in such a Succession Established upon the Authority of this Book ought ever to be admitted without very positive Proof Especially when we have such apparent Reasons to believe the contrary By Whom is it I ask that the Bible could be corrupted It must have been either by Jews Pagans or Hereticks 'T is plain the Jews have not done it for we find multitudes of Texts that give in a daily witness against them which doubtless had they attempted the Bible in such a way they would never have suffered so to remain upon Record against them No part of the Pagan World can be reasonably thought to have done it for the Scriptures contain such an eminent Revelation of the One true God and his Worship as puts an end to all Heathenish vanities and at once dispatches all False gods out of the world Nor have Hereticks done it for 't is this Sword of the Spirit the Written Word of God that upon all occasions mortally wounds them the Scriptures have slain their thousands and their ten thousands in this kind 'T is the purity of the Scriptures in asserting the Orthodox Truths of Religion that has in all Ages kept up the Christian Verity and still brought all sorts of Hereticks to an open shame It has been the Wresting or Perverting not the Corrupting of Scripture from whence all Heresies have chiefly arisen and the native and genuine Sense of the Bible has still proved their Ruine Nor is there upon the whole of this matter any tolerable Reason to Doubt but that as God was pleased by his special Providence to Secure the Old Testament which we are sure he did and preserve it intire till the time of our Saviour so by the same Providence he has secured the Old and the New since and delivered them over to the Church in these latter Ages without any considerable variation from what they were when they were first written And this ought to be duely considered as an eminent help towards a rational Satisfaction in this point That the very same Objections which some men now please themselves with against the New Testament the Old Testament was equally lyable to in the times of our Saviour and the Apostles For after Esdras's time the Old Testament came into no Infallible bands till the times of the Gospel was conveyed by fallible means through many Ages down to those times had the same possibilities of Alteration then that the New Testament has now Various Lections also in the Hebrew copies were then extant And yet for all this the Scriptures of the Old Testament were then pure and intire Nor does our Saviour or the Apostoles mention the least defect that was then in them Nor was there in those eminent times of Reformation the least Question or doubt ever raised upon any such account One grand Objection is usually made upon the whole of this matter and 't is thus framed All these Arguments brought either to prove the Bible in general or to answer such particolar doubts as arise about it are built say some upon no better foundation then Huâ—anâ— and in themselves fallible grounds And if so we still embrace our Religion but upon uncertain terms can never from chance arrive at any positive and absolute assurance nor come to such a Divine and Infallible faith as we ought to have in this case In answering to this Objection this must be acknowledged that although the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were at first Penned by the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost yet the manner of their Conveyance to future Ages has been by Humane and in themselves fallible means The Grounds and Reasons of which disposal of God though we cannot pretend fully to reach yet we are thus far informed First the Scriptures could not have been by means in themselves absolutely infallible handed down to all Places and Ages without the visible continuance and constant exertion of such a supernatural and extraordinary Power as would have wholly inverted that course we find God most generally takes in his Rule and dispose of the World Secondly it would have prevented all that case and industry God intended to exercise his Church withall to their great advantage in the exact preservation of these sacred Records Thirdly there had been no room for a belief of not occasion for a dependance upon that Wisdom and Power God has expressed and wherein he has greatly honoured himself in an over-ruling disposal of ordinary means to such extraordinary Ends who has providentially secured this Book through all the several Channels of Humane conveyance This Objection is much urged First by those of the Roman Church on the one hand to convince us of the great uncertainty of our own profession and the stability of theirs And Secondly by men of Sceptical Principles on the other hand either to fright or perswade us or both out of all Religion by telling us There is no positive or absolute certainty in the grounds of any How serviceable this Objection though it has filled the World with great noise and clamour as it has been pressed both ways will prove to either of these designs and indeed with how great absurdity t is managed in order to both will be soon made to appear All belief of things Divine in an ordinary way I speak not of such Divine illumination as God may particularly vouchsafe to any â—ust of necessity be ultimately resolved into that we call Rational and Moral assurance for when we speak most properly of Divine faith we mean such a faith as is built upon a Divine Testimony not denominating it from the Object of it nor from the Effect of it which is less proper but from the Foundation and Ground of it Now Divine faith in that best and truest sense of it will be reduced into no more then a Moral a ssurance at last for if I say my faith is Divine because built upon a Divine Testimony 't is in some sense true But if I am asked by what means I came to know that Testimony to be Divine That question must needs bring me back to a Moral assurance as the ground of all my previous belief about that Divine Testimony it self that it really is so Whatsoever Revelation God makes of his mind to me I must needs without Divine assistance receive it upon Humane and in themselves fallible terms and so judge of it as I judg of all other things No man can receive my Revelation from God with a faith a Divine and infallible as the Revelation is in it self unless there be an equal inspiration in both cases and God make men as infallible in Judging of Revelation when proposed as he made the Instruments of it in the Act of its Conveyance The plain Question in this Case is how I come to receive all other things into my belief that are Objects of belief It must be confessed upon the grounds of Rational credibility and Moral assurance and therefore upon the
