The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 59
CHAP. 59. Defence of the purity and truth of Scripture againſt the Cardinals accuſations and falſifications.
Pag. 1099.THe boldeſt Chapter of the whole book of Cardinal du Perron is the 6. ch. of the fifth book, wherein by a moſt perverſe diligence, that I ſay no worſe, he gathers up all the texts of Scripture, which (ſaith he) ſeem to mans ſenſe to be full of abſurdity and contradiction; that ſo he may diſſwade the people from reading Scripture, and make them refer themſelves to the Roman Church about the ſenſe of thoſe texts, as about all other difficulties.
This might have ſome colour, if the Church to which he ſends us had made ſome declaration about that, or if any eccleſiaſtical expoſition was extant, authorized by the judgement of the Church: but that is nowhere found. The Roman Church which falſely ſtileth her ſelf Univerſall, hath no expoſition of Scripture, but of particular Doctors, who expound Scripture diverſly, and there is little agreement among them.
Of the pretended abſurdities of Scripture which he alledgeth, ſome are eaſily reſolved, as theſe. That it is ſaid that God ſeparated light from darkneſs, that is, the day from the night. That God created the Sun on the fourth day.Gen. 2. That God took one of Adams ribs and therewith formed Eve. Gen. 3.That he made to Adam and Eve clothes with beaſts kins.Gen. 9. That God put the rain-bow in the cloud for a ſign that there ſhould be no more a general flood.Deut. 34. That after Moſes there aroſe no Prophet like unto him.Judg. 14. That Sampſon killed a thouſand men with the jaw-bone of an Aſs. That out of a tooth of that jaw-bone he fetcht water, and many the like things, which none can find abſurd but he that ſeeks abſurdity in them, or brings the Almighty power of God in queſtion, or doubts of the truth of his word.
He brings other objections where one cannot deny but there is ſome difficulty, as about the calculations of times, and ſome proper names which ſeem to be put inſtead of other names. By which difficulties it pleaſeth God to call us to ſobriety. Every wiſe man if he cannot ſatisfie his reaſon, will chooſe rather to keep himſelf in ſilence then to contend with Gods word; and for that, will not abſtain from reading Scripture, as though it were a dangerous book.
He heaps up other texts of Scripture concerning manners which ſeem to be ſcandalous, as that which is ſaid in Eccleſiaſtes, chap. 2. that there is nothing better for a man, then that he ſhould eat and drink, and that he ſhould make his ſoul enjoy good by his labour. And in the third chapter, that the death of man, and that of a beaſt is the ſame; as the one dieth ſo dieth the other, and herein man hath no preheminence above the beaſt; And that a living dog is better then a dead Lion. Sentences which ſay only that according to the courſe of nature, and conſidering nothing but the preſent life, a man hath nothing of all his temporal good but to uſe it with joy, and to eat and drink with tranquillity of mind; And that according to the courſe of nature the ſame cauſes make a man and a beaſt to die. But the ſame book is full of ſentences which put a great difference between the end of good and evil men; ſaying that God ſhall judge the righteous and the wicked. Eccleſ. 3.17.8.12.12.14.12.13.That it ſhall be well with them that fear God. That God ſhall bring every work to judgement. And he concludeth the book with this ſentence, Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
He puts in the ſame rank ſome expreſſions of Solomons Song, as ill beſeeming: Then the hiſtory of the inceſt of Lot with his daughters, and of Juda with Thamar and the like things. But it is not without cauſe that God in his word layeth open the ſins of holy men, to make us acknowledge humane infirmity, and to ſhew that God fetcheth good out of evil. Neither is there any thing in all theſe, that ought to diſſwade a man from reading Scripture. It belongs not to us to preſcribe to the Spirit of God what language he muſt uſe.
