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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<A NAME="Pageiii"> </A>
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<P> </P>
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2><B>P R E F A C E.</B></FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=100>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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T<FONT SIZE=-1>HE</FONT> one half of our undertaking upon the New
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Testament<SUP><A HREF="#{1}">1</A></SUP> is now, by the assistance of
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divine grace, finished, and presented to the reader, who, it is hoped,
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the Lord working with it, may hereby be somewhat helped in
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understanding and improving the sacred history of Christ and his
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apostles, and in making it, as it certainly is, the best exposition of
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our creed, in which these inspired writers are summed up, as is
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intimated by that evangelist who calls his gospel <I>A Declaration of
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those things which are most surely believed among us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:1">Luke i. 1</A>.
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And, as there is no part of scripture in the belief of which it
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concerns more to be established, so there is none with which the
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generality of Christians are more conversant, or which they speak of
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more frequently. It is therefore our duty, by constant pains in
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meditation and prayer, to come to an intimate acquaintance with the
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true intent and meaning of these narratives, what our concern is in
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them, and what we are to build upon them and draw from them; that we
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may not rest in such a knowledge of them as that which we had when in
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our childhood we were taught to read English out of the translation and
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Greek out of the originals of these books. We ought to know them as the
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physician does his dispensatory, the lawyer his books of reports, and
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the sailor his chart and compass; that is, to know how to make use of
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them in that to which we apply ourselves as our business in this world,
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which is to serve God here and enjoy him hereafter, and both in Christ
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the Mediator.</P>
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<P>
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The great designs of the Christian institutes (of which these books are
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the fountains and foundations) were, to reduce the children of men to
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the fear and love of God, as the commanding active principle of their
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observance of him, and obedience to him,--to show them the way of their
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reconciliation to him and acceptance with him, and to bring them under
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obligations to Jesus Christ as Mediator, and thereby to engage them to
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all instances of devotion towards God and justice and charity towards
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all men, in conformity to the example of Christ, in obedience to his
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law, and in pursuance of his great intentions. What therefore I have
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endeavoured here has been with this view, to make these writings
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serviceable to the faith, holiness, and comfort of good Christians.</P>
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<P>
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Now that these writings, thus made use of to serve these great and
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noble designs, may have their due influence upon us, it concerns us to
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be well established in our belief of their divine origin. And here we
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have to do with two sorts of people. Some embrace the Old Testament,
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but set that up in opposition to the New, pleading that, if that be
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right, this is wrong; and these are the Jews. Others, though they live
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in a Christian nation, and by baptism wear the Christian name, yet,
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under pretence of freedom of thought, despise Christianity, and
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consequently reject the New Testament, and therefore the Old of course.
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I confess it is strange that any now who receive the Old Testament
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should reject the New, since, besides all the particular proofs of the
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divine authority of the New Testament, there is such an admirable
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harmony between it and the Old. It agrees with the Old in all the main
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intentions of it, refers to it, builds upon it, shows the
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accomplishment of its types and prophecies, and thereby is the
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perfection and crown of it. Nay, if it be not true, the Old Testament
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must be false, and all the glorious promises which shine so brightly in
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it, and the performance of which was limited within certain periods of
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time, must be a great delusion, which we are sure they are not, and
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therefore must embrace the New Testament to support the reputation of
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the Old.</P>
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<P>
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Those things in the Old Testament which the New Testament lays aside
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are the peculiarity of the Jewish nation and the observances of the
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ceremonial law, both which certainly were of divine appointment; and
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yet the New Testament does not at all clash with the Old; for,</P>
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<P>
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1. They were always designed to be laid aside in the fulness of time.
