probable that a Prince especially of his Temper would have submitted to such a Confinement and meekly resign'd his Crown to his Son if that punishment inflicted upon him had not fully convinced him of the Divinity of that Law which he had transgressed and violated by his Temerity and Presumption The Third Reflexion is that the greatest part of those Laws being intended by God to inspire his people with an Irreconcileable Aversion against all those Nations amongst whom they were going to settle they were so framed as not only to be opposite to the Laws and Customs of Egypt from whence they came but also to those received amongst the Hivites Amorites and other Nations of whose Countries they were going to possess themselves Thus we find in the XVIII of Leviticus Laws against all Incestuous Marriages which without doubt were ordinary amongst the Canaanites and Egyptians who therein follow'd the Examples of the Ancient Patriarchs who Married within those forbidden Degrees there we find also the Sacrifices to Moloch forbidden the practice whereof those Nations in all likelihood defended by the Example of Abraham's Sacrifice Now it cannot reasonably be thought that a whole Nation would of a suddain receive such Laws as deprived them of a Liberty and Freedom they had always hitherto enjoyed and condemn of their own accord those Sacrifices that had the fairest pretence of Religion imaginable and to use many Ceremonies contrary to those received amongst them if they had not had a strong and extraordinary Motive for so doing There is another thing besides that challenges our Consideration viz. the exact Description which God gave to Moses of the Tabernacle of the several parts of the Ceremonial Worship which was to be performed in that Sacred place and of the manner how this Tabernacle with all its Appurtenances Utensils and Ornaments was finished For as this Tabernacle was then the Centre of the whole Jewish Religion as the Temple was afterwards by succeeding to it so it was a solemn proof of the Divinity of Moses's Laws and of the Worship that was performed there Is it conceivable that a whole Nation should contribute to the building of it should see it Consecrated and taken to pieces and set together again every day and should read all the particulars relating to its Construction and not discern whether there was any truth and reality in all that was told them concerning the Religion which their Governour fixed in that place wherein he pretended many Revelations were made CHAP. VI. Some other Proofs that confirm Moses 's Description of the manner how the Law was given and Promulgated BUt if it is so easie to establish the Divinity of the Law of Moses by shewing the truth of the Matter of Fact according to the manner of God's Promulgation as Moses relates it we may further collect the truth of it by joyning these following Reflexions to those already made in the foregoing Chapters Certainly if Moses had been the first Founder of a Kingdom and had been succeeded in it by his own Children and Posterity for many Generations one after another we might perhaps have had some ground to suspect that his Successors consulting their own Interest and Honour would have been very glad to perswade their Subjects that the first Founder of their Kingdom had some Communication with God and that it was from him he received the Laws and Constitutions which he gave them concerning Civil and Religious Matters But it is observable that Moses was so far from investing his own Children with the Supream Authority after himself that he Translated it into another Tribe and Constituted Joshuah of the Tribe of Ephraim for his Successor in the Government as for his Posterity he took little care of it but reduced it to a Rank inferiour to that of Aaron's Family which he preferr'd to the most honourable Functions of the Priesthood leaving to his own the meanest and most inconsiderable Employments all which shews evidently that none of those who came after Moses were moved by any private Interest of their own to defend the Truth and Authority of his Laws and Writings but only by the certain knowledge they had that they were all Divine Neither ought we to omit to consider here the manner how Moses decides beforehand such Questions and determines such Controversies as could not be raised but after the Conquest of Canaan which was made by his Successor only after his Death And how those Laws were constantly observed in all the succeeding Generations of that people and submitted unto by the very Judges and Kings themselves tho there be nothing more common than for a Conqueror such as Joshua was to admit of no other Fundamental Laws in that State he is the Founder of than those which he is the Author of nothing is more usual than for Statesmen to affect the exposing the Conduct of their Predecessors especially when the form of Government is altered and from Democratical or Aristocratical is changed into Monarchical as it happened amongst the Israelites How then could Moses's Laws still keep up their Authority in all Changes and Revolutions How comes it to pass that in all the Successions of Judges and Kings there was never any of them attempted to suspend or annul Moses's Laws much less to enact and give any others contrary to them Again how came it to pass that in all the Divisions and Factions that Nation fell into there was never any Jew endeavour'd with any success to undeceive the rest of his own people so as to make them shake off the troublesom Yoke of Moses's Laws No doubt only because the generality of that Nation never disputed the Divine Origin and Authority of them It were an easie thing to demonstrate by the whole Series of the Jewish History that all those Laws which in Moses's Writings are inlay'd one within another and represented as occasion'd by several Transactions related there have all been equally received of the Jews and have all been put together in a Body by themselves before Moses's Death as it may be proved out of the XXXI of Deuteronomy It appears that those Laws were publick and in great esteem amongst that People to whom God gave them upon whom he laid an indispensable Obligation to read them every day and to consult them upon every emergent business It appears that they were known equally of all degrees of Men Sexes and Ages which were all obliged to pay Obedience to them upon pain of Death It appears that those Laws were not only publickly kept in the Tabernacle but also privately read in every Family We see that a whole Tribe viz. the Tribe of Levi was appointed by God to explain them and in order to that they were dispersed throughout the whole Land of Canaan and exempted from the Cares and Troubles that necessarily attend Husbandry by the plentiful Provision of Tithes and Offerings that was allotted to them We see that God obliged all Jews to read and meditate
