's Gospel is but an Abridgment of the Gospel by Matthew that St. Luke in the first Verses of his Gospel commends the Gospels of Matthew and Mark that St. John approved the Gospels of these three former Evangelists and wrote his Gospel only by way of Supplement to theirs that St. Peter commends the Epistles of Paul and signifie at the same time that they were commonly read and a bad Use made of them by some that the Catholick Epistles by James Peter Jude and John the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Revelation being written either to whole Nations or to all Christians were certainly publish'd as soon as written 2. At least the Clergy and Churches were unacquainted with the Books of the New Testament till 130 years after Christ I have shown they were quoted by all the extant Writers of those Times by Barnabas Herinas Ignatius Polycarp Clemens Romanus and by some not Extant as Papias of Hierapolis in the year 110. Farther that the four Gospels the Acts Revelation Catholick Epistles and Epistle to the Hebrews being written for general Information or to whole Churches or Nations they were written to be publish'd and publish'd as soon as written and that 't is a very precarious and withal an unreasonable supposition that the Clergy and Churches were ignorant of the publish'd Books of their Religion That the contrary in truth is evident for as early as Justin Martyr's time the Churches entertained a Reader besides the Deacons Presbyters and Bishop who read the Old and New Testaments to the Assembly 3. It was impossible when the Books of the Canon first appeared to distinguish them from spurious Gospel Acts Epistles and Revelations which were also entitled to the Apostles I have replyed there was nothing more obvious or easy to the then Churches than to distinguish them with absolute certainty by their Agreement or Disagreement with the Doctrine and History of our Saviour which those Churches had but just before received by word of Mouth from the Apostles and other first miraculous Preachers 4. Different Copies were shown of all the Canonical Books from the very first the Nazarens and Ebionits had a Gospel of St. Matthew different from ours the Marcionits of St. Luke and of the Epistles of Paul I have answer'd Marcion was so ingenuous as to retract his vitiated Copies of St. Paul's Epistles and of St. Luke's Gospel the Copy of Matthew used by the Nazarens was say the Antients πληÏÎςατον most perfect the Ebionite Copy being probably St. Matthew's first or Hebrew Edition of his Gospel did indeed want the two first Chapters and in time they had added some Traditional Memoirs from the Witness of some Disciples that had seen the Facts and knew the Persons it were to be wish'd we had still this Copy 5. The Books of the Canon were imputed by some very considerable Sects of Christians not to the Apostles whose names they bear but either to Hereticks or to a set of Half-Jews and Half-Christians who had written them only from hearsay and flying Reports I have evinced that only the Gospel of John was ever mislayed and that the Alogians soon saw their Error in the Case not only receiving that Gospel but receiving it also with all other Sects and Churches as St. John ' s. That the Manichees the other considerable Sect of Christians intended in the Objection owned our four Gospels the Epistles of Paul all the Catholick Epistles and all other Books of our Canon in short that Amyntor certainly and inadvertently enough mistook the meaning of the Author Faustus the Manichee whom he alledged 6. The Philosopher Celsus complains that the Christians had alter'd their Gospel three or four or more times Celsus I have said meant this of the Copies of Marcion and of Valentinus and Lucanus which never were used in the Churches but at their first appearance were detected and rejected by all Churches Of the Books of the Catalogue he saith 1. MANY of 'em have rather been supprest by the strongest side in the Church than lost and that probably they were the genuin Works of the Apostles I have granted divers of 'em might be the real Works of those whose names they bore and that our loss of them is to be regretted but the whole body of Learning has suffer'd extremely by the loss of some of the best Books in every Science and Art Notwithstanding the Reasons alledged by the Antients against many of them are sufficient to convince us that there was just cause to slight and even to suppress them 2. The Epistles of Barnabas Ignatius Polycarp Clemens Romanus and the Pastor of Hermas were esteemed by the Antients to be a good Scripture as any part of the New Testament they were received by the soundest of the Antients who at the same time rejected divers Books of our present Canon namely the Revelation the Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of Jude the second of Peter and the second and