He addeth ſome texts, which (to his thinking) might ſhake the faith with ſcruples, as My Father is greater then I. And I go up to my God and to your God. John 14.And This is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent, and other texts imployed by the Arians.John 17. But that ought not to keep the people from reading Scripture. For in the ſame Scripture they ſhall find wherewith to inſtruct themſelves upon that point, and clear texts for the Godhead of the Son of God. As when Rom. 9. he is called God above all things bleſſed for evermore, and Tit. 2. Looking for the bleſſed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt. And by Iſaiah 9. he is called the everlaſting Father. And John 1. That word was God. And 1 John 5.24. Jeſus Chriſt is the true God and eternal life. And Phil. 1.6. He thought it no robbery to be equall with God.
But that which is more intolerable in that great gathering of texts, is that this Prelate falſifieth Scripture, and makes it ſay what it ſaith not, to make it abſurd. He ſaith that it is written Gen. 2. that in the garden of Eden, among other rivers there was both Nilus and Euphrates, Note. A notorious falſification of the Cardinal to diſgrace Scripture.which are above a thouſand leagues aſunder; but in that text there is no mention of Nilus, but of the river Gihon, even in the vulgar verſion. It is a Jewiſh fable which is found in Joſephus in the firſt book of his Antiquities; wherein he ſheweth ſo much ignorance, that he makes Nilus to come from the Eaſt. And I wonder what moved the Cardinal to falſifie his own Bible.
In the ſame place he ſaith that Gen. 3. God walked in the cool of the wind after noon in the garden. He finds an abſurdity in theſe words the cool in the afternoon; which ſeem to ſay that God was cooling of himſelf againſt the heat of the afternoon. But theſe words cool and afternoon are not in the Hebrew; there is only in the text that Adam and Eve heard God going in the garden in the wind of the day.
In the ſame place he makes Scripture to ſay (Judges 15.) that God made a ſpring of water to come out of the hole whence a tooth of the Aſs had been pluckt out, to give drink unto Sampſon. But there is in the text that God brake a great tooth of the jaw-bone, and thence came out water; Of a fountain coming out of the hole of the jaw-bone it is not ſpoken, not ſo much as in the vulgar verſion. Here it will not be unſeaſonable to ſay that by the Hebrew word Leki which is tranſlated a jaw-bone, a rock is underſtood, out of which God fetcht water, ſo named in memory of Sampſons combat happened in that place. Thus the Chaldaick Paraphraſt underſtands it.
He adds for an apparent abſurdity that (2 Chron. 21.) it is written that Elias writ to Joram King of Judah, although Elias had been taken up to heaven eight years before the reign of Joram. The abſurdity which he conceiveth, is, that a man that liveth no more on earth ſhould write to a man that liveth on earth. But theſe letters might be written by Eliah in his life time, and ſent to Joram ſome years after the Prophets death.
To make Solomon ſpeak like a prophane man and an Epicurean, he makes him ſay Eccleſ. 9.5. that the dead have no more reward yonder, as if the ſouls were mortal, and no ſalvation for them. There is according to the Hebrew, there is no more gain unto them, foreignthat is, to the dead: for he ſpeaks of the profit or gain which they can get on earth. But that word yonder is an addition of M. du Perron to exclude the hope of another life.
I do not put among the falſifications, but among the overſights that which he ſaith in the ſame place, that the Levites wife died by being too much abuſed by the men of Jabeſh, (Judges 19.) he put Jabeſh for Gibeah.
But this is moſt inſupportable, that he makes the Goſpel to ſay, (John 15.) he that came after me was made before me. Not a word of that is found in that chapter.foreign. True it is, that in the firſt chapter there is, He that comes after me is preferred before me, or, was before me. The word made which favoureth the Arians, making Chriſt to be a creature, is of the addition of the vulgar verſion, which M. du Perron rather choſe to follow, becauſe the ſenſe is abſurd as that verſion makes it, then to follow the truth of the Greek text, which is the original. The ſmall skill that this Prelate had in Greek, made him believe that foreign and foreign ſignifie alwayes the ſame thing, whereof the one ſignifies, was made, the other hath been.
foreign.I ſhut up this chapter with the ſentence of Epiphanius in the hereſie of the†foreign. Ʋnlike, which is the 76. All things are clear in the divine Scripture to them that will with a godly reaſon approach unto the word of God, and conceiving not a devilliſh efficacy, do not turn themſelves down into the gulfs of death.