A VINDICATION Of the DIVINE AUTHORITY and INSPIRATION of the Writings Of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT In Answer to a Treatise lately Translated out of French Entituled Five Letters concerning the INSPIRATION of the Holy SCRIPTURES By William Lowth B. D. Fellow of St. John's College in Oxford OXFORD Printed at the THEATER And are to be sold by John Wilmot Bookseller An. Dom. 1692. Imprimatur JONATH EDWARDS Vice-Can OXON June 13. 1692. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God PETER Lord BISHOP of WINCHESTER AND PRELATE of the Most Noble ORDER of THE GARTER May it Please Your Lordship IT is the Misfortune of our times to have Religion at once assaulted by a Rude and Ignorant Profaneness by a Confident pretence to reason and by Sceptical Sophistry Its Foundations are attack'd by the Profess'd Enemies of God and Goodness Its Mysteries are Ridicul'd by Hereticks as if they intended to invite Atheists to their Assistance to joyn a Helping Hand to the Carrying on so Good a Work as the Exposing Religion and making it appear Absurd and Contemptible And as if it were not Task enough to Encounter Open Enemies it hath the Hard Fate of it's Blessed Author to be Wounded in the House of it's Friends whilest many of those who seem to Embrace it are much more Industrious to Raise Doubts and Scruples about it than to Establish the Fundamental Truths of it or else lay down such Loose Principles that Wicked Men may deduce their own Conclusions from them and can't but please themselves to see their Work done to their Hands and Christianity Undermin'd by the Imprudence or Treachery of it's own Votaries Thus by Degrees Men have proceeded from Arguing about Obscure and Nice Matters to question Known and Certain Truths and from Disputing about the Points and Tittles of the Law to Reject the Divine Authority of the whole from thence to Decry all Revelation because they cannot exactly Comprehend how God's Spirit Influences and Cooperates with Man's Understanding and at last to cast off Religion in General So True is that which a Great Man has Observ'd That the Disesteem of the Scriptures is the Decay of Religion and through many Turnings and Windings at last leads Men into the very Depth of Atheism My LORD The Design of the Letters which I have Undertaken to Answer is to Perplex Men's minds with Difficulties about the Nature of Inspiration and thereby render the Divine Authority of those Writings suspected which the Church has always lookt upon as the Sacred Depositum of Divine Truth which God has committed to it's Trust and Design'd for it's Guide and Oracle When first I saw this Treatise turn'd into English I was in Hopes that some of our Eminent Divines whose Writings are so Deservedly Admir'd for their Strength and Clearness would have Vindicated the Authority of the Scriptures and Clear'd their Title to Inspiration from those Difficulties with which Men that are Better at Pulling down than Building up have perplexed it The Subject has never yet been throughly Handled and is Worthy the Thoughts of those Great Masters of Learning Reason and Judgement But after I had waited some time and could not hear that any Abler Person Intended to take this Work in hand I resolved to do my Best Endeavour toward the Defence of so Good a Cause and give a Check to those Opinions which tend to Undermine all Revelation And when I had finished my Design there were many Considerations moved me to present it to your Lordship not doubting but your Known Candor and Goodness would pardon the Confidence of this Address Your Eminent Dignity in the Church makes You deservedly Esteem'd a Pillar of Religion and Truth Your Constant Residence in Your Diocess and Your Care and Vigilance to keep up the Good Orders and Discipline of the Church there preserve the Purity of it's Doctrine and give a Due Lustre to it's Constitution and your Generous and Obliging Temper Charms Men into a Complyance with your Good Counsel and their own Duty And as these Considerations Embolden'd me to Present this Treatise to your Lordship which is writ in Vindication of those Sacred Truths for the Defence and Confirmation of which your Lordship is Placed in that High Station so Your Signal Courage in Opposing the Enthusiasts of the Late Times whose Vile Hypocrisy and Lewd Pretences to Inspiration have made way for Open Profaneness and Contempt of all Revel'd Religion Encourages me to hope that your Lordship will favourably accept this Work how mean soever whose Design 't is to put some stop to those Lasting Ill-Effects which have proceeded from such Pernicious Principles And beside these Publick Considerations this Work does Implore your Lordship's Protection as being Visitor and Patron to the College of which the Author is a Member who readily Embraces this Opportunity of Declaring to the World how Happy that Society esteems it Self in having the Honour of your Lordships Patronage whose Government they formerly found to be so Great a Blessing and withal is glad of so good an Occasion of making this Publick and Grateful Acknowledgement of those Favours wherewith your Lordship has been pleased to Oblige My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Dutiful Servant WILLIAM LOWTH THE PREFACE THE Age we live in deservedly bears the Character of a Curious and Inquisitive Age which does not love to take things upon Trust or blindly follow the Determinations of others And I must profess for my own part that I reckon a free use of Reasoning and Judging as Valuable a Blessing as the Injoyment of our Civil Liberties and look upon no sort of Tyranny so grievous as that of forcing Persons of Ingenuous and Inquisitive Tempers exactly to square their Sentiments of things to other mens Opinions But as the Best things are liable to be abus'd so this Freedom