make a Great Hunter as a great Prophet But if they had understood better the Natural Causes of Inspiration they would never have been guilty of such manifest Absurdities For that Inspiration which the Jews and the Christians after them would needs have proceed immediately from God is only the effect of a vivid Imagination For it is not to be thought that the Prophets had any more immediate Converse with God Almighty than other Men but only they had warmer Heads a quicker Imagination and a more lively Fancy Other Mens Imaginations and Dreams did not leave such deep and lasting Impressions upon their Minds but were quickly over and they perceived that they were but Dreams and Fancies but the Prophetick Imaginators had such strong Fancies in their Heads that were as clear to them as the representations made by their outward senses and they thought they were as certain of what they so fansied as of what they heard or saw And 't is plain from Scripture that strong Imagination only is the grand Requisite for Prophecy And upon this account without doubt the Jews will not allow Solomon the Gift of Prophecy for he was a Wise Man in whom good sense and a clear Judgment was prevalent and therefore he was ill qualified for Prophecy to which Fancy was chiefly requisite So those famous Men in Scripture who are renowned for their Prudence Heman 1 Chr. 2.6 1 King 4.31 Darda Kalchol were not Prophets but on the other side the Prophets were for the most part out of the Country People or Men of no Erudition or sometimes Women as Hagar Abraham's Maid had the gift of Prophecy For these People having but little understanding had stronger Passions and did abound more in Imagination than Men who had better sense and who governed their Fancies by their Reason And that you may understand that Imagination was the Foundation of Revelation be pleased to consider that their Prophecies differ'd only by the diversity of their Imagination which is a plain Argument that the one was the cause of the other If the Prophet was of a merry chearful Temper then Victories and Peace were revealed to him because Men of that complexion are apt to entertain their thoughts with such delightful subjects If he was a Melancholy Man then he prophesied only Wars and judgments and such other dismal things which are usual to go along with such black Thoughts And so the like Diversity if the Prophet was addicted to Anger or Grief or Pitty And for the proof of this there is a remarkable Instance of Scripture 2 Kings 3.15 The three Kings of Judah Israel and Edon are in a great strait for want of Water for their Armies they go and consult Elisha the Prophet and he being very Angry at the sight of his Enemy the King of Israel tells him if it was not for the presence of Jehosophat King of Judah he would not look toward him nor see him Now he could not prophesie any thing that was pleasing to them whilst his Choler was so high And therefore he very prudently desires that a Minstrel should be brought him And when the Minstrel played the hand of the Lord came upon him That is the Musick put him in a good humour and then he was inclined to imagine as pleasant Things as the Kings would have him So when Moses was Angry with Pharaoh he had revealed to him the miserable slaughter of the Aegyptians first-born Exod. 11. So God was revealed to Cain when his Reason was over-clouded with passion when he was very wroth and his countenance fell Gen. 4.5 When Ezekiel was impatient with excessive Anger for the Text says the Spirit lifted him up in bitterness and in the hot Anger of his Spirit Ezek. 3.14 then he prophesies the miseries and stubbornness of the Jews So Jeremy was alway a Melancholy Man and weary of his Life and therefore he does nothing but prophesie dreadfull Calamities which should befall the Jews and upon this account King Josias would not consult him but chose rather to consult Hulda the Prophetess who being a Woman had more tender Passions and to whom it was more fit that the mercy of God should be revealed Nay oftentimes Revelation does proceed from the strong though false Opinions of Men. Thus King Nebuchadnezzar's Augurs Prophesie of the Destruction of Jerusalem by looking into the Entrals of Beasts and by divining with Arrows Ezek. 21.21 and thus the Nativity of Christ was revealed to the Magicians Mat. 11. who believed the fooleries of Astrology under the Imagination of a Star which they supposed to have arisen in the East So that in short this Prophetick Imagination was a very good way of recommending a Religion to the Jews who were a very ignorant People and were more wrought upon by these fanciful Representations of God made by the Prophets the descriptions of his feigned Appearance Interlocution Promising Threatning than by any just and Philosophical Discourses of Vertue and Vice which should be made to them Not but that Natural Knowledge does include more certainty than this Imaginary Prophecy only this latter serves