Old Testament to be the very same and no other then those we now receive Nor were these Apocryphal Books ever otherwise reckoned either in the Jewish or Christian Church than as humane and fallible Writings till the late Assembly at Trent were pleased to declare them otherwise These things must needs seem sufficient to any reasonable man to clear up that doubt on the one hand Whether we have not less in our Bibles than we indeed ought to have Because that besides what the Roman Church hath of late done to Canonize these Apochryphal Writings no other addition to the Bible has been at any time attempted that merits the least consideration I proceed to the doubt on the other hand And that is How we may be reasonably secured that our Bibles contains in them no more then they should That is upon what ground we receive some Books in the New Testament The Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St. James the second Epistle of St. Peter the Epistle of Jude the 2 and 3 Epistles of John and the Apocalyps Of all which there has formerly been some doubt made In the solution of which I shall endeavour these two things First To shew what were most probably the first and original grounds of such Doubts And secondly To shew that those doubts then ought to be of no prevalency with us now And that there is at this time no good reason to make the least doubt of any part of the New Testament as we are now in possession of it All the Doubts that have arisen about any parts of the New Testament were most probably these two wayes occasioned First 'T is obvious that the New Testament was writ in several parts at several times and not all composed together The Whole became not publick but by many steps and degrees Had several former and latter Editions That is some parts that were first writ were copyed out by those that had the Originals and con-joyn'd and so dispers'd And other parts still added as they were written and became publick Now 't is easie to conceive that some parts that were after added to such Bibles as first came out might be at first questioned and doubted of by such who had the former Editions and were not fully informed about the after Addition of other parts And so it has fallen out in the publication of most Systemes of Humane Laws that have come out gradually and by parts and not in a full and intire Body at once Secondly 'T is very probable that many Christians that lived in those first Times by reason of their distance from those places where some parts of the New Testament first became publick might be for a considerable time it may be till after the deaths of their Authors without any notice of them And upon that account some doubts about such parts might arise because they â—ad come to their knowledge no sooner especially if any such parts seemed to â—avour or countenance any particular Sect or Opinion as the Epistle to the Hebrews did that of the Novations and the Apoâ—alyps that of the Chiliasts And this is most likely to be the true reason why some of the Epistles and we know 't was about the Epistles that the doubts chiefly were were at any time questioned especially such as were more remotely and uncertainly directed to the scattered Jews as that of St. James that to the Hebrews and that of St. Peter which were no way likely to be so soon or so commonly known to the generality of Christians Nor could they be so easie to come by as those Epistles sent to Rome Corinth and Ephesus and those great and publick Cities from whence the fame of them would soon spread and Copies were upon much easier terms to be had because 't was certainly known where the Originals were Secondly There is no good Reason from any Question that was made heretofore to raise any Doubts now about any Parts of the New-Testament And that for these three Reasons First Because these Books in question were most generally received at first and doubted of only by some and those such who had least information about them And this is very evident Because we find them frequently quoted as Canonical Scripture by many of the most ancient Christian-Writers in those Ages next the Apostles Tertullian except the second Epistle of St. Peter hath in his Works quoted as Canonical Scripture every Book of the New-Testament we now receive And St. Ierome speaking in his Epistle ad Dardanâ—m of the Epistle to the Hebâ—ews and some other of those Books about which we now discourse sayes We receive them not from the Custom of this Time but from the Authority of the most Primitive Writers Secondly They contain nothing in them but what does plainly harmonize with the rest of the Bible and is generally witnessed unto by other Books about which no question hath been at any time made And of this there can be no doubt unless it be concerning the Revelation which yet contains a most Admirable though Mysterious Agreement with the Books of Moses the Prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel and divers other parts of the Bible And to this Book besides that the suitableness of Events thereunto and the notorious fulfilling of many Prophetical passages in it has put its Divine Authority out of all question we have as great a Testimony from Antiquity as can in such a case well be expected Justin Martyr who lived very near the Apostle John himself in his Dialogue with Tryphon cites it as the Writing of St. Iohn and without the least question ascribes it to him Irenaeus who lived some small time after Justin and was the Scholar of Polycarp who was the Scholar of St. Iohn sayes positively 'T was written by St. Iohn the Apostle And that he was well assured thereof from some most probably Polycarp that had seen the Apostle Iohn himself and personally conversed with him Lib. 4. cap. 37. and Lib. 5. And â—ertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion sayes Though Marcion did reject the Apocalyps as none of St. John 's yet sayes he the succession of Bishops tracod to the beginning will establish Him as the certain and undoubted Author of it Thirdly God has in a providential way determined this matter For those that at first questioned those Books when the heat of primitive Persecutions were somewhat abated the Church had free intercourse and communication together and came to be better informed received them All doubts about them are now vanished Luthur and some with him in Germany who were the last that revived any doubts of that kind upon second and more deliberate thoughts recanted their Error All Christians are now at an Agreement about them the Supreamest Establishment that can be of Canonical-Authority even the Roman Church themselves receive the Apocalyps into their Canon although many passages in it seem very particularly directed against them Indeed the heavenly lustre of these Books is
