according unto Godliness Unto which if men will not attend there is no remedy they will fall into Heresies or worse whether they read the Scriptures or read them not The Scripture it self tells us as much that there must be Heresies 1 Cor. XI 19. that is God will not hinder it unless men will be guided by him and be truly good But he hath a very good end as it there follows in permitting it which is that it may be manifest who are honest-hearted Christians sincerely in love with Truth and Goodness and who are not And that must be the care of every good man not to take or throw away the Scriptures to prevent Heresies but if Heresies do arise to endeavour according to the direction of the Scriptures to approve his integrity unto God by stedfast continuance in Faith and Holiness And after the same manner must he govern himself if the Guides of his Soul do not perform their Duty Which I shall represent in the words of Erasmus out of his Preface to the Reader before his Annotations on the New Testament It is the Pastors Office to distribute the Bread of Life to the people But what if they do not their Duty What must the people do They must implore the help of the Supreme Pastor Christ Jesus who still lives and hath not forsaken the care of his Flock But being solicited by the publick Prayers of his People will do what is promised in Ezekiel Behold I will both search my sheep and seek them out As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that they are scattered so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day with all the rest that there follows XXX Ezek. 12 13 c. The vulgar people are Sheep but endued with reason and out of those Sheep are Pastors made And sometimes it falls out that a Sheep may know more than his Pastor As a Lay-man therefore ought not seditiously to rebel against the Priests lest that order be confounded which St. Paul would have in the Body of Christ so the Priests ought not to exercise Tyranny over the Flock of Christ for if they do the Sedition will lye at their door When the Pastors do their duty they are to be reverently heard as Angels of God by whom Christ speaks to us And when they teach unsincerely the people must pick out all that 's good if there be any mixed with it But if they teach not at all or teach those things that are plainly repugnant to the Gospel let every man refresh his Soul with private reading And Christ who promises to be present when two or three are gathered together in his Name will not be wanting by his Spirit to one Soul that meditates piously in his Holy Word In vain are six thousand gathered together if it be not in his Name Now they are gathered together in Christ's Name who have respect to Nothing but his Glory and the eternal Salvation of their Souls CONCLVSION I shall conclude all with the sense of that great Man St. Athanasius who wrote a little Treatise on purpose to reprove the audaciousness as he calls it of those who said that it was needless to look into the Scriptures and bad men not to search into them nor to speak out of them but to content themselves with the Faith they had received For searching into the Scriptures said they doth but make things more obscure To which he replies many things which I might digest into Heads but I shall present them to the Reader just as they lie in the Second Tome of his Works pag. 295. of the Paris Edition MDCXXVII This very Assertion saith he shows the inconsistency of their Doctrine and that it hath Nothing to support it He means they would not be afraid men should search into the Scriptures if they thought what was taught by them would be there justified But we trust to the truth of the Mystery i. e. the Scripture and to the help of him who cannot lye who saith Every one that seeks shall find Therefore we seek as we ought and we find what we ought and we speak with demonstration and we hear with a genuine intention that we may perswade our domesticks and that we may confute our Adversaries and that we may by our search be gainers our selves and not propound any thing that is inconsistent unto others Would you have me neglect the Scriptures Whence then should I have knowledge Would you not have me to mind knowledge But whence then should I have Faith Paul cries How should they believe unless they hear And again Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God He then who forbids the Word obstructs hearing and throws out Faith No man can be ignorant of the Roman Laws being a Member of the Empire without danger They then who forbid us to study and learn the great Oracles of the King of Heaven what kind of mischief do they not craftily contrive against us The Scripture is the food of the Soul Cease then O man to starve the inward man and to kill it with hunger introducing a famine not of bread nor of water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. There is one that inflicts wounds and dost thou forbid the application of medicines For shame do not talk as if the various wisdom in the Books of Physicians were vain and to no purpose One may as well he means bid people not mind their Prescriptions though there be many Diseases in the World as not read the Scriptures when their Souls are in danger Reverence that Lover of God's Word the Eunuch who did not neglect reading upon the road Whose good intentions our Lord accepting sent him straightway an Instructer who made him understand what he read and by the Scriptures brought him to his Saviour Hence it is that our Saviour commands Search the Scriptures by searching meaning careful and sober inquiry into hidden things Out of the Scriptures is the manifestation of things obscure the confirmation of hope the event of promises the finding of our Saviour according to that We have found Him of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote Paul himself uses Scriptures for the establishment of the Truth And if he that heard ineffable things he that was thoroughly instructed in secrets he that had Christ speaking in him doth not simply use his own private Authority without the testimony of the Scriptures how can we with safety now neglect the Divine Legislation and speak what we think good out of our own hearts But there are some things transcending our Conceptions I say so too and this we learn out of the Scriptures that we may understand what things are fit for us to seek after as being attainable For it is neither pious to venture upon all things nor is it consistent with Holiness to neglect all things What we worship we ought all to be acquainted withal according to that which is written We know what we worship But how great or what kind or after what manner or where it is the part of mad-men to inquire They that would have none to judge of their Doctrines but themselves deter men from reading the Scriptures pretending it is immodest to pry into such inaccessible things but in truth fearing to be convinced out of them of holding bad Opinions I omit the rest which is but little more than I have represented and shall end all with his words to Macarius in the very beginning of his Works against the Gentiles The holy and divinely inspired Scriptures are sufficient of themselves for the declaration of the Truth and there are many Books composed about the same things by our Teachers of blessed Memory Which if any man peruse he will know in some measure the meaning of the Scriptures and be able to attain the knowledge he desires The End of the Third Part. THE END A Catalogue of some Books Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner Books written by the Reverend Doctor Patrick THE Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the Holy Communion Together with sutable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and for the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Eighth Edition corrected in Octavo The Devout Christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to God Or A Book of Devotion for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane Life The Fifth Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth In Two Parts in Octavo The Book of Job Paraphras'd in Octavo The Book of Psalms Paraphras'd in Octavo The Truth of Christian Religion in Octavo The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love to it in Octavo The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with the Arguments of each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting in Octavo A Paraphrase upon the Books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon With Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon In Octavo New A Book for Beginners Or A Help to Young Communicants that they may be sitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-Conformist In Two Parts The Sixth Edition Corrected and Englarged A Treatise of the Necessity and Frequency of rece ving the Holy Communion With a Resolution of Doubts about it In three Discourses begun upon Whitsunday in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh New Winter-Evening Conference between Neighbours In Two Parts The Second Edition Corrected in Octavo The Old Religion demonstrated in its Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof In Twelves New 22 Sermons preach'd partly before His Majesty at Whitehall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York at the Chappel at St James's By Henry Killigrew D. D. Master of the Savoy and Almoner to his Royal Highness New in Quarto Animadversions upon a Book Intituled Fanaticism Fanatically imputed to the Catholick Church by Dr. Stillingfleet and the Imputation Refuted and Retorted by S. C. By a Person of Honour The Third Edition in Octavo The End of the Catalogue
