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If then the Miracles of Mofes, and confequently the Divine Authority by which he gave his Law to the Ifraelites, be fufficiently attefted, fuppofing the Matters of Fact to be true, which are contained in the Pentateuch and if neither Mofes himself could feign the Matters of Fact, nor any other Perfon or Perfons either in his time or afterwards, could infert them, or change the Law; and the whole Jewish Nation could not at any time confpire in fuch a Fiction and Imposture: We have all the Affurance that it is poffible to have, and all that any fober Man can defire, both of the Truth of the Miracles wrought by Mofes, and of the Divine Authority of the Books penn'd by him. And it will be found, that after all the Reflections made by Infidels, upon the Credulity, as they esteem it, of others, there are none fo credulous as they; for they reject the most certain, to believe the most incredible things in the World.

The Divine Miffion and Authority of Mofes being fully proved; from thence it will follow, 1. That God having inftituted the Jewish Government, was in point both of Wisdom and Honour concerned in the administration of it, and that a more especial and peculiar Care and Providence must be watchful over this holy Nation, and peculiar People. 2. That whatever befel them, either by Prophecies or by Miracles, and the extraordinary Appointments of God, according to the Revelations made in the Law of Mofes, has, befides its own proper and intrinsick Evidence, the additional Proof of all the Miracles and Prophecies of Mofes. So that the Proof of the Divine Authority of Mofes his Books, is at the fame time a Proof of all the other Books of Scripture, fo far as they are in the Matter and Subject of them confequent to these. 3. That the Pentateuch, and the other Parts of the Old Teftament (not to mention the New Teftament in this place) reciprocally prove each other, like the Caufe and the Effect; the Pentateuch

being the Cause and Foundation of Thefe; and These the Effect and the Confequence of the Pentateuch, and the Fulfilling the feveral Predictions of it.

CHAP. VII.

Of Joshua and the Judges, and of the Miracles and Prophecies under their Government.

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IT is generally agreed, that Joshua himself was the

Author of the Book under his Name; and fome who are of another opinion, yet acknowledge that it must be written by his particular Order, in his Lifetime, or foon after his Death. The Land was described by Cities in a Book, which was brought to Joshua, Joh. xviii. 8, 9. The nature of the thing it felf required, that the Division of the Land of Canaan amongst the several Tribes, should forthwith be committed to Writing: for no People can be named who had the use of Letters, that trusted the Boundaries of their Lands to Memory; and there is no delay to be used in fuch cafes: Joshua therefore, who did by Lot fet out the Bounds of the Tribes, at the same time put them down in Writing; which he left upon Record to Pofterity, to prevent Difputes, and to be appeal'd to, in cafe any Controverfie fhould arife. But the bare Distribution of the Land was not to be tranfmitted, without an Account of the miraculous Conquefts of it, which might dispose them to be contented with their several Lots, and remind them of their Duty, in the poffeffion and enjoyment of a Land which they were fettled in, by the immediate Hand of God.

The Book of Joshua appears to have been written during the Life-time of Rahab, Josh. vi. 25. and byone, who pass'd over Jordan when its Waters were

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cut off for none, but one who had been prefent, could properly have faid, until We were paffed over, Jofh. v.1. and to have been written (in part at leaft) by Joshua himself, and annex'd to the Law of Mofes, chap. xxiv. 26. But the five last Verses, giving an Account of the Death of Joshua, and of what follow'd after it, were added by fome of the Prophets, probably by Samuel, who, according to the Jewish, Tradition, is the Author of the Book of Judges, where we find the fame things repeated concerning the Death of Joshua, Judg. ii. 7.

The Books of Judges and Ruth are reckon❜d by the Jews as one Book; and the Book of Judges is reckon'd among the Books of the Prophets, Mat. ii. 23. Judg. xiii. 5. and it seems to be entitl'd to Samuel, A&t. iii. 24. where Samuel is mention'd as the firft of the Prophets, that is, the first Author of the Books written by them for which reason, he is likewife by the Jews accounted the firft of the Prophets. That the Book of Judges was penn'd before the Taking of Jerufalem by David, we may learn from Judg. i. 21.

