A VINDICATION Of the DIVINE AUTHORITY and INSPIRATION of the Writings Of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT In Answer to a Treatise lately Translated out of French Entituled Five Letters concerning the INSPIRATION of the Holy SCRIPTURES By William Lowth B. D. Fellow of St. John's College in Oxford OXFORD Printed at the THEATER And are to be sold by John Wilmot Bookseller An. Dom. 1692. Imprimatur JONATH EDWARDS Vice-Can OXON June 13. 1692. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God PETER Lord BISHOP of WINCHESTER AND PRELATE of the Most Noble ORDER of THE GARTER May it Please Your Lordship IT is the Misfortune of our times to have Religion at once assaulted by a Rude and Ignorant Profaneness by a Confident pretence to reason and by Sceptical Sophistry Its Foundations are attack'd by the Profess'd Enemies of God and Goodness Its Mysteries are Ridicul'd by Hereticks as if they intended to invite Atheists to their Assistance to joyn a Helping Hand to the Carrying on so Good a Work as the Exposing Religion and making it appear Absurd and Contemptible And as if it were not Task enough to Encounter Open Enemies it hath the Hard Fate of it's Blessed Author to be Wounded in the House of it's Friends whilest many of those who seem to Embrace it are much more Industrious to Raise Doubts and Scruples about it than to Establish the Fundamental Truths of it or else lay down such Loose Principles that Wicked Men may deduce their own Conclusions from them and can't but please themselves to see their Work done to their Hands and Christianity Undermin'd by the Imprudence or Treachery of it's own Votaries Thus by Degrees Men have proceeded from Arguing about Obscure and Nice Matters to question Known and Certain Truths and from Disputing about the Points and Tittles of the Law to Reject the Divine Authority of the whole from thence to Decry all Revelation because they cannot exactly Comprehend how God's Spirit Influences and Cooperates with Man's Understanding and at last to cast off Religion in General So True is that which a Great Man has Observ'd That the Disesteem of the Scriptures is the Decay of Religion and through many Turnings and Windings at last leads Men into the very Depth of Atheism My LORD The Design of the Letters which I have Undertaken to Answer is to Perplex Men's minds with Difficulties about the Nature of Inspiration and thereby render the Divine Authority of those Writings suspected which the Church has always lookt upon as the Sacred Depositum of Divine Truth which God has committed to it's Trust and Design'd for it's Guide and Oracle When first I saw this Treatise turn'd into English I was in Hopes that some of our Eminent Divines whose Writings are so Deservedly Admir'd for their Strength and Clearness would have Vindicated the Authority of the Scriptures and Clear'd their Title to Inspiration from those Difficulties with which Men that are Better at Pulling down than Building up have perplexed it The Subject has never yet been throughly Handled and is Worthy the Thoughts of those Great Masters of Learning Reason and Judgement But after I had waited some time and could not hear that any Abler Person Intended to take this Work in hand I resolved to do my Best Endeavour toward the Defence of so Good a Cause and give a Check to those Opinions which tend to Undermine all Revelation And when I had finished my Design there were many Considerations moved me to present it to your Lordship not doubting but your Known Candor and Goodness would pardon the Confidence of this Address Your Eminent Dignity in the Church makes You deservedly Esteem'd a Pillar of Religion and Truth Your Constant Residence in Your Diocess and Your Care and Vigilance to keep up the Good Orders and Discipline of the Church there preserve the Purity of it's Doctrine and give a Due Lustre to it's Constitution and your Generous and Obliging Temper Charms Men into a Complyance with your Good Counsel and their own Duty And as these Considerations Embolden'd me to Present this Treatise to your Lordship which is writ in Vindication of those Sacred Truths for the Defence and Confirmation of which your Lordship is Placed in that High Station so Your Signal Courage in Opposing the Enthusiasts of the Late Times whose Vile Hypocrisy and Lewd Pretences to Inspiration have made way for Open Profaneness and Contempt of all Revel'd Religion Encourages me to hope that your Lordship will favourably accept this Work how mean soever whose Design 't is to put some stop to those Lasting Ill-Effects which have proceeded from such Pernicious Principles And beside these Publick Considerations this Work does Implore your Lordship's Protection as being Visitor and Patron to the