blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
great and crying sin yet to oppress the Church to diminish her rents to make her beggerly and contemptible that 's no offence and that though it is not lawful to despise Government yet if it be Church-government that then the case is altered Take heed of that for then God is dishonoured when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven it causes blessings every where but a pitiful a disheartned a discouraged Clergy waters the ground with a water-pot here and there a little good and for a little while but every evil man can destroy all that work whenever he pleases Take heed in the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man then to be an enemy to God's Church All Histories of Christendome and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad threatnings and sad stories of Corah and Doeg and Balaam and Jeroboam and Vzzah and Ananias and Sapphira and Julian and of Hereticks and Schismaticks and sacrilegious and after all these men could not prevail finally but paid for the mischief they did and ended their daies in dishonour and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse 3. In the same proportion you are to take care of all inferiour Relatives of God and of Religion Find out methods to relieve the Poor to accommodate and well dispose of the cures of Souls let not the Churches lye wast and in ruinous heaps to the diminution of Religion and the reproach of the Nation lest the nations abroad say that the Britans are a kind of Christians that have no Churches for Churches and Courts of Judicature and the publick defences of an Imperial City are res sacrae they are venerable in Law and honourable in Religion But that which concerns us most is that we all keep close to our Religion Ad magnas reipublicae utilitates retinetur Religio in civitatibus said Cicero by Religion and the strict preserving of it ye shall best preserve the Interests of the Nation and according to the precept of the Apostle Mark them which cause divisions amongst us contrary to the doctrine that ye have receiv'd and avoid them For I beseech you to consider all you that are true Protestants do you not think that your Religion is holy and Apostolical and taught by Christ and pleasing unto God If you do not think so why do you not leave it but if you do think so why are ye not zealous for it Is not the Government a part of it it is that which immures and adorns and conducts all the rest and is establisht in the 36. Article of the Church in the publick Service-book and in the book of Consecration it is therefore a part of our Religion and is not all of it worth preserving If it be then they which make Schisms against this Doctrine by the rule of the Apostle are to be avoided Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches a word that was never heard before so said the Spanish Jesuite but Christ said otherwise No man having drunk old wine straight desires new for he saith the old is better And so it is in Religion Quod primum verum Truth is alwaies first and since Episcopacy hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing since it hath ever combin'd with Government and hath been taught by that Spirit that hath so long dwelt in God's Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that sayes the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of miracles and as it went away so it return'd again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws suffer no evil tongue to speak against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from Experience and from the wisdom of so many Ages of all your Ancestors and all your Laws lest ye be found to speak against God and neglect the things that belong unto your Peace and get nothing by it but news and danger and what other effects ye know not But Leontinus Bishop of Antioch stroak'd his old white beard and said When this snow is dissolved a great deal of dirty weather will follow meaning that when the old Religion should be questioned and discountenanced the new Religion would bring nothing but trouble and unquietness and we have found it so by a sad experience 4. Ye cannot obey God unless ye do Justice for this also is better then sacrifice said Solomon Prov. 21. 3. For Christ who is the Sun of righteousness is a Sun and a Shield to them that do righteously The Indian was not immured sufficiently by the Atlantick sea nor the Bosphoran by the walls of Ice nor the Arabian by his meridian Sun the Christian Justice of the Roman Princes brake through all inclosures and by Justice set up Christs standard and gave to all the world a testimony how much could be done by Prudence and Valour when they were conducted by the hands of Justice And now you will have a great trial of this part of your Obedience to God For you are to give sentence in the causes of half a Nation and he had need be a wise and a good man that divides the inheritance amongst Brethren that he may not be abused by contrary pretences nor biassed by the Interest of friends nor transported with the unjust thoughts even of a just Revenge nor allured by the opportunities of Spoil nor turn'd aside by Partiality in his own concerns nor blinded by Gold which puts out the eyes of wise men nor couzened by pretended zeal nor wearied with the difficulty of questions nor directed by a general measure in cases not measurable by it nor born down by Prejudice nor abused by resolutions taken before the cause be heard nor over-ruled by National Interests For Justice ought to be the simplest thing in the world and is to be measured by nothing but by Truth and by Laws and by the Decrees of Princes But whatever you do let not the pretence of a different Religion make you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights For Opinions are not but Laws only and doing as we would be done to are the measures of Justice and though Justice does alike to all men Jew and Christian Lutheran and Calvinist yet to do right to them that are of another Opinion is the way to win them but if you for Conscience sake do them wrong they will hate you and your Religion Lastly as Obedience is better than Sacrtfice so God also said I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice meaning that Mercy is the best Obedience Perierat totum quod Deus fecerat nisi misericordia subvenisset
