Eloquence as well as the Power and Prejudices and Vices of Mankind were combined against it and yet less elegancy and accuracy of style was employed by the Apostles and Evangelists than had been before used by Moses and th◠Prophets who yet had nothing which seemed so strange and wonderful to deliver Which is one great argument of the Power and Efficacy of the Gospel that it could prevail so much against all the opposition in the world only by telling a plain Truth and in the plainest manner For where the thing is evident the fewest and plainest words are best as in Mathematical Demonstrations it is enough if men make themselves to be understood this likewise was all that the Apostles aimed at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. iii. c. 24. their Cause and Doctrine was so certain and demonstrable that any words which did but fully and clearly express their meaning were sufficient for their purpose their Rhetorick lay in the things themselves not in words there is no great Art required to prove that to any man which he sees with his eyes and therefore as the power of Miracles was greater under the Gospel than under the Law so there was less need of Eloquence in the New Testament than in the Old Yet it cannot be denied as a †Mer Casaub of Enthus c. 4. Learned Critick has declared that St Paul in some kind and upon some subjects is as eloquent as ever man was not inferiour to Demosthenes in whose writings he believes that Apostle had been much conversant or Aeschines or any other anciently most admired 3. It is reasonable to believe that the Scriptures may be written in the Words and Phrases of the Penmen of the several parts of them and that the Holy Ghost might permit them to use their own style so directing them still and over-ruling them in every word and sentence that it should infallibly express his own full sense and meaning and speak the Truth which he inspired And therefore tho there be divers styles in the Scriptures yet this is no prejudice to the Authority and Certainty of them Isaiah for instance being of the Blood Royal and educated at Court may write in a more refined and lofty style and Amos who was brought up among the Herdsmen of Tekoa may speak in a more humble strain and fetch his Metaphors from lower and meaner things and yet the sense and substance of both may be from the Holy Ghost and as exactly true and infallible as if every word and syllable were dictated by him But this has been already considered under its proper head CHAP. IV. Of the Canon of the Holy Scriptures WHatever uncertainty there can be supposed to be concerning the Canon of the Holy Scriptures or the Catalogue and Number of Books of Divine Revelation this ought to be made no objection against the certainty of Divine Revelation itself or against the authority of those Books of Scripture which are universally acknowledged and received by all Churches For if this be a true way of arguing then whatever we are ignorant of must be an argument against the certainty of what we know and by consequence no man can be certain of any thing since the wisest man is ignorant of so many things that he knows very little in comparison of what he is ignorant of And as to the matter in hand there is scarce any Author of great note and fame but that Criticks have had Disputes concerning the number of his genuine Works and yet this has never been thought any prejudice to such as are allowed by all to be genuine Would not that man make himself ridiculous who should reject the Philippicks of Tully or Virgil's Aeneis as spurious because other Books either doubtful or counterfeit have past under the names of these two Authors If some Books have been disputed the rest certainly are genuine beyond all dispute because they have never been called into question or doubt Now if these Books only were of Divine Revelation concerning which there has never been any Dispute they contain all things necessary to be believed and practised and as to the rest concerning which there has been any controversy tho they be exceeding useful to explain divers things which we find in these and perhaps to teach us some things not essential to our Religion nor necessary to Salvation which are not to be found elsewhere yet they are not absolutely necessary to be received because whatever Doctrines are absolutely necessary they are to be found fully and plainly delivered in those Books of Scripture which have ever been received without contradiction or dispute Many men were undoubtedly saved before the writing of these controverted Books nay before the writing of any Books at all Writings being no further necessary than as they are necessary to convey the knowledge of what is written when the things now written could be as well known without writing Books were not necessary and tho for after ages it became necessary that the Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists should consign their Doctrine to writing yet no more of their writings can be absolutely necessary to be known by us than what may be sufficient to instruct us in the ways of salvation It is the infinite Goodness and Mercy of God to afford us more than is absolutely necessary for our spiritual and eternal Life as he has done for our Natural and it is a great sin in any man to reject any means of Salvation or Instruction which God has been pleased to allow but still that man would sustain his Natural Life and Health who should think all that is not necessary to the support of it common or unclean and not fit to be used for food And if a man without any of his own fault or neglect should come to the knowledge only of the uncontrroverted Books he would find them abundantly sufficient to answer all the ends of Revelation and to procure his Salvation It cannot be denied but that one infallible Authority is as great a Security as never so many could be but the same Doctrines are taught in several places of Scripture and we ought to be thankful to God for it that he has been pleased to furnish us with so much more than is absolutely necessary and to repeat the same things in sundry places and in divers manners for our further instruction and confirmation in the Faith tho it would be absurd and wicked to say that he who believes all the points of necessary Faith upon the authority of any one Book of Scripture has no sufficient means of Salvation unless he likewise believe them upon the Authority of all the rest Not that I suppose any wise and good man can now find any cause to doubt of any Book in the Old or New Testament whether it be genuine or no but to suppose the most and the worst that can be supposed if those Books which at any time have been called in
for what Book is there without 'em or what Book of the same bigness and of any Antiquity has so few various Lections as the Bible and what Book can be Transcribed or Printed but it is liable to have mistakes made in it IV. No difference between the Hebrew Text and the Septuagint and other Versions or between the several Versions themselves is any prejudice to the Authority of the Scriptures nor can prove that the Hebrew Text was ever different in any thing material from what it is now The Translation of the Septuagint * Id. Prolegom ix s â—2 x. s 8. as it hath been observed from St. Jerom and others is in many places rather a Comment or Paraphrase than a strict Version and gives the sense rather than the words of the Hebrew Texts Many times there is supposed to be a difference where there is none for want of a sufficient knowledge of the Original as †Pocock Append. ad Porâ— Mos c. 1 2 3 4. Pears Praef. ad Septuag Edit Cantab Is Voss de lxx Interpret Walt Proleg ix 46. Dr Pocock has shewn in divers Instances and Bp Pearson in others besides what has been written by Isaac Vossius to this purpose and one very skilful in the Oriental Tongues had undertaken to shew the agreement between Hebrew and and the Septuagint throughout and had made a considerable Progress in the work as Bishop Walton informs us Other differences proceed from the mistakes of Transcribers as it must needs happen in Books of which so many Copies have been taken in all Ages and from the rashness of Criticks in making unnecessary alterations or by inserting into the Text such Notes as were at first placed only for explication in the Margin In some things of less consequence the Translators might be mistaken or they might follow a different Copy The Authority of the Text of Scripture is greatly confirmed from the citations of the Greek and Latin Fathers from whence it appears that in the several Ages of the Greek and Latin Churches the Copies which they made use of had no such variations from those we now use as to be of any ill consequence in matters of Religion As to the Imputation that was charged upon the Jews by some of the Fathers that they had corrupted the Scriptures in such places as according to the Translation of the Septuagint and the sense of their Ancestors must prove the Truth of the Christian Religion against them this is to be understood of the Versions of Aquila Symmachus and Theodosian who being all either profest Jews or Judaizing Hereticks designed their Translations to countenance their own errors especially Aquila who undertook his Version purposely to oppose that of the Septuagint For it is now generally agreed that the Jews never deserved the Censure of having corrupted the Hebrew Text tho they perverted the sense of it and where there were various Readings chose to follow that which was most favourable to their own pretences tho it were in contradiction to the Judgment of their Forefathers as well as the Christians Philo in a discourse cited * Euseb Praepar Evang. lib. viii c. 6. by Eusebius who thereby owns the Truth of it said that for the space of above two thousand years there had not been a word altered in the Law but that the Jews would chuse to dye never so many deaths rather than they would consent to any thing in prejudice of it And †Contra Apion lib. i. Josephus declares of the whole Old Testament that it had suffered no alteration from the beginning down to his own Time * Antiqu. Eccl. Orient Epist 38. Morinus himself whatever he hath elsewhere said to the contrary declares in a Letter to Dr Comber Dean of Carlisle that he supposes no man can doubt but that the Jewish Copies caeteris paribus are to be preferred before any Copies of the Samaritans which he in his Writings so highly magnifies It must be acknowledged that the numbring of the Verses and Words and Letters and the observing which was the middle Letter of every Book could signify little to the securing of the Hebrew Text entire because there may be the same number of Verses and Words and Letters in different Books and the same Number of Letters may make up different Words and the same Words diversely placed and apply'd may express a very different sense nor could there be any charm in a word that stood in the midst of a Book to keep all the rest in their proper places But this scrupulous and even superstitious diligence of the Jews in little things is an evidence of their constant study of the Scriptures and of the great value and reverence they had for it so that they would neither corrupt it themselves nor suffer it to be corrupted by others but were careful and zealous to preserve every ever letter and tittle and as I observed before from Josephus they were so well acquainted with it that he thought he could not fully enough express their skill and accuracy but by saying that they knew it better than their own names V. It is evident and confest by the Criticks that neither by these nor by any other means any such difference is to be found in the several Copies of the Bible as to prejudice the fundamental Points of Religion or weaken the Authority of the Scriptures All relating to this controversy has been eagerly debated by contending parties who yet agree in this whatever they differed in besides that the various Lections do not invalidate the authority of the Scriptures nor render them ineffectual to the end and design of a Divine Revelation inasmuch as all the various Lections taken together are no preiudice to the Analogy of Faith nor to any Points necessary to Salvation * Non minus ex ijs quae supra disputata sunt planum est id quod statim libri primi initio monuimus saepius toto opere inculcavimus plerasque omnes quae observari deprehendi in sacris libris possunt varias Lectiones levissimi esse ac pene nullius momenti ut parum admodum intersit aut vero perinde omnino sit utram sequaris sive hanc sive illam Ludovic Cappel Crit. Sacr. lib. 6. c. 2. Ludovicus Cappellus who had studied this subject as much as any man and was as well able to judge of it after the strictest examination he could make found that the things relating either to Faith or Practice are plainly contained in all Copies whatever difference there is in lesser things as in matters of Chronology which depend upon the alteration or the omission or addition of a Letter or in the Names of Men or of Cities or Countreys But the fundamental Doctrines of Religion are so dispersed throughout the Scriptures that they could receive no damage nor alteration unless the whole Scriptures should have been changed Wherefore not only the most learned Protestants but â€
Caeterum non tanti momenti sunt ejusmodi errores ut in iis quae ad sidem bonos more 's pertinent Scripturae Sacrae integritas desideretur Plerumque enim tota discrepantia variarum Lectionum in Dictionibus quibusdam posita est quae sensum aut parum aut nihil mutant Bellarmin De Verbo Dei lib. ii c. 2. Bellarmin himself and the best Criticks amongst the Papists have acknowledged that all things relating to Articles of Faith and Rules of Life are delivered intire and uncorrupted in the Scriptures notwithstanding the various Lections And tho some of the Roman Communion have endeavoured to prove the necessity of an infallible Church by Arguments drawn from hence yet says * Considerator considered ch 12. s 4. Bishop Walton I do not remember that in any particular controversy between them and us they urge any one place of Scripture for their cause upon the uncertainty of the Reading without Points which plainly shews that there is no such uncertainty in the Text unpointed as is pretended F. †Hist Crit. V. T. lib. 3. c. 23. Simon complains that the Catalogues of various Lections are much larger than they ought to be and that for the most part they are of no moment and he charges Cappellus more than once with multiplying 'em without Reason Morinus indeed made it his endeavour to lessen the authority of the Hebrew Text in favour of the Septuagint and the Vulgar Latin but his Authority is very inconsiderable when compared with those of the same Communion who have declared themselves against his opinion In * Joh. Morin Vita the life of Morinus written by F. Simon there is this Character of Cappellus and Morinus that if they be compared as to what they have both written concerning the Bible Morinus shews more learning in his Books but it is very often not to the purpose whereas Cappellus has more sagacity and judgment and never wanders from his subject but proves what he is upon by the strongest Arguments And as severe as this Censure may seem to be yet it is justified in effect by the confession of Morinus himself For he †Epist 70. inter Antiqu. Eccl. Orient acknowledgeth to Buxtorf that he never throughly applied himself to the study of the Hebrey Tongue that he had read nothing in Hebrew for 7 years together and that therefore he did not question but he had made many mistakes especially in his Samaritan Exercitations great part of which were written in hast and he was forc'd to use such a variety of Authors that he believes it impossible but that he must have been often mistaken The Authority of Morinus then signifies nothing in prejudice to the Hebrew Text And * Hoc certo affirmare possum me nullam animadvertisse menâ—â—m nec Lectionum varietatem circa moralia documenta quae ipâ—â— obscura aut dubia reddere possunt Tractat. Theolog. Polit. c. 9. Spinoza himself has owned that he could for certain affirm that he had observed no fault nor various reading which concerned the Moral Precepts that cou'd render them obscure or doubtful Bishop Walton has with great learning and judgment summed up the Arguments on alâ— sides and as †Crit. Hist V. T. lib. 3. c. 21. F. Simon acknowledgeth haâ— examined this matter with more exactness than all that had gone before him His Polyglot Bibles give an ocular demonstration to the truth of what he maintains that there is nothing of consequence either as to Faith or Practice concerned in the difference of the several Copies of the Hebrew Text or of the several Versions And as many Sects and Divisions as there are amongst Christians and as many different Translations as they make use of they all acknowledge the Authority of the originals and their Translations in the main are the same however they disagree in rendring some particular passages which concern the different opinions of the several parties and upon that account maintain their own Translation to be more correct than others If we allow of Mr * Table-Talk Selden's Judgment who was very able to make a true one and far enough from being prejudiced in the case he says the English Translation of the Bible is the best Translation in the world and renders the sense of the Original best taking in for the English Translation the Bishop's Bible as well as King James ' s. However by different Translations and by comparing divers Copies and Versions to make out the true Reading many Texts become better understood and more fully explained than if there had been but one Reading and no difference in the Translations VI. And no less may be said in behalf of the New Testament than of the Old for the Books of it were kept from the beginning as a Sacred Treasure with great care and reverence and were constantly read in the Christian Assemblies and soon translated into all Languages The Primitive Christians chose to undergo any Torments rather than they would deliver up the Books of Scripture to their Persecutors to be destroyed and they were no less careful to preserve them uncorrupted by Hereticks Besides when Hereticks attempted to corrupt any Text of Scripture to serve their particular Heresies they were declared against not only by the Orthodox but by other Hereticks who were not concerned for those opinions in behalf whereof the corruption was intended So that it was impossible for any corruptions to be imposed upon the Church or to pass undiscovered even by some of the Hereticks themselves They must be designed for some end and to authorize some particular Doctrines and then all who were not for those Doctrines and more especially those who were against them would certainly oppose such corruptions The agreement likewise of the Greek Text of the New Testament with the several ancient Versions and with the quotations found in the Writings of the Fathers who cited and alledged them from the times of the Apostles proves that there have been no alterations of any such consequence as to make the Scriptures insufficient for the ends of a Divine Revelation If any man be of another opinion let him instance in any one Article of Faith or Rule of Life which cannot be proved from the Scriptures It is not enough for him to shew that some one or more Texts which have been brought in proof of it are disputed but he must shew that it can be proved by no Text which is clear and undisputed The various Lections of the Holy Scriptures are so far from being an Argument against their Authority that they rather help to prove it since they are comparatively so few in a Book of so great Antiquity For no care and regard inferiour to that which we must suppose men to have of a Book which they are convinced is of Divine Authority could have produced a less variety of Readings in a Book of much less Antiquity They are all of no consequence to the
Argument Whereas if Chistians were but throughly acquainted with the Grounds of their Religion and sincerely disposed to believe and practise according to them they would be no more moved with these Cavils than they would be persuaded to think the worse of the Sun if some Men should take a fansie to make that the Subject of their Railery To have the more doubtful and wavering thoughts of Religion because it is exposed to the scorn and contempt of ill Men is as if we should despise the Sun for being under a Cloud or suffering an Eclipse not knowing that he retains his Light and Religion its Excellency still though we be in darkness the Light may be hid from us but can lose nothing of its own Brightness though we suffer for want of it and lie under the shadow of Death The Consideration of the Grounds and Reasons of our Religion is useful to all sorts of Men for if ever we will be seriously and truly Religious we must lay the foundation of it in our Vnderstandings that by the rational conviction of our Minds we may through the Grace of God assisting us bring our Wills to a submission and our Affections to the obedience of the Gospel of Christ and the more we think of and consider these things the more we shall be convinced of them and they will have the greater power and influence in the course of our Lives For tho' the Truth of the Christian Religion cannot without great sin and ignorance be doubted of by Christians yet it is a confirmation to our Faith and adds a new Life and Vigour to our Devotions when we recollect upon what good Reasons we are Christians and are not such by Custom and Education only but upon Principles which we have throughly considered and must abide by unless we will renounce our Reason with our Religion And what Subject can be more useful or more worthy of a rational and considering Man's Thoughts These things which are now made matter of Cavil and Dispute will be the Subject of our Contemplation and of our Joy and Happiness to all Eternity in the other World We shall then have clear and distinct apprehension of the Means and Methods of our Salvation and shall for ever admire and adore the Divine Wisdom in the Conduct and Disposal of those very Things about which we now are most perplex'd THE CONTENTS PART I. CHAP. I. That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows That there must be some Divine Revelation THE Being of a God evident to Natural Reason p. 3. That there are wicked Spirits Enemies to Mankind p. 6. The miserable Condition of Man without the Divine Direction and Assistance and that God would not leave him without all Remedy in this Condition p. 8. The Judgment of St. Athanasius in the Case p. 15. CHAP. II. The Way and Manner by which Divine Revelations may be suppos'd to be deliver'd and preserv'd in the World The Manifestations of God's ordinary Providence insufficient and therefore some extraordinary Way of Revelation necessary p. 19. The ways of extraordinary Revelation either immediate Revelation to every particular Person or to some only with a Power of Miracles and Prophecies to enable them to communicate the Divine Will to others p. 20. I. It could not be requisite that God should communicate himself by immediate Revelation to every one in particular ibid. II. Prophecies and Miracles are the most fitting and proper Means for God to discover and reveal himself to the World by p. 29. 1. Concerning Prophecies ibid. 2. Concerning Miracles p. 33. III. Divine Revelations must be suppos'd to be preserv'd in the World by Writings p. 43. IV. They must be of great Antiquity p. 44. V. They must be fully publish'd and promulg'd p. 45. PART II. CHAP. I. The Antiquity of the Scriptures THE Antiquity of the Scriptures a Circumstance very considerable to prove them to be of Divine Revelation p. 48. They give an Account of Divine Revelations made from the beginning of the World ibid. What Moses relates of things before his own time is certainly true and must have been discover'd to be false if it had been so p. 50. CHAP. II. The Promulgation of the Scriptures 1. In the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind p. 58. II. In succeeding Ages there has still been sufficient Means and frequent Opportunities for all Nations to come to the knowledge of it p. 76. 1. The Law of Moses did particularly provide for the instruction of other Nations in the Reveal'd Religion p. 77. 2. The Providence of God did so order and dispose of the Jews that other Nations had frequent Opportunities of becoming instructed in the True Religion p. 90. Testimonies of the Heathen concerning the Jews and their Religion p. 115. There have ever been divers Memorials and Remembrances of the true Religion among the Heathen p. 117. Of the Sibylline Oracles p. 121. The Gospel had been preach'd in China and America before the late Discoveries p. 129. The Confessions both of Protestants and Papists as to this Matter p. 132. Christians in all Parts of the World p. 135. A Sect call'd the Good Followers of the Messiah at Constantinople p. 136. Though great Part of the World are still Vnbelievers yet there is no Nation but has great Opportunities of being converted p. 141. The Case of particular Persons consider'd p. 142. CHAP. III. Of Moses and Aaron The Sincerity of Moses in his Writings p. 146. He was void of Ambition p. 149. Aaron and he had no Contrivance between themselves to impose upon the People p. 151. CHAP. IV. Of the Pentateuch The Pentateuch written by Moses p. 152. The great Impartiality visible in these Books p. 153. The Book of Genesis an Introduction to all the rest p. 154. The principal Points of the History of the Jews confess'd by the Heathen p. 155. CHAP. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies contain'd in the Books of Moses The Promise of the Messias p. 158. The Predictions of Noah ibid. The Promises made to Abraham p. 159. The Prophecies of Isaac c. p. 160. of Jacob p. 161. of Balaam p. 162. of Moses p. 163. CHAP. VI. Of the Miracles wrought by Moses I. The Miracles and Matters of Fact contain'd in the Books of Moses as they are there related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested p. 170. II. The Relations there set down are a true Account of the Miracles wrought by Moses and such as we may depend upon p. 188. For 1. These things could not be feign'd by Moses and Aaron and others concern'd with them in carrying on such a Design p. 189. 2. The Miracles could not be feign'd nor the Books of Moses invented or falsify'd by any particular Man nor by any Confederacy or Combination of Men after the Death of Moses p. 191. 3. The Pentateuch could not be invented nor falsify'd by the joynt Consent of the whole Nation either in