College of which the Author is a Member who readily Embraces this Opportunity of Declaring to the World how Happy that Society esteems it Self in having the Honour of your Lordships Patronage whose Government they formerly found to be so Great a Blessing and withal is glad of so good an Occasion of making this Publick and Grateful Acknowledgement of those Favours wherewith your Lordship has been pleased to Oblige My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Dutiful Servant WILLIAM LOWTH THE PREFACE THE Age we live in deservedly bears the Character of a Curious and Inquisitive Age which does not love to take things upon Trust or blindly follow the Determinations of others And I must profess for my own part that I reckon a free use of Reasoning and Judging as Valuable a Blessing as the Injoyment of our Civil Liberties and look upon no sort of Tyranny so grievous as that of forcing Persons of Ingenuous and Inquisitive Tempers exactly to square their Sentiments of things to other mens Opinions But as the Best things are liable to be abus'd so this Freedom of Enquiry has been made use of to Ill Purposes and has Accidentally produced very bad Effects For men have been so Fond of this Liberty as to think no Bounds or Limits ought to be set to it and at last to believe the Submitting to the Authority of God himself to be an undue Restraint upon the Vse of Humane Reason and the very pretending to such an Authority to be one of the Arts of Designing Priests who by this Device endeavour to Enslave the rest of the World and make them Think and Act just as they would have them Thus many men have Reason'd themselves first into Socinianism and then which is but one Remove from the former into Deism or at least into a Coldness and Indifferency to all Reveal'd Religion They think 't is to Impose upon them to Oblige them to Believe or Practise any thing unless they can see a Reason why it should be so and cannot be perswaded that they owe God so much service as to submit to those Laws which seem to them to have no other ground but his Arbitrary Will and Pleasure Vpon this account they reject the Use of the Sacraments the
Rule of Faith Dr. Stillingfl Defence of A. B. Laud. Dr. Sherlocks Protestant Resolution of Faith Learned Defenders of the Protestant Resolution of Faith against those Popish Writers that set up Tradition in Opposition to it and the Absurdity of the latter is evident at first sight and none but meer Enthusiasts ever made any Pretence to it But on the other side for God to communicate his Will by Writing implies nothing in it but what is Natural and Easie there is nothing requisite to continue this to Posterity but God's preserving the Writings themselves by the ordinary Methods of Providence and then men may as well learn his Will from thence as they can know the Histories of former Ages the Opinions of Philosophers the Laws of their own and other Countries from the Writings which record each of these particulars unless we will say that God cannot order a Book to be writ in as Intelligible a manner as men can indite it when they are left to themselves But 't will further appear that 't is more reasonable to suppose that God should preserve the Knowledge of Christianity by appointing a written Rule of Faith than by any other means if we consider III. That he made use of the same means formerly for the Instruction of the Jewish Church With God is no variableness and what he once approves of he does not afterward lay aside but upon some great reason Moses wrote his Law in a book by God's direction e Exod. 34.27 the Prophets appeal to the Law and to the Testimony f Is 8.20 as the only safe Guide and by which men must judge whether a Doctrine come from God or not Our Saviour bids the Jews g Joh. 5.39 search the Scriptures for in them they were perswaded and so far they were in the right was contain'd the way to Eternal Life and in all his Contests with the Jews he desired no other Vouchers for the Truth of what he said but Moses and the Prophets And 't will appear very reasonable to believe that God should use the same Method to instruct the Christian Church which he did the Jewish if we consider that our Saviour and his Apostles conform'd the External parts of their Religion to the Customs received among the Jews as much as they could being resolv'd to give no offence by studiously affecting Novelties The Two Sacraments were taken from Jewish Rites the Government of the Christian Church was framed after the Pattern of the Jewish Hierarchy the Apostles as 't is natural for all men to do being willing to retain the Customs they had been bred up in wherever the Nature of Christiany did not oblige them to the contrary From whence 't is natural to suppose that