plaufible objection I know remaining, after all what I have faid upon this fubject.

Perhaps fome will be apt to reply here, that they indeed confefs Mofes to be the author of Genefis, and that, if that book had really been fuppofititious, it could never have gone under his name, nor be received as his in after ages; but that yet all this does not prove fufficiently the truth of thofe tranfactions recorded in that book; because Mofes may have forced upon the people of Ifrael the belief of them, by thofe laws that he enacted amongst them, by which it was death for any man to dare to conteft the truth of any thing he had written in his books. This,' I think, is all that the moft contentious Atheists can think of, to undermine the authority of Mofes's hiftory.

But this objection is eafily anfwered, for it confutes itfelf. For,

Firft, it fuppofes the truth of thefe great miracles by which God eftablished Mofes the head and captain of the people of Ifrael; which miracles are every whit as hard to believe, as the feveral accounts of other things which we read of in the book of Genefis.

We find accordingly, amongst the heathens themselves, many monuments of those miracles done by the miniftry of Mofes, when he brought the Ifraelites out of Egypt; as l'intend to fhew in my obfervations upon the other four books of Mofes."

1

Secondly, they must at least fuppofe that Mofes hath given a true account of feveral paffages, in which he could not impofe upon other nations, which did not acknowledge his authority; as, for example, all that relates to the building of the ark, the greatest piece of architecture that was then in the world; and to the raifing of the tower of Babel, the greatest building that ever was, and part of which is yet extant; for all these things were as fo many witneffes of the truth of thofe tranfactions which he related.

Thirdly, they must likewife fuppofe that he hath related feveral other paffages as exactly as he did thofe ; as, for example, that of the divifion of tongues, which is an appendix of the hiftory of the tower of Babel; that? of the deftruction of Sodom; the original of the neighbouring nations of Canaan, that of the Jews, of the Moabites, of the Ammonites, of the Ifmaelites, and Edomites: for it is ridiculous to conceive that this law- giver fhould ever hope to perfuade other nations to believe any falfe flories about matters fo well and fo generally known as thofe were amongst themfelves.

Fourthly, they must fuppofe further, that he hath given a true account of the original of the Ifraelites, whofe head and governor he was. How great and abfolute foever the authority of Mofes might be, it is ridiculous to imagine that ever he would have derived the original of the Ifraelites from any other than from their true ancestors. This appears the more neceffary, in that we fee, by the accounts he gives of things and pedigrees in Genefis, that he wrote that book, efpecially from the hiftory of Abrabam on to the end of it, only to thew the rights and juft pretenfions of the Ifraelites upon the land of Canaan.

Fifthly, they must yet further acknowledge, whether they will or not, the truth of the accounts he gives, concerning the original of the pretenfions and divifions which were kept up amongst the twelve tribes of

S4

Ifrael:

Ifrael: now thefe pretenfions having no other ground than the oracles which are related in his hiftory, they fufficiently prove the authority of thofe oracles, against all the pretenfions and objections of the Atheifts.

What violence foever they may pretend that Mofes might ufe to force an implicit belief of his hiftory and blind obedience to his laws, yet no man of common fenfe and reason can ever think that he would have filled the accounts he gives of things of that nature, with lies, or that, if he had done it, he could ever have expected that his false accounts of them fhould ever have been credited by the neighbouring nations, or even by his own fubjects.

But without urging here feveral other abfurdities, which plainly fhew that there is no diftinction to be found betwixt the accounts of things which Mofes recites as publicly known, and those which he relates of his own head, and private knowledge; there being, as I have already fhewed, betwixt all those several accounts, fuch a natural coherence and neceffary concatenation, that they cannot be divided from one another, without destroying the whole frame of his hiftory; I say, that it is impoffible that the law by which he makes it death for any one to conteft the truth of his narration, fhould make the fincerity of it fufpected.

I do not urge here, that there is an evident abfurdity to suppose that Mofes would ever have related together all thofe tranfactions, as the grounds of religion, if they had been abfolutely unknown in the world before him.

