Part 16

“Broad, obvious, and explicit agreements prove little; because it may be suggested, that the insertion of such is the ordinary expedient of every forgery; and though they may occur, and probably will occur, in genuine writings, yet it cannot be proved that they are peculiar to these. Thus what St. Paul declares in chap. xi. of 1 Cor. concerning the institution of the eucharist, ‘For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me,’ though it be in close and verbal conformity with the account of the same transaction preserved by St. Luke, is yet a conformity of which no use can be made in our argument; for if it should be objected that this was a mere recital from the Gospel, borrowed by the author of the epistle, for the purpose of setting off his composition by an appearance of agreement with the received account of the Lord’s supper, I should not know how to repel the insinuation. In like manner, the description which St. Paul gives of himself in his epistle to the Philippians (iii. 5.)—‘Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless’—is made up of particulars so plainly delivered concerning him, in the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Romans, and the Epistle to the Galatians, that I cannot deny but that it would be easy for an impostor, who was fabricating a letter in the name of St. Paul, to collect these articles into one view. This, therefore, is a conformity which we do not adduce. But when I read, in the Acts of the Apostles, that ‘when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman _which was a Jewess_;’ and when, in an epistle addressed to Timothy, I find him reminded of his ‘having known the Holy Scriptures _from a child_,’ which implies that he must, on one side or both, have been brought up by Jewish parents: I conceive that I remark a coincidence which shews, by its very _obliquity_, that scheme was not employed in its formation.”

* * * * *

“An assertion in the Epistle to the Colossians, _viz._ that ‘Onesimus was one of them,’ is verified by the Epistle to Philemon; and is verified, not by any mention of Colosse, any the most distant intimation concerning the place of Philemon’s abode, but singly by stating Onesimus to be Philemon’s servant, and by joining in the salutation Philemon with Archippus, for this Archippus, when we go back to the Epistle to the Colossians, appears to have been an inhabitant of that city, and, as it should seem, to have held an office of authority in that church. The case stands thus. Take the Epistle to the Colossians alone, and no circumstance is discoverable which makes out the assertion, that Onesimus was ‘one of them.’ Take the Epistle to Philemon alone, and nothing at all appears concerning the place to which Philemon or his servant Onesimus belonged. For any thing that is said in the epistle, Philemon might have been a Thessalonian, a Philippian, or an Ephesian, as well as a Colossian. Put the two epistles together and the matter is clear. The reader perceives a _junction_ of circumstances, which ascertains the conclusion at once. Now, all that is necessary to be added in this place is, that this correspondency evinces the genuineness of one epistle, as well as of the other. It is like comparing the two parts of a cloven tally. Coincidence proves the authenticity of both.”

PALEY.

Footnote 23:

See Lardner, vol. xii. p. 22.

Footnote 24:

Lardner, vol. ii. p. 598.

Footnote 25:

See Lardner’s Recapitulation, vol. xii, p. 53.

Footnote 26:

See Lardner’s Recapitulation, vol. xii. p. 53.

Footnote 27:

Lardner, vol. ii. p. 808.

Footnote 28:

Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 455.

Footnote 29:

Lardner, vol. xiv. p. 458.

Footnote 30:

Lardner, vol. i. p. 313.

Footnote 31:

Iren. advers. Haer. quoted by Lardner, vol. xv. p. 425.

Footnote 32:

Lardner, vol. viii. p. 106.

Footnote 33:

See the tracts written in the controversy between Tunstal and Middleton upon certain suspected epistles ascribed to Cicero.

Footnote 34:

I believe that there is a great deal of truth in Dr. Lardner’s observations, that comparatively few of those books, which we call apocryphal, were strictly and originally forgeries. See Lardner, vol. xii. p. 167.

Footnote 35:

Lardner, vol. x. p. 103.

Footnote 36:

Lardner, vol. xi. p. 88.

Footnote 37:

לך שבע שנים are wanting only in 85 and 112 of Kennicott.

Footnote 38:

_See Ques._ 154.

Footnote 39:

῾Υπερανω αὐτῆς.

