which derides the 3d Chapter of Genesis and who committed it to the Press for the sake of some of the witty Folks of the Town and to please the Atheistical Rabble This signal Act of avenging Providence is well known to the World and I wish the ingenious Theorist would seriously reflect upon it and learn thence to make Sport with the Bible no more And I request him not to be offended at my plain Dealing with him for I assure him that I have said nothing out of any disrespect or ill Will to his Person but wholly from a deep Sense of the great Mischief which is like to ensue upon this late Attempt of his I abhor the treating of any learned Man's Writings with Contempt yea on the contrary I have always paid a due Respect and Deference to them though they are not adjusted to the Notions which I have of things But when I see the Holy Scriptures struck at and Religion it self shock'd and extremely hazarded I cannot forbear from uttering my Sentiments and â—hewing my just Indignation on such an Occasion Christian Charity which beareth all things endureth all things cannot by any Means brook this And I must freely tell this learned Writer that let his Character otherwise be never so fair and 't is not my Design to â—isown it or blemiâ—â— it in the least it is certain that the better this is the worse is his Enterprize for he seems to come sober and demure to undermine the Bible and destroy Christianity as many a Cracovian Reasoner hath done before him But truly there is little Sobriety in jesting and buffooning in jeering and drolling away our Religion and that under the Pretence of Philosophick Antiquity Nay let me tell him and I hope by this time his own Thoughts do so too that to trifle and droll after the Rate that he doth on the inspired History concerning Adam and Eve is a near Approach to Blasphemy I heartily wish he may be apprehensive of his Delinquency in this kind and that for the future he may guide himself by that wholsome Rule viz. that we are not to quit the literal Interpretation in any Place of Scripture unless there be a necessity of doing so And 't is certain there is none in the present Case nay there is an absolute Necessity of acknowledging the literal and historical Meaning unless we will subvert the very Foundations of our Religion He that makes this first Book of the Bible to be wholly mystical doth not observe the Distance between Genesis and some Part of the Revelation We must be careful that we follow not the Masters of abstruse Divinity so far that we exclude the literal Sense of Scripture for this will prove fatal to the Scriptures themselves and to all Religion especially Christianity If we dote upon Allegories and defy the Letter and History of the Bible we quite null these Sacred Writings because we thereby render them ambiguous and precarious we authorize any wild Interpretations that can be made of them If we may leave the literal Sense of Scripture when we please and fly to metaphorical and mystical ones then the Certainty of the Word of God will soon vanish for then we cannot tell what is true or what is false or if we know it we can never confute any Error or maintain any Truth from the Holy Writ For by this Means theâ—â—will be innumerable Explications of Scripture and who can possibly determine which of them is to be made choice of If you offer any Text to prove â—uch or such a Doctrine it will easily be evaded if the Letter may not be our Guide for it is but saying The Place is not meant as the Words sound but must be taken figuratively and mystically Thus Scripture it self is destroyed by cashiering the literal Acception of the Words Yea we destroy the whole Gospel and pluck up the Foundations of Christianity we deny Christ and all his blessed Undertakings for our Redemption and Salvation for these being Matter of Fact are founded upon the literal Account we have of them upon the historical Relation of them which we have in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Thus dangerous and fatal it is to let go the literal Sense of Scripture and to catch at a mystical one only By this wild Practice Men attempt to thrust Religion out of the World or which is the same thing to present us with a metaphorical and allegorical Religion instâ—ad of a true and real one Therefore there is good Reason why we should not quit the literal Construction of Scripture Secondly The other Extream which is to be avoided by us is the resting altogether in the outside the looking no farther than the literal Meaning of Scripture There is such a thing as mystical or symbolical Divinity however some have mistaken and abused it and this if it be rightly used is exceeding profitable yea necessary for it is no other than the Reâ—ult of the mystical Sense of Scripture which I have been speaking of He is truly a Divine he may deservedly be said to have Skill in Christian Theology who contents not himself with the primary or literal Import of the Sacred Writings but dives into the secondary but more abstruse Meaning of them who penetrates into the hidden Mind of the Word of God If there be a 〈◊〉 Sense in Scripture as I have proved in several Instances it must be reckoned a great Oversight to say no worse in the Expositors of this Holy Book not to take notice of this Interpretation but to acquiesce wholly in the literal Meaning This is observable in the Expositions which some of the Rabbins give of the Bible for as the Jewish Caâ—alists are too allegorical as we took notice before so another Set of their Doctors is too much devoted to a literal Interpretation This they stick to when there is no Reason for it yea when the Words are plainly figurative and must needs be taken so Yet even then they interpret them according to the Letter and thence are produced some of those foolish Propositions and childish Assertions those groundless Fables and Legends yea those gross Lies and Forgeries which are found in the Books of the Rabbins Erasmus was faulty in this kind his Readers may observe that he neglected the mystical Sense of Scripture and resolutely adhered to the bare Letter In which he is followed by Calvin who generally leaves out the secondary and more sublime Sense of many Texts of Scripture and satisfies himself with the literal one only This he doth in his Comment on Gen. 3. 15. I will put Enmity between c. which he interprets simply of the Antipathy between Men and Serpents which is the poor and lank Interpretation which Iosephus the Jew gives of it as you have heard whereas those Words in the highest Meaning of them as the antientest and learnedest Fathersâ— have suggested are the first and grand Promise of the Messias made to our first Parents and
Import signifies a disposing of something is most commoâ—â—ly applied to such a Disposal as is either by Covenâ—â— or Testament Hence it is sometimes rendred 〈◊〉 Covenant and sometimes a Testament especially among the Lawyers the latter Sense prevails and accordingly you will find that a Last Will and Testament is express'd by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Imperial Institutions and other Law-Books translated into Greek We may here join both Senses together for what God hath agreed to by Covenant with Man that Christ bequeaths and gives by Testament Now we must prove both these i. e. we must make it evident that the Covenant and Testament are True before we can receive any Advantage and Benefit from them There is a Necessity of evidencing the Truth of the Scriptures which are this Covenant and this Testament otherwise we can build nothing upon them Here then I. I will evince the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures which is the great Basis of all Theology II. After I have largely insisted on this I will proceed to give you an account of the Nature of the Stile and Phrase of these Holy Books III. I will advance yet farther and demonstrate the Excellency and Perfection of them The Subject of our present Undertaking is the first of these in handling of which I shall but briefly and concisely make use of those Arguments which are commonly insisted upon by Learned Writers till I come to fix upon a Topick which is not commonly yea which is very rarely and by the by used in this Cause and this I will pursue very largely and fully I hope with some Satisfaction to the Reader There are many Arguments to demonstrate the Truth and Authority of the Holy Scriptures and shew that they are worthy to be believed and imbraced by us as the very Word of God Some of these Arguments which are to prove the Truth of these Writings are in common with those that prove the Truth of the Christian Religion on which I shall have occasion to insist at another time but my Design at present is to propound those which are more peculiarly and properly fitted to evince the Truth of the Scriptures And these are either Internal or External The Internal ones I call those which are either in the Scriptures themselves or in Vs. The Characters of Divinity which the Scriptures have in Themselves are either their Matter or the Manner of the writing them I begin with the first the Matter of them and here I will mention only these three Particulars 1. The Sublime Doctrines and Verities which are in Holy Writ In reading this Book we meet with such things as cannot reasonably be thought to come from any but God himself In other Writings which are most applauded the choicest things which entertain our Minds are the excellent Moral Notions and Precepts which they offer to us which are all the Result of Improved Reason and Natural Religion But here are besides these Notices of a peculiar Nature and such as are above our natural Capacity and Invention as the Creation of the World in that Manner as is represented to us in these Writings the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity the Eternal Decrees the Incarnation of Christ the Son of God the Redemption of the World by his Blood the whole Method of Man's Salvation the stupendous Providence of God over his Church in all Ages the Coming of Christ to Judgment and in order to that the raising of all Men out of their Ashes These and several other Doctrines deliver'd in the Sacred Writings cannot be imagined to come from any but God they carry with them the Character of Divinity as being no common and obvious Matters but such as are towring and lofty hidden and abstruse and not likely to be the Product of Humane Wisdom A God is plainly discovered in them for the most Improved Creatures could never have reach'd to this pitch Any serious and thinking Man cannot but discern the peculiar Turn and singular Contrivance of these Mysterious Doctrines which argue them to be Divine We may therefore believe the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles to be the Word of God because of the wonderful Height and Sublimity of those Truths which are contained in them 2. The Exact Purity and Holiness both of Body and Soul of Heart and Life which are enjoin'd in these Writings are another Testimony of their being Divinely Inspired For though some other Books dictate Religion and Piety yet this is certain that all the true and just Measures of them were taken originally from this one Exact Standard which was prior to them all as I shall shew afterwards Besides the Love and Charity the Humility Meekness and all other Vertues which the Scriptures describe to us far exceed the most advantageous Representations the most exalted Ideas which the Heathen Moralists give of them These therefore are emphatically and eminently called by St. Paul the Holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. because they breath the most consummate Goodness and Piety and that antecedently to all Writings whatsoever because every thing in them advanceth Holiness and that in Thought Word and Actions The End and Scope of them are to promote Sanctity of Life to make us every way better and even to render us * like God himself The Holy Scripture was intended to set forth the Divine Perfections to display the Heavenly Purity and thereby to commend the Excellency of a holy Life And it is certain that if with sincere and humble Minds we peruse this Book of God we shall find this blessed Result of it it will marvellously instruct us in the Knowledg of the Divine Attributes especially of God's Unspotted Holiness it will tincture our Minds with Religion it will pervade all our Faculties with a Spirit of Godliness and it will thorowly cleanse and sanctify both our Hearts and Lives which proves it to be from God But because I shall have occasion to say more of this when I treat of the Perfection of the Scriptures I will now dismiss it 3. To the Matter of Scripture we must refer the Prophecios and Predictions which are contained in it These I reckon another Internal Argument because they are drawn from what is comprehended in the very Scripture it self What a vast number is there of Prophecies of the Old and New Testament which we find fulfilled and accordingly are Testimonies of the Truth of these Scriptures Here I will a little enlarge and first I will begâ—n with that ancient Prophecy of Noah God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his Servant Where are foretold things that happened above two thousand Years afterward for the Posterity of Iapheth viz. the Europeans especially the Greeks and Romans among other Conquests gain'd the possession of Iudea and other Eastern Countries which were the Portion of Shem. Again it was fulfilled thus by Christ's coming and preaching the Gospel and by his
that the Gentiles relate the very same things that this doth that the Great Truths and Notable Histories Notions and Practices in the Books of the Old Testament are to be met with in Profane Writings but taken from these Sacred ones The Heathens borrowed many of their Rites and Vsages from Traditions which were founded in the Holy Scriptures They derived many things in their Religion and Manners from these Sacred Fountains though it is as true that they have laboured to pollute them But I will make it clear and manifest that they fetch'd them thence and I will abundantly prove that most of the chief things in the Old Testament have been attested both by the Fables and the Serious History of the Pagans There have been some High-fliers I know who have carried on this Notion to a ridiculous Extravagancy Thus Zimmeranus speaks of an odd Capuchin who hath vented very wild things in prosecuting this Argument viz. that the Gentile Mysteries were taken from the True God and from the Scriptures inspired by him And one Iacobâ— Hugo in his Historia Romana is quoted by the same Person as very extravagant in this kind for he holds that the Roman Story was a Narrative of the History of the Gospel Pious Aeneas was St. Peter and his sailing from Troy to Latium was the Story of St. Peter's leaving the Chair at Antioch and going to Rome Homer and Virgil's Heroick Poems are an account of St. Peter and the Church and of the Shipwrack and Misfortunes which this latter meets with in the World Ilium or Aelia is Ierusalem that was the Name which Aelius Adrianus gave it The Acts of the Apostles the Jewish War and the Destruction of Ierusalem are contain'd in Homer's Iliads and so are the Life and Death of Christ and the whole Gospel He tells us that Romulus and Remus signify the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul the Founders of the Roman Church And more extravagantly yet he goes on telling us that Diana signiâ—ies the Holy Trinity Curtius on Horse-back swallowed up in the Lake is the Virgin Mary whose Temple is seen there in the Market-place at Rome with this Inscription D. Virginis Templum à poenis inferni liberantis And a great deal more of such Stuff this Hugo hath which no Man of Consideration and Sense is able to bear Indeed such wild and far-fetch'd Conceits may be justly entertain'd with Laughter and Contempt Nor do I look upon some things which some others of more composed Thoughts mention as any real Testimonies given to the Scriptures They strangely fancy an Affinity between Scripture and Paganism between what they read in the one and what they meet with in the other though there be no Cognation at all Thus the Greek Fable of Minerva's being the Offspring of Iove's Brain took its Rise from the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Eternal and Ineffable Generation of the Son of God saith a Learned Man and Isis the Egyptian Goddess is saith he Ishah Mulier or Virgo i. e. the Virgin Mary from a Tradition among them that a Virgin shoulâ— bring forth a Son who was to be the Redeemer 〈◊〉 the World And I could mention others whoâ—â— Names are better known who have been too eâ—travagant in this kind carrying the Notion on toâ— far and strongly fancying every thing almoâ—â— which they meet with in Pagan Story to havâ— some reference to and be taken from the holâ— Scriptures But I shall very industriously avoâ—â— this Vanity and Folly and only represent to the curious and critical Reader those Passages in Pagâ—â— Writers which with great Probability and Reasoâ— we may conclude to have been taken from the Books of the Old Testament I shall endeavoâ—â— to let you see the Sacred History of the Bible eveâ— through the Fables and feigned Stories of the Heathens and thereby confirm you in the belief of the Truth and Reality of that Sacred History whence they were taken 1. To begin first where all things began the Creation this as it is particularly described iâ— the first Chapter of Genesis is plainly to be found in Pagan Authors who without doubt had it froâ— this first Entrance of the Scripture For thougâ— a Man by the Light of Nature may know that the World had a Beginning yet this particular way of its beginning as 't is there set down could not be attained to but by Divine Revelation wherefore it is rationally to be asserted that the Pagaâ—â— took this Notion from God's Revealed Will in Scripture and at the same time they do hereby attest the Truth of that holy Book The genâ—râ—â— Opinion of the antient Gentiles was that the World was made out of a preceding Chaos which they represent to be a rude disordered and indigested Mass of Matter reduced to no Shape and Form Sanconiathon the Phoenician Historian so much prais'd by Porphyrius the Philosopher in Eusebius makes mention of this Chaos as the Source of all things in his Fragments of Phoenician Theology The antient Poet Orpheus held that this Chaos was the first Principle of all things And Hesiod agrees with him affirming that the Chaos was that out of which all Bodies were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is described by Ovid after this manner Ante mare terras quod tegit omnia Coelum Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe Quem dixere Chaos c. Where in forty or â—ifty pair of good smooth Verses he most excellently describes the Origine of all things and makes the very Chaos beautiful This is the same with Hyle the first original Matter of all things the Poets Demogorgon which was borrowed from the shapeless Lump of the Chaos And in the Phoenician Language we may find it in the very sound of the words Thoth and Bau which are but a small Variation from Tohu and Bohu in the Hebrew Text the same with Chaos among the Greeks and Latins This is founded on those Words of Moses Gen. 1. 2. The Earth was without form and void and Darkness was on the face of the Deep This dark and formless Heap of Water and Earth mingled together contain'd in it the fiâ— Elements of all things that were made afterwardâ— hence sprang the World as it is now shaped 〈◊〉 modelled From this Account which Moses givâ— here of the Creation the old Pagan Theologer i. e. the Pocts made the Ocean to be the Origiâ— of all Generation which is no other than thâ— if you give the plain meaning of it that thâ— moist and fluid Matter gave beginning to all Bodâ— that are Orpheus own'd this Hypothesis calliâ—â— the Ocean the Parent of all things in one of 〈◊〉 Hymns and out of some other Pieces of 〈◊〉 Works the same might be proved Homer 〈◊〉 the like asserting the Ocean to be the Antiente of the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad On which Words the Scholiast gives this Reason
