Quest. XII. “Hath not the Lord, by his singular Providence and Care, kept pure in all Ages the Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek?
Yes, Matth. 5. 18.
Well then, do not the Papists err, who maintain, The Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek, which are the Fountains to be corrupted, and that their common Latin Version is authentic?
Yes.
By what Reasons are they confuted?
1st, Because Christ says, till Heaven and Earth pass, one Jot, or one Tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled, Matth. 5. 18. 2d, Because there can be no urgent Necessity shown, why the Fountains are corrupted. 3d, If any such Corruption had been in the Scripture, Christ, and his Apostles, and the Orthodox Fathers had declared so much. 4th, Because they never have nor can make out any manifest Corruptions in the Fountains, albeit, most manifest and undeniable Demonstrations are given of the Corruptions of their Latin Version, which they make authentic.
Quest. XIII. “Are the original Tongues, viz. the Hebrew and the Greek, to be translated in the vulgar Language of every Nation into which they come?”
Yes.
Are we commanded in the Fear of God to read and search the Scriptures?
Yes, John 5. 39. I Cor. 14. 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 24, 27, 28.
Well then, do not the Papists err, who maintain, There is no necessity of translating the Original Tongues, the Hebrew, and the Greek, into the vulgar Language of every Nation, unto which they come, but rather a very great Hazard, and Danger of Errors and Heresies?
Yes.
David Dickson (ca. 1583-1663), Truth’s Victory over Error, or, the True Principles of the Christian Religion, Stated and Vindicated, Robert Wodrow, editor. pp 39-40.
…the pedigree of scripture is sacred, and it could come from none but God himself…there are seven cogent arguments which may evince it to be the word of God…
2. We may know the scripture to be the word of God, by the miraculous preservation of it in all ages. The holy scriptures are the richest jewel that Christ hath left; and the church of God hath kept these public records of heaven that they have not been lost. The word of God hath never wanted enemies to oppose, and, if possible, to extirpate it. They have given out a law, concerning scripture, as Pharaoh did the midwives concerning the Hebrew women’s children, to strangle it in the birth; yet God hath preserved this blessed book inviolable to this day. The devil and his agents have been blowing at scripture light, but could never prevail to blow it out,—a clear sign that it was lighted from heaven. Nor hath the church of God, in all revolutions and changes, only kept the scripture that it should not be lost, but that it should not be depraved. The letter of scripture hath been preserved, without any corruption, in the original tongues. The scriptures were not corrupted before Christ’s time, for then Christ would never have sent the Jews to the scriptures; but he sends them to the scriptures, John v. 39, “Search the scriptures.” Christ knew these sacred springs were not muddied with human fancies.
…the holiness of it shows it to be of God, it bears his very image. The scripture is compared to silver refined seven times, Ps. xii. 6. This book of God hath no errata in it; it is a beam of the Sun of Righteousness,—a crystal stream flowing from the fountain of life.
Thomas Watson (1620-1686), A Body of Practical Divinity, in a Series of Sermons on the Shorter Catechism, pp. 22-23.
Watson’s “seven cogent arguments which may evince it to be the word of God” are:
- By its antiquity.
- By its miraculous preservation.
- By the matter contained in it.
- By its predictions.
- By its impartiality.
- By its power and efficacy on the souls of men.
- By the great miracles confirming it.
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