of Enquiry has been made use of to Ill Purposes and has Accidentally produced very bad Effects For men have been so Fond of this Liberty as to think no Bounds or Limits ought to be set to it and at last to believe the Submitting to the Authority of God himself to be an undue Restraint upon the Vse of Humane Reason and the very pretending to such an Authority to be one of the Arts of Designing Priests who by this Device endeavour to Enslave the rest of the World and make them Think and Act just as they would have them Thus many men have Reason'd themselves first into Socinianism and then which is but one Remove from the former into Deism or at least into a Coldness and Indifferency to all Reveal'd Religion They think 't is to Impose upon them to Oblige them to Believe or Practise any thing unless they can see a Reason why it should be so and cannot be perswaded that they owe God so much service as to submit to those Laws which seem to them to have no other ground but his Arbitrary Will and Pleasure Vpon this account they reject the Use of the Sacraments the
Holy Spirit indowed the Apostles I find our Author is very industrious to lessen the Apostolical Gifts as much as he can and to represent them very little above their natural Faculties He indeavours to shew That the Operation of the Holy Spirit upon their Minds consisted chiefly in refreshing their Memories a Fr. p. 254 257. En. p. 66. 70. and bringing to their Remembrance what Christ had said unto them He does indeed say b Fr. 255. En. p. 67. That sometimes the Holy Spirit made them understand by extraordinary Revelations that which Christ had said unto them whilst he was with them but which they then understood not And that they had many immediate Revelations and divers heavenly Visions c Fr. p. 252. Eng. 62. And in another place d Fr. 257. Eng. p. 70. That perhaps the Spirit open'd their Minds after a manner we comprehend not But while he sets out the Objections against the Inspiration of the Apostles in the best Light and with the greatest Force he can he passes over the Evidences for it very slightly and looks upon their Immemediate Inspirations to have been so extraordinary and to have happen'd so seldom that he does not stick roundly to declare e Ubi sup That their Infallibility consisted in relating faithfully what they had seen and heard He likewise endeavours to shew f Fr. p. 240. c. Eng. p. 42 c. That they had not an extraordinary Assistance when they were summon'd before the Secular Powers upon the account of their Religion And he makes this another argument against the Inspiration of the Apostles and other persons in those times whom the Scripture speaks of as inspir'd g Fr. p. 248 249. 259. Eng. p. 57. 74. that they confer'd with one another and submitted to one another's Judgments and did not come to a Conclusion concerning any matter in questino till after long Deliberation and Consultation with each other with many other Cavils of less weight In Answer to which and for the Clearing of this Matter I shall shew I. How far we may allow what he says to be true and in what Cases the Apostles did not speak or act by Inspiration II. I shall shew that excepting those Cases the Apostles writ and spake by the particular Assistance and Direction of the Spirit III. I shall shew that the Assistance of the Holy Spirit did not consist only or chiefly in Improving their Natural Faculties or Strengthening and Refreshing their Memories IV. I shall shew that they had an extraordinary Assistance when they were summon'd before Magistrates upon the Account of their Religion and vindicate their Behaviour under those Circumstances from the unbecoming Reflections which Mr. N. has made upon it V. I shall vindicate the Inspiration of the Apostles and other inspir'd persons from the rest of the Objections which he advances against it I. As to the first of these Inquiries What were the Cases wherein the Apostles did not act or speak by Inspiration I conceive we may allow them to be these following 1. Where they treat of the common Occurrences of Life and such things as have no Relation at all to Divine Truths As when St. Paul speaks of his design to take Rome h Rom. 15.24 in his way to Spain and to call at i 2 Cor. 1.16 Corinth as he went into Macedonia but yet it appears he was uncertain as to that Resolution k v. 1 Cor. 16.7 and did not actually l v. 2 Cor. 17. make it good Many Instances of the like nature might be alledg'd m v. 1 Cor. 1.16 r. Joh. 6.19 Act. 19 Hitherto we may refer Slips of memory in matters of no consequence some Examples of which there are to be found in in the N. Testament n v. Mat. 27.9 Act. 7.16 2. Such things as were matters only of Humane Prudence being of an Indifferent nature in themselves and consequently not the proper Subjects of a Divine Revelation For matters of Prudence i. e. Where God has given men no fix'd rule but left them at liberty to determine for themselves according as their circumstances shall direct as they are not the proper Subjects of a Divine Law so neither are they of a Divine Revelation Such is the Case of married persons where one party is an Vnbeliever which St. Paul considers o 1 Cor. 7.12 and resolves by the Rules of humane Prudence and therefore tells us before hand that 't is He that speaks not the Lord taking his measures from the general Law of Christian Charity For as to this Case I look upon Mr. Thorndike's p Laws of the Church p. 117. Opinion as the most probable which is That the Apostle look'd upon Marriage made by persons before they were Christians to lay no stricter Obligation upon the Parties than the Laws which they were under when the Marriage was contracted design'd to lay upon them So that if two persons who were under the Laws of the Roman Empire married and afterward one of them turn'd Christian