is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. I. Concerning Prophesy PRophesy or Revelation is the true Knowledge of any thing revealed to Men by God and he is a Prophet who declares and expounds those things which God hath revealed to Persons that cannot have any certain knowledge of those Revelations but must therefore only by mere Faith receive and embrace them A Prophet was by the Iews called Nabi that is an Orator or Interpreter as appears in the 7 th chap. of Exodus v. 1 st And the Lord said unto Moses see I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet as if he should have said Aron by Interpreting to Pharaoh what thou say'st shall Act the Part of a Prophet and thou the Part of God. We will speak of Prophets in the next Chapter but in this only of Prophesy It follows from the definition which hath been given of it that Natural knowledge may be called Prophesy for those things which we know by the light of nature depend only upon the knowledge of God and his Eternal decrees but because this knowledge is natural to all Mankind being founded upon Principles common to all Men 't is of no value with the vulgar who always affecting things rare and out of their Road despise the Gifts of Nature and therefore whereever mention is made of Prophetical knowledge they totally exclude Natural which may with as much right be called Divine as the other whatever it be seeing the Nature of God of which we participate and the decrees of God dictate it unto us neither doth Natural knowledge differ from that which Men call Divine but only because Divine knowledge exceedeth the Limits of Natural and because the Laws of Humane Nature considered in themselves cannot be the cause of Divine knowledge but Natural knowledge in respect of the certainty which it includes and in respect of the Fountain from whence it proceeds namely from God himself doth in no wise give place to Prophetical knowledge unless some will think or rather dream that the Prophets had Humane Bodies but not Humane Souls and therefore their perceptions and knowledge were of a quite different Nature from ours But though natural knowledge be Divine yet they that possess and propagate it cannot be called Prophtes because the things which they teach may with equal certainty and in as high a degree be Apprehended and Embraced by others as well as by themselves and that too not by Faith only Since therefore our Mind for no other reason but only because it containeth in it self the Nature of God as its Object and also participating thereof is able to Form certain Notions which explicate the Nature of things and teach us the use of Life we may with reason conclude that the Nature of Man's mind being what 't is conceived to be is the prime Cause of Divine Revelation for all those things which we clearly and distinctly understand the Idea of God as we have already shewn and Nature dictate to us not in words but in a much more excellent manner and such as best suites with the Nature of the Mind as every one finds by his own experience who hath but tasted what certain knowledge is but because my cheif purpose is to speak of those things which belong only to the Scripture that little I have said of Natural knowledge shall suffice and I now proceed to other causes and means by which God reveals to Men those things which do exceed and also those which do not exceed the bounds of Natural knowledge for nothing hinders but that those things which we know by the Light of Nature God may by other ways communicate to Men of which now I will more fully Treat But whatsoever is said upon this Subject ought to be fetcht only from Scripture for we can say no more of things that pass our understanding then that which the Prophets have deliver'd to us either by word or writing and because we have not any Prophets that I know in these our days all that we have to do is diligently to peruse the Sacred Volums which the Prophets have left us but still with this caution that we determin nothing positively of things of this Nature nor attribute any thing to the Prophets themselves which they have not plainly spoken and taught But it is in the first place to be observed that the Iews never used to make mention of mediate and particular Causes nor ever regarded them but for the promoting of Religion Piety and Devotion had always recourse to God for Example if they got Money by the Trade of Merchandizing they said God gave it if they earnestly desired to do any thing they said God disposed their Hearts to it if they seriously thought on any thing they said it was declared to them by God so that every thing which the Scripture saith God declared to any one is not to be taken for Prophesy and Supernatural knowledge but that only which the Scripture expresly declares or from the Circumstances of the narration plainly appears to be Prophesy and Revelation If then we run through all the Sacred Volums we shall find that all those things which God revealed to the Prophets were revealed to them either by words or by Figures and Signs or else by both together and that the words and Signs were either real and true without the imagination of the hearing and seeing Prophet or but imaginary that is the fancy and imagination of the Prophet even when he was awake was so disposed that he verily thought he heard words or saw and beheld some thing or sign God in a true and real voice revealed those Laws to Moses which he prescribed to the Iews as appears by the 25 th chap. of Exod. v. 22. where he saith And there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy Seat from between thee two Cherubims which plainly shews that God made use of some real voice seeing Moses where-ever he pleased found God ready to speak to him and that only this voice by which the Law was Published was a true and real voice I will presently shew One would think that the voice by which God called Samuel was real because in the first Book of Sam. the 3 d. chap. and last verse it is said The Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord as if he had said the appearance of God to Samuel was nothing else but Gods making known himself to him by word or signifyed no more then that Samuel heard God speaking but because we are forced to distinguish between the Prophesy of Moses and that of the other Prophets it must be concluded that the voice heard by Samuel was but imaginary because it was like the voice of Ely which he had so often heard and therefore the sooner
the 12 th Verse of the 7 th Chapter of Zachary They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone least they should hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets where Spirit must signifie mercy in this Sense speaketh also the Prophet Haggai Chap. 2. v. 5. Loe my Spirit that is my Grace and Mercy remaineth among you fear ye not Isa. Chap. 48. v. 16. It is said the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me there Spirit may be understood to signifie the Will and Mercy of God or his mind revealed in the Law for the Prophet saith from the beginning that is when he first came to declare Gods Wrath and Judgments against them he spake not in secret from the time that it was published there was I but now I am a Messenger of Joy sent by the Mercy of God to proclaim your restauration it may also as I have already said be taken for the mind and will of God revealed in the Law that is he by the Command of the Law Levit. Chap. 19. v. 17. came to admonish them therefore under the same conditions and in the same manner he warns as Moses did and at last like Moses ends with predicting their restauration but in my Opinion the first Exposition seems the best To return to what was first intended by all these Quotations it is evident that these following plain Phrases of Scripture The Prophets had the Spirit of God. God poured out his Spirit upon Men. Men were filled with the Spirit of God and with the Holy Ghost signifie nothing more then that the Prophets had some particular extraordinary Vertue above other Men and were Persons very Eminent for their constant piety Moreover that they understood the Mind and Will of God for we have shewn that the Spirit in the Hebrew Language signifies both the mind and the purpose and resolutions of the mind yea the Law because it makes known Gods Mind is called the Spirit and Mind of God so that the imagination of the Prophets forasmuch as by it the decrees and purposes of God were revealed may likewise be called the Mind of God and the Prophets may be said to have the Spirit of God now though the Mind and Will of God be Written in our minds and his Eternal purposes and decrees be Engraven on our Hearts and consequently to use the Scripture Phrase we also understand the Mind of God yet because natural Knowledge is common to all Men it is very little esteem'd and the Iews who valued themselves above all other Nations extreamly despised it because it was common to all Mankind Lastly the Prophets were said to have the Spirit of God because Men were altogether ignorant of the Causes of Prophetical Knowledge and did not only admire it but as they did all other strange and unusual things ascribed it to God as the immediate Author of it We may then without any scruple affirm that the Prophets did no other way understand the revelations of God then by the help of imagination that is by the means of words or signs and these either real or imaginary for seeing we find in Scripture no other means beside these it is not lawful to suppose or fancy any other but by what Laws and Rules of Nature it was done I confess I am utterly ignorant I might with others say it was done by the Power of God but it would be little to the purpose and no more then if I should by some unintelligible terms express the form of any thing all things are done by the Power of God for the Power of Nature is nothing but the Power of God and 't is certain that we therefore do not understand the Power of God because we are ignorant of natural Causes and we very foolishly have recourse to the Power of God when we know not the natural Cause of any thing that is when we are ignorant of Gods Power but we have now no need of knowing the cause of prophetical Knowledge for as I have already intimated we only endeavour to find out what the Scripture teacheth us that from thence as from the precepts of Nature we may know our Duty but with the Causes of Scripture-Doctrines we have nothing to do Seeing then the Prophets by the help of imagination understood those things which God revealed there is no doubt but they perceived many things which were beyond the extent of natural understanding for from words and signs many more Ideas may be formed then can be only out of those Principles and Notions upon which all our natural Knowledge is founded Hence it is evident why the Prophets perceived and declared all things parabolically and in dark Speeches and exprest all spiritual things after a corporal manner because that doth better sute with the nature of the imagination neither can we now wonder why the Scripture or the Prophets spake so improperly and obscurely of the Spirit or Mind of God as Numb Chap. 11. v. 17. I will come down and talk with thee there and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it on them Likewise in the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 22. v. 11. and Zedekiah the Son of Chenaanah made him Horns of Iron and he said thus saith the Lord with these shalt thou push the Syrians till thou hast consumed them Michah saw God sitting Daniel saw him like an Old Man cloathed in white Garments Ezekiel like fire and they who were with Christ descending like a Dove the Apostles like Cloven Tongues and Paul before his Conversion like a great light all which Visions agree with those fancies and imaginations which the vulgar have of God and of Spirits Lastly because the imagination is wandring and unconstant Prophesy did not long continue with the Prophets nor was it frequent but very rare and as there were but very few that had it so likewise 't was very seldom we are now to inquire how the Prophets could be sure of those things which they perceived only by the strength of imagination and not by the certain Principles of mental Knowledge but whatever may be said concerning this Particular ought to be fetcht from Scripture tho' as we have already confest we have no true knowledge of the thing and cannot explain it by its first Causes however what the Scripture declareth concerning the truth and certainty of the Prophets I will shew in the following Chapter wherein I resolve to treat of Prophets CHAP. II. Of Prophets IT appears by the preceding Chapter that the Prophets were not endued with perfection of mind above other Men but only with strength and vivacity of imagination which Scripture-Histories abundantly testify Solomon excell'd all others in Wisdom but not in the gift of Prophesy Heman Darda Kalcoll tho' Men very Wise yet were no Prophets when plain Countrymen who had no Learning yea Women as Hagar Abrahams Maid had that gift which is agreeable both to
Law which depends upon the necessity of Nature is that which necessarily follows from the very Nature or Definition of any thing and the Law which depends upon the Pleasure of Men and is more properly called Law is that which Men for the greater safety and benefit of Life or for other Causes do prescribe to themselves and others for Example that all Bodies when they hit or dash against other less Bodies do loose so much of their own Motion as they impart to those other less Bodies is the Universal Law of all Bodies which follows from the necessity of Nature so likewise when a Man remembers one thing he is presently mindful of another like it or as soon as he sees them together is a Law which necessarily follows from Human Nature but that Men voluntarily part with or are compell'd to part with that Right which every one hath by Nature and oblige themselves to a certain Rule and Manner of living depends upon the Will and Pleasure of Men and tho' it be absolutely granted that all things by the Universal Laws of Nature are ordain'd to be and Operate according to a certain and determinate Rule yet I say those Laws do depend upon the Pleasure of Men. First because Man as he is a great part of Nature makes and constitutes a part of the Power of Nature and therefore those things which follow from the necessity of Human Nature that is from Nature it self as we conceive it regulated by Human Nature tho' they follow necessarily yet they follow from Human Power wherefore the Sanction of those Laws may very well be said to depend upon the Will of Men because it so depends upon the Power of Mans Mind that the Mind of Man as it apprehends things under the Notion of true or false may nevertheless be clearly understood without those Universal Laws but not without the Law of necessity as I have defined it Secondly I have said those Universal Laws of nature depend upon the Pleasure of Men because we ought to define and explain things by their next and immediate causes and that Universal consideration of Fate and the chaining together of causes can no way help us in the forming and ordering our thoughts concerning particular things that is we know not how things are ordered and tyed together so that it is better yea absolutely necessary for the benefit of Life to consider things as they are possible and so much of Law consider'd absolutely But because the name of Law by Translation is apply'd to natural things and commonly by Law nothing else is meant but a command which Men may or may not perform so that it confines human Power to bounds and limits beyond which it might go and yet commands nothing which it is not able to do therefore Law more