THE DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. BOOK V. SECTION I. HAVING now examined the CHARACTER of the Jewish People, and the TALENTS of their Lawgiver, I come next to consider the NATURE of that Policy, which by his ministry was introduced amongst them. For in these two enquiries I hope to lay a strong and lasting foundation for the support of the third general proposition, That the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments is not to be found in, nor did make part of the Mosaic Dispensation. We find amongst this people a Policy differing from all the Institutions of mankind; in which the two Societies, civil and religious, were perfectly incorporated, with GOD ALMIGHTY, AS A TEMPORAL GOVERNOR, at the head of both. The peculiar administration attending so singular a frame of Government hath always kept it from the knowledge of superficial observers, Christian writers, by considering Judaism as a Religious policy only, or a Church; and Deists, as a Civil policy only, or a State; have run into infinite mistakes concerning the reason, the nature, and the end of its laws and institutions. And, on so partial a view of it, no wonder that neither have done justice to this amazing Economy. Let us suppose, the famous picture of the female centaur by Zeuxis, where two different Natures were so admirably incorporated, that the passage from one to the other, às Lucian tells us,* became insensible; let us, I say, suppose this picture to have been placed before two competent judges, yet in such different points of view, that the one could see only the brutal, the other the human part; would not the first have thought it a beautiful horse, and the second, as beautiful a • Τὴν θήλειαν δὲ ἵππου γε τῆς καλλίστης, οἷαι μάλιστα αἱ Θετταλαί εἰσιν, ἀδμῆτες, ἔτι καὶ ἄβατοι· τὸ δ ̓ ἄνω ἡμίτομον, γυναικὸς, πάγκαλον, καὶ ἡ μίξις δὲ, καὶ ἡ ἁρμογὴ τῶν σωμάτων, καθὸ συνάπτεται καὶ συνδεῖται τῷ γυναικείῳ τὸ ἱππικὸν, ἠρέμα, καὶ οὐκ ἀθρόως μεταβαίνουσα, καὶ ἐκ προσαγωγῆς τρεπομένη, λανθάνει τὴν ὄψιν ἐκ θατέρου, εἰς тd ÉTEрov væayoμérn.—Zeuxis, cap. vi. tom. i. p. 843, edit. Reitzii, Amst. 4to, 1743. woman; and would not each have given the creature supposed to be represented such functions as he judged proper to the species in which he ranked it? But would not both of them have been mistaken; and would not a sight of the whole have taught them to rectify their wrong judgments? as well knowing that the functions of such a compounded animal, whenever it existed, must be very different from those of either of the other, singly and alone. From such partial judges of the LAW therefore, little assistance is to be expected towards the discovery of its true nature. Much less are we to expect from the Jewish Doctors: who, though they still keep sheltered, as it were, in the ruins of this august and awful Fabric; yet patch it up with the same barbarity of taste, and impotence of science, that the present Greeks are wont to hide themselves amongst the mouldering monuments of Attic power and politeness. Who, as our travellers inform us, take a beggarly pride in keeping up their claim to these wonders of their Ancestors' magnificence, by white-washing the Parian marble with chalk, and incrusting the porphyry and granate with tiles and potsherds. But least of all shall we receive light from the fantastic visions of our English Cocceians; * who have sublimed the crude nonsense of the Cabalists, so long buried in the dull amusement of picking Mysteries out of letters, into a more spiritual kind of folly; a quintessence well defecated from all the impurities of sense and meaning. Therefore, to understand the nature of the Jewish Economy, we must begin with this truth, to which every page of the five books of Moses is ready to bear witness, That the separation of the Israelites was in order to preserve the doctrine of the UNITY, amidst an idolatrous and polytheistic World. The necessity of this provision shall be shewn at large hereafter. At present we only desire the Deist would be so civil as to suppose there might possibly be a sufficient cause. But now, because it is equally true, that this separation was fulfilling the promise made to ABRAHAM their Father; these men have taken occasion to represent it as made for the sake of a FAVOURITE PEOPLE. And then again, supposing such a partial distinction to be inconsistent with the divine attributes, have ventured to arraign the LAW itself of imposture. But this representation of the fact is both unjust and absurd. They cannot deny but it might be God's purpose, at least, that