this did not at all alter the Conditions of the Marriage in respect of the Converted Party from what they were before nor in a Marriage contracted by Subjects of the Roman Empire under the state of Heathenism is the Converted Party by virtue of his imbracing Christianity afterward oblig'd anew by the stricter Ties of the Christian Law concerning Marriage but only by those which the Roman Laws required upon which Terms the Marriage was made at first and so might upon just occasion take Advantage of the Privilege which the Roman Laws permitted of being Divorc'd for other Causes besides that which was allowed by our Saviour Now the reason why the Laws of Christianity do not extend to a Marriage contracted under a state of Heathenism I conceive to be this because Heathen Marriages being not in their own nature Indissoluble as Christian Marriages are but the Parties having reserv'd to themselves a liberty to part from each other in such Cases as the Laws of each Country allowed the nature of the Marriage-contract still continues the same after the Conversion of either Party which it did before i.e. Dissoluble unless the Believing Party can perswade the Unbelieving to oblige himself to the Observation of those stricter Laws of Matrimony which are injoin'd by Christ Without which mutual Consent the Marriage continues the same it was before while both Parties were Unbelievers and consequently the Laws of Christ do not reach this Case being applicable only to those Marriages which are made in the Christian Church or at least which are made Christian by an After-act and mutual Consent of the Parties to submit to the Christian Law in this particular This Opinion seems to be countenanc'd by the Apostle in the 15. verse of that Chapter q 1 Cor. 7.15 If the Vnbeliever depart a Brother or Sister is not under Bondage in such Cases the most natural Sense of which Words is
I leave it to God and his own Conscience to Judge I proceed to shew III. That the Assistance which the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostles did not consist only in refreshing their Memories or Improving their Natural Faculties but was in several respects a new degree of supernatural Knowledge Our Author is willing to believe as appears by the places h Fr. p. 254 -257 Eng. p. 66. 70. I have before cited that the Assistance the Holy Ghost gave to the Apostles did chiefly and in a manner only consist in refreshing their memory and recalling to their mind what our Saviour had taught them And agreeably to this opinion he tells us i Fr. p. 255. En. p. 67. that when our Saviour promises his Disciples k John 15.26 That the Holy Ghost shall teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance these latter words apparently explain the foregoing as if the Holy Ghost's teaching them was nothing else but bringing to their remembrance what Christ had taught them before Now I deny not but that our Saviour declar'd to his Disciples the whole Counsel of God and therefore when he gave them Commission to go and teach all Nations he makes this the Rule they were to go by in Preaching viz. to teach whatever he had commanded them l Matt. 28.20 as containing the whole Doctrine of Christianity but granting all this yet 't will appear from several instances that the Assistance of the Spirit was something more than bringing to their remembrance what Christ had said unto them For 1. Some things our Saviour did not only not explain to them fully but likewise made use of such Expressions when he spoke of them as were accommodated to the Notions the Apostles were prepossess'd with Thus when He discoursed to them of the Nature of his Kingdom he made use of such Expressions as in their most natural and obvious Sense did imply that 't was to be a Temporal One for he described the happiness which his Disciples were to enjoy in it by eating and drinking at his Table and sitting upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel m Luke 22.30 Matt. 19.28 Which Expressions did tend directly to confirm them in their prejudices concerning the Worldly Grandeur of Christ's kingdom our Saviour not thinking it a proper season as yet to wean them from these Opinions which had taken such deep root in their minds that they could not be extirpated all of a sudden but must be removed by gentle and easy degrees Now to give the Apostles a right understanding as to this matter 't was not sufficient the holy Spirit should recall to their memory the words which our Saviour had used upon this subject for those alone would rather confirm them in the false Notions they had entertain'd concerning these things than instruct them in the true one but 't was further requisite that the Spirit should give them a clear and distinct apprehension of the Spiritual Nature of Christ's Kingdom and wherein the Glory and Happiness it promises consists and should further inform them for what Reasons our Saviour chose in compliance with their apprehensions and in conformity to the Style of the Old Testament to wrap up these things in Obscurity and discourse of them under the vail of Types and Figures And I think this was to inlighten their minds with a new degree of Supernatural Knowledge 2. But besides those things which our Saviour concealed under Types and Figures There were others he obscurely Express'd in Parables As the Calling of the Gentiles in the Parable a Matt. 20.5 6. of the Housholder that went out at the latter end of the Day to hire Labourers into his Vineyard The rejection of the Jews under the Parable b Matt. 22.1 of the persons invited to a Marriage Feast who would not come Several other instances of the same kind might be given Now to understand these things perfectly something more was requisite than just to remember our Saviour's words as is plain by the Disciples asking our