Chapter 8. That So Far as Human Reason May Bear, There Are Sufficient Proofs to Establish the Credit of Scripture

Unless we have this assurance, which is both more excellent and of more force than any judgment of man, in vain shall the authority of Scripture either be strengthened with arguments, or established with consent of the church, or confirmed with any other means of defense. For unless this foundation be laid, it still remains hanging in doubt. As on the other side when, exempting it from the common state of things, we have embraced it devoutly and according to the worthiness of it: then these things become very fitting helps, which before were but of small force to graft and fasten the assurance thereof in our minds. For it is marvelous, how great establishment grows thereof, when with earnest study we consider how orderly and well framed a disposition of the divine wisdom appears therein, how heavenly a doctrine in every place of it, and nothing savoring of earthliness, how beautiful an agreement of all the parts among themselves, and such other things as avail to procure a majesty to writings. But more perfectly are our hearts confirmed when we consider, how we are even violently carried to an admiration of it rather with dignity of matter, than with grace of words. For this also was not done without the singular providence of God, that the high mysteries of the heavenly kingdom should for the most part be uttered under a contemptible baseness of words, lest if it had been beautified with more glorious speech the wicked should cavil that the only force of eloquence does reign therein. But when that rough and in a manner rude simplicity does raise up a greater reverence of itself than any rhetorician's eloquence, what may we judge, but that there is a more mighty strength of truth in the holy Scripture, than that it needs any art of words? Not without cause therefore the apostle makes his argument, to prove that the faith of the Corinthians was grounded upon the power of God, and not upon man's wisdom, because his preaching among them was set forth not with enticing speech of man's wisdom, but in plain evidence of the Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:4). For the truth is then set free from all doubting, when not supported by foreign aids it itself alone suffices to sustain itself. But how this power is properly alone belonging to the Scripture, hereby appears, that of all the writings of men, be they never so cunningly garnished, no one is so far able to pierce our affections. Read Demosthenes or Cicero, read Plato, Aristotle, or any other of all that sort: I grant they shall marvelously allure, delight, move, and ravish you. But if from them you come to this holy reading of Scriptures, will you or not, it shall so lively move your affections, it shall so pierce your heart, it shall so settle within your bones, that in comparison of the efficacy of this feeling, all that force of rhetoricians and philosophers shall in manner vanish away: so that it is easy to perceive that the Scriptures, which do far excel all gifts and graces of man's industry, do indeed breathe out a certain divinity.

I grant indeed, that some of the prophets have an elegant, clear, yes and a beautiful phrase of speech, so as their eloquence gives not place to the profane writers: and by such examples it pleased the Holy Spirit to show that he lacked not eloquence, though in the rest he used a rude and gross style. But whether a man read David, Isaiah, and such like, who have a sweet and pleasant flowing speech, or Amos the herdsman, Jeremiah and Zechariah, whose rougher talk savors of country rudeness: in every one of them shall appear that majesty of the Holy Spirit that I spoke of. Yet am I not ignorant, that as Satan is in many things a counterfeiter of God, that with deceitful resemblance he might the better creep into simple men's minds: so has he craftily spread abroad with rude and in manner barbarous speech, those wicked errors with which he deceived simple men, and has often times used discontinuous phrases, that under such visor he might hide his deceits. But how vain and unclean is that curious counterfeiting, all men that have but mean understanding do plainly see. As for the holy Scripture, although perverse men labor to bite at many things, yet is it full of such sentences as could not be conceived by man. Let all the prophets be looked upon, there shall not one be found among them, but he has far excelled all man's capacity, in such sort that those are to be thought to have no judgment of taste to whom their doctrine is unsavory.

Other men have largely treated of this argument, therefore at this time it suffices to touch but a few things, that chiefly make for the principal sum of the whole matter. Besides these points that I have already touched, the very antiquity of the Scripture is of great weight. For however the Greek writers tell many fables of the Egyptian divinity: yet there remains no monument of any religion, but that is far inferior to the age of Moses. And Moses devises not a new God, but sets forth the same thing which the Israelites had received in long process of time, conveyed to them by their fathers as it were from hand to hand concerning the everlasting God. For what does he else but labor to call them back to the covenant made with Abraham. If he had brought a thing never heard of before, he had had no entry to begin. But it must needs be that the deliverance from bondage, wherein they were detained, was a thing well and commonly known among them, so that the hearing of the mention thereof did forthwith raise up all their minds. It is also likely that they were informed of the number of the 400 years. Now is it to be considered, if Moses, which himself by so long distance of time was before all other writers, does from a beginning so long before himself fetch the original deliverance of his doctrine: how much the holy Scripture then is beyond all other writings in antiquity.

