of Moses's way of writing It was Amelius the Platonist that at the same time as he call'd St. John a Barbarian a Title which the Greeks and Romans bestow'd upon all but themselves found in his Gospel the Wisdom of a Philosopher But above all we may see the Footsteps of a Divine and Extraordinary Assistance in the admirable Discourses of our Saviour and the Apostles upon several occasions Let us for instance take a view of our Saviour's last Discourse with the Disciples just before his Death as recorded by St. John chap. 14. c. Turn we again to that of St. Paul about a Future State and a Resurrection to it which is the subject of 1 Cor. 15. See it again in the close and sensible Argumentations of the Author to the Hebrews See it also in the very Digressions which those Holy Pen-men sometimes by breaking off from their Subject in hand for a while do fall upon where we shall find that which is equivalent to what is ordinarily said by the Prophets in the Messages they delivered Thus saith the Lord and what is as expresly said and will as much be found to be of Divine Revelation It was certainly as much an effect of the Divine Power to Direct and Assist and even Inspire those Writers with such sublime Notions such convincing Arguments as it was of the Divine Commission to send the Prophets with Authority to publish the Divine Commands and Decrees And therefore it is a very frivolous Exception which a late Author makes against the Divine Authority of the Apostolical Writings That they consist of long Deductions and Argumentations whereas saith he God doth not reason but command as he did by the Prophets But how often do we find in the Prophets God arguing with the Jews about the Vanity of their Idolatry from the Incomprehensible Perfections of his Nature c. How often using Arguments to convince them of their Immoralities and Impieties How often exhorting them to Repentance and Reformation from the most powerful Considerations And therefore why are the Apostles less inspired for that reason than the Prophets When God speaks to Men and teaches one man by another it is often after the manner of men and therefore as he doth sometimes require absolute Obedience to his Commands so at other times he condescends so far as to shew them the Equity and the Reasonableness of them both equally becoming the Divine Majesty and which are a glorious Instance of the Divine Wisdom conspicuous throughout the Holy Scripture thereby adding both to the Excellency and the Usefulness of it and advancing it in both above any Book in the World And for this take the Word of one who is otherwise no Friend to our Religion or to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures though in contradiction to himself As the Lustre of an Oriental Diamond is more clearly perceived when compared with Counterfeit Stones so Christianity appears in its greatest Glory and Splendor when compared with the Obscurity of Paganism the Deformity of the one serving as a Foil to the other Nor doth the Divinity of the Scriptures ever better appear than when compared with the Follies of the Talmud the Alchoran or the Constitutions of the Heathen Law-givers which is an infallible sign of their Excellence that they so well bear the Test of Comparison Thus 〈◊〉 he IV. General How we prove the Books that are now extant and received by the Christian Church as Canonical to be those very Books that were writ by Persons Inspired Now this will receive a sufficient Answer if we prove 1. That there were once such Books 2. That these are the very Books which were once said to be Canonical and Inspired 3. That these Books are not corrupted so as not to be the Books now which once they were 1. The first of these is not denied by the most violent Adversaries such as Appion was to the Jews and Celsus to the Christians 2. That these are the Books which were heretofore Penn'd by Inspired Persons and received by the Universal Church as such we have as much Evidence as we have or can have for any thing past or distant in time or place from us and which we our selves have not seen And if we call in question the Sufficiency of the Evidence or the Truth of what is proved by it we take away all the Evidence that we can have and the Truth and Certainty of whatever has been or is which we have not seen our selves So that either these are those Books or there is nothing of that kind which we can depend upon 3. These Books are uncorrupted I mean by Design or by Accident If by Design it must either be by Jews Hereticks or those that are called Orthodox 1. If by the Jews that must either be before the time of our Saviour or after it If before they would have certainly been taxed for it by our Saviour and the Apostles who upon all occasions appeal to the Scriptures and yet never charge them with any such Falsifications If they were corrupted by the Jews after our Saviour's time How came they to leave those Prophecies uncorrupted which manifestly and principally prove our Saviour to be the Messiah For surely if they adulterated or expunged or added to the less they would have offered as much violence