Saviour the meaning of another Parable of his viz. That of the tares of the Field c Matt. 13.36 v. c. 15.15 The words they remembred perfectly well but were at a loss for the meaning and design of them and therefore desir'd him to explain it to them And by the same Reason there was need of a greater degree of Illumination to certify them that the Gentiles were to be Fellow-heirs and partakers of the Promises of Christ than the bare putting them in mind of those short hints our Saviour had given them concerning this matter would amount to And accordingly we find that St. Peter had need of a Vision d Act. 10. to instruct him in this matter and even that extraordinary Revelation seem'd scarce sufficient to convince him of this truth For afterward notwithstanding the Vision he had formerly seen he relapsed again into his old notions and separated himself from the Gentile-Converts at Antioch e Gal. 2.11 Which is a pregnant instance how much need the Apostles had of an extraordinary degree of Clearness and Evidence fully to instruct and convince them in those points of Christianity that were opposite to the Opinions they had formerly imbraced and that something more was requisite to that purpose than just to remember what our Saviour had said upon this Subject For even that Vision it self did not fully explain to St. Peter God's Counsel and purpose and 't is likely he thought there was no more implied by it than that he should receive those Gentiles who voluntarily offer'd themselves The first that were sent to Preach the Gospel to the Gentiles were S. Paul and S. Barnabas when the Holy Ghost separated them for this purpose f Acts 13.2 comp with ver 46. And 't is upon this Account that St. Paul calls himself g Rom. 11.13 Gal. 2.9 Eph. 3.1 1 Tim. 2.7 the Apostle of the Gentiles and says in express terms that the Salvation of the Gentiles by their being Incorporated into the Church and making one Body with the Jews was a Doctrine which was but then newly h Eph. 3.5 6. REVEALED to the Apostles and Prophets by the SPIRIT And we may observe that the same S. Paul sometimes expresses the Knowledge of the Gospel with which the holy Spirit furnisht the Apostles and Inspir'd persons of those times by the word i 1 Cor. 14.6 26 30. 2.10 Eph. 1.17 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to imply that in several respects it was not so much a Revival of what our Saviour taught them while he was upon Earth as a piece of Knowledge intirely new and a distinct Revelation 3. We may instance in another sort of true and proper Inspiration which belong'd to the Apostles and that is The gift of Prophecy it self and of applying the Prophecies of the Old Testament to the times of the Gospel and shewing that they are truly fulfilled
in Christ and his Church Our Author grants k Fr. p. 283. En. p. 113. that God immediately imparted to the Apostles those Prophecies which are to be found in their Writings so that this point need not to be further Insisted upon I proceed therefore to consider their gift of Explaining the Prophecies of the Old Testament and applying them to the times of the Gospel And here 't is to be considered that tho our Saviour did explain many Prophecies to his Disciples after his Resurrection concerning his own Sufferings and Exaltation and the Preaching of the Gospel to all Nations l Luk. 24.27 45 46 47. yet there were several other Prophecies which they could not understand till they were indued with Power from on High and thereby inabled to comprehend the great Mysteries of God's Oeconomy as in several other Instances so particularly in the Rejecting of the Jews and Calling of the Gentiles And therefore those Dispensations of the Old Testament which the Apostles apply to these purposes viz. the Allegory of Ismael and Isaac m Rom. 9.7 Gal. 4.24 of Jacob and Esau n Rom. 9.10 c. by which S. Paul illustrates this matter the words of Moses in his Song o Deut. 32.21 which he applies to the same purpose p Rom. 10.19 as also the words of Habakkuk q Acts 13.41 I say the explaining the Mystical Sense and Design of these and such like Occurrences and Prophecies of the Old Testament is to be reckon'd a peculiar gift bestowed upon the Apostles by the holy Spirit 1. Because they themselves look upon it as such as appears by St. Paul's reckoning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r 1 Cor. 12.8 which word certainly signifies the gift of Interpreting the Mysteries of the Old Testament and applying them to the State of things under the New 2. Because those Providential Occurrences had a secret and hidden design in them which could be discover'd by none but God that order'd them who as he comprehends the most distant Ages in one single view so in his disposing and ordering the more Remarkable Events under the Old Testament had all along an Eye to the times under the New 3. As to the Prophecies 't is not likely that any persons without a Supernatural Illumination could look to the end and utmost Completion of them since the Prophets themselves had not this priviledge granted them as appears from those places ſ Rom. 16.25 1 Cor. 2.7 Eph. 3.9 Colos 1.26 where the Gospel is called a Mystery kept secret since the World began a hidden Mystery and hid from Ages and Generations And especially from those remarkable words of St. Peter t 1 Pet. 1.10 11 12. Of which Salvation by Christ the Prophets have inquir'd and searched diligently who prophecied of the Grace that should come unto you searching what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow To whom it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they did Minister these things From whence it appears that tho the Prophets were very Inquisitive after the Manner how and the Time when their Prophecies should be fulfill'd yet they had only this general