Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_010.TXT

Text File | 1994-07-14 | 7KB | 136 lines

10

OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

BOOK I.

by the council of Trent; though it abounds with innu-
merable errors and mistakes; nay, so far do they carry
this affair, that they even assert that the Scriptures, in
their originals, ought to submit to, and be corrected by
their version; which is absurd and ridiculous. Let not
now any be uneasy in their minds about translations on
this account, because they are not'upon an equality with
the original text, and especially about our own; for as it
has been the will of God, and appears absolutely neces-
sary that so it should be, that the Bible should be trans-
lated into different languages, that all may read it, and
some particularly may receive benefit by it; he has taken
care, in his providence, to raise up men capable of such
a performance, in various nations, and particularly in
ours; for whenever a set of men have been engaged. in
this work, as were in our nation, men well skilled in the
languages, and partakers of the grace of God; of sound
principles, and of integrity and faithfulness, having the
fear of God before their. eyes; they have never failed of
producing a translation worthy of acceptation; and in
which, though they have mistook some words and phrases,
and erred in some lesser and lighter matters; yet not so
as to affect any momentous article of faith or practice;
and therefore such translations as ours may be regarded
as the rule of faith. And if any scruple should remain
on the minds of any on this account, it will be sufficient
to remove it, when it is observed, that the Scriptures, in
our English translation, have been blessed of God, either
by reading them in it, or by explaining them according
to it, for the conversion, comfort, and edification of thou-
sands and thousands. And the same may be said. of all
others, so far as they agree with the original, that they
are the rule of faith and practice, and alike useful.
Here I cannot but observe the amazing ignorance and
stupidity of some persons, who take it into their heads to
decry learning and learned men; for what would they
have done for a Bible, had it not been for them as instru-
ments? and if they had it, 'so as to have been capable of
reading it, God must have wrought a miracle for them;
and continued that miracle in every nation, in every age,
and to every individual; I mean the gift of tongues, in a
supernatural way, as was bestowed upon the apostles on
the day of Pentecost; which there is no reason in the world
ever to haveexpected. Bless God, therefore, and be thank-
ful that God .has, in his providence, raised up such men
to translate the Bible into the mother-tongue of every na-
tion, and particularly into ours; and that he still continues
to raise up such who are able to defend the translation
made, against erroneous persons, and enemies of the truth;
and to correct and amend it in lesser matters, in which it
may have failed, and clear and illustrate it by their learn-
ed notes upon it. Having premised these things, I now
proceed to prove the claim of the Scriptures to a divine
authority, which may be evinced from the following things.
First, From the subject-matter of them.--1. In general
there is nothing in them uuworthy of God; nothing
contrary to his truth and faithfulness, to his purity and
holiness, to his wisdom and goodness, or to any of the
perfections of his nature; there is no falsehood nor con-
tradiction in them; they ,nay with great propriety be
called, as they are, The Scriptures of truth, and the
Word of truth, Dan. x. 21. Eph. i. 13. There is no-
thing impious or impure, absurd or ridiculous in them;

as in the Al-koran of Mahomet; which ,s stuffed with
impurities and irapieties, as well as with things foolish
and absurd: or as in the Pagan treatises of their gods;
which abound with tales of their murders, adu!teries, and
thefts; and the impure rites and ceremonies, and inhuman
sacrifices used in the worship of them. But, 2. The
things contained in the Scriptures are pure and holy; the
holy Spirit dictated them, holy men spoke and wrote
them, and they are justly called holy Scriptures, Rom. i.2.
and plainly shew they came from the holy God. The
doctrines of them are lloly; they are doctrines according
to godliness, and tend to promote it; they teach and in-
fluence men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and
to live soberly, righteously, and godly: they are indeed,
by some ignorant persons, charged with licentiousness;
but the charge, as it is false, it is easily removed, by ob-
serving the nature of the doctrines, and the effects of
them; the precepts the Scriptures enjoin, and the worship
they require, are strictly holy; the law-part of them is
holy, just, and good, Rom. vii. 12. It is holy in its own
nature, and requires nothing but what is for the good of
men, what is but a reasonable service to God, and what
is just between man and man; it forbids whatever is evil,
strikes at all sorts of sins, and sets them in a just light,
exposes and condemns them. And hence it is that thero
is in natural men, whose carnal minds are enmity to God,
such a backwardness, yea, an aversion to reading the
Scriptures; because the doctrines and precepts of them
are so pure and holy; they choose to read an idle
romance, an impure novel, or any profane writings and
histories, rather than the Bible; and from whence may
be drawn no inconsiderable argument in favour of their
being of God. The style of the Scriptures is pure and
holy, chaste and clean, free from all levity and obscenity,
and from every thing that might be offensive to the ear
of the chaste and pious. And there are remarkable in-
stances in the marginal readings of some passages in the
Hebrew text, to prevent this; and care should be taken
in all translations, to make use of language neat and
clean; and keep up, as much as ,nay be, to the original
purity of the Scriptures.--3. There are some things re-
corded in the Scriptures, which could never have been
known but by revelation from God himself; as particu-
larly, with .respect to the creation of the world, and the
original of mankind; that the world was made out of
nothing; when made, how, and in what form and order,
and how long it was in making; who were the first
parents of mankind, when, how, and of what made;
hence, without this revelation, men have run into. strange,
absurd, and extravagant notions about these things.
Yea, the Scriptures inform us what was done in eternity,
which none but God himself could reveal, and make
known to men; as the choice of men in Christ to ever-
lasting salvation, which was from the beginning; not of
their being, nor of their conversion, nor of time; but
before time, or they or the earth were, eveu " before
the foundation of the world," Eph. i. 4. And also the
council held between the divine Persons, concerning the
salvation of man; for as there was a consultation held
about making him, so. about saving him; which may he
called the council of peace, Zach. vi. 13. When "God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," and
the scheme of peace and reconciliation, and plan of sal-