REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION In Two Volumes Volume I. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVIII IMPRIMATUR Liber cui Titulus est Reflections upon the Books of the Holy Scriptures c. in II. Vol. The 12th of January 1687 / 8. H. Maurice R mo in Christo P.D. Willielmo Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacris TO THE KING Great SIR THe gracious acceptance which your Majesty was pleased to allow the first Volume of my Reflexions upon the Holy Scriptures to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion encouraged and almost necessitated me to the further presumption of laying these two Volumes at this time at your Majesties Feet Your Majesty did me the honour to say That you were pleased to see Divines apply themselves to the clearing of Subjects so important And after this Judgment given by so great a Prince which is so evident a Demonstration of your Zeal for the Fundamental Truths of the Christian Religion it had been unpardonable in me not to have gone on with the Work and I had Reason then to Consecrate it wholly to your Majesty who I was assured would approve of my Intentions and for that Reason would pardon the Imperfections of the Performance As your Majesty continues still to give such illustrious Instances of your Clemency and Royal Protection to those of our Nation so I confess Sir I thought my self under an Obligation to lay hold upon this Opportunity of publishing what all those who find so sure a Protection in your Majesties Dominions feel and think as much as my self upon these new Testimonies of your Royal Bounty When your Majesty had taken us into your particular care and had granted us several Priviledges and so made us sharers in all the Advantages which those who live under your Government enjoy your Majesty did yet something more and inspired all your Subjects with the same compassion towards us with which your Royal Breast was already touched You saw our miseries and resolved to give us ease and this generous Design was executed and your Royal Clemency diffused in the hearts of all your Subjects The whole World Sir which has received upon all its Coasts some Remainders of our Shipwrack is fill'd with admiration of the unexampled effects of your Majesties Clemency There is no place so barbarous whither the renown of that mercy which has been so gloriously extended towards us has not been carried and the remembrance will be ever dear to the remotest Ages of Posterity We must Sir be wholly insensible if we had not all of us the highest sense of so great a Bounty and we should justly appear to the whole World to be unworthy of this your Majesties Paternal care if notwithstanding that low condition to which we are now reduced we should not prostrate our selves before your August Throne with the humblest demonstrations of Thankfulness When God show'rs down the greatest Blessings upon Mankind he requires this just Tribute which is also their greatest honour by opening to them an access unto the Throne of Glory And this sacred Pattern we crave leave to follow when we solemnly pay the like Tribute to your Majesty who can receive nothing from us again that can answer the greatness or the number of those Favours which have so very much exceeded all our desires I could wish Sir that this Work which I now present to your Majesty might be so haypy as to pass to Posterity with this Character of our acknowledgment and that it might stand as a faithful Record for ever to perpetuate the memory of that lively sense of your Bounty which is imprinted on all our hearts If this could be hoped for it must be wholly owing to your Majesties glorious Name which latest Ages will receive with Reverence But Sir tho' I dare not hope that these Reflexions can obtain that honour yet our Age at least may see that they bear these publick Marks of Gratitude for all your Majesties Royal Favours This Sir is my sole aim in the Dedication of this Work to your Majesty and may your Sacred Majesty be pleased to approve of these poor Testimonies of our Thankfulness in general and to look upon them as Instances of mine in particular and of that profound Respect with which I am London May the 7th 1688. Sir Your Majesties most dutiful and obedient Subject and Servant P. ALLIX THE PREFACE ONe may divide Men into two general Classes some are without any knowledge of a Diety or Sence of Religion Travellers tell us that in the West-Indies the Eastern parts of Tartary and some places of Africa such people are to be found I know this is a Fact which is disputed by others and Fabricius a Divine of the Palatinate pretends that he has solidly confuted it If this Fact should be thought doubtful yet it is known at least that some persons may be found here and there in the World who look upon the Existence of a Deity as upon a Fable and who ridicule all acts of Religious Worship whatsoever But one may also say that if he compare these with the rest of the World they make the least and worst part of Mankind tho many of them affect to live Morally well All the rest of the World make Profession that they own a God that is to say a most perfect Eternal and independent Being that he governs all things by his Providence that there is a difference between Good and Evil that Man doth well or ill in those Actions which depend on his Liberty From whence they equally conclude that Man was design'd for the Duties of Religion that Society without it would be pure Robbery And that as it is hard to conceive that Men should be wholly destroy'd by Death so it is directly contrary to the Sentiments of Conscience to deny all Rewards for Virtue or Punishments for Vice after this Life All the Diversities of Religion amongst Men are reducible to two kinds The first is of those who suppose that there is more than one God and this is the Belief of all Pagans in general The Second is of those that acknowledge one only God such are the Jews Christians and Mahometans Now as for the cure of different Diseases several Remedies are made use of so it is visible that to deliver Men of their various prejudices we must take very different Methods The ignorance of those Barbarous People in the Indies Tartary and Africa must be removed by teaching them the first Principles and making them apply the little sense they have left them of good and evil right and wrong to the fundamental Maxims of Religion Atheists must be convinced by Reflexions upon those Principles which they admit by shewing that the Truths which they reject are the natural Consequences of those Principles which they dare not dispute To convince the Heathen who suppose many Gods we must
