Tropes and Figures

That the Scripture, or Book called the Bible, is of Divine Original, Inspired by the Spirit of God, and therefore of infallible Truth and Authority, Appears,

I. By the Contents, or Matters therein discovered and treated of, which are so transcendently sublime and mysterious that they could never be the product of Human Invention, or Discovery; and therefore though written by Men, as Instruments, must needs be revealed from above: for what Human Brain could ever have imagined a Trinity in the Deity, or such an Existence of one simple Essence as this Book acquaints us withal? It describes the Person of Christ, so plainly, fitly and excellently, that if the Mind of Man consider it attentively, of necessity it must needs acknowledge, it doth far exceed the reach of a finite Understanding. It discovers unto us the Misery and Corruption of Man by Nature, together with that general defect of the whole Creation (which though some of the Heathen had some glimpse of) yet could never find out the Cause, nor how it came to pass; No finite Intellect could ever have travel'd into such Heights and Depths, touching the Nature of God and his Eternal Counsels that stupendous Contrivement for the Salvation of Man, that the second Person should descend from Heaven, and assume Human Nature into a Conjunction with the Divine, take upon him in his own Person the Sin of Mankind, and die for the World, thereby making a satisfaction proportionate to infinite Justice, so that God may show the utmost Act of Mercy, in a Conjunction with the highest Exercise of Justice: Nothing less than an Infinite Understanding could have found out Expedients to reconcile those two infinite Attributes, in his dealings with an Apostate Creature. It unfolds the Covenant of Grace, which God made after the Fall, all which can be drawn from no other Fountain but Divine Revelation; it contains the Law of God, which is wise and just, the Gentiles themselves being Judges. In its Precepts shines forth its Divinity; 1. The surpassing Excellency of the Act, requiring that we should deny ourselves in all those things which the corrupt Nature of Man cleaveth to, and hateth to forego. 2. The wonderful Equity that doth appear in every Command. 3. The admirable strangeness of some Acts, which a natural Man would account Foolishness, and yet prescribed as absolutely necessary; shows its Divine Original. 4. The manner how Obedience is required, viz. that it proceed from a pure Heart, a good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned : Take a view of the Ten Commandments, are they not plain, brief, perfect, just, extending to all, binding the Conscience, and reaching to the very Thoughts? And do not all these things commend unto us the Justice, Wisdom, Holiness, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Perfection, and absolute Sovereignty of the Law-Maker?

'It is a Book that comprehends an Universal History of the World, past, present, and to come; Its Contents reach as far as the first Foundations of the Earth and Heavens, give us an Account of God's Revelations to Man ever since his first make, and the particulars of an Entercourse between God and the World, for near upon two thousand and five hundred Years, before they were anywhere extant upon Record; What other Book, since the World began, so much as pretended to do this? A Book! which as it was sixteen hundred Years a writing (for so long it was from the Time of Moses, till John closed it with the Revelations ); so the Matters it treats of, are of the most excellent Nature, and highest Concernment.

To give the World a satisfactory Account not only of its Original, but of its End too; To bring Man acquainted with his true Sovereign Happiness, and a most wonderful and astonishing method of Reconciliation with his Maker; Its Promises are everlasting Glory, and never-fading Crowns: Its Precepts, perfect Righteousness, and altogether such as tend most to the Honor of God, the Happiness of a Man's Self, and the Quiet of the World: Its Threatenings are of Miseries that are endless: Its whole Tendency is to a Prospect beyond the Grave: what Heathen ever so much as dreamed of the Resurrection? Who but the Lord could be Author of such Laws, that only can give eternal Life, and inflict eternal Death? These things can move the Conscience of none, but such who acknowledge the Precepts thereof to be divine. In a Word, its General Subjects are Mysteries nowhere else to be heard of, and without such a Manifestation, inconceivable. Now considering the Premises, what less than Infinite Wisdom, can be the supposed Author of such a Book?

II. By its Antiquity. The Books of Moses, (wherein in Promises, Prophecies, Types, and Shadows, the Sum and Substance of all the rest of the Bible is comprised) were the first Writings in the World, (next to those by the Finger of God on Mount Sinai. ) This is fully proved by Justin Martyr, an ancient Writer, that lived within one hundred and thirty Years after Christ, in his Paroenetick to the Greeks; who comparing the Times of all Human Writers, Poets, Philosophers, Historians, and Law-givers, esteemed most ancient, demonstrates them all to be but Punies to Moses. Eusebius also, who followed Justin Martyr at about two hundred Years distance, in the 2d and 3d Books of his Evangelical Preparation, prosecutes the same Argument at large, and from abundance of Testimonies and Confessions, out of the best and most authentic Heathen Authors themselves, undeniably evinces, That Moses was the most ancient of all the Writers that were known or named amongst them. And Tertullian so confidently upbraids the Gentiles in this matter, that we think it not amiss to recite his Words, in the 19th Chapter of his Apology. — Our Religion (saith he, speaking to the Heathens,) far out-does all that you can boast of in that kind: For the Books of one of our Prophets only, viz. Moses, (wherein it seems God hath enclosed, as in a Treasury, all the Christian Religion preceding so many Ages together) reach beyond the ancientest you have, even all your Public Monuments, the Antiquity of your Originals, the Establishment of your Estates, the Foundations of your Cities, all that are most advanced by you in all Ages of History, and Memory of Times; the Invention even of the Characters, which are Interpreters of Sciences, and the Guardians of all Things excellent: I think I may say more, they are elder than your very God's, your Temples, Oracles, and Sacrifices. Have you not heard mention made of that great Prophet, Moses? He was contemporary with Inachus, and preceded Danaus, (the ancientest of all that have a Name in your Histories) 393 Years: He lived some Hundreds of Years before the Ruin of Troy. [And Homer, the eldest Writer amongst the Grecians, lived, as Pliny saith, 250 Years after the Subversion of that City.] Every of the other Prophets succeeded Moses, and yet the last of them was of the same Age as your prime Wise-Men, Law-givers, and Historians were.

So that 'tis a Thing out of dispute, that for Antiquity, neither the Writings of Orpheus, or Homer, or Trismegistus, or Pythagoras, or Berosus, nor any other, can compare with the Pentateuch. These Gray-Hairs show them to be the Off-spring of the Ancient of Days; for Truth is always the First-born.

And if we consider, how low, mean, and imperfect all human Inventions were in those Times; and what foolish, irrational, and absurd Conceptions, both the Egyptians and Grecians, (Nations most celebrated for Wisdom) had of Things Divine, and the Duty and Happiness of Man; we cannot but conclude, That so clear an Account of the World's Beginning, Depravation, Destruction by the Flood, and Re-peopling; such a most excellent Law and Doctrine, in reference both to God and Man, &c. could not be of Human Extract, but must needs be in truth, what it pretends itself to be, a Divine Revelation. Besides, who can believe the first Religion should be the worst, or the most timely Notions of God the falsest? Were this so, and the Bible not a Divine Book, but composed by Impostors, then it follows, That the most primitive Account we have of Religion is counterfeit; that the Devil set up his Chapel, before God built his Church; that in the earliest Notices we have of God, of the World's Original, Man's Fall, and the Way of his Recovery, the World is deceived and abused; and that God suffered the Devil, in the first place, (and without any Thing publicly extant from him, either before or since, to contradict it) in his Name, and under pretence of his Authority, to delude and mislead Mankind, with a false Account of all those Things which they are most concerned to know, and upon the right Knowledge of which their present and future Happiness depends: All which, as it is unworthy of God, so it is no less repugnant to the Dictates of Reason. But on the contrary, 'tis most rational to believe, that God's Revelations were as early as Man's Necessities; and that the Bible being the most ancient, as well as the wisest Book in the World, is also the truest, and proceeded from the God of Truth.