Footnote 40:

[ἐν ἡ] εν _oftentimes signifies_, Cum, ad, prope, juxta, _as well as in_.

Footnote 41:

“The most ancient tradition among all nations, is exactly agreeable to the relation of _Moses_. For his description of the original of the world is almost the very same as in the ancient _Phœnician_ histories, which are translated by _Philo Biblius_ from _Sanchoniathon’s_ Collection; and a good part of it is to be found among the _Indians_ and _Egyptians_; whence it is that in _Linus_, _Hesiod_, and many other _Greek_ writers, mention is made of a _Chaos_, (signified by some under the name of an Egg) and of the framing of animals, and also of man’s formation after the divine image, and the dominion given him over all living creatures; which are to be seen in many writers, particularly in _Ovid_, who transcribed them from the _Greek_. That all things were made by the Word of God, is asserted by _Epicharmus_, and the _Platonists_; and before them, by the most ancient writer (I do not mean of those Hymns which go under his name, but) of those Verses which were of old called _Orpheus’s_; not because _Orpheus_ composed them, but because they contained his doctrines. And _Empedocles_ acknowledged, that the sun was not the original light, but the receptacle of light, (the storehouse and vehicle of fire, as the ancient Christians express it.) _Aratus_, and _Catullus_, thought the divine residence was above the starry orb; in which _Homer_ says, there is a continual light. _Thales_ taught from the ancient schools, that God was the oldest of beings, because not begotten; that the world was most beautiful, because the workmanship of God; that darkness was before light, which latter we find in _Orpheus’s_ Verses, and _Hesiod_, whence it was, that the nations, who were most tenacious of ancient customs, reckoned the time by nights. _Anaxagoras_ affirmed, that all things were regulated by the supreme mind: _Aratus_, that the stars were made by God; _Virgil_, from the _Greeks_, that Life was infused into things by the Spirit of God; _Hesiod_, _Homer_, and _Callimachus_, that man was formed of clay; lastly, _Maximus Tyrius_ asserts, that it was a constant tradition received by all nations, that there was one supreme God, the cause of all things. And we learn from _Josephus_, _Philo_, _Tibullus_, _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and _Lucian_, (for I need not mention the _Hebrews_) that the memory of the seven days’ work was preserved, not only among the _Greeks_ and _Italians_, by honouring the seventh day; but also amongst the _Celtæ_ and _Indians_, who all measured the time by weeks; as we learn from _Philostratus_, _Dion Cassius_, and _Justin Martyr_, and also the most ancient names of the day. The _Egyptians_ tell us, that at first men led their lives in great simplicity, their bodies being naked, whence arose the poet’s fiction of the Golden Age, famous among the _Indians_, as _Strabo_ remarks, _Maimonides_ takes notice, that the history of _Adam_, of _Eve_, of the tree, and of the serpent, was extant among the idolatrous _Indians_ in his time: and there are many witnesses in our age, who testify that the same is still to be found amongst the _heathen_ dwelling in _Peru_, and the _Philippine_ islands, people belonging to the same _India_; the name of _Adam_ amongst the _Brachmans_; and that it was reckoned six thousand years since the creation of the world, by those of _Siam_. _Berosus_ in his history of _Chaldea_, _Manethos_ in his of _Egypt_, _Hierom_ in his of _Phœnicia_, _Histæus_, _Hecatæus_, _Hillanicus_ in theirs of _Greece_, and _Hesiod_ among the Poets; all assert that the lives of those who descended from the first men, were almost a thousand years in length; which is the less incredible, because the historians of many nations (particularly _Pausanias_ and _Philostratus_ amongst the _Greeks_, and _Pliny_ amongst the _Romans_) relate, that men’s bodies, upon opening their sepulchres, were found to be much larger in old time. And _Catullus_, after many of the _Greeks_, relates, that divine visions were made to men before their great and manifold crimes did, as it were, hinder God, and those Spirits that attend him, from holding any correspondence with men. We almost every where, in the _Greek_ and _Latin_ historians, meet with the savage life of the Giants, mentioned by _Moses_. And it is very remarkable concerning the deluge, that the memory of almost all nations ends in the history of it, even those nations which were unknown till our forefathers discovered them: so that _Varro_ calls all _that_ the unknown time. And all those things which we read in the poets, wrapped up in fables (a Liberty they allow themselves) are delivered by the ancient writers according to truth and reality; that is, agreeable to _Moses_; as you may see in _Berosus’s_ History of _Chaldea_, _Abydenus’s_ of _Assyria_, who mentions the dove that was sent out of the ark; and in _Plutarch_ from the _Greeks_; and in _Lucian_, who says, that in _Hierapolis_ of _Syria_, there was remaining a most ancient history of the ark, and of the preserving a few not only of mankind, but also of other living creatures. The same