VII.The fourth argument
Thirdly: The evident returns of prayer are ordinary to the faithful.
Fourthly: If wonders were common, we should live by sense, and not by faith.
Fifthly: I answer, in the words of Augustin, God letteth not every saint partake of miracles, lest the weak should be deceived with this pernicious error, to prefer miracles as better than the works of righteousness, whereby eternal life is attained.
And let me now add, that if the Scriptures were not the word of God, undoubtedly there would have been as many wonders of Providence for the disgracing it, as have been for the defending it: and God would have destroyed the preachers of it, as the greatest abusers of him, and all the world, that should father such a thing on him. Can any man believe that God is the just and gracious Ruler of the world,
(that is, thatt here is a God,) and yet that he would so long suffer such things to be published as his undoubted laws, and give no testimony against it, if it were not true? As Perkins saith, 'Cases of Cons.' (lib. ii. c. 3. p. 130. sect. 1.) If it had not been God's word, the falsehood had been detected long ago. For there hath been nothing falsely said of God at any time which he himself hath not, at some time or other, opened and revealed; as he did the false prophets.
CHAP. VII
The Fourth Argument.
SECT. I. My fourth and last argument, which I will now produce to prove the Scripture to be the word and perfect law of God, is this:
Either the Scriptures are the written word and law of God, or else there is no such extant in the world: but there is a written word and law of God in the world: ergo, this is it.
Here I have these two positions to prove; First, That God hath such a written word in the world. Secondly, That it can be no other but this.
That there is such a word, I prove thus: If it cannot stand with the welfare of mankind, and consequently with that honour which the wisdom and goodness of God hath by their welfare, that the world should be without a written law, then, certainly, there is such a written law. But that it cannot stand with the welfare of the creature, or that honour of God, appears thus: that there be a certain and sufficient revelation of the will of God to man, more than mere nature and creatures do teach, is necessary to the welfare of man, and the aforesaid honour of God. But there is now no such certain and sufficient revelation unwritten in the world: therefore, it is necessary that there be such a revelation written.
The proof of the major is the main task, which if it be well performed, will clearly carry the whole cause; for I believe all the rest will quickly be granted, if that be once plain. Therefore, I shall stand a little more largely to prove it, viz., that there is a necessity for the welfare of man, and the honour of God's wisdom and goodness, that there be some further revelation of God's will, than is in mere nature or creatures to be found. And first I prove it necessary to the welfare of man, and that thus: If man have a happiness or misery to partake of after this life, and no sufficient revelation of it in nature or creatures, then it is necessary that he have some other revelation of it, which is sufficient. But such a happiness or misery man must partake of hereafter, which nature and creatures do not sufficiently reveal,
(either end or means,) therefore some other is necessary. I will stand the largelier on the first branch of the antecedent, because the chief weight lieth on it; and I scarce ever knew any doubt of Scripture, but they also doubted of the immortal state and recompense of souls; and that usually is their first and chiefest doubt.
I will, therefore, here prove these three things in order thus: 1. That there is such a state for man hereafter. 2. That it is necessary that he
know it, and the way to be so happy. 3. That nature and creatures do not sufficiently reveal it.
For the first, I take it for granted, that there is a God, because nature teacheth that; and I shall pass over those arguments drawn from his righteousness and just dispensation, to prove the variety of men's future conditions, because they are commonly known; and I shall now argue from sense itself, because that works best with sensual men: and that thus. If the devil be very diligent to deceive men of that happiness, and to bring them to that misery, then sure there is such a happiness and misery: but the former is true,s ergo the latter.
They that doubt of the major proposition, do most of them doubt, whether there be any devil, as well as whether he seek our eternal undoing. I prove both together. First, By his temptation; Secondly,
Apparitions; Thirdly, Their possessions and dispossessions; Fourthly, His contracts with witches. I hope these are palpable discoveries.
