Countrey his People and the Temple in the manner which is recorded in the Book of Kings How could a sufficient number of Copies of it be dispersed over all his Kingdom in an instant to inform the People about the Ceremonials of the Passover which soon after was so Solemnly celebrated by them Or how is it possible that the Levites the Priests and People could have been all of the suddain instructed in all the points to be observed in the performing of that Holy Solemnity It is apparent that the Sacred Historian did for no other reason take notice of this Circumstance that the Book found was of Moses own hand Writing but to make it appear that their devout respect for this Book was not wholly stifled as having been by them carefully hid from the fury of their Idolatrous Kings and laid up in some secret place of the Temple where now they had so happily found it again Over and above what hath been said already we are to observe that how great soever the wickedness of the Kings of Juda and Israel was as well as that of their Subjects yet the same generally consisted in nothing else but the imitation of the Worship of their Neighbour Natitions as to some particulars which tho they were forbid by the Law yet they left the far greater part of their Religion in full force This we have an instance of in the time of Ahab where we find Elijah reproaching the Israelites with the Monstrous Alliance they had made betwixt the Worship of God and that of Baal which Queen Jesabel had introduc'd All this clearly proves that the Book of Genesis which is the first of the Books of Moses was never forged under his Name since it was always owned as the Writing of that Famous Author and is still so acknowledged by the Jews at this day CHAP. VII That it appears from Genesis that the Sabbath was constantly observed from the beginning of the World until Moses THe other Objection of the Atheists supposing that Moses was the Author of Genesis as we have now proved is this that it seems absurd to give credit to the Relations of a Person who lived so many Ages distant from the things he recites To answer this Objection we must first of all declare to them by what means the Memory of the Fact which Moses relates was preserv'd so lively and entire as to give Moses so distinct a knowledge of them and that it was not in his power to forge or add any thing of his own it being a thing known to the whole World as well as himself There is no way whereby we can more solidly evince that it is impossible the Creation of the World should be forged by Moses than by making it appear that the Law of the Sabbath hath a natural Relation to the Creation of the World and that it hath been always constantly observed from that time until Moses The same also will help us clearly to conceive after what manner the Memory of the Promise of the Messiah hath been preserv'd so distinct amongst those that lived since the Creation until Moses We are no sooner inform'd that the Sabbath is a solemn day ordain'd at first to celebrate and perpetuate the Memory of the Creation but we judge it impossible that so important an event commemorated every seventh day by vertue of a Divine Law should be an imposture But forasmuch as this impossibility is grounded on these two Propositions the one that God gave this Law of the Sabbath to the first Man the other that the same was observed by his Posterity ever since till the time of Moses and that God only renew'd it in the Law given from Mount Sinai these are the Truths I am now to clear and it is of more importance to be proved because tho the generality of Authors Ancient and Modern Jews as well as Christians are of this Opinion yet there are some of the Christian Fathers who seem to deny that the Sabbath was ever observ'd by the Patriarchs But it will be an easie matter to prove from Moses that the Antiquity of the Sabbath is such as I assert and at the same time to demonstrate the truth of the Creation as well as of the Promise of the Messiah which in a manner immediately follow'd it Moses in the second Chapter of Genesis Gen. II. 3. expresses himself thus And God blessed the seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had Created Which words clearly evince a Solemn Consecration of the seventh day to God's Service by its being made a Commemoration of his finishing the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth But because it may be said that the intent of Moses in this place was only to set down the reason why God set apart this day of all others to his Service by the Law at Mount Sinai we are to take notice that this appointment was made for Man's sake already placed in the Garden of Eden This we may gather from the order Moses observes For he sets down first the Formation of Man on the sixth day and his being plac'd in Paradise which he gives a more particular account of in the second Chapter and after these he relates God's resting from his Works and the Consecration of the Sabbath with the reason of that Law which he impos'd on Man and then adds These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Heaven and the Earth All that precedes these words is only a Relation of what pass'd in the seven first days and that which Moses sets down concerning Gods blessing of the seventh day and his Consecrating it ought as