to the greater But it is eviden◠the Jews were in a high degree superstitious in preserving the Copies of the Scripture sound and entire Or if they would have attempted this how could they do it and not be discovered and challenged for it by the Christians who from that time forward had the Scriptures of the Old Testament in their custody as well as themselves 2. It could not be by the Hereticks because the Scriptures were soon dispersed over all the Christian World and were read both in publick and private and with that Care and Faithfulness that they chose rather to part with their Lives than become Traditores and deliver up their Bibles to be burnt and keeping then so watchful an eye upon them they could not be perverted by their fraudulent Arts but they would soon be observed and complained of especially by those whose Office it was above others to study and preserve them So when Marcion falsified the Text he was presently detected and exposed for it 3. Nor could it be by the Orthodox if any of them were so weak as to think to serve their Cause by it For as to the Old Testament they were as watchfully observed by the Jews as the Jews were by them and both the Copies of the Old and New were so soon and so far dispersed that neither could any one attempt it with any likelihood of success nor all agree in it when impossible to convene for it And therefore when Manichaeus and his Followers pretended the Corruption of the Scripture in their own vindication they could not make out their Charge though provoked by St. Austin c. to it Use We may observe from hence what a Blessing we enjoy above the Ages of Tradition when the knowledge of the Truth was conveyed from hand to hand which so sensibly declined that the Truth was soon turn'd into Fable and that so few Years after the Flood as the time of Terah the greatest part of the World was overrun with Idolatry so that for the retrieving it God drew Abraham out of that infected Mass and enjoined him to set up a Family separated from the rest of the World that out of that he might constitute a Church for his Service But we have that which those Ages wanted a Written and Certain Rule for our Faith and Manners and that so plainly and intelligibly wrote and so compleatly and entirely furnished with all things necessary for us to know in order to the Happiness of another Life that as none in the Christian Church where the Guides and Teachers are faithful to their Flock can be or must unavoidably be ignorant so neither can any person be defective in the knowledge of his Duty or void and destitute of a power of doing what is necessary toward his Happiness unless by his own fault If we keep but to our Rule that is as an Infallible Compass to direct us and we shall never fall short of knowing what God has revealed or of obtaining what he hath promised And here we may farther reflect upon our Happiness in this Church that we have not the Key of Knowledge taken from us and the Truth lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue as in the Church of Rome but plainly and faithfully rendred in our own Language for the Instruction and Edification of all What remains then but that we make this our daily study and labour to acquaint our selves with the Rich Treasures of Useful and Necessary Knowledge contained in those Sacred Repositories and making them as David did a Lamp to our feet and endeavouring to conform our selves in all points to their holy Prescriptions and then we shall most certainly have reason to rejoice in the Comfort of the Promises and with Patience look for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom c. FINIS ERRATA SErmon I. 2 d Edit P. 11. l. 4. r. manner P. 13. l. 21. for only r. wholly Sermon VI. ◠2. Marg. 〈◊〉 IV. P. 10. l. 11. dele both the Comma's P. 25. l. 12. before and after that is dele Serm. V. Luk. 1. ◠Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 15. l. 5. c. 8. Exod. 20. 1 22. Serm. V. p. 12. Acts 17. 28. 1 Cor. 15. 33. Tit. 1. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. Luke 24. 44. V. Josephus con App. l. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 15 16. V. Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 23. c. 24 25. l. 5. c. 8. l. 7. c. 24 c. Phil. 1. 1. 1 2 Thes Lecture V. Amos 7. 14. Luke 21. 14 15. 1 Cor. 2. 1 4. 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Euseb Praepar Theol. Polit c. 8. Anima Mundi Sect. 1. V. Hieron in 6. Isa V. Philo de Egress◠Israel ex Aegypto Irenaus l. 1. c. 29. Tertul contra Marcion l. 5. Epiphan Haer. 42. Aug. de util Cred. c. 3.
