manking with the particulars wherein that obedience was to be exercis'd This sure were so disagreeable to his wisdom and goodness that it cannot be charg'd upon his will and consequently they who own not that he has made any such revelation must tacitly tax him of impotence that he could not do it But if any man will say he has and yet reject all this which both Jews and Christians receive as such let him produce his testimonies for the others or rather to retort his own mesure his demonstrations And then let it appear whether his Scheme of doctrin or ours will need the greater aid of that easy credulity he reproches us with 64. I have now gon thro the method I proposed for evincing the Divine Original of the Scriptures and shall not descend to examin those more minute and particular Cavils which profane men make against them the proof of this virtually superseding all those For if it be reasonable to believe it the Word of God it must be reasonable also to believe it of perfection proportionable to the Author and then certainly it must be advanc'd beyond all our objections For to those who except to the stile the incoherence the contradictions or whatever else in Scripture I shall only ask this one question whether it be not much more possible that they who can pretend to be nothing above fallible men may misjudg then that the infallible God should dictate any thing justly liable to those charges I am sure they must depart as much from Reason as Religion to affirm the contrary But alas instead of this implicit submission to Gods Word men take up explicit prejudices against it condemn it without ever examining the truth of the Allegation 'T is certain that in a writing of such Antiquity whose original Language has Idioms and Phrases so peculiar whose Country had customs so differing from the rest of the world 't is impossible to judg of it without reference to all those circumstances Add to this that the Hebrew has bin a dead Language for well nigh two thousand years nowhere in common use nor is there any other ancient Book now extant in it besides those yet not all neither of the Old Testament 65. Now of those many who defame Holy Writ how few are there that have the industry to inquire into those particulars And when for want of knowledg som passages seem improper or perhaps contradictory the Scripture must bear the blame of their ignorance and be accus'd as absurd and unintelligible because themselves are stupid and negligent It were therefore methinks but a reasonable proposal that no man should arraign it till they have used all honest diligence taken in all probable helps for the understanding it and if this might be obtain'd I believe most of its Accusers would like those of the woman in the Gospel Jo. 8. 9. drop away as conscious of their own incompetency the loudest out-cries that are made against it being commonly of those who fall upon it only as a fashionable theme of discourse and hope to acquire themselves the reputation of wits by thus charging God foolishly But he that would candidly and uprightly endeavor to comprehend before he judges and to that end industriously use those means which the providence of God by the labors of pious men hath afforded him will certainly find cause to acquit the Scripture of those imputations which our bold Critics have cast upon it I do not say that he shall have all the obscurities of it perfectly clear 〈◊〉 to him but he shall have so many of them as is for his real advantage and shall discern such reasons why the rest remain unfathomable as may make him not only justify but celebrate the wisdom of the Author 66. YET this is to be expected only upon the fore-mention'd condition viz. that he come with sincere and honest intentions foâ— as for him that comes to the Scripture with design and wishes to find matter of cavil and accusations there is little doubt but thaâ— spirit of impiety and profaness which senâ— him thither will meet him there as a spirit of delusion and occecation That Prince of the Air will cast such mists raise such black vapors that as the Apostle speaks the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shall not shine unto him 2 Cor. 4. 5. Indeed were such a man left only to the natural efficacy of prejudice that is of it self so blinding so infatuating a thing as commonly fortifies against all conviction We see it in all the common instances of life mens very senses are often enslav'd by it the prepossession of a strong phancy will make the objects of sight or hearing appear quite different from what they are But in the present case when this shall be added to Satanical illusions and both left to their operations by Gods with-drawing his illuminating grace the case of such a man answers that description of the Scripture They have eies and see not ears have they and hear not Rom. 11. 8. And that God will so withdraw his grace we have all reason to believe he having promis'd it only to the meek to those who come with malleable ductile spirits to learn not to deride or cavil Saint Peter tells us that the unlearned and unstable wrest the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 15. And if God permit such to do so much more will he the proud malicious 67. I say not this to deter any from the study of Holy Scripture but only to caution them to bring a due preparation of mind along with them Gods Word being like a generous soveraign medicament which if simply and regularly taken is of the greatest benefit but if mixt with poison serves only to make that more fatally operative To conclude he that would have his doubts solv'd concerning Scripture let him follow the method our blessed Lord has describ'd Let him do the will of God and then he shall know of the doctrin whether it be of God Jo. 7. 17. Let him bring with him a probity of mind a willingness to assent to all convictions he shall there meet with and then he will find grounds sufficient to assure him that it is Gods Word and consequently to be receiv'd with all the submission and reverence that its being so exacts SECT III. The subject matter treated of in the Holy Scripture is excellent as is also its end and design WE have hitherto consider'd the holy Scripture only under one notion as it is the Word of God we come now to view it in the subject matter of it the several parts whereof it consists which are so various and comprehensive as shews the whole is deriv'd from him who is all in all 1 Cor. 19 28. But that we may not speak only loosely and at â—overs we will take this excellent frame in pieces and consider its most eminent parts distinctly Now the parts of Holy Writ seem to branch themselves into these
and Apostolical Tradition and there found our actings from whence their order and origation began 8. IT is true Bellarmine reproches this discourse as erroneous but whatever it might be in the inference which Saint Cyprian drew from it in it self it was not so For Saint Austin tho sufficiently engag'd against Saint Cyprian's conclusion allows the position as most Orthodox saying in the fourth Book of Baptism c. 35. Whereas he admonishes to go back to the fountain that is the Tradition of the Apostles and thence bring the stream down to our times 't is most excellent and without doubt to be don 9. THUS Eusebius expresses himself in his second Book against Sabellius As it is a point of sloth not to seek into those things whereof one may enquire so 't is insolence to be inquisitive in others But what are those things which we ought to enquire into Even those which are to be found in the Scriptures those things which are not there to be found let us not seek after For if they ought to be known the holy Ghost had not omitted them in the Scripture 10. ATHANASIUS in his Tract of the Incarnation saies It is fit for us to adhere to the word of God and not relinquish it thinking by syllogisms to evade what is there clearly deliver'd Again in his Tract to Serap of the holy Ghost Ask not saies he concerning the Trinity but learn only from the Scriptures For the instructions which you will find there are sufficient And in his Oration against the Gentiles declares That the Scriptures are sufficient to the manifestation of the truth 11. AGREEABLE to these is Optatus in his 5. Book against Parmen who reasons thus You say 't is lawful to rebaptize we say 't is not lawful betwixt your saying and our gain-saying the peoples minds are amus'd Let no man believe either you or us All men are apt to be contentious Therefore Judges are to be call'd in Christians they cannot be for they will be parties and thereby partial Therefore a Judg is to be lookt out from abroad If a Pagan he knows not the mysteries of our Religion If a Jew he is an enemy to our baptism There is therefore no earthly Judg but one is to be sought from heaven Yet there is no need of a resort to heaven when we have in the Gospel a Testament and in this case celestial things may be compar'd to earthly So it is as with a Father who has many children while he is present he orders them all and there is no need of a written Will Accordingly Christ when he was present upon earth from time to time commanded the Apostles whatsoever was necessary But as the earthly father finding himself to be at the point of death and fearing that after his departure his children should quarrel among themselves he calls witnesses and puts his mind in writing and if any difference arise among the brethren they go not to their Fathers Sepulcher but repair to his Will and Testament and he who rests in his grave speaks still in his writing as if he were alive Our Lord who left his Will among us is now in heaven therefore let us seek his commands in the Gospel as in his Will 12. THUS Cyril of Ierus Cat. 4. Nothing no not the least concernment of the divine and holy Sacraments of our Faith is to be deliver'd without the holy Scripture believe not me unless I give you a demonstration of what I say from the Scripture 13. SAINT Basil in his Book of the true Faith saies If God be faithful in all his sayings his words and works they remaining for ever and being don in truth and equity it must be an evident sign of infidelity and pride if any one shall reject what is written and introduce what is not written In which Books he generally declares that he will write nothing but what he receives from the holy Scripture and that he abhors from taking it elsewhere In his 29. Homily against the Antitrinit Believe saies he those which are written seek not those which are not written And in his Eth. reg 26. Every word and action ought to be confirm'd by the testimony of the divineâ—y inspir'd Scriptures to the establishment of the Faith of the good and reproof of the wicked 14. SAINT Ambrose in the first Book of his Offic. saies How can we make use of any thing which is not to be found in Scripture And in his Instit. of Virgins I read he is the first but read not he is the second let them who say he is second shew it from the reading 15. GREG. Nyssen in his Dial. of the soul and resurrect saies 'T is undeniable that truth is there only to be plac'd where there is the seal of Scripture Testimony 16. SAINT Jerom against Helvidius declares As we deny not that which is written so we refuse those which are not written And in his Comment on the 98. Ps. Every thing that we assert we must shew from the holy Scripture The word of him that speaks has not that autority as Gods precept And on the 87. Ps. Whatever is said after the Apostles let it be cut off nor have afterwards autority The one be holy after the Apostles the one be eloquent yet has he not autority 17. SAINT Austin in his Tract of the unity of the Church c. 12. acknowledges that he could not be convinc'd but by the Scriptures of what he was to believe and adds they are read with such manifestation that he who believes them must confess the doctrin to be most true In the second Book of Christian doctrin c. 9. he saies that in the plain places of Scripture are found all those things that concern Faith and Manners And in Epist. 42. All things which have bin exhibited heretofore as don to mankind and what we now see and deliver to our posterity the Scripture has not past them in silence so far forth as they concern the search or defence of our Religion In his â—ract of the good of Widowhood he saies to â—ulian the person to whom he addresses What shall I teach you more then that we read in the Apostle for the holy Scripture settlos the rule of our doctrin that we think not any thing more then we ought to think but to think soâ—erly as God has dealt to every man the mesure of Faith Therefore my teaching is only to exâ—ound the words of this Doctor Ep. 157. Where â—ny subject is obscure and passes our compreâ—ension and the Scripture do's not plainly afford its help there human conjecture is presumâ—â—ous in defining 18. THEOPHILUS of Alex. in his second Paschal homily tells us that 't is the suggestion of a diabolical spirit to think that any thing besides the Scripture has divine autority And in his third he adds that the Doctors of the Church having the Testimony of the Scripture lay firm foundation of their doctrin 19. CHRYSOSTOM in his third Homily
