Ptolomy King of Egypt enquired once of the Roman Embassadors that came to his Court about the estate and government of the great and famous City of Rome he received this answer from them That at Rome the gods were honoured Magistrates reverenced the good rewarded and the bad punished This they spake to magnifie the glory and flourishing estate of their City And indeed when the Chariot of a Christian Common-wealth is moved upon these four wheels and they also turn upon the axle-tree of holy writ we may fitly apply unto it that laudatory congratulation wherewith the Psalmist salutes the Church Ride prosperously because of truth and meeknesse and righteousnesse and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things thine arrows shall be sharp in the heart of the Kings (a) Psal 45.4 enemies For this verily comes to passe when superiour Powers make God's written word the rule and levell of their Government and the honour and observance of it the aim and end of the same Whereas on the contrary when such higher Powers slight God's word so far forth as to omit to execute justice by the right rules of it and in room thereof dare substitute their own private thoughts and affections as the ballance by which to measure it forth then are they the very bane and blame and shame of a Common-wealth and like a canker in a tree which both disgraceth the beauty of it and also corrodeth to the utter mortification and destruction of the whole body of it except it be pared away I have read that ever in the first and best Councels as in the Councels of Chalcedon Nice and Ephesus the holy Orthodox Fathers and Bishops were wont to have the Bible placed on a desk or such like convenient supporter in the midst of the room before them that by the sight thereof they might be put in mind to conclude and determine nothing against the honour and contents thereof It were to be wished that all in place of Magistracy and Judicature would be pleased so far forth to follow the example of these grave and reverend Fathers as to have this Book of God if not in their hands or before their eyes yet at least in their mindes and memories at all times when they are imployed about the administration of justice and judgement that it might be a remembrance unto them to do nothing against the contents of it as they desire to escape the curses that are denounced in it against such as violate the sacred laws and rules of it Secondly As Princes and Rulers should protect so Ministers should preach this word because it 's God's yea Be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and (a) 2 Tim. 4.2 doctrine For If the Lord God have spoken who can but (b) Amos 3.8 prophesie When the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jews forbad Peter and John to teach any more the Gospel of Christ they answered We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and (c) Acts 4.20 heard The reason is premised in the precedent verse namely because they were so commanded of God For Apostles and Ministers their successors are Embassadors for (d) 2 Cor. 5.20 Christ And therefore may not unfaithfully conceal their embassy but A necessity is laid upon them and woe is unto them if they preach not the (e) 1 Cor. 9.16 Gospell And they are disposers of the mysteries of God and it is required of the disposers saith S. Paul that a man be found (f) 1 Cor. 4.1 2. faithful And great necessity there is of the faithful dispensation of this Word by the Ministers thereof as in regard of their duty to God who sends them so in respect of the good of men to whom they are sent For it is the food and physick of their souls by which the spiritual life of grace is first inspired and ever after conserved in them Hence is that speech of Moses to the Israelites Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law For it is not a vain thing for you because it is your (a) Deut. 32.46 47. life So that there is the same necessity of it to the conservation of the life spiritual as there is of food and physick to the maintenance of the life natural For though the words of men be but wind and so can feed neither the body nor the soul yet God's words are both spirit and (b) Joh. 6.63 life and so have an occult and hidden power in them above all other words enabling them to feed not the soul only but even the body also and that to life eternal and therefore are compared both to (c) 1 Pet. 2.2 milk and strong (d) Heb. 5.12 13 14. meat fit food both for young and old Whence also is that sentence of the wise man The lips of the righteous feed (e) Prov. 10.21 many that is with God's word And that saying in the Prophet Jeremiah I will give you Pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and (f) Jer. 3.15 understanding And for this cause both our Saviour charged Peter very strictly to feed his (g) John 21.15 16 17. sheep meaning with God's word and S. Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Take heed saith he unto your selves and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own (a) Acts 20.28 bloud And S. Peter also those Elders to whom he writ Feed the flock of God which is among (b) 1 Pet. 5.2 you And again though the words of men cannot heal yet God's word can and doth so saith the Psalmist He sendeth forth his word and healeth (c) Psal 107.20 them Yea The word of the Lord healeth all things saith the wise (d) Wisd 16.12 man Which the Centurion believing said therefore to Christ But speak the word only and my servant shall be (e) Matth. 8.8 whole I aim not here to prescribe one manner and measure of preaching to all for some are endued with more ample and excellent gifts for the performance of this work then others and therefore have a greater task enjoyned them then others For unto whom much is given of him shall be much (f) Luke 12.48 required But this I urge with the Apostle Peter Let every man as he hath received the gift minister the same one to another as good disposers of the manifold grace of (g) 1 Pet. 4.10 God For Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord (h) Jer. 48.10 negligently And the unprofitable servant who hides his Lord's talent shall be cast into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of (i) Mat. 25.30 teeth I confesse there be some such now
