A SHORT

VIE

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Of the Whole

Scripture History, &c.

The HISTORY of the OLD

TESTAMENT.

The INTRODUCTION.

HERE is no Hiftory in the World fo ancient as the Bible, nor is there any which gives us fo early an Account of Things. The Old Teftament begins at the Creation of the World, brings us into Acquaintance with Adam and Eve our first Parents, informs us of their State of Innocence, their Sin against God, and their being driven out of Paradife; it recounts the first Generations of Men, and their multiplied Iniquities, which provoked God to deftroy them by a Flood.

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Then

Then it treats of the Character, Circumstances and Conduct of Noah and Abraham, and of their Families after the Flood, enlarging moft upon the Houshold of Jacob or Ifrael the Grandfon of Abraham, who at the Invitation of his Son Jofeph, went down with his Family to dwell in Egypt, where they were enflaved by Pharaoh the King.

The Hiftory proceeds to the Deliverance of the Ifraelites out of Egyptian Bondage by Mofes and Aaron, and their being fet apart to be a peculiar People to God. It rehearses the Laws and Statutes which were given them, together with their Sins and Punishments while they were in the Wildernefs, travelling to the Land of Canaan, which God had promised them.

Then there follows an Account of their Conqueft over the Land of Canaan under the Conduct of Joshua, their Government by Judges feveral hundred Years; and after that there is a Narrative of their four firft Kings, viz. Saul, David, Solomon and Rehoboam. In his Days the Nation was divided into two Kingdoms, which were called the Kingdom of Ifrael and the Kingdom of Judah.

There are alfo particular Records of the Government of these two diftin&t Kingdoms under a long Succeffion of their own Kings, till they were both carried into Captivity by the Kings of Affyria.

After this, the Sacred Hiftory relates the Return of many of them, (chiefly the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin) into their own Land, and their rebuilding the City of Jerufalem and the Temple of God, and the Settlement of the Affairs of the Church and State by Ezra and Nehemiah, which is the End of the Hiftorical Part of the Old Tef

tament.

During all this Time there is an Account given of the feveral Prophets and Meffengers which were fent from God on fpecial Occafions to reveal his Mind and Will to Men: and there is also a larger and more particular Narrative of the Lives or Tranfactions of fome extraordinary Perfons, feveral of which are much interwoven with the Series of the Hiftory: but there are others which seem to ftand separate and diftinct; fuch are the Affairs relating to Job a rich Man of the Eaft, Jonah a Prophet in Ifrael, and Esther the Queen of Perfia, to which I have added fome Account of Jeremiah and Daniel the Prophets, in diftinct Chapters.

At the End of thefe I have put in two Chapters before the Beginning of the New Teftament, which contain an Hiftorical and Prophetical Connection between the Old Teftament and the New, of which I have given an Account in the Introduction to those particular Chapters, as well as in the general Preface.

CHAP. I.

The Hiftory of Mankind before the Flood.

1 Queft. How

W came this World into Being? Anfw. In the Beginning the great God made Heaven and Earth, and all Things that are in them, Gen. i. 1. Exod. xx. II.

2 Q. How did God make all Things? A. By his powerful Word; for he commanded, and it was done, Gen. i. 3, 6, 9, &c. Heb. xi. 3. Pfal. xxxiii. 9.

B 2

Note,

Note, We are alfo informed in the New Teftament, that God created all Things by his Son Jefus Chrift, Eph. iii. 9. and that his Name is The Word of God, John i. 3. Rev. xix. 13.

3Q. What Time did God Spend in making the World? A. God, who could have made all things at once by his perfect Wisdom and almighty Power, chofe rather to do it by degrees, and spent fix Days in making the World with the Creatures that are in it, Gen. i. 31. Exod. xx. II.

4Q. What was his Work on the first Day? A. He made Light, and divided it from the Darknefs, and the Evening and the Morning were the firft Day, Gen. i, 3, 5.

5Q What did God make the fecond Day? A. The Air or the lower Heavens, which are here ealled the Firmament, and the Clouds which are the Waters above the Firmament, v. 6.

6Q. What did he do on the third Day? A. He feparated the Earth from the Sea, and made the Trees and Herbs to grow out of the Ground,

Q. What was the Work of the fourth Day? A. The Sun Moon and Stars, which were appointed to give Light upon the Earth, and to make our Days, our Months, and our Years, v. 14, 19.

8Q. What was the fifth Day's Work? A. The Birds and the Fishes, which were both made out of the Water, v. 20-23.

9 Q. And what was the fixth and laft Day's Work? A. Creeping Things, Beasts and Man, which were all formed out of the Earth, v. 2426; and God bleffed his Creatures, and pronounced his Works all very good, v. 28, 31.

10 Q. What did God do the feventh Day? A. God refted from his Work of Creation, and fet apart the feventh Day for a holy Sabbath or Day of Reft, Gen. ii. 2, 3.

II Q. Who were the firft Man and Woman that God made? A. Adam and Eve, Gen. v. 1, 2. 1 Cor. xv. 45. Gen. iii. 20.

12 Q. In what Manner did God make Adam? A. He framed his Body out of the Duft of the Ground, and then put a living Soul within him, Gen. ii. 7.

13 Q. How did God make Eve? A. He caft Adam into a deep Sleep, and formed Eve out of one of his Ribs, and then brought her to him to be his Wife, Gen. ii. 20, 21, &c.

14 Q. In what State did God create them? A. God created them both in his own Likeness, in a holy and happy State, which is called the State of Innocence, Gen. i. 26.

15 Q. Where did God put Adam and Eve when he had made them? A. Into the Garden of Eden to keep it, and take care of it, that even in the State of Innocence and Happiness they might have fome Work to be employed in, Gen. ii. 15.

16 Q. What was their Food in that Garden? A. God gave them leave to eat of any of the Herbs, Plants or Fruits that grew there, except the Fruit of one Tree, which he forbid them to taste of, on pain of Death, Gen. i. 29. and ii. 16,

17.

17 Q. What was the Name of that Tree? A. It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because as foon as Man eat of it he would know Evil to his Sorrow, as well as he knew Good before to his Comfort, v. 17, and iii. 5.