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THE
TRUTH
OF
/
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION-
IN SIX BOOKS.
BY HUGO GROTIUS.
CORRECTED AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES BY MR. LE CLERC.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A SEVENTH BOOK,
CONCERNING THIS QUESTION,
What Christian Church we ought to join ourselves to? BY THE SAID MR. LE CLERC.
THE THIRTEENTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS,
PARTICULARLY ONE WHOLE BOOK OF MR. LE CLERc's, AOAINIT INDIFFERENCE OF WHAT RELIGION A MAN IS OF.
/
, a
DONE INTO ENGLISH U j j
BY JOHN CLARKE, D.D. Dean of Sarum. * ]J^7 1 0 I
6
/*
LONDON:
WIWWFO, F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, NO. 62, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-
YARD; W. OTRIDGB AND SON, IN THE STRAND-
«. BALDWIN, NO. 47, AND LONGMAN, HDRST, REES', AN©
ORME, NO. 39, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1800.
BT
II 00
[[■
C. and R. Baldwin, JPrinttfl* $«w Bridge-street, London.
TO THE >
MOST REVEREND PRELATE,
THOMAS,
LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND,
AND METROPOLITAN AND PRIVY-COUNSELLOR
TO HER MOST SERENE MAJESTY,
THE QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN.
UPON the reprinting this excel- lent Piece of that great Man, Hugo Grotius, concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion; whereunto I thought fit to add some- thing of my own, and also some Testimonies, from which the good Opinion he had of the Church of
a 2 England
DEDICATION.
England is evident ; there was no other Person, most Reverend Pre- late, to whom I thought it so proper for me to dedicate this Edition, with the Additions, as the Primate and Metropolitan of the whole Church 1 of England. I therefore present it to you, as worthy your Protection upon its own Account, and as an Instance of my Respect and Duty towards you. I will not attempt here, either to praise or defend Grctius; his own Virtue and distin- guishing Merits in the Common- wealth of Christians, do sufficiently commend and justify him amongst all good and learned Men. Neither will I say any Thing of the A. pen- dix which I have added ; it is so short, that it may be read over al- most in an Hour s Time. If it be beneath Grotius, nothing that I can say about it will vindicate me to the censorious; but if it be thought not beneath him, I need not give any Reasons for joining it with a Piece pf his, Perhaps it might be expect- ed,
.DEDICATION.
ed, most illustrious Prelate, that I should, as usual, commend you and your Church; but I have more than once performed this Part, and de- clared a Thing known to all: Where- fore forbearing that, I conclude with wishing, that both you and the Reve- rend Prelates, and the Rest of the Clergy of the Church of England, who are such brave Defenders of the true Christian Religion, and whose Conversations are answerable to it, may long prosper and flourish : Which I earnestly desire of Al- mighty God.
*&-&ES8g J°HN LE CLERC-
TO THE
READER
JOHN LE CLERC WISHETH ALL HEALTH.
HP HE Bookseller having a Design to re- print this Piece of Grotius's, / gave him to understand that there were many great Faults in the former Editions ; especially in the Testimonies of the Ancients , which it was his Business should be mended, and that something useful might be added to the Notes: Neither would it be unacceptable or unprofitable to the Reader, if a Book" were added, to shew where the Christian Religion, the Truth of which this great Man has demonstrated, is to be found in its greatest Purity, He immediately desired me to do this upon his Account, which I willingly undertook out of the Reverence I had for the Memory o/*Grotius, and because of the Useful* ness of the Thing. How I have succeeded in it, I must leave to the candid Reader's Judgment. I have corrected many Errors of the Press, and perhaps should have done niore, could I have found all the Places. I haije added some, but very short Notes, there being very many before, and the Thing not seeming to require more. My Name adjoined, distinguishes them from Grotius's . I have also added to Grotius a small
Book,
TO THE READER.
Book, concerning ch using our Opinion and Church amongst so many different Sects of Christians ; in which I hope I have offered nothing contrary to the Sense of that great Man, or at least to Truth. I have used such Arguments, as will recommend themselves to any prudent Person, easy and not far-fetched ; and I have determined that Christians ought to manage themselves so in this Matter, as the most prudent Men usually do in the most weighty Affairs of Life. I have abstained from all sharp Controversy, and from all severe Words, which ought never to enter into our Determinations of Religion, if our Adver- saries would suffer it. I have declared the Sense of my Mind in a familiar Stile, without any Flourish of Words, in a Matter where Strength of Argument, and not the Entice- i mint of Words, is required. And herein I have imitated Grotius, whom I think all ought to imitate, who attempt to write seriously, and with a Mind deeply affected with the Gravity of the Argument upon such Subjects.
As I was thinking upon these Things, the Letters, which you will see at the End, were sent me by that honourable and learned Person^ to whose singular Good-nature I am much in- debted, the most Serene i^w/ztf/Great-Britain's Ambassador Extraordinary, to his Royal High- ness the most Serene Qreat Duke of Tuscany. I thought with his Leave they might conveni- ently be published at the End of this Volume, that it might appear what Opinion Grotius
had
TO THE READER.
had of the Church of England ; which is obliged to him, notwithstanding the Snarling of some Men, who object those inconsistent Opinions, Socinianism, Popery, nay, even Atheism itself, against this most learned and religious Man; for fear, , I suppose, his immortal Writings should be read, in which their foolish Opinions are entirely confuted. In which Matter, as in many other Things of the like Nature, they have in vain attempted to blind the Eyes of others: But God forgive them, (for I' wish them nothing worse,) and put better Thoughts into their Minds, that we may at last be ail joined by the Love of Truth and Peace, and be united into one Flock, under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ. This, kind Reader, is what you ought to desire and wish with me ; and may God so be with you, and all that belong to you, as you promote this Matter \ as far as can be, and assist to the utmost of your Power.
Farewell.
Amsterdam, the Calends of March, MDCCIX.
TO
THE READER.
1 Have nothing to add to what I said Eight Years since, but only, that in this my second Edition of Grotius, i" have put some short Notes, and correct- ed a great many faults in the Ancient Testimonies.
Amsterdam, the Calends of T f^
June, MDCCXVII. ° • V*
TO THE MOST NOBLE AND MOST EXCELLENT
HIERONYMUS BIGNONIUS,
THE KING'S SOLICITOR
IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF AUDIENCE AT PARIS.
i
MOST NOBLE AND EXCELLENT SIB.,
Should offend against Justice, if I should divert another Way that Time which you employ in the Exercise of Justice in your high Station : But I am encouraged in this Work, because it is for the Advancement of the Christian Religion, which is a great Part of Justice, and of your Office ; neither would Justice permit me to approach any one else so soon as you, whose Name my Book glo- ries in the Title of. I do not say I desire to employ Part of your Leisure ; for the Dis- charge of so extensive an Office allows you no Leisure. But since Change of Business is instead of Leisure to them that are fully employed, I desire you would, in the Midst
of
TO HIERONYMUS BIGNONIUS.
of your forensic Affairs, bestow some Hours upon these Papers. Even then you will not be out of the Way of your Business. Hear the Witnesses, weigh the Force of their Testimony, make a Judgment, and I will stand by the Determination.
Paris, August 2J. HUGO GROTIUS.
cio cio XXXIX.
THE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
TO THE
CHRISTIAN READER.
THE general Acceptance this Piece of Grotius has met with in the World, encouraged this Translation of it, toge- ther with the Notes; which, being a Collec- tion of ancient Testimonies, upon whose Au- thority and Truth the Genuineness of the Books of Holy Scripture depends, are very useful in order to the convincing any one of the Truth of the Christian Religion. These Notes are for the most Part Grotius's own, except some few of Mr, Le Clen :'s, which I have therefore translated also, because I have followed his Edition, as the most correct.
The Design of the Book is to shew the Reasonableness of believing and embracing rhe Christian Religion above any other; which our Author does, by laying before us all the Evidence that can be brought, both internal and external, and declaring the Sufficiency of it j by enumerating all the Marks or Ge- nuineness
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
nuineness in any Books, and applying them to the Sacred Writings ; and by making ap- pear the Deficiency of all other Institutions of Religion, whether Pagan, Jewish, ox Maho- metan. So that the Substance of the Whole is briefly this ; that as certain as is the Truth of Natural Principles, and that the Mind can judge of what is agreeable to them; as cer- tain as is the Evidence of Men's bodily Senses, in the most plain and obvious Matters of Fact; and as certainly as Men's Integrity and Sincerity may be discovered, and their Ac- counts delivered down to Posterity faithfully ; 50 certain are we of the Truth of the Christian Religion; and that if it be not true, there is no such Thing as true Religion in the World; neither was there ever, or can there eyer be, any Revelation proved to be from Heaven.
This is the Author's Design to prove th« Truth of the Christian Religion in general, against Atheists, Deists, Jews ox Mahometans; and he does not enter into any of the Disputes which Christians have among themselves, but confines himself wholly to the other. Now as the State of Christianity at present is, were a Heathen or Mahometan convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion in general, he would yet be exceedingly at a loss to know what Society of Christians to join him- self with; so miserably divided are they among themselves, and separated into so many Sects and Parties, which differ almost as widely from each other as Heathens from
Chris ^
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
Christians, and who are so zealous and con- tentious for their own particular Opinions, and bear so much Hatred and Ill-will to- wards those that differ from them, that there is very little of the true Spirit of Charity, which is the Bond of Peace, to be found amongst any of them : This is a very great Scandal to the Professors of Christianity, and has been exceedingly disserviceable to the Christian Religion ; insomuch that great Numbers have been hindered from embracing the Gospel, and many tempted to cast it off, because they saw the Professors of it in general agree so lit- tle amongst themselves : This Consideration induced Mr. Le Clerc to add a Seventh Book to those of Grotius; wherein he treats of this Matter, and shews what it becomes every honest Man to do in such a Case j and I have translated it for the same Reason. All that I shall here add, shall be only briefly to inquire into the Cause of so much Division in the Church of Christ, and to shew what seems to me the only Remedy to heal it. First, to ex- amine into the Cause, why the Church of Christ is so much divided : A Man needs but a little Knowledge of the Stateof theChristian Church, to see that there is just Reason for the same Complaint St. Paul made in the pri- mitive Times of the Church of Corinth: That some were for Paul, some for Apollos, and some for Cephas; so very early did the Spirit of Faction creep into the Church of God, and disturb the Peace of it; by setting jfs Members at Variance with each other
who
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
who ought to have been all of the same com- mon Faith, into which they where baptized; and I wish it could not be said that the same Spirit has too much remained amongst Chris- tians ever since. It is evident that the Foun- dation of the Divisions in the Church of Co- rinth, was their forsaking their common Lord and Master, Jesus Christy into whose Name alone they were baptized ; and uniting them- selves, some under one eminent Apostle or Teacher, and some under another, by whom they had been instructed in the Doctrine of Christ, whereby they were distinguished into different Sects, under their several Denomi- " nations: This St. Paul complains of as a Thing in itself very bad, and of pernicious Consequence; for hereby the body of Christ, that is, the Christian ( Church, the Doctrine of which is one and the same at all Times and in all Places, is rent and divided into se- veral Parts, that clash and interfere with each other: Which is the only Method, if per- mitted to have its natural Effect, that can over- throw and destroy it. And from the same Cause have arisen all the Divisions that are or have been in the Church ever since. Had Christians been contented to own but one Lord, even Jesus Christ, and made the Doc- trine delivered by him the sole Rule of Faith, without any Fictions or Inventions of Men; it had been impossible but that the Church of Christ must have been one universal, re- gular, uniform Thing, and not such a Mix- ture and Confusion as we now behold it. 3 But
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
But when Christians once began to establish Doctrines of their own, and to impose them upon others, by human Authority, as Rules of Faith, (which is the Foundation of Anti- christ,) then there began to be as many Schemes of Religion as there were Parties of Men, who had different judgment, and got the Power into their Hands. A very little Acquaintance with Ecclesiastical History does but too sadly confirm the Truth of this, by giving us an Account of the several Doctrines in Fashion % in the several Ages of the Christian Church, according to the then present Humour. And if it be not so now, how comes it to pass that the Generality of Christians are so zealous for that Scheme of Religion, which is received by that particu- lar Church of which they profess themselves Members ? How is it that the Generality of Christians in one Country are zealous for Calvinism, and in another Country as zealous for Arminianism? It is not because Men have any natural Disposition more to the one than the other, or perhaps that one has much more Foundation to support it from Scripture than the other: But the Reason is plain, viz. because they are the established Doc- trines of the Places they live in ; they are by Authority made the Rule and Standard of Religion, and Men are taught them from the Beginning ; by this Means they are so deeply fixed and rooted in their Minds, that they become prejudiced in Favour of them, and have so strong a Relish of them, that
a they
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
they cannot read a Chapter in the Bible, but it appears exactly agreeable to the received Notions of them both, though perhaps those Notions are directly contradictory to each other : Thus, instead of making the Scrip- ture the only Rule of Faith, Men make Rules of Faith of their own, and interpret Scripture according to them ; which being an easy Way of coming to the Knowledge of what they esteem the Truth, the Gene- rality of Christians sit down very well satis- fied with it. But whoever is indeed con- vinced of the Truth of the Gospel, and has any Regard for the Honour of it, cannot but be deeply concerned to see its sacred Truths thus prostituted to the Power and Interests of Men; and think it his Duty to do the ut- most he is able, to take it out of their Hands, and fix it on its own immoveable Bottom. • In order to contribute to which, I shall in the second Place show, what seems to be the only Remedy that can heal these Divisions amongst Christians; and that is, in one Word, making the Scripture the only- Rule of Faith. Whatever is necessary for a Christian to believe, in order to everlast- ing Salvation, is there declared, in such a Way and Manner, as the Wisdom of God, who best knows the Circumstances and Con- ditions of Mankind, has thought fit. This God himself has made the Standard for all Ranks or Orders, for all Capacities and Abi- lities: And to set up any other above, or upon the Level with it, is dishonouring
God,
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE*
God, and abusing of Men. All the Autho- rity in the World cannot make any Thing an Article of Faith, but what God has made so; neither can any Power establish or im- pose upon Men, more or less, or otherwise than what the Scripture commands. God has given every Man proportionable Facul- ties and cAbilities of Mind, some stronger and some weaker; and he has by his own Authority made the Scripture the Rule of Religion to them all: It is therefore their indispensable Duty to examine diligently, and study attentively this Rule, to instruct them- selves in the Knowledge of religious Truths from hence, and to form the best Judgment they can of the Nature of them. The Scripture will extend or contract itself accord- ing to the Capacities of Men : The strongest and largest Understanding will there find enough to fill and improve it, and the nar- rowest and 'meanest Capacity will fully ac- quiesce in what is there required of it. Thus all Men are obliged to form a Judgment of Religion for themselves, and to be continu- ally rectifying and improving it: They may be very helpful and assisting to each other in the Means of coming to this Divine Know- ledge, but no one can finally determine for another; every Man must judge for him- self ; and for the Sincerity of his Judgment he is accountable to God only, who knows the Secrets of all Hearts, which are beyond the Reach of human Power : This must be left till the final Day of Account, when
a % every
THE
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
SECT. PAGE
I. np HE Occasion of this Work 1
II. ** That there is a God . . , 3
III. That there is hut one God 6
IV. All Perfection is in God 8
V. And in an infinite Degree ibid*
VI. That God is Eternal, Omnipotent, Omni- scient, mid completely Good 9
VII. That God is the Cause of all Things . . . ibid.
VIII. The Objection, concerning the Cause of Evil, answered 1 6
IX. Against Two Principles 1/
X. That God governs the Universe IS
XI. And the Affairs of this lower World . . . ibid. And the Particulars in it 1Q
XII . This is further proved by the Preservation
of Empires i 20
XIII. And by Miracles 21
XIV. Bui more especially amongst the Jews, who ought to be credited upon the Account of
the long Continuance of their Religion .... 22
XV. From the Truth and Antiquity of Moses 24
XVI. From Foreign Testimonies 0,6
XVII. The same proved also from Predictions 72 And by other Arguments ; . . . . 73
XVIII. Th*
THE CONTENTS. SECT. PAGE
XVIII. The Objection of Miracles not being seen now, answered 75
XIX. And of there being so much Wickedness 76* XX And that so great, as to oppress good Men 77
XXI. This may be turned tcpon them, so as to prove that Souls survive Bodies ........ 78
XXII. Which is confirmed by Tradition .... ibid.
XXIII. And no Way repugnant to Reason . . 81
XXIV. But many Things favour it ....... . 84
XXV. From whence it follows, that the End
of Man is Happiness after this Life .... 86
XXVI. Which we may secure, by finding out
the true Religion . ibid,
"■ ■
BO O K II.
I. That the Christian Religion is true ...... 87
II. The Proof that there was such a Person as Jesus . ibid.
That he died an ignominious Death .... 88
III. And yet after his Death was worshipped
by wise Men . 8Q
IV. The Cause of which could be no other, but those Miracles which were done by him . . go
V. Which Miracles cannot be ascribed to any natural or diabolical Power, but must be from God , 91
VI . The Resurrerfion of Christ proved from crtdible Testimony 94
VII. The Objection drawn from the seeming bnpossibiliy of a Resurrection answered ... 98
The Truth of Jesus s Doctrine proved from his Resurrection 1 00
VIII. That the Christian Religion exceeds all others ibid.
IX. The Excellency of the Rewards proposed . . 101
X. A So-
THE CONTENTS. SECT. PAGE
X. A Solution of the Objection, taken from hence, that the Bodies after their Dissolution cannot be restored 105
XI. The exceeding Purity of its Precepts, with respect to the Worship of God 1 00
XII. Concerning those Duties of Humanity, which we owe to our Neighbour, though he
has injured us 113
XIII. About the Conjunction of Male and Female 117
XIV. About the Use of temporal Goods .... 120
XV. Concerning Oaths 1 23
XVI. Concerning other Actions ibid.
XVII. An Answer to the Objection, drawn from the many Controversies among Christians 125
XVIII. The Excellency of the Christian Reli- gion, further proved from the Excellency of
its Teacher 1 26
From the wonderful Propagation of this
Religion 130
Considering the Weakness and Simplicity
of those who taught it in the first Age .... 135
XIX. And the great Impediments that hindered Men from embracing it, or deterred them from professing it 136
An Answer to those who require more and stronger Arguments 130.
BOOK III.
I. Of the Authority of the Books of the New Testament 142
II. The Books that have any Names affixed to them, were written by those Persons whose Names they bear 143
III. The
THE CONTENTS. SECT. ' PAGE
III. The Doubt of those Books, that were for- merly doubtful, taken away 144
IV. The Authority of those Books which have no Name to them, evident from the Nature
of the Writings 145
V. That these Authors wrote what was true, because they knew the Things they wrote about 1 46
VI. And because they would not say what was false 14?
VII. The Credibility of these Writers further confirmed, from their being famous for Miracles 14£
VIII. And of their Writings ; because in them are contained many Things, which the Event proved to be divinely revealed 151
IX. And also from the Care that it was fit God should take, that false Writings should
not be forged . . 152
X. A Solution of that Objection, that many Books were rejected by some ibid.
XI. An Answer to the Objection of some Things being contained in those Books, that
are impossible 156
XII. Or disagreeable to Reason ibid.
XIII. An Answer to this Objection, that some Things are contained in those Books which
are inconsistent with one another 158
XIV. An Answer to the Objection from exter- nal Testimonies : Where it is shewn they make more for these Books l6o
XV. An Answer to the Objection of the Scrip- tures being altered , l62
XVI. The Authority of the Books of the Old Testament . . . 105
BOOK
THE CONTENTS.
BOOK IV.
SECT. PAGE
I. A f articular Confutation of the Religions that differ from Christianity 179
II. And first of Paganism. That there is but one God. That created Beings are either good or bad. That the good are not to be worshipped without the Command of the Su- preme God. 1 80
III. A Proof that evil Spirits were worshipped by the Heathen, and the Vnworthiness of it shewn 181
IV. Against the Heathen Worship paid to de- farted Men 184
V. Against the Worship given to the Stars and Elements 185
VI. Agajnst the Worship given to Brute Creatures 186
VII. Against the Worship given to those Things that have no real Existence 188
VIII. An Answer to the Objection of the Heathens, taken from the Miracles done amongst them 1 QO
IX. And from Oracles 103
X. The Heathen Religion rejected, because it failed of its own Accord, as soon as hjimaii Assistance was wanting 1 98
XI. An Answer to this, that the Rise and De- cay of Religion is owing to the Stars 1QQ,
XII. The principal Things of the Christian Religion were approved of by the wisest Heathens ; and if there be any 1 hing in it hard to he believed \ the like is to be found amongst the Heathens ...... ^ 201
BOOK
THE CONTENTS.
BOOK V.
SECT. PAGE
I. A Confutation of Judaism, beginning with
an Address to the Jews 208
II. That the Jews ought to look upon the Mira- cles of Christ as sufficiently attested . 200
III. An Answer to the Objection, that those Miracles were done by the Help of Devils. . 210
IV. Or by the Power of Words 212
V. That the Miracles of Jesus were divine, proved from hence, because he taught the Worship of one God, the Maker of the World ibid.
VI. An Answer to the Objection, drawn from the Difference betwixt the Law of Moses, and the Law of Christ ; whence it is shewn, that there might be given a more perfect Law
. than that of Moses , . . . 214
VII. The Law of Moses was observed by Jesus when on Earth, neither was any Part of it abolished afterwards, but only those Pre- cepts which had no intrinsic Goodness in them 2l6
VIII. As Sacrifices, which were never accept- able to God upon their own Account 220
IX. And the Difference of Meats 226
X. And of Days . . 230
XI. And external Circumcision of the Flesh . . 232
XII. And yet the Apostles of Jesus easily aU lowed of those Things 234
XIII. A Proof against the Jews, taken from their own Confession of the extraordinary Promise of the Messiah 235
XIV. That he is already come, appears from
the Time foretold. , ibid.
XV. (With an Answer to what is alledged, that his Coming was deferred upon the Ac- count of the Sins of the People) 230
XVI. AU
THE CONTENTS. SECT. PAGJK
XVI. Also from the present State of the Jews, compared with the Promises of the Law . . . 240
XVII. Jesus proved to be the Messiah, from those Things that were predicted of the Messiah. . 243
XVIII. An Answer to what is alledged, that some Things were not fulfilled 246
XIX. And to that which is objected of the low Condition and Death of Jesus 248
XX. And as though they were good Men who delivered him to Death 252
XXI. An Answer to the Objection of the Chris- tians worshipping many Gods* 256
XXII. And that human Nature is worshipped
by them 25^
XXIII. The Conclusion of this Part, with a Prayer for the Jews 262
BOOK VI.
