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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66396	The divine authority of the scriptures a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Sept. 2. 1695 : being the sixth of the lecture for the said year, founded by the honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.; Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2704; ESTC R1959	15,908	41

comprehended in it all the several Books the Prophets containing not only the Books properly so called but also the Historical as written by Inspired Persons and the Psalms containing all the Poetical And they descend yet lower for of the Thirty nine Books of the Old Testament there are very few not above Seven or Eight but what are quoted in the New Testament by Name or for some remarkable Passage and as Books of the same Character So that if we can prove our Saviour to be infallible and the Evangelists and Apostles inspired as we have done before when we proved the Matter revealed by them to have been of Divine Authority at the same time we prove the Scriptures of the Old Testament to be of Divine Inspiration because they had this Testimony and Credit given to them by those that were themselves Infallible and Inspired The like Testimony have we for the Divine Authority of St. Paul 's Epistles by St. Peter who gives them the same Title of Scripture with the Books that were of the Jewish Canon Our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as also the Other Scriptures But though this be a good and sufficient Proof where it may be had yet it is not applicable to all since the last of the Inspired Writers could have no such Evidence as Malachi among the Jews and St. John in the Primitive Church who survived all the rest of the Divine Penmen And therefore where this Proof of the Attestation given to some is wanting as to others we must have recourse to other Arguments that will supply what is deficient The Old Testament has the Testimony of the New to vouch for its Divine Authority but what can thus testify to the New when there is no other Revelation and no Inspired Persons to come after But this will be help'd by the next Evidence which is That 2. The Scriptures were written by Persons Inspired and that were Inspired in the writing of them 1. They were written by Persons Inspired Thereby is meant that whoever were the Authors known or unknown we have yet good and sufficient Evidence that the Penmen were Inspired both as to the Matter and Manner or Way of Writing But this belongs to another place Or that the Authors of those Books were the same that before taught by Inspiration That the Writers of the Old Testament were of this kind we have already proved from the Testimony of the New as far as that is of Authority to verify it And that the Evangelists and Apostles whom we have before proved to be Inspired were the Authors of the Books of the New Testament we have as good Assurance as the Jews had that the Pentateuch was written by Moses or the Psalms by David or that ever there were such Philosophers as Plato and Aristotle or such Physicians as Hippocrates and Galen or any Books writ by them Nay so much the stronger Evidence have we as it has been the Duty as they thought and the Interest of so considerable a part of mankind as the Christians are to preserve these Records safe and entire and to take care that they be such in all points as they received them and consequently according to their sense of them they are of Divine Inspiration and wrote by those Inspired Persons And for which there can be no greater Evidence than this sort of Tradition unless we would have God reveal to every particular person That the Authors of those Books were Inspired or point it out by some special Miracles which shall serve as the Star to the Wise Men to direct us to it But since this is wanting and cannot reasonably be expected we must rest satisfied with that which is the only possible Evidence and which not only the Primitive Christians did admit as sufficient but was not contested by the most violent Adversaries of their Religion Among whom the Question was not Whether the Persons reputed to be Inspired were the Authors of those Books or Whether those whose Authors are not known were of the same condition with those that were known but Whether the matters of that supposed Revelation and contained in those Books were true and that those Authors were sincere Relaters of it And whereas there were some Books of Scripture that were not so early and universally embraced as others yet they were not so much doubted of as to their Authority as the Authors such as the Epistle to the Hebrews the second and third of St. John and the Revelation unless it were by the Alogi that Epiphanius writes of who rejected the Works of St. John as not agreeable to their Opinion That Christ was a mere Man 2. The Sacred Penmen were Inspired in their Writing in the sense before spoken of p. 4. For 1. There was as much need to Write as to Teach to Write with respect to the absent and to Posterity as to Teach and Preach to the present for there is no other way to Teach in those cases than by Tradition or Writing But the Defect which those Holy Men found all their Discourses labour'd under as to their Conveyance by Tradition through the infirmity of Human Nature and an incapacity of transmitting the Matters now contained in the Scriptures to future Ages in that way without Prejudice Corruption and Abuse disposed them under the direction of the Holy Spirit to commit them to Writing So St. John 20. 31. These things are written that ye might believe So St. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 5. I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance 2. There was as much need to Write by Inspiration as to Teach by Inspiration for Writing is but another way of Teaching And if the Apostles had the Assistance of the Holy Ghost in all matters of moment when they Taught it is reasonable to suppose had we no other Evidence for it that in the same Circumstances they had the same Assistance in what they Writ Nay so much the more might it reasonably be expected that they should have the Assistance of that Divine Power operating upon their Minds and guiding as it were their Pen in what they Writ as what they Writ was to continue in the Church and to be a Standard of Faith and Rule of Life to all Ages Whereas what they Taught could continue no longer than the Memories of fallible men could retain it So that we may conclude That if they Taught and Preach'd by the special Assistance of the Holy Spirit they were also under the Conduct of it when they Writ 3. Those Divine Penmen conceived themselves to be alike Inspired in what they Writ as in what they taught Therefore we generally find the Apostles and St. Paul always unless when he writes in conjunction with others to begin their Epistles with a Declaration of their Commission

which they wrought Therefore while the Authors were in being there needed no Miracles to prove these Writings to be theirs when they themselves asserted them so to be And after their decease we have as much reason to believe the Scriptures which they wrote to have been of Divine Inspiration as what they taught to be a Revelation both now depending upon the like Evidence that is Testimony as to which we have no more proof of the Matter than we have of the Books 3. From hence it follows That not to believe the Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration is in effect to reject and deny the Revelation therein contained The Scripture being the best and in the present circumstances of Mankind the only means left for the conveyance of it I say in the present circumstances it is the only means for when the circumstances were other than they are now or have been for Sixteen hundred Years and upwards there was then no such absolute need of a written Word When the Instructors of Mankind had their Lives protracted to a vast extent as it was with the Patriarch's of Old or when there were Inspired Persons alive to teach and rectify any mistakes that might arise and disturb the Peace of the Church as it was in the times of the Apostles But when things fell into an ordinary course and that fallible Persons as all afterwards were might mistake in their reports of Doctrine c. and the weak memories of others not retain what they had been taught and that the insincere would wrest what was taught to serve their perverse designs the case being thus alter'd from extraordinary to ordinary so was the means of conveyance And God that committed the Divine Oracles to be taught by Persons whom he thought fit to inspire employed the same Persons to commit that Revelation to writing for the future Preservation of it and the conveying it down safe and intire to Posterity Without which Mankind in these circumstances neither could themselves have been certain of what they were to believe nor could they have sufficiently proved to others what it was they were obliged to receive and to believe as wanting Authentick Monuments and Records for it So that we have sufficient reason to believe that the same Divine Goodness that did make known his Will to Mankind would take the best means and did take the best means for the continuing and preserving it And Scripture being the only means of that kind becomes a Rule of Faith and so is of Authority sufficient to oblige us to receive and obey it If the Matter of Scripture be true and of Divine Inspiration we are obliged by it though the Writing or Book containing it should be only of Human Composition because it is the Doctrine and not the way of delivery that passes the immediate Obligation upon us But when the Book containing that Matter as well as the Matter it self is of Divine Authority and composed by Divine Appointment Direction or Inspiration it obligeth us by vertue of the Composition as well as the Matter and both are to be jointly received as proceeding from one and the same Original and Authority But having asserted this That the Scripture is the only means of conveyance of the Will of God to Mankind and what becomes a Rule of Faith to us it is fit to return to the Question proposed viz. How we can prove the Scripture to have been of Divine Revelation or that those Books so called were wrote by the Direction and Command of God or by Inspiration from him A. 1. I Answer in the same way as before That as there is no Revelation if the Scriptural Revelation be not that Revelation so there is no written Revelation if the Scripture be not that Book and be not Inspired And then we should want the only certain means of conveyance which is Writing or should have been wholly left to the doubtful and uncertain hand of Tradition for the knowledge and preservation of Revelation Now I think this to be an Argument of considerable force for the Divine Authority of Scripture that without this means we should after a Revelation be in effect without a Revelation For so it will be if the Scripture contain not that Revelation and that we have no sufficient Record if that be not the Authentick Record of it But to come nearer the point 2. I Answer That there is as much proof for the Inspiration of the Scripture as the matter is well capable of and as much as is sufficient and if that be so then 't is unreasonable to reject it for they who do so can do it upon no less pretence than that they would have such a proof as the matter is not capable of and more than is sufficient for the proof of it But that there is such a proof for the Divine Authority of Scripture as is sufficient I