threatnings in relation to the mind of man we shall find them yet more severe wilful impenitent sinners being cut off from the benefits of the new covenant nor barely so but look'd upon as despisers of it and that blood of Christ in which it was seal'd Heb. 10. 29. nay as those murtherous Wretches that shed it They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh Heb. 6. 6. And this is the fataliest sentence that can fall on any man in this life to be thus disfranchised of all the privileges of the Gospel and ranckt as well in punishment as guilt with the most criminous of mankind 67. FROM hence 't is consequent that the mind remains not only in its native impurity but in a greater and more incurable one whilst that bloud which alone could cleanse it serves but to embrue and pollute it and as it were flush and excite it to all immanities and vilenesses and he that is thus filthy 't is the doom pronounc'd against him that he shall be filthy still Rev. 22. 11. 68. AND then in the second place what calm can there be to such a mind what remains to such a person but that fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation which the Apostle mentions Heb. 10. 27. Indeed were there none but temporal mischiefs to fear yet it were very unplesant to think ones self like Cain out-law'd from the presence and protection of God to be afraid that every man that meets us should slay us Gen. 4. 14. Nay those confus'd indistinct fears of indefinite evils which attend guilt are very unquiet uneasy inmates in the mind This is excellently describ'd by Moses The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eies and sorrow of mind and thy life shall â—ang in doubt before thee and thou shalt fear day and night in the morning thou shalt say would God it were evening and in the evening would God it were morning Deut 28. 65 66 67. 69. AND what can be more wretched then to have a mind thus agitated and tost rackt and tortur'd especially when thro all these clouds it sees a glimpse of the eternal Toâ—het and knows that from the billows of this uneasy state it must be tost into that Lake of fire And this is indeed the dregs of the cup of Gods wrath the dreadfullest and most astonishing of all Scripture denunciations This comprehends all that the nature of man is capable of suffering Divines distinguish it into the pain of sense and of loss that of sense is represented to us in Scripture by fire and that accended and render'd noisom as well as painful by brimstone that afflicts the smell as well as the touch somtimes by outer darkness wailing and gnashing of teeth to grate the ears and consume the eies by intolerable thirst to torment the palate Not that we are to think the sensitive pains of Hell do not infinitly exceed all these but because these are the highest mesures our present capacities can make and are adequate to those senses for whose carnal satisfactions we incur them 70. THE pain of loss is yet more dismal as being seated in the soul whose spiritual nature will then serve it only to render its torments more refin'd and acute With what anguish will it then see it self banish'd from the presence of God and consequently from all that may give satisfaction and bliss to the creature But yet with how much deeper anguish will it reflect on it self as the Author of that deprivation How will it recollect the many despis'd tenders of grace the easy terms on which salvation might have bin had And how sadly will conscience then revenge all it s stifled admonitions by an unsilenceable clamor that worm which never dies Mar. 9. 48. How wounding will it then be to see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Saints in the kingdom of God Luk. 13. 28. nay that poor Lazarus whom here men turn'd over to the charity of their dogs and it self in the company of the devil and his angels who will then upbraid what they once inticed to 71. NATURE abhors nothing more then to have our misery insulted over by those who drew us into it yet that no circumstance may be lacking to their torment this must be the perpetual entertainment of damn'd souls And to all this Eternity is the dismal adjunct which is of all other circumstances the most disconsolate as leaving not so much as a glimpse of hopes which here uses still to be the reserve and last resort of the miserable 72. THIS Eternity is that which gives an edg infuses a new acrimony into the torments and is the highest strain the vertical point of misery These are those terrors of the Lord with which the Scripture acquaints us and sure we cannot say that these are flat contemtible menaces but such as suit the dreadful Majesty of that God who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. So that these are as aptly accommodated for the exciting our dread as the promises were of our love both jointly concur to awake our industry 73. FOR God has bin so good to mankind as to make the threats conditional as well as the promises so that we as well know the way to avoid the one as we do to attain the other Nor has he any other intendment or end in proposing them but that we may do so See to this purpose with what solemnity he protests it by Moses I call heaven and earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy seed may live Deut. 30. 19. 74. I have now run thro the several parts of Scripture I proposed to speak of And tho I have in each given rather short instances and essaies then an exact description yet even in these contracted lineaments the exquisit proportions may be discern'd And if the Reader shall hence be incourag'd to extend his contemplations and as he reads holy Scripture observe it in all its graces and full dimensions I doubt not he will pronounce from his experience that the matter of the divine Book is very correspondent to the Author which is the highest Eulogy imaginable 75. IN the next place we are to consider the holy Scripture in relation to its end and design in proportion to which every thing is more or less valuable The most exquisit frame and curious contrivance that has no determinat end or use is but a piece of industrious folly a Spiders web as the Prophet speaks Isa. 59. 5. Now those designs have alwaies been esteem'd the most excellent that have had te most worthy subjects and bin of the greatest extent Accordingly those who have projected the obliging and benefiting of other men tho but within a privat Sphere have alwaies bin lookt on as men of generous and noble designs Those who have taken their level higher and directed their aim to a more public good
find the way to bliss evidently chalk'd out to him That I may use the words of Saint Gregory the Lamb may wade in those waters of life as well as the Elephant may swim The Holy Ghost as St. Austin tells us lib. 2. of Christian doctrin chap. 6. has made in the plainer places of Scripture magnificent and healthful provision for our hunger and in the obscure against satiety For there are scarce any things drawn from obscure places which in others are not spoken most plainly And he farther adds that if any thing happen to be no where explain'd every man may there abound in his sense 12. So again in the same Book cap. 9. he saies that all those things which concern Faith and Manners are plainly to be met with in the Scripture and Saint Jerom in his Comment on Es. 19. tells us that 't is the custom of the Scripture to close obscure sayings with those that are easy and what was first exprest darkly to propose in evident words which very thing is said likewise by Saint Chrysostom Hom. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 11. who in his first homily on Saint Mat. farther declares that the Scriptures are easy to be understood and expos'd to vulgar capacities 13. He saies again Hom. upon Esay that the Scriptures are not mettals that require the help of Miners but afford a tresure easily to be had to them that seek the riches contain'd in them It is enough only to stoop down and look upon them and depart replenish'd with wealth it is enough only to open them and behold the splendor of those Gems Again Hom. 3. on the second Ep. to the Thess. 2. All things are evident and strait which are in the holy Scripture whatever is necessary is manifest So also Hom. 3. on Gen. 14. It cannot be that he who is studious in the holy Scripture should be rejected for tho the instruction of men be wanting the Lord from above will inlighten our minds shine in upon our reason revele what is secret and teach what we do not know So Hom. 1. on Jo. 11. Almighty God involves his doctrin with no mists and darkness as did the Philosophers his doctrin is brighter then the Sun-beams and more illustrious and therefore every where diffus'd and Hom. 6. on Jo. 11. His doctrin is so facile that not only the wise but even women and youths must comprehend it Hom. 13. on Gen. 2. Let us go to the Scripture as our Mark which is its own interpreter And soon after saies that the Scripture interprets it self and suffers not its Auditor to err To the same purpose saies Cyril in his third Book against Julian In the Scripture nothing is difficult to them who are conversant in them as they ought to be 14. IT is therefore a groundless cavil which men make at the obscurity of the Scripture since it is not obscure in those things wherein 't is our common interest it should be plain which sufficiently justifies its propriety to that great end of making us wise unto salvation And for those things which seem less intelligible to us many of them become so not by the innate obscurity of the Text but by extrinsic circumstances of which perhaps the over-busy tampering of Paraphrasts pleased with new notions of their own may be reckon'd for one But this subject the Reader may find so well pursued in Mr. Boyls Tract concerning the stile of Scripture that I shall be kindest both to him and it to refer him thither as also for answer to those other querulous objections which men galled with the sense of the Scripture have made to its stile 15. A third circumstance in which the Scripture is fitted to attain its end is its being committed to writing as that is distinguish'd from oral delivery It is most true the word of God is of equal autority and efficacy which way soever it be deliver'd The Sermons of the Apostles were every jot as divine and powerful out of their mouths as they are now in their story All the advantage therefore that the written Word can pretend to is in order to its perpetuity as it is a securer way of derivation to posterity then that of oral Tradition To evince that it is so I shall first weigh the rational probabilities on either side Secondly I shall consider to which God himself appears in Scripture to give the deference 16. FOR the first of these I shall propose this consideration which I had occasion to intimate before that the Bible being writ for the universal use of the faithful 't was as universally disperst amongst them The Jews had the Law not only in their Synagogues but in their privat houses and as soon as the Evangelical Books were writ they were scatter'd into all places where the Christian Faith had obtain'd Now when there was such a vast multitude of copies and those so revered by the possessors that they thought it the highest pitch of sacrilege to expose them it must surely be next to impossible entirely to suppress that Book Besides it could never be attemted but by som eminent violence as it was by the heathen Persecutors which according to the common effect of opposition serv'd to enhance the Christians value of the Bible and consequently when the storm was past to excite their diligence for recruiting the number So that unless in after Ages all the Christians in the world should at once make a voluntary defection and conspire to eradicate their Religion the Scripture could not be utterly extinguish'd 17. AND that which secures it from total suppression do's in a great degree do so from corruption and falsification For whilst so many genuine copies are extant in all parts of the world to be appeal'd to it would be a very difficult matter to impose a spurious one especially if the change were so material as to awaken mens jealousies And it must be only in a place and age of gross ignorance that any can be daring enough to attemt it And if it should happen to succeed in such a particular Church yet what is that to the universal And to think to have the forgery admitted there is as a learned man saies like attemting to poison the sea 18. ON the other side oral Tradition seems much more liable to hazards error may there insinuate it self much more insensibly And tho there be no universal conspiracy to admit it at first yet like a small eruption of waters it widens its own passage till it cause an inundation There is no impression so deep but time and intervening accidents may wear out of mens minds especially where the notions are many and are founded not in nature but positive institution as a great part of Christian Religion is And when we consider the various tempers of men 't will not be strange that succeeding Ages will not alwaies be determin'd by the Traditions of the former Som are pragmatic and think themselves fitter to prescribe to the belief of
