men take the liberty to do so the relation grows as monstrous as such a heap of incoherent phancies can make it 20. IF to this it be said that this happens only in trivial secular matters but that in the weighty concern of Religion mankind is certainly more serious and sincere I answer that 't is very improbable that they are since 't is obvious in the common practice of the world that the interests of Religion are postpon'd to every little worldly concern And therefore when a temporal advantage requires the bending and warping of Religion there will never be wanting som that will attemt it 21. BESIDES there is still left in human nature so much of the venom of the Serpents first temtation that tho men cannot be as God yet they love to be prescribing to him and to be their own Assessors as to that worship and homage they are to pay him 22. BUT above all 't is considerable that in this case Sathan has a more peculiar concern and can serve himself more by a falsification here then in temporal affairs For if he can but corrupt Religion it ceases to be his enemy and becomes one of his most useful engins as sufficiently appear'd in the rites of the heathen worship We have therefore no cause to think this an exemt case but to presume it may be influenc'd by the same pravity of human nature which prevailes in others and consequently are oblig'd to bless God that he has not left our spiritual concerns to such hazards but has lodg'd them in a more secure repository the written Word 23. BUT I fore-see 't will be objected that whilst I thus disparage Tradition I do vertually invalidate the Scripture it self which comes to us upon its credit To this I answer first that since God has with-drawn immediate revelation from the world Tradition is the only means to convey to us the first notice that this Book is the word of God and it being the only means he affords we have all reason to depend on his goodness that he will not suffer that to be evacuated to us and that how liable soever Tradition may be to err yet that it shall not actually err in this particular 24. BUT in the second place This Tradition seems not so liable to falsification as others It is so very short and simple a proposition such and such writings are the word of God that there is no great room for Sophistry or mistake to pervert the sense the only possible deception must be to change the subject and obtrude supposititious writings in room of the true under the title of the word of God But this has already appear'd to be unpracticable because of the multitude of copies which were disperst in the world by which such an attemt would soon have bin detected There appears more reason as well as more necessity to rely upon Tradition in this then in most other particulars 25. NEITHER yet do I so farr decry oral Tradition in any as to conclude it impossible it should derive any truth to posterity I only look on it as more casual and consequently a less fit conveiance of the most important and necessary verities then the writen Word In which I conceive my self justifi'd by the common sense of mankind who use to commit those things to writing which they are most solicitous to derive to posterity Do's any Nation trust their fundamental Laws only to the memory of the present Age and take no other course to transmit them to the future do's any man purchase an estate and leave no way for his children to lay claim to it but the Tradition the present witnesses shall leave of it Nay do's any considering man ordinarily make any important pact or bargain tho without relation to posterity without putting the Articles in writing And whence is all this caution but from a universal consent that writing is the surest way of transmitting 26. BUT we have yet a higher appeal in this matter then to the suffrage of men God himself seems to have determin'd it And what his decision is 't is our next business to inquire 27. AND first he has given the most real and comprehensive attestation to this way of writing by having himself chose it For he is too wise to be mistaken in his estimate of better and worse and too kind to chuse the worst for us and yet he has chosen to communicate himself to the latter Ages of the world by writing and has summ'd up all the Eternal concerns of mankind in the sacred Scriptures and left those sacred Records by which we are to be both inform'd and govern'd which if oral Tradition would infallibly have don had bin utterly needless and God sure is not so prodigal of his spirit as to inspire the Autors of Scripture to write that whose use was superseded by a former more certain expedient 28. NAY under the Mosaic oeconomy when he made use of other waies of reveling himself yet to perpetuate the memory even of those Revelations he chose to have them written At the delivery of the Law God spake then viva voce and with that pomp of dreadful solemnity as certainly was apt to make the deepest impressions yet God fore-saw that thro every succeeding Age that stamp would grow more dim and in a long revolution might at last be extinct And therefore how warm soever the Israelites apprehensions then were he would not trust to them for the perpetuating his Law but committed it to writing Ex. 31.18 nay wrote it twice himself 29. YET farther even the ceremonial Law tho not intended to be of perpetual obligation was not yet referr'd to the traditionary way but was wrote by Moses and deposited with the Priests Deut. 31.9 And after-event shew'd this was no needless caution For when under Manasses Idolatry had prevail'd in Jerusalem it was not by any dormant 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 it 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
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 that 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 that 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 Cyprians 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 whatsoever 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 and Apostolical Tradition and there found our actings from whence their order and origination 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 Cyprians 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
