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Law-giver of the Ifraelites; they own'd that the Ifraelites came out of Egypt; they could deny nothing of the History it felf, but only gave wrong Accounts partly out of Ignorance, and partly out of Malice and Defign, of the Manner and Means by which this was effected, and the Reasons and Occafions upon which it came to pafs. From the Books of Jofephus against Apion, in which he gives an Account of what the most ancient Authors of other Nations have deliver'd concerning the Jews; and from what the latter Heathens, Strabo, Tacitus, Juftin, and others, after the Jews became fo odious and contemptible in the Eyes of all Nations, have written; it is evident, that the great and fundamental Points, as to the Matters of Fact, are confefs'd; and the only Difpute is concerning the Manner in which they were brought about, and the Means whereby all was effected.

Now we take the Hiftories of all other Nations rather from themselves, than from Foreigners and Strangers to their Affairs, or profefs'd Enemies; and it were extreme Partiality to admit the Accounts we have of the Jewish Affairs, from Authors who liv'd fo much too late to have any certain Information of the things they write about, and who, upon every occafion, fhew fuch Difaffection to their Name and Nation, and contradict each other, and themselves too, as Jofephus fhews; it would, I fay, be notorious Par tiality to follow fuch Authors, rather than credit the Jewish Records attefted and deliver'd down to us by the unanimous Approbation and Teftimony of the whole Nation.

And when I come to confider the Miracles wrought by Mofes, I fhall prove, that they were of that nature, and perform'd in fuch a manner, as that they could not be feign'd or counterfeit at first, nor the Account given of them in the Pentateuch falfified afterwards and therefore these Five Books of Mofes must be ge

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nuine, and of Divine Authority, being written by him who had fo many ways given Evidence of his Divine Commiffion.

CHAP. V.

Of the Predictions or Prophecies contain'd in the Books of Mofes.

IT

T was foretold by God himself, upon the Fall of our First Parents, That the feed of the woman should bruife the ferpent's head, Gen. iii. 15. a Maimonides is obferv'd to take particular notice, that it was the Seed of the Woman, and not of the Man; and the Jews, in their Targums, are obferv'd to apply this Text to the Meffias, which was fulfill'd in our Saviour Chrift, who was born of a Woman, that was a Virgin, and had no Man to his Father: And therefore this Prediction, exprefs'd thus precifely concerning the Seed of the Woman, could be fulfill'd in no other Perfon; and no other Perfon ever gain'd fuch Victories over the Enemy of Mankind, who had fo long tyrannized over the Sons of Men. God reveal'd the precife Time of the Flood to Noah; who thereupon built an Ark, and foretold the Destruction of the World to that wicked Generation, and was a Preacher of Righteoufnefs and Repentance to them, Gen. vi. 3. After the Flood, Noah, by a Prophetick Spirit, foretold the Fate and Condition of the Pofterity of his three Sons, Gen. ix. 25. That Canaan fhould be Servant to Shem; which was accomplish'd, when the Children of Ifrael, the Pofterity of Shem, fubdued the Canaanites, and poffefs'd their Land, about Eight hundred Years after this Prophecy That Japhet fhould dwell in the Tents of

• Maim. More Nevoch. Par. 2. C. 30.

Shem;

b

Shem; which was fulfill'd in the Greeks and Romans, defcended from Japhet, when they conquer'd Afia: That Canaan fhould likewife be the Servant of Japhet, as well as of Shem. Upon which Mr. Mede obferves, ⚫ that the Pofterity of Cham never fubdued the Children either of Japhet, or of Shem; though Shem hath fubdued Japhet, and Japhet hath conquer'd Shem: which made Hannibal, defcended from Canaan, cry out, with Amazement of Soul, Agnofco fatum Carthaginis.

C

God promiseth Abraham a Son, in his old Age, by Sarah his Wife, who was likewife of a great Age; and declares, that his Pofterity, by this Son, fhould be exceeding numerous; that they fhould inherit the Land of Canaan, after they had been afflicted in a ftrange Land Four hundred Years, Gen. xv. 13. and that then they should come out of that Land with great fubftance, but that God would judge the Nation that had opprefs'd them, or that he would procure their Deliverance, by fignal Judgments upon their Oppreffors; and that in the fourth generation they should be brought back again to the Land of Promife, ver: 16. (the Bounds whereof are defcribed, ver. 18.) which agrees exactly with the Deliverance of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt, computing the Years from the time that the Promife was made to Abraham, (Exod. xii. 40. Gal. iii. 17.) and reckoning the Four Generations to be betwixt Ifaac the Son promised to Abraham, and Mofes, in whom the Prediction was fulfill'd. Or if we reckon, as divers Rabbins do, from the Time when the Children of Ifrael came into Ægypt, from Levi to Mofes, and from Judah to Caleb, were Four Generations inclufively. Or, if we compute from the first Generation born in Egypt, Mofes and Aaron were of the Third Generation, and their Chil

