perfect Account of the beginning of Things &c; before we admit any one of his Suppofitions.

No Man, fince the Captivity, ever pretended to make the Writings of Mofes about the Creation, Formation, &c. intelligible As the Conftruction of them gives the Idea of Jehovah Aleim, tho' we are not directed, we are allowed to glory, that we fo know Jehovah Aleim; and therefore I glory that I have brought them to not only Mathematical or Figurative Demonftration, but to Senfe, to Reason, and all Deductions, and Confequences.

If it be demanded, who preferved these Writings! how we came by them! how we know the true Copies from Counterfeits! whether there has been any Infertions, Caftrations, or Alterations!

'Tis certain Mofes delivered one: Prideaux fays, Connection. v. 1. p. 325. The Jews fay Mofes delivered a Copy, writ by his own Hand, of the Pentateuch to every Tribe, and one more to the Levites, to be deposited in the S. 6. We had the Pentateuch from the Jews, and from the Samaritans; the latter without confiderable Alteration, except what is done in conformity to the Jewish Pointing and Con

C 4

any

Conftructions; the reft, from the Jews; that the Originals were preferved by the Jews in the S. Sanctorum, till they fell into Idolatry, and the Temple was deftroyed, and the Jews were carried away Captives. Whether the Originals were deftroyed then, is difputed; but the Samaritans had the Pentateuch, and the Kings, Priefts, and Prophets, had Copies as far as they had writ; it appears by Scripture. Waggenfel's fiery Darts of Satan. R. Jaac. p. 141. Deut. xxxiii, 2 1. "For there in the Portion of the Law-giver was he protected, for he fet in order the Law, and promulgated it; put to this, that Paffage out of the fifth of Judges, out of Machir came Law-Makers, and out of Zebulun they that handle the Pen of the Writer." I intend not to offer what these Apoftates fay, as Evidence, to determine any Thing against any one but themselves. and their Difciples; nor recommend any one Paragraph, as altogether true; and tho' fome Part of it may be true, 'tis certain fome Part of it is falfe, and was writ with a Defign. Pug. Fidei, p. 90. " Every Ifraelite was pofitively commanded to copy out for himself a Book of the Law, as Deut. xxxi. 19. Now write ye this Song for you, i.e. write ye the Law for you, in which this Song

is; for it was not usual to write Portions of the Law by themselves. And tho' any one had a Copy of the Law from his Parents, yet is He commanded to write one for himself; which if He write with his own Hand, it is as well as if He had it from Mount Sinai. If he cannot write, let others transcribe it for him, &c.-The King is commanded to copy out the Law as King, befide, that Copy which he took as a private Perfon, as Deut. xvii. 18. And it fhall be when he fitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom, He fhall write him a Copy of this Law, &c. That Copy is corrected by Ezra's, in the great Confiftory, that which he had when a private Man, He lays up in his Treasury; but that which He wrote whilft King, or which any one elfe wrote for him, that He always carries about him; whether he be going to War, to the Affembly, or Courts of Justice; it is also laid by him when at meat, Deut. xvii.

19. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the Days of his Life. § 3. If he had no Copy of the Law before He was King, He is obliged, when King, to write two Copies for himfelf; one to lay up in his Treasury; the other to carry about with him. ibid. p. 120. The Author of the

Book

Book Ikkarim.-The Law which is in our Hands, and delivered down to us, fucceffively from Father to Son, is the, fame which was given to Mofes at Sinai, without any Alteration whatever. For in the Time of the firft Temple, when there were Priefts and Teachers of the Law in the Temple, and the Law was in every Body's, Mouth, no Alteration could creep in; for tho' there were now and then idolatrous Kings over them, yet were there Prophets always till the Destruction, who encouraged the People to obferve the Law, &c. Again, when they were carried into Babylon, the Law was fafe, for in the Beginning of Joacin's Captivity, before the Destruction of the Temple, there were carried Captive, Work-men, and Smiths, and Nobles and the Wife Men of Ifrael, among whom was Daniel; and there was alfo Ezekiel, the Prophet, as Ezek. xxiii. 21. And there came one to me who had escaped from Jerufalem, Jaying, the City is fmitten. Then all the Captives of Ifrael, who were dif perfed all over Affyria, had each of them in their Hands a written Copy of the Law; the Cutheans alfo, whom the King of Affyria placed in the Cities of Samaria, had the Law; fo that when the Temple was destroyed, the Law was difperfed thro'

all

all the Country of Babylon, which fecured the Law from any Damage coming to it, notwithstanding the Deftruction of the Temple. When Ezra came up from Babylon, there came but a few with him: For the Nobles of Ifrael, the Wife Men, and all the Men of Note ftaid there, &c." So there were Copies difperfed, while the Prophets lived; and doubtless they were examined by them, and by the Priests; and that after three or four Copies were out, it was impracticable to alter them in concert ; and that they had some of them in the Captivity, and that the Prieft Ezra, vii. 6. who was a Scribe in the Law of Mofes v. 14. brought one of them or the Original with him at their Return to Jerufalem, which is 2 Ez. xiii. 1. called the Book of Mofes. That the Jews, tho' they built the fecond Temple, and continued the Services, they loft the Hebrew Language; and afterwards apoftatifed, renounced the Faith, and formed themfelves into Sects, part Jewish but mostly Heathen. Waggenfel p.9. Joma- -"There were wanting in the Second Temple-The Ark with the Mercy Seat and Cherubim, the Fire from Heaven, the Prefence of the Divine Majefty, the Holy Spirit, and Urim and Thummin-with which also was loft, that little regard of

God