Ministry of the Prophets and Apostles and downwards from them both by Manuscript and Print which various Copies being compared though they have not to the degree of a Miracle agreed in Minutes have yet concerted the Substance Quest What care hath God been pleased to take with regard to Translations Answ Very eminent where it needed most For some Ages before the coming of the Messiah it came no doubt by Divine Superintendency which hath the Hearts of Kings in his Hands and turns them as the Rivers of Water into the Heart of a Great and Learned Prince of Aegypt to procure the Translation of the Divine Law into the Greek the then most known Language of the World Seventy two Seniors of the Jews as History most generally agrees the Learnedest in their Native Hebrew were employed in it This Translation was generally and publickly received among the Jews was approved by our Lord and his Apostles in several Quotations Hereby there was at once a Preparation of those Scriptures to the most Publick Notice an Assurance of the true Import of the Hebrew Tongue and an authorised Translation And in the same so known Greek Language wherein are reposed such Treasures of all Literature is added that most Sacred Roll of the New Testament And from that time have there been by the great Industry God hath excited Men to several Versions of the Old and New Testament into a great variety of Languages with strict Expository Researches and Criticisms upon all that concerns either the Readings or the Sense of Words and Phrases as well as the Doctrine contained in them by which there might be a freer Propagation of Sacred Knowledge and a Security against such Corruptions and Mistakes as might efface the Divine Image or any of the Lineaments of it in these Records or their Translations however differing as I have said in minuter Things CAP. VIII Of Tradition and Antiquity Quest BY what hath been said Scripture and its Interpretation appear guarded by their own Divineness against all Private and Counterfeit as by Cherubims and a Flaming Sword turning every way But hath there been no Stratagem of the Adversary to undermine Divine Catholick Religion and the Authority of Scripture the Publick Record of Religion with its Publick Interpretation and yet that all these should seem still to rest firm upon their own Base Answ The great Enemy of God and Truth hath been wanting in no Artifice and therefore hath fallen upon that very Method inquired of that what could not be atchieved by denying Scripture by bringing in False Scripture or Private Interpretation monstrous to the Text all such gross Frauds being in some Times and Places exposed and exploded might be more successfully attempted and effected by yoaking Tradition with Scripture a Private Incertain Oracle with a Publick and Certain one and so avowed to be by the Traditionists themselves Quest What is Tradition Answ These four things concur to the making up Tradition 1. That from the Divine Authority of Scriptures and the True Religion of them which as hath been said it acknowledges it borrows not only Countenance but Occasion and more than that a shew of Reason and Necessity for it self 2. That it therefore endeavours to tack and joyn it self to Scripture and the Religion of it as necessary to compleat and fill it up or to provide something more requisite to that Religion that Scripture hath not provided for 3. That it having grown up from no true Root nor risen upon any just Foundation it hath stollen into its Authority and Reverence by being passed from Hand to Hand so long that its Elderliness looks like a Patent for that Authority and Reverence And its Original some Injudicious Devotion at the best not being easie to be trac'd it comes to be supposed or rather superstitiously to be suspected to be Divine and at length like a long told Lie assuming to be Truth it takes upon it self to be Divine and to curse all those that derogate from it 4. That having thus rivetted it self it by degrees like Pharaoh's Lean Kine eats out the generous and rich Sense of Scripture and devours the Authority of it and yet it self remains a jejune and starv'd Superstition Quest Who are the great Masters of Tradition Answ They that have under the True Religion set up some private Diana of Profit Honour or Worldly Advantage and cannot maintain it by that True Religion they eke out therefore with Private Tradition what may support it Quest What Antidote is there against the Mischief of Tradition Answ To cleave with full purpose and resolution of Heart and Soul to the Word of God and to that only to have no Religion nor any thing in Religion but what is enjoyned and recommended by Divine Authority in that Blessed Word of God and this is indeed to be of the truly Catholick Apostolick and Publick Religion Quest But is the Sense that hath now been given of Tradition the best Sense of it in Scripture-use Answ No it is not and the Consideration of a better Sense will much clear to us the Nature of Tradition When therefore our Saviour discoursed of the Commandments of Men delivered down from Hand to Hand subsisting only upon the Private Authority of the Elders not founded on the written Canon of the Old Testament at that time the only Rule of Faith Worship and Practice he always names Tradition in the ill Sense already given But when the Doctrine and Rules of the New Testament in those grand Points were just breathing from the Holy Spirit and not yet fixed in that abiding Canon Tradition is so long accepted in a good Sense The History of the Things done by our Saviour though most surely believed Luc. 1. 1. was first but delivered or tradition'd by Word of Mouth but afterwards written that the certainty of them might be more fully known to those that had been before Catechiz'd in them by Oral Tradition All the Ordinances of the Christian Worship were first Traditions 1 Cor. 11. 2. and the very Rules of Life were in Tradition 2 Thess 3. 6. But yet all these though they were Traditions delivered by those that were Commissioned immediately by the Holy Ghost and were themselves Eye-witnesses and Ear-witnesses of most Things they gave in Tradition were yet not sealed so sure as the more sure Word of Prophesie because they were not yet written by Divine Inspiration though given out by it nor generally received and assured as so written till the due time of Trial by former Scripture had passed upon them The first Christians did therefore well to take heed to that former Scripture till they had the full Day of the Gospel as hath been before spoken If Tradition then was not so sure in the first and truly pure Times of it how much less would it have been sure afterwards if it had continued in Tradition All therefore of Doctrine in the New Testament was first prepared by Tradition laid in and proved by the
