Goodness and Bounty of God that he doth not only injoyn Man his Duty to Glorifie him but also joyns with it Mans Happiness to injoy him for ever He that observes the former shall be sure not to miss of the latter In the same path and tract which leads us to Glorifie God which is our Duty we are sure to meet with our injoyment of him which is our everlasting Happiness and Blessedness And the business of the true Religion revealed in the Scriptures is to lead us to that Duty and to that Happiness which is the Chief End of Man He that wants this will be miserable in the midst of all worldly Enjoyments and he that attains this his Comforts here shall be blessed his Crosses Sanctified and his Death a gate to let him into a most Blessed and Glorious and Everlasting Life Thesis II. The Scriptures of both Testaments are the only perfect Rule for Mans attaining his Chief End This is the End why Man was made and which he ought principally to attend and look after but because to the attaining of the End it is necessary that the due means of attaining thereof be known and used And because as Almighty God the Maker of Man is he that alone must design the End of his own Work so likewise it belongs to him alone to chuse and appoint and order the means belonging to that end therefore as he is not wanting to us in appointing a Fit and Blessed End to Mankind so neither is he wanting in designing and discovering unto Mankind the Means for attaining to that End This means is called a Rule a fixed and setled direction teaching and shewing us what is to be known and what to be done and avoided in order to that end Beasts follow instincts of Nature in their actions But Man that is indued with higher faculties and ordered to a better End is to be directed to that End by a Rule given by that God who hath appointed his End This Rule therefore that must guide Man to his great End of his Creation requires 1. That it be a Rule given by God himself For as he appoints the End of Mankind so he alone must appoint the Means of attaining it and therefore the discovery thereof must come from him 2. That it be a certain Rule in respect of the great consequence that depends upon it Mans everlasting Happiness 3. That it be a fixed and setled Rule for Mankind is apt to straggle and wander full of vain imaginations which were not the Rule fixed and stable would corrupt and disorder it 4. A plain and easie Rule because it concerns all Men as well the unlearned and weak as the wise and learned their concernment is equal and therefore the Rule that tends to that common concernment is fit to be plain and familiar Since it is necessary therefore that there should be a Rule and such a Rule we are to consider whether God hath afforded such a Rule and what it is which is set down in these three particulars 1. That God hath given his own Word to be this Rule 2. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are that Word of God 3. That those Scriptures are the Rule and the only Rule whereby Man may attain his Chief End 1. That God hath given us his own Word to be this Rule And this as before appears was necessary that the Direction to our Chief End should come from God 2. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God Herein is to be observed 1. What those Scriptures are They are the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament excluding the Books commonly called Apocrypha These were written in several Ages by holy Men inspired with the Spirit of God 2 Tim. 3.16 Some parts thereof as the Five Books of Moses above Three thousand five hundred years since and that of the New Testament above One thousand six hundred years since And Almighty God who hath had a most special care of the Everlasting Good of Mankind hath by a wonderful Providence hitherto preserved them uncorrupted and hath dispersed them over all Nations in their several Languages that as the common Salvation concerned all Men so the means of attaining it might be likewise common to all Men. 2. Why the Divine Providence hath ordered it to be put into Writing It is true in the first Ages of the World till the time of Moses which was near Three thousand five hundred years the Will of God was not put into writing but was delivered over by word of mouth from Father to Son And this was the direction that Men had to know and to obey God 1. Because in those ancient Ages of the World Men lived long For Adam the first Man lived above Twenty years after Methusalem the eighth from Adam was born and Methusalem lived almost an hundred years after Sem was born and Sem lived above sixty years after Isaac was born So that in these three Men Adam Methusalem and Sem all the Truths of God for above Two thousand years were preserved and delivered over 2. Because the select Churhes of God were preserved in Families and were not National and so the knowledge of the true God kept in a smaller compass But when after the Ages of Men were shorter and when the Church of God grew to be National as it was after the Jews came out of Egypt then God himself wrote his Law in Tables of Stone and Moses wrote his Five Books And then and from that time forward the Sacred Histories and Prophesies under the Old Testament and the Gospel and other parts of the New Testament was committed to Writing for these Reasons principally 1. That they might be the better preserved from being lost or forgotten 2. That they might be the better preserved from being corrupted For that which is delivered only by word of Mouth is many times varied and changed in the second or third hand 3. That it might be the better dispersed and communicated to all Mankind And this was done in the Old Testament by Translations of it into Greek about two hundred years before Christ and dispersing it into a great part of the World And after Christs time both the Old and New Testament Translated into several Languages and since dispersed over the World which could not have been so well done had it not been at first in Writing Thus the Wisdom and Providence of God provides for the exigence of all times most wisely and excellently And having preserved part of this precious Jewel the Old Testament for the most part within the Commonwealth of the Jews till it was broken about the time of Christ by the Romans hath now delivered both to all Mankind 3. It is to be inquired Which the Author hath elswhere more largely considered What evidence we have to prove those Writings to be the Word of God And omiting many others we insist upon these principally 1. In
