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
of the Tree in the midst of the Garden when he left the rest to their free use Not only for that he had given the Rainbow as a new sign of his Covenant with Mankind nor only because they had practis'd those Acts of Religion to which they had been Educated by their Parents and Ancestors before the Deluge But because the same may be inferred from that action which drew upon Cham his Father's Curse What is the meaning of Cham's deriding the Nakedness of his Father and of his Father's taking occasion from thence to Curse him so solemnly and that in the person of Canaan his First-born If it were only a piece of irreverence in the Father what reason had Noah to Curse the Son on that account Or was it as some have suppos'd that Canaan had given occasion first to his Fathers Irreverence by acquainting him with the disorder in which he had found his Grandfather Noah Without doubt there is something more than ordinary in this History Sure it is that the account given us of Cham represents him as a prophane person and deeply tinctured with the Maxims of Cain and his Posterity and seems to hint to us that he supposing the Promise of the Messiah either frustrated by the Death of Abel or altogether false he made his Father's Nakedness the subject of his Mockery who seem'd to be incapable of begetting any more Children and therefore incapable of contributing to the accomplishment of the Promise of the Messiah in hopes of which he accounted himself so happy that he had escaped the Deluge What means it also that Noah pronounceth so terrible a Curse against the Posterity of Cham by Canaan who were so far from giving an accomplishment to that Promise that they were in a manner wholly exterminated by Joshuah when God put the Posterity of Shem by Abraham in possession of the Land of Canaan It is very natural for us to conceive that Noah consider'd his Son Cham's deriding of him not only as contrary to the respect which was due to him as his Father but also as the effect of a horrid Impiety which attack'd God himself as making that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head a subject of Raillery This Reflexion upon the action of Cham and the Curse of Noah consequent to it does appear very natural if we consider that Noah could not but reflect upon the Name his Father had given him and the special favour shewed to him in being alone preserved of all the posterity of Adam and consequently the onely person in the World by whom this Promise was to be fulfill'd Herod lib. 1. Justin Hist lib. 1. Valer Max lib. 1. At least it can't be deny'd but that this Reflexion is as natural as it would have been just in reference to the Fact of cruel Astyages if when he had as he thought sufficiently cluded his Dream which presaged the glory of the Son of Mandane his Daughter he had found her indecently uncovered and had taken thence occasion deridingly to reflect with his other Children upon a Dream which seem'd to promise to the Son of Mandane the Throne of all Asia and threaten the ruine of his own 'T is a thing worth our noting that in the time of Ezra the Samaritans had so fresh a memory of Cham's sin Ezra IV. 14 which they supposed to be generally preserv'd amongst other Nations that in their Letter to King Artaxerxes against the Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem they declare they would not discover the King's Nakedness implying that they could not consent to the injury he might receive from the Jews in suffering Jerusalem to be rebuilt It is not needful to repeat those other Arguments which prove that the Children of Noah had reason to be and were actually as much convinced of the Creation and first Promise as their Ancestors were for seeing that these Arguments were the very same which their Fathers had to perswade themselves of the truth of these things we had better proceed to the Enquiry whether their Posterity that follow'd them had the same Perswasion they had which may easily be proved in making some Reflexions on the following Ages and upon those who descended from Noah and his Children CHAP. XIV That the Posterity of Noah 's Children were perswaded of the truth of the Creation and first Promise IF Noah saw Methusalem who had seen Adam and his Posterity before the Deluge Abraham saw Shem and his Children who were unquestionable Witnesses of what had passed before and since the Flood Noah dying 350 years after the Deluge it appears that his Death happened in the year of the World 2006 so that Noah died only two years before the Birth of Abraham he being born in the year 2008. Abraham lived 150 years with Shem who died in the year 2158 and 88 years with Arphaxad the Son of Shem who died in the year 2096 he lived 118 years with Selah Son of Arphaxad who died in the year 2126 and 179 years with Heber the Son of Selah who died in the year 2187. Isaac being born in the year 2108 might see Shem Selah and Heber who for some hundreds of years had conversed with Noah and his other Children I say we may suppose him to have conversed with those Patriarchs or at least with those who being their Contemporaries discoursed of Noah as a Man but of yesterday and from his Relation and his Children's were informed of the Creation of Adam his Fall the Promise of the Holy Seed the Death of Abel the Miracle of Paradise the Preaching of Noah the Deluge c. And who in obedience to the Law of God observed by their Ancestors did meet together fifty two times every year to Celebrate the Memorial of these Wonders and to teach them to their Posterity We may take notice of three things here which conduce much to the preservation of a distinct knowledge