Christian Churches, and by all Sects of Christians, that admit any Books at all for Canonicall.
Their Antiquity.
Who were the originall writers of the severall Books of Holy Scripture, has not been made
evident by any sufficient testimony of other History, (which is the only proof of matter of fact);
nor can be by any arguments of naturall Reason: for Reason serves only to convince the truth
(not of fact, but) of consequence. The light therefore that must guide us in this question, must
be that which is held out unto us from the Bookes themselves: And this light, though it shew
us not the writer of every book, yet it is not unusefull to give us knowledge of the time,
wherein they were written.
The Pentateuch not written by Moses.
And first, for the Pentateuch, it is not argument enough that they were written by Moses, because they are called the five Books of Moses; no more than these titles, The Book of
Joshua, the Book of Judges, the Book of Ruth, and the Books of the Kings, are arguments sufficient to prove, that they were written by Joshua, by the Judges, by Ruth, and by the Kings. For in titles of Books, the subject is marked, as often as the writer. The History of Livy, denotes the Writer; but the History of Scanderbeg, is denominated from the subject. We read
in the last Chapter of Deuteronomie, ver. 6. concerning the sepulcher of Moses, that no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day, that is, to the day wherein those words were written. It is therefore manifest, that those words were written after his interrement. For it were a strange
interpretation, to say Moses spake of his own sepulcher (though by Prophecy), that it was not found to that day, wherein he was yet living. But it may perhaps be alledged, that the last
Chapter only, not the whole Pentateuch, was written by some other man, but the rest not: Let us therefore consider that which we find in the Book of Genesis, chap. 12. ver. 6. And Abraham passed through the land to the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh, and the Canaanite was then in the land; which must needs bee the words of one that wrote when the Canaanite was not in the land; and consequently, not of Moses, who dyed before he came into it.
Likewise Numbers 21. ver. 14. the Writer citeth another more ancient Book, Entituled, The Book of the Warres of the Lord, wherein were registred the Acts of Moses, at the Red-sea, and at the brook of Arnon. It is therefore sufficiently evident, that the five Books of Moses were written after his time, though how long after it be not so manifest.
Deut. 31. 9./Deut. 31. 26./2 King. 22. 8. & 23, 1, 2, 3.
But though Moses did not compile those Books entirely, and in the form we have them; yet he
wrote all that which hee is there said to have written: as for example, the Volume of the Law,
which is contained, as it seemeth, in the 11 of Deuteronomie, and the following Chapters to
the 27. which was also commanded to be written on stones, in their entry into the land of
Canaan. And this did Moses himself write, and deliver to the Priests and Elders of Israel, to be read every seventh year to all Israel, at their assembling in the feast of Tabernacles. And this is that Law which God commanded, that their Kings (when they should have established that
form of Government) should take a copy of from the Priests and Levites; and which Moses
commanded the Priests and Levites to lay in the side of the Arke; and the same which having
been lost, was long time after found again by Hilkiah, and sent to King Josias, who causing it to be read to the People, renewed the Covenant between God and them.
The Book of Joshua written after his time./Josh. 4. 9/Josh. 5. 9./Josh. 7. 26.
That the Book of Joshua was also written long after the time of Joshua, may be gathered out of many places of the Book it self. Joshua had set up twelve stones in the middest of Jordan, for a monument of their passage; of which the Writer saith thus, They are there unto this day; for unto this day, is a phrase that signifieth a time past, beyond the memory of man. In like
manner, upon the saying of the Lord, that he had rolled off from the people the Reproach of
Egypt, the Writer saith. The place is called Gilgal unto this day; which to have said in the time of Joshua had been improper. So also the name of the Valley of Achor, from the trouble that Achan raised in the Camp, the Writer saith, remaineth unto this day; which must needs bee therefore long after the time of Joshua. Arguments of this kind there be many other; as Josh.
8. 29. 13.13. 14. 14. 15. 63.
The Booke of Judges and Ruth written long after the Captivity.
