Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A02497
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A sermon preached at St Maries in Oxford vpon Tuesday in Easter vveeke, 1617 Concerning the abuses of obscure and difficult places of holy Scripture, and remedies against them. By Iohn Hales, Fellow of Eton Colledge, and Regius Professour of the Greeke tongue in the Vniversitie of Oxford.
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Hales, John, 1584-1656.
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1617
(1617)
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STC 12628; ESTC S103638
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21,539
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44
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Heâ—od the voice of God and not of man If he then that abases the Princes come deserues to die what is his desert that insteed of the tried silver of Gods word stamps the name and character of God vpoÌ„ Neâ—ushtan vpon base brafen stuffe of his owne Thirdly No Scripture is of private interpretation saith the Apostle There can therfore be but two certaine and infallible interpreters of Scripture either it selfe or the holy Ghost the author of it It selfe doth then expound it selfe when the wordes circumstances doe sound vnto vs the prime and naturall and principall sense But when the place is obscure involu'd and intricate or when there is contain'd some secret and hidden mystery beyond the prime sense infallibly to shew vs this there can be no interpreter but the holy Ghost that gaue it Besides these two all other interpretation is private Wherefore as the Lords of the Philistines sometimes said of the kine that drew the arke vnto Bethshemesh If they goe of themselues then is this from God but if they goe another way then is it not from God it is some chance that hath hapned vnto vs so may it bee said of all pretended sense of Scripture If Scripture come vnto it of it selfe then is it of God but if it goe another way or if it bee violently vrged and goaded on then is it but a matter of chance of mans wit invention As for those marvailous discourses of some fram'd vpon presumption of the spirits helpe in private in iudging or interpreting of difficult places of Scripture I must needs confesse I haue often wondred at the boldnesse of them The spirit is a thing of darke secret operation the maner of it none can descrie As vnderminers are never seene till they haue wrought their purpose so the spirit is never perceaved but by its effects The effects of the spirit as farre as they concerne knowledge and instruction are not particular information for resolution in any doubtfull case for this were plainely revelation but as the Angell which was sent vnto Cornelius informes him not but sends him to Peter to schoole so the spirit teaches not but stirres vp in vs a desire to learne Desire to learne makes vs thirst after the meanes and pious sedulitie carefulnesse makes vs watchfull in the choice and diligent in the vse of our meanes The promise to the Apostles of the spirit which should lead them into all truth was made good vnto them by private and secret informing their vnderstandings with the knowledge of high and heavenly mysteries which as yet had never entred into the conceit of any man The same promise is made to vs but fulfil'd after another manner For what was written by revelation in their hearts for our instruction haue they written in their bookes To vs for information otherwise then out of these bookes the spirit speaks not WheÌ„ the spirit regenerats a maÌ„ it infuses no knowledge of any point of faith but sends him to the Church and to the Scriptures When it stirres him vp to newnesse of life it exhibits not vnto him an inventory of his sinnes as hitherto vnknowne but either supposes theÌ„ knowne in the law of nature of which no man can bee ignorant or sends him to learne them from the mouth of his teachers More then this in the ordinary proceeding of the holy spirit in matter of instruction I yet could never deserie So that to speake of the helpe of the spirit in private either in dijudicating or in interpreting of Scripture is to speake they knowe not what Which I doe the rather note first because by experience we haue learnt how apt-men are to call their private conceits the spirit And againe because it is the especiall errour with which S. Austine long agoe charged this kinde of men tantò sunt ad seditionem faciliores quantò sibi videntur spiritâ— excellere by so much the more prone are they to kindle schisme and contention in the Church by how much they seeme to themselues to bee endued with a more eminent measure of spirit then their brethren whilst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Basils