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which we can affign no Reafon. For there are a thoufand Inftances in Providence to be made, which are fubject to the fame Difficulties. Tell me why the unhappy Inhabitants of Greenland, and Iceland, are not all born in fuch a Garden of the World as Italy? Or why God beftowed fuch a delicious Soil upon the Italians only, above all the rest of the Europeans? Tell me, Philologus, why God has bleffed you with a more delicate Perfonage and a happier Stock of natural Parts than your Neighbours? Why fuch an one is born to a great Eftate, and others to none at all? Why fuch an one is made a Man, and not a Monkey? Why another Thing is an Animal, and not a Tree? Now thefe are all particular Favours of God Almighty, which other Parts of the Creation want, and yet you will not fay that this is any Reflexion upon the Wisdom or Juftice of God. Why therefore should we tax them in beftowing this Favour of particular Revelation to the Jews? For I dare fay, I can as eafily prove, That the Jews were as much deferving of their Prophecy, as any Man can be to be an Italian, or an Englishman, to be beautiful or wealthy. We Men are not able to give a Reason for any of these Benefits, and therefore muft refer all to the sudbnía, or good Pleasure of God. Not that this good Pleasure of God is any capricious Refolution of his, but a wife Determination of his Will, grounded upon juft Reason, altho' unknown to us. Nay, I doubt not, but we Men in another World shall be able to give an Account of many Difficulties in God's beneficent and vindictive Providence, which in this World are fo apt to amufe us; and that in the great Circles and Revolutions of God's future Difpenfations, all the prefent Inequalities fhall be made up, and all Accounts balanced. But after all, the Order of the Univerfe alone is a fufficient Reason to fatisfy all reasonable Men of the Wisdom and Juftice of God, in placing Men and Things in a better or worfe Station in the World,, and in communicating to them greater or leffer Benefits. If all were to enjoy the fame Favours of the Deity, there would be no Subordination" of Beings, which is the great Beauty of the Universe;

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there would be only one confufed Heap of good Things without Order or Defign, which would be fo far from being an Argument of the divine Wisdom, that it would be a confiderable Proof againft it. Befides, no one would praise God for the Benefits they enjoy, if all enjoy'd the fame in common with them; for the Univerfality would take off the Edge of Men's Admiration, and confequently of their Gratitude; and they would be as liftlefs to give Thanks to God in this Condition, as they are to thank God for Health or Wealth, as when they never experienced either Sickness or Poverty. And therefore as Gcd has wifely contrived it in his natural and political Providence, for the Beauty and Order of the Universe, that fome Beings fhould be Vegetables, as well as others Animals; that fome fhould be Brutes, and others Men; and among Men themselves, that fome must be Poor, as well as others Rich; that fome muft labour, as well as others govern : fo likewife in his fpiritual Providence, or in his Care of the everlasting Welfare of Men's Souls; it is no Wonder, that God fhould ordain feveral Claffes or Orders of future Happiness, or fhould be more or lefs bountiful to them, in affording them Means in this World of attaining it.

Jews not 4. And as for the Jews, whom you do not think to fuch ill Peo- be fuch fit Objects of the divine Favour, in communica ple as pre- ting to them his revealed Will, as the Greeks or Romans; tended. that is a Point, I am afraid, you will never be able to make

out. Indeed it is grown a mighty Fashion of late, even among those that are better Friends to Chriftianity than you, to caft very fevere Reflexions upon the Jewish Inftitution; and, under Pretence of fhewing the Nobleness of the Chriftian Religion, do upon all Occafions be devil the poor Jews. I do not think this the best Way to fupport Chriftianity, by undermining the Foundation which it is built upon; for the Law is but the Groundwork of the Gofpel; and if we deftroy the first, the latter falls. And as for the People of the Jews, which of late are so much used to be vilified, I do not find that they are more liable to Cenfure of this Nature than other Na

tions. It cannot indeed be denied, but that this People were prone to Idolatry, and did very often lapfe into it; which is the Occafion of thofe very fevere Reprehenfions you meet withal in the Prophets, and which you hinted at juft now. But then this is in fome Measure to be palliated by the mighty Grandeur and Pageantry of the idolatrous Worship of all the Nations round about them, and the great Scorn and Reproach which was caft upon the Jewish Singularity in the Worship of one God,which muft needs have no inconfiderable Influence upon vulgar Minds. And as for their Averfation to a Familiarity with the Heathens, it was but a Practice agreeable to the Mofaical Law (Vid. Deut. vii.) which was a wife Command of God, which alone preserved his true Worthip, in that Nation only, free from the Infection of idolatrous Nations round them, for fo many Ages together. And altho' perhaps in the Times of Trogus and Tacitus, the Fen's might be more fcrupulous this Way, than their Law required; yet that must be imputed to Pharifaifm, which was the prevailing Sect among the Jews at that Time, and which by falfe Gloffes and fuperftitious Doctrines, had perfectly debauched the Jewish Religion, and foured the greatest Part of them into an unfociable Temper. But after all the Faults that may be charged upon them, the ftedfaft Worship of the One true God, for fo many Ages in that Nation only, when all the World befides was overrun with Polytheifm and Idolatry, when they were fo much scorned and vilified by the Heathen World for his Sake, underwent fo many Captivities, Perfecutions, and Martyrdoms; this was enough to endear them above the reft of the World to God Almighty, to incline him to commit his Oracles to them alone, and to guide them by his revealed Word, rather than to the Greeks or Romans, or any other idolatrous Nation, who, befides their diabolical Superftitions, were ten times more lewd and debauch'd.

