word is not only a light to discover what you ought to do but an help to inable you to do it It is the very means that God appointed to overcome your averseness and assist your weakness And if ever this be effected it must in an ordinary way be by conversing with the Scriptures That Sick Man hath lost his Reason as well as his Health who should refuse to take Physick because if it doth not work it will but make him the worse Why the way to make it work is by taking it So it is a distempered kind of arguing against the word of God the Physick of our Souls that it is mortal and deadly if it doth not work into practice The way to make it work into practice is to take it first into our knowledge 't is true it were a great discouragement if the Scripture only shewed you how much work you have to do what Temptations to resist what Corruptions to mortifie what Graces to exercise what duties to perform and left all that upon your own hands But the Leaves of the Bible are the Leaves of the Tree of Life as well as of the Tree of Knowledge they strengthen as well as inlighten and have not only a Commanding but an assisting Office And this the Scripture doth two ways First It directs where we may receive supplies of ability for the performance of whatsoever it requires It leads thee unto Christ who is able to furnish thee with supernatural strength for supernatural duties His treasury stands open for all concerns and his Almighty Power stands ingaged to assist those who relie upon it Be not discouraged therefore he that finds us work finds us strength and the same Scripture that injoyns us obedience exhibits God's promise of bestowing upon us the power of obeying Thou who workest all works in us and for us Isaiah 26.12 And work out your own Salvation for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do Phil. 2.12 13. Why then should we so complain of hard sayings and Grevious Commandments Have we not God's Omnipotence obliged by promise to assist in the same words wherein we are commanded to obey What saith the Apostle I am able to do all things through Christ strengthening me Phil. 4.13 When in reading the Scripture thou meetest with difficult and rigorous Duties the severity of Mortification the self cruelty of plucking out right Eyes and cutting off right Hands commend they self to these promises of aid and assistance that the same Scripture holds forth and lift up thy heart in that divine Meditation of St. Augustine Lord give what thou Commandest and command what thou pleasest Whilst thou thus duly dependest on Christ's strength and makest use of thine own it is as much his Honour and Office to inable thee as it is thy Duty to perform what he requires Secondly The Scripture as it directs us to rely on the strength of Christ so it is a means that God hath appointed to quicken and excite our own strength and Power to the discharge of those Duties it Discovers Wherefore are those pressing Exhortations and those dreadfull Threatnings every where so dispersed up and down in the Book of God but that when we are slow and dull and drowsie the Spirit may by these as by so many goads rowze us and make us start into Duty Such a spiritual sloath hath benumb'd us that without this quickening we should not be diligent in the Work of the Lord and therefore David prays Psalm 119.88 Quicken me so shall I keep the Testimonies of thy Mouth but yet it is also the word it self that quickens us to the Obedience of the word Psal 119.50 Thy word hath quickened me And indeed if you can come from reading the word that so abounds with Promises with Threatnings with rational Arguments with pathetick Expostulations winning Insinuations importunate Intreaties heroick Examples propounded to our Imitation with all the perswasive Art and Rhetorick that becometh the Majesty of the great God to use if you can read this word and yet find from it no warmth of Affection no quickening to Duty let me tell you you either read it without attending to it or else attend without believing it It is therefore no discouragement from searching and studying the Scriptures that its commands be many and difficult for it directs you whither to go for promised strength and the more you converse with it the more will you find your hearts quickened to a due Obedience of it That 's the first Answer But then secondly Whereas many think that it is better not to know than not to practise we must here distinguish of Ignorance which is of too kinds either invincible or else affected Invincible ignorance is such as is conjoyned with and proceeds from an utter impossibility of right information and it ariseth only from two things First Absolute want of necessary Instruction or Secondly Want of natural capacity to receive it Affected Ignorance is an ignorance under the means of Knowledge and always ariseth from the neglect or contempt of them Such is the ignorance of those who do or may live where the Gospel is preached and where by pains and industry they may arrive to the knowledge of the truth Now here for ever to answer this Objection and to shew you how necessary knowledge is I shall lay down these two particulars First I grant indeed that unpractis'd knowledge is a far greater sin than invincible Ignorance and exposeth to a much sorer Condemnation Hell Fire burns with Rage and meets with fuel fully prepared for it when God dooms unto it an head full of Light and an heart full of Lusts Those who know God's will but