presumption that God blessed these pious endeavours and gave them a right understanding as a reward of their search into the Scriptures according as it there follows therefore many of them believed And thus St. Peter also in this very Epistle Chap. I. 19. commends his Country-men who attentively read and considered the Prophetical Writings 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 dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts The plainest meaning of which words to me seems to be this That it was a laudable and praise-worthy thing in those Jewish Converts to whom he writes who as yet were but weak in the Faith that they did give heed to the Writings of the ancient Prophets which they took to be the surest ground of their Faith for in them they would sind the Lord Jesus plainly descrihed if they compared what the Apostles preached with that which they foretold as the Beraeans did Those Writings indeed of the Prophets did but obscurely treat of Christ in comparison with the discoveries of him in the Gospel and the Apostolical Writings which he compares to the Day-star and the old Prophets but to a Candle shining in a dark place yet the one would lead them to the other and by taking attentive heed to the Prophetical Writings they would in time find the day dawn and the Day-star arise in their hearts that is arrive by degrees at clearer demonstrations and a fuller and brighter knowledge of Christian Truths delivered by our Saviour and his Apostles who being the Light of the World gave light even to the ancient Prophecies To conclude this particular they were so far from discouraging any Christians in their reading the Holy Scriptures that they commend those who read even the hardest Books among them Those words are very remarkable I. Revel 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein Which comfortable incouragement I do not see why we may not with the greatest satisfaction apply to our selves now as they did then to quicken us to read and hear the things contained therein For though we do not certainly understand every one of those Prophecies yet there are abundance of most excellent instructions and admonitions incouragements and consolations interspersed throughout that Book which make it sit to be read by Christian people for their direction and support And we may likewise from hence take the confidence to argue in this manner If a Blessedness be pronounced to those that read or hear that Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein then they cannot be accursed who for the same end read other holy Books where such instructions and comforts are more plentifully and plainly and on purpose delivered nor can they expect God's blessing who prohibit the reading even of those easie and more familiar Scriptures which are accommodated by the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to the most vulgar capacity Every one ought to drink of these Fountains nor would I forbid saith Erasmus very piously those that thirst after Christian knowledge to read even those Books which are not so open but like a Fountain sealed up Because they will reap this fruit at least that they will come more sit to the hearing of Sermons which touch upon or allude to those more obscure passages They will hear also those things more willingly of which they have already some knowledge and understand those things more easily of which they have a small taste VI. AND there is the greater reason for it because the Holy Scriptures are a considerable part of our compleat Spiritual Armour without which we shall lie so open to the assaults of our Enemies that it will very much hazzard our Salvation And why should we be exposed to any danger when we may defend our selves by the use of those weapons which God himself hath provided for us Or how can they be Friends to our Souls who would expose us by taking those weapons out of our hands Read the VI. Ephes 11. c. Where the Apostle exhorting them to put on the whole Armour or compleat Armour of God that they might be able to stand against all the wiles of the Devil in the following Verses enumerates the several parts of this Armour and the last piece of it but one is v. 17 the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God This shews that as while we have Enemies to fight withal and very powerful subtil Enemies we have need of all sorts of Weapons that God hath furnished us withal for our defence so we are not completely appointed for our defence without this weapon the Word of God no more than a Souldier is without his Sword And therefore they who go about to deprive us of this leave us in great part naked to our Spiritual Enemies By wresting that weapon out of our hands whereby we should beat them off There is not one of the Devils temptations ye may observe IV. St. Matth. but our Saviour vanquished it by this weapon telling him it is so and so written and the Tempter had no more to say nor knew what to oppose thereunto And therefore our safety lies in the same Divine Armory of the Holy Scriptures unto which we ought to have resort upon all occasions and there furnish our selves with such holy Precepts Examples Promises and Threatnings as we may have ready at hand to oppose to every temptation It is usually said as I noted in the beginning that men may wound themselves with a Sword as soon as their Enemies and therefore it is not safe to let every body take this weapon into his hand But was not the Apostle as much aware of this as we Were not the Holy Scriptures as liable to be perverted then as now And we by this reason shall leave neither Sun in Heaven nor any good Creature here upon Earth as a great Man of our own somewhere speaks for they have been all wretchedly abused to very ill purposes by evil men And besides this it is not true that men may as soon hurt themselves as their Enemies with this Sword For who but mad men or desperate persons run that weapon into their own bodies wherewith they should defend their lives And who but they that are distracted themselves will suppose the generality of Christians to be such a frantick fort of people that they are not to be trusted with the means of their preservation but must have even the bread of life taken from them for fear they surfeit of it But this will be more fully answered hereafter and that which I have next to represent to your consideration will give great satisfaction to it which is this VII THAT the greatest Doctors in the Church have most earnestly exhorted the people with all the Rhetorick they could invent to give themselves leisure
