thing in it self there is no less Absurdity to dispute our Saviour's Resurrection than the Creation of the first Man. Now if this Argument holds as there can be no easier so neither can there be a stronger proof of the truth of the Christian Religion for provided we be once well assured of the certainty of Christ's Resurrection we must acknowledge him to be the true Messiah and consequently embrace his Religion But it seems in the heat of Meditation I was insensibly carried further in my Observations upon the Promise of the Messiah than I thought at first to be Therefore instead of passing now as I proposed in the beginning to the proof of Christ's Resurrection which is a solid and compendious way of demonstrating the truth of his Religion I find my self engaged according to my present Method to continue to make the like Reflexions upon the other Books of Holy Scripture that I may yet more fully demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah whom God promised to Man immediately after his sin And this I intend to shew so plainly as will make it evident that God hath really accomplished his first designs and exactly performed all his Promises relating to the Messiah according to the first Idea's he gave of his coming to the Ancient Patriarchs First Then I design to trace up the Method that God was pleased to use to make the Messiah known without mistake when ever he should come into the World. Secondly I will make some Reflexions upon the several Notions he gave of him long before in his Oracles to Characterize his Person his Offices his Actions his Sufferings his Glory c. Last of all I will shew that we have all this whole Project and Design exactly accomplished in the History of the Gospel as it was written by Christ's Disciples Now as this Method which God hath particularly chosen to make the Messiah known appears also in the other Books of Moses So I think it will not be amiss for me particularly to view and examine these Books that I may have occasion to illustrate several things in them which deserve a particular attention especially when they are considered together and as it were at one view For the Prophecies being thus consider'd together in their Connexion and Progress do more plainly evidence God's Design and may better convince or confound the Jews Therefore I intend accordingly to consider those Oracles with attention and to join them together that so they may in their Conjunction cast forth the brighter Beams of Light to the Conviction of all Infidels who may happen to peruse this Book For I am perswaded that after the perusal of my Observations in it an ordinary attention in the reading of the Gospel will be sufficient to convince any Man that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah which is all I intend to prove as the Conclusion of this Treatise Now as the examination of the Patriarchs Religion according to the account Moses hath given us of it in his Book of Genesis hath taken up the first part of it so I design to examine in this second part the Israelites Religion and to follow in my search the account which Moses gives of it in his other four Books And as to effect this it is very important to establish beforehand the Authority of those four Books so I intend to shew first of all that Moses is the true Author of them and that they have Intrinsick Characters of undeniable certainty Then Secondly It will be natural for me to shew that Moses in the writing of them had the Promise of the Messiah in view as particularly promised of God to the Patriarchs of his own Nation and as being consequently the principal if not the sole Object of their hope Thirdly I intend to shew that if we seriously examine Moses's Laws we shall find in them such a Method observed as is both very agreeable to the manifestation of God s design in Genesis and very worthy of his Wisdom especially if we consider what he was pleased to reveal unto us of his Intentions by the Prophets who followed Moses REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books THis is a Truth which may be grounded upon several solid Arguments I might observe That Moses hath always been acknowledged by the very Heathens themselves not only to be the most Ancient Historian but also the most Ancient Legislator in the World. I might likewise observe That there is a particular connexion betwixt the Book of Genesis and the other Books of Moses as well in regard of the general Design of their Author as of the Matters treated of in them For Example We see that the greatest part of the Laws and Transactions which we find written and recorded there derive their Original from those Transactions and Passages that we read of in Genesis Thus we may plainly discern that the pretension of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan was grounded upon the Promise that God made to Abraham to give it to his Posterity in the fourth Generation Thus we may see That the Amalekites could have no other reason to make War against the Israelites than the old Alliance that was formerly made betwixt Amalek and the Canaanites which without doubt engaged his Posterity to be the first Opposers of the establishment of the Israelites in the Land of Canaan Thus we see that the Seditions of the Israelites against Moses under Corah Dathan and Abiram did proceed from the Order of the Birth of the Children of Israel as it is set down in Genesis because the eldest thinking themselves wrong'd of their Birthright thought they might justly Rebel against Moses in order to recover it But I haste to things more material than these And first it is here observable That those Books were not only religiously kept in every Family of Israel but that they were also once solemnly deposited in the Tabernacle as a publick Record and that by Moses himself a little before his death that they might be a Testimony against that People as we read it Deuteronomy XXXI 26. Secondly It cannot be denied that Moses did straightly charge both Joshuah and the Heads of the People to read them frequently and carefully for it is expresly said so Joshua 1.8 Nay we see about 500 years after the holy Man David who had made during his life Psal I. the supream felicity of a man to consist in the reading the Law of God day and night We see I say that holy Man give in his Death-bed the same Charge to Solomon I Kings Thirdly Moreover it is certain that there were many Laws and Sanctions contained in those Books which are the Foundation of the History of succeeding Times And this is the reason why we read nothing in the Book of
examine their Principles and confute them which is the easiest thing in the World the Wisest Men having formerly acknowledged as they also own to this very day that there is but one God. And indeed it seems that the greatest part of Philosophers did own a plurality of Gods only in compliance with the Opinions of the people which it was dangerous to contradict And as for the Jews forasmuch as they agree with the Christians and Mahometans about the Vnity of God we are only to prove to them the truth of that which is the very Essence of the Christian Religion in opposition to their prejudices One may prove this against the Jews without any trouble because they are agreed in most of those Principles which the Christian Religion supposes So likewise it is easily established against the Mahometans who grant the truth of Christian Religion in general but pretend that it ought to give place to Mahometanism as the Law ought to give place to the Gospel preach'd by Jesus Christ My design is not to prosecute every one of these ways in particular There are Books enough in the World which solidly prove the necessity of Religion against all sorts of Atheists as well those who are so through ignorance as those who profess themselves such from Love to Libertinism and to pass for Men of a mighty reach There are also several Famous Authors who have made it evident that Reason alone is sufficient to overthrow all Pagan Religions whatsoever I am resolved to follow a more compendious and sure Method that is to demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion considered by it self In short It is impossible considering the opposition there is between the Christian Religion and all other Religions in the World that the Christian Religion should be the true but that all others must be false in those Articles wherein they essentially differ from it And on the other hand one cannot explain those Arguments which clearly evince the truth of Christianity without convicting all other Religions of falsehood because they are destitute of those proofs which are peculiar to the Christian Religion I know very well that there are several ways which lead to the end which I propose Men that think much wish that a perfect Conformity of the Christian Religion with the Conscience of Man might be demonstrated from Reflexions on the Heart of Man and the Dictates of it which to them would be a convincing and demonstrative proof Others apply themselves to a speculative examination of the Doctrines and Proofs of the Christian Religion to shew their Conformity with the Notions of Reason I will not deny but that both these employ themselves usually in this sort of study and that Truth finds a considerable support from their Meditations But how useful soever they may be I have rather chosen to follow another course as thinking it of more advantage solidly to establish the Facts which the Christian Religion proposeth which appears to me to be more proper to perswade all sorts of Readers and better levell'd to the ordinary Capacity of those who newly enter upon the examination of this Truth And as the necessity of Revelation is generally owned by Heathens and by all other Nations of the World I thought it a thing altogether unnecessary to enter upon the examination of several abstracted Questions such as these Whether there be any natural knowledge of God whether Men are naturally inclined to be Religious and the like When I shall have firmly proved that God revealed himself that he prescribed a Service to the first Men who left the Rules of it to all their Posterity from whence all the Religion that ever was or is yet in the Heathen World was derived I shall have prevented many very unprofitable Disputes and which can only perplex the mind by their obscurity I have therefore confin'd my self to certain Considerations which do so establish the truth of the Books of the Old and New Testament as by their Vnion they firmly prove the truth of the Christian Religion I hope that it will not be thought needful for me to demonstrate that the Mahometan Religion ought not to abolish the Christian as the Christians pretend that the Christian Religion abrogated the Ceremonial part of the Jewish Worship As soon as an understanding Reader shall make some Reflexions upon the nature of the Arguments which demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion he may easily perceive that God never framed the Model of that Religion which the Mahometans would obtrude upon us THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE First Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. COncerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion Page 1 Chap. 2. That the Christian Religion is founded upon Proofs of Matter of Fact 5 Chap. 3. Some General Remarks in order to establish the Truth of Holy Scripture 8 Chap. 4. That the Testimony of Moses concerning the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah is unquestionable 16 Chap. 5. That Moses is the Author of the Book of Genesis 23 Chap. 6. That the Book of Genesis could not be forged under the Name of Moses 27 Chap. 7. That it appears from Genesis that the Sabbath was constantly observed from the beginning of the World until Moses 34 Chap. 8. That Adam was convinced of his Creation by Reason and Authority 44 Chap. 9. That Adam was confirmed by his own Experience in the perswasion he had entertain'd concerning his Creation 49 Chap. 10. That the Children of Adam had reason to be convinc'd of the Creation 52 Chap. 11. That the Children of Adam were actually convinced of the Truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah 54 Chap. 12. That Noah was fully perswaded of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah 61 Chap. 13. That the Children of Noah were convinced of the truth of these Matters 64 Chap. 14. That the Posterity of Noah 's Children were perswaded of the truth of the Creation and first Promise 67 Chap. 15. That we find the Family of Abraham and his Posterity till Jacob fully perswaded of those Truths 71 Chap. 16. That this very perswasion seems to have been kept up amongst the Posterity of Jacob until Moses 's time 81 Chap. 17. That the Tradition which gives us an Account of the perswasion which the Ancients had of the truth of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah before Moses cannot be suspected 86 Chap. 18. An Explication of Moses 's way of Writing where it is shew'd that in writing the Book of Genesis he mentioned nothing but what was then generally known 89 Chap. 19. An Answer to an Objection which may be drawn from the Histories of the Egyptians and Chaldeans concerning the Antiquity of the World. 95 Chap. 20. An Answer to the Objection which may be drawn out of the History of China against the Mosaick Hypothesis concerning the newness of the World. 106 Chap. 21. Wherein the
last Objection of Atheists is answered 120 Chap. 22. The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis 126 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the First Volume Chap. 1. THat it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books Page 137 Chap. 2. That both the Character of Moses 's person and the nature of the things he relates has always made Men read his Books with attention 146 Chap. 3. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of 153 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the proofs of the truth of the Miracles wrought by Moses 158 Chap. 5. That Moses 's Description of the manner of God's giving him his Laws is evidently true 164 Chap. 6. Some other proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and promulgated 169 Chap. 7. That there is no just Exception can be made against Moses 's History in what relates to the Oracles which he hath recorded in his Books 173 Chap. 8. That the Testimony of the Jews is a constant proof of the truth of the Oracles related by Moses 177 Chap. 9. That it appears by the nature of his Relations that Moses had the Messias in view when he wrote the Book of Genesis 180 Chap. 10. That the same perswasion appears throughout the whole Conduct of Moses until his Death 185 Chap. 11. That Balaam 's prophesie which Moses relates is a further Argument of the same perswasion in him 188 Chap. 12. That one may see also in Moses 's Law plain Footsteps of God's Design in distinguishing these from whom he would have the Messiah to be Born. 194 Chap. 13. That the manner of God's promulgating his Law amongst the Israelites did much conduce to the distinguishing them from all other Nations 200 Chap. 14. That God seems to have designed to keep up a Spirit of Jealousie in the very Bosom of the Jewish Nation 206 Chap. 15. That Circumcision was a means of distinguishing the Israelites from other Nations 212 Chap. 16. That the Law of Moses engaged the Jews to the study of their Genealogies that they might certainly know that of the Messiah 219 Chap. 17. A Solution of some Difficulties in these Genealogies 223 Chap. 18. That the manner whereby the Law of Moses fixed the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan was to keep them separated from other Nations 228 Chap. 19. That the Law tied the people of Israel to the Land of Canaan and by several other means established the distinction betwixt Tribes and Families amongst them 234 Chap. 20. That the Laws which Moses made coneerning the state of Virginity did principally relate also to the Messiah which holds also as to several other Laws 241 Chap. 21. That it was the design of God by all these Ceremonies and particularly by that Veneration which he inspired the Jews with for the Tabernacle to preserve the Idea's of the Messiah whom he had promised in their minds by distinguishing them from all other Nations 249 Chap. 22. That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah 256 To the Courteous Reader THE Errata's are so small that they will not disturb the sense any where and so few that we need not trouble the Reader with a Table of them And therefore hope he will take such inconsiderable pains upon himself and