Mede, Book 1. Difc. 48. • Liv. 1. 27.
Mepaff. Ben Ifr. conciliat. Qu. in Gen. 42. §. I.

dren

dren of the Fourth entred into the Promis'd Land.. To compute from the Fourth Generation of the Amorites may feem precarious, because we have no other means to know the Number of their Generations, than by an Estimate made from the Generations of the Hebrews. But whatever way we compute the Generations which we find recorded, of the Hebrews; the Prophecy was certainly fulfill'd. This Promife made to Abraham and his Seed, was renew'd several times, and repeated again to Him, and to Ifaac and Jacob, Gen. xxvi. 3. and xxviii. 14. and was all along depended upon by the Ifraelites. God foretold of Abraham, That all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him, Gen. xviii. 18. which was fulfill'd, in that God made Abraham's Pofterity his Meffengers to communicate his Will to the rest of Mankind, and more especially in that Bleffing which all Nations receiv'd in the Birth of Chrift. This is a remarkable Prophecy concerning the greatest of Bleffings, and is often repeated. The Bleffing promifed to Abraham for Ishmael, was no lefs punctually fulfill'd. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve Princes fhall he beget, and I will make him a great Nation, Gen. xvi. 20. fulfill'd, Gen. xxv. 12. 1 Chron. i. 29.

The Prophecy of Ifaac, concerning Efau and Jacob, Gen. xxvii. 40. first, That the Pofterity of Efau fhould ferve Jacob's Pofterity, was fulfill'd, in David's Vi&tories over the Edomites, 2 Sam. viii. 14, 1 King. xi. 15. 1.Chron. xviii. 13. and by Amaziah, 2 King. xiv. 7. and then that part of it, That the Edomites fhould break the yoke from off their neck, was accomplish'd, 2 King. viii. 20. 2 Chron. xxi. 8. Jofepb's own Dream, and his Interpretation of the Dream of Pharaoh, when none of the Magicians or Wife-men of Egypt were able to interpret it, had remarkable and publick Circumftances, that could neither be mistaken nor forgotten in the Accomplishment. Jacob prefers Ephraim

the

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the younger Son of Jofeph, before his elder Brother Manaffeh, and foretels, that tho' Manaffeh fhould be great, yet Ephraim fhould be greater than he, and his Seed fhould become a Multitude of Nations, Gen. xlviii. 19. Accordingly we find, that after the Division of the Ten Tribes under Jeroboam an Ephrathite, those Tribes were denominated from Ephraim, as the Two remaining Tribes had their Denomination from Judah; and the Royal Seat of the Kings of Ifrael was at Samaria, in the Tribe of Ephraim. Jacob afterwards describes the Borders of their feveral Poffeffions in the Land of Canaan, though it were so many years after divided among the Tribes by Lot, Gen. xlix. 13. He foretold the different State and Condition of the reft of his Sons, and particularly prophefy'd, That Judah fhould become very honourable among his Brethren and victorious over bis enemies, and that the fcepter fhould not depart from Judah, until Shilo came; i. e. until the Meffias came, as the Jewish Targums explain it.. And upon the fulfilling of this and other Prophecies in the Pentateuch, not only the Jews, but the Samaritans, who receiv'd no other Prophecies as they did these expected the Meffias at the time in which our Saviour appear'd in the World; and believ'd on him, because they saw the Prophecies fulfill'd in Him, Joh. iv. 25. 29, 39, 42. Jofeph took an oath of the children of Ifrael, faying, God will furely vifit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence, Gen. 1. 25. which they did accordingly, Exod. xiii. 19. Jacob had defired to be bury'd in the Land of Canaan; infomuch that he caus'd Jofeph to fwear to him, that he would bury him there, and not in Egypt; and Jofeph and his Brethren went into Canaan to bury their Father, because that was the Land where Abraham and Ifaac had been bury'd, and the Land which their Posterity was afterwards to poffefs: But Jofeph, as a farther Token of Affurance to the Ifraelites, that they should inherit that Land would not have his own Corps carry'd thither, at his

Death,

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