known, and did as it were ly buried in our underftandings; or elfe to quicken our minds to a more ferious and lively confideration of thofe truths. adly, For the feveral kinds of divine revelations. That they were various, the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us, chap. i. 1. God who at fundry times, and in divers manners, spake to the fathers by the Prophets; where by Prophets we are to understand not only thofe who did foretel future things, but any perfon that was divinely inspired, and to whom God was pleafed to make any fupernatural difcovery of himself. Now the feveral kinds of revelation taken notice of by the Jews, are vifions; dreams; prophecy; oracle; infpiration,or that which we call the Holy Ghoft; voice Bath-col; or that which was the highest of all, which they call gradus Mofaicus, the degree of revelation which was peculiar to Mofes. The Jewish writers, especially Maimonides, have many fubtile obfervations, about the differences of thefe feveral kinds of revelation, which depend upon fubtile and philofophical diftinctions of the faculties of perception, as that fome of those revelations were by impreffion only upon the understanding; fome only upon the imagination; fome upon both; fome upon the outward fenfes; but the fimple and plain difference between them, fo far as there is any ground in fcripture to diftinguish them, feems to be this; vifion was a reprefentation of fomething to a man when he was waking, in oppofition to dreams, which were reprefentations made to men in their fleep. Prophecy might be either dream or vifion; and the Jews obferve, that it was always one of thefe two ways, which they grounded upon Numb. xii. 6. If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vifion, and will Speak unto him in a dream. But prophecy in the trict notion of it, had this peculiarly belonging to it, that it was not only monitory, or inftructive, but did fortel fome event of concernment to others; and the Jewish doctors tell us, that it was a clearer revelation, and carried a greater affurance along with S 3 it, it, and that this was common to all the three, that there was fomething of extafy and tranfport of mind in all these. The fourth fort of revelation, which was by oracle, which is called Urim and Thummim, was a rendering of answers to questions, by the High-prieft looking upon the ftones in the breaft-plate; which how it was done, is uncertain. The fifth fort of revelation is that which they call the Holy Ghoft, which was a more calm and gentle infpiration, without any extraordinary tranfport of mind or extafy; fuch as David had in the writing of the Pfalms. The lowest of all was that which they called Bathcol, which was by a voice from heaven; and this is the way of revelation, which the Jews obferved, did only continue among them from the days of the Prophet Malachi to our Saviour. cy The highest of all was that which they called gradus Mofaicus, to which the Jews gave feveral prerogatives above all the other ways of revelation; as that it was done by impreffion merely upon the understanding, without extafy, or rapture, or tranfport, when he was waking, and in his ordinary temper, and his fenfes not bound up either by extafy or fleep; that it was a revelation immediately from God himfelf, and not by the mediation of Angels, without any fear, or amazement, or fainting, which was incident to other Prophets; and the fpirit of propherefted upon him, and he could exert it arbitrarily, and put it forth when he would. Of which thus much is evidently true from the story of him, that the fpirit of prophecy did reft more conftantly upon him, and that he could exert it with greater freedom, and without any difcernible amazement or tranfport from his ordinary temper. But that it was by impreffion merely upon his understanding, as that is a diftinct faculty from the imagination, is not fo certain that it was always by an immediate communication from God, without the mediation of Angels, feems not to be true; for St. Stephen tells us, that the law was given by the difpofition of Angels, Acts Acts vii. 53. And St. Paul, that it was ordained by the Angels in the hand of a Mediator, that is, Mofes, Gal. iii. 19. But that the revelation which was made to him, had fome fingular prerogatives above those of other Propets, is plain from fcripture, Numb. xii. 5, 6, 7, 8. when Aaron and Miriam contended with Mofes as being equal to him, God tells them that there was a vaft difference between him and other Prophets; Hear now my words, if there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vifion, and will speak unto him in a dream. My fervant Mofes is not foWith him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark Speeches, &c. Exod. xxxiii. 11. And the Lord fpake unto Mofes face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Deut. xxxiv. 