on the first of the Thessal asserts that from the alone reading or hearing of the Scripture one may learn all things necessary So Hom. 34. on Act. 15. he declares A heathen comes and saies I would willingly be a Christian but I know not who to join my self to for there are many contentions among you many seditions and tumults so that I am in doubt what opinion I should chuse Each man saies what y say is true and I know not whom to believe each pretends to Scripture which I am ignorant of 'T is very well the issue is put here for if the appeal were to reason in this case there would be just occasion of being troubled but when we appeal to Scripture and they are simple and certain you may easily your self judg He that agrees with the Scripture is a Christian he that resists them is far out of the way And on Ps. 95. If any thing be said without the Scripture the mind halts between different opinions somtimes inclining as to what is probable anon rejecting as what is frivolous but when the testimony of holy Scripture is produc'd the mind both of speaker and hearer is confirm'd And Hom. 4. on Lazar Tho one should rise from the dead or an Angel come down from heaven we must believe the Scripture they being fram'd by the Lord of Angels and the quick and dead And Hom. 13. 2 Cor. 7. It is not an absurd thing that when we deal with men about mony we wil trust no body but cast up the sum and make use of our counters but in religious affairs suffer our selves to be led aside by other mens opinions even then when we have by an exact scale and touchstone the dictat of the divine Law Therefore I pray and exhort you that giving no heed to what this or that man saies you would consult the holy Scripture and thence learn the divine riches and pursue what you have learnt And Hom. 58. on Jo. 10. 1. 'T is the mark of a thief that he comes not in by the dore but another way now by the dore the testimony of the Scripture is signified And Hom. on Gal. 1. 8. The Apostle saies not if any man teach a contrary doctrin let him be accurs'd or if he subvert the whole Gospel but if he teach any thing beside the Gospel which you have receiv'd or vary any little thing let him be accurs'd 20. CYRIL of Alex. against Jul. l. 7. saies The holy Scripture is sufficient to make them who are instructed in it wise unto salvation and endued with most ample knowledg 21. THâ—ODORET Dial. 1. I am perswaded only by the holy Scripture And Dial. 2. I am not so bold to affirm any thing not spoken of in the Scripture And again qu. 45. upon Genes We ought not to enquire after what is past over in silence but acquiesce in what is written 22. IT were easy to enlarge this discourse into a Volume but having taken as they offer'd themselves the suffrages of the writers of the four first Centuries I shall not proceed to those that follow If the holy Scripture were a perfect rule of Faith and Manners to all Christians heretofore we may reasonably assure our selves it is so still and will now guide us into all necessary truth and consequently make us wise unto salvation without the aid of oral Tradition or the new mintage of a living infallible Judg of controversy And the impartial Reader will be enabled to judg whether our appeal to the holy Scripture in all occasions of controversy and recommendation of it to the study of every Christian be that heresy and innovation which it is said to be 23. IT is we know severely imputed to the Scribes and Pharisees by our Savior that they took from the people the key of knowledg Luk. 11. 52. and had made the word of God of none effect by their Traditions Matt. 15. 6. but they never attemted what has bin since practiced by their Successors in the Western Church to take away the Ark of the Testament it self and cut of not only the efficacy but very possession of the word of God by their Traditions Surely this had bin exceeding criminal from any hand but that the Bishops and Governors of the Church and the universal and infallible Pastor of it who claim the office to interpret the Scriptures exhort unto and assist in the knowledg of them should be the men who thus rob the people of them carries with it the highest aggravations both of cruelty and breach of trust If any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy saies Saint John Revel 22. 19. God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book What vengeance therefore awaits those who have taken away not only from one Book but at once the Books themselves even all the Scriptures the whole word of God SECT VII Historical reflections upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture 'T WILL in this place be no useless contemplation to observe after the Scriptures had bin ravisht from the people in the Church of Rome what pitiful pretenders were admitted to succeed And first because Lay-men were presum'd to be illiterate and easily seducible by those writings which were in themselves difficult and would be wrested by the unlearned to their own destruction pictures were recommended in their steed and complemented as the Books of the Laity which soon emprov'd into a necessity of their worship and that gross superstition which renders Christianity abominated by Turks and Jews and Heathens unto this day 2. I would not be hasty in charging Idolatry upon the Church of Rome or all in her communion but that their Image-worship is a most fatal snare in which vast numbers of unhappy souls are taken no man can doubt who hath with any regard travail'd in Popish Countries I my self and thousands of others whom the late troubles or other occasions sent abroad are and have bin witnesses thereof Charity 't is true believes all things but it do's not oblige men to disbelieve their eies 'T was the out-cry of Micah against the Danites Jud. 18. 24. ye have taken away my Gods which I have made and the Priest and are gon away and what have I more but the Laity of the Roman communion may enlarge the complaint and say you have taken away the oracles of our God and set up every where among us graven and molten Images and Teraphims and what have we more and 't was lately the loud and I doubt me is still the unanswerable complaint of the poor Americans that they were deni'd to worship their Pagod once in the year when they who forbad them worship'd theirs every day 3. THE Jews before the captivity notwithstanding the recent memory of the Miracles in Egypt and the Wilderness and the first
among the unbaptiz'd and heathen multitude and learn again the elements of that holy Faith from which he had prevaricated and so in time be render'd capable of the devotions of the faithful and afterward the reception of the Eucharist But when the Scriptures were thought useless or dangerous to be understood and heard it was consequent that the state of Audience should be cut off from Penance and that the next to it upon the self-same principle should be dismist and so the long probation formerly requir'd should be supplanted and the compendious way of pardoning first and repenting afterwards the endless circle of sinning and being absolv'd and then sinning and being absolv'd again should prevail upon the Church Which still obtains notwithstanding the complaints and irrefragable demonstrations of learned men even of the Romish Communion who plainly shew this now receiv'd method to be an innovation groundless and unreasonable and most pernicious in its consequents 9. AND by the way we may take notice that there cannot be a plainer evidence of the judgment of the Church concerning the necessity of the Scriptures being known not only by the learned but mean Christian and the interest they have therein then is the ancient course of Penance establisht by the practice of all the first Ages and almost as many Councils whether general or local as have decreed any thing concerning disciplin with the penitentiary Books and Canons which were written for the first eleven hundred years in the whole Christian world For if even the unbaptiz'd Catechumen and the lapst sinner notwithstanding their slender knowledg in the mysteries of Faith or frail pretence to the privilege thereof had a right to the state of Audience and was oblig'd to hear the Scripture read surely the meanest unobnoxious Laic was in as advantagious circumstances and might not only be trusted with the reading of those sacred Books but might claim them as his birth-right 10. I may justly over and above what has bin hitherto alleg'd impute to the Governors of the same Church and their withholding from the Laity the holy Scripture the many dangerous errors gross ignorances and scandalous immoralities which have prevail'd among them both It is no new method of divine vengeance that there should be like people like Priest Hos. 4. 9. and that the Idol shepherd who led his flock into the ditch should fall therein himself Mat. 15. 14. And as the Prophet Zachary describes it c. 11. 17. The sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eie his arm shall be clean dried up and his right eie shall be utterly darkned 11. BUT no consequence can be more obviously deducible from that practice then that men should justify the with-holding of the Scripture by lessening its credit and depreciating its worth which has occasion'd those reproches which by the writers of the Church of Rome of best note have bin cast upon it As that it was a Nose of wax a leaden rule a deaf and useless deputy to God in the office of a Judg of less autority then the Roman Church and of no more credit then Esops Fables but for the testimony of the said Church that they contain things apt to raise laughter or indignation that the Latin Translation in the Complutensian Bible is placed between the Hebrew Text and the Septuagint Version as our Savior was at his Crucifixion between two thieves and that the vulgar Edition is of such autority that the Originals ought to be mended by it rather then it should be mended from them which are the complements of Cardinal Bellarmin Hosius Eckius Perron Ximenes Coqueus and others of that Communion words to be answer'd by a Thunderbolt and fitter for the mouth of a Celsus or a Porphyrie then of the pious sons and zealous Champions of the Church of Christ. 12. 