Without this certainty, better and stronger than any human judgment, in
vain will the authority of the Scripture be either defended by arguments,
or established by the consent of the Church, or confirmed by any other
supports; since, unless the foundation be laid, it remains in perpetual
suspense. Whilst, on the contrary, when, regarding it in a different point
of view from common things, we have once religiously received it in a
manner worthy of its excellence, we shall then derive great assistance
from things which before were not sufficient to establish the certainty of
it in our minds. For it is admirable to observe how much it conduces to
our confirmation, attentively to study the order and disposition of the
Divine Wisdom dispensed in it, the heavenly nature of its doctrine, which
never savours of any thing terrestrial, the beautiful agreement of all the
parts with each other, and other similar characters adapted to conciliate
respect to any writings. But our hearts are more strongly confirmed, when
we reflect that we are constrained to admire it more by the dignity of the
subjects than by the beauties of the language. For even this did not
happen without the particular providence of God, that the sublime
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven should be communicated, for the most
part, in a humble and contemptible style; lest, if they had been
illustrated with more of the splendour of eloquence, the impious might
cavil that their triumph is only the triumph of eloquence. Now, since that
uncultivated and almost rude simplicity procures itself more reverence
than all the graces of rhetoric, what opinion can we form, but that the
force of truth in the sacred Scripture is too powerful to need the
assistance of verbal art? Justly, therefore, does the apostle argue that
the faith of the Corinthians was founded, “not in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God,” because his preaching among them was, “not with
enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power.”(130) For the truth is vindicated from every doubt, when,
unassisted by foreign aid, it is sufficient for its own support. But that
this is the peculiar property of the Scripture, appears from the
insufficiency of any human compositions, however artificially polished, to
make an equal impression on our minds. Read Demosthenes or Cicero; read
Plato, Aristotle, or any others of that class; I grant that you will be
attracted, delighted, moved, and enraptured by them in a surprising
manner; but if, after reading them, you turn to the perusal of the sacred
volume, whether you are willing or unwilling, it will affect you so
powerfully, it will so penetrate your heart, and impress itself so
strongly on your mind, that, compared with its energetic influence, the
beauties of rhetoricians and philosophers will almost entirely disappear;
so that it is easy to perceive something divine in the sacred Scriptures,
which far surpasses the highest attainments and ornaments of human
industry.
II. I grant, indeed, that the diction of some of the prophets is neat and
elegant, and even splendid; so that they are not inferior in eloquence to
the heathen writers. And by such examples the Holy Spirit hath been
pleased to show, that he was not deficient in eloquence, though elsewhere
he hath used a rude and homely style. But whether we read David, Isaiah,
and others that resemble them, who have a sweet and pleasant flow of
words, or Amos the herdsman, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, whose rougher
language savours of rusticity,—that majesty of the Spirit, which I have
mentioned, is every where conspicuous. I am not ignorant that Satan in
many things imitates God, in order that, by the fallacious resemblance, he
may more easily insinuate himself into the minds of the simple; and has
therefore craftily disseminated, in unpolished and even barbarous
language, the most impious errors, by which multitudes have been miserably
deceived, and has often used obsolete forms of speech as a mask to conceal
his impostures. But the vanity and fraud of such affectation are visible
to all men of moderate understanding. With respect to the sacred
Scripture, though presumptuous men try to cavil at various passages, yet
it is evidently replete with sentences which are beyond the powers of
human conception. Let all the prophets be examined; not one will be found,
who has not far surpassed the ability of men; so that those to whom their
doctrine is insipid must be accounted utterly destitute of all true taste.
III. This argument has been copiously treated by other writers; wherefore
it may suffice at present merely to hint at a few things which chiefly
relate to the subject in a general view. Beside what I have already
treated on, the antiquity of the Scripture is of no small weight. For,
notwithstanding the fabulous accounts of the Greek writers concerning the
Egyptian theology, yet there remains no monument of any religion, but what
is much lower than the age of Moses. Nor does Moses invent a new deity; he
only makes a declaration of what the Israelites had, through a long series
of years, received by tradition from their forefathers concerning the
eternal God. For what does he aim at, but to recall them to the covenant
made with Abraham? If he had advanced a thing till then unheard of, it
would not have been received; but their liberation from the servitude in
which they were detained must have been a thing well known to them all; so
that the mention of it immediately excited universal attention. It is
probable also that they had been informed of the number of four hundred
years. Now, we must consider, if Moses (who himself preceded all other
writers by such a long distance of time) derives the tradition of his
doctrine from so remote a beginning, how much the sacred Scripture exceeds
in antiquity all other books.