and sinful Parents is flesh that is is fleshly and finful for so we find in other places of Scripture as was said before that where the flesh and spirit are opposed one to another as they are in this verse there by spirit is understood the regenerate part in man and by flesh the unregenerate part as beside the former Text quoted Gal. 5.16 17. verses is to be seen in Rom. 8. several times verse the 5. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit And in the next verse To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace And in the 9. verse Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit And again in the 13. verse If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live In all which places as also in most other in the New Testament where the Spirit and the flesh are set in opposition one to another there by flesh is meant the unregenerate part in man unless some circumstances in the context do necessarily require that such places should be otherwise understood Hence therefore it follows undeniably That children are conceived and born in sin namely because they stand in need of regeneration to their salvation Argument 2. THey that are subject to diseases and death in their conception and birth are in their conception and birth sinful for these namely diseases and death are affirmed to be the fruits and effects of sin in Scripture very frequently Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death So that where we see death or sicknesse sieze upon any young or old there we may surely conclude that sin hath gone before But Infants are subject to diseases and death in their very conception and birth Therefore they are in their conception and birth sinful To evade the force of this argument one of note amongst the Anabaptisie nâ—mely one Mr. Brown in a Treatise which he hath penned and published entituled Scriptureredeâ—ption freed from restraint and in page the 7. of the said discourse restrains the death mentioned in the forenamed Texts to a bodily death only affirming that Adam by his sin exposed himself and his posterity not to eternal or the second death to the death of soul and body both but to bodily death only Yet lest he should seem to contradict Scripture which every-where affirms all sin to provoke God's anger and to deserve death and to bring forth fruit unto death he confesseth that any sin deserves death but not every kind of death His words are these I grant saith he that the wages of sin is death but the wages of any sin is not every kind of death And so denies that Adam incurred any other death by his sin then the death of the body Touching this answer and this exposition of the foresaid Texts of Scripture I desire the Reader to take notice of these two failings and falts therein First it extenuates the hainousness of sin and minceth and diminisheth that just demerit and penalty of it which throughout the whole Scripture is denounced against it which is death both of body and soul Secondly It 's a concession and confession in effect that children are by nature sinful born with fin upon them and in them for if the wages of any be death which is truth and he ingeniously affirms it then where there is any death there must needs be some sin or else the wages and penalty of sin should be inflicted where there is no sin Whereas therefore some children suffer in their infancy some kind of death namely bodily death they must needs be guilty of some kind of sin otherwise they should be punished with bodily death undeservedly which to affirm were blasphemy But they can have no actual sin as is confessed of all men and therefore the sin which exposeth them to death must needs be some latent sin wherewith their natures are stained from the womb as the Scripture speakes which is that which we call originall And so ye may see that his answer to the argument is in effect a concession of the unaswerable force of it and of that which he would seeme to deny But I will display Mr. Brown his gross errour about this point yet a little further He confesseth in the same place of his book that actuall sins in men deserve eternall death though not origin all sin Now I would know of him whether Adam's first sin was not actuall sin This I am sure he cannot deny Nay a very hainous actuall sin it was as might be laid open by many circumstances This then being granted I demand of him why actuall sins in us should be punishable with eternall death and not this first hainous actuall sin of Adam's I dare answer for him that he cannot tel For if our actuall sins deserve eternall death much rather that of Adam's as who had greater light and more grace and less temptations then we have All which considerations are so many aggravations of