the Apostles should take care before they left the world to provide some certain means of Instruction for the Christian Church in Conformity to the Jewish which might supply their place when they were dead and gone or else they would not have been so faithful in their office as Moses was who delivered the Book of the Law to the Priests before his Decease h Deut. 31 9 26. And 't is likely the Christians themselves would expect to be provided with as good and sufficient means of knowing their duty as the Jews enjoyed or else they would have had just cause to complain that they came behind them in the Advantages of Knowledge and Instruction And that this is not a meer Conjecture but the real Sense of the first Christians is plain from the Account which the Ancient Writers give us of the occasion of St. Matthew and S. Mark 's writing their Gospels Eusebius tells us i H. E. l. 3. c. 24. that St. Matthew wrote his Gospel particularly for the use of the Jews to whom he had preached because going into other parts he would supply the Want of his Presence by Writing Clemens Alexandrinus saies k Ap Eus H. E. l. 2. c. 15. That St. Mark wrote his Gospel at the Request of the Christians at Rome who were not satisfied with an unwritten Tradition of the Word and therefore desir'd him to commit it to Writing Which St. Peter coming to understand approved and confirmed this Gospel for the use of the Church And when these and the other Apostolical Writings came into the hands of Christians there was no need of a particular Command from God to make them be received as the Rule of the Christian Faith For the Character of the Persons who wrote them the Example of the Jewish Church and the Parity of Reason why these Writings should be of equal Authority among Christians as the Writings of the Old Testament were among the Jews and lastly the Necessity of having some Standing and Settled Rule of Faith these were all sufficient Inducements to Christians to look upon the Apostolical Writings as ordained by God for the Perpetual Use and Instruction of the Church And this will further appear if we consider IV. That God has actually made use of no other way for the conveying down the Doctrine of Christianity that can be assign'd but the Writings of the N. Testament 'T is a very weak Argument to infer that things must be so because we think it Convenient they should be so This is indeed to prescribe to God Almighty and tell him he ought to have ask'd our Advice in the Managing of things And therefore tho the Arguments for the Infallibility of Tradition for an Infallible Judge of Controversies or whatever other Guide men have set up in opposition to the Scriptures were never so plausible and were as real Demonstrations as the Authors of them fancy them to be yet as long as 't is plain by Experience that Tradition is not Infallible and that there is no Infallible Judge of Controversies all these Pretences to Demonstration signify nothing for a man may demonstrate his heart out before he will be able to confute Experience And that neither the Authority of the Church Representative nor the Tradition of the Church Diffusive neither Pope nor Council jointly or separately are Infallible Guides to Christians or equivalent to the Scriptures has been made out with such admirable Clearness and unanswerable Strength of Reason by the Learned Defenders of the Protestant Cause against Popery that without further insisting upon this Point I shall refer to them for further Satisfaction and proceed to the V. Proposition That the Apostles themselves design'd their Writings for the Perpetual Vse of the Church and look'd upon them of Equal Authority with the Writings of the Old Testament The Supernatural Assistance which attended the Apostles in every thing of Moment and tending to the Edification of the Church was so Extraordinary and even their Private Judgment as men was so Upright and void of all Self-interest and Corruption that 't will very much illustrate this matter to consider what Judgment and Opinion they themselves had of their own Writings The very Design of the
