And for this Senfe of the word he quotes Suicerus's Thefaurus in voce Koλaulins. 'Tis fo common a Book, that Mr. W. might have expected to be found out in any False Quotation from thence Suicerus quotes Theophylact to fhew that the Collybus was a small piece of Brass Money, of little value, with the Effigies of an Ox, Bes, on it; (not of a Bull; that's an Infertion of Mr. W. for the fake of a Jeft); and he gives us this for his Own Opinion, that (y) the KonλuGisa or Money-Changers were fuch as fold, or gave, by way of Exchange, fmall pieces of Brafs for other Money, I fuppofe, for Gold and Silver Pieces. But is this the fame with giving Bafe (or Bad) Money for Good? Are not Twelve Pence in Copper as Good Money as a Shilling in Silver? Does the Bafenefs of the Metal, or Smalinefs of the Piece alter the Matter, when it is made up in Quantity? I am fure, that This Author is a thorough Collybift in his own Senfe of the word, and puts off very Bafe Quotations for Good ones.

ONCE more, and I have done with Mr. W. on this Head: To make all this the more applicable to the Hireling Clergy of This Age, for whofe fake he has brought in his Preaching and his Bulls, he fays, p. 31. If Team(as, which is tranflated Tables, does properly fignify Pulpits, who can help it? For this he refers us to Scapula's Quotation from Ariftophanes: Scapula's words are thefe, (z) Aristophanes ufes this word to fignify a Pulpitum, or Place rais'd higher than ordinary, on which the Slaves that were to be fold were expos'd to view. Mr. W. you fee ftop'd half way in the Quotation, that he might deceive the Reader into an Opinion, that Pulpitum fignifies there a Pulpit; but when the whole Sentence is produced, it appears to fignify fomething as different from it, as Difhonefty is from Good Policy.

II. THE Second Miracle of Jefus, to which Mr. W. has made Objections, is that of his permitting the Devils to enter into the (a) Herd of Swine, which thereupan ran down a Precipice, and were all chok'd in the Sea, p. 32.

AND here I must remind the Reader, that in Facts done fo Long fince, and reported in fo Brief a manner, it must often happen, that there can't poffibly be any certain account given of fome Particulars; and Then, where a Probable one is offer'd, confiftent with the Circumftances of the Story and with what other Hiftorians relate, This is all that can be expected in the matter. In this Miracle before us, I promise that no Answer

(1) Red Κολλυβις definiuntur οἱ τὰ λεπτὰ νομίσματα πωλονTes. qui vendunt Minuta ara pro aliâ pecunia, fcilicet accepto Collybo (z) Apud Ariftophanem fic vocatur Pulpitum aut locus editior, in que Verne Mancipia omnium oculis venum exponebantur. Scapula in voce τράπεζα.

(a) See St. Matt. viii. 28, &c. St. Mark v. 2, &c. St. Luke viii. 26, &c.

fhall

1

.

fhall be given, which does not feem much more Reasonable than any Objection on the other fide, even fuppofing it not to have been prov'd already that Jefus rofe from the Dead; tho' I hope it will be remembred here, that, if (as I fhew'd Part I.) Jefus did really Rife again, it follows that he came from God, and that the Miracles which he is faid to have wrought in his Life-time were Real ones; and This here being reckon'd by the Evangelifts as One of the Number, with all Fair and Reafonable Men, their Inclination to believe Every part of the Literal account of it, fhould at leaft be Stronger than to disbelieve Any.

THE Objections, which Mr. W. has rais'd against the Literal Story of This Miracle, are these Four.

HOW came those Mad-men to have their Dwelling in the Tombs of a Burying-Ground? p. 32.

WHERE was the Humanity of the Gadarenes, who did not take care of them, in Pity to Them as well as for the Safety of others? p. 32.

HOW came there to be any Herd of Swine in that Country, when the Jews were forbidden to eat Swines Flesh? p. 33. Or, IF the Swine belong'd to Gentile Gadarenes, with whom it was Lawful to keep and eat them, where was the Goodness and Juftice of Fefus's permitting the Devils to enter into a Herd of them to their Deftruction? p. 34.

THESE are his four Objections against this Miracle, and I fhall take them in their Order.