as the Original if we will be exact in rendring it expresses it And if we interpret this Proverb in this Sense it Exactly comports with the next Verse They lay wait for their own Blood they lurk privily for their own Life Those that thus design Mischief against innocent Persons bring Ruine upon themselves and are frequently taken in that Net which they spread for others This seems to be the most Genuine Exposition of the Words but every one is left to his Liberty to choose any other Interpretation which is agreeable to the Context and opposes no other Text of Holy Scripture Which of all these Senses was at first design'd by the Holy Ghost we cannot certainly tell It may be in such Places as these of which there is a considerable Number in this Book there is a Latitude and questionless it is best it â—â—ould be so that we may with the greater Freedom search into and descant upon these Sacred Writings that we may understand the full Extent of these Excellent Moral Observations and Remarkable Sayings of this Wise King which for the most part are short and concise and therehy sometimes become somewhat difficult But if 〈◊〉 Imâ—eratoria brevital as Tacitus calls it was commendable no wise Man surely will dislike it in Solomon especially when such Divine and Admirable Truths are couched in it His next Book is entituled Ecclesiastes for the LXX by whom the worâ—â— Kabal is generally rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do accordingly render Kobeleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is probable he penn'd it when 〈◊〉 was Old and had pass'd the several Stages of Vanity It is an open Disowning of his former Folies and Extravagancies it is the Royal Preacher's Recantation-Sermon wherein he tenders himself a Publick Penitentiary Which is the Meaning as One thinks of that Title of this Book in the Hebrew Kohelâ—th or the Gathering Soul because iâ— this Book he recollects himself and gathers and râ—duceth others that wander after Vanity To this end he makes a clear and ample Discovery of the Vanity of all things under the Sun i. e. in this Life or in the whole World a Phrase peculiar to Solomon and in this Book only where it is often used Here the Wise Man convinceth us from his own Experience that none of the Acquists of this World are able to satisfy the Immortal Spirit of Man that the greatest Wit and Learning the most exquisite Pleasures and Sensual Enjoyments the vastest Confluence of Wealth and Riches and the highest Seat of Honour even the Royal Throne it self are insufficient to make a Man Happy and consequently that our Happiness must be â—ought for some where else Here we are taught that notwithstanding this World is Changeable and â—â—bieâ—t to Vanity though at one time or other all things come alike to all in it yet the Steady and Unâ—rring Providence of God rules all Affairs and Events here below and in the Conclusion of all God will bring every Work into Iudgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Here are â—articular Directions given us how we are to discharge our Duty first with reference to our selves viz. that we ought very strictly to observe the Laws of Sobriety and Temperance and to live iâ— a Thankful Use of the good things of this World and to be Content with our Portion and Allotment in this Life and to banish all Covetous Desires and Projects As we must go to the House of Mourning i. e. be very retired and solemn very â—â—â—lous and composed and banish all superfluous Mirth and Gaiety so we must eat our Bread with Ioy i. e. live in a comfortable Fruition of these earthly Blessings and delight in these Enjoyments so far as they are lawful and innocent Our Duty to Others is here also briefly prescribed us viz. that we ought to pay a Profound Respect to Good Kings and to keep their Commandments yea that our very Thoughts towards them ought to he Reverent Then as to those who are of an Equal Level with us or inferiour to us that we shew our selves Just and Righteous to them in all our Converse and Dealings and that when we see any of them reduced to Poverty and Straits that we extend our Charity to them that we cast our Bread upon these Waters that we relieve their Wants and Necessities Lastly we are instructed in our Duty to God we are taught to approach him with â—everence and Devotion to keep our Feet when we go to his House to pay our Vows to him to remember him our Creator and Preserver to fear him and keep his Commandments and we are assured that this is the whole of Man his whole Duty and his whole Concern The Canticles or Solomon's Song is another Piece of Hebrew Poetry which he writ when he was Young and in an Amorous Vein and yet breathing most Divine and Heavenly Amours If you take it according to the Letter only it is King Solomon's Epithalamium or Wedding-Song of the same Nature with the 45th Psalm which is a Song on his Nuptials with the King of Egypt 's Daughter but in a Spiritual Sense it sets forth the Glory of Christ and his Kingdom and the Duty and Privileges of the Church which is there called the King's Daughter Such is this Dramatick Poem wherein are brought in the Bridegroom and Bride and the Friends of both alternately speaking but we must not be so gross in our Apprehensions as to conceive this to be barely a Marriage-Song as Castellio groundlesly fancieth and therefore deems it to be Scripture not of the same Stamp with the rest Besides the Literal Import of the Words in this Love-Song there is a Mystical Sense couched in them Carnal Love is here made to administer to Religion the Flesh is subservient to the Spirit and therefore by reason of this Mystery in this Love-Poem the Iews were not permitted to read it till they were of Maturity of Years If we take this Mystical Weddingâ— Song in the highest Meaning of it it is an Allegorical Description of the Spiritual Marriage and Communion between Christ and the Church it iâ— a Representation of the Mystical Nuptials of thâ— Lord Christ Jesus and Believers Their Mutuâ—â— Affections and Loves are deciphered by the Soâ— Passions and Amours of Solomon and his Royal Spouse This though the Name of God be not in it makes it a most Divine Poem and highly worthy of our most serious Perusal and Study For here we see the Gospel anticipated and the most Glorious Subject of the New Testament betimes inserted into the Old Object But is it not a great Disparagement to this and the other before-mentioned Books of Solomon that â—e was a Reprobate and finally rejected by God Are we not discouraged from receiving these Writings as Canonical Scripture when we know that the Author of them was a Damned Person For what can He be else who towards his latter end revolted from the True Religion
Books with us We need not stay to attend here to what a late Learned Writer before named hath with much Confidence but slender Reason suggested viz. that the Bible of the Old Testament is an Abbreviated Collection from Antient Records which were much more large He confesseth that the Canon of Scripture is taken out of Authentick Registeries but the Authors who collected it added and diminished as they pleased especially he asserts this concerning the Historical Books that they are Abridgments of larger Records and Summaries of other larger Acts kept in the Jewish Archives and these publick Scribes who writ them out took the liberty to alter Words as they saw occasion So that in short according to this Critick here are only some broken Pieces and Scraps taken out of the first Authentick Writings A bold and daring Assertion and founded on no other Bottom than F. Simon 's Brain Who would expect this from one that is a Man of great Sense and Reason one that is a great Master of Critical Learning and hath presented the World with very choice Remarks on the History of the Bible for truly I am not of his Opinion who saith he sees not any thing in this Author's Writings buâ— what is common It is to be lamented that a Person otherwise so Judicious and Observing hath given himself up here to his own Fancy and Conceit He invents a new Office of publick Registers that were Divinely inspired he makes Notaries and Prophets the same He gives no Proof and Demonstration of that Adding and Diminishing which the Scribes he talks of made he hatâ— not one tolerable Argument to evince any of thâ— Books of Scripture to be Fragments of greater ones Indeed I should mightily have wondred that so Ingenious so Sagacious so Learned a Man haâ— broach'd such groundless Notions if I did noâ— consider that this subtile Romanist designs hereâ—â— as most of that Church generally do to depreciaâ—â—â— the Bible and to represent it as a Book of Fragments and Shreds that so when our Esteem 〈◊〉 the Authority of Scripture is weakned yea taken away we may wholly rest upon Tradition anâ— found our Religion as well as the Scriptures 〈◊〉 that alone This is that which he drives at in 〈◊〉 Critical History both of the Old and New Testamenâ— But all sober and considerate Persons will bewarâ— of him when they discover this Design Theâ— will easily see through his plausible Stories foâ—â— Surmises bold Conjectures and seeming Argâ—mentations and they will have the greater Reverence for the Bible because he and others havâ— attacked it with so much Contempt and Rudenesâ— and purposely bring its Authority into question that they may set up something else above 〈◊〉 Notwithstanding then the Cavils and Objection of designing Men we have reason to believe anâ— avouch the Authority of the Old Testament and to be thorowly perswaded that the Books are entirely transmitted to us without any Corruption and are the same that ever they were without and Diminution or Addition We have them as they were written by the first Authors we have them entire and perfect and not as some fondly suggest contracted abbreviated curtail'd Unto the Iews the antient People of God were committed his Oracles as the Apostle speaks and they shewed themselves conscientious and diligent Conservators of them The Jewish Nation saith St. Augustin have been as 't were the Chest-keepers for the Christians they have faithfully preserv'd that Sacred Depositum for them they have safely kept that Ark wherein the Law and the Prophets were Lock'd up God would have the Jews to be Librarii Christianorum saith Drusius Keepers of those Sacred Volumes for us Christians and it is certain they kept them with great Care the like whereof is not to be found to have been taken in preserving any other sort of Writings under Heaven And seeing they have so carefully handed the Old Testament down to us we are concern'd to receive it with a proportionable Thankfulness and to reckon this their Delivering of those Writings down to us as no mean Argument of their Truth and Certainty Secondly The Authority of the New Testament is confirmed by External Testimony or Tradition no less than that of the Old Testament We have the Authentick Suffrage of the Primitive Church the Unanimous Consent of the Christians of the first Ages that this Book is of Divine Inspiration and that it is Pure and Uncorrupted Some of the Fathers and first Writers give us a Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament and they are the very same with those which we have at this day Athanasius particularly enumerating those Books sets down all those which we now embrace as Canonical and no others And many of the Fathers of the first Ages after Christ as Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Tertullian c. quote the Places in the New Testament as they are now If it be objected that in the Fathers sometimes the Text of Scripture is not exactly what we find it and read it at this day This must be remembred that they sometimes quoted the Meaning not the very Words At other times their Memories fail'd them as to the Words and thence they chang'd them into others and instead of those in the Text used some that were like them So when they were in haste and not at leisure to consult the Text they made use of such Words and Expressions as they thought came nearest to it Heinsius shews this in a vast many places Sometimes they contract the Word of the Text and give only the brief Sense of it at other times they enlarge it and present us with a Comment upon it yea sometimes as they see occasion and as their Matter leads them to it they invert the Words and misplace the Parts of the Text. But no Man ought hence to infer that the Scriptures of the New Testament then and now are not the same And as for the Number of the Sacred Writers and their Books it hatâ— been always the same i. e. the same Catalogue and Canon have been generally acknowledged and received by the Christian Church It is true some Particular Books have been questioned but by a few only and for a time but the Church was at last fully satisfied about them the Generality oâ— Christians agreed to own all those Books which are now owned by us All the Eastern Churches held the Epistle to the Hebrews to be Canonical though the Latins it is granted were not so unanimous This Epistle and that of St. Iames the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third of St. Iohn and the Epistle of St. Iude and the Apocalypse were questioned in the first Century saith Eusebius but he acquaints us withal that they were afterwards by general Consent received into the Canon of Holy Scripture for the Doubts were resolved upon mature Deliberation So that the questioning of those Books is now a Conâ—â—rmation of the Truth and Authority of
and a Play-day for School-Boys From these and several other Instances which we may find in Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius it might be proved that the more Solemn Services of Religion among the Gentiles and their Cessations from Work were on the Seventh Day of the Week Now no wise Man will assert that this Custom was founded on Nature for no Light of Reason could dictate this Division of Days into just seven and no more therefore 't is reasonable to think that the general Agreement of the World in this Arithmetick was derived from the Jews who were particularly signalized by their Observation of the Seventh-Day which was enjoin'd them by God himself as in Exod. 20. 9. Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy Work but the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt not do any Work c. And in other places the Institution and Observation of this Particular Day are mention'd Or I might have traced the Original of this yet higher and found it dated from the very Creation from the beginning of all things when we read of God's resting on the Seventh Day Gen. 2. 2. and his Blessing the Seventh Day and Sanctifying it v. 3. From whence without doubt the Custom among several Gentiles of observing some Seventh Day in the Week had its first rise Again the Gentiles took their several 〈◊〉 Lustrations and Purifications from the 〈◊〉 of which the Books of Moses treat When 〈◊〉 Contents of these Writings or the Practice of 〈◊〉 Jewish People came to be known to the Paâ— they presently set themselves to imitate them 〈◊〉 most of the Washings and Purifyings used by 〈◊〉 Jews came to be part of their Religion The Jewâ— Priests washed their Hands and Feet before thâ— went about their Sacred Office before they saâ—â—ficed and touched Holy Things and they had 〈◊〉 the Temple Lavers for that very purpose Likeâ—wise they used Aspersion toward others and weâ— enjoin'd to cleanse and purify them from thâ— Defilements which they had contracted In a woâ— every Thing and Person belonging to the Jewâ— Service and Worship were hallow'd and cleans 〈◊〉 by certain ways of Purification prescribed by 〈◊〉 Law Hence we read of frequent Washings 〈◊〉 Sprinklings among the Pagans Idem ter socios purâ circumtulit undâ Spargens rore levi ramo felicis olivae Lustravitque viros And Macrobius assures us that the Gentile Deâ—tionists when ever they addressed themselves 〈◊〉 their Gods whether Celestial or Infernal prepâ—â—red themselves before-hand by using of Watâ—â— more or less Hence it became a Maxim amoâ— them that all Sacred Things must be sprinkled wiâ—â— pure Water And they had Vessels for this purpose which contained that Consecrated Element It might be proved from good Authors as you may see in the Learned Dr. Spencer that they for the most part sprinkled the Worshippers as they went into their Temples The truth is these Rites of Washing and Purifying which were used both by Iews and Gentiles are so like one another that we cannot but conclude either the Gentiles took them from the Jews or these from them The latter is in no wise probable because it is unworthy of God and of the Religion which he instituted among the Jews to imagine that he would take Example from the Pagans and make their Religion the Standard of that which he gave to his own People though it is true the Jews often imitated the Pagans in their Customs and Rites but neâ—er by the Command and Order of God but absolutely against it therefore the former is most likely and reasonable viz. that the Pagans in way of Imitation took their Ceremonies of Washing and Lustration from the Jews The same Argument may be used in all the Particulars which we shall mention afterwards under this Head by this we may prove that those Ceremonious Observances commanded the Jews were not originally from the Gentiles but first of all were enjoin'd by the True God But concerning these Purifications which we are now speaking of see what was the â—udgment of Iustin Martyr of old who producing the Prophet Isaiah's words Wash ye make ye â—â—an chap. 1. ver 16. and commenting upon â—hem adds this When the Devils heard of this Washing spoken of by the Prophet they caus'd this to be the effect of it namely whenever they go into their Temples or approacâ— near them or are about to be employ'd in their Sacrifices and Offerings they sprinkle Water 〈◊〉 themselves This Learned Father was clearly of the Opinion that this Rite of Aspersion whicâ— the Gentiles used was stolen from the Jewiâ—â— Church and not that this stole them from the Heathens With whom agrees a late Learned Antiquary who speaking of the particular Mosaick Lustrations or Purgations used by the Jewiâ—â— Priests viz. of Washing themselves before they entred into the Temple saith thus This kind of Purgation was taken from the Jews by the People of other Nations who when they entreâ— into their Temples had their Lustrations and Rites of Washing in Imitation of the Jews Thirdly The Gentile Custom of offering Firstâ—fruits and Tenths was borrow'd from the Jews and the Old Testament That it was a general Usage among the Pagan Worshippers to offer their First-fruits to some of their Deities is amply testified by Censorinus And that the Custom of paying Tithes was as general and antient might be proved from the respective Histories which speak of this Matter This was a considerable Part of the old Romans Religion who as Plutarch writes were wont to bestow a tenth Part of the Fruits which the Earth yielded them and of other Goods and Profits on their Sacred Feasts Sacrifices and Temples in honour of the Gods but this was not every Year or by any compulsive Law but freely and out of Gratitude He tells us that Camilâ— faithfully pay'd to Apollo the Tenth of his Bootâ— and Spoils taken from the Enemy and that Luculluâ— grew rich because he religiously practis'd that laudable Custom of paying Tithes to Hercules That the Greeks also paid Tithes appears from that Dictate of the Oracle to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from that Delphick Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence Apollo was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among the Persians also this Custom prevail'd for Cyrus as Herodotus saith offer'd Tithes to Iupiter after a Victory obtained And this might easily be proved of other Nations it was grown into an universal and fixed Custom to offer the Tenths to some God or Goddess post rem bene gestam as Servius speaks after any considerable Success either at home or abroad Insomuch that at last it came to be an indispensible Part of the Gentile Religion and thence as Suidas observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks was as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consecrare Now this Sacred and Religious Rite of Dedicating just a tenth Part to their Gods is no Law of Nature