better for the use of less inquisitive Men. For Natural Knowledge brings Self-Evidence with it but Revelation requires always a Sign or reputed Miracle which the Prophets were forced to make use of as the Credentials of their Prophecy Indeed Revelation may have something in it of a moral Certainty that the Men who pretend to it are honest well meaning Men and that the matter which they speak is designed for the bettering of Mankind and the reclaiming them from their Vices but I think there is little evidence concerning â—t that it proceeds immediately from God and that it may not proceed from â—atural Causes as I think I have already sufficiently shewed it to have done Therefore I wonder Credentius that a Man of your sense should have recourse to occult Qualities and an Omnipotent Power to explain matters which you see might be accounted for by such an â—asy cast of your Philosophy Cred. For my part Sir That Prophecy doth not consist in Imagination I do not care â—o make use of my Philosophy to dispute â—way my Religion nor do I see any â—eason why Men should use so much â—ndustry and Artifice to prove That Revelation does not proceed from God when wise Men in all Ages have ever â—llow'd it Read but Jamblichus his Book of Mysteries and Tully de Divinatione and you will see the Opinion of those wise Heathens that the divine Nature has â—evealed it self to Mankind and that 〈◊〉 prescience of future things can come no other way than by a Revelation from God Xen. Memorabil Lib. 1. And hear how admirably Socrates â—n Xenophon as well as a Heathen could â—e expected reasons of these matters Of â—ll these predictions to refer none to the revelation of God but only to humane pruâ—ence is says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be perfectly mad That in those things which are
say that this is only some remarkable saying of Abraham and is therefore in the Jewish Phrase called the word of the Lord. For here is no room for any such kind of Metaphor Here is a particular Dialogue of God and Abraham God said Fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great Reward And Abram said Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless and the Steward of my House is this Eliezer of Damascus Then v. 4. is related the reply of God Almighty And behold the word of the Lord came unto him saying This shall not be thy Heir but he that shall come forth out of thine own Bowels c. Now what can be more positive and express of Abraham's immediate Revelation and Intercourse with God than this Relation So again Exod. 2.5 The Revelation made to Moses is related as expresly God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses Then follows the answer of Moses and Moses said here am I. And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people c. Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Paraoh And Moses said unto God Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Children of Israel out of Aegypt And God said Certainly I will be with thee c. And after this rate the Dialogue continues the full length of the Chapter Now if this be not a relation of an Intercourse with God and a Revelation from him there is no sense to be put upon any words though never so plain there must be no assent given to the literal narrations of Thucydides or Livy but the credit of both those Histories may as well be criticized away as this So again as for the other Prophets when we are particularly told that the word of the Lord came unto them at such a time in such a manner in such a particular Year of such a King's Reign what can possibly be meant less than that God revealed this to them When they are commanded to take rolls and to write as Is 8 1. and Jer. 36.2 and the Prophecies so commanded to be written are there recorded when every Prophecy begins with the word of the Lord or thus saith the Lord when in some of them are particular Interlocutions between God and the Prophet if this be not Revelation the Prophets who wrote these Writings must be the greatest Cheats and Impostours in the World in so often pretending to it when they had not the least share of it But it vexes one to spend time to answer so simple an Objection which is worth no ones notice but that the great Spinosa has taken so much pains in it and other retailing Infidels after him would seem to do some great matter with it 3. Nor are your Criticisms upon the Hebrew Ruach or Spirit more solid Spirit of God in Scripture signifies Revelation by which you would pretend that word does not signify Revelation or Inspiration but only Wind Life temper of Mind and the like But what an unreasonable mistake is this I do not deny but that word in Hebrew has many significations as several other words have in that narrow Language But then on the other side there are a great many places in the Bible in which it can signify only Inspiration or Revelation what think you of Gen. 41.38 Where Pharaoh says of Joseph after he had