get himself reputation by exciting a Curiosity in people for his Books This would not have been becoming the Gravity and Wisdom of so great a Legislator of whom all succeeding Ages have borrowed their Laws It is apparent that his end in the recording of these Matters was to inspire with a sense of Piety and Religion those who were committed to his charge This is that which in general we may observe about these Matters but more particularly it is certain that Moses his end in recording the Oracles by which God promised to Abraham the establishing his Posterity in the land of Canaan was to represent to the Jews the right they had to that Land according to the design and intent of the Divine Wisdom But without making this particular Reflexion it is clear that the Law took its beginning at the twelfth of Exodus where God prescribes to his People the manner of celebrating the Passover at least this is the first Law which God gave them through the Ministry of Moses but forasmuch as Moses his end was to justifie in the minds of his People the design he had to make them leave Egypt as well as their pretensions to the Land of Canaan whither he was to lead them it was natural for him to lay before them the ground of those Pretensions which he could not do without relating the whole Series of the History until the time of their Bondage in Egypt which we read in Genesis the greatest part of which only concerns the Ancestors of that People after that Moses had first laid down the grounds of Religion and that which was known to all Nations Let us now imagin to our selves a Man endeavouring all of a suddain to introduce into the World the belief of things so far distant from common apprehension as these two points must needs be viz. That of the Creation and the Promise of Christ in case we suppose them generally unknown Let us yet further conceive a Man not only relating those things but making them the foundation of a new sort of Laws never before heard of Is there any Wit or Judgment in such an undertaking Can we therefore suppose that Moses whose Writings testifie his great Wisdom should ever have entertain'd such unaccountable thoughts I dare aver that there was any never Legislator so stupid and inconsiderate as to pretend to engage a whole people to submit themselves to the yoke of obedience and to receive a great number of Laws respecting their Civil Government and Religion by declaring to them two Fictions of which they had never before had the least Idea It is also very considerable that these things are not recited by Moses as a Preface to the Decalogue as if then first they had been proposed to Moses or the People by God but Moses sets them down as Truths known to them all and as Principles universally admitted and such as the meer mentioning of them could not but strongly engage the Jews to render a ready obedience to the Laws which God gave to Moses in their presence of the Divine Authority of which their very Senses were convinc'd Let us also consider the nature of those things the Relation of which Moses has joined with these two General Points to make an impression on the Minds of the Jews Let us consider the account he gives them of their Ancestors nearer or farther off whom he represents as equally inform'd of these Matters as having severally delivered the knowledge of them to their Children and having join'd to these first Truths of the Creation and the Promise of a Saviour many other Notions thereon depending and which tied their hopes and expectations to the Land of Canaan And now judge whether Moses were not to be accused of great folly and senselesness if he had proceeded to make such a vast People all of the sudden to receive for Truths publickly and generally owned what indeed was nothing but the most ridiculous and ill cohering Romance that ever was broached Now since as it is visible taking in the Circumstances I have hinted that the Authority of such an Historian and Law-giver as Moses was relating such importent Matters cannot be call'd in question it follows that the Atheist can have nothing to object against his Testimony with the least shadow or pretence of reason So that we may already assert that there is nothing better attested than the Creation of the World and the Promise of Christ which are the immoveable Foundations of the Christian Religion Nevertheless for a more evident Conviction we are willing before we draw this Conclusion to make it appear how weak and inconsiderable all those Objections are which Atheists can possibly frame against what Moses relates concerning these Matters What can they with Reason object Perhaps they 'l say that Moses is not the Author of Genesis but that it was foisted in under his Name and consequently that whatsoever is built upon the Authority of Moses and his evidence is all without ground Or they may object that if Moses be indeed the Author of Genesis that he lived at such a distance of time from the things which he relates that it makes void the authority of his Writings They may moreover alledge that Moses relates things impossible and of which therefore those that mentioned them before the things themselves being so long since past and done could not be fully inform'd of and that they may well be suppos'd greatly changed and alter'd by a Tradition of so many Ages They may also alledge that according to the common Opinion Moses penn'd not these things as an Historian but as a Prophet and that the apprehension of most concerning his Books are that he wrote of things whereof the knowledge before his time was very obscure and confuse or rather were generally unknown They may object against these relations of Moses that which the most ancient People such as the Aegyptians Chaldeans and Chinese alledge for their Antiquity which far surpasseth the date of the World according to Moses These are the principal ways to assault the Truths which Moses relates either by maintaining with the Atheists on one hand that the things which Moses relates are indeed mentioned by other Authors but that they forged them themselves or that Moses being an able and refin'd Politician design'd by Creating a belief of these Matters in the Jews to make them more submissive and obedient to him In a Word it may be said that supposing the Book of Genesis to be writ by Moses it was an easie matter for him to dictate whatsoever he pleased to a People who were under a Law that made it Capital to call in question the truth of his Relations or the Authority of his Laws This certainly is the farthest to which the height of Obstinacy can carry this matter and the very last refuge of the strongest prejudice But it is an easie matter to confound the Atheists and Libertines in every one of these Articles and
thing in it self there is no less Absurdity to dispute our Saviour's Resurrection than the Creation of the first Man. Now if this Argument holds as there can be no easier so neither can there be a stronger proof of the truth of the Christian Religion for provided we be once well assured of the certainty of Christ's Resurrection we must acknowledge him to be the true Messiah and consequently embrace his Religion But it seems in the heat of Meditation I was insensibly carried further in my Observations upon the Promise of the Messiah than I thought at first to be Therefore instead of passing now as I proposed in the beginning to the proof of Christ's Resurrection which is a solid and compendious way of demonstrating the truth of his Religion I find my self engaged according to my present Method to continue to make the like Reflexions upon the other Books of Holy Scripture that I may yet more fully demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah whom God promised to Man immediately after his sin And this I intend to shew so plainly as will make it evident that God hath really accomplished his first designs and exactly performed all his Promises relating to the Messiah according to the first Idea's he gave of his coming to the Ancient Patriarchs First Then I design to trace up the Method that God was pleased to use to make the Messiah known without mistake when ever he should come into the World. Secondly I will make some Reflexions upon the several Notions he gave of him long before in his Oracles to Characterize