is obliged to search into them IV. And for the Commandments especially let it be further consider'd That there are some Commands laid upon Lay-men as well as others which no Man can be capable of yielding obedience to who is not conversant in the Holy Writings I shall instance in three only 1. To instruct their Children in the Scriptures 2. To try the Spirits whether they be of God. 3. To give a reason of the hope that is in them 1. To instruct their Children in the knowledge of the Scriptures This God commanded the Israelites in the place frorecited The words which I command thee this day shall be See also Deut. 4. 9. and chap. 32. 46. in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children Of the like import is S. Paul's injunction to Christian Parents To bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hear what S. Chrysostom says upon these words Wouldst thou have thy Son obedient nurse him up from the beginning in the instruction and admonition of the Lord. Think it not more than needful that he hear the Divine Scriptures for there he will first hear this lesson Honour thy Father and thy Mother Say not that this belongs to Monks why dost thou fear that which is greatly gainful make him a Christian For it is most necessary for those who converse with the World to know those lessons which are to be learnt from thence especially for Children And a little after he adds Let us make them from their childhood to apply themselves to the reading of the Scriptures And can a Parent instruct his Children in the Scriptures who does not study them himself 2. To try the Spirits whether they be of God. This 1 Joh. 4. 1. S. John commands not only Bishops and Priests but all sorts of Christians to do By Spirits are meant the Teachers who pretend to divine inspiration but now because it cannot ordinarily be discerned whether the Teachers are of God but by the tryal of what they teach they are therefore first to try the Doctrines and as they find them either true or false to conclude the Teacher either a true or a false Prophet Now the Scriptures being the Rule by which Doctrines are to be tried how can a Man make this tryal who is not acquainted with them Yea should we suppose that the Scriptures are not the entire Rule as the present Church of Rome in contradiction to the antient Church and the Scriptures themselves teaches but stand in need of unwritten Traditions to supply their defects yet since the Romanists still grant them to be the Rule of all those Doctrines they extend to that whatsoever Doctrine is deliver'd in them is infallibly true whatsoever is contrary to any Doctrine deliver'd in them is certainly false It plainly follows that no Man can be qualified for the tryal of Doctrines who is a stranger to them because no Man can know what Doctrines are either contrary or agreeable to the Scriptures before he knows what are contain'd in them 3. To give a reason of the Hope that is in them Be 1 Pet. 3. 15. ready always says S. Peter to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you When your Religion is opposed and persecuted be ready not only to confess it but to give a reason to every one that requires it why you are Christians And what reason can a Man who knows not the Scriptures give why he is a Christian rather than a Mahometan unless the very same that a Turk can give why he is a Mahometan rather than a Christian viz. That he had the good fortune to be born and bred in a Nation where the Christian Religion was in fashion To conclude this argument In that God commands those things to be done by Lay-men which no Man can do without the knowledge of the Scriptures he also commands them to acquaint themselves with the Scriptures As he that requires the end he also requires the use of those means without which it cannot be obtained V. The uses and ends to which the Holy Scriptures are by God designed are a sufficient proof of Lay-mens obligation to acquaint themselves with them 'T is true some parts of Scripture were intended for the use of Teachers and others of Hearers consider'd as such on purpose to instruct them in those Duties which belong to them as so distinguished the one from the other But besides those Texts which are proper to them with respect to their different ranks and stations the uses to which the Scriptures are design'd are such which respect Men in common both Laity and Clergy of what degree or quality soever Such are in the general To teach and instruct us in those things by which we may be made wise to Salvation S. Paul tells us That whatsoever things were written Rom. 15. 4. aforetime were written for our learning And if whatsoever was written by Moses and the Prophets to those who lived before Christ came in the flesh to reveal the will of God more fully and clearly to us was written not only for their learning but for ours too how much more whatsoever is written since by the Apostles and Evangelists this being written for our learning only and not for theirs More particularly They are design'd to teach us what is necessary for us to know and believe and do that we may be saved These Joh. 20. 