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the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us; we will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done; for he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers," &c. (Psalm lxxviii. 1—8.)

10. "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord." (Psalm cii. 18.)

11. "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts." (Psalm cxlv. 4. See ver. 5-7,

11, 21.)

12. "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,” &c. "This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." (Exod. iii. 15.)

13. "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days," &c., "that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt," &c. (Levit. xxiii. 42, 43.)

14. Psalm lxxxix. 1.

15. " And ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts i. 8.)

16. "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses; " (Acts ii. 32 ;) "And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." (Acts iii. 14, 15.)

17. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged upon a tree; him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour," &c. "And we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost," &c. (Acts v. 30-32.)

18. "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel," &c., "which was published throughout all Judea," &c.; "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with

power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him and we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree; him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead: and he commandeth us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God, to be the Judge of quick and dead." (Acts x. 38-41.)

19. "But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of them, which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings," &c. (Acts xiii. 30, 31.)

20. See, also, Acts i. 22, and iv. 33, and xxii. 15, and xxvi. 16; 1 Pet. v. 1; Heb. ii. 3; Luke iv. 22; John i. 15, 32, 34, and v. 33, and xii. 17, and ix. 35, and xv. 27; Acts xxiii. 11; 1 John i. 2, with divers others, which all show that it was the office of the apostles, and the duty of all others that saw Christ's miracles, to bear witness of them, and that others should receive that witness. And though God did enable those first witnesses to seal also their witness with the gift of the Holy Ghost, given by God at the laying on of their hands or at their preaching, or by miracles, yet those that saw not those miracles were bound to believe their witness; and the Gospel was by them committed to others, that were by preaching, though mostly without miracles, to convince the rest of the world, and propagate it to posterity.

21. "And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou unto faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. ii. 2.) This is the way of propagating the Gospel. So, 1 Tim. vi. 20.

I conclude with that of Christ to Thomas: "Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John xx. 29.) I might have added even those texts that require parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to teach them the doctrine of redemption and salvation: and he that saith either that every parent can work miracles, or that no child is to believe his parents that cannot work them, is unworthy to be the parent or instructer of children, much more to be a teacher of men.

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We must next answer some of the apostates' objections. Obj. 1. Imagination is strong, and the multitude easily deceived, as we see by experience.

Answ. Yet sense is a certain judge, and it is not easy to deceive the senses of so many thousands, through the space of so many years together, so as to persuade both cities, congregations, and countries, that they see and hear what they do not, ⚫ and to venture their credit, estates, lives, and everlasting hopes upon it; show us such an experiment.

Obj. 2. Men of other religions are as confident that they received them from God, as the Christians, and yet are mis

taken.

Answ. I know but of three religions in the world beside the christian, that any considerable number do embrace.

1. The greatest part of the world are idolaters, that worship many feigned deities, and know not God. These are, for the generality, brutishly ignorant and sottish, and pretend to no more than custom and nature, for the reason of their religion; and are able to say nothing considerable for what they do, as hey that converse with them in the Indies or other parts do fully testify.

2. The Mahometans, whose leader pretended to be a prophet, and hath made them some ridiculous laws against the law of nature itself, confirmed by no miracles nor divine testimony, but having got a rout of barbarians to follow him, he and his successors did prosper in war, and so his party have advanced his religion, merely by the sword; he confessed that Christ was the word of God, and a great prophet, and confessed his miracles, and thundered out threatenings against the Jews for not believing on him; only he revileth his followers for making him to be God; as is to be seen in his Alcoran. So that this is a confirmation of the christian faith.

3. The Jews, who had indeed the witness of God, concerning the truth of their law: but do sin in not receiving the testimony of his truth of the Gospel.

Obj. 3. But how many sects are there among Christians themselves? And every one is confident of the truth of his religion, and say, 'They had it down from the apostles,' and who knows which of them is in the right? Or, how can we believe any of them, when they are no better agreed among themselves?