The same is manifest by like arguments of the Book of Judges, chap. 1. 21, 26. 6.24. 10.4. 15.
19. 17. 6. and Ruth 1. 1. but especially Judg. 18. 30. where it is said, that Jonathan and his sonnes were Priests to the Tribe of Dan, untill the day of the captivity of the land.
The like of the Bookes of Samuel./2 Sam. 6. 4.
That the Books of Samuel were also written after his own time, there are the like arguments, 1
Sam. 5. 5. 7. 13, 15. 27. 6. & 30. 25. where, after David had adjudged equall part of the spoiles, to them that guarded the Ammunition, with them that fought, the Writer saith, He
made it a Statute and an Ordinance to Israel to this day. Again, when David (displeased, that the Lord had slain Uzzah, for putting out his hand to sustain the Ark,) called the place Perez-Uzzah, the Writer saith, it is called so to this day: the time therefore of the writing of that Book, must be long after the time of the fact; that is, long after the time of David.
The Books of the Kings, and the Chronicles.
As for the two Books of the Kings, and the two Books of the Chronicles, besides the places which mention such monuments, as the Writer saith, remained till his own days; such as are I
Kings 9.13. 9.21. 10. 12. 12. 19. 2 Kings 2. 22. 8. 22. 10.27. 14. 7. 16. 6. 17. 23. 17.34. 17.
41. 1 Chron. 4. 41. 5.26. It is argument sufficient they were written after the captivity in Babylon, that the History of them is continued till that time. For the Facts Registred are alwaies more ancient than the Register; and much more ancient than such Books as make mention of,
and quote the Register; as these Books doe in divers places, referring the Reader to the
Chronicles of the Kings of Juda, to the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, to the Books of the Prophet Samuel, of the Prophet Nathan, of the Prophet Ahijah; to the Vision of Jehdo, to the Books of the Prophet Serveiah, and of the Prophet Addo.
Erra and Nehemiah.
The Books of Esdras and Nehemiah were written certainly after their return from captivity; because their return, the re-edification of the walls and houses of Jerusalem, the renovation of the Covenant, and ordination of their policy are therein contained.
Esther.
The History of Queen Esther is of the time of the Captivity; and therefore the Writer must have been of the same time, or after it.
Job.
The Book of Job hath no mark in it of the time wherein it was written: and though it appear
sufficiently ( Ezekiel 14. 14. and James 5. 11.) that he was no fained person; yet the Book it self seemeth not to be a History, but a Treatise concerning a question in ancient time much
disputed, why wicked men have often prospered in this world, and good men have been
afflicted; and it is the more probable, because from the beginning, to the third verse of the third chapter, where the complaint of Job beginneth, the Hebrew is (as St. Jerome testifies) in prose; and from thence to the sixt verse of the last chapter in Hexameter Verses; and the rest
of that chapter again in prose. So that the dispute is all in verse; and the prose is added, but
as a Preface in the beginning, and an Epilogue in the end. But Verse is no usuall stile of such,
as either are themselves in great pain, as Job; or of such as come to comfort them, as his
friends; but in Philosophy, especially morall Philosophy, in ancient time frequent.
The Psalter.
The Psalmes were written the most part by David, for the use of the Quire. To these are added some Songs of Moses, and other holy men; and some of them after the return from the
Captivity, as the 137. and the 126. whereby it is manifest that the Psalter was compiled, and
put into the form it now hath, after the return of the Jews from Babylon.
The Proverbs.
The Proverbs, being a Collection of wise and godly Sayings, partly of Solomon, partly of Agur the son of Jakeh, and partly of the Mother of King Lemuel, cannot probably be thought to have been collected by Solomon, rather then by Agur, or the Mother of Lemuel; and that, though the sentences be theirs, yet the collection or compiling them into this one Book, was the work of
some other godly man, that lived after them all.
Ecclesiastes and the Canticles.