'T IS to be expected that the Romanists should now wipe their mouths and plead not guilty telling us that they permit the Scripture to the Laity in their mother Tongue And to that purpose the Fathers of Rhemes and Doway have publisht an English Bible for those of their communion I shall therefore give a short and plain account of the whole affair as really it stands and then on Gods name let the Romanist make the best of their Apology 13. THE fourth rule of the Index of prohibited Books compos'd upon the command and auspice of the Council of Trent and publish'd by the autority of Pius the fourth Sixtus the fifth and Clement the eighth runs thus Since 't is manifest by experience that if the holy Bible be suffer'd promiscuously in the vulgar Tongue such is the temerity of men that greater detriment then advantage will thence arise in this matter let the judgment of the Bishop or Inquisitor be stood to that with the advice of the Curat or Confessor they may give leave for the reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue translated by Catholics to such as they know will not receive damage but increase of Faith and Piety thereby Which faculty they shall have in writing and whosoever without such faculty shall presume to have or to read the Bible he shall not till he have deliver'd it up receive absolution of his sins Now to pass over the iniquity of obliging men to ask leave to do that which God Almighty commands when 't is consider'd how few of the Laity can make means to the Bishop or Inquisitor or convince them or the Curat or Confessor that they are such who will not receive damage but encrease of Faith and Piety by the reading of the Scripture and also have interest to prevail with them for their favor herein and after all can and will be at the charge of taking out the faculty which is so penally requir'd 't is easy to guess what thin numbers of the Laity are likely or indeed capable of reaping benefit by this Indulgence pretended to be allowed them 14. BUT besides all this what shall we say if the power it self of giving Licences be a mere shew and really signifies just nothing In the observation subjoin'd to this fourth rule it is declar'd that the Impression and Edition thereof gives no new faculty to Bishops or Inquisitors or Superiors of regulars to grant Licences of buying reading or retaining Bibles publisht in a vulgar Tongue since hitherto by the command and practice of the holy Roman and universal Inquisition the power of giving such faculties to read or retain vulgar Bibles or any parts of Scripture of the Old or New Testament in any vulgar Tongue or also summaries or historical compendiums of the said Bibles or Books of Scripture in whatsoever Tongue they are written has bin taken away And sure if a Lay-man cannot read the Bible without a faculty and it is not in any ones power to grant it 't will evidently follow that he cannot read it And so the pretence of giving liberty owns the shame of openly refusing it but has no other effect
or consequence And if any Romanist among us or in any other Protestant Country enjoies any liberty herein 't is merely by connivance and owed to a fear least the Votary would be lost and take the Bible where it was without difficulty to be had if strictness should be us'd And should Popery which God forbid become paramount the Translations of the Scripture into our Mother Tongues would be no more endur'd here then they are in Spain and they who have formerly bin wary in communicating the Scriptures remembring how thereby their errors have bin detected would upon a revolution effectually provide for the future and be sure to keep their people in an Egyptian darkness that might it self be felt but that allow'd the notices of no other object They would not be content with that composition of the Ammonite to thrust out all the right eies of those that submitted to them 1 Sam. 11. 2. but would put out both as the Philistins did to Samson that they might make their miserable captives for ever grind in their Mill Jud. 16. 21. 15. BUT this heaviest of judgments will never fall upon the reform'd Churches till by their vicious practice and contemt of the divine Law they have deserted their profession and made themselves utterly unworthy of the blessings they enjoy and the light of that Gospel which with noon-day brightness has shin'd among them Upon which account I suppose it may not be impertinent in the next place to subjoin som plain directions and cautionary advices concerning the use of these sacred Books SECT VIII Necessary cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy Scriptures IT is a common observation that the most generous and sprightly Medicins are the most unsafe if not appli'd with due care and regimen And the remark holds as well in spiritual as corporal remedies The Apostle asserts it upon his own experience that the doctrin of the Gospel which was to som the savor of life unto life was to others the savor of death 2 Cor. 2. 15. And the same effect that the oral Word had then the written Word may have now not that either the one or the other have any thing in them that is of it self mortiferous but becomes so by the ill disposition of the persons who so pervert it It is therefore well worth our inquiry what qualifications on our part are necessary to make the Word be to us what it is in it self the power of God unto salvation Rom. 1. 16. Of these som are previous before our reading som are concomitant with it and som are subsequent and follow after it 2. OF those that go before sincerity is a most essential requisit by sincerity I mean an upright intention by which we direct our reading to that proper end for which the holy Scriptures were design'd viz. the knowing Gods will in order to the practicing it This honest simplicity of heart is that which Christ represents by the good ground where alone it was that the seed could fructify Mat. 13. 8. And he that brings not this with him brings only the shadow of a Disciple The word of God is indeed sharper then a two-edged sword Heb. 4. 12. but what impression can a sword make on a body of air which still slips from and eludes its thrusts And as little can all the practical discourses of holy Writ make on him who brings only his speculative faculties with him and leaves his will and affections behind him which are the only proper subjects for it to work on 3. To this we may probably impute that strange inefficaciousness we see of the Word Alas men rarely apply it to the right place our most inveterat diseases lie in our morals and we suffer the Medicin to reach no farther then our intellects As if he that had an ulcer in his bowels should apply all his balsoms and sanatives only to his head 'T is true the holy Scriptures are the tresuries of divine Wisdom the Oracles to which we should resort for saving knowledg but they are also the rule and guide of holy Life and he that covets to know Gods will for any purpose but to practice it is only studious to entitle himself to the greater number of stripes Luk. 12. 47. 4. NAY farther he that affects only the bare knowledg is oft disappointed even of that The Scripture like the Pillar of fire and cloud enlightens the Israelites those who sincerely resign themselves to its guidance but it darkens and confounds the Egyptians Ex. 14. 20. And 't is frequently seen that those who read only to become knowing are toll'd on by their curiosity into the more abstruse and mysterious parts of Scripture where they entangle themselves in inextricable mazes and confusions and instead of acquiring a more superlative knowledg loose those easy and common notions which lie obvious to every plain well meaning Reader I fear this Age affords too many and too frequent instances of this in men who have lost God in the midst of his Word and studied Scripture till they have renounc'd its Author 5. AND sure this infatuation is very just and no more then God himself has warn'd us of who takes the wise in their own craftiness Job 5. 12. but appropriates his secrets only to them that fear him and has promis'd to teach the meek his way Psal. 25. 9. 14. And this was the method Christ observ'd in his preaching unveiling those truths to his Disciples which to the Scribes and Pharisees his inquisitive yet refractory hearers he wrapt up in parables not that he dislik'd their desire of knowledg but their want of sincerity which is so fatal a defect as blasts our pursuits tho of things in themselves never so excellent This we find exemplifi'd in Simon Magus Acts 8. who tho he coveted a thing in itself very desirable the power of conferring the holy Ghost yet desiring it not only upon undue conditions but for sinister ends he not only mist of that but was after all his convincement by the Apostles miracles and the engagement of his Baptism immerst in the gall of bitterness and at last advanc'd to that height of blasphemy as to set up himself for a God so becoming a lasting memento how unsafe it is to prevaricate in holy things 6. BUT as there is a sincerity of the Will in order to practice so there is also a sincerity of the understanding in order to belief and this is also no less requisit to the profitable reading of Scripture I mean by this that we come with a preparation of mind to embrace indifferently whatever God there reveles as the object of our Faith that we bring our own opinions not as the clue by which to unfold Scripture but to be tried and regulated by it The want of this has bin of very pernicious consequence in matters both of Faith and speculation Men are commonly prepossest strongly with their own notions and their errand to Scripture is not
as Christianity in the world is yet God be blest undeniable tho at the rate it has of late declin'd God knows how long it will be so we say it came by Christ and his Apostles and that it is attested by an uninterrupted testimony of all the intervening Ages the suffrage of all Christian Churches from that day to this And sure they who embraced the doctrin are the most competent witnesses from whence they received it 40. YET lest they should be all thought parties to the design and their witness excepted against it has pleased God to give us collateral assurances and made both Jewish and Gentile Writers give testimony to the Antiquity of Christianity Josephus do's this lib. 20. chap. 8. and lib. 18. chap. 4. where after he has given an account of the crucifixion of Christ exactly agreeing with the Evangelists he concludes And to this day the Christian people who of him borrow their name cease not to increase I add not the personal elogium which he gives of our Savior because som are so hardy to controul it also I pass what Philo mentions of the religious in Egypt because several Learned men refer it to the Essens a Sect among the Jews or som other There is no doubt of what Tacitus and other Roman Historians speak of Christ as the Author of the Christian doctrin which it had bin impossible for him to have don if there had then bin no such doctrin or if Christ had not bin known as the Founder of it So afterward Plinie gives the Emperor Trajan an account both of the manners and multitude of the Christians and makes the innocence of the one the greatness of the other an Argument to slacken the persecution against them Nay the very bloody Edicts of the persecuting Emperors the scoffs and reproches of Celsus Porphyrie Lucian and other profane opposers of this Doctrin do undeniably assert its being By all which it appears that Christianity had in those Ages not only a being but had also obtain'd mightily in the world and drawn in vast numbers to its profession and vast indeed they must needs be to furnish out that whole Army of Martyrs of which profane as well as Ecclesiastic writers speak And if all this be not sufficient to evince that Christianity stole not clancuâ—arly into the world but took its rise from â—hose times and persons it pretends we must â—enounce all faith of testimony and not believe an inch farther then we see 41. I suppose I need say no more to shew that the Gospel and all those portentous miracles which attested it were no forgeries or stratagems of men I come now to that doubt which more immediatly concerns the Holy Scripture viz. whether all these transactions be so faithfully related there that we may believe them to have bin dictated by the spirit of God Now for this the process need be â—ut short if we consider who were the penâ—en of the New Testament even for the most part the Apostles themselves Matthew and John who wrote two of the Gospels were certainly so and Mark as all the Ancients aver was but the Amanuensis to Saint Peter who dictated that Gospel Saint Luke indeed comes not under this first rank of Apostles yet is by som affirm'd to be one of the seventy Disciples however an Apostolical person 't is certain he was and it was no wonder for such to be inspired For in those first Ages of the Church men acted more by immediat inflation of the Spirit then since And accordingly we find Stephen tho but a Deacon had the power of miracles and preacht as divinely as the prime Apostles Act. 7. And the gift of the Holy Ghost was then a usual concomitant of conversion as appears in the Story of Cornelius Acts 10. 