D r WILLIAMS's SIXTH SERMON AT Mr. BOYL'S Lecture 1695. The Divine Authority of the Scriptures A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields Sept. 2. 1695. BEING THE Sixth of the LECTURE For the said YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockeâ—ill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey M DC XC VI. HEB. I. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son c. IN these words we have as has been observed 1. A description of Revelation 't is God's speaking or declaring his Will to Mankind 2. The Certainty of that Revelation 't is by way of Declaration God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake c. 3. The Order observed in delivering that Revelation as to Time Manner and Persons In time past by the Prophets and in the last days by his Son 4. The Conclusion and Perfection of that Revelation 't is in the last days by his Son Under the Second I have shewed 1. That there has been such a Revelation 2. That the Scripture is of Divine Revelation and has upon it the Characters belonging to such Revelation For the better disposing of what I had to say under this Head I proposed Four Questions to be resolved viz. Q. 1. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to be true Q. 2. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to have been of Divine Revelation Q. 3. How we can prove the Books of Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration Q. 4. How we prove these Books that are now extant and received by the Christian Church as Canonical to be those very Books I have already Treated of the Two former and shall now take the Two latter into Consideration Where we may observe somewhat as to the Writers and then as to Inspiration 1. As to the Writers of whom we may reckon Three sorts 1. Merely Human such as St. Luke speaks of that out of a good and pious intent took in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which were most surely believed And this may be done without any material Error by Persons duly qualified for it 2. Those that had what they wrote immediately dictated or at least approved by such Persons as were inspired So Eusebius saith that the Gospel of St. Mark was approved by St. Peter and St. Luke's by St. Paul 3. Such as were immediately Inspired in the writing as St. Peter and the rest of the Divine Writers are supposed to have been Now though the first of these may be sufficient in ordinary cases and of good use in the extraordinary where there is no better yet where the Salvation of Mankind is concerned there is somewhat farther necessary and that is that the Persons that write should be assisted and guided by the Holy Spirit of God or write by the direction and approbation of those that are Inspired 2. As to the Inspiration that is Twofold 1. Either when the Matter Words and Order are immediately Dictated by God himself as the Decalogue was and all that was Revealed by Voice for then it was as Discourse with us 2. Or When Persons Selected wrote by Direction or Command from God what was Revealed to them as to the Matter only whether by way of Declaration or Representation In which last case the Persons Inspired took their own way which is the reason of the difference in Style and Phrase between their several Compositions that for example Isaiah writ in a lofty courtly Style and that Amos a Herdsman writ after a more Rustical way So Erasmus saith of St. Luke that he writ in a purer and clearer Style because of his skill in the Greek Tongue Here the Office of the Divine Spirit was to suggest the Matter or to represent the case to assist and supervise so that no Error should be in the Original Copy though he left each to the liberty of their own way in expressing it As if we were to send several Messengers upon the same Errand we deliver the Message to them and tell them what they are to say but leave every one of them to express it as they think fit and as they are able Each of which is a faithful and wise Servant though he keeps not exactly to the very words of his Master and all agree in the drift and substance though they differ in the expression or circumstance So it is in the Evangelists where they all agree in the material parts of the History though they differ often in the words and sometimes perhaps in some minute passages relating to it In one or other of these two senses the Scripture may be said to be wrote by Divine Inspiration that is either by immediate and verbal Suggestion or by Direction And this I shall now endeavour to prove by answering the Third Question viz. Q. 3. How we do prove the Books of Scripture which contain the matter of Revelation to have been of Divine Inspiration In proceeding upon this I shall premise 1. That the proper course for proving the Divine Authority of the Scripture is to begin with the Matter abstracted from the Books as I have already done and then to proceed from thence to the Books And therefore they begin at the wrong end that would disprove the truth of the Revelation or Matter contained in Scripture by such Objections as they make from the Writing and the Books For the Matter stands upon a proof and evidence of its own as I have shewed and will stand though the written Word or Scripture should fail of supporting its own Authority Therefore those that will venture upon disproving the Revelation must in reason begin with the Matter let them there try their skill and call in question the proof by which that is supported But this we have already prevented by having proved the Matter of Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration 2. Though there seems not to be so clear and full a proof for the Inspiration of the Books as there is for the Matter since the Matter has the utmost attestation it is capable of viz. Miracles but there were no Miracles wrought to prove these Books to have been of Divine Inspiration as has been before observed Yet if we prove that the Books were written by Inspired Persons and that what they Wrote is the same with what they Taught it is equivalent and much of the same Force and Authority For what need was there of Miracles to prove the Books to be written by Inspiration when the Persons writing them were Inspired and that what they wrote is the same with what they taught and when what they taught was confirmed by the Miracles