interpreted his Dream and prophesied of the Years of Plenty and Famine Can we find such an one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is Certainly by the Spirit of God here is meant the Inspiration of God or there is no sense at all in it And so again Numb 27.18 The Lord said unto Moses Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun a Man in whom is the Spirit and lay thy hand upon him where by Spirit the Chaldee Paraphrase interprets Prophecy And what else can be meant by that Spirit of the Lord 1 Kings 18.12 which carried Eliah from place to place by which he did such mighty Miracles and so undauntedly uttered his Prophecies but only a supernatural power of God which did continually attend him And so Isa 59.21 God tells the Prophet that it was his Spirit that inspired him with the words that he spoke Saith the Lord My Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth c. And so several times in Ezechiel The Spirit of the Lord fell upon me Ezek. 11.5 and the Spirit entered into me Chap. 3.24 And often in the Book of Daniel the Spirit of the holy Gods is said to be in him Dan. 4.8 and 9 5.11 and 14. In short divine Revelation is all over the Old Testament called by the name of Spirit and even that extraordinary Inspiration which was foretold by the Prophet Joel to prevail under the Gospel is called so likewise I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie your Old Men shall dream dreams and your Young Men shall see Visions Joel 2.28 Where you may particularly observe that the word Spirit is joyned with Prophecy and Revelation And upon this account the Holy Ghost which was the giver of these Prophetick Gifts is in the New Testament called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit And so is divine Revelation among the Heathens called by the same name As Dii coeptis inspirate meis and Inspirante Deo It is plain therefore that by the word Spirit in Scripture is frequently understood Divine Revelation which is the effect of the Operation of God's Holy Spirit conveying to the minds of several Prophetical Men whom God has been pleased to choose many extraordinary Truths conducible to the good of his Church Which is a thing so frequent and so plain in Scripture as is not to be bantered away by a little foolish Criticism and is a Truth never to be shaken unless the Infidels have force enough to overthrow the whole Body of the Scriptures Phil. Well we will see Credentius what we can do as to that matter some time or other But in the mean time methinks you outshoot your selves a little in your Notions of Revelation For you generally assert that Revelation is caused by a more immediate and supernatural Application of the divine Spirit to the mind of Man and so does make known to it those extraordinary Truths which indeed is only a Cast of the Jewish Unphilosophical Ignorance For when they poor Wretches could not understand the Natural Causes of Inspiration they were presently for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for calling in God to help out their sorry Philosophy Every thing which was a little surprizing to them they must needs attribute to the immediate Act of God they were every moment making Mountains as well as Men of God and according to their Philosophy an equal degree of the divine power was requisite as well to
for I take your cases to be very different They poor People never were in a Capacity of receiving the glad Tidings of the Gospel or they were possessed with such invincible prejudices of Education under a superstitious worship that they could not receive the blessed seed to improvement which without all doubt God will make great allowances for But the Persons of your way after having received the seed of Gods word have trampled upon it you have seen the light of the Gospel and shut your Eyes upon it you have turned Renegado's to your blessed Redeemer and perfidiously deserted his Institution which in your Baptism you swore to live and die under So that you are strangely mistaken to think that your condition hereafter will be as good as the old Pagans Your cases are as wide as those of Foreigners and Domestick Rebels in a Civil War their Obedience was not expected by Christ but you have traiterously deserted him and fought against him contrary to your sworn Allegiance So that whatever mercy they may find at God's hand you can expect nothing but the utmost severity And then as for the case of the Heathen Heathens do not go to Heaven which you would willingly skreen your selves under though I cannot be so uncharitable as to think that all they are concluded under Eternal Damnation for not being of a Religion they never heard of yet I can see no grounds to believe they shall ever be Heirs of our Christian Salvation or that State of Glory which Christ has promised to his Followers To be saved or to partake of whatsoever Glories are comprehended under that name is the peculiar Priviledge of us Christians