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
be Mr. Le Clerc publish'd those Letters which I have undertaken to answer the Two First of them in his Sentimens de Theologiens de Hollande sur l' Histoire Critique c. the Rest in the Defence of the Sentiments Who is the Author of these Letters whether Mr. Le Clerc himself or as he pretends a Friend of his whom he calls Mr. N. signifies little to the Controversie it self and therefore I do not think it worth while to enquire And as to the Author's Design in writing these Tracts whether they were writ by way of Enquiry only or out of a Design to undermine the Authority of the Scriptures I shall not take upon me to Determine but shall leave that to the Searcher of Hearts Charity that believes all things prompts me to believe the Author's solemn Protestation which he makes b Eng. Ed. p. 38. French p. 229. that he disowns the ill Consequences which some have drawn from his Principles and his Arguments for the Christian Religion which are contain'd in the Last Letter incourage me to persist in that Christian Perswasion However when I found the Author earnestly desirous c Fr. p. 245. Eng. p. 51. that some body would fairly answer him and indeavour to give further Light to this Matter and withall was sensible that he has laid down several Assertions which tend to lessen the Authority and Credit of the Sacred Writers and that Ill men have made use of them to this purpose as 't is their constant Method to run away with any thing that seems to favour their side but to overlook what makes against them all these Considerations perswaded me to Vndertake a particular Examination of all those Passages in these Letters that reflect upon the Holy Pen-men or their Writings I know Mr. Simon has made a brief Answer to all the Material Objections of this Author the Substance of which is inserted in the Fourth Letter together with Mr. N's Reply But I must freely profess I am not at all satisfied with Mr. Simon 's Performance and his Answers seem to have been drawn up in Hast without a thorow Examination of the Force of the Objections Perhaps Mr. Simon is not so well vers'd in the Subtilties of Reasoning as he is in the Nicities of Criticism And indeed Both his Answers to Mr. Le Clerc discover as much where he spends most of his time in Railing against the Protestants which might much better have been imployed in Vindicacating his own Principles from his Adversaries Objections or Defending those Common Truths in which the Generality both of Protestants and Papists agree tho neither he nor his Adversaries seem to have any great regard for them But this is the usual Fault of such Zealots as Mr. Simon hath of late discover'd himself to be that they are more concern'd for the particular Opinions of their own Party than for the Fundamental Articles of our Common Christianity and therefore they very often advance such Arguments in Defence of their own particular Doctrines which if they are pursued further undermine the Foundation of Christianity it self or it may be of Religion in General Of which Mr. Simon himself is an Instance who has taken a great deal of Pains to weaken the Authority of the Scripture Text on purpose to set up the Certainty of Tradition in its place But I believe another Reason may be assign'd of Mr. Simon 's Fierceness against the Protestants and that is because he lives in a Country where Heresy now-adays is reckon'd a greater Crime than Infidelity and 't is less dangerous to be thought no Christian than no Catholick And consequently it more nearly concern'd Mr. Simon to clear himself from the Suspicion of Heresy than to prove himself a good Christian tho perhaps in the Judgment of the World he stands in need of an Apology in that respect as much as in the other And perhaps he could not take a better Method to atone for his Disrespect towards the Scriptures and to regain the Favour of his Superiours whose Displeasure he has felt upon that Account than by crying up in Opposition to them the Infallibility of Tradition and the Authority of the Church and Inveighing against the Protestants with a great deal of Bitterness and Virulency And since Mr. Simon 's Answer gives so little satisfaction to the Difficulties which this Author has started concerning the Inspiration of the Scriptures I thought it might be an useful thing to examine the Substance of these Letters over again and Vindicate the holy Writings from this Author's Objections I must leave it to the Reader to judge of the Performance All I shall say for my self is That I have manag'd the Dispute with all the Calmness and Freedom from Passion which becomes an Impartial Searcher after Truth and in that respect I hope I have fully satisfied the Desire of my Antagonist d Fr. p. 245. Eng. p. 51. I have kept my self close to his main Design which is not to question the Veracity of the Holy Writers or the Truth of the Doctrine or Matters of Fact which they deliver but only to propose some Doubts and Questions How far they were Inspir'd either with the Matter or Words which they writ So that in this Discourse men must not expect I should handle all the Arguments for the Truth of the Scriptures and the Christian Religion which are proper to be alledg'd a-against Atheists and Infidels This as 't is forreign to the present Design so it has been done so Often and so Fully by several Learned men and amongst others by this very Author in his Fifth Letter that nothing more need or can be said upon this Subject And if men will still shut their eyes against all Conviction we must e'en despair of doing any good upon them and can only say to them in the words of the Apostle He that is ignorant let him be ignorant and If our Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost whose minds the God of this world hath blinded However to do what Service I am able to the Cause of Religion and to make this Discourse as useful as I can I have ventur'd to go a little beyond the Bounds which my Adversary hath set me and have indeavour'd briefly to explain the Nature and Design of the Prophetical Writings where I have discours'd upon some things not commonly treated of the Explaining of which I hope may tend to Illustrate that noble part of the Scripture and remove some Prejudices against the Authority of the Prophets which have been greedily entertain'd by such persons as are apt to be unreasonably Suspicious and Jealous of being Impos'd upon and because there have been False Prophets think 't is impossible there should be True ones If I have been guilty of any Mistakes I hope the Reader will the more easily pardon them when he considers the Niceness of the Subject and that it has never yet been purposely treated of by any
