xii 0 F Tu E DIVINE AUT I-I 0 RI T Y V f. This further appears from the Credit and Sincerity of thole that were the Pen– men. lf the Scriptures were not what they pretend to be, viz. the Word of God, and ditlated to the Writers thereof by his Holy Spirit, it would be the greatefl: Affront to the divine Majef\y, and rhe groffeft Cheat towards Mankind, that ever was put upon the World. Bur if we conr,der the Pen-men thereof, we !hall find them all of un– doubted Credit, generally elteemed holy and good Men in the Ages they lived in, fo no Way to be fulpeCl:ed of lmpofl:ure. Some of them were Kings, and of the deepeft Learning, not likely to be guilty of fuch a mean·fpirited Bafenels, as Lying and For– gery. Many of the Prophets, and mofl: of the Apo.ftles were Men illiterate, ,of Parts and Education fo mean, that of themfelves they feem no way capable to write fo pro– foundly, or lay fo deep a Contrivance for deluding the World. And as it is incredible, that fo many Men, of fuch diftant Times, ~raliries, and Abilities, lhould all agree in the fame Impofture, and fo harmonize in promoting it; fo neither could any lntereft or Ambition prompt them thereunto: For as the main Tendency of this Book is, to mortify Mens Ambitions and Lufts; fo moft of them expofed thcmfclves, by pub– iilhing thefe Writinas, to great Hazards and Perfecurions. Nor have feveral of them been fhy to record the great Failings and ImperfeCl:ions of themfelves, or their Bre– thren. Thus Mofes, Exod. iii. and iv. Chapters, relates his own Infidelity, and Averfenefs to fubmit to the extraordinary Call of God. ·In another Place, Numb. xi. 21. he records the Shame of his Diftruftfulnefs, or at leaft the Carnality of his Conceit or Apprehen!ion of the Power of God. Again, Numb. xx. 12. h.e inferrs God's heavy Sentence, and the Ground thereof, againfl: him. The fame Mofes did not fer up any of his own Pofteriry to fucceed him in the Guidance of Ifrael, hut left Jojhua to fuc– ceed him, &c. and placed the kingly Superiority over that People in another Tribe from his own, 'Viz. the Tribe of ')udah. Indeed, throughout the whole Book there is a vifrble Antipathy to all felf-feeking Flattery or Compliance: God alone is exalted, and all Mens Perfons, ACl:ions, and Reputations are laid in the Dufl:, in refpeCl: of his Honor, and the Truths therein delivered. Befides, thefe very Writers appear them– ie!ves to be undtr a SubjeCl:ion to the DoCl:rine they taught, and no way Mafl:ers of ir, as their own. All which plainly !hews, that they were infpired from above, and wrote not their own \¥ords, or for their own Honor, but as infpired, and for the Ho– nor of God. VII. Another Demon11:ration or Proof, that the Scriptures are from God, is the exaCl: and punCl:ual fulfilling of the Prophecies therein contained. To forerel Events, is the Prerogative of God, !fa. xli. 22. Let them bring forth, (faith God, the Lord expofl:u– laring with his People about the Vanity of Idols) and Jbew us, JVhat jha/1 happen: Shew us the 'I'hings that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are Gods. Now the Body of the Scriptures is enlivened with the Spirit of Prophecy, almofl:, throughour. That of Jacob, recorded by Mofes, Gen. xlix. 10. '!'hat the Scepter Jhould not depart from Judah, 11or a Law-giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come; aud to himjha!l the gathering of the People be; was not completely fulfilled till well near two thoufand Years after, though made good during a greac Pare of that Time, viz. from the En– trance of the Tribe of Judah upon the Government, in King David 1 until the going of it out again in the Perfon of Hircanus, whom Herod flew, as Jofephus tef\ifies. Birt when the Time appointed was expired, the Prophecy itfelf was completely fulfilled: For when Herod, a Stranger, and of another Narion, had cut off the Houfe and Line of Judah from the Government of Jewr)'• then and at that Time Shi!oh, the long-ex– peCl:ed Me./fiab, our Lord Chrifl:, punCl:ually came into the World: For that by Sbiloh is meant the Mef!iah, the Jewiih Kabbies do not deny. Now at the Time of Jacob's uttering thefc Vv'ords, there was little Probability, that any of his Pofterity lhould have a Sceptre, or any kingly Power, being poor, few, and in a jlrange Land: Or, if they !hould thrive fo, as to become a Kingdom, or Nation, why lhould Judah have the Government, feeing there were three elder Brot~ers, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi? Nor was there likelihood of this Prophecy's being accompliihed, when Mofes fet it down in W riring; for then he himfelf, who was of the Tribe of Levi, was in the ac– .tual Poffeffiorl of the Government, and put into it by God himfelf, who appointed for his Succeffor, 'Jofhua, not of the Tribe of Judah, but of Ephraim. Whence we have a notable Evidence cf the Truth and Sincerity of this PsediCl:ion; for had not Jacob really uttered tt, we cannot Imagme klofes would have put fuch a Prophecy in WritI ing,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=