AN ANSWER TO A BOOK INTITLED Tractatus Theologico Politicus LONDON Printed for Charles Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Pauls 1697. To the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Winchelsea Viscount Maidstone Baron Fitz-Herbert of Eastwell c. My Lord THIS Treatise being by me design'd for the Vindication of Reveal'd Religion against those Deistical and Sceptical Notions which are too frequent in this Age had there been no singular obligations to induce me yet cou'd I not have found a more proper Patron than your Lordship whom all must acknowledge to be a Favourer and Protector of Religion Virtue and whatsoever is Praise-worthy amongst men I am very sensible that my small Station in the Church might very well have excus'd me from engaging in an argument which may justly require a Person of more Dignity Learning and Leisure but I am at the same time very well satisfy'd that your Lordship and all good men will not expect much where but little is given and therefore in the same plainness and sincerity wherein I at first wrote it I presume to dedicate it to your Lordship as a small token how much I am Your Lordship 's most Humble and Obliged Servant Matthias Earbery THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THough I am not of the Opinion That whosoever writes a Book ought to write a Preface for some are so good that they need none and some so bad that they don't deserve one yet I think my self to lye under an obligation to give the World an Account of those Reasons which induced me to Answer a Book which if it had its due deserts ought to be confined to silence and darkness for ever 1. I might here alledge in the first Place that the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus has not as yet the honour to receive an intire confutation from any one Learned Hand that I know in Europe Bishop Boyl in his little Body of Divinity and almost all our Moderns who have wrote in Vindication of the Scriptures have taken notice of Divers of its dangerous positions as they lye scattering up and down in almost every page of it from whence I might have leave to conclude that if those Learned men did think that it was necessary to Answer the chief Objections against the Authority of the Scriptures one by one a Collective Answer to the whole Book would be more satisfactory to the world and more beneficial to the publick Good And therefore I was not induced to undertake this task because I thought none could do it better but because none before me had began so useful a work I consider'd also in the second place that most who have wrote upon this Subject have either done it in such a Philosophical manner as is not easily intelligible by the Vulgar or have proceeded against him and his Party by such Philological Arguments as tho very Learned yet at most are but Conjectural and therefore never can convince a stubborn Sceptist tho they are very pleasing to Ingenious Men. Now tho this way of Writing is very taking whilst the Argument is only toss'd too and fro amongst Learned Men yet it is not sufficient when such Deistical Principles begin to be Popular and seize upon the minds of those who though they want Reason yet stand in need of no Obstinacy to defend the same And therefore since this Book has as I am informed received lately some impressions in our own Language I thought it might not be amiss to administer the antidote in the same vehicle in which the Party has presented the Poyson and waving all Conjectural Arguments that are drawn from humane Authority or whose force depends upon the knowledge of Books or are too remote from common Sense to be understood by all Men I have laid down chiefly such Principles as all may understand and all who understand them must needs admit to be true And I hope that it will be apparent from thence That they who Renounce their Religion into which they are Baptized must Renounce their Reason too which they boast to be their only guide Nor am I ignorant that the Author of this Book was very well versed pardon so favourable an expression in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets understood the Original Language and had made a diligent search to find all weak places wherein he might Assault and Ruine the impregnable Fortress of Reveal'd Religion Mr. Hobbs had another way of trifling with those Books of Scripture and wresting some particular places to his odd Opinions But this Author begins at the very Root and Foundation by taking away all Divine Authority from Prophecy Miracles or Inspiration and making all the sacred Pen-men to be no other than either Mad-men or Impostors Now tho such sentiments ought rather to be punished by the Judge than refuted by the Divine yet since too much liberty has relaxed the Reins both of Civil and Ecclesiastick Power it is necessary that such Weapons should be used as are therefore left us because they could not easily be taken away And I thought it would be at least some punishment as it were to the very Sbades and Manes of this Author to shew the world that he who so long has found a place in the Libraries and Hands of very Learned Men does scarce for his stupidity and trifling way of arguing merit to obtain a place amongst the lowest forms of inferiour Animals And I am sure if he could say nothing to the purpose against Reveal'd Religion his little Disciples of the Town can say a great deal less But indeed the greatest motive of all was the general disposition of men of all Degrees and Capacities in this Age to ridicule our Religion as much as they can nay a great deal farther than their own Abilities will give them leave How will some Little People vent a Jest upon the Bible or argue against Moses who never read a Chapter in it with that Attention which is due to those Sacred