of these Matters The First is De Dea Syra p. 1060. That the Ark it self might be seen by all the World as a certain Monument of the Deluge and the saving of Noah and his Sons This Monument continued very many Ages after Abraham and was a means to preserve the Memory of the Deluge amongst the Pagans as Lucian to name no more acquaints us The Second is That it was as easie for any of Abraham's Contemporaries as for Abraham to deduce his Genealogy from Noah and his Children And this was the more easie because the first Division of the World amongst the three Sons of Noah was followed by another Partition amongst their Posterity in the year of the World 1758 a Division which gave them a just Title of possession to that part of the Earth where they were seated in defence of which it seems probable that the War of Chedorlaomer mention'd the XIII of Genesis was undertaken the Family of Cham having invaded the Land of Canaan which was part of the Inheritance of Shem as we shall
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
make appear elsewhere The Third and last thing is That it was not easie to impose a forgery upon those times because their Lives were yet of a great extent tho' inferiour to those who lived before the Flood To these we may add this further Consideration that as the Jealousie which was between the Family of Seth and of Cain was a great means to preserve inviolably the important Truths of the Creation and first Promise a like Jealousie now being risen amongst the Sons of Noah Cham being Accursed of his own Father in the person of Canaan and the same being propagated to their Posterity it could not but effectually contribute to rescue these important Truths from Oblivion and particularly the Promise of the Messiah conceived in these words The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's head In a word Judg. VIII 23. IX 8. Talm. Hier. fol. 11 col 4 gloss in h. l. Avodazara c. III. fol. 43. col 1. De Dea Syr. p. 1069. we may not only in reference to the matter in hand take notice of what Lucian relates concerning the Religion of the Assyrians which did so lively preserve the memory of the Deluge and of what was done to Noah by his Son Cham when he scoffed at the Nakedness of his Father but also that the God of the Sichemites was called Baalberith whose Symbol was the figure of the Privy parts of a Man which seems a manifest allusion to their descent from the Family of Cham the Sichemites being some of the Posterity of Canaan It is also very natural to conceive First of all that it was from those old Pretensions that the Canaanites took occasion to prophane the most â—oly things with such shameful Idea's Secondly That it was in detestation of these Idea's that God ordered the killing of the Priests of Baal And Thirdly That it was for the same reason that the Jews were commanded to destroy them utterly Fourthly This was also the reason why the Israelites were so often desirous of imitating their Crimes In the Fifth place As we see that upon the like account the Moabites and Ammonites took Chemosh for their God and that the Women of those Nations were very zealous to propagate their Religion of which we have an Instance in Jezabel the Wife of Ahab so God was also willing to inspire his People with Horrour and Detestation for their Religion or any Alliance with them Lastly As there does appear a very great Conformity and resemblance between the first Birth of the World from the first Chaos and its being born again after the Deluge between Adam the first Man and Noah the second and between the Jealousies sprung up in both their Families upon the account of the Promise of the Messiah So this conformity could not but very naturally contribute to preserve the Memory of those Ancient Events which Noah and his Children had delivered to their Posterity with all the care which is taken to preserve the Tradition of the fundamentals of Religion CHAP. XV. That we find the Family of Abraham and his Posterity till Jacob fully perswaded of those Truths IT is no less easie to conceive how the distinct knowledge of these Truths was in process of time handed down to Jacob and his Posterity This I shall briefly explain I need not take notice here that the Religion practis'd by Abraham and his Posterity suppose these Matters as constantly owned and known It cannot be deny'd but that Lot having followed Terah and Abraham when God called the latter out of Chaldea might thence suppose that this Heavenly Call did separate and distinguish him from the rest of the Posterity of Shem and gave him a right as well as Abraham to pretend to the priviledge of fulfilling the Promise of the Messiah or at least to see it fulfill'd in his Posterity This we may infer from the Incest of Lot's Daughters their Crime which in another view appears very monstrous doth clearly prove that they were strongly possess'd with this hope which their Father had raised in them I know that some Interpreters suppose Lyra in Genes XIX that they were moved to commit this Incest from a pious intention of preserving Mankind as imagining to themselves that as the Deluge had drowned all Men besides Noah and his Family so the Flames which destroy'd Sodom had consumed all Mankind which they were the more ready to believe because they might have heard from their Father that the World one day was to perish by Fire Beres Rab. part 23. But indeed it may be consider'd as proceeding from a very different Motive the Jewish Doctors plainly averring that this was done by them in hopes of bringing forth the promised Redeemer And if we look upon this action of theirs in this view with reference to the Promise of the Messiah which was