were to say On the contrary my Opinion is That it is only in Prophecies and some other places as in the Sermons of Jesus Christ and where God himself is introduc'd speaking that the Matter or Things have been immediately reveal'd to those who spoke them That the Stile for the most part was left to the liberty of those who spoke or writ That there are some Books that are not inspir'd neither as to the Matter nor Words as Iob Ecclesiastes c. That there are some Passages which Passion dictated to those that writ them as many Curses in the Psalms That the sacred Historians might commit and have actually committed some light Faults which are of no moment That the Apostles in preaching the Gospel or in writing their Works were not ordinarily inspir'd neither as to the Matter nor the Words but that they had recourse to their Memory and Judgment in declaring what Jesus Christ had taught them or framing Arguments or drawing Consequences from thence That the Apostles while they liv'd were only look'd upon as faithful Witnesses of what they had seen and heard and as Persons well instructed in the Christian Religion whereof no part was unknown to them or conceal'd by them from their Disciples but not as Men that preach'd and taught by perpetual Inspiration I believe indeed that they were not deceiv'd in any Point of Doctrine and that it was very unlikely they should be so because Christian Religion is easy and compris'd in a few Articles That they pretended not to enter into deep Argumentations and to draw Conseqrences remote from their Principles and that they never undertook to treat of nice and controversial Matters as is plain by reading of their Writings Or if it happen'd sometimes that they were mistaken in any thing as it seems to have happen'd to St. Peter and to St. Barnabas it has been in things of small consequence and they soon perceiv'd their Error as did these two Apostles This sort of Infallibility is easy to be conceiv'd if it be consider'd that a Man of Sense and Integrity who is well instructed in his Religion and who does not much enter into Argumentations and drawing of Inferences can hardly err so long as he continues in that Temper and observes that Conduct This is the Sum of what I have said in my Writing concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Pen-Men and it is herein precisely that I differ from the common Opinion of Divines You see how much these Principles are contrary to those of the Deists who reject all sort of Inspiration and who look upon the holy Scripture as a Work full of Falsities and wherein there is nothing but what is purely human The Divines that have accus'd me of Deism on account of this Writing certainly either never took the pains to read it or did not understand it for I cannot believe that they would accuse me of so detestable an Opinion out of pure Malice and against their own Consciences They were undoubtedly in some measure mis-led by a false Zeal that render'd them little attentive to what they read or made them suspect that the Author had not discover'd all that he had in his Mind It is an ill Custom that some peevish and ill-natur'd Persons have to judg of other Mens Opinions rather by the Suspicions which their own deprav'd Imaginations suggest to them than by those Mens Expressions and Actions which are the only Evidence that ought to be regarded on these occasions A Man ought to be judged by what he says and not by what he says not nor by what is injuriously imputed to him without any Proof And if this ought always to be the Rule of our Carriage one towards another there is more particular Reason that it should be so when a Man protests as I do at present that he is not of any other Opinion than what he expresly sets down and that he disowns the ill Consequences which are pretended to be drawn from his Discourses and which to him seem not to be deducible from them By this Explanation of Mr. N's Principles which I receiv'd from himself you may see Sir that he is very far from those impious Opinions which some too hot-headed Divines have charg'd him with Candid and equitable Readers had no need of this Explanation in which I see nothing but what is plainly enough set down in his first Writing But as Equity is a Vertue seldom practis'd in Theological Controversies he thought it necessary to give these further Explications to those who persisted still in suspecting him to believe things which he abhors We shall see hereafter if any ill Consequence can be drawn from his Opinion But before I come to that I will transcribe here what he further adds to that which you have already seen In reading says he the Prior of Bolleville's Answer to the Thoughts of some Holland Divines I observ'd that Mr. Simon accuses me of having taken part of what I have said out Grotius his Book call'd Votum pro Pace Ecclesiasticâ I should be well pleas'd that my Reader believ'd it I could not then be accus'd as I am by some of Innovation It is true I have read that Book but it being long ago that Passage of Grotius was not in my Mind otherwise I should not have fail'd to have cited it as I have cited others of the same Author that are less express I think it therefore not amiss to take advantage of this Advertisement and now to set down that Passage together with another taken out of his Defence of the Vow for Peace titl'd Discussio Apologetici Rivetiani Grotius had said in a Work wherein he defends his Observations upon the Consultation of Cassander against Rivet that this last Divine was very much deceiv'd in believing that all the Books of the Old Testament that are in the Hebrew Canon were dictated by the Holy Ghost that Esdras in the Opinion of all the Iews was not a Prophet nor had the holy Spirit that his Books and the Collection he made of the more ancient Books had been approv'd by the great Synagogue in which indeed there were some Prophets although the Iews hold that there was a doubt concerning the Book of Ecclesiastes c. Rivet liked not this Opinion of Grotius and indeavoured to prove the contrary by Scripture and by some Jewish Authors Grotius replied to him in these terms in his Vow for Peace I said indeed that the Books in the Hebrew Canon were not all dictated by the holy Spirit But I do not deny that they were written with a pious intention of Mind And this was the Determination of the great Synagogue whose Iudgment in this matter the Iews submit to For there was no need that the Histories should be dictated by the holy Spirit It was sufficient that the Writer had a good Memory for the things he had seen or that he were careful in transcribing the ancient Records The word Holy
of particular Writings of divers Prophets to whom the Authors at every turn refer the Reader Lastly It is very plain that the Historians of the Scripture were not inspir'd by the Contradictions that are found in several Circumstances of their Histories The Evangelists agree perfectly among themselves in what concerns the main of the History of Jesus Christ but there are some Circumstances wherein they disagree a clear proof that every Particular was not inspir'd For although the Circumstances wherein they differ are things of small Consequence yet if the holy Spirit had dictated all to them as is pretended they would perfectly agree in every thing these Circumstances being as well known to God as the main of the History For Example St. Matthew says That Judas repenting that he had delivered our Lord to the Iews threw the Mony into the Temple that going away he hang'd himself and that the Priests having gathered up the Mony bought therewith a Field St. Luke in the Acts brings in Peter saying That Judas after having purchased a Field with the Reward of Iniquity falling headlong burst asunder in the midst insomuch that his Bowels gushed out Here is a manifest Contradiction which the Learned in vain endeavour to reconcile And there are many other such like But this you will say lessens very much the Authority of the Evangelists For if they could be deceiv'd in any thing who will secure us that they were not deceiv'd in every thing I answer to that in the words of Grotius Even this it self ought to free these Writers from all Suspicion of Deceit For those who testify Falshoods use so to agree their Stories that there may not so much as seem to be any difference But if because of any small Disagreement although it could not be reconcil'd whole Books should lose their Credit then no Book especially of History would deserve to be believed whereas the Authority of Polibius and Halicarnassensis and Livy and Plutarch in whom such things are found as to the main stands firm among us St. Chrysostom also in his first Homily on St. Matthew very plainly assures us that God permitted the Apostles to fall into these little Contrarieties that we might see that they were not agreed to feign a History at Pleasure and that we might more readily believe them in the main of the History When a Man has seen most of the Things which he relates in those he can hardly be deceiv'd But he may be easily deceiv'd in some Circumstances of Things which he has not seen We might yet add a fifth Proof which Grotius affords us in his Notes on that part of his Treatise of the Verity of the Christian Religion which I lately cited It is that the Evangelists in setting down a certain time do not determine it exactly because they did not know it so precisely that they could set down the number of Days or Months See Luke I. 56. III. 23. Iohn II. 6. VI. 10 19. XIX 14. You find in those places About a certain Time or About a certain Number Which shews evidently that the History was not dictated immediately by the Holy Spirit who knew exactly the Number and the Time that was in question It is clear then in my Judgment that the Things were not Inspir'd nor by consequence the Words which are less considerable than the Things It is not certain Terms that are the Rule of our Faith but a certain Sense And it is little matter what words we make use of provided we go not astray from the Doctrine which God has reveal'd Those who read the Originals are in no better way of being sav'd than those that can read only the Translations For there is no Translation so false but that taken in gross it expresses clearly enough that which is necessary to Salvation Otherwise it would be necessary that all Christians had learn'd Hebrew and Greek which is altogether impossible and we should exclude from Salvation almost all those who have made profession of the Christian Religion in our Western Parts from the Time of the Apostles to the Age we live in That providence also which has preserved us these Holy Books to lead us in the way to Salvation so many Ages after the death of those that writ them has preserv'd inviolably nothing but the Sense It has suffer'd Men to put in Synonimous Words one for another and not hinder'd the slipping in of a great many Varieties little considerable as to the Sense but remarkable as to the Words and Order There is in St. Matthew for Example more than a thousand divers Readings in less than eleven hundred Verses but whereof there is not perhaps fifty that can make any change in the Sense and that change too is but in things of little importance to piety If God had thought it necessary for the Good of his Church to inspire into the Sacred Historians the terms which they ought to use he would undoubtedly have taken more care to preserve them It is plain therefore that he design'd principally to preserve the Sense Thus then neither the Words nor the things have been inspir'd into those who have given us the Sacred History altho in the main that History is very true in the principal Facts It may be that in certain Circumstances little considerable there may be some Fault as appears sufficiently by the contradictory Passages It is ture that some have strain'd themselves to reconcile those Passages as I have already observ'd but it is after so violent and constrain'd a fashion and there are such divers Opinions about these Reconciliations that if we examine the thing never so little without prejudice we shall find that the Learned trouble themselves to no purpose and that they would do much better to confess ingenuously that there are some Contradictions in things of small importance Nay further I know some that believe we ought not to receive all the Jewish Histories without distinction for true Histories They Pertend we ought to except the Book of Esther And it is true that if Assuerus of whom the Book of Esther speaks be Ochus that raign'd after Artaxerxes Mnemon this Book would have been written at such a time as there was no Prophet in Israel But altho Mr. Cappel pretend that Achasueros is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his conjecture is not unquestionable They pretend also that this History has all the Characters of a History made at pleasure I shall not examine that at present But however it be it is no Heresy to reject a Book of the Iewish Canon as neither is it to reject one of our own At least the Protestants have not call'd a Lutheran an Heretick for having said that the Epistle of St. Iames is an Epistle of Straw no more than they have many of the Learned for not receiving the Second Epistle of St. Peter which a famous Critic stiles A Fiction of some ancient Christian misimploying his