Unless perhaps some like to believe the Egyptians, who stretch their antiquity to six thousand years before the creation of the world. But since their vain babbling has been always scorned even by all the profane writers themselves, there is no cause why I should spend labor in confuting it. But Josephus, against Appion, alleges the testimonies worthy to be remembered out of ancient writers, whereby may be gathered that by the consent of all nations the doctrine that is in the law has been famous even from the first ages, although it was neither read nor truly known. Now, that neither there should remain to the malicious any cause of suspicion, nor to the wicked any occasion to cavil, God has for both these dangers provided good remedies. When Moses rehearses what Jacob almost three hundred years before had by heavenly inspiration pronounced upon his own posterity, how does he set forth his own tribe? Indeed in the person of Levi he spots it with eternal infamy. Simeon (says he) and Levi are the vessels of wickedness. My soul, come not into their counsel, nor my tongue into their secret. Truly he might have passed over that blot with silence, in so doing not only to please his father, but also not to stain himself and his whole family with part of the same shame. How can that writer be suspected, who unconstrainedly publishing by the oracle of the Holy Ghost that the principal ancestor of the family from which himself descended was an abominable doer, neither privately provided for his own honor, nor refused to enter into displeasure of all his own kinsmen, whom undoubtedly this matter grieved? When also he rehearses the wicked murmuring of Aaron his own brother, and Mary his sister: shall we say that he spoke after the meaning of the flesh, or rather that he wrote it obeying the commandment of the Holy Ghost? Moreover since himself was highest in authority, why did he not leave at least the office of the high priesthood to his own sons, but appoints them to the basest place? I touch here only a few things of many. But in the law itself a man shall everywhere meet with many arguments that are able to bring full proof to make men believe that Moses without all question comes from heaven as an Angel of God.

Now these so many and so notable miracles that he recounts are even as many establishments of the law that he delivered, and the doctrine that he published. For, this that he was carried in a cloud up into the mountain: that there even to the fortieth day he continued without company of men: that in the very publishing of the law his face did shine as it were beset with sunbeams: that lightnings flashed round about: that thunders and noises were heard everywhere in the air: that a trumpet sounded being not blown with any mouth of man: that the entry of the tabernacle by a cloud set between was kept from the sight of the people: that his authority was so miraculously avenged with the horrible destruction of Chore, Dathan and Abiron, and all that wicked faction: that the rock struck with a rod did by and by pour forth a river: that at his prayer it rained Manna from heaven: did not God herein commend him from heaven as an undoubted prophet? If any man object against me, that I take these things as confessed, which are not out of controversy, it is easy to answer this cavilation. For seeing that Moses in open assembly published all these things, what place was there to feign before those witnesses that had themselves seen the things done? It is likely indeed that he would come among them, and rebuking the people of infidelity, stubbornness, unthankfulness, and other sins, would have boasted that his doctrine was established in their own sight with such miracles, which in deed they never saw.

For this is also worthy to be noted, so often as he tells of any miracles, he therewith also odiously joins such things as might stir the whole people to cry out against him, if there had been never so little occasion. Whereby it appears that they were by no other means brought to agree with him, but because they were ever more than sufficiently convinced by their own experience. But because the matter was more plainly known, than that the profane could deny that miracles were done by Moses: the father of lying has furnished them another cavilation, saying that they were done by magical arts and sorcery. But what likely proof have they to accuse him for a sorcerer, who so far abhorred from such superstition, that he commands to stone him to death, that does but ask counsel of sorcerers and soothsayers? Truly no such deceiver uses his juggling tricks, but that he studies to amaze the minds of the people to get himself a fame. But what does Moses? By this that he cries out, that himself and his brother Aaron are nothing, but does only execute those things that God has appointed, he does sufficiently wipe away all blots of thinking evil of him. Now if the things themselves be considered, what enchantment could bring to pass that Manna daily raining from heaven, should suffice to feed the people? And if any man kept in store more than his just measure, by the very rotting thereof he should be taught that God did punish his want of belief? Besides that, with many great proofs God suffered his servant so to be tried, that now the wicked can nothing prevail with prating against him. For how often did sometimes the people proudly and impudently make insurrections, sometimes various of them conspiring among themselves went about to overthrow the holy servant of God: how could he have beguiled their fury with illusions? And the end that followed plainly shows, that by this means his doctrine was established to continue to the end of all ages.

Moreover, where he assigns the chief government to the tribe of Judah in the person of the Patriarch Jacob, who can deny that this was done by the spirit of prophecy, especially if we weigh in consideration the thing itself, how in coming to pass it proved true? Imagine Moses to have been the first author of this prophecy: yet from the time that he did first put it in writing, there passed four hundred years wherein there was no mention of the scepter in the tribe of Judah. After Saul was consecrated king, it seemed that the kingdom should rest in the tribe of Benjamin. When David was anointed by Samuel, what reason appeared there why the course of inheritance of the kingdom should be changed? Who would have looked that there should have come a king out of the base house of a herdsman? And when there were in the same house seven brothers, who would have said that that honor should light upon the youngest? By what means came he to hope to be a king? Who can say that this anointing was governed by any art, labor, or policy of man, and not rather that it was a fulfilling of the heavenly prophecy? Likewise those things that Moses beforehand speaks, albeit darkly, concerning the Gentiles to be adopted into the covenant of God, seeing they came to pass almost two thousand years after, do they not make it plain that he spoke by the inspiration of God? I pass over his other foretellings beforehand of things, which do so evidently savor of the revelation of God, that all men that have their sound wit may plainly perceive that it is God that speaks. To be short, that same one song of his is a clear looking glass, wherein God evidently appears.