worought to confirm any sound and useful Doctrine The Confession of the False Gods when they were adjur'd by Christians p. 401. CHAP. IV. The Defect in point of Doctrine in the Heathen Religions The Theology of the Heathens absurd p. 403. Their Religious Worship wicked and impious p. 405. Humane Sacrifices customary in all Heathen Nations p. 406. No Body of Laws nor Rules of Good Life proposed by their Oracles p. 402. But Idolatry and Wickedness approved and recommended by them ibid. CHAP. V. Of the Philosophy of the Heathens The Heathen Philosophy very defective and erroneous p. 411. Whatever there is of Excellency in the Philosophy of the Heathens is owing to Revelation p. 423. If the Heathen Philosophy had been as certain and as excellent as it can be pretended to be yet there had been great need of a Divine Revelation p. 429 CHAP. VI. The Novelty and Defect in the Promulgation of the Mahometan Religion p. 436. CHAP. VII The want both of Prophecies and Miracles in the Mahometan Religion p. 439 CHAP. VIII The Alcoran is false absurd and immoral p. 441 CHAP. IX Of Mahomet That he was Lustful Proud and Cruel appears from the Alcoran it self p. 443 PART IV. CHAP. I. THat there is as great Certainty of the Truth of the Christian Religion as there is of the Being of God p. 447 CHAP. II. The Resolution of Faith The Scriptures considered 1. As Historically true 2. As to their Doctrine which concerns Eternal Salvation p. 451 452. From both these Considerations it follows that they are infallibly True p. 455. In many cases there is as much cause to believe what we know from others as what we see and experience our selves p. 456. And thus it is in the present case concerning the Resolution of Faith p. 460. The Evidence of Sense and of Humane Testimony in this case compared p. 462. The Certainty of both ultimately resolved into the Divine Veracity c. ibid. An Objection from Joh. xx 29. answered p. 467. The Truth of the Christian Religion evident even to a Demonstration p. 470 Newly Publish'd CHristian Thoughts for every Day in the Month with Reflections upon the most Important Truths of the Gospel To which is added Prayers for every Morning and Evening Price 1 s. A Course of Lectures upon the Church Catechism By Thomas Bray D. D. The Third Edition Price 5 s. Very proper to be read in Families A Minister's Counsel to the Youth of his Parish when Arrived to Years of Discretion Recommended to the Societies in and about London By Francis Bragge Vicar of Hitchin Hertfordshire Price 2 s. THE REASONABLENESS AND CERTAINTY OF THE Christian Religion BOOK I. PART I. IN Discoursing of the Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Religion I shall use this Method I. I shall shew That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows That there must be some Divine Revelation II. I shall enquire into the Way and Manner by which this Revelation may be suppos'd to be deliver'd and preserv'd in the World III. I shall shew That from the Notion of a God and the Nature and Design of a Divine Revelation it follows That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are that Divine Revelation IV. That no other Books or Doctrines whatsoever can be of Divine Revelation V. I shall from hence give a Resolution of our Faith by shewing That we have the same Evidence for the Truth and Divine Authority of the Scriptures that we have for the Being of God himself because it follows from the Notion of a God both that there must of necessity be some Divine Revelation and that the Scriptures are that Divine Revelation VI. Having done this I shall in the last Place endeavour to clear such Points as are commonly thought most liable to Exception in the Christian Religion and shall propose some Considerations which may serve to remove such Objections and obviate such Cavils as are usually rais'd against the Holy Scriptures CHAP. I. That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows that there must be some Divine Revelation IN the first Place I shall shew how Reasonable and Necessary it is to suppose That God should Reveal himself to Mankind And I shall insist the rather upon this because it is not usually so much consider'd in this Controversie as it ought to be for if it were it certainly would go very far towards the proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures since if it be once made appear that there must be some Divine Revelation it would be no hard Matter to prove that the Scriptures are that Revelation For if it be prov'd that there must be some Revealed Religion there is no other which can bear any Competition with that contain'd in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament My first Business therefore shall be to shew from the Consideration of the Attributes of God and of the Nature and State of Mankind that in all Reason we cannot but believe that there is some Revealed Religion in the World There is nothing more evident to Natural Reason than that there must be some Beginning some first Principle of Being from whence all other Beings proceed And nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that that wonderful Variety of Beings in the Heavens and Earth and Seas which all the Wisdom of Man is not able in any Measure to understand or throughly to search into should yet be produc'd and continu'd for so many Thousand Years together without any Wisdom or Contrivance that an unaccountable Concourse of Atoms which could never build the least House or Cottage should yet build and sustain the wonderful Fabrick of the whole World that when the very Lines in a Globe or Sphere cannot be made without Art the World it self which that is but an imperfect Imitation of should be made without it and that less Skill should be requir'd to the forming of a Man than is necessary to the making of his Picture that Chance should be the Cause of all the Order and Fortune of all the Constancy and Regularity in the Nature of Things and that the very Faculties of Reason and Understanding in all Mankind should have their Original from that which had no Sense or Knowledge but was meer Ignorance and Stupidity This is so far from being Reason and Philosophy that it is down-right Folly and Contradiction From a Being therefore of infinite Perfection must proceed all things that are besides with all their Perfections and Excellencies and among others the Virtues and Excellencies of Wisdom Justice Mercy and Truth must be deriv'd from him as the Author of all the Perfections of which the Creatures are capable And it is absurd to imagine that the Creator and Governor of the World who is infinitely more Just more Wise and Good and Holy than any Creature can be will not at last reward the Good and punish the Wicked For Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right
to the Simplicity of the Gospel and to the universal Design of it For they are equally adapted to awaken the Attention and command the Assent of Men of all Conditions and Capacities they are obvious to the most Ignorant and may satisfie the wisest and confute or silence the Cavils of the most Captious or Contentious And this is what all the World ever expected That God should Reveal himself to Men by working somewhat above the Course of Nature All Mankind have believ'd that this is the way of Intercourse between Heaven and Earth and therefore there never was any of the false Religions but it was pretended to have been confirm'd by something miraculous We may appeal to the Sense of all Nations for the Authority of Miracles to attest the Truth of Religion For whenever any thing happen'd extraordinary they always imagin'd something supernatural in it they expected that Miracles should be wrought for the Proof of any thing that had but the Name of Religion and no false Religion could have gain'd Belief and Credit in any Age or Nation but under the Pretence of them The only Difficulty therefore will be to know how to distinguish True Miracles from False or those which have been wrought for the Confirmation of the True Religion from such as have been done or are pretended to have been done in Behalf of False Religions But here it must be observ'd That it is not necessary in this Controversie that we should be able to determine what the Power of Spirits is or how far it extends and what Works can proceed only from the immediate Power of God It is sufficient that we know that God precides over all that Good Spirits act in constant Subjection and Obedience to him that Evil Spirits act for Evil Ends that Good Spirits will not impose upon Men and that he will not suffer the Evil to do it under any Pretence of his own Authority without affording Means to discover the Delusion And the Question here is not concerning any strange Work whereof God is not alledged to be the Author but concerning such as are wrought with a profess'd Design to establish Religion in his Name Suppose then that there have been many Wonders wrought in the World which exceed all Humane Power and which yet we know not to what other Power to ascribe This makes no Difficulty in the present Case because here not only the Works themselves but the Design and Tendency of them is to be consider'd For Instance Whether the Miracles reported to have been done by Vespasian were true or false by a Divine or a Diabolical Power they are of no Consequence to us he establish'd no new Doctrine and pretended to no Divine Authority but doubted the Possibility of his working them And supposing them true and by a Divine Power the most that can be said of them is that as God mention'd Cyrus by Name to be the Deliverer of the Jews so he might by Miracle signalize this Prince who was to destroy them But the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles were wrought with this declar'd Purpose and Design That they were to give Evidence to the Religion which they were sent from God to introduce as necessary to the Salvation of Mankind Having premis'd this I must resume what was before observ'd concerning the Means by which false Prophecies might be detected It has been already prov'd from the Notion of a God that there must be some Divine Revelation and it has been shewn That Prophecies and Miracles are the most fit and proper way of Revelation and that way which Men have ever expected to receive Revelations by If then there have been False Prophecies and Miracles they must be suppos'd to have been either before or at the same time or after those Prophecies and Miracles by which the True Religion was deliver'd if before or at the same time then the same Divine Wisdom and Goodness which obliges God to reveal his Will to Mankind must oblige him to take care that the Impostures of those false Prophecies and Miracles by some Means might have been discover'd But there is great Reason to believe that true Revelations should be first made to Men before God would suffer them to be tempted with false ones and if the false were after the true Revelations then the true Revelations themselves are that by which we ought to judge of all others But to speak more particularly of Miracles which are the present Subject It is inconsistent with the Infinite Truth and Honour and Goodness and Mercy of God to suffer Man to be deluded by false Miracles wrought under a Pretence of his own Authority without any possibility of discovering the Imposture And therefore if we should suppose there had past any time before the Discovery of his Will to Mankind he could not suffer Men but through their own Fault to be impos'd upon by such Miracles but either by the false and wicked Doctrines which they were brought to promote and establish as Idolatry Uncleanness Murders c. or by some other Token of Imposture they might have been undeceiv'd and both in the Old and New Testament God has given us Warning against false Miracles Deut. xiii 1. Mat. xxiv 24. Gal. i. 8. so that we may be assur'd that we are to give no Credit to any Miracle that can be wrought to confirm any other Doctrine than what we find in the Scriptures and if we can but be certify'd that they were true Miracles which gave Testimony and Evidence to them we need concern our selves about no other And the Miracles by which the Scriptures are confirm'd and authoriz'd must be true because there is no precedent Divine Revelation which they contradict nor any immoral or false Doctrine which they deliver nor any thing else contain'd in them whereby they can be prov'd to be false And in this Case that which all the Wit and Understanding of Men cannot prove to be false must be true or else God would suffer his own Name and Authority to be usurp'd and abus'd and Mankind to be impos'd upon in a thing of infinite Consequence without any Possibility of discovering the Imposture which it is contrary to the Divine Attributes for him to permit but either by the Works themselves or by the End and Design of them or by some Means or other the Honour and Wisdom and Mercy of God is concern'd to detect all such Impostures If Miracles be wrought to introduce the Worship of other Gods besides him whom Reason as well as Scripture assures us to be the only True God if they be done to seduce Men to immoral Doctrines and Practices if they be perform'd to contradict the Religion already confirm'd by Miracles in which nothing of this Nature could possibly be discover'd if never so astonishing Miracles be wrought for such ill Designs as these they are not to be regarded but rejected with that Constancy which becomes a Man who will act according to the
Principles of Natural Reason and Religion But when Miracles were perform'd which both for the End and Design of them as well as for the Manner and Circumstances of their Performance had all the Credibility that any Miracle could have if it were really wrought by God's immediate Power to confirm a Revelation if these Miracles have been foretold by Prophecies as on the other side the Prophecies were fulfill'd by the Miracles if they were done publickly before all sorts of Men and that often and by many Men successively for divers Ages together and all agreed in the same Doctrine and Design if neither the Miracles themselves nor the Doctrines which are attested by them can be discover'd to have any Deceit or Defect in them but be most excellent and divine and most worthy of God in such a Case we have all the Evidence for the Truth of the Miracles and of the Religion which they were wrought to establish that we can have for the Being of God himself For if these Miracles and this Religion be not from God we must suppose either that God cannot or that he will not so reveal himself by Miracle to the World as to distinguish his own Revelation from Impostures Both which Suppositions are contrary to the Divine Attributes contrary to God's Omnipotence because he can do all things and therefore can exceed the Power of all finite Beings and contrary to his Honour and Wisdom and Goodness because these require both that he should reveal himself to the World and that he should do it by Miracles in such a manner as to make it evident which is his Revelation But if he both can and will put such a Distinction between False Miracles and True as that Men shall not except it be by their own Fault be seduc'd by false Miracles then that Religion which is confirm'd by Miracles concerning which nothing can be discover'd to be either impious or false must be the true Religion For we have seen that there must be some Reveal'd Religion and that this Religion must be reveal'd by Miracle and we have the Goodness and Truth and Justice of God engag'd that we should not be impos'd upon by false Miracles without being able to discern the Imposture And therefore that Religion which both by its Miracles and Doctrine and Worship appears to be Divine and could not be prov'd to be false if it were so must certainly be true because the Goodness and Honour of God is concern'd that Mankind in a Matter of this Consequence should not be deceiv'd without their own Fault or Neglect by Impostures vented under his own Name and Authority Upon which account the Sin against the Holy Ghost in ascribing the Miracles wrought by Christ to Belzebub was so heinous above all other Crimes this being to reject the utmost Means that can be us'd for Man's Salvation and in Effect to deny the Attributes and very Being of God The Summ of this Argument is That though Miracles are a most fit and proper Means to prove the Truth of Religion yet they are not only to be consider'd alone but in Conjunction with other Proofs and that they must necessarily be true Miracles or Miracles wrought to establish the true Religion when the Religion upon the account whereof they are wrought cannot be discover'd to be false either by any Defect in the Miracles or by any other Means but has all the Marks and Characters of Truth Because God would not suffer the Evidence of Miracles and all other Proofs to concur to the Confirmation of a false Religion beyond all Possibility of discovering it to be so 3. How Divine Revelations may be suppos'd to be preserv'd in the World It is reasonable to suppose that Divine Revelations should be committed to Writing that they might be preserv'd for the Benefit of Mankind and deliver'd down to Posterity and that a more than ordinary Providence should be concern'd in their Preservation For whatever has been said by some of the Advantage of Oral Tradition for the Conveyance of Doctrines beyond that of Writing is so notoriously fanciful and strain'd that it deserves no serious Answer For till Men shall think it safest to make Wills and bequeath and purchase Estates by Word of Mouth rather than by Instruments in Writing it is in vain to deny that this is the best and securest way of Conveyance that can be taken So the common Sense of Mankind declares and so the Experience of the World finds it to be in things which Men take all possible Care about and it is too manifest and much to be lamented that Men are more sollicitous about things Temporal than about Eternal which affords too evident a Confutation of all the Pretences of the Infallibility of Oral Tradition upon this Ground That the Subject Matter of it are things upon which the Eternal Happiness or Misery of Mankind depends Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever Isa xxx 8. 4. It is requisite that a Divine Revelation should be of great Antiquity Because upon the same Grounds that we cannot think that God would not at all Reveal himself to Mankind we cannot suppose that he would suffer the World to continue long under a State of Corruption and Ignorance without taking some Care to remedy it by putting Men into a Capacity of knowing and practising the Duties of Vertue and Religion 5. Another requisite of a Divine Revelation is that it should be fully promulg'd and publish'd to the World for the general Good and Benefit of Mankind that it may attain the Ends for which a Revelation must be design'd THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART II. FROM what has been already Discours'd it appears That these Things are requisite in a Divine Revelation I. Antiquity II. Promulgation III. A sufficient Evidence by Prophecies and Miracles in Proof of its Authority IV. The Doctrines deliver'd by Divine Revelation must be Righteous and Holy consistent with the Divine Attributes and suitable to their Condition to whom it is made and every way such as may answer the Design of a Revelation CHAP. I. The Antiquity of the Scriptures AS it is evident from the Divine Attributes that God would not so wholly neglect Mankind as to take no Care to discover and reveal his Will and Commandments to the World so when there was so great a Necessity of Divine Revelation in order to the Happiness of Mankind both in this World and the next it is not to be believed that he would defer it so long before he made known his Will as till the Date of the first Antiquities amongst the Heathen It cannot be deny'd that some Books of the Seripture are much the Ancientest Books of Religion in the World for it were in vain to pretend that the Works in this kind or indeed in any other of any Heathen Author can be compar'd with
applies his own Songs or Poems Exod. xv Deut. xxxii If it be thought that there was no Writing before the Flood because there is no Account of the Invention of it tho' the Inventors of other infeferior Arts be mention'd this rather proves the contrary and that it was coaeval with Mankind or was the Invention of Adam It is not probable that in so long a Life he should find out nothing for the use of himself and his Posterity though no Invention be attributed to him and Writing is so necessary that the World could very ill subsist without it for above Fifteen hundred Years The Grecians and other Nations have recorded the first Inventors as they supposed of Letters as those who best deserved a Memorial in History and since there is no other mention amongst the ancientest Jewish Writers but that they were before the Flood some of them also ascribing them to Adam this implies that they were of the greatest Antiquity and the Time of their Invention is no more known than that of Ploughing and Sowing and other necessary Arts which were from the Beginning of the World But though it should be supposed that before the Flood they had not the same Conveniencies for preserving the Remembrance of things past that we have had since yet things of this nature could never be imposed upon the generality of Men and if they had less Means of conveying things past to Posterity they had fewer things to convey and all their Histories being concerning the Ancestors of their own Families they were easily remembred and however short and imperfect they could not be so defective as that Men should generally be so grossly ignorant as to swallow such Impostures They had One Day in Seven purposely set apart for the Praise and Worship of God and the Commemoration of his Mercies vouchsafed to Mankind and they who had Proverbial Remembrances of Nimrod the third from Noah could not be ignorant of Noah himself and of the Flood in his time In so few Generations of Men as had past by reason of the long Lives of the Patriarchs it was impossible for Moses to impose upon those of his own Age in things so memorable as the Creation of the World and the Flood and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah c. But when so long after the Flood the Sons of Noah were dispersed into so far distant places of the Earth and their Manners and Customs were different and their Lives shorter it became necessary that a true and lasting Account of those things should stand recorded in a Book of infallible Credit and Authority for the benefit of future Ages lest in process of time the Remembrance of them should become obscure and confused and fabulous Stories should be imposed upon the World for Truth in Matters of so great importance For it has been observed by divers learned Men that the most ancient Histories as well as the Philosophy and Theology of the Heathens contain many things concerning the Creation of the World the first Propagation Mankind the Flood and other particulars which have so plain an agreement with what we read in the Book of Genesis that they are supposed to be taken out of it but they are obscured and disguised under other Names and Characters to conceal from whence they were originally taken and to gain them the better acceptance amongst those for whose use the Books containing them were designed by their Authors And when the Remembrance of God's Dealings with past Ages began to fail and the ways of Humane Conveyance were so uncertain it was requisite that some infallible Account should be given of Gods Dispensations and his Communications of himself in the first Ages which might be transmitted down to Posterity unto the End of the World CHAP. II. The Promulgation of the Scriptures THE End and Design of a Revelation from Heaven must be for the Good of Mankind and therefore it was necessary that it should be known and promulged in the World and that Revelation which has been known to most Nations and farthest divulged carries another Evidence of its Divine Authority For since it is necessary there should be some Divine Revelation it is likewise necessary that it should be sufficient to the Ends for which it was designed and it was revealed not to be concealed or confined to a few Persons but to rectifie the Mistakes and regulate the Manners of Men and therefore that which has been most known and farthest propagated we have reason to think to be a true Revelation If every thing else concurr to prove it true the very Promulgation of it is a considerable Evidence in proof of its Divine Authority Because it is not to be supposed that God would either suffer his own Revelation to be so stifled and surpress'd as to become of little or no use and benefit to the World or that he would permit false Revelations to be more known and divulged either of which would very ill consist with the Intention of Revealing his Will to Mankind It has been already proved That it is not to be expected that God should Reveal himself to every Man in particular and it could not be requisite that he should afford a constant and standing Revelation in all Nations of the World For if Mankind be sufficiently provided for in the Necessaries of Salvation this is all which in Reason can be expected from a Just and Good God to sinful and perverse Man If Men be put in the Ready Way of Salvation and have sufficient Means allowed them to attain it all beyond this is the meer arbitrary effect of Infinite Goodness and depends wholly upon the good Pleasure of God being more than we could promise our selves from his Justice or by Reason foresee from his Mercy it self And his Wisdom so orders and disposes the Effects and Emanations of his Mercy as to render them consistent with his Justice and Honour as He is Governor of the World And if in the first Ages Revelations were frequent and generally known amongst all Mankind till by their own fault and neglect they were with-holden from them it was the great Mercy of God afterwards to continue to those Nations who had despised and rejected him an opportunity of knowing his Will revealed to others And this God was pleased to do by appointing a chosen Seed and selecting to himself a peculiar People to bear his Name before the Nations and by the various Dispensations of his Providence he so disposed of that People that all Nations might be instructed in the things revealed and delivered to them First then I shall shew That in the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind Secondly That in succeeding Ages there has still been sufficient Means and frequent Opportunities for all Nations to come to the Knowledge of it 1. In the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind And here we must have
Condemnation And it is not only Just but Merciful for him to with-hold the Knowledge of his Reveal'd Will from those who he forefees would reject it and abuse the Opportunities which should be offer'd them to the Aggravation of their own Guilt and Punishment Especially if it be observ'd 2. That as to particular Persons we have reason to believe that God who by so wonderful a Providence has taken care that every Nation under Heaven might have the True Religion preach'd in it and who has the whole World at his Disposal and orders all things with great regard to the Salvation of Men we have abundant cause to think that he would by some of the various Methods of his Providence or even by Miracle bring such Men to the knowledge of the Truth who live according to their present Knowledge with a sincere and honest Endeavour to improve it When St. Peter was by Revelation sent to Cornelius he made this Inference from it Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Act. x. 34 35. From whence what less can we conclude than that every Man in any part of the World who is sincerely good and pious in the Practice of his Duty so far as it is known to him shall rather by an express Revelation have the rest discover'd to him as in the Instance of Cornelius which gave occasion to these words of S. Peter than that he should be suffer'd to perish for want of a true Faith and sufficient Knowledge of his Duty And it is Just with God to punish those Heathens who sin without any Reveal'd Law for their Sins against Natural Reason and Conscience and for neglecting to use and improve their Reason and to embrace the Opportunities afforded them of becoming Christians We may likewise be certain that besides Natural Reason and Conscience God in his Goodness is not wanting to afford such inward Motions and Convictions of Mind to such of the Heathen as are not wilfully blind and stupify'd by their Vices as may prepare them for the reception of the Gospel which by his Providence he gives them so many Opportunities of becoming acquainted withal And if once they do discern the Defects and Faults of their own Religions which are so grosly against Natural Reason and Conscience they may make enquiry of Christians concerning their Religion as some of the Americans did of Cortes's and the Christians some of them at least however negligent they be in propagating it would never refuse to instruct them in it And it must be remembred that among those who have not receiv'd the True Religion yet many Points are taught and believ'd which had their Original from Revelation as is evident not only of the Mahometans but of several Heathen Nations which Points are so many Steps and Preparatives towards the Reception of the whole Truth if they be not wanting to themselves in pursuing them in their immediate Tendency and Consequences I shall not say That the Merits of Christ and the Salvation of the Gospel do extend to those who in the Integrity of their Hearts dye under an invincible Ignorance of it I believe rather that God suffers no Man so qualify'd and dispos'd to remain in invincible Ignorance But it is sufficient to vindicate God's Justice and Goodness that all Nations have had such Opportunities of coming to the Knowledge of the Truth and great Allowances may be made at the Last Day for the Ignorance and unhappy Circumstances of particular Men. It was well said That when God hath not thought fit to tell us how he will be pleas'd to deal with such Persons it is not fit for us to tell Him how he ought to deal with them But if it be difficult for us now to think how it will please God to deal with the Heathen it would be a thousand times more difficult to conceive how the Gracious and Merciful God could Govern and Judge the World if all Mankind were in the State of Heathens without any Divine Revelation What will become of the Heathen as to their Eternal State is not the Subject of this Discourse nor doth it concern us to know some of them will have more to plead for themselves in point of ignorance than others can have and they are in the hands of the Merciful Creator and Saviour of Mankind and there we must leave them But it must be acknowledged that it is much more agreeable to the Goodness and Mercy of God to reveal his Will and to give so many Opportunities to the World to be instructed in it though never so many should neglect the Means of Salvation than it is to suppose him to take no care to reduce Mankind to the sense and practice of Vertue and Religion but to let them continue in all manner of Idolatry and Wickedness without giving them any warning against it I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else Come ye near unto me hear ye this I have not spoken in secret from the beginning from the time that it was there am I Isa xlv 19 22. xlviii 16. Having proved That the Scriptures want nothing requisite to a Divine Revelation in regard either of the Antiquity or Promulgation I proceed to shew That they have sufficient Evidence both by Prophecies and Miracles in proof of their Authority This Evidence depends upon Matter of Fact which concerns either the Prophecies and Miracles themselves in their several circumstances as we find them stand Recorded or the Lives and Personal Qualifications of those by whom they were performed or by whom they are related in the Scriptures For if we can be assured both that they are truly related and that if they were done as they are related they could proceed from none but a Divine Power we have all the Evidence for the Truth of the Scriptures that can be had for a Revelation CHAP. III. Of Moses and Aaron THat Moses was a very Great and Wise Man is related by several of the most eminent Heathen Writers and I think it has never been denied by any Man But it is no less evident that he was likewise a very Good and Pious Man He frequently declares his own Failings and Infirmities Exod. iii. 11. iv 1 10 13. Num. xi 10. xx 12. xxvii 14. and never speaks any thing tending to his own Praise but upon a just and necessary occasion when it might become a prudent and modest Man especially one Divinely Inspired For all the Praise of such an one doth not terminate in himself but is attributed to God whose Instrument and Servant he is and in such cases where God's Honour is concerned it was a Duty to set forth the Favour and Goodness of God towards him though some Honour did redound
