to some particular customes of the Jew or Gentile or unto the proper times wherein the Scriptures were severally writ may be accounted hard and not so plaine as that we may primâ fronte and without much learning and study understand them however a Christian may be saved without any knowledge of these though not so without the other A man may go to Heaven without knowing whether the Temple were built in such or such a yeare or whether Job lived before Moses or after him yet he cannot without understanding that he must believe in Christ that he is a sinner and the like thus in other sciences there are some indemonstrable principles so plainely set downe that no man can question them and other things againe not altogether so essentiall somewhat doubtfull and darkly proposed but what may some one say the Mystery of the Trinity and the distinction of the persons in the Godhead are fundamentall doctrines yet they are above the reach of reason and therefore obscure well 't is true these and the like Doctrines are obscure but then as in Geometry the same thing may be darke in its selfe and yet by a demonstration plainely set down unto us in holy writ and we ought to be contented with what that teacheth us concerning them and however the very fundamentalls of our Religion are by some disputed of and called into question yet this proceedeth rather from the perversenesse and crookednesse of mens minds then that they are obscure and doubtfully set down in Scripture neither are they lesse to be received of us because they question them then the doctrine of motion is in Phylosophy though a certaine foolish Phylosopher did once deny it So the Apostle saith 2 Pet. 3. 16. that there are somethings in Pauls Epistles hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstastable wrest as they doe also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction marke here there are somethings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not all things but some things only namely such as he speakes of here in this Chapter the last judgement and destruction of the world the time and manner of which things are not essentiall unto our salvation these things so hard are wrested by unlearned unstable men that is men ignorant of the Scriptures and not ballanced with the Spirit unholy ungodly men and therefore as the same sunne may be light and yet not appeare so to be unto a blind man the same booke plaine and legible and yet unto dull and dimme eyes darke and obscure in like manner the same things which are plaine and perspicuous unto the Godly Regenerate men whose eyes God openeth are for the most riddles and strange things unto the wicked whom the God of this world hath blinded we shall therefore in the Second place shew you that they are more or lesse perspicuous according to the diversity of the subjects entertaining them objective and in themselves they are perspicuous but subjective in respect of men they are more or lesse plaine according as men are Regenerated or Unregenerated the whole world you know is divided into the Regenerate and Unregenerate this is an adequate division of all men and therefore we shall 1. Enquire concerning the the plainnesse and obscurity of the Scriptures in relation unto irregenerate men and we shall lay downe this position that noe wicked irregenerate man can savingly know the Scriptures or thus that the Scriptures though plaine in their natures are yet darke and obscure unto irregenerate men If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4. 3. our Gospel saith the Apostle is as cleare as the light but who can finde fault with the Sun if it gives not light to a blinde man it is hid indeed but then it is to those that are lost to ungodly men for the carnall man preceiveth not the things of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2. the Scriptures all throughout contain in them Spirituall things and therefore as a meer sensible Creature cannot judge of the discourses and reasonings of men so neither can a meer rationall man perceive or disscover the Mysteries of the Spirit which is only proper to him unto whom the Spirit revealeth them as the Apostle elsewhere speakes you know the Scripture is devided into the Law and the Gospell and unregenerate men are said to be either within or without the Church now an unregenerate man a Gentile without the Church may have an historicall knowledge of the Law for saith the Apostle Rom. 2. 14. they doe by nature the things contained in the Law but as from an old eaten manuscript a man may gather a word or sentence or two when yet notwithstanding he is not able to find out the drift scope and end of it because through its ancientnesse it is much worne and perished in like manner from those old reliques and vestigies of that Law written in the hearts of the Gentiles they might discover some things which pertained unto their dutyes towards God and their Neighbour but then they could not know therefrom the intent of the Law which was to drive them to a Christ they could not know that by it they could not be justifyed they understood not the end and drift for which God wrote this Law in their hearts therefore though they might have an Historicall yet they could not have a Saving knowledg thereof But Secondly as for the Gospell a Gentile cannot have either an Historicall or saving knowledge of it without it be preached unto them or by some extraordinary way unknown unto us infused into them for Faith ordinarily that is commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God therefore the opinion of those who think that by the light of nature a man may come to the knowledge of Christ and the Gospell is to be rejected 2. Secondly a Christian unregenerate man within the Church may have an Historicall contemplative knowledge of the Law and Gospell but no saving particular knowledge of either for it is to them foolishnesse 1 Cor. 2. 14. and therefore it is rather a scandall and stumbling block unto them then a light and saving rule it cannot be expected therefore that the Scriptures should seem plain unto them whose noysome lusts doe cast a mist and a cloud before their understandings and whose interests and prejudices against the Doctrine of them suffereth them not to behold their purity and cleernesse Secondly as ungodly irregenerate men cannot have any saving cleer knowledge of the Scriptures so on the contrary Godly regenerate Christians may have it for unto them alone it is given to know the secrets of the Kingdome of God but to others in parables that when they see they should not see and when they heare they should not understand and so 2 Cor. 3 15 16. t is said untill this day when Moses is read the vaile is laid over their hearts neverthelesse when they shall turne unto the Lord the Vaile shall be
