(and must be so) to the reports and records of others. A notion or hypothesis of a man's own framing may gain him the reputation of a wit, but a history of a man's own framing will lay him under the reproach of a cheat, any further than as it respects that which he himself is an eye or ear witness of. How much are we indebted then to the divine wisdom and goodness for these writings, which have made things so long since past as familiar to us as any of the occurrences of the age and place we live in!
History is so edifying, that parables and apologues have been invented to make up the deficiencies of it, for our instruction concerning good and evil; and whatever may be said of other history, we are sure that in this history there is no matter of fact recorded, but what has its use, and will help either to expound God's providence or guide man's prudence.
II. That it is true history, and what we may rely upon the credit of, and need not fear being deceived in. That which the heathens reckoned tempus ἄδηλον, that is, which they knew nothing at all of, and tempus μυθικὁν, that is, the account of which was wholly fabulous, is to us tempus ίςορικον, that is, what we have a most authentic account of. The Greeks were with them the most celebrated historians, and vet their successors in learning and dominion, the Romans, put them into no good name for their credibility, witness that of the poet: Et quicquid Græcia mendax audet in Historia—All that lying Greece has dared to record, Juv. Sat. 10. But the history which we have before us, is of undoubted certainty, and no cunningly-devised fable. To be well assured of this is a great satisfaction, especially since we meet with so many things in it truly miraculous, and many more great and marvellous.
III. That it is ancient history, far more ancient than was ever pretended to come from any other hand. Homer, the most ancient genuine heathen writer now entirely extant, is reckoned to have lived at the beginning of the Olympiads, near the time when it is computed that the city of Rome was founded by Romulus, which was but about the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah. And his writings pretend not to be historical, but poetical fiction all over: rhapsodies indeed they are, and the very Alcoran of Paganism.
The most ancient authentic historians now extant are Herodotus and Thucydides, who were contemporaries with the latest of our historians, Ezra and Nehemiah, and could not write with any certainty of events much before their own time. The obscurity, deficiency, and uncertainty, of all ancient history, except that which we find in the scripture, is abundantly made out by the learned Bishop Stillingfleet, in that most useful Book, his Origines Sacræ; Lib. 1. Let the antiquity of this history not only recommend it to the curious, but recommend to us all that way of religion it directs us in, as the good old way, in which if we walk, we shall find rest to our souls, Jer. 6. 16.
IV. That it is church history, the history of the Jewish Church, that sacred society, incorporated for religion, and the custody of the oracles and ordinances of God, by a charter under the broad seal of heaven, a covenant confirmed by miracles. Many great and mighty nations there were at this time in the world, celebrated, it is likely, for wisdom, and learning, and valour, illustrious men, and illustrious actions; yet the records of them are all lost, either in silence or fables, while that little inconsiderable nation of the Jews, that dwelt alone, and was not reckoned among the nations, Numb. 23. 9. makes so great a figure in the best known, most ancient, and most lasting, of all histories; while no notice is taken in it, of the affairs of other nations, except only as they fall in with the affairs of the Jews; for the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance, Deut. 32. 8, 9. Such a concern has God for his church in every age, and so dear have its interests been to him; let them therefore be so to us, that we may be followers of him as dear children.
V. That it is a divine history, given by inspiration of God, and a part of that blessed book which is to be the standing rule of our faith and practice. And we are not to think it a part of it which might have been spared, or which we may now pass over, or cast a careless eye upon, as if it were indifferent whether we read it or no, but we are to read it as a sacred record, preserved for our benefit on whom the ends of the world are come.
1. This history is of great use for the understanding of some other parts of the Old Testament. The account we have here of David's life and reign, and especially of his troubles, is a key to many of his Psalms. And much light is given to most of the prophecies by these histories.
2. Though we have not altogether so many types of Christ here, as we had in the history of the law of Moses, yet even here we meet with divers who were figures of Him that was to come, such as Joshua, Samson, Solomon, Cyrus, but especially David, whose kingdom was typical of the kingdom of the Messiah and the covenant of royalty made with him, a dark representation of the covenant of redemption made with the eternal Word; nor know we how to call Christ the son of David, unless we be acquainted with this history; nor how to receive it that John Baptist was the Elias that was to come, Matt. 11. 14.
3. The state of the Jewish Church, which is here set before us, was typical of the Gospel Church, and the state of that in the days of the Messiah; and as the prophecies which related to it, looked further to the latter days, so did the histories of it; and still these things happened to them for ensamples, 1 Cor. 10. 11. By the tenor of this history we are given to understand these three things concerning the church; for the thing that hath been, is that which shall be, Eccl. 1. 9. (1.) That we are not to expect the perfect purity and unity of the church in this world, and therefore not to be stumbled, though we are grieved, at its corruptions, distempers, and divisions; not to think it strange concerning them, as though some strange thing happened, much less to think the worse of its laws and constitutions for the sake of them, or to despair of its perpetuity. What wretched stains of idolatry, impiety, and immorality, appear on the Jewish Church; and what a woful breach was there between Judah and Ephraim, yet God took them (as I may say) with all their faults, and never wholly rejected them, till they rejected the Messiah. Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah, of her God, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel, Jer. 51. 5. (2.) That we are not to expect the constant tranquillity and prosperity of the church. It was then often oppressed and afflicted from its youth, had its years of servitude, as well as its days of triumph, was often obscured, diminished, impoverished, and brought low; and yet still God secured to himself a remnant, a holy seed, which was the substance thereof, Isa. 6. 13. Let us not then be surprised to see the Gospel-Church sometimes under hatches, and driven into the wilderness, and the gates of hell prevailing far against it. (3.) That yet we need not fear the utter extirpation of it. The Gospel-Church is called, the Israel of God, Gal. 6. 16. and the Jerusalem which is above, Gal. 4. 26. the heavenly Jerusalem: for as Israel after the flesh, and the Jerusalem that then was, by the wonderful care of the divine Providence, outrode all the storms with which they were
