Troposchemmalogia: Tropes and figures; or, A treatise of the metaphors, allegories, and express similitudes, &c. contained in the Bible of the Old and New Testament To which is prefixed, divers arguments to prove the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures wherein also 'tis largely evinced, that by the great whore, mystery Babylon is meant the Papal hierarchy, or present state and church of Rome. Philologia sacra, the second part. Wherein the schemes, or figures in Scripture, are reduced under their proper heads, with a brief explication of each. Together with a treatise of types, parables, &c. with an improvement of them parallel-wise. By B. KTroposchēmalogia: Tropes and figures; or, A treatise of the metaphors, allegories, and express similitudes, &c. contained in the Bible of the Old and New Testament To which is prefixed, divers arguments to prove the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures wherein also 'tis largely evinced, that by the great whore, mystery Babylon is meant the Papal hierarchy, or present state and church of Rome. Philologia sacra, the second part. Wherein the schemes, or figures in Scripture, are reduced under their proper heads, with a brief explication of each. Together with a treatise of types, parables, &c. with an improvement of them parallel-wise. By B. K
Benjamin Keach 1640–1704London: printed by John Darby, 1682
[12], xvi, 436, 48, 437-444 p. · 337k words · Wing K101A · ESTC R7039
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
That the Scripture, or Book called the Bible, is of Divine Original, Inspired by the Spirit of God, and therefore of infallible Truth and Authority, Appears,
1I. By the Contents, or Matters therein discovered and treated of, which are so transcendently sublime and mysterious that they could never be the product of Human Invention, or Discovery; and therefore tho written by Men, as Instruments, must needs be revealed from above: for what Human Brain could ever have imagined a* Trinity in the Deity, or such an Existence of one simple Essence as this Book acquaints us withal? It describes the Person of Christ, so plainly, fitly and excellently, that if the Mind of Man consider it attentively, of necessity it must needs acknowledge, it doth far exceed the reach of a finite Understanding. It discovers unto us the Misery and Corruption of Man by Nature, together with that general defect of the whole Creation (which tho some of the Heathen had some glimpse of) yet could never find out the Cause, nor how it came to pass; No finite Intellect could ever have travelled into such Heights and Depths, touching the Nature of God and his Eternal Counsels that stupendous Contrivement for the Salvation of Man, that the second Person should descend from Heaven, and assume Human Nature into a Conjunction with the Divine, take upon him in his own Person the Sin of Mankind, and die for the World, thereby making a satisfaction proportionate to infinite Justice, so that God may show the utmost Act of Mercy, in a Conjunction with the highest Exercise of Justice: Nothing less than an Infinite Understanding could have found out Expedients to reconcile those two infinite Attributes, in his dealings with an Apostate Creature. It unfolds the Covenant of Grace, which God made after the Fall, all which can be drawn from no other Fountain but Divine* Revelation; it contains the Law of God, which is wise and just, the Gentiles themselves being† Judges. In its Precepts shines forth its Divinity; 1. The surpassing Excellency of the Act, requiring that we should deny our selves in all those things which the corrupt Nature of Man cleaveth to, and hateth to forego. 2. The wonderful Equity that doth appear in every Command. 3. The admirable strangeness of some Acts, which a natural Man would account Foolishness, and yet prescribed as absolutely necessary;‖ shows its Divine Original. 4. The manner how Obedience is required, viz. that it proceed from a pure Heart, a good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned*:
1I. By the Contents, or Matters therein discovered and treated of, which are so transcendently sublime and mysterious that they could never be the product of Human Invention, or Discovery; and therefore tho written by Men, as Instruments, must needs be revealed from above: for what Human Brain could ever have imagined a* Trinity in the Deity, or such an Existence of one simple Essence as this Book acquaints us withal? It describes the Person of Christ, so plainly, fitly and excellently, that if the Mind of Man consider it attentively, of necessity it must needs acknowledg, it doth far exceed the reach of a finite Understanding. It discovers unto us the Misery and Corruption of Man by Nature, together with that general defect of the whole Creation (which tho some of the Heathen had some glimpse of) yet could never find out the Cause, nor how it came to pass; No finite Intellect could ever have travell'd into such Heights and Depths, touching the Nature of God and his Eternal Counsels that stupendious Contrivement for the Salvation of Man, that the second Person should descend from Heaven, and assume Human Nature into a Conjunction with the Divine, take upon him in his own Person the Sin of Mankind, and die for the World, thereby making a satisfaction proportionate to infinite Justice, so that God may show the utmost Act of Mercy, in a Conjunction with the highest Exercise of Justice: Nothing less than an Infinite Understanding could have found out Expedients to reconcile those two infinite Attributes, in his dealings with an Apostate Creature. It unfolds the Covenant of Grace, which God made after the Fall, all which can be drawn from no other Fountain but Divine* Revelation; it contains the Law of God, which is wise and just, the Gentiles themselves being† Judges. In its Precepts shines forth its Divinity; 1. The surpassing Excellency of the Act, requiring that we should deny our selves in all those things which the corrupt Nature of Man cleaveth to, and hateth to forego. 2. The wonderful Equity that doth appear in every Command. 3. The admirable strangeness of some Acts, which a natural Man would account Foolishness, and yet prescribed as absolutely necessary;‖ shews its Divine Original. 4. The manner how Obedience is required, viz. that it proceed from a pure Heart, a good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned*:
11. The sublime Matter of the Scriptures show them to be Divine.1. The sublime Matter of the Scriptures shew them to be Divine.
