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SIR, 1 MUCH Condole with you your unhappy circumstances, of being placed amongst such company, where, as you say, you continually hear the Sacred Scriptures, and the histories therein contained, particularly of Moses and of Christ, and all revealed religion, turned into ridicule by men who set up for sense and reason. And they say, that there is no greater ground to believe in Christ, than in Mahomet; that all these pretences to revelation are cheats, and ever have been, among Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians; that they are all alike impositions of cunning and designing men, upon the credulity, at first, of simple and unthinking people, till, their numbers increasing, their delusions grow popular, come at last to be established by laws, and then the force of education and custom gives a bias to the judgments of afterages, till such deceits come really to be believed, being received upon trust from the ages foregoing, without examining into the original and bottom of them; which these, our modern men of sense, (as they desire to be esteemed,) say that they only do, that they only have their judgments freed from the slavish authority of precedents and laws, in matters of truth, which, they say, ought only to be decided by reason; though, by a prudent compliance with popularity and laws, they preserve themselves from outrage and legal penalties; for none of their complexion are addicted to sufferings or martyrdom.

Now, Sir, that which you desire from me, is some short topic of reason, if such can be found, whereby, without running to authorities, and the intricate mazes of learning, which breed long disputes, and which these men of reason deny by wholesale, though they can give no reason for it, only suppose that authors have been trumped upon us, interpolated and corrupted, so that no stress can be laid upon them, though it cannot be shewn wherein they are so corrupted; which, in reason, ought to lie upon them to prove, who allege it; otherwise it is not only a precarious, but a guilty plea: and the more,

that they refrain not to quote books on their side, for whose authority there are no better, or not so good grounds. However, you say it makes your disputes endless, and they go away with noise and clamour, and a boast, that there is nothing, at least nothing certain, to be said on the Christian side. Therefore you are desirous to find some one topic of reason, which should demonstrate the truth of the Christian religion, and at the same time distinguish it from the impostures of Mahomet and the old Pagan world; that our Deists may be brought to this test, and be obliged either to renounce their reason and the common reason of mankind, or to submit to the clear proof from reason of the Christian religion; which must be such a proof as no imposture can pretend to, otherwise it cannot prove the Christian religion not to be an imposture. And whether such a proof, one single proof (to avoid confusion) is not to be found out, you desire to know from me.

And you say, that you cannot imagine but there must be such a proof, because every truth is in itself clear, and one; and therefore that one reason for it, if it be the true reason, must be sufficient; and if sufficient, it is better than many, for multiplicity confounds, especially to weak judgments.

Sir, you have imposed a hard task upon me; I wish I could perform it. For though every truth is one, yet our sight is so feeble, that we cannot always come to it directly, but by many inferences, and laying of things together.

But I think that, in the case before us, there is such a proof as you require, and I will set it down as short and plain as I can.

I. First, then, I suppose, that the truth of the doctrine of Christ will be sufficiently evinced, if the matters of fact which are recorded of him in the gospels be true; for his miracles, if true, do vouch the truth of what he delivered.

The same is to be said as to Moses. If he brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea in that miraculous manner which is related in Exodus, and did such other

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wonderful things as are there told of him, it must necessarily follow, that he was sent from God these being the strongest proofs we can desire, and which every Deist will confess he would acquiesce in, if he saw them with his eyes. Therefore the stress of this cause will depend upon the proof of these matters of fact.

1. And the method I will take is, first, to lay down such rules, as to the truth of matters of fact in general, that where they all meet, such matters of fact cannot be false. And then, secondly, to shew that all these rules do meet in the matters of fact of Moses, and of Christ; and that they do not meet in the matters of fact of Mahomet, of the heathen deities, or can possibly meet in any imposture whatsoever.

2. The rules are these: 1st, That the matter of fact be such, as that men's outward senses, their eyes and ears, may be judges of it. 2d, That it be done publicly in the face of the world. 3d, That not only public monuments be kept up in memory of it, but some outward actions to be performed. 4th, That such monuments, and such actions or observances be instituted, and do commence from the time that the matter of fact was done.

3. The two first rules make it impossible for any such matter of fact to be imposed upon men, at the time when such matter of fact was said to be done, because every man's eyes and senses would contradict it.

