tered into the covenant, and who contributed to the fetting up the Ark and Tabernacle.

4. The very furprifing care taken by the Deity to keep the breed of the Jews pure and genuine, by the proofs of virginity, and by the miraculous waters of jealoufy, is a circumftance that merits attention, and will eafily induce a belief that defcent and birth was a matter much minded amongst them. And,

5. The appointment and obfervance of the fabbatical year, and, after the feventh fabbatical year, a year of jubilee, for the general release of debts, lands, &c. is a circumftance of great moment, not only as these notable periods were useful towards the eafy computation of time, but as it made enquiry into titles, and confequently genealogy, neceffary every fiftieth year; and as the ceffation from culture every feventh year gave continual occafions for the Deity's difplaying his power in increafing the crop of the fixth, pursuant to his promife.

Now, taking these circumftances together under confideration, could any human precaution have provided more means to keep up the memory and evidence of any fact? Could this have been done by human forefight or force? Has any thing like to it ever been in the world befides?

What could tend more to perpetuate the memory of any event, than to deliver a whole people, by public glorious miracles, from intolerable flavery? To publish a very extraordinary fyftem of laws immediately from heaven? To put this law in writing together with the covenant for the obeying it? To make the tenure of the eftates depend on the original divifion of the land, to men who faw the miracles, and first took poffeffion, and on the proximity of relation, by defcent to them? To appoint a return of lands every fiftieth year, which fhould give perpetual occafion to canvass those defcents? To order a fabbath feventh every for the land, the year lofs of which fhould be fupplied by the preceding year's increase? And to felect a whole tribe confifting of many thoufands, to be the guardians, in fome degree the judges and the executors of this law; who were barred from any portion of the land, in common with their brethren, and were contented with the contributions that came from the other tribes, without any fixed portion amongst them? This muft keep up the belief and authority of that law

amongst the defcendants of that people, or nothing could: and if fuch a belief, under all thefe circumstances, prevailed amongst a people fo conftituted, that belief could not poffibly proceed from impofture; becaufe the very means provided, for proof of the truth, are fo many checks against any poffibility of impofition.

If any man will fuggeft that the law of the Jews is no more than human invention, and that the book of the law is a forgery; let him fay when it was impofed upon that people, or at what period it could have poffibly been impofed upon them, fo as to gain belief, later than the period they mention, and under other circumftances than thofe they relate.

Could the whole people have been perfuaded at any one period, by any impoftor, that they were told feverally by their fathers, and they by theirs, that the law was given with fuch circumstances, and under fuch promises, and threats, if they were not really told fo; or that they, throughout all their generations, had worn certain paffages of the law by way of frontlets and figns, if it had not really been fo?

Could the whole people have been perfuaded to submit to the pain of death, upon all the offences which the law makes capital, unless their fathers had done fo, upon the evidence of the authority of that law?

per

Could the whole people have been fuaded that they had kept exact genealogies, in order to entitle them to the bleffing, and to the inheritances feverally, unless they actually had done fo?

Could the whole people believe that they had kept paffovers, feafts of tabernacles, &c. down from the date of the law, commemorative of the great events they relate to, unless they had really done fo?

Could the children of Ifrael have been impofed on to receive an Ark, and a Tabernacle, then forged, and a compleat fet of fervice and liturgy, as defcending from Mofes by the direction of God, unless that Ark and that fervice had come to them from their ancestors, as authorized by God?

Could the whole people have fubmitted to pay tithe, firft fruits, &c. upon any feigned revelation? Or, could the tribe of Levi, without divine authority, have fubmitted, not only to the being originally without a portion in Ifrael, but to the being incapable of any, in hopes of the contri-. butions of the people; which however large when the whole twelve tribes ferved at the

fame

fame temple, became very scanty when ten of them withdrew their allegiance from heaven?

Could ever the book of the law, if configned to the Levites, and promulgated, have been loft, fo as to give room for new fictions? Or could a book of the law have been forged, if there was none precedent, and put upon the people, as a book that had been delivered to the Levites by Mofes? If no book at all ever was delivered by him to them, what authority could be pretended for fuch a book?

Had a book been to be forged, in order to be received by the people, could it have contained fo many fcandalous reflexions and accufations against the people, and fo many fatal threats and predictions concerning them? and, if it had been fo framed, could it have been received as authentic?