1. The temptations of Satan are sometimes so unnatural, so violent, and so importunate, that the tempted person even feels something besides himself persuading and urging him: he cannot go about his calling, he cannot be alone, but he feels somewhat following him, with persuasions to sin, yea, to sins that he never found his nature much inclined to, and such as bring him no advantage in the world, and such as are quite against the temperature of his body. Doth it not plainly tell us, that there is a devil, labouring to deprive man of his happiness, when men are drawn to commit such monstrous sins?
Such cruelty as the Romans used to the Jews at the taking of Jerusalem; so many thousand Christians so barbarously murdered; such bloody actions as those of Nero, Caligula, Sylla, Messala,
Caracalla, the Roman gladiators, the French massacre, the gunpowder-plot, the Spanish inquisition, and their murdering fifty millions of Indians in forty two years, according to the testimony of Acosta, their Jesuit; men invading their own neighbours and brethren, with an unquenchable thirst after their blood, and merely because of their strictness in the common professed religion: I say,
How could these come to pass, but by the instigation of the devil?
When we see men making a jest of such sins as these, making them their pleasure, impudently, and implacably against knowledge and conscience, proceeding in them, hating those ways that they know to be better, and all those persons that would help to save them; yea, choosing sin, though they believe it will damn them; despairing, and yet sinning still: doth not this tell men plainly, that there is a devil; their enemy? When men will commit the sin which they abhor in others, which reason is against; when men of otherwise a good nature, as Vespasian, &c., shall be so bloody murderers; when men will not be stirred from sin by any entreaty, though their dearest friends should beg, with tears, upon their knees; though preachers convince them, and beseech them in the name of the Lord; though wife and children, body and soul, be undone by it; nay, when men will be the same under the greatest judgment, and under the most wonderful convincing providences, as appears in England, yea, under miracles themselves.
Surely I think all this shows that there is a devil, and that he is diligent in working our own ruin. Why else should it be so hard a thing to persuade a man to that, which he is convinced to be good?
Sect. II. But yet if this be not evidence sufficient, the frequent apparitions of Satan in several shapes, drawing men, or frighting them into sin, is a discovery undeniable. I know many are very incredulous herein, and will hardly believe that there have been such apparitions. For my own part, though I am as suspicious as most in such reports, and do believe that most of them are conceits or delusions, yet having been very diligently inquisitive in all such cases, I have received undoubted testimony of the truth of such apparitions; some from the mouths of men of undoubted honesty and godliness, and some from the report of multitudes of persons, who heard or saw. Were it fit here to name the persons, I could send you to them yet living, by whom you would be as fully satisfied as I: houses that have been so frequently haunted with such terrors, that the inhabitants successively have been witnesses of it.
Learned godly Zanchius, in his tom. 3. lib. iv. cap. 10. 'De Potentia Dæmonum,' saith, "he wonders that any should deny that there are such spirits, as from the effects are called hags, or fairies, that is, such as exercise familiarity with men, and do, without hurting men's bodies, come to them, and trouble them, and, as it were, play with them. I could (saith he) bring many examples of persons yet alive, that have experience of these in themselves. But it is not necessary to name them, nor indeed convenient. But hence it appears that there are such spirits in the air: and that when God permits them, they exercise their power on our bodies, either to sport, or to hurt." So far
Zanchy. And he makes this use of it: "Of this (saith he), besides the certainty of God's word, we have also men's daily experience. These devils, therefore, do serve to confirm our faith of God, of the good angels, of the kingdom of heaven, of the blessed souls, and of many things more which the Scripture delivereth. Many deny that the soul of man remaineth and liveth after death, because they see nothing go from him but his breath; and they come to that impiety, that they laugh at all that is said of another life. But we see not the devils; and yet it is clearer than the sun, that this air is full of devils; because, besides God's word, experience itself doth teach it." Thus Zanchy pleads undeniable experience, (lib. iv. c. 20. p. 212.)
