Neither will he succeed any better in affirming, as Hobbs has done before him, that the Idea which People generally have of Miracles, proceeds from their prescribing Supernatural Causes to them, because they do not very well know their true Natural Causes. That is very foon said: But then, I question whether, when they have duly examined the Matter of Fact, the Incredulous can well any longer entertain this Sufpicion; let them allow their Fancy to ramble; let them imagin, whatever they please, 'tis an eafie matter barely to imagin any thing: But we shall fee, whether they will not be found of themselves to renounce all these precarious Imaginations. They are pleased first of all to suppose, that the Scripture relates not all the Circumstances of those Matters of Fact, and that, were those Circumftances once known to us, they would plainly demonftrate none of them implies any thing fupernatural. But they are grofly mistaken, there can be nothing more circumftantial than all those Miracles, whole Circumstances are much more wonderful than the Matters of Fact themselves. A Rod turned into a Serpents, a Pillar of a Cloud, which becomes both light and darknes; the Sea which forms, as it were, adoutle Wall, the defroying Angel which Ingles out the First-born to Lay them; they see which opens jut sier Mofes had imore it wit nis Rod; Prodige happen in all the pars it theme, in the air, and the Sea, in the prers and in the bass; in Ayu and out of Eggr. as the peatre of the Praguer, te they are requitite for me prefermain of the Ch of Ifrael. The Tean exemoret hole Pag which crely went the Ayysms, durchs Mans counterfeiting some of the Miracles of Master, The able to imitare the rest; all the Cour of the Pince being witness to those Wonders. The danthers of Pharoah's Heart overcome by those terrible blows received from an invisible Hand; and the Plagues dif continued upon Pharaoh's defifting from his Obstinacy 5 the Waters not only of the great River, but of the little Rivulets also, of the Ponds and Marshes, of all the Wood and ftone Vessels turned into Blood, fo that the Fish died, the River stank, and the Ægyptians could not drink of them; all these, I say, are such Matters of Fact, so well circumftantiated, and Circumstances as wonderful as Matters of Fact themselves: They are, besides Matters of Fact, so link'd to one another, so often repeated and recited with such an Ingenuity, on which the whole Mosaic Religion is grounded, and fo continually inculcated into the Minds of the Jews by so many fenfible and lafting Practices, any fingle one of which is sufficient for the eftablishment of the Divinity of the Jewish Religion, and which altogether would certainly have convicted Mofes of Deceit, if they had been false; which can never have been contrived fucceffively one after another, as we have proved elfewhere; which are related to us as being then generally known by all that Nation, which procured Moses his Authority, and which gave force to his Exhortation, and which lastly, he propofes as the great and perpetual Motive of the Obedience due to those Laws he gave them in God's Name, bringing in the Supream Lawgiver speaking after this manner, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, &c. with a mighty band, and a ftretched out arm. CHAP. CHAP. XVIII. Where we shall examin some Objections raised against the Truth of the Jewish Religion. TObjections IIS not our present design here to answer all that may be raised against the Truth of the Jewish Revelation; because since the Objections that may poffibly be raised, are not to be numbred; so it is impossible we should prevent them all: We will therefore content our selves to observe only the Sources of the most principal Difficulties, which the Incredulous start upon this Subject, and so clearly to discover the Principle of Error, as that we hope we shall be capable to avoid the Errour it self. In order thereunto, we must grant in the first place, that it is a down-right Extravagance for any Man, to resolve to reject a Principle, because it is subject to fome Difficulties. The meanest Object in Nature, as well as the greatest things, that offer themselves to our Eyes, are not without some Difficulties. In a word, every thing is furrounded with impenetrable Obstacles, and how then can we suppose that Religion should be without them? : ! The main business therefore is to compare the Obscurities, which cause those Difficulties, with the Evidences which clear them, and to decide the matter by that Comparison. We must, above all, examin their Principles, and confider whether they spring not from our Paffions, or our false Prejudices. This, in my Opinion, is the best method we can take to answer the Objections of the Incredulous. Let us therefore endeavour to put this method in practice, and let us try whether we shall fucceed in it. ; I. The first stumbling Block of the Incredulous, is, the Love of Philosophy, they would have the Holy Ghost to speak in the stile of Philosophers, they up. braid the Author of the Book of Joshua, for not being so well skill'd in Astronomy, as Copernicus, and they can't endure, that Moses should pretend to write a History of the Creation of the World, which has so little agreement with the Speculations of that Science: 'Tis a furprizing thing to me, that so vain an objection should be so often repeated; is it possible that those Persons should defire, that God should forget the Language of the People, when speaking to the People, and that we should be obliged to fear God, which is the whole scope and design of the Holy Scriptures, no further than we are perswaded of the truth of the Hypothefes of Copernicus? Thus the Books of Scripture would have been intelligible only to some Philosophers of these latter times, and in order to read and understand them 'twould have been neceffary, Men should have tarried till Copernicus came into the World, or that the Holy Ghost had given them a new System of Aftronomy; but that was not sufficient neither, and to please these new Philofophers, God must have revealed in those Writings, how Colours, Light, Sound and all other sensible qualities exist in our Souls, that brutes have the appear ance only of being e red with fenfitive knowledge, meet within the Huly. In a word. ᅡ must have 1 Philosophers, Ghost her help ich is of himself, or whether he speaks to us of our selves; or lastly, whether he informs us of the nature of his other Creatures, he shews us things on that side only, which concerns our falvation, neither does he reveal himself but in such a manner, as is neceffary, to our Sanctification. When he imparts to us any knowledge concerning himself, he shews himself as clothed with all his benefits, thereby the better to excite our gratitude to him; in the beginning he made himself known unGen.14.22. der the name of the most high God, poffeffor of Heaven and Earth. Then took he such a name as was an evident token of his taking the Patriarchs into his protection, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Ijaac and the God of Facob. After he had delivered the Children of Ifrael out of Ægypt, he wrapt himself abour, if I may so speak, with this new benefit, bearken, O Ifrael, says he, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee our of the Land of Egypt, &c. And fome ages after we are told by a Prophet, that the Days will come in which it shall no longer be said, it is the Lord that brought his People out of the Land of Aypt: But, it is the Lord that brought again his People our of the Captivity of Babylon. The different ways, there he makes himself known, do multiply as his benefits increase; whence it appears that God doth not reveal himself on purpose to gratifie our curiofity, but only to produce a due thankfulness within our Hearts for all his benefits. Amos. In like manner, when the Holy Ghost speaks to us of Man, bu endeavours to discover to us the bottom of his c nature; he represents to us his mind deelicious, he shews us his malice together principle and effects of it, to move is course to his mercy, and this still has Salvation. Lastly, |