he shews by the Author thereof two waies First Negatively that the Scriptures are not of mans invention For the prophecy saith he came not in old time by the will of man Secondly Affirmatively that the Holy Ghost was the Authour of them But holy men of God saith he spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But some man may say Indeed the Apostle saith thus but how doth he prove it He saith as St. Paul doth that the Scriptures are inspired of God 2 Tim. 3.16 but how doth he prove it When Aristotle that great profound Philosopher saw the books of Moses and read what he wrote about the Creation of the world he misliked his Books because he proved not that which he wrote Hic omnia dicit nihil probat This man saith he saith every thing but he proyes nothing But we are to remember that though we may doubt of that which men say because all men are lyars as the Scripture saith and so need proofs to consume their sayings yet the Scripture being the Word of God is of it self sufficient to credit and need not any proof for the confirmation of it The Jewes have a saying that the Law doth not need any fortification in regard that God was the Authour of it and so God being the Authour of the whole Scripture it needs no fortification or proof to strengthen it but whatsoever we find written therein we need make no question of the truth thereof but are bound to believe it True may some say if we were assured that the Scriptures are the Word of God that God not man was the Author of them then we need make no question of the truth of those things which we find therein But how shall we know them to be Gods word and that no other was the Authour of them Which because it is the summe of that which the Apostle delivers in these words I purpose briefly to handle this question How a man may know and be fully assured that the Scriptures must needs be the word of God Concerning which question there is a great controversie between us and the Church of Rome They say that the onely Testimony of the Church is sufficient to perswade us that the Scripture is the Word of God and that if it were not for the Testimony of the Church we could not give any credit to it We say that the Scripture is known to be Gods Word by the inward Testimony of Gods Spirit and that without this Testimony to perswade us hereunto the testimony of the Church and of all other whatsoever is insufficient Titubabit sides nostra si Scripturae vacillet autoritas August de Doct. Christ lib. 1. cap. 37. Our faith will stagger saith St. Augustine if the authority of the Scripture stand not firme But how can the authority of the Scripture stand firme if it be built onely upon so weak a foundation as the testimony of man For the Church is subject to errour both in doctrine and manners and therefore this testimony may deceive us But we require an infallible proof for the certainty of the Scriptures They say that the Testimony of the Church is infallible and when we wil have them to prove it they prove it thus because it is the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 as the Scripture tells us Thus if a man doubt of the authority of the Scripture to prove it they send him to the testimony of the Church and while he doubts of the truth of the testimony of the Church to prove it they send him back again to the Scripture But if the Church be sufficient to perswade a man that the Scriptures are the word of God how comes it to passe that Turks Insidels who have often heard this testimony of the Church are not yet perswaded of the truth of the Scriptures How many thousands of Jewes are now living in Italie and many of them in Rome who deny the Gospel and are not yet perswaded that Christ is come If the onely Testimony of the Church be sufficient why make they not proof thereof upon them that the World may see the virtue and efficacy of it But we know experience tells them daily to their faces that they cannot do it and if you ask them the reason they can give none but this because of the blindness and unbelief of the Jewes why therefore say we that that which is able to assure a man that the Scripture is Gods word must be able to illuminate his understanding and to give him faith that he may believe it but this is onely the work of Gods spirit There is nothing more ordinary among the Prophets then when they delivered Gods vvord to the People to tell the People that it was Gods vvord which they delivered Heare the word of the Lord saith Esay 1.10 The word of the Lord came unto me saith Jeremie 1.4 and thus every one of the Prophets from the first to the last do testifie that they delivered the vvord of God Esay 53.1 But who hath believed our report saith Esay so that where there was one that believed it there were many that did not and therefore if neither the vvord it self nor the testimony of the Prophets concerning the vvord could perswade them that it was the vvord of God much lesse is the testimony of the Church sufficient when St. Paul preached at Phylippi Acts 16. there were many that heard him but it is said there of Liddia onely that God opened her heart so that she attended unto that which he spake Acts 16.14 now if she could not so much as attend unto those things which St. Paul delivered unlesse that God had first opened her heart much lesse could she have believed that that which he spake was the vvord of God but by the inward operation of Gods spirit The Word is sometimes called a light because it is lightsome in it self as the Sunne but as the Sunne though it be never so lightsome yet it cannot be discerned by those that are blind So the Word though in it self it be never so glorious yet it is not apparent to us till our hearts be opened The Word is sometime compared to seed because it is fruitfull like the seed that is sowen but as the seed which is sowen cannot bring forth increase but by the influence and virtue which it receiveth from Heaven no more is the word fruitfull and effectual in us till God by his spirit give a blessing unto it The word is not unlike the poole in Jerusalem whereof there is mention John 5. The poole though it cured all outward Diseases yet it had not this virtue but then onely when the Angell did stir the waters the word though it be the means to cure our inward infirmities yet it cannot do it but onely by the motion of Gods spirit Now the first Disease which is to be cured is out spiritual blindnss whereby we are