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. Is it not an absurd thing that when we deal with men about mony we will 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. THEODORET 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 Mat. 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 off 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 reflexions 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 conquest of the Land of Canaan with those that succeeded under the Judges and kings of Israel and Iuda as also the express command of God and the menaces of Prophets ever and anon fell to downright Idolatry but after their return unto this day have kept themselves from falling into that sin tho they had no Prophets to instruct them no miracles or government to encourage or constrain them The reason of which a very learned man in his discourse of religious Assemblies takes to be the reading and teaching of the Law in their Synagogues which was perform'd with great exactness after the return from the captivity but was not so perform'd before And may we not invert the observation and impute the Image-worship now set up in the Christian Church to the forbidding the reading of the Scriptures in the Churches and interdicting the privat use and institution in them 4. FOR a farther supplement in place of the Scriptures whose History was thought not edifying enough the Legends of the Saints were introduc'd stories so stupid that one would imagin them design'd as an experiment how far credulity could be impos'd
The lively Oracles given to us or The Christians birthright duty in the custody use of the holy Scripture burg sculp THE Lively Oracles given to us OR The Christians Birth-right and Duty in the custody and use of the HOLY SCRIPTURE By the Author of the WHOLE DUTY OF MAN c. Search the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 At the THEATER in OXFORD 1678. And are to be Sold by William Leak at the Crown in Fleet-street Lond. Beilby Thompson of Escrick Imprimatur JO. NICHOLAS Vice Cancell Oxon. Junii 10. 1678. THE PREFACE IN the Treatise of the Government of the Tongue publisht by me heretofore I had occasion to take notice among the exorbitances of that unruly part which sets on fire the whole course of nature and its self is set on fire from hell Jam. 3.6 of the impious vanity prevailing in this Age whereby men play with sacred things and exercise their wit upon those Scriptures by which they shall be judg'd at the last day Joh. 12.48 But that holy Book not only suffering by the petulancy of the Tongue but the malice of the heart out of the abundance whereof the mouth speaks Mat. 12.34 and also from that irreligion prepossession and supiness which the pursuit of sensual plesures certainly produces the mischief is too much diffus'd and deeply rooted to be controul'd by a few casual reflections I have therefore thought it necessary both in regard of the dignity and importance of the subject as also the prevalence of the opposition to attemt a profest and particular vindication of the holy Scriptures by displaying their native excellence and beauty and enforcing the veneration and obedience that is to be paid unto them This I design'd to do in my usual method by an address to the affections of the Reader soliciting the several passions of love hope fear shame and sorrow which either the majesty of God in his sublime being his goodness deriv'd to us or our ingratitude return'd to him could actuate in persons not utterly obdurate But whereas men when they have learnt to do amiss quickly dispute and dictate I found my self concern'd to pass somtimes within the verge of controversy and to discourse upon the principles of reason and deductions from Testimony which in the most important transactions of human life are justly taken for evidence In which whole performance I have studied to avoid the entanglements of Sophistry and the ambition of unintelligible quotations and kept my self within the reach of the unlearned Christian Reader to whose uses my labors have bin ever dedicated All that I require is that men would bring as much readiness to entertain the holy Scriptures as they do to the reading profane Authors I am asham'd to say as they do to the incentives of vice and folly nay to the libels and invectives that are levell'd against the Scriptures If I obtain this I will make no doubt that I shall gain a farther point that from the perusal of my imperfect conceptions the Reader will proceed to the study of the Scriptures themselves there tast and see how gracious the Lord is Ps 34.8 and as the Angel commanded Saint John Rev. 10.9 eat the Book where he will experimentally find the words of David verified Ps 19.7 The Law of the Lord is an undefiled Law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom to the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light to the eies The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desir'd are they then gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also then hony and the hony-comb Moreover by them is thy servant taught and in keeping of them there is great reward It is said of Moses Ex. 34.29 that having receiv'd the Law from God and converst with him in Mount Sina forty daies together his face shone and had a brightness fixt upon it that dazled the beholders a pledg and short essay not only of the appearance at Mount Tabor Mat. 17.1 where at the Transfiguration he again was seen in glory but of that greater and yet future change when he shall see indeed his God face to face and share his glory unto all eternity The same divine Goodness gives still his Law to every one of us Let us receive it with due regard and veneration converse with him therein instead of forty daies during our whole lives and so anticipate and certainly assure our interest in that great Transfiguration when all the faithful shall put off their mortal flesh be translated from glory to glory eternally behold their God see him as he is and so enjoy him Conversation has every where an assimilating power we are generally such as are the men and Books and business that we deal with but surely no familiarity has so great an influence on Life and Manners as when men hear God speaking to them in his Word That Word which the Apostle Heb. 4.12 declares to be quick and powerful sharper then any two-edg'd sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The time will come when all our Books however recommended for subtilty of discourse exactness of method variety of matter or eloquence of Language when all our curious Acts like those mention'd Act. 19.19 shall be brought forth and burnt before all men When the great Book of nature and heaven it self shall depart as a scroul roll'd together Rev. 6.14 At which important season 't will be more to purpose to have studied well that is transcrib'd in practice this one Book then to have run thro all besides for then the dead small and great shall stand before God and the Books shall be open'd and another Book shall be open'd which is the Book of Life and the dead shall be judg'd out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works Rev. 20.12 In vain shall men allege the want of due conviction that they did not know how penal it would be to disregard the Sanctions of Gods Law which they would have had enforc'd by immediat miracle the apparition of one sent from the other world who might testify of the place of torment This expectation the Scripture charges every where with the guilt of temting God and indeed it really involves this insolent proposal that the Almighty should be oblig'd to break his own Laws that men might be prevail'd with to keep his But should he think fit to comply herein the condescention would be as successless in the event as 't is unreasonable in the offer Our Savior assures that they who hear not Moses and the Prophets the instructions and commands laid down in holy Scripture would not be wrought upon by any other method would not be