price or value then really it is in it selfe and this is all the true power that the Church can challenge in relation unto the holy Scriptures wherefore the true Church we honour in respect of these things but we doe not adore it and make it of greater Authority then the Scriptures themselves Wherefore 3. We say that the Authority of them doth not so much depend on the Church as on their own innate light and testimony of the Holy Spirit within us their own innate light I say for saith Chamier there is in the Scriptures a peculiaris genius and strein whereby they may upon examination be easily discovered to be the Word of God as a Critick will know by the phrase and stile and the like that such a book is Lyvies such an one Juvenalls so also will a Christian upon the due search triall of the holy Scriptures by their matter Heavenly by their stile deep and by their divine phrase mysticall presently conclude that they are the Word of God and that they can have no other Author then the King of Heaven and then farther I say there is required a Testimony of the holy Spirit within us which Spirit is as I may so speake the seale unto all the rest and peculiar only to Gods Children a man may by the hearsay of the Church historically know the Scriptures but this will no more comfort his heart then the discourses concerning honey and sweet-meates will the stomacke a man may also be convicted of the truth of the Word from those arguments I pressed even now and yet he may be no more converted by them then the Jewes were at the Miracles of Christ which they knew were wrought by a divine power well then what is it that must ultimately perswade us and assure a child of God certitudine fidei with an assurance of faith that the Scriptures are the Word of God the Church that cannot for how can that infuse faith which the Scriptures every where set forth to be the Gift of God what then is it that assures us doubtlesse the Spirit of God co-working with us and upon our prayers and diligent reading and examining of the Word assuring us that this Word which was thus confirmed by miracles thus verifyed by the truth of the Prophesyes contained in it this Word that hath so perfect a consent within its self that hath so admirable efficacy upon the hearers and readers thereof that hath been so wonderfully preserved in all ages that this Word and this Word only is the Word of God and of divine authority so then the Church that can only report unto us the Spirit that doth firmely perswade us the Church that can ministerially only ingenerate an opinion in us the Spirit a Faith and certainty of the Scriptures as then men may heare a very great report of anothers worth learning and counsell and yet be never fully satisfied concerning it till they find it so to be by their own experience or as those Samaritans who did believe in part on Christ for the saying of the woman were yet notwithstanding further confirmed established in the faith of him when they heard his own words John 4. 24. in like manner though we may historically believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God because the Church saith so yet this testimony of the Church doth minister little assurance or satisfaction unto a child of God untill it be farther back't on and established by a farther testimony of the Spirit which undoubtedly must be the firmest assurance a man can have because it is that alone which doth open the eyes to behold the wondrous things of the Law Psal 119. 18. 't is that alone which leadeth into all truth Joh. 16. 13. 't is that alone which inseparably accompanys the faithfull in the Scriptures My Spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth Isa 59. 21. and therefore 't is that alone which gives strongest evidence unto its selfe speaking in the Scriptures if yee receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater saith S. Paul the witnesse of the Church is but the witnesse of men therefore the witnesse of the Spirit is greater but say they the Spirit speaketh by the Church and therefore we must believe the Church only when it testifyes of the Scriptures Whitaker answers for me that if so be the Spirit doth thus speak by the Church from whence then hath the Church this assurance but from the Spirit and so our beliefe of the Scriptures must ultimately resolve of necessity into the Testimony of the Spirit againe they say that the Church was before the Scriptures we answer no by no meanes for then how can the Word be called the everlasting wisedome of God and the immortall seed of which the Church is borne the Church was before the written Word but not before the unwritten Aske a Papist how they know that the Church is of such authority and they will prove it by the Scriptures and therefore the authority proving must needs be of greater esteem and before the authority proved but is not the Church called the pillar and ground of truth yes but what doth a candle receive any light from the candlesticke because it stickes in it what though the Church is the seat and mansion place of the Scriptures yet were it possible that there were no Church in the World yet is not the Scripture of lesse authority then now it is the Church then is only a ministeriall pillar to preserve keep and set forth the word not a fundamentall one to uphold and give being unto it and here I might wade farther into a Discourse concerning the authority of the Church and the Scriptures but it having been so fully handled already and answered by multitudes of eminent men I shall goe no farther it remaines that I should practically apply what hath been already spoken but this together with the other propertyes of Scriptures their perspicuity and perfection I shall leave to the next part This is the AVTHOVRS last Sermon that ever He preacht which was at S. Maries in Oxon. March 20. 1655. Phil. c. 3. v. 8. first part Yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. IN this Chapter the Apostle armes his Philippians against their false teachers by opposing his own judgement and example to their erroneous and lying suggestions There were a company of prophane persons started up in the Church of Philippi whom Paul counts no better then doggs evill workers and of the concision verse 2. who instead of circumcising their hearts went about rather to cut and rend asunder the Church these men now being left to be brought from their old fleshly confidences the workes of the Law did vaunt much of their outward priviledges and would fain slink into circumcision and other ceremoniall performances and joyne
ΓÎΩΣΤΌΠΤΟ ΘΕΟ ΚΑΊ ΓÎΩΣΤΌΠΤΟ ΞΡΙΣΤΟ OR THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD BY THE BOOK OF NATURE And the excellent Knowledge of JESUS CHRIST by the BOOK OF SCRIPTURE Delivered at St Mary's in Oxford By EDWARD WOOD M. A. late Proctor of the University and Fellow of Merton Coll. Oxon. Published since his death by his brother A. W. M. A. 1 Cor. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OXFORD Printed by H. H. Printer to the University for Jos. GODWIN EDW. FORREST 1656. ORNATISSIMO NOBILI NECNON CLARISSIMO VIRO D. IONATHANI GODDARD MEDICINAE DOCTORI ET INCLYTI COLLEGII MERTONENSIS CUSTODI IN ANTIQUISSIMA UNIVERSITATE OXONIENSI ANTONIUS WOOD COLLEGII PER PRUDENTIAM SUAM OPTIME GUBERNATI ALVMNVS HAS PRIMITIAS MODO FRATRIS DEFUNCTI SUO PATROCINIO HUMILITER Dat Dicat Dedicat. THE PUBLISHER to the Courteous Reader THe Authour of these Sermons being lately falne asleep and having had no Admission while he was Living to be recommended to Publike View the Perswasion and Importunity since his death of some of my Friends and such as may challenge no small Interest in mee hath though unwilling induced me to Adventure to Exhibite this Little Volume to look out and do Service in the World He himselfe whilst he lived Wrote it and doubtlesse he had finished it if God had lent him longer Life but it fared so with him as once with Hezekiah Esay 37. 