for the Scripture says plainly there is no other name given under Heaven by which we may expect Salvation but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that no man cometh to the Father but by him that God added to the Church such as should be saved and the like So that a Heathen has no more Title or probability to be saved than I have to be a Nobleman of Venice Because Salvation as I observed is the peculiar Christian State of Glory that place which our Saviour says he is gone to prepare for us John 14.3 So that though the Heathen may probably have other Places or States of Glory ours does not belong to them Nay it is hardly reconcileable with the distributive Justice of God to advance unregenerate Heathens to the same State of Happiness as those that are redeemed by the blood of his Son Baptized into his Cross have partaken of his Sufferings and have denied and mortifyed the dearest of their affections in obedience to his Commands What other provision God may make for them But however I doubt not but that God may in another manner make provision for the honest sober Pagans in another World for in that very Verse in which our Saviour says he goes to prepare a place for us Christians he tells us that in his Father's House are many Mansions There are many glorious Places or Seats in the Universe unto which these good People may be transferred there to enjoy a considerable happiness though very unequal to the Joys of our Christian Paradise Our Mansion or State of Happiness seems to be the choicest of all the rest one of our Saviour's own choosing and taking up In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you It is a Metaphor taken from a Harbinger's Office And the sense is this Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me In my Fathers House c. I would not have you dismayed upon my sufferings and be distrustful about your future State upon your being initiated into a new Sect of Religion as if you were not to enjoy so much happiness hereafter as the Jews or other Sects of Religious worship in the World shall for in my Father's House are many Mansions there shall be some degrees of happiness some seat of blessedness for good People of all sorts but I go and prepare a place for you I who am the beloved of my Father and the chiefest in his Glory will obtain a place of the most extraordinary happiness for you to abide in So that at last though it should be granted that you Theists that have had a Christian Education should be admitted to the state of good Pagans in another World yet you are a very narrow Soul'd People that you will aspire to no higher a degree of happiness when it lies easy before you only by maintaining your Gospel-Covenant which in your Baptism you have engaged to Phil. That is more Credentius that I have Faith to believe yet I have a great many Rubs to get over before I can come to that But however I have no abhorrence to your Christian worship I can go to your Churches upon occasion hear a Sermon and say my Prayers with you without any check of Conscience at all I have no reason to think but I might lawfully go to an Indian Pagod and worship the supreme Deity though under the representation of a Horse-faced Image I should never stick out to pray to him among Mahometans in a Turkish Mosk or hear Mass in a Popish Chappel nay I am of Opinion I might as one expresses it Summi Entis vim adorare in flosculo * An Epistle of a Deist in Przircovius his works pag. 600. adore the power of the supreme Being in a little Flower For the principal part of all Religions is the same viz. Morality and a good Life and the common notions of Good and Evil so that I do but laugh at all the little squabbles of so many Angry Sects in the World one with the other for my part I fall out with none of them for they all agree with me as far as my Creed goes so that I have no reason to forbear Communion with the worst of them Indeed most of them have added some superstructures of their own to Natural Religion which I do not approve but I can step over a hundred things of this nature for the sake of Peace and Unity And to speak freely I could never approve your Christian Zeal and earnest Prayer to have all the World of the same Christian Religion for as the King of Siam has observed that diversity of Religious Worships is one of the great Beauties of the Universe For says that wise Prince to the Person who came to him in the name of an Embassadour from the French King and proposed to him his turning Christian I wonder that Prince should so busy himself in a matter relating to God for which there is no sign that God does shew any concern himself as leaving it altogether to Man's Discretion For says he the true God who created Heaven and Earth and all the Creatures comprehended therein and who has endowed them with natures and inclinations
