's afterwards that the Prophets explain in a more particular manner all these Idea's which David had already proposed Isaiah speaks of his Birth by a Virgin of his Spiritual Gifts of his Miracles of his Sufferings of his Resurrection of his Calling of all Nations in to his Worship and of his Casting off the Jews Those who come after point out the place particularly and the Town where the Messiah was to be born they describe his Covenant and the Calling of the Gentiles to the Service of the God of Israel In short they describe both the Character of the Forerunner of the Messiah and the Empire under which he was to appear and the very Year in which he was to dye as Daniel particularly doth I cannot undertake to relate all the Oracles which are contained in the Books of the Old Testament they are so very numerous But I hope at least to mark the more principal and the most illustrious ones and to explain them in such a manner that all shall be obliged to acknowledge I. That God designed to give infallible proofs to his Church of his design in sending the Messiah into the World and to preserve the continual remembrance of him as of a Person who was promised to give all Comfort to his Church and whose coming should bring Salvation to all Mankind II. That the care which he took in specifying all the Circumstances of his coming into the World shew that he designed to prevent the Scandal which the abject Life and Death of a Messiah might produce and the false Judgments which Men might form of the Works of a Divine Wisdom when they only judge of them by the outside III. That he designed to give an infallible proof that this sending of the Messiah was the Work of his Wisdom and Fidelity which at last accomplished a thing the Design whereof had been proposed to Mankind immediately after the Fall. CHAP. IX Of those Oracles concerning the Messiah which are to be found in the Book of Genesis I Begin with those Oracles which are contained in the Book of Genesis since it is convenient to touch them all over again in few words The first Oracle is comprized in these Terms Gen. III. 15. I will put Enmity between Thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel This Oracle has considerable advantages tho' it is expressed in figurative Terms God uttered it in the beginning of the World after he had given Sentence against Adam and the Woman and the Serpent in a very sensible manner even under a Human shape if we may dare to affirm it He uttered it before the Head of all Mankind which ought to make it considerable to all his Posterity He expresses it by an Allusion to the nature of the Temptation and to the form of the Serpent which the Tempter had took upon him He preserves thereby the memory of the Temptation by inspiring all Mankind with an invincible Hatred against all Serpents in general tho' the Tempter had took the shape but of one particular kind for an Instrument to accomplish his Design In short this Oracle clearly shews I. That it should be particularly the Seed of the Woman Adam not being touched at II. That the Seed of the Woman that is to say the Messiah should destroy the power of the Serpent expressed by the Head that is to say the power of the Devil III. That this Seed should however receive a considerable wound from the Devil tho' it should only touch his Heel the least considerable part of the Messiah IV. That all the Blessings which God should give to Mankind after the Fall should be grounded upon the sending of this Seed into the World This is more clearly expressed by God's telling Abraham Gen. XXII 18. That in thy Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed That this Oracle Gen. III. has relation to the Messiah is plain I. Because it is the Source and Abridgment of the whole Revelation II. Because all the ancient Jews in effect understood it so III. Because the Apostles in following the Idea's of the Synagogue plainly referred them to the Messiah Targum in h. l. by the Allusions which they make to them John XII Romans XVI II Cor. XI 1 John III. The second Oracle which relates to the Messiah is contained in these Terms when God spoke to Abraham In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed This Oracle is very illustrious I. By the person of Abraham whom God made the Depositary of it and who made himself ready to Sacricrifice his own Son. II. By the frequent Repetitions which God made to this Patriarch using in effect all those ways which he afterwards follow'd in his Revelations to the Patriarchs for fifty years together from the Year 2083. to the Year 2133. of the World. III. Because it was accompanied by the Circumcision so that tho' it foretold that the Advantages should be in common to all Nations yet it limited the Messiah to be born of Abraham's Seed It also intimates very clearly I. That the Blessings which it promises should be in common to all Nations II. That this Blessing should be quite of another nature from Temporal ones as the encrease for instance and the power of Abraham's Posterity which had been promised to him before S. Paul's Reflexion Gal. III. 8. That God spake of Seed in the singular Number is very remarkable and so much the more because the Jews make a like Observation upon a parallel place in the Old Testament As God repeated this Promise when he spoke to Isaac in the Year 2200 and to Jacob in the Year 2245. Gen. XXVIII 14. And thy Seed shall be as the Dust of the Earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the West and to the East and to the North and to the South and in thee and in thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed so one ought to repeat again the same Reflexions This ought only to be added That God restrained the honour of bringing forth the Messiah to Jacob the Son of Isaac that the Edomites might not come in to challenge the right as I have very particularly explained in my Reflexions upon Genesis We come now to the Oracle which Jacob gave in the Year 2315. It is one of the clearest Predictions in the whole Bible and it is expressed in these Terms Judah thou art he whom thy Brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thine Enemies thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee Judah is a Lions whelp from the Prey my Son thou art gone up he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouze him up The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be Binding his Fole unto the Vine
shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts One ought to observe two very considerable things in this Prophecy The first That the Messiah was to come suddainly The second That Malachy expresly points to us that the appearing of the Messiah was to be during the second Temple the words of the Prophecy distinctly expressing it And sure it is that all who gave any credit to these Oracles did understand them so For first Both Jews and Gentiles looked for the Messiah during the second Temple We find a passage express to the purpose in Tacitus and it was on this ground that Josephus gave the Title of Messiah to Vespasian 2. They expected him at the end of the Seventy Weeks which was the Third Year after the Death of Jesus Christ This was the occasion of their being deluded by so many false Messiah's about the time of our Saviour and a little after 3. They never despair'd of his coming taking the Promise of the Messiah's coming to be conditional when as indeed it was absolute until they began to believe that the term set down by God himself was expired 4. The reason of their cursing those that compute the times set down so distinctly and precisely by Daniel was because they found themselves disappointed in his Calculation finding that the time which Daniel had pointed at for the coming of the Messiah seem'd to be already expired 5. 'T is but of late that they have try'd to evade it by maintaining that the Temple will be built a third time and that then the Messiah shall appear but this evasion is unanswerably refuted 1. Because Daniel assigns a certain term which is expired 1600 Years since 2. Because he expresly tells us That the desolation of the Temple was to be for ever as will appear in the following Chapters And 3dly Because Haggai in effect calls the Temple of which he speaks The second or third House by which expression he so distinctly points out the second Temple to us that it would be ridiculous to suppose it meant of a third Temple to be built 1700 Years after the ruin of that of which he prophecied CHAP. XIV That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David HItherto we have seen that the Messiah was to be born of the Posterity of Abraham by Isaac of that of Isaac by Jacob and of that of Jacob by Juda. This hath been sufficiently made out already I have also shew'd from the Oracle in the I Sam. Chap. VII That he was to be born of the Posterity of David and we find the same very particularly and fully set down in the LXXXIX Psalm The following Prophets have exprest themselves to the same purpose Isaiah XI vers 1 2 3. and the Prophet Jeremy hath pursued the same Idea's Chap. XXIII vers 5 6. and Chap. XXXIII vers 15 16 17. Neither do the Prophets only distinguish the Messiah by his being born of a Virgin but also by determining that Virgin to the House of David Neither need I repeat here what I have already observ'd That this is a Truth the Grounds whereof God had laid down in his first promise viz. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head where he makes mention of the Seed of the Woman only without naming that of the Man the word of Seed or Posterity very evidently designing a Man to be born of the Woman which is acknowledg'd by the Jews in another Prophecy and the same which the Apostle St. Paul takes notice of as a Maxim generally owned by the Doctors of the Synagogue Galat. III. It is also evident that the word Woman plainly denotes the Sex of which this person was immediately to be born It was obvious to judge That something miraculous was to attend the Birth of the Messiah We see Isaac born of a barren Mother past the Age of Child-bearing We find also something very singular at the Birth of Sampson and Samuel and 't is well known that the promise of the Messiah was something far greater than the Birth of these now mentioned how illustrious soever they might be and that therefore probably his Birth was to be attended by a greater Miracle But because this was a thing wholly new we ought to observe in what manner God did particularly foretel it The Prophecy of Isaiah expresseth it thus Chap. VII vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz saying Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God ask it either in the depth or in the height above But Ahaz said I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said hear ye now O house of David is it a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary my God also Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the Evil and choose the Good for before the Child shall know to refuse the Evil and choose the Good the Land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings The Lord shall bring upon thee upon thy People and upon thy Father's House days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Juda even the King of Assyria Where we may observe 1. That the Promise here is made to a wicked King but of the Family of David to whom the Prophet particularly addresses himself 2. That this Prophecy was given at a juncture of time very capable of awakening their attention to it at a time when the State of the Jews was reduced to the greatest extremity and the House of David in particular in a very great consternation 3. The Prophecy was utter'd by a very illustrious Prophet who was of the Royal Family 4. It was sealed and confirmed with the Prediction of the Birth of a Child which came to pass accordingly 5. It is set forth as a very extraordinary sign instead of that which the wicked King refused to ask when Isaiah offer'd it him in the Name of God. I am not ignorant that the Modern Jews deny that this Character of being born of a Virgin belongs to the Messiah but it is an easie matter to confute them For first Would it not have been ridiculous for the Apostles to go about to apply this Oracle to their Messiah if it had not been a thing universally own'd by the Jews that this was the meaning of Isaiah's Prophecy Is it not evident that this Character so difficult to gain belief would rather perplex than strengthen their proofs And yet certain it is that St. Matthew has done so Chap. I. verse 23. as likewise St. Luke Chap. I. verse 31. Justin Martyr observ'd That the Notion of this
to shew that all their Objections do in effect serve for nothing else but to make a more lively impression of this Argument taken from Matter of fact which I have undertaken to set forth in a full and clear light CHAP. V. That Moses is the Author of the Book of Genesis I Shall in the Sequel of this Discourse make it appear that we cannot with reason contest the Authority of a Tradition which hath those Characters which we find in the Relations contain'd in the Book of Genesis The only thing that can be question'd in this matter is Whether Moses the great Captain of the Israelites and Founder of their Common-wealth be the Author of it This therefore is the thing which we ought solidly to evince Tho it seems that we might dispense with this trouble forasmuch as it is easie to shew that the greatest part of the most considerable Events which are recorded in the Book of Genesis were generally believed by others as well as the Jews At least it must be granted that these Matters have given occasion to most of their Fables viz. To that of the Chaos to that of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis for the forming of Man to that of Prometheus to that of Jupiter's continued Laughter for the seven first days of his Life which they look'd upon as the Original of the Solemnity of the seventh day known amongst the Heathens to that of the Golden Age and of the Deluge to the Name of Deucalion to the Fable of Janus to that of the Division of the World amongst Saturn's Sons to the Name of Jupiter Hammon to the Fable of the Titans and of the changing of Women into Statues of Stone to the Stories of the Incest the Gods committed with their Daughters to that of the firing of the World by Phaeton and to a great number of other Fictions which cannot be otherwise explained as the learned have shewn at large Whosoever was the Author of Genesis whether Moses or another sure it is that he was exactly inform'd of the Matters he relates and that he lived soon after Joseph First then I say that it appears he was fully inform'd of those matters of which he treats he sets down the Names of the Heads or Fathers of the several Nations of the World and does it so that what he saith doth very well agree with what the most Ancient Historians have left us concerning that matter He speaks of these Nations of the Countreys they possest and their Kings as of things he was perfectly inform'd of He very carefully distinguishes the Original of these several Nations and the same being at that time commonly known no Historian could represent them otherwise than they were without exposing himself to the laughter of all by endeavouring to mix Fables with Relations of this nature In the Second place I say that this Book was writ by a Man that lived soon after Joseph He speaks very exactly of what Joseph did in his place of chief Minister to Pharaoh in particular he sets down the first Original of the fifth Penny which the Egyptians so many Ages after continued to pay to their Kings being a thing which no Egyptian could be ignorant of And Lastly It is visible that this Book serves for an Introduction to Exodus and the following Books which have no other Foundation but the truth of those things which are related to us there and do throughout allude and refer to the several passages of it and that all Matters of Religion and Worship contained in them are founded upon the truth of the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah which we find in Genesis and upon the truth of all those other succeeding Matters of Fact until the coming of the Children of Israel into Egypt when Joseph was chief Favourite and Minister of Pharaoh But we have yet