mind 1. The former part of this Duty is to Know our Creator This is that which aged David commended to his young Son Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 And thou Solomon my Son Know thou the God of thy Father And we have Two excellent Books wherein the Knowledge of God is discovered to us the Book of his Works the Works of his Creation and Providence and the Book of his Word contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament wherein he is more fully and explicitly and plainly discovered unto us These Books we are often to read and consider And this is the chief reason why Understanding and Reason is given unto Mankind and not unto the Beasts that perish namely that we might improve it to the attaining of the Knowledge of Almighty God in the due consideration of the Works and Word of God and hereby we learn his Eternity his Infiniteness his Wisdom his Power his Goodness his Justice his Mercy his Alsufficiency his Soveraignty his Providence his Will his Purpose concerning Mankind his Care of them his Beneficence towards them And the Nature of this Knowledge is not barely Speculative but it is a knowledge that is Operative that perfects our Nature that conforms it to the Image of that God we thus know that sets Mankind in its due state and station keeps it in its just subordination unto the God we thus know which is our greatest Perfection This Knowledge must necessarily make us love him because he is Good Merciful Bountiful Beneficent and therefore the Wise man chuseth to express him by that Title of Creator from whom we receive our very Being and all the good that can accompany it This Knowledge teacheth us to be thankful unto him as our Greatest Benefactor to depend upon him because of his Power and Goodness to fear him because of his Power and Justice to obey him because of his Power Justice and Soveraignty to walk before him in Sincerity because of his Power Justice and Wisdom In sum the several Attributes of Almighty God do strike upon the choicest parts and faculties and affections and tendencies of our Hearts and Souls and do tune them into that order and harmony that is best suitable to the perfecting of our Nature and the placing of them in a right and just posture both in relation to Almighty God our selves and others 2. The second part of our Duty is To Remember our Creator thus known which is to have the Sense and Exercise of this Knowledge always about us to set Almighty God always before our eyes frequently to think of him to make our application to him For many there are that may have a knowledge of God but yet the exercise of that knowledge is suspended sometimes by Inadvertence and Inconsiderateness sometimes by a wilful Abdication of the exercise of that Knowledge And these are such as forget God that have not God in all their thoughts that say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The Benefits of this Remembring our Creator are very great 1. It keeps the Soul and Life in a constant and true and regular frame As the want of the Knowledge so the want of the Remembrance of God is the cause of that disorder and irregularity of our minds and lives 2. And consequently the best Preventive of Sin and Apostacy and Backsliding from God and our Duty to him 3. It keeps the Mind and Soul full of constant Peace and Tranquillity because it maintains a constant humble and comfortable converse of the Soul with the Presence and Favor of God 4. It renders all conditions of life comfortable and full of contentment because it keeps the Soul in the presence of God and communicates unto it continual Influxes of Contentment and Comfort for what can disturb him who by the continual Remembrance of his Creator hath the constant acquaintance with his Power Goodness and Alsufficiency 5. Though no Man hath ground enough to promise to himself an Immunity from Temporal Calamities yet certainly there is no better expedient in the World to secure a Man against them and preserve him from them than this For the most part of those sharp Afflictions that befal Men are but to make them Remember their Creator when they have forgotten him that he may open their ears to Discipline and awake them to Remember their Creator Read Job 33. A Man that keeps about him the Remembrance of his Creator prevents in a great measure the necessity of that severe Discipline 6. In short this Remembrance of our Creator is an Antidote against the Allurements of the World the Temptations of Satan the deceitfulness of Sin It renders the best things the World can afford inconsiderable in comparison of him whom we remember it renders the worst the World can do but little and contemptible so long as we Remember our Creator it makes our lives happy our deaths easie and carries us to an everlasting Injoyment of that Creator whom we have here remembred The Injunction of the Duty of Remembring our Creator is the more importantly necessary 1. In regard of the great consequence of the benefit we receive from it as before 2. In regard of the great danger of omitting it The truth is the greatest part of the miscarriages of our lives are occasioned by the want of the remembrance of our Creator then it is that we fail in our Duty when we forget him 3. In regard of the many Temptations this World affords to make us forget our Creator the Pleasures and Profits and Recreations and Preferments and Noise and Business of this Life yea many of them which are in themselves and in their Nature lawful are apt to ingross our Thoughts our Time our Cares and to leave too little room in our memory for this great Duty that most deserves it namely The Remembrance of our Creator Our memory is a noble Cabinet and there cannot be a more excellent Jewel to lodge in it than our Great and Bountiful Creator yet for the most part we fill this noble Cabinet with pebles and straws if not with dung and filth with either sinful or at least with Unprofitable Impertinent Trifling Furniture 2. The Season for this Duty that is here principally commended is The days of our Youth And the Reasons that commend that Season for this Duty are principally these 1. Because this is the most Accepted Time God Almighty was pleased under the Old Law to intimate this in the reservation to himself of the first fruits and the first born And surely the first fruits of our Lives when dedicated to his remembrance are best accepted to him 2. Because this Season is commonly our Turning Season to Good or Evil. And if in Youth we forget our Creator it is very great difficulty to resume our Duty Commonly it requires either very extraordinary Grace or very strong Affliction to reclaim a Man to his Duty whose Youth hath been seasoned with ill Principles