excuse the Author REFLEXIONS UPON THE BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE For the Establishing of the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. Concerning the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion WE are to consider three things in the Christian Religion the Matters of Fact it propounds to us for true the Promises it affords us and the Worship it commands The Matters of Fact it propounds to us as true are that God created the World that he formed the first Man from whom the rest of mankind have been propagated that a while after this Man was created he violated the Law God had given him and that whereas he deserved to have perished for this his disobedience God was pleased instead thereof to comfort him with the hopes of a Saviour which was to be born of the Seed of his Wife that God hath actually sent this Saviour into the World which comprehends the whole Oeconomy of Christ viz. His Birth Life Preaching Miracles Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven c. The Promises it vouchsafes are the forgiveness of our Sins the Resurrection of our Bodies and a state absolutely happy for ever in Heaven And lastly the Worship or Divine Service it prescribes consists in Obedience to the Law of God in Prayer for the pardon of our Sins and his Protection and in a grateful Acknowledgement of what we owe him for all his Benefits towards us The first of these three parts of the Christian Religion viz. The Truth of the Matters of Fact it relates may be said to be the foundation of the other two viz. The Promises and Commands It is impossible to be perswaded that God hath created this World in which we live and made Mankind of one and the same blood that after the Fall he promised to save Men and did actually redeem them in sending Jesus Christ who suffer'd Death and being rais'd the third day Ascended into Heaven c. I say it is impossible to look upon these Facts as true without being assured that God will accomplish the Promises he hath made to us And it is as evident that we cannot be convinc'd of the truth of these Matters without being sensible of a strong obligation laid upon us to perform all the Duties of the Christian Religion As soon as a Man reflects upon his being Gods Creature he finds himself naturally oblig'd to obey God universally according to his utmost ability but when he comes further to believe that God did not destroy the first Man for his disobedience but was graciously pleased to promise him a Saviour for himself and all his Posterity and when moreover he is assured that God hath really sent this Saviour in the way and manner the Gospel relates to us we cannot conceive but that he must find himself under the highest engagements imaginable of rendring to God a religious obedience and believing his Promises But there is yet another obligation whereby Man is bound to obey God to pray to him and to offer him all manner of Religious Worship God by redeeming him hath obtained a new claim to and right over him and a more indispensable obligation is laid upon Man to submit himself to God in all religious Concerns as being not only created but also redeemed by him Reason acknowledgeth that if the truth of these things be once admitted nothing can be more just and natural than those consequences which the Christians thence infer All the difficulty
get himself reputation by exciting a Curiosity in people for his Books This would not have been becoming the Gravity and Wisdom of so great a Legislator of whom all succeeding Ages have borrowed their Laws It is apparent that his end in the recording of these Matters was to inspire with a sense of Piety and Religion those who were committed to his charge This is that which in general we may observe about these Matters but more particularly it is certain that Moses his end in recording the Oracles by which God promised to Abraham the establishing his Posterity in the land of Canaan was to represent to the Jews the right they had to that Land according to the design and intent of the Divine Wisdom But without making this particular Reflexion it is clear that the Law took its beginning at the twelfth of Exodus where God prescribes to his People the manner of celebrating the Passover at least this is the first Law which God gave them through the Ministry of Moses but forasmuch as Moses his end was to justifie in the minds of his People the design he had to make them leave Egypt as well as their pretensions to the Land of Canaan whither he was to lead them it was natural for him to lay before them the ground of those Pretensions which he could not do without relating the whole Series of the History until the time of their Bondage in Egypt which we read in Genesis the greatest part of which only concerns the Ancestors of that People after that Moses had first laid down the grounds of Religion and that which was known to all Nations Let us now imagin to our selves a Man endeavouring all of a suddain to introduce into the World the belief of things so far distant from common apprehension as these two points must needs be viz. That of the Creation and the Promise of Christ in case we suppose them generally unknown Let us yet further conceive a Man not only relating those things but making them the foundation of a new sort of Laws never before heard of Is there any Wit or Judgment in such an undertaking Can we therefore suppose that Moses whose Writings testifie his great Wisdom should ever have entertain'd such unaccountable thoughts I dare aver that there was any never Legislator so stupid and inconsiderate as to pretend to engage a whole people to submit themselves to the yoke of obedience and to receive a great number of Laws respecting their Civil Government and Religion by declaring to them two Fictions of which they had never before had the least Idea It is also very considerable that these things are not recited by Moses as a Preface to the Decalogue as if then first they had been proposed to Moses or the People by God but Moses sets them down as Truths known to them all and as Principles universally admitted and such as the meer mentioning of them could not but strongly engage the Jews to render a ready obedience to the Laws which God gave to Moses in their presence of the Divine Authority of which their very Senses were convinc'd Let us also consider the nature of those things the Relation of which Moses has joined with these two General Points to make an impression on the Minds of the Jews Let us consider the account he gives them of their Ancestors nearer or farther off whom he represents as equally inform'd of these Matters as having severally delivered the knowledge of them to their Children and having join'd to these first Truths of the Creation and the Promise of a Saviour many other Notions thereon depending and which tied their hopes and expectations to the Land of Canaan And now judge whether Moses were not to be accused of great folly and senselesness if he had proceeded to make such a vast People all of the sudden to receive for Truths publickly and generally owned what indeed was nothing but the most ridiculous and ill cohering Romance that ever was broached Now since as it is visible taking in the Circumstances I have hinted that the Authority of such an Historian and Law-giver as Moses was relating such importent Matters cannot be call'd in question it follows that the Atheist can have nothing to object against his Testimony with the least shadow or pretence of reason So that we may already assert that there is nothing better attested than the Creation of the World and the Promise of Christ which are the immoveable Foundations of the Christian Religion Nevertheless for a more evident Conviction we are willing before we draw this Conclusion to make it appear how weak and inconsiderable all those Objections are which Atheists can possibly frame against what Moses relates concerning these Matters What can they with Reason object Perhaps they 'l say that Moses is not the Author of Genesis but that it was foisted in under his Name and consequently that whatsoever is built upon the Authority of Moses and his evidence is all without ground Or they may object that if Moses be indeed the Author of Genesis that he lived at such a distance of time from the things which he relates that it makes void the authority of his Writings They may moreover alledge that Moses relates things impossible and of which therefore those that mentioned them before the things themselves being so long since past and done could not be fully inform'd of and that they may well be suppos'd greatly changed and alter'd by a Tradition of so many Ages They may also alledge that according to the common Opinion Moses penn'd not these things as an Historian but as a Prophet and that the apprehension of most concerning his Books are that he wrote of things whereof the knowledge before his time was very obscure and confuse or rather were generally unknown They may object against these relations of Moses that which the most ancient People such as the Aegyptians Chaldeans and Chinese alledge for their Antiquity which far surpasseth the date of the World according to Moses These are the principal ways to assault the Truths which Moses relates either by maintaining with the Atheists on one hand that the things which Moses relates are indeed mentioned by other Authors but that they forged them themselves or that Moses being an able and refin'd Politician design'd by Creating a belief of these Matters in the Jews to make them more submissive and obedient to him In a Word it may be said that supposing the Book of Genesis to be writ by Moses it was an easie matter for him to dictate whatsoever he pleased to a People who were under a Law that made it Capital to call in question the truth of his Relations or the Authority of his Laws This certainly is the farthest to which the height of Obstinacy can carry this matter and the very last refuge of the strongest prejudice But it is an easie matter to confound the Atheists and Libertines in every one of these Articles and
how his Body had been formed of the Earth was I confess a thing difficult to be conceiv'd but the production of an Infant like to himself by the way of Generation which he afterwards was assured of by experience was sufficient to confirm his mind in the belief of the Divine Revelation The way of Generation being at least as much if not more difficult to comprehend as the manner of his Creation We have great reason to suppose that as it was Adam's Duty that so he did really make those Reflexions I have attributed to him if we consider that God gave him a Law proportion'd to the state in which he was Created For this Law supposes that Adam own'd himself God's Subject that he consider'd God as his great Benefactor that he hop'd for Rewards from him and fear'd to be punish'd by him And Lastly If I should grant that these Reflexions did not at first make so deep an impression in his heart yet at least it cannot be deny'd but that after his Fall he was in a manner necessitated to meditate on these truths God appeared to him in a visible manner God passed Sentence upon him his Wife and the Serpent God condemn'd the Serpent and afforded his Grace to Man God made him a Promise proportion'd to the evil into which he was fallen The Woman had deceiv'd her Husband which did naturally tend to disunite them but God uniting himself again with Adam made the effect of his Promise to depend upon Adam's re-union with his Wife having assured him that the Offspring of his Wife should be his Redeemer God threatned the Woman with extream Pains in Child-bearing he drave them out of the Garden of Eden and placed a Flame of Fire to guard the entrance there All this without doubt would never suffer Adam slightly to pass over Matters of so great importance as his Creation and the manner of his being formed out of the Earth Things being thus stated it is easie to judge whether we have supposed Adam too Subtil and Contemplative by attributing the foresaid Reflexions to him CHAP. X. That the Children of Adam had reason to be convinc'd of the Creation IT is apparent that as soon as the Children of Adam were arrived to years of understanding they were in a condition to make Reflexions on the manner of their production according to the information receiv'd of their Parents They were able to compare the twofold Original of Man the one in which the Body was immediately taken from the Earth the other in which it was produc'd by Generation and were able to judge if either of them were improbable and in particular whether the formation of their Parents with other Matters consequent and depending on it could be sufficiently proved and confirm'd For it was easie for them to judge that their Parents of whose tenderness and care they had so great experience could not have had the least design to deceive them in what they had deliver'd to them concerning the Creation They had also leisure enough during the long Lives they enjoy'd to examine the Solidity of those Reasons which perswaded their Parents of the truth of their Creation For instance they could easily inform themselves whether there were any more Men and Women than their Father and Mother that had been before them whether they were produced from the Earth or by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms whether there were any other Language besides that which they spake Whether there were any Ruins of Buildings or other remains which signified that Arts had been formerly Cultivated And in a word whether there were any reason to perswade them that the World had not its beginning at the time which their Parents assigned for it Neither were they only in a condition to judge of the truth of these things but their Senses were able to convince them of it As for instance by seeing the first Trees the production of others from them and the different degrees of their growth But besides all this they could experience most of these things in their own Persons they could know whether God had assigned to Man the Fruit of Trees and Grain for their Food as Moses has recorded only by examining their own Mouths which were formed to chew Fruits and not to tear the raw flesh of Animals which requires sharper and stronger Sets of Teeth than those they found themselves provided with the eating of flesh not being introduced till after the Deluge Thus after the Act of Generation they saw their Children Born as it was represented to them that they themselves had been formed They had also before their eyes sensible signs of the truth of the Matters related to them As for instance the continual Miracle of a Flame of Fire which kept them from entring into Paradise was a certain Argument of the first sin of which they had not been Eye-witnesses The Pains of a Woman in Child-bearing did the more confirm the truth of the Divine Sentence because it was not obvious for them to apprehend such Consequences from an act which was pleasing to their Sensual Appetites And Lastly Forasmuch as they kept a Solemn day to Celebrate the Memory of the World's Nativity on which seventh day their Parents repeated to them no less than two and fifty times a Year the same thing informing them of the manner of their Formation 't is impossible to suppose that they should let these things pass without making any Reflexion on the truth of them and the rather because we cannot rationally conceive that they should have been serious in any Duties of Religion without having first examin'd the truth of the Creation and of the Promise of a Redeemer which are the true Grounds of all Religious Acts whatsoever CHAP. XI That the Children of Adam were actually convinced of the Truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah I Suppose it is sufficiently evident that the immediate Posterity of Adam could easily be assured of the manner how their Parents had been produc'd from whom they deriv'd their Beings They could likewise be fully satisfied about the truth of their sin and the Promise God had made them That one of their Posterity should destroy the Enemy of Mankind My business therefore next is to shew that they were actually assured of the truth of these Matters this will appear if we consider two things The first is that as these Matters were the chief Objects of their Meditation because of their extraordinary importance so it is evident that they acted as Persons fully satisfied of the truth of them The other is That as they had been instructed in these Truths by their Parents so they deliver'd the same to their Posterity to whom they transmitted the belief of these Matters as of things altogether unquestionable I say then that they acted as those who were fully assured of the truth of these Matters which appears throughout the whole course of their Lives not only when they did
