Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	word_n	write_a	2,372	5	10.9841	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66396	The divine authority of the scriptures a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Sept. 2. 1695 : being the sixth of the lecture for the said year, founded by the honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.; Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2704; ESTC R1959	15,908	41

which they wrought Therefore while the Authors were in being there needed no Miracles to prove these Writings to be theirs when they themselves asserted them so to be And after their decease we have as much reason to believe the Scriptures which they wrote to have been of Divine Inspiration as what they taught to be a Revelation both now depending upon the like Evidence that is Testimony as to which we have no more proof of the Matter than we have of the Books 3. From hence it follows That not to believe the Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration is in effect to reject and deny the Revelation therein contained The Scripture being the best and in the present circumstances of Mankind the only means left for the conveyance of it I say in the present circumstances it is the only means for when the circumstances were other than they are now or have been for Sixteen hundred Years and upwards there was then no such absolute need of a written Word When the Instructors of Mankind had their Lives protracted to a vast extent as it was with the Patriarch's of Old or when there were Inspired Persons alive to teach and rectify any mistakes that might arise and disturb the Peace of the Church as it was in the times of the Apostles But when things fell into an ordinary course and that fallible Persons as all afterwards were might mistake in their reports of Doctrine c. and the weak memories of others not retain what they had been taught and that the insincere would wrest what was taught to serve their perverse designs the case being thus alter'd from extraordinary to ordinary so was the means of conveyance And God that committed the Divine Oracles to be taught by Persons whom he thought fit to inspire employed the same Persons to commit that Revelation to writing for the future Preservation of it and the conveying it down safe and intire to Posterity Without which Mankind in these circumstances neither could themselves have been certain of what they were to believe nor could they have sufficiently proved to others what it was they were obliged to receive and to believe as wanting Authentick Monuments and Records for it So that we have sufficient reason to believe that the same Divine Goodness that did make known his Will to Mankind would take the best means and did take the best means for the continuing and preserving it And Scripture being the only means of that kind becomes a Rule of Faith and so is of Authority sufficient to oblige us to receive and obey it If the Matter of Scripture be true and of Divine Inspiration we are obliged by it though the Writing or Book containing it should be only of Human Composition because it is the Doctrine and not the way of delivery that passes the immediate Obligation upon us But when the Book containing that Matter as well as the Matter it self is of Divine Authority and composed by Divine Appointment Direction or Inspiration it obligeth us by vertue of the Composition as well as the Matter and both are to be jointly received as proceeding from one and the same Original and Authority But having asserted this That the Scripture is the only means of conveyance of the Will of God to Mankind and what becomes a Rule of Faith to us it is fit to return to the Question proposed viz. How we can prove the Scripture to have been of Divine Revelation or that those Books so called were wrote by the Direction and Command of God or by Inspiration from him A. 1. I Answer in the same way as before That as there is no Revelation if the Scriptural Revelation be not that Revelation so there is no written Revelation if the Scripture be not that Book and be not Inspired And then we should want the only certain means of conveyance which is Writing or should have been wholly left to the doubtful and uncertain hand of Tradition for the knowledge and preservation of Revelation Now I think this to be an Argument of considerable force for the Divine Authority of Scripture that without this means we should after a Revelation be in effect without a Revelation For so it will be if the Scripture contain not that Revelation and that we have no sufficient Record if that be not the Authentick Record of it But to come nearer the point 2. I Answer That there is as much proof for the Inspiration of the Scripture as the matter is well capable of and as much as is sufficient and if that be so then 't is unreasonable to reject it for they who do so can do it upon no less pretence than that they would have such a proof as the matter is not capable of and more than is sufficient for the proof of it But that there is such a proof for the Divine Authority of Scripture as is sufficient I think will be evident if we shew 1. That the Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired 2. That they were written by Persons Inspired and that were Inspired when they writ them 3. That they are worthy of such Authors and have upon them the Characters of such Inspiration 1. The Scriptures have for proof of their Inspiration the Testimony of such as were Inspired The Testimony of Persons Inspired is as much a Proof of Inspiration as if it had been a matter they themselves were Inspired with and therefore the Evidence that we have for the Inspiration of such Persons is a sufficient Evidence for the Inspiration they give Testimony to As for instance suppose that we have not as good evidence for the Inspiration of the Old Testament as we have for the New yet if the New doth justify the Inspiration of the Old quotes it as such and bestows that Character upon it then by vertue of such a Testimony we have as good Evidence for the Old as we have for the New The meer Quotation of a Book by an Inspired Person whether as to the Author Words or Matter doth not give the like Authority to that with what he himself doth write by Divine Inspiration for then Aratus and Menander Epimenides and Callimachus who were Heathens and are Quoted by St. Paul would become Inspired Writers But the Scriptures of the Old Testament are cited by our Saviour and the Apostles as the Oracles of God and as Books of Divine Authority and which they produce and appeal to upon all occasions in justification of the Doctrine which they taught So we are told that all Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the whole Scripture as Dionysius Carthus expounds it is given by Inspiration of God And what is meant by the Scripture is no other than what was generally received by the Jewish Church as such and which our Saviour distributes after their manner into the Three known parts viz. The Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms Which division

