perhaps the latter of these two (notwithstanding the mixture of imposture in it) may have proved a seasonable and neceffary corrective of the former; by its amazing progrefs giving fome check to every branch of antichriftian tyranny, which was then growing predominant; and by its more tolerant fpirit preferving the remains of those particular churches, which would have otherwife been wholly exterminated; and may appear to have been in the main, a real and confiderable reformation (o).

But

or their contemporaries, or any fet of learned men in the foregoing century, were able to forge all the claffick authors except half a dozen, can hardly be fuppofed by any befide fuch a number of Jefuits. See an extraordinary performance of father Harduin, entitled ad Cenfuram Script. Vet. Prolegom. Ed. Lond. 1766.

(0) See Reflections on Mohammedifm, &c. printed 1735, wherein the author attempts to fhew that Mohammedifm may have been ordained for the good of Chriftianity, to withstand the corruptions of it in times paft, and to increase and enlarge it in times to come, p. 5, &c. The Turks in general honour Chrift and Chriftianity-have a great opinion of the fanctity of our religion - and in many places refpect the Christian clergy who live among them, notwithstanding their hatred of the Laity in fome countries: one fect of them particularly believes that Chrift is God, and the Redeemer of the world; and that he fhall judge it at the laft day. These are diftinguished by the name of the good followers of the Meffiah. Worthington, B. Lect. V. 2. p. 246. All authors agree, that what gave Mahomet the greatest room to advance his new religion, (beside the weakness of the Roman and the Perfian monarchies, fee Mod. Pt. of Univ Hift. Vol. I. p. 18. fol.) was the distracted, ignorant, corrupt ftate of the eastern church at that time; the miferable contentions, and moft horrid perfecutions, on every religious pretence; the diffoluteness of all fects and parties and 'tis evident that he contributed not only to reform the morals of a great part of the world, but likewife reduced them from polytheism and grofs idolatry, to the belief and worship of one God; which was the principal doctrine he fet out with at first, and gained great reputation by; and which he made the ground of his pretended miffion. His fyftem must have the fame effect ftill wherever it prevails, as it does very largely in feveral heathen countries, being fo much fuperior to any other fpecies of religion settled in such countries: it contains a great deal of pure Chriftianity; it enforces

the

But this is a fubject too disagreeable to dwell upon; nor am I inclined to aggravate the imperfections of paft ages. All that I would obferve, is what appears from the moft tranfient view of ecclefiaftical hiftory, namely, that the rife, and progress of Christianity has, in the main, been fimilar to that of all other difpenfations; that both the name of Christ, and the nature of his religion, were discovered; or as we may fay, both the external and internal propagation of Chriftianity, was carried on in the same gradual manner.

As to the first, The Jews, who had before been made ufe of to fpread the knowledge of the true God, and his providence, and prepare men for a more noble institution, by their frequent difpersions all over the eaft; are here much more fo,

(when

the virtues of charity, temperance, juftice, and fidelity, in the strongeft manner; it prohibits extortion; and all kinds of cruelty, even to brutes; and binds its votaries to the ftri&teft order, regularity, and devotion. (V. Bayle Art. Mahomet, not. L. Hottinger Hift. Or. p. 315, &c.) Several fects of them believe in Chrift, (vid. D. Millius de Rel. Moham. Diff. x. p. 344, &c. Reland de R. M. p. 25, &c. and Sir P. Ricaut's Hift. B. ii. c. 11, &c. or Millar, p. 230.) and entertain as worthy notions of him to the full, as fome of the Papifts do at prefent. (See l'Alcoran des Cordeliers; and Bayle. Gen. Diet. Vol vii. p. 326. B.) One may fee to what height the Romish corruptions were grown in Mahomet's time, by his reproaching the Chriftians with their affociating to God their doctors and monks (Koran ix. 31.) and by his furprifing mistake of the Virgin Mary, for the third perfon in the Trinity: which yet is not much worse than the account given of her by St. Cyril. (See Reland's Four treatises on Mah. p. 174, &c. or Sale's Prelim. Difc. p. 35. and his Koran, c. v. p. 98.) How this miftake came about may be feen in D. Millii Diff. de Mohammedifma ante Mohammedem, p. 346, 347. And what havock thofe most lamentable controverfies on this fubject made, appears from the confeffion of a learned writer; who tells us, that obliged him to drop his defign of giving us the hiftory of thefe churches. Pref. to Prid. Life of Mahomet. See alfo Fortin's Remarks on Eccl. Hift. Vol. III. p. 42,&c. V. p. 453, &c. his 1" charge, and Mr. Taylor's Effay on the Divine Economy, p. 52, 54, 65,&c.

