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
against vain Philosophy II. Col. 8. From whence we may note that the Scriptures themselves assign the Original of Heresies and teach us to beware of it so far are they from leading us into them Thirdly And there is a third Cause of them mentioned in Scripture also viz. the Traditions of men VII Mark 7 8. And thus Firmilian observes in his Letter to St. Cyprian That Marcion the Disciple of Cerdo a great while after the Apostles induxit sacrilegaem adversus Deum traditionem brought in a sacrilegious Tradition against God Apelles also consenting to his Blasphemy added multa alia nova many other Novelties which were more grievous and directly opposite to Faith and Truth And so did Valentinus and Basilides who rebelled against God's Church by their wicked Forgeries And thus St. Hierom introduces Hereticks maintaining their Errours in the very Dialect of the now Roman Doctors We are the Sons of those wise men who from the beginning delivered unto us the Apostolical Doctrine c. Lib. VII in Esaiam Cap. XIX But S. Cyprian every where appeals from all pretended Tradition whatsoever unto the Dictates of our Lord and his Apostles i. e. unto Scripture-Tradition Particularly in that famous Epistle of his to Pompeius All religious and simple minds have a compendious means both to lay aside Errour and to find out Truth nam si ad divinae traditionis caput originem revertamur cessat error humanus for if we go back to the Head and Original of Divine Tradition there is an end of humane Errour And a little after he tells us what he means by this Divine Tradition when he saith If there be any doubt any wavering about the Truth let us return ad originem Dominicam Evangelicam Apostolicam Traditionem to our Lord 's Original or beginning both the Evangelical and Apostolical Traditions that is to the Doctrines delivered in the Goâ—pels and in the Writings of the Apostles Fourthly Another Spring of Heresie were pretended Revelations Thus the Cataphrygae as the same Firmilian tells us novas Prophetias usurpare conantur endeavoured also to make use of new Prophecies And a little after We know they cannot have Christ who challenge to themselves their false Prophecy against the Faith of Christ And whence they had their Illuminations who in the bosom of the Roman Church invented a Fifth Gospel which threatned the overthrow of our four is not hard to resolve Not out of the Holy Scriptures we may be sure and therefore the taking away them from the people will not prevent all Heresies but they will start up as they have done from other Causes and they will the sooner start up if the Scriptures be neglected II. But I desire it may be further considered that as Heresies will spring up from other Causes though men do not read the Scriptures so Lay-men have not been always the Devisers of them but they to whom none deny the liberty of reading the Holy Books For the most pernicious Heresies that have been in the Church had their beginning from Priests as appears by Arius and Nestorius And indeed no man can frame an Heresie but he that is of excellent Parts as St. Hierom's opinion is whose words are these upon the X. of Hosea No man can devise and set up a Heresie but he that is ardentis ingenii of an extraordinary Wit and hath gifts of Nature created by God the great Artificer such was Valentinus such was Marcion whom we read to have been most learned such was Bardesanes whose Wit the Philosophers themselves admired And therefore either the Scriptures must be wholly laid aside the greatest men for Learning and Parts being apt to abuse them if they be not humble and thoroughly good or men must be taught how to prepare themselves for the reading of them and what to seek for there and then any body may safely take them into their hands and make them their constant Companions III. It must likewise be further considered that there is something else to be feared beside Heresie and that is stupid ignorance or gross Infidelity which Experience shows us have followed upon the taking the Scriptures from the people even as darkness comes and covers the Earth when the light is withdrawn from it And ought we not in all reason to be as studious and solicitous to prevent these as to prevent Heresie Since they are no less dangerous or rather more dangerous by far even for this reason because they make men liable to fall into the most sottish Superstitions if not into down-right Idolatry which is a worse thing than Heresie How Images came to be Lay-mens Books it is needless to relate the matter being very plain and how Image-Worship thence arose and how fatal this hath been to the vulgar people I have not room to discourse nor how Legends of Saints were invented full of absurd and incredible stories which have disgraced the Doctrine of Christianity and tempted many to disbelieve the true History of our Saviour's and his Apostles Miraculous Operations But this is certain that they were devised to supply the place of the Holy Scriptures that the people might have something to entertain them when they were taken away from them It was the effect at least of that these fabulous stories being recommended to the peoples affection when they were frighted from medling with the Bible as a dangerous Book nay when it 's credit was disgraced by many words of reproach Which we in this Church think our selves bound to wipe off by recommending it to the peoples best affection and constant perusal as a means to preserve