Thus we fee, that befides the Prophecies concerning the other Nations of the Earth, every State and Condition of the People of Ifrael, from their first Original, to the Deftruction of Jerufalem, was the perpetual fulfilling of exprefs Prophecies contained in the Books of Mofes.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Miracles wrought by Mofes.

Ited of him in the Pentateuch; it will unavoidably

F it be once proved, That Mofes did what is rela

follow, That he did it by a Divine Power, and that he was God's Servant and Minister; and that therefore whatsoever he did or wrote, as by his Direction and Command, was really fo. For if there ever were or can be any fuch thing as a Miracle, it must be confeffed, that the Works performed by Mofes were fuch; and therefore the only Enquiry will be, Whether they were really performed by Him? fince it is abfurd to think, that God may not, upon great Reasons, alter the course of Nature.

And I fhall undertake to prove, fuppofing only that there was fuch a Man as Mofes, and that the Jewish Law was given by him, That it is of Divine Authority, and stands confirmed by all the Miracles which are related in the Pentateuch, to have been wrought by Mofes. And that there was fuch a Man, and that he delivered the Law to the Ifraelites, is affirmed by the best Heathen Authors, as Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and others; and was never yet, that I have heard of, queftion'd by any Man: For thofe who will not acknowledge that Mofes wrote the Books which contain it, yet confefs, that the Law it felf was of his prefcribing. But if it should be question'd, whether there ever was fuch a Man, who gave them their Law; how abfurd is it to imagine, that a new and burthen

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fom Law, which at firft was fo very uneafie to them, and which nothing but a full perfuafion of its Divine Authority could ever have made them fo zealous for, fhould be received by any Nation, merely upon a feigned and groundless Report, that Mofes had, at fome time or other, delivered it, in fuch a manner, and in fuch circumstances, if there never had been fuch a Man, or fuch a Law-giver in the World? Could any one, or more Men, perfuade a whole Nation to this? or could a whole Nation confpire to deceive their Pofterity with a belief of it? What mighty Charm could there be in a Name never heard of before, and in a Story newly invented, that a whole Nation fhould prefently grow fond of it? They must confider Humane Nature very little, who can fanfie any thing fo unnatural.

I fhall therefore take it for granted, that there was fuch a Man as Mofes, and that the Jewish Law was given by him And if it be once proved, that the Matters of Fact, or Miracles related of him, were indeed performed, as they are related to have been; no rational Man can doubt but that they were brought to pass by an Almighty Power. I fhall now therefore confider the Hiftory of the Jews barely as National Records, not as written by an Inspired Author: For it will appear from them, confidered only as an Account of Matter of Fact, that Mofes was a Perfon inspired and affifted by God, and both wrote and did all by God's exprefs Will and Appointment. And if we queftion the Authority of the Books of Mofes in this matter, when they are confidered but as National Records, it must be upon one of these accounts: Either, 1. Because the Matters of Fact contained in them, as they are there related to have been done, were not at firft fufficiently attefted. Or, 2. Because the Records themselves are feigned, and therefore the Relations there fet down are not to he depended upon. For if the Miracles be fufficiently

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attefted, fuppofing the Truth of the Hiftory; then, if the History be true, the Miracles must be fo too.

