Part 12

2. When the same action in scripture seems to be ascribed to different persons, or the same thing said to be done in different places, there is no contradiction, for the same person, or place, is sometimes called by various names: thus Moses’s father-in-law, who met him in the wilderness, and advised him in the settling the government of the people, is called, in one place, Jethro, Exod. xviii. 1. and in another Hobab, Numb. x. 29. So the mountain, from which God gave the law to Israel, is sometimes called mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 20. and at other times Horeb, Deut. i. 6.

3. Chronological difficulties, or seeming contradictions, arising from a differing number of years, in which the same thing is said to be done, may be reconciled, by computing them from the different epocha’s, or beginnings of computation: as it is said, Exod. xii. 40. _The sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years_; but, when God foretels this sojourning, it is said, Gen. xv. 13. _Thy seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years_: now the four hundred and thirty years takes its beginning of computation from Abraham’s being called to leave his country, and sojourn in the land of promise, as in a strange land; this was four hundred and thirty years before Israel went out of Egypt; but the four hundred years mentioned in Genesis, during which time his seed should sojourn, takes its beginning of computation from his having the promised seed, or from the birth of Isaac, which was twenty-five years after his leaving his country; from that time to the children of Israel’s going out of Egypt was four hundred and five years; and the five years above four hundred are left out, as being an inconsiderable number, which is very agreeable to our common way of computing time, when a large even number is mentioned, to leave out a small one of four or five years, more or less, as in the instance here mentioned, especially when time is expressed by centuries, as it is here; for it is said, in ver. 16. _in the fourth generation_, that is, after the fourth century of years, _they shall come hither again_.

4. When, by comparing the years of the reign of several of the kings of Judah and Israel, mentioned in the books of Kings and Chronicles, we find that some are said, in one of them, to have reigned three or four years longer than the account of the years of their reign, mentioned by the other, the seeming contradiction may be reconciled, by considering him as beginning to reign before his father’s death, as Solomon did before David died; or from his being nominated as his father’s successor, and owned as such by the people, which was sometimes done to prevent disputes that might arise about the matter afterwards; and sometimes, when a king was engaged in foreign wars, in which he was obliged to be absent from his people, and the event hereof was uncertain, he appointed his son to reign in his absence, from which time he had the title of a king, though his father was living: or when a king was superannuated, or unfit to reign, as Uzziah was when smote with leprosy; or when he was weary of the fatigue and burden of government, he would settle his son, as his viceroy, in his life-time, on which account the son is sometimes said to reign with his father: thus many account for that difficulty, in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. where it is said, _Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign_; but in 2 Kings xxiv. 8. he is said to have been _eighteen years old when he began to reign_: the meaning is, that when he was eight years old, he was nominated as his father’s successor; but when he was eighteen years old, he began to reign alone, his father being then dead.

5. Scriptures that seem to contradict one another may not treat of the same, but different subjects, as to the general design thereof: thus, that seeming contradiction between the apostles Paul and James is to be accounted for; the former says, Gal. ii. 16. _Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ_; but the other says, Jam. ii. 24. _That by works a man is justified, and not by faith only._ The apostle Paul speaks of a sinner’s justification, or freedom from the condemning sentence of the law in the sight of God, which gives him a right to eternal life, in which respect he looks for it out of himself, and, by faith, depends alone on Christ’s righteousness; in this sense, works do not justify: whereas the apostle James, when he asserts, that _a man is justified by works, and not by faith only_, intends that our profession and sincerity therein is justified; that is evidenced, not by our having just notions of things, or an historical faith, such as the devils themselves have, but by those works of holiness, which are the fruits of it; this is the only justification he treats of, and therefore doth not in the least contradict the apostle Paul, who treats of another kind of justification, in which works are excluded.

6. When two scriptures seem to contradict one another, they may sometimes be reconciled, by considering the same thing absolutely in one place, and comparatively in the other: thus, in many scriptures, we are commanded to extend that love to every one in their several relations, which is due; and yet our Saviour says, Luke xiv. 26. _If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, he cannot be my disciple_: this is to be understood comparatively, that is, our love to the creature ought to bear no proportion to that which is due to God.

