which believes there is a God believes his Veracity and he which believes not that there is a God hath no reason to believe any thing He hath no reason to believe any thing if there be not Truth And if there be not a God there is nothing and so no truth But as that foundation is firm and unquestionable What God saith is true I must build two things upon it and on them the credibility of the first particular is founded viz. 1. That since what God sayes is true we ought to receive whatsoever we have abundant reason to believe that God did say it 2. Whatsoever comes to us as Gods word we ought by no means to reject it without most weighty reasons to make us think that God did not say it 1. As to the first Scripture is the way of proposal i. e. God hath written his mind to us now we have two great reasons to make us believe this writing to be his word 1. Because writing was the fittest way to communicate his will to us 2. Because since all writings need witnesse that we might not doubt this to be his he hath sent it attested by the witnesse of all those that were worthy to be believed i. e. the good men of all ages 1. Because writing was the fittest way to communicate the Gospel or his will to us that appears thus All the Nations and ages of the world could not be present at the birth of Christ nor be eye-witnesses of his miracles see him rise out of grave and ascend into heaven put their fingers into his side c. what then will they not believe unlesse they do shall Christ be crucified afresh in every age that we may see him rise from the dead but because Christ was not to remain alwayes below nor come again in that manner and it concerned the world to know the Gospel God committed it to writing and hath made the holy Scriptures the safe Repositories of his Truth that is excellent preservatives against weaknesse of memory and the rust of malicious designes Monumentum Christi est divina Scriptura in qua divinitatis humanitatis ejus mysteria densitate literae veluti quadam muniuntur Petra How much God was in love with this way appeared of old for though he was pleased to converse familiarly with his plain friends the Patriarchs yet lest his counsels should slip out of the frail minds of men he commanded Moses to write them Litera scripta manet The Jewes nice care of the letters was well made use of by God for it became Septum Legis whilest they looked to the words God secured the sence and how unsure all other wayes are we may perceive in that the Church hath not preserved the remembrance of Christs miracles which were unwritten Language is the Garb of Truth it comes not abroad till it be cloathed in words and since Christ was not to stay here to preach alwayes he enabled those whom he deputed to declare his will in several languages that it might be understood by divers Nations when it was spoken and heard and because the Apostles were to die too he commanded them to write it and hath enabled his Church to translate it into the several languages of the world and so they understand it being written and read And herein God shewed his care of the Vnlearned who are the greater part of the world for though they cannot read the Originall yet having a Translation which in that it is a Translation agrees with the Original they receive the same mind of God that the Learned do Why should any man be unsatisfied with this way of delivery whereas Princes and States in matters which they esteem the greatest receive the Proposals of Ambassadours by an Interpreter If to read or hear these read be not sufficient to direct us what shall become of the blind who can neither read Original nor Translation And if any think that they say a great matter against Translations when they affirm That we know not the signification of Hebrew and Greek words but by the report of men They may as well say so of our Mother-tongue for we know not that this word Book signifies that which men commonly understand when they heare that word pronounced but that we are told so shall an English-man for this fine reason doubt whether he can speak true English or no or shall any child neglect his Duty to his Parents whom he can know but by Report Behold how many ways can the divine Providence use one thing The first division of Tongues broke a foolish attempt of scaling the skies This second further'd a Noble Designe of lifting us up the right way to Heaven By the curtesie of so many Translations the Holy Ghost appears again in cloven Tongues Those men which would make us believe the written word is no fit Rule because every body skills not the Hebrew and Greek do not onely say that they are not a rule to us but that they were not to the Jews or Grecians For it is probable some Jews and more then probable that many Greeks could no more read Greek or Hebrew then many now can read English and how did they do If we may be deceived by those which interpret so might they by those which read But if they say as they would fain have it that the Jews had an infallible spirit then it 's lawfull to ask where he lay asleep whilst the Jews being wickedly misled rejected the Messiah 2. As the Scripture was the best way and therefore most likely to be made use of by the wise God so that we might believe that he did We have the testimony of all that were worthy to be believed i. e. good men in all ages The first age saw things writ the truth and so witnessed to it The next age received believed and obeyed the truth and expressed as great effects of the power of it as the first and so on So that we may say as Saint Paul to Timothy We will mind the Scriptures knowing of whom we have received them Those who could not be willing to deceive themselves for they ventur'd this and the other world on 't and they which did so what design could they have upon us 2. The second assertion above-mentioned is that whatsoever comes to us as Gods word we ought not to reject it without weighty reasons to make us think he did not say it Against the Scriptures we can imagine but two things objectable in this point 1. Invalidity in the evidence given for them 2. Sufficient Counter-witnesse against them 1. As to the first what can invalidate the evidence Insufficiency can be imputed but upon two accounts either they know not the things they wrote or they did not write the truth they knew as some Hereticks said in Tertullians time Solent dicere non omnia Apostolos scisse eadem agitati dementia qua rursus convertunt omnia quidem