a more easie way to make out that Moses whose History is contain'd in Exodus and the following Books is the Author of Genesis For first it cannot be deny'd that the Heathens themselves have acknowledged Moses for the most antient Law-giver for this we have the Testimonies of Plato Polemus Artapanus Pythagoras Theopompus and Diodorus Siculus who places Moses in the front of Six of the most antient Law givers thus Moses Sauchnis Sesonchosis Bachoris Amasis and Darius Father of Xerxes But further if when the Lacedemonians tell us of the Laws of their Law-giver Lycurgus and the Athenians of those of their Solon we think our selves oblig'd to believe them because naturally every Nation is suppos'd to be a faithful Depositary of the Laws of him who first founded their Government yea if we do not in the least doubt of these Relations though there be no People at this day who live according to the Laws of Lycurgus or Solon can any valuable reason be imagined for us to doubt whether Moses wrote the Book of Genesis when an entire Nation have constantly averr'd that he did so I say when all the Jews who continue at this day do in all places where they are scatter'd throughout the World equally and with one consent maintain that they received this Book from him together with the Laws and Worship therein contain'd Nay when it is notorious that many of them have suffer'd Martyrdom in confirmation of this Truth I omit now to mention the consent of the Christians who tho' they be not descended of Abraham and do not observe the greatest part of the Laws of Moses yet do not cease highly to defend this truth throughout the World the Gospel in their sense being nothing else but the literal accomplishment of that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Head of the Serpent I shall shew in the Sequel of these my Reflexions with how much Justice they assent to this Truth but at present I tie my self only to the Testimonies of the Jews and that which confirms the Authority thereof CHAP. VI. That the Book of Genesis could not be forged under the Name of Moses I Should never have done should I go about to set down all the Observations which might be made incomparing this Book of Genesis with other Histories commonly known to the World and whose faithfulness is unquestionable Without entring upon this comparison we may boldly assert that there is no History in the World whose Author we can be so sure of as that Moses was the Pen-man of Genesis But I go further and assert that the Jews could not be mistaken in the Testimonies they give to this Truth which I prove by these two Remarks The First is That their Observations both Civil and Religious are at this day founded upon no other Principles than those which we find in Genesis As for instance they compute the beginning of their day from the preceding Evening they keep the Sabbath they observe Circumcision they abstain from eating the Muscle which is in the hollow of the Thigh c. The Observation of which Laws is indeed
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
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
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
because those of every Tribe who continued still in the Land might visibly keep them up And we here of necessity ought to observe in the first place what we may read in the XXXII Chapter of Jeremiah Jerem. XXXII concerning the sale of a Field which Jeremiah bought And Secondly what we read Nehem. the Vth where he is troubled to see the alienation of their Fields which was a consequence of their misery And Thirdly The manner how that people were restored to their Estates according to the Fundamental Laws of their State. Another very effectual means to fix that people to the Land of Canaan and to preserve their Families there certainly without confusion was the Law of Lineal Retreats which God instituted for this very purpose For in short when this Rule was once laid down that upon the failure of an Heir in any Family that the next Kinsman was the Heir at Law it appears plainly that every one was obliged for his own interest to inquire with diligence into the Genealogical Lives of his own Tribe that he might instruct himself in the state of the several Families of his kindred and of the several degrees of Proximity of Blood whereby they might be related because the exact knowledge of these Lists and of those several degrees of Kindred were absolutely necessary to make use of this Right of Lineal Retreats There were two other Laws which contributed also to this one whereof regulated all that was to be done when there were none but Daughters left in a Family A famous instance of which we have in the History of the Daughters of Zelophehad set down twice by Moses on purpose no doubt that it should be the more taken notice of as I intend to shew particularly in another place The other Law regulated all that the next Kinsman of any one that died Childless was obliged to do in respect of the Relict and of the Estate of the Deceased if he intended to redeem it One finds in the Book of Ruth an illustrious Example of the Execution of this Law which may be found Deuter. XXV Now after all this let any one judge whether there could be any stronger Ties than these to oblige the people of Israel to continue in the Land of Canaan and whither the division which God made of it betwixt their several Tribes and Families was not an infallible means to