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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66404	Of the perspicuity of Scripture, and rules for interpretation of it a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Mar. 2, 1695/6, being the third of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2712; ESTC R38654	13,865	34

the Decalogue which may be understood by us in this Age as well as those that were at Mount Sinai at the first delivering of it 5. The Scriptures being to continue to the World's End and generally speaking being written for the use of all Men of all Ages and Nations they must consequently be Intelligible in the main and capable of being understood by all persons in all times or else they were written in vain For to what purpose should they be preserved or should they oblige Mankind to read them if they were not to be understood 6. I may say that in Fact the Scriptures are plain in all things that are intended for the use of all and that are necessary for all to know in point of Faith or Practice Such are 1. All the Principles of Natural Religion such as the Being of a God and his Creation of all things the Worship to be given to him the Government of the World by Providence the Immortality of the Soul and a State of Rewards and Punishments in another Life These every one may understand as he reads them in Scripture and which no man can read but he must find out and understand 2. Such is the History of Providence that is God's prospering the good and punishing wicked Nations his preserving a Church under all the Storms of the most violent Persecutions His carrying on the train of Prophecies through all interruptions and accomplishing them at the time and after the manner long before prefixed These are matters of Fact and what are obvious to all in the reading of them 3. Such is matter of pure Revelation and especially that which concerns the Redemption of Mankind by Jesus Christ. As to his Person that he was before the Worlds which were made by him That in the fulness of time according to the Ancient Predictions he became Man and was made Flesh That he wrought Miracles in Confirmation of his Mission from God and of the Doctrine he Taught and Professed to receive from the Father That he was Crucified and Died as a Sacrifice for the Sins of all Mankind That he rose again the Third Day from the Dead and ascended into Heaven That he sent down the Holy Spirit and continues at the Right Hand of God to be our Mediator and that we are with respect to that Mediation to offer up all our Prayers in his Name to the Father And that he is to come at the End of the World to Judgment and shall raise the Dead and Summon them all before his Tribunal 4. Of the like kind are all the Proofs and Confirmations of the Doctrine of our Saviour before spoken of under another Character such are Prophecies and Miracles Prophecies which though sometimes obscure in point of Phrase yet there are those that are without difficulty as that of Josiah and Cyrus by Name that of the place of our Saviour's Birth the Stock and Lineage the Tribe and Family he should proceed from the time he should sufferin c. And the other Attestation by Miracles is too evident to be insisted upon 5. Of this sort are the terms of Salvation among those things which are plainly set down in Scripture we may find whatever relates to Faith and Manners of Life And in these two are comprehended all that is necessary to Salvation So that whatever is not plainly set down in Scripture or evidently inferr'd from it is not necessary to Salvation Now I am apt to think that no person that comes unprejudiced I mean not prepossess'd with contrary Principles or corrupt Affections but must needs own the Scripture to be clear in the points before rehearsed if so be he reads it with an ordinary Diligence and Care But will it be said Are there not obscurities allowed to be in Scripture and difficulties which are not to be surmounted And what is a clearer proof of this than the different Expositions we meet with and the different Opinions Men espouse and therefore espouse them because they conceive them to be the dictates of Holy Writ 1. I Answer That is no Objection against it for then there can be nothing certain if the calling it in question will render it uncertain 2. This indeed has been an Argument set up to overthrow the Authority of Scripture and some have been so impertinent as to make use of the various Constructions and Significations of Words to serve this impious cause And so among other things one quotes that Saying of Quintilian There are innumerable kinds of words of ambiguous and various signification so that it seemed to some of the Philosophers that there was no word that doth not signify many things But if this be a reason why the Scripture is obscure and the sense not attainable then it is common with that to all Books whatsoever not excepting even that Book which the Author thought so well of as to publish for the Information of the World If this were of any force then it would be to no more purpose to speak than to write because the words we use are capable of different senses as well as what we write This is a way of arguing that proves too much and goes too far and serves no more than an argument that falls short and comes not up to the Case in hand This would make the Divine Oracles like those of the Devil to be no other than Aenigma's and Riddles as if in the New coined Phrase of the Members of the Romish Church they were but the Various figures of Ink upon a Book Or served to no other use than white Paper to Write what you will upon and make what sense out of it that a fruitful Brain can invent 3. Though there are obscurities in Scripture it falls upon such points as are not in themselves necessary and not necessary to all and notwithstanding which a person may be saved though he dye ignorant of them or of the sence of those Scriptures which contain them For there is no greater sign of their not being necessary than that they are not what we can understand or are not plainly to be found in Scripture 4. Though there are obscurities in Scripture yet they are nothing in comparison to the plain Texts of it and which no more hinder us from understanding the plain than the Spots in the Sun prevent us of the Light of it The Obscurities are like the various Readings of little consequence and importance as I have shewed and nothing comparable to what remains intire and perspicuous They are only some things that are hard to be understood But how many are the plain and intelligible and especially of things necessary to Salvation 5. When I say there are Obscurities in Scripture and that they fall upon less necessary points I grant that even those obscure parts are not without their use it being here as in the Heavens where the Cloudy Stars that scatter a faintish light through the Galaxy or Milky-way though not