may hear it and do it Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the Sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayst do it These words Saint Paul applies to the New Testament Rom. 10. 6,7,8 it may well be so applyed in regard of the perspicuity of the Gospell For as he sayes in his Epistle to the Corinthians we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord i.e. the doctrine of the Gospel and are changed into the same Image c. With open face for the veile that was upon Moses is pulled off The New Testament is a Counterpart of the Old written in fairer letters To this Truth the rest of the Disciples bear witness When our Saviour preached he made such plain revelations of Truth that they saw with their eyes and looked upon the word of life And that which was spoken is as easily understood being written which any body will grant unlesse he be so absurd as to say that we know not what our friend means when he writes to us that which we could have understood if he had delivered it by word of mouth Of those many Arguments to prove this Truth which are necessary consequents from divers places of Scripture I shall content my self with these three The first is taken from the Reality of that love and regard which God professeth to mans happinesse in the bestowing of his Gospel upon the world and that is expressed thus He would have all men to be saved come to the knowledge of the Truth The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter exhorts to a great Charity which he would have expressed in prayers for the good of all men and sayes this is acceptable to God who himself hath a Love to their salvation and to that end would have them come to the knowledge of the truth so that in these words God gives us to understand that he doth not envie us eternal happinesse but doth extremely desire it and hath appointed means for the attainment of it Therefore left we should accuse the divine Love for want of sincerity we must conclude that these means are revealed understandably Would God have us saved by the knowledg or acknowledgment of his Truth and will he not make the Truth knowable but how shall we know it if it be muffled up in dark expressions The Truth which is here meant is the Gospell and that he hath written in such great Capital Letters that he which runs may read the way to salvation Why should God speak to us in an unknown tongue that which Paul sayes concerning the use of intelligible speech {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in discoursing of heavenly things is very applicable here And even things without life giving sound whether pipe or harp except they give a distinction in the sounds how shall it be known what is piped or harped for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the battel so likewise you except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken for ye shall speak into the ayre therefore if I know not the meaning of the voyce I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Doth not God know this and doth he not speak accordingly But how shall God please this vain world some are not satisfied because the Scripture is so plain they would have had it composed in more artificiall guise There is not art enough used and is there too much too Lactantius in his sixth book de Vero Cultu whilst he reproves their impertinent folly who are not pleased with the decent plainnesse of the Scripture gives the summe of this argument for a reason of that plainnesse Num igitur Deus mentis vocis linguae artifex disertè loqui non potest imò verò summa providentia carere fuco voluit ea quae divina sunt ut omnes intelligerent quae ipse omnibus loquebatur i.e. What cannot God speak elegantly who made the mind and all instruments of speech Yes but wisdom took care that those divine things which he spake to all should not be covered with such paint and art as might make them lesse understandable to all especially being such things as concerne Eternall Happinesse The second argument is taken from the pocesse of divine Iustice which is expressed after this manner the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ We must take heed how we reason with God about his judgements but he hath given leave long since to one to aske this question Shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right If God set a law by which he will condemn us to unsufferable torments if we be disobedient doth not righteousnesse require that the law should be made known to us or knowable by us How shall a man be condemned for ignorance if wilfulnesse be not added to make it affected will not that ignorance excuse which was invincible without his fault what justice can punish a man for not doing that which he could not know The condemnation must needs be hard when the offendour could not understand that the Law was given or what it meant He which doth not the will of God shall be beaten saith our Saviour The sinner replies I could not know it what saith our Saviour against that Thou child of darknesse thou hatedst the light He which would not obey will not know that truth which God hath graciously revealed he doth detain in an unrighteous will The plain notice of Gods law will cut off all excuses from those which shall be condemned for disobedience Men may dispute but when they are upon their knees to deprecate the punishment of sin dare they object to God that they could not know his will So men sometimes cavill at God for not giving them grace and pretend to leave the matter so but in prayer do they make this plea Forgive me O Lord though I did sin I could not help it It is one thing what people may talk carelesly or upon design it is another what is whisper'd by a still voyce from an awakened conscience Vpon the plainnesse of Gods revelation depends the certainty of Christian Religion This Pillar had need be firm for the best thing in the world rests upon it What is acceptable to Christ and what he will do for us is to be known by the revelation which he hath made of his mind to us but if that revelation conceal his sence it doth not deserve its name nor benefit us For notwithstanding