I. A Confutation o/Mahometanism ; the Ori- ginal thereof 263
II. The Mahometans' Foundation overturned
in that they do not examine into Religion . . . 268
III. A Proof against the Mahometans, taken out of the sacred Books of the Hebrews and Christians; and that they are not corrupted 269
IV. From comparing Mahomet with Christ . . 271
V. And the Works of each of them 272
VI. And of those who firtt embraced each of these Religions. 273
VII. And of the Methods by which each Law was propagated. 274
VIII. And of their Precepts compared with
one another 276
IX. ASu-
^HE WllUtt,
$EC#. fAGI
IX. A Solution of the Mahometans' Objection concerning the Son of God. _27/
X. There are Many absurd Things in the Ma- hometan Books 278
XI. The Conclusion to the Christians ; who are aamomshed of their Duty, upon Occasion of
the foregoing Things. 2ft)
THE
CONTENTS
OF
Mr. LE CLERC's TWO BOOKS.
BOOK I.
SECT. PAGE
!• IHfT'E must inquire, amongst what Chris- tians the true Doctrine of Christ flou- risheth most at this Time 28g|
II. We are to join ourselves with those who are most worthy the Name of Christians 295
III. They are most worthy the Name of Chris- tians, who, in the purest Manner of all, pro- fess the Doctrine, the Truth of which hath been proved by Grotius 2Q6
IV. Concerning the Agreement and Disagree- ment of Christians 1Q8
V. iVhence every one ought to learn the Know- ledge of the Christian Religion 302
VI* No-
THE CONTENTS, SECT. PAGE
VI. Nothing else might to he imposed upon Christians, but what they can gather from
the New Testament 304
VII. The Providence of God, in preserving the Christian Doctrine, is very wonderful, .... 306
VIII. An Answer to that Question, Why God Permits Differences and Errors to arise amongst Christians 309
IX. They profess and teach the Christian Doc- trine in the purest Manner of all, who pro- pose those Things only as necessary to he be- lieved, practised, or hoped for, which Chris- tians are agreed in 312
X. All prudent Persons ought to partake of the Sacrament, with those who require nothing else of Christians, but what every one finds in
the Books of the New Testament 3 14
XI. Concerning Church-Government 317
XII. The ancient Church-Government was highly esteemed by Grotius, without con- demning others . . 3 1 (>
XIII. An Exhortation to all Christians who differ from each other, not to require of one
another any Points of Doctrine, but such as every one finds in the New Testament, and have always been believed. 320
BOOK II.
I. That we ought to have a love for Truth in all Things, but more especially in such as are
of great Moment. . . 324
II. Nothing can be of greater Moment, than Re- ligion ; and therejore we ought to use our ut- most Endeavours to come at the true Know- ledge of it 326
3 III, That
THE CONTENTS. SECT. PAGE
III. That an Indifference in Religion is in its own Nature unlawful, forbdden by the Laws of God, and condemned by all Sects
of Christians 32$
IV. We ought not hastily lo condemn these who differ from us, as if they were guilty of such a Crime or such unlawful Worship, as is in- consistent with eternal Life ; so that none who admit su, h Persons, should be capable of the Merry of God ; nor yet, on the other Hand, is it lawful, for us to profess that we believe what we do not really believe ;
or to do what at the same Time we condemn . . 334
V. A Man that commits a Sin by Mistake, may
be accepted of God, bat a Hypocrite cannot . . 338
Testimonies concerning Hugo Grotius's Affection for the Church (/England 343
TO
TO THE HONOURABLE
HIERONYMUS BIGNONIUS,
HIS MAJESTY'S SOLICITOR
IN
THE CHIEF COURT OP PARl2.
BOOK I.
SECTION I.
The Occasion of this Work.
VOU have frequently inquired of me, wor- thy Sir, (whom I know to be a Gentle- man that highly deserves the Esteem of your Country, of the learned World, and, if you will allow me to say it, of myself also,) what the Substance of those Books is, which I wrote in Defence of the Christian Religion, in my own Language. Nor do I wonder at your Inquiry : For you, who have with so great Judgment read every thing that is worth reading, cannot but be sensible with how much Philosophic Nice- ty (a) Rcemundus Sebundus, with what enter tain-
(fl) Rcemundus Sebundus, &c] These were the chief Writers upon this subject in Grotius's Time ; but, since then, a great Number have wrote concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion, especially in French and English; moved thereto by the Example of Grotius, whom they imitated, and sometimes borrowed from him : So that the Glory of so pious and neces- sary a Method of Writing chiefly redounds to him. Le Clerc.
B ing
OF THE TRUTH OF THE tBook 1.
ing Dialogues Ludovicus Fives, and with how great Eloquence your Morrueus, have illustrated this Matter. For which Reason it might seem more useful, to translate some of them into our own Language, than to undertake any thing new upon this Subject. But though I know not what Judgment others will pass upon me, yet I have very good Reason to hope that you, who are so fair and candid a Judge, will easily acquit me, if I should say, that after having read not only the fore-mentioned Writings, but also those that have been written by the Jews in Behalf of the An- cient Jewish Dispensation, and those of Christians for Christianity, I choose to make use of my own Judgment, such as it is ; and to give my Mind that Liberty, which at present is denied my Bo- dy : For I am persuaded that Truth is no other Way to be defended but by Truth, and that such as the Mind is fully satisfied with ; it being in vain to attempt to persuade others to that which you yourself are not convinced of. Wherefore I selected, both from the Ancients and Mo- derns, what appeared to me most conclusive; leav- ing such Arguments as seemed of small Weight, and rejecting such Books as I knew to be spurious, or had Reason to suspect to be so. Those which I approved of, I explained, and put in a regular Method, and in as popular a Manner as I could, and likewise turned them into Verse, that they might the easier be remembered. For my Design was to undertake something which might be use- ful to my Countrymen, especially Seamen ; that they might have an Opportunity to employ that Time which in long Voyages lies upon their Hands, and is usually thrown away : Wherefore I began with an Encomium upon our Nation, which so far excels others in the Skill of Navi- gation ; that by this Means I might excite them
to
Sect. 2.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 8
to make use of this Art, as a peculiar Favour of Heaven ; not only to their own Profit, but also to the propagating the Christian Religion : For they can never want Matter, but in their long Voyages will every where meet either with Pagans, as in China or Guinea ; or Mahometans, as in the Turkish and Persian Empires, and in the King- doms of Fez and Morocco; and also with Jews, who are the professed Enemies of Christianity, and are dispersed oyer the greatest Part of the World : And there are never wanting profane Persons, who, upon Occasion, are ready to scatter their Poison amongst the Weak and Simple, which Fear had forced them to conceal : Against all which Evils, my Desire was, to have my Countrymen: well fortified ; that they, who have the best Parts, might employ them in confuting Errors ; and that the other would take Heed of being seduced by them.
SECT. II.
That there is a God.
AND that we may show that Religion is not a vain and empty Thing ; it shall be the Business of this first Book to lay the Foundation thereof in the Existence of the Deity : Which I prove in the following Manner — That there are some Things which had a Beginning, is confessed on, all Sides, and obvious to Sense : But these Things could not be the Cause of their own Existence ; because that which has no Being, cannot act ; for then it would have been before it was, which is impossible ; whence it follows, that it derived its Being from something else : That is true, not only of those Things which are now before our eyes, or which we haye formerly seen ; but also of those Things
b 1 out
4 OF THE TRUTH OF THE- [Book I.
out of which these have arisen, and so on (a) til we arrive at some Cause, which never had any Beginning, hut exists (as we say) necessarily, and not by Accident: Now this Being, whatsoever it be (of whom we shall speak more fully by and bye) is what we mean by the Deity or God. Another Argument for the Proof of a Deity may be drawn from the plain Consent of all Nations, who have any Remains of Reason, any Sense of Good Man ners, and are not wholly degenerated into Brutish- ness. -For human Inventions, which depend upon the "arbitrary Will of Men, are not always the same every where; but are often changed ; whereas there is no Place where this Notion is not to be found; nor has the Course of Time been able to alter it (which is observed by (b) Arhtotle himself, a Man not very credulous in these Matters;) wherefore we must assign it a Cause as extensive as all Mankind ; ' and that can be no other than a Declaration from God himself, or a Tradition derived down from the first Parents of Mankind : If the former be granted, there needs no further Proof ; if the latter, it is hard to give a good Reason why our first Parents would deli-
(a) Till toe arrive at some cause, &c] Because as their Manner of speaking is, there can be no such Thing as going on forever; for of those Things which had a Beginning, either there is some first Cause, or there is none. If it be de- nied that there is any first Cause ; then those Things which had a Beginning, were without a Cause ; and consequently existed, or came of nothing of themselves, which is absurd.' Le CI ere.
(6) Aristotle himself, &c] Metaphys. Book XI. Ch. 5. where, after relating the Fables of the Gods, he has these words : " Which, if any one rightly distinguishes, he will keep " wholly to this as the principal Thing ; that to believe the " Gods to be the first Beings, is a divine Truth; And that " though Arts and Sciences have probably been often lost, and " revived ; yet this opinion hath been preserved as a Relick to " this very Time." Le Clerc.
ver
Sect. 2.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 5
ver to Posterity a Falsity in a Matter of so great Moment: Moreover, if we look into those Parts of the World, which have been a long Time known, or into those lately discovered ; if they have not lost the common Principles of Human Nature (as was said before) this Truth immedi- ately appears ; as well amongst the more dull Na- tions, as amongst those who are quicker, and have better Understanding ; and, surely, these latter cannot all be deceived, nor the former be sup- posed to have found out something to impose upon each other with : Nor would it be of any Force against this, if it should be urged, that there have been a few Persons in many Ages who did not believe a God, or at least made such a Profession : For considering how few they were, and that as soon as their Arguments were known, their Opi- nion was immediately exploded ; it is evident, it did not proceed from the right Use of that Rea- son which is common to all Men ; but either from an Affectation of Novelty, like the Heathen Phi- losopher who contended that Snow was black ; or from a corrupted Mind, which, like a vitiated Pa- late, does not relish Things as they are : Espe- cially since History and other Writings inform us that the more virtuous any one is, the more care- fully is this Notion of the Deity preserved by him : And it is further evident, that they who dissent from this anciently-established Opinion, do it out of an ill Principle, and are such Persons, whose Interest it is that there should be no God, that is, no Judge of human Actions ; be- cause whatever Hypotheses they have advanced of their own, whether an Infinite Succession of Causes, without any Beginning ; or a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms, or any other, (a) it is at- tended
(a) It is attended with as great, &c.] Grotius might have •aid, and that not rashly, that there are much greater Diffi- culties
6 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
tended with as great, if not greater Difficulties, and not at all more credible than what is already received; as is evident to any one that considers it ever so little. For that which some object, that they don't believe a God, because they don't see him ; if they can see any Thing, they may see how much it is beneath a Man who has a Soul which he cannot see, to argue in this Manner. Nor, if we cannot fully comprehend the Nature of God, ought we therefore to deny that there is any such Being ; for the Beasts don't know what sort of Creatures Men are, and much less do they under- stand how Men, by their Reason, institute and govern Kingdoms, measure the Course of the Stars, and sail across the Seas: These Things exceed their reach: And hence Man, because he is pla«ed by the Dignity of his Nature above the Beasts, and that not by himself, ought to infer, that He, who gave him this superiority above the Beasts, is as far advanced beyond Him, as Be is beyond the Beasts; and that therefore there is a Nature, which, as it is more excellent, so it exceeds his Compre- hension.
SECT. III.
That there is but one God. HAVING proved the Existence of the Deity we come next to his Attributes ; the first whereof is, That there can be no more Gods than One.
cullies in the opinions of those who would have the World to be eternal, or always to have been; such as, that it must have come out of nothing of itself, or that it arose from the fortuity ous Concourse of Atoms ; Opinions full of manifest Contradic- tions, as many since Grotius's Time have exactly demonstrated- amongst whom is the eminent and learned Dr. Ralph Cudworth', who i wrote the English Treatise Of the Intellectual Svste?n of the Universe : There are also other very excellent English Di< vines and Natural Philosophers, le Ckrc,
Which
Sect. 3.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 7
Which may be gathered from hence ; because (as was before said) God exists necessarily, or is self- existent. Now that which is necessary, or self-exist- ent, cannot be considered as of any Kind or Species of Beings, but as actually existing, (a) and is there- fore a single Being : for, if you imagine many Gods, you will see that necessary Existence belongs to none of them ; nor can there be any Reason why two should rather be believed than three, or ten than five: Besides the Abundance of particular Things of the same Kind proceeds from the Fruit- fulness of the Cause, in Proportion to which more or less is produced ; but God has no Cause or Original. Further, particular different Things are endued with peculiar Properties, by which they are distinguished from each other ; which do not belong to God, who is a necessary Being. Neither do we find any Signs of many Gods ; for this whole Universe makes but one World, in which there is but (b) One Thing that far ex- ceeds the rest in Beauty; viz. the Sun: And in every Man there is but One Thing that governs, that is, the Mind : Moreover, if there could be two or more Gods, free Agents, acting according to their own Wills, they might will contrary to each other ; and so One be hindered by the Other from effecting his Design ; now a Possibility of being hindered is inconsistent with the Notion of God.
(a) And is therefore a single being, &c] But a great many- single Beings are a great many individual Beings ; this Argu- ment therefore might have been omitted, without any Detri- ment to so good a Cause. Le Clerc.
Whoever would see the Argument for the Unity of God, drawn from his necessary or Self-existence, urged in its full Force, may find it at the Beginning of Dr. Samuel Clark's Boyle's Lectures.
(6) One Thing that far exceeds, &c] At least to the Inha- bitants of this our Solar System, (as we now term it ;) as the fiery Centers the Stars are to other Systems, Le Clerc.
SECT.
• OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
SECT. IV.
All Perfection is in God,
THAT we may come to the Knowledge of the other Attributes of God, we conceive all that is meant by Perfection to be in Him (I use the Latin Word Perfectio, as being the best that Tongue affords, andthesameastheGreekTA^T*,?.) Because whatever Perfection is in any Thing, either had a Beginning, or not ; if it had no Beginning, it is the Perfection of God ; if it had a Begin- ning, it must of Necessity be from something else; And since none of those Things, that exist, are produced from nothing ; it follows, that what- ever Perfections are in the Effects, were first in the Cause, so that it could produce any Thing endued with them ; and consequently they are all in the first Cause. Neither can the first Cause ever be deprived of any of its Perfections ; Not from any Thing else ; because that which is eternal does not depend upon any other Thing ; nor ean it at all suffer from any Thing that they can do : Nor from itself, because every Nature desires its own Perfection,
S E C T V.
And in an Infinite Degree,
TO this must be added, that these Perfections are in God, in an infinite Degree ; Because those Attributes that are finite, are therefore limited, be* cause the Cause, whence they proceed, has commu- nicated so much of them, and no more ; or else, because the Subject was capable of no. more. But no other Nature communicated any of its Perfec- tions to God ; nor does he derive any Thing from any one else, he being (as was said) necessary or self-existent, SECT,
Sect. 4, 5, 6, 7.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 9
SECT. VI.
That God is Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and completely Good.
NOW seeing it is very evident, that those Things which have Life, are more perfect than those which have not ; and those which have a Power of Acting, than those who have none ; those which have Understanding, than those which want it ; those which are good, than those which are not so ; it follows, from what has been already said, that these Attributes belong to God, and *to infinitely : Wherefore he is a living infinite God ; that is, eternal, of immense Power, and every Way good, without the least Defect.
SECT. VII.
That God is the Cause of all Things. t EVERY Thing that is, derives its Existence from God; this follows from what has been al- ready said. For we conclude, that there is but one necessary self-existent Being ; whence we col- lect, that all other Things sprung from a Being different from themselves: For those things which are derived from something else, were all of them, either immediately in themselves, or me- diately in their Causes, derived from him who had no Beginning, that is, from God, as was before evinced. And this is not only evident to Reason, but in a Manner to Sense too : For if we take a Survey of the admirable Structure of a Human Body both within and without ; and see how every, even the most minute Part hath its proper Use, without any Design or Intention of the Parents, and with so great Exactness,- as the 6
10 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
most excellent Philosophers and Physicians could never enough admire ; it is a sufficient Demon- stration that the Author of Nature is the most complete Understanding. Of this a great deal may be seen in (a) Galen, especially where he examines the Use of the Hands and Eyes : And the same may be observed in the Bodies of dumb Crea- tures ; for the Figure and Situation of their Parts to a certain End, cannot be the Effect of any Power in Matter. As also in Plants and Herbs, which is accurately observed by the Philosophers. Strabo (b) excellently well takes Notice hereof in the Position of Water, which, as to its Quality, is of a middle Nature betwixt Air and Earth, and ought to have be.en placed betwixt them, but is therefore interspersed and mixed with the Earth, lest its Fruitfulness, by which the Life of Man is preserved, should be hindered. Now it is the Pro- perty of intelligent Beings only, to act with some View. Neither are particular Things appointed for their own peculiar Ends only, but for the Good of the Whole ; as is plain in Water, which
(a) In Galen, &c] Book III. Ch. 10. Which Place is highly worth reading, but too long to be inserted. But many later Divines and Natural Philosophers in England have explained these thing6 more accurately. Le Clerc.
(b) Strabo, &c] Book XVII. Where after he had distin- guished betwixt the Works of Nature, that is, the material World, and those of Providence, he adds ; " After the Earth " was surrounded with Water, because Man was not made "to' dwell in the Water,. but belongs partly to the Earth " and partly to the Air, and stands in great Need of Light ; " Providence has caused many Eminences and Cavities in " the Earth, that in these, the Water, or the greatest Part " of it, might be received ; whereby that Part of the Earth " under it might be covered ; and that by the other, the. " Earth might be-advanced to cover the Water, except what
11 is of Use for Men, Animals, and Plants." The same hath been observed by Rabbi Jehuda Leveta, and Abenesdra, amongst the Jews, and St. Chrysostom in his 9th Homily of. Statutes among Christians,
con-
Sect. 7.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Ji
(a) contrary to its own Nature is raised upwards, lest by a Vacuum there should be a Gap in the Structure of the Universe, which is upheld by the continual Union of its Parts. Now the Good of the Whole could not possibly be designed, nor a Power put into Things to tend towards it, but by an intelligent Being, to whom the Universe is subject. There are moreover some Actions, even of the Beasts, so ordered and directed, as plainly discover them to be the Effects of some small Degree of Reason : As is most manifest in Ants and Bees, and also in some others, which, before they have experienced them, will avoid Things hurtful, and seek those that are profit- able to them.' That this Power of searching out and distinguishing, is not properly in them- selves, is apparent from hence, because they act always alike, and are unable to do other Things which don't require more Pains, (b) wherefore
(a) Contrary to its own Nature, &c] This was borrowed from the Peripatetic Philosophy, by this great Man; which supposed the Water in a Pump to ascend for Fear of a Vacuum; whereas it is now granted by all to be done by the Pressure of the Air. But by the Laws of Gravitation, as the Moderns explain them, the Order of the Universe, and the Wisdom of its Creator, are no less conspicuous. Le Clcrc.
(b) Wherefore they are acted upon, &c] No, they are done, Dy the Soul of those Beasts, which is so far reasonable, as to be able to do such Things, and not others. Otherwise God himself would act in them instead of a Soul, which a good Philosopher will hardly be persuaded of. Nothing hinders but that there may be a great many Ranks of sensi- ble and intelligent Natures, the lowest of which may be in the Bodies of Brute Creatures; for nobody, I think, really believes with Ren. Cartes, that Brutes are mere corporeal Machines. But you will say, when Brute Creatures die, what becomes of the Soul ? That indeed I know not, but it is nevertheless true that Souls reside in them. There is no Necessity that we should know all Things, nor are we therefore presently to deny any Thing because we cannot give Account of it. We are to receive those Things that are evi- dent, and be content to be ignorant of those Things which we cannot know. Le Clerc,
they
12 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
they are acted upon by some foreign Reason ; and what they do, must of Necessity proceed from the Efficiency of that Reason impressed upon them : Which Reason is no other than what we call God. Next, the Heavenly Constellations, but more espe- cially those eminent ones, the Sun and Moon, have their Courses soexactly accommodated to the Fruit- fulness of the Earth, and to the Health of Ani- mals, that nothing can be imagined more conve- nient: For though otherwise, the most simple Mo- tion had been along the Equator, yet are they directed in an oblique Circle, that the Benefit of them might extend to more Places of the Earth. And as other Animals are allowed the Use of the Earth, so Mankind are permitted to use those Ani- mals, and can by thePower of his Reason tame the fiercest of them. Whence it was that (a) the Sto- icks concluded that the World was made for the Sake of Man. But since the Power of Man does not extend so far as to compel the Heavenly Lu- minaries to serve him, nor is it likely they should of their own accord submit themselves to him ; hence itfollows, that thereisa superior Understand- ing, at whose Command those beautiful Bodies af- ford their perpetual Assistance to Man, who is * placed so far beneath them : Which Understanding is none other than the Maker of the Stars and of the Universe, (b) The Eccentric Motions of the
Stars,
(a) TheStoicks concluded, &c] See Tidly in his first Book of Offices, and his second of the Nature of the Gods.
(b) The Eccentric Motions, &c] This argument is learn- edly handled by Maimonides, in his Ductor Dubitantium, Part II. c. 4. And if you suppose the Earth to be moved, it amounts to the same Thing in other Words.
Ibid. These and some of the following Things are accord- ing to the vulgar Opinion, which is now exploded; but the Efficacy of the Divine Power is equally seen in the constant Motion of the Planets in Ellipsis, about the Sun, through the most fluid Vortex ; in such a Manner as not to recede from, or approach to, their Centre, more than
their
Sect. 7.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 13
Stars, and the Epicycles, as they term them, ma- nifestly show, that they are not the Effects of Matter, hut the Appointment of a free Agent ; and the same Assurance we have from the Position of the Stars, some in one Part of the Heavens, and •some in another ; and from the unequal Form of the Earth and Seas: Nor can we attribute the Mo- tion of the Stars, in such a Direction, rather than another, to any Thing else. The very Figure of the World, which is the most perfect, viz. round, and all the Parts of it inclosed, as it were, intheBo- som of the Heavens, and placed in wonderful Or- der, sufficiently declare, that these Things were not the Result of Chance, but the Appointment of the most excellent Understanding: For can any one be so foolish, as to expect any Thing so accurate from Chance ? He may as soon believe, that Pieces of Timber, and Stones, should frame themselves into a House; (b) or that from Letters thrown at a Ven- ture, there should arise a Poem; when the Philoso- pher, who saw only some Geometrical Figures on the Sea-shore, thought them plain Indications of a Man's having been there, such Things not looking as if they proceeded from Chance. Besides, that Mankind were not from Eternity, but date their Original from a certain Period of Time, is clear, as from other Arguments, so from the* Improvement
of
their wonted Limits, but always cut the Sun's Equator at like Obliquity. Le Clerc. Sir Isaac Newton has demonstrated that there are no such Vortexes, but that their Motions are better explained without them.
