his hand shortened that he should not be able to see euery parcell of his holy pleasure put in execution It may seeme needles to insist vpon this pointe touching the vnfallible certaintie and fulfilling of the scripture but if wee consider our times wee shall see it is a needefull doctrine For whatsoeuer mens profession is their conuersation is such that a man may well thinke of them that they imagin the word of God to be but an idle tale a frightfull sound to amaze fooles full of terrible threatnings but yet lighter then vanity in performance Heb. 13.4 Gal 5.21 Psal 15.2.5 Doth the vnchast person think it true that whoremongers and adulterers God will iudge doth the drūkard beleiue that no such shall inherit the kingdome of God doth the vsurer imagin that there is any certainty in that speach that no such shal be receiued into heauen doth the contemner of Gods word suppose that that shall come to passe which Paul saith VIZ that the lord will in flaming fire render vengeance to them that do not obey the Gospell doth the despiser of knowledge perswade himselfe that Solomon spake with authoritie when he said 2. Th. 1.8 The lord would laugh at his dectruction doe those that presume vpon Gods mercy and thinke they may liue how they will and repent when they will giue credit to that where it is said Prov. 1.22.26 that these which doe despise the riches of Gods bounty and abuse his patience do but heap vp wrath to themselues against the day of iudgement And so I might say in many other things Is it likely that mē think there is any truth in the words which are so flat against these courses of which their life is a continuall practise Rom. 2. ◠◠sure it is not for out of all doubt if they had any such conceipt and did not rather say to themselues as they did in Ieremies time Ier. 5.13 it is but winde they would humble themselues before the Lord for their euills past and their future reformation should manifest their reuerent perswasion of the certainite of those Iudgements which stand vpon record in in the scriptures Therefore let vs remember this this scripture this word is not a deuise of man it was written by God euery curse writtē in it shall fall vpon the vnrepentant and euery blessing promised therein shall be made good to the soule of euery true beleeuer FINIS The second Sermon THe next question to be handled in this place touching that which God hath heere saied that he had written the great things of his law is why it was meete that the word of God should be cōmitted to writing As I haue proued vnto you that it was not writtē at aduētures out of the humors of som priuate mē but by the special appointmēt directiō of God so it shall appeare that the writing of it was not vndertakē but vpō very great reason and for very exceeding good purpose The maine and principall end was the spirituall good and edification of Gods Church that is not to be doubted in asmuch as in all things the Lord hath a cheife respecte vnto the Glorie of his owne name in the good of his chosen But how and in what manner and for what respects the writing of the word was necessary for the churches good it shal be worth our labour to enquire Vnderstand therfore that the writing of the word was and is for the good of the Church in this respecte euen that it may haue one certaine and vnfallible rule by which all doctrine may be tryed all controuersies in religion decided all doubts resolued and euery conscience firmely grounded and setled in Gods truth For this cause we read that when there was no word written but Moses law the doctrine of the prophets was tried by it After when to the law of Moses were added the sermons of the prophets Isay 8.20 then euery thing was referred vnto them so Christ cleared his doctrine and made it good by Moses and all the prophets Luk. 24.27 Pauls defence was this that he had said no other things then those which Moses and the prophets did say should come And all the learned in the best times which followed Acts 26.22 toke the same course leauing themselues an example vnto vs to make the written word as it were the standard or the kings beame by which to try all doctrine that is tendred to vs accepting none for sound good but only that which is agreeing therunto So that looke what necessity ther was that the Church should haue a Iudge to decide doubts and a true rule to find out and to discern the truth the same is there that the word should be put in writing for the common and perpetuall good of all posterity If any man thinke that the word of God might as well and profitably haue proceeded for the Churches good from hand to hand by liuely voice as by writing the father commending it to his sonne and so continuing it one after another to the end he is much deceiued For first the mind of man is very slippery and weake and soone ready to forget the best things