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thing; for that triple Sabbath was instituted only in commemoration of the Day in which God rested from producing new Kinds of Beings.

The Holy Scripture tells the Jews, that God put to Death by the Hands of the destroying Angel, all the First-born of the Eygyptians, but fpared thofe of the Children of Ifrael. This was more highly reprefented to the Jews, by Two different Ceremonies; viz. That of the Pafchal Lamb, and that of the Confecration of every firftborn, whom they redeemed by offering to God a Beast in their ftead; not to mention the Confecration of the Levites, which was inftituted alfo for the fame end. Mofes tells the Ifraelites, that God had given them his Law on Mount Sinai; and the Feast of Pentecoft inftituted only in commemoration of that Event, was a Token of the fame. How could any one therefore have utterly abolished or altered a Scripture, which was not only ingraven upon Brafs, but copied out alfo in the daily practice of the Worship of the Jews? How could any of thefe Events be Fabulous, that were thus commemorated by fo many vifible Monuments? Could any fingle Man have fo far impofed upon a whole Nation, as to induce them to the practice of such fort of Ceremonies that reprefented events which they never had any Knowledge of?

But we ask them, whether they pretend the Scriptures of the Jews were altered with respect only to fome indifferent things; or whether they were corrupted in their Effentials, or laftly, whether they were wholly Suppofititious. For one of thefe Three things muft neceffarily be granted, or else they must allow that there was no alteration at all made in them. But if once they

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come to believe, that those Books were altered
with respect only to fome indifferent things, they
cannot chufe but acknowledge the truth of fo
many Miracles and Prophefies which are con-
tained in, and make up the most essential part
of them; and confequently, that the Jewish Re-
ligion is of a Divine Authority, which is all we
defire they should grant us at prefent. That
thofe Books are altogether Suppofititious, is a
thing I do not believe, any Incredulous Perfon
would affirm, or at leaft I never heard of any
Impious Man of that Opinion. They all own
that there was fuch a Man as Mofes, and that
this Mofes gave a Law to the Jews; neither do
they deny, but that there were thofe among
them, whom they called Prophets, whofe Wri-
tings were received with the very fame refpect
they had for all other Sacred things. They are
far from believing, that a fingle Man could forge
out of his own Head, all the Books attributed
to Mofes and the Prophets; for besides the diver-
fity of ftile which appears in those Books, 'twould
be an Hypothefis no lefs Chimerical, than if any
one fhould fay, that a Man had lately written
an Hiftory of France, containing none but un-
known Matters of Fact and Events too, that
were unheard of before; nay, and filled with
unknown Names, and prefcribing for antient
and generally received Laws, fuch Conftitutions
as were never heard of before; that should
quote feveral Authors, as being Prophets im
mediately fent from God, whofe Names were
even Barbarous; and befides all this, that fhould
be nothing but a continued Web of strange Mi-
racles, and unheard of Prodigies; and that it
fhould be fuppofed that this Hiftory fhould be re-

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ceived nemine contradicente for a Book of Divine Authority.

But if they have recourfe to this Objection, that the Scriptures of the Jews were not wholly Suppofititious, but were altered only with respect to fome important Places, and were effentially corrupted, (for this is the only way the Incredulous can take,) we shall plainly make it appear to them, that fuppofing they were all at corrupted as they pretend, they were wholly Suppofititious. And in effect, what remains in the Scriptures of the Jews, after you have taken away from them the Prophefies, the miraculous Matters of Fact, and all other things which they relate to them? For those are what we call here the Effentials of thofe Scriptures. The Law takes the chief motive of the Obedience it requires, from the deliverance of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt, which was a Series of miraculous Matters of Fact. All the Exhortations it contains, are derived from the great Wonders which God had wrought in behalf of Ifrael his People. Most of the Ceremonies prescribed in the Law, are defigned for the Commemoration of fome great and extraordinary Matter of Fact. The Books of the Prophets are filled with nothing else but Predictions; what remains therefore, after you have taken away the Prophefies and the miraculous matters of Fact, together with thofe things which relate to them? nothing in the leaft. Thus it appears, that to pretend that the Scriptures of the Jews were effentially altered, that is, in all thofe Places which evi denced the Divinity of them, fuppofing they were true, is as much as to fay, that they were wholly Suppofititious.

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Now

Prefa

Now do but joyn all these Circumstances together, the Time, the Place, the Perfons, their Interests, the Division of the Tribes, the Competition of Perfons, the fetled Worship and Cuftoms of the Jews, the Cautions of the Lawgiver,the frequent Repetitions in them, the force of Education, the Commemorations, the Defcriptions of Things, the Connexion of Matters of Fact and of Events, you will thereby be highly confirmed, even without the help of this Examination, in the fubmiffion which you owe to Divine Providence.

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But let us now hear what Objections the Incredulous raise againit our Principles; Spinofa has collected feveral Difficulties against the Books of Mofes, which we fhall now anfwer, without breaking off the Connexion of our Principles.

CHAP. VII.

Wherein we shall answer thofe Objections raised by Spinofa against the Books of Mofes.

the beginning of his Book, our Adverfary brings in fome of the Conjectures of AbenEzra, which he the more willingly adopts for his own, because they favour his Impiety. This Rabbi (by what pretence he goes about to palliate his Defign, I know not) pretends to fhew by Six different Reasons, that Mofes is not the Author of the five Books which go under his Name.

I. He pretends that Mofes did not compofe the Preface of the Book called Deuteronomy, because according to the Tranflation he used, it begins after this maner, Thefe be the Words which Mofes Spake unto all Ifrael on the other fide Jordan: Becaufe, fays he, as he never went over Jordan, fo he could not have come to any place where he might speak to them after this manner. But one had need be no very great Critick in the Hebrew Tongue, to know, that 1393 the Word which is used in the Original, fignifies indifferently on this fide, or on the other fide, according as it is applied; and fince our Interpreter has accordingly tranflated it, on this fide Jordan, He ought therefore to have proved that our Interpreter was deceived, and not fo confidently to fuppofe a thing that is still in queition.

II. He gives us to understand, that the Book of the Law was written in the compafs only of one Altar, which according to the Opinion of the Rabbins confifted of but Twelve Stones : Whence it follows, fays he, that the Book of Moses was of much lefs Extent than the Pentatruck. But we may perceive by that his Spite against the truth, fince he grounds his Argument upon the ridiculous Fancies of the Rabbins, who will have it, that this Altar did confift but of Twelve Stones only. But do we lie under any Obligation to admit of other Mens Dreams? However in fine, fuppofing there were but Twelve Stones, or not Twelve, 'tis certain however this Objection can never anfwer his Expectation, For if there were but Twelve, how could ever Joshua have written upon them the Whole Law of Mofes, which contained the Deca

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logue,