7. Scriptures that seem to contradict one another, often speak of different persons, or persons of different characters: thus it is said, Luke vi. 36. _Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful_; or, _Judge not, that ye be not judged_, Matt. vii. 2. This respects persons in a private capacity, and therefore doth not contradict those other scriptures that are applied to magistrates in the execution of public justice; to such it is said, Deut. xix. 21. _Thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot._

8. Two contrary assertions may be both true in differing respects; thus our Saviour says in one place, _The poor ye have always with you, but me ye have not always_, Matt. xxvi. 11. and in another, _Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world_, chap. xxviii. 20. these are both true, one respecting Christ’s bodily presence, as man, in which respect he is not now with us; the other his spiritual and powerful influences, whereby he is always present with his people as God.

9. We must take notice of different times or dispensations, in which respect those laws or ordinances, which were to be received and observed as a rule of faith and duty at one time, may not be so at another; thus circumcision is recommended as a duty, and a privilege to the Jews before Christ’s time, in which respect the apostle reckons it among the advantages which they formerly had above all other nations, Rom. iii. 1, 2. but when the gospel dispensation was erected, and the Jewish œconomy abolished, it was so far from being an advantage, that the observance of it was deemed no less than a subversion of the gospel, as the apostle says, Gal. v. 2. _If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing_; and the same apostle gives a very diminutive character of those institutes of the ceremonial law, which he calls, in his time, _weak and beggarly elements_, such as had a tendency to bring them again _into bondage_, and blames them for observing the Jewish festivals, such as days, months, times, and years; to wit, the new moons, feasts of weeks, or of years, such as the seventh year, or the jubilees, and tells them, on this occasion, _I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed on you labour in vain_, chap. iv. 9, 10, 11. so that what was a duty and a privilege in one age of the church, and enjoined with the greatest strictness, and severest punishments on those that neglected it, is forbid, as a sin in another age thereof, without the least shadow of contradiction between those scriptures, which either enjoin or forbid it: thus, when our Saviour first sent his twelve disciples to preach the gospel, he commanded them, _Not to go in the way of the Gentiles_, Matt. x. 5. to wit, so long as he was here upon earth, or till they had finished their ministry among the Jews, to whom the word was first to be preached; but afterwards, when the gospel was to be spread throughout the world, he gave them a commission to _preach the gospel to all nations_, chap. xxviii. 19. which accordingly they did, as apprehending there was no contradiction between the former prohibition and the present command.[41]

IV. The divine authority of scripture may be further proved from the scope and design of the whole, which is to give all glory to God.

It may be observed, concerning the scripture, that the advancing the divine perfections, and debasing the creature, is the great end designed by God in giving it; and we find that whatever doctrine is laid down therein, this end is still pursued. Now scripture-doctrines are designed to advance the glory of God, either directly or by consequence.

1. As to the former of these, the scripture abounds with instances, in which God is adored or set forth, as the object of adoration, that is, as having all divine perfections, and as doing every thing becoming himself as a God of glory: thus he is described herein, as the _Lord most high and terrible, a great King over all the earth_, Psal. xlvii. 2. and _glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders_, Exod. xv. 11. and as _the true God, the living God, and an everlasting King_, Jer. x. 10. and as _the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments_, Dan. ix. 4. and it is also said, _Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven, and in the earth is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as Head over all_, 1 Chron. xxix. 11. These, and such-like adorable perfections, are not only occasionally ascribed to God in scripture, but every part thereof displays his glory in a manner so illustrious, as gives ground to conclude, that the great design of it is to raise in us becoming apprehensions of him, and to put us upon adoring and worshipping him as God.

2. It may, by a just consequence, be said to give all the glory to him, as it represents the emptiness, and even nothingness of all creatures, when compared with him, and hereby recommends him, as all in all: when it speaks of the best of creatures, as veiling their faces before him, as acknowledging themselves unworthy to behold his glory, and as deriving all their happiness from him; and when it speaks of man as a sinful guilty creature, expecting all from him, and depending upon him for grace sufficient for him; and when it speaks of God, as the author and finisher of faith, in whom alone there is hope of obtaining mercy and forgiveness, grace here, and glory hereafter, and lays down this as the sum of all religion; we must certainly conclude that its design is to give all glory to God.

Now let us consider the force of this argument, or how the general scope and design of scripture, to give all glory to God, proves its divine authority. Had it been the invention and contrivance of men, or if the writers thereof had pretended they had received it by inspiration from God, and it had not been so, then the great design thereof would have been to advance themselves; and they would certainly have laid down such a scheme of religion therein, as is agreeable to the corrupt appetites and inclinations of men, or would tend to indulge and dispense with sin, and not such an one as sets forth the holiness of God, and his infinite displeasure against it.