3. The children were come to the birth and there was not strength to bring forth I have as a Brother though not as a skilfull Midwife done what I could to bring it forth by collecting it out of his Paper-books and some other loose Writings from his private Study which was the onely Remora to it's more Suddaine and much desired Birth Some Errata's since have passed the Presse which perhaps will not so well relish with thy Palate but I wholly rely upon thy Courteous Ingenuity to passe them over with Silence Thou mayest here expect that I should speake something in Commendation of this Worke which is not happily so fitting it being both hard for one Brother to praise another without Boasting moreover for me to seeke thy Approbation of it by any Faire and Plausible Inductions were altogether to Distrust if not Impare the worth of it I know the worke it selfe will sufficiently Praise him especially if thou wilt vouchsafe to peruse it Charitably I meane without any Detracting Calumnies or Cynicall Censures which if thou dost thou shalt find his Spirit in them and in a manner heare him although Dead yet Speaking unto thee and shalt hereby much perswade the Publisher to leave off at least in some measure grieving for and lamenting over his once Living and alway Loving Brother and shalt rather divert the stream of his Affections into a strong current of Haleluiah's for the Hopes that he hath especially from those that willingly entertaine a Dead mans works and retaine his words in their Living Hearts of doing good by this his Publication which is the desire of Thy Servant A. W. ROM 1. 19 20. Because that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearely seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and Godhead so that they are without excuse THere are three bookes wherein the Deity may be plainly read and discovered the booke of nature the book of the creatures and the book of the Scriptures this latter was peculiar to the Jewes the two former common both to Jew and Gentile for unto the Jewes were committed the oracles of God because they were his peculiar people unto the Jew and Gentile the light of nature and use of the Scriptures because they both were men and inhabitants of the world Now out of these three bookes our Apostle laboureth to convince of unrighteousnesse the two great enemies of our justification by faith in Christ the self-conceited Jew and the Idolatrous Gentile for however the one might pretend unto salvation by vertue of their inherent righteousnesse and the other hope to escape damnation by their ignorance of the Law which threatneth death to the breakers thereof yet our Apostle in this his Epistle doth plainly demonstrate that neither the righteousnesse of the one was so commensurate and answerable to the law of God as to attaine heaven and avoid the curse and that the ignorance of the other was not so great as that thereby they might become inexcusable and without offence towards God both Jew and Gentile are sinfull for there is none that doth good no not one and therefore both Jew and Gentile are lyable unto damnation the Jewes because it is impossible for them to keepe the Law from the observance of which they expected life the Gentile because they were not obedient unto those common notions and implanted truths they had of God and morall honesty For however they pretended not to know God and therefore not to hold the truth in unrighteousnesse as 't is evidently shewne they doe in the fore-going verse yet our Apostle doth by force of Argument take away their false pretences and plainly convinceth them of both in the words of my Text which as I suppose are brought in to prevent a secret objectioÌ„ that the Gentile might frame against the doctrine of the precedent verse for the Apostle being about to prove our justification onely by faith doth in the 18. verse dispute negatively shew that workes in which both Jew and Gentile trusted could never justifie they being so farre from making us appeare righteous before God that the wrath of God is revealed against them for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men The best workes of naturall men cannot free them from being guilty of ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse from the breach of the first and second Tables and therefore is the wrath of God revealed from heaven even against the best workes of men But what kind of men are these that stand thus charged with ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse Why Such saith Saint Paul who hold the truth in unrighteousnesse but you Gentiles doe thus hold the truth in unrighteousnesse 't is you that suppresse smother and imprison those truthes that are in you concerning God and your neighbour and therefore 't is you primarily who stand guilty of unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse and here you may suppose the froward Gentile muttering within himselfe and thus cavilling at the Apostles minor what Saint Paul will you say we hold the truth in unrighteousnesse whereas we are altogether ignorant of God the Jewes indeed are without excuse because in the Scriptures God is plainly revealed unto them but as for us we sit in darknesse and the shadow of death without the least glimmering or knowledge of God and therefore pray forbeare so hard a censure no saith the Apostle say what you will
there is no such impossibility for then how came Job and others Gentiles into the pale of the Church and according to some the Law of Nature was sufficient to discover unto them a Christ though this savours too much of Pelagianisme Againe secondly what though it was impossible for them barely by the light of nature to believe yet shall we tax God of tying his creatures to impossibilities certainly we cannot for it was not Gods fault but mans who by his sinfull fall contracted unto himselfe and his posterity such an impossibility But I must hasten Thirdly this may further be made good unto you by considering the vast disproportion and enmity that is betweene a Naturall understanding and Spirituall Mysteries The naturall man saith the Apostle receiveth not the not the thinges of the spirit of God for they are spiritually discerned 1 Corin. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is say some expositors from the narrownesse and incapacity of the intellective faculty to receive those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the text indeed they are said to know the things of God but not the things of the spirit of God and good reason to for it for as water can ascend no higher then just the spring or fountaine from whence it is derived even so the knowledge which flowes from the light of Nature can mount no further then into those things which are proportioned and levell with the same light Should you tell a Pagan of three distinct persons united in the same nature of an Infinite God wrapt up and cloysterd in Finite humane flesh of being twice borne before he can become a child of God would he not think you rather laugh at then believe the discourse and suppose you rather went about to puzzle then instruct him Doubtlesse a Bat may as soone face the Sun at noone day or a purblind man read the smallest print at a miles distance as a Carnall man can dive into or discover such abstruse sublime Mysteries 'T is the Word alone and spirit of God that unlocks unto us these hidden things of God which blockish nature can never understand much lesse discover And therefore when Paul spoke unto the Athenians concerning the Resurrection the text saith some of them mocked and the same Apostle in the 1 Cor. 7. 