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
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
they have taken much pains to correct in themselves the Faults which others commit they have apply'd themselves to reading or they have travell'd in France These Jews born in the Countries where nothing but Greek was spoken understood not the ancient Hebrew nor the Hebrew then spoken in Iudaea They made use in their Synagogues of the Version of the Septuagint and because they spoke nothing but Greek they were call'd the Hellenist Iews Salmasius in his Book of the Hellenist Tongue against Heinsius shows that these Jews spoke very good Greek and that it is very absurd in some Learned Men to imagine there was an Hellenish Tongue as if the Hebrews that knew not their own Language had a particular one different from that of the places where they dwelt and that this Language was that of the Septuagint and of the New Testament If a Name were to be given to this corrupted Greek it should rather be call'd Hebraistic because it is full of Hebraisms or Chaldaisms But as the Language of the Walloons or of some of the Provinces of France cannot pass for a particular Language being nothing but a corrupted French so neither ought the barbarous Greek of Iudaea to pass for a Language by it self different from the Greek Language It is no wonder then if the Apostles who had liv'd a good part of their Lives in Iudaea or who were born there and had not apply'd themselves to learn perfectly the Greek Tongue nor to speak it in purity use it so improperly in their Writings St. Paul himself born in a Town that spoke nothing but Greek had so corrupted his Speech by his long dwelling in Iudaea that he confesses he was ignorant in the Language 2 Cor. XI 6. as sufficiently appears by all his Epistles the Greek whereof is very different from that of Iosephus And therefore the Greek Fathers have complain'd of the obscurity of his Stile of the barbarous Phrases that are therein and of apparent Confusion in the order of his Discourses and those who very readily understood Plato and Demosthenes were oblig'd as Erasums judiciously observes to take great pains to understand St. Paul We need but compare his Stile with that of some Greek Author to find that this Apostle apply'd himself not much to the Greek Eloquence It is plain then that the holy Spirit inspir'd not the Apostles with the Expressions they were to use If it had been so St. Paul could not have said he was ignorant in the Language He should have said that the holy Spirit inspir'd him with a Language such as was that of the People And all the Greek Fathers would have blasphemed against the holy Spirit when they observ'd the little Eloquence of St. Paul for according to this Supposition that would not have proceeded from St. Paul but from the holy Spirit If any one doubt of this he need but read Erasmus in the places I have cited It is true that a famous Protestant Divine has undertaken to confute him in his Annotations upon the 10 th Chapter of the Acts but he does nothing but declame as he is us'd to do against an Author more learned and more judicious than himself without bringing any solid Reason We must now speak a word of some Books of the Old Testament that contain neither History nor Prophecy such are the Books of Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon and Iob which last is apparently a Dramatic Piece whereof nothing but the Subject is true as are the Tragedies of the Greek Poets There is no Proof that what is contained in the Proverbs was inspir'd to Solomon by God after a Prophetic manner They are Moral Sentences which a good Man might well pronounce without Inspiration as are those contain'd in Ecclesiastious There are very many of them that are but vulgar Proverbs which carry indeed a good Sense but have nothing in them of Divine There are a great many Directions about Oeconomy which Women and Country-People every-where know without Revelation See Chap. XXIV 27. and XXVII 23. and the Description of a vertuous Woman at the latter end of the Book The Name of Prophet is very liberally bestow'd on Agur the Son of Iakeh for some Moralities that are found under his Name Prov. XXX Whereas I dare be bold to say better things might have been said without the Spirit of Prophecy Three things says he for Example are too marvellouss for me and even four which I know not The way of an Eagle in the Air The way of a Serpent on a Rock The way of a Ship in the midst of the Sea and the way of a Man with a Maid One must have a mean Opinion of the Spirit of Prophecy to believe that it dictated such things as these And indeed neither does the Author pretend to that Eminency but says modestly concerning himself That he is more brutish than any Man and has not the Vnderstanding of a Man But there is particularly one Precept of good Husbandry that is often repeated which our Merchants now adays know as well as the Israelites that liv'd in Solomon's time It is that which expresly forbids them to be Surety for any body Chap. VI. 1. XVII 18. XX. 16. XXII 26. XXVII 13. It is true by the Rules of good Husbandry a Man should never be Surety but there happens oftentimes Cases wherein Charity ought to be preferr'd before good Husbandry as appears by the Parable of the Samaritan who became Surety for the