third of John But I have produced unquestionable Testimony of the Antients that these lesser pieces of the Canon were always received by the generality of Churches and Christians and that when they were owned in the Council of Laodicea 't was on very good grounds on the same Reasons which convinced 'em of the genuinness of the other Books of the New Testament As to Barnabas Ignatius Polycarp Hermas and Clemens Romanus they were considered indeed as pious and well-minded Compositions but were read no otherwise but as we now read in our Churches the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament which for all that we directly deny to be Divine Scripture and many think them not very Edifying or Profitable especially some of them 3. The principal Ante-nicen Fathers quoted divers Gospels Epistles and Acts of the Catalogue as Scripture and Canonical and this is all that can be said for the Books of the Canon and more than can be truly said for some of them I have alledged the very words of those Fathers it appears they never cite the Books of the Catalogue as Divine Scripture and in reciting the Books of the true Scripture-Canon and of the Apostles they always omit all the Gospels and other Books of the Catalogue I grant however that the mere Terms Scripture and Canonical were at first applied to all Ecclesiastical Books that were judged Orthodox as also to the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament to distinguish them from the Moral pieces of the Heathen Philosophers but the alledged Fathers have made us know the great difference they put between mere Scripture and Divine Scripture between Canonical and Inspired Nam pudet haec opprobria Nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse Refelli FINIS Advertisement ALL the Works of the late Reverend and Learned William Bates D. D. and some Account of him in a Funeral Sermon by Mr. John How with an Alphabetical Table to the whole are proposed to be printed in a large Folio on an extraordinary Paper and Character at
such a different Genealogy of our Saviour from that by St. Matthew without the reason of so wide a dissent nor would there be found in the other Evangelists so many apparent contradictions as have harassed the Wits of Learned Men almost since the first constitution of the Canon St. Luke plainly intimates that the Evangelists and Gospels he had seen were not furnisht with the relations they make by Eye-witnesses as himself was We have at this day says Mr. Dodwel some writings of Ignatius Polycarp Hermas Barnabas Clemens Romanus these were later than the other Writers of the New Testament except Jude and John and yet Hermas cites nothing out of the New Testament nor in all the rest are any of the Evangelists named If they cite any passages like to those we read in our present Gospels they are withal so unlike that it cannot be known whether they are alledged out of ours or some Apocryphal Gospels they cite also Passages which are not in the present Gospels Nay we cannot say from those Canonical Books that were last written that the Church knew any thing of the Gospels or that the Clergy made a common use of them We can't tell whence St. Paul had that moral Aphorism of our Saviour which he quotes Acts 20.35 In those early times the true Writings of the Apostles used to be bound up together with those now called Apocryphal and Spurious that it was not manifest by any mark or public Censure of the Church Which of them should be preferred to the other Upon this judgment made by Mr. Dodwel Amyntor says he agrees with Mr. Dodwel as to matter of Fact And he shuts up all with adding that whosoever has an inclination to write on this Subject is now furnisht with a great many curious Disquisitions whereon to show his Penetration and Judgment As how the immediate Successors and Disciples of the Apostles could so grosly confound the genuine Writings of their Masters with such as are falsly attributed to them And if they were in the dark about these matters in those early times How came the following Ages by a better Light Why all those Books which are cited by Clemens Alexandrinus and the rest should not be accounted equally authentic And lastly What stress can we lay on the Writings of those Fathers who not only contradict one another but are also inconsistent with themselves in their relations of the very same Facts The whole amounts to thus much The Books we now own as Canonical were never seen till about 130 years after Christ and when they appeared 't was not possible to distinguish them but by some Revelation from Apocryphal Gospels and Epistles which bore the names as these do of the Apostles and their Synergists From the earliest times contrary Copies of them were shown and not one of them but was rejected by considerable and potent Parties of Christians the very Parties that received them have changed 'em three or four or more times that they might be at liberty to affirm or deny as present Exigence should require The Figments of Hermas the Trash of Barnabas and others such like have an equal right to a place in the Canon of Scripture with the Gospels of Mark and Luke The Authority and Credit of both and of all the other Canonical and Extra-canonical Writings depending on the Quotations made from them by St. Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and one or two more of the Antients and on their having been Contemporaries and Coadjutors to the Apostles And so in few words Friends bonas noctes to the Christian Religion Our Author however that we may not forget to do him that right is a compleat Gentleman tho he has us and our Canon at these Advantages he saith He will determine nothing but suspend his Judgment P. 58. On the CATALOGUE in general THE Catalogue by Amyntor is considerable on divers accounts As it is pretty Perfect He has omitted but few of those Antient Pieces and not so often mistaken as some others the several and like Titles of the same Book for several and distinct Books And as it naturally gives one a great Idea of the Christian Religion By informing us of so many Persons that wrote Gospels Acts Revelations Liturgies Itineraries Martyrdoms either on their own knowledg or on credible report made to them and which have not been lost on any other accounts but such as are common to things Valuable and Great in their kind Such as the Deluge of an immense time almost 1700 years the absolute Certainty and apparent Sufficiency of the Gospels Acts Epistles c. which on those accounts the Church has preserved and contents her self with them And lastly As nothing can be objected to it or inferred from it but what in such a case a man of any Experience or Prudence would certainly expect Namely that in so important and various a Subject there would be some more Writers and Writings than the extreme Caution of the Catholic Church would intirely approve and even that some Triflers and Impostors would intermix and intrude themselves among the approved and well-meaning It will be requisite to enlarge a little on these general Reflections That the Catalogue is indifferent perfect I grant However some Books and other Writings are omitted and others never really extant or pretended to be extant are added For instance under the first Head or of Books ascribed to our Saviour or that particularly concern him these are overlookt A Book by St. Matthew distinct from that by Thomas concerning the Infancy of our Saviour being the History of his younger Years 'T is very antient for it hath some Passages that are also mentioned by St. Ireneus and which he saith were in the Books shown by the Valentinians A Letter of our Saviour that fell down from Heaven it being indeed an Epistle forged by a certain notable Enthusiast a French Bishop who for this and some other such-like Facts was deprived and put to penance by a Council assembled at Rome An. 745. The Letter however was kept in the Library of the Roman Church by order of Pope Zechary A Liturgy of our Saviour received as his by the Ethiopians it was brought out of the Orient by Father J. Vanslebius who promises also to publish it at Paris together with other rare Ethiopic Pieces But Ludolphus in his Ethiopic History and Commentary gives the true account of this Liturgy As to Books added under the same Head Amyntor mistakes when as from Eusebius he attributes to our Saviour a Book of Parables and Sermons For on the contrary these Proverbs and Doctrines as Eusebius calls them were all of them only Traditional they were Doctrines and Proverbs that Papias Bishop of Hierapolis had heard from some Persons that they were spoke and taught by Jesus Christ but they never were committed to writing as a particular Book by any body The Millennium or thousand-years Reign was one of these Traditional Doctrines I observe also that Amyntor
be always exact in repeating Scripture-Texts as to the words tho they keep well enough to the sense And for this reason also they do not always name the Scripture-Author whom they alledg even to avoid the possible Mistake of one Writer for another I make but this one remark more on the Citations of Scripture by these Fathers It is reckned they all wrote before the whole Canon of the New Testament was compleated M. Dodwel says expresly before Jude or the two Johns had written And they wrote from places very distant from Judea and from one another Hermas and Clemens from Rome Barnabas from Cyprus Polycarp Smyrna in Asia Ignatius from Syria This serves to assure us that the Gospels and Apostolic Writings were immediately communicated either by particular care of the Churches or more probably a publication to the most remote Bishops and Churches that there can be nothing more contrary to Truth and