Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A56691
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Search the Scriptures a treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books : with directions to them therein : in three parts.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing P835; ESTC R23033
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72,298
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205
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not only the Vnlearned but the Vnstable also wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction II. VNSTABLE WHO those are is now easier to determine if what hath been said of the other be admitted They are such as do not stedfastly believe what they have learnt who having entertained the Truth do not stick to those Principles of Natural Light and plain Revelation nor are setled in them but sometimes believe them and sometimes question or disbelieve them Such persons the same St. Paul also describes in the Christian Church who were tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine and could six no where but rolled in uncertainty from one Opinion to another till they lost themselves in Infidelity IV. Eph. 14. The Principles they had received were floating in their mind and never came to any certain constant resolution which made them apt on all occasions to pervert the Scriptures according as their own Fancy or the confident suggestion of some bold Seducer inclined them For some men deliver the vainest Conceit with such an assurance and earnest Zeal that they may be well compared to a violent blast which carries those along with it who are not setled and confirmed in their Belief I may make many more words about this but I shall scarce make it plainer and therefore I will not endeavour it But now desire you to mind what course these words thus explained direct us to take that we may be preserved from abusing the liberty we have of consulting on all occasions with the Oracles of God There is some Learning you see required to the understanding of the Holy Scriptures But you need not go far to seek it for it consists only in the knowledge of such Natural Truths as are ingraven upon our own minds and of those plain Doctrines of Christianity which are revealed in God's Word so clearly that there is no Controversie about them especially of the great Design of Christianity which St. John expresses in this short Sentence These things write I unto you that ye sin not This is very solid and deep Learning to know that the first and chief End of Divine Writings is to teach us to live well and the next follows in the next words of St. John 1. II. 1. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous c Be not discouraged if contrary to the grent Design of Christianity you fall into sin but hope for Mercy through the Propitiation made by Christ Jesus who will intercede for the sius of those who heartily make this their main design and business not to sin Which Truths of both sorts we must take some pains to six in our rainds and root in our hearts that our belief of them may not be shaken by any other perswasion whatsoever much less by any sudden conceit which starts up in our minds or is suggested to us by others And the way to do that is to live by them for nothing settles knowledge so much as saithful practice according to it especially when we are setled in this practice For those St. Peter calls unstable Souls in the Chapter before this v. 14. apt to be beguiled and insnared who had not arrived at a setled resolution and an habitual course of well-doing Now when this is done which must be our first Work there is but one Rule which I shall propose because if well followed it comprehends all in it to make our reading the Holy Scriptures safe and secure Which is this Never to admit any Interpretation of Scripture from others or fasten any sense upon them our selves which contradicts those known Truths which we have learned and in which we are fixed as the undoubted Mind and Will of God They must be the measure of all the rest by them we must judge of all things whether they be true or false Whatsoever overthrows them and will not consist with them must be rejected It must not make us doubt of them but they must make us conclude it is a safe Interpretation And on the other side whatsoever agrees with them though it should happen not to be the proper meaning of a place of Scripture into which we inquire it can do no harm if it be entertained And here now I shall do these three things First Show how we are to use this Rule Secondly How necessary it is to keep to it Thirdly How readily thereby we may salve many seeming difficulties in the Holy Scripture at least pass by them safely if we observe it I. Concerning the first I shall only say these two things I. First That we must never admit any Interpretation on a sudden till we have examined how it agrees with the Principles of known and undoubted Truth Fancy will be suggesting things to us and if we be not attentive will sometimes insinuate very absurd Notions into our Belief Here therefore our care and labour is required to bring along with us to the reading of Holy Scripture such a sense of God and of our known Duty to him and of the end and intention of Religion that it may be ready at hand to correct our extempore conceits and apprehensions which will be forward to mislead us And if they represent any thing to us which makes Him unjust or unmerciful if they plainly lead us to negligence and carelesness in our Duty if they strike at the end of the Commandment which is Charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned we must as suddenly lay them aside as they obtrude themselves upon us For that cannot be the Mind of God which crosses the Natural Notions we all have of Him or thwarts the plain Revelations He hath made of his blessed Nature and Will or tends to make us less diligent in his service less zealous of good works unto which we are created and formed in Christ Jesus that we should walk in them II. Ephes 10. And we are all concerned to watch carefully lest any thing of this kind insinuate it self to the high dishonour of Almighty God and the infinite hazard of our immortal Souls And to watch not only when we are reading the Holy Scriptures but II. Secondly At all other times we must use due care lest our thoughts lead us to form any Opinions which are contrary to the known Principles of Humanity and Christianity The thoughts of men are restless and are apt to cast themselves into a thousand shapes and frame innumerable conceits Now if we let any settle in our minds which agree not with the Truths I have often named they will not fail to be intermedling when we read the Scriptures and draw it to speak in their favour contrary to its meaning There is no private Opinion which we have received but we are naturally desirous to have it justified and confirmed and therefore we had need take care to entertain none that are inconsistent with Piety for they will be sure to catch at every