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
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
acknowledged the beginning of Mankind seeing they held that men were first born in Egypt altho' they endeavoured to make good their pretensions by that sottish Assertion of the easie production of Frogs out of the mud of their Fen's as the same Diodorus tells us But there are three things which I must here take notice of because they do most certainly decide the question The first is That by that long Reign which they ascribe to their Gods and Hero's there is nothing else meant but the motion of the Stars and nothing like a real Kingdom That prodigious number of years does not relate to the duration of the World as if it had subsisted so long but to the return of the Sun and the Moon and the five other Planets and of the Heavens to the same point from whence according to the Opinion of the Egyptians they first began their Course In a word it is only the great Astronomical Year about which as Aristole tells us the Ancients have had so many different Opinions and the Egyptians have so little agreed as the History of their Antiquities related by Diodorus plainly shews One thing evidently-proves what I here alledge which is that they have reckon'd up but fifteen Dynasties to Jupiter the last of the Heroes that is to say but fifteen persons to Jupiter who is Ham the third Son of Noah This comes very near Moses's Calculation who reckoneth Noah as the tenth man from Adam for it is very likely that those ignorant people after a long process of time have joyned Cain and Abel with Sem and Japhet and Misraim the Son of Ham which makes up the sixteen Dynasties except we chuse to say that the Egyptians thought fit to joyn the seven Generations of Cain to those before the Flood which comes very near to the same Account All this according to the phantastick Notions of those ancient people who defied the first men and gave them afterwards the Names of some Stars to impress upon their Posterity a greater veneration for them and in particular according to the groundless imagination of the Egyptians who were resolved to maintain that the first men were formed in their own Country And in short we find that those Dynasties for the most part if we except those of Vulcan and of the Sun have been but of a very short continuance and even shorter than that which Moses ascribes to the lives of the ancient Patriarchs which we have already set down The second thing that is observable in the confutation of this false Antiquity if one would take what the Egyptians have related of their Dynasties before Menes and Jupiter the last of their Heroes in a Historical sense is that there are still sufficient marks of the newness of the World as Moses hath described it in the remaining Fragments of the true Egyptian History First We see that Egypt hath constantly carried the Name of Ham amongst the Gentiles as well as in the Holy Scriptures It was called so in Plutarch's time The Egyptian Thebes was called Hammon No Ezech. 30. which is the Name of the Egyptian Jupiter as the Heathen Authors Herodotus and Plutarch testifie Now it is visible that all this was for no other reason but because Egypt had fallen to the share of Ham Noah's third Son who settled there and whose Posterity did afterwards people Africa and gave it their several Names as Moses particularly observes Secondly One see 's that Egypt hath more particularly born the Name of Mizraim which it bares still and which was given to it in respect of one of its parts because of Mizraim the Son of Ham. And it would be ridiculous for one to imagine that those Characters given by Moses had been allowed of in the World except he had had good grounds to describe their original in the same manner as he hath already done Thirdly One see 's that all the Dynasties of Egypt that is to say all the several Branches of the Kings who have reign'd over the several parts of Egypt did all acknowledge Menes for their Common Founder This Menes being the same with that Mizraim of Moses as I shall shew hereafter It is visible that the Egyptians who in all likelyhood have ascribed to Menes what they might more justly have ascribed to Jupiter Hammon because they would distinguish their Kings from Hero's have exactly followed the Idea's of Moses in representing one as the common Father of all the several Branches of Kings who divided Egypt amongst themselves Fourthly One see 's that the Invention of the Arts most necessary to Human Life have been attributed either to Menes the first King of Egypt or to his Successors It was this Menes or one of his Successors who invented Laws Letters Astronomy Musick Wrestling Physick Hieroglyphicks Anatomy and Architecture All this plainly shews that the Egyptians had been mistaken if they had ascribed to the World as great an Antiquity as one would think they did by the vast extent of time which they ascribed to the Dynasties of their Gods and Hero's How could the World have continued above Thirty thousand years without those Arts which are so necessary for the convenience of Human Life How could men not have found out during such a