45 46. Besides Saint Luke was a constant attendant on Saint Paul who derived the Faith not from man but by the immediat revelation of Jesus Christ as himself professes Gal. 1. 12. and is by som said to have wrote by dictat from him as Mark did from Saint Peter Then as to the Epistles they all bear the names of Apostles except that to the Hebrews which yet is upon very good grounds presum'd to be Saint Pauls Now these were the persons commissionated by Christ to preach the Christian doctrin and were signally assisted in the discharge of that office so that as he tells them it was not they who spake but the spirit of the Father that spake in them Mat. 13. 11. And if they spake by divine inspiration there can be no question that they wrote so also Nay indeed of the two it seems more necessary they should do the later For had they err'd in any thing they orally deliver'd they might have retracted and cured the mischief but these Books being design'd as a standing immutable rule of Faith and Manners to all successions any error in them would have bin irreparable and have entail'd it self upon posterity which agreed neither with the truth nor goodness of God to permit 42. Now that these Books were indeed writ by them whose names they bear we have as much assurance as 't is possible to have of any thing of that nature and that distance of time from us For however som of them may have bin controverted yet the greatest part have admitted no dispute whose doctrins agreeing exactly with the others give testimony to them And to the bulk of those writings it is notorious that the first Christians receiv'd them from the Apostles and so transmitted them to the ensuing Ages which receiv'd them with the like esteem and veneration They cannot be corrupted saies Saint Austin in the thirty second Book against Faustus the Manich. c. 16. because they are and have bin in the hands of all Christians And whosoever should first attemt an alteration he would be confuted by the inspection of other ancienter Copies Besides the Scriptures are not in som one Language but translated into many so that the faults of one Book would be corrected by others more ancient or in a different Tongue 43. AND how much the body of Christians were in earnest concern'd to take care in this matter appears by very costly evidences multitudes of them chusing rather to part with their lives then their Bibles And indeed 't is a sufficient proof that their reverence of that Book was very avowed and manifest when their heathen Persecuters made that one part of their persecution So that as wherever the Christian Faith was receiv'd this Book was also under the notion we now plead for viz. as the writings of men inspir'd by God so it was also contended for even unto death and to part with the Bible was to renounce the Faith And now after such a cloud of testimonies we may sure take up that ill-applied saying of the high Priest Mat. 26. 65. what farther need have we of witnesses 44. YET besides these another sort of witnesses there are I mean
those intrinsic evidences which arise out of the Scripture it self but of these I think not proper here to insist partly because the subject will be in a great degree coincident with that of the second general consideration and partly because these can be argumentative to none who are not qualified to discern them Let those who doubt the divine Original of Scripture well digest the former grounds which are within the verge of reason and when by those they are brought to read it with due reverence they will not want Arguments from the Scripture it self to confirm their veneration of it 45. IN the mean time to evince how proper the former discourse is to found a rational belief that the Scripture is the word of God I shall compare it with those mesures of credibility upon which all human transactions move and upon which men trust their greatest concerns without diffidence or dispute 46. THAT we must in many things trust the report of others is so necessary that without it human society cannot subsist What a multitude of subjects are there in the world who never saw their Prince nor were at the making of any Law if all these should deny their obedience because they have it only by hear-say there is such a man and such Laws what would become of government So also for property if nothing of testimony may be admitted how shall any man prove his right to any thing All pleas must be decided by the sword and we shall fall into that state which som have phancied the primitive of universal hostility In like manner for traffic and commerce how should any Merchant first attemt a trade to any foreign part of the world if he did not believe that such a place there was and how could he believe that but upon the credit of those who have bin there Nay indeed how could any man first attemt to go but to the next Market Town if he did not from the report of others conclude that such a one there was so that if this universal diffidence should prevail every man should be a kind of Plantagnus fixt to the soil he first sprung up in The absurdities are indeed so infinite and so obvious that I need not dilate upon them 47. BuT it will perhaps be said that in things that are told us by our contemporaries and that relate to our own time men will be less apt to deceive us because they know 't is in our power to examin and discover the truth To this I might say that in many instances it would scarce quit cost to do so and the inconveniences of trial would exceed those of belief But I shall willingly admit this probable Argument and only desire it may be applied to our main question by considering whether the primitive Christians who receiv'd the Scripture as divine had not the same security of not being deceiv'd who had as great opportunities of examining and the greatest concern of doing it throly since they were to engage not only their future hopes in another world but that which to nature is much more sensible all their present enjoiments and even life it self upon the truth of it 48. BuT because it must be confest that we who are so many Ages remov'd from them have not their means of assurance let us in the next place consider whether an assent to those testimonies they have left behind them be not warranted by the common practice of mankind in other cases Who is there that questions there was such a man as William the Conqueror in this Island or to lay the Scene farther who doubts there was an Alexander a Julius Caesar an Augustus Now what have we to found this confidence on besides the faith of History And I presume even those who exact the severest demonstrations for Ecclesiastic Story would think him a very impertinent Sceptic that should do the like in these So also as to the Authors of Books who disputes whether Homer writ the Iliads or Virgil the Aeneids or Caesar the Commentaries that pass under their names yet none of these have bin attested in any degree like the Scripture 'T is said indeed that Caesar ventured his own life to save his Commentaries imploying one hand to hold that above the water when it should have assisted him in swimming But who ever laid down their lives in attestation of that or any human composure as multitudes of men have don for the Bible 49. BUT perhaps 't will be said that the small concern men have who wrote these or other the like Books inclines them to acquiesce in the common opinion To this I must say that many things inconsiderable to mankind have oft bin very laboriously discust as appears by many unedifying Volumes both of Philosophers and Schole-men But whatever may be said in this instance 't is manifest there are others wherein mens real and greatest interests are intrusted to the testimonies of former Ages For example a man possesses an estate which was bought by his great Grand-father or perhaps elder Progenitor he charily preserves that deed of purchase and never looks for farther security of his title yet alas at the rate that men object against the Bible what numberless Cavils might be rais'd against such a deed How shall it be known that there was such a man as either Seller or Purchaser if by the witnesses they are as liable to doubt as the other it being as easy to forge the Attestation as the main writing and yet notwithstanding all these possible deceits nothing but a positive proof of forgery can invalidate this deed Let but the Scripture have the same mesure be allowed to stand in force to be what it pretends to be till the contrary be not by surmises and possible conjectures but by evident proof evinc'd and its greatest Advocats will ask no more 50. A like instance may be given in public concerns the immunities and rights of any Nation particularly here of our Magna Charta granted many Ages since and deposited among the public Records to make this signify any thing it must be taken for granted that this was without falsification preserved to our times yet how easy were it to suggest that in so long a succession of its keepers som may have bin prevail'd on by the influence of Princes to abridg and curtail its concessions others by a prevailing faction of the people to amplify and extend it Nay if men were as great Sceptics in Law as they are in Divinity they might exact demonstrations that the whole thing were not a forgery Yet for all these possible surmises we still build upon it and should think he argued very fallaciously that should go to evacuate it upon the force of such remote suppositions 51. Now I desire it may be consider'd whether our security concerning the holy Scripture be not as great nay greater then it can be of this For first this is a concern only of a particular Nation and
is against error and learn how little is got by that policy which controles the divine Wisdom 14 NOR can they take shelter in the example of the primitive Christians for they in the constant use of the holy Scriptures yielded not unto the Jews Whereas the Jews had the Scriptures read publicly to them every Sabbath day which Josephus against Appion thus expresses Moses propounded to the Jews the most excellent and necessary learning of the Law not by hearing it once or twice but every seventh day laying aside their works he commanded them to assemble for the hearing of the Law and throughly and exactly to learn it Parallel to this was the practice of the primitive Church perform'd by the Lector or Reader of which Justin Martyr in his 2. Apol. gives this account On the day call'd Sunday all that abide in towns or the countries about meet in one place and the writings of the Apostles and Prophets are read so far as there is place So Tertullian in his Apol describing the offices in the public Assemblies We feed our faith with the sacred Words we raise our hopes and establish our reliance 15. AND as the Jews thought it indecent for persons professing piety to let three daies pass without the offices thereof in the congregation and therefore met in their Synagogues upon every Tuesday and Thursday in the week and there perform'd the duties of fasting praier and hearing the holy Scriptures concerning which is the boast of the Pharisee Luk. 18. 12. in conformity hereto the Christians also their Sabbath being brought forward from the Saturday to the day following that the like number of daies might not pass them without performing the aforesaid duties in the congregation met together on the Wednesdaies and Fridaies which were the daies of Station so frequently mention'd in Tertullian and others the first writers of the Church Tertullian expresly saies that the Christians dedicated to the offices of Piety the fourth and sixth day of the week and Clemens Alex. saies of the Christians that they understood the secret reasons of their weekly fasts to wit those of the fourth day of the week and that of preparation before the Sabbath commonly call'd Wednesday and Friday Where by the way we may take notice what ground there is for the observation of the Wednesday and Friday in our Church and the Litanies then appointed so much neglected in this profligate Age. 16. BUT secondly as the Jews were diligent in the privat reading of the Scripture being taught it from their infancy which custom Saint Paul refers to 1 Tim. 3. 