图书图片
PDF
ePub

the Divine Trinity, there comes not fuch a Thought in my Head as three Perfons of Men but becaufe Perfonal Actions are attributed to each of the Divine Three, therefore we call them Perfons, which word the Scripture applies to God, Heb. i. 3. But it is only ad Captum, as the Schools fpeak, that is, Condefcending our Capacity, as when God is faid to Repent, to Grieve, &c. it is not that we fhould think it really fo, for that would be contradictory to the Nature of God; but it conveys a Notion to us, that we should act as if it were fo, that God were Angry or Grieved at our Sins, and would Repent of the Bleffings He had given or promifed to us, if we took not heed to walk in His Ways which He has fet before us.

(15.) L. I am afraid the Deifts will think this a ftraining the Point in favour of Revelation, and fay that they are much easier with

out it.

G. They will not find it fo, when they confider that they are in no lefs Difficulties upon following their own Reafon only; for Example, they allow a firft Caufe and Creator of all things, becaufe nothing can make it felf: And that firft Caufe must have a neceffary Being, and confequently from all Eternity; and that Eter nity is a Duration without Succeffion or Time, or having any Beginning, wherein all is Prefent, without either Paft or to Come. This the Deift is forced to confefs upon the Conviction of

his

his Reason: But he will not pretend to have fo much as any Idea or Conception what this Eternity is or can be, nor can he imagine a Duvation without Beginning, in which there is nothing past, nor any thing to come. Nor can he exprefs this any otherwise than in Words of Time, which he must own are not at all proper or applicable to it; the very word Beginning is inconfiftent with Eternity, and to fay before the Beginning, is a Contradiction. Here then he is loft, and must have recourse to the fame Excufe which he ridicules in Revelation, viz. That we cannot fpeak properly of God, nor in other words than what belong to Men, and therefore that these words are not to be taken strictly, nor Argued upon, or Confequences drawn from them, for that this would involve us in numberlefs Contradictions. And there is not one Objection which the Deift or Socinian makes against the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, &c. but are of this fort, by Arguing from the Nature of Man to the Nature of God, from the Perfons of the one, to the Perfons of the other, &c. Which these Men of Reason think highly unreasonable in their own Cafe, as to argue from Time to Eternity, &c.

(16.) L. But, Sir, the Deift would ask you, upon what Authority you believe that Revelation, viz. of the Scriptures? And fince you will not have it built upon the Authority of D 4

the

the Church, I fee not what other Authority you can alledge for it.

G. Nor I neither, for I put it upon no Authority. It is Evidence, and not Authority, upon which my Belief of the Scriptures is founded.

L. Then you believe upon the Authority of

Evidence.

[ocr errors]

G. That expreffion is not proper, though fometimes carelefly ufed: For Authority and Evidence are two things, if I believe a thing for your telling me fo, without any other Reafon, then I believe it purely upon your Authority, but if a Man I never faw before makes a thing very evident to me, and convinces my Reafon, I belieye not then upon his Authority, for he has none with me, but upon the Evidence he has given me. And what that Evidence is upon which we believe the Holy Scriptures, is fet forth in a little Book I had the Honour to Present to your Lordship, Intituled, The Truth of Chriftianity Demonftrated, &c. Which was wrote to Convince Deifts, who believe no Church, or any Church Authority. And if you have no other Evidence but the Authority of your Church to prove the Truth of the Scriptures, I fee not how you will ever convince a Deift, who de nies both.

But if I tell him that I believe the Scriptures, and the Facts therein related, upon the fame, and much ftronger Evidence than I have for believing there was fuch a Man

as

[ocr errors]

as Alexander or Cafar, that there is fuch a Town as Rome or Conftantinople, though I was never there. Yet believe it, not upon the Authority, far lefs the Infallibility of any Man or Number of Men, that tell me fo; but from the Nature of the Evidence which makes it impoffible for Mankind to concert fuch a Lye, or to carry it on, without being Detected. And if the Truth of Chriftianity, that is, of the Scriptures, can be Demonftrated as plainly. as thefe other Facts, (which I think is done in the Book I mentioned) then a Deift must either be convinced or confounded.

Now if you will let your Church come in as Part of the Evidence of Chriftianity, fhe will not be Refufed, fo far as her Share goes: But upon her Authority, and upon hers alone, the Truth of the Scriptures, and of Chriftianity, will be a Jeft to the Deifts; fince her Autho rity can be proved no otherwife than by the Scriptures, and then back again, the Scriptures by her Authority!

L. But feveral Parts of the Scriptures have been difputed, as you reject thofe Books you call Apocryphal out of the Canon of the Old Teftament: And the Antient Hereticks forged falfe Gofpels and falfe Epiftles in the Names of the Apoftles: And as the Canon of the New Teftament now ftands, fome of the Epifles have been difputed by fome Learned Men. And this could not be determined, nor the Canon eftablifhed, but by the Authority of the Church.

G. Aş

G. As to the Apocryphal Books, we Received the Canon of the Old Teftament from the Church of the Jews, which never admitted them into the Canon of their Scriptures. And how fhould we know their Canon better than themselves?

Again, we are fure they were not in the Chriftian Canon in the Days of St. Jerome, if he knew what was Received by the Church as the Canon of Scripture, for in his Prologus Galeatus, Printed before your own Vulgar Latin, he rejects them as Apocryphal, and fays they were not in the Canon of the Holy Scri

Dtures.

38.

Inter Apochrypha effe ponenda

Non funt in Canone.

2 Machab. xv.

But as to thefe Books themselves, let any one but read the Conclufion of them, in Excufe for the Weakness of the Performance, and then think it poffible, if he can, that the Holy Ghoft should make such a Speech as this-If I have done well-it is what I defired, but if fenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto. Or as your Vulgar has it, Si quidem bene, & ut Hiftorie competit, hoc & ipfe velim: Si autem minus digne, concedendum eft mihi. That is, I ask your Pardon, if I have not done my Work as it ought to be.

But as to a full Examination of the Apocryphal Books, and their Authority, I refer your Lordship to Dr. Cofin his Scholaftical HiHory of the Canon of the Holy Scripture. Prin

ted

« 上一页继续 »