it became his goodness, to preserve the doctrine of the UNITY amidst an idolatrous world. But this (we know by the event) could never be effected but by a separation of one part from the rest. Nor could The followers of Hutchinson. volume of "the Divine Legation." In the ninth book. * See the first such a separation be made any, otherwise than by bringing that part under God's peculiar protection: The consequence of which were GREAT TEMPORAL BLESSINGS. Now as some one People must needs be selected for this purpose, it seems most agreeable to our ideas of divine Wisdom, which commonly effects many ends by the same means, to make the blessings attendant on such a selection, the reward of some high exalted virtue in the progenitors of the chosen People. But therefore to object that they were chosen as Favourites, is both unjust and absurd. The separation was made for the sake of Mankind in general; though one People became the honoured instrument, in reward of their Forefathers' virtues. And this is the language of those very Scriptures which, as they pretend, furnish the objection. Where God, by the Prophet Ezekiel, promises to restore the Israelites, after a short dispersion through the Countries, to their own land, he declares this to be the end of their separation: "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the LORD GOD, I DO NOT THIS FOR YOUR SAKES, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL, BUT FOR MINE HOLY NAME'S SAKE, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name which was profaned amongst the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the LORD GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." What GOD himself says of the PEOPLE, St. Paul says of their LAW: "Wherefore then serveth the Law? ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS; till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made." It was added, says the Apostle. To what? To the patriarchal Religion of the UNITY. To what end? Because of transgressions, i. e. the transgressions of polytheism and idolatry; into which, the rest of mankind were already absorbed, and the Jews at that time, hastening apace; and from which, there was no other means of restraining them, than by this ADDITION; an addition that kept them separate from all others, and preserved the doctrine of the UNITY till the coming of the promised seed. IT WAS But another thing offends the Deists: they cannot understand, let the end of this choice be what it would, why GOD should prefer so perverse and sottish a People, to all others. One reason hath been given already; that it was for the sake of their Forefathers, and to fulfill the promise made to the Patriarchs. But others are not wanting; and those very agreeable to the ideas we have of infinite Wisdom; such, for instance, as this, That the EXTRAORDINARY PROVIDENCE, by which they were blessed and protected, might become the more visible and illustrious. For had they been endowed with the • Ezek. xxxvi. 22, 23. book. † Gal. iii. 19. ↑ See note A, at the end of this shining qualities of the more polished nations, the effects of that providence might have been ascribed to their own power or wisdom. Their impotence and inability, when left to themselves, is finely represented in the Prophet Ezekiel, by the similitude of the vine-tree: Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is amongst the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon ?—Therefore thus saith the Lord God, As the vine-tree amongst the trees of the forest," &c.* For as the vine, which, with cultivation and support, is the most valuable of all trees, becomes the most worthless, when left neglected in its own natural state: so the Jews, who made so superior a figure under the particular protection of GOD, when, for their sins, that protection was withdrawn, became the weakest and most contemptible of all tributary nations. The Poet VOLTAIRE indeed has had a different revelation. "The pride of every individual amongst the Jews" (says he) "is interested in believing, that it was not their DETESTABLE POLICY, their ignorance in the arts, and their unpoliteness, which destroyed them; but that it is God's anger which yet pursues them for their idolatries.” † This DETESTABLE POLICY (for so, with the free insolence of impiety, characteristic of these times, he calls the MOSAIC INSTITUTION) was a principle of independency: this ignorance in the arts prevented the entrance of luxury; and this unpoliteness hindered the practice of it. And yet parsimony, frugality, and a spirit of