Take a view of the Ten Commandments, are they not plain, brief, perfect, just, extending to all, binding the Conscience, and reaching to the very Thoughts? And do not all these things commend unto us the Justice, Wisdom, Holiness, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Perfection, and absolute Sovereignty of the Law-Maker?
Take a view of the Ten Commandments, are they not plain, brief, perfect, just, extending to all, binding the Conscience, and reaching to the very Thoughts? And do not all these things commend unto us the Justice, Wisdom, Holiness, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Perfection, and absolute Soveraignty of the Law-Maker?
'Tis a Book that comprehends an Universal History of the World, past, present, and to come; Its Contents reach as far as the first Foundations of the Earth and Heavens, give us an Account of God's Revelations to Man ever since his first make, and the particulars of an Intercourse between God and the World, for near upon two thousand and five hundred Years, before they were any where extant upon Record; What other Book, since the World began, so much as pretended to do this? A Book! which as it was sixteen hundred Years a writing (for so long it was from the Time of Moses, till John closed it with the Revelations); so the Matters it treats of, are of the most excellent Nature, and highest Concernment.
'Tis a Book that comprehends an Universal History of the World, past, present, and to come; Its Contents reach as far as the first Foundations of the Earth and Heavens, give us an Account of God's Revelations to Man ever since his first make, and the particulars of an Entercourse between God and the World, for near upon two thousand and five hundred Years, before they were any where extant upon Record; What other Book, since the World began, so much as pretended to do this? A Book! which as it was sixteen hundred Years a writing (for so long it was from the Time of Moses, till John closed it with the Revelations); so the Matters it treats of, are of the most excellent Nature, and highest Concernment.
To give the World a satisfactory Account not only of its Original, but of its End too; To bring Man acquainted with his true Sovereign Happiness, and a most wonderful and astonishing method of Reconciliation with his Maker; Its Promises are everlasting Glory, and never-fading Crowns: Its Precepts, perfect† Righteousness, and altogether such as tend most to the Honour of God, the Happiness of a Man's Self, and the Quiet of the World: Its Threatenings are of Miseries that are endless: Its whole Tendency is to a Prospect beyond the Grave: what Heathen ever so much as dreamed of the Resurrection? Who but the Lord could be Author of such Laws, that only can give eternal Life, and inflict eternal Death? These things can move the Conscience of none, but such who acknowledge the Precepts thereof to be divine. In a Word, its General Subjects are Mysteries no where else to be heard of, and without such a Manifestation, unconceivable. Now considering the Premises, what less than Infinite Wisdom, can be the supposed Author of such a Book?
To give the World a satisfactory Account not only of its Original, but of its End too; To bring Man acquainted with his true Soveraign Happiness, and a most wonderful and astonishing method of Reconciliation with his Maker; Its Promises are everlasting Glory, and never-fading Crowns: Its Precepts, perfect† Righteousness, and altogether such as tend most to the Honour of God, the Happiness of a Man's Self, and the Quiet of the World: Its Threatnings are of Miseries that are endless: Its whole Tendency is to a Prospect beyond the Grave: what Heathen ever so much as dream'd of the Resurrection? Who but the Lord could be Author of such Laws, that only can give eternal Life, and inflict eternal Death? These things can move the Conscience of none, but such who acknowledg the Precepts thereof to be divine. In a Word, its General Subjects are Mysteries no where else to be heard of, and without such a Manifestation, unconceivable. Now considering the Premises, what less than Infinite VVisdom, can be the supposed Author of such a Book?
