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 the Books I defend which is usually urged in behalf of the Canon We may abridg and distinguish this Judgment into these Propositions 1. The best of the Antients esteemed the Writings that now go under the names of Clemens Romanus Hermas Barnabas Ignatius and Polycarp to be as good Scripture as any part of the New Testament was then or is now accounted 2. The true Canon can be ascertained only by Revelation or the Testimony of the Fathers Revelation there was none and the Testimony of the Fathers is as home and full for Clemens Ignatius and the rest not to mention many other Books of the Catalogue as for our Canonical Books 3. 'T is even certain that the Fathers were mistaken in the Opinion they had concerning the pretended Clemens Hermas Barnabas Polycarp and Ignatius therefore neither is their Testimony valuable concerning the Books of the New Testament or present Scripture Canon We shall answer sufficiently if we prove clearly and indubitably these two things That the Antients had not the same or like regard for Clemens Romanus Barnabas or any other Books of the Catalogue as for the Books of the Canon and that they had other and stronger reasons besides the Testimony of their Predecessors why they establish'd the present Canon or in other words why they received the Books of the Canon and not those of the Catalogue When Amyntor says the best of the Fathers and Antients quote the Writings of Barnabas Hermas Clemens Romanus Ignatius and Polycarp as Canonical and Scripture and that they esteemed them as good as any part of the New Testament For this latter he will never be able to produce one Testimony of any of the Antients and I shall abundantly prove the contrary from those Fathers to whom he appeals and whose sense he hath so much mistaken for the other were it true yet 't is not to the purpose For 't is certain and granted by all Learned Men that those Fathers called all the Antient Ecclesiastical Books if they were Orthodox Scripture and Canonical the terms Canonical and Scripture were not then appropriated to Books written by Inspiration but were common to all Ecclesiastical Writers and Books if Orthodox Origen for instance often cites the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament as Scripture and Canonical in his Homilies and sometimes when he is disputing but when he discourses professedly what Books are Divine Scripture and what are not he admits only those Books of the Old Testament that are received by Protestants rejecting the Apocryphal Books see concerning this Euseb H. E. l. 6. c. 25. Clemens Romanus Hermas and divers more are cited as Scripture by the Antients and Fathers says Amyntor By which of ' em He answers by Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen and he refers us to places in their Writings But in some of those places nothing at all is said by those Fathers concerning the Books of which we are inquiring in other places the Authors are named but nothing is quoted out of them elsewhere are Citations out of them but not under the names of Scripture or Canonical and where they are so called 't is only in the sense that the same and many later Fathers call the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament Canonical or Scripture and yet deny them to be of Divine Authority or to be received by the Churches as a Rule of their Faith Yet more particularly It is not true that Irenaeus in the alledged place or elsewhere calls the Epistle of Clemens Romanus Scripture He cites it only to prove that Apostolical Tradition is contrary to the Heresy which teaches there is a God above the Creator of the World because saith he the said Epistle of Clemens to the Corinthians which is older than that detestable and foolish Heresy teaches but one God All-mighty Maker of Heaven and Earth In the same Book and Chapter l. 3. c. 3. he commends the Epistle of Polycarp but cites nothing out of or calls it Scripture and Canonical That Hermas is mentioned by Irenaeus I don't remember Amyntor refers to Lib. 4. cap. 3. but nothing is there said of him As to Ignatius Irenaeus only calls him Quendam ex Nostris adjudicatum ad Bestias propter Deum One of us Christians condemned to the Beasts for the cause of God He doth not so much as name him but 't is guessed he means Ignatius because the words he quotes are found in an Epistle of Ignatius 'T is no wonder that Clemens Alexandrinus may call the Epistle of Barnabas and the Pastor of Hermas Scripture in the sense before mentioned as a term of distinction or to distinguish them from the Writings of the Gentile Moralists and Philosophers whom also he often cites and explains their Opinions Eusebius H. E. l. 6. c. 13. observes that Clemens of Alexandria quotes the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Syrac and with them the Epistles of Barnabas Clemens Romanus and others not universally received among Christians Now as the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus were never reckoned by the Catholic Church and therefore undoubtedly neither