0 F T HE H 0 L y s c R I p T u R E s. ix H. By its Antiquity. The Books of .Mofes, wherein_in Promifes,. Prophecies, .Types, :and Shadows the Sum and Subftance ot all the rd[ ot the Btble IS compnfed, were (he firfl: Wri;in<>s in the World, next to thofe by the Finger of God on Mount Sinai. This is fully p;;,ved by 'jujlin M~artyt·,. an ancient Writer, that lived within one hun– dred and thirty Years after Chnft, tn h~s Par(l}netu to the Greeks; who companng the Times of all human Writers, Poets, Phtlofophers, Htftonans, and Law.gtvers, efteemed moft antient, demonftrates them all to be but,Ptmies to tVlofts. Euftbius alfo, who fol– lowed Jujlin Mart)'r at about t ><o hundred Years difbnce, in rhe fecond and third Books of his Evangelical Preparation, profecLHes the fame Argument at large, and from Abun– dance of Teftimonies and Confeffions, out of the beft and moft authentic Heathen Au– thors themfelves, undeniably evinces, that Mofts was the moft ancient of all the Wri– ters that were known or named amongft them. And 'J'ertullian {o confidently upbraids !he Gentiles in this Matter, that we think it not am ifs to recite his Words, in the 19th Chapter of his Apology. O~r Religion, faith he, fpeaking to the Heathens, far out– ,does oil tbat you can boajl of in that Kind: For the Books of one of our Prophets onf)•, viz. Mofes, wherein it ftems God bath inclojed, as in a 'J'reajury, ali the Cbrijlian Reli– gion precedi1;g Jo many Ages together, reach beyond the ancie>Jtcjl )'OU have, even allyour public Monuments, the Antiquity ofyour Originals, the Ejlablijhment of )'OUr Eftates, the Foundations of )'OUr Cities, all that are mojl advanced by ;•ou in all Ages of Hijlory, and Memory of 'l'imes ; tbe Invention even of the Charatlers, which are Interpreters of Sciences, <~nd the Guardians of all 'J'hings excellent : 1 think I may fa)' more, they are elder than )'Otlr very Gods, )'OUr 'J'emples, Oracles, and Sacrifices. Have you not heard mention made of tbat great Prophet, Mofes? He was cotemporary with Inachus, and preceded Danaus, (the ancientcjl of all that ha·ve a Name in your llijlories,) 393 Years: He lived fome hun– dreds of 1'ears before the Rui1l of Troy. [And llomer, tile eldeft Writer amongft the Grecians, lived, as Pliny faith, 250 Years after the Subverfion of that City.) Every of the other Pr·ophets fucceeded Mofes, a;>d )'Cl the !aft of them was of the fame Age as ;•our prime lVift-men, Law-givers, and HijJoriaus were. So that it is a Thing out of Difpute, that for Antiguity, neither the "'ritings of Or– .Pheus, or Homer, or 9'rijmegijlus, or Pythagoras, or Berojus, nor any other, can compare .with the Pentateuch. Thefe Gray-hairs fhew them to be the Offspring of the Ancient of Days; for Truth is always the Firft.born. And if we confider, how low, mean, and imperfeCt all hum?.n Inventions were in thofe Times; and what foolifh, irrational, and abfurd Conceptions, both the Eg)'ptians and Grecians, Nations moft celebrated for Vvifdom, had ot Things divine, and the Duty and 1:-lappinefs of Man; we cannot but conclude, That fo clear an Account of the World's Beginning, Depravation, Deftrutlion by the Flood, and Re-peopling; fuch a moft excellent Law and DoCtrine, in reference both to God and Man, &c. could not be of human Extratl, but mufr needs be in Truth, what it pretends itfelf to be, a divine Revelation. Befides, who can believe the firjl Religion fhould be the worft, or the moft timely Notions of God the falfeft? Were this fo, and the Bible 'not a divine Book, but compofed by hnpojlors, then it follows, that the moft primitive Account we have of Religion is counterfeit; that the Devil !et up his Chapel, before God built his Church; that in the earlieft Notices we have of God, of the World's Original, Man's. Fall, and the Way of his Recovery, the ·world is deceived and abuftd; and that God {ulfered the Devil, in the firft Place, (and without any Thing publicly extant from him, .either before or fince, to contr:Jdiet it,) in his Name, and under Pretence of his Autho– rity, to delude and miOead Mankind, with a falfe Account of all thofe Things which they are moft concerned to know, and upon the right Knowledge of which their pre– fent and future Happinefs depends: All which, as it is unworthy of God, fo it is no •lefs repugnant to the Dictates of Reafon. But on the contrary, it is moft rational to .believe, that God's Revelations were as early as Man's Neceffities; and that the Bible being the moft ancient, as well as the wifrft Book in the World, is alfo the trucjl, and proceeded from the God of Trmh. 111. This Royal Dejcmt, or Divinity of the Scriptures, fun her appears by that Ma– jejly and Autboritativenejs of <he Spirit of God fpeakin<> in them, and that extraordi– nary and. inimitable Stile wherein they are written. A~ it is faid of our blelfed Lord, Matt. vu. 28. '!'bat he taugbt as one having Authorit)', and not as the Scribes: So the :Scnptures teach Wtth an awful Authority. The Stile of the facred Scripture is fingular, J and
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