31. things are written says S. John that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And these things have I written 1 Joh. 2. 1. to you that ye sin not To this purpose they teach us not only our Duty in general but what are those sins in particular that are to be avoided and those good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in and are admirably suted to the begetting and promoting of all those heavenly virtues by which we may be disposed and enabled to deny all sorts of ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World that having our fruit unto holiness here our end may be everlasting life In short the word of Christ is the great instrument which God hath ordained for the saving of Souls and therefore it is call'd the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Tit. 2. 11. Ephes 1. 13. Rom. 1. 24. Jam. 1. 21. the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth the Gospel of Salvation And certainly no Man can deny that these uses and ends of Holy Scriptures appertain to Lay-men who does not place them in the order of Beasts and deny that they have Souls capable of immortal Bliss Nor were they written to instruct the People as well as Priests in those points only of Faith and Practice which concern them all in common as they are Men and
Christians but more particularly yet to teach Lay-persons of both Sexes of all Ages Ranks and Relations what Graces are most becoming and how they ought to behave themselves in that age place or relation in which they are That Men and Women both Elder and Younger Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Subjects might there find what their respective Duties are together with such motives as may be of force to engage them to the doing of them And can it reasonably be supposed when God hath so particularly prescribed in his word to all sorts of Secular persons their Duties as they stand distinguished one from another by their different ranks and relations that it is his pleasure they should not look into it to see what these Duties are Furthermore The Scriptures are design'd by God to teach Men in all variety of fortunes how to behave themselves and to improve their lot whatsoever it be to their best advantage Be a Man poor or rich high or low in honour or disgrace in sickness or in health he may learn from them how to correct those evils which are incident to that condition in which he is and to make it subservient to his greatest good Yea be a Man's condition never so calamitous though he walk in darkness and see no light he may find in the word of Christ those instructions directions examples precepts promises from which if duly applyed light will arise to him in the midst of his darkness And therefore S. Chrysostom in his Comment on my Text upon this account earnestly exhorts the Men of the World to the study of the Scriptures Hearken I beseech you says he all ye who are employ'd in the affairs of this life get ye Bibles the Medicines of your Souls If you will have no more yet get at least the New Testament the Acts of the Apostles the Gospels your continual Teachers If any grief happen to you look into them as the storehouse of Medicines from thence fetch comfort in your calamities c. And good reason had he thus to exhort them For can any Man in his wits imagine that God would have that concealed from the Laity which he in mercy design'd for the Remedy of all their spiritual Maladies For VI. Which plainly follows from what has been deliver'd Have not the Laity as much need of the Holy Scriptures as the Clergy Are they not liable to as many spiritual Infirmities and Diseases and therefore stand in as great need of Medicines to prevent or remove them Are they so well acquainted with their Duty that they cannot know it better and in case they were yet are they not as slow to good and as prone to evil as other Men and therefore need as much to be quicken'd to the practice of those Duties they already know Are they not exposed to as violent assaults of their Ghostly Enemies as their Teachers are and therefore need the Sword of the Spirit to repel them as much as they Yea are they not more exposed to Temptations from this evil World than those are who live more retir'd from it and have less to do with it Say not says Theophylact that it belongs to the Religious Theoph in Ephes 6. 4. only to read the Scriptures for it is the duty of every Christian especially of those who are conversant in the World since they stand in need of greater help as being in a storm Besides since as you have before seen the Scriptures are design'd to instruct Lay-persons of all states ages and ranks in their respective Duties unless a sort of Lay-men can be found who are neither Younger nor Elder Married nor Unmarried Superiours nor Inferiours who are neither in Sickness nor in Health in Prosperity nor Adversity that is such a sort of Lay-men who are in no state condition or order of Men none will be found who have not need of the Holy Scriptures Obj. It will perhaps be said That it is not necessary to this that they search the Scriptures themselves It is sufficient that they take them upon trust from their Teachers To which I return these things Answ 1. That our Saviour did not think this sufficient for he commanded Lay-men as well as others not to take matters upon trust but to search the Scritures Joh. 5. 