they were then They then consisted of the Law Prophets and Psalms or Poetical books at least the third part was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or HAGIOGRAPHA wherein the Psalms are Luke xxiv 44. They consist of the same still and as far as can appear in the self-same order Act. xiii 33. It is written in the second Psalm Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee These words are in our second Psalm to this day And again he saith in another Psalm thou shalt not suffer thine Holy one to see corruption v. 35. these words are in that other Psalm viz. Psal xvi 10. And again David himself saith in the book of Psalms The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool Luk. xx 42. That passage is also in our Psalms and in a Psalm inscribed to David as the Author viz. in Psal cx Not to instance in more passages as might be done abundantly Besides it is not credible as §. VIII S. Hierom in his time out of Origen answered those who objected the falsification of the Old Testament it is not credible I say that our Lord and his Apostles who so sharply reproved the other crimes and vices of the Scribes and the several Sects of the Jews should have been silent of this which was the greatest of all being false in the greatest DEPOSITUM taking from or corrupting the Divine Oracles committed to their charge And this Argument though from Negative Authority is the more considerable upon the score of S. Austin's Doctrine who gives it as a general Rule that where there is a fit place in Scripture to say a thing if it were so and it is not said the argument is good though from Negative Authority that it is not so Now what more fit places can be imagined than where our Lord appeals to the Scriptures touching his Mission and Doctrine when he commands his hearers to search the Scriptures when he tells his Disciples and the multitude The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's seat and requires them to observe and do what they bid them but not to do after their works for they say and do not In all appearance what they said as from Moses or sitting in his seat the Scripture as reported or delivered by them was genuin and sincere enough however vitious their practices were Who here can imagin that had the Scribes then and Scribes must do it or none could had they I say then falsified corrupted or curtail'd the Scriptures we should not in some of these and like places have heard of it Would not some Caution or other have been annext to this purpose Search but take heed of corruptions in such a place Know there are defalcations in such In a word and to speak out Our Lord had not been faithful in the house of God had he not warned the family of such an evil I know a certain Person has pretended to reply to this answer but his reply is empty and frivolous Lastly as to this Objection I §. IX say 't is morally impossible since our Saviours time and indeed for many hundred years before that that the Scriptures should have been corrupted for the multitude of Copies was then such has been since much more such and so far dispersed that neither one man nor one body of men could ever get them into their hands to corrupt them and if some few or many Copies had been corrupted but not all the sincere number would have detected the corrupt To give a parallel instance which will easily be understood by all who can read English Our English Bibles in sundry impressions of this age are corrupted in Act. vi 3. Chuse seven men whom ye may appoint YE falsly for WE 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The corruption may be found in the later Edinburgh Cambridge and since very ordinarily in divers indeed most London Editions Now this being done not till the Faction had crumbled it self into several minute parties all pretending Scripture for their several distinctive little opinions 't is not improbable it might be done at first with design and particularly of those who would establish the peoples power not only in Electing but even in Ordaining their own Ministers Mean while let it be done by whom it might Take an Edinburgh Edition of 1636. a Cambridge one of 16. a London one of 1642. being it was not possible for the Faction to get all these Copies and a multitude more in as being so vastly numerous the true old Copies examined and compared discover the Variation from them that is the Corruption and a more Authentick one than any of them that is the Original Greek if any doubt remain decides the whole Controversie In like manner there were amongst the Jews even in our Saviour's days and much more since a vast number of Copies of the Old Testament for they read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day both Law and Prophets Act. xiii 27 xv 21. wherefore besides what they had for private use they must at least have as many publick Books as Synagogues and Synagogues they had divers in every City 'T is incredible almost what their Authors report of the number of Synagogues in Jerusalem it self And there were amongst them several Sects too and Scribes of every Sect all sufficiently watching over one another had there been any false dealing of this kind Nay the very Ten Tribes upon their Secession and in probability much more after their dispersion had Copies of the Law to which we owe the present Samaritan Hebrew Text. But it is certain the Jews and Samaritans were mortal enemies would not eat converse discourse together Now that all their several Sects and Synagogues that these two last named adverse and mutually incensed Nations should conspire to bring all their Copies together to vary or corrupt them all alike and the world never hear of this combination and the reconcilement of the Parties in order thereunto is not morally possible But if all were not brought together and altered alike as before said one must convince another of falshood And there being as shall be presently made out no Variations of any considerable moment betwixt the Copies of the Old Testament which we now have in common use and the most antient or sincere ones that can be produced at least none having made it appear there is any such Variation but in the stead thereof a marvelous agreement there can be no such corruption as the Objection pretends And this brings us to the Second Objection There are in §. X. the Hebrew Originals actually produced say some different Readings and both cannot be true for truth is but one therefore the one of them must be corrupt Answ There are indeed different Readings and some too as pretended from famed different Traditions Rabbi Ascher setting up one way and R. Naphthali another and from them the Oriental Jews observing one Lection the Occidental