a higher Principle than they did It is impossible for the wit of man to contrive any thing so admirably fitted to procure the happiness of Mankind as their Doctrines are no precepts can be more righteous and holy no rewards more excellent nor punishments more formidable than those of the Gospel and which is above all no Religion besides ever afforded nor could all the reason of Mankind ever have found out such powerful Motives to the Love of God which is the only true principle of Obedience Our Religion contains no dry and empty speculations but all its Mysteries are Mysteries of Love and Mercy Others may fear God but it is the Christian only that can truly love him and trust in him and in all conditions in Life and in death look up to him as his Father his Saviour and Comforter This Religion places men in the presence of God and entitles them to his peculiar favour and care it declares God to be their Friend and Protector here and their everlasting Rewarder after Death it promises and assures us of all the happiness both in Body and Soul that we are capable of which is the utmost that can be expected or wished for from any Revelation and the proper and peculiar reason why God should establish Religion in the World It appears from this whole discourse that nothing is wanting in the Books of the Old and New Testament which can be expected in any Revelation They are of the greatest Antiquity and have been Preached throughout the World and have abundant evidence both by Prophecies and Miracles of their Divine Authority and the Doctrine contained in them is such as God must be supposed to reveal Mankind having visible Characters in it of the Divine Goodness and Holiness and having exceedingly conduced to the reformation of the world THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART III. That there is no other Divine Revelation but that contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament THat there is no other institution of Religion besides that delivered in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which has all things necessary to a Divine Revelation may be shewn in the several Particulars necessary to a Divine Revelation as that no other Religion ever was of like Antiquity or had equal Promulgation that no other had sufficient evidence of Miracles and Prophecies in proof of it and lastly that there never was any other which did not teach many Doctrines that are unworthy of God and contrary to the Divine Attributes and therefore impossible to come from Heaven This I shall prove first of the Religions of the Heathens secondly of the Mahometan Religion CHAP. I. The Novelty of the Heathen Religions THE Novelty of the Religions amongst the Heathens whom we have any certain account of from their Writings in respect of the Scriptures is so notorious having been so often proved by learned men and is so generally acknowledged that it is needless to insist much upon it The Heathens generally were strangers to every thing of Antiquity and therefore must be unable to give any proof of the Antiquity of their Religions The pretences which the Egyptians made to Antiquity so much beyond the times recorded in the Scriptures proceeded from their reckoning by Lunar years or (a) Diodor Sic. lib. i. Plutarch in Numa Var. apud Lactant. de Orig. Error lib. ii c. 12. months but they had so different accounts however of Chronology that as Diodorus Siculus says some of them computed thirteen thousand years more than others from the Original of their Dynasties to the time of Alexander the Great And the Solar year in use among the Egyptians who were most samous for Astronomy was so imperfect that they said the Sun had several times changed (b) Herod Euterpâ— his Course since the beginning of their Dynasties imputing the defect of their own computation for want of intercalary days to the Sun's variation or else affecting to speak something wonderful and extravagant The earliest Astronomical observations to be met with which were made in Egypt are those performed by the Greeks of Alexandria less than CCC years before Christ as (c) Mr. Wotton's Reflections upon ancient and modern Leâ—râ—ing c. 23. Mr. Halley has observed (d) Vitru◠〈…〉 4. The Chaldaeans supposed the Moon to be a luminons Body and therefore could have no great skill in Astronomy besides they wanted Instruments to make exact observations ' All we have of them says the same learned (e) Iâ— Mr. 〈◊〉 Reflect ib. Astronomer is only seven Eclipses of the Moon and even those but very coursely set down and the oldest not much above DCC years before Christ so that after all the fame of these Chaldaeans we may be sure they had not gone far in this Science and though Calisthenes be said by Porphyry to have brought from Babylon to Greece observations above MDCCCC years older than Alexander yet the proper Authors making no mention or use of any such renders it justly suspected for a Fable So little ground is there for us to depend upon the Accounts of Time and the vain boasts of Antiquity which these Nations have made He farther observes that the Greeks were the first Practical Astronomers who endeavoured in earnest to make themselves Masters of the Science and that Thales was the first who could predict an Eclipse in Greece not DC years before Christ and that Hipparchus made the first Catalogue of the fixt Stars not above CL. years before Christ According to that known observation (f) Censorin de Die Natali c. 21. of Varro there was nothing that can deserve the name of History to be found among the Greeks before the Olympiads which were but about twenty years before the building of Rome And whatever Learning or Knowledge of ancient times the Romans had they borrowed it from the Greeks For they were so little capable of transmitting their own affairs down to Posterity with any exactness in point of time that for (g) Id. c. 23. some Ages they had neither Dials nor Hour-glasses to measure their days and nights for by common use and for three hundred years they knew no such things as hours or the like distinctions but computed their time only from Noon to Noon so that it is no wonder that their Calendar was in such confusion till Caesar regulated it The pretensions of the Chineses to Antiquity appear equally vain and upon the same grounds For they understood little or nothing of Astronomy or else the Missionaries by their Skill in that Art would not have been able so much to insinuate themselves with the Emperors of China Indeed the Chineses themselves (h) Martin Hist Sin lib. i. ii Atl. Sinic Praef. Philip Couplet in Confuc Proen Declar. Praef. ad Fab. Chronol Sinicae Monarchiae Le Compt's Memoirs p. 64. 71. 464. confess that their Antiquities are in great part fabulous and they acknowledge
indeed whatever the Original of the Heathen Philosophy were whether from their Gods or from themselves if the Precepts of Philosophy amongst the Heathens were a sufficient Rule of good Life there may seem to have been little or no necessity for a Divine Revelation But I shall prove 1. That the Heathen Philosophy was very defective and erroneous 2. That whatever was excellent in it was owing to the Revelations contained in the Scriptures 3. That if it had been as excellent and as certain as it can be pretended to be yet there had been great need of a Divine Revelation 1. The Heathen Philosophy was very defective and erroneous It was desective in point of Authority Socrates though he would be thought to be inspired or supernaturally assisted gave Men only his own word for it Pythagoras indeed pretended both to Prophecies and Miracles but he was a great Magician in the opinion both of (a) Xenoph Epist ad Aeschinem Plutarch in Numâ Xenophon and Plutarch and therefore whatever he did or foretold must be ascribed to that Power which as it has been before declared the Devils may have to do strange things and to know things done at a distance or some time after and his Predictions and Miracles even as they are related by Jamblichus were such as that a bare recital of them were enough to confute any Authority which could be claimed by them His Impostures may be seen in Diogenes Laertius And (b) Arist Rhet. l. iii. c. 17. Aristotle says Epimenides foretold nothing whatever others relate of him And as the Philosophers had no Divine Authority for what they delivered so their own was but of small account they were generally rather Men of Wit and Humour than of sound Doctrine or good Morals And whoever reads the Lives of the Philosophers written by Diogenes Laertius and the Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius would believe the World might have been as soon reformed by the one as the other As to the Philosophers who after the Christian Religion appeared in the World pretended to Miracles it is a hard matter to think the Writers of their Lives in earnest when they relate them For a Man may as well believe the Fables of Aesop or Lucian to be true History as the Stories in the Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus written by Philostratus or those in the Life of Isidorus written by Damascius an abstract whereof we have left preserved (c) Phot. Cod. ccxiii in Photius The Heathen Philosophy was defective likewise in point of Antiquity and Promulgaon Philosophy as far as we have any account of it was but a late thing so it is styled in Tully (d) Tull. de Divin lib. i. neque ante Philosophiam patefactam quae nuper inventa est (e) Apud Lactant. de fals sapient c. 16. Seneca computes the rise of it to be less than a thousand years before his own time but the moral and useful part of Philosophy had no ancienter Original than Socrates And Philosophy of all kinds has always been a matter of Learning and confined to learned Men There never was any one Nation of Pythagoraeans or Platonists or Stoicks or Aristotelians the greatest part of the Nations of the World never heard so much as of the Names of the most celebrated Philosophers and know nothing at all of their Doctrine That philosophy was defective in its Doctrines is notorious For as Lactantius observes the very Name of philosophy invented by Pythagoras who yet would be thought to have had some supernatural assistance implies a confession of Ignorance or imperfection of their Knowledge and a profession only to search after Wisdom And (f) Diog. Laert. in Pythag. Jemblich vit Pythag Pythagoras gave this very reason why he styled himself a Philosopher Because no Man can be Wise but God only and yet this vain Man sometimes pretended himself to be a God Socrates was the first of all the Philosophers that applied himself to the study of Morality and (*) Tull. Acad. Qu. lib. i. he who first undertook to render philosophy useful and beneficial to Mankind professed to know nothing at all certainly but to disprove the Errors of others not to establish or discover Truth In which he was followed by Plato Vid. Diog. Laert. in Pyrrhon and before him Democritus Anaxagoras Empedocles and almost all the ancient Philosophers agreed in this tho they agreed in few things else that they could attain to no certain knowledge of things So that as Tully says Arcesilas was not the Founder of a new Academy or Sect of Philosophers who professed to doubt of all things for he taught no more than what the ancient Philosophers had generally taught before him unless it were that Socrates profess'd to know his own ignorance of things but Arcesilas would not own himself certain of so much as that Indeed the notions of Philosophy were so little convincing even in the plainest matters that many of the greatest Wits took up in Sceptiscim or little better No man had studied all the Hypotheses of Philosophy more or understood them better or had better explained them than Tully and yet at last all concluded in uncertainty as he often professes the like may be said of Varro Cotta and others The Doctrine of Philosophy concerning God and Providence and a Future State was very imperfect and uncertain as Socrates himself declared just before his death but what could be certain to him that profest to doubt of every thing (g) Aug. de Civ l. 19. c. 1. Varro computed near three hundred Opinions concerning the Summum Bonum they were so far from being able to give any certain rules and directions for the Government of our Lives that they could by no means agree in what the chief happiness of men consists or what the aim and design of our Actions ought to be Plato taught the lawfulness and expediency of mens having their Wives in common and both Socrates and Cato must hold a community of Wives lawful as we learn from their Practice for they lent out their Wives to others as if it had been a very generous and friendly Act and the very heighth and perfection of their Philosophy (h) Alex. ab Alex. lib. l. c. 24. It was a practice both among the Grceks and Romans to part with their Wives to other men though Mercer thinks the Romans were divorced from their Wives before others took them because Cato is blamed for taking his Wife again after the death of Hortensius without the solemnity of a new Marriage Fornication was so far from being disallowed by the Heathens that it was rather recommended (h) Horat. Serm. lib. i. sat 2. Cic. pro. M. Coelio as a remedy against Adulteries by Cato himself Many of the Philosophers held self-murther lawful and did themselves set an example of it to their Followers The exposing of Children to be starved or otherwise destroyed was practised amongst the most civilized Heathen Nations
Antiquity as Tully assures us but the Antients gave no reasons to prove it by they only received it by Tradition Plato was the first who attempted to prove it by Argument for though Pherecydes Syrus and Pythagoras had asserted it yet they acquiesced in Tradition by which they had received it from the Eastern Nations but Plato as it is generally supposed conversing with the Jews in Egypt or at his coming into Italy being there acquainted (c) Tull. Tusc Qu. lib. i. with the Doctrine of the Souls immortality amongst other notions of the Pythagoreans began to argue upon it but not being able to make it fully out has only shewn how far reason could proceed upon those grounds which were then known in the world from Revelation Seneca (d) Epist 54.102 tho he sometimes asserts the immortality of the Soul yet at other times doubts of it and even denies that the Soul has any subsistence in a separate State And yet this Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul which the greatest of the Heathen Philosophers could not certainly prove from reason was firmly believed even amongst (e) Grot. de verit lib. i. Anot. Barbarians (f) Consuc lib. iii. Part. 4. p. 36. Confucius the famous Chinese Philosopher profest himself not the Author but the Relater only of the Doctrine which he taught as he had received it delivered down from all Antiquity and (g) Arist Metaph. lib. xii c. 8. Aristotle has declared that the Ancients left many Traditions which their Posterity had corrupted but from the remains of those Traditiwe know that they were originally derived from Revelation The first of the Philosophers that taught the immortality of the Soul was (h) Tull. Tusc Qu. lib. i. Pherecydes and he left his Writings to Thales from whence he had the notion that all things were produced from water Pythagoras was a Scholar of Pherecydes and Pythagoras Plato and Aristotle conversed with the Learned Jews (i) Plat. Phaed. Socrates disputed of a future State from Tradition and (k) Plat. Phileb profest that he always followed the Tradition which had descended from Antiquity and that he was at a loss whenever that failed him (l) Plat. Timae And this Tradition could not have its Rise from the Greeks who were confest to understand little or nothing of Antiquity The notions in Philosophy of the latter Heathens were much improved by Ammonius a Christian and a Teacher of Philosophy at Alexandria And we find that upon the propagation of the Gospel Moral Philosophy in a few years attained to greater perfection than ever it had done before as we may see in the works of Seneca Epictetus Plutarch M. Antoninus Maximus Tyrius and others We may therefore reasonably conclude that the Precepts and Rules of Morality which Philosophers all along taught had their original from Revelation rather than from the strength and sagacity of their own reason because they err in things no less obvious to natural reason and it appears that they had opportunities of becoming acquainted with the Scriptures and that they spared no pains either by reading or conversation in their own or in foreign Countries in their search and enquiries after truth III. If the Heathen Philosophy had been as certain and excellent as it can be pretended to be yet there had been great need of a Divine Revelation For 1. The rules of Philosophy lie scattered up and down in large and learned works mixt with many wrong and absurd notions and therefore must be in great measure useless how certain and excellent soever they may be in themselves they can be no rule of Life to us No perfect rule of Manners is to be found in any one Author and if it were possible to compile such a rule out of them all yet what man is able to collect them (m) Lact. de vit Beat c. 7. Lanctantius is of opinion that if all the truths dispersed up and down among the several Sects of Philosophers could be collected together into one System they would make up a Body of Philosophy agreeable to the Christian Doctrine but then he concludes it to be impossible for any man to make such a collection without a supernatural Assistance And if there were no other reason for it but this it is no wonder that we find (n) Tull. de Orat. lib. i. the XII Tables preferred before all the Writings of the Philosophers If there be nothing so absurd as Tully says but the Philosophers have taught it then it is necessary that men should not be left to the uncertainties and absurdities of Philosophy for tho some few of them might be free from such extravagancies yet their Notions were no Rule or Standard to the rest and the best were not without many great Errors 2. The Rules of Philosophy were no better than good Advice and carried no Authority with them to oblige men in Conscience they had not the force of a Law and failing in this necessary point whatever their intrinsick worth had been they never could have had that effect upon the Lives of men which Revealed Religion has Vertue was propounded by Philosophers rather as a matter of Honor and Decency than of strict Duty those were esteemed and admired indeed that observed it but such as did not only wanted that commendation Some Philosophers spoke great and excellent things but they past rather for wise sayings than for Laws of Nature their own Reputation which was greater or less with different sorts of men was the only Authority they had it might be prudence to do as they taught but there appeared no absolute necessity for it They commonly represented Vertue as very lovely with many very great and powerful charms and all that were of another mind did not know a true Beauty and that was an intolerable disgrace the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments in the next Life was little insisted upon by them They recommended Vertue for it's own sake not as it is enjoyed by God and will be rewarded by him and the contrary punished and those who could not soar to their Heights were rather the worse than the better for such Doctrines which they looked upon as the impracticable speculations of some who had a mind to speak great things And they often spoke the Truth indeed which they had from Tradition or from the excellency of their own Wit and Genius but they were not able to make it out by any such Principles as are wont to influence and govern humane Actions Accordingly we find that as the several Sects of Philosophy suited to the Tempers and Humors of particular men so far they prevailed and no farther The curious and inquisitive betook themselves to the Academicks the soft and effeminate to the Epicureans and the Morose to the Stoicks men applyed themselves to what ever opinion they liked best and found most agreeable to their Nature and Disposition Thus a severe and haughty Gravity made up the
Composition of Cato it had been hard for him to avoid the being a Stoick and he might probably have founded that Sect if it had not been known in the World before The Philosophers had no Authority to promise rewards or to threaten punishments upon the observation or neglect of their Precepts and therefore every man was at his liberty to chuse or to reject what they taught and divers of them were sensible of this unavoidable defect in all humane Doctrines and therefore pretended to Revelation There is no inconvenience therefore in supposing that many of the Precepts contained in the Proverbs and other Books of Scripture might be known without a Revelation for there is notwithstanding very good Reason why they should be inserted into the Scripture Because the Scriptures have the Authority of a Divine Law and are to be looked upon not as a System of Ethicks or a Collection of Moral Precepts but as a Body of Laws given out upon Divers occasions and as Rules of Instruction which at the same time both shew us our Duty and command our Obedience It is not expected that Kings in their Laws shouid argue more profoundly than other men do but they should command more effectually than others can teach they do not dispute but pronounce and dictate what their subjects must take notice of at their peril And it is no diminution to a Princes Authority to command the most known and obvious things though it may be a fault in the subject to need such commands And God in his word did not design to furnish us with a Treatise of Philosophy to gratify our curiosity with strange and new notions and make us profound Scholars but to speak to the necessities of men and put them in mind of known Duties to appeal to their own Consciences and to enforce those notions of Good and Evil which natural reason perhaps might suggest to them by the authority of a revealed Religion and a Divine Law established upon Rewards and Punishments 3. Though the Philosophers were able to discern something more than other men yet they durst not openly declare what they knew but were over-born with the errors and vices the Times and Countries in which they lived even to the Commission of Idolatry and the worst of vices and therefore their Doctrines whatever they were could do but little good towards the reformation of the World I shall not enquire into the Reports concerning Socrates and Plato Seneca and Cato himself but only observe that Socrates who was the only Martyr among the Philosophers for the truth yet when he comes to die speaks with no assurance of a Future State and ordered a Cock to be sacrificed to Aesoulapius which can hardly be reconciled to that Doctrine for for which he is supposed to die And after his Death how did his Friends and Disciples behave themselves Did they openly and courageously vindicate his innocence and teach the Doctrine for which he suffered Did they not use all means to conceal and dissemble it But Mankind stood in need of a perfect example of Virtue and of such instructors as should both teach and practise the Doctrines of it at their utmost peril and of a succession of such Men as should bear Testimony to their Doctrine both by the Miracles wrought during their Lives and by the constancy of their Deaths 4. As the Heathen Philosophy wanted the Authority of a Law and the example of those who taught it so it wanted principal Motives to recommend the practice of it to the Lives of Men. The Philosophers teach nothing of the exceeding Love of God towards us of his desire of our happiness and his readiness to assist and conduct us in the ways of Virtue They owned no such thing as Divine Grace and Assistance towards the attainment of Vertue and the perseverance in it (o) Tull. de Nat. Dâ—or lib. iii. Virtutem autem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit nimirum recte propter virtutem enim jure laudamur in virtute recte gloriamur quod non contingeret si id donum a Deo non a nobis haberemus nam quis quod bonus vir esset gratias Diis egit unquam Jovemque optimum maximum ob eas res appellant non quod justos temperatos sapientes efficiat sed quod salvos incolumes opulentos copiosos This occasioned those (p) Sen Epist 53. insolent Boasts of the Stoicks equaling themselves to the Gods and sometimes even preferring themselves before them because they had difficulties to encounter which made their conquests of vice and their improvements in virtue more glorious than they supposed the like excellencies to be in their Gods who were good by the necessity of their own Nature Wherefore tho the Rules of Philosophy had been never so perfect yet they must needs be ineffectual being so difficult to find out and so unactive and dead when they were discovered without that Authority and Life and Energy that may be had from Divine Revelation which there was a necessity for not only to supply the imperfections and correct the errors of Philosophy but to enforce the Doctrines of it tho they had been never so true and perfect CHAP. VI. The Novelty and Defect in the Promulgation of the Mahometan Religion THE Novelty of the Mahometan Religion in respect both of the Old and New Testament is past all dispute And this Religion notwithstanding all its sensual allurement owes its Propagation solely to the â—ower of the Sword For though the Alcoran has been translated into most of the Languages in use amongst Christians yet it has never been known to make any Proselytes but by force of Arms. At first this Religion had many circumstances for its advantage which might in humane probability gain it success in the world It was begun in Rebellion and in a final Revolt from the Emperor Heraclius and besides this popular and seducing Temptation of Licence and Violence Mahomet added the enticements of Lust and Sensuality he forbad Men indeed some things but such as he could easily see they would part with for the free and unbounded enjoyment of others then he pretended to sound his Doctrine on the Authority of Moses and of Christ saying that Christ had promised to send him all which made his Religion find the more easy entertainment amongst both Jews and Christians 'T was but like the Heresy of the Gnosticks at the first and not altogether so gross and this must needs encline all of Seditious and lewd principles to come in to him being glad of such a colour for their wickedness and it had the advantage of Power and Force to make it more lasting than other such Blasphemies have been Christ on the contrary forbad Resistance of the supreme Power upon any terms whatsoever he asserted the Authority of Moses but so as to abolish the ceremonial part of the Law which was what the Jews were most fond of so that this very thing made the Jews