(fc) Into a House, &c] Or Ship or Engine.
* The Improvement of Arts, he] Tertullian treats of this Matter, from History, in his Book concerning the Soul, Sect. 30. We find (says he) in all Commentaries, especially of the Antiquities of Men, that Mankind increase by Degrees, &c. And a little after, The World manifestly improves every Day, and grows wiser than it was. These two Arguments caused Aristotle's Opinion (who would not allow Mankind any
Beginning)
M OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
of Arts, and those desert Places, which came after- wards to be inhabited ; and is further evidenced by the Language of Islands, plainly derived from the neighbouring Continents. There are moreover certain Ordinances so universal amongst Men, that they don't seem so much to owe their Institution to the Instinct of Nature, or the Deductions of plain
Reason,
Beginning) to be rejected by the learned Historians, especially the Epicureans. Lucretius, Book V.
If Heaven and Earth had no Original,
How is it, that before the Trojan -war,
No Poets sung of Memorable Things ;
But Deeds of Heroes dy'd so oft -with them ;
And no where Monuments raised to their Praise ?
This shews the IVorld is young and lately made.
Whence 'tis that Arts are every Bay encreas'd,
Or fresh renew'd; and Ships so much improv'd,
And Music to delight the Ear.
With a great Deal more to the same Purpose. Virgil, Eclogue VI.
— -"-From these first Principles
All Things arose, hence sprung the tender World.
And in his Georgicks.
Use first producd thuse various Arts we see,
By small Degrees ; this taught the Husbandman
To plow and sow hisfields ; from the hard Flint
To fetch the hidden sparks ; then Man began
With hollow Boats to cross the Stream ; Pilots ;
Catfcd Hyades and Pleiades their Signs,
And Charles's Wain : Then Sportsmen spread their Nets
To catch wild Beasts, and Dogs pursued their Game.
So?nc drain the Rivers, and some seek the Main,
Stretching their Nets to inclose the finny Prey :
Others xcith Iron Forge whet Instruments
To cleave the yielding Wood : Then Arts arose.
Horace, Bookl. Sat. III. When first Mankind began to spread the Earth, Like Animals devoid of Speech, they strove With utmost Strength of Hands, for Dens and Acorns ; From thence to Clubs, and then to Arms they came. Taught by Experience ; till Words express d Their Meaning, and gav< proper Names to Things:
Then
Sect. 7.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 15
Reason, as to a constantTradition, scarcely inter- rupted inany Place, either by Wickedness or Mis- fortune : Of which Sort were formerly Sacrifices, amongst holy Rites ; and now Shame in Venereal Things, the Solemnity of Marriage, and the Ab- horrence of Incest.
SECT.
Then ended Wars, Cities were built, and Laws Are made for Thieves, Adulterers, and Rogues. Pliny in his third Book of Natural History, about the Be- ginning : Wherefore I would be so understood, as the Words them- selves signify, without the Flourish of Men, and as they were understood at the Beginning, before any great exploits were performed. The same Author affirms, that the Ilercynian Wood (in Germany) was coeval with the World, Book XVI. Seneca, in Lactantius, It is not a Thousand Years since Wisdom had a Beginning. Tacitus' s Annals, III. The first Mm, be- fore Appetite and Passion sxiayvd them, lived without Bribes* and without Iniquity; and needed not to be restrained from Evil by Punishment : Neither did they stand in Need of Re- ward, every one naturally pursuing Virtue; for so long as no- thing was desired contrary to Morality, they wanted not to be restrained by Fear : But after they laid aside Equity and Virtue, Violence and Ambition succeeded in the Room of Honesty and Hu- mility ; then began that Power which has ahcays continued amongst some People. But others immediately, or at least after they grew weary of Kings, preferred a legal Government. And Aristotle could not fully persuade himself, any more than others, of the Truth of his own Hypothesis, that Man- kind never had any Beginning. For he speaks very doubtfully of the Matter in many Places, as Moses Maimonides observes in his Ductor Dubitantium, Part II. In the Prologue to his Second Book, concerning the Heavens-, he calls his Position, only a Persuasion, and not a Demonstration ; and there is a Saying of the same Philosopher in the Third Book of the Soul, Chap. III. That Persuasion is a Consequence of Opi- nion. But his principal Argument is drawn from the Absur- dity of the contrary Opinion, which supposes the Heavens and the Universe not to be created, but generated; which is inconsistent. Book XI. of his Metaphysicks, Chap. 8. he says, It is very likely that Arts have often been lost, and in- vented again. And in the last Chapter of tne Third Book of the Generation of Animals, he has these words, It would be a foolish Conjecture, concerning the first Rise of Men and Beasts, if any one should imagine, that of old they sprung out of the Earth one of these two ways, either after the Manner
16 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Bookl.
SECT. VIII.
The Objection concerning the Cause of 'Evil , answered.
NOR ought we to be in theleastf shaken in what has been said, because we see many Evils happen, the Original of which cannot be ascribed to God, who, as was affirmed of him, is perfectly good. For when we say, that God is the Cause of all Things, we mean of all such Things as have a real Existence ; which is no Reason why those Things themselves should not be the Cause of some Acci- dents, such as A.ctions are. God created Man, and some other Intelligences superior to Man, with a Liberty of Acting; which Liberty of Acting is not in itself evil, but may be (a) the Cause of some- thing
of Maggots, or to hate come from Eggs. After his Expli- cation of each of these, he adds, If therefore Animals had any Beginning, it is manifest it must be one of these ixvo ways. The same Aristotle, in the first of his Topichs, Chap. XI. There are some Questions against which very good Arguments may be brought ; (it being very doubtful which Side is in the right, there being great Probability on either Hand) we hate no Certainty of them : And though they be of great Weight, tee find it tery difficult to determine the Cause and Manner of their Existence ; as for Instance, whether the World were from Eternity, or no: Tor such Things as these are disputable. And again, disputing about the same Thing, in his first Book of the Heavens, Chap. X. What shall be said will be the more credible, if we allow the Disputants' Arguments their dug Weight. Tatian therefore did well not to pass by this, where he brings his Reasons for the Belief of the Scriptures, That •what they deliver, concerning the Creation of the Universe, is level to every one's Capacity. If you take Plato for the World's having a Beginning, and Aristotle for its having had none ; you will have seen both the Jewish and Christian Opinions.
(a) The Cause of something that is Evil, &c] God indeed foresaw, that free Agents would abuse their Liberty, and that many natural and moral Evils would arise from hence j yet did not this hinder him from permitting such Abuse,
and
Sect. 8, 9J CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ft
thing that is evil. And to make God the Author of Evils of this Kind, which are called Moral Evils, is the highest Wickedness. But there are other Sorts of Evils, such as Loss or Pain inflicted upon a Person, which may be allowed to come from God, suppose for the Reformation of the Man, or as a Punishment which his Sfns deserve : For here is no inconsistency with Goodness, ; but on the contrary, these proceed from Goodness it- self, in the same Manner as Physick, unpleasant to the Taste, does from a good Physician*
SECT. IX.
Against Two Principles.
And here by the Way we ought to reject theif Opinion, who imagine that there are (a) two Ac^ tive Principles, the one Good, and the other Evil. For from Two Principles, that are contradictory to each other, can arise no regular Order, but only Ruin and Destruction : Neither can there be a self-existent Being perfectly Evil, as there is one self-existent perfectly Good ; Because Evil is a Defect, which cannot reside but in something
and the Consequences thereof; any more than it hindered his creating Beings endued with such Liberty. The Reason is plain. Because a free Agent being the most excellent Crea- ture, which discovers the highest Power of the Creator, God was unwilling to prevent those Inconveniences which proceed trpra the Mutability of their Nature, because he can amend them as be pleases to all Eternity ; in such a manner as is agree- able to his own Goodness, though he has not yet revealed it to us. Concerning which we have largely treated in French in a Book wrote against Pet. Bayle> the seeming Advocate of the Manichees. Le Clerc.
(a) Two active Principles, &c.) This has Respect to the lincient Disciples of Zoroastres, aud to the Manichc es. Le Clerc.
C which
18 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I;
which has a Being ; (a) and the very having a Be- ing is to be reckoned amongst the Things which are Good.
SECT. X.
That God Governs the Universe. THAT the World is governed by the Provi- dence of God, is evident from hence : That not only Men, who are endued with Understanding ; but Birds, and both wild and tame Beasts (who are led by instinct, which serves them instead of Understanding) take Care of, and Provide for, their Young. Which Perfection, as it is a Branch of Goodness, ought not to be excluded from God: And so much the rather, because he is All-wise, and All-powerful, and cannot but know every Thing that is done, or is to be done, and with the greatest Facility direct and govern them : To which we may add, what was before hinted, concerning the Motion of particular Things con- trary to their own Nature, to promote the Good of the Whole.
SECT XT.
And the Affairs of this Lower World.
AND they are under a very great Mistake, who confine this Providence (b) to the heavenly Bo- dies : As appears from the foregoing Reason,which holds as strong for all created Beings ; and more- over from this Consideration, that there is an
especial
(a) And the very having a Being, &c] But here the Author was speaking of moral and not of natural Good. It had there- fore been better to have foreborn such kind of reasoning.
Le Clerc.
(b) To the Heavenly Bodies, &c.] This was the Opinion of Aristotle. See Plutarch concerning the Opinions of the Phi-
losophersj
Sect. 10, II.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 19
especial Regard had to (a) the Good of Man, in the Regulation of the Course of the Stars, as is confessed by the best Philosophers, and evident from Experience. And it is reasonable to conceive, that the greater Care should be taken of that, for Whose sake the other was jnade, than of that which is only subservient to it.
And the Particulars in it. NEITHER is their Error less, (b) who allow the Universe to be governed by Him, but not the particular Things in it. For, if He were ignorant of some particular Thing (as some of them say, He would not be thoroughly acquainted with himself. Neither will his Knowledge be infinite (as we have before proved it to be) if it does not extend to In- dividuals. Now, if God knows all Things, what should hinder his taking Care of them ? Especially since Individuals, as such, are appointed for some certain End, either Particular or General: And Things in General, (which they themselves ac- knowledge to be preserved by God) cannot sub- sist but in their Individuals : So that if the Par- ticulars be destroyed by Providence's forsaking them, the Whole must be destroyed too.
losophers, Book II. ch. 3. and Atticus in Eusebius's Gospel Preparation, Book V. ch. 5. Le Were.
(a) The Good of Man, &c\] Though not for man only, tor it doth not appear that there are no other intelligent Beings in other Planets; yet partly for him, . and so far as He makes Use of them without any Detriment to other Creatures, Be- cause we cannot live without the Sun, we raa-v well conclude it was made upon our Account 5 unless we can imagine Chance provided every Thing that is necessary for us ; which is very absurd : Just like a Man, who happening upon a House well furnished, should deny that it was built for the Convenience of Men, who are alone capable of enjoying it. Le Clerc,
(6) Who allow the Universe, &c] This was the Opinion of the Stoicks : See Arrius's Dissertations upon Epictetus, Book I, «h. 12. and Justin Lipsius, in his Stoical Physiology. Le Clerc*
c % 3ECT.
20 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
SECT. XII.
This is further proved by the Preservation of Empires. THE Preservation of Commonwealths hath been acknowledged, both by Philosophers and Historians, to be no mean Argument for the Di- vine Providence over Human Affairs. First, in General ; (a) because wherever good Order in Go- vernment and Obedience hath been once admit- ted, it has been always retained ; and, in particular, certain Forms of Government have continued for many Ages ; as that of Kings among the Assyrians, ^Egyptians, and Franks ; and that of Aristocracy among the Venetians. Now though human Wis- dom may go a good Way towards this ; yet, if it be duly considered what a Multitude of wicked Men there are, how many external Evils, how liable Things are in their own Nature to change ; we cati hardly imagine any Government should subsist so long without the peculiar care of the Deity. And this is more visible where it has pleased God (b) to change a Government : For all Things (even those which do not depend upon human Prudence) succeed beyond their Wish (which they do not or- dinarily in the Variety of human Events) to those \vhom God has appointed Instruments for this Purpose, as it were, destined by him ; (suppose Cyrus, Alexander, Ccesar the Dictator,(c) the Cingi J amongst
(a) Because wherever good Order, &c] Because without it there is no such Thing as human Society, and without Society Mankind cannot be preserved : Whence we may collect that Men were created by Divine Providence, that they might live in Society, and make Use of Laws, without which there neither is nor can be any Society. Le Clerc.
(b) To change a Government, &c] Thus Lucretius:
Some secret Cause confounds the Exploits of Men.
(c) The Gn^i amongst the Tartars, &c.] He seems to mean GcnhizCon, who came out of Eastern Tartar?* and out ofthe
Sect. 12, 13.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. tl
amongst the Tartars,(a) Namcaa amongst the Chi- nese :) Which wonderful Agreeableness of Event6, and all conspiring to a certain End, is a manifest Indication of a Provident Direction. For though a Man may now and then throw a particular Cast on a Die by Chance ; yet, if he should do it a hundred Times together, every Body would con- clude there was some Art in it.
SECT. XIII.
And by Miracles,
BUT the most certain Proof of Divine Provi- dence is from Miracles, and the Predictions we find in Histories : It is true, indeed, that a great many of those Relations are fabulous ; but there is no Reason to disbelieve those which are attested by credible Witnesses to have been in their Time, Men whose Judgment and Integrity have never been called in Question. For since God is All- knowing and All-powerful, why should we think him not able to signify his Knowledge or his Re- solution to act, out of the ordinary Course of Na- ture, which is his Appointment, and subject to his Direction and Government? If any one should object against this, that inferior intelligent Agents may be the cause of them, it is readily granted ; and this tends to make us believe it the more easily of God : Beside, whatever of this Nature is
City Caracorom, and subdued not only Tar tart/, but also the Northern Sina and India. From him sprung the Mogul Kings, and the Princes of the Lesser Tartary. His Life was written in French, and published at Paris, in 1710. Le Clerc.
(a) Namcaa amongst the Chinese, &c] Here in justice Manca Capacus ought to be named, who was the Founder of the Em- fire of Peru. (See Garsilazzi de la Vega, in Incarum Historia.)
done
$2 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book h
done by such Beings, we conceive God does by them, or wisely permits them to do them ; in the same Manner as in well-regulated Kingdoms, nothing is done otherwise than the Law directs, but by the will of the supreme Governour.
SECT. XIV.
But more especially amongst the Jeivs, who ought to be credited upon the Account of the long Conti- nuance of their Religion.
NOW that some Miracles have really been seen (though it should seem doubtful from the Credit of all other Histories) the Jewish Religion alone may easily convince us: Which, though it has been a long Time destitute of human Assistance, nay exposed to Contempt arid Mockery, yet it remains (a) to this very Day, in almost all Parts
of
(a) To this very Day, &c] Hecatceus concerning the Jews which lived before the time of Alexander^ has these Words : " Though they be severely reproached by their Neighbours " and by Strangers, and many Times harshly treated by the " Persian Kings and Nobility ; yet they cannot be brought off " from their. Opinion, but will undergo the must cruel Tor- " ments and sharpest Deaths, rather than forsake the Religion " of their Country." Josepkus preserved this Place, in his first Book against Appion : and he adds another example out of the said Hecatceus, relating to Alexander's Time, Wherein the Jewish Soldiers peremptorily refused to assist at the repairing the Temple of the God Belus. And the same Josephus has very well shewn, in his other Book against Appion, that the firm Persuasion of the Jews of old, concerning God's being the Author of their Law, is from h< nee evident, because they have not dared, like other people, to alter any Thing in their Laws ; not even then, when in long Banishments, under foreign Princes, they have been tried by all Sorts of Threatnings and Flatteries. To this we may add something of Tacitus about the Proselytes : "All that are converted to them, do the like; *' for the first Principle they are instructed in, is to have a " Contempt of the Gods ; to lay aside their Love to their
w Country,
Sect' 14.]. CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 23
of the World ; when (a) all other Religions (ex- cept the Christian, which is as it were the Perfec- tion of the Jewish) have either disappeared as soon as they are forsaken by the Civil Power and Au- thority (as all the Pagan Religions did) ; or else they are yet maintained by the same Power as Ma- kometanism is : For, if any one should ask, whence it is that the Jewish Religion hath taken so deep Root in the Minds of all the Hebrews, as never to be faced out ; there can be no other possible Cause assigned or imagined than this, that the present Jews received it from their Parents, and they from theirs, and so on, till you come to the Age in which Moses and Joshua lived : They received, I say, (b) by a certain and uninterrupted Tradition/ the Miracles which were worked, as in other Places so more especially at their coming out 0$ M~ytit in their Journey, and at their Entrance into Oz- naan ; of all which, their Ancestors themselves were Witnesses. Nor is it in the least credible, that a People of so obstinate a Disposition could ever be persuaded any otherwise, to submit to a Law loaded with so many Rites and Ceremonies ; or that wise men, amongst the many Distinctions of Re-
-Country, and to have no Regard for their Parents or Bre- thren That is , when the law of God comes in competi- tion with them; which this profane Author unjustly blames See further what Porphyry ha* delivered about the Constancy of the Jews, in his Second and Fourth Books, against eatine of iving Creatures j where he mentions AntiocAus, and particu- larly the Constancy of the Essenes amongst the Jews.
{a) All otlter Religions, &c] Even those so highly com- 2 Wore. ****** ^ " observed b* JmWs and
(b) By a certain and uninterrupted Tradition, &c 1 To whirh we give Credit because it was worthy of God to institute a Rekgionin which it was taught that there was one God the
^^^^jfbJX ls a Spiritual Bein* and » ss§
ligion
U OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I,
ligion which Human Reason might invent, should choose Circumcision : which could not be per- formed (a) without great Pain, and (/;) was laughed at by all Strangers and had nothing to recornmencl it but the Authority of God.
SECT. XV. From the Truth and 'Antiquity of Moses,
THIS also gives the greatest Credit imaginable to the Writings of Moses, in which these Miracles are recorded to Posterity ; that there was not only a settled Opinion and constant Tradition amongst the Jews that this Moses was appointed by the express Command of God himself to be the Lead- er and Captain of this People : but also because (as is very evident) he did not make his own Glory and Advantage his principal Aim, but He himself relates those Errors of his own, which He could have concealed ; and delivered the Regal and Sacerdotal Dignity to others (permitting his own Posterity to be> reduced only to common Ze- vites.) All which plainly shew, that he had no Occasion to falsify in his History ; as the Style of It further -evinces, it being free from that Varnish arid Colour, which uses to give Credr to Roman- ces ; and is very natural and easy, and agreeable to the Matter of which it treats. Moreover, another Argument for the undoubted Antiquity of Moses's Writings, which no other Writings can pretend to, is this, that the Greeks (from whom all other
(a) Without great Pain, &c] Philo says, It was done with very great Pain.
(b) Was laughed at, &c] The same Philo says, It was a Thing laughed at by every body : Whence the Jews, by the Poets are called Cropt, Circumcised, Forp-skinned.
Nation*
Sect. 15.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 25
Nations derived their Learning) own, that they (a) had their Letters from Foreigners; which Letters of theirs have the same Order, Name, (b) and Shape, as the Syriac or Hebrew : And further
{a) Had their Letters, &c] Herodotus in his Terpsichore says, " That the Ionians had their Letters from the Phoenicians, *' and used them, with very little Variation ; which afterwards <* appearing, those Letters were called Phoenician (as they ought " to be) from the Phoenicians bringing them into Greece." H« calls them, .
The Phoenician Characters of Cadmus. And Callimachus ;
• Cadmus, from whom the Greeks
Their written Books derive^
And Plutarch calls them Phoenician or Punic Letters, in hi* Ninth Book, and Third Piob. of his Symposiacks, where ho says, that Alpha, in the Phoenician Language, signifies an Ox\ which is very true. Eupolemus, in his Books of the Kings of Judxa, says, " That Moses was the first wise Man, and that " Letters were first given by him to the Jews, and from them " the Phoenicians received them ; " that is, the ancient Lan- guage of the Jews and Phoenicians was the same, or very little different. Thus Lucian : He spake some indistinct Words, like the Hebrew or Phoenician. And C/uerilus in his Verses con-? cerning the Solini, who, he says, dwelt near the Lake, I sup» pose he means Asphaltites.
These with their Tongues pronounced Phoenician Words.
See also the Punic Scene of Plautus, where you have the Words that are put in the Punic Language twice, by reason of the double Writing ; and also the Latin Translation j whence you may easily correct what is corrupted. And as the Phxnjcian and Hebrew Language were the same, so are the ancient Hebrew Letters the same with those of the Phoenicians. See the great Men about this Matter. Joseph Scaliger's Diatriba of the Eusebian Year cb locxVii. and the First Book, Ch. X. of Gerard Vossius's Grammar (and particularly Sam. Bochart, \h his Chanaan. You may add also, if you please, Cleynent of Alexandria, Strom. Book I. and Eusebius's Gospel Preparation^ Book X. Ch. 5.
(b) And Shape, &c] He means the Samaritan Letters, which are the same as the Phoenician, as Lud. Capel, Sam. Bo- chart, and others have shewn. I also have treated of the same in French, in the Biblioth. Select. Vol. XI. Le Ckrc.
still,
$$ OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
still, the most ancient (a) Attich Laws, from whence the Roman were afterwards taken, owe their Original to the Law of Moses,
SECT. XVI.