it were easy to prove All which it is likely had its first Rise from the Old Testament and the Practice of the Antients recorded there Is it not reasonable to think that the Cities of Refuge among some Pagan Nations whither Offenders fled for Protection had their Origine from those so expresly mentioned in Numb 35. 13 14 15. Hence we read that Cadmus when he built Thebes founded a Place for all sorts of Criminals to repair to and Romulus at the building of Rome erected a Sanctuary for Offenders to fly to Further I could observe that the New-Moons were celebrated by the Athenians and other Grecians Concerning the first Plutarch is very positive and as to the rest that Proverbial Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in use among them shews that they solemnly observ'd the first Day of the Month. The Romans likewise had the same Custom as is manifest from that of Ovid Vendicat Ausonias Iunonis cura Calendas And these New-Moon Festivals are referr'd to by Horace more than once as you may see in Turâ—â—bus All which is of Hebrew Extraction I could take notice that the Latin Iubilare and Iubilatio which are found in Varro and other old Romans which signify great Rejoicing and Shouting for Joy are from the old Jewish Law of Iubilee a Time of exceeding Gladness being the Year when Servants and Debtors were restored to their Liberty and Possessions which occasioned great Rejoicing And I could propound more Instances yet to prove that several Customs among the Heathens were extracted from the Holy Scriptures and that Heathen Worshippers shaped New Strange and Profane Rites and Ways of Worship out of the Passages they â—ead or heard of there and that most of the Heathen Usages are corrupt Imitations of the Jews I will add to the several Particulars this one more which though I will not confidently pronounce was borrowed from the Jews yet I propose it as a thing very probable It is this that the Hieroglyphicks of the Egyptians were in imitation of that People for they were brought up under Shadows Types and Symbols dark Representations and mystical Rites which might give occasion to the Egyptians to teach Religion and Morality by Hieroglyphick Figures I am not positive here nor would I be any where else unless I had good Grounds to go on because I am not altogether certain that the Hieroglyphick Learning began after Moses But there is great probability that it did and consequently that it was derived from what they observ'd among the Jews This is the Perswasion of the Inquisitive Kircher who without â—â—y hesitation averreth that the Symbolical and Hieroglyphick Learning was imbibed from the Hebrews Nay to go yet farther now we are come thus far there are those who conjecture that a great part of the Antient Gentile Philosophy was collected from the Holy Book of Scripture Among the antient Persians the Mosaick Religion might be â—iscovered in many Instances which might be given of their Principles and an Ingenious French Author hath lately proved that their Zoroastres was the same with Moses And as for the Pythagâ—rick and Platonick Philosophy which consists much in Figures and Numbers in Dark and Symbolical Precepts it is evident that it was made up out of the Sacred Hebrew Writings The Platonists Books concerning God the Genii the Spirits and Souls of Men though stuff'd with many Errors and Superstitions discover a great Resemblance and Affinity with those things which the Bible delivers about the Nature of God Angels and Humane Souls Eusebius particularly insists on this and derives the Platonick Doctrines from the Scriptures Hence both he and Clement of Alexandria take notice of what Numenius the Pythagorean Philosopher said of Plato namely that he was the Greek Moses And indeed most of the antient Sages and Philosophers were obscure and mystick in their Stile and way of delivering their Notions as the Sacred Writers are observ'd to be very often Hence it is said by the antient Father whom I last quoted That the way of Philosophizing among those Pagans was after the manner of the Hebrews that is Aenigmatical But as to the Matter as well as Stile the chiefest of the old Greek Poets and Philosophers as Orpheus Homer Hesiod Thales Anaxagoras Parmenides Empedocles Democritus Socrates besides Pythagoras and Plato before named agree with Moses We may say of them all as an Historian saith of the first of them after he had set down several Particulars of sound Philosophy in his Poems They have pronounced many things concerning God and Man which are consonant to that Truth which we who are taught by the Holy Writings profess This may give light to what an Egyptian Priest told Solon Yoâ— Grecians saith he are but of yesterday and know nothing of the Rise and Antiquity of Arts there is not one of you that is Old and there is no Learning among you that is Antient. His meaning was that all their Knowledg was borrowed and that the Sacred Mosaick Philosophy and Theology were the oldest of all From this the Heathens took theirs though sometimes they express it in different Terms Thus we have gone through the Moâ—aick Records and in many Instances shew'd the Derivation of Gentile Philosophy Principles Praâ—tices and Usages from those Sacred Writings and consequently we have evinced the Truth and Antiquity of these Records Before I leave this Head of my Discourse I will here add the Testimony of Pagan and Profane Authors concerning this great Law-giver Moses the first Penman of Holy Scripture which is still in prosecution of what I undertook to shew that the Writings of the Old Testament and with them their Authors and Penmen are attested by Profane Writers It appears first from what these have said that there was such a Person and that he was what his Writings represent him to be This is he that is called by Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alluding to his Name Mosheh Exod. 2. 10. which was given him because he was drawn out of the Water He is celebrated by Alexander Polyhistor Philochorus Thallus Appion cited by Iustin Martyr by Manethon and Numenius alledged by Origen and Eusebius by Lysimachus and Molon quoted by Iosephus by Chalcidius Sanchoniathon Iustin Pliny in Porphyrius Moses is placed by Dioâ—orus the Sicilian in the Front of his famous Law-givers only a little disguised under the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is there said to have received his Laws from Mercury And why from Mercury Perhaps because some Chronologers acquaint us that the Great Mercurius stiled Trismegistus the antientest Philosopher among the Egyptians was either contemporary with Moses or is thought to have lived about his time But St. Augustine tells us in his Noted Book de Civitate Dei that this 〈◊〉 was Nephew to another Mâ—râ—urius whose 〈◊〉 was Atlas the famous Astrologer and he it was belike that flourished in Moses's time Whâ—â—â—â— if I
their Religious Rites from the Gentiles That from what hath been premised we may take notice of and admire the singular Providence of Heaven That we are ascertain'd of the Antiquity Reasonableness and Certainty of our Religion That we are reconcil'd to the writings of Prophane Authors That we are assured of the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures of the Old Testament I Will now add unto Reason and Evidence the Suffrage of the Learned and Wise whether Ancients or Moderns It was averr'd long since by Demetrius Phalereus that Great Historian and Philosopher in an Epistle of his to King Ptolomey that the Gentile Philosophers took many things from the Holy Scriptures as you will find him cited by Eusebius in his Evangelical Preparation This is an early Testimony to the truth of what I have asserted By this it appears that the Notion which I have offered is above two thousand years Old Iosephus the Learned Iew who lived about half a thousand years after attests the same and professedly proves that both Philosophers and Poets borrowed from the Sacred Fountains of Scripture This is abundantly testified by the Christian Fathers as Tatianus who hath a set Oration on this Subject that what Learning the Greeks gloried in was received all of it from the Barbarians as they call'd the Iews Tâ—eophilus Bishop of Antioch who lived likewise in the Second Century asserts this in defence of Christianity proving that whatever the Pagan Poets writ of Hell and the pains of it and several other Subjects in Divinity was stolen from the Writings of the inspired Prophets and that the Christian doctrine which is in a great part taken from them is the Ancientest Religion Iustin the Christian Philosopher and martyr speaks to the like purpose and proves that all the true Notions in Theology among the Pagans sprang from Moses and the Holy Writings and he instanceth in and enlargeth on many Particulars shewing that Orpheus Homer and Plato had several of their Words Phrases Opinions Traditions Descriptions from the Prophetick Writings He maintains that the Fables of Bacchus Hercules Aesculapius c. were made out of the depraved sense and meaning of the Holy Writ At another time he pursueth the same Argument and attempts to demonstrate that all the Great and Brave things in the Philosophers and Poets Writings are from the Holy Book Clement of Alexandria is very copious on this Theme The Scope of the first Book of his Stromata is to shew that the Philosophy of the Hebrews was many Generations older than that of the Gentiles and in prosecution of this he endeavours to evince that the Opinions of the Greek Philosophers and others were taken from Moses and other Hebrews And in the Second Book of his Stromata he farther insisteth on this Subject and proves that the Greeks were Notorious Plagiaries and stole their Philosophy from the Barbarians And so he goes on in the following Books to prove that all the good Notions among the Greeks came from the Hebrews that whatever Excellent Truths the former taught thâ—y had from the latter they Sacrilegiously took them from the Holy Patriarchs and Iews This is the sense of the forty seventh Chapter of Tertullian's Apologetick he there maintains that both Poets and Philosophers were beholding to the Prophets and derived all their best things from them Yea those very Arguments which the Pagans bring against the Christian Truth are fetch'd from it as I observ'd from him before I have mention'd Origen already but if you consult his Fourth Book against Celsus you will find this more largely asserted viz. That the Pagan Rites and Stories were taken from the Scriptures Eusebius likewise hath been quoted before but if the Reader think good to peruse the Author he will see this Argument insisted on in four or five Books together where he proves that the Greeks had some understanding of Moses's Theology and follow'd the Iewish Writers in several things which he makes good by alledging several passages out of Theophrastus Hecataeus Porphyrius Numenius Megasthenes c. And afterwards he goes on and more designedly clears this Proposition that what is good in the Writings of the Gentile Philosophers is all stoln from the Hebrews and that the Wisdom of the Greeks especially came from the Iews I might add the Testimony of St. Augustin who shews that the Platonists borrowed from the Scripture And of Theodoret who agrees with him in this and farther proves that other Philosophers had their Theologick Notions from Moses and the Prophets Thus we see this is an Old and Received Truth Nor doth it want the Sâ—ffrage of the most Learned Modern Writers some of whom without any order of time I will briefly mention Stuckius is very plain and peremptory and speaks the Sum of what we have delivered in the preceeding Discourse The whole Religion of the Old Pagans saith he proceeded from a depraved perverse and preposterous kind of imitating that Ancient and truly Divine Religion which the Patriarchs and their posterity the Iews had such a reverence for as being prescribed them by God himself Villalpandus on the Pentateuch professedly declares that the Sacrifices and other Usages among the Gentiles came from the Iews Who can deny saith another that the Laws which were given to those Holy Men the Hebrews came first to the Egyptians and then out of Egypt went to Greece The Elder Vossius hath in almost innumerable places assorted this that the Gentiles made a great number of their Fables out of the Histories which are in the Sacred Writings Bochart hath with great Wit and Learning traced and discovered the footsteps of Scripture-History among the Heathens in their Mythology It is the Opinion of Marcus Marinus that the Theological Sentiments concerning Divine Things were the same among all the Ancient Hebrews and Patriarchs but afterwards they were depraved by the Greeks and Converted into Fables Lewis Capell hath these express words In the Old Fables of the Greeks you may perceive some shadow and Image some dark and flying footsteps as 't were of several of the Histories in the Bible Which might be demonstrated by a manifold induction of particulars It is the declar'd judgment of another that the Gentiles were wont to transferr the more remarkable Histories of the Old Testament and the Divine Miracles related therein to their false Gods And he instances in several And because I have asserted in the foregoing Discourse that the Sacred Mysteries and Rites of God's own appointment have been prophaned and abused even to Magical purposes I will adjoyn here the Testimony of Petrus Crinitus who expresly tells us that the Egyptians and others made and invented Magical Ceremonies out of the Scacred Rites and Observances of the Iews and that they were wholly indebted to these for them Kircher and Isaac Vossius have done their part in this Subject but Huetius in his Evanâ—â—lical
Renowned Acts of several of the Patriarchs and first Worthies c. It is a great establishing of our Faith that those Pagans derived so many things from Scripture The Gentile Writers vouch a great part of our Religion Wherefore we must needs imbrace it when it is attested by such Disinteressed Persons 3. We ought to take notice of the Wonderful Providence of God in this matter Behold the Scripture is attested by those who never owned its Authority yea the very Enemies of these Holy Writings ratiâ—ie the Truth and Certainty of them The Heathen Poets whilst they Corrupt Divine Truth assert it Their very Lies and Fictions bear witness to the Sacred Verities their Fables confirm the Infallibility of the Bible This is the Lord 's doing here the Great and Over-ruling Wisdom of God is seen Here his Almighty Power in baâ—â—ing Satan's Contrivances and Designs may be discern'd He as was said before intended the Corruption of the Scriptures the silencing of the Truth the Exalting of himself and the Advancing of his Kingdom But the All-Wise and Powerful Moderator of the World disappointed his Designs and made this thing we are speaking of serviceable and beneficial to Religion he made it become an Argument of its Antiquity Reasonableness and Certainty against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels 4. Henceforth we are reconciled to the Writings of Prophane Authors We have this considerable advantage by reading the Works of the Ancient Heathens and by perusing their Stories and Fables that we shall find some Greater Thing couched in them than the bare Narrative For these Writers borrow'd many things from the Holy Book their broken Stories are often-times an imperfect account of Scripture Relations Sundry things in their Writings are gather'd out of the Divine Volume but are strangely wrested pervertrd and obscured by having new Names and â—eigned Circumstances affix'd to them Almost all the Gentile Fables and Theology flowed from a depraved sense of the Sacred Writings The Poets disguise true Stories with many Fictions and some Reliques of Divine Truth are buried under their ingenuous Fancies and Fabulous Narrations Ovid Transcribed the Greek Theology from Orpheus Homer Hesiod and other Ancient Poets and these had it from the Bible The very Poetick Fictions refer unto real Story and are drawn from the Divine Source of Truth So that we are reading the Holy Scripture in a manner whilst we are turning over Pagan Writers In these we meet with Truths Transplanted from the Sacred Book we find many passages stollen from the Hebrew Fountains It is not to be denied then that Scholars and Students yea the very Candidates of Sacred Theology may with great profit prie into these Writings of the Pagans for here are the footsteps of Divine Verities Prophane and Sacred Learning are to be joyn'd The Gentile Monuments illustrate the inspired ones We may notwithstanding the disguise which Poets have put upon the Stories see the foundation of them and perceive that those vain Figmentsâ— are grounded on some Solid Truth and that a Sacred Treasure lies hid under those confused Fables For this is not to be denied that Palestine afforded Greece matter of fancy and invention the Pagan Poets were befriended by the Iews Athens was indebted to Ierusalem Parnassus was beholding to Sinai and Helicon to Iordan You see then the advantage we may reap by being acquainted with Prophane Writers whilst we look further than the outward shape which they have given to many things and search into that Truth which lies hid under it even the Sacred and undoubted History of the Old Testament Thus we may make them serviceable to far higher and better ends than they are intended This is the best improvement that can be made of them to see the true Source of what is written by them to understand whence they borrowed their matter and to confirm our selves in the belief of the Truth of the Sacred Writings by perusing these which are Prophane 5thly and lastly then See the Authority Truth and Certainty of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament which is the main thing I have been aiming at I had proved this before by several Arguments and those perhaps on some accounts more Forcing and Convictive than this but I thought good to add this to them as no contemptible way of proving the Antiquity and Authority of the Sacred Book The Truth of the Historical part of the Old Testament is evidenced from Heathen Writers not only Historians but Philosophers and Poets A Man may by comparing these with the Sacred Volume find out the Original of the Pagan Traditions and Fictions and observe the Lineaments of true and unquestionable History among them Hence we shall have no reason to doubt that there were such Persons and Things in being as are spoken of in the Old Testament and that the Passages and Transactions there mention'd were real and true This admirably serves to evince the Authority of those Writings this proves the Truth of the Records of Holy Writ and that they ought to be received as the Oracles of God i. e. as Infallible CHAP. X. The Authority of the Books of the New-Testament confirmed by Pagan and Iewish Writers who speak of a King or Lord that should come out of the East and particularly out of Judaea An Enumeration of the Opinions of the Learned concerning the Sibylls with the particular Sentiment of the Author viz. That the Contents of their Verses were horrow'd from the Old-Testament and that those Women were not Prophetesses but only related what they found in the Inspired Writings or heard of thence A full Answer to the Objections of those who hold the Sibylline Writings to be Spurious NExt I am to shew how the Scriptures of the New-Testament are vouched and confirmed by an External Testimony i. e. how professed Pagans â—nd Iews Enemies to Christianity have related â—nd asserted the very same things that are set down â—n those Evangelical Writings First I will begin with that which is of a middle nature between what I have been discoursing of before and what â— am now to ingage in which therefore may aptâ—y serve as a Transition from one to the other I â—ean the belief and report recorded in Pagan Writers that a King or Lord should come from the â—ast and do great and mighty things This was deâ—ived from the Scriptures of the Old Testament and 〈◊〉 belongs to the former Discourse but becaâ—se it is mentioned by Historians that were after Christ's time and the Application is with all reason to be made to Him I rightly bring it in here It was I say a constant Report that prevail'd about the time of our Saviour's Birth and afterwards that some eminent Person or Persons should rise out of those Eastern Nations and be Lords of the World We find Tacitus asserting this and that great Politician and Statesman would needs have it fulfilled in Vespasian and Titus because they were called out of Iudea unto the Empire of Rome Suetonius
