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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28280	The sufficiency of a standing revelation in general, and of the Scripture revelation in particular both as to the matter of it and as to the proof of it : and that new revelations cannot reasonably be desired and would probably be unsuccessful in eight sermons preach'd in the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul, London, at the lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., in the year MDCC / by Ofspring Blackall ...	Blackall, Offspring, 1654-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing B3055; ESTC R6615	150,254	268

be unreasonable for us to desire the same unless we were to be put to the same Trials of our Faith that they were which in a Christian Country can hardly be And indeed as desirous as we seem to be of having such Evidence of the Truth of our Religion as we are told the Apostles had I believe there are very few of us but had rather be contented with less Evidence than have so much as the Apostles had with its appendant Burden which was to travel all the World over even into the most rude and barbarous Countries to plant Christianity expecting wherever they came Bonds and Afflictions meeting every where with the most violent opposition and roughest Usage encountring every where the greatest Dangers and sure at last to be made a bloody Sacrifice to the Malice and Fury of their Persecutors How much St. Paul alone endured and 't is like the Sufferings of the other Apostles were not much less you may see in 2 Cor. xi 23 c. and yet he was not then come to the end of his Sufferings In Labours abundant in Stripes above measure in Prisons frequent in Deaths oft Of the Jews five times received I forty Stripes save one thrice was I beaten with Rods once was I Stoned thrice I suffered Shipwrack a Night and a Day I have been in the Deep in Journeyings often in Perils of Waters in Perils of Robbers in Perils by mine own Countrymen in Perils by the Heathen in Perils in the City in Perils in the Wilderness in Perils in the Sea in Perils among false Brethren In Weariness and Painfulness in Watchings often in Hunger and Thirst in Fastings often in Cold and Nakedness Besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the Care of all the Churches And therefore he might well say as he does 1 Cor. iv 9 c. I think that God hath set forth us the Apostles last as it were appointed to Death for we are made a Spectacle to the World and to Angels and to Men we are Fools for Christ's sake we are weak we are despised even unto this very hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling Place and labour working with our Hands being reviled persecuted defamed we are made as the Filth of the World and are the Off-scowring of all things unto this Day It was therefore plainly necessary that a Faith which was to undergo these severe Trials should be built upon the surest Grounds but for us and to enable us to overcome the World a Faith that is founded upon less certain Evidence may be as sufficient 2. The Second Case before-mentioned was of those who heard with their own Ears the Testimony which the Apostles gave concerning our Lord and saw with their own Eyes the wonderful Works that they did in Confirmation of their Testimony We could wish at least that we had such strong Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion as they had and if we had we see not why there would not be as much Choice and consequently as much Virtue in our believing as there was in theirs But here it may be considered 1. That it was the Lot but of very few even of those that lived in the Apostles times except of the Jews that dwelt in Judea to hear the Apostles themselves or to see with their own Eyes the Miracles that they wrought and even of these there were but few that had the opportunity of seeing many of their mighty Works so that all things considered the Evidence that we have of the Truth of our Religion if it be not fully equal to is very little inferior to that which they had for it being as has been formerly shewn morally impossible that the Gospel History which is now in our Hands should be forged or spurious or corrupted and altered what can be thought to be wanting in the Clearness of the Evidence that we have being given in Writing and not by word of Mouth is made up by the Fulness and Abundance of it we having in the Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists several Witnesses testifying the same Miracles and every one of them Witnessing more Miracles than any except those who were constant Attendants upon our Lord or Companions of the Apostles were in a Capacity to witness But 2. Granting it to be true that in the Apostle's times those to whom the Gospel was preached had generally clearer and stronger Evidence of the Truth of Christianity than we have now yet I say even that Evidence of Sense which they had was not more apt or like to convince and persuade them than the Proof which we now have tho' in it self it be less is to convince and persuade us For when Men have already taken up an Opinion no matter upon what Grounds or when by their Worldly Interest they are engaged to be of such an Opinion it can't be expected that the same Reasons I mean Reasons of the same strength in themselves should be sufficient to persuade them to alter their Opinion which would have sufficed to have fix'd and establish'd them in their former Notions And this is plainly the Difference between those Times and ours for when the Revelation of the Gospel was first made by Christ and his Apostles all both Jews and Gentiles were most strongly prejudiced against it each of them having been bred up in a Persuasion that their own way of Worship was right add the Jews in particular having had good Assurance that their Law given by Moses to which the Doctrine of Christianity seem'd very opposite had been of Divine Institution But however when a Man has been bred up in the Belief of any thing and has believ'd it a good while he takes it for granted that he had reason to believe it whether be had so or not so that the Prejudice against Christianity was as powerful tho' not altogether so just in the Gentiles whose Religion was meerly fabulous as in the Jews whose Law was indeed of Divine Institution And besides which was an Impediment alike common both to the Jews and Gentiles they could not either of them then embrace and profess the Christian Religion without apparently hazarding the Loss of all things that were dear to them in this World And how very apt a strong Worldly Interest is to blind Mens Eyes and to byass their Judgments is what we cannot but daily observe in all other Cases But our Case now is quite otherwise our Prejudices and our Interest are both for Christianity for we suck'd it in with our Mothers Milk and we found it the establish'd Religion of the Country where we were Born for which Reasons we believed it or at least were strongly inclined to believe it before we knew or had beard of any other Reasons so that to us who are already inclined on this side to us who to be sure are not prejudiced against it to us whose Interest