did worse than divorce him from his Church for in all the Roman Divorces they said Tuas tibi res habeto Take your Goods and be gone but Plunder was Religion then However though the usage was sad yet it was recompenced to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince but having served the King in York-shire by his Pen and by his Counsels and by his Interests return'd back to Ireland where under the excellent Conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Vertue But God having still resolv'd to afflict us the good man was forc'd into the fortune of the Patriarchs to leave his Country and his Charges and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land for so the Prophets were us'd to do wandring up and down in sheeps-cloathing but poor as they were the World was not worthy of them and this worthy man despising the shame took up his Cross and followed his Master Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri Et desiderium dulce levat patriae He was not ashamed to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious but so God provided for the needs of his Banished and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted and courage to the persecuted and resolutions to the tempted and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered And here this great man was indeed triumphant this was one of the last and best Scenes of his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last days are the best witnesses of a man But so it was that he stood up in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England First by his Sufferings and great Example for Verbis tantùm philosophari non est Doctoris sed Histrionis To talk well and not to do bravely is for a Comedian not a Divine But this great man did both he suffered his own Calamity with great courage and by his wise Discourses strengthened the hearts of others For there wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome who taking advantage of the Afflictions of His Sacred Majesty in which state Men commonly suspect every thing and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side hoping for ease and finding none flew at Royal Game and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which His most Royal Father the best Man and the wisest Prince in the World had seal'd with the best Blood in Christendom and which Himself suck'd in with His Education and had confirm'd by Choice and Reason and confess'd publickly and bravely and hath since restor'd prosperously Millitiere was the man witty and bold enough to attempt a zealous and a foolish undertaking who addressed himself with ignoble indeed but witty Arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to Him than His Eyes It is true it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock and an Arrow shot against the Sun it could not reach him but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it also and made it fall upon the Shooters head for he made so ingenious so learned and so acute Reply to that Book he so discover'd the Errors of the Roman Church retorted the Arguments stated the Questions demonstrated the Truth and sham'd their Procedures that nothing could be a greater Argument of the Bishops Learning great Parts deep Judgment quickness of Apprehension and Sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome He worte no Apologies for himself though it were much to be wished that as Junius wrote his own Life or Moses his own Story so we might have understood from himself how great things God had done for him and by him but all that he permitted to God and was silent in his own Defences Gloriosius enim est injuriam tacendo fugere quà m respondendo superare But when the Honour and Conscience of his King and the Interest of a true Religion was at stake the fire burned within him and at last he spake with his tongue he cried out like the Son of Croesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed and meddle not with the King His Person is too sacred and Religion too dear to him to be assaulted by vulgar hands In short he acquitted himself in this Affair with so much Truth and Piety Learning and Judgment that in those Papers his Memory will last unto very late succeeding Generations But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler Adversary and a braver Scene for his Contention He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines had studiously declined any more to dispute the particular Questions against us but fell at last upon a general Charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolv'd to out-face us in the Charge But now it was that dignum nactus Argumentum having an Argument fit to employ his great Abilities Consecrat hic praesul calamum calamique labores Ante aras Domino laeta trophaea suo the Bishop now dedicates his Labours to the service of God and of his Church undertook the Question and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them but they did actuate the Schisms and themselves made the first separation in the great point of the Popes Supremacy which was the Palladium for which they principally contended He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the Rights of Kings and Bishops that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age that they impos'd their own Devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles that the Church of England only returned to her Primitive purity that she joined with Christ and his Apostles that she agreed in all the Sentiments of the Primitive Church He stated the questions so wisely and conducted them so prudently and handled them so learnedly that I may truly say they were never more materially confuted by any man since the questions have so unhappily disturbed Christendom Verum hoc eos malè ussit and they finding themselves smitten under the fifth rib set up an old Champion of their own a Goliah to fight against the Armies of Israel the old Bishop of Chalcedon known to many of us replyed to this excellent Book but was so answered by a Rejoinder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry in which he so pressed the former Arguments refuted the Cavils brought in so many impregnable Authorities and Probations and added so many moments and weights to his