But in the other prophets the same is yet also much more plainly seen. I will choose out only a few examples, because to gather them all together were too great a labor. When in the time of Isaiah the kingdom of Judah was in peace, yes, when they thought that the Chaldeans were to them some stay and defense, then did Isaiah prophesy of the destruction of the city and exile of the people. But admit that, yet this was no token plain enough of the instinct of God, to tell long before of such things as at that time seemed false, and afterward proved true: yet those prophecies that he utters concerning their deliverance, from where shall we say that they proceeded but from God? He names Cyrus by whom the Chaldeans should be subdued, and the people restored to liberty. There passed more than a hundred years from the time that Isaiah so prophesied before that Cyrus was born: for Cyrus was born in the hundredth year or thereabouts after the death of Isaiah. No man could then guess that there should be any such Cyrus, that should have war with the Babylonians, that should bring under so mighty a monarchy under his dominion, and make an end of the exile of the people of Israel. Does not this bare telling without any garnishment of words evidently show, that the things that Isaiah speaks, are the undoubted oracles of God, and not the conjectures of men? Again, when Jeremiah a little before that the people was carried away, did determine the end of the captivity within seventy years, and promised return and liberty, must it not needs be that his tongue was governed by the spirit of God? What shamelessness shall it be to deny, that the credit of the prophets was established by such proofs, and that the same thing was fulfilled in deed, which they themselves do report to make their sayings to be believed? Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they come forth, I tell you of them. I leave to speak how Jeremiah and Ezekiel being so far asunder, yet prophesying both at one time, they so agreed in all their sayings as if either one of them had dictated the words for the other to write. What did Daniel? Does he not write continuing prophecies of things to come for the space of six hundred years after, in such sort as if he had compiled a history of things already done and commonly known? These things if godly men have well considered, they shall be sufficiently well furnished, to appease the barkings of the wicked. For the plain proof hereof is too clear to be subject to any cavillings at all.

I know what some learned men do talk in corners, to show the quickness of their wit in assaulting the truth of God. For they demand, who has assured us that these things which are read under title of their names, were ever written by Moses and the prophets? Indeed, they are so bold as to move this question, whether there ever was any such Moses or [illegible]. But if a man should call in doubt whether there ever was any Plato, or Aristotle, or Cicero, who would not say, that such madness were worthy to be corrected with strokes and stripes? The law of Moses has been marvelously preserved rather by heavenly providence than by diligence of men. And though by the negligence of the priests it lay buried a little while: yet since the time that the godly king Josiah found it, it has still by continual succession from age to age been used in the hands of men. Neither did Josiah bring it forth as an unknown or new thing, but such a thing as had been ever commonly published, and of which the remembrance was at that time famous. The original book itself was appointed to be sacredly kept in the temple, and a copy written out thereof, to remain with the keepers of the king's records. Only this had happened, that the priests had ceased to publish the law according to the old accustomed manner, and the people themselves had neglected their accustomed reading of it. Indeed, there passed in a manner no age wherein the establishment thereof was not confirmed and renewed. They that had David in their hands, knew they not of Moses? But to speak of them all at once, it is most certain that their writings came to posterity none otherwise but from hand to hand (as I may term it) by continual orderly course of years delivered from their fathers, which had partly heard them speak, and partly while the remembrance was fresh of it, did learn of them which heard them that they had so spoken.