do it not do but carry a torch with them to Hell to fire that Pile that must for ever burn them We have a common Proverb That knowledge is no Burthen But believe it if your knowledge in the Scripture be merely Speculative and overborn by the violence of unruly Lusts this whole Word will be no otherwise to you than the burthen of the Law as the Prophets speak a Burthen that will lie insupportably heavy upon you for ever Better far you were born under Barbarism in some dark Corner of the Earth where the least gleame of Gospel-light never shone and where the name of Christ was never mentioned than to have this weighty Book a Book which you have read and known hung about you to sink you infinitly deeper in the Burning Lake than a Mill-stone hung about you can do in the midst of the Sea What St. Peter speaks of Apostates 2 Pet. 2.21 is but too well applicable to the knowing Sinner It had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn aside from the Commandments delivered to them How Better not to have known it Why is there any possibility to escape the Condemnation of Hell without the knowledge of the way of
are giving Alms to others or whilst we are praying to the great God of Heaven and Earth to make frail mortal Men like our selves our Idols which we do whensoever we pray rather that we may be heard and admired by Men than that God should hear us and accept us In the next words our Saviour proceeds in laying down some other Directions concerning the Duty of Prayer and therein he forbids his Hearers to use vain Repetitions in Prayer verse 7. When you Pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathens do Not that all Repetitions in Prayer are vain bablings in the sight of God for our Lord himself Prayed thrice using the same words for so we read Matth. 26. and 44. For doubtless as Copiousness and Variety of fluent Expressions in any usually flow from raised Affections so when those Affections are heightned and raised to an Ecstasy and Agony of Soul in our wrestlings with God in Prayer Ingeminations are then the most Proper and most Elegant way of expressing them doubling and redoubling the same Petitions again and again not allowing God if I may so speak with Holy Reverence so much time nor our selves so much leasure as to form in our minds much more with our Lips to offer up any new requests till by a Holy Violence in wrestling with God we have extorted out of his hands those Mercies and Blessings our Hearts are set upon the suing to him for Vain Repetitions therefore are such as are made use of by any without new and lively Stirrings and Motions of the Heart and Affections at the same time And that which makes a Prayer vain makes a Repetition in Prayer to be vain also Now that is a vain Prayer and we shall certainly find it so when the requests we offer up to God therein are heartless and lifeless For we must know God hath Commanded us to Pray not that he might be excited and moved by hearing the Voice of our Cries in Prayer to give unto us those Mercies and Blessings which he himself was not resolved before hand to bestow upon us but that we our selves might be fitted and prepared to receive from him what he is always ready and willing to confer upon us He requires Prayer from us not that he might be affected therewith for as the Apostle St. James tells us With him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1.17 but that we our selves might have our Hearts raised and affected therewith And therefore the chiefest effect of Prayer being to affect our selves if Prayer it self be not vain neither are Repetitions in Prayer vain if whilst we are spreading the same requests before God we do it with new Affections and Desires No Prayer therefore ought to be accused of idle Babling and vain Repetitions but those that Pray may I fear too often be charged with it And here by the way I desire all those who are offended at or refuse to joyn with the Stated Forms of Prayer that the Church hath appointed to be made use of either in publick or private because the same requests do many times occur therein to keep a strict Eye upon their Hearts and Affections and then the Scruples and Objections that they make will presently be removed for it is much in their own Power to make them to be either vain Repetitions or the most fervent Ingeminations of their most affectionate Desires unto God and the most Spiritual and Forcible part of all their Prayers and Supplications they offer up unto him But then further as our Saviour forbids vain Repetitions in Prayer so he likewise forbids much speaking for they think says our Saviour St. Matth. 6.7 That they shall be heard for their much speaking Now as the former Prohibition doth not exclude all Repetitions in Prayer so neither doth this latter exclude as some Ignorant Persons perhaps who are soon wearied out with the Service of God may be apt to think long Prayers for this would be a flat contradiction to his own practice for it is said in St. Luke 6.12 That he went out into a Mountain to Pray and continued all night in Prayer unto God Some indeed take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayer to signifie the House of Prayer as if our Saviour continued only in such a Dedicated House or Chappel all night according as Juvenal useth the word in quâ te quaero prosencha Yet as it will be hard to prove that the Jews had any such Houses for Prayer besides their Synagogues which were not seated in