From Foreign Testimonies*
TO these we may add the Testimony of a great Number, who were Strangers to the Jewish Reli- gion, which shews that the most ancient Tradition among all Nations, is exactly agreeable to the Re- lation of Moses. For his description of the Ori- ginal of the World is almost the very same as in
(a) Attick Laws, &c] You have a famous instance of this, in Thieves' that rob by Night, which we have treated of in the Second Book of War and Peace, Ch. I. Sect. 12. and another in that Law which Sopater recites, Let him that is next a-kitt possess the Heiress ; which is thus explained by Terence:
There is a Law, by which Widows ought to be married to the next Kinsmen, and the same Law obliges these Kinsmen ta marry them,
- Bonatus remarks upon this Place thus : That the Widow should be married to the next Kinsman, and he marry her, is the Attick Law, viz. taken from the Law of Moses, in the last Chap, of Numbers, which we. shall have opportunity of speaking more of afterwards. A great many other Things may be found to this Purpose, if any one search diligently for them: As the Feast in which they carried Clusters of Grapes, taken from the Feast of Tabernacles; the Law that the High Priest should marry none but a Virgin, and his Countrywoman ; that next after Sisters, Kinsmen by the Father's side should inherit : Wherefore the Attick Laws agree with many of the Hebrew, because the Atticks owe many of their Customs to Cecrops, King of Egypt : and because God established many Laws amongst the Hebrews, very much like those of the Egyptians, to which they had been ac- customed, only reforming such Things as were bad in them ; as we have often observed in our Notes upon the Pentateuch, and before, as John Spencer in bis Book about the Ritual Law& of the Jews. Le Clerc.
the
Sect. 16.3 CHRISTIAN RELIGION. S
the (a) ancient Phoenician Histories, which are
translated by Philo Biblius from Sanckuniathorfs
1 Collection ;
(a) Ancient Phoenician Histories, &c] Euscbius has preserved them for us in his First Book, Chap. 10. of his Preparation. " The Theology of the Phoenicians supposes the Foundation fl of the Universe to have been a dark and windy Air, or the M Breath of a dark Air, and a dismal Chao?, covered with " thick Darkness ; that these were infinite, and had no Bounds " for many Ages. But when this Spirit or Breath placed its 11 Desire or Love on these first Principles, and a Mixture was " produced thereby, this Conjunction was called Love: This " was the Beginning of the Creation of all Things ; but the " Breath, of Spirit, was not created ; and from its Embraces " proceeded Mar, Mot, which some, call Mud, others the Cor- " ruption of a watery Mixture. This was the Seminary, and " from hence were all Things produced." In Moses's History we find the Spirit or Breath, and the Darkness ; and the Hebrew Word nonlD Merachepheth, signifies Love, Plutarch, Syjnposiack VIII. Prob. I. explaining of Plato, says, that God is the Father of the World, not by the Emission of Seed, but by a certain generative Power infused into Matter ; which he illustrates by this Similitude:
The female Bird is oft impregnated By the quick Motion of the Wind.
And Mar, Mot, BtDl whence the Greeks derive their M«f9*, Mothos', signifies in Hebrew oinn Tehom, in Greek "ACwnr©- an Abyss already in Motion. For ''A&zero-^, Abyssos, is in En* nius nothing else but Mud, if I understand him right.
From Muddy Tartarus a Birth Gigantick sprung. This mud separated into Earth and Sea. Apoloiiius in the IVtli of his Argonauticks,
The Earth's produced from Mud. Upon which Place the Scholiast says ; " Zeno affirms, That the " Chaos in Hesiod is Water, of which all Things were made ; " the Water subsiding made Mud, and the Mud congealing " made solid Earth." Now this Zcno was ^.Phoenician, a Colony of whom were planted in Cittium, whence the Hebrews call all beyond the Seas o>ro Chittim. Not much different from which is that of Virgil, Eclogue VI.
Then Earth began to harden, and include Tie Seas within its Bounds, and Things to take Their proper Forms.
Numeniu6%
*8 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I,
Numen'rus, cited by Porphyry, about the Nymph's Den, af* firms, 77/fl£ if zoas said by the Prophet (meaning Moses) that the Spirit of God was moved upon the Waters ; the same Expression which Tertullian uses concerning Baptism. Now because the Hebrew Word naniD Merachephetk, signifies properly the Brooding of a Dove upon her Eggs, therefore it follows in Sanchunialhon, that the living Creatures, that is, the Constel- lations were in that Mud, as in an Egg ; and hence that Spirit is called by the Name of the Dove: Under the Similitude of which Dove, Rabbi Solomon explains the Word nemo Mera- chepheth. Nigidus, in the Scholiast oiGermanicus, says, " That " there was found an Egg of a huge Bigness, which being rol- " led about was cast upon the Earth, and after a few Days Ve- rmis, the Goddess of Syria, was hatched thereby." Lucius Ampelius, in his Book to Matrinus, says, " It is reported that ** in th» River Euphrates, a Dove sat many Days upon a Fish's "Egg, and hatched a Goddess, very kind and merciful to the " Life of Man." Macrobius resembles the World to an Egg, in the Vllth Book and l6"th Chap, of his Saturnalia. It is said to be the Beginning of Generation in the Orphick Verses mentioned by Plutarch, Symposiack XI. Chap. 3. and Atheiiagoras. And hence the Syrian Gods are called by Anobius, the Offspring of Eggs; by which Gods he means the Stars. For it follows in the Phoenician Theology, that The Mud was illuminated with Light, whence came the Sun and Moon, and great and little Stars. You see here as in Moses, that Light was before the Sun. The Word that Moses uses immediately after, I mean pN Eretes- ; where evidently that which was dryed from the Water is called DEO* Jabashah ; the same Pherecydes, from the Authority of the Syrians, expresses himself thus, (as we are informed by others, hut particularly by Jusephus in his first book against Appion ; ) Chthonia, was the name given to the Earth after that Jupiter had honouredit. This Place we find in Diogenes La'erlius, and others; and Anaximander calls the Sea, that which remained of the first Moisture of Things. That ThiHgs were confused before the Se- paration (concerning which you have the very Words of Moses in Chalcidius's Explication of TimausJ Linus informs us, as he was himself taught, That
In the Beginning all Things were confused. So Anaxagoras, All Things were blended together, till the Divine Mind separated them, and adorned and regulated that which was confused. And for this Reason was the Name Mind given by Anaxagoras, as Phtliasius assures us in his Timon 5
For Anaxagoras that Herofam'd
Was term'd a Mind, "cause that zoas thought by hint
A Mind which from Confusion Order bought.
All
Sect. 16 J CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 29
Collection ; and a good Part of it is to be found (a) among thelndians (b) and Egyptians; whence it
is
AU this came from the Phoenicians, who held a very ancient Correspondence with the Greeks. The Ancients say that Linus was descended from Phoenix: So Orpheus had his opinions from the Phoenicians, one of which was this in Athenagoi-as, That Mud proceeded from Water. After which he mentions a great Egg split in two Parts, Heaven and Earth. From the same Orpheus, Timotheus, the Chronographer, cites this Passage ; "The Chaos was dark as night, in which Darkness all Things " under the Sky were involved : The Earth could not be seen " by reason of the Darkness, till Light breaking from the f( Sky, illuminated every Creature." See the Place in Scaliger, in the Beginning of the first Book of the Greek Chronicle of Eusebius. In that which follows of Sanchuniathon, it is called fiuxv*, which is certainly the in3 bohu of Moses: And the Winds, which, are there called xaXxix, Kolpia, are the same with rP-fi-Vp Kalphijah, the Voice of the Mouth of God,
(«) Among the Indians, &c] Megasthenes, in the Fifteenth Book of Strabo, expresses their opinion thus: "That in many "Things they agree with the Greeks; as that the World had a " Beginning, and will have an End ; that it is of a spherical " Figure ; that God, the Creator and Governour of it, pene- " trates all Things : that Things had different Beginnings ; and " that the World was made of Water." Clement has preserved the Words of Megasthenet, himself out of his Third Book of the Indian History, Strom. I. " All that was of old said concerning " the Nature of Things, we find also said by the Philosophers *' who lived eut of Greece, the Brachmans among the Indians^ " and they that are called Jews in Syria."
(b) And Egyptians, &e.] Concerning whom, see Laertius in his Proaemium, "The Foundation was a confused Chaos " from whence the Four Elements were separated, and Living "Creatures made." And a little after, "That as the World " had a Beginning, so it will have an End." Diodorus Siculut explains their Opinion thus : " In the Beginning of the Creation " of all Things, the Heavens and the Earth had the same Form " and Appearance, their natures being mixed together ; but " afterwards the Parts separating from one another, the World " received ' that Form in which we now behold it, and the " Air a continual motion. The fiery Part ascended highest, " because the Lightness of its Nature caused it to tend.up- " wards ; for which Reason the Sun and Multitude of Stars go " in a continual Round : the muddy and grosser Part, together
" with
80 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Boot? T.
"with the Fluid, sunk down, by reason of its Heaviness. "And this rolling and turning itself continually round, from " its Moisture produced the Sea, and from the more solid Parts r proceeded the Earth, as yet very soft and miry ; but when " the Sun began to shine upon it, it grew firm and hard ; and '* the Warmth causing the Superficies of it to ferment, the " Moisture in many Places swelling, put forth certain putrid " Substances, covered with Skins, such as we now see in fenny " moorish Grounds, when the Ear! h being cool, the Air hap- " pens to grow warm, not by a gradual Change, but on a sud- " den. Afterwards the fore mentioned Substances, in the moist H Places, having received Life from the Heat in that Manner, •* were n®urished in the Night, by what fell from the Cloud "surrounding them, and in the Day they were strengthened by " the Heat. Laitly, when these Foetus's were come to their " full Growth, and the Membranes by which they were in- " closed broke by the Heat, all Sorts of Creatures immedi- " ately appeared ; those that were of a hotter nature, became '' Birds and mounted up high ; those that were of a grosser and "earthly Nature, became Creeping Things, and such like "Creatures which are confined to the Earth ; and those which " were of a watry Nature, immediately betook themselves to " a Place of the like Quality, and were called Fish. Now "the Earth being very much dried and hardened, by the Heat "of the Sun, and by the Wind, was no longer able to bring " forth Living Creatures, but they were afterwards begotten " by mixing with each other. Euripides seems not to contradict " this Account, who was the Scholar of Anaxagoras the Philo- " sopher : For he says thus in his Mcnalippe,
Heaven and Earth at first were of one Form, But -when their different Parts mere separate, Thence sprung Beasts, finds, and all the Shoals of Fish, Nay, even Men themselves*
"This therefore is the Account we have received of the Ori- "ginal of Things. And if it should seem strange to any , "one, that the Earth should in the Beginning have a Power "to bring forth Living Creatures, it may be further con- " firmed by what we see come to pass even now. For at " Thcbais in Egypt, upon the River Nile's very much over- " flowing its Banks, and thereby moistening the Ground, " immediately by the Heat of the Sun is caused a Putrefac- f tion, out of which arises an incredible Number of Mice. " Now, if after the Earth has been thus hardened, and the Air "does not preserve its original Temperature, yet some Ani- " mals are notwithstanding produced ; from hence, they say, "it is manifest, that in the Beginning all Sorts of Living
" Creatures
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 3i
is that (a) in Linus (b) Hesiod, and many other Greek Writers, Mention is made of a Chaos (sig- nified
M Creatures were produced out of the Earth in this Manner." If we add to this, that God is the Creator, who is called by Anaxagoras a Mind, you will find many Things agreeing with Moses, and the Tradition of the Phoenicians: As the Heavens and Earth mixed together, the Motion of the Air, the Mud or Abyss, the Light, the Stars, the Separation of Heaven and Earth, and Sea, the Birds, the Creeping Things, Fishes, and other Animals ; and last of all, Mankind. Macrobius in his Seventh of his Saturnalia, Chap. 16", transcribed the following Words from the Egyptians: "If we allow, what our Adver- 11 saries affirm, that the Things, which now are, had a Be- " ginning; Nature first formed all sorts of Animals perfect; "and then ordained, by a perpetual Law, that their Succes- sion should be continued by Procreation. Now that they " might be made perfect in the Beginning, we have the Evi- " dence of very many Creatures produced perfect, from the ** Earth and the Water, as in Egypt Mice, and in other " Places, Frogs, Serpents, and the like." And it is with just Reason that Aristotle prefers Anaxagoras before any of the ancient Greek Philosophers, Metaphys. Book I. Chap. 3, as a sober Man, when the rest were drunken ; because they refer- red every Thing to Matter, whereas t«is Man added also a Cause which acts with design; which Cause Aristotle calls Nature, and Anaxagoras Mind, which is better; and Moses God ; and so does Plato. See La'ertius, where he treats con- cerning the first Principles of Things, according to the Opi- nion of Plato ; and Apptdeius concerning the Opinions of Plato. Tlialis, who was before Atiuxagoras, taught the same ; as Velleim in Cicero tells us in his First Book of the Nature of the Gods : u For Thalis Milesius, who was the first that enquired into such "Things as these, says, that Water was the Beginning of all N Things ; and that God was that Mind which formed all "Things out of Water." Where by Water, he means the Chaos, which Xenophon and others call Earth ; and all of the^i well enough, if we rightly apprehend them.
(a) In Linus, &c] In the Verse quoted above.
{b) Hesiod, &c] In his Theogonia :
The Rise of all Things teas a C/iaos rude,
Whence sprang the spacious Earth, a Seat for Gods,
Who dwell on high Olympus' snowy Top,
Nor are excluded from the dark Abyss
Beneath the Earth ; from whence the GodofLovet
Most
32 OP THE TRUTH OF THE fBook I
nified by some under the Name of an Egg) and
of the framing of Animals, and also of Man's
Formation
Most amiable of all who frees the Breasts Of Men and Gods from anxious Cares and Thoughts, And comforts each of them xoith soft Delight ; From hence rose Erebus, and gloomy Night. These produced iEther, and the gladsome Day, As pledges of their Love.
If we compare this with those of the Phoenicians now quoted, it will seem to be taken from them. For Hesiod lived hard by the Theban Bceotia, which was built by" Cadmus the Phoenician. "EftSes, Erebus, is the same as Moses's aitf Ereb, which Night and Day follow, in the Hymns that are ascribed to Orpheus.
All Things that are, sprung from a Chaos vast.
In the Argonauticks, which go under the same name ;
In Verse he sung the Origin of Things,
Nature's great Change ; hexo Heaven on high was j ram' d,
The Earth established, and begirt with Sea.
How Love created all Things by his Poxoer,
And gave to each of them his proper Place.
So also Epicharmus the most ancient Comic Poet, relating an old Tradition. ■*?
'Tis said that Chaos -was before the Gods.
And Aristophanes, in his Play called the Birds, in a Passage preserved by Lucian, in his Pkilopatris ; and by Suidas.
First of all was Chaos and Night, dark Erebus and gloomy
Tartarus ; There was no Earth, nor Air, nor Heaven till dusky Night, By the Wind's Power en the wide Bosom of Erebus, brought
forth an Egg, Of which was hatched the God of Love ('when Time began ;)
who, with his golden Wings Fixed to his Shoulders, few like a mighty Whirlwind; and
mixing with black Chaos, In Tartarus' dark Shades produced Mankind, and brought
them into Light, For, before Love joined all Things, the Gods themselves had no
Existence j But upon this Conjunction, all Things being mixed and blended,
JEther arose; AndSea andEartk. and the blessedAbodes of the immortal Gods.
These
Sect. Iff.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 33
Formation after the Divine Image, and the Domi- nion given him over all living Creatures ; which are to be seen in many Writers, particularly (a) in
Ovid)
These appear, upoti a very slight View, to be taken from the Tradition of the Phcemciani, who held an ancient Corres- pondence with the Inhabitants of Attica, the most ancient of the lonians. We have already spoke of Erebus* Tartarus is Oinn Tchom. "Afitw©- Ab'yssos, and nsmn Merachepheth, signifies Love, as was shewn before: To which agrees that of Parmenides :
Love was thejint of all the Gods.
(a) In Ovid, &c] The place is no further than the First- Book of his Metamorphoses, and is very well worth reading ; the principal Things in it being so very like those of Moses*, and almost the same Words, so that they afford much licdit to what has been already said, and are likewise much illustrated by it:
Before the Sea, and Earth, and Heaven's high Roof Were framed, Nature had but one Form, one Face ; ■ The World was then a Chaos, one huge Mass, Gross, undigested ; where the Seeds of Things Lay in Confusion, and Disorder hurl'd, Without a Sun to cherish with his Warmth The rising World ', or paler horned Moon. No Earth, suspended in the liquid Air, Borne up by his own Weight ; no Ocean vast Through unknown Tracts of Land to cut his Way ; But Sea, and Earth, and Air are mix' 'd in One -. The Earth unsettled, Sea innavigable, The Air devoid of 'Light ; no Form remain' d: For each resisted each, being all confined ; Hotjarr'd with Cold, and Moist resisted Dry ; Hard, soft, light, heavy, strove with mighty Force ; Till God and Nature did the Strife compose, By parting Heav'nfrom Earth, and Sea from Land, And from gross Air the liquid Sky dividing ; All which from lumpish Matter once discharg'd, Had each his proper Place, by Law decreed : The Light and fiery Parts upwards ascend, And fill the Region of the arched Sky ; The Air succeeds, as next in Weight, and Place ; The Earth compos' d of grosser Elements, Was like a solid Orb begirt with Sea. Thus the well-order' d Mass into due Parts
D Was
34 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
Ovid, who transcribed them from the Greek. That
all
Was separated by Divine Command.
And first, the Earth not stretched into a Plain,
But like an artificial Globe condensed;
Upon whose surface winding Rivers glide,
And stormy Seas, whose Waves each Shore rebound.
Here Fountains send forth Streams, there one broad Lake
Fi!ls a large Plain: Thus mix'd with Pools and Springs,
The gentle Streams which roll along the Ground,
Are some by thirsty hollow Earth absorb'd.
Some in huge Channels to the Ocean bend,
And leave their Banks to beat the sandy Shore.
By the same Power were Plains and Vales jprodue'd,
And shady Woods and rocky Mountains rais'd.
The Heaven begirt with Zones; two on the Right,
Two on the Left, the torrid One between.
The same Distinction does the Earth maintain,
By Care Divine, into five Climates mark'd;
Of xohich the Middlemost, through Heat immense,
Has no Inhabitants ; two with deep Snow
Are covered; what remain are temperate.
Next, between Heav'n and Earth the Air wasfix'd,
Lighter than Earth, but heavier than Fire,
In this low Region Storms and Clouds were hung,
And hence loud Thunder timorous Mortals frights ;
And forked Lightning, mix'd with Blasts of Wind.
But the wise Framer of the World did not
Permit them every where; because their Force
Is scarce to be resisted (when each Wind
Prevaileth in its Turn;) but Nature shakes,
Their discord is so great. And first the East
Obtains the Morn. Arabia's desert Land;
And Persia's bounded by the Rising Sun.
Next Zephyr's gentle Breeze, Where Phoebus dipt
Himself into the Sea ; then the cold North,
At whose sharp Blasts the hardy Scythians shake ;
And last the South, big with much Rain and Clouds.
Above this stormy Region of the Air '
Was the pure JEther plac'd, refin'd and clear.
When each had thus his proper Bounds decreed,
The Stars, which in their grosser Mass lay hid,
Appear' d and shone throughout the Heaven's Orb.
Then, lest a barren Desert should succeed,
Creatures of various Kinds each Place possess'd.
The Gods and Stars celestial Regions fill,
The Waters with large Shoals of Fishes throng' d,
The Earth with Beasts, the Air with Birds teas stock d,
Nothing
Sect. 167] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 35
all Things were made by the Word of God, is
asserted
Nothing seem'd wanting, but a Mind endu'd With Sense and Reason to rule o'er the rest j Which was supply' d by Man, the Seed Divine Of him who did the Frame of all Things make;
Or else when Earth and Sky -
Some of the Heavenly Seed remained, which sown By Japhet, and with wafry Substance mix' d, Was form 'd into the Image of the Gods. And when all Creatures to the Earth were prone, Man had an upright Form to view the Heavens, And was commanded to behold the Stars.
Here you see Man has the Dominion over all inferior Crea- tures given him : and also that he was made after the Image of God, or of Divine Beings. To the same Purpose are the Words of Eurysus the Pythagorean, in his Book of Fortune : # His (that is, Man's, J Tabernacle, or Body, is like that of " other Creatures, because it is composed of the same Mate- " rials ; but worked by the best Workman, who formed it " according to the Pattern of himself." Where the Word irw<&- is put for Body, as in Wisdom, Chap. ix. Ver. 15. and in 2 Cor. v. 1 and 4. To which may be added, that of Horace, who calls the Soul.
-A Particle of Breath Divine.
And Virgil,
An JEthereal Sense. And that of Juvenal, Sat. XV.
—————Who alone
Have ingenuity to be esteem'd,
As capable of Things divine and fit
For Arts ; which Sense we Menfroin Heav'n derive,
Arid which no other Creature is allow' d;
For he that f ram' d us both, did only give
To them the Breath of Life, but us a Soul. And those remarkable Things relating hereto, in Plato's Pha- don and Alcibiades. Cicero, in the Second Book of the Naturt of the Gods, says thus: " For when He, (that is, God,) left *' all other Creatures to feed on the Ground, he made Man « upright, to excite him to view the Heavens, to which he is v related, as being his former Habitation.*' And Sallust, in the Beginning of the Catiline War : " All Men that desire " to exceed other Animals, ought earnestly to endeavour not " to pass away their Days in Silence, like the Beasts which " Nature has made prone, and Slaves to their Bellies." And
D 2 Pliny,
36 QF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
asserted by (a) Epickarmus, and(£) the Platonists; and before them, by the most ancient Writer (I do not mean of those Hymns which go under his Name,
Pliny, Book II. Chap. 26. " The never-enough to be ad- " mired Hipporchus ; than whom none more acknowledged " the Relation betwixt Man and the Stars, and who considered " our Souls as a Part of the Heavens."
(a) Epickarmus, &c] " Man's Reason is derived from « that of God."
(b) The Platonists, &c] ' Amelius the Platonic : " And " this is that Reason, or Word, by which all Things that " ever were, were made ; according to the Opinion of Berar " clitus. That very Word, or Reason, the Barbarian means, " which set all Things in Order in the Beginning, and which "was with God before that Order, and by which every "Thing was made, and in which was every Creature; the " Fountain of Life and Being." The Barbarian he here speaks of is St. JoAn the Evangelist, a Jittle later than whose Time Amelius lived, Eusebius has preserved his Words in the Eleventh Book and 1 9th Chapter of his Preparation; and Cyril in his Eighth Book against Julian. St. Austin mentions the same Place of Amelius, in his Tenth Book, and 29th Chap- ter of the City of God, and in the Eighth Book of his Confes* sions. And Tertullian against the Gentiles: " It is evident " (says he) that with your Wise Men, the A«>y©*, Logos, Word " or Reason, was the Maker of the Universe ; for Zeno « would have this Word to be the Creator, by whom all " Things were disposed in their formation." This Place of Zeno was in his Book ihJ iVue«, concerning Being, where he calls the rt now, the efficient Cause, Aey®-, the Word or Reason, and in this he was followed by Cleanthes, Chrysippvs, Arche- demus, and Passidonius, as we are told by Laertius in his Life of Zeno. Seneca, in his LXVth Epistle, calls it the Reason •which formeth every Thing. And Chalcidius to Timctus says, " That the Reason of God, is God himself, who has a Re- ** gard to Human Affairs, and who is the Cause of Men's ** living well and happily, if they do not neglect the Gift " bestowed on them by the Most High God." And in an- other Place, speaking of Moses, he has these words : Who is clearly of opinion, "That the Heaven and Earth were ** made by the Divine Wisdom preceding : And that then " the Divine Wisdom was the Foundation of the Uni-
" verse." .,
(but
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 37
but) of those Verses which were (a) of old called Orpheus's ; not because Orpheus composed them, but because they contained his Doctrines, (b) And Empedocles acknowledged, that the Sun was not the Original Light, but the Receptacle of Light (the Storehouse and Vehicle of Fire, as the ancient
(a) Of old called Orpheus's, &c] The Verses are these : J swear by that first Word the Father spake, When the Foundation of the Earth was laid.