his Brother as thinking himself supplanted by him of his right to accomplish the Promise and the Polygamy of Lamech as an effect of this perswasion if it be consider'd that in all likelyhood this belief was more strong at the beginning of the World the Idea of the Promise being more fresh and lively in the minds of Men as a thing at no great distance from those times And that we find in the Holy Family in general manifold instances of this Spirit of Jealousie and burning desire of a Posterity We find also much about the same time another Lamech the Father of Noah declaring by the Name he gave his Son the hopes he had that he might probably be the Person who was to comfort Mankind concerning all the Misery sin had brought into the World. Gen. V. 29. Thus it appears clearly that for above sixteen Ages from the Creation of the World to the Deluge we find in all the actions of the Children of Adam a strong impression of the belief of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah And till this time we find not the least instance which might seem to convince the Relation of Moses of the least Absurdity We see men acting from the perswasion of these two Matters of Fact we must conclude therefore that they were distinctly inform'd of them yea we see all men in general acting according to this Perswasion it is evident therefore they were known to all and the weekly observance of the Sabbath day continually representing those Truths to the Eyes and Minds of all takes away all possibility of Forgery in these Matters Let us now enquire whether after the Deluge these Ideas were effaced or whether they have not exerted the same efficacy in the Spirit of Noah and the Actions of all his Posterity CHAP. XII That Noah was fully perswaded of the Creation of the World and the Promise of the Messiah IF we find that the Children of Adam and their Posterity could be exactly informed of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah and that indeed they were so it will follow that Noah could not be unacquainted with the same Truths Noah was six hundred Years old when the Deluge came He had Conversed with Lamech his Father who had seen Adam and his Children as being fifty six years of Age when Adam died he had Conversed with Methusalem his Grandfather who died that very year the Flood came and who being three hundred and forty three years old when Adam died had without doubt instructed Noah during so vast an interval of time in like manner as himself had been instructed by Adam for many Ages And as Methusalem had lived a long time with Seth who died in the year of the World 1042 so it is evident that Noah who was born in the year 1056 had not only seen Lamech and Methusalem but many also of their Ancestors whose Discourses he heard examin'd their Traditions and imitated their way of Worship Moreover Noah saw that there were no men in his time who did not deduce their Genealogy from Adam All his Contemporaries could convince him of it Every one of them having as exact a knowledge of their Ancestors as he could have of his Now that this was a matter which they might be easily assur'd of appears on these two accounts the one is the long life which the men of that Age enjoyed and the other the short interval of time which was between the Creation and the Deluge the whole amounting only to 1656 years Adam died in the year 930 and the Deluge happened in the 600 year of Noah's Life Adam died 126 years before the Birth of Noah so as Adam must have been seen and known by Methusalem Lamech and thousands of others who were Contemporarys with Noah To these we may add a third Remark and that is the Jealousie and Hatred which was between the two Families of Cain and Seth Cain's Posterity were altogether corrupted and the greatest part of Seth's also Noah being of the Posterity of Seth had no reason to call those Matters in question which he saw generally own'd and received of those to whom their Wickedness and Crimes suggested Objections against them And I do not know whether I might not suppose that Noah had before his eyes Paradise with the Cherubims who guarded the entrance thereof and made it inaccessible which if so was an authentick proof of the Truths in question That Garden as far as we can judge being not destroy'd nor the Guardian Angel discharged till the time of the Flood Be it as it will yet Noah being a Man fearing God was honoured with an extraordinary Call to exhort Men to Repentance he was commanded to build an Ark he saw the Deluge happening according to what God had foretold he saw the Beasts of their own accord gather themselves together to enter into the Ark in like manner as he had been told that they came to Adam He saw the Deluge cease according to the Divine Declaration he saw fire from Heaven consuming the Sacrifice he offer'd in acknowledgment to God in like manner as the words of Moses seem to imply that it happened at the Sacrifice of Abel He saw himself chosen in a peculiar manner to be the Depositary of the Promise which Adam had left to his Posterity tho he never had the satisfaction of seeing it fulfilled himself God having reserved the Accomplishment of it for another time and to one of his Posterity at a great distance It is very evident that all these Particulars could not but conduce to preserve the Memory of these first most important Matters of Fact of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah and therefore that Noah must of necessity be convinced of the certainty and truth of them Let us now see whether Noah's Offspring had the same perswasion concerning these things CHAP. XIII That the Children of Noah were convinced of the truth of these Matters THe Children of Noah were an hundred years old when the Deluge happened and consequently had conversed a long space of time with Methusalem and many other of their Ancestors and Relations of the old World and had frequented the Religious Assemblies observed every Sabbath day in the Family of Seth whence they were descended and had been instructed there by those who had seen Adam and his Posterity it is evident therefore beyond all contest that they could not be ignorant of the Creation and Promise of the Messiah Now that they had a distinct knowledge of those Matters we may evidently conclude not only because they had seen God when he blessed them and a second time said to them as after a new Creation Gen IX 1. increase and multiply Nor only upon the account of his giving them a positive Law forbidding them to eat the blood of living Creatures Gen. IX 5. whose flesh they were permitted to feed on as he had forbid Adam to eat of the Fruit
of taking to Wife ones own Brother's Widow to raise him up Seed 2. The Sin of Onan is represented so odious only because by it he acted against the belief of the Promise 3. We see the same thing in the action of Thamar Juda's Daughter-in-Law for having been deceived by Judah she in exchange surpriz'd him into an Incest the Commission whereof according to the Observation of a Greek Commentator she sought to perpetuate Theoph. in Mat. c. I. only because she had a vehement desire to get Children out of a Family which she lookt upon as solely intrusted with the Promise of the Messiah and out of which he was accordingly to be born It is necessary to make that Observation because we ought always to remember that she was formerly a Canaanite and that consequently she left off and renounc'd the Impiety and Idolatry of her Kindred when she embrac'd the Religion and hopes of Jacob's Family Therefore we see that particular mention is made of her in our Saviour's Genealogy and of Ruth who likewise gave over all the pretensions of her own People and so forsook her Religion to enter into the Tribe of Judah as well as of Bathshebah who was Wife to a Hittite whereupon an ancient Father hath very well observed S. Hieronym in Tradit Heb ad 1. Reg. 3. according to the Jewish Opinion that Shimei's Revilings against David when he went out of Jerusalem during Absalom's Rebellion reflected upon his Birth out of the Posterity of Ruth the Moabitess as the Jews even to this very day do understand it We may make the same Reflexion upon the Consideration of that implacable jealousie which Joseph's Dreams raised in the Minds of his Brethren 1. We may reasonably conceive that he being the First-born of Rachel and the Wife which Jacob his Father had first made Love to he had been brought up with hopes of the Birth-right as well as Isaac who was but the second Son of Abraham But 2. He might besides very well suppose that the Crimes of his Brethren born of Leah whom in all likelihood he lookt upon as the sole Legitimate Heirs the others being born of Maid-Servants did rank them with Esau whom God had rejected That outragious Fury which Joseph's Brethren shew'd against him because they lookt upon him as preferred of God by those Dreams to those that were born before him is so like that of Cain of Lot of Ismael and of Esau that it had in all probability the same Cause and Original Do we not see afterwards another effect of the same jealousie in the affectation that Jacob and his Family shew'd in the Land of Egypt when they refused to live promiscuously with the Egyptians which were the Posterity of Ham and begg'd of them a Countrey where they might live by themselves as we see on the contrary the Egyptians shewing an extream aversion against Jacob and his Family which was of Sem's Posterity Certainly it cannot be denied that as this separation was an effect of the Antipathy of those Nations so it might also be in some respect the consequence of Jacob and his Childrens pretensions upon the Promise of the Messiah the execution and accomplishment whereof they stood up for as belonging to themselves To all this we may add that the Persecution of the Egyptians against the Israelites obliged them to make particular Reflexions upon the Promise which Jacob on his Death-Bed made to them from God That Persecution was chiefly intended against the Male Children Pharaoh commanding the extirpation of them because he was afraid of the Jews growing too strong for him and of their joyning with his Enemies and perhaps also because the Jews entertaining a certain expectation of the Messiah's coming and so boasting and glorying of it upon all occasions the Egyptians design'd to frustrate and cut off their hope thus by hindering the accomplishment of the Promise However there was no real difficulty to keep up the distinct remembrance of those important Facts Jacob died in the year of the World 2315. Joseph died in the year of the World 2428. There are then but 58 years between Josephs Death and Moses's Birth Moses might have seen not only Amram his own â—â—ther who had seen Levi but also Kohath his Grandfather who had seen Jacob. And it is for that reason Gen. L. 23. that Moses seems to have observ'd that Joseph saw his own Children's Children that is to say the third Generation One cannot imagine any Circumstances more conducible than these to the preserving the distinct knowledge of those important Truths which were the Foundations of Religion CHAP. XVII That the Tradition which gives us an Account of the Perswasion which the Ancients had of the truth of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah before Moses cannot be suspected I Have shew'd I think evidently enough that both the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah with all the other things depending upon them might have been known certainly by Adam and his Children and so afterwards be handed down to all his Posterity till Moses's time From Adam to Noah there is but one Man viz. Methusalah who joyned hands with both From Noah to Abraham there is but one Man viz. Sem who saw them both for a considerable time From Abraham to Joseph there is but one Man viz. Isaac Joseph's Grandfather From Joseph to Moses there is 〈◊〉 one Man viz. Amram who might have seen Joseph long enough Those Characters of time which Moses hath so carefully observed do plainly evidence that the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah might be distinctly known For if we suppose a continued succession of Adam's Offspring it was not easie to impose upon Men in that matter and that because every one of those who were Contemporaries with Moses being able to run up his own Pedigree as far as the Flood nay even up to Adam by as compendious a way as Moses could do his own they would have treated those with the utmost degree of scorn who should have attempted to forge any thing contrary to what was publickly and universally known and so it was equally impossible that the truth of things so important as the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah were should be unknown Besides I think I have plainly shew'd that many actions recorded by Moses tho' very strange in themselves and which the Atheists look upon as absurd and ridiculous have proceeded from no other principle than from the strong perswasion of the truth of those Facts according as in a long Series of Ages every one of the Ancients following his own humour and prejudices framed to himself a particular Idea differing from the true sense of the Promise of the Messiah It cannot reasonably be objected that all this is only grounded upon the uncertain authority of Tradition For tho' I grant that Tradition as to Facts of another nature be dubious and uncertain and not to be too much
little more than forty years interval betwixt the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Bondage of the Israelites under the Neighbouring Nations Had it not been a fit time then to cast off the Yoak of Moses's Laws and to publish the pretended Lies and Impostures of his History Was not the Comparison which the Israelites could easily make betwixt the Mosaick Writings and the Tradition generally received in the Countrey of their Captivity a natural and ready means to undeceive them Yet notwithstanding all this we see that they obstinately entertain the belief of the several Transactions recorded by Moses and stand firmly to all their Pretensions Nay we see them have recourse to the Remedy of Repentance which Moses prescribed them to use in those sad Misfortunes which he foretold should befal them and out of which he promis'd at the same time that God would miraculously deliver them which indeed was done accordingly even fourteen times within less than four hundred years as is manifest from the Book of Judges Can there then be a more pregnant Argument that if Moses made it Death by one of his Sanctions for any of the Israelites to contest the truth either of his Writings or of his Oracles and Miracles it was not to force the belief of them without examination but rather only to prevent the corruption of that People and their mingling and confounding themselves with the Heathens which God intended to hinder on purpose because he would have the Messiah to be born according to his Promise out of that Nation which to effect he thought fit in his infinâ—â—e Wisdom to employ the rigour of some Capital Laws to keep that people unmixt and distinguish'd from all other Nations of the World till the Messiah was born CHAP. XXII The Consequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Observations upon the Book of Genesis THese several Observations which I have made upon the Book of Genesis are all I think very natural and easie and if I am not mistaken sufficient to prove solidly the truth of Moses's Account of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah which is the foundation of the Christian Religion The Conclusion that I draw out of the Premises is That First I assert that Moses that famous Hebrew who was design'd to be the Heir of Pharaoh's Daughter is the true and sole Author of the Book of Genesis Secondly I maintain that this being once granted he could not according to his way of Writing record those important Transactions he relates otherwise than they really came to pass Thirdly I maintain that tho he had not been an Eye Witness of the Creation of the World yet he hath made the Description of it according to such an Authentick Tradition as cannot be reasonably doubted of because it was then the Universal Tradition not only of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and of the Edomites who were all of Sem's Posterity and amongst whom he had been travelling for forty years together but also of the