For ex

ample: Suppose any man should pretend, that yesterday he divided the Thames, in presence of all the people of London, and carried the whole city, men, women, and children, over to Southwark, on dry land, the water standing like walls on both sides; I say, it is morally impossible that he could persuade the people of London that this was true, when every man, woman, and child could contradict him, and say, that this was a notorious falsehood, for that they had not seen the Thames so divided, or had gone over on dry land. Therefore I take it for granted (and I suppose, with the allowance of all the Deists in the world) that no such imposition could be put upon men, at the time when such public matter of fact was said to be done.

4. Therefore it only remains that such matter of fact might be invented some time after, when the men of that generation, wherein the thing was said to be done, are all past and gone, and the credulity of after ages might be imposed upon, to believe that things were done in former ages, which were not.

And for this, the two last rules secure us as much as the two first rules, in the former case; for whenever such a matter of fact came to be invented, if not only monuments were said to remain of it, but likewise that public

actions and observances were constantly used ever since the matter of fact was said to be done, the deceit must be detected, by no such monuments appearing, and by the experience of every man, woman, and child, who must know that no such actions or observances were ever used by them. For example: Suppose I should now invent a story of such a thing done a thousand years ago, I might perhaps get some to believe it; but if I say, that not only such a thing was done, but that, from that day to this, every man, at the age of twelve years, had a joint of his little finger cut off; and that every man in the nation did want a joint of such a finger; and that this institutution was said to be part of the matter of fact done so many years ago, and vouched as a proof and confirmation of it, and as having descended, without interruption, and been constantly practised in memory of such matter of fact, all along from the time that such matter of fact was done; I say it is impossible I should be believed in such a case, because every one could contradict me, as to the mark of cutting off a joint of the finger; and that being part of my original matter of fact, must demonstrate the whole to be false.

II. Let us now come to the second point, to shew that the matters of fact of Moses, and of Christ, have all these rules or marks before mentioned; and that neither the matters of fact of Mahomet, or what is reported of the heathen deities, have the like; and that no imposture can have them all.

1. As to Moses, I suppose it will be allowed me, that he could not have persuaded six hundred thousand men, that he had brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, fed them forty years without bread, by miraculous manna, and the other matters of fact recorded in his books, if they had not been true; because every man's senses that were then alive, must have contradicted it: and therefore he must have imposed upon all their senses, if he could have made them believe it, when it was false, and no such things done. So that here are the first and second of the above mentioned four marks.

From the same reason, it was equally impossible for him to have made them receive his five books as truth, and not to have rejected them as a manifest imposture, which told of all these things as done before their eyes, if they had not been so done. See how positively he speaks to them, Deut. xi. 2, to verse 8. "And know ye this day, for I speak not with your children, which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched-out arm, and his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land, and what he did unto the army of Egypt,

auto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you; and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did," &c.

From hence we must suppose it impossible that these books of Moses (if an imposture) could have been invented and put upon the people who were then alive when all these things were said to be done.

The utmost therefore that even a suppose can stretch to, is, that these books were written in some age after Moses, and put out in his

name.

And to this I say, that, if it was so, it was impossible that those books should have been received as the books of Moses, in that age wherein they may have been supposed to have been first invented. Why? Because they speak of themselves as delivered by Moses, and kept in the ark from his time: "And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites who bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee," Deut. xxxi. 24, 25, 26. And there was a copy of this book to be left likewise with the king: "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites; and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them," Deut. xvii. 18, 19.

Here, then, you see that this book of the law speaks of itself, not only as a history or relation of what things were then done, but as the standing and municipal law and statutes of the nation of the Jews, binding the king as well as the people.

Now, in whatever age after Moses you will suppose this book to have been forged, it was impossible it could have been received as truth, because it was not then to be found either in the ark, or with the king, or any where else; for, when first invented, every body must have known that they never heard of it before.

And therefore, they could less believe it to

be the book of their statutes, and the standing law of the land, which they had all along received, and by which they had been governed.

Could any man, now, at this day, invent a book of statutes or acts of parliament for England, and make it pass upon the nation as the only book of statutes that ever they had known? As impossible was it for the books of Moses (if they were invented in any age after Moses) to have been received for what they declare themselves to be, namely, the statutes and municipal law of the nation of the Jews; and to have persuaded the Jews that they had owned and acknowledged these books all along from the days of Moses to that day in which they were first invented: that is, that they had owned them before they had ever so much as heard of them. Nay, more, the whole nation must, in an instant, forget their former laws and govern ment, if they could receive these books as being their former laws; and they could not otherwise receive them, because they vouched themselves so to be. Let me ask the Deists but one short question, Was there ever a book of sham-laws, which were not the laws of the nation, palmed upon any people since the world began? If not, with what face can they say this of the book of laws of the Jews? Why will they say that of them which they confess impossible in any nation, or among any people?