well to be accounted a Law appointing the seventh day for his Service as those other Blessings given to the Creatures according to their kinds are acknowledged as inviolable Laws of God by virtue whereof they subsist and are perpetuated each according to their kind by the way of Generation In the second place it is very remarkable that the Patriarchs maintain'd a Publick Worship at least since the time of Seth which it was necessary should be determined to some certain day and since we find that even at this time they distinguish'd between Beasts clean and unclean with respect to their Sacrifices which they could not do but from Revelation we have much more reason to conclude that God had set apart a time for own Worship and Service And indeed there are many evident signs that even then the 7 day was observed Kimchi Praefat in Psalmos I will not here peremptorily assert that antient Tradition of the Jews which tells us that the ninety second Psalm whose Title is a Psalm for the Sabbath was made by Adam himself who was made on the Evening of the Sabbath But this I dare assert that it is apparent Gen. VIII 10.12 that what
we read in the eighth Chapter of Genesis about the Deluge doth refer to this custom where we find Noah sending forth the Dove and the Raven on the seventh day which plainly hints to us his observing of that day for it seems that Noah having in an especial manner on that solemn day implored the assistance of God in the Assembly of his Family he expected a particular Blessing from it And we cannot but make some Reflexion on that which we read in the XXIX of Genesis concerning the term of a Week set apart to the Nuptials of Leah Gen. XXIX 27. where at the twenty seventh Verse Laban thus expresses himself Fulfil her Week and we will give thee this also for the Service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other Years This Week here doth so plainly signifie a Week of days that it cannot be more naturally express'd and indeed all generally understand by this Week of the Marriage Feast of Leah that term of time which in succeeding Ages hath been customary to allot to Nuptial Festivals as appears from the Book of Esther where the Wedding Feast of Vasthi lasted seven days this term of seven days having so long since been Consecrated to Nuptial Rejoycings The same we may also gather from the time which was ordinarily allotted to mourning for the Dead to which we find the Patriarchs allotted a term proportion'd to that of their rejoicing For as we see that the Egyptians mourned ten Weeks for Jacob because of his Quality as being the Father of Joseph so we find that Joseph and those that accompanied him mourned seven days at his Enterment in the Land of Canaan And as we find that this Custom was perpetually afterwards observ'd by the Jews as appears from Ecclesiasticus XXII 12. so likewise we find the same observed by the Asiaticks as may be seen in the History of Ammianus Marcellinus at the beginning of his nineteenth Book De fide Resur in obitu Sat. p. 321. Seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smote the River Jalkut in h. l. and from them it passed to the Christians as we find in St. Ambrose Thirdly It appears from Exod. VII 25. that God observed seven days after he had smote the River to change the Waters thereof into Blood from whence the Jews conclude that the three Plagues Viz. that of Blood of Frogs and of Lice abode on the Land of Egypt six days and were withdrawn on the seventh which is the Sabbath We may also gather if we calculate the time exactly that the Jews in Egypt observed the Sabbath We find from the History of their departure out of Egypt that the same happened on a Thursday being the fifteenth of the Month Nisan and the day in which they sung those Hymns of Deliverance was the Sabbath which God had particularly set apart for this Week It is also evident from Exod. XVI that the keeping of the Sabbath was observ'd by the Israelites before the Law was given on Mount Sinai For we find God speaking there concerning the Sabbath not as of a thing newly instituted but as of an antient Law which they wer e not to transgress by gathering the Manna on that day for he orders them to gather a double portion the sixth day and not to gather any on the seventh We see that the Israelites resting on the seventh day is here supposed a known and customary thing prescribed to them by a Law of old They who went forth to gather Manna on the seventh day are represented as Transgressors of a known Law as appears from the words of the Lord to Moses How long refuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws Moses also speaks of the Sabbath which was to be the next day as of a thing customary and received amongst them To morrow saith he at v. 23. is the rest of the Sabbath of holiness unto the Lord words which would have been unintelligible to the Israelites and express'd a Law altogether impracticable in case they had been destitute of any further knowledge concerning it and had not been acquainted that it was the very day in which the great work of Creation had been finished My fourth Observation I take from the very words of the Decalogue where first of all we find God speaking in this manner Remember the Sabbath day which words clearly import Exod. XX. 8. that the Law he gave