to the zeal and Diligence of the first Christians and Churches than this Affirmation of M. Dodwel and his Second that the Apostolic Writings were lockt up in Coffers of the Churches and Persons to whom they were written till 130 years after Christ Which is so far we have seen from being true that all the Writers of those times tho living in places some Thousands of miles distant from one another and from Judea adorn even their familiar Letters with Flowers from the four Gospels and Epistles of the present Canon nor do they cite that we know of a single Sentence from the Books of the Catalogue Amyntor however tho he assents to M. Dodwel in saying that our present Scripture-Canon and the Books that compose it were unknown to the Churches and Clergy till 130 years after Christ yet he doth not think Barnabas Hermas Clemens Polycarp or Ignatius were the real Authors of those Epistles that go under their Names but that these Epistles were forged about such time as so many other Impostures appeared in the Catholic Church namely a good while after the year 130. But hereby he hath entirely given up the Cause he was maintaining M. Dodwel speaks consistently to himself tho not truly when he says the Scripture-Canon was not known to the Churches or Clergy till about the year 130 because Clemens and the other Writers of those times cite nothing out of the said Canon But Amyntor forgets to be consistent to his Cause when he says the Canonical Books were not known till the year 130 and at the same time denies we have any Monuments left of those antient times Clemens and the rest being of much later date and also Impostures Besides granting to him that these Epistles are Impostures deviled more than 130 years after Christ as 150 or 180 after our Saviour yet having quoted abundance of Paragraphs out of our present Canon and none out of the Books of the Catalogue as we are hereby assured that the former were then known and approved as Books of received and allowed Authority so the other either were not known or not consider'd as Books whose Authority could oblige or so much as persuade There were divers other Writers of those early times besides Clemens and the rest mentioned by M. Dodwel and tho their Works are lost yet we have certain assurance that they quoted the Books of the New Testament Papias Bishop of Hierapolis was Scholar of St. John and Companion of Polycarp Eusebius had read his Works and takes occasional notice that he quotes the Epistles of St. John and St. Peter Euseb H. E. l. 3. Cap. ult Contemporaries to Papias and Polycarp and much within the term of 130 after Christ was Quadratus Agrippa sirnamed Castor and Basilides Of these Basilides wrote 24 Books of Commentaries or Explanations on the Gospels Concerning the other two Eusebius saith They with many more made it their business to preach in places whereas yet Churches were not gathered and τῶν θείων Ἐυανγελίων παÏαδιδόναι γÏαφὴν to bestow and disperse Copies of the Inspired Gospels H. E. Lib. 3. c. 37. Lib. 4. c. 7. Justin Martyr in his Second Apology but 140 years after Christ as Dr. Cave hath proved makes us to know that there was then a particular Officer in the Churches called the Reader distinct from the Preacher whose business it was saith he to read the Prophetical and Apostolical Books to the Congregation until it is sufficient Amyntor must suppose with great liberty if he supposes that in the year 130 the Books of the New Testament were unknown to the Churches and Clergy and that but ten years after they were so known and in such credit that the Churches entertained an Officer on purpose to read them in their Assemblies But why do we protract a Dispute and seek to old Authors known to few People to determine it when it may be ended by one demonstrative Argument and of which all Persons are capable The four Gospels Acts general Epistles and Revelation were not written to particular Persons or particular Churches but written and published to all the World Let me hear Amyntor or M. Dodwel say they were not written to be published or were not published so soon as written if they dare not say so why do they say they were kept in private Coffers till 130 years after Christ I don't think any body will believe that the Churches or Clergy were ignorant of the publishst Books of their Religion A Continuation of the Defence of the Canon ANother Detraction of our Author from the Credibility and just Authority of the Canon is that The principal Fathers of the three first Ages Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen did quote divers Books of the Catalogue particularly Barnabas Hermas Ignatius Polycarp and Clemens Romanus as Scripture And why should not all the Books that are cited by these Learned Fathers as Scripture be accounted equally Authentic and Canonical Or if these Disciples and Successors of the Apostles