III. This Royal Descent, or Divinity of the Scriptures, further appears, by that Majesty and Authoritativeness of the Spirit of God speaking in them, and that extraordinary and inimitable Style wherein they are written. As 'tis said of our blessed Lord, Mat. 7.28. That he taught as one having Authority, and not as the Scribes: So the Scriptures teach with an awful Authority. The Style of the Sacred Scripture is singular, and has peculiar Properties, not elsewhere to be found; its Simplicity is joined with Majesty, commanding the Veneration of all serious Men. Augustine says, That the Holy Scriptures seemed rude and unpolish'd to him, in comparison of Cicero 's adorned Style, because he did not then understand its ( interiora, or) inward Beauty: But when he was converted to Christianity, declared, That when he understood them, no Writing appeared more wise and eloquent. Greg. Nazianzen, a Man of prodigious Wit, Learning, and Eloquence, when he came to study the sacred Scriptures, vilifies all Ornaments of Literature amongst the Greek Philosophers, as infinitely below those Divine Oracles. Illyricus says, That altho we find not in the Holy Scripture that idle or delicate Itch of Words, that external Sweetness or Allurement, that Numerosity of Sounds, or those pleasing Triffes, which vain-glorious Orators of Greece and Rome beautified their so much famed Harangues with; yet we find there a grave and masculine Eloquence, exceeding all others. And shall we indeed think, that the great God would use Inductions, as Plato; Syllogisms, as Aristotle; Elenchs, as the Carmeades; Epiphonema's, as Cicero; Subtilties, as Seneca; or Words far fetched, joined together with an artificial Syntax, with respect to Weight, Number, and Sound? If a Royal Edict were published in that kind of Speech, consisting of School-Follies, every wise Man would laugh at it. The more plain therefore the Word and Law of the great God is, 'tis (we say) the more becoming the Author thereof, and an Evidence of his Divine Stamp and Authority. Yet in that Humility of Style in Scripture, there is far more Height and Loftiness, and more Profoundness in its Simplicity, more Beauty in its Nakedness, and more Vigor and Acuteness in its (seeming) Rudeness, than in those other Things Men so much praise and admire, &c. Easiness and Plainness doth best become the Truth. A Pearl needs no painting; it becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator. In the holy Scripture is a peculiar and admirable Eloquence. What are all the elaborate Blandishments of Human Writers, to that grave, lively, and venerable Majesty of the Prophet Isaiah 's Style, as the Exordium of his Prophecy shows, also in chap. 25, 26, &c. That which Critics admire in Homer, Pindar, &c. singly, are universally found here, though not that Elegancy that tickles the Ear and Fancy, and relishes with the Flesh, but the noble and immortal Part, viz. an illuminated Soul. Commandments are here given forth, and Subjection peremptorily required, with great Severity, and with no stronger Arguments than the Will of the Law-maker. Promises above likelihood are made; to allure of performance, no Reason is alleged, but I the Lord have spoken : And to encourage against Difficulties, &c. divine Assistance is promised, both as necessary and sufficient, in the manner of its Threats. Also the Divinity of the Style may be observed, that without respect of Persons, all degrees of Men are concerned, High and Low, Rich and Poor, Noble and Ignoble, Kings and Peasants, commanding what is distasteful to their Natures, and forbidding what they approve; promising not terrene Honor, but Life everlasting; threatening not with Rack and Gibbet, but eternal Pain, and Torment in Hell-Fire.

Of all Writings in the World, the Sacred Scriptures assume most unto themselves; they tell us, that they are the Words of Eternal Life; that they are by the Inspiration of the Holy-Ghost, the Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness; that they shall judge the World; that they are able to make wise unto Salvation; that they are the Immortal Seed, of which the Sons and Daughters of God must be begotten. Their Tenor is, Thus saith the Lord; and no Conclusion, but, The Lord hath spoken; Hear the Word of the Lord; He that hath Ears to hear, let him hear, &c. The Nature, Quality, or Composure of the Style or Phrase (we say) is emphatically and signally different from that of all Human Writings whatsoever. Here are no Apologies, begging Pardon of the Reader, or insinuating into his good Opinion by Devices of Rhetoric, but a stately Plainness, and mysterious Simplicity. We also speak (saith the Apostle) not in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy-Ghost, comparing, (or rather suiting or fitting, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ,) spirituals with spirituals, (for so only the Original runs, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ,) that is, Matter or Things, which for their Nature and Substance are spiritual, with Words or Phrases which are spiritual also, and so suitable to them. Hence, well saith one of the Ancients, The Scripture so speaketh, that with the Height of it, it laughs proud and lofty-spirited Men to scorn; with the Depth of it, it terrifies those who with Attention look into it; with the Truth of it, it feeds Men of the greatest Knowledge and Understanding; and with the Sweetness of it, it nourisheth Babes and Sucklings.

IV. That excellent Spirit of Holiness, which everywhere breaths in and from the Scriptures, is another fair Lineament of the Hand of God in the framing them. To this Holiness they most powerfully persuade Men, by express Commands: Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. As he who hath called you is holy; so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation. And by Threatenings, Without Holiness no Man shall see God. Heb. 12.14. And by a Multitude of Examples of holy Men, as Abraham, David, and all the Prophets and Apostles, and especially of that immaculate Lamb of God, the blessed JESUS. As on the other side, it sets before us the dreadful Vengeance that attends all Profaneness, Unrighteousness, Uncleanness, Pride, and worldly Lusts; requires not only an Abstinence from the gross outward Acts of Sin, but searches the Heart, and condemns the very Thoughts and Inclinations: He that hateth his Brother, is a Murderer. He that lusteth after a Woman, hath committed Adultery. The Doctrine taught every-where in this Book, is directly opposite to the whole Corporation of debauched and wicked Men; destructive to all Impiety, and corrupt Doctrines and Practices whatsoever, and perfectly ruinous and destructive to the Interests of the Devil in the World: A Doctrine, that has visibly the highest Tendency to those two great Ends of all Religion, the Honor of God, and Man's present and future Happiness. What pitiful, crooked, and imperfect Lines have the wisest and best of mere Men, as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Tully, Seneca, Plutarch, or any others, drawn, in their fairest Documents, both Moral and Divine, compared with this complete and transcendent Rule of holy Living! What undefiled Religion, what pure and spiritual Worship is here! How suitable to the holy Nature of God! What superlative Piety and Virtue, without any spot of Vice! What punctual and perpetual Truth and Honesty is here required! yet without the least Taint of base Means, or unworthy sordid Ends! No Vain-Glory! no Esteem of Men! no corrupt Advantages! But on the contrary, what Charity is here required! What repeated Commands not to offend weak Ones! What mutual Forgivenesses! What Provocations to Love! With what Patience and Meekness, Justice and Modesty, are we taught to behave ourselves! In a word, 'It is such a Doctrine as makes a Man perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good Work; which brings Men to the best Way of Living, the noblest Way of Suffering, and the comfortablest Way of Dying. — Now must not such pure Streams needs flow from the Fountain of all Perfection? Does such a serious and effectual Advancement of Holiness in the World, look like an Intrigue of polluted Man, or any unclean Spirit? How can we better judge of a Law, that declares it proceeds from God, and is of Divine Obligation, than by its Nature, Tendency and Influence on human Life? Whether it be suitable to those Pretensions, and such an adorable and unspotted Original? And when we find so holy and excellent a Design, as appears throughout this whole Book, for the Honor of God, and completing the Happiness of Men, by Methods so agreeable, and yet above the reach of Human Invention; what can we judge, (unless we will be obstinately perverse) but that such a Book's Testimony of itself is true, and that it is indeed of God, and not of Men?

V. The sweet and admirable Agreement, Consent, Dependence, and Harmony, that we find in all and every part of Scripture, though there are so many Books thereof, written by so many different Persons, of various Conditions, many Ages removed, in several Places, and in different Languages, yet all agreeing with each other, and every part with the whole, which could not be foreseen or contrived by any human Wisdom or Cunning, in the writing of any one Part: For all the Histories, Prophecies, Promises, Types, and Doctrines, in an orderly Connection, tend to promote the same Thing; and every Age proves a fresh Interpreter, and reveals to us more and more of this admirable Concord, which could not be the Effect of human Artifice, nor of any other Cause, but an infinite Comprehension and Fore-sight, and that the several Writers of this Book were in all Times guided in what they wrote by the Supreme Wisdom of that one God, who is always constant to himself, and the same yesterday, today, and forever.