the Writings of Men especially when written by several Men at several times their Writings do seldom or never agree but differ and cross one another And the reason is because they are written by several Men who are all guided by several Minds and Judgments But the Scriptures though written by several Men in several Ages many unacquainted with one anothers Writings yet they all consent and speak the same Truth which is an evidence that it was One and the same Spirit that did dictate them 2. It is not possible for any Man without Revelation from God to foretel things to come Now these holy Writings foretold things that most certainly came to pass in their several seasons though many Generations after the Prophesie written therefore they were written by Inspiration from God As for instance the Babylonian Captivity and the Deliverance from it by Jeremy the Persian and Grecian Monarchy by Daniel the Birth and Death of Christ the final destruction of Jerusalem and Dispersion of the Jews the Conversion of the Gentiles by Isaiah and the rest of the Prophets 3. The Matter contained in these holy Writings is that of the greatest importance the Will of God concerning Man the discovery of the Creation of the World by God of assurance of the Life to come of the means of Peace between God and Man These are things of the highest concernment in the World yet things which could never be discovered but by God himself and such as never any writings of Men only ever could discover or durst pretend unto The height and rarity and excellence and weight of the matter of these Books do evidence that they were the Revelations of God to Man and by his Providence committed to writing and delivered over to Mankind as the Rule to attain their Chief End 3. As the Rule to attain our Chief End must come from God and as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God so we say That these Scriptures are the Rule and the only Rule to attain our Chief End Good Books of other Men good Education good Sermons the determinations of the Church are good helps but there is no other Rule but this It is by this Rule we must try other Mens Books and Sermons yea the very Church it self Thus the Bereans tried the Doctrine of the Apostles themselves by the Scriptures which they then had and are commended for it Acts 17.11 And Peter prefers the evidence of the Scriptures before a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.18 19. And Christ himself appeals to the Scriptures to justifie himself and his Doctrine Joh. 6.39 And if the Scriptures be the only Rule 1. Then not a Natural Conscience especially as the case now stands with Mankind for that is many times corrupted and false principled puts good for evil and evil for good It is and may be a great help guide and direction not a perfect Rule 2. Then not the Writings and Traditions of Men God that appoints the End and Means must be the discoverer of the Means of our Salvation 3. Then not pretended Revelations those may be Mens imaginations or the Devils delusions to prevent and discover which God hath set up this great and standing Revelation of his Scriptures 4. Then not the Church for that may err and it hath no way to evidence it self but by the Scriptures which are its Foundation The business of Mans Salvation is of that importance and the Wisdom of God so great that he will not commit so weighty a matter to such uncertain Rules as these but hath provided one of his own making the Holy Scriptures Thesis III. The Principal Subject of the Scriptures is what Man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of Man It is the Principal Subject of the Scriptures 1. Because it is of the greatest importance and concernment Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of Man Fear God which cannot be without the knowledge of him and keep his Commandments which contains his duty of Obedience to him 2. Because all the other Matters of the Scriptures have a kind of dependance upon and connexion with this Principal Matter or Subject But though this be the Principal Matter or Subject of the Scriptures yet they also contain very many other matters that do very much concern us to know and believe as namely What we are to understand concerning our selves the State of our Creation the Fall of Man the State wherein that Fall hath put all Mankind the means of our recovery the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection the different estate of the good and bad after death the History of the Church and Houshold of God from the Creation of Man till some thirty years after the Resurrection of Christ and divers other and necessary Matters to be known both for our direction instruction and comfort And as the Scriptures do principally teach the Knowledge of Good and our duty as the principal Subject so they do principally teach it above other teachings or means It is true that the very Light of Nature doth teach us much of what is to be known concerning God and our duty to him As namely that there is a God and that there is but one God that this God is the first Cause and also the preserver of all things That he is Eternal without beginning or end Infinite Spiritual without mixture most Perfect and therefore most free most Powerful most Holy most Wise most Just most Bountiful and Merciful And upon all these Grounds the Light of Nature teacheth that he is to be Honored to be Feared to be Worshipped to be Obeyed This the Apostle shews us Rom. 1.20 For the Invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse And this light of Nature gives this Manifestation of God 1. By the Works of Creation and Providence 2. By the Workings of the Conscience 3. By a Traditional delivery over of some truths from man to man which by the study and pains of some wise men and Law-givers raised up by the Providence of God have been perfected and delivered over to others But the Preheminence of the Scriptures in their instruction of Mankind in the Knowledge of God and his duty to God appears partly in these considerations 1. The knowledge the Scriptures give in these things is more easie to be attained because it sets down these truths plainly that the most ordinary capacity may understand Whereas the knowledge of these things by the Light of Nature is more difficult requires much observation and industry and attention deducing and drawing down one thing from another and so arriving at their knowledge by much pains and study 2. The knowledge of these things delivered by the Scripture is much more