his Person his Offices his Actions his Sufferings his Glory c. Last of all I will shew that we have all this whole Project and Design exactly accomplished in the History of the Gospel as it was written by Christ's Disciples Now as this Method which God hath particularly chosen to make the Messiah known appears also in the other Books of Moses So I think it will not be amiss for me particularly to view and examine these Books that I may have occasion to illustrate several things in them which deserve a particular attention especially when they are considered together and as it were at one view For the Prophecies being thus consider'd together in their Connexion and Progress do more plainly evidence God's Design and may better convince or confound the Jews Therefore I intend accordingly to consider those Oracles with attention and to join them together that so they may in their Conjunction cast forth the brighter Beams of Light to the Conviction of all Infidels who may happen to peruse this Book For I am perswaded that after the perusal of my Observations in it an ordinary attention in the reading of the Gospel will be sufficient to convince any Man that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah which is all I intend to prove as the Conclusion of this Treatise Now as the examination of the Patriarchs Religion according to the account Moses hath given us of it in his Book of Genesis hath taken up the first part of it so I design to examine in this second part the Israelites Religion and to follow in my search the account which Moses gives of it in his other four Books And as to effect this it is very important to establish beforehand the Authority of those four Books so I intend to shew first of all that Moses is the true Author of them and that they have Intrinsick Characters of undeniable certainty Then Secondly It will be natural for me to shew that Moses in the writing of them had the Promise of the Messiah in view as particularly promised of God to the Patriarchs of his own Nation and as being consequently the principal if not the sole Object of their hope Thirdly I intend to shew that if we seriously examine Moses's Laws we shall find in them such a Method observed as is both very agreeable to the manifestation of God s design in Genesis and very worthy of his Wisdom especially if we consider what he was pleased to reveal unto us of his Intentions by the Prophets who followed Moses REFLEXIONS Upon the Four Last BOOKS OF MOSES To Establish the Truth OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION CHAPTER I. That it cannot reasonably be doubted but that Moses is the Author of Exodus and of the three other following Books THis is a Truth which may be grounded upon several solid Arguments I might observe That Moses hath always been acknowledged by the very Heathens themselves not only to be the most Ancient Historian but also the most Ancient Legislator in the World. I might likewise observe That there is a particular connexion betwixt the Book of Genesis and the other Books of Moses as well in regard of the general Design of their Author as of the Matters treated of in them For Example We see that the greatest part of the Laws and Transactions which we find written and recorded there derive their Original from those Transactions and Passages that we read of in Genesis Thus we may plainly discern that the pretension of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan was grounded upon the Promise that God made to Abraham to give it to his Posterity in the fourth Generation Thus we may see That the Amalekites could have no other reason to make War against the Israelites than the old Alliance that was formerly made betwixt Amalek and the Canaanites which without doubt engaged his Posterity to be the first Opposers of the establishment of the Israelites in the Land of Canaan Thus we see that the Seditions of the Israelites against Moses under Corah Dathan and Abiram did proceed from the Order of the Birth of the Children of Israel as it is set down in Genesis because the eldest thinking themselves wrong'd of their Birthright thought they might justly Rebel against Moses in order to recover it But I haste to things more material than these And first it is here observable That those Books were not only religiously kept in every Family of Israel but that they were also once solemnly deposited in the Tabernacle as a publick Record and that by Moses himself a little before his death that they might be a Testimony against that People as we read it Deuteronomy XXXI 26. Secondly It cannot be denied that Moses did straightly charge both Joshuah and the Heads of the People to read them frequently and carefully for it is expresly said so Joshua 1.8 Nay we see about 500 years after the holy Man David who had made during his life Psal I. the supream felicity of a man to consist in the reading the Law of God day and night We see I say that holy Man give in his Death-bed the same Charge to Solomon I Kings Thirdly Moreover it is certain that there were many Laws and Sanctions contained in those Books which are the Foundation of the History of succeeding Times And this is the reason why we read nothing in the Book of
any thing to them as we see it Deuteronomy IV. 2. It is then impossible seeing that the whole people of the Jews have always acknowledged the Divine Authority of those Books that they should ever have attempted the alteration of any thing in them Nay we see not without wonder that after the greatest part of the ten Tribes of Israel were transported into Assyria those that were sent from Assyria to inhabit their Countrey did receive that Law and that their Posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews altho' they continue their Mortal Enemies and have been exposed to all the Changes and Revolutions that can befal a Nation during the long interval of 2400 years The Third Observation which deserves a singular Attention is That notwithstanding the great and many Corruptions which the Common-Wealth of Israel fell into yet these Books have still been kept up in the same form that we have them now It appears out of the History of Josiah related 2 Kings XXIII 21. That after the Book of the Law of Moses own writing was found in the Temple the King commanded all the People to keep the Passover unto the Lord as it is written in the Book of this Covenant Now we have the Institution of the Passover Exod. XII which shews that Josiah by the Book of this Covenant meant the Books of Moses such as we have them now adays and such as they were when Moses deposited them into the Sanctuary It is important to consider well all that is related in the forementioned Chapter of II Kings for we may gather out of it that it was according to the Directions of this Law that they began to reform all the Superstitions and Idolatries which had been introduced in their Religion and countenanced by the Royal Authority from Solomon's time to Josiah this Chapter relates and commends the proceeding of Josiah only in opposition to the ill government of his Predecessors and to the publick Monuments of their Superstitions which he abolished in obedience to God's Laws contained in the Books of Moses However it is certain that it was no easie matter to impose herein upon Posterity For First The Transactions recorded in the Books of Moses did not only relate to the People of Israel but also to most of the Neighbouring Nations Secondly The Memory of them continued so lively and universal that almost 1500 years after Moses the Names of those Magicians