but as if that were not enough he has taken care to insert such particulars concerning himself as to suffer no man to be ignorant of the Spirit and Temper by which he was guided in penning it He blasphemously introduceth God thus speaking to him (a) Alcor c. xxxiii O Prophet we permit thee to know the Women to whom thou hast given Dowry the Women Slaves which God hath given thee the Daughters of thine Vnkles and of thine Aunts that have abandoned with thee the company of the wicked and the true believing Wife that shall be given thee if thou wilt marry her and that she be not the Wife of a true Believer It seems he gave himself the liberty to take away the Wives of any that were not of his Religion Thou shalt retain whom of thy Wives thou shalt desire to retain and shalt repudiate such as thou shalt desire to repudiate and shalt lye with them that shall please thee By this means his Family of Wives became pretty numerous some say they were fifteen others say one and twenty beside Concubines and therefore it was fit he should take some care to keep them true to him and so he bespeaks them after this manner (b) Ib. Oh! Ye Wives of the Prophet Such of you as shall be unchaste shall be punished doubly more than other Women this is a thing easy to God Such among you as shall obey God and his Prophet and shall do good works shall be rewarded more than other Women an exceeding great reward is prepared for you Oh ye Wives of the Prophet Ye are not like other Women of the World fear God and believe not in the discourse of such as have a design to seduce you speak with civility abide in your Houses go not forth to make your Beauty appear and to make a shew as did the ignorant of old This explains what was mentioned before of a Revelation Mahomet pretended to have concerning something that one of his Wives was to say to him he had a mind to make them believe that he knew whatever they did or said that so he might keep them in a we that they might not dare to prove false to him His Pride is evident in this which follows (c) Ib. Ye that believe enter not into the Houses of the Prophet without permission except at the hour of Repast and that by chance and without design if ye are invited enter with freedom when ye shall have taken your repast depart out of the house and tarry not to discourse one with another this molesteth the Prophet he is ashamed to tell you the truth But this is not all his number of Wives made him incurably jealous and therefore he adds you ought not to importune the Prophet of God neither to know his Wives this would be a most enormous sin The fierceness of Mahomet's Spirit may be seen by this one saying (d) Ib. ic xxii He that is angry that God giveth Succour and Protection to Mahomet in this World let him tye a Cord to the Beam of his House and hang himself he shall see if his choler will be allayed It is notorious that he set up his New Doctrine in oppressing his own Country-men who would not submit to his Imposture first and in Rebellion against the Emperor Heraclius then at War with the Persians afterwards and his Alcoran is fit only for a Saracen Camp Preaching Lust to his followers but blood and destruction towards all others This may satisfie any Man that there is nothing in the Author of the Mahometan Religion nor in the Religion it self which may incline him to believe it to be of Divine Revelation But whoever would know more of this vile Imposture may see it fully displayed in the Life of Mahomet lately published by the Learned Dr. Prideaux THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART IV. CHAP. I. That there is as great certainty of the Truth of the Christian Religion as there is of the Being of God FROM what has been discoursed the Truth of the Christian Religion is evident by all the arguments by which any Religion can possibly be proved to be Divine and if there be any such thing as true Religion the Christian Religion must beit and if this be made appear it is all that need be said in defence of the Christian Religion to any one but an Atheist The Scriptures are defective in nothing that is requisite in a Divine Revelation but have all that can be required in the highest degree to instance here only in Miracles and in those only of our Saviour and his Apostles Our Saviour wrought his Miracles in the midst of his Enemies and extorted a Confession from the Devils themselves of his Divine Power And if the Apostles had not been well assured and absolutely certain of his Resurrection they would never have had the confidence and the folly for it could have been no less to maintain so soon after his Death in Jerusalem the City where he was Crucify'd that he was risen from the Dead they would never have chosen that above all places to Preach this Doctrine and work their Miracles in if they had not been true at least they would never have done it at the great and solemn Feast of Pentecost to provoke the Jews to expose them to all the World for Impostors no they would have taken time to have laid their design with some better appearance and contrivance to be sure they would have avoided Jerusalem as much as they could and above all times at so solemn a Festival as that of Pentecost they would have gone rather to the remotest corners of the Earth 〈◊〉 have told their story than have run the hazard of such a discovery But when they stood the Test of all that the Jews could say or do to them when in that very City where he had been so lately Crucify'd they told the Jews to their face and before that numerous concourse of People which was then met together at Jerusalem that they were Murtherers that they murther'd their Messias but that he was risen from the Dead and that by vertue of his Resurrection they spoke those Languages and did those Works which they then saw and heard This was plain and open dealing and there could be no deceit in it if any thing of this could have been disproved they had been for ever silenced but their worst enemies were so far from being able to disprove what they said that about three thousand Converts were made on the day of Pentecost The innocent and Divine Life of our Saviour the holiness and excellency of his Doctrine the simplicity and meekness and constancy of his Disciples the continuance of Miracles for several Ages in the Church the wonderful Propagation of the Gospel by a few poor ignorant despised and persecuted Men every passage every circumstance in the whole dispensation of the Gospel is full of evidence in proof of it
and such Prophecies delivered as give to the Scriptures the full evidence and authority of a Divine Revelation If therefore it be enquired why we believe the Scriptures to be the word of God the Answer is upon the account of the Miracles and Prophecies which concurring with all other circumstance requisite in a Revelation confirm the Truth of them If it be asked how we know that these Prophecies and Miracles are true and effectual and not feigned or insufficient I answer because we have them so related and attested that considered barely as matter of Fact they have all the credibility that any matter of Fact is capable of and therefore may as safely be relied upon as any thing which we do our selves see or hear If it be further urged that for all this I may be deceived since all men are fallible and no man is infallibly assured that there is such a place as Rome who never saw it though no man neither can any more doubt of it than he can doubt whether there be such a place as London who lives in it I acknowledge that there is a bare possibility of being deceived in all humane evidence but yet I deny that we can possibly be deceived in this case because though the evidence it self be humane yet the things which it concerns are of that Nature that God would never suffer the World to be thus long imposed upon in them without all possibility of finding out the Truth So that here we resolve our Faith into the Divine Authority by reason of the same Miracles by reason whereof the Eye witnesses of them did resolve theirs into it but they believed these Miracles as seen by themselves and we believed them as seen and witnessed by others but both they and we believe them as the works of God himself It might have been alledged if we had seen those Miracles that we might possibly be decived and so indeed we might if we could not have securely relyed upon Gods Truth and Goodness that they were designed by him to confirm the Doctrine for the sake of which they were wrought and we may with equal security rely upon the same Truth and Goodness for the certainty of the History of them as we could have done for the sufficiency of them to the purpose for which they were wrought tho they had been performed in our sight since it is as impossible to find out any deceit in the account given of them as it would have been for us to find any in the Miracles themselves at the time of their performance Humane Testimony is the conveyance and the means of delivering the Truths contained in the Holy Scriptures down to us and we who could neither see the Miracles nor hear the Doctrines at the first hand have at this distance of time the truth of them ascertained by a continued successive Testimony till we arrive at such as were immediate witnesses of them Now those that saw and heard all things which are delivered to us in the Scriptures could not esteem their sences infallible but they notwithstanding believed our Saviour and his Disciples to be so of whom yet their senses only could give them means of assurance that they were infallible They knew their senses might deceive them or that they might be mistaken concerning the objects of sence but nevertheless they believed that our Saviour and the Apostles could not deceive them upon this only ground that their sences or their reason by deduction from sence told them so There was not one man of them perhaps but had often observed his senses misrepresent objects to him and yet in this case upon the sole Testimony of their senses they grounded an infallible Faith because though their sences had misrepresented objects yet it was in a wrong medium at an undue distance or by reason of some indisposition of the sense it self and still their sences or rather their reason by the help of their sences discovered that their sences had led them into mistakes But in the present case when the Object was placed in open and frequent view to the greatest advantage when it was publick and exposed to multitudes when all agreed in the same opinion concerning it and when the matter was of infinite importance here they had reason to conclude that the God who framed their Sences would not suffer them to be so hurtful to them as they must needs have been if they had been deceived by them In like manner in the Testimony which descends to us from former Ages we see with other mens eyes and hear with other mens ears and though the Testimony of others may often fail us and is subject to a double inconveniency through the incapacity and unfaithfulness of witnesses yet as in the former case so here when all circumstances are weighed and considered and after the utmost tryal no reason can be found to with-hold our assent but all things stand undisproved and no just scruple appears but only a bare possibility of being deceived and this arising not from any defect but that of humane nature it self here Gods Goodness and his Truth must needs interpose to take away that only impediment which otherwise must unavoidably hinder any thing from ever being known to be infallible The only certainty which we can have that our sences are true is this That God will not suffer them to be deceived where the disposition of the medium and distance of the Object and all other circumstances are rightly qualified because that would be inconsistent with his Attributes of Justice Goodness and Truth but it would be inconsistant with these Attributes not upon the account of our Bodies for they would be provided for as well though our sences were deluded we should see and hear and taste just as we do now though we were never so much deceived in these sensations therefore the Truth and Goodness and Justice of God are engaged not to suffer us to be deceived in respect to our Souls not in regard to our Bodies and if we have no certainty that our sences do not deceive us but because God would not suffer such a cheat to be put upon us as we are intelligent and rational Beings we have the same and much greater reason to conclude that he would not suffer us to lye under such a delusion in reference to our eternal Interest If God would not suffer our minds unavoidably to lye under a temporal delusion of no great consequence have we not much more reason to conclude that he would not suffer us unavoidably to be deceived by any means whatsoever in reference to our eternal Interest For in this case to be deceived is to be destroyed and to suffer it is a thousand times worse than if he should suffer all Mankind at once not only to be deceived by their sences but to be poisoned by that deceit and therefore the special Providence and particular care of God must be concerned to prevent it
If we have nothing to object but the imperfection of human nature we may rely upon God that this shall never mislead us in a matter of such consequence whether the imperfection be in our own sences or in the Testimony of others In short the Miracles related in the Scriptures will as effectually prove a Divine Revelation to us as they could to those that saw them but the difference is that they believed their sences and we believe them and all things considered we have as much reason to believe upon their evidence as they could have to believe upon the evidence of their sences Let us consider History as a medium by which these Miracles become known to us and compare this medium with that of Sight If a man would be sceptical he might doubt whether any medium of Sight be so fitly disposed as to represent objects in their due proportion and proper shape he might suspect that any Miracles which he could see were false or wrought only to amuse and deceive him and there would be no way to satisfy such an one but by telling him that this is inconsistent with the Truth and Goodness of God So in this other medium of History which to us supplies the want of that of Sight a man may doubt of any matter of Fact if he Pleases notwithstanding the most credible evidence but in a matter of this nature where our Eternal Salvation is concerned we may be sure God will not suffer Mankind to be deceived without all possibility of discovering the deceit The circumstances have all the marks of credibility in them and therefore if they be duely attended to cannot but be believed and the Doctrine which they are brought in evidence of being propounded to be believed under pain of Damnation require that they should be attended to and considered and that which is in its circumstances most credible and in its matter is supposed necessary to Salvation must be certainly true unless God could oblige us to believe a Lye For not to believe things credible when attended to and known to be such is to humane nature impossible and not to attend to things proposed as from God of necessity to Salvation is a very heinous Crime against God and to think that God will suffer me to be deceived in what I am obliged in Honour and obedience to him to believe upon his Authority is to think he can oblige me to believe a Lye But it may be objected if this be so how comes it to pass that they are prâ—nounced blessed who have not seen and yet have believed John xx 29. Which seems to denote that a peculiar Blessing belongs to them because they believe upon less evidence I answer that they are there pronounced Blessed who had so well considered the nature and circumstances of things the Prophecies concerning the Messias and what our Saviour had delivered of himself as to believe his Resurrection upon the report of others not because others might not have as sufficient Grounds for their Belief as those who saw him after his Resurrection but the evidence of sense is more plain and convincing to the generality of men though Reason proceeds at least upon as sure and as undeniable Principles A demonstration when it is rightly performed is as certain as the self evident Principles upon which it proceeds though it be so far removed from them that every one cannot discern the connexion Demonstrations may be far from being easie and obvious but are oftentimes we know very difficult and intricate which yet when they are once made out are as certain as sense it self The Blessing is pronounced to him who believes not upon less evidence But upon that which at first seems to be less which is less observable and less obvious to our consideration but not less certain when it is duly considered For which reason our Saviour after he had wrought many Miracles that were effectually attested by sufficient witnesses required Faith in those who came to be healed of him because the Testimony of others was the means which in Ages to come was to be the motive of Faith in Christians and he thereby signified to us that there may be as good Grounds for Faith upon the report of others as we could have from our own sences and generally those who came in unbelief went away no better satisfied Wherefore it is said that in his own Country because of their unbelief he could do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick Folk and healed them Mark vi 5. He could not do his mighty works because they would be ineffectual and would be lost upon them and he could do nothing Insignificant or in vain if they would reject what had been so fully witnessed to them they would not believe whatever Miracles they should see him do It is very remarkable that amidst all his Miracles our Saviour directs his Followers to Moses and the Prophets and appeals to the Scriptures for the Authority of his very Miracles and that even after his Resurrection he instructs his Disciples who saw and discoursed with him out of the Scriptures to confirm them in the truth of it Luke xxiv 26 27. He requires the Jews to give no greater credit to his own Miracles than that which he implies they already gave to the wrirings of Moses so as firmly and stedfastly to believe that he came from God And we having all the helps and advantages which the Jews had to create in them a Belief of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and many more and greater Motives if it be possible to believe these of the New must therefore have sufficient means to excite in us that Faith which our Saviour required of those who saw his Works and heard his Doctrine which certainly was a Divine Faith and all the Faith which if it be accompanied with sincere and impartial obedience is required in order to Salvation Upon the whole matter I conclude that the Truth of the Christian Religion is evident even to a Demonstration for it is as Demonstrable that there is a God as it is that I my self am or that there is any thing else in the World because nothing could be made without a Maker or created without a Creator and it is as Demonstrable that this God being the Author of all the perfections in men must himself be infinitely perfect that he is infinitely Wise and Just and Holy and Good and that according to these Attributes he could not suffer a false Religion to be imposed upon the world in his own Name with such manifest Tokens of credibility that no man can possibly disprove it but every one is obliged to believe it FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by R. Wellington at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul 's Church-Yard Newly Published A Treatise of Medicines containing an Account of their Chymical Principles the Experiments made upon them their Various Preparations and Vertues and the
numerous than the Sufferers for any other p. 531. Zeal for Falshood no prejudice to Truth p. 532. The preference for the Christian Religion before all others p. 534. The proper Notion of Martyrdom p. 535. CHAP. XXXII That Differences in Matters of Religion are no prejudice to the Truth and Authority of it Differences in matters of Religion must be unless God should miraculously and irresistibly interpose to prevent them p. 539. It is not necessary that God should thus interpose p. 544. nor expedient p. 546. These Differences how great and how many soever they may be are no prejudice to the Truth and Certainty of Religion p. 549. All Parties are agreed in the Truth of Religion in general and of the Christian Religion in particular p. 551. It is not Religion about which Men dispute but there is nothing besides in which Men have not disagreed p. 555. Prophecies are hereby fullfilled p. 557. CHAP. XXXIII Though all Objections could not be Answer'd yet this would be no just Cause to reject the Authority of the Scriptures A True Revelation may contain great Difficulties and if the Arguments in proof of the Scriptures remain in their full Force notwithstanding any Objections and no positive and direct Proof be brought that they are insufficient the Objections must proceed from some Mistake and ought to be rejected as insignificant p. 559. This is shewn in Particulars p. 561. The way of Reasoning which is made use of to disprove the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures considered in cases of another nature p. 563. Difficulties can never alter the nature of things p. 566. CHAP. XXXIV The Conclusion containing an Exhortation to a serious Consideration of these things both from the Example of the wisest and most learned Men and from the infinite Importance of the things themselves AS wise and learned Men as any that ever lived in the World have suffered Persecutions and Martyrdom for the Christian Religion p. 568. The Causes of Unbelief among Christians Immorality a Spirit of Contradiction and singularity of Opinion p. 569. It is at every Man 's own Peril if he make a rash and partial Judgment p. 570. This is too serious a Subject to jest and trifle withall p. 574. THE REASONABLENESS AND CERTAINTY OF THE Christian Religion BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Humane Reason HAving in the former Book proved the Divine Authority of the Scriptures I proceed in this to clear such points as are commonly thought most liable to exception in the Christian Religion and to propose some considerations which may serve to remove such prejudices and obviate such cavils as are usually raised against the Holy Scriptures But before men venture upon making Objections against the Scriptures they would do well first to consider the compass and strength of their own Parts and Faculties and to observe in how many things they daily find themselves deceived how many men there are who understand much more than themselves and how much folly and ignorance there is in the wisest men Those commonly that raise objections against the Scriptures are as confident in the management of them as if they understood all things besides and therefore conclude that must needs be false which they do not understand not considering how very reasonable it is to suppose that God should command and reveal many things the Natures and Reasons of which we may not be able to comprehend This must be granted by every man who believes God to be infinitely wise but doth not think himself to be so and acknowledgeth God's soveraignty over him For as he is infinitely wise he may reveal things above our capacities and as he is the supream Lord and Governor of the world he may command us what in his infinite wisdom he shall see fitting tho we may not perceive the Reason and Design of it And yet this is the utmost that upon a due examination many of the objections against the Authority of the Scriptures amount to that there are several things in them of which some men think no clear account can be given and others which seem to them unworthy of God Now what is the meaning of this way of objecting and where lies the force of such Arguments but in this that it is not to be conceived that God would reveal or command any thing with which they are not satisfied or which they cannot perfectly understand This is all the strength of this sort of objections There is all the Reason in the world to believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God if they did not contain things which these men in their great wisdom think should not be there if they were his word which is to make their own understanding the measure and Criterion of Divine Revelation And some have turned Scepticks for as good Reasons and others have been Atheists upon the same Principles finding as much fault with the System of the World and the Order and contrivance of the parts of it as the Deist doth with the Scriptures they have renounced all belief of a God upon the same grounds upon which he disbelieves the Christian Religion To convince men therefore of the Narrowness and Weakness of Humane Reason I shallshew I. That in some things each side of a Contradiction seems to be â—demonstrable II. That very man believes and experiences several things which in the Theory and speculative Notion of them would seem as incredible as any thing in the Scriptures can be supposed to be III. That those who reject the Mysteries of Religion must believe things much more incredible I. In some things each side of a Contradiction seems to us demonstrable Several instances might be given of this I shall instance only in the divisibility of Matter Nothing seems more evident than that divisibility is essential to Matter and that therefore all Matter is divisible so that the least part of Matter is as divisible as the biggest because the least particle of Matter is Matter that is it is of the same Nature and Essence with the whole and all Matter differs only in Bulk or Figure or Place or Rest or Motion It being then of the Nature of Matter to be divisible it must ever be divisible tho it be never so often divided since it can never be so divided as to lose it own Nature or cease to be Matter On the other side it is demonstrable that Matter cannot be infinitely divisible because whatever is divisible is divisible into parts and no parts can be infinite because no Number can be so For all Number is necessarily in it self capable of being counted or numbred tho no Finite Being may be able to number it a Numberless Number is a contradiction it is a Number which is no Number therefore all Number must be even or odd and must be capable of Addition and Substraction which is contrary to the Nature of Infinite For what is less or greater has certain bounds or limits and therefore cannot be
Watches for Animals and could not imagine how men could hold correspondence at a distance by a little piece of Paper What man is there among the Vulgar that can conceive how the dimensions and distances of the Sun and Stars can be taken and how the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and of the Satellites of Jupiter can be calculated And is not the knowledge of the wisest man upon earth infinitely more surpass'd by the Divine Wisdom than his Knowledge can excel that of the greatest Idiot III. Those who disbelieve and reject the Mysteries of Religion must believe things much more incredible I. He that will not believe the Being of an Eternal God must believe Matter to be eternal for it is certain something must be eternal because nothing could produce nothing and unless there always had been something there never could have been any thing But this Eternal Matter must either have been once without Motion or always with it if it were once without Motion then Matter must move itself that is Motion must be produced without any thing to produce it If it were always in Motion then there must have been an eternal Succession since Motion cannot be all at once for the very nature of Motion supposes Progression and no Body can move in this space and the next at the same instant for then it must be in two places at once But all Succession of Duration is gradual and the Degrees of it are capable of being numbred and to suppose an Eternal Succession is to suppose an Infinite Number that is a Number to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be substracted or a Number which is no Number Motion therefore could not be Eternal and consequently the World could not exist from Eternity But since there must be something Eternal there must be something the duration whereof is indivisible or which has all its existence together so as to have existed now no longer than it had done before the Beginning of the World For this is the notion of Eternity that it has neither Beginning nor End and therefore things eternal never had a less or shorter duration than they now have and can never have a longer after millions of Ages than they had the first year or day from whence we may be supposed to begin the computation of those Ages For a longer or shorter Duration must suppose a Beginning from whence the computation is made and therefore that which is eternal and had no Beginning can have neither a longer nor a shorter Duration but always the same and by consequence Time can bear no proportion to Eternity because that which had a Beginning can bear no proportion to that which had none Yet Eternity must coexist with Time in all the differences and successions of it and must be present with every part of it that is the Eternal Being exists the space suppose of a thousand years and a Temporal or Created Being exists at the same time as long and the Temporal Being becomes a thousand years older than it was but the Eternal no older than it was before because tho it coexist with Time yet it has no respect to the division of it into Past Present and Future There is no Mystery in Religion more difficult and perplexing than this and yet this is no more than what every one tho he be a Deist or an Atheist must acknowledge to believe if he will but consider it 2. Whoever believes that there is a God and yet believes no Revelation or that the Scriptures are not by Revelation from him must believe a God and yet deny the Divine Attributes he must believe that there is a God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Alex. contr Julian lib. 8. who is not essentially just and good and holy which is in effect to believe no God at all as I have proved at large in the former Book Much more might be said upon so copious a subject but this is enough to make us more humble and modest in judging of the Divine Mysteries For shall poor Mortals who know so little and that little so imperfectly presume to censure the Holy Scriptures because they contain things which they cannot understand Shall he that cannot fully explain the Nature of the vilest Infect reject what God hath delivered concerning himself because he doth not comprehend it The thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain For the corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out Wisd 13 14 15 16. But * Ld Bacon ' s Advancement of Learning B. 3. c. 2. out of the contemplation of Nature and out of the Principles of humane Reason to discourse or earnestly to urge a point touching the mysteries or Faith and again to be curiously speculative into those secrets to ventilate them and to be inquisitive into the manner of the mystery is in my judgment not safe Da fidei quae fidei sunt For the Heathens themselves conclude as much in the excellent and divine Fable of the Golden Chain that Men and Gods were not able to draw Jupiter down to the Earth but contrarywise Jupiter was able to draw them up to Heaven Wherefore he laboureth in vain who shall attempt to draw down Heavenly mysteries to our Reason it rather becomes us to raise and advance our Reason to the adored Throne of Divine Truth CHAP. II. Of Inspiration ALl the Motion of Material things is derived from God and the best account which those who have the most studied the nature of Motion have been able to give of it is only this that it is an effect of the Divine Power manifesting itself according to certain Laws or Rules which God has been pleased to prescribe for the communication of Motion from one Body to another And it is at least as conceivable by us that God doth act upon the Immaterial as that he acts upon the material part of the World and highly reasonable to suppose that he concerns himself with our Souls much more than with our Bodies There is no doubt to be made but that separate and unbodied spirits have ways of of conversing or communicating their thoughts to one another indeed all the communication and discourse that is among men in this world is properly between their Souls which use their Bodies as instruments for the conveyance of their Thoughts and Notions from one to anoand as their Bodies are more or less fit and serviceable to this end so their discourse is more or less easily convey'd and therefore Souls when they are at Liberty from these Bodies must have a Power to communicate their