which they wrought Therefore while the Authors were in being there needed no Miracles to prove these Writings to be theirs when they themselves asserted them so to be And after their decease we have as much reason to believe the Scriptures which they wrote to have been of Divine Inspiration as what they taught to be a Revelation both now depending upon the like Evidence that is Testimony as to which we have no more proof of the Matter than we have of the Books 3. From hence it follows That not to believe the Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration is in effect to reject and deny the Revelation therein contained The Scripture being the best and in the present circumstances of Mankind the only means left for the conveyance of it I say in the present circumstances it is the only means for when the circumstances were other than they are now or have been for Sixteen hundred Years and upwards there was then no such absolute need of a written Word When the Instructors of Mankind had their Lives protracted to a vast extent as it was with the Patriarch's of Old or when there were Inspired Persons alive to teach and rectify any mistakes that might arise and disturb the Peace of the Church as it was in the times of the Apostles But when things fell into an ordinary course and that fallible Persons as all afterwards were might mistake in their reports of Doctrine c. and the weak memories of others not retain what they had been taught and that the insincere would wrest what was taught to serve their perverse designs the case being thus alter'd from extraordinary to ordinary so was the means of conveyance And God that committed the Divine Oracles to be taught by Persons whom he thought fit to inspire employed the same Persons to commit that Revelation to writing for the future Preservation of it and the conveying it down safe and intire to Posterity Without which Mankind in these circumstances neither could themselves have been certain of what they were to believe nor could they have sufficiently proved to others what it was they were obliged to receive and to believe as wanting Authentick Monuments and Records for it So that we have sufficient reason to believe that the same Divine Goodness that did make known his Will to Mankind would take the best means and did take the best means for the continuing and preserving it And Scripture being the only means of that kind becomes a Rule of Faith and so is of Authority sufficient to oblige us to receive and obey it If the Matter of Scripture be true and of Divine Inspiration we are obliged by it though the Writing or Book containing it should be only of Human Composition because it is the Doctrine and not the way of delivery that passes the immediate Obligation upon us But when the Book containing that Matter as well as the Matter it self is of Divine Authority and composed by Divine Appointment Direction or Inspiration it obligeth us by vertue of the Composition as well as the Matter and both are to be jointly received as proceeding from one and the same Original and Authority But having asserted this That the Scripture is the only means of conveyance of the Will of God to Mankind and what becomes a Rule of Faith to us it is fit to return to the Question proposed viz. How we can prove the Scripture to have been of Divine Revelation or that those Books so called were wrote by the Direction and Command of God or by Inspiration from him A. 1. I Answer in the same way as before That as there is no Revelation if the Scriptural Revelation be not that Revelation so there is no written Revelation if the Scripture be not that Book and be not Inspired And then we should want the only certain means of conveyance which is Writing or should have been wholly left to the doubtful and uncertain hand of Tradition for the knowledge and preservation of Revelation Now I think this to be an Argument of considerable force for the Divine Authority of Scripture that without this means we should after a Revelation be in effect without a Revelation For so it will be if the Scripture contain not that Revelation and that we have no sufficient Record if that be not the Authentick Record of it But to come nearer the point 2. I Answer That there is as much proof for the Inspiration of the Scripture as the matter is well capable of and as much as is sufficient and if that be so then 't is unreasonable to reject it for they who