Writings And never even in their Younger Days knew any thing beyond a Play or a Romance I will not say That too much Liberty has given Opportunity to Deism to grow up with those other Weeds that infest this Nation Though if I should it might be found to appear not very unlibely to those who consider that Mr. Hobbs's Leviathan was brought forth in the like times of Liberty and that this Author pleads for nothing more than Liberty to Exclude the Conscientious Fear of God out of the World But certain it is That the General Corruption of Manners Contempt of the Clergy Bold Agitation of the Socinian Controversy amongst the Greatest Men of the same Church do render discourses of this Nature very necessary to stop the Mouths of those Mockers whom St. Peter long since Prophecy'd should come in the last days saying Where is the promise of his Coming For since the Fathers fell asleep All things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation I
because it takes away from Trade the freedom of lying and cheating and defrauding which some perhaps think essential to it But if you Gentlemen desire a Commonwealth that you may barter away our Religion for a Free Trade I say pray God bless the Monarchy of England Scep Prithee don't think we desire to take away your Religion Your Reason ought to be your Only Religion and that I am sure no man desires to take from you My Author's Design is only to take off those Prejudices which the Vulgar entertain of the Scriptures who despise Reason and think that the Scriptures are the Only Oracles of Truth In order to this my Author promises to demonstrate That Prophecy or Revelation is nothing else but strength of Fancy That the Ancient Prophets were only Men of a strong Imagination and of a weak Reason That the Divine Law is nothing else but fatal Necessity That Miracles are only those Works of Nature of whose Cause we are ignorant That the true way of interpreting those Books you call Scriptures does shew that they are of Humane Invention and that every individual man has a Right and Authority to interpret Scripture as he pleases And that Log. No farther I beseech you this is Task enough for one time Let us therefore leave his Preface and proceed to the Book it self that we may see Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu Scep With all my heart And first let 's begin with his Definition of Prophecy and so orderly examine the strength of all his Invincible Arguments Log. I am content and also further promise That if he brings any Objections against Revealed Religion which I cannot answer I will then become of his Opinion and subscribe to whatsoever you will have me Scep It is as fair as I can wish it to be Thus therefore he begins Explicit Praefatio incipit hoc loco primum DE PROPHETIA A. PRophecy or Revelation is the certain Knowledge of something or Things revealed unto Men by God How do you like this Definition The. Very well provided the Author thinks as he speaks and does not impose upon us as his Custom is by ambiguous Terms A. Well then Mind the Consequence All Natural Knowledge may properly be called Prophesie for those things which we know by Natural Light depend upon the sole knowledge of God and his Eternal Decrees But our Mob-Divines that stand gazing with their Mouths open to Heaven to catch Wonders exclude Natural Reason from Prophecy as if the one descended from Heaven and the other sprang from Earth onely And yet humane reason is Divine in as much as the very faculties were by God Created and it is only excelled by Prophesie in two things First that Prophesie extends its bounds further And Secondly it cannot be caused by the Laws of Nature The. And Pray Sir what Charms can you see in such a Jargon of Discourse as should draw your minds away one step from reveal'd Religion For here is a very absurd confusion of Natural Knowledge and that which proceeds from Divine Revelation No Man that apprehends the necessary Connexion of two Terms was ever yet call'd a Prophet by any but this A. If Natural Knowledge might properly be called Prophesy then every Man that by his Natural Reason could comprehend all the necessary Properties of a Triangle or the undoubted certainty of Mathematical Axioms or those self-evident Propositions which are known by a bare perception of the Terms would be a Prophet and so not only all the Lord's People would be Prophets but all the Devil's People too for as much as some Propositions by the sole Light of Reason are evident to all Mankind A. You mistake my Author for he tells you page 2. That tho Natural Knowledge is Divine yet the Teachers of it cannot be called Prophets Because whatever they Teach others without the help of Faith or Credulity may know as well as themselves T. This only shews with how much Confidence and Stupidity your Infallible Author contradicts himself for p. 1. he asserts Ex traditâ definitione sequitur cognitionem naturalem Prophetiam vocari posse What more evident than that he may be called a Prophet who is endowed with natural Knowledge if natural Knowledge may be called Prophecy A. That is but a small mistake His true meaning is That Reason is not less certain and Divine than Revelation its self T. Natural Things are called Divine upon a Threefold Account as they are the Workmanship of God and in this sense all things that have a real Subsistance may be called Divine as they are the Works of God But the word Divine is not frequently used in this signification because it is too general and comprehends so much that it determines too little Or 2. Things are more frequently called Divine that for their Excellence seem to have some resemblance of the very Nature and Perfections of God This Homer stiles his Hero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Grace