could so grosly confound the genuin Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles with such as are spurious and falsly attributed to them how came others the following Fathers and the Councils who have undertaken to declare which Books are Canonical and which not to be better or more certainly informed In short he saith Clemens Romanus Barnabas Ignatius Hermas and Polycarp were esteemed by the Antients to be as good as any part of the New Testament and seeing herein they were so grosly mistaken what stress can be laid on their Testimony concerning the Books of the New Testament itself which Testimony however both formerly and at present is alledged as the principal reason sometimes he maketh it to be the only-reason why the Books of the New Testament are received as Canonical Amynt p. 44 45 46 52 79 80. He adds at p. 57 58. The Council of Laodicea An. 360 after Christ is the first Assembly wherein the Canon of Scripture was determined In so great a variety of Books those of the Catalogue he means and those of the Canon how could that
against the whole Canon of the New Testament rout all the Authors of the Old Testament For he might have said from Epiphanius Haeres Ebion c. 13. p. 38. Some Jews called Nazarites rejected Sacrifices affirming that the Books of Moses which we now have are spurious the true Writings of Moses being altogether different from our Copies of them which true Writings are still preserved by their Party He repeats the same thing Anacep p. 134. Others who owned the five Books of Moses yet refused all the other Books of the Old Testament Epiphanius Haeres Sam. c. 2. To these last for so much as concerns the Old Testament were joined some Ebionits saving that they approved the Book of Joshua Epiphan Haeres Ebion c. 13. Let us examine all this it will be undeniable that almost all of it is false and that little of it that is true is of no weight As to the Manichees who 't is pretended denyed all the New Testament that is denyed it to be written by the Authors whose Names it carries or said that at least 't is so very much interpolated and corrupted that 't is now of no Authority I will reserve the Discussion of it till we come also to the Philosopher Celsus who says that the Christians had twice or thrice or more times altered their Gospel The Ebionits and Nazarens says our Author had a different Copy of Matthew's Gospel from ours Why does he confound the Ebionits and Nazarens as if they were one and used the same Copy of Matthew's Gospel They were no more the same Sect of Christians than the Church of England and the Quakers are and were so far from using the same Copy of St. Matthew that a common Enemy to both witnesses the Copy of the Nazarens was πληÏÎςατον most perfect but that of the Ebionits Adulteratum Mutilum corrupted by Interpolations and defaced by Omissions Epiphanius Haeres Nazar c. 9. Haeres Ebion c. 13. This Gospel of the Ebionits lacked the two first Chapters namely the Genealogy of Joseph from David and the History concerning the three wise men out of the East it began at the Baptism of John As for the Additions 't is not said expresly what they were likely the History of the Woman that was taken in Adultery related in many Copies of St. John's Gospel particularly in those from which our English Translation was made Also some Answers of our Saviour the Names also and Qualities of some of the Persons he healed All which might be added from common Report of the Disciples of our Saviour and of others who knew the Facts and Persons These things are said to be in the Hebrew Gospel either of the Nazarens or Ebionits by Eusebius Jerom Austin Photius and others It was a hard Censure by Epiphanius to call 'em Adulterations if no more can be objected to the Copy used by the Ebionits than these traditional Memoirs added in some places it were if extant to be highly valued The omission in their Copy of the two first Chapters was indeed the occasion of great Disputes and Heats among the Antients Not uncredibly the Ebionits might follow the first Edition of St. Matthew's Gospel or his Hebrew Gospel which might begin at Chap. 3. that is at the Baptism of John but when Matthew published his Gospel the second time Greek he might add the Genealogy and the History of the Wise men The Ebionits being all Jews and understanding only the Hebrew the Syro-Chaldaic they adhered to the first Edition rejecting the other which also not being published it may be in Judaea but from some other place they might doubt whether it were really St. Matthew's I can't see what can be inferred from this to the prejudice of Christianity or the Canon of Scripture except by Persons who having a great mind to be Infidels please themselves with Trifles But the Marcionites also had a different Copy of the Gospel of Luke I confess the Antients speak of Marcion's Copy of