Gabriel the joyful coming of the Messias with all the Benefits which should follow from him Secondly there is no consequence in the Argument if the supposition were true For if God did so far comply with second causes as some times to cooperate with them it does not follow that those causes could produce a supernatural effect of themselves Tho' God should pick out merry Men to foretel joyful things and Melancholy ones to foretel sad ones it does not follow that either Merry or Melancholy Men could foretel any thing without the assistance of God Because prediction is the effect of Divine and Infinite Knowledge and not of Bodily Temperament it would be still the Gift of God though such qualifications were necessary for the receiving it 5. Passions not the Cause of Prophecy As for your Instances of some Mens being under some Passions at the time of their Revelation and therefore they must be the cause of it This is an Argument with a Witness What though Elisha called for a Minstrel must therefore Mirth be the cause of Prophecy I suppose the reason why he called for it was to compose his Spirits which were ruffled at the presence of a wicked King and it was therefore proper to render his Mind sedate before he presumed to offer up his Petitions to God for the prophetick influence of his Spirit What though Moses did predict the slaughter of the Aegyptian First-born when he was angry with Pharaoh must Anger be the cause of Prophecy Indeed angry Men may wish ill but they seldom I think Prophecy it for if they did the World would be in a sad condition But I think Moses brought it to pass too so that it appears there was something more in this heavy judgment than a little Scolding Threatning which you Theist make of the rest of the Prophecies Cain was wroth when God spoke to him but in those ancient times God was wont to reveal himself to Mankind in other Tempers And when Ezekiel is said to be in the hot anger of his Spirits before his Prophecy this must not be understood of natural Anger but only the violent exagitation of the Spirit in him So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness and in the heat or anger of my Spirit but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me Which is a most lively description of the operation of the Prophetick Spirit in the Body of the Prophets with all his struggles and reluctancies under it 'T is a Metaphor taken from a hot fiery Horse that struggles and contends and is impatient under the Bridle of his Rider It is a Description not unlike that of Sibylla in Virg. Aen. 6. At Phoebi nondum patiens immanis in antro Bacchatur Vates magnum si pectore possit Excussisse Deum tanto magis ille fatigat Os rabidum fera corda domans fingitque premendo Neither is there any force in what you say as to the Distinction which you would have Josiah make between Jeremiah and the Prophetess Hulda for there is no doubt to be made but if Jeremiah had been consulted upon the same point he would have given the same answer 6. But in the next place Vain Opinions not mixed with Prophecy you advance a strange Paradox when you assert that Prophecy varied according to the idle opinions of the Prophets as if King Nebuchadnezzar's Diviners and all the Persian Magi were true Prophets For that passage in the 21th of Ezekiel does not say that those Diviners did truly Prophesie but only that the King of Babylon made use of those Divinatory Arts the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Auruspicy which are there mentioned he does graphically describe the coming of the Babylonians and therefore prophetically relates all the superstitious rites which were preparatory to that expedition And as for the Persian Magi by whom you would have our Saviour's Birth to be revealed whilst they were looking after their Astrological Fooleries I answer that by this God gave no countenance to any divination by the Stars as if there were no more certainty in divine Revelation than in this sort of fortune-telling as you would slily insinuate but that there being an universal Belief throughout the whole East that some great Man should about that time be born in Judea as Suetonius relates these Magi or Wise Men took occasion to travel into Judea upon the appearance of this extraordinary Star supposing that this might prognosticate something of this great expected Birth God might take this occasion to make known the Birth of his Son to the Gentile World and yet give no countenance to all the fooleries of Judicial Astrology Such an extraordinary Phaenomenon as this was enough to awaken the attention of any inquisitive Men though they were not given to that superstition so as to search after the meaning of it whose diligent Endeavours God was pleased to bless with the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace and a Saviour of the World 7. Besides More in Prophecy than fancy and well meaning I would beg you to consider that there is something more in Prophecy than Fancy and Well-meaning The Prophets were something better than religious Madmen They generally had a foundation