Expence of the Jew that was found hurt on the Road. There is methinks no great need that God should send Prophets to teach Men good Husbandry on the contrary it was very necessary that Christ should preach Liberality Some Learned Men have believ'd that Ecclesiastes is a Dialogue where a pious Man disputes with an impious one who is of the Opinion of the Sadduces And in effect there are things directly oppos'd one to another which it cannot be suppos'd the same Person speaks The Epicurean Conclusion To eat drink and be merry because a Man has nothing else which is up and down in many places of this Book is altogether contrary to that Conclusion at the end of the Work Fear God and keep his Commandments c. But it is extreamly difficult to distinguish the Persons or to find out exactly in the Name of what Person the Author speaks in every Passage However it be there appears in it nothing of Prophetic and there is little likelihood that the Spirit of God would set out with so great strength the Arguments of Sadduces or perhaps of worse Men to answer them but in two or three words Read the beginning of the ninth Chapter and make Reflection on these words The living know that they shall die but the dead know not any thing neither have they any more a Reward for the Memory of them is forgotten Also their Love and their Hatred and their Envy is now perish'd neither have they any more a Portion for ever
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
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
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
leasure-Time The Iewish Sanhedrim may easily have received into their Canon Books that had no Divine Authority To come now to the Doctrines which are in the Holy Scriptures and not there attributed to a partcular Revelation I will begin with examining those which are in the Writings of the Apostles after which I will pass to those of the Old Testament It is commonly believed that the Apostles as well as the Prophets were inspir'd both as to Words and Things Yet with this difference that the Prophets were not always inspir'd but only when God gave them order to speak to the People in his Name Whereas the Apostles were always inspir'd without being ravisht into Extasies as the Prophets were before their prophesying This Opinion is founded upon the Promise that Christ made his Apostles to send them the holy Spirit which he performed on the Day of Pentecost The words of Christ are Iohn XVI 13. When he the Spirit of Truth shall come he will guide you into all Truth He says also elsewhere to his Apostles When they bring you into the Synagogues and unto Magistrates and Powers take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say Luk. XII 11. These are two the most formal Passages that can be quoted in this Matter It is requisite that we examine them with some attention to see if they prove that which they are produc'd for viz. That the Apostles were honour'd with a continual presence of the Holy Ghost who dictated to them all that they said in matter of Religion insomuch that all their words ought to be considered as Oracles To begin with the latter I observe first That he does not promise a perpetual Inspiration but only upon certain Occasions viz. when the Apostles should be brought before the Tribunals of Judges So that if there were nothing else in it this Passage would not at all favour the common Opinion But there is more in it for it wholly destroys it If Jesus Christ had resolv'd to give his Apostles the Holy Spirit to inspire them perpetually he would not have told them singly that they should not troble themselves for what they had to say before the Judges because then the Spirit should speak in them But he would have said that they need not fear that at any time they should want words because the holy Spirit should accompany them without ceasing as well before the Powers of the World as when they should speak to the People If a Man had a Design to supply another with Mony for all his Expences Would he say to him Do not trouble your self to get Mony for the Journies you are to take for you shall then be supplied He would rather say to him doubtless that he should not fear to want Mony because he should be suppli'd constantly for all his Occasions A Man promises not for a particular Occasion that which he intends to give alike at all Times And when a Man makes a particular Promise it is a plain sign that he intends to perform it but upon certain Occasions In the second place As I acknowledg that the Apostles may have had Prophetick Inspirations on certain Occasions and that in effect they have had them so I confess that I find my self tempted to believe that by these words The Holy Ghost shall teach you in that hour what ye ought to say Or as St. Matthew has expressed it It is not ye that speak it is the Spirit of your Heavenly Father that speaks in you I am I say tempted to believe that by these words Christ meant only to say this viz. The Spirit of Courage and Holiness which the Gospel produces in your Hearts will teach ye what ye ought to say That is to say That the Apostles had no more to do but to believe in the Gospel to be assur'd that the Disposition of Spirit which that Heavenly Doctrine would give them would never let them want words not even when they were to defend