scatter'd he gathered them together again as God shewed his regard to the Decalogue by writing it the second time after Moses had rashly broken the first Tables After God had spoken by severall parcels and after divers manners by the Prophets at last he sent his Son to perfect the book write it full and seal it up and this is so well done that whosoever shall adde any thing instead of mending the work and doing the world a curtesie he shall but bring a curse upon himselfe for Christ hath made it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i.e. a perfect Canon Now that appears thus God hath declared Christ to be our Prophet commanded us to hear him told him all his mind concerning us laid up in him all the treasures of divine wisdom He told his Disciples all that he heard of his Father bad them go and preach it and promised salvation to all that should believe it Paul professed that he had declared the whole Councell of God in his preaching and pronounced a curse upon any Angel that should bring another Gospel The Evangelist Luke wrote all that Christ taught till his Ascension and Saint Iohn added as much concerning the miracles of Christ as was enough for motive to faith From all which we argue Christ was in the bosome of the Father and knew all he came from thence and told all his Scholars at his command preached and for the benefit of future times wrote all We acknowledge they did received their books and are satisfied only the Papists and some other Hereticks that they might have the honour and profit to make the supply say they did not but who will believe them when Christ sayes Go and preach what I have taught you and promiseth salvation to those which believe that and no more They will make pretty work that after this appoint other necessaries to be believed i e. such necessaries to salvation as one may be saved and not believe them Now whereas 't is objected That Christ no doubt taught his Disciples all things necessary and it may be they wrote them but they are lost however they were trusted with the Church and that is to supply the defects of Scripture with unwritten Traditions Those which say this would deserve lesse blame for their boldnesse if either they truly honoured the Church as they pretend or we read not the Scriptures or if reading the Scriptures they told us their own imperfection and gave notice of a Church intrusted with a power to supply their defect But they honour the Church just as Haman did Mordecai he would never have said so much should have been done to him whom the King would honour but that he thought himself to be the man And if we did not read the Scriptures their lie might be more easily swallowed For they declare a perfection as to all necessaries and so these men peradventure speak worse then they thought at first for they make the Scriptures not only imperfect but Lyars But as it should have been difficult to say such things for men ought to speak the truth so it is harder to prove them for the holy Scriptures and the all-wise Providence are not so easily slander'd Not the Providence of God for as he was careful to give us sufficient means of salvation and hath preserved many things which are not necessary but because they were written would he not preserve what was necessary to be written and preserved And if he had meant to send us to the Church upon this Errand he would certainly have told us where she dwelt It were as bad as no direction to say there is a certain advice for you lockt up in a chest kept in terra incognita i. e. no body knowes where Abraham had given if not misadvice yet but imperfect direction when he said Hear Moses and the Prophets if this were the businesse The Scripture sayes enough to vindicate it selfe and to give satisfaction to all considering men That very place which they would suborn to speak against it self resolves against them There are many more miracles which Iesus did but these are written that you might believe If one question what they were which are not written that doubt must remain as to the particulars for it sayes nothing of them But it can never be proved that these which Rome would obtrude upon us are they much lesse that they are necessary for the place asserts those which are recorded to be enough The spirit of Truth doth often leave men to their wilfull mistakes the Text speakes of miracles and they quote it for Doctrines But that the Scripture hath no defect in this point a man may soon see for let any body compare the Provisions which are in the Scripture with his own necessities and if he be not supplyed there we may safely say he hath some want that is beyond the case of men that need nothing but salvation As to salvation we need instruction only in three points and there we have it 1. As to God and for that the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hath suffiently declared to us his Nature and his Will what he is and what he would have us do and what we may expect How he will be worshipped How we may partake of his love continue in it and be happy in him 2. As we relate to others he hath taught us how to behave our selves to them in his most perfect Rules Love thy neighbour as thy self Do what thou wouldst have done to thee and what thou wouldst not have done to thee do not to another These he hath explained in speciall precepts so filled with all necessary instances of Duty Justice and Charity that well may a wronged man complain of his Brothers injury but not of Christ because he did not forbid him to do it The murmuring poore may complain of their hard-hearted neighbour but not of Christ for neglecting to command Charity He hath bid us imitate the Father with Charity as large as the Sun-beams to forgive love and help our enemies and overcome all evill with good 3. As to the Government of our selves how discreet and prudent would that be if we followed Christs directions He if any taught the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the right estimations of soul and body that we are what we are most upon the account of soul whole nature and duration he hath declared and taught to provide for immortality He hath also chalked out the proportions of worldly cares the measures of our passions Both the roots of Passion are secure if we keep his rules for Desire and Anger One may say to all other Physitians not onely How imperfect are your cures in comparison of Christs but how short your prescriptions what sobernesse of mind What Temperance Meekness and Peace are the products of his precepts He which reads Christs words duly is perfectly instructed to