of good sense and a learned Education being for the most part brought up in the Schools of the Prophets whereof one is mentioned at Naioth in Ramah where Samuel lived 1 Sam. 19.19 another at Kiriath Jearim 1 Sam. 10.5 Neither was Prophecy among the Jews only the running about the Country now and then of a crazed Wretch as your people are wont to say but in a manner a settled Dispensation there being great numbers of the Prophets in that Nation For even in the most corrupt times there were Fifty of the Sons of the Prophets together beholding Elijah when he was caught up into Heaven ◠Kings 2.7 and Obadiah hid an hundred Prophets fifty in a Cave during the rage of Ahab's persecution 1 Kings 18.4 Now it is not possible that such a number of Men so regularly educated should all be Enthusiastically mad But I see any thing can be asserted to serve a Turn or to vilify Religion sometimes God's Ministers must be mad Fools at other times cunning Knaves though methinks the Priest-craft which you are so often upon and Madness do not so very well agree Phil. Come Credentius we won't make any words about that matter now for we are now entering upon another Stage of difficulties which are so many and so great that I am afraid they will make you sweat under them before you have got through them What say you to the business of Miracles Are not these think you pretty things to cheat the Mob with But I am afraid they will never stand the Test of Philosophy and Reason One would wonder how such Non-sensical Notions as these should come into the World but considering the stupidity of them one
the point D then the Orbit of the Moon shall be inlarged to u s t equal to her former one I p i l or as great as her other she had before the Acceleration of the Earths Motion So that then the Moon being as far distant from the Earth as formerly she was those great Tides will be over and the Deluge at an End all the Waters being again sunk into the Belly of the Earth through the same Cavities by which they ascended Phil. But stay Sir this does not much mend the matter for this attributes the cause of the Flood only to the breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep which Moses likewise attributes to another cause viz. the Rain of forty days and forty nights Cred. Indeed Moses says that at the beginning of the Deluge it rained forty Days and Nights but he does not say that these Rains added any thing considerably to the Deluge of the whole World They only raised the Waters to such a height that the Ark was born up and swam upon the Waters And the Flood or Rain was forty Days upon the Earth and the Waters increased and bore up the Ark and it was lift up above the Earth Gen 7.17 But in the two following Verses is expressed the Effect of the Waters rising out of the Abyss And the Waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the Earth and the Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered So that what was the Effect of the Rains to lift up the Ark Moses calls only increasing of the Waters but when he afterwards speaks of the eruption of the Abyss he says a great deal more that Waters increased greatly and prevailed exceedingly And indeed this previous Flood from the Rains or Preludium of the Deluge was wisely designed by God Almighty that the Ark might be lift up before the Torrent from the Abyss came or otherways such a mighty Current running with so great a Force would have overthrown and drowned it before it could have been lifted up But a Rain of forty Days having before made a Land-Flood great enough to bear up the Earth the fury of the roaring Torrent of the Abyss would be broken by the yielding Waters under the Ark and so would by degrees be raised to the height which the Waters rose to without Danger I will not contend that there was no more than this forty Days Rain for it is probable that it Rained the greatest part of the Time that the Waters covered the surface of the Earth for the Sea then being above as large again as it formerly was must supply a far greater quantity of vapours than could possibly be suspended in the Air and therefore must fall down in frequent or continual spouts or Rains This I take Philologus to be a possible account of the Deluge and is a sufficient confutation of them who decry it as an impossibility Phil. Well! supposing that the Absurdities of Moses his relation of the Deluge are not so great as are generally imagined yet I cannot allow him to be a true Prophet because the pretended Miracles by which he endeavoured to establish his Laws and Doctrines seem to me to be mere Artifice contrived only to beguile the silly Jews and to lead them tamely by the Nose without opposition They poor Creatures thought that God wrought mighty Miracles by his hand whilst he was only working Designs for himself to purchase himself Admiration among the Rabble or else to gain a Jurisdiction under the specious name of a Theocracy But alas these Miracles