secōdly mans nature is very prone to error apt either to entertaine or to broch new religions and therefore to preuent forgetfulnes to auoid error and to preserue the truth of God from corruption it was meet the scripture should be written It is worthy to be marked the speach of Luke in the preface of his Gospel to that noble Theophilus Luk. i. 4. he confesseth that he had been instructed in the doctrine of religion yet he thought to write vnto him from point to point that he might haue the certainty of those things So that though he had indifferent good knowledge before yet writing the story was the meanes to beget certainty This shal be written for the generation to come saith Dauid Psal 102.18 writing is the best meās euen as we se by common course to preserue a thing vnto posterity Besides as in a generallitie it was necessary the word of god should be written that there might be one certaine rule to iudge the truth by so for one maine pointe of doctrine it was very behoofull viz. to assure vs that Christe the sonne of Mary was the true Messias who being once come none other was to be looked for To setle vs wherin there could be deuised no more direct course then this viz. that first the promises of his comming should be recorded the nature and office and all other circumstances of his person discribed and then the history of all his acts his birth doctrine miracles death exactlie registred that so the following ages comparing both togeather seeing how euery promise was fulfilled euery prophesie accomplished might resolue vpon it that hee indeed was the Christe and that there is no name else giuen vnder heauen wherby wee may be saued
and a thing very ridiculous and childish to tie a mans selfe so straite as not willingly to swarue frō the direction and warrant of the scriptures If wee be sick wee will goe first to carnall meanes last to the scripture if wee be greiued in mind and touched in conscience wee will looke for comfort any where before we will seeke it in the scripture if wee be wronged and iniured in the world wee will runne after the eggings on of our owne corrupt heart to be our owne auengers before wee will aske counsell of the scripture As in these few so almost in all other things any rules please vs better then the rules of the scripture In apparrell wee are led by the fashion in meat and drinke by our sensuall appetite in recreation by companie or by our owne in ordinate affections in dealings with men by our profit in getting riches by our vnsatiable desires these be our rules the precepts of the word of God either wee doe not know or we doe not esteeme them or wee thinke it a burden and a kind of restraint to be tied to obserue them Ier. 2.13 Thus we are like vnto those of whome God cōplaines by Ieremie They haue forsaken me saith he the fountaine of liuing waters digge themselues pittes euen broken pits that can hold no water so wee let goe the best aduise which cannot erre and deuise rules and precepts to our selues which must needes deceiue vs. To reforme this common euill let vs remember what we haue heard viz. that God hath furnished his word with varietie of directions the precepts of it are of equall largenes to our spirituall occasions as many as walke according to this rule peace shall be vpon them saith the Apostle but to euery other course whatsoeuer it be Gal. 6.16 Pro. 14.12 wee may boldly apply the saying of Salomon There is a way that seemeth right vnto a man but the issues thereof are the waîes of death And thus much of the commendation giuen to the law of God it is large in matter and abounding with varietie of doctrine Now followeth to speake of the next thing by which it commended It is pretious the value and price of the matter doth equall the largenes and varietie of it The pretiousnesse and excellencie may many waies be made knowne vnto vs first by the author of it 1. Pet. 1.25 Ps 1.2 Act 20.27 Rom. 3.2 2. Tim. 3 16. 2 Pet. 1.21 which is God for which cause it is so often called the worde of God the law of God the counsell of God the oracles of God The whole scripture was giuen saith Paul by inspiration of God And it came saith Saint Peter not by the will of man but of the holy Ghost and I haue written it saith he heere in my text So that it is no idle tale deuised as Atheists say by the witte of man to keepe the vulgar in subiection but it is the very mind of God the very expresse patterne of that truth which is originally in the foūtaine of al truth which is the lord secōdly by the matter of it the matter of scripture is in a word that great mistery of godlines of which the Apostle speaketh God manifested in the flesh c. 1. Tim. 3.16 Col. 1.27 1. Cor. 2.8 A glorious mistery A hid mistery which non of the princes of this world could know A mistery which no man by the witte of man is euer able to conceiue A mysterie