particularly defined is that rule and manner of living which Men for some end prescribe to themselves or to others but because very few know the true end of Laws and Men being for the most part incapable of Understanding it do not live according to the dictates of reason therefore Law-givers that they might equally bind all have wisely establisht an end very different from that which necessarily follows from the Nature of Laws namely by propounding to those who keep the Law that which they most love and by threatning the breakers of the Law with that which they most fear and so endeavor as far as 't is possible to rule the multitude as a Horse is govern'd with a Bridle so that Law in its common acceptation is that rule of living which by the Power of others is prescribed to Men and consequently that they who obey Laws are said to live under Law and may be called Servants or Subjects he that giveth to every one his due because he is afraid of the gallows is under the Power of another and being compell'd by the fear of punishment to do what he doth cannot be called just but he that giveth to every one his due because he knows the necessity and the true end and reason of Laws what he doth is free and voluntary and he may therefore be deservedly called a just Man which I suppose to be St. Pauls meaning when he said they that lived under the Law could not be justify'd fy'd by the Law for justice as it is commonly defined is a constant Voluntary resolution of rendring to every Man that which is his due and therefore Solomon Prov. chap. 20. v. 15. saith it is joy to the just to do judgment but the wicked fear Seeing then Law is nothing else but a rule of living which Men for some end prescribe to themselves or to others the Law may therefore be distinguisht into human and divine by Mans Law we understand that rule of living which secures life and the weal public but the Divine Law hath respect only to our cheifest good that is the true knowledge and love of God the reason why I call this Law Divine is in respect of the Nature of our cheifest good which I will with all possible brevity and plainess declare Whereas our better part is our underderstanding it is certain if we seek our own good we ought cheifly to endeavour as much as is possible the perfecting our intellect because in the perfection of that consists our cheifest happiness and since all our knowledge and certainty which removes all doubt depends only upon the knowledge of God because nothing can be or be known without God and because we may doubt of all things while we have no clear and distinct Idea of God it follows that our perfection and cheifest happiness depends only upon the knowledge of God. Moreover since nothing can either exist or be known without God it is certain that all things in Nature in respect of their essence and perfection do imply and express the Notion of God and consequently the more we know natural things the greater and more perfect knowledge we acquire of God because the knowledge of an effect by its Cause is nothing else but knowing the true Nature and Property of the cause so that by how much the more we know natural things so much the more perfectly do we know the being of God who is the cause of all things and all our knowledge that is our cheifest happiness doth not only depend upon but wholly consists in the knowledge of God which consequence is made good by a Mans becomming more or less perfect according to the Nature and perfection of the thing he most loves and so on the contrary He therefore is most perfect who pertakes most of the highest Beatitude and who above all things loves and is most delighted with the intellectual knowledge of God who is the most perfect of all beings Hitherto then our cheifest good and happiness still returns into the knowledge of God the end then of all human actions so far as we have an Idea of him being God the means which this end
benefits which he promised they should receive from Heaven The Laws which he establisht were not very severe as will appear to any Man that considers how many circumstances were required to the condemning of any offender that the People who could not govern themselves might absolutely depend upon the verbal commands of the supream Magistrate he did not permit them being accustomed to Bondage to do any thing of their own accord but whatever they did was to be done according to the prescript of the Law no Man could at his own Pleasure Plow Sow or Reap no Man could eat what he pleased nor could he cloth himself shave his Head and Beard or make merry but according to certain Rules set down in the Law nor was this all for they were to have upon the Posts of their Doors upon their Hands and their Fore-heads certain Signs which were to put them in continual mind of their obedience the end and design then of Ceremonies was that the People might do nothing by their own will and determination but only by the command of another and by continual Action and meditation confess they were not Masters of themselves but wholly Subjected to the will of another by all which 't is evident that Ceremonies conduce nothing to true felicity and that those of the Old Testament yea the whole Law of Moses concerned only the government of the Iews and consequently had respect to nothing more then Bodily conveniences as for Christian Ceremonies namely Baptism the Lords Supper Holy-days public Forms of Prayer or any others common to Christianity if they were ever instituted by Christ or his Apostles which doth not clearly appear they were only appointed as marks and signs of the Universal Church but not as things that contain any Sanctity in themselves or contribute any thing to eternal happiness and therefore being ordain'd not in reference to government but only in respect to mutual Society he that liveth alone or he that liveth under a government where the Christian Religion is forbidden is not oblig'd to the Observation of these Ceremonies and yet may live happily an example whereof we have in the Kingdom of Iapan where the Hollanders by the command of their East-India Company abstain from all outward Worship and that their so doing is justifiable I think is not difficult to prove from the Fundamental Principles of the New Testament But I hasten to the Second particular which I purposed to treat of in this Chapter namely why believing the Histories contained in Scripture is necessary and to find out this by Natural reason I thus proceed Whoever will perswade or disswade Men to or from any thing which is not in or by it self known must deduce that thing from Principles generally granted and allowed and must convince those Men either by reason or experience that is by things which Men by their Sences know to have happen'd in Nature or else by maxims which the understanding can neither doubt or deny but unless experience be such as is clearly and distinctly understood tho' it may convince a Man yet it cannot equally affect the understanding and disperse the Clouds thereof as will that which is proved by intellectual Principles that is orderly deduced from Notions certain and intelligible especially if the question be of any thing that is meerly Spiritual and falls not under sense but because to prove things only by intellectual Propositions requires a long Chain of Notions much Circumspection Sharpness of Wit and great Temper all which are seldom found together therefore Men had rather be taught by experience then put themselves to the trouble of linking together all their perceptions deduced from a few maxims so that he that would teach a whole Nation I need not say all mankind any particular doctrine and would be clearly understood in all things by all Men he must confirm his Doctrine by experience and must accomodate his reasons and the definitions of what he teacheth to the capacity of the vulgar who make up the greatest part of Mankind and must not think of giving such definitions as he thinks fittest for tying his reasons together because he would then write only to the Learned and would be understood but by a very few Seeing then the Scripture was revealed first for the use and instruction of a whole Nation and afterwards of all Mankind it was absolutely necessary that the things therein contain'd should be suited to the capacity of the common People and confirm'd only by experience to make my meaning yet more clear I say that all things taught in Scripture which are only Speculative are cheifly these First that there is a God or a being which made all things and by infinite wisdom governeth and sustaineth all things who taketh great care of Mankind and particularly of those that live honestly and Religiously but for those that live wickedly he separates them from the good and afflicts them with greivous Punishments But all those things the Scripture confirms only by experience namely by the Histories which it recites nor doth it plainly define any of these things but fiteth all its reasonings and expressions according to the capacity and understanding of the vulgar and tho' experience can give a Man no true and plain knowledge of things nor teach a Man what God is in what manner he orders and upholdeth all things or how he takes care of Mankind yet it gives Men so much light and knowledge as is sufficicient to Imprint in their Minds Piety and Obedience So that now I think 't is very plain to what Persons and for what reasons the belief of Scripture Histories is necessary that is to the common People by whom things cannot be clearly and distinctly understood and whoever denies these Histories because he neither believes the being or Providence of God is impious but he that is ignorant of these Histories and yet by natural reason concludes there is a God who made and preserveth all things if he live a vertuous life that Man is blest yea more blessed then the vulgar because beside the Truth of his Opinions he hath a clear and distinct understanding Lastly he that is ignorant of Scripture History and knows nothing of God by the light of natural reason if he be not impious and obstinate yet he may well be accounted a Beast rather then a Man and to have no Gift of God in him but 't is to be observed that when we say the knowledge of Scripture History is very necessary for the common People I do not mean all the Histories contain'd in the Bible but only the cheif and those that give the clearest Evidence of the before mentioned Doctrins and have the greatest influence upon the minds of Men for if all the Histories in the Scripture were absolutely necessary to prove its Doctrine and no conclusion could be made but from the consideration of all the Histories together contain'd in it then the demonstration and proof of its Doctrine
is most likely to incline him most religiously and heartily to serve God and of this mind was Iosephus for he concludes his Second Book of Antiquities with these words Neither ought any Man to marvel at this so wonderful discourse that thorow the Red Sea a passage should be found to save so many Persons in times past and they rude and simple whether it were done by the Will of God or that it chanced of it self since not long time ago God so thinking it good the Sea of Pamphilia divided it self to give way to Alexander King of Macedons Souldiers having no other passage to destroy the Empire of the Persians and this all acknowledge who have Written the Acts of Alexander and therefore of these things let every one think as he pleaseth Chap. VII Of the Interpretation of Scripture MOst Men acknowledge the Holy Scripture to be the Word of God which teacheth Mankind the way to true Happiness and Salvation but this Opinion hath so little influence upon Mens Lives that the common People take no care to regulate theirs according to the Doctrines of Scripture and every Man believing himself divinely inspired would under pretence of Religion compel all others to be of his Opinion We often see those whom we call Divines very solicitous to father their own Fancies upon Scripture and the Divine Authority thereof making no scruple with great boldness to interpret it and tell us what is the mind of the Holy Ghost When they meet with any difficulties they do not so much fear mistaking the Holy Spirits meaning and the right way to Salvation as to be found guilty of Error and by loosing their Authority to fall into contempt but if Men did heartily believe that which they profess concerning the Scriptures they would lead other kind of Lives there would not be half so much contention and hatred in the World as now there is nor would Men with so much Blind Zeal and boldness venture upon expounding Scripture and introduce so many novelties into Religion but on the contrary would be very cautious of maintaining any thing for Scripture Doctrine which is not manifestly contained in it and the Men who have not been affraid to adulterate Scripture in so many places would never have commited such impious Sacriledge But ambition and wickedness have so far prevailed that Religion doth now consist not so much in obeying the dictates of the Holy Spirit as in defending Mens own fantastical opinions Charity is now no part of Religion but discord and implacable hatred pass under the masque of Godly Zeal To these evils superstition hath joyned it self teaching Men to despise reason and nature and to admire and reverence that only which is repugnant to both 't is no wonder that Men to be thought the greater admirers of Scripture should Study so to expound it that it may seem contradictory both to nature and reason and therefore dream of profound misteries hidden in it which misteries that is their own obsurdities they labour and weary themselves to find out and neglecting things which are of most use ascribe to the Holy Spirit all the Dotages of their own imagination and with much heat and passion endeavor to defend their own idle conceits Whatever is the result of Mens understanding that Men endeavor to maintain by clear and pure reason but all opinions derived from their passions and affections must be defended by them to avoid these troubles and to free our minds from all Theological prejudices that we may not rashly receive the Foolish inventions of Men for the Doctrins of God I will now treat of a right method of interpreting Scripture of which method whoever is ignorant he can never certainly know the true Sense and meaning either of the Scripture or the Holy Ghost I say in few Words that the method of interpreting Scripture doth not differ from the method of interpreting nature for as the method of explaining nature cheifly consists in framing a History thereof from whence as from undeniable concessions shall follow the definitions of natural things so likewise to expound Scripture it is absolutely necessary to compose a true History thereof that thence as from sure Principles we may by rational consequences collect the meaning of those who were Authors of the Scripture that every one who admits of no other Principles or concessions in expounding Scripture or in reasoning of the things therein contain'd but such as are fetcht from the Scripture it self or the History of it may proceed without danger of Erring and be able to discourse and reason as securely of things which exceed human capacity as of any thing we know by natural light Now that it may evidently appear that this is the only sure way and agrees with the method of explaining nature we are to observe that the Scripture very often treats of things that cannot be deduced from Principles known to us by natural light because Revelations make up the greatest part of Scripture History which Principaly contains Miracles that is as we have already shew'd in the foregoing Chapter narrations of things not common or usual in nature suted and fitted to the judgment and opinions of the Historians that wrote them Revelations also as we have shew'd in the Second Chapter were accomodated to the opinions of the Prophets and exceed human capacity wherefore the knowledge of all these things that is of almost every thing contained in Scripture ought to be derived only from Scripture as the knowledge of natural things ought to be from nature as for moral Doctrins contained in the Bible tho' they may be demonstrated from common and general Notions yet it doth not appear by those Notions that the Scripture teacheth those Doctrins nothing but the Scripture it self makes out that and to give a clear demonstration of the Scripture's Divinity we must from the Scripture it self prove the Truth of the Moral Doctrins which it teacheth because in that Truth only the Divine Authority of Scripture appears for as we have already shewn the certainty of the Prophets consisted in their being just and vertuous which to make us believe them ought likewise appear to us We have already shewn that Miracles cannot prove the Divine Nature of God and that they might be wrought by false Prophets the Divine Authority of Scripture appears then in its teaching us what is true and real Vertue and that can be proved only by Scripture it self if not we could not without a great deal of prejudice believe the Scriptures and think them to be of divine inspiration the Scripture indeed doth not give us any definition of the things whereof it treats so neither doth Nature and therefore as from several Actions of Nature we make definitions of natural things in the same manner from several narrations of all things contained in Scripture are conclusions to be drawn The general rule then of interpreting Scripture is that we conclude nothing to be Doctrine which doth not manifestly