(when they were much better qualified for it, and lefs liable than ever to be corrupted by the heathen, among whom some of them were fo long to converfe) [P] by their difperfion over the whole world, at the deftruction of their temple, and government, by Titus, and under the following emperors; especially Hadrian (Q); and there

by

[P] See Le Clerc, Caufes of Incred. p. 264, &c. In fact, none of them that we know of, however bad they were, and are in other refpects, have fallen from their own God, to the idolatrous worship of their neighbours any where, during this their most miserable difperfion; their feeming fo long to be utterly rejected by him; a tenth part of which fuffering would have been the utter ruin of any other people, and totally deftroyed the very name of these in any former times. This must be thought a little remarkable by every one who thinks at all about it. Nor has their cafe been lefs extraordinary in Chriftian countries, where they have never been permitted to reft long in any kingdom; where frequently, in every age, men's eyes are turned upon them by fome new general perfecution; and yet, notwithstanding all this, they are univerfally believed to be more numerous in the whole at prefent, than they have ever been in their most flourishing eftate, in their own land. The authors of Mod. Univ. Hift. allow them to be upwards of three millions. B. xx. c.1. p. 620. fol.

(Q) He fold them at fairs for the fame price as horfes, [Hier. in Jer. p. 342. M. Glycas fays, the ftated price was four Jews for one bufhel of barley. Annal. ap. Worthington, B L. f. 13. ubi plura.] and would not fuffer any of them fo much as to fet foot in, or come in view of Jerufalem, fay fome [Aug. Civ. Lib. xv. c. 21. Sulp. Sev. Hift. S. L. ii. c. 31. Hil. in PJ. xlviii.] or of any part of Judea, according to others. [Hier. in Dan. 595. Tert. Apol. c. 21.] Nor could they obtain even this privilege from any of the fucceeding emperors (except Julian) but with great difficulty, and only for one day in a year, to fee and bewail its ruins; and that upon paying a confiderable fum; [Hier. in Zeph. c. 2. Univ. Hift. B. iii. p. 40. Eufeb. E. H. 21. 6. Comp. Bafnage, Hift. J. B. vi. c. 9. fect. 28, 29. et Witfii Exercit. Acad. 12. 16.] a rigour, as has been obferved, that was never used towards any other people conquered by the Romans. Thus all the attempts of that perfidious nation towards the recovery of their former condition, ferved only to aggravate and heighten thofe calamities, with which they had been fo often threatened by the prophets; and to reduce them to the deplorable ftate, in which we now fee them; being a crew of contemptible vagabonds, difperfed all over the world, without king, temple, or pontiff; driven

from

by every where publish, and prove the truth of their own, as well as the gospel prophecies (R); and

from their own country, and not daring to fet foot in it, even as paffengers and ftrangers. The edict of Adrian excluding all Jews from Jerufalem, extended to fuch of them as had embraced the Chriftian religion; fo that they too being obliged to quit the city, the church was by that means delivered from the fervitude of the law; for till that time, not only the bishops of Jerufalem had been chofen from among the circumcifed Chriftians, but all the converted Jews joined to the obfervance of the gospel that of the law.' Univ. Hift. ib. p. 41. Sulp. Sev. ib. et Mofhem. de Reb. Chrift. Sæc. 2. fect. 38..

