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
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
agreeing about the Gospels and St. Paul's Epistles nor from proving clearly that they are the Books of those whose Name they bear I know not why we may not doubt of some of the Books of the Old Testament as well as of some of those of the New and why ill Consequences should be drawn from their Opinions who doubt of some of the former when none is drawn from theirs that reject the latter The Canon of the Books of the New Testament ought to be of much greater importance with us than that of the Old It is a mistake that we ought to receive all or reject all It is not true that we ought to receive all It is less true that we ought to reject all But there is a mean betwixt these two Extreams Objection 16. But what will be said to these words of St. Paul 2 Tim. III. 16. All Scripture is of Divine Inspiration For they ought to be read in the vulgar Translation according to the Greek and also according to the ancient vulgar Omnis Scriptura divinitùs inspirata utilis whereas Mr. N. reads them Omnis Scriptura divinitùs inspirata utilis est The Verb est is not in the Greek but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Et is before utilis If this Verb be to be supply'd because it is often wanting in the Hebrew and the Syriac and consequently in the Greek of the New Testament it ought to be done in this manner Omnis Scriptura divinitùs inspirata est utilis Answer Mr. Simon 's Decrees are not without Appeal We maintain against him that this Passage may very well be thus translated All Scripture that is divinely inspir'd is also profitable for Instruction for Reproof c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So the vulgar translates it which Mr. Simon improperly corrects and which the Gentlemen of Port-Royal have judiciously follow'd St. Paul's Design favours this Version He tells Timothy that the holy Scriptures are able to make him wise unto Salvation to which he adds That all Scripture given by Inspiration of God is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect c. These words are a sort of Explanation of those foregoing where St. Paul sets down after what manner the holy Scriptures may instruct to Salvation There is a tacit opposition here between Holy Writ and certain prophane Studies As will easily appear if we go back a little higher to find the Thred of St. Paul's Discourse and observe the occasion of his saying That all Writ divinely inspir'd is profitable c. St. Paul describes in the beginning of the Chapter a sort of wicked People whom in the 5 th Verse he orders Timothy to avoid The Characters he marks them by suit very well to the Gnostics But it matters not of whom He speaks It suffices that we observe that they were Persons who boasted of teaching their Hearers many things witness those Women they had seduc'd which were always learning and never arriv'd to the knowledg of the Truth But the Apostle foretels their Seducement should not long continue He represents to Timothy that he had fully known his Doctrine his manner of Life and the Persecutions he had suffer'd in order to strengthen him by his Example He declares that the Good shall always be persecuted and that there shall still be Seducers and Persons seduced But Thou continues he be stedfast in the things thou hast learn'd and hast been assured of knowing from whom thou hast learn'd them and that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through Faith in Iesus Christ. He opposes plainly the Study of the holy Scriptures to the Study of fabulous Doctrines which some Impostors then taught and whereof he complains in many places of his two Epistles to Timothy 1 Ep. Ch. 1. v. 4. Ch. 4. v. 7. 2 Ep. Ch. 4. v. 4. And as here he orders his dear Disciple to continue firm in those things he had learn'd and which he had been assur'd of he likewise ends his first Epistle with this Exhortation O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy Trust avoiding profane and vain bablings and opposition of Science falsly so called which some professing have err'd concerning the Faith And thus when he adds That all Scripture given by Inspiration c. It is as if he had said to Timothy That he ought to keep close as he had done hitherto to the study of the Old Testament which would instruct him sufficiently in the way to Salvation by joining thereunto Faith in Jesus Christ Because all Scripture inspir'd by God as is a great part of the Old Testament is profitable for Instruction Whereas if he apply'd himself to the false Science that some Impostors then boasted of he would cultivate Doctrines that would be proper for nothing but to raise Disputes instead of edifying as he had else-where told him By this it is evident that all this reasoning of St. Paul does in no wise suppose that all the Scripture of the Old Testament is inspir'd and that the Apostle pretends thereby only to intimate that the inspir'd Writings without fixing the number of them are more profitable than those that some