them from sottish ignorance and stupid Impostures and all vain Superstitions and false Worship IV. Nor is it easie for our people by this means to fall into Heresie because they have the liberty of reading the Scriptures but interpreted to them by the Ministry of the Church whereby they are taught continually to have recourse to their Pastors and by sundry Tracts Expositions and Paraphrases allowed by publick Authority Particularly in the beginning of the Reformation care was taken that Erasmus his Paraphrase should be placed in every Parish-Church of the Realm in which he doth not follow his own private Fancy but like a truly great Man represents the sense of the ancient Doctors of the Church V. Now if after all this men do fall into Heresie it must be imputed to some other Cause than their reading the Scriptures For if they had minded them they would have learnt to be humble modest peaceable tractable to their Guides and to take heed of those who cause Divisions and are proud and dote about Questions and strises of Words and that creep into houses to instill private Doctrines and very frequently lead men from the Scriptures to pretended Revelations or Traditions That is they would not have faln into any sort of Heresie but kept unto the wholesom words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is
Search the Scriptures A TREATISE Shewing that all CHRISTIANS Ought to READ the HOLY BOOKS WITH DIRECTIONS To them therein In Three PARTS LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1685. Introduction THE Holy Scriptures as the first Homily of our Church teaches all its Children in the very beginning of it are such a Fountain and Well of Truth that as many as be desirous to enter into the right and perfect way unto God must apply their minds to be acquainted with them without which they can neither sufficiently know God and his Will nor their own Office and Duty For in Holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to eschew what to believe what to love and what to look for at God's hands at length And therefore these Books ought to be much in our hands in our eyes in our ears in our mouths but most of all in our hearts Vnto which sort of Discourse which is grounded upon the VI. Article of our Religion they of the Church of Rome are wont to make a double Exception One is That there are some things necessary to be believed and practised which are not to be found there but must be received from ancient Traditions The other is That those Truths which are delivered in the Holy Scriptures are not so clear and perspicuous that common people should be intrusted with the reading of them Now to the First of these there hath been some time ago a plain Answer made in a Discourse about Traditions Therefore this Treatise is intended only as an Answer to the Second Exception For the maintaining of which they are wont to alledge among other places those remarkable words of St. Peter in his Second Epistle the Third Chapter and Sixteenth Verse Where having made mention of St. Paul's Epistles which treated of the same matter that he had just before explained he says In which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction Behold say they how dangerous it is for common people to meddle with the Holy Scriptures which being compared by St. Paul himself to a two edged Sword ought not to be put into their hands for fear they destroy themselves therewith It is true indeed the same St. Paul teaches us Rom. XV. 4. that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning and are profitable as he writes elsewhere 2 Tim. III. 16. for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness But this notwithstanding there are say they such difficulties and obscurities in the Holy Scriptures as we learn from this great Apostle St. Peter that they ought not to be thought profitable for all people but rather hurtful to them that are ignorant who therefore ought not to read them By which single Instance the Reader may learn if he mark it well what sort of Interpretations of Scripture we are like to have if we trust to them alone and do not see with our own eyes when these very words of St. Peter do plainly teach us the quite contrary Doctrine to that which they would establish by them I. For they are so far from containing a Reason why the people should not read them that First they evidently suppose the common people even the unlearned among them did in those days read the Scriptures Else they could not have wrested them as the Apostle says they did and complains of that but not of their reading them And II. Secondly These words do not affirm the whole Scripture to be hard to be understood but only some part of it St. Paul's Epistles at the most or rather the things of which St. Peter had been treating And not all of them neither but only some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some few things which would require pains and diligent attention of mind to comprehend the meaning of them And III. Thirdly The Apostle doth not say that all who read those difficult passages are in danger to wrest them but only the unlearned and unstable who abuse the plainest Truths to their own ruine As for others they may read even the hardest places in St. Paul's Epistles safely enough nay receive great profit from thence as well as from other Scriptures and they who wrest them are not to leave reading them but to grow in true Christian knowledge and in Stability of mind These are the three Parts of the