do so can do it upon no less pretence than that they would have such a proof as the matter is not capable of and more than is sufficient for the proof of it But that there is such a proof for the Divine Authority of Scripture as is sufficient I think will be evident if we shew 1. That the Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired 2. That they were written by Persons Inspired and that were Inspired when they writ them 3. That they are worthy of such Authors and have upon them the Characters of such Inspiration 1. The Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired The Testimony of Persons Inspired is as much a Proof of Inspiration as if it had been a matter they themselves were Inspired with and therefore the Evidence that we have for the Inspiration of such Persons is a sufficient Evidence for the Inspiration they give Testimony to As for instance suppose that we have not as good evidence for the Inspiration of the Old Testament as we have for the New yet if the New doth justify the Inspiration of the Old quotes it as such and bestows that Character upon it then by vertue of such a Testimony we have as good Evidence for the Old as we have for the New The meer Quotation of a Book by an Inspired Person whether as to the Author Words or Matter doth not give the like Authority to that with what he himself doth write by Divine Inspiration for then Aratus and Menander Epimenides and Callimachus who were Heathens and are Quoted by St. Paul would become Inspired Writers But the Scriptures of the Old Testament are cited by our Saviour and the Apostles as the Oracles of God and as Books of Divine Authority and which they produce and appeal to upon all occasions in justification of the Doctrine which they taught So we are told that all Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the whole Scripture as Dionysius Carthus expounds it is given by Inspiration of God And what is meant by the Scripture is no other than what was generally received by the Jewish Church as such and which our Saviour distributes after their manner into the Three known parts viz. The Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms Which division
comprehended in it all the several Books the Prophets containing not only the Books properly so called but also the Historical as written by Inspired Persons and the Psalms containing all the Poetical And they descend yet lower for of the Thirty nine Books of the Old Testament there are very few not above Seven or Eight but what are quoted in the New Testament by Name or for some remarkable Passage and as Books of the same Character So that if we can prove our Saviour to be infallible and the Evangelists and Apostles inspired as we have done before when we proved the Matter revealed by them to have been of Divine Authority at the same time we prove the Scriptures of the Old Testament to be of Divine Inspiration because they had this Testimony and Credit given to them by those that were themselves Infallible and Inspired The like Testimony have we for the Divine Authority of St. Paul 's Epistles by St. Peter who gives them the same Title of Scripture with the Books that were of the Jewish Canon Our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as also the Other Scriptures But though this be a good and sufficient Proof where it may be had yet it is not applicable to all since the last of the Inspired Writers could have no such Evidence as Malachi among the Jews and St. John in the Primitive Church who survived all the rest of the Divine Penmen And therefore where this Proof of the Attestation given to some is wanting as to others we must have recourse to other Arguments that will supply what is deficient The Old Testament has the Testimony of the New to vouch for its Divine Authority but what can thus testify to the New when there is no other Revelation and no Inspired Persons to come after But this will be help'd by the next Evidence which is That 2. The Scriptures were written by Persons Inspired and that were Inspired in the writing of them 1. They were written by Persons Inspired Thereby is meant that whoever were the Authors known or unknown we have yet good and sufficient Evidence that the Penmen were Inspired both as to the Matter and Manner or Way of Writing But this belongs to another place Or that the Authors of those Books were the same that before taught by Inspiration That the Writers of the Old Testament were of this kind we have already proved from the Testimony of the New as far as that is of Authority to verify it And that the Evangelists and Apostles whom we have before proved to be Inspired were the Authors of the Books of the New Testament we have as good Assurance as the Jews had that the Pentateuch was written by Moses or the Psalms by David or that ever there were such Philosophers as Plato and Aristotle or such Physicians as Hippocrates and Galen or any Books writ by them Nay so much the stronger Evidence have we as it has been the Duty as they thought and the Interest of so considerable a part of mankind as the Christians are to preserve these