St. Luke as adulterated particularly Origen Irenaeus Justin Martyr Tertullian and lastly Epiphanius who has noted the particular Alterations and Substractions by Marcion they are these He omits the two first Chapters beginning his Gospel with the Preaching of John Baptist Praecursor to our Savior and where the Prophets were alledged or were spoken of he retrenches it The rest objected to Marcion's Copy is but ill-grounded for they are only various readings not designed Depravations Marcion intended by these changes to conform the Gospel to the Sentiments of his Party concerning the Prophets but he so did this that the substance of Christianity was still the same and that 't was easy to see on which side the Truth lay This last is proved by the event for the Marcionite Heresy soon became extinct of it self An attempt to cut off such large portions of this Gospel that were found in all the Copies used in the Churches was too extravagant to succeed or be long countenanced by any sober men unless supported by Interest Marcion had been excommunicated by his own Father who was a Bishop for Fornication hereupon he went to Rome but Letters from his Father following him they would not there receive him into Communion Enraged at this he set up a new Sect being a Learned Man he procured not a few Followers who made him their Bishop in this Station he wrote divers Books and publish'd a new Copy of the Gospel by St. Luke as also of St. Paul's Epistles making in both divers Alterations He repented however of these wicked endeavors against Truth and Peace he reconciled himself to the Church undeceived most of his Followers and would have reduced the rest but was prevented by Death We have this Information from the most Antient of the Latin Fathers Tertullian Praescript c. 30. He alledges farther John's Gospel was attributed by some to the Heretick Cerinthus all the Epistles of Paul were denyed by some and a different Copy shown of 'em by others This boasted different Copy is only the Copy of Marcion voluntarily and piously retraced by himself That any denyed St. Paul's Epistles meaning thereby denyed them to be his our Author will not prove from any of the Antients If by denying them he means rejected the Doctrine of 'em we grant they were denyed by the Ebionits the witness against 'em is Epiphanius Haeres Ebion c. 13. The Ebionits were those Jewish Christians who contended that the Law was to be observed together with the Gospel Paul obtained against 'em a Decree by the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem recorded Acts 15. from vers 24. and often argues against their Opinion in his Epistles This occasioned their rejecting those Epistles and a great many Calumnies against the Person of that Apostle among other things they devised that Paul was a Gentile of Tarsus and that missing an intended Marriage with the Daughter of a Priest at Jerusalem he set himself to destroy the Priesthood and the Law The ground on which St. Paul's Epistles
of all this I will otherwise convince you that your Patriarch was a Seducer and a Liar He says the Books of the New Testament have been corrupted by Additions made to 'em certain Half-Jews have added Citations out of the Old Testament and false Tales concerning the Parentage Nativity Circumcision Temptation Baptism Death of Christ all which are impossible flams because he that was God and not Man at all could neither do nor suffer any of these things Therefore I ask did Manichaeus alledg or can you produce any Copies of the New Testament wherein all these things are not found When some Copies of a Book have something that others have not there is either Mistake or Fraud in one or other of them and we are wont in that Case to consult more Copies especially those that are Antient and those that are preserved in Libraries or in Archives that have been long and religiously kept From the greatest number of Copies and those that are most Antient and that have been kept in places where they could not easily or likely be violated by Additions or Substractions we judg reasonably and safely concerning the Copies that are suspected or questioned I pray therefore show us or refer us to Copies where these pretended Additions are not read in what Libraries in what Archives of Churches or Sects are such Copies to be found But as you never pretended to any such Copies so 't is impossible there should be any such For the New Testament being in the hands of all Christians and read in all Churches these pretended Additions could never be made and least of all in the publick Books of the Churches without being observed known and opposed in their very first appearance Are there so many thousand Churches and distant from one another so many thousand Miles under the Inspection of so many distinct Bishops and Presbyters nay and of several Princes and could all these