was not a new Law but indeed as old as the World and which had been observed by their Forefathers It seems probable also that God expresses himself in these terms because the Tyranny of Pharaoh had forc'd them to break this Law by obliging them to deliver their Tale of Bricks every day without excepting the Sabbath which before he had allowed them to keep This is explained very distinctly in the fifth of Exodus and seems to have been the occasion of Moses's demanding Straw of Pharaoh for the Israelites to go and Sacrifice in answer to which demand Exod. V. 5. Pharaoh expresses himself in terms which shew that formerly they had observed a rest on that day However it be yet thus much is apparent that God commands them to make their Bond Servants to observe the Sabbath because the Egyptians by their example inclin'd them not to be very careful in exempting them from all labour on that day Moreover in the second place we are to take notice that in the last words of the fourth Commandment God speaks of it as of a thing formerly appointed and determin'd by him saying For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it which words have a manifest and undeniable reference to that which happen'd the seventh day after the Creation and to the Law then given to Man concerning it We may gather from the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews that the sense which we have put upon the third Verse of the second of Genesis is the same which the Jews have always had of it The Apostle discoursing from those words of David Psal XCV To whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest doth suppose a threefold rest the first of which is the rest of the Sabbath of which mention is made in the second of Genesis where we have the first institution of it the second was the rest in the Land of Canaan promised to the Jews upon their enduring all those Tryals in the Wilderness the third the rest in Heaven of which the two foregoing were but the Figures He argues therefore that these words of David could not be understood concerning the Sabbath day forasmuch as from the beginning of the World Men entred into that rest of the Sabbath and he proves this by that passage in Genesis of which he only cites the first words viz. That God rested the seventh day from all his works as supposing that the Jews
to whom he wrote had no need of having the following words quoted to them which tell us that God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it that is he Consecrated the same to his worship and service forasmuch as nothing was more publickly and universally known amongst them the Observation of the Sabbath being a thing generally received even before the giving of the Law. And indeed the Philo the Jew be of opinion that the practice of Solemnizing that day had suffer'd some interruption and that for this reason the Law of the Sabbath was given to Moses yet it is well known first of all Euseb praep Evang. l. 13. c. 12. that Aristobulus the Peripatetick in a Treatise dedicated by him to Ptolemy surnamed Philadelphus cites several Passages of Homer Hesiod and Linus Heathen Poets which mention the seventh day as a Festival and Solemn day because all things were finished in the same In the next place it is notorious that if some of the Fathers as Justin Martyr and Tertullian writing against the Jews have deny'd that the Patriarchs observed the seventh day they did so rather with regard to the rigor of that Law which forbad all manner of work on that day upon pain of Death which was superadded by God to the first Law of the Sabbath than to the Observation of the Sabbath as it was a day appointed to make a Solemn Commemoration of the Creation of the World. In a word we are to take notice that the difference which God makes between the Sabbath observ'd by the Patriarchs and that which he appointed to the Jews did consist in two things First in that God did impose an absolute necessity upon the Jews to abstain from all manner of work even to the very dressing of Meat necessary for the support of Life We find this distinction clearly express'd in the Law which God gave concerning the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread for he absolutely forbids all manner of work on these two days as much as on the Sabbath even the preparing of necessary food which he permits the five other days forbidding only Servil Laborious Works Secondly In that the working on that day by the Law is made punishable with death which was not so before which Innovation and new rigour of the Law established by God was authorized by the punishing of him who had gathered Sticks on the Sabbath day whereas we find that before the Law was given upon Mount Sinai God did not command those Jews to be punished with death who went forth the seventh day to gather Manna according to their ancient Custom of dressing their Meat on that day Let me add this further that tho the Apostles had abolished the rigour of the Law concerning the Sabbath introduced by Moses yet they themselves observed it which practise of theirs in all probability gave occasion to the Christians for almost four Centuries to keep the Sabbath as well as the first day of the Week Solemnizing both those days the one as a Commemoration of the Creation of the World and the other of the Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ But what ever Judgment may be past on this last Remark it is very evident from Genesis and Exodus First that the Law of the Sabbath was observed before Moses Secondly that this Observation was by the first Patriarchs propagated among the Heathens also as well as the Idea of the Creation or as the practice of Sacrificing with the other parts of Religious Worship the Original whereof may be seen in the Book of Genesis as we shall make appear in our following Discourse After all this we must conclude against the Atheist that either Moses must imprudently have laid a Snare for himself in forging a matter of fact of which not only the Jews but all the World were able to convince him since there were none amongst them but must needs be Conscious whether they had observed the Sabbath in Commemoration of the Creation as he relates it or no or else that the Creation of the World being a matter of fact so generally known and the Memorial of it Solemnized every seventh day by all those who preceded him must needs be an uncontested and immoveable truth which I shall farther evince by those Observations which I shall raise from the dependance and connexion which the Matters related by Moses in Genesis have with the Creation and the Promise of the Messiah This is my business at present in performing of which I shall make it appear that nothing can be imagin'd more rational and coherent than the Relations of Moses in which the Atheists imagine that they discover so great Absurdities CHAP. VIII That Adam was convinced of his Creation by Reason and Authority THo' it might be thought more natural in these our Disquisitions about the History of Genesis to begin with those matters which happened near the time of Moses and from them to pass to those at a greater distance yet I have chosen rather to follow the Thread of Moses his Discourse hoping that this Method will afford more light to these our Reflexions At least it will spare me the trouble of frequent Repetitions which in the other way I should be necessarily oblig'd to I begin then with this That Adam was convinced of his Creation both by Reason and Authority The Creation of Adam being a thing of that nature that he must first be convinced of it himself before he could perswade his Posterity to entertain the belief of it it is worth our enquiry to know what ways he had to assure himself that he was indeed Created in that manner as Moses relates And forasmuch as the certainty of this Tradition depends upon the Authority of Adam whom Moses supposes to have been the first Deliverer of it It is plain that we must be assured that Adam could not deceive himself in this matter as it is evident enough that he would not deceive his Children when he took care to instruct them concerning it As to his own Existence he could not but be as strongly perswaded of it as we are of ours all the difficulty lying in the manner how he came to exist Now there were two ways by which Adam might inform himself of this viz. by Reason and the Testimony of Authority He could easily find out this Secret by a rational Reflexion Or he might also be perswaded of it by God himself who had Created him not to mention now any information which he might have from the Angels who were Witnesses of his Creation It appears that Adam whose Tradition Moses has recorded supposes that he had learnt of God himself the manner of his own Formation God speaks to Adam and Sanctifies the seventh day that is obliges Adam to keep the Memorial of his Creation he ties him by a Law to Commemorate his Creation fifty two times a Year and to render him continual thanks for the Being he had received But forasmuch as
that Alexander preserved them in the Enjoyment of their Rights and Liberties as they enjoyed them under the Kings of Persia and in particular exempted them from paying any Tribute every seventh year because then they did not sow their Ground and consequently could not reap And if we find that Ptolemy took Jerusalem on a Sabbath day the Jews making Conscience of defending themselves because the Law required their ceasing from all work from whence Agatharcides an Heathen Author takes occasion to blame their Law if we find him carrying a great number of Jews with him into Egypt yet withal we find him treating them with as much kindness as the Macedonians themselves appointing distinct places in Egypt and Lybia for their Habitation If we find that powerful Princes such as Antiochus Epiphanes and some others of his Successors broke the power of the Jews prophaned their Temple and forc'd great numbers of them to abjure their Religion yet we see them also at the same time giving the highest instances of an immoveable constancy and courage in defence of their Law and in enduring the most exquisite Tortures we see others of them encouraged with the love of their Country as well as Religion putting themselves into a posture of defence purifying the Temple and celebrating a Festival which is observed even at this day and lastly obtaining favourable Treaties at the hands of their Enemies as may be seen in the Books of the Maccabees and in the Twelfth Book of Josephus his Antiquities yea we find their name and glory at that time spread as far as Lacaedemon with which Common-wealth they made