time could have no possible Doubt of their Supernatural Assistance They that heard them speak with Tongues which they had never learned could not but conclude that it was the Spirit that gave them this Utterance Acts 2.4 because nothing else could give it So that this was not only as their other Miracles were a Proof of Inspiration but likewise an Instance and Example of it It was a Proof of an inward and invisible Inspiration by an Inspiration that was as I may say outward and visible by an Inspiration that was discernible even by the Bodily Senses of all those that were present But be it so perhaps the Infidels will say that they that saw the Miracles which the Apostles are reported to have done in the Name of Christ had Reason enough to believe their Testimony concerning him and as well that which they have left in Writing as that which they gave by word of Mouth Yet what 's this to us that live now For we neither saw the Miracles that they wrought nor heard them speaking with Tongues neither have we any Assurance that they ever did either the one or the other but only from themselves They indeed tell us that they did a great many wonderful things such as we are willing enough to grant could not be done but by the Power of God in Confirmation of their Testimony concerning Jesus But we see no more Reason to believe this their Testimony concerning themselves than there is to believe their other Testimony concerning him so that this cannot in reason be reckoned a Proof or Confirmation of that Nay rather we think they are less credible Witnesses in their own Case than they were in his So that to us the History of the New Testament granting it to be written by the Apostles is of no more Authority than their Writing it considered only with respect to their Natural and Moral Capacities and Qualifications could give to it Because that Seal of Miracles which is said to have been affixed thereto by God is now by length of Time quite worn off or at least the Impression thereof is now so defaced that we cannot distinguish whose Seal it was or whether it was a true Seal or a counterfeit one And that this Seal was ever affixed to their Testimony is testified only by those same Witnesses whose the Testimony its self was To this Objection therefore which it must be confessed has some Appearance of Weight and Reason in it I answer 1. By denying the Ground it is built upon viz. That the Testimony of the Apostles themselves is the only Proof we have of the Miracles which they wrought for the Confirmation of their Testimony concerning Jesus For besides the Testimony of the Apostles in their Epistles and in the Acts Witnessing their own Miracles we have likewise the Testimony of all the other Christian Writers whose Books are preserved that lived in or near the Apostle's Times Witnessing the same Thing And this Testimony not only given as it were in secret in order to the making Proselytes of such as they found to be easie and credulous but in the most publick manner in those Apologies for the Christian Faith which they presented to Magistrates and published to the whole World in which for Proof that these Miracles had been wrought by the Apostles they appeal to all the Histories and Records of the Apostle's Times then extant in which they challenge any that could do it to contradict their Testimony in which they testifie that the same Miraculous Power did still continue in the Christian Church and was sometimes exerted often enough and openly enough to prove its being tho' not so frequently as it had been by the Apostles themselves when there was more need of shewing it viz. at their first Preaching of the Gospel Now these things if they had not been true the first Christians in the Circumstances they were then in would not have dared to affirm and if they had been false they might easily have been disproved and they would most certainly have been at least boldly denied and contradicted by the profess'd Adversaries of the Christian Faith But they did not deny or contradict they did not offer to disprove the Report that was then generally believed of the Miracles that had been done by the Apostles Nay so far were they from this that there is good Evidence from Antiquity still remaining that several even of those who took upon them to oppose the Christian Doctrine did yet expresly own that great and mighty Works had indeed been done by the Hands of the Apostles as well as of their Master But then they had been done they said and that was all they could say in the Case by Magick Art by the Help of the Devil just as the Jews had said before of our Saviour Mat. 12.24 This Fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils I shall not stay now to shew how groundless as well as malicious this Suggestion was with reference both to our Lord's Miracles and to theirs because I suppose I shall have a better Occasion to do it hereafter in my next Discourse 't is enough for my present purpose if the Matter of Fact only be granted viz. that the Apostles did do many Miracles in the Name of Christ and to confirm their Testimony concerning him And that they did so cannot I say be reasonably doubted because 't is witnessed not only by themselves but by all the Christian Writers of those or the succeeding times and is not denied nay is granted even by their Adversaries and Opposers But 2. If we had not so good Proof of the Miracles done by the Apostles if there were no Witnesses thereof but themselves I say however that their Testimony alone would be very credible Nay indeed the thing testified by them must I think necessarily have been acknowledged by us altho' there had been no History or Record at all of it transmitted to our Times I do not mean that without the Light of History we could have known that they did just those very Miracles which are recorded but I say that without this we might have known in general that they did do Miracles or that they were assisted by a Supernatural Power This I say we might have been sure of by the permanent Effects of such a Power continuing after their Times and testified by all Historians Heathen as well as Christian of all Ages ever since and which are even still extant and visible For that a great Part of the World is now Christian we see and know and that it has been so for many Ages past we are as sure as we are that there have been any Ages past before our own And looking back to see when and how it came to be so we learn by the concurrent Testimony of all History Jewish Pagan and Christian that Christianity had its Beginning in Judea just at that Time in which the Sacred History