is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Apostle And indeed in this Sense the rational Faculties of the Soul may not be improperly called Divine forasmuch as they were not only given us by God but do still bear his Image and Inscription upon them But 3dly and lastly Those things are most properly stiled Divine which are immediately produced by the Power of God not according to the regular Laws of Nature but in a manner altogether superior to them And in this most proper signification Creation Prophecy and Miracles are the Works of God and bear all the Characters of Divinity upon them because the First Cause is only concerned in the Production of them without the Concurrent Efficacy of Inferior Agents Hence it is that the Evangelist reckoning up the Genealogy of our Blessed Saviour names the other Patriarchs as Sons of Men because they came into the World according to the usual manner of Generation But Adam he calls the Son of God for tho his Body was out of preceeding matter yet it was formed by the immediate Power of God without Observation of the regular Course of Nature The very Magicians could say when they saw Lice miraculously produced by Aaron's Rod That this was the very Finger of God because they knew it was not within the Bounds of the Power of Nature and that it could not be done by those Inferior Invisible Powers which they invoked And the Prophets call their inspired Writings The Word of the Lord because not deduced from the setled Course and Order of things but delivered to them immediately by God himself in respect to which it is called by St. Peter the Sure Word of Prophecy A. What do you infer from hence T. That your Author trifles when he equals Humane Reason to Divine Inspiration saying very boldly That Aequali jure ac alia cognitio quaecunque illa sit divina vocari potest when it is evident That the one is founded on the
punishing the Bad in more proper terms than those of Love and Anger c. Tho therefore those Expressions are Figurative when applied to God yet since they are the most proper that we can find for what we cannot fully understand it is plain that Moses had right Conceptions of God when in words he ascrib'd those Passions to him S. Then you interpret Scripture by Reason L. I do not make my Reason the Standard of Divine Revelation but I hope that I may make the same use of my Reason in Interpreting Scripture as you or any sensible Man would do in Reading any Humane Author S. It would be hard to deny you that liberty besides I am so much a Friend to Truth that I must ingenuously confess that it is not plain to me that Job in that place by Fire does either understand Jealousy Vid. Job 31. or Anger but rather the crime of Adultery or Fornication for thus he speaks v. 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a Woman or if I have laid wait at my Neighhours door Then let my Wife grind unto an other and let others bow down upon her For this is an Heinous Crime yea it is an Iniquity to be punished by the Judges For it is a Fire that consumeth to Destruction and would root out all mine Increase Now it seems to me that it is not Jealousie which is no very expensive passion but the being deceived by a Woman and the guilt of lying in wait at his Neighbours Door which Job calls here a Consuming Fire that would soon bring Destrustion upon his Body and Estate L. And yet your admired Author makes use of such forc't Interpretations of Scripture to affix absurdities of his own Invention to those Sacred Writings and thereby to destroy their Divine Authority For indeed the whole contexture of the Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testament do give us such clear Notions of the Vnity and Spirituality of the Divine Nature that they cannot be distorted to savour any Opinion that is contrary to Natural Religion without open violence as well as secret Art and Cunning Tho it must be confessed at the same time that they teach some things above our Reason be cause they came from an Author who knows more than in this Life can be understood by us S. If you rightly understand the Ambiguities of the Hebrew Language which my Author very learnedly reckons up in the 93. Pag. and the great want we have of a certain History of the Books themselves and the Lives of the Authors you would easily perceive that we know little or nothing of the true sence of Scriptures unless it be in those places which treat of Moral Precepts for they are so plainly Intelligible that they retain the same perspicuity in all Languages L. We know that the Hebrew as well as all other Languages is subject to some Ambiguities which may create Error but we do not see that these Ambiguities are so frequent or of such consequence as to shake our Belief of any one Fundamental Article of Revealed Religion But with what Gygantick confidence would your Aurhor raise a Stupendious structure upon this narrow and rotten Foundation There are some ambiguities in some places that may sometimes arise concerning the true meaning of some few Texts of Scripture Therefore we can never be certain of the true meaning of any one Text therein those only excepted which contain Moral Precepts for of those we were certain before hand But we can never understand from thence that there was such a People as the Jews or such a man as Moses or such a Person as our Saviour who did wonderful things in Judea nor any Apostles sent out by him for these are all speculative matters which tho the New Testament was wrote in Greek yet are altogether obscured by the ambiguities of the Hebrew Language Can you think your Author would have descended to this absurd way of arguing if his cause would have bore a better Is not our Faith on our Saviour grounded upon plain Narrations of such Matters of Fact as are as easily intelligible in one Language as another