his sin Lastly to trample this vile errour yet once more under foot that it may never lift up it selfe againe I demand of these Anabaptists whether Adam did not by his sin divest and disrobe himselfe of that glorious image of God after which he was made which consisted especially in righteousnesse and true holiness as the Apostle hath declared Eph. 4.22.23 and 24. verses for there he exhorts to put of the old man by which he means the vitiosity sinfulness of our natures transmitted and propagated into us by old Adam and then to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness which implyes that Gods image after which man was first created did consist in righteousness and holiness Now if they deny that Adam by his sin deprived himselfe of God's image consisting in righteousness and holiness they must deny the 5. chapter of Pauls epistle to the Romans to be Canonicall Scripture for there the Apostle affirmes severall times in the five last verses that by Christ we regain both righteousness and life which Adam lost And againe the word renewed which the Scripture useth in speaking hereof implyes a deprivation of that which was before for nothing can properly be said to be renewed but where there hath been a precedent deprivation of that which is renewed Again on the other side if they confess that Adam by his sin deprived himselfe of God's image then they confess by conseqvence that his sin brought upon him spirituall death which is a further penalty then corporall death and so impugneth their tenet that Adam incurred by his first sin no other death then the
death of the body for as the soule gives naturall life to the body so the image of God namely righteousnesse and holinesse gives spirituall life to the soule and without which the soul is spiritually dead as Ephes 2.1 Colos 2.13 and divers other Texts of Scripture witnesse where mention is made of a death in sin You that were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened c. whence by undeniable consequence it follows that where there is a deprivation of the spiritual life of righteousnesse and holinesse there must needs follow a spiritual death in sin Now if they deny grace righteousnesse and holinesse to be the life of the soul I refer them to the view of these three Texts of Scripture omitting many other where it 's expreslly asserted Prov. 3.21 22. Keep sound wisedom and discretion so shall they be life unto thy soul And Rom. 8.6 To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life And Rom. 8.10 The spirit is life because of righteousness that is The soul is alive spiritually because of righteousnesse Argument 3. THey whom Christ came to save are sinners So saith our Saviour himself Matth. 9.13 I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And S. Paul Rom. 5.6 Christ died for the ungodly And 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners And this must needs be so in reason for where there is no sin there is no need of a Saviour But Christ came to save Infants as well as men of years Therefore they are sinners Now that Christ came to save Infants as well as men of years appears by Scripture these two ways 1. Because he died for all men as oft the Scripture affirms 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransome for all Heb. 2.9 He tasted death for every man For whether all in these and the like Texts of Scripture be taken for all sorts of men only or for all of all sorts Infants must needs be included amongst them for they are one sort of men 2. Because he invited children to come unto him or to be brought unto him as is said Marke 10.14 which intimates that he came into the world to save them as well as men of years I will add one argument more for proof of this point to which the wit of man though prompted by the cunning suggestion of the old serpent cannot devise a satisfactory answer Argument 4. THey which are by nature children of wrath are by nature sinners But all men are by nature children of wrath so saith the Apostle Ephes 2.3 Therefore all men are by nature sinners and so consequently Infants The first proposition is all that I have to prove for the assumption is S. Paul's own affirmation And I find it the constant doctrine of holy Scripture both in the Old and New Testament which evermore teacheth sin to be the only cause of God's anger and wrath And this in reason must needs be so because all things else were his own works which were all good yea very good as we read in Gen. 1.31 And sin only was the Divel's work the enemy of God and all goodnesse and therefore sin only is said to provoke God's anger and wrath The testimonies of Scripture are so numerous for this that I will name but this one of a thomsand Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousnesse of men And how oft God is said in Scripture to have been provoked to anger by the sins of the people of Israel none can be ignorant I will add but one thing more about this argument and so I will conclude it The forenamed Text in Eph. 2.3 with what is deducible from it where it is affirmed that we are all by nature the children of wrath puzleth the Anabaptists not a little and puts them to their shifts to frame such an exposition thereof as may not impugn their own false Tenet about original sin This may appear from that exposition which the forementioned Mr. Brown hath made of that Text in the 6. page of his book that I named before where he thus expounds it By nature saith he is understood first the matter and