15. whereof Josephus against Appion saies That if a man ask any Jew concerning the Laws he will tell every thing readier then his name for learning them from the first time they have sense of any thing they retain them imprinted in their minds So were the first Christians equally industrious in improving their knowledg of divine Truth The whole life of a Christian saies Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 7. is a holy solemnity there his sacrifices are praiers and praises before every meal he has the readings of the holy Scriptures and Psalms and Hymns at the time of his meals Which Tertullian also describes in his Apol. and Saint Cyprian in the end of the Epist. to Donatus 17. AND this is farther evidenc'd by the early and numerous versions of the Scriptures into all vulgar Languages concerning which Theodoret speaks in his Book of the Cure of the Affections of the Greeks Serm. 5. We Christians sais he are enabled to shew the power of Apostolic and prophetic doctrins which hâ—ve fill'd all Countries under Heaven For that which was formerly utter'd in Hebrew is not only translated into the Language of the Grecians but also the Romans Egyptians Persians Indians Armenians Scythians Samaritans and in a word to all the Languages that are us'd by any Nation The same is said by Saint Chrysostom in his first Homily upon Saint Iohn 18. NOR was this don by the blind zeal of inconsiderable men but the most eminent Doctors of the Church were concern'd herein such as Origen who with infinit labor contriv'd the Hexapla Saint Chrysostom who translated the New Testament Psalms and som part of the Old Testament into the Armenian Tongue as witnesses Geor. Alex. in the life of Chrysost. So Vlphilas the first Bishop of the Goths translated the holy Scripture into the Gothic as Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 4. cap. 33. and others testify Saint Jerom who translated them not only into Latin from the Hebrew the Old Italic version having bin from the Greek but also into his native vulgar Dalmatic which he saies himself in his Epistle to Sophronius 19. BUT the peoples having them for their privat and constant use appears farther by the Heathens making the extorting of them a part of their persecution and when diverse did faint in that trial and basely surrender'd them we find the Church level'd her severity only against the offending persons did not according to the Romish equity punish the innocent by depriving them of that sacred Book because the others had so unworthily prostituted it tho the prevention of such a profanation for the future had bin as fair a plea for it as the Romanists do now make but on the contrary the primitive Fathers are frequent nay indeed importunat in their exhortations to the privat study of holy Scripture which they recommend to Christians of all Ranks Ages and Sexes 20. AS an instance hereof let us hear Clemens of Alex. in his Exhort The Word saies he is not hid from any it is a common light that shineth to all men there is no obscurity in it hear it you that be far off and hear it you that are nigh 21. To this purpose St. Jerom speaks in his Epistle to Leta whom he directs in the education of her young daughter and advises thâ—t instead of gems and silk she be enamour'd with the holy Scripture wherein not gold or skins or Babylonian embroideries but a correct and beautiful variety producing faith will recommend its self Let her first learn the Psalter and be entertain'd with those songs then be instructed unto life by the Proverbs of Solomon let her learn from Ecclesiastes to despise worldly things transcribe from Job the practice of patience and vertue let her pass then to the Gospels and never let them be out of her bands and then imbibe with all the faculties of the mind the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles When she has enrich'd the store-house of her breast with these tresures let her learn the Prophets the Heptateuch or books of Moses Joshua and Judges the books of Kings and Chronicles the volumes of Ezra and Esther and lastly the Canticles And indeed this Father is so concern'd to have the unletter'd semale sex skilful in the Scriptures that tho he sharply rebukes their pride and over-wening he not only frequently resolves their doubts concerning difficult places in the said Scriptures but
dedicates several of his Commentaries to them 22. THE same is to be said of Saint Austin who in his Epistles to unletter'd Laics encourages their enquiries concerning the Scripture assuring Volusianus Ep. 3. that it speaks those things that are plain to the heart of the learned and unlearned as a familiar friend in the mysterious mounts not up into high phrases which might deter a slow and unlearned mind as the poor are in their addresses to the rich but invites all with lowly speech feeding with manifest truth and exercising with secret And Ep. 1. 21. tells the devout Proba that in this world where we are absent from the Lord and walk by faith and not by sight the soul is to think it self desolate and never cease from praier and the words of divine and holy Scripture c. 23. SAINT Chrysostom in his third Homily of Lazarus thus addresses himself to married persons house-holders and people enga'd in trades and secular professions telling them that the reading of the Scripture is a great defensative against siu and on the other side the ignorance thereof is a deep and head-long precipice that not to know the Law of God is the utter loss of salvation that this has caus'd heresies and corruption of life and has confounded the order of things for it cannot be by any means that his labor should be fruitless who emploies himself in a daily and attentive reading of the Scripture 24. I am not saies the same St. Chry. Hom. 9. on Colos. 3. a Monk I have wise and children and the cares of a family But 't is a destructive opinion that the reading of the Scripture pertains only to those who have addicted themselves to a monastic life when the reading of Scripture is much more necessary for secular persons for they who converse abroad and receive frequent wounds are in greatest need of remedies and preservatives So Hom. 2. on Mat. Hearken all you that are secular how you ought to order your wives and children and how you are particularly enjoin'd to read the Scriptures and that not perfunctorily or by chance but very diligently 25. LIKEWISE Hom. 3. on Laz. What saiest thou O man it is not thy business to turn over the Scripture being distracted by innumerable cares no thou hast therefore the greater obligation others do not so much stand in need of the aids of the Scripture as they who are conversant in much business Farther Hom. 8. on Heb. 5. I beseech you neglect not the reading of the Scriptures but whether we comprehend the meaning of what is spoken or not let us alwaies be conversant in them for daily meditation strengtheus the memory and it frequently happens that what you now cannot find out if you attemt it again you will the next day discover for God of his goodness will enlighten the mind It were endless to transcribe all the Exhortations of the ancient Doctors and Fathers of the Church they not only permitted but earnestly prest upon all Christians whatever their estate or condition were the constant reading of the holy Scripture Nor indeed was their restraint ever heard of till the Church of Rome had espous'd such doctrins as would not bear the test of Scripture and then as those who deal in false wares are us'd to do they found it necessary to proportion their lights accordingly 26. THIS Peter Sutor in his second Book cap. 22. of the Translation of the Scripture honestly confesses saying that whereas many things are enjoin'd which are not expresly in Scripture the unlearned observing this will be apt to murmur and complain that so heavy burthens are laid upon them and their Christian liberty infring'd They will easily be with-drawn from observing the Constitutions of the Church when they find that they are not contain'd in the Law of Christ. And that this was not a frivolous suggestion the desperat attemt of the Romanists above mention'd in leaving out the second Commandment in their Primers and Catechisms which they communicate to the people may pass for an irrefragable evidence For what Lay-man would not be shockt to find Almighty God command not to make any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth that no one should bow down to them nor worship them when he sees the contrary is practic'd and commanded by the Church 27. BUT would God none but the Romanist were impeachable of this detention of Scripture there are too many among us that are thus false and envious to themselves and what the former do upon policy and pretence of reverence those do upon mere oscitancy and avow'd profaness which are much worse inducements And for such as these to declaim against detention of the Scripture is like the Law-suits of those who contend only about such little punctilio's as themselves design no advantage from but only the worsting their adversaries and it would be much safer for them to lie under the interdict of others then thus to restrain themselves even as much as the errors of obedience are more excusable then those of contemt and profaness 28. AND here I would have it seriously consider'd that the Edict of Diocletian for the demolishing the Christian Churches and the burning their Bibles became the character and particular aggravation of his most bloudy persecution Now should Almighty God call us to the like trial should Antichristian violence whether heathen or other take from us our Churches and our Bibles what comfort could we have in that calamity if our contemt of those blessing drove them from us nay prevented perfecution and bereft us of them even whilst we had them in our power He who neglects to make his constant resort unto the Church which by Gods mercy now stands open or to read diligently the holy Scriptures which by the same divine Goodness are free for him to use in his own Diocletian and without the terrors of death or torments has renounc'd iâ— not the Faith the great instruments of its conveiance and pledg of God Almighties presence among the sons of men 29. BUT what if men either upon the one motive or the other will not read yet the Scriptures continue still most worthy to be read they retain still their propriety for all those excellent ends to which God design'd them and as the Prophet tells the Jews Ez. 2. 5. whether they will hear or whether they will forbear they shall know there has bin a Prophet among them so whether we will take the benefit or no we shall one day find that the holy Scriptures would have made us wise unto salvation If thro our fault alone they fail to do so they will one day assume a less grateful office and from guides and assistants become accusers and witnesses against us SECT V. The Scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end WE are now in the next place to