more plainly than to be humble and modest and that as we ought to fear God so likewise to honour the King and his Ministers and to obey those that watch over our Souls nay to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake Which will dispose us most certainly if we be not carried away with pride or any other vicious affection to be ruled by them in dubious things and as it there follows in the Apostle 1 Thess V. 13. to be at peace among our selves I must beseech therefore every Member of this Church both for the honour of our Religion and for the safety of their own Souls to be as careful in this matter as I would have them to be in reading the Holy Scriptures Take your Guides along with you do not think your selves safe without their conduct be not only willing but desirous to learn of them reverence their Instructions do not easily dissent from them be afraid to oppose them especially when you have reason to think them to be serious studious knowing and conscientious men who take care to inform themselves aright that they may not misinform you For such men look upon themselves to be bound as hath been shown in the Treatise of Tradition pag. 24. to guide themselves in their Direction of others by what the Catholick Fathers and ancient Bishops have taught out of the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament and thereby preserve their Flocks in the Truth of God's holy Word And having a great regard also to the sense of that Church wherein they live which by their Subscriptions they owne to have Authority in Controversies of Faith they will no less preserve them in Unity and in Peace To conclude it is impossible but every body must reap great fruit by the reading of the Scriptures if they read them for no other end but that they may go away better from the reading of them than they came to it and that they may not accommodate them to their own affections but correct all their affections and desires and the whole course of their life by this exact Rule of Righteousness According to which if we square our selves we shall presently learn in difficult things to be wise unto sobriety and in plain things to be wise unto Salvation that is so wise as to do what we certainly know to be our Duty which is the only Wisdom that the Scriptures magnifie Which will be the surest way both to know more and to know it better that is to feel the comfort of what we know in a blessed and assured hope of everlasting life which God who cannot lye hath promised to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. The End of the First Part. PART II. HAving shewn in the foregoing Discourse that those words of St Peter 2. III. 16. which are wont to be alledged against the reading of Holy Scriptures do plainly suppose that the people did then read them I proceed now in the next place to shew that the Apostle doth not deter men from reading them by representing the difficulties that are in them and the danger of wresting them For he doth not affirm that all things are hard to be understood and consequently liable to be wrested but only that some things are of that nature In treating of which three things offer themselves to be considered I. First that most things in the Holy Scriptures are so far from being hard to be understood that they are easy Nay all things absolutely necessary for us are very easy II. Secondly That those things which are not so easy may be understood though there be some difficulty in it That is they will require some pains to understand them which should not deter us from reading but only make us laborious to find out the sense of what we read III. Thirdly When we do thoroughly understand and heartily believe the things that are easie it will abate much of that difficulty and make other things more easie I. I begin with the first of these the Apostle only saith some things are hard to be understood which supposes that most are not but rather easie as all those things especially are which are absolutely necessary to be known and believed and done for the obtaining Salvation That which makes things easie to be understood is the plain and perspicuous delivery of them in the words wherein they are written or spoken Now nothing an be plainer or clearer than the words wherein all the great Christian Truths are revealed and delivered to us which are so far from being obscure that it is not easier to see the light than it is to apprehend and understand the true meaning of them I will instance in some particulars and have an Eye all the way upon St. Paul's Epistles to which S. Peter is commonly thought to have respect wherein though some things be difficult yet these are most clearly discovered First That there is but one God the Father of whom are all things as he expresly writes 1 Cor. VIII 6. Secondly That He alone is to be worshipped as our Blessed Saviour remembers us out of Moses IV. Matt. 10. was the great thing pressed in his very entrance into any place where he preach'd 1 Thess l. 9 10. XVII Acts 23 24. Thirdly As our Lord teaches us that we are ingaged by our Baptism to worship one God in three Persons XXVIII Matth. 19. So S. Paul affirms the same plainly enough in that Solemn Prayer for the Corinthians 2. XIII ult The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Especially if it be compared with those places wherein he affirms our Saviour to be over all God blessed for ever IX Rom. 5. and the Spirit to search even the deep things of God that is to know his Mind exactly for so it follows 1 Cor. II. 10 11. that as none can know the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Which plainly tells us if we mind it that the Spirit of God is in God as the spirit of man is in man that is the Spirit is God himself and therefore fully acquainted with him in all things There is some little labour indeed in making this deduction but it is very easie if we consider all these places together Fourthly And the Nature of God none can possibly be ignorant of who doth but look into the Holy Books Where he will immediately see Him represented to be Almighty most Wise most Gracious Faithful to his Word and the living God who endures for ever Which are Truths written there in such great Letters that every one who runs as the Prophet speaks and doth but cast a transient eye upon them may easily read them Fifthly Particularly his infinite love and kindness towards us the children of men lies before us so fairly and shines so brightly in our
and easie to such as faithfully practise their most plain and easie Precepts but hard and difficult to be understood aright of such as wilfully transgress them There is nothing more perspicuously set down in Holy Scripture than this as would be easie to show if it would not inlarge this Book too much from such words as those of St. Peter God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble And therefore should we admit of any Authority equivalent to the Holy Scriptures the question would still remain Whether the Insallibility of that Authority could take away that blindness of heart which by God's just Judgment falls upon all those who detain the Truth of God in Vnrighteousness If for their disobedience to evident and plain Truths God punish them with such spiritual darkness that they discern not his Will revealed in his written Word no other infallible Authority can inlighten them and make those scales fall from their eyes which hinder their sight in the means of their Salvation They will everlastingly go on in darkness because having Light presented to them they preferred darkness before it Those naughty affections which have kept the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ from shining into them will close their eyes so fast that no other Light will open them But they must either receive and follow the plain directions of Holy Scripture and recover their sight by a sincere practice of known Duties or walk on still in darkness and remain in the shadow of death to the end of their days Unto which plain direction if men would unfeignedly submit if thereby they were not led to the understanding of harder Scriptures they would however have this benefit that they would be secured from misunderstanding them My meaning is that by understanding believing and keeping close to the practice as well as knowledge of the easie and evident Truths of the Gospel we should be preserved from putting any dangerous interpretation upon those places which are hard and difficult Ignorant of them we might continue or perhaps mistake their meaning but still innocently so as not to do hurt to our selves or others by them An illustrious Example of which we have in St. Austin's Book De Fide Operibus Where discoursing Chap. XV. upon that place of St. Paul 1 Cor. III. 12 13. which he takes to be one of those which St. Peter saith are hard to be understood in his Epistles he tells us that some understood the building gold silver precious stones upon this foundation to be meant of adding good works to Faith in Christ and building Wood hay stubble upon it to be meant of those that held the same Faith but did evil From whence they fansied that by certain pains of Fire such evil men might be purged to obtain Salvation by virtue of the Foundation that is by a right Faith