VI. This further appears from the Credit and Sincerity of those that were the Pen-men. If the Scriptures were not what they pretend to be, viz. the Word of God, and dictated to the Writers thereof by his holy Spirit, it would be the greatest Affront to the Divine Majesty, and the grossest Cheat towards Mankind, that ever was put upon the World. But if we consider the Pen-men thereof, we shall find them all of undoubted Credit, generally esteemed holy and good Men in the Ages they lived in, so no way to be suspected of Imposture. Some of them were Kings, and of the deepest Learning, not likely to be guilty of such a mean-spirited Baseness, as Lying and Forgery. Many of the Prophets, and most of the Apostles were Men illiterate, of Parts and Education so mean, that of themselves they seem no way capable to write so profoundly, or lay so deep a Contrivance for deluding the World. And as 'tis incredible, that so many Men, of such distant Times, Qualities, and Abilities, should all agree in the same Imposture, and so harmonize in promoting it; so neither could any Interest or Ambition prompt them thereunto: For as the main Tendency of this Book is, to mortify Men's Ambitions and Lusts; so most of them exposed themselves, by publishing these Writings, to great Hazards and Persecutions. Nor have several of them been shy to record the great Failings and Imperfections of themselves, or their Brethren. Thus Moses relates his own Infidelity, and Averseness to submit to the extraordinary Call of God. In another place , he records the Shame of his Distrustfulness, or at least the Carnality of his Conceit or Apprehension of the Power of God. Again, he inserts God's heavy Sentence, and the Ground thereof, against him. The same Moses did not set up any of his own Posterity to succeed him in the Guidance of Israel, but left Joshua to succeed him, &c. and placed the Kingly Superiority over that People in another Tribe from his own, viz. the Tribe of Judah. Indeed, throughout the whole Book there is a visible Antipathy to all self-seeking Flattery or Compliance: God alone is exalted, and all Men's Persons, Actions, and Reputations are laid in the Dust, in respect of his Honor, and the Truths therein delivered. Besides, these very Writers appear themselves to be under a subjection to the Doctrine they taught, and no way Masters of it, as their own. All which plainly shows, that they were inspired from above, and wrote not their own Words, or for their own Honor, but as inspired, and for the Honor of God.

VII. Another Demonstration or Proof, that the Scriptures are from God, is the exact and punctual fulfilling of the Prophecies therein contained. To foretell Events, is the Prerogative of God: Let them bring forth, (saith God, the Lord, expostulating with his People about the Vanity of Idols) and show us, [What shall happen]: Shew us the Things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are God's. Now the Body of the Scriptures is enlivened with the Spirit of Prophecy (almost) throughout. That of Jacob, recorded by Moses, That the Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the People be: was not completely fulfilled till well near two thousand Years after, though made good during a great part of that Time, viz. from the Entrance of the Tribe of Judah upon the Government, in King David, until the going of it out again in the Person of Hircanus, whom Herod slew, as Josephus testifies. But when the Time appointed was expired, the Prophecy itself was completely fulfilled: For when Herod, a Stranger, and of another Nation, had cut off the House and Line of Judah from the Government of Jewry, then and at that Time Shiloh, the long-expected Messiah, our Lord Christ, punctually came into the World: for that by Shiloh is meant the Messiah, the Jewish Rabbies do not deny. Now at the Time of Jacob 's uttering these Words, there was little probability, that any of his Posterity should have a Scepter, or any Kingly Power, being poor, few, and in a strange Land: Or, if they should thrive so, as to become a Kingdom, or Nation, why should Judah have the Government, seeing there were three elder Brothers, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi? Nor was there likelihood of this Prophecy's being accomplished, when Moses set it down in Writing; for then he himself (who was of the Tribe of Levi ) was in the actual Possession of the Government, and put into it by God himself, who appointed for his Successor, Joshua, not of the Tribe of Judah, but of Ephraim. Whence we have a notable Evidence of the Truth and Sincerity of this Prediction; for had not Jacob really uttered it, we cannot imagine Moses would have put such a Prophecy in Writing, to the disparagement of his own Tribe. How accurately are the four great Monarchies of the World described by Daniel? so lively, as if he had lived under them, and had that experience of them all respectively, which the World hath since had of them. How wonderful is that Prophecy of Isaiah, at the end of his 44th, and the beginning of the 45th Chapter, touching Cyrus, delivered at least an hundred Years (some say, two hundred) before he was born, wherein yet he is not only expressly named, Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed Cyrus; but it is foretold, he should conquer Babylon, and rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem: which came to pass accordingly. Nor can this Prophecy be suspected of Forgery, or to be supposititious in any kind, since it was pronounced openly, as other Prophecies were, in the hearing of all the People, and so divulged into many hands, before the Captivity, and then also carried into Babylon, where no doubt it was perused by many, long before the accomplishment of it. And that there was such a Man as Cyrus many Years afterwards, that conquered Babylon, and restored the Jews from their Captivity, and furthered the Building of the Temple, all Heathen Authors, that write of those Times, do affirm. And indeed one great Inducement of his Kindness to the Jews, was, because he understood how his Successes had been thus prophesied of, so long before, by one of that Nation. So that it appears the said Prophecy was then publicly known, and its Truth and Authentickness no way doubted of. How manifestly are the many Prophecies of the Old-Testament, concerning our Savior, fulfilled? And how dreadfully his Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem, was made good about forty Years after his Crucifixion, we find in the History of Josephus, exactly corresponding to what is foretold in Mat. 24. And how many other Prophecies of the New-Testament, and especially of the Revelations, do we daily find Verified in and by the Apostasy, and wicked Usurpations of the Church of Rome? Since therefore to foretell so plainly, Particulars and Events so remote, and depending on the mere Motions and Acts of the Wills of particular Persons, yet unborn, is an evident Mark of Omnisciency; we cannot but conclude, that the Scriptures, which are filled with so many evident and certain Predictions, must certainly proceed from the Finger of God.

VIII. Those Writings, and that Doctrine, which were confirmed by many and real Miracles, must needs be of God: But the Books and Doctrines of Canonical Scriptures were so confirmed. Many and great Wonders, such as Satan himself cannot imitate, such as exceed the Power of any, yea, of all the Creatures in the World; such as the most malicious Enemies could not deny to be divine, hath the Lord openly wrought by the hands of Moses, and the Prophets, Christ, and his Apostles, for the Confirmation of this Truth. These Miracles are recorded and attested by Persons of unquestionable Credit, that were Eye and Ear-Witnesses. The Things done, as raising the Dead to Life, curing the Blind, &c. were Matters of Fact, easy to be discerned. They were not done once or twice, but very often; not in the Night, or in a Corner, but in the open Light, in the midst of the People, in the presence of great Multitudes, who were generally Enemies to those that wrought these Miracles: So that if the Relations of them were false, they would presently have disproved them; or if there had been any Deceit, they would soon have detected it.