not to the wicked We have heard then the thing that is proclaimed that the wicked can have no peace no peace with God no peace with the creatures no peace with men no peace with themselves their vvant of the first their want of peace with God being the cause that they want the rest and have no peace with others Doct. And from hence we may observe That there can be no security to those who continue in their sinnes For how can they have any security who are not at peace with God but have him for their enemy God is never enemy to any but onely for sinne sin is that which incenses his wrath and provokes him to punish them Esay 63. therefore saith the Prophet Esay 63. They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them And the Apostle to the same purpose Rom. 1. The wrath of God saith he is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousnes and ungodlinesse of men Rom. 1 13. When therefore we see Gods wrath break forth against any place as ye know he hath many wayes revealed of late against this Land by that heavy visitation of Plague and Pestilence whereby he swept away so many thousands by hot burning-Feaver and other grievous diseases in the most places by unseasonablenesse of weather and immoderate showers by suffering the enemy to give us the foile and to have the better of us and many other wayes we may well be assured that our sins have provoked him and if we repent not these are but the fore-runners of greater judgements God is not easily provoked to anger but many times beares a long time with sinners that by his forbearing them he might draw them to repentance but if they go on he will more and more manifest his wrath against them which as their sinnes increase growes further and further like fire which first takes hold of one house and then goes to another He powres not out his whole Viall of his wrath at once but by degrees the former judgements making way for the latter the lesse for the greater first making some smart that others may amend which if they do not his wrath will break forth upon them altogether So we see he dealt with Pharaoh God brought sundry plagues upon him and his people yet the latter were more fearfull and grievous then the former and when none of those judgements which he had powred upon them would make them take warning in the end he drowned them all in the Red-Sea together So when our Saviour Math. 24 had forthtold many judgements that should come upon Jerusalem for their contempt of the Gospel and for their refusing and rejecting of grace when it was offered unto them he adds this That the end is not yet and that all these are but the beginnings of sorrows as they found afterwards by wofull experience For in the end vvhen he had many wayes plagued them before and they were ne're the better he powr'd out his wrath in full measure upon them and brought utter desolation upon them all They might have understood by the former punishments which were the beginning of their sorrowes that there were greater coming except they prevented them as when a man sees the smoke breaking out of the house he may know there is sire which will break forth into a flame if it be not looked to in time And so may we we may understand by Gods former judgements that there are greater hanging over our heads except we prevent them by unfeigned repentance Let every one therefore in the feare of God turn unto him by true humiliation assuring our selves that as long as we continue impenitent in our sinnes we make God our enemy and so can have no peace And thus much for the thing that is here proclaimed That there is no peace to the wicked I come now briefly to the person that proclaims it the Prophet from the mouth of the Lord Thre is no peace to the Wicked saith my God Doct. The Prophet proclaiming this fearfull doome against the wicked he shewes that he is but Gods Herald that he doth not proclaime it in his own but the Lords name and that it was God that spake by him And from hence we may observe That it is God that speakes by the mouth of his Messengers and that the Message which they deliver is not theirs that bring it but Gods that sent it Which serves for the instruction both of Gods Ministers and of those that hear them That Ministers are to deliver nothing but the Word of God that they may be able to say as the Prophet here saith saith my God And as St Paul saith That which I delivered unto you I received from the Lord. Non valet haec ego dicâ— haec tu dicis sed haes dicit dominus It is not sufficient saith St Augustine to say I say thus or thus thou sayest unlesse we can say the Lord saith thus That while we deliver no more then that which is agreeable to the Scripture we may be sure we deliver Gods Message and that we speak that which God puts into our mouths Secondly This serves to instruct the hearers that they must make account that they hear the Lord while they hear his Messengers Therefore it is that the faithfull say Esay 2. Come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his ways as making account that they were taught by God while they were taught by his Ministers He saith our Saviour Luke 10.16 1 Thes 2.13 Luk. 10. that heareth you heareth me And therefore St. Paul commends the Thessalonians 1 Thes 2. that when he preacht among them they heard what he delivered not as the word of man but as the Word of God Ye know when a Cryer doth make Proclamation in the Princes name the Proclamation is to be heard not as his that utters it but as his that sent it Now Ministers are as it were Christs Heralds to proclaime and make known his will unto us which while they Proclaime we must make account that we hear him while we hear them And therefore as this serves to shew their folly who make the lesse account of hearing the Word because they are but men like themselves that deliver it so it likewise serves to reprove those who are offended with Ministers when they reprove their sinnes For what reason hath any man to be offended with the Messenger for the Message lie brings seeing he speaks not in his own name but in his that sent him and it is not his but his Lords Message FINIS The Ninth SERMON 2 PETER 1.21 For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost THe scope of the Apostle in these words is this to shew us the infallible truth of the Scriptures And this
