Epifie to the H &'Bit E vv S. 2j Prophefie, Rem. r. 8. Chap. 16.26. Luke 24.25. 2 Pet. 1. 19. Sowere the Books ofthe NewTeftament wehten by Apofles, or men endowed with an Apollo/teat spirit, and in their work equally infpired bythe HolyGhoft; whence the Church is fold to bebuilt on the foundation of the Prophets and Apoftles, lefts Chrift himfelf being the chief cor- oner flan, Epheg n. zo. If then theAuthor of anyWriting acknowledgeth himfelf; or may otherwife be convinced, to have been neither Prophet nor Apoftle, nor endued with the fame infallibleSpirit with them, his work how excellent loever other wayes it may appear, mutt needs be efteemed a meet fruit of his ownSkill, Diligence and Wifdom, andnot any way to belong unto the Canon of the Scripture. This is the condition, for inftance, of the fécond Bookof Maccabees. In the clofe of it, the Au- thor being doubtful what acceptance his endeavours and manner of Writing would find amonglt his Readers, makes his excufe ;, and affirms, that he did his uttnoft to pleafe them in his Style and Competition of his words. So he tells us.before, Chap. 2. D. 24. that he did but Epitomize the Hi1tory of Jafon the Cyrenean, wherein he took great pains and lábour. The truth is, he that had before commended Judas Machabaus for offering Sacrifices for the dead (which indeed he did not, but for the living ) nowhere appointed in the Law ; and affirmed, that Jeremiah bid the holy Fire, Ark, Tabernacle andAltar oflncenfi in aCave ; that the fame perfon, Antiochxs, was killed at Nanea inPerfia, Chap. 1. v. 16, and dyed in the Mountains of torments in his Bowels, as hewas coming toJudea, Chap. 9. whom the fink Book affirms tohave dyed of furrow at Babylon, Chap. 6. v..16. who affirms Judas to have written Let- ters to Ariftóbulus in the one hundredeighty eighth yearof the SeleucianEmpire,who was !lain in the one hundred fifty fecond year of it, Lib. a. Chap. a. 3. that is thirty fix years after his death, with many other fuchmiftakes and falfhoods, had no great need to inform us, that he had no fpecial Divine Aftance in his Writing, bite leaned unto his own Underftanding s But yet this he doth, as we (hewed, and that openly ; For the Holy Ghoft will not be an Epitomator of a Profane, Writing as helprofelfeth himfèlf to have been; nor makeexcufes for his weaknefl, nor declare his pains and Sweat in his Work, as he doth. And yet to that pafs'are things brought in the World by Cuftome, Prejudice, love ofReputation, fcorn to be efteemed miltaken its any thing, that many earneflly contend for this Book to be written by DivineInfJira- tion, when the Author of it himfelf openly profeffeth it to have been of another Extra& For although this Book, be not only rejeted out of the Canon, by the Council òfLaodicea, Hierom and others of theAncients, but by Gregory the Great Bifhop $,aod Lend. of Rome-himfelf, yet the Church of Rome would now by force thrulf it thereinto. cap. 59. But were theAuthor himfelf alive again, I am fo well perfwaded of his Ingenuity Theron. cat. and Honefty, from the Conclufionof hisStory, that they wouldnever be able to make %'iror. iUufl, bi him fay, that he wrote by Divine Inffiiration; and little reafon then have we to be- GBéeor.Mor. lieve it. Now thisEpifIle is free from this Exception. The Penman of it loth no ,tis. 9.cep,16; where intimate, direfly or inditet`fly, that he wrote in his own firength, or byhis own ability; which yet if he had done, in an Argument of that nature which he infiftedon, had been incumbent on him to have declared, that he might, not lead theChurch into a pernicious error, in embracing that as given by Infpiration from God, which was but a fruit of his Diligence and fallible Indeavours. But on the contrary, he fpeaks as in the name of God , referring unto him, all that he deli- vers ; nor can in any Minute laitance, be conyided to have wanted his Af- fiftance. Cireumftances of the generalArgument of a Book may allo convince it, of an hu- 4.36- mane or fallible Original. This they do for inflance, in the Book of Judith. For filch a Nebuchadonofor, as thould raign in Ninive,Chap. a. v. a. and make War withAr- phaxad King ofEcbatane, ver. 13. wholeCaptains and Officers fhould know nothing at all of theNation of the Jews, Chap. g. v.3. that waged War again({ them in the , dayesof Joakim, oras other Copies Eliakim the High Prieft, Ch. 4.5. afterwhole De- feat,theJews Ihould have peacefor eightyyears at the leaft,Ch.16.28.3o.is an imagination ofthatwhich never had fubfi(ténce in rerumnatura s or a reprefentation of what rt' ttn a 7ewifbWoman ought, asthe Author of it conceived, undertake for the good of her Country. Setting afidethe confideration of all other difcoveries of the fallibility of the wholeDifcourfe: Thisalone is futficient to impeach its refutation. Our Epifile is no way obnoxious unto any exception of this nature. Yea, the ftate of thinggs in the Churches of God, and among the Hebrews in particular, did at that timead-' minifter fo jult and full occafion unto a Writing of this kind, as gives counte- nance
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