think will be evident if we shew 1. That the Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired 2. That they were written by Persons Inspired and that were Inspired when they writ them 3. That they are worthy of such Authors and have upon them the Characters of such Inspiration 1. The Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired The Testimony of Persons Inspired is as much a Proof of Inspiration as if it had been a matter they themselves were Inspired with and therefore the Evidence that we have for the Inspiration of such Persons is a sufficient Evidence for the Inspiration they give Testimony to As for instance suppose that we have not as good evidence for the Inspiration of the Old Testament as we have for the New yet if the New doth justify the Inspiration of the Old quotes it as such and bestows that Character upon it then by vertue of such a Testimony we have as good Evidence for the Old as we have for the New The meer Quotation of a Book by an Inspired Person whether as to the Author Words or Matter doth not give the like Authority to that with what he himself doth write by Divine Inspiration for then Aratus and Menander Epimenides and Callimachus who were Heathens and are Quoted by St. Paul would become Inspired Writers But the Scriptures of the Old Testament are cited by our Saviour and the Apostles as the Oracles of God and as Books of Divine Authority and which they produce and appeal to upon all occasions in justification of the Doctrine which they taught So we are told that all Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the whole Scripture as Dionysius Carthus expounds it is given by Inspiration of God And what is meant by the Scripture is no other than what was generally received by the Jewish Church as such and which our Saviour distributes after their manner into the Three known parts viz. The Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms Which division

of Moses's way of writing It was Amelius the Platonist that at the same time as he call'd St. John a Barbarian a Title which the Greeks and Romans bestow'd upon all but themselves found in his Gospel the Wisdom of a Philosopher But above all we may see the Footsteps of a Divine and Extraordinary Assistance in the admirable Discourses of our Saviour and the Apostles upon several occasions Let us for instance take a view of our Saviour's last Discourse with the Disciples just before his Death as recorded by St. John chap. 14. c. Turn we again to that of St. Paul about a Future State and a Resurrection to it which is the subject of 1 Cor. 15. See it again in the close and sensible Argumentations of the Author to the Hebrews See it also in the very Digressions which those Holy Pen-men sometimes by breaking off from their Subject in hand for a while do fall upon where we shall find that which is equivalent to what is ordinarily said by the Prophets in the Messages they delivered Thus saith the Lord and what is as expresly said and will as much be found to be of Divine Revelation It was certainly as much an effect of the Divine Power to Direct and Assist and even Inspire those Writers with such sublime Notions such convincing Arguments as it was of the Divine Commission to send the Prophets with Authority to publish the Divine Commands and Decrees And therefore it is a very frivolous Exception which a late Author makes against the Divine Authority of the Apostolical Writings That they consist of long Deductions and Argumentations whereas saith he God doth not reason but command as he did by the Prophets But how often do we find in the Prophets God arguing with the Jews about the Vanity of their Idolatry from the Incomprehensible Perfections of his Nature c. How often using Arguments to convince them of their Immoralities and Impieties How often exhorting them to Repentance and Reformation from the most powerful Considerations And therefore why are the Apostles less inspired for that reason than the Prophets When God speaks to Men and teaches one man by another it is often after the manner of men and therefore as he doth sometimes require absolute Obedience to his Commands so at other times he condescends so far as to shew them the Equity and the Reasonableness of them both equally becoming the Divine Majesty and which are a glorious Instance of the Divine Wisdom conspicuous throughout the Holy Scripture thereby adding both to the Excellency and the Usefulness of it and advancing it in both above any Book in the World And for this take the Word of one who is otherwise no Friend to our Religion or to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures though in contradiction to himself As the Lustre of an Oriental Diamond is more clearly perceived when compared with Counterfeit Stones so Christianity appears in its greatest Glory and Splendor when compared with the Obscurity of Paganism the Deformity of the one serving as a Foil to the other Nor doth the Divinity of the Scriptures ever better appear than when compared with the Follies of the Talmud the Alchoran or the Constitutions of the Heathen Law-givers which is an infallible sign of their Excellence that they so well bear the Test of Comparison Thus 〈◊〉 he IV. General How we prove the Books that are now extant and received by the Christian Church as Canonical to be those very Books that were writ by Persons Inspired Now this will receive a sufficient Answer if we prove 1. That there were once such Books 2. That these are the very Books which were once said to be Canonical and Inspired 3. That these Books are not corrupted so as not to be the Books now which once they were 1. The first of these is not denied by the most violent Adversaries such as Appion was to the Jews and Celsus to the Christians 2. That these are the Books which were heretofore