spoken of Exod. VII 11. were as yet known not only amongst the Jews as we see it by an express Passage of S. Paul who speaks of them Hist Nat. l. 30. c. 1. and mentioneth their Names 2 Tim. III. 8. but also among the Heathens as both Pliny and Numenius do attest it I point only at those general Proofs at present because I have already made use of them and shew'd their force in my Observations upon Genesis and because I intend to repeat and improve some of them hereafter in this Treatise But now in order to follow my present design I must come to the more particular Consideration of the things contained in these Books which will much conduce to the Confirmation of the same Truth CHAP. II. That both the Character of Moses 's Person and the nature of the things he relates has always made men read his Books with attention The Subject of some Books is such as that alone would recommend them to the attention of any Reader tho' their Author had no reputation in the World but when besides the importance of their Subject the Author of them is famous and of great repute then to be sure they never fail to be read with serious attention and preserved with as great a care The Books of Moses have both these advantages so that they cannot reasonably be suspected of the least alteration or Forgery The first Character that we discover in these Books at the first viewing of them is the great singularity and admirable diversity of their Stile and of the Matters they treat of We do not see that other Legislators did ever affect to act the parts of Historians no they content themselves with their absolute power to make Laws without giving any reason for the Sanction of them Therefore we see that there is commonly nothing more dry and sapless than all their Regulations about both Civil and Religious Matters But Moses we see hath followed a more reasonable and more satisfactory method all his Regulations are grounded upon the great Transactions which he relates he enacts no Law of any consequence but he intimates to the Jews at the same time the Reasons which challenge their Obedience and makes them by that means reflect both upon the several Mercies of God bestowed upon them and call to mind the great Miracles they had been eye witnesses of I confess indeed that the use and scope of some of his Regulations is very abstruse especially now that we are ignorant of the several Heathen Customs which God design'd to abolish from among that People newly come out of Egypt where during their Captivity they had complied and accustomed themselves in a great measure to the Rites and Religion of their Masters the Egyptians But yet how abstruse soever the design of some of those Laws may now appear to be We have good ground to affirm that the general scope of them all was to keep that People from Idolatry in distinguishing them from all other Nations as also to quicken their Desires and Expectations of the Messiah the Promise of whose coming had been made by God in the very beginning of the World and renewed several times to the Heads of their Nation However we see in the Books of those Laws Religion and Policy so interwoven together that the latter seems to subsist only by the support and assistance of the former which is contrary to the custom of human Legislators who do not so much regard the establishment of Religion as the preservation and welfare of the State and Common-wealth If any Jew had a mind to be informed about the Tradition of his Ancestors and the transactions of old Moses hath preserved it with such care with so many marks of Fidelity and so clear and plain that there is no other History besides his that can give any satisfactory Information about the Original of things All the Fables of the Heathens which yet make up the most ancient Tradition they have being nothing else but a corruption and depravation of the several Truths that Moses relates in his History If any Jew desired to see the beginnings of that Common wealth of which he was a Member Moses gives an accurate account of them If any Jew desired to know the Original of Mankind or what was the true happiness of Man and what he ought to do in order to be a partaker of that happiness Moses teaches all that with great evidence and exactness If any Jew had a mind to know the occasion of
those Songs that were so much in fashion amongst those of his Nation he might easily satisfie his Curiosity by reading Moses's History If any Jew desired to know what sort of Exhortations they were which the Founder both of their Religion and Common-wealth had formerly made to their Fore-fathers Moses relates a great many of them in his Books If any Jew had a mind to receive instruction about the Original and cause of those Temporal Blessings he enjoyed in the Land of Canaan which God had possess'd his Nation of after the Expulsion of those People that had been the Inhabitants of it for many Ages Moses gives as good account of all that as can be desired If any Jew had a mind to know the Original of the several Calamities that befel his Nation on several occasions Moses acquainted them both with the Cause and Remedy of all their Afflictions Lastly If the Jews desired to be informed of the future condition of their Common-wealth in after Ages Moses foretells it in so particular and clear a manner that they might look upon his Prophesies not as certain Prophesies only but as a plain History of future Events begun and traced out before their Accomplishment All this is so much the more considerable to oblige us to read the Books of Moses with care that we may justly observe three things in his person which as they raise him above all common Authors so they cannot but strengthen the belief and increase the Esteem and Veneration which we ought to have for his History The first is That whereas all Men are careful to conceal their own Infirmities and whatever is dishonourable to their Familles Moses on the contrary seems to have affected to record all the things that could blemish the memory of his Ancestors and derogate to his own Reputation He blemishes Jacob's memory by his relating how he preferr'd Joseph the Son of his Beloved Wife to Reuben his Eldest whom he unjustly deprived of his Birthright in favour of the other which injustice is expresly forbidden by one of Moses's Laws Thus he lays an eternal blot and reproach upon the memory of Levi the Head of his own Family when he mentions his Cruelty and Violence against the Sichemites and the dispersion of his Posterity amongst the other Tribes of Israel Nay what is more he vilifies his own Birth by forbidding any Marriage betwixt an Aunt and her Nephew seeing he relates that he himself was born of Jocabed both Aunt and Wife to his Father Amram he describes his own Incredulity with all the Ingenuity imaginable when he represents the several Miracles which God wrought by him he seems to speak of himself only to lay open his own failings and sins such a sincerity and Impartiality we know confirms and increases mightily the Authority of any Author The Second thing is That Moses not regarding the advantage and honour of his own Family left the Government of Israel to Joshuah one of the Tribe of Ephraim and so reduced his own Children and their Posterity to the low condition of the rest of the Levites who were of an inferiour Rank to that of Priests for we do not see that they ever after renew'd the pretensions which they might otherwise have had to succeed Moses now such neglect of his Family shews that Moses's Principles were raised much above the ordinary pitch of the generality of Law