not according to it there is no light in them Esay 8.20 So that the veneration which they had before acquir'd was still anew excited by fresh inspirations which both attested the old and became new parts of their Canon 27. NOR could it be esteem'd a small confirmation to the Scriptures to find in succeeding Ages the signal accomplishments of those prophecies which were long before registred in those Books for nothing less then divine power and wisdom could foretell and also verify them Upon these grounds the Jews universally through all successions receiv'd the Books of the Old Testament as divine Oracles and lookt upon them as the greatest trust that could be committed to them and accordingly were so scrupulously vigilant in conserving them that their Masorits numbred not only the sections but the very words nay letters that no fraud or inadvertency might corrupt or defalk the least iota of what they esteem'd so sacred A farther testimony and sepiment to which were the Samaritan Chaldee and Greek versions which being made use of in the Synagogs of Jews in their dispersions and the Samaritans at Sichem could not at those distances receive a uniform alteration and any other would be of no effect Add to this that the Original exemplar of the Law was laid up in the Sanctuary that the Prince was to have a Copy of it alwaies by him and transcribe it with his own hand that every Jew was to make it his constant discourse and meditation teach it his children and wear part of it upon his hands and forehead And now sure 't is impossible to imagin any matter of fact to be more carefully deduced or irrefragably testified nor any thing believ'd upon stronger evidence 28. THAT all this is true in reference to the Jews that they did thus own these Writings as divine appears not only by the Records of past Ages but by the Jews of the present who still own them and cannot be suspected of combination with the Christians And if these were reasonable grounds of conviction to the Jews as he must be most absurdly sceptical that shall deny they must be so to us Christians also who derive them from them and that with this farther advantage to our Faith that we see the clear completion of those Evangelical prophecies which remain'd dark to them and consequently have a farther Argument to confirm us that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are certainly divine 29. THE New has also the like means of probation which as it is a collection of the doctrin taught by Christ and his Apostles must if truly related be acknowleged no less divine then what they orally deliver'd So that they who doubt its being divine must either deny what Christ and his Apostles preacht to be so or else distrust the fidelity of the relation The former strikes at the whole Christian Faith which if only of men must not only be fallible but is actually a deceit whilst it pretends to be of God and is not To such Objectors we have to oppose those stupendous miracles with which the Gospel was attested such as demonstrated a more then human efficacy And that God should lend his omnipotence to abet the false pretensions of men is a conceit too unworthy even for the worst of men to entertain 30. 'T IS true there have bin by God permitted lying miracles as well as true ones have bin don by him Such as were those of the Magicians in Egypt in opposition to the other of Moses but then the difference between both was so conspicuous that he must be more partial and disingenuous then even those Magicians were who would not acknowledg the disparity and confess in those which were truly supernatural the finger of God Exod. 8.19 Therefore both in the Old and New Testament it is predicted that false Prophets should arise and do signs and wonders Deut. 13.1 Mat. 24.11.24 as a trial of their fidelity who made profession of Religion whether they would prefer the few and trivial sleights which recommended a deceiver before those great and numberless miracles which attested the sacred Oracles deliver'd to the sons of men by the God of truth Whether the trick of a Barchochebas to hold fire in his mouth that of Marcus the heretic to make the Wine of the Holy Sacrament appear bloud or that of Mahomet to bring a Pidgeon to his ear ought to be put in balance against all the miracles wrought by Moses our Savior or his Apostles And in a word whether the silly stories which Iamblichus solemnly relates of Pythagoras or those Philostratus tells of Apollonius Tyaneus deserve to rival those of the Evangelists It is a most just judgment and accordingly threatned by Almighty God that they who would not obey the truth should believe a lie 2 Thes 2.11 But still the Almighty where any man or devil do's proudly is evidently above him Exod. 18.11 will be justified in his sayings and be clear when he is judged Rom. 3.4 31. BUT if men will be Sceptics and doubt every thing they are to know that the matter call'd into question is of a nature that admits but two waies of solution probability and testimony First for probability let it be consider'd who were the first promulgers of Christs miracles In his life time they were either the patients on whom his miracles were wrought or the common people that were spectators the former as they could not be deceiv'd themselves but must needs know whether they were cur'd or no so what imaginable design could they have to deceive others Many indeed have pretended impotency as a motive of compassion but what could they gain by owning a cure they had not As for the Spectators as their multitude adds to their credibility it being morally impossible that so many should at once be deluded in a matter obvious to their senses so do's it also acquit them from fraud and combination Cheats and forgeries are alwaies hatcht in the dark in close Cabals and privat Juncto's That five thousand men at one time and four thousand at another should conspire to say that they were miraculously fed when they were not and all prove true to the fiction and not betray it is a thing as irrational to be suppos'd as impossible to be parallel'd 32. BESIDES admit it possible that so many could have join'd in the deceit yet what imaginable end could they have in it Had their lie bin subservient to the designs of som potent Prince that might have rewarded it there had bin som temtation but what could they expect from the reputed son of a Carpenter who had not himself where to lay his head Nay who disclaim'd all secular power convei'd himself away from their importunities when they would have forc'd him to be a King And consequently could not be lookt on as one that would head a Sedition or attemt to raise himself to a capacity of rewarding his Abettors Upon all these considerations there appears not the