Luther affirmed of himself that at Coburge, he ofttimes had an apparition of burning torches; the sight thereof did so affright him, that he was near swooning; also, in his own garden, the devil appeared to him in the likeness of a black boar, but then he made light of it. Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History, writes of Apelles, a smith, famous in Egypt for working miracles, who, in the night, while he was at work, was tempted to uncleanness by the devil, appearing in the shape of a beautiful woman.y The like he tells of a strange apparition in Antioch, the night before the sedition against Theodosius. Theodorus mentions a fearful sight that appeared to Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople, and the threatening words which it uttered. The writings of Gregory, Ambrose, Austin,
Chrysostom, Nicephorus, &c., make frequent mention of apparitions, and relate the several stories at large. You may read in Lavater de
Spectris, several other relations of apparitions out of Alexander ab Alexandro, Baptista Fulgosius, and others. Ludovicus Vives, (lib. i.)
'De Veritate Fidei,' saith, "that among the savages in America, nothing is more common than to hear and see spirits in such shapes both day and night." The like do other writers testify of those
Indians: so saith Olaus Magnus of the islanders. Cardanus de Subtilit. hath many such stories. So Joh. Manlius in Loc. Commun.
Collectan. (cap. 4,) de Malis Spiritibus, et de satisfactione. Yea, godly, sober Melancthon affirms, that he had seen some such sights or apparitions himself; and many credible persons of his acquaintance have told him, that they have not only seen them, but had much talk with spirits; among the rest he mentions one of his own aunts, who sitting sad at the fire after the death of her husband, there appeared unto her one in the likeness of her husband, and another like a Franciscan friar; the former told her that he was her husband, and came to tell her somewhat; which was, that she must hire some priests to say certain masses for him, which he earnestly besought her; then he took her by the hand, promising to do her no harm, yet his hand so burned her, that it remained black ever after, and so they vanished away. Thus writes Melancthon. Lavater also himself, who hath written a book wholly of apparitions, a learned godly protestant divine, tells us, that it was then an undeniable thing, confirmed by the testimonies of many honest and credible persons, both men and women, some alive, and some dead, that sometime by night, and sometime by day, have both seen and heard such things; some that going to bed had the clothes plucked off them; others had somewhat lying down in the bed with them; others heard it walking in the chamber by them, spitting, groaning; saying, they were the souls of such or such persons lately departed; that they were in grievous torments, and if so many masses were but said for them, or so many pilgrimages undertaken to the shrine of some saint, they should be delivered. These things, with many such more, saith
Lavater, were then frequently and undoubtedly done, and, that where the doors were fast locked, and the room searched, that there could be no deceit.
So Sleidan relates the story of Crescentius, the pope's legate, frighted into a deadly sickness by a fearful apparition in his chamber. Most credible and godly writers tell us, that on June 20, 1484, at a town called Hamel, in Germany, the devil took away one hundred and thirty children, that were never seen again.
But I need to say no more of this; there is enough written already, not only by Cyeogna, Delrio, Paracelsus, &c., but also by godly and faithful writers, as Lavater, Georg. Agricola, Olaus Magnus,
Zanchius, Pictorius, and many more.
Object. But you will say, 'Though this prove that there are devils, and that they are enemies to our happiness; yet how doth it prove that there is a future happiness or misery for man?'
Answ. Why, plainly thus. What need Satan by these apparitions to set up superstition to draw men to sin, if there were no difference between sinners and others hereafter? surely, in this life it would be no great displeasure to them; for usually the wicked have the most prosperous lives; therefore his delusions must needs have respect to another life; and that the end of his apparitions is either to drive men to despair, or to superstition, or some sin, is evident to all. Most of the papists' idolatry and will-worship, hath either been caused or confirmed by such apparitions:d for in former days of darkness they were more common than now. How the order of the Carthusian friars was founded by Bruno, upon the terrible speeches and cries of a dead man, you may read in the life of Bruno, before his 'Exposition on Paul's Epistles.' Such was the original of All Souls Day, and other holydays, as Trithemius, Petrus de Natalibus, (lib. x. cap. 1;) Polyd.