distinguish them certainly one from another CHAP. XX. That the Laws which Moses made concerning the state of Virginity did principally relate also to the Messiah which holds also as to several other Laws HItherto I have shew'd the care which God took to distinguish his people of Israel from all other Nations of the World and I afterwards shew'd what care he took to keep the distinctions which he first set up amongst the Tribes And I afterwards explained those Laws which he gave to oblige every Family in each Tribe to remain distinct And I afterwards made it manifest that the division of the Land of Canaan was a very proper means to execute this design of God. All which shews that God intended to make it easie for every Man to distinguish the Messiah when it should be once known that he was to be born out of the Family of Jesse as it was afterwards foretold by several express Oracles But as there ought to be something supernatural in the Birth of the Messiah who was to be born of a Virgin so we ought to see what care God took in his Laws that the Birth of the Messiah even in this very Article might not be a Fact too difficult to be acknowledged and established In the First Promise which God made to Man in these words That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head being joyned with Isaiah's Prophesie Behold a Virgin shall Conceive c. Is VII It is visible that for the accomplishment of these Oracles one ought to suppose that the Messiah must be born of a Virgin as the Christians profess to believe Why should God otherwise have taken care to insinuate from the very beginning of the World that the Messiah was to be born of the seed of a Woman without mentioning any thing of a Man if he had not supposed that he should be born without the Operation of a Man And why should Isaiah propose the Conceiving of a Virgin as an Effect wholly Supernatural In short God did therefore by his Laws not only secure the State of Virginity that this thing might not be ambiguous when it should be accomplished but as we shall see here he has by these Laws made it extreamly Illustrious First Besides that God would have the punishment of Death inflicted upon them that were at any time found guilty of sins against nature Exod. XXII Deut. XXII Levit. XVIII Levit. XX. Deut. XXIII 17. as also upon them that should be proved to have had any incestuous Commerce with those that were nearly related to them and to whom either the nearness of Blood or of Affinity gave them a more free and familiar access He moreover straitly commanded that all Prostitutes should be put to death without any mercy Secondly He is not only contented to forbid Fornication and Adultery in general by condemning to death Exod. XXII Levit. XX. Deut. XXII those that expresly should be convicted of it and by awarding the same Sentence against him that should happen to corrupt a Contracted Virgin and the Virgin her self But he also hinders Men by two ways from falling into sins of impurity he permitted on the one hand a Divorce where the Wife did not please her Husband and on the other hand he allowed of Polygamy This Toleration made that Virgins on the one side not remaining too long Unmarried were not apt to be easily corrupted and on the other side Men were not very forward to debauch those Women whom they did not intend to Marry or to keep when Married for he that was compelled to Marry a Virgin whom he had seduced Deut. XXII was expresly forbidden to put her away for ever after It is natural to observe the design of those Laws amongst the people of the Jews In short Massec Avoth c. 5. the desire of Issue made them Marry very young most of the Men were Married at eighteen years of Age. Therefore all Virgins thought it a shame to be unmarried therefore God makes them speak in the third of Isaiah in that manner when seven Women would marry one Man without asking any thing for Diet or Cloaths provided only that he would take away that reproach of living without having Children 'T was this desire of Posterity which made the Women look upon barrenness as a Curse Again this vehement desire of Children made Eunuchs to be regarded Lucian de Evnuch p. 537. Lucian de Dea Syriâ p. 1069. as Men particularly abhorred of God not only by the Jews but also by the Heathens themselves Altho afterwards
Events of a nearer Date did not answer to the greatness or magnificence of the Predictions Several Ages had passed from the time in which the Prophet had foretold that the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem and yet we see that the Idea of it continued very fresh amongst the Jews in our Saviour Jesus Christ's time as is plain from the Answer which they gave to Herod There are several other Examples might be given which shew that the Jews in our Saviour's time applyed the very same Oracles to the Messiah which we do and without question if it had not been so the Apostles would first have proved that these Oracles had relation to the Messiah which they took for granted as a thing constantly acknowledged whereas now they only endeavoured in the Gospel to justifie that Jesus Christ was the Messiah by shewing one by one that all the Characters which the Jews attributed to the Messiah were to be found in him Besides it is manifest from our Saviour's explication of the CX Psalm that tho' the Jews could not conceive the Solution of that Difficulty which naturally appears in those words