a confirmation of the Authority of them the persons there mentioned were as so many Witnesses to attest that they were genuine For besides the general concernment of the Catholick Church and of the several Churches more especially to which such Epistles were written the persons who were saluted by name in them were more particularly concerned to take cognizance of them and to know all the circumstances relating to them And St Paul's advice to Timothy to drink no longer Water but to use a little Wine for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities 1 Tim. v. 23. was requisite to be given in that Epistle that it might remain recorded in the Scriptures in confutation of that superstition which some were guilty of in abstaining from things lawful and particularly from Wine out of an opinion of Holiness in refraining from them and of sin in the use of them 5. That infallible Spirit which assisted and inspired the Apostles and other Sacred Writers was not permanent and habitual or continually residing in them nor given for all purposes and occasions as we may observe in St Paul who acquaints us in some things that he had not received of the Lord what he writes But the gifts of the Spirit were bestowed for the benefit and edification of the Church and therefore wâ—re given in such measures at such times and upon such occasions as might be useful for edification We find that in a matter of great concernment and importance to the whole Church the Apostles met together in Councel to decide the controversy both because according to our Saviours promise to them they might expect a more abundant effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them when they were assembled in his name for that purpose and because the thing in debate depended upon Matter of Fact viz. that the Holy Ghost was given to the Gentiles and therefore it was requisite that many should meet together and testifie of that matter Besides several that came down from Judea to Antioch had refused to submit to the Authority of St Paul and St Barnabas and it was necessary that these men should be convinced by the unanimous and joint Authority of the Apostles who being met in a full Councel declared It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Acts 15.28 that is not only to us but to the Holy Ghost to the Holy Ghost as well as to us And this was for an Example and Precedent to the Church in future Ages to determine Controversies by the Authority of Councels 6. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed upon men who might have personal failings and were men of like Passions with us Act. 14.25 They had this Treasure in earthen Vessels that the excellency of the Power might be of God and not of themselves 2 Cor. 4.7 But they werechosen to be Apostles and Evangelists and therefore must be so far exempt from error in the execution of their Office and Ministry as not to deliver false Doctrines in their Writings which were to be read and received of all Churches in all Ages of the World for this would have defeated and subverted the design of the Institution of the Apostles and of the Mission of the Holy Ghost and therefore this God would not suffer tho they might be suffered to incur such failings as were no prejudice to the Gospel of Christ 7. There being nothing asserted in the Canon of Scripture but what has some relation to the edification of the Church tho some parts of it have a less direct and apparent tendency to this end than others if any one passage or circumstance should have been erroneous this would diminish the Authority of the Scriptures and make them in some degree less capable to promote the end for which they were written And there being so many particular Gifts the Gift of Wisdom and of Knowledge of Tongues and of Interpretation of Tongues and of discerning of Spirits and so many distinct Offices as Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers we cannot conceive how those Gifts and these Offices could be better employed than in preserving that Book from error which was to be the standard of Truth for all Ages or how if that Book had not been secured from error by them these Gifts and Offices had answered the end of their appointment Thus much may suffice to prove the Scriptures to be infallible in all the parts and circumstances of them But it may be observed that if the Infallibility of the Sacred Writers had not extended to the words and circumstances but only to the substantial and fundamental points of Religion this of itself were enough to vindicate the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion Nay further if the Scriptures were written only with the same certainty and integrity that is in Thucydides or in any other credible Historian which the most obstinate and inveterate Adversary can never deny yet even then no man without much unreasonableness cou'd reject it CHAP. III. Of the Style of the Holy Scriptures WHen God reveals himself to men he must be supposed to do it in such a manner as is suitable to the necessities and occasions of those to whom the Revelation is made and in such Language and Forms of Speech as that he may be understood by those to whom he reveals himself he may be suppos'd to speak in the Idiom and in the Metaphors and Phrases in use amongst them and to allude to their customs and manner of life to have regard to the condition and state of their affairs and to condescend in some measure to their weaknesses to speak to their capacities so as to be understood in his Laws and to encourage and excite men to obey them For tho the particular reason and design of every Law be not always necessary to be known yet it is necessary that those to whom they are given should know what the Laws are and that they should have their Duty prescribed in such a way as may be effectual to recommend the Practice of it to them The style of the Holy Scriptures is a subject which has been largely discoursed of by Mr Boyle and others What I intend to say upon it I shall reduce to these Heads I. The Grammatical construction II. The Metaphors and Figures and Rhetorical Schemes of Speech III. The Decorum or suitableness of the Matter or the Things themselves IV. The Method I. The Grammatical construction and propriety of Speaking It has been by many observed that there is a great resemblance between the style of the Old Testament and that of Homer the most ancient Book we have besides and it is likewise observable that those things which are by some looked upon as defects in the Scripture style as the using one Gender or one Number or Case or Tense for another the putting Participles for Verbs the Comparative or Superlative for the Positive Actives for Passives or Passives for Actives are particularly taken notice of by
character of a Book of the Scriptures The modern Jews in like manner never dared to pretend to new Books of Revelation but have constantly adhered to the old And what inducement could the Jews have to receive these Books into their Canon of which it consists rather than the Apocryphal Books but the evidence of their Divine Authority which is a thing more especially remarkable in some Books Why should they receive certain Books under the Names of Solomon Esther Daniel and Ezra but not admit into the Canon others going under the same names but because of the difference in their Authority Why should they receive the Books of those whom their fore-fathers had slain and those very Books for which they slew them but upon the clearest evidence It is certain they could be possest with no prejudice in their favour but with very many against the Books of such Authors To give another instance The Book of Ruth contains the affairs and transactions of a particular Family of no great consequence as one might imagine at first view and yet it has been preserved with as much â—are and as constantly received as the rest There is little reason upon human considerations why a relation concerning that Family should be inserted into the Canon of Scripture rather than one concerning any other But the lineage of the Messias is set forth in it and that was a sufficient reason why it should be inserted and therefore by the Divine Wisdom and Providence neither the emulation and envy of other Families nor any other cause or accident hindred its reception and preservation amongst the other inspired Books And in that History there is an account not very honourable for David's Family in deriving his descent from Phares of Thamar and shewing that his Great Grandmother was a Moabitess the Moabites being a people who had an indelible mark of intamy sixt upon them by the Law of Moses Dentr xxiii 3. II. As the Pentateuch was ever acknowledged by the People of Israel after their separation from the Tribe Judah so if they rejected the writings of the Prophets it must have been because all or most of them were written by Prophets who were of the two Tribes and all the Prophets of Israel owning the Temple of Jerasalem to be the true place of Worship the Isâ—aelites and Samaritans must have great prejudices against them upon that account and it cannot be expected that they should receive the Books of any of the Prophets in the same manner as they did those of Moses The Books of Samuel David and Solomon had less regard paid to them upon Reasons of State by the Tribes who followed the Revolt of Jeroboam yet when * Antiqu. Orient Eccl. pist 1. Joseph Scaliger sent to the Samaritans for the Canticles of the Book of Psalms in their Language as well as for the Book of the Law and of Joshua they promised to send him them And it is proved sufficiently by Dr †Hebr. Talmud exercit on Joh. iv 25. Lightfoot that neither the Samaritans nor the Sadducees rejected the Books of the Old Testament tho they did not admit the rest into the same veneration and authority with the Books of Moses nor read them in their Synagogues This is also proved by F. Simon * Crit. Hist V. T. lib. 1. c. 16. 29. Disquisit Crit c. 12. both of the Sadducees and the Karaei and †Epist 70. inter Antiqu Eccl. Orient Morinus likewise proves it of the Karaei who are generally taken for Sadducees F. Simon maintains the contrary and that they have wrong done them in being charged with the opinions of the Sadducces However this is not material to our present purpose since he shews that both the Sadducees and the Karaei or Caraites and all the Jews besides received the entire Volume of the Scriptures without any contradiction * Praefat. de Lipmanno Hackspan likewise has shewed that the Sadducees denied not the Authority of the Books of the Prophets III Concerning the Books whereof we we find mention made in the Old Testament either 1. They are not different from those which are now in the Canon but the same Books under divers Names Or 2. They were not written by Inspiration tho written by Prophets For we are not to suppose that the Prophets were inspired in every thing that they wrote any more than in all they spoke And this shews the care and integrity of the Jews in compiling their Canon that they would not take into it all the Writings even of the Prophets themselves but only such as they knew to be written by them as Prophets that is by Inspiration the Prophets themselves no doubt making a distinction as we find St Paul did between what they had written by the Spirit of God and that in which they had not his immediate and extraordinary direction and infallible assistance Or 3. They might not be written by Prophets For the office of Recorder or Remembrancer or Writer of Chronicles as it is explained in the Margin is mentioned as â—n office of great Honour and Trust and was distinct from that of the Prophets 2 Sam. viii â—6 2 Kings xviii 18. 2 Chron. xxxiv 8. Isaiah xxxvi 3 22. Besides the Hebrews called every small Writing a Book Thus Deut. xxiv 1. â—hat which we render a Bill of Divorcement â—s in the Original a Book of Divorcement the word being the same which Josh x. 13. and 〈◊〉 Sam. i. 18. is translated the Book of Jasher â—o Matt. xix 7. and Mark x. 4. it is in the Greek a Book of Divorcement the word is the same which the Septuagint had used it indeed may signifie a little Book but it often signifies a Book without that distinction and so it is rendered 2 Tim. iv 13. David's Letter to Joab is a Book in the Hebrew and in the Greek 2 Sam. xi 14 15. and Lettets are stiled Books by * Herod lib. 1. c. 124. lib. 6. c. 4. Herodotus Or 4. Tho it should be granted that some Books which were written by Inspiration are now lost it is no absurdity to suppose that God should suffer Writings to be lost thro the fault and negligence of men which were dictated by his Spirit Several things might by the Prophets be delivered by Revelation to the persons whom they concerned which were never committed to writing and others which were written but which were not necessary to the ends of Revelation in general but rather concerned particular times and places and the substance whereof as far as the world in general is concerned is to be found in the other Scriptures might by the carelesness of men never come to the sight and knowledge of Posterity And here I shall observe that the Books of Prophecy have always the Names of the Authors exprest and commonly they are often repeated in the Books themselves but in the Historical Books there was not the same reason for it because in matters
Hereticks viz. the Marcionists and Valentinians and perhaps the Disciples of Lucanus or Lucianus for in this he could not be positive tho this Lucanus was a follower of Marcion IX There are still extant Copies of great Antiquity The Cambridge Copy in Greek and Latin containing the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and that which is supposed to be the second part of it containing St Paul's Epistles in the French Kings Library and another the like Copy which is in the Library of th Benedictines of St Germains * F. Simon Crâ—t Hist of the N. Test Part 1. c. 31. Mabil de Re Diplom lib. 5. Tabell 1. are concluded to be a thousand years old at least Morinus thought them to be ancienter than St Jerom's time The Alexandrian Copy is believed to have been written by Thecla above one thousand three hundred years ago Morinus †Epist 54. inter Antiquâ— Eccl. Orient acknowledgeth it to be of above twelve hundred years date Bishop * Prolegom ix 34. Walton supposes the Alexandrian MS. to be at least as old as that in the Vatican which is allowed to be twelve hundred years old There is †F. Sim. Crit. Hist of the N. T. part 2. c. 4. one Syriack MS. of the Gospels in the Library of the Duke of Florence of above a thousand years Antiquity and another not much less ancient A * Gruter Inscript p. 146. Gothick Translation of the Four Evangelists in the Abbey of Werdin is likewise of above a thousand years Antiquity And what ancient Books are there of which the Originals are still extant or of which there are so ancient Copies as of the Scriptures X. Sufficient reasons may be given to shew how it came to pass that the Authority of some Books was at first doubted of 1. The Epistle to the Hebrews had no name prefixt either because the Jews were prejudiced against St Paul or because the Gentiles were his more peculiar care or for some other reason unknown and in this it differs from the rest of St Paul's Epistles and the †Hieroâ— Catal. i Petr. Paul style is different which occasioned the first doubts about it as it happend likewise to St Peter's second Epistle upon the account of its style and then the Novatians alledging some Texts in the Epistle to the Hebrews in favour of their opinion this made the Orthodox the less inclined to receive a Book which before had been disputed and therefore tho it was received in the East it was questioned at Rome where Novatian begun his Schisms The second Epistle of St Peter might be scrupled on the same account and both that and the Revelation of St John being alledged for the Millennium by such as undestood it in a gross sense this caused the Authority of those Books to be called in question which is said * Euseb Hist lib. vi c. 25. expresly of the Revelation 2. Some Epistles were written to particular persons or directed to such as lived at a great distance and by reason of Persecutions arising the Authentick Epistles might not readily be produced 3. Some Books were not usually read in the Churches as the rest were All the Books of Scripture except the Revelation of St John are inserted in the Catalogue of the Council of Laodicea and this was omitted because by reason of the abstruse Mysteries contained in it it was not publickly read in Churches for that Catalogue was designed to shew what Books ought to be read in the publick Assemblies But the Revelation was long before acknowledged to be genuine by †Justin Mart. Dialog Tertull. de Resur c. 27 38. Adv. Marcion lib. ii c. 5. iii. c. 14. Euseb Hist lib. iv c. 18. v. c. 8. Hierom. Catal. in Johannum Justin Martyr by Irenaeus and by Tertullian and others both Justin Martyr and Irenaeas wrote a comment upon the Revelation of St John The Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St James and the the second Epistle of St Peter are cited by Clemens Romanus in his first Epistle which was itself wont to be read in Churches 4. The Hereticks would use all their endeavours and subtilty to hinder the reception of those Books by which their Heresies were disproved and they might so far have effect as to make some doubt for a while of their Authority For instance Diotrephes an ambitious aspiring man who prated against St John with malicious words and had so much power as to cast the Brethren out of the Church would forbid the receiving of St John's Epistles as well as the receiving the Brethren of that Apostles Communion and that he did this St John himself intimates when he says I wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the Pre-eminence among them receiveth us not Joh. Epist iii. 9. that is he received not St John's Epistle for that would have been to receive him as an Apostle or to acknowledge his Authority XI Tho the Authority of some Books hath been questioned by private men yet those Books were never rejected by any Council of the Church tho frequent Councils were called in the first Ages of Christianity and had this very thing under consideration * Tertull. de Pudicit c. 10. Tertullian after he had turned Montanist rejecting the authority of Hermas's Pastor as not being received into the Canon of Scripture says that it was reckoned amongst the Apocryphal Books by all the Councils of his Adversaries the Orthodox From whence it is evident that in Tertullian's time divers Councils had past their Censure upon the Apocryphal Books and that the Canon of Scripture had been fixt long before So that the time in which some of these Councils were held must probably be whilst St Polycarp a Disciple of St John was yet living whose Martyrdom by the earliest computation was not till A. D. cxlvii at least they must be held in Irenaeus life time who conversed with St Polycarp and lived at the same time with Tertullian Thus was the Canon of Scripture vouched by those who had received it from St John and Councils upon occasion were called which †Tertull. de Jejun c. 13. Tertullian elsewhere mentions as very numerous and frequent in Greece to give testimony to the Genuine Canon and censure Apocryphal Books It is manifest that the Canon of Scripture was settled before the Council of Laodicea which in the lixth Canon appoints that no Books * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Laod can lix which are extra Canonem but only Canonical Books should be read in the Christian Assemblies and then subjoyns the Titles of the Canonical Books which Title they had as Zonaras and Balsamon observe because they were inserted into the Apostles Canons and all others were styl'd uncanonical And it is concluded after the strictest examination by the best Criticks that those which go under the Name of the Apostles Canons are the Canons of Councils assembled before the Council
of Nice inasmuch as they are referred to by that Council and that they are styl'd Apostolical because they were made by Apostolical Men or such as lived next to the Apostles times and delivered in these Canons what they had received from the Apostles Dr Beverege thinks they * Bever Annot. ad Pandect Can. Cod. Can. Eccl. Primit vind Cave Histor Liter in clem Roman were collected into one Body by Clemens Alexandrinus and Dr Cave seemed inclined to be of the same judgment As to the Authority of the particular Apostolical Canon which contains the Canon of Scripture of the Council of Laodicea gives a sufficient Testimony to it so far as it concerns the Books of the New Testament and shews wherein it has been corrupted since All which very well agrees with that which I observed from Tertullian that frequent Councils were called in the first Ages and that they had the Canon of Scripture among other things under consideration which we find set down in the last of the Apostles Canons and from thence in the Canons of the Council of Laodicea no Book being omitted but the Revelation of St John which yet had been acknowledged and received as Authentick from the beginning of those who had most reason to know of what Authority it was but none were inserted into the Canon but such Books as were appointed to be constantly read in the Assemblies of Christians It appears then that the Canon of Scripture was finished by St John and that such Books as were not of Divine Authority were rejected by Councils held when there were living Witnesses to certify St John's Approbation of the Canon or at least those who had received it from such Witnesses the Gospels of the other Evangelists were translated into divers Languages in St John's Life time and we must in reason suppose the same of the other Books of Scripture this is certain that they were all very early translated into many Tongues and dispersed into so many Hands in so many Countries that it was impossible they should be either lost or falsifyed espeble cially since the several sects of Christians were never more jealous and watchful over each other in any thing than in this particular the several Interests and Pretensions of all parties being chiefly concerned in it and no Catalogue of Books could have been received exclusively to all others but upon the clearest evidence XII When it once appeared that the Books which had been doubted of belonged to the Canon of Scripture they were afterwards generally acknowledged and constantly received in all Churches every Sect has since used all Arts and Endeavours to reconcile the Scriptures to their own Doctrines few or none presuming to reject the Authority of any of these Books which they would never scruple to do if they suppos'd they could make out any plausible pretence for it Protestants have refused to admit of the Apocryphal Books as inspired but whoever have gone about to reject any part of the Canonical Scriptures have been universally declared against for it whereof no other reason can be given but the Evidence that is for the Authority of the Canonical Books of Scripture which is wanting for the Authority of the Apocryphal Books Papists own the Authority of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and of the fourteenth Chapter of that Epistle which is directly against praying in an unknown Tongue and they acknowledge the Epistle to the Galatians to be genuine tho the second Chapter be so clearly against the pretensions of the Church of Rome These Espistles indeed were never controverted but the Epistle to the Hebrews likewise is not rejected by the Socinians the Divine Nature of Christ and the Merit and Satisfaction of his sufferings are so plainly asserted in it and they dare not deny the Authority of the Gospel and Epistles of St John tho they are so hard put to it to expound them to their own sense that Socinus was forc'd to pretend to I know not what Revelation to help out one of his explications which he would not have done if he could have found out any colour for not admitting the Authority of a Text so directly contrary to his own Tenents that he could not expect that any thing less than a Revelation should procure any credit to his Interpretation And generally the case is the same with other Sects those that differ never so much one from another in the Interpretation of particular Texts yet agree in the acknowledgment of the Authority of the Canon of Scripture itself or can find out no sufficient pretence to disown it CHAP. V. Of the various Readings in the Old and New Testament IT is to be observ'd that an extrardinary Providence has in a great measure secur'd the Holy Scriptures from those Casualties which are incident to humane Writings For the great Antiquity of many Books of the Scriptures beyond that of any other Books in the World the multitude of Copies which have been taken in all Ages and Nations the difficulty to avoid mistakes in transcribing Books in a Language which has so many of its Letters and of its Words themselves so like one another the defect of the Hebrew Vowels and the late invention as it is generally now acknowledged of the Points the change of the Samaritan or ancient Hebrew for the present Hebrew Character the captivity of the whole Nation of the Jews for seventy years and the mixtures and changes which were during that time brought into their Language in short all the accidents which have ever happened to occasion errors or mistakes in any Book have concurred to cause them in the Old Testament and yet the different Readings are much fewer and make much less alteration in the sense than those of any other Book of the same bigness and of any Note and Antiquity if all the Copies should be carefully examined and every little variation as punctually set down as those of the Scriptures have been But tho from hence it may appear that a peculiar providence has been concerned in the preservation of the Books of the Scriptures yet from humane considerations and arguments we may likewise be assured that nothing prejudicial to the Authority of the Scriptures has happened by any of these means 1. The defect in the Hebrew Vowels and the late Invention of the Points is no prejuduce to the Authority of the Bible as we now have it Tho the Points which crititically determine the exact Reading of the Hebrew Tongue be of a later invention yet that Tongue was never without its Vowels For Aleph Vau and Jod and which some add He and Gnajm before the invention of the Points were used as Vowels as it is evidently proved from Josephus Vid. Walton Prolegom iii. s 49. Origen and St Jerom by the best Criticks in that Language It must indeed be confest that these Vowels could not be so effectual to ascertain the true Reading as the Points have since been but