and the Bad are manifestly enough thrown off For in main things there is so much repeated and said over again and again as that all such Truths may be fully presented and assured and yet not so much be said as might be said of the same kind without any Tautology for the Subjects are so rich that even the World would be over-charg'd and not able to contain the Books that would be written Amen CAP. VII Of the Publick Interpretation of Scripture Quest THat the Progress upon this great Point may be made with the best Advantage it will be necessary to state the Amount of what hath been already asserted viz. That Scripture is a Publick and Divine Record and That the Proof and Evidence it is Divine is Divine and Publick also What therefore do these two Positions arise to Answ They arise plainly to this 1. That True Religion is at once given unalterably fixed on Monuments of its own and cannot receive the various Phases of Increase or Decrease like the Moon by new and upstart Decrees Canons or Anathemas 2. That Religion is in this Sense Publick even as God himself that it is of free and open access in the Scripture and its Entertainment as liberal as the Light and the Fountains of Water and no Man need wait till his Religion be drawn out of the private Repository of Breast or Breasts 3. That the Assurance and Evidence of Scripture is very near us when we come to treat with it so that we need not send up to Heaven that were to bring Scripture down from above when it is come down already nor beyond the Sea to oldest Antiquity for a Scale to it which hath always the Broad Seal of Divinity with it for that were to bring Scripture a second time from the Apostles and former Ages through which Divine Care and Providence hath already pass'd it down to us with the very same principal Assurance it gave them viz. that Divine Life of Truth and Holiness that cannot be far from any one of us for in it our Understandings and Consciences live and move and have their Beings and in that Light alone see Light Quest But hath the Private Spirit of Apostate Angels working by Corrupted Humane Nature made no Attempt upon this Publick Record though so every way guarded as it is to introduce a False Religion even under the Appearance of this Publick Authority of Scripture Answ Yes that very notorious one of Private Interpretation Answ What is Private Interpretation Answ That it may be well understood being a very great Instrument of the False Spirit we must proceed by degrees to the true Comprehension of it And first in the strictness of its Notion it is an affixing a Sense to Scripture or any part of it that does not so evidently and indisputably flow from Scripture as to partake of the Divinity of Scripture Quest How should an Interpretation be so made of Scripture as to partake of its Divineness Answ An Interpretation is as Divine as Scripture when it is the true evident Importance and Sense of Scripture Words and Scope and carries the perfect Spirit and Analogie of Scripture with it or is a Deduction and Doctrine arising from Scripture measured by the Context by its usual ways of expressing it self and the compare of one Place of Scripture with another so as to evince it self to be a just and necessary Consequence Quest What is the Effect of such Interpretations Answ Every one that soberly and impartially and piously attends to it cannot but be convinced and instructed by it as the true Divine scripture-Scripture-Sense opened and applied to him Quest How else may Interpretation be Publick and Divine even as Scripture it self Answ When there is truly a Divine Presence and such Motives of Credibility by which a rightly qualified Person may be induced to believe that such an Interpreter is immediately assisted by the Holy Spirit to give such an Interpretation that else could not be found by any Created Sagacity or Industry in such particular Places of Scripture either from the Importance of the Words the strength of the Context or Scope or in the Analogie of Scripture comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual Quest What are to be understood to be Motives of Credibility in so great a Case Answ The Divine Sense of an Interpretation agreeable with all those so self-evident Notions of God and all Goodness the Weight and Gravity of the Matter The Authoritativeness of Scripture-Language and Elocution Miracles Agreement with all former Scripture Awes upon the Conscience Inward Illumination of the Holy Spirit in its Sanctifying and Heavenly Influences breathing in it and with it These are a Divine and Publick Presence and absolutely constitute further Scripture even as they illustrate and put a greater Splendour upon former Scripture and compleat it Quest Who were such Interpreters of former Scripture Answ The Prophets were such Interpreters upon the Law in their Time even all that writ after Moses who either by Histories compiled by such Divine Inspiration gave Examples agreeable to the Scope of the Law or by Sermons stirr'd up to the Obedience of it and reproved the Disobedience or by Divine Meditations Discourses and Hymns display'd it or by