IV. Unless any would choose to credit the Egyptians, who extend their
antiquity to six thousand years before the creation of the world. But
since their garrulity has been ridiculed even by all the profane writers,
I need not trouble myself with refuting it. Josephus, in his book against
Appion, cites from the most ancient writers testimonies worthy of being
remembered; whence we may gather, that the doctrine contained in the law
has, according to the consent of all nations, been renowned from the
remotest ages, although it was neither read nor truly understood. Now,
that the malicious might have no room for suspicion, nor even the wicked
any pretence for cavilling, God hath provided the most excellent remedies
for both these dangers. When Moses relates what Jacob had, almost three
hundred years before, by the spirit of inspiration pronounced concerning
his posterity, how does he disgrace his own tribe! He even brands it, in
the person of Levi, with perpetual infamy. “Simeon,” says he, “and Levi,
instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou
into their secret: unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou
united.”(131) He certainly might have been silent on that disgraceful
circumstance, not only to spare his father, but also to avoid aspersing
himself, as well as all his family, with part of the same ignominy. How
can any suspicion be entertained of him, who, voluntarily publishing, from
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the first of the family from
which he was descended was guilty of detestable conduct, neither consults
his own personal honours, nor refuses to incur the resentment of his
relations, to whom this must undoubtedly have given offence? When he
mentions also the impious murmurings of Aaron, his brother, and Miriam,
his sister,(132) shall we say that he spake according to the dictates of
the flesh, or obeyed the command of the Holy Spirit? Besides, as he
enjoyed the supreme authority, why did he not leave to his own sons, at
least, the office of the high‐priesthood, but place them in the lowest
station? I only hint at a few things out of many. But in the law itself
many arguments will every where occur, which challenge a full belief,
that, without controversy, the legation of Moses was truly divine.
V. Moreover, the miracles which he relates, and which are so numerous and
remarkable, are so many confirmations of the law which he delivered, and
of the doctrine which he published. For that he was carried up into the
mountain in a cloud; that he continued there forty days, deprived of all
human intercourse; that, in the act of proclaiming the law, his face shone
as with the rays of the sun; that lightnings flashed all around; that
thunders and various noises were heard through the whole atmosphere; that
a trumpet sounded, but a trumpet not blown by human breath; that the
entrance of the tabernacle was concealed from the view of the people by an
intervening cloud; that his authority was so miraculously vindicated by
the horrible destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all their
impious faction; that a rock smitten with a rod immediately emitted a
river; that manna rained from heaven at his request;(133)—are not all
these so many testimonies from heaven of his being a true prophet? If any
one object that I assume, as granted, things which are the subjects of
controversy, this cavil is easily answered. For, as Moses published all
these things in an assembly of the people, what room was there for fiction
among those who had been eye‐witnesses of the events? Is it probable that
he would make his appearance in public, and, accusing the people of
infidelity, contumacy, ingratitude, and other crimes, boast that his
doctrine had been confirmed in their sight by miracles which they had
never seen?
VI. For this also is worthy of being remarked, that all his accounts of
miracles are connected with such unpleasant circumstances, as were
calculated to stimulate all the people, if there had been but the smallest
occasion, to a public and positive contradiction; whence it appears, that
they were induced to coincide with him only by the ample conviction of
their own experience. But since the matter was too evident for profane
writers to take the liberty of denying the performance of miracles by
Moses, the father of lies has suggested the calumny of ascribing them to
magical arts. But by what kind of conjecture can they pretend to charge
him with having been a magician, who had so great an abhorrence of that
superstition, as to command, that he who merely consulted magicians and
soothsayers should be stoned?(134) Certainly no impostor practises such
juggling tricks, who does not make it his study, for the sake of acquiring
fame, to astonish the minds of the vulgar. But what is the practice of
Moses? Openly avowing that himself and his brother Aaron are nothing,(135)
but that they only execute the commands of God, he sufficiently clears his
character from every unfavourable aspersion. Now, if the events themselves
be considered, what incantation could cause manna to rain daily from
heaven sufficient to support the people, and, if any one laid up more than
the proper quantity, cause it to putrefy, as a punishment from God for his
unbelief? Add also the many serious examinations which God permitted his
servant to undergo, so that the clamour of the wicked can now be of no
avail. For as often as this holy servant of God was in danger of being
destroyed, at one time by proud and petulant insurrections of all the
people, at another by the secret conspiracies of a few,—how was it
possible for him to elude their inveterate rage by any arts of deception?