in any thing that is done under the Sun Go thy way eat thy Bread with Ioy and drink thy Wine with a merry Heart for God now accepteth thy Works Grotius is of Opinion that this Book was not writ by Solomon himself but that it is a Work compos'd under his Name by one that had been in Caldea because there are divers Caldean words in it If this Conjecture be true as is not impossible then this Book will be nothing but a Piece of Wit and Fancy compos'd by some of those that had been in the Captivity And I know one who has studied much the Criticks of the holy Scripture that suspects the Author of this Book to have been of the Opinion that the Sadduces were of afterwards about the Immortality of the Soul and the World to come It seems to him that this Author says nothing which a true Sadduce might not say But for my part I think it best to determine nothing herein It is commonly believ'd that the Song of Solomon is a Mysterious Book describing the mutual Love between Christ and his Church But there is no proof of it neither in the Old nor New Testament nor in the Book it self All that can be said is that the Jews explain this Book allegorically of God of Moses and of the Jewish Church But a Man need but read their Allegories to see that they are the Visions of Rabbins having no Foundation but in the fanciful Extravagance of their Brains which frame of Mind our Divines have so much inherited from them that they give themselves wholly up to find Mysteries in every thing Nay it must be confess'd that some of them have in that out-done the Rabbins and that there is nothing so Chimerical in the Chaldee Paraphrast as in the Commentaries of those who pretend this Book ought to be explained by Revelations and that in it are to be found all the Wars about Religion of this past Age in Germany the Interim the League of Smalcald the Peace of Passau c. There being then no Proof of the Mysteries that are pretended to be in this Book if we judg by the Book it self we shall find it to be an Idyle or Eglogue where Solomon brings himself in as a Shepherd and one of his Wives perhaps Pharaoh's Daughter as the Learned think as a Shepherdess That the Stile is the same with that of the Pastoral Poems of the Greeks and Latins saving that it is more rough and dithyrambic acccording to the Genius of the Hebrew Poetry You may compare the Similitudes Solomon makes use of in the fourth Chapter with those Ovid uses in the Pastoral Song he makes Polyphemus sing in the XIIIth Book of his Metamorphosis The Book of Iob is also a piece that has nothing in it of Prophetic The Critics who have any thing of a nice Judgment agree that it is a sort of Tragi-Comedy It is likely there was such an one as Iob since the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of him and that he met with great Afflictions which afforded Subject to some Jew of the Captivity to exercise his Wit upon There are in this Book as well as in Ecclesiastes many Chaldean words which show that it was compos'd either in Chaldea or after the return from the Captivity Divines agree that God inspir'd not Iob's Friends with what the Author makes them say and this Book being written in Verse seems to be a Work of Meditation wherein the Author would make his Parts appear Neither Iob nor his Friends could talk in that manner extempore The design of the work is to show that Providence oft-times afflicts good People not to punish them for any particular Sin as if they had deserv'd those Afflictions more than others but simply to try them and give them occasion to exercise their Vertue This is without doubt a Truth but there is no need of being a Prophet to know it And on the other side there is one very remarkable Fault in this Book The Author brings in Iob complaining Chap. III. with Bitterness and extream Impatience unworthy not only of a pious Man who had the knowledg of the true God but even of a Pagan that had any Wisdom Let the day perish in which I was born and the night wherein it was said a Man-Child in born c. This manner of cursing the day of his Birth with so much Passion becomes not a pious Man such as Iob to what extremity soever he might be reduc'd It is to be guilty of great Indecorum to put into a good Man's Mouth so passionate words as well as those that are in Chap. X. I will say unto God Do not condemn me shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Becomes it thee to oppress c. After such Expressions as these which are very like Blasphemies God finds says the Author that his Servant Job has spoke the thing that is right before him and is angry with his Friends for believing that Iob was afflicted for his Sins It appears methinks hereby clearly enough that there was no Inspiration in this Book no more than in the three foregoing Not but that these Books are useful and may be read with Profit and Edification as well as Antiquity read those which we at present call Apochrypha Nay it may be allow'd that they which compos'd them had the Spirit of God that is to say were full of Piety and that they writ them with a prospect of leading those that should read them into the ways of Piety But it may be objected that these Books being in the Jews Canon ought to be acknowledg'd for divinely inspir'd rather than the Apocryphas that never were in it I answer to that First That no clear Reason is brought to convince us that those who made the Canon or Catalogue of their Books were infallible or had any Inspiration whereby to distinguish inspir'd Books from those which were not This Collection is commonly attributed to Esdras and the great Sanhedrim of his Time amongst whom they say were Zacchary Haggai and Malachy But many learned Men believe not this Story because no proof is brought for it except a very uncertain Jewish Tradition There is much more likelihood that this Collection which we have is the remainder of the ancient Books of the Jews which divers particular Men at first gathered together and of which afterwards public use was made in the Synagogues whereas in the time of Nehemiah as appears by the Book that bears his Name they read publickly only the Book of the Law In the second place if you will stand to the Jews Canon it is plainly on my side They divide the Scripture into three parts of which the first contains the Books of the Law the second the Books they call the Prophets and the third contain others which they call Chetoubim or simply Writings that is to say the Psalms the Proverbs Iob Daniel Esdras Nehemiah the Chronicles and those which they call the five little Books
the Song of Solomon Ruth the Lamentations Ecclesiastes and Esther They believ'd that these Books which they call'd Chetoubim were not inspir'd as the other and therefore they made them a separate part of Scripture distinct from the two former which they believed to be inspir'd This Division is very ancient having been in use in the time of our Lord Luke XXIV 44. and Iosephus owns it in his first Book against Appion which makes me believe that this Opinion of the Jews is grounded upon the Judgment that those who collected the Books of their Canon made of them It is certain Daniel is truly a Prophet as well as Isaiah but it is likely they have rank'd his Book among the Chetoubim only because it was brought out of Caldea after the Collection was made and perhaps because being written in Chaldean it was in part translated into Hebrew by some others as some of the Learned have conjectur'd For the other Writings which make up this Division of the Scripture being but Histories or Books of Morality or Songs they had reason to determine that there was nothing of Prophetic in them at least not of the same kind of Prophecy with that of Isaiah and others who are properly call'd Prophets It is true indeed there are some Predictions in the Book of Psalms but they are not of that sort of Predictions that proceed from Inspiration or Revelation as were those of Isaiah David never says Thus saith the Lord nor is it said in his History that in his time he passed for a Prophet It only happen'd that in speaking of his own Person he spoke things that agreed not so much to himself as to the Messiah of whom he was unknown to himself the Type But I have already handl'd this sort of Prophecy It may be said perhaps that Christ has acknowledg'd for divinely inspir'd all the Books of the Old Testament and that for that reason alone all Christians ought to be of that belief But there is not any Passage in the Gospel where Christ tells us that all the Books of the Old Testament were inspir'd by God both as to the Words and Things He approves them only in gross without descending to particulars and examining every Book by it self It was sufficient that there were divers Prophecies in the Old Testament the Authority whereof was receiv'd among the Jews that pointed at him Our Saviour never undertook to make a Critical Treatise upon the sacred Books nor to clear the Historical Differences in them His design was not to make us able Critics but good Men and to bring us to render to God the Obedience due to him He omitted nothing that might instruct us in our Duty but he never trouble himself to correct certain Errors of small importance which might be among the Jews And if we must take all the words of Christ when he speaks of the Scripture in a strict sense as if he acknowledg'd the Books he cites to be all inspir'd even to the least syllable and the others on the contrary to be excluded out of the number of the sacred Books we must reject many of those that are commonly reputed inspir'd Neither he nor his Apostles ever cite the Works of Solomon or the Book of Iob except that St. Iames praises the Patience of Iob which to speak properly is not to cite the Book but the History And if we must conclude from thence that all these Books have been wrongfully put into the Jews Canon the common Opinion would be found contrary to the Authority of Christ and of his Apostles These Books then that we have spoken of are not necessarily to be accounted Divine for being in the Canon or Catalogue of the Books of the Jews which Jesus Christ never call'd in question And there is no reason to interpret the word Canonical as if it signified inspir'd of God The Jews put in their Collection all the Fragments they had remaining of their ancient Books they left out none because they had no others It was all their Library the rest having been lost in the Captivity or before or after for the Story sets not down the time of that fatal loss They pretended not at first that this Collection consisted of no other but what was divinely inspir'd But in process of time as there were therein many Writings that were truly Prophetic and as these were the only Books that had escap'd the general Loss which had involv'd the rest they began to be look'd on with more respect than they had been at first and at length it came to be believ'd that all these Books that were in the ancient Catalogue were truly divine And whereas before that time Men apply'd themselves to the Observation of what was most considerable in the Law without making many Commentaries from thence forwards they grew nice about the words would take every thing in a strict-sense and by seeking for Mysteries where there were none they abandon'd the most essential part of the Jewish Religion They made the knowledg of Religion to consist in the study of a thousand vain Subtilties and Piety to consist in the scrupulous Observations of Ceremonial Laws according as the Doctors interpreted them This the Pharisees did in our Lord's Time and it is also that which the Divines among the Christians both Ancient and Modern have imitated since the Death of the Apostles In their time Men apply'd themselves to learn their Doctrine without subtilizing about their Expressions and this they did upon the assurance they had that those holy Men taught faithfully what they had learn'd from Christ. Since then it has been the practice to dispute about their Words and to strain to the utmost divers of their Expressions which were not over exact from whence many Factions have been begot amongst Christians who have fall'n foul one upon another about the meaning of some such particular Expressions of the Apostles and have neglected at the same time to obey the Precepts of Jesus Christ that is to say they have abandon'd the inward Substance of Religion to busy themselves about the Outside Men have thought it an Honour to be stil'd that which they call zealous Orthodox to be firmly link'd to a certain Party to load others with Calumnies and to damn by an absolute Authority the rest of Mankind but have taken no care to demonstrate the sincertity and fervor of their Piety by an exact Observation of the Gospel Morals which has come to pass by reason that Orthodoxy agrees very well with our Passions whereas the severe Morals of the Gospel are incompatible with our way of living Thus much by the by to let you see that this great Zeal which Men have for the Letter of the Scripture is but a Cloak they make use of to hide the little esteem they have for the Religion it self of Jesus Christ which consists not in Criticisms or Controversies but in keeping God's Commandments But it will be ask'd then What Authority