39. Nor did S. Paul think it enough for as he directed his Epistles to all the Saints to all that call upon 2 Cor. 1. 13. Ephes 3. 4. the name of the Lord Jesus so he expected that all should read them And though he was guided by an infallible Spirit yet S. Luke thought it a Virtue in the Bereans and highly commends them for it That they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things which were Act. 17. 11. spoken by S. Paul were so 2. It may reasonably be presum'd that those Teachers serve no good design who forbid their People to search the Scriptures For what more likely reason can be given than that they themselves know that their Doctrines are such as will not abide the tryal Would you not shrewdly suspect that Man's Honesty who having gotten into his hands the Writings of another's Estate in which he confesses you are highly interess'd shall refuse to let you see them and confidently tell you that you ought to know no more of them than he shall think fit to acquaint you with But. 3. Supposing your Teachers deal honestly with you it is but a small portion of Scripture that they can acquaint their People with in comparison of what they may read at home Especially the Teachers in the Church of Rome where no more of the Scripture is communicated to those who do not understand the Latine Tongue than what the Preacher is pleas'd to put into his Sermon and that commonly is little enough But in case the Scriptures were read in a Language the People understood yet from the translent reading they would carry away but little and that little would soon be forgotten unless kept in mind by reading and meditation And therefore S. Chrysostom frequently and earnestly exhorted his People not to content themselves with hearing the Scriptures but to read them also privately at home out of many I shall quote a passage or two to this purpose I beseech you to come to the Church Hom. 29. in Genes continually and with diligence attend to the reading of the Divine Scriptures and not only when you come hither but also at home to take the Divine Books into your hands and carefully to receive the benefit of the things contain'd in them Much profit does come from hence first the Tongue by reading is reform'd then the Soul is wing'd and carried aloft c. Let us not I beseech you carelesly neglect so great a gain but also at home let us with diligence apply our selves to the reading of the Divine Writings And in another place he thus addresses to his Hearers Let every one when he
retires home take De utilitate Lect. Scrip. the Bible into his hands and run over the sense of those things that have been spoken if he desire to reap continual and sufficient benefit from the Scriptures for bare hearing for two hours is not sufficient for our security These were the lessons this Holy Man inculcated upon those who daily attended to the publick preaching and reading of the word and who heard the Scriptures read in a language they understood which is not now permitted in the Roman Church so necessary in his judgment was the private reading of the Scripture that all that was heard in publick would not suffice without it For it is not enough that the word of Christ dwell in us sparingly but 4. It must dwell in us richly which it can never do save in those only who frequently read it and meditate upon it Some persons I know there are who cannot read some others who can live in those unhappy places where they cannot procure Bibles If these do otherways what in them lies to attain to the knowledge of the Scriptures God will accept them according to that 2 Cor. 8. 12. they have and not according to that they have not For unavoidable defects he will either make allowances or make a supply some other way But for others who have both ability and opportunity of reading the word of Christ as it is their bounden duty so it can argue no less than contempt of God himself to neglect it For since God hath condescended for their good to write it how can they chuse but entertain very low thoughts of him who will not vouchsafe to read it VII What has been said of the need all Men stand in of the word of Christ suggests another argument viz. The great Evils they must needs lay themselves open to who neglect the study of the Scriptures For by how much the less they know them by so much the less must they know their duty and by how much the more ignorant they are of their duty by so much the less must they practise it Yea those duties which they are plainly taught by the Law written in their hearts they will be easily perswaded to neglect because the great motives to quicken them to these must be fetch'd from the Scriptures And therefore no wonder that many persons so eagerly pursue the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof and are led captive by the Devil at his pleasure who solemnly renounced all these in their Baptism because for want of acquaintance with the Scriptures they are destitute of those forces without which they cannot successfully encounter these their spiritual