form of our bodies which are good and principally the light that God hath placed in man Now that this is a novel false and irrational interpretation of this Text I thus discover If by nature here be understood nothing but what is good namely the matter and form of our bodies and the light that God hath placed in us then how can it make us the children of wrath as here it 's said of it for nothing that 's good can make us children of wrath It 's sin only which was first brought forth by Satan and nothing else that provokes God's wrath as formerly was proved By nature therefore in this place of necessity must be understood something that is sinful for else it could not make us children of wrath as hath been shewed which can be nothing else but that vitiosity pravity and corrupt disposition which from our first birth and being is propagated into our bodies and souls by natural generation For though it were granted that by nature here be meant the substance of our souls and bodies yet of necessity it must be also granted as hath been now proved that it 's meant of them not as pure and free from any sin but as vitiated and depraved therewith from their first union and conjunction together into one individual It remains therefore a sure and sacred truth inviolable and infringible and not to be contradicted but by obstinacy or impudence it self That children are born in sin The sixth Controversie About Tithes THere is an obsteperous clamour raised against Tithes by the Anabaptistical teachers who yet for the most part lay as heavy a burthen upon their disciples and put them to as great cost and charges as is equivalent to Tithes And this in all probability they have broached and ventilated to get the better morsel for themselves For this they find by experience that the way to insinuate with the common people and to winde themselves into their bosomes is to preach pleasing things unto them and especially such as sound for their profit be it right or wrong To stop their mouths if it may be if not yet to justifie the practise of paying and receiving Tithes I will first make it appear that it stands with equity and justice that Ministers of the Gospel have allowance and recompence for performing their work of the Ministery and such an allowance as may afford them a competent and comfortable livelihood and subsistence Secondly I shall make it appear That it stands with equity and justice that they have Tithes for their allowance 1. The former I shall prove both by Scripture and force of reason By Scripture I shall prove it both in the Old Testament and in the New First
Jesus and he is in heaven and his spirit must descend to and into us which is the Aquaeduct the ventiduct the Luciduct which way doth Christ in his spirit and graces convey this holy water this gentle air this blessed light to our spirits Why look back to the Creation How came light at first First the spirit moves and broods o're that which was a depth and darknesse and then his mighty Word Fiat Lux. He spake and it was Light then when all was dark he made material light and Christ Jesus is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as speech is the image of the mind so he the brightnesse of his Father's glory and the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 The immaterial and eternal light of light that was never made And the Divine spirit goes that way still by the Word His word is and makes light This world is God's great book wherein as in a glasse of wonders we discern him But his word is the true myrror of his mind And as God engrav'd his form on his Son before all worlds so what that Son is and what the father is to us in him the spirit proceeding from both delivers in the book of his word The Sun guilds and enamels clouds and streams and hill tops with his rays but thrusts his own pure light his own living fires through the bodies of the stars so other authors can but yield a faint reflexion of that beam which here is native and direct The very Law God styles a flaming light the Prophesies a more sure word to which we do well to attend as to a light shining in a dark place till the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts But the Gospel is called his marvellous light He brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And in Acts 26.16 I have appeared to thee saith our Saviour to that choice vessel of his grace and name to make thee a Minister and a witnesse c. And now I will send thee to the Gentiles To what end for a glorious end To open their eyes and to turn them from darknesse to light from the power of Satan unto God And acordingly speaks that Apostle If our Gospel be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 4. verses 't is hid in them that perish in whom the god of this world hath blinded their unfaithful minds that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should not shine unto them And in the 6. verse he shews the walk and circuit of this light God who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts there first and then the casting of the beam to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus Doth not S. Paul say It is both the wisedome and power of God to salvation to every one that believeth and is not that enough to give all men full satisfaction and acquiescense what a large field lies open for the further clearing this truth in those assertions in the fathers Saint Chrysostome calls the holy Scriptures Lamps of Verity before our eyes Hom. 