which induce a belief of the Truth of the Scriptures is a very deceitful way of Arguing Because it is not in the least improbable that there may be a true Revelation which may have great Difficulties in it But if sufficient Evidence be produced to convince us that the Scriptures are indeed God's Word and there be no proof on the contrary to invalidate that Evidence then all the Objections besides that can be raised are but Objections and no more For if those Arguments by which our Religion appears to be True remain still in their full Force notwithstanding the Objections and no positive and direct Proof be brought that they are insufficient we ought not to reject those Arguments and the Conclusions deduced from them upon the Account of the Objections but to reject the Objections for the sake of those Arguments because if those cannot be disproved all the which can be thought of must proceed from some Mistake For when I am once assured of the Truth of a thing by direct and positive Proof I have the same assurance that all Objections against it must be vain and false which I have that that thing is true because every thing must be false which is opposite to Truth and nothing but that which takes off the Arguments by which any thing is proved to be True can ever prove it false But all Objections must be false themselves or insignificant to the Purpose for which they are alleged if the Evidence for the Truth of that against which they are brought cannot be disproved that is if the Thing against which they are brought be True To shew this in Particulars If a Man muster up never so many Inconsistencies as he thinks in the Scriptures yet unless he be as well assured at least that these which he calls Inconsistencies cannot be in any Book of Divine Revelation as he may be that the Scriptures are of Divine Revelation he cannot in Reason reject their Authority And to be assured of this it must be considered what is inconsistent with the Evidence whereby the Authority of the Scriptures is proved to us For whatever is not inconsistent with this Evidence cannot be inconsistent with their Authority In like manner as if a Man should frame never so many Objections against the Opinion commonly received that Caesar himself wrote the Commentaries which go under his Name and not Julius Celsus or any other Author unless he can overthrow the Evidence by which Caesar appears to be the Author of them all his Objections will never amount to a Proof that he was not the Author It is very possible for God to reveal things which we may not be able to comprehend and to enact Laws especially concerning the Rights and Ceremonies enjoined a People so many Ages past the Reasons whereof we may not be fully to understand and it is very possible likewise that there may be great Difficulties in Chronology and that the Text may in divers places have a different Reading And though all these things have been cleared to the satisfaction of reasonable Men by several Expositors yet let us suppose at present to gratifie these Objectors and this will gratifie them if any thing can do it that the Laws are utterly unaccountable that the Difficulties in Chronology are no way adjusted that the divers Readings are by no means to be reconciled yet what doth all this prove That Moses wrought no Miracles That the Children of Israel and the Aegyptians were not Witnesses to them That what the Prophets foretold did not come to pass That our Saviour never rose from the Dead and that the Holy Ghost did not descend upon the Apostles Or that any thing is contained in the Scriptures repugnant to the Divine Attributes or to the natural Notion of Good and Evil Doth it prove any thing of all this or can it be pretended to prove it If it cannot and nothing is more plain than that it cannot then all the Evidence produced in Proof of the Authority of the Scriptures stands firm notwithstanding all this mighty noise of the Obscurity and the Inconsistency and the Uncertainty of the Text of the Scriptures And the next enquiry naturally will be not how the Scriptures can be from God if these things be to be found in them for it is already proved that they are from God and therefore this must from henceforth be taken for granted till it can be disproved but the only Enquiry will be how these Passages are to be explained or reconciled with other Places For let us consider this way of Reasoning which is made use of to disprove the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures in other things and try whether we are wont to reason thus in any case but that of Religion and whether we should not be ashamed of this way of arguing in any other Case How little is it that we throughly unstand in natural Things and yet how seldom do we doubt of the Truth and Reality of them because we may puzzle and perplex our selves in the Explication of them For instance we discern the Light and feel the Warmth and Heat of the Sun and have the Experience of the constant returns of Day and Night and of the several Seasons of the Year and no Man doubts but that all this is effected by the approach or withdrawing of the Sun's influence But whoever will go about to explain all this and to give a particular Account of it will find it a very hard Task and such Objections have been urged against every Hypothesis in some Point or other as perhaps no Man is able fully to answer But doth any Man doubt whether there be such a thing as Light and Heat as Day and Night though he cannot be satisfied whether the Sun or the Earth move Or do Men doubt whether they can see or not till they can demonstrate how Vision is made And must none be allowed to see but Mathematicians Or do Men refuse to eat till they are satisfied how and after what manner they are nourish'd Yet if we must be swayed by Objections which do not come up to the main Point nor affect the Truth and Reality of Things but only fill our Minds with Scruples and Difficulties about them we must believe nothing which we do not fully comprehend in every part and circumstance of it For whatever we are ignorant of concerning it that may it seems be objected against the thing it self and may be a just Reason why we should doubt of it We must have a care of being too confident that we move before we can give an exact account of the Cause and Laws of Motion which the greatest Philosophers have not been able to do we must not presume to eat till we can tell how Digestion and Nourishment are made In short this would run us into all the Extravagancies of Scepticism For upon these Principles it was that some doubted whether Snow be white or Honey sweet or any
thing else be of the same Colour or Tast which it appears to be of because they could amuse themselves with Difficulties and they were too much Philosophers to assent to any thing that they did not understand tho' it were confirmed by the Sense and Experience of all Mankind They were rational Men and it was below them to believe their Senses unless their Reason were convinced and that was too acute to be convinced as long as any Difficulty that could be started remained unanswered And thus under the pretence of Reason and Philosophy they exposed themselves to the Scorn and Derision of all who had but the common Sense of Men without the Art and Subtilty of imposing upon themselves and others And it is the same thing in effect as to matters of Religion The Scriptures come confirmed down to us by all the ways of confirmation that the Authority of any Revelation at this distance of time could be expected to have if it really were what we believe the Scriptures to be Why then do some Men doubt whether they be Authentick Can they disprove the Arguments which are brought in defence of them Can they produce any other Revelation more Authentick Or is it more reasonable to believe that God should not reveal himself to Mankind than that this Revelation should be his No this is not the case but there are several things to be found in the Scriptures which they think would not be in them if they were of Divine Revelation But a wise Man will never disbelieve a thing for any Objections made against it which do not reach the Point nor touch these Arguments by which it is proved to him It is not inconsistent that that may be most true which may have many Exceptions framed against it but it is absurd to reject that as incredible which comes recommended by our Belief by such Evidence as cannot be disprov'd Till this be done all which can be said besides only shews that there are Difficulties to be met withal in the Scriptures which was never denied by those who most firmly and stedfastly believe them But Difficulties can never alter the Nature of Things and make that which is true to become false There is no Science without its Difficulties and it is not pretended that Theology is without them There are many great and inexplicable Difficulties in the Mathematicks but shall we therefore reject this as a Science of no Value nor Certainty and believe no Demonstration in Euclide to be true unless we could Square the Circle And yet this is every whit as reasonable as it is not to acknowledge the Truth of the Scriptures unless we could explain all the Visions in Ezekiel and the Revelations of St. John We must believe nothing and know nothing if we must disbelieve and reject every thing which is liable to Difficulties We must not believe we have a Soul unless we can give an account of all its Operations nor that we have a Body unless we can tell all the Parts and Motions and the whole Frame and Composition of it We must not believe our Senses till there is nothing relating to Sensation but what we perfectly understand nor that there are any Objects in the World till we know the exact manner how we perceive them and can solve all Objections that may be raised concerning them And if a Man can be incredulous to this degree it cannot be expected that he should believe the Scriptures But till he is come to this height of Folly and Stupidity if he will be consistent with himself and true to those Principles of Reason from which he argues in all other Cases he cannot reject the Authority of the Scriptures upon the account of any Difficulties that he finds in them whilst the Arguments by which they are proved to be of Divine Authority remain unanswered And all the Objections which can be invented against the Scriptures cannot seem near so absurd to a considering Man as to suppose that God should not at all reveal himself to Mankind or that the Heathen Oracles or Mahomet's Alcoran should be of Divine Revelation CHAP. XXXIV The Conclusion containing an Exhortation to a serious Consideration of these things both from the Example of the wisest and most learned Men and from the infinite Importance of the Things themselves AS Wise and as Learned Men as any that ever lived in the World have died in the Belief of the Christian Religion when they had no Interest to engage them to it and many of them have led their Lives under Pesecutions and have at last been put to Death rather than they would renounce that Faith which the Scriptures declare to us It cannot be denied but that there have been Men of as great Learning and as great Numbers of them professing the Christian Religion as have been of all other Religions in the World Indeed all manner of Arts and Sciences have been more improved by Christians than by all other sorts of Men whatsoever and all rational and solid Learning is confined as I may say within Christendom For besides the Idolotrous Worship and other Impieties notorious among them whatsoever Learning is to be found among the Chinese or other Heathen Nations their Notions of Things so far as they differ from what is contained in the Scriptures are so obscure and confused at the best and so groundless that that Christian must be very weary of his Religion who can think of changing it for such Uncertainties And no Man that profess'd and called himself a Christian ever disbelieved the Scriptures but there were visibly other Reasons for it than these which the Nature of the Christian Religion could afford It was apparent in his Life that he wished the Christian Religion were false before he endeavoured to persuade himself that it is not true Some are possess'd with that intolerable Spirit of Pride and Contradiction that meer Vanity and a Conceit of being wiser than others makes them find fault with any thing that is generally received and the greatest Fault which these Man can find with the Christian Religion is that they have been bred up in it and therefore they make heavy Complaints of the prejudices of Education and the hindrances which ingenuous Minds labour under from the influences of it in the pursuit of Truth And these Men perhaps might have talk'd as much and to as much purpose for Christianity as they now talk against it if they had not been Born among Christians and been bred up in the Christian Religion they scorn to be the better for their Education and are ashamed of nothing more than to believe and think like other Men and they might almost be persuaded to be Christians still if they could but be singular in being so For the mere Affectation of Singularity makes them dispise and dispute against any thing which others allow and esteem But it will be hard to find any learned Man of tolerable Modesty and Vertue and
when he proposes Rules of Vertue and cautions to arm men against Vice and Temptation how much short doth he fall of the Christian Doctrine If any man says he tell you that such an one hath spoken ill of you make no Apollogy for your self but answer He did not know my other faults or else he would not have charged me with these only cap xlviii This is a sine saying a pretty turn of thought but what is there in it comparable to that aweful and sacred Promise Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Mat. v. 11 12. Again when a man values himself says Epictetus for being able to understand and explain the Books of Chrysippus say you to your self unless Chrysippus had written obscurely this man would have had nothing to boast of But what do I design To study Nature and follow it cap. lxxiii This is no ill Satyr upon the vanity of men but is there any thing in it like that Piety and Authority with which St. Paul reproves the same vice 1 Cor. viii 1.2 3. The best thing that can be said of the Heathen Philosophers is that most of them frequently confest the great imperfection of their Philosophy and placed their greatest wisdom in this That they were more sensible than others of their ignorance and Socrates profest that to be the Reason why the Oracle of Apollo declared him to be the wisest man because he knew how ignorant he was better than other men did As to the Chinese Philosophy we know little of it their (u) Confuc lib. iii. Par. 4. p. 36. Philippi â—â—uplet Prooem Declar. Books of Philosophy being all destroyed at the command of a Tyrant who reigned about two hundred years before Christ from the Fragments which were afterwards gathered up and yet remain among them we can only perceive that Confucius and the rest of their best Philosophers taught no more than what they had learnt by Tradition from their Ancestors and when they forsook this Tradition they fell into the grossest errors which are maintained by the learned men amongst them at this day II. Whatever there is of excellency in the Philosophy of the Heathens is owing to Revelation It is generally supposed that humane Reason could have discovered the more common and obvious Precepts of Morality contained in the Scriptures but it is more probable that it could not have discovered most of them if we may judge by the gross absurdities which we find as to some particulars in the best Systems of Heathen Philosophy and from the general practice of offering up men for sacrifices to their Gods and of casting away and exposing their Children in the most civilized Nations But it is evident from what has been already proved at large that the Heathens were not left destitute of many helps and advantages from the Scriptures which divers of the Philosophers had read and many things which seem now to be deductions from natural Reason might have their Original from Revelation for things once discovered seem easie and obvious to men which they would never have been able to discover of themselves We wonder now how men should ever suppose there could be no Antipodes and are apt to admire how America could lie so long concealed rather than how it came at last to be discovered and the case is the same in many other Discoveries especially in moral Truths which are so agreeable to Reason that they may seem the natural Productions of it though a contrary custom and inclination and the subtlety of Satan working upon our depraved Nature might perhaps have made it very difficult if not impossible without a Revelation to discern many Doctrines even of Morality which now are most common and familiar to us What Maxim is more agreeable and therefore as one would think more obvious to humane Reason than that every man should do to others as he would have them do to him And yet Spartianas an Heathen Historian says that Alexander Severus had this excellent rule of natural Justice and Equity either from the Jews or Christians There is no Book of Scripture which seems to contain plainer and more obvious things than the Proverbs of Solomon and (x) Ld. Bacon Advance of Learning B. viii c. 2. yet an Author of great Learning and Judgment has given an Essay how a considerable defect of Learning may be supplyed out of this very Book producing such cautions instructions and axioms from thence relating to the business and government of humane Life in all varieties of occasion as are no where else to be met withal No man can tell how far humane Reason could have proceeded without Revelation since it never was without it but always argued from those Principles which were at first delivered by God himself to Noah and were propagated amongst his Posterity throughout all Ages and Nations though they were more corrupted and depraved in some Ages and Nations than in others (y) Plat. de Legib. Dialog 1. Plato derives the Original of all Laws from Revelation and the Doctrines of Morality of the most ancient Philosophers were a kind of Cabbala consisting of general Maxims and Proverbs without argument or deduction from Principles and it is the same thing at this day in those Countries where Aristotle's Philosophy has not prevailed who was one of the first that undertook to argue closely from Principles in Morality And in other parts of Philosophy I shall prove by some remarkable instances that humane reason failed them in the explication of things which were generally received and acknowledged The existence of God is clearly and unanswerably demonstrated by Tully and (z) Tull. de Legib. lib. 1. the Unity of the God-head is as plainly asserted by him with what strength of Reason with what plainness with what assurance doth (a) Tull. de Natur. Deor. lib. 2 ii Balbus the Stoick speak concerning the existence of the Deity but when he would explain the Divine Nature he describes a mere Anima Mundi and exposes himself to the scorn and laughter of his Adversary which shews that humane Reason could go no further than to discover the existence of God and that we can know little of his nature but by Revelation and that whatsoever true and just notions the Heathens had of the Divine Nature must be chiefly ascribed to that That the world was created the Philosophers before Aristotle generally asserted and that Water was the first matter out of which it was formed is acknowledged by (b) Arist de coelo lib. i. c. 10. Metaphys lib. i. c. 3. Aristotle to be esteemed the most ancient opinion but when he set himself to argue the point he concluded the world to be eternal which according to modern Philosophy is as absurd and impossible as any thing that can be imagined The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul was delivered down from all
own thoughts in a way much more free and unconfin'd than in this Life as they have more knowledge in a separate state so they must have fitter means to communicate it And since the happiness of Heaven consists in the Vision of God that is in the communications of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness God certainly can as well act upon the minds of Men in this mortal state tho we be less capable of receiving or observing the influences of his Spirit Since finite Spirits can act one upon another it is reasonable to believe that the Spirit of God the God of the Spirits of all flesh doth move and work upon the Spirits of Men that he enlightens their understandings and inclines their Wills by a secret Power and Influence in the methods of his ordinary Grace And he can likewise act upon the Wills and the understandings of some men with a clearer and more powerful Light and Force than he is pleased to do upon others in such a manner as to render them infallible in receiving and delivering his Pleasure and Commandments to the World He can so reveal himself to them by the Operations of his Holy Spirit as that they shall be infallibly assur'd of what is revealed to them and as infallibly assure others of it Which kind of Revelation is styl'd Inspiration because God doth not only move and actuate the minds of such men but vouchsafes to 'em the extraordinary Communications of his Spirit the Spirit then more especially may be liken'd to the Winds to which it is compared in Scripture for by strong convictions and forcible but gracious Impressious he breaths upon their Souls and infuses his Divine Truths into them But upon those to whom God did thus reveal himself by inward light and knowledge he did moreover bestow a power of giving external evidence by miraculous works that their pretences were real and that what they spoke was not of them but was reveal'd to them from God This inspiration the Apostles profest to have both in their Preaching and Writings and this evidence they gave of it In speaking of the Inspiration by which the Scriptures were written I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended II. I shall from thence make such inferences as may afford a sufficient answer to the objections alledged upon this subject I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended And here we must consider both the Matter and the Words of Scripture The Matter is either concerning things reveal'd and which could not be known but by Revelation or it is something which was the object of Sense and Matter of Fact as when the Apostles testify that our Saviour was crucify'd and rose again or lastly it is matter of Reason as discourses upon Moral subjects and inferences made from things reveal'd or from matter of Fact God who is a Spirit can speak as intelligibly to the spirits and minds of Men as Men can speak to the ear and in things which could not be known but by Revelation the notions were suggested and infused into the minds of the Apostles and Prophets by the Holy Ghost but they might be left to put them into their ow 〈◊〉 * Praeterea scito unumquemque Prophetam pecuâ—iare quid habere ea lingua eaque loquendi ratione quae ipsi est familiaris consueta ipsum impelli à Prophetia sua ad loquendum ei qui intelligit ipsum Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 29. Words being so directed in the use of them as to give infallibly the sense and full importance of the Revelation In matters of Fact their Memories were according to our Saviours promise assisted and confirm'd In matters of Discourse or Reasoning either from their own natural Notions or from things Reveal'd or from matters of Fact their understandings were enlightned and their Judgments strengthned And still in all cases their natural Faculties were so supported and guided both in their Notions and Words as that nothing should come into their Writings but what is infallibly true They had always the use of their Faculties tho under the infallible Direction and Conduct of the Holy Ghost and in things that were the proper objects of their faculties the Holy Ghost might only support and guide them as in matters of sense and natural Reason and Memory and in their Words and Style to express all these But in things of an higher Nature which were above their faculties and which they could have no knowledge of but from Revelation the things themselves were infused tho the words in most cases might be their own but they were preserv'd from error in the use of them by that Spirit who was to guide them into all Truth For tho the several Writers of the Scriptures might be allowed to use their own Words and Style yet it was under the infallible guidance and influence of the Spirit as when a man is left to the use of his own Hand or manner of Writing but is directed in the Sense and Orthography by one who dictates to him or assists him with his help where it is needful Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 The Holy Ghost saith by the Psalmist to day if ye will hear his Voice Hebr. 3.7 David saith of himself the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my Tongue 2 Sam. 23.2 And God is said to speak by the hand of Moses his servant and by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Prophet 1 Kings 8.53.14.18 By which it appears that he used the Prophets as his Instruments in revealing his Will For as Miracles were by the immediate power of God though wrought by the hands of men so the Revelations were of God though spoken or written by the Prophets and Apostles But though God used them as his Instruments yet not as mechanical but as rational Instruments and as in working their Miracles they were not always necessarily determined to the place or to the persons on whom they were wrought but in general were guided to work them when they were proper and seasonable and the Actions by which they wrought them were their own though the power that accompanied them was of God so in their Doctrines they might be permitted to use their own Words and Phrases and to be guided by prudential Motives as to time and place and persons with a directive power only over them to speak and write nothing but infallible truth upon such occasions and in such circumstances as might answer the end of their Mission with which they were entrusted God promised Moses when he sent him to Pharaoh that he would be with his mouth and with Aaron's mouth and would
teach them what they should say Exod. 4.12 15. And our Saviour tells his Disciples ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak Matt. 10.18 19. And if Moses was inspired upon that particular occasion and the Apostles were inspired in things which were personal as in the defence that they made for themselves they must much rather be inspired in their Writings which concern the Church in all ages St Luke had perfect understanding of all things from above Luke 1.3 so Dr Lightfoot renders it with great probability for thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in many places of Scripture Joh. 3.3 31.19.2 Jam. 1.17.3.17 And this the Church of Coriuth expected from St Paul they sought a proof of Christ speaking in him 2 Cor. 13.3 as that Apostle tells them he did and that not in a weak and obscure but in a powerful and effectual manner He writes for the same reason to the Thessalonians ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus 1 Thess 4.2 and he distinguisheth between his own Judgment assisted and enlightened though not infallibly by the Holy Ghost and the Commandments of the Lord or the infallible dictates of the Spirit 1 Cor 7.10 12 25 40. The Holy Ghost taught the Apostles all things and brought all things to their remembrance Jo. 14.26 and guided them into all Truth Joh. 16.13 and the Vnction from the holy one instructed 'em to know all things 1 Joh. 11.20 that is all things pertaining to Salvation this is said of their Disciples and therefore may in a more especial manner be affirmed of the Apostles themselves insomuch that the words themselves are ascribed to the Holy Ghost which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual 1 Cor. 2.13 For they were under the conduct and influence of the Holy Ghost in the choice of every word they used tho not so as to be inspired with a new style and dialect the words themselves were not always suggested but they were always inspired in the use of them and tho they might be permitted to chuse their own words and expressions yet it was with this limitation that they were never permitted to make choice of such as would not fully and infallibly express the mind of the Holy Ghost And therefore 1 Cor. 14.13 the Apostle gives this direction Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret that is let him pray that he may have the Divine Inspiration to assist him in expressing himself in a known tongue by which he is enabled to speak in an unknown one and that he may be infallible in rendring that in his own tongue which he infallibly speaks in another Which makes it evident that when they spoke by Inspiration in their own language they had the Guidance and Inspiration of the Holy Ghost in the use of their words and this was the reason why those that spoke by Inspiration in a strange tongue durst not presume to interpret the words which the Holy Ghost dictated to them in that tongue so as to give them out for Divine Revelation unless they were particularly empowered to render them in their own language with the same exactness with which they were inspired to speak in a strange tongue For that the necessity of praying that they might interpret could not proceed from any inability to interpret by reason of the force and heat of the Rapture which was upon 'em that made 'em unable to utter their conceptions in their own language or to retain the sense of them in their minds afterwards seems plain from verse 27. if any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret c. For if they had been acted by such rapturous heats and extasies they could have been as little able to refrain when the Rapture was upon them and to remember what they had to deliver when their course came to speak as they are supposed to have been to remember what they were inspired to speak in one language when they went to express it in another Neither were they ignorant themselves of what they spoke but when it is said vers 14. for if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful the meaning of that is that it was of no benefit to others tho he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself vers 4. Some men were inspired to speak in strange tongues with as much readiness and more exactness than they could do in their native language but this was insignificant to such as understood not the tongue in which they spoke What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also vers 15. i. e. I will pray by the Guidance and Inspiration of the Holy Ghost but in my own language in which my understanding is employed and the words are not all directly suggested to me by the Spirit as they must be in a language which I speak meerly by Inspiration but I am only so far guided and assisted in the choice and use of my words as to speak infallibly the mind of the spirit Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit c. verse 16. Those who had the gift of tongues were it seems so pufft up with it that they would worship God in no other but in those languages tho none of the Assembly understood them and would be always unnecessarily and unseasonably repeating the Revelations which they had received in strange languages the Apostle tells such men that it was very improper and absurd to deliver their Revelations in an unknown Tongue or to pray or give thanks in a Language not understood by those that heard them but that they should pray that they might interpret or forbear the use of the gift of to agues unless before them who understood the Tongues in which they spoke that it might be for edification For in their Inspirations they were consined at certain times to some particular Language as the Spirit gave them utterance and it might have done great prejudice to the Truth of Religion if they of themselves had ventured to render that into their own Language which was revealed to them in a strange Tongue and for this reason it was not permitted those who spoke with Tongues to speak in any but that in which the Revelation was made to them unless they were enabled to do it by being inspired with a Power of Interpretation For to speak with tongues and to interpret were distinct gifts 1 Cor. 12.10 30. and whatever