discernible but by a Telescope yet if we may judge of what we do not know of Nature by what we do have their use and by their Influences without doubt serve a Noble design So though the Obscure Texts of Scripture afford a dim light in comparison and what we can at present give but a slender account of yet we our selves have sometimes perceived when we have come by searching to understand any of them that we understood not before that they prove of very great advantage as they serve to confirm the plain and do give light to those that were otherwise and were it not for the light given by these would have remained obscure And indeed Almighty God has so wisely ordered it that as there are some Works in Nature we do understand and some we do not some serve a lesser and some a greater end So has he also temper'd the body of Scripture together the difficult with the easy the obscure with the plain the less necessary with the greater that our industry may be excited by our endeavour to understand them and our labour be rewarded by the understanding of them That we may Search as the Bereans here did and upon our Searching may as they come to believe and understand or be confirmed in our belief of them Toward the better understanding of which 2. I shall direct to some Rules that may be of singular use to us in our Search and Enquiry 1. Where in the first place it is advisable that we be very conversant in the Sacred Text and as the Bereans search it daily by which means much of the obscurity will wear off and the Phrase and Style and way of arguing will be more evident and the matter of it make not only the stronger impression on our minds but be clear'd up also insensibly to us We see how much difficulties are lessened by practice as it is in learning the Alphabet and the first Principles of any Language or Science and when we in the beginning struggled with our selves and used a kind of force to bend our minds to it by degrees the difficulties abated and we became complete Masters of the matter that lay before us So it is in reading the Scriptures where by use we are wonderfully let into the meaning of them For this reason it was that the Prophets were read in the Synagogue every Sabbath-day as is implied Act. 13. 27. And why also the Scriptures were read as well when not understood as when they were according to the practice of the Eunuch For to what purpose would it have been for him when alone without an Interpreter to have read Isaias the Prophet upon such an obscure Argument if by reading it he might not have been some help to himself and by degrees have attained to a further understanding of it more or less And I dare appeal to any that have taken this course and have daily read and read them with the like impartiality as other Books and much more where they have read them with the reverence and attention due to Divine Oracles whether they have not found the difficulties lessen upon their hands And if such as daily read those Books with these and the like Qualifications would but account with themselves for all the difficulties assoyl'd and solved this way without any other assistance it would be no unpleasant or unprofitable reflection 2. Although it be of this advantage to read the Scriptures in course as was usual in publick in the Synagogues and in private among persons piously disposed Yet it would add much to the rendring the abstruser parts more easy and intelligible if they began with the plainest either for Duty or Matter and then proceeded to the more obscure For this is a reducing things into a strict and natural method and is like the beginning with the beginning of a Book wrote in that way and so gradually proceeding as we are led along from point to point from Proposition to Proposition till we come to the end of that and the difficulties together The Scripture I own is far from being Wrote after this humane and artificial method but in a way Extraordinary and Divine and is among other reasons composed after the manner in which it is that we may be obliged to use a befitting industry in searching into the meaning of it and 't is certainly one part of that industry so to order it that as there is this difference plainly to be observed in Scripture so we would thus make an advantage of it by beginning with Words and things easy to be understood before we attempt to understand what is in a sphere for the present above our capacity for such have need of milk and not of strong meat which belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil and I will add between things plain and abstruse more necessary and less certain and doubtful 3. Another Rule for the understanding of Scripture is to be well acquainted with the principal design and the chief Subject of it whether as to Faith or Practice For from thence doth arise what is usually called the Analogy of Faith and which will be a Standard upon all occasions to have recourse to For what Sense is to things sensible and Reason to things meerly reasonable that is the Analogy of Faith to all Interpretations and according to whose Arbitration they must stand and fall Of this the Apostle gives an Instance as to Faith 1 John 4. 2 3. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God And every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God And if there should be any place of Scripture that such Hereticks would produce in their favour we may peremptorily conclude that the meaning they would force upon it is no more the meaning of that Scripture than that can be the Spirit of God which confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh 4. For the better understanding of Scripture it is a proper way to compare Scripture with Scripture the Old Testament with the New the obscure with the plain For that which is obscure and difficult in one place is usually explained and made clear in another as St. Austin in the Book before quoted observes Toward the more useful Application of this Rule it may be convenient to enquire from whence the Difficulties and Obscurities in Scripture do arise Whether from the Sublimity of the Matter the Proprieties of Language the Relation that one thing has to another as Types the Modes and Forms of Speech in Matters Prophetical or Figurative which we may be helped in by this way of comparison When I have just before said that there is no greater sign of the matter 's being unnecessay than when it is what we cannot