Neither do I mention here, that fuppofe Mofes had been fo imprudent as to attempt such an undertaking, yet there is no reafon to believe that a whole nation, and that a very numerous one, would have long perfevered in a profeffion forced upon them by mere violence and tyranny.

Nor do I think it neceffary to obferve here, that the people of Ifrael were neither so patient, nor fo easily perfuaded by Mofes, nor yet so submiffive to him, as thefe objectors do imagine.

That is plain, and apparent enough from all their feditions and confpiracies against him.

Nor do I judge it neceffary to obferve here what is plain enough of itfelf, viz. that Mofes had no fucceffor any ways concerned to countenance and defend these pretended fictions and fables of his hiftory. Joshua, his immediate fucceffor, was of another tribe; and fo were all the fucceeding governors of Ifrael, until the Maccabees came.

But what I think deferves beft to be obferved here, is, that after Mofes and fofbua's decease the people of Ifrael was brought under the fubjection of the Canaanites, and confequently freed from the terror of that law of Mofes's making, by which it was death for any one to contest the authority of his laws, and the truth of all his writings: there is but a little more than forty years interval betwixt the conqueft of Canaan by Joshua, and the bondage of the Ifraelites under the neigbouring nations. Had it not been a fit time then, to caft off the yoke of Mofes's laws, and to publish the pretended lies and impoftures of his hiftory? Was not the comparison which the Ifraelites could easily make betwixt the Mofaic writings, and the tradition generally received in the country of their captivity, a natural and ready means to undeceive them?

Yet, notwithstanding all this, we fee that they obftinately entertain the

belief of the feveral tranfactions recorded by Mofes, and stand firmly to all their pretenfions: nay, we fee them have recourse to the remedy of repentance which Mofes prefcribed them to ufe in thofe fad misfortunes which he foretold fhould befall them, and out of which he promised, at the fame time, that God would miraculously deliver them; which indeed was done accordingly, even fourteen times within lefs than four hundred years, as is manifeft from the book of Judges.

Can there then be a more pregnant argument, that if Mofes made it death, by one of his fanctions, for any of the Ifraelites to conteft the truth either of his writings, or of his oracles and miracles, it was not to force the belief of them without examination, but rather only to prevent the corruption of that people, and their mingling and confounding themselves with the heathens, which God intended to hinder on purpose, because he would have theMeffiah to be born, according to his promife, out of that nation; which to effect, he thought fit, in his infinite wifdom, to employ the rigour of fome capital laws, to keep that people unmixed and diftinguished from all other nations of the world, till the Meffiah was born?

The Confequences of what we have proved in our foregoing Obfervations upon the Book of GENESIS.

TH

HESE feveral obfervations which I have made upon the Book of Genefis, are all, I think, very natural and eafy; and, if I am not miftaken, fufficient to prove folidly the truth of Mofes's account, of the creation of the world, and of the promise of the Meffiah, which is the foundation of the Chriftian religion.

The conclufion that I draw out of the premises is, that,

First, I affert, that Mofes, that famous Hebrew who was defigned to be the heir of Pharaoh's daughter, is the true and fole author of the book of Genefis.

Secondly, I maintain, that this being once granted, he could not, according to his way of writing, record thofe important tranfactions he relates, otherwife than they really came to pass.

Thirdly, I maintain, that though he had not been an eye-witness of the creation of the world, yet he hath made the defcription of it according to fuch an authentic tradition as cannot be reasonably doubted of because it was then the univerfal tradition, not only of the Moabites, of the Ammonites, of the Ishmaelites, and of the Edomites, who were all of Shem's pofterity, and amongst whom he had been travelling for forty years together; but alfo of the Egyptians, of his own people, and, in a word, of all men then living in the world.