are all Craft and Collusion which any Cunning Man might seem to do If he had but such simple Inspecters Witness his pretending to receive the Law in Mount Sinai where he gave out that he conversed with God who appeared there in smoke and thundering and lightening No doubt the poor folks were strangely amazed at this terrible Scene But Moses or any other intelligent Man knew well enough that there was no great matter in it For all this wonderful Appearance was in all probability only a Volcano in that Mountain which Moses did very politically forecast that the Jews should not come to the knowledge of For if they had run gazing up the Mountain as well as he the secret would have been found out and the Miracle spoil'd But Moses very prudently commands Ex. 19.13 that a hand shall not touch the Mountain but he shall be stoned or shot through whether it be beast or man nay not so much as the Priests themselves must come up lest the Lord break forth upon them ver 24. but only Moses and Aaron who were let into the Mystery must come there Nor is this Volcano in Mount Sinai only a Conjecture but is confirmed by the observation of Travellers who still behold the Mountain full of Ashes which do plainly shew the Ruins as it were of an extinguished Aetna This Credentius is an Objection not to be bantered off for if this stands your whole revealed Religion shakes because this is the very Foundation of the Jewish and Christian Institution and if there be any Trick here as is much to be feared all that is built upon it is good for nothing Cred. There is so much false suggestion and groundless Assertion in this last Objection that it is intolerable and one had need of the Patience of that Holy Religion you are opposing to be unmoved at it 1. But 'pray Sir what By-Ends had Moses to serve by his playing this sham Prank as you do suppose in the Mount He could not get a greater Authority over them than He had before he had been their Deliverer from the Aegyptians and was their conducter in the Wilderness and had as absolute command over that People as could be desired Neither could Fame or a Desire of raising his Family put him upon any such indirect Methods For he seems to have been the most sincere and modest and most disinterested Man of all Men that ever lived He is so open and faithful in his History as to record his own Failures and those of his dearest Relations his Brother and Sister He gave the Priesthood which was the most considerable honour in that Nation away to his Brother Aaron's Family contenting himself that his own Posterity should only be ranked among the Ordinary Levites And at his Death disposed of the Government to Joshua a Stranger Neither is it credible that he would make use of such a mean trick as this which was so easy to be discovered by every bold Man whose curiosity might prompt him to venture the Menaces especially when he had established sufficiently in them an Opinion of his miraculous power by all the wonders which he had done in Aegypt and at the red Sea 2. Nor is there any tolerable ground for this supposition of a Vulcano's being formerly in Mount Sinai I know your Brother Infidels make a mighty Noise with this story but
of them to be absurd and ridiculous others contrary to common Justice and the rest but mean and pitiful and unworthy of God the Author What more silly than the command of not eating the blood of an Animal as if it was worth the cognizance of a Legislatour to forbid Men the use of Black-Puddings Is it worthy a Divine Law to forbid the sowing of Maslin or that poor Folks should wear Linsey-Wolsey And does it not look a little like a jest gravely to establish that an Ox and an Ass shall not be yoked together Besides there are other things in the Body of his Laws which contradict the common notions of ordinary Justice What is the setting up in his Common-wealth so many Asylums but only making a Rendezvous or an Alsatia for a number of Hedg-Rogues to plague their honest Neighbours His Lex Talionis is unmerciful Cruelty that when I by chance or in a scuffle have beat out a Mans Eye I must stand still to let him bore out mine in cold blood His redemption of Estates after the year of Jubilee is to discourage good Parts and Industry and to entail Estates for ever it may be upon the Block-headed Heirs of those particular Families which first laid hands upon them His other Laws about Murder Theft Sacrifices c. are such as are equaled by the meanest Common-wealths and the ordinariest superstitions only here are some things more ridiculous than are to be found elsewhere with a deal of Injunctions about Red-Cows Scape-Goats and forty things more of the same Nature But if God had been the Author of these Laws and this Institution they had without all doubt been grounded upon admirable reason excellently fitted to the benefit of Mankind and the usefulness of them to Society and to make Men good would have been apparent to all that considered them but