the grand object of the hopes of all those that fear'd God it is natural to conceive that considering their Father as one whom God had peculiarly chosen from amongst the Posterity of Shem to execute the Promise of the Messiah and seeing that their Mother was changed into a Statue of Salt they conceived themselves in some sort authoriz'd to surprize their Father in that manner and the rather because they conceived on the one hand that none of the Canaanites upon whom God had now begun to pour forth so hideous a Vengeance as a beginning of the Execution of the Curse against Cham having any part in this chiefest of Blessings could ever Marry them after that God had so manifestly separated and call'd forth their Father from amongst them and on the other hand supposing that God would dispence with the irregularity of this action by reason of their being reduced to an extremity There be three Circumstances which greatly confirm this my remark upon the Motive of their Incest The First is That they are represented to us as those who had behaved themselves very chastly in the midst of the Impurities of Sodom and that besides we find they design'd no such thing till after the Death of their Mother The other is That we see them contriving the thing together and that in a Matter which naturally is apt to separate the greatest Friends where the Motive proceeds from a Spirit of uncleanness Nor indeed do we find that they continued in this Incest The Third is That they were so far from being asham'd of an action in it self so criminal or concealing the knowledge of it from Posterity that they gave those Names to the Children born of this their Incest that might perpetuate and divulge the memory of this their action the one calling her Son Moab as much as to say Born of my Father and the other hers Benammi a Name of a like signification with the former This Observation is very necessary because these two Sons became the heads of two great People the Moabites and the Ammonites whose Kingdoms lasted above 1300 years and lived on
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
that which was good but when they were overtaken with sin And this alone methinks is sufficient to evidence the deep impression the belief of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah had made on their Hearts Sacrifices are Acts of Religious Worship and this Custom therefore of Sacrificing which we find amongst the Children of Adam was an evident mark of their Piety and this their Religious Inclination was without doubt the effect of their being perswaded of the truth of the Creation and first Promise The sin of Cain in killing his Brother shews the same perswasion The Divine Oracle The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's head being express'd in very general terms was applicable either to the first Son of Eve or to his Posterity or else to some other who might be called her Seed because born from one of her Posterity It is natural for us to pass from one meaning to another when we are in search for the true sense of such general propositions as these Now it appears from the Name which Eve gave to Cain that she took the words of this Oracle in the first sense that is she looked upon Cain to be the Son that had been promis'd her as appears from her own words Gen. IV. 1. I have saith she gotten a Man from the Lord. And it cannot be doubted that being in this Opinion her self she was not wanting to cherish and flatter this hope in her Son that he was to fulfil the first Prophecy or Divine Oracle Neither is it any whit stranger to suppose this than to imagine that Mandane did instil into her Son Cyrus aspiring thoughts for the Empire of Asia from the Dream of his Father Astyages which she look'd upon as a Divine foreboding When we read therefore that Cain slew his Brother seeing him preferr'd of God by a very distinguishing mark in the Act of their Sacrificing through the jealousie and hatred he had conceived against him May we not very naturally conclude from thence that as he had never doubted of the truth of the Promise so he could not endure to see another come to dispute his Pretensions of being the fulfiller of that first Oracle A like Reflexion we may make upon the Name which Eve gave to Seth and indeed the Jews in their antient Commentaries on Genesis lead us to it She called his Name Seth Rabboth fol. 27. col 2. par 23. alibi for God said she has appointed me another Seed R. Tanchuma following the Notion of R. Samuel saith That she had regard to that Seed which was to proceed from another or a strange place and what Seed is that saith he 'T is the King the Messiah I pretend not to maintain the Solidity of the Reflexions they make upon the words Another Seed They seem rather to have pleas'd themselves in sporting with a word which admits of both significations other and strange than to give us an exact and distinct notion of the importance of that word Thus much at least we cannot deny but that Eve considering her Son Seth as him whom God had given her instead of Abel she could do no less than acquaint him with her hopes and indeed this information was that which not only disposed Seth and his Posterity for Piety and the Spirit of Religion but did also in a particular manner incline them to separate from the Race of Cain as from those whom God had bereft of the right of fulfilling the first Oracle to which naturally they might pretend It appears from the Example of Enoch that the Children of Adam lived in the exercise of Religious Worship And we know that the said Worship supposeth the Creation of the World and Promise of the Messiah and that all the Acts of Religion are employ'd either