As for that which they object out of the history of the Maccabees, to diminish the credit of Scripture, it is such a thing as nothing can be devised more fit to establish the same. But first let us wipe away the color that they lay upon it, and then let us turn upon themselves the engine that they raise up against us. Then Antiochus (say they) commanded all the books to be burned, where are come these copies that we now have? On the other side I ask them, in what shop they could so soon be made? It is evident, that after the cruelty appeased they were immediately abroad again, and were without controversy known to be the same of all godly men, that having been brought up in the doctrine of them did familiarly know them. Indeed when all the wicked men being as it were conspired together, did insolently triumph with reproaches upon the Jews, yet never was there any that durst lay to their charge false changing of their books. For whatever they think the Jewish religion to be, yet still they think Moses to be the author of it. What then do these praters else, but betray their own more than doggish frowardness, while they falsely say that these books are changed, and new put in their places, whose sacred antiquity is approved by consent of all histories? But to spend no more labor vainly in confuting such foolish quibbles: let us rather hereby consider how great a care God had for preservation of his word, beyond the hope of all men, he saved it from the outrage of the most cruel tyrant, as out of a present fire: that he endowed the godly priests and others with so great constancy, that they stick not to redeem this book even with loss of their life if need were, and so to convey it over to posterity: that he disappointed the narrow search of so many governors and soldiers. Who can but acknowledge the notable and miraculous work of God, that these sacred monuments which the wicked truly thought to have been utterly destroyed, by and by came abroad again as fully restored, and that with a great deal more honor. For by and by followed the translating of them into Greek, to publish them throughout the world. And not in this only appeared the miraculous working, that God preserved the tables of his covenant from the bloody proclamations of Antiochus: but also that among so manifold miserable afflictions of the Jews, with which the whole nation was at times worn to a few and wasted, and last of all, brought in manner to utter destruction, yet they remained still safe and extant. The Hebrew tongue lay not only disregarded, but almost unknown. And surely had it not been God's pleasure to have his religion provided for, it had perished altogether. For how much the Jews that were since their return from exile, were swerved from the natural use of their mother tongue, appears by the Prophets, that lived in that age, which is therefore worthy to be noted, because by this comparison the antiquity of the law and the prophets is the more plainly perceived. And by whom has God preserved for us the doctrine of salvation contained in the law and the prophets, to the end that Christ might in his appointed time be openly shown? Even by the most cruelly bent enemies of Christ, the Jews, whom Saint Augustine does therefore worthily call the keepers of the Library of the Christian Church, because they have ministered to us that thing, to read of which they themselves have no use.

Now if we come to the New Testament, with how sound pillars is the truth thereof upheld? The three Evangelists write the history in base and simple speech. Many proud men do loathe that simplicity, because they take no heed to the chief points of doctrine therein, whereby it were easy to gather, that they treat of heavenly mysteries above man's capacity. Surely whoever has but one drop of honest shame will be ashamed if they read the first chapter of Luke. Now, the sermons of Christ, the sum of which is shortly comprised by these three Evangelists, do easily deliver their writings from all contempt. But John thundering from on high, those whom he compels not to obedience of faith, he throws down their stubbornness more mightily than any thunderbolt. Now let come forth all these sharp-nosed faultfinders, that have a great pleasure to shake the reverence of Scripture out of their own and other men's hearts, let them read John's Gospel: will they or no, they shall there find a thousand sentences that may at least awaken their sluggishness, indeed that may print a horrible brand in their consciences to restrain their laughing. The same is to be thought of Peter and Paul, in whose writings although the more part be blind, yet the very heavenly majesty in them holds all men bound, and as it were fast tied to it. But this one thing does sufficiently advance their doctrine above the world, that Matthew being before all given to the gain of his money board, Peter and John brought up in their fisher boats, all gross unlearned men, had learned nothing in men's school that they might deliver to others. Paul, not only from a professed, but also from a cruel and bloody enemy converted to a new man, with sudden and unexpected change does show, that being compelled by heavenly authority he now maintains that doctrine, which before he had fought against. Now let these dogs deny, that the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles, or let them discredit the history: yet still the truth itself openly cries out, that they were taught by the Holy Ghost, which being before time despised men among the rascal people, suddenly began so gloriously to treat of heavenly mysteries.

There are yet also furthermore many very good reasons why the consent of the church should not be esteemed without weight. For it is to be accounted no small matter, that since the scripture was first published, the wills of so many ages have constantly agreed to obey it. And that however Satan with all the world has labored by marvelous means, either to oppress it, or overthrow it, or utterly to blot and deface it out of men's remembrance, yet ever still like a palm tree, it has risen up above, and remained invincible. For there has not lightly been in old time any sophist or rhetorician that had any more excellent wit than others, but he has bent his force against this scripture: yet they all have nothing prevailed. The whole power of the earth has armed itself to destroy it, and yet all their enterprises are vanished away, as in smoke. Now could it have resisted being so mightily on each side assailed, if it had had no other defense but man's? Yes rather it is hereby proved, that it came from God himself, that all the labors of men striving against it, yet it has of its own power still risen up. Besides that, not one city alone, nor one only nation has agreed to receive and embrace it: but so far as the world extends in length and breadth, the scripture has attained her credit, by one holy conspiracy of diverse nations, which otherwise were in nothing agreeable one with another. And forasmuch as such agreement of minds so diverse and disagreeing in manner in all things else, ought much to move us, because it appears, that the same is brought about no other way, but by working of the heavenly majesty: no small estimation grows to it, when we behold their godliness, that do so agree. I mean not of them all, but only of those, with whom as with lights it pleased God to have his church to shine.