Power of working Miracles should cease too at least till such time as God should think fit to make some Alteration in or Addition to his former Revelations which we have good Reason to think he will never do or 'till he should please to undertake the Conversion of those Nations to the Christian Faith to whom the Knowledge of the former Miracles that had been wrought for its Confirmation could not be so well communicated by credible History as it is to us For as was hinted before Credible History is all the Proof and Evidence that we ever think reasonable to require in other Cases of the like Nature As for instance When a new Law is made concerning any Matter it is requisite according to the Custom of our Country that it should pass both Houses of Parliament and that the King should ratifie and confirm it and that afterwards it should be some way so published and promulged that all the Subjects that are then alive should have sufficient Assurance given them that such a Law is made But after this Law has been once so passed and ratified and promulged it is passed and ratified and promulged for ever and no Man is so unreasonable as to expect that every Parliament that is called afterwards should read and pass over again all the Laws that have been made before their Time or that every King that succeeds to the Throne should afresh ratifie and publish all the Laws that were made by all his Predecessors But all the Proof that we ever require of the Authority of any ancient Law is a true Copy of it and a good History or Record of its being made at such a time by such a King confirmed by the Tradition of all the intermediate Ages to our Time which have allowed of its Authority by citing it as a Law of the Land by Pleading from it and by giving Judgment according to it And he who will not allow of the same Proof and Evidence of the Authority of the Christian Institution so many hundred years ago established but would needs have new Miracles and new Revelations to confirm the former is every whit as unreasonable as that Criminal would be who being Indicted upon some Ancient Statute should refuse to plead to his Indictment upon Pretence that he knew not whether there was any such Law or not it being made if ever it was made long before his Time and there being none now alive that were present at the making of it Shew him the Law in the Statute Book why how does he know he 'd say but that the Printers had a mind to put a Cheat upon the Nation by Printing a Law of their own making as a Law made by some of our ancient Kings nay shew him the Original Record still he 'd say There have been abundance of Forgeries in the World and how does he know but that this is one The Record he 'd own perhaps looks like an Ancient Deed and has all the Marks of such Antiquity as it pretends to but after all 't is possible it may be and therefore he cannot be sure it is not a Forgery and 'till he is assured of this he will not plead to an Indictment that is grounded upon it But if the King and Parliament that now are will be pleased to declare that this is a good Law and if he himself may be allowed to be by when they shall declare it or if at least two or three Witnesses that he can trust shall testifie upon Oath that they were present when it was passed into a Law then he will allow it to be a good Law and after that will be content to suffer the Punishment of it if he shall ever again be a Transgressor Now what Man is there that would think this a reasonable Demand Or what Judge or Court would ever allow of such a Plea And yet as unreasonable as it is it is just the same with theirs who pretending to be more wise and cautious than their Neighbours will not allow of the same sort of Proof tho' indeed much better in its kind of the Truth of the Christian Religion but tho' we have as Authentick Histories as any are in the World such Histories as the greatest Adversaries of Christianity have not been able to say any thing to invalidate the Truth of which declare that Christ and his Apostles taught such and such Doctrines and wrought such and such Miracles to confirm the Truth of their Doctrine yet will not believe that the Doctrine of Christianity is true and Divine unless they may have special Messengers sent to them to declare a-fresh all the same things which the Apostles once did and those endued with a Power of working in their sight and presence the same Miracles over again that are said to have been formerly done by Christ and his Apostles to confirm the Testimony that they gave 2. The Unreasonableness of that Request which the Rich Man here makes in the Behalf of his Brethren viz. That God would make a new Revelation for their particular Conversion or in general The Unreasonableness of our now desiring fresh Revelations new Miracles or Apparitions of Men from the dead to confirm the Truth of those things which are already sufficiently proved to us by the Standing Revelation of the Gospel will further appear if we consider That to us who live now in Christian Countries other Grounds of Faith or stronger Motives to Repentance than we have already in the standing Revelation of the Gospel might be inconsistent with the Excellency of Faith might destroy the Virtue of Believing and might be too great a Force and Constraint upon us such as would in a manner take away our Liberty of Choice For there is no Virtue at all in Believing what we see there is no Praise or Thanks at all due for doing what we are driven or forced to do and for us who have already abundantly sufficient Grounds to believe and embrace Christianity to have fresh Miracles wrought every day before our own eyes such Miracles as we could not possibly doubt the Truth of to confirm those Doctrines which are already sufficiently confirmed would not be to persuade us but to force us to be Chistians so that then the State we are now in would not be as God designed it should be a State of Trial for the Trial of Wisdom is when there are some Reasons on both sides and he is the Wise Man who in that Case gives Judgment on that side on which the Reasons are strongest But against what I have now said perhaps it may be objected That the Evidence which we desire of the Truth of Religion is no more than we are told has been already given to some Men particularly to those who lived in our Saviour's and his Apostle's times and we can't see why it would be more inconsistent with the Nature of Faith and Religion now than it was then or how it would more destroy our Freedom