The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand yet afterwards they immediately applied that Oracle to the Messiah without seeking after any other Subjects to which they might apply it as the Jews endeavour to do at this day But after these Remarks upon the mixture of those Oracles which relate to the Messiah with others which seem to be of a more foreign Nature we ought to come to some general Rules by which we are to apply the ancient Oracles to the Messiah CHAP. VIII General Rules for the Vnderstanding of ancient Oracles and for the Application of them to the Messiah I. AS it appears very natural to conceive That the most ancient Revelations ought to be expressed in the most general terms because they were furthest from the time of their accomplishment and so one ought to find in them a more imperfect delineation of the Design of God yet it is visible however that they ought to contribute very much to the understanding of those later Oracles because if these later ones do really contain a more particular explication of his Design in sending the Messiah into the World yet they ought always to follow those Idea's which God at first made use of to make his Design known in the World. II. It is natural to grant That when God had told the Jews by Jacob and Balaam that the coming of the Messiah was not suddainly to happen if he intended to bring them to a certain knowledge of the Messiah after a long Revolution of years by those Ceremonial and Judicial Laws which he established that he ought to breed them up in an expectation of the Messiah by lively Idea's and by Oracles which should particularly explain the manner and circumstances of his Appearance III. It is no less natural to acknowledge That when God promised some illustrious Person or some great advantage to the Jewish Nation he did it only to entertain the People with an expectation of the Messiah and upon that account that he might and ought to joyn the Promise of the Messiah with it as the principal Object which the Jews ought always to have in view until it should actually happen In short there are two sorts of Oracles in the Old Testament The first are such as it is impossible to apply to any other besides the Messiah as for instance Gen. III. 15. Deut. XVIII 15. Deut. XXXIV 10. The place of his Birth The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken Whereupon he that added the Relation of Moses's Death takes notice that after that there arose up no Prophet in Israel like unto Moses The second are such as seem to agree in part to some body else besides the Messiah tho' we may find there also such particular Characters that it is impossible to apply them perfectly and in their utmost extent according to the whole force of their expression to any other Subject besides the Messiah And so Balaam seems to have spoken of David Numb XXIII as Julian the Apostate maintains and of his Victories over the Moabites in the same place where he promises the Messiah and where he speaks of the manner of his subduing the Children of Seth And so David in the second Psalm speaks of the oppositions which he met with in his advancement to the Throne but in Terms too Great and too Emphatical to be apply'd to him alone Those Principles which I have now established that God promised the Messiah in general terms but without any intention of sending him into the World until several Ages had been passed gave rise to these two sorts of Oracles On the one side there was a necessity of explaining this Promise distinctly from time to time And on the other side there was a necessity of accommodating himself to the Desires of the Jews by joyning these Idea's with every thing that was great and considerable in those Events and in those Persons to whom the Prophetick Spirit intended to add a lustre by its Predictions The Jews are agreed at present as they were also in our Saviour's time in the application of the most part of those Oracles in the Old Testament which the Christians apply to the Messiah and if they dispute some of them which they explain in a sense perfectly forced yet at least they cannot dispute these following Truths I. That the most part of those Oracles which we apply to the Messiah were apply'd in the same manner by the Jewish Doctors in our Saviours time As the CX Psalm for instance which has relation to the Nature and Glory of the Messiah the II Psalm which has respect to the Conspiracy of the Princes and the People against the Messiah that place in Micah which fixes the Birth of the Messiah to Bethlehem c. II. That as they thought themselves obliged to make two Messiahs because of the apparent Contradictions which are to be found in those various Events which are apply'd to the Messiah in those Predictions some perfectly glorious and others every way contemptible so there is no injustice done in explaining those Oracles which at first seem only to have relation to one single person of the Messiah and of some other person III. That since they themselves believe That their Ancestors might lawfully pass from one sense to another in their Explications of those Oracles so that they were permitted to apply an Oracle to some other Subject which did not seem to agree exactly enough to that Subject which their Ancestors had first in view as the particular Subject concerning which the Oracle treated So it is not only just but necessary too to pass from one Subject to another as the Apostles have actually done