enemies Nor are such persons in more danger of falling into sin in matters of Practice than of being mis-led in points of Belief for having no solid foundation to bottom their Faith upon thy will like Children be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of Men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive It need not therefore seem strange if many persons should be seduc'd from that Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints and which they themselves for some time made profession of In short Ignorance of the Scriptures as S. Chrysostom in his Comment upon my Text tells us is the cause of all evil How deplorable then must their condition be who live in the constant disuse and neglect of them Having already shew'd That the things which are written were at first address'd to Laymen That God hath plainly commanded them to acquaint themselves familiarly with them That the subject matter of the Holy Scriptures and the uses and ends for which they were written do concern the Laity That some special Duties are laid upon them which no Man can perform who is not conversant in the Scriptures Having also shew'd the great need the Laity stand in of them the inestimable benefits they may receive by them and the intolerable evils they will expose themselves to in case they neglect the study of them VIII What now remains to quicken you further to this great duty unless it be to shew the vanity of those objections which are made against it It may indeed be just matter of wonder to find any thing objected against a Duty so clear and of such great moment Yet so it is that some Men have dared to say those things which if they were true might justly affright the People from it and make them take it for a Sin rather than a Duty to read the Bible In general it is said That the promiscuous reading of the Scriptures by the vulgar does more hurt than good Because in particular it occasions their falling into dangerous Errors both in matters of Faith and in matters of Practice so that if this liberty should be allow'd they will neither believe nor live so as they ought Which charge consisting of two parts the one relating to Belief the other to Manners that the answer may be the more clear and satisfactory I shall consider them distinctly and apart And Obj. First It is objected That many pestilent Sects and Heresies which infest the Church have taken their rise from the reading of the Scriptures by Laymen who for want of being qualified to understand them aright do usually wrest them to a pernicious sense What is commonly said of the obscurity of the Scripture may be considered elsewhere At present I return several things in answer to the objection as now proposed each of which singly considered would be a sufficient answer 1. This reflects foul dishonour upon God himself For what can be more highly derogatory both to his Wisdom and Goodness than to say that he hath written such a Book for his People's use which they cannot read but they will be in danger of being eternally ruin'd by it If this be so they are then much beholden to those who take the Bible from them but owe no thanks to God who gave it to them 2. Our blessed Saviour thought the ignorance of the Scriptures the cause of Heresies and the means he prescribes to prevent and cure them is the study of the Scriptures Ye err said he to the Sadducees what because ye study the Scriptures No but because ye know Matth. 22. 29. not the Scriptures And though he very well knew how maliciously the Jews were bent to wrest the Scriptures to justifie their rejection of him yet does he not reprove them for reading the Scriptures they so much abused but contrariwise commands to read them again and more diligently Search the Scriptures for they Joh. 5. 39. testifie of me As if he had said You will not yet believe on me but take me for a Deceiver I require you therefore not barely to read but to search the Scriptures that is attentively throughly and impartially to read them and you will then be convinced that
I am indeed the Messiah because they so plainly testifie of me This was the method our Saviour prescribed for the cure of that damnable Heresie Of the same judgment were his Apostles after him S. Jude to fortifie his beloved Christians against the Heresies of the Gnosticks commands them to remember the words which were spoken before by the Apostles of Jude v. 17. our Lord Jesus Christ The remembrance of the Scripture was it seems in his opinion the best Antidote against the Poison of those Seducers and this supposes their acquaintance with them since no Man can remember what he has no knowledge of Yea that very Text which is frequently produced to prove that by reading the Scriptures Men fall into Heresies is on the contrary a plain proof that the not reading them so much as to become acquainted with them is the true cause from whence this mischief arises For who were the Men that wrested the Scriptures to their own destruction One character of them is that they were unlearned unlearned in what in the Holy Scriptures for in humane learning S. Peter himself was very unlearned And if want of learning in the Scriptures be the cause of