in Commemorating these Truths every seventh day or in unfolding the Wonders therein contain'd or in testifying our thankfulness to God for the same We may add here that the instance of Lamech's Polygamy does in some sort make out to us the force of this perswasion Cain being rejected by God and distinguish'd by an exemplary Punishment for killing his Brother Abel it is evident that no man could any longer interpret that Promise in the first sense by applying it to Adam's first Son or his Posterity This being so plain as none could be ignorant of it it was therefore natural to seek for another meaning of that Promise and to place the fulfilling of it in a Posterity at a greater distance or more numerous And indeed so it happen'd for the Exemplary punishment which God inflicted on Cain during the seven first Generations according to those words That he should be punished sevenfold made his Posterity apprehend that God for the sin he had committed had justly debarr'd him of the right he might otherwise have had of fulfilling the Promise But yet at the same time they conceived also that this Right which belong'd more properly to the eldest or first-born than to the younger Brothers was now to return to his Posterity after the seventh Generation And in this view it seems that Lamech affected Polygamy as if by multiplying his Posterity he had hoped to see that Promise fulfill'd by some one or other of them It cannot be deny'd but that he imitated the Crimes of Cain and therefore may well be suppos'd to have been leven'd also with his false Maxims But how greatly soever he was corrupted yet forasmuch as he had been educated in the hopes of his Father and in converse with the Family of Seth who many Ages before had formed Publick Assemblies for Religious Exercises we can't well imagine but that he must have had the same Pretensions It appears therefore that the Polygamy of Lamech may justly be esteemed an effect of his Misapprehensions concerning the sence of the first Promise those means which he conceived most likely he made choise of to give him a share in the fulfilling of that Promise which pointed at a Son to be Born. So that the irregularity he was guilty of in Marrying two Wives at the same time may pass for a proof of his being perswaded not only of the Promise That the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's Head but also of the Creation of the World. It seems that according to these Principles we may give a very plausible account as well of those Violences which were exercised in the old World and of their strong Inclinations to sensuality as of those Alliances between the Family of Seth and that of Cain which did not happen till seven Generations after Cain that is to say at a time when the Family of Cain pretended to be restored again to his antient right from which he had been suspended during seven Generations The Family of Seth by these Alliances with the Family of Cain seeming desirous to secure their hopes and pretensions It will not be thought strange that I look upon the Jealousie of Cain towards
not only this reason may be alledged that he sold his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage to which Birth-right the Priesthood was always annexed but we must further take notice That he being educated by his Father in the hopes of this Blessing he seem'd to laugh at it in all his Actions for first he Married the Daughter of Heth by which he sufficiently intimated that he neither minded the Blessing nor the Curse of God for Canaan and his Posterity had in a very solemn manner been Cursed by Noah with a particular regard to the Promise of the Messiah as I hinted before In the Second place he Married a Daughter of Ishmael as if he intended to renew the Pretensions of Ishmael against Isaac his Father In the Third place we see that when he repented of this prophane humor he was pierced with extream sorrow for the Crime he had committed because he could not obtain pardon for it This Jealousie and difference between Esau and Jacob is the more considerable because Esau was the head of a great Nation viz. the Edomites a People Circumcised as well as the Jews Jealous of the Posterity of Jacob and living upon the Borders of Judea as well as the Moabites Ammonites and Ishmaelites but yet put by their hopes by that Oracle The greater People shall serve the lesser Were it needful to afford a greater Light to these Reflexions I might here add a very natural one from the Oath which Abraham made his Servant Eliezer take when he sent him to Padan Aram to procure a Wife for Isaac We may easily judge that he was not willing he should marry a Canaanite as Lot had done and that for fear of forfeiting his hopes and weakening the just Pretensions of Isaac to the right of accomplishing the Promise from whence the Canaanites were excluded by the Prophecy deliver'd by Noah But that which made Abraham to oblige his Servant to swear putting his Hand under his Thigh that is St. Jerom. touching that part which was the Subject of Circumcision and which bore the mark of the Covenant deserves a further Consideration We find first of all that the Patriarch Jacob observes the same Custom when he made his Son Joseph to take an Oath that he should not bury him in Egypt Secondly We find that this Custom of beholding that Member which received Circumcision as a part Consecrated to Religion did by little and little take place in the Land of Canaan and gave occasion to the Worship of Baal Peor so famous among the Moabites and Ammonites a very surprising and strange Worship indeed and yet Celebrated with Festivals and Hymns and was the rise of that Worship which the Heathens afterwards