make nothing extraordinary, at least not miraculous, in

all this Action.

This is advanc'd in Le Clerk's Dissertations upon Genefis, lately published in Holland; and that Part, with others of the like Tendency, endeavouring to refolve other Miracles, as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. into mere natural Caufes, are put into English by the well known T. Brawn, for the Edification of the Deifts in England.

But these Gentlemen have forgot that the Ifraelites had great Herds of many thousand Cattle with them ; which would be apter to ftray, and fall into those Holes and ouzey Places in the Strand, than Horses with Riders, who might direct them.

But fuch precarious and filly Supposes are not worth the anfwering. If there had been no more in this Paffage thro' the Red-Sea than that of a Spring-Tide, &c. it had been impoffible for Mofes to have made the Is raelites believe that Relation given of it in Exodus, with fo many Particulars, which themfelves faw, to be

true.

And all thofe Scriptures which magnify this Action, and appeal to it as a full Demonftration of the miraculous Power of God, must be reputed as Romance or Legend.

I fay this for the Sake of fome Chriftians, who think it no Prejudice to the Truth of the Holy Bible, but rather an Advantage, as rendering it more eafy to be believed, if they can folve whatever feems miraculous in it by the Power of fecond Caufes; and fo to make all, as they speak, natural and eafy: Wherein, if they could prevail, the natural and eafy Refult would be, not to believe one Word in all thofe facred Oracles. For if Things be not as they are told in any Relation, that Relation must be falfe: And if false in Part, we cannot trust to it, either in Whole or in Part.

Here are to be excepted Miftranflations, and Errors, either in Copy or in Prefs. But where there is no room for fuppofing of these, as where all Copies do agree, there we must either receive All, or reject All: I mean

in

in any Book that pretends to be written from the Mouth of God. For in other common Hiftories we may be lieve Part, and reject Part, as we see Cause.

But to return. The Paffage of the Ifraelites over Jordan, in Memory of which thofe Stones at Gilgal were fet up, is free from all thofe little Carpings before-mentioned that are made as to the Paffage thro the Red-Sea. For Notice was given to the Ifraelites the Day before, of this great Miracle to be done. Josh. iii. 5. It was done at Noon-day, before the whole Nation: And when the Waters of Jordan were divided, it was not at low Ebb, but at the Time when the River overflowed all his Banks, ver. 15. And it was done, not by Winds, or in length of Time, which Winds must take to do it; but all on a sudden, as soon as the Feet of the Priefts that bare the Ark were dipped in the Brim of the Water. Then, the Waters which came down from above food and rofe up upon an Heap, very far, from the City Adam, that is befide Zaretan: And those that came down towards the Sea of the Plain, even the falt Sea, failed, and were cut off: And the People passed over, right. against Jericho. The Priefts ftood in the midst of Fordan, till all the Armies of Ifrael had paffed over.

And

it came to pass, when the Priefts that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the Soles of the Priefts Feet were lifted up upon the dry Land, that the Waters of Jordan returned unto their Place, and flowed over all his Banks as they did before. And the People came up out of Jordan on the tenth Day of the firft Month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eaft Border of Jericho. And thofe twelve Stones which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch at Gilgal. And he Spake unto the Children of Ifrael, faying, When your Children fball afk their Fathers in time to come, faying, What mean thefe Stones? Then shall ye let your Children know, Saying, Ifrael came over this Jordan on dry Land. For the Lord your God dryed up the Waters of Jordan from before you, until we were gone over. That all the People of the Earth might know the Hand of the Lord, that it is

mighty:

mighty: That ye might fear the Lord your God for ever. Chap. iv. from ver. 18.

If the Paffage over the Red-Sea had been only taking Advantage of a Spring-Tide, or the like, how would this teach all the People of the Earth, that the Hand of the Lord was mighty? How would a Thing no more remarkable have been taken Notice of thro' all the World? How would it have taught Ifrael to fear the Lord, when they must know, that notwithstanding all thefe big Words, there was fo little in it? How could they have believed, or received a Book as Truth, which they knew told the Matter so far otherwise from what it was?

But, as I faid, this Paffage over Jordan, which is here compared to that of the Red-Sea, is free from all those Cavils that are made as to that of the Red-Sea; and is a further Atteftation to it, being said to be done in the fame Manner as was that of the Red-Sea.