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No other is to be expected than that the morning-star should disappear
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when the sun rises; and the latter parts of the Old Testament often
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speak of the laying aside of those things, and of the calling in of the
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Gentiles.</P>
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<P>
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2. They were very honourable laid aside, and rather exchanged for that
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which was more noble and excellent, more divine and heavenly. The
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Jewish church was swallowed up in the Christian, the mosaic ritual in
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evangelical institutions. So that the New Testament is no more the
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undoing of the Old than the sending of a youth to the university is the
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undoing of his education in the grammar-school.</P>
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<P>
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3. Providence soon determined this controversy (which is the only thing
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that seemed a controversy between the Old Testament and the New) by the
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destruction of Jerusalem, the desolations of the temple, the
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dissolution of the temple-service, and the total dispersion of all the
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remains of the Jewish nation, with a judicial defeat of all the
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attempts to incorporate it again, now for above 1600 years; and this
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according to the express predictions of Christ, a little before his
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death. And, as Christ would not have the doctrine of his being the
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Messiah much insisted on till the great conclusive proof of it was
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given by his resurrection from the dead, so the repeal of the
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ceremonial law, as to the Jews, was not much insisted on, but their
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keeping up the observation of it was connived at, till the great
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conclusive proof of its repeal was given by the destruction of
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Jerusalem, which made the observation of it for ever impracticable. And
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the manifest tokens of divine wrath which the Jews, considered as a
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people, even notwithstanding the prosperity of particular persons among
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them, continue under to this day, is a proof, not only of the truth of
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Christ's predictions concerning them, but that they lie under a greater
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guilt than that of idolatry (for which they lay under a desolation of
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70 years), and this can be no other than crucifying Christ, and
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rejecting his gospel.</P>
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<P>
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Thus evident it is that, in our expounding of the New Testament, we are
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not undoing what we did in expounding the Old; so far from it that we
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may appeal to the law and the prophets for the confirmation of the
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great truth which the gospels are written to prove--That our Lord Jesus
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is the Messiah promised to the fathers, who should come, and we are to
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look for no other. For though his appearing did not answer the
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expectation of the carnal Jews, who looked for a Messiah in external
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pomp and power, yet it exactly answered all the types, prophecies, and
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promises, of the Old Testament, which all had their accomplishment in
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him; and even his ignominious sufferings, which are the greatest
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stumbling-block to the Jews, were foretold concerning the Messiah; so
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that if he had not submitted to them we had failed in our proof; so fat
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it is from being weakened by them. Bishop Kidder's <I>Demonstration of
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the Christian's Messiah</I> has abundantly made out this truth, and
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answered the cavils (for such they are, rather than arguments) of the
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Jews against it, above any in our language.</P>
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<P>
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But we live in an age when Christianity and the New Testament are more
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virulently and daringly attacked by some within their own bowels than
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by those upon their borders. Never were Moses and his writings so
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arraigned and ridiculed by any Jews, or Mahomet and his Alcoran by any
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Mussulmans, as Christ and his gospel by men that are baptized and
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called Christians; and this, not under colour of any other divine
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revelation, but in contempt and defiance of all divine revelation; and
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not by way of complaint that they meet with that which shocks their
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faith, and which, through their own weakness, they cannot get over, and
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therefore desire to be instructed in, and helped in the understanding
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of, and the reconciling of them to the truth which they have received,
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but by way of resolute opposition, as if they looked upon it as their
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enemy, and were resolved by all means possible to be the ruin of it,
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though they cannot say what evil it has done to the world or to them.