gave to Priapus What I have here observed hath been in part acknowledged by the Jews where they speak of the Worship of Baal Peor and the reason which made God prescribe to the Priest the use of Linnen Drawers that their Nakedness might not appear during the Functions of their Ministry After all that I have now said concerning those Jealousies which Moses relates with so much care it seems that the Solidity of these Observations cannot be disputed Especially if we consider that it is these Jealousies and these Pretensions to the Promise of the Messiah that gave rise to the Custom of calling God the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob for tho' he might as well have been called the God of Adam the God of Enoch and the God of Noah forasmuch as all these Patriarchs were also Depositaries of the Promise of the Messiah Yet it is probable that God was called so because of the particular promises which had been made first to Abraham secondly to Isaac and lastly to Jacob and in opposition to the pretensions of some people near Neighbours to the Israelites and jealous of their hopes The God of Abraham and not of Lot as the Ammonites and Moabites Lot's Posterity pretended the God of Isaac and not of Ishmael as the Ishmaelites pretended the God of Jacob and not of Esau as the Edomites who were the Offspring of Esau pretended CHAP. XVI That this very Perswasion seems to have been kept up amongst the Posterity of Jacob until Moses 's time IT is yet easier to shew that the distinct knowledge of the Creation and of the Promise of the Messiah did continue from Jacob to Joseph and so on to Moses The following Arguments will clearly demonstrate it First of all Genes XXVIII we see that Jacob being possess'd of the Blessing and so Depositary of the Promise obey'd Isaac's Command who forbad him to take a Wife but out of his own Family and that accordingly he went to Padan-Aram to seek and get a Wife amongst those of his Kindred as Abraham had formerly sent for one of the same Countrey for his Son Isaac We see in the Second place Genes XXIX this Patriarch imitated Lamech in some respect by his falling into Polygamy For who can doubt but he who was conscious to himself of having surpriz'd as he thought the Blessing design'd for his Elder Brother did act in this occasion by the same principle which Lamech had formerly acted by Thus we see that Barren Rachel follows Sarah's Example and adopts the Son of that Maid Servant whom she gave to Jacob wherein Leah follow'd her and gave one of her Maids to her Husband All this was evidently grounded upon the same Principle which afterwards bred those Dissensions betwixt Jacob's Wives about the getting Children by him For it is very natural to believe that Jacob did not conceal from his Wives his advantages and hopes It appears that Jacob's Children which were born for the most part in Laban's House in Chaldea where they had seen Abraham's Native Countrey and those of their own Kindred from among whom God had commanded Abraham to depart and to go into Canaan did entertain very lively Notions of those important Truths especially after they were strengthened and confirm'd by the Cares and Instructions of old Isaac to whom they were brought by Jacob and after they began to practice in Canaan the Worship and Religion of their own Family and to compare it with the Doctrine they had learnt in Chaldea Those several Voyages which God obliged the Patriarchs to undertake as that of Abraham out of Ur of Chaldea that of Jacob out of Canaan we ought to make the same judgement of Moses's forty years sojourning amongst the Midianites did evidently oblige them to examine more carefully what was the Tradition received in the several Countries into which they travelled and so to imprint the more deeply into their minds the belief of those important Truths which were the Foundation of their Religion and the sole object of the Meditations of the faithful One sees in short the effects of these Impressions 1. By that Custom which seems to have begun in Jacob's time and which aftrrwards got the authority of a Law I mean the custom
of taking to Wife ones own Brother's Widow to raise him up Seed 2. The Sin of Onan is represented so odious only because by it he acted against the belief of the Promise 3. We see the same thing in the action of Thamar Juda's Daughter-in-Law for having been deceived by Judah she in exchange surpriz'd him into an Incest the Commission whereof according to the Observation of a Greek Commentator she sought to perpetuate Theoph. in Mat. c. I. only because she had a vehement desire to get Children out of a Family which she lookt upon as solely intrusted with the Promise of the Messiah and out of which he was accordingly to be born It is necessary to make that Observation because we ought always to remember that she was formerly a Canaanite and that consequently she left off and renounc'd the Impiety and Idolatry of her Kindred when she embrac'd the Religion and hopes of Jacob's Family Therefore we see that particular mention is made of her in our Saviour's Genealogy and of Ruth who likewise gave over all the pretensions of her own People and so forsook her Religion to enter into the Tribe of Judah as well as of Bathshebah who was Wife to a Hittite whereupon an ancient Father hath very well observed S. Hieronym in Tradit Heb ad 1. Reg. 3. according to the Jewish Opinion that Shimei's Revilings against David when he went out of Jerusalem during Absalom's Rebellion reflected upon his Birth out of the Posterity of Ruth the Moabitess as the Jews even to this very day do understand it We may make the same Reflexion upon the Consideration of that implacable