their Authority was immediately Establisht And so much for the proving the Sixth Proposition And I think supposing these Six Propositions proved this Conclusion will plainly follow from what has been said that the Books of the New-Testament were Written by God's Direction and design'd by Him for the Perpetual use and Instruction of the Church and are the only Fixt Rule which he has appointed for this purpose I shall draw some Conclusions from these Premises which will tend to illustrate and explain the Divine Inspiration of the Holy Writings 1. It follows from hence that the Holy Ghost assisted the Apostles as fully when they Writ as when they Preached How far this assistance extended and wherein it consisted I shall examine particularly in the next Chapter at present I intend only to shew that we may presume there is as great a degree of Inspiration to be found in their Writings as was in their Preaching For since the reason why this Assistance accompanied them in their Preaching was the benefit of the Church that they might Guide it into all Truth without any danger of mixing error with it the same reason holds much stronger for their Writings which do not serve for the Instruction of One Age only as their Preaching did but of Many And therefore tho we should suppose that they use Arguments ad Hominem sometimes and proceed upon such Principles as were generally admitted in the Age they lived without nicely examining whether they were true or not yet this only shews that they thought fit to explain Divine Truths in such a manner as was most suitable to the Capacity of the persons they were immediately to Instruct And as we must grant that tho the New Testament was design'd for the use of future Ages yet the Phrase and Style and Argumentation used in it is wholly accommodated to the Sentiments and Usage of that Age in which 't was writ so S. Paul himself does plainly imply that he does not always use the Best Arguments but sometimes such as are best fitted to the Capacities and Notions of those he Writes to For thus we find him express himself by way of excuse for the Argument he makes use of d Rom. 6.19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh which is as much as if he had said I could bring a better argument to prove what I say but this which I make use of is more suitable to your Capacities and may perhaps more effectually convince you than a better 2. It follows secondly that since the Books of the New Testament and the same reason holds as to any other Writings of the same rank and use were design'd to be a standing rule of Faith to Christians the Holy Ghost tho he did not generally Dictate the words which the holy Writers used yet directed them to express their minds in such a manner that those who have a regard to the Dialect and way of speaking in which they write might rightly understand them or at least the Holy Spirit prevented their giving just occasion for Men's errors and mistakes in matters of Consequence by their Phrases and Expressions And such a degree of assistance is absolutely necessary to make these Books a standing Rule of Faith For tho we suppose the Holy Writers used a Popular style and consequently made use of such Hyperboles and Metaphors and other Improprieties of Speech which common practise allows of in all Languages especially where they occasionally speak of Philosophical matters and things not immediately relating to Religion yet unless we suppose them to speak properly in those Terms of Art which are of fundamental use in the explaining the Doctrines of Christianity and upon the sense of which whole Controversies turn and as they are differently taken they alter the very face of the Christian Religion I say except we suppose the Apostles to speak properly i. e. agreeably to their own Simplicity and Plainness of Speech and in such a manner as was most likely to be understood by those they writ to when they treat of matters of great Importance and such as are justly to be reckon'd Fundamental Doctrines the New Testament will not answer the ends of a Rule of Faith For a Book is of no use to explain or decide any Controversy if we can have no sixt rule whereby to judge of its style so as to be in some measure certain what is its true sense And 't is very strange if a Book writ by persons who had an extraordinary assistance from God and which was design'd for Universal use should not be worded with that care which Humane Industry uses in matters of Importance And therefore we have reason to rely upon the assistance of the Holy Spirit even with relation to the Phrase and Letter of the Scripture and to believe that he has so far directed the holy Pen-men that their Phrases and Expressions should not lead Men into error in matters of Consequence but may be rightly understood by those that acquaint themselves with the Dialect in which they writ and consult the Ages nearest the Apostles who must needs be next to their own style the best Judges of their sense If indeed the Socinian Doctrines concerning the Nature and Satisfaction of Christ were true it must be confessed there would be little reason to believe that the Holy Ghost had a hand in wording the Scriptures nay then the Scriptures will appear to be written in such a style as if the Writers design'd to lead Men into error And the Socinians themselves when they make Reason the sole Judge of Sripture