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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B25425	Troposchēmalogia: Tropes and figures; or, A treatise of the metaphors, allegories, and express similitudes, &c. contained in the Bible of the Old and New Testament To which is prefixed, divers arguments to prove the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures wherein also 'tis largely evinced, that by the great whore, mystery Babylon is meant the Papal hierarchy, or present state and church of Rome. Philologia sacra, the second part. Wherein the schemes, or figures in Scripture, are reduced under their proper heads, with a brief explication of each. Together with a treatise of types, parables, &c. with an improvement of them parallel-wise. By B. K; Tropologia. Book 4.	Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.; De Laune, Thomas, d. 1685. Tropologia. aut	1682 (1682)	Wing K101A; ESTC R7039	690,855	608

proceed from one and the same Ground viz. a wicked Pretence that the Scriptures tho divine Truths and the Word of God yet do not contain all God's Will but that there are these other unwritten Verities handed down one says from Moses and the other says from St Peter c. by Word of Mouth Since therefore the Bible hath thus wonderfully surmounted all Difficulties and Oppositions for so many Generations and in so many Dangers and against so many Endeavours to root it out of the World we may according to that Maxim in Philosophy Eadem est Causa procreans conservans The procreating and conserving Cause of Things is one and the same conclude That the same God is the Author of it who hath thus by his special Providence preserved it and faithfully promised and cannot Lie that Heaven and Earth shall pass away but one Iota or Tittle of his Word shall not pass away X. The Scriptures did not only Survive but have Triumph'd over 10. The Success of the Scriptures in converting the World all the Oppositions of the Devil and the World That Success wherewith the Gospel was attended even in its Infancy the mighty and marvellous prevailings of it where-ever it came notwithstanding the many and great Disadvantages it was to encounter are a strong and irresistible Argument that it was from Heaven That a Doctrine directly opposite to the whole corrupt Interest of Human Nature and to the Wisdom and VVill of Man (p) 1 Cor. 1.21 Rom. 8.7 carried on and published by but a few and those to outward appearance weak ignorant and simple Persons Illiterate Fishermen Tent-makers c. without any Force of Arms or Temporal Support but on the contrary against both VVind and Tide the Cruelties of raging Powers and Affronts of vaunting Wisdom A Doctrine against which the whole World Jews and Gentiles perfectly concurr'd those hating it as a Stumbling-block and these counting it Foolishness that such an improbable and unpleasing such a friendless unwelcome slighted opposed Doctrine by such Instruments and under such Circumstances should make its way in the World and subject so many Nations to the Obedience of the Cross and make those who to Day persecuted it to Morrow ready to lay down their Lives in Defence and Justification of it evidently shews it to be owned by Omnipotency and not to be of Human Extract XI But besides these outward and more visible Trophies of the Sacred Scriptures 11. Their inward Efficacy how marvellous is their Empire Efficacy and Power within upon the Hearts and Consciences of Men 't is this that Converts the Soul Enlightens the Eye (q) Psal 19.7 Discovers Sin (r) Rom. 7.7 Convinces Gainsayers (ſ) 2 Tim 3.16 Killeth and Terrifieth (t) 2 Cor. 3.6 Rejoiceth the Heart (u) Psal 19.8 Psal 119.103 Quickneth (x) Psal 119.50 Comforteth (y) Rom 15.4 Manifesteth the Thoughts (z) 1 Cot. 14.52 Overthrows false Religions Casteth down Strong-holds and subverts the whole Kingdom of Satan What Consolations at some Times What Terrors at others do proceed from this Sacred Book How are the poor Souls of Men by it mightily refresh'd Their weak Hearts wonderfully strengthned Their dead Spirits raised and made to live again Those that sate in Darkness and the Shadow of Death are Enlightned Many that were in Chains and Fetters of Fears and Terrors of Soul are delivered and set at Liberty Is it reasonable to conceive that a Tree that bears such wonderful Fruit was planted by any other Hand than that of God Who can speak Words that shall restrain and repel all the Powers of Darkness when falling in to make Havock and Desolation in the Souls of Men That shall be able to give Laws to the Terrors of Death nay Eternal Death when they have taken hold of the Consciences of Sinners Are not all these Wonders perform'd by the holy Scriptures And do they not often on the other side breath Thunder and Lightnings throw down the Mighty from their Seats and destroy the Thrones of the Proud and Confident Do they not turn the Security of many into Trembling and Horrour and make their Consciences to burn as if the Fire of Hell had already taken hold of them These Things are evident from the Experience of Thousands that have felt and undergone such powerful Effects of the Word Nay I verily believe there are few that have read the Scriptures with attention and seriousness but can more or less witness the same And whence should such Mighty Operations proceed but because the Almighty Author has endued them with such Vertue through the Spirit whereby they become the Power of God unto Salvation 12. The Testimony of the Church and Martyrs XII Add to all these Arguments the Testimony of the Church and her Holy Martyrs who have sealed this Truth with their Blood By the Church we do not mean the Pope whom the Papists call the Church Virtual nor his Cardinals Bishops c. met in General Council whom they call the Church Representative But the whole Company of Believers in all Ages who have professed the true Faith The Pen-Men of the Scriptures good pious honest holy Men delivered it out as the Word of the Lord and ever since there have been Thousands and Hundreds of Thousands that have believed and testi●ied the same down from Age to Age in a continual uninterrupted Succession The Church of the Jews to whom were committed the Oracles of God (a) Rom. 8.3 professed the Doctrine and received the Books of the Old Testament and testified of them that they were Divine and in great Misery they have constantly confessed the same when as by the only denying thereof they might have been partakers both of Liberty and Rule And remarkable it is both that notwithstanding the High Priests and others of that Nation persecuted the Prophets while they lived yet received their Writings as Prophetical and Divine as also that since the Spirit of Blindness and Obstinacy is come upon Israel and notwithstanding their great hatred to the Chri●tian Religion the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament is kept pure and uncorrupt among●t them even in those places which do evidently confirm the Truth of the Christian Religion as Isa 53.3 And as for the Christian Church it hath with great Constancy and sweet Consent received and acknowledged the Books of the Old and New Testament for the Universal Church which from the beginning thereof until these times professed the Christian Religion to be Divine did and doth also profess that these Books are of God And the several Primitive Churches which first received the Books of the Old Testament and the Gospels the Epistles written from the Apostles to them their Pastors or some they knew did receive them as the Oracles of God and delivered them afterwards under the same Title to their Successors and other Churches And all the Pastors and Doctors who being furnished with Skill both in

