448 of the Faith cr Teriupon Vol. 41. ( 3.) If the credible Report of Eye Witneffes concerning filch Miracles be con- veyed to us in fuch a Manner, and with fo much Evidence. aswe have no Reafon to doubt of it. For why should wenot believe acredible Report conveyed to us in fuch a Manner, as we have no Reafon to queftion, but that it hath been faithfully conveyed and trárfmitted to us ? St. john thought this tobe Aftarance fufficient to induce Belief, John a.o 3i. But thefe Things were written, that ye might believe, &c. And this is that Affurance which we, who live at this diftance from the Age of Chrift and his Apoftles, have of the Miracles wrought in Confirmation of the Gofpel. I (hall have occafion to enlarge upon thefe Heads hereafter. 3. What Affurance Miracles give us, that the Scriptures ate a Divine Revela- tion. And this contains four dittinE& Queftions in in t, What Affurance we have from hence, that the Doaline contained in the Scripture is from God ?To which the Anfwer is eafie ; Becaufe thefe Miracles were wrought for the Confirmation of this Doúrine. s. The Queftion is, What Afltrance the Miracles give us, that thofe Perlons who are faid to be the PenMen of the feveral Books of Scripture, were really fo? To this I arfwer ; None at all : for I do not know of any Miracle that was wrought to prove Moles wrote the Pentateuch, or that St. Matthew wrote the Gofpel which goes under his Name. But if the Queftion be, How then am I afhu- red of this .> 1 anf,ver, By credible and uncontroui'd Report. It bears hisName; and bath always been received for his ; and if this will not fatishe, 'cannot prove it farther, itis too late now to prove it by any other Argument. Sr, Matthew is dead, and thole who faw hiin write it, and thofe who received it from them ; fo that we cannot go to enquire of them in order to our Satisfaétion : but the beft of it is, that as it cannot now be proved at this diftance, otherwife thanby Cdnftant and uncontroul'd report; fo no Man at this diftance can have any reafon todoubt of it; and fo long 'as no man can have any reafon to doubt of it; there can be no need of proving ir, efpecially confidering that it is by no means neceffary to Salvation, to believe that St. Matthew wrote the Hiftory of the Gofpel; but only to believe what he wrote. 3. The Queftion is, What afìärance Miracles give, that thofe perfons who are Paid to be the Penmen of the Books of Scripture were divinely infpired ? The Miracles ( under which I comprehend the Predielion of future Events ) which Mofes and the Prophets, and the Apoflles wrought, were Telimonies from Hea- ven, that they were Divine Perlons, and that what they faid was tobe credited, and confequently if they gave out themfelves for fuch, that they were fuch. That the Penmen of the New Teftament were Perlons endued with a miraculous Po- wer, is plain, tecaufe they were molt of them Apoftles : and for the reft we have no reafon to doubt of it,' thofe extraordinary Gilts being fo common in the Primitive times: however, fo long as there is nothing in the reft, that is dif%nani from, or contrary to what thole wrote, of whole Iofpirations we are allured, and thefe their Writings having always been receiv'd in the Church as of Divine Infpiration, which we may well prefume was not rafhly done, and without grounds,' we have no reafon to dogbc as to them: or if there were, to long as they contain nothing that is contrary to thofe who were unqueftionably infpired, the matter is of no dangerous. confequence. And as for the Pen men of the Old Teftamenr, weare allured that they were all infpired, by one in the New Tefta- ment, that was unqueflionably fo; St. Paul who tells us, that all Scripture is of Divine Infpiration, meaning the Books of the Old Teftament which were calla by that Name KoT /3%,i3, or by way of Eminency. But if any one enquire farther, How far the Penmen of Scripture were in. f?ired in the writing of thofe Books ? whether only fo far as to be fecur'd from mistake in the delivery of any Mefhage or DA:trine from God, or in the .re- lation of any Hickory, or Matter of Fa't ; yet fo, as they were left every Manto his own Stile and manner of Exprelfion ? or that every thing they wrote, was immediately diltared to them, and that not only theSeule of it, but the very Words and Phrafes by which they exprefs things, and that they were meetly Intruments or Pen-men; I fhall not take upon me co determine; I fhall only lfayy
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