Desolate whither our Saviour went then to Pray but in Populous Cities and frequented Places So it will be more hard to imagine that our Saviour would continue all night in the House of Prayer if he had not been taken up in the performance of the Duty of Prayer There is therefore a great deal of difference between much speaking in Prayer and speaking much in Prayer for certainly a Man may speak much to God in prayer when yet he may not be guilty of much speaking for there is a compendious way of speaking to speak much in a little and there is a babling way of speaking when by many tedious Ambages and long Impertinencies men pour out a Sea of Words and scarce one drop of Sence or Matter Now it is this last way of speaking unto God which our Saviour here condemns and condemns it justly for it shews either Folly or Irreverence Folly in that it is a sign we do not sufficiently consider what we ask Irreverence in that it is a sign we do not consider of whom we ask and such men are rather to be esteemed talkative than devout But when a man's Soul is full fraught with matter of which if he duly weighs either his Spiritual wants or his Temporal Sorrows and Afflictions he can never be unfurnished to pour out his Soul and with a torrent of Holy Rhetorick lay open his Case before God begging seasonable supplies in suitable expressions certainly he cannot fall under the reproof of much speaking although he may speak much and long for such an one hath much to say and whilst Matter and Affections last let his prayer be an hour long yea a day long yea an eternity long as our Praises shall be in Heaven he is not to be censured for a Babler but hath still spoken much in a little It is true the Wise Man hath Commanded That our words be few in our Addresses to God Eccles 5.2 and he gives a most forcible Reason For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth His Infinite Majesty should therefore over-awe thee from using any rash and vain loquacity But yet this makes not against long prayers for many words may be but a few to express the sentiments of our Souls and none can be too many while the Heart keeps Pace with the Tongue and every Petition is filled with Matter and winged with Affections And whereas our Saviour condemns the Pharisees who devoured Widows Houses
as have in all Ages befallen it Now God never enjoyns us this as our Duty although he lays them upon us as our Burden 2. God's Will of Purpose permits the Evil of Sin for Wise and Gracious Ends that he may bring good out of Evil even those very Sins and Wickedness which his Will of Precept forbids his Will of Purpose permits for if God did not will to permit them there would be no such thing as Sin in the World Secondly Hence ariseth another very remarkable difference that we may effectually resist God's Will of Precept so as to hinder the accomplishment of it but whatsoever we do so it is our Sin and will without repentance be our condemnation So Stephen accuseth the Jews Act. 7.51 You do always resist the Holy Ghost that is by your Practices you do always go contrary to the Commands of God revealed by his Spirit in his Word And were it not for this resisting of the Will of God we should be perfectly holy and blameless But we cannot resist the Will of God's Purpose so as to hinder the Execution of it although sometimes to endeavour it may be so far from Sin as to be our necessary and indispensible Duty For though it may be the Will of God to bring us into Poverty or into Prison or to lay sore Diseases upon us yet it is not only lawful for us but we are obliged as far as lies in us to hinder these Evils of Punishment from befalling us and to preserve our Estates our Liberty our Health and all our outward Comforts by all lawful and allowed ways and means Much more if God should will to permit a Sin in others or in our selves are we bound to hinder the Commission of it for for us to be willing to permit because God is though it be a conformity of our Wills to God's Will of Purpose yet this is not our Rule to walk by And it is a wretched Rebellion against his Will of Precept which alone we are to respect in all our Actions and endeavour to conform our selves unto Doubtless it was God's Will of Purpose that Christ the Lord of Life and Glory should be Crucified but yet the Jews conforming themselves according to this Will were guilty of the most horrid Wickedness that ever was committed in the World for both these we have confirmed to us Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledge of God ye have taken and by Wicked Hands have crucified and slain Although it was by the determinate Counsel and Will of God that Christ should be taken and slain yet nevertheless they were wicked Hands that were imbrued in that precious and inestimable Blood And thus I have shown how the Will of God's Purpose and Precept do differ But yet Secondly Although there be this great difference yet is there no contrariety or repugnancy but a perfect Harmony and Uniformity between them Some have thought that if God wills such a thing should be done as for instance the Crucifying of our Lord and Saviour by his Will of Purpose and yet Wills that it should not be done by his Will of Precept that these two Wills must needs contradict one another and this Argument some do make no small use of to explode the distinction of the Will of God But the Solution is most easie for when Wills are contrary to each other there must be a Willing