Fourthly, I maintain, that he never was found fault with, nor contradicted, till true reafon and fenfe, if I may fay fo, was loft and banished

from

from amongst mankind, till the Egyptians, for example, they who used before to look upon the Greeks as mere children and ideots, were fallen into fo great a ftupidity and depravation of fenfe, as to believe and maintain that men were first born in Egypt, because, for footh, frogs did naturally, as they thought, breed out of their muddy fens and marthes. Fifthly, I maintain, that for many ages after Mofes nobody did ever publicly declare for the eternity of the world, nor yet for its fortuitous production. These opinions are mere abfurdities and chimeras, brought forth into the world by the Chaldeans and Greeks, only about Alexander's time, or perhaps an hundred years before him, i. e. about eleven or twelve hundred years after Mofes's decease.

Sixthly, I maintain, that feeing there is no particular time to be found wherein the reading of the law was interrupted and difcontinued for any confiderable time amongst the Jews; feeing it continues ftill to this very hour amongst them every fabbath-day, in the feveral places of the world wherein they are difperfed; and feeing befides, that it is certain that this law, which enjoins the obfervation of the fabbath, in remembrance of the creation, could never be impofed upon them, without their per ceiving and declaring prefently the novelty and fuppofition of that account, and confequently of the book wherein it is related ;-feeing all this is certain, I do pofitively maintain, that the truth of the creation can never be better proved, than it is by the book of Genefis, because in it Mofes hath followed the tradition of all the ages that preceded him, and only recorded in writing, what was then generally known of all men in the world; and that, in a time when every man was able to run his own pedigree up to Adam.:

Laftly, I maintain, that as the certainty of the creation cannot reafonably be doubted of, without rejecting at the fame time all those proofs from facts which I have brought to ftrengthen my affertion, fo there is all the reafon in the world to entertain the belief of it, as a matter of fact which is indifputable; as being related by the most ancient hiftorian, confirmed by the moft ancient tradition, believed by the most ancient people of the world, who did not only believe it, but also had always had, according to God's command, the memory of it celebrated amongst them and their ancestors, in all their generations, fifty-two times in a year, from the very beginning of the world.

PREFACE.

PRE FAC E.

7HEN I began at firft thefe Reflexions upon the book of Genefis,

I defigned only to demonftrate the certainty of the creation of the first man, and fo to fhew, by arguments from matters of fact, that, neither the creation of the world, nor yet the promife of the Meffiah, which God made to man after his fin, can reafonably be difputed or doubted of.

I defigned, after that, to eftablish the truth of Chrift's refurrection, by fuch another undeniable argument, viz. by fhewing that the apostles, were eye-witnefles of it, and instituted a folemn day in every week to celebrate and perpetuate the memory of it, amongit men, from their time down to the end of the world. And this I thought was fufficient to demonstrate the truth of the Chriftian religion: for as the Jews, by. the continual celebration of the fabbath every week, could easily run back to the creation of the world, which was the occafion of the inftitution of the fabbath, fo the Chriftians may, by the weekly obfervation of the Lord's day, prove Chrift's refurrection, which occafioned the inftitution of the Loid's day. If we confider the thing in itself, there is no lefs abfurdity to difpute our Saviour's refurrection, than the creation of the first man.

Now if this argument holds, as there can be no eafier, fo neither can there be a ftronger proof of the truth of the Chriftian religion; for, provided we be once well affured of the certainty of Chrift's refurrection, we must acknowledge him to be the true Meffiah, and confequently embrace his religion.

But it seems, in the heat of meditation, I was infenfibly carried further in my obfervations upon the promife of the Meffiah, than I thought. at firft to be. Therefore, inftead of paffing now, as I propofed in the beginning, to the proof of Chrift's refurrection, which is a folid and compendious way of demonftrating the truth of his religion, I find myfelf engaged, according to my prefent method, to continue to make the like Reflexions upon the other Books of Holy Scripture, that I may yet more fully demonftrate that Jefus Chrift is the true Meffiah, whom God promifed to man immediately after his fin.

And this I intend to fhew fo plainly, as will make it evident that God hath really accomplished his first defigns, and exactly performed all his promifes relating to the Meffiah, according to the firft ideas he gave of s coming, to the ancient Patriarchs.