then his fingers ends and makes no use of his reason but for ever will be a child he may be deceiv'd in the literal sense of Scripture but then he is not fit to teach others but he that knows words signifie Rhetorically as well as Grammatically and have various proper significations and which of these is the first is not always of it self easie to be told and remembers also that God hath given him reason and observation and experience and conversation with wise men and the proportion of things and the end of the Command and parallel places of Scripture in other words to the same purpose will conclude that since in plain places all the duty of man is contain'd and that the literal sense is always true and unless men be wilful or infortunate they may with a small proportion of Learning find out the literal sense of an easie Moral Proposition will I say conclude that if we be deceiv'd the fault is our own but the fault is so great the man so supine the negligence so inexcusable that the very consideration of humane infirmity is not sufficient to excuse such Teachers of others who hallucinate or praevaricate in this The Anthropomorphites fell foully in this matter and supposed God to have a face and arms and passions as we have but they prevail'd not And Origen was in one instance greatly mistaken and thinking there was no literal meaning but the prime signification of the word understood the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make an Eunuch to his own prejudice but that passed not into a doctrine But the Church of Rome hath err'd greatly in pertinacious adhering not to the Letter but to the Grammar nor to that but in one line or signification of it and Hoc est corpus meum must signifie nothing but Grammatically and though it be not by their own confessions to be understood without divers figures in the whole complexion yet peevishly and perversly they will take it by the wrong handle and this they have pass'd into a doctrine that is against sense and reason and experience and Scripture and Tradition and the common interpretation of things and publick peace and utility and every thing by which mankind ought to be govern'd and determin'd 4. I am to adde this one thing more That we admit in the interpretation of Scripture but one literal sense I say but one prime literal sense for the simplicity and purity of the Spirit and the philanthropy of God will not admit that there should in one single Proposition be many intricate meanings or that his sense should not certainly be understood or that the people be abus'd by aequivocal and doubtful senses this was the way of Jupiter in the sands and Apollo Pythius and the Devils oracles but be it far from the wisdom of the Spirit of God 5. But then take in this Caution to it That although there be but one principal literal sense yet others that are subordinate may be intended subordinately and others that are true by proportion or that first intention may be true for many reasons and every reason applicable to a special instance and all these may be intended as they signifie that is one only by prime design and the other by collateral consequence Thus when it is said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee the Psalmist means it of the eternal generation of Christ others seem to apply it to his birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. Paul expounds it Hebr. 1. of the Resurrection of Christ This is all true and yet but one literal sense primely meant but by proportion to the first the others have their place and are meant by way of similitude Thus we are the Sons of God by adoption by creation by favour by participation of the Spirit by the laver of regeneration and every man for one or other of these reasons can say Our Father which art in heaven and these are all parts of the literal sense not different but subordinate and by participation but more than one prime literal sense must not be admitted 6. Lastly Sometimes the literal sense is lost by a plain change of the words which when it is discover'd it must be corrected by the fountain and till it be so long as it is pious and commonly receiv'd it may be us'd without scruple In the 41. Psalm the Hebrews read My soul hath longed after the strong the living God Deum fortem vivum In the vulgar Latine it is Deum fontem vivum the living fountain and it was very well but not the literal sense of Gods Spirit But when they have been so often warned of it that they were still in love with their own letter and leave the words of the Spirit I think was not justifiable at all And this was observ'd at last by Sixtus and Clement and corrected in their Editions of the Bible and then it came right again The sum is this he that with this moderation and these measures construes the plain meaning of the Spirit of God and expounds the Articles of Faith and the Precepts of Life according to the intention of God signified by his own words in their first or second signification cannot easily be cousen'd into any Heretical Doctrine but his Doctrine will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pure word and mind of God 2. There is another sense or interpretation of Scripture and that is mystical or spiritual which the Jews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Midrash which Elias the Levite calls omne commentarium quod non est juxta simplicem literalem sensum every gloss that is not according to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peschat to the literal sense and this relates principally to the Old Testament Thus the waters of the Deluge did signifie the waters of Baptism Sarah and Agar the Law and the Gospel the brazen Serpent the Passion of Christ the conjunction of Adam and Eve the communion of Christ and his Church and this is called the spiritual sense S. Paul being our warrant Our Fathers eat of the same spiritual meat and drank of that same spiritual rock now that rock was not spiritual but of solid stone but it signified spiritually for that rock was Christ. This sense the Doctors divide into Tropological Allegorical and Anagogical for methods sake and either to distinguish the things or to amuse the persons for these relate but to the several spiritual things signified by divers places as matters of faith precepts of manners and celestial joys you may make more if you please and yet these are too many to trouble mens heads and to make Theology an art and craft to no purpose This spiritual sense is that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the sense that lies under the cover of words Concerning this I shall give you these short Rules that your Doctrine be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and without heretical mixtures and the leaven