have bin witness'd to by persons of all Nations and those not single but collective Bodies and Societies even as many as there have bin Christian Churches throout the world And the same that are its Attestors have bin its Guardians also and by their multitudes made it a very difficult if not an impossible thing to falsify it in any considerable degree it being not imaginable as I shew'd before from St. Austin all Churches should combine to do it and if they did not the fraud could not pass undetected and if no eminent change could happen much less could any new any counterfeit Gospel be obtruded after innumerable Copies of the first had bin translated into almost all Languages and disperst throughout the world 52. THE Imperial Law compil'd by Justinian was soon after his death by reason of the inroads of the Goths and other barbarous Nations utterly lost in the Western world and scarce once heard of for the space of five hundred years and then came casually to be retriv'd upon the taking of Amalsis by the Pisans one single Copy being found there at the plundering of the City And the whole credit of those Pandects which have ever since govern'd the Western world depends in a manner on that single Book formerly call'd the Pisan and now after that Pisa was taken by the Florentines the Florentine Copy But notwithstanding this the body of the Civil Law obtains and no man thinks it reasonable to question its being really what it pretends to be notwithstanding its single and so long interrupted derivation I might draw this parallel thro many other instances but these may suffice to shew that if the Scriptures might find but so much equity as to be tried by the common mesures of other things it it would very well pass the test 53. BUT men seem in this case like our late Legislators to set up new extraregular Courts of Justice to try those whom no ordinary rules will cast yet their designs re-require should be condemn'd And we may conclude 't is not the force of reason but of prejudice that makes them so unequal to themselves as to reject the Scriptures when they receive every thing else upon far weaker grounds The bottom of it is they are resolv'd not to obey its precepts and therefore think it the shortest cut to disavow its autority for should they once own that they would find themselves intangled in the most inextricable dilemma that of the Pharisees about John Baptist If we say from heaven he will say why then did you not believe him Mat. 21.25 If they confess the Scriptures divine they must be self-condemn'd in not obeying them And truely men that have such preingagements to their lusts that they must admit nothing that will disturb them do but prevaricate when they call for greater evidences and demonstrations for those bosom Sophisters will elude the most manifest convictions and like Juglers make men disbelieve even their own senses So that any other waies of evidence will be as disputable with them as those already offer'd which is the third thing I proposed to consider 54. IT has bin somtimes seen in popular mutinies that when blanks have bin sent them they could not agree what to ask and were it imaginable that God should so far court the infidelity of men as to allow them to make their own demands to set down what waies of proof would perswade them I doubt not there are many have obstinacy enough to defeat their own methods as well as they now do Gods 'T is sure there is no ordinary way of conviction left for them to ask God having already as hath also bin shew'd afforded that They must therefore resort to immediat revelation expect instant assurances from heaven that this book we call the Bible is the word of God 55. MY first question then is in what manner this revelation must be made to appear credible to them The best account we have of the several waies of revelation is from the Jews to whom God was pleas'd upon new emergencies signally to revele himself These were first dreams secondly visions by both which the Prophets received their inspirations Thirdly Vrim and Thummim Fourthly the Bath-col as they term it Thunder and voice from Heaven Let us consider them distinctly and see whether our Sceptical men may not probably find somwhat to dispute in every one of these And first for dreams it is among us so hard to distinguish between those that arise from constitution prepossession of phancy diabolical or divine infusion that those that have the most critically consider'd them do rather difference them by their matter then any certain discriminating circumstances and unless we had som infallible way of discerning our dependence on them may more probably betray then direct us 'T is unquestionable that usually phancy has the greatest stroke in them And if he that should commit himself to the guidance of his waking phancy is not like to be over-wisely govern'd what can we expect from his sleeping All this and more may doubtless be soberly enough objected against the validity of our common dreams 56. BUT admit there were now such divine dreams as brought their evidence along with them yet sure 't is possible for prejudic'd men to resist even the clearest convictions For do we not see som that have made a shift to extinguish that natural light those notions which are interwoven into the very frame and constitution of their minds that so they may sin more at ease and without reluctancy and sure 't is as possible for them to close their eies against all raies from without too to resist revelation as well as instinct and more likely by how much a transient cause is naturally less operative then a permanent An instance of this we have in Balaam who being in these nightly visitations prohibited by God to go to Balack and tho he knew then what he afterwards saies Num. 23.19 that God was not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent yet he would not take God at his first word but upon a fresh bait to his covetousness tries again for an answer more indulgent to his interest Besides if God should thus revele himself to som particular persons yet 't is beyond all president or imagination that he should do it to every man and then how shall those who have these dreams be able to convince others that they are divine 57. 'T IS easy to guess what reception a man that produces no other autority would have in this ludicrous Age he would certainly be thought rather to want sleep then to have had revelations in it And if Jacob and the Patriarchs who were themselves acquainted with divine dreams yet did not believe Josephs any man that should now pretend in that kind would be sure to fall under the same irony that he did to be entertain'd with a behold this dreamer cometh Gen. 37.19 58. THE second