Persons at that time boasted of Rivet had objected this Passage to Grotius against the Opinion of that incomparable Critic concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Books Let us see how Grotius answers him The place says he 2 Tim. Chap. 3. v. 16. has another signification than D. Rivet thinks For St. Paul says not All Writing is divinely inspir'd For how many are the Writings of human Invention Nor does he mean that all that is inspir'd is divinely inspir'd That would be trifling But this is his meaning All Scripture that is divinely inspir'd that is the Word of Prophecy as St. Peter stiles it 2 Ep. Chap. 1. v. 19. is not only useful in its own time to show God's Praescience and to give Authority to the Prophets but is moreover at all times profitable because it contains many standing Rules Reproofs of Vices Incitements to Righteousness c. This Sense was rightly observ'd by the Syriac Interpreter who thus renders it In the Scripture which is written by the Spirit there is profit in respect of Doctirne c. This Passage then of St. Paul proves nothing against me let Mr. Simon say what he pleases He seems not to understand Christian Religion throughly enough to treat of these matters These Sir are the principal Objetions that have been made to Mr. N. against his Essay concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Pen-Men You may judg whether he has solv'd the Difficulties propos'd or no. For my part I will not judg of that Question But this I dare boldly say that Mr. Simon is not the Man that will run him down and that the Answers you have now read are plausible enough
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
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
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
Shepherd knows nothing more terrible than a Lion he compares the Anger of God to Lions St. Ierom should have said according to the common Opinion that God made use in speaking to Amos of popular terms and suitable to his Profession whereas he attributes plainly to the Prophet the choice of the Terms in which the Prophecy is expressed That words were dictated by God to the Prophets says a late Learned Critick as it cannot be denied to have been done sometimes so it does not seem to have been done always And hence it is that according to the variety of the Times and the Speakers the Phrase of the Prophets is also different But it is commonly alledged that the Prophets recite the same words they heard Because they introduce God himself speaking Thus saith the Lord c. That is no Proof For it is the custom both of the Hebrews and Greeks to bring in always those whose Sense they relate as speaking in their own Persons though in doing so they tye not themselves to their words I will give you a plain Example thereof It is the different manner in which the Decalogue is set down in Exodus and in Deuteronomy although God is said to speak personally in both places God says in Exodus Remember the Sabbath day c. In Deuteronomy Keep the Sabbath-day c. It is in Exodus To keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour c. In Deuteronomy To keep it holy as the Lord thy God commanded thee Six days shalt thou labour c. It is in Exodus Nor thy Cattel c. In Deuteronomy Nor thine Ox nor thine Ass nor any of thy Cattel c. And this Commandment ends thus That thy Man-Servant and thy Maid-Servant may rest as well as thou And remember that thou wast a Servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence thrô a mighty Hand and a stretched-out-Arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day In Exodus the reason of keeping the Sabbath is taken from the Creation of the World in Six Days without any mention of Slaves or of the slavery of Egypt There are some other Differences in that which follows but not considerable However it appears by this that either Moses in Deuteronomy or the Author of the Book of Exodus did not tie themselves scrupulously to exact words as the Jews now a-days do altho both these Authors bring in God speaking personally Grotius has hereupon made this judicious Remark It is to be observed says he that the Words set down in this place in Exodus were pronounced by an Angel in the Name of God but those which are in Deuteronomy are the words of Moses repeating the same things and that with so great liberty that sometimes he transposes words changes some for others of the same signification omits some as sufficiently known by those gone before and adds others by way of Interpretation The like liberty of changing words is obvious to a careful Reader in other places of Sacred Writ as Gen. XVII 4. compared with 7. Gen. XXIV 17. compar'd with 43 Exod. XI 4. compar'd with XII 28. Exod. XXXII 11 c. compar'd with Deut. IX 27 c. Now this shews That we should not catch at words in Holy Writ as some of the Iews do who fancy that those words in Exodus and those in Deuteronomy were pronounc'd in one and the same moment of time They fancy also that where there is transposition and changing the order of what was said first