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If the pretence of it has transported many in the church of Rome into
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such corruptions of worship and cruelties of government as are indeed
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the scandal of human nature, yet, instead of being thereby prejudiced
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against pure Christianity, they should the rather appear more
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vigorously in defence of it, when they see so excellent an institution
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as this is in itself so basely abused and misrepresented. They pretend
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to a liberty of thought in their opposition to Christianity, and would
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be distinguished by the name of free-thinkers. I will not here go about
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to produce the arguments which, to all that are not wilfully ignorant
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and prejudiced against the truth, are sufficient to prove the divine
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origin and authority of the doctrine of Christ. The learned find much
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satisfaction in reading the apologies of the ancients for the Christian
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religion, when it was struggling with the polytheism and idolatry of
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the Gentiles. Justin Martyr and Tertullian, Lactantius and Minutius
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Felix, wrote admirable in defence of Christianity, when it was further
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sealed by the blood of the martyrs. But its patrons and advocates in
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the present day have another sort of enemies to deal with. The
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antiquity of the pagan theology, its universal prevalence, the edicts
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of princes, and the traditions and usages of the country, are not now
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objected to Christianity; but I know not what imaginary freedom of
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thought, and an unheard-of privilege of human nature, are assumed, not
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to be bound by any divine revelation whatsoever. Now it is easy to make
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out,</P>
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<P>
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1. That those who would be thought thus to maintain a liberty of
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thinking as one of the privileges of human nature, and in defence of
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which they will take up arms against God himself, do not themselves
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think freely, nor give others leave to do so. In some of them a
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resolute indulgence of themselves in those vicious courses which they
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know the gospel if they admit it will make very uneasy to them, and a
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secret enmity to a holy heavenly mind and life, forbid them all free
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thought; for so strong a prejudice have their lusts and passions laid
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them under against the laws of Christ that they find themselves under a
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necessity of opposing the truths of Christ, upon which these laws are
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founded. <I>Perit judicium, quando res transit in affectum--The
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judgment is overcome, when the decision is referred to the
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affections.</I> Right or wrong, Christ's bonds must be broken, and his
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cords cast from them; and therefore, how evident soever the premises
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be, the conclusion must be denied, if it tend to fasten these bands and
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cords upon them; and where is the freedom of thought then? <I>While
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they promise themselves liberty, they themselves are the servants of
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corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought
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into bondage.</I> In others of them, a reigning pride and affectation
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of singularity, and a spirit of contradiction, those lusts of the mind,
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which are as impetuous and imperious as any of the lusts of the flesh
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and of the world, forbid a freedom of thinking, and enslave the soul in
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all its enquiries after religion. Those can no more think freely who
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resolve they will think by themselves than those can who resolve to
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think with their neighbours. Nor will they give others liberty to think
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freely; for it is not by reason and argument that they go about to
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convince us, but by jest and banter, and exposing Christianity and its
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serious professors to contempt. Now, considering how natural it is to
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most men to be jealous for their reputation, this is as great an
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imposition as can possibly be; and the unthinking are as much kept from
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free-thinking by the fear of being ridiculed in the club of those who
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set up for oracles in reason as by the fear of being cursed,
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excommunicated, and anathematized, by the counsel of those who set up
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for oracles in religion. And where is the free-thinking then?</P>
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<P>
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2. That those who will allow themselves a true liberty of thinking, and
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will think seriously, cannot but embrace all Christ's sayings, as
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<I>faithful,</I> and well <I>worthy of all acceptation.</I> Let the
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corrupt bias of the carnal heart towards the world, and the flesh, and
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self (the most presumptuous idol of the three) be taken away, and let
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the doctrine of Christ be proposed first in its true colours, as Christ
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and his apostles have given it to us, and in its true light, with all
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its proper evidence, intrinsic and extrinsic; and then let the capable
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soul freely use its rational powers and faculties, and by the operation
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of the Spirit of grace, who alone works faith in all that believe, even
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the high thought, when once it becomes a free thought, freed from the