of Stone but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart Let Men cease to adore the Letter and not be so much concern'd for it Having sufficiently explain'd the Holiness and Divinity of Scripture let us now see what is properly meant by Debar Iehovah the word of God. Debar signifies Word Speech Decree Thing now upon what grounds any thing in the Hebrew Language may be said to be God's or have relation to God I have shew'd in the first Chapter so that I need not repeat what I have there said or in the sixth Chapter what I have said of Miracles 't is evident what the Scripture means by the Word of God To make the thing very clear I need only declare that when the Word of God is predicated of any Subject which is not God himself it properly signifies that Divine Law of which we treated in the fourth Chapter namely That Religion which is universal and common to all mankind mention'd in Isaiah chap. 1. v. 10. where the Prophet declares That the right way of living consisted in Charity and in a sincere and pure Heart which he calls the Law and Word of God The Word of God is also taken Metaphorically for the order or course of Nature and Fate because it follows and depends upon the Eternal Decree of the Divine Nature particularly for whatever the Prophets foresaw in this course of Nature because the Prophets understood future events not by natural Causes but thought them to be the Will and Decrees of God. Moreover it is taken for that which any Prophet commanded or declared because he knew it not by Natural Light but by the singular Vertue and gift of Prophesie and more especially because the Prophets as we have shewed in the fourth Chapter apprehended God under the notion of a Lawgiver for these three reasons then the Scripture is called the Word of God namely because it teacheth us true Religion whereof God from all Eternity is the Author Secondly because it makes Prophesies to be God's Decrees And lastly because the Authors of those Prophesies taught for the most part that which they did not know by Natural Reason but by a faculty and gift peculiar only to them and introduced God speaking as it were in them Now tho' the Scripture contain many things which are meerly Historical and may be unnderstood by Natural Knowledge yet the Scripture is called the Word of God in respect of those other particulars I have last mention'd so that now we plainly see why God is called the Author of the Bible namely upon the account of teaching us what is true Religion and not because it contains and hath communicated to us such a certain number of Books And hence we may also learn that the Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament because before the coming of Christ the Prophets Preached Religion as the Law of their Country and by force of the Covenant made in Moses's time but after Christ's coming because the Apostles preached Religion upon Christ's account as a Law universal to all mankind not that the Prophets and Apostles differ'd in Doctrine or that the Books of either Testament are the Deeds and Indentures of the Written Covenant nor lastly because Natural Religion which is universal is new unless it be in respect of those that knew it not according to that saying of Iohn the Evangelist chap. 1. v. 10. He was in the world and the world knew him not If then we had not some of those Books which the Old and New Testament contain yet we should not want God's Word as it properly signifies true Religion for we do not think any part thereof is wanting tho' we lack many of those other excellent Writings namely the Book of the Law which was so Religiously kept in the Temple as the Original wherein the Covenant was first written with many other Books of the Wars and Records of time from whence the Books of the Old and New Testament which we now have were transcribed and collected And this is made good by many reasons first because the Books of both Testaments were not written at one and the same time for the use of all Ages but by chance for some particular people and that as the Time and their particular Disposition requir'd which plainly appears by the calling of the Prophets who are called to warn and reprove the ungodly of their own time and also by the Writings of the Apostles Secondly Because understanding the Scripture and the meaning of the Prophets is one thing but to understand the Mind of God that is the real truth of things is another as appears by what hath been said in the second Chapter of Prophets which distinction likewise holds in Histories and Miracles as we have shewed in the sixth Chapter But in understanding places which treat of true Religion and real Vertue no such distinction ought to be made Thirdly Because the Books of the Old Testament were chosen out of many others and were approved and joyned together by a Council of the Pharisees as we have declared in the tenth Chapter and for the Books of the New Testament they were receiv'd into the Canon by the Decrees of certain Councils when several other Books by many accounted Sacred were rejected as Spurious These Councils both of Pharisees and Christians were made up of Men who were no Prophets but only learned Doctors yet it must necessarily be granted that in this choice they made the Word of God their Rule so that before they gave their Approbation to the Books they ought to know what was the Word of God. Fourthly Because as we have shewed in the preceding Chapter the Apostles did not write as Prophets but only as Teachers and chose that way of instructing which every one judged most easie for his Disciples from whence it follows as we have concluded in the end of the said Chapter that their Writings contain many things whereof in Respect to Religion we have no absolute need Fifthly and lastly Because in the New Testament there are four whom we call Evangelists but who believes it was God's express Will that the History of Christ should be four times told and deliver'd to Men in Writing Tho' things may be contain'd in one which are not in another and that one helps to understand another we must not therefore conclude that all things which the four declare are absolutely necessary to be known and that God made choice of them to write purposely that the History of Christ might be the better understood for every one preach'd his own Gospel in several places and every one wrote what he preach'd plainly that he might the more faithfully relate the History of Iesus Christ and not for any explanation to the rest If by mutually comparing them together they are sometâ—mes more easily and better understood that happens by chance and only in very few places of which tho' we were ignorant the History notwithstanding would be very perspicuous and
according to his Will to whom he hath parted with that Liberty and from him only must expect Protection Injury or Wrong is when a Citizen or Subject is compell'd to suffer loss or damage from another contrary to Civil Right and the Decrees of the Supreme Power for there can be no such thing as Wrong or Injury any where but in a Civil State nor can any wrong be done to Subjects by the Supreme Power which may lawfully do whatever it pleaseth and therefore hath place only amongst private persons who by Law are obliged not to offend one another Justice is a constant resolution of giving to every one that which by the Law rightly interpreted belongs to him Justice and Injustice are sometimes called Equity and Iniquity because they that are appointed to end Suits and Differences are bound not to have any respect to persons but to look upon all as equals and equally to defend every Man's right neither envying the rich nor despising the poor Confederates are Men of two Cities or Societies who to avoid the danger and inconveniencies of War or for any other advantage and benefit mutually covenant not to offend or hurt one another but in case of necessity to assist and help one another both preserving their own Power and Dominion This League or Contract will so long continue firm and binding as the consideration of danger or profit upon which it was founded continues because no person covenants or is oblig'd to perform his contracts unless it be in hope of some good or fear of some evil which being the Foundation of all Contracts take away that Basis Experience tells us they all fall to the ground For tho' divers Empires and Governments do mutually covenant not to do any thing to the prejudice or hurt of one another yet 't is always the endeavour of both to hinder one another from growing too powerful neither do they believe one anothers promises unless they be fully satisfied that the End of their agreement be for the benefit of both nor is there any wrong in the case for who but a Fool ignorant of the right of Supreme Power will give credit to the words or promises of him who having Supreme Power hath right to do what he will and who is obliged by no other Law but the publick safety and benefit of the people under his Government we likewise observe that Religion and Piety signify very little for who ever hath the Supreme Power cannot without consequent mischief keep his Promises which prove prejudicial and destructive to his People and Government or that he cannot perform them without breaking Faith with his Subjects by which Faith he is principally obliged and which usually with Oaths he solemnly and religiously promiseth to keep An Enemy is one that liveth out of the Commonwealth and neither as a Confederate or Subject will own its Power or Government for 't is not the hatred of a Commonwealth but its Right and Power which maketh a Man an Enemy for the Power of a Commonwealth over him who will by no kind of Contract own its Power is the same that it hath over him who doth it harm because it hath right to compel him one way or other to yield and submit to it or confederate with it Lastly Treason in Subjects or Citizens is only where they have by express or imply'd Contract transferr'd all their right to the City or Commonwealth and that Subject is counted guilty of Treason who endeavours to usurp the right of the Supreme Power to himself or transfer it upon another I say he that but endeavours it for if none were to be condemned till after the commission of the fact the punishment would many times come too late therefore I say positively he that by any means goes about to usurp or take away the right of the Supreme Power making no difference whether the Commonwealth shall be a gainer or loser by it upon what account soever he attempted or did it yet he hath committed Treason and is justly condemned which every one also acknowledgeth to be just in War for if a Souldier keep not his station but without his General 's knowledge or command assaults the Enemy tho' he beat him and did it very advisedly yet doing it of his own head he deserves death having violated his own Oath and his Geneneral's Authority Now tho' Subjects do not see that their case and a Souldiers is alike yet in truth the reason is the same in both sor seeing the Commonwealth ought to be governed defended and preserved by the Counsel only of the Supreme Power and all have absolutely covenanted that this right shall reside only in the Supreme Power if any Man shall at his own Will and Pleasure without the knowledge of the Supreme Council make any publick attempt which would certainly prove very advantageous to the Commonwealth yet having violated the right of the Supreme Power he is lawfully and deservedly condemned Now to clear all scruples if any Man ask Whether maintaining that a Man in his Natutural State hath Natural Right to live according to the Laws and Dictates of his own Appetite be not flatly contrary to the revealed Law of God Seeing every Man whether he have or have not the use of Reason is equally obliged by God's Command to love his Neighbour as himself and therefore we cannot without being very injurious do any harm to another and live according to our own Lusts. This Objection is easily answered for if we consider only the state of Nature that state and Nature it self were before there was any Religion for by Nature no Man knows that there is any obligation upon him to obey God nor can he come to the knowledge of it by Reason but whoever knows it must know it only by Revelation confirm'd with Signs and therefore before Revelation no body was bound by the Divine Law of which every Man must be necessarily ignorant The state of Nature then and the state of Religion must not be confounded but considered apart and as we have proved by Paul's Authority the state of Nature is understood to be without Religion without Law without sin or wrong doing Nor do we consider the state of Nature as before and without the revealed Law of God in respect of Ignorance only but in respect also of that freedom and liberty in which all Men were born for if Men by Nature were bound by the Law of God or if God's Law were by Nature a Law there was no need of God's making a Covenant with Men and obliging them by Oath and Contract It must therefore be absolutely granted that God's Law took place from the time that Men by an express Covenant with God promised to obey him in all things by which Covenant and Promise they did as it were depart from their natural freedom and transferr'd their natural right upon God in like manner as we have declared is done in a Civil State. But of this I