Virg. de Inv. (lib. ix. cap. 9,) do declare. Also, praying for the dead, praying to saints, purgatory, merits of good works, sanctification, pilgrimages, masses, images, relies, monastical vows, auricular confession, and most of the popish ceremonies, have had their life and strength from these apparitions and delusions of the devil. But especially the cross hath been so magnified thereby,f that it is grown the commonest remedy to drive away devils of any in the world for
many hundred years; the churchyard must have one to keep the devils from the graves of the dead; and the church, and almost every pinnacle, window, and part of it, to keep him thence; the highways, also, must have them, that he molest not the traveller; yea, when morning and evening, and in times of danger, and in the beginning of any work of duty, men must sign themselves with the cross, to keep away devils: insomuch that the learned doctors do handle it among their profound questions, what makes the devil so afraid of the cross, that he shuns it above all things else? So that you may easily see what a great advantage the devil hath got over the souls of a great part of the world by these apparitions; and consequently, that, this being the very end of his endeavours, there is certainly a happiness which he would deprive us of, and a misery that he would bring us to, when this life is ended.
Sect. III. It is manifest also by the devil's possessing and tormenting the bodies of men; for if it were not more for the sake of the soul than the body, why should he not as much possess or torment a beast?
Certainly, it is not chiefly the outward torment of the person that he regardeth, though he desires that too; for then he would not labour to settle his kingdom generally in peace and prosperity, and to make men choose iniquity for its worldly advantages: yet it may, perhaps, be the souls of others, more than the possessed persons themselves, that the devil may hope to get advantage on. So among the papists it hath brought theirh exorcisms into singular credit, by the frequent dispossessing the devils. I confess there hath been many counterfeits of this kind, as the boy at Bilson, by Wolverhampton, hired by some of the papists, and discovered by the vigilant care of Bishop Morton and divers others; but, yet, if any doubt whether there is any such thing at all, credible history and late experience may sufficiently satisfy him. The history of the dispossession of the devil out of many persons together in a room in Lancashire, at the prayer of some godly ministers, is very famous: read the book, and judge. Among the papists, possessions are common; though very many of them are the priests and Jesuits' delusions.
What possession is, and how the devils are confined to a body, or whether circumscribed there in whole or in part, are things beyond my reach to know; but that the strange effects which we have seen on some bodies, have been the products of the special power of the devil there, I doubt not. Though, for my own part, I believe that God's works in the world are usually by instruments, and not immediate; and as goodk angels are his instruments in conveying his mercies both to soul and body, and churches and states; so evil angels are instruments of inflicting his judgments, both corporal and spiritual.
Hence God is said (Psal. 78:49,) to send evil angels among the Israelites. Hence Paul's phrase of delivering to Satan; hence Satan did execution on the children, cattle, and body of Job; and upon Jerusalem in that plague, and numbering the people. To satisfy you fully in this, and to silence your objections, and to teach you the true and spiritual use of this doctrine, I refer you to Mr. Lawrence's book, called 'Our Communion and War with Angels;' and, especially,
Zanchius's (tome 3) book 'De Angelis;' and, now newly published, Mr. Ambrose's book, in which, in an epistle, I have confirmed and vindicated what I have here said.
So then, though I judge that Satan is the instrument in our ordinary diseases, yet doth he, more undeniably, appear in those whom we call the possessed. Luther thought that all phrenetic persons and idiots, and all bereaved of their understanding, had devils: notwithstanding, physicians might ease them by remedies. And, indeed, the presence of the devil may consist with the presence of a disease and evil humour, with the efficacy of means: Saul's melancholy devil would be gone when David played on the harp.
Many divines, as Tertullian, Austin, Zanchius, Lavater, &c., think that he can work both upon the body and the mind, and that he maketh use to this end of melancholy humours; and, indeed, such strange things are oft said and done by the melancholy and mad, that many learned physicians think that the devil is frequently mixed with such distempers, and hath a main hand in many other symptoms: so Avicen, Rhasis, Arculanus, Aponensis, Jason, Patensis, Hercul.
