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A49339
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A vindication of the divine authority and inspiration of the writings of the Old and New Testament in answer to a treatise lately translated out of French, entituled, Five letters concerning the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures / by William Lowth ...
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Lowth, William, 1660-1732.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing L3330; ESTC R22996
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119,092
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328
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the First Ages in the World and received in the Religious Rites and Mysteries of all the Ancient especially the Eastern Nations ſ V. Clem. Aleuand Strom. l. 5. per tot And therefore God who as has been observed already t P. 140. adapted the Mosaical Institutions to the Opinions and Customs already receiv'd in the world thought fit so to contrive the Ceremonial part of the Law that the more remarkable Rites and Usages of it should be a shadow of Spiritual and Heavenly things and by this means suited it both to the Greatest and Meanest Capacities retaining the latter in a sense of their Duty by the Gaudiness and External Pomp of his Service which struck and affected their Senses and imploying the Inquisitive in the search of those Spiritual and Heavenly things which were wrapt up in Figures and Shadows and were the Wisdom of God hid in a Mystery And as the Diligence of Industrious persons and those who were Lovers of Truth was sufficiently rewarded with the finding out of these Deep things of God which were hid under a Vail so the Slothfulness of Carnal and Worldly Men and their Contempt of Divine Truths was punish'd by leaving them in Ignorance with the Veil still drawn over the Rites and Institutions of the Law so that they could not look to the Ultimate End and Design of it Which is the very Reason our Saviour gives why he spake to the multitude in Parables Matth. 13.11 c. where he tells his Disciples that they who would not be at any pains in the search of the Truth when it concerns their Souls do not deserve to know it whereas the Disciples that were careful Hearers of what Christ said unto them were Rewarded with the Knowledge of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But to return Since the Law had its double Meaning and Aspect 't was reasonable that the Prophets should have so too The Jews having been used to this way of Instruction would expect it the Reasons why God used it before were the same still for the Jewish Nation to whom the Prophets were sent was the same Carnally minded people they ever were their Thoughts were not much affected with any thing but Temporal Blessings and therefore 't was necessary to set forth the Glories of the Messiah's Kingdom by the splendid Representations of Worldly Grandeur which being a Happiness that they understood and valued might serve to raise in their dull and earthly Minds some Desire and Expectation of his Coming Whereas if the nature of his Kingdom had been set forth plainly as it was in it self the Spiritual Glories of it were too Refin'd for them to understand they would have been far above out of their sight and if they had seen some Glimpse of them yet they would have discover'd no Beauty in them that they should desire them 'T is for this Reason the Prophets set forth the State of the Gospel by the Representation of such things as were in Use among the Jews and were most Glorious and Excellent in their Eyes to whom they wrote So Isaiah expresses the Conspicuousness of Christ's Kingdom and the Figure it was to make in the World by saying that the Mount of the Lord's House shall be establish'd upon the top of the mountains u Is 2.1 And both he and the Prophet Zachary describe the Conversion of the Gentiles by the Nations going up to Jerusalem to worship there and keep the solemn Feasts appointed by the Law x Is 66.20.23 Zech. 14.16 because Worshipping at Jerusalem was the highest Notion of Religious Worship which the Jews could apprehend For the same Reason 't was necessary that the Temporal Deliverances which were wrought by those persons whom God rais'd up to be Saviours to the Jews in their Distress should be the Types and Figures of that great Salvation which the Messias was to purchase and therefore 't was fit that the Prophets should joyn both together in their Writings and make use of the Former to Illustrate the Latter by 2. God's making the Great Persons and remarkable Actions of Former Ages the Types and Figures of what should come to pass in the Latter days the times of the Messias is as I observed before a P. 138 139. an Argument that God made all his Dispensations subservient to this one Great Design and made all the different Lines of his Providence meet in this one Center Which shews that the Coming of Christ was the End of the Law and the Prophets and the Eternal Purpose which God purposed with himself before the World began And accordingly St. Paul says b 1 Cor. 10.11 that all things happen'd to the Jews as Types c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of what should come to pass under the Gospel And therefore he d 1 Cor. 10.2 and likewise St. Peter e 1 Pet. 3.20 21. speak of the Deluge and the Israelites passing thro the Red Sea as Types of Baptism he argues from Jacob and Esau Isaac and Ishmael f Rom. 9.6 c. Gal. 4.21 c. as Prefigurations of the Rejection of the Jews and the Calling of the Gentiles And several other Allegorical Applications of the Rites and Histories of the Old Testament to the times of the New are to be found in the Apostolical Writings Which kind of Interpretations are not so Precarious as some are apt to imagine since besides that the Divine Assistance did certainly accompany these Expositors and that this way of Interpreting Scripture was allowed by the Jews for whose use the Writings of the Apostles were immediately and principally design'd I say besides these Considerations the Expositions themselves of this kind may be reduced to Fixt Rules and Principles the chief of which are these two the First that which I mention'd just now out of St. Paul g 1 Cor. 10.11 the Second is this viz. Whatever Priviledges belong'd to the Jews as the Segullah or Peculiar People of God do in a more Eminent manner belong to the Christian Church which is the Mystical Israel h See 1 Pet. 2.9 compar with Exod. 19.5.6 and Deut. 7.6 1 Cor. 9.13.14 Which Rules if Men would have a regard to and take Directions from the Mystical Interpretations of the Old Testament which are to be found in the Writings of the Apostles 't would keep them from indulging their Fancies too much in these Expositions and thereby making the Sense of Scripture Precarious which are the usual Objections against this way of Expounding it and to which many Men's Expositions of this kind are liable 3. A third Reason why the Prophecies should have a Mystical Sense as well as a Literal may be taken from the Nature and Vse of Prophecy in general which makes it requisite that Prophecies should be deliver'd with some degree of Obscurity and therefore the Involving a Mystical sense within a Literal One is a proper Style for a Prophetical Writing where the matters spoken of ought