A TREATISE PARTLY THEOLOGICAL And Partly POLITICAL Containing some few DISCOURSES To prove that the Liberty of PHILOSOPHIZING that is Making Use of Natural Reason may be allow'd without any prejudice to Piety or to the Peace of any Common-wealth And that the Loss of Public Peace and Religion it self must necessarily follow where such a Liberty of Reasoning is taken away John Epist. 1 st chap. 4 th v. 13 th Hereby know we that we dwell in God and God in us because he hath given us of his Spirit Translated out of Latin. LONDON Printed in the Year 1689. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Gentleman that turn'd the following Treatise Written Originally in Latin into English did it at spare Hours only to divert and please himself and therefore cares not who is displeased with his having done it There are certainly some who will pass very severe Censures upon this Treatise but that will not at all concern the Translator who is not bound to make good the Authors Opinions being only obliged to justify that the Version hath truly and faithfully tho' not every where Word for Word render'd the Authors Sense and Meaning Religion and Government being the Subject Matter of the Book 't is easy to guess what Sort of Men are like to decry it but let those who are angry and find fault with it answer it In the mean time the Crape Gown and the Long Robe are both defied to prove there are any Tenets in the whole Treatise half so dangerous or destructive to the Peace and Welfare of human Society as those Doctrins and Maxims are which have of late Years been broached by time-serving Church-men and Mercenary Lawyers for which they justly deserve the hatred and contempt of all Mankind Nothing more needs be said to any Reader than to desire he will deliberately read the Book twice over before he condemn or commend it when that is done whether he like or dislike the Treatise it self or the Translation of it shall be all one to him who never valued himself upon other Peoples Opinions nor did ever think any part of his Reputation depended upon the Iudgment of Fools or Knaves THE PREFACE WEre it in the Power of Men to govern all their Affairs by sure and infallible Councel or could Mankind always live in a constant course of Prosperity there would be no such thing in the World as Superstition but because Men many times fall into straights out of which no Councel can deliver them and by immoderately coveting the uncertain Goods of Fortune miserably Fluctuate between hope and fear those two Passions easily driving the doubtful mind of Man hither and thither render it prone to believe any thing whereas otherwise it is over Confident Proud and Vain-glorious And of this tho' few know themselves there is scarce any Body ignorant Do we not daily see many weak Men during prosperity so wise in their own conceit that they think Councel an Affront but in adversity when they know not which way to turn themselves begging every Bodies Advice and there is not any be it never so vain foolish and absurd which they will not follow upon very light grounds they will also hope the best and presently again fear the worst whatever happens during their fears which puts them in mind of any past good or evil that they think Prognosticates good or bad Fortune and tho' they be a hundred times deceived count it a lucky or unlucky Omen Whatever is strange and unwonted begets their Wonder and looking upon it as a prodigy say it portends almighty God's Anger for the pacification whereof Men given up to superstition but Enemies to true Religion think it horrible Impiety not to make Prayers and Oblations and to that end fancying a Thousand things as if nature it self were as perfectly distracted as they make strange Interpretations of her Meaning This then being the condition of Mankind we find those Persons most addicted to all kind of superstition who greedily desire those things with are uncertain and every one of them especially when they are in danger and cannot help themselves with Vows and Womanish Tears imploring Divine Assistance calling reason because it cannot shew them a certain way to the vanities they desire Blind and human Wisdom Folly but on the contrary believe dreams dotages of the Imagination and Childish Follies to be divine Oracles saying that God despiseth the Wisdom of the Wise and hath not Written his Will in the mind of Man but on the entrails of Beasts and that Ideots Lunaticks and Birds by divine inspiration and instinct can foretel his Decrees so mad hath Fear made Men. And as Superstition hath its Original from Fear so is it kept up and continued by it of which Truth if any Man desire beside what hath been said any particular Examples let him read the 5 th Book and 4 th Decade of Quintus Curtius where he will find Alexander the Great applying himself to Diviners and Prophets when he first began to doubt his Fortune at the Straights of Susa but after the Conquest of Darius never more consulting them till terrified with the revolt of the Bactrians and with the Scythians provoking him to Battle when he lay wounded he returns again to the Folly of human Superstition and commands Aristander to whom he gave much credit to inquire by Sacrifices what was like to be the event of his Affairs and to this purpose many Examples may be produced all which would clearly shew that Men are most troubled with Superstitious Fancies during their Fears and all those things which they have so vainly and religiously rever'd are nothing but the false representations and dotages of a Mellancholly and timerous Mind And Lastly that they who pretend to prediction are much in request with the common People and most feared by Kings and Princes when a Kingdom is in any great distress or calamity but because these things are so vulgarly known I pass them by Fear then being the cause of Superstition it clearly follows that all Men are naturally inclin'd and subject to it whatever others say who think it proceeds from a certain imperfect confused knowledg Men have of a Deity It follows likewise that Superstition must of necessity be very various and inconstant because all ridiculous Follies of the Mind Fits of Frenzy yea Superstition it self cannot be maintained but by Hope Hatred Anger and Deceit it proceeding not from Reason but Passion and that too very violent As therefore Men easily fall into all sorts of Superstition so on the contrary it is very difficult to make them continue in any one kind because the common People being all times alike miserable are never long quiet but still most pleased with that which is new and never yet deceived them which inconstancy hath been the cause of many Tumults and cruel Wars and as Quintus Curtius in his 4 th Book and 10 th Decad hath very well observed nothing so absolutely governs the
to things relating to honesty and good manners we ought to think otherwise I will more exactly and fully prove because 't is a matter of greater moment and from thence will conclude that Prophesy never left the Prophets more Learned but left them in the Opinions wherewith they were prepossest and for that reason in things meerly Speculative no Man is obliged to believe them Many men have very unadvisedly perswaded themselves that the Prophets knew all things within the compass of Human Understanding and tho' some places of Scripture tell us plainly that the Prophets did not know some things yet they are rather willing to confess they do not understand those places of Scripture then yeild the Prophets were Ignorant of any thing or else they endeavour so to wrest the Words of Scripture that they would have it say that which it doth not mean. If either of these be lawful then Farewel to all Scripture for in vain do we endeavour to prove any thing by Scripture if those things which are most clear in it shall be reckon'd amongst those that are obscure and unintelligible or else shall be interpreted as we please For example nothing is more plain then that Iosuah and perhaps he that wrote the Book of Iosuah did belive that the Sun moved about the Earth that the Earth had no motion and that the Sun for some time stood still Yet many because they will not allow of any mutation in the Heavens so expound that Place that it shall not seem to imply any such thing but others who think themselves better Phylosophers because they believe the Eatrh moves and the Sun stands still or at least moves not about the Earth do with might and main endeavour to wrest the Proof of their Opinion out of the same Scripture against its plain Words Indeed at these Men I much wonder is any Man obliged to believe that Iosuah a Souldier was perfectly skill'd in Astronomy and that a Miracle could not be revealed to him or that the Light of the Sun could not remain longer above the Horizon then ordinary unless Iosuah understood the Cause thereof both seem to me ridiculous and I had rather plainly say that Iosuah did not know the true Cause of that continuing Light and that all the Army with him did think that the Sun had adiuvrual motion about the Earth and that it 's standing still that particular Day was the true Cause of its longer shining but did not understand that the great abundance of Hail which the 11 th Verse of the 10 th chap. of Iosuah says was then in the Region of the Air might cause a greater refraction of Light then ordinary or some other thing of like Nature which is not our Business here to inquire In like manner according to the Capacity of Isaiah a Sign was given by the Shadow 's going back upon the Dyal of Ahaz because his Opinion was that the Sun moved and not the Earth and for Parhelij perhaps he never dreamt of any such thing which we may without any scruple maintain for the Sign might really happen and be foretold to the King though the Prophet were ignorant of the true Cause thereof The same may be said of Solomon's Building that if all the measures and Proportions of it were revealed by God they were revealed according to Solomon's Capacity and Opinion for seeing we are not bound to believe that Solomon was an exact Mathematician we may lawfully affirm that he knew not what proportion the Diameter of a Circle ought to bear to the Peripheria or Circumference but thought with the common sort of Workmen that it should be as three to one but if it be lawful to say that we do not understand the Text in the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 7. v. 23. Truly I know not what we can understand from Scripture since there the Building is simply and historically related if it be lawful to suppose the Scripture meant otherwise but for some Reason to us unknown would write in that manner what can follow but a total overthrow of all Scripture and then there is nothing so absurd or wicked which Malice can invent that may not under Scripture Authority be countenanced and committed but what we maintain savors not of Impiety for Solomon Isaiah Ioshua c. tho' Prophets were Men subject to Human Infirmities The drowning of all Mankind by a Deluge was revealed to Noah according to his capacity for he thought no Part of the World was inhabited but Palestine and the Prophets without any prejudice to their Piety might be yea were Ignorant not only of things of this Nature but also of Matters of greater consequence for they discovered very little of the Divine Attributes but had mean and Vulgar Opinions of God to which their Revelations were accommodated as by many Testimonies of Scripture shall be proved so that we may plainly see they were not so much commended for the Excellencies and Sublimity of their Knowledge as for their Piety and constancy of Mind Adam was the first Man to whom God revealed himself Yet he knew not that God was Omnipresent and Omniscient for he hid himself from God and endeavour'd to excuse his Sin to God as if he had been before a Man therefore God was revealed to him according to his Opinion and Capacity that is as one who was not every where and as one Ignorant of Adam's Sin For Adam heard or seemed to hear God walking in the Garden calling and asking Adam where art thou Asking likewise because Adam was ashamed whether he had eaten of the forbidden Tree Adam therefore knew no other Attribute of God then that he was the maker of all things God was revealed to Cain according to his Capacity that is as one ignorant of Human Actions nor did he need any higher Knowledge of God to repent of his Sin. To Laban God revealed himself as the God of Abraham because Laban believed that every Nation had a peculiar God as appears Gen. chap. 31. v. 29. Where he saith to Iacob the God of your Father spoke to me Yesternight Abraham was ignorant of God's Vbiquity and Prescience for as soon as he heard the Sentence against Sodom he prayed that God would not execute it till he knew whether all deserved the Punishment Gen. chap. 18 th v. 24. Peradventure there may be found Fifty righteous within the City Nor was God otherwise revealed to him for in Abraham's imagination God said verse 21 th I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the Cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know God's Testimony of Abraham in Gen. chap. 12. v. 19. Speaks of nothing but Abraham's Obedience and that he would command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the Way of the Lord and to do Judgment and Justice but says nothing of any extraordinary knowledge or Conceptions that he had of God. Moses did not perfectly
chap. 1 st v. 10 11. God there reproves the Iews saying who is there even among you that would have shut the Doors for nought meaning of the Temple neither do ye kindle fire on my Altar for nought I have no Pleasure in you saith the Lord of Hosts neither will I accept an Offering at your hand for from the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen saith the Lord of Hosts which words sufficiently testify unless we wrest their sense that at that time the Iews were not more beloved of God then other Nations that God was made known more to other Nations by Miracles then he was at that time to the Iews who then without Miracles recovered again in part their Government and that other Nations had Religious Rites and Ceremonies wherewith God was well pleased but these things I pass by it being sufficient for my purpose to have shewn that the Election of the Iews concerned nothing else but the temporal well fare of their Bodies their Liberty Government or the ways and means by which it was erected consequently their Laws as they were necessary to the Establishment of that particular kind of Government and Lastly the manner how those Laws were revealed but as to all other things wherein the Happyness of Man's Life consists they were but equal to other Nations Seeing then the Scripture Deut. chap. 4. v. 7. Saith that no Nation had God so nigh unto them as the Iews That must be understood only in Respect of the Government and of that time only in which so many Miracles happened but in Respect of Knowledge and Vertue which is true Happyness God as we have already proved was equally Gracious to all Men which is evident in Scripture for the Psalmist saith Psal. 145. v. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all them that call upon him in Truth also in the same Psal. v. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Psal. 33. v. 15. He fashioneth Mens Hearts alike The meaning of which Expression is that God gives to all Mankind the same Intellect for among the Iews as 't is well known the Heart was believed to be the Seat of the Soul and Understanding It appears Iob chap. 28. v. 28. That the Law prescribed by God to all Mankind was to fear the Lord depart from evil and to do well and therefore Iob tho' a Gentile was very acceptable to God and excell'd in Religion and Piety Lastly it is plain by the 4 th chap. of Ionah v. 21. That God was not only to the Iews but to all Men Gracious Merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness which are the Words of Moses Exod. chap. 34. v. 6. So that Ionah said he fled to Tarshish because he knew God being Merciful and Gracious would pardon the Ninevites who were Gentiles We then conclude seeing God is equally good to all Mankind and that the Iews were only chosen by God in respect of their Society and Government that every particular Iew considered as a Person out of that Common-weath and Government had no Gift of God above other Men nor was there any difference between a Iew and a Gentile If God be equally good and gracious to all Men and that the Duty and Office of a Prophet was not so much to instruct Men in the particular Laws of their Country as to teach them the Way to good and Vertuous living there is no doubt but all Nations had their Prophets and that the Gift of Prophesy was not peculiar to the Iews which is proved by Profane as well as by Sacred Histories Tho' in the Sacred Histories of the Old Testament it doth not plainly appear that other Nations had so many Prophets as the Iews or that any Gentile Prophet was expresly sent by God to other Nations nothing is to be inferr'd from thence because the Iews only took care to write the History of their own Affairs and not of other Nations It is enough that in the Old Testament we find that Gentiles and Men uncircumcised as Noah Enoch Abimeleck and Balaam did Prophesy and that also the Iewish Prophets were not only sent by God to their own People but likewise to other Nations Ezekiel Prophesy'd to all the Nations known in his Time and Obadiah for ought we know to none but the Edomites Ionah was a Prophet chiefly to the Ninevites Isaiah did not only lament and foretel the Calamities and Prophesy the Restauration of the Iews but also of other Nations for he saith chap. 16. v. 9. Therefore will I bewail with the weeping of Iazer In chap. 19. He first foretelleth the Calamities and afterwards the Restauration of the Egyptians in the 19 20 21 25. Verses he tells them God would send them a Saviour and would deliver them that God should be known to them and that they should worship God by Sacrifices and Oblations and Lastly he calls Egypt the Blessed People of God all which is very worthy of our Observation Lastly Ieremy was not only a Prophet to the Iews but was in Express Terms called the Prophet of the Nations Ierem. chap. 1 st v. 5. Before thou camest out of the Womb I sanctify'd thee and ordained thee a Prophet to the Nations He Prophetically be wayl'd and foretold the Restauration of other Nations he saith chap. 48. v. 31. Therefore will I howl for Moab I will cry out for all Moab and v. 36. Therefore my Heart shall sound for Moab like Pipes And afterward foretels the Restauration of the Egyptians the Amonites and Elamites Without question other Nations had their Prophets as well as the Iews tho' the Scripture mentions only Balaam to whom was revealed what should befal other Nations as well as the Iews Yet we are not to believe that Balaam never Prophesy'd till he was sent for by Balaack it appears by the story that he was Famous for Prophesy and other Divine Endowments for Balaack said to him Numb chap. 22. v. 6. I know he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is cursed So that he had the same Power and Vertue which God Gen. chap. 12. v. 3. bestowed upon Abraham Balaam also answers Balaack's Messengers as one accustomed to Prophesy for he bid them stay all Night till the Word of God were revealed to him when he Prophesyed that is made known what was truly the Mind and Will of God he used to say these Words He hath said who heard the Words of God and knew the. Knowledge of the most high who saw the Vision of the Almighty salling into a Trance but having his Eyes open Lastly after he had by Gods Command blessed the Israelites he began as he was wont to Prophesy of other Nations foretelling what should
requires may be called the commands of God because they are as it were prescribed by God existing in our minds and the rule of living which respecteth this end may be called the divine Law but what those means are and what that manner of living is which this end requires how the best Goverments and Men in living one with another should pursue this end is a Subject for moral Philosophy to handle my present business is only to speak in general of the Law divine If then the love of God be Man's cheifest felicity and beatitude and the ultimate end and scope of all Mens actions it follows that he only keeps Gods Law whose care is to love God not for fear of punishment or for the love of any other thing as Pleasure Wealth Fame c. but only because he knows God or because he knows that the knowledge and love of God is the cheifest good the summ then and cheif precept of the Divine Law is to love God as our cheifest good not as we have already said for fear of some Evil or Punishment nor for the love of any other thing in which we take delight But tho' the Notion of a God dictate to us that God is our cheifest good and that the knowledge and love of God is the end to which all our Actions ought to be directed yet the carnal Man cannot understand these things and they seem vanity to him because he hath too low and narrow a knowledge of God and because also in this cheifest good which consists only in speculation and purity of the mind he finds nothing that he can handle eat or wherewith to gratify the Flesh with which he is most pleased but they that know there is nothing more excellent then reason and a clear understanding will esteem them the most solid of all Pleasures We have now shewn in what cheifly the Divine Law consists and what are human Laws namely all those which are directed to another end unless they were establisht by divine Revelation for under this consideration things also as we have already shewn are attributed to God and in this sense the Law of Moses tho' it were not Universal but accomodated to the disposition and preservation of one particular People may be called the Law of God or the Divine Law seeing we believe it given by prophetical Revelation So that now if we consider the natural Divine Law as we have explain'd it we shall find it to be Universal and common to all Mankind since we have derived it from human Nature in general Secondly that it doth not require the belief of Histories whatever they be since this Divine natural Law is understood only in consideration of human Nature and we may as well conceive it in any other Man as in Adam and as well in a Man who lives a solitary as in one that leads a social Life nor can the belief of Histories tho' true give us the knowledge or consequently the Love of God for the Love of God proceeds from the knowledge of God and the knowledge of God must be derived from common notions in themselves certain and known so that the belief of History is far from being a means absolutely necessary to the attainment of our cheifest good but tho' the belief of Histories cannot give us the knowledge and Love of God yet we grant reading of them to be very useful in respect of civil Life for the more we know and observe Mens manners and conditions of which their Actions are the best evidence with the greater caution may we live amongst them and the better may we suite our Lives and Actions to their dispositions so far as is reasonable Thirdly this natural Divine Law requires no Ceremonies that is Actions in themselves indifferent and are only good in respect of their institution or because they represent some good necessary to our well being or rather Actions whereof our understanding doth not comprehend the reason for natural light requires nothing but what that light can attain to and only that which it discovers to us can be our good and the way to our happiness those which are good only by precept and institution or because they are representatives of some good they cannot perfect our understanding they are but meer shadows and and cannot be reckon'd amongst those Actions which are the Off-spring and Fruits of our knowledge and sound judgment which to prove more at large is not here necessary Fourthly the highest reward of the Divine Law is the Law it self namely to know God and to love him freely and continually with the whole heart and the penalty of the Law is the loss of that knowledge and love the Bondage of the Flesh and an inconstant Fluctuating Mind These things thus considered we are now to inquire first whether by natural light we can conceive and know God as a Law-giver and Prince prescribing Laws to Men Secondly what the Scripture saith of this natural light and Law Thirdly to what end Ceremonies were instituted Fourthly of what concern it is to know and believe the Sacred Histories Of the two first particulars we will treat in this and of the two last in the following Chapter What we are to conclude concerning the first particular may be easily deduced from the Nature of Gods will which is distinguisht from Gods knowledge only in respect of our reason that is the will and knowledge of God are in themselves one and the same thing nor are they distinguisht but in reference to the thoughts we form of Gods knowledge for example when we consider that the Nature of a Triangle is from all eternity contain'd in the Divine Nature as an eternal Truth then we say God hath the Idea of a Triangle or understandeth the Nature of a Triangle but when afterwards we consider that the Nature of a Triangle is so contain'd in the Divine Nature not in respect of the necessity of the essence and Nature of a Triangle but in respect only of the necessity of the divine nature yea that the necessity of the essence and Properties of a Triangle as they are conceived to be eternal Verities depend only upon the necessity of the divine nature and knowledge of God and not upon the nature of the Triangle then that which we have called Gods knowledge we call Gods Will and decree therefore in relation to God we say one and the same thing when we say that God knew or that God willed and decreed that three Angles of a Triangle should be equal to two right Angles Whence it follows that Gods affirmations and negations must always imply eternal necessity and verity if then for example God said to Adam that he would not have him eat of the Tree of Good and Evil it would imply a contradiction that Adam should be able to eat of it and it was impossible that Adam should eat of it if that divine decree did imply eternal verity and necessity but because
after God under the Notion of good and not as it is contrary to evil that is to seek after good for good 's sake and not for fear of evil for he that doth-good as we have already said upon the account of knowing and loving what is good doth it with a free and constant mind but he that is compell'd by the fear of evil is forced by punishment acts like a Slave and lives under the command of another and therefore that one thing which God commanded Adam comprehends all the Divine Natural Law and perfectly agrees with the Dictates of Natural Reason now would it be a difficult matter from this very Principle to unfold the whole History or Parable of the first Man but I pass it by because I am not certain whether my Explication will agree with the Writers meaning and because many will have the History to be no Parable but a plain and simple Narration it will therefore be better to make use of other Places of Scripture those especially of which he was Author who in Strength of natural Knowledge exceeded the wisest of his Age and whose sayings the People counted as Sacred as they did those of the Prophets I mean Solomon whose Prophesy and Piety is not so much commended in Scripture as his Wisdom and Prudence he in his Proverbs calls Human Understanding the Fountain of Life and placeth misfortune only in Folly for he saith chap. 16. v. 22. Vnderstanding is a well-spring of Life to him that hath it but the Punishment of Fools is their folly Where we are to note that by the word Life in the Hebrew is signified happy Life as appears Deut. chap. 30. v. 10. I have set before thee Life and Death Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse Life And he therefore deriveth the happiness of Life from Knowledge and Punishment from the want of it which exPresly agrees with what we observed in the fourth Place concerning the Divine Natural Law but that this Fountain of Life the Understanding prescribeth Laws to the Wise is proved by Prov. chap. 13. v. 14. The Law of the Wise is a Fountain of Life that is as appears by the fore-cited Text the Understanding and Knowledge Moreover chap. 3. v. 13. 'T is said in express Terms that Uuderstanding and Wisdom make a man happy and give him the true peace of mind Happy is the Man tbat findeth Wisdom and the Man that getteth Vnderstanding And v. 16 17. Length of days is in her right Hand and in her left Riches and Honour her ways are ways of Righteousness and all her Paths which Wisdom points out are Peace In the Opinion of Solomon then only Wise men live quietly and happily not as the wicked whose minds are disturbed and tost to and fro with contrary Passions and Affections So that as Isaiah saith chap. 47. v. 20 21. The wicked are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest there is no Peace to the wicked Lastly in the Proverbs that which clearly confirms this Opinion is what he saith chap. 2. v. 3. If thou criest after Knowledge and liftest up thy Voice for Vnderstanding then v. 5. Thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God. or rather the Love of God for the Hebrew word Iadah signifies both for Verse the 6 th which observe well The Lord giveth Wisdom out of his Mouth cometh Knowledge and Wisdom Which words clearly declare First that only Understanding and Wisdom teach us to fear God Prudently i e to serve him truly and to worship him rightly Next that Wisdom and Knowledge flow from the Mouth of God and are given by God that is our Understanding and Wisdom depends upon proceeds from and is only perfected by the Idea or Knowledge of God Solomon goes on and in the 9 th Verse shews that in and from this Knowledge is continued and derived the Science of true Morality and Policy Then shalt thou understand Righteousness Iudgment and Equity yea every good thing And Verse the 10 th When Wisdom shall enter into thy Heart and Knowledge is pleasant to thy Soul Verse the 11 th Discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee All which Expressions plainly agree with natural Knowledge which teacheth us Morality and true Vertue after we have gained the Knowledge of things and tasted the Excellency of Understanding The Happiness and Tranquility therefore of a Man that improves his natural Reason and Knowledge doth not in Solomon's Opinion chiefly depend upon Fortune that is God's external Assistance but upon his own internal Vertue and Faculties that is God's internal aid because by watching working and well considering he preserveth himself Lastly that place of St. Paul. Rom. chap. 1 st v. 20. Is very worthy of our Notice where according to Tremelius's version of the Siriack Text he saith The invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his external Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse By which words he maketh it evident that all men by the Light of natural Reason and Knowledge may understand the Power of God and his Eternal Divinity by which they may be able to know and conjecture what they are to seek and pursue and what they are to avoid and so concludes that all are without excuse and cannot pretend Ignorance which they might very vvell if he spoke of Supernatural Knovvledge and of the Bodily passion and resurrection of Christ therefore he goes on in the 24 th Verse and says God gave them up to uncleanness through the Lust of their own Hearts describing to the end of the Chapter the Vices of Ignorance which Vices he declares to be the punishment of Ignorance agreeing with that Proverb of Solomon mentioned Chap. 16. v. 22. The punishment of Fools is their folly So that it is no wonder Paul says evil doers are inexcusable for as every Man sows so shall he reap Evil unless Wisdom prevent necessarily brings forth evil the Scripture therefore expresly commends natural Knowledge and the Divine Natural Law so that I have done with what I intend to treat of in this Chapter CHAP. V. The reason why Ceremonies were instituted to what end and tow hom the Belief of Scripture-Histories are necessary IN the foregoing Chapter we have shewn that the Divine Law which makes Men happy and teacheth the right way of Living is Universal to all Mankind and we have so derived it from Human Nature that it appears to be born with and as it were engraved upon the Mind and Heart of Man but because Ceremonies those at least which we find in the Old Testament were only instituted for the Iews and so fitted to their Government that for the most part they might be observed in their Public Assemblies tho' not by every Individual Person it is manifest that they did not belong to the Divine Law nor contributed any thing to the making men happy or