what last that the last importing the same sense were also said first There are in the Holy Histories so many Miracles that we ought not to invent new ones without necessity and such as are of no use If you require yet another convincing Proof that this manner of speaking personally does not denote that they are the proper Words of him that is introduc'd speaking after this manner you have no more to do but to look into the Gospels where the Evangelists always make our Saviour to speak personally and yet recite not the same words that he made use of For beside that Christ spoke Syriac or Chaldee there is oft great difference between their Recitals The Holy Spirit never tied it self up to words as many of our Divines do now a-days He only prompted the Holy Pen-men to give us the true sense of the Words that God made use of to make the Prophets understand his Will and it is only in respect to the sense and to the things that the Apostles assure us that they were inspired from God The third sort of Prophecy or manner by which God made known his Will was by inward Inspiration without Vision and without Voice Hereof two different sorts may be conceiv'd For either God might inspire Prophecies or Predictions word for word as the Prophets should pronounce them As when there was occasion to tell some Name unknown before to the Prophet Or he might inspire only the sense which they might express afterwards in their own way As most commonly it happen'd the first Occasion being very rare It seems to me that when any one does apprehend a sense distinctly it is not difficult for him to express it faithfully And we ought to suppose that the Prophets full of the thoughts wherewith God inspir'd them had a very clear and distinct Idea thereof Which will be easily understood if we consider that the things wherewith God inspir'd them were easy to be conceiv'd and proportion'd to the understanding of all the World at least as to the literal sense It happened also sometimes that without inspiring either Words or Sense God drew from the Mouth of some Persons Prophecies which those who spoke them understood otherwise and did not think them to be Prophecies He cast them into certain Circumstances and involv'd them in certain Events which made them say things that were true Predictions without their knowing them to be so Such was Caiaphas's Prediction when he says That it was better that one Man should die for the People than that the whole Nation should perish Now he said not that of himself says St. Iohn but being High Priest that Year he prophesied To speak properly God inspir'd him not those words but the Nature of the Business they were about in the Sanhedrim drew them from him They were afraid that Jesus would draw all the People to him and enterprise something against the Roman Authority which would not then fail to send a puissant Army into Palestine and totally waste it Caiaphas thereupon urges a very common Politic Maxim That is were better to destroy one Man though he were innocent than to expose the whole State to utter Desolation In Caiaphas's sense there is nothing of Prophetic or Inspir'd But in the Gospel-sense that which Caiaphas said signifi'd more than he intended and contained a true Prophecy It 's very likely that more Predictions of this nature
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
hundred others that may be brought off from their Inclination to Libertinism by the same Reasons which those are offended at If indeed we ought always to be afraid of saying any thing that is not generally approv'd we should quickly be oblig'd not only to keep silence but also to suppress many things which are both useful and necessary to Salvation There is no Doctrine in the Gospel how holy soever which some Sect of Christians has not perverted and misused Nay the same is yet done daily All the difficulty then lies in knowing whether the treating concerning this Question of the Inspiration of the Authors of the Bible will occasion more Good or Hurt In it self the Thing is good even by the Concession of those that argue against it and there is nothing but the weakness of some Mens Minds that can render it dangerous Thus then the Good or Evil of this Disquisition depends wholly upon the Event which therefore these Gentlemen ought to suffer us to expect before we acknowledg that we have done ill in publishing this Writing of Mr. N. We must add to this that Mr. N. is not the first that has spoken as he does of the Inspiration of the sacred Writers We see many Proofs of it in his Dissertation And besides the places which he has cited out of some Books of Grotius there are others infinitely more strong and more express in those against Rivet Now after having thus answer'd those that would have had this Writing suppress'd it is necessary to give some satisfaction to those also who complain that the Author has not express'd his Opinion with sufficient clearness I have therefore desir'd Mr. N. to explain it to me himself if it were possible in few words and more distinctly in order to