practice as may most naturally comport with the design of the Discourse it may be hoped the pious Readers patience will not be tired in that last so short Stage And First That the word of §. III. Prophecy is sure or the Scriptures of the Old Testament a more demonstrative evidence that Christ was the Messias than was that miraculous voice from Heaven For a foundation we will take it for granted what cannot be denyed that no man of common reason who reads the Old Testament can question but that these things were explicitly and as good as in terms foretold that the Messias should be born of a Virgin that the place of his birth should be Bethlehem the time while the second Temple was standing that he should live a most holy modest and humble but yet a mean and despised life that he should make his soul an offering for sin and be cut off but not for himself that he should rise again before his body could see corruption that he should ascend into heaven and give gifts to men impower sundry sorts of people to supernatural acts by a miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost that some time after this the City of Jerusalem and the Sanctuary should be destroyed and desolations were determined upon them the nation of the Jews should be disperst and live as vagabonds and accursed upon the face of the earth The Original and generally all Translations agree in these and such like material Prophecies of the Messias as these nor can it be pretended there are such ambiguities of Words varieties of Senses and Versions or discrepancies of Copies that all these and many other like points predicted of the Messias are uncertain Now this being admitted I say that these things being thus foretold of Jesus Christ so many hundred years before his Nativity and being also exactly verified of him in the fulness of time the Records which predict them are a greater and surer proof of his being the Son of God and Saviour of the world than the miraculous voice from heaven For 1. This Prediction was no less a §. IV. miracle than that immediate voice By a Miracle we mean a sensible effect surpassing the power of nature Now what power especially at such a vast distance of time could foretel these particularities but his by whose counsel they were effected that is they were Divine that is Supernatural and Miraculous Besides 2. These Predictions are a more publick and lasting Miracle That voice was only heard by a few Peter James and John attested but by three or four witnesses and transient This known to thousands to myriads an evident miracle in actual being to this day and likely to continue such as long as men shall live on the face of the earth or indeed to survive the world 3. In these Predictions there is no possibility of our being or of mens pleading that we can be imposed upon Collusion Fiction or Mistake might be at least pleaded in case of the immediate voice In one instance of it John xii 29. the people that heard it said it thundered others that an Angel spake to him but neither could thunder promulge nor Angel either foretel or verifie these things 1 Pet. i. 12. Angels desired to look into these things but knew them not till revealed In summ then these predictions being no less a Miracle than that immediate voice upon the Mount and as a Miracle having these three advantages of the other that they are a more publick more lasting and more unexceptionable miracle than that we may say with the Apostle in having the Scriptures of the Old Testament we have a more sure word of Prophecy than was the voice from heaven And having thus proved the §. V. certainty of the Old Testament by way of Corollary we may infer the truth of the New. For this containing partly the History of the things predicted partly a Scheme of Doctrine asserted in the Old by reason of its accord with the Old must be true if that be true At least nothing can be justly pretended against its truth except the matter of Fact should be deny'd viz. that such a person lived as Jesus of Nazareth and that he did such things and had such things done unto him as are there recorded Now as to this besides the undeniable credit of Histories there are in being a people disperst over all the world who profess such a person to have been of their Nation and that they executed him and prosecuted his followers and still execrate both as indeed we read in those books Now this matter of fact being admitted it is sure no power could effect such things for fulfilling of those Prophecies but that Divine power from whence the Prophecies first came To predict things hundreds of years before they come to pass and in pursuance of those Predictions at such distance to effect them are both of the same omnipotence Therefore the Relations contained in the New Testament are true therefore the historical Records of them must be true because containing a relation of things truly done and by the finger of God. And the Doctrinal part must be true because according with and asserted by the Old Testament which was before proved true Therefore seeing both Historical and Doctrinal parts are true the whole New Testament is a sure word We have then God be blessed both a sure word of Prophecy and a sure word of Gospel too and they do well who take heed thereto But I conceive I may upon the §. VI. Apostles authority affirm they do not so who imploy their wits and learning to traduce and overthrow the certainty of this sure word of Prophecy For if the surer be uncertain what will become of the other Nay what of all evidences of Christianity May I therefore take leave to answer the new-form'd at least new-trim'd Objections against the certainty of the Old Testament which it is therefore now more necessary to do because the books that proclaim those Objections to the world are made English and in the hands of the very common people The summ of those Objections I may reduce to three heads the Imputations of Corruption of different Readings and of the none or indeterminate Sense of the Originals Objection I. We have not the §. VII books of the Old Testament as they were written by the first Authors but certain pieces and contractions of them and those too very mutilate and corrupt Answ I crave leave to make answer for the Scriptures of the Old Testament out of those of the New. The Apostles pronounced the Scripture as extant in their days A surer word of Prophecy as we have seen given by inspiration of God able to make men wise unto Salvation perfect throughly furnished to all good works 2 Tim. iii. 15 16 17. Now we say They are the same at present as to all substantial points variations of Spelling and Orthography we are not to account for as