prodigious succession of Ages those Arts the invention whereof the Egyptians do ascribe to their first King or to one or two of his Successors during a very short interval of time Fifthly One see 's in the History of Egypt the same decay in Religion that Moses speaks of Herod Lib. II. cap 4. Lucian de Dea Syr. The Ancients unanimously agree that the Egyptians had at first neither Statues nor Images in their Temples which perfectly agrees with what Moses tells us of the times after the Flood But they tell us also That the Egyptians afterwards made some Statues and consecrated in their Temples the Figures of great numbers of Animals Some are of opinion and that probably enough that this came from the belief which they entertained afterwards of the Transmigration of Souls into other Animals an opinion which they thought did necessarily flow from the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. Sixthly However one sees in the sixth place That as Moses represents Nimrod one of Ham's Posterity as the Founder of an Empire in Assyria where he formed the manners of the Inhabitants according to the Platform of the Egyptian Principles so the Ancients have observed That the famous Assyrian Belus came out of Egypt And it is natural to conceive Pausan in Messen p. 261. that there he planted Idolatry which began even before Abraham's time If it be true as the Jews observe that the Tower of Babel was a Temple wherein an Idol was consecrated to worship him At least that conjecture hath a very solid ground if we consider the Idolatry of the Babylonians towards this Bel whom they worshipped as a God according to the Pagans Custom of Adoring the Founders of Kingdoms after their
contrived a way of keeping up the memory of things by tying several sorts of knots upon a Cord. All which sufficiently evinces that the belief of the Worlds being lately created according to Moses's Description was as much received by the ancient People of China as by all other Nations And here it is further observable That the Chineese themselves according to Martinius's account do suspect all the Historical Records of their Empire before King Fobius looking upon them as false and ridiculous and indeed the People of that Country before Fobius living like brute Beasts without any settled Government Laws or Arts This alone is enough to confute those amongst the Chinese who maintain now adays that the duration of the World before Confucius who lived about 500 years before Jesus Christ was of no less than Three millions two hundred threescore and seven thousand years For hereby it clearly appears That they have foolishly affected to surpass the Chaldeans in their vanity who believing the Eternity of the World pretended in order both to prove their Antiquity and to give credit to their Astrological Observations that Astrology had been exercis'd amongst them for 472000 years before Alexander's entring into Asia After all it is certain that their Calculation of 3000 years from Fobius to Jesus Christ is only incompatible with Moses's Chronology accord to the Hebrew Text and not at all with that of the Septuagint But moreover what can be more palpably fabulous than the whole History of Fobius whom the Chinese suppose to have begun his Reign 2952 years before Jesus Christ First he is call'd the Son of Heaven because they say he had a Mother and no Father and that his Mother conceived him by the Banks of a Lake near the Town of Lanthieu where as she was walking she saw the footsteps of a man upon the Sand and was at the same time surrounded on a suddain with a Rainbow Secondly The Situation of that Town which is in the West of China do's demonstrate that the first Inhabitants of China came thither from the Western parts of the World and that consequently they were of Shem's Posterity according to Moses's account in the Tenth of Genesis Thirdly Altho' there be perhaps no incongruity in their ascribing to him the Study of Astronomy and the invention of several Institutions necessary to Human Society as Laws c. yet what they add that he was the first inventer of several Figures which he had seen upon the back of a Dragon sufficiently shews that either the whole story is but a Fable or that he was a Cheat and imposed upon the simplicity of ignorant people What probability is there seeing it is supposed China was then all over infested and overgrown with Barbarism that in his time it should be recorded in writing 1. That he invented instead of those Knots before mentioned the Hieroglyphicks which are almost as obscure 2. That Men were then distinguished from Women by the difference of their Garments 3. That Marriages were then fixed and regulated which before were as promiscuous amongst Men as amongst Beasts What they say of his being the Author of a Musical Instrument of 36 Cords shews evidently the falshood of the Story for there is nothing more improbable than to suppose that he should arrive to such perfection of improvement in Musick as that comes to when that Art had but very lately been invented It is all that men could attain unto after they have long improved this Art the beginnings whereof without doubt as of all other Arts were very rough and imperfect Surely the Egyptians were more reasonable when they attributed the invention of the Lyre with three strings to Mercury Saturn's Secretary who is the same with Noah The History of China takes notice that the beginning of Husbandry and Physick was under Fobius's Successor it do's not mention whether he was his Son or no but it only gives an account of the first War wherein he was routed by a petty King one of his Subjects who succeeded him in the Empire And what is most singular in that Record is that therein is ascribed to that Usurper 1. The invention of the Cycle of 60 years which serves to fix their Chronology 2. The method of regulating Weights and Measures 3. That it was by his means and encouragement that some of his contemporary Subjects found out the Sphere Arithmetick Laws Judicial Astrology several Musical Instruments the Art of Dying and of Coining the Joyners and Carpenters Trade so far as to make Boats and Bridges They pretend that he never dy'd but that he was translated alive into that place which the Chinese do assign for Eternal Happiness Lib. II. cap. 7. Hist Nat. 