falling from the Faith then doubtless the study of them will be the best way to establish Men in it What could S. Peter so much as dream that the reading of this Epistle by those Lay-Christians to whom he wrote it would be the way to corrupt their Faith when he wrote it to them on purpose to preserve them sound in it so contrary was his judgment to that of his pretended Successour 3. Supposing that the reading of the Scriptures hath been to some Laymen an occasion of falling into damnable Heresies does it thence follow that they ought not to read them This is as absurd as for a Man thus to argue Some Men by eating have fallen mortally Sick let no Man therefore for the future eat Some Men have used their sight to the chusing of a wrong way it is therefore every Man's duty to put out his eyes The light of the Sun is by many Men abused to very ill purposes the Sun therefore it self ought to be extinguished And is it not an excellent Remedy for a Man to starve himself that he may not fall sick by eating Or for a Man to make himself blind lest if he see he should chance to mistake his way 'T is true a Man may lose his way that has his eyes in his head but is he sure not to lose it by putting them out So a Man by mistaking the sense of Scripture may happen to fall into Errors but he that is altogether unacquainted with it lays himself open to all Delusions exposes himself a prey to every Seducer 4. The manifest truth is that generally speaking not the Laity but the Clergy have been the Authors of Sects and Heresies The Novatian Sect sprang from one Priest the Donatist from two though it took its name from a Bishop who afterward espoused it The Arian Heresie from a Priest the Pelagian from a Monk the Provost of Banâ—or The Nestorian from a Bishop and Priest the Eutychian from a Priest the Eunomian from a Bishop the Monothelite from several Bishops joyntly Even Bellarmine himself asserts That Bell. dâ— Rom. Pontif l. 2. c. 8. Quantâ— tametsi almost all the prime Authors of Heresie have been either Priests or Bishops And for those Laymen that have been Broachers of Heresies they have been for the most part not of the vulgar sort but Men of great parts and learning Heresie is indeed a work of the flesh but one too fine and subtile to be forged in a vulgar Brain except such Heresies only as are very sensual gross and brutish It is S. Jerome's observation Comment in Os c. 9. That no Man can be the Founder of an Heresie who is not a Man of great wit and parts And therefore 5. If this way of reasoning be admitted the Clergy should be forbidden to read the Scriptures rather than the Laity since they are the Men that have done the greatest mischiefs by wresting them to the broaching and maintaining of Sects and Heresies As there are some Church-men who to shew their great reverence to the Scriptures do usually compare them to Knives and Swords because a man may use them to bad as well as good purposes so there are others who have made good these comparisons by drawing such Doctrines from them by which the Church has been miserably wounded divided and rent into pieces Should therefore the use of the Bible be denied to all those Orders of Men of which any persons in those Orders have been found to abuse it it must be denied to the Clergy too and by consequence to all Men. And then God may take his Book again to himself Unless it please him to bestow it upon some other sort of Beings if any such there are that it is fitter for And yet let it be consider'd 6. That those Heresies which have been broached either by the Clergy or the Laity are not chargeable upon the Holy Scriptures any more than darkness upon the Sun when the Earth is eclipsed For as the darkness proceeds not from the Sun which is and ever will be the fountain of light but from the interposition of the opacous Body of the Moon which intercepts its light so the true cause of Heresies is not the Scripture but Mens inordinate Lusts and Passions which interpose between them and the light of the glorious Gospel of God which would otherwise have shone into their hearts Pride and Vain-glory Covetousness and Sensuality or some other vice are the proper fountains from whence all those Heresies which create disturbance to the Church are derived as might be shew'd at large Such is the power of corrupt affections that the Man who is sway'd with them can see nothing aright how fairly soever represented but will be as apt to wrest the plainest as the most obscure Texts to his own destruction Obj. It is objected secondly That the reading of Scriptures is dangerous to the common People because those things are recorded in them which may occasion their erring in Practice as well as in Faith. For instance Noah 's Drunkenness Lot 's Incest Jacob 's fraud and lying in getting the blessing David 's Murther and Adultery c. Which if exposed to the view of the vulgar they may thereby be encouraged and provoked to the imitation of them Answ It is strange that Men who own the Scriptures for the word of the most holy God who is of purer eyes than to behold evil should have the face to draw up this black charge against them But were not these vicious examples to be found in the Scriptures in our Saviour's days and yet as they were then freely read by the People so the reading of them was so far from being reprehended that it was approved by him Were they not in the Scriptures in the days