Saxon, &c. Who can give any natural cause for men's speaking
Hebrew or Greek, which they never learned or spake before; of their versifying; their telling persons that are present their secrets; discovering what is done at a distance, which they neither see nor hear? Fernelius mentioneth two that he saw;m whereof one was so tormented with convulsive pain, sometime in one arm, sometime in the other; sometime in one finger, &c., that four men could scarcely hold him, his head being still quiet and well. The physicians judged it a convulsion, from some malignant humour in the spina dorsi; till, having used all means in vain, at last the devil derided them, that they had almost destroyed the man with their medicines. The man spoke Greek and Latin, which he never learned; he told the physicians a great many of their secrets; and a great deal of talk with the devil, which they had, he there mentions. In conclusion, both this and the other were dispossessed by popish prayers, fasting, and exorcism. Forestus mentions a countryman that, being cast into melancholy, through discontent, at some injuries that he had received, the devil appeared to him in the likeness of a man, and persuaded him rather to make away himself than to bear such indignities; and, to that end, advised him to send for arsenic and poison himself. But the apothecary would not let him have it except he would bring one to promise that he should not abuse it, whereupon the devil went with him, as his voucher, and so he took a dram; but, though it tormented him, yet it did not presently kill him; whereupon the devil brought him, afterward, a rope, and after that a knife, to have destroyed himself: at which sight, the man, being affrighted, was recovered to his right mind again. You may read a multitude of such examples in Scribonius, Schenkius, Wierus, Chr. à
Vega, Langius, Donatus (lib. ii. c. 1); 'De Med. Mir.' Cornel. Gemma, (lib. ii.); 'De Natur. Mirac.' (c. 4.) See also Valesius (c. 28); 'Sacr.
Philos.' Roderic. à Castro (2); 'De Morb. Mul.' (c. 3); Schol. Cælius Rhodiginus (lib. i.); (antiq. lect. c. 34.) Tertullian challengeth the heathen to bring any one possessed with the devil before their judgment-seat, or one that pretended to have the spirit of the gods; and if, at the command of a Christian, he do not confess himself to be a devil, let them take the Christian to be presumptuous, and put him immediately to death. But of Jesus, saith he, they say not so, nor that
he was a mere man; but the Power, the Wisdom, and the Word of God; and that they are devils, damned for their wickedness. The like doth Cyprian. ad Demetrian. sect. 2.
So that it seems it was then common for the devil in the possessed to confess Christ, or else Tertullian durst not have made such a challenge.
Some wonder that there were so many possessed with devils in Christ's time, and so few since: but they understood not that it was madmen whom they call possessed: and Christ confirmed their judgment; as Mr. Mead, on John 10:20, hath proved out of Scripture, and from Plautus, Justin Mart., Timotheus Alex., Balzamon,
Zonaras, to whom I refer the reader for the fuller proof hereof.