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bondage of sin and corruption, will, by a pleasing and happy power, be
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captivated, and brought into obedience to Christ; and, when he thus
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makes it free, it will be <I>free indeed.</I> Let any one who will give
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himself leave to think impartially, and be at the pains to think
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closely, read Mr. Baxter's <I>Reasons for the Christian Religion,</I>
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and he will find both that it goes to the bottom, and lays the
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foundation deep and firm, and also that it brings forth the top-stone
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in a believer's consent to God in Christ, to the satisfaction of any
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that are truly concerned about their souls and another world. The
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proofs of the truths of the gospel have been excellently well
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methodized, and enforced likewise, by bishop Stillingfleet, in his
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<I>Origines Sacræ;</I> by Grotius, in his book of the <I>Truth of
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the Christian Religion;</I> by Dr. Whitby, in his General Preface to
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his <I>Commentary on the New Testament;</I> and of late by Mr. Ditton,
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very argumentatively, in his discourse concerning <I>the Resurrection
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of Jesus Christ;</I> and many others have herein done worthily. And I
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will not believe any man who rejects the New Testament and the
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Christian religion to have thought freely upon the subject, unless he
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has, with humility, seriousness, and prayer to God for direction,
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deliberately read these or the like books, which, it is certain, were
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written both with liberty and clearness of thought.</P>
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<P>
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For my own part, if my thoughts were worth any one's notice, I do
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declare I have thought of this great concern with all the liberty that
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a reasonable soul can pretend to, or desire; and the result is that the
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more I think, and the more freely I think, the more fully I am
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satisfied that the Christian religion is the true religion, and that
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which, if I submit my soul sincerely to it, I may venture my soul
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confidently upon. For when I think freely,</P>
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<P>
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1. I cannot but think that the God who made man a reasonable creature
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by his power has a right to rule him by his law, and to oblige him to
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keep his inferior faculties of appetite and passion, together with the
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capacities of thought and speech, in due subjection to the superior
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powers of reason and conscience. And, when I look into my own heart, I
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cannot but think that it was this which my Maker designed in the order
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and frame of my soul, and that herein he intended to support his own
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dominion in me.</P>
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<P>
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2. I cannot but think that my happiness is bound up in the favour of
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God, and that his favour will, or will not, be towards me, according as
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I do, or do not, comply with the laws and ends of my creation,--that I
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am accountable to this God, and that from him my judgment proceeds, not
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only for this world, but for my everlasting state.</P>
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<P>
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3. I cannot but think that my nature is very unlike what the nature of
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man was as it came out of the Creator's hands,--that it is degenerated
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from its primitive purity and rectitude. I find in myself a natural
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aversion to my duty, and to spiritual and divine exercises, and a
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propensity to that which is evil, such an inclination towards the world
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and the flesh as amounts to a propensity to backslide from the living
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God.</P>
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<P>
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4. I cannot but think that I am therefore, by nature, thrown out of the
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favour of God; for though I think he is a gracious and merciful God,
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yet I think he is also a just and holy God, and that I am become, by
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sin, both odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice. I should
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not think freely, but very partially, if I should think otherwise. I
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think I am guilty before God, have sinned, and come short of glorifying
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him, and of being glorified with him.</P>
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<P>
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5. I cannot but think that, without some special discovery of God's
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will concerning me, and good-will to me, I cannot possibly recover his
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favour, be reconciled to him, or be so far restored to my primitive
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rectitude as to be capable of serving my Creator, and answering the
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ends of my creation, and becoming fit for another world; for the
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bounties of Providence to me, in common with the inferior creatures,
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cannot serve either as assurances that God is reconciled tome or means
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to reconcile me to God.</P>
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<P>
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6. I cannot but think that the way of salvation, both from the guilt
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and from the power of sin, by Jesus Christ, and his mediation between
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God and man, as it is revealed by the New Testament, is admirable will
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fitted to all the exigencies of my case, to restore me both to the
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favour of God and to the government and enjoyment of myself. Here I see