and the Agreeableness of what they delivered to the establish'd Worship of God For two ways God himself had provided for discovering all Pretences to Revelation First If any such Pretender went about to seduce the People to Idolatry he was to be rejected The Prophet that shall speak in the Name of other Gods shall die (f) Deut. 19.20 Secondly If the Matter came not to pass as we have it in the next Verse save one When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord if the Thing follow not nor come to pass that is the Thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously And a final Decision what was to be received for the Old Testament God was pleased to make after the Babylonish Captivity in the Days of Ezra and that famous Synagogue several of the last Prophets being personally present where by a divine Direction all the Parts of the Old Testament were collected and a Separation made not only between the Works of true Prophets and false and such Writings as came by divine Inspiration from those that were of divine Extraction and such as were to be a perpetual Rule to the Church from such as relating only to particular Cases were not so And in this Settlement the Jewish Church did acquiesce and from that time to this have had no further Disputes but received those very Books and none others for those called Apocrypha which the Papists would obtrude upon us were never received as Canonical by the Jews Then as for the Books of the New Testament they were all written either by Apostles or Apostolical Men known by their being called to that Office and the Gift of Tongues and Power of working Miracles to be guided by the Holy-Ghost And as the Writing of the Old Testament ended with the Prophets for after Malachi to the Time of John the Baptist which was near four hundred Years there arose not a Prophet in Israel so the New Testament begins with the Accomplishment of Malachi's Prophecy by the Birth of the said John predicted under the Type of Elias and ends with the Apostles for John who wrote the Revelation outliv'd all the rest of the Apostles for he died not till the Time of Trajan in the 99th Year of our Lord and almost thirty Years after the Destruction of Jerusalem and he closes the Canon of the New Testament with a Denunciation of a Curse to any that should add thereunto (g) Rev. 22.18 Object 2. But how are we sure that we have now at this Day all the Books that were anciently esteemed Canonical It seems not for there is mention made of Solomon's three thousand Parables or Proverbs and Songs an hundred and five (h) 1 King 4.32 of Nathan the Prophet and of Gad the Seer (i) 2 Chron. 29.29 the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and the Visions of Iddo the Seer (k) 2 Chron. 9. And in the New Testament of the Epistle to the Laodiceans (l) Col. 4.16 now where are any of these extant Answ Those Books mentioned in the Old Testament were either Books of a common Nature and not divinely inspired or else they are yet extant under another Name For how do we know but the Books called Samuel might be written partly by himself whilst he lived and partly by Gad and Nathan after his Death And for the other Writings of Nathan Ahijah and Iddo they may very probably be the same that we call the Books of the Kings And for that Epistle to the Laodiceans the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from not to as some Translations would have it Laodicea And 't is probable it was some Letter written from the Laodiceans to Paul wherein there might be something that concerned the Colossians and therefore the Apostle advised them to read it Object 3. But the Papists say That the very Fountains the Hebrew and Greek Originals themselves are corrupted depraved and troubled and if so how shall we be at any certainty Answ 'T is true they do say so but most falsly and wickedly only to the dishonour of the Word of God to make way for their own Traditions and the Authority of their Church tho by this Suggestion they blaspheme the Providence of God and also lay an insufferable Scandal on the Church For if the Scriptures were committed to her Charge and she hath suffered any part of them to be either lost or corrupted has she not grosly abused her Trust But they are not able to give one Instance where any such Corruption has happen'd As for the Old Testament 't is well enough known how strictly careful the Jews were and are to this day to preserve it insomuch that they took an account how oft every Letter in the Alphabet was used in every Book thereof And Philo the Jew an ancient learned and approved Author of that Nation affirms That from the giving of the Law to his Time which was above two thousand Years there was not so much as one Word changed or varied yea that there was not any Jew but would rather die a thousand times over than suffer their Law to be changed in the least And Arias Montanus a Person extremely skill'd in the Hebrew in his Preface to the Interlineary Bible assures us That as in these Hebrew Bibles which are without Vowels we find a certain constant Agreement of all the Manuscripts and Prints and a like Writing in each so in all those too that have the Points added we have not observed the least variation or difference of pointing Nor is there any Man can affirm That he ever in any place saw different Exemplars of the Hebrew Text. And indeed had the Jews ever corrupted any part of it no doubt they would have done it in those Texts that plainly refer to our Saviour and had any Christians done it the Jews would soon have discovered the Forgery But neither of these things have happened therefore to say the same is any way corrupted is false And for the New Testament 't is true there have in ancient Manuscripts some various Readings been observ'd but not such as to cause any Dispute touching the Sum or Substance of the Doctrine therein delivered or considerably to alter the Sence of the Text. Object 4. But suppose the Originals be pure how shall the Unlearned who are the far greater part of Mankind be sure that the Translations they have and can only make use of are well and honestly done and do contain the Word of God Answ The Word of God is the D●ctrine and Revelation of God's ●ill the Sence and meaning not barely or s●rictly the Words Letters and Syllables This is contained e●actly and most purely in the Originals and in all Translations so far as they agree therewith Now tho some Translations may exceed others in propriety and signif●cant rendring the Originals yet they generally even the most imperfect that we know of express and hold f●rth so much