D r WILLIAMS's SIXTH SERMON AT Mr. BOYL'S Lecture 1695. The Divine Authority of the Scriptures A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields Sept. 2. 1695. BEING THE Sixth of the LECTURE For the said YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cocke●ill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey M DC XC VI. HEB. I. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son c. IN these words we have as has been observed 1. A description of Revelation 't is God's speaking or declaring his Will to Mankind 2. The Certainty of that Revelation 't is by way of Declaration God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake c. 3. The Order observed in delivering that Revelation as to Time Manner and Persons In time past by the Prophets and in the last days by his Son 4. The Conclusion and Perfection of that Revelation 't is in the last days by his Son Under the Second I have shewed 1. That there has been such a Revelation 2. That the Scripture is of Divine Revelation and has upon it the Characters belonging to such Revelation For the better disposing of what I had to say under this Head I proposed Four Questions to be resolved viz. Q. 1. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to be true Q. 2. How we can prove the Matter of Scripture to have been of Divine Revelation Q. 3. How we can prove the Books of Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration Q. 4. How we prove these Books that are now extant and received by the Christian Church as Canonical to be those very Books I have already Treated of the Two former and shall now take the Two latter into Consideration Where we may observe somewhat as to the Writers and then as to Inspiration 1. As to the Writers of whom we may reckon Three sorts 1. Merely Human such as St. Luke speaks of that out of a good and pious intent took in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which were most surely believed And this may be done without any material Error by Persons duly qualified for it 2. Those that had what they wrote immediately dictated or at least approved by such Persons as were inspired So Eusebius saith that the Gospel of St. Mark was approved by St. Peter and St. Luke's by St. Paul 3. Such as were immediately Inspired in the writing as St. Peter and the rest of the Divine Writers are supposed to have been Now though the first of these may be sufficient in ordinary cases and of good use in the extraordinary where there is no better yet where the Salvation of Mankind is concerned there is somewhat farther necessary and that is that the Persons that write should be assisted and guided by the Holy Spirit of God or write by the direction and approbation of those that are Inspired 2. As to the Inspiration that is Twofold 1. Either when the Matter Words and Order are immediately Dictated by God himself as the Decalogue was and all that was Revealed by Voice for then it was as Discourse with us 2. Or When Persons Selected wrote by Direction or Command from God what was Revealed to them as to the Matter only whether by way of Declaration or Representation In which last case the Persons Inspired took their own way which is the reason of the difference in Style and Phrase between their several Compositions that for example Isaiah writ in a lofty courtly Style and that Amos a Herdsman writ after a more Rustical way So Erasmus saith of St. Luke that he writ in a purer and clearer Style because of his skill in the Greek Tongue Here the Office of the Divine Spirit was to suggest the Matter or to represent the case to assist and supervise so that no Error should be in the Original Copy though he left each to the liberty of their own way in expressing it As if we were to send several Messengers upon the same Errand we deliver the Message to them and tell them what they are to say but leave every one of them to express it as they think fit and as they are able Each of which is a faithful and wise Servant though he keeps not exactly to the very words of his Master and all agree in the drift and substance though they differ in the expression or circumstance So it is in the Evangelists where they all agree in the material parts of the History though they differ often in the words and sometimes perhaps in some minute passages relating to it In one or other of these two senses the Scripture may be said to be wrote by Divine Inspiration that is either by immediate and verbal Suggestion or by Direction And this I shall now endeavour to prove by answering the Third Question viz. Q. 3. How we do prove the Books of Scripture which contain the matter of Revelation to have been of Divine Inspiration In proceeding upon this I shall premise 1. That the proper course for proving the Divine Authority of the Scripture is to begin with the Matter abstracted from the Books as I have already done and then to proceed from thence to the Books And therefore they begin at the wrong end that would disprove the truth of the Revelation or Matter contained in Scripture by such Objections as they make from the Writing and the Books For the Matter stands upon a proof and evidence of its own as I have shewed and will stand though the written Word or Scripture should fail of supporting its own Authority Therefore those that will venture upon disproving the Revelation must in reason begin with the Matter let them there try their skill and call in question the proof by which that is supported But this we have already prevented by having proved the Matter of Scripture to have been of Divine Inspiration 2. Though there seems not to be so clear and full a proof for the Inspiration of the Books as there is for the Matter since the Matter has the utmost attestation it is capable of viz. Miracles but there were no Miracles wrought to prove these Books to have been of Divine Inspiration as has been before observed Yet if we prove that the Books were written by Inspired Persons and that what they Wrote is the same with what they Taught it is equivalent and much of the same Force and Authority For what need was there of Miracles to prove the Books to be written by Inspiration when the Persons writing them were Inspired and that what they wrote is the same with what they taught and when what they taught was confirmed by the Miracles