an Alliance during the High-Priesthood of Onias One see 's them after this so considerable under the Successor of Antiochus their Persecutor that even those Kings sue for their Alliance with great presents One see 's that Ptolomy Philometor granted to Onias the Son leave to build a Temple in Egypt for the convenience of those Jews whom Ptolomy the Son of Lagus had carried thither as well as for those who left their Country for the oppression of the Seleucidae for Judea being situate between Syria and Egypt was ordinarily the Theatre of War between those two States 'T is here worth our noting That the Jews undertook the building of the Temple in Egypt as thinking themselves authoriz'd by that Prophecy Isai XIX 24. it being a thing otherwise forbid by the Law. One sees in the same Prince's Reign a great contest between the Samaritans and the Jews about the pre-eminence of their Temples at Jerusalem and Mount Garizim decided by him in favour of the Jews on which occasion the Jews shewed that Prince their Law and acquainted him with the Series of their History to confute the Samaritans pretensions One see 's after this when the Jews had conferred the Soveraignty and High-Priesthood on Simon that their State became so powerful that under Hyrcanus his Successor they were in a condition to attacque their Enemies in Syria and compel the Edomites to admit Circumcision Aristobulus his Son was crowned his Brother succeeded him in the Royal Dignity and left the State in a flourishing condition notwithstanding the Civil and Foreign Wars he was engaged in We find afterwards That the intestine Divisions among the Successors of those Jewish Princes did by degrees open a gap for foreign power to enter and prevail over them Pompey siding with Hyrcanus took Jerusalem and made the Jews tributary to the Romans but without changing any thing in their Religion Julius Caesar a while after bestowed the Kingdom of Judaea upon Herod the Edomite Augustus after him used the Jews with the same Equity as Pompey before him had done as appears from one of his Declarations publish'd in favour of the Jews of Egypt and Asia recorded by Josephus This Herod and Augustus are the same under whom our Saviour Jesus Christ was born It is evident therefore That the State of the Jews has continued distinct from other Nations and sufficiently known from the time of the Prophet Malachy until Herod We may also truly assert That whatever inclination the Jews of old had for the Idolatries of their Neighbours yet we don't find them given that way during this interval between the last of their Prophets and Herod as if the charge and command of that Prophet Malachy had always sounded in their Ears Mal. IV. verse 4. Remember the Law of Moses my Servant c. One see 's that the Jews under the Maccabees in great numbers suffered Martyrdom rather than abjure their Religion and that they observed the Ceremonial Law with all carefulness of which Augustus himself was witness One see 's that under Strangers and Heathen Kings they exempted themselves from answering any Suit at Law on the Sabbath day from paying Tribute the seventh Year and preserving the Rights and Priviledges of their Temple in spight of all opposition Lastly one finds them during Herod's Government supported by the favour of the Roman Empire in refusing to set up the Emperour's Trophees for fear least some Images might be hid under them which they looked upon as a Crime against their Law. I am not ignorant that since Malachy some Heresies sprung up among the Jews their Commerce with the Greeks who applyed themselves to Philosophical Speculations having contributed to make them much more Disputacious than they were before The Authority likewise of their Kings who were High-Priests also may have had a great stroke in blemishing the Purity of their Religion But yet the Disputes which we find amongst them as that of the Fatality of Events did not at all touch the Substance of their Religion They no sooner found the Spirit of Epicurisme to creep in amongst them but they framed such additions to their publick Liturgy as they thought most proper to eradicate or at least condemn that Corruption I confess also that the Pharisees and Doctors of their Law had greatly alter'd their Morality in making their own Explications by the great Authority which they had amongst the People to pass for Authentick but yet this change and corruption in their Morals as to practice did not go so far as to abolish the Laws themselves which were only wrested from their true meaning This was indeed a great Corruption but not such a one as could make it to be no more the same Religion So that we may boldly assert which is a thing very important to our present purpose That the State and Religion of the Jews have continued sufficiently entire till the time of the appearing of the Messiah in the World for their preserving of whatsoever was necessary viz. as well the Books of the Old Testament as the knowledge of those Oracles which foretold the coming of the Messiah together with the Knowledge of these Principles according to which the Prophets have spoken in their Predictions concerning him REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT To Confirm the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION THE PREFACE I Have shewn in my