'T is Pliny's observation that this way and custom of Deifying the first Inventors of Arts necessary to Human Life is very ancient but if it be an old Custom it is also a pregnant sign of the Ignorance that reigned amongst those ancient people that used it Therefore we may as justly suspect the History of the Chinese among whom it is in use as the Egyptian Accounts which were much of the same nature in Alexander's time as we are informed by Diodorus Siculuâ— The Posterity or the Successors of those famous men have always affected in process of time by such means to immortalize their Names to the end they might raise up themselves and their Families as well to Power and Authority as to Honour and Veneration above all other men with whom they conversed But however we may reasonably conjecture that those several passages recorded in that History having for the greatest part of them a great conformity with the Transactions related in Moses History which was not unknown to the Chaldeans with whom the Chinese had Communication and Correspondence all those Pretences and claims of theirs to the invention of these Arts is an honour which they have borrow'd from others to lend it to the Founders of their Empire just as the Egyptians have appropriated to their first Kings some Arts which were found out by the Patriarchs before the Flood or as the Greeks have made their first Princes the first Inventors of those very Arts the Invention of which the Egyptians ascribed to their first Kings And this Reflexion will appear the more probable and natural if we consider what they relate that under the fourth Successor of Fobius there arose an Impostor Famous by his Delusions who endeavoured to alter the Religion of the Chinese and to bring in Idolatry amongst them which brought great Misfortunes upon China For hereby it is evident that the Chinese in their History have disguised and so appropriated to themselves some Passages which relate to Nimrod's time since the Original of Idolatry is to be referr'd to the time of building of the Tower of Babel which was intended for an Idol Temple if we will believe what passes for a received Opinion amongst the Jews Chuenhious is said to have been the Restorer
and retired once into Midian to save his Life and avoid the King's Indignation but he returned to them into Egypt as soon as he had received his Commission from God to deliver them out of their Misery and Bondage Now he shew'd again by so doing that he had a certain knowledge of that great Promise of God made to that people and a full assurance and perswasion of its future accomplishment Moses informs us indeed how he refused at first the Commission God gave him to deliver his people from the Egyptian Slavery and how he excused himself upon his own incapacity and being unfit for so great an undertaking But yet he makes at the same time so visible an Allusion to the Prophesie concerning the Shiloh i.e. sent O my Lord said he to God send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send that he could hardly express and declare his mind about it more plainly But we shall be the better convinced of his allusion to the sending of the Shiloh if we reflect upon Moses's being of the Tribe of Levi of which God had pronounced nothing concerning the future accomplishment of the Promise he could not be ignorant of his being himself Excluded of that Priviledge and that after all what glory soever the Miraculous preservation and Illustrious beginnings of his Life might seem to pretend and promise to him yet he could not expect to rise much higher than Joseph had done before him altho he would reassume the former Post to which his Adoption by Pharaoh's Daughter had once raised him We see that Moses continued always of the same mind and entertained still the same Notion and hopes of the Promise of the Messiah even after God had revealed to him that the time of his appearing into the World was not yet come This I say we see by his Speech to the people of Israel related in the XVIII Chapter of Deuteronomy The Lord thy God saith he to them will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken he does not say a Priest or a King though the Messiah was to be both but he saith a Prophet to teach them not to mistake any of their Priests or Kings for the Messiah but to expect and regard less in his person the external honour of Aaron's Family and the worldly Grandeur of Kings than the priviledge of Divine Inspiration which was absolutely necessary to him as the Founder of the True Religion CHAP. XI That Balaam 's Prophesie which Moses relates is a further Argument of the same perswasion in him AS we ought to shew that Moses had a very clear and distinct knowledge of this Promise so I think it will not be amiss to make here a particular Reflexion upon what he relates Numb XXIII The Moabites being descended from Lot's eldest Daughter it is very natural to conceive that Balac their King was so desirous to have the Israelites cursed from God and by one of his Prophets only because he design'd thereby to secure himself of the Divine Blessing or which is the same thing of the priviledge of the accomplishment of the Promise to which he thought he had a just claim and pretension by his being one of Lot's Posterity And this Observation upon Balac's pretension and action is the more just and well grounded because the Notion of the Curse which he intended to have had pronounced against the Israelites is directly opposite to the terms of the Promise which God made to