ZZ Canonical Authority of the _nave unto its' afcription unto theWifdom andCare of the Holy Ghoft. For if the :eruption of the poyfonous brood of Hereticks , queflioning the Deity ofthe Son , .ofGod in Carinthas, gave occafion to the Writing of the Gofpel by St. Sohn, and if the Diffintions in the Church ofCorinth, deferved two Epifiles for their compof- tion, and the letterDifferences between Believers of the Jews andGentiles, in and about the things treated of in this Epiftle had a remedy provided for them in the Epiftles-of.St. Paul unto them, is it not at leafs probable that the fsme Spirit who moved the Penmen of thofe Books 'to Write, and direfted them in their fo doing, didalto provide for the removal of the Prejudices, and healing of the Diftem- pers of the Hebrews, which were fo great, and of fo great importance Tinto all the Churches of God: And that there is weight in this Confideration , when we come to declare the lime when this Epifile was written , will evidently ap- pear. The molt manifest Eviction of any Writing pretending unto the priviledge of Divine Infiration, may be taken from the Súbjett Matter of it, or the things taught and declared therein. God himfelfbeing the firfì and onlyFffentiol Truth, nothing 0.37. can proceed from him, but what is abfolutely fo ; and Truth being but one, eve- ry way Vniform and Confonant unto it felf, there can be no difirepanry in the branches of it, nor contrariety in the [creams that flow from that one Fountain. God is alto Holy, Glorious in Holinefs, and nothing proceeds immediately from him, but it bears a 'tamp ofhis Holinefs, as alfo of his Greatnefs and Wifdom. If then any thing in the Subjell Matter of anyWriting, be 'Untrue, Light , or any :way coutradiuory to the Afiertained Writings ofDivine Itfpiration, all Pleas and pretences unto that priviledge mull craft for ever. We need noother Proof; Te- ftunony or Argument to evince its Original, than what its felf tenders unto us. And by this means alfo do theBooks commonly called ApochrypbaI, unto which the Romanifis afcxibeCanoniealAuthority, deftroy their ownprétentions. They have all of them, on this account, long fince been call out of the limits of any tolera- ble defence. Now, that no oneportion of Scripture, is left obnoxious to any ex- 'ception ofthis kind, from the Subjell Matter treated of, and Doctrines delivered in it , then this Epiftle, we (hall by Gods affiftance manifeft in our Expofition of the whole, and each particular.paffage of it. Neither is it needful,. that we fhould here prolong our Difcourfe by anticipating any thing that muff neceffarily after- wards in its proper place, be infifted on. The place (larded at by fome Chap. 6. about the impoffibiliy of the recovery ofApofiates, was touched on before, and [hall afterwards be fully cleared. Nordo I know anyother ufe to bemade of obferving the fcruple of fome of Old, about the countenancegiven to the Novatians by that place, but only to make a Difcoveryhow partia!f men in all Ages have been addi hed unto their own apprehenfions in things wherein they differed from others ; for cíthereas if the Opinions of the Novatians had been confirmed in the place, as it is not, it had been their duty to have relinquifhed their own Hypothefis, 'and gone over unto them, fome of themdifcovered a mind rather tó have broken in upon the Authorityof God himfelf declared in his Word, than fo to have done: And it is greatly tobe feared that the fame Spirit fill working in others, isas effeQuatin them to reject the plain fenfe of the Scripture in fundry places, as it was ready to havebeen in them,to reject the words of it in this. The Style and Methodof a Writing may be fuch, as to lay a jufi Prejudice againft its daim of Canonical Authority. For although the Subje& Matter of a Writing, may be gopd andhonest in the main of it, and generally fuited unto the Analogie of faith, ss. 38. yet theremay be in the manner of its compofure andWriting, fuch an Ojientation of wit, Fancy, Learning, or Eloquence, fuch an affectation of Words, Phrafes, and Ex- preffions, fuch Rhetorical paintings of things fossil and inconfiderable , as may fuf- hciently demonftrate humane Ambition, Ìgnorance, Pride, or Defier of Applause, to xierno. Pre, have been mixed in the forming and producing of it. Much of this Hierom ob- is Prov. Selo. ferves in particular concerning the took entituled the Wifdom of Solomon; Written as it is fuppofed by Philo an Eloquent and Learned man ; redolet Grecam Eloquentiam. This confideration is of deferved moment in the Judgement we are to make of the fpring or fountain from whenceany Book cloth proceed. For whereas, great variety of Style, and in manner ofWritingsmay be obferved in the Penmen ofCanonical Seri- pture, yet in no one of them do the leap footfteps of the failingsand finful infirmities of corrupted nature}ieforementioned appear. When therefore they manifeft them- .
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