XX OF THE DIVINE AUTHORITY jhall die, Deut. xix. 20. Secondly, Jf the Matter came not to pafs, as we have it in the next Verfe fave one; When a Prophet fpeaketh in the Name of the Lord, if tbeThing follow not, nor come to pafs, that is the Thing which the Lord bath not Jpoktn, but the Prophet bath fpoken it prefumptuoujly. And a final Decifion, what was to be received for the Old Tell:ament, God was pleafed to make, after the Babylonifh Captivity, in the D ays of Ezra, and that famous Synagogue, feveral of the !all: Prophl'tS being per– fan ally prefent, where by a divine Direction, all the Parts of the Old Te!tament were collected, and a Separation made, not only between the Works of true Prophets and falfe; and fuch Writings as came by divine Infpiration, from thofe that were of. divine Extraction; and fuch as were to be a perpetual Rule to the Church, from fuch as relating only to particular Cafes, were not fo. And in this Settlement the Jewifh Church did acquiefce, and from that time to this have had no further Difputes, but received thofe vory Books, and none others, for thofe called Apocrypha, which the Papill:s would obtrude upon us, were never received as Canonical by the Jews. Then as for the Books of the New Tell:ament, they were all written either by Apoll:les, or apoll:olical Men, known by their being called to that Office, and the Gift of Tongues, and Power of working Miracles, to be guided by the Holy Gholl:. And as the ·writing of the Old Tell:ament ended with the Prophets, (for after Malachi, to the Time of John the Baptifl, which was near four hundred Years, there arofe not a Pro– phet in lfrael ;) fo the New Tell:ament begins with the Accomplifhment of Malachi's Prophecy, by the Birth of the faid John, predicted under the Type of Elias, and ends with the Apofl:les; for John, who wrote the Revelation, out-li ved all the reil: of the Apoflles, for he died not till the Time of Trajan, in the 99th Year of our Lord, and almoll: thirty Years after the Deflruction of Jerufalem, and he clofes the Canon of the New Tell:ament with a Denunciation of a Curfe to mry that jhould add thereunto, Rev. xxii. t 8. Obj. 2. But how are we fure that \ve have now at this Day all the Books that were anciently ell:eemed Canonical? lt feems not: For there is mention made of Solomon's three thoufand Parables or Proverbs, and Songs an hundred and five, 1 Kings iv. 32. of Nathan the Prophet, and of Gad the Seer, 2 Chron. xxix. 29. the Prophecy o£Ahijah the Shilonite, and the ViGons of Iddo. the Seer, 2 Chron. ix. And in the New Tell:a– meht, of the Epill:le to the Laodiceans, Col. iv. 16. , Now where are any of thefe extant? Anfw. Thofc Books mentioned in the Old T ell:ament, were either Books of a com– mon Nature, and not divinely infpired ; or elfe they arc yet extant under another Name: For how do we know, but the Books called Samuel might be written partly by himfelf, whilll: he lived, and partly by Gad and Nathan, after his Death. And for the other Writings of Nathan, Ahijah, and lddo, they may very probably be the fame that we call the Books of the Kings. And for_that Epill:le to the Laodiceans, the Original is, ~)G AaoJ'uwas-, [from] not [to J as fame Tranflations would have it, Laodicea: And it is probable it was fame Letter written from the Laodiceans to Paul, wherein there might be fomething that concerned the ColoJ!ians, and therefore the Apoll:le advifed them to read it. Obj. 3· But the Papill:s fay, T hat the very Fountains, the Hebrew and Greek Origi– nals themfelves, are corrupted, depraved, and troubled ; and tf fo, how fhall we be at any certainty ? Anfw. It is true, they do fay fo, but moll: falQy and wickedly, only to the DiG10nor of the \¥ord of God, to make vVay for their own Traditions, and the Aathority of their Church; though by this Suggeflion they blafpheme the Providence of God, and alfo lay an infulferable Scandal on the Church: For if the Scriptures were committed to her Charge, and fhe hath fulfered any Part of them to be either lo.ft or corrupted, has fhe not grofsly abufed her Trull: ? But they are not able to give one Inll:ance where any fuch Corruption has happened, As for the Old Tell:ament, it is well enoucrh known how ll:rictly careful the Jews were, and are to this Day, to preferve it, infm~ud1 that they took an Account how oft every Letter in the Alphabet was ufed in every Book thereof. And Philo the Jew, an ancient, learned, and approved Author of that Na– tion, affirms, That from the giving of the L aw to his Time, which was above two thou– fmtd rears, clwre was not fo much as one Word changed or varied; yea, that there was 2 -
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=