And as for salvation, the penmen of scripture, had they not been inspired, would certainly have represented it as very easy to be attained, and not as a work of such difficulty as it really is; and they would also have propagated such a religion, as supposes the creature not dependent on, or beholden to God for this salvation, and then the scripture would have detracted from his glory; but since, on the other hand, its general design is to give him the glory due to his name, this is a convincing evidence of its divine original.

From the general design of scripture, as being to give all glory to God, we may infer,

(1.) That whenever we read the word of God, we ought to have this great design in view, and so not consider it barely as an historical narrative of things done, but should observe how the glory of the divine perfections is set forth, that hereby we may be induced to ascribe greatness to God, and admire him for all the discoveries which he makes of himself therein.

(2.) The scriptures’ general design should be a rule to us in the whole of our conversation, wherein we ought to give all glory to God: whatever we receive or expect from him, or whatever duty we engage in, let us act as those, that not only take the scripture for our rule, but its general scope and design for our example.

(3.) Whatsoever doctrines are pretended to be deduced from, or to contain the sense of scripture, which, notwithstanding, tend to depreciate the divine perfections, these are to be rejected, as contrary to its general scope and design.

V. Another argument may be taken from the character of the penmen of scripture; and here let them be supposed to be either good men, or bad: if good men, then they could not give themselves such a liberty to impose upon the world, and pretend that they received that from God, which they did not; and if they were bad men, they neither could nor would have laid down such doctrines, as centre in, lead the soul to God, and tend to promote self-denial, and advance his glory in all things; since this is to suppose the worst of men to have the best ends, which we can never do; for, as our Saviour says, Matt. vii. 16. _Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?_ He is speaking of false prophets, who were to be known by their fruits; wicked men will have bad designs, or are like the corrupt tree, which bringeth forth evil fruit. But, on the other hand, if persons deliver that which carries in it such internal evidence of divine truth, and have such a noble design in view, as the securing the honour of God, and promoting his interest in the world, these must certainly be approved of by him, and concluded to be good men; and if so, then they would not impose a fallacy on the world, or say that the scripture was given by divine inspiration, when they knew it to be otherwise.

If the scriptures are not the word of God, then the penmen thereof have miserably deceived, not a small number of credulous people, but the whole Christian world, among whom we must allow that many were judicious, and such as would not easily suffer themselves to be imposed on; to which we may add, that others to whom the gospel was preached, were exasperated enemies to those that preached it, and particularly to these inspired penmen of scripture, and greatly prejudiced against their doctrine, and therefore would use all possible endeavours to detect the fallacy, if there had been any; so that it was morally impossible for them to deceive the world in this instance, or make them believe that the scriptures were the word of God, if there had not been the strongest evidence to convince them of it, which they could not withstand or gainsay.

But, that we may enter a little further into the character of the penmen of scripture, let it be observed,

1. That they could not be charged by their enemies with immoral practices, or notorious crimes, which might weaken the credit of the truths they delivered: they were, indeed, compassed about with like infirmities with other men; for it is not to be supposed, that, because they were inspired, therefore they were perfectly free from sin; since that does not necessarily follow from their having this privilege conferred upon them; yet their enemies themselves could find no great blemishes in their character, which might justly prejudice them against their writings, or that might render them unfit to be employed in this great work of transmitting the mind of God to the world.

2. They appear to be men of great integrity, not declining to discover and aggravate their own faults, as well as the sins of others. Thus Moses, though a man of great meekness, as to his general character, discovers his own failing, in repining, and being uneasy, because of the untoward and turbulent spirit of the people, over whom he was appointed a governor, when he represents himself as complaining to God; _Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? I am not able to bear this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see mine own wretchedness_, Numb. xi. 11-15. This was certainly a very great blemish in the character of this excellent man; but he does not attempt to conceal it; nor does he omit to mention his backwardness to comply with the call of God, to deliver his brethren out of their bondage in Egypt, but tells us what poor trifling excuses he made; as when he says, Exod. iv. 10, 13, 19. _O Lord, I am not eloquent_; and when God answers him, by promising to supply this defect, he obstinately persists in declining this service, and says, _O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send_; that is, by any one but myself; so that he who expressed such courage and resolution forty years before in defending the oppressed Israelites, and supposed that his brethren would have understood that God, by his hand, would deliver them, but they understood it not, Acts vii. 24, 25. when God really called him to deliver them, he obstinately refused to obey; and, indeed, whatever excuses he might make, the main thing that lay at the bottom was fear, and therefore, as a further inducement to it, God tells him, _The men were dead that sought his life_. All this he says concerning himself; and elsewhere he tells us, Deut. xxxii. 51, 52. compared with Numb. xx. 10, 11, 12. and Deut. iii. 25-27. that he did not sanctify the name of God in the eyes of the people, but spake unadvisedly with his lips; and that, for this, God would not let him go into the land of Canaan, though he earnestly desired it.