2. saith the Gospell was unto the Greekes foolishnesse even the most learned of the Gentiles counted these mysteries ridiculous and absurd things Unto these reasons I might adde many more and answere some objections but I am afraid I should be tedious Give me leave now but in a word or two particularly to apply of this point unto our selves what hath been Doctrinally spoken as touching the Gentiles and so I shall conclude First then this should make us bewaile the sad losse we sustained by Adams Apostacy us I say for we are all by nature Gentiles neither is there any man borne a Christian As then when the sunne is in a very great Eclipse every man is apt to be struct with horrour and Amazement so likewise when we consider how strange an Eclipse this primitive glorious light hath suffered through sinne we ought to be smitten through with greife and seriously to bewaile the cause of it When a man looketh upon the Venerable ruines of some ancient stately edifice how apt is he to weepe and melt over its desolations And shall Man that admirable fabrick and Master-peice of his Creatour fall into such confusion and darknesse and wee be insensible of his ruines and as Nero once did upon Rome looke merrily upon his destruction Certainly were not a man wholly Engulphed in carnall pleasures were not his heart so deeply steeped in worldly delight he would sometimes let fall a teare or two upon the sad reliques of his Primitive Glory and mourne over his former happinesse now entoumbed in nothing but Misery and Darknesse For doubtlesse great matter there will be of sorrow unto us to see that glorious fabrick and beautifull Image of God sullied over with sinne and uglinesse that Vnderstanding which is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20. 27. Now so overcharged with ignorance unbeliefe and falshood with ignorance in being not able to fathome either naturall Causes or supernaturall mysteries with unbeliefe in its backwardnesse to assent unto such things which are beyond the reach of purblind nature and with falsehood in its misapprehending and misjudging the truths of God to see likewise what rebellious tumults and disorders there are in those Affections which Originally were quietly subordinated unto the dictates and guidance of Reason how madly they cast off the reins and rush into sinne as a horse rusheth into the battle how wildly they rage and Tyrannize over the discursive rationall facultie either bribing it to assent unto such things which upon deliberation it must needs disapprove off or else violently tugging and haling it to give way unto the Execution of them To consider also how that Conscience which primitively did enjoy a sweet tranquillity and peace is now lashed with the guilt of Sinne affrighted with the glarings and preapprehensions of Hell fire yea and become a very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bugbeare unto us a speculum and looking glasse to reflect unto us both our Temporall and Eternall misery I might here make an Anatomy of the whole man and shew unto you how in every part and faculty of the soule that Glorious Light which God originally imprinted in our first parents is now dimme and almost quite extinguished through sinne such is the strange malignity of it to deface and blurre the clearest Characters of God and Goodnesse in man And therefore it should mightily humble every one of us when we consider that the Light whereby we primitively were directed unto Heaven and so sweet a communion with God himselfe is now so obscure in us that we are faine to grope after him in the darke with whom before we had so familiar Acquaintance And then it should cause us to pray unto God to enlighten our minds to repaire this decayed lumpe with the Oyle of his Grace that we may be enabled to seeke after him in the way that he will be found to bring us out of darknesse into his marvellous light out of the darknesse of ignorance that we may rightly know him and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent out of the darknesse of errour that we may know the truth and discerne thinges that differ and out of the darknesse of unbeliefe that believing on him we may not see death but have everlasting life But now secondly as we ought to be humbled in the sense of this our great losse so ought we likewise since God hath manifested it unto us and it is his gift to be thankfull for the remainders and sparks of this Light that now remaine in us for whereas God might have wrapped us up in eternall darknesse and have made us as brutish and irrationall as the Beasts we formerly had dominion over yet such was
put into a man enabling him to resist even his own desires to fight against his own flesh and blood to suffer and beare all afflictions and tribulations for Christ his sake shew me any humane eloquence that can alter and change the very natures of men that can over-awe keep under hatches the rebellions mutinies and motions of the flesh that can put a Felix into a trembling a stubborne Pharaoh into a relenting that can give light unto the simple stop the mouth of gainsayers that can divide between the heart and the world between a mans selfe and his selfe humane eloquence that can only move and perswade this force and command it comes with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus saith the Lord and therefore exacts obedience Adde to all these the testimonies of all times concerning the Scriptures their Antiquity Moses being borne before the very Gods of the Heathens the latest of the Prophets matching the antientest of the Phylosophers adde also their constant preservation and continuance even till now maugre all the fury and rage of Tyrants the malice of Divells and divelish men who have done and doe still oppose these holy writings adde finally unto all these the testimonies of an army of Martyrs maintaining even to death the truth of the Scriptures men of all sorts ignorant who though they could not dispute could yet dye for the truth wise rich poore of all ages and sexes women children aged folkes enduring all manner of torments with all manner of torments with all patience and constancy for the maintenance of Gods Word and the truthes therein contained these with many other reasons may sufficiently demonstrate that God alone is the Author of the Scriptures but now as there may be many witnesses unto a bond and yet still all be of little moment unlesse the seale be put on too in like manner all these witnesses and arguments here produced will be of little concernement unto our Salvation unlesse they be sealed with the Spirit of promise as the Apostle speakes Ephes 1. 13. we may be convicted by the foregoing arguments that God is the Authour of the Holy Scriptures but yet they can never per se worke faith nor a full assurance of them unlesse the Spirit which beareth witnesse unto our Spirits jointly cooperates and opens our eyes more fully to see this light for as Hagar Gen. 21. 