Satisfaction that they should not be fulfill'd in their own time And I think we may infer from thence that the perfect understanding them was reserv'd to the times of the Messias And tho the event would sufficiently Interpret the meaning of several of them yet there were some that needed a greater Light than that to understand them and apply them aright To which we may add that the manner of Interpreting the Prophecies of the Old Testament which the Apostles used is a Rule to after Ages how they are to Interpret the Prophetical Writings and prove the Truth of the Gospel by them and therefore the same reasons which prove the Writings of the Apostles in general Divinely Inspir'd because they are a standing Rule of Christian Faith may be applied to that part of them which consists in explaining the Mystical Sense of the Old Testament Writings But concerning the Mystical Sense of the Prophets I shall have an opportunity to speak more fully in the next Chapter And so much may suffice for the proof of the third general Head viz. That the Assistance which the holy Spirit gave the Apostles was something more than refreshing their Memories and recalling to their minds what our Saviour had said unto them I proceed to shew IV. That the Apostles had an extraordinary Assistance when they were summon'd before Magistrates upon the account of their Religion and to vindicate their Behaviour at that time from the unbecoming and Irreverent Reflections of this Author One would think the words of our Saviour were plain enough in this point u Matt. 10.19 20. Mark 13.11 Take no thought before-hand what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye ought to say for 't is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost says S. Mark the Spirit of your Father saith S. Matthew speaks in you If this had been only a Spirit of Courage and Holiness arising from the Belief of the Gospel as Mr. N. pretends w Fr. p. 241. Eng. p. 44. 't would have requir'd a great deal of Care Consideration and Reflection to keep it warm upon their Hearts that it might not cool when danger approached And our Saviour's precluding the use of Humane means proves that it was something more than an ordinary Grace which always requires the Cooperation of our Natural Faculties and shews that 't was as much a new Impulse which the Apostles were to feel upon their minds on such occasions as any Prophetick Inspiration whatsoever But notwithstanding the plain import of the words rather than own an extraordinary Inspiration the natural force of the words must be dwindled away into nothing under the pretence of their being only a Hebrew way of speaking x Fr. p. 244 Eng. p. 49. like The Spirit of jealousie of slumber c. which are found in the Old Testament As if there was no difference in the nature of the Expression between the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of the Father and the spirit of jealousie or stupidity But this is the constant method of our New Interpreters of Scripture that don't care to believe any thing to be there but what Natural Powers can effect and Intellectual ones comprehend When they are pressed with plain words of Scripture they will not out of Good Manners in downright terms deny their Authority but think it more decent to evade it by explaining away all the force of them and alledging the Metaphorical and Pompous way of speaking which the Eastern Languages use which seems to imply a great deal more in it than the Writer really design'd Thus Spinoza tells us y Theol. Polit.
even terms with the Jews without taking the Yoke of the Law upon them he after all this could not be really perswaded in his judgment that he ought not to keep company with the Gentile Converts tho his former prejudices might put some weight into the opposite Scale and make him doubtful and wavering Which might make his fear of displeasing the Jewish Christians and giving them offence work more powerfully upon him and prevail with him to comply with them in this matter and St. Paul expresly assigns his fearing to offend them of the Circumcision q Gal. 2 12. as the cause of this his Behaviour But tho this be not a sufficient Reason why any man should dissemble the Truth yet we may observe from St. James's Advice to St. Paul r Act. 21.20 that the Apostles were very tender of giving any offence to the Jewish Converts who were very ſ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 21 20. numerous and whom they justly look'd upon as the most considerable part of the Church and as it were the Elder Brethren having a precedent Right to the Promises before the Gentiles t Act. 3.26 Rom. 15.27 This may be pleaded for an Excuse in behalf of St. Peter tho still we must confess as St. Paul tells us u Gal. 2.14 that he did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel in this matter And neither the Apostles themselves nor any in their behalf ever pretended that they were exempt from sin but on the contrary we find them freely own themselves to be men of like Passions with others x Act. 14 15. Jam. 5.17 and that they had this Treasure of the Gospel in earthen vessels y 2 Cor. 4.7 and were of the same make with other men And therefore since as our Author truly says z Fr. p. 260. Eng. p. 75. He alone is indowed with an absolute Infallibility who is incapable of sinning I do freely grant that we are no further assur'd that the Apostles were free from Errour than we find them free from Sin which naturally leads men into it I own likewise that this Instance of St. Peter is a good Argument against the perpetual Inspiration or Infallibility of the Apostles if we mean any more by it than a habitual Knowledge of Divine Truth for I cannot think S. Peter was under the immediate Conduct of the Holy Spirit when he was guilty of this Behaviour But I suppose the