Tradition but by the Book of the Law found in the Temple that Josiah was both excited to reform Religion and instructed how to do it 2 Kings 22. 10. And had not that or som other copy bin produc'd they had bin much in the dark as to the particulars of their reformation which that they had not bin convei'd by Tradition appears by the sudden startling of the King upon the reading of the Law which could not have bin had he bin before possest with the contents of it In like manner we find in Nehemiah that the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles was recover'd by consulting the Law the Tradition whereof was wholly worn out or else it had sure bin impossible that id could for so long a time have bin intermitted Neh. 8. 18. And yet mens memories are commonly more retentive of an external visible rite then they are of speculative Propositions or moral Precepts 30. THESE instances shew how fallible an expedient mere oral Tradition is for transmission to posterity But admit no such instance could be given 't is argument enough that God has by his own choice of writing given the preference to it Nor has he barely chosen it but has made it the standard by which to mesure all succeeding pretences 'T is the means he prescribes for distinguishing divine from diabolical Inspirations To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word there is no light in them Isai. 8. 20. And when the Lawier interrogated our Savior what he should do to inherit eternal life he sends him not to ransac Tradition or the cabalistical divinity of the Rabbins but refers him to the Law What is written in the Law how readest thou Luk. 10. 26. And indeed throout the Gospel we still find him in his discourse appealing to Scripture and asserting its autority as on the other side inveighing against those Traditions of the Elders which had evacuated the written Word Ye make the Word of God of none effect by your Tradition Mat. 15. 6. Which as it abundantly shews Christs adherence to the written Word so 't is a pregnant instance how possible it is for Tradition to be corrupted and made the instrument of imposing mens phancies even in contradiction to Gods commands 31. AND since our blessed Lord has made Scripture the test whereby to try Traditions we may surely acquiesce in his decision and either embrace or reject Traditions according as they correspond to the supreme rule the written Word It must therefore be a very unwarrantable attemt to set up Tradition in competition with much more in contradiction to that to which Christ himself hath subjected it 32. Saint Paul reckons it as the principal privilege of the Jewish Church that it had the Oracles of God committed to it i. e. that the holy Scriptures were deposited and put in its custody and in this the Christian Church succeeds it and is the guardian and conservator of holy Writ I ask then had the Jewish Church by vertue of its being keeper a power to supersede any part of those Oracles intrusted to them if so Saint Paul was much out in his estimate and ought to have reckon'd that as their highest privilege But indeed the very nature of the trust implies the contrary and besides 't is evident that is the very crime Christ charges upon the Jews in the place above cited And if the Jewish Church had no such right upon what account can the Christian claim any Has Christ enlarg'd its Charter has he left the sacred Scriptures with her not to preserve and practice but to regulate and reform to fill up its vacancies and supply its defects by her own Traditions if so let the commission be produc'd but if her office be only that of guardianship and trust she must neither substract from nor by any superadditions of her own evacuate its meaning and efficacy and to do so would be the same guilt that it would be in a person intrusted with the fundamental Records of a Nation to foist in fuch clauses as himself pleases 33 IN short God has in the Scriptures laid down exact rules for our belief and practice and has entrusted the Church to convey them to us if she vary or any way enervate them she is false to that trust but cannot by it oblige us to recede from that rule she should deliver to comply with that she obtrudes upon us The case may be illustrated by an easy resemblance Suppose a King have a forreign principality for which he composes a body of Laws annexes to them rewards and penalties and requires an exact and indispensable conformity to them These being put in writing he sends by a select messenger now suppose this messenger deliver them yet saies withall that himself has autority from the King to supersede these Laws at his plesure so that their last resort must be to his dictats yet produces no other testimony but his own bare affirmation Is it possible that any men in their wits should be so stupidly credulous as to incur the penalty of those Laws upon so improbable an indemnity And sure it would be no whit less madness in Christians to violate any precept of God on an ungrounded supposal of the Churches power to dispense with them 34. AND if the Church universal have not this power nor indeed ever claim'd it it must be a strange insolence for any particular Church to pretend to it as the Church of Rome do's as if we should owe to her Tradition all our Scripture and all our Faith insomuch that without the supplies which she affords from the Oracle of her Chair our Religion were imperfect and our salvation insecure Upon which wild dictates I shall take liberty in a distinct Section farther to animadvert SECT VI. The suffrage of the primitive Christian Church concerning the propriety and fitness which the Scripture has towards the attainment of its excellent end AGAINST what has bin hitherto said to the advantage of the holy Scripture there opposes it self as we have already intimated the autority of the Church of Rome which allows it to be only an imperfect rule of Faith saying in the fourth Session of the Council of Trent that Christian faith and discipline are contain'd in the Books written and unwritten Tradition And in the fourth rule of the Index put forth by command of the said Council the Scripture is declar'd to be so far from useful that its reading is pernicious if permitted promiscuously in the vulgar Tongue and therefore to be withheld insomuch that the study of the holy Bible is commonly by persons of the Roman Communion imputed to Protestants as part of their heresy they being call'd by them in contemt the Evangelical men and Scripturarians And the Bible in the vulgar Tongue of any Nation is commonly reckon'd among prohibited Books and as such publicly burnt when met with by the Inquisitors and the person who is found with it
or to read therein is subjected to severe penalties 2. FOR the vindication of the truth of God and to put to shame those unhappy Innovators who amidst great pretences to antiquity and veneration to the Scriptures prevaricat from both I think it may not be amiss to shew plainly the mind of the primitive Church herein and that in as few words as the matter will admit 3. FIRST I premise that Ireneus and Tertullian having to do with Heretics who boasted themselves to be emendators of the Apostles and wiser then they despising their autority rejecting several parts of the Scripture and obtruding other writings in their steed have had recourse unto Tradition with a seeming preference of it unto Scripture Their adversaries having no common principle besides the owning the name of Christians it was impossible to convince them but by a recourse to such a medium which they would allow But these Fathers being to set down and establish their Faith are most express in resolving it into Scripture and when they recommend Tradition ever mean such as is also Apostolical 4. IRENEUS in the second Book 47. c. tells us that the Scriptures are perfect as dictated by the word of God and his spirit And the same Father begins his third Book in this manner The disposition of our salvation is no otherwise known by us then by those by whom the Gospel was brought to us which indeed they first preach'd but afterward deliver'd it to us in the Scripture to be the foundation and pillar of our Faith Nor may we imagin that they began to preach to others before they themselves had perfect knowledg as som are bold to say boasting themselves to be emendators of the Apostles For after our Lords Resurrection they were indued with the power of the holy Spirit from on high and having perfect knowledg went forth to the ends of the earth preaching the glad tidings of salvation and celestial praise unto men Each and all of whom had the Gospel of God So Saint Matthew wrote the Gospel to the Hebrews in their tongue Saint Peter and Saint Paul preach'd at Rome and there founded a Church Mark the Disciple and interpreter of Peter deliver'd in writing what he had preach'd and Luke the follower of Paul set down in his Book the Gospel he had deliver'd Afterward Saint John at Ephesus in Asia publish'd his Gospel c. In his fourth Book c. 66. he directs all the Heretics with whom he deals to read diligently the Gospel deliver'd by the Apostles and also read diligently the Prophets assuring they shall there find every action every doctrin and every suffering of our Lord declared by them 5. THUS Tertullian in his Book of Prescriptions c. 6. It is not lawful for us to introduce any thing of our own will nor make any choice upon our arbitrement We have the Apostles of our Lord for our Authors who themselves took up nothing on their own will or choice but faithfully imparted to the Nations the discipline which they had receiv'd from Christ. So that if an Angel from heaven should teach another doctrin he were to be accurst And. c. 25. 'T is madness saies he of the Heretics when they confess that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing nor taught things different to think that they did not revele all things to all which he enforces in the following chapter In his Book against Hermogenes c. 23. he discourses thus I adore the plenitude of the Scripture which discovers to me the Creator and what was created Also in the Gospel I find the Word was the Arbiter and Agent in the Creation That all things were made of preexistent matter I never read Let Hermogenes and his journy-men shew that it is written If it be not written let him fear the woe which belongs to them thad add or detract And in the 39. ch of his Prescript We feed our faith raise our hope and establish our reliance with the sacred Words 6. IN like manner Hippolytus in the Homily against Noetus declares that we acknowledg only from Scripture that there is one God And whereas secular Philosophy is not to be had but from the reading of the doctrin of the Philosophers so whosoever of us will preserve piety towards God he cannot otherwise learn it then from the holy Scripture Accordingly Origen in the fifth Homily on Leviticus saies in the Scripture every word appertaining to God is to be sought and discust and the knowledg of all things is to be receiv'd 7. WHAT Saint Cyprian's opinion was in this point we learn at large from his Epistle to Pompey For when Tradition was objected to him he answers Whence is this Tradition is it from the autority of our Lord and his Gospel or comes it from the commands of the Apostles in their Epistles Almighty God declares that what is written should be obei'd and practic'd The Book of the Law saies he in Joshua shall not depart from thy mouth but thou shalt meditate in it day and night that you may observe and keep all that is written therein So our Lord sending his Apostles commands them to baptize all Nations and teach them to observe all things that he had commanded Again what obstinacy and presumtion is it to prefer human Tradition to divine Command not considering that Gods wrath is kindled as often as his Precepts are dissolv'd and neglected by reason of human Traditions Thus God warns and speaks by Isaiah This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrins the commandments of men Also the Lord in the Gospel checks and reproves saying you reject the Law of God that you may establish your Tradition Of which Precept the Apostle Saint Paul being mindful admonishes and instructs saying If any man teaches otherwise and hearkens not to sound doctrin and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ he is proud knowing nothing From such we must depart And again he adds There is a compendious way for religious and sincere minds both to deposit their errors and find out the truth For if we return to the source and original of divine Tradition human error will cease and the ground of heavenly Mysteries being seen what soever was hid with clouds and darkness will be manifest by the light of truth If a pipe that brought plentiful supplies of water fail on the suddain do not men look to the fountain and thence learn the cause of the defect whether the spring it self be dry or if running freely the water is stopt in its passage that if by interrupted or broken conveiances it was hindred to pass they being repair'd it may again be brought to the City with the same plenty as it flows from the spring And this Gods Priests ought to do at this time obeying the commands of God that if truth have swerv'd or fail'd in any particular we go backward to the source of the Evangelical