Abraham in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed which words as I observed before do import a direct opposition to Lot's pretension Now all this being supposed one needs only consider the terms of the Prophesie spoken by Balaam in favour of Jacob to see that Moses hath related it only to shew First That altho those Neighbouring Nations to Judea had degenerated and corrupted themselves much by their Communication with Ham's Posterity yet they preserved a strong though confused Notion of their Ancestors pretensions and acted according to that prejudice of theirs in all Matters and Occurrences of great moment Secondly That it might be an Authentick Determination of all the several Contests and pretensions which had divided the Posterity of Terah until that time It is like a Definitive Sentence first in favour of Abraham against the Moabites and Ammonites who were descended from Lot Secondly in favour of Isaac against the pretension of the Ismaelites descended from Ismael Thirdly In favour of Jacob against the pretension of the Edomites descended from Esau For when he foretels that there shall come a Star out of Jacob he decides the three forementioned Controversies Jacob having been preferred to Esau Isaac to Ismael and Abraham to Lot. Now Jacob could not be preferr'd to the Moabites but he must be so too to the Ammonites Ismaelites and Edomites This Prophesie as any one may see is absolutely necessary because it resolves all the Questions and Controversies which did excite so many Jealousies amongst all those Neighbouring Nations This Oracle of Balaam is yet the more remarkable because that notwithstanding it was pronounced at the entry into Canaan the possessing and inhabiting of which Countrey was one of the chiefest Characters of the Israelites distinction from all other Nations yet in it Balaam makes a very distinct mention of the future calling of the Gentiles to the Faith he calls them the Children of Seth to intimate that in the time of the Messiah the restriction made and observed by God before that time was then to cease and that there should be no more distinction betwixt the Jews and Gentiles who were all the Children of Noah and all equally descended from Seth by him because then all Nations were to be call'd to the Communion of the Messiah I know that some by the Children of Seth understand the Inhabitants of a certain Town in the Countrey of Moab mentioned in the XV. of Isaiah according to the Septuagint But the Arabian Interpreter of the Samaritans Abusaid M.S. in the French King's Library Note 4. upon Gen. IV. 26. brings very good Arguments to prove that that place of Scripture is to be understood of the Messiah and shews that he is call'd the head of the Children of Seth because Seth was the head and common Father of all Men since the Flood and at the same time of all the faithful before the Flood and that those words of Genesis IV. 26. Then began Men to call upon the Name of the Lord relate to Seth and not to Enos as it is commonly believed Besides this Prophesie by these words I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh determines that the Birth of the Messiah was not near but was reserved for a further time Lastly It is a very singular thing that this Oracle should be represented to us as coming out of the Mouth of a Prophet who
the History down to Cyrus the Founder of the Empire of Persia who gave the Jews their Liberty again The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the History of what passed under his Successors to the time of Artaxerxes for almost Eighty two years It was in this Interval that the Deliverance happened which the Jews received under Esther Wife to one of the most powerful Kings of Persia the Memory of which the Jews celebrate every year in all places the Thirteenth and Fourteenth days of the Month Adar which answers to our February by virtue of Esther's Law. After these general Remarks with which I shall content my self at present I ought to make some Reflexions which cannot be omitted without taking away a great deal of force from those Proofs which establish the Truth of this Matter The First is That as these Histories have a necessary Relation to the Laws of Moses so they could not have been neglected by a People who in their Religious and Civil Conduct were absolutely regulated by those very Laws The Second is That all the Actions related in this History have passed altogether in the bosom of a People the Extent of whose Country is not Twenty Leagues in breadth nor Eighty in length The Third is That this People having observ'd the Law of the Seventh year and of the First year or Year of Jubilee which Law you have in the Twenty fifth of Leviticus from their first Conquest and Division of the Country Forty seven years after their coming out of Egypt This Observation has serv'd for a double Cycle to fix the remembrance of those Actions and to make it pass from one Generation to another And so the greatness of that Promise which God made to Hezekiah Esai XXXVII 30. and II Kings XIX 29. may easily be understood that altho' Sennacherib's Invasion would in all probability lay waste all Judea yet they might eat the Fruits of the Earth in quietness the Fourteenth year of Hezekiah and the next year they should eat the Fruits that would grow up of themselves without Tillage and that on the Sixteenth year they should have liberty to till the Ground as formerly which shews without any force upon the words that the Fifteenth year of Hezekiah's Reign was the Sabbathical year in which the Jews were forbidden to Cultivate the Ground The Fourth is That it appears in effect by the Series of this whole Story that things were written so as to agree with the publick Records which were extant amongst the People This is manifest if we consider how often the Sacred Penmen refer us to the Histories and Annals of those Kings of whom they speak and of whom