so eminent so visible and lasted so long for they continued in the Church two or three hundred Years and the Account of them has descended down to us by such a constant uninterrupted written and unwritten Tradition that scarce any Man has assumed Impudence enough to gainsay them Irenaeus who lived about the Year of our Lord 200 affirmeth that in his Time the working of Miracles the raising of the Dead the casting out of Devils healing the Sick by meer laying on of Hands and Prophesying were still in force and that some that were so raised from the Dead remained alive amongst them long after And Cyprian and Tertullian mention the ordinary casting out of Devils and challenge the Heathen to come and see it Remarkable are those Words of the latter (h) Tertullian Apol. Ca. 23. Let any one be brought before your Tribunals who is apparently possessed with a Devil that Spirit being commanded by any Christian shall confess of truth himself to be a Devil as at other Times he boasts himself a God And in his Book to Scapula the Procurator of Africk Cap. 4. he repeats several miraculous Cures done by Christians Quanti honesti viri c. How many Persons of good Quality and Esteem says he for we speak not of the Vulgar Sort have been remedied either from Devils or Diseases Severus himself the Father of Antoninus was recovered by Christians c. So that here we have the best Doctrine under the highest Attestation God himself setting thereunto his supernatural Seals to convince us of the Truth thereof And this was the great Argument whereby Christ all along convinced the World for upon his beginning of Miracles at Cana in Galilee he manifested his Glory and his Disciples believed in him (i) Joh. 1.48 The Jews therefore enquired for Signs as that which must confirm any new Revelation to be of God (k) Joh. 2.18 And tho Christ blames them for their unreasonable unsatisfied Expectations herein and would not humor them in each Particular yet he continued to give them Miracles as great as they desired They that saw the Miracles of the Loaves said This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the World (l) Joh. 6 14. Many believed when they saw the Miracles which he did (m) Joh. 10 4● Acts 4.16 Heb. 2.4 If I had not done the Works that no Man else could do ye had not had Sin in not believing (n) Joh. 15.24 And the Way of bringing Men to believe in these Days is expressed Heb. 2.3 4. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those that heard him There is the Evidence of Sense to the first Re●eivers and their Tradition to the next God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles Let us conclude this Argument with that smart Interrogation of that blind Man (o) Joh. 19.16 Can a Man that is a Sinner do such Miracles Natural Reason shewing us that God being the true and merciful Governor of the World the Course of Nature cannot be altered but by his special Appointment and that he will never set the Seal of his Omnipotency to a Lie nor suffer the last and greatest Inducement to Belief to be used to draw Men to embrace Falshood and Forgeries 9. The wonderful Preservation of the Scriptures IX To these astonishing Miracles we may fitly add the Preservation of these holy Writings for so many Ages being it self little less than miraculous and such as is a great Argument that they belong to God as the Author and Parent of them It being reasonable to derive that from God as a Book of his own Dictates about which he has exercised a peculiar Care Were not the Bible what it pretends to be there had been nothing more suitable to the Nature of God and more becoming Divine Providence than long since to have blotted it out of the World For why should he suffer a Book to continue from the beginning of Times falsly pretending his Name and Authority How do learned Men accuse Time of Injuries for swallowing up the Works of many excellent Authors and bewail the Loss of divers of Livy's Decades and other choice Books which are now no where to be found Nay tho the Romans were so careful for the preservation of the Books of the Sybils that they lock'd them up in Places of greatest Safety and appointed special Officers to look after them yet many Ages since they are gone and perished and only some few Fragments do now remain Whereas on the contrary the Bible notwithstanding part of it was the first Book in the World as we proved in the second Argument and tho the Craft of Satan and the Rage of Mankind have from time to time combin'd utterly to suppress it yet it has born up its Head and remains not only extant but whole and entire without the least Mutilation or Corruption Antiochus Epiphanes when he set up the Abomination of Desolation in the Jewish Temple in the Days of the Machabees with utmost diligence made search after their Law and wheresoever he found it immediatly burnt or destroy'd it and threatned Death with exquisite Tortures to any that should conceal or retain it In like manner since Christ the Tyrant Dioclesian about the Year 300 with a full purpose to root out Christianity for ever out of the World publishes an Edict That the Scriptures should every where be burnt and destroyed and whosoever should presume to keep them should be most severely tormented Yet God permitted them not to quench the Light of these Divine Laws But the Old Testament above two hundred Years before the Incarnation of Christ was translated into Greek the most flourishing and spreading Language at that time in the World and about thirty Years before Christ it was paraphras'd into Caldee and at this Day both Old and New Testaments are extant not only in their Original Languages but in most other Tongues and Languages that are spoken upon the Face of the Earth which no other Book can pretend to So that all Endeavours that have from the very first been bent against it have been vanquished and remarkable Judgments and Vengeance shew'd on all such as have been the most violent Opposers of it And further whereas even those to whom it was outwardly committed as the Jews first and the Antichristian Church of Apostatiz'd Rome afterwards not only fell into Opinions and Practices absolutely inconsiltent with it but also built all their present and future Interests on those Opinions and Practices yet none of them could ever obliterate one Line in it not even of those Places which make most against their obstinate Errors and Defections But for their own Plea they both are forced to pretend additional Traditions for the Mishua Talmud and Cabala of the Jews and the Oral Traditions of the Papists all