Now, to form our Argument, let us fuppofe that there never was any fuch thing as that Paffage over Jordan: That thefe Stones at Gilgal were fet up upon fome other Occafion, in fome After-Age: And then, that fome designing Man invented this Book of Joshua, and faid, that it was wrote by Joshua at that time, and gave this Stonage at Gilgal for a Teftimony of the Truth of it: Would not every body say to him, We know the Stonage at Gilgal; but we never heard before of this Reason for it, nor of this Book of Joshua? Where has it been all this while? And where and how came you, after so many Ages, to find it? Befides, this Book tells us, that this Paffage over Jordan was ordained to be taught our Children, from Age to Age; and therefore, that they were always to be inftructed in the Meaning of that Stonage at Gilgal, as a Memorial of it: But we were never taught it when we were Children; nor did ever teach our Children any fuch thing: And it is not likely that could have been forgotten, while fo remarkable a Stonage did continue, which was fet up for that and no other End!

And

And if, for the Reasons before given, no fuch Impofition could be put upon us, as to the Stonage in Saifbury-Plain, how much lefs could it be as to the Stonage in Gilgal?

And if, where we know not the Reafon of a bare naked Monument, fuch a sham Reafon cannot be impofed, how much more is it impoffible to impofe upon us in Actions and Obfervances which we celebrate in Memory of particular Paffages? How impoffible to make us forget those Passages which we daily commemorate; and to perfuade us, that we had always kept fuch Inftitutions in Memory of what we never heard of before; that is, that we knew it before we knew it?

And if we find it thus impoffible for an Impofition to be put upon us, even in fome Things which have not all the four Marks before-mentioned, how much more impoffible is it that any Deceit fhould be in that Thing where all the four Marks do meet!

This has been fhewed in the firft Place, as to the Matters of Fact of Moses.

2. Therefore I come now (fecondly) to fhew, that, as in the Matters of Fact of Mofes, fo likewife all these four Marks do meet in the Matters of Fact, which are recorded in the Gospel, of our bleffed Saviour. And my Work herein will be the shorter, because all that is faid before of Mofes and his Books, is every way as applicable to Chrift and his Gospel. His Works and Miracles are there faid to be done publickly, in the Face of the World, as he argued to his Accufers, Ifpake openly to the World, and in fecret have I faid nothing. John xviii. 20. It is told, As ii. 41. that three thousand at one time, and As iv. 4. that about five thousand at another time, were converted, upon Conviction of what themselves had seen, what had been done publickly before their Eyes, wherein it was impoffible to have impofed upon them. Therefore here were the two first of the Rules before mentioned.

Then for the two fecond; Baptifm and the Lord's-Supper were inftituted as perpetual Memorials of thefe Things: And they were not inftituted in After-Ages,

B

but

20.

but at the very time when these Things were faid to be done; and have been obferved without Interruption, in all Ages, through the whole Chriftian World, down all the Way from that Time to this; and Chrift himself did ordain Apoftles, and other Minifters of his Gospel, to preach, and adminifter thefe Sacraments: And. to govern his Church: And that always, Matth. xxvii. unto the End of the World. And accordingly they have continued, by regular Succeffion, to this Day; and, no doubt, ever fhall while the Earth shall last. So that the Chrif tian Clergy are as notorious a Matter of Fact as the Tribe of Levi among the Jews: And the Gospel is as much a Law to the Chriftians, as the Books of Mofes to the Jews: And it being Part of the Matters of Fact related in the Gospel, that fuch an Order of Men were appointed by Chrift, and to continue to the End of the World, confequently, if the Gospel was a Fiction, and invented (as it must be) in fome Ages after Chrift, then, at that time when it was first invented, there could be no fuch Order of Clergy as derived themselves from the Inftitution of Chrift; which muft give the Lie to the Gospel, and demonftrate the Whole to be falfe. And the Matters of Fact of Chrift being preffed to be true, no otherwise than as there was, at that time (whenever the Deifts will fuppofe the Gospel to be forged) not only publick Sacraments of Chrift's Inftitution, but an Order of Clergy likewife of his Appointment, to adminifter them; and it being impoffible there could be any fuch Things before they were invented, it is as impoffible that they should be received when invented. And therefore, by what is faid above, it was as impoffible to have impofed upon Mankind in this Matter, by inventing of it in After-Ages, as at the Time when thofe Things were faid to be done.

3. The Matters of Fact of Mahomet, or what is fabled of the heathen Deities, do all want fome of the aforefaid four Rules, whereby the Certainty of Matters of Fat is demonstrated. First, for Mahomet, he pretended to no Miracles, as he tells us in his Alcoran, c. 6,

&c.