they only quote the principal Stories in short in pursuing their Design which was intirely to bring an Account of the state of the Religion and the Government of the Jews and Israelites under one view Let us go on to other Proofs to establish this Truth CHAP. II. That there is a strict Connexion between the Sacred History and the oldest Monuments which we have of Prophane History AS there was but few very Ancient Writers of Prophane History and as we have but small Fragments of them dispersed here and there preserved for the most part by the care of Josephus the Jewish Historian and of Eusebius in his Books De Praeparatione Evangelicâ so we ought not to be surprized if but few of the more illustrious Passages and Events of the Jewish History be taken notice of by Pagan Writers The People of Israel being otherwise engaged by the Observation of the Mosaick Law to keep close to that Country where it was established this made their Neighbours have less knowledge of their History However there is enough left to shew with how great fidelity and exactness the Sacred Writers penned the History of their own Nation In short we may find amongst the Heathen Historians and Poets who were their first Historians several Relations which shew that the Matters of Fact related by the Sacred Writers were well enough known to them and in the same manner that they are related in those Historical Books which were writ after Moses The Memory of Joshua and his Conquests was famous amongst the Heathens There are ancient Monuments extant which prove that the Carthaginians were a Colony of the Tyrians who escaped from Joshua as also that the Inhabitants of Leptis in Africa came originally from the Zidonians who forsook their Country Procop. Van dalicorum lib. II. c. 10. Polybius Frag. CXIV Salust de Bello Jugurthino because of the Miseries which afflicted it The Fable of the Phoenician Hercules arose from the History of Joshua the overthrow of the Giants and the famous Typhon owe their Original to the overthrow of Og the King of Bashan and of the Anakims who were called Giants The Tempest of Hail spoken of in the Eleventh of Joshua was transformed by the Poets into a Tempest of Stones with which as they say Jupiter overwhelmed the Enemies of Hercules in Arim which is exactly the Country where Joshua fought with the Children of Anak One finds the Memorial of the Actions of Gideon preserved by Sanchoniathon a Tyrian Writer who lived soon after him and whose Antiquity is attested by Porphyry One finds in the manner of Jephtha's Sacrificing his Daughter after his Victory over the Ammonites the Original of the Sacrificing of Iphigenia Variae Historiae Lib. V. cap. 3. it being usual with the Heathens as Aelian judiciously observes to attribute to their later Hero's the Glory of the Actions of those who lived long before We have an Account of a Feast which was observed by the Heathen Romans in April the time of the Jewish Harvest Ovid. Fastorum Lib. IV. in which they let loose Foxes with Torches fastned to their Tails which certainly came from the Story of Sampson and was brought into Italy by the Phoenicians One finds in the same History of Sampson and Dalilah Ovid. Metam Lib. VIII Fab. I. the Original of the Story of Nisus and his Daughter who cut off those fatal Hairs upon which the Victory depended Nicolaus Damascenus has preserved the Account of the Victory which David obtained over the Syrians of Zoba Joseph Antie Lib. VII cap. 6. upon the Banks of the Euphrates as it is described by the Sacred Writers There are Monuments extant which describe the part which Hiram King of Tyre had in the building of the Temple of Solomon almost the same with the Account which the Sacred Authors give us of his part in the Erection of that great Work. One finds in Herodotus an Account of the taking of Jerusalem by Sesostris King of Egypt Joseph Antiq Lib. VII cap. 6. as it is described in the History of Rehoboam One finds the History of the Kings of Syria related by Nicholaus Damascenus in the same manner as it is described by the Sacred Writers when they give us an Account of the Victories which the Kings of
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
would have taken by force to make him their King What likelyhood was there that the Apostles a company of poor miserable Jews should bring over the Gentiles to the Religion of a man who was accursed by the Synagogue of the Jews and crucified like a Slave by the Authority of the Roman Magistrate What probability was there of the destruction of Jerusalem whilst the Jews accustom'd to the Roman yoke made it their business to avoid all manner of occasions that might stir up the indignation of their Masters against them It is expedient say they rather that one man perish meaning Jesus than to hazard the welfare of the whole Nation The third is That these Oracles were written by the Apostles not only amongst Discourses of another nature but also linked together in such a Chain that their connexion will not permit us to believe that they were contrived after the matters which they relate to were past and also that they are constantly related by three Evangelists long time before the things came to pass S. John being the only Witness of the Destruction of Jerusalem The fourth is That these Oracles gave the Apostles as much grounds to expect Calamities and violent Deaths as to Jesus Christ himself so that there is no pretence of doubting that they were not faithfully recorded by the Evangelists and that therefore seeing the Accomplishment has exactly answered to the Oracle we ought to look upon them as Divine Oracles I confess that these Oracles no more than the Books of the New Testament were ever committed to the publick custody of the Jews as formerly the Oracles of the Prophets of old were but this cannot really diminish their Authority I will not observe at present that because the Temple was to