whether the Daemons that first caused them were not Mortal and Perishable Or whether they removed not their Places and changed their abode and many things of that Nature At last concludes with this excellent Philosophy That the true Cause of those Oracles was that the Earth in some places was enduâ—d with certain Prophetick Virtues which came by Exhalations to be mingled with and insinuated into Souls fitted to receive those inspirations and so cause in them Enthusiasms and predictions of future things And at last that Virtue in the Subterranean Caverns is spent and evaporates and so the Oracular Spirit ceaseth What ground had the Heathen for all that Religion they took from their Poets but their own Words that they were Inspired What other Evidence had the Romans at first for their Religion but that Numa Pompilius told them hâ— conversed with a Goddess and received it from Her What have the Turks to this day to assure them that Mahomet was a Prophet 〈◊〉 and conversed with God and the Anâ—◠〈…〉 besides his own bare â—ord He 〈…〉 claimed working of mâ—â—acles anâ— aâ—â—â—â— hâ—mself sent from Heâ—â—â—â— to conveâ—â—◠〈…〉 with his Sword A Reâ—â—â—â—tion from 〈…〉 to be accompanied and â—â—nnot 〈…〉 to be otherwâ—â—eâ— with such plan and 〈◊〉 evidence as is â—â—ed to all reasonable satisfaction though 〈◊〉 pâ—evail nâ—t to a universal câ—â—viction such as will abundantly jusâ—â—fie it 〈◊〉 to the strictest â—crutiny or all wise and good men however it be judged or by perverse and corrupt men The Biâ—le is not only sâ—â—h for the matter out as that we make appeal to the most genuine issues of every â—â—ns Reason whether the Justice Helmess and Gâ—oâ—â—s of God be not very transparent in it but in its gradual Conveyance to the World at â—â—veâ—â—al times and in dâ—stant Ages and places has been visibly accompanied with open and apparent Evidences of Gods Infinite and Almighty power such and in such a manner visible as no one thing in the world besides it self can make a pretence to And such as the fact of them its worst Enemies not a Celsus nor a Julian did ever assume impudence enough to deny And indeed is eminently and singularly justified to us as in particulars shall be shewed hereafter by a concurrence of all those Evidences from whence a rational satisfaction about a Law Supernatural and Divine ought finally to result Fifthly A Revelation from God my Reason will tell me must be without any visible defect 'T is unreasonable to father that upon God which we our selves upon good grounds are able to charge with failing and Imperfection Whatever claims from Him and speaks to us in his Name must have nothing in it unlike him or unworthy of him A pretence to Revelation must be above any just and reasonable Exception or it naturally becomes its own Executioner If in the judgment of right Reâ—son it be found guilty of Corruption in Doctrine or of any falshood in matter of fact t is but equal to reject it as a Spurious and fictitious Delusion And therefore 't was rightly said of St. Austin to St. Jerome Si mendacium aliquod in Scripturis vel levissimum admittatur Scripturâ—â— Authoritatem omnem moâ— labefactari ac convelli If we admit the least falshhod in any part of the Bible we ruine the Authority of the whole All the Counterfeits of Revelation have upon this account visibly betrayed themselves and revealed to us their own original No one but the Bible can the world produce that will not some way or other disclose its own shame and that falls not under some nay many just and reasonable exceptions 'T is this Book alone in which there is not a flaw to be found 'T is only this Divine Law that is Perfect The Bible consists of three parts the Doctrinal the Historical and the Prophetical Let the most accute Anti scripturist living produce any one Doctrine out of the Bible that to the judgment of right Reason seems corrupt and unsound Let him shew any one Prophesie relating to things past not duly fulfilled Let him upon good and sufficient Historical Authority palpably disprove any one matter of fact in the History of the Bible and wee I yield him the cause And if this be not to be done as in fact it never has been and we are well assured never can be If a Book containing so much variety of History far beyond any other Book extant for so many thousands of years It a Book pronouncing with that positive certainty about such a multitude of future events in so many several Ages and relating to so many several persons and places containing in the Doctrinal part of it Directions and Rules for the whoâ—â— business of â—ens Duty â—o God and toward each other Iâ— this Book have not a â—â—â—un to be sound in it If it be proof against all exception If there be nothing but Truth in it in all these respects what more invinâ—â—ble Evidence can there be given to its Divinity Who but God himself could have indited in hâ—a â—ock 〈◊〉 who but a man wilfull and absurd can withstand such a Conviction 'T is the Bâ—â—le and 't is that Book alone upon every Page of which that Image and Superscriptiâ—n of God is engâ—aven Truâ— it self 'T is a â—oâ—◠〈◊〉 in its â—niverâ—â—â— Triumph over all 〈◊〉 Where is 〈◊〉 a Book to be â—ound 〈◊〉 of any considerable subject much 〈…〉 a â—auâ—â—â—â— this â—â—â—t câ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 â—â—â—â—tonâ—â— Judgment of Mankind 〈…〉 worst enemy to find 〈…〉 pâ—oâ—ucts are brought forth in 〈…〉 failing and Impeâ—â—ect Nâ—â—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 the wisest or mâ—n 〈…〉 bound Of this we are experimeâ—â—â—â—ly â—â—â—â—ed by all History Philosophy and all 〈…〉 This Holy 〈…〉 legitimate Off spring of God and thâ—t which only contains his mind Authoritaâ—â—vely revealed and made known to the world so it has singly appurtenant to it all those requisites necessary to a Divine Revelation And without which no such thing can rationally be supposed These things being so He that rejects the Bible will find he is unâ—voidably obâ—â—â—ed either to deny that there is any Revelation aâ— all and consequently to give some good answer to what has been urged for the reasonable supposal of it and some tolleâ—â—â—â—â— account hâ—w Mankind when we consider Gods goodness and our own necessities can be suppoâ—â—d to be left without it or else to proâ—â—â—ce somewhat that with more Justâ—â—â— and better Evidence can put in a claim to it is Mâ—â—â—l more becoming the greatness and goâ—dness of God and more suitable and use â—l to men The first I dare say will be found a task utterly impracticable if unprejudiced reason may be Judg and with what success the latter iâ— like 〈◊〉 pâ—â—ceed and how visibly absurd 't will renâ—eâ— its undertaker will soon be determined by every sober mind when it plaâ—nly appâ—â—â—s by what has been said that so many things which my Reason tells me must all necessarily accompany a Divine Revelation and without which it
they foretold things that came not to pass they were no way to credit them So we find it in the eighteenth of Deuteronomy When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him The certain predicting of future events was an unquestionable evidence of a Divine Commission And this way many of the Prophets were justifyed in those Ages wherein they lived As particularly the Prophet Hosea who with the Prophet Amos was sent to the Ten Tribes at the same time that Isaiah and Micah were to Judah And in the sixth year of Hezekiah to which time it appears Hosea himself survived his Prophesie long before against the Ten Tribes was actually fulfilled and the destruction he prophesied of came actually and visibly upon the Ten Tribes at that time by the Hand of the King of Assyâ—â—a And others of them had the like Justification though sometimes it fell out to be later and the events of their Prophesies could not be known till after-ages Nor did any one Pen-Man of the Scriptures or any Prophet of God ever mistake in a tittle in this kind For although sometimes the judgements they prophetically threatned were not actually inflicted at those times they were threatned so to be yet that could not be the least derogation from the truth of their Prophesies because God still reserved a supream and sovereign power of Pardon and Forgiveness to himself in such cases And all such prophetical Threatnings were still denounced with a reserve in case of repentance And God himself to