and tell us they will not believe any thing contrary to Reason tho it were never so plainly asserted in Scripture do in effect confess that the expressions of Scripture taken in their natural and most obvious sense do not at all favour their Opinions e Socin de Christ Servat l. 3. c. 6. And therefore 't is no wonder to find these Gentlemen warn their Readers so often not to make Inferences from the Phrases of Scripture as if they were used strictly and properly that they so often tell us of the Improprieties and Metaphors which the Eastern Writers and those who imitate them abound with that the Apostles play with Words as Socinus with Reverence speaks f Amavit Paulus in Execrationis verbo esse argutus Socm de Chr Serâ— l. 2. c. 1 and take them sometimes in one sense and sometimes in another Our Author follows them in this as well as in some other things g v Fr. p 234. Eng p. 146. and often cautions h Eng. p 107 111. Fr. p. 280 281. En. p. 11â— Fr. p. 285. Eng. p. 145 146. Fr. p. 233 234. us not to subtilize about the expressions nor stick too close to the Letter of the Scripture since the style of Scripture is so far from being exact that 't is very careless and tells us i Eng. p. 107 116.
by Passion yet still there will appear evident Tokens of a Divine Assistance accompanying him if we take an entire View of the whole history of his Sufferings at Jerusalem With what an Undaunted Resolution he went thither when he knew beforehand That Bonds and Afflictions did abide him and did not value his Life so he might finish his Course with joy o Acc. 20.23 24. How he persisted in the same Resolution notwithstanding all the Importunities and Tears of his Friends being ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but also to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus p Act. 21.14 with what Courage he sets forth the Grounds of his Conversion before the enrag'd Multitude q Act. 22. with what Authority he Preach'd concerning the Faith in Christ and the Fundamentals of Christianity to Felix and laid his Sins so home to him that he made him tremble Act. 24.25 How powerfully he pleaded for himself and his Religion before Agrippa r Act. 26. so as to make Impression upon the King himself and almost perswade him to be a Christian He that shall lay all these things together will see Reason to admire the Power of God's Grace in St. Paul's Behaviour at Jerusalem and will not think that that one Slip if it were one is able to obscure the Glory of all the other parts of it And as for that Prudential Act of St. Paul which our Author sayes ſ Fr. p. 242. Eng. p. 46. hath nothing of Inspiration in it viz. his dividing the Council t Act. 23.6 and thereby making one half of them his Friends 't was exactly agreeable to our Savior's Advice to the Apostles u Matth. 10.16 To use all Prudence that was consistent with Innocency as this certainly was But besides it implied an excellent Argument ad homines viz. to Jews in behalf of Christianity namely that it was unreasonable for them to reject that Religion or persecute the Abetters of it whose great Design 't is to establish the Doctrine of the Resurrection the Belief of which Point the chiefest of their own Sects for Reputation look'd upon as one of the principal Articles of their Faith And therefore we find St. Paul knowing what force there was in it insist again and again upon the very same Apology for himself x Act. 24.15 c. 26.6 7. c. 28.20 Nay God himself approved of it as appears by the Vision which St. Paul had to incourage him the very next night after his Appearance before the Council by which our Lord himself gave Testimony to him that he had witness'd a good Confession y Act. 23.11 But 't is a wonder to me that our z Fr. p. 243. Eng. p. 48.49 Author should think St. Stephen's Behaviour and Harangue b Act. 7 a proper Instance to shew that the Apostles and primitive Confessors had no immediate Assistance of the Holy Ghost when they appear'd before secular Magistrates For if Courage to speak the Truth and to back it with unanswerable Arguments be a sign of an Extraordinary Assistance certainly no person ever gave greater Evidence of it than St. Stephen To declare publickly that the Temple and its Worship should shortly be destroy'd c Act. 6.14 was such an Invidious Truth that the Apostles themselves did not think fit at first to speak it openly but shew'd a great respect to the establish'd Worship by constantly attending upon it d Act. 3 1.-18.21.