remove those injurious Suspicions that may have risen from any Obscurity in his Writing concerning his Faith and his Piety And these are the Heads to which he has reduc'd his Opinion and wherein he agrees with us In the first place says he I believe that no Prophet either of the Old or New Testament has said any thing in the Name of God or as by his order which God had not effectually order'd him to say nor has undertaken to foretel any thing which God had not indeed truly reveal'd to him and that this cannot be doubted of without great Impiety I have said it expresly in many places of my Treatise In the second place I believe that there is no matter of Fact of an importance related in the History of the Old or New Testament which in effect is not true And that tho there may be some slight Circumstances wherein some of the Historians were mistaken yet we ought nevertheless to look upon that History in general as the truest and most holy History that ever was publish'd amongst Men. I am perswaded that those who writ it were very well inform'd of all they relate and that they had not the least intention to deceive us insomuch that it was impossible they should fall into any considerable Error as neither can we do in believing what they have said And that there may be no Equivocation By a matter of importance I mean all the Commandments that the sacred Historians assure us were given to the Jews by God all the Miracles that are found in the History of the Scripture all the principal Events in that History and generally all the matters of Fact on which our Faith is grounded In the third place I believe with all Christians that all the Doctrines propos'd by the Authors of the Scriptures to Jews and Christians to be believ'd are really and truly Divine Doctrines although it may be suppos'd that they did not immediately learn them from Heaven I am as much perswaded as any Man that there is no sort of reasoning made use of in the dogmatical places of the holy Scripture where the Prophets and Apostles instruct us concerning the Promises or the Will of God that can lead us into Error or into the belief of any thing that is false or contrary to Piety I believe in the fourth place That Jesus Christ was absolutely infallible as well as free from all Sin because of the Godhead that was always united to him and which perpetually inspir'd him insomuch that all that he taught is as certain as if God himself had pronounc'd it I have explain'd this clearly in my Writing In the last place I believe that God has often dictated to the Prophets and to the Apostles the very words which they should use Of this I have also given some Examples In these things I agree with all Christian Divines And I believe further as well as they that these five Heads of our Belief may be undeniably prov'd against Libertines and Atheists by the Authority of Jesus Christ and his Apostles to whom God has born Testimony by an infinite number of Miracles which are more clearly demonstrable to have been really done than any Fact whatsoever of all ancient History For Example it may be prov'd by positive Testimonies of Matters of Fact that Jesus Christ did really rise again from the Dead and that the Apostles had the Gift of Miracles more clearly than it can be prov'd that ever there was a Roman Emperor call'd Trajan If any one conceive that this kind of Evidence is not sufficient to convince us of the Truth of these Facts or that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Miracles of his Apostles do not sufficiently prove without any thing further that they were not Deceivers I confess I understand not what further Proofs can be given of these things unless God should raise in our days a Prophet that should do the same Miracles over again before our Eyes It may be there are some who believe that the holy Spirit gives them inward assurance of the Truth of the Gospel and who imagine that this inward Testimony is a more convincing Proof than all those I have spoken of But as there are not many that have this Belief and as those that have it cannot make use of that pretended inward Testimony to convince another who does not himself feel it we may without troubling our selves further with them leave them to enjoy that Chimerical Satisfaction which their meer Imagination affords them The Authority of the holy Scriptures being thus settl'd I will now shew you wherein it seems to me that the generality of Divines are deceiv'd and in what I am not of their Opinion They affirm that all that is in the sacred Books Histories Prophecies c. has been immediately inspir'd both as to the Matter and Words That all the Books in the Jews Catalogue ought to be reckon'd amongst the inspir'd Books That when the Apostles preach'd the Gospel they were so inspir'd that they could not be deceiv'd not even in a thing of no consequence at all and that they knew at the very first without any exercise either of Reason or Memory what they
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
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