for Prestegian or Protegian as some think but this is disputable Maldon in Essex by the Saxons called Malodune is a Corruption of Camalodunum the old Colony of the Romans here Godmanchester in Huntingdon shire is so written in stead of Gormonchester from one Gormon a Danish Prince that had this part of the Country alotted to him But Charter-House for Chartreuse the Covent heretofore of the Carthusians and Shingles the common word for St. Anthony's Fire because it incompasses the Body like a Girdle for Cingles and Good Morrow for Good Morning are not so great Depravations of the Words Refer this to Page 254. Line 25. If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified any such thing as furtum we might perhaps think the English Felony came thence If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or stola signified Sedile we should be inclined to fetch Stool thâ—nce We should have derived Smoke from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it had signified any thing like fumus and so a Spade from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Spado Nay If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoted any thing like Placenta or laganum we then should have vouched even our English word of that sound to be derived from it FINIS BOOKS Sold by Richard Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christian's Love to it The Second Edition Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to Read the Holy Books With Directions to them therein Twelves A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the Daily Publick Prayers Twelves All Three by the Reverend Dr. Patrick now Lord Bishop of Ely The Old Religion demonstrated in the Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof By I. Goodman D. D. The Second Edition Twelves Imprimatur April 6. 1694. CAROLUS ALSTON R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. à sacris A DISCOURSE Concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection OF THE BOOKS OF THE Old and New Testament Vol. II. Wherein the Author 's former Underta king is further prosecuted viz. an Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed by I. D. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCIV Imprimatur Cantab. Oct. 19. 1693. Geo. Oxenden LL. D. Procan Jo. Beaumont S. T. D. Regius Theologiae Professor Nath. Coga S. T. D. Aul. Pembr Custos Jo. Covell S. T. D. Coll. Christi Praefect TO THE Right Reverend Father in God SIMON Lord Bishop of ELY My LORD I Once more presume to prefix your Lordship's Name which is so Great and Celebrated to my Obscure Papers thereby to create them some Credit and to derive a Repute upon my self Your Matchless Pen hath purchas'd You a lasting Renown and Your Exemplarly Life and Practice have added a farther Glory to You. So that all the understanding World counts You worthy of douâ—le Honour If You had lived in the Primitive times You would have been one of the most Eminent Fathers of the Church in those Days as You have the Honour to be now in these And Your Strict Life would have entituled You a Saint You do all the Parts of an Excellent Man and a Christian Bishop You perform Great and Worthy things Your self and You countenance even the lower and meaner Attempts of others In a word all that are intelligent proclaim You the Chief Glory of our English Prelacy My Lord I do not apprehend that this can offend You for He that is eminently Vertuous and Learned provokes the World to speak his Worth and they would be infinitely blameable if they robb'd him of his due Praise Therefore I must confess I do not see the Reasonableness of those Writerâ— that tell their Patrons they will not praise them lest they should offend their Modesty I would not dedicate my Labours as mean as they are to a Person of a mean Figure in the Learned World or in the Accounts of the Religious For the Design of the Dedication is to let the World know that such a Person is really Praise-worthy and tâ—at even to a Wonder that he is one that ought to be extremely honoured and venerated for his Transcendent Excellencies and that he is to be a Pattern to the rest of Mankind And yet my Lord You see I do not enter on the Task of Enlarging on Your Lordship's Praises the Reason is not because it is unlawful or unfit but because it is too Great for me Not to give Your Lordship any farther Trouble if I have offended by this repeated Presumption I have this to plead in my Excuse that Your Merits as well as my Own Inclinations have made me Criminal And seeing my Fault bears the Name of Duty I despair not but that it will meet with a Pardon and that Your Lordship will aceept of this poor Oblation from My Lord Your Lordship 's most Devoted Son and Servant J. EDWARDS THE PREFACE WHen I had by my long Forbearance satisfied the World that I was not fond of shewing my self in Publick and offering any Discourses in Print at leâ—st with open Face I at last prevail'd with my sâ—lf to venture visibly to the Press And truly I think I may appear now with the more Confidence because I have a great while deliberated on what I have done in this Nature Though I was very shy at first yet now being enter'd into thiâ— employment I believe I shall make a Practice of it till it may be I shall be thought by some to run into another Extream But I shall not consult or attend to the Opinion of a few prejudiced or envious Folks but go on with my Work which I design'd And if it be said that some of the Texts and Other Subjects which I discourse upon have been often treated of by others my Answer is that I â—m glad they have for then it will appear what I have done then the Reader will see I hope that I am no Filching Plâ—giary no Apish Imitator no Rash and Credâ—lous Swearer unto other Mens Opinions that when I handle the same Matter which others have before me I present the World with something beside Different Phrase and New Method that by offering a fresh Critical Gloss upon several Dubious and Difficult Passages in the Old and New Testament I have cleared up the Sâ—â—se of them and in short that I hâ—ve made some Remarkable Observations on the Best Book in the World If I have not perform'd this which the Iudicious only can be Iudges of I â—m sure I have endeâ—vour'd it and have all along made it my grand Design and Business to â—elp my Readers to understand the Bible aright which certainly is of the highest Concern next to the Religioâ—s Practice of it In order to the pursuit of this I had sufficient Warrant to break out of my Retirement to
who thereby destroys the whole System of Theology and of Christianity it self for if there were none of those things before mentioned if in a literal and historical Sense there was no such thing as that first Disoâ—edience of Adam if there be nothing true concerning the Temptation and the Apostacy of our first Parents and the Evils and Misery that ensued upon it then it will follow thence that Mankind had no need of a Saviour and Redeemer then Christ's Coming in the Flesh was in vain then all Christianity falls to the Ground then when the Writings of the New Testament speak of Eve's being deceived and being in the Transgression when they acquaint us that the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtility and that by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners and that in Adam all died all is mere Romance and Fiction there was nothing of these in Reality And then likewise we have as good Reason to believe that the other Parts of the New Testament which speak of our Saviour and all his Undertakings are to be understood in the same manner that is they are but a cunningly devised Parable they may have some moral meaning as Esop's Fables have but they contain nothing of real Fact This is the natural Result of allegorizing the 3d Chapter of Genesis By dealing thus with this Part of the Bible he hath baffled all the rest he hath wretchedly subverted the whole Scheme of our Religion he hath spoil'd the whole Fabrick of Christianity and he hath made the Scripture useless and insignificant So that by this one Attempt of his he hath shaken not to say overturn'd the Foundations of Religion he hath taken part with the known Despisers of all revealed Theology he hath encouraged and patronized the wild Conceits of Scepticks he hath strengthned the Hands of the Profane he hath abundantly gratified the whole Tribe of Atheists and Deists he hath won their Hearts for ever And indeed we cannot but observe what fort of Men they are that applaud his Undertaking viz. the Wits of the Town as they are call'd Men disposed to very ill Thoughts of Religion and the Scriptures yea Men generally indulging themselves in Immorality and Debauchery These are the Persons that promote his Notions and cry up his Writings This Theorist is become much more pleasing to them than Mr. Hobbs This new Archaeologist is far more taking than the Leviathan because he nips the Bible more closely and also because he is not as the other a Layman but a professed Divine and that of the Church of England This makes his Enterprize so acceptable to these Men for now they have a Clergyman to vouch them they have the Warranty of a Church-man I will not question or so much as suspect the Prudence of our Ecclesiastical Governors but in my Judgment if there be no publick Censure pass'd upon such a daring Attempt as this by a Member of our Church Atheists will have just Ground to laugh at our Discipline as well as they do at our Doctrine To excuse himself he saith this way of speaking is used in the Writings of the New Testament and confessed to be Metaphorical and Symbolical and why not then in Genesis I answer Because though there are some Expressions of that Nature as the Trumpet sounding and the Books opened at the Day of Judgment which are but metaphorical it is likely yet it is easy to discern it And in other Places it is intimated and sometimes plainly declared that the Passages are metaphorical and myâ—â—ical as in the Parables of the Prophets and of our Saviour But it is quite anothâ—r thing which we are speaking of viz. not an Expression or two but a whole entire History delivered in plain Words and with all its Circumstances as Matter of Fact and there is not the least Intimation of any other Sense yea many of the Particulars are mentioned in other Places of the Old and New Testament as direct Matter of Fact Wherefore when he attempts to solve his Undertaking by alledging some Passages in the New Testament of Christ and his Apostles he cannot but see that it is very foreign to his Business Again in a short Appendix to his Book where he seems to retract in a manner what he â—ad said having been informed he â—aith that it was displeasing to pious and wife Men he excuses himself by alledging the Fathers who 't is true present us with several allegorical Interpretations and Descants on some Places of Scripture and particularly on the 3d Chapter of Genesis but this is â—othing to his purpose because those antient Writers do not deny the literal Sense which he doth He is not content to allegorize that Chapter but he wholly rejects the literal Meaning and confidently avers that Moses all along tells a Story that â—ath nothing of Truth in it and is not spoken according to the Nature of the things So I grant that some of the old Iewish Doâ—tâ—rs moralized Mâ—ses's History but they did not slight much less â—upersede and lay aside the historical Sense And moreover he hath neither the Fathers nor the Rabbies as an Example of ridiouling the Mosaick History which yet he doth throughout his whole Discourse on that Chapter shewing his little Talent of Jesting and Droâ—ling So that in brief it might become Hudibras better than a Doctor of Divinity I appeal to any that are acquainted with the antient Monuments of the Church whether he doth not perfectly tread in the Steps of the old Adversaries and Blasphemers of Christianity Iulian Celsus c. The former of these speaking of and deriding what is said in Genesis concerning Adam and Paradise and eating the forbidden Fruit c. positively declares that these are altogether fabulous And again afterwards What Difference is there saith he between these and the Fables of the Greeks What Dr. Burnet saith amounts to the same for when he expresly saith Moses delivered nothing of the Physical Truth concerning the Creation of the World c. but wisely dissembles to accommodate himself to the People and when he tells us that Moses said these things only to conciliate Force and Authority to his Laws which are his own Words he doth as good as say that what he delivers is a Fable He might in plain Terms have stiled the Mosaick History a Fabulous Tradition as Simplicius calls the Account which Moses gives of the Creation Yea he might as well have spoken the Language of his Friend Celsus who call'd the Mosaick Relation concerning Adam and Eve an old Wife's Fable Thus we see what Examples he follows some of the craftiest and subtilest but yet the most malicious Enemies of the Christians who laugh'd at their Religion whilst others persecuted it and did more harm by that dâ—riding it than others by violent oppressing it But lo a remarkable Example of the Divine Justice viz. on the bold Gentleman who lately englished that part of the Doctor 's Book
calls the Life of Man the Pilgrimage or Sojourning of a Stranger gives it also the Denomination of a Warfare Arrianus very excellently descants on this Aphorism that every Man's Life is a kind of Militia and that we are with all Diligence and Faithfulness to discharge the Office of Souldiers the chief Part of which is to do all that our Commander bids us Another famous Moralist adorns this Subject with noble Reflections upon it Reckon upon this saith he that God is our Commander and Chief Captain that this Life is a Military Expedition that every Man is to be an Armed Souldier c. Seneca hath the same Conceptions of Humane Life and once and again resembles it to the State of War and the Exploits of Martial Men. As soon as we come into the World we open the Campagne and in a short time after we draw into a Line of Battle and we are continually making use of our Ammunition and Artillery till at length Death raises the Camp and discharges us from our Warfare Several Passages might be produced out of other Pagan Writers who frequently fall into this Comparison and use this Excellent Metaphor and very finely illustrate it but what I have said is sufficient to shew what I aim at viz. that there are the same Phrases and Expressions in the Holy Scriptures that there are in other Authors This I will further make good in another Excellent Notion and Maxim viz. that Good and Vertuous Men are Free but that all Vitious Persons are Slaves The Stile of Scripture runs this way not only in the Old Testament where David desires to be upheld by the free Spirit of God i. e. by such a Divine and Generous Principle as would make him act with the greatest Freedom in the ways of Religion and where Sinners and Ungodly Men are stiled Prisoners and Captives once and again as in Zech. 9. 11. Isa. 42. 6 7. ch 49. 8 9. ch 61. 1. Nor is it to be doubted whether these Places speak of such Persons seeing our Saviour himself alledges one of them which is of the same Nature with the rest to this Purpose and tells us it is his Office to proclaim Liberty to these Captives Luke 4. 18. i. e. to offer Pardon to Sinners But in the New Testament also and there chiefly this is the Language of the Holy Ghost the Freedom that accompanies Holiness and the Servitude of Sin are expresly declared in those Words of Christ The Truth shall make you free John 8. 32. Whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin ver 34. If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed ver 36. The whole sixth Chapter to the Romans treats of this very thing the Service of Sin and the Freedom from it by Christ. The Servants of Sin mentioned here by St. Paul are the same with the Spirits in Prison whom St. Peter speaks of as I have proved in another Place and have shewed the Inconsistency of other Interpretations Whilst Men continue in their Sins and addict themselves to their Vices their Spirits their Souls are deservedly said to be in Prison their Persons are in Custody they live in Durance and Thraldom they are continually in Bonds and Chains they are fetter'd Slaves and Vassals They may perhaps flatter themselves and vaunt of Freedom but they are Prisoners still they promise Liberty but are themselves Servants of Corruption Whereas on the contrary True Religion enstates Men in a real and substantial Freedom Christianity is the perfect Law of Liberty Where the Spirit of the Lord is where Evangelical Sanctity is there is Liberty In short no Man that loves to be vicious and lives in the practice of Sin can be said to be a Free-man for he is wholly at the command of his Lusts There is not a greater Slave in Algiers or Tripoli than such an one This not only the Sacred Scriptures but Heathen Writers inculcate Tully defends that Maxim Quòd omnes sapientes liberi stulti servi and enlarges on it most admirably This Zeno and all the Stoicks maintain'd as we learn from Laertius and Isocrates more than once in his Orations to Demonicus and Nicocles speaks thus So doth Epictetus who expresly asserts that Vice and Immorality are the greatest Drudgery and Slavery So doth Arrianus who tells us that he is a Freeman who lives as he willeth i. e. who makes the Rational Dictates of his Will the Rule of his Life which none but a Good Man doth Horace's admirable Character of a Free-man is worth the consulting Quisnam igitur Liber Sapiens sibique imperiosus Quem neque pauperies neque mors neque vincula terrent Responsare cupidinibus contemnere honores Fortis in seipso totus teres atque rotundus And more he hath to the same purpose which acquaints us what Apprehensions the Moralists had of Freedom Free-men saith Euripides are very rare in the World for there is scarcely a Man to be found who is not a Slave to his Wealth or Fortune or some other thing A Man that extremely loves his Money is a Golden Slave in Socrates's Language That is the worst kind of Servitude saith Boethius when the Souls of Men are given up to Vice and are faln from the possession of their own Reason There is no Man saith Seneca can be said to be Free that is a Slave to his corporeal and sensual Part. You see saith he in another Place what a base and pernicious Slavery that Man hath brought himself into who suffers unlawful Pleasures and Sorrows those unconstant and impotent Mistresses to domineer over him by turns Thus 't is the Stile of the Pagan as well as Inspired Writers that Goodness is the true Freedom and that Vice is real Bondage and Slavery So that Other Notion that Good Men are only Wise and that Sinners are Fools is the Language both of Scripture and Profane Writers Moses assures the Israelites that to keep and do God's Commandments is their Wisdom and Understanding Deut. 4. 6. with which is parallel Iob 28. 28. The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Understanding But on the contrary he that is destitute of the true and saving Knowledg and Fear of God is a Fool in the Stile of Holy Writ The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God And the following Words acquaint us that this Fool is one of a Vicious and Corrupt Life This their Way is their Folly saith the same Pious King And his Royal Son had learn'd to speak the same Language whence in the Book of Proverbs Wicked Men and Fools are Synonymous they are such Fools as make a mock of Sin So in the New Testament the Man that studied nothing but his Unlawful Gain and Pleasure is pronounc'd a Fool by Him who throughly understood the right Measures of Wisdom and Folly This is