speakes vnder pretense of interpretation they violently broach their owne conceits Great then is the danger in which they wade which take vpon them this businesse of interpretation temeritas asserendâ— incertae dubiaeque opinionis saith St Austine difficile sacrilegij crimen evitat the rashnesse of those that averre vncertaine and doubtfull interpretations for Catholike and absolute can hardly escape the sinne of sacrilege But whereas our Apostle saith their owne destruction is the destruction onely their owne this were well if it stretched no farther The ancients much complaine of this offence as an hinderer of the salvation of others There were in the daies of Isidorus Pelusiota some that gaue out that all in the old Testament was spoken of Christi belike out of extreame oppositioÌ„ to the Manichees who on the otherside taught that no text in the old Testament did foretell of Christ That Father therefore dealing with some of that opinion tels them how great the danger of their tenent is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if saith he we striue with violence to drawe and apply those texts to Christ which apparantly pertaine not to him we shall gaine nothing but this to make all the places that are spoken of him suspected and so discredite the strength of other testimonies which the Church vsually vrges for the refutation of the Iewes For in these cases a wrosted proofe is like vnto a suborn'd witnesse It never doth helpe so much whilest it is presumed to bee strong as it doth 〈◊〉 when it is discouered to bee weake St Austine in his bookes de Genesi ad litteram sharply â—â—proues some Christians who out of some places of Scripture misvnderstood fram'd vnto themselues a kinde of knowledge in Astronomie and Physiologie quite contrary vntosome parts of heathen learning in this kinde which were true and evident vnto sense A man would thinke that this were but a small errour and yet hee doubts not to call it 〈…〉 perniciosâ—â— maxiâ—â— cavendum His reason warrants the roundnesse of his reproofe For he charges such to haue beene a scandall vnto the word and hinderers of the conversion of some heathen men that were schollars For how saith he shall they beleeue our bookes of Scripture perswading the resurrection of the dead the kingdome of heauen and the rest of the mysteries of our profession if they finde them faultie in these things of which themselues haue vndeniable demonstration yea though the cause wee maintaine bee never so good yet the issue of diseas'd and crazie proofes brought to maintaine it must needs bee the same For vnto all causes be they never so good weakenesse of proofe when it is discovered brings great prejudice but vnto the cause of religion most of all St Austine obseru'd that there were some qui 〈◊〉 de aliquibus qui
A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES 〈◊〉 OXFORD VPON TVESDAY IN EASTER VVEEKE 1617. CONCERNING THE ABVSES of obscure and difficult places of holy Scripture and remedies against them By IOHN HALES FELLOW OF ETON COLLEDGE and Regius Professour of the Greeke tongue in the Vniversitie of Oxford AT OXFORD Printed by Iohn Lichfield and William Wrench Printers to the famous Vniversitie 1617. 2. PETER 3. 16. Which the vnlearned and vnstable wrest as they doe the other Scriptures vnto their owne destruction THE loue and favour which it pleased God to beare our Fathers before the law so farre prevail'd with him as that without any bookes writings by familiar and frendly conversing with theÌ„ and communicating himselfe vnto them he made them receaue and vnderstand his lawes their inward conceits intellectualls being after a wonderfull manner as it were Figured and Characterd as St Basill expresses it by his spirit so that they could not but see and consent vnto and confesse the truth of them Which way of manifesting his will vnto many other gracious priviledges which it had aboue that which in after ages came in place of it had this added that it brought with it vnto the man to whom it was made a preservati on against all doubt and hesitancy a full assurance both who the author was and how farre his intent and meaning reacht Wee 〈◊〉 their ofâ—â—ng ought as St Chrysostome tells vs fo to haue demeand our selues that it might haue been with vs as it was with them that 〈◊〉 might haue had no need of writing no other 〈◊〉 but the spirit no other books but our hearts no other means to haue beene taught the things of God Nisi inspirationis divinae internam 〈…〉 ubi sine sonis sermonum sine elementis literarum eo dulciùs quo secretiùs veritas loquitur as saith Fulgentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pelâ—siota for it is a great argument of our shame imperfection that the holy things are written in bookes For as God in