vvhich at his Mediation they did A good man indeed that could find in his heart to offer sacrifice to pacifie the wicked soules of men that kept anger and revenge after they had departed this life Among his Magical devices I reckon his seven rings which he called after the names of the seven Planets which he wrote each day differently according to the name of the Planet which the day bore These he received of the Indians whom Philostratus confesses Magicians and tells many pretty stories of them as of their Tables which moved of themselves and brought in dinner of bread fruits and herbs which put themselves in order better then any Cook could do As also of their Cisterns two of wine and two of water one hot one cold which came into the Dining-Room of themselves and of little pages of black brass which mingled the wine with water and powred it forth also of two Hogs-heads one filled with water another with wind from which they supplyed the Countrey with showers if it was drye or as occasion required with fresh aire not much unlike to Homers or the Laplanders bottles These things Apollonius approved and makes great hope concerning himself that he should prove some-body being one that had drunk of the Cup of Tantalus that is communicated with them in their secret mysteries as we read in his letter to Iarchas and what he practised according to these principles Philostratus sets down at large Other things were extremely ridiculous as that in his journey to India finding a dead Lionesse that had eight young ones in her belly he foretold that his stay in that countrey should be a yeare and eight months the Lionesse signifying a year forsooth and the young whelps months How ridiculous also is that converse which he pretended to have with the Ghost of Achilles he only asked him a few slight questions concerning Homers fabulous stories as whether Achilles was buried according to the relation of the Poets whether the Muses wept for him whether Polixena was killed for his sake whether Helen was ever at Troy and how Greece was able to send so many gallant men against it and lastly whether Homer knew Palamedes or if he did why he did not set down his discourses These were the five great questions which he asked Achilles the resolution of such queries did as much good to the world as a man got with going into Iupiters Temple in Arcadia for when he came forth they said his body did cast no shadow for which was he better or worse These things thus storied of Apollonius are so far from proving him equall to Christ that they leave him a great way short of a good man Did our Saviour seek glory by such things did the Apostles lean upon such reeds Or if it be said that he performed some things of better note and particularly some great cures I answer so did and so do many Physitians that desire not to be adored for it And if he taught some good things so did many excellent Philosophers Heathenish and Christian which one should foolishly compare with Christ So that though Celsus bragged that many might easily appear like unto Christ but named none and Hierocles would needs take this for one yet we see with what little reason he did it as to the things reported And as they are not to be named in the same day with Christs most glorious undertaking and performances so their testimony for what they are is contemptible one single Philostratus and he confesses that what one Damis an Assyrian whom Apollonius took up in his way to India had not very hansomely written concerning his travels and what Maximus a Cilician added concerning what Apollonius did in the City AEgae he gathered together at the request of Queen Iulia and so patched up his story Alas what is this to the testimony of thousands and ten thousands of wise and good men that lived in the confession of Christ and died for the Confirmation of his Gospel Apollonius his name for all those stories outlives his honour neither could that writing support any great regard of him in the world and indeed all it comes to is only a doubtful remembrance of such things as most of the world never heard of and the wisest of those that do deride Photius in his forty fourth book as also in the twenty fourth hath marked them with these black coales {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i.e. Philostratus gathered together a company of absurd and incredible things full of madnesse meer fables invented to please Apollonius which none of any sence or reason would believe And therefore Eusebius in his book entituled against Hierocles but written chiefly against Philostratus did justly taxe Hierocles who was otherwise a grave Philosopher for the unreasonable credulity which he gave to such odde relations so insufficiently witnessed and let him see that Christians are not such fooles as he would make them for believing in Christ Jesus notwithstanding all that Hierocles could gather out of that book Lest any should make objection against what I have said as if the Honour of Apollonius depended not upon the single testimony of Philostratus I shall adde a few words It 's true there is also a short story related by Flavius Vopiscus concerning the apparition of Apollonius many yeares after his death to Aurelian the Emperour a little before the taking of Tyana and that he charged the Emperour to shew mercy to the Inhabitants Aureliane si vis vincere nihil est quod de civium meorum nece cogites c. whereupon he saith that Aurelian though he had vowed upon their shutting the gates against him not to leave so much as a dog alive in the Town intending the utter ruine of the place yet he only killed the Dogs but spared all the people except Heraclammon by whose treachery he gained the place and promised a Temple and Statues to Apollonius If we grant this apparition to have been true it is not such great matter It was not the first time that the Devill appeared in a Prophets mantle But we may well suspect the Truth of it both because it is not mentioned in Aurelians letter to Mallius Chilo wherein he gives him an account of the taking of Tyana and why he killed Heraclammon though he spared the rest where it seems utterly improbable that he would have concealed that apparition had it been the reason of his clemency Besides Vopiscus though he saith he had this Tale from grave men and read it written in linnen in the Vlpian Library yet grants that he believed it the rather because of the greatnesse of Apollonius which he understood from Greek books that is those of Philostratus which are discredited already And confesseth in the beginning of his story that Iunius Tiberianus at whose request he wrote it in honour of Aurelian of whom he claimed kindred bad him fill it up with