But they must be yet more unreasonable; for the books of Moses have a farther demonstration of their truth than even other lawbooks have; for they not only contain the laws, but give an historical account of their institution, and the practice of them from that time; as of the Passover in memory of the death of the first born in Egypt ;* and that the same day, all the first-born of Israel, both of man and beast, were, by a perpetual law, dedicated to God, and the Levites taken for all the first-born of the children of Israel; that Aaron's rod, which budded, was kept in the ark in memory of the rebellion, and wonderful destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and for the confirmation of the priesthood to the tribe of Levi; as likewise the pot of manna in memory of their having been fed with it forty years in the wilderness; that the brazen serpent was kept (which remained to the days of Hezekiah, 2 Kings, xviii. 4,) in memory of that wonderful deliverance, by only looking upon it, from the biting of the fiery serpents, Num. xxi. 9; the feast of Pentecost in memory of the dreadful appearance of God upon Mount Horeb, &c.

And besides these remembrances of particular actions and occurrences, there were other solemn institutions in memory of their

Numbers, viii. 17, 18.

deliverance out of Egypt, in the general, which included all the particulars,—as of the Sabbath, Deut. v. 15, their daily sacrifices and yearly expiation, their new moons, and several feasts and fasts; so that there were yearly, monthly, weekly, daily remembrances and recognitions of these things.

And not only so, but the books of the same Moses tell us, that a particular tribe (of Levi) was appointed and consecrated by God as his priests; by whose hands, and none other, the sacrifices of the people were to be offered, and these solemn institutions to be celebrated; that it was death for any other to approach the altar; that their high priest wore a glorious mitre, and magnificent robes, of God's own contrivance, with the miraculous Urim and Thummim in his breast-plate, whence the divine responses were given; that, at his word, the king and all the people were to go out and to come in ;* that these Levites were likewise the chief judges even in all civil causes, and that it was death to resist their sentence.† Now, whenever it can be supposed that these books of Moses were forged in some age after Moses, it is impossible they could have been received as true, unless the forgers could have made the whole nation believe that they had received these books from their fathers, had been instructed in them when they were children, and had taught them to their children; moreover, that they had all been circumcised, and did circumcise their children, in pursuance of what was commanded in these books; that they had observed the yearly passover, the weekly sabbath, the new moons, and all the several feasts, fasts, and ceremonies commanded in these books; that they had never eaten any swine's flesh, or other meats prohibited in these books; that they had a magnificent tabernacle, with a visible priesthood to administer in it, which was confined to the tribe of Levi, over whom was placed a glorious high priest, clothed with great and mighty prerogatives, whose death only could deliver those that were fled to the cities of refuge; and that these priests were their ordinary judges even in civil matters. I say, was it possible to have persuaded a whole nation of men that they had known and practised all these things if they had not done it? or, secondly, to have received a book for truth, which said they had practised them, and appealed to that practice? So that here are the third and fourth of the marks above mentioned.

But now let us descend to the utmost degree of supposition, namely, that these things were practised before these books of Moses were forged; and that those books did only impose upon the nation in making them believe that

Numb. xxvii. 21. + Deut. xvii. 8 to 13. 1 Chron. xxiii. 4. Numb. xxxv. 25, 28.

they had kept these observances in memory of such and such things as were inserted in those books.

Well, then, let us proceed upon this supposition, however groundless; and now, will not the same impossibilities occur as in the former case? For, first, this must suppose that the Jews kept all these observances in memory of nothing, or without knowing any thing of their original, or the reason why they kept them. Whereas, these very observances did express the ground and reason of their being kept,-as the Passover, in memory of God's passing over the children of the Israelites in that night wherein he slew all the first-born of Egypt; and so of the rest.

But, secondly, let us suppose, contrary both to reason and matter of fact, that the Jews did not know any reason at all why they kept these observances, yet was it possible to put it upon them-that they had kept these observances in memory of what they had never heard of before that day, whensoever you will suppose that these books of Moses were first forged? For example, suppose I should now forge some romantic story of strange things done a thousand years ago, and, in confirmation of this, should endeavour to persuade the Christian world that they had all along, from that day to this, kept the first day of the week in memory of such an hero - an Apollonius, a Barcosbas, or a Mahomet -and had all been baptized in his name, and swore by his name, and upon that very book which I had then forged, and which they never saw before in their public judicatures; that this book was their gospel and law which they had, ever since that time, these thousand years past, universally received and owned, and none other. I would ask any Deist, whether he thinks it possible that such a cheat could pass, or such a legend be received as the gospel of Christians, and that they could be made believe that they never had had any other gospel? The same reason is as to the books of Moses, and must be, as to every matter of fact, which has all the four marks before mentioned; and these marks secure any such matter of fact as much from being invented and imposed in any after ages as at the time when such matters of fact were said to be done.