and will not History as well bear a Translation as the Problems of Euclid Does not he pretend to expound Scripture by some Hebrew History if he could get one for his purpose and yet is all History so obscure that it is impossible to be expounded S. You cannot deny but that a History of the Lives of the Prophets would much conduce towards the better understanding of Prophetical Writings L. It might give light to some few places but is far from being absolutely necessary to expound all Why may we not as well understand the Scriptures without such a History as the works of Plato or Cicero or Levy Besides in what Language must this Expounding History be wrote Not in Hebrew for then it must be subject to the same ambiguities as the Bible it self Nor in any of the Eastern Tongues for then the matter would not be much mended Nor in any Foreign dialect for then it would not pass for Authentick as wrote by one not skill'd in the Jewish Affairs Then by whom must this History be wrote By an Author that pretends to be inspired then Spinosa will have the same prejudice against him as against the other Prophets and Pen-men of the Holy Scripture whom he exposes as Mad-Men and will not allow them to say one thing unless in Morals that can be understood or that ought to be believed by us If this History is wrote by an Author that pretends to no Inspiration tho that one thing might recommend him to Spinosa yet it will give all thinking men just cause of caution that they be not impos'd upon by a man whom they know to be as fallible as themselves And therefore unless they can be well satisfied that his integrity is greater his understanding clearer and his opportunities of knowing all the important Matters of Fact of those Ages more advantagious than those of the Holy Pen-men they will see no reason why they should rather Correct Scripture by the Historian than the Historian by Scripture S. Ay but my Author gives you such a History of Scripture as makes all the Pentateuch Books of Joshua Judges c. To appear to be a Novel Invention most likely to be jumbled together by Esdras as he well Conjectures and that the other Books of the Old Testament received as Canonical are not of that Antiquity which you Divines ascribe to them L. But then you should consider that your Author is a Person upon whose Judgment we cannot rely since we can have no reason to be satisfy'd with the integrity or Authority of such an Historian How little his integrity is we have already seen by his pretending to be a Deist and to advance the Law of Nature which consists chiefly in Loving God when it is plain from his Chapter of Miracles that he is really an Atheist as every
man must needs be that holds the infinity and immutability of the Power of Nature As also by his partial Distorture of Scripture by denying it the same liberty of using words in a Translated sense which is given to all other Writings As for clearness of Judgment which is the second Commendation of an Historian I cannot see how your Author can pretend to that whom I have shew'd to have laid down so many false propositions drawn so many false conclusions and so frequently to have contradicted himself And as for his opportunities of knowing the Matters of Fact of the most grand importance of those Ages we all know that he is as ignorant of them as our selves and therefore we had rather believe those who liv'd in Ancient times and were Eye-Witnesses of what our Saviour did or suffered for our sakes than a Modern upstart whom we are sure can understand at most no more than our selves of the matter S. But tho you slight his Authority yet if he can prove by solid reasons as he attempts in his 8th Chapter That the Pentateuch was not wrote by Moses c. You are bound to yield to them and to deny its Divine Authority L. But if his Reasons are fallacious and Conjectural as I could easily demonstrate had we Books and leisure in this place to go through the Argument which yet at best would be but loss of time then you cannot blame me if I withdraw my assent from his Pernicious Doctrines But to bring matters to a short issue Do you believe that the Account the Evangelists give of the Life of our Saviour and the Acts of his Apostles is altogether unintelligible by the Hebriasms and various Lections S. No I think no man of common sense or modesty will pretend to say so L. Do you think that all therein recorded of them could be done by any Natural or Diabolical Power S. You have already demonstrated the impossibility of the first and the absurdity of the second assertion L. Then if our S. and his Apostles who prov'd their own Divine Mission did bear Testimony to the Writings of Moses and the other Prophets all your Authors Criticisms or Conjectural fancies of Esaras Vanish into nothing For with what truth could our Saviour have said Mat. the 19th and the 7th That Moses Commanded to give a Bill of Divorcement and that Moses for the hardness of their Hearts suffer'd them to put away their Wives or St. John 19. 