to be kept by the Law of Mofes, being fixt to fet Days of certain Months, proves an Intercalation in the Hebrew Kalendar, which was neceflary to preserve a Distinction of Seafons, and hinder that Confufion in the Worship appointed by the Law, which otherwise must have enfued. On the Fourteenth Day of the First Month was the Paffover; Fifty Days after the Passover was the Feast of Pentecoft. On the First Day of the Seventh Month was the Feaft of Trumpets; on the Tenth Day of the fame Month was the Atonement; and on the Fifteenth Day was the Feast of Ta-. bernacles, Lev. xxiii. 5, 15, 24, 27, 34. And these Months muft conftantly have fallen at the fame Time in the Year, because these Feasts had relation to the Seasons, in which the Fruits of the Earth were ripened and gather'd. The Months among the Hebrews were not variable, as thofe of the Egyptians, but as unchangeable as Spring and Autumn, in which their stated Festivals were kept. For though the Rabbinical Jews, in this, as in other things, tranfgreffed the commandment of God by their traditions, and appointed a fecond Adar, upon divers Reafons of their own, without any Warrant or Foundation from Scripture; yet the ° Karai, or Scripturists, still retain'd the ancient Practice, never making an Intercalation upon any other account, but that the Passover might fall at the time of the Vernal Equinox. But nothing conduced more to ascertain the Chronology of the Jews, than their Sabbatical Years, and their Years of Jubilee; For fince every Seventh Year was a Year of Release of Debts contracted, and every Fiftieth Year was a Year of Reftitution, when every man was to return to his own poffeffion, (Deut. xv. I. Lev. xxv.10.) it was neceffary, that the Sabbatical Years, and the Years of Jubilee, fhould be exprefs'd in their Bargains and Contracts. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, thou shalt buy of

• Selden. de Ann. Civil. vet, Jud. c. s.
Y 3

thy

thy neighbour. According to the multitude of years, thou fhalt increase the price thereof; and according to the fewnefs of years, thou shalt diminish the price of it, (Levit. XXV. 15.) which obliged them to take all imaginable Care to prevent all Mistakes and Confufion in their Computations of Time: For their Law required it, and had made every Man's Intereft concern'd in it. Such is the Advantage, which the True Religion has over all others, in all points of Antiquity.

CHA P. II.

Of the Defect in the Promulgation of the Heathen Religions.

TH

HE Propagation of the feveral Religions profefs'd among the Heathens has been very inconfiderable. For they were never extant in Books to be publickly read and examin'd, but their Mysteries were kept fecret and conceal'd from the World; and all the Knowledge the People had of them, was from their Priefts. Every Country had its peculiar Deities and Ways of Worship, which were feldom receiv'd or known, but in those places where they were first fet up. The Romans rejected many foreign Religions as abominable; and none of their Religions ever prevail'd, but where they had the Temporal Power to uphold them. And they loft ground daily by the Propagation of the Gofpel, whilft the greatest part of the Empire made it their business to opprefs it, and to maintain the Heathen Religions against it.

a

a Valer. Max. de Peregrina Relig. rejectâ, lib. i. c. 3. c. 16. Dionyf. Halicarn. 1. 2.

nes, 1. 1. c. 10. Apolog. c. 13.

39.

Dion. Caff. l. 54. Tertull. ad Natio

None

None but the Teachers of the True Religion, reveal'd in the Old and New Teftament, have gone about to instruct other Nations, and to propagate their Religion in strange and remote Countries. And it is to be obferv'd, that the Chriftian Religion is at this day preach'd in all parts of the Heathen World, and there have been still remaining many Memorials of it ever fince its firft Propagation, as there were of the Jewish Religion before: But where Chriftianity has prevail'd, Heathenifin has been never able to maintain its Ground; and there are hardly any but Chriftians (excepting some few Jews) to be found in Chriftian Countries; which makes a great Abatement in the Difproportion, that Heathenifm in general may feem to have in its Numbers above Christianity. But if we examine the particular Religions of the Heathens, there is no Comparison; and the only thing here to be enquir'd into is, whether any particular Religion of the Heathens exceed or equal the Chriftian Religion in point of Promulgation for who ever can imagine, that all, or any great number of the Heathen Religions are of Divine Revelation, muft fuppofe God to reveal Contradictions. The Question before us, is not whether Heathens are more numerous than Chriftians, but whether any of their Religions has been as fully promulg'd as the Chriftian. One Herald is enough to promulge a Law to many thousands; the City of Nineve was converted by one Prophet; and there is, perhaps, no Nation in the World but has more Chriftians in it, than the first Preachers of the Gospel were.