first Person Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption c. adds that this cannot be understood of David since he was dead and rotten many Years ago but that as he was a Prophet and knew that God had sworn with an Oath to him that of the Fruit of his Loins he would raise up Christ to sit upon his Throne he seeing this before-hand spake of the Resurrection of Christ when he said that his Soul c. by which it appears that David speaking in the first Person knew nevertheless that he spoke not concerning himself Answer I did not say that David never prophesy'd in speaking of himself as of a Type of the Messiah or that he understood not that in the properest and highest sense of his Words he spake concerning the Messiah though what he said had also some relation to himself I make no question but there are in the Psalms divers Prophecies of this nature It is plain David could not say of himself unless in a very Metaphorical Sense that God would not leave his Soul in Hell nor suffer his Holy One to see Corruption although the rest of the Psalm may be suitable enough to him Objection 3. The Curses in the CIXth Psalm are imputed to a human Passion yet St. Peter teaches us Acts I. 20. that it is a Prophecy It seems the better way therefore to take all those Curses for simple Predictions and not for Imprecations and so to translate in the Future Tense Thou shalt set a wicked Man over him and his Adversary shall c. Answer This might be a Prophecy of that sort which we said were sometimes pronounc'd without their being aware who pronounc'd it of which we brought some Examples which sort of Prophecy is not inconsistent with a violent Passion as appears by the Example of Caiaphas But indeed these Expressions cannot be translated in the future Tense without extream violence to the Text and accordingly the ancient Interpreters as well as modern have made use of the Imperative or Optative Mood Nor ought it to seem strange that we think there was in this an Excess of Passion since it is impossible to explain any other way those words of Psalm CXXXVII Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the Stones c. Let any one compare the words of Psal. CIX with those which a Heathen Poet puts into the Mouth of a desperate Woman Vivat per urbes erret ignotas egens Exul pavens invisus incerti laris quoque non aliud queam Pejus precari liberos similes Patri Similesque Matri In fine if it were necessary to render all these words in the future Tense to avoid making the Psalmist pronounce such Curses there are a great many other places where the Version would need to be reform'd and where we should be oblig'd to strain the Text as may easily be perceiv'd in turning over the Book of Psalms Objection 4. It has been said that Inspiration seems not absolutely necessary to the composing of pious Hymns and concluded from thence that it ought not to be said that all such Hymns were immediately inspir'd The same sort of Argument has been applied also afterwards to divers other places of Scripture But it no ways follows because Inspiration was not absolutely necessary that therefore there was none Answer My Argument proves not directly that there was no Inspiration on these occasions but only that there was nothing in the thing it self to induce us to believe that there was any and consequently that such Inspiration is suppos'd without any necessity When a thing may be done by the ordinary course of Nature we ought not to have recourse to Miracles Hence I conclude that there ought to be no recourse to Inspiration when there is nothing in a Book to make us believe it was inspir'd and when all that is in it might have been said without Inspiration unless we have some positive Proof that he who compos'd it was inspir'd Now I maintain that there is no Proof of this nature sufficient to perswade us that all the Books of the Scripture were inspir'd in the same manner that they are commonly said to have been Objection 5. It has been inferr'd from the evident marks of Meditation and Pains taking which appear in several places of the Scripture as those where the Verses begin with all the Letters of the Alphabet in order that those places have not been inspir'd But it does not appear that Inspiration excludes all sort of Meditation and Pains-taking as Mr. Simon has observ'd c. Resp. p. 125 c. Answer I acknowledg that it cannot from thence be concluded that the matter was not inspir'd nor was this Argument made use of but only against those who hold the Inspiration of the very words that is to say principally against the generality of Protestant Divines There is certainly little likelihood that the Spirit of God would inspire such things as those But the Consequence I have drawn from thence is only this that the Stile not being inspir'd we cannot be sure that the things are unless the Characters of Inspiration appear in those things themselves or that we have otherwise some positive Proof of it Objection 6. What has been said concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Historians is not enough There ought to have been added also as Mr. Simon has it That God directed the Pen of the sacred Historians in such a manner that they could not fall into Error They were Men that wrote and the Spirit that directed them depriv'd them not of their Reason nor their Memory to inspire them with matters of Fact which they themselves knew perfectly but it determin'd them in general to write of some matters rather than others though they knew both alike well Resp. p. 128. Answer This may be granted provided that by directing the Pen of the sacred Historians be only understood the determining them in general to write of some matters rather than others though they knew both alike well Mr. Simon fights here with his own Shadow for no body deny'd that On the contrary it was said that the sacred Historians have writ of no matter whereof they were not well instructed And this in opposition to those who pretend that the Historians of the Bible were inspir'd with the matters in the same manner as if they could not have known them any other way But these People would condemn Mr. Simon as well as me Objection 7. It is suppos'd without any Reason that there are sometimes real Contradictions amongst the sacred Historians whereas they are but seeming ones The Learned have reconcil'd them all not excepting that about the Death of Iudas which is cited as an Example of a manifest Contradiction Answer To answer this Objection fully it would be requisite not only to quote the places where 't is believ'd there is some little Contradiction but also
I have first observ'd that several great Men and who have pass'd for good Christians have held this Opinion without losing the Reputation they had of Piety There is not a Man of Worth and Honour among the Protestants who will dare to say that Erasmus and Grotius were Libertines and yet both of them defended openly this same Opinion But because there are some Divines who esteem none but those that have been of the Society they live in I will repeat some reremarkable words of a Divine famous amongst the Presbyterians in England and even amongst those on this side the Water It is Mr. Richard Baxter who speaks thus in an English Book translated not long since into Dutch and intituled The Saints everlasting Rest. 22. Though all Scripture be of Divine Authority yet he who believeth but some one Book that containeth the Substance of the Doctrine of Salvation may be sav'd much more they that have doubted but of some particular Books 23. They that take the Scripture to be but the Writings of godly honest Men and so to be only a means of making known Christ having a gradual Precedency to the Writings of other godly Men and do believe in Christ upon those strong Grounds which are drawn from his Doctrine Miracles c. rather than upon the Testimony of the Writing it being purely infallible and divine may yet have a divine and saving Faith 24. Much more those that believe the whole Writing to be of Divine Inspiration where it handleth the Substance but doubt whether God infallibly guided them in every Circumstance And in the next Page 32. The Circumstantials are many of them divine yet so as they have in them something humane as the bringing of St. Paul 's Cloke and the Parchments and as it seems his Counsel about Marriage c. 33. Much more is there something human in the Method and Phrase which is not so immediately divine as the Doctrine 34. Yet is there nothing sinfully humane and therefore nothing false in all 35. But all innocent Imperfection here is in the Method and Phrase which of we deny we must renounce most of our Logick and Rhetorick Nothing can be more expresly said for the Justification of our Friend Those who have a value for Mr. Baxter must forgo their Esteem of him or else not condemn so lightly those who in his Judgment may have a saving Faith together with some Opinions different from those commonly receiv'd It may likewise be observ'd that many of those who have writ of the Truth of the Christian Religion have prov'd it without supposing the particular Inspiration of the Historians of the New Testament to be such as it is ordinarily taken to be as Grotius whose Book has been alike esteem'd by all Parties Which shows that our Belief is not founded upon this Supposition and that consequently one may be a good Christian without admitting it But it is better to represent this by an Example which will give you a more lively Impression of what I aim at I will therefore now indeavour in as few words as is possible to give you the Idea of a Method that seems to me very strong and very proper to convince a Libertine of the Truth of our Religion without once mentioning any thing of particular Inspiration I do not pretend thereby to condemn all other Methods that may be used to the like purpose but it seems to me that this is the simplest of all and subject to the fewest Difficulties You will allow me Sir this small Digression which may perhaps not be unuseful in a time when there are every where so many that doubt of the Truth of the Christian Religion The first and the greatest Objection the Libertines make us is That our Judgments are pre-possess'd which hinders us from being undeceiv'd We say the same of them and maintain that it is nothing but sensual Inclinations that raise those Difficulties in their Minds which would vanish if they examin'd them without Passion It is not just that either they or we should take for granted our Pre-possessions as Principles demonstrated or which need not be demonstrated Let us then act on both sides as if we had not yet espous'd any party and let us urge nothing that is not founded upon Principles which both sides acknowledg It is agreed that there are certain Characters by which we may be assur'd whether a thing has been done or no and by which we may distinguish the Truth or Falshood of a History If we do not agree in that we are Pyrrhoniens or to give it a better Name altogether senseless for none but a Mad-Man can doubt of the Truth of all the Histories in the World But farther we must also agree in another thing which is no less certain It is that there are certain Matters of Fact the Truth whereof is better conceiv'd than it can be prov'd and which are of such a nature that unless a Man be in a proper Disposition of Mind he can hardly be induc'd to believe them For Example If any one should tell us here that the Inquisition of Spain and Italy has approv'd the Works of Calvin and allow'd the People to read them in Spanish and Italian although it is impossible for us to believe it and that we are firmly perswaded of the contrary we should not be able to convince a Person who should be obstinate in maintaining it until we had given him evident Proofs thereof In like manner if there were false Witnesses ready to swear that one of our Friends whose Vertue had been well known to us for divers Years and who but just then was gone out of our Company went then immediately in cold Blood to assassinate a Person unknown to him for no other reason but only to make an Anatomical Dissection of his Body it is certain we should not believe them although it might not be in our Power to prove judicially the contrary It is easy to imagine a thousand Examples of such like Truths which we apprehend better than we can prove That being suppos'd if we come to the Christian Religion there occurs at the very first a difficulty in discerning what are the Doctrines of this Religion for Christians have great Controversies among themselves about their Belief There would be no end of going about to examine all these Controversies Let us therefore suspend our Judgment thereupon and see first wherein all Christians are agreed They all agree for Example that most of the Books of the New Testament are the Writings of those Authors whose Name they bear and who writ them more than sixteen hundred Years ago that the History therein is true and that we ought to obey the Commandments therein contain'd This Obedience may be reduc'd to these general Heads a rendering to God the Service due to him a trusting in his Promises and a keeping his Commandments in what concerns both our selves and our Neighbour But this supposes a Belief of
be not true it must of necessity be that they have gone about to deceive us For Example they could not be mistaken in Christ's Ascension into Heaven which they have constantly affirm'd and of which the Christians from the very beginning have made one of the chief Articles of their Faith Those who as Pliny reports sung Hymns to Jesus Christ as to a God believ'd without doubt that Christ was ascended into Heaven And indeed I cannot but think that any who will take the Pains to read only the Gospel of St. Luke and the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians where are related the Circumstances of many of the Miracles of Christ and particularly of his Resurrection and after that of his appearing divers times unto the Disciples must certainly agree that those who spoke after that manner were not seduced and that if what they say be not true of necessity they must have design'd to deceive those to whom they related these matters Now it has been shown demonstratively that the Apostles were very sincere Persons And those who 〈◊〉 to admit their Testimonies do not tax them of having been deceived Nor do they undertake to oppose directly the Reasons by which we prove their Sincerity They content themselves in making Objections upon the nature of Miracles and so reduce themselves to the second way of knowing the Falshood of a matter of Fact which consists in showing that the thing related is in it self absolutely impossible I cannot ingage my self here in the Examination of their Reasons neither is it necessary It is sufficient to observe in general that all the Arguments with which Spinoza and those that follow his Opinions do dispute against Miracles are not comparable in evidence and force to the Principles we have establish'd These Men endeavour to show that the extraordinary Effects of the Divine Power which we call Miracles may be the necessary Consequences of some of the Laws of Nature to us unknown and that they are no more to be made use of as Proofs in this matter than those which occur daily in the ordinary course of Nature They bring also some Metaphysical Arguments to show that every thing comes to pass necessarily But all this overthrows not the direct Proofs which we have brought of the Truth of these Events and which are infinitly more clear than their Reasons which no body can understand as perhaps neither do they themselves But there is no danger that they should