to conceal from whence they were originally taken, and to gain them the better acceptance amongst those for whofe ufe the Books containing them were defigned by their Authors. And when the Remembrance of God's Dealings with paft Ages began to fail, and the ways of Humane Conveyance were fo uncertain, it was requifite that fome infallible Account fhould be given of Gods Difpenfations, and his Communications of himself in the first Ages, which might be transmitted down to Pofterity, unto the End of the World.

CHA P. II.

The Promulgation of the Scriptures.

TH

He End and Defign of a Revelation from Heaven, must be for the Good of Mankind, and therefore, it was neceffary that it fhould be known and promulged in the World; and that Revelation which has been known to most Nations, and farthest divulged, carries another Evidence of its Divine Authority. For fince it is neceffary there. fhould be fome Divine Revelation, it is likewife neceffary that it fhould be fufficient to the Ends for which it was defigned; and it

was

was revealed, not to be concealed, or confined to a few Perfons, but to rectifie the Mistakes, and regulate the Manners of Men; and therefore that which has been moft known, and fartheft propagated, we have reason to think to be a true Revelation. If every thing else concurr to prove it true, the very Promulgation of it is a confiderable Evidence in proof of its Divine Authority Because it is not to be fuppofed that God would either fuffer his own Revelation to be fo ftifled and fupprefs'd, as to become of little or no use and benefit to the World, or that he would permit false Revelations to be more known and divulged; either of which would very ill confift with the Intention of Revealing his Will to Mankind.

It has been already proved, That it is not to be expected that God fhould Reveal him-' felf to every Man in particular; and it could not be requifite that he fhould afford a conftant and ftanding Revelation in all Nations of the World. For if Mankind be fufficiently provided for in the Neceffaries of Salvation, this is all which in Reason can be expected from a Juft and Good God to finful and perverse Man. If Men be put in the Ready Way of Salvation, and have fufficient Means allowed them to attain it; all beyond this is the meer arbitrary effect of Infinite Goodnefs, and depends wholly upon the good Pleafure of God, being more than we could

e

promife

1

promise our felves from his Juftice, or, by Reason, foresee from his Mercy it felf. And his Wisdom fo orders and difpofes the Effects and Emanations of his Mercy, as to render them confiftent with his Juftice and Honour, as He is Governor of the World.

And if, in the first Ages, Revelations were frequent, and generally known amongst all Mankind, till by their own fault and neglect they were with-holden from them; it was the great Mercy of God, afterwards, to con tinue to those Nations, who had defpifed and rejected him, an opportunity of knowing his Will revealed to others: And this God was pleased to do, by appointing a chofen Seed, and felecting to himself a peculiar People to bear his Name before the Nations; and, by the various Difpenfations of his Providence, he fo difpofed of that People, that all Nations might be inftructed in the things revealed and delivered to them.

First then, I fhall fhew, That in the first Ages of the World, the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind.

Secondly, That in fucceeding Ages there has still been fufficient Means and frequent Opportunities for all Nations to come to the Knowledge of it,

1. In the first Ages of the World, the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind. And here we must have recourfe to

the

the Hiftory of the Bible; fince it is acknowledged by all learned Men to be fo much the ancienteft Book,which can give us an Account of Religion, in the World. For unless we will reject all Hiftory, and believe nothing related of Ancient Times, we must take our Accounts from fuch Books as treat of them: And till, by the Method propofed, I have proved the Bible to be of Divine Authority, Ì fhall alledge it only as an Hiftorical Relation of Things paft; in which respect, it would be unreasonable to deny it that credit which is allowed to other Books of that nature. And this is all that is now defired, in order to the clearing of what I am at prefent upon; which is to fhew, That nothing requifite to a true Revelation is wanting to the Scriptures; and therefore, that they have been fufficiently promulged and made known to the World.

;

In the Beginning of the World, God was pleased to create but one Man, and one Woman, and to people the Earth from them which muft exceedingly tend both to the preservation of Order and Obedience amongst Men, and to the retaining of the Knowledge of God, and of his Ways and Dealings with the first Parents of Mankind. But if Multitudes had been created, and the Earth had been peopled at once, the natural effect of this had been Ambition and Strife, Confufion and Ignorance For as the Inhabitants of the

World

World multiplied, fo did all Sin and Wickednefs encrease; though all defcended from the fame Parents, and these Parents lived to fee many Generations of their Off-fpring, and to inftruct and admonish them; which, if any thing could have done it, must have kept up a sense of God and Religion amongst Men. Adam himself performed the Office of a Father, a Prieft, and a King, to his Children; and the Office and Authority of these three descended upon the Heads of Families, in the feveral Generations and Succeffions of Kingdoms amongst his Posterity: For that the fame Perfon was both King and Prieft in the earlier Ages of the World, we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations; and it was fo likewise amongst the Jews, till God had appointed an Order and Succeffion, of the Priesthood in one Tribe: and therefore Efau is filed a profane Perfon, -Omnéfas for felling his Birth-right; because the Priestprimogenitos Noe, hood went along with it, Heb. xii. 16. donec fa

cerdotio fungeretur Aaron fuiffe Pontifices (Hebrai tradunt.) Hieronym. Quæftion, feu Tradit. Hebraic. in Genef.

By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood, we are affured, that God was pleased, at firft, to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind; and even to the Wicked, as to Cain, whofe Punishment it afterwards was to be hid from the face of the Lord, and driven out from his pre

fence,