be burnt it was not proper to depose them there and 't was for this reason God thought fit to cause the Oracles of the Old Testament to be translated long before Nor yet that it was very proper that these Predictions as well as the Books of the New Testament should be put into the hands of the Gentiles who thence-forward were to be the People of God and his Temple But this I observe that nothing can be imagined more solemn than these Prophecies of our Saviour and his Disciples as well as never any thing was more exactly fulfilled Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem according to the Oracles Now as no man is Master of the place of his Birth so it is plain that here is no room left for imposture neither is a man any more the Master of his Death wherefore to give a certain Character to his Prophecy he foretells his dying at Jerusalem which accordingly was accomplished in all its Circumstances can any thing be more exact But one may say That it was easie for the Disciples to forge Predictions suitable to the Event in like manner as Virgil hath done in the sixth of his Aeneids of Marcellus One may indeed contrive an imposture which shall be possible and which may answer to some few Oracles but I shall hereafter shew the folly of that thought when I come to prove the faithfulness of the Apostles and Evangelists But can we conceive such a suspicion concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles the ruin of Paganism the Victory of Christianity after Ten Persecutions 'T is now above 1600 years that the Christian Religion subsists whereas who could have assured the Disciples of Jesus Christ that their Doctrine would have had so much as one or two followers after their Death The greatest Empires that of the Chaldeans of the Persians of the Grecians and that of the Romans have been overturned and none of them singly have been of so long continuance as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which nevertheless was attack'd by all that was great and powerful in the World. Who see 's not that this is the Empire whereof Daniel speaks in the seventh of his Revelations which was never to have end Jesus Christ foretold as it is set down by his Disciples according to the Prophecy of Daniel that the Temple of Jerusalem should be destroyed and never built again who could tell the Apostles if they had forged this Oracle themselves that the endeavours of Julian to confound this Prophecy when he began to rebuild the Temple would be in vain as indeed they proved by an effect of the Divine vengeance against the Jews who were engaged in the rebuilding of it Ammian Marcellin Lib. 23. under the Authority of that Emperour Indeed if one reflects on the Oracles of Jesus Christ one shall find them a thousand times more known than those of the Jews 1. The greatest part of them were penn'd at one and the same time 2. They were writ by several Authors who lived in different places 3. They were read over the whole Earth every Lord's day they have been explained and commented upon soon after every one endeavouring to take notice of their Accomplishment 4. They have been alledged in Disputes against Jews and Gentiles and have served for a Foundation to the Faith of the Christian Church whose Teachers have made it their business to shew their uniformity with the Oracles of the Old Testament which are in the hands of the Jews tho' the Jews have always considered the Christians as their most mortal Enemies But one may also find that these Oracles being for the most part much more clear and express their Accomplishment also hath been so much the more easily discernible from whence it evidently follows That Jesus Christ ought to be acknowledged as the Prophet that was like unto Moses as is mentioned in the Eighteenth of Deuteronomy that is indeed the true Messiah CHAP. XII That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye I Have shewed in my third part that God had given to his Church several Oracles to explain distinctly this great Truth concerning the Messiah 1. He had set this up for a Rule by Moses Cursed is he that hangeth on a Tree 2. He had proposed by David the Idea of the Messiah as having his hands and feet pierced the Gentiles and Jews uniting themselves against him 3. He had foretold by Isaiah that the Messiah was to be accounted a Malefactor and put to death 4. He had repeated the same Idea's by the Prophet Zechariah who describes the manner of his being pierced which has a natural reference to the notion of Crucifixion I have also set down the Reasons for which God separated the several parts of those Prophetical Descriptions of so surprizing an Event the difficulty there was on the one hand to make these Idea's to be received which seem full of Contradictions the Messiah having been at first set forth as the Fountain of Blessing and on the other hand their seeming incompatibility with the Glory which God had promised to the Messiah and by him to the Israelites And at last I have shewed that these Oracles do exactly