Egyptians of his own People and in a word of all Men then living in the World. Fourthly I maintain that he never was found fault with nor contradicted till true Reason and Sence if I may say so was lost and banish'd from amongst Mankind till the Egyptians for example they who used before to look upon the Greeks as meer Children and Ideots were fallen into so great a Stupidity and Deprivation of Sence as to believe and maintain that Men were first born in Egypt because forsooth Frogs did naturally as they thought breed out of their Muddy Fenns and Marshes Fifthly I maintain that for many Ages after Moses no body did ever publickly declare for the Eternity of the World nor yet for its Fortuitous Production These Opinions are meer Absurdities and Chimeras brought forth into the World by the Chaldeans and Greeks only about Alexander's time or perhaps an hundred years before him i. e. about eleven or twelve hundred years after Moses's Decease Sixthly I maintain that seeing there is no particular time to be found wherein the reading of the Law was interrupted and discontinued for any considerable time amongst the Jews seeing it continues still to this very hour amongst them every Sabbath day in the several places of the World wherein they are dispersed and seeing besides that it is certain that this Law which enjoyns the Observation of the Sabbath in remembrance of the Creation could never be imposed upon them without their perceiving and declaring presently the Novelty and Supposition of that Account and consequently of the Book wherein it is related Seeing all this is certain I do positively maintain that the truth of the Creation can never be better proved than it is by the Book of Genesis because in it Moses hath followed the Tradition of all the Ages that preceded him and only recorded in Writing what was then generally known of all Men in the World and that in a time when every Man was able to run his own Pedigree up to Adam Lastly I maintain that as the certainty of the Creation cannot reasonably be doubted of without rejecting at the same time all those Proofs from Facts which I have brought to strengthen my Assertion So there is all the reason in the World to entertain the belief of it as of a matter of Fact which is indisputable As being Related by the most Ancient Historian Confirmed by the most Ancient Tradition Believed by the most Ancient People of the World who did not only believe it but also had always had according to God's Command the Memory of it Celebrated amongst them and their Ancestors in all their Generations fifty two times in a Year from the very beginning of the World. REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PREFACE WHen I began at first these Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis I design'd only to demonstrate the certainty of the Creation of the first Man and so to shew by Arguments from matters of Fact that neither the Creation of the World nor yet the Promise of the Messiah which God made to Man after his sin can reasonably be disputed or doubted of I design'd after that to establish the truth of Christ's Resurrection by such another undeniable Argument viz. by shewing that the Apostles were Eye Witnesses of it and instituted a solemn Day in every Week to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of it amongst Men from their time down to the end of the World. And this I thought was sufficient to demonstrate the truth of the Christian Religion For as the Jews by the continual Celebration of the Sabbath every Week could easily run back to the Creation of the World which was the occasion of the Institution of the Sabbath so the Christians may by the Weekly Observation of the Lord's day prove Christ's Resurrection which occasioned the Institution of the Lord's day If we consider the
any thing to them as we see it Deuteronomy IV. 2. It is then impossible seeing that the whole people of the Jews have always acknowledged the Divine Authority of those Books that they should ever have attempted the alteration of any thing in them Nay we see not without wonder that after the greatest part of the ten Tribes of Israel were transported into Assyria those that were sent from Assyria to inhabit their Countrey did receive that Law and that their Posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews altho' they continue their Mortal Enemies and have been exposed to all the Changes and Revolutions that can befal a Nation during the long interval of 2400 years The Third Observation which deserves a singular Attention is That notwithstanding the great and many Corruptions which the Common-Wealth of Israel fell into yet these Books have still been kept up in the same form that we have them now It appears out of the History of Josiah related 2 Kings XXIII 21. That after the Book of the Law of Moses own writing was found in the Temple the King commanded all the People to keep the Passover unto the Lord as it is written in the Book of this Covenant Now we have the Institution of the Passover Exod. XII which shews that Josiah by the Book of this Covenant meant the Books of Moses such as we have them now adays and such as they were when Moses deposited them into the Sanctuary It is important to consider well all that is related in the forementioned Chapter of II Kings for we may gather out of it that it was according to the Directions of this Law that they began to reform all the Superstitions and Idolatries which had been introduced in their Religion and countenanced by the Royal Authority from Solomon's time to Josiah this Chapter relates and commends the proceeding of Josiah only in opposition to the ill government of his Predecessors and to the publick Monuments of their Superstitions which he abolished in obedience to God's Laws contained in the Books of Moses However it is certain that it was no easie matter to impose herein upon Posterity For First The Transactions recorded in the Books of Moses did not only relate to the People of Israel but also to most of the Neighbouring Nations Secondly The Memory of them continued so lively and universal that almost 1500 years after Moses the Names of those Magicians spoken of Exod. VII 11. were as yet known not only amongst the Jews as we see it by an express Passage of S. Paul who speaks of them Hist Nat. l. 30. c. 1. and mentioneth their Names 2 Tim. III. 8. but also among the Heathens as both Pliny and Numenius do attest it I point only at those general Proofs at present because I have already made use of them and shew'd their force in my Observations upon Genesis and because I intend to repeat and improve some of them hereafter in this Treatise But now in order to follow my present design I must come to the more particular Consideration of the things contained in these Books which will much conduce to the Confirmation of the same Truth CHAP. II. That both the Character of Moses 's Person and the nature of the things he relates has always made men read his Books with attention The Subject of some Books is such as that alone would recommend them to the attention of any Reader tho' their Author had no reputation in the World but when besides the importance of their Subject the Author of them is famous and of great repute then to be sure they never fail to be read with serious attention and preserved with as great a care The Books of Moses have both these advantages so that they cannot reasonably be suspected of the least alteration or Forgery The first Character that we discover in these Books at the first viewing of them is the great singularity and admirable diversity of their Stile and of the Matters they treat of We do not see that other Legislators did ever affect to act the parts of Historians no they content themselves with their absolute power to make Laws without giving any reason for the Sanction of them Therefore we see that there is commonly nothing more dry and sapless than all their Regulations about both Civil and Religious Matters But Moses we see hath followed a more reasonable and more satisfactory method all his Regulations are grounded upon the great Transactions which he relates he enacts no Law of any consequence but he intimates to the Jews at the same time the Reasons which challenge their Obedience and makes them by that means reflect both upon the several Mercies of God bestowed upon them and call to mind the great Miracles they had been eye witnesses of I confess indeed that the use and scope of some of his Regulations is very abstruse especially now that we are ignorant of the several Heathen Customs which God design'd to abolish from among that People newly come out of Egypt where during their Captivity they had complied and accustomed themselves in a great measure to the Rites and Religion of their Masters the Egyptians But yet how abstruse soever the design of some of those Laws may now appear to be We have good ground to affirm that the general scope of them all was to keep that People from Idolatry in distinguishing them from all other Nations as also to quicken their Desires and Expectations of the Messiah the Promise of whose coming had been made by God in the very beginning of the World and renewed several times to the Heads of their Nation However we see in the Books of those Laws Religion and Policy so interwoven together that the latter seems to subsist only by the support and assistance of the former which is contrary to the custom of human Legislators who do not so much regard the establishment of Religion as the preservation and welfare of the State and Common-wealth If any Jew had a mind to be informed about the Tradition of his Ancestors and the transactions of old Moses hath preserved it with such care with so many marks of Fidelity and so clear and plain that there is no other History besides his that can give any satisfactory Information about the Original of things All the Fables of the Heathens which yet make up the most ancient Tradition they have being nothing else but a corruption and depravation of the several Truths that Moses relates in his History If any Jew desired to see the beginnings of that Common wealth of which he was a Member Moses gives an accurate account of them If any Jew desired to know the Original of Mankind or what was the true happiness of Man and what he ought to do in order to be a partaker of that happiness Moses teaches all that with great evidence and exactness If any Jew had a mind to know the occasion of
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
gave notice by the Prophets of all those Lights which should particularly appear in him In prospect of this God gave by the Ministry of Moses such Characters as would distinguish the true Prophets from those who endeavoured to usurp that Name It appears also that because God was to Communicate to the Messiah a power of working Miracles which Moses intimates by saying that he was to be a Prophet like unto him Therefore Isaiah specifies the Character of those Miracles in XXXV Chapter of his Prophesie and God explains in particular the Laws concerning the Blind and the Lame and for the same Reason he gives an account of all sorts of Leprosie that it might be distinctly known which was incurable It is easie to those who will attend to the Laws of Moses to see that they were subservient to this design of God in pursuance of those Prospects which we have already set down CHAP. XXI That it was the design of God by all these Ceremonies and particularly by that Veneration which he inspired the Jews with for the Tabernacle to preserve the Ideas of the Messiah whom he had promised in their minds by distinguishing them from all other Nations AFter all those Observations which I have made upon the several Laws that God made use of to execute his design of fixing his people to a certain place and there to keep them separate it is natural to judge that the Ceremonial Laws which he gave them for the regulating their outward Worship were also intended for the same end This I must shew in respect of the Holiness which God ascribes to the Land of Canaan and in respect of the whole Service of the Tabernacle of its Misterious Construction in all its parts And in respect also of the raising of the Material Temple afterwards to be as it were the Center of their whole Religion It was certainly for this purpose that he particularly Consecrated several things to himself as the first fruits and the first-born and that he set apart certain times as the first day of the Month and certain Solemn Feasts besides the Sabbath-day which was Celebrated long before And he also Consecrated several places as the Towns of refuge and yet more particularly the Tabernacle and the Temple But it was especially for that reason that he had Consecrated certain Rites and Ceremonies certain Sacrifices both of Animate and Inanimate things and certain Offerings of Gold and Silver Perfumes c. One see 's that he rejected any first fruits that did not grow in the Land of Canaan One see 's that tho some Sacrifices were common to the Jews and their Neighbours yet he distinguish'd them by so many Circumstances that they were much different from the others Thus he forbids them to make use of Statues before which other Nations used to Sacrifice at that time and he commanded them not to Sacrifice upon high places where the Heathens used to make their Offerings very early in the Morning at Sun-rise which gave rise to their Worship of the Rising Sun. But there is nothing more discovers the design of God than the Laws by which he fixed their Worship first to the Tabernacle and afterwards to the Temple at the places where God did particularly reside One may say that it was for that reason God commanded the representations of Angels and of his Law and of the Manna to be preserved there all which besides that they were Memorials of the Ancient Apparitions and favours of God to that people they were express figures of God's Glory of his Will and of his miraculous power he added also a Candlestick with seven Branches a Table covered with Loaves and an Altar of Incense which were figures of the Seven Planets of this visible World of the Blessings which we enjoy by Nature and of those acknowledgments which we owe unto God for all these He commanded also that none should offer Sacrifices in any other place except the Temple He would not permit that any but those who were purified according to the Law should enter into it he excluded all Uncircumcised persons for ever as Moses had formerly been commanded to pull off his Shooes in the Desert at his approaching to the burning Bush so every one that entered into the Temple was to enter barefoot as a mark of that respect which had formerly been exacted of Moses And what other reason but that could oblige him to give both at the Consecration of the Temple and afterwards so many sensible Marks of his presence that Cloud which was called his Glory rested there The Urim and Thummim which was an Oracle for that whole Nation was there there was a daily Sacrifice offered up for the whole People there were celebrated the three Solemn Feasts of the Passover of Pentecost and of Tabernacles he forbid them to Sacrifice any where else and he gave frequent and illustrious Oracles at that place One ought also to observe that after his Temple to which all the glory of the Tabernacle was transmitted was fixed at Jerusalem he ordered it to be such a sensible mark of his presence that when we read the History of Israel's March in the Desart we find that the Tabernacle was the Image of the Temple and built after its Model so that as the Tabernacle stood always in the midst of the Tents of the Levites and the Levites in the midst of the whole Camp of all the Tribes of Israel who were all listed under their proper Standards So one see 's afterwards that the Temple the Levites and the people of Jerusalem were placed according to their different degrees of Holiness as they were to approach to the most Holy place which was the Habitation of his Holiness Certainly one may say that the building up of a Tabernacle or of a Temple seems to be directly contrary to the nature of Religion according to which God who is a Spirit will be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth So that this seems to have been quitted for a time when he commanded the building of a Tabernacle But really there was nothing more agreeable to the design which God had formed at first as to that people he intended to make it visible and it appears that nothing could be more effectual to make it so than the double necessity to which that whole People was reduced to to meet in a Body several times every year in the same place and to offer all their Sacrifices in the Tabernacle and to be there perpetually employed in the Ceremonial Service which did inseparably draw them thither and fix them there The end of all those visible Assemblies was to perpetuate the knowledge of the principal Verities of their Religion and especially to renew perpetually the hopes of that people as to the Messiah who was promised to them from God. For God having shortned the long Lifes which Men commonly enjoy'd in the beginning before they went out of Egypt so that five or six persons could no