by Clemens as parts of the Old Testament but only as laudable Appendices to it so when we find him quoting also Hermas Barnabas or Clemens Romanus under the same names and Epithets that he gives to Ecclesiasticus and the false Solomon he intended no more thereby to make them parts of the New Testament than he or the Catholick Church accounted the other to be parts of the Old Testament What I say is yet more plain from Origen the last of Amyntor's Fathers All the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament are frequently alledged by Origen in company with his Citations out of the genuine Books of the New and Old Testaments he has caused us however to know the vast difference he put between them and that the Catholick Church received only the present Protestant Canon as Divine Scripture the other Books whether the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament or those of the Catalogue only as useful and commendable Writings He tells us as to the Canon of the New Testament There are only four Gospels the first by Matthew written for the use of the Jews the next by Mark who had his Information by St. Peter the Gospel by Luke intended for the Gentiles lastly John's Gospel Concerning the Writings of St. Paul he mentions only his Epistles they are short saith he and not to all the Churches which he had planted or where he had taught Peter so he goes on wrote an Epistle that is received and esteemed by all we may grant he wrote a second Epistle but it is doubted of John wrote a Gospel and Revelation a short Epistle and if you will a second
easy to guess the Reason He was a Heathen and they were Christians But we see however by all this that the mere force or edacity of time bears away or devours the most excellent Instances of Human Industry and Wit that we ought not to marvel if we have not still all or even had not the principal Labors of the Apostles and Apostolical men If Amyntor's Catalogue of Books some of them once reveâ—enced by the Church and now lost were much larger than it is it would by no means prove they were all Trivial Spurious or Erroneous Books 't would be no imputation on Christianity as abounding only with Fables and Impostures There being we have seen no part of Learning tho never so useful and necessary or so curious and diverting but has suffered extremely by the loss of some excellent Books and Authors nay of most such Authors and Books I believe also The unquestionable Orthodoxy the yielded certainty or genuinness and apparent sufficiency of the present Scripture-Canon were great Occations that the Books in the Catalogue fell gradually into dis-use and were afterwards lost As to the sufficiency of the Books of the Canon I mean of all them taken together it is self-evident For they contain a repeated Abrogation of the Mosaic Law so far as 't is Ritual and Judicial a compleat System of Morals the History of the Parentage Conception Birth Miracles Doctrine Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles their Divine Inspiration and Miraculous Powers their Epistles to private Persons to Churches and Nations in which they often professedly repeat the Substance of the Christian Religion as well in what respects Faith as Manners In short a man cannot read these Books without most plainly perceiving that they are such an Account of the Religion they teach as needs no Supplement Their Genuinness and Orthodoxy or that they are the very Books of the Authors whose names they bear and are true Representations of the Doctrines of Christianity as delivered to the Churches by the first Miraculous Preachers this is inferred with absolute certainty from their reception by all those Churches as such and that these rather than the Books of the Catalogue tho divers of them also were highly valued have been preserved If it be urged that supposing as this Answer does the Books in the Catalogue most of them or some of them were Orthodox and Genuine and owned to be such by the Churches 't is much they should be lost and only the Books of the present Canon preserved Which have been preserved it seems for no other Reasons but what are common also to the Books of the Catalogue namely because they are undoubtedly Orthodox and certainly Genuine I answer that the Books of the Catalogue that are lost or rejected were not so certainly Cenuin to all the Churches as those that are preserved and made parts of the Canon And as to the Orthodoxy tho that as to many of them was not questioned yet the Books not being so certain as to their Genuinness in all parts of the Christian World and therefore not allowed as unexceptionable Evidences in the numerous Controversies that arose in the Catholic Church and the un-suspected Books being abundantly sufficient to serve the ends of Religion in respect both of Controversy and Institution in manners the former hereupon almost unavoidably began to be neglected and in time were lost and only the latter were kept We have now the advantages of Printing and of a ready Communication by the increase of Trade and Improvement of Navigation