(R) Deut. xxviii. Matt. xxiii. 35, 38, &c. Luke xxi. 24. Deut. xxxii. 21. Rom. x. 19 Jer. xv. 4. xxv. 9. Hof. iii. 4. Ifai. vi. 9, &c. xlii. 22, &c. Boffuet [Univ. Hift. p. 304.] obferves a fingular inftance of divine providence, in preferving this people fo much longer, than any of those who formerly conquered and enflaved them, v. g. the Affyrians, Medes, Greeks, and Romans; and ftill continuing them distinct and feparate from all the other nations among whom they live: with other reafons of this extraordinary difpenfation he affigns the following, viz. That hereby we may find in unfufpected hands thofe very Scriptures, which foretel both the blindness and unhappiness of these fame Jews, who notwithstanding keep them fo religiously.

The like obfervation he has made of the Samaritans, a fect fo weak, that it seems to be upheld on purpose for a check upon the others; and to confirm their evidence, by bearing an independent teftimony to the antiquity of Mofes, and the authenticity of his writings. ib. p. 406.

In what a remarkable manner every curfe defcribed by Mofes has been to the full inflicted on that ftill miferable people, may be seen in Patrick upon Deut. xxviii. Comp. Mod. Pt. of Univ. Hift. B. xx.

c. 1.

Hallet [Difc. Vol. I. p. 3, &c.] fuppofes, that in P. li. 14. the blood-guiltinefs there confeffed relates, not to that of David himself, which accompanied his other fin of adultery, (as is intimated in the title, though no mention be made of the latter in the whole Pfalm;] but to the murder of Meffiah, which the body of the Jews are to acknowledge in those words. This he confirms from ver. 16. 19. which could not poffibly be true of David's days, but must be written prophetically, for the general ufe of the Jews fince the deftruction of Jerufalem. The like he obferves of fome other Pfalms, particularly P. lxxiv. 3, 9, &c. The like is obferved of P. xxii, lxix, Ixxxviii; in which the feveral paffages which exprefsly defcribe the crucifixion of our Lord, are pointed out by Vitringa, Obf. T. I. L. ii. c. 3. p. 380. And the like obfervation is made on P. xci. by Peters [Crit. Diff, on Job, p. 300, &c.] which he thinks was com

pofed

and become the best evidences, because unwilling ones, in favour of the Chriftian religion.

And as the Roman empire, by its increase and settlement at the time of Chrift's coming, contributed remarkably to this fame end, so did it no lefs afterwards by its decline and diffolution; at which time Christianity [as well as arts and learning] was spread abroad with its remains, among the Northern nations, and carried to the remotest ifles; in the fame manner as the Greek philofophy had been dispersed over all Asia, upon the diffolution of Alexander's empire *.

By these and the like means, was the gospel divulged every where; and the found of it might be faid, without an hyberbole, to have gone into all the earth, and its words unto the ends of the

world:

pofed for the ufe of the Ifraelites in the Wilderness, upon erecting the brazen ferpent; and which perhaps they might have been taught to repeat at the fame time they were looking up to that great ftanding type or emblem of him, who was to bruije the ferpent's head, ver. 13. and comp. John iii. 14. xii. 32, 33.

If this appear to be the cafe in fo many of the Palms, how ftrongly does it juftify our Lord's appeal to them as treating of him! Luke xxiv. 44. And what a noble argument may hence arife, for the conviction and converfion of that extraordinary people to whom they were originally communicated, when once the veil, which is on their hearts, fhall be taken away; as by the fame fpirit of prophecy we are affured it fhall! Vid. Fenwick on Titles of the Pf p. 116, &c. Add Fortin on Pf. cx. Remarks on Eccl. Hift. Vol. III. p. 305.

* Vid. Rollin, A. Hift. Vol. VII. Introd. p. 6. The feeds of Christianity, which had been spread over the whole body of the Roman Empire, were preserved in all thofe fragments into which it was now broken, and even conveyed by many of its barbarous conquerors beyond its utmost limits.' Rotheram on the Wisdom of Providence, P. 40. To which we may add, that the fpirit of Liberty, fo requifite to the due growth of this good feed, and to which the Roman Empire had not been very favourable, was at the fame time diffufed over its remains; those nations which overturned it, however barbarous in other refpects, being favourers of free or limited govern ments. See Spirit of Laws, B. xvii, c. 5.