Now with what assurance of mind ought we to submit to that doctrine which we see established and witnessed with the blood of so many holy men? They when they had but once received it, stuck not boldly without fear, yes and with great cheerfulness to die for it: how should it then come to pass, that we, having it conveyed to us with such an assured pledge, should not with certain and unmovable persuasion take hold of it? It is therefore no small confirmation of the scripture that it has been sealed with the blood of so many witnesses, specially when we consider that they suffered death to bear witness of their faith: and not of a frantic distemper of brain, as sometimes the erroneous spirits are wont to do, but with a firm and constant and yet sober zeal of God. There are other reasons and those not few nor weak, whereby the scripture has her dignity and majesty not only ascertained to godly hearts, but also honorably defended against the subtleties of cavilers, yet are they such as are not of themselves sufficiently available to bring steadfast credit to it, until the heavenly father disclosing therein his majesty, does bring the reverence thereof out of all controversy. Therefore then only the scripture shall suffice to that knowledge of God that brings salvation, when the certainty thereof shall be grounded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Ghost. So those testimonies of men that serve to confirm it shall not be vain, if as second helps of our weakness they follow that chief and highest testimony. But they do foolishly that will have it persuaded by proof to the unfaithful, that the scripture is the word of God, which can not be known but by faith. For good reason therefore does Augustine give warning, that godliness and peace of mind ought to go before, to make a man understand somewhat of so great matters.

Unless we have this assurance — which is both more excellent and more powerful than any human judgment — it will be useless to try to strengthen the authority of Scripture with arguments, establish it with the church's consent, or confirm it by any other means of defense. For unless this foundation is laid, it still hangs in doubt. On the other hand, when we have received Scripture devoutly, setting it apart from common things and treating it according to its true worth, then these other supports become very fitting helps — which before had little power — to root and fasten its authority firmly in our minds. For it is remarkable how great an establishment of faith grows when we earnestly consider the orderly and well-ordered wisdom of God that appears throughout Scripture, the heavenly character of its teaching everywhere with nothing earthly about it, the beautiful harmony of all its parts with one another, and the other qualities that give to writings their proper majesty. But our hearts are even more fully confirmed when we consider how we are, as it were, forcibly carried into admiration of Scripture by the dignity of its subject matter rather than by the beauty of its style. For it was not without the singular providence of God that the great mysteries of the heavenly kingdom are for the most part expressed in a seemingly plain and lowly manner of speech — lest if they had been adorned with more splendid language the wicked could cavil that only the power of eloquence holds sway in them. But when that rough and, in a manner, unpolished simplicity produces greater reverence than any rhetorician's eloquence, what can we conclude but that the holy Scripture possesses a power of truth mightier than anything that any art of words could supply? Not without reason therefore does the apostle make his argument to prove that the faith of the Corinthians was grounded in the power of God rather than in human wisdom — because his preaching among them was delivered not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in plain demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:4). For truth is then freed from all doubt when, without leaning on outside aids, it is sufficient to sustain itself. How this power belongs uniquely to Scripture is shown by this: of all the writings of men, however artfully composed, none is so able to penetrate our hearts. Read Demosthenes or Cicero, read Plato, Aristotle, or any of their kind — I grant they will marvelously attract, delight, move, and carry you away. But if from them you come to this holy reading of Scripture, whether you intend it or not, it will move your heart so vividly, pierce you so deeply, and settle so thoroughly into your bones that in comparison with the force of this feeling, all the power of those rhetoricians and philosophers will virtually vanish. From this it is easy to perceive that the Scriptures, which far excel all the gifts and accomplishments of human effort, truly breathe out a certain divinity.

I grant that some of the prophets write in an elegant, clear, and even beautiful style, so that their eloquence yields nothing to pagan writers. By such examples the Holy Spirit was pleased to show that He was not without eloquence, even though in other writers He employed a rougher and plainer style. But whether one reads David, Isaiah, and others who have a flowing and pleasant speech, or Amos the herdsman, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, whose rougher language savors of country plainness — in every one of them the majesty of the Holy Spirit I spoke of is apparent. I am also well aware that Satan, as an imitator of God in many things — the better to creep into simple minds by deceptive resemblance — has craftily spread his wicked errors in rude and barbarous speech, and has often used disjointed phrases under which he might hide his deceptions. But how vain and foul that clever imitation is, all those with even moderate understanding can plainly see. As for holy Scripture, though wicked men labor hard to bite at many things in it, it is full of sentences that no human mind could have conceived. Look through all the prophets — not one will be found who has not far surpassed all human capacity, so that those to whom this doctrine is without taste must be judged to have no power of discernment at all.

Others have treated this argument at length, so at this point it is enough to touch on only a few things that bear most directly on the main point. Besides the things already mentioned, the very antiquity of Scripture carries great weight. For however much Greek writers tell many fables about Egyptian antiquity, no monument of any religion remains that is not far inferior in age to Moses. And Moses does not devise a new God but sets forth the very same thing that the Israelites had received down through long ages, passed from father to son as though by hand — concerning the everlasting God. For what does he do but labor to call them back to the covenant made with Abraham? If he had brought something never heard of before, he would have had no way to begin. It was necessary that the deliverance from the bondage in which they were held should be something well and commonly known among them, so that the mere mention of it would immediately stir all their minds. It is also probable that they were informed of the number of the four hundred years. Now consider this: if Moses himself, who was already by so great a distance of time earlier than all other writers, traces the origin of his doctrine back to a beginning even more remote from himself — how much more ancient is holy Scripture than all other writings?