And the prophet Jeremiah tells us, how he was ready to faint, and, in a murmuring way, curses the day of his birth, Jer. xx. 7, 8, 14, 15, 16. and seems almost determined _not to make mention of God, nor speak any more in his name_, because he had been put in the stocks by Pashur, and was derided and mocked by others, who were, indeed, below his notice.

And David discovered his own sin, though it was a very scandalous one, in the matter of Uriah, Psal. li. the title, compared with ver. 14. and prays, _Deliver me from blood guiltiness_; which is a confession of his being guilty of murder.

The apostles also discover their infirmities. Thus Paul discovers his furious temper, in persecuting the church, before his conversion, and ranks himself amongst the chief of sinners, 1 Tim. i. 13, 15. And how willing is Matthew to let the world know, that, before his conversion, he was a publican: thus he characterises himself, Matt. x. 3. and says, chap. ix. 9. that when Christ called him, he sat _at the receipt of custom_, though the publicans were reckoned among the vilest of men for extortion, and other crimes, and were universally hated by the Jews.

Moreover as the penmen of scripture expose their own crimes, so they do those of their nearest and dearest friends and relatives, which carnal policy would have inclined them to conceal. Thus Moses tells us how Aaron his brother made the golden calf, and so was the encourager and promoter of the people’s idolatry; that it was he that _bid them break off the golden ear-rings, which he received at their hand, whereof he made a molten calf, and then built an altar before it_, Exod. xxxii. 2-5. Though the Jewish historian[42] was so politic, as to conceal this thing, for the honour of his own nation; and therefore when he tells us, that Moses went up into the mount to receive the law, he says nothing of the scandalous crime, which the people were guilty of at the foot of the mountain at the same time.

Moreover, as they do not conceal their sins, so they sometimes declare the meanness of their extraction, which shewed that they did not design to have honour from men. Thus Amos tells us, Amos i. 1. _He was among the herdmen of Tekoa_: and that he was not bred up in the schools of the prophets, which he intends, when he styles himself, _no prophet, neither a prophet’s son_, chap. vii. 14.

And the evangelists occasionally tell the world how they were fisher-men, when called to be Christ’s disciples, and so not bred up in the schools of learning among the Jews.[43]

3. They were very far from being crafty or designing men; neither did they appear to be men that were able to manage an imposture of this nature, or frame a new scheme of religion, and, at the same time, make the world believe that it was from God. For,

(1.) None that read the scriptures can find any appearance of design in the penmen thereof, to advance themselves or families. Moses, indeed, had the burden of government, but he did not affect the pomp and splendor of a king; neither did he make any provision for his family, so as to advance them to great honours in the world, which it was in his power to have done: the laws he gave, rendered those of his own tribe, to wit, that of Levi, incapable of, and not designed for kingly government; and the highest honour of the priesthood, which was fixed in that tribe, was conferred on his brother’s children, not his own.

(2.) The prophets were very few of them great men in the world, not advanced to great places in the government; the esteem and reputation they had among the people at any time, was only for their integrity, and the honour conferred on them by God; and the apostles were plain men, who drove on no design to gain riches and honours from those to whom they preached the gospel; but, on the other hand, they expected nothing but poverty, reproach, imprisonment, and, at last, to die a violent death: therefore, how can it be supposed that they were subtle designing men, who had some worldly advantage in view? It is plain that they had no design but to do what God commanded, and to communicate what they had received from him, and shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God, whatever it cost them. The apostle Paul was so far from endeavouring to enrich himself by preaching the gospel, that he tells the church, _I seek not your’s, but you_, 2 Cor. xii. 14. and how he was fortified against the afflictions, which he foresaw would attend his ministry, when he says, Philip, iv. 11, 12. _I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, to be full, and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer want_: and he was not only content to bear afflictions, but, when called to it, he professes himself to _take pleasure in reproach, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake_, 2 Cor. xii. 10.