and a Nilling of the same thing but it is not so here for the Object of God's Will of Purpose is Event but of his Will of Precept Duty Now it is far enough from having any shadow of a contradiction for God to will or permit that to be which he hath willed or commanded us not to do Indeed to will such an Event to be and not to be that such a thing shall be my Duty and shall not be my Duty are contradictions and not to be imputed unto God But to will that such a thing shall eventually be and yet to will that it shall be my Duty to endeavour to hinder it is so far from being a contradiction that it is most apparent and evident and falls out most frequently in our ordinary converse in the World So in the forementioned famous instance of the Death of Christ God willed by his Will of Purpose that it should so come to pass in all the circumstances of it as it was perpetrated but then he willed by his Will of Precept that it should be their Duty not to do it Now certainly there is no contradiction or absurdity that Duty and Event may be quite contrary one to the other unless we could take away all Sin and Authorize all the greatest Villainies that ever were committed under the Sun And thus much for the first Head And having thus seen what the Will of God is The next General is to enquire what Will it is we pray may be done when we say Thy Will be done And here First It is clear that we especially and absolutely pray that the Will of God's Precept may be done and that not only by us but by all Men For this Will of God is the Rule of our Obedience and according to it we ought to conform all our Actions And because we are not sufficient of our selves so much as to think any thing of our selves much less to perform all those various and weighty Duties of Holiness which God hath enjoyn'd us in his Word therefore our Saviour hath taught us to beg of God Grace and Assistanee to enable us to fullfil his Will giving us not only Commands of Obedience but Promises for our Relief and Encouragment instructing us in the Word to crave supplies of Grace from him who hath required Duty from us And indeed there is a great deal of Reason we should pray that his Will of Precept should be done on Earth if we consider First The great Reluctancy and Opposition of Corrupt Nature against it The Law is Spiritual but we are Carnal and sold under sin Rom. 7.4 and in the best of Men there is a Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds that when they would do good evil is present with them and therefore we have need to pray That God would encline our hearts to his Commandments and then strengthen us to obey them That as our Will to good is the effect of his Grace so the effect of our Wills may be the performance of his Will Secondly God's Glory is deeply concern'd in the doing of his Will For it is the Glory of a King to have his Laws obey'd And so is it God's When we profess our selves to be his Subjects and pray that his Kingdom may come it is but fit and rational that we should pray likewise Thy Will be done without which this his Kingdom of Grace would be but meerly Titular For his Word is the Scepter and Law of his Kingdom and if we yield not Obedience to it we do
Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace 6. The Glory is God's and therefore he will deliver us from the Assaults of our Enemies for it is his Honour to protect his own Subjects Q. What observe you from that Particle For ever A. That God and his Attributes are Eternal Q. What is Eternity A. Eternity is a Duration that hath neither Beginning nor End nor Succession of Parts or it is the compleat Possession of an endless Life all at once Q. What collect you hence A. Two things 1. The Duration of God is not to be measured by Days or Years and that he waxeth not elder neither hath continued longer this Day than from the beginning of Time 2. That in strict propriety of Speech God onely is and that it is onely allowable for want of Expressions to say that he either was or shall be and therefore he calls his Name I am Exod. 3.14 I am hath sent me unto you Q. How prove you that God is Eternal A. Both by Scripture and Reason Q. What Scriptures prove the Eternity of God A. Several especially Psalm 102.25 26 27. Thou art the same and thy Years shall have no End Psal 90.2 From everlasting to everlasting thou art God 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King eternal immortal be Honour and Glory Q. How do you demonstrate the Eternity of God by Reason A. There must of necessity be a first Cause of all things But that which is the first Cause of all things cannot be made by any and therefore is from everlasting Neither can it cease to be because it is not dependent on any and therefore must be to Everlasting Q. What Duties doth the serious Consideration of God's Eternity oblige us to A. 1. To venerate and adore so great and inconceivable an Attribute 2. To leave the Care of all future Events whether concerning our own private or the publick Interests to his Eternal Wisdom and Providence who for ever lives to mind them 3. To give unto him the same Honour Respect and Service as his Saints have done in former Generations Q What encouragement hath our Faith to expect the Mercies we pray for from the Consideration of God's Eternity A. That because he is the same God who in all Ages hath heard the Prayers of those who trust in him therefore we may be assured that if we have the same Dispositions and