other Power whatever contrary to Nature that must also be contrary to those first Notions and so be rejected as absurd and against Reason or else we must doubt of our prime Notions and consequently of God and all things else Miracles therefore in what manner soever we apprehend them as they are understood to be Works contrary to the Order of Nature are far from proving God's existence they rather bring it into Question for without Miracles vve may be assur'd of it namely by knovving that all things observe the certain and immutable Order of Nature but granting that to be a miracle vvhich cannot be explained and made knovvn by natural Causes vve ought then either to conclude that it hath natural Causes but such as cannot be found out by Human Understanding or that it hath no immediate Cause but God or his Will but if all things which are effected by Natural Causes are done only by the Power and Will of God we must necessarily at last come to this that whether a Miracle have natural Causes or not it is a Work which cannot be manifested by a Natural Cause that is 't is a Work which exceeds Hnman Capacity and from a Work that exceeds Human Understanding we can understand and collect nothing for whatever we clearly and distinctly understand we do it by the thing it self or some other and that which is clearly and distinctly understood by it self ought to be perfectly known to us therefore by a miracle or any Work exceeding Human Capacity we cannot conceive God's Essence or Existence nor can we absolutely understand any thing of God or Nature but on the contrary when we know all things to be ordained and establisht by God and that the Operations of Nature ncessarily flow from the Essence of God and that the Laws of Nature are the Eternal Decrees and purposes of God it must necessarily be concluded that we so much the better know God and his Will by how much the better we understand and know Natural Things how they depend in their first Cause and how they operate according to the Eternal Laws of Nature So that in Respect of our Understanding with much more Reason are those Works to be called the Works of God and his Will which we clearly and distinctly understand then those of which we are totally ignorant tho' they strangely effect our imagination and cause our wonder because only those Works of Nature which we clearly and distinctly know render our Knowledge of God more sublime and more evidently declare the Will and Decrees of God So that those Men do but trifle who when they do not understand a thing run presently to the Will of God and ridiculously betray their own Ignorance moreover whatever we conclude from miracles yet the Existence of God cannot in any manner be concluded from them for since a miracle is a limited Work and expresseth only a certain and limited Power we cannot from such an Effect conclude the Existence of a Cause whose Power is infinite but only of a Cause whose Power at most is greater then that Effect I say at most because from many concuring Causes there may follow an effect whose Vertue and Power may be less then all the Causes together and yet much greater then the Power of any one of those Causes taken single but because the Laws of Nature As we have already shewn extend themselves to things Infinite being conceived by us under a kind of Eternity and Nature by them proceeds in a certain and unchangeable course so far do those Laws in some measure declare to us the Eternity and Immutability of God and therefore we conclude that neither God's Being or Providence can be known by miracles but may much better be concluded from the fixed and unalterable Course of Nature I speak now of a miracle as it is taken for a Work that is above Human Capacity or believ'd to be so for as it is supposed to be a Work that interrupts or perverts the Order of Nature or is repugnant tc its Laws it is so far from giving us any Knowledge of God that it takes away that which we naturally have and makes us doubt of God and all other things Nor do I know any difference between a thing done contrary to Nature and that which is done above Nature that is as some explain themselves a thing which is not done contrary to the Order of Nature but yet is not effected and produced by Nature for seeing a miracle is not wrought out of Nature but within the Compass of it tho' it be concluded to be above Nature yet it must necessarily interrupt Natures Order which by the Decrees of God we conceived to be fixed and immutable and therefore whatever is done in Nature which doth not follow from the Rules of Nature that must necessarily be repugnant to that Order which God to all Eternity by Universal Laws establisht in Nature and consequently being against Nature and its Laws the believing it must bring all things into doubt and lead us to Atheism So that by what hath been said I hope I have so proved the Second Particular that we may again conclude a miracle whether contrary to Nature or above it to be a meer absurdity and that by a miracle nothing can be understood in Scripture but a Work of Nature which is indeed above Human Understanding or at least believed to be so Before I proceed to the Third Particular I resolve to prove from Scripture that we cannot know God by Miracles indeed the Scripture doth no where Litterally say so but we may conclude it from the 13. Chap. of Deut. Where Moses commands the People to put any Prophet to death who went about to seduce them And tho' the Sign and the Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee an yet thou shalt not hearken to the Words of the Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you that Prophet shall be put to death From whence it clearly follows that miracles might be done by false Prophets and unless men were fortifyed with the true Knowledge and Love of God they might be induced by miracles to worship false Gods as well as the true Moses adds because the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love him with all your Heart and with all your Soul. The Israelites notwithstanding all their miracles had no right Notions of God which appears by Experience for in the Absence of Moses they called upon Aron to make them visible Gods who to their Eternal shame made them after so many Miracles done a Calf to represent God. Asaph who had heard of so many miracles yet doubted of God's Providence and had he not at last understood what was true Happiness he had gone out of the right Way Psalm 73. Solomon also in whose time the Iews were in their highest Prosperity believed that all things happened by chance Eccles. Chap. 3. v. 19 20 21. and chap. 9. v. 2 3. The
very Prophets themselves knew not how to reconcile the Course of Nature and Human Eevents with the Notions they had of God's Providence but to Wisemen whose Knowledge is not built on miracles but upon clear and distinct conceptions the thing is very evident especially to those who place true Happiness in Vertue and Tranquility of Mind and study more to submit to Nature then to make Nature obedient to them knowing certainly that God directeth Nature as its own Universal Laws and not as the particular Laws of Human Nature require and that God hath a care not only of Mankind but of the whole Frame of Nature in general and it appears by Scripture that miracles cannot teach us to know God or his Providence tho' we find in Scripture that God wrought miracles to be known to Men. Exod. Chap. 10. v. 2. The wonders which he did in Egypt were to convince the Israelites that there was a God yet it doth not follow that the miracles themselves taught them to know God but only that the Iews were prepossest with such Opinions that they would easily be perswaded by those Signs for as I have already shewed in the Second Chapter that the conceptions which the Prophets had by Revelation were not drawn from Universal and common Notions but from concessions sometimes absurd and from the Opinions of those to whom the Revelations were made and from theirs whom the Holy Spirit would convince as we have proved by many Examples and the Testimony of Paul who was to the Iews a Iew and with the Grecians a Greek But tho' those Miracles were sufficient to convince the Israelites and the Egyptians from their own Principles that there was a God yet they were not able to give them a right understanding and Idea of God they understood nothing more by them then that there was a Power greater then all other known Beings and that that Power took a particular care of the Iews whose Affairs were at that time so prosperous above all other Nations but did not teach them that God hath an equal care of all Mankind which we know only by Philosophy or true Wisdom and therefore the Iews and all that knew nothing of God's Providence but from the different State of Human Affairs and from the disparity of men's Fortunes perswaded themselves that the Iews were better beloved by God then all other Nations tho' they did not excel any other People in Human perfection as we have already declared in our Third Chapter We now proceed to the Third Particular that is to prove by Scripture that the Commands and Decrees of God and consequently his Providence are indeed nothing else but the regular Course of Nature that is when the Scripture saith any thing was done by God or the Will of God nothing more is to be understood then that it was done according to the Order and Rules of Nature and not as the Vulgar imagine that Nature was idle and ceased from Action or that the Order of Nature was for sometime interrupted The Scripture doth not give us the true Knowledge of things which do not concern its Doctrine because as we have already declared it needless it meddles not with demonstrating things by their natural Causes nor with things that are meerly Speculative and therefore to prove by consequence what we intend we will quote some Scripture Histories whose Relations are fullest of Circumstances In the first Book of Sam. Chap. 9. v. 15 16. It is said that God told Samuel in his Ear that he would send Saul to him and yet God did not send him as Men use to send Messenger one to another but this mission of God was nothing but the Order and Course of Nature for Saul sought his Father's lost Asses and thinking he should not find them by Advice of his Father's Servant he went to the Prophet Samuel to know if he could tell him where they were nor doth it appear any where in the whole Relation that Saul had any particular Command from God beside this natural Course to go to Samuel Psal. 105. v. 24. 'T is said that God turned the Heart of the Egyptians to hate the Israelites which turning was Natural as appears by the first Chap. of Exodus where very good Reasons are given for the Egyptians keeping the Israelites in subjection In the 9 th Chap. of Gen. v. 13. God saith to Noah that he would set his Bow in the Cloud which Action of God was nothing but the Reflection and Refraction of the Sun-Beams in the minute drops of Rain Water Psal. 147. v. 18. The natural Operation and warmth of the Wind by which Frost and Snow are melted is called the Word of God and v. 15. the Wind is called the Commandment of God Psal. 104. v. 4. The Wind and the Fire are called the Messengers and Ministers of God and many other like places in Scripture clearly shew that the Decree the Command the Saying and Word of God are nothing else but the Operation and Order of Nature and without doubt many things which are related in Scripture and attributed to God naturally come to pass because it was not the intent of Scripture to give us an account of things by their natural Causes but only to relate those things which strongly possess the imagination and in such manner and stile as was most likely to cause admiration and fill Mens minds with Devotion If then we find in Scripture some things of whose natural causes we are ignorant or that seem to have happen'd against the order of nature we are not presently to doubt but believe that what did really happen came to pass by the course of nature which is confirm'd by the many Circumstances that accompany'd miracles tho' the Circumstances were not particularly related or were at least poetically related I say the Circumstances clearly prove that the miracles required and had natural causes When the Egyptians were to be smitten with the Plague of boiles Moses was to cast up and sprinkle Ashes into the Air Exod. chap. 9. v. 10. The Locusts also by Gods natural command namely by an East Wind blowing a whole Day and Night covered the Land of Egypt and left it again with a strong West Wind Exod chap. 10. v. 13. 19. By the command of God was a way made through the Sea for the Iews by an East Wind that blew a whole Night Exod. chap. 14. v. 21. when the Prophet Elisha was to raise the Child thought to be dead he several times stretched himself upon the Body till he grew warm and opened his Eyes in the 2 d. Book of Kings chap. 4. v. 34,35 so also in the 9 th chap of St. Iohns Gospel some Circumstances are mentioned which Christ used when he Cured the blind Man many other things are related in Scripture which all declare that miracles require somewhat more then the absolute command of God and therefore tho' all the Circumstances of miracles and their natural causes be not