justifie his own Prophets did publickly declare thus much At what Instant I shall speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to plâ—ck up and to pull down and destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from the evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them c. But the total and final decision of all Questions that could arise among the Jews touching the several parts of the Old Testament God was pleased to make in the times of Ezra and that famous Synagogue That after so long and sad a captivity assembled to reform what was amiss and to revive the glory of that decayed Church and State which God had promised to restore and continue amongst those two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin until the Messiah should come several of the last Prophets being personally present They by a divine direction collected all the Parts of the Old Testament together some of which as the Prophesies of Jeremiah and Amos and other Prophesies sent from God and which came by Divine Inspiration were wholly rejected by the corrupt ruling part of the Judaical Church in those times wherein they were first uttered made a perfect separation not only between the Works of True Prophets and False and such Writings as came by Divine Inspiration and such as were only of Humane Extraction but between such as were to be of a perpetual continuance and a standing Rule to the Church and such as related onely to particular Cases and were not so They by God's direction punctually setled the Canon of the Old Testament put a perfect period to all Doubts in those times about this whole business and in that settlement of the Scripture then made the Jewish Church fully acquiesced and to it firmly adhered till the times of Christ and the Apostles From whose Divine Authority we have aâ— re-establishment of all that was then done For the New Testament as God was pleased to establish the first Foundation of all Written Revelation in Moses his time upon evidence from Heaven beyond all compass of Question so the compleating and finishing what God intended that way the laying the Top-stone of that Fabrick which was done in the writing of the New Testament was accompanyed with such manifest Effects of a Divine and Almighty Power that no man that lived in those times could make any reasonable doubt about it There were in this case the greatest Miracles to confirm the most excellent Doctrine and 't is not possible to be upon surer grounds in point of Revelation The Miracles were then apparent and visible And the excellency of the Doctrine appeared these two wayes First That in it self simply considered it introduced a Religion wherein all the great and desireable ends both of God and Man in the judgment of all unprejudiced Reason were to the utmost attained and wherein all that the World had in that kind at any time before arrived at was far out-done and exceeded And secondly In a relative way in that it evidently appeared and that in a very singular and extraordinary manner to be the great accomplishment of all that God had before promised and foretold The natural Off-spring of the Old Testament and that which the Scriptures before written throughout travelled withal Indeed the Genuine Issue of all former Revelation and so was incireled with all that Divine Justification that any former Revelation had been at any time accompanied with And in the distinct publication of all the particular Parts of the New Testament men had these two grounds of satisfaction in those times First If we admit that Epistle to the Hebrews to come either from St. Paul or some other Apostolical Hand of the latter of which the Epistle it self sufficiently assures us And for the former there seems to be good evidence from some passages in St. Peter And no man can be so reasonably supposed to write a Determination of that grand Question then on foot about the abolition of the whole Judaical Policy as the great Apostle of the Gentiles I say If we admit this Epistle to come from an Apostolical Hand Every Part of it was then written by Apostles and Evangelists men not onely perfectly knowing in all the Transactions of our Saviour but every one of them then known to be men of extraordinary Endowments in Office under Him and with the highest Delegation of his own Power entrusted by Him And as the Writing of the Old Testament ended with the Prophets so the writing of the New had its period in the Apostles Secondly All the several Parts at several times and by several hands written appear so to promote one and the same Design are so much the same in Doctrine do so harmonize in the same Tendency and End and have such a relation each to other that whatever Reasons there were in the general to satisfie men in those times about the Truth of our Saviour and the Religion by him established and there was all that could be expected from Heaven in that case the same would go very far to resolve all such Doubts as could be made about any particular Parts of the New Testament then written Secondly How can we now come certainly to know the true Compass and Extent of Holy Writ How can we know
ERRATA'S PAge 8. Line 1. dele â— p. 13. l. 14. for their r. the. p. 20. l. 10. for his r. it s p. 22. l. 26. for or r. and p. 47. l. 18. for product r. conduct p. 47. l. 27 in the beginning add the word when p. 56. l. 2. for whole r. upheld p 66. l. 14. dele Common Sentiment p. 144. l. 14. in the beginning add the World p. 170 l. 11. for when r. where p. 174 l. 11. after expectancy add off p. 189. l. 19. for may r. many p. 205. l. 10. after thirty add years p. 206. l. 1â— for Elizean r Elisiniaâ— p 207. l. 12. for mend sius r. men disius p. 224. l. 16. for affords r. afforded p. 258. l. 12. for words r word p. 259. l. 6. r. an after in p. 390. l. 24. for saniores r. seniores p. 419. l. 26. for a r aâ— p. 494. l. 21. for providential r. prudential p. 407. It 6. for by r. be S. ScrÃpturam Divinitùs esse revelatam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exploratò firmat iste Elenchus Prodeat è Typographiâ Humph. London THE REASONABLENES OF Scripture-Beleif A DISCOURSE Giving some account of those RATIONAL GROUNDS upon which the BIBLE is received as the WORD of GOD. Written by Sir CHARLES WOLSELEY Bar t. LONDON Printed by T.R. N.T. for Nathaniel Ponder at the Peacock in Chancery lane near Fleet-street 1672. To the Earl of ANGLESEY My Lord BEsides the common enemies to all these Paperadventures Those who suppose they can do much better and such who are not pleased they have not done so well from a twofold sort of Men I expect a severe reflection upon this undertaking chiefly from those who make it their business to reject all Religion in gross as a thing no where Existing but in the Minds of sequacious and fearful Men and deride all attempts made towards its rational justification And also from them who suppose things of this nature priviledged from all dispute or debate things not to be proved but admitted that all endeavours of this kind are but an open arraignment of such Fundamentals as ought not to be question'd a disservice done to the cause of Religion thereby and at best in themselves but useless and impertinent The following discourse My Lord as it is in its nature no way condited to the gust of any such men on either hand so I must needs acknowledge my self to be best pleased with whatever is least so The first are an absurd Generation that by an empty prophane sort of discourse which themselves call Wit would fain Hector us out of the wisest and