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Forty Years, done before the eyes, and obvious to every fenfe of fo many thousands of People, be not a plain demonstration, that the Matter of Fact, in all the circumfances of it neceflary to prove Mofes to have acted by God's immediate Authority and Commiffion, was at first fufficiently attefted; it is impoffible that any thing can be cer tainly teftified.lo wavbf

We fee how impoffible it was for Mofes to impofe upon the People of Ifrael in things of this nature; if he could have been fo far forfaken of all Reason and common Sense, as to hope to do it. But if he had defigned to put any deceit upon them, he would certainly have taken another courfe; he would have done his Miracles privately, and but seldom, pot in the midst of all the People, for Forty Years together: he would never have made two Nations, at the firft, Witneffes to them; and then have proceeded in fuch a manner, as that every Mam among the Ifraelites must have known them to be falfe, if they had been fo: he would have chofen fuch Inftances to fhew his Miracles in, as fhould have provoked no body; not fuch as muft have enraged the whole People against him, by the death of fo many thoufands, fo often put to death, if they had been flain by any other means than by the Almighty Hand of God, And indeed, what could deftroy fo many, fo irresistibly, fo fuddenly and visibly, but the Divine Power?

And

And what could be the Defign and Intent of fuch Miracles, but to fulfil the Will of God, and make his Power to be known, and his Authority acknowledged, in the Laws which were delivered in his Name, and which were fo often affronted and tranfgreffed by these Sinners, against their own Souls? At their going out of Egypt, by a miraculous Provi dence,there was not one feeble perfon among their tribes; but upon their tranfgreffions, they were punished by Difeafes as miraculous.

We have other Evidence (as I have before obferved) that Mofes had no defign to delude the People of Ifrael, from the Meekness of his Difpofition, from his discovering his own Faults and Infirmities in his Writings, and from his not advancing his Family, but leaving his Pofterity in a private condition, and putting the Government into the hands of Jofua, one of the Tribe of Ephraim. But when all the People of Ifrael were Witneffes to fo many Miracles wrought by him, and particularly to fo ftrangea Judgment as the cleaving asunder of the Earth, and the Fire and Plague by which fo many thousands perished; we need not infift upon any other Proof to fhew that the Miraculous Power and Divine Authority by which Mofes acted and wrote, was as well attefted, and as fully known to the whole People of Ifrael, as it is poffible for any Matter of Fact to be known to any fingle Perfon.

2. Having

2. Having fhewn, That the Matters of Fact

and Miracles contained in the Books of Mes

as they are related to have been done, were at firft fufficiently attefted; and that, if we may credit that Relation, all the Miracles there mention'd were certainly wrought by him; fince they are, of that nature, that the People of Ifrael could not be deceived in them: I now proceed to fhew, That the Relations there fet down, are a true Account of those things, and fuch as we may depend upon, For if these Matters of Fact or Miracles are either feigned or falfified, this must be done, either in Mofes's his time, or afterwards; and if in his time, then either by Mofes and Aaron, with others who were concerned in carrying on the Defign, or by the whole People of Ifrael together. And if it were done after Mofes his death, then again it must be done. either by fome particular Man, or by the contrivance of fome few or more together; or it must have been by the joint Knowledge and Confent of the whole Nation, I will therefore prove, (1.) That the Miracles could not be feigned by Mofes and Aaron, and others concerned with them in carrying on fuch a Defign. (2.) The Miracles could not be feigned, nor the Books of Mofes invented or fallified by any particular Man, or by any Confederacy or Combination of Men, after the death of Mofes. (3.) The Miracles could not be feigned, nor the Books invented or falfified

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fified by the joint Confent of the whole Nation, either in Mofes's time, or after it.

1. These Things could not be feigned by Mofes and Aaron, and others concerned with them in carrying on fuch a Defign." It is plain, that they could never invent fuch an Account as that of their miraculous Escape out of Egypt, and their Travelling in the Wilder+ nefs, under the conduct and fupport of the fame miraculous Power, and then impofe it upon the People of Ifrael for Truth. For the People are supposed to be chiefly concerned in the whole Relation. Mofes appeals to their own fenfe and experience; The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even with us, who are all of us here alive this day, Deut. v. 3. And know you this day: for I Speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not feen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his ftretched-out arm, and his miracles, and his acts which he did in the midft of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horfes, and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red-feato overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath deftroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the fons of Eliab, the fon of Reuben; how the earth opened her mouth and Swal

fwallowed them up, and their houfholds, and their tents, and all their fubftance that was in their pofJeffron in the midst of all Ifrael. But your eyes have feen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did, Deut. xi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Here is a Recapitulation of all the Miracles that had been wrought, with an Appeal to their Senfes for the Truth of them: And Mofes would never have made fuch Appeals as thefe, if they could poffibly have difproved him; they could never be perfuaded that they came out of Egypt, after fo many Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians,to procure their Deliverance, if there had been no fuch thing, or that they were fo long time in the Wilderness, and that fo many Miracles were wrought and fo great in their fight, if they had never been done before them. Though Men may, perhaps, be perfuaded to believe, that their Ancestors, a long time ago, faw and heard things which they never faw nor heard, yet a whole Nation was never fuppofed to have been perfuaded out of their Senfes at once: and Mofes could not attempt to make fo many Men believe what they must all have known to have been falfe, as well as himself, if it had been fo; but he would have laid the Scene at a greater diftance of time, and not have brought those in as chiefly concerned in the whole bufinefs, who were then alive and prefent to convince him of falfhood: And therefore, if the Particulars fet down in the Pentateuch be falfe,

and