knows it but also by its prescribing those things which are in themselves best and which a sober Heathen would adjudg fittest to be rewarded And as to our temporal happiness I dare appeal to any unprejudic'd man whether any thing can contribute more to the peace and real happiness of mankind then the universal practice of the Scripture rules would do Would God we would all conspire to make the experiment and then doubtless not only our reason but our sense too would be convinc'd of it 93. AND as the design is thus beneficial so in the second place is it as extensive also Time was when the Jews had the inclosure of divine Revelation when the Oracles of God were their peculiar depositum and the Heathen had not the knowledg of his Laws Ps 147. ult but since that by the goodness of God the Gentiles are become fellow-heirs Eph. 3.6 he hath also deliver'd into their hands the deeds and evidences of their future state given them the holy Scriptures as the exact and authentic registers of the covenant between God and man and these not to be like the heathen Oracles appropriated to som one or two particular places so that they cannot be consulted but at the expence of a pilgrimage but laid open to the view of all that will believe themselves concern'd 94. IT was a large commission our Savior gave his Disciples go preach the Gospel to every creature Mar. 16.15 which in the narrowest acception must be the Gentile world and yet their oral Gospel did not reach farther then the written for wherever the Christian Faith was planted the holy Scriptures were left as the records of it nay as the conservers of it too the standing rule by which all corruptions were to be detected 'T is true the entire Canon of the New Testament as we now have it was not all at once deliver'd to the Church the Gospels and Epistles being successively writ as the needs of Christians and the encroachments of Heretics gave occasion but at last they became all together the common magazine of the Church to furnish arms both defensive and offensive For as the Gospel puts in our hands the shield of Faith so the Epistles help us to hold it that it may not be wrested out of our hands again either by the force of persecution or the sly insinuations of vice or heresy 95. THUS the Apostles like prudent leaders have beat up the Ambushes discover'd the snares that were laid for us and by discomfiting Satans forlorn hope that earliest Set of false teachers and corrupt practices which then invaded the Church have laid a foundation of victory to the succeeding Ages if they will but keep close to their conduct adhere to those sacred Writings they have left behind them in every Church for that purpose 96. NOW what was there deposited was design'd for the benefit of every particular member of that Church The Bible was not committed like the Regalia or rarities of a Nation to be kept under lock and key and consequently to constitute a profitable office for the keepers but expos'd like the Brazen Serpent for universal view and benefit that sacred Book like the common air being every mans propriety yet no mans inclosure yet there are a generation of men whose eies have bin evil because Gods have bin good who have seal'd up this spring monopoliz'd the word of Life and will allow none to partake of it but such persons and in such proportions as they please to retail it an attemt very insolent in respect of God whose purpose they contradict and very injurious in respect of man whose advantage they obstruct The iniquity of it will be very apparant if we consider what is offer'd in the following Section SECT IV. 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 BESIDES the keeping of the divine Law which is obsequious and imports a due regard to all its Precepts commonly exprest in Scripture by keeping the commandments hearkning to and obeying the voice of the Lord walking in his waies and observing and doing his statutes and his judgments there is a possessory keeping it in reference to our selves and others in respect whereof Almighty God Deut. 6. and elsewhere frequently having enjoin'd the people of Israel to love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might and that the words which he commanded them should be in their heart he adds that they shall teach them diligently to their children and shall talk of them when they sit down in their houses and when they walk by the way and when they lie down and when they rise up and that they bind them for a sign upon their hand and that they shall be as frontlets between their eies and that they shall write them upon the posts of their house and on their gates So justly was the Law call'd the Scripture being written by them and worn upon the several parts of the body inscrib'd upon the walls of their houses the entrance of their dores and gates of their Cities and in a word placed before their eies wherever they convers'd 2. AND this was granted to the Jews as matter of privilege and favor To them saies Saint Paul Rom. 9.4 pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law And the same Saint Paul at the 3. chap. 2. v. of that Epistle unto the question what advantage hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision answers that it is much every way chiefly because unto them were committed the Oracles of God This depositum or trust was granted to the Fathers that it should be continued down unto their children He made a covenant saies David Ps 78. v. 5. with Jacob and gave Israel a Law which he commanded our Fore-fathers to teach their children that their posterity might know it and the children which were yet unborn to the intent that when they came up they might shew their children the same Which Scripture by a perpetual succession was to be handed down unto the Christian Church the Apostles on all occasions appealing unto them as being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day Act. 13.27 and also privatly in their hands so that they might at plesure search into them Jo. 5.39 Act. 17.11 Hereupon the Jews are by Saint Austin call'd the Capsarii or servants that carried the Christians books And Athanasius in his Tract of the Incarnation saies The Law was not for the Jews only nor were the Prophets sent for them alone but that Nation was the Divinity-Schole of the whole world from whence they were to fetch the knowledg of God and the way of spiritual living which amounts to what the Apostle saies Galat. 3.24 That the Law was a Schole-master to bring us unto