1. The Miracles and Matters of Fact contained in the Books of Mofes, as they are there related to have been done, were at firft fufficiently attefted. The permiffion of Polygamy amongst the Ifraelites, for the encrease of that People; the peculiar Fruitfulness of the Climate of Ægypt, where the Women are obferved to bring forth ofen two or three, fometimes more Children at a birth; the long Lives of Mankind, in those Ages; and above all, the Promise of God made to Abraham, That he would bless and multiply his Pofterity in Ifaac's Line, Gen. xxii. 17. caufed the Children of Ifrael to be exceeding numerous, in a few Generations after they came into Egypt: A Syrian ready to perish was their father; and he went down into Egypt, and fojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty and populous, Deut. xxvi. 5. The fighting-Men, from twenty years old and upward, that were numbred in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the fecond year after they came out of the Land of Ægypt, were Six hundred thoufand, and Three thoufand and five hundred and fifty, befides the Tribe of Levi, Num. i. 1, 46, 47. And the Males of the Levites that were numbred, from Thirty Years old to Fifty, were Eight thousand and five hundred and fourfcore, Num. iv. 47,48. And the number of Males, from Twenty Years old and upward,which was taken in the Plains of Moab, was Six hundred thousand, and a thousand seven hundred and thirty, befides the Levites; and thofe that were numbred of them, were Twenty and three thousand, all mates from a month old and upward, and not a man of these was numbred before in the wilderness of Sinai, chap. xxvi. 51, 62, 64. And thofe of the other Sex must be supposed to have been about the fame number, when both thefe Accompts were taken : In all, reckoning Plin. Hift. 1. 7. 3. Aul.

a Columell. de Re Ruft. 1. 3. c. 8. Gell. 1. 1o. c. 2.1

Men, Women, and Children and Servants, the Number is computed at Three Millions.

And all this People, the Parents, and the Children, who, as they died, grew up in their stead, were conducted, for Forty Years together, by a constant courfe of Miracles wrought continually in their fight. God took him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by figns, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrours, Deut. iv. 34. They could not be ignorant, whether there were Miracles wrought to procure their Deliverance out of Egypt; these were publick and notorious both to the Ifraelites and the Ægyptians; the Magicians were not able to do the like with their Inchantments, but were forced to confefs, This is the finger of God, Exod. viii. 19. and they were of that nature, and of fuch mighty confequence, that they could not fail of being particularly taken notice of, when two Nations were fo much concerned in the Effects and Events of them. The Children of Ifrael had been Witnesses of Ten Plagues inflicted fucceffively upon the Egyptians, in the most remarkable manner that can be conceived, to procure their Deliverance; and when Pharaoh purfued them, as they were going away, it was impoffible for them to escape from him but by Miracle; the People were in the greatest confternation, they wished themselves again in Egypt, and made fuch Expoftulations with Mofes as it was natural for Men in that condition to make, and such as fhewed, that, upon the firft opportunity, they would have been ready to deliver up Mofes, to fecure themselves, and make their peace with Pharaoh: And they faid unto Mofes, Because there were no graves in Egypt, haft thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore haft thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Agypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, faying, Let us alone, that we may ferve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to ferve the

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Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness, Exod. xiv. 11, 12. But the Ifraelites were purposely brought into this Distress, by God's exprefs Will and Command, that he might get him honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hoft, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen, ver. 17. And the Sea being divided at Mofes's lifting up his Rod, the Children of Ifrael went in the midst of it upon dry-ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand, and on the left, ver. 22. And could they be ignorant whether they walk'd in the Water, or upon dry Land? whether they were the Men that had escaped, or whether they had been all drown'd? The Words are exprefs, that the Waters were on both sides of them, in their paffage, and that they were separated to make way for them; which could not fall out by any ebbing of the Sea, for then they would have had Water but on one side of them; whereas now the Waters ftood equally on both hands: The floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congeal'd in the heart of the fea, Exod. xv. 8. And nothing can be fuppofed more abfurd, than it is to imagine that neither the Agyptians nor the Ifraelites fhould understand the nature of the Red-Sea, but that the Course of the Tide.fhould be known only to Mofes. There is no Man of Judgment, Jays a very judicious Writer, that can think, that Pharaoh and "the Egyptians, who then excell'd all Nations in the "Obfervations of the Heavenly Motions, could be "ignorant of the Fluxes and Refluxes of the Sea, in "his own Country, on his own Coafts, and in his "own most traded and frequented Ports and Havens; " and wherein his People having had fo many Hun"dreds of Years Experience of the Tides, he could "not be caught, as he was, through Ignorance, nor "by any foreknown or natural Accident, but by "God's powerful hand only. If Mofes had taken the

• Sir W. Ralegh, P 1. 1. 2. c. 3. §. 9.
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