of all this I will otherwise convince you that your Patriarch was a Seducer and a Liar He says the Books of the New Testament have been corrupted by Additions made to 'em certain Half-Jews have added Citations out of the Old Testament and false Tales concerning the Parentage Nativity Circumcision Temptation Baptism Death of Christ all which are impossible flams because he that was God and not Man at all could neither do nor suffer any of these things Therefore I ask did Manichaeus alledg or can you produce any Copies of the New Testament wherein all these things are not found When some Copies of a Book have something that others have not there is either Mistake or Fraud in one or other of them and we are wont in that Case to consult more Copies especially those that are Antient and those that are preserved in Libraries or in Archives that have been long and religiously kept From the greatest number of Copies and those that are most Antient and that have been kept in places where they could not easily or likely be violated by Additions or Substractions we judg reasonably and safely concerning the Copies that are suspected or questioned I pray therefore show us or refer us to Copies where these pretended Additions are not read in what Libraries in what Archives of Churches or Sects are such Copies to be found But as you never pretended to any such Copies so 't is impossible there should be any such For the New Testament being in the hands of all Christians and read in all Churches these pretended Additions could never be made and least of all in the publick Books of the Churches without being observed known and opposed in their very first appearance Are there so many thousand Churches and distant from one another so many thousand Miles under the Inspection of so many distinct Bishops and Presbyters nay and of several Princes and could all these Books think you be corrupted without their observing it Or what is as impossible or rather more impossible by common Agreement For are so many wont to agree to false Additions to their Books of Religion These are some of the Arguments of that discerning Father against Faustus and his Patriarchs Manichaeus and Adimantus I am of opinion we have here given to Amyntor as 't is said in the Proverb A Rowland for his Oliver Faustus is not so considerable but that St. Austin appears much more considerable In Faustus one may see an unreasonable Infidelity a precipitate and ungrounded Scepticism in St. Austin Caution and Faith led on by Judgment a Judgment enlightned by Learning and Experience I omit what he saith of the God of the Old Testament of the Patriarchs and Prophets as forein to my present Undertaking and Subject I only observe farther that What he hath so well argued against Montanus and Manichaeus is no less effectual against the third Paraclet Mahomet who arose after St. Austin If Montanus in the year after Christ 170 or Manichaeus in 275 could not be the promised Paraclet because the Evangelist on whose Authority their Claims are founded sets a time when Jesus shall be glorified that disagrees so widely from the time of their appearance and agrees so exactly with the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles I say if for this so clear Reason neither Montanus in 170 nor Manichaeus in 255 could be that Paraclet that was to lead into all Truth much lest could Mahomet be he in the year after our Lord 612 seeing neither did Mahomet pretend to any other ground for his Novelties but those words in St. John's Gospel concerning a future Paraclet See Father Simon 's Belief and Customs of the Eastern Nations Chap. 15. When the same Impostor as his Predecessor Manichaeus accuses the Bible of Christians as having many corrupt Additions and other Falsifications he is unanswerably refuted by the same Considerations that were objected before to Manichaeus SIR I have now answered as fully as I think is needful to a Book which you tell me is so much magnified by the Anti-Christian Party about Town They say this Book has so discovered and laid bare the unsound Foundations of Christianity that 't is now to be blown down by the very weakest Breath and that if an Answer any what valuable be made to it the Author will take occasion thereat by new and more and greater Authorities to level all revealed Imposture with the very Ground He can level nothing by such an attempt but his own Reputation nor do I think he approves these impious Boasts of that Party of men It may be questioned whether he had any formed Design to attack Christianity by this Book it seems rather that when his Passions were up against Mr. Blackhal he inadvertedly dropt these Exceptions and Doubts of which some make so bad use or rather strain such malignant Consequences from them To cut out work for Mr. Blackhal with whom he was so much displeased he discharged upon him whatsoever occurred to his Memory from first Antiquity with intent to engage him in laborious difficult and unwelcome Searches However it be it appears he is a Person of great Abilitys and Address in matters of this kind and it were to