Sacrifice of the Bullock and He-Goat a Type of Christ opened in nine Things Page 432 The Scape Goat a Type of Christ ibid The red Heifer a Type of Christ Page 433 Circumcision what it was a Type of ibid The Rock that was smitten a Type of Christ Page 434 Pillar of Cloud and Fire a Type of Christ ibid Passeover a Type of Christ Page 435 PHILOLOGIA SACRA The Second Part. The Schemes or Figures in Scripture opened OF the Figures of a Word Page 1 Of a Paranomasia Page 3 Of Antanaclasis Page 4 Of the Figures of a Sentence in Logism Page 5 to 11 Of an Erotesis or Interrogation Page 12 Of Figures of a Sentence in Dialogism Page 14 Of other Schemes of Sentences and Amplifications Page 15 to 25 A Learned Discourse of TYPES PARABLES c. wherein you have 1. The Definition of a Type Page 25 to 28 2. The Division of Types Page 28 3. Prophetical Types and typical and symbolical actions ibid. 4. Prophetical and Typical Visions Page 29 5. An Historical Type and its first Division Page 31 6. Other Divisions of an Historical Type Page 41 7. Nine Canons or Rules expounding Types Page 41 to 45 Of PARABLES Wherein shall be given 1. The Definition of the Word and Thing 2. It s Division 3. Canons respecting it Page 46 c. ERRATA PAge 25. line 35. for Faith read Hope P. 27. l. 29. for he undertook read he hath undertaken P. 269. l. 2. dele for P. 336. l. 27. dele viz. Tropes and Figures OR A TREATISE of the METAPHORS ALLEGORIES TYPES c. contained in the Holy Bible of the Old and New Testament The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures asserted and vindicated and the groundless Cavils against the same detected and confuted THE main Scope of this Work being to offer some Assistance towards the explaining and finding out the true Sense and Meaning of the Holy Scriptures it will be convenient according to our Promise in our Specimen of this Undertaking to premise something touching the Divine Authority of that blessed Book For tho it be commonly own'd by Christians to be the Word of God yet since on the one Hand there are especially in this Atheistical Age too many amongst us whose Love of Sin and Resolutions to continue therein tempt them to seek for shelter in bold Contempt of or subtile Cavils against those Heavenly Oracles and on the other hand not a few poor Souls are sometimes shaken with Temptations and know not how to discharge themselves from the ensnaring Questions that they are often attaqued with touching the Divine Original and Authority of those Sacred Records Not so much for want of Assent thereunto as of a right Understanding or Consideration of the Grounds of that Assent and the true formal Reason thereof Therefore that with a perfect Security to our present and future Wellfare we may rely on that Book as the infallible Store-house of Heavenly Verities that great and only Revelation whereby God does Inform Rule and will Judg the World we shall set forth some Considerations evincing this most important Truth But finding that divers able and worthy Men have of late wrote most learnedly and excellently upon this Subject we shall upon that account be the more concise and tho we have said but little yet we hope enough to satisfy any rational considering Man and confute the vain Cavils of the Adversary for all along in this Essay we strive to join Perspicuity with Brevity and to speak so plainly and familiarly that the weakest Capacity may with ease gather it up the neglect hereof having rendred the Labours of some others on the same Subject less serviceable to the vulgar unlearned Reader It being our great Design to endeavour the Help and Establishment of the Unskilful and to assist weak Christians knowing that if Satan can once bring them into a diffidence of the Truth and Authority of God's Word he at the same Instant shakes the very Foundation of all their Hope and Religion And if the Foundations fail what shall the Righteous do Psal 11.3 That the Scripture or Book called the Bible is of Divine Original Inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore of infallible Truth and Authority Appears 1. The sublime Matter of the Scriptures shew them to be Divine I. By the Contents or Matters therein discovered and treated of which are so transcendently sublime and mysterious that they could never be the product of Human Invention or Discovery and therefore tho written by Men as Instruments must needs be revealed from above for what Human Brain could ever have imagined a * Ma● 28.19 1 Joh. 5.7 Trinity in the Deity or such an Existence of one simple Essence as this Book acquaints us withal It describes the Person of Christ so plainly fitly and excellently that if the Mind of Man consider it attentively of necessity it must needs acknowledg it doth far exceed the reach of a finite Understanding It discovers unto us the Misery and Corruption of Man by Nature together with that general defect of the whole Creation which tho some of the Heathen had some glimpse of yet could never find out the Cause nor how it came to pass No finite Intellect could ever have travell'd into such Heights and Depths touching the Nature of God and his Eternal Counsels that stupendious Contrivement for the Salvation of Man that the second Person should descend from Heaven and assume Human Nature into a Conjunction with the Divine take upon him in his own Person the Sin of Mankind and die for the World thereby making a satisfaction proportionate to infinite Justice so that God may show the utmost Act of Mercy in a Conjunction with the highest Exercise of Justice Nothing less than an Infinite Understanding could have found out Expedients to reconcile those two infinite Attributes in his dealings with an Apostate Creature It unfolds the Covenant of Grace which God made after the Fall all which can be drawn from no other Fountain but Divine * 1 Cor. 2.7 Eph. 3 4 5. Revelation it contains the Law of God which is wise and just the Gentiles themselves being † Dan 4 5 6 7. Judges In its Precepts shines forth its Divinity 1. The surpassing Excellency of the Act requiring that we should deny our selves in all those things which the corrupt Nature of Man cleaveth to and hateth to forego 2. The wonderful Equity that doth appear in every Command 3. The admirable strangeness of some Acts which a natural Man would account Foolishness and yet prescribed as absolutely necessary ‖ Joh. 3 36. 8.24 shews its Divine Original 4. The manner how Obedience is required viz. that it proceed from a pure Heart a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned * Deut. 6.5 1 Cor. 13.1 1 Tim. 1.4 5. Take a view of the Ten Commandments are they not plain brief perfect just extending to all binding the Conscience and reaching to the very

