V. The second argument
CHAP. V The Second Argument.
SECT. I. I come now to my second argument, to prove Scripture to be the word of God: and it is this:
If the Scripture be neither the invention of devils nor of men, then it can be from none but God; but that it is neither of devils, nor merely of men, I shall now prove; for, I suppose, none will question that major proposition. First, Not from devils; for, First, They cannot work miracles to confirm them; Secondly, It would not stand with God's sovereignty over them, or with the goodness, wisdom, and faithfulness of governing the world, to suffer Satan to make laws, and confirm them with wonders, and obtrude them upon the world in the name of God, and all this without disclaiming them, or giving the world any notice of the forgery; Thirdly,p Would Satan speak so much for God? So seek his glory as the Scripture doth? Would he so vilify and reproach himself, and make known himself to be the most hateful and miserable of all creatures? Would he so fully discover his own wiles, his temptations, his methods of deceiving, and give men such powerful warning to beware of his snares, and such excellent means to conquer himself? Would the devil lay such a design for men's salvation? Would he show them their danger, and direct them to escape it? Would he so mightily labour to promote all truth and goodness, and the happiness of mankind, as the Scripture doth? Let any man tell me what book or project in the world did ever so mightily overthrow the kingdom of Satan as this book, and this
Gospel-design: and would Satan be such an enemy to his own kingdom? Fourthly, If Satan were the author, he would never be so unweariedly and subtilely industrious, to draw the world to unbelief, and to break the laws which this book containeth, as his constant temptations do sensibly tell many a poor soul that he is; would he be
so earnest to have his own words rejected, or his own laws broken? I think this is all clear to any man of reason.
Sect. II. Secondly: That no mere men were the inventors of Scripture, I prove thus: If men were the devisers of it, then it was either good men or bad; but it was neither good men nor bad; therefore, none.
Though goodness and badness have many degrees, yet under some of these degrees do all men fall. Now, I will show you that it could be neither of these; and, First, Good men they could not be; for you might better say that murderers, traitors, adulterers, parricides, sodomites, &c. were good men, rather than such. To devise laws, and father them upon God; to feign miracles, and father them upon the word of the Lord; to promise eternal salvation to those that obey them; to threaten damnation to those that obey them not; to draw the world into a curse so destructive to all their worldly happiness, upon a promise of happiness in another world, which they cannot give; to endeavour so egregiously to cozen all mankind: if all this, or any of this, be consistent with common honesty; nay, if it be not as horrible wickedness as can be committed, then I confess I have lost my reason. Much less, then, could such a number of good men in all ages, till Scriptures were finished, be guilty of such inexpressible crimes: neither will it here be any evasion to say, they were men of a middle temper; partly good, and partly bad: for these are not actions of a middle nature, nor such as will stand with any remnants of ingenuity or humanity. We have known wicked persons, too many, and too bad; yet where or when did we ever know any that attempted any so more than hellish an enterprise? False prophets have sent abroad indeed particular falsehoods; but who hath adventured upon such a system as this? Mahomet's example, indeed, comes nearest to such a villany; yet doth not he pretend to the hundredth part of so many miracles, nor so great as the Scripture relateth, nor doth pretend to be God, nor any more than a great prophet: trusting more to his sword for success, than to the authority or truth of his pretended revelations; not denying the truth of much of the Scripture; but adding his Alcoran, partly drawn from Scripture, and
partly fitted with fleshly liberties and promises to his own ends. And doth not every man among us take that act of Mahomet to be one of the vilest that the sun hath seen; and judge of the man himself accordingly? So that I think it beyond doubt, that no one good man, much less so great a number as were the penmen of Scripture, could devise it of their own brain, and thrust it on the world.
Secondly: And it is as certain that no bad men did devise the Scriptures. Could wicked deceivers so highly advance the glory of God, and labour so mightily to honour him in the world; would they have so vilified themselves, and acknowledged their faults; could such an admirable, undeniable spirit of holiness, righteousness, and self-denial, which runs through every vein of Scripture, have been inspired into it from the invention of the wicked? Would wicked men have been so wise, or so zealous for the suppression of wickedness; or so earnest to bring the world to reformation? Would they have been such bitter adversaries to their own ways; and such faithful friends to the ways they hate? Would they have vilified the ungodly, as the Scripture doth; and pronounced eternal damnation against them? Would they have extolled the godly, who are so contrary to them; and proclaimed them a people eternally blessed? Would they have framed such perfect and such spiritual laws; and would they have laid such a design against the flesh, and against all their worldly happiness, as the scope of the Scripture doth carry on? It is needless, surely, to mention any more particulars: I think every man, of the least ingenuity, that considers this, or deliberately vieweth over the frame of the Scriptures, will easily confess that it is more than probable that it was never devised by any deceiving sinner; much less, that all the penmen of it in several ages were such wicked deceivers.