insuing Discourse In treating and reading of which Let us pray to God as the second Homily concludes that we may speak think believe live and depart hence according to the wholsom Doctrine and Verities of these holy Books And by that means in this World have God's defence favour and grace with the unspeakable solace of peace and quietness of Conscience and after this miserable life enjoy the endless Bliss and Glory of Heaven PART I. THat the Right of God's People to read the Holy Scriptures is not at all prejudiced by these words of St. Peter appears from hence That the Wresting of the Scriptures by the unlearned and unstable doth suppose that even such persons did then read them Which overthrows the Conclusion which they of the Roman Church endeavour to draw from this place For there had been no possibility of perverting their sense if they had not been in their hands at that time as they are in ours now And yet the Apostle doth not reprehend their medling with them but their Ignorance and their heedlesnes which was the cause they misunderstood them and might have been prevented by a little diligence and care without throwing them quite away For the fault was not there but in themselves who came to the perusal of holy things with unprepared minds Now for the establishing of this Truth that the people were not then and therefore ought not now to be debarred the liberty of reading the holy Books which God our Saviour hath left unto his Church as a common Inheritance you may be pleased to weigh these things following which will fully settle your minds in this perswasion I. First That the ancient People of God the Jews were not only permitted but required by God himself to be so conversant in the Law of Moses and so well acquainted with it as to be able to teach their Children God's Commandments and for that end to talk of them when they sate in their houses or walkt by the way when they lay down and when they rose up nay to write them upon the doors of their houses and on their gates that whensoever they went out or came in they might have them before their eyes and be put in mind of them Deut. VI. 6 7 8. This the Lawgiver thought a matter of so great importance that a little after in the very same Book he enjoyns it over again for fear they should neglect it Chap. XI 18 19 20. For the very Root and
King should be furnished with a Copy of the Law and keep it by him that he might read therein all the days of his life and learn to fear the Lord his God and to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them XVII Deut. 18 19. Nay the more to imprint the words of this Book upon his mind the Law enjoyns this as a duty belonging to the King himself saying He shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites Which though some are pleased to think a Priviledge indulged only to the King the Jews who are willing enough to excuse themselves from such laborious things constantly affirm that every private man was bound to do the same and that though the King had done it before as others were obliged to do yet being exalted to the Throne he was bound to do it over again out of the most authentick Records that it might be the more imprinted on his mind and work in him a greater reverence thereof This Maimonides grounds upon those words XXXI Deut. 19. which concern them all Now therefore write ye this Song for you as if he had said Write the Law for your selves of which this Song is a part for they were not wont to write the Law by parcels Wherein perhaps they go too far but there is little doubt to be made that pious Kings took care the people should be acquainted with the Law as well as themselves imitating that pious Prince Josiah who after a long forgetfulness of the Holy Scriptures having a Copy of the Law brought to him which was found in the Temple not only caused it to be read in the ears of the people but as the Jews with great reason affirm commanded the Priests and Scribes to write Copies of it and deliver them to the people For how should they be able to perform the words of the Covenantwritten in that Book unto which Josiah ingaged them 2 Kings XXIII 2 3. unless they knew them And how should they know them more than they had done formerly if they did only once barely hear them Which might give them some present sense of their duty but could not be remembred unless they had the words they were to perform constantly before their eyes There might much more be added on this subject but this is sufficient to introduce what follows II. THAT what was thus enjoyned by Moses and practised by the people of the Jews our Saviour confirmed by his Command or at least by his approbation saying V. John 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me Some indeed translate the words thus Ye search the Scriptures for in them c. and so they are a plain acknowledgement of what was then in use nay an approbation if not commendation of their diligence in turning over the holy Books wherein they hoped to find so great a Treasure as Eternal life But if they be rendred as we and as many of the Romanists themselves translate them Search the Scriptures then they are a Command wherein our Blessed Saviour requires what Moses had formerly done and charges them not to neglect this duty of making a diligent inquiry into the meaning of the holy Writings for there they would find plain testimonies concerning the Messiah and be satisfied that he was the Christ whom they expected And I cannot see how this Precept may be