Son of Segub, the Brother of Caleb: But there was another Fair, a Judge in Ifrael, who lived about Three or Four Hundred Years after the former, Judg. 10. 3. 'Tis true that this last Judge had Thirty Sons, who dwelt in Thirty different Cities, all known by the name of Havoth-Fair, as were also some Cities of Gilead, from the name of the first Fair; and in all this there is nothing furprising. But the first Fair could not possibly be a Judge in Ifrael, in the time that is mentioned in the Book of Judges, unless we grant him to have been as long liv'd as the Patriarchs of the former World, which would not agree with what the Scripture says, that all that Generation which had seen Joshua, were gathered unto their Fathers; that the Ifraelites finned, and served strange Nations, but that God afterwards raised them up Judges. Joshua lived a long while being 110 Years old when he died, all they who had known him died also, The Ifraelites finned, and lived a long time in Bondage God raised them up Judges. Fair was not the First nor the Second of those Judges. Othoniel procured the Ifraelites a Rest of Forty Years: They ferved Eglon Eighteen Years. Ehud killed Eglon, and procured the Ifraelites a rest of Eighty Years. They were afterwards opprefled by fabin, but Deborah delivered them. The Children of Ifrael finned again, fo God delivered them up to the Midianites; but Gideon delivered them Gideon died, Abimeleck his Son fucceeded him. He died, and Thola judged Ifrael after him, Twenty Three Years? Then fucceeded Fair the Gileadite, who judged Ifrael Twenty Two Years, 1 His Observation concerning the Prophet and the Seer, is in my Opinion of little or no consequence: ------ 2. 1 Sam. 9.9. sequence: For to folve the Objection he infers from thence against us, we need but reply, that there was a time when this was a common Saying in Ifrael, Come and let us go to the Seer; and another time it was more usual to call this Seer by the Name of Nabi, which is all that's true in this matter. For because I do not believe that this Author would deny but that the Prophets were called among the fraelites, the Seers of the Lord till Esdras's time, nay, in his very Days too, (though they were more usually called by the name of Prophets,) so likewise I do not deny, but that there was a time in Ifrael, when common use required they should call them Seers rather than Prophets; and this is all that can be inferred from the Place that is quoted against us in this respect. KO A Method to prove the truth of the Jewish Re ligion against all the crafty Subtilties of the Incredulous. E had need be very much inclinable to In WEcredulityd be beable to find any thing in the Critical Objections of Spinosa, or in any that can be made by any Man else against us, capable to make us doubt but one Moment of the Foundations of Religion. For what, because we find Two or Three Parentheses in the Books of Mofes, which fome ८. some will by no means allow that Mofes was the Author of, and which would be of no force against us, for that very reason, because they appear to be no part of his Works, does that at all hinder it to be true, that the Prophets did actually foretel the Calling of the Gentiles, with all the Circumstances of it? That Mofes and Jesus Christ illustrate one another, and that the Foundations of Religion are so clofely link'd with the Lights of Common Sense, that we must necessarily renounce all Reason fhould we in the least suspect them ? But to keep within the bounds of the Subject I now treat of, I demand whether it be possible for any reasonable Man not to perceive, that the truth of the Jewish Religion considered separately by it felf, is grounded on fuch solid Foundations as are never to be shaked by any fuch frivolous Observations ? In effect, though we should not view it on all its advantagious fides, as in respect of its Morality, knowledge of the true God, agreement with Natural Religion, wonderful Harmony with the Gospel, its Prophefies, Characters of Piety and Self-Denial, which appears in the Doctrin of it, and of that great and sensible advantage it had over all other Religions, we might however easily demonstrate its Divinity, and that in such a manner, as would effectually convince all Men of Sense and Reason to believe it. In order thereunto, we need but diftinctly to prove these Three Capital Truths. I. That all the Essential Matters of Fact contained in the Pentateuk, were either written by Moses himself, or by his Orders. II. That since Moses has left them to us in writing, by consequence they cannot but be true. III. That being true, they sufficiently prove the Divinity of the Jewish Religion, againft all the efforts of Impiety. But the First of these Three Principles is the hardest to prove; yet I will clearly prove, that if Mofes penn'd his own self those Miraculons Matters of Fact we are told of in the Pentateuk, he could never have done it against the truth and the publick knowledge which every one had of them; which thing no longer admits of any difficulty, so foon as you have examined the circumstances of those Matters of Fact. I shall no less easily make it appear, that suppofing all those Miracles were true, it will follow that God who is the Author of those Laws of Nature, whose course was interrupted by those Miracles, must have necessarily manifested himself to the Ifraelites. So that our main and principal business at present will be to shew, that the Essential Matter of the Pentateuk, I mean those singular and remarkable Matters of Fact, in which the Finger of God was so visibly seen, are no fabulous Matters of Fact, but such whose Memory Moses has preserved to us in certain and infallible Monuments. In effect, there is nothing more certain, than that we find those Matters of Fact in Writing: First, In the Law of Moses. Secondly, In the other Books of the Pentateuk. Thirdly, In the Writings of all the Prophets. Fourthly, In the very Hearts, and in the Remembrance of the Ifraelites, who were bound continually to meditate upon them, and could not but have some Notions of them after that Moses had taken such certain Measures for that purpose. Fifthly, In the practice and publick Worship of the Jews, whose Ceremonies were nothing else but representations sentations of those ancient Events. And Sixthly, 'Tis so true that all those Matters of Fact were so inseparably interwoven with the wellfare of the Commonwealth of the Jews, and the Establishment thereof, that if I may fo speak, they still appear painted out in their present dejected Condition. But we shall fee in the sequel of this work, the certainty of all those different Monuments which were the Instruments whereby the Jewish Revelation was preserved en. tire down to us. |