17. That the Law was given by Moses if the whole Pentateuch had been a Fiction of Esdras Our Saviour therefore has confirm'd the Law of Moses and the Divine Authority of the Old Testament by a new addition of Signs and Wonders impossible to be gainsaid by the Cunning or Malice of Man S. You have now given me full satisfaction concerning the Divine Authority of the Scriptures into a dislike of which I was led by the Sophistry of this intrieguing Author For it mightily pleas'd me to hear his project to deduce all knowledge from Natural reason which as he teaches p. 98. Proceeds from plain and obvious Notions to the most obscure and remotest objects L. Let Natural reason proceed never so cautiously yet she can never ascend so high as to understand clearly those supernatural things which concern a future State of which she has here no compleat Ideas And besides if God is a free Agent it follows he can prescribe what conditions of salvation do best please him And Natural reason can never ascend to the knowledge of what a free Agent will have done from any known or obvious Maxims in Nature S. No more than one man by reason alone can tell what is the will and pleasure of another But I will ask you one Question more Viz. Who ought to be the Interpreter of Scripture * P. 103. penes unumquemque snmmum jus summaque authoritas de religione libere judicandi c. for Spinosa gives away that Authority to every private Man L. The ambiguous use of the word Interpretation has been the cause of much Error and much Mischief in the World it is a Multiplied Idea which will breed confusion in the understanding if it be not carefully resolved into its first Principles For first sometimes to interpret Scripture is put to signify only a right apprehension of what is the true sense of Scripture and an expression of that true sense in plain and proper terms And this belongs to every individual Man to whom the Gospel is Preached For every man has a right to understand those truths that are a-like beneficial to all mankind and which are therefore promulged that they may be made known unto all And as every man has a right to understand as much as he can of Divine truths so also may be Communicate that knowledge by Speech to others tho the publick Exercise of that Office do most properly belong to the Ministers of God But others by the word Interpret do understand the Power of affixing what sense they please upon the Scriptures and constraining others to admit the same be it what it will as true and genuine But such an Authority as this can neither belong to every Private man nor to any humane Power whatsoever For no man can have Authority from the God of Truth to oppose truth it self and it is gross non-sense to call Contradiction of Scripture an Interpretation of it There is no room for Interpretation but in places that are obscure and dubious but plain Texts expound themselves and to pretend that every man has a right of affixing a contradictory sense to the most easy express and intelligible Texts of Scripture is as much as to say Every Man Summum jus summa authoritas has a right to be a Fool and to deceive himself and to live in Error and be nurst up in the ignorance of those things that most concern his Happiness and to give the Lye to his great Creator Instead of believing the Scriptures to be the Word of God every private man according to your Authors Hypothesis may believe them lawfully to be the invention of Sathan or the dictates of Mad-men or the invention of some cunning Politicians What is more plain than our Saviours words Mat. 16. 17. Verses Go you into all the World and Preach the Gospel unto every Creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Suppose a man discoursing upon these words should pretend to teach from hence that no Gospel either was is or ever ought to be Preached to the World That no man ought to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that there is no Condemnation to unbelievers either in this World or in the World to come Would you call this an Interpretation of that Text of Scripture S. Not if I was in my right Senses L. And yet your prodigal Author gives this large Authority to every private Man of Interpreting Scripture after
Natural Order of things and therefore subject to those Imperfections which are common to all the Works of Nature The other comes immediately from God and has no imperfection in it Our Reason tho first given us by God yet is corrupted by our selves The Idolatry and Superstition of the first Ages of the World do abundantly shew how much Natural Reason is subject to be led aside into Error by Sense Passion Interest and Example in the things that belong unto God There is a Light of Nature but it is no more than a glimmering Light which discovers some but not all things that are necessary to be known so clearly and distinctly as may make it compleatly beneficial to Mankind Besides it is often darkned by Inadvertency Lust and Male-Organization of the Body and a thousand other Impediments But Revelation is such an impression upon the Mind of the Prophets as gives a discovery of something unknown before for to reveal is to detect something that before was cover'd and always creates a threefold certainty in all inspired Authors 1. It renders them sure that it is God who speaks to them 2dly That they rightly apprehend what he means 3dly That whatever he reveals is infallibly sure For that God will not deceive is the very Basis of all Humane and of all Divine Knowledg Your Author therefore very truly asserts That Revelation exceeds the Bounds of Humane Reason because it extends it self to the hidden things of God viz. The Knowledge of a future Happiness and the ways and means by which we may gain the same as also because it cannot be caused by the regular Order of Nature but must proceed immediately from God but then he very absurdly endeavours to equal Humane Reason to it when in the same breath he confessed that it is exceeded by Divine Revelation A. You talk of Certainty in Divine Revelation but for my part I have no Idea how a Mortal Man can be certain what or when God speaks to him T. Prophecy being â— complex Idea as signifying the discovery of something made unto Man by the immediate Power of God we can have no distinct Knowledge of its manner of producing Certainty in the Mind of Man unless all the simple Idea's which compound the same extend into our Understanding by our Senses or were obvious to it by a simple intuition But the Manner of God's speaking to Man by Revelation being altogether Supernatural it cannot be compleatly