which were not so The Reasons which Confute this Opinion of our Author concerning the Collection of the Canon of the Old Testament I thought fit to represent all together when I was upon this Subject tho I am sensible that 't is only the first of these Considerations which can be inferr'd as a Corollary from what has been said concerning the Early Date of the Old Testament Canon What I have hitherto said concerning the Authority and Antiquity of the Old Testament Canon I cannot call Absolutely Certain or Demonstrative but I may safely say thus much that it carries in it a greater Degree of Probability than any thing the Adversaries of the Canon have advanc'd to the Contrary So that tho we should grant what our Author says d Fr. p. 276. Eng. p. 102. That there is no proof at all that Esdras and the Great Sanhedrim of that time among whom were Haggai Zachary and Malachi Compil'd the Canon yet still 't is probable 't was made by those that were so near their time that they knew what their Sentiments were in this Matter and made this Collection accordingly But if this Proof be not thought Satisfactory I should think any Christian ought to acquiesce in the Judgement of our Saviour and 't is plain he lookt upon the Jewish Canon which was Undoubtedly the same in his time which is now received in the Protestant Churches I say he lookt upon it as a Collection of Holy Writings design'd by God for the Instruction of his Church and the Rule the Jews were to have recourse to when they would inform themselves what was the Will of God He bids them e Jâ—h 5.39 Search the Scriptures without distinguishing as our Author does f Fr. p. 277 279 285. Eng p. 10â— 106 116. the Truly Inspir'd Books from those which are not so for in them saith he ye think and so far ye are in the right that ye have Eternal Life 'T is strange our Saviour should not correct this Mistake of theirs if some of the Books they had such a great Veneration for favour'd such Dangerous Doctrines as our Author thinks the Book of Ecclesiastes does g Fr. p. 272. Eng. p. 96. and contain'd Expressions very like Blasphemies as he is pleas'd to speak concerning the Book of Job h Fr. p. 275. Eng. p. 101. For if this were true 't was certainly very dangerous for Men to Search or be too much Conversant in these Books especially since they came Recommended under the Character of a Divine Inspiration 'T is strange our Saviour i Luk. 24.44 should prove the Passion and Resurrection of the Messias not only out of Moses and the Prophets but also out of the Psalms by which our Author k Fr. p. 277. Eng. p. 123. understands those Writings which the Jews call Chetubim if these Books be of so little Authority as he would perswade us they are Mr. N. would fain Evade the Force of this Argument taken from our Saviours Authority by telling us l Fr. p. 278. Eng. p. 104 105. that Christ never design'd to Criticize upon the Sacred Books or to Correct those Errors of the Jews which were of small Importance But since our Saviour Criticiz'd so far upon the Sacred Books as to Confute the false Glosses m Matt. 5. c. 23. which the Scribes and Pharisees had made upon them and to Reject the Traditions n c. 15.1 which they had Equall'd to the Word of God and in some Cases Prefer'd before it it seems as necessary for him to have distinguisht between the True Scriptures and those Books which were Undeservedly esteem'd such Especially if these Latter advance Doctrines that do not well agree with the Former as our Author o Fr. p. 272 c. Eng p. 95 c. indeavours to prove concerning several places of the Proverbs Ecclesiastes and Job for then the Admitting the Authority of such Writings is of as Ill Consequence as the Receiving the Traditions of the Pharisees could be Nay with his leave I think it an Error of more dangerous Consequence to Equal a Book that is not Inspir'd when it contains False Doctrine with one that is truly Divine than to Equal such Traditions as the Pharisees held with an Inspir'd Writing Because a Tradition will probably in time be forgotten and so lose all its Authority which we see has been the Fate of most of the Pharisaical Traditions whereas a Book that has once been generally Reputed of Divine Authority 't is likely will maintain that Character for ever For its very Character will make Men careful to preserve it and the Older it grows the Stronger will the Plea of Prescription be for its Divine Original and Consequently the More will be Impos'd upon by it as we see hath Actually happen'd in the Case we are now speaking of if our Author's Opinion be true For the whole Christian and Jewish Church hath time out of mind lookt upon the Books contain'd in the Jewish Canon to be Inspir'd and have upon all Occasions appeal'd to their Authority as such From whence it appears that our Saviours taking notice of this Error if it had been one would have been much more beneficial to after Ages than his Confuting an Unwritten Tradition could be But further we find the Apostles Judgment does evidently concur with our Saviours in this matter St. Paul says a Rom. 3.2 that the Jews were intrusted b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Oracles of God but surely he would have told us that they were not True to their Trust if he had thought they had mix'd Prophane Books with the Sacred ones But that Text of the same Apostle c 2 Tim. 3.16 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God is so clear a Proof of the Apostles Judgment in this matter that 't will admit of no Evasion For the Apostle tells Timothy in the foregoing Verse that from a child he had known the Scriptures by which he must mean the Body of Writings which the Jews look'd upon as such for in that Religion he had been Educated by the Care of his mother who was a Jewess d Act. 16.1 Then it follows in this verse All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God where the Apostle certainly understands the word Scripture in the same sense which he took it in the Verse before viz. for that Collection of Writings which the Jews received as the Word of God But pray let us hear our Authors Paraphrase e Eng. p. 192. Fr. p. 270. upon these two Verses It is as if he had said to Timothy that he ought to keep close as he had done hitherto to the Study of the Old Testament which would instruct him sufficiently in the way of Salvation by joyning thereunto Faith in Christ Jesus because all Scripture Inspired AS IS A GREAT PART OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Is profitable for Instruction I think I may appeal to any Indifferent Man