They are extant in the Admonition to the Greeks among the Works of Julian : As also these ;
I speak to those I ought ', begone, Prophanet Away : But, 0 Musaeus, harken thou, Thou Offspring of the Moon ; I speak the Truth : Let not vain Thoughts the Comfort of thy Life Destroy ; the Divine Reason strictly view, And fix it in thy mind to imitate j Behold the great Creator of the World, Who's only perfect, and did all Things make, And is in all ; though we with mortal Eyes Cannot discern him ; but he looks on us.
These we find in the Admonition to the Greeks ; as also in a Book concerning the Monarchy of the World, in the Works of Justin Martyr ; in Clement Alexandrinus, Strom. 5. and in the Xlllth Book of Eusebius's Gospel Preparation, from Arista- bulus.
(6) And Empedocles acknowledged, &c.] Of whom £aeV- tius says, u That he affirmed the Sun to be a great Heap of " Fire." And he that wrote the Opinions of the Philosophers, has these Words : " Empedocles said that the Mther was first " separated, then the Fire, and after that the Earth ; the " Superficies of which being compressed by its violent Mo- u tion, the Water burst out ; from which the Air was ex- " haled ; That the Heavens were composed of JEther, and " the Sun of Fire." And Chap. 20. Empedocles affirms, " There are two Suns, one the Original, and the other the " Apparent." And Philolaus, as we there also read, says, " That the Sun is of the same Nature as Glass, receiving its " Splendour from the Fire that is in the World, and trans- " mitting its Light to us." Anaxagoras, Democritus, Metro- dorus, affirmed the Sun to be acertain Mass of Fire ; as you find itin the same Place. And Democritus shows, that these were the most ancient Opinions, as Laertes relates.
Christians
38 OF THE TRUTH OF THE" [Book I.
Christians express it.) (a) Aratus, and (b) Catullus thought the Divine Residence was above the starry Orb ; in which Homer says, there is a continual Light. (c)Thales taught from the ancient Schools, That God was the oldest of Beings, because not begotten ; that the World was most beautiful, be- cause the Workmanship of God; that Darkness was before Light, which latter we find (d) in Orpheus s Verses, (e) and Hesiody whence it was, that (/) the
(a) Aratus, &c] Aratus :
As far as the dire Gulph Eridanus, Under the Footstool of the Gods extends,
(b) Catullus, &c] Catullus the Interpreter of Callimachus, introduces Berenice's Hair, speaking after this Manner.
Tho' in the Night the Gods upon me tread.
(c) Thales taught, &c] As we see in Diogenes La'ertius ; and Herodotus and Leander assert him to have been originally a Phoenician.
(d) In Orpheus's Verses, &c] In his Hymn to Night : I sing the Night, Parent of Men and Gods,
(<?) And Hesiod, &c] Whose Verses upon this Subject arc cited above.
(f) The Nations who were most tenacious, &c] The Nu- midians in Lybia reckon their Time not by Days, but by Nights, says Nicolaus Damascenus: And Tacitus affirms of the Germans, that they do not, like us, compute the Number of the Days, but of the Nights; so they date their Decrees and Citations; Night seems to begin the Day with them. See the Speculum Saxonicum, Book I. Art. 3. 67. and in other places. So likewise the Learnedim- debrogius, upon the Word Night, in his Vocabulary of the German Laws. The neighbouring People of Bohemia and Poland preserve this Custom to this very Day, and the Gauls used it of old. Caesar, in his sixth Book of the Gallic War, says, That all their Distances of Time were reckoned, not by the Number of Days, but of Nights. And Pliny concerning the Druids, in the sixteenth Book of his Natural History, says, The Moon with them began their Months and Years. It is a known Custom amongst the Hebrews. Gellius in his Third Book, Chap. II. adds the Athenians, who in this Matter were the Scholars of the Phoenicians,
Nations,
Sect. 167] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 39
Nations, who were most tenacious of ancient Cus- toms, reckoned the Time by Nights, (a) Jnax- ngoras affirmed, that all Things were regulated by the supreme Mind : (b) Aratus, that the Stars were made by God; (c) Firgil, from
the
(a) Anaxagoras affirmed, &c] His words are quoted above, which are to be found in La'ertius, the Writer of The Opinions of the Philosophers, and others : As are also the Verses of Timon concerning his Opinion.
(b) Aratus, &c] In the Beginning of his Phxnomena : Begin with Jupiter, whose Essence is
Ineffable by mortal Man, whose Presence Does all fhingsfill; Assemblies, Courts, and Marts. The deep Abyss, and Ports arefiWd with Him. We all enjoy him, all his Offspring are. Whose Nature is benign to Man, who stirs Them up to Work, shewing the Good of Life, lis He appoints the Time to plow and sow,
And reap the fruitful Harvest
'Twas He that in the Heavens fix' d the Stars,
Allotting each his Place, to teach the Year, **
And to declare the Fate us Men attends:
That all Things are by certain Laws decreed.
Him therefore let us first and last appease,
0 Father, the great Help we Mortals have.
That by Jupiter we are here to understand God, the true Maker of the World, and all Things in it, St. Paul shews us in the Seventeenth Chapter of the Acts, Ver. 28. And we learn from Lactantius, that Ovid ended his Phenomena with these Verses.
Such both in Number and in Form, did God Upon the Heavens place and give in Charge To enlighten the thick Darkness of the Night. And Chakidius to Timoeus: " To which Thing the Hebrews " agree, who affirm that God was the Adorner of the World '« and appointed the Sun to rule the Day, and the Moon to' "govern the Night; and so disposed the rest of the Stars, as " to limit the Times and Seasons of the Year, and to be Si^us " of the Productions of Things." °
(c) Virgil, from the Greeks, &c.] In the Sixth Book of his Mneid, which Servius says, was composed from many of the ancient Greek Writings :
At
40 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Bookl
the Greeks, that Life was infused into Things by the Spirit of God ; (a) Hesiod, (b) Homer,
At first the Heav'n and Earth, and wat'ry Seas, The Moon's bright Orbi and all the glittering Stars% Were fed and nourish' d by a Power divine : For the whole World is acted by a Sun, Which throughly penetrates it ; whence Mankind, And Beasts and Birds hate their Original ; And Monsters in the Deep produc'd : The Seed Of each is a divine and heavenly Flame.
which may be explain'd by those in his Georgics IV,
By such Examples taught, and by such Marks, Some have affirm 'd that Bees themselves partake Of the celestial Mind, and Breath Etherial, For God pervades the Sea, and Earth, and Heavens: Whence Cattle, Herds, Men, and all Kinds of Beasts, Derive the slender Breath of fleeting Life*
(a) Hesiod, &c] In his Poem upon Labour and Days ;
Then ordered Mulciber, without Delay, To mix the Earth and Water, and infuse A human Voice.
(b) Homer, &c] Iliad VI IT.
You all to Earth and Water must return.
For all Things return from whence they came. Euripides in his Hipsipyle (as Stobceus tells us in the Title) uses this Argu- ment, for bearing patiently the Events of Things ; which is transcribed by Tully in his Third Book oiTusculan Questions,
All which in vain, us Mortals rev, •
• Earth must return to Earth, for Fate ordains That Life, like Corn, must be cut off, in all.
To the same Purpose Euripides in his Supplicants :
Permit the Dead to be entomb'd in Earth, From whence we all into this Body came ; And when we die, the Spirit goes to Air, To Earth the Body ; for we can possess Life only for a Time ; the Earth demands. It back again.
AH which, you see, exactly agrees with Moses, Gem iii. 1^, find Solomon, Eccl. xii. 1%
and
•
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 41
and (a) Callimachus, that Man was formed of Clay ; lastly, {b) Maximus Tyrius asserts, that it was a constant Tradition received by all Nations, that there was one Supreme God, the Cause of all Things. And we learn (c) from Josepkus, (d) Philo,
(a) Callimachus, &c] Who in his Scazon calls Man Pro- metheus's Clay. Of this Clay we iinchMention made in Juve- nal and Martial. To which we may add this Place of Censo- rinus ; Democritus, the Abderite, was of Opinion, that Men were first formed of 'Clay and Water; and Epicurus was much of the same Mind.
(b) Maximus Tyrius, &c] In his first Dissertation : " Not- " withstanding the great Discord, Confusion, and Debates that u are amongst Men; the whole World agree in this one con- " stant Law and Opinion, that God is the sole King and Father " of all ; but that there are many other Gods, who are his " Sons, and share in his Government. This is affirmed by the " Greek and the Barbarian ; by Him who dwells in the Conti- *' nent, and by him who lives on the Sea-shore; by the Wise "and by the Foolish." To which may be added those Places cited in the Second Book of War and Peace, Chap. xx. 9, 45. And that of Antisthenes, related by Tully in his First Book of the Nature of the Gods : That there are many Vulgar Gods, " but there is but one Natural God." And Lactantius, Book I, Chap. 5. adds, from the same Antisthenes, that He is
The Maker of the whole World.
So likewise Sophocles ;
There is really but one God, . The Maker of Heaven and Earth, And Sea, and Winds.
To which may be added that Place of Varro, cited by St. Austin, in the Fourth Book, and Chap. 31. of his 'City of God.
(c) From Josephus, &c] Against Appion, about 'the End of the Second Book where he says, « There is no City, Greek
or Barbarian, in which the Custom of resting on the Seventh Day is not preserved, as it is amongst the Jews.
(d) Philo, &c] Concerning the Seventh Day: " It is a Festival celebrated not only in one City or Country, but
" throughout the whole World." y
* Tibullus,
42 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I;
(a) TibulluSy (b) Clemens Alexandrinus, and (c) Lu- cian(for I need not mention the Hebrews) that the Memory of the seven Days' Work was preserved, not only among the Greeks and Italians, by honour- ing the Seventh Day ; but also (d) amongst the Celta and Indians, who all measured the Time by Weeks; as we learn from (e) Philostratus, (J) Dion Cassius, and Justin Martyr ; and also (g) the most
(a) Tibullus, &c] " The Seventh Day is sacred to the "Jews."
(6) Clemens Alexandrinus, &c] Who in his Strom. V. quotes out of Hcsiod, " that the Seventh Day was sacred." And the like out of Homer and Callimachus. To which may be subjoined what Evsebius has taken out of Aristobulus, Book XIII. Chap. 12. Theophilvs Antiochenus, Book XI. to Antoly- chus, concerning theSeventh Day, whichis distinguishedby all Men. And Suetonius, in his Tiberius XXXII ; " Diogenes the Grara- " marian uses to dispute at Rhodes upon the Sabbath Day." (The seventh Day of the Month ought not to be confounded with the last Day of the Week. See what John Selden has re- marked upon this Subject, in his Book of the Laws of Nature and of Nations, Book III. Chap. 17. Le Clerc.)
(c) Lucian, &c] Who tells us in his Paralogist, " That " Boys were used to play on the seventh Day.
(d) Amongst the Celtae, &c] As is evident by the Names of the Days among the different Nations of the Ccltce, viz. Germans, Gauls, and Britons. Holmoldus tells us the same of the Sclavonians, Book I. Chap. 48.
(e) Philostratus, &c] Book III. Chap. 13. speaking of the Indians.
(f) Dion Cassius, &c] Book XXXIII. The Day called Saturn's. Where he adds, that the Custom of computing the Time by Weeks, was derived from the Egyptians, to all Man- kind, and that this was not a new, but a very ancient Custom, Herodotus tells us in his Second Book : To which may be added Isidore concerning the Romans, Book V. Ch. 30 and 32.
(g) The most ancient Names, &c] See the Oracle and Or- nheus's Verses in Scaliger's Prolegomena to his Emendation of Times. (I suspect that the Foundation of Weeks was nattier from the Seven Planets, than from the Creation of the World in Seven days. Le Clerc.)
ancient
Sect. 16.1 CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 43
ancient Names of the Day. The Egyptians tell us, that at first Men led their Lives (a) in great Simplicity, (b) their Bodies being naked, whence arose the Poet's Fiction of theGolden Age, famous among the Indians, (c) asSlrabo remarks, (d) Mai- monides takes Notice, that(e) theHistory of Adam,
of
(a) In great Simplicity, &c] Sec what we have said of this Matter, Book II. Chap. I. Sect. xi. concerning the Right of War, and the Notes belonging to it.
(6) Their Bodies being naked, &c] Whose Opinion Diodo- rusSiculus thus relates: "The first Men lived very hardy, " before the Conveniences of Life were found out ; being ac- " customed to go naked, and wanting Dwellings and Fires, " and being wholly ignorant of the Food of civilized Na- " tions." And Plato in h\s Politics : "God their Gover- " nor fed them, being their Keeper; as Man, who is a more 11 divine Creature, feeds the inferior Creatures." And a lit- tle after: "They fed naked and without Garments in the " open Air." And Dicearchus the Peiipatetic, cited both by Porphyry, in his Fourth Book against eating living Crea- tures ; and to the same sense by Varro, concerning Country Affairs : " The Ancients, who were nearest to the Gods, "were of an excellent Disposition, and led so good Lives, " that they were called a Golden Race."
(c) As Strabo remarks, &c] Book XV. where he brings in Calanus the Indian speaking thus: " Of old we met every " where with Barley, Wheat, and Meal, as we do now-a-days " with Dust. The Fountains flowed, some with Water, some " with Milk ; and likewise some with Honey, Some with " Wine, and some with Oil. But Men, through Fulness " and Plenty, fell into wickedness : which Condition Jupiter " abhorring, altered the State of Things, and ordered them a " Life of Labour."
(d) Maimonides, &c] In his Guide to the Doubting, Part III. Chap. 29-
(c) The History of Adam, fee] In those Places which Philo- Biblius has translated out of Sanchuniathon. The Greek Word srfiAiTayav©-', First born, is the same with the Hebrew o*itt Adam; and the Greek Word «<*>, Age, is the same with the Hebrew Word nln Chava, Are. The first Men found out the Fruit of Trees. And in the most ancient Greek Mysteries, they cried out "£«*, Eve, and at the same Time shewed a
Serpent.
44. OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
of Eve, of the Tree, and of the Serpent, was ex- tant among the Idolatrous Indians in his Time: And there are many (a) Witnesses in our Age, who testify that the same is still to be found a- mongst the Heathen dwelling inPeru, and the Phi- lippine Islands, People belonging to the same In- dia ; the Name of Adam amongst the Brachmans; and that it was reckoned (b) Six Thousand Years since the Creation of the World, by those oiSiam. (c) Berosus in his History of Chaldea, Manethos in his of Egypt, Hierom in his of Phoenicia, Histams, Hecatams, Hillanicus in theirs of Greece, and He- siod among the Poets; all assert that the Lives of those who descended from the first Men, wereal-
Serpent. Which is mentioned by Heyschius, Cle?nens in hi» Ex- hortations, and Plutarch in the Life of Alexander. Chakidius to Timceus, has these Words : " That as Moses says, God " forbad the first Man to eat the Fruit of those Trees, by " which the Knowledge of Good and Evil should steal into " their Minds." And in another Place : " To this the He* " brevs agree, when they say, that God gave to man a Soul "by a divine Breath, which they call Reason, or a Rational " Soul ; but to dumb Creatures, and wild Beasts of the Forest " one void of Reason : The living Creatures, and Beasts being, " by the Command of God, scattered over the Face of the " Earth ; amongst which was that Serpent, ^vho by his evil " Persuasions deceived the first of Mankind."
(a) Witnesses in our Age, &c] See amongst others Ferdinand Mendesius de Pinto.
(b) Six Thousand Years. &c] What Simplicius relates out of Porphyry, Comment XVI. upon Book II. concerning the Hea- venf, agrees exactly with this Number ; that the Observations collected at Babylon, which Callisthenes sent to Aristotle, were to that Time cb la cccm I, which is not far from the Time of the Deluge.
(c) Berosus in his History, &c] Josephus in the First Book, Chap. 4. of his Ancient History, quotes the Testimony of all these Writers, whose Books were extant in his Time; and be- sid« These, Acusilaus, Euphonus, and NKolausDainascenus. SerZius in his Notes upon the Eighth Book of Vzrgtl's&neid, remarks, that the People of Arcadia lived to three hundred Years.
most
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 45
most a thousand Years in Length; which is the less incredible, because the Historians of many Na- tions (particularly (a) Pausanias and (b) Philoslratus amongst the Greeks, and (c) Pliny amongst the Romans) relate, that (d) Men's Bodies, upon open- ing
(c) Pausanias, &c] In his Laconics, he mentions the Bones of Men, of more than ordinary Bigness, which were shewn in the Temple of Msculapius at the City of Asepus: And in the first of his Eliacs, of a Bone taken out of the Sea* which aforetime was kept at Piso, and thought to have been one of Pelops's.
(b) Philostratus, &c] In the Beginning of his Heroics, he says, that many Bodies of Giants were discovered in Patlene by Showers of Rain and Earthquakes.
(c) Pliny, &c] Book VII. Chap. 1 6*. " Upon the burst- " ing of a Mountain in Crete by an Earthquake, there was " found a Body standing upright, which was reported by some "to have -been the Body of Orion, by others the Body of " Eetion. Orestes's Body, when it was commanded by the " Oracle to be digged up, is reported to have been seven "Cubits long. And almost a thousand Years ago, the Poet P Homer continually complained that Men's Bodies were " less than of old." And Solinus, Chap. 1. " Were not all " who were born in that Age, less than their Parents ? And " the Story of Orestes's Funeral testifies the Bigness of the " Ancients, whose Bones when they were digged up in the " Fifty-eighth Olympiad, at Tegea, by the Advice of the " Oracle, are related to have been seven Cubits in Length " And other Writings, which give a credible Relation of " ancient Matters, affirm this, That in the War of Crete " when the Rivers had been so high as to overflow and break « down their Banks, after the Flood was abated, upon the "cleaving of the Earth there was found a human Body o. "three-and-thirty feet long; which L.Flaccus, the Legate,and "AfoW/iw himself/ being very desirous of seeing, were much " surprised, to have the Satisfaction of seeing what they did "not believe when they heard." See Austin's Fifteenth Book- Chap. 11. of the City of God, concerning the Cheek Tooth of a Man, which he himself saw.
(d) Men's Bodies, &c] Josephus, Book V. Chan. * 0( hi* Ancient History: "There remain to this Day some^'of the "Race of the Giants, who, by Reason of the Bulk and Fi- " gure of their Bodies, so different from other Men, are won-
" derful
46 Of THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
ing their Sepulchres, were found to be much larger in old Time. And (a) Catullus, after many of the Greeks, relates, that divine Visions were made to Men before their great and manifold Crimes did, as it were, hinder God, and (b) those Spirits that
attend
** derful to see or hear of; Their Bones are now shewn, l< far exceeding the Belief of the Vulgar." Gabinius, in his History of Mauritania, said, that Antenus's Bones were found by Sertorius, which joined together were sixty Cubits long. Phlegon Trallianus, in his Ninth Chapter of Wonders, men- tions th« digging up of the Head of Ida, which was three Times as big as that of an ordinary Woman. And he adds also, that there were many Bodies found in Dahnatia, whose Arms exceeded sixteen Cubits. And the same Man relates out of Theopompus that there were found in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, a heap of human Bodies twenty-four Cubits in Length. And there is extant a Book of the same Phlegon, concerning Long Life, which is worth reading. (That in many Places of old Time, as the present, there were Men of a very large Stature, or such as exceeded others, some few Feet, is not very hard to believe ; but that they should all of them have been bigger, I can no more believe, than that the Trees were taller, or the Channel of the Rivers deeper. There is the same Proportion between all these, and Things of the like Kind now, as there was formerly, they answering to one another, so that there is no Reason to think they have undergone. any Change. (See Theodore Richius's Oration about Giants.) Le Clerc.
(a) Catullus, &c] In his Epithalamium on Peleus and Thetis:
But when the Earth teas stain'd with Wickedness
And Lust, and Justice fled from every Breast :
Then Brethren vilely shed each other's Blood,
And Parents ceas'd to mourn their Children's Death.
The Father wish'd the Funeral of his Son ;
The Son to enjoy the Father's Relict wish'd :
The impious Mother yielding to the Child,
Fear'd not to stain the Temple of the Gods,
Thus Right and Wrong by furious Passion mixd,
Di-ovefrom us the divine propitious Mind.
(b) Those Spirits that attend him, &c] Of this, see those excellent Things said by Plutarch in his his ; Maximus Tyrius in his First and Sixteenth Dissertations, and Julian's Hymn
to
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 47
attend him, from holding any Correspondence with Men. We almost every where, (a) in the Greek and (b) Latin Historians, meet with the sa- vage Life of the Giants, mentioned by Moses. And it is very remarkable concerning the Deluge, that the Memory of almost all Nations ends in the Hi story of it, even those Nations which were unknown till our Forefathers discovered them : (c) So that Varro calls all that the unknown Time. And all those Things which we read in the Poets, wrapped up in Fables (a Liberty they
to the Sun. The Name of Angels is used, when they treated of this Matter, not only by the Greek Interpreters of the Old Testament, but also by Labeus, Aristidcs, Porphyry, Jamblicus, Chalcidius, and by Hostanes, who was older than any of them, quoted by Minutius : The forementioned Chalcidius relates an Assertion of Heraditus, That such as deserved it, were fore- warned by the Instruction of the Divine Powers.
(a) In the Greek, &c] Homer, IliadlX. and Hesiod in his Labours. To this may be referred the Wars of the Gods, men- tioned by Plato in his Second Republic ; and those distinct and separate Governments taken Notice of by the same Plato, in his Third Book of Laws.
(b) Latin Historians, &c] See the First Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and the Fourth Book of Lucan, and Seneca's Inird Book of Natural Questions, Quest. 30. where he says concerning the Deluge, « That the Beasts also perished, into " whose Nature Men were degenerated."