How suitable to the holy Nature of God! What superlative Piety and Vertue without any spot of Vice What punctual and perpetual Truth and Honesty is here required yet without the least Taint of base Means or unworthy sordid Ends No Vain-Glory no Esteem of Men no corrupt Advantages But on the contrary what Charity is here required What repeated Commands not to offend weak Ones What mutual Forgivenesses What Provocations to Love With what Patience and Meekness Justice and Modesty are we taught to behave our selves In a word 'T is such a Doctrine as makes a Man perfect throughly furnished to every good Work which brings Men to the best Way of Living the noblest Way of Suffering and the comfortablest Way of Dying Now must not such pure Streams needs flow from the Fountain of all Perfection Does such a serious and effectual Advancement of Holiness in the World look like an Intrigue of polluted Man or any unclean Spirit How can we better judg of a Law that declares it proceeds from God and is of Divine Obligation than by its Nature Tendency and Influence on humane Life Whether it be suitable to those Pretensions and such an adorable and unspotted Original And when we find so holy and excellent a Design as appears throughout this whole Book for the Honour of God and compleating the Happiness of Men by Methods so agreeable and yet above the reach of Humane Invention what can we judg unless we will be obstinately perverse but that such a Book 's Testimony of it self is true and that it is indeed of God and not of Men V. The sweet and admirable Agreement Consent Dependence and Harmony 5. The Harmony of the Scriptures that we find in all and every part of Scripture tho there are so many Books thereof written by so many different Persons of various Conditions many Ages remov'd in several Places and in different Languages yet all agreeing with each other and every part with the whole which could not be foreseen or contriv'd by any humane Wisdom or Cunning in the writing of any one Part For all the Histories Prophecies Promises Types and Doctrines in an orderly Connection tend to promote the same Thing and every Age proves a fresh Interpreter and reveals to us more and more of this admirable Concord which could not be the Effect of humane Artifice nor of any other Cause but an infinite Comprehension and Fore-sight and that the several Writers of this Book were in all Times guided in what they wrote by the Supreme Wisdom of that one God who is always constant to himself and the same yesterday to day and for ever VI. This further appears from the Credit and Sincerity of those that were the Pen-men 6. The Credit of the Pen-men If the Scriptures were not what they pretend to be viz. the Word of God and dictated to the Writers thereof by his holy Spirit it would be the greatest Affront to the Divine Majesty and the grossest Cheat towards Mankind that ever was put upon the World But if we consider the Pen-men thereof we shall find them all of undoubted Credit generally esteemed holy and good Men in the Ages they liv'd in so no way to be suspected of Imposture Some of them were Kings and of the deepest Learning not likely to be guilty of such a mean-spirited Baseness as Lying and Forgery Many of the Prophets and most of the Apostles were Men illiterate of Parts and Education so mean that of themselves they seem no way capable to write so profoundly or lay so deep a Contrivance for deluding the World And as 't is incredible that so many Men of such distant Times Qualities and Abilities should all agree in the same Imposture and so harmonize in promoting it so neither could any Interest or Ambition prompt them thereunto For as the main Tendency of this Book is to mortify Mens Ambitions and Lusts so most of them exposed themselves by publishing these Writings to great Hazards and Persecutions Nor have several of them been shie to record the great Failings and Imperfections of themselves or their Brethren Thus Moses (a) Exod. 3 4 chapters relates his own Infidelity and Averseness to submit to the extraordinary Call of God In another place (b) Numb 11.21 he records the Shame of his Distrustfulness or at least the Carnality of his Conceit or Apprehension of the Power of God Again (c) Numb 20.12 he inserts God's heavy Sentence and the Ground thereof against him The same Moses did not set up any of his own Posterity to succeed him in the Guidance of Israel but left Joshua to succeed him c. and placed the Kingly Superiority over that People in another Tribe from his own viz. the Tribe of Judah Indeed throughout the whole Book there is a visible Antipathy to all self-seeking Flattery or Compliance God alone is exalted and all Mens Persons Actions and Reputations are laid in the Dust in respect of his Honour and the Truths therein delivered Besides these very Writers appear themselves to be under a subjection to the Doctrine they taught and no way Masters of it as their own All which plainly shews that they were inspired from above and wrote not their own Words or for their own Honour but as inspired and for the Honour of God 8. Scripture-prophecies and their Accomplishments prove 't is divine VII Another Demonstration or Proof that the Scriptures are from God is the exact and punctual fulfilling of the Prophecies therein contained To foretell Events is the Prerogative of God (d) Isa 41.22 Let them bring forth saith God the Lord expostulating with his People about the Vanity of Idols and shew us What shall happen Shew us the Things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Now the Body of the Scriptures is enlivened with the Spirit of Prophecy almost throughout That of Jacob recorded by Moses (e) Gen. 49.10 That the Scepter should not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet untill Shiloh come and to him shall the gathering of the People be was not compleatly fulfilled till well near two thousand Years after tho made good during a great part of that Time viz. from the Entrance of the Tribe of Judah upon the Government in King David until the going of it out again in the Person of Hircanus whom Herod slew as Josephus testifies But when the Time appointed was expired the Prophecy it self was compleatly fulfilled For when Herod a Stranger and of another Nation had cut off the House and Line of Judah from the Government of Jewry then and at that Time Shiloh the long-expected Messiah our Lord Christ punctually came into the World for that by Shiloh is meant the Messiah the Jewish Rabbies do not deny Now at the Time of Jacob's uttering these Words there was little probability that any of his Posterity should have a Scepter or any Kingly Power being poor