Affections with the Saints of Old we shall obtain the same Mercies and Favours Heb. 1.12 But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail Q. What signifies that Particle Amen which is the End and Close of the Lord's Prayer A. As in the beginning of a Speech it is Assertory and signifies so it is so in the end of it it is Precatory and signifies so be it which denotes our earnest Desires to have our Prayers heard and our Petitions granted Q. What learn you from hence that our Saviour hath taught us to conclude our Prayers with Amen A. I learn two things 1. That we ought to pray with understanding and therefore not in an unknown Tongue for who can say Amen to what he understands not 1 Cor. 14.16 How shall he that occupieth the Room of the unlearned say Amen at the giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest 2. That all our Prayers ought to be presented to God with fervent zeal and affection 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing Q. What is Prayer A. Prayer is an humble representation of our wants and desires to God through the assistance of the Holy Ghost in the Name of Christ for things according to his Will with reference to his Glory Q. What is it to pray by the Spirit or by the assistance of the Holy Ghost A. To pray by the Spirit is to present our requests to God with holy and fervent affections excited in us by the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.26 But the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Q. May those have the Spirit of Prayer who have not the Gift of Prayer A. Yes they may and on the contrary some may have the Gift of Prayer who pray not by the Spirit for they who use prescribed and set Forms of Prayer pray by the Spirit when their Petitions are accompanied with fervent affections stirred in them by the Holy Ghost and again some who are most fluent in conceived Prayer may pray onely from the strength of their natural parts and endowments Q. But doth not the use of Forms damp and quench the Spirit of Prayer A. Forms indeed are too often used formally and so is any other kind of Prayer yet it is the truest Test and the highest Excellency of praying by the Spirit when we are fervent in putting up these requests to God where neither Novelty Variety nor Copiousness of Expressions can be suspected to move our affections but onely the genuine Importance of the matter which we pray for though in prescribed words Q. To whom must our Prayers be directed A. To God onely and not to Saints or Angels Q. How ought we to conceive of God when we pray to him A. As an infinitely glorious wise powerfull and gracious Being whose presence is every where whose providence and goodness is over all things and thus we pray at once to each Person of the ever blessed Trinity Q. May we not particularly address our Prayers to some one Person of the Trinity A. We may especially in those Cases wherein their particular Offices and Dispensations are more immediately concerned Q. What things ought we to pray for A. Onely such as are according to the Will of God 1 John 5.14 That if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us Q. What are those things which are according to the Will of God A. Chiefly spiritual Blessings 1 Thes 4.3 For this is the Will of God even our sanctification that we should abstain from Fornication And for these we ought to pray absolutely and importunately Q. May we not also pray for Temporal Mercies A. We may but as these are promised onely conditionally so we ought to pray that God would be pleased to bestow them upon us if it may stand with his Will and Glory and our good and benefit Q. How must we direct our Prayers to God A. 1. In the Name of Christ trusting onely in his Merits and Mediations for acceptance and answer John 15.16 That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name he may give it you 2. In Faith and Persuasion of being heard James 1.6 But let him ask in Faith nothing wavering Mark 11.24 What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them 3. With Fervency and Affection James 5.16 The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much Q. What ends ought we to propound to our selves in begging Blessings at God's hands A. Chiefly the Glory of God sincerely purposing to improve those Blessings which
Righteousness revealed in the Scriptures No Damnation had been unavoidable without this knowledge yet it had been better they had not known it For here is the Hyperbole of their Misery better they had been Damned than to have known these Truths and this rule of Righteousness and yet turn from the Obedience and practice of it O fearful state O dreadful doom when a simple and genuine damnation shall be reckoned a gain and favour in comparison of that exquisite one which God will with all his Wisdom prepare and all his power inflict on those who knowing the righteous Judgment of God that they who commit such things are worthy of Death do notwithstanding persevere in them He that knew his Masters will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes Luke 12.47 And if I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had Sin but now they have no Cloak for their Sins saith our Saviour John 15.22 The Sin and punishment of those who are invincibly ignorant is as nothing compared to what the knowing Sinners lie under But do not flatter your selves your ignorance is not invincible Are you not called to the knowledge of Christ Do you not