Answ. Christians are all of one faith or religion, and ill

agreed in that one faith. They all believe the articles of the Creed, commonly called the apostles; and all take the Lord's Prayer for a rule for their prayers, and the Ten Commandments, as a sum of moral duty; they all believe the same Gospel, and confess the necessity of faith, repentance, and new obedience; they all hold the canonical Scriptures to be the word of God, and of certain truth. Their differences are partly about some corrupt additions, whereof the papists are especially guilty, and partly about some expositions of more difficult passages. And doth it follow, that there is no full certainty of the christian religion and canonical Scripture, wherein they are all agreed, because they are disagreed in some other things? It was never the mind of Christ to make all his disciples perfect on earth, and, therefore, while they are imperfect learners, they must needs differ. Rather, it is a sign that our religion and canonical Scriptures are certain, when so many parties among their hottest contentions are yet all agreed in them. I shall further answer this under the next objection.

Obj. 4. But they agree not in their very translations of the Scripture; nay, their very copies in the original languages. agree not, so that they are not sure that they have a true, uncorrupted Scripture. What certainty, then, can there be of their religion?

Answ. 1. Right translating proceeds from the skill of the translator; if that be imperfect, what is that to our religion, or Scripture ?

2. Translators differ not in matters of moment.

3. Take that for certain that they are agreed in.

4. The copies in the original do differ in so small, inconsiderable passages, and so admirably accord, that it affordeth us a full argument to evince them to be incorrupt in all things wherein they do agree.

5. Though the apostles were directed by the Holy Ghost in speaking and writing the doctrine of Christ, so that we know they performed their part without errors, yet the delivering down of this speech and writings to us is a human work, to be performed by the assistance of ordinary providence and, therefore, we are not, with the seekers, to expect an infallibility in such tradition to be confirmed by new miracles; nor, with the papists, to expect an infallibility in such testimony or tradition upon any extraordinary gift of infallibility conferred by the Holy Ghost upon the pope, or any particular persons; but an

infallible certainty we have upon common rational grounds, advantaged and strengthened much from the special piety, honesty, and veracity of the christian church; which certainty of the incorruption of Scriptures and christian religion in all the material points may yet consist with some literal or verbal errors in the copies, and with some corruptions or doubtful controversies, that may creep into the churches. For it is not an apostolical work to deliver down to posterity the writings or words which the apostles first wrote and spoke; but it is a human and christian work: and, therefore, though God promised to his apostles his Spirit to lead them into all truth, and hath promised to be with ministers in preaching this Gospel to the end of the world; yet hath he not promised us the same exact infallibility or impeccability in preaching, as to every circumstance, as they had at first in speaking or writing: nor hath he promised so to guide every printer, or the hand of each transcriber of the Scriptures, that none of them shall err. But our religion or Scriptures is nevertheless certain in the doctrine, for all this for the doctrine depends not on these slips, or questioned passages.

6. We have an infallible certainty of the printed statutes of this land, that they are not forged: yet may the printers commiť some errors in the printing them. And will you conclude, if you find a word misplaced, or false printed, that, therefore, it is uncertain whether ever the parliament made such a statute? The lawyers, also, and the judges themselves, may differ about the sense of some passages in those statutes, and some may be of one mind, and some of another; is the statute, therefore, counterfeit, or is it not obligatory to the subject? Cambden's or Lily's Grammar may be misprinted, or the writings of Cicero, Virgil, or Ovid, which were written before the Gospel, and yet we are past all doubt that the writings are not forged.

Obj. 5. But I am not bound to believe every man that tells me he brings the Gospel men may say that is the Gospel which is not the Gospel.

Answ. Doth it follow, that because you are not bound to every man, therefore you are bound to believe no man? You must believe no man that tells you a lie, nor any man that saith he brings you the truth, and yet gives you no evidence of what he saith to be true. But must you not therefore believe him that tells you the truth, and proves it to be so? Or, dare you say,

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