only because the Apostle saith v. 15. they should be saved yet so as by fire But if this be a true interpretation of this place saith that Excellent Father then all those places of Scripture which have no obscurity no ambiguity in them must be taken to be false As for Example that of St. Paul in the same Epistle Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no Charity I am Nothing and that of St. James What doth it profit brethren if a man say he hath faith but hath no works Can faith save him And that place also will be salse Be not deceived neither fornicators nor they that serve Idols nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God And that also The Works of the slesh are manifest which are adultery fornication uncleanness c. of which I tell you again as I have done formerly that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God These are all false if that interpretation be true St. Paul contradicts himself and in this obscure place clashes with his plain words for according to this Exposition if men only believe and be baptized they shall be saved by fire though they persevere in such wicked courses as those now mentioned And then I do not see to what purpose our Lord said If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments telling him what belongs unto good manners And how will that be true which he tells us he will say to them on his left hand Go ye cursed c. whom He sends to Hell-fire not because they did not believe on him but because they did not do good works Thus that Father goes on heaping up a great many other places which evidently speak to the same purpose and then concludes If therefore these things and innumerable others which may be found in the Holy Scriptures without any ambiguity be false then that sense may be true concerning the wood hay and stubble viz. that they shall be saved by sire who only holding Faith in Christ have neglected good Works Si autem vera clara sunt c. but if these things be both true and also clear then without doubt another sense of the Apostle's words is to be sought for And they are to be put into the number of those which S. Peter saith are hard to be understood which men ought not to pervert to their own destruction by endeavouring from them against the most evident Testimonies of the Scripture to make the most lewd people secure of obtaining Salvation though they pertinaciously continue in their wickedness not at all changed by amendment or repentance As for the true sense of that Scripture though he ventures at it yet he saith in the next Chapter he had rather be informed by those who are more learned and more understanding who can so expound it as to let all those things above mentioned remain true and unshaken in which the Scripture most openly avows that Faith profits Nothing unless it be that which the Apostle defines that is Faith which worketh by love but without Works cannot save men neither without fire nor by fire Still he sticks to this Rule as most certain and unmoveable that whatsoever sense be given of an obscure Scripture it contradicts not those Scriptures which are more plain especially those which teach us to live well and show the necessity of it which none that love the Truth as it is in Christ will ever prejudice by any interpertation of Scripture whatsoever It is out of my way to attempt the true meaning of the place now mentioned having no other business in hand at present but to show that by adhering as this Holy man did to the evident Truths in the Scripture they will never permit us to put any bad and pernicious sense upon those that are less evident Let us stick as he did to this Rule and we shall either put an harmless sense upon them or none at all But then we must as I said be heartily in love with these plain Truths and frame our lives according to
them for else we shall not use due care not to cross them in our Doctrine if we cross them in our Deeds but rather be content that by false glosses upon other places where the fraud will be less discernable the Light of those glorious Truths should be obscured and the power and force of them enervated and broken For what will not men say and do to defend themselves in their sins even against the clearest Convictions of Gods Holy Word which their bad assections teach them to oppose nay make it their interest to resist And here it may be fit to take this occasion to give a few directions for the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures which if we observe in our reading them we shall not only be preserved from dangerous mistakes but reap great benefit by them And I shall the rather do it because it will be a good introduction to the Third Part of this Discourse I. The first of them is a Rule which is necessary in all Sciences or parts of Knowledge viz to learn easie things first We can have no sound Understanding in the Scriptures unless we will follow their own Method which is to learn first to fear God and keep his Commandments for therein lies the beginning of Wisdom as he often tells us It is against the very direction which the Scripture gives us to be so confident as to venture presently into all the depths that are in it and to lose our time in puzzling our minds to unty the knots of difficult places For they are not to be salved but by those who are well acquainted with what the Scripture principally aims at which it teaches us in plain and easie words and therefore they must be first learnt as our Guides to those things which are of higher contemplation And he who is resolved upon this Method will find plain Truths enow to busie and imploy an honest and pious mind a long time by which he is to prepare and sit himself for more difficult inquiries if it be needful for him to make them Though the truth is ordinary Capacities may safely pass by those things that are hard and obscure and content themselves with the knowledge of easie and perspicuous Doctrines without any further search consulting thereby best for their own ease and quiet and for the Peace of the Church of God And as for those whose profession it is to devote themselves to the study of all Holy Writ even they must be sure for their own safety and others to lay the Foundation well here by thoroughly digesting the Doctrines which are after Godliness and deeply tincturing as I may say their minds therewith before they meddle with other matters For a sense of true Goodness will be as a Light to guide us in the interpreting those things which seem dark and need something to illustrate them And what can we imagine that should be but something contained in the same Book even the true Light of Life the Light which chases away all mens evil desires and the deeds of darkness which makes the Soul pure and without prejudice which disposes it to know God and to love him and to love all men for his sake This will instruct us how to interpret all the rest and not suffer us to entertain any sense of them in our minds which is repugnant to the Nature of God and hinders the practice and increase of true Godliness or prejudices Charity and disturbs Christian Society but conform all our thoughts unto a happy agreement with those great and obvious Truths Which therefore let us observe and mark as the very Life and Soul of Religion nay let us imprint them on our minds as the most necessary to be known and remembred and carried constantly in mind that we may never admit any thing to their prejudice For unless we be thus disposed we shall not only trouble our selves to no purpose but confound all things and overturn the whole Frame of Religion We shall be just like that Fool whom Melancthon speaks of whose work it was to carry fuel daily to the Kitchin and coming to a great Pile of Wood where little pieces lay uppermost and the greatest below he would needs begin at the bottom for which he gave this wise reason That it was good to do the hardest work first and then he should be better able to deal with that which was easie I need not make the application to those who love to perplex themselves with some deep and I may say dangerous Points if not well understood before they are well studied in the common Doctrines of Godliness and have learnt what it is to be a Christian This is a preposterous course contrary to the clear light and guidance of the Holy Books which teach us in the first place to make this inquiry What shall we do to be saved And we are sure none can be saved but they who are obedient to the Lord Jesus whose Faith therefore teaches us