Sect. IV. The fourth and last of these palpable arguments, to prove that man hath a future happiness or misery, is drawn from the devil's compacts with witches. It cannot be only his desire of hurting their bodies, that makes him enter into these contracts with them; for that he might procure by other means as likely. Besides, it is some kind of prosperity, or fulfilling their desires, which he conditioneth to give them. It is a childish thing to conceit, that the devil cares so much for a few drops of their blood. Is not the blood of a beast or other creature as sweet? Neither can it be only the acknowledgment of his power that he aims at, nor a mere desire of being honoured or worshipped in the world, as Porphyrius and other pagans have thought; for he is most truly served, where he is least discerned; and most abhorred when he most appears. His apparitions are so powerful a means to convince the atheist, who believes not that there is either God, or devil, or heaven, or hell, that I am persuaded he would far rather keep out of sight, and that for the most part he is constrained of God to appear against his will. Besides, if Satan sought his own honour, he would still speak in his own name: but, contrarily, his usual appearance is in the shape and name of some deceased person, affirming himself to be the soul of such a one; or else he pretends to be an angel of light: and when he makes his
compacts with witches, it is seldom so plainly and directly as that they understand it is indeed the devil that they deal with. So that it is apparent, Satan seeks something more than the honour of domineering, that is, the ruin of the party with whom he deals. And that it is not their bodily and temporal ruin only, appears further by this, that he will heal as well as hurt, and give power to his confederates to do the like; and this tends not to the ruin of men's bodies. Though there be a great deal of deceit among them, yet doubtless many have been cured by popish spells, and pilgrimages, and exorcisms. Carolus Piso mentions one of his patients who was incurably deaf a year together, and was suddenly cured in the midst of his devotion to the lady of Loretto. Fernelius mentions those that could stop any bleeding by repeating certain words. He saw an universal jaundice cured in one night, by the hanging of a piece of paper about the neck. A great deal more to the same purpose he hath, 'De abditis rer. causis,' (lib. ii. c. 16.) If any should doubt whether there be any such witches, who thus work by the power of the devil, or have any compact with him, he hath as good opportunity now to be easily resolved, as hath been known in most ages. Let him go but into Suffolk, or Essex, or Lancashire, &c., and he may quickly be informed. Surely it were strange, if in an age of so much knowledge and conscience, there should so many scores of poor creatures be put to death as witches, if it were not clearly manifest that they were such. We have too many examples lately among us, to leave any doubt of the truth of this.
So that by these attempts of Satan to deceive and destroy souls, it is evident, that there is an estate of happiness or misery for every man after this life.
All those arguments, which every common-place book and philosopher almost can afford you, to prove the immortality of the soul, will also serve to prove the point in hand. But many can apprehend these arguments from sense, who cannot yet reach, and will not be convinced by other demonstrations, as temptations, apparitions, possessions, dispossessions, and witches, are most
excellent means to convince a Sadducee, that there are angels and spirits; so, also, by clear consequence, that there is a resurrection and eternal life.
Sect. V. The second thing that I am to clear to you, is, that it is necessary for man to know this happiness, and the way to obtain it; and to know the misery and the way to escape it. This appears thus:
First: If he must go that way, and use those means, then he must needs first know both the end and the way: but he that will obtain the end, must use the means; therefore, he must necessarily know them.
All this is so evident, that, I believe, few will deny it. That man must use means before he attain the end, is evident.
First: From the nature of the motion of the rational soul, which is to seek the attainment of its propounded end, by a voluntary use of means conducing thereto: for as it hath not, as its first infusion, that height of perfection, whereof it is capable, so, neither is it carried thereto by violence, or by blind instinct, for then it were not a rational motion.
Secondly: Yea, the very enjoyment of the end, and the seeking of it, are actions of the same nature: it is enjoyed by the knowing, loving, rejoicing, &c., and these actions are the means to attain it.
Thirdly: And if the means were not necessary to the end, the wicked were as capable of it as the godly; but that will not stand with the justice of God.
Fourthly: If knowledge of the end, and use of means, were not of necessity to the obtaining of that end, then a beast, or a block, were as fit a subject for that blessedness, as a man: but these cannot be.
And that man cannot seek a happiness, which he never knew; and shun a misery, which he was not aware of; nor use means thereto, which he never was acquainted with; I think would be lost and needless labour for me to prove.
Sect. VI. The third thing that I am to prove, is this: That mere nature and creatures, contain no sufficient revelation of the fore-mentioned end and means. This appears thus: First, Nature, by the help of creatures, though it tell us that there is a God, yet, how he will be worshipped, or how he came to be displeased with the world, or how he must be reconciled; of all this it tells us but little. Again, though it may possibly acquaint us with the immortal state, yet what the happiness there is, and what the misery, or how we are naturally deprived of that happiness, and how it must be recovered, and who they be that shall enjoy it; of all this it tells us little: much less of the resurrection of our bodies from the grave. So, also, though nature may possibly find itself depraved, yet how it came to be so, or how to be healed, or how to be pardoned, it cannot tell. Secondly: If nature, by the mere book of the creatures, could learn all things necessary, yet, First, It would be slow, and by so long study. Secondly, And so doubtfully and uncertainly. Thirdly, And so rarely, that it appears by this, the means of revelation is not sufficient. All this apparent by event and success. For what nature and creatures do sufficiently teach, that some of their scholars have certainly learned.