19. could not see the fountain that was neer her untill God had opened her eyes so neither can we perfectly discerne or savingly know the holy Scriptures untill the Holy Ghost doth open our eyes as David speakes to behold the marvellous things of the Law we have therefore occasion here to enquire how it may appeare unto us that the Scriptures are the Word of God or how a man may savingly and truely know that the Scriptures are the Word of God and of divine authority the Papists they say that the reason why they believe the Scriptures are the Word of God is because the Church saith so we say that the reason why we believe them so to be is because they are in themselves worthy of all beliefe and because the Spirit of God witnesseth and sealeth unto our Spirits that they are the Word of God now whether the witnesse of men or the witnesse of God be greater judge ye however it hath been a point very much controverted and canvassed on both sides therefore I shall endeavour briefly and cleerly to state it and to make you understand the absurdity and vanity of their position Our thesis on which I shall ground my Discourse shall be this namely that the Authority of the Scriptures in esse cognito and quoad nos doth not so depend on the Church as on their own innate light and testimony of the Spirit within us the termes of this Thesis being explained you will easily understand the whole matter I say then that the Authority of the Scriptures in esse cognito and quoad nos for though some of the Papists have been so impudent as to affirme that the Scriptures have no more divine authority in them without the Testimony of the Church then Aesops Fables or Ovid's Metamorphosis hath yet some of the moderne and ingenuous of them doe acknowledge that in themselves indeed they are of divine authority yet this cannot say they otherwise appeare unto us then by the testimony of the Church we say then that they may otherwise appeare unto us to be Gods Word then by the church as we may know that light is light and gold is gold by their owne qualities and lustre without any mans telling of us that they are so besides if they are as they confesse of divine authority in themselves by what Law then can their Church usurpe authority over them unlesse as needs it must come to passe they account the authority of their Church above that of God and so become no lesse blasphemers then absurd 2. I say that the authority of the Scriptures in esse cognito and quoad nos doth not so much depend upon the Church as on their own innate light and testimony of the Spirit within us doth not so much I say for I doe not deny but that the Church is a great confirmer of the truth and divinity of the Scriptures and that it doth execute many good offices toward them As First it is a witnesse unto them and a keeper and preserver of them but now will any one be so absurd to say that the records or writings of a King doe receive authority from their Notary or Register because he keeps them Secondly the Church may discerne and judge between true and false supposititions Scriptures and that by examining them according to the originall Canon and platforme of Moses his Law for my sheep saith our Saviour John 10. heare my voyce and so can distinguish it from another but now as a Goldsmith may by his weights and touchstone distinguish Gold from Copper yet not be said to make the Gold yea or to make it so unto us but only to make us the more easily believe that Gold it is in like manner the Church in its examining distinguishing of Scriptures can be only said to confirm unto us the divinity of them not in any wise either in themselves or unto us to make them divine The third thing that the Church doth is to preach and divulge the Scriptures but now as we believe and obey the Proclamation of a King not because such an one proclaimeth it but for it selfe so likewise we obey and believe the Scriptures not for the Church but it s own sake Fourthly the Church doth expound and interpret Scriptures but now as a faithfull Interpreter of an Embassadour doth not either adde or take from the true sence and meaning of him so likewise neither doth or ought the true Church to adde or diminish any thing of Holy Writ and therefore much lesse hath it power to make it in any wise of any greater
to bestow any further light upon any it comes to passe that the Gentiles being not able to walke according to the knowledge they primitively had are left without excuse So then the Essentiall Primary end of the Light of Nature and the Creatures was to instruct man in the knowledge and true worship of God the consequentiall if I may so terme it and accidentary end is to the intent that they may be without excuse This shall suffice concerning the words themselves on which I have been the larger because the Exposition of them may give much light to my ensuing discourse which shall be grounded upon this proposition viz. That God though in his owne Nature invisible may yet by a Gentile a meere Naturall man be reacht unto and discovered in his Workes For the better clearing of this Point it will be convenient to distinguish concerning the Workes of God which are either ad intra or ad extra those ad intra are such which have no other object then God himselfe and are eternally bounded within his owne nature such as are the Eternall generation of his Sonne and Proceeding of the Holy Ghost now as no one knoweth the inward workings and contrivances of the mind save the spirit of a man or he to whom he revealeth them in like manner there is no one that can fath om or dive into these inward essentiall Workes of God save God himselfe or those to whom his Word hath communicated them nay indeed the best Saints of God in this their Earthly Tabernacle though never so much enlightened by his Word and Spirit cannot perfectly know or conceive these his ineffable Workes and Mysteries True they may substantially and in generall know that such Workes there be for they are revealed in his Word but then the strange manner of the Generation of the one and Proceeding of the other that admirable Energy and divine Reflexion by which he understands himselfe from all Eternity they cannot but by Analogy faint resemblances and conjectures apprehend much lesse then can a meere Naturall man a Gentile discover and trace either God in these Workes or these Workes in God The second sort of Gods Workes are those ad extra viz. such whose effect is in something without himselfe or whose proper subject is the Creature and these again are either such which do chiefly concerne us in another case as the Election of some unto salvation and reprobation of other unto damnation or else such which immediately concerne either the Being or Preservation of the Creature in this world and these properly are the Workes of Creation and Providence from these chiefly I say it is that a Naturall man knowes God This we shall prove First in the Works of Creation Secondly in the Workes of Providence And first we shall shew in generall that the Creatures in themselves doe every where set forth and proclaime a God Secondly we shall shew by what wayes and meanes the Creatures doe thus bring us unto the knowledge of God 1. First then that the creatures doe every where proclaime a God is manifest from Psal 19. 1 2 3 4. the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke c. That glorious canopy which we behold above us however in it selfe mute and dumbe doth yet notwithstanding set forth as it were unto us a declaration of it's Creatour's Power Goodnesse and Wisdome of his power in the framing and contriving so excellent a piece of his Goodnesse in ordering all it's Motions and Revolutions unto the benefit of his Creatures and of his Wisdome in allotting it so commodious a position and structure unto the performance of those offices to which he hath ordained it and so vers 2. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge that is doth sufficiently Discipline and Instruct men in the knowledge of God so that the most sottish and rude Gentile cannot plead ignorance For what though their Philosophers alone could tell the severall vertues and influences of the Starres the periodicall motion of the Sun Moon their just Horizontall elevation and depression and the like yet day unto day and night unto night doth sufficiently shew forth even to the most ignorant who is the Authour of this their Succession and Revolution for so the Psalmist goes on vers 3 4. there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard their line Scriptura ipsorum their writing is gone out throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the world Marke here how the Creatures are made the praecones as it were of God the Cryers and Heraulds of his glory Doubtlesse there is a certaine kind of dumbe eloquence even in Inanimate Creatures to perswade men to subscribe unto the mighty Creatour of all things Wherefore it was not without some cause that Hermes an Auncient Philosopher among the Heathens called the world the Image of God for as the coine of a King doth represent the King whose coine it is or as in the beholding of a curious Edifice we cannot choose but in it admire the Art and Dexterity of the Artificer in like manner the admirable structure of this neat Vniverse the curious and subordinated disposition which one creature hath to another the exact Symmetry and proportion of each part unto the whole must needs lead us unto the Creatour of them and cause us to admire the infinite Power and Perfection of him who out of nothing could raise so glorious a fabrick As then Protogenes at the very sight of a curious picture did presently guesse it to be the workmanship of Apelles because he knew that none could doe the like so likewise in the contemplation of these glorious Creatures of God we may straightway conclude him to be the Authour of them because they are beyond the contrivance and art of any other For there is no finite being that can make or adde one haire unto our heads much lesse can contribute any sense life or vitall motion unto any thing Many men indeed as Zeuxis Albertus Magnus and others have endeavoured to imitate the God of nature in his workes but never could any one by all his Apish art frame a naturall and reall creature for besides the limitednesse of his Nature the narrownesse of his Vnderstanding the inabilities of him to find out the true forme and peculiar operations of all things there is a certaine stubbornesse and disobedience if I may so speake in the matter it selfe whereby it scornes as it were to be wrackt and tortured into another forme then what the Soveraigne of all things is pleased to impresse upon it God can out of dust build a man but t' is impossible for any man be he of the most exquisite wit invention and judgment as he will ever to raise the least contemptible Creature out of the most refined Matter It remaineth therefore that the most minute inconsiderable least thing in the world doth
been left only to the light of nature within us and the conduct of the Creatures without us we might have eternally groped in darknesse and never have come unto Salvation for though these may direct us unto a God yet they do not properly unto a Christ nature can never throughly discover the will of God and the right meanes unto Salvation and though God be delineated and drawn out as 't were in his Creatures yet it is but in darke colours seen he may be and understood in them but never exactly worshipped and served through them there must be then some higher Principle and fountaine from whence we may draw the knowledge of his will his grace and goodnesse towards mankind his love unto us from all Eternity in designing his Sonne to dye for us and to reveale unto us all those high mysteries of Religion which otherwise nature can never reach unto now that which doth these things must needs be the Word of God which instructing heretofore the old Patriarchs either by Oracles or Vision was at length by Moses proclaimed unto the Church and set down in writing that so all might plainly see who he was what kind of worship he did approve of and by what meanes he would bring them unto Heaven so that as Christ said unto the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4. 22. That both shee and her nation worshipped they knew not what we say likewise of the Gentiles they worshiped they knew not what God or the true one in a false manner for before Christs time Gods words being consined closetted within the Church of the Jewes no wonder that the Gentiles without the pale became vaine in their imaginations and worshiped the Creature more then the Creator and now after Christ many Nations either through malice rejecting the Scriptures or through negligence being ignorant of them no wonder that they are given up to worship the Host of Heaven and to follow after Idolls and lying vanityes for as old and dimme eyes though they may behold a faire volume yet they cannot speak or read perhaps two words together without the help of spectacles or some other glasse in like manner though a purblind naturall man a Gentile may see God in the large volume of his creatures yet without the light and helpe of holy Scriptures he can never discover his will and the true manner wherein he will be worshiped the Scriptures alone are the Cannon and Rule unto which we must square our selves in the service of God the principium cognoscendi that instrument and ladder whereby we may climbe up into Heaven and have a more intimate and cleere knowledge of God then possibly we can attaine unto either by the light of nature or conduct of the Creatures Wherefore leaving the two former Bookes of Nature and the Creatures we must enter now into a higher forme as it were and learne the booke of the Scriptures it shall be my taske therefore at present to open unto you the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures out of these words in prosecution of which as of all other heads ensuing I shall as I have told you endeavour to couch my matter in as short a roome as I can that so I may the more speedily goe over the summe and substance of Christian Religion which is the intent of this exercise and then I shall with all plainnesse perspicuity and method both open and apply the Doctrine familiarly illustrating those things that are knotty and hard without rambling and fetching in of things wich will not consist with my intended brevity and method As for the Doctrine of the holy Scriptures which being a beaten path I shall with lesse paines goe over These words as I conceive are the most pertinent whereon I may build it which are brought in as an argument to strengthen and confirme the Doctrine which Timothy had suckt in even from his youth and received from Paul for he shewing in the beginning of this Chapter the dangers of the latter times and the errours of evill men and seducers doth give his Sonne Timothy an antidote aginst their poyson exhorting him in the 14. verse to continue in the Doctrine which he had received the times indeed are very evill errours very rife persecutions every where offered to the professours of the Gospell but saith he continue thou in the things which thou hast learned c. this exhortation he seems to presse by severall arguments thou must continue in sound Doctrine 1. Because thou hast learnt it it was to that purpose deposited with thee and instilled into thee that thou mightest continue in it 2. Because thou hast been assured of it and therefore 't would argue want of Judgement and folly in thee to fall from it and because thou knowest of whom thou hast learn'd it not from any impostor or seducer but from a Paul an Apostle acted by the Spirit teaching nothing but what he hath from Christ and the Holy Ghost and therefore whose authority ought to binde thee to persevere in the things