best part of the world make that the scorn of this Age which hath been the most valu'd and most reverene'd in all others And whenever reduced to any sober and rational contest have no other relief from the shame of their own folly then what they find in those naked shelters of ignorance and confidence Irreligion 't is true in its practice hath been still the companion of every Age but its open and publick defence seems the peculiar of this 'T is but of late that men come to defend ill living and secure themselves against their own guilt by an open defyance to all the great maxims of Piety and Virtue 'T is but of late the world hath been told That the notion of a Spirit implies a contradiction That the Bible is no where in force as a Law Divine but where by Laws civil and municipal 't is made so to be That Religion is nothing else but a fear of invisible powers feign'd in the Mind and fancyed from tales publickly allowed These and most of the bad Principles of this Age are of no earlier a date then one very ill Book are indeed but the spawn of the Leviathan The other are a sort of easie and credulous men that derive their Religion no higher then Education Custom have taken up their greatest concerns upon trust and whensoever encounter'd but by any small artificer in the Scepticks are sure to be sufficiently baffled Themselves and Religion exposed to the utmost contempt And upon all such attack's they either go off wounded with a secret dislike of their own Profession or oblige themselves to a stubborn and bruitish sort of drudgery to believe that for which they find they are able to give no good reason Would such dull men once be at leisure from doing nothing would they once be persuaded to make but a salley into the exercise of their own Reason 't were no hard task to convince them that nothing proves more fatal to the publick good of Religion then this stupid sort of credulity 'T is from hence and from that weak impotent defense of the most eminent Truths that results naturally from it that Mens prophane Triumphs have been chiefly erected 'T is from hence that we hear of so many so easily and so often seduced And 't is those Ages when Men fell off and retir'd from the rational proof of Religion and sunk into implicite Belief and ignorant Devotion from whence we may date most of the great ills of Idolatry and Superstition and from whence all those devout fooleries which have since so cumber'd the world had their chiefest and first rise As the whole of Religion is declared to be a reasonable Service and can be no other so all the Principles of it in order to it s so being must upon rational grounds necessarily be establish'd what ever Belief is built upon the credit of any Revelation ought to be ultimately resolved into a rational proof of that Revelation as such and what ever appears to us upon those terms so to be whatever can be sufficiently proved to be revealed to us from God from the Soveraign Power of its Author puts in but a reasonable claim to our assent though the matter of it in some things exceed the bounds of a humane capacity And herein it is the Socinians who had they confin'd themselves to a rational proof that all we believe is revealed had been of very good use to the Church have greatly miscarryed and when they would need subject all the mattâ—r of Revelation to a rational comprehension fell much short of that credâ—t ought to be given to all that God reveals fell foul upon those two Fundamentals of our Religion the Union of the two Natures and that of the Trinity and indeed have come much short of that Reverence all Nations have paid to their Gods who by all their Mysteries still have professed to believe some things upon the score of Divine Credit which by their own Reason they could not fully comprehend Were not the loose Principles My Lord of this degenerate Age about the most Essential parts of Religion somewhat more than a sufficient Apology for whatever is done this way yet me thinks we can never inculcate too much even unto the best men upon this Subject and that upon these two Grounds First because 't is from this Book we derive
to men of one perswasion Whenever men in order to the founding of any Science lay down positions and Principles upon which they proceed if such Principles be beyond the first and common rudiments of every mans Reason though in themselves never so true yet they ought to be subject to debate and admitted questionable in all Reasonings about that very Science Not to admit some universal Maxims is the way to make Mankind certain of nothing and to admit any particular mens Opinions as indisputable Principles is the way to inslave the World to every party The Scriptures are the first Principles of Christians but not of Men. The first of Christian Religion but not of all Science And therefore we ought to begin their Proof against all Antiscriptural opposition from the common Notions of every mans Religion and Reason and from thence induce an assent to their Divine and Sacred Authority which we shall find God has made sufficiently evident to a rational and impartial inquiry Secondly The Testimony given by the Holy Ghost in the Minds and Consciences of Men to the Truth of the Scriptures though it be the most convincing Evidence that can be given to them and that way God is pleased to reserve to himself of giving men an unquestionable satisfaction about that and all other Divine things yet 't is not to be urged in proof of the Scriptures against its professed Adversaries And that upon two accounts First Because the blessed Spirit it self is not a common demonstrable Principle amongst Mankind and so cannot be made use of against those that know no such Testimony nor admit the being of any such Principle Nothing but what a man does assent to can with any good Reason be urged upon him to prove what he does not assent to To go about to prove the Scriptures by any Evidence arising from the Holy Ghost must needs be visibly absurd because there is no other way to prove that there is any such thing in Being as the Holy Ghost but by the Scriptures themselves So that what I am about to prove must first be admitted before I can make good the existence of that Medium I take to prove it by Secondly Whatever Evidence the Holy Ghost gives to any man to assure him of the Truth of any proposition that Evidence as such can never go beyond his own Breast nor can I ever prove any thing by it as it is a Divine and infallible Evidence because such Evidence is no way Communicable to another but in an ordinary way Nothing is visible to another in such cases but the Reasons I can produce The Divine illumination I have within my self to convince me that such Reasons are Cogent and prevailing can never be so demonstrated as to convince another that has no such illumination The illuminations of the Holy Ghost in the Minds of Men are no other way to be conceived of then that he is pleased to propose the right Grounds and Reasons upon which things are to be believed and to convince and satisfie the understanding that they are so and to bring men to acquiesce in Conclusions by assertaining them of the Truth of the Premises 'T were Heterodox and false and one of the worst sorts of Enthusiasme to say That Divine illumination were not always accompanied with rational Evidence And that any thing were the product of the Holy Ghost in the Minds of Men for which no Reason could be given 't were most unsuitable to a reasonable being and most contrary to the manner of Gods dealing with Men all the