givers who were absolute and supream over their People The Third thing observable here is that Moses had no share in the Conquest of the Land of Canaan it all was subdued after his Death Nay it was that Conquest that fixed and setled the Common-wealth of Israel which was before unsetled and as it were ambulatory in the Desart Now how could such a singular design as Moses describes in his Law be put in execution by any other than by him that formed it It was Joshua that made this Conquest of the Land of Canaan and possest the Jews of it now to be sure if that People had not been then fully perswaded of the Divine Authority of Moses's Law they would never have failed after so great an alteration to make use of their Power and Liberty in throwing off the troublesom yoak of his Laws nor yet would Joshua and all his Successors in the Government ever have maintain'd the Authority of those Laws if they had not lookt upon Moses not only as an extraordinary Man but also as one particularly Commissionated by God to make that Body of Laws for the regulating of his People We read in those Books of Moses's dying in the Mountains of Moab now that being supposed how is it possible that if the People of Israel had not been fully convinced that God himself gave their Law to Moses with all the Circumstances mentioned by him they would have continued to keep up such a ridiculous and ill grounded Conceit If he had really by his Tyrannical Authority forced the Israelites into a compliance to his Laws during his Life why did they not assoon as he was dead with the fear of his Authority shake off the yoak of his Laws and all respect for his memory One thing we may remark as very surprizing in the Relation of that Legislator's Death which is that his Body was not found after his Death For we do not see that that People which otherwise kept up and carried about with so much care the Bones of Joseph and his Brethren in order to Bury and Deposite them in the Sepulchres of their Ancestors for both Joseph and his Brethren were interred in Judaea did ever build a Tomb to their Law-giver or so much as pretend to shew his Sepulchre Josephus was of Opinion that Moses wrote himself the account of his own Death for fear the Jews should ever imagine and so give out that God had taken him up into Heaven I see I confess no solidity in that Conjecture of his but yet it may give us occasion to make a Reflection hereupon I think more natural and easie which is that God had a mind as Joshua intimates it to confirm the many Characters of Divinity that appeared in the Law of Moses by taking away from before the eyes of the Jews his Corps which they would certainly if they had not been so prevented have kept with more care than those of all their Patriarchs and Kings The Description of the manner of Moses's Death shews evidently that he was not only in great esteem during his Life but that even his Death did much conduce to the increase of it and to make Men look upon him as one gloriously raised up above the common condition of Men and in a manner not obnoxious to the Infirmities and Miseries incident to human nature But after these general Reflexions I must come to those that are more particular CHAP. III. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of WHoever will examine with attention the four last Books of
Moses shall find in them several Passages recorded which deserve a particular Consideration As First of all the Miraculous Birth the extraordinary Education the Heroical Courage and the Divine Call and Commission of Moses and the several Miracles which he wrought in Egypt to bring the Israelites out of it and lead them to the Borders of Canaan Then Secondly All the Moral Ceremonial and Political Laws which Moses gave to that People from God. And Lastly Moses his Prophecies concerning their future Condition their Victories their Captivities their Transportations concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem the coming of the Messiah and the dispersion of their whole Nation All which Passages have as evident and authentick proofs of their certainty as things of that nature are capable of Let us first begin with the Narration of the Miracles recorded in the beginning of Exodus Wherein we see that after Moses had represented the Death of Joseph and of all the generation that came down with Jacob into Egypt he writes his own History and represents himself as another Noah saved out of the Waters to save and deliver that Holy Family The whole Relation which he makes of all those particulars is very strange and extraordinary but yet his Circumcision and the instruction of his Mother to whom he was given by the Daughter of Pharaoh to be nurst up and the Conversation of that Princess who had adopted him and made her self a Proselyte as the Jews endeavour to prove Jalk in h. l. ex Vaiikra Rab. from 1 Chron. IV. 18. And his Education in the Court of Egypt and his acquaintance with all the Grandees of that Court did concur together to acquaint him with that remarkable preservation of his person and perswade him of the certainty of it For how could either Moses impose or be imposed upon in that matter Was not that Barbarous cruelty of the Egyptians by which they compell'd the Jews about the time of Moses's Birth to throw their Children into the River Nilus notoriously known of all Men Were not the Publick Buildings and strong Cities viz. Pythom and Rameses so call'd from the Name of King Rameses Miamum standing in the sight of all Men And was it not publickly known by all the World that the poor Israelites were the Slaves and Drudges who were made use of to erect those Buildings Neither could the manner of his Education be unknown to him nor yet to any of the Hebrews for we do not join here to Moses's Narration what Josephus relates of his Person of his Feats in Meroe and of his Marrying an Aethiopian Princess c. As Moses's Miracles were done in the presence of the Egyptians and Jews so they testifie that he had really received his Calling and Commission from God in the Desert and that just in the manner as he describes it himself Now no Man can dispute the truth of those Miracles if he but minds the following Considerations First It cannot be denied that the People of Israel was brought out of Egypt by Moses Their Law which the present Jews do still observe speaks every where of that famous Action of his there was never any Man disputed the certainty of that Atchievement All ancient Authors make mention of it Joseph contra App. l. 1. Manethon gives an account of the time of the manner and of many other principal Circumstances of that Exploit Trogus Pompeius Justinus and Tacitus do also speak of it only Tacitus does groundlesly I suppose of his own head relate that the Jews were expell'd out of Egypt because of their Leprosie I say groundlesly for it is known that on the contrary Leprosie was a common Distemper amongst the Egyptians and that they infected the Israelites with it so that there is no likelihood they should be expelled by the Egyptians for a Distemper that they got from them We know besides that the Law of Moses which calls the Leprosie the Distemper of Egypt did banish the Lepers out of the Congregation of the People and then the nature of David's Curses against Joab because of his murdering Abner shews sufficiently that the Leprosie was lookt upon by the Jews as a Distemper most commonly sent immediately from God. Nay Trogus Pompeius himself Justin l. 36. observes that the Magicians caused Moses with the People of Israel to be expell'd because they themselves