Besides, the very Enemies have not had the impudence to deny such notorious Matters of Fact, as our Savior's Miracles; only they ascribe them to other Causes. Even to this Day, the Jews acknowledge much of the Works of Christ, but slanderously and blasphemously father them on the Power of the Devil, or upon the Force of the Name of God sowed up in his Thigh; and such like ridiculous Stories they have. Even the Turks confess much of the Miracles of our Lord, and believe him to be a great Prophet, though they are professed Enemies to the Christian Name. Nor could all the Adversaries of these Miracles and Relations, with all their Arguments or Violence, hinder Thousands from believing them, and even exposing their Lives on that Belief, in the very Time and Country where they were done. So that we must say, Either they were Miracles, or not: If they were, why do you not believe? If they were not, behold the greatest Miracle of all, that so many Thousands (even of the Beholders) should be so blind, as to believe Things that never were, especially in those very Times, when it was the easiest Matter in the World to have disproved such Falshoods. Indeed the Miracles of Jesus, and those of his Disciples and Servants, in the Primitive Times, were in Fact so many, so eminent, so visible, and lasted so long, (for they continued in the Church two or three hundred Years) and the Account of them has descended down to us by such a constant, uninterrupted written and unwritten Tradition, that scarce any Man has assumed Impudence enough to gainsay them. Irenaeus (who lived about the Year of our Lord 200) affirmeth, that in his Time the working of Miracles, the raising of the Dead, the casting out of Devils, healing the Sick by mere laying on of Hands, and Prophesying, were still in force; and that some that were so raised from the Dead, remained alive amongst them long after. And Cyprian and Tertullian mention the ordinary casting out of Devils, and challenge the Heathen to come and see it. Remarkable are those Words of the latter, Let any one be brought before your Tribunals, who is apparently possessed with a Devil, that Spirit, being commanded by any Christian, shall confess of truth himself to be a Devil, as at other Times he boasts himself a God. And in his Book to Scapula, the Procurator of Africa, Cap. 4. he repeats several miraculous Cures done by Christians: Quanti honesti viri, &c. How many Persons of good Quality and Esteem, says he, (for we speak not of the Vulgar Sort) have been remedied either from Devils or Diseases? Severus himself, the Father of Antoninus, was recovered by Christians, &c. So that here we have the best Doctrine under the highest Attestation, God himself setting thereunto his supernatural Seals, to convince us of the Truth thereof. And this was the great Argument, whereby Christ all along convinced the World; for upon his beginning of Miracles, at Cana in Galilee, he manifested his Glory, and his Disciples believed in him . The Jews therefore inquired for Signs, as that which must confirm any new Revelation to be of God . And though Christ blames them for their unreasonable unsatisfied Expectations herein, and would not humor them in each Particular; yet he continued to give them Miracles as great as they desired. They that saw the Miracles of the Loaves, said, This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the World . Many believed, when they saw the Miracles which he did . If I had not done the Works that no Man else could do, ye had not had Sin (in not believing) . And the Way of bringing Men to believe in these Days is expressed, Heb. 2.3, 4. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great Salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those that heard him, [There is the Evidence of Sense to the first Re • eivers, and their Tradition to the next] God also bearing them witness, both with Signs and Wonders, and divers Miracles? Let us conclude this Argument with that smart Interrogation of that blind Man, Can a Man that is a Sinner do such Miracles? Natural Reason showing us, that God being the true and merciful Governor of the World, the Course of Nature cannot be altered, but by his special Appointment; and that he will never set the Seal of his Omnipotency to a Lie, nor suffer the last and greatest Inducement to Belief, to be used to draw Men to embrace Falsehood and Forgeries.

IX. To these astonishing Miracles we may fitly add, the Preservation of these holy Writings for so many Ages, being itself little less than miraculous, and such as is a great Argument, that they belong to God, as the Author and Parent of them: It being reasonable to derive that from God, as a Book of his own Dictates, about which he has exercised a peculiar Care. Were not the Bible what it pretends to be, there had been nothing more suitable to the Nature of God, and more becoming Divine Providence, than long since to have blotted it out of the World: For why should he suffer a Book to continue from the beginning of Times, falsely pretending his Name and Authority? How do learned Men accuse Time of Injuries, for swallowing up the Works of many excellent Authors! and bewail the Loss of divers of Livy 's Decades, and other choice Books, which are now nowhere to be found! Nay, though the Romans were so careful for the preservation of the Books of the Sybils, that they locked them up in Places of greatest Safety, and appointed special Officers to look after them; yet many Ages since they are gone and perished, and only some few Fragments do now remain. Whereas on the contrary, the Bible, notwithstanding part of it was the first Book in the World, (as we proved in the second Argument) and though the Craft of Satan, and the Rage of Mankind, have from time to time combined utterly to suppress it; yet it has born up its Head, and remains not only extant, but whole and entire, without the least Mutilation or Corruption. Antiochus Epiphanes, when he set up the Abomination of Desolation in the Jewish Temple, in the Days of the Maccabees, with utmost diligence made search after their Law, and wheresoever he found it, immediately burnt or destroyed it, and threatened Death, with exquisite Tortures, to any that should conceal or retain it. In like manner, since Christ, the Tyrant Dioclesian, about the Year 300, with a full purpose to root out Christianity forever out of the World, publishes an Edict, That the Scriptures should everywhere be burnt and destroyed; and whosoever should presume to keep them, should be most severely tormented: Yet God permitted them not to quench the Light of these Divine Laws. But the Old Testament, above two hundred Years before the Incarnation of Christ, was translated into Greek, (the most flourishing and spreading Language at that time in the World); and about thirty Years before Christ, it was paraphras'd into Chaldee; and at this Day, both Old and New Testaments are extant, not only in their Original Languages, but in most other Tongues and Languages that are spoken upon the Face of the Earth, which no other Book can pretend to. So that all Endeavors that have from the very first been bent against it, have been vanquished; and remarkable Judgments and Vengeance showed on all such as have been the most violent Opposers of it. And further, whereas even those to whom it was outwardly committed, as the Jews first, and the Antichristian Church of Apostatiz'd Rome afterwards, not only fell into Opinions and Practices absolutely inconsiltent with it, but also built all their present and future Interests on those Opinions and Practices; yet none of them could ever obliterate one Line in it, not even of those Places which make most against their obstinate Errors and Defections: But for their own Plea, they both are forced to pretend additional Traditions, (for the Mishua, Talmud, and Cabala of the Jews, and the Oral Traditions of the Papists, all proceed from one and the same Ground, viz. a wicked Pretence, that the Scriptures, though divine Truths, and the Word of God, yet do not contain all God's Will; but that there are these other unwritten Verities handed down, one says from Moses, and the other says; from St Peter, &c. by Word of Mouth.)

Since therefore the Bible hath thus wonderfully surmounted all Difficulties and Oppositions, for so many Generations, and in so many Dangers, and against so many Endeavors to root it out of the World, we may (according to that Maxim in Philosophy, Eadem est Causa procreans & conservans; The procreating and conserving Cause of Things, is one and the same) conclude, That the same God is the Author of it, who hath thus by his special Providence preserved it, and faithfully promised (and cannot Lie) that Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but one Iota or Tittle of his Word shall not pass away.

X. The Scriptures did not only Survive, but have Triumph'd over, all the Oppositions of the Devil and the World. That Success wherewith the Gospel was attended even in its Infancy, the mighty and marvelous prevailings of it where-ever it came, notwithstanding the many and great Disadvantages it was to encounter, are a strong and irresistible Argument that it was from Heaven. That a Doctrine directly opposite to the whole corrupt Interest of Human Nature, and to the Wisdom and Will of Man, carried on and published by but a few, and those (to outward appearance) weak, ignorant, and simple Persons, Illiterate Fishermen, Tent-makers, &c. without any Force of Arms, or Temporal Support, but on the contrary against both Wind and Tide, the Cruelties of raging Powers, and Affronts of vaunting Wisdom; A Doctrine against which the whole World, Jews and Gentiles perfectly concur'd, those hating it as a Stumblingblock, and these counting it Foolishness; that such an improbable and unpleasing, such a friendless, unwelcome, slighted, opposed Doctrine, by such Instruments, and under such Circumstances, should make its way in the World, and subject so many Nations to the Obedience of the Cross, and make those who to Day persecuted it, to Morrow ready to lay down their Lives in Defense and Justification of it; evidently shows it to be owned by Omnipotency, and not to be of Human Extract.

