Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

But if we confider that the Oeconomy of our Redemption as fet forth in the New Testament, was prefigured and foretold by Types, by Miracles, and by Prophecies in the Old; it gives us a quite different Idea of the Power and Mercy of God to Mankind, as exhibited by Jefus Chrift, when he fees him exerting his Power in the Flood, in the Destruction of Sodom, in the turning of Lot's Wife into a Pillar of Salt, in the Plagues of Ægypt, in the leading of the Ifraelites through the Red-Sea, in the Prefervation of them by a Course of Miracles for forty Years together in the Wilderness, in the wonderful Overthrow of the Walls of Jericho, in the preternatural Lengthening of the Day when Joshua fought with the Canaanites, in the astonishing Strength of Samfon, in the conftant prophetic Virtue that refided in the Urim and Thummim during the Theocracy, in the Miracles that were wrought by Elijah, and Elifba, in the Prefervation of the three Children in the Fiery Furnace, and of Daniel in the Lion's Den, and in very many other wonderful Tranfactions recorded in the Old Teftament, than if we could reduce all these to the common Force and Energy of natural Caufes. And though we ought not to multiply Miracles, where Things can be folved without them; vct on the other Hand where the Letter of the Text implies fomething miraculaus to have been done, I think those Interpreters wonderfully to blame that ftretch the Text,

and

and ufe all the Arts with it they poffibly can, rather than confefs frankly, as the Egyptian Magicians did upon another Occafion, that this was the Finger of God. The Hiftory that we now examine, plainly fuppofes that new Languages were then made; how they were made it fays not, nor was it needful; efpecially to us who know not how any one of the Operations of God came originally out of the Creator's Hand. I have endeavoured to demon

ftrate a priori that this Miracle must, upon Suppofition that the Mofaic Hiftory is true, which both Chriftians and Jews do all firmly believe it to be, have been wrought by God himself, (whofe own Act it is represented to be) within a few Ages after the Flood. Your noble Collection of Lord's Prayers, which you did me the Honour to communicate to me feveral Years ago, led me firft to thefe Meditations, and by them a Man wholly unacquainted with any Language but his own, if he can but diftinguish a Noun from a Pronoun, a Subftantive from an Adjective, and a Verb from an Adverb, may be able to judge of the Weaknefs or Strength of my Arguments.

I do indeed willingly allow that it was equally the Finger of God, whether the Minds. or the Tongues of the Workmen were confounded. But then in that Cafe the Miracle does not fo plainly and flagrantly appear, nor would it have had fo thorough an Effect upon the Builders themselves, as according to my

Sup

Suppofition it would certainly have; because Men may quarrel and break off Society without a Miracle, whereas they cannot speak with new Tongues by their own natural Strength. And Nothing contributed fo much to the wonderful Effect which S. Peter's first Sermon, after the Resurrection at the great Pentecoft, (Acts ii.) had upon the Minds of fo many Thousands of his Auditors, as that People, then affembled from fo many diftant Regions, hearing the Apoftles Speak in their Tongues the wonderful Works of God. The more Miracles therefore are inconteftably proved to have been once wrought, the more Evidences we have of the Power of God, whom we not only believe to be, but also to be able to reward those that diligently feek him. But I must go on.

Some have upon this Occafion been very inquifitive to know wherein the Crime of these Builders confifted, and what Design we may reasonably fuppofe God to have had in inflicting this particular Punishment upon these Men. What the Text fays is only this: The LORD faid, Behold the People is one, and they have all ONE LANGUAGE; and this they begin to do; and now Nothing will be refrained from them, that they have imagined to do. Go to, let go down, and there CONFOUND their LANGUAGE, that they may not UNDERSTAND one another's SPEECH. Gen. xi. 6, 7. It is plain by this that their Pride and Vanity was chiefly difpleafing to

God

God". But give me Leave to add another Reafon. God had promifed Noak, and confirmed that Promife by a Sign from Heaven, that a Flood of Waters fhould no more deftroy the Earth. That therefore they were not afraid of. But then, feeing that Race of Mankind was to laft till the general Day of Judgment, it was for the Intereft of Mankind, and of Religion, in the State the World was then

[ocr errors]

Jofephus affigns another Crime. He fays that God commanded the Children of Noah, after they had ventured to go down into the Plains out of the Hill-Countrey where the Ark refted at firft, to divide themselves into feveral Colonies and fo people the World; that fo they might be kept from quarrelling among themselves, and have more Ground to cultivate, and confequently have greater Plenty. He fancies that this Command of God's was in their Opinion infidious, and that they fondly imagined that God could more eafily destroy them if they were difperfed, than if they kept all together. And that accordingly at the Inftigation of Nimrod they attempted to erect fuch a Tower as fhould be higher than any Waters could reach. Jof. Antiqq. Jud. i. 5. This Account had it been given by a lefs Writer than Jofephus, would be judged impertinent. God had actually promised never to drown the World again. He had confirmed that Promife by producing a Rainbow in the Sky (Gen. ix. 8,-17.) which Meteor either they had never feen before; or fe it appeared when there were no Clouds in the Air that could poffibly cause it. That Fear therefore could not poffefs them, nor is it affigned or fo much as hinted at by Mofes, when he relates this whole Tranfaction. They were unwilling to dif perfe themselves till they had done fomething which might perpetuate their Name to future Ages. This is all we know of that Matter.

in

in, that its Inhabitants who then began to be very numerous, and who were no longer afraid of a Flood, fhould be in fuch a Manner difperfed, that fome Nations might not for a long Time have any poffible Intercourfe with others. By that Means, if one Nation was wicked, another might efcape the Contagion, and might punish them for their Wickedness; and befides, they could not when they were thus parted, corrupt one another fo easily as they did before. For there is great Reason to think that the Antediluvians had more Commerce with one another, than has been ever among Mankind, fince this Accident divided the Defcendents of Noah from one another. The Pofterity of Japhet were then parted at one Stroke from the Children of Shem, and forced to feek new Habitations wherefoever they could find them, and they again were feparated and fubdivided from one another. This would naturally lead them to reflect seriously upon what God had newly done. And this Effect seems to have followed in Fact from the Difperfion. The Worship of the true God was far from being extinct in Abraham's Time in the Land of Canaan, where Melchizedec was the King of Salem, and Abimelech King of Gerar P. Nor do I fee any fufficient Cause to fuppofe that it was extinct in Chaldæa, or that Abraham was an Idolater; though Idolatry began then to creep

7

P See Gen. xiv. 18. and Gen. xx. 4.

into

« ZurückWeiter »