perswade any Man that the Resurrection of a dead Body or the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven could happen as naturally as the Birth of a Man into the World As long as the direct Proofs of the Truth of those matters of Fact hold good no Man will be perswaded that the Miracles which the Apostles relate are natural Effects of certain Laws of Nature unknown to Men Because it will presently be ask'd Why then are no more of these Effects produced How could Jesus Christ know that after he was buried he should rise again and ascend into Heaven And how came it to pass at that instant that he commanded a lame or a Paralytic Man to go c. that the Laws of Nature unknown to us were prepared and ready to cause the lame or Paralytic Man to walk It is plain then that the Philosophical Difficulties alledg'd against the Testimony of the Apostles are not of so great force as the Arguments we have brought to confirm it nor can they rake place so long as a Man is perswaded of the Sincerity of the first Disciples of Jesus Christ. And the truth is that those who make these Objections do take this course only because they cannot possibly alledg any thing against the matters of Fact which we have prov'd They indeavour to confound the Minds of their Admirers by obscure Metaphysical Arguments and Suppositions which they cannot prove and which they assert nevetheless to be common Notions This being so it cannot be doubted that Christ Jesus was extraordinarily favoured by God And as it cannot be suppos'd with any colour of Reason that God would work Miracles in favour of an Impostor it must necessarily be acknowledged that he was a Teacher sent from Heaven to set Men right that were gone astray and consequently that his Doctrine is true But I will not insist upon this Consequence as well because it is evident in it self as because many Learned Men already have thoroughly handled it I will add only this Reflection before I end viz. That we have no Reason to suspect that Jesus Christ himself designed to deceive us Because all the Reasons brought to prove the Sincerity of the Apostles are as strong in respect of him as of them To be convinc'd of this we need but apply to him both as to his Person and Doctrine all that has been said concerning the Apostles All the Religion which he taught Men and which we find in the Gospels tends only to bring us to the Observation of the most holy and most admirable Morals that can possibly be imagin'd And he could have no other Interest in the Establishment thereof than what we all have that is the universal Welfare of all Men. Thus then you see the Christian Religion establish'd after an invincible manner without supposing any Inspiration in the Histories of our Lord and his Apostles There remains nothing more to be added but that to apprehend the Truth of all our Proofs it is necessary only that we have the same Disposition of Mind towards the Apostles that we have towards any Person whose Sincerity is very well known to us and whom we could not refuse to believe when he should assure us of a thing he had seen and heard and in which it is morally impossible that he should be deceived The chief thing then is to be well assur'd of the Integrity of the Apostles which is easy to be done in following the Method we have described Otherwise while we attend not to the Reasons which give Evidence thereunto we shall never be sufficiently sensible of the strength of the other Arguments that may be brought to prove the Divine Original of our Religion I intreat you Sir to examine what I have said exactly and to let me know if I have been to blame in affirming that we may be perfectly assured of the Truth of Christianity without believing the History of the New Testament to be inspir'd If I would have treated of this Subject thoroughly I must have compos'd a Book not writ a Letter But what I have said is sufficient to let you see that our Friend is not with any sort of Justice to be suspected of Irreligion upon the account of his not believing the Inspiration of the Scriptures as it is commonly believed I am c. FINIS The chief Errors of the Press which the Reader is desired to correct are in Page 63. Line for Read 17 It is not likely It is apparent 21 should would 22 with
Advertisement BY THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER FOR the better understanding of these five Letters it seems necessary in a few words to explain the Occasion and Subject of them They are not in French one distinct Volume as they are here made in English but a part of two larger Volumes written in an Epistolary Form The First entituled The Thoughts or Reflections of some Divines in Holland upon Father Simon 's Critical History of the Old Testament The Second A Defence of those Thoughts in Answer to the Prior of Bolleville who is supposed to be also the same Mr. Simon disguised under a borrowed Name The general Design that Mr. Simon drives at in the Critical History of the Old Testament as well as in that of the New which are now both of them published in English is to represent the many Difficulties that are amongst the Learned concerning the Text of the Scriptures and thereby to infer the necessity of receiving the Roman Doctrine of Oral Tradition This Design raised him many Antagonists amongst the Protestants beyond the Seas who have opposed him in their Writings each according to his different Genius or Principles The Book first above mentioned was one of the earliest of that kind and it 's Anonymous Author appears second to none either in Critical Learning or Solid Iudgment But it is not necessary to my purpose in this place to insist upon his particular differences with Mr. Simon in Points of Criticism This only in general is needful to be observed That though on the one side he sufficiently overthrows the pretended necessity of Oral Tradition and on the other side ingenuously acknowledges all the Difficulties that are amongst the Learned about the Text of the Scriptures yet he does not thereupon leave the Iudgment of his Reader in suspence about so weighty a matter but propounds a middle way which he conceives proper to settle in Mens Minds a just esteem of the Scriptures upon a solid Foundation The Scheme or System of this middle way he says he received from his Friend Mr. N. and therefore he gives it not in his own but in his Friend's words It is comprized in the Eleventh and Twelfth Letters of his foresaid Book And because That is a distinct Subject of it self and of more consequence to the generality of Christians than those nice Disputes of Criticism with which he is obliged in following Mr. Simon to fill up the rest of that Volume I have therefore thought fit to translate those two Letters into English They are the two First of these Five and are the Ground and Occasion of the rest The publishing of that Volume of Letters produced an Answer from Mr. Simon or the Prior of Bolleville as he calls himself and further gave opportunity to the Author to learn from several hands whatsoever was objected most materially by others against the fore-mentioned Scheme which he had published in his Friend's words This afforded him occasion in replying to the Prior of Bolleville to insert a further explanation and defence of that Scheme from the hand of the Author as also to justifie himself for having published it and in the last place to remove the great Popular Objection arising from a Iealousy lest that System of Mr. N's should prejudice the Foundation of the Christian Religion I say it prompted him to answer that Objection by giving a solid Demonstration of the Truth of our Religion without interessing it in this Controversy This is done in the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh Letters of his Second Book Entituled A Defence c. And they are the three last of these following Five I have translated them all that the Reader may at once have a full view both of Mr. N's Opinions concerning the Holy Scriptures in the fore-mentioned System of the Objections that have been made against it of the Answers he gives to those Objections and of the Vse that may be made of all in setling the Christian Religion upon a Basis not to be shaken by the Difficulties about the Scripture which the Learned are forced to acknowledg to be insuperable This is all that I think needful to premonish the Reader upon this Subject Only if in the perusal of the two first of these Letters any one should be apt to condemn me for publishing things of this nice concernment in our Language I intreat him to suspend his Censare till he have read the rest and as he goes along to apply unto me the Author's Apology Our Case is the same and I think he has said all that is needful upon it In a word We live in an Age of so much Light that it is not only now as at all times unbecoming the Dignity of such Sacred Truths as the Christian Religion teaches us to build them upon unsound Principles or defend them by Sophistical Arguments but it is also vain to attempt it because impossible to execute The Doctrine of Implicit Faith has lost its Vogue Every Man will judg for himself in matters that concern himself so nearly as these do And nothing is now admitted for Truth that is not built upon the Foundation of Solid Reason Let not therefore any simple-hearted pious Persons be scandalized at these Disquisitions They are not calculated for their Vse But they are absolutely needful for many others who are more Curious and less Religious And that they may be in some measure useful to the Propagation and Advancement of True Religion amongst such is the strong Hope and hearty Desire of the Translator THE FIRST LETTER YOU are desirous Sir that I should inform you more particularly about the thoughts of Mr. N. concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writers and you ask me if our Friends do not suspect him to be tainted with Deism He that gave me the Essay which I send you told me nothing of his other Opinions nor of his Manner of Life And for his Thoughts concerning that Divine Inspiration which the Sacred Pen-men received from God it is conceived that from thence he cannot be concluded to be a Deist It is presumed on the contrary without entring into the Examination of what he says that he believes by this Method he better answers the Objections which the Deists and Atheists have used to make against the Stile of Holy Scriptures And it appears by this Essay that he is far from being of their Opinions We ought not always to measure or judg of the extent of any Man's Thoughts in reference to Religion by the manner of his explaining or defending them as if all those who do not defend well their Religion were Men of ill Design that only seemingly defend in order to destroy it 'T is said that the impious Vannini designed to shew there is no God in making as if he would prove there is one But it does not follow from thence that all others do the same who defend or oppose weakly any Opinion Otherwise we must believe many Writers both Catholicks
having themselves seen them or taken them out of good Records we may be consident that for the main of the History they tell us nothing that is not exactly true These Qualifications alone are sufficient to oblige us to give Credit to them An Historian that is honest and well inform'd of that which he relates is worthy of Credit And if you add thereto that he has also suffer'd Death in maintaining the Truth of his History as the Apostles did who were put to death for maintaining that they had seen and heard that which the Gospel tells us of Jesus Christ then not only that History will be worthy of Credit but they who shall refuse to believe it can pass for no other than Fools or obstinate Persons In this manner we may be fully assur'd of the Truth of the History of the New Testament that is to say That there was a Jesus who did divers Miracles who was rais'd from the Dead ascended up into Heaven and who taught the Doctrine which we find in the Gospels And this Jesus having born witness to the History of the Jews we cannot doubt its truth at least as to the principal Matters This can not be call'd in question without absolutely renouncing Christianity But People believe commonly two things which seem to me groundless unless they ground them upon Jewish Tradition a Principle as is well known extreamly uncertain They believe first that the sacred Historians were inspir'd with the Things themselves And next that they were inspir'd also with the Terms in which they have express'd them In a word that the holy History was dictated word for word by the holy Spirit and that the Authors whose Names it bears were no other than Secretaries of that Spirit who writ exactly as it dictated As to what concerns the Inspiration of Historical Matters of Fact I observe First That they suppose it without bringing any positive Proof and that consequently a Man may with good reason reject their Supposition They say only that if it were not so we could not be perfectly certain of the truth of the History But beside that a Consequence cannot undeniably prove a Fact and that it may happen that one cannot disprove a Consequence although that which is pretended to be prov'd thereby be not true I affirm that it is false that we cannot be perfectly certain of the main substance of a History unless we suppose it inspir'd We are for Example perfectly certain that Iulius Caesar was kill'd in the Senate by a Conspiracy whereof Brutus and Cassius were the Chiefs without believing that they who have inform'd us hereof were inspir'd There are such like matters in the Histories of all Nations which we cannot doubt of without being guilty of Folly and Opiniatrety and yet without supposing that these Histories were writ by Divine Inspiration In the second place this Opinion supposes without necessity a Miracle of which the Scripture it self says nothing To relate faithfully a matter of Fact which a Man has seen and well observed requires no Inspiration The Apostles had no need of Inspiration to tell what they had seen and what they had heard Christ say