XI. But besides these outward and more visible Trophies of the Sacred Scriptures, how marvelous is their Empire, Efficacy and Power within; upon the Hearts and Consciences of Men! 'tis this that Converts the Soul, Enlightens the Eye, Discovers Sin, Convinces Gainsayers, Killeth and Terrifieth, Rejoiceth the Heart, Quickneth, Comforteth, Manifesteth the Thoughts, Overthrows false Religions, Casteth down Strong-holds, and subverts the whole Kingdom of Satan. What Consolations at some Times! What Terrors at others, do proceed from this Sacred Book! How are the poor Souls of Men by it mightily refreshed! Their weak Hearts wonderfully strengthened! Their dead Spirits raised, and made to live again! Those that sat in Darkness, and the Shadow of Death, are Enlightned! Many that were in Chains and Fetters, of Fears and Terrors of Soul, are delivered and set at Liberty! Is it reasonable to conceive that a Tree that bears such wonderful Fruit, was planted by any other Hand than that of God? Who can speak Words that shall restrain and repel all the Powers of Darkness, when falling in to make Havock and Desolation in the Souls of Men? That shall be able to give Laws to the Terrors of Death, nay Eternal Death, when they have taken hold of the Consciences of Sinners? Are not all these Wonders performed by the holy Scriptures? And do they not often, on the other side, breath Thunder and Lightnings? throw down the Mighty from their Seats, and destroy the Thrones of the Proud and Confident? Do they not turn the Security of many into Trembling and Horrour, and make their Consciences to burn as if the Fire of Hell had already taken hold of them? These Things are evident from the Experience of Thousands that have felt and undergone such powerful Effects of the Word: Nay, I verily believe, there are few that have read the Scriptures with attention and seriousness, but can more or less witness the same: And whence should such Mighty Operations proceed, but because the Almighty Author has endued them with such Virtue through the Spirit, whereby they become the Power of God unto Salvation.

XII. Add to all these Arguments, the Testimony of the Church, and her Holy Martyrs, who have sealed this Truth with their Blood. By the Church we do not mean the Pope, whom the Papists call the Church Virtual, nor his Cardinals, Bishops, &c. met in General Council, whom they call the Church Representative: But the whole Company of Believers in all Ages who have professed the true Faith. The Pen-Men of the Scriptures, good, pious, honest, holy Men, delivered it out as the Word of the Lord, and ever since there have been Thousands, and Hundreds of Thousands that have believed and testi • ied the same down from Age to Age in a continual uninterrupted Succession; The Church of the Jews, (to whom were committed the Oracles of God ) professed the Doctrine, and received the Books of the Old Testament, and testified of them that they were Divine, and in great Misery they have constantly confessed the same; when as by the only denying thereof, they might have been partakers both of Liberty and Rule. And remarkable it is, both, that notwithstanding the High Priests and others of that Nation persecuted the Prophets while they lived, yet received their Writings as Prophetical and Divine; as also, that since the Spirit of Blindness and Obstinacy is come upon Israel, and notwithstanding their great hatred to the Chri • tian Religion, the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament is kept pure and uncorrupt among • t them, even in those places which do evidently confirm the Truth of the Christian Religion, as Isa. 53.3. And as for the Christian Church, it hath with great Constancy, and sweet Consent, received and acknowledged the Books of the Old and New Testament; for the Universal Church, which from the beginning thereof until these times professed the Christian Religion to be Divine, did and doth also profess that these Books are of God: And the several Primitive Churches which first received the Books of the Old Testament, and the Gospels, the Epistles written from the Apostles to them, their Pastors, or some they knew, did receive them as the Oracles of God, and delivered them afterwards under the same Title to their Successors and other Churches: And all the Pastors and Doctors (who being furnished with Skill both in the Languages and Matters, have tried and searched into them) and all pious Christians, who by Experience have felt their Divine Operation, on their own Souls, have asserted the same. So that whoever rejects the Bible, obliges himself to believe no other Books in the World whatsoever; for since none of them have any such great and universal Attestations, if he shall credit them, and not this, it will show apparent disingenuity and peevish Obstinacy. And secondly, He that does credit the Author of this Book, with the same Credit wherewith he credits other Authors, whom he supposes Men of common Honesty that would not knowingly write an Untruth, cannot then refuse to receive this as a Book Divine and Infallible, upon as good Terms of Credibility, as he believes any the best Human Author in its kind to be True; because they themselves tell us that it is so, (which were it otherwise, without most apparent Falsehood they would not do); They affirming that God himself inspired them to write it, and that it was no Product of their own, but every part of it the Genuine Dictate of the Holy Ghost.

And this Argument is abundantly reinforc'd and strengthened from the Consideration of that Glorious Company of Martyrs, those Innumerable Multitudes, who in the Flames and Rage of Persecution, have with the loss of their Lives maintained the Scriptures to be the Sacred Word of God, and had the same in such Veneration, that in the Primitive Ages the Traditors (Deliverers up of their Bibles to the Heathen to be destroyed) were always esteemed as bad as professed Apostates. Since therefore they did so constantly, and with such Hazards affirm this Truth, what shadow of Reason is there to suspect such a Cloud of Witnesses of Folly, Weakness, Credulity, Wickedness, or Conspiracy amongst themselves? (which such a diffused Multitude was absolutely uncapable of.) Nor can we suppose that Popular Esteem on Earth, and Vain-Glory could be the Ground upon which they suffered, since they gave up their Lives for a Religion, which both utterly condemned such Vanity, and was everywhere in the World at that time odious and detestable, and whose Profession brought nothing but outward Shame and Contempt.

XIII. But the Doctrines and Matters of Fact in the Scripture (which if true, its Divine Original will be undeniable) are not only avouched by its own Votaries, but many most considerable parts of it acknowledged by its Enemies: As appears by this brief induction of Particulars. The Creation of the World is intimated by Ovid in his Metamorphosis, lib. 1. The extraordinary long Lives of the Patriarchs in the first Ages o • the World, by Manetho the Egygtian, Berosus, the Chaldean and others; who add, That they were ordained to live so long that they might study Sciences, and invent Arts, especially that they might observe the Celestial Motions, and enrich the World with the knowledge of Astronomy; wherein (say they) they would have done little good, if they had lived less than six hundred Years, because the great Year (as they call it) is so long in going about and coming to a Period. The Flood is mentioned by the same Berosus, whose Words are recited by Josephus, lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 4. Of Noah (under the Notion of Bifronted Janus, because he lived in both Worlds,) we read in Berosus and Herodotus: And of the Ark Sayling over America, and the letting forth of Birds that found no dry Ground, in Polyhistor, and others. Of the Destruction of Sodom; or the Asphaltick Lake, we have some Account in Pliny, lib. 5. cap. 16. and Justin, lib. 36. That there was such a Man as Moses, such a People as the Israelites; that this Moses was their Captain, and led them out of Egypt, wrote their Story, and gave them Laws, is testified by the most ancient Records or the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Chaldeans, and Grecians. And Manetho speaks very particularly both of their Coming into Egypt, and Departure thence. Of Circumcision, Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Tacitus, lib. 2. Of the coming of the Israelites into Canaan, Procopius, lib. 4. Of Solomon we read in Dionysius Cassius; of the Slaughter of Sennachcrib, in Herodotus, lib. 2. The great Roman Historian, Tacitus, in his Annals, speaking of the Christians being persecuted by Nero, on pretence of burning of Rome, which he set on fire himself, says expre • lie, The Author of that Name or Sect was CHRIST, who, when Tiberius was Emperor, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, the then Procurator of Judea. The Star that appeared at our Savior's Birth, is taken notice of by Pliny, lib. 2. cap. 5. But more particularly by Calcidius, an Heathen Philosopher, in his Comment on Plato 's Timaeus; whose Words, as I find them cited by Cardinal Baronius, that learned Annalist, are these: There is another more venerable and holy History, which tells us of the Rise of a certain unwonted Star, not threatening Diseases and Death, but the Descent of the venerable God, to converse with Men, and mortal Affairs: Which Star, when certain wise Men of Chaldea saw in their fourney by Night, being sufficiently acquainted with Astronomy, and consideration of Celestial things, They are reported to have sought out this new Birth of God, and the Majesty of this Child being found, to have worshipped him, and offered Gifts suitable to so great a God. Herod 's slaughtering of the Children is notorious, by that Joque passed upon him on that occasion by the Emperor Augustus, recorded by Macrobius, When he heard, that amongst those Children under two Years old, whom Herod the King of the Jews had commanded to be slain in Syria, his (the said Herod 's) own Son was slain also, he said, 'It is better to be Herod 's Hog, than his Son: Alluding to the Jews Abhorrence of Swines Flesh, which it seems Herod, though not of that Nation, yet pretending himself a kind of Proselyte, did likewise observe. Touching the preternatural Defect of the Sun at our Lord's Crucifixion it was with amazement seen and recorded by Dionysius the Areopagite. And Tertullian, in his Apology, cap. 21. appeals to the Roman Records for the certainty of it. And Origen affirms, that one Phlegon, Secretary to the Emperor Adrian, did write thereof in his Chronicles. What an illustrious Testimony is that extorted by Truth from the Mouth of an Enemy, I mean Josephus, a Jew in Religion, as well as by Nation, (though he wrote in Greek) born not above five or six Years after Christ's Passion! In his 18th Book, and 4th Chapter, speaking of the Reign of Tiberias, he hath these Words: In those Days there was one Jesus, a wise Man, (if it be lawful to call him a Man) for he was a Worker of great Miracles, and a Teacher of such as readily receive the Truth, and had many Followers, as well Jews as Gentiles. This is that CHRIST, who though he was accused by the chief of our Nation, and by Pilate condemned to be crucified; yet did not they who had first loved him, forsake him; for he appeared unto them the third Day alive again: The holy Prophets foretelling these, and many other wonderful Things of him. And even to this Day the Christian Sect (so named from him) continues. Nor is that less clear of Lentulus, in his Epistle to the Emperor Tiberius, recited by Eutropius, in his Annals of the Roman Senators, and now commonly extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum, He thus begins, There hath appeared in our Days, and yet is living, a Man of great Virtue (or Power), named Jesus Christ, who is called of the Nations the Prophet of Truth, whom his Disciples call the Son of God, a Raiser of the Dead, and an Healer of all manner of Diseases.

