CHAP. XIII.

Where we shall examin, whether Ezra did not alter the Form of the Scriptures.

BE

EING defirous to clear whatever fcruples I might frame upon this Subject; I first of all look upon Ezra with all his external Circumstances; as the time he lived in, the manner of his Converfation, the Pentateuch they pretend he composed: And then carrying on further my Curiosity, I inquire, whether not only the private Enemies of Ezra, but those of his Nation in general, fuch as the Samaritans were, may not give me fome infight into this matter: And I find that all thofe different Parties afford meno fmall light in this Discovery.

It is cerrain, that, with all my industry, I cannot difcover what motions of felf-intereft could have put Ezra upon any fuch defign. It may at first view seem probable, that he might have intended the promoting the Glory of his Religion, by inventing feveral Miracles, to make it appear of a Divine Authority; but this thought will vanifh into Air, fo foon as we confider, that the miraculous Matters of Fact, together with the Circumstances of them, which are contained in the Pentateuch, were fo generally well known, by the Prophets frequent repetitions of them, fo effentially linked and interwoven with the Law of Mofes; and fo deep ly imprinted both in the Practice and Remembrance of the Jews, that it would be a meer Chimera, to fancy they can poffibly have been counterfeited. This truth we have already proved, but however we intend to do it yet more at large in the fequel of this Work

All

All the Benefits Ezra was like to reap from fuch a Work was the hazard he would have run of being look'd upon as a Sacrilegious Corrupter of the Holy Scripture. For Mens Niceties are very well known in this cafe. Those I mean, who, being not over devout, are glad enough of any Pretence to disobey the Scriptures, but yet would not endure the leaft Alteration to be made in them; and none can be ignorant, that the Scruples of the Jews in this refpect, were always fo great, as to intrench upon Superftition it felf.

It is not likely, that Ezra fhould have composed a New Scripture in Behalf of the Levites; because the Levites enjoy'd no other Privileges after the Days of Ezra, but what they did before his time. For that there were Levites before that time, and that those Levites had the Tithes of all the Poffeffions of the Ifraelites before the Captivity, we are fully convinced of by the Writings of Nehemiah, and of all the Prophets; befides the Genealogies of the Priests, being preferved in the fame Families, with fo much exactness, that Tribes being deprived of all Inheritances in the Holy Land, and feveral other things, are a more perfect confirmation of the fame.

Had Ezra ventured upon fuch an Enterprize, bareto raise the Glory of his Nation, doubtless he would have omitted fpeaking of the ten noted Murmurings of the Ifraelites, and would not have been fo zealoufly careful to relate the prodigious hardness of Heart of that People.

Had his Affection for Mofes been the principal cause of his Writing, he would have forborn from reprefenting Mofes fometimes as 2 Murderer, and as Incredulous and Difobedient to the Law of God.

Had he intended to Honour the Memory of his Ancestors, by inventing fome Circumftances which he thought

thought might turn to their Glory, he would cer tainly have omitted fuch which are Reproachful to them. For it was no very great Credit for the Levites to have it published, that Levi, the Head and Father of their Tribe, by a deliberate and premeditated Perfidioufnefs with Reubin, had murthered the Sichemites in cold blood; and by that Act had drawn upon himself Jacob's Curfe, which is contain'd in the 49. chap. of Genefis. 'Twas not at all for the Advantage of the Ten Patriarchs, to have it known, that they had fo bafely fold their Brother Jofeph, or for the Ifraelites, that they had worshipped the Golden Calf, &c. Thus it appears not only that none of all thefe Advantages could have enduced Ezra to aspire to the Title of being the Author of the Penteteuch, but that it would rather have proved much against his Interest every way. However we fhall not pretend to decide any thing upon the verdict only of thefe Proofs, but fhall proceed to examin the force of others that still follow, and merit well our Adverfaries Confideration.

་

'Tis certain, that any Man that should in thefe modern Times take upon him to reform the New Teftament, or fhould pretend to new model the Writings of the Apostles, would certainly mifcarry in his Undertaking, unless he were able to work the very fame Miracles as the Apostles formerly did. And the fame muft needs have been the Fate of the like Attempt of Ezra.

For though the Jews, who returned from Babylon with him, should so far have confided in him, as to allow of it; yet thofe Jews, who remained in the Land of Canaan, to inhabit the Ruins of Jerufalem, would not eafily have been prevail'd upon to confent

to it.

Belides

Befides it seems very probable, that Egra would in that cafe have been lefs fevere to thofe Jews, who took strange Women to their Wives, and were afterwards obliged to fend them back again with the Children they had born unto them. And if he had not matter'd the Affections of the People, it's probable he would at least have had fome regard for the Priests, thereby to bribe them, if I may fo fpeak, whose consent he ought in Policy to have courted at any rate. Yet he dealt alike with the People, and with feveral of the Children of the Priests, whose Names are inferted at the latter end of his Book.

But though we should fuppofe, that the Body of Priests, as having fome Interest in such a reform as Ezra intended to make of the Scripture, had given their general Confent to have it new modell'd; yet, at least, it appears Ezra could not have concealed his defign from those Priests, nor from the People of the Jews. For fince feveral of them wept at the fight of the fecond Temple, because it stirred up in them the remembrance of the Magnificence of the former, which their own Eyes had feen; fo we cannot imagin that the long continuance of their Captivity could have blotted out of their minds the Notions they had of their Scriptures, or that they were fo ignorant of that Law, which they had amongst them before Ezra returned from Babylon, as that Ezra could have impofed upon them in that respect.

Since therefore Ezra could not make a New Scripture without the Knowledge of the People, and of his Enemies too, he must of neceffity have contrived fome plaufible pretence or other; for Example, that God had ordered him fo to do, or that the Scriptures were corrupted, &c. and inftead of concealing his intent, he would rather have publifh'd it himself, nay, he would have wrote it. Yet we find nothing like this,

1

this, when we perufe his Book. Nay every thing in it tends rather to vanish that Notion out of our minds. In it we are informed, that the Jews, who were brought back by Zerubbabel, had preserved the Book of the Law, that Ezra made it his bufineis only to underftand it, and that he expounded it to the People. But leaft it should be thought, that Ezra and Nehemiah together had unanimoufly alter'd and inferted in it whatever matters of Fact they lifted.

Nehem. 13. 35.

We read at the latter end of the Book of Nehemiah, that he made a fecond Reformation after that of Ezra, which he himself relates in these words, I contended with them, fays he, and cursed them, and Smote certain of them, and pluck'd off their hairs, &c. And there was one of the Sons of Foiadah, the Son of Eliashib the High Priest; therefore I chafed him from me, &c. From thence any one may easily judge, whether Ezra and Nehemiah could any manner of way have either changed or new formed the Scripture, without being discovered by thofe Priests, they had fo feverely used, and they would certainly have taken the opportunity of revenging themselves, by pulling them down under fuch plausible pretences. But not withstanding all this, we do not intend to lay the ftrefs of our cause upon thefe Reasons, as highly probable as they are.

Thirdly, We fhall examin the Penteteuch it felf. And in fo doing thall demonftrate by two very folid Reasons, the one of Fact, and the other of Right, that Ezra was not the Author of it.

The Reason of Fact, is, because Ezra's Stile and way of Writing differs very much from the Stile and way of Writing which we obferve in the Penteteuch.

The second Proof, which I have called a Proof of Right, is, that, in all Hiftorical Books, there is nothing

that