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a proper method for the removing of the guilt of sin (that I may not
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die by the sentence of the law) by the all-sufficient merit and
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righteousness of the Son of God in our nature, and for the breaking of
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the power of sin (that I may not die by my own disease) by the
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all-sufficient influence and operation of the Spirit of God upon our
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nature. Every malady has herein its remedy, every grievance is hereby
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redressed, and in such a way as advances the honour of all the divine
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attributes and is suited and accommodated to human nature.</P>
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<P>
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7. I cannot but think that what I find in myself of natural religion
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does evidently bear testimony to the Christian religion; for all that
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truth which is discovered to me by the light of nature is confirmed,
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and more clearly discovered, by the gospel; the very same thing which
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the light of nature gives me a confused sight of (like the sight of men
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as trees walking) the New Testament gives me a clear and distinct sight
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of. All that good which is pressed upon me by the law of nature is more
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fully discovered to me, and I find myself much more strongly bound to
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it by the gospel of Christ, the engagements it lays upon me to my duty,
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and the encouragements and assistances it gives me in my duty. And this
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is further confirming to me that there, just there, where natural light
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leaves me at a loss, and unsatisfied--tells me that hitherto it can
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carry me, but no further--the gospel takes me up, helps me out, and
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gives me all the satisfaction I can desire, and that is especially in
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the great business of the satisfying of God's justice for the sin of
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man. My own conscience asks, <I>Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,
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and bow myself before the most high God? Will he be pleased with
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thousands of rams?</I> But I am still at a loss; I cannot frame a
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righteousness from any thing I am, or have, in myself, or from any
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thing I can do for God or present to God, wherein I dare appear before
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him; but the gospel comes, and tells me that Jesus Christ had <I>made
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his soul an offering for sin,</I> and God has declared himself
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well-pleased with all believers in him; and this makes me easy.</P>
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<P>
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8. I cannot but think that the proofs by which God has attested the
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truth of the gospel are the most proper that could be given in a case
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of this nature--that the power and authority of the Redeemer in the
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kingdom of grace should be exemplified to the world, not by the highest
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degree of the pomp and authority of the kings of the earth, as the Jews
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expected, but by the evidences of his dominion in the kingdom of
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nature, which is a much greater dignity and authority than any of the
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kings of the earth ever pretended to, and is no less than divine. And
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his miracles being generally wrought upon men, not only upon their
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bodies, as they were mostly when Christ was here upon earth, but, which
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is more, upon their minds, as they were mostly after the pouring out of
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the Spirit in the gift of tongues and other supernatural endowments,
|
|
were the most proper confirmations possible of the truth of the gospel,
|
|
which was designed for the making of men holy and happy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
9. I cannot but think that the methods taken for the propagation of
|
|
this gospel, and the wonderful success of those methods, which are
|
|
purely spiritual and heavenly, and destitute of all secular advantages
|
|
and supports, plainly show that it was of God, for God was with it; and
|
|
it could never have spread as it did, in the face of so much
|
|
opposition, if it had not been accompanied with a power from on high.
|
|
And the preservation of Christianity in the world to this day,
|
|
notwithstanding the difficulties it has struggles with, is to me a
|
|
standing miracle for the proof of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
10. I cannot but think that the gospel of Christ has had some influence
|
|
upon my soul, has had such a command over me, and been such a comfort
|
|
to me, as is a demonstration to myself, though it cannot be so to
|
|
another, that it is of God. I have tasted in it <I>that the Lord is
|
|
gracious;</I> and the most subtle disputant cannot convince one who has
|
|
tasted honey that it is not sweet.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
And now I appeal to him who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart
|
|
that in all this I think freely (if it be possible for a man to know
|
|
that he does so), and not under the power of any bias. Whether we have
|
|
reason to think that those who, without any colour of reason, not only
|
|
usurp, but monopolize, the character of free-thinkers, do so, let those
|
|
judge who easily observe that they do not speak sincerely, but
|
|
industriously dissemble their notions; and one instance I cannot but
|
|
notice of their unfair dealing with their readers--that when, for the
|
|
diminishing of the authority of the New Testament, they urge the
|
|
various readings of the original, and quote an acknowledgment of Mr.
|
|
Gregory of Christ-church, in his preface to his Works, <I>That no
|
|
profane author whatsoever, &c.,</I> and yet suppress what immediately
|
|
follows, as the sense of that learned man upon it, <I>That this is an
|
|
invincible reason for the scriptures' part, &c.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
But while we are thus maintaining the divine origin and authority of
|
|
the New Testament, as it has been received through all the ages of the
|
|
church, we find our cause not only attacked by the enemies we speak of,
|
|
but in effect betrayed by one who makes our New Testament almost double
|
|
to what it really is,<SUP><A HREF="#{2}">2</A></SUP>
|
|
adding to the <I>Constitutions of the
|
|
Apostles,</I> collected by <I>Clement,</I> together with the
|
|
<I>Apostolical Canons,</I> and making those to be of equal authority
|
|
with the writings of the evangelists, and preferable to the Epistles.
