Asunder,I say,neither of these is sufficient."If a prophet rise amongst you,or a dreamer of dreams,and shall pretend the doing of a miracle,and the miracle come to pass;if he say,Let us follow strange gods,which thou hast not known,thou shalt not hearken to him,etc.But that prophet and dreamer of dreams shall be put to death,because he hath spoken to you to revolt from the Lord your God."In which words two things are to be observed;first,that God will not have miracles alone serve for arguments to approve the prophet's calling;but (as it is in the third verse)for an experiment of the constancy of our adherence to Himself.For the works of the Egyptian sorcerers,though not so great as those of Moses,yet were great miracles.Secondly,that how great soever the miracle be,yet if it tend to stir up revolt against the king or him that governeth by the king's authority,he that doth such miracle is not to be considered otherwise than as sent to make trial of their allegiance.
For these words,revolt from the Lord your God,are in this place equivalent to revolt from your king.For they had made God their king by pact at the foot of Mount Sinai;who ruled them by Moses only;for he only spake with God,and from time to time declared God's commandments to the people.In like manner,after our Saviour Christ had made his Disciples acknowledge him for the Messiah (that is to say,for God's anointed,whom the nation of the Jews daily expected for their king,but refused when he came),he omitted not to advertise them of the danger of miracles."There shall arise,"saith he,"false Christs,and false prophets,and shall do great wonders and miracles,even to the seducing (if it were possible)of the very elect."By which it appears that false prophets may have the power of miracles;yet are we not to take their doctrine for God's word.St.
Paul says further to the Galatians that "if himself or an angel from heaven preach another Gospel to them than he had preached,let him be accursed."That Gospel was that Christ was King;so that all preaching against the power of the king received,in consequence to these words,is by St.Paul accursed.For his speech is addressed to those who by his preaching had already received Jesus for the Christ,that is to say,for King of the Jews.
And as miracles,without preaching that doctrine which God hath established;so preaching the true doctrine,without the doing of miracles,is an insufficient argument of immediate revelation.For if a man that teacheth not false doctrine should pretend to be a prophet without showing any miracle,he is never the more to be regarded for his pretence,as is evident by Deuteronomy,18.21,22:
"If thou say in thy heart,How shall we know that the word"(of the prophet)"is not that which the Lord hath spoken?When the prophet shall have spoken in the name of the Lord,that which shall not come to pass,that is the word which the Lord hath not spoken,but the prophet has spoken it out of the pride of his own heart,fear him not."But a man may here again ask:When the prophet hath foretold a thing,how shall we know whether it will come to pass or not?For he may foretell it as a thing to arrive after a certain long time,longer than the time of man's life;or indefinitely,that it will come to pass one time or other:in which case this mark of a prophet is unuseful;and therefore the miracles that oblige us to believe a prophet ought to be confirmed by an immediate,or a not long deferred event.So that it is manifest that the teaching of the religion which God hath established,and the showing of a present miracle,joined together,were the only marks whereby the Scripture would have a true prophet,that is to say,immediate revelation,to be acknowledged;of them being singly sufficient to oblige any other man to regard what he saith.
Seeing therefore miracles now cease,we have no sign left whereby to acknowledge the pretended revelations or inspirations of any private man;nor obligation to give ear to any doctrine,farther than it is conformable to the Holy Scriptures,which since the time of our Saviour supply the place and sufficiently recompense the want of all other prophecy;and from which,by wise and learned interpretation,and careful ratiocination,all rules and precepts necessary to the knowledge of our duty both to God and man,without enthusiasm,or supernatural inspiration,may easily be deduced.And this Scripture is it out of which I am to take the principles of my discourse concerning the rights of those that are the supreme governors on earth of Christian Commonwealths,and of the duty of Christian subjects towards their sovereigns.And to that end,I shall speak,in the next chapter,of the books,writers,scope and authority of the Bible.