And the event evidently proves, that by these circumstances his doctrine
was confirmed to all succeeding ages.
VII. Moreover, who can deny that his assigning, in the person of the
patriarch Jacob, the supreme power to the tribe of Judah, proceeded from a
spirit of prophecy,(136) especially if we consider the eventual
accomplishment of this prediction? Suppose Moses to have been the first
author of it; yet after he committed it to writing, there elapsed four
hundred years in which we have no mention of the sceptre in the tribe of
Judah. After the inauguration of Saul, the regal power seemed to be fixed
in the tribe of Benjamin. When Samuel anointed David, what reason appeared
for transferring it? Who would have expected a king to arise out of the
plebeian family of a herdsman? And of seven brothers, who would have
conjectured that such an honour was destined for the youngest? And by what
means did he attain a hope of the kingdom? Who can assert that this
unction was directed by human art, or industry, or prudence, and was not
rather a completion of the prediction of heaven? And in like manner do not
his predictions, although obscure, concerning the admission of the
Gentiles into the covenant of God, which were accomplished almost two
thousand years after, clearly prove him to have spoken under a divine
inspiration? I omit other predictions, which so strongly savour of a
divine inspiration, that all who have the use of their reason must
perceive that it is God who speaks. In short, one song of his is a clear
mirror in which God evidently appears.(137)
VIII. But in the other prophets this is yet far more conspicuous. I shall
only select a few examples; for to collect all would be too laborious.
When, in the time of Isaiah, the kingdom of Judah was in peace, and even
when they thought themselves safe in the alliance of the Chaldeans, Isaiah
publicly spake of the destruction of the city and the banishment of the
people.(138) Now, even if to predict long before things which then seemed
false, but have since appeared to be true, were not a sufficiently clear
proof of a divine inspiration, to whom but God shall we ascribe the
prophecies which he uttered concerning their deliverance? He mentions the
name of Cyrus, by whom the Chaldeans were to be subdued, and the people
restored to liberty.(139) More than a century elapsed after this prophecy
before the birth of Cyrus; for he was not born till about the hundredth
year after the prophet’s death. No man could then divine, that there would
be one Cyrus, who would engage in a war with the Babylonians, who would
subjugate such a powerful monarchy, and release the people of Israel from
exile. Does not this bare narration, without any ornaments of diction,
plainly demonstrate that Isaiah delivered the undoubted oracles of God,
and not the conjectures of men? Again, when Jeremiah, just before the
people were carried away, limited the duration of their captivity to
seventy years, and predicted their liberation and return, must not his
tongue have been under the direction of the Spirit of God?(140) What
impudence must it be to deny that the authority of the prophets has been
confirmed by such proofs, or that what they themselves assert, in order to
vindicate the credit due to their declarations, has been actually
fulfilled! “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do
I declare: before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”(141) I shall not
speak of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who, living in distant countries, but
prophesying at the same time, so exactly accord in their declarations, as
though they had mutually dictated the words to each other. What shall we
say of Daniel? Has not he prophesied of the events of nearly six hundred
years in such a connected series, as if he were composing a history of
transactions already past and universally known? If pious men properly
consider these things, they will be sufficiently prepared to curb the
petulance of the wicked; for the demonstration is too clear to be liable
to any cavils.