The Books of Ecclesiastes and the Canticles have nothing that was not Solomons, except it be the Titles, or Inscriptions. For The Words of the Preacher, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem; and, The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, seem to have been made for distinctions sake, then, when the Books of Scripture were gathered into one body of the Law; to the end, that
not the Doctrine only, but the Authors also might be extant.
The Prophets.
Of the Prophets, the most ancient, are Sophoniah, Jonas, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Michaiah, who lived in the time of Amaziah, and Azariah, otherwise Ozias, Kings of Judah. But the Book of Jonas is not properly a Register of his Prophecy, (for that is contained in these few words, Fourty dayes and Ninivy shall be destroyed,) but a History or Narration of his frowardnesse and disputing Gods commandements; so that there is small probability he should be the Author,
seeing he is the subject of it. But the Book of Amos is his Prophecy.
Jeremiah, Abdias, Nahum, and Habakkuk prophecyed in the time of Josiah.
Ezekiel, Daniel, Aggeus, and Zacharias, in the Captivity.
When Joel and Malachi prophecyed, is not evident by their Writings. But considering the Inscriptions, or Titles of their Books, it is manifest enough, that the whole Scripture of the Old
Testament, was set forth in the form we have it, after the return of the Jews from their
Captivity in Babylon, and before the time of Ptolemœus Philadelphus, that caused it to bee translated into Greek by seventy men, which were sent him out of Judea for that purpose. And if the Books of Apocrypha (which are recommended to us by the Church, though not for
Canonicall, yet for profitable Books for our instruction) may in this point be credited, the
Scripture was set forth in the form wee have it in, by Esdras; as may appear by that which he himself saith, in the second book, chapt. 14. verse 21, 22, &c. where speaking to God, he saith
thus, Thy law is burnt; therefore no man knoweth the things which thou hast done, or the
works that are to begin. But if I have found Grace before thee, send down the holy Spirit into
me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the world, since the beginning, which were
written in they Law, that men may find thy path, and that they which will live in the later days, may live. And verse 45. And it came to passe when the forty dayes were fulfilled, that the Highest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written, publish openly, that the worthy and
unworthy may read it; but keep the seventy last, that thou mayst deliver them onely to such
as be wise among the people. And thus much concerning the time of the writing of the Bookes
of the Old Testament.
The New Testament./Their Scope.
The Writers of the New Testament lived all in lesse then an age after Christs Ascension, and
had all of them seen our Saviour, or been his Disciples, except St. Paul, and St. Luke; and consequently whatsoever was written by them, is as ancient as the time of the Apostles. But
the time wherein the Books of the New Testament were received, and acknowledged by the
Church to be of their writing, is not altogether so ancient. For, as the Bookes of the Old
Testament are derived to us, from no higher time then that of Esdras, who by the direction of Gods Spirit retrived them, when they were lost: Those of the New Testament, of which the
copies were not many, nor could easily be all in any one private mans hand, cannot bee
derived from a higher time, than that wherein the Governours of the Church collected,
approved, and recommended them to us, as the writings of those Apostles and Disciples;
under whose names they go. The first enumeration of all the Bookes, both of the Old, and New
Testament, is in the Canons of the Apostles, supposed to be collected by Clement the first
(after St. Peter) Bishop of Rome. But because that is but supposed, and by many questioned, the Councell of Laodicea is the first we know, that recommended the Bible to the then Christian Churches, for the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles: and this Councell was held in the 364.