to study his Precepts before we meddle with other matters And these Precepts as they are not grievous to those that obey them so they are not hard to be learnt in order to that obedience But whatsoever concerns our Duty to God and Man and the Duty of every particular person in the relation wherein they stand of Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Princes and People Teachers and Learners are all I have shown delivered here with such plainness and simplicity that no Book in the World ever taught them in this manner About these therefore in all reason together with the common Principles of Christian Faith we must imploy our most earnest care to settle them in our minds and make them the Rule of all the rest But it is not enough to bring these things into our minds I must add another Rule no less necessary than this which is II. That to do what we know is the way to know more what we have to do This I have suggested already in the body of the foregoing Discourse and therefore shall only commend the serious practice of one particular Duty which is so frequently mentioned in the Holy Scriptures that from thence we ought to conclude it is of exceeding great moment It is Humility not to think of our selves more highly than we ought to think nor to be wise in our own conceits but to think soberly and to be lowly in our own eyes There is a number of Precepts of the same import with these the meaning of which he ought to study diligently and then heartily obey who would advance to a higher degree of knowledge for the meek i. e. the humble will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way If a man begin at first to think wrong of himself he is not like to hit right in other things but the easier mistake in them when he hath suffered such a cheat to be put upon him as to have a
Lord and is highly offensive upon many accounts to Almighty God Who hath appointed Him to take care of our affairs who loves us better than any Saint or Angel can do because he dyed for us and therefore is more inclined to have compassion upon us because he hath that feeling of our infirmities which no Angel was ever touched withal nor any Saint in such a degree as he was Who can also do more for us than all the Angels in Heaven put together being the Lord of Glory Ninthly Which is another thing here clearly revealed the Power and Glory of the Lord Jesus at the right Hand of God We all with open face without any Veil drawn before our Eyes behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord as St. Paul speaks 2 Cor. III. ult The Gospel that is which he preached and which we read represents his transcendent Majesty so evidently that our own Face doth not appear more clearly to us in a Glass than Christ is set before us there as advanced far above all Principality and Power to use his words in another place I. Ephes 21. and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come God having put all things under his Feet and given him to be Head over all things to the Church What may we not expect from so great a Prince who hath all things at his command and that for the good of his Church if we faithfully address our selves to God by Him alone Tenthly I might say the like of the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith which are here plainly taught But I shall only add that as the way and means whereby Christ procured and doth dispense the Divine Grace to us is evidently declared in the Holy Scriptures so is the means whereby we may hope to obtain the Benefit of his Sacrifice Satisfaction and Intercession with God for us Repent and be converted and your sins shall be blotted out III. Acts 19. are words plain enough to be understood And so are these Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls XI Matth. 28 29. And these In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith working by Love a new Creature or keeping the Commandments of God For in all these terms for the greater clearness sake and that no man may be mistaken is this matter declared by St Paul 1 Cor. VII 19. V. Gal. 6. VI. Gal. 15. And therefore that the Grace of the Gospel teaches us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World 2 Tit. II. 12. is as clear as the Sun Nor are the particular duties which belong to every ones place and state less clear and conspicuous than these general lines of our Duty which the Apostle hath drawn in those comprehensive words For when the same Apostle St. Paul directs his Speech as he doth commonly in the latter part of his Epistles unto Masters of Families and Servants unto Husbands and Wives Fathers and Children his Rules are as plain and easie to be understood by us now as they were to those persons who first received them So plain and easie they are unto all Ages so familiar especially to men of meaner rank that I much doubt saith a great Champion of our Church in his Comments on the Creed * Dr. Jackson Lib. 2. Cap. 12. whether the Pope himself and the whole Conclave of Cardinals would be able in this present Age to speak so plainly unto the capacity or so familiarly to the experience of men of their Quality unto whom the Apostle wrote For setting aside the absolute Truth and Infallibility of his Doctrines the manner of delivering them is so familiar so lowly so heartily humble so natural and so well-befitting such mens disposition in their sober thoughts as were impossible for the Pope to attain unto or imitate unless he would lay aside his Court-State and for seven years addict himself unto familiarity with such men in a Pastoral Charge The same may be said concerning his way of speaking when he sets down any other Christian Duties whether private or publick No man could ever pretend any difficulty in this part of the Holy Writings which treat of a Holy Life All the difficulty is in mens wills to be perswaded to consent to be governed by these Laws which they cannot chuse but well enough understand And that they may be perswaded Christ hath left us exceeding great and precious Promises which contain the greatest part of the Gospel-Grace the very end of which is to move us to live soberly righteously and godly Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. VII 1. What words can be more perspicuous than these And with the same clearness these Books pronounce the indispensable necessity of a holy life without which the riches of God's Grace cannot save us Follow peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord XII Heb. 14. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers c nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. VI. 9 10. Now the works of the flesh are manifest mark that word adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness Idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like of which I have told you before in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit V. Gal. 19 20 c. What shall I say more All the Promises of God which put us in hope and all his Threatnings which are designed to put us in fear upon which two Hinges all Religion turns are you see already declared so expresly and clearly that there can be no dispute about them For this is the promise which he hath promised even Eternal life 1 Joh. II. 25. and the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness I. Rom. 18. For He will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for honour glory and immortality eternal life But to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but