which the Angells in heauen do admire and the Deuills in hell doe tremble at A misterie which the Atheists in their mouthes doe scoffe at but euen at the same time in their hearts doe quake to consider This is the matter of the scripture Iesus Christ yesterday to day the same for euer he is the yea and the amen of all the promises Heb. 13.8 2. Cor. 1.20 Reuel 1.11 the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last the pith and marrow of the whole thirdly by the stile of it Fullnesse of maiestie in simplicitie of words the like temper no where else to be found in any humane writer whatsoeuer I know that in sundry parcels of the scripture there are to be seene many more then steppes or prints of eloquence which the wisedome of God did to make vs know that he could if it had pleased him haue frettised as it were the whole volume of the booke with the excellencie of words yet generally it is so carried in such a low phrase of speache which yet doth not sauour of any earthly mould but makes a man euen as it were in despight of himselfe to admire it Thy testimonies are wonderfull saith Dauid yet in the next verse he saith the entrance into them sheweth light Psal 119.129 giueth vnderstanding so that there is a depth of misterie in plaines of words Fourthly the end of it the end of the scripture is not to please idle humors with variety of delightfull matters nether to exercise busy wits with subtilty of questions nor to be as a matter of storie only to acquaint men with the course of times nor to furnish mē with ability to discourse the word of God aimes at none of these ends which yet notwithstanding are the cheife scope and euen the happinesse of the most Authors but it driues at this one point to make a man wise vnto saluation To shew the path of life 2. Tim. 3.15 Psal 16.11 Luk. 1.79 Rom. 1.20 To guide our feete into the way of peace we may read in the great booke of the creatures as I may so call it the invisible things of god his eternall power godhead yet the knowledge of God gotten there is of no power but only to make vs inexcusable And therefore Dauid haueing spoken of the maiesty of God which appeareth euen in the creation of things Psal 19. Ver. 7. comes at last to this The law of the lord is perfect conuering the soule to shew that without the word of God though man might gaine knowledge enough to condemne him yet he could get none to saue him And so many other places hauing declared the testimonies of the power of God which are to be seene euen in the very waues of the sea Psal 93. at last he concludes the psalme O lorde thy testimonies are very sure meaning that there is no certaine and comfortable knowledge of God to be gotten but only from thence And for the same cause Christ told the woman of Samaria that they worshipped they knew not what and that the true worship was only among the Iewes Ioh. 4.22 because they only had the scriptures Now then looke how farre saluation life eternall euerlasting happinesse doe exceed all other things by so much is the doctrine of the scripture of greater price then all other doctrines then all other writings whatsoeuer Thus you see the price and exellency of the word of God pretious for
of God only to effect Now to come a degree neerer to the matter wee must know also that the best proofes for the scripture that it is gods word are to be fetched out of it selfe for which cause it is called light Ps 119.105 v. 2.14.22 c. because it discouereth it selfe and many times the testimonies of the Lorde because it beares witnesse to it selfe The papists would haue vs stand to the Iudgment of the Church which is altogeather doubtfull for there may be as greate question made of the Church whether it be the true Church of God as of the scripture whether it be the true word of God The testimonie and authority of the Church may be some inducement to a man in this case according as Saint Austine saieth it was to him but it can be no certaine argument Know this then that there is a certaine euidence of Gods spirite as it were imprinted in the scripture which sheweth the divine excellency therof aboue all the writings of men whatsoeuer And this stands vpon sundry particulars How the script is knowne to he the word of God First the purity of the law of God written by Moses aboue all the lawes that haue bene euer enacted and deuised by the wisest men Wee read of many worthy law-giuers among the Heathen that ordained statutes of greate wisedome for the gouernment of their people yet was ther neuer any law deuised by the wit of man but it needed some reviewing and for some respect was ether to be repealed or abridged or enlarged besides that scarce any law can be so wisely framed by a state but some or other will find a shifte to doe the very thing which the intente of the law was to forbidde and yet free himselfe from the