1II. By its Antiquity. The Books of Moses, (wherein in Promises, Prophecies, Types, and Shadows, the Sum and Substance of all the rest of the Bible is comprised) were the first Writings in the World, (next to those by the Finger of God on Mount Sinai.) This ⟨p. iii⟩is fully proved by Justin Martyr, an ancient Writer, that lived within one hundred and thirty Years after Christ, in his Paroenetick to the Greeks; who comparing the Times of all Human Writers, Poets, Philosophers, Historians, and Law-givers, esteemed most ancient, demonstrates them all to be but Punies to Moses. Eusebius also, who followed Justin Martyr at about two hundred Years distance, in the 2d and 3d Books of his Evangelical Preparation, prosecutes the same Argument at large, and from abundance of Testimonies and Confessions, out of the best and most authentic Heathen Authors themselves, undeniably evinces, That Moses was the most ancient of all the Writers that were known or named amongst them. And Tertullian so confidently upbraids the Gentiles in this matter, that we think it not amiss to recite his Words, in the 19th Chapter of his Apology. — Our Religion (saith he, speaking to the Heathens,) far out-does all that you can boast of in that kind: For the Books of one of our Prophets only, viz. Moses, (wherein it seems God hath enclosed, as in a Treasury, all the Christian Religion preceding so many Ages together) reach beyond the ancientest you have, even all your Public Monuments, the Antiquity of your Originals, the Establishment of your Estates, the Foundations of your Cities, all that are most advanced by you in all Ages of History, and Memory of Times; the Invention even of the Characters, which are Interpreters of Sciences, and the Guardians of all Things excellent: I think I may say more, they are elder than your very Gods, your Temples, Oracles, and Sacrifices. Have you not heard mention made of that great Prophet, Moses? He was contemporary with Inachus, and preceded Danaus, (the ancientest of all that have a Name in your Histories) 393 Years: He lived some Hundreds of Years before the Ruin of Troy. [And Homer, the eldest Writer amongst the Grecians, lived, as Pliny saith, 250 Years after the Subversion of that City.] Every of the other Prophets succeeded Moses, and yet the last of them was of the same Age as your prime Wise-Men, Law-givers, and Historians were.
So that 'tis a Thing out of dispute, that for Antiquity, neither the Writings of Orpheus, or Homer, or Trismegistus, or Pythagoras, or Berosus, nor any other, can compare with the Pentateuch. These Grey-Hairs show them to be the Off-spring of the Ancient of Days; for Truth is always the First-born.
So that 'tis a Thing out of dispute, that for Antiquity, neither the Writings of Orpheus, or Homer, or Trismegistus, or Pythagoras, or Berosus, nor any other, can compare with the Pentateuch. These Gray-Hairs shew them to be the Off-spring of the Ancient of Days; for Truth is always the First-born.
And if we consider, how low, mean, and imperfect all humane Inventions were in those Times; and what foolish, irrational, and absurd Conceptions, both the Egyptians and Grecians, (Nations most celebrated for Wisdom) had of Things Divine, and the Duty and Happiness of Man; we cannot but conclude, That so clear an Account of the World's Beginning, Depravation, Destruction by the Flood, and Re-peopling; such a most excellent Law and Doctrine, in reference both to God and Man, &c. could not be of Humane Extract, but must needs be in truth, what it pretends it self to be, a Divine Revelation. Besides, who can believe the first Religion should be the worst, or the most timely Notions of God the falsest? Were this so, and the Bible not a Divine Book, but composed by Impostors, then it follows, That the most primitive Account we have of Religion is counterfeit; that the Devil set up his Chapel, before God built his Church; that in the earliest Notices we have of God, of the World's Original, Man's Fall, and the Way of his Recovery, the World is deceived and abused; and that God suffered the Devil, in the first place, (and without any Thing publicly extant from him, either before or since, to contradict it) in his Name, and under pretence of his Authority, to delude and mislead Mankind, with a false Account of all those Things which they are most concerned to know, and upon the right Knowledge of which their present and future Happiness depends: All which, as it is unworthy of God, so it is no less repugnant to the Dictates of Reason. But on the contrary, 'tis most rational to believe, that God's Revelations were as early as Man's Necessities; and that the Bible being the most ancient, as well as the wisest Book in the World, is also the truest, and proceeded from the God of Truth.