23. in mad Serm de Temp. 237. And S. Austin ad Lucernam Scripturae ambulaing Gregorie of Valentia a Jesuit consesseth as much and diverse Pontificians in plain terms as Holcoth and Bellarmine himself cries up the Scripture with a nihil notius nihil certius Bell. de verbo dei lib. 1. c. 2. and cries him down for the veriest fool who believes not their testimony and in the 2 cap of the same book is in his superlatives with Scriptura certissima Tutissima Regula credendi He trouble you but with one more but one instar omnium 'T is he that in a traiterous itch of wit took on him purposely the wresting and prophaning of Scripture that so he might lewdly abuse our Princes and our Church Yet mark as God compelled the Divel to testifie of Christ what he is forced to say and sure 't is worth our observation The book is Latine called the Queries If I diminish him not in my English There is in Scripture saith he an Invisible Majesty an hidden splendor a glory unperishable a wisedome inexhaustible the solace of humane and the beginning of a divine life made by the holy spirit and making our spirits holy compared with which the Egyptian Sages will look pale and poor the Chaldee impure the Grecians blockish Plato no body and Philosophy it self a fool 't is the print of Heaven on Earth and if any where the joy of Paradise or at least a brave resemblance of divine light be shewed it is in Scripture containing all that is severed from the actual vision of God himself Again The paper burns me not yet am I all enflamed in reading it 't is no composure no artificial tread the Scripture uses yet am I drawn and wrapt to follow her and she lifts me up beyond my nature so that I am no more mine own but with a sacred violence and new fire I am consumed and compelled to acknowledge the voice of God that speaks therein Thus far that Papist and finally both Fathers Schoolmen and later Pontificitians freely confesse a double means to know the authors of divine Scripture one ecclesiastick i.e. perpetual Church story Hal. 3.978 m. 2. which introduces Faith saith all Hales as the Seta doth the thrid and the other totally divine which * lib. 2. d. pt divine leg Junilius and * Institu l. 1. c. 16. Cassiodor reckon ipsius Scripturae veritas ordo rerum consonantia preceptorum modus locutionis c. And Scotus of 10. arguments takes divers from the internal matter and majesty of the Books But Sir I intended but a letter and I find my style wandred into a little Homile It is time to end with my apprecation for a blessing on your labours and to let you find it under my hand That I am Your Obliged Friend and fellow-Servant in the Gospel of Christ THO. PESTEL From Leicester Nov. 1. 1656. Errata PAge 24. Line 20. for inseparable read insuperable p. 94. l. 7. for bluts r. blunts p. 102. l. 1. for of r. and p. 104. l. 4. for and r. But p. 113. l. 13. for religionis r. religioni p. 126 l. 2. for quod r. quam p. 129. in the margent for these r. Jesus In the Title of the second Treatise for decission r. decision In the Preface to the Reader before the same Treatise a little after the middle of it for falcyes r. fallacies An Index or Table representing the Contents of this Treatise the parts whereof are two 1. A doctrine propounded and proved which is this That Scripture is God's own Word 2. The application of it to certain special Uses 1. Part. Scripture is proved Gods Word by arguments drawn 1 From without it selfe which are 4. 1 By testimony out of the Church page
word by the Churches enunciation and report but afterwards they believe much more firmly and undoubtedly when they come to enjoy the sight and knowledge of the Scriptures themselves So that the most that can be gathered from that speech of S. Augustines is but this That the testimony and tradition of the Church is usually the first inducement to men to give credit to the truth and so consequently to the divinity of the Gospel which is not denied But then this credulity is afterwards corroborated and more fully setled and confirmed by more evident certain and infallible groundsout of Scripture it self discovered especially by the help of divine grace from the spirit of God which of all other saith Amen to this truth and sets the surest seal thereof upon the soul and conscience as our Saviour gives us to understand when he saith If any man will do God's will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of (a) Joh. 7.17 God That is he shall know best and most assuredly as having information and attestation thereof from the Spirit of God Yet always God's spirit tells the conscience this out of Scripture for as it suggested and dictated the Scripture at the first so it whispers in the ear of the soul the same note still and hath no discrepant voice or suggestion from it but whatsoever it testifieth it suggests the same not by any secret instinct and spiritual insusurration different from the written word according to the vertiginous fancy and dotage of the Enthusiasts the family of Love as they are phrased and some other of the Anabaptistical sect but by a still voice out of and according to the Scripture Whence is that saying of St. Chrysostome Frustra jactat se Spiritum sanctum habere qui non loquitur ex (b) Chrysost de Popu Antioche Homil 50. Evangelio In vain doth he boast to have the holy Ghost that speaketh not out of the Gospel And therefore we read that when our Saviour enlightened his Apostles understandings it was That they might understand the (a) Luke 24.45 Scriptures