us more careful to avoid all occasions and to repress the very first motions toward evil This use the Apostle teaches us for having shew'd how shamefully the Israelites sinn'd and how remarkably they were punish'd he concludes Wherefore let him that thinketh 1 Corinth 10. 12. he standeth take heed lest he fall 4. As they teach us to lift up our eyes and our hearts unto God from whom alone cometh our help to implore continually the assistance of his Holy Spirit to inable us to subdue our evil inclinations to withstand all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and by patient continuance in well doing to seek for glory and honour and immortality 5. As they teach us Thankfulness to God for his preventing and assisting Grace in case we have withstood those Temptations which other good Men have been overcome by and preserv'd from those sins into which they have fallen since it is not by any strength originally in our selves but by the Grace of God that we stand And by how much the more thankful any Man is for the Grace he hath already received by so much the more he may expect 6. As they teach us to be charitable in our Censures of others and not presently to conclude a Man lost though he fall into some great sin but endeavour to restore him again with the spirit of meekness But 7. If through our neglect and carelesness we fall into any great sin we are by these examples encouraged to rise again What greater encouragement to Repentance than the hope of a pardon in case we repent And this we can have no reason to despair of when we find that others who fell into as foul sins were actually pardon'd and received into God's favour upon their Repentance Thus we see how those evil examples we meet with in the holy Scripture may be highly advantagious to our spiritual Good. THE APPLICATION 1. FRom what hath been said it plainly follows That those Teachers who withhold the Scriptures from the Vulgar have not that regard they ought to have either to the Commandments of God or to the good of their People How careful those of the Church of Rome are to keep the People from being acquainted with them either by hearing them in publick or by reading them in private is well known It is true that Lessons out of the Scriptures and Epistles and Gospels are read in their publick Service but how are they read In a language that the Vulgar do not understand that is so as that they know as little of them after they are read as they did before As the darkness is as great when a Candle is in the house as when there is none if that Candle be hid under a Bushel But if they give the People so little of the Bible in publick do they not make some amends for this by allowing them the free use of it in private I answer No. No Man is allow'd to read or so much as to have Rule 4th of the Index Expurg made by order of the Council of Trent the Bible in the Vulgar tongue though translated by those of their own Church without a Licence from the Bishop of the Diocess or the Inquisitor with the advice of the Parish Priest or Confessor which Licence they must have in writing And if any Man shall presume without such Licence either to read or have it he may not receive Absolution of his sins unless he first deliver up his Bible to his Ordinary This is the standing Law of the Church of Rome establish'd by the authority of the Council of Trent and confirm'd not only by Pope Pius IV. but by many succeeding Popes which because I have heard confidently denyed by some of their ignorant Proselytes I will therefore refer them to a late Author in their own language to whom I presume they will give credit who in his Chapter of reading the Holy Scriptures gives this Character of a Papist It is A Papist Misrepresented and Represented c. c. 10. true he does not think it viz. the Holy Scripture fit to be read generally by all without a Licence or in the vulgar Tongue And having told you why he does not think so he adds For these reasons he is taught that it is not convenient for the Scripture to be read indifferntly by all Men but only by such as have express Licence and good testimony from their Curates c. And is not this course as effectual to keep the generality of the Laity from reading the Scripture as the absolute forbidding it would have been For how few will be at the trouble and charge of procuring a Faculty when it cannot be had but from the Bishop or Inquisitor Or if many were willing to be at the pains and cost yet few of those many will be able to obtain it For how few will be able to satisfie the Bishop or Curate that they are such as will receive no hurt by reading when they cannot so much as ask it without being suspected of Heresie So that all things consider'd it may reasonably be presumed that the effect of such Licences will amount to little or nothing And yet how little soever it be it was thought too much to be granted For by the Order of Pope Clement VIII this observation is added to the