of the Stoicks thought should be burnt to Ashes and then would follow an immediate restoration of all things But these were but wild and â—oveing Guesses in general no certain determination was Mankind able to make about this matter in particular And yet of how great use is the assurance of it to all the ends of Virtue and Religion and how Sovereign a remedy is it against the terror of Death which Aristotle calls the terriblest of all Terrors to be assured upon safe grounds our Bodies shall be raised again and all the Friends we part with here shall in their Souls and Bodies Re-united Exist for ever But waveing the prosecution of these there be two things in themselves of absolute necessity to the being of all Religion and beyond all possibility of a Natural discovery from whence I shall endeavour to demonstrate the necessity of a Revelation in order to the present and future happiness of Mankind First a certain distinct Knowledge how that Evil we find in Mankind came first to Exist whence the Corruption of Humane Nature came In short how there came to be such a thing as Evil and Sin in the World Secondly how Sin and Guilt arising from the Conscience of it may be removed and Men brought to a Reconciliation with God! and an inward Acquescency about it For the first That there is such a thing as Evil and Sin in Men and Guilt resulting from it needs no proof every mans own Reason determines the Case and the whole transaction of the World is too sad an Evidence of We find in the Prayers of all Nations a Confession of Sin And no worship but some way or other tending to the removal of it which is a publick protest in the Case entered by the whole World against themselves 'T is visible our Inferiour faculties do combate our Superiour and our Wills over Rule us to that which our own Reasons determine against Aristotle in the end of the last Chapter of his first Book of Ethicks confesseth There is somewhat in our Nature that opposeth right Reason Whatever directions the Philesophers and Moralists gave to Conquer our Passions and subdue our Sensual Appetites and to conduct us to Virtue they are all grounded upon this supposal Hierocles a Stoical Philosopher in his Discourse upon the Golden sayings of Pythagoras speaks fully and excellently to this point His words are these Man sayes he is of his own motion inclined to follow the Evil and leave the Good There is a certain strife bred in his affections He hath a free Will which he abuseth bindang himself wholly to encounter the Laws of God And this Freedom it self is nothing else but a Willingness to admit that which is not good rather then otherwise That a certain Knowledge of the Origine of this we call Evil and a clear discovery of the first rise and Cause of it is of absolute necessity to the Being of all Religion and that a Man cannot be Religious as he ought without it is easily proved and will be sufficiently so by a due consideration of these four things First how can we acknowledge Gods Justice in Punishing Mankind and without repining submit to it as we ought unless we know whence this Evil first came what Author it had and how and upon what terms man comes to be guilty of that for which he is punished Secondly how can we be as we ought to be sensible of Gods general or particular favours and adore his goodness in preserving us and providing for us unless we be rightly informed of our own demerits and rebellion again him and that Mankind have deserved a total ruine and subversion which we can never be unless we know the first entrance of evil and the original Cause of it Thirdly how can we properly address our selves to God to repair our ruines unless we perfectly know how the first breach came to be made Lastly how is it possible upon reasonable Grounds to restrain Mankind from Impeaching the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God in making and Governing the world unless we know the first rise and primary Cause of all the disorder we see which is not to be known till we come to the Spring-head of evil and sin With what Impatience did Men use to reproch God and Nature about it as if there were a kind of Malevolens and ill will in the Deity to the happiness of Men One sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor indeed can we well blame the disorder of mens minds that contemplate the present posture of the World and are able to give no satisfying account to themselves how things came at first so to be And that a certain account of evil in its original is impossible to be had without revelation will appear very evident How should any man ever come to discover whence that internal conflict first arose between the Will and the Judgment How a man came to be first so divided against himself one condemning the other No man naturally knows any thing of its Causality nor more of it then that it is so How should any man ever find out from whence or by what means those unrnly lusts and passions those evil and crooked inclinations that naturally infest the minds of men and are a part of themselves that create a guilt in mens own Breasts and prove so ruinous to others came first to exist What footsteps are there in Nature to conduct us to the first cause of these things and the miseries that attend them something indeed we may say Negatively of the Origine of evil but we cannot affirm possitively the least thing about it VVe can much less tell how Mankind came to be wicked then we can tell how they came first to be and yet 't is impossible to know that but by revelation 'T is easie to derive the beings of men in general from some Supreme maker though we can never find out the time when nor the manner how they came first to be made but we can no way at all imagine from whence to derive the evil of their beings or upon what to father the Corruption of humane Nature nor what Date to give it From a Being infinitely perfect and good evil it self could not originally come that is Men could not at the first be made so That we may safely say in the Negative to assert mans Apostacy however any part of the world may dream otherwise 't is demonstrable that man is some way or other degenerated from his Primitive state from the clear evidence of which if we duly consider it results the absolute necessity of a revelation 'T is impossible evil it self should be Con-created with him and be originally appurtenant to him as part of him And 't is thus demonstrable if man had been at the first made as now he is naturally inclined to evil and