Unless perhaps some prefer to believe the Egyptians, who stretch their antiquity to six thousand years before the creation of the world. But since their empty boasting has been universally scorned even by all the pagan writers themselves, there is no reason for me to spend effort refuting it. Josephus, in his work against Appion, produces testimonies worthy of notice from ancient writers, from which it can be gathered that the doctrine contained in the law has been celebrated by the consent of all nations from the earliest ages, even though it was neither read nor truly known. Now, so that the malicious should have no reason for suspicion and the wicked no occasion for objection, God has provided good remedies against both dangers. When Moses rehearses what Jacob had declared by heavenly inspiration almost three hundred years earlier concerning his own descendants, how does he describe his own tribe? He marks it in the person of Levi with eternal infamy. 'Simeon and Levi are vessels of wickedness. O my soul, do not enter their council; O my glory, do not join their assembly.' He could easily have passed over that stain in silence — both to please his father and to avoid tainting himself and his whole family with a share of the same shame. How can a writer be suspected of fraud who freely publishes by the oracle of the Holy Spirit that the chief ancestor of the family from which he himself was descended was a shameful evildoer, and who neither protected his own honor nor shrank from incurring the anger of all his kinsmen, who would undoubtedly have felt the sting of this? When he likewise rehearses the wicked murmuring of Aaron his own brother and of Miriam his sister — shall we say he spoke from the flesh, or rather that he wrote it in obedience to the Holy Spirit? Moreover, since he himself was the highest in authority, why did he not at least assign the office of the high priesthood to his own sons, rather than appointing them to the lowest place? I touch here only a few things out of many. But in the law itself one will everywhere meet with many arguments powerful enough to give full proof that Moses comes from God as surely as an angel from heaven.

Now all the many and remarkable miracles he recounts serve as so many confirmations of the law he delivered and the doctrine he proclaimed. That he was carried up in a cloud to the mountain; that there he remained for forty days without the company of men; that in the very promulgation of the law his face shone as if wrapped in sunbeams; that lightning flashed all around; that thunders and loud noises were heard throughout the air; that a trumpet sounded, blown by no human mouth; that the entry to the tabernacle was hidden from the people's sight by an intervening cloud; that his authority was so miraculously vindicated by the terrible destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all that wicked company; that a rock struck with a rod poured forth a river; that at his prayer manna rained from heaven to feed the people — did not God in all these things commend him from heaven as an undoubted prophet? If anyone objects that I am assuming as settled things that are still in dispute, the objection is easy to answer. For since Moses published all these things before the entire assembly, what room was there to invent them before witnesses who had themselves seen them done? Is it plausible that he would come among them, reproach the people for unbelief, stubbornness, ingratitude, and other sins, and boast that his doctrine was confirmed in their own sight by such miracles — miracles they had in fact never seen?

This too is worth noting: every time Moses recounts a miracle, he also pointedly joins to it things that would have stirred the entire people to cry out against him if there had been even the slightest opportunity. This shows that they were brought to agree with him by no other means than that they were more than sufficiently persuaded by their own experience. But because the matter was too plain for the pagans to deny that miracles were worked by Moses, the father of lies has furnished them another objection: that these things were done by magical arts and sorcery. But what likely evidence do they have to accuse him of sorcery — a man who so thoroughly abhorred such practices that he commanded the stoning of anyone who so much as consulted sorcerers or diviners? Certainly no deceiver practices his tricks without studying to dazzle people's minds in order to gain fame for himself. But what does Moses do? By crying out that he and his brother Aaron are nothing — that they only carry out what God has appointed — he sufficiently clears himself of all sinister suspicion. Now consider the things themselves: what enchantment could have produced manna raining daily from heaven to feed the people? And if anyone stored more than his due share, was he not taught by the very rotting of it that God was punishing his unbelief? Beyond this, God allowed His servant to be tested by so many great trials that the wicked now can make no progress with their railing against him. For how often did the people boldly and shamelessly rise up in rebellion, or various parties conspire together to try to overthrow God's holy servant — and how could he have deceived their fury with illusions? And the result that followed makes it plain that by this means his doctrine was established to endure to the end of all ages.

Moreover, when Jacob, in his patriarchal blessing, assigned the chief rule to the tribe of Judah — who can deny that this was done by the spirit of prophecy, especially when we weigh how exactly it proved true? Even if we suppose Moses was the first to put it in writing, four hundred years passed after he wrote it before there was any mention of a scepter in the tribe of Judah. When Saul was consecrated king, it seemed the kingdom would rest permanently in the tribe of Benjamin. When David was anointed by Samuel, what reason appeared for the course of royal inheritance to change? Who would have expected a king to come out of the humble household of a shepherd? And when there were seven brothers in that household, who would have said this honor would fall on the youngest? By what means could he have had hope of becoming a king? Can anyone say that this anointing was governed by any human art, effort, or strategy, rather than by the fulfillment of the heavenly prophecy? Likewise, those things Moses spoke beforehand — though darkly — concerning the Gentiles being adopted into the covenant of God, seeing that they came to pass almost two thousand years later, do they not make it plain that he spoke by divine inspiration? I pass over his other predictions, which so plainly bear the marks of divine revelation that all people of sound mind can clearly perceive it is God who speaks. In short, that one song of Moses alone is a clear mirror in which God openly appears.