be very short I will confine my self to some general Reflexions upon those Books of the Old Testament which were writ since Moses but such as I hope will be sufficient to satisfie an equitable and intelligent Reader THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE First Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. THat there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages Page 1. Chap. 2. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of prophane History 8 Chap. 3. That there is an uninterrupted Series of Events foretold by the Sacred Oracles of which we may see a very great number accomplished in every Age. 15 Chap. 4. That how common soever Oracles may have been amongst the Pagans yet nothing amongst them can justly be compared with those which are found amongst the Jews 24 Chap. 5. That the Books in which we may find these Oracles were never forged 28 Chap. 6. That the manner of Writing the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament shews that those Oracles could not have been forged after their Completion 35 Chap. 7. For what reason the Oracles which relate to the Messiah were interwoven with other things which seem to be very widely distant 45 Chap. 8. General Rules for the understanding of ancient Oracles and for the Application of them to the Messiah 51 Chap. 9. Of those Oracles concerning the Messiah which are to be found in the Book of Genesis 60 Chap. 10. Of the Oracles which concern the Messiah in the Book of Psalms 71 Chap. 11. Considerations upon the Sufferings of the Messiah and upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven foretold by David in the XXII and CX Psalms 80 Chap. 12. That the Messiah was to have a Forerunner and what was to be his Character 89 Chap. 13. That the Messiah was to be born before the dissolution of the Jewish State and the destruction of the second Temple 93 Chap. 14. That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David 101 Chap. 15. That the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem of the Family of David which at that time was reduc'd to a private state 107 Chap. 16. That the Messiah was to work great Miracles for the establishing of his Mission and of the Truth of his Doctrine 111 Chap. 17. That the Messiah was to be an illustrious Prophet 114 Chap. 18. That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men 119 Chap. 19. That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah 125 Chap. 20. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death 130 Chap. 21. That the Messiah was soon after to rise again 136 Chap. 22. That the Messiah was to ascend into Heaven and send down from thence the miraculous Gifts of Prophecy Languages c. 140 Chap. 23. That the Gentiles in the time of the Messiah were to be called to the knowledge of the true God. 144 Chap. 24. That the Jews were to be rejected in the time of the Messiah 152 Chap. 25. Of the time which succeeded the publishing of these Prophecies till the Coming of the Messiah 157 The Contents of the Chapters of the Second Part of the Second Volume Chap. 1. That there appears a very just Connexion between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former Page 175 Chap. 2. That the Idea's of the Messiah continued very fresh in the Minds of the Jews at the time of the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ 183 Chap. 3. That the Commonwealth of the Jews did still subsist and follow the Model which God had formed in order to the certain knowing of the Messiah 189 Chap. 4. That all the Distinctions necessary for discovering of the Messiah still continued in the State of the Jews at the time of our Lord. 197 Chap. 5. That the time pointed out by the Prophets for the Coming of the Messiah is the very time in which Jesus Christ appeared to the World. 202 Chap. 6. That Jesus Christ had precisely such a Forerunner as the Prophets had described to precede the Messiah 207 Chap. 7. That Jesus Christ was born of the Family of David then reduced to a mean Condition as had been aforetold by the Prophets 213 Chap. 8. That Jesus Christ was conceived by the Virgin Mary without any Operation of Man. 222 Chap. 9. That Jesus Christ lived and preached after the same manner as the Prophets had foretold the Messiah should do 229 Chap. 10. That the Miracles wrought by our Saviour clearly prove that he is the Messiah 237 Chap. 11. That the Predictions of our Lord Jesus Christ clearly prove him to be the Messiah 242 Chap. 12. That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye 250 Chap. 13. That Jesus Christ was raised again the third day according to the Prophets and afterwards ascended into Heaven 258 Chap. 14. That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies 270 Chap. 15. That according to the Prophecies the Apostles of Jesus Christ have called the Gentiles to the profession of the Christian Religion 277 Chap. 16. That the Christian Religion is founded on proofs of Fact and that consequently nothing in the World is so certain as the truth of it 284 Chap. 17. That it cannot be questioned Whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the Apostles 292 Chap. 18. That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate 298 Chap. 19. More Reasons to manifest the faithfulness of the Apostles 304 Chap. 20. That the whole Model of the Religion and Commonwealth of the Jews is at this day so entirely destroyed that the Messiah could no more be known 311 Chap. 21. That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion 317 REFLEXIONS UPON THE Historical and Prophetical BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there is in the Historical Writings of the Old Testament an uninterrupted Series of Events which have a natural and necessary dependance for more than Ten Ages THE first general Proof which I make use of to establish the Truth of the Historical Books of the Old Testament after Moses may be lawfully drawn from the uninterrupted Series of Events which are related by those Authors who have written the History of the State and Church of Israel We may observe several considerable Epocha's of this History which takes in about One thousand and forty years
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
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no Priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children The Prophet Jeremy speaks to the same purpose Chap. V. vers 21 22 and 23. Hear now this O foolish people and without understanding which have eyes and see not which have ears and hear not Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence who have placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart they are revolted and gone And he reiterates the same Chap. VIII vers 7. The stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgment of the Lord. Ezechiel prosecutes the same matter Chap. II. vers 5 and 8. calling the Jews a Rebellious House And Chap. XII vers 1 and 2. he saith The word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of Man thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious House who have eyes to see and see not they have ears to hear and hear not for they are a rebellious House Neither do the Prophets only represent to us in general the blindness of the Jews upon several occasions but they also very particularly inform us that he who was the most considerable person of their State and the great Minister of God should be notwithstanding rejected by them And here first It is worth our noting that Moses threatens the worst of Calamities to those who should refuse to hear the great Prophet like unto him whom God was to raise to his People Deut. XVIII vers 18. Secondly David Psalm CXVIII v. 22. expresses this in these words The Stone which the Builders refused is become the Head of the Corner From which words it is evident 1. That the Messiah was to be rejected 2. That he was to be rejected by those who were intrusted with the care of building the House 3. That this was to be before he should be acknowledged the great Minister of Heaven God speaks the same thing by Isaiah Chap. XXVIII vers 6. Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste Which place is to be understood of the Messiah by the Confession of the Jews themselves Daniel follows the same Notion Chap. II. vers 34 35. Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon his feet and brake them to pieces and the stone became a great Mountain and filled the Earth On all which Prophecies we may make these Remarks 1. That Jesus Christ quotes most of them as such which by the Jews themselves were owned to refer to the Messiah Thus Matt. XXI verse 42. he saith Did ye never read in the Scriptures the Stone which the Builders rejected the same is become the Head of the Corner And St. Peter Acts IV. vers 11. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders which is become the head of the corner St. Paul makes the same allusion Ephes II. vers 20. And are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone And I Cor. III. verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ And when Jesus Christ himself saith to Peter Matth. XVI verse 18. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church c. He alludes to that of Daniel Then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff of the Summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the Stone which smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Our Saviour applyes also to the Jews those Prophecies which foretel their being offended at the Ministers of Heaven in particular that of Isaiah Chap. VI. verse 9. Go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not 2. We may observe that the Jews of old applyed those Prophecies as the Apostles did to the hardning of their own Nation as appears from that of St. Paul Rom. X. verse 21. But to Israel he saith all the day long I have stretched forth my hand unto a disobedient and gain-saying people 3. We must take notice That the same temper which was in the ancient Jews who rejected the Prophets was found in those who lived at the time of our Saviour and for this we need only to read the description which Josephus de Bello Judaico Lib. VII cap. 3. gives of them where he compares them with the Sodomites which is the Comparison Isaiah makes Chap. I. verse 10. And last of all we may take notice That Josephus acknowledges that this Blindness of the Jews was the cause of the final destruction of Jerusalem which was to succeed the Death of the Messiah according to the express Oracle of Daniel Chap. IX verse 26. CHAP. XX. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death TO be convinced of this Truth we need only prove that what is set down in Psalm XXII Isaiah LIII Daniel IX and Zachariah XIII and other prophetical passages of Holy Scripture is to be understood of the Messiah and the reading of them alone is sufficient to satisfie the meanest Capacity that the person they point at was to lose his life by violence with several very infamous Circumstances Now it is certain that both ancient and modern Jews interpret these places of the Messiah and it is as evident that the Apostles understood them so and therefore all along applyed them to Jesus Christ following therein the known explications of the Rabbies of their own Nation It is plain also That the Death and Suffering of our Saviour would have prov'd a more efficaci ous Argument to refute the Apostles than all the Miracles of Jesus Christ could have been to establish their Doctrine if the Prophetical Writings had not so precisely determined his Sufferings and Death with the several Circumstances of them It is also to be noted That the Prophecies referring to the Death of the Messiah are generally interwoven with Idea's which point to other Prophetical passages avowedly owned by the Jews to have Relation to the Messiah Thus if we compare Psalm XXII verse 28. with Psalm LXXII vers 8 9. we shall find the same Idea set forth in them both And because this Character was to be the most proper and distinguishing note of
that Alexander preserved them in the Enjoyment of their Rights and Liberties as they enjoyed them under the Kings of Persia and in particular exempted them from paying any Tribute every seventh year because then they did not sow their Ground and consequently could not reap And if we find that Ptolemy took Jerusalem on a Sabbath day the Jews making Conscience of defending themselves because the Law required their ceasing from all work from whence Agatharcides an Heathen Author takes occasion to blame their Law if we find him carrying a great number of Jews with him into Egypt yet withal we find him treating them with as much kindness as the Macedonians themselves appointing distinct places in Egypt and Lybia for their Habitation If we find that powerful Princes such as Antiochus Epiphanes and some others of his Successors broke the power of the Jews prophaned their Temple and forc'd great numbers of them to abjure their Religion yet we see them also at the same time giving the highest instances of an immoveable constancy and courage in defence of their Law and in enduring the most exquisite Tortures we see others of them encouraged with the love of their Country as well as Religion putting themselves into a posture of defence purifying the Temple and celebrating a Festival which is observed even at this day and lastly obtaining favourable Treaties at the hands of their Enemies as may be seen in the Books of the Maccabees and in the Twelfth Book of Josephus his Antiquities yea we find their name and glory at that time spread as far as Lacaedemon with which Common-wealth they made an Alliance during the High-Priesthood of Onias One see 's them after this so considerable under the Successor of Antiochus their Persecutor that even those Kings sue for their Alliance with great presents One see 's that Ptolomy Philometor granted to Onias the Son leave to build a Temple in Egypt for the convenience of those Jews whom Ptolomy the Son of Lagus had carried thither as well as for those who left their Country for the oppression of the Seleucidae for Judea being situate between Syria and Egypt was ordinarily the Theatre of War between those two States 'T is here worth our noting That the Jews undertook the building of the Temple in Egypt as thinking themselves authoriz'd by that Prophecy Isai XIX 24. it being a thing otherwise forbid by the Law. One sees in the same Prince's Reign a great contest between the Samaritans and the Jews about the pre-eminence of their Temples at Jerusalem and Mount Garizim decided by him in favour of the Jews on which occasion the Jews shewed that Prince their Law and acquainted him with the Series of their History to confute the Samaritans pretensions One see 's after this when the Jews had conferred the Soveraignty and High-Priesthood on Simon that their State became so powerful that under Hyrcanus his Successor they were in a condition to attacque their Enemies in Syria and compel the Edomites to admit Circumcision Aristobulus his Son was crowned his Brother succeeded him in the Royal Dignity and left the State in a flourishing condition notwithstanding the Civil and Foreign Wars he was engaged in We find afterwards That the intestine Divisions among the Successors of those Jewish Princes did by degrees open a gap for foreign power to enter and prevail over them Pompey siding with Hyrcanus took Jerusalem and made the Jews tributary to the Romans but without changing any thing in their Religion Julius Caesar a while after bestowed the Kingdom of Judaea upon Herod the Edomite Augustus after him used the Jews with the same Equity as Pompey before him had done as appears from one of his Declarations publish'd in favour of the Jews of Egypt and Asia recorded by Josephus This Herod and Augustus are the same under whom our Saviour Jesus Christ was born It is evident therefore That the State of the Jews has continued distinct from other Nations and sufficiently known from the time of the Prophet Malachy until Herod