themselves before the Tribunals of the greatest Powers That which inclines me to this Explication of Christ's words is that in comparing this Promise with the Event it seems not to have been performed in any other sense than that which I have now observ'd and that neither ought it to be interpreted so strictly as if on these Occasions a Word might not slip from the Apostles that were not conformable to the Spirit of the Gospel St. Luke tell us Acts XXIII that St. Paul having been brought before the Sanhedrim began to speak after this manner Men and Brethren I have liv'd in all good Conscience before God until this day Here is nothing yet that one might not say without Inspiration as neither is there any thing but what is conformable to the Gospel But what follows is a sign of Passion wherewith neither the Spirit of Prophecy nor the Patient Spirit of the Gospel inspired St. Paul At that words says St. Luke Ananias the High Priest commanded them that stood by to smite him on the Mouth The Apostle provok'd by this Unjustice answers him angrily God shall smite thee thou whited Wall For sittest thou to judg me according to the Law and commandest thou me to be smitten contrary to the Law And they that stood by says St. Luke said to Paul Revilest thou God's High Priest Then said Paul I wist not Brethren that he was the High Priest For it is written Thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People It is plain me-thinks that if the Spirit of Prophecy had inspir'd St. Paul with the beginning of this Discourse it did not so neither with the Answer he made the High Priest nor with the Excuse he made use of afterward when they told him he was the High Priest that he spoke to He gave Sentence against himself by his Answer supposing that he had known him who order'd him to be smitten And as for the Excuse it is plain it is not very good because the Gospel allows not to revile any Man whether he be a Magistrate or a private Man Iesus Christ says St. Peter has suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Neither do I believe that the Spirit of Prophecy inspir'd St. Paul with what he said afterward At least there is no Body but could have said as much without Inspiration Now St. Paul knowing says the Historian that the one part were Sadduces and the other Pharisees cried out in the Council Men and Brethren I am a Pharisee the Son of a Pharisee of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead I am called in question This expression also of St. Luke Paul knowing makes it evident that his Speech was an Effect of his Prudence rather than
been pure Inspirations and which ought to make the Speakers attended unto as if they were the simple Interpreters of the Holy Spirit The Spirit says St. Paul 1 Cor. VII 8. gives to one the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledg It seems as if he meant thereby the Gift of prophesying that is to say of instructing others in Piety of which he says many things in the XIVth Chapter of the same Epistle This seems contrary to what I have been saying concerning the Inspiration of the Apostles and I confess I cannot see how according to my Notion this difficulty can be clearly solv'd I might say that this Gift of Prophecy was perhaps no other than a Disposition of Mind which God infus'd sometimes into those on whom he bestow'd it by which they became fit to instruct although he inspir'd them not extraordinarily with that which they were to say which is so much the more likely by how much this Gift was preserv'd and increas'd by Study and Reading as appears by those words of St. Paul to Timothy First Epist. Chap. IV. 13 c. Vntil I come give thy self to Reading to Exhortation to Instruction Neglect not the Grace which is in thee which was given thee by Prophecy through the Imposition of the Presbytery Meditate on these things be always imployed to the end they Improvement may be known of all Men. Now it is plain that the Gifts which are owing to an actual and immediate Inspiration of the holy Spirit such as curing Diseases c. could not be increas'd by Application of Mind as not depending upon Man in any sort The most assiduous Study cannot contribute any thing to prophetick or immediate Revelations This Conjecture seems probable enough And indeed I see no other way of explaining what St. Paul says to Timothy But without determining any thing concerning the Gift of Prophecy it appears plainly by what St. Paul says 1 Cor. XIV that it consisted not in an immediate Revelation of the holy Spirit that forced the Prophets to speak He there gives them this Advice Let the Prophets speak two or three and let another judg but if any thing be revealed to one of those that sits by let the first hold his Peace for ye may all prophesy one by one to the end that all may learn and all may be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets The Prophets whom the holy Spirit had inspir'd immediately with what they ought to say had no need of this Advice Nay it had even been ridiculous Because the holy Spirit inspiring them with what they had to say would have inspired them likewise as to the occasion and the place and would not have put many Persons on speaking at one time in the same place nor so as to interrupt others who spake by his Inspiration Moreover St. Paul would have the Prophets