Prophesies foretold the Government of God in his Church and in the World according to it but especially accommodated all things in it under Prophetick Veils to Christ and the State of True Religion under the New Testament All the Prophets from Samuel and all that followed after as many as have spoken foretold likewise of these days All which together fill up wholly the Spaces of Scripture in the Old Testament Quest How did the New Testament and the Writers of it succeed in this great Office of Expounding and Summing up Scripture in this Publick Divine Authority Answ They were above all that went before them For John the Baptist than whom a greater Prophet among them that were born of Women had not risen yet he that was least in the Kingdom of God in the more explained State of Christianity was greater than he Quest How is this Notion of Publick Interpretation contradistinguish'd to Private made good out of Scripture it self Answ From the Apostle Peter who expresly tells us Scripture is not of any Private Interpretation Whose Sense in that place is very necessary to be pursued both as it much clears the Nature of Private Interpretation and also strengthens the Foundations of the New Testament as laid in the Old Quest But you know the Original Word there used and translated Interpretation is by some understood for no more than the Prophetick Declaration or Interpreting the Mind of God revealed by Inspiration and by very many another Word signifying Inspiration it self or the Illapse of the Divine Spirit in those Prophetick Revelations is preferred to the Word translated Interpretation as the more genuine Reading Answ I know the Current of Expositors both the ways you mention but against them both there is this great
they cannot give Satisfaction to cavelling Atheists or Infidels or to the Scruples of Good Men it still remains a just Ground of Satisfaction The Spirit that carried by an Almighty Hand the Writers of the Old Testament carried those Penmen of the New by the same also and from one single Glance of its Meaning that it self with Divine Artifice had left drawn there it derives that full Face of Truth in the New No more impossible then is that Sense it gives in the New to be its Sense in the Old than that Samson's Riddle in the Exposition should be his Sense in the dark Cover of it in Words that could not else import it He that created the Words in the Old Testament and even then inspired them with that Divinest Sense as with Life might yet suffer it to lie intoomb'd in them till it self that entrusted it there gave it a Resurrection in the New Quest But would you have none undertake in the Interpreting or Expounding Scripture except by Inspiration or the Evidences of immediate Divine Presence where either Scripture is not so express as to be its own undoubted Interpreter or the Interpretation deduced as evidently as any Consequence by Reason Answ Far be it from me to discourage or lessen such Undertakings I rather wish all the Lord's People thus far Prophets to search the Meaning of Scripture with all the Helps and Advantages they can attain and that in the mean time all those who have any part of the Prophetick Office upon them would read and meditate day and night to Interpret Scripture to themselves and others Quest But how is such Interpretation consistent with the Apostles so great Assertion That Scripture is not of any Private Interpretation Answ First Interpretation guiding it self by the plain evident and Self-Interpreting Oracles of Scripture in things absolutely necessary to Salvation displays a Body of Divine Publick Truth which in regard of the Darkness Inattendence and Inconsideration of the generality of the very Professors of the Faith of the Scriptures and much more in regard of the great Indisposedness of their Hearts to the Obedience of Scriptures need such constant Displays by Applicatory Interpretation and a distinct Office to attend continually on this very Thing And yet the main Concernment of such Interpretation lies in what is so plain that when opened and applied it is impossible to be doubted of as Scriptures Sense 2. Such Interpretation as may be Private in regard of its Derivation of any Doctrine from such or such a particular Place of Scripture yet keeping it self to the Analogy of Scripture in the plain and undoubted Sense in other Places does still maintain the free and Publick Course of the Waters of Life 3. Interpretation of Scripture thus guiding it self according to the evident Sense of Scripture in its clearest Parts and taking that as a Clew into the more abstruse Parts of Scripture necessarily encounters much Sound and excellent Truth nearly allied to Publick and Divine in all Knowledge Natural Historical Chronological Moral Political pertaining to Language and Eloquence which makes the World more lightsom and less subject to the Tyranny of the Prince of Darkness How great a Light of all Learning hath broken out from the very Endeavours of Interpreting Scripture to the Glory of the Father of Lights the high Honour and venerable Estimation of Scripture the much Ascertaining True Publick Religion and the Universal Good 4. Many great Truths and undoubtedly Divine in themselves that being more at a distance from those that are necessary to Salvation it hath not pleased the Publick Wisdom of the World to give such Assurance of them as that they should be imposed upon the Belief of all that acknowledge the Sacred Authority of Scriptures and yet may present very large Satisfactions to the Minds of those who are assisted by the Holy Spirit into the great Scripture-Reason in such Points though but particularly for themselves They may then taste the Graciousness of God and the Gratefulness of Truth in them without imposing on any others who cannot see by their Light 5. Yea even in things controverted between Holy Wise and Good Men in Interpreting Scripture each part of the Controversie when both cannot be reconciled in their