5. As for a few fcandalous Reflexions which are ufu- Juftin, c. ally brought against the Jews out of Justin and Tacitus, fidered. I think nothing in them is worthy being taken notice of, unless it be the Difingenuity of the Relators, who, I am

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confident, report Things which they themselves do not give the leaft Credit to. For why, I pray, are not the Holy Scriptures and Jofephus, that are the Books of that Country, fitter to be relied upon, than the mistaken Reports of malicious or half-informed Foreigners? I befeech you, Sir, where would you look for a true Account of the Matters of England, in Cambden, Speed, and Baker, Men of our own Nation, or in Monfieur Sorbiere of France? I think the Queftion is easily refolved; and then why fhould you take these fcandalous Accounts of the Jewish Nation from Justin and Tacitus, when you have Writers of their own Nation, which give contrary Accounts of them? Both of thefe Heathen Authors are notoriously mistaken in their Account of the Jews; but because Juftin gives the fulleft Account, be pleased to obferve one or two of the Abfurdities of his Relation. It is plain, that the Foundation of Justin's Relation was out of the Book of Genefis, by the Names of Abraham, Ifrael, the particular Hiftory of Jofeph, the Envy of his Brethren, his Interpretation of Dreams, his being fold peregrinis Mercatoribus, to foreign Merchants, his Prediction of the Famine, his Familiarity with Pharaoh, his Storing of the Corn, and the like. Now it is impoffible, that fuch a particular Account fhould be had any where else, than from the Bible. The Bible therefore muft by you Theifts be allow'd to have fo much of the Truth of profane or fecular Hiftory, as to regulate Juftin's Hiftory, who feems plainly to have copied either at first or fecond Hand from it. So that if there be any Truth in Justin, the fame must be more exprefs in the Bible, from which Juftin had his Relation, tho' he has blended it with other Fables.

* Minimus ætate inter fratres Jofeph fuit, cujus excelleus ingenium veriti fratres clam interceptum peregrinis mercatoribus vendiderunt, à quibus deportatus in Ægyptum, cum magicas ibi artes folerti ingenio percepiflet, brevi ipfi regi percharus fuit. Nam & prodigiorum fagaciflimus erat, & fomniorum primus intelligentiam condidit; nihilque ei divini juris humanique incognitum videbatur, adeo ut etiam fterilitatem agrorum ante multos annos providerit: periiffetque omnis Ægyptus fame; nifi monitu ejus rex edicto fervari per multos annos fruges jufliffet. Juft. Lib. 36. Cap. 6.

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Nor is it difficult to think, how a Heathen should come at a Sight of that Book, or at least a Relation out of it. For Trogus Pompeius, who wrote the Hiftory which Juftin epitomifed, was a Retainer in the Family of the great Pompey, who conquered Judea; and therefore in the Expedition of his Mafter there, without Doubt he picked up this imperfect Relation of the Jews, either by reading their Books, and afterwards forgetting or mistaking them; or by mixing the true Hiftory, with the fabulous Reports of fome neighbouring Gentiles. So that, in fhort, the Scripture-Hiftory muft regulate his Report; and then fee how finely this does agree with it. He makes the Jewish Original to be from Damafcus, and that Abraham was King of that Place; where Arathe, the Wife of Syrss, one of their ancient Kings, was worshiped: That after Damafcus, who gave Name to the City, fucceeded Azelus, and then Adores, and then Abraham and Ifrael, which Ifrael divided his Kingdom among his ten Sons, but made them all to be called Jews from his Son Judah: That Jofeph was Ifrael's youngest Son, and that Mofes was Son to him: That the Jews were driven out of Egypt for being scabby; that they were followed after by the Egyptians, becaufe they had ftol'n fome of their Sacra, and that the Ægyptians were forced to return Home by a Tempest: That they were forced to faft feven Days in the Defarts of Arabia, which occafioned the Inftitution of the Sabbath: That the Memory of their being drove out of Agypt for their Scabbinefs, made it a Part of their Religion not to converfe with Strangers, left the Knowledge of their Infirmity fhould render them contemptible: That Mofes's Son's Name was Arvas, (i. e.) Aaron, who was an Egyptian Prieft, who afterwards fucceeded Mofes in the Kingdom; and from hence came the Custom, that the Jewish Kings were always Priests.

Now what a foolish and contradictious Account of the Jewish Hiftory is this Report of Justin? Who ever heard of the Names of Azelus and Adores in the Jewish Story? When was such a Goddess as Arathe worshiped generally by the Jews, who were always fam'd for the Wor

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