Mr. Blount's oracles of reason examined and answered in nine sections in which his many heterodox opinions are refuted, the Holy Scriptures and revealed religion are asserted against deism & atheism / by Josiah King ...

ANSWER.

We know nothing for certain concerning the Institution of Divine Worship but from Moses. And from him, (Gen. 4. ver. 26.) we learn, That Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord in the Days of Enos. That is, The number of Families increasing in the Days of Enos, they appointed more Publick Places for God's Service, in which at set Times they might together, and in a more solemn Con∣gregation, worship their great Creator. This is the Sense of the Chaldeo Interpreter, and approved by our present most Reverend Arch-Bishop in his Discourse of Idolatry, p. 40.

Josephus in the first Book of his Antiqui∣ties, Chap. 4. says,

That for seven Gene∣rations Men persevered in Worshipping the true God, and had a regard to Vertue; but in process of Time Men degenerated and for∣sook 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Institutions of their Ancestors.

If this seems otherwise to Mr. Blount, it is not to be wondered at, since, p. 17. he positively affirms, That it is evident that the five Books of Moses were written by ano∣ther Hand after his decease.

That Moses was instituted in the Egyptian Learning we readily grant; he was accounted but some of the Gentiles an Egyptian Priest; but the same cannot be affirmed of Abraham. Josephus is very plain, when in the first Book of his Antiquities, Chap. 9. he asserts, That the Egyptians learned all the Knowledge they had in Arithmetick and Astronomy from Abra∣ham.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. When Abraham came into Egypt he taught the Egyptians Astronomy and Arith∣metick, of which they were ignorant before. So that the Knowledge of these Sciences came first from the Chaldeans to the Egyptians, and from them to the Greeks.

Whether Moses and the Jews took Cir∣cumcision from the Egyptians, hath been a Subject of great Dispute. The well known place in Herodotus seems to me to say so much, although our late great Critick, Bisnagius, in his Exerc. Hist. Critic. (p. 119.) will by no means grant it. Grotius in his Annotations on the 1st Book of the Truth of Christ Religion, cites Herodotus at large, and chargeth Herodotus with reporting an Untruth. He doth not de∣ny but that Herodotus says, that the Jews con∣fess, that they learned the Rite of Circumcisi∣on from the Jews: but he says Herodotus did them an Injury in saying so. Tantum vero abest

(says Grotius) ut Judaei fassi sunt unquam ab Ae∣gyptiis se accepisse hunc ritum, ut contra aperte dicunt Aegyptios ab Josepho didicisse circumcidi; 'Tis so far from Truth, that the Jews should confess that they received this Rite from the Egyptians; that on the contrary they boldly affirm that the Egyptians learned Circumcisi∣on from Joseph. And for this Grotius in the place cited refers to Authorities.

What Mr. Blount writes concerning Josephus, the Historian, is of no moment. Josephus in the 8th. Book of his Antiquities, ch. 4. cites this place of Herodotus. He cites the same place also in his first Book against Apian. Neither doth he deny in those places what Herodotus af∣firms, but is altogether silent: of which Si∣lence, Bisnagius Exerc. Hist. Crit. p. 120. gives a good Account:

Because (saith he) Josephus had long before express'd his Opinion of the Original of Circumcision, lib. 1. Antiq. c. 11.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

God commanded that the Posterity of Abra∣ham should be circumcised, that they might keep themselves a part, and separate from all others. And Josephus to the same purpose, lib. 1. c. 22. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

Abraham being an hun∣dred years old, when Isaac was born, who was circumcised the eighth day:

And the same custom is continued for the Circumcision of

Children, after the same number of days.

From which it necessarily follows, That Jose∣phus his Opinion of Circumcision, was very diffe∣rent from that of Herodotus: He says the Jews had it from the Egyptians; Josephus says, they had it from God, and that they might be distin∣guish'd from other Nations; and consequently Circumcision was among the Jews long before the Egyptians had it. So that Mr. Blount may justly be accused of Incogitancy, and of not Reading the Authors he cites.

Of this Opinion, or not much differing from it, was Photius, that Learned Patriarch of Con∣stantinople, in his 205th. Ep. to Theod. Hegumenos. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.

The Circumcision of Abraham and his Posterity, was instituted as an Emblem of Restraint from Incestuous Copulations:

The Chaldeans did lie with their Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters, by a wicked and abominable Custom. Wherefore that nei∣ther Abraham, nor his Posterity should be pol∣luted with these their wicked Practices, God instituted Circumcision. The circumcising his own Flesh, importing the dividing and avert∣ing him from those of his Consanguinity, or Affi∣nity, in respect of Conjugal Conversation. Whereas the Chaldeans Impurity and Incest, continued a long while after Abraham's time, without either Fear or Shame.

And here it must not pass unobserv'd, That Mr. Blount makes use of the same Method, that the profest Enemies of Christianity did of old.

Julian the Apostate affirmed that the Jews learned to Circumcise from the Egyptians; as we are told by St. Cyril, Book the Tenth, contra Julianum, p. 354. And Celsus affirms the same thing; to whom Origen, Lib. 2. p. 17. returns this Answer, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. That Abraham was the first of all Mankind that was Circumci∣sed.