his letters, is so _implicated_ with that of the other apostles, and
with the substance indeed of the Christian history itself, that I
apprehend it will be found impossible to admit St. Paul’s story (I do
not speak of the miraculous part of it) to be true, and yet to reject
the rest as fabulous. For instance, can any one believe that there was
such a man as Paul, a preacher of Christianity in the age which we
assign to him, and _not_ believe that there were also at the same
time, such men as Peter and James, and other apostles, who had been
companions of Christ during his life, and who after his death
published and avowed the same things concerning him which Paul taught?
Judea, and especially Jerusalem, was the scene of Christ’s ministry.
The witnesses of his miracles lived there. St. Paul, by his own
account, as well as that of his historian, appears to have frequently
visited that city; to have carried on a communication with the church
there; to have associated with the rulers and elders of that church,
who were some of them apostles; to have acted, as occasions offered,
in correspondence, and sometimes in conjunction with them. Can it,
after this, be doubted, but that the religion and the general facts
relating to it, which St. Paul appears by his letters to have
delivered to the several churches which he established at a distance,
were at the same time taught and published at Jerusalem itself, the
place where the business was transacted; and taught and published by
those who had attended the founder of the institution in his
miraculous, or pretendedly miraculous, ministry?
“It is observable, for so it appears both in the Epistles and from the
Acts of the Apostles, that Jerusalem, and the society of believers in
that city, long continued the centre from which the missionaries of
the religion issued with which all other churches maintained a
correspondence and connexion, to which they referred their doubts, and
to whose relief, in times of public distress, they remitted their
charitable assistance. This observation I think material, because it
proves that this was not the case of giving our accounts in one
country of what is transacted in another, without affording the
hearers an opportunity of knowing whether the things related were
credited by any, or even published, in the place where they are
reported to have passed.
“V. St. Paul’s letters furnish evidence (and what better evidence than
a man’s own letters can be desired?) of the soundness and sobriety of
his judgment. His caution in distinguishing between the occasional
suggestions of inspiration, and the ordinary exercise of his natural
understanding, is without example in the history of enthusiasm. His
morality is every where calm, pure, and rational: adapted to the
condition, the activity, and the business of social life, and of its
various relations; free from the over-scrupulousness and austerities
of superstition, and from, what was more perhaps to be apprehended,
the abstractions of quietism, and the soarings and extravagancies of
fanaticism. His judgment concerning a hesitating conscience; his
opinion of the moral indifferency of many actions, yet of the prudence
and even the duty of compliance, where non-compliance would produce
evil effects upon the minds of the persons who observed it, is as
correct and just as the most liberal and enlightened moralist could
form at this day. The accuracy of modern ethics has found nothing to
amend in these determinations.”
* * * * *
“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.