Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	rule_n	tradition_n	unwritten_a	2,845	5	12.5918	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66415	Scripture the rule of faith a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, Febr. 3, 1695/6, being the second of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2722; ESTC R38942	12,524	32

as the Authority is such is our Faith Humane or Divine So that Divine Faith must have Divine Authority and Divine Authority is no other than Divine Revelation delivered at sundry times and in divers manners Written or Unwritten And where there is no verbal Revelation by Persons Divinely Inspired the Written Word is the only Authority that Faith can be resolved into which our Saviour here appeals to and propounds as a means sufficient and in their Circumstances as the only means for ending the Dispute The Question here in Debate was as I observed before Whether Jesus was the Messias prophesied of in the Old Testament This the Jews denied and our Saviour affirms appealing for proof of it to John Baptist to his own Works and to the Scriptures and there he leaves it For this was the old and true way of deciding matters of that nature To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word there is no light in them Indeed in After ages a party of the Jews rose up that taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men that did exalt their Traditions to an equal Authority with the Divine Law and made it equally a fault to transgress them as our Saviour charges it upon them of which more anon But our Saviour shews the invalidity of this and directs them to the Fountain of all Revealed Truth the Holy Scriptures then extant as a Rule sufficient to guide them and of Authority sufficient to determine them And this was the course he at other times took As doth the Young Ruler put a serious Case to him Good Master What shall I do that I may inherit Eternal Life Our Saviour Answers Thou knowest the Commandments Do the Sadduces that denied a Future State and a Resurrection to it contend with our Saviour about it He argues with them from the Scriptures Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures As touching the Resurrection of the Dead have ye not read c. Would he instruct the Disciples in the great Articles of Faith He doth it from those Sacred Oracles Ought not Christ to have suffer'd c. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself In like manner did the Apostles proceed to convince the Jews of their Incredulity So St. Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging That Christ must needs have suffered and risen again and that this Jesus is the Christ So Apollos shewed by the Scriptures That this Jesus was the Christ To this they always remitted them as to a Rule certain and sufficient and without which nothing was to be received as an Article of Faith To a Rule certain called therefore by St. Peter 2. 1 19. A more sure word of Prophecy and which he prefers before a Voice from Heaven And a Rule sufficient that is as St. Paul saith able to make wise unto Salvation and thoroughly to furnish even the Man of God the Teacher unto all good works And when these things were spoken at that time more immediately of the Jewish Canon of the Old Testament they may equally as well be applied to the New which is not only as much the Scripture as St. Peter calls it 2 Pet. 3. 19. as I have before proved but also by the addition of it renders the Old much more intelligible and complete Now there can be no imaginable reason assigned why the Scripture which was then sufficient in all points necessary to Salvation and for resolving of Faith should now be insufficient after the Revelation made by Christ That is that we should be more at a loss with the more clear full and perfect Revelation than they were under the less perfect that what in the last days God Deliver'd and Reveal'd by his Son should be less sufficient to direct us than what he Spoke at sundry times and in divers manners in times past to the Jews by the Prophets And especially considering that there was a time when their Circumstances were much the same with ours which was in the long interval of 400 or 450 Years between the finishing of the Jewish Canon in the Pr●phecy of Malachi with whom Revelation ceased and the appearance of John Baptist In which time they were left as we are wholly to the Written Word of God for their Direction and the Sole Authority they were to rely upon Since then in the Christian Church there is no more need of any Traditionary or Unwritten Word than the Jews had at that time at le●st under the Law and no more proof to be made of it now than there was then it follows that the Scripture is the only Rule in exclusion to all others and what is not contained therein by positive Proof nor by evident Consequence to be deduced from it can no more be of Divine Authority and Obligation to Christians than Unwritten Traditions were then to the Jews This is the true Re●olution of Faith and if