Records safe and entire and to take care that they be such in all points as they received them and consequently according to their sense of them they are of Divine Inspiration and wrote by those Inspired Persons And for which there can be no greater Evidence than this sort of Tradition unless we would have God reveal to every particular person That the Authors of those Books were Inspired or point it out by some special Miracles which shall serve as the Star to the Wise Men to direct us to it But since this is wanting and cannot reasonably be expected we must rest satisfied with that which is the only possible Evidence and which not only the Primitive Christians did admit as sufficient but was not contested by the most violent Adversaries of their Religion Among whom the Question was not Whether the Persons reputed to be Inspired were the Authors of those Books or Whether those whose Authors are not known were of the same condition with those that were known but Whether the matters of that supposed Revelation and contained in those Books were true and that those Authors were sincere Relaters of it And whereas there were some Books of Scripture that were not so early and universally embraced as others yet they were not so much doubted of as to their Authority as the Authors such as the Epistle to the Hebrews the second and third of St. John and the Revelation unless it were by the Alogi that Epiphanius writes of who rejected the Works of St. John as not agreeable to their Opinion That Christ was a mere Man 2. The Sacred Penmen were Inspired in their Writing in the sense before spoken of p. 4. For 1. There was as much need to Write as to Teach to Write with respect to the absent and to Posterity as to Teach and Preach to the present for there is no other way to Teach in those cases than by Tradition or Writing But the Defect which those Holy Men found all their Discourses labour'd under as to their Conveyance by Tradition through the infirmity of Human Nature and an incapacity of transmitting the Matters now contained in the Scriptures to future Ages in that way without Prejudice Corruption and Abuse disposed them under the direction of the Holy Spirit to commit them to Writing So St. John 20. 31. These things are written that ye might believe So St. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 5. I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance 2. There was as much need to Write by Inspiration as to Teach by Inspiration for Writing is but another way of Teaching And if the Apostles had the Assistance of the Holy Ghost in all matters of moment when they Taught it is reasonable to suppose had we no other Evidence for it that in the same Circumstances they had the same Assistance in what they Writ Nay so much the more might it reasonably be expected that they should have the Assistance of that Divine Power operating upon their Minds and guiding as it were their Pen in what they Writ as what they Writ was to continue in the Church and to be a Standard of Faith and Rule of Life to all Ages Whereas what they Taught could continue no longer than the Memories of fallible men could retain it So that we may conclude That if they Taught and Preach'd by the special Assistance of the Holy Spirit they were also under the Conduct of it when they Writ 3. Those Divine Penmen conceived themselves to be alike Inspired in what they Writ as in what they taught Therefore we generally find the Apostles and St. Paul always unless when he writes in conjunction with others to begin their Epistles with a Declaration of their Commission
Certainty and Infallibility So that there are as few Objections if we strictly consider it made against the most Illiterate as the most Learned of the Inspired Writers against St. Matthew and John as against St. Luke against St. Peter as St. Paul But now if those Writers had wrote after man in St. Paul's Phrase and purely from themselves As it was naturally impossible that ever those Unlearned Persons should apply themselves to study at the Age of St. Peter and write of the most sublime Arguments more to the satisfaction of Mankind than the profoundest Philosophers so it was impossible but that in their Compositions they should have been guilty of manifold Mistakes when they wrote of such various Points and Points of no small difficulty to explicate But when the Unlearned of them are as free from Error as the Learned and as little liable to exception in what they writ 't is evident they writ from the same Spirit with and had the same Assistance as the Learned And therefore the supposed Errors in any of them could not proceed from Inadvertency or Unskilfulness or want of right Information but are rather Errors supposed and imaginary than real the Mistakes of the Reader or Transcriber rather than of the Penmen as I have already shewed Serm. IV. For if the Errors had proceeded immediately from the Writer they would have appeared more in the Composures of the Unlearned than the Learned But when the Unlearned are as free from them as the Learned 't is an unquestionable sign that the Unlearned wrote