were struck with a kind of Scab and Itch and that they were afraid least the contagion of it should infect the whole Kingdom of Egypt Euseb praep Evang. l. 9. c. 8. And here I must not forget the mentioning the Testimony of Numenius a Pythagorean Philosopher who relates that both Jannes and Jambres were chosen by the Egyptians to oppose Moses and hinder the effects of his Miracles and Prayers which had brought down many grievous Plagues upon Egypt just about the time of the Jews Banishment out of that Country But Secondly If the Leprosie which the Israelites brought from Egypt be a indisputable proof of their sojourning there it is as certain that the going out of that mixed multitude of Egyptians who so far espous'd the Israelites Interest as to leave and forsake Egypt their own Countrey to accompany them could have no other cause or pretence than the Miracles of Moses whereof they had been Eye-witnesses so that the Posterity of those Egyptians that were thus incorporated into the Body of the People of Israel were in after Ages as so many Witnesses of the truth of those Miracles which formerly perswaded their Fathers to joyn with Moses and so to share Fortune with the Hebrews Thirdly It is certain that the Jews could not so much as mention any of the Miracles which they pretended were done formerly for the deliverance of their Fathers without exposing themselves to the scorn of all the World if all those Miracles and their Deliverance had not been certainly and generally known to the Egyptians and to all the Neighbouring Nations by whom they were often subdued and brought into subjection after the Decease of Moses and Joshuah To all these Reflexions we may add that the Commemoration of the Israelites going out of Egypt with all the Miracles wrought by Moses was renew'd yearly not only by the solemnizing the Feast of the Passover which the Israelites did constantly keep to the time of their dispersion and which they do still keep in all parts of the World but also by two other very sensible ways The first whereof was the Separation which God made of the Tribe of Levi in order to Consecrate it to his Service instead of the first-born of the People of Israel whom he had spared and preserved in Egypt with great Solemnity in regard both of Men and Beasts as we read Numb III. so that every Levite was as a living Memorial of that great Miracle wrought at the Israelites going forth out of Egypt And the Second was the Law concerning the Redemption of every First-born both of Men Numb XVIII 16.
In short the Law which obliged the Jews to assist at the Celebration of those Feasts required the appearance of all the Males of Twenty years of age and upwards so very rigorously that there was no Dispensation for all without exception were then obliged to appear So that even during the Dispersions of their Nation the Jews who lived out of Judea assisted always at the Celebration of those three Feasts with great care This was a visible way of keeping the Tribes of Israel distinct by giving each of them a separate portion in the Land of Canaan and by fixing them inseparably to it as the whole Nation was in like manner distinguished by its being placed in a Countrey entirely by it self We see accordingly that God hath observed that Method by giving a Law which injoyns the Division of the Land of Canaan to be made into as many Portions as there were Tribes only excepting the Tribe of Levi because the Levites as being the publick Ministers of their Religion were dispersed amongst the other Tribes that they might more conveniently attend to the Instruction of the people I shall not here take notice of the Miracle which was evident in that Division which was an exact accomplishment of the Oracle which Jacob and Moses uttered a little before their Deaths But I shall observe First That as the design of God was to divide that people into Tribes that the Tribe of Judah from which the Messiah was to be born might be the better distinguish'd and known so he would for the same reason allot the Cave of Machpelah the Sepulchre of the Patriarchs to the share of the Tribe of Judah as also Ephratah the place where Rachel was Buried which was afterwards call'd Bethlehem the Town where David had his Birth and which was foretold told by the Prophet Micha under the Name of Ephratah as the place where the Messiah should be born in the fulness of time We must besides take notice of two particular Regulations by which God fixed his people in the Land of Canaan and preserved a distinct Idea of this first division of that Countrey The First is the Law of Jubilee The Second is the Law of Lineal Retreats In short by the Law of the Jubilee which returned every fifty years and by which every one that could justifie his Pedigree was reinstated in the possessions of his Ancestors God obliged that people to keep up a distinct-knowledge of the first division made under Joshua Joshua XIV c. and which is described in that Book which contains his History much more effectually than if he had made a Law for that very purpose So that tho the Field of Ephratah had been never so often alienated yet it always returned to the Tribe of Judah and so afterwards into David's Family because it was at first the Lot of his Ancestors This Law of Jubilee preserved a distinct knowledge of the several Tribes and Families and it also kept up a distinct Idea of their Genealogies which must be preserved entire of necessity that they might maintain their right to the inheritance of their Ancestors It would be to no purpose to object against this Observation that it was impossible to know certainly which Tribe and much less which Family every Estate did belong to because one see 's that the first Proselytes who went out with the Israelites shared the Land of Canaan together with them for one see 's on the contrary First That God would not allow any of the Moabites and Ammonites to become Proselytes before the tenth Generation And Secondly That he debarred the Edomites from being admitted to make profession of Judaism before the third Generation which excluded them for ever from any possessions in the Land of Canaan And Thirdly one ought to observe the difference betwixt an Egyptian Proselyte and a Native Jew The Quality of a Proselyte gave permission to an Egyptian to live amongst the Jews and to profess their Religion but it gave him no right to possess any of their Land. And then besides that Massa Biccour c. 1. S. 4 those Egyptian Proselites had a particular way of praying by themselves different from that of the Jews as the Jews still testifie They could not possess any Estate in Land amongst them This is so true Numb XXVII that it was once round necessary to make a particular regulation for the Daughters of Zelophehad that they might have their division which was granted only under certain Conditions because the Land was not to be divided but amongst the Males of the people of Israel But this is very considerable that by this Law of the Jubilee God fixed the Jews to the Land of Canaan by giving the Children a power to look upon themselves not only as the presumptive Heirs of their Parents but to consider their Parents only as Usu-fructuary's since all their Possessions in Land were so Entailed that the Children or right Heirs of any Man could not miss of the Reversion because whatever alienation was made it could last but for a time to the year of Jubilee which restored all the alienated possessions absolutely and entirely to the right Heirs Now that this Law was always lookt upon as a fundamental Law amongst the Jews Leviticus XXV 23. 