history was extant also in _Molo_ and in _Nicolaus Damascenus_; which latter names the ark, which we also find in the history of _Deucalion_ in _Apollodorus_; and many _Spaniards_ affirm, that in several parts of _America_, as _Cuba_, _Mechoacana_, _Nicaraga_, is preserved the memory of the deluge, the saving alive of animals, especially the raven and dove; and the deluge itself in that part called _Golden Castile_. That remark of _Pliny’s_, that _Joppa_ was built before the Flood, discovers what part of the earth men inhabited before the Flood. The place where the ark rested after the deluge on the _Gordyæan_ mountains, is evident from the constant tradition of the _Armenians_ from all past ages, down to this very day. _Japhet_, the father of the _Europeans_, and from him _Jon_, or, as they formerly pronounced it, _Javon_ of the _Greeks_, and _Hammon_ of the _Africans_, are names to be seen in _Moses_, and _Josephus_ and others observe the like footsteps in the names of other places and nations. And which of the poets is it, in which we do not find mention made of the attempt to climb the heavens? _Diodoris Siculus_, _Strabo_, _Tacitus_, _Pliny_, _Solinus_, speak of the burning of _Sodom_. _Herodotus_, _Diodorus_, _Strabo_, _Philo Biblius_, testify the ancient custom of Circumcision, which is confirmed by those nations descended from _Abraham_, not only _Hebrews_, but also _Idumæans_, _Ismaelites_, and others. The history of _Abraham_, _Isaac_, _Jacob_, and _Joseph_, agreeable with _Moses_, was extant of old in _Philo Biblius_ out of _Sanchoniathon_, in _Berosus_, _Hecatæus_, _Damascenus_, _Artapanus_, _Eupolemus_, _Demetrius_, and partly in the ancient writers of the Orphic Verses; and something of it is still extant in _Justin_, out of _Trogus Pompeius_. By almost all which, is related also the history of _Moses_, and his principal acts. The Orphic Verses expressly mention his being taken out of the water, and the two tables that were given him by God. To these we may add _Polemon_; and several things about his coming out of _Egypt_, from the _Egyptian_ writers, _Menetho_, _Lysimachus_, _Chæremon_. Neither can any prudent man think it at all credible, that _Moses_, who had so many enemies, not only of the _Egyptians_, but also of many other nations, as the _Idumæans_, _Arabians_, and _Phœnicians_, would venture to relate any thing concerning the creation of the world, or the original of things, which could be confuted by more ancient writings, or was contradictory to the ancient and received opinions: or that he would relate any thing of matters in his own time, that could be confuted by the testimony of many persons then alive, _Diodorus Siculus_, _Strabo_, and _Pliny_, _Tacitus_, and after them _Dionysius Longinus_ (concerning loftiness of Speech) make mention of _Moses_. Besides the _Talmudists_, _Pliny_ and _Apuleius_, speak of _Jamnes_ and _Mambres_, who resisted _Moses_ in _Egypt_. Some things there are in other writings, and many things amongst the _Pythagoreans_, about the Law and Rites given by _Moses_, _Strabo_ and _Justin_, out of _Trogus_, remarkably testify concerning the religion and righteousness of the ancient _Jews_; so that there seems to be no need of mentioning what is found, or has formerly been found of _Joshua_ and others, agreeable to the _Hebrew_ books; seeing, that whoever gives credit to _Moses_ (which it is a shame for any one to refuse) cannot but believe those famous miracles done by the hand of God; which is the principal thing here aimed at. Now that the miracles of late date, such as those of _Elija_, _Elisha_, and others, should not be counterfeit, there is this further argument; that in those times _Judæa_ was become more known, and because of the difference of religion was hated by the neighbours, who could very easily confute the first rise of a lie. The history of _Jonah’s_ being three days in the whale’s belly is in _Lycophron_ and _Æneus Gazeus_, only under the name of _Herculus_; to advance whose fame, every thing that was great and noble used to be related of him, as _Tacitus_ observes. Certainly nothing but the manifest evidence of the history could compel _Julian_ (who was as great an enemy to the _Jews_ as to the Christians) to confess that there were some men inspired by the divine Spirit amongst the _Jews_, and that fire descended from heaven, and consumed the sacrifices of _Moses_ and _Elias_. And here it is worthy of observation, that there was not only very severe punishments threatened amongst the _Hebrews_, to any who should falsely assume the gift of prophecy, but very many kings, who by that means might have procured great authority to themselves, and many learned men, such as _Esdras_ and others, dared not to assume this honour to themselves; nay, some ages before Christ’s time, nobody dared to do it. Much less could so many thousand people be imposed upon, in avouching a constant and public miracle, I mean that of the oracle, which shined on the High Priest’s breast, which is so firmly believed by all the _Jews_, to have remained till the destruction of the first temple, that their ancestors must of necessity be well assured of the truth of it.”

