3. Numb.

(4) Exod. (4) many other Paffages of the fame nature: Where 11, 9. 17, the words, " THAT fuch a thing may be," do not 32, 14. Pf. at all fignify the Intention," To the End that it May 51, 4. Jer. " be; "but merely the Event, "So that it Will be.

7.18.

34 35.

In the cafe of the moft Direct and Exprefs Prophecies Matt. 10; of all, the words. "This was done, THAT it might "be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, never do, never poffibly Can fignify literally, that the thing was done principally For that End, that the Prophefy might be fulfilled, because, on the reverfe, the reafon why any thing is prædicted, always is, because the thing was (before That prædiction) appointed to be done, or to be permitted. Much more therefore, in the cafe of indirect Prophecies; the words, This was done, THAT it might be fulfilled which was Spoken by the Prophet; 'tis evident, do not neceffarily mean any thing more than This, that the thing was fo done, as that thereby or therein Was verified what the Prophet had fpoken.

20. It cannot therefore, with any fort of reafon or justice, be inferred from fuch citations out of the Old Teftament as I have now mentioned, that the Apostles either misunderstood or enthusi aftically misapplied the Writings of the Prophets. Nor can any juft Argument be drawn against the Authority of the Books of the Old and New Teftament, from fuch Topicks as Thefe; that the Copies of the Law, In the times of the idolatrous Kings of Judah and Ifrael, were well nigh loft; that fome Texts cited out of the Old Teftament by the Writers of the New, are not Now found in the Old Teftament at all; that other texts are read differently in the Old Teftament itself, from the Citations of the fame Texts recorded in the New; and the like. Which things have indeed given occafion to Weak and Ridiculous Writers, to invent certain fenfilefs Rules or Regulations; according to which, men may at any time rightly

make

make what Wrong Quotations they please. But in truth, the things themfelves I am here fpeaking of, are nothing but what muft of neceffity happen in a long Succeffion of Ages.

When (1) Hilkiah the priest (in the days of (1) 2 Chr. Fofiah,) found in the house of the Lord, a Book of 34, 14, the Law of the Lord, given by Mofes; 'tis very probable indeed, from the Circumftances of the Hiftory, that Copies of the Law were then very fcarce; and that This found by Hilkiah, was, to his Surprize, an authentick or original Copy. But that the Whole fhould have been at that time a Forgery of Hilkiah, is evidently impoffible; becaufe the very Being and Polity of the Nation, as well as their Religion, was founded upon the Acknowledgement of the Law of Moses; how much foever idolatrous Kings might at certain times have corrupted that Religion, and caufed the Study of the Law to have been neglected. And in the very fame beak, wherein the account is given of this particular Fact, of Hilkiah's finding a Copy [an authentick Copy] of the Law; 'tis expreffly and at large recorded, how, in a foregoing Reign, the King (2) fent to his Princes to teach in the Cities (2) 2 Chr. of Judah; and with them he fent Levites and Priefts; 17;7,8,9. and they taught in Judah, and had the Book

of the Law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the Cities of Judah, and taught the people.

That, in length of time, fome whole Books fhould have been loft; is nothing Wonderful. There are feveral Books exprefly cited in the Old Testament, of which we have now nothing remaining. That in the Books which remain, there fhould fometimes, for want of (3) Infallibility in Tranfcribers, happen Omiffions, Tranfpofitions, and various Readings; is ftill lefs to be won

(3) In fome few places, there is reafonable Ground for a worfe Sufpicion. As, for Inftance, Pf. 22, dred

16:

where the Senfe most evidently fhows it ought to be read, and the LXX Verfion fhows it antiently was read, 1780 or 17, "they Pierced my Hands and my Feet;" the Jewish Masters, in all their correct He brew Editions, have written it, 18" as a Lion my "hands and my Feet." Which has no tolerable fenfe at all.