understood by those who have had only Experience of the use of Natural Faculties Suppose a Man born into the World with a Sixth Sense whereby he could discern the Properties and Differences of External things it would not follow that because other men had not a compleat Idea how he perceiv'd the differences of things that therefore he had no perception at all A man so framed by God might have clear and distinct perception and yet not be able by any force of Words to make his Neighbours understand the manner of it For the Words that now are do signifie some Idea's which have already been common to Mankind but where the thing it self was always unknown there Words whose signification extends no further than to things that are already known can never explain them to us A man that never had the Experience of the Illumination of a Prophetick Spirit can no more have a compleat Idea of what it is than a blind man can have of Colours he may be taught by rote to give definitions but all the definitions that can be given will never give him the true Idea of Light or Colour A. Then Prophetical Light is something but you don't know what T. Yes We know as much of the Nature of Divine Revelation as is necessary for us to know and he that enquires after more ought not to be gratify'd in his needless curiosity We know from the Nature of God and the Constitutiou of our own Souls that it is not impossible for God to communicate his Will and Pleasure to whomsoever he pleases for it would be strange indeed if God who made the Soul capable of understanding every thing else should not be able to make it capable of understanding himself whenever he should vouchsase to speak to it For why should not Man be as capable of knowing when God speaks to him in a supernatural way as when his Neighbour speaks to him according to the usual course of Custom and Nature All things are possible with God that do not imply a contradiction in the Terms or are not directly repugnant to the essential Purity of the Divine Nature but it is no more a contradiction tho more unusual for God to speak to Man than it is for one Man to speak to another nor is it repugnant to the Divine Purity to teach Man his Will to obey which is Man's utmost perfection We also know from as Authentick Records of Antiquity as any are now extant That some Men Eminent for Wisdom Learning and Vertue have affirmed That God has spoken to them and we have Reason enough to believe that they were certain of it because they exposed their Lives and Fortunes and all that is dear to Flesh and Blood in compliance to the Doctrines they receiv'd from God and that no room might be left for doubt the same God that thus spake to them gave them power to do such things as quite surpassed the power of Nature and to foretel such Events as were not possible to be guess'd at by any humane Understanding If therefore we who by Faith believe the Doctrines taught by these inspired Authors are deceived we are deceived by God himself who alone could give such Gifts of Prophecy and Miracles to the Sons of Men And if our Faith is deceived by God we know not but that our Reason is deceived too For if God can deceive in one why may we not think he may do it in the other And then our A is so far from being certain to get the Victory by such Disputes over Revealed Religion that he cannot be certain that he disputes at all A. What Mathematical Certainty have you that the Records of these mens Prophesies are true T. Matters of Fact are never the less true for not being capable of Mathematical Demonstration It is as true that Julius Caesar came into England as it is that the whole is equal to all its parts tho the Truth of his coming hither cannot be demonstrated by any Problem in Euclid A. I have heard with great patience your long discourse of God's speaking unto Men and the wonderful and unintelligible Certainty from thence arising But what as our Author tells you if this Notion of God's speaking unto Men prove a meer Fancy proceeding from a mistaken Hebraism I hope you will be judg'd by the Scriptures themselves T. Yes upon these Conditions 1. That the Authority of Scriptures may be as well urg'd for as against themselves 2. That every difficulty in those Sacred Writings
shall not presently be judged a Falshood till there be some further demonstration of its absurdity 3. That you allow the same liberty of deducing Consequences from Texts of Scripture aâ— you take to your selves 4. Then that due regard be had to the Writings of the New as well as of the Old A. With all my heart 1st Then God revealed the Law to Moses by a true Voice as we are told Exod. 25. 22. but this was the only true Voice from God that ever was heard The words of the Decalogue according to some Men were not spoken they only heard a confused Noise and so perceiv'd the Law as then written in their Hearts tho in truth those Notions of Good and Evil were engrafted there long before Nay it is evident that what you call Revelation was only the Appearance of some Images to the sight or Phantacy of the Prophet See Chron. 22. how God shewed David his Anger by an Angel holding a Sword in his hand and the same hapned to Balaam By Images not real but depending upon the Phantacy of the Prophet God revealed to Joseph that he should have the Dominion over all his Brethren Observe Numb 12. 6 7. and you will see what slight assurance was given to the other Prophets If there be a Prophet amongst you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream T. Confident Assertions without Equivalent Strength of Reason impose upon none but those that are willing to be cheated It is spoken without Authority of Scripture that God pronounced the Law only with a true and real Voice All that we can learn from Exod. 25. 