IX. I know what is objected by some clamorous men, who would
ostentatiously display the force of their understanding in opposing divine
truth. For they inquire, Who has assured us that Moses and the prophets
actually wrote those books which bear their names? They even dare to
question whether such a man as Moses ever existed. But if any man should
call in question the existence of Plato, or Aristotle, or Cicero, who
would deny that such madness ought to receive corporal punishment? The law
of Moses has been wonderfully preserved, rather by the providence of
heaven than by the endeavours of men. And though, through the negligence
of the priests, it lay for a short time concealed, since it was found by
the pious king Josiah, it has continued in the hands of men through every
succeeding age.(142) Nor, indeed, did Josiah produce it as a thing unknown
or new, but as what had always been public, and the memory of which was
then famous. The protograph had been appointed to be kept in the temple,
and a transcript of it to be deposited in the royal archives;(143) only
the priests had discontinued their ancient custom of publishing the law,
and the people themselves had neglected their wonted reading of it: yet
there scarcely passed an age in which its sanction was not confirmed and
renewed. Were they, who had the writings of David, ignorant of Moses? But,
to speak of all at once, it is certain, that their writings descended to
posterity only from hand to hand, (so to speak,) through a long series of
years transmitted from the fathers, who partly had heard them speak, and
partly learned from others who heard them, while it was fresh in their
memory, that they had thus spoken.
X. With regard to what they object from the history of the Maccabees, to
diminish the credit of the Scripture, nothing could be conceived more
adapted to establish it. But first let us divest it of their artificial
colouring, and then retort upon them the weapon which they direct against
us. When Antiochus, say they, commanded all the books to be burned, whence
proceeded the copies which we now have? I, on the contrary, inquire, where
they could so speedily be fabricated. For it is evident, that, as soon as
the persecution subsided, they immediately appeared, and were, without
controversy, acknowledged as the same by all pious men; who, having been
educated in their doctrine, had been familiarly acquainted with them. Nay,
even when all the impious, as if by a general conspiracy, so wantonly
insulted the Jews, no man ever dared to charge them with forging their
books. For, whatever be their opinion of the Jewish religion, yet they
confess that Moses was the author of it. What, then, do these clamorous
objectors, but betray their own consummate impudence, when they slander,
as supposititious, books whose sacred antiquity is confirmed by the
consent of all histories? But, to waste no more useless labour in refuting
such stale calumnies, let us rather consider how carefully the Lord
preserved his own word, when, beyond all hope, he rescued it from the fury
of the most cruel of tyrants, as from a devouring fire;—that he endued the
pious priests and others with so much constancy, that they hesitated not
to redeem this treasure, if necessary, with their lives, to transmit it to
posterity; and that he frustrated the most diligent inquisition of so many
governors and soldiers. Who is there but must acknowledge it to have been
an eminent and wonderful work of God, that those sacred monuments, which
the impious had flattered themselves were utterly destroyed, were soon
public again, as it were, fully restored to mankind, and, indeed, with far
greater honour? For soon after followed the Greek Translation, which
published them throughout the world. Nor was God’s preserving the tables
of his covenant from the sanguinary edicts of Antiochus, the only instance
of his wonderful operation, but that, amidst such various miseries, with
which the Jewish nation was diminished and laid waste, and at last nearly
exterminated, these records still remained entire. The Hebrew language lay
not only despised, but almost unknown; and surely, had not God consulted
the interest of religion, it had been totally lost. For how much the Jews,
after their return from captivity, departed from the genuine use of their
native language, appears from the prophets of that age; which it is
therefore useful to observe, because this comparison more clearly evinces
the antiquity of the law and the prophets. And by whom hath God preserved
to us the doctrine of salvation contained in the law and the prophets,
that Christ might be manifested in due time? By his most inveterate
enemies, the Jews; whom Augustine therefore justly denominates the
librarians of the Christian Church, because they have furnished us with a
book of which themselves make no use.