There needs nothing for that but Memory and Honesty Neither had those Authors who writ only the things that came to pass before their time as the Author of the Books of Chronicles any more need of Inspiration for copying of good Records And as for those who made the Records there was no more requisite than that they should be well inform'd of what they set down either by their Eyes or by their Ears or by faithful Witnesses It will be said perhaps that according to this Opinion the Faith which we build upon the Scripture will be no other than a Faith purely human because it will be grounded only upon Human Testimonies To this I answer That neither do we know any more than by a Human Faith that the Book which we call the Gospel of St. Matthew is truly his It is nothing but the uniform Consent of Christians since the beginning of Christianity to this day that makes us believe it which in truth is no more than a Testimony purely Human. We do not believe it because we are assur'd of it by an Oracle from Heaven which has told us that this Book is truly that Apostle's but on the same account that we believe that the Eneid is truly Virgil's and the Iliad Homer's But that which they here call Human Faith is of as great certainty as the Demonstrations of Geometry And even Divine Faith it self as they call it is built upon this Certainty For in truth we do not believe in Jesus Christ but because we are perswaded that the History we have of him is true And how do we know that this History is true Because Eye-witnesses have written it and have suffer'd Death to maintain the truth of their Testimonies And how are we certain that these were Eye-witnesses and that they suffer'd Death rather than deny what they said By History that is to say by the Testimony of Men who affirm it to us constantly from the time of the Establishment of the Christian Religion to the Age we live in So that Human Faith is found to be the ground of Divine Faith But we need not fear that this Foundation is not solid enough For without ceasing to be a Man and reasoning no more than a Brute it cannot be disputed as has been made appear by many Learned Men who have written of the Truth of Christian Religion In the third place The common Opinion is contrary to the Testimony even of the Sacred Writers St. Luke begins his Gospel after this manner For asmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in Order a Declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us even as they delivered them unto us who from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word It seemed good to me also having had perfect Vnderstanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed You may observe in these words a Confirmation of what I have been saying and a full Proof that St. Luke learn'd not that which he told us by Inspiration but by Information from those who knew it exactly Now if you allow St. Luke to have so faithfully related to us the Life and Discourses of Jesus without having been particularly inspir'd that we ought to receive what he tells us with an entire belief in his Fidelity you ought not to make any difficulty to grant the same concerning the other Historians of the Scripture If any of them ought to be inspir'd certainly they were the Evangelists And if you will have another Example of a Histoory written without Inspiration you have but to read the Books of Kings and of the Chronicles being Extracts out of publick Registers and out
leasure-Time The Iewish Sanhedrim may easily have received into their Canon Books that had no Divine Authority To come now to the Doctrines which are in the Holy Scriptures and not there attributed to a partcular Revelation I will begin with examining those which are in the Writings of the Apostles after which I will pass to those of the Old Testament It is commonly believed that the Apostles as well as the Prophets were inspir'd both as to Words and Things Yet with this difference that the Prophets were not always inspir'd but only when God gave them order to speak to the People in his Name Whereas the Apostles were always inspir'd without being ravisht into Extasies as the Prophets were before their prophesying This Opinion is founded upon the Promise that Christ made his Apostles to send them the holy Spirit which he performed on the Day of Pentecost The words of Christ are Iohn XVI 13. When he the Spirit of Truth shall come he will guide you into all Truth He says also elsewhere to his Apostles When they bring you into the Synagogues and unto Magistrates and Powers take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say Luk. XII 11. These are two the most formal Passages that can be quoted in this Matter It is requisite that we examine them with some attention to see if they prove that which they are produc'd for viz. That the Apostles were honour'd with a continual presence of the Holy Ghost who dictated to them all that they said in matter of Religion insomuch that all their words ought to be considered as Oracles To begin with the latter I observe first That he does not promise a perpetual Inspiration but only upon certain Occasions viz. when the Apostles should be brought before the Tribunals of Judges So that if there were nothing else in it this Passage would not at all favour the common Opinion But there is more in it for it wholly destroys it If Jesus Christ had resolv'd to give his Apostles the Holy Spirit to inspire them perpetually he would not have told them singly that they should not troble themselves for what they had to say before the Judges because then the Spirit should speak in them But he would have said that they need not fear that at any time they should want words because the holy Spirit should accompany them without ceasing as well before the Powers of the World as when they should speak to the People If a Man had a Design to supply another with Mony for all his Expences Would he say to him Do not trouble your self to get Mony for the Journies you are to take for you shall then be supplied He would rather say to him doubtless that he should not fear to want Mony because he should be suppli'd constantly for all his Occasions A Man promises not for a particular Occasion that which he intends to give alike at all Times And when a Man makes a particular Promise it is a plain sign that he intends to perform it but upon certain Occasions In the second place As I acknowledg that the Apostles may have had Prophetick Inspirations on certain Occasions and that in effect they have had them so I confess that I find my self tempted to believe that by these words The Holy Ghost shall teach you in that hour what ye ought to say Or as St. Matthew has expressed it It is not ye that speak it is the Spirit of your Heavenly Father that speaks in you I am I say tempted to believe that by these words Christ meant only to say this viz. The Spirit of Courage and Holiness which the Gospel produces in your Hearts will teach ye what ye ought to say That is to say That the Apostles had no more to do but to believe in the Gospel to be assur'd that the Disposition of Spirit which that Heavenly Doctrine would give them would never let them want words not even when they were to defend themselves before the Tribunals of the greatest Powers That which inclines me to this Explication of Christ's words is that in comparing this Promise with the Event it seems not to have been performed in any other sense than that which I have now observ'd and that neither ought it to be interpreted so strictly as if on these Occasions a Word might not slip from the Apostles that were not conformable to the Spirit of the Gospel St. Luke tell us Acts XXIII that St. Paul having been brought before the Sanhedrim began to speak after this manner Men and Brethren I have liv'd in all good Conscience before God until this day Here is nothing yet that one might not say without Inspiration as neither is there any thing but what is conformable to the Gospel But what follows is a sign of Passion wherewith neither the Spirit of Prophecy nor the Patient Spirit of the Gospel inspired St. Paul At that words says St. Luke Ananias the High Priest commanded them that stood by to smite him on the Mouth The Apostle provok'd by this Unjustice answers him angrily God shall smite thee thou whited Wall For sittest thou to judg me according to the Law and commandest thou me to be smitten contrary to the Law And they that stood by says St. Luke said to Paul Revilest thou God's High Priest Then said Paul I wist not Brethren that he was the High Priest For it is written Thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People It is plain me-thinks that if the Spirit of Prophecy had inspir'd St. Paul with the beginning of this Discourse it did not so neither with the Answer he made the High Priest nor with the Excuse he made use of afterward when they told him he was the High Priest that he spoke to He gave Sentence against himself by his Answer supposing that he had known him who order'd him to be smitten And as for the Excuse it is plain it is not very good because the Gospel allows not to revile any Man whether he be a Magistrate or a private Man Iesus Christ says St. Peter has suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Neither do I believe that the Spirit of Prophecy inspir'd St. Paul with what he said afterward At least there is no Body but could have said as much without Inspiration Now St. Paul knowing says the Historian that the one part were Sadduces and the other Pharisees cried out in the Council Men and Brethren I am a Pharisee the Son of a Pharisee of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead I am called in question This expression also of St. Luke Paul knowing makes it evident that his Speech was an Effect of his Prudence rather than
he believ'd not that the Apostles were mov'd by a perpetual Inspiration to write what they did We may joyn with St. Ierom Origen from whom he had this Opinion concerning the Dispensation that he attributes to these two Apostles and divers Greek Fathers who also followed Origen as St. Ierom writing to St. Austin observes in the Apology he makes for this part of his Commentary Thus you see that the most able Interpreters of Scripture that Christian Antiquity has had have been of the same Opinion with me I may also say that the most Learned Criticks of these last Ages have believ'd the same thing since Erasmus and Grotius have publickly maintain'd it those two great Men who are beyond dispute in the first Rank amongst the Moderns that have concern'd themselves in writing on the Bible Quorum se pectore tota Vetustas Condidit major collestis viribus exit Erasmus upon the second Chapter of St. Matthew says thus St. Jerom abhors the Imputation of Falshood to the Apostles not that of slips of Memory Nor is the Authority of the Scripture forthwith questionable because they differ in Words or Sense as long as the main of the Matter treated of and that whereon our Salvation depends is clear For as that Divine Spirit that govern'd the Mind of the Apostles suffered them to be ignorant of some things to make Mistakes and to err either in Iudgment or Affection without any damage to the Gospel nay it improves that failing to the help of our Faith so it is not unlikely that it so influenced the Faculty of their Memory that though something after the manner of Men might scape them yet that should not only not derogate from the Credit of the Holy Scripture but might even gain Credit to it with those who otherwise might be apt to slander it as written by Confederacy Of this sort is that of putting one Name for another which Jerom confesses to be somewhere done or of relating things out of order c. Christ only is stiled the Truth He alone was free from all Error He says also upon Acts X. Neither do I think it necessary to attribute every thing that was in the Apostles to a Miracle They were Men some things they were ignorant of in some they were mistaken He maintains likewise the same Opinion at large in his Epistles lib. 2. Ep. 6. against Eckius who had blam'd him in a Letter he had written to him and he thus concludes all that matter Christ suffer'd his own to err even after they had receiv'd the Comforter but without danger of Apostatizing from the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith even as at this day we confess the Church may err witthout that danger And to conclude how do you know whether Christ would not that this compleat Praise should be kept only for himself who stiles himself alone the Truth As he alone was without Spot or Blemish of Sin according to the Opinion of the Antients so perhaps he only was beyond all exception true Nothing could be said more formally upon this Subject But Grotius who speaks not so plainly is not wanting for all that to explain himself sufficiently giving us to understand that all that the Apostles said was not in his Opinion immediately inspir'd Paul says he in his Appendix to his Commentary concerning Anti-Christ in two places 1 Thess. IV. 14. and 2 Cor. XV. 22. speaking of the Resurection divides those that are to rise again into two kinds Those who are already dead and those who shall be alive at that time But of this last number he makes himself one using this Pronoun We And in that to the Corinthians We that shall be alive as much as to say he made account that the Resurrection would happen within the time of his Life speaking herein not dogmatically but conjecturally as he does also concerning his Iourney into Spain Rom. XV. 28. and frequently in other places As not the Prophets so neither had the Apostles constant Revelations in all things And the things in which they had not receiv'd Revelation of those they speak conjecturally as other Men. We have Examples thereof 1 Sam. XVI 6. 