SECTION IV.

A brief Disquisition concerning Revelation in general.

REASON and nature alone are no sure guides in matters of religion: the cause is, the corruption of human nature, and the uncertainty of our reasoning; for "that which hath been at some times, and in some countries, accounted virtuous and lawful, the same, at other times, and in other countries, hath been condemned as vicious and abominable, as the wise Heathen observed";" nor can it be otherwise, considering the passions of men, and their prejudices from education, interest, or custom. Again, we find by experience, that when human knowledge was very highly improved among the wisest and most discerning of the heathen world, how deformed and corrupt the frame of their religion was, and how uncertain and perplexed were their notions of it and although they generally agreed in a sense of the guilt of sin, and the dangerous consequence of it; yet their apprehensions were as dark and confused, as they were various and disagreeing with each other, concerning the method of procuring an atonement and reconciliation. It is therefore very becoming the wisdom and goodness of the Creator to discover his will so far, that mankind might be taught what is good and evil, how he would be worshipped, and on what condition reconciled to them.

Accordingly God thought fit to communicate himself to our first parents. And Cain complained that he should be driven out, and hid from the face and presence of God, and so deprived of the divine

a Diog. Laert. in Vita Pyronis circa medium. b Gen. i. 28. and ii. 16, 17. and iii. S. &c.

communications". Afterwards God revealed himself to Noah, whom he made a preacher of righteousness to the world', both before and after the flood; whose doctrine must be known to all the inhabitants of the earth, being all of one language, before they were dispersed. In after-times, Abraham dwelt among the Chaldeans, and in Mesopotamia; they journeyed through Canaan; so that he and his sons Ishmael and Isaac, whom he carefully instructed in the true religion, were, no doubt, instrumental in propagating the same where they abode. At length God revealed himself more fully to Moses and the Prophets; and last of all, by his Son Jesus Christ and the Apostles, he hath made a full discovery of his pleasure.

For the space of 2500 years before Moses, the revelation of the divine will was continued, so far as we know, by tradition only, from one to another, without the assistance of writing, or any holy Scriptures which might be for these reasons; before the flood men lived very long, eight or nine hundred years, insomuch, that three persons only might convey from each to other the tradition from Adam himself, till after the flood; for Seth lived with his father Adam several hundred years, and so did Methuselah with Seth, and Noah with Methuselah nay farther, one only person, Lamech, Noah's father, lived fifty years with Adam himself; and though after the flood the age of man was so much shortened, yet even till Moses many lived to a great age: Jacob told Pharaoh, that he was an hundred and thirty years of age, and had not attained to the years of his fathers". Now, amongst those that lived so long in the world, and were not so dispersed as afterwards, the purity of the heavenly

c Gen. iv. 14, 16. d 2 Pet. ii. 5. e Gen. xviii. 19. f Gen. v. 8 See Helvicus's Chronol. at the beginning. h Gen. xlvii. 9.

doctrine might be the easier preserved, especially by the assistance of fresh revelations; whereas to those whose lives were afterwards much shorter, and who were more numerous, and more dispersed, a written word was more necessary. Indeed, when this word was written, it seemed to be confined to that one nation of the Israelites; but then the law of Moses did particularly provide for the instruction of other nations, and the care of strangers and proselytes', and the people of other countries had frequent opportunities of being instructed by the Jews, especially in the knowledge of the one true God, the Maker of heaven and earth. And as for the Christian religion, although it hath not been revealed in all ages, nor to all nations in any age, yet that is no objection against its being truly revealed by God; for if it were, then neither is reason nor natural religion from God; for all men have not the same faculties or capacities, any more than the same proportion of riches: but as God, who is a sovereign Lord, was not obliged to make all his creatures equal, so neither to make all men capable of the same degrees of happiness, either before or after Christ's appearance: all this must be resolved into the wise determination of God's will, grounded upon just reason, although unknown to us.

Again, it ought to be no prejudice against revealed religion, either the Jewish or Christian, that for so many ages it was not made known, and that so great a part of the world are still Pagans or Mahometans; because we know not what the condition of such men is in the next world to whom the true God and Christ hath not been revealed; nor has God discovered to us how he deals with them: what we are concerned for is, to be thankful for, and duly improve, the talents we receive; and to leave

i Gen. xvii. 12. and Exod. xii. 49.

those who are invincibly ignorant to the justice and wisdom of God; but not to raise objections from what we must confess we know nothing of.

That we may the more easily apprehend the nature and degrees of inspiration, we are to distinguish between an inspiration of suggestion, and of direction. The Holy Ghost immediately suggested to the penmen of the holy Scripture what they knew not before, nor could otherwise apprehend: as to Moses and the ancient prophets, what they delivered from the mouth or in the name of God, such as all the visions which they declare they saw, and all the messages, with this preface, The Lord spake, saying; or, Thus saith the Lord: so also, under the New Testament, the Holy Ghost immediately suggested to the Apostles the doctrine of the Gentiles being admitted to the same privileges with the Jews in the church of Christ; that the resurrection should be in such a manner as is described'; and such like. But then as to other matters, which the penmen of the Scriptures had heard before, or knew already, (that which they had seen and heard,) the inspiration that was necessary was that of direction or guidance, viz. so far as to refresh their memory, and stir them up to write what was necessary, and secure them from error. Nor is it requisite, in respect to either of these ways of inspiration, that all the very words and sentences should be dictated by the Holy Ghost; for even in the prophets we find a great difference". between the plain and humble style of Amos, who was an herdsman, ch. vii. 14. and the more lofty expressions of the generality of the rest, who had a more liberal education, especially the prophet Isaiah. And as for the New Testament, although Christ promised, in respect to his sermons and discourses, the

k Eph. iii. 3, &c. 1 Cor. xv. m Scito prophetam impelli a prophetia sua, ad loquendum ea loquendi ratione, quæ ipsi est familiaris, et consueta, Maimon. Mor. Nevoch, pars ii. cap. 29,

Holy Ghost shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you"; and by the gift of languages, they spake at certain times as the Spirit gave them utterance"; and in some matters of great moment, the Apostles spake in the words which the Holy Ghost taught°; yet at other times they express their doubts and hopes". And nothing is more evident, than that the holy writers generally used their own style, their reason, and their natural faculties, as well as their hands in writing, or their tongues in dictating. It is sufficient that they were always under the guidance and infallible direction of the Holy Spirit, who so assisted them, that they might instruct the church in speaking and writing, exactly according to truth and the will of God".

And there is no reason to conceive, but that the authors of the holy Scriptures might certainly know, without any manner of doubt', that they were inspired by God; since we cannot conceive God to have less power and skill than a man hath, who can utter his mind in such a manner, that the person he utters his mind to shall have no doubt who it is that speaks, or what he means. And God, who is a spirit, can speak as intelligibly to the spirits and minds of men, as men can speak to the ear. So much we learn from the history of Abraham's attempting to slay his son; a thing abhorrent to nature, had he not been clearly assured of God's command to do it. Neither would Noah have prepared the ark, had he not been alike assured of the flood. When we talk with one another, a noise is made in the air that strikes on the ears of others,

m John xiv. 26. n Acts ii. 4. 16. Rom. xv. 24. 1 Pet. v, 12. 2 Cor. xiii. 3. Eph. iii. 5. posita, ut quæ sensibus vel intellectu apprehenduntur. Maimon. Mor. Nevoch. pars iii. çap. 24.

• 1 Cor. ii. 13. P 1 Cor. i. 9 See 1 Cor. ii. 10, 13, 16. Extra omnem dubitationis aleam