in part with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint Version and in the New Testament Sometimes it is Conversive as they call it it changes the Tense and sometimes it is Interrrogative At other times it is Adversative and is equivalent to but or although Not unusually it hath the Force of an Adverb of Time and is as much as when then now It is also a Comparative Particle and is the same with so Oftentimes it is put for the Relative Pronoun asher which Sometimes it is Emphatical as the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and is of the like Signification with even in English Again it seems to be Redundant as when it begins a Chapter or some New Matter without reference to any thing before Thus not only some of the Books of Moses but those of Ezra and Ionah begin with a Vau. But it is certain that this Particle is not merely Expletive here as the Learned Jews acknowledg Lastly Many times in the Hebrew Stile it is not Copulative but Disjunctive and it is accordingly rendred or and nor by our Translators as in Gen. 26. 11. He that toucheth this Man or his Wife and in Exod. 21. 15. He that smiteth his Father or his Mother and in Exod. 1. 10. and in several other Places of Scripture the Hebrews acknowledge that the Conjunctive Particle is a Disjunctive as the Aspect of Conjunction in the Sun is sometimes among Astronomers call'd Opposition Thus this Vau is of great Latitude which causes Variety of rendring many Places but those that are very Observing and Curious as it was intended by Providence that we should be in reading the Bible will soon know how to make a Difference and to discern the proper meaning of this Particle Likewise the Hebrew Praâ—positions are of various Signification and one is put for another very often which makes the Sense not a little difficult Who sees not that these Praefixes or Praepositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are differently used and at one time are applied one way and another another And who knows not that sometimes they seem to be unnecessary and to signify nothing at all though even then without doubt they are of some Significancy and Use. But to know this aright is not easy a great Learning in the Tongue is requisite to discover it The Hebrew Verbs also are very Equivocal and have very Different meanings In their divers Conjugations they have divers Significations whence it proves a very hard thing sometimes to know which of them is meant A word in Kal may bear one sense in Piel another in Hiphil a Third c. But if we apply our selves with that Care and Industry to the searching into the Scriptures which are required of us we shall either be able to discern which Particular Sense is meant in the places before us or where we cannot attain to this we shall find that our Ignorance is not prejudicial to us because the Controversy is not about any thing which we ought necessarily to know The Verb Chalal signifies to begin and to profane according to its different Conjugations Of the former Signification there are Instances in Gen. 6. 1. Num. 17. 11. and many other places Of the latter in Num 30. 3. Ezek. 39. 7. and abundance of other Texts whence there is some dispute about Gen. 4. 26. some rendring the word Huchal Men began others Men profaned Both the Chaldee Paraphrasts understand it in the latter sense and so do the Hebrew Rabins generally They take the meaning of the place to â—e this Then the Name of God was profaned then Religion began be corrupted then they call'd on God's Name so as to dishonour and pollute it viz. by their Oaths and Blasphemies R. Soloman Iarchi Maimonides and other Jewish Doctors understand it of the rise of Idolaâ—ry they tell us that Moses gives us an account here of the first beginning of the setting up of New Gods And from this Text Mr. Selden who always adheres to the Circumcised Doctors endeavours to prove that Idolatry was in those days But it is more reasonable to believe that this was not of so early a Date and that there was no such Vile Defection at that time in the World This is the Judgment of the famous Jewish Historian and Antiquary and most of the Antient and Learned Fathers of the Christian Church give their Suffrage to it and that with good reason because if at this time that Generation had been guilty of this most Abominable Crime it would certainly have been mention'd and that plainly as you see afterwards that as soon as this Horrid Sin began to be practis'd in the World the Holy Scriptures record it and at the same time decry it But it is not to be question'd that Impious Cain and his Party corrupted the True Religion and Worship of God and labour'd to bring in Universal Profaneness Wherefore the Family of Holy Seth and Godly Enoch and his Associates zealously resisted their Attempts and took a course to suppress the prevailing Corruption Accordingly now they began in a peculiar manner to meet together and to join their Devotions mor solemnly and to call upon God They more especially exercis'd themselves in Prayer that indispensible act of Divine Worship They began more signally and openly to be Religious Thus Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord or as it may be rendred to call themselves by the Name of the Lord to entitle themselves after the Name of Iehovah as we call our selves Câ—ristians after Christ's Name They profess'd themselves to be the People of God and Worshippers of the Most High Thus to call on the Name of the Lord and to be call'd by his Name amount to the same and signify that at that particular time the Faithful invoked God and worship'd and serv'd him in a more solemn manner than before and they publickly own'd themselves to be the Sons of God and the Servants of the Great Iehovah Thus Men began to call on God's Name and thus Aben Ezra and other Modern Rabbies who have better consider'd of it understand this Text in the plain Sense of it And it is likely it had never been otherwise understood if the ambiguity of the Verb Chalal had not given occasion for this in the Conjugation Niphal signifies to profane and to be profaned but in Hiphil and Hophal as here to begin which some took no notice of and so mistook the Sense To proceed the Hebrew word Pathah signifies to enlarge and perswade whence there is some difference in the Translation of Gen. 9. 27. God shall enlarge others read it God shall perswade Japheth But yet if you take either of the Readings with the following Words the Sense is not varied the meaning is the same for the whole Verse contains God's Promise that Iapheth should dwell in the Tents of Shem that is that the Gentiles who sprang from Iapheth should be converted to Judaism and
30 c. And that he doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in Heaven and Earth Psal. 115. 3. But more especially the Divine Oracles acquaint us that this Divine and Benign Author gave existence unto Man the Choicest of all the Creatures of this lower World whom he created in his own Image after his Likeness Gen. 1. 26 27. that is in Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness Col. 3. 10. Eph. 4. 24. And we are told in these Sacred Writings how Man lost this Image and miferably defaced and corrupted his Nature viz. by listning to the Temptation of Satan and by wilful disobeying the Divine Command Here also we are informed that all Flesh is desiled and polluted by this Transgression of our First Parents in Paradise and that their Sin is become the Sin of All Mankind Rom. 5. 12. Hence we learn moreover that the Merciful Creator out of his infinite and boundless Philanthropy vouchsafed to promise that the seed of the Woman the Blessed Iesus who was to be born of a Virgin should bruise Satan's Head Gen. 3. 15. and save and redeem lost Mankind and restore them to their former State of Happiness Here is taught the Rise of Religion and the Church which began with our Peâ—tent First Parents and their Children of whom Abol was the Chief Their first and early way of expressing their Devotion and Religion was by Offerings and Sacrifices unto God Gen. 4. 4. To which end without doubt they erected Altars though these are not mentioned till after the Flood Gen. 8. 20. We are told at what time there was established an Open and more Solemn worshipping of God viz. in Seth's days then it was that Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord and to form a Visible Church Gen. 4. 26. i. e. an Orderly and Solemn Society of Men gather'd and chosen out as a peculiar People to serve God For as Men encreased they began to embody themselves into Communions and to worship God more signally and openly and with a joint Consent Here and no where else we have an Account of the Church's Progress and Increase under the good Patriarchs Noah Abraham c. Here we are informed what were the several Defections and Restorations of Religion in the first Ages Here we have an Account of the Erection of the Levitical or Mosaick Service the whole System of Religious Rites and Ceremonies unto which the Jewish Church was obliged This yields abundant Matter of Contemplation and Enquiry to the Studious who will find that these Observances were instituted after the Israelites had been a while in the Wilderness and had shew'd themselves inclinable to commit Idolatry Then it was that God by Moses gave them these Laws and prescribed them these Usages which he knew would be the best Antidote against the Idolatrous Practices of the Nations that were round about them And withal if we look into these Ceremonies with a discerning Eye we shall see that they had a farther End and were Presignifications of the great and wonderful Transactions of the Evangelical Dispensation that they obscurely pointed unto the Messias and his Blessed Undertakings for the Redemption of Mankind They were Forerunners and Harbingers of the Blessed Child Iesus that Child that was to be born that Son who was to be given and on whose shoulders the Government was to be settled Isa. 9. 6. And we are ascertained that in the fulness of time God actually sent forth this his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. that He so loved thâ— World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3. 16. All â—e like Sheep have gonâ— astrâ—y we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all Isa. 53. 6. He bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree 1 Peâ— 2. 4. He was wounded for our Transgressions he was â—ruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Isa. 53. 5. The True Nature the Admirable Method and the Inestimable Worth of this Healing and Saving us are the main Subject of these Inspired Writings where we are taught likewise that this Salvation is Free and Undeserved and founded on the Meer Grace and Bounty of God and is not the Acquist of any Merit and Worth in us We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus whom God â—ath set forth to be a Propitiation for Sin through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3. 24. And in the Evangelical History we are told that this Blessed Redeemer who laid down his Life for us took it up again rising from the Grave by the irresistible Power of his Godhead and after a few Days Ascended gloriously into Heaven from whence He shall come at the last Day to call the whole World to an Account for He hath appointed a Day in which he will judg the World in Righteousness Then all the Dead shall hasten out of their Dormitories and stand before that Great Tribunal and receive Sentence according to their past Behaviour These are some of the Grand Principles of our Faith these are the Fundamental Verities of our Religion and they are originally fetch'd from this Sacred Volume and are established and confirmed there by unanswerable Arguments and Demonstrations Behold here the Eminency of Scripture-Notions see the Transcendency of these Excellent Truths which are contain'd in the Bible Here are things of a higher Nature than any Moral Writings afford us These say nothing of the Gracious Oeconomy of the Gospel of the Incarnation of the Son of God of Satisfaction made for Sins through the Blood of Christ of Justification by his Righteousness and other the like unparallell'd Discoveries which are to be learn'd out of Scripture only In short the Bible is the Standard of all Notions Propositions and Articles in Religion it is the Rule and Square of all our Opinions Discourses and Arguments relating to Christianity and all our Conceptions though they seem never so sine and plausible are of little worth and nse unless they be regulated according to This. If there arise any Disputes and Controversies concerning Matters of Christian Faith This is the Judg that we must have recourse to or rather This is the Rule by which we are to judg for every Man is to judg and choose and the Rule whereby he is to guide his Judgment and Choice is the Scripture It is true Reason or Conscience is our Immediate Guide or Rule but then we must have a Mediate Rule that is a Guide or Rule for our Reasons and Consciences and That in all Sacred and Religious things is the Word of God and That is the only Rule By This and This alone all Controversies of Faith which are necessary to be decided may and ought to be decided And it is the Excellency and Perfection of this Rule that it is
Authority of them equal with that of the Bible For as the Canonical Scriptures were dictated by Divine Inspiration so these Laws they hold were from God Himself and are of the same Authority with those Scriptures They make no difference between the Inspired Writings of the Old Testament and the Books of Mishnaioth or the Talmuds which are in truth an Amassment only of the Traditions of the Jews and of the Diverse Decisions of the Schools of Hillel and Shammai of the Different Determinations of R. Akiba and R. Eliezer of R. Simeon and R. Ioshua c. bandying against one another or rather if we speak plainer they are a Rhapsody of Idle Dreams Groundless Fables Cursed Errors Superstitious Rites and Practices yea if we should instance in the Babylonick Talmud of Horrid Blasphemies against Christ of Obloquies against the Mosaick Law it self and of Contradictions even to the Law of Nature These are part of the Books so highly prized by the Jewish Masters these go along with their Oral Law which was first given by God himself and consequently is of the same Original with the Canon of Scripture But they go yet higher for they do not only equalize these Traditions with Scripture but they prefer them before it They do not only say in a Proverbial Manner that they cannot stand upon the Foundation of the Written Law without the Help of the Vnwritten one i. e. the Oral Law which they talk of and that the Words of the Law as they are found in the Text are poor and wanting but as they are expounded by the Doctors have great Riches and abundance in them And again that very Great and Weighty Matters depend upon these Little Traditions which they contend for but they are so bold and presumptuous as to proceed further and give a far Greater Deference to these Traditions and Doctrines of their Wise Men as they call them than to the Holy Scriptures themselves For they tell us that their Doctors have done more good viz. as to strengthning and confirming of Religion by their own Sayings than by the Words of this Holy Book it self And accordingly their Advice is My Son attend more to what the Scribes say than to what is said by the Law though I know this may admit of another Sense viz. that we ought to look more to the Sense of the Law than the bare Letter of it But that in the Talmud is plain and can have no other Meaning To read the Holy Scripture and to be studious in searching out the Sense of it is good and not good i. e. it is not of any considerable Advantage but to turn over the Mishnah Night and Day is a Vertue which will have a great Reward hereafter and to learn the Gemara is an incomparable Vertue Yea the Jews blasphemously say that God himself studies in the Talmud every Day Here you see they prefer their Delivered Law before the Written one they make the Infallible Scriptures truckle to the Fabulous Traditions of the Mishnah To this purpose it is a Noted Saying of the Hebrew Rabbies that the Text of the Bible is like Water the Mishnah like Wine and the Six Books of the Talmud are like the Sweetest Honey'd Wine Thus to magnify the Traditions of their Fathers they vilify the Scriptures They are not content with the Rites and Injunctions written in the Law which in way of Contempt they call the Precepts of the Law but they admire those most which are taken from their Wise Men which they call the Precepts of the Rabbins and which are summarily contain'd in the Talmud these they hold to be of greater Value than the other The Persons that are skill'd in these are sliled by them Tannaim Profound Masters and Doctors but they that study the Scriptures only are but Karaim Poor Readers and Men of the Letter All this shews how these Men depretiate the Written Word of God and exalt above it their Oral Law which is a mere Fiction and Forgery as to the pretence of its being given to Moses by God and therefore is not owned by the Karaint among them who stick close to the Text nor by some of their Perushim their sobrest sort of Expositors who think those Traditions are derogatory to the Holy Scriptures Secondly Papists as well as Ieâ—s disparage the Holy Scriptures and deny its Perfection Nor by the way is this the only thing wherein they agree with the Jews a great Part of their Religion being no other than Jewish Rites and Ceremonies These Modern Talmudists will not own the Sufficiency of the Sacred Writings they have their Cabala the Doctrine Received from their Ancestors they are for their Oral Law delivered from one to another they supply the defect of Scripture so they are wont to speak with their Traditions They are of the same Mind with the Jews that there must be a Fence made about the Law that it must be hedged in with Traditions The Scripture is not a Perfect Rule of Faith and Manners say they but the things which are necessary to Salvation are partly contained in the Scripture and partly in unwritten Traditions A very absurd and wild Doctrine because they have no way to prove any thing to be necessary to Salvation but by proving it to be found in the Scripture Whatever was or is necessary for the Universal Church is revealed in these Writings and no New Doctrine necessary to Salvation is delivered since to the Church or any particular Person But notwithstanding the Absurdity of this Tenent they hold it fast and make it a Great Article of their Belief For they are taught by an Oecumenical Council as they repute it that Unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the Scriptures that they are to be received with the same pious Affection and Reverence those are the words wherewith the Infallible Writings of the Prophets and Apostles are to be entertained and consequently they are to be made a Rule of Faith equal with the Scriptures But they rest not here they not only equal Humane and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the Written Word of God but following the Steps of the Old Talmudists they proceed yet further preferring Traditions before Scripture Thus a Renowned Divine in their Church tells us plainly that Traditions are exceeding necessary for the welfare of the Church yea that they are more requisite than the Scripture it self and this he endeavours to make good With him concur several others of their Writers whom we find extolling Traditions but at the same time speaking very meanly and slightly of the Holy Writ Hence they blasphemously call it a Nose of Wax and a Leaden Rule and many such vilifying Terms are used by Pighius and Melchior Canus and other Great Doctors of that Church We deny not the Usefulness nay even the Necessity nay the Perpetuity of Tradition viz. That Tradition whereby the Doctrines which were entrusted in the