safely disobeyed But as our Lord in the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus XVI Luke 29. brings in Abraham sending the Rich mans Brethren unto Moses and the Prophets i. e. to their Writings for they themselves were dead and gone for their instruction from whom they might learn enough to keep them from coming into that place of Torment So we in like manner ought to tell men if they will know how to be saved they must repair to Christ and his Apostles and out of the Gospel and Apostolical Instructions learn the way to Heaven and how to escape Eternal damnation For there can be no good reason alledged why the Jews should be permitted nay commanded to read Moses and the Prophets and we not be allowed but forbidden to read the words of Christ and his Apostles For we are as much concerned or rather more in these as they were in them and they are not harder to be understood by us than the old Scriptures were by them we have the same means the same helps that they had if not far better to prosit by them and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And therefore it is no fault in our Preachers now but an honest discharge of their duty to say to their people as Origen doth to his in his second Homily upon Isaiah Would to God we did all practise that which is written Search the Scriptures And as St. Basil in his Second Book of Baptism Cap. 4. Let us obey our Lord who saith Search the Scriptures and let us imitate the Apostles who inquired of the Lord himself the interpretation of his own words learning the truth and wholesomness of what He saith in one place by what He speaks in another So far were these great and Holy men from discountenancing the reading of the Holy Scriptures that they most earnestly press every body to it as I shall show more fully before I have done III. LET us now further consider that the Apostles of our Lord were concerned that what they wrote concerning the Christian Doctrine should be read not only by the Elders of the Church to whom their Writings were directed but be communicated to all the Members thereof who were under their Instruction This appears from St. Paul's most solemn Charge in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians that it should be read to all the holy Brethren 1. v. 27. Who should read it to them but the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Who no doubt first received it but were not to keep it to themselves but impart it to the whole Community And if they read it to the whole Society we cannot think they refused to give Copies of it to them if any desired it that they might read it themselves Or rather they took care to disperse this Letter of their own accord among their Flock as they did also send it to other Churches whereby by it became common to the whole Christian World And it was a matter of such great importance that all the people should be acquainted with his sense that his Charge is in the form of an Adjuration That if they neglected him the Command should be obeyed for the Adjuration sake For Adjurations were dreadful to the ancient Christians though now alas wo be to us they are little regarded They are words of Theophylact. And to the same effect Theodoret glosses He adds an Adjuration contriving that all might have the
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
times and one Let us ever be telling our selves that it is God who speaks unto us by his Son in these Holy Books that this is the Rule of Life whereby we must be judged that we must stand or fall before God according as we keep these Sayings that Nothing is comparable to being beloved of God Nothing so desirable as to have our Faith found to honour and praise and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And then we shall deny our selves and our own desires commodities and interests that God's Will may be done by us the whole World will seem inconsiderable in our eyes and we shall easily forgo any thing that He will not allow us to keep according to the fundamental Rule of our Religion He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me I conclude this Part of my Discourse with the words of one of the Homilies of our Church in the second Part of the Exhortation to the reading and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures As concerning the hardness of Scripture he that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk and defer the rest till he wax stronger and come to more knowledge For God receiveth the learned and unlearned and casteth away none but is indifferent unto all And the Scripture is full as well of low valleys plain ways and easie for every man to use and to walk in as also of high hills and mountains which few men can climb unto And whosoever giveth his mind to Holy Scriptures with delight study and burning desire it cannot be saith St. Chrysostom that he should be left without help He that asketh shall have and he that seeketh shall find and he that knocketh shall have the door open If we read once twice or thrice and understand not let us not cease so but still continue reading praying asking of others and so by still knocking at the last the door shall be opened as St. Augustine saith Although many things in the Scripture be spoken in obscure Mysterics yet there is nothing spoken under dark Mysteries in one place but the self same thing in other places is spoken more familiarly and plainly to the capacity both of learned and unlearned And those things in the Scripture that be