|
|
By enlarging the lines of defence thus, without either cause or
|
|
precedent, he gives great advantage to the invaders. Those
|
|
<I>Constitutions of the Apostles</I> have many things in them very
|
|
good, and may be of use, as other human compositions; but to pretend
|
|
that they wee composed, as they profess to be, by the twelve apostles
|
|
in concert at Jerusalem, <I>I Peter saying this, I Andrew saying that,
|
|
&c.,</I> is the greatest imposition that can be practised upon the
|
|
credulity of the simple.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. It is certain there were a great many spurious writings which, in
|
|
the early days of the church, went under the names of the apostles and
|
|
apostolical men; so that it has always been complained of as impossible
|
|
to find out any thing but the canon of scripture that could with any
|
|
assurance be attributed to them. Baronius himself acknowledges it,
|
|
<I>Cum apostolorum nomine tam facta quam dicta reperiantur esse
|
|
supposititia; nec sic quid de illis à veris sincerisque
|
|
spriptoribus narratum sit integrum et incorruptum remanserit, in
|
|
desperationem planè quandam animum dejicunt posse unquam assequi
|
|
quod verum certumque subsistat--Since so many of the acts and sayings
|
|
ascribed to the apostles are found to be spurious, and even the
|
|
narrations of faithful writers respecting them are not free from
|
|
corruption, we must despair of ever being able to arrive at any
|
|
absolute certainty about them.</I>--Ad An. Christ. 44, sect. 42, &c.
|
|
There were Acts under the names of Andrew the apostle, Philip, Peter,
|
|
Thomas; a Gospel under the names of Thaddeus, another of Barnabas,
|
|
another of Bartholomew; a book concerning the infancy of our Saviour,
|
|
another concerning his nativity, and many the like, which we all
|
|
rejected as forgeries.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. These <I>Constitutions</I> and <I>Canons,</I> among the rest, were
|
|
condemned in the primitive church as apocryphal, and therefore justly
|
|
rejected; because, though otherwise good, they pretended to be what
|
|
really they were not, dictated by the twelve apostles themselves, as
|
|
received from Christ. If Jesus Christ gave them such instructions, and
|
|
they gave them in such a solemn manner to the church, as is pretended,
|
|
it is unaccountable that there is not the least notice taken of any
|
|
such thing done or designed in the <I>Gospels,</I> the <I>Acts,</I> or
|
|
any of the <I>Epistles.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Those who have judged the most favourable of these <I>Canons</I> and
|
|
<I>Constitutions</I> have concluded that they were complied by some
|
|
officious persons under the name of <I>Clement,</I> towards the end of
|
|
the second century, above 150 years after Christ's ascension, out of
|
|
the common practice of the churches; that is, that which the compilers
|
|
were most acquainted with, or had respect for; when at the same time we
|
|
have reason to think that the far greater number of Christian churches
|
|
which by that time were planted had Constitutions of their own, which,
|
|
if they had had the happiness to be transmitted to posterity, would
|
|
have recommended themselves as well as these, or better. But, as the
|
|
legislators of old put a reputation upon their laws by pretending to
|
|
have received them from some deity or other, so church-governors
|
|
studied to gain reputation to their sees by placing some apostolical
|
|
man or other at the head of their catalogue of bishops (<I>see bishop
|
|
Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p.</I> 302), and reputation to their Canons
|
|
and Constitutions by fathering them upon the apostles. But how can it
|
|
be imagined that the apostles should be all together at Jerusalem, to
|
|
compose this book of <I>Canons</I> with so much solemnity, when we know
|
|
that their commission was to go into all the world, and to preach the
|
|
gospel to every creature? Accordingly, Eusebius tells us that Thomas
|
|
went into Parthia, Andrew into Scythia, John into the lesser Asia; and
|
|
we have reason to think that after their dispersion they never came
|
|
together again, any more than the planters of the nations did after the
|
|
Most High had separated the sons of Adam.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I think that any one who will compare these <I>Constitutions</I> with
|
|
the writings which we are sure were given by inspiration of God will
|
|
easily discern a vast difference in the style and spirit. <I>What is
|
|
the chaff to the wheat?</I> "Where are ministers, in the style of the
|
|
true apostles, called priests, high priests? Where do we find in the
|
|
apostolical age, that age of suffering, of the placing of the bishop in
|
|
his <I>throne?</I> Or of readers, singers, and porters, in the
|
|
church?"<SUP><A HREF="#{3}">3</A></SUP></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I fear the collector and compiler of those <I>Constitutions,</I> under
|
|
the name of <I>Clement,</I> was conscious to himself of his honesty in
|
|
it, in that he would not have them published before all, because of the
|
|
mysteries contained in them; nor were they known or published till the
|
|
middle of the fourth century, when the forgery could not be so well
|
|
disproved. I cannot see any mysteries in them, that they should be
|
|
concealed, if they had been genuine; but I am sure that Christ bids his
|
|
apostles publish the mysteries of the kingdom of God upon the
|
|
house-tops. And St. Paul, though there are mysteries in his epistles
|
|
much more sublime than any of these <I>Constitutions,</I> charges that
|
|
they should be read to all the holy brethren. Nay, these
|
|
<I>Constitutions</I> are so wholly in a manner taken up either with
|
|
moral precepts, or rules of practice in the church, that if they had
|
|
been what they pretend they had been most fit to be published before
|
|
all. And though the <I>Apocalypse</I> is so full of mysteries, yet a
|
|
blessing is pronounced upon the readers and hearers of that prophecy.