And that when he promised to send the Comforter unto them to teach them all things he addeth Whatsoever I have said unto (b) John 14.26 you which intimates that he should teach them no new doctrine So that we are not to believe an Angel from Heaven if he preach any other Gospel then that which the Apostles have (c) Gal. 1.8 preached which we have written in the New Testament And so it was said always of old To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in (d) Isa 8.20 them Thus then I conclude That the conscience may be verily resolved and a rational man compelled to acknowledge and believe with an acquired historical faith that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are divine by convincing arguments and evidences apparent even to reason and that from Scripture it self especially Nor am I single in this opinion for I find in S. Augustine the like conclusion who speaking of the Penmen of Scripture delivers this sentence Verè illos magnos divinos fuisse legem illam Dei jussu voluntate promulgatam esse credo id quamvis perpauca illorum librorum sciam facilè persuadere possum si mihi adhibeatur aequus non pertinax (a) Aug. de Vtilita tecredendi cap. 5. animus Verily saith he I believe that they the penmen of Scripture were great and divine men and that that Law was promulgated by the commandent and will of God and this though I knew but a few of those books I am able easily to perswade if I meet but with an equal-minded man that is not pertinacious But to believe this with a divine faith without which it 's never soundly and perfectly embraced must be a work of God's Spirit only from whom alone all such faith proceedeth And so I end the first part of this Treatise The second part of this Treatise which is an application of the Doctrine proved to certaine special uses HAving now laid a sure foundation of this truth that Scripture is God's own word which cannot be shaken it behoves me to superstruct upon it lest that aspersion be cast upon me which the improvident builder is blemished withal in the Gospel This man began to build but was not able to make an (a) Luke 14.30 end This doctrine then is useful both for theory and practice both for information and for exhortation First For information of the understanding two inferences or conclusions are deducible from it First That no man may presume to dispense with this word because it 's God's for being his none but he hath authority and power to exempt any man from obligation to it or any part of it This is a conclusion undeniable and therefore speaks the practice of some late Popes of Rome to be very culpable and inexcusable who have presumed to grant dispensations for marriages within the degrees forbidden in this word of God and to exempt subjects from obedience to their lawful Soveraign strictly commanded in this word This hath been practised by the Papal power of late years here in this Nation And it 's the more inexcusable in that they undertake to justifie it This I find in Cardinal Bellarmine's works who to prove the Popes Supremacy draws an argument from his power to grant dispensations and then doth instance in a dispensation which Pope Gregory granted to the English about marriages within the degrees (a) Bellar de Romano Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 19. forbidden And I can here produce a credible Author who affirms that divers of the Church of Rome have not blushed to defend openly and that under their hands that the Pope hath power to dispence Contra ius divinum contra Apostolum contra Novum Testamentum against the law of God against an Apostle and against the New (b) Favor Antiquit cap. 6. paulo post medium Testament But I am perswaded that now since the reformation hath detected many of their grosse hallucinations the wise and learned among them do distaft and disclaim all such blaspemous and unsavoury assertions A second consequent or conclusion that I deduce from this truth That Scripture is God's own word is this That therefore it 's of superior and greater authority then the present Church militant And this I prove from hence by two reasons First Because the present Church Militant is holy and divine but only in part and after a sort and in this regard is subject unto error whereas the Scripture is simply and totally divine for All Scripture is given by inspiration of God saith (a) 2 Tim. 3.16 S. Paul and therefore must needs be most authentical A second reason is this That which sanctifieth is greater then that which is sanctified by it so our Saviour himself argued against the Scribes and Pharisees Ye fools
in these times as God himself complained of by his Prophet Jeremiah who ran about this important businesse before they were (a) Jer. 23.21 sent and so going without their errand do ventilate their own fancies and dreams instead of preaching God's word To these my exhortation is not directed as who need no spur to hasten them into God's house but rather a scourge to drive them out as our Saviour did with the money-changers and such as bought and sold in the (b) John 2 14 15. Temple But my desire is hereby to quicken both my self and other my fellow labourers in the work of the Ministry about our heavenly Father's businesse To which I will add but this one needful caution which is that we be careful and watchful to preach both verbo vita both ore opere as well by the example of our lives as by the doctrine of our lips according to the charge S. Paul gave to Timothy and Titus two Bishops