Apostles might have such an Assistance as was abundantly sufficient to answer all the Necessities of the Church without being always under the immediate Influence of the Holy Ghost which must make them Impeccable as as well as Infallible And even in this case we have reason to admire God's Providence and Care over his Church for so ordering it that St. Paul should be upon the place to interpose and put a stop to this ill Conduct that might else have been of dangerous Consequence and made a Breach in the Church that would not easily have been made up And humanely speaking 't is not likely that St. Peter who had such a Preeminence in the Church would have yielded to a less Authority than that of St. Paul's From whence too may further appear of what use 't was even for Inspir'd persons to consult with each other and act by common Advice which Point I have explained and proved at large above * P. 88. 5. The next Exception I shall take notice of is this Mr. N. tells us a Fr. p. 258 259. Eng. p. 72 73 74. that the Gift of Wisdom and Knowledge or the Gift of Prophecying which he makes all one with the two former was a Disposition of mind which God sometimes infused into those on whom he bestowed it whereby they became fit to instruct and that it did not consist in an immediate Inspiration of what they were to say His reasons for this are two 1. Because this Gift might be improved by Study and Reading as he proves from 1. Tim. 4.13 14. 2. Because the Apostle gave directions to the Prophets and order'd them to exercise their Gifts by turns to prevent that Confusion which the disorderly Use of their Gifts had brought into the Church b 1 Cor. 14. Now he thinks that if the Spirit had Inspir'd them with what to say he would likewise have given them directions as to the time and place Now methinks he that can confound the Gifts of Wisdom Knowledge and Prophecy which any Man that consults the place where St. Paul reckons up the several Gifts of the Spirit c 1 Cor. 8 9. will see are distinct and takes no notice of the Ambiguity of the word Prophecy which is taken in several Senses in Scripture I say he that confounds things that any one who has studied the places of Scripture which treat of the Gifts of the Spirit must needs know to be very different need not have been so nice as to distinguish between a Disposition of mind infus'd into those upon whom God bestowed it whereby they became fit to Instruct and an Inspiring them with what to say For certainly this Disposition infused into the mind if it mean any thing must mean God's giving Men a clear and distinct apprehension of what they were to teach others and I think this is much the same as Inspiring them with what to say since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and words are only the Expressions of our thoughts unless our Author supposes that when God Inspires a Man with what to say he only puts so many words into his mouth without conveying any Idea of the things themselves to his mind But let us proceed to examine his reasons As to the First I see no inconvenience in asserting that God very often increas'd or withheld his Extraordinary Gifts in proportion to the Industry of the Possessors For since the Extraordinary and Ordinary Gifts agree in this that they are both design'd to assist our Natural Faculties not to supersede them and to incourage our Industry not to slacken it I can't see why that Rule of our Saviour's To him that has shall be given and from him that has not i. e. does not improve and make a good use of what he has shall be taken way d Matth. 13.12 may not be applied to the Extraordinary Gifts as well as to the Ordinary and why Men might not hope God would bestow these Gifts upon them in a greater degree as a reward of their Industry and might not have reason to fear he should withdraw them if they took advantage from thence to be negligent And thus much seems to be implied in that advice of St. Paul e 1 Thess 5.19 Not to quench the Spirit viz. that God may be provok'd to take away these Gifts when he sees them abused or Men's sins may render them Unworthy to be the Instruments of the holy Spirit The story of the Ethiopian
Opinion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Conclusion of the Letter which he finds so much fault with is for all that a very elegant Expression He has printed the Close of this Synodical Epistle in great Letters as if it had something more than ordinary in it and were a manifest argument of his side but as Big as the words look whoever considers them will find there 's very little sense in his Application of them CHAP. III. Concerning the Inspiration of the PROPHETS I Do not see much in our Author that reflects upon the Authority or Inspiration of the Prophets But since I am engag'd in the Subject of Inspiration and those persons who have no great esteem for the Sacred Books fancy there are many things relating to the Prophets liable to Exception I think it will not be altogether impertinent or beside my main Design which is to Vindicate the Authority of the Holy Writings if I take a short View of those Considerations which tend to establish the Authority of the Prophets and to answer some of the most Popular Objections against them I shall therefore I. Consider the Personal Qualifications of the Prophets II. I shall consider the chief Design of their Prophecies III. I shall resolve some Difficulties which relate to the Prophets themselves or their manner of Writing I. As to the first 't would in a great measure take off mens Prejudices against the prophetical Writings if they would but consider what manner of men the Prophets were and what excellent Qualifications they were indowed with Men that are glad of any Argument that makes Religion look like a Cheat think they have a great Advantage against all