thou hast learned 3. O Timothy thou must continue in those things thou hast learned because from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures v. 15. thou hast been so long versed in the sacred truth so long learnt and received it that now it would be a most base thing for thee to recede from it read it thou hast from thy Child hood and therefore hold it fast thou shouldest in thy riper yeares this argument he backs on 4. From the perfection and profitable effect of the Sacred Scriptures they are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus thou must therefore continue in the Doctrine and Word of God because if thou believest in that 't is able to instruct thee unto Heaven and eternall Salvation these arguments he puts down in the 14 15. verses now he goes on in these words read unto you to perswade him to persevere in the faith and Doctrine of the Scriptures for saith he all Scripture is given by inspiration of God the Authority therefore of it should bind thee to continue in the maintenance of it and 't is profitable for Doctrine for Reproofe for Correction for instruction in righteousnesse and therefore the great profit of it in instructing thee in all things which tend to Religion or well living and also its perspicuity in laying down all manner of things plainly which make either for Doctrine or for decision of controversies or for regulating mens manners either in publicke or private and then in the 17. verse the Apostle confirmes his exhortation from the end of the Holy Scriptures which is that the man of God may be perfect c. it is perfect in it self and therefore it doth make men perfect and throughly instructed unto all good workes since then saith Paul the Doctrine which thou hast learnt hath so noble an Author of it as God hath so profitable an use as to make men wise unto
Turke may know Christ so farre as by hear-say and History yet he cannot be said savingly to know him because he denies his assent unto the Gospell which is the ordinary way of discovering him to a man As when those that pretend to be disciples of any great Phylosopher or Schollar doe wholly submit themselves to his dogmata writings and opinions as for example the Peripateticks to Aristotle the Scotists to Scotus the Thomists to Thomas his Doctrine insomuch that they doe even sweare to resigne up their judgements to the words of their Master why so much more ought Christians to give their assent unto the Word of their Lord master Christ therefore John 10. 't is said that his Sheepe heare his voice and follow him they presently adhere to his word and accordingly obey him in it He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life Joh. 5. 24. we must first hearken to his Word before we can believe on him and have everlasting life Secondly it implyes affection to Christ For as Gods knowing his people implyes his love towards them in Scripture the Lord knows the way of the Righteous Psal 1. v. 6. so his peoples knowing of God implyes also affection towards him hence Christ saith that he knows his sheep and is known of them John 10. 14. which implyes on both sides a mutuall love to each other for so expressly v. 15. he saith he will lay down his life for his sheep Hence ignorance is every where in holy writ made the ground of mens hatred and disaffection to Christ and his people had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2. 8. and John 15. 21. and c. 16. v. 3. All these things meaning persecutions saith Christ they will doe unto you because they have not known the Father nor me did a man throughly and savingly know Christ he would be more in love with him for there is such an intimacy and union between the truth and goodnesse of divine objects that whosoever rightly understands the one will presently imbrace the other so that be sure that is but a vaine empty knowledge of Christ where the characters of it are not imprinted in our hearts and affections even in common discourse when we say I know such a one is of excellent parts of a sweet and good disposition this implies our secret esteem and respect unto the person and how can we be said truely to know him as the fairest of ten-thousand as our Saviour Reconciler Lord and God unlesse our hearts be carryed forth in a high esteem and love of him 't is said Jam. 2. 19. The Divells do believe and therefore tremble certainly did they know there was any mercy in store for them as now there is nothing but vengeance as they now tremble and feare so they would then love and admire Christ and did we but justly understand the admirable goodnesse and excellencies of Christ we should be more taken with him we should keep his commandements with more observance and feare more to displease him then we doe O let us never say we know Christ that we have intimacy and acquaintance with him when our hearts are farre from him when we have an Idea of him in our Braine and not so much as a lust Crucified by the Knowledge of his death not one grace the more implanted by the knowledge of his Resurrection when we pretend to know him yet grieve his Spirit wound his glory trample under foot his blood disobey his precepts and preferre a Barrabas a robber a sinne that dispoiles him of his Glory before the Lord of life believe it this knowledge of Christ is scientia affectiva it must sinke deeper then so into our affections and transforme the whole man into the image of Christ otherwise it is but a counterfeit not a reall knowledge of him Thirdly this practicall knowledg of Christ implies a particuliar application of him to our own soules what good will it doe me to know there is gold in the Indies unlesse I had it in my coffer or to know when I am hungry that there is in such a place hony and food unlesse I did tast it my selfe no more good will the knowledge of Christ doe us unlesse we doe eate him and drinke him by faith and can say with Paul in the text I know him to be my Lord that hath redeemed me and will save me you will not count him a good Physitian that knoweth only the name figure and shape of an hearb in Gerhard or Mathiolus and not the use and application of the same and so neither can ye call him a knowing Christian that can discourse only of Christ in generall being in the meane while ignorant of the benefits and the comfortable application of them he may still for all this lay under the curse under the pangs of conscience the sence of the wrath of God the tyranny of sin and Sathan unlesse he can feele Christs spirit as Thomas did corporally and say My Lord and My God Joh. 20. 28. in all true knowledge the Acts of the understanding are reflexive the soule will start back and rebound upon its selfe it will first goe out unto Christ its direct object and then turne in upon its selfe and examine its own interest in him Hence saith Saint Paul in the 2 Cor. 13. v. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith let your soules retire into themselves and there diligently examine the matter and you will quickly find whether you believe in Christ or have any communion with him which cannot be rightly known unlesse you so examine your selves and so much shall suffice to be spoken of the first point The second is the qualifications of this knowledge 1. 'T is a revealed supernaturall knowledge Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee saith Christ of himselfe to Simon Peter but my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 16. v. 17. neither carnall reason nor humane wisedome can ever suggest Christ unto us 't is God alone that reveales his Sonne in us Gal. 1. v. 16. Nature can rise no higher then things within its own bounds and spheare As water cannot runne above its own fountaine now the knowledg of Christ doth much exceed the reach of naturall disquisition 't is the wisedome of God in a mystery hidden wisedome which none of the princes of this world knew 1 Cor. 2. we attaine usually unto naturall knowledg by much industry turmoile of body minde when our understanding doth out of some imperfect hintes and blushes of the causes of things by degrees hack and hew out the truth of them and by much labour and toyle we get and serve out of nature the small knowledge that we have whereas now all the toyle and study in the world will never advance a meer naturall man to the knowledge of Christ because I suppose he hath not so much as a hint