First, then, observe, how long did the most learned philosophers study before they could know those few imperfect notions, which some of them did attain to, concerning eternity? They were gray with age and study, before they could come to know that which a child of seven years old may now know by the benefit of Scripture. But all men live not to such an age, therefore this is no sufficient means.
Secondly, observe, also, how uncertain they were, when all was done; what they speak rightly concerning God, or the life to come, in one breath, they are ready to unsay it again in another, as if their speeches had fallen from them against their wills, or as Caiaphas's confession of Christ. They raise their conclusions from such uncertain premises, that the conclusions also must needs be uncertain.
Thirdly, observe, also, how rare that knowledge was among them. It may be in all the world, there may be a few hundreds of learned philosophers, and among those there is one part epicures, another peripatetics, &c., that acknowledge not a future happiness or misery.
And of those few that do acknowledge it, none knows it truly, nor the way that leads to it. How few of them could tell what was man's chief good! And those few, how imperfectly; with what mixtures of falsehood! we have no certainty of any of them that did know so much, as that there was but one God. For though Socrates died for deriding the multitudes of gods, yet there is no certain record of his right belief of the unity of the godhead. Besides, what Plato and Plotinus did write of this that was sound, there is far greater probability that they had it from Scripture, than merely from nature and creatures. For that Platou had read the writings of Moses, is proved already by divers authors. The like may be said of Seneca, and many others. So that if this means had contained any sufficiency in it for salvation, yet it would have extended but to some few of all the learned philosophers: and what is this to an universal sufficiency to all mankind? nay, there is not one of all their exactest moralists, that have not mistaken vice for virtue; yea, most of them give the name of virtue to the foulest villanies, such as self-murder, in several cases, revenge, a proud and vain-glorious affectation of honour and applause, with other the like; so far have these few learned philosophers been from the true knowledge of things spiritual and divine, that they could never reach to know the principles of common honesty. Varro saith, that there were in his days, two hundred and eighty-eight sects or opinions among philosophers concerning the chief good: what, then, should the multitudes of the vulgar do, who have neither strength of wit to know, nor time, and books and means to study, that they might attain to the height of these learned men? so that I conclude with Aquinas,y that if possibly, nature and creatures might teach some few enough to salvation, yet were the Scriptures of flat necessity; both for the more enlarged: Secondly,
And the more easy and speedy: Thirdly, And the more certain spreading of knowledge and salvation.
Sect. VII. But here are some objections to be answered, First, Were not the fathers till Moses, without Scripture? Answ. First, Yet they had a revelation of God's will, besides what nature or creatures taught them. Adam had the doctrine of the tree of knowledge, and the tree of life, and the tenor of the covenant made with him, by such revelation, and not by nature. So had the fathers the doctrine of sacrificing; for nature could teach them nothing of that, therefore, even the heathens had it from the church. Secondly, All other revelations are now ceased, therefore this way is more necessary.
Thirdly, And there are many truths necessary now to be known, which then were not revealed, and so not necessary.
Object. 2. Doth not the apostle say, that which may be known of God, was manifest in them, &c.?
Answ. This, with many other objections, are fully scanned by many divines, to whom I refer you; particularly Dr. Willet, on Rom. 1:14,
20, &c. Only in general I answer, there is much difference between knowing that there is a God of eternal power, which may make the sinner inexcusable for his open sin against nature, (which the apostle there speaks of,) and knowledge which is sufficient to salvation. How
God deals with the multitude that have not the Scripture, as to their eternal state, I leave as a thing beyond us, and so nothing to us: but if a possibility of the salvation of some of them be acknowledged, yet in the three respects above mentioned, there remains still a necessity of some further revelation than nature or creatures do contain. And thus I have manifested a necessity for the welfare of man. Now it would follow that I show it necessary for the honour of God; but this follows so evidently as a consectary of the former, that I think I may spare that labour.