our Saviour in a point of such Importance as his being the Messiah put the Case upon this issue we have good reason to think that it is still the true Method of reasoning among Christians and of resolving any Point of Faith and Doctrine necessary to Salvation And therefore supposing we would find out the truth of any Doctrine thus Necessary and Fundamental we must come hither for direction and resolution and if it has no Foundation in Scripture we are to reject it For it is a Rule in the Law Quod Instrum●ntum non dicit nec nos dicere debemus or as it is usually said Where that has not a Tongue to Speak we are not to have an Ear to Hear 'T is then a Doctrine of Men and may be a Tradition of the Elders but is no Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith But grant this yet it has been before yielded that Doubts and Disputes may arise in the Church about the sense of this Written Rule and therefore who shall be the Arbiter to Judge and Determine o● how shall the Doubter be resolved or how shall he be sure of the Sense and Meaning of that which is Disputed Our Saviour here directs what is to be done Search the Scriptures examine and prove all by this Rule He doth not direct them to any speaking Infallible Guide nor to any Church nor Persons into whom their Faith is to be resolv'd but puts them themselves upon the trial of it Whence it follows 2. That every Man is to judge for himself Certainly if ever there were a necessity of an Infallible Judge to Determine points of Controversy to Mens hands it had been in the long Interval before spoken of between the Cessation of Prophecy and the Appearance of our Saviour when there were divers Sects risen up among the Jews continually contending one with another and oftentimes about matters of very great Importance Of which I shall give a few

Scripture the Rule of Faith A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields Febr. 3. 1695 6. BEING THE Second of the LECTURE For this Present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poul●r●y MDCXCVI JOHN V. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me AFTER that our Saviour had Cured the Impotent Man at the Pool Bethesda Ver. 9. the Jews sought to Slay him because he had Healed him on the Sābbathday Ver. 16. And so much the more were they bent upon this as in Vindication of himself he had said also that God was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 own proper Father making himself equal with God V. 18. Our Saviour therefore in the following part of this Chapter largely insists upon the Explication and Proof of what he had Asserted and Appeals to a Threefold Testimony for his Justification Viz. 1. That of John Baptist who bore Witness of him and to whom for a season they gave Credit Ver. 32 33 34 35. 2. His own Works Ver. 36. they saith he bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me 3. The Scriptures Ver. 46. Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me And in the Text Search the Scriptures for in them ye think c. The Words may be either an Appeal to the Jews and so are to be read by way of Affirmation and Concession ye do search the Scriptures as it is in the Margin Or they may be read Imperatively and by way of Exhortation as it is in our Version Search ye the Scriptures If we admit the former then they are a Reproof to the Jews that professed to be very Conversant in those Sacred Books so that not a Word Syllable or Tittle should escape their notice as it 's said in After-times of the Masorites and yet so little heeded what was the main Subject of them that they observed not how the Characters belonging to the Messias pointed plainly to him But I conceive the Words are to be understood as an Exhortation as the way of our Saviour's arguing doth shew which is from point to point from John Baptist to his own Works and from his Works to the Scriptures And so St. Basil and St. Athanasius understand them And if the Words contain a Duty then they are an Appeal of our Saviour to the highest Authority that is Divine Revelation and what even the Jews themselves admitted for such So that should they reject the Testimony of John Baptist whom they did at one time believe to be a Prophet Or should they be so perverse as they sometime were as to impute our Saviour's Miraculous Works to Beelzebub yet the Scriptures was a proof not to be gainsaid For they themselves thought and judged as the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies that Eternal Life was therein Revealed and by the direction whereof it was to be obtained and yet even those did testify of him Having brought the Controversy thus far it would in reason be at an end Thither therefore he remits them to their Authority he Appeals these he requires them to Search and if they Searched and Searched sincerely and impartially they would find Him whom they now traduced and whose Life they sought to be the Messias there described So he concludes his Discourse There is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust For had ye believed Moses and his Writings ye would have believed me for he wrote of me Ver. 45 46. Or as it is in the Text They testify of me From the Words I Observe 1. That notwithstanding there is a Revelation from God and owned to come from him yet there may be Disputes about Points contained in that Revelation It was so here the Jews as well as our Saviour believed the Old Testament to be a Divine Revelation and to contain all things necessary to Everlasting Life and yet there was a Dispute about an Article of no less Importance than whether our Saviour was the Messias therein Prophesied of and whom they hoped for Salvation by 2. There is a Direction what to do in this Case and that is to Repair to the Rule Search the Scriptures impartially Examine them and compare what is therein Revealed with what our Saviour affirmed concerning himself 3. There is the final Decision of the Case and that is by the Scriptures You grant saith he they contain all things necessary to Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Thereby he is willing to abide and thereby they ought to be concluded 4. Here is a further Direction how to Search implied in the Verses following Ver. 41 c. and that is with Humility and Diligence with Impartiality and Sincerity without Prejudice and Prepossessions The Words we see contain a plain Resolution of a Case of great Importance and that is what is to be done in Matters of Doubt or Controversy and how persons should proceed to obtain due satisfaction And here the first thing to be agreed upon is By what shall we be tried what is the Rule which is to determine us and which we must abide by The next thing is Who shall be the Judge The Third is What are the Qualifications of such as are to judge To the First our Saviour Answers We must go to the Scriptures for if it be a matter of Consequence and concerns Eternal Life there to be sure it is contained and there it is to be found As to the Second He saith the persons concerned are to Search those that doubt question or deny are carefully to examine As to the Third He saith they must lay aside all other Interests and Search with all Humility as those that love God and seek after the honour that cometh from him only Ver. 44. So that by this resolution of the Case we have gained two or three considerable points towards the resolving all Doubts and ending all Controversies in the Christian Church And they are 1. That the Scriptures are the only Rule by which we are to judge and determine concerning points of Faith and necessary to Salvation 2. That it appertains to all persons to have recourse to and to judge by this Rule concerning matters of that nature and which are of that Importance 3. A Direction how to Search and that is with Modesty and Humility with Sincerity and Impartiality 1st The Scriptures are the only Rule by which we are to judge and determine concerning Articles of Faith and matters necessary to Salvation 'T is on all hands granted that there must be some Authority which Faith is to be resolved into For Faith is no other than an assent to some Proposition or Propositions upon Authority And according

to such an established temper of Virtue and Goodness but that Elijah and Paul and Barnabas and the best of Men were subject to like passions with others So neither is it possible by the utmost Diligence and the most laborious Searching to find out the Truth so as ne'er to mistake nor embrace Error for it for that would as much be above the state of Nature thus to be infallible as impeccable nor is it necessary when a person may be saved with all tolerable Errors as with natural and unavoidable Infirmities And this then neither the Providence of God nor the Promise of our Saviour are concerned to prevent For these are like Diseases that belong to the quality of the State we are in and are no more to be prevented than our Nature and our State are to be alter'd and of imperfect to be made perfect But so far both the Promise and the Providence of God in confirmation of that promise are concerned that a person of a truly sincere mind continuing such shall no more fall into a damnable error without his own fault and choice than be guilty of a Damnable Sin for that would be to leave Him in a damnable condition who upon the terms of the Gospel otherwise most certainly should be saved For no Sin under that Dispensation damns but what is wilful according to that known Saying of St. Austin Nihil ardet in Inferno nisi propria voluntas Or however if he should fall into such an error as is against a fundamental Article and for the quality of it is damnable Yet it shall not be damnable to him It is a Case special and what though it falls not within the ordinary Rules of the Gospel shall however taste of the mercy of it The Apostle speaks of Damnable Heresies and we have those Truths which we call Fundamental and both are rightly so termed because those Truths are so essential to the Christian Faith that it cannot be the Christian Faith without them And those Heresies are so