To all which we might add the Prophecies of the Sybils, amongst the Heathens, who most plainly foretold the Coming of Christ, the Son of God, into the World, and expressed his very Name and Quality in certain Acrostick Verses, recited by the great Augustine, in the 23d Chapter of the Ninth Book of the City of God.

XIV. He that disowns the Bible to be of Divine Authority, must either think there is some Revelation from God to the World, how he will be worshipped, and how they ought to conduct themselves; or he thinks there is none: If he thinks there is none, he not only gives the Lie to the Christian and Jewish, but generally to all Religion, that has been, or is in the World: For they all have pretended, and do allege the same as their Foundation. And besides, he must confess, that God (who has made Man the noblest of Creatures, and Lord of the whole World) has left him in a worse Condition, in the present Posture we find him, than the meanest Creatures, to whom he has given sufficient Means to attain the highest End of their Beings: But that infinite Wisdom should deal thus, is absurd and unreasonable to conceive. If he grant, there is any-where a Revelation from God to the World, let it be produced, and judge if it be any way able to vie with the Scriptures, for all those glorious Characters and Marks of Divine Authority, Power, and Excellency, which we have enumerated.

XV. If the Scriptures be neither the Invention of Devils nor Men, then it can be from none but God: But they are not from Devils; for neither could they work Miracles, nor deliver true Prophecies to confirm them; nor would it consist with God's Sovereignty over them, or with his Goodness, Wisdom, or Faithfulness of governing the World; nor would Satan speak so much for God, nor lay such a Design for Man's Salvation, and against his own Kingdom, nor be so industrious to draw the World to unbelief of it. Nor were the Scriptures the Invention of Men; for they must be either good Men, or bad Men: Good Men they could not be; for nothing could be more opposite to Goodness, nay, even common Honesty, than to assume the Name of God falsely, feign Miracles, and cheat People with Promises of another World. And then on the other side, 'tis as impossible ill Men could be the Devisers of so holy a Book: For can any rational Man think, that wicked Deceivers would so highly advance the Glory of God? Would they so vilify themselves, and brand and stigmatize their own Practices? Could such an admirable undeniable Spirit of Holiness, Righteousness, and Self-denial, as runs through every Vein of Scripture, proceed from the Invention of the Wicked? Would they ever have extolled their Enemies, the Godly, and framed such perfect spiritual Laws? or laid such a Design against the Flesh, and all their worldly Happiness, as every-where the Scope of the Scripture doth carry on? If we cannot gather Grapes of Thorns, and Figs of Thistles, then may we be assured, that no ill Men had an hand in writing and promoting this good and holy Book.

XVI. The Divine Composition of this blessed Book is not a little manifested by the continual Rage of the Devil against it, which appears not only in stirring up his Instruments utterly to suppress it, (for what Book in the World ever met with such Opposition? as aforesaid) but also in those Temptations with which he assaults the Hearts of Men, when they apply themselves to the serious Study of it. We can read any other History, and readily entertain and credit it; but when we once come to the Bible, strange Objections, Doubts, and Curiosities arise, and presently we are apt to question the Truth and Possibility of every Passage: These are the Suggestions of Satan, to render that holy Book ineffectual to us, the Scope and Purport of which he knows tends directly to the Overthrow of his Kingdom of Darkness.

Some of the most frequent Objections against the Bible, are these that follow.

Object. 1. How Men, in the respective Ages wherein the several parts of the Bible were written, could know that they were written by an infallible Spirit, and so distinguish them from other Writings?

Answ. Two ways: First, by the Quality of the Persons; and secondly, from the Nature and Quality of the Matter. As for Moses, there could not be the least Cause of doubting his being inspired by God, since he wrought such Miracles, and had a visible and audible Entercourse with the Lord, as we read, Exod. 19.9. that the Lord said unto him, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick Cloud, that the People may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. The other Parts of the Old Testament were written by Prophets, and holy Men. And though several of them were not received and hearkened to as such, by the corrupt ruling Part of the Jews, whilst they lived; yet they were acknowledged afterwards, as well for the Sanctity of their Lives, and the fulfilling of those things mentioned, the Judgments which they foretold coming to pass, and the Agreeableness of what they delivered to the established Worship of God. For two ways God himself had provided, for discovering all Pretences to Revelation: First, If any such Pretender went about to seduce the People to Idolatry, he was to be rejected. — The Prophet that shall speak in the Name of other God's, shall die . Secondly; If the Matter came not to pass, as we have it in the next Verse save one; When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the Thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the Thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously. And a final Decision, what was to be received for the Old Testament, God was pleased to make, after the Babylonish Captivity, in the Days of Ezra, and that famous Synagogue, several of the last Prophets being personally present, where, by a divine Direction, all the Parts of the Old Testament were collected, and a Separation made, not only between the Works of true Prophets and false; and such Writings as came by divine Inspiration, from those that were of divine Extraction; and such as were to be a perpetual Rule to the Church, from such as relating only to particular Cases, were not so. And in this Settlement the Jewish Church did acquiesce, and from that time to this have had no further Disputes, but received those very Books, and none others, (for those called Apocrypha, which the Papists would obtrude upon us, were never received as Canonical by the Jews.) Then as for the Books of the New Testament, they were all written either by Apostles, or Apostolical Men, known by their being called to that Office, and the Gift of Tongues, and Power of working Miracles, to be guided by the Holy-Ghost. And as the Writing of the Old Testament ended with the Prophets, (for after Malachi, to the Time of John the Baptist, which was near four hundred Years, there arose not a Prophet in Israel ); so the New Testament begins with the Accomplishment of Malachi 's Prophecy, by the Birth of the said John, predicted under the Type of Elias, and ends with the Apostles; for John, who wrote the Revelation, outliv'd all the rest of the Apostles, (for he died not till the Time of Trajan, in the 99th Year of our Lord, and almost thirty Years after the Destruction of Jerusalem ) and he closes the Canon of the New Testament with a Denunciation of a Curse to any that should add thereunto .