2 Sam. VII 3. The ablest Divine among the Arminians was also of this Opinion as you may see by consulting the place in the Margent but to ease you of seeking it if you are not at leisure or want convenience I will transcribe some of the words It is not absurd to grant says he that the holy Spirit may have left the Writers of the sacred Books to the common Condition of Mankind and to their own Frailty in relating those things that belonged to the Circumstance of a Fact for which a due knowledg and Memory was sufficient even altho that was subject to failing He says also a little lower It is better and would perhaps cause less Scandal to acknowledg freely and willingly a light failing of Memory that so we may not seem to favour things wrested and absurd rather than to make use of absurd Interpretations in excuse of lighter failings Otherwise the suspicion of a failing is not only not avoided but it is increased and because the Fault is not acknowledged it seems as if Truth were not in good earnest sought by us but that Obstinacy were for some reason or other made use of which ought to be look'd upon as the greatest Reproach imaginable to Professors of the Christian Religion He shows afterwards That it follows not because the Apostles might be deceived in things of small importance that therefore they could fall into any considerable Error for want of Memory And the principal Reason he gives is For that the Fundamental Doctrines depend not on a Circumstance which they could forget nor have they any thing in them obscure or hard to be retain'd Which is so true says he that I make no difficulty to affirm That if any one says there is a Sense in the Scripture necessary to Salvation which appears at first contrary to Reason we ought thereby to judg he attributes to the Scripture a Sense it has not And this is what I believe and am convinc'd of by reading the sacred Books I confess that the most part of Divines now a days are of a contrary Opinion But as I pretend not to oblige any body to approve my Judgment by the Authority of those I have quoted so neither do I hold my self obliged to submit to the Authority of a crowd of Learned Men who do but say the same thing one after another without ever examining or bringing Reasons for it We must however observe here two things of very great importance which are not ordinarily reflected on The first is That in one Controversy which we have with the Roman Church our Divines do all agree that we ought not to have so much regard to Words as Things for upon supposition that in the Apocryphal Books there is nothing contrary to
Piety they say that the Controversy about them is not considerable Now if there be no danger in believing Expressions to be divine that have nothing in them but human when the Doctrines therein contain'd are not contrary to the reveal'd Truth What danger can there be in believing that any Truths which we acknowledg to be Divine are express'd in Terms not divinely inspir'd The same reason that makes us believe there is no danger in the one perswades us also there is none in the other It is because we are not sav'd by the Words but by the Things The other thing observable is that we receive amongst the Canonical Books of the New Testament Writings whose Authors are not well known which we could not do if we thought it necessary in receiving a Book as Canonical to be assur'd that every Word was inspir'd since to be assur'd thereof we sought to have evident Proofs that it was a Man inspir'd by God who was the Author of that Book For Example it is not known who writ the Epistle to the Hebrews whether it were an Apostle or some Disciple of the Apostles so that we cannot know whether the words of that Epistle were inspir'd or not But for all that it is receiv'd because it is certain it was written in the Apostles time and because it contains nothing that is not perfectly conformable to their Doctrine Thus it is generally thought of little importance whether the words be divinely inspir'd or no provided the things they express be true So that one may say that in truth Divines are generally very favourable to the Opinion I maintain although themselves are not aware of it I do not think it necessary to insist much in proving that God has not always dictated to the Apostles the very words that they used since it is evident that he did not always dictate to them the things Not that I make any doubt but he has often reveal'd to them the things and even inspir'd them with the very words as in the Prophecies where there was need to remember divers Names and when they spoke strange Languages Tho it may nevertheless be suppos'd that as to what concerns the Gift of Tongues God dispos'd at once the Brains of them that receiv'd it in such a manner that they could without trouble joyn certain Sounds to certain Ideas just as they would have done if they had been us'd to it from their Infancy and that afterwards he left them at liberty to make use of those new Languages according as they should think fit And thus those that learn'd by Inspiration the Language of the Medes for Example had their Brains dispos'd in the same manner as they would have had if they had learn'd that Language from their Infancy and could make use of it as easily as their Mother-Tongue At least it is evident that some who had receiv'd this miraculous Gift did sometimes abuse it which they would not have done if they never had spoken those Languages but by present immediate Inspiration See 1 Cor. XIV But without determining that Point I believe with Erasmus that the Apostles learn'd not the Greek they us'd by Inspiration because if it were so they would have spoke it like the Native Grecians whereas they mix'd with it a world of Hebraisms as the French that speak Latin do Gallicisms See Erasmus upon Acts X. Not that I believe neither that they had learn'd the Greek Language by the Commerce they had with the Greeks during the Functions of their Charge as Erasmus thought probable it is more likely they had learn'd it from their Infancy For St. Paul who was born in Cilicia where they spoke nothing but Greek undoubtedly had learn'd it young but he corrupted it afterwards by his long dwelling in Iudaea where besides the Greek they spake a broken Chaldee whose Dialect mixing with the Greek render'd it obscure and difficult such as is the Stile of that Apostle The others that were born in Iudaea had learn'd it also from their Infancy as it was commonly there spoken that is to say extreamly corrupted by the ancient Language of the Country which was still spoken there as appears by divers places of the New Testament This the same Erasmus has well observ'd in the places already cited When I excuse the Apostles says he in his Letter to Eckius who learn'd their Greek not out of Demosthenes his Orations but out of the Discourse of the common People I deny not their Gift of Tongues nor does it thence follow that they might not learn Greek by common Converse Assuredly they learn'd the Syriac by common Converse Why might they not in like manner learn the Greek For by means of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire Aegypt and the greater part of Syria and all the lesser Asia nay almost all the East as Jerom says spoke Greek And I cannot think that the holy Spirit made them to forget what they had formerly learn'd The Greek Language then was spoken in Iudaea together with the ancient Language which the Jews brought from Babylon that is to say the Chaldean but corrupted in process of time as the French and Flemish are spoke together now adays in Flanders And as the French they now speak in Flanders is full of the Flemish Dialect and of Terms unknown in France so the Greek of Iudaea vvas heretofore full of Chaldaisms and of barbarous ways of speaking which undoubtedly grated the Grecian's Ears The History of the Acts of the Apostles that tells us in several places that Hebrew or Chaldean was spoken in Iudaea tells us also that they us'd another Language which could be no other than Greek St. Luke observes Acts XXII that St. Paul haranguing the Jews began to speak to them in Hebrew and that when they understood him speak to them in the Hebrew Language they hearken'd to him with the greater silence which gives us to understand that he might have spoke to the People in another Language for otherwise there had been no ground to observe that they listn'd more attentively when they perceiv'd he spake Hebrew seeing that in speaking any other Language but Hebrew they could not have understood him It appears then that Greek was spoken in Iudaea and it is likely Pilat spoke Greek to our Lord and that our Lord answer'd him in the same The People only preferr'd the Language of the Country before the Greek which was not so ancient and which they had not learn'd but by force because of the Kings of Syria that tyranniz'd over them and so they spoke it not exactly It is true there were Iews that spoke Greek very purely but they were such as were born in Countries where only Greek was spoken as Philo or they had acquir'd a habit of speaking good Greek by reading or studying as Iosephus So at this day there are Walloons that speak French very well altho the generality of that People speak it extreamly ill because
who have more Zeal than Knowledg to answer four sorts of Reflections that are made upon the Treatise concerning Inspiration I. Some Learned Men who approve the Opinions of Mr. N. conceive nevertheless that they ought not to have been publish'd because in their Judgments it is not fit that all Truths should indifferently be communicated to all People There are say they certain things which though good in themselves may easily be apply'd to ill uses and it is better that the Public should be depriv'd of the advantage it might draw from the knowledg of such Truths than be visibly expos'd to the danger of abusing them so lamentably as it would be apt to do II. Others who are of the same Mind in approving the Opinions of Mr. N. believe that since he was willing those his Thoughts should be publish'd he ought to have express'd them more distinctly and above all to have propos'd in the first place the State of the Question between him and the generality of Divines These Gentlemen think that if he had done as they say he had prevented a great many Calumnies which are grounded upon nothing but the Obscurity that is observ'd to be in some places of his Writing III. Some of those who look upon the Opinion of Mr. N. as false Doctrine cannot indure that I should have said It appears not by what Principle it can be overthrown They say that nothing is more easy And to let you see they are in the right they make divers Answers to the Arguments of Mr. N. and propose some Objections which they believe sufficient to refute all he has said IV. Lastly the most hot and the least reasonable of these Objectors affirm that the Opinions of our Friend lead directly to Deism and stick not to accuse him of favouring that abominable Opinion You see Sir to what Heads I am oblig'd to make Answer being of Opinion as I am that it was convenient to publish that Writing concerning Inspiration To begin with the first I acknowledg Sir that what they say is true I grant that all sorts of Truths are not fit to be spoken at all times and on all occasions It is undoubtedly a very ill thing to publish any Truth not necessary to be known how certain soever it may be when we are assur'd that those who shall read or understand it will infallibly be so scandaliz'd at it that the knowledg thereof will produce more hurt than good On such occasions Christian Prudence indispensably obliges us to the contrary The Question is not then Whether the Maxim of these Gentlemen be true or not In that we are agreed But my Opinion was that this Writing of Mr. N. would do infinitely more good than hurt and I dare yet maintain that in the Times wherin we live it is very fit that such Matters as these be throughly examin'd without concealing from the Public any of the Difficulties that attend them You know Sir that most of the Sciences being arriv'd in this our Age to a greater degree of Perfection than formerly though from thence it might be expected that such Improvements should have render'd Christians so much the more wise and more judicious yet on the contrary Libertinism and Impiety have prevail'd more scandalously than ever The Libertines of former Ages profess'd their Opinions only in some extravagant Sallies of Wit or Debauchery and oppos'd the Christian Religion only by some insipid Railleries which could have no weight with any Persons of sound Judgment and unbiass'd Affections But the Libertines of our Times make use of their Philosophy and Criticism to overthrow the most sacred and most solid Doctrines of our Religion Divers impious Books have been publish'd not only in Latin but also in French in English and in Dutch which many unlearned Persons read with much greediness Abundance of People are fond of Spinoza's Opinions because they have read his Books in French in English and in Dutch though they never study'd Philosophy nor Criticism We are in Times wherein every body pretends to depth of Learning freedom of Thought and strength of Judgment and this Reputation is easily acquir'd by reading those Books But that which renders this yet more deplorable is that it is not a Disease of Youth that Men grow out of as they advance in Years They whose Minds are once tainted with these unhappy Opinions do very seldom get quit of them This is undoubtedly a great Mischief and to which those who are any ways able to bring Remedy are oblig'd to do it It has been endeavoured to overthrow the Authority of the holy Scriptures by making appear that the Stile of the sacred Writers was not inspir'd and that they did not receive every thing they said from immediate Inspiration And in effect it has happen'd that many People have hereupon believ'd that the Authority of the Scripture was intirely ruin'd And imagining that the Reasons brought by Spinoza to prove this Opinion were unanswerable they have fall'n into Deism or into Atheism What Remedy Sir for this For my part I confess I see but one of these three Either a way must be found to burn all the Copies of these impious Books that have corrupted so many Men and to blot out of Mens Memory the Arguments of these Libertines or else there must solid Demonstration be made of the Falsity of the Arguments they make use of to maintain their Opinions Or lastly in granting to them that the sacred Pen-Men were not inspir'd neither as to the Stile nor as to those things which they might know otherwise than by Revelation it must be yet demonstrated that the Authority of the Scriptures ought not for all that to be esteemed less considerable It is plain that the first of these three is absolutely impossible and that tho an Inquisition should now be settl'd in France in England and in Holland it would already be too late There is then no other means left to cure this Libertinism that is spread so wide but one of the two last propos'd Remedies For my part I could wish with all my Heart that some body would try the second and would make it evident that God has inspir'd the sacred Authors not only with the matter they have spoken about but also with the very Expressions But since no body has yet done nor that I know undertaken to do it why should it be ill taken that Mr. N. has made use of the third method or that I have publish'd his Writing It is true there are some who believe that it were better to hold ones peace in a matter so delicate than to run the hazard of giving scandal to others by contradicting the Opinions which they think most reasonable This indeed would be very well if Libertines also forbore writing or if no body read their Books But since it is otherwise such silence is not at all seasonable If any weak Minds take Offence without Reason at what is offer'd there are an