have are not to be subjected to the Examination of the outward Testimony of the Scriptures but are above them Thus these bold Men out of a pretence of Inspiration vilify the Sacred Volume of the Bible Thus absurdly and irreligiously these deluded Persons out of an Enthusiastick Heat prefer their own private Spirit before the Holy Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures The Men hold themselves to be Perfect but the Scripture must by no means be so it is weak and imperfect and ought to give way to the Inward Impressions in their Minds which according to them are that more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they think they do well to give heed as unto a Light shining in a dark Place But we see that they are thereby led into gross Error and Darkness And as to this particular Perswasion concerning the Meanness of the Scriptures they therein as in several other things symbolize with the Church of Rome whence they had their Original They confound Natural Light or Reason with Revelation they hold that Pagans are in as good a Condition as Christians they make their private Dictates as Authentick as the Bible yea they must needs hold that there is no Infallible Rule of Truth or Practice but their own Notions and Sentiments which some of their Writers call Canonical I might observe to you that besides Iews Papists and Enthusiasts there are Others that deny the Excellency and Perfection of the Holy Scriptures as Atheists and mere Politicians who indeavour to perswade the World that all Religion is a Cheat and that This Book is so too Likewise the Generality of Hereticks Seducers and Impostors who it is no wonder debase that which they design to pervert But the bare mentioning of these Persons is sufficient to beget a Dislike of them with all that are Wise and Sober and who are convinc'd of the Scriptures perfection from those Topicks which I have propounded It may be said of most Books as Martial said of his There are some good and some bad things in them and some of a middle Nature But in this Divine Book there are no such Allays all is pure and uncorrupt entire and unmixed there are no Defects no Mistakes in this Infallible Volume given us from Heaven Shall the Turks then when they find a Leaf or any part of the Alcoran on the Ground take it up and kiss it and deposite it in some safe place affirming it to be a great Sin to suffer that wherein the Name of God and Mahomet's Laws are written to be trodden under Feet And shall not we Christians highly value and reverence the Sacred Volume of the Bible the Writings of the Old and New Testament which contain the Words of God Himself and the Laws of the Blessed Jesus which enrich us with that Sublime and Supernatural Learning which is the Rule of our Faith the Conduct of our Manners and the Comfort of our Lives CHAP. II. The Bible is furnish'd with all sorts ofHumane as well as Divine Learning Hebrew wherein the Old Testament was written is the Primitive Language of the World The True Origine of the World is plainly recorded in no other Writings but these The first Chapter of Genesis is a real History and records Matter of â—act It is largely proved that the Mosaâ—ck History gives us a particular Account of the first Rise of the several Nations and People of the Earth and of the Places of their Habitation Also the true Knowledg of the Original of Civil Government and the Increases of it and the diffâ—rent Changes it underwent is derived from these Writings The Courts of Judicature and the several kinds of Punishment among the Jews distinctly treated of The Government among the Heathen Nations The four Celebrated Monarchies or Empires of the World I Proceed now to the Second General Head of my Discourse viz. the Vniversal Vsefulness of the Bible as to things that are Temporal and Seculaâ— Not only all Religious Divine and Saving Knowledg is to be fetch'd hence but that likewise which is Natural and Humane and bâ—longs to the World and Arts. Many believe the former but can't be induc'd to credit the latter for they think the Bible was writ only for the saving of Mens Souls but that all other Knowledg and Discoveries are to be derived wholly from other Writers I have sometimes observ'd that Persons who have had a good Desire to Learning and were greedy Devourers of all other Authors yet have no regard to the Scriptures and fondly imagine there is no Improvement of Mens Notions no enlarging of their Understandings no Grounds of Excellent Literature from the Sacred Writ They perswade themselves that the Bible may serve well enough for the Use of those that study Divinity or make Sermons but that the Writings of Profane Authors must be wholly consulted for other things But this is a gross Surmise and possesses the unthinking Heads of those only that consider not the Matchless Antiquity of the Bible or that on a worse Account refuse to acquaint themselves with these Writings and care not for that Book which speaks so much of God and Religion and checks the Disorders of Mens Lives All honest industrious and impartial Enquirers into Learning know that the Scriptures are the Greatest Monument of Antiquity that is Extant in the whole World and particularly that the First and Earliest Inventions of things are to be known only from the Old Testament especially the five first Books of it In vain do you look for these in the Writings of other Men for though some of them relate very Antient Occurrences yet they are not so old as these and as for those Writers who pretend to some Greater Antiquity and have been so impudent as to think that they could impose upon the World they have been exploded by all Persons of Sobriety and serious Thoughts In Pagan Writers we have some wild Guesses at the Origine of things and the First Inventors of Arts but he that is desirous to have Certain and Infallible Information concerning these must consult the Writings of Moses and other Books of the Old Testament From these alone we learn what were the Antientest Usages in the World and what was the first Rise and Original of them Wherefore I may safely pronounce that no Man can have the just Repute of a Scholar unless he hath read and studied the Bible for in this one Book there is more Humane Learning than in all the Books of the World besides And therefore here by the way I cannot but look upon it as a very Scandalous Mistake that the knowledg and Study of the Holy Scriptures are for Divines only as if these were not to be skill'd in any Humane Learning They that talk after this rate understand not what the Study of Divinity and True Scholarship are for there is no Compleat Divine that is not well vers'd in Humane Literature and there is no Compleat Scholar that is not skill'd in
bold Man that asseâ—ts the Primitive Earth to have been without Sea and without Mountains and the Airy Expansion to be without Clouds which are a plain contradicting of Moses who saith the Waters were gather'd together and were called Seas ver 10. and informs us that there were other Waters above the Firmament or Air ver 7. and in another Place lets us know that all the high Hills and Mountains were cover'd by the Waters of the Deluge Gen. 7. 19 20. Thus it must needs be ill philosophizing in defiance of Moses the first of the Philosophick Order This is Confutation enough of his Hypothesis and herein I am satisfied that the Excepter against his Book is in the right Now to support his own Opinion and to run down Moses he tells us that instead of a History we are here presented with a Parable with an Ethical Discourse in an obscure way This Philosophick Romancer turns the Holy Scriptures into Aesop's Fables and seems with his Friend Spinosa to hint that the Writings of the Prophets are only high Flights of Imagination God forbid that I should fasten any such thing upon him or any the like Imputation on any other Man of Learning or so much as suspect it unless there were some ground for it I appeal therefore to all persons of correct Thoughts whether his asserting that Moses the Prime and Leading Prophet is so fanciful that he presents us with mere Allegories and Parables even when he seems to speak of the Creation of the World and the Fall of our First Parents whether I say this doth not argue that the rest of the Prophetick Writers who could not do amiss in imitating so Great a Guide are led wholly by Imagination and dictate not things as they really are but as they fancied them to be Nay he not only overthrows the Truth and Reality of Moses's Writings but he blasts the Integrity of the Penman himself telling us that he was a Crafty Politician and Dissembler one that did all to comply with the People one that cheated the ignorant Jews with a thing like an History merely to please them whâ—lst in the mean time it is nothing but a piece of Morality in an Allegorized way and is to be understood so by us Certainly Moses needed not to have been Inspired by the Holy Ghost as I suppose most grant him to be to have merited this Character But I have animadverted on him with some Freedom in a former Discourse and therrfore I will not say any more here Nor should I have said any thing then or now if I had not been verily perswaded that the Credit of Moses and of the Scriptures themselves and consequently of our whole Religion lay at stake for if this 1st Chapter of Genesis together with the rest which follow which have all the Marks of History upon them be not Literal and Historical we know not what Judgment to make of any other Places of Scripture which recite Matter of Fact we can't tell whether any Text bears a Literal Sense or no and so we throw up the whole Bible into the Hands of Scepticks and Atheists After all that I have said under this Head I would not be thought to mean any such thing as this that the Scripture was designed for Philosophy No there are Nobler things that it aims at Yet this is most certain that here is the Best Philosophy both Moral and Natural It is the latter I am now speaking of viz. the Knowledg of the Works of Nature God's creating of the World which is the fâ—rst â—tep to all Natural Philosophy This is to be learnt in the Beginning of this Holy Book whose Excellency and Perfection I am treating of Here the Birth and Original of all things are distinctly set down which is a Subject that all the Philosophers are defective in I grant whaâ— Cyril speaking of Moses saith that he design'd not to play the Philosopher in a subtile and curious manner and to be accurate in his Discourse of the First Principles of things but notwithstanding this it is an undeniable Truth that no Book in the World teacheth us the True Origine and Age of the World the Epoche of the Universe the Particular Order and Method of the Creation and more especially the manner of the Production of Mankind but This. By this alone we are fixed and determined in these Points and we have no longer any Reason to doubt and waver We may plainly discern from these Sacred Writings the Invalidity of those Notions which some Philosophick Heads have entertain'd viz. the Eternity of the World the Production of it by Chance or the Mechanical Rise of it by virtue of mere Matter and Motion All these fond Conceits are silenced by this Sacred Author an Happiness which we could not have had if this most Antient and Authentick Book were not extant Thirdly We have no Account of the first Rise of Nations and People in the World but â—rom the Mosaick History Here and only here we have an Exact Narrative of the dividing of the Earth among the Sons of Noah and their Posterity It is in the Tenth Chapter of Genesis that we have the History of the First Plantations A Choice Monument of Antiquity and to be priz'd by all Lovers of Antient Learning those that delight to enquire into the First Originals of things Here we are inform'd that Iapheth the eldest Son of Noah and his seven Sons were the first that peopled that part of the World which is call'd Europe with a part of Asia the Less His Sons are reckon'd up in this manner 1. Gomer whose Progeny seated themselves in the North-East part of that Leâ—â—er Asia which contains Phrygia Pontus Bithynia and a great part of Galatia These were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Iosephus call'd by the Latins Galatae among whom is the City Comara according to Pliny and Mela speaks of the Comari The People that dwelt in this Tract were as Herodotus and other Antient Historians testify callâ—d Cimmerii and had their Name from Gomer if we may give Credit to some of the Learnedest Criticks such who are not wont to rest in fanciful Derivations They tell us that Gomeri Comeri Cumeri Cimbri Cimmerii are the same The Old Germans are thought by them to have been a Colony of these Cimmerians or Gomerians for German is but a Corruption of Gomerman The Old Galls were another Colony of the Gomerians who by the Grecians were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contractedly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celtae for it appears that the Cimbri or Cimmerii were the antient Inhabitants of Old Gallia And our Ancestors the Britains were of the same stock for that they descended from the Galls or Celtae who were the Gomeri or Cimbri of old our own Learned Antiquary Mr. Cambden attempts to prove from their Religion Manners Language c. The Inhabitants of Cumberland as he thinks retain the Name still
this purpose and which shews the Antiquity of this Military Usage and will give us an Account of the first and most early Marshalling of Armies is Numb 2. 2. Every Man of the Children of Israel shall pitch by his own Standard with the Ensign of their Fathers House For the explaining of which we must know that when Moses had received the Law and finish'd the Tabernacle he mustered all the Tribes and Families of Israel and disposed them for their March through the Wilderness This Great Army as this Chapter informs us was divided into four Battalions or Squadrons each of which contain'd three whole Tribes The first contain'd the three Tribes of Iudah Issachar and Zebulon and every Tribe being distinguish'd by his particular Standard this Squadron marched under the Standard of Iudah And it was peculiar to this Tribe to encamp always on the East Side of the Tabernacle and to hold the first Place and lead the Vanguard The second Battalion consisted of the Tribes of Reuben Simeon and Gad and Reuben's Standard was that which they were placed under These had the second Place in the Army and encamped on the South Side of the Tabernacle The third Division marched under the Standard of Ephraim to whom were joined the Regiments of Manasse and Benjamin and they were situated always on the West Quarter The fourth Squadron were rank'd under the Standard of Dan to whom belonged the Tribes of Naphthali and Asher These were placed on the North Side of the Tabernacle and always march'd in the Reer In every Standard or Banner there was a particular Ensign or Badg by which those of that Squadron were known In that of Iudah which march'd in the Van there was pourtrayed a Lion in that of Reuben a Man in that of Ephraim an Ox and in that of Dan an Eagle Where by the way we may observe here the Invention of Badges and Coats of Arms. The Tribes were distinguish'd by their different Scutcheons which were of diverse Figures and 't is not to be doubted of different Colours Though truly this Invention seems to have been begun first of all in Gen. 49. where the several Tribes have assigned them by Iacob their particular Distinctive Ensigns and Armorial Cognizances as Iudah a Lion Dan a Serpent Issachar an Ass c. which were certain Arms or Badges by which they were known and distinguish'd In these and the forenamed Instances Heraldry had its Original hence it may fetch its Pedigree Thus that Noble Camp was disposed and situated thus the several Tribes and Princes of them were marshall'd Thus the Tabernacle was placed in the midst of the four Divisions of the Army which pitched round about it as a Guard to Defend and Protect it But I should note withal that the Tabernacle was more Immediately surrounded by the Priests and Levites Moses and Aaron and Eleazar and his Brethren were lodg'd on the East at the Entrance of the Court of the Tabernacle the Families of Cohath were placed on the South the Families of Merari on the North the Geshurites on the West and all others that were dedicated to the Service and Attendance on the Tabernacle were quartered near it This was the Excellent Order that was observ'd the Ecclesiastical Persons were placed next to the Tabernacle because of their Employment and Office and to guard both them and the Tabernacle the whole Host was drawn about them in a Circle I might further take notice that there was not a fixed Distance of Ground from every part of the Camp to the Tabernacle for it was necessary that some should be further off than others but this was enjoined them that the Limits of their travelling on the Sabbath-Day should not be above two thousand Cubits Iosh. 3. 4. But by reason of the different Acception of the Cubit it is not easy to determine exactly the Length of the Way which they were permitted to travel If it was two thousand Paces it amounted to two Miles but most of the Rabbins agree that it was 2000 lesser Cubits which make a large Mile So far the furthest Part of the Israelites Camp was distant from the Tabernacle according to the general Opinion of the Hebrew Doctors This whatever it is is call'd a Sabbath-Day's Iourney Acts 1. 12. i. e. as much space of Ground as it was lawful for the Jews to go on a Sabbath-Day This shall suffice to be said concerning the Antient Situation of the Camp of Israel A very Curious and Excellent Prospect it is and worthy of our Observation it being the First Platform of a Military Encamping To close this Head I will take notice of the Vast Numbers which some of the Armies mention'd in Scripture consisted of of old That of the Jews in the Wilderness which I last spoke of according to the Muster-Roll in Numb 1. contain'd no less than six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty There were enrolled about a thousand thousand fighting Men in Israel and about half as many in Iudah when David numbred the People 2 Sam. 24. 9. 1 Chron. 21. 5. King Vzziah had an Host of three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred besides a choice Band of two thousand and six hundred 2 Chron. 26. 12 13. King Asa's military Force consisted of about six hundred thousand 2 Chron. 14. 8. And against him came an Ethiopian Army of above a thousand thousand Chariots 2 Chron. 14. 9. whence we must collect that the whole Force was much more Numerous for the Chariots generally had more than one single Person in them King Ieroboam brought eight hundred thousand Men into the Field of whom five hundred thousand were slain 2 Chron. 13. 3 17. And other vast Numbers we read of in the Books of Kings and Chronicles that were brought into the Field in those Days Which I the rather mention because some have questioned the Truth of it and have thought that it is by the Fault of Transcribers that the Arithmetick mounts so high And I am sorry to find a Great Man whom I will not name enclining this way I doubt not but if he had lived to revise his Writings he would have expung'd what seems to favour this for so Great an Asserter of the Authentick Verity of the Scriptures as well as of the Christian Religion could not have done otherwise But this I desire may be considered by those that think the Number of the Men in the foremention'd Armies is mistaken by those who copied out the Bible they setting down as they imagine one Arithmetical Figure instead of another I desire I say this may be consider'd that the Numbers in these Sacred Writings are set down in Words at length and not in Figures which these Objectors did not think of and therefore those who transcrib'd the Bible did not mistake the Numbers by writing down one Figure for another and consequently these Mens Conceit is groundless Again we are to remember what is said in