Bible which having bin writ so many Ages since past thro infinit variety of hands and which is above all having bin the object of the Devils and wicked mens malice lies under greater disadvantages then any human composure And doubtless men would be as equitable to that as they are to others were it not that they more wish to have that false or irrational then any other Book The plain parts of it the precepts and threatnings speak clearer then they desire gall and fret them and therefore they will revenge themselves upon the obscurer and seem angry that there are som things they understand not when indeed their real displesure is at those they do 16. A second qualification preparatory to reading the Scripture is reverence When we take the Bible in our hands we should do it with other sentiments and apprehensions then when we take a common Book considering that it is the word of God the instrument of our salvation or upon our abuse of it a promoter of our ruin 17. AND sure this if duly apprehended cannot but strike us with a reverential awe make us to say with Jacob Gen. 28. 17. surely God is in this place controle all trifling phancies and make us read not for custom or divertisement but with those solemn and holy intentions which become the dignity of its Author Accordingly we find holy men have in all Ages bin affected with it and som to the inward reverence of the mind have join'd the outward of the body also and never read it but upon their knees an example that may both instruct and reproach our profaness who commonly read by chance and at aventure If a Bible happen in our way we take it up as we would do a Romance or Play-book only herein we differ that we dismiss it much sooner and retain less of its impressions 18 IT was a Law of Numa that no man should meddle with divine things or worship the Gods in passing or by accident but make it a set and solemn business And every one knows with how great ceremony and solemnity the heathen Oracles were consulted How great a shame is it then for Christians to defalk that reverence from the true God which heathens allow'd their false ones 19. NOW this proceeds somtimes from the want of that habitual reverence we should alwaies have to it as Gods word and somtimes from want of actual exciting it when we go to read for if the habit lie only dormant in us and be not awak'd by actual consideration it avails us as little in our reading as the habitual strength of a man do's towards labor when he will not exert it for that end 20. WE ought therefore as to make it our deliberat choice to read Gods word so when we do it to stir up our selves to those solemn apprehensions of its dignity and autority as may render us malleable and apt to receive its impressions for where there is no reverence 't is not to be expected there should be any genuine or lasting obedience 21. SAINT Austin in his Tract to Honoratus of the advantage of believing makes the first requisit to the knowledg of the Scriptures to be the love of them Believe me saies he every thing in the Scripture is sublime and divine its truth and doctrin are most accommodate to the refreshment and building up of our minds and in all respects so order'd that every one may draw thence what is sufficient for him provided he approach it with devotion piety and religion The proof of this may require much reasoning and discourse But this I am first to perswade that you do not hate the Authors and then that you love them Had we an ill opinion of Virgil nay if upon the account of the reputation he has gain'd with our Predecessors we did not greatly love before we understood him we should never patiently go thro all the difficult questions Grammarians raise about him Many employ themselves in commenting upon him we esteem him most whose exposition most commends the Book and shews that the Author not only was free from error but did excellently well where he is not understood And if such an account happen not to be given we impute it rather to the Interpreter then the Poet. 22. THUS the good Father whose words I have transcrib'd at large as being remarkable to the present purpose he also shews that the mind of no Author is to be learnt from one averse to his doctrin as that 't is vain to enquire of Aristotles Books from one of a different Sect Or of Archimedes from Epicurus the discourse will be as displeasing as the speaker and that shall be esteem'd absurd which comes from one that is envi'd or despis'd 23. A third preparative to our reading should be praier The Scripture as it was dictated at first by the holy Spirit so must still owe its effects and influence to its cooperation The things of God the Apostle tells us are spiritually discern'd 1 Cor. 2. 14. And tho the natural man may well enough apprehend the letter and grammatical sense of the Word yet its power and energy that insinuative perswasive force whereby it works on hearts is peculiar to the spirit and therefore without his aids the Scripture whilst it lies open before our eies may still be as a Book that is seal'd Esai 29. 11. be as ineffective as if the characters were illegible 24. BESIDES our Savior tells us the devil is still busy to steal away the seed as soon as it is sown Mat. 13. 17. And unless we have som better guard then our own vigilance he is sure enough to prosper in his attemt Let it therefore be our care to invoke the divine Aid and when ever we take the Bible into our hands to dart up at least a hearty ejaculation that we may find its effects in our hearts Let us say with holy David open thou mine eies O Lord that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Blessed art thou O Lord O teach me thy statutes Ps. 119. Nay indeed 't wil be fit matter of a daily solemn devotion as our Church has made it an annual in the Collect on the second Sunday in Advent a praier so apt and fully expressive of what we should desire in this particular that if we transcribe not only the example but the very words I know not how we can form that part of our devotion more advantageously 25. IN the second place we are to consider what is requir'd of us at the time of reading the Scripture which consists principally in two things The first of these is attention which is so indispensably requisit that without it all Books are alike and all equally insignificant for he that adverts not to the sense of what he reads the wisest discourses signify no more to him then the most exquisit music do's to a man perfectly deaf The letters and syllables of the Bible are no more sacred then those
Psal. 138. 2. cannot brook that we should make it vile and cheap play and dally with it And if it were a capital crime to convert any of the perfume of the Sanctuary to common use Ex. 30. 32. can we think God can be pleas'd to see his more sacred Word the theme of our giddy mirth and have his own words echoed to him in profane drollery 52. BUT besides 't is to be consider'd that this wanton liberty is a step to the more solemn and deliberate contemt of Gods word custom do's strangely prescribe to us and he that a while has us'd any thing irreverently will at last bring his practice into argument and conclude that there is no reverence due to it God knows we are naturally too apt to slight and easy apprehensions of sacred things and had need to use all Arts and Instruments to impress an awe upon our minds 53. IT will sure then be very unsafe for us to trifle with them and by so undue a familiarity draw on that contemt which we should make it our care to avoid The wise man saies he that contemns small things shall fall by little and little Eccl. 19. 1. And tho no degree of irreverence towards God or his Word can be call'd a small thing absolutely consider'd yet comparatively with the more exorbitant degrees it may and yet that smaller is the seed and parent of the greatest It is so in all sins the kingdom of Satan like that of God may be compard ' to a grain of mustard seed Mat. 13. 31. which tho little in it self is mighty in its increase 54. No man ever yet began at the top of villany but the advance is still gradual from one degree to another each commission smoothing and glibbing the way to the next He that accustoms in his ordinary discourse to use the sacred Name of God with as little sentiment and reverence as he do's that of his neighbor or servant that makes it his common by-word and cries Lord and God upon every the lightest occasion of exclamation or wonder this man has a very short step to the using it in oaths and upon all frivolous occasions and he that swears vainly is at no great distance from swearing falsely It is the same in this instance of the Scriptures He that indulges his wit to rally with them will soon come to think them such tame things that he may down-right scorn them And when he is arriv'd to that then he must pick quarrels to justify it till at last he arrive even to the height of enmity 55. LET every man therefore take heed of setting so much as one step in this fatal circle guard himself against the first insinuation of this guilt and when a jest offers it self as a temtation let him balance that with a sober thought and consider whether the jest can quit the cost of the profanation Let him possess his mind with an habitual awe take up the Bible with solemner thoughts and other kind of apprehensions then any human Author and if he habituate himself to this reverence every clause and phrase of it that occurs to his mind will be apter to excite him to devout ejaculations then vain laughter 56. IT is reported of our excellent Prince King Edward the sixth that when in his Council Chamber a Paper that was call'd for happen'd to lie out of reach and the Person concern'd to produce it took a Bible that lay by and standing upon it reacht down the Paper the King observing what was don ran himself to the place and taking the Bible in his hands kissed it and laid it up again Of this it were a very desirable moral that Princes and all persons in autority would take care not to permit any to raise themselves by either a hypocritical or profane trampling upon holy things But besides that a more general application offers its self that all men of what condition soever should both themselves abstain from every action that has the appearance of a contemt of the holy Scripture and also when they observe it in others discountenance the insolence and by their words and actions give Testimony of the veneration which they have for that holy Book they see others so wretchedly despise 57. BUT above all let him who reads the Scripture seriously set himself to the practice of it and daily examin how he proceeds in it he that diligently do's this will not be much at leisure to sport with it he will scarce meet with a Text which will not give him cause of reflection and provide him work within his own brest every duty injoin'd will promt him to examin how he has perform'd every sin forbid will call him to recollect how guilty he has bin every pathetic strain of devotion will kindle his zeal or at least upbraid his coldness every heroic example will excite his emulation In a word every part of Scripture will if duly appli'd contribute to som good and excellent end And when a thing is proper for such noble purposes can it be the part of a wise man to apply it only to mean and trivial Would any but an Idiot wast that Soveraign Liquor in the washing of his feet which was given him to expel poison from his heart And are not we guilty of the like folly when we apply Gods word to serve only a ludicrous humor and make our selves merry with that which was design'd for the most serious and most important purpose the salvation of our souls And indeed who ever takes any lower aim then that and the vertues preparatory to it in his study of Scripture extremely debases it 58. LET us therefore keep a steady eie upon that mark and press towards it as the Apostle did Phil. 3. 14. walk by that rule the holy Scripture proposes faithfully and diligently observe its precepts that we may finally partake its promises To this end continually pray we in the words of our holy mother the Church unto Almighty God who has caus'd all holy Scripture to be written for our learning that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of his holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting Life which he has given in our Savior Jesus Christ. THE CONTENTS SECTION Sect. 1. The several methods of Gods communicating the knowledg of himself Pag. 1. Sect. 2. The divine Original Endearments and Autority of the Holy Scripture p. 9. Sect. 3. The Subject Matter treated of in the holy Scripture is excellent as is also its end and design p. 63. Sect. 4. The Custody of the holy Scripture is a privilege and right of the Christian Church and every member of it which cannot without impiety to God and injustice unto it and them be taken away or empeacht p. 123. Sect. 5. The Scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 145. Sect. 6. The suffrage of the primitive Christian Church concerning the propriety and fitness which the Scripture has toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 165. Sect. 7. Historical reflexions upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture p. 180. Sect. 8. Necessary Cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy Scripture p. 193. FINIS