We may also truly assert That whatever inclination the Jews of old had for the Idolatries of their Neighbours yet we don't find them given that way during this interval between the last of their Prophets and Herod as if the charge and command of that Prophet Malachy had always sounded in their Ears Mal. IV. verse 4. Remember the Law of Moses my Servant c. One see 's that the Jews under the Maccabees in great numbers suffered Martyrdom rather than abjure their Religion and that they observed the Ceremonial Law with all carefulness of which Augustus himself was witness One see 's that under Strangers and Heathen Kings they exempted themselves from answering any Suit at Law on the Sabbath day from paying Tribute the seventh Year and preserving the Rights and Priviledges of their Temple in spight of all opposition Lastly one finds them during Herod's Government supported by the favour of the Roman Empire in refusing to set up the Emperour's Trophees for fear least some Images might be hid under them which they looked upon as a Crime against their Law. I am not ignorant that since Malachy some Heresies sprung up among the Jews their Commerce with the Greeks who applyed themselves to Philosophical Speculations having contributed to make them much more Disputacious than they were before The Authority likewise of their Kings who were High-Priests also may have had a great stroke in blemishing the Purity of their Religion But yet the Disputes which we find amongst them as that of the Fatality of Events did not at all touch the Substance of their Religion They no sooner found the Spirit of Epicurisme to creep in amongst them but they framed such additions to their publick Liturgy as they thought most proper to eradicate or at least condemn that Corruption I confess also that the Pharisees and Doctors of their Law had greatly alter'd their Morality in making their own Explications by the great Authority which they had amongst the People to pass for Authentick but yet this change and corruption in their Morals as to practice did not go so far as to abolish the Laws themselves which were only wrested from their true meaning This was indeed a great Corruption but not such a one as could make it to be no more the same Religion So that we may boldly assert which is a thing very important to our present purpose That the State and Religion of the Jews have continued sufficiently entire till the time of the appearing of the Messiah in the World for their preserving of whatsoever was necessary viz. as well the Books of the Old Testament as the knowledge of those Oracles which foretold the coming of the Messiah together with the Knowledge of these Principles according to which the Prophets have spoken in their Predictions concerning him REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Confirm the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION THE PREFACE I Have shewn in my
Reflexions upon the Book of Genesis That the Facts of the Creation and the Promises of the Messiah are Truths not to be questioned and that the Idea's of this Messiah continued vigorously all the time that preceded the Children of Israel's going out of Egypt We have seen afterwards in the Remarks which I have made upon the Laws which God gave to Moses that it was the great design of God to keep men in the expectation of this Messiah and to take care that they might certainly know him whenever he should appear in the World. I have taken notice in the third part of these Reflexions of the care which God took to give a great number of Oracles to explain particularly all the Characters of this Messiah the Place and Manner of his Birth the principal Circumstances of his Life Death and Resurrection and to foretel the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles their Call to the Religion of the Messiah and lastly the overthrow of the whole Model of the Jewish Religion and Common-wealth which was no longer of any use after the Coming of the Messiah and the Calling of the Gentiles My present business is now to shew That in the Books of the New Testament we may find an exact accomplishment of this whole Design wherein God had with so much care instructed the World so long before and there is nothing more easie if we will but take a little pains to read these Books attentively and to compare them with the Model which God himself made as we have hitherto described it To make this Truth yet more evident I think it will be necessary to do two or three things which seem to be very important for my present Design And first I am to observe that there appears a most perfect Coherence between the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New which is absolutely necessary to shew that there is in these Books a perfect unity of Design notwithstanding the vast difference there is between the Jews who preserve the Old Testament and the Christians who preserve the New. Secondly I am to demonstrate that the Idea's of the Messiah were very strong in the minds of the Jews at the very time that Jesus Christ appeared in the World. This was absolutely necessary that they might not have wherewith to accuse those who received Christ for the Messiah of being deceived in their choice for not having had the exact Idea's of the Messiah which God had promised I shall upon this account shew in the third place That when Jesus Christ did appear in the World the Model which God had framed in the Law of Moses whereby the Messiah might be plainly known did then subsist in the manner wherein God had framed it After this I shall endeavour to shew by prooss which are indeed unquestionable That in examining all the Characters which the Prophets gave by which the Messiah might be known we cannot conceive a more exact execution of God's Design as to the Messiah than that which we find in the Person of Jesus Christ whereof the Books of the New Testament have given us the History Lastly I shall shew clearly that this Model which God had framed in giving the Law and in forming the Common-wealth and Religion of the Jews in so proper a manner to make the Messiah certainly known is not in being at this day but that it was so destroyed by the total Dispersion of that People that we should not be able to know the Messiah if he should now appear again in the World. And that indeed the principal Events which according to the Oracles were to follow the Coming of the Messiah are already come to pass in part and do still come to pass every day I hope to evince these Truths beyond all contest Indeed the bare reading of the Books of the New Testament plainly discovers the Coherence which they have with the Books of the Old. It shews clearly that the Idea's of the Messiah were at that time very strong in the minds of the Jews and it supposeth without any affectation that that Model which God had made so necessary to distinguish the Messiah stood at that time intire In particular It is certain that the four Evangelists by the Relation of unquestionable matters of Fact have proved that Jesus the Son of Mary is the Messiah which God had promised Saint Luke shews in the Acts of the Apostles that after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Gospel was preached to the Heathens The Epistles are a natural Consequence of this Vocation of the Heathens and of the abolishing of the Law of Moses which the Apostles had undertaken They unanimously conspire to shew that God had resolved to call the Heathens to partake of Salvation that the Jews for the greatest part should be justly deprived thereof because they obstinately rejected the Messiah Several Questions are examined which arose either from the Calling of the Gentiles or from the abolishing of the Ceremonial Worship The Succession of the History of the Christian Church justifies That after the Destruction of Jerusalem all People imbraced the Religion of Jesus Christ in receiving him for the Messiah whom God had promised to the Patriarchs and to the Jews I shall resume all these Articles one by one in that Natural Order in which I have proposed them REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That there appears a very just Connexion bètween the Idea's of the Old Testament and those of the New the latter borrowing light from the former AS it is not much the Character of Romances even then when they are most tyed up to the Rules of Probability to borrow either the Stile or Idea's of those Authors from whom they take their-Subject so I suppose that in this my Undertaking to shew that the New Testament is an exact accomplishment of the Old it is very important to make out that at the first reading of the Gospels and Apostolical Writings one finds in them a perfect conformity of Idea's with the Writings of the Old Testament One may to this purpose observe in general That the Gospel supposeth the Divine Authority of the Book of the Old Testament as an unquestionable Truth The Gospels and Epistles have the same coherence with the Books of the Law and Prophets which the Writings of the latter Prophets have with those of the former and which the Books of all the Prophets together have with the Books of Moses and with the Prophecies Laws and Histories which are contained therein One may take notice afterwards That all the Books of the New Testament have an essential relation to those of the Old in their most principal Designs I have shewed that their design was no other than to raise men to expectations of the Messiah and to paint him to the life whom God
calling men to the study of Sanctification this was admirably performed by Jesus Christ 1. In correcting those Abuses which the Jewish Doctors had introduced into the Law. Secondly In declaring that the Effect of Sanctification was to be look'd for in the heart rather than in the eyes or hands One may see afterwards 1. That he knew the heart of man which proved that he made it This he testifies upon several occasions in the answers which he made to those that spoke to him and indeed in all his Discourses which were suited to the dispositions of the heart of those to whom he addrest them 2. That he made use of Parables which are Moral Lessons very easie indeed but withal fitter for the subject than Fables and more worthy of God Parables also which were so ordinary and familiar amongst the Jews that we find most of them at this day in the Writings of the Jews tho' they apply them to another use 3. That he descended to Particulars without using any thing mean which men are apt to do when they divide things minutely 4. That he forgot no one Precept of Morality 5. That he examined all the Duties of Religion and made them infinitely recommendable by suggesting such excellent Motives After all we are to consider four things in the preaching of our Saviour which will fully prove that he was the Messiah 1. That his Doctrine appeared to be wholly Divine he had never been brought up at the feet of any Doctor but had his breeding in a Carpenter's Shop 2. That no Crime was ever objected to him notwithstanding that he upbraided the Pharisees with theirs but he supported his Doctrine by the Holiness of his Conversation 3. That he insensibly disposed the People to receive him as the Messiah by the Characters which God had given of him in the Prophets 4. He prepar'd his Disciples and his Auditors to expect that one day the Gentiles should enter into the Church In short Can any thing be so surprizing as to see a Man who had lived Thirty years as the Son of a Carpenter to declare himself all at once a Doctor to preach publickly to censure the Doctors of his Nation to speak of the Law and Prophets with more depth and authority than all that ever went before him Who can without surprize conceive that a man of the lowest quality should from a Carpenters Shop come and determine Questions about the Law and tread under his feet the Authority of all the great Rabbins every where only by an I say unto you so that none was able to contradict him Certainly when one see 's our Saviour upon the Mount explaining and defending the Moral part of the Law from the Corruptions into which it was fallen he appears not only as great as Moses on Mount Sinai but even as God himself when he published his Laws to that his ancient People Neither ought any one to have less admiration for that perfect Innocence which shone through the whole course of his life What Crime had they to charge him with when they put him to death he who accused his Enemies of so many Who of you saith he accuseth me of sin We find him only accused of words ill understood which they were resolved to misinterpret His saying That if they destroy'd that Temple he would rebuild it in three days was laid to his Charge as a Crime And yet these words could not have been heightned into Crimes if they had been spoken in the same sense which they put upon them This was an essential Character of the Messiah who was to be the Restorer of Holiness according to the Idea which the Prophets gave of him I should take notice afterwards that our Saviour in his Sermons did by little and little dispose the Minds of his Auditors and Disciples to conceive and believe him to be the promised Messiah The first act of his publick Ministry was an effect of his zeal for the Holiness of a Temple consecrated to his Father He drove the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple at the Feast of the Passover which action of his was a solemn profession that he was the Son of God. Soon after at Nazareth he applies to himself that Prophecy of Isaiah The Spirit of the Lord is upon me c. He explains himself yet more distinctly in Jerusalem at the second Passover which he celebrated during the time of his Ministry that they might understand that he was the Messiah according to the account which the Evangelists give us and he explains himself yet more particularly upon John the Baptists Message to him By which means this Truth became already so illustrious that the Multitudes would proclaim him King that is publickly own him for the Messiah and obey him as their rightful Soveraign And lastly He explains himself in this matter by a Question When he asked his Disciples Matt. XVI What Censures were past upon him in Judea and what they themselves thought of him In short It is certain that Jesus prepared the Minds of his Disciples to look for the Calling of the Gentiles which also was the Character of the Messiah Gen. XLIX 10. Jacob had prophesied of old To him shall the gathering of the People be But I shall pass by the Oracles which foretel this matter What signifies the History of the Prodigal unless it be the Calling and the Return of the Gentiles the eldest Son the Jew being extreamly troubled at it What means that saying of our Saviour That he had other Sheep c. or his Prediction That many should come from the East and West and sit down with Abraham when the Children of the Kingdom should be cast forth I shall take notice in another place of the frequent Repetition of such like Oracles and their exact accomplishment These are sufficient at present to justifie the solidity of this last Reflexion and the truth of this Conclusion at the same time that if one examines the Life and Preaching of our Saviour he may find all those Characters by which the promised Messiah might be known Let us now proceed to the Consideration of his Miracles CHAP. X. That the Miracles wrought by our Saviour clearly prove that he is the Messiah AS the Messiah was to be very clearly distinguished from all others by his Miracles and as the Prophet Isaiah Chap. XXXV sets down the power of working Miracles as one of those Characters by which he was to be known so it is of great importance to us to examine the Miracles of our Saviour with great attention whether they have the Character of Truth and whether they come up to the Idea which the Prophets give us of those wonders which the Messiah was to do The Evangelists who tell us that he wrought almost an infinite number of them have described more than Thirty several sorts of them He changed Water into Wine at the Wedding at Cana he healed the sick Son of a Courtier he
