V. Another argument may be taken from the character of the penmen of scripture; and here let them be supposed to be either good men, or bad: if good men, then they could not give themselves such a liberty to impose upon the world, and pretend that they received that from God, which they did not; and if they were bad men, they neither could nor would have laid down such doctrines, as centre in, lead the soul to God, and tend to promote self-denial, and advance his glory in all things; since this is to suppose the worst of men to have the best ends, which we can never do; for, as our Saviour says, Matt. vii. 16. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? He is speaking of false prophets, who were to be known by their fruits; wicked men will have bad designs, or are like the corrupt tree, which bringeth forth evil fruit. But, on the other hand, if persons deliver that which carries in it such internal evidence of divine truth, and have such a noble design in view, as the securing the honour of God, and promoting his interest in the world, these must certainly be approved of by him, and concluded to be good men; and if so, then they would not impose a fallacy on the world, or say that the scripture was given by divine inspiration, when they knew it to be otherwise.
If the scriptures are not the word of God, then the penmen thereof have miserably deceived, not a small number of credulous people, but the whole Christian world, among whom we must allow that many were judicious, and such as would not easily suffer themselves to be imposed on; to which we may add, that others to whom the gospel was preached, were exasperated enemies to those that preached it, and particularly to these inspired penmen of scripture, and greatly prejudiced against their doctrine, and therefore would use all possible endeavours to detect the fallacy, if there had been any; so that it was morally impossible for them to deceive the world in this instance, or make them believe that the scriptures were the word of God, if there had not been the strongest evidence to convince them of it, which they could not withstand or gainsay.
But, that we may enter a little further into the character of the penmen of scripture, let it be observed,
1. That they could not be charged by their enemies with immoral practices, or notorious crimes, which might weaken the credit of the truths they delivered: they were, indeed, compassed about with like infirmities with other men; for it is not to be supposed, that, because they were inspired, therefore they were perfectly free from sin; since that does not necessarily follow from their having this privilege conferred upon them; yet their enemies themselves could find no great blemishes in their character, which might justly prejudice them against their writings, or that might render them unfit to be employed in this great work of transmitting the mind of God to the world.
2. They appear to be men of great integrity, not declining to discover and aggravate their own faults, as well as the sins of others. Thus Moses, though a man of great meekness, as to his general character, discovers his own failing, in repining, and being uneasy, because of the untoward and turbulent spirit of the people, over whom he was appointed a governor, when he represents himself as complaining to God; Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? I am not able to bear this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see mine own wretchedness, Numb. xi. 11-15. This was certainly a very great blemish in the character of this excellent man; but he does not attempt to conceal it; nor does he omit to mention his backwardness to comply with the call of God, to deliver his brethren out of their bondage in Egypt, but tells us what poor trifling excuses he made; as when he says, Exod. iv. 10, 13, 19. O Lord, I am not eloquent; and when God answers him, by promising to supply this defect, he obstinately persists in declining this service, and says, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send; that is, by any one but myself; so that he who expressed such courage and resolution forty years before in defending the oppressed Israelites, and supposed that his brethren would have understood that God, by his hand, would deliver them, but they understood it not, Acts vii. 24, 25. when God really called him to deliver them, he obstinately refused to obey; and, indeed, whatever excuses he might make, the main thing that lay at the bottom was fear, and therefore, as a further inducement to it, God tells him, The men were dead that sought his life. All this he says concerning himself; and elsewhere he tells us, Deut. xxxii. 51, 52. compared with Numb. xx. 10, 11, 12. and Deut. iii. 25-27. that he did not sanctify the name of God in the eyes of the people, but spake unadvisedly with his lips; and that, for this, God would not let him go into the land of Canaan, though he earnestly desired it.
And the prophet Jeremiah tells us, how he was ready to faint, and, in a murmuring way, curses the day of his birth, Jer. xx. 7, 8, 14, 15, 16. and seems almost determined not to make mention of God, nor speak any more in his name, because he had been put in the stocks by Pashur, and was derided and mocked by others, who were, indeed, below his notice.
And David discovered his own sin, though it was a very scandalous one, in the matter of Uriah, Psal. li. the title, compared with ver. 14. and prays, Deliver me from blood guiltiness; which is a confession of his being guilty of murder.
The apostles also discover their infirmities. Thus Paul discovers his furious temper, in persecuting the church, before his conversion, and ranks himself amongst the chief of sinners, 1 Tim. i. 13, 15. And how willing is Matthew to let the world know, that, before his conversion, he was a publican: thus he characterises himself, Matt. x. 3. and says, chap. ix. 9. that when Christ called him, he sat at the receipt of custom, though the publicans were reckoned among the vilest of men for extortion, and other crimes, and were universally hated by the Jews.
Moreover as the penmen of scripture expose their own crimes, so they do those of their nearest and dearest friends and relatives, which carnal policy would have inclined them to conceal. Thus Moses tells us how Aaron his brother made the golden calf, and so was the encourager and promoter of the people’s idolatry; that it was he that bid them break off the golden ear-rings, which he received at their hand, whereof he made a molten calf, and then built an altar before it, Exod. xxxii. 2-5. Though the Jewish historian[[42]] was so politic, as to conceal this thing, for the honour of his own nation; and therefore when he tells us, that Moses went up into the mount to receive the law, he says nothing of the scandalous crime, which the people were guilty of at the foot of the mountain at the same time.
Moreover, as they do not conceal their sins, so they sometimes declare the meanness of their extraction, which shewed that they did not design to have honour from men. Thus Amos tells us, Amos i. 1. He was among the herdmen of Tekoa: and that he was not bred up in the schools of the prophets, which he intends, when he styles himself, no prophet, neither a prophet’s son, chap. vii. 14.