Sense yet supports and makes stronger to their Faith some grand evident Principles of Divine and Publick Truth in which both Sides meet and are firmly united and to which each reconcile their own Opinions wherein they seem to differ from such Principles or from one another and leave a Middle in which they may meet one another and wherein Persons unconcern'd in their Controversies rest Upon which Agitations yet follow great Illustrations and Confirmations of such Grand Principles and Enlargements of Knowledge by the very Traverses of Dispute among Men sincerely affected to Truth and who search into it without the Love of Contention without Bitterness and Animosity but humbly modestly and with largeness of Mind towards those that dissent from them 6. God the Friend of Universal Knowledge allows the Souls gratification of it self with probable Sentiments restrained within due Bounds that may grow from Scripture-Interpretation 7. And lastly Pardons the Infirmities adhering to Humane Transactions in this most necessary Duty of Searching the Scriptures and over-rules such Miscarriages yea and even the more malevolent Distempers of Men herein some way or other to Good and makes them oftentimes Servants to some great Points of Truth Quest All this that hath been described I confess agrees with so Publick and Catholick a Record as Scripture is A Record wherein every one that comes to it may search his own Interest and Concern in it and improve it to the utmost A Record that offers and exposes it self to be understood and closely inquired into by all But how is it secured from a multitude of Private Interpretations when so many Interpretations acknowledgedly Private continually pass upon it Answ Herein it is secure 1. That Scripture is not of any Interpretation but it s own native Sense It is not under the Power of any other It stands free and clear far above all Interpretation of Men to be considered by any one in it self and not under such Interpretation Such Interpretation does not become Scripture nor bind any one under the Curse fixed on those that add to Scripture or take from it These Interpretations may be added to or taken from according as Men see Reasons of Scripture preponderating one way or other This is the Freedom of Scripture to suffer all due approaches to its Sense This is its most severe Constancy to refuse all but it s own true Sense 2. As Scripture is not of any Interpretation but it s own Native Sense so its Sense is of no other Evidence but of Spiritual Divine and truly Rational Evidence so that if any Man does not bring such proofs of Scripture Sense as agree with Scriptures way of Evidencing it self and Scriptures way is not that of Private Authority
in some things want the Application and Direction to our use dictated by Divine Wisdom in others the unerring Censure of even Apostolick Actions as in that of the Apostle Peter Galat. 2. 11. Now because our Consciences would be apt to be drawn into subjection to things of so great Reputation and yet there would be no Divine Authority to draw them nor Infallible Authority to support them in which Cases it is the Absolute Will of God they should not be in subjection God hath therefore in his Providence left that time so much in the dark that we may trust in his written Word only For separate Immediate Divine Presence from the Prophets and Apostles themselves and there remains nothing at the highest but the Wisdom and Prudence of Understanding and Good Men applying General Rules to particular Cases Times Places and Events as they for that time could best judge and yet besides the variation of Circumstances in every Age they themselves were as Men subject to mistakes as Nathan about David's building the Temple as Paul assaying to go into Bithynia to like Passions with other Men as in the Contention betwixt Paul and Barnabas to like Temptations as in the Miscarriage of Peter before referred to All they did and said not shining with immediate Light from Heaven must be tried in the Light of what themselves together with all the other Penmen of Scripture had written They themselves therefore acting or speaking by way of Prudence or general Assistance must be tried by themselves acting or speaking according to Revelation and special Assistance in which only they are and ought to be Authoritative Quest But it still remains There might be some things that were not so fit for vulgar Knowledge and so were Secreted into Tradition apart from Scripture and that Tradition deposited with Trusty Men who should successively so deposite it that it might at convenient Seasons be brought forth as Goliah ' s Sword from behind the Ephod Answ None like it indeed to serve a purpose But to satisfie Reason and Conscience nothing so improper For first let these Traditionaries give clear Expositions and such as are worthy to be acquiesced in of the Prophetick or otherwise Dark Places of Scripture If they cannot do that where is the Wisdom above the Vulgar and why did not Tradition without Scripture inclose those mysterious Visions of the Revelation from Popular Inspection But the things Tradition is imploy'd indeed in are quite of another Nature either the Prelation of Men in Church-Office and Dignity or some Rites of Worship that should change Devotion into Superstition or lull it into Ignorance or some Canons that turn Religion into Trade or Doctrines suited to that End or which serves to all such purposes a Tradition to call back all Scripture out of the Written Word into Oral Tradition by locking it up in a Tongue unknown to the generality of Christians And yet if there were any seemingly Purer or more Contemplational Traditions seeing they are not inrolled into Scripture they must as hath been said give such Evidences of themselves as Divine Revelation hath or be at their highest but Enthusiasm and Fanaticism Quest But what Esteem is to be had of the Writings and Transactions of the Ancients whom we call Fathers Doctors