between Nation and Nation the Antients wanted these helps therefore with them a Book concerning the Christian Religion if it were not published in Judea or at Rome or in some part of Greece or some considerable City of Asia it might not come to be known of a long time not vulgarly and generally known in the Churches till the Evidences that it was Genuine were all wholly lost or become of but little Authority The Books of our present Canon were immediately communicated by the Churches or Persons to whom they were written unto all the Famous Churches Like Industry was not used on behalf of the Books of the Catalogue therefore these last were read only or chiefly in the places of their Publication and in the Churches to which they were addressed and thus being long unknown to the Churches and Illustrious Writers of other places tho many of them were approved as to their Doctrine and Usefulness on which accounts they are often quoted by those two the most Learned of the Antenicen Fathers Clemens of Alexandria and Origen yet they did not obtain to be adopted into the Scripture-Canon as not so certainly the Works of Apostles and Apostolical men as those that were received for such every where and from the beginning Farther it may be divers Books of the Catalogue titled with the name of an Apostle or Synergist of the Apostles were rejected and in process of time lost for that very reason It was supposed that the Book having to it a name of one of the Apostle or some Apostolical Person therefore the Author claims to be that Person or that Apostle it might appear however by some things in the Book it self or by some Circumstances commonly known that the Author was not the Apostle or other Person vulgarly thought to be designed in the Title and hereupon the Book was consider'd as a Forgery and Imposture and as wrote probably with some dishonest Intention and Aim But as now so then and then much more than now abundance of People had the same names with the Apostles and other first Preachers it may be most Christians took those Names either at their Conversion or Baptism A Book therefore suppose a Gospel Epistles Acts might really be the Work of the Author in the Title-page or elswhere in the Book and yet in short time be rejected neglected and finally lost as an Imposture and Forgery on that false supposition that the Author affected to seem the Person that he was not and that in truth he never pretended to be This very thing hath certainly hapned in divers Works of the Fathers as well those of the fourth and fifth Ages and later as those of the second and third and it might happen I say in divers Writings of the Catalogue that we are considering I take these to be some of the Causes that so many Books of the Catalogue are lost Time the Sufficiency of the Books preserved and that some of them came not to general knowledg till the Evidences that they were Genuine were not so certain These are such Reasons and Occasions of it that we cannot much wonder at the misfortune of this invaluable Damage And after this 't is but little to the credit of their Judgment and less of their Morals that some affect to guess at the Causes of this Mishap in a sort that reflects on the Christian Religion as
be always exact in repeating Scripture-Texts as to the words tho they keep well enough to the sense And for this reason also they do not always name the Scripture-Author whom they alledg even to avoid the possible Mistake of one Writer for another I make but this one remark more on the Citations of Scripture by these Fathers It is reckned they all wrote before the whole Canon of the New Testament was compleated M. Dodwel says expresly before Jude or the two Johns had written And they wrote from places very distant from Judea and from one another Hermas and Clemens from Rome Barnabas from Cyprus Polycarp Smyrna in Asia Ignatius from Syria This serves to assure us that the Gospels and Apostolic Writings were immediately communicated either by particular care of the Churches or more probably a publication to the most remote Bishops and Churches that there can be nothing more contrary to Truth and to the zeal and Diligence of the first Christians and Churches than this Affirmation of M. Dodwel and his Second that the Apostolic Writings were lockt up in Coffers of the Churches and Persons to whom they were written till 130 years after Christ Which is so far we have seen from being true that all the Writers of those times tho living in places some Thousands of miles distant from one another and from Judea adorn even their familiar Letters with Flowers from the four Gospels and Epistles of the present Canon nor do they cite that we know of a single Sentence from the Books of the Catalogue Amyntor however tho he assents to M. Dodwel in saying that our present Scripture-Canon and the Books that compose it were unknown to the Churches and Clergy till 130 years after Christ yet he doth not think Barnabas Hermas Clemens Polycarp or Ignatius were the real Authors of those Epistles that go under their Names but that these Epistles were