GROTIUS.

Footnote 42:

Vid. Joseph Antiq.

Footnote 43:

Reason will affirm that every effect speaks a cause; then we ask how it should happen that a dozen illiterate fishermen and mechanicks of Galilee, after the wisdom of the philosophers had left the world in darkness, should have introduced so much light of knowledge, that our children and servants are wiser than the ancient philosophers? Let no one say, that they only began, what the wisdom of after ages have carried on towards perfection. The writings of the apostles are the same to this day; as is proved by the earliest versions, quotations, and manuscripts. So perfect was the system of morals they left, that no error has been detected in it, and all attempts to build upon or add to it, have only exposed the ignorance of the individuals who have essayed to do so.

How has it happened that whilst learned men have ever been at discord about the nature, and true foundation of the obligation of virtue, these despised fishermen, have shown the true foundation and nature of duty, and have erred in no particular? Is it not strange that whilst the wisdom of the philosophers made their purest virtue but a more refined pride, these poor men laid the ax to the root of that pride, and taught the world that even their virtues brought them under additional obligations to Divine grace? Is it not remarkable that the system taught by these unlearned men should so perfectly coincide with what is discovered in the works of God, that whilst it aims to eradicate sin, it represents it as in every instance eventually productive of the glory of that God, who brings good out of the evil, and light out of the darkness?

How is it to be accounted for, that when the most learned rabbies perverted the law, and knew not its meaning, that a few crude and uninstructed fishermen should remove their false constructions of that law, explain the types, shadows, promises and prophecies, show how the truth and justice of God might be clear in the pardon of sin, and set the labouring conscience at rest? How came the fishermen of Galilee to discover to the wise and learned what they had never conjectured, and truths, which only attentive minds at the present time can acquiesce in, that all things are certain, because foreknown, and foreknown because Divine knowledge must be infinite and eternal, and yet that rational creatures may be capable of choosing and refusing, though they must be wholly dependent? Is it not passing strange that the wisdom of Philosophers, the learning of Rabbies, the power of Kings and Emperors, the influence of thousands of priests, the prejudices of the world, and the malice of the wicked should be overcome by twelve poor fishermen? How is it to be accounted for that these twelve poor illiterate men should have effected such surprising changes, that modern infidels are ashamed of the evidence of their ancient predecessors, and are obliged to borrow from the fishermen of Galilee a portion of the knowledge they have introduced, without which the opposers of the Gospel must fall into contempt? Is any man so credulous as to imagine men of no better education and opportunities, possessed of themselves all this knowledge? when or where has the natural world produced such a phænomenon? they declared that it was not of themselves, but, that such feeble instruments were chosen, that the power might appear to be what it really was, from God. This testimony they confirmed by miracles, and sealed with their blood.