intercourse between God and Man being maintained by the truest exercise of our rational faculties and no otherwise Whoever rests assured from a Divine Testimony of the Truth of the Scriptures as coming from God may deal with an Antiscripturist by those Grounds and Reasons upon which such Testimony is built But will vainly and to no purpose urge that satisfaction he receives of the validity of such Grounds and Reasons from such a Testimony when that Testimony can be no further made Evident then by such Reasons and Arguments as he is able to produce for it of the sufficiency of which every other Mans Reason in an ordinary way must necessarily be the Judge To this present undertaking there ought also to be this praeliminary Consideration that as there are divers Things of divers Natures true so there are various ways of rendring the Truth of them Evident and Mediums of proof proper and peculiar to each This is visible in Aethicks in Physicks in Mathematicks and in all other Sciences When we discourse of the Bible divers things will come in question the Truth of which by various Mediums of proof must be established First in the general whether it be reasonable to believe that there should be any such Supernatural Law as this sent from Heaven or no! This is to be cleared from the exercise of our own Reason and the common principles of such natural Religion as every man is born with Secondly whether this Book as 't is now proposed to us be in the Matter of it such as is likely to come from God and to be that Law by which the Supreme Maker of all things would Rule and Judge the World This must also be cleared from that Natural Divinity that lodges in every Man 's own Breast and those primary Notions of God and Religion which all unprejudiced Reason assents to and which are antecedently supposed to all discourses of Revelation and whatever is Supernatural Thirdly whether this Book was written by those Persons whose Names it bears and in those Times wherein it avows it self to be written Whether such Miracles were wrought such Praedictions fulfilled All things of that Nature being matters of fact must be proved to us by credible Testimonies and by such means as can ascertain us about a matter of fact and a thing long since past He that demands to be satisfied about a matter of fact long since past and yet denies to acquiesce in Historical Evidence is so absurd as at the same time to propose a Doubt and resolves against all way of Answer Fourthly whether this Book as now we have it be the same it was when it was first written and have not been since corrupted or changed The proof of this depends upon what may be rationally urged to make it credible That this Book should still be secured by a Divine care and to render the ways and means Historically Evident by which such a Divine care in all Times and Ages hath been exerted And so in all other things that may be in doubt about the Bible there are proper inducements to our belief as will appear hereafter and such as the Nature of such a subject requires And he that will not acquiesce in a belief of things upon the Evidence they are capable of though perhaps not so full and convincing as some other things will afford declares himself to be obstinately willful and absurd Nothing
whilst they contemplated these things about which upon any good grounds to be ascertained is without Revelation utterly impossible nor can we whilst Ignorant of the Origine of Evil ever find out the true Reason and primary Cause of all those Sorrows and Miseries we find the World possessed of 'T is true the Heathen were deeply sensible of the ruinous and sad Condition of Humane Nature and the troublesome revolutions of the World some to so great a degree that they thought as Euripides did that we ought to weep at the Birth of our Children and to laugh our Patents to their Graves and 't was usual with them to fancy Death as a Present sent from the Gods to the best men for their best Actions So they fancied Death sent to Cleobis and Biton for their Piety to Juno To Agamedes and Tryphonius for building the Temple at Delphos But they knew nothing how the World came into this posture we find it either it must be a necessary consequent of Nature or else the World is under some great punishment imposed by the Supreme Judge of it If all we see be necessary consequents from Nature we must needs think Nature it self to be some very Imperfect and Ill Composure We must needs imagine it a wretched constitution at first that carry'd in its bowels so many dismal misfortunes Who can suppose God should from the beginning frame this World in the posture we find it and erect the course of Nature with all those forrows we see necessarily attending it We can never reasonably believe things so wrought off their makers hands at first as that the necessary and natural consequence of them should be their present posture And if we suppose as well we may all the sad and sorrowful accidents and troublesome vicisitudes of humane life to come from a Judgment since imposed from above for some Treason of which the World has been attainted and some grand piece of Rebellion against the great Sovereign how short a Stage will Nature conduct us in our searches after those things Who can inform us of the first Authors of such a fatal Treason the Time and Occasion of its Commission What the Sentence was God pronounced when he inflicted these Judgments How far it Extended VVhether all the other parts of the world be punished for Mans Transgression Or how it came first to pass that they are as we find them VVhether God will pursue the Execution into the other world Or whether any Bounds be set to its duration here and the world shall ever survive and out-last it and return at length to be in so much a better Condition as we may reasonably conjecture at first it was These and many other necessary Questions may be asked but can ever be resolved without Revelation And as Mankind have been still reproched by their own Ignorance about this matter being never able to make the least probable guess at the Origine of evil nor to ascend by the Streams to the Fountain the Spring-head of natural corruption being as much concealed from the most inquiring men and as much unknown to the wisest parts of the World as the Fountains of Nile were to the ancient â—eographers so in the second place men can never without supernatural help upon good Grounds be assured how to remove that guilt ingendered by it the burden of which they continually groan under as the heaviest and sorest of all humane pressures that is no man should he study over all the Volumes of Nature unless it be told him from Heaven can certainly know upon what terms God will proceed in pardoning and punishing the sins of the World should a man imagine that God would take no other vengeance upon mens disobedience then those temporal judgments he has laid upon them and the World they dwell in Should a man imagine that God has satisfyed his Justice in Condemning man to Death and Sentencing of him to the Grave and exposing him to those Sorrows that attend him thither and means to go no further These thoughts will not obliterate mens Guilt nor will such guesses at the Penalty at all appease the minds of Men when they do Ill. Will God have the first-born of mens bodies or the best of their Substance or what parts of the World to satisfie for their disobtdience If we should ransack all the particulars that Humane invention can reach in this kind we could never be fully assured that the Expiation