judg one another and that the Spirits of the Prophets be subject to the Prophets which cannot be understood of Prophets immediately inspir'd who are subject to none but God and who are to give account to none but him The Prophets of the Old Testament spoke as long as God inspir'd them after which they held their Peace without needing any Advertisement because they easily perceiv'd when the Inspiration ceas'd It seems to me that we may now conclude that there never was any body but our Saviour who had a constant and perpetual Inspiration and all whose words we ought to receive as Oracles As he alone amongst Men was incapable of sinning so it was he alone whom God indow'd with an absolute Infallibility The same Light which perpetually inlighten'd his Mind regulated also the Motions of his Affections otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how he could chuse but be subject to Error if he had been subject to Sin There is so great a Correspondence between the Mind and the Affections that it is not almost possible there should be any Irregularity in the one without a disorder in the other But that you may not believe I am the first Author of this Opinion and that it is a desire to appear singular or an Affectation of Novelty that has ingag'd me in this Notion I must also let you see that some great Men have been of the same Mind before me St. Ierom makes this Observation upon the fifth Chapter of the Prophet Micah in speaking of this Passage And thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah c. which St. Matthew cites otherwise than it is either in the Hebrew or Septuagint There are says he that affirm there is the like Error in almost all the Testimonies that are taken out of the Old Testament that either the Order is chang'd or the Words and that sometimes the Sense it self differs the Apostles or Evangelists not transcribing the Testimonies out of the Book but trusting to their Memory which sometimes fail'd them It is true St. Ierom says not that he approves this Opinion but he makes it appear elsewhere that he is not very far from it In his Letter to Pammachius de optimo genere interpretandi of the best way of interpreting He gathers together many Examples of the New Testament by which he shews that the Apostles tie themselves more to the Sense than to the Words and maintains with good reason that we should not play the Criticks on them for it nor even for the places where they have mistaken Names After having compar'd the Quotation Matth. XXVII 9. with the Original he adds One may accuse the Apostle of falsity in that he agrees neither with the Hebrew nor with the Septuagint and which is more that he is mistaken in the Name putting Jeremy for Zachary He seems indeed elsewhere to disapprove that Opinion but it is usual with him to accommodate himself to the common Opinion and yet not omit to give his own without being concern'd whether he contradicted himself or no. When he speaks as others do you must not conclude presently that he is of the same Opinion with them because it may be he speaks so by way of Condescension whereas when he says the contrary it seems rather that he speaks his own Thoughts You need but read what he says of the Dissimulation which he attributes to St. Peter and St. Paul in his Commentary upon the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians and in his Answer to St. Austin to see that he believ'd that St. Paul by a Prudence purely human which he calls a Dispensation made shew of believing that St. Peter was in the wrong insomuch that when St. Paul says that St. Peter was to be reprov'd because he walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel It was not that he believ'd so but only to hinder the converted Gentiles from imitating that Apostle I say not that St. Ierom was herein in the right but at least it hereby appears that
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
though preach'd with never so much Gravity It happens I say that these Persons reject all the Christian Religion because they do not distinguish true Christianity from those Dreams of fanciful Divines It is easy to guess after this what we ought to think of the Authority of the Books of the Old Testament The Prophecies that are in it ought to be believ'd because Christ has authoriz'd them The substance of the History ought also to be believed for the same reason notwithstanding any uncertainty there may be in some inconsiderable Circumstances as it appears there is still some uncertainty by divers Contradictions which the Divines with all their Subtilty have not been able to reconcile after puzling about it above three thousand Years The Doctrines that are in it ought also to be receiv'd so far as they are conformable to those of the Gospel or if you will let us say that the true meaning of the Law is to be learn'd from Christ. No Conclusion is to be drawn from those Books that appear to be only pieces of Wit and Fancy or wherein nothing but Human is to be found such as the Song of Solomon Ecclesiastes c. Lastly we ought not to strain too far the Sense of particular Expressions as do the Jews Because if we except a very few places the Expressions are the same with those which the sacred Writers were wont to make use of in explaining their other Thoughts that is to say they have worded both