of the Church Men of eminent Holiness great Abilities Confessors and Martyrs of Christianity Answ It may be easily judg'd by what hath been said already that they must be brought to Scripture laid at its Feet and submitted to its Acceptance whether according to its true Sense or not For if the Apostles when the Holy Spirit was not upon them could not exceed Humane how much less can any of a lower Class pretend The Fathers therefore had so great an Awe of Scripture that they did not assume any thing to themselves or their Writings or yield any thing to the Persons or Writings of those of the same Time with them but according to the undeniable Sense of Scripture Quest But the nearness of these Fathers to the Days of Christ and the Apostles must needs enable them either from what they themselves received warm from their Lips or from what they had from others not quite cold to know the Apostles Doctrine Discipline Manner of Life Purpose their Sense of the Scope and Meaning of those Things wherein they were Divinely Inspired and so to deliver it to After-ages Answ Whatever they have spoken or written giving us more light and advantage to understand and behold Scripture in its own Light ought from them or from any other to be accepted with great regard but if it do not thus it cannot be accepted even from the Writers of Scriptures themselves upon a single or divided Authority They were so bounded by the very Things and Words they themselves had once spoken and written by the Holy-Ghost that all the deference to their knowledge in Divine Things above others was to be made reasonable in the clearest Expounding what themselves and others had written by Divine Inspiration and to be discerned in the very Writings themselves and not to be drawn oracularly out of their Breasts when the Evidences of Divine Inspiration were not upon them For he that is Spiritual i. e. that God vouchsafes Inspiration to or pretends to it must acknowledge all that is either truly written or spoken by the same Inspiration to be the Commandments of the Lord 1 Cor. 14. 37. And as for the newness freshness and life of Truth given by Divine Revelation God graciously providing it should remain as Revelation left it and the Evidences it hath done so appearing with it it is the same in all Ages Divine never loses of its life nor abates of its vigor what it was so many Ages ago that it abides now what the Holy-Ghost spoke so many Ages ago that it speaks now as warmly as then All Divine Truth given is after the power of an endless life the Eternal Increates Spirit lives in it and gives Divine Quickness to it It is yesterday to day the same for ever and so breathes its own sense in Scripture by the ordinary Assistances it vouchsafes to Holy Humble and diligent Waiters upon him in this even as it did in the first Ages though the extraordinary Motions are withdrawn Quest But still the Gifts and Endowments of those Eminent Men with all the Light Truth Grace Learning and Reason they shine to us with ought to be esteemed and improved Answ Yes doubtless For whatsoever Things are true whatsoever things are pure are of Virtue and deserved praise they are Publick and of God wherever they are found And whatever there is in these Elders in their nearness to the First Times their Holiness their Sufferings their great Learning their Encounters of Paganism their Apologies for Christianity their Heavenliness their Contempt of this World all is a Donation and a Grace of God by them to his Church and Mankind in general Quest And does not there arise great Evidence
Revealed Religion in the World is Scripture Quest Is Ratiocination then or the Just Compass Reason goes to be neglected concerning Scriptures Answ By no means For when these Self-evidences of every thing have struck us earlier than our Scrutinies of Reason and its Inquest can be performed about them that they may neither appear Fancies to us on our second Thoughts nor we run into Mistake concerning them by the Power of Imagination there is then liberty for Reason to inquire further and assure it self Nor will the Evidence hereupon amount to less than Divine For Divine only can satisfie the Reason that rationally and like it self inquires into Divine Quest What then are the great Assurances to Reason of the Divinity of Scripture Answ I account this the Chief That there are Two great Volumes the Book of the Natural Law of Religion written upon the Heart and engraven in the Conscience and the Book of Scripture That both these are addressed purely to the Mind as abstracted from Sense That each of them is Counterparted by Two great Manifestations of Divinity to Sense which Sense is Reason incarnate or Mind acting in and by Body These two are either Ordinary or Constant as Creation Conservation or Providence or Extraordinary as Miracles That each of them have also two Executive Powers acting them to their Ends The Motions and Activities of Reason inabled by the constant Concourse of General Illumination and the Supernatural Illuminations and Motions of the Divine Spirit And that all these agree in one unite with and fortifie one another all of them carrying the Evidences of Divine Presence and filling all the Apprehensiveness of our Faculties concerning God that he is in them so that nothing is Divine in the whole World the contrary of which we may feel or Scripture is Divine Quest But what is to be allowed to Consent of History Vniversal Tradition and Education in the Belief of Scriptures Answ All that can be desired to be allowed for it speaks the Absolute Sovereignty of God in making use of whom and what he pleases in introducing his Word into any Parts of the World and contriving the Testimony of Men as preparatory to the Testimony from himself which is much greater even as our Saviour received the Service of John's Testimony but had much higher or as Reason may receive from Sense some accidental Testimonies Quest But is there not much more to be yielded