Object. 2. But how are we sure that we have now at this Day all the Books that were anciently esteemed Canonical? It seems not: for there is mention made of Solomon 's three thousand Parables or Proverbs, and Songs an hundred and five , of Nathan the Prophet, and of Gad the Seer , the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of Iddo the Seer : And in the New Testament, of the Epistle to the Laodiceans ; now where are any of these extant?

Answ. Those Books mentioned in the Old Testament, were either Books of a common Nature, and not divinely inspired; or else they are yet extant under another Name: For how do we know, but the Books called Samuel might be written partly by himself, whilst he lived, and partly by Gad and Nathan, after his Death. And for the other Writings of Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo, they may very probably be the same that we call the Books of the Kings. And for that Epistle to the Laodiceans, the Original is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , [from] (not [to] as some Translations would have it) Laodicea: And 'tis probable it was some Letter written from the Laodiceans to Paul, wherein there might be something that concerned the Colossians, and therefore the Apostle advised them to read it.

Object. 3. But the Papists say, That the very Fountains, the Hebrew and Greek Originals themselves, are corrupted, depraved, and troubled; and if so, how shall we be at any certainty?

Answ. 'It is true, they do say so, but most falsely and wickedly, only to the dishonor of the Word of God, to make way for their own Traditions, and the Authority of their Church; though by this Suggestion they blaspheme the Providence of God, and also lay an insufferable Scandal on the Church: For if the Scriptures were committed to her Charge, and she hath suffered any part of them to be either lost or corrupted, has she not grossly abused her Trust? But they are not able to give one Instance where any such Corruption has happened. As for the Old Testament, 'tis well enough known how strictly careful the Jews were, and are to this day, to preserve it, insomuch that they took an account how oft every Letter in the Alphabet was used in every Book thereof. And Philo the Jew, an ancient, learned, and approved Author of that Nation, affirms, That from the giving of the Law to his Time, which was above two thousand Years, there was not so much as one Word changed or varied; yea, that there was not any Jew, but would rather die a thousand times over, than suffer their Law to be changed in the least. And Arias Montanus, (a Person extremely skilled in the Hebrew) in his Preface to the Interlineary Bible, assures us, That as in these Hebrew Bibles which are without Vowels, we find a certain constant Agreement of all the Manuscripts and Prints, and a like Writing in each; so in all those too that have the Points added, we have not observed the least variation or difference of pointing: Nor is there any Man can affirm, That he ever in any place saw different Exemplars of the Hebrew Text. And indeed had the Jews ever corrupted any part of it, no doubt they would have done it in those Texts that plainly refer to our Savior; and had any Christians done it, the Jews would soon have discovered the Forgery. But neither of these things have happened, therefore to say the same is any way corrupted, is false. And for the New Testament, 'tis true, there have in ancient Manuscripts some various Readings been observed, but not such as to cause any Dispute touching the Sum or Substance of the Doctrine therein delivered, or considerably to alter the Sence of the Text.

Object. 4. But suppose the Originals be pure, how shall the Unlearned (who are the far greater part of Mankind) be sure that the Translations they have, and can only make use of, are well and honestly done, and do contain the Word of God?

Answ. The Word of God is the D • ctrine and Revelation of God's • ill, the Sence and meaning, not barely or s • rictly the Words, Letters, and Syllables. This is contained e • actly and most purely in the Originals, and in all Translations, so far as they agree therewith. Now though some Translations may exceed others in propriety, and signif • cant rendering the Originals; yet they generally (even the most imperfect that we know of) express and hold f • rth so much of the Mind, Will, and Counsel of God, as is sufficient, by the Blessing of God upon a conscientious reading thereof, to acquaint a Man with the Mysteries of Salvation, to work in him a true Faith, and bring him to live godly, righteously, and soberly in this present World, and to Salvation in the next. The Translators generally, as they have been Men of Learning, so likewise have they been honest, and for the most part godly Men, and th • refore would not, for their own Honors sake, and much more for Conscience sake, abuse the World with any willful false Versions, to lead Souls into Error in a Matter of that importance: Or, if some should • have • een so wicked, others as learned, and of better Principles, would soon have discovered the Imposture. Nor if we consider how many Men of different Persuasions, have translated the Bible, and harmoniously agree in all things of moment, is it possible to imagine they should all combine, so impertinently, as well as wickedly, to put a Fallacy on Mankind, which everry one, that has but bestowed a very few Years in the Study of the Languages, can presently detect?

Object. 5. How can we think the whole Bible to be of divine Inspiration, when some parts of it contradict others? The Divine Spirit cannot be contrary to itself; yet is there anything more opposite than the two Evangelists, in reckoning up our Savior's Genealogy? St. Matth • w says, Jacob begat Joseph, the Husband of Mary; and St. Luke says, Joseph, the Son of Eli.

Answ. The seeming Contradictions of Scripture (for they are really no more) are an Argument, that in the writing of this Book there was no corrupt Design or Confederacy to engage the Opinions of Men; and upon a due Scrutiny, there will appear in them a deep and unthought of Concord, and an unanimous Tendency towards the great End of the Whole. 'It is our Inad • ertency, or shallow Apprehension, makes us think the Scripture is at variance with itself. In the two Texts cited, a natural Father is one thing, a legal Father another: For you must know, that Joseph and Mary were both of one House and Family: he descended from David by Solomon, she by Nathan, but in the Posterity of Zerobabel they were divided into two several Families, whereof one was the Royal Race, and that Linage Joseph was of, which Matthew follows: The other Family Luke follows, whereof Mary was, whom Joseph marries, and by that means is called the Son of her Father Eli. So that here is no Contradiction, but on the contrary, an excellent Discovery of our Savior's Line drawn down on b • th sides, whereby it appears, that as he was Joseph 's reputed Son, so he had a Title to be King of the Jews; and as he was born of Mary, so likewise on her Side he descended from David, as was promised of the M • ssias. But for reconciling all such seeming Contradictions, see Mr. Streat 's Book, entitled, The dividing of the Hoof, a very useful Piece, and worthy Perusal.

I have but one Argument more to add, from a very learned Author, and then I shall close up all with the Testimony of the Reverend and Learned Mr. John Calvin.

XVII. And now it may not be amiss to add one Thing more, which I could not pass by, i. e. Notwithstanding the great Force and Strength of external Arguments and Motives to evince the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture; yet it is absolutely necessary, to the stability and assurance of our Faith, in order to eternal Life, to have the internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts, or the effectual Operations thereof; for if he does no otherwise work in and upon our Hearts, but by the common Communication of spiritual Light unto our Minds, enabling us to discern the Evidences that are in the Scripture of its own divine Original, we should be often shaken in our Assent, and moved from our Stability. Therefore considering the great Darkness and Blindness which remains upon the Minds of Men, all Things believed having some sort of Obscurity attending them, besides the manifold Temptations of Satan, who strives to disturb our Peace, and weaken our Faith, and cause Doubtings; Happy are such who can experience the powerful Establishment and Assurance of the Holy-Ghost, who gives them a spiritual sense of the Power and Reality of those Things believed, whereby their Faith is greatly confirmed. This is that which brings us unto the Riches of the full Assurance of Understanding ; and on the account of this spiritual Experience is our Perception of spiritual Things, so often expressed by Acts of Sense, as Tasting, Seeing, Feeling, &c. which are the greatest Evidences of the Property of Things natural. 'It is the Holy Spirit that assists, helps, and relieves us against Temptations that may arise in us, so that they shall not be prevalent. And indeed without this, our first prime Assent unto the Divine Authority of the Scriptures will not secure us; but the Influence and Assistance of the Spirit in the midst of Dangers, so strengthens the sincere Christian, that it makes him stand as firm as a Rock, who has no skill to defend the Truth by force of Arguments, against those subtle and sophistical Artificers, who on all occasions strive to insinuate Objections against it, from its Obscurity, Imperfection, Want of Order, Difficulties, and seeming Contradictions contained therein, &c. Moreover, there are other special and gracious Actings of the Holy-Ghost on the Minds of Believers, which belong also to this internal Testimony, whereby their Faith is established, viz. his anointing and sealing of them, his witnessing with them, and his being an Earnest in them. Wherefore altho no internal Work of the Spirit can be the format Reason of of our Faith, or that which it is resolved into; yet it is such, as without it we can never sincerely believe as we ought, nor be established in believing, against the Temptations of the Devil, and Objections of evil Men.