So, then, if it was neither devised by good men nor by bad men, then surely by no men; and, consequently, must of necessity proceed from God.
Sect. III. Secondly, That it proceed not merely from man, I also prove thus: That which was done without the help of human learning, or any extraordinary endowments of nature, and yet the greatest philosophers could never reach near it, must needs be the effect of a power supernatural; but such is both the doctrine and the miracles in Scripture; therefore, &c.
It is only the antecedent that here requires proof; which consists of these two branches, both which I shall make clear.
First: That the doctrine of Scripture was compiled, and the miracles done without the help of much human learning, or any extraordinary natural endowments.
Secondly: That yet the most learned philosophers never could reach near the Gospel-mysteries, nor ever work the miracles that were then done.
But I shall say most to the doctrine. For the proof of the former, consider:
First: The whole world was, in the times of Moses and the prophets, comparatively unlearned. A kind of learning the Egyptians then had, and some few other, especially consisting in some small skill in astronomy; but it was all but barbarous ignorance, in comparison of the learning of Greece and Europe. Those writings of greatest antiquity, yet extant, do show this. See also Doctor Hackwell, as before.
2. As rare as learning then was, yet did God choose the unlearned of that unlearned time to be instruments and penmen of his choicest
Scriptures. David, who was bred a shepherd, is the penman of those divine, unmatchable psalms. Amos is taken from a herdsman, to be a prophet.
3. But especially in those latter ages, when the world was grown more wise and learned, did God purposely choose the weak, the
foolish, the unlearned, to confound them: a company of poor fishermen, tent-makers, and such-like, must write the laws of the kingdom of Christ; must dive into the spiritual mysteries of the kingdom; must silence the wise, and disputers of the world; must be the men that must bring in the world to believe. Doubtless, as God sending David, an unarmed boy, with a sling and a stone against an armed giant, was to make it appear that the victory was from himself; so his sending these unlearned men to preach the Gospel, and subdue the world, was to convince both the present and future generations that it was God, and not man, that did the work.
4. Also, the course they took in silencing the learned adversaries, doth show us how little use they made of these human helps. They disputed not with them by the precepts of logic: their arguments were to the Jews, the writings of Moses, and the prophets; and both to Jews and Gentiles, the miracles that were wrought: they argued more with deeds than with words. The blind, lame, the sick that were recovered, were their visible arguments. The languages which they spake, the prophecies which they uttered, and other such supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost upon them; these were the things that did convince the world: yet this is no precedent to us, to make as little use of learning as they, because we are not upon the same work, nor yet supplied with their supernatural furniture.
5. The reproaches of their enemies do fully testify this, who cast it still in their teeth, that they were ignorant and unlearned men; and, indeed, that was the great rub that their doctrine found in the world.
It was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; and therefore it appeared to be the power of God, and not of man.
This was it that they discouraged the people with: "Do any of the rulers or pharisees believe on him? But this people that know not the law are accursed." (John 6:48, 49.) 6. To conclude, the very frame and style of these sacred writings, do fully tell us, that they were none of the logicians, nor eloquent orators of the world, that did compose them. This is yet to this day,
one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the world, to hinder men from the reverencing and believing the Scriptures. They are still thinking, Surely if they were the very words of God, they would excel all other writings in every kind of excellency; when, indeed, it discovereth them the more certainly to be of God, because there is in them so little of man. They may as well say, If David had been sent against Goliah from God, he would surely have been the most complete soldier, and most completely armed. The words are but the dish to serve up the sense in; God is content that the words should not only have in them a savour of humanity, but of much infirmity, so that the work of convincing the world may be furthered thereby.
And I verily think, that this is God's great design, in permitting these precious spirits of divine truth, to run in the veins of infirm language, that so men may be convinced, in all succeeding ages, that Scripture is no device of human policy. If the apostles had been learned and subtle men, we should sooner have suspected their finger in the contrivance. Yea, it is observable, that in such as Paul, that had some human learning, yet God would not have them make much use of it, lest the excellency of the cross of Christ should seem to lie in the enticing words of man's wisdom; and lest the success of the Gospel should seem to be more from the ability of the preacher, than from the arm of God.
Besides all this, it may much persuade us that the apostles never contrived the doctrine which they preached, by their sudden and not premeditated setting upon the work. They knew not whither they should go, nor what they should do, when he calls one from his fishing, another from his custom: they knew not what course Christ would take with himself, or them; no, not a little before he leaves them. Nay, they must not know their employment till he is taken from them. And even then is it revealed to them by parcels and degrees, and that without any study or invention of their own; even after the coming down of the Holy Ghost, Peter did not well understand that the Gentiles must be called. (Acts 10.) All which ignorance of his apostles, and suddenness of revelation, I think was