If the law, &c. was forged, it must have been before the days of David: because by the facred hymns, in his time, the publication of the law is celebrated, and the law was observed: and yet the time between the entry of Ifrael into the land, and the reign of David, being but about four hundred years, is too fhort a space for forgetting the real manner of the entry, and forging another, to be received by a people, whofe genealogy was fo fixed, and whofe time was reckoned by fuch periods.

If the book of the law was not forged before the reign of David, it could not poffibly be forged after, unless the whole hiftory of the kingdom, the tabernacle, the temple, and all the facred hymns and prophecies, are looked upon as one compleat fiction; because the tabernacle, the temple, the œconomy, of the kingdom, the facred hymns and all the other writings faid to be facred, bear formal relation to the law.

But, that all these things were not fuppofitious, is evident from the anxious zeal that poffeffed the Jews who returned from the captivity; from their folicitude to reftore the city, the temple and the facred fervice; from their ftrict examination of their genealogies, and fcrupulous care to comply with the law.

The space between the captivity and the return was fo fhort, that fome who faw the first temple, faw alfo the fecond, and many who were themselves, or at least whofe fathers had been, officers in the first temple, returned to the fervice of the fecond: fo that it is utterly impoffible that

the hiftory, the liturgy, the fervice of the Jews, preceding the return, fhould be a fiction, at leaft that it fhould be a fiction earlier than the return.

And the story of this nation, from that period, falls in fo much with the hiftory of the rest of the world; their facred books have been fo foon after that tranflated, and they have been fo famous for the tenacioufnefs of their laws, that there is no poffibility of fufpecting that their law and history was forged later than the return. And, if it is granted, that the devotions, the precepts, the inftitutions, and rites and ceremonies of this law, and the great lines of their hiftory, are not forged; one needs, as to the prefent confideration, be but little folicitous concerning the accuracy of the copy of the books of the law, and of the other facred books; and whether there may not have been fome mistake and interpolations. It is not with one or one hundred words or fentences we have to do; it is with the fyftem of the facrificature, and the other religious laws and fervices of the Jews, and with the political establishment of their theocratical government, and the authority for the establishment of both, that we have, at prefent,

concern.

For, if fuch a fyftem of religious fervices and ceremonies was revealed and commanded by God, if, for the greater certainty, it was reduced into writing by Mofes, by divine direction; if fuch a model of government was framed, as is manifeftly calculated for keeping up the obfervance of thofe fervices, and preferving the memory of the inftitution, and keeping up the authority of the book wherein it was recorded; and if the nation, to whom this inftitution was delivered, have preferved it accordingly: compleat evidence thence arifes to us of the divinity of the inftitution; and leads to a demonstrative proof of the truth of the Chriftian religion, to which all the emblematical inftitutions tend, and in which they center.

Lord Forbes.

and most antient language; from which the very alphabets and letters of all other languages were derived.

This book contains, as the most ancient, fo the most exact story of the world, the propagation of men, and the difperfing of families into the feveral parts of the earth.

And though this book were written in feveral ages and places, by feveral perfons; yet doth the doctrine of it accord together, with a most excellent harmony, without any diffonance or inconfiftency.

And for the manner of delivering the things contained in it, 'tis fo folemn, reverend and majestic, fo exactly fuited to the nature of things, as may justly provoke our wonder and acknowledgment of its divine original.

And as for the New Teftament; thofe various correfpondences, which it bears to the chief things of the Old Testament, may fufficiently evidence that mutual relation, dependance, and affinity which there is between them. That in fuch an age there was fuch a man as Chrift, who preached fuch a doctrine, wrought many miracles, fuffered an ignominious death, and was afterwards worshipped as God, having abundance of difciples and followers, at first chiefly amongst the vulgar, but a while after, amongft feveral of the most wife and learned men; who in a fhort fpace of time did propagate their belief and doctrine into the most remote parts of the world: I fay, all this is for the truth of the matter of fact, not fo much as doubted or called into question, by Julian, or Celfus, or the Jews themselves, or any other of the most avowed enemies of Christianity. But we have it by as good certainty as any rational man can wifh or hope for, that is, by univerfal teftimony, as well of enemies as friends.