anger tells the Iewes that he himselfe would not goe before them as hitherto he had done to conduct them into the promised land but would leaue his Angell with them as his deputie so hath he dealt with vs the vnhappy posteritie degenerated from the ancient puritie of our forefathers When himselfe refused to speake vnto our hearts because of the hardnesse of them he then began to put his lawes in writing Which thing for a long time amongst his owne people seemes not to haue brought with it any sensible inconvenience For amongst all those acts of the Iewes which God in his booke hath registred for our instruction there is not one concerning any pretended ambiguitie or obscuritie of the Text Letter of their Law which might drawe them into faction and schisme the Divell be like hauing other sufficieâ— advantages on which he wrought But ever since the Gospell was committed to wâ—â—ting what age what monument of the Churches acts is not full of debate and strife concerning the force meaning◠〈◊〉 those writings which the holy Ghost hath left vs to be the law rule of faith St Paul one of the first penmen of the holy Ghost who in Pâ—â—â—dise 〈◊〉 wordes which it was not lawfull for man to vtter hath left vs words in writing which it is not safe for any man to be too busie to interpret No sooner had hee laid downe his penne almost ere the inke was drie were there found Syllabarum aucupes such as St Ambrose spake of qui nescire aliquid erubescunt per occasionem obscuritatis tendunt laqueos deceptionis who thought there could be no greater disparagement vnto them then to seeme to bee ignorant of any thing and vnder pretense of interpreting obscure places laid gins to entrap the vncautelous who taking advantage of the obscuritie of St Pauls text made the letter of the Gospell of life and peace the most forcible instrument of mortal quarrell contention The growth of which the Holy Ghost by the Ministery of St Peter hath indeavored to cut vp in the bud and to strangle in the wombe in this short admonition which but now hath founded in your eares VVhich the learned c. In which wordes for our more orderly proceeding we will consider First the sinne it selfe that is heare repreheÌ„ded wresting of Scripture where we will breifly consider what it is and what cauâ—â—â— and motioners it findes in our corrupt vnderstandings Secondly the persons guilty of this offence discipher'd vnto vs in two Epithets vnlearned vnstable Last of all the danger in the last words vnto their owne damnation And first of the sinne it selfe together with some of the especiall causes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wrest They deale with Scripture as Chimickes deale with naturall bodies torturing them to extract that out of them which God and nature never put in them Scripture is a rule which will not fit it selfe to the obliquitie of our conceits but our perverse and crooked discourse must fit it selfe to the straightnesse of that rule A learned writer in the age of our fathers commenting vpon Scripture spake most truely when hee said that his Comments gaue no light vnto the text the text gaue light vnto his Comments Other expositions may giue rules directions for vnderstanding their authors but Scripture giues rules to exposition it selfe and interprets the interpreter Wherefore when wee wade in Scripture non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum as St Austine speakes sed pro nostra ita dimicantes vt tam velimus Scripturarum esse quae nostra est When we striue to giue vnto it and not to receaue from it the sense when wee factiously contend to fasten our conceits vpon God and like the Harlot in the booke of Kings take our dead and putrified fancies and lay them in the bosome of Scripture as of a mother then are we guiltie of this great sinne of wresting of Scripture The nature of which will the better appeare if wee consider a little some of those motioners which driue vs vpon it One very potent and strong meane is the exceeding affection and loue vnto our owne opinions conceits For growne wee are vnto extremities on both hands we cannot with patience either admit of other mens opinions or endure that our owne should be withstood As it was in the Lacedaemonian army almost all were Captaines so in these disputes all will be leaders and we take our selues to be much discountenanced if others thinke not as we doe So that the complaint which one makes concerning the dissention of Physicians about the diseases of our bodies is true likewise in these disputes which concerne the cure of our soules hinc illae circa agros miserae sententiarum concertationes nullo idem censente ne videatur accessio alterius From hence haue sprong those miserable contentions about the distemper of our soules singularitie alone and