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 divinely 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 Tho one be holy after the Apostles tho 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 Tract of the good of Widowhood he saies to Julian the person to whom he addresses What shall I teach you more then that we read in the Apostle for the holy Scripture settles the rule of our doctrin that we think not any thing more then we ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to every man the mesure of Faith Therefore my teaching is only to expound the words of this Doctor Ep. 157. Where any subject is obscure and passes our comprehension and the Scripture do's not plainly afford its help there human conjecture is presumtuous 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 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 abuse Each man saies what I 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
upon or else fram'd to a worse intent that Christianity by them might be made ridiculous Yet these are recommended to use and veneration while in the mean time the word of God is utterly forbidden whereby the parties to this unhappy practice that I may speak in the words of the Prophet Jerem. 2.13 have committed two evils they have forsaken the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water 5. FARTHER yet the same unreasonable tyranny which permitted not the Laity to understand Almighty God speaking to them in the Scripture hinder'd them from being suffer'd to understand the Church or themselves speaking to him in their praiers whilst the whole Roman office is so dispos'd that in defiance of the Apostles discourse 1 Cor. 14. he that occupies the room of the unlearned must say amen to those praiers and praises which he has no comprehension of and by his endless repetitions of Paters Ave's and Credo's falls into that battology reprov'd by our Savior Mat 6.7 and as 't was said to the woman of Samaria Jo. 4.22 knows not what he worships Yet this unaccountable practice is so much the darling of that Church that when in France about eighteen years since the Roman Missal was translated into the vulgar Tongue and publish'd by the direction of several of their Bishops the Clergy of France rose up in great fury against the attemt anathematizing in their circular Epistles all that sold read or us'd the said Book and upon complaint unto Pope Alex. the 7. he resented the matter so deeply as to issue out his Bull against it in the following words 6. WHEREAS sons of perdition endevoring the destruction of souls have translated the Roman Missal into the French Tongue and so attemted to throw down and trample upon the majesty of the holy Rites comprehended in Latin words As we abominate and detest the novelty which will deform the beauty of the Church and produce disobedience temerity boldness sedition and schism so we condemn reprobate and forbid the said and all other such Translations and interdict the reading and keeping to all and singular the faithful of whatever sex degree order condition dignity honor or preeminence c. under pain of excommunication And we command the copies to be immediatly burnt c. So mortal a sin it seems 't was thought for the Laity to understand the praiers in which they must communicate 7. NOR is this all agreeable to the other attemts upon the holy Scripture was the bold insolence of making a new authentic Text in that unknown Tongue in which the offices of praier had bin and were to be kept disguis'd which was don by the decree of the Council of Trent in the fourth Session But when the Council had given this Prerogative to the Version which it call'd vulgar the succeeding Popes began to consider what that Version was and this work Pius the fourth and fifth set upon but prevented by death fail'd to complete it so that the honor of the performance fell to Sixtus the fifth who in the plenitude of his Apostolic power the Translation being reform'd to his mind Commanded it to be that genuine ancient Edition which the Trent Fathers had before made authentic and under the pain of excommunication requir'd it to be so received which he do's in this form Of our certain knowledg and the plenitude of Apostolic power we order and declare that vulgar Edition which has bin receiv'd for authentic by the Council of Trent is without doubt or controversy to be esteem'd this very one which being amended as well as it is possible and printed at the Vatican Press we publish to be read in the whole Christian Republic and in all Churches of the Christian world Decreeing that it having bin approv'd by the consent of the holy universal Church and the holy Fathers and then by the Decree of the general Council of Trent and now by the Apostolic autority deliver'd to us by the Lord is the true legitimate authentic and undoubted which is to be received and held in all public and privat Disputations Lectures Preachings and Expositions c. But notwithstanding this certain knowledg and plenitude of Apostolic power soon after came Clement the eighth and again resumes the work of his Predecessor Sixtus discovers great and many errors in it and puts out one more reform'd yet confest by himself to be imperfect which now stands for the authentic Text and carries the title of the Bible put forth by Sixtus notwithstanding all it's alterations So well do's the Roman Church deserve the honor which she pretends to of being the mistress of all Churches and so infallible is the holy Chair in its determinations and lastly so authentic a Transcript of the word of God concerning which 't is said Mat. 5.18 one jot or one title shall not fail is that which she establisht and that has receiv'd so many and yet according to the confession of the infallible Corrector wants still more alterations 8. DEPENDENT upon this and as great a mischief as any of the former consequent to the with-drawing of the Scripture I take to be the step it made to the overthrow of the ancient and most useful disciplin of the Church in point of Penance whose rigors alwaies heretofore preceded the possibility of having absolution Now of this we know a solemn part was the state of Audience when the lapst person was receiv'd after long attendance without dores prostrations and lamentations there within the entrance of the Church and was permitted with the Catechumens or Candidats of Baptism to hear the readings of the Scripture and stay till praier began but then depart He was oblig'd to hear the terrors of the Lord the threats of the divine Law against sin and sinners to stand 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