danger of the law stand vpon tearmes as if he had not brokē it It is not so in the law of God as it was first giuen out so it stands without any changing nether was there euer any found able to carrie himselfe so cunningly in the practise of any euil but this law in one respect or other would surely find him guiltie Secondly the qualitie of the matter in scripture In the writings of the Heathen wee shall find some giuen here and there of the myserie of mankind and some cold comforts taught for the releiuing it but the true opening of the direct cause of mans miserie to witte sinne and the entring in of sinne into the world by Adams fall and the perfect and full remedie for all this namely Christs death was neuer knowne or heard of but only from the scripture Thirdly the antiquitie of the scripture for the bookes of Moses are more auncient then any humane writers in that they set downe a historie from the beginning of the world a thing which other writers knew not of or els borrowed from Moses or els corrupted with many fables and ridiculous narrations Besides there is no writer of any humane story that can be prooued to be more ancient then Nehemias Ezra who were about the yeare of the world 3500. Fourthly the admirable consent of the whole body of the scripture within it selfe all conspiring together in this one point Act. 10.43 that through the name of Christ all that beleeue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes what shewes of vncertaintie and differences soeuer may appeare either in numbring of yeares or in any circumstance of historie or in any point of doctrine are so fully apparently reconciled by those which haue laboured therein that there can be no iust colour of exception Fiftly the certaine euents of the prophesies therof as of the comming of the Messias the calling of the gentiles the reuealing of Antichrist of the the going of the posteritie of Abraham into Egypt their deliuerance thence of the fower Monarchies by Daniel And it is worth the noting which wee read in Isay who speaking of the captiuity of the people of the Iewes in Chaldea doth not only prophecie their deliuerance Isay 45.1 but names the very man by whom the Lord would saue them Cyrus and yet Isay liued at the least a thousand yeares before Cyrus was borne Like vnto that was that prophecie of the man of God aginst the Altar of Bethell built by Ieroboam he names the partie Iosiah 1. King 13.2 relates the particulars what he should doe and yet it was at least 330. yeares before Iosiah was borne So Ieremy told the people the iust number of yeares in which they should be captiues vnder Babilon 70. yeares Ier. 25.11 And wee our selues if wee will obserue it may see daily how the prophesies of the scripture are accomplished Paul said in the last times men should broch doctrines of devills viz. forbidding to marry commanding to abstaine from meates 2 Tim. 3.2 we see it verefied in Popery he saith againe that in the last daies men shall be louers of themselues c. doe wee not perceiue among our selues how these euills daily doe increase he saith further the time will come when men wil not suffer wholesome doctrine we may behold how this is made good euery day 2. Tim. 4 3. There is no doctrine more wholesome then that which is applied to mens particular sinnes yet it is a thing which men will not endure Saint Peter prophesied so did Saint Iude 2. Pet. 3.3 Iud. 18. that in the last times there should be mockers men walking after there owne lusts we need nor goe farre to see the accomplishment of this prophecy How doe men despise the Iudgments of God and scoffe at all goodnes and prefer the satisfying of there owne lusts before obedience to the will of God Thus that which we our selues are witnesses of declares the certaine euents of the foretelling of the scripture and it is an assurance vnto vs that it is the word of God Sixtly the vnpartiall faithfullnesse of those that haue been enditors of the seueral books In Moses it is worth the noting how he preferreth the relating of the truth of the story Gen. 49. before the discrediting of his owne birth he was borne of the tribe of Leui yet if you read Gen. 49. you shall finde he doth not spare to report the hard sentence that old Iacob gaue of Leui at his death ver 5. Simon and Leui brethren in euill instruments of cruelty into their secret let not my soule come c chap. 12. And in Numbers he doth not spare Aaron and Miryam his owne brother and sister but hath left their sinne and the displeasure of God against it vpon perpetuall record nay he is not ashamed to reueale his owne error and how much the lord was offended with him and how for it he threatned him that he should neuer come into the promised Canaan he doth in the story many times make mention of it It is said that Saint Marke wrot the gospell out of Peters mouth and yet