And if these things were fo, as to the matter of fact, the common principles of nature will affure us, that 'tis not confiftent with the nature of the Deity, his truth, wisdom, or justice, to work fuch miracles in confirmation of a lie or impofture.

Nor can it be reasonably objected that these miracles are now ceased; and we have not any fuch extraordinary way to confirm the truth of our religion. 'Tis fufficient that they were upon the firft plantation of it, when men were to be inftituted and confirmed in that new doctrine. And there may be as much of

the wisdom of providence in the forbearing them now, as in working them then; it being not reasonable to think that the univerfal laws of nature by which things are to be regularly guided in their natural courfe, fhould frequently, or upon every little occafion, be violated or difordered.

To which may be added that wonderful way whereby this religion hath been propagated in the world, with much fimplicity and infirmity in the first publishers of it; without arms, or faction, or favour of great men, or the perfuafions of philofophers or orators; only by the naked propofal of plain evident truth, with a firm refolution of fuffering and dying for it, by which it hath fubdued all kind of perfecutions and oppofitions, and furmounted whatever difcouragement or refiftance could be laid in its way, or made against it.

The excellency of the things contained in the Gofpel are alfo fo fuitable to a rational being, as no other religion or profeffion whatsoever hath thought of, or fo exprefsly infifted upon.

Some of the learned Heathens have placed the happiness of man in the external fenfual delights of this world.

Others of the wifer Heathen have fpoken fometimes doubtfully concerning a future ftate, and therefore have placed the reward of virtue, in the doing of virtuous things. Virtue is its own reward. Wherein, though there be much of truth, yet it doth not afford encouragement enough for the vaft defires of a rational foul.

Others who have owned a state after this life, have placed the happiness of it in grofs and fenfual pleasures, feafts and gardens, and company, and other fuch low and grofs enjoyments.

Whereas the doctrine of Christianity doth fix it upon things that are much more fpiritual and fublime; the beatific vision, a clear unerring understanding, a perfect tranquillity of mind, a conformity to God, a perpetual admiring and praifing of him; than which the mind of man cannot fancy any thing that is more excellent or defirable.

As to the duties that are enjoined in reference to divine worship, they are fo full of fanctity and fpiritual devotion, as may fhame all the pompous folemnities of other religions, in their coftly facrifices, their dark wild myfteries, and external obfervances.

obfervances. Whereas this refers chiefly to the holiness of the mind, refignation to God, love of him, dependance upon him, fubmiffion to his will, endeavouring to be like him.

And as for the duties of the second table, which concern our mutual converfation towards one another, it allows nothing that is hurtful or noxious, either to ourselves or others; forbids all kind of injury or revenge; commands to overcome evil with good; to pray for enemies and perfecutors; doth not admit of any mental, much lefs any corporal uncleannefs; doth not tolerate any immodeft or uncomely word or gefture; forbids us to wrong others in their goods and poffeffions, or to mifpend our own; requires us to be very tender both of our own and other men's reputation; in brief, it enjoins nothing but what is helpful, and ufeful, and good for mankind. Whatever any philofophers have prefcribed concerning their moral virtues of temperance, and prudence,and patience, and the duties of feveral relations, is here enjoined, in a far more eminent, fublime, and comprehenfive manner: befides fuch examples and incitations to piety as are not to be paralleled elfewhere the whole system of its doctrines being tranfcendently excellent, and fo exactly conformable to the highest pureft reason, that in thofe very things wherein it goes beyond the rules of moral philofophy, we cannot in our best judgment but confent to fubmit to it.

In brief; it doth in every refpect fo fully answer the chief scope and design of religion in giving all imaginable honour and fubmiffion to the Deity, promoting the good of mankind, fatisfying and fupporting the mind of man with the higheft kind of enjoyments, that a rational foul can wish or hope for, as no other religion or profeffion whatsoever can pretend

unto

Infidels pretend want of clear and infallible evidence for the truth of Chriftianity; than which nothing can be more abfurd and unworthy of a rational man. For let it be but impartially confidered; what is it, that fuch men would have? Do they expect mathematical proof and certainty in moral things? Why, they may as well expect to fee with their ears, and hear with their eyes: fuch kind of things being altogether as difproportioned to fuch kind of proofs, as the objects of the feveral fenfes are to one another. The arguments

