and credulity. In reply to this, it may be obferved,

II. That the hiftory of these things could never have gained credit with the great body of the nation, had it not been indifputably true. The Ifraelites could never have believed, that they fojourned in Egypt; that they were delivered from their bondage in that country by a ftriking difplay of divine power; that the Red fea was divided to give them a paffage; that they were miraculously fupported for forty years in the wildernefs; and that they were made to walk dryfhod through Jordan, in their way to the promifed land;-they could never have believed these things, unless they had actually taken place.

The enemies of revelation pretend, that the books of Mofes muft have been written in a far later period than that to which they have been commonly affigned. They are by no means agreed as to the period. Some infinuate, that they were unknown to the Ifraelites before their return from the captivity. But it is inconceivable, that they could have been impofed on the nation in the time of Ezra. He and his fellows, in a general affembly of the people, " read in the "book of the law of Mofes, from the morning " until mid-day." This could not have been the first time that this book was known to them. For it was in compliance with the request of all the people that it was brought forth a. We learn

from

any

from the book of Ezra, that at the time of the dedication of the temple, in the fixth year of Darius, the priests and Levites were fettled in their different functions, " as it is written in the book of "Mofes "Now, this could not have been done, had there been no written copies of the law among the Jews. But this was about fixty years before Ezra came to Jerufalem b. Many of the old men who had feen the glory of the firft temple, wept when they faw the fecond. Had Ezra made material alterations in the book of the law, these would not eafily have escaped them. Their enemies the Samaritans received the five books of Mofes, and therefore pretended that they fought the God of the Jews. Now fo inveterate was their enmity, that they took every advantage against those who returned from the captivity, and ufed every mean to prevent the re-establishment of their religion. But had there been the least reafon to fuppofe that Ezra had corrupted, not to fay fabricated, the Pentateuch, it would have been a better ground of crimination than any thing they could have thought of. When they faw all the means which they employed, with the kings of Perfia, against the Jews, eventually fruftrated, they certainly would not have let flip fo excellent an occafion for dividing them amongst themfelves. Nay, had any among the Jews had the leaft reafon to fuppofe, that the minifters of religion obtruded a fictitious or adulterated law upon them; no bribe could have impofed filence on

a Ezr. vi. 15.---18.

A 4

See Prideaux's Con. Part I. bock 5.

c Ezra iv, 2.

the

the people, when fo many of them were put to the fevere trial of parting with their wives, and putting away their children, in conformity to the precepts of this very law.

But, indeed, it cannot be denied, that there were copies of the law among the captives while they were in Babylon. Such was the notoriety of this fact, that their heathen oppreffors were no ftrangers to it. Hence Artaxerxes, in the decree which he made in favour of Ezra, fpeaks of the law of his God as 'in his hands. Long before his time, Daniel, while in captivity, was provided with a written copy of the law b

It cannot be fuppofed that this law was fabricated by Daniel, or by any of the captives, during their refidence in Chaldea. For Daniel refers to the book of the prophecies of Jeremiah, as in the hands of the captives in Babylon, and as the fource of his own information with respect to the duration of the captivity. Now, it is evident from the whole tenor of thefe prophecies, the greatest part of which were written before the commencement of the captivity, that the law of Mofes was acknowledged, even by the most daring tranfgreffors of it, as exifting at the time that Jeremiah foretold the defolations of Jerufalem, For he frequently declared, that the calamities threatened would come upon them, because of their tranfgreffions of this law. He made this appeal to the law, as confirmed to their fathers by many figns and wonders. He did

fo,

Ezra vii.

14.

b Dan. ix. II.13.

fo, not in a corner, but at the gates of Jerufalem; that his warnings might be heard by all who entered the city, or went out from it; by the kings, princes and people, who came hither for judgment 2. Had he appealed to a law, which they had never seen, those whofe measures he opposed could have been at no lofs for a reply. His warnings, it would appear, were in one inftance attended with fo good an effect, that King Zedekiah commanded that liberation of Hebrew fervants which the law enjoined. To this both the princes and people at firft unanimously agreed. They knew they were bound to it by that law which they acknowledged as divine. When their covetousness afterwards prevailed with them to reclaim their bond-fervants, although Jeremiah accufed them of a wilful tranfgreffion of the covenant made with their fathers, we have not the flightest evidence that they attempted to vindicate their conduct by a denial of his assertion b. Nay, although the whole prophecies of Jeremiah were read to all the people affembled at Jerusalem, on a day of public fafting, and afterwards to the princes, they never denied the truth of his accufations. The princes, on the contrary, were all filled with fear.

If the books of Mofes were ever artfully imposed on the pofterity of Jacob, it could not be under any of the wicked kings of Judah. For they apoftatized from the worship of God, and perfecuted thofe

a Jer. xvii. 19.-22.; xxxii. 20.-23. © Jer. xxxvi. 6.-16. .

b Jer. xxxiv. 8.-18.

those who adhered to it. As the majority of the people joined in the apoftacy, it is inconceivable, that a perfecuted handful could impofe on the body of the nation. As little could this impofition take place, during any of the good kings who fucceeded Solomon in the kingdom of Judah. They had so many abuses to reform, fo many monuments of idolatry to demolish; and their conduct must have fo deeply affected the humour, the fuperftition or the interest of the greatest part of their fubjects; that they could not poffibly have prevailed on them to receive fictitious books.

as true.

From the account given of the finding of the book of the law in the temple, when it was repaired during the reign of Jofiah, infidels may infer, that this was the first time that any book, ascribed to Mofes, was known to the Jews, and that it was then impofed on the multitude by the policy of the king, or at leaft by the influence of prieftcraft. But, although the awful denunciations of judgments in this book, which were reprefented as impending on the nation, fhould not be fuppofed fufficient to have prevented them from fubmitting to the impofture; their warm attachment to that idolatry, which had been fo firmly established during the wicked reign of Manaffeh, would have prompted them to oppose any innovation, had there been the leaft reafon to fufpect impofition. Can it be fuppofed, that this was a state trick, or a piece of prieftcraft, and yet

a a Kings xxii. 8.; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14.

that