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 it self 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 to lend them light to judg of them but aids to back and defend them 7. OF this there is no Book of controversy that do's not give notorious proof The Socinian can easily over-look the beginning of Saint John that saies The Word was God Jo. 1.1 and all those other places which plainly assert the Deity of our Savior if he can but divert to that other more agreeable Text that the Father is greater then I. Among the Romanists Peters being said to be first among the Apostles Mat. 10.2 and that on that Rock Christ would build his Church Mat. 16.18 carries away all attention from those other places where Saint Paul saies he was not behind the very chiefest of the Apostles 2 Cor. 11.5 that upon him lay the care of all the Churches 2 Cor. 11.28 and that the Church was not built upon the foundation of som one but all the twelve Apostles Revel 21.14 So it fares in the business of the Eucharist This is my body Mat. 26.26 carries it away clear for Transubstantiation when our Saviors calling that which he drunk the fruit of the vine Mat. 26.29 and then Saint Pauls naming the Elements in the Lords Supper several times over Bread and
Wine The Bread that we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ the Cup that we bless is it not the Communion c. 1 Cor. 10.16 And again He that eats this Bread and drinks this Cup unworthily c. 1 Cor. 11.29 can make no appearance of an Argument 8. THUS men once engag'd ransac for Texts that carry som correspondency to the opinions they have imbibed and those how do they rack and scrue to bring to a perfect conformity and improve every little probability into a demonstration On the other side the contrary Texts they look on as enemies and consider them no farther then to provide fences and guards against them So they bring Texts not into the scales to weigh but into the field to skirmish as Partizans and Auxiliaries of such or such opinions 9. BY this force of prepossession it is that that sacred Rule which is the mesure and standard of all rectitude is it self bow'd and distorted to countenance and abet the most contrary tenets and like a variable picture represents differing shapes according to the light in which you view it And sure we cannot do it a worse office then to represent it thus dissonant to it self Yet thus it must still be till men come unbiast to the reading of it And certainly there is all the reason in the world they should do so the ultimate end of our faith is but the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 and we may be sure the Scripture can best direct us what Faith it is which will lead us to that end 10. WHY should we not then have the same indifference which a traveller hath whether his way lie on this hand or that so as it be the direct road to his journies end For altho it be infinitly material that I embrace right principles yet 't is not so that this should be right rather then the other and our wishes that it should be so proceed only from our prepossessions and fondness of our own conceptions then which nothing is more apt to intercept the clear view of truth It therefore nearly concerns us to deposit them and to give up our selves without reserve to the guidance of Gods Word and give it equal credit when it thwarts as when it complies with our own notions 11. WITHOUT this tho we may call Scripture the rule of Faith and judg of controversies yet 't is manifest we make it not so but reserve still the last appeal to our own prejudicat phancies and then no wonder tho we fall under the same occoecation which our Savior upbraids to the Jews that seeing we see not neither do we understand Mat. 13.14 For he that will not be sav'd Gods way will hardly be so by his own He that resolves not impartially to embrace all the Scriptures dictats comes to them as unsincerely as the remnant of the Jews did to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for them which he no sooner had don but they protest against his message Jer. 42.20 and may expect as fatal an event 12. BUT there are a set of men who deal yet more insincerely with the Word that read it insiduously on purpose to collect matter of objection and cavil that with a malicious diligence compare Texts in hope to find contradictions and read attentively but to no other end then to remark incoherences and defects in the stile which when they think they have started they have their design and never will use a quarter of the same diligence in considering how they may be solv'd or consulting with those who may assist them in it For I think I may appeal to the generality of those who have rais'd the loudest clamors against the Scripture whether they have endeavor'd to render themselves competent judges of it by inquiring into the Originals or informing themselves of those local Customs peculiar Idioms and many other circumstances by which obscure Texts are to be clear'd And tho I do not affirm it necessary to salvation that every man should do this yet I may affirm it necessary to him that will pretend to judg of the Bible and he that without this condems it do's it as manifest injury as a Judg that should pass sentence only upon the Indictment without hearing the defence 13. AND certainly there cannot be any thing more unmanly and disingenouos then for men to inveigh and condemn before they inquire and examin Yet this is the thing upon which so many value themselves assuming to be men of reason for that for which the Scripture pronounces them brute beasts viz. the speaking evil of those things they understand not 2 Pet. 2.12 Would men use due diligence no doubt many of those seeming contradictions would be reconcil'd and the obscurities clear'd and if any should after all remain he might find twenty things fitter to charge it on then want of verity or discourse in the inspir'd writers 14. ALAS what human writing is there of near that Antiquity wherein there are not many passages unintelligible And indeed unless modern times knew all those national customs obsolete Laws particular Rites and Ceremonies Phrases and proverbial Sayings to which such ancient Books refer 't is impossible but som passages must still remain obscure Yet in these we ordinarily have so much candor as to impute their unintelligibleness to our own ignorance of those things which should clear them the improprieties of stile to the variation that times make in dialects or to the errors of Scribes and do not presently exclame against the Authors as false or impertinent