the Languages and Matters have tryed and searched into them and all pious Christians who by Experience have felt their Divine Operation on their own Souls have asserted the same So that whoever rejects the Bible obliges himself to believe no other Books in the World whatsoever for since none of them have any such great and universal Attestations if he shall credit them and not this it will shew apparent disingenuity and peevish Obstinacy And secondly He that does credit the Author of this Book with the same Credit wherewith he credits other Authors whom he supposes Men of common Honesty that would not knowingly write an Untruth cannot then refuse to receive this as a Book Divine and Infallible upon as good Terms of Credibility as he believes any the best Human Author in its kind to be True because they themselves tell us that it is so which were it otherwise without most apparent Falshood they would not do They affirming that God himself inspired them to write it and that it was no Product of their own but every part of it the Genuine Dictate of the Holy Ghost And this Argument is abundantly reinforc'd and strengthned from the Consideration of that Glorious Company of Martyrs those Innumerable Multitudes who in the Flames and Rage of Persecution have with the loss of their Lives maintained the Scriptures to be the Sacred Word of God and had the same in such Veneration that in the Primitive Ages the Traditors Deliverers up of their Bibles to the Heathen to be destroyed were always esteemed as bad as profess'd Apostates Since therefore they did so constantly and with such Hazards affirm this Truth what shadow of Reason is there to suspect such a Cloud of Witnesses of Folly Weakness Credulity Wickedness or Conspiracy amongst themselves which such a diffused Multitude was absolutely uncapable of Nor can we suppose that Popular Esteem on Earth and Vain-Glory could be the Ground upon which they suffered since they gave up their Lives for a Religion which both utterly condemned such Vanity and was every where in the World at that time odious and detestable and whose Profession brought nothing but outward Shame and Contempt XIII But the Doctrines and Matters of Fact in the Scripture which if true 13 The Acknowledgment of the Heathen its Divine Original will be undeniable are not only avouched by its own Votaries but many most considerable parts of it acknowledged by its Enemies As appears by this brief induction of Particulars The Creation of the World is intimated by Ovid in his Metamorphosis lib. 1. The extraordinary long Lives of the Patriarchs in the first Ages o● the VVorld by Manetho the Egygtian Berosus the Caldean and others who add That they were ordained to live so long that they might study Sciences and invent Arts especially that they might observe the Celestial Motions and enrich the World with the knowledg of Astronomy wherein say they they would have done little good if they had lived less than six hundred Years because the great Year as they call it is so long in going about and coming to a Period The Flood is mentioned by the same Berosus whose VVords are recited by Josephus lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 4. Of Noah under the Notion of Bifronted Janus because he lived in both VVorlds we read in Berosus and Herodotus And of the Ark Sayling over America and the letting forth of Birds that found no dry Ground in Polyhistor and others Of the Destruction of Sodom or the Asphaltick Lake we have some Account in Pliny lib. 5. cap. 16. and Justin lib. 36. That there was such a Man as Moses such a People as the Israelites that this Moses was their Captain and led them out of Egypt wrote their Story and gave them Laws is testified by the most ancient Records or the Egyptians Phoenicians Caldeans and Grecians And Manetho speaks very particularly both of their Coming into Egypt and Departure thence Of Circumcision Herodotus Strabo Diodorus Siculus and Tacitus lib. 2. Of the coming of the Israelites into Canaan Procopius lib. 4. Of Solomon we read in Dionysius Cassius of the Slaughter of Sennachcrib in Herodotus lib. 2. The great Roman Historian Tacitus in his Annals speaking of the Christians being persecuted by Nero on pretence of burning of Rome which he set on fire himself says expre●ly (b) Author nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio imperante per Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat Tacit. Annal. l. 15. The Author of that Name or Sect was CHRIST who when Tiberius was Emperor was put to death by Pontius Pilate the then Procurator of Judea The Star that appeared at our Saviour's Birth is taken notice of by Pliny lib. 2. cap. 5. But more particularly by Calcidius an Heathen Philosopher in his Comment on Plato's Timaeus whose Words as I find them cited by Cardinal Baronius that learned Annalist are these (c) Est quoque alia venerabilior sanctior Historia qua perhibet de ortu Stellae cujusdam insolita non morbos mortesque denunciante sed descensum Dei venerabilis ad humanae conversationis rerumque mortalium gratiam Quam Stellam cùm nocturno itinere suspexissent Cald●eorum profectò sapiences viri consideratione rerum coelestium satis exercitati quaesisse dicuntur recentem Dei ortum repertâque illa Majestate puerili venerati esse vota Deo tanto convenientia nuncupasse Bar. Tom. 1. p. 52. There is another more venerable and holy History which tells us of the Rise of a certain unwonted Star not threatning Diseases and Death but the Descent of the venerable God to converse with Men and mortal Affairs Which Star when certain wise Men of Caldea saw in their fourney by Night being sufficiently acquainted with Astronomy and consideration of Celestial things They are reported to have sought out this new Birth of God and the Majesty of this Child being found to have worshipped him and offered Gifts suitable to so great a God Herod's slaughtering of the Children is notorious by that Joque passed upon him on that occasion by the Emperor Augustus recorded by Macrobius (d) Cum audisset inter eos quos in Syria Herodes Rex Judaeorum inter Binatum jussit interfici filium quoque ejus occisum ait Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium Macrob. Saturnal lib. 4. When he heard that amongst those Children under two Years old whom Herod the King of the Jews had commanded to be slain in Syria his the said Herod's own Son was slain also he said 'T is better to be Herod 's Hog than his Son Alluding to the Jews Abhorrence of Swines Flesh which it seems Herod tho not of that Nation yet pretending himself a kind of Proselyte did likewise observe Touching the preternatural Defect of the Sun at our Lord's Crucifixion it was with amazement seen and recorded by Dionysius the Areopagite And Tertullian in his Apology cap. 21. appeals to the Roman