of mens Sin lay in any or in 〈◊〉 of them The great concern of the World and that which Mankind above all other thingâ— naturally press after is a certain Knowledge upon what terms they may be accepted with God! the sense of their own Apostacy and the Conscience of Divine Justice necessitate it so to be and with such a Knowledge no natural abilities can supply us That God is Just my Reason will tell me and that he is Merciful my own Breast will assure me But how he will proceed to deal with men so as to reconcile both these Attributes how far the one shall be Predominant over the other or whether they must be in equal Conjunction and both concur and how that can be done VVhat will procure Mercy or what will satisfie Justice or how they will be made to meet in one Divine Act when both perfect and nothing of either can be abated because not consistent with their perfection are things utterly impossible to be known without Revelation If God forgive absolutely without any satisfaction what becomes of his Justice which should secure and vindicate the Honour of his Laws And should he only forgive men when they themselves make a Plenary satisfaction to Justice where were his Mercy And how could such a plenary satisfaction to insinte Justice for mens disobedience be ever found out what Proxie can a man make in that case to answer for his sin VVhat part of the world can be his sufficient substitute or what can we suppose can satisfie Divine Justice for mens transgression that is beneath themselves If we go strictly to Justice nothing of less Dignity then the Offender can compensate for the Offence if any thing but the Offender himself And so it appears some of the Heathens themselves thought by that famous saying amongst them Cum sis ipse Nocens moritur our Victima pro te And should we suppose God in his Judiciary proceedings with Men to forgive upon a Partial satisfaction to accept some Imperfect satisfaction to his Justice and to make up the rest by his Mercy this were to render his Attributes Imperfect and to make him act like a Man neither as infinitely just nor infinitely Merciful nor at all like himself nay in some measure to deny himself which is impossible The truth is the evil of the world being in its Nature an offence against God and the guilt arising from it relating to his Tribunal where no Sentence can pass but what is the result of infinite and
mouths of most men concerning those passages there expressed Paulus Fagius who seems to give the rightest account of it differs not much from this of Junius only reads it in the futuretense and supposes it to intend a future relation his words are Ideo dicetur est enim verbum Hebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 futuri temporis in commemoratione bellorum hoc est cum bella Deicommemorabuntur recensebuntur a posteris quae bella pro Israel in mari rubro gesscrit quae ad hos torrentes quasi dicat hi auo locitanquam memorabiles ab omni posteritate repetentur in quibus Deus pro Israel dimicavit ubi prodigia Coeleslia ostâ—nsa sunt that is In the relation that shall be hereafter of the Wars of the Lord there shall be a famous mention amongst all posterity of what God did for Israel in those two places wheresoever the Wars of the Lord are spoke of what God did in those two places shall have an eminent mention The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepher signifies properly any rehearsal or enarration recensionem aut enarrationem quamcunâ— recensionem scriptam but per accidens If we understand it not to relate to any Book but only to a relation Verbal as it seems most probably to do because Moses speaks only of a rehearsal in generals but not directly of a written rehearsal it reaches not this matter and if it do I see no good reason can be given why by that Book of the Wars of the Lord should not be meant either some succeeding Book part of the Bible or else that very Book of Numbers it self But Secondly which way soever this Text be taken it can never be reasonably urged to prove there were Letters or Books before Moses because 't is said to be a Book relating a Story of things done in Moses his own Time for those Wars called the Wars of the Lord commenced but at the peoples coming out of â—gypt under his conduct And therefore 't was impossible there should be a written story of them before Moses himself was extant To the last Objection I Answer 'T is true that the Egyptians were a Learned people probably the most learned the world then had The continued clearness of their Skye and the constant overslows of Nile naturally tending to render them learned in those two Noble Sciences of Astrology and Geometry yet there is not the least ground to believe they had any use of Alphabetical Letters before Moses his time or any other way to express or communicate their learning but what was Symbolical and Hycroglyphycal nor is there the least Record any where extant to evince the contrary Aristotle sayes The ancient way of the Egyptians writing was per Hiâ—roglyphycas literas saxis incisas and he adds Conceptus aâ—imalium scrâ—bunt uti occulata side legimus in lapidibus per figuras idem in omnibus Scientijs Artibusque sacientes quos locabant in Templis tanquam Paginas perlegendas talesque illis pro libris extant Tacitus tells us Primi per siguras Animaâ—ium Egypti sensus mentis efsingebant antiqâ—â—ssima Monumenta memoriae humanae impressa saxis cernuntur Diodorus Sicalus long before in the fourth part of his History has given us a large account of this Symbolical way of writing amongst the Egyptians and Ethiopians which was reduced to these three heads Imitativa Tropica Enigmatica nor do we hear a word of any other writing amongst them till Moses his time who in all probability first discovered to them that way of transferring their minds one to another by Alphabetical Letters And this Artapanus a most ancient Historian tells us who speaking of Moses sayes Vt quasi Deas ab Egyptijs coleretur propter Literarum inventionem Mercurium appellatum That he was reverenced by the Egyptians as a God and for his first inventing of Letters called Mercury The Antiquity of the Bible in point of fact being thus cleared 't is in the second place to be considered what Testimony to the Divinity of the Bible does in truth result from thence And herein we shall find the one very remarkbly leading us to the other First in the general 't is a thing not to be denied that a reverence to Antiquity seems to have been universal All men in all Ages seem to have risen up and payed respect to the Hoary Head of Antiquity and that upon these two grounds First What is most Ancient has undergone the greatest Trial Every man is ready to venerate what has endured the Test of many Generations and lasted through most Ages because nothing corrects mistakes like Experience not distinguishes falshood and truth like Time Time we say and truly say is Index as well as Edax rerum Secondly Every mans Reason tells him all Secundary truth must needs lie nearest to the Eternal truth and so be of greatest Antiquity Error of every kind is of a later Edition then truth an Apostacy from it and a Corruption of some prime Principles Though Error and falshood may be very Ancient yet Truth is still the Elder Brother and has this still to say to all its opposers Non fuit sic ab initio And therefore the farther we wade into Antiquity the nearer still we come to Truth In Religion most especially that Maxim prevails antiquitate nihil verius veritate nihil antiquius In the present case the Antiquity