Rule That hitherto by the Command and practice of the holy Roman and universal Inquisition the Faculty of granting such Licences for reading or keeping Bibles in the vulgar Tongue or any summaries or historieal compendiums of the said Bibles is taken away which is to be inviolably observed And if no such Licence can be legally granted then no Man of what quality soever can read the Scripture in the vulgar Tongue without transgressing the Laws of the Roman Church I am not ignorant that in this Kingdom and I suppose in some others where the Reformation hath got considerable footing some Lay-persons of that Communion are permitted to have the Bible in their own Tongue But this permission is directly contrary to their Laws and extorted from them in these Countries to prevent a greater mischief which they see would otherwise ensue If you make enquiry in Spain or Italy you will find no such indulgence there I shall add only this That in the Index of prohibited Books published by Pope Alexander VII not only those Bibles that are translated and printed by Hereticks but all Bibles in any vulgar Tongue are absolutely prohibited 2. Let us then be thankful to God and bless and praise and speak good of his name for that we have been born and brought up in a Church which allows free liberty of searching the Holy Scriptures and not only so but lays it as a Duty upon all Men and endeavours to quicken them thereunto by the most powerful motives How earnest our Church is in pressing this Duty upon her Children you may see in her exhortation to the reading of the holy
Scriptures a small part of which I shall transcribe desiring you at your leisure attentively to read the whole Thus then she bespeaks us If we profels Christ why are we not asham'd to be ignorant of his Doctrine Seeing that every Man is ashamed to be ignorant in that learning which he professeth That Man is asham'd to be call'd a Philosopher which readeth not the Books of Philosophy and to be call'd a Lawyer an Astronomer or Physician that is ignorant in the Books of Law Astronomy and Physick How can any Man then say that he professeth Christ and his Religion if he will not apply himself as far forth as he can or may conveniently to read and hear and so to know the Books of Christ's Gospel and Doctrine Although other Sciences be good and to be learned yet no Man can deny but this is the chief and passeth all other incomparably What excuse shall we therefore make at the last day before Christ that delight to hear or read Mens phantasies and inventions more than his most Holy Gospel and will find no time to do that which chiefly above all things we should do and will rather read other things than that for the which we ought rather to leave reading of all other things Let us therefore apply our selves as far as we can have time and leisure to know God's word by diligent hearing and reading thereof as many as profess God and have faith and trust in him And having shew'd the vanity of those excuses which are commonly made by those who have no good affection for the Scripture she concludes Surely none be Enemies to the reading of God's word but such as are either so ignorant that they know not how wholsome a thing it is or else be so sick that they hate the most comfortable Medicine that should heal them or so ungodly that they would wish the People still to continue in blindness and ignorance of God. Whereupon she earnestly renews her Exhortation in these words Let us thank God heartily for this his great and special gift beneficial favour and fatherly providence Let us be glad to receive this special gift of our Heavenly Father Let us hear read and know these Holy Rules Injunctions and Statutes of our Christian Religion Let us with fear and reverence lay up in the Chest of our Hearts these necessary and fruitful Lessons Let us night and day muse and have meditation and contemplation in them c. And yet as if she thought not this enough in the Information for them which take offence at certain places of the Holy Scripture she renews the Exhortation again and presses it with variety of cogent Arguments So far is the Church of England from declining the Holy Scriptures that she thinks she can never too vehemently press her Children to search into them She knows her Doctrines will abide the Trial and therefore desires they may be exposed to the open light being confident that the more they are examined the more they will be approved As she hath taken nothing from the Scriptures so neither hath she added any new Doctrines contrary to them and therefore need not conceal any part of them in an unknown tongue 3. How great then is their Sin who while they own themselves members of this Church do seldom take the word of God into their hands much less lay it up in their Hearts make it no part of their meditation and study God will not impute to their condemnation the not reading of the Bible whose lot is fallen in those unhappy places where they can by no means procure it But for us who have not only free liberty to read it but are so earnestly pressed by our Church to make it the matter of our study if we use it no more than those who are forbidden the use of it what Apology can we make for our selves Our sin alas is wilful and utterly inexcusable a plain contempt of God and our Duty and therefore our punishment will be more grievous and intolerable This will be our Condemnation that light is risen to us but we shut our eyes and will not suffer it to shine into our hearts because our deeds are evil for Joh. 3. 