CHA P. III.

The Defect of the Prophecies and Miracles of the Heathen Religions.

Ived

cannot be deny'd by any Man, who is not refolved to reject the Authority of all History, but that many Wonders have been done by Magicians, and that many things have been forefhewn and foretold among Heathens, by Dreams and Prodigies, and Oracles, which did actually come to pafs: but then all that can be gather'd from hence is, that there are invisible Powers, and that Devils and wicked Spirits are able to do more than Men can do, and to know more than Men can know. The Philofophy of the Chaldeans and Perfians, and other Eastern Nations, was founded upon a Belief of Spirits, and of their Influence and Concernment in the Affairs of Mankind. Pythagoras and Plato establish'd their Philosophy upon the fame Principles. And in former Ages, there was no more doubt made, whether there be Spirits, than whether there be Men in the World: for they were continually fenfible of the Operations and Effects of invifible Beings, which made them exceedingly prone to Idolatry, but not enclin'd to Atheism. And the cafe is the fame now in Heathen Countries, where Apparitions and Delufions of evil Spirits, are affirm'd by all Writers to be very frequent.

But if at any time evil Spirits, by their Subtilty and Experience, and Knowledge of Affairs in the World, did foretel things which accordingly came to pass, they were things that happen'd not long after, and commonly fuch as themselves did excite and prompt Men to: Thus when the Confpiracy against Cafar was come just to be put in execution, and the Devil had his Agents concern'd in it, he could foretel the

с

time and place of his Death. But it had been foretold to Pompey, Craffus, and Cafar himself before, as Tully informs us from his own Knowledge, that they fhould all die in their Beds, and in an honourable old Age. Wife and obferving Men have fometimes been able to make strange Predictions concerning the State of Affairs; and therefore Spirits may be much more able to do it. Evil Spirits could foretel what they were permitted to inflict or procure: They might have foretold the Calamities of Job, or the Death of Ahab at Ramoth-gilead. Julian fays, that the Oracles of Afculapius return'd Answers to thofe, that confulted them; and he calls Jupiter to witness that himself had often been cured by Medicines and Remedies which Æfculapius directed him to use; tho' Porphyry had declar'd, that fince Jefus was worship'd, Afculapius and all the Gods had forfaken them, as to any publick Help or Benefit, and their private Favours were more liable to Imposture. But this, which Julian fays, fuppofing the Truth of the Fact, does not prove that false God to have had more Skill than a Physician might have had; but only fhews, that Devils may have fuch Knowledge of the Nature of things, as to be able to give Prescriptions in Phyfick. Some Oracles might poffibly take their Answers from the Scriptures, as that of Jupiter Hammon concerning Alexander's Victories, if it were not merely a piece of Flattery, which prov'd true by chance. Evil Spirits might likewise be able to inform Men, at a great diftance, of Victories, the fame day they were won, as it is related of feveral, and in particular of the Con

e

a Tull. de Divin. lib. ii.

b

- facilè exiftimari poffit prudentiam quodammodo effe Divinationem: Non enim Cicero ea folùm, quæ vivo fe acciderunt, futura prædixit, [in Epp. ad Attic.] fed etiam quæ nunc ufu veniunt, cecinit ut vates. Corn. Nep. in Attic. §. 16.

* Apud Cyril. 1.7. p. 235.

Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1. 2.

Apud Eufeb, Evang. Præp. 1.5. c. I. queft