for us to interpret Scripture for most of the things we meet with in it cannot be deduced from Principles known by natural reason as we have already shewn and therefore the Truth of them cannot be made manifest by the strength of natural reason and consequently the true Sense and meaning of the Scripture cannot appear to us without some other light Moreover if this opinon were true the common People who are ignorant of or at least do not mind Demonstrations would entertain no Scripture but what they received from the Authority or Testimony of Philosophers and consequently ought to suppose Philosophers cannot Err in the interpretation of Scripture which truly would be a new Ecclesiastical Authority and a kind of Priesthood which the vulgar would rather scorn then reverence And tho' our method require the knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue which the vulgar have no time to Study nothing can upon that Score be objected for the common People of the Iews and Gentiles to whom the Prophets and Apostles Preached understood the Language of the Prophets and Apostles and by it understood the meaning of the Prophets tho' not the reasons of the things they Preached which according to the opinion of Maimonides they ought to have known to make themselves capable of understanding the Prophets meaning It doth not follow from the rule of our method that the common People must necessarily rely upon the Testimony of interpreters for I have given an instance of a People that knew the Language of the Prophets and Apostles but Maimonides can never shew me a common People that knew the causes of things which he says was the knowledge whereby the mind of the Prophets was to be understood and as for the common People of these days we have already shewn that all things necessary to Salvation tho' the reasons of them be not known may be easily understood in any Language because they are so common and ordinary and for this knowledge the vulgar do not depend upon the Testimony of interpreters in other things they follow the Fortune of the Learned But to return to a stricter examination of Maimonides opinion first he supposeth that the Prophets did in all things agree one with another and that they were most excellent Philosophers because as he will have it their conclusions were drawn from the Truth of things but this I have proved in my Second Chapter to be false Next he supposeth that the Sense of Scripture cannot be made out by Scripture for as much as it doth not Demonstrate any thing nor doth it prove the things of which it Treats by definition and Primary Causes wherefore according to the opinion of Maimonides the true Sense of Scripture can neither appear or be deduced from Scripture But I have likewise proved this to be false in the present Chapter For I have made it appear both from reason and examples that the Sense of Scripture is found out only by Scripture and to be derived thence even when it speaks of things unknown to us by natural light Lastly Maimonides supposeth that it is Lawful for us according to our preconceived opinions to expound and wrest the Words of Scripture and to deny or change the litteral Sense thereof be it never so express and plain which Liberty is Diametrically opposite to what I have Demonstrated in this and other Chapters and Savors of too much boldness but should I grant him this Liberty what advantage will he get by it none at all for those things which cannot be Demonstrated make up the greatest part of Scripture we cannot by this way make out nor by this rule expound or interpret them when on the contrary by following our method we may explain many things of this kind and as we have already shewn safely dispute of them but those things which are in their own nature perceptible their Sense is easily drawn from the context and as Maimonides method is unprofitable so it takes from the common People all certainty which they and all that follow any other method can by diligent reading have of the Sense of Scripture and therefore we reject it as dangerous useless and absurd as for the forementioned Tradition of the Pharisees we know not that there is any such and as for the Popes Authority I for no other reason deny it but because it wants clear Proof for had they as much Scripture to shew for it as heretofore the Iewish High Priests had for theirs I should be as little concerned that some of the Popes of Rome have been Hereticks and wicked Men as that the High-Priests of the Iews were sometimes as bad and yet by the command of Scripture had still the Power of interpreting the Law as appears by the 17 chap. of Deut. v. 11 12. chap. 33. v. 10. and Mal. chap. 2. v. 7 8. But because the Popes can shew us no such Testimony their Authority is very much to be doubted and that no Man may deceive himself and think that according to the example of the Iewish High-Priests the Catholic Religion also wants a High Priest it is to be observed that the Laws of Moses were the public Laws of the Country and needed a public Authority to maintain them for if every Man have a Liberty of interpreting the public Laws as he pleaseth no Common-wealth can stand but presently dissolves and public Laws become private but in Religion the Case is quite different for seeing Religion doth not so much consist in external Actions as in Truth and Singleness of Heart it is of no Public Power or Authority for Truth and Sincerity of mind is not infused by the command of Laws or by public Authority and no Man can be compell'd by force or by Laws to be made holy nothing but good brotherly Council education and a mans own free judgment can do that Seeing then every Man hath right to think of Religion as he pleaseth and it cannot be imagin'd any Man can part with this right it is in every Mans Power to judge of Religion and consequently to expound and interpret it to himself for as the cheif Power of interpreting Laws and judging of Public Matters resides in the Magistrate upon no other account but because they are public so likewise for the same reason the Supream Authority of explaining and judging of Religion is in every particular Person because it is every private Mans right The Authority then of the Iewish High-Priest to interpret Laws is far from proving the Popes Authority to interpret Religion but rather the contrary that every particular Man hath right to do it So that it is evident our method of interpreting Scripture i. the best for seeing the supream Power of interpreting it ought to be that natural reason which is common to all Men and not any Supernatural light or external Authority this method ought not be so difficult and abstruse that none but acute Philosophers can make use of or Compose it but it must be
the Language Words or Stile wherein they are express'd and that all Books which declare and teach what is excellently good in what Tongue or by what Nation soever written are equally Sacred Let this at least be observ'd that the Chapters which are written in Chaldee are no less Sacred than any of the rest in the whole Bible To this Book of Daniel the first Book of Ezra is so annex'd that it appears they were both written by one person who relates what successively past amongst the Iews from the first Captivity And to this Book of Esdras without doubt is joyn'd the Book of Hester for the Conjunction wherewith the Book begins can relate to no other Book nor can it be thought the same Book which Mordecai wrote for he that writ the Book of Hester saith in the 9 th chap. v. 20. that Mordecai wrote Letters and declares what were their Contents Moreover the 31 th of the same Chapter tells us That Queen Hester confirm'd by a Decree all things concerning the Feast of Purim or Lots and in the 32 th verse 't is said it was written in the Book that is according to the Hebrew manner of speaking in a Book which every one at that time knew which Book with others Aben Ezra says was lost what else concerned Mordecai the Historian in the 10 th chap. v. 2. saith was written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia and therefore without question this Book of Daniel was written by the same person who wrote the Affairs of Daniel and Ezra and so also was the Book of Nehemiah called the Second Book of Ezra so that we conclude these four Books namely Daniel Ezra Hester and Nehemiah to be written by one Historian but who he was I cannot so much as guess but that we may know whoever he were from whence he had the knowledge of the things he relates and from whence he copy'd them out we are to take notice that the Governours and Princes of the Iews in the time of the Second Temple as did their Kings in the time of the First kept Scribes or Historiographers who writ Annals and recorded what past which Annals or Chronologies are every where cited in the Book of Kings but those of the Princes and Priests of the Second Temple are quoted first in Nehemiah chap. 12. v. 23. and also in the first Book of Machabes chap. 16. v. 24. and no question this Book of Annals was that Book mention'd in the 32 th verse of the 9 th chap. of Hester in which the Decree of Queen Hester and those things that concern'd Mordecai were written which Book we agree with Aben Ezra was lost and out of this Book of Annals all things contain'd in the four Books we have last mention'd were in all probability taken and copy'd for there is no other Book quoted by the writer of these four nor do we know any other of publick Authority That these four Books were not written either by Ezra or Nehemiah appears by what is said in the 9 th and 10 th verses of the 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Genealogy of the High-Priest Iesuah is deriv'd down to Iaduah the sixth High-priest who went to meet Alexander the Great when he had almost conquer'd the Kingdom of Persia as appears in the 2 d. Book and 8 th chap. of Iosephus's Antiquities or as Philo Iudaeus saith in Libro temporum the sixth and last High-priest under the Persian Monarchy which is likewise plainly declar'd in the 22 th verse of the aforesaid 12 th chap. of Nehem. where the Historian saith The Levites in the days of Eliashib Ioiada Iohanan and Iaduah were recorded Priests to the Reign of Darius the Persian that is in the Annals of that Government And sure no Man will believe that Hezra or Nehemiah were so long liv'd to survive fourteen Persian Kings for Cyrus the first King of Persia was he that gave the Iews liberty to rebuild their Temple and from him to Darius the fourteenth and last King of the Persians are reckoned 230 years therefore without all doubt these four Books I have mention'd were written long after Iudas Maccabeus restor'd the worship of the Temple and also because at that time were spurious counterfeit Books of Daniel Hesdras and Hester publish'd by some malicious persons who were of the Sect of the Zadduces for the Pharisees would never own them and tho' in the Book which we call the 4 th of Esdras there are some fabulous stories which we also find in the Talmud yet they ought not to be fathered on the Pharisees for there is no Man of sense but believes those Tales were added by some trifling fellow perhaps to render the Pharisaical Traditions ridiculous or to make the people of that time believe that the Prophesies of Daniel were fulfill'd thereby to confirm them in their Religion and in the midst of so many and great Calamities to keep them from despair But tho' these Books be of no great Antiquity yet many faults I suppose through haste in those who copy'd them out have crept into them for in these as in the rest are many Marginal Notes of which we spake in the former Chapter and also some places for which no excuse can be made but if it be granted that the Marginal Readings of these Books be as the Pharisees would have it as ancient as the Writers themselves then it must necessarily follow that the Scribes if they were more than one put these Notes into the Margent because they did not find the Annals from whence they copy'd out the Books perfectly written and tho' some faults be very plain and obvious yet the Scribes would not be so bold to alter or mend the Writings of their Ancestors Of this particular I have said enough and I now pass on to shew those errors whereof no notice is taken in the Margent I cannot tell how many I meet with in the 2 d chap of Ezra for in the 64 th verse it is said that the whole Congregation together of those that went up out of Captivity to Ierusalem was forty two thousand three hundred and threescore and yet if the particular numbers throughout the whole Chapter be exactly summ'd up and added together they make the total to be no more than twenty nine thousand eight hundred and eighteen so that there is an error in the total or particular numbers Now 't is most likely the total number was not mistaken but set down right because every one might keep that in memory tho' he could not remember the particular numbers had there been any error or mistake in the total every body would have known it and it might have been easily mended which is confirm'd by the 7 th chap. of Nehemiah which tells us that the whole number of them that came up from the Captivity was the very same mention'd in the 2 d chap of Ezra but the particular numbers very much differ for
Neguniah the Son of Hiskiah the Book of Ezechiel had been absconded because there are expressions in it repugnant to the words of the Law By all which it is manifest that the learned in the Law held a Council to determin what Books should be receiv'd for Sacred and what should be rejected so that whoever will be sure of the Authority of all must search into the Council and know upon what ground and reason every Book was receiv'd I should now examin the Books of the New Testament but I hear it hath been already done by Men learned in the Sciences and skilful in Tongues I am not Grecian good enough to undertake it beside we want Original Copies of those Books which were written in Hebrew and therefore I will not ingage my self in the business but only observe some things which make to my main purpose and that shall be the work of my next Chapter CHAP. XI Enquires whether the Apostles wrote their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Teachers and sheweth what is the Office of an Apostle WHoever reads the New Testament must be convinc'd that the Apostles were Prophets but because the Prophets as I have shew'd in the end of the first Chapter did but seldom and not always speak by Revelation it may very well be a Question Whether the Apostles like Moses Ieremy and others did by express Command and Revelation write their Epislles as Prophets or else only as private Men and Teachers especially because in the 1 st Epist. to the Corinthians chap. 14. v. 6. Paul in express terms declares there are two sorts of speaking the one by Revelation the other by Knowledge I say therefore it may be doubted whether the Apostles in their Writings did Prophesie or instruct Their Stile if we mark it is very far different from that us'd in Prophesie it was alway the custom of the Prophets to declare That they spake by the Command of God still beginning with expressions like these So faith the Lord The Lord of Hosts saith The Word and Decree of the Lord which they did use not only in their publick Speeches but also in their Letters or Writings which contain'd Revelations as appears in the Letter written by Elijah the Prophet to King Iehoram 2 d Book of Chron. chap 21. v 12. and there came a Writing to him from Elijah the Prophet saying Thus saith the Lord God but in the Apostles Writings we meet with no such expressions but the clean contrary 1 st Epist Corinth chap. 7. v. 40. Paul says he speaks after his own Judgment Yea in many places we find expressions which argue a doubtful and uncertain mind as in the Epist. to the Rom. chap. 3. v. 28. Therefore we conclude And Rom. chap. 8 v. 18. for I reckon and many of the like kind Beside these there are other manners of speaking which do not at all savor of Prophetical Authority as in the 1 st Epist. Corinth chap. 7. v. 6. But I speak this by permission not of commandment and in the 25. verse of the same chap. I give my Iudgment as a Man who hath obtain'd mercy of the Lord to be faithful and it is to be observ'd That when Paul in this Chapter speaks as if he did not know whether he had or had not a command from the Lord for what he said it is not to be understood of a Command from God by Revelation but only that he preach'd that Doctrine which Christ the Lord taught his Disciples in the Mount. Moreover if we observe in what manner the Apostles deliver the Doctrine of the Gospel in their Writings we shall find it much different from the Prophets way of instructing for the Apostles are always found reasoning insomuch that they seem rather to dispute than Prophesie Prophesies contain nothing but positive Opinions and Decrees therefore God is always introduced not arguing with Reason but peremptorily commanding by the Power and Soveraignty of his Nature and Essence Prophetieal Authority allows of no rational disputing for whoever will by reasoning confirm his Opinions doth in so doing submit them to the Arbitrary Judgment of another as doth Paul reasoning in his 1 st Epist to the Corinth chap. 10. v. 15. I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say And lastly because the Prophets did not understand the things that were reveal'd to them by Reason and Natural Knowledge as we have shewed in the first Chapter tho' some things in the Pentateuch seem to be concluded and confirmed by Inference and Illation yet if we consider them they cannot be taken for peremptory and decisive Arguments For example when Moses said to the Israelites Deut. chap. 21. v. 27. Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death We are not here to think that this was an Argument used to convince the Israelites by Reason that they would certainly after Moses death depart from the worship of God because the Argument had been false as may be prov'd by Scripture for the people persevered constantly in it during the life of Ioshua and the Elders and afterwards also in the life time of Samuel David and Solomon these words therefore of Moses were but a moral manner of speaking which he Rhetorically us'd the more strongly to imagin and foretel that peoples future defection the reason why I do not say that Moses to make his Prediction true spake these words of himself and not by Revelation as a Prophet is because in the 21 verse of the same Chapter God reveals to Moses in other words what the people would do so that there was no need of reasoning to make Moses surer of this Prediction and Decree but it was only necessary to give him a livelier representation thereof in his imagination as I have shewed in the first Chapter which could be done no better way than by imagining that the peoples present rebellious Humor which he had so often try'd would be the very same for the future so that we are not to think Moses's Arguments which we meet with in the Petanteuch to be drawn from the Repositories of Reason but to be taken only for manners of speaking whereby he did more lively imagin and more effectually express God's Decrees I will not deny but that the Prophets might reason and argue by Revelation but that which I maintain is That the Prophets by how much more rational the Arguments were which they used so much more natural did their Knowledge appear which they had of things revealed and that the Prophets knowledge was supernatural chiefly appear'd in their speaking Dogmatically Imperiously and Sententiously so that Moses the chief Prophet never made use of any Logical Argument and I therefore conclude Paul's long Deductions and Reasonings which we find in his Epistle to the Romans were never written by Supernatural Revelation and the manner of speaking and arguing in the Writings of the Apostles doth
fill'd Religion with so many Philosophical Speculations that they have turn'd the Church into an Academy Religion into a Science or rather into Wrangling and Dispute But 't is no wonder that Men who boast of Supernatural Illumination should pretend to more than we find in Philosophers who own they have no more than what is Natural I would really admire those illuminated Men could they teach us any new Speculations or any thing that was not common and vulgar amongst the Heathen Philosophers whom they call Blind For if you inquire what are those profound Mysteries these inspir'd Men perceive in Scripture they can tell us of nothing beyond the idle fancies and conceits of Plato and Aristotle which look more like the Dreams of Ideots than Discoveries made out of Scripture by Learned Men. I do not positively maintain that nothing belongs to Scripture Doctrine which is matter of meer Speculation for in the preceding Chapter I have mentioned some fundamentals of Scripture that are so but my meaning is they are very few and very plain what they are and upon what reason determin'd to be so I come now to shew which will be easily done after that we know the Scriptures chief design was not to teach Arts and Sciences and that it requires from Men nothing but Obedience condemning their Obstinacy not their Ignorance Moreover because Obedience toward God consists only in loving our Neighbour for whoever loveth his Neighbour purposely to obey God he as Paul saith Rom. chap. 13. v. 8. hath fulfilled the Law it follows that no other Knowledge is commended in Scripture but that which is necessary to all Men that they may according to this Precept of loving our Neighbour obey God which Knowledge if Men have not they must necessarily be stubborn or at least without the discipline of Obedience but all other Speculations which do not directly tend to this end whether they concern the knowledge of God or of natural things they have nothing to do with Scripture and are to be excluded out of revealed Religion Now tho' these things be obvious to every Man yet because upon this point depends the ending of all debate in Religion I will demonstrate and explain the thing as fully and clearly as is possible which to perform we in the first place ought to prove That an intellectual and accurate knowledge of God is not a gift so common to all Believers as is Obedience Secondly That the Knowledge which God by his Prophets requir'd of all Men in general and which every Man is oblig'd to have is nothing else but the Knowledge of his Divine Justice and Love both which particulars are evidently prov'd out of the Scripture it self Exod. chap. 6. v. 3. God for an evidence of his particular favour to Moses saith I am the Lord I appear'd unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them for the better understanding of this Text we are to observe that Elsadai signifies in Hebrew God alsufficient because he giveth to every Man that which is sufficient for him and tho' Sadai of it self be often taken for God yet the word El is always to be understood we are therefore to note that in Scripture there is no other word to be found but Iehovah that signifies God's absolute Being without any relation to things created and therefore the Iews will have this to be God's proper Name and all others to be Appellatives and indeed all the rest of God's Names whether they be Substantives or Adjectives are but Attributes given to God as he is consider'd under a relation to his Creatures or is made manifest by them The word El or by adding to it the Paragogical Letter He Eloha signifies nothing else but Powerful which is a title of Dignity or Excellency as when we stile Paul an Apostle Other Vertues of his Power are exprest by saying the great God God to be feared the just merciful God c. or to express them all at once the plural number of this word El is often used in a singular signification Seeing then God said to Moses he was not known to the Patriarchs by the Name of Iehovah it follows they knew no Name or Attribute of God that express'd his absolute Essence and Nature but only his Works and his Promises that is his Power as it was manifested by things visible and this God said to Moses not to accuse the Patriarchs of Unbelief but to magnify and commend their Faith and readiness to believe by which tho' they had not so great a knowledge of God as Moses had yet they firmly rely'd on his Promises not like Moses who tho' he had sublimer Notions of God doubted his Divine Promises and told God that instead of the Deliverance he had promised he had brought the Children of Israel into a worse condition If then God told Moses that the Patriarchs knew not that singular and proper Name of God to commend their Faith and simplicity of Heart and to put Moses in mind of the particular Favour and Grace God had shewed him it clearly proves my first Position which is That Men are not obliged by any express Command to know God's Attributes it being a peculiar gift granted only to some Believers which I need not prove by Scripture since it is evident beyond all dispute that every Man hath not an equal share of Divine Knowledge and that a Man is no more able by a Command to become Wise than 't is in his own power to be or live Men Women and Children may all as they are commanded obey but never could a Command make any Man wise If any Man say there is no need of understanding God's Attributes but only of simply believing them without any demonstration he talks idly for invisible things which are the objects only of the Mind can only be seen by Demonstrations that is firm convincing Arguments and therefore what a Man only and barely hears of things invisible never affects the Understanding nor declares a Man's meaning any more than do the words of a Parrot or some artificial Engin that speak without Understanding or Sense But before I proceed further I ought to give an account why 't is often said in Genesis that the Patriarchs preached in the Name of Iehovah which seems expresly to contradict what I have said This is easily answer'd if we consider what hath been said in the eighth Chapter where we have proved that the Writer of the Pentateuch did not call things and places by those very names which they had at the time of which the Writer speaketh but by the names which they were known by in the Writers own time therefore when 't is said in Genesis that God was preached to the Patriarchs by the Name of Iehovah it is not because God was known to them by that Name but because to that Name of God the Iews pay'd the highest Reverence and
Veneration when Genesis was written and this must necessarily be a true and clear Answer because it is expresly said in the forecited text of Exodus that God was not known to the Patriarchs by his Name Iehovah and because also in Exod. chap. 3. v. 13. Moses desired to know God's Name which must have been known to him had it been known to the Patriarchs before him It must therefore be concluded that the faithful Patriarchs were ignorant of this Name of God and that the Knowledge of God is a Gift not a Command It is now time to pass on to the proof of the second Particular That God required from Men by his Prophets no other Knowledge of himself than the Knowledge of his Divine Justice and Love that is those Attributes which Men in a right course of living may in some measure and degree imitate which the Prophet Ieremy in express words declares for chap. 20. v. 15 16. speaking of King Iosiah he saith Did not thy Father eat and drink and do Iudgment and Iustice and then it was well with him he judged the cause of the poor and the needy then it was well with him is not this to know me saith the Lord Nor are those words less clear chap. 9. v. 24. Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness Iudgment and Righteousness in the Earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. We have a further proof Exod. chap. 34. v. 6. where Moses desiring to see and know God God revealeth no other Attributes to him but such as declare his Divine Justice and Love. Lastly How express in the point are the words of St. Iohn in the fourth Chapter of his first Epistle because no Man ever saw God he maketh God known only by Love and concludes that he knoweth God and God dwelleth in him who hath Charity We see then that Moses Ieremy and Iohn comprize that Knowledge of God which every Man is bound to have in that only wherein we say 't is comprehended namely in believing that God is superlatively just and merciful and the only pattern of a good life The Scripture doth no where give any express and positive definition of God neither doth it prescribe any other Attributes to be imitated and believed by us but those we have named nor are those expresly commended as Attributes so that from all these things we conclude that the intellectual Knowledge of God which considers God as he is in his own Nature and Essence which Nature no Man can by any certain course of life imitate or take for his pattern doth not at all teach a Man how to live well neither doth it concern a Man's Faith or revealed Religion So that a Man may be infinitely mistaken in it and yet not offend God. Let us not wonder then that God apply'd himself to the Imaginations and preconceived Opinions of the Prophets and that faithful Believers had different Opinions of God as by many Instances we have proved in the second Chapter nor let any Man wonder that the Sacred Volumes do every where speak so improperly of God ascribing to him Hands Feet Eyes Ears Mind Local Motion yea Passions of the Mind saying he is Jealous Merciful c. and sometimes set him out as a Judge sitting in Heaven on a Regal Throne and Christ at his Right hand all which is spoken according to the Capacity of the Vulgar whom the Scripture intended to make Obedient but not Learned Of these things whatever ordinary profest Divines have by Reason and Natural Light discovered to be disagreeable to the Divine Nature they will have Metaphorically Interpreted but that which is above their Capacity must be taken Litterally If all things of this kind we meet with in Scripture must be taken and understood Metaphorically then the Scripture was not written for the rude and ignorant common people but for the Learned and especially for Philosophers and if it should be sin piously and in simplicity of Heart to believe those things of God which the Sacred Volumes have in the Letter ascribed to him the Prophets considering the weakness of the common people's Understanding ought to have been very wary and careful what Phrases and Expressions they used and should have clearly and plainly which is no where done declared those Attributes of God which every Man is bound to believe No Man ought to think that Opinions considered absolutely in themselves without respect to a Man's Works have any Piety or Impiety in them but a Man is said to be Godly or Ungodly in his Faith in respect of those Opinions which incline him to Obedience or those that encourage him to Sin and Disobedience so that if a Man tho' he rightly and truly believe be stubborn and disobedient his Faith is evil and on the contrary if a Man believe that which is false and yet live well his Faith is good for the true knowledge of God is not a Precept but a Divine Gift and God never required from Men any other Knowledge than that of his Divine Love and Justice which Knowledge is necessary only to Obedience not to Science CHAP. XIV What is Faith. Who are Believers The fundamentals of Faith stated Faith distinguish'd from Philosophy or Reason TO understand truly what Faith is 't is very necessary to know that the Scripture was fitted and accommodated not only to the Capacity of the Prophets but also to the Understanding of the inconstant mutable vulgar people of the Iewish Nation of which no person can be ignorant that will but a little consider and observe the Scripture He that will take all things which are promiscuously set down in Scripture to be that universal positive Doctrine whereby God is to be known can never rightly discern what was suited to the Capacity of the Iews but not being able to distinguish between Divine Doctrine and the common peoples Opinions must take human Fictions and Fancies for Heavenly Instructions and consequently very much abuse the Sacred Scriptures Authority Who doth not plainly see that this is the cause we have so many Sectaries who maintain their different and contrary Opinions to be all Doctrines and Principles of Faith which they confirm by many Scripture proofs so that 't is become a Dutch Proverb Geen Ketter sonder letter there is no Sectary or Heretick but hath a Text of Scripture to maintain his Opinion The Sacred Books of Scripture were not all written by one person nor for the people of one Age but by divers persons of different dispositions and for the people of several Ages distant in time from one another almost two thousand years by some computations many more We do not charge these Sectaries with impiety for applying the words of Scripture to their own Opinions as heretofore they were suited to Vulgar Capacities it being lawful for every one to apply Scripture to his own Opinions if he find himself