have compiled the Hiftory of a War that had fo little a relation with the Deliverance of the Ifraelites out of Egypt, and yet that he fhould omit Writing the Hiftory of that great Event? Wherefore should he have fuppreffed that Hiftory, which ferv'd to illuftrat his Ceremonies and Ordinances, and without which, i would have been very difficult, to understand this beginning of the Decalogue: Harken, O Ifrael, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage? But if Mofes feems to have taken fuch care to preferve the Memory of the Children of Ifrael's coming out of Egypt, when he fays in the 6. of Deut. when thy Son asketh thee in time to come, Saying, what mean the Teftimonies, and the Statutes, and the Fudgments, which the Lord your God has commanded you? Then thou shalt fay unto thy Son, we were Pharaoh's Bondmen, in Ægypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a Mighty Hand, &c. I fay, if he took fuch mighty care to preferve the Memory of thofe things, how could he fail Writing the History of them? What likely hood is there he thould warn the Children of Ifrael, in his Law, to remember what befe Dathan and Abiram; and yet that he should not write the Hiftory of that Event more at large? Since the Divifion of the Tribes, and the fetting apart the Levites, for God's fervice, were the foundation on which that State wholly depended; could he then have for gotten to write their Genealogies, or at least to order them to be written, as we find they are, in the Book of Numers, becaufe had they been once confounded together,

that Divifion could no longer have remained, and fince neither the Book of the Law, nor of Deut. fcarcely mentioned any thing concerning the Tabernacle, Sacerdoal Habits, the feveral kinds of Sacrifices, and many other fuch things, all which appertain'd to the pub ic Vorship of the Jews, how is it poffible he fhould

be

be fo heedlefs, as not to write them down in fome of his other Books? I fay, how is it poffible that Mofes Thould have prefcribed nothing in Writing upon that ubject; And how fhould it come to pass that the whole Nation of the Jews fhould in all Ages fo conftantly affirm, that Mofes had exactly prescribed all thofe things? Laftly, How can it be imagined, that fo wife and politic a Man as he, fhould not vouchfafe fo much as either to write himself, or order to be written, the Events of which he thought fit to leave as fo many feri fible Teftimonies behind him?

But we fhould foon decide this Controverfie were the Incredulous but pleafed to allow us to argue from, that place, which the Author of the Treatife called Theologicopoliticus quotes himself. We read in the 17: chap. of Exodus, how Joshua discomfited Amaleck with the edge of the Sword, and how the Lord faid unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a Book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua For I will utterly put out the remem brance of Amaleck from under Heaven.

Whereupon 'tis fitting to obferve, that it is not on ly faid, Thou shalt write an Hiftory of this defeat of Amaleck, but alfo, thou shalt write this for a memorial in a Book, which proves, that Mofes was ordered immediately from God Almighty, to Compofe a Book of all the most remarkable paffages that happen'd to the People; and, confequently, there's no doubt, but that the Hiftory of the Children of Ifrael's coming out of the Land of Egypt was inferted in that Book, and so that Mofes himielf was the Author of Exodus, or fome other fuch Book.

CHAP

Where we shall examin, whether Ezra did not alter the Form of the Scriptures.

B

EING defirous to clear whatever fcruples 1 might frame upon this Subject; I first of all look upon Ezra with all his external Circumftances; as the time he lived in, the manner of his Converfation, the Pentateuch they pretend he compofed: And then carrying on further my Curiosity, I inquire, whether not only the private Enemies of Ezra, but those of his Nation in general, fuch as the Samaritans were, may not give me fome infight into this matter: And I find that all thofe different Parties afford meno fmall light in this Discovery.

It is certain, that, with all my industry, I cannot difcover what motions of felf-interest could have put Ezra upon any fuch defign. It may at firft view feem probable, that he might have intended the promoting the Glory of his Religion, by inventing feveral Miracles, to make it appear of a Divine Authority; but this thought will vanifh into Air, fo foon as we confider, that the miraculous Matters of Fact, together with the CircumStances of them, which are contained in the Pentateuch, were fo generally well known, by the Prophets frequent repetitions of them, fo effentially linked and interwoven with the Law of Mofes; and fo deeply imprinted both in the Practice and Remembrance of the Jews, that it would be a meer Chimera, to fancy they can polibly have been counterfeited. This truth we have already proved, but however we intend to do it yet more at large in the fequel of this Work

All

All the Benefits Ezra was like to reap from fuch a Work was the hazard he would have run of being look'd upon as a Sacrilegious Corrupter of the Holy Scripture. For Mens Niceties are very well known in this cafe. Thofe I mean, who, being not over devout, are glad enough of any Pretence to disobey the Scriptures, but yet would not endure the leaft Alteration to be made in them; and none can be ignorant, that the Scruples of the Jews in this refpect, were always fo great, as to intrench upon Superftition it = felf.

It is not likely, that Egra fhould have composed a I New Scripture in Behalf of the Levites; because the Levites enjoy'd no other Privileges after the Days of Ezra, but what they did before his time. For that there were Levites before that time, and that thofe Levites had the Tithes of all the Poffeffions of the Ifraelites before the Captivity, we are fully convinced of by the Writings of Nehemiah, and of all the Prophets; befides the Genealogies of the Priests, being preferved in the fame Families, with fo much exactness, that Tribes being deprived of all Inheritances in the Holy Land, and feveral other things, are a more perfect confirmation of the fame.

Had Ezra ventured upon fuch an Enterprize, barely to raise the Glory of his Nation, doubtlefs he would have omitted fpeaking of the ten noted Murmurings of the Ifraelites, and would not have been so zealously careful to relate the prodigious hardness of Heart of that People.

Had his Affection for Mofes been the principal cause of his Writing, he would have forborn from reprefenting Mofes fometimes as 2 Murderer, and as Incredulous and Difobedient to the Law of God.

Had he intended to Honour the Memory of his Enceftors, by inventing fome Circumftances which he thought

thought might turn to their Glory, he would cer tainly have omitted fuch which are Reproachful to them. For it was no very great Credit for the Levites to have it published, that Levi, the Head and Father of their Tribe, by a deliberate and premeditated Perfidioufnefs with Reubin, had murthered the Sichemites in cold blood; and by that A&t had drawn upon himself Facob's Curfe, which is contain'd in the 49. chap. of Genefis. 'Twas not at all for the Advantage of the Ten Patriarchs, to have it known, that they had fo bafely fold their Brother Jofeph, or for the Ifraelites, that they had worshipped the Golden Calf, &c. Thus it appears not only that none of all thefe Advantages could have enduced Ezra to afpire to the Title of being the Author of the Penteteuch, but that it would rather have proved much against his Interest every way. However we fhall not pretend to decide any thing upon the verdict only of thefe Proofs, but fhall proceed to examin the force of others that ftill follow, and merit well our Adverfaries Confideration.

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'Tis certain, that any Man that thould in thefe modern Times take upon him to reform the New Teftament, or should preter of the Apostles, would cer taking, unless he were a Miracles as the Apostles for muft needs have been the Ezra.

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