22. is That God promised to be ready to communicate his Will to Moses from above the Mercy-seat and from between the two Cherubims But that place of Scripture does not explain the manner of that Communication so as to determine it to a real Voice much less does it exclude all former Revelations from that priviledg Nay nothing is more evident than that other Revelations were made by a real Voice before the delivery of the Law of Moses Immediately after the Fall Gen. 9. 10. we read that God called unto Adam and said unto him Where art thou And he said I heard thy Voice in the Garden and I was afraid Or if our bold Author will turn this into Figure as indeed he ventures to turn so whatsoever he pleases yet in the 18th of Genesis we read of a Revelation made by a real Voice or there is no description of a real Voice in rerum naturâ—â— For the three Angels that appeared as Men to Abraham and eat as Men without doubt spake as Men when the promise was made to Abraham that Sarah should bring forth a Son When God was about to destroy the Old World Gen. 6. he foretold that dismal Execution of Vengeance to his Servant Noah and if you will stick to the Words of the Scripture according to our first agreement gave him a punctual description of the Ark he should make and the Persons and Living Creatures that should enter into it which it is hard to imagine could be done without a real Voice Or at least it is as rational to suppose one here as in the place cited out of Gen. 25. 22. But your Author is still more Quod Revelatioper solas imagines continget patet ex primo paralip Ch. 22. v. p. 5. v. p. 3. impudent or unwary when he tells us it is evident from Chron. 22. that Revelation is sometimes made by Images only and that none are capable of receiving the revealed Will of God but only by the help of Imagination and that the Words or Figures were sometimes real that is existing without the mind of the Prophet and sometimes imaginary that is framed by the mind of the Prophet himself From whence he infers That the Certainty of Prophecy is not Mathematical but only Moral or rather according to those Principles nothing but a Fanciful Whimsey that may as well be false or true Now by this Author's leave no such conclusion nor indeed can any conclusion at all be drawn from the Mediums of Divine Revelation that concern the Certainty or Fallibility of it For all the Mediums of Revelation being supernatural we may call 'em by what Names we please yet still we must borrow those Names from some Natural Things because of those only we have compleat Idea's He that is a Prophet must be certain it is God who speaks to him but the bare hearing of a Voice or the seeing of an Image will not create this Certainty according to the Laws of Nature For Voices and Words may be framed by other invisible Powers and therefore we are not so foolish as to conclude that Moses was a Prophet of God because he heard a Voice or saw a Figure but because he was enabled to shew forth sensible Demonstrations that the power of God was with him But tho we do not conclude the certainty of Revelation from the Mediums of Revelation so is it the greatest madness in the World to infer from thence the Uncertainty of it For we who have not seen those Figures nor heard those Words nor felt those Divine Impressions can frame no compleat Idea's of them And your bold Author draws Conclusions from such Premises which 't is plain he could never understand unless he can pretend that himself has been inspired Supposing it therefore true that Preter haec nulla alia singenda c. p. 7. the Scripture made mention of no other Mediums of Revelation than Signs or Figures and Words yet cannot he from thence infer any Necessity of the Uncertainty of Divine Revelation unless he could give us compleat Idea's of what manner of Impressions those Words or Signs made upon the Minds of the Prophets Which is a matter impossible for him to teach or us to learn One Man can inform another of his Mind by Words and Figures and why must God be excluded from that power which he gives his Creature But after all it is not true that Words and Figures are the only Mediums of Divine Revelation which the Scriptures mention There is a Communication of the Spirit of God immediately infusing Knowledge into the Mind without any Organs of Speech or Corporeal Representations which yet is as infallible as the other Joh. 16. 17. Our Saviour promises his Disciples That the Spirit of Truth should lead them into all Truth And this Communication of the Spirit we call Inspiration using a Metaphorical Word to express a Notion which we cannot possibly receive from the bare knowledge of Nature And tho this Spirit appear'd to the Apostles Acts 2. in the shape of Cloven Tongues yet we read it bestowed upon them and upon others in the Primitive Times the Gift of Drivers Languages before utterly unknown unto them by a secret and invisible Operation If therefore the Spirit of God can reveal to the Mind of Man