or discard the whole Book for som such passages 15. AND sure what allowances we make to other Books may with more reason be made to the 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 a venture 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 of another Book 't is the sense and meaning only that is divinely inspir'd and he that considers only the former may as well entertain himself with a spelling-book 26. WE must therefore keep our minds fixt and attent to what we read 't is a folly and lightness not to do so in human Authors but 't is a sin and danger not to do so in this divine Book We know there can scarce be a greater instance of contemt and disvalue then to hear a man speak and not at all mind what he saies yet this vilest affront do all those put upon God who hear or read his Word and give it no attention Yet I fear the practice is not more impious then it is frequent for there are many that read the Bible who if at the end of each Chapter they should be call'd to account I doubt they could produce very slender collections and truly 't is a sad consideration that that sacred Book is read most attentively by those who read it as som preach the Gospel Phil. 1.15 out of envy and strife How curiously do men inspect nay ransac and embowel a Text to find a pretence for cavil and objection whilst men who profess to look there for life and salvation read with such a retchless
indeed worthy as the wise man speaks to take part with it Wis 1.16 our crimes are hereby increas'd to a monstrous bulk and also depriv'd of that veil and shelter which darkness and ignorance would have given them And a vicious Christian may have cause at the last day to wish that he had studied the Alcoran rather then the Bible His sensualities might then have pleaded that they were but the anticipating his Paradice taking up that before hand which his Religion propos'd to him as his summum bonum his final and highest aim But with what confusion must a Christian then appear whose institution obliges him to mortify the flesh and yet has made it the business of his life not only to satisfy but even to enrage and enflame its appetites that has set up a counter-discipline to that of the Gospel he professes and when that requires austerities and self-denials to reduce corrupt nature to a tameness and subjection has not only pull'd off the bridle but us'd the spur contriv'd Arts to debauch even corruption it self and has forc'd his relucting nature upon studied and artificial leudness Such men may be thought to have read the Scripture with no other design but to be sure to run counter to it that by informing themselves of Gods will they may know the more exactly how to affront and contradict it 47. NAY so it is too many unto malice add contemt are not content only sullenly to resist its Precepts but despise and revile them also arraign the wisdom of God and pronounce the divine Laws to be weak and impertinent lay their Scenes of ridiculous mirth in the Bible rally in the sacred Dialect and play the Buffoons with the most serious thing in the world An impious licentiousness which is now grown to that height that it is one of the wonders of Gods long-suffering that there are not as many eminent instances of the vengeance as there are of the guilt I have formerly complain'd of it and must still crave leave to do so It is indeed so spreading an infection that we can never be sufficiently arm'd against it Som degrees of it have tainted many who have not utterly renounc'd their reverence for the Bible there being those who in their solemn moods own it as Gods word and profess they must finally stand or fall by its verdict who yet in their jocular humors make light and irreverent applications of its phrases and sentences furnish out their little jests in its attire and use it as if they thought it good for nothing else 48. AND certainly this abuse in men that own the Bible is infinitly more monstrous then in those who defy it the later look on it as a common thing and use it as such but for those who confess it sacred thus to prostitute it is a flat contradiction as much against the rules of Discourse as Religion 't is to offer the same abuse to Christ in his Word which the rude soldiers did to his person to bow the knee before it and yet expose it as an object of scorn and laughter But sure there cannot be two things more inconsistent then the avowing it to be dictated by God in order to the most important concern of man and yet debase it to the vilest purposes make it the drudg and hackney to our sportful humors and bring it out as the Philistims did Samson only to make us merry Jud. 16.25 49. INDEED one would wonder how that should become a proper instrument for that purpose that those doctrins of righteousness temperance and judgment to come every where scatter'd thro that Book which set heathen Felix a trembling should set Christians a laughing and yet should men cite the same things and phrases out of another Author there would be no jest in it It seems therefore that the spirit and essence of this sort of wit lies in the profaneness How absurd is it then for men that do not utterly abjure Religion to affect this impious sort of raillery which has nothing but daring wickedness to recommend it For certainly of all the waies of discourse that ever pretended to wit this has the least claim to it 50. WHAT strength of reason or height of phancy is there in repeting of phrases and fragments of Books when what they would say they might much more properly express in their own words In any other instance but this of the Bible it would pass rather for a defect then an excess of wit But that which I suppose renders it so taking is that it is the cheapest expedient for men to arrive to that reputation Men that cannot go to the cost of any thing that is truly ingenious can by this means immediatly commence wits if they can but charge their memories with half a dozen Texts they need no other furniture for the trade these mangled and transposed will be ready at all turns and render them applauded by those who have no other mesure of wit but its opposition to Piety But would God men would look a little before them and consider what the final reckoning will be for such divertisements and if the whole world be an unequal exchange for a soul what a miserable Merchant is he that barters his for a bald insipid jest such as a sober man would avoid were there no sin in it 51. I know men are apt to flatter themselves that these lighter frolics will pass for nothing so long as they do not seriously and maliciously oppose Gods word but I fear they will find God in earnest tho they be in jest He that has magnified his Word above all things 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