Mass of the present Canon of the Mass of the Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Vnction in the Interdict of Priests marriage not to name more points of like nature For if indeed truly named that is Vniversal Tradition Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus c. were the thing urged upon us we are and ever have been as much for it as any men To this day we cry Let us go to tryal on this issue in the name of God. But such Tradition as this we shall find amongst all the controverted points only for Scripture I will be bold to say we have not so unvariable Tradition for the Articles of the Creed which we call the Apostles Creed as we have in behalf of the Books of the Old and New Testament So that according to these measures we are but where we were before Universal Tradition must prescribe our Faith and so absolutely Universal Tradition we have for no point controverted but for the Original Scriptures nay indeed scarcely for any other point of Faith so uniformly Original Scripture therefore as before still stands unshaken But these Rules will some say §. XX. are for Learned men who understand and can search Originals compare Versions and see wherein they agree What shall the unlearned Common people do I say still Keep to your English Translation good people keep to what you are Your English Bibles to you are the surest word of Prophecy and Gospel too that you can meet with The Translation of the Old Testament has been confest by Foreigners of excellent judgment usque ad invidiam aliarum gentium elaborata Accurate even to the envy of other Nations That of the Gospels is no less so especially taking in the Margin And though it were to be wisht the Epistles had been translated with that strictness according to the letter and so unbyast judgment with which the other parts of our Bibles are yet this may be said even as to them What the Text has less exact according to the Original or dubious not only the Margin but the very different Character of several words in the Text directs to a genuin or wholesome sense of My meaning is whereas it is not possible to translate Hebrew or Greek into English strictly word for word and to make such translation sense the Idiom or propriety of the languages so vastly differing that we must in English put in several particles or little words to make good sense with us all those words so put in or supplied are printed ordinarily in a different sort of letter from the rest by which means we may easily discover any word that is not in the Original and from such discovery know what weight to lay upon that text so translated So that there is no danger of peoples miscarrying in their Faith who humbly and soberly keep to their English Bibles which God be blessed now we have extremely cheap and frequent in our hands Only the people are here to be minded in case of doubts to have recourse to their spiritual Guides By these means then we are or may be as sure of our Faith from Scriptures as we are of the Scriptures themselves Now To put a due Conclusion §. XXI to this Discourse there are some Christian Practices which the scope of it does naturally recommend and some advices which it may occasion And First Let the reflexion on what has been discoursed touching the certainty of Holy Scriptures and their Authentick Verity raise in our hearts a due Esteem and Cordial Reverence of them as not being from Man nor meerly by man but given by inspiration of God and in a peculiar and marvellous manner preserved and transmitted by his special Providence from age to age through multitudes of hands down to us who live probably near the end of time It was once the great priviledge of the Jews that to them were committed the Oracles of God that priviledge is now common to us with them Though perhaps therefore we may not keep those Oracles with so superstitious a care and curiosity as they did yet let us both keep and treat them with as cordial adherence and as awful esteem But especially let us take care that we use not passages out of them in our ordinary discourse slightingly in Jest and Drollery to create Laughter to our selves and others Holy things should not be plaid with and we are to remember that if we do play with them we teach people to think we do not believe them to be Holy. Secondly Let not a Prize be put into our hands and we such fools as not to have hearts to use it Have we the Word of Prophecy surer than other Miraculous Revelation Have we the Gospel of Truth too both mutually confirming and confirmed by one another and shall we be so idle and gross as to be any of us in a manner uncapable of using either Why should there be a person in a Christian Church or Nation to whom the Holy Scripture should be as a Book sealed who should know no more by the Book open and laid before him than if fast closed up I mean who should not be able himself to read the glad tidings and terms of his Salvation Good people deny not your selves that which an excellent Person has most justly stiled the CHRISTIANS BIRTH-RIGHT the use of Holy Scriptures Take care and endeavour that both you and yours be able to read And being so whatever Book you read not through or rarely look into let not the Bible be that neglected one Rather account such a day lost in which you have not attentively and considerately read some part thereof Thirdly Remember him who said Hold fast till I come that no man take thy Crown He sits at the right hand of his Father ready to give it and will in good time come and give it us if we faint not And Lastly As most excellent means to insure to our selves a right use of Scriptures and to preserve us from misinterpreting or misapplying them let us be careful of the two following particulars First To furnish our minds with a form of sound Doctrine gathered out of Holy Scripture This it is to be hoped we had in some degree in our early years by Catechism and without this both Scripture and Sermons are in a great measure unserviceable It is the Apostle's Rule that they who Prophesie that is in the New Testament notion of Prophesying interpret Scripture do it according to the proportion of Faith Rom. xii 6. his meaning seems to be that understanding first the several Articles of Christian Faith we should interpret or take Scripture in consistency therewith This rule will prevent the abuse of Holy Scripture to Errour and Novelty Secondly To endeavour the Honest and Impartial practice of what we know in the fear of God and as we shall answer the not Doing according to our Lords will when we have known That his will. This most assuredly