Dignity We do not deny that God condescends in the manifestations of his Will to accommodate himself to the weak capacities of his Creature Man but that does no ways incline us to believe that he ever reveals to Man any thing that is false or that he confirms him in his preconceived Errors or that whensoever he is pleased to reveal himself in a Supernatural manner he cannot or does not do it with the same degree of Perspicuity as one man can tell his Thoughts to another God indeed has declared more to one Prophet than to another but since he never speaks any thing but truth to any this is so sar from being an Argument against reading any of the Prophets for so I call all Inspired Authors that it is a strong inducement to peruse them all that so what we miss in one we may readily find in another If Revelation discovered nothing new to Mankind nor confirm'd truths of an eternal verity it would be altogether needless and if it by being adapted to Men's erroneous Prejudices confirm them in the same it would be pernicious and God himself would be the Author Abettor and Divulger of Falshood in the world which I would have all young Men seriously to consider who are addicted to these Deistical Notions Epicurus who removed the Deity from all thoughts of humane Affairs pays more honour to the Divine Nature than those who with your Author suppose him to meddle therein only to confound natural Light and to contradict himself and to send his Servants to plant and propagate Falshood in the World S. You seem now to be very hot but can you disprove the Author whom you rashly Condemn because he speaks truth more freely than is consistent with the Interest or Humour of the Clergy L. I desire to be believed no farther than as you find what I say is agreeable to the Testimony of Scriptures by which it will appear that God has Revealed nothing to Inspir'd Authors that any man can condemn of Error Secondly That he has declared to them such truths as were directly repugnant to their Preconceived Erroneous Opinions And Thirdly I will shew you that the places of Scripture used by your A are no ways Subservient to his present design and purpose If your Author would Argue fairly against the Authority of the Holy Scriptures he should have produced such places in them which he could easily and plainly convince of Error in matters that belong to the Happiness of Mankind But how much he fails in this will appear by a Discussion of these Instances which are alledged by him Moses taught the Jews that that very God who made the Heaven and the Earth was their God who was revealed to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and who then by Signs and Wonders had brought them out of the Land of Egypt which plainly shews that he had right Conceptions of the Vnity of the Divine Nature as the first and only cause of all things But at the same time he knew that the Heathens worshipped other created invisible Powers which they called Gods tho unlike unto the true God in all the Glorious Attributes of the Divine Nature and this is all that can be gathered from the 11th ver of the 15th Chap. of Exodus Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods Moses does not here assert that there are more Gods than one but only intimates that there were more Beings than one which were tho falsely and equivocally called Gods by the deluded Pagans But why do we wonder that invisible Powers in compliance to the common Dialect at that time in the World are stiled Gods when Magistrates themselves by no improper Figure are dignified with the same honourable Appellation Ps 6th and 7th I have said you are Gods and all of you the Children of the most High but ye shall dye like men and fall like one of the Princes Will any be so absurd to conclude from hence that the Psalmist thought that there was little or no difference between God and Man Nor does it at all appear from the 19th ver of the 32d Chap. of the Chron. That the Jews thought that God left other Nations to the Government of other Gods substituted by him the words are these And they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the Gods of the People of the Earth which were the work of the hands of men It was not the Besieged Jews but the Besieging Pagans who called those inferior Beings by the name of Gods which were worshipped by the deluded Pagans the Jews acknowledged them only as the work of the hands of men In the 17 Chap. of the 2d of Kings gives only an Historical Account of the Sentiments of those Pagans who were translated into the Regions of Israel from remoter Nations they indeed had the same Apprehensions of the God of Jerusalem as others had of their Topical Deitys who were confined to the Government of certain Places Persons Arts or Sciences according to the Opinion of the Ancients and therefore mingled some Ceremonies of the true with all the Superstitions of a false Religion But the Author of this History is so far from approving that he utterly condemns as well their Notions as their Practices In the 23d ver They fear not the Lord neither do they after his Statutes or after their Ordinances or after the Law and Commandment which the Lord commanded the Children of Jacob whom he named Israel S. Why then does the Scriptures call them Gods L. Because an Historian relating what others have said or are wont to say must speak in the same Dialect if he will keep exactly to the truth nor is any Author obliged to speak always properly when he may be better understood by a Figure The Apostle speaks of some whose God was their Belly and tells us that Covetousness is Idolatry and yet I never read of the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Venter that were worshipped by the Ancient Greeks or Romans Persius makes him at most but a Master of Arts. Magister Artium ingeniique Largitur Venter And Money it self was not Invested with Divine Honours in Juvenals time if you will believe the Poet. Nullas numorum ereximus aras I wonder your A should forget one place of Scripture more conduceing to his purpose than any he has hitherto Cited in the 4th ver of the 4th Chap. of the 2d to the Corinthians Satan is stiled the God of this World how plainly might he infer from thence that Satan was revealed to the Apostle as the God of this World S. But what say you to Moses's Opinion That God lived in Heaven is not that an Error unworthy of a Philosopher And altogether Pagan L. If Moses had taught that God was so confined to Heaven as to be excluded from the Earth or from any part of the Universe or from the Knowledge and Government of Humane Affairs it might have given this A some very specious pretence to