jealousie which Joseph's Dreams raised in the Minds of his Brethren 1. We may reasonably conceive that he being the First-born of Rachel and the Wife which Jacob his Father had first made Love to he had been brought up with hopes of the Birth-right as well as Isaac who was but the second Son of Abraham But 2. He might besides very well suppose that the Crimes of his Brethren born of Leah whom in all likelihood he lookt upon as the sole Legitimate Heirs the others being born of Maid-Servants did rank them with Esau whom God had rejected That outragious Fury which Joseph's Brethren shew'd against him because they lookt upon him as preferred of God by those Dreams to those that were born before him is so like that of Cain of Lot of Ismael and of Esau that it had in all probability the same Cause and Original Do we not see afterwards another effect of the same jealousie in the affectation that Jacob and his Family shew'd in the Land of Egypt when they refused to live promiscuously with the Egyptians which were the Posterity of Ham and begg'd of them a Countrey where they might live by themselves as we see on the contrary the Egyptians shewing an extream aversion against Jacob and his Family which was of Sem's Posterity Certainly it cannot be denied that as this separation was an effect of the Antipathy of those Nations so it might also be in some respect the consequence of Jacob and his Childrens pretensions upon the Promise of the Messiah the execution and accomplishment whereof they stood up for as belonging to themselves To all this we may add that the Persecution of the Egyptians against the Israelites obliged them to make particular Reflexions upon the Promise which Jacob on his Death-Bed made to them from God That Persecution was chiefly intended against the Male Children Pharaoh commanding the extirpation of them because he was afraid of the Jews growing too strong for him and of their joyning with his Enemies and perhaps also because the Jews entertaining a certain expectation of the Messiah's coming and so boasting and glorying of it upon all occasions the Egyptians design'd to frustrate and cut off their hope thus by hindering the accomplishment of the Promise However there was no real difficulty to keep up the distinct remembrance of those important Facts Jacob died in the year of the World 2315. Joseph died in the year of the World 2428. There are then but 58 years between Josephs Death and Moses's Birth Moses might have seen not only Amram his own â—â—ther who had seen Levi but also Kohath his Grandfather who had seen Jacob. And it is for that reason Gen. L. 23. that Moses seems to have observ'd that Joseph saw his own Children's Children that is to say the third Generation One cannot imagine any Circumstances more conducible than these to the preserving the distinct knowledge of those important Truths which were the Foundations of Religion CHAP. XVII That the Tradition which gives us an Account of the Perswasion which the Ancients had of the truth of the Creation of the World and of the Promise of the Messiah before Moses cannot be suspected I Have shew'd I think evidently enough that both the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah with all the other things depending upon them might have been known certainly by Adam and his Children and so afterwards be handed down to all his Posterity till Moses's time From Adam to Noah there is but one Man viz. Methusalah who joyned hands with both From Noah to Abraham there is but one Man viz. Sem who saw them both for a considerable time From Abraham to Joseph there is but one Man viz. Isaac Joseph's Grandfather From Joseph to Moses there is 〈◊〉 one Man viz. Amram who might have seen Joseph long enough Those Characters of time which Moses hath so carefully observed do plainly evidence that the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah might be distinctly known For if we suppose a continued succession of Adam's Offspring it was not easie to impose upon Men in that matter and that because every one of those who were Contemporaries with Moses being able to run up his own Pedigree as far as the Flood nay even up to Adam by as compendious a way as Moses could do his own they would have treated those with the utmost degree of scorn who should have attempted to forge any thing contrary to what was publickly and universally known and so it was equally impossible that the truth of things so important as the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah were should be unknown Besides I think I have plainly shew'd that many actions recorded by Moses tho' very strange in themselves and which the Atheists look upon as absurd and ridiculous have proceeded from no other principle than from the strong perswasion of the truth of those Facts according as in a long Series of Ages every one of the Ancients following his own humour and prejudices framed to himself a particular Idea differing from the true sense of the Promise of the Messiah It cannot reasonably be objected that all this is only grounded upon the uncertain authority of Tradition For tho' I grant that Tradition as to Facts of another nature be dubious and uncertain and not to be too much