sorts of Prophecy because there have been so many Cheats of this kind and they find that usually the persons that pretend to a prophetick Spirit are in all other respects of such shallow Intellectuals and such mean Qualifications that no wise man would take their Advice in any thing of ordinary concern and therefore 't is very unlikely God should make choice of such persons to be his Messengers and the Conveyers of his Will to men But if they would likewise consider how unlike the Prophets of the Old Testament were to these Pretenders both as to their Intellectuals and their Morals 't would go a great way to discover how vastly different they are from each other and the Truth and Excellency of the one would more evidently appear by comparing it with the evident marks of Imposture and Meanness which are found in the other As to the Intellectual Accomplishments of the true Prophets they had usually an Ingenuous and liberal Education as appears by the Institution of the Schools of the Prophets so often mention'd in the History of the Kings And we find 't was reckon'd a wonder that Saul should be among the Prophets a 1 Sam. 10 11 -19.24 because he had not been Educated suitably to that Profession So God's calling Amos to this Office from being a Herds-man was extraordinary and unusual as he himself intimates b Amos 8.14 And indeed the style of the Prophets plainly discovers them to have been Men of a good Education and therefore the Criticks have all observed what great difference there is between Amos's style and that of the other Prophets which they justly impute to their different Education Isaiah's style is Elegant c Isaiae dictio purissimaâ—ntor omnes qui post Mosen scripserunt ejus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pulcherrimae Grot. in Is 50 4. and Lofty Jeremy's shews him to have been a great Master of Rhetorick d Mirus in affectibus concitandis Jeremias Idem Ezekiel plainly discovers in his way of writing great skill in Architecture and Geography Daniel's Wisdom was so famous even when he was young that it became a Proverb among the Chaldeans to say Art thou wiser than Daniel e Ezek. 28.3 And not to descend to any more particulars we find that all their writings are full of Powerful Exhortations to Vertue of weighty and Pathetick Representations of the heinousness of those Vices which were then prevailing and the miseries which would attend them We find they set forth the absurdity of Pagan Idolatry f Is 40.18 c. 44.9 c with great strength and smartness of Argument and endeavour to give Men clear and distinct Notions of Gods Spirituality g Is 40.12 c. Unity h Jer. 10.11 12. Is 44.6 Omnipresence i Jer. 23.23 24. Is 66.1 Universal Providence of which the foretelling how Free Agents will determine themselves is a signal instance and Justice in rewarding Men according to their works k Jer. 18.7 c. Ezek. 18. They unfold the methods of Providence in disposing of Kingdoms l Jer. 25. and making use of wicked Princes and Nations to be the Instruments of God's Justice in punishing the sins of others m Is 10.6 c. Ezek. 29.18 19. Such discourses don't look like the idle dreams of a Melancholy and disturb'd fancy but do indeed answer the Character they pretend to And those Men who will not believe them to be of Divine Original ought in reason to allow them to be the Product of a settled Judgement and can't in Justice but grant that if the Prophets did not foresee what was to come by a Prophetical Spirit yet they made very probable Conjectures by a Natural Sagacity since the event has so plainly justifyed a great part of their Predictions And if they will not be perswaded that God inlightned the minds of the Prophets by an extraordinary Revelation yet they can't in Justice deny but that they discourse of the Nature of God and of his Providence and of the Obedience which he requires with as great a degree of clearness and certainty as Men's Natural Faculties can arrive to And therefore 't is not without reason that Origen does often in his Books against Celsus n P. 18 -177.-260.-359 Ed. Cant. insist upon this That Moses and the Prophets instructed Men in the nature of God and of their duty much better than the acutest Philosophers among the Heathens So malicious and groundless is that pretence of Spinoza where he tells us o Theol. Polit. c. 1. p.m. 21. that the Prophets did not agree in their Notions about the Nature of God because forsooth different Prophets saw different Signs of the Divine Presence As if they could not distinguish between a Symbol of God's Presence and the Divine Nature it self And he may as well say that Moses took the Cloudy Pillar to be God himself and by the same reason he must conclude that Moses thought the Cherubims and the Cloud upon the Mercy-seat which he himself order'd to be made to be God or at least to resemble his Essence and then I think he would have been guilty of greater Idolatry than Aaron was in making the Golden Calf 2. If we consider the Moral Indowments of the Prophets we shall find