XI. If we proceed to the New Testament, by what solid foundations is its
truth supported? Three Evangelists recite their history in a low and mean
style. Many proud men are disgusted with that simplicity, because they
attend not to the principal points of doctrine; whence it were easy to
infer, that they treat of heavenly mysteries which are above human
capacity. They who have a spark of ingenuous modesty will certainly be
ashamed, if they peruse the first chapter of Luke. Now, the discourses of
Christ, a concise summary of which is comprised in these three
Evangelists, easily exempt their writings from contempt. But John,
thundering from his sublimity, more powerfully than any thunderbolt,
levels to the dust the obstinacy of those whom he does not compel to the
obedience of faith. Let all those censorious critics whose supreme
pleasure consists in banishing all reverence for the Scripture out of
their own hearts and the hearts of others, come forth to public view. Let
them read the Gospel of John: whether they wish it or not, they will there
find numerous passages, which, at least, arouse their indolence; and which
will even imprint a horrible brand on their consciences to restrain their
ridicule. Similar is the method of Paul and of Peter, in whose writings,
though the greater part be blind, yet their heavenly majesty attracts
universal attention. But this one circumstance raises their doctrine
sufficiently above the world, that Matthew, who had before been confined
to the profit of his table, and Peter and John, who had been employed in
fishing‐boats,—all plain, unlettered men,—had learned nothing in any human
school which they could communicate to others. And Paul, from not only a
professed, but a cruel and sanguinary enemy, being converted to a new man,
proves, by his sudden and unhoped for change, that he was constrained, by
a command from heaven, to vindicate that doctrine which he had before
opposed. Let these men deny that the Holy Spirit descended on the
Apostles; or, at least, let them dispute the credibility of the history;
yet the fact itself loudly proclaims, that they were taught by the Spirit,
who, though before despised as some of the meanest of the people, suddenly
began to discourse in such a magnificent manner on the mysteries of
heaven.
XII. Besides, there are also other very substantial reasons why the
consent of the Church should have its weight. For it is not an unimportant
consideration, that, since the publication of the Scripture, so many
generations of men should have agreed in voluntarily obeying it; and that
however Satan, together with the whole world, has endeavoured by strange
methods to suppress or destroy it, or utterly to erase and obliterate it
from the memory of man, yet it has always, like a palm‐tree, risen
superior to all opposition, and remained invincible. Indeed, there has
scarcely ever been a sophist or orator of more than common abilities, who
has not tried his strength in opposing it; yet they have all availed
nothing. All the powers of the earth have armed themselves for its
destruction; but their attempts have all evaporated into smoke. How could
it have so firmly resisted attacks on every quarter, if it had been
supported only by human power? Indeed, an additional proof of its Divine
origin arises from this very circumstance, that, notwithstanding all the
strenuous resistance of men, it has, by its own power, risen superior to
every danger. Moreover, not one city, or one nation, only, has conspired
to receive and embrace it; but, as far as the world extends, it has
obtained its authority by the holy consent of various nations, who agreed
in nothing besides. And as such an agreement of minds, so widely distant
in place, and so completely dissimilar in manners and opinions, ought to
have great influence with us, since it is plain that it was effected only
by the power of heaven, so it acquires no small weight from a
consideration of the piety of those who unite in this agreement; not
indeed of all, but of those, who, it hath pleased the Lord, should shine
as luminaries in his Church.
XIII. Now, with what unlimited confidence should we submit to that
doctrine, which we see confirmed and witnessed by the blood of so many
saints! Having once received it, they hesitated not, with intrepid
boldness, and even with great alacrity, to die in its defence: transmitted
to us with such a pledge, how should we not receive it with a firm and
unshaken conviction? Is it therefore no small confirmation of the
Scripture, that it has been sealed with the blood of so many martyrs?
especially when we consider that they died to bear testimony to their
faith, not through intemperate fanaticism, as is sometimes the case with
men of erroneous minds, but through a firm and constant, yet sober zeal
for God. There are other reasons, and those neither few nor weak, by which
the native dignity and authority of the Scripture are not only maintained
in the minds of the pious, but also completely vindicated against the
subtleties of calumniators; but such as alone are not sufficient to
produce firm faith in it, till the heavenly Father, discovering his own
power therein, places its authority beyond all controversy. Wherefore the
Scripture will then only be effectual to produce the saving knowledge of
God, when the certainty of it shall be founded on the internal persuasion
of the Holy Spirit. Thus those human testimonies, which contribute to its
confirmation, will not be useless, if they follow that first and principal
proof, as secondary aids to our imbecility. But those persons betray great
folly, who wish it to be demonstrated to infidels that the Scripture is
the word of God, which cannot be known without faith. Augustine therefore
justly observes,(144) that piety and peace of mind ought to precede, in
order that a man may understand somewhat of such great subjects.