relyed upon in matter of Belief yet this hath such very particular Characters as keep up its own authority First it supposeth a small number of persons from Adam to Moses who put it in Writing Secondly It supposeth that those who have preserved this Tradition lived very long and for the most part for many Centuries of Years Thirdly It relates to such Facts as every one is desirous to be rightly inform'd of and which he is particularly concern'd to examine as relating to his own private Interest because they are the Principles of his Actions and the rules of his Conduct both in Civil and Religious Matters Fourthly it supposeth such real Marks as served to keep it up such as the pains of Child-bearing the Paradise before the Flood the duration of the Ark after the Flood Fifthly It supposeth a Publick Service and Worship whose Celebration is repeated fifty two times a year that the remembrance of it should be preserved by all Posterity Sixthly It was preserved entire by passing from Father to Son and we know that Fathers or Mothers do not naturally engage in a Design of deceiving their Children Seventhly It supposeth strange Controversies betwixt Brothers the Elder having almost all been excluded and the younger as Abel Seth Abraham Isaac Jacob Juda chosen to accomplish the Promise of the Messiah which bred great Jealousies and tended much to preserve those Ideas of the truth Lastly It supposeth great Contests betwixt whole Nations who all strove one with another for the advantage of being the Heirs of the Promise and Depositaries of those Verities as the Moabites for instance the Ammonites the Ishmaelites the Edomites and the Jews each of them pretending to a preference before the others by God himself and so making it a matter of Credit and Honour to themselves All these Characters contribute to the distinct preservation of the knowledge of any truth CHAP. XVIII An Explication of Moses 's way of Writing where it is shew'd that in writing the Book of Genesis he mentioned nothing but what was then generally known THis is a truth which at first I took for granted and afterwards proved it the reasons whereof I explained particularly as I went on But it ought to be fixed as solidly as the Matter will bear because it often happens that those who do not foresee the Consequences which may be drawn from the contrary Opinion do contradict it before they are aware of it and that too under pretence of exalting the Divine Authority of the Book of Genesis which gives occasion to the Atheists to look upon it no otherwise than as learned Men do on the greatest part of Legends The Prophetical Spirit acts in two manners The First is by way of Revelation in respect of those things the Prophet hath no knowledge of Thus the Evangelist St. John hath foretold those Events which we read of in the Revelations For those Events being all hidden under the shadows of Futurity it was impossible for him to have foretold them unless the Spirit of God had immediately revealed them to him The Second is by way of direction in respect of those things with which the Prophet was himself acquainted either because he was an Eye-Witness of them himself or because he learnt them from those who were so Now this direction of the Spirit consists in the guiding the Prophets so as that he may write of his Subject just as it was either spoken or done Thus the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. John drew up an Abridgment of those Sermons of our Saviour which they had heard and of those Miracles which they had seen And thus St. Luke and St. Mark have written of those things which they had heard from those that were Eye-Witnesses of them as St. Luke particularly tells us Now I affirm that when Moses wrote the Book of Genesis he had only the second sort of Prophetical Influences and not the first Although in our Disputes against Atheists to convince them by Arguments from Matters of Fact we may consider him only as an Historian who might have written his Book without any other particular direction and might have preserved in it the memory of those ancient Events which were then generally known Now what side soever Divines may take in their Disputes against the Atheists I may easily establish my Assertion First because it is not necessary to suppose an entire Revelation where Tradition being distinct enough is sufficient to preserve a clear Remembrance of all those Facts Now it cannot be denied but that the Tradition concerning the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah was of this nature especially if we consider the little Extent of it and the immediate Succession of Moses's Ancestors down to himself Secondly If Abraham's and Jacob's Travels through so many places were as I have observed already very useful to give them a further view of the common belief of all the several Nations descended from Noah and of their agreement in this Tradition it were unjust to suppose that Moses's forty years sojourning in the Country of Midian and that too when he was forty years old and consequently had that ripeness of Age and Judgment as is fittest for such Observations did not serve to acquaint him with the several Passages he records of Abraham as well as of the several Divisions of his Posterity Thirdly We may observe in the Book of Genesis a way of writing very different from that which we see in the greatest part of Exodus and in the following Books for whereas God speaks to him in those latter Books which he always did vivâ voce And the Jews have wisely observed that herein consisted Moses's advantage above the other Prophets to whom God was used to speak only in Dreams and Visions He uses commonly those words And the Lord spake unto me He marks out the place where God spoke to him as well as the time and occasion of God's speaking to him which he do's not in his Book of Genesis Fourthly The Book of Genesis is not divided into several Revelations as all Prophecies are wherein the several returns of the Holy Spirit of God are all exactly set down which was absolutely necessary not only to ease the Reader who might be tired if he was to carry a long Series of Predictions in his mind at once as if it were only one single Vision or Revelation but also to condescend to the nature of the minds of men For according to the Rules of probability we cannot suppose them to be filled with so many differing Idea's at the same time but a great confusion must necessarily follow But supposing that these Observations should be thought insufficient yet those that follow will seem capable of convincing the minds of all There are in the Book of Genesis certain Characters of its being written in that way which I spake of First one needs only just look into that Book and he will see that the ancientest Facts which are those of