If we fuppofe God to have made any revelation of his will to mankind, can any man propose or fancy any better way for conveying down to pofterity the certainty of it, than that clear and univerfal tradition which we have for the history of the Gofpel? And must not that man be very unreasonable, who will not be content with as much evidence for an ancient book or matter of fact, as any thing of that nature is capable of? If it be only infallible and mathematical certainty that can fettle his mind, why fhould he believe that he was born of fuch parents, and belongs to fuch a family? 'Tis poffible men might have combined together to delude him with fuch a tradition. Why may he not as well think, that he was born a Prince and not a fubject, and confequently deny all duties of fubjection and obedience to thofe above him? There is nothing fo wild and extravagant, to which men may not expofe themfelves by fuch a kind of nice and fcrupulous incredulity.

Whereas, if to the enquiries about religion a man would but bring with him the fame candour and ingenuity, the fame readinefs to be inftructed, which he doth to the ftudy of human arts and fciences, that is, a mind free from violent prejudices and a defire of contention; it can hardly be imagined, but that he must be convinced and fubdued by thofe clear evidences, which offer themselves to every inquifitive mind, concerning the truth of the principles of religion in general, and concerning the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the Chriftian religion.

Bishop Wilkins.

to be adjusted; thofe defigns will help to explain many parts and conftitutions of the government, as it will fhew the great wifdom of the legiflator, which has made the plan in its feveral parts moft fit, and proper to ferve, and fecure thofe ends.

The Hebrew government appears not only defigned to ferve the common and general ends of all good governments; to protect the property, liberty, fafety, and peace of the feveral members of the community, in which the true happiness and profperity of national focieties will always confift; but moreover to be an holy people to Jehovah, and a kingdom of priests. For thus Mofes is directed to tell the children of Ifrael," Ye have feen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore if you will hear my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye fhall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine, and ye fhall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation." We learn what this covenant was in a further account of it. "Ye ftand this day all of you before the Lord your God, your captains of your tribes, your elders and your officers, and all the men of Ifrael; that you should enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day; that he may establish thee to-day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath faid unto thee,. and as he hath fworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, Ifaac, and to Jacob: for ye know," adds Mofes," how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye paf fed by; and ye have feen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, filver and gold which were among them, left there fhould be among you, man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God to go and ferve the Gods of these nations."

Without any enquiry into the critical meaning of thefe expreffions feverally, every one may eafily fee this general intention of them; that the covenant of Jehovah with the Hebrew people, and their oath by which they bound their allegiance to Jehovah their God and King, was, that they fhould receive and obey the laws which he should appoint as their

fupreme governor, with a particular engagement to keep themselves from the idolatry of the nations round about them, whether the idolatry they had feen while they dwelt in the land of Egypt, or had obferved in the nations by which they paffed into the promised land. In keeping this allegiance to Jehovah, as their immediate and fupreme Lord, they were to expect the bleffings of God's immediate and particular protection in the fecurity of their liberty, peace, and prosperity, againft all attempts of their idolatrous neighbours; but if they should break their allegiance to Jehovah, or forfake the covenant of Jehovah, by going and ferving other Gods and worshipping them, then they fhould forfeit these bleflings of God's protection, and the anger of Jehovah fhould be kindled against the land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

The true fenfe then of this folemn tranfaction; between God and the Hebrew nation, which may be called the original contract of the Hebrew government, is to this purpose: If the Hebrews would voluntarily confent to receive Jehovah for their Lord and King, to keep his covenant and laws, to honour and worship him as the one true God, in oppofition to all idolatry; then, though God as fovereign of the world rules over all the nations of the earth, and all the nations are under the general care of his providence, he would govern the Hebrew nation by peculiar laws of his particular appointment, and blefs it with a more immediate and particular protection; he would fecure to them the invaluable privileges of the true religion, together with liberty, peace and profperity, as a favoured people above all other nations. It is for very wife reafons you may obferve, that temporal bleffings and evils are made fo much use of in this conftitution, for these were the common and prevailing enticements to idolatry; but by thus taking them into the Hebrew conftitution, as rewards to obedience, and punishments of disobedience, they became motives to true religion, instead of encouragements to idolatry.

The idolatrous nations worfhipped fubordinate beings, whom they owned fubject to the Supreme; but they believed they had the immediate direction of the bleffings of life; that they gave health, long life, fruitful feasons, plenty, and profpe