from the same Spirit as the Learned and both from a Spirit that is Divine 2. The Scriptures will appear to be worthy of such Authors as are Inspired if we consider the way in which they are written which though not with excellency of speech or of wisdom that is human yet have such a Majesty and Authority shining through the whole as gives them a Lustre as much beyond other Books as the Bodies of Angels which they assumed for some special service excelled those of Mortals and that were of a Natural Composition and of which we may say in the like Phrase as Nicodemus of our Saviour That none could write after this manner except God were with them I freely acknowledge that they are not written according to the ordinary Rules of Art and Method which Almighty God is no more obliged to observe than he is to govern the World by the Methods and Rules that are ordinarily observed among Mankind For as in the Government of the World where there are different Ends to pursue and divers Means to be made use of God confines not himself to act as we would in such cases but acts above all Rule known to us and sometimes punishes where we would spare and spares where we would punish sometimes gives to those that we would deprive of such Favours and deprives those of them to whom we should think fit to give So it is in the Divine Composures in which he makes use of different Hands and Instruments as there are different Tempers in Mankind He makes use of the Poetical Vein in David the Oratory of an Isaiah the Rusticity of an Amos the Elegancy of a Luke the Plainness of a Peter the Profoundness of a Paul to serve the common Design of instructing Mankind in the knowledge of God and their Duty to him without that Artificial Method which the Learned Part of the World expect to find and think fit to observe The Heavens and the Earth have upon them the Signatures of an Almighty Power and Wisdom and which we may with David employ our most serious Hours in the Contemplation of with Pleasure and Advantage But yet there is no strict Order visible to us nor can be observed by us in the Situation of the Constellations nor can we give a reason why Orion and the Pleiades or Arcturus are placed in that Quarter of the Heavens which is assigned them And the Earth is not like a Garden laid out in order but rather there seems to us a rude Variety in the disposition of it and yet notwithstanding who is there that doth not under all these seeming Disadvantages find out the Traces of a Divine Original and enough to entitle God to the Creation of all And so it is in the Holy Scriptures where there often seems wanting the Accomplishments of Human Eloquence the enticing words of man's wisdom and that Decorum and Artifice which the Books of Human Contrivance and Invention are embellished with But as the Apostle saith when he declined the words which man's wisdom whether of Philosophers or Orators teacheth it was that their Faith might stand not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God So we may see under the Veil of a seeming Irregularity so much Beauty shining forth and experiment so much Virtue proceeding from it that it will evidently appear that the less there is of Man in the Composure the more there is of God and that it can have none for its Author and Inditer but him and which Irregularity can no more detract from the Authority and Divine Inspiration of the Scripture than it can be questioned whether the Sun be the Fountain of Light because of what we that are at a vast distance from it call Spots For we are at a great distance from the Apostolical Age and much more from the latest times of the Inspired Writers of the Old Testament and so must needs be under some difficulties from our unacquaintedness with the Style and Way of Writing as well as the Customs of those Ages And there will be therefore some Spots and Dark Places in them as there are in the Sun not for want of Light and Elegance originally in them no more than for want of Light in the Sun but because of some Deficiency in our selves that are at a Distance and under such Circumstances as intercept our Sight and hinder us from making true and exact Observations But if we could but stand as we are to judge of Pictures in the same Light in which they were drawn and had lived in the same Ages in which those Books were written we should be able to make a much truer Judgment and penetrate much farther into the meaning of them than we now can do But now though all the Parts of Scripture are not equally alike but like the Inspired Writers themselves of whom some were bred up in the Nurseries of Learning and others fetch'd from the Fishery and the Sheepfold yet are they all plain in the same essential Doctrine and in which the Salvation of Mankind is concerned And not only so but the Style and Order of Words if thoroughly understood as to their Propriety Elegance and Use would be very surprizing if we may judge of what we do not know by what we do which has not been unobserved even by some of the Heathens It was Dionysius Longinus the Rhetorician that admired the Majesty and Sublimity