And if we consider, how low, mean, and imperfect all humane Inventions were in those Times; and what foolish, irrational, and absurd Conceptions, both the Egyptians and Grecians, (Nations most celebrated for Wisdom) had of Things Divine, and the Duty and Happiness of Man; we cannot but conclude, That so clear an Account of the World's Beginning, Depravation, Destruction by the Flood, and Re-peopling; such a most excellent Law and Doctrine, in reference both to God and Man, &c. could not be of Humane Extract, but must needs be in truth, what it pretends it self to be, a Divine Revelation. Besides, who can believe the first Religion should be the worst, or the most timely Notions of God the falsest? Were this so, and the Bible not a Divine Book, but composed by Impostors, then it follows, That the most primitive Account we have of Religion is counterfeit; that the Devil set up his Chappel, before God built his Church; that in the earliest Notices we have of God, of the World's Original, Man's Fall, and the Way of his Recovery, the World is deceived and abused; and that God suffered the Devil, in the first place, (and without any Thing publickly extant from him, either before or since, to contradict it) in his Name, and under pretence of his Authority, to delude and mislead Mankind, with a false Account of all those Things which they are most concerned to know, and upon the right Knowledg of which their present and future Happiness depends: All which, as it is unworthy of God, so it is no less repugnant to the Dictates of Reason. But on the contrary, 'tis most rational to believe, that God's Revelations were as early as Man's Necessities; and that the Bible being the most ancient, as well as the wisest Book in the World, is also the truest, and proceeded from the God of Truth.
III. This Royal Descent, or Divinity of the Scriptures, further appears,1 by that Majesty and Authoritativeness of the Spirit of God speaking in them, and that extraordinary and inimitable Stile wherein they are written. As 'tis said of our blessed Lord, Mat. 7.28. That he taught as one having Authority, and not as the Scribes: So the Scriptures teach with an awful Authority.† The Stile of the Sacred Scripture is singular, and has peculiar Properties, not elsewhere to be found; its Simplicity is joined with Majesty, commanding the Veneration of all serious Men.* Augustine says, That the Holy Scriptures seemed rude and unpolished to him, in comparison of Cicero's adorned Stile, because he did not then understand its (interiora, or) inward Beauty: But when he was converted to Christianity, declared,‖ That when he understood them, no Writing appeared more wise and eloquent.† Greg. Nazianzen, a Man of prodigious Wit, Learning, and Eloquence, ⟨p. iv⟩when he came to study the sacred Scriptures, vilifies all Ornaments of Literature amongst the Greek Philosophers, as infinitely below those Divine Oracles. Illyricus says, That although we find not in the Holy Scripture that idle or delicate Itch of Words, that external Sweetness or Allurement, that Numerosity of Sounds, or those pleasing Trifles, which vain-glorious Orators of Greece and Rome beautified their so much famed Harangues with; yet we find there a grave and masculine Eloquence, exceeding all others. And shall we indeed think, that the great God would use Inductions, as Plato; Syllogisms, as Aristotle; Elenchs, as the Carmeades; Epiphonema's, as Cicero; Subtleties, as Seneca; or Words far fetched, joined together with an artificial Syntax, with respect to Weight, Number, and Sound? If a Royal Edict were published in that kind of Speech, consisting of School-Follies, every wise Man would laugh at it. The more plain therefore the Word and Law of the great God is, 'tis (we say) the more becoming the Author thereof, and an Evidence of his Divine Stamp and Authority. Yet in that Humility of Stile in Scripture, there is far more Height and Loftiness, and more Profoundness in its Simplicity, more Beauty in its Nakedness, and more Vigour and Acuteness in its (seeming) Rudeness, than in those other Things Men so much praise and admire, &c. Easiness and Plainness doth best become the Truth. A Pearl needs no painting;
it becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator. In the holy Scripture is a peculiar and admirable Eloquence. What are all the elaborate Blandishments of Human Writers, to that grave, lively, and venerable Majesty of the Prophet Isaiah's Stile, as the Exordium of his Prophecy shows, also in chap. 25, 26, &c. That which Critics admire in Homer, Pindar, &c. singly, are universally found here, tho not that Elegance that tickles the Ear and Fancy, and relishes with the Flesh, but the noble and immortal Part, viz. an illuminated Soul. Commandments are here given forth, and Subjection peremptorily required, with great Severity, and with no stronger Arguments than the Will of the Law-maker. Promises above likelihood are made; to allure of performance, no Reason is alleged, but I the Lord have spoken*: And to encourage against Difficulties, &c. divine Assistance is promised, both as necessary and sufficient, in the manner of its‖ Threats. Also the Divinity of the Stile may be observed, that without respect of Persons, all degrees of Men are concerned, High and Low, Rich and Poor, Noble and Ignoble, Kings and Peasants, commanding what is distasteful to their Natures, and forbidding what they approve; promising not terrene Honour, but Life everlasting; threatening not with Rack and Gibbet, but eternal Pain, and Torment in Hell-Fire.
it becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator. In the holy Scripture is a peculiar and admirable Eloquence. What are all the elaborate Blandishments of Human Writers, to that grave, lively, and venerable Majesty of the Prophet Isaiah's Stile, as the Exordium of his Prophecy shews, also in chap. 25, 26, &c. That which Criticks admire in Homer, Pindar, &c. singly, are universally found here, tho not that Elegancy that tickles the Ear and Fancy, and relishes with the Flesh, but the noble and immortal Part, viz. an illuminated Soul. Commandments are here given forth, and Subjection peremptorily required, with great Severity, and with no stronger Arguments than the Will of the Law-maker. Promises above likelihood are made; to allure of performance, no Reason is alledged, but I the Lord have spoken*: And to encourage against Difficulties, &c. divine Assistance is promised, both as necessary and sufficient, in the manner of its
Of all Writings in the World, the Sacred Scriptures assume most unto themselves; they tell us,1 that they are the Words of Eternal Life; that they are by the Inspiration of the Holy-Ghost, the Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness; that they shall judg the World; that they are able to make wise unto Salvation; that they are the Immortal Seed, of which the Sons and Daughters of God must be begotten. Their Tenor is, Thus saith the Lord; and no Conclusion, but, The Lord hath spoken; Hear the Word of the Lord; He that hath Ears to hear, let him hear, &c. The Nature, Quality, or Composure of the Stile or Phrase (we say) is emphatically and signally different from that of all Humane Writings whatsoever. Here are no Apologies, begging Pardon of the Reader, or insinuating into his good Opinion by Devices of Rhetoric, but a stately Plainness, 2and mysterious Simplicity. We also speak (saith the Apostle) not in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy-Ghost, comparing, (or rather suiting or fitting, [Greek or Hebrew],) spirituals with spirituals, (for so only the Original runs, [Greek or Hebrew],) that is, Matter or Things, which for their Nature and Substance are spiritual, 3with Words or Phrases which are spiritual also, and so suitable to them. Hence, well saith one of the Ancients, The Scripture so speaketh, that with the Height of it, it laughs proud and lofty-spirited Men to scorn; with the Depth of it, it terrifies those who with Attention look into it; with the Truth of it, it feeds Men of the greatest Knowledge and Understanding; and with the Sweetness of it, it nourisheth Babes and Sucklings.