-20 16 -21 26. The Dissolution of the Mosaical Oeconomy being a Truth that the new Converts from Judaism were not yet able to bear But even this Truth St. Stephen had the Boldness to profess and maintain'd it too by a continued series of Argument from Abraham whom the Jews boasted to be their Father down to the building of the Temple Wherein he shews that the Patriarchs and Founders of the Jewish Nation were accepted by God before the Temple or its Service had a Beginning nay that Moses himself the Institutor of this Worship prophecied of Christ e Acts 7.37 and design'd the Tabernacle only for a Pattern of Heavenly things f Ibid ver 44. Besides this St. Stephen all along made Reflections upon the stubborn and refractory Temper of the Jews from the beginning and told them that their Rejecting and Murdering of Christ when he came was but agreeable to their usage of the Prophets who foretold him g Ib. ver 52. I think he that said these things had the Gift of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostles pray'd for h Acts 4.29 in a great measure And tho our Author is pleas'd to say i Ubi supr that St. Stephen mentions divers Circumstances of History which were nothing to the purpose yet for my part I must declare I see none but what are necessary to make it a full and Complete Narrative or else serve to set forth the ill manners of the Jews under the several Dispensations of Providence And I am apt to think St. Luke was of the same mind for abstracting from his Divine Character he was too Judicious a man to trouble himself or his Reader with a Rehearsal of impertinent Circumstances I am sure there are several particulars which are of great use to explain the Writings of Moses k Acts 7.20 26. which we could never have known if this Discourse had not been preserv'd This Gentleman may call these Impertinencies if he pleases but I believe few will follow him in this bold and Unscholar-like Censure and 't is well St Luke was of another mind for we should have had a great Loss if he had not preserved them And as for those particulars which he says l Ubi supr cannot be reconciled with the History of the Old Testament m Acts 7.16 if S. Luke made these Mistakes they have been accounted for above n Supr p. 45 46. if St. Stephen himself did I suppose the same Defence that is made for a Writer will hold more strongly for a Speaker And tho we suppose St. Stephen to have been full of the Holy Ghost when he spake o Acts 6 10.-7.55 yet there 's no reason the Spirit should dictate a History to him which he was before so well acquainted with And why may we not say that although the Holy Spirit were so remarkably present with him at this time that the Glories which were shed forth upon his Soul shin'd thro his Body and made his face look like the face of an Angel p Acts 6.15 yet the Holy Ghost thought fit not to supply the Defect of his Memory in one or two particulars to shew that Inspir'd persons even in their Brightest Minutes are still but men and that the Excellency might appear to be of God and not of themselves What has been said is sufficient to shew what little ground there is for this Author 's unworthy Reflections upon the Behaviour of the First Christians before
the Jews to threaten or denounce Evils in the form of Imprecation So the Comminations against those that broke the Law were utter'd by way of Imprecation Cursed be he that g Deut. 27. c. In like manner Excommunication was denounc'd in the Form of Imprecation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the Apostle took that Expression Let him be Anathema h Gal. 1.8 1. Cor. 16.20 In the same sense we are to understand that Expression of St. Pauls concerning Alexander the Coppersmith i 2 Tim. 4.14 The Lord reward him according to his works The Reason of all which Expressions is to be taken from the promiscuous use of the Imperative and Future in the Hebrew and a very little Acquaintance with that Language will furnish a man with several Examples of this kind 3. But Thirdly if we understand these Expressions according to their common Acceptation and the Sense that is usually given of them and suppose them to imply Wishing evil to the Persons of whom they are spoken I cannot see but 't is Lawful nay our Duty in several Cases to pray to God against our Enemies and desire him to execute his Vengeance upon them the Lawfulness of this I shall prove in these following Instances 1. Where 't is not a Private Quarrel but one of a Publick Nature between two different Nations whether upon a Civil or Religious Account For in this Case as it is lawful for the Injur'd Party to indeavour to Right themselves by War so they may certainly Pray to God that he would give them Success and overthrow their Enemies especially if their Attempts be levell'd against the True Religion for then beside the Reasonableness of Praying to God to maintain his own Cause we may Pray that the Enemies of it may meet with a Remarkable Disappointment upon another Account too because it will be a powerful Argument for their Conversion and to bring them to the Acknowledgment of the Truth To which purpose the Psalmist prays k Psal 83.16 Fill their faces with shame O Lord that they may seek thy Name And accordingly those Psalms which were compos'd against the Enemies of the Jewish Church and Nation may now lawfully be used against the Enemies of the True Religion and of those that profess it and we find they have all along been applied so in the Christian Church 2. 