not only the Vnlearned but the Vnstable also wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction II. VNSTABLE WHO those are is now easier to determine if what hath been said of the other be admitted They are such as do not stedfastly believe what they have learnt who having entertained the Truth do not stick to those Principles of Natural Light and plain Revelation nor are setled in them but sometimes believe them and sometimes question or disbelieve them Such persons the same St. Paul also describes in the Christian Church who were tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine and could six no where but rolled in uncertainty from one Opinion to another till they lost themselves in Infidelity IV. Eph. 14. The Principles they had received were floating in their mind and never came to any certain constant resolution which made them apt on all occasions to pervert the Scriptures according as their own Fancy or the confident suggestion of some bold Seducer inclined them For some men deliver the vainest Conceit with such an assurance and earnest Zeal that they may be well compared to a violent blast which carries those along with it who are not setled and confirmed in their Belief I may make many more words about this but I shall scarce make it plainer and therefore I will not endeavour it But now desire you to mind what course these words thus explained direct us to take that we may be preserved from abusing the liberty we have of consulting on all occasions with the Oracles of God There is some Learning you see required to the understanding of the Holy Scriptures But you need not go far to seek it for it consists only in the knowledge of such Natural Truths as are ingraven upon our own minds and of those plain Doctrines of Christianity which are revealed in God's Word so clearly that there is no Controversie about them especially of the great Design of Christianity which St. John expresses in this short Sentence These things write I unto you that ye sin not This is very solid and deep Learning to know that the first and chief End of Divine Writings is to teach us to live well and the next follows in the next words of St. John 1. II. 1. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous c Be not discouraged if contrary to the grent Design of Christianity you fall into sin but hope for Mercy through the Propitiation made by Christ Jesus who will intercede for the sius of those who heartily make this their main design and business not to sin Which Truths of both sorts we must take some pains to six in our rainds and root in our hearts that our belief of them may not be shaken by any other perswasion whatsoever much less by any sudden conceit which starts up in our minds or is suggested to us by others And the way to do that is to live by them for nothing settles knowledge so much as saithful practice according to it especially when we are setled in this practice For those St. Peter calls unstable Souls in the Chapter before this v. 14. apt to be beguiled and insnared who had not arrived at a setled resolution and an habitual course of well-doing Now when this is done which must be our first Work there is but one Rule which I shall propose because if well followed it comprehends all in it to make our reading the Holy Scriptures safe and secure Which is this Never to admit any Interpretation of Scripture from others or fasten any sense upon them our selves which contradicts those known Truths which we have learned and in which we are fixed as the undoubted Mind and Will of God They must be the measure of all the rest by them we must judge of all things whether they be true or false Whatsoever overthrows them and will not consist with them must be rejected It must not make us doubt of them but they must make us conclude it is a safe Interpretation And on the other side whatsoever agrees with them though it should happen not to be the proper meaning of a place of Scripture into which we inquire it can do no harm if it be entertained And here now I shall do these three things First Show how we are to use this Rule Secondly How necessary it is to keep to it Thirdly How readily thereby we may salve many seeming difficulties in the Holy Scripture at least pass by them safely if we observe it I. Concerning the first I shall only say these two things I. First That we must never admit any Interpretation on a sudden till we have examined how it agrees with the Principles of known and undoubted Truth Fancy will be suggesting things to us and if we be not attentive will sometimes insinuate very absurd Notions into our Belief Here therefore our care and labour is required to bring along with us to the reading of Holy Scripture such a sense of God and of our known Duty to him and of the end and intention of Religion that it may be ready at hand to correct our extempore conceits and apprehensions which will be forward to mislead us And if they represent any thing to us which makes Him unjust or unmerciful if they plainly lead us to negligence and carelesness in our Duty if they strike at the end of the Commandment which is Charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned we must as suddenly lay them aside as they obtrude themselves upon us For that cannot be the Mind of God which crosses the Natural Notions we all have of Him or thwarts the plain Revelations He hath made of his blessed Nature and Will or tends to make us less diligent in his service less zealous of good works unto which we are created and formed in Christ Jesus that we should walk in them II. Ephes 10. And we are all concerned to watch carefully lest any thing of this kind insinuate it self to the high dishonour of Almighty God and the infinite hazard of our immortal Souls And to watch not only when we are reading the Holy Scriptures but II. Secondly At all other times we must use due care lest our thoughts lead us to form any Opinions which are contrary to the known Principles of Humanity and Christianity The thoughts of men are restless and are apt to cast themselves into a thousand shapes and frame innumerable conceits Now if we let any settle in our minds which agree not with the Truths I have often named they will not fail to be intermedling when we read the Scriptures and draw it to speak in their favour contrary to its meaning There is no private Opinion which we have received but we are naturally desirous to have it justified and confirmed and therefore we had need take care to entertain none that are inconsistent with Piety for they will be sure to catch at every
word of Holy Scripture to give them countenance by its great Authority and press it against its will to come to their service At every turn they will be interposing their inclinations and prove a biass upon our minds to carry them aside from the mark And the fuller we are of these and the more desirous to have them confirmed the more hastily shall we perswade our selves that the Holy Scripture speaks in their favour and proffers it self as a Witness to give Testimony to the truth of our Conceits Let us provide therefore by a due vigilance and attentive consideration that they be not formed by our own private imaginations but by the common standing Rule of natural Honesty Justice and Goodness and by all other certain Principles ingrafted in us or revealed to us Which serve as an Index to point us which way our thoughts should run and where they should six themselves II. THE necessity of which Care is the second thing I propounded to be briefly considered And here two things more may be sufficient to be duly weighed First That without this Care the plainest Scriptures will be in danger to be perverted as soon as the most difficult Secondly The very same places of Scripture will be liable to be shamefully wrested to serve different purposes I. First I say the plainest Scriptures will be in danger to be perverted and very dangerously too as well as the most difficult For it is not their difficulty that makes them be perverted but mens own easiness to believe any thing which their private desires would have to be true though never so contrary to sound Reason and Religion which if they had regarded would have directed them to make another construction of Holy Writings All the Metaphors for instance and resemblances borrowed from things visible to represent the Glory of Christ's heavenly Kingdom make the miserable Jews as their Forefathers did before them still entertain themselves with pleasant Dreams of a glorious pompous Monarchy here on Earth though the Prophets in as plain words as can be devised represent Christ their King as a man of sufferings who should endure greater indignities than any man ever did and at last dye and so rise again to sit at the right hand of God and give his Holy Spirit from thence to fill all the Earth with the knowledge of the Lord and thereby make them pious Subjects of a Divine Kingdom This drowsiness is so hereditary to their Nation that they will not be awakened out of their slumber by considering how much more the Soul is God's care than the Body and what the Prophets speak concerning Christ's Government over mens minds and Consciences and the reformation He should come to make in their life and manners Some Christians have been deluded with the same Fancy as if they had dreamt upon their Pillow But there are more palpable instances of the abuses committed among them not by reading the Scripture for that they were not forbidden but by not observing the Rule I am now establishing It was usual for