Of all Writings in the World, the Sacred Scriptures assume most unto themselves; they tell us,1 that they are the Words of Eternal Life; that they are by the Inspiration of the Holy-Ghost, the Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness; that they shall judg the World; that they are able to make wise unto Salvation; that they are the Immortal Seed, of which the Sons and Daughters of God must be begotten. Their Tenor is, Thus saith the Lord; and no Conclusion, but, The Lord hath spoken; Hear the Word of the Lord; He that hath Ears to hear, let him hear, &c. The Nature, Quality, or Composure of the Stile or Phrase (we say) is emphatically and signally different from that of all Humane Writings whatsoever. Here are no Apologies, begging Pardon of the Reader, or insinuating into his good Opinion by Devices of Rhetorick, but a stately Plainness,
1IV. That excellent Spirit of Holiness, which every where breaths in and from the Scriptures, is another fair Lineament of the Hand of God in the framing them. To this Holiness they most powerfully persuade Men, by express Commands: Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. As he who hath called you is holy; so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation. And by Threatenings, Without Holiness no Man shall see God. Heb. 12.14. And by a Multitude of Examples of holy Men, as Abraham, David, and all the Prophets and Apostles, and especially of that immaculate Lamb of God, the blessed JESUS. As on the other side, it sets before us the dreadful Vengeance that attends all Profaneness, Unrighteousness, Uncleanness, Pride, and worldly Lusts; requires not only an Abstinence ⟨p. v⟩from the gross outward Acts of Sin, but searches the Heart, and condemns the very Thoughts and Inclinations: He that hateth his Brother, is a Murderer. He that lusteth after a Woman, hath committed Adultery. The Doctrine taught every-where in this Book, is directly opposite to the whole Corporation of debauched and wicked Men; destructive to all Impiety, and corrupt Doctrines and Practices whatsoever, and perfectly ruinous and destructive to the Interests of the Devil in the World: A Doctrine, that has visibly the highest Tendency to those two great Ends of all Religion, the Honour of God, and Man's present and future Happiness. What pitiful, crooked, and imperfect Lines have the wisest and best of mere Men, as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Tully, Seneca, Plutarch, or any others, drawn, in their fairest Documents, both Moral and Divine, compared with this complete and transcendent Rule of holy Living! What undefiled Religion, what pure and spiritual Worship is here! How suitable to the holy Nature of God! What superlative Piety and Virtue, without any spot of Vice! What punctual and perpetual Truth and Honesty is here required! yet without the least Taint of base Means, or unworthy sordid Ends! No Vain-Glory! no Esteem of Men! no corrupt Advantages! But on the contrary, what Charity is here required! What repeated Commands not to offend weak Ones! What mutual Forgivenesses! What Provocations to Love! With what Patience and Meekness, Justice and Modesty, are we taught to behave our selves! In a word, 'Tis such a Doctrine as makes a Man perfect, throughly furnished to every good Work;
which brings Men to the best Way of Living, the noblest Way of Suffering, and the comfortablest Way of Dying. — Now must not such pure Streams needs flow from the Fountain of all Perfection? Does such a serious and effectual Advancement of Holiness in the World, look like an Intrigue of polluted Man, or any unclean Spirit? How can we better judg of a Law, that declares it proceeds from God, and is of Divine Obligation, than by its Nature, Tendency and Influence on humane Life? Whether it be suitable to those Pretensions, and such an adorable and unspotted Original? And when we find so holy and excellent a Design, as appears throughout this whole Book, for the Honour of God, and completing the Happiness of Men, by Methods so agreeable, and yet above the reach of Humane Invention; what can we judg, (unless we will be obstinately perverse) but that such a Book's Testimony of it self is true, and that it is indeed of God, and not of Men?
which brings Men to the best Way of Living, the noblest Way of Suffering, and the comfortablest Way of Dying. — Now must not such pure Streams needs flow from the Fountain of all Perfection? Does such a serious and effectual Advancement of Holiness in the World, look like an Intrigue of polluted Man, or any unclean Spirit? How can we better judg of a Law, that declares it proceeds from God, and is of Divine Obligation, than by its Nature, Tendency and Influence on humane Life? Whether it be suitable to those Pretensions, and such an adorable and unspotted Original? And when we find so holy and excellent a Design, as appears throughout this whole Book, for the Honour of God, and compleating the Happiness of Men, by Methods so agreeable, and yet above the reach of Humane Invention; what can we judg, (unless we will be obstinately perverse) but that such a Book's Testimony of it self is true, and that it is indeed of God, and not of Men?
V. The sweet and admirable Agreement, Consent, Dependence, and Harmony,1 that we find in all and every part of Scripture, tho there are so many Books thereof, written by so many different Persons, of various Conditions, many Ages removed, in several Places, and in different Languages, yet all agreeing with each other, and every part with the whole, which could not be foreseen or contrived by any humane Wisdom or Cunning, in the writing of any one Part: For all the Histories, Prophecies, Promises, Types, and Doctrines, in an orderly Connection, tend to promote the same Thing; and every Age proves a fresh Interpreter, and reveals to us more and more of this admirable Concord, which could not be the Effect of humane Artifice, nor of any other Cause, but an infinite Comprehension and Fore-sight, and that the several Writers of this Book were in all Times guided in what they wrote by the Supreme Wisdom of that one God, who is always constant to himself, and the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.