Books think you be corrupted without their observing it Or what is as impossible or rather more impossible by common Agreement For are so many wont to agree to false Additions to their Books of Religion These are some of the Arguments of that discerning Father against Faustus and his Patriarchs Manichaeus and Adimantus I am of opinion we have here given to Amyntor as 't is said in the Proverb A Rowland for his Oliver Faustus is not so considerable but that St. Austin appears much more considerable In Faustus one may see an unreasonable Infidelity a precipitate and ungrounded Scepticism in St. Austin Caution and Faith led on by Judgment a Judgment enlightned by Learning and Experience I omit what he saith of the God of the Old Testament of the Patriarchs and Prophets as forein to my present Undertaking and Subject I only observe farther that What he hath so well argued against Montanus and Manichaeus is no less effectual against the third Paraclet Mahomet who arose after St. Austin If Montanus in the year after Christ 170 or Manichaeus in 275 could not be the promised Paraclet because the Evangelist on whose Authority their Claims are founded sets a time when Jesus shall be glorified that disagrees so widely from the time of their appearance and agrees so exactly with the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles I say if for this so clear Reason neither Montanus in 170 nor Manichaeus in 255 could be that Paraclet that was to lead into all Truth much lest could Mahomet be he in the year after our Lord 612 seeing neither did Mahomet pretend to any other ground for his Novelties but those words in St. John's Gospel concerning a future Paraclet See Father Simon 's Belief and Customs of the Eastern Nations Chap. 15. When the same Impostor as his Predecessor Manichaeus accuses the Bible of Christians as having many corrupt Additions and other Falsifications he is unanswerably refuted by the same Considerations that were objected before to Manichaeus SIR I have now answered as fully as I think is needful to a Book which you tell me is so much magnified by the Anti-Christian Party about Town They say this Book has so discovered and laid bare the unsound Foundations of Christianity that 't is now to be blown down by the very weakest Breath and that if an Answer any what valuable be made to it the Author will take occasion thereat by new and more and greater Authorities to level all revealed Imposture with the very Ground He can level nothing by such an attempt but his own Reputation nor do I think he approves these impious Boasts of that Party of men It may be questioned whether he had any formed Design to attack Christianity by this Book it seems rather that when his Passions were up against Mr. Blackhal he inadvertedly dropt these Exceptions and Doubts of which some make so bad use or rather strain such malignant Consequences from them To cut out work for Mr. Blackhal with whom he was so much displeased he discharged upon him whatsoever occurred to his Memory from first Antiquity with intent to engage him in laborious difficult and unwelcome Searches However it be it appears he is a Person of great Abilitys and Address in matters of this kind and it were to be wish'd men of very distinguishing Parts and Sufficiency were not made Enemies to the Church or to the Public either by being abused or because they are neglected You shall not awe such Persons by your Menaces or your Severities when even such mean Rogues as House-breakers and Highway-men are not scared by the Gibbet and Gallows The only effect to be expected from neglect of or harshness toward such is that they go at length into the interests of some disaffected Party or erect a new one after which whatsoever becomes of them the Public and the Church are sure to be infinitly more losers than it would have cost to gain and to assure them to the Public But manum de tabulâ for who made me a Counsellor to the Church or the Public You will please Sir to believe that I am with great Tenderness and Respect Your assured Friend STEPHEN NYE Sept. 29. 1699. There is room in this Leaf for two Stanza's by Sir William Davenant Which are pertinent to the Subject that we have been treating 1. In the dark Walk to our last Home design'd 'T is safe by well-instructed Guides to go Lest we in Death too late the Science find Of what in Life 't was possible to know 2. And if they say while daily some renew Disputes your Oracles are doubtful still Like those of Old yet more regard is due To Pains where so uneasy is the skill THE END AN ABSTRACT Of the foregoing DISPUTATION THE Controversy hath been partly concerning the Books of the Canon and partly concerning those of the Catalogue Of the Books of the Canon Amyntor says 1. ALL the Authors of the Canon were wholly strangers to one anothers Writings I have proved on the contrary that Mark