Prophets often speak after a slighting manner of the Levitical Rites and Ceremonies p Is 1.11 c. 66.3 Jer. 7.22 23. Hos 6.6 Amos 5 21-24 Micah 6.6 7 8. and press men to the Practice of the Weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and the Love of God and require inward Purity of heart q Ezek. 18.31 instead of outward Ceremonial Worship Which is such a pitch of Perfection in obedience as Moses's Law seldom recommends for indeed that was chiefly design'd to be a Political Law instituted for the Government of the Jewish Common-wealth and therefore as all Political Laws are 't is more careful to restrain Men from the Overt-Acts of Sin than to make them sincerly and Inwardly Good In which respect St. Paul says r 1 Tim. 1.9 that the Law was not made for a Rule to the Righteous but for a Restraint to the Lawless and Disobedient And therefore the Prophets by refining upon the Law and exhorting Men to fulfil the Righteousness of the Law by walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit did contribute very much toward the preparing Men's minds for the times of the Messias Å¿ Prophetae omnes Egregii ad Evangelium Duces Grot. in Jer. 7.9 as they wean'd them from the overfondness they had to the Levitical Rites by shewing them a more excellent way to please God and as they gave them to understand that God did not design the Mosaical Covenant to be Perpetual but that that it should at last give way to a Better And these discourses which the Prophets made to the Jews together with the several Afflictions God brought upon them both in the Captivity and afterward on purpose to take off their minds from the Temporal Promises and make them look up to Spiritual and Heavenly Ones had so great an effect upon the generality of that People that in the latter times we find their Writers discourse of the Nature of Religion in a style much more agreeable to the Spirit of the Gospel than they used formerly as appears by the Book of Ecclesiasticus and speak of a Future State with much greater Clearness and Assurance as may be seen in the Dying Speeches of the Maccabees t 2 Macc. 7. and in several other parts of the Apocryphal Writings u Wisd 3. c. 5. Tob. 3.6 And all this contributed very much to raise in the minds of the Jews that Expectation of the Messias which we find the generality of them had at the time of our Saviour's Coming w John 1.20 21 -7.40 41. Luke 2 38.-3.15 I proceed to consider 2. The manner how the Prophets deliver'd this Prophecy and that was Twofold 1. There were some Prophecies which in the Proper Literal and Primary meaning related to Christ and can't in any Tolerable Sense be applied to any other 2. Others tho in their Literal and Direct sense they foretold some other Event which was nearer at hand yet had a further and Mystical sense contain'd in them which related to Christ and his Kingdom 1. Concerning the First sort I need not say much for they are but few in Comparison with those of the Second but are withal so plain that all the Art of the Adversaries of Christianity has not been able to avoid the force of them or wrest them to any other sense but what the Christians give of them Origen is very copious upon this Subject x v. Cels l. 1. p. 39 c. and proves at large that several Texts of Scripture never were fulfill'd in any person but our Saviour The Instances he gives are Gen. 49.10 Mich. 5.2 Isaiah c. 52. and 53. Psalm 45. To which we may add Dan. 9.24 c. Psalm 110. Psalm 22.16 18. 69.21 The greatest difficulties concern the Second sort of Prophecies which have a double sense Literal and Mystical for the explaining of which I shall lay down these following Observations 1. That most of the Prophecies concerning Christ have a double sense Literal and Mystical 2. That those Prophecies concerning Christ which do Directly point at something which happen'd before the time of our Saviour yet have some evident Marks in them which shew that they have some Further meaning than that which was first intended 3. That there are several very good Reasons upon which this Opinion of a Double sense in the Prophets Literal and Mystical is grounded 1. The First Observation I lay down is That most of the Prophecies concerning Christ have a Double sense Literal and Mystical Now to avoid all Cavilling about words I shall first premise that by the Literal sense I mean that which the Prophet more immediately intended and which pointed at some Event that was nearer the Prophets own time than the Mystical Completion was and by the Mystical sense I understand that which had a respect to the times of the Gospel tho sometimes this Latter sense is more properly express'd by the words and more agreeable to their Natural Import than the former as we shall see presently Having premised this I proceed to shew that there is a Literal as well a Mystical sense in most of the Prophecies relating to Christ Without allowing this we shall make great Confusion and Disorder in the Prophetical Writings if we suppose them to break off Abruptly from the matter in hand and without any visible Transition go to a quite different Subject And this is to speak more particularly very unreasonable to suppose in the Prophet Isaiah who as he is most eminent for the clearness of his Prophecies concerning the Messias so he is as remarkable for the Regular Order and Contexture of his Prophecies and their Coherence one with another And the Historical Relations which he intersperses in his Writings y Chap. 7. c. 36-37 -39 serve as a Key to open the Primary and Literal Intention of his whole Prophecy But the Beauty of it taken all together will be quite spoil'd except we suppose him in most Cases to have some regard to the Subject he is upon and rather to take Hints from thence to discourse concerning the state of the Gospel than to fly out into a Forreign Subject without any Respect to Order or Coherence The wonderful Restauration of the Jewish Nation and Deliverance out of their Captivity gave a very fit occasion to the Prophet to foretell at the same time that Great Salvation which Christ the Redeemer of Israel should Accomplish and was a proper Representation of our Saviour's giving Light to the Gentiles who sat in darkness and z Isaiah 61.1 proclaiming liberty to the Captives of Sin and Satan And accordingly the Prophet pursues this with a pompous Eloquence from the 40th Chapter almost to the end of his Prophecy But yet there 's no reason to think that he was so intent upon this Latter Subject as quite to forget the Former for he was not only an Evangelical Prophet but likewise knew how to speak a word in season to him