(c) So that Varro calls, &c] Thus Cetisorinus. « Now I " come to treat of that Space of Time which Varro calls ' Historical. For he makes three Distinctions of Time - " The first from the Creation of Man to the first Flood, which '* because we are ignorant of it, is called the Unknown. The ''second from the first Flood to the first Olympiad ; which
is called the Fabulous, because of the many fabulous Sto- " nes related m it. The third ; from the first Olympiad to "our Time, which is called the Historical, because the "Things done in it are related in a true History." The Time which *Wo calls unknown, the Hebrew Rabbins call void. Philo in his Book of the Eternity of the World, remarks, that the shells found on the Mountains, are a Sign of the Universal Deluge.
9 allow
48 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book t
allow themselves) are delivered by the antient Writers according to Truth and Reality ; that is, agreeable to Moses ; as you may see in Be~ rosus's (a) History of Chaldea, (b) Abydenus's of
Assyria,
(a) Berosus's History, &c/J Concerning whom Joscphts gays thus, in his First Book against Appion. " This Berostts "following the most ancient writings, relates in the same " Manner as Moses, the History of the Flood, the Destruction " of Mankind, the Ark or Chest in which Noah, the Father " of Mankind was preserved, by its resting on the Top of the " Mountains of Armenia." After having related the History of the Deluge, Berosvs adds these Words, which we find in the same Joscpkus, Book I. and Chap. 4. of his Antient History : " It is reported that Part of the Ship now remains in Armenia, " on the Gordycean Mountains, and that some bring Pitch from " thence, which they use for a Charm."
(b) Abydenus's of Assyria, &c] Eusebius has preserved the place in the Ninth Book of his Preparat. Chap. 12. and Cyril in his First Book against Julian. " After whom reigned " many others, and then Sisithrus, to whom Saturn signified " there should be an Abundance of Rain on the fifteenth Day " of the Month Desus, and commanded him to lay up all " his Writings in Ileliopolis, a City of the Sipparians, which " when Sisithrus had done, he sailed immediately into Arme- u nia, and found it true as the God had declared to him. M On the third Day after the Waters abated, he sent out Birds H to try if the Water was gone off any Part of the Earth j " but they finding a vast Sea, and having no where to rest, re- " turned back to Sisithrus: In the same Manner did others: " And again the third Time (when their Wings were daubed "over with Mud). Then the Gods took him from among " Men ; and the Ship came into Armenia, the Wood of which " the People there use for a Charm." Sisithrus and Qgyges, and Deucalion, are all Names signifying the same Thing in other Languages, as Noah does in the Hebrew, in which Mo- ses wrote ; who so expressed proper Names, that the Hebrew* might understand the Meaning of them : For Instance, Alex- ander the Historian, writing Isaac in Greek, calls him TtW, Laughter, as we learn from Eusebius : and many such like, we meet with among the Historians; as Philo concerning Re- wards and Punishments : " The Greeks call him Deucalion, " the Chaldeans, Noach, in whose Time the great Flood hap- " pened." It is the Tradition of the Egyptians, as Dwdorus testifies in his First Book, that the universal Deluge was that of Deucalion, Pliny gays it reached as far as Italy, Book III,
Chap*
Sect. 15.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 49
Assyria, (a) who mentions the Dove that was sent out of the Ark ; and in Plutarch from the Greeks ;
and
Chap. 14» But to return to the Translation of Names into other Languages, there is a remarkable Place in Plato's Cri* tias concerning it c " Upon the Entrance of this Discourse, " it may be necessary (says he) to premise the Reason, lest " you be surprised when you hear the Names of Barbarian* " in Greek. When Solon put this Relation into Verse, he iw " quired into the Signification of the Names, and found that " the first Egyptians, who wrote of these Matters, translated u them into their own Language ; and he likewise searching '• out their true Meaning, turned them into our Language." The Words ef Abydenus agree with those of Alexander the Historian, which Cyril has preserved in his forementioned First Book against Julian: " After the death of Otiartes, u his Son Xisuthrus reigned eighteen Years ; in whose Time, «* they say, the great Deluge was. It is reported that Xisuth~ u rus was preserved by Saturn's foretelling him what was " to come ; and that it was convenient for him to build an *' Ark, that Birds and creeping Things, and Beasts might H sail with him in it." The Most High God is named by the Assyrians, and other Nations, from that particular Star of the Seven (to use Tacitus's Words) by which Mankind are go- verned, which is moved in the highest Orb, and with the greatest Force : Or certainly the Syriac Word, ^»« //, which signifies God, was therefore translated Kp«©*, Kronos, by the Greek Interpreters, because he was called ^'« II by the Syri» ans. Philo Biblius, the Interpreter of Sanchuniathm, hath these Words : Illus, who is called Saturn. He is quoted by Eusebius : In whom it immediately follows from the same Philo, That Kronos was the same the Phoenicians call Israel ; but the Mistake was in the Transcriber, who put rl<rpentX, for •A II, which many Times amongst the Greek Christians is the Contraction of 'lo-p*ijA ; whereas «A is, as we have observed, what the Syrians call ^»« II, and the Hebrew V« El. (It ought not to be overlooked, that in this History Deucalion, who was the same Person as Noah, is called «»«p sre»ppVe«, that is, noiH »'N a Man of the Earth, that is, a Husband-man. See my Notes upon Gen . ix. 20. Le Clerc.)
(a) Who mentions the Dove, &c] In his Book where he inquires which have most Running, Water or Land Ani- mals. " They say Deucalion's Dove, which he sent out of " the Ark, discovered, at its Return, that the Storms were 11 abated,, and the Heavens clear." It is to be observed, beth in this Place of Plutarch's, and in that of Alexander the ,
E Historian,
50 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
(a) and in Lucian, who says, that in Hierafolis of Syria, there was remaining a most ancient History of the Ark, and of the preserving a few not only of Mankind, but also of other living Creatures.
The
Historian, as well as in the Book ofNicolaus Damascenus, and the Writers made use of by Theophilus Antiochenus in his Third Book, that the Greek Word A«p<*g Larnax, answers to the Hc\ brew Word nan Tebah, and so Josephus translates it.
(a) And in Lucian, &c] In his Book concerning the God- dess of Syria, where having begun to treat of the very antient Temple of Hierapolis, he adds: "They say this Tempi* " was founded by Deucalion the Scythian, that Deucalion, in " whose Days the Flood of Water happened. I have heard " in Greece the Story of this Deucalion from the Greeks them- " selves, which is thus : the present Generation of Men is " not the original one, for all that Generation perished ; and " the Men which now are, came from a second Stock, the " whole Multitude of them descending from Deucalion. Now, " concerning the first Race of Men, they relate thus : They were "very obstinate, and did very wicked Things: and had no "Regard to Oaths, had no Hospitality or Charity in them j ** upon which Account many Calamities befel them. For, " on a sudden, the Earth sent forth Abundance of Water " great Showers of Rain fell, the Rivers overflowed exceed- " ingly, and the Sea overspread the Earth, so that all was " turned into Water, and every Man perished ; Deucalion " was only saved alive, to raise up another Generation, be* " cause of his Prudence and Piety. And he was preserved " in this Manner : He and his Wives, and his Children, en- " tered into a large Ark, which he had prepared, and after " them went in Bears, and Horses, and Lions, and Serpents, " and all other Kinds of living Cr«atures, that feed upon the " Earth, two and two j he received them all in ; neither did " they hurt him, but were very familiar with him, by a di- " vine Influence. Thus they sailed in the same Ark, as " long as the Water remained on the Earth : This is the Ac- " count the Greeks give of Deucalion. Now concerning what "happened afterwards: There was a strange Story related " by the Inhabitants of Hierapolis, of a great Hole in the " Earth, in that country, which received all the Water; after " which, Deucalion built an Altar, and reared a Temple to " Juno over the Hole j I saw the Hole myself; it is but a " small one, under the Temple, whether it was larger for- " merly, I know not ; I am sure this which I saw, was but " small. To preserve this Story, they performed this Cere- ** monv : Twice every Year Water is brought from the Sea into 3 , *' the
Sect. Iff] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 51
The same History was extant also (a) in Molo and m(b) NicolausDamascenus; which latter names the Ark, which we also find in the History of Deu- calion in Apollodorus : And many Spaniards affirm, that in several (c) Parts of America, as Cuba, Me- choacana, Nicaraga, is preserved the Memory of the Deluge, the saving alive of Animals, especially the Raven and Dove ; and the Deluge itself in that Part called Golden Castile, (d) That Remark of
M the Temple ; and not only the Priests, but all the People of " Syria and Arabia fetch it ; many go, even from the River u Euphmtes as far as the Sea to fetch Water, which they pour " eut in the Temple, and it goes into the Hole, which, though " it be but small, holds a vast Quantity of Water : when they " do this, they say it was a Rite instituted by Deucalion, in " Memory of that Calamity, and his Preservation. This is " the ancient Story of this Temple."
(a) In Molo, &c] Eusebius relates his Words in his Ninth Book of the Gospel Preparation, Chap. 19. " At the Deluge, 11 the Man and his Children that escaped, came «ut of Ar- " menia, being driven from his own Country by the Inhabi- " tants, and having passed through the Country between, ** went into the mountainous Parts of Syria, which was then " uninhabited."
(b) Nicolaus Damascenus, &c] Josephus gives us his Words out of the Ninety-sixth Book of his Universal History, in the fore-cited Place: "There is above the City Minyas, (which " Strabo and Pliny call Milyas,) a huge Mountain in Armenia " called Batis, on which they say a great many were saved ** from the Flood, particularly One, who was carried to the " Top of it by an Ark; the Reliques of the Wood of which '« was preserved a great while : I believe it was the same Man " that Moses the Lawgiver of the Jews mentions in his His- " tory." To these Writers we may add Jerom the Egyptian, who Wrote the Affairs of Phanicia and Mnaseus, mentioned by Josephus. And Perhaps Eupolemus, which Eusebius, quotes out of Alexander the Historian, in his Gospel Preparation, Book IX. Chap. 17.
(c) Parts of America, &c] See Josephus Acosta, and An- tonius Herrera.
(d) That Remark of Pliny's, &c] Book V. Chap. 13. Mela and Solimus agree with Pliny. Compare it with that which we have quoted out of Abydenus.
M 7, flinys^
52 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I
Pliny's, that Joppa was built before the Flood, discovers what Part of the Earth Men inhabited before the Flood. The Place where the Ark rested after the Deluge (a) on the Gordyaan Moun- tains, is evident from the constant Tradition of the Armenians from all past Ages, down {b) to this very Day. (c) Japhet, the Father of the Euro- peans, and from him, Jon, or, as they formerly pronounced it, (d) Javon of the Greeks, and
Hammon
(a) On the Gordyaean Mountains, &c] Which Moses calls Ararath the Chaldcean Interpreters translated it Kardu ; Jose phus Gordioean ; Cortius, Cordtean ; Strabo writes it Gordiaan, Book XVII. and Pliny, Book VI. and Ptolemceus. (These, and what follows in relation to the sacred Geography and the Founders of Nations, since these of Grotius were published, are with great Pains and much more Accuracy searched into by Sam. Bochart, in his Sacred Geography, which add Weight to Grotius's Arguments. LeClerc.J
(b) To this very Day, &c] Theophilus Antiochenus says, in his Third Book, that the Reliques of the Ark were shewn in his Time, and Epiphanius against the Nazarites j " The *' Reliques of Noak's Ark are shewn at this Time, in the Re- " ligion of the Cordia:ans :" And Chrysostom, in his Oration of Perfect Love : and Isidore, Book XIV. Chap. 8. of his Antiqui- ties ; *' Ararath, a Mountain in Armenia, on which Histo- '* ries testify the Ark rested ; where at this Day are to be seen " some Marks of the Wood." We may add the Words of Jlaiton Armenian, Chap. 19- " There is a Mountain in Ar* ** menia, higher than any other in the whole World, which is ** commonly called Ararath, on the Top of which Mountain 41 the Ark first rested after the Deluge." See the Nubian Geo- grapher, and Benjamin's Itinerary.
(c) Japhet, &c] It is the vary same Word DB' Japheth ; for the very same Letter B is by some pronounced like ar p, by others $ ph ; and the like Difference is now preserved among the Germans and Dutch. Jerom upon Daniel has observed this wf the Hebrew Letter.
(d) Javon, &c] For ««««< iaones is often found amongst the ancieat Writers. The Persian in Aristophanes' s Playr called Acharnenses, pronounces it lawou iaonan. Now it was a very ancient Custom to put a Digamma between two Vow- els, which afterwards began to be wrote by a V, formerly
thu«
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 53
(a) Hammon of the Africans, are Names to be seen in Moses, (b) and Josephus and others observe the like
Footsteps
thus F. In like Manner that which was u»*f anos, is now tea* eos, and »5«« eos, rutin; tanos, t*«s taos, a Peacock; r\t% "£AAp*« x*xwn ixums, the Greeks are called iaunas. Suidas.
(a) Hammon, &c] For the Greeks sometimes render the Hebrew Letter n CAer^ by an Aspirate, and sometimes omit it; as rn»*nyn Chatzarmuth, 'A^a/avTT©- Adramyttos, or 'A<fy«- puTT®", Hadramyttos; m»3n Chachmoth, *x;*ot6 Achmuth in Jrenceus, and others : man Chabra, a Companion, by the an- cient Greeks u£f* abra ; rpn Chajah, mm aion, an Age. run Hanno or ^//no ; Vy3"Un Hannibal or Annibal, Vjr>yn /fa*- drvbal or Asdrubal ; O'ttm Cashim j «|*jo»«t«j axoumitai, v, on is a Gree/i ending. This Person is transformed not only by the Libyans, but also by many other Nations, into the Star Jupiter, as a God. Lucan, Book IX.
Jupiter Ammon 7* M« onfy God Amongst the happy Arabs, and amongst The Indians and Ethiopians.
And the sacred Scripture puts £^/>r amongst them. Psalm lxxvii. 51. cv. 23. 27. cvi. 22. Jerom, in his Hebrew Tra- ditions on Genesis, has these Words, " From whom, Egypt, at " this very Day, is called the Country of Ham, in the Egyp- ** tian Language,"
(b) And Josephus and others, tec."] He says, r«/*«pf r« Goma- rm the Galatians, is derived from ne:> Gomar, where Pfory't Town Comara is. The People of Comara we find in the First Book of Me/a. The Scythians are derived from JiMD Magog, by whom the City Scythopolis in Syria was built, and the other City Magog; Pliny, Book V. Chap. 23. which is called by others Hierapolis and Bambyce. It is evident that the Medcs are derived from no Metis j and as we have already observed, Jaxones, Jaones, Jones, from ]V Javen. Josephus says, the Iberians in Asia come from Van TAe6a/, in the Neighbour- hood of whom Ptolemy places the City of Thabal, as preserv- ing the Marks of its ancient Original. The City Mazaca, mentioned by him, comes from yon Masach, which we find in Strabo, Book XII. and in Pliny, Book VI. 3. and in Ammea- nus Marcellinus, Book XX. Add to this the Moschi, men- tioned by Strabo, Book XI. and in the First and Third Book of Mela, whom Pliny calls Moschini, Book VI. Chap. 9. and we find in them and Pliny, the Moschiean Mountains. Jose- phus and others agree, that the Thracians were derived from r Dvn
54 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
Footsteps in the Names of other Places and Na- tions*
DVn Tiras, and the Word itself shews it; especially if we ob- serve, that the Greek Letter | * at first answered to the Syri- ac Letter 0 *, as the place of it shews. Concerning those tfcat are derived from y 12 urn Aschanaz, the Place is corrupt in Josephus; but without Doubt Ascania, a Part of Phrygia and Mysia, mentioned in Homer, comes from thence ; concerning which see Strabo, Book XII. and Pliny, Book V. Chap. 32. The Ascanian Lake, and the River flowing from it, we find in Strabo, Book XIV. and in Pliny's forecited Fifth Book Chap. 32. The Ascanian Harbour is in Pliny, Book. V. Chap. 30. and the Ascanian Islands also, Book IV. Chap. 12. and Book V. Chap. 31. Josephus says, the Paphlagonians are derived from nsn Ripath, by, some called Riphatceans, where Mela, in his First Book puts the Riphacians. The same Josephus tells us, that the cue*** aioleis comes from nttM^N Alishah ; and the Jerusalem Paraphrast agrees with him, in 'naming the Greeks Molians, putting the Part for the Whole; nor is it much un- like Hella the Name of the Country. The same Josephus also says that the Cilicians are derived from &>»ttnn Tarshish, and proves it from the City Tarsus ; for it happens in many Places, that the Names of thePeople are derived from the Name* of Cities. We have before hinted, that K«'tt»» Kittion, is derived from o»D3 Chitim. The ^Ethiopians are called Chu- seans by themselves, and their Neighbours, from ttna Chvsh, now; as Josephus observed they were in his Time; from whence there is a River so called by Ptolemy ; and in the Ara- bian Geographer, there are two Cities which retain the same Name. So likewise Mirup in Philo Biblius, is derived from D^yD Mitzraim ; those which the Greeks call Egyptians, be- ing called by themselves and their Neighbours Mesori, and the Name of one of their Months is Mitrtfi, Mesiri. Cedrenus calls the Country itself Mirftc, and Josephus rightly conjec- tures, that the River of Mauritania is derived from bib Phut, Pliny mentions the same River, Book V. Chap. 1. " Phut, *' and the neighbouring Phutensian Country, is so called to " this Day." Jerom in his Hebrew Traditions on Genesis, says, it is not far from Fesa, the Name remaining even now. The J#J3 Chenaan in Moses, is contracted by Sanchuniathon, and from him by Philo Biblius, into X»«s Chna, you will find it in Eusebius's Preparation, Book I. Chap. 10. and the Country is called so. Stephanus of Cities, says, Chna was so called by the Phoenicians. And St. Austin in his Book of Expositions on the Epistles to the Romans, says, in his Time, if the Coun- try People that lived at Hippo were asked who they were, they answered, Canaanites. And in that place of Eupolemus, cited
by
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 55
tions. And which of the Poets is it, in which we
do
by Eusebius, Prepar. IX. 17. the Canaanites are called Mestrai- mites. Ptolemy s Regima in Arabia Felix, is derived from n»m Raamah, by changing tf into yg, as in Gomorrha and other Words. Josephus deduces the Sabins, from «3D Saba, a known Nation, whose chief City Strabo says, Book XVI. was Saba, where Josepkus places the Sabateni, from nniD 6'a- batah; there Pftw^ places the City Sobotale, Book VI. Chap. 28; The Word o>an^ Lehabim, is not much different from the Name of the Lybians; nor the Word a>nnBJ NephatMm from Nepata, a City of Mthiopia, mentioned by Pliny, Book VI. Chap. 29. Nor Ptolemy's Nepata, or the Pharusi is Pliny, Book V. Ch. 8. from O'DnYD Phatstrasim, the same as Ptole- my's Phaurusians in Mthiopia. The City Sido/i, famous in all Poets and Historians, comes from n»* Tzidon. And Ptolemy's Town Gorosa, from 'iwu Gergashi : And ^rca, a City of the Phoenicians, mentioned by Ptolemy and P#»y, Book V. Ch. 18. from ipwArki. And Aradus, an Island mentioned in Strabo, Book XVI. and Pliny, Book V. Chap. 20. and Ptolemy in Syria from »in« Arodi; and Amachus of Arabia mentioned by Herodotus in his Euterpe and Thalia, from 'non Hamathi j and the JEty- »u*e*, Neighbours to the Meefe*, from Q^»jr Ee#fM, mentioned by Strabo, Book XVI. P/my, Book V. Ch. 26, and Livy, Book XXXVII. Their Descendants in Phrygia are called Elymites by Athenceus, Book IV. Every one knows, that the Assyrians are derived from TUtfK ^Awr, as the Lydians are from T»^ Lud ; from whence comes the Latin Word iadz. Those which by the Greeks are called Syrians, from the City TiY Tzar, are called Aramites to this Day from OIK ^;*aw. For y ft is sometimes translated t £, and sometimes <r s ; whence the City TIV Tzur, which the Greeks call Ti/re; is by Ennius called 5ar- ra, and by others Sina and Tina. Strabo, Book XVI. to- wards the End : " The Poet mentions the Arimites, whom " Possidonivs would have us to understand, not to be any Part - of Syria, or Cilicia, or any other Country, but Syria it- " self." And again, Book XIII. " Some mean Syrians by " Arimites, whom they now call . Aramites." And in the First Book : gl For those we call Syrians, are by themselves " called Aramites" The Country Ausanitis, mentioned by the Seventy in Job, is derived from nn Hutz. Aristxus calls it Austias. And the City Cholla, placed by Ptolemy in Syria, from ^trtCta/; and the City Gindarus in Ptolemy, from nru Gefor ; and the Gindaren People in P/wy, Book V. Chap. 23. in Cxlia-Svria. And the Mountains Masias, not far from Nisibus, mentioned by Strabo, Book XI. and Ptolemy, in Me- sopatamia, is derived from WD MtwA. The Names mp' Jo£-
iS OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
do not find Mention made of (a) the Attempt to
climb
tan, and moivrr Hatzoramuth, and \\\n Holan, are repre- sented by the Arabian Geographers, under the names of Bal- safjaktan, Hadramuth, and Chaulan; as the learned Capell ob- serves. The River Ophar; and the People called Opharitet, near Masotis, Pliny, Book VI. 7> it I mistake not retain the Name IBIK Ophar ; and those Cities, which Moses mentions in this Place, appear to be the most ancient, by comparing of Authors. Every one knows from whence Babylon is derived. *pK J rack in Aracca, placed by Ptolemy, in Susiana; from whence come the Aracxan Fields in Tibullus, as the famous Salmasius, a Man of vast reading, observes. Acabene, a Cor- ruption of Acadene, is derived from n3K Achad, as is proba- bly conjectured by Eranciscus Jxmius, a diligent Interpreter of Scripture, who has observed many of those Things we hav« been speaking of, nJ^3 Chalnah is the Town of Caunisus on the River Euphrates, whose name Ammianus tells us, in his Twenty-third Book, continued to his Time. The Land itfjtp Senaar, is the Babylonian Senaas, in Hmtioeus Milesius, which Place Josephus 1ms preserved in bis Ancient History, Book I. Ch. J. and in his Chronicon ; as has Eusebius in his Preparation, He wrote the AiFairs of Phoenicia; whom also Stephens had read. Again $ being changed into v g, Ptolemy, from hence calls the Mountain Singarus in Mesopotamia. And Pliny men- tions the Town Singara, Book V. Ch. 2-k. and henoe the Singa- rancean Country in Sextus Rufus, niJ»J Nineveh is undoubtedly the Ninas of the Greeks contracted; thus in Sardanapalus's Epitaph:
I who great Ninus rul'd am now but Dust. The same we find in Theognis and Strabo, Book XVI. and Tliny, Book XI. Chap. 13. whose Words are these. " Ninus *' was built upon the River Tigris, towards the West, a beau- ?' tiful City to behold." Lacan, Book III. " Happy Ninus, " as Fame goes." The Country Calachena has its Name from the principal City n^3 Chala: Strabo, Book XI. and afterwards, in the Beginning of Book XVI. JD"1 Resin is ifce- saina in Ammianus, Book XXIII. Sidon every one knows, nv? Azzah, is without Doubt rendered Gaza in Palestine, by changing, as before, the Letter p intoyg: It is mentioned by Strabo, Book XVI. and Mela, Book I. who calls it a large and well fortified Town ; and Pliny, Book XV. Ch. 13. and Book VI. Chap. 28. and elsewhere. rHDD Sophira, is Helio- polls, a City of the Sipparians, in that Place of Abydenus, now quoted. Sippara is by Ptolemy placed in Mesopotamia. *iir Ur is the Castle Ur, mentioned by Ammianus, Book XXV. ]^n Caran is Carra, famous for the slaughter of the Crassi.