stronger when it is applyed to the Writings of the Apostles In short These Books were written to be read by persons of the meanest Capacities by Women by Children as well as by Doctors And they treat of matters of which the whole World hath reason to be informed If some Jews suffer'd Martyrdom under Antiochus to preserve the Books of the Old Testament we have like examples and as numerous of those who have done as much for the preservation of the Books of the New Testameat Lastly If the Jews have looked upon those as Traitors and Apostates who gave up those Books to the fury of their Persecutors the Christians have testified no less aversion for those who delivered the Books of the Apostles to the fury of Heathens even to the subjecting of them to the utmost rigour of Ecclesiastical Discipline in the third Century and before CHAP. XVIII That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate NEither is it more difficult to establish this second Truth That the faithfulness of the Apostles cannot be reasonably questioned To be convinc'd of this one needs only consider the Character of the Apostles the Character of their Writings of their Sermons of their Sufferings and of their Martyrdom and last of all the Character of those amongst whom they wrote these things and preached them to their death As to their Sermons The Apostles were contemporaries with Jesus Christ they spoke of things which they had seen and distinguished them carefully from those which they had learnt another way They were honest men simple and without Learning very fit to bear witness in matters of Fact. They were Persons that preached nothing but Love and the study of Truth they protested in the midst of their Sufferings that they could not conceal the things which they had seen and heard they are men without covetousness or ambition they forsake all that they possess in the World S. Matthew leaves his House and Goods to follow Jesus Christ Their Epistles speak nothing more than instances of Christian Poverty of the loss of their Goods and of mighty instances of their Charity These witnesses are sufficiently numerous they preach and write in several places and yet they agree admirably in their relations of the same Facts it appears they had such lively and distinct impressions that they frequently make use of the very same words The difference which is found in some part of their Books is a manifest argument that nothing but the force of the matter made them agree in their Relations And indeed how is it otherwise conceivable that four such Authors as the Evangelists should agree about so many Opinions so many Miracles so many Prophecies so many Disputes and in a word about so many matters of Fact shall we say that the second took his Copy from the first the third from the second c. This appears to be evidently false by perusing of their works and by the difference of their stile And certainly there appears so great ingenuity in their writings that we cannot accuse them of having had a design to deceive the world they tell you plainly of the meanness of their condition and original they sincerely discover their own weaknesses their ambition their vanity their disputes their heats their murmurings S. Matthew tells us that he was a Publican that is a Servant of the Roman Power whom the Jews look'd upon as an excommunicated person and as an Enemy of their own Nation He relates the ridiculous pretension of the Sons of Zebedee founded on the carnal Notion of their Mother concerning the Temporal Kingdom of the Messiah They set down S. Peter's denying of his Master they do not dissemble their common ignorance which made them expect a Temporal King in Jesus Christ they frankly publish their own incredulity when Mary Magdalen brought them the news of our Saviour's Resurrection and they describe the obstinate resistance of S. Thomas about this matter against the unanimous testimony of all his Companions They do not content themselves with saying in general that some illustrious Facts have happened but they punctually set down all the Circumstances so that it clearly appears their design was to have their writings examined and that after an exact search men might acquiesce in the conclusions which they draw from thence For instance they do not tell us that Jesus Christ raised a great many from the dead they only tell us of three describing the Circumstances of their Resurrection the time the place the age the persons the assistants and all these with other particulars which Impostors care not to enter upon lest they should contradict themselves or be easily confuted I have already shewn That the nature of the things themselves which the Disciples of Jesus Christ have written is such as will not permit us to accuse them of having had a design to impose upon the world they are Facts and not Discourses which are left upon Record and Facts relating to the most important matter in the world than which none was ever more throughly examined they are Facts which are linked so closely and which have so strict a dependance one upon the other and so interwoven with the most publick Transactions either in Civil or Religious Affairs that it was impossible for them to form the design of such an imposture In short it is very remarkable that these Facts were publickly known to the Kings of Judea to the Roman Magistrate to the principal Ministers of State and of their Religion and to the whole Nation of the Jews assembled ten several times at their solemn Feasts to the several Sects of the Jewish Religion the Pharisees Sadduces and Essens who are attack'd censured and confuted in these Books One ought to consider after all that the Apostles at first preached and wrote in Judea where were the witnesses of those Miracles which they related the Impotent the Blind the Deaf which Jesus Christ had restored the Dead whom he raised the Scribes and Pharisees whom he censured the Sadduces whom he confuted the Auditors who had heard him preach the Towns wherein he had conversed most familiarly the same People that followed him the same Enemies that conspired his death the same Judges and the same Authority which condemned him to death S. Luke in the relation he gives us of the Speeches and Apologies which the Apostles made before Kings before the great Council of the Jews and in the midst of their Synagogues brings them in speaking of the Facts contained in the Gospel as of matters publickly known and attested by a vast number of witnesses Thus S. Peter speaks of them in the Tenth of the Acts and the other Sacred Writers spake of them in the same manner in their Epistles Here is a new Character which we ought carefully to observe we find no Temporal Interest which obliged the Disciples to adhere to Jesus Christ and we find yet less reason to