Facts is joyned with an account of the weakness whereinto they all fell They relate their own flight and forsaking their Master with S. Peter's denying of him whilst they set down the courage of those women and that entire love which they shewed to the person of Jesus The second is That the account of the Accomplishment of these ancient Oracles is interwoven with the Accomplishment of those which were uttered by Jesus Christ which alone are sufficient to make good his claim The third is That our Saviour did never on any occasion more openly stand to his pretension of being the Messiah than when he applyed to himself those Oracles which by their publick consent were referred to the Messiah which the Jews at that time more obstinately contested than ever The fourth is That there never was a more exact description of all Circumstances which might assure us of the truth of any Relation than that which the Evangelists have given us of the death of Jesus Christ in which we find the places the time the persons their discourses and other things of that nature set down with extream care The fifth is That as this Fact with all its Circumstances is the most exactly described of any thing that ever was so it was a matter concerning which it was scarce possible to impose upon any one All was done in the face of the whole Nation who were met together at their most solemn Festival All was done in the presence of the Soveraign Heathen Magistrate of the Council of the Jews of Herod and of those who followed him to Jerusalem The sixth is That we find an account of some Miracles interwoven with this Relation of the Evangelists concerning the death of Christ and those Miracles as publick and as little subject to suspicion as the death it self of Jesus Christ if we take the pains to examine them They who come to take Jesus fall down backward to the ground Jesus Christ restores the ear of the High Priest's Servant which was cut off there was darkness over all the Land from Nine a Clock in the Morning till Noon the vail of the Temple is rent These are miraculous actions and such as the Jews might easily have refuted wheresoever they had been proposed if the truth of them had not been beyond all question From all these Remarks it evidently follows That it is impossible to dispute the Application which the Apostles make of these Oracles which are so particular to the person of Jesus Christ as the true Messiah We find every part of their Relation exactly answering to the Prophesies how then can any one doubt of their being fulfilled in him especially seeing it is evident by so many other proofs that he was indeed the Messiah and that God has been pleased so many other ways to confirm the same truth CHAP. XIII That Jesus Christ was raised again the third day according to the Prophets and afterwards ascended into Heaven HAving shewed in the foregoing Chapter that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate for maintaining that he was the promised Messiah I am now to shew that according to the Prophecies set down in my third part he rose again the third day and afterwards ascended into Heaven As these two Facts are the most important of all that are contained in the Gospel because if they be denied all the Divine Worship given to Jesus Christ by the Apostles and a great number of Jews and Gentiles who received him for their Master in matters of Religion is absolutely unlawful so we ought solidly to prove that they are indisputably true Of which we shall be fully convinced by making some Observations upon the Relation which the Evangelists give us concerning them and we shall easily find therein all the Characters of Truth There is no necessity of observing that a Resurrection from the dead is a Fact which can hardly be believed and that tho the Jews did not all of them look upon it as an impossible thing yet there were Sadduces amongst them whose Doctrine was publickly taught It is certain that tho the Disciples had seen Jesus Christ raising three persons from the dead and amongst others Lazarus a little before his death yet we find that they were not thereby more disposed to believe that Christ was to rise from the dead In short tho the Evangelists tells us that Jesus Christ himself had foretold that he was to rise again the third day which was a thing so commonly known that the Priests to elude the Prophesie desired of Pilate that a Guard might be set on Jesus his Grave yet they expresly tell us that the Disciples none excepted were in such a Consternation at the death of Jesus Christ that they had entirely lost the hopes of seeing the accomplishment of that Prophesie Some pious Women who had accompanied him to the Cross and were desirous to shew some Marks of their Veneration after his death came indeed to his Sepulchre but with Spices to embalm his dead Body so far were they from expecting to find him risen from the dead Tho these Holy Women were convinced of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Apparition of an Angel by the Discourse of our Saviour himself and by the repetition of his order that they should go to Galilee where they should see him yet the Relation which they give of these things is accounted fabulous so that two only of all the Apostles had the curiosity to go to the Grave and inform themselves Here is a great unbelief amongst the Apostles which was to be cured This was a condition wholly inconsistent if we suppose them Impostors and that they intended to impose upon the World. A Second thing we may observe is That as the Incredulity of our Saviour's own Disciples was extraordinary so we cannot imagine any more efficacious means than were employed to overcome this their doubtfulness If one joyns the Relations of the Evangelists together one may find several degrees of evidence in those proofs which confirm the truth of the Resurrection of our Saviour The First is the manner of their being informed of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Angels at first declare his Resurrection to some Women Jesus Christ afterwards appears to Mary Magdalen all alone afterwards he appears only to two of his Disciples then to St. Peter afterwards he appears to seven of them at once then to all his Disciples except Thomas and soon after to the eleven Thomas being one of them After all this he appears to a greater number of his Followers till at last having been several times seen of them all he appears to them all assembled together and is taken up into Heaven in their sight It is evident that as they were informed of this truth one after another so they were more obliged to examine the Fact more attentively when Jesus Christ appeared to them The second degree has relation to those Marks and Characters by which they were assured
Palsey to the Dead Upon this all were converted and the Cross of Jesus Christ triumphs There are three sorts of People in the World Wise men Men of a middle sort and such as are of a lower capacity and several of these three Orders of Men made profession of the Christian Religion as well amongst the Jews as Heathens CHAP. XVII That the Christian Religion is founded on Proofs of Fact and that consequently nothing in the World so certain as the truth of it THis Reflexion ought to be made more than once because there is nothing so proper to establish the truth of the Christian Religion beyond all contest or that will confound Atheists prophane Persons and Jews who endeavour to oppose it more effectually I say then that the chief Articles on which the whole Christian Religion is grounded are confirm'd by proofs of Fact that is by Witnesses whose Evidence cannot be questioned without shaking all the certainty which we can have of any thing in this World and without rejecting all the means whereby we can assure our selves of the knowledge which we enjoy Many particular Events which were perfectly Divine happened at the Birth of John the Baptist the Forerunner of the Messiah they were known throughout all the Hill Country of Judea they happened to a Priest that is a publick Person and it was when he was employ'd in his publick Function in the Temple they are seconded by Miracles which were known to the whole Nation of the Jews they are follow'd by the publick Ministry of John the Baptist a man who censures all Judea who openly declares himself the Forerunner of the Messiah and who hath a great number of Disciples who are distinguish'd from those of our Saviour who were spread throughout all Judea and who continued after the death of our Saviour these were Disciples of a Man who besides all this doth not keep up any correspondence with our Saviour and who at last falls by the hand of Herod for censuring his Incest and Lusts JESUS CHRIST is born in Bethlehem under Augustus a Fact of which the Roman Commissioners were Witnesses and which the Records of that Empire preserv'd as long as they were in being That the Angels testified their Joy at his Birth is a Fact which was confirm'd by the Shepherds of Bethlehem long before Jesus Christ had any Disciples That a new Star conducted the Wise men of the East to Bethlehem was an illustrious Fact and of which Herod and the Priests and great men amongst the Jews were exactly informed and the Apostles would have found it a very difficult matter to impose this upon them if the thing had not been distinctly known That the Birth of Jesus Christ and the arrival of the Wise men affrighted Herod was a publick thing confirmed by the murther of the Infants of Bethlehem and reported to Augustus together with the death of Antipater whereof Macrobius a Heathen who was qualified for the knowledge of such a Story hath preserved the memory Neither can this Fact be called in question because Josephus makes no mention of it since so famous a Heathen attests it Augustus saith he having heard that amongst the Infants which Herod the King of the Jews had caused to be kill'd in Syria under two years of age he had kill'd his own Son said that it was better to be Herod 's Hog than his Son. That Jesus Christ was in Egypt and that he returned from thence is a Fact with which the Jews to this day reproach our Saviour as if he had learnt there the secret of working Miracles That he confounded the Doctors at twelve years of Age is a Fact of which the whole Nation of the Jews were informed because it happened at one of those three solemn Feasts which brought up the whole Nation to Jerusalem That Jesus Christ was baptized by S. John and that he received a most glorious testimony from him is a Fact of which all those Jews whom the Ministry of S. John had drawn to the River Jordan were Witnesses That Jesus Christ chose for his Apostles men without Learning and of the meanest of the People that he lived with them three years and an half preaching his Doctrine correcting the Traditions of the Jews working Miracles and foretelling things to come are Facts of which the whole People of the Jews were Witnesses and all the Romans that were in Judea were fully informed of them yea they were known to all the World. The Jews could not be ignorant of them who came up to Jerusalem from all parts of the World to celebrate ten solemn Feasts according to the Law during the time in which these things were acting and from thence carried the report of them into several parts of the World where they were dispers'd It is evident also that Jesus Christ laboured to perswade men that he was the promised Messiah this was the most considerable Fact in the World to the Jews and which had relation to the most important point of their Religion and touched them the nearest a Fact which happened at a time when all were in expectation of the Messiah as appears by the consultation of Herod when the Jews who were oppressed by the Romans did most earnestly sigh for his appearance a Fact confirm'd by publick Oracles and known to the whole Nation yea to the Heathen themselves for near Three hundred years That Jesus Christ notwithstanding all his Miracles was crucified at the pursuit of the Jews and by the order of Pontius Pilate is a Fact of which the whole People of the Jews were Witnesses because it happened at the Feast of the Passover that is at a Solemnity where the whole Nation of the Jews was assembled it is a Fact which no Heathens ever went about to deny they reproached the Christians with it who are so little asham'd of it that according to the orders of the same Jesus they celebrate the memorial of it in the Sacrament of the Eucharist That there was thick darkness over all the Land at the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ from the third hour till the sixth that is from nine of the clock till twelve according to our way of computing the time was a Fact of that nature that the whole Nation of the Jews might easily have convinc'd the Apostles of this imposture if it had not been as confessed a truth as the darkness in Egypt before the departure of the Israelites That Jesus Christ was raised the third day is a Fact attested by a great number of Witnesses the memorial whereof they celebrated every eighth day as long as they liv'd by a constant Law because they considered this Resurrection as the Seal of those Truths which Jesus Christ had taught them 'T is a Fact the truth whereof they have maintained before Magistrates before the People in all parts of the World. 'T is a Fact which they have publickly preached up notwithstanding all Prohibitions which have been made In short it is a
the fulfilling of the ancient Oracles appear therein with so much lustre The former of these shall be the Subject of this and the latter of the next Chapter As the pulling down of the Scaffolds which were only set up to build a Palace is an infallible sign that the Building is finished so one may say that the total defacing of the Model which God had formed in the Law that the Messiah at his coming might be certainly known is an unanswerable proof that he is already come It is worth our pains to make some Reflexions on this overthrow that we may conclude against the Jews that if the Messiah was yet to appear in the World it would be impossible to know him according to the Characters which God had given of him before his appearing In the first place therefore whereas God had confined the Jews to the Land of Canaan that they might be visible to all the Posterity of Noah of whom one part that is the Off-spring of Cham possessed Egypt and Africa the Posterity of Japhet Europe and the lesser Asia and those of Shem the rest of Asia the Jews at present are driven from that Country and far from being restored to it after Seventy years as they were by Cyrus they have been for ever banished thence by a Decree of the Emperour Adrian who forbad them so much as to turn their eyes towards Judea which was in the Year of Christ 135. The Heathen Celsus insults over them in these remarkable words They have no more saith he either Land or House remaining to them Secondly So far were they from having any Remainders of a Temporal Power Dispersâ— palabun◠〈◊〉 coeli 〈…〉 sui ext◠〈◊〉 vagantâ—â— per orbeâ— fine homine fine Deo Rege quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltem vestigio sâ—lutare comeditur Apolog cap. 21. that they were then wholly deprived of it See what Tertullian saith of them in the Year of our Saviour 204. They wander up and down the World like despersed Vagabonds banished from their Climate and Country without Man without God for their King and are not permitted as Strangers to set foot on their Native Soil We read a Decree of Honorus the Emperour which deprives them of the Right of nominating their Patriarchs or of paying them any Tribute which shews that their Authority whas wholly extinct Thirdly Their Temple at Jerusalem being destroyed in the Seventieth Year of our Lord as that in Egypt called Onion was the year following it could never be built again notwithstanding that Julian the Apostate out of his hatred to the Christians favoured that Enterprise in the year of our Saviour 363. There is a Letter still extant which Julian writ to the Jews to assure them of his Protection and to encourage them to that work but it was not so much his death which dashed that undertaking as a very memorable opposition from Heaven Marcelinus a Heathen gives us this account of it Lib. 23. Imperiique sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam Templum quod post multa interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano posteaque Tito aegre est expugnatum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis Negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi qui olim Britannias cur averat pro-Praefectis Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius juvaretque provinciae Rector metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties operatibus inaccessum hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente cessavit inceptum And being desirous to propagate the Memory of his Government by the Greatness of his Works he with vast expence designed to rebuild the splendid Temple which was formerly at Jerusalem which after many and bloody Battels being besieged by Vespasian and afterwards by Titus was at last taken