V. The sweet and admirable Agreement, Consent, Dependence, and Harmony,1 that we find in all and every part of Scripture, tho there are so many Books thereof, written by so many different Persons, of various Conditions, many Ages remov'd, in several Places, and in different Languages, yet all agreeing with each other, and every part with the whole, which could not be foreseen or contriv'd by any humane Wisdom or Cunning, in the writing of any one Part: For all the Histories, Prophecies, Promises, Types, and Doctrines, in an orderly Connection, tend to promote the same Thing; and every Age proves a fresh Interpreter, and reveals to us more and more of this admirable Concord, which could not be the Effect of humane Artifice, nor of any other Cause, but an infinite Comprehension and Fore-sight, and that the several Writers of this Book were in all Times guided in what they wrote by the Supreme Wisdom of that one God, who is always constant to himself, and the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.
II. By its Antiquity. The Books of Moses, (wherein in Promises, Prophecies, Types, and Shadows, the Sum and Substance of all the rest of the Bible is comprised) were the first Writings in the World, (next to those by the Finger of God on Mount Sinai.) This
⟨p. iii⟩
is fully proved by Justin Martyr, an ancient Writer, that lived within one hundred and thirty Years after Christ, in his Paroenetick to the Greeks; who comparing the Times of all Human Writers, Poets, Philosophers, Historians, and Law-givers, esteemed most ancient, demonstrates them all to be but Punies to Moses. Eusebius also, who followed Justin Martyr at about two hundred Years distance, in the 2d and 3d Books of his Evangelical Preparation, prosecutes the same Argument at large, and from abundance of Testimonies and Confessions, out of the best and most authentick Heathen Authors themselves, undeniably evinces, That Moses was the most ancient of all the Writers that were known or named amongst them. And Tertullian so confidently upbraids the Gentiles in this matter, that we think it not amiss to recite his Words, in the 19th Chapter of his Apology. — Our Religion (saith he, speaking to the Heathens,) far out-does all that you can boast of in that kind: For the Books of one of our Prophets only, viz. Moses, (wherein it seems God hath enclosed, as in a Treasury, all the Christian Religion preceding so many Ages together) reach beyond the ancientest you have, even all your Publick Monuments, the Antiquity of your Originals, the Establishment of your Estates, the Foundations of your Cities, all that are most advanced by you in all Ages of History, and Memory of Times; the Invention even of the Characters, which are Interpreters of Sciences, and the Guardians of all Things excellent: I think I may say more, they are elder than your very Gods, your Temples, Oracles, and Sacrifices. Have you not heard mention made of that great Prophet, Moses? He was contemporary with Inachus, and preceded Danaus, (the ancientest of all that have a Name in your Histories) 393 Years: He lived some Hundreds of Years before the Ruine of Troy. [And Homer, the eldest Writer amongst the Grecians, lived, as Pliny saith, 250 Years after the Subversion of that City.] Every of the other Prophets succeeded Moses, and yet the last of them was of the same Age as your prime Wise-Men, Law-givers, and Historians were.
12. The Antiquity of the Holy Scriptures.
III. This Royal Descent, or Divinity of the Scriptures, further appears,1 by that Majesty and Authoritativeness of the Spirit of God speaking in them, and that extraordinary and inimitable Stile wherein they are written. As 'tis said of our blessed Lord, Mat. 7.28. That he taught as one having Authority, and not as the Scribes: So the Scriptures teach with an awful Authority.† The Stile of the Sacred Scripture is singular, and has peculiar Properties, not elsewhere to be found; its Simplicity is joined with Majesty, commanding the Veneration of all serious Men.* Augustine says, That the Holy Scriptures seemed rude and unpolish'd to him, in comparison of Cicero's adorned Stile, because he did not then understand its (interiora, or) inward Beauty: But when he was converted to Christianity, declared,‖ That when he understood them, no Writing appeared more wise and eloquent.† Greg. Nazianzen, a Man of prodigious Wit, Learning, and Eloquence, ⟨p. iv⟩when he came to study the sacred Scriptures, vilifies all Ornaments of Literature amongst the Greek Philosophers, as infinitely below those Divine Oracles. Illyricus says, That altho we find not in the Holy Scripture that idle or delicate Itch of Words, that external Sweetness or Allurement, that Numerosity of Sounds, or those pleasing Triffes, which vain-glorious Orators of Greece and Rome beautified their so much fam'd Harangues with; yet we find there a grave and masculine Eloquence, exceeding all others. And shall we indeed think, that the great God would use Inductions, as Plato; Syllogisms, as Aristotle; Elenchs, as the Carmeades; Epiphonema's, as Cicero; Subtilties, as Seneca; or Words far fetch'd, joined together with an artificial Syntax, with respect to Weight, Number, and Sound? If a Royal Edict were published in that kind of Speech, consisting of School-Follies, every wise Man would laugh at it. The more plain therefore the Word and Law of the great God is, 'tis (we say) the more becoming the Author thereof, and an Evidence of his Divine Stamp and Authority. Yet in that Humility of Stile in Scripture, there is far more Height and Loftiness, and more Profoundness in its Simplicity, more Beauty in its Nakedness, and more Vigor and Acuteness in its (seeming) Rudeness, than in those other Things Men so much praise and admire, &c. Easiness and Plainness doth best become the Truth. A Pearl needs no painting;