the Jewish History and the Revelations they had from Heaven after their own ordinary manner of expressing themselves These Sir are the Thoughts of Mr. N. concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Pen-Men I am told he draws from these Principles three Consequences The first is That by admitting this Hypothesis we may terminate many great Disputes among Christians which have risen from the false Subtilty of Divines interpreting too mysteriously the Expressions of the holy Scripture as if every syllable had been dictated by God The second is that whereas by sticking too close to the Letter of the Scripture the Essence of Religion comes to be neglected as if God required no more of us at present but to believe that the holy Scripture is divinely inspir'd instead I say of this Practice it will be found necessary to apply our selves wholly to the obeying Christ's Precepts which is the only thing God indispensably requires from us The third Consequence is that hereby at one blow will be solv'd an infinite number of Difficulties which Libertines are wont to alledg against the holy Scripture and which it is not possible to solve by the ordinary Principles Their Mouths will be stopp'd says Mr. N. and it wil no longer avail them to object against Christians the Contradictions which are found in the Scriptures the lowness of the Stile of the sacred Writers the little Order observ'd to be in many of their Discourses and whatsoever else they have been us'd to say against our Divines who have in vain puzled themselves to answer them By imposing nothing upon these Men as necessary to be believ'd but the Truth of what is most essential in the Histories of the Old and New Testament and the Divinity of our Saviour's Doctrine in which there is nothing that is not conformable to right Reason they will be brought says he to acknowledg that Christian Religion is really descended from Heaven and will be easily inclin'd to embrace that which hitherto they have obstinately rejected because it was grounded on Suppositions repugnant to that Light of Reason by which they are guided I shall not undertake Sir to examine these Consequences nor the Principles from whence they are drawn I promis'd you only a bare account of the Thoughts of Mr. N. And I hope you will use means that some Divine verss'd in these matters may satisfy us both upon this Subject better than I my self am able to do I am c. THE THIRD LETTER YOU have seen Sir to how little purpose it is that Mr. Simon indeavours to defend his particular Opinions as well as those which are common to him with all other Roman-Catholic Doctors You shall see now that he is no happier in going about to play the Critic on two Letters in which he was not concern'd It appears evidently that nothing but the itch he hath of carping at other Mens Writings has made him undertake to examine those Letters For he embraces the greatest part of the Opinions which the Author there maintains And I doubt not but those who have judg'd the Opinions of Mr. N. too bold will be as much scandaliz'd at those of the pious Prior of Bolleville That incomparable Critic maintains at first dash as boldly as if he were assur'd of it by Revelation that he that is call'd Mr. N. is Noel Aubert de Versé which I have told you already is nothing but a Dream of Mr. Simon 's who thinks he may lawfully say any thing that comes in his Head and believes that by boldly affirming it he shall make his Reader be of his Mind That is a Secret of his Rhetoric which he puts in practice as soon as ever he finds himself puzl'd or when he imagines he may thereby worst his Antagonist But by ill fortune he has us'd it so long that his Art being plainly discover'd can no more deceive any body By saying whatever came in his Mind although in truth he did not believe it he has so grosly contradicted himself that he has now lost all Credit with Men of Worth I need therefore return no other answer to the beginning of our Author's XIIth Chap. than by saying that I am sorry his Choler does so much blind him as to make him affirm a Falshood as boldly as the clearest Truth I pray God as I have often done to cure him of a Passion that discomposes him in so deplorable a manner and which may in time render him incapable of serving the Public as he might do if he considered a little more on what he thinks fit to publish I will not spend my Labour singly upon his Remarks for I write not this to satisfy him In the ill Humour he is nothing is so fit to settle his Mind as Time I will therefore but touch on them as I go along when the nature of what I have to say leads me to it Neither is it my design to defend the Opinions of Mr. N. concerning the Inspiration of the sacred Writers Tho I said it was hard to answer his Proofs fully I said not that I was convinc'd On the contrary I propos'd them to the Learned that I might provoke them to examine the matter carefully and might draw from their Observations some further Light than my own Meditations could furnish me with But as Mens Intentions are not interpreted always so favourably as they ought to be I find my self oblig'd that I may satisfy the Scruples of some pious Persons and repel the Calumnies of some Divines
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
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