1 Kings XXI appears clearly from the words in Leviticus and from the History of Naboth which holy Man rather chose to die than to comply with the injust desire of Ahab who would have forced Naboth to sell his Estate absolutely notwithstanding God's express prohibition The exemplary vengeance which God took upon Naboth's Murder and the relation of it recorded in Scripture is a further confirmation of this same truth If a King of Israel durst not at first infringe that Law if it was not violated by any other than Jesabel who was a Forreign Princess If the Transgression of that Law was punish'd in such an exemplary manner who can doubt but that it was particularly observed in the Tribe of Judah as a Fundamental Law by which God tied up his People inseparably to this very Countrey One needs only make some few Reflexions upon those words which God makes use of Ezek. XLVI to agree to what I say if those Reflexions which I have made already upon Naboth's Murther be also added to them One may observe upon the same Subject that tho God had several times subjected the Jews to a Foreign power yet he never suffered the whole Nation to be all carried away out of Canaan at one time nor yet to continue in Captivity for the time of two whole Jubilees they were but seventy years in Babylon which was the furthest place that they were ever carried into From whence we may naturally conclude that their Genealogies could not be confounded in so short a time because many that were at the Consecration of the second Temple had seen the first nor could the distinct knowledge of the several divisions of their Estates be obliterated
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
the fulfilling of the ancient Oracles appear therein with so much lustre The former of these shall be the Subject of this and the latter of the next Chapter As the pulling down of the Scaffolds which were only set up to build a Palace is an infallible sign that the Building is finished so one may say that the total defacing of the Model which God had formed in the Law that the Messiah at his coming might be certainly known is an unanswerable proof that he is already come It is worth our pains to make some Reflexions on this overthrow that we may conclude against the Jews that if the Messiah was yet to appear in the World it would be impossible to know him according to the Characters which God had given of him before his appearing In the first place therefore whereas God had confined the Jews to the Land of Canaan that they might be visible to all the Posterity of Noah of whom one part that is the Off-spring of Cham possessed Egypt and Africa the Posterity of Japhet Europe and the lesser Asia and those of Shem the rest of Asia the Jews at present are driven from that Country and far from being restored to it after Seventy years as they were by Cyrus they have been for ever banished thence by a Decree of the Emperour Adrian who forbad them so much as to turn their eyes towards Judea which was in the Year of Christ 135. The Heathen Celsus insults over them in these remarkable words They have no more saith he either Land or House remaining to them Secondly So far were they from having any Remainders of a Temporal Power Dispersâ— palabun◠〈◊〉 coeli 〈…〉 sui ext◠〈◊〉 vagantâ—â— per orbeâ— fine homine fine Deo Rege quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltem vestigio sâ—lutare comeditur Apolog cap. 21. that they were then wholly deprived of it See what Tertullian saith of them in the Year of our Saviour 204. They wander up and down the World like despersed Vagabonds banished from their Climate and Country without Man without God for their King and are not permitted as Strangers to set foot on their Native Soil We read a Decree of Honorus the Emperour which deprives them of the Right of nominating their Patriarchs or of paying them any Tribute which shews that their Authority whas wholly extinct Thirdly Their Temple at Jerusalem being destroyed in the Seventieth Year of our Lord as that in Egypt called Onion was the year following it could never be built again notwithstanding that Julian the Apostate out of his hatred to the Christians favoured that Enterprise in the year of our Saviour 363. There is a Letter still extant which Julian writ to the Jews to assure them of his Protection and to encourage them to that work but it was not so much his death which dashed that undertaking as a very memorable opposition from Heaven Marcelinus a Heathen gives us this account of it Lib. 23. Imperiique sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam Templum quod post multa interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano posteaque Tito aegre est expugnatum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis Negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi qui olim Britannias cur averat pro-Praefectis Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius juvaretque provinciae Rector metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties operatibus inaccessum hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente cessavit inceptum And being desirous to propagate the Memory of his Government by the Greatness of his Works he with vast expence designed to rebuild the splendid Temple which was formerly at Jerusalem which after many and bloody Battels being besieged by Vespasian and afterwards by Titus was at last taken with difficulty he committed the care of hastning the Business to Alypius of Antioch who had formerly been Pro-praefect of Britain As therefore this Alypius was vigorously prosecuting the Work being assisted by the Lieutenant of the Province terrible Balls of Fire frequently breaking forth near the foundations sometimes burnt the Workmen and made the place inaccessible Thus the design was laid aside The Element it self beating them back on purpose Julian easily apprehended that their Religion would perish and that it could never be restored without the Temple In the fourth place The observation of some of their Laws was absolutely forbidden as being contrary to those of the Roman Empire Thus they were not suffered to have many Wives Upon this overthrow many inconveniences followed which it will be convenient to represent at one view 1. They no longer know those persons who at the first Division of the Land by Joshua were Owners of the different parts of the Land of Canaan 2. Their Families and Tribes are confounded their Jubilee which could not be kept but in the Land of Canaan and which obliged them to study their Genealogies having ceased long since 3. The Family of David is at this day utterly unknown 4. They have no more lawful Priests to observe the Primogeniture to examine the Tokens of Virginity tho' it appears that according to God's design these Laws were given on purpose to ascertain the knowledge of the Messiah and to be like Inclosures about this important Truth in the compass of which it might be the better examined Certainly if the Jews were still in possession of Judea if they had their Kings of the Tribe of Judah if they had their Priests if they were assured of their Genealogies if they still enjoyed all the other necessary means for establishing the certainty of their Descents if their Temple had still subsisted in its former lustre and that the Sacrifices appointed by the Laws were still offered there The Jews might boldly answer that the Shiloh was not yet come that is they ought not to despair of seeing the Messiah born at Bethlehem of the Seed of David and entring the Temple of Jerusalem Then the Prophecy of Daniel which determins 490 years for the term in which the Messiah was to appear and be cut off by a violent Death and Punishment would seem to be eluded But the term of the Messiah's coming is past the Commonwealth of the Jews is overturned the Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed 1600 years since there are no more Genealogies among the Jews they do not know their Tribes much less their Families How then can it be supposed that God should be true in his Oracles as we must acknowledge him to be if they were never answered by the Event To speak the truth it is impossible to consider the Arguments we have alledged to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and especially those Demonstrations which the Apostles have given us without acknowledging these two things The first is That it was very easie at the time of Jesus Christ's appearing to examine whether he