gift any one had received he was confined to the exercise of it and might not presume to pretend to another which he had not received The gift of tongues and of the interpretation of tongues being so particularly distinguished this must imply that the Apostles who are supposed to have had all the gifts which others had but in part were guided by the Spirit in their words and expressions since those who spoke by the Spirit were unable to interpret without a particular gift for no interpretation was sufficient but such as rendred the sense with infallible truth and exactness and if this exactness of words was requisite in their Assemblies it must be much rather necessary in the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists Among other gifts of the Holy Ghost are reckon'd the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge 1 Cor. 12.8 the former Grotius understands of speaking wise sayings and the latter of knowledge in History and to the rest was added the gift of discerning of spirits v. 10. And as there were several gifts so there were several offices in the Church Ephes 4.11 12. Now the several gifts of the Holy Ghost were not all bestowed ordinarily upon the same person but such as were necessary for that office and employment which he was to execute But as the Apostolical Power comprehended in it the powers of every other office so it was requisite that they should possess the gifts proper for the performance of whatever was to be done by them And when God by his providence and disposal of things gave the Apostles and Evangelists occasions of writing upon such and such subjects and to such and such persons or Churches he by his Spirit inwardly excited and assisted them in it bestowing upon them the gifts of Wisdom and Knowledge and of writing and speaking either in their own or any other Language in which they were required to write or speak For we are not to suppose that any gifts were bestowed upon others and yet denied to them to whom they were most useful and necessary in order to the delivering of that Faith and Doctrine which was to be the standing rule for the attainment of Salvation to all Christians unto the end of the world When others had the gift of speaking and interpreting strange Languages it cannot be conceived that the writers of the Holy Scriptures should be refused that necessary assistance in the Languages in which they wrote that might preserve them from error and if any without the gifts proper for it had undertaken any office or ministration the gift of discerning of Spirits was a security to the Church from any hurt that might ensue by the pretences of such undertakers We may be certain that all the Gifts which were bestowed for the edification of the Church were as far as they were needful vouchsafed more especially to all such as were to leave behind them for the benefit of the Church in all Ages an account of the Gospel of Christ and the terms of the Salvation to be obtained thereby and that no such Guidance and Direction of the Holy Ghost was wanting as might preserve them from error in any particular for there is no particular but it will fall under some one of those gifts which were bestowed upon the first Disciples They were not necessarily to write in an exact and elegant style but in such as was secured from error in whatever they delivered To what purpose else had been so many several Gifts To keep them from gross errors and fundamental mistakes there could have been no need of such a variety of Gifts but when every sort of error which men are prone to had a Remedy provided to prevent it we may be assured that no error was suffered in those Writings which were the most important work of the Apostolical Function and designed for the edifying of the Body of Christ not in one Age and Nation only but throughout all Ages and in all parts of the World II. I shall now proceed to make such Inferences as may afford a sufficient Answer to the objections alledged upon this subject 1. The Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did not exclude humane means such as information in matters of fact either by their own senses or by the testimony of others or reasoning from their own notions and observations but the Holy Ghost guided them infallibly in the use of all such means 2. The Inspiration of the Prophets and Apostles or Evangelists did not exclude the use of their own words and style and as they might be permitted the use of these so they might be permitted or in some cases directed to use the words of others Many things delivered in one Book of the Scriptures are likewise delivered in another and some things are repeated in the same words that God revealing the same things and in the same express words at different times and by different persons might make the Revelation of them the more evident and remarkable For that in which several inspired persons concur is the more taken notice of and becomes the more observed as a thing of great weight and moment The reason why the Dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice was because the thing was established by God and God would shortly bring it to pass Gen 41.32 It is in this as it is in all other things it is expedient that in matters of great concernment there should be the more solemnity and that they should be the oftner repeated and the more insisted upon and if they be exprest in the same words this implies that those words carry more than ordinary weight in them And therefore not only all the Divine Writers agree in the same purpose and design and testiâ—â—ie the same things as to the chief points of Religion but some Prophets have foretold the same things even in the same words with others as Isai 2.2 3 4. Mic. 4.1 â— 3. and several Laws and Matters of Fact are repeated in words which are very near the same 3. Tho some things are set down in the Scriptures indefinitely and without any positive assertion or determination this is no proof against their being written by Divine Inspiration For this doth not prove that the Pen-men of those passages were uncertain and doubtful in the particulars so exprest because the things were of that nature that it was needless to speak precisely of them As when St John says Jo. 21.8 They were not far from Land but as it were two hundred Cubits it cannot from hence be concluded that the Evangelist was ignorant how far they were from Land For it was not material to his design to be more particular in a circumstance of that nature but it was sufficient to say that they were about two hundred Cubits off at Sea and it is usual with all Writers to omit fractions and insert only whole numbers when it is not material to their purpose to insist upon every minute circumstance It
* In Vit. Homer Plutarch as excellencies in Homer and he says they were usual in Prose as well as in Verse amongst the Antients Whatsoever Soloccisms or Improprieties of Speech are to be found in any part of the Scriptures the like have been observed †Vid. Dan. Heins Proleg ad exercit Sacr. in Homer Aeschylus Sophocles Pindar and Apollonius Rhodius by their several Scholiasts and in Thucydides by Dionysius Halicarnasseus and in Tully by * Dialog Cicuron Erasmus and others Xenophon is observed by †Apud Phot. cod cclxxix Helladius not to be always exact in point of Grammar which he ascribes to his Military Life and his conversation with strangers Many Soloecisms are found in the ancient Inscriptions and in Hyginus an Author as it is generally supposed of Augustus's age which are to be imputed rather to the custom of speech amongst the Vulgar than to the mistake of these Authors For in Languages so difficult as the Greek and Latin are it was impossible but that the common people must often make great mistakes which by degrees became customary and were the character of the * Vid. Schefferi Praefat. Munkeri Dissertat in Hyginum Low and Plebeian Style and in the Greek tongue they ascribed their Soloeâ—isms to the particular Dialect of the people among whom they were most in use The Stoicks who were the most numerous and flourishing Sect of Philosophers in the Primitive times of Christianity had little regard to the Rules of Grammar for they were cautioned by their Master Chrysippus not to be careful about such niceties and they are highly commended by a †Mer. Casaub in M. Antoâ—in lib. â— n. 14. great Critick for expressing their thoughts tho commonly with words very proper and significant yet in a style so free from all Affectation or Curiosity as cometh next to the Simplicity of the Holy Scriptures The design of Revelation is not to teach Words but Things and to express them in such words as may serve for that purpose and if an improper word or a soloecism may be more serviceable to that end it is beyond all exactness and propriety of Language The truth is it is a sign of a little Genius to be over-curious about words as Demosthenes intimated in his Reply to Aeschines telling him that the Fortunes of Greece did not depend upon a Criticism which Tully mentioning says it is * Facile est enim verbum aliquod ardens ut ita dicam notare idque restinctis jam animorum incendiis irridere Cic. Orator an easie matter to pitch upon a word spoken in the heat of discourse and in cool blood to make sport with it But this is at large treated of by Longinus and Seneca speaks excellently to this purpose †Cujuscunque orationem videris sollicitam politam scito animum quoque non minus esse pusillis occupatum Magnus ille remissius loquitur securius quaecunque dicit plus habent siduciae quam curae Senec. Epist cxv If you observe says he that a mans speech is too nice and critical be sure that he has a mind taken up with little things A man of a great mind speaks with the less caution and exactness whatsoever he says he is better assured of the matter of his discourse than to trouble himself much about words This is the reason that so many great Authors have afforded so much work for the Criticks to blame or to excuse them and very often to commend them for departing from the common forms The Old Testament has nothing of this nature but what for ought that can now be known was most proper in the Hebrew tongue whatever it may be in others And as to the New Testament it is penned in such words and in such construction of Grammar as might render it most useful not according to the Attick or any other dialect which was known to so few in comparison that it was confined as it were to one Country or known only to the Learned in others but in such Greek as was generally understood in the remote and numerous Nations where that Language was spoken For which reason so many expressions are taken from the Translation of the Septuagint which was so much in use amongst the Proselytes in all parts of the world In the Preface to the Book of Ecclesiasticus it is observed that the same things uttered in Hebrew and translated into another Tongue have not the same force in them and * Hieron ad Amos. v. 8. in Epist ad Galat. 3. 〈◊〉 St Jerom shews that there was a necessity of making use of such words as were first taken from the Heathen Fables in translating the Scriptures which had no affinity to them but when men speak or write they must do it so as to be understood unless they will do it to no purpose and therefore must take such words as are to be had and are intelligible to those for whose benefit they write and they must be contented too with such Grammatical construction as well as with such words as shall be found expedient to the end for which they write * Hieron in Galat. 1 2. Sometimes again it was necessary to frame new words to express the Propriety of the Hebrew Language as Tully has done in his Books of Philosophy to explain in Latin the terms of it in the Greek tongue And in all respects men must accommodate themselves to their subject and to the capacities of those for whom they undertake to discourse upon it II. Metaphors and Rhetorical Schemes or Figures of Speech Men differ as much in their forms and schemes of speaking as they do in their manners or customs or in their complexions and dispositions Every man has something peculiar in his way of expressing himself which is so easily distinguished by good Criticks from that of others that they seldom fail in it tho there can be no absolute certainty in things of this nature And †Phot. cod cclxv Photius observing that some Orations which pass under the name of Demosthenes were by reason of the difference of style ascribed by certain Criticks to other Authors makes this remark that he had often taken notice of a great resemblance in the style of Orations made by different Authors and of as great an unlikeness in the style of those made by the same man But the different character and manner of style in the several Countries and Nations of the world is much more easily discerned than it can be in particular men of the same Country Thr people of Caria Phrygia and Mysia were not at all polite and neat * Adsciverunt aptum suis auribus opimum quoddam tanquam adipatae dictionis genus Cic. Orator says Tully and therefore they loved a gross and slovenly kind of discourse which the Rhodians not far distant from them never approved of and the other Greeks liked it much less but the
be avoided but by the care and concernment of an extraordinary providence and they are of so little moment that it could not be expected that God should particularly concern himself to prevent them 3. The Penmen of the Scriptures in their Proverbs or Parables often allude to Customs or to things that happened in those times in which they lived that were then commonly known but being unknown now may well make many places of their Writings obscure to us which were not so to those of their own time This is alledged as the reason of the obscurity * Obscuâ—itates inquit sex 〈…〉 â—ssignemus culâ—◠〈…〉 sed inscitiae non 〈…〉 quanquam hi 〈…〉 quae Scripta 〈…〉 â—ercipiunt culpa 〈…〉 â—am longâ—aetas ver 〈…〉 â—ores veteres oblite 〈…〉 qâ—â—â—us verbis moribus 〈◊〉 sententia legum comprenensa est A. Gell. lib. xx c. 1. of the Laws of the Twelve Tables among the Romans at the distance of less than seven hundred years after their first being enacted And thus it is in all Books of Antiquity especially in such Books as have frequent occasion to hint at things so notorious at the time when they were written that it was needless to give any particular account of them This has made Notes and Comments necessary upon all Ancient Books and those places need them most which treat of things formerly so well known that the Authors did not think fit to insist upon them but supposed them and only alluded to them rather than exprest or explained them For which reason we owe the Informations which we have of the Roman Antiquities chiefly to Greek Authors because it had been absurd for Romans writing to men of their own City and Nation to acquaint them with the customs of Rome which they knew as well as themselves but those things were proper for Foreigners to take notice of for the information of Foreigners And whatever Allusions either in Parables or otherwise are made to such things must needs be difficult to us because whatever is thus spoken with reference to any thing can be known no better than the thing itself and that which served for an Illustration at the first Writing renders the sense obscure when the thing used for Illustration becomes unknown Nothing is more generally known than the proverbial Sayings of a Nation to the people of it but there is nothing that needs more explication to Foreigners And these Sayings are very frequent both in the discourses of our Saviour and throughout the whole Scriptures for they are the most significant and instructive way of Discourse and the most easily apprehended by such as are used to them The use of Proverbs is natural to all Nations and they are the result of the experience and observation of any people So that the most effectual and readiest way of Instruction is to apply these Sayings generally known and received to particular cases and occasions But then these commonly depend upon the customs of a people or upon some History or particular Accident and oftentimes are taken up at first upon small occasions and the intention and signification of them is apt to be forgotten or mistaken in future Age or by other Nations And therefore all places of Scripture exprest in Allegorical or Proverbial Forms of Speech or by Types and Resemblances of things must needs have been better understood in those times when they were written than they are now because we have but an imperfect Notion of many things to which the Allusion is made or from whence the similitude is taken and the very thing which makes them now obscure to us made them the more plain and intelligible to them who lived at the time of their being written 4. Maimonides * Maim More Nevoch Praef. lays this down as a fundamental Rule of the explication of the Scripture that we should attend to the main Scope any Design of Parables and not insist upon every word and circumstance which is added to make them more Natural but not as any necessary part of them And in those Ages when Prophecies were so frequent and Types and Allegories so constantly made use of they had certain Rules and Methods †Joseph Gell. Jud. lib. iii. c. 14. of Interpretation as we learn from Josephus which thro length of time and the corruption of succeeding Ages are now lost And it is certain that the Jews in the time of our Saviour and his Apostles were often confused and silenced by them with the Application of Types and Prophecies which were then acknowledged to belong to the Messias and were ever so understood by the Jews but would scarce be understood so by us if we did not find them thus interpreted and apply'd We see then that the obscurity of many places of Scripture proceeds from the length of Time and other accidents and that therefore it could not be prevented unless God should make a New Revelation to every Ago and Nation of the World which yet would be of little effect to those who will not be convinced nor perswaded by that Revelation which we have in the Scriptures Tho the Scriptures were designed for the Benefit and Instruction of all Ages and Nations yet they often had a more direct and immediate Regard to the Age and Nation in which they were first penned We have nothing left but the Names of most of the Historians mentioned by St Jerom as necessary to be read in order to explain the Prophecies of Daniel and many objections made against the Scriptures would have no pretence if we knew the circumstances of affairs and had a compleat History of those times to which they relate but God having given us full evidence that the Scriptures are written by his Appointment and Direction expects to be believed upon his word and has not thought fit to gratify the curiosity of men who will disbelieve it And if men will use any tolerable care and diligence the Sense and Importance of the Scriptures may be so far understood as is needful in all Times whatever difficulties there may be in some particular passages II. I shall consider more particularly the obscurity of Prophesies and shall shew what certainty there is in the Types made use of by the Prophets 1. As for any differences which are to be met with in the Interpretation of Prophecies they may proceed partly from the Infirmities and Passions of humane Nature by which it comes to pass that when men undertake to write upon any subject they are seâ—dom sausâ—â—d with what others have said before them but 〈…〉 seeking 〈…〉 Iâ—â—erprâ—â—tion 〈…〉 partâ— â—â—om the 〈◊〉 ficulty of sixing the particular and prâ—â—se time of Actâ—â—â— But this 〈…〉 objection against 〈…〉 the Truth of all 〈…〉 well conclude that things 〈…〉 to paâ—s because learned 〈◊〉 diffâ—â—◠〈◊〉 time of their being done as â—hat they 〈◊〉 never prophesied of for the same reason Expâ—siâ—â—rs may differ in the niceties of the Chronological part but in the
well as themselves * Apocalypâ—is Joannis tot habeat sacramenta quot verba Parum dixi pramerito volumiâ—â—s laus omnis inferiour est in verbis â—â—â—gulis Multiplicis tatent intellgentâ—e Hieton ad Paulin. Epâ—st And this seems not only to have been the temper of those Ages in which the Scriptures were written when Learning consisted in Types and Parables and in dark and intricate discourses but it has been the study and delight of learned men in most Ages since and of many men in all Ages to search into hidden and difficult truths St Jerom extols the Revelation of St John for the obscurity and hidden sense of it In that Age it seems it was no objection but the highest character that could be given of the Revelation to say that it was difficult to be understood The wisdom of God therefore in condescention to all sorts of men and to fit the Scriptures for the use and benefit of all capacities and disâ—ositions has caused some of the Prophecies to be plain and obvious to all Readers and others to be delivered as to employ the pious and humble labours of the most Learned and Inquisitive to keep them in perpetual dependance upon God for his Grace and Assistance in the explication of the Scriptures and at the same time to take down the vain curiosity and pride of such as little concern themselves about the plain things of the Law but are wholly busied in unfolding hidden things and in pretending to understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge The curse denounced against man upon his fall was that with labour and sweat he should eat the fruits of the ground as his punishment for having eaten the forbidden Fruit and it was but just with God to punish the curiosity of men after forbidden knowledge which occasioned his fall with making the attainment of knowledge more difficult If the Scriptures were all obscure they would be of little use if they were all obvious they would be despised For if obscurity be made an objection by some their plainness and simplicity is objected by others but God has so ordered and proportioned the several parts of them that no man may have just cause to complain that he doth not understand enough for his Salvation nor any man cast them aside or read them with little Care and Diligence since there are so many things in them which may require the utmost Study and Pains of the most judicious and Learned men 7. There is no Prophet so obscure but some Prophecies are very plainly delivered by him which we know to have been fulfilled and this is a Warrant and Assurance to us of his Mission and that we ought to rely upon it that whatever he has delivered concerning other things will as certainly come to pass and in the mean time before they come to pass or are throughly understood they are exceeding useful in the Church The Revelation of St John is hard to be applyed to particularevents because it comprehends so vast a series of time in which long course of years many events may be exactly alike at different times and in different places and there may be a gradual and repeated Accomplishment of some of his Prophecies But the time was at hand for the fulfilling of other of these Prophecies Rev. i. 3. xxii 6 7 10 12. and we know they have been fulfilled in the seven Churches Rev. ii 5 16 22 23. iii. 3 16. which are proposed for examples to all others He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Rev. ii 7. The seven Churches are spoken to by Name and what is said to them having been fulfilled is a certain argument that the rest which concerns all other Churches shall be fulfilled in its due time tho it be not perhaps yet understood But the obscurest Prophefies even before their Accomplishment are of perpetual and inestimable use to us It is acknowledged by all that Parables are very proper and fit for Instruction and therefore in ancient times their Doctrines were wont to be delivered in that way because it is a more familiar and easie method of teaching than by Rules and Precepts and Rational Discourse without that Illustration which is given to them by supposing a particular case For then every one is apt to make the case his own when he sees the Precepts reduced to Example and cloathed with Circumstances and brought home as it were to his very senses which before lay more out of sight in abstract Notions and Speculative Discourse And if feigned cases be so much more effectual than bare precepts or exhortations an infallible account of the state of the Church in all Ages tho we cannot point out the particular times and places when and where every thing shall come to pass must needs be of inestimable value and benefit To hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches to observe what errors and faults are reproved and what vertues and graces are commended and encouraged in the seven Churches of Asia the Praises and Adorations ch iv and the Bliss of the Righteous the joys of Heaven and the rewards of Martyrs ch vii the Terrors of the Great and Dreadful day ch vi the great Apostacy that was to be upon the Earth ch xiii the Patience and Faith of the Saints and the Resurrection surrection of the Dead ch.xx. the description of the new Jerusalem and the glory and happiness of the City of God ch xxi xxii these are the subject of St John's Revelation and are things of the greatest use and importance We have the state and condition of the Church in all Ages presented to our view tho we are not able to mark out the particular times and seasons meant in the several parts of the Prophecy And this is at least of the same use to us that all History is and besides may be of as much more benefit as it more nearly concerns us for we do not know but that we may be faln into the worst times there prophesy'd of Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints We see the care and providence of God over his Church the wonderful deliverances which he is pleased to work for it the supports which he affords his faithful Servants under persecutions and the rewards prepared for them and the final destruction of the Enemies of God and Religion these things are visible in the Revelation and it cannot be denied but these are of excellent use to yield us comfort in the worst of troubles and to excite Faith and Hope and Patience and all Christian Graces in the minds of men The Revelation of St John may be look'd upon as an History of the Church without any Chronology annext to it but will any man say that the exactest and truest History that can be penned of the most important Affairs and such as concern all Mankind is of little value or consequence to the Conduct and Management of our Lives
instructed in the Rewards and Punishments of the Life to come and Temporal Rewards and Punishments were appointed by Moses as Pledges and Types to represent and prefigure to them those of a Future State For that Abraham and the Patriarchs before him had a true and full Notion of a Life after this we are certain from Heb. xi 10 13. And we have as great Certainty that Abraham did instruct his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. xviii 19. and Moses wrote of Christ Jo. v. 46. Gen. iii. 15. xii 3. xlix 10. Deut. xviii 15 18. These things were delivered in the Books of Moses and well understood by the Generality of the Jews in all Ages the Sadducees were singular in denying the Resurrection of the Dead and some other Doctrines in which all the rest were agreed But if there were any Obscurity or Difficulty in the Books of Moses they had besides the Priests a constant Succession of Prophets for many Ages to Interpret them and to maintain and inculcate those Fundamental Doctrines of Religionâ— The Rewards of Heaven are declared Psal xvi 11. xvii 15. Prov. xv 24. Eccles xii 14. Dan. xii 2 3. The Torments of Hell are asserted Psal xvi 10. Eccles xi 9. xii 14. Isai xxxiii 14. Dan. xii 2. The Resurrection of the Dead Psal xvii 15. Isai xxvi 19. Ezek. xxxvii 1. Dan. xii 2. Hos xiii 14. And in the Book of Job which is of the greatest Antiquity Job xiv 12. xix 26.27 In that Expression that David and others Slept with their Fathers is implyed not only the Imortality of the Soul but the Resurrection of the Body For it implies that there was not a total end of them but as they Slept so must they awake and rise again Psal xvii 15. And this Expression is taken from the Old Testament and applied to the same Sense in the New Our Saviour speaking of Regeneration says to Nicodemus art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Joh. iii. 10. and he bids the Jâ—ws search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them says he ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Joh v. 39. it was in them fore-told that a much clearer Revelation was to be made by the Gospel Jer. xxxi 31. When our Saviour by his Resurrection gave a fuller Manifestation of a future Immortal State than could be given by any other Means and brought Life and Immortality to Light thro' the Gospel 2 Tim. i. 10. Yet this it self was Typifyed in the Old Testament by raising Dead Men to Life again and the Translation of Enoch and Elijah into Heaven was for a Testimony and Assurance of a Future State both of Body and Soul The Doctrin deliverd by Moses and the Prophets was as effectual a Caution and warning to Men to keep them from the place of Torments as a Message from the Dead could have been Luke xvi 31. The Old Testament therefore is not deficient in any necessary Point of Salvation but the Ceremonial Law was enjoyned as a suitable Help and Expedient for the retaining those Truths which had been revealed before Which was so well known (x) Origen contra Cels lib. 2 that Celsus puts this as an Objection into the Mouth of the Jews whom he brings in Arguing against the Christian Religion that it taught them nothing but what they knew before concerning the Resurrection of the Dead and a future Judgment and a State of Rewards and Punishments in another World And it cannot be denied that the Apocryphal as well as the Canonical ' Books teach these things The Honour and Authority of our Religion amongst Men depends very much upon a right Knowledge and a due consideration of this Subject And those who profess never so great Veneration for the New Testament but have little esteem for any part of the Old understand neither the one nor the other as they ought They refer all along to each other and must stand or fall together for the one is but a Draught as it were or Model of the other all things being though obscurely yet sufficiently taught in the Old Testament which are fully and lively exprest in the New The Sum of all is this The Faith in the Messias to come and the Principles of Religion and Morality had been delivered down from the Beginning by Adam and Noah to their Posterity And when Moses by God's Direction and Appointment gave Laws to the Children of Israel the End and Design of these Laws was the preservation of this Faith and Practice amongst them And this was effected by visible Objects and sensible Remembrances the Jewish Dispensation was ordain'd in condescension to the Circumstances and Capacities of those Ages and that Nation in such a manner as was most suitable to their Condition and most Worthy of God the rest of the World had wholly given up and abandoned themselves to Carnal Ordinances and Superstitions and God who produceth Good out of Evil made use of this Fondness and Dotage of Mankind to the Preservation and Advancement of Truth and Holiness amongst Men. The Ceremonial Worship was no farther acceptable to God and no otherwise design'd by Him than to keep his People from running into Idolatry to which they had so great a Proneness to put them in mind of their own Sinfulness and Unworthiness to preserve a Sense of Moral Duties and of an inward and spiritual Service and to retain a Remembrance and Expectation of that Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction which had been foretold and was in the Fulness of time to be offered upon the Cross for the Sins of the World Thanks be to God that we are instructed to worship him in Spirit and in Truth without so many burthensome Ceremonies but in those Ages of the World nothing would have seem'd more strange and absurd than a Religion without some Pomp and Solemnity of Ceremonies And God appointed for his People those which were innocent to restrain them from all that were wicked and hurtful He appointed the Sacrifices of Beasts to be Types of Christ's Sacrifice and to withhold them from Humane Sacrifices which were practised in other Nations and enjoyn'd by other Religions he commanded them to abstain from certain Meats that they might not eat of Things offer'd to Idols and these innocent Ceremonies he made useful and serviceable to the Great Ends of Faith and Righteousness Nothing impracticable can be supposed to be prescrib'd by God to any People nothing which is above their Abilities and present Attainments and therefore would be of no use and benefit to them But rather the Divine Goodness would condescend to their Infirmities and comply with them in giving them such Laws as may be agreeable and convenient for them in their present State and may fit them for an higher and more excellent Dispensation Whatsoever we may think of it now nothing at the time when the Law was given would have look'd like Religion that had