|
|
We must therefore conclude that, whenever they were written, by
|
|
declining the light they owned themselves to be apocryphal, that is,
|
|
hidden or concealed; that they durst not mingle themselves with what
|
|
was given by divine inspiration; to allude to what is said of the
|
|
ministers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:13">Acts v. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Of the rest durst no man join himself to</I> the apostles, <I>for
|
|
the people magnified them.</I> So that even by their own confession
|
|
they were not delivered to the churches with the other writings, when
|
|
the New-Testament canon was solemnly sealed up with that dreadful
|
|
sentence passed on those that <I>add unto these things.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
And as we have thus had attempts made of late upon the purity and
|
|
sufficiency of our New Testament, by additions to it, so we have
|
|
likewise had from another quarter a great contempt put upon it by the
|
|
papal power. The occasion was this:--One Father Quesnel, a French
|
|
papist, but a Jansenist, nearly thirty years ago, published <I>the New
|
|
Testament</I> in French, in several small volumes, <I>with Moral
|
|
Reflections</I> on every verse, to render the reading of it more
|
|
profitable, and meditation upon it more easy. It was much esteemed in
|
|
France, for the sake of the piety and devotion which appeared in it,
|
|
and it had several impressions. The Jesuits were much disgusted, and
|
|
solicited the pope for the condemnation of it, though the author of it
|
|
was a papist, and many things in it countenanced popish superstition.
|
|
After much struggling about it in the court of Rome a bull was at
|
|
length obtained, at the request of the French king, from the present
|
|
pope Clement 11 bearing date September 8, 1713, by which the said book,
|
|
with what title or in what language soever it is printed, is prohibited
|
|
and condemned; both the New Testament itself, because in many things
|
|
varying from the vulgar Latin, and the Annotations, as containing
|
|
divers propositions (above a hundred are enumerated) scandalous and
|
|
pernicious, injurious to the church and its customs, impious,
|
|
blasphemous, savouring of heresy. And the propositions are such as
|
|
these--"That the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the effectual
|
|
principle of all manner of good, is necessary for every good action;
|
|
for without it nothing is done, nay nothing can be done"--"That it is a
|
|
sovereign grace, and is an operation of the almighty hand of
|
|
God"--"That, when God accompanies his word with the internal power of
|
|
his grace, it operates in the soul the obedience which it
|
|
demands"--"That faith is the first grace, and the fountain of all
|
|
others"--"That it is in vain for us to call God our Father, if we do
|
|
not cry to him with a spirit of love"--"That there is no God, nor
|
|
religion, where there is no charity"--"That the catholic church
|
|
comprehends the angels and all the elect and just men of the earth of
|
|
all ages"--"That it had the Word incarnate for its head, and all the
|
|
saints for its members"--"That it is profitable and necessary at all
|
|
times, in all places, and for all sorts of persons, to know the holy
|
|
Scriptures"--"That the holy obscurity of the word of God is no reason
|
|
for the laity not reading it"--"That the Lord's day ought to be
|
|
sanctified by reading books of piety, especially the holy
|
|
scriptures"--And "that to forbid Christians from reading the scriptures
|
|
is to prohibit the use of the light to the children of light." Many
|
|
such positions as these, which the spirit of every good Christian
|
|
cannot but relish as true and good, are condemned by the pope's bull as
|
|
impious and blasphemous. And this bull, though strenuously opposed by a
|
|
great number of the bishops in France, who were well affected to the
|
|
notions of father Quesnel, was yet received and confirmed by the French
|
|
king's letters patent, bearing date at Versailles, February 14, 1714,
|
|
which forbid all manner of persons, upon pain of exemplary punishment,
|
|
so much as to keep any of those books in their houses; and adjudge any
|