yeer after Christ. At which time, though ambition had so far prevailed on the great Doctors of
the Church, as no more to esteem Emperours, though Christian, for the Shepherds of the
people, but for Sheep; and Emperours not Christian, for Wolves; and endeavoured to passe
their Doctrine, not for Counsell, and Information, as Preachers; but for Laws, as absolute
Governours; and thought such frauds as tended to make the people the more obedient to
Christian Doctrine, to be pious; yet I am perswaded they did not therefore falsifie the
Scriptures, though the copies of the Books of the New Testament, were in the hands only of
the Ecclesiasticks; because if they had had an intention so to doe, they would surely have
made them more favorable to their power over Christian Princes, and Civill Soveraignty, than
they are. I see not therefore any reason to doubt, but that the Old, and New Testament, as we
have them now, are the true Registers of those things, which were done and said by the
Prophets, and Apostles. And so perhaps are some of those Books which are called Apocrypha, if
left out of the Canon, not for inconformity of Doctrine with the rest, but only because they are
not found in the Hebrew. For after the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, there were few
learned Jews, that were not perfect in the Greek tongue. For the seventy Interpreters that
converted the Bible into Greek, were all of them Hebrews; and we have extant the works of
Philo and Josephus both Jews, written by them eloquently in Greek. But it is not the Writer, but the authority of the Church, that maketh a Book Canonicall. And although these Books were
written by divers men, yet it is manifest the Writers were all indued with one and the same
Spirit, in that they conspire to one and the same end, which is the setting forth of the Rights of
the Kingdome of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For the Book of Genesis, deriveth the Genealogy of Gods people, from the creation of the World, to the going into Egypt: the other
four Books of Moses, contain the Election of God for their King, and the Laws which hee
prescribed for their Government: The Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel, to the time of Saul, describe the acts of Gods people, till the time they cast off Gods yoke, and called for a King, after the manner of their neighbour nations: The rest of the History of the Old
Testament, derives the succession of the line of David, to the Captivity, out of which line was to spring the restorer of the Kingdome of God, even our blessed Saviour God the Son, whose
coming was foretold in the Bookes of the Prophets, after whom the Evangelists writt his life,
and actions, and his claim to the Kingdome, whilst he lived on earth: and lastly, the Acts, and
Epistles of the Apostles, declare the coming of God, the Holy Ghost, and the Authority he left with them, and their successors, for the direction of the Jews, and for the invitation of the
Gentiles. In summe, the Histories and the Prophecies of the old Testament, and the Gospels
and Epistles of the New Testament, have had one and the same scope, to convert men to the
obedience of God; 1. in Moses, and the Priests; 2. in the man Christ; and 3. in the Apostles and the successors to Apostolicall power. For these three at several times did represent the
person of God: Moses, and his successors the High Priests, and Kings of Judah, in the Old
Testament: Christ himself, in the time he lived on earth: and the Apostles, and their successors, from the day of Pentecost (when the Holy Ghost descended on them) to this day.
The question of the Authority of the Scriptures stated.
It is a question much disputed between the divers sects of Christian Religion, From whence the
Scriptures derive their Authority; which question is also propounded sometimes in other terms, as, How wee know them to be the Word of God, or, Why we beleeve them to be so: And the difficulty of resolving it, ariseth chiefly from the impropernesse of the words wherein the
question it self is couched. For it is beleeved on all hands, that the first and originall Author of them is God; and consequently the question disputed, is not that. Again, it is manifest, that
none can know they are Gods Word, (though all true Christians beleeve it,) but those to whom
God himself hath revealed it supernaturally; and therefore the question is not rightly moved, of
our Knowledge of it. Lastly, when the question is propounded of our Beleefe; because some are moved to beleeve for one, and others for other reasons, there can be rendred no one generall
answer for them all. The question truly stated is, By what Authority they are made Law.
Their Authority and Interpretation.
As far as they differ not from the Laws of Nature, there is no doubt, but they are the Law of
God, and carry their Authority with them, legible to all men that have the use of naturall
reason: but this is no other Authority, then that of all other Morall Doctrine consonant to
Reason; the Dictates whereof are Laws, not made, but Eternall.
If they be made Law by God himselfe, they are of the nature of written Law, which are Laws to
them only to whom God hath so sufficiently published them, as no man can excuse himself, by
saying, he knew not they were his.