be wish'd men of very distinguishing Parts and Sufficiency were not made Enemies to the Church or to the Public either by being abused or because they are neglected You shall not awe such Persons by your Menaces or your Severities when even such mean Rogues as House-breakers and Highway-men are not scared by the Gibbet and Gallows The only effect to be expected from neglect of or harshness toward such is that they go at length into the interests of some disaffected Party or erect a new one after which whatsoever becomes of them the Public and the Church are sure to be infinitly more losers than it would have cost to gain and to assure them to the Public But manum de tabulâ for who made me a Counsellor to the Church or the Public You will please Sir to believe that I am with great Tenderness and Respect Your assured Friend STEPHEN NYE Sept. 29. 1699. There is room in this Leaf for two Stanza's by Sir William Davenant Which are pertinent to the Subject that we have been treating 1. In the dark Walk to our last Home design'd 'T is safe by well-instructed Guides to go Lest we in Death too late the Science find Of what in Life 't was possible to know 2. And if they say while daily some renew Disputes your Oracles are doubtful still Like those of Old yet more regard is due To Pains where so uneasy is the skill THE END AN ABSTRACT Of the foregoing DISPUTATION THE Controversy hath been partly concerning the Books of the Canon and partly concerning those of the Catalogue Of the Books of the Canon Amyntor says 1. ALL the Authors of the Canon were wholly strangers to one anothers Writings I have proved on the contrary that Mark
and third Epistle but the two last are also questioned by some He thinks those Churches are to be commended that receive the Epistle to the Hebrews for our Ancestors reckon it to St. Paul and had doubtless good reasons why they did so Origen Expos in Joan. l. 5. in Matth. l. 1. Euseb H. E. l. 6. c. 25. We see then in reckoning up the genuin Works of the Apostles and Books that they thought to be Divine Scripture Origen does not vouchsafe so much as to mention any of the Books of the Catalogue he knows nothing of other Gospels Acts Revelations or Epistles besides those of our present Canon Not that indeed he did not well know them and also esteem some of them for he frequently quotes them both in Preaching and Arguing but when he professes to declare the true Ecclesiastical Canon and genuin Works of the Evangelists and Apostles he forgets all the Books of the Catalogue Amyntor is very earnest for the Doctrine and the Revelation of St. Peter on the Account that they were approved he saith by the Antients in particular by Origen he saith they may be preferred on that account before Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews and other Books of our present Canon which were doubted of by the Antients We have just now heard Origen say the direct contrary we have seen he and those other Fathers make some doubt of the Epistle to the Hebrews the 2d of Peter the 2d and 3d of John but they speak very favorably and very respectfully of them and so as plainly to intimate that they incline to them but the Revelation and Doctrine of Peter and other Books of the Catalogue they never once name 'em in recounting the Books of the Canon or of the Evangelists and Apostles The testimony of Origen in the case is so much the more considerable because he was undoubtedly the most learned of all the Antients the first Divine the Church ever had some doubt not to add and the last Our Antagonist has not yet done with us he says The Council of Laodicea about 360 Years after Christ is the first Assembly wherein the present Canon of Scripture was establish'd In so great a variety of Books those of the Catalogue and those of the Canon how could that Council determine which were the true Writings of the Apostles and which not but by Revelation or the written Testimony of their Predecessors Revelation in the Case there was none and for Testimony I have the same Testimony for many Books of the Catalogue Elsewhere p. 48. he adds Divers Books of the Catalogue were verily supposed by the Antients to be written by the Evangelists Apostles and their Synergists whose name they bear why then do we not receive 'em into the Canon since the Authors of 'em were at least Companions and Fellow-laborers of the Apostles as well as St. Mark and St. Luke Why are they excluded from the Canon and those Evangelists not excluded If this quality to have been a Companion and Synergist of the Apostles was sufficient to entitle Mark and Luke to Inspiration why should it not do as much for Barnabas and Clemens Romanus And if this be not all the reason pray let us know the true one for I never heard of any other He is entred I confess on the merits of the Cause He saith the Council of Laodicea that establish'd our present Canon could no other ways distinguish the genuin Writings of the Apostles from those falsly imputed to 'em but by the Testimony of their Predecessors he hath the same Testimony for the Books of the Catalogue He knows no