forged about such time as so many other Impostures appeared in the Catholic Church namely a good while after the year 130. But hereby he hath entirely given up the Cause he was maintaining M. Dodwel speaks consistently to himself tho not truly when he says the Scripture-Canon was not known to the Churches or Clergy till about the year 130 because Clemens and the other Writers of those times cite nothing out of the said Canon But Amyntor forgets to be consistent to his Cause when he says the Canonical Books were not known till the year 130 and at the same time denies we have any Monuments left of those antient times Clemens and the rest being of much later date and also Impostures Besides granting to him that these Epistles are Impostures deviled more than 130 years after Christ as 150 or 180 after our Saviour yet having quoted abundance of Paragraphs out of our present Canon and none out of the Books of the Catalogue as we are hereby assured that the former were then known and approved as Books of received and allowed Authority so the other either were not known or not consider'd as Books whose Authority could oblige or so much as persuade There were divers other Writers of those early times besides Clemens and the rest mentioned by M. Dodwel and tho their Works are lost yet we have certain assurance that they quoted the Books of the New Testament Papias Bishop of Hierapolis was Scholar of St. John and Companion of Polycarp Eusebius had read his Works and takes occasional notice that he quotes the Epistles of St. John and St. Peter Euseb H. E. l. 3. Cap. ult Contemporaries to Papias and Polycarp and much within the term of 130 after Christ was Quadratus Agrippa sirnamed Castor and Basilides Of these Basilides wrote 24 Books of Commentaries or Explanations on the Gospels Concerning the other two Eusebius saith They with many more made it their business to preach in places whereas yet Churches were not gathered and τῶν θείων Ἐυανγελίων παÏαδιδόναι γÏαφὴν to bestow and disperse Copies of the Inspired Gospels H. E. Lib. 3. c. 37. Lib. 4. c. 7. Justin Martyr in his Second Apology but 140 years after Christ as Dr. Cave hath proved makes us to know that there was then a particular Officer in the Churches called the Reader distinct from the Preacher whose business it was saith he to read the Prophetical and Apostolical Books to the Congregation until it is sufficient Amyntor must suppose with great liberty if he supposes that in the year 130 the Books of the New Testament were unknown to the Churches and Clergy and that but ten years after they were so known and in such credit that the Churches entertained an Officer on purpose to read them in their Assemblies But why do we protract a Dispute and seek to old Authors known to few People to determine it when it may be ended by one demonstrative Argument and of which all Persons are capable The four Gospels Acts general Epistles and Revelation were not written to particular Persons or particular Churches but written and published to all the World Let me hear Amyntor or M. Dodwel say they were not written to be published or were not published so soon as written if they dare not say so why do they say they were kept in private Coffers till 130 years after Christ I don't think any body will believe that the Churches or Clergy were ignorant of the publishst Books of their Religion A Continuation of the Defence of the Canon ANother Detraction of our Author from the Credibility and just Authority of the Canon is that The principal Fathers of the three first Ages Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen did quote divers Books of the Catalogue particularly Barnabas Hermas Ignatius Polycarp and Clemens Romanus as Scripture And why should not all the Books that are cited by these Learned Fathers as Scripture be accounted equally Authentic and Canonical Or if these Disciples and Successors of the Apostles could so grosly confound the genuin Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles with such as are spurious and falsly attributed to them how came others the following Fathers and the Councils who have undertaken to declare which Books are Canonical and which not to be better or more certainly informed In short he saith Clemens Romanus Barnabas Ignatius Hermas and Polycarp were esteemed by the Antients to be as good as any part of the New Testament and seeing herein they were so grosly mistaken what stress can be laid on their Testimony concerning the Books of the New Testament itself which Testimony however both formerly and at present is alledged as the principal reason sometimes he maketh it to be the only-reason why the Books of the New Testament are received as Canonical Amynt p. 44 45 46 52 79 80. He adds at p. 57 58. The Council of Laodicea An. 360 after Christ is the first Assembly wherein the Canon of Scripture was determined In so great a variety of Books those of the Catalogue he means and those of the Canon how could that
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
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