I leave it to God and his own Conscience to Judge I proceed to shew III. That the Assistance which the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostles did not consist only in refreshing their Memories or Improving their Natural Faculties but was in several respects a new degree of supernatural Knowledge Our Author is willing to believe as appears by the places h Fr. p. 254 -257 Eng. p. 66. 70. I have before cited that the Assistance the Holy Ghost gave to the Apostles did chiefly and in a manner only consist in refreshing their memory and recalling to their mind what our Saviour had taught them And agreeably to this opinion he tells us i Fr. p. 255. En. p. 67. that when our Saviour promises his Disciples k John 15.26 That the Holy Ghost shall teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance these latter words apparently explain the foregoing as if the Holy Ghost's teaching them was nothing else but bringing to their remembrance what Christ had taught them before Now I deny not but that our Saviour declar'd to his Disciples the whole Counsel of God and therefore when he gave them Commission to go and teach all Nations he makes this the Rule they were to go by in Preaching viz. to teach whatever he had commanded them l Matt. 28.20 as containing the whole Doctrine of Christianity but granting all this yet 't will appear from several instances that the Assistance of the Spirit was something more than bringing to their remembrance what Christ had said unto them For 1. Some things our Saviour did not only not explain to them fully but likewise made use of such Expressions when he spoke of them as were accommodated to the Notions the Apostles were prepossess'd with Thus when He discoursed to them of the Nature of his Kingdom he made use of such Expressions as in their most natural and obvious Sense did imply that 't was to be a Temporal One for he described the happiness which his Disciples were to enjoy in it by eating and drinking at his Table and sitting upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel m Luke 22.30 Matt. 19.28 Which Expressions did tend directly to confirm them in their prejudices concerning the Worldly Grandeur of Christ's kingdom our Saviour not thinking it a proper season as yet to wean them from these Opinions which had taken such deep root in their minds that they could not be extirpated all of a sudden but must be removed by gentle and easy degrees Now to give the Apostles a right understanding as to this matter 't was not sufficient the holy Spirit should recall to their memory the words which our Saviour had used upon this subject for those alone would rather confirm them in the false Notions they had entertain'd concerning these things than instruct them in the true one but 't was further requisite that the Spirit should give them a clear and distinct apprehension of the Spiritual Nature of Christ's Kingdom and wherein the Glory and Happiness it promises consists and should further inform them for what Reasons our Saviour chose in compliance with their apprehensions and in conformity to the Style of the Old Testament to wrap up these things in Obscurity and discourse of them under the vail of Types and Figures And I think this was to inlighten their minds with a new degree of Supernatural Knowledge 2. But besides those things which our Saviour concealed under Types and Figures There were others he obscurely Express'd in Parables As the Calling of the Gentiles in the Parable a Matt. 20.5 6. of the Housholder that went out at the latter end of the Day to hire Labourers into his Vineyard The rejection of the Jews under the Parable b Matt. 22.1 of the persons invited to a Marriage Feast who would not come Several other instances of the same kind might be given Now to understand these things perfectly something more was requisite than just to remember our Saviour's words as is plain by the Disciples asking our Saviour the meaning of another Parable of his viz. That of the tares of the Field c Matt. 13.36 v. c. 15.15 The words they remembred perfectly well but were at a loss for the meaning and design of them and therefore desir'd him to explain it to them And by the same Reason there was need of a greater degree of Illumination to certify them that the Gentiles were to be Fellow-heirs and partakers of the Promises of Christ than the bare putting them in mind of those short hints our Saviour had given them concerning this matter would amount to And accordingly we find that St. Peter had need of a Vision d Act. 10. to instruct him in this matter and even that extraordinary Revelation seem'd scarce sufficient to convince him of this truth For afterward notwithstanding the Vision he had formerly seen he relapsed again into his old notions and separated himself from the Gentile-Converts at Antioch e Gal. 2.11 Which is a pregnant instance how much need the Apostles had of an extraordinary degree of Clearness and Evidence fully to instruct and convince them in those points of Christianity that were opposite to the Opinions they had formerly imbraced and that something more was requisite to that purpose than just to remember what our Saviour had said upon this Subject For even that Vision it self did not fully explain to St. Peter God's Counsel and purpose and 't is likely he thought there was no more implied by it than that he should receive those Gentiles who voluntarily offer'd themselves The first that were sent to Preach the Gospel to the Gentiles were S. Paul and S. Barnabas when the Holy Ghost separated them for this purpose f Acts 13.2 comp with ver 46. And 't is upon this Account that St. Paul calls himself g Rom. 11.13 Gal. 2.9 Eph. 3.1 1 Tim. 2.7 the Apostle of the Gentiles and says in express terms that the Salvation of the Gentiles by their being Incorporated into the Church and making one Body with the Jews was a Doctrine which was but then newly h Eph. 3.5 6. REVEALED to the Apostles and Prophets by the SPIRIT And we may observe that the same S. Paul sometimes expresses the Knowledge of the Gospel with which the holy Spirit furnisht the Apostles and Inspir'd persons of those times by the word i 1 Cor. 14.6 26 30. 2.10 Eph. 1.17 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to imply that in several respects it was not so much a Revival of what our Saviour taught them while he was upon Earth as a piece of Knowledge intirely new and a distinct Revelation 3. We may instance in another sort of true and proper Inspiration which belong'd to the Apostles and that is The gift of Prophecy it self and of applying the Prophecies of the Old Testament to the times of the Gospel and shewing that they are truly fulfilled