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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	canonical_a	receive_v	scripture_n	4,193	5	6.0816	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66429	The truth of the Holy Scriptures a sermon preached at St. Martin's in the Fields, April 1, 1695 : being the fourth of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1695 (1695)	Wing W2736; ESTC R7718	13,649	37

D r WILLIAMS's FOURTH SERMON AT Mr. BOYLE'S Lecture 1695. IMPRIMATUR April 1. 1695. Guil. Lancaster The Truth of the Holy Scriptures A SERMON Preached at St. Martin's in the Fields April 1. 1695. BEING THE Fourth of the LECTURE For this present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey M DCXC V. HEB. I. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son c. IN these words there is contained as I have before shewed 1. A description of Revelation 't is God's speaking 2. The Certainty of it 't is by way of declaration God who at sundry times c. 3. The Order observed in delivering this Revelation it was at sundry times c. 4. The perfection and conclusion of all 't is in these last days by his Son Under the Second I have shewed 1. That God has actually revealed his Will at sundry times and in divers manners 2. What are the Characters of true Revelation 3. I am now in order to prove that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament do contain the Matter of Divine Revelation and have upon them the Characters belonging to it For the better disposing of what I have to say under this Head of Discourse I shall observe 1. 'T is one thing to assert and prove the matter of Scripture to be true and another to prove it to be of Divine Revelation 2. 'T is one thing to prove the matter of Scripture to be of Divine Revelation and another to prove these Books to be of Divine Inspiration 3. 'T is one thing to assert that there were once such Books so inspired and another thing to prove this Set of Books which now make up and compose the Canon of the Old and New Testament to be those very Books From hence arise Four Questions viz. Quest 1. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to be true Q. 2. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to be of Divine Revelation Books of mere Human Composition may contain nothing but Truth without any Supernatural Assistance and therefore though we were never so well able to maintain and prove the Truth of the Matter that is not sufficient unless we can advance higher and prove the Authority and Divinity of the Matter Q. 3. How we can prove those Books to be of Divine Inspiration The Epistle of Clemens Romanus was sometime read in the Church as the Apocrypha anciently was and is now with us because of the Excellency and Profitableness of the Matter but yet it was not esteemed to be Canonical and of immediate Inspiration from God Q 4. How we prove these Books that are now extant and received by the Christian Church as Canonical to be those Books which were once in time past wrote by Inspiration from God It will be of some use to us in the prosecution of this Argument to consider the First Question concerning the Truth of the Matter of Scripture by it self and apart from the Divine Authority of it Now the Matter of Scripture is of various nature such as Morality Doctrinal Revelation Institution Prophecy and History Of which the greatest part will be here set aside For it is not necessary to prove the Truth of the Moral part of it which is no other than the Dictate of Nature and therefore though explain'd confirmed and illustrated in Scripture by many useful Rules Principles and Observations needs no proof That of Doctrine and Institution falls in with the Divine Authority and so belongs to the Second Question Prophecy if yet to be accomplished is not capable of other proof than Revelation and if already fulfilled by the Event following and correspondent to the Prediction it is the proof of it self So that the Part now remaining to be proved more especially is Scripture History which is a Relation of matter of Fact of what has happened been declared or done in the several Periods and Ages of the World for Four thousand Years together and upwards Under which Notion I do not question but it may be made appear That there is more to be said for the truth of Scripture-History than for any thing of that kind in the whole World I don't question again but it may be made appear that no Authors had greater advantages for Information in the Subjects they treat of nor were there ever any Writings that bore upon them more ample marks of Ability Impartiality and Care So that if after all that is to be suspected nothing of that kind is certain and we call in question all matters of the like nature whatsoever But this is further to be inquired into Now of this kind there are some things to be found only in Scripture and no where else In which case we have no other way to judge of the truth of it than by the Credibility of the matter the Self-agreement its Concordance with time place and other circumstances of Action together with the Credit and Reputation of the Pen-men of it But there are other things which fall in with other Writings and then besides the former way of trial we are to have recourse to such Books to compare them and determine concerning the truth by such a comparison So that we have three sorts of Proof before us or so many Characters by which we may judge concerning the Truth of what the Scripture relates viz. 1. The Credibility of the Matter therein revealed 2. Self consistence and Self agreement 3. It s concordance with other Books of good and sufficient Authority where such there are And if this be made out we have as much Evidence for the Truth of Scripture as is possible to have in our circumstances and where the Matters related were transacted in place and time far remote from us For all the Evidence we can have is to be resolved into Testimony and that Testimony into the Credibility of the Relators or of the Matters related And if we have as much Evidence of this kind as the nature of the thing will bear and admit we have as much as is reasonable in it self and sufficient to ground a certainty upon For according as the nature of the thing is and the ground upon which its Proof and Evidence depends such is the Certainty And as in things Mathematical Demonstration is the Proof and in things Natural and Sensible Sense is the Proof and in things Rational and Moral Reason and Argument are the Proof so in Matters of Fact where we our selves are not present Testimony and Records are the Proof though for a further confirmation of it there is the collateral proof of Moral Evidence viz. the credibility of the Matter