suffer the wicked to go unpunish'd in contempt of those Laws which he had appointed and under that dispensation which was establish'd upon Temporal Rewards and Punishments They were not allow'd to indulge their anger and desire of Revenge yet they might pray that God would avenge himself of his Enemies and rescue his Laws from that contempt which they must lie under from wicked Men if they did not feel those punishments which the Laws of God threatned them withall But under the Gospel the Case is different for now we are not to expect that Temporal Rewards and Punishments should constantly follow upon the performance or transgression of our Duty but both of them may be commonly reserved to a future State A Christian may not pray for Judgments upon his Enemies because God has not so peremptorily declared by the Gospel that he will inflict his Punishments in this Life as he had done by the Law and we have our Saviour's Command and Example to pray for their Repentance that they be not punished in the next But a Christian may right himself in due course of Law and in order to that may Petition the Judge without any breach of Charity and this was all that the Jews did when they pray'd God to execute his own Laws by inflicting such Punishments as he had threatned to inflict upon the Transgressors of them in this Life they invoked and appealed to God as their Political Judge and Sovereign and pray'd Judgment against Offenders V. Those which seem Imprecations are oftentimes Predictions or Denunciations of Judgments to come upon Sinners as we may learn from Acts 1.20 And it can be no uncharitableness to foretell or denounce God's Judgments against Sinners but rather an effect of Charity towards them for their Repentance and Amendment Most of those places of Scripture may as properly be rendred by way of prediction in the Future Tense and when they cannot they may be look'd upon as denunciations of God's Wrath. For Prophets were sometimes employ'd to execute the Divine Judgments as we see in Elijah 2 Kings i. 9 10. and as they sometimes executed God's Judgments so they at other times denounced them and this had nothing of uncharitableness in it but is fully agreeable with the Gospel it self For thus we read that Ananias and Sapphira were punished with present death by St. Peter Acts v. But if St. Peter had denounced Death without inflicting it immediately upon them this had been less And St. Paul prays that the Lord would reward Alexander the Copper-Smith according to his works who had done him much evil 2 Tim. iv 14. which was no uncharitable imprecation but a leaving him to God's Judgment and a denunciation of punishment to befall him without Repentance it was an Authoritative Act and in consequence of that excommunication which the Apostle had inflicted upon him 1 Tim. 1.20 And when God had inspired and empower'd Men to denounce Judgments this was no more against Charity than the inflicting of them would have been or than Excommunication it self is If Magistrates are empower'd in the King's Name to give Sentence and to inflict Punishments certainly Men may be so empower'd and authoriz'd by God himself and may act or speak accordingly without breach of Charity VI. The Expressions Ps lxix and cix are to be understood concerning Judas as we find them applied Acts 1. and all other Expressions of the same nature may be understood either of him or of some others like him whom the Psalmist by inspiration might know to be hardned in Sin past Repentance and therefore might pray that God would rather cut them off than suffer them to do more mischief in this World and increase the number of their Iniquities here and of their Miseries in the World to come VII Lastly This Supposition is tacitly emply'd in Imprecations if they will persist in their Sins if they will not repent and the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures might in some Cases know by Revelation that Judgments were the only means to reclaim those Men against whom they pray'd and then it was the greatest Charity to pray that God would be pleased to make use of that Remedy which alone was lest for their Amendment aâ— Psal lxxxiii 15 16. So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm Fill their faces with shame that they may seeâ— thy Name O Lord. There is nothing therefore inconsistent with the Doctrine of Charity and the Love of ouâ— Neighbour in those places of Scripture which have been liable to the mistakes of unwary Men. For either they are Prayers to God to enable the Isâ—aelites to do what he had appointed as in the destruction of the Canaanites whom God was pleased for wise and great Reasons to punish by the Sword of the Children of Israel rather than by Pestilence or any other Judgment Or they are Prayers to God to assist them in the doing what both Justice and Charity will allow to be done either by Persons in Authority as King David or even by private Men as in the prosecution of Offenders and bringing them to condign punishment and this may be without any degree of Malice or the least breach of Charity since Punishment it self may be not only an act of Justice but of Charity likewise towards divers Men. Or these Expressions may be Appeals to God as the Political Governour and Legislator of the Jews Or they are Predictions or Denunciations of God's wrath against Sinners And they may be directed against impenitent obstinate Men hardned in their Wickedness Or lastly they may be only Prayers to God â—hat he would inflict such Punishments upon Mon as may bring them to Repentance And tho' the Jews in latter Ages perverted some passages of their Law to serve their own Pride and Revenge yet as it is evident by many instances never any Law but that of Christ oblig'd Men to more Humanity towards Strangers or more Charity towards Enemies They were certainly to Covert no Man's House or Wife and therefore the word Neighbour is not to be limited to signifie only an Israelite or a Proselyte but is to be understood of any Man whatsoever Exod. xx 17. Thou shalt love him the Stranger as thy self Lev. xix 34. The Aegyptians are stiled the Neighbours of the Israelites Exod. xi 2. And Ps xv 2 3. where acts of common Justice towards Neighbours are spoken of by Neighbour must necessarily be understood any person for to all Men Justice is due Not only Justice but Charity was enjoyn'd towards Enemies If thine Enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee Prov. xxv 21 22. which words so fully express our Duty of Christian Charity that St. Paul could find none fitter to describe it by Rom. xii 20. and Exod. xxiii 4 5. If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or his Ass going
well assured of that in which they agree that is of the Truth of Religion in General and of the Christian Religion in Particular as to the Fundamental Points of it The Differences among Christians may serve to prove to us Divine Authority of our Religion and of the Scriptures which contain it since Christians agree in asserting their Divine Authority and have never been so much at unity among themselves as to be able to agree to corrupt them but have certainly delivered them down entire to us 2. It is not Religion only which Men Dispute about but there is nothing besides in which they have not disagreed It is observed that want of Experience and Knowledge of the World leads Men into more inconveniencies than want of Parts and Abilities And it is as certain that a thorough Knowledge of the Debates and Contentions in Philosophy would sooner cure most Men of their Infidelity than any Arguments could do Those who raise Objections against Religion if they would but consider that almost every thing else has as great Difficulties would be ashamed to reject Religion upon Pretences which if they hold must force them to reject all other things with it and to believe just nothing at all There have been Disputes in all Ages concerning Light and Motion the Wind and Seas and other Wonders of Nature but it would be absurd for this Reason to question whether there be any such thing as Light and Motion and whatever besides Men have disputed And yet it is more absurd if it be possible to allow that is a good Argument against Religion but against nothing else If the Sun yield his Light and Nature go on in her constant Course tho' Men differ never so much in their Philosophy about it what can Religion be the worse for their Disputes no body thinks that he sees ever the less for any Difficulties which have been urged concernning Vision and why should we be ever the less inclined to believe the Truth of Religion by reason of any Controversies in it Men may dispute any thing and there is hardly any thing but it has been disputed but nothing is the less credible for being disputed unless it can be disproved but is rather confirmed and advanced by it Truth is nevertheless Truth for meeting with opposition but is the more tried and the more approved as Strength and Courage is by the sharpest Conflicts Since then there will be Vices as long as there are Men in this World and Differences and Dissentions in Religion as long as there are Vices since they cannot be hindered but by the Omnipotent Power of God and there are great Reasons why he should not interpose to prevent them since Differences in Religion are so far from implying any uncertainty in Religion that they rather prove a Confirmation of it and are in divers respects made useful and expedient to the Edification of Christians it must be great inconsideration and weakness to produce them as an Objection against Religion There must be Heresies and the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter Times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to Seducing Spirits and Doctrins of Devils speaking Lies in Hypocrisy having their Conscience seared with an hot Iron 1 Tim. iv 12. The Scripture could not be true unless these things should happen which are foretold in several Places of Scripture Behold says our Saviour I have told you before Matt. xxiv 25. it ought to be no new nor surprising thing to Christians to see Heresies arise tho' they be never so wicked and abominable because we are forewarned to expect them and they serve to give a kind of Testimony to the True Religion in fulfilling the Predictions of it They help to prove the Religion which they would destroy For if there had been no Heresies that Religion could not be True which has foretold them but since there are Heresies our Religion is at least so far true as to contain express Prophecies concerning them which we see daily fulfilled and as they evidently prove our Religion true in this particular so they invalidate it in no other Which is the (b) Just Mart. Dial. Answer that the Christians anciently returned to the Enemies of Religion when they made this Objection against it Let us follow the plain the known and and confessed Duties of Religion Humility Temperance Righteousness and Charity and when once we have no Temptations to wish Religion untrue upon the account of the plain Precepts and Directions of it we shall never suspect it to be so by reason of any Controversies in it For if Men will impartially consider things that Religion which has now For so many Ages stood out all the Assaults and Attempts with Enemies from without and Parties within could make against it and has approved it much better and more gloriously than it could have done if there never had been either Heresies or Schisms Let us therefore hold fast the Profession of our Faith without Wavering being assured that the Gates of Hell that is all the Power and Stratagems of Satan shall never be able to prevail against the Church of Christ but shall only serve to add to its Victories and adorn its Triumphs The Malice O Lord and fierceness of Man shall turn to thy Praise And the fierceness of them shalt thou refrain Ps Lxxvi 10. CHAP. XXXIII Though all Objections could not be answerred yet this would be no just Cause to reject the Authority of the Scriptures ALL Objections which can with any Colour or Pretence be alleged have been considered and answered by divers Men of Great Learning and Judgment and several Objections which have made most noise in the World as that about the Capacity of the Ark and others have been Demonstrated to be groundless and frivolous But tho' all Difficulties could not be accounted for yet this would be no just or sufficient cause why we should reject the Scriptures because Objections for the most part are impertinent to the Purpose for which they were designed and do not at all effect the Evidence which is brought in proof of the Scriptures and if they were pertinent yet unless they could confute that Evidence they ought not to determine us against them He that with an honest and sincere Desire to find out the Truth or Falshood of a Revelation enquires into it should first consider impartially what can be alleged for it and afterwards consider the Objections raised against it that so he may compare the Arguments in proof of it and the Objections together and determine himself on that side which appears to have most Reason for it But to insist upon particular Objections collected out of Difficult Places of Scripture tho' they would likewise observe the Answers that have been given which few of our Objectors have patience to do but run away with the Objection without staying for an Answer I say to allege particular Objections without attending to the main Grounds and Motives
we may not be assured of some things as certainly from the Testimony of others as from our own Senses 2. Whether this be not the present case relating to the resolution of Faith I shall therefore consider in the first place the certainty which we have for the matters of fact by which the Authority of the Scriptures is proved and confirmed to us compared with the evidence of sence and will then apply it to the resolution of Faith I. In many cases men seem generally agreed that there is as much cause to believe what they know from others as what they see and experience themselves For there may be such circumstances of credibility as equal the evidence even of sence it self no evidence can satisfie sence so much indeed nor perhaps so much affect the passions as that of sence but there may be other evidence which may give as clear conviction and altogether as good satisfaction to our Reason as that which is immediately derived from our sences concerning the Being of Objects or the Truth of matters of fact Thus those who never travelled to the Indies do as little doubt that there is such a place as those who have been never so often there and all men believe there was such a man as Julius Caesar with as little scruple as if they had lived in his time and had seen and spoke with him I suppose no man in his wits makes any more doubt but there are such places as Judoea and Jerusalem from the constant report of Historians and Travellers than if he had been in those places himself and had lived the greatest part of his Life there and the greatest Infidel that I know of never pretended yet to disbelieve that there was such a person as our Saviour Christ But all men think themselves as well assured of things of this nature upon the credit of others as if they had seen them themselves For how doubtful and intricate soever some things may be for want of Knowledge or credit in the Relaters yet there are other things delivered with that agreement and certainty on all hands that to doubt of them would be as unreasonable as to doubt of what we our selves see and hear And if our Saviour's Resurrection for instance be of this nature we can with as little reason doubt of it as if we had lived at that time and had conversed with him after his Resurrection from the Dead But we have as great assurance that he was alive again after his Crucifixion as that he ever lived at all and we have at least all the assurance that there was such a Person as Christ that we can have that there once lived any other man at that distance of time from us We can no more doubt that our Saviour was born in the Reign of Augustus Coesar and was Crucified under Tiberius than that there were once such Emperors in the World nay we have it much better attested that Christ was Born and was Crucified and rose again than that there ever were such Princes as these two Emperors for no man ever made it his business to go about the world to certifie this and to testifie the truth of it at his Death But the Apostles themselves and their Disciples and Converts and innumerable others ever since from the beginning of Christianity have asserted the particulars of the Life and Death and Resurrection of our Saviour under all dangers and torments and deaths and have made it their great aim and design both living and dying to bear Testimony to the Truth of the Gospel So that a man may as well doubt of any matter of fact that ever was done before his own time or at a great distance from him as doubt of these fundamentals of the Christian Religion and yet there is no man but thinks himself as certain of some things at least which were done a long time ago or a great way off as if he had been at the doing of them himself Indeed in some respects we seem to have more evidence than these could have that lived in the beginning of Christianity for they could see but some Miracles we have the benefit of all they relyed upon their own sences and upon the sences of such as they knew and conversed with we upon the sences of innumerable People who successively beheld them for the space of Divers hundred years together so that whoever will not believe the Scriptures neither would he believe though one rose from the Dead that is though the greatest Miracle were wrought for his conviction This was said of the Old Testament and therefore may with greater reason be said of that and the New both And we have besides one sort of evidence which those that lived at the first planting of Christianity could not have for we see many of those Prophecies fulfilled which our Saviour foretold concerning his Church we know how it sprung up and flourished and from what small unlikely beginnings it has spread it self into all corners of the Earth and continues to this day notwithstanding all the malice of Men and Devils to root it out and destroy it The continuance and success of the Gospel under so improbable circumstances was matter of Faith chiefâ—y to the first Christians but to us is matter of Fact and the object of sense they saw the work indeed prosper in their hands but their Faith only could tell them that it should flourish for so many Ages as we know it has already done This is a standing and invincible proof to us at this distance of time and has the force of a twofold Argument the one of a Power of Miracles the other of Prophecies we know that a miraculous power has been manifested in conquering all opposition and in a wonderful manner bringing those things to pass which to humane wisdom and power are altogether impossible And the fulfilling hereby of Prophecies is a visible confirmation to us of the truth of those Miracles which by the Testimony of others we believe to have been done by the Prophets whose Prophecies we see fulfilled And since it must be acknowledged that things may be so well attested that we may with as much reason doubt of the truth of our own sences as of the Authority by which we are assured of the truth of them and must turn Scepticks or worse if we will not believe them we may conclude as well upon the account of these Prophecies which we our selves see fulfilled as upon all other accounts that the Historical evidence in proof of the Christian Religion amounts to all the certainty that a matter of Fact is capable of not excepting even that of sense it self II. Let us now apply all this to the Resolution of Faith and give an account how a divine and infallible Faith may be produced in us Humane Testimony is the Motive by which we believe the Scriptures to contain God's revealed Will this certifies us that such Miracles were wrought
question were not only dubious but certainly spurious the remaining Books which were never doubted of are sufficient for all the necessary ends and purposes of a Revelation and therefore this ought to be no objection against the Authority of the Scriptures that the Authority of some Books has been formerly matter of controversy I shall enter upon no discourse concerning the Apocryphal Books the authority whereof has been so often and so effectually disâ—roved by Protestants that the most learned Papists have now little to say for them but â—re forced only to fly to the authority of their Church which is in effect to beg the thing in question or to beg something as hard to be granted viz. the infallibility of the Church of Rome But I shall here engage in no controversy of that nature Both Protestants and Papists are generally speaking agreed that the Books of Moses and the Prophets in the Old Testament and the Writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles in the New are of Divine Authority and if this be so the Christian Religion must be true whether there be or be not others of the same nature and of equal authority These Books in the main have already been proved to be genuine and without any material corruption or alteration I shall now only propose such general considerations as may be sufficient to obviate objections The agreement between the Jews and Samaritans in the Pentateuch is a clear evidence for its Authority And tho there were many and great Idolatries committed in the Kingdom of Judah yet by the good providence of God there never was such a total Apostacy in the people nor so long a succession of Idolatrous Kings as that the Books either of the Law or the Prophets can be supposed to have been supprest or altered For three years under Rehoboam they walked in the way of David and Solomon 2 Chron. 11.17.12.1 and tho afterwards he forsook the Law of the Lord and all Israel with him his Reign was in all but seventeen years Abijam was a wicked King but he reigned no longer than three years 1 Kings xv 2. Asa the third from Solomon and Jehoshaphat his Son were great Reformers and Asa reigned one and forty years and Jehoshaphat five and twenty years 2 Chron. xvi 13. xx 31. The two next Kings in succession did evil in the sight of the Lord but their Reigns were short Jehoram reigned eight years and Ahaziah but one 2 Chron. xxi 20. xxii 2. During the interval of six years under the usurpation of Athaliah the people could not be greatly corrupted for she was hateful to them as Jehoram her husband had been before her and they readily joyned with Jehoiada in slaying her and in restoring the worship of God 2 Chron. xxii Joash the son of Ahaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada 2 Chron. xxiv 2. We are sure that he reigned well three and twenty years 2 Kings xii 6. and probably much longer for Jehoiada lived to a very great age 2 Chron. xxiv 15. Amaziah his son has the same character and with the same abatement that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart 2 Chron. xxv 2. or yet not like David his Father he did according to all things as Joash his Father did 2 Kings xiv 3. Vzziah son to Amaziah reigned well and sought God in the days of Zachariah 2 Chron. xxvi 5. and after he was seized with the Leprosie for invading the Priests office the administration of affairs was in the hands of his Son Jotham vers 21. who imitated the good part of his fathers Reign Chap. xxvii 2. Ahaz was wicked and an Idolater but he reigned only sixteen years Chap. xxviii 1. and his son Hezekiah wrought a great Reformation who reigned twenty nine years Chap. xxix 1. Manasses was much given to Idolatry in the former part of his Reign but after his captivity in Babylon he was very zealous against it Chap. xxxiii 15 16. Amon imitated the ill part of his Father's Reign but his own continued no longer than two years Chap. xxxiii 21. The next was Josiah in whose time the Book of the Law was found in the Temple which must be the Book of Moses's own hand-writing for it is evident that a Book of the Law could be no such rare thing at that time in Jerusalem as to be taken so much notice of unless it had been that Book which was laid up in the side of the Ark and was to be transcribed by every King It seems that Book of the Law had been purposely hid to preserve it from the attempts of Idolaters who it was feared might have a design to destroy it for if it had only lain by neglected the finding of it could have been no such surprizing thing because the place in the Temple was well known where it was wont to be kept in the side of the Ark and where they might have sought for it but it was probably at that time supposed to have been utterly lost and its being found in the Ruines of the Temple which was built for the observation of it and where it ought to have been kept with the greatest care as a most inestimable treasure the veneration which Josiah had for so sacred a Writing and the happy and unexpected recovery of it when it had been disregarded and almost lost through the iniquity of his Predecessors these considerations could not but exceedingly move a mind so tender and affectionately pious as that Kings when he received the Law under Moses's own hand sent him as he believed by God himself and delivered to him as it were anew from Heaven Not long after his time was the Captivity in Babylon till which there were always Prophets frequent Reformations and never any succession of Idolatrous Kings which continued for a long time together very few Kings were Idolatrous throughout their whole Reigns and those that were reigned but a short time * Book 1. Part 2. c. 6. 9. It has been proved that the Pentateuch and the Books of the Prophets written before the Captivity were preserved amongst the Jews till their return and it is acknowledg'd by those who are of another opinion that Ezra who composed the Canon did it by a Prophetick spirit or had the assistance of Prophets in the doing it * Joseph Câ—nt Apion lib. 1. Josephus says that their Books after the time of Artaxerxes are not of equal authority with those before his time for want of a certain succession of Prophets And since the Jews admitted no writings as inspired into the Canon after Malachi's Prophecy this shews their sincerity and exactness in examining the truth and authority of such Writings as they admitted into their Canon of Scripture The Pharisees made the commandment of God of no effect by their Traditions but never durst presume to impose them under the notion and