a new Society which was to be regulated not by the Laws given on Mount Sinai but by those which were to be published from Mount Zion CHAP. XXIII That the Gentiles in the time of the Messiah were to be called to the Knowledge of the true God THis Article being one of the most important and most visible Characters of the Times of the Messiah and also the great effect of his Ministry we see that God had a particular care to divulge the same by a multitude of Prophetical Representations of it For not only had he declared that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head Gen. III. 15. that is the Works of the Devil And we can't deny but that the Errors and Idolatries of the Gentiles and their Vices which arise from thence were the Fruits of Sin which this unhappy Spirit brought into the World. It was not only foretold that God would perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Sem Gen. IX 27. by uniting the Posterities of both those Patriarchs in one and the same Religion Not only had he signified that the Messiah should reign over the Children of Seth that is over all the Posterity of Noah the Off-spring of Cham not excepted Not only had he foretold that all Nations Kindreds Gen. XII Ch. XVIII XXII and Families should be blessed in the Messiah But God went much further afterwards for as the Light of the Revelation encreased so the same was declared more distinctly For 1. The Patriarch Jacob tells that the Messiah should be the desire and expectation of all Nations Gen. XLIX verse 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be 2. Moses threatens the Jews that if they despised the Law of God Strangers that is Gentiles should be preferred before them Deut. XXVIII verse 43. The Stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high and thou shalt come down very low The same Prophet menaceth them from God that he would stir up their jealousie by calling a foolish people to his Service and Worship Deut. XXXII verse 21. They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to anger with their vanities and I will move them to jealousie with those which are not a people I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation Nothing can be said more express and particular than these last words of that great Law giver and Founder of the State of the Jews 3. David sets forth the Empire of the Messiah as that which was to reach over all the Earth Psalm II. verse 8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession And Psalm XXII vers 27 28 29 30. All the ends of the World shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the Kingdoms of the Nations shall worship before thee For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour amongst the Nations All they that be fat upon the Earth shall eat and worship all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him A Seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation Psalm LXXII vers 8 9 10 11. He shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth They that dwell in the Wilderness shall bow before him and his Enemies shall lick the dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer Gifts Yea all Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him Which Prophecy is the more remarkable because the Promise made to Abraham is there repeated in so many words viz. That all Nations of the Earth should be blessed in the Messiah Psalm-CII verse 15. So the Heathen shall fear the Name of the Lord and all the Kings of the Earth thy Glory And Psalm CX verse 2. The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thine Enemies One ought to transcribe almost the whole Book of Psalms to take notice of all the passages which are to this purpose The Prophet Hosea declares in general terms That it was not an impossible thing for those who had been God's people to cease to be so or for those that were not his people to become his people Chap. I. verse 10. Yet the number of the Children of Israel shall be as the Sand of the Sea which cannot be measur'd or numbred and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there it shall be said unto them ye are the Sons of the living God. Isaiah mentions this so often and in such an emphatical manner that it seems to be the main thing he drives at in all his Writings Chap. II. verse 2 3. he speaks thus And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And Chap. XI verse 10. In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensign of the people to it shall the Gentiles seek And Chap. XVIII verse 7. he makes a manifest allusion to the expectation of all Nations In Chap. XLII vers 1 2 3 4. he repeats the same thing Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I will put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets A bruised Reed shall he not break and the smoking Flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth Judgment unto the Earth and the Isles shall wait for his Law. Chap. LV. vers 4 5. Behold I have given thee for a witness of the people a Leader and a Commander to the people Behold thou shalt call a Nation that thou knowest not and Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee But one see 's these Truths in their greatest lustre in the LX Chap. of his Prophecies vers 3 4 5. The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising Lift up thine eyes round about and see all they gather themselves together they come to thee thy sons shall