He therefore, to whom God hath not supernaturally revealed, that they are his, nor that those
that published them, were sent by him, is not obliged to obey them, by any Authority, but his,
whose Commands have already the force of Laws; that is to say, by any other Authority, then
that of the Common-wealth, residing in the Soveraign, who only has the Legislative power.
Again, if it be not the Legislative Authority of the Common-wealth, that giveth them the force
of Laws, it must bee some other Authority derived from God, either private, or publique: if
private, it obliges onely him, to whom in particular God hath been pleased to reveale it. For if
every man should be obliged, to take for Gods Law, what particular men, on pretence of
private Inspiration, or Revelation, should obtrude upon him, (in such a number of men, that
out of pride, and ignorance, take their own Dreams, and extravagant Fancies, and Madnesse,
for testimonies of Gods Spirit; or out of ambition, pretend to such Divine testimonies, falsely,
and contrary to their own consciences,) it were impossible that any Divine Law should be
acknowledged. If publique, it is the Authority of the Common-wealth, or of the Church. But the Church, if it be one person, is the same thing with a Common-wealth of Christians; called a
Common-wealth, because it consisteth of men united in one person, their Soveraign; and a
Church, because it consisteth in Christian men, united in one Christian Soveraign. But if the Church be not one person, then it hath no authority at all; it can neither command, nor doe
any action at all; nor is capable of having any power, or right to any thing; nor has any Will,
Reason, nor Voice; for all these qualities are personall. Now if the whole number of Christians
be not contained in one Common-wealth, they are not one person; nor is there an Universall
Church that hath any authority over them; and there fore the Scriptures are not made Laws,
by the Universall Church: or if it bee one Common-wealth, then all Christian Monarchs, and
States are private persons, and subject to bee judged, deposed, and punished by an Universall
Soveraigne of all Christendome. So that the question of the Authority of the Scriptures, is
reduced to this, Whether Christian Kings, and the Soveraigne Assemblies in Christian
Common-wealths, be absolute in their own Territories, immediately under God; or subject to
one Vicar of Christ, constituted over the Universall Church; to bee judged, condemned,
deposed, and put to death, as hee shall think expedient, or necessary for the common good.
Which question cannot bee resolved, without a more particular consideration of the Kingdome
of God; from whence also, wee are to judge of the Authority of Interpreting the Scripture. For,
whosoever hath a lawfull power over any Writing, to make it Law, hath the power also to
approve, or disapprove the interpretation of the same.
CHAP. XXXIV.
Of the Signification of SPIRIT, ANGEL, and INSPIRATION in the Books of Holy
Scripture.
Body and Spirit how taken in the Scripture.
SEEING the foundation of all true Ratiocination, is the constant Signification of words; which in
the Doctrine following, dependeth not (as in naturall science) on the Will of the Writer, nor (as
in common conversation) on vulgar use, but on the sense they carry in the Scripture; It is
necessary, before I proceed any further, to determine, out of the Bible, the meaning of such
words, as by their ambiguity, may render what I am to inferre upon them, obscure, or
disputable. I will begin with the words BODY, and SPIRIT, which in the language of the Schools
are termed, Substances, Corporeall, and Incorporeall.
The Word Body, in the most generall acceptation, signifieth that which filleth, or occupyeth some certain room, or imagined place; and dependeth not on the imagination, but is a reall
part of that we call the Universe. For the Universe, being the Aggregate of all Bodies, there is no reall part thereof that is not also Body; nor any thing properly a Body, that is not also part of (that Aggregate of all Bodies) the Universe. The same also, because Bodies are subject to change, that is to say, to variety of apparence to the sense of living creatures, is called
Substance, that is to say, Subject, to various accidents; as sometimes to be Moved, sometimes to stand Still; and to seem to our senses sometimes Hot, sometimes Cold, sometimes of
one Colour, Smel, Tast, or Sound, sometimes of another. And this diversity of Seeming,
(produced by the diversity of the operation of bodies, on the organs of our sense) we attribute
to alterations of the Bodies that operate, & call them Accidents of those Bodies. And according to