t

dred at. Nothing, but perpetual Miracle, could prevent it. They who have Skill to compare, in the Original, certain Paffages in the Books of Chronicles, with the correfpondent places in the Books of Kings; or the 18th Pfalm, with 2 Sam. ch. 22, which is a Tranfcript of the fame Palm; or the 14th Pfalm with the 53d, which are alfo one and the fame Pfalm tranfcribed; and much more, they who can compare the Septuagint Translation with the Original; will be able to find Inftances of these things, and very often alfo to fee plainly how and whence they happened: (All which, far from diminishing the Authority of the Books, are ftrong Arguments of their Antiquity, and against their having been forged by Efdras, or any other hand.) What Wonder then is it, that among the numerous Texts cited in the New Teftament out of the Old, one or two should Now not be found in our present Copies of the Old Teftament? and that fome others fhould be read differently in the Old Teftament, from the Citations of the fame Text recorded in the New? Or how does this at all affect the Authority of Either ; when much the greatest Part of the Texts cited, agree perfectly either in Words or at least in Sense; and the Whole Series, Harmony, Analogy, Connexion, and Uniformity of Both, compared with the Syftem of Natural and Moral Truths, and with the History of the World and the State of Nations, through a long Succeffion of Ages from the days of Mofes to this prefent time; fhows that the Books are not the refult of random and enthufiaftick Imaginations, but of long Fore-fight and Design? For, the Spirit of Enthufiafm is very hardly confiftent with itself through the Writings of one fingle perfon. How then is it poffible, that for 3000 years together, and pretend

ing too (through all That time) to an uniform Series of Pradictions, it fhould HAPPEN never to have fallen into Such a Tract of expected Events, as the Nature and Truth of Things and the Situation of the Kingdoms of the World, fhould have rendred abfolutely IMPOSSIBLE; and altogether INCAPABLE of any farther, much less of any final, completion?

21. I fhall conclude This Head, with pointing at fome particular extraordinary Prophecies, which deferve to be carefully confidered and compared with the Events, whether they could possibly have proceeded from Chance or from Enthufiafm. Some of them are of fuch a nature, as that they can only be judged of by perfons learned in Hiftory; and Thefe I fhall but just mention. Others are obvious to the confideration of the whole World; and with Those I fhall finish what I think proper at this time to offer upon this Subject.

r

Concerning Babylon," it was (1) particularly foretold, that it (2)

ແ Should be shut up, and besieged

(1) Prideaux Connexion, Part Book II. pag. 67. Edit. fol. (2) If. 13, 17. 21, 2.

I,

by the Medes, Elamites, and Armenians: That

"her

ત

51; 39,57.

"the River (3) Should be dried up: That the City (3) Fer. 50, fhould be taken in the time (4) of a Feast, while 38. 51, 36. (4) Fer. mighty men were drunken; Which accordingly came to pafs when" Belshazzar and "all his thousand Princes, who were drunk with him at the feaft, were (5) flain by Cyrus's (5) Cyro"Soldiers. Alfo it was particularly foretold, pædia, lib. "that God would make the Country of Babylon (6)7; "a Poffeffion for the Bittern, and Pools of Water; (6) If. 14, "Which was accordingly fulfilled by the overflowing " and drowning of it, on the breaking down of the great Damm in order to take the City. Could the correfpondence of Thefe Events with the Predictions, be the refult of Chance? But fuppofe Thefe Predictions were forged After the Event: Can

the

23.

(1) Jer. 50, 39.

(2) Jer.

51; 26, 37, 64.

the Lord:

the following ones alfo have been written After the Event? or, with any reason, be ascribed to Chance ? (1) The Wild Beafts of the defert fball dwell There, and the Owls fhall dwell therein: And it shall be NO MORE inhabited for EVER, neither fhall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. (2) They shall not take of thee a Stone for a corner, but thou shalt be defolate For EVER, faith Babylon fhall become Heaps, a dwelling place for Dragons, an astonishment and an hissing without an Inhabitant: It shall fink, and shall not rife from the Evil that I will bring upon her. (3) 19, 20, 21. Babylon, the Glory of Kingdoms, Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: It fhall NEVER be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: Neither shall the Arabian pitch Tent there, neither shall the Shepherds make their Fold there: But wild Beafts of the Defert Shall lie there, and their Houfes fhall be full of doleful Creatures, and Owls fhall dwell there.

(3) If. 13;

(1) Ezek.. 29; 14, 15

Concerning Egypt, Was the following Prediction forged after the Event? or can it, with any reafon, be afcribed to Chance? (1) Egypt fhall be a BASE Kingdom: It shall be the BASEST of Kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself ANY MORE above the Nations: For I will diminish them, that they shall NO MORE RULE over

the Nations.

Concerning Tyre, the Pradiction is no less re(2) Ezek. markable: (2) I will make thee like the Top of a 26; 14, 21. Rock; Thou shalt be a place to spread Nets upon; Thon halt be bailt NO MORE;

27, 36.

Thou

(3) Ezek. fhalt be NO MORE; (3) The Merchants among the people fhall his at thee, thou shalt be a Terrour, and NEVER fhalt be any more. (4) All they that know thee among the people, fhall be Aftonished at thee.

(4) Ezek.

28, 19.

The