Footnote 44:

Vide Dodd. Expos. 3 vol. app.—Dick on Insp.—Parry’s Enq.—Hawker, &c.

Footnote 45:

This description of the Spirit’s witness resembles sensible assurance; that there may be such an immediate suggestion, or impression is possible; but the Spirit’s witness is the image of God, and is of adoption.—Vide Edwards’s works, vol. 4. p. 161.

Quest. V.

QUEST. V. _What do the scriptures principally teach?_

ANSW. The scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.[46]

Having, in the foregoing answer, proved the scriptures to be the word of God, there is in this a general account of the contents thereof; there are many great doctrines contained therein, all which may be reduced to two heads, to wit, what we are to believe, and what we are to do. All religion is contained in these two things, and so we may apply the words of the apostle to this case, _Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum_, Heb. viii. 1. and accordingly, as this Catechism is deduced from scripture, it contains two parts, _viz._ what we are to believe, and in what instances we are to yield obedience to the law of God. And that the scriptures principally teach these two things, appears from the apostle’s advice to Timothy, _Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love_, 2 Tim. i. 13.

From the scriptures’ principally teaching us matters of faith and practice, we infer, that _faith without works is dead_; or that he is not a true Christian who yields an assent to divine revelation, without a practical subjection to God, in all ways of holy obedience, as the apostle observes, and gives a challenge, to this effect, to those who separate faith from works; _Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works_, James ii. 17, 18. and, on the other hand, works without faith are unacceptable. A blind obedience, or ignorant performance of some of the external parts of religion, without the knowledge of divine truth, is no better than what the apostle calls _bodily exercise which profiteth little_, 1 Tim. iv. 18. therefore we ought to examine ourselves, whether our faith be founded on, or truly deduced from scripture? and whether it be a practical faith, or, as the apostle says, such as _worketh by love_? Gal. v. 6. whether we grow in knowledge, as well as in zeal and diligence, in performing many duties of religion, if we would approve ourselves sincere Christians?

Footnote 46:

What we are to believe reaches to Qu. 91. the rest is of practice.

Quest. VI.

QUEST. VI. _What do the scriptures make known of God?_

ANSW. The scriptures make known what God is, the persons in the Godhead, the decrees, and the execution of his decrees.

It is an amazing instance of condescension, and an inexpressible favour which God bestows on man, that he should manifest himself to him, and that not only in such a way as he does to all mankind, by the light of nature, which discovers that he is; but that he should, in so glorious a way, declare what he is, as he does in his word: this is a distinguishing privilege, as the Psalmist observes, when speaking of God’s _shewing his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel_, Psal. cxlvii. he mentions it, as an instance of discriminating grace, in that he _has not dealt so with any other nation_. This raised the admiration of one of Christ’s disciples, when he said, _Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world_! John xiv. 22. And it is still more wonderful, that he should discover to man what he does, or rather what he has decreed or purposed to do, and so should impart his secrets to him; how familiarly does God herein deal with man! Thus he says concerning the holy patriarch of old, _Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?_ Gen. xvi. 17. However, it is one thing to know the secret purposes of God, and another thing to know the various properties thereof; the former of these, however known of old, by extraordinary intimation, are now known to us only by the execution of them; the latter is what we may attain to the knowledge of, by studying the scriptures.

Now as the scriptures make known, _First_, What God is; _Secondly_, The persons in the Godhead; _Thirdly_, His decrees; And _Fourthly_, The execution thereof; so we are directed hereby in the method to be observed in treating of the great doctrines of our religion; and accordingly the first part of this Catechism,[47] which treats of doctrinal subjects, contains an enlargement on these four general heads; the first whereof we proceed to consider.

Footnote 47:

That is unto the 91st Quest.