teach no more every man his Neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their Sin no more Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his name If those Ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the Seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever Nothing can be desired more particular than this Oracle 1. It tells us that God would make a new Covenant with his People which supposes an abolishing of the former 2. That this Covenant was not to be like the foregoing 3. That the old Covenant had been made vain and had been broken by those with whom it was made 4. That this Covenant was to be made after those days that is in the time of the Messiah 5. That this new Covenant was not to be engraven in Tables of Stone but in their Hearts 6. That in the same Covenant full Remission of Sin is promised The same thing is also expressed Chap. XXXII vers 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me And Chap. L. vers 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten To this purpose also Ezechiel who himself was a Priest speaks of a Religious Worship extended to all Nations and of a new Covenant which God was to make with them Chap. XVI vers 60 61 62. Nevertheless I will remember my Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth and I will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy Sisters thy elder and thy younger and I will give them unto thee for Daughters but not by thy Covenant And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Here is first a Covenant differing from the former 2. A Covenant wherein other Nations were to be included clearly intimated by the elder and younger Sisters of the Synagogue 3. A Covenant whereby the Gentiles were to enjoy the same Priviledges with the Jews and be incorporated with them Malachy follows the steps of these Prophets when he calls the Messiah the Angel of the Covenant Chap. III. vers 1. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Messenger Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts I know very well that the Jews apply these words to Elias whose Ministry as they pretend was to consist in leading the Jews to Repentance But if we read the Text with attention we shall find two Messengers mentioned the first who prepare the way of the Messiah and the other is the Messiah himself who is called the Angel of the Covenant as being sent of God to make a new Covenant with men CHAP. XIX That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah THis is a very peculiar Mark which will guide us surely to the knowledge of the Messiah We find the Jews at this day very ready to follow every one that usurps that August Title and to take him for the only true Messiah that was promised them which is no other than what was infallibly to come to pass Neither will this much surprize us if we consider 1. That this People on divers occasions have given very strange instances of a prodigious blindness We see them reject Moses notwithstanding God had authoriz'd his Call by great and avowed Miracles Yea we find them rejecting David also whom God had so signally appointed to be their King and the Father of the Messiah of whom we hear these Prophecies 2. That God upbraids them with this blindness by his Prophets as a sin to which they were peculiarly inclin'd as appears from Psalm LXIX vers 23 24 25 26 27 and 28. Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their Loins continually to shake Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their Tents for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come into thy Righteousness Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living and not be written with the Righteous One see 's the same thing in Isaiah Chap. VI. vers 9 10 11 and 12. where the Spirit of God foretells that the Jews should shut their eyes against the most evident and convincing proofs imaginable Go saith the Lord to the Prophet and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long And he answered untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate and the Lord have removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the Land. Nothing can be imagined more particular than this Oracle concerning the Jews resisting the Prophet which God expresses in terms very usual amongst the Prophets as if Isaiah who was only the foreteller of their being hardned should himself be the cause of it The Prophet Hoseah describes the very same Complaints of God against the Jews for their blindness and ignorance for which he denounces their destruction Hos IV. vers 1 2 3 4 5 and 6. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord has a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the Beasts of the Field and with the Fowls of Heaven yea the Fishes of the Sea also shall be taken away Yet let no man strive or reprove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Therefore shalt thou fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy thy Mother
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