of the Bible carries in it a very signal proof of its Divinity That which is the most ancient Religion is like to be the Truest greatest antiquity in Religion is an eminent mark of greatest Truth and that upon these two very forcable considerations First 't is reasonable to believe that there has been an intercourse between God and Man since the beginning and a Supernatural inter course since mans first defection that Gods Revelations were as early as mans necessities That there was no time wherein man stood in need of Supernatural Instruction and help but that God affords it to him If the supposal of Revelation in the general be reasonable as I have proved at large it is the other will follow and we shall find good ground to believe that there has been a Revelation from God since there was first Reason for it and such a constitution as Supernatural Religion in order to mans happiness and recovery that bears an equal Date with his first apostacy to think otherwise were to deny what the notion of Gods goodness very openly affirms to us And this being so no Religion can be True that is not clothed with great antiquity And that Religion that is most ancient and can derive it self from the beginning must needs be most True The Bible therefore giving us Historically an account of Gods first intercourse with man and of the constant continuation of it in all Ages and being it self the first account that ever was given of Religion in such a Written way upon all accounts the most Ancient the world
as his Minister to execute so many dreadful Judgments upon the Jews and therefore would establish him by those extraordinary Actings in the possession of the Roman Empire which with great difficulty and against much probability to the contrary he obtained and as Suetonâ—us sayes of him after he had obtained it wanted Personal Authority and Majesty to manage such a Dominion A clear instance concerning this whole matter God gave us at first in the Magicians opposition to Moses wherein he gave us to know that although Divine Truth might by Miracles be opposed yet the superiour Luster of his own Miracles should be so visible to all as perfectly to silence and vanquish the rest and both in Number Continuance and Quality as then it was the difference should be to every Eye obvious and apparent Thirdly The matter for the establishment of which Divine Miracles are ever wrought affords us ground sufficient to distinguish in this case 'T is always a doctrine leading us to that God of whom we have a notion imprinted in our own Nature revealing him further to us and instructing us in all those Holy Virtues and excellent ways of living that most correspond to our Natural light are most suitable to that natural Divinity we are born with and evidently tends to make us most happy here and conduct us to the highest reward hereafter Whatever miracles we shall at any time see wrought to justify a Contrary doctrine my own Reason will reject as a Temptation and assure me that in the one case a miracle is sent from God to Ascertaâ—n me and in the other the Devil is only inabled in the highest manner to Tempt and to Try me And these three ways in the case of miracles are we sufficiently secured against all the attempts that can be at any time made to seduce us that way And may hereby rest abundantly satisfied in the testimony of Divine Miracles given to Divine Truth by whatever ways the Devil shall be able to countenance and promote a Contrary Interest Now That the Scriptures have been attended with Miracles in their conveyance is not as before is proved by any denied And that those miracles have the advantage of all the foregoing circumstances is likewise very evident The Doctrine of Moses is the First bâ—rn of all others being the Religion that was from the Beginning God in the first place setled and consecrated That by a miraculous Power before any other Systeme of Religion was extant and gave it therein the Precedency of all false Prophets and Impostors and whatsoever Doctrines they should by that means oppose it withall And so the New Testament being the natural product of the old is by the miracles of Moses at the first and those of our Saviour and the Apostles after upon the validity of both which 't is established secured against all opposition that can that way be made against it to the end of the world Secondly The way and manner of Gods working those miracles by which the Scriptures are justified to us to be his Words has eminently distinguished them from all other operations of that kind So 't was in the times of Moses when the Devil by the Magicians went further that way then ever he did after How far did the miracles of Moses exceed His More miracles Greater miracles More Continued miracles Undeniable and Uncontrolable evidences of Gods Infinite and Almighty Power in a way far superiour to what they could bring about Under the Gospel the miracles have been such in the manner of their working as leaves no room to doubt of Gods intention to secure us from Heaven â—â—ereby of the Truth of our Saviour and his â—â—â—â—rine If we consider First the grand â—â—â—â—sion of them To fullfil the Old Testament and establish the New And this by Private men respecting the world without the least clothing of Humane Power or Authority Who can imagine less then that a Commission to Christ and the Apostles should be sealed from 〈◊〉 Heaven in extroardinary way to assure the World of their Authority to do this Secondly The admirable Nature of those miracles Raising dead persons curing all sorts of diseases commanding Winds and Seas Vanishing in a moment out of the sight of multitudes Thirdly Their Number being exceedingly Many done in all places and upon all occasions where they came Fourthly Their Visibility openly seen and acknowledged by all present by multitudes Fiftly Without the use of any Secondaâ—y means or the least shew of Diabolical enchantments And as one of the Ancients says Sine â—lla vi Carminum sine Herbarum aut Graminum sâ—ccis sine ulla aliqua observatione sollicita Sacrorum Libaminum Temporum c. All most frequent in Heathenish Sorceries and Enchantments Sixthly The Long and lasting continuance of them Not only during the times of Christ and the Apostles and one of them the Apostle John lived till Trajan's time which was above a hundred years from Christs birth but also for very many years after in the Christian Church What miraracles does the world pretend to that can compare themselves with these miracles upon all or any of these accounts No men noâ— Devils ever did such works nor in such a manner as these were What lamentable and pitifull things are those of Apollonius Tyanaeus Esculapius or any others compared with These And what a shameful and indeed Ridiculous Partiality does appear in Hierocles and Porphiry who designing thereby to incense the Empeâ—ours against the Christians who much justified themselves upon the power oâ— miracles and to bring them under persecution have indeavoured to draw a Paralel between the miracles of Christ and Apollonius We find by Eusebius that Hierocles in a Book that is since lost compared Apollonius and Christ the Evangelists who wrote our Saviours Story and Philostratus the writer of Apollonius his Life upon that account together and preferred Apollonius and Philostâ—atus before the other But with what an unreasonable Partiality is eaâ—y to be seen by any that wilâ— consult Eusebius his Answer to him One chieâ— miracle Philostratus tells us off was that Appollonius sitting at meat was served after wonderful manner with Men of Brass And another is That an Elme tree speak to him and Saluted him with many other such things which to every common understanding appear at first sight very capable of Deceit and Delusion The Sun is not in Lustre more Superior to the Dimmest Star then Christs miracles are to all Pretensions of that kind Nor were there ever any operations either of men or of Angels visible in this world that with any colour of Justice and Truth can all circumstances considered be put in ballance with those eminently miraculous actings of Christ and his Apostles Thirdly The Doctrine contained in the Scriptures which the miracles were wrought to confirme and to assure us of the sincerity of those that delivered them to us is most evidently from God most corresponding to our Natural obligations to him 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