to the Relations themselves or the manner and circumstances of them but what should no more prejudice us against the truth and certainty of the things related and much less of the whole than the Difficulties of Divine Providence should warrant us to deny it and for want of not understanding some of its Operations or Events we should take encouragement to deny what we do understand 'T is an excellent Saying of St. Austin De Doctrina l. 4. c. 6. speaking of the Divine Writers Where I do understand them there is nothing seems to me more wisely or more eloquently expressed But where I do not understand them there to me appears less of their Eloquence but yet I do not doubt it to be such as it is where I understand it We ought rather to suspend our Censure with the modesty of this Father and for the sake of what we do understand think the more favourably of what we do not And therefore as when we have uncontroulable Reason to believe a Providence the difficulties about it are no sufficient reason to call the Doctrine of Divine Providence into question So when we have so great reason to believe the Scripture's Relation of things to be true the Difficulties about it ought not to derogate from its Veracity nor give us the confidence any more to question the Truth of Scripture than the Certainty of Providence For by this way of proceeding not only the Truth of Scripture but of all other Books whatsoever will be overthrown nay the plainest and most obvious appearances in Nature And yet of this kind are many of the Objections that are brought into the Field and are made to serve in the Cause of Impiety Such as these That we don't know into whose hands those Books have fallen nor in what Copies such various Readings have been found or whether there are not more of that kind in other hands Theol. Polit. c. 7. The issue of all which is That if this will invalidate the Truth of Scripture it will also invalidate that of all Writings whatsoever and so is no more to be regarded than an Argument against Motion which is rather to be contemned than answered 'T is but reasonable then that we should give the same quarter to the Scripture that we allow to other Writings And therefore all Objections levell'd against the Scriptures which will equally be managed against any others ought not to be allowed unless we will give credit to nothing but what we our selves hear and see And then to carry on the Cause We must recede again since there are thousands of Cases happen where even our own Senses may be subject to Error and Mistake II. Another Character for the proof or discovery of the truth of History is Self-consistence and Agreement This is a necessary Character and absolutely requisite to all true History for nothing more shews the weakness and injudiciousness of a Writer than that he comprehends not his own Design and 't is a sign he doth not comprehend it that contradicts himself and makes one part to disagree with another I grant that this alone is not an infallible Character of Truth that it is self-consistent for where the Plat is wholly fictitious and imaginary there may be an exact agreement throughout the whole The Model may be so regularly squared and laid out that there may be a becoming Symetry and Place and Time and all Circumstances made to concur to set it off with the greater advantage But though this may be where Truth is not yet that cannot be true which is without it Truth being always consistent with it self But there is this above all others observable in Scripture That it is a System of several Books wrote by several Persons in several Ages on several Subjects and yet however different in Style and Phrase Method and Order are like the several Features in the Face that besides the sweetness in each alone there is what we call Beauty that arises from the mixture of all Thus it is in the Sacred History which has a great variety in it of matter dispersed up and down sometimes to quicken the Appetite and excite the Diligence of the Reader where each has its Order and Use But when considered in one complex Body and compared and shewn together there is such a wonderful Agreement between the Old Testament and the New the Types and Anti-Types the Predictions and the Events c. that it makes a very beauteous lively and admirable Appearance without any such inconsistencies as may make it liable to have its Veracity questioned if duly consider'd and seriously examined I say if duly consider'd and seriously examin'd for else it must be acknowledged that there are some appearances of this kind 1. But I account not those to be Inconsistencies which in other Authors may justly be esteemed Errors of the Transcribers and for which no Author suffers in his Reputation As for instance When the Famous Historian Herodotus in one place saith That Homer lived about Four hundred Years before his Time and in another place That it was about Six hundred This escape doth not lessen his Reputation among Judicious Persons but for all that he preserves the Character of Pater Historiarum and is esteemed as no injudicious or careless Writer And so if a greater number in Scripture is taken for a less or a less for a greater when there are sufficient Directions therein for the Correction of it 't is not reasonable to charge this as an inconsistency and to urge it as a reason for the overthrowing the Credit and Veracity of it If it be said How doth it appear that they are the Faults of the Transcriber A. I Answer 'T is apparently so sometimes as may be observed in the various Readings which could not be were there not such mistakes in the Transcriber And where it doth not appear so to be we ought in reason so to judge where there are all the appearances of Faithfulness Diligence and Observation in the Writers themselves As for instance What can be more exactly Penn'd than the Book of Joshua in which there is a punctual account of the Scituation and bounds of each Tribe as it was set out and describ'd by Joshua himself the Chief Arbiter and Director of all and if there should be found in his Book any Literal Errors one Name put for another or a different Reading of the same Names we cannot in reason judge it to be an oversight of so Sufficient and so Careful a Writer but that it might proceed from some one that Transcribed it after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Original Copy in some successive Generations and which in reason 't is impossible wholly to prevent 'T is not here necessary for me to enter upon a debate how far the Providence of God doth herein concern it self in preserving the Text free from all Corruptions I am now Treating upon this Argument humanly speaking and of the Truth of