plain to understand and necessary for Salvation every mans duty is to learn them to print them in memory and effectually to exercise them And as for the dark Mysteries to be contented to be ignorant in them until such time as it shall please God to open them unto him but not lay aside the reading of the whole because of the darkness of such places And briefly to conclude as St. Augustine saith by the Scripture all men may be amended the weak be strengthened and the strong be comforted So that surely none be Enemtes to the reading of God's Word but such as either be so ignorant that they know not how wholesom a thing it is or else so sick that they hate the most comfortable Medicine that should heal them or so ungodly that they would wish the people still to continue in blindness and ignorance of God The End of the Second Part. PART III. I AM arrived now at the last of those Three things I propounded to be treated of in the beginning of this Book That all who read the Scriptures are not in danger to wrest them to their own hurt but only the unlearned and the unstable Such men will wrest them from their true meaning but so they will other Discourses as well as the Scriptures and the most clear and perspicuous things are liable to be perverted by them as well as the dissicult In this we shall soon be satisfied if we consider briedy whom the Apostle St. Peter means by Vnlearned and Vnstable which will also clearly direct us what course we are to take that we may not wrest the Scriptures as such men do Now there is no great difficulty to know who these are if we mind the proper use of words and the place where they are used I. VNLEARNED AND for the first of these the Vnlearned the Apostle cannot be thought to have respect to such as are ignorant in those parts of Knowledge which are now commonly called Learning for so the Apostles themselves were generally ignorant and unlearned IV. Acts 13. but to those who are ignorant of such things as the Holy Scriptures treat of and ought to be learnt by all Christians This I think all will allow and then they are more particularly meant who are not skilled in the first Principles of Religion Men that know not or mind not those common Natural Truths upon which all Religion is built nor are acquainted with those plain unquestionable Principles of Christianity before mentioned in the Second Part of this Discourse These I take to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here spoken of who have not learnt so much as the first Elements or as the Apostle speaks VI. Heb. 1. the word of the beginning of Christ who wanting the foundation of true Knowledge will be apt to wrest every thing they read from its proper meaning Such there were even in the School of Christ as St. Paul himself teaches us who were ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. III. 7. They frequented that is the Christian Assemblies where they received good Instructions but their nanghty affections would not suffer the known Doctrines of Christianity to find entertainment in their minds Which Doctrines are such as these That there is one God who is perfectly just and perfectly good and knows the very thoughts of the heart and changes not And that He hath sent Jesus Christ his only begotten Son the Eternal Word who was before all Worlds to take our Nature upon him to dye for our sins to rise again that he may be the Judge of all And that He hath sent the Holy Ghost from the Father to teach us those Rules of Faith and Holy life whereby we shall be judged at the last Day when he will raise up our dead bodies and give to those who have done good everlasting Life but send those who have done evil into everlasting Fire These and such like which depend on these and are coherent with them are the Christian Learning which they that did not know and believe and accordingly practise as I shewed in the foregoing Discourse must needs be very great strangers to the Holy Books and be so far from reaping any profit by them that they would rather corrupt and abuse them to the support of their own uncertain vain or absurd imaginations Nor were they secure from this danger when they had learnt them unless they were likewise so fixed in their minds that they were constantly guided by them For the Apostle here teaches us that
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
alledge them to prove that a General Council cannot err These words cannot alike serve all these purposes as our Divines rightly have observed for a Pope may err where a Council doth not and a General Council may err where the truly Catholick Church cannot And therefore it is not the evidence of things which leads men thus to expound the Holy Scriptures but their own private affections and their several interests and designs to the advancement of which they easily consent to apply them Not attending to the clear scope of them or rather shutting their eyes not only to that but to the main scope of the whole Book of God and to all other Notices which would give them better direction And solve also even many seeming difficulties which are in the Scripture or at least guide us so evenly that we shall pass safely by them Which is the third General Truth I propounded in the beginning of this Part of my Discourse III. AMONG all those things which we are concerned to learn there are none thought more difficult than several passages in St. Paul's Epistles some part of which St. Peter had in his eye when he concluded his Second Epistle But