Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A61806
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The lay-Christian's obligation to read the Holy Scriptures
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Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing S5934; ESTC R20560
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25,603
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42
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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
the more solemn seasons even in their worldly businesses and Recreations should intermix some serious thoughts of it to season them withal At least That they should be often in this sort of exercise and never suffer any long space of time to pass wholly without it And to shew how highly God valu'd this Commandment he promised the greatest Reward to the diligent Observers of it Of all the Promises of the Jewish Law that of long life was the most desirable and therefore length of days Prov. 3. 16. is placed by Solomon in the right hand of Wisdom as having the preeminence of Riches and Honour And this God promised the Jews both for themselves and their Children after them to quicken their obedience to this Commandment Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and Deut. 11. 18 19 20 21. in your Soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand c. That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children in the land which the Lord sware unto your Fathers to give them as the days of Heaven upon the Earth In succeeding times the same Duty is inforc'd by David Psal 1. 3. Psal 19. 7 8 9 10 11. Prov. 6. 22 23. Prov. 8. 2 3. and Solomon with great variety of powerful motives taken from the excellency of the Laws themselves and the inestimable benefits that do accrue to Men by the study and practice of them And as God enjoyn'd this to the Jews so in obedience to his Command we find That in the days of our blessed Saviour the reading of the Scriptures was the common practice of that People That question he frequently put to them have ye not read plainly implies that they had read the Scriptures Yea That Women were then so learned in the Scriptures as to be able to instruct their Children therein for S. Paul tells us That Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures from a Child which because he could 2 Tim. 3. 16. not learn from his Father who was a Heathen his so early instruction in the knowledge of them was owing to his Grand-mother Lois and his Mother Eunice whose faith 2 Tim. 1. 5. we find before commended For the Scriptures of the new Testament 1. As it is certain That at the first writing of them they were read by the People For S. Paul speaking to such says We write 2 Corinth 1. 13. none other things to you than what you read And again When ye read saith he to the Ephesians Ye may understand Ephes 3. 4. my knowledge in the mystery of Christ And 2. As it is certain That the directing them to Laymen was a virtual command to them to read them So 3. No injunction can be more full to this purpose than that in the words of my Text. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all Wisdom Think it not enough to give it entertainment now and then as you do to a stranger but let it dwell in you and that not sparingly but so plentifully that you may thereby abound in all Spiritual Wisdom III. That the People are obliged to acquaint themselves with the Holy Scriptures will further appear if we consider the subject matter of them That being such as concerns the People as well as the Priests Should the King put forth a Declaration of his Will and Pleasure which concern'd all States and orders of Men within his Dominions would it not be the Duty of his Lay-Subjects no less than of his Clergy to enquire into it the case is not unlike in the matter now before us Whether we consider the Doctrines the Precepts the Promises or the Threatnings contained in the Holy Scripture we shall find that all Men People and Priests learned and unlearned have a common concern in them 1. For the Doctrines Every Man that is baptized hath obliged himself by Vow to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And every Man doubtless is concern'd in all those Doctrines which he hath so solemnly Vowed to believe Yea had he never made any such Vow yet all those Doctrines the belief of which is necessary to Salvation he is as much concern'd to believe as he is to be saved and by necessary consequence to acquaint himself with them for can a Man believe that which he doth not know Some Men I know tell us that a Man may That though he know not one Article of the Creed yet if he believes all that the Church believes he may be said to believe them all because the Church believes them But if this be so then a meer Heathen who never so much as heard of Christ may be a right Catholick Believer for since he believes in the gross whatsoever God hath revealed he may by the same way of believing be said to believe That Jesus is the only Son of God that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost c. because these are such Articles as God hath clearly revealed 2. For the Commandments of God Lay-men are concern'd to know them because they are concern'd to do them they being no less the rule of their practice than they are of Clergymens Let it be shew'd that any one Command of the Moral Law given by Moses did not extend to every Jew Or that any one Command of the Christian Law deliver'd by our Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount does not oblige every Christian and we shall then grant that those persons who are not bound to obey them are no way oblig'd to make enquiry after them The Clergy of the Church of Rome in their Catechisms for the use of the vulgar have indeed commonly left out the Second Commandment but the reason is not because they think the People are not concern'd to know it but because it highly concerns themselves to keep the People in ignorance of it because they have taught them to practise so plainly contrary to it 3. The Promises can no less concern Lay-men because they were made on purpose to invite and encourage Men to yield obedience to the Commands unless it may be supposed that the Laity are so forward of their own accord to do their duty that they need no incitement but the Clergy so backward and averse that they will not be brought to it without such powerful Inducements 4. For the threatnings of Divine vengeance in case of Disobedience it must be also granted that the Laity are as much concern'd to know them as the Clergy if it be granted that the Laity are as prone to break the Commandments of God and as hardly restrain'd from sin as the Clergy are which I suppose will not be denied by those persons we now argue against It is needless to proceed to other matters since by what hath been already deliver'd it is manifest enough That the things contain'd in Holy Scripture are not appropriated to Church-men but of such universal concernment that every person of what rank or quality soever