10. And there arofe not a Prophet fince in Ifrael like unto Mofes, whom the Lord knew face to face. All which fignify at least this, that God made the clearest, and most familiar, and moft perfect difcoveries to Mofes of any of the Prophets; only our Lord Jefus Chrift, by whom God hath difcovered his will to us under the New Testament, did excel Mofes; Mofes being but a faithful fervant, that is, humilis amicus, a meaner fort of friend; but the Lord Jefus Chrift, the only begotten Son of God, who came from the bofom of his Father, and was intimately acquainted with the fecrets of his will, and had not the Spirit given him by meafure, but the most plentiful effufion of it, being anointed above his fellows. Now these being the feveral forts and degrees of revelation, which God hath made of himself to the world, the holy fcriptures are a fyftem or collection of thefe, the authentick inftrument or record, by which the things revealed any of these ways, are tranf mitted to us, and is therefore called the word of God, as containing those things which God in feveral ages hath fpoken to the world; that is, matters of divine revelation, which are neceffary to be known by men, in order to their eternal happiness. And this being now the great and standing revelation of God, which is to continue to the end of the world, I intend to limit my difcourfe folely to this, as being the only revelation which we are concerned to enquire after. And therefore in the third place, to fhew you what advantage this standing revelation of the fcri-ptures hath above private revelations made to particu lar perfons, and frequently repeated and renewed in feveral ages; that fo it may appear both agreeable to the wifdom of God to fettle revelations in this way, as being more commodious; and likewife to his goodness, it being a real privilege which thefe latter ages of the world enjoy, that they have a more fixt and certain way of being acquainted with the will of God, than thofe ages had, which were governed by fuch private revelations, as were now and then made to particular perfons. And the advantages are thefe: 1. It is a more certain way of conveyance of things, and more, fecure and free from impofture. Suppofe a revelation made to a particular perfon, which is of general concernment; that this may have a general and lafting effect, he muft impart it to others, as many as he can, and give them the best affurance he can of it; and thefe muft relate it to others; and fo it muft pafs from hand to hand, to be delivered from parents to their children. Now this way of conveying a revelation by oral report, must needs be liable to many uncertainties, both by involuntary mistakes, through weak nefs of memory or understanding, and wilful falfifications and impoftures, out of malice and defign. So that the effect of an unrecorded revelation can neither be large nor lafting; it can but reach a few perfons, and continue a little while in its full credibility; and the further it goes, the weaker, like circles inade in water, which the more they enlarge themselves, and the longer they continue, the lefs difcernible they are, till at length they quite difappear. Whereas being once recorded by perfons fecured from error, by fupernatural and divine affiftance, they are not liable to thofe eafy falfifications or mistakes, which traditional reports and relations are neceffarily, through human malice or weakness, liable to. 2. It is a more general and univerfal way of conveyance; which is evident from the common expe rience of the world, who have pitched upon this way of writing things in books, as that which doth moft easily convey the knowledge and notice of things to the generality of men. 3. It is a more uniform way of conveyance; that is, things that are once written and propagated that way, ly equally open to all, and come in a manner with equal credit to all; it being not morally poffible that a common book, that paffeth through all hands, and which is of vast importance and concernment, fhould be liable to any material corruption, without a general confpiracy and agreement; which cannot be, but that it must be generally known. So that confidering the commonnefs, and univerfal concernment of this book of the fcriptures, all men are in a manner equally, that is, every man is fufficiently and competently affured of the credit of it; that is, that we are not in any material thing imposed upon by falfe copies. But in traditional revelation it is quite otherwife; tradition being a very unequal and ununiform way of conveyance. For feeing it may be of general concernment, and all cannot have it at the first hand, that is, immediately from him to whom it was made, but fome at the fecond, others at the third, fourth or fifth hand, or much further off; the credit of it will be neceflarily weakened by every remove. A report that comes through many hands, being like the argument we call induction; and as the ftrength and goodnefs of that depends upon the truth of every one of thofe inftances that make it up, fo that if any of them fail, the whole argument is naught; fo the credit of a report that paffeth through twenty hands, depends upon the integrity and fufficiency of all the relators; and whatever there is either of falfhood and malice, or of incapacity of understanding, or frailty of memory in any of the relators, fo much of weakness is derived into the report or teftimony; and confequently the affurance which we can have of a private revelation, |