(a) The Attempt to climb the Heavens, &c] See Homert Odys, 30. and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Book I,
Th
Sect. l6\] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 57
climb the Heavens? (a) Diodorus Siculus, (h) Stra&o,
Tacitusy
The Giants by Report would Heaven have storntd. See also Virgil's first Georgic, and Lvcan, Book VII. It is a frequent way of speaking amongst all Nations, to call those Things which are raised above the common Height, Things reaching to Heaven, as we often find in Homer, and Deut. i. 29. and ix. 1. Josephua quotes one of the Sybils, I know not which, concerning the unaccountable Building of that Town; the Words are these : " When all Men spoke the same Lan- " guage, some of them built a vast high Tower, as if they would " ascend up into Heaven; but the Gods sent a wind, and over- " threw the Tower, and assigned to each a particular Lan- *' guage ; and from hence the City of Babylon was so called." And Eusebius in his Preparation, Book IX. Chap. 14. Cyril, Book I. against Julian, quotes these Words out of Abydenus: " some say, that the first men who sprung out of the Earth, " grew proud upon their great Strength and Bulk, and boasted " that they could do more than the Gods, and attempted to " build a Tower, where Babylon now stands; but when it came " nigh the Heavens, it was overthrown upon them by the " Gods, with the Help of the Winds, and the Ruins are called " Babylon. Men till then had but one Language, but the Gods M divided it, and then began the War betwixt Saturn and " Titan." It is a false Tradition of the Greeks, that Babylon was built by Semiramis, as Berosus tells us in his Chaldaics, and Josephus in his First Book against Appion ; and the same Error is refuted by Julius Firmicus, out of Philo Biblius, and Darotheus Sidonius. See also what Eusebius produces out of Eupolemust concerning the Giants and the Tower, in his Gospel Preparat, Book XX. Chap. 17.
(a) Diodorus Siculus, ore] Book XIX. where he describe* the Lake Asphaltitis: ** The neighbouring Country burns with " Fire, the ill Smell of which makes the Bodies of the Inha- " bitants sickly, and not very long lived." (See more of this in our Dissertation added to the Pentateuch, concerning the burning of Sodom. Le Clerc.J
(A) Strabo, fcc.J book XVI. after the Description of the Lake Asphaltitis: There are many Signs of this Country's " being on Fire : for about Masada they shew many cragged " and burnt Rocks, and in many Places Caverns eaten in, " and Ground turned into Ashes, Drops of Pitch falling " from the Rocks, and running Waters stinking to a great " Distance, and their Habitations overthrown ; which makes " credible a Report amongst the Inhabitants, that formerly ** ther« were thirteen Citie« inhabited there, the chief of
" which
3& OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book L
(a) Taciius, (b) Pliny, (c) Solinus, speak of the Burning of Sodom, (d) Herodotus, Dio-
dorus,
# which was Sodom, so large as to be sixty Furlongs round; 41 but by Earthquakes and Fire breaking out, and by hot Waters " mixed with Bitumen and Brimstone, it became a Lake, as we 44 now see it; the Rocks took Fire, some of the Cities were 4 swallowed up, and the others forsaken by those Inhabitants? " that could flee away."
(a) Tacitus, &c] In the Fifth Book of his History; " Not 44 far from thence are those Fields which are reported to have " been formerly very fruitful and had large Cities built in " them, but they were burnt by Lightning ; the Marks of " which remain ; in that the Land is of a burning Nature, 44 and has lost its Fruitfulness. For every Thing that is 44 planted, or grows of itself, as seon as it is come to an Herb 44 Or Flower, or grown to its proper Bigness, vanishes like Dust " into nothing."
(&) Pliny, &c] He describes the Lake Aspkaltitis, Book V. Chap. 16. and Book XXXV. Chap. 15.
(c) Solinus, &c] In the 36th Chap, of Salmanus's Edition; if At a good Distance from Jerusalem, a dismal Lake extends 44 itself, which was struck by Lightning, as appears from the 44 black Earth burnt to Ashes. There were two Towns there, '* one called Sodom the other Gomorrah ; the Apples, that grow
* there, cannot be eaten, though they look as if they were 44 ripe ; for the outward Skin incloses a Kind of sooty Ashes, 44 which pressed by the least Touch, flies out in Smoker and *' vanishes into fine Dust."
(rf) Herodotus, &c] With some little Mistake. The Words are in his Euterpe: " Originally only the Colchians, and " Egyptians, and ^Ethiopians were circumcised. For the Phee- ** nicians and Syrians in Palestine, confess they learned it from *< the Egyptians. And the Syrians who dwell at Thermodoon, *' and on the Parthenian River, and the Macrons, their Neigh- 44 bours, say, they learnt it of the Colchians. For these are " the only men that are circumcised, and in this Particular " agree with the Egyptians. But concerning the Mthiopians " and Egyptians, I cannot affirm positively, which learned it " of the other*" Josepkus rightly observes, that none were circumcised in Palestine Syria, but the Jews; in the Eighth Book, Chap. 14. of his Ancient History, and First Book against jtppion. Concerning which Jews, Juvenal says, " They take " oft'i je Foreskin ;" and Tacitus, " that they instituted cir- 44 cumcising themselves, that they might be known by such
" Distinction :•'
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 59
dorus, (a) Strabo, (b) Phih Biblius, (c) testify the ancient Custom of Circumcision, which is con- firmed by those Nations (d) descended from Abra- ham,
** Distinction:" Sea Strabo, Book XVII. But the Jews ar» so far from confessing that they derived this Custom from th« Egyptians, that, on the contrary, they openly declare, that the Egyptians learnt to be circumcised of Joseph. Neither were all the Egyptians circumcised, as all the Jews were, as we may see from the Example of Appim, who was an Egyptian, in Josephus. Herodotus undoubtedly put the Phoenicians for the Idumceans ; as Aristophanes does in his Piay called the Birds, where he calls the Egyptians and Phoenicians, The Circumcised. Ammonius of the Difference of Words, says, The IdumceanS " were not originally Jews, but Phoenicians and Syrians," Those Ethiopians which were circumcised, were of the Posterity of Keturah, as shall be observed afterwards. The Colchians and their Neighbours were of the Ten Tribes that Salmanasar carried away, and from thence some came into Thrace. Thus the Scholiast on Aristophanes' 's Acharnenses, says, " That the " Nation ©f the Odomants is the same as the Thracians; they " are said to be Jews." Where, by Jews, are to be under- stood, improperly, Hebrews, as is usual. From the Mthiopians, Circumcision went across the Sea into the New World, if it be true what is said of the Rite's being found in many Places of that World. (The Learned Dispute whether Circumcision was instituted first amongst the Egyptians or amongst the Jews, con- cerning which see my Notes upon Genesis xvii. 30. I* Cterc.J
(a) Diodorus, &c] Book I. of the Colchians : " That this " Nation sprang from the Egyptians, appears from hence, that " they are circumcised after the Manner of the Egyptians ; " which Custom remains amongst this Colony, as it does " amongst the Jews" Now since the Hebrews were of old circumcised; it no more follows from the Colchians being cir- cumcised, that thsy sprang from the Egyptians, than that they sprang from the Hebrews, as we affirm they did. He tells us, Book III. that the Troglodites were circumcised, who were a Part of the Ethiopians.
(b) Strabo, &c] Book XVI. concerning the Troglodites : " Some of these are circumcised, like the Egyptians." In the same Book he ascribes Circumcision to the Jews.
(c) Philo Biblius, &c] In the Fable of Saturn, in Eusebius Book I. Chap. 10.
(rf) Descended from Abraham, &c] To which Abraham, that the Precept q£ Circumcision was first of all given, Theodorus
tells
60 OF THE TRUTH OF THR [Book I.
ham, not only Hebrews, but also (a) Idumaans, lsmaelites, (b) and others (c). The History of Abra- ham,
tells us in his Poem upon the Jews ; out of -which Eusebius has preserved these Verses in his Gospel Preparation, Book IX. Chap. 22.
He -who from Home the righteous Abraham brought. Commanded him and all his House, with Knife To circumcise the Foreskin. He obeyed.
(a) Idumeeans, &c] So called from Esau, who is called Oltrmi Ousoos, by Philo Biblius. His other Name was Edomt which the Greeks translated *Epvfy«» Eruthran, from whence comes the Erythraean Sea, because the ancient Dominions of Esau and his Posterity extended so far. They who are igno- rant of their Original, confound them, as we observed, with the Phoenicians. Ammonius says, the Idumctans were circum- cised ; and so does Justin, in his Dialogue with Tiypho ; and Epiphanius against the Ebionites. Part of these were Homer ites, who, Epiphanius against the Edionites tells us, were circum- cised in his Time.
(b) lsmaelites, &c] These were circumcised of old, but on the same Year of their Age as Ismael. Josephus, Book I. Chap. 12 and 13. " A Child was born to them, (viz. Abra- " ham and Sarah) when they were both very old, which they " circumcised on the Eighth Day ; and hence the Custom of " the Jews is, to circumcise after so many Days. But the -. Arabians defer it Thirteen Years : for Ismael, the Father of " that nation, who was the Child of Abraham by his Concu- " bine, was circumcised at that Age." Thus Origen in his excellent Discourse against Fate, which is extant in Eusebius, Book VI. Chap. 11. And in the Greek Collection, whose Title is <t>*ox*x(* ; " I don't know how this can be defended, that " there should be just such a Position of the Stars upon every " one's Birth in Judota, that upon the Eighth Day they must ¥ be circumcised, made sore, wounded, lamed, and so in- " flamed, that they want the Help ef a Physician, as soon as «« they come into the World. And that there should be such a « Position of the Stars to the lsmaelites in Arabia, that they " must all be circumcised when they are Thirteen Years old ; " for so it is reported of them." Epiphanius, in his Dispute against the Ebionites, rightly explains these lsmaelites to be the Saracens, for the Sagacens always observed this Custom, and the Turks had it from tfcem.
(c) And others, &c] Namely those that descended from Ke- turah, concerning whom there is a famous Place of Alexand^
Sect* 160 CHRISTIAN RELIGION* 8l
ham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, agreeable with Mo* ses, (a) was extant of old in (b) Philo Biblius out
the Historian in Josephus, Book I. Chap. 16*. which Eusebius quotes in his Gospel Preparation, Book IX. Chap. 20. Cleode~ mus the Prophet, who is called Malchus, in his Relation of the Jews, gives us the same History as Moses their Lawgiver, viz. " That Abraham had many Children by Keturah, to thre« ** of which he gave the Names Afer, Asser, and Afra. As* 4t syria is so called from Asser ; and from the other two, Afer, n and Afra, the City Afra, and the Country Africa is deno- u minated. These fought with Hercules against Libya and " Antaeus. Then Hercules married his Daughter to Afra : H« * had a Son of her, whose Name was Deodorus, of whom " was born Sophon, whence the Barbarians are called So* ** phaces."
Here the other Names, through the fault of the Tran* scribers, neither agree with Moses, nor with the Books of Jose- phus and Euscbius, as we have them now. But Ap*{ is un- doubtedly the same as nay Apher in Moses. We are to under- stand by Hercules, not the Tkebean Hercules, but the Phoenician Hercules, much older, whom Philo Biblius mentions, quoted by Ensebius often, in the forementioned 10th Chapter of the First Book of bis Gospel Preparation, This is that Hercules, who, Sallust says in his Jugurthine War, brought his Army int« Africa. So that we see whence the Ethiopians, who were a great Part of the Africans, had their Circumcision, which they had in Herodotus's Time; and even now, those that are Christians retain it, not out of a religious Necessity, but out of Respect to so ancient a custom.
(a) Was extant of old, &c] Scaliger thinks that several Things which Eusebius has preserved out of Philo Biblius, certainly relate to Abraham : See himself in his Appendix to the Emendation of Time* There is some reason to doubt of it.
(&) Philo Biblius, &c] How far we are to give Credit to Philo's Sanchuniathon, does not yet appear; for the very learned Henry Dodwill has rendered his Integrity very suspicious in his English Dissertation on Sanchuniathon s Phoenician History published at London, in the Year 1681, to whose Arguments we may add this, that in his Fragments there is an absurd Mixture of the Gods unknown to the Eastern Grecians in the first Times, with the Deities of the Phoenicians, which the Straitness of Paper will not allow me to enlarge upon.
U Clerc. Of
62 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
of SanchmiatJion, in (a) Berosus, (b) Hecataus, (c) Damascenus, (d) Artapanus, EupoUmus, Deme- trius, and partly (e) in the ancient Writers of the
Orphic
(a) Berosus, &c] Josephus has preserved his Words in his Ancient History, Book I. Chap. 8. " In the tenth Generation " after the Flood, there was a man amongst the Chaldeans, " who was very Just and Great, and sought after Heavenly " Things." Now it is evident from Reason, that this ought to be referred to the Time of Abraham.
(b) Hecatceus, &c] He wrote a Book concerning Abraham, which is now lost, but was extant in Josephus's time.
(c) Damascenus, &c] Nicolaus that famous Man, who was the Friend of Augustus and Herod, some of whose Relicks were lately procured by that excellent person, Nicholas Peire- sius ; by whose Death, Learning, and learned Men had a very great Loss. The Words of this Nicolaus Damascenus, Josephus relates in the forecited Place : " Abraham reigned in Damascus, " being a Stranger who came out of the Land of the Chaldxans, " beyond Babylon ; and not long after, he and these that be- " longed to him, went from thence into the Land called Ca- u naan, but now Judasa, where he and those that descended " from him dwelt, of whose Affairs I shall treat in another " Place. The Name of Abraham is, at this Day, famous in " the Country about Damascus, and they show us the Town " which from him is called Abraham's Dwelling." "
(d) Aitapanus, Eupolemus, &c] Eusebius in his Preparation, Book IX. Ch. 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, has quoted several Things, under these Men's Names, out of Alexander the Historian, but the Places are too long to be transcribed ; nobody has quoted them before Eusebius. But the Fable of the Bethulians, which Eusebius took out of Philo Biblius,.Prepar. Book I. Chap. 10. came from the Altar of Bethel, built by Jacob, mentioned Gen. xxxvi.
(e) In the anciait Writers, &c] For certainly those that . w« find in Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. V. md Eusebius, Book XIII. Chap. 12. can be understood of no other.
The Maker of all Things is knowti to none,
But one of the Chaldean Race, his Son
Only begotten, who well understood
The Starry Orb) and by what Laws each Star.
Moves round the Earth, embracing all Things in it. Where Abraham is called only begotten, as in Isaah li. 2. in* Achad. We have before seen in Berosus, that Abraham was
1 famous
Sect. lo\] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. . fo
Orphic Verses ; and something of it is still extant in(a) Justin, out of TrogusPompeius. (b) By almost all which, is related also the History of Moses, and his principal Acts. The Orphic Verses ex- pressly mention (c) his being taken out of the W»-
famous for the Knowledge of Astronomy ; and Eupolemus, in Eusebius says of him, " that he was the Inventor of Astronomy " among the Chaldceans." ,
(a) In Justin, &c] Book XXXVI. Chap. 2. " The Ori- *' ginal of the Jews was from Damascus, an eminent City in w Syria, of which afterwards Abraham and Israel were Kings." Tregus Pompeius calls them Kings, scsNicolaus did ; because they exercised a Kingly Power in their Families j and therefore the]f are called Anointed, Psalm, cv. 15.
(b) By almost all which, &c] See Eusebius in the foremen- tioned Book IX. Chap. 26", 27, 28. Those Things are true, which are there quoted out of Tragicus Judceus Ezechiel, Part • of which we find in Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. I. who re- ports out of the Books of the Priests, that an Egyptian was slain at Moses's Word ; and Strom. I. he relates some Things belonging to Moses, ©ut of Art apanus, though not very exact- ly. Justin out of Trogus Pompeius, says of Moses, " He was " Leader of those that were banished, and took away the " sacred Things of the Egyptians : which they endeavouring " to recover by Arms, were forced by a Tempest to return •* home ; and that Moses having entered into his own Country " of Damascus, took possession of Mount Sinah ;" and what follows, which is a Mixture of Truth and Falsehood, where we find Arvas written by him, it should be read Arnas, who is Aaron, not the Son, as he imagines, but the brother of Moses, and a Priest. ,
(c) His being taken out of the Water, &c] As the great Sea- tiger has mended the Place ; who with a very little Variation of the Shape of a Letter, instead of wPi«y»»i« hulogenes, as it is quoted out of Aristobulus, by Eusebius, in his Gospel Preparat. Book XIII. Chap. 12. bids us read v&ymi hudogenes, born of the Water. So that the Verses are thus :
So was it said of old, so he commands
Who is born of Water, who received from God
The two great Tables of the Moral Law.
The ancient Writer of the Orphic Verses, whoever he was, added these Words, after he had said, that there was but one God to be worshipped, who was the Creator and Governor of the World.
ter,
64 OF THE TRUTH OF THE fBodk I
ter, and the two Tables that were given him by God. To these we may add (a) Polemon : (b) And several Things about his coming out of Egypt, from the Egyptian Writers, Menetho, Lysima- thus, Chceremon. Neither can any prudent Man think it at all credible, that Moses, (c) who had so many enemies, not only of the Egyptians, but also of many other Nations, as the (d) Idumaanst
(a) Polemon, &c] He seems to have lived in the Time of Ptolemy Epiphanes; concerning which, see that very useful Book of thefamous Gerrard Vossius, of. the Greek Historians. Africanus says, the Greek Histories were wrote by him ; which is the same Book Athenceus calls, 'ExkhXm. His Words are these: " In the Reign of Apis the Son of Phoroneus, Part of «' the Egyptian Army went out of Egypt, and dwelt in Syria, " called Palestine not far from Arabia." As Africanus pre- served the Place of Polemon, so Eusebius, in his Chronology, preserved that of Africanus.
(b) And several Things, Sec] The Places are in Josephus against Appion, with abundance of Falsities,, as coming from People who hated the Jexcs; and from hence Tacitus took his Account of them. But it appears from all these compared together, that the Hebrews descended from the Assyrians, and possessing a great Part of Egypt, led the Life of Shepherds ; but afterwards being burthened with hard Labour, they came out of Egypt under the command of Moses, some of the Egyp- tians accompanying them, and went through the Country of the Arabians, unto Palestine Syria, and there set up Rites con- trary to those of the Egyptians : But Josephus in that learned Book has surprizingly shewn, how the Egyptian Writers, in the Falsities which they have, here and there, mixed with this History,, differ with one another, and some with them- selves, and how many ages the Books of Moses exceed thiirs in Antiquity.
(c) Who had so many Enemies, &c] From whom they went away, by Force, whose Laws the Jews abolished concerning the implacable Hatred of the Egyptians against the Jews; se« Philo against Flaccus, and in his Embassy; and Josephus in each Book against Appion.
id) The Idumseans, &c] Who inherited the ancient Hatred between Jacob and Esau : which was increased from a new- Cause, when the Idumccans denied the Hebrews a Passage, Numb. xx. 14. .
% Arabian*^
Sect. l6\] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 65
(a) Arabians and (b) Phoenicians, would venture to relate any thing concerning the Creation of the World, or the Original of Things, which coulcl be confuted by more ancient Writings, or was contradictory to the 'ancient and received Opinions : Or that he would relate any Thing of Matters in his own Time, that could be con- futed by the Testimony of many Persons then alive, {c) Diodorus Siculus, and (d) Strabo, and
Pliny,
{a) Arabians, &c] Those I mean, that descended from Ismael.
(b) Phoenicians, &c] Namely, the Canaanites, and the neighbouring Nations, who had continual Wars with the Hebrews.
(c) Diodorus Siculus, &c] In his First Book, where he treats of those who made the Gods to be the Authors of their Laws, and adds : " Amongst the Jews was Moses, who called u God by the Name of 'law, lao," where by ika, Iao, he means mrp Jehovah, which was so pronounced by the Ora- cles, and in the Orphic Verses mentioned by the Antients, and by the Basilidian Heritics, and other Gnostics. The same Name the Tyrians, as we learn from Philo Biblius, pro- nounced \%m, Ieno, others 'Ixa, Iaou, as we see in Clemens' Alexandrinus. The Samaritans pronounced it *I*£««, Iabai, as we read in Theodoret; for the Eastern People added to the same Words, someone Vowel, and some another; from whence it is that there is such Difference in the proper Names in the Old Testament. Philo rightly observes, that this Word signifies Existence. Besides Diodorus, of those who make mention of Moses, the Exhortation of the Greeks, which is ascribed to Jus- tin, names Appion, Ptolemy on Mandesias, Hellanicus, Philo- chorus, Castor, Thallus, Alexander the Historian : and Cyril mentions some of them in his First Book against Julian.
(d) Strabo, &c] The Place is in the Sixteenth Book, where he thinks that Moses was an Egyptian Priest ; which he had from the Egyptian Writers, as appears in Josephus : After- wards, he adds his own Opinion, which has some Mistakes in it.
• Many who worshipped the Deity, agreed with him {Mom)': " for he both said and taught, that the Egyptians did not " rightly conceive of God, when they likened him to wild " Beasts and Cattle; nor the Lybians nor the Greeks, in resem- " bling him by a human Shape ; for God is no other tharr
f " that
66 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I,
(a) Pliny, (b) Tacitus, and after them (e) Dionysius Longinus (concerning Loftiness of Speech) make Mention of Moses, (d) Besides the Talmudists,
Pliny
" that Universe which surrounds us; the Earth, and the Sea, " and the Heaven, and the World, and the Nature of all " Things, as they are called by us. Who (says he) that has M any understanding, would presume to form any Image like " to these Things that are about us? Wherefore we ought to " lay aside all carved Images, and worship him in the inner- " most Part of a Temple worthy of him, without any Fi- M gure." He adds, that this was the Opinion of good Men: He adds also, that sacred Rites were instituted by him, which were not burdensome for the Costliness, nor hateful, as pro- ceeding from Madness. He mentions Circumcision, the Meats that were forbidden, and the like; and after he had shown that Man was naturally desirous of civil Society, he tells us that it is promoted by divine and human Precepts, but more effectually by Divine.