SHOW came thofe Mad-men to have their Dwelling in the Tombs of a Burying-Ground? The true Language of which Queftion is this, Can you give a Reafon for the Actions of Mad-men? They were Mad-men, and Therefore they ftroll'd thither. But this Objection looks a little like a Reafonable One, becaufe Mr. W. has added the words of a Burying-Ground; by which, if his Reader underftands fomething refembling our Church-yards in Cities and Towns, and adjoining to the Church, he is Deceived; for as it is faid that thofe Mad-men were among the Tombs, fo it is faid that they were in the Mountains, and in the Wilderness or defart Places. To understand which you must obferve, that the Jewish Tombs were ufually little Cells cut in the Sides of Caverns and the Hollow parts of Rocks and Mountains, at fome diftance from the Towns, and in lonely defart Places. The Sepulchre, that Jefus himfelf was laid in, was bewn out of a Rock in Mount Calvary; and many fuch Tombs remain even to this Day, as Maundrel and other Travellers thro Judæa have affur'd us. And thefe Caves often ferv'd for a Retreat and Shelter; for in fuch as these the Kings of Canaan hid themselves from Joshua, David from Saul, and Jofephus the Jewish Hiftorian from the Romans that purfued him: Nay Jofephus makes very frequent mention in his Hiftory, of whole Bands of Thieves and Robbers lurking for Months together in fuch hollow Rocks, and making Excurfions from thence: and he tells

us

us particularly, that there were (b) Dens or Caves of this fort on that part of the Coaft of the Lake Gennefareth, which was in the lower Galilee, and therefore lay contiguous to Gadara.

AND thefe Mountains as they afforded Shelter, fo they might have fupply'd the Mad-men with Food; for in those Warm and Fruitful Climates They were not fo Barren as we see them in Ours: John the Baptift (we read) lived in the Wilderness on Locufts and Wild-Honey; and Jofephus in his own Life tells us, that, when young, he went out into the Wilderness to be inftructed by one Banus, (c) who lived there upon what grew wild

and without Culture.

SO that I have found Victuals and Habitation for the Madmen; and when it is prov'd that Others did, and They might have dewlt in the Mountains, and among the Tombs, I hope the Affertion of three Evangelifts that Jefus found them there, will overbear a meer Queftion unfupported with any attempt towards a Proof of the Contrary.

2 §. Mr. W's next Objection is, Where was the Humanity of the Gadarenes, who did not take care of them, in pity to Them as well as for the Safety of Others? Can any thing be more Perverfe than this Queftion is? when St. Mark exprefly tells us chap. v. 4. that Care had been taken of them, that they had been bound in Fetters and Chains, and that this had been often done to them, but that they had pluck'd them afunder and broken them to pieces. The Fetters and Chains (whatever they were) were not ftrong enough for Men in their Outrageous Condition; and therefore they gat loofe from their Keepers, and retreated to the Tombs and Mountains; where, when purfu'd, they probably hid themselves, and eluded all the Diligence and Humanity of the People who try'd to catch and bind them again.

BUT if This does not prove a Want of Humanity in the Gadarenes, he has another Proof, which he is fure is a Good one, viz. that they did not dispatch them, rather than their Neighbours and Paffengers fhould be in danger from them, p. 33. They are equally Inhumane in his Opinion (I find) for not taking care to Preferve them, and for not taking care to Deftroy them: But I should have thought this an Argument for their Having Humanity, not for their Wanting it for while the Mad-men were alive, there were Hopes of laying hold on them once more, and perhaps of recovering them to their Senfes. If Mr. W. had met with this Paffage in fome People's Writings, he would have rais'd a heavy Outcry against the Barbarity of the Doctrine of knocking a Mad-man on the head, only for fear he should do Mifchief. But after all, if the Gadarenes could not catch these Mad-men to Bind them, how does he know that they could

(6) Προς δε τέτοις τὰ περὶ Γεννησάρ λίμνην σπήλαια και ἢ κάτω καλυμένην Γαλιλαίαν ἀνετειχίσατο. Jofeph. de Beil. Jud. L. 2. c. 2o. (ε) Τροφὴν τὴν αυτομάτως φυομένην προσφερόμενον.

come

come up near enough to dispatch them? They might (in his notion of Humanity) have a very Good Will to it, and yet not be able to do the Good Deed; for Jofephus will tell him what Difficulty Herod, with an Army, found to deftroy a Set of Robbers, that had lodged themselves in fuch Caves of the Mountains.

AND, to fay no more on this Head, if the Gadarenes wanted This or any other Inftance of Humanity, what is that to the Story? The Truth of this Fact is not affected by it; unless it can be prov'd Impoffible that in any Country a Mad-man should be found Unconfin'd, that is often attempting to do Mischief.

3 §. I proceed then to the third Objection, How came there to be any Herd of Swine in that Country, when the Jews were forbidden to eat Swines Flesh? Suppofe we could not give any Account of this matter, yet is a Story, (fo well attefted, as I have fhewn all Jefus's Miracles to be), to be Disbeliev'd, when there is no Proof againft it? I call it no Proof, because to say a thing was forbidden and therefore it was not done, is to fuppofe that Laws are never broken, the contrary of which is seen every day, and was never more fo than in Mr. W's own Difcourfe.