read or hear the Scriptures Do you not enjoy Gospel Ordinances and Ministry May you not if you will be but diligent and industrious understand what you are ignorant of Certainly there is nothing that can prove your ignorance invincible unless it be your obstinacy that you will not be prevailed with to be instructed by all the means of Instruction Your Ignorance must therefore be affected Well then attend unto The second particular Affected Ignorance is a greater Sin and will be more sorely punished at the day of Judgment than unpractised knowledge This kind of ignorance is so far from being pleadable as an excuse that it is an aggravation of Mens guilt and will be so of their Condemnation There be but two things that compleat a Christian Knowledge and Practice Both these God doth strictly require Knowledge may be without practice but the practice of Godliness cannot be without knowledge God I say requires them both Now Judge ye which is the greater Sinner he that labours after knowledge though he neglect practice or he that neglects them both He that fulfills some part of God's will or he that fulfills nothing of it Certainly in your own Judgment this latter deserves to be doubly punish'd once for not doing his duty and again for not knowing it when he might Truly it is but just and righteous that God should with the highest disdain and indignation say unto them Depart from me ye Cursed I know you not since they have audaciously said unto him Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The Apostle speaking of God's patience towards Heathens who were invincibly ignorant of the truth tells us Acts 17.30 That the times of this ignorance and yet an ignorance it was that put them upon no less than brutish Idolatry God winked at Ignorant persons in ignorant times whilest as yet the World was destitute of the means of knowledge and darkness over-spread the face of it God connived and winked at But ignorant persons in knowing times God doth not wink at but frown upon I am the more earnest in pressing this because I perceive that vile and rotten principle unworthy of a Christian who is a Child of light and of the day is taken up by many That it is no matter how little we know if we do but practise what we know What a cheat hath the Devil put upon them Hath not God commanded you to know more as well as to practise what you know Is it likely you should practise what you know upon God's command who will not upon his command increase your knowledge And yet this is the usual Plea of profane Men. Ask them why they frequent the publick Ordinances so seldom they will tell you they know more by one Sermon than they can practise But how can such make Conscience of practising who make none of knowing though the same God hath enjoined them both Yea though they cannot practise what they know yet let me tell them that for those who live under the means of Grace and may be instructed if they will it may be as great a Sin to omit a duty out of neglect of knowing it as out of neglect of doing it yea and much greater We should our selves Judge that Servant who while we are speaking to him stops his Ears on purpose that he might not hear what we command him we should I say Judge him worthy of more stripes than he who gives diligent ear to our commands although he will not obey them So it is in this Case Thou who stoppest thine Ears and will not so much as hear what the will of thy Lord and Master is deservest much more punishment than he who takes pains to know it although he doth it not It is damnable not to give God the service that he requires But O Insolence not to give God thy Lord and Master so much as the hearing Hath God sent Man into the World and sent the Scriptures after as Letters of instruction what we should do for him here and will it think'st thou be a sufficient excuse when thou returnest to thy Lord that it is true thou hadst instructions but never opened'st them never looked'st into them What a fearful contempt is this cast upon the great God never so much as to enquire what his will is Whether or no he commands that which is fit and reasonable for us to perform And therefore refuse not to search and study the Scriptures upon pretence that the knowledge of what you cannot fulfill will but aggravate your Sin and Condemnation For be assured of it greater Sin and sorer Condemnation can no Man have than he who neglects the means of knowledge thereby to disoblige himself from practice And again the Scriptures were given to assist us in the performance of those duties which it requires from us They do not only inform the judgment but quicken the will and affections and strengthen the whole Soul to its duty And this is in answer to the first Objection Secondly Some will say the reading of the Scriptures possesseth them with strange fears and fills them with incredible terrors It raiseth up such dreadful Apparitions of Hell and the wrath of God as makes them a terror to themselves To this I Answer First It may be thy condition is such as requires it Possibly thou art in a state of wrath and would'st thou not be under the apprehensions of it Thou art under the guilt of thy Sins and then no wonder that the voice of God should be terrible unto thee It is most unreasonable to hate the word as Ahab hated Micaiah because it prophesieth no good concerning thee Alas What good can it speak as long as thou thy self continuest Evil Secondly It is not so much the Scripture as