CHA P. XII. The Second Monument of the Jewith Revelation: That the Pentateuch was certainly in being, before the Days of Ezra ; and that he could never have counterfeited a New Scripture made up of Fabulous Events. T HERE is no Man that will fcruple to believe, but that the Book of Genesis, at leaft the Effentiais of that Book, were in being long before the Babylonish Captivity of the Jews; if he pleafe but to confider that the Effentials of that Book, nay the meaneft Circumstances of it, are fometimes denoted as fuch things, that could not poffibly be concealed from any Man's Knowledge. Every one of them fpeaks of the Creation of the World, as well as Mfes. They fay, That God ruled over the Waters. For Chap. 54. v. 9. this is as the waters of Noah unto me, fays X 4 any t any thing else but of the Circumcifion of the Heart: Laftly, it appears, appears, that the Prophets, adjusted their ftile, and their very conceptions to the Circumstances, which are Related, in the Book of Genefis: Do but take notice, after what manner they spake of the Breath of God, &c. Thus the Pfalmift diftinguishes the Waters that are above the Firmament, from the Waters, that are under the Firmament; a distinction only to be found in the 1. Chap. of Gen. and which ever occafion'd, avery great perplexity to the Interpreters. It is therefore to be confeffcd, that thofe Writings we fpeak of, were in being much before any of the Prophets arofe, and confequently before Ezekiel, Feremiah, Elijah, Solomon and David, who continually allude to thofe matters they contain (which allufions are fo natural and unaffected,) and that too in fuch fingular Circumstances, as eafily convince us, they had been altogether bred up in the knowledge of them. Thus by Proving, that the matters of Fact, cons tain'd in the Pentateuch, were not Suppofititious, we have fufficiently proved the Truth of the Foundations of the Jewish Religion; nevertheless through the great Affurance, that we have Proofs enough and to fpare, we will further examin two other Questions: The first is, whether Mofes himself compiled the Pentateuch, or ordered it to be done (for it amounts to the fame thing.) Secondly, whether the form of it was any ways altered by Ezra. There's no Man, I fuppofe, that ever doubted but that Mofes understood the invention of Writing, fince by a general Confeffion of the World, 'tis own'd, that he wrote the Words of the Covenant, in Horeb, which be gave the Ifraelites, and the Decalogue, or ten Commandments engraven on two Tables of Stone. He no He complied other Books, besides that of the Law, as we are told in the 17. of Exod. v. 14. wherein 'tis faid, that God commanded him to Write the History of Amaleck About which we need not Dispute, fince Spinofa himself grants it: But then, fays he, there's Mention made in that place of the Book wherein this Hiftory of Amaleck was Written: He only adds, there is Mention indeed made in the 21. of Numb. of a Book call'd, the Book of the Wars of the Lord, wherein it is very likely, that this War against Amaleck was defcribed at large. Now what ftrange fancy would it be to think, that Mofes had compofed a Book purposely, to describe, with all imaginable Exactnefs the Incampments of the Ifraelites, fuch as must have been the Book of the Wars of the Lord; as it appears by what is cited out of it, and the Teftimony of the Author of that Treatife called Theologicopoliticus, and yet at the fame time, fhould never think upon writing any Hiftory of their coming out of Egypt, nor of explaining his Laws, in fome Treatife of fufficient extent to make them generally intelligible. But we need but well confider all the Books of the Pentateuch; to be fully affur'd that Mofes was the true Author of them. The Book of Genefis feems altogether defigned to the Ifraelites to poffefs themselves of the Land, which God had folemnly promifed the Patriarchs. He had fworn it to Abraham, to Ifaac and to Facob; and it appears that Noahs Prophetical Curfe on Cham the Father of Canaan was related only for that end. up We cannot likewife doubt but that Mofes himfelf was the Author of the Book of Exodus, or of the Hiflory of the Children of Ifrael's coming out of Egypt. For how could he forbear writing either a true or falfe Hiftory of an Event that had made him fo famous throughout the whole World? What likely-hood is there he fhould have have compiled the History of a War that had fo little a relation with the Deliverance of the Ifraelites out of Egypt, and yet that he fhould omit Writing the Hiftory of that great Event? Wherefore should he have fuppreffed that History, which ferv'd to illuftrate his Ceremonies and Ordinances, and without which, it would have been very difficult, to understand this beginning of the Decalogue: Harken, O Ifrael, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage? But if Mofes feems to have taken fuch care to preferve the Memory of the Children of Ifrael's coming out of Egypt, when he fays in the 6. of Deut. when thy Son asketh thee in time to come, Saying, what mean the Teftimonies, and the Statutes, and the Fudgments, which the Lord your God has commanded you? Then thou shalt fay unto thy Son, we were Pharaoh's Bondmen, in Ægypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a Mighty Hand, &c. I fay, if he took fuch mighty care to preserve the Memory of thofe things, how could he fail Writing the History of them? What likely hood is there he fhould warn the Children of Ifrael, in his Law, to remember what befe Dathan and Abiram, and yet that he should not write the Hiftory of that Event more at large? Since The Division of the Tribes, and the fetting apart the Levites, for God's fervice, were the foundation on which that State wholly depended; could he then have forgotten to write their Genealogies, or at least to order them to be written, as we find they are, in the Book of Numers, because had they been once confounded together, that Divifion could no longer have remained, and fince neither the Book of the Law, nor of Deut. fcarcely mentioned any thing concerning the Tabernacle, Sacerdoal Habits, the feveral kinds of Sacrifices, and many other fuch things, all which appertain'd to the pub Bic Vorship of the Jews, how is it poffible he should be be fo heedlefs, as not to write them down in fome of his other Books? I fay, how is it poffible that Mofes fhould have prefcribed nothing in Writing upon that fubject; And how should it come to pass that the whole Nation of the Jews fhould in all Ages fo conftantly affirm, that Mofes had exactly preferibed all those things? Laftly, How can it be imagined, that fo wife and politic a Man as he, fhould not vouchfafe fo much as either to write himself, or order to be written, the Events of which he thought fit to leave as fo many feri fible Teftimonies behind him? But we fhould foon decide this Controverfie were the Incredulous but pleafed to allow us to argue from, that place, which the Author of the Treatile called Theologicopoliticus quotes himself. himself. We read in the 17: chap. of Exodus, how Joshua discomfited Amaleck with the edge of the Sword, and how the Lord faid unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a Book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: For I will utterly put out the rememTM brance of Amaleck from under Heaven. Whereupon 'tis fitting to obferve, that it is not on ly faid, Thou shalt write an History of this defeat of Amaleck, but alfo, thou shalt write this for a memorial in a Book, which proves, that Mofes was ordered immediately from God Almighty, to Compose a Book of all the moft remarkable paffages that happen'd to the People; and confequently, there's no doubt, but that the Hiftory of the Children of Ifrael's coming out of the Land of Egypt was inferted in that Book, and fo that Mofes himielf was the Author of Exodus, or fome other fuch Book CHAP |