from nature to set him a worke in the pursuit of it that there should be three persons in the Essence that the second of these persons God the Sonne should be made man and be degraded to the forme of a servant be borne of a virgin dye and in death get a victory over death and the like are such riddles to a naturall man that he cannot possibly receive them as the Apostle expresseth it 1 Cor. 2. 15. neither can he in his most extravagant and roving apprehensions fasten or light upon them which makes me thinke that Trismegistus and Plato had been peeping into the books of Moses when they speak so emphatically of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea and the Spirit of God as they are quoted by Lud. Vives Morney in their bookes de veritate Religionis so that the meer historiall knowledge of Christ doth originally arise from revelation how much more then doth the true saving knowledge of him descend immediately from the Spirit of God enlightning our understandings to see him opening our hearts to embrace him and guiding us into all truth 't is not our poring upon a body of Divinity our running over the Schoolemen and spending our oyle and labour in the bare speculation of these truths that bring us to a saving knowledge of Christ but we must be all taught of God and waite upon the blessed influences of his Spirit with an humble soule with prayers and teares and fasting and weeping and mourning for our ignorance that God would come from above into us and instruct us in the excellent knowledge of him who indeed to them that perish is foolishnesse but to them that are called the wisedome of God and the power of God 2 This is the alone saving knowledge that is this is life eternall that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Ioh. 17. 3. There is no other name given under Heaven by whom we can be saved and he is the way the truth and the life and the door by whom alone we have entrance into Heaven how can we enter into life but by the way by the doore how can we see the Father but by the Sonne who reveales him So that to assigne Salvation to such as never so much as dream't of Christ is a presumption not justifiable by Scripture or reason I cannot conceive how the dimme snuffe of naturall light should be sufficient to guide a man to Heaven 'T is only that light of the world as the Evangelist saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Sunne of the soule as the Father stiles him that shewes us the way to eternall happinesse since without faith in him 't is impossible to please God and all the best righteousnesses of naturall men are but menstruous raggs splendid abominations A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit neither doe we gather grapes of thornes we may in charity hope we cannot out of the Scripture conclude that any are saved without the knowledge of Christ neither the Jewes simply by their Law nor the Gentiles by their Phylosophy could ever reach Heaven Though Clemens Alexandrinus and many of the Schoolmen Zuinglius seem to teach the contrary perhaps more out of charity to soe many poore soules that otherwise they thought must inevitably perish then any solid grounds they had from Scripture for it and seriously who could without trembling think of the sad condition of those poor wretches that the revealed Word of God concludes them under were it not for this that God ha's unsearcheable wayes to save those that we most despair of that the insinite mercifull creator can by meanes altogether unknown to us display his Sonne even to those that sit in darkenesse and the regions of death But to hasten 3. This knowledge of Christ is a pleasant knowledge All knowledge as the Phylosopher notes carries a secret content and pleasure along with it and therefore videre speculari quaerimus ut gaudeamus As delightfull colours are unto the eye so is truth unto the understanding a comfortable refreshing thing now the knowledge of Christ must be pleasant in its very first dawning to a benighted soule for the entrance of it giveth light and understanding to the simple Ps 119. v. 130. must not the approach of light be needs be pleasant to those under the poles after halfe a years darknesse or unto such as are borne blind or have been kept in a dungeon all their dayes before and can the Sun of Righteousnesse think ye be otherwise when he riseth in a poore soule that hath laid thirty forty perhaps fifty yeares togeither in blindnesse and ignorance O how comfortable a thing will it then be unto him to see himselfe translated out of darkenesse into marvellous light to find the eyes of his understanding opened the veile taken off and his sinnes pardoned which were as a thick cloud to hinder him from the sight of his Saviour all the wayes of wisedome are wayes of pleasantnesse and her paths peace Prov. 3. 17. What more pleasant then light why Christ is the true light Joh. 1. what more delightsome to the tast then hony His statutes are sweeter then the hony or hony-combe Psal 19. what more taketh us then ease and rest his very yoake is easie and his burden light Mat. 11. 't is ignorance of Christ that makes his wayes seem unpleasant to us for no man ever tooke any pleasure in that which he understands not hence those inward loathings of his Word those risings and heart-burnings against the simplicity of the Gospell in prophane persons these are people of no understanding they never knew what belonged to the inward comforts and refreshments of the Spirit what delight there is in keeping Gods Law what pleasure 't is for a thirsty soule to drink of the water of life for a hungry soule to feed upon Manna and the bread that came down from Heaven they know what comfort there is in the kisses of his mouth in his love that is better then wine in his abode and supping with you and therefore no wonder that all their delight is to dowze themselves in carnall pleasures to eate and drinke and rise up to play that they are so averse from dutyes so sad and heavy in spirituall performances that they so much loath his Word his people his Embassadours his gracious motions and invitations the truth of all is this they know not Christ and therefore they have no pleasure in him 4. This knowledge is a satisfying knowledge other knowledge is like some sance which when you receive into you begets a fresh and new appetite the knowledge of the one thing doth set the teeth on edge as here and makes us thirst after more whereas Christ is an object fitted and suited to the most vast and boundlesse desires of the soule and therefore what the Phylospher said of naturall knowledge we may more properly say of divine that 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