Records for the certainty of it And Origen affirms that one Phlegon Secretary to the Emperor Adrian did write thereof in his Chronicles What an illustrious Testimony is that extorted by Truth from the Mouth of an Enemy I mean Josephus a Jew in Religion as well as by Nation tho he wrote in Greek born not above five or six Years after Christ's Passion In his 18th Book and 4th Chapter speaking of the Reign of Tiberias he hath these Words In those Days there was one Jesus a wise Man if it be lawful to call him a Man for he was a Worker of great Miracles and a Teacher of such as readily receive the Truth and had many Followers as well Jews as Gentiles This is that CHRIST who tho he was accused by the chief of our Nation and by Pilate condemned to be crucified yet did not they who had first loved him forsake him for he appeared unto them the third Day alive again The holy Prophets foretelling these and many other wonderful Things of him And even to this Day the Christian Sect so named from him continues Nor is that less clear of Lentulus in his Epistle to the Emperor Tiberius recited by Eutropius in his Annals of the Roman Senators and now commonly extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum (e) Apparuit temporibus nostris adhuc est homo magnae virtutis nominatus Jesus Christus qui dicitur à Gentibus Propheta veritatis quem ejus discipuli vocant Filium Dei s●scitans mortros sanans omnes languores He thus begins There hath appeared in our Days and yet is living a Man of great Virtue or Power named Jesus Christ who is called of the Nations the Prophet of Truth whom his Disciples call the Son of God a Raiser of the Dead and an Healer of all manner of Diseases To all which we might add the Prophecies of the Sybils amongst the Heathens who most plainly foretold the Coming of Christ the Son of God into the World and express'd his very Name and Quality in certain Acrostick Verses recited by the great Augustin in the 23d Chapter of the Ninth Book of the City of God XIV He that disowns the Bible to be of Divine Authority must either think there is some Revelation from God to the World how he will be worshipped and how they ought to conduct themselves or he thinks there is none If he thinks there is none he not only gives the Lie to the Christian and Jewish but generally to all Religion that has been or is in the World For they all have pretended and do alledg the same as their Foundation And besides he must confess that God who has made Man the noblest of Creatures and Lord of the whole World has left him in a worse Condition in the present Posture we find him than the meanest Creatures to whom he has given sufficient Means to attain the highest End of their Beings But that infinite Wisdom should deal thus is absurd and unreasonable to conceive If he grant there is any-where a Revelation from God to the World let it be produced and judg if it be any way able to vie with the Scriptures for all those glorious Characters and Marks of Divine Authority Power and Excellency which we have enumerated XV. If the Scriptures be neither the Invention of Devils nor Men then it can be from none but God But they are not from Devils for neither could they work Miracles nor deliver true Prophecies to confirm them nor would it consist with God's Sovereignty over them or with his Goodness Wisdom or Faithfulness of governing the World nor would Satan speak so much for God nor lay such a Design for Man's Salvation and against his own Kingdom nor be so industrious to draw the World to unbelief of it Nor were the Scriptures the Invention of Men for they must be either good Men or bad Men Good Men they could not be for nothing could be more opposite to Goodness nay even common Honesty than to assume the Name of God falsly feign Miracles and cheat People with Promises of another World And then on the other side 't is as impossible ill Men could be the Devisers of so holy a Book For can any rational Man think that wicked Deceivers would so highly advance the Glory of God Would they so vilify themselves and brand and stigmatize their own Practices Could such an admirable undeniable Spirit of Holiness Righteousness and Self-denial as runs through every Vein of Scripture proceed from the Invention of the Wicked Would they ever have extolled their Enemies the Godly and framed such perfect spiritual Laws or laid such a Design against the Flesh and all their worldly Happiness as every-where the Scope of the Scripture doth carry on If we cannot gather Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles then may we be assured that no ill Men had an hand in writing and promoting this good and holy Book 16. Satan's Suggestions Temptations against the Bible argue it divine XVI The Divine Composition of this blessed Book is not a little manifested by the continual Rage of the Devil against it which appears not only in stirring up his Instruments utterly to suppress it for what Book in the VVorld ever met with such Opposition as aforesaid but also in those Temptations with which he assaults the Hearts of Men when they apply themselves to the serious Study of it VVe can read any other History and readily entertain and credit it but when we once come to the Bible strange Objections Doubts and Curiosities arise and presently we are apt to question the Truth and Possibility of every Passage These are the Suggestions of Satan to render that holy Book ineffectual to us the Scope and Purport of which he knows tends directly to the Overthrow of his Kingdom of Darkness Some of the most frequent Objections against the Bible are these that follow Object 1. How Men in the respective Ages wherein the several parts of the Bible were written could know that they were written by an infallible Spirit and so distinguish them from other Writings Answ Two ways First by the Quality of the Persons and secondly from the Nature and Quality of the Matter As for Moses there could not be the least Cause of doubting his being inspired by God since he wrought such Miracles and had a visible and audible Entercourse with the Lord as we read Exod. 19.9 that the Lord said unto him Lo I come unto thee in a thick Cloud that the People may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever The other Parts of the Old Testament were written by Prophets and holy Men. And tho several of them were not received and hearkned to as such by the corrupt ruling Part of the Jews whilst they lived yet they were acknowledged afterwards as well for the Sanctity of their Lives and the fulfilling of those things mentioned the Judgments which they foretold coming to pass