I may be confident that if we will admit or take up no sense of them that is contrary to such known and confessed Truths as are on all sides embraced we may give a fair account of them at least preserve our selves from making any dangerous construction of them That which above all the rest is thought to be of greatest difficulty is his Doctrine of Election and Reprobation which some take to be the things hard to be understood in St. Paul's Epistles But if we stick close to the known fixed Principles of Reason and Religion which are naturally written on our Hearts or revealed by our Saviour we shall be led thereby unto a fair and easie interpretation of his meaning in these matters For there is an Election of whole Nations and there is an Election of particular Persons and they are elected either to enjoy the means of Grace or to partake of Eternal Salvation The first of these it is evident are absolute and have no dependence upon any thing we do but the latter are not as St. Paul expresly teaches us 2 Thess II. 13. where he saith God had chosen them to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth Faith was supposed to this and the fruits of Faith in Sanctity and Holiness They were not chosen to Salvation but through these though they were chosen to be made partakers of the Grace of the Gospel before these The like may be said concerning Reprobating or rejecting men Which sometimes plainly concerns whole Nations and sometimes particular Persons and sometimes is only from the Priviledges they formerly enjoyed sometimes from Eternal Life both of them for their sins and the former the National rejection from their former Priviledges is designed by God to prevent the latter viz. the final destruction of every one of them which he doth not desire Thus God reprobated or rejected and cast away Israel as St. Paul teaches in the Epistle to the Romans But it was not with an intention that they should utterly perish No he saith more than once God forbid i. e. he abhorred such a thought he disclaimed any such meaning For quite contrary by their being rejected from enjoying the Priviledges they formerly had the Gentiles were brought to Christianity and the end of that was to provoke the Jews also to jealousie and move them at last to bethink themselves better and to repent of their sin and be saved Let any man read seriously the Tenth and Eleventh Chapters of that Epistle and he will be satisfied that the Reprobation spoken of in the Ninth Chapter was such that they might notwithstanding be restored into the favour of God and be finally saved That is they were rejected from being his peculiar people as they had been but not from all hope of his Mercy if they did not continue a disobedient and gainsaying people For the Apostle still prays for them in the entrance of the Tenth Chapter and begins the Eleventh in this manner I say then Hath God cast away his people God forbid That is will any man infer then from what I have said that God hath utterly reprobated them never to receive them more No such matter none ought to interpret my words to such a sense which I disown nor did it ever come into my mind For I my self am an instance of the contrary being an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin c. And yet he saith afterward that God had blinded their eyes and given them a spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear according to that of David Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block c. v. 8 9 10. But what then Have they stumbled that they should fall and be utterly ruined God forbid but rather through their fall Salvation is come to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousie v. 11. For if they did not abide still in Unbelief he shows they might be grafted into the Church again v. 23. And explains his mind still more fully in this matter v. 25. that blindness was hapned only in part to Israel till the fulness of the Gentiles was come in and so all Israel shall be saved For though they were as concerning the Gospel Enemies for our sake yet as touching the Election they were beloved for the Fathers sake They were not absolutely and finally reprobated but for the present did not believe that through the Mercy showed to us Gentiles they might also obtain Mercy For God concluded them all in Unbelief that he might have mercy upon all v. 28 31 32. All these expressions and a number more in that Chapter evidently demonstrate it was not an irrecoverable Rejection which the Apostle speaks of much less a Rejection without any respect to their sins but such a Rejection for their rejecting Christ as in the design of God was to bring them to Repentance and to Faith in Christ when they saw what they had lost and others had gained by their Infidelity He now that will interpret the Ninth Chapter according to the plain declared sense of the Apostle in this will have no hard work to undertake but easily see that as he speaks of the whole body of the Jewish Nation so he did not think them to be utterly lost but designed even their Reprobation for their recovery And now I might proceed to show if it would not inlarge this Treatise too much how the difficulties which are raised about Faith and Works are not so great neither as they seem if we firmly adhere to common Truths Which lead every man to conclude that the Faith which enters us into a state of Justification doth include in it an hearty purpose of well-doing and
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