Of the Perspicuity of Scripture and Rules for Interpretation of it A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields Mar. 2. 1695 6. BEING THE Third of the LECTURE For this Present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey MDCXCVI ACTS XVII 11 12. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and Searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Therefore many of them believed THESE Words are the Character of the Bereans to whom St. Paul and Silas Preached the Gospel being drove from Thessalonica a Neighbouring City of Macedonia by the Fury of the Unbelieving Jews that accused them of doing things contrary to the Decrees of Caesar and by this means set all that City in an uproar But how hardly soever they were used there they found a better Treatment from the Bereans of whom St. Luke saith that they were more noble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more ingenuous than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and Searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so c. In which Words 1. We are Directed to the Rule by which all Points of Faith are to be Determined and that is the Scriptures 2. There is the Capacity all Persons are in to judge of that Rule for the Words are spoken indifferently of the Jews in Berea the Auditory to whom St. Paul Preached that they Searched 3. Here are the Qualifications of such as would judge aright and they are Sincerity and Diligence They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more candid and they Searched the Scriptures daily 4. There is the way and means which are to be used in the Interpretation of the Rule and that is by comparing the Doctrine with Scriptures there they Searched whether those things were so 5. There is the Success of this course Therefore many of them believed I have already Treated of the Three First of these in the foregoing Sermon and have shewed the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith that it is the privilege of all to repair to that Rule for satisfaction and that by Searching they may arrive thereby to a Knowledge and understanding of that Rule And I shall now proceed to the way of Interpretation and the Consideration of the course that is to be taken for the better understanding of the Scriptures In Discoursing upon which 1. I shall premise some things with reference both to the Perspicuity and Difficulties of Scripture for it must be acknowledged that the Sacred Books have a mixture of both 2. I shall lay down such Rules as may be of use for the better Interpretation of it As to the former I premise 1. When we speak of the Scriptures we take it for granted that the Translation of it generally speaking renders the true sense of the Original that is the Original and Translation are to him that understands both as it were but one Book and so again to him that understands the Translation only it is the same as if he understood the Original And that this is so is evident because all Translations though not Expositions of what Language Church or Age soever do for the most part agree And if a Catena or Draught were made of them as there was of the Ancient Versions it would appear so to be beyond all Contradiction So that if any Stranger utterly unacquainted with the Christian Doctrine or the Translations but skill'd in those Languages should compare them he would be able to say that the Book was the same and only differ'd in the Language as the Ancient viz. The Greek and Arabick and Syriack or Modern viz. English French German or Italian c. And let Men differ as they will in their particular Opinions let them be Jews as were the Translators of the Septuagint Apostates as was Aquila Marcionites as Theodotion Ebionites as Symmachus Yet unless in those points in which they industriously corrupt the Text to serve a cause and wilfully and apparently depart from the Original there is a general consent among them in the main Which is a clear proof 2. That the Scriptures were Wrote so as to be understood for else how could different Translators unacquainted with the Language or Writings of each other so exactly hit upon the same rendition of it And indeed it would be too bare fac'd a Reflection upon Almighty God by whose Direction and Inspiration the Scripture was Wrote as I have shewed to suppose that such a Book thus proceeding from so Divine a hand and upon so noble a Design as the Revelation of God's Will to Man should labour under such a defect as the Compositions of Men of common Understanding are not guilty of Certainly it is as possible to Write so as to be understood as it is to Speak and be understood and since Writing is but a kind of Speech Speech may as well be supposed unintelligible as Writing and if it were so both the pleasure and benefit of Conversation would be prevented and lost And what a presumption is it to deny that to God which we give to Men and that when we grant that Men not only can but do express their Thoughts plainly upon occasion by Writing that God either has not that Power or Will but where he pretends to declare his Will to Mankind it should as God saith to Job 38. 2. darken counsel by words without knowledge and Write so as not to be understood which is to Write to no purpose but only to fill the World with contention as if what is call'd Revelation were not to send Peace but in the Letter of it a Sword of strife among Mankind If we own God for the Author we must say that the Scriptures were Wrote that they might be understood 3. We may suppose further that at the time when the Scriptures were Written they were intelligible by those that were Cotemporaries with the Writers and understood the Language they were Written in Which was a great advantage they had above all After-Ages for there is no Nation but what has peculiar Customs to which Forms of Speech often relate nor is there any Language which hath not Idiotisms and Phrases of their own and therefore where these are not to be understood or are not observed the sense is lost or prejudiced and perplexed as I shall presently shew 4. We may reasonably conclude that what had no immediate reference to the persons then in being nor to the Ages and Customs and Proprieties then in use but contained common matters and was Clothed in common Forms of Speech was intelligible to others that did not live in those Ages and generally as intelligible as to those that did Such is