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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A61565 A letter to a deist, in answer to several objections against the truth and authority of the scriptures Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. 1677 (1677) Wing S5600; ESTC R21879 39,694 152

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Miracles do sufficiently prove the Authority of that Doctrin which was delivered by those who wrought Miracles as Christ and his Apostles 2. If there had been the least ground to question the Truth and Authority of these Writings they had never been so universally received in those Ages when so many were concerned to enquire into the Truth of these things for we see several of the Books were a long time examined and at last when no sufficient reason could be brought against them they were received by those Churches which at first scrupled the receiving them And I am so far from thinking the doubts of the first Ages any Argument against the Authority of a Book that by the objections of some against some of them I am thereby assured that they did not presently receive any Book because it went under the name of an Apostolical Writing As I am the more confirmed in the belief of the Resurrection of Christ because some of the Disciples were at first very doubtful about it 6. You may yet ask What doth all this signifie to the Writings of the Old Testament which were written at a longer distance of Time from us and in a more Ignorant Age of of the World Answ. There cannot be a more evident proof of the Old Testament than by the New For if the New be true the Old must be so which was confirmed so plainly and evidently by it our Saviour and his Apostles appealing to Moses and the Prophets on all occasions So that the same Miracles which prove their Testimony true do at the same time prove the Divine Authority of the Old Testament since it is so expresly said in the New That Holy Men of God did speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But after all this You urge that you have discover'd such things in these Writings as could not come from God as 1. Contradictions in them 2. Something 's inconsistent with the Wisdom of God 3. Promises made that were never fulfilled 4. Things so obscure as no one can tell the meaning of them Under these four Heads I shall examin the particular allegations you bring against the Scriptures 1. Under the head of Contradictions you insist on the Prophecy Gen. 15. 13 14 15 16. made to Abraham concerning his Posterity compared with the Accomplishment mentioned Exod. 12. 40. 41. And the force of your Argument lyes in this That the Prophecy in Genesis doth imply that the Servitude of the Children of Israel in Egypt was to be 40 Years or 430 saith Exod. but both these are repugnant to other places of Scripture which make their abode in Egypt not to exceed 215 Years or at the highest by the number of Generations could not exceed 350 Years stretching them to the utmost advantage To this which you lay so much weight upon I Answer distinctly 1. By your own confession supposing the 430 Years to begin from the Covenant made with Abraham the accomplishment mentioned Exod. 12. 40. doth fall out exactly in the time of the Children of Israels going out of Egypt for you have proved from Scripture that from the Covenant with Abraham to Jacobs being in Egypt were 215 Years to which you add that Coath being supposed 5 Years Old at the going into Egypt and that at 70 Years he Begat Amram and that Amram at at 70 Begat Moses to which Moses his 80 Years being added makes up the other 215 Years whereby we have the full 430 Years by your own computation Now Sir I pray consider what reason you have to charge the Scripture with contradiction in a Matter your self acknowledges so exactly accomplished in this way of computation 2. But you say the Words will not bear this because they speak of the 400 Years to expire in their Servitude in Egypt Answ. For this we must consider the importance of the Words both in Genesis and Exodus There is not a Word of Egypt mentioned in Genesis but only in general it is said Thy Seed shall be a Stranger in the Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 Years and it will conduce very much to the right understanding this Prophecy to consider the main scope and design of it which was not to tell Abraham how long they should be in servitude to the Egyptians but how long it would be before his Seed should come to the possession of the promised Land And it seems Abraham by the Question Gen. 15. 7. 8. did expect to have the Inheritance of this Land in his own time To this therefore God Answers by telling him he meant no such thing but it was intended for his Seed and that not suddenly neither for they were to tarry till the iniquity of the Amorites should be full which would not be till the fourth Generation and then his Seed should after 400 Years come to the Possession of the Promised Land but in the mean time they were to Sojourn in a Land that was not theirs and to meet with many hardships and difficulties This is plainly the scope of this prophecy and by attending to it the great Objections presently appear without force for the Land of Canaan notwithstanding the Promise was by the Patriarchs themselves looked on as a Land wherein they were Strangers So Abraham saith Gen. 23. 4. I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with you and which is more remarkable in the blessing of Jacob by Isaac to whom the Promise was made it is said And give thee the Blessing of Abraham to thee and to thy Seed that thou mayest inherit the Land wherein thou art a Stranger which God gave unto Abraham Gen. 28. 4. Where the very same Word is used concerning Jacob that is expressed in the Prophecy Gen. 15. 13. So that the Patriarchs looked on themselves as Strangers in the Land of Canaan so long after the promise made and after the increase of the Seed of Abraham And therefore the land of Canaan was called Terra Peregrinationum the Land wherein they were strangers Gen. 36. 7. 37. 1. And when God was calling the People of Israel together out of Egypt yet then the Land of Canaan was called by the very same title the Land of their Pilgrimage wherein they were strangers Exod. 6. 4. And Ps. 105. 9 10 11 12 13. where we have a full account of the Promise made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob concerning the inheritance of that Land it is said that they were few and strangers in it when they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People Which doth fully explain the meaning of the Prophecy in Genesis and that it is not to be restrained to the servitude of the People of Israel in Egypt but to be understood of their state of Pilgrimage for 400 Years wherein they were to suffer great hardships before they should come to the Inheritance of Canaan This is no forced or unnatural exposition of the Words as you seem to suggest