Let me give one very familiar example more in this case. There is the Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain, every body knows it; and yet none knows the reason why those great stones were set there, or by whom, or in memory of what.

Now suppose I should write a book tomorrow, and tell there that these stones were set up by Hercules, Polyphemus, or Garagantua, in memory of such and such of their actions. And for a farther confirmation of this, should say in this book that it was wrote

at the time when such actions were done, and by the very actors themselves, or eyewitnesses. And that this book had been received as truth, and quoted by authors of the greatest reputation in all ages since. Moreover, that this book was well known in England, and enjoined by act of parliament to be taught our children, and that we did teach it to our children, and had been taught it ourselves when we were children. I ask any Deist, whether he thinks this could pass upon England? And whether, if I, or any other should insist upon it, we should not, instead of being believed, be sent to Bedlam ?

Now, let us compare this with the Stonehenge, as I may call it, or twelve great stones set up at Gilgal, which is told in the fourth chapter of Joshua. There it is said, verse 6, that the reason why they were set up was, that when their children, in after ages, should ask the meaning of it, it should be told them.

And the thing in memory of which they were set up, was such as could not possibly be imposed upon that nation, at that time when it was said to be done; it was as wonderful and miraculous as their passage through the Red Sea.

And withal, free from a very poor objection which the Deists have advanced against that miracle of the Red Sea; thinking to salve it by a spring-tide, with the concurrence of a strong wind happening at the same time, which left the sand so dry as that the Israelites, being all foot, might pass through the oozy places and holes, which it must be supposed the sea left behind it; but that the Egyptians, being all horse and chariots, stuck in these holes, and were entangled, so that they could not march so fast as the Israelites; and that this was all the meaning of its being said that God took off their (the Egyptians) chariot wheels that they drove them heavily. So that they would make nothing extraordinary, at least nothing miraculous, in all this action.

This is advanced in Le Clerc's Dissertations upon Genesis, lately printed in Holland, and that part, with others of the like tendency, endeavouring to resolve other miracles, as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. into the mere natural causes, are put into English by the well-known T. Brown, for the edification of the Deists in England.

But these gentlemen have forgot that the Israelites had great herds of many thousand cattle with them, which would be apter to stray and fall into those holes and oozy places in the strand, than horses with riders who might direct them.

But such precarious and silly supposes are not worth the answering. If there had been no more in this passage through the Red Sea

than that of a spring-tide, &c. it had been impossible for Moses to have made the Israelites believe that relation given of it in Exodus, with so many particulars which themselves saw to be true.

And all those scriptures which magnify this action, and appeal to it as a full demonstration of the miraculous power of God, must be reputed as romance or legend.

I say this for the sake of some Christians, who think it no prejudice to the truth of the Holy Bible, but rather an advantage, as rendering it more easy to be believed, if they can solve whatever seems miraculous in it by the power of second causes; and so to make all, as they speak, natural and easy. Wherein, if they could prevail, the natural and easy result would be, not to believe one word in all those sacred oracles. For if things be not as they are told in any relation, that relation must be false. And if false in part, we cannot trust to it either in whole or in part.

Here are to be excepted mis-translations and errors either in copy or in press; but where there is no room for supposing of these, as where all copies do agree, we there must either receive all or reject all. I mean in any book that pretends to be written from the mouth of God for in other common histories, we may believe part and reject part,

as we see cause.

But to return. The passage of the Israelites over Jordan, in memory of which those stones at Gilgal were set up, is free from all those little carpings before mentioned that are made as to the passage through the Red Sea; for notice was given to the Israelites the day before of this great miracle to be done, Joshua, iii. 5. It was done at noonday before the whole nation. And when the waters of Jordan were divided, it was not at any low ebb, but at the time when that river overflowed all his banks, verse 15. And it was done not by winds, or in length of time. which winds must take to do it; but all on the sudden, as soon as the "feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, then the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap, very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people passed over right against Jericho. The priests stood in the midst of Jordan till all the armies of Israel had passed over. And it came to pass when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lift up upon the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks as they did before. And the people came out of