But in the other prophets all of this is seen even more plainly. I will select only a few examples, since to gather them all would be too great a labor. When in the time of Isaiah the kingdom of Judah was at peace — indeed when they thought the Chaldeans were a support and defense to them — Isaiah prophesied the destruction of the city and the exile of the people. Admittedly, even this — predicting events long before they happened, events that then seemed false but afterward proved true — might not by itself be taken as a plain enough sign of divine inspiration. But those prophecies he utters concerning their deliverance: where could they have proceeded from but God? He names Cyrus as the man by whom the Chaldeans would be subdued and the people restored to freedom. More than a hundred years passed from the time Isaiah prophesied this to the birth of Cyrus — for Cyrus was born roughly a hundred years after Isaiah's death. No one could then have guessed that there would be any such Cyrus, that he would make war against the Babylonians, bring so mighty an empire under his dominion, and put an end to the exile of the people of Israel. Does not this plain statement, without any ornament of words, make it clearly evident that what Isaiah speaks are the undoubted oracles of God and not human guesses? Again, when Jeremiah, shortly before the people were carried into exile, fixed the end of the captivity at seventy years and promised return and freedom — must it not be that his tongue was governed by the Spirit of God? What shamelessness would it be to deny that the credibility of the prophets was established by such proofs, especially when the very thing they spoke to make their words believable was in fact fulfilled? 'The former things have come to pass, and new things I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.' I leave aside how Jeremiah and Ezekiel, though far apart from each other, prophesying at the same time, agreed so completely in all their words as if one of them had dictated what the other wrote. What about Daniel? Does he not write prophecies covering six hundred years of events yet to come, and with such precision that it reads as though it were a history of things already done and commonly known? If godly people have reflected well on these things, they will be sufficiently equipped to silence the barking of the wicked. For the plain proof is too clear to be vulnerable to any caviling at all.

I am aware of what some learned men say in private to show their cleverness in attacking the truth of God. They ask who has assured us that what is read under the names of Moses and the prophets was actually written by them. Some are even bold enough to raise the question whether any such Moses ever existed. But if someone were to call in doubt whether there ever was a Plato, an Aristotle, or a Cicero, who would not say that such madness deserved to be corrected with blows? The law of Moses has been preserved in a marvelous manner, more by heavenly providence than by human diligence. And though it lay buried for a short time through the negligence of the priests, since the time that godly King Josiah found it, it has been continuously in use from age to age, passed through human hands. Nor did Josiah bring it out as an unknown or new thing, but as something that had always been publicly known and whose memory was then still celebrated. The original book itself was appointed to be kept sacredly in the temple, with a copy made to remain with the keepers of the royal records. What had happened was simply that the priests had stopped reading the law according to the old custom, and the people had neglected their accustomed practice of reading it. In fact, scarcely an age passed without the establishment of the law being confirmed and renewed. Did those who had David in their hands not know of Moses? But to speak of them all at once: it is most certain that their writings came down to posterity in no other way than by what I would call a continuous and orderly chain — passed on year by year from parents who had either partly heard them speak, or had learned of them from those who heard them while the memory was still fresh.

As for what they raise from the history of the Maccabees to undermine the credibility of Scripture — nothing could be better suited to establish that credibility than this very history. But let us first clear away the argument they lay, and then turn their own weapon against them. They say that Antiochus commanded all the books to be burned — where then did these copies we now have come from? I ask them in return: in what workshop could they have been produced so quickly? It is evident that as soon as the cruelty ended, the books immediately reappeared — and all godly men who had been raised in this teaching recognized them without any dispute as the very same writings they had known intimately. Indeed, even when all the wicked men seemed to conspire together to heap insults on the Jews with great contempt, not one of them ever dared to charge them with having falsified or substituted their books. For whatever they may think of the Jewish religion, they still acknowledge Moses as its author. What then do these babblers accomplish except to expose their own perverse stubbornness, while falsely claiming that the books were changed and replaced — books whose sacred antiquity is confirmed by the agreement of all the histories? But to spend no more labor refuting such empty quibbles: let us rather consider here how great was God's care in preserving His word. Beyond all human hope He saved it from the outrage of the most cruel tyrant, as from a present fire. He endowed the godly priests and others with such steadfastness that they did not hesitate to redeem this book at the cost of their lives if necessary, and to carry it safely down to future generations. He foiled the thorough searches of so many governors and soldiers. Who can fail to acknowledge the remarkable and miraculous work of God, that these sacred writings — which the wicked truly believed to be utterly destroyed — came back immediately in full, and with even greater honor? For they were shortly after translated into Greek, to be published throughout the world. And the miraculous work appeared not only in this — that God preserved the records of His covenant from the bloody decrees of Antiochus — but also in that amid the endless miseries by which the whole Jewish nation was at times worn down to a small remnant, and finally all but brought to utter destruction, they still remained safe and intact. The Hebrew language lay not only neglected but almost unknown. Had it not been God's pleasure to provide for His religion, it would have perished entirely. How far the Jews after their return from exile had drifted from the natural use of their mother tongue is evident from the prophets of that era — a fact worth noting, since by this comparison the antiquity of the law and the prophets becomes all the more plainly visible. And by whom has God preserved for us the saving doctrine contained in the law and the prophets, so that Christ might be openly revealed in His appointed time? By the most bitter enemies of Christ — the Jews — whom Augustine rightly called the librarians of the Christian church, because they have supplied us with what they themselves have no use to read.