these seem only to be an odd jumble of Arbitrary Precepts for which there is no other but a Womans Reason to be given Because forsooth God would command them And is not this a fine way of making Laws Cred. I find you are running The Jewish the best of all Political Laws Philologus upon your old strain and therefore I must beg leave to interpose a little I believe it is want of due consideration of the Laws of Moses which makes you talk against that which when you understand better you would rather admire For my part I look upon the Judaical to be the most excellent Civil Constitution which ever was or ever will be in the World and if you will but compare the three Legislative Books of Moses with what are extant of the Aegyptian Attick and Lacedemonian Laws the Roman twelve Tables their Plebiscita and Imperial Rescripts nay even when they were collected into the Digests You will find that they all fall short of these Laws of Moses I do not speak this at random nor in the least to detract from the Roman Laws but considering the Circumstances of the Jewish Nation their Laws do I think far exceed the other Indeed the Jewish Laws were not drawn up into such an exact a Systematical Method nor adorned with such Artificial Terms nor do so precisely set out the minute Boundaries of Right and Wrong as the Roman but yet they are better calculated for ordinary Justice and Neighbourly Society The extraordinary mercifulness of them and what is better yet for Mercy and Charity I say Mercy and Charity and I defy any Civil Constitution in the World to shew so many good-natur'd Laws and enacted with such a tender regard to their Fellow Creatures as the Jews can What more kind Constitution could there be than to ordain Cities of Refuge for the innocent Man-slayer to fly to to avoid the impotent Anger of the Relations of the killed which according to the Custom of those times were wont immediately to revenge their Kindreds Death thereby to give him Time to clear himself which if he could not the Law allows him to be dragged even from the Horns of the Altar Exod. 21.14 The kind usage which by those Laws is to be given to Slaves and the stripes which are not to be exceeded in punishing Criminals are another Argument of the Mercifulness of these Laws above others The great care which is taken to prevent mischief which might happen by the flat roof'd Buildings of those times by ordering Battlements to be made round them and the penalty of Womens taking abortive potions do confirm the same The forbidding the Jews to suffer a Beggar among them and not allowing new Married Men to be forced from their Wives the first year to the Wars are a Tenderness which most other Nations are wanting in Indeed the same Laws punish Adultery with Death but then they are so mild as to punish Theft with only abundant Restitution In which sanctions you may see an admirable Temperament of Justice and Clemency and which may serve for an Example to other Governments where Adulteries which are irreparable are pretended to be recompensed by pecuniary Mulcts and Thefts for which restitution may be made are Capital Nay in these Laws there is a tender Regard had to Beast themselves of which the forbidding to muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn is a sufficient instance mercifully providing that the poor Beast which provides sustenance for us should not be denied its natural cravings after its own And so it is in the case of the coupling an Ox and an Ass and other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tenderly taking care that one Beast of greater strength should not force another poor Creature of less toil beyond its ability Thus much I have thought fit in some few particulars to point out the Merciful Disposition of these Laws which is not so visible in any civil Constitution in the World as in this The great Wisdom in them And besides you may perceive as much Wisdom and excellent Design running through the whole frame of it The Distinction of Families and Registery of their names was the most useful thing which could be in a Common-wealth thereby to know its own strength and abilities to prevent Law-suits and to settle Inheritances The sabbatical or fallow year was a noble contrivance to keep a Country in fertility and from being worn out of heart by covetous Tillers The weekly Sabbath setting aside the Religiousness of it was a wonderful ease both to Servants and Cattle and must even upon this account be esteemed a very wise Establishment which other Nations were wanting in But their severe punishment of Idolatry of all sorts and the great encouragement of the Worship of the one true God from whom the whole World had relapsed is such a Glory of the Judaical Laws above all other as can never be eclipsed by all that can be said against them by Infidel Tongues Talk what you will of your Solon's Lycurgus's and Numa's but the Idolatrous Worships which they established by their Laws is enough