BUT I'll give him a very Fair and Probable account of this Circumftance. Gadara was a City on the other fide of Jordan, near the Lake of Gennefareth; it was one of thofe Cities called Decapolis, and was fituate in that Allotment which was made to the Tribe of Manaffeh: Pompey indeed join'd it to the Province of Syria, Auguftus afterwards gave it to Herod, and upon his Death annexed it again to Syria, as Jofephus informs us: and thus annex'd to Syria it remained at the time, when this Miracle was wrought. By this difpofition it was Then inhabited partly by Jews, and partly by Syrians who were Heathens; Jofephus (d) fpeaks frequently of both, as very Numerous there. But tho' its Inhabitants were thus of a mix'd fort, it was always reckon'd by the Jews as Part of their Dominions, and as fuch it felt the fury of Vefpafian in the beginning of the Jewish War (e).

THIS being the State of the Town, and it being well known that the Heathens ufed Swine not only for Food but for Sacrifices too, why mayn't we fuppofe, that the Jews of that Country might feed Swine, for the Profit they made by felling them to their Heathen Neighbours? No, (fays Mr. W. from Spencer de Leg. Hebr.) the Jews were forbidden, under the Pain of an Anathema, the keeping of any Swine in their Country, p. 33. It is true, that there was fuch a (f) Law made in the time of Hyrcanus; but why was it made? because the Jews did ufe to keep Swine. And is it any Argument to fay, that, because a Law is

(d) De Bell. Jud. 1. 4. c. 7. Ed. Hudf. & 1. 3. c. 7. & l. 2. c. 18. (e) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 14. c. 5. & de Bello Jud. 1. 1. c. 8. & l. 4. c. 7. (f) Cafaubon adverf. Baron. Exercit. 13. Art. 31. n. 69.

made

Part II. made against any thing, Therefore it was not practis'd after? It ought not, I grant, but it does not follow that it was not. Have We not Laws, many and ftrong, againft running of Brandy, Tea, &c. and would you argue from thence that no Brandy or Tea is run upon our Coafts? if we could make this out clearly, we might fave the Government the Expence of many Cuftomhoufe Officers.

IF the Jews did once practise this feeding of Swine (as the Law made againft it fufficiently fhews), I don't fee but it may be reasonably fuppos'd that they might Continue to do fo even After the Law was made: It is well known that there is too much of forbidden Trade among Us, tho' we have more Laws than One against it, and many methods to put them in Execution and it is much more likely, that this feeding of Swine might be practis'd about Gadara, because it was not only upon the Extremity of the Jewish Dominions, but was then under (g) Heathenifh Jurifdiction, fo that the Force of the Law rested upon the Confciences only of the Jewish Gadarenes.

I have fuppos'd with Mr. W. that the Swine belonged to Jewifb Owners, which I have as much right to do as any one can have to fuppofe the contrary: and it feems Probable that even thofe Mad-men were Jews; for we don't find Jefus in all his Travels converfing with and healing any but thofe to whom he was fent, the loft Sheep of the Houfe of Ifrael, unlefs in one cafe particularly taken notice of by the Evangelifts. Upon this fuppofition, I have fhewn it probable, that the Gadarene Jews might keep Swine for the Ufe of their Gentile Neighbours, tho it was forbidden by Law, and even under the Pain of an Anathema. 4 §. I come to Mr. W's laft Objection, where was the Goodnefs and Fuftice of Jefus's permitting the Devils to enter into the Herd of Swine to their Deftruction?

THERE was no want of Goodness or Juftice in Jefus, even if they had belonged to Gentiles, who might eat them; for the part, which Jefus had in their Destruction, does not appear to be fuch as made him either Principal or Acceffary: it is faid indeed by St. Mark that he gave them leave, but by St. Luke only that be fuffer'd the Devils to enter into them. By this may be meant no more, than that He did not Prevent them, that he did not Interpofe his Divine Power, by which he might have hindred them from entring: for this Explanation may be juftify'd by other Paffages of the Old and New Teftament, as (b)

(g) Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. 1. 1. c. 20. Ed. Hudfon.

(b) Vide loca Gen. xx. 6. & xxxi. 7. Exod. iii. 19. & xii. 23. Pfalm xvi. 10. Acts ii. 27. Ejicere Diabolum ex bomine, Chrifti fuit Actio; in Porcos ut irent, nulla actione Chrifti erat opus: hoc enim optabant ipfi Diaboli, & viribus nativis id ipfum efficere poterant, dum ne vi majore impedirentur: Non ergo Chriftus in hac re vim agentem exferuit, fed vim impedire valentem fuftinuit. Grotius in Matt. viii. 31.

Grotius