to the Rational Assurance that such Historians as the Prophets Apostles and Inspired Writers of such Honesty and Integrity would not prevaricate nor give any false Account of Things of the Miracles wrought by themselves or our Saviour of the Doctrines of Christianity or of their Divine Original especially when they seal'd all these with the Contempt of all things in this World even of Life it self and died in the constant Affirmation of them which remov'd all base Designs far from them even the suspicion of it Answ These Proofs of the Doctrine and Divine Descent of Scripture are undoubtedly of the highest Account that any Created Testimony can be and are a down-weight of Proof to all sober Reason Yet that they can rise above the Value of John Baptist's Testimony to Christ I cannot find and therefore we must remove higher to the Doctrines that those Holy Men preach'd and writ the spiritual Wisdom and admirable Contexture they us'd in Writing the Works they did carrying the Evidences of Divinity in themselves and applied by the Holy Spirit to the Senses of true Believers with its own assuring Attestations and gracious Operations of which all that was but created is no more than the Tube Pipe or Channel of Conveyance if we enter it into a compare with what is Higher and Divine But if the last Resolution of Proof were into any thing Humane there might be mistake in that for Humane at its highest elevation is but Created and Created is not firm and sure enough for a Foundation nor can it raise an Assent noble and generous enough for a Faith in that which is Divine All that can be summon'd may be an outward Fortification or Introduction but the Rock of Truth is the Son of God Divinity it self Upon this the Church is built that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Quest But are there no Parts of Scripture that receive greater Service from Humane Testimony than others Answ There are some Parts of Scripture that are but Ministerial and almost Servile in comparison of others And that these are found in all Authentick Copies and have been delivered down from Age to Age with the Sacred Rolls may depend more upon Humane Testimony especially where the Connexion with the more Divine Parts is not evident For these being but as the Body and some of them of the more remote Parts from the Soul of Scripture cannot sparkle that Divine Light and Heat the Spirit of Scripture does and so may stand in need of borrowed Light from the Superiour Luminaries of Sacred Truth and in many Cases may like the Moon need Reflexions of Light from our very Earth but the Sun of Scripture receives the Highest Testimony by the strongest Reflexions of its own Original Beams Quest How comes it to pass that there are such different Degrees of Scripture Excellency in the several Parts of it and that it is not one Even Form of Doctrine methodically laid together and of the same Tenour of Discourse Answ In this seeming Disorder appears the great Wisdom and Majesty of Divine Contrivance that without obliging it self to the low and even pedantick Laws of Humane Discourse it raises so great a Record of Truth upon variety of Occasions and by an Infinite Foresight predetermining to it self the several Measures and Ends of Scripture raises them out of a great variety of Accidents and in such an Order as seem'd best to it self for those Ends so as to give easie and ready Advantages to him that runs to read and gather Instructions of weightiest moment and also of quickest and suddenest sally upon his Mind of greatest aptness to fix upon the Memory without loading it and yet in the mean time to lay the Obligations of all Degrees of Search and Diligence to join one part of Scripture to another so as to comprehend the whole Complex of Divine Doctrine and extract the Order of History For by a most natural free and unaffected occasional way all Truths to make wise to Salvation and a complete Sum of all Goodness is to be found in Scripture with infinite Varieties of Address all the ways possible to the Understanding Will Affections Conscience Memory Imagination suited to all Capacities States Conditions full of plain and obvious of most retir'd secret and farthestreach'd Wisdom which no Mind can fully grasp nor Tongue express And with these Things of main Importance runs along such a Chronology of the Dealings of God with the World and especially with his Church as serves the main Design All Learning and Knowledge
Scriptures of the Old Testament either by direct Consequence or by Interpretation from immediate Revelation demonstrated as the First giving of Scripture always was by Miracles and so all at once and once for all consigned over to the Posterity of Christians by Divinely Inspired Writings so assured so confirmed as to leave no place for Tradition of the Best sense There remains therefore nothing for Tradition now but its Ill sense Quest Why might not True Religion continue in Tradition committed all along to Faithful Men even as it did in the Custody of the Apostles and such Faithful Persons as they committed it to Answ Even in the time of the Apostles it was trusted no longer to Tradition than it must needs for the Apostle John the Survivor of them closed the Canon of the New Testament that was drawn apace into Writing all along But at that time there was such a continual immediate Energy or Efficacy of the Holy Spirit that Truth mov'd every way like Lightning and both by its direct and straight forward Motion in Doctrine and its reverse strokes in the Conviction of all Falshood Errour was blasted every way But when this Extraordinary Appearance ceased there was then no safety for Truth but in an unchangeable Written Word that was in such an extraordinary Season of Miracles and immediate Revelation setled and established under so great a Supervisal in the midst of so many Witnesses of all things by their Eyes and Ears and it being once written and always so secured by Divine Providence as