people even in the ancient Times of Christianity to interpret the Scripture according to their fancy merely to serve a present turn just as many make it do now For Tertullian tells us that they who after their Conversion to Christianity still followed the trade of making Idols and Images for the Heathen to Worship defended themselves when they were reprehended for it by a Saying in St. Paul 1 Cor. VII 20. which they thus contracted Vt quisque fuerit inventus ita perseveret As every man is found when he is called to Christianity so let him continue There is no man that reads what follows but plainly sees if he be not resolved to shut his eyes against all that contradicts his desires the Apostle designs Nothing but that all men should remain so well satisfied with the condition in which they were when converted to Christ that if they were mere Slaves they should be content to continue so and not depart from their Lords and Masters unless they would give them their Liberty which he grants was much to be desired But if the following words had not told us this is his meaning yet the Rule before mentioned would have sufficiently secured them from the ill use they made of his words For as Tertullian well observes in his Book of Idolatry Cap. V. where he treats of this matter it is an Interpretation that directly leads to all wickedness Possumus igitur omnes in peccatis perseverare ex ista interpretatione c. as his words are We may all then continue in our sins according to this Interpretation for there is not one of us who was not found a Sinner when he was called into Christ's Service who came down for no other reason but to deliver us from our sins But in the same manner they also abused he observes there some other Texts of St. Paul wherein he required that after his Example every man should work and get his living with his own hands 1 Cor. IV. 10. 2 Thess III. 9 10. By which Precepts if all that men wrought with their hands might be defended then Thieves and High-way men and Coiners of false Money and all other wicked persons would be justified by them as well as these Image-makers who alledged them In a word let the Gate of the Church be set wide open saith he for all Comers who live by their labour if there be no exception of such Arts and Trades as the Discipline of God doth not receive And indeed the Scripture it self teaches us this Truth That it is not the difficult places only which men wrest to their destruction but the plainest also when thereby they can have some colour for their evil practices As for Example what can be more certain than this that the Apostle never gave any incouragement by his Doctrine for men to say much less said thus himself Let us do evil that good may come That is a good End will warrant evil Actions And yet there were some who were so audacious as to affirm he taught this Doctrine whom he contents himself to confute with these few words and vouchsafes them no other answer Whose damnation is just III. rom 8. There was no ground that is for such an interpretation of his words but only their own evil Principles and Affections which led them to make this Conclusion against the dictates of natural Reason and Christianity and therefore nothing could be said for such men but they would perish and Nothing was more just than that God should leave them under Condemnation who perverted holy Words to a meaning so cross to all the known Principles of natural and revealed Truth that Nothing could be more Occumenius upon this very Text of St. Peter gives another such like instance of wresting St. Paul's words which he saith may serve instead of all He having said V. Rom. 20. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound ungodly men
perverting his sense say we have Paul on our side who says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us sin the more abundantly that we may be the more abundantly pardoned Which they do to their own destruction saith St. Peter for they that killed the Prophets and the Apostles and they that destrey and takeaway their words by a perverse interpretation are obnoxious to one and the same Condemnation because they slew them that the World might be no longer taught by them the saving Truths of the Gospel and these in the like manner wrest or put upon the rack their words that none by them may work out their Salvation Again what is there clearer in the Apostolical Writings than that they every where taught God will raise the dead at the last day in which He will judge the World in righteousness And yet there were those who wrested these words so foully that some said the Resurrection was past already of whom were Hymenaeus and Philetas 2 Tim. II. 17 18. and others said there was no Resurrection 1 Cor. XV. 12. and others said Christ would never come again but laught at his promises of coming to reward the good and at his threatnings of coming to punish the wicked as St. Peter tells us in this very Chapter v. 3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts there was the reason of their scoffing saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the first men fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world Which they would not have had the impudence to affirm it being so easie to disprove them had they not affected as he shows v. 5. to be ignorant of what was as plainly recorded in the Holy Books as any thing whatsoever that there had already been long ago a great change made by the Flood which swept away the World of the Ungodly Which if they had been serious would have kept them from mocking at another destruction threatned to the Wicked with a promise of Salvation to the Godly at our Saviour's second Coming and made them look upon what was past as an Example of the like future Judgment I might give more numerous instances which would prove something beyond this that unpurged minds or which is all one unlearned and unstable Souls will not only wrest plain Truths to serve their Lusts and Humours but thereby be apt to grow more wicked and more prejudiced against God and Goodness For the opinion or presumption as is excellently observed by a great Man that any of our evil actions or dispositions are countenanced from God's Word doth mightily heighten them in a degree of evil more than usual The covetous niggardly and unmerciful for instance if they please themselves in the precepts of frugality and diligence are exceedingly stifned and rooted in those sins with the pleasure they take in their conceited conformity with the rule of Gods Word which teacheth us to avoid Riot and Luxury Sloth and Negligence And thus the stubborn and self-willed are encouraged in their obstinacy by the commendations which are given to the constant and the well-resolved And the malicious turbulent and seditious Spirits justifie their bitterness fury and contempt of Authority from the examples of excessive zeal or indignation swelling in Holy men upon just occasions and that perhaps by a special Divine incitation which is not by any man to be now imitated But it is time to leave this and to give a short account of the other II. It is no less usual for want of observing this plain Rule to press one and the self same Scripture to serve for different purposes unto the great dishonour of God and of his Holy Oracles which men from hence imagine have an uncertain found I might instance in some very ancient abuses of this nature As that of our Saviour's X. Matth. 25. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master may be strained to prove no body knows how many absurdities You may guess at the rest by this one that it was alledged by the Ebionites to prove that Christians ought to be circumcised because Christ their Master was as Epiphanius expresly remembers and by the same reason may be urged to prove that no Christian ought to marry because Christ their Master never married But there are modern instances more than enough of this such as show that not only ignorant people but the most instructed in humane Learning wrest the Scriptures notoriously if they keep not close to Principles of known Morality and Piety From those two words Pasce oves Feed my sheep I know not how many things are endeavoured to be established by the Doctors of the Roman Church If you ask how they prove the Popes Monarchy and Supreme Dominion in the Church the Answer is Christ said to Peter Simon bar-Jona Feed my sheep i. e. saith Bellarmine regio more impera command after a Regal manner If you ask again by what Right he challenges to be the Supreme Judge in Controversies of Faith which anciently was thought to belong to General Councils out of the Word of God the same Doctor tells you it is evident from the same words Feed my sheep Hence he proves also his Infallibility or that he cannot err in matters of Faith because Christ said Feed my sheep Nay by the same words a fourth Prerogative is established which is a power to make new Articles of Faith if he think good They are alledged also for a fifth purpose to prove that he hath a Treasure made up of the Merits of Christ and of the Saints which he dispenses as he pleases to the Faithful for so the same Doctor teaches in his Book of Indulgences because Christ said to Peter Feed my sheep By which wonderful words also he and others labour to prove that the Pope can transfer Kingdoms absolve Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and depose them from their Thrones And Becanus from the same words still gathers that he may inflict temporal Punishments as they call them not excepting death upon those Princes that are disobedient to him So strangely are men bent to force the meaning of Holy Writ though they have never so good Parts and great Learning when they have once forsaken the guidance of Common Sense and the obvious Notions of Christianity Nay the more witty they are the worse they are if they have lost their Conscience and keep not strictly to the first Principles of all Religion There is another Example to be given of this of the same Nature From those words Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church c. one is content to prove no more but this that the Vniversal Church cannot err but another from hence affirms that the Tradition of the present Church cannot err which will not satisfie others who conclude from the same words that the Pope cannot err and there are those who
that being thus entred we cannot continue in that state unless according to our holy purpose we bring forth the fruit of good Works And in like manner what he saith of God's hardening mens hearts is not difficult to be understood by those who are not unlearned and unstable but are skilful in the Principles of natural Knowledge and of true Christianity and who are rooted in them so that they hold them fast whatscever expressions there may be that seem to contradict them But it is time to draw towards a Conclusion of this Treatise which shall end as it began The Doctrine of this Church it appears is most pure and sincere in this Point and most conformable to what we find delivered by the holy Doctors of Christianity in the best Ages And therefore no Member of it ought to be perswaded for any reason to lay aside the reading of the Holy Scriptures when there is a more pious course to which they themselves direct us Which is to learn those things well which we cannot misapprehend if we mind them and which will keep us from misapprehending all other things if we stick to them and will not desert them Let that be your first business to learn all General Truths which comprehend the Particular in them And when you have learnt them receive no particular Opinion which crosses those general Truths for you may be sure it is false because one Truth cannot cross another and all Conclusions must be judged by the prime Truths which ought to stand unmoveable But above all let us establish those Truths in our minds and hearts which teach us to be good For there is no Dispute about this that we ought to be devoutly Religious and sober and just and temperate in all things meek also humble patient ready to do good and to forgive And if we exercise our selves continually in the practice of these and such like Vertues which are evidently taught us in the Holy Books they will preserve us from making any ill use of any thing we read there and teach us to turn all we read into our nourishment and increase in true Godliness Hear the First Homily of our Church in the conclusion of it In reading God's Word he most profiteth not always that is most ready in turning of the Book or in saying of it without Book but he that is most turned into it that is most inspired with the Holy Ghost most in his heart and life altered and changed into that thing which he readeth he that is daily less and less proud less wrathful less covetous and less desirous of worldly and vain pleasures he that daily for saking his old vicious life increaseth in Vertue more and more And to be short there is nothing that more maintaineth Godliness of mind and driveth away Vngodliness than doth the continual reading or hearing of God's Word if it be joyned with a godly mind and a good affection to know and follow God's Will For without a single eye pure intent and good mind nothing is allowed for good before God OBJECTION THE great Objection against all that hath been said is That notwithstanding these Directions Lay-men we see do abuse the Holy Scriptures and which is more the reading of them hath bred infinite Heresies and therefore the safest course is to forbid them to be read by the common people ANSWER I. TO the first part of which an Answer hath been returned already That there is nothing in the World so useful and necessary but it is liable to be abused and yet it must not therefore be kept out of the hands of vulgar people for their common benefit What more useful nay necessary than fire and yet malicious or negligent people may burn the best house that is with it which they should only warm But besides this I have one short Reply more to make That none have been more guilty of abusing the Holy Scripture than they who ought to have been Guides to the Church and People of God by a sound interpretation thereof Examples of which I am not disposed to name unless any shall be so untoward as to deny it and then a great many may be produced like to that of him who because Moses said If a beast touch the mountain let it be stoned concluded that no simple or unlearned man ought to presume to meddle with the sublimity of the Holy Scripture A hard case this that vulgar people should be treated like Beasts but thus Learned men will misinterpret Scripture when they are inclined only to serve their Cause and be as forward if they be not disinteressed to mislead the people as the people are to mislead themselves ANSWER II. TO the other part of the Objection I shall give something fuller satisfaction I. And first of all it is not true that all Heresies have sprung from mens reading the Scriptures or from their misunderstanding them but rather from their not reading them as St. Chrysostom you have heard was of opinion whose words I have quoted more than once in the first Part of this Discourse Which are of the same import with those of our Saviour XXII Matth. 29. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God That is not being acquainted with what natural Reason taught concerning God's Omnipotency as well as what the Scripture taught about the Resurrection Here it may be fit to observe these four things First That the Fathers observe all the ancient Hereticks did not read the Scripture They are the words of St. Austin Lib. III. Cap. 9. De Genesi ad literam For neither do all Hereticks read the Catholick Scriptures nor are they Hereticks for any other reason but because they not understanding them aright pertinaciously assert their own false Opinions against their Truth And thus St. Hierom in the last words of his Commentary upon the VII of Hosea All the questions of the Hereticks and of the Gentiles are the same because they follow not the Authority of the Scriptures but the sense of humane Reason Secondly They observe that the men who pretended most to this were the Original of Heresies viz. the Philosophers Thus Tertullian in his first Book against Marcion speaking of the Professors of Wisdom saith De quorum ingeniis omnis haeresis animatur From whose Wits all Heresie is begotten and incouraged And more fully in his Book of Prescriptions Cap. 7. Ipsae denique haereses à Philosophia animantur Heresies themselves had life given them from Philosophy For the Aeones came out of the School of Plato Marcion's God came from the Stoicks and the Souls Mortality from the Epicureans and the denial of the Resurrection of the Body was taken from one School of all the Philosophers And so he proceeds showing how the Fables the endless Genealogies the unprofitable questions and Disputings mentioned in the Scriptures came out of the same Forge and that the Apostle takes notice of it when he gives the Colossians a Caveat