we have now contained in our Bables all that was written by a Divine Inspiration and intended as a Rule to the Church and no more That is How can we now be safely assured about the Canon of the Scripture and be able upon good grounds to say what is Canonical and what is not 'T is too apparent a Truth that nothing by the power of its own worth and excellency has ever been able to scape contempt and reproach from the unruly wills and debauched minds of corrupt and unreasonable men The Bible has met with its share in this kind Some upon Fanatical Pretences have despised and rejected the Whole Others have mangled and severed it as themselves thought good receiving some part only as Divine and rejecting the rest as they pleased Of this Iraeneus Tertullian Epiphanius St. Austin and many of the Christian Writers have given us a large account The Manichees rejected the whole body of the Old Testament as coming from an Evil God The Ptolemaites as Epiphamus tells us rejected all the Books of Moses The Gnosticks with some other Hereticks rejected the whole Book of Psalms Cerdon and after him Marcion rejected all the Gospels but that of St. Luke the Acts of the Apostles and divers other parts of the New Testament as we find by Tertullian The Valentimans rejected all the Gospels but that of St. John as we see in Irenaeus Others rejected all that St. John wrote The Ebionites received no Gospel but that of St. Matthen and rejected in gross all the Epistles of St. Paul In a word There is not one Part of the Bible from the first to the last that has scap'd the reprobation of some bad Men. But all such attempts were soon blown away expired in the Birth bore about them their own shame and reproach made no considerable battery upon the Truth in any Age Nor did they reach further than the vitiated Minds and corrupt Breasts of such Profligate Hereticks as were the first Authors of them In answering to this Question How we come to be well assured about the Canon of the Bible and that those Books now received by the Church of England and other Protestant Churches as such are all Canonical and no other Two things only will occur that are of any seeming moment In the due consideration of which all will be said that is needful about this Matter First How we come to reject out of our Canon those Books commonly called Apocryphal which were written at least all but one of them during the times of the Old Testament And secondly Upon what grounds we now receive some particular parts of the New Testament which have sometimes layen under question If we mistake in the first we have less in our Bibles than we ought If in the latter we have much more than we should About the first concerning the several parts of the Old Testament there is amongst Christians themselves a present Disagreement But concerning the other the whole Christian World is at this day of the same opinion For the First That there is good Reason to reject those Books commonly called the Apocrypha that they were not written by any Divine Inspiration nor sent us from GOD as any part of those Supream Laws by which he intended to rule and judge the World and so ought not to be reckoned within the Canon will be made very evident to any reasonable Judge upon these Considerations following First After the time of Esdras and the erection of the second Temple 't is universally agreed by all the most Antient Jews and Christians that the Jews had no Prophet amongst them Nor did GOD raise up any Man with an Extraordinary Spirit from the time of Malachi who is agreed to be the last Prophet till John the Baptist Which was for the space of four hundred and odde years Now 't is sufficiently evident that these Apocryphal Books were all written after the time of Malachi and so can be of no extraordinary Mission And if any of them had been written before and had been extant in Ezra's time which they were not it had been an unanswerable Reason for their Rejection now Because they were not received then For 't is well known that none of these Books now in question were by Him incorporated with the rest of the Bible nor were within the Canon at that time setled That the Jews had no Prophets by whom all parts of the Old-Testament were written For the Church is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles And the whole of the Old-Testament is called Prophecy nor any Men of an Extraordinary Spirit amongst them after the Captivity both Jews and Christians generally agree Josephus is express in it in his first Book against Appion he tells us that from the time of Artaxerxes though certain Books had been written yet they deserved not the same Credit and Belief that the Sacred Scriptures did because there was no succession of Prophers amongst them Saint Austine in the 45th Chapter of his 18th Book De Civitate Dei sheweth at large that the Jews had no Prophecy after Ezra's time And the same Eusebius affirmeth in his Demonstrationes Evangelicae Post Zachartam Malachiam non fuâ—sse amplius apud Judaeos Prophetam Et a reditu ex Captivitate ad tempora Servatoris nullum babucrint Judaei sacrum Volumen The Jews had no Prophets after Zachary and Malachi nor any Sacred Writings after the Captivity till our Saviour's time And some of these very Books tell us as much themselves For in the first Book of the Maccabees Chap. 9. 't is there said That there was then great Tribulation in Israel such as had not been since the dayes that there had been no Prophet in Israel relating to Ezra's time And indeed it appears very plain from the Scripture it self that there were no Divine Writings published between the Prophecy of Malachi and the writing of the Gospels For the Evangelists take things up just where he left them and begin the Gospel from the end of Malachi's Prophecy For he ending his Prophecy at John the Baptist under the Type and Title of Elias and the Evangelists beginning the Gospel with Him for St. Mark expresly declares the ending of that Prophecy to be the beginning of the Gospel There is a visible combination from thence from that period of Prophesie of the Old and New Testament together Secondly All the Writers of the Old Testament were Prophets to the House of Israel and to the Church of the Jews and their Writings and Prophesies were directed chiefly to them And so they were all writ except some Passages in Daniel and Ezra that were written in the Chaldee Dialect to which the Jews had in their Captivity been much accustomed in their own Native Language the Language of Canaan which was the Hebrew But these Books were confessedly most of them first written in Greek and could be of no use at all to the Jews at Jerusalem and