liberty, which naturally preserve other States, all tended, in the ideas of this wonderful Politician, to destroy the Jewish. Egypt was long lost for want of a spirit of independency; Greek sunk by its knowledge in the arts; and Rome was ruined by its politeness: yet Judæa suffered for the want of all these causes of destruction. Is not this more than a thousand topical arguments, to prove, that they were ruined by nothing but by their idolatries, which brought down GOD's vengeance upon them? But any contrivance will serve a Poet, any argument will satisfy a Freethinker, to keep a GOD and his providence at a distance. And that the PEO PLE were as DETESTABLE as their POLICY, the same Poet, the virtu ous Voltaire assures us-"We do not find" (says he) "throughout the whole annals of the HEBREW PEOPLE one generous action. They are utter strangers both to hospitality, to beneficence, and to clemency. Their sovereign-good is the practice of Usury, with all but their own nation. And this disposition, the principle of all baseness, is so inrooted in their hearts, that Usury is the constant object of the figures they employ in that species of eloquence which ⚫ Ezek. xv. 2, 3, 6. "L'orgueil de chaque Juif est intéressé à croire que ce n'est point sa DETESTABLE POLITIQUE, son ignorance des arts, sa grossiereté, qui l'a perdu ; mais que c'est la colere de Dieu qui le punit."- Rem. ix. sur les Pensées de Pascal. is peculiar to them. Their glory is to lay waste with fire and sword, such paltry villages as they were just able to storm: They cut the throats of the old men and children, and reserve from slaughter only the marriageable virgins. They assassinate their masters when they are slaves. They are incapable of pardoning when they conquer. THEY ARE THE FOES OF ALL MANKIND." * Such is the strong colouring of our MORAL PAInter. He has dipt his pencil in sulphur to delineate with horns and tails, these chosen instruments of God's vengeance on a devoted Nation, overrun with UNNATURAL LUST and brutish Idolatry; for to their destruction, the murders, the rapine, and the violations here charged upon the Hebrew People, allude. For the rest, it is so much below all criticism, that one is almost ashamed to touch upon it. Otherwise, we might observe, that, in his rage, he hath confounded the character of the ancient HEBREWS with that of the modern Jews, two people as much unlike as the ancient Franks to modern Frenchmen.-We might be merry with the nonsense, of Usury's being the object of their figures of eloquence; which yet is not more ridiculous in the thought than absurd in the expression: his meaning, I suppose, being, that their figures of eloquence are formed from, and alluded to, the circumstances attending their practice of Usury. But the affair grows more serious, as we proceed with our General Historian; and we shall find that this unhappy People, however they 'may stand with their God, certainly, at present, for some reason or other, lye under the Poet's curse. And from his uncommon knowledge of their Usury and their eloquence, I should suspect, he had lately been transacting some money-matters with them, and had been not only out-witted but out-talked too into the bargain. دو As to their HATRED OF ALL MANKIND, (the chopping-block of infidelity) we have it over again, and more at large, in another place. "You are (says he to his reader) "struck with that hatred and contempt, which all people have always entertained for the Jewish Nation. It is the unavoidable consequence of THEIR LEGISLATION; which reduced things to the necessity, that either the Jews must enslave the whole world, or that they, in their turn, must be crushed and destroyed. IT WAS COMMANDED them to hold all other People in abhorrence, and to think themselves polluted if they had eat in the "On ne voit dans toutes les Annales du peuple Hebreu aucune action généreuse. Ils ne connaissent ni l' hospitalité, ni la liberalité, ni la clémence. Leur souverain bonheur est d'exercer l'usure avec les étrangers; et cet esprit de l'usure, principe de toute lacheté, est tellement enraciné dans leurs cœurs, que c'est l'object continuel des figures, qu'ils employent dans l'espece d'eloquence, qui leur est propre. Leur gloire est de mettre à feu et à sang les petits villages, dont ils peuvent s'emparer. Ils égorgent les vieillards et les enfans; ils ne réservent que les filles nubiles; ils assassinent leurs Maitres quand ils sont esclaves; ils ne savent jamais pardonner quand ils sont Vainqueurs; ILS SONT LES ENNEMIS DU GENRE HUMAIN."-Addit. à l'Hist. Generale, p. 30. |