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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	old_a	scripture_n	testament_n	10,292	5	8.2542	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62635	Several discourses by the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ... , being the fifth volume published from the originals by Ralph Barker ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1263; ESTC R31970	188,402	488

I proceed to a Sixth Observation That a standing Revelation of God is Evidence sufficient for Divine things They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them that is they have the Books of Moses and the Prophets written by Men divinely inspired these do sufficiently declare to them the Will of God and their Duty and it is unreasonable to demand or expect that God should do more for their Conviction and Satisfaction I know very well the Text speaks only of the Scriptures of the Old Testament those of the New being not then extant when this Parable was deliver'd But what is here said concerning the Scriptures of the Old Testament is equally applicable to the New and tho' Abraham do only recommend Moses and the Prophets there is no doubt but he would have said the same concerning Christ and his Apostles if the Books of the New Testament had been then extant So that what I shall say upon this Observation does indifferently concern the whole Scripture And that I may make out this Observation more fully I shall take these Five things into consideration 1 st What we are to understand by a Divine Revelation 2 dly Give a brief Account of the several kinds of it 3 dly Shew what Advantage this standing Revelation of the Scriptures hath above any other way of conveying the will of God to the world 4 thly That there is sufficient Evidence for the divinity of the Scriptures 5 thly That it is unreasonable to expect that God should do more for our Conviction than to afford such a standing Revelation of his Mind and Will I shall go over these as briefly as I can I begin with the 1 st What we are to understand by a Divine Revelation By a divine Revelation we are to understand a supernatural discovery or manifestation of any thing to us I say supernatural because it may either be immediately by God or by the mediation of Angels as most if not all the Revelations of the Old Testament were A supernatural Discovery or Manifestation either immediately to our Minds by our Understandings and inward Faculties for I do not so well understand the distinction between Understanding and Imagination as to be careful to take notice of it or else mediately to our Understandings by the mediation of our outward Senses as by an external appearance to our Bodily Eyes or by a Voice and Sound to the Sense of Hearing A Discovery or Manifestation of a thing whether it be such as cannot be known at all by the use of our natural Reason and Understanding or such as may be discovered by natural Light but is more clearly revealed or made known or we are awakened to a more particular and attentive consideration of it For it is not at all unsuitable to the wisdom of God to make a supernatural Discovery to us of such things as may be known by the light of Nature either to give us a clearer manifestation of such Truths as were more obscurely known and did as it were lie buried in our Understandings or else to quicken our Minds to a more serious and lively consideration of those Truths 2 dly For the several kinds of Divine Revelation That they were various the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us ch 1.1 God who at sundry times and in several manners spake to the Fathers by the Prophets where by Prophets we are to understand not only those who did foretel future things but any Person that was divinely inspired and to whom God was pleased to make any supernatural discovery of himself Now the several Kinds of Revelation taken notice of by the Jews are Visions Dreams Prophecy Oracle Inspiration or that which they call the Holy Ghost voice Bath-col or that which was the highest of all which they call gradus Mosaicus the degree of Revelation which was peculiar to Moses The Jewish Writers especially Maimonides have many subtil Observations about the differences of these several kinds of Revelation which depends upon subtil and Philosophical Distinctions of the Faculties of Perception as that some of these Revelations were by impression only upon the Understanding some only upon the Imagination some upon both some upon the outward Senses But the simple and plain difference between them so far as there is any ground in Scripture to distinguish them seems to be this Vision was a Representation of something to a Man when he was waking in opposition to Dreams which were Representations made to Men in their Sleep Prophecy might be either Dream or Vision and the Jews observe that it was always one of these two ways which they grounded upon Numb 12.6 If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known to him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream But Prophecy in the strict Notion of it had this peculiarly belonging to it that it was not only monitory or instructive but did foretel some Event of Concernment to others and the Jewish Doctors tell us that it was a clearer Revelation and carried greater assurance along with it and that this was common to all the three that there was something of Extasie and Transport of Mind in all these The fourth sort of Revelation which was by Oracle which is call'd Vrim and Thummim was a rendring of Answers to Questions by the High-Priest looking upon the Stones in the Breast-plate which how it was done is uncertain The Fifth sort of Revelation is that which they call the Holy Ghost which was a more calm and gentle Inspiration without any extraordinary Transport of Mind or Extasie such as David had in the writing of the Psalms The lowest of all was that which they call'd Bath col which was by a Voice from Heaven and this is the way of Revelation which the Jews observed did only continue among them from the days of the Prophet Malachi to our Saviour The highest of all was that which they call'd gradus Mosaicus to which the Jews give several Prerogatives above all the other ways of Revelation as that it was done by Impression merely upon the Understanding without Extasie or Rapture or Transport when he was waking and in his ordinary Temper and his Senses not bound up either by Extasie or Sleep that it was a Revelation immediately from God himself and not by the Mediation of Angels without any Fear or Amazement or Fainting which was incident to other Prophets and the Spirit of Prophecy rested upon him and he could exert it arbitrarily and put it forth when he would Of which thus much is evidently true from the Story of him that the Spirit of Prophecy did rest more constantly upon him and that he could exert it with greater freedom and without any discernable Amazement or Transport from his ordinary Temper But that it was by Impression merely upon his Understanding as that is a distinct Faculty from the Imagination is not so certain that it was always by an immediate Communication from God without