Penn'd by Inspired Persons and received by the Universal Church as such we have as much Evidence as we have or can have for any thing past or distant in time or place from us and which we our selves have not seen And if we call in question the Sufficiency of the Evidence or the Truth of what is proved by it we take away all the Evidence that we can have and the Truth and Certainty of whatever has been or is which we have not seen our selves So that either these are those Books or there is nothing of that kind which we can depend upon 3. These Books are uncorrupted I mean by Design or by Accident If by Design it must either be by Jews Hereticks or those that are called Orthodox 1. If by the Jews that must either be before the time of our Saviour or after it If before they would have certainly been taxed for it by our Saviour and the Apostles who upon all occasions appeal to the Scriptures and yet never charge them with any such Falsifications If they were corrupted by the Jews after our Saviour's time How came they to leave those Prophecies uncorrupted which manifestly and principally prove our Saviour to be the Messiah For surely if they adulterated or expunged or added to the less they would have offered as much violence to the greater But it is eviden● the Jews were in a high degree superstitious in preserving the Copies of the Scripture sound and entire Or if they would have attempted this how could they do it and not be discovered and challenged for it by the Christians who from that time forward had the Scriptures of the Old Testament in their custody as well as themselves 2. It could not be by the Hereticks because the Scriptures were soon dispersed over all the Christian World and were read both in publick and private and with that Care and Faithfulness that they chose rather to part with their Lives than become Traditores and deliver up their Bibles to be burnt and keeping then so watchful an eye upon them they could not be perverted by their fraudulent Arts but they would soon be observed and complained of especially by those whose Office it was above others to study and preserve them So when Marcion falsified the Text he was presently detected and exposed for it 3. Nor could it be by the Orthodox if any of them were so weak as to think to serve their Cause by it For as to the Old Testament they were as watchfully observed by the Jews as the Jews were by them and both the Copies of the Old and New were so soon and so far dispersed that neither could any one attempt it with any likelihood of success nor all agree in it when impossible to convene for it And therefore when Manichaeus and his Followers pretended the Corruption of the Scripture in their own vindication they could not make out their Charge though provoked by St. Austin c. to it Use We may observe from hence what a Blessing we enjoy above the Ages of Tradition when the knowledge of the Truth was conveyed from hand to hand which so sensibly declined that the Truth was soon turn'd into Fable and that so few Years after the Flood as the time of Terah the greatest part of the World was overrun with Idolatry so that for the retrieving it God drew Abraham out of that infected Mass and enjoined him to set up a Family separated from the rest of the World that out of that he might constitute a Church for his Service But we have that which those Ages wanted a Written and Certain Rule for our Faith and Manners and that so plainly and intelligibly wrote and so compleatly and entirely furnished with all things necessary for us to know in order to the Happiness of another Life that as none in the Christian Church where the Guides and Teachers are faithful to their Flock can be or must unavoidably be ignorant so neither can any person be defective in the knowledge of his Duty or void and destitute of a power of doing what is necessary toward his Happiness unless by his own fault If we keep but to our Rule that is as an Infallible Compass to direct us and we shall never fall short of knowing what God has revealed or of obtaining what he hath promised And here we may farther reflect upon our Happiness in this Church that we have not the Key of Knowledge taken from us and the Truth lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue as in the Church of Rome but plainly and faithfully rendred in our own Language for the Instruction and Edification of all What remains then but that we make this our daily study and labour to acquaint our selves with the Rich Treasures of Useful and Necessary Knowledge contained in those Sacred Repositories and making them as David did a Lamp to our feet and endeavouring to conform our selves in all points to their holy Prescriptions and then we shall most certainly have reason to rejoice in the Comfort of the Promises and with Patience look for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom c. FINIS ERRATA SErmon I. 2 d Edit P. 11. l. 4. r. manner P. 13. l. 21. for only r. wholly Sermon VI. ● 2. Marg. 〈◊〉 IV. P. 10. l. 11. dele both the Comma's P. 25. l. 12. before and after that is dele Serm. V. Luk. 1. ● Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 15. l. 5. c. 8. Exod. 20. 1 22. Serm. V. p. 12. Acts 17. 28. 1 Cor. 15. 33. Tit. 1. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. Luke 24. 44. V. Josephus con App. l. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 15 16. V. Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 23. c. 24 25. l. 5. c. 8. l. 7. c. 24 c. Phil. 1. 1. 1 2 Thes Lecture V. Amos 7. 14. Luke 21. 14 15. 1 Cor. 2. 1 4. 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Euseb Praepar Theol. Polit c. 8. Anima Mundi Sect. 1. V. Hieron in 6. Isa V. Philo de Egress● Israel ex Aegypto Irenaus l. 1. c. 29. Tertul contra Marcion l. 5. Epiphan Haer. 42. Aug. de util Cred. c. 3.