the greatest ruine to mankind deluding them with false informations about their chiefest concerns should be able to produce in their justification the most eminent Miracles and all the greatst Evidences that rationally can be expected to ascertain the World in the publication of the highest supernatural Truths In a word who can beleive a Book so circumstanced as we find the Bible to be should be composed by the worst Instruments and with the worst of designs No such thing can ever be credited while we suppose there is a God ruling above and men live in the exercise of Reason below 'T were most absurd to suppose that any Book falsely pretending to Gods Name and Authority designing his dishonour and mans destruction should be capable of such a proof as has been brought in defence of the Bible And yet so must the Tables be turn'd the whole proof must so be inverted of all that hath been said a contrary application must of necessity be made if this Book comes not from God and be not in truth what it self openly claims to be The Divine Authority of this Book we call the Bible being thus upon the forementioned grounds established I come in the last place to a Consideration of such Doubts and Objections as are usually made about it All the Material Difficulties that can be proposed will be reduceable to these four Questions I. First How could men come to be assured in those times wherein the several parts of the Bible were first writen that they were written by an Infallible Spirit and upon sure grounds distinguish them from all other Writings II. Secondly How come we certainly to know the true Compass and Extent of Holy Writ How can we know that we have now contained in our Bibles all that was writen by a Divine Inspiration and intended as a standing Rule to the Church and no more That is How can we be now safely assured about the Canon of the Scripture And be able upon good grounds to say What is Canonical and what is Not III. Thirdly How can we that have not the Originals of the Scripture not the Autographa's of those that wrote it but onely the Copies of them and most but the Translations of those Copies rest assured we have God's Mind as it was first delivered IV. Fourthly How can we believe this Book say some to be from God when we find contained in it divers Contradictions several strange and incredible Stories and other things greatly lyable to exception In answering the first Question This ought to be previously considered That there were Advantages peculiar to the belief of those who first received the Bible or any parts of it and lived in those Times wherein it was first delivered that we have not And we have likewise some Advantages and those very considerable to our belief which they had not They conversed with the Pen-Men themselves the Names of many of whom are to us wholly unknown the Holy Ghost not judging it necessary to record them foreseeing the Scriptures would descend to us upon other sufficient Evidence They were able to judge of their personal Integrity and the account they gave of their Divine Commission were Eye-witnesses of the Miracles saw the Original Writings And in the Apostles times many knew some of their Hands These we have not but we see the progress and success of this Book which they saw not We see this Book translated into all Languages whole Nations converted by it The Gospel spread all the World over and the fulfilling of many Predictions since which they could not then be Witnesses of With many other great Effects of it We see the Whole conjoyn'd and the excellent Harmony of it and the relation each part has to compleat the Design of the Whole Are in divers respects upon different terms of judging now upon the Whole from what men were in judging at first upon any particular parts But to come to a direct Answer to this Question There could be but two wayes to ascertain men in their reception of any part of the Bible when it first became publick First By some outward visible Justification of the Persons imployed in that Service to assure us that they were sent and commissionated from God Or secondly From the Matter and the Nature of such Writings themselves And herein a due consideration of those Times and Seasons in which the several parts of the Bible were written and the then present state of things and the order of writing it will much inform us Moses who layed the first and great Foundation of the whole Fabrick in the five Books that he wrote He had a justification Personal beyond all question His Commission and Authority to do what he did was sufficiently evident to all that conversed with him There was all that could be expected to assure those that then lived that God had imployed him For God admitted him openly to a personal converse with himself We read in the nineteenth of Exodus that the Lord said unto Moses Loe I come to thee in a thick Cloud that the People may bear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever c. He impowered him upon many occasions to work the greatest Miracles that since the World had a being had ever been wrought and openly to shame and out-doe all his Opposers and all Pretenders that way And whensoever there was a doubt made about this Divine Authority or any contest with him upon that account as in the case of Korah and at other times God plainly and openly from Heaven in the sight of all the People decided the Matter to assure them and all Generations to come that Moses was no Impostor but acted by a Divine Commission in what he then did And indeed It being the first time that God revealed himself to the World in a written way and published those Laws which were to be a Standard to all that succeeded and the great Corner-stone of all that Revelation that he would at any time after make to Man-kind 't was but necessary it should be fixed and established upon certain and unquestionable grounds So that such who lived in Moses his time could have no good reason at all to doubt in the least of his sincerity for all was done that could be done to put that matter out of question And God visibly shewed himself as we find in the four and twentieth of Exodus and his own glory amongst them For 't is said They saw the Lord God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphire-stone and as it were the Body of Heaven in its clearness Nor could there be any doubt raised Whether the Laws and Precepts of Moses were rightly recorded and as he intended they should For before his Death he himself by God's special command in a publick Assembly delivered over his Five Books to the Levites to be layed up in the sides of the Ark. After Moses his time