over, that these Caves and hollow Rocks, were oftentimes made ufe of for Retreat and Shelter; and mentions whole Bands of Thieves and Robbers, who fometimes, for whole Months, took up their abode there, and, from thence made their Excurfions and Depredations.

The

Mountains indeed, in our cold Coun- How the tries, afford no manner of Food or Sufte- Demoniacksmight nance; but, in those warm and fruitful might livethere. Climates, the Cafe was otherwife. Baptift, we find, liv'd in the Wilderness, on Locufts and wild Honey; and Jofephus, in his own Life, tells us, that, when he was Young, he went into the Wilderness, to be inftructed by one, who lived there upon what grew of itself, wild, and uncultivated and therefore we have lefs Reason to wonder, that we find thefe Demoniacks in fuch melancholy Places, as were fuited to their Complexions, and where they might find both Shelter from their Purfuers, and Food to fuftain their Lives.

Treatment

of them.

The Gadarens indeed feem not to be a The Ga People of much Humanity: The Re- darens queft, which they make our Lord, * To depart out of their Coafts, after fo fignal a Mercy extended to two of their Country-men, gives us but a bad Notion of their Civility and Gratitude; but ftill it muft

Matth. viii. 34.

A De

of Gadare.

must be acknowledg'd, that they had taken fome Care of these wretched Creatures. They had often (as the Story tells us) bound them with Fetters and Chains, but the Fetters and Chains (whatever they were) were not of ftrength enough for Men in their outrageous Condition; and therefore they got loofe from their Keepers, and retreated to the Tombs and Mountains ; where, when they were purfu'd, they probably hid themselves, and fo eluded all the Diligence and Humanity of fuch, as endeavour'd to retake them. While they were alive however, there were ftill hopes of laying hold on them again, and perhaps of recovering them to their Senfes; and this is a fufficient Reason why the Gadarens might not think fit to dispatch them.

In what relates then to the Cafe of the feription Demoniacks, and their Circumstances, there feems to be no Incongruity in the facred Story and to clear, in like manner, our Saviour's Character from any Imputation, that may arife from the Deftruction of the Swine, it may not be improper to obferve, * that Gadara was a City on the other fide Jordan, near the Lake Gennefareth, one of thofe Cities called Decapolis, and fituate in that Allotment,

* Dr. Pearce, P. 2. p. 26.

Allotment, which was made to the Tribe of Manaffeb. Pompey indeed join'd it at firft to the Province of Syria, but Auguftus afterward gave it to Herod, tho' upon his Death, he annex'd it to Syria again; by which means it was inhabited partly by Jews, and partly by Syrians, who were Heathens. Now it is a Thing very well known, that the Heathens us'd Swine, not only for Food, but for Sacrifices likewife; and 'tis not improbable, that the Jews of that Country might be tempted to feed Swine, from the Profit they made, by felling them to their Heathen Neighbours. This was against a Prohibition of their Law, 'tis true, but Laws we know, are not always obferv'd, and perhaps leaft of all at Gadara, which, being in the Extremity of the Jewish Territories, and under the Furifdiction of Heathens, left the Jews without any reftraint upon them, but that of Confcience, which is too frequently violated for the fake of Gain.

To bring the Matter then into a nar- Why our rower Compass; the Swine, which were Saviour mightperdefroy'd in confequence of the Permiffi- mit the on, which our Saviour gave the evil DeftructiSpirits to enter into them, belong'd ei- on of the ther to the Jews, or to the Gentiles of Gadara: If they belong'd to the Jews, it cannot be denied, but that they were just

ly

Swine.

ly punish'd, for breaking their own Laws and Conftitutions. In Jofephus, we find, an Edict of the Emperor Auguftus, requiring the Roman Governours, in every Country where the Jews refided, to fuffer them to live according to fuch of their own National Laws, as were in force in Hyrcanus's time; and from hence one may gather, that all Laws made in Hyrcanus's time were look'd upon by the Jews, as binding; otherwife, when they follicited the Emperor for this Edict in their Favour, they would have scarcely fix'd upon this Period for their Standard: And if the Laws in Hyrcanus's time were binding, then was the keeping of Swine a plain Violation of their Conftitution, and juftly punishable by our Saviour; because it was a receiv'd Maxim among the Jews, that any Perfon, invefted with the Character of a Prophet, or acting by the Spirit of God, might, without the Affiftance of a Magiftrate, put the Laws in Execution against Offenders. What Phineas did to Zimri, and Elijah to the Priests of Baal, was by them look'd upon as Precedents in this Cafe; and therefore we, who acknowledge our Jefus to have been more than a Prophet, can never be at a Lofs to account for his exercifing

? Antiq. Jud. L. 16. c. 6.

z

cising an Authority among the Jews, which (according to their own Confeffion) was allowable,even in the lowest of thatOrder. But if the Heathens of Gadara were the Owners of the Swine, 'tis very fuppofable, that they were guilty of fome. great Sin, which occafion'd the Lofs of them; and the Conjecture is not amifs, that it was inflicted in order to cure them of their Idolatrous Worship of Dæmons, and to induce them to embrace the Gofpel, by an Argument peculiarly adapted to them. For, when they faw our Saviour's Power over fuch a Multitude of Devils, exemplified in their poffeffion of the Swine, (had they made a right Application of the Miracle) they cou'd not but perceive the Truth of the Gofpel, and the Madness of their own worshipping fuch impure Spirits, as were both caft out of Men at Jefus's Command, and could not enter into the Swine without his Permiffion.

Nay, even in this Cafe too, fuppofing Jefus to have been a Prophet, and, in Confequence hereof, to have acted by Commiffion from God, he could not be guilty of any Injuftice in this Action; because, upon this Suppofition, the Act will come to be confider'd, not as his

P

Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. p. 204.