(a) Pliny, &c] Book XXX. Chap. 1. " There is " another Sect of Magicians, which sprang from Moses" And Juvenal :
They learn, and keep, and fear the Jewish law. Which Moses in his secret Volume gave.
(b) Tacitus, &c] History V. Where, according to the Egyptian Fables, Moses is called " one of those that were " banished."
(c) Dionysius Longinus, &c] He lived in the Time of Au. relian the Emperor, a Favourite of Zenobia, Queen of the Palmyrians. In this Book of the Sublime, after he had said, that they who speak of God, ought to take Care to represent
, him, as Great and Pure, and without Mixture: He adds, " Thus does he who gave Laws to the Jews, who was an ex- " traordinary Man, who conceived and spoke worthily of the « Power of God, when he writes in the Beginning of his Laws, " let there be Earth, and it was so." Chalcidius took many Things out of Moses, of whom he speaks thus: " Moses was •« the wisest of Men, who, as they say, was enlivened not by « human Eloquence, but by Divine Inspiration.
(d) Besides the Talmudists, &c] In the Gemara, in the Title, Concerning Oblations, and the Chapter, All the Oblations of the Synagogue. To which add the Tanchuma, or llmedcnu. Mention is there made of the chief of Pharaoh's Magicians,
and
Sect. 16.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 67
(a) Pliny and {b)Apuhius, speak of Jarnnes and Mambres, who resisted Moses in Egypt, (c) Some Things there are in other Writings, and many Things amongst the (d) Pythagoreans, about the
Law
and their Discourse with Moses is related. Add also Numcnius Book III. concerning the Jews. Eusebius quotes his Words' Book VIII. Chap. 8. " Afterwards Jarnnes and Mambres " Egyptian Scribes, were thought to be famous for magical " Arts, about the Time that the Jews were driven out of " Egypt ; for these were they who were chosen, out of the " Multitude of the Egyptians, to contend with Musceus the . Leader of the Jews, a man very powerful with God bv "Prayers; and they seem to be able to repel those sore
1^ "^ Wh'CS T™ br°Ught UP°n ESypt by Mwutus" Where Moses is called Mutants, a Word very near it, as is cus- tomary with the Greeks, as others call Jesus, Jason; and Saul Paul: Origen against Celsus refers us to the same Place of Nume mus. Artapanus'm the same Eusebius, Book IX. Chap. 27. calls them the Priests of Memphis, who were commanded by the* Kin? to be put to Death, if thsy did not do Things equal to Mow*, (a) Pliny, &c] In the forecited Place. {0) Apuleius, &c] In his Second Apologetic. •(c) Some Things there are, &c] As in Strabo, Tacitus, and Theophrastus, quoted by Porphyry, in his Second Book aaainst eating living Creatures, where he treats of Priests and Burnt- Offerings; and in the Fourth Book of the same Work, where he speaks of Fishes, and other living Creatures, that were for- bidden to be eaten. See the Plaoe of Heeatam, in Josephs* first Book against Appion, and in Eusebius's Preparat Book IX Chap. 4. You have the Law of avoiding the Customs of strange Nations, in Justin's and Tacitus's Histories: of not eating Swine. Flesh in Tacitus's Juvenal, Plutarch's Sympos. iv and Macrobius from the Ancients. In the same Place of Plutarch, you will find mention of the Levit.es, and the Ditch- ing of the Tabernacle. F
(d) Pythagoreans, &c] Hermippus in the Life of Pythaeo- ras, quoted by Josephus against Appion, Book II. "These " Things he said and did, imitating the Opinion of the Jews and Thracians, and transierring them to himself; for trulv SM i)Ian,torok »any Things into his own Philosophy, from "the Jewish Laws." To abstain from Creatures that die of themselves, is put among the Precepts of Pythagoras, by Hie-
* * rocles,
fa OF THE TRUTH OF THE (Book I.
Law and Rites given by Moses, (a) Slraho and Jus- tin, out of Tragus, remarkably testify concerning the Religion and Righteousnessof the ancient Jews: So that there seems to be no need of mentioning what is found, or has formerly been found of /o- shua and others, agreeable to the Hebrew Books ; seeing, that whoever gives credit to Moses (which it is a shame for any one to refuse) cannot but believe
rocks, and Porphyry in his Epistle to Anebo, and Mian, Book IV. Sat is, out of Levit. iv. 15. Deut.xiv.2U " Thou " shall not engrave the Figure of God on a Ring, is taken out of Pythagoras, ;n Malchus's or Porphyry's ^Exhortation to Philosophy, and in Diogenes Laertius : and this from the Second Commandment. " Take not away that which thou didst not « place," Josephus, in his Second Book against Appion, puts amongst the Jewish Precepts, and Philostratus amongst the Pythagoreans. Jamblicus says, « A tender and fruitful Tree "ought not to be corrupted or hurt." which he had out ot Deuteronomy xx. 1$. The forementioned Hermippus ascribes this to Pythagoras, not to pass by r. Place where an Ass was set upon his Knees: The foundation of which is the > Story in Numb. xxii. 27- Porphyry acknowledges that Plato took many Things from the Hebrews. You will see Part of them in Eusebius^ Preparation. (I suspect that Hermippus, or Jose- phus, instead of Jews, should have said Idteans, that is, the Priest of Jupiter Idceus in Crete, whom Pythagoras envied. See Sir John Marshams Collection of these, in his Tenth Age oj the Egyptian Affairs. Le Clerc.J
(a) Strabo and Justin, &c] Strabe in his Fourteenth Book, after the History of Moses, says, " That his followers tor a « considerable Time, kept his Precepts, and were tru y r.ghte- " ous and godly." And a little after he says that those who believed in Moses, « worshipped God, and i were Lovers of " Equity And Justin thus says, Book XXXVI. Chap. 2. " Whose Righteousness (viz. the Kings and Priests) mixed " with Religion, increased beyond Belief." Aristotle also (wit- ness Clearchus in his Second Book of Sleep, which Josephus transcribed) gives a great Character of a Jew whom he had seen of his Wisdom and Learning, lacitus, among his many Falsities, say* this one Truth, " that the Jews worshipped " that Supreme and Eternal Being, who was immutable, and <* could not perish; " that is, God (as Dion Cassms speaks, treating of the same Jews) " who is ineffable and invisible. *
those
Sect. 76] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 69
those famous Miracles done by the Hand of God; which is the principal Thing here aimed at. Now that the Miracles of late Date, such as those of (a) Elija, Elisha, and others, should not be coun- terfeit, there is this further Argument ; that in those Times Judcea was become more known, and because of the Difference of Religion was hated by the Neighbours, who could very easily confute the first Rise of a Lie. The History of Jonah's being three Days in the Whale's Belly is in (b) Lycophron and JSneus Gazeus, only under the Name of Hercules-, to advance whose Fame, every thing that was great and noble used to be related of him, as (c) Tacitus observes. Certainly nothing but the manifest Evidence of the History could compel Julian (who was as great an, enemy to the Jews as to the Christians) to confess (d) that there were some Men inspired by the Divine Spirit amongst the Jews, and (e) that Fire descended
from
(a) Elijah, &c] Concerning whose Prophecy Kusebius says, Prep. Book IX. Chap. 30. that Euptlcmus wrote a Book. In {he 39th Chapter of the same Book, Euscbius quotes a Place, of his, concerning the Prophecies of Jeremiah.
(6) Lycophron, &c] The Verses are these :
Of that three-nighted Lion, whom of old, Triton's^/fcrce Dog with furious Jaws devour da Within whose Bowels, tearing his Liver, Tie rolled, burning with Heat, though without Fire, His Head with Drops of Sweat bedew' d all o'er.
Upon which Place Tzetses says, " because he was three Days " within the Whale." And Mneus Gazeus in Theophrastus : '* According to the Story of Hercules, who was saved by a fC Whale swallowing him up, when the Ship in which he sailed " was wrecked."
(c) Tacitus, &c] And Servius, as Varro and Verrius Flac- cus affirm.
(cf) That there were some, &c] Book III. in Cyril, (e) That Fire descended, &c] Julian in the Tenth Book of Cyril : " Ye refuse to bring Sacrifices to the Altar and offer
«« them,
70 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
from Heaven, and consumed the Sacrifices of Moses and Elias. And here it is worthy of Ob- servation, that there was not only very (a) severe Punishments threatened amongst the Hebrews, to any who should falsely assume the Gift of Prophecy, {b) but very many Kings, who by that Means might have procured great Authority to them- selves, and many learned Men, (c) such as Esdras and others, dared not to assume this honour to themselves ; (d) nay, some Ages before Christ's Time, nobody dared to do it. Much less could so many thousand People be imposed upon, in avouching a constant and public Miracle, Imean
*t them, because the Fire does not descend from Heaven and " consume the Sacrifices, as it did in Moses's Time : This *? happened once to Moses, and again long sifter to Elijah the " Tishbite." See what follows concerning the Fire from Hea- ven. Cyprian, in III, of his Testimonies, says, '* That in " Sacrifices, all those that God accepted of, Fire came down " from Heaven, and consumed the Things sacrificed." Me- nander also in his Phoenician History, mentions that great Draught, which happened in the Time of Elias, that is, when, Ithobalus reigned amongst the Tyrians. See Josephus in his An~ cient History, Book VIII. Chap. 7.
(a) Severe Punishments, &c] See Deut. xiii. 5. xviii. 20. and the following.
(b) But very many Kings, &c] Nobody dared to do it after David.
(c) Suck as Esdras, &c. The Hebrews used to remark uj on those Times, " Hitherto the Prophets, now begin the \Vi;.e " Men."
(d) Nay, some Ages before Christ's Time, &c] Therefore in the First Book of Maccabees, iv. 46. we read, that the Stones of the Altar which were defiled were laid aside, " until there " should come a Prophet to shew what should be done with " them." And in the ixth Chap. Ver. 27. of the same Book*: " So was there a great Affliction in Israel, the like whereof " had never been since the Time that there were no Prophets " amongst them." The same we find in the Talmud, in, the Title concerning the Council.
that
Sect l6\] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 71
(a) that of the Oracle, {b) which shined on the High Priest's Breast, which is so firmly believed by ail the Jews, to have remained till the de- struction of the first Temple, that their Ances- tors must of Necessity be well assured of the Truth ofit.
(a) That of the Oracle, &c] See Exodus xxviii. 30. Levit. viii. 8. Numb, xxvii. 21. Dent, xxxiii. 8. 1 Sam. xxi. 11. xxii. 10, 23, 25. xxiii. 2, 5, 9, 10, U, 12. xxviii. 6. Add Nekem. vii. 6'5. And Josephu&'s Book III. Q. This is what is meant by the Words \far^)t foxm, " the consulting (an Ora- tc cle) where you will have an Answer as clear as light itself." In the Son of Sirach, XXXIII. 4. For the Word <JW, clear, answers to the Hebrew caniK Urim, and so the Seventy translate it in the forecifed Places, Numb, xxvii. 21. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. and elsewhere ^jJuwrv, making clear, as Exod. xxviii. 26". Lex: viii. 8. They also translate C3'Dn Thumin, uXt>9nx>, Truth: the Egyptians imitated this, just as Children do Men, Diodorus, Book I. re- lating the Affair* of the Egyptians, says of the Chief Judge, " That he hath Truth hanging about his Neck." And again afterwards, " The King commands that all Things necessary " and fitting should be provided for the Subsistence of the " Judges, and that the Chief Judge should have great Plenty. '* This Man carries about his Neck an Iinageof precious Stones (t hanging on a golden Chain, which they call Truth, and they " then begin to hear Cases, when the Chief Judge has fixed " this Image of Truth." And JElian, Book XIV. Chap. 24. of his Various History. t( The Judges in old Time amongst the " Egyptians, were Priests, the oldest of which was Chief Priest, " who judged every one; and he ought to be a very just Man, u and one that spared nobody. He wore an Ornament about ** his Neck, made of Sapphire Stone, which was called' Truth." The Babylonish Gemara, Ch. ■ I. of the Book called Joma, says, that some things in the first Temple were wanting in the second, as the Ark with the Mercy Seat, and the Cherubims, the Fire coming from Heaven, the Shecinah, the Holy Ghost, and the Urim and Thumim.
(b) Which shined on the High Priest's Breast, ice] This is a Conjecture of the Rabbins, without any Foundation from Scripture. It is much more credible, that the Priest pronounced the Oracle with his Mouth. See our Observations on Eqod, xxviii. 30. Numb, xxvii. 31. Le Clerc.
SECT
72 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
SECT. XVII.
The same proved also from Predictions.
THERE is another Argument to prove the Providence of God, very like to this of Miracles, and no less powerful, drawn from the foretelling pf future Events, which was very often and very expressly done amongst the Hebrews ; such as the (a) Man's being childless who should rebuild Je- richo ; the destroying the Altar of Bethel, by King Josiati by Name (b) above three hundred Years before it came to pass : So also Isaiah foretold the
(c) very Name and principal Acts of Cyrus; and Jeremiah the Event of the Siege of Jerusalem, after it was surrounded by the Chaldaans ; and Daniel
(d) the Translation of the Empire from the Assy- rians to the Medes and Persians, and (e) from them to Alexander of Macedon ; (f) whose Successors to Part of his Kingdom were to be the Posterity of Lagus and Seleucus ; and what Evils the Hebrews should undergo from all these, particularly (g) the
famous
(a) The Man's being childless, &c] Compare Joshua vi. 26. with 1 Kings xvi. 34.
(b) Above three hundred Years, &c] CCCLXF. as Josephus thinks in his Ancient History, Book X. Chap. 5.
(c) The very Name, &c] Chap, xxxvii. xxxviii. For the fulfilling, see Ch. xxxix. and Hi. Eusebius, Book IX. Ch. 3#. of his Preparat. brings a Testimony out of Eupolemus, both of the Prophecy, and the fulfilling of it.
(d) The Translation of the Empire, &c] Daniel i. 32. Z% V. 28. vii. 5. viii. 3, 20, x. 20. xi. 2.
(e) From them to Alexander, &c] In the forecited Ch. ii. 32 and 39. vii. 6. viii. 5,,6, 7, S, 21. x. 20. xi. 3, 4.
(f) Whose Successors, &c] Chap. ii. 33, 40. vii. 7, 19, ^t 24, viii. 22. x. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16", 17, 18, 19, 20.
fg) The famous Antiochus, &c] vii. 8, 11, 20, 24, 25. viii. 9, JO, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26. xi. 21, 22, 23, 24,
25a
Sect. 17.] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 73
famous Antiochus ; so very plainly, (a) that Por- phyry, who compared the Grcecian Histories, extant in his Time, with the Prophecies, could not make it out any other Way, but by saying, that the Things ascribed to Darnel, were wrote after they came to pass ; which is the same as if any one should deny, that what is now extant under the Name of Virgil, and was always thought to be his, was writ by him in Augustus's Time. For there was never any more Doubt amongst the Hebrews, concerning the one, than there was amongst the Romans, concerning the other. To all which may be added, the many and express Oracles (b) amongst those of Mexico and Peru, which fore- told the coming of the Spaniards into those Parts, and the Calamities that would follow.
And by other Arguments.
(c) TO this may be referred very many Dreams exactly agreeing with the Events ; which both as to themselves and their Causes were so utterly un-
25, 26, 27, 28, 2p, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. xii. 1, 2, 3, 1 1. Josephus explains these Places as we do, Book X. Ch. 12 ; and Book XII. Ch. 11 ; and Book I. Ch. 1. of his Jexoish War. Chrysostom II. against the Jews ; making use of the Testimony of Josephus, and Pa- lichronius, and other Greek Writers.
(a) That Porphyry, &C«] SeeJerom upon Daniel throughout.
(/>) Amongst those o/'Mexico, &c] {Garcdlazza de la Vega) Inca, Acosta. Herrera, and others, relate strange Thingsof these Oracles. See Peter Ciezza, Tome II. of the Indian Affairs.
(c) To this may be referred, &c] What is here said, does not so much prove the Existence of God, who takes Care of the Affairs of Men ; as that there are present with them some invisi- ble Beings, more powerful than Men, which whoever believes, will easily believe that there is a God. For there is no Necessity that all Things, which come to pass different from the common Course of Nature, should be ascribed to God himself; as if whatever cannot be effected by Men, or the Power of corporeal Things must be done by him himself. Le Clerc,
known
74 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
known to those that dreamed them, that (they can not without great Shamelessness be attributed to natural Causes : of which Kind the best Writers afford us eminent Examples, (a) Tertullian has made a Collection of them in his Book of the Soul ; (b) and Ghosts have not only been seen, but also heard to speak, as we are told by those Historians who have been far from superstitious Credulity; and by Witnesses in our own Age, who lived in Sina, Mexico, and other Parts of dme-
(a) Tertullian has made aCollection, &c] Chap. xlvi. where he relates the remarkable Dreams of Astyages, of Philip of Macedon, of the Himerraan Woman, ofLaodice, of Mithridates, of Jllyrian Balaris, of M. Tully, of Art onus, of the Daughter of Polycrates Samius, whom Cicero calls his Nurse, of Cleonomus Picta, of Sophocles, of Neoptolonus the Tragedian. Some of these we find in Valerius Maximus, Book I. Chap. 7 '. besides that of Calphurnia concerning Ciesar, of P. Decius, and T. Manlius, the Consuls, T.Atinius, M. Tully'm his Banishment, Hannibal, Alex- ander the Great, Simonides, Croesus, the Mother of Dionysius the Tyrant, C. Sempronius Gracchus, Cassius of Parmenia, Aterius Rufus the Roman Knight, Hamilcar the Carthaginian, Alcibiades the Athenian, and a certain Arcadian, There are many remark- able Things in Tally's Books of Divination ; neither ought we to forget that of Pliny, Book XXV. Chap. 2. concerning the Mother of one that was. fighting in Lusitania. And also those of Antigonus and Artucules, who was the first of the Race of the Osmanidce in the Lipsian Monita, Book I. Chap. 5. and others collected by the industrious Theodore Zuinger, Vol. V. Book IV. the Title of which is concerning Dreams.
(b\ And Ghosts have not only, &c] See Plutarch in the Life of Dion and Brutus, and Appion of the same Brutus, in the Fourth of his Ctvilla, and Tlorus, Book IV. Chap. 7. Add to these Tacitus, concerning Curtius Rufus, Annal. XI. which same History is in Pliny, Epist. XXVII. Book VII. together with another; concerning that which that wise and courageous Philosopher Athenodorus saw at Athens, And those in Valerius Maximus, Book 1. Chap. 8. especially that of Cassius the Epi- curean, who was frighted with the Sight of Ccesar, whom, he had killed ; which is: in Lipsius, Book I. Chap. 5. of his Warn- ings. Many such Histories are collected by Crysippus, Plutarch in^his Book of the Soul, and Numenius in his Second Book of the Soul's Immortality, mentioned by Origen, in his Fifth Book against Qelsus*
rica ;
Sect, 17, 18] CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 75
rica ; neither ought we to pass by (a) that com- mon Method of examining Persons' Innocence, by walking over red-hot Plow-shares, viz. Fire- Ordeal, mentioned in so many Histories of the German Nation, and their very Laws.
SECT. XVIII.
The Objection of Miracles not being seen now, an* swered. NEITHER is there any Reason, why any one should object against what has been said, because no such Miracles are seen now, nor no such Pre- dictions heard. For it is sufficient to prove a Di- vine Providence, that there ever have been such. Which being once established, it will follow, that we ought to think God Almighty forbears them now, for as wise and prudent Reasons, as he be- fore did them. Nor is it fit that the Laws given to the Universe, for the natural Course of Things, and that what is future might be uncertain, should
(«) That common Method, &c] See the Testimonies of this Matter, collected by Francis Juret, upon the 74th Epistle of Ivon, Bishop p{ Chart res. Sophocles' 8 Antigone tells us how old this is where the. Thcban Relations of Oedipus speak thus : We are prepared to handle red-hot Iron, To pass through Fire, or to invoke the Gods, That xoe are innocent, and did not do it. Which we learn also from the Report of Strabo, Book V and Pliny's Natural Hist. Book VII. Chap. 2. and Seroius upon Virgils Eleventh JEneid. Also those Things which were seen of old, m Feronia's Grove upon the Mountain Soracte. To these Things which happened contrary to the common Course ot Nature, we may add, I think, those we find made use of to preserve Men's Bodies from being wounded by Arrows See also the certain Testimonies concerning those who have spoke after their Tongues were cut out upon the Account of Religion, such as Justinian, Book I. Chapter of the Praetorian Oflice; concerning a Praefrct in Africa. Procopius in the First of hi! .Vandahcs, Victor Uticensis, in his Book of Persecutions, and Apneas Gaza in Theophrastus.
always
?6 OF THE TRUTH OF THE [Book I.
always, or without good Reason, be suspended, but then only, when there was a sufficient Cause ; as there was at that Time, when the Worship of the true God was banished almost out of the World, being confined only to a small Corner of it, viz. Judcea ; and was to be defended from that Wickedness which surrounded it, by frequent Assistance. Or when the Christian Religion, concerning which we shall afterwards particularly treat, was, by the Determination of God, to be spread all over the World,
SECT. XIX.
And of there being so much Wickedness. SOME Men are apt to doubt of a Divine Pro- vidence, because they see so much Wickedness practised, that the World is in a Manner over^ whelmed with it, like a Deluge : Which they con- tend should be the Business of Divine Providence, if there were any, to hinder or suppress. But the Answer to such is very easy. When God made Man a free Agent, and at Liberty to do well or ill (reserving to himself alone a necessary and im- mutable Goodness) (a) it was not fit that he should
put
(a) It was not ft, &c] Thus Tcrtullien against Mvrcian II. " An entire Liberty of the Will is granted him either Way, " that he may always appear to be Master of himself, by ** doing of his own Accord that which is good, and avoiding " of his own Accord that which is evil. Because Man, who " is in other Respects subject to the Determination of God, " ought to do that which is just, out of the good Pleasure of " his° own free Will. But neither the wages of that which " is good or evil, can justly be paid to him who is found to " be good or evil, out of Necessity, and not out of Choice. <« And for this Reason was the Law appointed, not to exclude, «« but to prove Liberty, by voluntarily performing Obedience " to it, or by voluntarily transgressing it; so that in either " Event the Liberty of the Will is manifest." And again afterwards: "Then the Consequence would have been: that " God would have w