would prophane the Name of God by swearing as they would have had him by the fortune of Casar So hainous a sinne was it thought by this Martyr to swear by the creatures If it be objected That the Scripture maketh mention of some holy men that have sworn by the creatures as that Joseph swore by the life of Pharaoh Gen. 42.16 2 King 2.4 Gen. 42.16 and that Etisha swore by the soule of Eliah 2 King 2.4 The answer is That either they are not oaths but onely vehement obtestations as some Divines do hold or if they be oaths yet because they are contrary to the Word of God that we are not to imitate their examples but we may say of them as St. Angustine said in another case Haec quidem in Scripturis santis legimus non ideò tamen quia facta credimus facienda creáamus ne duns passins sectamur exempla violemus pracepta We read saith he indeed of such examples in the Scriptures not that because we believe they vvere done we should therefore believe they may lawfully be done left so we violate the commandement of God vvhile that vve seek to imitate the examples of men But thus much likevvise for the object of an oath I come novv to the conditions Thou shalt swear in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first condition vvhich is required in an oath is that we swear in truth God to inflame us the more vvith the love of Truth is called in the Scripture Deut. 32.4 John 14.6 John 15.26.1 Tim. 3.15 the God of Truth Our Saviour calls himselfe the truth the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of truth Gods Word is called the Scripture of truth and his Church is called the pillar of truth To note unto us That they who are Members of his Church they who are instructed in his holy Word they who are led by his holy Spirit they who are redeemed by his Son and adopted by God to be his children they of all others are to stand for the truth to imbrance it in their hearts to testisie it in their words and when occasion requires to confirme it in their oaths And to this end God hath given us his sacred Name as a Seal to ratifie and confirme the truth that in matters of importance the truth vvhereof cannot otherwise be known but by taking an oath vve might use Gods Name and call God as a vvitnesse to the truth of our speech Whensoever therefore vve take an oath vve must be sure that the matter be true vvhich vve swear otherwise vve commit a most bainous sin in calling God as a vvitnesse to that vvhich is false And vvhereas an oath is of two sorts either assertory of things that vve affirme or promissory of things vvhich vve promise to performe vve must be sure that in them both we do swear the truth For if either vve doubt of the truth of the matter or have not a full purpose to performe our promise in taking such an oath vve for-swear our selves There are some that vvill make conscience of an assertory oath and vvill be sure they sweare nothing but that vvhich they know to be the truth yet for keeping their promise they make no great reckoning though they have bound themselves by oath for the performance thereof But every single promise if the thing be lawfull vvhich a man hath promised doth bind a man conscience to the performance of it and when an Oath is added there is a double bond And therefore it is said Heb. 6.17 That God widing more abundantly to shew the stablenesse of his counsell to the heirs of promise bound himself by an Oath that so saith he by two immutable things namely the promise which he had made and the Oath which he had taken we might have strong consolation So that taking of an Oath doth bind a man doubly to the performance of his promise Nay if that a man have once taken an Oath though he were induced thereunto by fraud and deceit yet the thing being lawfull he is bound to performe it And this we may see by the example of that Oath which was made to the Gibeonites Josh 9.19 for vvhen the Gibiâ—nites came craftily to the Jewes as though they had been men of a far country and had brought them to swear that they would not hurt them and the Iewes knew afterwards who they were and therefore were offended that they should be spared yet Ioshua and the Princes dia save their lives in regard of the oath which they had made unto them And because Saul afterwards brake this oath by destroying the Gibeonits there was a famine in the land for the space of three years and till seven of Sauls Sonnes were bang'd for this fact God was not appeased So grievous a sinne is the breach of an Oath in the sight of God And therefore whensoever we take an Oath we must alwayes have an eye to this first condition that we swear in truth Now there are two things contrary to the truth of an Oath First fraudulent and deceitfull swearing when we take an Oath with an intent to deceive them unto whom we sweare pretending one thing and intending another Such an Oath was that which Cleomenes took who having made a truce with his enemies for certaine dayes in the meane time set upon them perfideously in the night pretending that the truce was made onely for the dayes Such an Oath was that which we read of in Theodoret. A woman with child was hired by some to Father her child upon Eustathius the Bishop of Antioch The woman being examined and put to her Oath swore that Eustathius of Antioch was the Father of it whereupon the Bishop was deposed and banisht She afterwards falling into grievous sicknes confessed that she had wrongfully accused the Bishop and yet denied that she was forsworn because howsoever she pretended the Bishop yet she meant it not of him but of another in the City of the same name And such an Oath was that which was taken by Lasus vvhen he had stolne a fish out of a Fish-mongers shop as we see in Atheneus For Lasus having stoln it another received it both denyied it being both brought before the Magistrate put to their oath Athen. deipnos Lasus swore thus that he neither had it nor knew any other that stole it the other swore thus that he neither stole it nor knew any other that had it because he himself had it and Lasus stole it These are fraudulent and deceitful Oaths Secondly Contrary to swearing in truth is false swearing or perjurie when a man takes an Oath and yet knows that that which he swears is false And this hath been alwayes accounted both before God and man a most horrible odious and damnable sin Lying of it self is a heinous sinne and therefore called Prov. 12.22 an abomination to the Lord because that God who is the God of truth cannot but hate and abhorre