of his own ordination his charge to Timothy was this Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in (c) 1 Tim. 4.12 purity And such like was his charge to Titus In all things shew thy self a pattern of good (d) Tit. 2.7 works This if we do not we shall not only prefer and multiply new indictments against our selves by every Sermon and so give the Lord numerous evidences and testimonies from our own mouths whereby to condemn us but shall bereave others also of the fruit and benefit of this divine ordinance for who will not nauseate and despise the counsel of that man who acts contrary to the advice and counsel that he gives unto another And this our Saviour intimates where he saith How wilt thou say to thy brother Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers (a) Mat. 7.4 5. eye It 's out of question that the vigour and prevalence of preaching depends much upon the good life of the Preacher as which sets an edge upon that sword of God's Spirit and makes it more powerful to cut down the strong holds of sin And so on the other side it 's as true that the loose life of some Preachers so dulls and bluts this sword that it prevails little or nothing at all against our spiritual enemies sin and Satan against which it's brandished but rebounds back and hurts themselves like arrows shot at the Sun which wanting force to carry them to the mark intended fall down again upon the heads of them that shot them Thirdly This doctrine urgeth upon all people in general a fourfold duty First Seeing this Word is God's therefore all should be studious of it and careful to learn it for can we have a better teacher then God himself or can any instruct with better principles then he For The Lord giveth wisedom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding saith the wise (a) Prov. 2.6 man Hence is that commendation which Moses gives of God's Law to the Israelites to induce them to the study of it and obedience unto it Behold saith he I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me keep them therefore and do them for that is your wisedom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what Nation is so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this (b) Deut. 4.5 6 8. day Hence did David learn to be wiser then his enemies and to have more understanding then his (c) Psal 119.98 99. teachers And hence are those earnest exhortations in it to the study of it as that of our Saviour Search the (d) Joh. 5.39 Scriptures And that of the Apostle Paul Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all (e) Colos 3.16 wisedom with many such like But most ample and emphatical are the wise Solomons descriptions of the excellency of this knowledge and most plausible and powerful his reasons to allure all to the study of it and most transcendently high his commendations that he gives of it in the eight first Chapters of the Proverbs which because the Reader may easily find forth of himself I will omit to rehearse and will alledge only some reasons collected thence and out of other passages of Scripture to manifest the great necessity of learning and knowing this blessed Word of God and to excite all persons of all degrees and conditions to the serious and sedulous study of it First Because this learning is the only true wisedom for it and only it is able to make a man wise unto (a) 2 Tim. 5 15. salvation Nay it is life (b) John 17.3 eternal and there is no wisedome without it For so saith the Prophet The wise men are ashamed they are afraid and taken loe they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in (c) Jer. 8.9 them Yea all other wisedom is but foolishnesse to this and all other learning without this doth but make men the more unhappy in the conclusion Whereas this sanctifies all other wisedom and learning teaching men a holy use of them both and how to be bettered and benefitted by them Hence is that profound saying of S. Augustine Infaelix homo qui scit alia omnia te autem nescit beatus autem qui te scit etiamsi illa nesciat qui vero te illa novit non propter illa beatior sed propter te solùm beatus (d) Aug. Confess lib. 5. est He is a miserable man saith he speaking to God Almighty that knows all other things but knows not thee But he is happy who knows thee though he know nothing else And he who knows both thee and them is not the happier for them but is only happy because he knoweth thee Secondly Here is set up the Christians staff of comfort in the time of trouble and in the hour of death and which can be met withal nowhere else This is my comfort in my affliction saith David speaking (a) Psal 119.50 hereof And again Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort (b) Psal 23.4 me By which is understood this written word And saith the Apostle Paul Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have (c) Rom. 15.4 hope And hence is that advice of the Prophet Isaiah to the people to suck the brests