prescrib'd to them in the other Books of Moses but the occasion and ground of them all is no where to be found but in Genesis to which all these Laws have a natural Relation The Second is That the Book of Genesis taking for granted that the Posterity of Abraham as well as his Ancestors had always observ'd the Sabbath and Circumcision and the Books of Moses ordering the same to be constantly read in every Family to which the Sabbath day was more peculiarly appropriated and the whole to be read over every seventh year as we know the Jews practice was according to the Law of Moses the first of which Injunctions they practice still in all places and have left off the other only because they cannot do it now they are out of their own Land I say supposing all this it is absolutely impossible that any other than Moses could have made this Book to be received The forgery at the beginning would have been palpable even to Children themselves As for Example let us suppose that Solomon had form'd a design of deceiving the People in publishing the Book of Genesis for a Book of Moses Is it possible he should so far impose on his People as to make them to receive the said Book all at once as that which had been constantly read in their Families every seventh day and year and that for 600 years before his time and therefore as a Book that had been so long in all their Families tho' indeed it was never heard of by them before that time If an Impostor can create a Belief in others that he hath some secret Communication with the Deity those who are thus perswaded by him will easily submit themselves to his Laws but it is absolutely impossible that a whole People should all at once forget whatsoever they have learn'd or heard of their Parents and Fore-Fathers and instead thereof admit of Tales forged at pleasure Some Nations have been so ridiculous to derive themselves from a Fabulous Original but they never fell into such Mistakes about those things which were at no great distance from the time in which they lived Besides we know that these Fabulous Originals never made so lively an impression upon the Minds of a whole Nations especially the Learned amongst them as generally to be believed but we rather find that they have endeavoured to reconcile them to truth by shewing something else was hinted thereby as we may see by the Explication the Heathens themselves have given us of all their Fables and utterly rejected those which they could not reconcile to good sense But in this case we find a whole Nation to this very day maintaining all the Matters of Fact related in Genesis and in particular that of the Creation as of Matters whose Memorial they have constantly celebrated every seventh day since the time they first happened Lastly It cannot be deny'd but that this Book was constantly used to be read amongst the Jews especially on the Sabbath day and that under the Name of Moses For instance since the time of Jesus Christ or since that of David Neither can it be denied but this constant reading was observ'd by virtue of a Law contain'd in the said Book Now if this Law has always been in this Book from the first appearing of it which cannot be question'd how was it possible to forge and foist in this Book under the Name of Moses the Founder of the Jewish Government I say this Book which besides all this contains such extraordinary Matters and is the very Foundation of all their Religion I will not repeat here what I mention'd in the third Chapter to make the Vanity of those Men appear who imagine the Book of Genesis and the four that follow it might have been forged by others under Moses his Name Yet I think I ought before I proceed further to remove a seeming difficulty which is often alledg'd by this sort of People For say they it cannot be that these Books were ever read with that care and constancy we speak of because a time can be pointed at wherein the said Book was wholly unknown in the Kingdom of Judah and indeed the History plainly informs us that the Book of the Law was found again in the Reign of Josias from whence they infer that if it were then unknown it might as well be forged But indeed they may conclude from hence that which willingly we allow them that there was a time wherein Ungodliness did prevail and Idolatry was publickly establish'd in the Kingdom of Judah it self yet can they not from this instance draw any other Consequence which might support their pretensions They must needs acknowledge first that the Books of Moses were not only amongst the three Tribes but also amongst the ten since the time of their Revolt under Rehoboam that they who were carried by Salmanassar into the Land of Assyria had the said Books amongst them as well as those of the ten Tribes who were left in their own Countrey Thus we see that when the King of Assyria sent some of the Priests of Samaria to instruct the Colony which he had setled in their Countrey in the Law of God it is not said that those Priests went to borrow the Law of Moses from them of Judah nor that the said Laws was altogether unknown in that Countrey but only that they had formerly violated the Law of God in serving strange Gods as they still did but that withal they kept the Law of God which to this day is yet found among their Posterity Secondly It is evident that tho the wickedness and violence of Manasseh caused a great change in Matters of Religion yet not so great but that his Subjects notwithstanding had still the Books of Moses amongst them the Blood which he shed in Jerusalem was an evident sign that there were some Godly men left amongst them who continued true to their Religion and observed the Laws of God. Besides if we consider his Repentance we must conclude that towards the end of his Reign he did in some degree re-establish the purity of that Religion he had before prophaned a main part of which was the expounding and reading of the Books of Moses according to those Laws before mention'd In the third place it is visible that the reason why Hilkiah having found the Book of the Law in the Temple as they were cleansing and repairing it sent the same to Josiah was not because there was no other such Book left in Judah but because the said Book being written by the hand of Moses himself there seem'd to be something very extraordinary in the finding of it at that very time when they were endeavouring a Reformation and it was this Circumstance which did in a more particular manner excite the Zeal of this good Prince And indeed if we suppose that Josiah had never before seen the Book of the Law how could he have apply'd himself to the reforming of his
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