destructive to the Christian Faith that it cannot be the Christian Faith with them But yet because it is an error of invincible Ignorance and what proceeds from a mere defect in the Understanding and not in the Will we may charitably conceive that it being not that sort of Heresy which is a Work of the Flesh God will not impute it to such to their Condemnation and that their Piety towards God and Charity towards Men shall through Christ's Merits and Intercession do more to save them than their involuntary mistakes how great soever shall do to damn them Since God requires according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not But because for the most part the Error is rather in the Will than in the Understanding or at least is then the more pernicious of the two therefore as we should enquire after the truth and be careful to receive it when it is proposed so it is as necessary that we should receive the truth in the love of it and then it will have an influence upon us proportionable to the Consequence and Importance of it And as they are the best most useful and necessary Principles that most of all tend to make Men Good and Religious so that is the best Testimony of our being in the right and that our Principles are true that we are thereby made more holy and pure more just and charitable I look upon this as an undoubted Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Revelation that it most of all conduces to such an Excellent end and it will appear that he best understands it that makes it the Rule of his Life as well as of his Faith which if he doth as he cannot likely mistake in his enquiry after Truth so it 's certain in the Issue he shall not miscarry For then he that comes thus prepared to Search the Scriptures will both find what they testify unto and obtain that Eternal Life which is therein revealed and promised There it is then that the matters of greatest Consequence are to be found and all Points relating to them are resolved such as do most nearly concern our Eternal Happiness And if Scriptures do require our utmost Diligence and Care to find out their meaning yet in the issue when found out it will reward all our pains though it be as great as the Affairs of this present Life are not managed nor accomplished without I do acknowledge the Church of Rome hath put this mattet into a far more compendious course if it were as true as it is short by an Infallible Judge who by an Ipse dixit without giving any reason stamps upon all he saith an uncontroulable Authority but that must be if a person is so near the Papal Chair as to have the Infallible Ear to apply himself to and immediately receives the dictates from the Infallible Oracle For if he be remote from him and receives all by Written Decrees or the Oral Tradition of others it issues then into a kind of Infallible Rule and fails to be the Sentence of the Infallible Judge For Words and Writings if they once fall into Fallible hands according to them cease to be Infallible and are as much subject to difficulties and about the sense of which have often happen'd as endless Contentions and Misunderstandings as ever they can pretend have happened to an Infallible Rule Therefore they are no safer nor less subject to err by the having an Infallible Judge than we by an Infallible Rule Nay so much the worse is it with them as we cannot suppose that an Infallible Judge if we go to their Fountain-head can more clearly interpret the Divine Rule than God himself could and did direct and dictate to those who wrote it So that at last they are left with all their Pretences to Infallibility in a condition worse than those that have an Infallible Rule for their Director and that with their own Diligence and Searching and the blessing of God concurring therewith like Apollos become mighty in the Scriptures Act. 18. 24. For to such is that spoken which never was said to any Infallible Judge If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God FINIS ERRATA SErm 1st Page 21. Line 17. Read needs p. 26. l. 4. r. Enthusiastical p. 29. l. 8. r. of one among them p. 31. Margin add V. Dr. Gedis Of the Ecclesiastical State of Ethiopia Appendix Serm. 2d p. 6. l. 7. r. and things p. 9. l. 18. r. 16. Bas l. 2. Bapt. c. 4. Athan Tom. 2. p. 295. Par. 1627. Isai 8. 20. Mat. 15. 2 3 9. Mar. 7. 8 c. Mark 10. 17. Mat. 22. 29 31. Luk. 24. 26. Act. 17. 2 3. Act. 18. 28. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. Serm. 6. Joseph Antiq. l. 12. c. 1. 3. L. 13. c. 6. 18. l. 20. c. 5 Acts 23. 8. Matt. 22. 29. Luk. 24. 37 39. V. Light-foot Tal. Exercit. on Acts. Joseph Antiq. l. 13. c. 18. Acts 23. 6. 1 Thes 5. 21. 2 Cor. 11. 13. Tit. 1. 10. 2 Ep. John 7. ver Rom. 14 12. Acts 17. 11 c. Mat. 24 24. 2 Tim 4. 3. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Isa 35. 8. 2 Cor. 2. 17. 4. 2. Eph. 4. 14. 2 Pet. 3. 16. M●tth 13. 15. Jam. 1. 21. Acts 8. 26. 10. 5. 9. 4. Act. 18. 26. Jam. 5. 17. Acts 14. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Gal. 5. 20. 2 Cor. 8. 12. 2 Thess 2. 10.