Object. But what if there be such a necessity, doth it follow that God must needs supply it? Answ. Yes, to some part of the world. For,
First, It cannot be conceived how it can stand with his exceeding goodness, bounty, and mercy, to make a world, and not to save some.
Secondly, Nor with his wisdom, to make so many capable of
salvation, and not reveal it to them, or bestow it on them. Thirdly, Or to prepare so many other helps to man's happiness, and to lose them all for want of such a sufficient revelation. Fourthly, Or to be the Governor of the world, and yet to give them no perfect law to acquaint men with their duty, and the reward of obedience, and penalty of disobedience.
Having thus proved that there is certainly some written word of God in the world, the last thing that I have to prove is, that there is no other writing in the world but this that can be it. And, First, There is no other book in the world, that ever I heard of, that doth so much as claim this prerogative and dignity. Mahomet calleth himself but a prophet, he acknowledgeth the truth of most of the Scripture, and his
Alcoranc contradicteth the very light of nature. Aristotle, Plato, and other philosophers, acknowledge their writings to be merely of their own study and invention. What book saith, 'Thus saith the Lord,' and 'This is the word of the Lord,' but this? So that if it hath no competitor, there needs not so much to be said.
2. What other book doth reveal the mysteries of God, of the Trinity, of God and man in one person, of creation, of the fall, the covenants, their conditions, heaven, hell, angels, devils, temptations, regeneration, worship, &c., besides this one book, and those that profess to receive it from this, and profess their end to be but the confirming and explaining the doctrine of this? Indeed, upon those subjects which are below the Scripture, as logic, arithmetic, &c., other books may be more excellent than it; as a tailor may teach you to make a cloak better than all the statute books or records of parliament. But this is a lower excellency than the Scripture was intended to.
And thus I have done with this weighty subject, that the Scripture, which contains the promises of our rest, is the certain infallible word of God. The reason why I have thus digressed, and said so much of it, is, because I was very apprehensive of the great necessity of it, and the common neglect of being grounded in it; and withal, that this is
the very heart of my whole discourse; and that if this be doubted of, all the rest that I have said will be in vain. If men doubt of the truth, they will not regard the goodness. And the reason why I have said no more, but passed over the most common arguments, is, because they are handled in many books already; which I advise Christians to be better versed in. To the mere English reader I commend especially these: Sir Philip Morney, Lord du Plessis's 'Verity of Christian
Religion;' Grotius 'Of the Truth of Christian Religion,' which is lately translated into English; and Mr. Perrin's 'Cases of Conscience,' (lib. ii. c. 3); Parson's 'Book of Resolution,' corrected by Bunny, (the second part.) Dr. Jackson on the Creed, and (come forth since I began this) Mr. White's, of Dorchester, 'Directions for Reading
Scripture.' Mr. John Goodwin's 'Divine Authority of Scripture Asserted.' Also, read a book called, 'A Body of Divinity,' (first part,) written by our honest and faithful countryman, Colonel Edward
Leigh. Also, Ursinus's Catechism on this question; and Ball's Catechism, with the exposition, which, to those that cannot get larger treatises, is very useful.
For the question, How it may be known which books are canonical? I here meddle not with it: I think human testimony, with the forementioned qualifications, must do most in determining that. Yet we must carefully distinguish between those canonical books which have been questioned, and those which were unquestioned, but delivered by more infallible tradition; and also between those which contain most of the substance of our faith, and those which do not.
Prop. 1. No book in the canon was ever generally doubted of; but when one church doubted of it, others received it, from whom we have as much reason to receive them, as from the Roman church.
Prop. 2. Those books which have been generally received, are known to be canonical, by the same way, and testimony, and means, as the Scripture in general is known to be God's word.