of late than formerly the Waters of all Creeks and Sinus's being more shallow in these later Ages of the World than the Centuries which were nigher to the Deluge But if such Ebbs had been so natural and frequent as the Infidels pretend it was impossible that Moses could have put such a Banter upon so great a Multitude who could not have all been ignorant of the Tide of so Neighbouring a Sea nor would the Aegyptians have ventured into the danger of a Sea the time of whose return they must needs know as well as Moses Nay it is impossible that such a great Army should be drown'd by the coming back of an ordinary Tide and that there should not remain so much as one of them It must therefore be allow'd that God kept the Waters back by this preternatural Wind till the Israelites were passed over and then suffered them to return back upon the Aegyptians in their full fury 4. Alexander's passing the Pamphylian Streights no Parallel It does not make any thing against the Truth of this Miracle that Alexander passed his Army over the Streights of the Pamphylian Sea for those Streights are naturally dry at every low Water which I believe Josephus was ignorant of which made him compare it with this great Occurrence in the Mosaical Expedition Now of that matter Strabo writes thus * Strab. Lib. 14. About Phaselis there are Streights towards the Sea through which Alexander passed his Army There is also a Mountain called Climax which lies to the Pamphylian Sea leaving a streight passage to the shore which is quite bare in good weather but when the Waves arise it is for the most part covered with them Now the Road by the Mountains is about and difficult and therefore in calm weather they go by the shore Now Alexander name thither in stormy weather and trusting to his Fortune would go over before the Waves were abated which made his Souldiers go all day up to the Navel in Water And much to the same purpose does Plutarch speak †Plutar. Vit. Alexandri This March through Pamphylia has been a subject to many Historians of mighty wonder and fine Declamation as if the Sea by order of the Gods gave place to Alexander which almost always is a rough Sea there and does very rarely open a smooth way under those broken Rocks And this Menander hints at in his Comedy speaking of a Wonder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But Alexander himself in his Epistles speaks of no Miracle but only says he passed by Climax as he came from Phaselis Now 't is plain this was no Miracle by the joint Authority of these two Excellent Historians who make the passage there an ordinary Thing but the Mosaick Transit must remain a Miracle still till you can find as good Historians to vouch for the same commonness of a passage through the Red Sea The Aegyptian Tradition groundless 5. As for your alledging the Tradition of the Aegyptians making this Miracle only a Trick of Moses I think there is little to be built upon the credit of the Aegyptian Traditions which if hearkened to would fill all History full of Fable And they are less to be depended upon when they seem to be set up on purpose to discredit the Nation of the Jews whom they had such a mortal Enmity to and whom to discredit they coined so many Lies as appears by the Books of Manetho Lysimachus c. Well but what is this Aegyptian Tradition It is only a report of the Memphites which was as strongly opposed by the Heliopolitans Vid. Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. 1. Euseb Praep. Lib. 9. Cap. 27. As appears from the fragment of Artapanus his History of the Jews Now the Memphites says he tell that Moses who was well acquainted with all the Country knowing the Time when the Tide would be out carried over all the Multitude when the Sea was dry But the Heliopolitans say otherways That the King followed the Jews going away with what they had borrowed from the Aegyptians bringing with him a great Army and his holy Animals But Moses was commanded by a Divine Voice to strike the Sea with his Rod he touched the Sea with his Rod and the Waves giving place he led over his Forces in a dry Tract Now set this Tradition of the Heliopolitans which is very agreeable to the Letter of Scripture and that of the Memphites which seems only to be a groundless Cavil against the Jews both together and what do they make more for the Infidels than the Believers And why are the Memphites to be believed against the Scripture-History more than the Heliopolitans for it But there is no wonder to be made but that there would be variety of Traditionary Stories in the Neighbourhood about such a wonderful Occurrence as this And thus we find a like story among the Ichthyophagi who were situated not far off from that place of the Red-Sea where the Israelites in probability went over being over against Mount Sinai Hist Fab. Lib. 3. thus related by Diodorus Siculus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among the Ichthyophagi who live hard by this History is handed down by tradition from their Forefathers that once there was a mighty Ebb of the Sea so that every place of this Bay was dry which then looked green the Sea flowing to the contrary parts But when the Earth had for some time appeared there then came again a great Tide and made the Bay as it was before So that you see Philologus that these Traditions of the Aegyptians are so far from discrediting the Truth of this Mosaical Miracle that they tend much to support it It not being to be supposed that the Tradition of such a remarkable Action should be totally lost in the Country where it was performed or that it should be handed down with all the particulars of Truth with which he that did it himself has related it And besides if you consult the Descriptions of this Bay given by Belon Furerus Thevenot c. You will not find that any such Reflux ever happens there now or that though there be some shoals which incommode the Ships Men can at any time pass over upon dry ground Phil. This is pretty plausible Sir but pray how will you be able to excuse his Laws from the Absurdities which they abound with Now these stab the Jewish Religion to the Heart for how can those Laws have God Almighty for their Author which do not so much as seem to be composed by wise Men I cannot stay to run through his whole System of Laws but for my part I look upon a great number