with difficulty he committed the care of hastning the Business to Alypius of Antioch who had formerly been Pro-praefect of Britain As therefore this Alypius was vigorously prosecuting the Work being assisted by the Lieutenant of the Province terrible Balls of Fire frequently breaking forth near the foundations sometimes burnt the Workmen and made the place inaccessible Thus the design was laid aside The Element it self beating them back on purpose Julian easily apprehended that their Religion would perish and that it could never be restored without the Temple In the fourth place The observation of some of their Laws was absolutely forbidden as being contrary to those of the Roman Empire Thus they were not suffered to have many Wives Upon this overthrow many inconveniences followed which it will be convenient to represent at one view 1. They no longer know those persons who at the first Division of the Land by Joshua were Owners of the different parts of the Land of Canaan 2. Their Families and Tribes are confounded their Jubilee which could not be kept but in the Land of Canaan and which obliged them to study their Genealogies having ceased long since 3. The Family of David is at this day utterly unknown 4. They have no more lawful Priests to observe the Primogeniture to examine the Tokens of Virginity tho' it appears that according to God's design these Laws were given on purpose to ascertain the knowledge of the Messiah and to be like Inclosures about this important Truth in the compass of which it might be the better examined Certainly if the Jews were still in possession of Judea if they had their Kings of the Tribe of Judah if they had their Priests if they were assured of their Genealogies if they still enjoyed all the other necessary means for establishing the certainty of their Descents if their Temple had still subsisted in its former lustre and that the Sacrifices appointed by the Laws were still offered there The Jews might boldly answer that the Shiloh was not yet come that is they ought not to despair of seeing the Messiah born at Bethlehem of the Seed of David and entring the Temple of Jerusalem Then the Prophecy of Daniel which determins 490 years for the term in which the Messiah was to appear and be cut off by a violent Death and Punishment would seem to be eluded But the term of the Messiah's coming is past the Commonwealth of the Jews is overturned the Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed 1600 years since there are no more Genealogies among the Jews they do not know their Tribes much less their Families How then can it be supposed that God should be true in his Oracles as we must acknowledge him to be if they were never answered by the Event To speak the truth it is impossible to consider the Arguments we have alledged to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and especially those Demonstrations which the Apostles have given us without acknowledging these two things The first is That it was very easie at the time of Jesus Christ's appearing to examine whether he
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
acknowledged the beginning of Mankind seeing they held that men were first born in Egypt altho' they endeavoured to make good their pretensions by that sottish Assertion of the easie production of Frogs out of the mud of their Fen's as the same Diodorus tells us But there are three things which I must here take notice of because they do most certainly decide the question The first is That by that long Reign which they ascribe to their Gods and Hero's there is nothing else meant but the motion of the Stars and nothing like a real Kingdom That prodigious number of years does not relate to the duration of the World as if it had subsisted so long but to the return of the Sun and the Moon and the five other Planets and of the Heavens to the same point from whence according to the Opinion of the Egyptians they first began their Course In a word it is only the great Astronomical Year about which as Aristole tells us the Ancients have had so many different Opinions and the Egyptians have so little agreed as the History of their Antiquities related by Diodorus plainly shews One thing evidently-proves what I here alledge which is that they have reckon'd up but fifteen Dynasties to Jupiter the last of the Heroes that is to say but fifteen persons to Jupiter who is Ham the third Son of Noah This comes very near Moses's Calculation who reckoneth Noah as the tenth man from Adam for it is very likely that those ignorant people after a long process of time have joyned Cain and Abel with Sem and Japhet and Misraim the Son of Ham which makes up the sixteen Dynasties except we chuse to say that the Egyptians thought fit to joyn the seven Generations of Cain to those before the Flood which comes very near to the same Account All this according to the phantastick Notions of those ancient people who defied the first men and gave them afterwards the Names of some Stars to impress upon their Posterity a greater veneration for them and in particular according to the groundless imagination of the Egyptians who were resolved to maintain that the first men were formed in their own Country And in short we find that those Dynasties for the most part if we except those of Vulcan and of the Sun have been but of a very short continuance and even shorter than that which Moses ascribes to the lives of the ancient Patriarchs which we have already set down The second thing that is observable in the confutation of this false Antiquity if one would take what the Egyptians have related of their Dynasties before Menes and Jupiter the last of their Heroes in a Historical sense is that there are still sufficient marks of the newness of the World as Moses hath described it in the remaining Fragments of the true Egyptian History First We see that Egypt hath constantly carried the Name of Ham amongst the Gentiles as well as in the Holy Scriptures It was called so in Plutarch's time The Egyptian Thebes was called Hammon No Ezech. 30. which is the Name of the Egyptian Jupiter as the Heathen Authors Herodotus and Plutarch testifie Now it is visible that all this was for no other reason but because Egypt had fallen to the share of Ham Noah's third Son who settled there and whose Posterity did afterwards people Africa and gave it their several Names as Moses particularly observes Secondly One see 's that Egypt hath more particularly born the Name of Mizraim which it bares still and which was given to it in respect of one of its parts because of Mizraim the Son of Ham. And it would be ridiculous for one to imagine that those Characters given by Moses had been allowed of in the World except he had had good grounds to describe their original in the same manner as he hath already done Thirdly One see 's that all the Dynasties of Egypt that is to say all the several Branches of the Kings who have reign'd over the several parts of Egypt did all acknowledge Menes for their Common Founder This Menes being the same with that Mizraim of Moses as I shall shew hereafter It is visible that the Egyptians who in all likelyhood have ascribed to Menes what they might more justly have ascribed to Jupiter Hammon because they would distinguish their Kings from Hero's have exactly followed the Idea's of Moses in representing one as the common Father of all the several Branches of Kings who divided Egypt amongst themselves Fourthly One see 's that the Invention of the Arts most necessary to Human Life have been attributed either to Menes the first King of Egypt or to his Successors It was this Menes or one of his Successors who invented Laws Letters Astronomy Musick Wrestling Physick Hieroglyphicks Anatomy and Architecture All this plainly shews that the Egyptians had been mistaken if they had ascribed to the World as great an Antiquity as one would think they did by the vast extent of time which they ascribed to the Dynasties of their Gods and Hero's How could the World have continued above Thirty thousand years without those Arts which are so necessary for the convenience of Human Life How could men not have found out during such a prodigious succession of Ages those Arts the invention whereof the Egyptians do ascribe to their first King or to one or two of his Successors during a very short interval of time Fifthly One see 's in the History of Egypt the same decay in Religion that Moses speaks of Herod Lib. II. cap 4. Lucian de Dea Syr. The Ancients unanimously agree that the Egyptians had at first neither Statues nor Images in their Temples which perfectly agrees with what Moses tells us of the times after the Flood But they tell us also That the Egyptians afterwards made some Statues and consecrated in their Temples the Figures of great numbers of Animals Some are of opinion and that probably enough that this came from the belief which they entertained afterwards of the Transmigration of Souls into other Animals an opinion which they thought did necessarily flow from the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. Sixthly However one sees in the sixth place That as Moses represents Nimrod one of Ham's Posterity as the Founder of an Empire in Assyria where he formed the manners of the Inhabitants according to the Platform of the Egyptian Principles so the Ancients have observed That the famous Assyrian Belus came out of Egypt And it is natural to conceive Pausan in Messen p. 261. that there he planted Idolatry which began even before Abraham's time If it be true as the Jews observe that the Tower of Babel was a Temple wherein an Idol was consecrated to worship him At least that conjecture hath a very solid ground if we consider the Idolatry of the Babylonians towards this Bel whom they worshipped as a God according to the Pagans Custom of Adoring the Founders of Kingdoms after their
decease as Gods. The third thing we are here to take notice of contains a Demonstration of the Truth of the Book Genesis if that which is recorded in it concerning the time of the Flood be compared with the Dynasties of the Egyptian Kings I will not say that those Egyptians who had any knowledge of the Flood did exactly mark out the time of it as Moses doth But I believe I may be able to shew out of their common opinion's somthing very near equivalent They are all agreed that Menes was the first King of Egypt and lived about Fourteen hundred years before the famous Sesostris as Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus do both relate it Now who should this King of Egypt be whom some call Sesonchosis unless he is the same with Shishak whom the Scripture speaks of in the History of Rehoboam 1 Kings XIV 26. even the same famous Conquerer who took Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's Reign If one calculates the time from the Flood to the fifth year of Rehoboam he will find that this Menes the first King of Egypt is no other than the Ham of Moses and on the other side that there is very little difference in respect of that interval of time betwixt the Chronology of the Egyptians and that of the Scriptures Thus the Egyptian Account confirms Moses's Narrative and the Authority of the Holy Writers who are very particular in stating the times of every thing whereas the Egyptians taking all in great could never arrive at that exactness This Observation is of very great use to shew the certainty of Moses's Chronology according to the Hebrew Text For that of the Septuagint reckons up above two thousand years from the Flood to Sesostris whereas the Egyptians did reckon up but a little above fourteen hundred years from Menes the first King of Egypt to Sesostris There is yet less difficulty to answer the Objection which may be made against the Book of Genesis from the pretended Antiquity of the Chaldeans The same Diodorus Siculus who saith Diodor. l. 2. Sect. 30 31. that the Egyptians proposed so great an Antiquity of the World tells us also that the Chaldeans believed it eternal and that they boasted in Alexander's time that they had learnt Astronomy by Tradition from their Ancestors who had all successively made it their study for four hundred seventy two thousand years together But there is nothing vainer than these Pretences I shall not stand to shew here the folly of their Opinions about the Eternity of the World If Aristotle seems to have authoriz'd it yet it is enough to confute that Opinion to consider that it is repugnant to the common notion of all the Nations of the World So that Democritus himself who pretended that the World was made by chance yet durst not oppose the common and general Opinion of the Worlds being new tho' he had the boldness to reject the Author of it and that action by which it was Created Neither do I intend to be prolix here in confuting the supposition of the Chaldeans about their Ancestors following the Study of Astrology for 472000 year successively The impossibility of the thing in it self is apparent by the certainty of the Flood which was acknowledged by all those Nations of whom we have any Antiquities tho' never so little considerable in Pagan Authors But I shall make two Observations whereof one shews the folly of the Chaldean Hypothesis and the other doth invincibly establish the Authority of the Book of Genesis if it be compared with what we know for certain and in the Chaldean History The First is That the most Ancient Authors are of Opinion that the Chaldeans are descended from the Egyptians who lookt upon them as a Colony of their own Diodorus Siculus saith that the Egyptians maintained that they had sent out several Colonies into several parts of the World that Belus the Son of Neptune and Lybia had conducted one into Babylon and that having fixed it near Euphrates he establish'd some Priests among them according to the Egyptian Custom who were free from all publick Charges and Offices whom the Babylonians do call Chaldeans and who according to the Example of the Egyptian Priests Ap. Joseph Antiq. l. 1. c. 5. Pausan Messen P. 261. Philosophers and Astrologers did apply themselves to the observation of the Stars Hestiaeus and Pausanias say the same with Diodorus Now one needs only examine here what the Egyptians do say about the invention of Astrology which they ascribe to Menes that is to say to Ham or to Mizraim who lived after the Flood thereby to discover the Foolish Vanity of the Chaldeans It is plain that the Chaldeans grew so vain by the growth of so considerable an Empire as theirs was that they would be no longer beholding to the Egyptian Astrologers whom all other Nations have lookt upon as the first Inventors of that Science to the inventing and perfecting of which all Men know that the Egyptian Climate where the Skie is always free from Clouds did very much contribute And it is very considerable that both the Chaldeans and the Egyptians began their Year with the same Month according to Censorinus's Observation c. XXI de die Nat. I know very well the Ancient Heathens were mistaken when they pretended that the Chaldeans went out of Egypt as a Plantation There is no doubt a kind of Illusion in this their Opinion but yet the ground and Origine of it is uncontroulable because the Chaldeans are descended from Cush Ham's Eldest Son as Moses tells Gen. X. Therefore tho' we should grant that the Chaldeans were the first Inventors of Astrology yet this would be always certain that it was found out only since Ham's time whom the Egyptians did look upon as the last of their Heroes or as the first of their Kings The other Observation which ought to be well minded here is taken out of the true and genuine Chaldean Antiquities One may prove by the Astronomical Demonstrations of the Chaldeans which the People of Israel was altogether unacquainted with that Moses followed a Calculation which was then generally known Aristotle the first Grecian that ever taught the Eternity of the World contrary to Moses's History is the Man who furnishes us with it He took care to send over into Greece the Astronomical Observations of the Chaldeans by which it appeared Simplic in l. 2. de coelo that Babylon was taken by Alexander about 1903 years after its Foundation Now that Calculation agrees exactly with that of Moses Gen. XI who gives us the Description of the Tower of Babel and explains the Original of the Name of that City which was built some Ages after by the Confusion of Tongues which then happened And truly it would be very admirable that the Heavens in their Motions should have entered into a Confederacy with Moses to justifie a Chronology invented by him in sport without keeping to any Rules but writing