Spirit is also ambiguous for either it signifies as I have taken it a certain divine Inspiration which both the ordinary Prophets had and sometimes David and Daniel or it signifies a pious Motion or Faculty stirring a Man up to utter useful Precepts relating to Human Life or Political or Civil Matters Thus Maimonides interprets the word Holy Spirit where he treats of those Historical and Moral Writings If Luke had written by the dictating of the Holy Spirit he would have fetch'd his Authority from thence as the Prophets do rather than from Witnesses whose Credit he follows c. Rivet was mightily scandalized or at least seem'd to be so at an answer so contradictory to the common Opinions But Grotius explain'd himself yet more clearly and strongly in his Refutation of Rivet 's Apology Grotius says he himself willingly acknowledges that the Prophets who were commanded by God to write or speak did write and spoke by Inspiration from him His Opinion is also the same as to the Apocalyse and the Predictions made by the Apostles He esteems it the highest Impiety to make any doubt that all that was said by Iesus Christ was said by God himself Concerning the Historical Writings and the Moral Sentences of the Hebrews he is of another Opinion He thinks it sufficient to believe that they were written out of a pious Intention and with great Ingenuity and concerning matters of highest importance c. Neither Esdras nor Luke were Prophets but grave and prudent Men who neither were minded to deceive nor would suffer themselves to be deceived Did Luke say The Word of the Lord came to Luke and the Lord said to him write as the Prophets us'd to say Nothing like it What then For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a Declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us He says not that by Command but by the Example of others he was induced to write Even as they delivered them to us who from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word viz. Mary the Mother of our Lord other of his Kinsmen the Apostles the seventy Disciples and the Saints that had been rais'd again by Iesus many Witnesses of his Resurrection It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first c. Vnderstanding how acquir'd From Eye-witnesses not by Revelation To write not things dictated but in order The Prophets then had another sort of Impulse than Luke whose good Design nevertheless may be ascrib'd to the Holy Spirit After the Death of Grotius there came out a third Answer of Rivert's wherein he strives to defend the common Opinion against his famous Antagonist It appears plainly by the manner of his answering that he believ'd that the Holy Spirit had dictated the Scripture word for word and this Opinion is known to be the common Opinion of Protestants who on all occasions call the sacred Writers Amanuenses of the holy Spirit Nay even Catholick Authors Gregory de Valence Bellarmin Tolet and Estius cited by Rivet seem to have been of the same Opinion Cornelius à Lapide whom Mr. Simon cites holds the same concerning the Law and the Prophets though he confesses it was not necessary that God should dictate the words when it was only matter of History or of Moral Precepts which might be known otherways So that it may be reasonably suppos'd that the greatest part of Christian Divines now adays are of the Opinion of verbal Inspiration if we may so call it since there are very few that say the contrary and those who do say it only of some Books as Cornelius à Lapide Every body knows that not only in Sermons but also in Divinity-Lectures upon any part of Scripture some Men strangely wire-draw the Words of the Scripture and seek after Reasons why the holy Spirit as they speak makes use of one Expression rather than another The same thing they do also in Commentaries Which would be altogether absurd if my Supposition were admitted that the Stile of the Scriptures is for the most part human and even careless enough But this is because they commonly take the Opinion of the Jews for granted who have a Proverb or general Maxim concerning the Books of the Law in which they believe all to be inspir'd even to a single Letter that there is not a Letter in the Law whereon there depends not great Mountains I am very glad however that Mr. Simon declares himself openly of the same Opinion with me concerning the Stile of the sacred Writers I wish all Protestants would do the same We should then soon be free from many Disputes that are grounded upon nothing but Grammatical Subtilties We should then perceive that we ought not rigorously to insist upon a great many Expressions in the utmost extent of their Signification as if the sacred Pen-Men had spoken with the same Exactness as do Geometricians We should then understand that no Doctrines which we esteem important ought to be grounded barely upon certain manners of speaking which we cannot be sure were exact because the sacred Writers not affecting exactness of Stile may have used that manner of Expression without any design Such is the Doctrine of the antecedent Imputation of the Sin of Adam which is founded upon the Comparison St. Paul makes Chap. V. of the Epistle to the Romans between the Grace that came by Jesus Christ and the Sin that entred into the World by Adam Men stretch this Comparison with too much Rigor not considering that St. Paul's Stile is the Stile of one that observes little Exactness in his Expressions although in the main his Arguments are admirable and that the laying too great stress upon the turn of his Phrases may expose us to the hazard of falling into gross Error The general Design that he proposes to himself ought only to be stuck to without insisting particularly upon every term and every distinct Period which taken separately and strictly may oft-times prove contrary to what he drives at Those who are a little conversant in the Disputes amongst Protestants will easily see the importance of this Remark The ingenuous Acknowledgment of what there is of Human in the sacred Writings would render the Truth of our Religion more conspicuous to the Eyes of the incredulous whereas it is hid from them by clothing it in certain Notions which common Sense makes them reject and from among which they are not able to pick out the Heavenly Truths Men fancy that for the Establishment of Religion it is requisite to maintain every thing or any thing that if true would be an invincible Proof of it they cast therefore about in their own Minds for such Foundations as they conceive would make it most stable With this their Brain becomes so heated that in the end they rashly assert that these are the real Foundations of Religion and that if these be taken
all the Explications which many learned Men have given of those places whereby to show that there is not any of those Explications that clears the Difficulty But to do this would require a Book for every place for there is so great variety of Opinions upon these Passages that there may be reckon'd up ten or twelve Interpretations of one single place One Learned Man has made a Volume in Quarto of an hundred and ninety two Pages upon that single place concerning the Death of Iudas But if the most of these Interpretations be consider'd without prepossession they will be found to be very much strain'd Words are never wanting And it is no easy matter to silence a Man of an indifferent Capacity who undertakes to defend an Opinion that cannot be demonstratively disprov'd Let me therefore on this occasion intreat the Reader to examine some of those places that have given the Learned the most trouble and then let him ask himself whether he would admit of those Reconcilements that he finds in the Commentators if the Question concern'd other Authors than those of the Bible Assuredly he would reject them and would say that it were better to confess that there is some Contrariety in small things than to render the whole History doubtful by persisting obstinately in defence of things of no consequence If this were done in what concerns the Death of Iudas which is brought for an Example I am well assur'd there is no Opinion would appear more reasonable than that of Salmasius in his third Letter to Bartholin concerning the Cross. It is manifest says he that it was usual with the Evangelists not to take much heed of minute Circumstances when they were in the right as to the principal History Nor do I see how otherwise that wherein Matthew and Luke differ concerning the Death of Judas can be reconcil'd Objection 8. Whereas it is doubted whether it were well done to admit the History of Esther in the Hebrew Canon because there are some Circumstances in it which seem to be pure Invention Ought not those Circumstances to have been cited And supposing they were such may it not be said with Mr. Simon Pag. 129. of his Answer that the Book might be a Parable and not the less Canonical for that Answer I might save my self the labour of answering this objection because I have affirmed nothing in this matter On the contrary I said that I would not examine the Opinion of those who believe the History of Esther to be a feigned History Neither will I make my self at present a Party in the Dispute But since it is desir'd I will barely recite the Reasons for which some reject this Book In the first place Mordecai and Esther Whom the Author represents as pious Persons and particulaly favour'd by Heaven agree to do a thing forbidden by the Law It is where Mordecai counsels Esther to indeavour to please Ahasuerus which she consents to though Moses had expresly forbidden them to make Alliance with the Heathens In the second place All the Circumstances of this Story are very observable Esther pleases the King who proclaims her Queen of the Medes and Persians but does not oblige her to tell him from what Extraction she is sprung Mordecai discovers a Conspiracy against Ahasuerus and advertises him of it by the means of the Queen without receiving nevertheless any Recompence only the Conspirators were hang'd and the whole matter recorded Haman grows in great favour at Court insomuch that all the World bowed and reverenced him Mordecai thinks not fit to do it Haman cannot bear his Neglect and having learn'd that he is a Jew resolves to make the whole Jewish Nation perish for his sake He offers King Ahasuerus ten thousand Talents if he will consent to that Nation 's Destruction The King presently consents without taking the Money and gives Haman his Ring who makes use of it in sealing the Letters wherein it is order'd to lay violent Hands on all the Jews not sparing Women nor little Children Messengers are dispatch'd to carry theses Letters all over the Kingdom and the Edict is publish'd at Shushan Esther who had not yet told what Extraction she was of is inform'd that Mordecai was at the King's Gate all in Sackcloath She sends him Raiment which he refuses and expects a second Message before he tells what makes him so sad Esther having learn'd the matter is afraid to appear before the King because it was fobidden by the Laws of the Kingdom unless the King by reaching out his Scepter of Gold dispensed with it but being blam'd by Mordecai she resolves to run the hazerd after a Fast of three days observ'd by her self her Ladies of Honour and all the Jews in Shushan Esther appears before the King He sees her and reaches out his Scepter of Gold that she might come near him She invites the King and Haman to a Banquet in her Apartment They go and the King at the Banquet asks the Queen what she would have him grant her She invites Ahasuerus and Haman again the next day Haman puff'd up with his good Fortune boasts of his Happiness to his Wife and all his Friends but complains at the same time extreamly of Mordecai the Jew for not doing him Reverence His Wife advises him to cause a Gibbet to be made fifty Foot high and to speak unto the King on the Morrow that Mordecai might be hanged thereon Haman goes to Bed thereupon secure that the next day he should be reveng'd of the Insolence of the Jew But the King who could not sleep that Night causes the Records of State to be read to him where he finds the good Office that Jew had done him for which on Inquiry he was told that no Reward had been given him Haman comes to Court early in the Morning to speak to the King that Mordecai might be hang'd But he is no sooner in the Presence than the King calls to him and asks him what should be done to the Man whom the King would extreamly honour Haman who fancy'd it was himself that the King was minded so to honour answers in a way that tended to the advantage of the Person that was to be honoured Immediately the King commands him what a Thunderbolt for an ambitious and revengeful Person to go do it to Mordecai the Jew He retires home in Confusion to bewail his Misfortune with his Friends who tell him plainly that the Jew will be too hard for him Presently the King's Chamberlains come to call him to the Banquet in the Queen's Apartment At the Banquet Esther tells the King there was a Design to destroy her and her People The King in a Passion asks who it was design'd it and being told it was Haman he goes out in Wrath into the Garden Haman on the other side stays with the Queen and throws himself upon her Bed indeavouring to pacify her Wrath. The King returns while he was in that Rosture