there is no further certainty in them than what the one fancies and the other is pleas'd to allow But if the spiritual sense be prov'd evident and certain then it is of the same efficacy as the literal for it is according to that letter by which Gods Holy Spirit was pleas'd to signifie his meaning and it matters not how he is pleas'd to speak so we understand his meaning and in this sense that is true which is affirm'd by S. Gregory Allegoriam interdum aedificare fidem sometimes our faith is built up by the mystical words of the Spirit of God But because it seldom happens that they can be prov'd g. you are not to feed your flocks with such herbs whose virtue you know not of whose wholesomness or powers of nourishing you are wholly or for the most part ignorant we have seen and felt the mischief and sometimes derided the absurdity God created the Sun and the Moon said Moses that is said the extravagants of Pope Boniface the 8th the Pope and the Emperour And Behold here are two swords said S. Peter It is enough said Christ enough for S. Peter and so he got the two swords the temporal and spiritual said the gloss upon that Text. Of these things there is no beginning and no end no certain principles and no good conclusion These are the two ways of expounding all Scriptures these are as the two witnesses of God by the first of which he does most commonly and by the latter of which he does sometimes declare his meaning and in the discovery of these meanings the Measures which I have now given you are the general land-marks and are sufficient to guide us from destructive errours It follows in the next place that I give you some Rules that are more particular according to my undertaking that you in your duty and your charges in the provisions to be made for them may be more secure 1. Although you are to teach your people nothing but what is the Word of God yet by this Word I understand all that God spake expresly and all that by certain consequence can be deduced from it Thus Dionysius Alexandrinus argues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that in Scripture is called the Son and the Word of the Father I conclude he is no stranger to the essence of the Father And S. Ambrose derided them that called for express Scripture for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since the Prophets and the Gospels acknowledge the unity of substance in the Father and the Son and we easily conclude the Holy Ghost to be God because we call upon him and we call upon him because we believe in him and we believe in him because we are baptized into the faith and profession of the Holy Ghost This way of teaching our Blessed Saviour us'd when he confuted the Sadduces in the Question of the Resurrection and thus he confuted the Pharisees in the Question of his being the Son of God The use I make of it is this that right reason is so far from being an exile from the inquiries of Religion that it is the great ensurance of many propositions of faith and we have seen the faith of men strangely alter but the reason of man can never alter every rational truth supposing its principles being eternal and unchangeable All that is to be done here is to see that you argue well that your deduction be evident that your reason be right for Scripture is to our understandings as the grace of God to our wills that instructs our reason and this helps our wills and we may as well chuse the things of God without our wills and delight in them without love as understand the Scriptures or make use of them without reason Quest. But how shall our reason be guided that it may be right that it be not a blind guide but direct us to the place where the star appears and point us to the very house where the babe lieth that we may indeed do as the wise men did To this I answer 2. In the making deductions the first great measure to direct our reason and our inquiries is the analogy of faith that is let the fundamentals of faith be your Cynosura your great light to walk by and whatever you derive from thence let it be agreeable to the principles from whence they come It is the rule of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that prophesies do it according to the proportion of faith that is let him teach nothing but what is revealed or agreeable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime credibilities of Christianity that is by the plain words of Scripture let him expound the less plain and the superstructure by the measures of the foundation and doctrines be answerable to faith and speculations relating to practice and nothing taught as simply necessary to be believed but what is evidently and plainly set down in the holy Scriptures for he that calls a proposition necessary which the Apostles did not declare to be so or which they did not teach to all Christians learned and unlearned he is gone beyond his proportions For every thing is to be kept in that order where God hath plac'd it there is a classis of necessary Articles and that is the Apostles Creed which Tertullian calls regulam fidei the rule of faith and according to this we must teach necessities but what comes after this is not so necessary and he that puts upon his own doctrines a weight equal to this of the Apostles declaration either must have an Apostolical authority and an Apostolical infallibility or else he transgresses the proportion of faith and becomes a false Apostle 3. To this purpose it is necessary that you be very diligent in reading laborious and assiduous in the studies of Scripture not only lest ye be blind seers and blind guides but because without great skill and learning ye cannot do your duty A Minister may as well sin by his ignorance as by his negligence because when light springs from so many angles that may enlighten us unless we look round about us and be skill'd in all the angles of reflection we shall but turn our backs upon the Sun and see nothing but our own shadows Search the Scriptures said Christ Non dixit legite sed scrutamini said S. Chrysostome quia oportet profundius effodere ut quae altè delitescunt invenire possimus Christ did not say read but search the Scriptures turn over every page inquire narrowly look diligently converse with them perpetually be mighty in the Scriptures for that which is plain there is the best measures of our faith and of our doctrines The Jews have a saying Qui non advertit quod supra infra in Scriptoribus legitur is pervertit verba Dei viventis He that will understand Gods meaning must look above and below and round about for the meaning of the Spirit of God is not like the wind