of Jerusalems (d) Isa 66.11 cousolations For these brests of Jerusalem are the two Testaments the Old Testament and the New which are called the brests of her consolation because they yield consolation to all such as suck the knowledge of them by reading and meditation And therefore as people would be comforted in poverty or persecution or in any trouble of this life especially in the hour of death when it is most needful it concerns them to be well versed in Scripture for it 's the only store-house of comfort there is no true and lasting comfort to be found but in this well for here are those wells of salvation out of which it 's said we are to draw the waters of (a) Isa 12.3 joy Great need therefore have all Christians to be well acquainted with that which must be their only comfort when they stand most in need thereof Thirdly Scripture is a Christians best piece of armour to defend him against all the assaults of his spiritual enemies sin and Satan and all his band of Hereticks and other nefarious and wicked men For the Apostle setting down the panoply or compleat armour of a Christian wherewith he had need to be at all times appointed reckons up this as one principal part thereof and calls it the sword of the (b) Ephes 6.17 spirit The wise man also in the Proverbs notably sets forth the usefulnesse of it in this respect saith he When wisedom entreth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of the evill man from the man that speaketh froward things who leaves the paths of righteousnesse to walk in the ways of (c) Prov. 2.10 11 12 13. darknesse Herewith our blessed Saviour foiled Satan sundry (d) Mat. â— 4 c. times And herewith the Prophet David fenced himself against sin so he saith himself By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the (e) Psal â— 4 destroyer And again Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against (a) Psal 19.11 thee We therefore being in continual warfar had not need to have this our principal weapon to seek for what else makes many take the foil so oft but because they are unskilful in the word of righteousnesse Fourthly By this Book we shall all be judged at the last day and therefore it concerns us to be well acquainted with the principal contents of it That we shall be judged by it is affirmed by our Saviour He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last (b) John 12. day And by the Apostle Paul At the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my (c) Rom. 2.16 Gospel Lastly Without some competent knowledge hereof we can never have Christ The day-star and Sun of righteousnesse as he is (d) 2 Pet. 1.19 Mal. 4.2 called arise in our hearts for as before the Sun ariseth it first sends up its bright beams of light as the harbingers of its approach so before Christ Jesus come into our souls he first enlightens them with the glorious beams of the knowledge of his Word according to that speech of Peter We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place vntill the day dawn and the day-star arise in your (a) 2 Pet. 1.19 hearts And that also of S. Paul God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus (b) 2 Cor. 4.6 Christ The Scripture is full of proofs for this that Christ's Word must first be in some measure learned of us and entertained by us before he will condiscend to dwell with us It 's therefore a most opacous error of an ungodly assertion to affirm that ignorance is the mother of devotion which in Scripture is so much condemned and is made both the mother of error Ye erre saith our Saviour to the Sadduces not knowing the (c) Math. 22.29 Scriptures and the mother of many other sins For S. Paul affirmeth that his sins of blasphemy and persecution and oppression of Christ's Church before his conversion were the product and brats of his ignorance I was saith he a blasphemer a peâ—secuter and injurious But I obtained mercy because I did it (d) 1 Tim. 1.13 ignorantly And he informs the Ephesians that the Gentiles were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in (e) Ephes 4.18 them And by experience it 's found to be the mother both of will-worship and superstition This Paradox some of the Church of Rome in former ages have not blushed to utter for truth and though now of late they would seem to disclaim this irrational Paradox yet covertly they adhere to it For the Rhemists in their front of their Preface prefixed before their translation of the New Testament affirm it to be an erroneous opinion to hold that the Scriptures were ordained of God to be read indifferently of all And therefore the Councel of Trent took order which was confirmed by supreme authority say the same Doctors in the same place within a few lines after that the holy Scriptures might not be read indifferently of all men nor of any other then such as have expresse license from their lawful Ordinary Whereby it appears that they seek to detain the Scriptures from the vulgar people purposely to keep them in ignorance And to put a little glosse and colour upon this their in justifiable opinion and practice the said Doctors afterwards yield this reason for it Because presumptuous Hereticks mistaking or depraving in many places the true sense of Scripture draw from thence many pernicious errours and many other that are unlearned and unstable pervert the same to their own destruction as S. Peter (a) 2 Pet. 3.16 teacheth And how weak a ground this is for them to presume from hence to restrain the common reading of Scripture I declare these two ways First This Argument takes for granted that the abuse of a good thing by some nulls and takes away the lawful common use of it from others But this is nothing so for the word preached as well as read is abused by many through their corruption and so becomes the savour of death unto death unto (a) 2 Cor. 2.16 them and an occasion of their greater sin as our Saviour saith (b) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin And yet this hinders not but that it must be preached unto all as our Saviour hath commanded Go ye saith he