of the Pentateuch that Excellent Philosopher Law-giver Historian that Captain that Prince that Prophet that Man of God who was the Inspired Writer of the five first Books of the Bible The first of which as I said before is Genesis which begins with the History of the Creation And I call it a History in opposition to the fond Conceit of those Men who read the Beginning of this Book with Cabalistick Spectacles only and think there are nothing but Allegories and Mysteries in the whole Text. But the contrary is very evident to unprejudiced Minds and to such as are not so I have propounded Arguments in another Place viz. when I treated of the Literal and Mystical Sense of Scripture to take off their Prejudces and Mistakes This I did because it is necessary to be firmly perswaded of the Truth and Certainty of what we meet with here in our Entrance into the Bible It is indispensably requisite that we believe Moses to have delivered these things as an Historian and that he speaks real Matter of Fact when he gives us a Narrative of the Beginning of all things and particularly of the Original of Man his Innocency and Happiness and after that his Fall which was the Source of all Sin of the Devil's Tyranny of Death of Hell and of all Evils whatsoever The Knowledg and Belief of This are the Basis of all Religion and that perhaps was the Meaning of Luther's Saying that the First Chapter of Genesis comprehends the whole scripture Wherefore this is with great Wisdom premised in the Entrance of this Sacred Volume To which afterwards are adjoined the Propagation of Mankind the Rise of Religion and of the Church of God the Invention of Arts the General Defection and Corruption of the World the Universal Delâ—ge which drown'd all Mankind but Noah and his Family the Restoration of the World the Certain Distinction of Times before the Flood and partly after it the Confusion of Toâ—gues and thereupon the Division of the Earth among the Sons of Men the Plantation of Families the Original of Nations and Kingdoms as the Assyrian Monâ—â—chy begun in Nimrod or Belus and the Egyptian Dynasty the History of the first Patriarchs not only before but after the General Deluge as of Noab the Preacher of Righteousness of Abraham the Father of the Faithful of Isaac the Seed in which all Nations were to be blessed of Iacob the Father of the twelve Tribes of Ioseph whose Memorable Actions are here fully recorded and with which this First Book of Moses â—nds unless the Book of Genesis may be said to reach as far as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of that Promise contain'd in it concerning the Seed of the Woman that was to break the Serpent's Head Viz. Christ the Redeemer made of a Woman and sent to subdue the Devil and to destroy Sin and Death But because this First Book begins with the Creation of the World and is therefore by the Rabbins call'd the Book of the Creation I will here annex a brief View of the several Distinct Steps of this Great Work as they are represented to us by this Inspired Writer and Divine Philosopher who acquaints us that there were six Days spent in erecting this glorious Fabrick of the World And this will be a farther Proof of what I said before viz. that in Scripture is the Truest Philosophy When Moses saith In the Beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Ver. 1. he doth in these Words give us a summary Account of all that he intended to say afterwards in this Chapter for Heaven and Earth comprehend the Whole Creation This first Verse then is to be look'd upon as a General Draught of the Production of all things and the Particulars of it follow in the next Verses where the several Days Works are distinctly set down The Product of the first Day was two-fold viz. the Terraqueous Mass call'd here the Earth and Light There was first of all created a Rude Confused Heap by Profane Writers call'd the Chaos an Indigested Mass of Earth and Water mix'd together out of which God afterwards made all Corporeal things which belong to this lower World For we must not as some imagine that the Celestial Bodies were composed out of the Earthly Chaos that all the Vast Spaces of the Heavenly Mansions owe their Rise to this Mass below and that the very Stars were the Offspring of the Earth No Moses gives us to understand that this Confused Lump was the Original only of the Lower World for the Earth in this first Verse is mention'd as one Part of the new-created World as distinct from Light the other Part of the Creation As Light then of which I shall speak next was the Primordial Matter of the Ethereal Celestial and Shining Bodies so this Gross and Lumpish Heap was that of which all Dark and Heavy Bodies were compounded This Unshapen Mass without Form and void is here by a general Name call'd the Earth though it was not in a strict sense such for the Earth as a distinct Body from all others was the Work of the third Day In this Place therefore by Earth is meant Earth and Water blended together which made one Great Bog or Universal Quagmire This is the plainest and truest Conception we can have of the Primitive State of the World And hence without doubt was derived the Opinion of Thales and some other Antient Philosophers that Water or Slime or Mud for they express it variously was the Source of all Beings whatsoever And certain it is that this Terraqueous Matter was the first Origine of all those material Beings before-mention'd Accordingly Sir W. Raleigh in the Beginning of his History of the World determines that the Substance of the Waters as mix'd in the Body of the Earth is by Moses understood in the word Earth Hitherto according to the Mosaick History Nature is in her Night-clothes the World is overspread with Darkness which is especially said to be on the face of the Deep by which is meant either the whole Disorder'd Mass which was an Abyss or else as is most probable the Watry Part of it for though this and the Earthy Parts were mix'd together yet these latter being lightest were generally uppermost and floted above all and appear'd on the Surface of the Earth Therefore that Learned Knight before mention'd observes that the Earth was not only mix'd but cover'd with the Waters But the Spirit of God as Moses proceeds to tell us maved or hover'd over this Dark Abyss this Mix'd Chaos especially the Waters as 't is particularly said because these were uppermost and hereby the Rude Matter was prepared to receive its several Forms and then the World began to throw off its Dark and Sable Mantle and to appear in a Bright Dress For the other Product of this first Day and which indeed made it Day was Light i. e. some Lucid Body or Bodies which yet cast but a Glimmering Splendor a
a Consequent of them the many Disappointments and Crosses he met with the various Judgments and Plagues which were inflicted on him and his People by God The Books of the Kings are the History of the Kingdoms of Israel and Iudah under the Reigns of their several Kings The first contains the latter Part of the Life of David and his Death the Glory and Prosperity of that Nation under Solomon who succeeded him his erecting and consecrating of the Temple at Ierusalem his scandalous Defection from the true Religion the sudden Decay of the Jewish Nation after his Death when it was divided into two Kingdoms under Rehoboam who reign'd over the two Tribes of Iudah and Benjamin and under Ieroboam who was King over the other ten Tribes that revolted from the House of David The rest of it is spent in relating the Acts of four Kings of Iudah and eight of Israel The second Book which is a Continuation of the History of the Kings is a Relation of the Memorable Acts of sixteen Kings of Iudah and twelve of Israel and the End of both Kingdoms by the carrying of the Ten Tribes Captive into Assyria by Salmanasser and the other two into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar the just Rewards of that People's Idolatry and Impenitency after so many Favours shew'd to them This and the former Book together comprehend the History of about four hundred Years The Chronicles or Iournals according to the Hebrew are the filling up of those Parts of the History which are omitted in the Books of the Kings And though we know not which of these Histories viz. of the Kings or the Chronicles I speak as to the main Body of the Books not one particular Passage as that in the Close of the Second Book of Chronicles where mention is made of the Deliverance of the Iews by Cyrus which might be added afterwards were written first for the Book of Kings refers to the Book of Chronicles and this again sends the Reader to that yet this we see that this of the Chronicles is more full and ample sometimes than that of the Kings what was left out or not so fully set down in the one is supplied in the other And thence these Books are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Remains Supplements Additions by the Greek Interpreters The first Book of Chronicles relates the Rise and Propagation of the People of Israel from Adam which is the entire Subject of the first Nine Chapters which consist wholly of Genealogies and then afterwards most punctually and accurately gives an Account of the Reign of David The second Book as faithfully sets down the Progress and End of the Kingdom of Iudah even to the Year of their return from the Captivity in Babylon These Books of Chronicles together with those of the Kings and Samuel make up the Best and Choicest History in the World Here we are abundantly furnish'd with such Useful Notices Truths and Maxims as these all confirmed by Noted and Illustrious Examples and such Instances as are Certain and Unquestionable Crowned Heads are encircled with Cares and seldom find rest and repose though their Lives are more Splendid yet they are not less Calamitous than those of the Common People Good Kings are rare and the Number of them is inconsiderable in comparison of those that are Bad. The best Kings have their Faults and some of them of a very scandalous Nature There is little Piety in Princes Courts and as little Integrity and Honesty The People are easily induced to follow the Examples of their Governours and Religion and Manners too often vary according to the Wills of Superiours Good Kings are the greatest Blessing and Wicked Ones are the greatest Curse to a Nation Princes mistake their Measures when they either disobey God or oppress their People Tyrannical Princes procure their own Ruine The Sins and Vices of Rulers prove fatal to their Subjects Publick Enormities are punish'd with Publick and National Calamities Kings may be known by the Ministers they choose and make use of Those Counsels that are founded in Religion are most successful Evil Counsellours contrive their own Destruction Wars are the Effect and Consequence of fighting against God The Success of Arms depends upon the Divine Blessing The Church is never more shock'd than under Bad Princes Religion and Reformation are never effectually promoted unless the Great Ones have a Hand in them Divisions and Rents about Religion have immediate influence on Secular Affairs and when the Church is divided the State is so too The Revolutions in both are by the particular Disposal of the Wise Over-ruler of the World True Religion and Godliness are attended with Earthly Rewards and Blessings and the contrary bring down the greatest Plagues even in this World The worst Times afford some of the Best and most Holy Religious and Zealous Men. Whatever Changes and Revolutions happen in the Kingdoms of the Earth the Church of God remains secure Though there are great and frequent Defections yet there never is a total Extinction of it In a Word the Church is impregnable this Rock is immoveable And many other Propositions and Maxims of the like Nature which are of great Service in the Life of Man are to be deduced from these Excellent Histories Ezra is a Continuation of the aforesaid Book of Chronicles and compriseth the History of the Jews from the time that Cyrus made the Edict for their Return until the twentieth Year of Artaxerxes Longimanus which was about a hundred Years For the Jews return from Babylon was at two several Times viz. first in the Days of Cyrus the first Perâ—â—an Monarch under the Conduct of Zerubbabel their Captain and Ieshua their High Priest Here are recorded the Number of those that returned Cyrus's Proclamation for the rebuilding of the Temple the Laying of the Foundations of it the Retarding of the Work under the Reign of two of the Kings of Persia at last the Finishing of the Temple in Darius's Reign The second Return of the Jews was in the Reign of Artaxerxes under the Conduct of Ezra a Priest who had been a Courtier in the Persian Court and was sent into Iudea by Artaxerxes in the seventh Year of his Reign which was above eighty Years after the first Return in Cyrus's Time to expedite the Building of Ierusalem This Pious Reformer observing the Peoples 〈◊〉 with Strangers and Inâ—idels and their joining themselves to them in Marriage proclaim'd a â—olemn Fast and Pray'd and Mourn'd and Lamented their gross Miscarriages and with great Earnestness and Zeal exhorted them to Reformation and Amendment of their Ways that they might thereby avert God's Wrath and conciliate his Favour and Pardon This is that Ezra who was the Penman of this Book and who was also a Restorer of the Sacred Books of the Old Testament and collected and methodized them into certain Order and reviewed the Copies and amended all Errata's that were contracted in the time of the Captivity Nehemiah who
Knowledg and Insight into these Divine Truths which are here contain'd is the Effect of observing and practising the Holy Precepts of this Book This then we ought to urge upon our selves to come to the reading of Scripture with defecate and purged Minds with Love to what it dictates and with Obedience to it This should be our principal Care to live well and to walk according to this Excellent Rule All our Religion and the whole Conduct of our Actions in this World depend upon the Scriptures therefore let us be directed and govern'd by the Infallible Maxims Precepts Promises and Threatnings of this Book We see Men live by Custom by the Dictates of Others or by their Own Opinions which oftentimes prove erroneous and lead them into unwarrantable Practices But they would not be thus misguided if they consulted These Lively Oracles of God this sure Word of Prophecy if they regulated their Actions by this Exact Canon And hereby we are certain to improve our Knowledg in this Holy Book for by living according to it we shall the better understand it by minding the Practical Contents of it we shall have a full Discovery of its Principles and Doctrines Lastly That we may attain to a right understanding of the Sense of Scripture that we may have a due Perception of the Meaning of what is deliver'd here let us most earnestly invoke the Divine Aid and Assistance He that reads this Book without Prayer can never expect to be bless'd with a compleat Knowledg of it For it is the sole Work of the Divine Spirit to illuminate our Minds effectually There is required the special Help of this Heavenly Instructor to direct us into Truth wherefore he is call'd the Spirit of Truth and the Vnction from the Holy One whereby we know all things The same Spirit that endited these Holy Writings must enlighten our Minds to understand them Which I find thus expressed in the Words of our Church The Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the true meaning of the Scripture into us in truth we cannot without it attain true Saving-knowledg And a Learned and Pious Son of our Mother gives his Suffrage in these Words Wicked Men however learned do not know the Scriptures because they feel them not and because they are not understood but with the same Spirit that writ them Seeing then a Spiritual Illumination is requisite in order to the comprehending of Scripture-Truths we ought with great Fervour and Zeal to request it we ought with a singular Devotion to repair to this Infallible Teacher and with mighty Importunity beseech him to open our Eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of the Divine Law and to conduct our Reasons aright in our Enquiry into this Sacred Volume And He that commands us to implore his Help will certainly vouchsafe it to all sincere and devout Supplicants The Eyes of our Understanding shall be irradiated with a Celestial Beam and we shall feel an internal Operation of the Spirit on our Hearts communicating Light and Wisdom By the Assistance of this Blessed Guide we shall not miscarry in our Searches and Endeavours This Divine Book shall be laid open to us and we shall have its Mysteries and Depths disclosed to us so far as is convenient for us and no rational Man ought to desire any more Yea as it is with some of those that have studied for the Phâ—losophick Elixar though they attain not to it yet in their impetuous Search after it they find out many Excellent Things admirably useful for Mankind which are a Recompence of their Labours so though we may fall short of some Grand Secrets which are treasured up in this Inspired Volume yet we shall not faâ—l of some Choice Discoveries that will make us amends for our most laborious Enquiries We shall mightily improve our Knowledg and we shall likewise be under the special Benediction of Heaven The Rabbins tell us that when R. Ionathan writ his Targum on the Bible if at any time the least Fly lit upon his Paper it was presently consumed with Fire from Heaven But though this be Romantick and after the rate of the Rabbins yet it is a sober Trutlâ— that God will protect us in reading and studying the Holy Scriptures Whilest we are thus employed nothing shall disturb or hurt us the Divine Arm will defend and prosper us and we shall peruse this Book with that happy Success which we pray'd for In short by continual conversing with this Book which is the only one that hath no Errata's we shall know how to correct all the Failures of our Notions and of our Lives we shall enrich our Minds with a Stock of Excellent Principles and we shall be throughly furnish'd unto all good Works we shall be conducted to the highest Improvements of Knowledg and Sanctity in this Life and to the most Conâ—â—mmate Happiness in another FINIS Books written by the Reverend Mr. John Edwards AN Enquiry into several 〈◊〉 Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them In two Volumes in 8â— A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. I. with a Continued Illustration of several Difficult Texts throughout the whole Work A Discourse conâ—â—rning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. II. wherein the Author 's former Undertaking is further prosecuted viz. An Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts which contain some Difficulty in them A Discoeurs concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. III. treating of the Excellency and Perfection of the Holy Scriptures and illustrating several difficult Texts occurring in this Undertaking All sold by Ionathan Robinson Iohn Taylor and Iohn Wyat. * Plataic †Panegyr Plataic ‡ Plataic * Orat. 2. ad Nicocl †Panegyr Orat. ‖ Orat. ad Philip. ‡ Panegyr ad Philip. Epist. ad Philip. Epist. ad Mitylen * Panegyr Orat. †Plataic Orat. 1. ‖ Orat. ad Philip. * Panegyr Orat. Plataic Orat. bis †Olynth 1. ‖ Philip. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. in Protrept †Gen. 9. 27. * Deut. 28. 49 c. †1 Kings 13. 2. * Antiqu. 1. 11. c. 1. †Dr. Jackson * Dan. 2. †Temporum conscius totius Mundi Polyhistor Epist. ad Paulin. * Ver. 2. †Ver. 20. ‖ Ver. 5. * Ibid. * John 21. 18. †Ver. 22. * Earum rerum quae foâ—â—uitae putantur praedictio atque praesentio De Divinat l. 1. * Lib. 3. c. 8. * Colloqu Mensal * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. cont Celâ— l. 6. * Lib. 1. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid. Pelus Ep. l. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just. Mart. Dialog cum Tryph. †Arnob. lib. 1. ‖ Sozom. l. 1. c. 11. ‖‖ Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 2.