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After the Death of Mofes, Joshua undertakes the Government and Conduct of the People of Ifrael, according to God's Appointment, and his Inveftiture to it by Mofes, Num. xxvii. 22. who alfo foretold the great Succefs that afterwards attended him, Deut. i. 38. and at his firft Entrance upon the Government God gave to him the fame Divine Atteftation that had before been given to Mofes, in their Paffage t thro' the Red-Sea: And the Lord faid unto Fofhua, This day will I begin to magnifie thee in the fight of all Ifrael, that they may know that as I was with Mofes, fo I will be with thee, Joh. iii. 7. And for a certain Demonftration that the living God was among them, and would give them Victory over the Seven Nations, and Poffeffion

Origen. ap. Eufeb. Hift. I. 6. c. 25. Hieron. Præf. in lib. Reg.
F. Sim. Suppl. to. Leo of Modena, c. I...

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of their Land, the Priests did, by God's Appointment, bear the Ark before the People; and as foon as their Feet were dipt in the brim of the water, in the time of Harvest, when the River Jordan is at the higheft, and overflows all its Banks, the Waters divided themselves; those above stood on one fide in heaps, and those below were cut off and fail'd, the Priests standing with the Ark in the midst of the Channel upon dry Ground, till all the People were passed over, and until every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to Speak unto the people, according to all that Mofes commanded Joshua, Josh. iv. 10. Now, it is an undoubted Tradition among the Jews, That the Tents of the Ifraelites in the Wilderness, contain'd a Square of Twelve Miles, and that the Hoft took up the fame space, whilft they pafs'd Jordan. However, this is certain, that they kept at the distance of about Two thousand Cubits from the Ark, when it stood in the midst of Jordan, Josh. iii. 4. fo that the Waters must be withdrawn for many Miles in the paffage of the whole Army over the River, if they pafs'd it in a Regular March, and in fuch Order of Battel as to be able to oppose the Enemy; or if they march'd in a narrower Body, they must be so much the longer in their passage: Which way foever it were, it was a very great and manifeft Miracle. The People being all gone over, and every thing perform'd which God had commanded, the Priests with the Ark came out of the Channel of the River, where they had all this while stood, and as foon as their feet were lift up unto the dry land, beyond the Waters which stood then on an heap, and did not flow down as at other times, they refum'd their Course, and returned to their place, and flowed over all the banks, as they did before, Jofh. iv. 18. And as a Memorial of this Miracle to all Pofterity, Twelve Stones were fet up in the midst of Jordan, in the place

& Lightf, Chorograph. Centur. c. 48. p. 45. N 4

where

where the feet of the priests which bare the Ark of the covenant ftood, ver. 8, 9. and Twelve Stones more were taken out of Jordan, whilst it was dry, by Twelve Men chofen out of the People, one out of every Tribe, and were pitch'd in Gilgal, ver. 20. Thus did the Lord magnifie Joshua in the fight of all Ifrael, and they feared him, as they feared Mofes, all the days of his life, ver. 14. Here was a Miracle wrought in the moft remarkable manner, which the whole People were Witnesses to, and effectual care was taken to keep up the Remembrance of it. The Waters of Jordan were cut off, for the paffage of the Children of Ifrael into Canaan, as the Waters of the Red-Sea had been divided, to procure their Efcape out of Egypt; and fuch an Experiment was not to have been made twice, if it had not been a true Miracle.

They were no fooner come into the promised Land, but all the Males were Circumcifed, (that Rite having been omitted in the Wilderness) and were thereby difabled for War: which had been a strange Policy, for the Invaders of a Country to wound themselves and render themselves unfit for Fight, as foon as they arriv'd in the Coafts of the Enemy, if the Canaanites had not been restrain'd by a miraculous Awe and Power from setting upon them, as the Sons of Jacob did upon the Shechemites, Gen. xxxiv. before they were recover'd of their Soreness, after Circumcifion.

The Walls of Jericho were thrown down, only by marching round it feven Days, and blowing with Trumpets; and this was accompany'd with a Prophecy, That whofoever should attempt to rebuild Fericho, fhould lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest fon fhould he fet up the gates of it, Josh. vi. 26. which was fulfill'd in the Reign of Ahab, when Hiel the Beth-elite loft his eldeft Son Abiram, upon his laying the Foundation of it, and his youngest Son Se gab, upon his fetting up the Gates, 1 King. xvi. 34. Thefe Miracles, and the Standing still of the Sun and

Moon,

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