Rome Papal or Church of Rome doth not only sit upon a Scarlet-coloured and blasphemous Beast but she is beautified and adorned with great Pomp and outward Glory by which she commends her self to that part of the World that delights in her Gaudery being a Woman whose Worship is filled with detestable Doctrine which she holds forth to them with Pictures and Gallantry of all sorts 1. Look into the holy Patrimony of consecrated Saints there you find Riches and Honour tho not durable Riches and Righteousness 2. Look unto their Garbs and Vestments there you shall find Cardinals like splendid Princes Heads of Parties and Provinces in such Habiliments that for Riches might have become the highest Order of the Jewish Priesthood 3. Look into the Instruments and Mode of their Worship and there you shall find the Altar and Candlesticks the Vessels for Oil and Pots of Purification as if their Predecessors had been at Solomon's Temple and had brought a Pattern from thence and yet in this G●lden Cup or framed Piece of Gallantry there is nothing to be found but foul and adulterated Wine most fitly to be called by the Angel Abomination and Filthiness and the Wine of Fornication Which we conclude with this Argument Arg. If no People in the Christian World hath such Riches and Splendor such Pomp and Gallantry in the Maintenance and Management of their Worship as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath Then Rome Papal must be this gawdy Harlot or Whore of Babylon But there is no People in the Christian World that hath such Riches and Splendor such Pomp and Gallantry in the Maintenance and Management of Religious Worship as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath Ergo Rome Papal or Church of Rome must be this Whore or well-favoured Harlot treated of The Argument is full and clear and so well fortified that we think it needs no Rere-guard to enforce it and therefore tho it be short and low of Stature we shall leave it amongst our Infantry and draw up our right and left Wings yet further to assault Babylon XII This Woman or City that is thus adorned with outward Pomp and Glory hath upon her Forehead a Name written MYSTERY Rev. 17.5 BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH Which may be true both in a Literal and Mystical Sense the Breeder of Misses Concubines and Whores to gratify the Sensual Appetites of her Letcherous Sons but chiefly in a Mystical Sense she Breeds and brings forth Spiritual Harlots viz. Unclean Communities XII Rome Papal or Church of Rome if she be not concerned here we will acquit her of being Mystery Babylon 1. Here is a Name written in Capital Letters and written so as to be read publickly too 'T is not written upon any part of the Woman that may be hid or covered with a Garment but on that part which is kept bare and is easiest to be seen her Forehead her publick visible and known Parts 2. Here is Babylon or Confusion a mixt Body that is far from that good and pure Order which in Words she pretends 3. Here is Mystery in the case and a great Mystery to a Wonderment even to the surprizing of every wise and thinking Man ver 6. 4. Here is a Mother a Mother of a very spurious Illegitimate and unclean Off-spring Harlots and Abominations many Abominations and great and reigning too Abominations of the Earth i. e. that large Part of the Earth where she is situate and doth reside A little unto each or these as the Time and Space we are limited to will allow A Name upon the Forehead if this were no● to be read and seen by most Christians and Professors it would not much concern the Christian World for whom it must be calculated for others that own not the Christian Religion are not in a Capacity to make a Judgment upon the Case for if this Book of the Revelations were not written for the Christian World it leaves us not any Certainty where the case is to be considered and the Matter to be judged Now if it be calculated for the Christian World then it must be upon such a People that is most publick and visible and apparent which agrees to none so fitly as to the Church of Rome which by their own Confession is the most potent and visible in the Christian World for where have the inconsiderable Hereticks so called whose Beings are in Corners such a Name as may be read or known by all or the principal part of the Christian World Now to clear these poor innocent so called Hereticks from being concerned in this Character we imagine at least it cannot refer to them 1. Because they have no Forehead so broad to bear the Inscription which we will engage to make good against any Romanist in the World 2. Because they are so plain and honest a People and their Principles so easily and well known that it is wild and ridiculous to call them Mystery Babylon there neither being any hellish depth nor confusion in what they profess as might be fully evinced by unquestionable Instances for what confusion or hidden thing can be in this that there is one God the Object of Worship one Holy Book called the Bible the Rule of Worship one blessed Kingdom Heaven or World to come the Reward of Worship and all that act Faith Hope and Charity upon these three great Fundamental Principles shall inherit that blessed Kingdom or World to come 3. Because they are so retired and private that had they a Forehead broad enough for the Inscription aforesaid yet they sit so low that Nations cannot easily read it and if we acquit the poor innocent Protestants who must we fix these Characters upon If all Dissenters from the Church of Rome be clear then it must unavoidably be fixed upon Rome her self if any demand for what Reason the Answer is First Because when the Protestants are exempted then there is none left to bear the Inscription but the Church of Rome 2. She hath a Forehead broad enough to bear Mystery and Confusion for there is not a greater hellish depth and Confusion to be found upon any People than upon the Church of Rome as will appear in its place 3. Because the Dissenters with respect to Appearance and the exercise of Power are very small and inconsiderable in comparison of that overgrown monstrous Body of the Church of Rome for to call the Dissenters great and the Church of Rome small is as congruous as to call the Ocean a little Spring and the smallest Brook the Ocean Secondly Babylon Confusion or a mixt Body is far from that pure Order which in Words Rome pretends unto and can by no means agree to the Protestants for they are so strict in their Discipline that they admit of no such mixture that deserves the Name of Confusion they will receive none into their Communion without much Caution and Satisfaction and when received keep them no