been said it appears that the Jews weâ—â— very careful and studious very exact and curioâ—â— in Scripture by which means it happens that theâ— is an Impossibility of making any Alteration in 〈◊〉 without being discovered That is the only Reâ—son of my alledging here the Masoretick Notes 〈◊〉 I undertake not to defend the superstitious Râ—â—marks and Criticisms of the Masorites I applaud not their laborious Niceties their childish Transmutations and shuflling of Letters and Syllables their trifling Annotations on the Figure and Make of some Hebrew Letters But I only take notice of God's Providence in making these Critical Men to be very serviceable towards the preserving the Bible of the Old Testament in its Purity The Observations of these Masoretick Doctors who were Persons of great Skill in the Language and well acquainted with all the antient Copies and Manuscripts and who above a thousand Years ago exactly numbred all the Verses Words Letters and even the minutest parts of the Hebrew Text have been a great Security and Preservative to it they have kept it undepraved and uncorrupt and have made the Reading of it certain and unalterable This is the reason why that Excellent and Noble Personage the Learned Picus Mirandula so highly extols the Hebrew Cabala without doubt he saw this Usefulness and Excellency in it Nay before these Doctors of Tiberias drew up their Masoretick Notes there was it is probable extant something of this nature They had before this time some Accompt not only of all the Letters of the Bible but of all the Apices of them for to this our Saviour alludes in Mat. 5. 18. Not one Iot or one Tittle which latter is meant of those little Horns Pricks and Dots belonging to the Hebrew Letters Not only the smallest Letters as Iod but the Cuttings of those Letters were diligently observ'd by the Masoretick Jews And this their nice and almost fond Criticism was serviceable to the keeping of the Hebrew Text entire and unchanged Thus the Masoreth as they express it is a Hedg or Fence to the Law Theâ— critical Notes and Remarks of the old Jews havâ— preserved the Text of the Bible from being corrupted and abused So that we may from henâ— gather that we have in our hands the same Heâ—brew Text which was at first given by God to 〈◊〉 People But some tell us that the Old Testament 〈◊〉 bâ—rnt at the same time when the Temple was 〈◊〉 that Ezra after the Captivity dictated and writ 〈◊〉 over again according to what we find recordâ—â— in 2 Esdras 14. 21 23 24. So there was some Recovery of the Law but the Original Book beinâ— lost it cannot be imagined but that there are many â—aults and Mistakes in This which we have 〈◊〉 present I answer Either this Passage in the Aâ—pocryphal Writer speaks of some other Book distinct from that of the Mosaick Law or it is to bâ— reckoned as fabulous and supposititious and so 〈◊〉 Creditâ— is to be given to it for in Nehem. 8. 2 3. there is mention of the Book of the Law being broughâ— before the Congregation and its being read before 〈◊〉 Men and the Women but not a Syllable of the Maâ—tâ—r mentioned in Esdras is hero to be found Yes 't is implied that the Book of the Law was still the same for you may observe that there is a particular Account of what the Chaldeans destroyed and burnt and carried away at the taking of Ierusâ—â—em but there is not a word of these holy Books which most certainly would have been taken notice of they being of so inestimable a Vaâ—â—â— Morcover if we should suppose the Law was burnt in the Temple yet there were many Copies of it among the Jews which without doubt were preserved We have no reason therefore to suspect that the Hebrew Original of the Old Testament is corrupted But some of the Antient Fathers in the Christian Church as well as some Learned Moderns have asserted that the Hebrew is corrupted I answer first as to the Fathers it is granted that Iustin Martyr declares himself to be of this Opinion In his Dialogue with Trypho he considently assirms that the Jews erased many things out of the Bible and he assigns particular Instances in the Psalms Isaiah and Ieremiah And this they did saith he because they hated Christ and his Religion and thought some of those Places favoured the Christian Cause too much Here by the by you may take notice of that great Mistake and Oversight in Bishop Ward 's Essays where he peremptorily asserts that never any of the Antient Fathers have in their greatest heat of Zeal against the Iews accused them of such Corruption i. e. of the Scriptures But this is not the first time that Iustin Martyr hath suffer'd himself to be impos'd upon in matter of Historical Truth This among others is questionless a gross Mistake of that good Man and his strong Averseness to the Jews and his belief of their Willingness and Readiness to deprave the Scriptures for their own Ends betrayed him to it As for other Fathers as Tertullian Irenaecus Origen Eusebius who it is true sometimes complain that the Scripture is corrupted by the Jews they speak of their adulterating the Text rather as to the Sense than as to the Words they mean that the Translations which the Jews used were false for they generally adhered to Aquila's and Theodotion's Version and preferr'd it before that of the Seventy Whence their Interpretations of Scripture were unsound and erroneous and thereby they sometimes set up Judaism against Christianity But this was done without corrupting thâ— Hebrew Copies of the Bible And that the Jewâ— had been guilty of no such thing is expresly asserted and maintained by Ierom and Augustine two Antient Fathers of a great Fame for Learning and Piety as those before named These worthy Persons refute that Suspicion and Rumour which it seems were then risen namely that thâ— Jews had adulterated the Hebrew Text. Thesâ— Fathers not only declare that they did no such thing but they praise them for their Faithfulness in preserving the Bible pure and uncorrupt Then as to some of the Moderns who have asserted the Hebrew Copies to be faulty and depraved it is easy to see what it was that prompted them to it The Hebrew Text is corrupted and so is that of the Septuagint say the Romanists but the old Vulgar Latin is uncorrupt and infallible so determines the Tridentine Council Several of that Communion have written against the Purity of the Hebrew Copies and laboured to prove them corrupt but Morinus hath shewed himself more zealous than all of them in this Point and he frankly confesseth this was his main Design in it viz. to baffle the Protestants who make the Scripture the Rule of their Faith and Manners If the Originals of the Bible be lost and the Transcripts be defective and erroneous how can the Bible be a certain Rule What will become then of the
Religion of the Protestants who found it solely on Scripture This being uncertain that must needs be so too Wherefore the best and only way is to have recourse to Tradition and to the Church these are the only Rule of what we are to believe and practise Thus you see what the Romish Writers who cry down the Hebrew Text aim at But most of the learnedst Men of that Church have not prosecuted their Aims and Designs this way It is well known they have generally held the Hebrew Text to be uncorrupted And the same is defended by the generality of learned Protestants who havâ— handled this Subject Isaac Vossius is the only Man of Note that holds the contrary i. e. that the Hebrew Bible as it is now is corrupted by the Jews But against him and all others either Antient or Modern who are of this Opinion I offer these following things to be considered If the Jews corrupted the Hebrew Text they did it either before or after Christ's time That they did it not before is evident because first our Saviour never takes notice of any such thing which certainly he would not have omitted at such times as he reproved the Scribes and Pharisees for their known Faults and Offences especially relating to the Law as when he taxed them for making the Law of God of none effect by their Traditions Certainly he would have rebuked them for so gross a Fault when he corrected them for some that were lesser Nay the Jews are not only not reproved for corrupting the Canon of Scripture but on the contrary their Care and Faithfulness in preserving it whole and entire are particularly taken notice of Luke 4. 16 17. Acts 13. 27. 15. 21. and commended Rom. 3. 2. Besides Christ â—endâ— his Aâ—ditors to the Old Testament to read it and â—earch it Iohn 5. 39. Whereas if they had corrupted it he would without doubt have cautionâ—â— them against it Again he and his Apoâ—tles conâ—tantly proved their Doctrine and confuted the Jews out of those very Writings which is an Argument that in our Saviour's time those Books were not corrupted else he and the Apostles would not have so frequently quoted them and â—â—ed the Testimony of almost every particular Book as Authentical and of Divine Inspiration And that the Hebrew Text was not corrupted by the Jews after our Saviour's time is as manifest because the Testimonies cited out of the Old Testament by those that succeeded Christ and hiâ— Apostles are found to be the same in those Writings now without the least Alteration Likewise it cannot be shewed at what time after Chriâ—â— the Corruption or Alteration of the Text began though the Younger Vossius is pleased to say it was presently after the Destruction of Ierusalem which yet he hath no where proved Farther if you observe those Places in the Hebrew Text which some alledg as corrupted by the Jews you 'll find that there was no Occasion or Ground for so corrupting them If they changed the Text it was questionless for their own Ends and to maintain some Error of theirs the Alteration would especially have been in those Places which speak of Christ the true Messias but you will not discover any such thing If any object Psal. 22. 16. They pierced my Hands and my Feet and say that the Jews have there purposely changed Caaru into Caari I ask why did the Masorites restore it to its right Reading If it had been corrupted by the Circumcised Doctors on purpose it would not have been taken notice of here by Men of the same Perswasion but they would have let it remain without any Marginal Correction But seeing they did not it is a sign there was no Intention to corrupt the Text. This indeed they do they add a Keri to the Ketib i. e. instead of Carri sicut Leo in the Text they write in the Margin Caaru foderunt as much as to say that Caaru is the true and genuine Reading This the Masoretick Note here testifies Besides it is evident that the Seventy did read it so and accordingly translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus 't is rendred in the Syriack Arabick Ethiopick and Latin But the Place was by chance corrupted because of the likeness of the two Vowels Iod and Vau and not out of design for then the Masorite Jews would not have supplied it in the Margin with that other word Caaru they pierced which agrees with the History of Christ's Sufferings Yea this Word is in some antient Copies in the Text it self which is not denied by the learned Father of the Oratory who had it from Rabbi ben Hajim the great Restorer of the Masora who acknowledgeth that in some of the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible which he had seen Caaru they pierced or digged was in the Text. Or why may we not take in both the Words into the Text and so reconcile the Textual and Marginal Reading This we find done by the Chaldee Version which renders the Place thus They did bite or pierce like a Lion as if the Original ran thus Caaru caari foderunt sicut Leo. This in my opinion may be a safe way of composing the Difference about this Text. However not only from this but what hath been said before I think it is manifest that the Jews did not adulterate this Text. And among all those other Texts that are said to be chang'd and adulterated you will scarcely find one that hath reference to that great Concern oâ— the Jews whence we may conclude that the Old Testament remains altogether unaltered I might farther add that the Multitude of Copies was great every-where both before and after Christ's time so that it was impossible to corrupt them all I know some have inferr'd the Corruption of the Original Hebrew from the great difference which is to be found between that and the Version of the Seventy but I shall afterwards when I come to speak of the Perfection of Scripture give a large and full Account of the Reason of this Difference whence I shall make it plain that this Difference proceeds not at all from the Depravation of the Original Hebrew The short then is that the Hebrew Bible is pure and uncorrupt and after all the Disputes about the various Readings it is undeniable that there is no difference in the Hebrew Copies as to any thing considerable and of moment it toucheth not any necessary Point of Religion which we are bound to know and practise In the several Copies the same Historical Passages are related the same Miracles recorded the same Prophecies and Predictions the same Doctrines Laws and Precepts set down and that without any varying So that we are certain of the Integrity of the Hebrew Bible Notwithstanding what hath been suggested to the contrary we are assured that we have the true Authentick Copies of the first Original Writings and in a word that the Hebrew Text is the same that it was and is still in
they were the true Britains i. e. Cimbri or Cumbri or as afterwards they were call'd Cambri But this latter Denomination was more especially applied to those of them that fled into the British Ciâ—â—â—riâ— or Cambria now call'd Wales in the time that thâ— Saxons raged in the Southern Parts of this Isle I will here particularly mention Gomer's three Sons and take notice what Places are assign'd to them To Ashkenaz belong'd Troas or Pâ—rygia the Lesser where is the River Ascanius and a Country call'd Ascania which it is probable took their Name from him and hence are the Ascanian Port and the Ascanian Isles in Pliny And the Name Ascanius as is observ'd was much used in those Parts Riphath the second Son was seated in Pontus and Bithynia especially in Paphlagonia whence as the Jewish Historian remarks the Paphlagones were call'd Riphathae and afterwards by Contraction Riphaci and in Mela there is mention of Riphaces To Togarmah another of Gomer's Sons was allotted Phrygia the Greater and part of Galatia Thence the Phrygians were known by the Name of Tygrammines saith Iosephus But I proceed to speak of the Plantations of the other Sons of Iapheth The second of them was Magog from whom were the Scythians that dwelt on the East and North-East of the Euxine Sea for Scythopolis and Hierapolis which those Scythians took when they conquer'd Syria were ever after call'd Magog saith Pliny And Ptolomee grants that the proper Name of that Place was Magog Iosephus confirms this when he saith the Scythians were call'd Magogae by the Grecians and thence infers that the Scythians had their Original from Magog the Son of Iapheth The third Son was Madai from whom were descended the Medes for Madai is the Hebrew Word for Media as is evident from Isa. 21. 2. and other Places And another Seat of his Offspring was Macedonia antiently call'd Aemathia or Aemadia which is the same with Madia for 't is usual in the changing of a Name out of one Language into another to Prefix a Vowel or Dipthong And a People of this Place are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourth Son was Iavan who 't is likely came first into Greece upon the Division of the Earth among Noah's Children and then afterwards into the more Western Parts of Europe From this Iavan ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the LXX the Iones or Iaones as Homer and Strabo call them the first and original Grecians were derived Iosephus is peremptory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Iavan came Ionia and all the Greeks And Greece is expresly call'd Iavan Dan. 10. 20. 11. 2. So that there is no Reason to doubt that this Son of Iapheth was the Father of the Grecians Moses goes on and mentions the four Sons of Iavan 1. Elisa whose Portion was Achaia and part of Peloponnesus as some of great Learning have inferred from this that in this Country they meet with Ellas and the Elysian Fields and the City Eleusis and Elis a City of Peloponnesus who took their Names from Elisa Some also make him the Parent of the Aeoles in Greece 2. Tarshish from whom the Country that he inhabited is call'd Tarsis on the Coast of which is the Great Sea or Mediterranean whence Tarshish is the Word to signify the Sea It is reasonable to think that the Place where this second Son of Iavan was seated is Cilicia the chief City whereof was Tarsus call'd so by his Name And it appears that the Cilicians of old were known by the Appellation of the People of Tarsus 3. Kittim or Chittim whose Dwelling is thought to have been Lycia and part of Pamphylia for the Country Cetis and the People Cetii the first mention'd by Ptolomy the second by Homer shew that the Sons of Cittim or the Citteans inhabited there That Chittim is meant of some parts of Greece is clear from Numb 24. 24. Ships shall come from the Coasts of Chittim By which are understood the Greeks and Seleucidae that cross'd the Hellespont and came against the Hebrews and Assyians And in 1 Mac. 8. 5. the King of Macedon is call'd the King of Chittim And because there were several Colonies of them sent into Cilicia this bears the Name of the Land of Chittim Isa. 23. 1. and Chittim ver 12. for thence Alexander the Great came to destroy Tyre which is the Subject of that Chapter Ptolomee tells us that Cetis is a Region in Cilicia Cyteum is in Crete saith Pliny There is a Cittium in Cyprus according to Strabo And Iosepâ—us relates that Cetios was the Greek Name of Cyprus it self and thence he saith all the Greek â—sles were called Chittim from thence Italy also was peopled by the Chittians and therefore is sometimes understood by that term The Ierusalem-Targum interprets the Word so in Gen. 10. 4. And when it is said The Ships of Chittim Shall come against thee i. e. against Antiochus Dan. 11. 30. the Meaning is thought by some Learned Writers to be that the Romans by Sea should disturb him But I conceive that this may be true and yet Chittim may in this Place as before signify Cilicia for the Ships of the Romans commonly harboured in the Ports of Cilicia to command the Mediterranean The short is from consulting and comparing the several Texts where Chittim is mentioned I find Reason to determine that some People both of Greece and Italy are comprehended in it and accordingly there is Reason to believe that there were different Colonies of the Posterity of Chittim the Grandchild of Iaphet planted in these Places This puts an End to the Disputes and Quarrels of the Learned on both sides some of whom contend that Greece others that Rome is meant by Chittim 4. Dodanim whose Seat was Epirus and part of Peloponnesus The Name is kept up in the City call'd Dodona which is in Epirus near to which was Iupiter's Oracle whence he was stiled Dodonaeus This Iupiter was this Dodanim the fourth Son of Iavan who was the Grecian Saturn for there were Iupiters many and Saturns many Iaphet's fifth Son was Tubal or Thubal who took up his Habitation at first it is probable about the South-East of the Euxine Sea where dwelt the Albani Chalybes Iberi who were antiently call'd Thobeli saith the Jewish Antiquary from this Thubal and Ptolomy speaks of a City here named Thubilaca From those Parts some of the Iberi were translated to Spain which was thence called Iberia and so the Spaniards are reckoned as the Posterity of Tubal Meshech was Iapheth's Sixth Son to whom fell Cappadocia the Inhabitants whereof were the Meschini and Moschi saith the foresaid Antiquary who are also mentioned by Strabo Mela and Pliny Some of his Posterity were placed in Scythia and the Regions adjacent whence we find that Meshech and Tubal which are constantly joined together in Scripture are Words to express Scythia Ezek. 32. 26. and Magog is joined with