This is that whereon we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God, with a Faith divine and supernatural. — And this Evidence is manifest unto the meanest and most unlearned, no less than unto the wisest Philosophers: And the truth is, if rational Arguments, and external Motives were the sole Ground of receiving the Scripture to be the Word of God, it could not be but the Learned Men and Philosophers would always have been the forwardest and most ready to admit it, and most firmly to adhere unto it; because such Arguments do prevail on the Minds of Men, according as they are able aright to discern their Force, and judge of them. — But how apparent the contrary is, is evident: You see your Calling, Brethren; Not many wise Men after the Flesh, &c.

This Testimony, though it is not common unto all, nor can it convince another, yet is it very forceable to those who experience the Virtue and Efficacy thereof, which we, having in another place more largely opened, we shall conclude this last Argument, entreating all to labor after a taste of its divine, powerful, and Soul-changing Operations, and then they will need no further Arguments to prove 'tis of God.

We shall therefore conclude this brief Discourse on this Subject, with those excellent Words of a Learned Man upon the some occasion: —

Grace compared to Salt.

TOuching the several Metaphorical Notations of this Term [Salt,] we shall refer you unto the Eleventh Chapter of Philologia Sacra.

By Salt in this place, is meant the blessed and most precious Grace of the Spirit.

The Girdle of Truth.

A Girdle properly is a Belt or Girdle, used to be worn by Soldiers, to preserve the Breast and Belly.

Truth hath various Acceptations in the holy Scriptures, some of which (according to Wilson and others) you may take as follows.

1. The most perfect Divine Essence, which is Truth itself, and the Author of all Truth in his Creatures: Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth, Psal. 31.5.

2. Jesus Christ: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14.6.

3. The Statutes, Precepts, and Promises of the Law of Moses: Thy Commandments are Truth. Psal. 119.151. v. 142.

4. The whole Word of God, both Law and Gospel: Thy Word is Truth, John 17.17. Whereof you heard before, by the Word of the Truth of the Gospel. Col. 1.5.

5. The Light of Nature in Man since the Fall, to help him to know God so far, as to leave him without excuse: Which with-hold the Truth in Unrighteousness. Rom. 2.18.

6. True Religion taught and contained in the Gospel: Who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the Truth? Gal. 3.1. Tit. 1.1.

7. Truth of Grace, Sincerity, void of Deceit in Heart and Life. I have walked before thee in Truth, Isa. 30.3. Thou lovest Truth in the inward Parts. Psal. 51.6.

8. Fidelity and Faithfulness between Man and Man. Jer. 5.1, 2.

9. Judgment and true Justice, Truth is fallen in the Streets.

10. Most true, far from all Deceit, The Judgments of the Lord are Truth.

11. Truth signifieth Sincerity from the Heart, with assent of the Mind, as one truly purposeth, &c. without Hypocrisy.

1. But that which is principally intended by the Girdle of Truth according to Expositors, is, first, the true Doctrine of the Gospel, called the Word of Truth.

2. Truth of Grace and Sincerity of Heart, called, The unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth.

By Loins is meant the Mind, Gird up the Loins of your Mind, &c. A Christian should be of a sound Judgment, he should be girt about (as with a Girdle) with Truth and Sincerity; Hold the Mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience: 1 Tim. 3.9. Maintain the true Religion, and be sincere and upright in the Profession of it. Why Truth in both these respects is compared to a Girdle, will appear by what follows.

The Breast-plate of Righteousness.

THere is a

• Moral
• Legal
• Evangelical

Now a Moral or Legal Righteousness will not save or defend the Saint, or spiritual Soldier of Jesus Christ, from his Enemy: Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul valued not his own Righteousness that was of the Law. All our Righteousness, viz. that which flows not from Faith, or from a renewed Principle of the Spirit, is but as filthy Rags. Therefore that cannot be the Righteousness here intended.

2. Evangelical Righteousness is twofold:

• 1. Imputed.
• 2. Imparted.

First; The Righteousness imputed is that which was wrought by Christ for the Believer in the days of his Flesh, by his active and passive Obedience to the Law of God, which is put upon the Soul by Faith, called the Righteousness of God by Faith.

Secondly; The Righteousness imparted is that which is wrought by Christ in the Soul; it is a supernatural Work, or a new Life planted in the Heart of every Believer, by the powerful Operations of the Holy-Ghost, whereby he is made holy, and enabled to approve himself to God and Men, in all purity of Life and Conversation.

By the Breastplate of Righteousness in the Text, we understand the Righteousness of Sanctification is principal • intended; for otherwise this piece of Christian Armor would interfere with the Shield of Faith, which comprehends the Righteousness of Justification. [See Shield.] It is (we say) a Principle of new Life, which the Spirit works in the Heart of a Believer; hence the several Graces of Holiness are called the Fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 5.22. Man by the Fall had a double Loss; first, the Love of God; secondly, the Image or Likeness of God: Christ restores both to his Children; the first, by his Righteousness imputed; the second, by his Spirit imparting the lost Image of God to them, which consists in Righteousness and true Holiness. Who but a Man can impart his own Nature, and beget a Child like himself? So who but the Spirit of God can make a Creature like God, by causing him to partake of the Divine Nature?

1. This is that Principle of new Life, viz. an inward Disposition, and Divine Quality, sweetly, powerfully, and constantly stirring up and inclining to that which is holy, and spiritually good.

2. The Work of the Spirit in this respect was not to recover what was dying, but to work Life de novo in a Soul quite dead; hence called a creating, quickening, forming, and renewing Work.

3. It is a supernatural Principle, by which we distinguish it from Adam 's Righteousness, which was co-natural to him, as Sin is to us. Holiness was as natural to him, as Health was to his Body; they both resulted ex Principiis recte constitutis, from Principles pure and rightly disposed.

Why Righteousness is called a Breast-plate, will appear by the following Parallel.

The Shield of Faith.

FAith is a Grace, a most precious and excellent Grace of the Spirit of God, whereby the Soul is enabled to believe, or go out of itself, and wholly to rely and rest upon Christ crucified, or on his active and passive Obedience, upon the Warrant of the Promise, for Justification and eternal Life.

Faith more precious than Gold.

THere are divers Acceptations of the Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Faith.

1. Faith or Fidelity, or Faithfulness in keeping Promise, whether respecting God or Man: Shall the Faith of God be made of none effect?

2. It is taken for the Doctrine of the Gospel: Many were obedient to the Faith.

3. It is taken for the Dictates of Conscience, allowing of things indifferent in themselves: Hast thou Faith? have it to thyself.

4. Credence, or the Belief of the History of the Scriptures. King Agrippa, Believest thou the Prophets? I know thou believest. This is called by some, Historical or Dogmatical Faith; by others, the Faith of Credence.

5. A certain and steadfast Belief of some strange and wonderful Effects. These Signs shall follow them that believe: In my Name they shall cast out Devils, &c. And though I have all Faith, so that I could remove Mountains, and have not Charity, I am nothing. This is called the Faith of Miracles.

6. A naked Knowledge of God, joined with an outward and bare Profession of the Gospel. Even so Faith, if it hath not Works, is dead.

7. It is taken for a strong Belief or Confidence in Prayer. The Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick.

8. It is taken for a holy, firm, and well-grounded Belief, and steadfast Reliance upon the Merits and Righteousness of Jesus Christ, for Justification and eternal Life; or a going out of ourselves, fetching all our Hope and Comfort from him, and his glorious Undertakings. This is that most noble and precious Grace, that is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit, which is compared to Gold, &c.

Faith is as precious as Gold, nay, more precious; tried Faith is better than tried Gold, than Gold tried or refined in the Fire.