|
that should hereafter write in defence of the propositions condemned by
|
|
the pope as disturbers of the peace. It was registered the day
|
|
following, February 15, by the Parliament of Paris, but with divers
|
|
provisos and limitations.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
By this is appears that popery is still the same thing that ever it
|
|
was, an enemy to the knowledge of the scriptures, and to the honour of
|
|
divine grace. What reason have we to bless God that we have liberty to
|
|
read the scriptures, and have helps to understand and improve them,
|
|
which we are concerned diligently to make a good use of, that we may
|
|
not provoke God to give us up into the hands of those powers that would
|
|
use us in like manner!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I am willing to hope that those to whom the reading of the
|
|
<I>Exposition of the Old Testament</I> was pleasant will find this yet
|
|
more pleasant; for this is that part of scripture which does most
|
|
plainly testify of Christ, and in which that <I>gospel grace which
|
|
appears unto all men, bringing salvation,</I> shines most clearly. This
|
|
is the New-Testament milk for babes, the rest is strong meat for strong
|
|
men. By these, therefore, let us be nourished and strengthened that we
|
|
my be pressing on towards perfection; and that, having laid the
|
|
foundation in the history of our blessed Saviour's life, death, and
|
|
resurrection, and the first preaching of his gospel, we may build upon
|
|
it by an acquaintance with the mysteries of godliness, to which we
|
|
shall be further introduced in the Epistles.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I desire I may be read with a candid, and not a critical, eye. I
|
|
pretend not to gratify the curious; the summit of my ambition is to
|
|
assist those who are truly serious in searching the scriptures daily. I
|
|
am sure the work is designed, and hope it is calculated, to promote
|
|
piety towards God and charity towards our brethren, and that there is
|
|
not only something in it which may edify, but nothing which may justly
|
|
offend any good Christian.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
If any receive spiritual benefit by my poor endeavours, it will be
|
|
comfort to me, but let God have all the glory, and that free grace of
|
|
his which has employed one that is utterly unworthy of such an honour,
|
|
and enabled one thus far to go on in it who is utterly insufficient for
|
|
such a service.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Having obtained help of God, I continue hitherto in it, and humbly
|
|
depend upon the same good hand of my God to carry me on it that which
|
|
remains, to gird my loins with needful strength and to make my way
|
|
perfect; and for this I humbly desire the prayers of my friends. One
|
|
volume more, I hope, will include what is yet to be done; and I will
|
|
both go about it, and go on with it, as God shall enable me, with all
|
|
convenient speed; but it is that part of the scripture which, of all
|
|
others, requires the most care and pains in expounding it. But I trust
|
|
that <I>as the day so shall the strength be.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR><TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=+1>M. H. </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD> 1721.</FONT></TD>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<BR>
|
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50 ALIGN=LEFT>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=-1> <SUP><A NAME="{1}">1</A></SUP>
|
|
|
|
It may be proper to apprise the reader that the volume to which this
|
|
preface was originally prefixed included the Acts of the Apostles,
|
|
which in the present edition will commence the second volume, in order
|
|
to secure a more equal division of the New Testament--the commentary on
|
|
the remaining books being less extended than the author
|
|
contemplated.--E<FONT SIZE=-2>D</FONT>.
|
|
|
|
<BR> <SUP><A NAME="{2}">2</A></SUP>
|
|
Whiston--E<FONT SIZE=-2>D</FONT>.
|
|
|
|
<BR> <SUP><A NAME="{3}">3</A></SUP>
|
|
Edit. Joan. Clerici, p. 245.
|
|
|
|
</FONT>
|
|
|
|
<P> </P>
|
|
|
|
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