it separately from its Divine Authority And admitting there are such petty Errors that creep in by such imperceptible ways though we cannot tell when or how they came in and have been disseminated into all Copies for ought we know that are Extant yet I don't know any reason why they should be charged upon the Original and the Compiler of it nor how the main Cause is herein concerned It is a respect due and given to all Authors of any Repute for their Care and Fidelity that Write consistently as to the main to pass the most favourable Construction upon any such little Errors which if theirs were not voluntary or rather not to make them theirs without an apparent necessity for it And surely we should not then press the case with the utmost severity and make that which is in it self and in all Books besides a Venial Error to be no less than a Mortal one in the Scripture and to stab its Veracity to the heart and spoil its Credit for ever for the future If it be said there is more reason for this in the case of Scripture than in any other Book because That alone pretends to Divine Authority I Answer That for the present is not the matter under Consideration we are now upon the Point of its Truth and content our selves to enter upon this Debate as if it had no pretence to Divine Authority and Inspiration And so we claim the same Favour and Right on its behalf as we do for any other Author's Credit and Repute of great Antiquity and general Reception And therefore there ought no such Arguments or Objections to be urg'd for the Invalidity of its Authority which it is not decent or reasonable to offer against other Writings and we may reasonably claim the same allowance for that which all Mankind do give or in reason ought to give in things of this nature 2. I don't account these to be Inconsistencies or Contradictions which do not affect the main body or part of the History but that are like a Parenthesis in a Sentence that whether inserted or omitted the sence is perfect and compleat And therefore when the History of Jacob blessing his Sons is the Subject under Consideration whether it was as Gen. 47. 31. He bowed himself upon the bed's-head or as Heb. 11. 21. He worshipped upon the top of his staff is not material And so it may be in many cases besides But what real prejudice will redound to the Reader by the mistake of any thing of this kind or what prejudice is there to the Relation when a thing of no moment is omitted or inserted exchanged or altered I say not this as if I despaired of having an account given of these matters for that I am sensible is to be done as in the Case before-recited but to shew how unreasonable it is to condemn Scripture for that which we will let others go away with free from all Blame and Censure and they shall be good and laudable Writers and their Histories admitted to be true and exact though they have many Errors of this kind and in the mean while the other shall be sifted to the very bottom and every Molehill be a Mountain and upon every little supposed defect it shall be said It has been weighed in the balance of Reason and Examination and has been found too light Thus partial are these sort of persons while they malevolently lay the Right hand upon the youngest and their Left upon the eldest If indeed the inconsistency were like a Disease in the Vitals that affects the Heart or the Brain it is to be accounted Mortal if it did affect the main Body of the Relation and had originally proceeded from the Author it would have been a just Allegation and his Truth and Fidelity his Knowledge and his Care might with good reason be called in question But that we deny and appeal to all the various Readings and Observations on Scripture as our Compurgators in this point And consequently the Scripture will so far remain as a true Relator of matters of Fact and may compare with and be deservedly set above all other Writings whatsoever in which no one Man whose hand pass'd through the whole Work can compare with that to which so many Hands in various Circumstances at several times did so exactly concur and agree as if they had been wrote by one Hand and at one Time and were but one intire Argument running through the whole III. Another Character is the Agreement of Scripture with other Authors when such there are I may well say when such there are Since it is evident that there are no Writers can pretend to the like Antiquity with Moses and then we must wholy rely on his Authority for what he relates But however though the most ancient among the Heathens are much later than him and so wanted those Advantages for Information which he had yet they so far as they agree with him give a Confirmation and Credibility to what he relates since they deliver it as the Sense of the Ages before and of those in which they themselves lived It is not here so much to our purpose to enquire from whence they derived the knowledge of the things they relate whether from the Jews or from the general Tradition which was best to be known from the Eastern Parts of the World as it is to observe their concurrence in them with the Sacred Writers It is indeed probable that the Ancient Writers of the Heathens were if at all less beholding to the Jews for their Information and the Later more as may be observed from the great difference between the one and the other the later being much plainer in many things than the former For the higher we ascend from the time of the Olympiads the more intricate obscure and fabulous they are So that generally speaking it is with them as Plutarch saith of Geographers That rather than leave any vacant places in their Maps fill them up with inaccessible Mountains Frozen Seas or Monsters So when such Historians would compleat their Narratives rather than be deficient in it they insert wonderful and tragical Stories and like Nations that can give no account of their Pedigree and Original derive themselves from the gods or from the Earth and become Aborigines But however though this be too truly the state of the World for about 3000 Years from the Creation yet there is a mixture of fine Gold with the greater dross and from whence we may extract so much as may serve to confirm what the Scripture advances for Truth and we for the sake of it receive as such as might be shewn This is a Tract has been often beaten by Ancients and Moderns by Aristobulus and Josephus among the Jews by several of the Fathers such as Justin Martyr Tertullian Eusebius c. and by many in these Days And it were easy to form a History out of them especially if we change but