hath been represented it always speaks the same Things in the same Words it first did Quest Why might not Divine Truth be committed some more Fundamental Parts to Writing and some according to variety of Occasion to Tradition Answ God to whom all Futurity is present who foresaw all that was necessary to be written before he had done writing cannot be supposed to commit his Will in part to Writing and that upon great Reasons and the same Reasons notwithstanding to leave a considerable part or so much as any one Branch obligatory upon the Conscience to Parol-Tradition For if he that offends in one Point is guilty of all there needs the same Authority and as well assured for one Point of Faith and Obedience as for all the rest 2. It is unconceivable what End Tradition unconsign'd by Scripture can serve that Scripture does not more fully and effectually take care for Publick Religion reserves nothing to be a Cabal for Private Interest within a close Cabinet or Conclave 3. Whatever is supposed to be entrusted to Tradition must either be the very same we have in Scripture and then Tradition is needless and superfluous for we have it in Scripture if we duly exercise our selves in it or it is more than Scripture hath declared and yet supposed to be of equal Authority with Scripture and then it must be a Motionary and Itinerant Word of God But where are the daily and continual Seals and Credentials Divine Tradition had and in a constant fresh Motion with it as it moves for so it had need be in so fluid a Thing as Tradition if it would pretend to be Sacred and so Divinely Inspired Tradition had while it continued in Tradition But what Reason can be given Tradition as we now speak of it was not incorporated into Scripture as was argued before Or that in so long a Course of Time it hath not been enroll'd into Scripture as the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles still was Seeing if it had all things else it cannot but want the Benefit of the Divine Contexture and Conveyance that Scripture hath in Words chosen and put together by Inspiration and the ready easie and certain Access to it by all For all are equally concerned in it Now seeing Tradition wants all these how can we accept it How can we look off from Scripture to pore upon Tradition or what hold can we have of it Quest But how can it be but there must be Tradition seeing there were so many Things spoken and done more than the Scripture contains or the World it self could contain if they were all written These then being known in the first Times have been conserv'd by Tradition Tradition made valuable by those of Honourable Name among Christians and their Discourses of Christianity Answ Granting such things so preserv'd suppose them the Actions and Words of our Saviour himself yet if not written by Inspired Penmen they are not recommended as obligatory upon After-ages For whatever was necessary that we might believe and have Eternal Life was so written and that not only just so much as might serve Necessity for that the One Gospel of St. John might serve to That it self witnesses but also be matter of Bounty and Abundance so that out of that greater World of Truth than our World could receive there was so much selected as was bountifully sufficient and abundant to all Intents and Purposes of Clearness Certainty Enforcement upon the Affections Variety continual Exercise and Delight that so every Christian might be throughly furnished to every good Work to all things that pertain to Life and Godliness As for all that Christ did and spake or that the Apostles spake or did by Infallible Guidance and Immediate Assistance if it be not written a Veil is drawn over it and a Cloud hath received it out of our fight It is a secret thing that belongs not to us but is sealed up from us like the things which the Thunders uttered in the Revelation And indeed the Wisdom of Providence seems to have dealt with all such Sayings or Actions as with the Body of Moses all Monuments of Worth and Certainty after Scripture in relation to them are concealed from us There is a great Darkness upon the History of that Time lest we should superstitiously venerate in place of that which is divinely written and preserved to us the things that were not prepared for our Learning and so to us but as a Body not divinely inspired that is a Body without a Soul All too fierce Disputes about them are therefore raised only by Sathan the Enemy of Light and Truth to no other purpose than that about the Body of Moses that is to found an occasion of Superstition and silently to whisper Scripture is not sufficient And yet we see with what an eager Zeal Men are set upon such Researches not satisfied with the Proportion of Manna allowed by God but even as the Israelites that gathered much had nothing over so may it be truly said of those that would abound beyond Scripture in that which pertains to the true guidance of Conscience That they have nothing over and what they will needs keep as such corrupts Quest Is there Reason sufficient to support this Sentiment Answ This great Reason If we had undoubted but not inspired History of that Time it could not be like the Evangelistick History or the Actes of the Apostles to us we should