19. 20. every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved 4. Be then exhorted to apply your selves to the study of the Holy Scriptures let us take all opportunities of hearing them when read and preached in publick and not only so but of acquainting our selves more familiarly with them in private let us with David make them our daily Companions our delight and our Counsellors If either the love of God or of our selves If the consideration of our Duty or of our Interest of our present or future good will sway with us we shall need no other Motives than those arguments already proposed which I therefore beseech you seriously to reflect upon Many I know pretend that they have so much other business that they can find no leisure to look into the Scriptures I desire those persons who make this Plea to consider these few things 1. Have you any business of greater concernment than this Can any thing be of greater moment than to know wherein your true happiness consists and what conditions are required of you in order to the attainment of it Can any thing be more necessary than to be acquainted with your Duty and with those powerful Motives that may prevail with you to practise it Is not this the one thing necessary So our Saviour thought Martha Luke 10. 41 42. Martha says he thou art careful and troubled about many things but there is one thing needful and Mary hath chosen the better part And what was that one thing needful that Mary had chosen but to sit at Christ's Feet and hear his word that she might do it 2. You who pretend you have no leisure for reading the Scriptures do not many of you find time enough for worthless impertinent matters if not also for such as are hurtful Do you not spend hour after hour in light and trifling discourse Have you not time for Feasts and merry mettings for Cards and Dice for Taverns and Play-Houses How many morning hours more than need do many persons spend in their Beds or in attiring themselves when they get up Who cannot find one hour to spare for studying the will of God. And are these matters of such great concernment 3. Many of you who seem to spend your time to better purposes what are the great businesses you lay it out upon What but to heap up riches and to raise your fortunes in the World And are these matters of such weight that they deserve to be put in the ballance against your everlasting concernments Is it more necessary to leave a rich Heir behind you than to enrich your Souls with the treasures of Divine Knowledge and Grace when God shall call you to your great Accounts will he think you take this for a good Plea Lord my time was all little enough for the getting of such an Estate and therefore I pray thee have me excused for neglecting to study thy Word 4. You who can find no time for enquiring into the word of God consider seriously That you must shortly find a time to die in When death comes it will not be put off to a more convenient season but will force you whether you will or no to be at leisure and will effectually convince you that you had time enough had you but had hearts to use it for acquainting your selves with the Holy Scriptures For if you be not then quite besotted as many persons are by the long course of a sensual worldly life and by God's just judgment upon them these and such like will be your sad resentments I am now going to make my appearance before the great and righteous Judge of all the World and what shall I say who have had so little respect to his Word by which I must be judged that I have not vouchsafed to read it Can I say that I had not leisure I cannot be so impudent when I found time not only for a thousand impertinent trifles but for my Vices O that I had spent that time in devout meditation on the Law of God that I mis-spent in sensual Pleasure or in heaping up of Riches O that that time had been laid out in beautifying and adorning my Soul with Divine Grace that was laid out in enquiring after Fashions in getting fine Cloaths and in dressing my Body A la mode But woe and alas these wishes are vain and to no purpose It is now too late the time is past and will never return again Consider therefore 5. That the true reason why you do not find time to read the Bible is not want of leisure but want of inclination and affection to it You can find nothing there that sutes with your carnal and worldly Appetites The thoughts of God and of the things of another World are such as you can take no pleasure in and the gross and sensual entertainments of this World are the only things you have a relish for But then consider withal that unless the temper of your Souls be changed before you die unless you become new Creatures and get a taste and relish for the things above you are not so much as capable of entering into the Kingdom of Heaven FINIS