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tliat ncWitions were made by Ezra ; tliefe additions miift 

 liave been cither of important or trivial matters. On the 

 firll fuppoikion, the difficulty already ftated recurs ; and if 

 the important fafls are true, what polfible motive could have 

 induced E/.ra to make additions of no importance ? Befidc?, 

 if any ancient writings were extant, Ezra mud either copy 

 after them, which deltroys the prefent fuppofition ; or differ 

 from and oppofe them, which would betray him. If therd 

 were no fuch ancient writings, the people would be led to 

 enquire with regard to matters of importance, for what 

 rtafon Ezra was fo particular in things of which there was 

 i'alaTce'oecurs amonTthe Pagans, of a body of laws framed neither any memory, nor account in "writing Should it be 

 at once and remaining invariable ; whereas the body politic faid, that the people did not regard w-hat Ezra had thus 

 of the Ifra 

 prefeived 

 under many 



an inllance a.... — i , „ a i, rir iiu l ii i- j 



opinion which they entertained of the great importance of or all of thefe, would have been a check upon him, and a 

 their law. In fliort, of all the fiflions or forgeries, that can fecurity againlt hnn in matters of importance. If we fup 



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fc-rvance of it by the Jews fcattered through all the king- 

 doms of the world. Should it be faid, tliat other nations 

 have afcribed divine authority to their lawgivers, and fub- 

 mitted to very fevere laws, it may be alledged in reply, that 

 the pretences of lawgivers amongil the Pagans to infpiration, 

 and the fubmilTion of the people, may be accounted tor from 

 their peculiar cireumftances at the lime, without recurring 

 to real infpiration ; and more efpecially, if we admit the pa- 

 triarchal revelations related by Mofcs, and his own divine 

 legation; as heathen lawgivers copied after thefe, and hence 

 we derive a (Irong argument in their favour. Befides, no 



happen among any people, the moll improbable is that of 

 the Jcwifh body of civil laws, and it feems to be utterly im- 

 polTible in the cafe of the law of Mofes. 



If we furttisr examine the hiftorj' contained in the books 

 of Jonma, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, 

 and Nehemiah, and extending from the death of Mofcs 

 to the re-ellabli(liment of the Jews after the Babylonilli cap- 

 tivity by Ezra and Nehcmiali, we fliall find a variety of im- 

 portant fac\s, moil of which mud be fuppofod to leave fuch 

 vedi^es of themfelves, either external and vifible, or internal 

 in the minds and memories of the people, as would verify 

 them if tr\ie, or caufe them to be rejected, if falfe. The 

 conqued of the land of Canaan, the divifion of it, and the 

 appointment of cities for the prieds and Levites by Jofhna ; 

 the frequerjt flaveries of the Ifraelites to the neighbouring 

 kings, and their deliverance by the judges ; the creation ot 

 a kingdom by Samuel; the tranflation of this kingdom from 

 Saul's family to David, with his conqueds ; the glory of 

 Solomon's kingdom ; the building of the temple ; the divi- 

 fion of tlie kingdom ; the idolatrous worfliip fet up at Dan 

 and Bellicl ; the captivity of the Ifraelites by the kings of 

 Ad'vria ; tlie captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar ; the 

 dedruftioii of their temple ; their return under Cyrus, re- 

 building the temple under Darius Hyllafpis, and re-eilablifli- 

 ment under Artaxerxes Longimanus, by Ezra and Nehe- 

 miah ; — thefe events are fome of them the mod glorious, and 

 fome of them the mod reproachful, that can happen to any 

 people. How can we reconcile forgeries of fuch oppofite 

 kinds, and efpecially as they are interwoven together by va- 

 rious complicated and neceflary connections, which do not ad- 

 mil of fcparation ? The facls, indeed, are of fucli inportancc, 

 notoriety, and permanency in their effecls, that no particular 

 perfons among the Ifraelites could firll projecl the defign of 

 feigning them, that their own people would not concur with 

 fuch a defign, and that neighbouring nations would not per- 

 mit the ficlion to pafs. Nothir.g but the invincible evidence 

 of the faftf, here alleged, couid induce a jealous nuihitude 



pofe thefe books, indead of having been lorged at once, to 

 have been forged lucceflively, at the interval of one, two, or 

 three centuries after the fadls related, we fliall involve our- 

 felves in the fame or fimilar difficulties. Upon the whole, 

 then, we may conclude, that the forgery of the annals of the 

 Ifraelites appears to be impofllble, as well as thatot the body 

 of their civil laws. It is needlefs to examine the books of 

 Efther, Job, the Pfalms, Proverbs, Eccleliades, and Can- 

 tides ; and we might proceed to the Prophecies. But this 

 fubjeiit will be relumed under the article Prophecy. For 

 the importance of the fubjeCls, comprehended in the books 

 of the New Tcllament ; fee Testament, and Chris- 

 tianity. 



We fliall here fiabjoin fome general evidences in atteftation 

 to the importance of the books of Scripture. That Jews 

 and Chridians have thought their facred books very highly 

 important, mod genuine, and true, appears from the perle- 

 cutions and fufferings which they have undergone on account 

 of their attachment to them, and becaufe they would not be 

 prevailed upon to iurrender them. The prelervation of the 

 law of Moles, probably the firll book written in any lan- 

 guage, whilll many others of a later date have been loll, 

 ihews the gre;it regard that has been paid to it ; and from 

 this circumdance we may infer, that this and the other books 

 of the Old Tcllament have been prcferved on account of 

 their importance, or from fome other caufe, equally evincing 

 their gtnuinenefs and truth. The great importance of thele 

 books appears alfo from the many early tranflations and pa- 

 raphrafcs of tliem ; and thefe tranflations and paraphrafes 

 leem to correct errors that are unavoidable in the lapfe of 

 time, and to fecnrc their integrity and purity. The hefita- 

 tion and difficulty with which fome few books of the New 

 Tedament were received into the canon, Ihew the great care 

 and concern of the primitive Chridians about the canon, and 

 the high importance of the books admitted into it ; and 

 afTord a drong evidence of their genuinenefs and truth. The 

 fame obfervat'.on is in a degree applicable to the Jewifli canon. 



amongil the Ifraelites or neighbouring nations to acquicfce. Moreover, the religious hatred and animofity which fubfided 



Tiiis mud be acknowledged upon the fuppofition that the 

 feveral books were publiflied in or near the times when the 

 fails that are recorded in them happened. But fuppofe all 

 thefe hidorical books forged by Ezra ; — the hypothcfis is 

 evidently impoffible. Things fo important and notorious, 

 fo 1 onourable and fo reproachful to the people^ for whofe 

 fake they were forged, would have been rejecled with the 



between the Jews and Samaritans, and between feveral of the 

 ancient feds among the Chridians, convince us of what im- 

 portance they all thought their lacred books, and difpoftd 

 them to watch over one another with a jealous eye. 



Farther, the genuinenefs of the books of the Old and New 

 Tedaments may be evinced from the language, dyle, and 

 manner of writiiie: ufed in them. The Hebrew language, in 



utmoft. indignation, unlefs there were the llronged and mod which the Old Tedament was written, being the lann-uage 

 gei uine traces of thefe things already amongd the people, of an ancient people, who had httle intercourfe with^'their 

 3'hey muft therefore, in part at lead, be true. If it be faid neighbours, would not change fo faft as modern lanTua-^e* 



have 