'T is lawful to pray against our Enemies when they are the Disturbers of the Publick Peace For certainly the Charity which we owe to the Community lays upon us a Precedent and a higher Oligation than that which we owe to Private Persons and therefore where these two interfere the First Obligation must take place and 't is not only lawful but our Duty to shew no Kindness to Particular persons where we cannot do it without Prejudice to the Publick Or else I do not see how it would be consistent with Christian Charity to punish Malefactors and sure Wishing Evil is not more contrary to the Rules of Charity than Inflicting it Now many of the Imprecations which we find in the Psalms are against the Disturbers of the Publick Peace for they were not the Enemies of a Private man but of David a King and one of God's own Appointment too And certainly in such Cases where men are bound to the utmost of their Ability to bring Offenders to Condign Punishment they may every whit as lawfully leave them to God's Judgment and desire him to take the matter into his own Hand and Reward them according to their Works Especially if we consider that in David's Case where a Sovereign Authority was Oppress'd and Injur'd by Wicked men there no Court upon Earth could do him Right for he that was appointed by God to be an Avenger and to execute Wrath upon them that do Evil had this Power taken from him so that in this Case 't was very fit and just for him to Appeal to God and desire that he would execute Judgment upon obstinate Offenders who else would escape the Hand of Justice 3. T is lawful to pray to God to send down Judgments upon our Enemies when 't is not likely they will be Reform'd by Gentler Methods Sinners often despise the Patience and Long-suffering of God and take Incouragement from his Forbearance to go on in their Sins and when nothing will work upon them but Judgment and Fiery Indignation 't is a piece of Charity to pray to God to correct them and bring them under the Rod till they know that the most High rules over the Children of men Thus the Psalmist prays to God against Hardened Sinners l Psal 59.13 Consume them in thy wrath that they may not be and let them know that God rules in Jacob and unto the Ends of the Earth This severe dealing with such persons will force them at last to Glorifie God and others warn'd by their Examples will be the more careful not to offend in such a manner And this leads me to the 4th and Last Instance I shall mention wherein 't is lawful to pray against our Enemies and that is When Offenders are in all appearance Incorrigible and past Repentance When men have made themselves Uncapable of God's Mercy 't is fit that God should be Glorified in them by making them Remarkable Instances of his Justice and 't is the Duty of every one that is Zealous of God's Glory to desire and pray that he may get Honour by the Destruction of Hardned and Incorrigible Sinners as he did by the Overthrow of Pharaoh m Exod. 14.17 and likewise they ought to Rejoyce when they see it accomplish'd And surely when Charity has done her work when Patience and Kindness cannot soften our Enemies nor Prayers for their Conversion do any Good upon them it seems very agreeable to the Doctrine of the Scriptures that then we may pray God to execute his Vengeance upon them as some of the Christians when they saw Julian the Apostate's Implacable Rage and Inveterate Malice against the Christian Religion believing him to have Sinn'd the Sin unto Death pray'd to God for his Destruction that all the Kingdoms of the Earth might know that Jesus whom Julian had reproched was Lord and Christ n Greg. Naz. 2. Invect in Jul. p. 123 124. Orat. Funebr in Patr. p. 308. For the Scriptures when they teach us to be Patient and Forgive those that injure us inforce this Duty upon us by this Argument that Vengeance belongs to God and he will repay o Rom. 12.19 in due time and do us Justice Which shews that after we have done what we can to reclaim our Enemies and have indeavour'd to win them by Kindness if they still continue Implacable we may lawfully expect p Tertul. c. Marcion l. 4. c. 16. Cum dicit Mihi vindictam ego vindicabo Patientiam docet Vindictae expectatricem Ultionem mihi permisisse debuerat si ipse non praestat aut si mihi non