other reason why Mark and Luke are believed to write by Inspiration but that they were Synergists and Companions of the Apostles I answer That he hath the same Testimony for some Books of the Catalogue as we for the Books of the Canon he attempted to prove from Irenaeus Clemens of Alexandria and Origen his only Witnesses But Irenaeus I have shown barely names some of those Books and for others he cites them only as good Witnesses of the true Ecclesiastical Tradition not as Divine Scripture Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen may sometimes call them Scripture in the sense that they so call the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament which they with the Protestants deny to be parts of that Testament and in reciting the Books of the Canon and Works of the Apostles they wholly omit and sometimes expresly censure these Books of the Catalogue The Council of Laodicea nor any other ever pretended to establish the Canon of Scripture which is precedaneous to all Councils and receives no Authority from them but they from it Amyntor should have said the Council of Laodicea is the first Assembly that on occasion of some spurious and many doubtful Books declared which were the Books that had been certainly left to the Church by the Apostles and other Miraculous first Preachers 'T is no more true that Mark and Luke are supposed to write by Inspiration only because they were Companions and Synergists of the Apostles and that the Council of Laodicea declared the Scripture-Canon from only the Testimony of their Ancestors or Predecessors that is of the preceding Fathers such as Irenaeus Clemens of Alexandria and Origen Eusebius a long time before the Council of Laodicea informed every body of the sound Reasons why the Catholic Church receives some Books as Divine Scripture and others not his words are these Many Books have been published by Heretics under the names of the Apostles as the Gospels of Peter Thomas Matthias and others the Acts of Andrew John and divers more But first they are not cited he means not as Divine Scripture for that they are indeed quoted by Clemens of Alexandria and Origen the learnedst of the Antenicens he tells us before and after by the Doctors of the Church Secondly their way of writing is wholly different from the Spirit Genius and Manner of the Apostles Lastly the Doctrine Opinions and other Matters advanced in those Books are so contrary to Truth and to Orthodoxy that we must not barely call them Spurious but Absurd and Impious Euseb H. E. l. 3. c. 25. I must a little enlarge on this important Testimony which overthrows all Amyntor's and M. Dodwel's Pretences either for the Books of the Catalogue or against those of the Canon These Books saith Eusebius are never cited as Divine Scripture by the Doctors of the Church directly contrary to Amyntor's I have the same Testimony of the Antients the very best and soundest of them for these Books that is alledged or can be by others for the Canon These Writings says Eusebius again have nothing of the Apostolical Way and Spirit They want that honest Plainness in their Style that Integrity of manners that Elevation of Piety that Salt of Virtue that exemption from Partialities and Passions which so effectually recommend and even point out to us the Inspired Writings Above all they are stuffed with abundance of
now proved by divers Examples for he refers to the several Examples he had just before given of Doctrines and Facts which as he supposed and supposed he had proved it were added to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke only he speaks of himself as Authors are commonly wont in the Plural number saying à Nobis for à me But from all this Amyntor infers and immediately subjoins since therefore the Manichaeans rejected the whole New Testament c. You are a great deal too hasty Son your Friends the Manichees received the whole Genuine Canon of the New Testament they rejected only the corrupt part of the Testament of the Son even the Gospels and other pieces of your Catalogue and some Passages which they pretended had been unduly inserted into the Epistles and Gospels of the Canon nor will you ever make more of your Citations from Faustus by whatsoever stretching and straining them By this it appears how much our Author is pleas'd with Hyperbolies he says A very considerable Sect of Christians themselves I mean the Manichees shewed other Scriptures and denied the Genuinness of the whole New Testament He should have said a small Party less Christians by much than the Mahometans denied the genuinness of those parts of the Gospels and Epistles where the Books of the Old Testament are cited as also where mention is made of the Genealogy Birth Temptation Baptism or Death of Christ because they supposed Christ was God only and Man not at all and that it was unworthy of God to be born tempted baptized or put to death The Objection however hath still some force 't is thus far true that some there were who said the Books of the Canon are not now altogether sincere they are corrupted by divers Additions Yes