and believes Haman was about to force the Queen Haman is seiz'd upon to be put to Death and the Gibbet being found ready sitted for Mordecai Haman by the king's order is hanged upon it Mordecai succeeds in the place of Haman and by Esther's means obtains another Edict whereby the Jews are permitted to take Arms and defend themselves against those that should fall upon them The day mention'd in the Edict being come the Jews kill all those that went about to destroy them They slay five hundred in Shushan And the like leave being given them the next day they kill three hundred more besides Haman's ten Sons who were hang'd by the King's order Now upon the consideration of all these Circumstances it is observ'd by some that if Vnity of Time and Place had been observ'd in this Story there would have been nothing wanting to have made it a good Tragi-Comedy For my part I determine nothing upon the Point But this I can say that in all likelihood Mr. Simon had not read of a long time this Book when he writ the 129th Page of his Answer where he says That though it should be suppos'd that the Books of Esther Judith and Tobit are not true Histories yet it does not follow therefore that they ought to be left out of the Catalogue of Canonical Books And that he has observ'd in his Critical History after St. Jerom that the Parabolical Stile has always been in esteem amongst the Eastern People and that a Book whether it contain a true History or a plain Parable or a History mix'd with Parables is not therefore the less true or less Canonical If the Histories contain'd in these Books are not true they are certainly not Parables but Romances The bare reading them is sufficient to show that those who writ them publish'd them not for Books of Morality but only as surprizing and wonderful Stories To say nothing of Iudith and Tobit it is plain by the Original which the Author of the Book of Esther gives to the Feast of Purim that he compos'd that Book with design to make it look like a true History See the IXth Chap. v. 27. to the end The Original of a Feast uses not to be founded upon a Parable and such a History as that of Esther is not wont to be mix'd with Parables Mr. Simon says well that there are Parables in the New Testament so well circumstantiated that one would take them for true Histories But we must not have read either the Book of Esther or the New Testament to be perswaded that there is any resemblance betwixt the History of that Book and the Parables of our Saviour The Parable most like to a History is that of Dives and Lazarus but there is nothing in it like the History of Esther See Ioseph Antiq. lib. 11. cap. 6. Objection 9. The Prudence and Reason of the Apostles is often spoken of as if the use they made thereof were inconsistent with the Inspiration attributed to them but these things may well agree together as Mr. Simon observes Answer If Mr. Simon understood what he would say when he speaks of reconciling Human Prudence with Inspiration he believes undoubtedly the same thing that I do concerning the Inspiration of the Apostles We agree that the Terms were not inspir'd The question is only about the Things The Inspiration of the things consists either in presenting to the Mind general Principles from whence they that are inspir'd according as they have occasion afterward draw Consequences or in furnishing it with Arguments ready fram'd If God furnish'd the Minds of the Apostles with Arguments ready fram'd they made no use of their Reason having nothing to do but to declare what the holy Spirit had inspir'd them with as the Prophets were only to express the Sense of what God had said to them And this is that which every body calls properly Inspiration But if it be suppos'd that God presented to the Minds of the Apostles only general Principles of which by their own reasoning they made necessary and fit Application upon emergent occasions they were in that case no more inspir'd than those who having carefully read the holy Scripture have the Ideas thereof so present in their Minds that they never fail to make use of it when it is necessary In this last Supposition Reason indeed is made use of but in the other it is not Now it appears that Mr. Simon is not of the Opinion that excludes the use of Reason And therefore I say it is probable that he is of the same Opinion with me though he know it not For I deny not but God might have presented to the Minds of the Apostles either by supernatural or natural ways the general Ideas of which they should stand in need to defend themselves at their Trials I only deny that God always inspir'd them with all the Arguments they made use of on those occasions Mr. Simon adds That to say that the Spirit of Courage and Holiness which the Gospel produces in our Hearts dictated to the Apostles what they should say is to destroy intirely the inward Grace which God did spread abroad in the Hearts of his Apostles and which he yet daily spreads abroad in the Hearts of the Faithful But what does he mean by this inward Grace which is common to the Apostles and the Faithful Is it not the Spirit of the Gospel At least the Faithful have nothing else in common with the Apostles Now if the Apostles by virtue of this Promise It is not you that speak it is the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you have receiv'd as Mr. Simon gives us to understand only the inward Grace which God spreads abroad daily in the Hearts of the Faithful the Inspirations of the Apostles were not different from those of the Faithful now a days Objection 10. Whereas it is said That the Apostles spoke many things at their Trials which might have been spoken without Inspiration and from thence is inferr'd that it is not necessary to believe that they were inspir'd with those things This way of arguing may be apply'd to the Prophets whom nevertheless we acknowledg to have been truly inspir'd Mr. Simon Resp. 131. Answer Mr. Simon who sees nothing in Books but what his Passion shows him might have taken notice that I said that the Prophets teach us they are inspir'd when they say Thus saith the Lord c. There are two ways to know if a thing be inspir'd The first consists in observing if those who say this or that thing maintain that they had it from God by an extraordinary Revelation whereof they give undeniable Proofs as did the Prophets The second is when the thing it self declar'd shows it to be so When the first way fails we must have recourse to the second and where they both fail we have no reason to believe there is any Inspiration Now this is that which appears in many Discourses of the
this occasion which is express'd in these terms The Apostles and Elders came together for to consider of this matter And when there had been much disputing Peter rose up and said c. The common Opinion is that when the Debate was about Doctrinal Matters the Truth was immediately presented to the Minds of the Apostles without any need of Meditation This is undoubtedly true as to the things that Jesus Christ had taught them clearly And they needed no extraordinary Inspiration to call them to mind But this Principle is extended by some to all the Functions of their Charge Now ask if that were so what need was there that the Apostles should not only meet but also talk a long while together The first that had spoke would have sound all the rest of the same mind and there would have been no more to do but for him to pronounce upon the Question according to their general though tacit Agreement It cannot be said there was no Conference amongst the Apostles and Elders concerning this doctrine since St. Luke after having said that the Apostles and Elders came together immediately adds that there was much disputing and that Peter rose up and said c. Neither can the Principle of Mr. Simon be here made use of who says that the Apostles might not determine any thing by their own Authority but by the common Consent of all the Church and that therefore it was that they assembl'd and expos'd in publick their Reasons for not imposing Jewish Ceremonies upon the Gentiles If the Apostles were as much inspir'd as the Jewish Prophets of the Old Testament it is ridiculous to say that they ought to determine nothing by their own Authority but by the Consent of all the Church They had no more to do but to declare what the holy Spirit had reveal'd to them as did the Prophets who met not together to confer about their prophecies before the pronouncing of them but pronounc'd them as soon as God had commanded them without staying for any body's Consent And herein they acted not by their private Authority but by the Authority that God gave them in commanding them to speak to the People No more would the Apostles have acted by their own private Authority in following the Motions of the holy Spirit But Mr. Simon has fancy'd a very particular sort of Inspiration in the Apostles He says it was necessary they should declare that they determin'd nothing which was not conformable to the holy Scriptures and to the Doctrine which they had receiv'd from their Master and that for that Reason it was necessary to deliberate thereupon in Assemblies in which their Opinions happen'd to be sometimes divided A Man must be very acute that can comprehend how Men inspir'd after a Prophetic manner could be of different Opinions But Mr. Simon clears this Difficulty wonderfully in the following words We ought not says he to be surpriz'd at this Diversity of Opinions since every one grounded his particular one upon Inspiration Now this is that which should have hinder'd them from being of different Opinions since assuredly God inspires not several Opinions about one and the same thing It is all one as if one should say that we ought not to be surpriz'd that of two Prophets one should say a thing shall happen and the other that it shall not happen because they both ground their Predictions upon Inspiration And indeed Mr. Simon corrects himself after a fashion by adding Or rather upon the Authority of the Scriptures and the Light which they had receiv'd from Religion If he understands by the Inspiration of the Apostles nothing but the Light which they had receiv'd from Religion why does he make all this ado since herein we agree with him He ought to tell us whether or no when the Apostles spoke by Inspiration they did any thing but express in their own way the Reasonings which God had put ready fram'd into their Minds If that be so how can we conceive that their Opinions should not be one and the same And if he inspir'd them not with the Reasonings they used then we cannot attribute Prophetic Inspiration to them since it is therein that Prophetic Inspiration consists It is very absurd therefore to believe that all the Reasonings the Apostles us'd in preaching the Gospel and all those we read in their Books were inspir'd For it is therein that the Inspiration of the Apostles is ordinarily conceiv'd to consist This is that uniform constant and ordinary Inspiration which Mr. Simon comprehends not because he never thought well upon it Nor indeed does he know what Opinion he is of Sometimes he speaks like the generality of Divines sometimes again he openly contradicts them as may be seen by the words I have cited He must study a little better this matter if he will have us answer him For it is very likely that for the most part he understands not himself I will give but one Example more of it It is that which he says concerning the Author of Ecclesiastes p. 138. For we need but read his words to find that the Prior of Bolleville minds not what he says The Author says he of this Work did not design ONLY to perswade Men to pass their Time in Pleasure To which may be added that Declamation being the proper Character of a Preacher it is no wonder to see him despise all the ordinary Business and Imployments of the World and to prefer an easy commodious Life before all the Troubles that attend a contrary Practice For which he is not to be censur'd as if he were an Epicure after the manner that Mr. N. here understands the Opinions of the Epicureans He would have done well to have told us of what sort of Epicurism the Author of the Ecclesiastes may be accus'd Objection 15. It is a great piece of Boldness to judg four Books of the Old Testament three that bear the Name of Solomon and that of Iob as unworthy to be in the Hebrew Canon That Liberty of censuring would weaken the Principles of our Religion For every one by the same Rule may say that such or such a Book is not Canonical according to his own fancy Answer Although we may reject some Books of the Old Testament it does not follow that we may do the same by all of them Neither does it follow because many Ancient and Modern Divines have thought it would have been better not to have joined with the Writings of the Apostles certain Books that are now in the Canon of the New Testament that therefore we may reject all the Books of the Apostles There are Books that are indisputably of those Authors whose Name they bear and there are others which have been questionable and are so still amongst the Learned as the Epistle to the Hebrews that of St. Iames the second of St. Peter the two last of St. Iohn and that of St. Iude. These Doubts hinder us not from