13. The Majesty and Strangeness of the Stile.
†See the Epist. to the First Volume.
*Lib. 3. Confess. cap. 5.
‖Lib. 4 de Doctrin. Christ. cap. 6.
†Budoeus, lib. 5. de Asse, & partibus ejus. p. 754.
Threats. Also the Divinity of the Stile may be observed, that without respect of Persons, all degrees of Men are concerned, High and Low, Rich and Poor, Noble and Ignoble, Kings and Peasants, commanding what is distasteful to their Natures, and forbidding what they approve; promising not terrene Honour, but Life everlasting; threatning not with Rack and Gibbet, but eternal Pain, and Torment in Hell-Fire.
and mysterious Simplicity. We also speak (saith the Apostle) not in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy-Ghost, comparing, (or rather suiting or fitting, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉,) spirituals with spirituals, (for so only the Original runs, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉,) that is, Matter or Things, which for their Nature and Substance are spiritual,
with Words or Phrases which are spiritual also, and so suitable to them. Hence, well saith one of the Ancients, The Scripture so speaketh, that with the Height of it, it laughs proud and lofty-spirited Men to scorn; with the Depth of it, it terrifies those who with Attention look into it; with the Truth of it, it feeds Men of the greatest Knowledg and Ʋnderstanding; and with the Sweetness of it, it nourisheth Babes and Sucklings.
IV. That excellent Spirit of Holiness, which every where breaths in and from the Scriptures, is another fair Lineament of the Hand of God in the framing them. To this Holiness they most powerfully persuade Men, by express Commands: Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. As he who hath called you is holy; so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation. And by Threatnings, Without Holiness no Man shall see God. Heb. 12.14. And by a Multitude of Examples of holy Men, as Abraham, David, and all the Prophets and Apostles, and especially of that immaculate Lamb of God, the blessed JESUS. As on the other side, it sets before us the dreadful Vengeance that attends all Prophaneness, Unrighteousness, Uncleanness, Pride, and worldly Lusts; requires not only an Abstinence
⟨p. v⟩
from the gross outward Acts of Sin, but searches the Heart, and condemns the very Thoughts and Inclinations: He that hateth his Brother, is a Murtherer. He that lusteth after a Woman, hath committed Adultery. The Doctrine taught every-where in this Book, is directly opposite to the whole Corporation of debauched and wicked Men; destructive to all Impiety, and corrupt Doctrines and Practices whatsoever, and perfectly ruinous and destructive to the Interests of the Devil in the World: A Doctrine, that has visibly the highest Tendency to those two great Ends of all Religion, the Honour of God, and Man's present and future Happiness. What pitiful, crooked, and imperfect Lines have the wisest and best of meer Men, as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Tully, Seneca, Plutarch, or any others, drawn, in their fairest Documents, both Moral and Divine, compared with this compleat and transcendent Rule of holy Living! What undefiled Religion, what pure and spiritual Worship is here! How suitable to the holy Nature of God! What superlative Piety and Vertue, without any spot of Vice! What punctual and perpetual Truth and Honesty is here required! yet without the least Taint of base Means, or unworthy sordid Ends! No Vain-Glory! no Esteem of Men! no corrupt Advantages! But on the contrary, what Charity is here required! What repeated Commands not to offend weak Ones! What mutual Forgivenesses! What Provocations to Love! With what Patience and Meekness, Justice and Modesty, are we taught to behave our selves! In a word, 'Tis such a Doctrine as makes a Man perfect, throughly furnished to every good Work;