the Manichees said so and if our Author had pleased he could have told us by what Arguments they were convinced of their Impertinence and Folly it would very well have become him to have taken that little farther pains Of the pretended Interpolations and Additions in the Books of the Canon THE Manichees said The 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Truth promised to the Faithful by Christ even the blessed Manichaeus was sent by God to inform his Elect and all other his People concerning his farther Will and good-pleasure as also to instruct them what of the New Testament is genuine and to be received by all and what to be rejected as either mistaken by the Apostles yet unperfect or since added by others to the Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists Being asked What these Mistakes and Additions were They answered whatsoever is said of the Genealogy Birth Baptism Temptation and real Death of Christ all quotations out of and all honourable mention any where made concerning the Patriarchs Prophets and Writers of the Old Testament When demanded farther on what grounds they presumed to reject either the Old Testament or such large portions of the New They replyed Moses has blasphemed Christ in those words of his He that is hanged is accursed of God Deut. 21.23 The God of the Old Testament said the Manichees appears to have been a wicked and impotent Spirit chiefly by his commanding the slaughter of innocent Beasts for 〈◊〉 of guilty Men and by dealing so harshly with his Slaves the Jews Therefore his Prophets also are to be rejected as for the same reason we would and do reject the Priests and Prophets of the other evil Gods of the Nations It is not to be thought so they went on that Jesus Christ commended or his Apostles cited the writings of the Prophets and Servants of such an impure God no all such Citations and Commendations have been undoubtedly added by certain People that were half Jews and half Christians to the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament So also was whatsoever is found in those Books concerning the Genealogy Birth Circumcision Temptation Baptism or Death of Christ Who being God underwent all these things only in appearance and by that Phantom which the Vulgar took to be real Christ that represented him even as Angels seem to have Bodies to be clothed to eat and drink when in truth they neither drink nor eat nor are clothed nor have real Bodies This was the Manichaean Doctrine with respect to the Christian Religion and Books of the New Testament to which they added the eight Articles before mentioned taught 'em by Manichaeus and his Second Adimantus and maintained by Faustus Says St. Austin One may easily make short work with this wild People For whereas all depends on the Authority of Manichaeus I desire to know how they prove he was that Paraclet that Spirit of Truth that was to lead us into all truth promised by our Saviour They answer indeed out of St. John's Gospel I will send the Comforter or Paraclet the Spirit of Truth who shall lead you into all Truth but they say withal the Gospels and other Books of the New Testament are so corrupted that there is no absolute trusting to ' em We demand a Witness on behalf of their Paraclet they alledg one out of our own New Testament which they say is a false and corrupted Witness Any Book or other Witness convict of Falshood and Corruption in bearing its Testimony especially of many Corruptions and Falsities is uncapable of standing again as a Witness merely on its own Credit in whatsoever Case Briefly by accusing the New Testament as a Book in so many places corrupted they deprive themselves of whatsoever benefit that might arise to them from its Testimony But to forgive to Fools an oversight that destroys their whole Cause St. John shall be a sincere Evangelist in speaking of the Spirit or Paraclet tho the other Books and Writers and he himself in other matters hath been mistaken or is corrupted by others But as this is the Evangelist who has foretold the sending of the Paraclet◠so he hath also foretold the time when he should come for he saith John 7.39 The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The reason it seems that the Spirit was not then given was because Jesus not being yet glorified that is not departed from his Disciples into Heaven 't was not necessary he should be yet given but when Jesus was dead raised and ascended into Heaven then was the time to send forthwith the Paraclet Accordingly we find in the Acts of the Apostles in the second Chapter of those Acts fifty days after our Savior's Resurrection and but ten days after his Ascension into Glory the Spirit the promised Paraclet descended on the Apostles What room now is here for Montanus or for Manichaeus The Spirit of Truth was to come so soon as Christ was gone from his Apostles and entred into the Glory designed for him but Montanus came not till 170 years after Christ was glorified and Manichaeus as if our Savior had utterly forgot his promise not till the year 275. The Father goes on I will take no Advantage