with there unto this end and not think we know it well till we see how we may be made better thereby I cannot express this in fewer or more proper words than Erasmus hath done long ago in more places of his Works than one particularly in his Dedication of his Paraphrase on St. Matthew to the Emperour Charles the V. Since the Evangelists wrote the Gospel to every body I do not see why every body should not read it And I have so handled it that the most illiterate may understand it Now it will be read with the greatest profit if when any man takes it in his hand it be with this mind ut seipso reddatur melior c. that he may be rendred better than himself and do not accommodate the Gospel to his own affections but correct his own life and all his desires by the Rule of the Gospel I conclude this with that Saying of Seneca In the same plat of ground the Ox seeks for grass the Hound seeks for a Hare and the Stork for a Snake and just so it is with those that read the same Scripture wherein one seeks himself and another seeks the World one studies that is to please himself with the History of ancient Times another to furnish himself with the knowledge that belongs to his Profession but he alone reads it as he ought who therein seeks for God and desires to be filled with the knowledge of his Will that he may walk before him in all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work I. Coloss 9 10. IV. And whosoever he is that designs this great End and comes to learn to be good with an honest mind and heart let him be careful to observe one Rule more which is To study and well digest the first Elements of Christ's Religion For as he will never read nor write exactly that doth not learn to spell truly and he must understand syllables before he understands words and sentences so he will never find the saving Power of the Gospel thoroughly working on his Spirit that keeps not the first Truths always in his mind and deeply rooted in his Heart The prime Principle of our Faith is That Jesus is the Son of God that He speaks from Heaven to us the unerring Will of our Creator The Gospel will not have any efficacy upon us unless we carry this along in our thoughts when we apply our selves to study it that this is the Voice of God this is the Mind and Will of Him that made us how shall we escape if we turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven to us This if we carry in mind while we read the Scriptures they will over-awe us and make us have Grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear We shall not dare to read them as we do some humane History wherein we are not all concerned but with attention with seriousness and with diligence tracing the Lord Jesus as pious Disciples of his in every step observing what he said and what he did And thus seeking and searching and hunting after Him every where as Erasmus his words are in his Preface to his Annotations on the N. T. we shall find in that most simple and rude Scripture the ineffable Counsel of celestial Wisdom we shall see in that foolishness of God if we may so speak which at first sight appears mean and contemptible that which far excels all humane prudence though never so sublime and admirable And the next Principle is like to it viz. That the Lord Jesus will come to judge the World in righteousness according to his Gospel This if we thought of that we shall be judged and have Sentence passed upon us by this Rule we could not but lay it to heart and square our life by it Therefore let these first Principles of Faith be strongly sixed in our mind and always be in our thoughts and let us think we have as much use of them as he that reads hath of his Letters which are the first Elements of Learning Then for the Principles of Practice this is the prime the chief the most fundamental in the whole Gospel He that will be my Disciple must deny himself forsake all and take up his Cross and follow me This our Saviour tells his Disciples again and again upon several occasions X. Matth. 38. XVI 24. IX Luke 23. XIV 27 33. In the last of which places he lets them know that it is as foolish to think of being a Christian without learning this Lesson as it is for a man to begin the building of a Tower before he hath computed the Charge or for a Prince to undertake a War without considering both his own force and the strength of his Opposer The sense of which two Parables our Lord summs up in these words So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple In which few words we have this account made to our hands as a great Doctor of ours speaks that e're we can hope to be built up in the Faith of Christ or safely ingage in the War against the Devil the World and the Flesh we must make over our interest in all that is dear unto us here and resign it up to our Lord Christ holding nothing so precious as his Love and his Salvation That is the meaning of this Lesson We must not prize any thing so much as the Mercy Grace and Favour of God in Christ Jesus All the contentments of this life and life it self must not weigh so much with us as God's good esteem of us his affection to us the Honour Glory and Immortality that Christ hath promised us When we have once learnt this and have it by heart there will be no difficulty in learning all the rest The immediate result of it will be an unfeigned feigned assent to the truth and goodness of all that Christ the Prince of Life hath revealed unto us and an uniform obedience to his Holy Will in all things For then there will be Nothing left to oppose him Nothing to gainsay him no interest no head-strong affection and desire to resist the impulsions of Divine Truth whose natural property is to incline and sway the Soul to all kinds and to every part of true goodness It is our duty then to ruminate upon these things over and over again to repeat these Lessons continually to our selves till they become familiar to us and have seated themselves in our hearts not thinking we know them till we feel them nor imagining we feel them to purpose till we be transformed into them That is an excellent Saying of the Hebrews He that learns the Law and doth not repeat it is like to him that sows his seed and never reaps nor binds it into sheaves that he may carry it home into his Barn And this He that repeats his Lesson an hundred times is not so wise as he that repeats it an hundred