that never remove and a Rest of Truth for ever having been taught and learnt it as it is in Jesus Quest Who are the Professionary Church only Answ They that though they may as Artificial Pillars give some Ornament to the House of God and offer Truth yet not being indeed united to the Foundation are movable and may go out of the House They are such as have not received the Truth in the Love and Obedience of it within themselves and so may fall away from it It cannot be said of them as of the former The Truth shall be with them for ever having made its Edraioma or Settlement in them Quest How does the Professionary Church fall away in the Bulk and Body of its Professors and Profession Answ The Office of the Church being to Actuate Truth and only Truth it may fail either in abating the Fervours due to Truth though nothing False or Forreign be admitted or in receiving Falshood or things of a baser Alloy for Truth and wasting those Fervours due only to Truth upon them The one may be called a departing from the true State of a Church the other from the State of a True Church and they usually meet one in another Quest How does this come to pass Answ From the Judgment of God upon the present sinful State permitting things so to themselves that in very few Instances it is but that the Imperfections of Good Men and the prevailing Corruptions of Professionary Christians change the Holy Lively Activities of the True State of a Church into Lukewarmness and Formality or by admitting Falshood and impure Mixtures into Doctrine Worship and Discipline corrupt the State of the Church so that it loses its Truth Quest What becomes of the Professionary Church when it loses the True State of a Church Answ It is as the Prophet expresses a Civil State or a City that hath lost its Splendour It becomes like a burnt Mountain or extinguish'd Globe of Light It retains the Form but loses the Life and Vigour of a Church like Ephesus that lost its First Love or Sardis that had a Name to live but was dead or Laodicea that was neither cold nor hot Quest What becomes of it when it is corrupted and loses in its Truth Answ It exchanges the Lively Oracles for Forms of Doctrine and Lifeless Discourse not of the High Spirit of Scripture It debases pure Worship into Ceremonialness Superstition or Idolatry and the Gospel Rule and Discipline it sells for a Worldly Politie and the true Graces of Christianity expressed in a Holy Conversation for what is much beneath or contrary Sometimes it forsakes Truth in some Fundamental Article that it swells out from the Foundation in a Breach ready to fall And there is one Instance of all these in the Anti-Church which will deserve a greater Consideration Quest How does God deal with such Churches Answ Sometimes sweeps them with the Beesom of Destruction taking away both the Candlestick and Place of it together Alienes Both to them and their Religion thrusting them out of their whole Possession Sometimes he suffers them to continue even for Ages yet so that their Candlestick is moved out of its due stately Positure hardly appearing like a Candlestick and that by the Indignation of God Quest In these Cases how does it fare with the True Holy Seed the Substantial Church Answ God chastens them to Repentance Self-purification and greater Zeal in that Case of the Churches losing its Brightness and Vigour that they may recover their first State and Work aad sets them on work to retrive Truth lost in that other Case of the Churches Defection Quest How is it with them when the very Place and Candlestick are taken away Answ They are either first removed into the higher State of the Church in Heaven or driven before into other Parts of the World by Persecution or the violence of the Judgment makes no distinction but carries them Captive with the rest though in different Baskets as the Prophet Jeremy represents Quest How do they survive in the time of the displac'd and dejected Candlestick Answ They are either called out to a Zealous Appearance and Suffering for Truth or sometimes retired into Corners like the Seven thousand in Israel or the Church in the Wilderness that they cannot appear like a Church offering those Publick Notices of Divine Truth a Church is designed for Quest How is a Visible Profession lost from Particular Persons Answ It is too often thrown up by Apostasie or Profaneness or dwindled into a very Spiritless Form but very often a Profession without the Power being not inconsistent with the working of Iniquity it may pass out of this World like a Lamp burning but being found to burn only in a small Temporary Light without Oyl in the Vessel a Plenitude of Grace in the Heart shutting out every Lust it becomes a Lamp put out in utter Darkness Quest What is to be inferred from all this Answ That there is no Trust but in the Lord himself the Truth it self by which at all times the Church that is indeed the Pillar and Ground of Truth and wherein it is so will be known to us and in uniting to Truth we are united to That Quest There remains one thing yet to be understood in the Description of the Church which is its Power of Governing even as it is Governed by the Word of God Vnder what Notions I beseech you is that Government expressed in Scripture Answ That Power is by our Saviour represented under the Mataphor of Keys and the Use of those Keys in opening and shutting or in Binding and Losing Quest What is the meaning hereof Answ The meaning is plainly this When the Church of Christ hath by the Key of Knowledge inquir'd into all the Divine and Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel and Word of God it hath in and according to that Word and only so a Power of Application of that Doctrine to Particular Cases binding Men under the Sense of Guilt and fear of Damnation in such or such Sins and an impenitent Continuance in them or of Absolving and assuring Men of the Divine Favour and Acceptance in a holy course of Life and Obedience to God and of Pardon upon Repentance after Falls into Sin and Disobedience and so of Declaring and Pronouncing upon Men as to their present State in the Church by Excommunication or Absolution all these are the Power of Binding and Loosing according to what our Saviour speaks in parallel Words Whose Sins you remit they are remitted whose Sins you retain they are retained meaning still according to his Word the Pole-Star by which they are to direct all their Motions who claim any such Power For only where it is declard according to the Word is it that what is bound on Earth is also bound in Heaven and what is loosed on Earth is loosed in Heaven there being an Invariable Agreement between what is Published from Heaven in the Word of