Now if we come to the New Testament, how sound are the pillars on which its truth stands? The three Evangelists write their history in plain and simple language. Many proud people despise that simplicity because they pay no attention to the chief points of doctrine in it — by which it would be easy to gather that they are treating of heavenly mysteries beyond human capacity. Surely anyone with a single drop of honest humility will feel shame if they read the first chapter of Luke. The sermons of Christ, briefly set forth by these three Evangelists, easily deliver their writings from all contempt. But John, thundering from on high, overthrows the stubbornness of those he cannot compel to faith more forcefully than any thunderbolt. Let all these sharp-nosed critics who take great pleasure in shaking the reverence of Scripture out of their own and others' hearts come forward and read John's Gospel. Whether they want to or not, they will find a thousand sentences there that will at least stir their sluggishness — indeed that will brand their consciences with a mark horrible enough to check their laughter. The same must be said of Peter and Paul: though the great majority are blind to their writings, the very heavenly majesty in them holds all readers bound and tied fast. This one thing alone sufficiently lifts their doctrine above the world: Matthew, previously given over entirely to the profit of his money table; Peter and John, raised in their fishing boats — all unlearned men who had learned nothing in any human school to deliver to others. Paul, converted from being not merely a declared enemy of Christ but a cruel and bloody one, shows by his sudden and unexpected transformation that he was compelled by heavenly authority to defend the very doctrine he had previously fought against. Now let these mockers deny that the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles, or discredit the history — the truth itself still cries out openly that they were taught by the Holy Spirit: people who had previously been despised as common and obscure suddenly began to treat of heavenly mysteries with such extraordinary power.

There are further many very good reasons why the agreement of the church should not be treated as worthless. It is no small thing that since Scripture was first published, the minds of so many generations have constantly agreed to submit to it. And that however Satan with all the world has labored by remarkable means to suppress it, overthrow it, or blot it entirely from human memory, it has still, like a palm tree, risen above all opposition and remained unconquerable. For there has scarcely been a sophist or rhetorician of above-average ability in earlier times who did not bring his full force against this Scripture — yet they all accomplished nothing. The whole power of the earth has armed itself to destroy it, and yet all their efforts have dissolved like smoke. Could it have resisted such mighty assaults from every side if it had had no defense but from men? Rather, the very fact that through all the efforts of men striving against it, it has still risen by its own power — this proves that it came from God Himself. Beyond that, it is not one city alone, nor one nation only, that has agreed to receive and embrace it. As far as the world extends in length and breadth, Scripture has attained its authority through a kind of holy agreement among diverse nations that in everything else are in disagreement. And since the agreement of minds so diverse and disagreeing in nearly everything else ought to move us strongly — precisely because it is evident that it could not have come about except through the working of the divine majesty — no small weight is added when we behold the godly character of those who so agree. I mean not all who have professed the faith, but only those whom God was pleased to use as lights in His church.

Now with what confidence of mind ought we to submit to that doctrine which we see established and witnessed with the blood of so many holy men? When they had once received it, they did not hesitate to die for it boldly and without fear — yes, with great joy. How then should it be that we, having it delivered to us with so firm a pledge, should not receive it with certain and unshakeable conviction? It is therefore no small confirmation of Scripture that it has been sealed with the blood of so many witnesses — especially when we consider that they suffered death to bear witness to their faith, and not from some frantic disorder of mind, as deluded spirits sometimes do, but with a firm and constant yet sober zeal for God. There are other reasons, neither few nor weak, by which Scripture not only has its dignity and majesty established in godly hearts but also nobly defended against the subtleties of objectors. Yet by themselves these are not sufficient to produce firm and settled credibility, until the heavenly Father, revealing His majesty therein, brings all reverence for it beyond all controversy. Therefore Scripture will be sufficient for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is grounded in the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. The testimonies of men that serve to confirm it will then not be useless — if, as secondary supports for our weakness, they follow that first and highest testimony. But those who would have unbelievers persuaded by argument that Scripture is the word of God are acting foolishly, since Scripture can only be known for what it is by faith. Therefore Augustine rightly warns that godliness and peace of mind must come first, before a person can understand anything of such great matters.